My Blog
Antarctica
October 19, 2012
A Saturday Thrill (#2) : The Plan
“So, where do you guys want to sit?” a puzzled-looking Enne asked.
She might have asked how many neurons are in an elephant’s brain, since neither Jemina nor I were able to grant her with a reply – We wasted about 40 seconds looking around a rather small class for seats, like that was a decision that should be taken with the utmost care. While we were searching for the most comfortable seats the other groups were already making dust fly; everyone else seemed to be passionate getting down to business, approving and sounded so smart. In other words it was very apparent that everyone else was making progress but us – I reckoned we were lagging so I cheered “hey, look what I found ladies!, 3 empty seats right under our noses, let’s butt-test them, shall we?” I guess Enne and Jemina picked up the urgency in my sarcasm since they both chuckled, but I don’t think they realized it was also laced with a bit of frustration. They complied and sat down quickly. I don’t know why but I was a bit surprised they didn’t protest I literally felt a chilled spasm down my spine after that, like I was in charge. “When the chief says ‘sit down’, he means it” I smirked while I was cherishing this remark with myself. Either my thought came out too loudly or the clothes I wore were so convincing it prompted Enne to ask me “what’s up boss?”I was taken aback and I guess it showed, so before I could say anything she admitted that she was only joking. I knew that, but calling me ‘boss’ was as if she was reading my mind. While I was assessing Enne’s psychic abilities, Jemina proved that she was equally talented as her; I was just about to ask if anybody came up with an idea we could work on, when she began to lament:" Ok, guys, I’ll be honest here...” Enne and I looked towards her with worry lines on our faces and she concluded “I have been busy all week and I didn’t have time to do any research at all, sorry guys”. “Goodness, you scared me, I thought you were about to share something horrid with us, you need a whooping for that” said Enne, grinning. Enne’s remark opened a gateway for a mudslide of laughter ,within seconds both girls were in total hysteria as they took turn describing in details their every single days since past Saturday. “My sister came over, and she brought my nephew, he’s adorable but he’s spoiled...” “How old is he?” “He’s about to turn 2” “great!” “We went...”. I was fuming, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; the only hour we probably ever going to have to meet this week and work as a group is being used to discuss family matters and where which shoes were brought where and how much they cost. I sat with a binder in front of me, a pile of articles in it, a bunch of data I had gathered, a business plan, a relic of the countless nights I spent working tirelessly for the group, and it didn’t even get the most miserable bit of attention from them. I don’t know how their conversation ended up in driving a car with automatic transmission versus a manual one, but it was time for me to switch gears.
“Alright, sorry to interrupt but I figured we won’t have much time to meet during the week, so I had put together a plan and I‘d like your opinions on it” I said very calmly. “Oh!, nice! What is it about?” wondered Enne. Jemina asked for a closer look so I handed her the binder which she shared with Enne. I briefed them on my plan as they were flipping through it. I was all nerves and I was ready to keel over and die if they thought my idea was rubbish, but I kept on talking, filling them in with all the details I could remember. My tenacity paid off well as the both agreed my plan looked solid : “I like it”... “ yeah, this is good” I heard them say. My plan was a hit and I was very happy for our group. I chirped “it’s going to be easier now that we had agreed on something”, Enne piggy backed my statement by adding: “yeah, this is a big step forward”. But not so fast ,Jemina had something to say.” I’m all for it, but we’re missing Joos , what would he think about this idea?”. Enne ,being very supportive, assured her “I’m sure he’ll like it”.
[Do you remember the mock presentation I told you about, well Joos really excelled in it, his posture and the way he engaged the class during his delivery was one of the highlight of that day. The guy could speak well. He really had knack for persuasion, a very charismatic personality and our teacher admired him, and I’m always left impressed at how she manages to answer some of his tough and clever questions. He was the type of guy anyone would want to be associated with in the event of a group project. I couldn’t express how fortunate I felt when I was designated to be in his group, yeah “his group” so the teacher inferred it last class “...Enne, Snoopy, Jemina you will be business partners to Joos”. Joos wasn’t an easy person to work with however. I detected irritation in his voice whenever someone else in the group turned down a concept he suggested; he would snap “what do you suggest then, do you have any better idea?” or bluntly say “ this isn’t going to work”. Joos ideas were like quantum physics to a bunch of toddlers, they would require some intensive and accurate data research. Nobody understood his forensic jargons, and he just wouldn’t demote himself to our level. After that first group meeting I felt that it’s either I confront this guy or let him do all the work himself and be the sole spokesperson for the group when we present]
So when Jemina mentioned about him I felt that my binder and I can pack up for a road to oblivion. He wasn’t going to embrace that idea; it was too plain, too viable. Joos would want our project to be something comparable to Baumgartners’s latest skydiving accomplishment, but from Mars to earth preferably, something extreme. But I wasn’t ready to dish out an attractive idea that already garnered the supports of 3 out 4 people so I countered “if we are waiting for Joos, we are in the wrong place, we are in class; Joos is not here, he didn’t show up or call any of us. And I doubt wherever he is right now he’s thinking about a group plan. All I’m saying is if we wait until he shows up next Saturday to start working on a plan, we would have a bigger challenge up against us, Time!”. “ But what if ... “ Jemina began to query ,(trying to heckle my solemn speech ;) , I didn’t even give her time to finish and I presumed with a big smile “ what if he doesn’t show up again? .Then we’re doomed Jemina”. It was after this last sentence that it dawned on me that I‘ve been sounding like a witty leader. A short-lived leader I was. A dramatic sense of leadership took Enne over,she kicked me off the imaginary soap box I was on and launched a tirade against us“ Cut it off! The more we talk about Joos the less we get done, we have a plan now, and I think we should get to work”. She just wouldn’t can it and all she was saying made sense. Next thing I know she’s got my binder in her hands assigning us with what we should start working on. “Snoopy, you think you can take care of the financial data part?” [what do you mean?, this is my plan I can take care of anything] but she asked with such an authority that all I could say was “yes, cakewalk for me”. Then it was Jemina’s turn to feel her wrath .” Jemina! You have a background in marketing, right?... you’re in charge of the pricing and marketing strategy part". Jemina said she would feel comfortable doing just that. “Perfect!, I can work on the marketplace, potential competitions and our target market, I can incorporate some of the information from my individual plan into this” Enne added. When she finally paused, Jemina and I didn’t have much to say, we were left stunned and shaken :).
The class was officially dismissed and as we were leaving I made a limp attempt to reclaim the leadership role Enne swiped from me and joked :) “Ladies, please pick up your phones, I tried calling everyone in the group and I didn’t get any response, next time you won’t be seeing my face in the local news, I’ll fill out a missing person report for each and every one of you at the Police station”. We all laughed.
I was proud that my plan was accepted by the group and glad that others took the project more seriously.
Will Joos show up on next class? Will a plan like mine appeal to him?
Thank You.
-Snoopyboy
Peace!
- 4 Comments
- Comment on this
09:18 AM Oct 29 2012 |
|
---|---|
snoopyboy
|
09:59 PM Oct 28 2012 |
|
---|---|
Anita
|
06:08 AM Oct 25 2012 |
|
---|---|
snoopyboy
|
09:30 AM Oct 24 2012 |
|
---|---|
MESS
|
October 2, 2012
A Saturday Thrill
(This is a follow-up to my other blog “Snoopy’s in the Loop” )
~That Saturday I learned that wearing a leader’s hat is simply not for the faint of heart. Why haven’t any wise person warned me?~...
“I’m not cut out for this, I should just go with whatever the group comes up with” I mumbled to myself as I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling. I tilt my head to the side and looked at my clock; I beat my alarm by 35 minutes, but I felt no urge to close my eyes and doze off for another half an hour. My anxiety level was just too high for me to go back to sleep. The thought of lassoing the members of my group and drag them to follow my concept for the project was too stimulating, too much nervous electricity was streaming through my body; I could not rest. That kept me up at night, made me wake earlier and yet kept me tarred to my bed. And just when I was trying to figure out how I could possibly freeze time and not having to deal with this group situation until a decade or so after, my alarm went off and made fun of my nonsensical dream. It buzzed and rang very loudly [hehe! It’s time lazy, wake up spineless bastard]- I have seen people slam their clocks across walls in movies and at that particular time I felt the need to do just the same with mine. However, I couldn’t make up my mind which wall I wanted to scuff, so I spared myself the trouble and gently tap the clock and it went silent.
It was presentation day for our individual projects and right after that we were to huddle with our peers and work on the coming group assignment, or in my case- assailment. Surprisingly, I only felt nervous about the prospect of imposing myself as the “leader” or the “here’s my idea, you all should eat it” to my team members. Anyways, I roll off my bed, took a shower and dressed fancily since it was required that we wear business casual attire for the occasion; and yeah, I call that fancy because any other day I would have showed up in class like I’ve just been chewed and spitted it out. “Gosh” I said as I checked myself in the mirror “so much for a reminder that I’m a leader”. I really looked like a professional or an iron-fist leader one would agree. However, I didn’t need that confidence, so I tricked myself into thinking that I looked more like a wobbly-footed waiter. After I contemplated my reflection for what seemed like hours I let out a deep sigh –the sooner I get these things done the sooner I slip off these clothes-
On my way to class, I realized that I had left a piece of paper I had sketched some notes that I intended to use during my presentation at home and I didn’t have much time to go and retrieve it. I wouldn’t dare to either, the teacher made it clear any latecomer will be the next to present, I didn’t want that stress; I already had plenty. I started to freak out, and as I’m driving, I try to remember some of the stuff I had written down “Hi all…No! No! Hello everyone today I’m going to tell you …. No! Hello, I’m snoopy and today I’m going...” It was total chaos in my head, and I began to panic for real; I didn’t feel I was prepared enough for the presentation and I wasn’t ready to sell my idea to the group, and these clothes felt uncomfortably stiff on me.
“Come in, Snoopy the door is open” said my teacher with the cheeriest smile as I sheepishly peeked through the door. “I know it’s open but no thanks for your help teacher who doesn’t have to present anything today—don’t you smile at me, you’re probably going to crucify me with a bad score on my presentation later- I know the damn door is open” of course I didn’t tell her that. I found a seat in the back and sat down; unzip my backpack, pulled out a hard copy of my business plan with minimal noise because I didn’t want to draw the teacher’s attention to me, like had she heard me she would have said “ Ah! Look who we have here! Snoopy, I see you’re pulling out your plan already, you should present first!” .The classroom looked eerie and the dozen of empty seats seems as nervous as I was. It was the quiet before the storm, yeah; it felt like something terrible was in store. Everyone – the teacher, myself and the 5 others students that were present- were silent. One student looked so scared I could see tears welling up her eyes, another bowed and kept his eyes closed summoning all kind of angels to spare him of what’s about to happen. I continued to scan the room, this one was texting, maybe begging his father to come and rescue him “dad, I’m scared, why did I sign up for this class!” I don’t know he just looked nervous typing whatever it was. It was so satisfying to know that I wasn’t the only one freaking out. 15 minutes had passed when one member of my group sneaked into the room I tried to catch her eyes, but she wiped out her cell from her purse and engaged in a texting ecstasy, she had no worry lines on her face and she didn’t look like she had done any research for our project either.
“Ok, there will be no presentation today”, I was so dazzled upon hearing those words that I didn’t know where they came from exactly. But nobody around me looked sparkly so I know I wasn’t dreaming. I let out a “Huh?”And I heard it again, it was the teacher “there will be no presentation today”, I tried not to look excited and she took it that I was disappointed and she added “Sorry, I know you guys put in a lot of effort into this, but there’s just not enough of us here today- under no circumstances will ever extend a presentation date again- you all looked great by the way”. I felt like I went to heaven and came back, my rib cage shivered in exhilaration. I put away my plan paper I was supposed to be reading in preparation for the presentation and sighed deeply, this time I was thinking – I’m happy.
At about 40 minutes into the class, another member of my group showed up, she found herself a seat and settled down. Our eyes met and she waved and in a hushed tone asked me:”hey, the presentations…what happened?” She was surprised to find the teacher lecturing instead of us taking turn behind the podium. I was more than happy to tell her “not today, it’s postponed”, needless to say how psyched she was after hearing that. The teacher announced a quiz out of the blue, and the students looked stupefied by it; I on the other hand, wasn’t. I‘d rather take everyone’s quizzes than to present. I breezed through the quiz in a flash. At about 1 hour left before class is dismissed, the teacher again, made an announcement that I totally forgot about, she had unleashed the “storm”: “I hope you guys had a chance to meet with your peers during the week, we will devote the next hour for you to work on your group projects”
The moment I dreaded the most had finally arrived.
Will the plan that I painstakingly worked on be accepted? Did anyone else in my group come up with something? Was everyone in my group present?
~Snoopyboy
Thanks for reading, thanks for your times.
Peace!
( :
- 10 Comments
- Comment on this
02:10 AM Oct 24 2012 |
|
---|---|
leaouge
|
09:46 AM Oct 19 2012 |
|
---|---|
snoopyboy
|
12:52 AM Oct 19 2012 |
|
---|---|
englishteacher24/7
|
11:34 AM Oct 18 2012 |
|
---|---|
snoopyboy
|
01:59 AM Oct 18 2012 |
|
---|---|
englishteacher24/7
|
10:42 AM Oct 17 2012 |
|
---|---|
kotlesya
|
10:11 AM Oct 17 2012 |
|
---|---|
snoopyboy
|
12:31 PM Oct 16 2012 |
|
---|---|
kotlesya
|
07:16 AM Oct 11 2012 |
|
---|---|
snoopyboy
|
12:05 AM Oct 03 2012 |
|
---|---|
kotlesya
|
September 19, 2012
(what I've been up to)
Alas! What a couple of weeks it has been!
This Term, I’m attending some sort of intensive business class, which meets once a week; Saturday. I know-what was I thinking signing up for a class on Saturday,uh?- anyways so we meet once a week but the load of stuff our instructor assigns us with is just hefty, in order words I have a boulder of homework that I’ve been trying to tackle all at once, and the due dates are drawing closer and closer. I have two presentations coming up; one is an individual project, which I pretty much got out the way. I just need to practice my speech in front of the mirror and evaluate myself (I think I got that part covered ;). We had a mock and impromptu presentation exercise last Saturday and the teacher thought I did pretty well, In fact I was the first one after many had performed who remembered to greet and introduced myself to the audience “Hello, everyone I’m snoopyboy and today I’m going to share my opinion ….as we all know…” and then I paused to savor the sitting ovations :’) . I didn’t bring down the house but I think with a little more preparation I could have done better, I went downward and digressed from the main topic a little, kind of like what I do, here on Ebaby :). So overall, we all did well, but two particular students really did incredibly well, like they captivated the audience and I agreed with theirs stands about the topic.
The instructor was impressed and at her request we gave ourselves a round of applause and before we had a chance to digest that moment of self-romance, she announced that in addition to our assigned individual projects there will be a group project also. It took a while before any of us understood the gravity of the situation we all were facing. She too, realized that she wasn’t taken seriously and she stressed “… I’m going to call out the groups and as soon as I’m finished, I want every one of you to exchange phone numbers and “ “ and we all can leave? And you’ll tell us more about it next week” I was hoping to hear – she continued “each group should turn in an outline of the project to me… before” “before pigs could fly?” I was hoping to hear ;) but she concluded “TODAY!”— There was a sea of surprised eyeballs on every face, and 22 jaws on 22 tables, and 1 on the floor, guess whose it was- my jaw . I thought I had a week cushion before my presentation is due, and I was just going to spend time editing and embellishing my business concept paper at ease, no pressure, Alas! Her announcement came as a big shock to me, but I think I was in a better position than some of my peers, I overheard one of them complain “I don’t even know where to start on my individual project, and now ...this!?” .Others thought that was so intense they couldn’t even bear to look at our instructor, their faces were buried in their palms. I don’t know whether I have a knack to attract trouble or what, but I did something that almost cost me my life so to speak, :). I committed one of the deadliest sin by uttering the most forbidden question one could ever ask a teacher that just assigned a paper- I raised my hand and “Yes, question, I love that” our teacher said- and I asked it, “ How many pages should that plan be”. “Ah! I’m glad you’d ask. You don’t expect it to be just 8 pages like the other one, this is a group project! but I’ll be kind and ask for a minimum of 15 pages, typed in Times New Roman and font size should be 10, 11 is acceptable “ she answered with a smirk- At this point, I just stared at the board not looking anywhere else knowing that I was probably being pelted with angry eyes. “Anymore questions?….Fine!” I heard the teacher say from a far off horizon, far away from where my mind was.
So the names were called out and we all shifted around to be closer to the folks we were tasked to work with. Now, I’m not dramatizing anything here, my group was the most disorderly, we spent the remainder of the class turning down ideas everyone came up with, “ well, I like your idea, but…” “ Ok what do you suggest we do then?…” “ This isn’t going to work out” “ yeah, it asks for too much work” . We kept bumping heads and we got tired then just sat there staring at one another expecting a light bulb to pop out of someone’s else head like “tadaaaa!” :). In a nutshell, we didn’t get much done, even worse, we didn’t turn in the outline for our project that day, like our teacher advised.
The hourglass is trickling and so far I haven’t been able to get a hold on nobody in my group. I tried calling, e-mailing, texting I even appeared on the local news channel trying to reach out for them ;) but all my efforts led to dead-end. I really can’t perform well under pressure when it comes to school work and presenting in class has never been my forte. I don’t like to procrastinate but until we all agree on a concept I don’t even know where to start, to be honest.
I never led a school project before but I have put together a well thought out plan and I feel this coming Saturday I’ll have to turn up the heat on their tushies . :’).
Thanks for reading!
snoopyboy
- 9 Comments
- Comment on this
08:59 AM Oct 03 2012 |
|
---|---|
Buttafly
|
09:59 AM Oct 02 2012 |
|
---|---|
snoopyboy
|
04:18 AM Sep 30 2012 |
|
---|---|
Orchestra
|
06:58 AM Sep 26 2012 |
|
---|---|
Buttafly
|
08:27 AM Sep 25 2012 |
|
---|---|
snoopyboy
|
04:39 PM Sep 22 2012 |
|
---|---|
Buttafly
|
09:49 AM Sep 21 2012 |
|
---|---|
snoopyboy
|
02:54 AM Sep 20 2012 |
|
---|---|
Buttafly
|
10:56 PM Sep 19 2012 |
|
---|---|
kotlesya
|