The Public Speaking Preamble

Well, now this is interesting.
After a bit of friendly goading, Sian, my co-conspirator in the Year of Beeblebrox, has set up her own blog (Right here), with her own list and everything. You can also see her list now on the top-right of this page, underneath my own.

What's more, she's taken an early lead, crossing off "make a monthly charitable donation", her Item 18.
Bugger...am behind now. Makes me want to go and accost a fully deaf person and make them teach me some rudimentary sign language, so I can claim to have made a start on learning a new language. And such shenanigans are in no way beneath me, I simply don't have time. having made a start on a few of my Items, it occurs to me that, for instance, the no-social-media and no-chain-coffee Items will only be cross-offable after the entire year has passed...which is a bit of a bugger to realise. (I'm not sure how I thought that was going to work, but I'm still disappointed. Nehh...)

One thing that becomes immediately apparent of course when you cut yourself off from social media is that nooooobody knoooooows you're theeeeeeeere...I posted the first entry to this blog, and the list, the day before I began Beeblebroxing (Hmm - have I created a new verb-form here?), and they got respectable numbers of hits.  First entry after I turned my back on social media, total viewers - eight. Humph. Good thing I'm an only child, conditioned to loneliness by years of solitary reading in my room and a weird personality, isn't it?

Anyhow, I get to cross off an item tomorrow, for better or more likely worse. Public speaking.
Funnily enough, although I have staggeringly little evidence to support the idea of my being any good at this (except a couple of wedding speeches, which went down well - one of them was a tame audience, as it was my own wedding!), it's not something that's ever particularly filled me with dread. Like acting, it's pretty much a case of "Once you get out there, the only way back off is once you're done," so whether you crash and burn or soar and triumph, the end is only a speech-length away, and any embarassment lasts only till the end of the night, if that.

In the meantime, an Item on Sian's list reminded me that I intended to put it on my own. Parasailing. Saw that on an episode of The Amazing Race once, and was all sorts of "Ohhhh Hellyeah!" So that's going on the list. Sian also inadvertantly reminded me that some of the things on the list, we can (and probably will) do together - the flying, the sailing (on her list - I have people who can make that happen too!), the jumping out of a plane, etc.
"The skinny dipping?" I asked, raising a textual eyebrow. Never understood why people want to do that, really - that, to me, is why we invented baths - but whatever. Of course, she's got "Fall in love" on her list, which sounds like an admirably practical way of going about the business of organising affairs of the heart, so perhaps there's an underlying order to her list, as on some levels there is to mine. Fall in love - check. Skinny dipping - check. Throw self out of plane with Tony (or, as I should probably explain she's called me for over two decades, Marty) - check...

Hmm...Maybe I should add "Make A Will" and "Get Life Insurance" to my list...

Now, you'll have to excuse me - I'm not actually writing a speech as such for tomorrow, just the notes on which to free associate. First time I've ever stood up and done it that way. Is this even remotely wise, I ask myself...