I was going to have a "Florida Part IV" as well, but I really want to just go back to talking about non-florida stuff
Wendnesday was the "bridge" between the two conferences, aptly called "Bridge Day". A select few of us won scholarships to have guided tours at Epcot and Magic Kingdom, and that's what we did. Three huge groups of girls piled into buses and rotated between a tech talk, epcot, and magic kingdom. We started with the tech talk.
To summarize the tech talk, someone didn't tell Disney that there were a lot of graduate students present. If you want more details, I will tell you later, but it was like pulling teeth for the next hour and half. At least I got chocolate out of it.
Epcot was amazing. We got a backstage tech tour, and learned about the technology that Disney uses. There, we all got to go on the "Mission: Space" ride. At Magic Kingdom, we got a backstage tour as well (did you know that MK is on the second floor?). We also got to go on "Haunted Mansion" at Magic Kingdom. It was fun, especially because Disney has done some really neat stuff with lighting and holograms. All in all, I was pretty impressed, especially with how well they hide their cameras.
Grace Hopper was really cool. Imagine 1400 women in one hotel for three days. Now imagine them all in computing. Ridiculous, eh? Coming from a department with like 30 girls out of 600 students, it was quite something. Grace Hopper was quite, quite classy. I would have probably had a blast, if it wasn't for the fact that I had been interacting with people non-stop over the previous three days. While I can be quite the extrovert, even with that much interaction I need get away. By friday, I had to force myself out of bed, because I just didn't want to see people anymore.
Probably one of the highlights of the week was my lunch with my mentor, Tiffani. We went to lunch, and spent four hours talking about different things, especially things about life. I am so incredibly lucky to have a mentor like her, and she's seriously one of the most dynamic people I've ever met. Biggest take away from the conferences? Finding a sense of balance. Finding a sense of self.
Randy Pausch once said, "my next piece of advice is that you just have to decide if you're a Tigger or an Eeyore". All my life, I've been an Eeyore: incredibly cynical, and somewhat defeatist. At my best, I've been content with the world, but never saw it in a favorable light. But I have a gift; I can talk to people, I can interact with people, I can make things happen. I have enormous potential as a Tigger; whenever I join any organization or club, I somehow wind up near the top. It's happened since high school. I like organizing and leading, and I can. I've always repressed that part of me, since I'm good at it, and it scares me. Also, I'm a Computer Scientist; we're not supposed to know how to interact (some case of peer pressure, huh)! That will all be in the past. Now is the time for change.
Does this mean that I think everything is right with the world? Heck no! I just don't care anymore. I can still make good things happen, regardless of the bad stuff. If I embrace the side of me that is extroverted and aware of my strengths, I can really go places. As long as I have my "bounce" and my passion, I can overcome almost anything. So I'm going to give it a shot, and see where life takes me.
Before I left Orlando, I stopped by the Disney store. I picked up an Eeyore and a Tigger stuffed animal. I keep them on my bookshelf, so whenever I walk by, I can remember the promise I made to myself:
"Never stop, never give up. Inspire and be inspired. And above all - Embrace life"
Time to shift into overdrive. Things will be okay.
No comments:
Post a Comment