Lifescouts #6

First of all, three musicians/bands you should check out RIGHT NOW.
Stu Larsen (recommended songs Seaforth Mackenzie and King Street)
Dirt Farmer (their entire repertoire is incredible but particularly Johnny Marble and She Shakes)
Francolin (EVERYTHING)

Go, go, go!

also, 
Lifescouts badge awarding time, because it's been a while.
The Gymnastics Badge.
My parents decided to enrol me in gymnastics when i was about four or five, of course when you're that young it's apparently called 'play gym', because you don't get to the 'serious stuff' until later in life.
sadly my short-lived gymnastics experience was not one filled with laughter and warm memories. No, it was mostly fear, intimidation, psychological injuries and a few physical ones, not to mention being forced to sport terrible-quality yellow face paint for the end of year presentation, in which lies a psychological injury.
but i digress.
One of the negatives (in my five year old mind) of gymnastics was the fact that we had to travel between obstacles or whatever they're called in a single file line, and this was made worse by the fact that i happened to always end up second-last in line. which would not have been so bad if not for the horrible brat of a child that always happened to bring up the rear of said line, and who would always, without fail, proceed to shove me along when we were moving from one obstacle to another. this was not fun. to add further stress to my psychological welfare was the expectation to perform a somersault-flip thing on the bars. which i can perform now without any trouble, but to a five-year-old, hurling yourself headfirst and temporarily upside-down over a metal bar with only the hard gymnasium floor to cushion your blow (there was probably a mat but this is a trauma tale) is nothing short of terrifying. where was the guarantee that i would make it ut of this seemingly impossible feat alive, without the very real possibility of smashing my head on the ground, should i fail? to make matters even worse, the gymnastics instructor, to my memory, was not one for providing much in the way of assurance and encouragement. 
At least i only had to go once a week, and after the allotted time, i was allowed to return to my safe, comfortable life of playgrounds, classrooms, and a prep teacher whom i adored. 
but alas, little did i know, the playground i so dearly cherished also held hidden threats which would come to draw a line under the whole business (this being my fear of gymnastics)

basically, I was walking around the oval at school with my across-the-road neighbour, when we happened upon a balance beam. she convinced me to walk along it, which i did, only to fall off the balance beam, graze my shins and bang my chin on my knee, causing further injuries in the way of a bloody lip and a lost tooth. ergo, psychological trauma, no more gymnastics for me, but also i think  the rightful acquisition of the pertaining lifescouts award. here is my badge.