Tournament Fever

There are certain things that get me really excited about tournaments. Like watching speeches on YouTube, trying on suit jackets, or finishing e-ring. But I'm currently in a stage where almost anything related to speech and debate will get me excited. Such as (but not limited to) hearing the word 'extemp,' looking at a calendar and realizing that the first tournament is only a month away, or just seeing my suits in my closet. You see, I have this condition, commonly known as Tournament Fever. (Actually, I just made that up.)

What are some of the other symptoms of Tournament Fever, you may ask? Well, it leads to the want of things that aren't necessarily desirable. For instance...

I want to print off briefs at 11:00PM the night before the tournament
I want to wake up at obscure hours in the morning and put on a suit

I want to wear shoes that murder my feet

I want to eat undercooked hotel waffles in the shape of Texas

I want to get smacked in the face by my name-tag because it has stretchy strings
I want to practically pass out during breaks because I'm so nervous

I want to get drafted unwillingly into timing

I want to cry at the awards ceremony because my friends are amazing
I want to get first place ballots

I want to get ballots in general
I want the hotel staff to shut us up because it's 12:00AM and some people sleep at that time
I want to ask people to vote affirmative for real

Yes, tournament fever is quite the affliction But in 27 days I'll be able to really ask people to vote affirmative. But for now, I'll settle for asking you. And it's for all these reasons that I strongly urge an affirmative ballot at the end of today's debate round.

An undercooked Texas-shaped hotel waffle

I Just Realized Something... Again

You probably already know that I love speech and debate. I've written three posts about loving it, and about a million others about it in general. It's pretty self evident that I love it. And I really do. Of course, I didn't always feel this way about forensics. No, it took me a long time to realize just how great it is.

Once upon a time, my sister joined speech and debate. I was only eight at the time, and I had no idea what we were getting into. After the first tournament, which was technically only a practice tournament, my mom was all like, 'you're coming to Houston with us!' And by 'us' she meant her, my sister, my sister's debate partner, and my sister's debate partner's mom. Back in the day, I really hated long car-rides. They just seemed so much longer when I was younger. But we watched Anne of Green Gables on the way, so it could have been worse.

I avoided timing and watching debate as much as possible. I'm not sure what exactly I did for those three days, seeing as how I had like, no friends. At one point, on the last day, I was asked to time debate semi's. I had never timed anything, much less debate. Once they figured that out, they went and searched for some other poor junior to time. And then they forced me to time persuasive finals. That was interesting.

There were five speakers in finals. One of the speeches was about honey bees. Another one was about baseball. But the first three were all about cancer. Microwaves cause cancer! Cell-phones cause cancer! Meat causes cancer! You're all going to die! I was quite traumatized.

Anyway. A couple years after that, my best friend joined speech and debate. Now, she said she was only going to do speech that year, and wait on debate. But no. She just had to do debate. And so I was mad at her. For a long time. And I hated debate. Not because of the activity itself, but because of my friend. And I actually promised my other friend that I wouldn't ever do debate ever because it was such a horrible thing. Then one day my mom was all like, 'you're going to this tournament!' And I was like, 'what tournament?' And she was like, 'the one this weekend!' And I was like, 'there's a tournament this weekend?'

So I went to that tournament, and because I had no friends, all I did was time rounds. Not because I was particularly keen on timing debate, but because I wanted timer prizes and I had nothing better to do. And as I was watching debate rounds I realized something. As boring as debate was (I mean, revenue generation is no one's favourite subject), it was also kind of interesting. And at that tournament and the next, I continued realizing that. I tried to hate it, I really did. But then debate camp came around and crushed that hate.

I was going to wait another year before I did speech and just do prep track. But when I went to debate camp and debated for the first time, I realized that it was actually kind of fun. A lot of fun. I prayed about it, and decided to do debate that year.

Just yesterday, I realized (again) that I love speech and debate. Like, a lot. I never thought I'd love speech, much less debate, especially after hating it for so long. But I do. It's kind of my life, which is probably why it'd the only thing I ever talk about besides writing. And getting sent home from MPACT.

Forensics isn't for everyone, but it is for me. It is most definitely for me. And it's for all these reasons I strongly urge an affirmative ballot at the end of today's blog post.

A Whole New Year

(To the tune of 'A Whole New World' from Disney's Aladdin.)

I can show you my speech
Duo, impromptu, mars hill
A dazzling expos,
With fancy boards and lots of flashing lights

I can teach you debate
Take you disad by disad
Topicality, stock issues
A magic Aff-case ride

A whole new year
A new fantastic resolu
No TNW's, or Guantanamo
Or pulling out of Japan

A whole new year
A brand new speech event that's cool
But when I'm watching you, debate that res
I know that I am voting for you
(Now I'm voting for you)

An unbelievable speech
Indescribable HI's
DI's, Duos, Persuasives
Apol, extemp and parli

A whole new year
(Don't you dare drop OI)
A thousand speeches I can love
(Keep your case, it get's better)

I'm like a shooting star
I've come so far
I can't back to novice year

A whole new year
(Every round a surprise)
With great new topics to explore
(Every speech it gets better)

I'll give a new speech there
No time to spare
Let me share this great duo with you

A whole new year
That's where we'll be
A thrilling res
A wondrous speech
For you and me

See? Now they're wearing suits. :D

(Vote affirmative, because it's a new year.)