Oh the drama

So, after much trauma, including 2 hours in the car, a police officer, and many tears, I have finally taken the GRE and don't have to think about it any more. Apparently it's good for you to be near hysterics right before you take the exam, as my math score improved over 100 points from any of my practice exams. My verbal wasn't quite as high as I would like, but it's on par with the practice scores I've been getting. Now on to the application!

Because of my morning trauma, I treated myself to a Panera lunch (why don't they have Paneras in the city!?) and a trip to Target for ... bathroom cleaning supplies. It's odd, but it does feel like a treat to be off work and finally able to clean my bathroom and my room and everything that I haven't been able to get to the past 8 days. Just another example of how my work schedule messes with my mind I guess.

Public Speaking

I've never been a fan of public speaking, though I can't say that I've ever felt paralyzed by it either. My job requires that I get up in front of our staff most mornings and be perky and say "Good Morning!" and give announcements and such so that our reps don't fall asleep. I wasn't a fan of this when I started, as I was usually unsure of what to say and I would stumble over my words. The danger was always that I am allowed to just hang back and never speak if I want to, which some people on our team do.

Instead I've started doing it more, and since I've been doing it for over a year and a half, it seems like it's helping me become more confident. I'm not sure how it would translate to other times of public speaking, but at least standing in front of my staff giving announcements doesn't make me nervous at all.

We just started a new "mini-training" program at our morning meetings. Each of us on the leadership team had to write a training on a different topic and joy! mine was picked to start us off. So this morning I lead the training, which went really well. I was complimented by our training staff, management, and some of the reps, which always feels nice. I was a little more nervous speaking in that setting, even though it's the same people that I talk at all the time. I was trying to make it not boring and dry, but also get the information across that was necessary. Hopefully I succeeded.

Now to fight with the copier some more to get the supplemental information out...