Today was our final speech in my Public Speaking class; it was a "special occasion" type speech, which gave us tons of freedom in developing it. "Special Occasion" referred to speeches such as a wedding toast(done that), a graduation speech(check that too!), or an award presentation/acceptance speech. I considered my options, and since I had done both a graduation and wedding, an award acceptance speech presenations seemed to fit the bill. An award presentation would have been weird with just myself acting the parts of mc and acceptee; therefore, I enlisted the help of my good friend Zach(Jason's roomate last year) to help with the process. We brainstormed and came up with a rather humorous idea: an awards presentation for Zach's uncanny ability to break wooden boards with his bare feet/hands. We created the "2005 Nominees for Best Board-Breaking Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role." The whole speech went extremely well, I thought. I walked in the room to applause, quieted the crowd down, and began to talk about the award. Next I presented all the nominees(complete with hilarious pictures of our friends attempting to break boards) via powerpoint, and then I announced Zach(dressed in his karate uni) as the winner, handing him the Golden Board Award(we just spray painted one of his boards gold). As he walked up to accept the award, I used a flashlight to put the "spotlight" on him as he made his way to the podium. He then delivered a great acceptance speech...
After we were done, I thought I was going to have to give Stacey(our proff.) extra oxygen or something. She was balling her eyes out! That's when Zach and I realized that we had succeeded.
Well, ok. That wasn't our last speech. I lied. After everyone was done with the special occasion speeches, Stacey went around the room and placed a fortune cookie on each of our desks. She wrote on the board:
Uhm, Ahh, Like, You know, OK
...and as you probably guessed, we were about to play the " Uhm, Ahh, Like, You know, OK" game, where each of those words is a forbidden word. You mention one in your speech, and you are done. What speech, you ask? When each person was called up to speak, he/she had to stand up in front of the class, open the cookie RIGHT there, read the fortune, gather his/her thoughts for several seconds, then begin to impromptu speak about the fortune. The entire speech didn't have to be solely on what was on the paper, but it was to be a point of departure for the rest of the speech. It was hilarious to see people go up there, and end up talking about things that were in no way related to the fortune...
So I am sitting there, watching these people speak. I tried to gather a game plan as to how I would attack this speech. When I was finally called, I thought, "Ok, I got this. The longest time so far has been 2.5 minutes. I can SO beat that." I open my cookie, and there I see some proverb about "a good friend is a friend who blah blah blah" or something like that. I quickly think, and I begin to talk. I started by mentioning the importance of friends and what my friends are like. I then jump to how some of my friends enjoy(not like!) watching the show Friends...and then I went dead, haha. Right after that, I blurted the imbecilic "Uhmm...", and BOOM, my time was up. How far did I get? TWENTY EIGHT SECONDS. Hahaha, I was kinda upset I didn't go longer, but we all got a good laugh with that game. I now realize that there are some things I need to remove from my speaking habits, such as "Uhm", "Ahh," and "Like." I plan on refining my speaking abilities(as they relate to these words) before I head back to the big N.
So I was about to whisk my eggs for my daily egg sandwhich today, when all of a sudden, disaster struck: a piece of egg shell fell into my bowl as the last egg was added. I have been doing this since I got to Starkville this summer, and this was the FIRST time this had happen. Let me tell you something, getting a small piece of egg shell out of a bowl of 4 eggs is NO easy task. After much cursing and many different utensils utilized, the egg shell was FINALLY removed. The battles I fight each day.....
On a completely random note, I have begun a new musical group infatuation. I have been downloading every U2 song I can find. I freakin' love these guys. I should have listened to you all along, Zach!!! Better still, they are coming to Dallas in October; I hear their shows are amazing, so I may try to go to that with Colin, as he is a huge U2 fan. I have amassed songs from Boy and October, and I am working on War, The Unforgettable Fire, and Joshua Tree as we speak. The cds just keep on coming...
The art test today was a breeze. I'm gonna miss ole' Bill Andrews. I can say with almost 100% certainty that I will not have a more fun teacher the rest of my tenure at Mississippi State. I seriously might have to take Art History or something in the spring, so I can have him again. I'm going to bring my von Braun card to him before I leave to go home; I am hoping he can give me a ballpark date as to the time period of the drawing on the card.
Sports Note: Roddick and Sharapova in to the second week of Wimbledon, with no signs of slowing down. My picks are still lookin good :)
well, I didn't get much sleep last night, so I should be getting to that right now. Night!
-Henry
So I am sitting there, watching these people speak. I tried to gather a game plan as to how I would attack this speech. When I was finally called, I thought, "Ok, I got this. The longest time so far has been 2.5 minutes. I can SO beat that." I open my cookie, and there I see some proverb about "a good friend is a friend who blah blah blah" or something like that. I quickly think, and I begin to talk. I started by mentioning the importance of friends and what my friends are like. I then jump to how some of my friends enjoy(not like!) watching the show Friends...and then I went dead, haha. Right after that, I blurted the imbecilic "Uhmm...", and BOOM, my time was up. How far did I get? TWENTY EIGHT SECONDS. Hahaha, I was kinda upset I didn't go longer, but we all got a good laugh with that game. I now realize that there are some things I need to remove from my speaking habits, such as "Uhm", "Ahh," and "Like." I plan on refining my speaking abilities(as they relate to these words) before I head back to the big N.
So I was about to whisk my eggs for my daily egg sandwhich today, when all of a sudden, disaster struck: a piece of egg shell fell into my bowl as the last egg was added. I have been doing this since I got to Starkville this summer, and this was the FIRST time this had happen. Let me tell you something, getting a small piece of egg shell out of a bowl of 4 eggs is NO easy task. After much cursing and many different utensils utilized, the egg shell was FINALLY removed. The battles I fight each day.....
On a completely random note, I have begun a new musical group infatuation. I have been downloading every U2 song I can find. I freakin' love these guys. I should have listened to you all along, Zach!!! Better still, they are coming to Dallas in October; I hear their shows are amazing, so I may try to go to that with Colin, as he is a huge U2 fan. I have amassed songs from Boy and October, and I am working on War, The Unforgettable Fire, and Joshua Tree as we speak. The cds just keep on coming...
The art test today was a breeze. I'm gonna miss ole' Bill Andrews. I can say with almost 100% certainty that I will not have a more fun teacher the rest of my tenure at Mississippi State. I seriously might have to take Art History or something in the spring, so I can have him again. I'm going to bring my von Braun card to him before I leave to go home; I am hoping he can give me a ballpark date as to the time period of the drawing on the card.
Sports Note: Roddick and Sharapova in to the second week of Wimbledon, with no signs of slowing down. My picks are still lookin good :)
well, I didn't get much sleep last night, so I should be getting to that right now. Night!
-Henry
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