Filler slides and caffeine drips

So on top of being a wife, mother, household financial manager, and overall CEO of my family (sorry hubby, but I'm totally taking credit here!), I'm also a student. I initially attended college straight out of high school, because that was what you are supposed to do, but I never really knew what I wanted to do when I grew up.

I considered many things- psychology, social work, forensics, history- but nothing ever stuck for one reason or another. So after my husband and I got married, I quit school for awhile and began trying to figure out what the hell interested me enough to spend the rest of my life doing...

...and suffice it to say, it took a few years before I started figuring it out.

Through various means, I learned that I am passionate about environmental stewardship, human rights, politics, and trying to help people and make the world even slightly better in some way, shape, or form. From this, I looked into degree programs that were specific enough to actually get me a job, but generic enough to apply to more than one narrow field.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Currently, I am in my last year of study before I will have (finally) earned my Bachelor's degree, and I'm totally stoked! Granted, it has not been without some sacrifices, lost sleep, struggling to maintain some semblance of balance and order in my life, and buckets and buckets of stress (and an IV drip of black tea), but I'm almost there, and it feels great.

My main driving force is two-fold. One, I need something to fall back on, a way to make my own income, be self-sufficient, and contribute financially to my family's needs once my children are older and all in school. And two, I want my kids to be proud of me. I want to show them that you can accomplish things when you set your mind to them, regardless of other people's expectations or opinions. I want them to have the confidence to seek their own path and follow their interests, even if it doesn't fit the standard pattern or timeframe.

Just one thing though....

This is all well and good and all, but there is one hurdle standing in the way of actually accomplishing this goal.

And that is PowerPoint.

You see, as I progress through my degree program, more and more classes require PowerPoint presentations.

And I really, truly, suck at PowerPoint presentations!

It's not that they are particularly difficult to do- PowerPoint is fairly user-friendly, even for a tech-reject like me.

It's just that, after awhile I run out of things to say.

I mean, really, I don't need 20 slides to describe the necessary competencies of an international manager! I can manage it in 10. And then I'm left with 10 filler slides. And then I remember I'm also supposed to include clip art explanatory graphics. And then I get annoyed.

And that's where you find me today. I have a PowerPoint presentation due this week. I've completed all the necessary research for it, I know what I want and need to say and how I plan on going about it, and I have the basic layout set.

But....

But....

My topic is well and truly covered and I still have half a dozen slides left to fill in order to meet the assignment criteria...

Blergh...

So here I am, with the finish line in sight, and nothing but 10 filler slides holding me back.

*Sigh*