OK, well Friday and Saturday turned out to be worth the aggravation of the last couple weeks. We had MFA thesis readings both evenings. The first evening, I wasn't reading, and just for the heck of it I put on this new funky top with sequins, and a little extra makeup. Plus, I got my hair cut on Thursday, and it was cooperating nicely. I mostly got dressed up because I haven't done it in awhile, and it was fun to finally have some place to go to that it wouldn't be out of place. But, the added and unexpected bonus was the look on a certain M.M.'s face when he drove past me in the parking lot (he told me twice later that he thought I looked "really pretty"). I actually got several nice compliments on my hair and my shirt (one from the director of the fiction program, which was sort of odd, but she's kind of an odd person). And it wasn't as if I was the belle of the ball or anything; most people were dressed up for the reading -- about 80% of the program, male and female, had new haircuts -- and compliments were flying about freely. But it was still fun. And the readings were good, and hanging out at the bar and getting to talk to everyone -- including some people who graduated last year that I hadn't seen since then -- was also much fun.

But Saturday was the best part. I had to read on Saturday, and I was not until after intermission, so I was very antsy for most of the evening. Not to brag, but I definitely gave a really good reading. I could tell as I was doing it that I was being really expressive and loud, and I didn't stumble over any words or anything else. But when I finished I was a bit bummed because the applause seemed sort of subdued, and other people had been getting much more enthusiastic applause. Once the entire reading was over though, I was really surprised how many people were really enthusiastic about my reading. People I didn't even really know went out of their way to come up to me and tell me how much they enjoyed it. On later reflection, I realized that the pieces getting the loud applause had been pieces with lots of laugh-out-loud lines, or certain political commentary (or both), where my scene was more of the creepy variety. Honestly, I didn't realize it was until I was up there reading it -- in the context of the entire story it isn't quite so horrifying.

So of course the moral of the story is it's far more fun and gratifying to be appreciated for your work than your appearance -- unless you get to be appreciated for both in the same weekend.