No Regrets - The Third Year Chronicles #22

I had barely unpacked my suitcase before having to pack my suitcase.

Before now, I've never had two consecutive tournaments. Last week, I was in Missouri for (duh) a tournament. This one was pretty different from other tournaments I've been to. I had never been to a tournament in MO before. There was a lot of snow and ice (snow would've been great, if I hadn't been wearing pencil skirts and heels). Parli and extemp, two of the three events I did, were both on Wednesday, so I only had motivational the rest of the time. Plus, a lot of my friends weren't there.

At the tournament this weekend (GLYW), most of my friends will be there, I have something both speech patterns as well as parli. It'll be the fourth time I've been to this tournament, and it's always been one of my favorites.

But the craziest part about this whole thing is that these tournaments are only a few days apart from each other. I almost didn't go to GLYW this year because of a conflict with another event this weekend. I'm really looking forward to it. Also, I'm nervous because I need another check in parli and in motivational plus I'm doing a speech I literally memorized today.

But I'm not regretting the decision to do both tournaments. I had a blast in Missouri. I'll probably have a blast in Tyler. They're different, yes. But that's not bad. Maybe I'll do a tournament recap. It's been a while since I've done that.

Vote affirmative. I have to go pack. Again.

(This post is part of a series called The Third Year Chronicles. Click here for TTYC #21)

The Side Affects of Tournamenting - The Third Year Chronicles #21

We're halfway through February, and I've already been to five tournaments. At this time my first year, I had been to two tournaments. In these weeks since the last tournament, I've noticed that these days are different from days in the summer, or during Christmas break, or in the month preceding NITOC. Going to tournaments has its own risks and side affects.*

The first and most apparent of these is the general lethargy (tiredness). There's research to do and speeches to write and speeches to memorize and other things to procrastinate. The exhaustion comes primarily from the emotional output that occurs during tournaments. Basically, there's a lot of nerves and excitement and sometimes disappointment, and so many emotions ranging from all of these to even more and it's honestly draining sometimes.

Another side affect is the increase in inside jokes. Say, for instance, 'you're my favorite,'  or, 'the fact stands.' And of course there are the stories to tell about tournaments. like going to 'California' or not being able to breathe during my extemp speech and still getting ranked 2nd in the room.

There's also the new set of tournament results to stalk on Speechranks, And the blog inspiration that may or may not come (not really coming this month), but that may just be me and my other blogging friends.

There's also the friendships built and strengthened, the experience gained, and all the beautiful, shiny trophies the knowledge acquired. But mostly friends.

Vote affirmative, because you know it's worth the risk.

*Side affects mentioned in this post have not been scientifically proven or tested, nor do they have anything to do with science at all.

(This post is part of a series called The Third Year Chronicles. Click here for TTYC #20)

Tournament Hangover - The Third Year Chronicles #20

A lot of things happen at tournaments. There's rounds, of course. but aside from those. Conversations and running to rooms and giving speeches and prepping resolutions and being nervous before breaks and waking up early and going to bed late and--I could go on, but I'm writing the tournament re-cap later, and you probably already know all that besides.

So you get home from tournaments and you don't want to do anything. You don't want to think about filing extemp articles or writing your speech. I always feel like I should write a blog post, but I'm too exhausted to do much of anything. And there's unpacking and laundry and school and no wonder debaters almost always do school through the summer.

And then a few days later, we're back in the swing of things. Filing and formatting and mathing and writing. And then a couple of weeks later you freak out because oh my gosh there's a tournament this weekend and I still have laundry to do. And you know what happens next.

Vote affirmative. I'm too tired to figure out why you should. You're smart. Just read the flow. If your handwriting is legible...

(This post is part of a series called The Third Year Chronicles. Click here for TTYC #19)