Busy, busy bee

Nearly a month since my last post. I read somewhere that when you're busy living life you don't have time to write about it. Maybe it's just an excuse but I have been very busy lately (even busier than usual). Apart from the thing at the Cinnamon Cafe I did a couple of open mikes last month, Poetry Bites at the Kitchen Garden Cafe and Pure and Good and Right at the Fox in Leamington where I saw the award winning Tony Walsh who can make you laugh and cry in equal measures. He invited me to post some of my stuff on the www.writeout loud.net website. I will do - just not had time yet. Check it out if you have time there are some good people on it. It also has UK wide listings of poetry events.

At the moment I've got my head down in research on how to turn my house into an HMO. If you have any experience of this I'd love to hear from you. I knew how far I was in when I woke up this morning and realized that I'd forgotton my belly dance class last night. I NEVER DO THAT. Especially after the brilliant workshop I attended on Sunday run my Melissa Abrahams. After 3 and a half hours every muscle in my body ached - especially my abs and glutes.

Its my son's birthday today, I've got to prepare for co-running a creative writing workshop with Writers Without Borders tomorrow (with the font of so much knowledge Sue Brown) and I can't wait to see my friend Michelle who is here from Canada and coming to spend the weekend with me.

I'll try and post things I'm in before I do them in future. Sorry Geoff for not letting you know what I was up to. Thanks for the text. A timely reminder.

Cinnamon Cafe very sweet

It was worth the travel to Bridgnorth on Tuesday night. The first act - a fiddle and guitar band were great. Then we had a poet (Trevor) followed by a reading because the main music act couldn't make it due to illness. The music in the second act (by their own admission) was under rehearsed. Then it was me. I tested out some new poems and got a a really good response. I'll definitely use that set again and I got a good set of recordings too. The evening ended with a storyteller. Did I mention that they keep a good cellar?

Porn on Channel 4

'Do you know what kind of porn your teenager could be watching on the internet?' That was the question a group of parents were asked today for a new C4 series on how and where teenagers get their sex education from these days. Me and two other couples were shown a number of porn sites and asked for our reaction to them. Maybe it's my past life as a biology teacher or maybe I'm just out of touch with current thinking about what teenagers should know but I was not as horrified as the others. Most of the sites showed either people in various acts of intercourse or various parts of the body in close up. Only three of the sites did I find unacceptable. One because it had models who looked like they could have been children; one because it had an image of what appeared to be quite a sadistic act and the other because it showed someone eating shit. While the others were all in agreement about these sites I seemed to be at odds them over the others. Children - especially teenagers know far more than parents like to think; and mostly it is only out of respect for their parents that they keep it a secret. The programme is going to be aired as part of a series in September. I've been invited back for a studio discussion. That should be interesting.

Cinnamon Cafe 1st July

A few weeks ago I agreed to do a set (poetry) at Cinnamon Cafe in Bridgnorth. I can't believe how quickly its come round. I'm there tomorrow night at 8.00 p.m. The details are on the up and coming page of my website www.predencia.co.uk Thanks to those of you who are coming - would be good to see a few more. Its a good night, they don't just have poets - there's music, storytelling and comedy - and really yummy home made cakes and snacks. They keep a nice cellar too and only £3.00 on the door.

What a weekend!

It feels like my strategy for getting exposure is definitely working. It started when I got back from Spain last Sunday. There was a call from SB (Writers Without Borders) to ask if I'd do a radio promotion on NewStyle Radio the next morning. Fortunately I was free and managed to get an airing for a poem I'd only completed the day before while still in Spain.

Friday night I was dancing at the Bellydance Hafla in Sutton Coldfield - unfortunately not my best as a) I was knackered and b) I didn't know the dance that well. It was, however, great fun. I even stayed behind to join in the free for all dancing at the end - obviously gaining in confidence being able to put a small routine together.

Saturday was the WWB Fantastico evening with Infusion Ensamble - part of Refugee Week. We were a poetry group which included refugees and a band made up entirely of refugees from different countries. I had the prevelige of performing my poem 'Run Refugee Run' with the drummer of the band, Zirak. Thanks Zirak for bringing a new dimention to the poem. Look out for a clip on my website soon. It was a great night- everyone was up and dancing by the end. Infusion Ensamble will be performing again at the Yardbird in Birmingham on 6th July - part of Birmingham Jazz Festival and it all for free.

And then today me and Ester from WWB did an hour interview with two charming teenage presenters at Unity FM Radio. How do you answer the question 'What is poetry?' It was a great opportunity to air some of my earlier poems and another chance to do 'Run Refugee Run' and to remind myself how much I enjoy working with young people.

ITVs Great Biritsh Body

Thanks to everyone who watched Trinny and Suzanna's Great Birtish Body Monday 2nd to Wed 4th June. I missed Monday night because I was singing with Birmingham International Voices (BIVS) at Birmingham Council House . It was the presentation ceremony for the students graduating from The College for International Citizenship. It was the second time I'd done it and have been very moved by the whole thing on both occasions. I love the Council House, and especially the Banqueting Suite where the presentations are held. The rich reds and golds are so beautifully complemented by the stunning colours of the floral and plant arrangements.

I got home just in time to catch the last five minutes of The Great British Body but was able to watch all of Tuesday and Wednesday night episodes. Now, I'm not usually a fan of Trinny and Suzanna but could really sign up to what they were trying to do in this series, which was to get people to love and appreciate the bodies they are in now - even if they are working towards change. It is very much in keeping with my own philosophy in life. Living in the present.

Watching Tuesday night I was amazed at how much I missed even though I was at the Birmingham road show. I didn't see any of that rating stuff, or the announcement of the results of the fat gene tests. Last night was also an eye opener as to what went on before I arrived at the big tent that bright and breezy moning on April 26th. I didn't realize that they were panicing that there wouldn't be enough people to make the statues. Watching it brought it all back and it was great to finally see the sculptures from the air.

Thanks SAS for recroding all of them for me. I'm looking forward to watching again my fear and elation as the day unfolded. It will be a reminder of how it was possible to overcome some of my deepest taboos. I must say I was a bit taken aback by how many wilies were on show ln the tv - also a bit pleased that so many people were willing to just let it all hang out. At the end of the day I think it was Trinny and Suzanna who were a bit reserved on the day, but fair play to them - they did, as they put it - get thier kit off. Check out the pics on the ITV website.

The wonders of NLP

This weekend I qualified as an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) Practitioner. NLP studies three areas: Neurology - the mind and how we think; Linguistics - how we use language and how it affects us; and Programming - how we sequence our actions to acheive our goals.

There are many training courses out there all adopting different ways of delivering the training. Some work with small groups, others with groups of say 30+ and those by the likes of Paul MaKenna work with groups of 300+. I was fortunate enough to be on a course with 5 other people and two facilitators. It felt at times that I was getting 1:1 tuition. It wasn't the cheapest but I've come away feeling extremely well equipted to practice. Doing the course over seven weeks meant that I could work with the techniques as I learned them with existing clients and friends who wanted to shift some of their long held limiting beliefs and blocks to acheiving their goals.

The techniques are amazing. One of the guys on the course had a phobia of frogs. Using NLP and systematic desenitization he went from being terrified of being anywhere near a frog to holding one in his bare hands within an hour. Fear of flying came tumbling too within a very short space of time. Confidence was built and food habits broken. The great thing is that these things happened so very quickly.

I'm really looking forward to specializing in dealing with anger using NLP and have already got two people who are keen to get going. I'll keep you posted on how they got on. (No names of course)

If you're interested in the course I did contact Julie French or Tony Burgess at the Academy for High Achievers at http://www.aha-success.com/ info@aha-success.com or call them on 0845 373 4028