"Have you taken minutes before?" asked a council member.
"No," I replied, "But I think I will be all right. I'm used to doing interviews."
I was at the Lorne Mountain Community Centre, being shown the ropes. I agreed to fill in for my neighbour Katherine, taking minutes at the Lorne Mountain Advisory Committee meeting next week. Having heard how laid back everyone is in the North, I didn't worry too much about it. Plus I was super excited, I'd be like an essential part of the community.
Don't blow this Christa, be confident, I encouraged myself.
"...and you touch type?"
"Yes," I replied confidently, with absolutely no idea what touch typing is. I kind of assumed it meant touching the keyboard to type and tried to ignore the logical part of my brain. I pretty much always touch the keyboard when I'm typing, I've got this in the bag.
I've since looked it up. According to Wikipedia, it's typing without looking at the keys.
Okay, now I'm a bit worried.
I'm not a slow typist, I type every day. I did take a keyboarding class in Grade 9. I won't say how many years ago that was, but I was using an Apple IIE. Nowadays I suspect I do glance at the keyboard, I don't really think about it. But how hard can it possibly be to touch type.
I am tu[oimg this semtamce without looking at the keys, and its taking ,e wite a long time,
Hmmmmm.
Technically I can touch type, just very slowly and with several errors. So I didn't exactly lie.
I took a look at some previous minutes. It looks like it's pretty much word for word. I wouldn't be surprised to see sneezes and coughs and chair shifting recorded. I'm a little more worried.
Okay, what would reporter Christa do? Duh, I would record it. Of course. Problem solved. I can use the wonders of modern technology. Namely, the iPhone. If I had sound effect, this is where you would hear angels singing. I tested the voice memo app, even from distances and it works great. So I can type and have a back up recording.
Genius idea number two, If I wear sunglasses no one will know I'm looking at the keyboard, right? That won't look odd inside in February, right? Right?
Will it be an epic disaster, or a brilliant masterpiece? Stay tuned for Thursday's blog post to find out.