Year 2, Day 203— Town Meeting

Tonight I was very focused on a town meeting to discuss a project that deeply affects my neighborhood. I knew I was going to speak, so I was up late the night before thinking about my speech, and up early, and spent most of my free moments writing and rewriting things to say. I'm not sure I've found the perfect solution to public speaking—whether it's writing down EXACTLY what you're going to say, or just bullet-pointing the big topics and jumping from point to point. I vacillate between the two methods but more often than not I find myself writing out phraseology because it's very challenging to be clever improvisationally. I find if I can write a few jokes, or laugh lines, or chuckle lines, I can sort of surf on the tempo a little better, because I know where I have to speed up and where I have to slow down. I like speaking publicly, and people haven't told me to stop (as they do when I sing publicly) so I know I can do it, but I still get very nervous. I suppose there are those rare folk who aren't nervous at all, but I think mostly it's a myth that people don't get nervous.

Breakfast
Kashi, etc.
Heritage Flakes
1 Small Banana
Blueberries
1 Cup Unsweetened Soy Milk
Green Tea

Snack:
20 Almonds
3 sticks beef jerky
2 oz. 50% Jalapeno Cheddar
Coffee

Lunch: V Majestic
Shrimp & Broccoli
1.5 Fresh Rolls

Dinner:
Hamburger
Cabbage Salad with Almonds/Cashews
Asparagus

1 Nip

Emily always says that if our family had a crest, it would be the hamburger, and I think she's right. More often than not, it's a fallback dinner for us, and one that we always shop for when we're in a foreign land (like New Hampshire) and we need to make dinner. Seems to be a pretty reliable dinner for kids, too. Like barbecue, I'm glad it's on the South Beach diet because otherwise I might have trouble staying on the wagon. It's been hard to give up ketchup, but since I've fallen in love with jalapeno tabasco sauce, I haven't missed it as much.