Eight Random Personal Facts
There are a few of these memes circulating, some involving seven random facts and some involving eight. Again, I waited so long after being tagged the first time (by Savvyology) that a couple other bloggers (NancyE at WaterFall’s Paranormal Life and One Mystical Monkey)
tagged me in the meanwhile.
So now to business.
The Rules
-
Reveal seven (or eight) random facts about yourself in a blog post.
Include these rules in the post.
Tag seven (or eight) other bloggers, listing their names in the post.
The Reveal
- Ran the quarter mile and mile relay in high school track.
- Was voted “Shyest” my senior year in high school.
- Kept a pet caiman (south american alligator) in the bath tub at college.
- My wife and I were taking a nap with our week-old son (our first) when we were rudely awakened by the Loma Prieta earthquake. That was frightening on several levels.
- Hated - hated - oral reports in grade school, but eventually learned to give talks in front of groups of a hundred after a few years of ministry training with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
- Am in the process of working on an oil painting of Sri Ananda Moyima.
- My two favorite TV series in recent years are Heroes and The 4400.
- Married for 20 years (this November).
Solicitations for additional details are welcome.
(It seems this meme has saturated the pool of bloggers that I’d consider for tagging, so I’ll forego that step. 
)
“Hated - hated - oral reports in grade school, but eventually learned to give talks in front of groups of a hundred after a few years of ministry training with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
HA!
Same experience here, and same cure. At school, it was seldom possible for the whole class to give their reports on the same day. So I would fervently wish…hope…plead….did I pray….to be passed over on that first day. But….if my prayer was answered….what a nasty answer it was, for then I would have the weekend to stew over it!
Yep, I was soooooo self-conscious. Even at age 25 I can remember how much I was sweating before my first Bible reading assignment in front of the congregation. Amazing what a little perseverance and confidence in the value of what you are doing can do. And I do appreciate the high quality training offered by the ministry school.
Thanks for sharing. I would be very interested in the process for training to do door to door visitations for the Jehovas Witnesses, was that part of your Ministry?
Hi Mark. Training for the door-to-door work was covered in weekly meetings, which presented information on how to start conversations, overcome objections, and how to make arrangments for returning if the householder showed interest. Every time a new publication came out for use in the ministry or a new campaign began, they would present demonstrations on how to present the material. It’s funny because I spot the same techniques used by telemarketers, and this has helped me avoid getting sucked into signing up for something I really didn’t want.
That’s just a quick overview. So much more is covered with regard to how to use the Bible, adapting the approach based on the neighborhood and the person answering the door, how to dress, etc.
The rest of the training involved just getting out there and doing it - maybe first just sharing a scripture or a tract, but then advancing to full presentations.
Hope this answered your question.
- “Kept a pet caiman (south american alligator) in the bath tub at college.” - LOL
Did it attack anyone?
Hehe … no, it was pretty small, although it would take a nip at you if you tried to touch it and weren’t careful. But in the tub it just laid on a rock and stared at you which was somewhat unnerving whenever you had to use the toilet.
Wow Chris! I learned all that stuff from selling insurance door to door. Now it helps me get rid of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (and Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists)at the door :)but I still can’t play solo violin in front of people.