Before We Begin Today's/This Year's Debate Round/Season...

As we near the end of August, school has started for most, there's no more avoiding actually writing that persuasive you've had in your head since March, you can no longer put off researching this year's TP resolution, you make room on the fireplace mantle for the trophies that will inevitably be bestowed upon you. Your debate binders have been cleared out, ready for new evidence, and your box is clear of old CX sticky note. You struggle to stop looking at Doctor Who memes. You reluctantly close the tab that contains a multitude of Pusheen pictures. We look over the cliff that is Summer, and brace ourselves for the descent into the brand new speech and debate/school year. But before we make the plunge, I thought I'd tell y'all the things I'm looking forward to this season.

 (See below for adorable Pusheen pictures.)

This is me right now. ;)

This is my computer right now. ;)

1. Amazing New Speeches!

I know I've said this before, but I like writing. Writing is cool. And when I get trophies and medals for writing well... that just makes it even cooler. Finding a topic is fun, finding points can be a nice challenge, and cutting interps is really hard. Usually. I get to learn new stuff, read new books, and write a ten minute rant on why you shouldn't give up. Wait, that was last year...

2. Awesome New Friends!

Let's be honest here: I had like two friends at the beginning of the 2012-2013 debate season. And while these friends were rather amazing, two is not a very substantial number. But before the year started, I made a decision: I would make new friends. *Gasp!* I tried to talk myself out of it. "But Hadley, you're a homeschooler! You're unsocialized! You can't just go around making 'new friends!' You'll say something stupid! You'll embarrass yourself!" But then I realized: Yes, I will embarrass myself. I'll say something stupid. Like I did that one time when I was all like, 'I'm Conner's brother.' But guess what. I don't even care anymore. You know why? Because neither does anyone else! And if they do, then that is their problem. And so I made friends. Some of these people I had never seen or met before. Others I had technically known for a year or two. But either way, friends I made. And friends are cool. ;)

3. Shiny New Trophies!

Yep. I'm gonna win soooo many trophies. I'm gonna pwn all them novices. I'm gonna make them novices cry! Mwahahahahahaha! Just kidding. The novices are probably going to be making me cry. Because novices are awesome. So instead of shiny new trophies, let's go with Terrific New Novices. That's better. I love novices, mostly because I was one like, two months ago. And I love things that I was two months ago. Well, unless that thing was getting sent home from MPACT.  Anyways. Moving on.

4. Lot's of New Memories

Let's be honest (again), I wasn't exactly looking forward to the 2012-2013 season. Actually, I was dreading it because I knew that I could no longer avoid competing. My mom would not allow it. But the first tournament approached, I couldn't help but be excited. After the tournament, I no longer dreaded tournaments: I looked forward to them because of the stories - the memories I would make. Most of them embarrassing. But embarrassing stories make better stories than stories about you being all cool and stuff. Being awkward is funnier than being cool. But somehow I manage to be both. ;)

5. Interesting New Blog Post Topics

So, I barely posted at all for like, two months. Why? Because nothing interesting happened to me. Why? Because nothing interesting happens to me during the summer. Well, some interesting things. But not a lot. And not interesting enough to write a blog post about. So you should all be thankful that you will now having something interesting to read about. And you'll also have a good reason to vote affirmative. Which you should most definitely do.

Now judge, what can we see from all this? We see that in this near year, there will be amazing new speeches, awesome new friends, shiny new trophies terrific new novices, lot's of new memories, and interesting new blog posts. Basically a whole lot of new stuff. Yep. By voting affirmative, you get a bunch of awesome new stuff. So vote affirmative. ;D