Did my 200a presentation today, and it went so much better than I could have anticipated. I had practiced it twice last night, and spend a long time talking to Lewis about some of the finer theoretical points, and got up at 6 this morning to run through it once more. I had been worried that it was going to be really dry because it’s a pure theory talk without any real-world-type application, which is what most the other students are doing, but I think I had overlooked the fact that no one would have taken this class if they weren’t at least a little interesting in theory, since it is the “Foundations of Linguistic Theory”. Doy.
Anyway, the class got off to a good start, and everyone seemed chatty and awake, which is great. I went second (there were three of us total) and presentation didn’t really go as planned. Instead, the professor had questions for me as I went along and kept asking me to clarify points and repeat certain things. Though this wasn’t out of my lack of clarity, I think, but rather asking me to go into information I was going to skip over because I thought it would be needlessly complicating. Turns out the complicating factors were illustrative, and I was able to explain all the parts I had been struggling through last night. Professor seemed impressed (and it’s one I’m rather keen on impressing) and the presentation left me feeling quite pleased with both my topic and my performance. What more could I ask!
Spent the rest of my day revelling in a sense of having gotten past the hardest part of what’s left of my quarter, and finished up a buch of other somewhat less-pressing stuff. Got the last of my papers graded, and all of the homeworks that were turned in yesterday. I’ve only got one section to teach this week, which I got a chance to prepare a bit for, and then all that’s left in TA-ville this quarter is one more homework to grade, and the final review sessions to do! Yay! I’m so glad I’m not TAing next quarter… I’m definitely ready for a breather and I’ll be thankful (or at least, I’d better be!) for the chance to take some extra neat classes.
But right now, all I can think about is how I have an extra long weekend coming up! I don’t even care what happens in these four days.. four days off to work on my papers and get ready for my last presentation seems fantastic. Very fantastic indeed. Phew.