6 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT WARDY
The splendid Gyppo Byard has kindly requested that I write six random things about myself. I note that the adjective "interesting" didn't feature, thankfully, so here goes:
I've lost track of who's done this and who hasn't in our spiral arm of the blogalaxy, so if you've read this and you haven't, please do.
Tag rules: Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Write 6 random things about yourself. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted...
- According to my late father's genealogical rummaging, I am (very) distantly related to Sir Francis Drake (or Sir Walter Raleigh, I forget which);
- I've suffered two bouts of severe clinical depression (the last 17 years ago) and used to suffer panic attacks. I regained my fragile sanity without recourse to professional help or drugs, partly by reading Free to Be Human by David Edwards, a personal friend with whom I have shared many a beery night over the years. In fact, it may have been the beery nights that cured me, who knows?;
- When I was a baby I used to hum songs from the hit parade in my cot, way before I could talk, leading my father to predict that I was some kind of musical genius. Later attempts to learn the violin at primary school proved his optimism spectacularly unfounded;
- Despite playing rugby for ten years, I never broke a bone or suffered any major injury. Or made a tackle or willingly entered a ruck;
- I am allergic to crab sticks and Big Brother Brasil;
- I once "met" the late Princess of Wales when she came to watch rehearsals for our school production of Guys and Dolls in 1988 and walked within 3 feet of me. It was like seeing real life princess.
I've lost track of who's done this and who hasn't in our spiral arm of the blogalaxy, so if you've read this and you haven't, please do.
Tag rules: Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Write 6 random things about yourself. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted...
posted by M C Ward | 07:31
16 Comments:
Are you not supposed to get the clinical depression while teaching EFL, and not before it?
Good point. I think it probably develops into ennui, a generalised malaise.
Thanks you for your kind words, and for taking the tagging like a sporting gent.
I'm sorry to hear about the depression; although being a 'depression survivor' is clearly better than being depressed. I share your aversion to all things Big Brother (I have a suspicion it was invented by the Nazis, probably under the title "Big Brother - Axis All Areas").
I too was a timorous rugger player; in my case, unfortunately, my build rendered me ideal as a front-row forward, a position from which avoiding things is rarely possible.
Charlie Brooker's 'Dead Set' may soothe your allergy to Big Brother, if you can get it in Brazil?
I'm not good at Rugby.
Sx
Fascinating stuff, MC. Sorry to haer about the depression too, but it sounds like been doing well for a while now. Your list is inspiring me to get on with writing mine, and to somehow work rugby into it!
Thank you all for your kind comments. I'm amazed I actually managed to find six things.
Gyppo, I gather from your comments that you were a tubby youth - I was small and nippy, so I either ferreted around the fringes at scrum-half or stayed firmly away from the contact area on the wing.
Ms Blue, your comment opens the door for someone to make a light-hearted comment involving a reference to the rugby position "hooker", or "oddly-shaped balls", but it ain't gonna be me.
Gadjo, I look forward to hearing about your random things.
Hello, MC. Your six things are much nicer than mine, which all seem a bit grubby in comparison.
I am a depression survivor, too. I had my last bad episode 3 years ago, but it plagued me from about the age of 25. I haven't touched medication for 15 years (apart from self-medicating hemhem). My breakthrough came when someone dredged up the phrase "self-limiting illness". I don't know why, but it seemed to put it all into perspective, and at long last I could cope with episodes without thinking I would never recover, or go mad. Or madder.
Hi Mrs P.
What wise words. In my experience, the fear is (a) this will go on forever, and (b) one really is losing one's mind. Thankfully I discovered that being morbidly obsessed with one's condition is, ironically, its very cause. I've found meditation a great help, and try to think of others as much as possible, albeit extremely imperfectly.
"Thankfully I discovered that being morbidly obsessed with one's condition is, ironically, its very cause."
This is the best thing to discover, but it can still creep up without you noticing.
Right, I'm off to hunt out some oddly shaped balls so I can learn about Rugby and how to be a hooker...
Sx
Godspeed, Ms Blue.
Wales might be a good place to start, on both counts.
Wise words MC. My most useful moment of truth was when a psychologist asked me: "And who died and made you God?" It made me realise that perhaps it's OK sometimes not to be able to sort out all the world's problems myself.
You could always tell the Rugby Union players at Uni. by the teeth marks. One friend had his head shaved one time and we were astonished to find the imprint of a deep bite mark at the cranial apex. Mind you, he played the game in Batley, where they'd have mouths big enough for the trick.
I wonder what's in crab sticks. I assume it's not crab.
I loved rugby at school. I was a fly half, and noted for my stoat-like swerving and violent fingers.
Nowadays I try to replicate this when driving.
depression is a bummer, and I don´t say that as a throw away comment. I reckon most creative people get it, some fall into its pitt and that´s tragic, but if you make it through, you´ll be stronger than most - and certainly have a better sense of humour...
MC - I was indeed a tubby youth, and matured (if that's the right word) into a tubby adult via one severe bout of amoebic dysentery during which I lost 25% of my entire bodyweight.
At the risk of upsetting those with depression, I have in contrast been blessed with a flippant attitude to life which has nonetheless proved a burden at times. I foresee a future blog entry about the incident with the crucifix, the ill-timed bon mot and the nun, which nearly led to my being burnt as a heretic.
Nice one, MCW. I'd also be interested in a longer posting about your bouts of depression. Any chance of doing one soon (before I hit the next downward slope)?
Gyppo, you make a common but/and extremely irritating mistake. Depression is not the same as feeling sad/pissed off/miserable etc. In fact, I have often felt quite cheerful whilst in the grip of an episode. What you feel is mad: disengaged, erratic, antsy, and almost indescribably bored and boring. Sometimes there is anxiety, anger and fear, but it's mainly the feeling of being trapped under glass that's the worst. You can see and hear what's going on, but you don't really care.
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