Xiao in my Hammock
Well, I went to bed early last night and thought I would sleep through the night. But it did not happen that way. My live-in companion Xiao refused to believe I wanted to sleep, so off we went and did some advance procedures.
He insisted we had to go outside, for what reason I did not know. I think we made about three trips outside before I actually checked my e-mail and the weather which had turned almost as cold as Easter Day in 1973 in Connecticut.
Oh, my, I should have known. The eclipse was being broadcast from Hawaii. Since I did not live in Hawaii, there was no problem, but a later newscast proved me wrong. [As usual]
There was to be an eclipse tonight. . . . . I already up and it was after midnight. So I set the alarm for one hour later and set to work on a speech I intended to make Wednesday at Toastmasters.
Checked for my timing and it was to be 6 to 8 minutes long. A whole three minutes longer than I usually got.
Being so late, it seemed that I made more typos than usual. The print-out made 4 pages and five lines of text. Since each page of double spaced typing is approximately 2 minutes, I figured that I had done pretty well . . . . but those typos. . . . . Ugh.
I spent the time correcting and adding a bit here and there and since it was a reading of a poem, I figured it was good for about 5 minutes max. Put in lots of space markers because a good pause is worth its weight in gold. If it is done correctly.
The first speech I ever gave was in a Technical Writing class at the university. I had my key notes set out on about 4 index cards and managed the first card very well, I thought. But when I went for the second card, I realized that I had already done it. Will try again later.
Got an idea to make a scroll for the poem, but with all the odds and ends I keep, nothing fit the idea I had of a "rolling-up-at-the-top" and unrolling, "without falling-to-the-floor" bottom that I wanted to engineer. I did want to use my hands a little bit; not flailing, mind you, just a little bit. Had to give up the scroll idea for another time.
The moon actually did look very Red and Yellow. It was worth staying up for it. AND I got the poem corrected to NO typos. Wunderbar.
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