A Foggy Day

Maureen and I set off for Deland around 10, this photo finds us on the interstate. It is rare that we have fog here; it almost never hangs around, but yesterday was an exception. On the drive I had Maureen read my speech a few times so I would be more familiar with it. You see I didn't realize I was to give it at 1 until the previous night. It finally dawned on me! Fortunately I'd written it a few days earlier. I had to do the dreaded outline from the text---you remember how bad I am at outlines but no Bruce at home to help. By the way--it was a persuasive speech about breast implants.

Our drive was uneventful, we arrived around 11. As luck would have it Maureen got the nicest helper in the place. The other two were stiff, and unfriendly. As a matter of fact I left Maureen in her hands to do the paperwork; I found out later that she just talked and talked. The whole affair has been filled with miscues making it was nice to hopefully end on a good note. The car appears fine and the robbers were even kind enough to leave a full tank of gas.

I booked it back to Winter Park arriving at campus about 15 minutes early. Well......our professor arrived one HOUR late. She called around 1:15 saying she was on her way arriving 45 minutes later. During our wait time in the hallway the students got to know each other a little better. As well, because I don't go anywhere without both of my cameras I went to the car to get the FZ8 and convinced a few of the students to let me practice portraits. I've posted a few on flickr. Tyran's transformation after cutting off shoulder length dreadlocks is amazing. He has great cheekbones which he hid with his hair. It hung in his face most days so no one realized how handsome he is. If I were his mom I would want a few of the ones I took.

Those of us who stayed gave our speeches--some pretty good, some not so much. Furthermore we were rewarded with the final being e-mailed to us--all we have to do is answer an essay question and send it her way. Yeah! No more speech class for me. I'm struggling at the moment with a listening exercise in music. There are six pieces of music that I'm supposed to identify by mood, place would be performed, composer, and era. I've listened several times, but I'm still pretty much mystified.

We're going to a Christmas party tonight--I need to make myself presentable.

Mini Cupcakes

Matt won't do my homework for me, but Michelle will! You see, I sent Matt an e-mail asking if he would do my outline for the speech for me. I hate to do outlines--really I know what I'm going to say, so why put it down in an outline? It is required however, as are note cards. Matt was kind enough to send the template to me, but declined to do the actual work. Not so Michelle.

I called her looking for a plastic tray to take the cupcakes to school. Eureka--I could practice my speech on her! As it turned out, I was way too wordy (imagine that), going over my time by lots. She helped me edit it down with suggestions of what I could leave out. Now, I want you to know that I had done the outline myself, albeit not that great. Again, it was too wordy, so she parsed it down, we got a new one printed up, and I'm get to go. She insisted on the note cards (as does my professor). We wrote them in big letters with a Sharpie to keep me on track. You see the cute little cupcakes before you. I made them yesterday morning around 6:30; this recipe seems to taste better after a day. I just wish it would get here, and I could get it over with. When I signed up for speech I didn't know that Bruce would be out of town so much. It is much easier to practice with an audience than just mumbling to myself as I walk Mr. Baxter. Matthew suggested I be breezy, so I will strive for breezy.

Aha, it seems as if the rain may finally be gone for a few days. Hallelujah! It is supposed to get down to 60 tonight which is very much welcome around these parts.

I spent a considerable amount of time doing school work yesterday. Reading criticisms on Breathless, speech writing, quiz on music in the Renaissance, and lecture on the Baroque period.

I'm extremely happy to report that our Mr. Bill is doing great at Wachovia. It seems as if he had the best month of a rookie ever in Central Florida. Now that says a lot about hard work--he learned it from his dad.

I forgot to mention that I saw my first super-sized Christmas tree on Monday. I was driving to the little market when I passed Dixie Stampede. It is a Dolly Parton attraction and show. Facing the interstate is a tree that I'm guessing is about 50' tall--I was dumbfounded. Could there be a tree before Halloween? From my blog and pictures you would be hard pressed to know that Orlando is one of the top vacation destinations in the world. We've definitely got something for most everyone.

Happy day--Bruce finally gets home this evening.

TGIF

Typically I don't feel like the title suggests, but this week is an exception. I've completed my mid-terms, my paper, my speech, and the gallery thing. I hope I did well on them all.

Naturally, when you want to take a decent picture, you can't. My wonderful neighbor Regina took my picture twice, both had motion, not to mention goofy looks on my face. Thank goodness for friends and family coming because the crowd never materialized. I was one of about ten artists that were featured. Wait a minute--I've never used that term to describe myself--I take it back. I was the pretender in the group.

Maureen and Lynn came by on their way to Maureen's birthday dinner which was a welcome surprise. Lisa came early and stayed late. It was such a blessing to have my sisters there. It is in an out of the way spot, so I feel grateful for those who found it. Oh yes, Olga, our CPA, and her husband came on their way out to dinner. What a charming couple they are with two of the most darling children you can imagine. Last quarter she helped me fill out my state sales tax form--I told her this time I'll have some sales to report!

I just got off the phone with Mr. Roger. You, of course, know who I mean. The man that has transformed my business--yes, that Mr. Roger. At any rate, their son (can't remember exact age--early 20's) was to have had surgery yesterday morning for what seemed to be benign masses in his sinuses. Now they are not so sure they are benign. He's in the hospital right now recovering from a spinal tap, surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday. My heart goes out to him and his wonderful wife Trish--not to mention their son. It is a parent's worst nightmare--something wrong with one of their children. Pray for them please.

Additionally, he told me about a woman who started a website called INOD.org. It is for people who KNOW something is wrong with them, but the medical community has been anything but helpful. Hmmmmmm.......I'll have to check it out.

My darling Bruce did not arrive home until around 8 last night. When I returned after 9 he was dead to the world. This is going to be a VERY long six weeks for him.
For him there is usually no such thing as TGIF--he just keeps going, and going, and going.

I Did It!

Speech number one is in the books folks. I felt bad for those who forgot theirs in the middle, asking to start over, but generally people did very well. One of those who forgot, and actually asked to sit down, did the dying scene from Million Dollar Baby. As you can imagine it lost its' emotional punch. On the other hand, one of the girls did this monologue from Network, she's acted before, and it was clearly evident. A girl that I practiced with before class did the voice-over from the beginning of Trainspotting, an old favorite of Matts'.

Speaking of Matt,he is visiting Paris as I type--our man on the continent. His camera cable remained in his flat in London, meaning I'll be waiting until Sunday to see what he saw.

One of the things that I miss most about my job is interacting with older women. In our culture old people are often dismissed unless they are family. I learned so much about living from my patients. Not all of them were interesting, hardly needs to be said, but the vast majority had something fascinating to say--or at least I thought so. Patients used to tell me the most amazing intimate details of their lives. Now, I know what you are thinking. Yes, it is true, I'm pretty open about my life, allowing them to open up to me. It bears repeating that just because someone has aged doesn't mean they aren't still cool. It just means that they've had lots longer to hone that skill. As well, everyone wants to share their story as is evidenced by the popularity of blogs. We are all looking for an audience.

Because I sometimes grocery shop in the morning I see these long lines of elderly people waiting for their ride back to the high-rises downtown. It's usually a Monday, or Friday happening--mostly all women. I don't know if that is because they are widows, or that they don't trust their "man" to do the shopping. In any case, it is quite a sight.