Do you ever get yourself in a situation where you wonder to yourself: “How in the world did I end up here?”
I (Phil) had one of those experiences recently, as well as the opportunity to add to my resume. I now am an experienced and official judge of the local dance talent. Here is how it happened.
On Thursday (March 8th) I received an invitation to a local community event where the district administrator (a woman) would be presiding over the celebration of International Women’s Day. What I didn’t know was that it was also going to serve as a contest to see which of the local traditional dance groups would qualify for the district competitions.
Being that I had a lot of work to do I was only planning to attend for a short time and then return home and work. Without being aware of it I had been nominated to be one of the 3 official judges for the dance competition. As I was about to leave I was called to switch chairs.
After I and two others had switched a table was placed in front of us, a thick pamphlet of judging criteria was put on the table and we were ceremoniously announced to the crowd as the official judges who would decide which group would move on to the district competitions.
I immediately thought: “Oh boy (or to be appropriate to the day, oh girl), how did I end up here as a judge of traditional dance groups? Like I even know how to evaluate this. In the end a few people are going to love me and all those people from the losing groups are going to hate me.”
Before we could even crack open the pamphlet on judging criteria the first of many groups was trotted out and off we went. In the end a winner emerged and, even better, no one seemed to be mad at me. Overall it was an experience I will never forget.