http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018547103Oh my.
cherokeeprogressive (16,959 posts) Sat Jan 4, 2014, 12:00 AM
What's the farthest you've ever stepped out of your "comfort zone"? I played Fagin in Oliver Twist as a senior in high school.
I was walking out the front gate after the last class of the day... stoned... and my best friend noticed the poster announcing the auditions. "I bet you wouldn't do that". "I bet YOU wouldn't do that, chickenshit". We walked in... FOUR HOURS later we walked out. He was Oliver, I was Fagin. Oh. My. ****ing. God. I had no idea what the next four months entailed. Who knew I could sing?
7 nights. "A Man's got a heart... hasn't he???? We played to a total of almost 2500 people in the auditorium my Mom graduated in.
I was a Jock. Stoner. Then my boy told me "I bet you won't..."
I'd do it again in a New York Minute.
Behind the Aegis (30,498 posts) Sat Jan 4, 2014, 12:16 AM
1. We share the "Oliver!" experience, if you remember.
I was Oliver. Though, I always wanted to act.
Outside of my comfort zone...well, I was the president of our GLBT group at college. It was not our year to speak at the gay pride rally, but the college that was supposed to speak was unable to come, so I had to speak on the steps of the state capitol in South Carolina in front of 3,000 people, including MANY hate groups. I gave a really good speech...until the end. OK, wait for it....
I was so nervous, my knees were literally knocking behind the podium, though I looked composed, then...I gave out my home phone number!!! We didn't have a GLBT office, so my number was the one given out. I didn't even think about it. It only dawned on me what I had done was when the members of the group did that slow head turn and gawked at me.
LoveMyCali (1,056 posts) Sat Jan 4, 2014, 12:30 AM
3. I belly danced at a Relay for Life event
The first time I did it I was so nervous that I actually had to remind myself to breath at various times during the day. Once I actually got there and danced I found out it was a blast. Now it's an annual event for me.
Gravitycollapse (4,573 posts) Sat Jan 4, 2014, 12:32 AM
4. The first time I ever left the US, I went to Africa.
I was the first to arrive in my group. I showed up in Ghana in the middle of a nation wide power outage. I didn't understand the currency exchange rate at all and paid the taxi driver easily 5 times as much as I should have and he said nothing. I showed up at the university hostel late at night in the pitch dark and found that they did not know my group was coming and there were no rooms. I sat on the front lawn and cried until a Ghanaian student walked over and helped me into a cab that took me to a very expensive hotel for diplomats. Due to a number of reasons involving communication barriers, I lost contact with the rest of my group and finding each other took 2 days.
The next 6 weeks involved living persistently without running water or electricity and eating food with questionable safety regulations. My commute to work took 3 hours each way for only 8 miles in a tro-tro. I was also once propositioned by a male prostitute at a trotro station who then refused to take no for an answer. I had to flee. Here is what a trotro station looks like...
after which a photograph
I was the only white person for miles and I knew everyone was talking about me, despite the language barrier, because they kept using the word "obruni" in conversation which is sort of like "gringo." In fact, on several occasions, I had groups of Ghanaian youth walk up to me and ask to take a picture because they rarely ever see other youths who are white.
Overall, a very strange time in my life. I regret absolutely none of it.
:thumbsup: --a primitive who's had an experience at least remotely like franksolich's.
cherokeeprogressive (16,959 posts) Sat Jan 4, 2014, 12:42 AM
6. "I regret absolutely none of it." ****. Would that the BEST of us could live up to your worst day.
Half the civilized world would pale in your shadow, but you know that. I sit here and think I've done something worthwhile with my life by teaching vocational education students in Los Angeles County... and I think... where did I come up short?
What can I say other than had I been in these shoes THEN, my life had taken another course...
Gravitycollapse (4,573 posts) Sat Jan 4, 2014, 12:55 PM
14. Everybody has different life experiences that are truly random...
I picked Ghana for study abroad because it was the cheapest program. Before that trip, I wasn't exactly an adventurous spirit. I just thought Ghana would be a nice vacation. I didn't really know the historical or contemporary economic situation of West Africa so I just assumed it would be like a resort. I realized I was woefully wrong right about the first time I had to fight for a bucket of water to carry up 4 flights of stairs just so I could flush the toilet and wash my face.
All I can say is if you think your life would be changed by such a trip, then take it.
<<<will confess has done something w-a-a-a-a-a-y outside of "comfort zone," but only with certain people and a very limited audience. It's an old trick in speech therapy, used in cases where one's deaf and can't hear sounds to imitate them.
One takes a blown-up balloon, and one person puts his lips on it and makes sounds. The deaf person, his lips on the other side of the balloon, then successfully imitates those sounds.
<<<but will demonstrate it
only with the
femme, and
only with the neighbor's children, or the children of the neighbor's older brother, as the audience.
