Persuasive Speech

Woohoo! I'm done with my speeches. Now all I have to worry about is the group project that will be assigned in two weeks. Of course, it's quite frightening to consider that I have to rely on some of those people for my grade.

Things could almost not have gone better for me if I had sat down and devised a "good" plan for an evening when I have to give a speech. In a class with an enrollment of 22 people, only 11 of us showed up tonight. Several of the people that showed up said that they had e-mailed Mr. Y and asked permission to do their presentation next week. Well, several more took for granted that they just could so it ended up that only 5 out of the 11 in class were prepared.

I think if I was Mr. Y, I would have busted on everyone for not being prepared. We had no class the week before spring break, then last week was spring break so they had three whole weeks to prepare and they still weren't ready?? I'll admit that I didn't start my preparations until the last part of last week, but I still managed to get ready.

So anyway...the speech. I chose to go second to do my speech. I gave my speech and just before the last sentence or two, as one of my two required visuals, I handed out a copy of Consumer Report's article "Used Cars: The Worst & Best." I got back up to the front of the room and all I saw was the top of everyone's head. It was pretty cool. Everyone was looking to see if their vehicle was listed in the "Used Cars To Avoid" list like my Dodge Stratus is.

So I went ahead and said my last two sentences and then began to gather my stuff up, shut my PowerPoint down, etc. and all at once someone realized that I had finished and they hadn't noticed. So they belatedly applauded and then went right back to reading the article. I was amused.

Since there were so few of us giving our speeches, we were out of class by 6:30 and the five of us that gave our speeches had permission to skip class next week, since we went to more effort than the rest. I was quite pleased! With 17 speeches to be given, I would venture to say that those that have to attend next week will be in for one long evening.

I'm All Shook Up

I am, once again, facing another speech, a persuasive one this time. In fact, in less than four hours, I'm hoping to have my speech over with.

I don't want to go first; maybe I'll go second or third. I must remember to take a drink with me to class to alleviate the Dry-Mouth Syndrome once I'm done.

The theme of my speech: "Buying a Vehicle: Use Your Head, Not Your Heart." I hope I'm listening when I give it, because I sure do need to follow my own suggestions.

Even while my head says "You'll have no problems" my heart says "Yeah, right!" This would be another time to pay attention to my head and not my heart.

Maybe I can even "work a little on the 'ums'" like Mr. Y suggested on my first evaluation. : )

A Typical Mom-ism

Any of us kids: "Mom! Why did you put onions on this?!?"

Mom: "Oh, you can't taste them!"

Kids: "Then why did you put them on here?"

Mom: "For the flavor."

I love my mom...

A Break

This afternoon, I did something totally irresponsible. Kris & I just took off and went shopping in Nashville. Just like we didn’t have any homework we should be doing. One of the places we went to was Office Depot and we got some awesome deals. They were having 75% off the clearance prices. So I spent less than $5 on stuff that would have cost at least $40 at full price. True to my roots, there’s nothing quite so thrilling as a great deal. We went to several other places.

I think that we’ve kind of lost heart for shopping like we once had…at least today we did. It’s a little hard to be an enthusiastic shopper when the next tuition bill looms right around the corner. (Kris wasn’t feeling the best either. She may be catching the 24-hour flu. Jolene had it yesterday and today. Martin seems to be coming down with it this evening, as does Kris.)

Back when Sara had started WKU, one semester before Kris and two semesters before I started, Kris & I would often go shopping and couldn’t quite understand why she couldn’t just take off and go shopping with us. She told us to just wait, because eventually we would understand.

And, boy, do I ever understand now. Now I’m the one that enters my basement on the weekend like it’s a gopher hole and only come up for air when I need groceries or to go to church. There are a few occasions that I come up for something other than that but it’s not real often.

Just the other weekend, my boss was out of town for the weekend and asked me if the sun was out over the weekend. I hadn’t a clue because I hadn’t been outside in daylight. With only three windows in the basement that are all below ground level, it’s kinda hard to watch the weather. If the inside sump pump is overly active, I assume it’s raining. If I hear thunder, I assume it’s storming. If the electricity goes out, I’m pretty sure it’s storming.

It was great to have an extra day off. All day long I kept thinking that it was Saturday. So now I get another one tomorrow. What bliss!

Accomplishments

Well, so far this week, I’ve managed to choke out three of the five poetry papers. It has been a very painful process. And then Kris had the audacity to laugh at the length of them. They’re kind of, um, short. I’m hoping I can get by with them.

One of my classmates showed me his papers and, in my knowledgeable opinion (hah!), they really weren’t very good and he claimed he got A’s on them. These goofy papers are only worth one point with the whole class being worth a total of 100 points. I’ve got one extra credit point already and am planning to get another if I can write a summary of the play I went to, so that would be equivalent to two of those papers. The trick would be to get at least .74ths of a point so I don’t have to do them over.

I’m simply out of the frivolous fluff it takes to write those things and I’ve still got two one-point poetry papers to write and two heavier poetry papers to write with one of them being worth ten whole points and the other being worth somewhere around five points.

I watched a boring video on Robert Frost and his poetry. I finally have figured out that most poets write this stuff when they are depressed. And then our literature teachers force us to read it, which sends us into a blue funk that could almost make poets out of us. Seriously, most of the poets we’ve been looking at were eccentric, strange people.

I’ve done some research and written some of my persuasive speech but it’s far from being done.

I managed to watch one of the videos for my Western Civ class but didn’t care for it much so I may try to find another one to do a report on. I’m just not real sure.

I attempted to go to the Kentucky Library to read manuscripts only to find it closes early during spring break. Go figure!

I worked on my federal tax return.

I sent my PDA rebate form in.

Spring Break

Spring Break To Do List

1. Prepare Persuasive Speech
2. Watch video and write report
3. Visit 2 Museum websites and write report
4. Watch another video and write report
5. Go to library and read manuscripts and write report
6. Read 3 sociology chapters
7. Write 5 smallish poetry papers
8. Watch poetry video
9. Write Intruder in the Dust paper
10. Write big poetry paper
11. Prepare for Poetry Test
12. Write poetry essay for Poetry Test
13. Prepare and file tax return
14. Send in PDA rebate form

Spring Break Should (But Probably Won’t) Do List

1. Give house a thorough cleaning
2. Clear desk off
3. Make a dress or two
4. Clean car
5. Clean flower beds
6. Make a budget
7. Organize, organize, organize

Spring Break Want (But Absolutely Won’t Happen) To Do List

1. Take a week off of work
2. Go on a fabulous trip
3. Sleep late every day
4. Practice on my Vegetative Abilities
5. Go shopping in Nashville

I think I might be putting a bit of pressure on Spring Break next week. Ya think?

A Small Step for Womankind, A HUGE Step for Kris

Big news, folks!

Kris, less than five minutes ago, used my handy DeWalt cordless drill to install the second screw for her accordion mirror in her bathroom.

Kris purchased her mirror, on an accordion-like extendable arm, several months ago, although it's probably been longer than I think. She has moaned at me off and on ever since she purchased it to install it for her.

Today, she finally got ambitious enough to measure where she wanted it, mark where the screws would go, and got my cordless out, all in preparation that I would come and install it for her.

I had her hold the base in place, and I put the first screw in. I then handed her the drill and told her that screw #2 would be her's to install. She wailed and moaned and talked about her "record with stuff", which with putting screws in is almost non-existent. I told her there is never a better time than the present to take a step forward in improving her "record with stuff."

It makes a person so pleased to see such large strides forward being taken under ones own tutelage.

It's Been a Fun Season

It was with great sadness that I listened to the Hilltoppers play themselves out of the Sunbelt Tournament on Monday evening. From what I hear, there isn’t a real big chance that they will get into the NIT, so I believe that they have probably played their last game for the season. But it has been a fun season.

Before becoming a student at WKU, I paid absolutely zero attention to the Hilltoppers. I was purely a fan of the UK Wildcats. It is hard not to be a fan of the Wildcats; they’re just good.

After becoming a student at WKU and gaining free admission to all the games, there was no reason not to stop by the arena to catch the game after class, if I wanted to. The more games I attended, the more I knew about players; the more I knew about the players, the more I enjoyed the games.

I was talking with someone about the Wildcat talent vs. the Topper talent recently and I’ll freely admit that the Toppers are nowhere nearly as talented as the Wildcats, but in their own conference, they are contenders. They play with a lot of heart and it’s fun to watch them even if they don’t play on the level of the Wildcats, although I do think they won against them several years ago under a different coach.

The Toppers ended their regular season at home the same way they started it: by taking it into overtime and winning it by a three pointer or less. Both times they won with last second shots. The atmosphere in a game like that is unbelievable. It’s heart stopping too.

We are losing only one major player this year, our point guard. The other two seniors were walk-ons that didn’t make it into the game a whole lot. Next year should be a good year for the Toppers if everyone sticks around and stays out of trouble.

So now if I had to choose between watching the Toppers or listening to the Wildcats, I’m afraid I’d have to choose the Toppers. Two years ago, I would never have thought I’d say that but it’s true. I’m still a Wildcat fan but accessibility and school spirit can make a difference.

A Play

Last weekend, Kris & I went to a play.

For me, it was an extra credit opportunity for Literature (I'll need it; I've got to write about poetry); for Kris, she had a friend from German class in the play.

So, we were enjoying the play and, at intermission, were sitting there chatting and noticing people in the audience that we knew: my music teacher from last semester, a former co-worker, etc. I happened to look across the small theater and, lo' in the hole, there was my Lit teacher, Mr. K.

"Kris!" I said, barely moving my mouth, "There he is!"

"Who?" she asked.

"Mr. K, my Literature teacher, he's over there staring at us," I said. Kris looked across the theater and saw him. She agreed that he looked like a frightening sort of teacher.

I waved in a friendly sort of fashion and smiled brightly in his direction. He lifted his hand in greeting and let it fall back to his side, no smile, just kept staring. And he wouldn't quit! Made me feel like a wicked stepchild!

So now Kris can support me in agreeing that I have an awful class. She complained bitterly at having to write three (I think) papers; I have to write a combination of twelve to fifteen paragraphs, essays, and papers. And believe me, I do my share of bitter complaining!!

Miracles

Miracles still happen.

Last Wednesday was the day for the first speeches in my communications class and I’m still alive and well.

The speech was supposed to be an informative speech, 4-6 minutes in length. I had decided that I would inform my class what O & S has to offer them: a quality storage building. A requirement of the class is that we use PowerPoint on one of our presentations and since I had pictures, etc. that I could show them, I chose to use PowerPoint on my informative speech instead of the persuasive speech that will come later this semester.

I created my presentation and on Monday or Tuesday, I e-mailed my teacher and asked him if the computer there could handle a USB drive. He didn’t know but said that if I wanted to wait until the second group (they’ll do theirs this week), I could. I said that would be fine. I took off work at 1:00 like I usually do on Wednesdays and came home to finish up even though I wouldn’t have to give it. I decided to go prepared just in case a bunch of others weren’t ready, and I didn’t really want to have to dwell on it another week.

I worked on the presentation up until I had to leave and, as a last minute thought, I burned the presentation onto CD and stuck it into my backpack. I still hadn’t rehearsed the thing completely, so on the way to school, I stumbled through it. I was horrified to find that it was taking me closer to ten minutes and there was no modifying it. I figured that I could cut out a little bit of unnecessary talk and was pretty sure that during the actual presentation, I would speak faster than I normally do.

We got into class and Mr. Y asked if there were any volunteers to go first. Complete silence. So he randomly picked a name and the girl got up and gave, actually she read, her speech. And she went WAY past 4-6 minutes. Mr. Y called another name and that person gave their speech. And then, “Sharon”….

AAAHHHH….I wanted to dash out of the room and never return, but I coolly said, “If I can get my presentation to work, I’ll go.” He obviously had forgotten he’d given me permission to go the following week. Now, it’s dangerous business to look at your PowerPoint in the speech location for the first time in front of a group of people. One bad thing was the lighting situation. It was either light or no light. I had tried to take that into account when choosing the colors I used but it still doesn’t prepare you.

I grabbed my CD, totally forgetting the brochures I had planned to give out and the key chains I had planned to give away, and headed to the front of the room. As I passed by him, Brandon, whose last name I butchered on the first day of class, sweetly asked if I would like for him to turn off the half of the lights that we could turn off. I gratefully accepted the offer.

I stuck my CD into the drive and, after battling an error message, got the presentation to come up. I then had to come back around the desk to the podium to give the presentation. Just as I came around to the podium, Mr. Y spilled his root beer. “That’s why they don’t want you to bring drinks into class,” he said. He told me to hang on while he went after paper towels, so I got to stand there and smile, somewhat painfully, at the class. He came back, placed the paper towels on the puddle, and told me to go ahead.

I looked up at my presentation and guess what?? The fonts and font sizes on the presentation had changed. It looked so much better the other way. It threw me for a bit of a loop but I forged ahead.

The setup was very awkward. As I faced the room, I had to use my left hand to operate the mouse and, being right-handed, I always wanted to use the wrong mouse button to bring up the next slide. I would look to my left, hit the mouse button, look over my right shoulder to make sure I was still in tune with my slides as I gave my different points. So I was constantly turning my head back and forth, trying to make eye contact, trying to control the shake in my hand, trying to control the shake in my voice, trying to drum up some saliva so I could swallow, trying follow my note cards to make sure I hit each point, AND trying not to look like a scared rabbit!!

My prevailing thought during this whole process has been, “Remember what Dad says, ‘When in doubt, bluff it!’” I bluffed the best I could but don’t think I did too good of a job. “Any questions?” I said brightly at the end. Dead silence…just what I wanted; I sure didn’t want to stand around up there answering any questions. Amid the thundering applause (as loudly fourteen people can thunder), I ejected my CD, helped the next girl put her CD in, and retreated to my seat.

I had taken a bottle of Sierra Mist to class with me and it was a good thing. My mouth was so dry you could almost have heard my mouth crackle as I opened it. The bottle was nearly full when I got to my seat and I think it was almost empty before the next person was done.

I just hope that Mr. Y had a good dose of mercy in his pocket that night. One thing I know for sure, God sure knew what He was doing when He didn’t make a man out of me!

It's amazing how many other things I can find to write about when I've got a ton of homework writing that I'm supposed to do.