Dear Diary...

I have felt so overwhelmed lately. I had a presentation the other evening that seemed to take me a long time to prepare, even though the topic is something I talk about every day! Why is that? I suppose it's different when I have an audience and feel as though I'm cramming so much into a short amount of time. Plus I wanted it to be fun and interactive, but that is often a "hit or miss" depending on the audience and the topic.

Anyway, it went well overall, though, as predicted, I had a bit more to say than time to say it. Oh well. I got a few laughs out of the students and the feedback I got was good and that the presentation was useful. I'm fine with that!

Now I'm trying to finish up this darn discussion guide I'm supposed to be writing. A while back, my Director and some students approached me to write a discussion guide to be used after this performance. Before I arrived here, some students, faculty and staff created this cool show, kind of along the lines of The Vagina Monologues, except more relevant to issues college students face AND included men in the conversation. It's a pretty powerful performance that deals with health, body image, gender roles, sexual assault, and culture. Sadly, I've only seen the performance on the DVD they've made...I'm sure it's much more powerful live. Anyway, they wanted to have a discussion guide to accompany it, so that's where I come in. Since I have done research on disordered eating and whatnot, they thought I might be interested. I was absolutely interested... but then things got a bit more complicated.

See, at some point, someone decided this should be submitted to a conference...to showcase what the students here did, how other campuses could do it, and then how to keep the conversation going. SO it's been submitted and accepted. I'm included as a presenter, since I'm doing the discussion guide and am kind of like the "expert" in the group. I'll be honest...there is a big part of me still really uncomfortable with being seen as "expert." But that's another story. My Director also basically told me I had to apply for this scholarship to attend (which basically gives me a free ride). And then I won the darn thing. Which means I need to send in a brief article to their newsletter after the conference talking about what I learned and how I'll use the info and all that. Note to self: Always read the fine print.

The most frustrating thing is that the conference is next Wednesday and the schedule isn't out yet! We have no idea when we're presenting and no idea of what the titles are for the other sessions. Apparently they're not always this disorganized...still, it's not a good first impression to this group and this conference. Grr.

In other news, I got the H1N1 vaccine this morning. I feel a little dizzy. So does K-Dog. I'll let you know if I start oinking.

XOXO,
heidi