Out of my depthAs a schoolkid, I signed up for a public speaking contest purely as a ruse to meet girls. It haunts me still: in front of 300 people, I started to speak, dried up, stood there for what felt like half an hour staring at the floor and then slowly walked back to my seat. Oh, and the girl I liked laughed.
Have you ever been utterly, completely, devastatingly out of your depth?
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chthonic, Thu 14 Oct 2004, 15:07)
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The Amazing Christopher Columbus And His Dancing TroupeIn Year 6, I was asked by my teacher to be the lead in a musical, dance version of the story of Christopher Columbus. Even at my age, I could tell that this was going to end in complete and utter disaster.
To begin with, I couldn't sing all that well (now that my voice has broken I can't sing at all) - but not only could I not dance, but I didn't really want to either - not in front of a few hundred parents (including my own) and, finally, the entire sodding school of 600. Furthermore, I was one of only three boys doing the production. I was going to be killed.
Anyway, I rehearsed and rehearsed for the part for over a month, until my kind-hearted teacher saw how attrociously bad I was, and decided to "downsize" my steps. Now, instead of fancy twirls and leaps and whatnot, I was confined to going to the front of the stage and tapping my feet to the music, while all about me pranced and danced until they could prance and dance no more.
This was all very well in front of the parents, because they could probably tell that I, being tall and lanky (and thus unco-ordinated), was doing my best. But the rest of the school? Well... I chickened out. I claimed illness, and instead one of the other boys took my part - and probably did a better job than I ever could, too.
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Chrico is a bounder and a cad, Fri 15 Oct 2004, 17:20,
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