I’m still alive!

This morning I hit a bit of calm and I honestly had no idea what to do with myself.  For about an hour, I wandered around poking at different things, wondering what I was supposed to be doing.

I finally found it and it’s going to take me a few days to finish it, but I actually have until NEXT Friday to finish it!  It’s amazing!

That’s the kind of week I’ve been having.

The good news is that the presentation that I had to do this morning seemed to go over pretty well.  I was given the assignment to do this presentation last Wednesday with the mandate that it be “no longer than 30 minutes.”  THIRTY MINUTES?  Like, half an hour?  And you think I’ll talk longer than that?  Do you know me at all?

And I was supposed to find someone to help me present the topic, and even though I begged and pleaded and offered cookies and got permission to get people excused from other projects by the DIRECTOR, I still got zero support.  So I did it by myself.  I put together a PowerPoint presentation and got the document printed out that I was presenting (86 pages) and prepared to talk for 25 minutes, with 5 minutes left over for Q&A.

I spent Monday preparing the document in between running around like crazy doing my regular job (the document was already written and mostly put together, but it needed formatting and other changes).  I spent Tuesday working only on my regular job, trying to support the schedule and getting my actual job stuff done.  I spent all yesterday putting together the PowerPoint presentation and figuring out what I was going to say for 25 minutes, while also supporting the overall activity in my group and regular job.

The presentation was this morning.  There was an hour allotted to me and another presentation from my area.  The presentation before mine took 45 minutes.  I was quietly asked by one of the event coordinators if I could do mine in 15 minutes instead of 30. 

Sure!

And I did.  I watched the clock carefully and abbreviated the things I was going to say and talked more quickly than I should have and glossed over one topic altogether, but told them where they could read about it in the document I handed out to them.  And I ended at 13 minutes so I could have 2 minutes for Q&A.  And they were impressed with the amount of information I could give them in 15 minutes and they loved the document that they were able to take with them for reading later on.

All in all, I think it went over really well.  And my actual job project was submitted on time yesterday, supporting the schedule.  And the other project that I’ve been working on is right on schedule.  I’ve been running around like a crazy person, but I’m apparently making a good impression to people watching me.  It’s encouraging, but I’m ready to slow down a little bit.

Which is why I’m excited that this new project isn’t due until next Friday.  I can actually breathe!  And think!  And go home and not feel completely burned out.

Though, you should all be proud of me:  Monday and Wednesday, even though I’d had a long, exhausting day, I still went to Zumba.  I worked Zumba so hard yesterday that I was drenched in sweat and not thinking coherently by the end.  Tuesday, I admit, I sat in my chair and watched TV, after working an hour later at work than normal.  But I’m thinking about hitting the Yogalates class at the gym tonight and a girl is allowed a break now and then.

Anyway, that’s where I disappeared to the last several days.  I’ve been working really, really hard.

Oh!  And I sang at church again on Sunday and I had an echo part all by myself on one song and I was really nervous about it, but a lot of people told me that I looked really comfortable and that I sounded really good, and Justin said I didn’t look nearly as much like I was going to faint.  Yea!