{"id":37572,"date":"2013-05-18T00:07:11","date_gmt":"2013-05-18T07:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=37572"},"modified":"2013-05-18T00:07:11","modified_gmt":"2013-05-18T07:07:11","slug":"i-should-have-been-in-the-movies-merit-badge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/37572","title":{"rendered":"I Should Have Been in the Movies Merit Badge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/a>, now with 4,945 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20146,765 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my<\/span> former life<\/a> \u2026 <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For this week\u2019s Each Other\/I Should Have Been in the Movies! Merit Badge<\/a>, I had to conquer a lifelong fear. A phobia. Not spiders, those misunderstood little gentlemen of the buggy world. Not heights, which give me a delicious, butterflies-in-the-ol\u2019-tummy kind of thrill. Not deep water, which only makes me practice my mermaid kicks and hair tossing. Not even the dark, which just makes me crave warm milk and a nap. No, no, my fear is of …\u00a0public speaking.<\/p>\n

I know. You\u2019re shocked, right? I kinda am, too. I mean, I\u2019m an exuberant personality! A talkative gal! If I were to write my autobiography, it\u2019d be chock full of exclamation points!!!!!!!!<\/p>\n

!!<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s something about putting me on stage, or *gulp* focusing a camera on Yours Truly, and I freeze.<\/p>\n

Just ask my third grade teacher, Miss Trunchbull, who demoted me from Pretty Princess to Rock #4 faster than you could say, Speak up, Miss Jane, I can\u2019t hear a word you\u2019re saying over all that melodramatic knee knocking.<\/i><\/p>\n

Memories. Some light the corners of your mind and some just need to be buried under a mountain of chocolate pudding.<\/p>\n

\"movies_MBA-Jane-6036\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But anyway, for this particular badge, I simply needed to write down all the directions for acquiring said badge, gather my materials, and practice<\/b> telling my tale. Not so bad. It\u2019s the Intermediate Level that has me all tied up in nervous knots. That\u2019s when I perform in front of a live audience.<\/p>\n

For a little rehearsal though, I brought in my girls, my chickadees, my compadres in crime, my feather bedecked girlfriends, Paisley, Toile, and Calico. They never judge. Also, they ignore me, which I felt was helpful to my nerves at this juncture. I was also so distracted by keeping them out of my chocolate pudding (organic, homemade, and fair trade, of course) that my nerves stayed at the minimum frazzled level.<\/p>\n

As audiences go, I wouldn\u2019t say they were the most interactive or involved, or even, say, present, but my little rehearsal went a long way towards calming me. Next, I propped up my full length mirror. We are our own worst critic, isn\u2019t that what they say? So, I figured, if I don\u2019t boo myself off stage, I\u2019m golden.<\/p>\n

I picked a badge I\u2019ve already earned, put on my no-nonsense pantsuit, took a deep breath, and plunged right in. I had a lovely intro, some light ice breaker joking, a step-by-step bullet list, and a time at the end for a little Q and A.<\/p>\n

(That\u2019s Questions and Answers for you new to\u00a0public speaking.)<\/p>\n

I was surprised at the maturity of the Qs and impressed by the immediacy and accuracy of the As. I was on point. On fire. I was also very relieved not to be heckled: another fear.<\/p>\n

I think (slurping chocolate pudding) I am totally ready for the Intermediate Level Merit Badge. Bring it on!\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,945 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20146,765 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ Wondering … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gladsome_sisters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}