Memorizing, If in the Sun

My Excerpt from "If":

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
Yet give allowance for their doubting too.
If you can wait, and not be tired by waiting
And, being lied to, do not give into lies
And, being hated, do not give way to hating
But not look too good, or talk too wise.

There you have it people.  After a day in the Seattle sun, laying on the grass by Lake Washington, I got one stanza memorized.  And I have to say, the most distracting thing has been imagining me reciting it on a city bus.  And that is paralyzing.

My neighbor, a young girl in high school, was there and you know what she said?  "You should pace."

I told her that it was one of my techniques, but that at the crowded beach, I felt a little too self conscious to pace and mutter.  She said she is particularly good at memorizing poems and such, and that some of her teachers recommend that people who aren't so good at it pace while they memorize.  Glad to see that I am in touch psychically with those that are not so talented at memorizing.

Only 3 more stanzas to go.  My neighbor said it will be no problem.  That I may be making a bigger deal about it than it is.  This coming from a 16 year old that memorized a whole page of Beowulf in one evening.  That was the one class I couldn't pass in college.

Until tomorrow,
Melissa