in which i give a speech

So today, I graduated from Trainee to full, tenured Texas Eligibility Specialist, or Texas Works Advisor, whichever title seems more pretentious. It's pretty damn cool.

Anyway, this morning, I was told I'd be giving the speech for my class. This is--

Hmm.

In high school, I was very active in drama and One Act Play and UIL public speaking, teh latter thing I failed miserably at, since I talked too fast and tangented violently, but the acting thing was always fun. That's the--I don't get stage fright. I get the opposite--stage garrulousness. Whereas I open my mouth, and things fall out that have no business falling out.

Usually, I have no memory of it. Which is a blessing, I think. But today, Missy sat in the front row and held up a handful of Hersheys' Hugs, waggling them around temptingly. They were, she stated, my motivation. Every flub lost me a Hug.

You understand that I didn't flub *once*, right?

It was marvelous, like performing--or actually, it was performing, more or less. I'm--not very good with people unless I've practiced or they know me, but this time made up for pretty much every miserable speaking experience of my life. I was--there's a kind of freedom in being aware that they really can't fire you until they have teh new system in place and they start serious rifting. I mean, they could if I was failing, but my evaluation average was the second highest level possible, so at this point, it would be very hard. So I said what I thought, and everyone laughed appropriately, then they laughed more, and then Joy, another classmate, turned bright, bright red and couldn't stop giggling, and that just made it so much fun. I told them about my special dance of denial, when I deny a fraudulent client, and the dance of certification, which is when the damn program works and the case clears after only minimal tinkering, and how while I wouldn't call what we have to deal wiht challenges so much as waking nightmares, we had a high that no one else could get, when we could get a program to *work*, and then I went on tangent and I really have no idea what I said, but it was tremendous fun.

Then there was food, and that is the best thing ever. Anyway, now a fully certified specialist, which really doesnt' mean anything except the trainee part gets dropped off, and I had a really, *really* great day.

So. Happy.

This ends pointless entry that I'll eventually re-read to cheer myself up, since as a tenured worker, I'm now vulnerable to blitzing, which is two appointments an hour for all eight appointment hours, and I can lose my four o'clock free time to finsh cases. Which I am so not thinking about. Instead, I am thinking, I will take chocolate to work tomrrow and do my dance of chocolate happiness.