NY to DC and my briefing

I was not looking forward to the 4 hour bus ride back to DC. Although I had some work to do, I was eager to be distracted from it, and was glad when the bus driver put in a movie! I was pretty sure it would be a cheesy family flick, since it was a mixed crowd on the bus. I was not-so-pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a Steven Segal movie. It was pretty violent, and they cursed a lot – which I tried to escape by turning up my ipod – it only partially blocked out the sound of people getting sliced up by swords and beaten to a bloody pulp by Mr. Segal. Not exactly my idea of quality entertainment.

The next movie was just as bad. From what I could tell by my occasional glances to the screen in front of me, this movie was about a group of prison inmates who joined a poetry class. At the end of the movie, they had a party where they were reading their work, towards the end of the party, a huge fight broke out and pretty much everyone died. There was a lot of shanking going on. Again, I was less than impressed by the bus driver’s selection. But at least it kept me focused on my work!

Most of the work I had to do was for my briefing, which was only 2 days away. As I mentioned before, all of the summer associates had to do an hour-long briefing to talk about the projects they worked on over the summer. I got really nervous Tuesday morning, after my early-morning practice run went poorly. I was totally stammering, tripping over my words, and saying the wrong things. It did not bode well for the presentation! I was prepared to get through it, and then return to my office and cry, if necessary.

Fortunately, that wasn’t necessary. The briefing went WAY better than I expected! There were lots of great comments and questions, and a bit of discussion about the recommendations I suggested – it was great! It reminded me how great it is to work in a community that fosters critical thinking and discussion, in a positive way.

With the pressure of the briefing off my shoulders, I enjoyed the rest of my afternoon – and even headed out a bit early to meet a friend for Happy Hour. Cindy is a CGU alumna, she was a few years ahead of me and was someone who was always helpful in giving me advice about the program. Her dissertation defense, was also the first one I attended (she did fabulously!). Now, Cindy works in a great applied research position in DC. I was excited to hear about her transition from grad school to real life – it’s always a good reminder that people do finish successfully!