Down once more...

Well, last night I finished the charcoal sketches I was making for my end-of-semester project for my tutoring class, and today I presented. It's pretty normal for me to get stage fright - I think I can recall only one presentation -in my entire life - where I didn't get nervous and talk to fast and off pitch, etcetera. Today was no exception, except it was compounded by two things. First, my drink tipped over and spilled just as I was getting up to present. So, the class waited a few minutes while I mopped up the spill. That was a tad embarrassing. Second, I have some sort of cold, so when I talk, id souds li' dis ad no one kin uderstad me. Therefore, I was slightly embarrassed and unable to talk properly, both of which added to my stage fright, and the result was I rushed through the presentation and ended up out of breath. But the pictures were a hit. My teacher said, "You're a biological sciences major, right? So this is just a hobby you have?" "Pretty much." And then she kept the sketches so she could display them in her office. During each presentation, we each of us filled out 'peer reviews', and the ones I got back were really nice and sometimes funny. "Louder. Hey, relax, we're all friends here. Great job. Wait...you just have a cold." "You could tell you were nervous, but you needn't have been, your work was terrific." "Great drawings! Not an artist, though? Get well and feel better!" "Really good presentation, fought through the cold!" "Really nice drawing, talented. To make the presentation better...breathe." They're really sweet!