Chapter sixty-one :
Thanks to this blog, week after week, we have kept in touch, and now, nearly one year and a half later, I think we are kind of 'cyber friends'.
Even if you are still a bit shy when it comes to posting comments, your cheerful and friendly mails let me think that you are always up for a good time, quick on the draw, and never short of jokes, and even pranks ! (Come on, L..., I know you are not a chicken, but you, bungee-jumping ? My foot !).
Your encouragements, even over dumb little things, show me that I can keep on sharing big news, funny mishaps, and awfully embrarrassing blunders, with you. And I hope you'll share back. Confessing little secrets and getting that weight off one's shoulders is such a relief !
Yet, don't expect me to turn my blog into a reality show ! There are already way too many on telly ! Sometimes I wonder how long broadcasters will continue flooding the airwaves with garbage !
But that's another topic, and I won't tackle it because you would notice how touchy and narrow-minded I happen to be !
So, this week you'll have to content yourselves with one of my worst school memories.
I'm sure, most of you, looking back through your school years, can recall a misguided teacher disparaging your work, and negative comments carried like a chain and ball for years, not to say , sometimes up to now !
My Mrs Negative Comments was a drawing teacher in primary school. Well, I must confess I was not good at drawing, actually it was my worst subject.
I enjoyed tracing from books ( maps for the geography class, for example), but when it came to sketching, it seemed my right hand did not belong to me any longer !
No matter how hard I strived to apply the teacher's techniques, it always appeared I did not have an inborn talent !
To be honest, I was hopeless !
I even wonder if books such as " drawing for dummies " would have been of any use !
So, one day when Mrs Negative Comments told us that for Mother's Day we would paint a bunch of flowers, I felt petrified. Sure, I was heading for failure !
Anyway, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do !
As we could choose which flowers to paint, I decided on pansies. They were my mum's favorites, and I thought their petals shoudl not be too difficult to draw.
And it proved true !
Then, I took out my tubes of paint, my paintbrush, my palette, and Dany Da Vinci started her masterpiece :
emerald green for the stems, bottle green for the leaves, purple and yellow for the petals and black for the hearts .
For once, the result was quite satisfying. My bunch nearly looked real !
( Self-compliments are excellent self-esteem boosters ).
In those days, I already got gung-ho easily, and as you must have noticed all throughout the different chapters, whenever it happens, most of the time everything goes wrong.
That time was not the exception that proves the rule ...
So, there I was, admiring my painting, when suddenly my inner artist woke up. That bunch was far too common ! My mum deserved something more ! Something more personal, a kind of lucky charm !
A lucky charm ? Bingo ! I had found the idea ! I would paint a ladybird on one of the petals ! A long-time good luck symbol would be a priceless present for Mother's Day !
One spot too many on the ladybird's wings, and budda-bing, budda-boom !!
The spot turned into a blot !!
Never mind ! After all, the bigger, the luckier ! Anyway, I had done my best, and I had poured my heart into it. That was of the essence !!
Then, as the art class time was nearly over, the teacher came around to check what we had done. She stopped close to me, took my work and waving it, said nastily :
" Did you know that tortoises lived on flowers ? Well, now you do ! ".
My schoolmates burst out laughing ( let's face it : children can be cruel toward others !), and the only thing I could do was to sneak out of the room.
I was mortified and on the verge of tears !!
Mrs Negative Comments'remark echoed in my mind for long ,and even now colouring books remind me of her hurtful comments !!
Now, tell me, what about you ? Do you have a Mr or Mrs Negative Comments buried in you memory, too ?
Did you experience school upsetting and confusing incidents remembered for years ?
If so, it's time to let them out ! You'll feel better afterwards !
If not, well, it means either you were the teachers'pet or you were the
top pupil !!
Anyway , let me know quickly !!!!
Have a nice week !
Have a nice week !
