what penelope does on her time off

So last month, I helped out my friend J, who works for OurFay-HAY in a rural county of our state, and I helped to judge an annual presentation competition. Whether I'm actually qualified to do such a thing is moot; the bottom line is that J needed help, and I can always use an excuse to get out of the house, away from the children, and so I agreed right away. A win-win. Besides, it might be kind of neat to say I was on a PANEL, in the manner of Simon, Randy, and Paula, who btw y'all, m had NO IDEA who I was talking about when I mentioned S, R, and P. We must harass her in the comments section.

Anyway, as far as I knew I wouldn't actually have to talk, just you know, score the presenters according to the standard criteria, and write down a few comments. Kind of like reviewing a piece for a fellow writer, right? The goal of effective communication is basically the same. So that day I actually only ended up scoring maybe 3 or 4 presenters? I remembered a landscaping presentation, jewelry making, and juggling. There are different categories and age groups for these presentations, but as far as ranking, it does get a little tricky with the apples vs. oranges conundrum. But we worked it out.

And I mean, honestly, it was fun! I did end up having to talk at the end as part of the group critique, where the judges and other facilitators offered general comments of encouragement and ways to improve. And the people ahead of me totally stole my ideas, so I ended up just reiterating what they said and feeling slightly like a jackhole--totally ironic in a public speaking competition, I realize. But anyway, it was fine.

So then, J asked me if I'd like to judge another competition, this one the district competition, or next level up before states. Some of the same kids would be moving on, but I wouldn't actually be judging them, I would be a judge for the Health&Fitness presentations. Again, qualified? Debatable. But I do know something about healthy eating and exercise, even if I don't always partake. And if we want to get technical, I have taken nutrition classes. Or one class. Years ago. But I digress. I agreed again, because weeee! Another excuse to get away from the children--er, take some time off from my job--and spend time with my east coast BFF that I don't get to see nearly enough.

Now, this presentation experience was quite a bit more involved: J works west from me, more out where my parents live, but then the competition was east, but yet not at all on the way for either one of us. So I ended up leaving the children with my parents overnight, and staying with J. We woke up at 5:30 AM, left the house before 6 AM, all to get to her workplace, which is about 45 minutes west, picking up one of the presenting kids on the way. I know. I'm lost right along with you. So then we all meet at around 7 AM, where the rest of the kids and J's assistant arrive, so that J can drive us all (4 kids, 3 adults total) in a 15-passenger van to the competition. We had Mapquest directions that were slightly off, and a GPS system that told a completely different story, so frankly it was a little hairy getting there. We were totally late, but it was fine.

I feel like the Health&Fitness room was actually waiting my arrival so they could begin? So that was slightly awkward. But I right away sat down and judged presentations (again, all age groups) on teeth brushing, sports playing, eating right, and exercise in general. And this time was prepared to be more vocal, wrote some notes down throughout so I'd have my thoughts together, and then, unlike most of the kids presenting, delivered my own thoughts without the crutch of my notecards. Which, again ironically, were the majority of all the judges' comments: notecards should not=crutch.

And the other two judges, I should mention as an aside--one is J's coworker who orginally proposed that I ride with her in the morning to this far-out county, this lady whom I never met? Freaked me out. And then I found out later that her original-original idea was for me to stay at her house the night before, since we all had to leave so early. Omg! Thankfully J talked her down from this insanity. The other judge was a colleague of hers that now lives in Ohio, and they were perfectly lovely and pleasant, but I did feel some pressure to go to lunch with them? A little weirdness there. I opted out in the most charming way I know how. And then later, while J and I were trolling around for some sort of ATM to buy lunch with, they came rolling up to us in their car, and paid me a few bucks for my efforts. Which was entirely unnecessary, but seriously appreciated, and kind of funny in a cosmic way, that an ATM of sorts would just roll up, just as one was requesting one from the Universe?

And so the kids were enjoyable as well, clearly all in the throes of those weird and uncomfortable teenage years and it was interesting to see the differences between them all. One was happy-go-lucky but rolled his eyes a lot at his mom, but not in a mean way really. One was pretty angry all day, but is generally self-deprecating... she needs some time I think, to kind of come out of that dark place. The two brothers were quiet and well-mannered and yet totally goofy and random when we took pictures. Another girl was composed and lovely and yet you know she was mainly more well-behaved because of our company, which I found amusing.

I called J.Lo to try and get us some more clear-cut directions back, but in the end we sort of concocted something else using the GPS again and J's own knowledge of how to get back to her office from another county office. Anyway, if you're still here, I felt this need to share my randomness and show you What Penelope Does in her Free Time. Things that in the past I may not have been drawn to at all, but now hold a certain appeal, since they get me out of the house and yet keep me off the street. Random, and yet entirely necessary.