Reality sets in
I'm supposed to be grading right now. My bag is on my floor next to me; 50+ freshmen collage/paragraph assignments are calling my name. My junior AP essays will haunt my sleep tonight if I don't start grading them soon. Instead, I am sitting on my couch with the ol' iBook for a little blog session, which is long overdue.
So much has been going on with these first few weeks of school; I feel like I have too many unrelated thoughts swirling through my mind even to figure out what topic I should attempt. I'll start with a boot update: I visited the boots at Nordstrom the other day. It was painful. I think I have accepted that I cannot have the boots. Gone are my hopes of owning them in 6-8 weeks. I came to this conclusion when reality set on Tuesday night as I reviewed my financial situation. Basically, if I don't spend one single penny on anything but food, shelter and transportation for the next 6 months, I will have completely paid off my credit card. After that, I have another six months of more of the same while I try to pay off my car. Yes, that's right, no clothes, shoes, going out, drinking, dining out or gifts for one full year.
Realistically, I don't think I can do it; frankly, I don't know who could. No gifts is the one that hits me hardest. With my mom's, dad's, roommate's and best friend's birthdays all around the corner, I don't think I'm going to get away with no gifts. Then comes Christmas, which will be miserable if I cannot buy gifts for anyone, particularly my boyfriend and my nieces and nephew. Not being able to go out is also a considerable problem for obvious reasons. Although, with winter around the corner, that becomes significantly easier to pull off the colder it gets. Unless, however, someone plants a rapid-growth money tree on my balcony, I am facing a depressing, uneventful and challenging 12 months.
I'll conclude with a story that actually makes me feel good instead of totally miserable, and that is the story about Open House, which was last night. Some teachers plan extensively for this. They might make copies of some sort of document or plan out what they are going to say. I, however, have never been one for planning the open house speech. As it turns out, I don't need to plan stuff like this because I am the queen of 'winging it', as they say. In fact, I would even venture to say that I could probably 'wing' the State of the Union Address if I had to. By the end of open house, I am convinced that just about every parent loved me. Still, by the end of the night, although my ego had been adequately massaged by what I envisioned were my adoring fans, I was completely exhausted.
I'm pretty confident that public speaking is what I do best. Are you good at it? Or are you one of those people that would rather be in the coffin than eulogize the dead?
So much has been going on with these first few weeks of school; I feel like I have too many unrelated thoughts swirling through my mind even to figure out what topic I should attempt. I'll start with a boot update: I visited the boots at Nordstrom the other day. It was painful. I think I have accepted that I cannot have the boots. Gone are my hopes of owning them in 6-8 weeks. I came to this conclusion when reality set on Tuesday night as I reviewed my financial situation. Basically, if I don't spend one single penny on anything but food, shelter and transportation for the next 6 months, I will have completely paid off my credit card. After that, I have another six months of more of the same while I try to pay off my car. Yes, that's right, no clothes, shoes, going out, drinking, dining out or gifts for one full year.
Realistically, I don't think I can do it; frankly, I don't know who could. No gifts is the one that hits me hardest. With my mom's, dad's, roommate's and best friend's birthdays all around the corner, I don't think I'm going to get away with no gifts. Then comes Christmas, which will be miserable if I cannot buy gifts for anyone, particularly my boyfriend and my nieces and nephew. Not being able to go out is also a considerable problem for obvious reasons. Although, with winter around the corner, that becomes significantly easier to pull off the colder it gets. Unless, however, someone plants a rapid-growth money tree on my balcony, I am facing a depressing, uneventful and challenging 12 months.
I'll conclude with a story that actually makes me feel good instead of totally miserable, and that is the story about Open House, which was last night. Some teachers plan extensively for this. They might make copies of some sort of document or plan out what they are going to say. I, however, have never been one for planning the open house speech. As it turns out, I don't need to plan stuff like this because I am the queen of 'winging it', as they say. In fact, I would even venture to say that I could probably 'wing' the State of the Union Address if I had to. By the end of open house, I am convinced that just about every parent loved me. Still, by the end of the night, although my ego had been adequately massaged by what I envisioned were my adoring fans, I was completely exhausted.
I'm pretty confident that public speaking is what I do best. Are you good at it? Or are you one of those people that would rather be in the coffin than eulogize the dead?
posted by Sue Ellen Mischke at 4:49 PM
10 Comments:
I very rarely have the need to do any public speaking, and I'm quite glad about that. However, I happen to think I'm not bad at it. And in many ways, it gets more difficult the more you prepare for it.
You know, you could always sell Amway or Mary Kay in your spare time...
PS - I'm glad you posted today... I visited your site to give you grief for NOT posting and instead found a little treat.
*, yeah, now that I think about it, most people probably don't speak publicly very often. I'm one of the lucky ones, I guess.
Marc, I am looking into second jobs actually. Not Amway or Mary kay though. I'm thinking bartender or something like that. I've worked a second job in the past and I hated it, but it's probably better than a year of not spending any dough.
I love public speaking.
Grandads funeral. The vicar was pissed. He climbed in the pulpit and said "Who's dead?"
At a London Gymnastics Federation dinner the guest speaker spoke very clearly for over 1 hour. In Russian.
i'm a great public speaker. as long as the "public" is made up entirely of drunk, happy people hanging on my every word.
actually i'm not too bad. i think i'm pretty damn good at flying by the seat of my pants and talking my way through things, especially if i'm passionate about the subject.
I enjoy my speaking voice entirely too much. Best not to let me get a captive audience.
NEW POST ALERT... NEW POST ALERT... A NEW POST IS NEEDED.
What's with the new name?
I used to be quite good at public speaking. I haven't had to do it for a while, but I think I'm comfortable with it, which is the key.
I came to your blog because of the name, and I love it. Great writing.
I know, I know. I'm back.
Dinah, welcome! Glad you like it!
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