Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3

Today at the research study I have to give a short presentation (less than 5 minutes) about myself. It follows a specific outline. I am not allowed to use notes. As a final practice before I leave for the study, I will type out what I plan to say (minus a lot of "uhs" and "ums," I'm sure).

My name is Lydia. I have lived in (city) almost my entire life, except for a few years near Atlanta when I was young. I have an older half sister, three step sisters, and two little half sisters. My hobbies include anything to do with cats, writing, reading, puzzles, and listening to KLove on the radio. I graduated from (college) in May of 2009. My interesting experiences include having a cat named Elsie who is designated as a service animal, writing a blog, and recently publishing a book about living with autism. I'm starting to work on a second book about autism and faith.

"The first quality I value in myself is kindness. One example of this quality is my rule that people come first. If I am doing something, and a friend or family member needs me, I always try to drop the "thing" for the person. I like to perform random acts of kindness at work, like filling up cat litter bins (a heavy, tiring job) or refilling bleach buckets for someone else. I especially try to be kind to someone if I am angry at them, as it puts my heart back in the right place. I value kindness because it is a quality that everyone likes in a friend, and also because the Bible describes it as a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

"The second quality I value in myself is gentleness. For example, I have noticed that very shy cats warm up to me more easily than they do to most people. I also like to spend time with children, and they tend to like me. I value gentleness for several reasons. First, I was not always gentle; I used to act out and sometimes even hurt people, so it is something I have worked hard to obtain. Secondly, it allows me to to the things I like to do, like work with shy cats and children. Finally, gentleness is also a fruit of the Spirit.

"In summary, I hope this presentation has allowed you to learn more about me."

The two presenters who have gone before me have been extremely formal and well-rehearsed. Not that I haven't rehearsed, but I tend to stumble over my words and lose my train of thought frequently. I'm not going to sound like they did, and I'm nervous. I don't want the group to think I haven't practiced. But I have! Oh, well. Here goes nothing.

3 comments:

  1. I'm sure you will do beautifully. If you haven't done it yet, then the trick with speaking in public is to slow down a notch. It's a lovely speech about a lovely person.

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  2. Kindness and gentleness are indeed good things.

    Like your "people come first".

    And I can see how hard you worked to obtain gentleness.

    Hope the research group has been going well.

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  3. Of course you won't sound like them - you'll sound like you. A good presentation expressing some great qualities we should all strive for.

    Hope it went well

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