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Something New - Month Nine
Jan. 16th, 2021 02:00 pmMuch to my surprise I do actually have a couple of new things I've done this month, both of which definitely come under the 'not sure if this is me, but I'll give it a go' category - which really is what this goal is all about.
Firstly, as I've said before (and will no doubt continue to say) I volunteer for a charity called Gloucestershire Bundles, who are a local baby bank. One of the things they give out is good condition pre-loved toys and games. As you can imagine they receive a quantity of items as donations, and one job is to check the jigsaws to make sure the pieces are all there. Recently they were appealling for volunteers to help check jigsaws - a task which can be done in lockdown. I debated about it, because I already have a time commitment with them, but decided to give it a go. Which, it turns out, was a good move, because instead of playing online games when I want an occupation at times when I just want to mentally switch off, and then feeling vaguely dissatisfied at the wasted time when I could have been writing etc, I can do something which uses as little brain power and I feel like I have done something useful. It certainly needs doing - out of my initial box of 10 puzzles, 6 had a piece either broken or missing.
Secondly, I'm a keen follower of Matthew Bourne's New Adventures company. So when they posted a tweet saying there was an online dance class for the Over-55s being held the following day I thought I'd check out the details. I wasn't sure, but since it was only £6 for what I thought was a one hour class, I decided it might be fun and there really wasn't much to lose. It was excellent - and it lasted for two hours plus introduction. They're running a couple more classes in the next two months and I've already signed up.
Although the main FutureLearn courses don't start until Monday, over the last couple of weeks I've been getting back into the routine by taking two Level 1 Language Tasters for Global Communication run by Kings College, London in French and Spanish. They were okay and served their purpose in preparation for courses coming up. It didn't hurt to run through some very basic French and Spanish, just to feel like one day I may use them again.
I also continued with the Open University art courses, covering Art & Visual Culture - Medieval to Modern, Art in Renaissance Venice and Dutch Painting of the Golden Age. A mixed collection of subjects, but will be useful once we visit art galleries again.
Firstly, as I've said before (and will no doubt continue to say) I volunteer for a charity called Gloucestershire Bundles, who are a local baby bank. One of the things they give out is good condition pre-loved toys and games. As you can imagine they receive a quantity of items as donations, and one job is to check the jigsaws to make sure the pieces are all there. Recently they were appealling for volunteers to help check jigsaws - a task which can be done in lockdown. I debated about it, because I already have a time commitment with them, but decided to give it a go. Which, it turns out, was a good move, because instead of playing online games when I want an occupation at times when I just want to mentally switch off, and then feeling vaguely dissatisfied at the wasted time when I could have been writing etc, I can do something which uses as little brain power and I feel like I have done something useful. It certainly needs doing - out of my initial box of 10 puzzles, 6 had a piece either broken or missing.
Secondly, I'm a keen follower of Matthew Bourne's New Adventures company. So when they posted a tweet saying there was an online dance class for the Over-55s being held the following day I thought I'd check out the details. I wasn't sure, but since it was only £6 for what I thought was a one hour class, I decided it might be fun and there really wasn't much to lose. It was excellent - and it lasted for two hours plus introduction. They're running a couple more classes in the next two months and I've already signed up.
Although the main FutureLearn courses don't start until Monday, over the last couple of weeks I've been getting back into the routine by taking two Level 1 Language Tasters for Global Communication run by Kings College, London in French and Spanish. They were okay and served their purpose in preparation for courses coming up. It didn't hurt to run through some very basic French and Spanish, just to feel like one day I may use them again.
I also continued with the Open University art courses, covering Art & Visual Culture - Medieval to Modern, Art in Renaissance Venice and Dutch Painting of the Golden Age. A mixed collection of subjects, but will be useful once we visit art galleries again.
