Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I had speech and debate camp for the last two weeks, and I haven't really had much inspiration. I'm just gonna say that July was my break month. I'll probably post more when the speech and debate season really starts in a couple months. Of course, then I'll also be pretty focused on speech and case writing, partner finding, sleeping, tournaments, and making up figuring out new stories for impromptu, because I really only have four and I'm getting kind of tired of them. Maybe I'll upgrade from the juniors story to the NITOC story. But since you already know that story, I'll tell you that other story I vaguely referenced in this post.
At the first tournament I regretfully did impromptu. I was not a fan of this event, to say the least. But Mrs. Martin would've hacked my registration and signed me up for it, had I refused to do it. I (surprisingly) remember my topics from both of my pathetic rounds: the first was: 'a good example is the best sermon.' So I talked about how Mrs. Martin gives that stupid hand sanitizer story every single club meeting. I don't rememember the rest of that speech. I basically rambled for two minutes and sort of had points, but not really. And the second round: 'classic books - the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the Red Badge of Courage, Don Quixote.' I had never read any of those books, and couldn't even pronounce Don Quixote. In fact, the judge corrected my pronunciation in the middle of my speech. So because I pretty much knew nothing about any of the books, I rambled about how terrible modern-day books like Twilight and the Hunger Games are, and how the moral of the story is always boyfriends and girlfriends. It was... not good. Fifth and Below on all two of my ballots.
The second tournament came around in January of this year. I wasn't necessarily dreading doing impromptu, but I wasn't exactly thrilled. I had very low expectations for myself and didn't really expect to do anything exceptional. My first topic was a Dr. Suess quote: 'You are you. Now isn't that pleasant?' I'm pretty sure that the judge didn't understand the pure genius of my speech through my braces because they did something really, really, really mean to me. Can you guess what it was? Please take a minute to think this over while reading the rest of this post. Anyway, that speech was pretty much horrible and nothing could be done to save it. Except mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But that would've been a long shot.
My next two speeches went all right. In fact, I gave the best impromptu speech I had given up to that point. It was the first time (out of club) that I used my Esther story (which I use almost every single impromptu speech now) and I talked about juniors and about Bethany Hamilton. For some reason I never talk about her anymore. The best part was, it was a J.R.R. Tolkien quote, and I had just watched all three of the Lord of the Rings movies a couple of weeks ago. I was very excited. But before I tell you the results on the ballot I got for this round, I'd like to tell you what the mean judge did to me after my first impromptu that tournament.
They circled fifth and below. Isn't that awful? Well, it's not that bad. I mean, a fifth and below could always mean a fifth, right? WRONG! WRONG WRONG WRONG! It most definitely did not mean fifth. How do I know this? Because after circling fifth and below, the judge wrote 8th. 8th! When I saw this horrible judge's rather awful ballot, I proceeded to exclaim (in a very odd, high-pitched voice) 'you're a horrible person!' over and over again as I showed everyone this horrible judge's ballot. The rest of the ballot wasn't even very good. The judge pointed arrows to the 'ethos,' 'pathos,' and 'logos' boxes and wrote 'not sure what these mean.' EVEN THOUGH IT'S WRITTEN RIGHT NEXT TO THOSE WORDS EXACTLY WHAT THOSE WORDS MEAN! Mrs. Martin was awesome enough to take a sharpie to the eighth, but I still see the black mark whenever I see that ballot, and I know what lies under it.
But on my other two ballots I got fourths, and some good advice about how to improve my speaking. At least, I think there was good advice. The point is, it was the first time I started enjoying impromptu. I didn't love it yet, but I was starting to enjoy it.
At the next tournament, I remember giving the first impromptu speech I actually loved. It was the second round of the tournament, and my topic was, 'if I were a book...' which was totally obscure and weird and everyone else hated those topics. I kind of hated them too. But I love books. So I ranted for three points and five minutes about how awesome books are. It was the first time I talked about C.S. Lewis, who I also use in a lot of my speeches, and I talked about how I alphabetized my bookshelf. And how everyone should read the Bible.
Whenever someone asked me how that round went, I would say, 'awesome,' or 'fantastic,' or something to that extent. It's definitely not the best impromptu speech I've ever given, but it was one of the most fun. And that's what really matters, isn't it? Don't coaches and stuff always say, 'it's not about winning; it's about having fun.' At least that's what they said in Arthur. Anyway, it was a really fun speech. I got to talk about something that I love, instead of just something that was relevant to the topic but I didn't really care about. I got a third on that ballot- the highest I had ever gotten on a ballot. It was, of course, overshadowed by the two firsts I got in persuasive, but that's another story.
To the people watching grow in my impromptu skills, it seemed as though I was starting to like impromptu as I started to get better at it, but it was the reverse: I started to get better at impromptu as I started to like it. If you don't enjoy something you do, then you're probably not that fantastic at it. At least, that's how it is when it comes to me and speaking and stuff. It really annoys me when people complain about breaking. I'm just like, 'uhm.... seriously?' You're literally complaining about winning. I just want to know why. I really don't understand. Please explain the motivation behind such offensive actions. Yes, I am offended. Why are you offending me? Are you just an offensive person in general? Or is this abnormal behaviour? *Coughcoughkalebcoughcough* Anyway. Impromptu is awesome. I'm kind of mad at Stoa for kind of sort of abolishing it.
I never thought I would like impromptu, much less love it. But then again... 'still round the corner there may wait, a new road or secret gate.'
And it's for all these reasons, that of kitkats, impromptu, J.R.R. Tolkien quotes and national security, that I strongly urge an affirmative ballot at the end of today's debate round. *Clap clap clap.*
At the first tournament I regretfully did impromptu. I was not a fan of this event, to say the least. But Mrs. Martin would've hacked my registration and signed me up for it, had I refused to do it. I (surprisingly) remember my topics from both of my pathetic rounds: the first was: 'a good example is the best sermon.' So I talked about how Mrs. Martin gives that stupid hand sanitizer story every single club meeting. I don't rememember the rest of that speech. I basically rambled for two minutes and sort of had points, but not really. And the second round: 'classic books - the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the Red Badge of Courage, Don Quixote.' I had never read any of those books, and couldn't even pronounce Don Quixote. In fact, the judge corrected my pronunciation in the middle of my speech. So because I pretty much knew nothing about any of the books, I rambled about how terrible modern-day books like Twilight and the Hunger Games are, and how the moral of the story is always boyfriends and girlfriends. It was... not good. Fifth and Below on all two of my ballots.
The second tournament came around in January of this year. I wasn't necessarily dreading doing impromptu, but I wasn't exactly thrilled. I had very low expectations for myself and didn't really expect to do anything exceptional. My first topic was a Dr. Suess quote: 'You are you. Now isn't that pleasant?' I'm pretty sure that the judge didn't understand the pure genius of my speech through my braces because they did something really, really, really mean to me. Can you guess what it was? Please take a minute to think this over while reading the rest of this post. Anyway, that speech was pretty much horrible and nothing could be done to save it. Except mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But that would've been a long shot.
My next two speeches went all right. In fact, I gave the best impromptu speech I had given up to that point. It was the first time (out of club) that I used my Esther story (which I use almost every single impromptu speech now) and I talked about juniors and about Bethany Hamilton. For some reason I never talk about her anymore. The best part was, it was a J.R.R. Tolkien quote, and I had just watched all three of the Lord of the Rings movies a couple of weeks ago. I was very excited. But before I tell you the results on the ballot I got for this round, I'd like to tell you what the mean judge did to me after my first impromptu that tournament.
They circled fifth and below. Isn't that awful? Well, it's not that bad. I mean, a fifth and below could always mean a fifth, right? WRONG! WRONG WRONG WRONG! It most definitely did not mean fifth. How do I know this? Because after circling fifth and below, the judge wrote 8th. 8th! When I saw this horrible judge's rather awful ballot, I proceeded to exclaim (in a very odd, high-pitched voice) 'you're a horrible person!' over and over again as I showed everyone this horrible judge's ballot. The rest of the ballot wasn't even very good. The judge pointed arrows to the 'ethos,' 'pathos,' and 'logos' boxes and wrote 'not sure what these mean.' EVEN THOUGH IT'S WRITTEN RIGHT NEXT TO THOSE WORDS EXACTLY WHAT THOSE WORDS MEAN! Mrs. Martin was awesome enough to take a sharpie to the eighth, but I still see the black mark whenever I see that ballot, and I know what lies under it.
But on my other two ballots I got fourths, and some good advice about how to improve my speaking. At least, I think there was good advice. The point is, it was the first time I started enjoying impromptu. I didn't love it yet, but I was starting to enjoy it.
At the next tournament, I remember giving the first impromptu speech I actually loved. It was the second round of the tournament, and my topic was, 'if I were a book...' which was totally obscure and weird and everyone else hated those topics. I kind of hated them too. But I love books. So I ranted for three points and five minutes about how awesome books are. It was the first time I talked about C.S. Lewis, who I also use in a lot of my speeches, and I talked about how I alphabetized my bookshelf. And how everyone should read the Bible.
Whenever someone asked me how that round went, I would say, 'awesome,' or 'fantastic,' or something to that extent. It's definitely not the best impromptu speech I've ever given, but it was one of the most fun. And that's what really matters, isn't it? Don't coaches and stuff always say, 'it's not about winning; it's about having fun.' At least that's what they said in Arthur. Anyway, it was a really fun speech. I got to talk about something that I love, instead of just something that was relevant to the topic but I didn't really care about. I got a third on that ballot- the highest I had ever gotten on a ballot. It was, of course, overshadowed by the two firsts I got in persuasive, but that's another story.
To the people watching grow in my impromptu skills, it seemed as though I was starting to like impromptu as I started to get better at it, but it was the reverse: I started to get better at impromptu as I started to like it. If you don't enjoy something you do, then you're probably not that fantastic at it. At least, that's how it is when it comes to me and speaking and stuff. It really annoys me when people complain about breaking. I'm just like, 'uhm.... seriously?' You're literally complaining about winning. I just want to know why. I really don't understand. Please explain the motivation behind such offensive actions. Yes, I am offended. Why are you offending me? Are you just an offensive person in general? Or is this abnormal behaviour? *Coughcoughkalebcoughcough* Anyway. Impromptu is awesome. I'm kind of mad at Stoa for kind of sort of abolishing it.
I never thought I would like impromptu, much less love it. But then again... 'still round the corner there may wait, a new road or secret gate.'
And it's for all these reasons, that of kitkats, impromptu, J.R.R. Tolkien quotes and national security, that I strongly urge an affirmative ballot at the end of today's debate round. *Clap clap clap.*
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| The quote from my first enjoyable impromptu round. |
I still hate that judge that gave you 8th.
ReplyDeleteSo do I, my dear Anna, so do I...
ReplyDelete