The Presentation (Subtitled: I'm Still Alive!)

Last night was my big research paper presentation. Obviously, I survived. I was the second person called to sit in the "hot seat," so I didn't have that much time to get super-nervous. Anyway, I read my thesis and some Paine background info verbatim and then summarized the main points of the paper. Overall, it was well received by my prof and classmates. At least I think so. I got a big round of applause and mostly positive feedback from the peanut gallery, so I suppose that's a good sign. They seemed to especially like my conclusion and little comparison of Paine and arch-rival Edmund Burke to Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly. They all laughed when I made that analogy, so I must have made a basically successful presentation. After my 15 minutes of fame was up, Dr. K called my work "very informed." That made me feel a lot better. Now, I just have to wait for the moment of truth-- finding out my grade-- which will probably occur sometime next week. Y'all keep your fingers crossed!