I D Double Dare You
Day 12
When I was growing up in the Bronx, there was always a time in school where someone issued a challenge. When they issued a challenge, it wasn’t simply, “I bet you won’t do this…”, it was a dare.
“I dare you…I double dare you!”
Later, it became, “I D Double dare you!”
I’m not sure how spelling out the D made it more powerful but it was. When you got the “D Double dare”, you just knew all eyes were on you, wondering what your next move was going to be. For the most part, the dares were harmless. I remember getting my dare in 6th grade. A friend of mine found a girl’s home phone number and dared me to call her house. He was a pretty bombastic dude. Normally, he was very loud, told jokes all the time and seemed pretty confident as 6th graders go. But, there a hitch in his giddy-up when it came to this girl. I dared him to call her. But, he responded by saying, “Nah, I D Double dare you!”
There was nothing higher than the D Double dare so I swallowed and accepted.
That evening, I plotted and waited until my parents weren’t paying attention. When I had the first moment, I picked up the phone, placed my finger in the hole on the dial and pulled it around the circle. Yes, this was a while ago. We still had rotary phones. I quickly dialed the rest of the numbers in the sequence and waited for the phone to ring. I could feel my blood pumping through my fingertips and it was as if every blood vessel became super sensitive. My heart pumped powerfully and my world transformed into a slow motion movie…you know, the scene that feels like it won’t end anytime soon.
The phone rang and Karen answered. I froze for a moment before pulling it together then attempting to add to octaves of bass to my voice.
“Is Karen nere?”, I mumbled.
“Yes, this is Karen,” she answered with a questioning sound in her voice.
Of course, you know what my next move was. I freaked out and hung up the phone. I sat for what seemed like 5 hours but was really 3 minutes while my heart tried to get back to its normal pace. A little smile crossed my face. It wasn’t much but I did it. I did the D Double dare. I called!
As I got to school the next day, I had a little more bounce in my step. I was the man!
We’ve been blogging and writing for the past 11 days but today, I want to do something a bit different. I want to ask you to blog about a time you’ve been asked to do something nerve wracking. Except, today, I want you to do it via video. I want you to video blog about the time you were asked to do something nerve wracking. In fact, I D Double Dare you to video blog about the time you were asked to do something scary.
Day 12 Prompt: Create a video blog about a time you were asked to do something scary.
Is video blogging scary for you? If you have never video blogged before, here are a few steps:
1. Download an app on your smartphone called Capture. It’s a Youtube app.
2. Sign in to capture with your gmail account.
3. Record your video.
4. Publish it to youtube.
5. Go to Youtube and click Share.
6. Get the embed code and place it in your blog. If you are on Medium.com, use the + button, then choose the <>, then add the youtube url from your address bar. Click enter and the video will populate.
I asked you to do this today because in our current media frame, video is a powerful tool for sharing your message. Adding it to your toolkit regularly will help your readers become a bit more connected to you and your story.
Instructions for today:
- Write and videoblog your reply to the prompt for today. Use your own website blog, a wordpress.com blog or here on Medium.com.
- Link to this post in your own blog post.
This post is in reply to Day 12 of the Get It Write 14 Day Blogging Challenge - Post your link also in the Day 12 thread in the Facebook Group.
- Right-click the image below and choose Save Image As. Save it to your computer, then insert the image into your blog post. Hyperlink the image to http://www.robertkennedy3.com/blogchallenge
