Liberation for One Engineer
by superambitioussoup
Gamer Voice: “TOTALLY AWESOME”
THE GOOD: That pretty much sums up this evening.* With a little “Whose Line is it Anyways?” to get things rolling, I felt at home. Even though I was asked to speak (me speak in public?!?!), after a few more laughs and many more EPIC FAILS, in the end, today was a liberating experience.
THE NOT SO GOOD: But there is still work to be done. Even by the end of class, I still felt held back by the reservations that Saif(?) briefly mentioned. I am still not ready to let my inner child out just yet. I can only hope that with the great support that I saw today, I can break out of this shell that has long defined the stereotypical Asian male engineer. (…one small step for an engineer…one giant leap for engineers of the world…unfortunately, Saif beat me to it…)
*This excludes the hiccup in the reflections in the end. If my right sidekick is reading this right now, I apologize profusely. I will try to be more observant next time. I also apologize for forgetting your name. If it makes you feel better, I forgot all the other names too…sorry
Kevin, I thought you were really quick to think on your feet when confronted with a new situation. It was awesome that you finally said that you were thankful for her patience and you appreciate her standing next to you. I thought it was a very spontaneous response that required you to think quickly and you came up with what I thought was a very genuine and generous compliment
Glad that you enjoyed the class and looking forward to working with you.
cheers!
Saif
Hi Kevin,
I loved your post and your enthusiastic presence in class! I would not have guessed that you had any fear of speaking in front of others — you were really open and cheerful and outgoing. You’re already breaking stereotypes about engineers
Also, in the last exercise, what I really appreciated was that you waited (even at the price of making yourself more uncomfortable) to come up with something positive and meaningful that you could say about Suzanna, instead of just saying something that you only sort-of meant, which would meet the minimum of the task requirement. Your genuine effort and sincerity are much more valuable than being super fast or remembering everyone’s names — and that stuff will come soon to you as well, I’m sure.
-Lindsay