Speaking Engagement

Last night's dream:

I dreamt I was at work, and a woman comes up to me and tells me that I will be doing the speaking for a presentation at a local college. I think, how nice of them to pick me.

I'm not sure how they picked me or why, but I was given the task and I certainly felt up to it. However, there was no other information than that - I was just told to arrive at 7:30 p.m. to deliver the piece.

It's currently a little after 2 p.m., and I know I have five hours until the engagement. I finish up work. I mention to someone that I am going to be going to the college, and Chuck and some guys from work say, oh, we'll give you a ride up there.

Great, I think. I get into the car with them. Chuck is drunk and can barely drive. No one else in the car seems to mind. I'm in the back seat, I think three other guys from work are in the car, and they either don't care or don't want to say anything.

I'm getting frustrated - I need to get to this engagement. We are stopped at a light, and I say, "Chuck, do you want me to drive?" He sloppily nods yes.

I get out of the car, I'm in the back seat passenger side and go around the back of the car to get into the drivers seat. Chuck maybe passed out, I'm not sure where Chuck went, but traffic started moving and the car started moving without anybody steering the vehicle. The car mostly stayed with traffic on it's own, but it would bump people ahead of it. It fell a bit into the other lane. Finally, it seemed to just take off on it's own. I couldn't catch up to it. And then it was gone. I remember thinking I wonder if they are steering it from the back seat, but it was gone and I couldn't catch up.

So I'm left to get to the college on my own. I jog there, I remember trying to really run and feeling this feeling I often feel in real life, that I want to go faster than it seems my body can go. I get to the college, and find the auditorium.

It's currently 7:20. The engagement starts at 7:30. I walk in to the room I'm told it's to be, and I'm told nothing. There is a full house audience of probably a few hundred people. Tracy from work is there, and says, this is where you'll be speaking. I say, are you sure? I was going to go check the other auditorium and make sure it's not there. Tracy sighs and says fine, you're wasting your time, but if it makes you feel better go ahead.

I walk over to the other auditorium, and it's full up with a piano concert. I ask the woman behind the stage if there were any other shows that night, like maybe after them. She says, no, this is our stage for the night. I think, hm, then I guess I must be the speaker at the other one.

I go back over. It is now 7:25. A woman, a very tall and solidly built woman in a muted royal blue suit hands me a ream-thick packet of papers. This is what I will be covering in tonight's speaking engagement. I look at the title: Woman as God, a history. I think, oh my gosh. Why didn't she tell me I would have to be covering all this. I need to read through this! Do we have any visual aids? I notice they are handing the same packets out to everyone. I think, why are they handing out my copy of the speech? Why do I even need to read this if they are already handing it out?

I start looking at the copy, and some of the charts and graphs. I think, oh, this would have made a great, large visual aid. That would have been great as this. I think, man, I really wasted the last five hours - if she would have let me know that I'd be covering this, I could have really added some flair. But I am not. I am given the material and am to make the most of the time with this audience. I feel confident I can do it. I only feel bad that I am not better prepared for my audience. Even though I feel like the audience will enjoy my performance, and I am going to make sure I don't call out the areas in which I am unprepared, I feel bad that I could have done more. But then I think - no, because she didn't give me the info until now. I'm doing the best I can.

I go up on the stage. I meant to sit behind the curtain for the remaining five minutes and quickly scan the information. I realize there is no way for me to do that. I open the curtain, and look for a podium. There is only a little piano, like the piano guy on Peanuts. I take that down and set it next to me. I laugh at the absurdity of it's size.

I look up - the entire audience is watching me and enthralled with what I'm doing. I look at the clock - it's about 7:26. I say to the audience, because I still want to read over what I will be speaking about, We've got about five minutes until the show is to start, plus we should allow some time for late comers. We'll get started about 7:32, 7:33.

I sit down on the stage next to the piano and peruse my materials. This looks like really interesting stuff. I look back up at the clock - no more than maybe ten seconds has passed, and the clock reads 7:31! I think, that's not possible, the gods are playing tricks on me! Don't they want me to be prepared! Don't they want me to present this material in the best way possible? The clock ticks to 7:32. I say apparently not. I stand up, and begin on page one.

End of dream.