Back to work. Back to discussing problems which have troubled me. Back to my original thoughts on those problems. However, things are swinging. It looks like things are getting back on track. That's good. Positive attitude can help make a problem look like it's solvable (Soluble? No... unless the problem is how to dissolve something).
We had a workshop on presentation skills. I was "volunteered" to present. Surprisingly I gave a presentation which was generally quite engaging and entertaining making good use of vocal range, eye contact, making people laugh and structuring a presentation. Apparently I tap my foot as I do it. I also stepped on a few laughs (mainly because I found it a bit awkward to be looking for laughs in the office, but couldn't help it... oh and because I do sometimes step on laughs in "new material"). I didn't have the heart to tell the trainer that I've done just shy of 500 performances as a stand-up comedian and actually had more to lose by not being able to do a simple 2 minute speech, than I had to gain by being told I needed to learn more about public speaking.
Still, a gig's a gig.
Talking of gigs, I had to scoot from the office for a 4 hour dash to Leeds. I had a gig there. It's almost too far to drive. It feels even more ludicrous when you set off to go to a city that's 220 miles away when you only left that city about 20 hours previously to come 220 miles to where you're now returning to it from... with the promise of another late night drive back. Yaaaagh!
The gig was in an oddly shaped room with an odd-mooded audience, who were nice and giving and yet also awkward and restless. Such is the way gigs can go. I had a nice time, pissed about a bit, indulged myself, showed off to my friends (who had travelled less than 220 miles to come and see me, but perhaps had made a larger gesture by doing so than I did by attending myself) and then packed my sweaty self back into the car for the long drive home.
It was a tiring night but I enjoyed it.
I can't do too many of those nights in a given month. I was reaching breaking point, but there was a "valve day" ahead.
We had a workshop on presentation skills. I was "volunteered" to present. Surprisingly I gave a presentation which was generally quite engaging and entertaining making good use of vocal range, eye contact, making people laugh and structuring a presentation. Apparently I tap my foot as I do it. I also stepped on a few laughs (mainly because I found it a bit awkward to be looking for laughs in the office, but couldn't help it... oh and because I do sometimes step on laughs in "new material"). I didn't have the heart to tell the trainer that I've done just shy of 500 performances as a stand-up comedian and actually had more to lose by not being able to do a simple 2 minute speech, than I had to gain by being told I needed to learn more about public speaking.
Still, a gig's a gig.
Talking of gigs, I had to scoot from the office for a 4 hour dash to Leeds. I had a gig there. It's almost too far to drive. It feels even more ludicrous when you set off to go to a city that's 220 miles away when you only left that city about 20 hours previously to come 220 miles to where you're now returning to it from... with the promise of another late night drive back. Yaaaagh!
The gig was in an oddly shaped room with an odd-mooded audience, who were nice and giving and yet also awkward and restless. Such is the way gigs can go. I had a nice time, pissed about a bit, indulged myself, showed off to my friends (who had travelled less than 220 miles to come and see me, but perhaps had made a larger gesture by doing so than I did by attending myself) and then packed my sweaty self back into the car for the long drive home.
It was a tiring night but I enjoyed it.
I can't do too many of those nights in a given month. I was reaching breaking point, but there was a "valve day" ahead.
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