Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Challenge: Impromptu Speeches

This is part of the weekly Blogging Challenge over at Long and Short Reviews. If you'd like to participate, you can find the prompts here. They also put up a post every Wednesday where you go and link your response -- and see everyone else's. Check out their homepage to find it.

The challenge for this week is "topics I could give an impromptu speech on".

So let's see... what do I have for this? Well, in no particular order:
  1. Roleplaying Games - Dungeons and Dragons is easily the most famous of these, but there are hundreds of them. I could give an impromptu speech with examples with no notice at all.
  2. Documenting Your Work - this is actually a really critical skill, and it's on my mind in part because my department has made things more difficult by failing to document a great many important things.
  3. The Pros and Cons of Parenting - There are good reasons to want to be a parent. There are good reasons not to want to be a parent. I could give an impromptu speech explaining why both approaches are valid at any time.
  4. Choosing A Martial Arts School - I'm no longer a practicing martial artist and I've been out of training for years, but I can still give a good overview of what to look for and how to decide what you want. Just don't ask me to beat up bad guys in the process.
  5. The Vital Importance Of Keeping The Bacon Away From The Dog - I could go on about this one for hours, honestly. But. I'm. Not. Bitter...
So, what are your topics?

21 comments:

  1. I definitely would enjoy hearing your speech on this topic: "The Vital Importance Of Keeping The Bacon Away From The Dog", Michael. :) Great post!

    Here's mine: https://www.marymorganauthor.com/post/long-and-short-reviews-weekly-blog-challenge-04-08-20

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    1. It is a timely and compelling topic, is it not?

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  2. Haha, pros and cons of parenting! That one hits me hard right now, as my 2-year-old has been throwing a tantrum all morning. Great post!

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    1. Mine are nine and thirteen, and they're doing school from home right now and it's... definitely a challenge.

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  3. I too was a pr acting martial artist, hold a black belt in Taekwondo. it's been a while. Enjoyed your post. Here's mine. https://www.tenastetler.com/lsrs-wednesdays-blog-challenge-topics-impromptu-speech/

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  4. You mean I shouldn't be giving my dog left over bacon? She is getting fat. https://pmprescott.blogspot.com/2020/04/wc-040820.html

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    1. What is this "left over" bacon you speak of? I do not understand this concept.

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  5. Documenting your work is critical no matter what you're doing! Great one.

    What should one look for in a good martial arts school?

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    1. There's a couple of things, starting with what you want out of the art: high-intensity exercise? Health and flexibility benefits? Self-defense? Competition? After that, you start looking at which styles offer the things you want, and then you start looking at teaching styles, atmosphere, the way their current students have progressed, and things like that.

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  6. The dog might take off the hand if the bacon is in it and it's not forthcoming. I know that first class. But then again, I do enjoy bacon, so it's generally not where the dog can get to it. As for documenting your work, that's so important. I never remember to do that when I make jewelry and then i can't remember HOW i did it. I'm so bad.

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    1. Yeah, now extrapolate that to computer systems... ("What's the password for this account?" "Um... so-and-so might know?")

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  7. I loved RPG's when I was younger! Vampire: The Masquerade was a favorite of mine, although my husband and my friends introduced me to D&D first.

    I'd like to add to #5 with How to keep your kitten out of the French fries. She was barely 11 weeks old and stole one right off my daughter's plate. Haha!

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    1. Clever kitty! But I think that would have to be #6. Dogs and Kittens require very different strategies.

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    2. This is very true! And she's a brat, but we love her. Mostly. :)

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  8. The only video game I ever played was Pong, back in the 70's. It was boring, so I've never been interested to try anything else. Raised 4 kids who are gamers, and teenagers are always trying to interest me in the games on their phones that they're not supposed to be playing in class, even when the sub is there. But I'm still not interested.

    As for bacon, the dog would have a real fight on his hands. My kids call them my "mom-isms", but one of them is as we walk into a breakfast place, and I announce they need to kill another pig because I just walked in and I'm hungry! Or I need an IV for my coffee, so the waitress has time to take care of other diners.

    When I did have a dog, I'd put the bacon grease on her kibbles. Normally she was a self-feeder, eating from the always full bowl of kibbles whenever she felt hungry. But when I'd douse it with bacon grease, she'd finish off the whole bowl and look at me longingly.

    Ah, bacon! That and popcorn are the two foods that if I smell them, even if I've just had a 6-course meal, I have to eat some--NOW!

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    1. Okay, so... I have a co-worker who saves his bacon grease and mixes it with butter and applies it to his stove-top popcorn. It is... AMAZING.

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  9. I’m all in for the parenting one. And choosing a martial arts school. Actually, more for a very active 8 year old. Help!

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    1. If you could afford it and the world weren't on lockdown, I'd recommend a mix of dance, gymnastics, and martial arts for a very active eight-year-old. But you definitely have my sympathies!

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  10. I could follow up with the vital importance of keeping pizza away from the cat...

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