Go with the flow

March 29, 2006

“Hey. You know you’re talking at the floor meeting today, right?”

“I am? Let me check the schedule… You’re right. Hmmm… This is a surprise.”

“You could ask the big guy that you can’t do it today. You know there will be some experts in the audience.”

“Well. I don’t think I want to do that. It sets a bad precedent. Thanks for the reminder. Three hours isn’t too bad. If it were one hour, it would have been tough.”

“Maybe you’ll start preparing every presentations like this every time from now on?”

“No. I think I still would prefer to prepare a week or two in advance.”

As I start preparing slides and organize a presentation, several others stop by to ask me the same question. Apparently, someone asked during coffee whether I would have remembered about the talk. One person exclaimed, “You should put that sort of thing on your calendar. It’s so easy!”

I’m so far from being worried; I know this stuff inside out. I’m so relaxed that I’m near catatonic.

A little under two hours later, I’m ready and I decided to have a leisurely lunch. I join another colleague.

“So are you ready now?”

“Sure. Hey, we haven’t had lunch together in a long time!”

We talk about food and about gaining and losing weight. We both agree that British portions are tiny and not filling.

After a relaxed killer presentation with a captivated and entertained audience (I wonder if Salsa dancing has helped in a small way), another colleague stops by.

“Were you kidding when you said you forgot about the talk?”

“Nope. I have no idea why but I thought this wasn’t due for another couple of months.”

“Well. I really enjoyed it. I understood everything you said.”

“Do you mean you get lost when I get more detailed and technical?”

Anyhow, a good portion of the day was lost. I do what I can to salvage the rest of the workday. Another gem of good news pops up during this salvage process as well as a realization that it would be pointless to stay late at work tonight. I’m in very high spirits as if I had shot of Felix Felicis. I bet I would have a good time dancing tonight if I go out tonight. There’s no need to cut down for sake of cutting down only, especially when all signs point toward having fun.

So I went.

I haven’t been to Wednesday Club Salsa in a while, and I haven’t seen fair number of people who have been regulars on Wednesdays but do not frequent other nights. I was looking forward to seeing them, but alas none of them were there tonight. Oh well. There were plenty of other people to dance with – some new and some familiar. I stayed until shortly before midnight.

As I predicted, it was sparkling fun all night long.