Man am I ever nervous!!!

I just found out that I am speaking at the the Hooked On Fishing Park dinner on Saturday evening. I fear those 5 minutes in the spotlight more than I fear pretty much anything else in the entire world. Tornados, Hurricanes, Heat Waves, Floods, Spiders, Mice, Mud, Guts, Hard Work, Dieing, Monsters, you know all the things that normal people are afraid of....Eh....they dont bother me one bit. Public Speaking on the other hand is the thing I fear most. I dont know what it is about talking in front of folks that makes me forget my name, forget how to talk, forget how to think on my feet, and even on one occasion being up in front of my whole school as a junior I completely blacked out to the point of totally losing consciousness. Yep, I was sweating real bad and before I knew it the gym was rapidly closing in and the light at the end of the tunnel was completely gone and I went crashing down to floor, but made sure to take a few chairs down with me. When I came too I just kept my eyes shut as I could hear a hoard of teachers trying to figure out how to get a 250 lb student into a wheelchair.

I have come a long way since that moment, I don't think I will faint on Saturday night, but still will lose sleep tonight just wondering what exactly will happen during those 5 minutes. As much as I probably should prepare something a bit more, I think the best approach is going to be to try to completely forget about the speech from now until then the best I possibly can. I think I might go cut some olds trees down out at Norris to get ready for our annual fish structure sinking project or maybe just do a little ice fishing with my dad, or something I dont know I just need to keep myself calm till about noon and then have to get rolling on preparations for the dinner.

We are so pumped up about this dinner! We sold out completely all 250 tickets and have had some of the coolest prizes on planet earth donated to help us raise funds for our 2010 operating expenses at the park. We are having a prime rib dinner, chef todd and I are providing and preparing all the appetizers, and we will have some live music as well. Here is a flyer describing the prizes, auction items, and raffle stuff.

HOF Silent Auction PDF