2019: An update

I'm very excited to announce that I finally have a device at home that is fast enough to cope with editing websites on Wix! Hooray! I found that this was a huge flaw in my blogging-to-update-support-group plan and am really glad that I can now take it up again.

Now, in summary: I have not been organised enough. I'm really sorry.

And I don't mean this in a "oh sorry life caught up with me" way, I really just mean, I let life catch up with me and I put myself in a big mess that resulted in 2018 being a real bust on the OBP front. The tech issue is an excuse for my silence on this blog, but not for my inaction. However, some things did happen and I will blog in detail about them shortly, but for now, here is where I stand on all of my challenges:

Community 1, campfire songs: I did a lot of emailing with my professors who I studied Aboriginal music and artists under, and basically was told it was a good idea that would need close consultation with the artists I wanted to work with. Upon trying to reach artists I found firstly that they are hard to come by and secondly tricky to contact. Kerry Rymer has given me a new contact that I am now following up.

Community 2, concerts for the homeless: no progress during 2018

Adventure 1, Helen Storrow Seminar/project: I am currently pursuing a Region-level project of running Leader's "no quals outdoors" days. I got more active in the region in general as the year went on last year but no direct action on a project. I did do some presentations last year, one at Vispera, Region AGM, at the National Departmental Meetings and at the National Council for Women. I also attempted to run an environment camp midway through the year but unfortunately got no applications so it was cancelled.

Adventure 2, Rock qualifications: Completed Abseil 1 in 2018 and am in the process of finishing off Rock 1 (fingers crossed, practical weekend next Saturday!)

Self-Development 1, Faith Awareness: no progress during 2018. To be honest, I think I panicked about it. Probably the most uncomfortable challenge. My mentor started asking me about it so I better hop to it.

Self-Development 2, German: That online course I took finished up in May, and I had access to the online learning facility until Feb 1st. During the year I did make use of it (I got about halfway through the modules. Even our course didn't expect us to get through the whole lot) but struggled to retain my learning without classmates or anyone to speak German with! One drawback was I was meant to have been practicing speaking on the learning program but I wasn't able to get it to work (essentially it heard me speak but could never figure out when I STOPPED so it never stopped recording). I am able to badly translate some bits of German but I am thinking the next space I have in my calendar I should sign up for a face-to-face class.

MY SOLUTION: I've basically given myself a task tracker that covers ALL my responsibilities in life. I've planned out my calendar for the rest of the year as well as I can so I can prepare for assessments slowly and adequately and leave plenty of room for things. In particular I am trying to focus on working at things on a daily, rather than a weekly or last minute-ly basis. I am also starting to realise that attempting to work on all 6 of these challenges at once means none of them get anywhere. So, at this present moment I am hoping to address the campfire songs and my Rock 1 qualification. The Faith Awareness badge is my next priority along with my HSS project (I expect this to be a bit of a long-haul thing so I will focus on the Leader's "no qual" days).

Trying to be organised! I enjoy tables.