Sunday, January 27, 2008

I am beaten, but in a trophyish winnerish openish sort of way...

Yello.
It's 5:30! Do you know where your brain is? Well I did, yesterday, and this is a special moment for me. This is the one year anniversary of me first starting to post about my many s&d adventures online. Even though you can't really understand (you really do have to go to a tournament to be able to understand) it's still pretty fun recounting the day again. With that said...
The Mt. Vernon 2008 Invitational had 25 schools. It conflicted with the PLU HS tourney, but Mt. Vernon is cooler so the majority of schools went there. :) Boo-yea.
Ali, Susan, Elliot, Erika, me and Dawna rode up in the school van. Ali did extemp, LD, and StuCo Erika did Duo and Oratory, Elliot did DI and Duo (and later judged a few B events) and I did DI and StuCo. You have no idea how nice it was to be in the StuCo room with a fellow teammember. It was awesome!
So there were three rounds of DI, and I really loved them. I hadn't done DI since middle of December, but I tweaked it up and felt okay with it. This is the part of the year where the pieces are getting old, so you just have to buckle down and bear through it. Sometimes I even zone out while I'm performing my piece, because I already have the words and actions down so pat I don't really have to concentrate. So I noticed a lot of really wonderful pieces, and wonderful speakers. It was really interesting, because lots of the DI's I've seen are good, but not wonderful or great. I saw a really sad piece called Distracted, and another one about an mother of an ADD child. Fortunately neither TJ nor Tahoma (biggest rival and 13 things girl) were not there, which made me very happy. :)
So that was in the morning, then at 2 I went to the StuCo room. There were 15 other representitaves (they only had one room, so it was Novice and Open mixed). Snohomish was there (but fortunately not Hare!) as was Shorecrest. That was where my biggest competition was, because there is a guy named Max Cho from Shorecrest and he's SO GOOD! He beat me at Snoho this past year. Anyways...
So I gave the authorship speech for the Coffee resolution, and it failed. haha. I don't really care. This congress was really relaxed, partly because it was towards the end of the day, but also because it was so short! It was kind of annoying, but I adjusted. (I prefer the really set and rigid Congress' like at UPS). I gave a pro speech on a Resolution to Ban the Death Penalty, and it was the worst speech I have ever made. I was so embarrassed, and I messed it up SO BAD. I was so embarrassed that afterwards I didn't look up for like 2 speeches afterwards, and Ali said he even noticed that. It was terrible. But after that I had to PO (the PO sits in the front of the room in front of EVERYBODY) so I stifled down my resistance and went up there. The rest of the congress passed uneventfully, then we started voting. There were 4 PO's, and they eliminated me first. There were 9 top speakers, and they did that by elimination. I survived all the eliminations! I was one of the Top 2 Speakers in the room, voted thus by my peers. (Student's Choice) I knew I'd get a trophy for that then, but I didn't know if I was 1st or 2nd top speaker. By that time, I didnt' really care.
I made it to Open DI finals, but I wasn't that excited. All the DI's were really good, and I was just a really interesting round, I did my best and really just enjoyed it and enjoyed watching the other pieces. Those are the best rounds, the ones where all the pieces are really worthwhile and interesting and yea, it was good.
Oh yea, and I also watched Ali's Semi round for LD (between Congress and finals) then we hung out until Awards. Mt. Vernon has an award show, not an award ceremony like all other schools, so it's pretty rocking. I got 1st place Student Choice in Congress. The first trophy.
They then called me back up for 2nd place (tie) for Top Points. The second trophy. (Cho got 1st, and he deserved it)
Then THEN called me back up for my final trophy, a 3rd place in Open DI. This is my new record for the most trophies in one tournament.
Erika got 2nd for her novice oratory, Ali got 2nd for novice extemp, 1st top speaker points in novice LD and 1st for novice LD! It rocked. :D
So on the way home, we figured out that I now have 324 poinnts, and Ali has finally passed me with 325. (Hence the title) I am beaten, and I have trophies to prove it!!!Kingston was there, I talked to Mitch a little, and Frank a little, but my interest in them is wanning, I think. It wasn't that interesting... Haha, I do have an admirer though, this guy came to our table to talk to me twice! The first time Ali 'saved' me, the 2nd time I managed to end the conversation. Needless to say, Ali, Elliot, and Erika all found it very amusing. I found it annoying, so (if you were planning on it)don't tease me ;). I had fun talking to Ali and walking around with Erika, and it was a wonderful day. :)
As my slogan for yesterday was: "All in a good day's work..." ;) :) :D :D !!!!!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Army of Me


This is the most awesome band EVER.

I absolutely cannot get enough of their music, and I love the way they are still a relatively small band. I really love their songs Perfect, 2 into 1, and Saved your Life. They aren't Christian, but their music has a wonderful feeling around it, and the language isn't suggestive or crude.

They are AMAZING!!!!!!!

check them out: www.armyofmeonline.com The website rocks, Citizen rocks, their music rocks, they rock. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Weblock, Irony, Peanut Butter, and the University of Puget Sound High School Forensic Tournament


HELLO!

I am writing very comfortably after competing all of yesterday at the Saturday portion of the UPS 75th HS Forensic Tournament. It was awesome. I didn't compete in the speech events Friday because it was dad's birthday, but I did congress yesterday. Let me impress upon your mind just how enormous this tournament has become. There were 45 schools there and roughly 400-500 students competing. Speech alone had 580ish entries, Congress had 80ish and Debate had 300ish.
My first congress session lasted from 9-11:30. In it, I gave an authorship speech on my coffee resolution (it passed, finally) and gave an aff speech on a resolution to Ban Violent Video Games. Next session was from 12-2:30, where I served as Presiding Officer (hereafter referred to as "PO") and gave an aff speech on a resolution for Truth in Political Campaigning. The final session was from 3-5 in which I gave a neg speech on a Divorce Equity bill and also an aff speech on a resolution to establish a Day in Honor of Humanitarians.
There were 19 other representatives in my Open House. Congress was divided first into Novice and Open (I'm open, sadly) then each devision had a House and Senate. My biggest competition was Hare (Snohomish), Bennett (Eastlake), Yhann (Kentridge), and to less extents Rice (Central Vally), Colvin (TJ), and Bradl (somewhere). I also checked the results from Auburn-Riverside with Dawna, and I am 98% certain our parliamentarian made an innocent mistake in recency which cost me a trophy there. That made me feel good, as well as how close I was to getting a trophy, even without the extra speech. :)
We again had to assemble in our stark, white prison at 6 to vote for top PO and top speakers. While we were waiting the guys started doing absurd push-ups (double clap, one arm, etc) and one of them eventually did a 'chin push-up', split his lip open, and was promptly taken to the hospital. Poor Representative Bradl. So at 7:20, we finally got our freaking ballots and could vote. We were given a list of the top 9 speakers (I was on it, as well as Hare, Rice, Yhann, and Colvin) and a list of the POs (there were six). We were supposed to arrange them in order of our first to least favorites, then we were FREE!! Oh my gosh, I HATED that room, and the chairs got really uncomfortable after seven hours. But all for the love of Congress...
After that, Ali and I took a walk around the campus. It was beautiful, even at night.
Oh, and I also went over and socialized with the Kingston brothers. By then my brain was shot and I honestly couldn't tell them apart. So then they started messing with me, and I had to have them show me ID so I could get them straight. But it was all good, because they couldn't remember my name, so they called me Chelsey. haha.
Ali unfortunately did not make into LD octafinals, so all chance of a trophy from this massive tournament rested on me. Pressure was on.
Ali and I watched one of the JV semi-finals (the resolution is about whether or not the US is justified in pursuing military options against nations which pose a military threat)
The tournament ran really late, and as a result some of the finals are going to be held later.
Eventually, it was awards time, and I won 2nd place Speakers Choice award in Open House. Hare won first, as well as first in Judges Choice and top PO. Rice won 2nd Judges Choice. I was really touched, because that meant that all my peers in the room voted that I was the 2nd best speaker in the entire room. :D
So that was my life of yesterday.
Tonight I have my first confirmation class with Grace, so that should be fun.
Love you all!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Tacoma to Alabama via Huston (take 2)

ahaha! I remembered what I was going to post about...I'm so proud of myself...

Two great movies you guys have to see:
Sweet Land is a beautiful movie about a mail-order bride. She comes to america after WWI only to have her fiancee discover her German heritage. Together, they battle all the distrust and prejudice against Germans, while falling in love. PG (2005)


The Great Debaters is still in theatres, it came out on Christmas Day. It is the story of the Wiley College Debate team, in 1935 in Marshall, Texas. The story follows the team, but also dives into each of the members lives, show just what it was like to be a black teenager in the south in 1935. Their goal is to debate the white college of Harvard, and in order to do that, they must win against the two most prestigeous black colleges. I highly recommend this film, not only because it's about debate, but because of the powerful way each of the characters is portrayed and the problems they must face. PG-13 (In theatres)