Dying/broken/forgiven.... now I begin

Born: 17-06-56....gemini.... monkey
re-born: 3-09-80
born again\found: 14-04-08
other notable dates: 10-03-68; 03-09-87; 23-03-96;
1-05-98; 31-01-02; 5-04-04

Interests: movement, stressed/transgressive embodiment, lived experience (body\space\time\relation)
expression ( word, dance, text, image, story, music, poetics)
learning, yielding......

Hopes for the blog:
offer up the wild intersectedness of lived experience and engage others in creative, expressive, perhaps irreverant, hopefully playful, and respectful encounters....
enact kindness
create moments of pause for disclosure, discovery, stillness

Friday, May 7, 2010

Problem Solving

One of the great things about my job is that I frequently have opportunities to work in physical environments like gymnasiums and training centres and dance studios, and I frequently have opportunities to teach or facilitate learners in those environments in activities like games, dance, exercise and training, movement education..... it's quite wonderful most of the time. This aspect of my work life requires that I am certified in First Aid and CPR, and so every two or three years I have to re-certify in those competencies, since injury or death is something that all of us in the learning environment want to avoid.
So that's how I've been spending the last couple of days, re-certifying in CPR & First Aid [ this round with the added benefits of additional certifications in AED administration ( that's the layperson's version of sending an electric shock to the heart) and Anaphylaxis rescue] and experiencing the privilege of getting training that can make differences that are, literally, life changing. Scenarios are a big part of this type of training. Participants are given " real life" situations, i.e, simulations that are performed as closely to the actual crisis circumstances as possible, and have to respond with appropriate speed and correctness of decision-making and action.
During the pause before the scenarios began, we all headed to bathrooms for the pee break that necessarily precedes this level of energy expenditure. I was in process of finishing up my business when the person finishing up at the sink exited the bathroom AND TURNED OUT THE LIGHT !!! Now I am in a crisis situation of my own. By way of context I should mention for any boys who might be reading that girls have to take off half their clothes when they pee, and most of the time do it sitting down. Unimaginable, I know, but that's how it goes. That's my physical situation when the lights go out. I have to " feel my way" for the paperwork, the flush work and then had to spend a few minutes of tactile strategizing to figure out how to open the damn door of the cubicle.... is it a slide over latch, is it a turn of a knob.... the things I don't think to memorize when all I am intending to do is pee. Anyway, apparently, I made it out ( unless the phrase " super portable laptop " is going to move to a whole other level of meaning) but I have to confess that I did have to feel my way along the walls to turn ON the lights in order to wash my hands. Who knows what manner of horrific pee germs I left in my wake. Consistent with the tenor of the workshop, though, I did return before leaving at the end of the day and gave the bathroom wall a full antiseptic wipe down.
I suppose the moral of the story might be, by all means, preserve electricity, but please, think before you flick.

8 comments:

  1. What a great post...I could identify with every step....or progress through the darkness to the light
    Linda

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  2. I will keep that in mind...

    I'm wondering now if I've ever turned the lights off on someone before...hmmmm...

    Thanks for this fun post. :D

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  3. The person who turned out the lights, was not aware of their enviornment. If you had gone into cardiac arrect or choking, (with out being able to speak), She would have not even known, or cared.
    Perhaps the person leading the class should have been notified.
    Well you know, before she goes into the woman's john (pun intented), after teaching Life Support, and finding you dead, with your grab, well you get the picture!
    At the CPR Class!!

    Hey, Hey!! are you ok!!
    look for chest movement,
    you! call 911!
    you! bring the AED!
    ya'll! step back.
    Hey Lady:(My hands are on your chest! One of us is about to die)
    clear!!

    I deal everyday. People get so caught up in themselves.

    Any way you cut it,
    I would not want that person to even pretend to know CPR.

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  4. Great story H...except for the verbose interlocutor in the comment section (number 3). Lighten (meant) up numero three.

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  5. Linda-- thanks for commiserating! and I am glad you could also feel your way along.
    Derli-- aha.... at least now you will think before you flick. thanks for the visit and the comments.
    Punch-- you know, your comments have put this in a whole other light for me.... and even though you are getting the gears from your comrade, jadedj, I like how you relate the cavalier attitude to shared space to the awareness necessary to be attentive to something as detailed and other-oriented as CPR. thanks for the righteous rage.
    Jadedj-- glad you enjoyed and always happy to see healthy engagement between commenters :))

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  6. Well done and funny to read. Not so funny when you have to make the super portable laptop yourself! Glad you survived. : /

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  7. aporia--thanks for the visit; I am glad to be a decent problem solver even under trying circumstances. At least I was able to get the door of the cubicle opened.... crawling under a little door in a dark bathroom....big ick factor on a whole lot of fronts... or laps, as the case may be :D

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  8. Interesting and amusing. I "hear echoes of, and direct parallels to, my own experience of such events." Brookfield. :) I'm thinking also that when we embark on our personal crusades, we need to consider where others are in their experience and leave the lights on, so they too can find their way.

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