Steps backwards, forwards, and sideways
Feb. 22nd, 2015 03:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janewilliams20But I know why the backwards part happened, so it's all a useful learning experience.
Thursday, as previously reported, was a busy day.
Friday was MIND day. Fridays, we do "arts and crafts" - in particular, we make things to sell at the MIND stall we'll be doing at ASDA in a month or so. What;s happened for the last couple of weeks was me teaching/facilitating crochet. This week was me teaching/facilitating card-making. I'd sorted all the group's kit on Tuesday, knew what we were missing, and decided what I could make up from my own stocks and what simply wouldn't happen. Transported the heavier kit with some difficulty (should have got Dave to take it downstairs for me), and we all generally had a great time. About a dozen cards were made, admittedly about half of them by me.
But....
Not everyone wanted to do card-making, at least one specifically said that she couldn't cope with a full day concentrating on just one thing, and would join us for the afternoon only. I should have listened to her.
The date of the stall has been moved, it's now after Easter rather than before. Quick replan of the "theme" for cards - less in the way of eggs, chicks, and bunnies.
Additional calls on my time from ladies who needed help with their crochet - I wasn't doing anything specific with that, but they had the kit and wanted to carry on.
Further discussion of the idea that this, teaching crafts, is something I should be looking at as a serious career. I'm actually thinking much more of it as something to do if/when I'm back at my "real" job part-time and have enough energy to do something extra on the other days - quite possibly as a volunteer, since I'm in the happy position of being able to manage on the lower income if I have to. That would also give me the experience to turn it into actual paid work later, if I wanted to. There's a couple of organisations locally that would like to have me on the team, and we're sorting how what would work best and getting my name on lists. So, that's a step "sideways", in a way.
So, it was a great, productive day, but.... with half an hour to go, I was nodding off at the table. I'd had this once or twice before, and wondered if my blood sugar was playing up. This time, I had the tester with me. Nope. 10.5, as I'd expect for an hour or so after food. I'm going to have to accept that 10:30 to 14:30 on one thing is right on the limit of what I can cope with, at the moment.
Friday night is supposed to be ukulele practice night. I was shattered - dozing mid-afternoon, when I'd expected to be cooking. No way would I have been safe to drive home after a further 2 hours music. I called it off, we ate together once Dave was home, and got an early night.
Saturday, supposed to be ukulele "Xmas party". Mails came through that they'd changed the "set list" from the last time, with some new songs, and some that might not have been new to the rest of the group but certainly were to me. So I needed to go through and make sure I had music for all of them, and filed in the right place. I didn't...
The "format" of the party was confusing me anyway - to me "bring your own nibbles and drinks" implies a buffet of joint contributions, while mixing with everyone, chatting, making new friends. But the "set list" implied that I'd be playing all evening, with next to no time for, well, the party. Further notes about "bringing some friends for Dave to be with" and "booking your table" left me very confused - this looked more like a concert for "friends and family" along the lines of a "picnic in the park", where you stay in your own little groups and don't mingle or share. Not much fun. In any case, confusion about what I can expect and what's expected of me has always been stressful for me (spot the Aspie!)
Cooking, having been delayed from the day before, was now running to a very tight timetable, and I didn't even know if I was doing the right things, since I'd been aiming at a few specialist buffet items for 10-20, not a solo picnic.
By 17:00 I was thinking of the "party" as "oh god do I have to?" and by 17:20 it was more like "I am not going to cry I am not going to cry". So I pulled out. Haven't had one of those general anxiety about everything and crying jags for quite a while now, but I'd pushed too hard.
Dave is wonderful. Fine, no problem, let's phone for whatever takeaway you want, and have an evening watching films. So we phoned Domino's, and spent the evening catching up on things we'd recorded from the TV but not watched. I could feel the stress dropping the moment I decided not to go to the party. Right decision.
Now, the Good Bit. A step forwards. We watched an episode of a crime series. I watched all of it, with no fade-out due to concentration span. I was keeping up, I was working out Who Dunnit about as fast as the hero. And at the same time, I was on the phone, playing with a New Game Tressy had pointed out to me - a "how fast can you learn foreign vocab?" app. I was doing quite well, my German was improving. Yes, at the same time. Huge step forwards!
Thursday, as previously reported, was a busy day.
Friday was MIND day. Fridays, we do "arts and crafts" - in particular, we make things to sell at the MIND stall we'll be doing at ASDA in a month or so. What;s happened for the last couple of weeks was me teaching/facilitating crochet. This week was me teaching/facilitating card-making. I'd sorted all the group's kit on Tuesday, knew what we were missing, and decided what I could make up from my own stocks and what simply wouldn't happen. Transported the heavier kit with some difficulty (should have got Dave to take it downstairs for me), and we all generally had a great time. About a dozen cards were made, admittedly about half of them by me.
But....
Not everyone wanted to do card-making, at least one specifically said that she couldn't cope with a full day concentrating on just one thing, and would join us for the afternoon only. I should have listened to her.
The date of the stall has been moved, it's now after Easter rather than before. Quick replan of the "theme" for cards - less in the way of eggs, chicks, and bunnies.
Additional calls on my time from ladies who needed help with their crochet - I wasn't doing anything specific with that, but they had the kit and wanted to carry on.
Further discussion of the idea that this, teaching crafts, is something I should be looking at as a serious career. I'm actually thinking much more of it as something to do if/when I'm back at my "real" job part-time and have enough energy to do something extra on the other days - quite possibly as a volunteer, since I'm in the happy position of being able to manage on the lower income if I have to. That would also give me the experience to turn it into actual paid work later, if I wanted to. There's a couple of organisations locally that would like to have me on the team, and we're sorting how what would work best and getting my name on lists. So, that's a step "sideways", in a way.
So, it was a great, productive day, but.... with half an hour to go, I was nodding off at the table. I'd had this once or twice before, and wondered if my blood sugar was playing up. This time, I had the tester with me. Nope. 10.5, as I'd expect for an hour or so after food. I'm going to have to accept that 10:30 to 14:30 on one thing is right on the limit of what I can cope with, at the moment.
Friday night is supposed to be ukulele practice night. I was shattered - dozing mid-afternoon, when I'd expected to be cooking. No way would I have been safe to drive home after a further 2 hours music. I called it off, we ate together once Dave was home, and got an early night.
Saturday, supposed to be ukulele "Xmas party". Mails came through that they'd changed the "set list" from the last time, with some new songs, and some that might not have been new to the rest of the group but certainly were to me. So I needed to go through and make sure I had music for all of them, and filed in the right place. I didn't...
The "format" of the party was confusing me anyway - to me "bring your own nibbles and drinks" implies a buffet of joint contributions, while mixing with everyone, chatting, making new friends. But the "set list" implied that I'd be playing all evening, with next to no time for, well, the party. Further notes about "bringing some friends for Dave to be with" and "booking your table" left me very confused - this looked more like a concert for "friends and family" along the lines of a "picnic in the park", where you stay in your own little groups and don't mingle or share. Not much fun. In any case, confusion about what I can expect and what's expected of me has always been stressful for me (spot the Aspie!)
Cooking, having been delayed from the day before, was now running to a very tight timetable, and I didn't even know if I was doing the right things, since I'd been aiming at a few specialist buffet items for 10-20, not a solo picnic.
By 17:00 I was thinking of the "party" as "oh god do I have to?" and by 17:20 it was more like "I am not going to cry I am not going to cry". So I pulled out. Haven't had one of those general anxiety about everything and crying jags for quite a while now, but I'd pushed too hard.
Dave is wonderful. Fine, no problem, let's phone for whatever takeaway you want, and have an evening watching films. So we phoned Domino's, and spent the evening catching up on things we'd recorded from the TV but not watched. I could feel the stress dropping the moment I decided not to go to the party. Right decision.
Now, the Good Bit. A step forwards. We watched an episode of a crime series. I watched all of it, with no fade-out due to concentration span. I was keeping up, I was working out Who Dunnit about as fast as the hero. And at the same time, I was on the phone, playing with a New Game Tressy had pointed out to me - a "how fast can you learn foreign vocab?" app. I was doing quite well, my German was improving. Yes, at the same time. Huge step forwards!
The game, incidentally, can be found at www.memrise.com, and I'm quite impressed with how it adapts to my learning rate and specific weaknesses. Well worth a look for anyone trying to learn the basics of a new language.
Today, Sunday, is a day of rest, using up bits from the fridge, and readi-meals. No stress.