blog.jj5.net (2003 to 2005)

Red Faces

Wed Jan 19 09:03:00 UTC+1100 2005

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I found that when I was in high-school and I needed to speak in front of a group of people (recital, speech, etc.) that I would go totally red.

I imagine I still would, it's just that I haven't made an appearance in front of an 'audience' for many years. Most of my interactions are textual, or in a small group around a table.

It was funny, because the 'red face' wasn't something I could control, but my emotional state was. So I didn't fumble and stuff up like an embarrassed person. Although I did at first, primarily because as soon as my face went red I became embarrassed by my face! After a while I learned to get over it, and just carry on, but I never learned to control it.

I was just sitting here remembering a monologue of Othello's that I had to recite in year 11. I remember that I got one of the best marks in the grade for that assignment. I'd worked very hard to recall every line, and had worked hard on my expression, etc. for weeks. As I remember I only made the tiniest little mistake, and recovered from it quite well. I didn't say 'um', or stall once. But my face! It was so red.

The cool thing was that nobody knew this time. Before it was my turn to perform, I walked out of the class, went to the toilet, and got changed into a make-shift costume that I'd smuggled into school. But also, I got *mascara* and painted my face and ears totally black! :)

That wasn't actually a requirement, everyone else had just done the recital, but I thought I'd do things a little differently (and most people were pretty impressed, because it was kind of a cool idea).

Anyway, as an unplanned bonus of having my entire face covered in mascara, no-one was able to tell that my face went red when it did..

John.

p.s. Mascara is really hard to get off your face.


Copyright © 2003-2005 John Elliot