A strange 3 days

I don't know why this happens, but it only happens in bursts it seems.

On Thursday I made a small presentation to my bosses (I have two). It dealt with our current, woefully inadequate testing and documentation; the causes of said inadequacies; and a several different plans for how to best redress the problem. We discussed the situation for about two hours and formulated a plan of approach. By the end of the day I had a complete working model for the plan. It had one complete path through the testing/documentation system written with enough detail to be practically a final draft. Major bonus points in the workplace.

Then, Saturday I was at a farewell barbecue for my cousin's husband - being deployed to Kuwait for a year tour. I knew a few people there. Four family members (cousin, her husband, their son, and her father), and a couple of their friends. However, that was about 8 or so of the 50 or so people there.

I went to their house from doing wedding planning, so I wasn't dressed in anything particularly nice: a polo shirt, jeans, running shoes. No makeup. Minimal jewelry. Yet, several people said that I look like a model. Others said that I was beautiful. I mean, this kind of thing basically never happens to me. I mean, I think I'm OK looking, and that I generally look OK enough to forego makeup, but model-like? The only other time I've heard that was at my brother's wedding when I'd just had a major makeover, my hair done, etc.

So, I mingled through the crowd, which for some reason worked much better for me than it almost ever does. I'm not usually a good mingler, particularly when I do not know anyone. But, I was able to strike up conversations with complete strangers on a wide variety of topics. Even on "controversial" topics, like politics, religion, etc, I was able to speak with aplomb, present my views, yet manage to not put them in ways which antagonized those of divergent views (and c'mon, this was a military party... not my usual scene).

At another point, where I was presenting some of my views on politics, several people said that I was so eloquent, and such a unique take on many of the problems that I should write a book on the topics. I know I have an unusual take, since very few people are anywhere near as left-leaning as I am, but, that was quite a compliment. And yes, I was presenting the topics from the point of view of the left, and could in no way be mistaken for a centrist or right wing position.

Today, as I did a 30 miler on my bike, I had the strange effect that most of the guys I passed turned their head to watch as I went by. Again, I was not wearing anything special: padded bike shorts, dry-wick T-shirt, and my new sunglasses (in dark tortoise, with polarized sandstone lenses). I went into a bike store on the way back to pick up some small supplies. The guys working in the shop were practically falling over themselves to help me, and I was only buying a chain cleanser.

WTF is up? This kind of thing never happens to me. In the classes I just finished, when I had something to contribute, I would be practically stuttering. I would couch my views in all sorts of caveats and usually wind up making little sense at all. I was never saying what I intended to say. Suddenly I'm eloquent? And I almost never notice guys noticing me. I usually feel somewhat like an ugly duckling, whom people tolerate as long as I don't get in the way. But, right now I feel just as comfortable in my skin as I always have, but people of both genders are complimenting me. It is so bizarre.

But I think I can get used to being eloquent, intelligent, and beautiful. As long as I don't have to change who I am.