So, I must confess that what follows is actually three posts in one. Sometimes a person just has more to say than others. And since it is my official 300th post (if you factor in saved and never published drafts), I figure I can do what I want. Enjoy.
Random Song
For UD's Baccalaureate service last week, our gospel choir chose to sing this song: I Don't Feel Noways Tired. It wasn't this version, but this was one of the least annoying versions I could find online. For some reason, this song has kind of stuck with me throughout the weekend. I can't quite figure it out, to be honest. The first line of the song is, "I don't feel noways tired," but I can't figure out if the writer of the song was really saying that he wasn't tired because God always gave him the strength to move forward or if he was more trying to convince himself that he wasn't tired even though he knew full well he was, but somehow he still knew that God would give him the strength to more forward. The end result, I suppose, is still the same - God giving you the strength to move forward, but the song takes on a completely different tone depending on what it's really saying.
I either totally agree with the author, in that I'm totally exhausted, but there's moving on to be done, so God will get me through, or I can't really quite believe the author in that he is simply really not tired. I feel tired. Exhausted really. I've survived another year of working with and fighting for college students, and there were indeed many battles to be fought, and I feel tired. But somehow I still don't doubt that I'm the place that I'm supposed to be and that God will give me what I need to keep going.
Either way, I think it a bit of a strange song for a Baccalaureate service to be singing such a song. Sure it embodies moving forward and God being with you and such, but should a new college grad really be contemplating exhaustion at all? You just wrapped up the best four years of your life. What could you possible be so tired over? But maybe that's just me.
Certain Failure
Today I felt as though someone was trying their darnedest to align all possible controllable circumstances against me so that I was doomed to certain failure. How, you ask? I was supposed to give a presentation to the faculty today about the First-Year Experience program that I along with a team of fantastic people have worked really hard to build. I created a draft of the presentation and showed it to my team. One of the members responded like this: "Ooh, could you take this one part out here? That idea was presented to the faculty last month and was met with a lot of resistance." I, of course, said no. I couldn't in good faith take that part out. It was one of the most important parts that couldn't be peeled away from the rest no matter what.
After some significant reworking of the presentation to frame it in a way that really talked about benefits to faculty while still highlighting the services and goals of the program, I apprehensively brought myself and my presentation to the faculty meeting this morning. I met several administrators in the hallway, and they said this: "Well, we're running about a half hour behind...and they're pretty much done being willing to listen to, well, anything...they're just so tired you know." Great. Please, feed me to the wolves. Oh, did I mention that I was slated to be the very last session before lunch? Did I also mention that I was originally given a twenty minute time slot that two other presenters were added to last minute? So, please feed me to the grumpy, tired, hungry wolves with a presentation that ran right at seventeen minutes each time I rehearsed it with a negative ten minute time slot to do it in...as the smell of freshly delivered pizzas wafts into the room.
How much more could be stacked against me? Seriously. So, after about a half hour of nervous pacing and jumping around the back of the room as I watched several others (some that didn't even have agenda slots) present to the hungry, grumpy wolves, I got called to the front of the room and was instructed to present...quickly.
Quick prayer, flash a smile, crack a joke, and get moving.
"If you've ever seen the movie Over the Hedge, today I will be playing the role of the squirrel on the energy drink, so hang on tight, you get this presentation in hyper-drive." Laugh elicited from grumpy crowd, check.
After breaking the ice, I pretty much gave my entire presentation in a single breath, no break, no pause, no asking for questions. I think once, I paused ever so briefly to make sure everyone was tracking with me and no one had become motion-sick due to my very motion-filled visual presentation at it's new pace (laugh elicited mid-presentation, check).
When it was all said and done, I finished my perfectly timed seventeen minute presentation in something like ten and a half minutes. And at the end, I received thunderous applause and more laughter as well as a full round of congratulatory messages during lunch.
I'm not sure what to do with all of this tonight. It was what it was, I suppose. The information was presented, faculty either cared or they didn't. And that's the end of that.
A Really Big Bird
Tonight, I decided to take a trip to Platteville to share some ice cream with Megan. We had both been really good and worked out, so we felt as though we deserved a reward. Shouldn't all workouts be rewarded with ice cream? I think so. Anyway, I was driving along highway 151 at my usual seventy miles per hour, when from the far side of the other direction of traffic, I see this huge bird gliding in my general direction. My thought process went a little like this:
Wow, that is a really big bird. Is it a pheasant? No, it's too big to be a pheasant. Could it be a turkey? I don't think turkeys can - THWUMP. WHAT?!? Did I really just HIT the bird? How in the world did I just hit the bird?!?
But the best part was when the car that was behind me passed me, the passenger turned all the way around in her seat to see if the giant bird had left any damage on my car where I had clearly run smack into a slow gliding, easily visible, massively huge bird. Oh yeah, and the huge scuff that goes from headlight to side mirror is nice too.
I'm still not really clear on what exactly it was. It was probably five feet in wingspan but fat and round through the body. If turkeys can at least glide, although I thought them to be rather flightless by nature, then I would estimate it to be a turkey. If not, then it was either a mutant pheasant or perhaps a bald eagle...I don't remember seeing white...but clearly I wasn't really watching all that close...since it hit my car. Is killing a member of an endangered species a federal offense?
Well, there you have it. Three posts in one for my 300th post. What a crazy day it has been.
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