Tournament Tunes

I like music. I like debate. I have literally written five parodies about speech and debate from Disney songs. So I decided to make a tournament playlist, even though I rarely get the chance to listen to music at tournaments. But maybe you do, but you don't know what songs to listen to. This is what this post is for. I have created this playlist just for you (and me) to enjoy.

See You Tomorrow - How To Train Your Dragon score

This song reminds me of the first day of the tournament. It's the day where I feel like I'm running around, going from speech to speech to debate to speech to speech to speech to debate and between all of that hanging out with friends. It's crazy.

Just a Friend - Jamie Grace

If you listen to this song, it's pretty self-explanatory. It's basically every homeschooler on romance and crushes.

A Whole New World (Year) - Aladdin

This applies to two things: the first tournament of the year, and going to tournaments way out of state. They often run tournaments way differently in others states. It's always the same basic format, but sometimes it's kind of crazy, like a whole new tournament.

When Will My Life (Round) Begin - Tangled

Only having speeches in one pattern, pcarli rounds, junior rounds, having a TP partner who signed up for a tournament late and so you aren't doing TP, and long announcements.  Sometimes it takes a long time for my rounds to get started.

What Is This Feeling? - Wicked

What I sing when people run weird arguments in TP rounds and I feel like killing them. Loathing is an accurate description of the way I feel.

Leave It In The Valley - Mandisa

Calling my friend after said people run weird arguments in TP and she calls me and tells me not to flip out and then I feel better. Friendship is magic like that.

Let It Go - Frozen (Parody coming soon!)

Third day song. I'm not usually doing much on this day, so I run around singing Frozen. Also, letting go of all the rounds that went badly the last few days and being able to just hang out with friends and never go back, and maybe if the awards ceremony ends fast enough I'll be able to stand in the light of day.

Bloom - Moriah Peters and Overcomer - Mandisa

Remembering that even if the ballots don't meet up with my expectations, I was still born to bloom and that I can overcome it.

Gravity - John Mayer

Post tournament blues. Sitting in the hotel waiting to leave, sitting in your car, sitting at home with tournament hang over. This song really reflects my mood when it's all over and I just want to sit while gravity works against me.

Vote Affirmative - Hadley Grace

This song doesn't exist, but I felt like being clever when asking you to vote affirmative. So yeah... do that. And listen to these songs because they are all pretty great.

Extemp is white, OO is blue

So today is Valentines day, and as I am a Christian homeschooler and thus do not have a significant other, I  honestly don't care that much. So instead of posting about love and stuff, I'll post about how wonderful I think speech and debate is.

Speech and debate tends to consume your life. There's not a whole lot of time for school when you have e-ring due on Wednesday and you need to rewrite your speech by Thursday and memorize it by the tournament next week. There are a lot of things that normal teenagers do while CHSADKs are watching speeches on YouTube and trying to find evidence about shark ITQ's. 

So why do we do these things? Why are we (to be blunt) such weirdos? There are two answers to these questions.

1. We're crazy. Straight up, we're insane. We have all the mental stability of Moriaty. I mean, honestly, what did you expect? We do the strangest things. While most people are watching video game walk-throughs and funny cat videos, we're watching the first place extemp speech from NCFCA nats two years ago.

2. We love it. We love making fun of ourselves. We love being done with e-ring. We wouldn't survive without weekly club meetings and the occasional tournament. I'm not entirely certain how we would make it through the summer without ultimate frisbee and speech and debate camps. We may not all be extroverts, but we still enjoy being with each other. The warm greetings before club starts, the excessive embraces between interstate friends on the first day of tournaments. Sure, we do weird, crazy things. But I'm sure I speak for almost all of us when I say that we would be very different people without speech and debate, but more importantly without each other.

So before you go dismissing us all as insane lunatics (although we may well be just that) think for a moment of the lives that have been changed through speech and debate. Not just persuasives and DIs, but through the friendships that have been made. Even though we're all different, we all like different things, we all share this one thing: speech and debate.

So though there are many reasons to vote affirmative, today I'd like to ask you to do so because you know the ways that Christian Homeschool Speech and Debate has changed you.

TP's an Open Door

(To the tune of "Love is and Open Door" from Disney's Frozen. Created with the help of Maria and Julia.)

All my life has been a series of speech and debate
And then suddenly I debate with you

I was thinkin' the same thing, cause like
I've been waiting my whole life to win first place
And maybe it's the tourney talking, or the tournament food

But with you, But with you
I'll win first place
I see your case
And it's nothing like I've ever known before

TP's an open door
TP's an open door
TP's an open door With you, with you, with you, with you
TP's an open door.

I mean it's crazy-
-What?
We finish each other's-
T-Presses!
That's what I was gonna run!

I've never seen theory that looks so much like mine
Jinx! Jinx again!

Our extemp synchronization, can't have but one explanation
You
And I
Were
Just meant to be!

Say goodbye (say goodbye) To LD of the past
We don't have to value any more!

TP's an open door
TP's an open door
Policy's so much more With you, with you, with you, with you
TP's an open door.

Can I say something crazy? Will you partner with me?
Can I say something even crazier? Yes!

Can I say something crazy? Will you vote affirmative?