"You were like a rockstar yesterday"
I've never liked being the center of attention. I want to be the quiet guy no one notices in the room. To some extent, I am that person; I was voted Quaintly Quiet my senior year in high school, the quietest person in my class. People who know me now from purely a social standpoint, probably think of me as the quiet guy who avoids being the center of conversation.
For someone with this outlook, I seem to end up being the center of attention far more than you would think.
In high school I sang in the choir, and ended up with a number of solos, not the kind of the thing done by someone who doesn't want to be noticed. I also did musicals in high school, and if people didn't think of me as the quiet guy, they thought of me as the guy who sings.
In college, I purposely went to a gigantic university. Part of me wanted to be the number on my student ID and not the person, but having dreadlocks always brought attention, even though I never liked it.
For fun I play soccer. What position do I play? Forward - the position that scores goals and gets a lot of attention; somewhat odd for a person who doesn't want to be noticed. I really should be a defender if I don't want the attention.
Lastly, my job. A month before I ever taught for the first time, teaching was just about the last thing I wanted to do. I didn't want the attention that would bring, standing in front of a room and have students hang on my every word, but that's what I ended up doing, and what I've been doing for 11 years now.
This brings me to the title of this post. It was said to me on Friday, a day after the MPS end of year ceremony, by a colleague who happened to be in attendance.
For a little background, I'm an MPS instructor, and have had a bunch of the same students for the last 2 quarters. We have a ceremony at the end of the year, as many of the students have struggled with math and getting to this point is a big accomplishment.
At the ceremony, I had to put some papers on the podium for one of the speakers. I planned to walk up there quietly, while everyone was mingling, and get off the stage. The second I got on the stage, I realized I was be the furthest thing from a wallflower that day. There was a huge roar of applause as I stepped on the stage, throwing me off and making me feel uncomfortable. The applause went on until (and a little after) I got off stage.
Later in the ceremony, I was asked to say a few words. Again, huge applause, a few people were screaming. I had to wait for the crowd to settle down. My first words into the microphone were "I feel like Stephen Colbert", because of the raucous response he gets from his audience at the start of every show.
At that moment, I did feel like Stephen Colbert, like a rockstar, but I can't say I liked it. I don't like being the center of attention.
photo by Joel Avila
For someone with this outlook, I seem to end up being the center of attention far more than you would think.
In high school I sang in the choir, and ended up with a number of solos, not the kind of the thing done by someone who doesn't want to be noticed. I also did musicals in high school, and if people didn't think of me as the quiet guy, they thought of me as the guy who sings.
In college, I purposely went to a gigantic university. Part of me wanted to be the number on my student ID and not the person, but having dreadlocks always brought attention, even though I never liked it.
For fun I play soccer. What position do I play? Forward - the position that scores goals and gets a lot of attention; somewhat odd for a person who doesn't want to be noticed. I really should be a defender if I don't want the attention.
Lastly, my job. A month before I ever taught for the first time, teaching was just about the last thing I wanted to do. I didn't want the attention that would bring, standing in front of a room and have students hang on my every word, but that's what I ended up doing, and what I've been doing for 11 years now.
This brings me to the title of this post. It was said to me on Friday, a day after the MPS end of year ceremony, by a colleague who happened to be in attendance.
For a little background, I'm an MPS instructor, and have had a bunch of the same students for the last 2 quarters. We have a ceremony at the end of the year, as many of the students have struggled with math and getting to this point is a big accomplishment.
At the ceremony, I had to put some papers on the podium for one of the speakers. I planned to walk up there quietly, while everyone was mingling, and get off the stage. The second I got on the stage, I realized I was be the furthest thing from a wallflower that day. There was a huge roar of applause as I stepped on the stage, throwing me off and making me feel uncomfortable. The applause went on until (and a little after) I got off stage.
Later in the ceremony, I was asked to say a few words. Again, huge applause, a few people were screaming. I had to wait for the crowd to settle down. My first words into the microphone were "I feel like Stephen Colbert", because of the raucous response he gets from his audience at the start of every show.
At that moment, I did feel like Stephen Colbert, like a rockstar, but I can't say I liked it. I don't like being the center of attention.
photo by Joel Avila
posted by Jefferson at 1:24 PM
1 Comments:
Hello,
I saw a post you made on your other blog about Ghanian bread, I was wondering if you could help me out with a recipe for sweet bread? I'm sorry to say I can't offer much back becuase I'm from the UK which means I eat plain food :D that's mostly meat, potatoes and fruit cake!
Thanks for your time,
Lucy
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