(Final) Stage 6: Down Memory Lane

Today's itinerary advice: Every experience can be a lesson - it's much easier to see afterwards than in the moment.

          This project will feel officially over after all the presentations are done (so, in about ten hours). My presentation was two days ago. And I know it wasn't my best, in terms of poise and fluidity. I felt good about my slideshow and script, but I didn't expect my nerves to be that bad. I had just done a solid run-through that morning, but once I got on the stage, my brain simply glitched. Some parts were smooth, but a few times my brain completely blanked. I generally try not to rely on notecards, so I never properly practiced with them. This meant that even though I had them with me on stage, I couldn't use them very well to help me. I might work on that for the future.

          I am happy with the message and general ideas I decided on. I'm not sure how successful I was in clarifying everything to the audience, but I'm happy with what I meant. This goes with my realization that I learned more preparing for the presentation than I did the entire rest of the time. In my presentation, I mentioned how this project allowed me to learn more than just a mechanical skill. I also faced issues with the ability to multitask, improvise, and be confident and brave. The first four weeks consisted of the mechanical skill, but planning the final presentation made me really think through the whole process. I realized all the lessons I talked about. Of course, just learning to make balloon animals would have been pretty cool by itself anyway.

          My biggest struggle was being inefficient. It sounds odd, but I had a repeated problem of losing track of time and just having fun making them. While this wasn't terrible, balloon animals are generally used in line work, in which efficiency is key. The bright side to this is that I just need more practice and experience.

          I am definitely going to put this skill to use on my mission trip this summer, and I might use it for some other things as well. They do make pretty fun presents (the below were made for teachers).

 

          I suppose I'll end on the same note as my presentation. Right now is a perfect time to shake out the nerves and try new things. This process would not have been nearly as fun if I hadn't shared it with my friends - getting feedback on my project, as well as keeping up with theirs. Since we all need someone we can count on, I made a little friend to show this (tutorial here):

Stage Five: Tears at the End

Today's itinerary advice: Don't slack off near the end just because you got ahead earlier. (Whoops…)

          Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I suppose I'll give you a rundown of the past two weeks or so. At my friend's fundraiser, I actually spent most of the time teaching my friends how to make balloon animals. It was very amusing for me because they were all so hesitant to twist the balloons that it took quite a while to get anything done. Since their Relay for Life team name is "Relay Knights for Life", I made a sword-and-shield set. I also started brainstorming and typing up my TEDtalk that day. 

  

Crowned queen of balloons, I suppose?

On the last block days, I got a lot of practice responding to requests and just making balloons, as opposed to constantly learning new ones.

          Through the rest of the time, I prepared for my presentation. However, I could not figure out what exactly I wanted to talk about until exactly three days prior to the presentation itself. I have more than 1500 words of ideas that were left unused, after an exhaustive effort to find a good message. I wanted to make it meaningful, but everything I came up with just sounded fake. I was trying to put an epiphany-worthy idea where it didn't fit. As I told my friends, this project wasn't meant to be life-changing, but just a fun, cool experience. So I tried to reflect upon what I took away from this whole process… it was more of a struggle than expected. 

          Usually, when my brain is stuck, I'll take a break, then try a Hemingway-mode style of writing to spark any possible ideas. When that proved to be ineffective, I decided to take a different route for this presentation. Whenever I had a little bit of free time, I would just walk around in circles and simply talk. I talked about whatever came into my head about the process and the message. It still took quite a while, with a good bit of stuttering and pacing.
           Finally, though, I ended up choosing the idea of improvisation. This was, and still is, one of my biggest challenges both with balloon animals and in life. Improvisation in art has been a theme of mine for the past year or so, but I have never liked talking without being able to think and/or write out my words first. This is something I'm going to keep working on, and hopefully just comes along with more maturity, awareness, and confidence.

          Also in preparation for the final presentation, I made a practice dragon. A week or so earlier, I made a goldfish for my Chemistry teacher (an inside joke about a demonstration gone wrong).

          This part of the project brought near-tears of sadness because it's ending, relief because it's finally over, and frustration because writer's block (or presenter's block) is never fun. The final stage, to be posted very soon, is going to bring us back through all the great memories and struggles from this journey.