Sunday, 11 March 2012
Perhaps inspired by my post yesterday, I was inspired to do more home-improving today.
First, I finished spray-painting the light fixture for our downstairs bathroom. It was shiny gold, now it’s matte silver, which matches the hooks, tap, and toilet handle a lot better. I actually think it’s a pretty ugly light fixture – it’s one of those wall-mounted styles with the bulbs jutting out all exposed and, boy, do I hate exposed light bulbs. If you want to give me a headache, invite me over to your house, turn your dining room lights on (which always seem to hang down a bit) and tell me to sit in the living room. The exposed bulbs will be in my peripheral all evening, and the squinting will give me a headache. On a related note, if you want to give yourself a headache, just invite me over.
Anyway, the bulbs are still exposed, but at least the metal backing is silver. And, despite what all the jewelery company commercials say, Silver > Gold.
Monday, 12 March 2012
Today I competed in Toastmasters’ “International Contest” for Area 51 speakers. By “Area 51,” I don’t mean the shoot-to-kill-if-you-tresspass area the government has cordoned off in Nevada, but the local area of Toastmasters clubs.
The competition was held at the Maple Grove Government Center. Only one person from each club could compete, and they had to be invited from their club. My club invited me to compete using my speech “A Backwards Speech.”
I didn’t win. I didn’t expect to win, actually, since I’m relatively new to Toastmasters and I knew I’d be competing against the best speakers from each of the surrounding clubs. But at least I was not disqualified (more on that in a moment)! My club’s President came to the event to provide moral support, and I think that was really awesome of her.
I knew I wasn’t going to win approximately a half hour before I gave my speech. It was then that the first speaker delivered his presentation and I thought, “Wow…that was pretty awesome.” Another downside to my speech was that I relied heavily on electronic media (using both Quicktime and PowerPoint). No one else used any sort of AV resources. Granted, I don’t think the judges counted this against me, but there was some difficulty with the logistics of the overhead projector and the speakers and my Quicktime movie was too quiet. Ugh. If I ever compete like this again, I’m not using electronics of any sort.
Now, about being disqualified: Members from Area 52 were also present. I thought they’d be competing with us, but they were given their own separate competition. Here’s the funny thing: Only one person from Area 52 was there to compete. Before the program began, one of the judges told her: “All you need to do is speak for 5-7 minutes and you’ll win!” Not very fair, I thought. Also, not very deserved. I don’t think I’d feel too proud if I had gotten home tonight and said: “Guess what? I won the competition by competing against no one!”
Well, when the time came to present the trophies, the Toastmaster first announced the winner from Area 51. He then opened the envelope for Area 52 and said, “We’ve had a disqualification, so there won’t be any winners from Area 52 tonight.” I turned to my President (who was sitting next to me) and said, “Awkward!”
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Before class this morning, I stopped in and visited with the professor. She and I had arranged this time. We pulled up my transcript. Actually, she had me pull up my transcript on her computer, during which time I managed to drop her mouse off the die of the desk, and we figured out how many more history classes I need in order to know everything there is to know about history.
She seemed very on board with me getting a History Minor. Having just achieved an A on the last exam probably helped. I considered telling her that today marks the anniversary of Herschel’s discovery of Uranus – you know, to show her that I know history – but I couldn’t think of a way to phrase the sentence without giggling.
She next signed off on this paper I had with me – I think it’s called the Paper to Fill Out to Declare Your Major and Minor Paper – and so now it’s official:
I am a History Minor.
Or, would that be:
I am working on a Minor in History.
Or maybe:
Me get History Minor.
I don’t know. Maybe we should ask an English Major how to phrase it.
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
I updated the “Books I’ve Read This Year” tab (see above). I added another Ron Roy book. Roy is not only the most represented author on that list (which lists only books I’ve finished reading in 2012), but he is well on his way to being the most represented author on my list of books I’ve EVER read.
No – wait – I just checked: As of today, I have read more books by Ron Roy than any other author.
Just FTHOI, here’s a list of the most represented authors on my list…
Cecil Adams (5 books)
Ann Armbruster (6)
Dan Brown (5)
Beverly Cleary (8)
Arthur Conan Doyle (10)
David Feldman (12)
Gary Larson (7)
JK Rowling (8)
Ron Roy (13)
Lemony Snicket (5)
Laura Ingalls Wilder (9)
…Wow. That’s not what I thought it would look like. The list is almost totally fiction writers. I guess this makes sense because, if I like one book by a fiction author, I read their other books. The majority of books I read, however, are non-fiction, but such books are more subject-bound rather than author-bound. I also included only books that the author wrote or co-wrote entirely. I did not include authors if they’ve contributed to an anthology or wrote a preface for a book.
Anyway, Roy is #1. Expect his margin to widen in the coming months.