I gave my speech Monday, and didn't die in the process

I ended up doing it on speech deprivation. Here's my outline:

Specific Purpose: To introduce the audience to the causes, effects, and dangers of sleep deprivation. I. Introduction A. Attention Device ? Poll audience on levels of daytime drowsiness; compare to national average B. Define sleep deprivation C. Thesis II. Causes of Sleep Deprivation A. Time constraints B. Habits formed in high school C. Late/long shifts D. Sleep disorders 1. Insomnia (14%) 2. Sleep apnea (24% males, 9% females) 3. Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) 4. ?Restless Legs? E. Various physical, physiological factors III. Effects of Sleep Deprivation A. Brain activity shits - Increased activity in Prefrontal cortext, parietal region, decrease in temporal lobe; diminished ability to perform cognitive and arithmetic tasks B. Sleep debt (biological clock, transient external stimuli) C. Drowsiness, often mis-attributed D. Various minor effects ? tiredness, irritability, inability to tolerate stress, problems concentrating, remembering, behavioral learning, social problems, vague discomfort IV. Dangers of Sleep Deprivation A. Low grades B. Correlations with other afflictions C. Driving V. Conclusion A. Summary B. Reemphasize of Thesis C. Share personal experience D. End

and my bibliography:

Carpenter, Siri. ?Sleep deprivation may be undermining teen health.? Monitor on Psychology: A Publication of the American Psychology Association. Volume 32, No. 9, October 2001. Available: http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/sleepteen.html ?Sleep deprivation as bad as alcohol impairment, study suggests.? CNN.com: Health. September 20, 2000. Available: http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/09/20/sleep.deprivation/ Drummond, Sean; Stricker, John; Burton, Richard. ?Brain Activity is Visibly Altered Following Sleep Deprivation.? UCSD Heathbeat: News from Health Sciences Communications. UCSD Healthcare, UCSD School of Medicine. February 9, 2000. Available: http://health.ucsd.edu/news/2000_02_09_Sleep.html Dement, William. ?Sleepless at Stanford: What All Undergraduates Should Know About How Their Sleeping Lives Affect Their Waking Ones.? Stanford University Center of Excellence for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleeping Disorders. Stanford University. September, 1997. Available: http://www.stanford.edu/%7Edement/sleepless.html Kloeppel, Esther; Peters, Robert; and others. ?Effects of Partial and Total Sleep Deprivation on Driving Performance.? Human Factors. Federal Highway Administration, Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. Publication No. FHWA-RD-94-046. Available: http://www.tfhrc.gov/humanfac/sleep/sleepweb.htm ?Sleep Deprivation?. Postgraduate Medicine Online. Vol 112, No 4, October 2002. Available: http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2002/10_02/pn_sleep.htm

It went okay. I wore my new dark green pants and a new t-shirt - it's oatmeal colored, maybe a little darker. And very, very soft. The only downside is that it shows sweat with great contrast. I didn't sweat that bad, but definitely a little.

I went third, after an older housewife looking lady that talked (very quietly) about addiction, and a girl named Tasha talked about obesity. Then, all too soon, it was my turn.

I gave Karl my outline and bibliography, then went up to the front of the class and began. I had a few problems at first, mostly related to breathing (I wasn't, and almost hyperventilated). A few times, I just had to stop and take a deep breath. But it went okay after that. I went past time just barely, but did manage to get the story about driving to North Carolina out. I think it went okay overall.

Now, as for the rest of the class:

Topics varied. From what I can remember: Two on obesity, (one): DUIs, beer, why to be a nurse, the nursing shortage, the teaching shortage, dance team, cheerleading/power tumbling, kayaking, nanotechnology; that's all I can remember right now.

The dance team chick was *hilarious* - she just kinda stood there and made a lot of non-verbal utterances, and kinda talked about being on dance team. The cheerleader was a little better - she did a back handspring. And she had a chart. It was about the number of emergency room visits due to cheerleading accidents. She also had a circle graph that showed 53% of all injuries in college sustained by females in sports happen in cheerleading (but failed to provide a correlation with how many participate in cheerleading vs other sports). They both lacked real organization.

The nanotechnology guy pissed me off. First, nanotechnology is a poor topic for a 4-6 minute speech, since you can't go into any depth, and this is a subject that is hard to just skim for an audience of laypeople. He used a lot of buzzwords but didn't really define or put them into context; he sounded like a brochure or magazine article at times. He also threw out a few names of key scientist in the field, but didn't really say much about them. It was also clear he had his speech completely laid out - not extemporaneous.  A lot of his transitions were clearly memorized, which while not an entirely bad thing, isn't great if it's horrendously obvious.  The really funny part was when he was about finished with his introduction (including a bizarre method of defining nano), he realized his speech was going to run long, and he took off.  He was speaking very, very quickly, and basically just reading from his notecards, looking up only occasionally.  In general, he's just a really cocky, arrogant guy who thinks he's better and smarter than everyone else.  (I do too, but I don't go to lengths to show it).  His intro speech was a major non sequiter, but another idea along those same lines.  After his speech, I heard the cheerleader whisper to the older woman (mid 20's, early 30's?) in front of me, "I didn't understand any of that."  Which really pissed me off -that was exactly the reaction he was going for, and it was entirely uncalled for.  I mean, it sounded like an article in Popular Science or something.

Anyway.

The chocolate chip cookie guy was really cool.  He has a number of piercings and tatoos, so it was an interesting way for him to break the stereotype.  He's a really friendly, open guy, and makes GREAT cookies.

Those are the ones that really stuck out in my mind.  We have to do our persuasive speeches a week from tomorrow.  I actually ended up choosing my topic about 3:30 (sleep deprivation), then immediately fell asleep.  I didn't really do anything on my speech until 2 or 3 pm.  Janelle and I went to the dentist at 8.  That was not pleasent.  My oral hygiene hasn't been too great lately, and it hurt.  We got back by 10 or so, but I didn't start for a few hours.  I really just googled, then hit up all the links on the first site I went to.  I only had a few practice run-throughs, but it went okay.

I went to Matt & Luke's afterwards, and we played my campaign 'til about 2 or 3 (pictures posted previously).  Mom woke me up at 7:30, so I could go to the manager meeting at 9:30 and talk to Dave about becoming an assistant.  I wisely decided to just sleep instead, but Javi doesn't think I blew my only chance.

I've got orientation in the morning, then class again tomorrow night.  Only 4 (I think) more classes to go!