One hot, seemingly innocuous February morning this year, I ventured into The Futuresphere, sphere, sphere, sphere, sphere (you get the idea), and I’ve never been the same since.
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| Amanda Kendle Augustin |
Yes I know you want to hear about Dexter it’s coming I promise, but I need to say this now. In fact I needed to say it in my first post, but the flood of inspirational people and events in my periphery, kept carrying me off in other directions. So I have to do this now.
Having climbed the stairs and entered ‘The Sphere’, I was welcomed by the friendly face of Amanda, and waited while 18 fellow explorers arrived. Like any time you find yourself in ‘a zone’, time passed quickly and before I knew it I was being asked to leave. Back at home my mind raced about the things I had seen, the stories I’d heard, and so it wasn’t long before I needed another fix.
For a while I coped quite well on my own, putting into practice the many tricks I’d learnt that afternoon. Through the internet I could see that other sphere dwellers were also putting their newly acquired skills to work. Amanda had taught us well, very well. She’d spent the whole day freely sharing all her knowledge and tips, along with a few photos of her cat, all the while thinking about her precious little boy, who was at home experiencing his first full day without his mum. It was fairly clear who was experiencing the greatest separation anxiety.
My eternal quest for self improvement has led me to enrol in a lot of courses over the years, but rarely have I walked away and put the teachings straight into practice. Yet that’s how it was with Amanda’s UWA Summer School course on blogging at Christchurch Grammar Schools Futuresphere Computer Lab. Not only did she spend hours patiently answering our myriad of inane questions, she also generously answered more than one panicked email sent in her direction in the weeks that followed. The fact that this blog exists after only a few short weeks, and even more bewilderingly, that I can maintain it, is a testament to her teaching.
Amanda has been blogging since 2005, and describes herself as an “Australian travel addict, writer and teacher, who is now based in Australia after living in Germany, Slovakia, and Japan, as well as visiting over 30 countries”. She is very well known and respected in the blogging world and is most known for her travel blog which is intriguingly called http://www.notaballerina.com/ It has great posts, photos and travel guides for anyone about to jet off. It also gives you links to all her other blogs etc.
So with The Ponder Room now firmly in place I’m left pondering:
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How to pay it forward for Amanda. I guess the best way is to say that I’d genuinely recommend that, if you see her courses listed in the UWA Extension Booklet, do think about going. Alternatively go check out her blogs.
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On second thoughts should I really be thanking Amanda, or sending her my optician and counsellors bills, as I have a feeling this addiction is only going to get stronger.
4 Comments
Glennys, you’re way too flattering. But I’m so pleased that you got so much out of the course and I’m thoroughly enjoying visiting The Ponder Room regularly! I hope you do end up only thanking me but blogging can be a bit of an addictive problem …
My absolute pleasure Amanda.
Amanda is a very clever lady. I went to her first course and I thought it was fantastic!
totally agree