Marlborough Expirement

Well things didn't exactly go as I had planned. On Tuesday of last week I decided I might as well get the weeks challenge over early (kinda liken it to a band aid if you pull it off fast, in theory it doesn't hurt as much) and decided to head to Marlborough after work on Wednesday. Well lets just say Wednesday was not at all like I had planned.


First I was awakened at 4:30am by my mother, my dad was having a heart attack. So by the time we called 911 and rushed over to the hospital it was pushing 6am. Now, I did call 911 but I don't think that counts, neither does talking with the paramedics since I didn't really introduce myself to them, and it really wasn't a social setting, rather a forced meeting.

To make a long story short, we were at the hospital all day between Rocky View and the Foothills, tests and a successful Angioplasty. So I never did get to Marlborough. So with this weeks challenge in mind, I decided what better place to meet people than at the hospital. I sure wasn't lacking for a friendly, and some not so friendly, faces. So shortly before lunch I worked up the courage to go ahead and do it.

Well, OK that didn't really work out. I made myself so nervous I actually had to puke, not to mention I had at least one panic attack, which if you remember the fact I was visiting the Cardiac ICU, well lets put it this way, I'm not quite sure if the Nurse thought I was a visitor or a patient. It went on this way for most of the day with the big moment not coming until close to 7 that evening. Now you can imagine how i looked, felt and probably smelled like after being awake and at the hospital since 4:30am, but wouldn't you know it, pretty much everyone at the hospital looked, felt and some definitely smelled the same!


At about 7 I finally worked up the courage to talk to a lady in the Cardiac ICU waiting room. Her name was Linda and her husband had had a heart attack the day before and was waiting for open heart surgery. Lovely lady and I found out her husband had his surgery and was doing well before leaving. What did I learn from all this? Well the main lesson is this wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. The anticipation was far worse than the actual doing. I also learned that not everyone judges because you look a certain way, or talk with an accent, most are kind, decent people. I learned that I can completely make myself sick with thoughts alone. And I learned, you can conquer fear if you face it head on with a plan and some positive self talk.


Next weeks challenge comes to us courtesy of my friend Z, who was one of the first people I met when I moved to C-Town. He has always been baffled by the fact I never post, or like to look at pictures of myself. So he wants me to challenge myself to post an actual picture of myself on at least my Facebook profile for at least a week. Quite the challenge since I don't actually have a picture of myself that I would even consider posting. When I pointed this out to Z he was quick to remind me I'm somewhat of a photographer so I can easily take a picture of myself, well since I couldn't come up with a clever reply to that, I accepted the challenge.



If you have any suggestions for future challenges please comment. I will try to do as many as possible.

14 comments:

Dylf said...

...hope your pappy is doin' ok...glad your experiment went well...suggestion for an upcoming challenge...KARAOKE!!!

Anonymous said...

GP Bailout!!! im sorry to hear about your dad, but good for you!

Anonymous said...

gp bailout

BD said...

I hope your Dad is doing okay too. I have to second Dylf on the karaoke thing. Just don't try to follow him.

B-Rush said...

Enjoyed the post Bailout, and I hope your Dad recovers. My mom's in the hospital right now as well, and actually (assuming you HAVE somebody to see there...) The hospital can be a VERY friendly place.

Everyone is there for the same reason. Nobody WANTS to be there. And Everyone just wants a little compassion.

Anonymous said...

GP Bailout!

love the site quote up top BAD hahaha

Anonymous said...

its people like the ones frmo BADs post that leads to issues like Bailout has

Anonymous said...

well said B-Rush

Kelann said...

Well.... she might need to wait a bit for a night of karaoke with you guys.... although, if you offer to take up the tab for some 'social lubricant' it might be easier...

I'm glad that experiment went well for you! It certainly seems like you're a fast learner, and quick to realize that sometimes reality is a bit different than how we think.

The picture thing will be super easy for you!! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

gp bailout :) she never comments! shes mysterios

Anonymous said...

gp bailout :)

Anonymous said...

thanks guys! The picture is actually harder than the meeting someone! stay tuned! Dad is doing well thankfull! B-Rush hope your mom is doing well! Karaoke is something I've always wanted to do...maybe I can do a sample with the myspace Karaoke site then maybe in person - with enough "social lubricant"!

Anonymous said...

Dylf is all about the lube............

Dylf said...

....You stole my comment....bwahahahah....