Crabs, Crabs and Lots of Crabs

just recently, i submitted my doctoral dissertation in an international research committee for scrutiny under the scientific committee. good thing my paper on multiple and logistic regression analyses was accepted for oral presentation as a concurrent speaker. i'd be one of those speakers who will be coming from the philippines. the rest were from europe and the north america.

it took me a great deal of preparation for this summit though i know that in the letter of acceptance, my talk would only last for 12 minutes. what?! that means i have to recapitulate everything from my thick dissertation in 12 minutes!

the room was full of audience, mostly from the other countries. i was the last one to present my paper from the last group of presenters. i was hoping nobody would question the statistics, research design and all. who wouldn't be enthralled if your audience were very accomplished individuals with doctoral degrees, chairman emeritus status, etc?

when it was my turn to speak, i was above my average speed when i talk. remember, i was given only 12 minutes. i was too conscious of my grammar because most of my audience are native english speakers. my presented ended very well.

now, the question and answer portion...just hoping nobody will ask me.

the previous speakers were not asked. i was the one bombarded with a multitude of questions. a friend told me that if people are interested with my study, then they will really ask about your study. however, the foreigners did not ask anything. instead, they praised me of the accuracy and the study's contribution to the society.

i only fell when two filipinos made comments to put me to shame.

of all nationalities, it is the filipinos who tend to put you down! why can you not just be happy with your kababayan?

little did i know that the filipinos who asked me were just merely audience, and not presenters!

i love to kill these crabs and make a good dinner out of them!