Before we begin with today's post I'd like to provide the following:
Just a little something I made for this blog (haha, that's such a stupid word. :P)
Anyways, to the point.
I used to hate impromptu. Like, really, really, really, really, really hate it. (I've mentioned this before.) Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with impromptu, let me explain. Impromptu speaking (in homeschool speech and debate, at least) is where there are a bunch of little slips of paper on the table where the judge(s, if you're luck) sit. Now, on each of those slips of paper there is either a quote or something abstract. (For information, check here.) The competitor picks three of the slips and chooses one, putting the remaining two topics on the table. The Competitor has two minutes to prepare a five minute speech on the chosen topic. Anyways, back to the point of this post. I hated impromptu. Mostly because the first time I was ever forced to give one the topic was, my favourite animal. Now, you may be thing, 'but that's so easy! Anyone can do a speech on their favourite animal.' Only here's the thing. 'My favourite animal' is a terrible topic! Why? Because how in the world am I going to talk for five minutes about pandas?! Don't get me wrong, I love pandas. (I mean, they are my favourite animals.) But what would I say for five minutes? I'd probably just drone on and on about how fat and cute they are, and how they eat bamboo, and maybe how I cut out the pictures from my panda calendar after the year was over and put said pictures all over my bedroom. The worst part was, I had to give said panda speech to all these other kids. Okay, there were only like five but five is enough to make me hate impromptu apparently. So instead of giving a speech about pandas, I complained until they didn't make me do the speech.
Anyways, to the point.
I used to hate impromptu. Like, really, really, really, really, really hate it. (I've mentioned this before.) Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with impromptu, let me explain. Impromptu speaking (in homeschool speech and debate, at least) is where there are a bunch of little slips of paper on the table where the judge(s, if you're luck) sit. Now, on each of those slips of paper there is either a quote or something abstract. (For information, check here.) The competitor picks three of the slips and chooses one, putting the remaining two topics on the table. The Competitor has two minutes to prepare a five minute speech on the chosen topic. Anyways, back to the point of this post. I hated impromptu. Mostly because the first time I was ever forced to give one the topic was, my favourite animal. Now, you may be thing, 'but that's so easy! Anyone can do a speech on their favourite animal.' Only here's the thing. 'My favourite animal' is a terrible topic! Why? Because how in the world am I going to talk for five minutes about pandas?! Don't get me wrong, I love pandas. (I mean, they are my favourite animals.) But what would I say for five minutes? I'd probably just drone on and on about how fat and cute they are, and how they eat bamboo,
Fast forward a few weeks or months or some period of time later. My best friend's mother, Mrs. Martin, is pretty much obsessed with impromptu. (Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but Mrs. Martin is always telling me to do that anyways.) And every Friday at her house our speech club would have a little something called "Impromptu Fridays." I didn't usually go. However, in December, (the day before Christmas Eve, to be exact) I did go. I though it was going to be a party. Nay nay. It was impromptu speeches with a Christmas theme. And I was forced (note the emphasis on forced) to give an impromptu speech. Needless to say, I was not happy about this. Thankfully, it wasn't a full impromptu speech. Fast forward a couple weeks later, I wasn't planning on going to Impromptu Friday ever again. But unfortunately for me, my mother forced me to go to the Martins. (But at least I got to see my friends!) And I was forced to give a speech about (of all the dumb impromptu topics) wishing on birthday candles. It was Impromptu Friday the Thirteenth, you see, and all the topics were superstitions. I was hoping for black cats, because I had this whole speech planned for black cats. But I didn't get black cats, I got birthday candles. And so after telling everyone else to be quiet, I started my prep time. The others failed to stay quiet. So Mrs. Martin told them to shut up, and this time they complied. (Mrs. Martin is very... persuasive.) So after two minutes I still had no speech. So I stood up in front of them as she whispered in my ear what to say. This happened on multiple occasions. (Excluding, of course, the birthday candles and black cats.) I was slowly warming up to impromptu.
I didn't actually compete last year, even though I could've. There's a long story behind that. But when speech and debate started up again in late August last year, I knew there was no escaping competing. So I wrote a persuasive two weeks before the first tournament, and did impromptu. I also did debate, but that's a whole other story. Now, I still hated impromptu, maybe not as much as I had a year prior, but I still hated it. I had gotten better by this time, and managed to stop crying whilst giving the speech. My topics for the first tournament were okay. Well, I really hated the second one but I managed to bumble through it for about three minutes. Fifth and belows on all two of my ballots. (We usually only have one judge in impromptu, and there were only two speech rounds besides finals which I of course didn't not break to.) Make note that this tournament was in November.
Fast forward to January. For the next tournament that was coming up, I was still doing persuasive and impromptu, though I still hated the latter. But not debate. There's another long story behind that. So I did impromptu, aaaaaand it was even worse than from November. Well, my first speech was awful. That's another story. The other two were okayish. The next tournament was in February. Impromptu was okaaaaaaay I guessssss..... But then something incredible happened at the next tournament. I got a check mark! A sparkly green check mark that got green glitter all over my hands and suit and in my hair! I'm not even going to explain what a check mark is, only that it is green and glittery and thrilling and I loved impromptu after that. (Dramatic change for the better, eh?)
But then something even more amazing happened at the next tournament! I broke to semi-finals! Out of 88 people I broke! And only 17 people broke! And I was one of them! That meant I would at least get seventeenth place! But then something amazing happened again! I broke to finals! Eight out of the 17 people broke and I was one of them! So then I was qualified for NITOC! So then I was freaking out because of said qualifications!
Fast forward another month to the next tournament. (Yes, that is an excessive amount of tournaments. Six, in case you were wondering. Seven, including NITOC next week.) So, we went to Oklahoma because that's where this tournament was, and I did impromptu. DUH. I love impromptu now so why wouldn't I do it? So then guess what. I got another sparkly green check mark! I was happy. And then I realized that I have a total of three sparkly green amazing check marks! So I now have something most people don't: a deep love for impromptu. It was like giving a new platform speech every round. (Although most of my speeches are pretty much the same.) It was being able to pray during prep time because you forgot to do so outside of the round. Plus also it was getting sparkly green check marks. And qualifying for nationals my first year. I also qualified in persuasive but, again, that's another story.
So that's why I love impromptu. I also love talking about impromptu whilst giving an impromptu speech. I've actually talked about how much I hated impromptu in impromptu speeches. But that may have just been to my stuffed animals. I actually give impromptu speeches to my Webkinz. It's fun. And they're always listening. It's nice to have someone listen to you.
In conclusion:
I didn't actually compete last year, even though I could've. There's a long story behind that. But when speech and debate started up again in late August last year, I knew there was no escaping competing. So I wrote a persuasive two weeks before the first tournament, and did impromptu. I also did debate, but that's a whole other story. Now, I still hated impromptu, maybe not as much as I had a year prior, but I still hated it. I had gotten better by this time, and managed to stop crying whilst giving the speech. My topics for the first tournament were okay. Well, I really hated the second one but I managed to bumble through it for about three minutes. Fifth and belows on all two of my ballots. (We usually only have one judge in impromptu, and there were only two speech rounds besides finals which I of course didn't not break to.) Make note that this tournament was in November.
Fast forward to January. For the next tournament that was coming up, I was still doing persuasive and impromptu, though I still hated the latter. But not debate. There's another long story behind that. So I did impromptu, aaaaaand it was even worse than from November. Well, my first speech was awful. That's another story. The other two were okayish. The next tournament was in February. Impromptu was okaaaaaaay I guessssss..... But then something incredible happened at the next tournament. I got a check mark! A sparkly green check mark that got green glitter all over my hands and suit and in my hair! I'm not even going to explain what a check mark is, only that it is green and glittery and thrilling and I loved impromptu after that. (Dramatic change for the better, eh?)
But then something even more amazing happened at the next tournament! I broke to semi-finals! Out of 88 people I broke! And only 17 people broke! And I was one of them! That meant I would at least get seventeenth place! But then something amazing happened again! I broke to finals! Eight out of the 17 people broke and I was one of them! So then I was qualified for NITOC! So then I was freaking out because of said qualifications!
Fast forward another month to the next tournament. (Yes, that is an excessive amount of tournaments. Six, in case you were wondering. Seven, including NITOC next week.) So, we went to Oklahoma because that's where this tournament was, and I did impromptu. DUH. I love impromptu now so why wouldn't I do it? So then guess what. I got another sparkly green check mark! I was happy. And then I realized that I have a total of three sparkly green amazing check marks! So I now have something most people don't: a deep love for impromptu. It was like giving a new platform speech every round. (Although most of my speeches are pretty much the same.) It was being able to pray during prep time because you forgot to do so outside of the round. Plus also it was getting sparkly green check marks. And qualifying for nationals my first year. I also qualified in persuasive but, again, that's another story.
So that's why I love impromptu. I also love talking about impromptu whilst giving an impromptu speech. I've actually talked about how much I hated impromptu in impromptu speeches. But that may have just been to my stuffed animals. I actually give impromptu speeches to my Webkinz. It's fun. And they're always listening. It's nice to have someone listen to you.
In conclusion:
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