Monday, June 21, 2010

Public Speaking

Dare #1 -- Initiated from my best friend Gwen.
She said the words to me early this morning, "I dare you to speak in public at least once today and it has to be for at least 5 minutes and, Seneca, it can't be boring. " Apparently my bff found this dare in last months Cosmopolitan magazine and she thought is was perfect for day one.
Okay sounds good to me I love to talk except I have to find an audience and that is not as easy as it looks. I have to take my dare a day challenge to heart.
After searching for hours I found a small technology class at my local library. After some convincing the teacher allowed me into the class and let me teach his pupils who ranged in age from 20-50 how to complete an effective search online. I taught them how to search using my blog... secretly hoping they would follow me. One student even promised she would follow me if she could dare me. I said of course and was just about to leave when one student hit a fire wall so I stayed and taught them how to hack into a low level security site. After a slightly disapproving look from the teacher I booked it out of there only to trip over my own feet sporting a pair of 3 inch nude Manolo pumps. I smiled my embarrassed smile and ran far away learning that public speaking is not as scary as walking on bricks in heels.

You Dare Me?

I DARE YOU! It seems to be the most powerful phrase in the world when you are 13 years old. I remember the first time I heard these words directed at me. I was swimming in the pool at my parents house and of course no one was home but me and a few friends. Out of the blue my best guy friend, Scott, dared me to kiss the cutest guy in school( Jayson). I was not nervous nor was I even excited, I just assumed it was a requirement. I had to do it.
Looking back it was a pretty great kiss despite the lack of experience and the forced situation. That was a time in my life when I was still full of innocence and nothing could touch me. When you are young it seems as if dares give you a pass to do what is normally considered taboo. As we age, the excitement of dares fade with sensibilty and decourum and sadly so does spontaniety. We adults seldom take chances and the consequence is that we lead dreary lives without tenacity and discovery. I know I lead a life of routine but that is all about to change.
Starting today I am going to complete one dare a day. I will find these dares on TV, magazines, my friends, and the readers of this blog. I will not do anything that will hurt another person nor will I do something illegal but I will do what it takes to shake things up. I will not plan, I will just do, love, and learn.
Everyday for the next 40 days I will post my dare, where it came from, and what happened as I completed the dare. Join me on this jounrey ... in fact I dare you!