WSN

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.11.20
Current Song - Let's Groove (Earth, Wind and Fire)

It's time we revisit an old condensed version of what I type on here. Work, School, NISB - or WSN for short.

Work: The hours are pretty much staying in place, with 33. Depending if I'm bored today, it may be 34. It doesn't look as if there'll be any more than that. Everything's pretty tight with school and NISB stuff. Things are going okay, but I feel somewhat uncomfortable with some of the changes.

Ever since I started working at gas stations, I've tried to find a way to do things at a pace and a schedule that workes best for me. It's worked, and if it didn't, I don't think I'd be in the business. I go at a very informal pace. I don't like to act like a robot when I do my work, as I see in many other stations. I try to be colorful when I can. I'm not "gas station clerk," I'm "Cody." There's a reason for our name tags.

The system I've used for more than a year and a half is different than everyone else's. That's the reason why Mary wouldn't let me train new employees. Heck, even Wende let me train someone when I was in Dixon. I feel there's a danger to the system I've built over that time. The typical repsonse to something like this is just to change things. Now I'm not going to be stubborn and not budge. I'm always trying to find ways to tweak how I work, and trying to keep people happy at the same time.

Maybe its a gender thing.


School: The speech class is going great. That's odd. I conducted my first speech last night about me being a high school sports writer. Speech is not my thing, as many people know. I get lost a lot. Everyone else that performed knew what they were going to say. The constant stumbling I figured would cost me a lot, considering the other speeches had some flaws in them too.

I got a B+ in my first speech????

I tried to find a straight half-circle in there somewhere to make it look like a "D" but it was indeed a "B." One less sidetrack from possibly getting an "A"? I think what made it good was the introduction. Everyone else began with a question. I spoke how I would write. The ledes I write in my stories are supposed to grab attention. The one peer comment that was constant was about how good my intro was. Another one was how the subject matter was interesting.

One thing I tried to avoid in my speech is the uttering of "I'm going to tell you about". To me, it seems real generic, and cut and paste. I didn't say it, but on my evaluation sheet it was pointed out that I didn't state the main points in the introduction. I'm pretty sure I did. However, it wasn't interpreted to the audience as main points. If I would have emphasized it with a louder voice it probably would have made more sense.

Wednesday's Tech Zone class was bi-polar. I had been at a moot point in my drawing for quite some time. It so happened that the instructor came upon my work. At first, it was a question about knowing how to do certain things. He sat at my computer. The two of us, and another instructor, pretty much dissected not only my drawing, but my computer's settings and program management. I could only sit there and doze off.

In the end, it was determined that I had to start the drawing all over again, and do it the "correct" way. I thought I was doing it the correct way. Apparently not. So that plummeted me a lot. When I finally did it the "correct" way it seemed much easier. I can't wait to go back and work on it again. Did I just type that??

NISB: Everything's going okay right now. I've got my three freelancers lined up and have determined what's going to be covered. The content side of things should be okay.

The boards have me worrying a bit. The decline of the Illinois Hoops board led to many people jumping to my board. Their banter is somewhat different than what my board had been. I have a feeling it's turned away many long-time message board posters. Because I opened the floodgates and let them in? Some of it is childish. Some of it is good. However the childish ones overshadow the new wave of analysis.

I'd appreciate any feedback on this matter.