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BACK FROM THE BEACH
Bigger and fatter than ever
Category: General
Posted by: tim
Yes, I am back and I am fat. Chunked up a bit in Italy but don't worry, I am working on a Kekoa Bacalso style of reckless power surfing that I think will serve me well into middle age. And I am confident it is only a temporary situation, that I will shed this fleshy life preserver by summer. Hit the grounding running on my return, addressing the Australian Primary School Principal's Association's national conference, at the Gold Coast Convention Centre. Being on the Gold Coast and all, the conference's theme was 'waves of change and oceans of possibilities,' and so a surfing writer was deemed a suitable keynote speaker, alongside Dr Happy - a jovial psychologist who runs something called the "Happiness Institute," and that farmer from northern NSW who was on Australian Story, Sam Bailey, who became a quadraplegic in a car accident at 19, but has learnt to run his farm, modified his farm machinery so he can operate it, installed a winch so he can get himself into said machinery, and thus fulfilled his dream of running the farm he grew up on. Pretty Inspiring stuff. The theme for the third and final day of the conference was "how you sustain yourself as a leader of your school community" and I was asked to speak about my book 'High Surf," and the health-promoting properties of surfing. 800 people, for 45 minutes. Gulp. Managed to pull if off, but not sure how credible I was in my current bloated state. It was an honour to address the nation's primary school educators and learn about the people responsible for our kids' education, and I was impressed how on to it, professional and open minded they were, particularly to my own slightly whacky ideas about the groovy wave-like nature of existence. It is perculiarly intimidating talking to a group of principals - I felt like I was in really big trouble and I'd been sent to all the principals at once. I wasn't sure what I'd do if they played up. Who could I threaten to send them to - all the principals would be there. I considered opening with these hilarious gags but figured in the end that perhaps every speaker who addresses their association cracks the very same jokes, so chickened out. Wisely, I think, in the end.
