Speech & Preach

I gave a particular sort of speech yesterday for my Toastmasters club. I had signed up to give a speech weeks ago, and mostly forgotten about it since then. This is the danger of committing to things down the line. It's less likely that there'll be trouble if I only commit at the last minute, but taking only last minute opportunities exclusively would leave me out of a lot of stuff, so forgetting about some of the things I agree to is a price I'll have to pay.

In any case, the speech I gave was intended to persuade, and what I decided on, since I forgot until about the day before, was to pick something funny. It would have taken more time and energy than I had to give to try to do something really serious, but what I picked was also partly serious. I decided to try persuading people to see the Hulk Hogan movie "No Holds Barred". It's a pretty crazy movie, but I would seriously vouch for it to anyone.

I had this vague idea late the night before, and solidified it the next morning. A couple hours later I was giving the speech, and I'd say it got a pretty reasonable reaction. There were certainly some laughs out there for me, which is good. I wouldn't have wanted uproarious laughter, because that would have meant people thought a movie I liked was really a joke, and that would have hurt. On the other hand, nothing but quiet would have made me afraid people didn't like my speech, because I'm used to laughs and appreciation meaning the same thing.

What's most important is whether I got anyone to watch the movie, and at least a couple people claimed that they intended to check it out. I hope they do. I feel pretty confident that No Holds Barred will satisfy, and the thank you's I encouraged people to give me at any time of day or night after enjoying the film would certainly be a welcome boost to my self-esteem. Of course, another screening of the movie would be just as good.