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.)

10 Things I Love About Speech and Debate

There are a lot things great things about speech and debate, so I thought I'd share with you some of my favourites. Now, while these aren't the only things I love, I don't want to make this even longer. Plus, I don't want to have to find a million pictures for all the things I love. Seriously. It took me forever to find all those pictures. You'd better appreciate them. So much so, that you vote affirmative. (Wow, I think that was the first time I put that at the beginning.)

10. Winning Lots of Trophies

So I'm kind of joking about this one, seeing as how I've never actually won a trophie. But I bet it's really exciting, and I would probably love it. I guess that's why it's only number 10. Medals are cool too. I have a couple of those. At some tournaments they award real, tangible green check-marks. I find those rather humorous, actually. They get glitter all over my hands. And my hair.

9. Not Having a Speech this Pattern

I made a tournament. It's called KITOC.

Seriously. I love it when I think I have to rush to a speech because my debate round ended late, then finding out that I have no events that pattern, and thus can sit around and watch other people's speeches. That, or play cards and Apples to Apples Bible Addition. But of course, there is it's evil twin: finding out you actually do have all of your speeches this pattern, and then you have to abandon your intense game of spoons and go give an impromptu speech or something.

8. Having a Speech Go Exactly Ten Minutes

This has only happened to me once. When the timer told me 'Ten minutes exactly.' I was like, "really? That's great!" I swear I almost high-fived the kid. It was even better because it was in semi-finals.  And even better because I was so used to my speech being either 8:10, or 9:36. The same goes for when my impromptu is exactly five minutes, or my constructives exactly eight minutes. Or my- okay, you get the idea.

7. Timing Interps

This is Chandler Lasch. She's really
awesome and you should read her blog.

Specifically duo and HI. Those things are hard to time. Not because of hand signals, because there aren't any. All you have to do is start when they start and stop when they stop. Easy. Timing duo/HI is hard because EVERYONE wants to time interps. Everyone. Everyone wants to time HIs and duos because they'll probably be funny. And everyone loves a funny speech. But some of my favourite interps are dramatic. Some people just don't appreciate a good DI. Poor DI. So under-rated. You should all do a DI. DI's are cool. (BTW, have you noticed that if you pronounce DI like an actual word it sounds like 'die?' Coincidence? I think not.

Me in a suit in
impromptu
finals.

6. Wearing Suits

Some people don't like having to wear suits at tournaments. I love it. Up until NITOC last year (it feels so weird calling it last year) I had a total of three suits. Two of those suits were hand-me-downs from my sister. But we went shopping right before NITOC and got like a million more suits. So I have to decide what suits to wear at tournaments. This will be difficult. Whenever I practice my speech in my room to my stuffed animals, I put on my heels and suit jacket. It just feels more real that way. At NITOC, when I didn't break, I still wore my suit jackets and special debate shirts because I had so many and didn't want them to go to waste.

5. The Awards Ceremony

I can dream!

Back in the (NCFCA) days, the awards ceremony would drag on until midnight. Seriously. We left a tournament at 12:00am one time because the tournament went so late. But no longer is that the case! Awards ceremonies go much quicker no-a-days. And they're a lot of fun. Especially when my friends do awesome things.

4. "Watching" TP Finals

I never used to watch TP finals because they wouldn't let me time it. That was annoying. Then one time my brother broke to TP finals. And that was awesome. But that's a whole other story.  Whenever I watch TP finals, I don't usually do it for the debate. I'm sick of debate by the time the tournament reaches this point. I actually only watch TP finals if a.) my friends are watching. b.) My friends/family are in finals. But since my friends usually watch, I usually watch. And by watch, I mean flow the 1AC then start drawing or passing notes with my friends. One time I took selfies with some friends during prep time. And I made really cool name-tag designs one time. And then all my friends wanted one too. It was a lot of fun, and I don't even remember who was debating.

Yes, I realize this is duo postings.
But duo is kind of like TP, because
there's a team.

3. Ballot Parties

The tournament has ended. Everyone is exhausted and wants to go to bed. So we stay up until 1:00 'talking about ballots.' Truth be told, I'm pretty sure we only spend the first half hour complaning about judges talking about ballots. After that we tell our horror stories from the tournament, play 'baby if you love me' and basically just talk until the hotel staff tells us to shut up. In-N-Out ballot parties are probably my favourite. So yeah. Ballot parties are super awesome. Especially when I discover...

HEY LOOK AT THE TREES!

2. First Place Ballots

Do you remember the first time you got a first place on a ballot? I do. It was at that tournament I broke to finals at. Whenever I broke, I started crying. (Not because I was sad. I couldn't have been happier.) At the awards ceremony, when I got my medal, I started crying.  Whenever I opened up my ballots, half expecting a first, half trying not to hope so I wouldn't be disappointed. Then I found the best ballot in the history of ballots  That judge is the best ever. Not only did he give me my first first place, he voted for me against Rambo/Rambo the sequel. The first round I ever won.

The best ballot ever. Seriously. It
doesn't get better than this ballot.

1. Praying Before Rounds

This is my favourite thing to do before a round starts. I feel nervous, and everyone around me feels nervous. So what do we do? We pray. This is Christian homeschool speech and debate. And sometimes we pray together. That is the best. It helps us remember the reason we do speech and debate: for the glory of God. It's so encouraging when one of my friends asks me to pray before rounds. Especially when we're in the same room together. Like when I broke to impromptu finals, a good friend of mine was also in finals. And we prayed together even though we were competing directly against each other. It was awesome.

Vote affirmative, because there are a lot of awesome things about speech and debate.

(P.S. If you liked this post, you might like SCHSADKL, by Chandler Lasch. It's awesome.)

There's Something I Need to Tell You

Once upon a time, I was a junior. I did a junior speech for two tournaments. Then I gave up because I lost. Four years after I gave up, I un-gave up. Because un-giving up is actually a thing. And after I un-gave up I wrote a speech. And I found evidence. And I went to a tournament. This is a story about my first speech and debate tournament.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I printed off the negative briefs. I finished writing my speech five days before the tournament started. I sort of practiced my speech like once. I was ready for the first tournament I would ever really compete at. Sort of. But the tournament would arrive in spite of my preparedness (or lack there of). And arrive it did.

I put on my (sister's) suit and my brand new heels. I submitted my script and rolled my (sister's) debate box into the student gathering room and realized I was in the wrong place and had to walk where everyone else was. Then I remember that I was on the welcome committee and had to like, open doors or something. But no one came through my door. But finally, the first round was about to begin. I was about to become a real live, actual debater.I ducked between the multitude of well dressed teenagers to see who I would be going against. And there it was.

Rambo/Rambo AFF vs. Gerdt/Jones NEG

That hypothetical situation my debate coach always talked about was unfolding before my very eyes. My partner and me, two novices, versus two super duper advanced debaters. I was pretty much dead before I walked into the room. But I got my giant neg binder out from my (sister's) debate box and plopped it on the table. And I debated. And I lost. But I didn't pass out or throw-up, so according to Mrs. Harding, it was a success. So I shook off Rambo/Rambo and went off to wait for my first ever speech round.

Remember to take off your slippers. Remember to take off your slippers. I told myself. Please help me remember to take off my slippers. I asked God. And please don't let me go against my friend who has the exact same topic as me. I pleaded as I walked towards postings. And (of course) I was going against my friend who had the exact same persuasive topic as me. I bit my lip and walked to my room, constantly repeating the room number to myself. And I sat outside persuasive for awhile. Then I watched a couple duos because I was pretty far down on the list. Then I was late because I was watching duos. Then I remembered to take off my slippers and put on my heels. I got into my room and, saying a quick prayer in my head, I told the judges who I was. And I began speaking.

Introduction? Check. First point? Check. Everything was going fine. I moved into my second point. Half-way through my second point I realized something was wrong. I was giving my genius debate analogy a point too soon. I was in my third point. Did I skip my second point? I froze. For a good twenty seconds I just stared at the wall. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do????? I finally decided that it'd be best if I just kept talking and give my second point third. My judges were very merciful to my extended pause. To say the least. And everything was okay. The end.

I have something to tell all you speech and debaters. First years and sixth years, extempers and interpers, TPers and LDers and Parliers. You. Will. Mess. Up. Sorry to pop your bubble. Actually, I'm not. Better to pop it now, before the first tournament does it. Yes, you're going to mess up. Don't think you won't just because you've been doing this for the past four years. Your expos boards will fall apart the day before the tournament. Your mind will go blank the moment you pick up your impromptu prompt. You will forget to put your heels back on before you go into your persuasive round. Your duo partner will be late to your round. You will forget to print out briefs until it's 11:00PM the night before the tournament. You (or your TP partner) will forget to register for a tournament. You will hit Rambo/Rambo, even though you are a novice and don't deserve such punishment. You will be late for extemp prep. You will get pink eye the day before the tournament (well, maybe not that. But it's possible. Trust me). You will clap after the wrong speech in a debate round.

But you know what you won't do? Die. Not because of any of those thing. You might get pink eye, you might even throw up. But you will not die. The only possible reason you could die from any of the above things happening is if you stop breathing. You will not get sucked into the time vortex because you forgot to change your shoes. You will not get thrown into the debate dungeon you forgot to print off briefs. So BREATHE. In. Out. In and out.

It's going to be okay. Those things don't define you. Not your skills as a speech and debater, and not you as a person. So keep calm... and vote affirmative.

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

That Amazing Moment When Your Friend Does Something Really Awesome Like Win

Let's face it: trophies can be pretty darn pretty. Like at the Go Light Your World tournament in February. They had these amazing little things. They were glass and had globes on the top of these pillars and it was really cool and I really wanted one. Like, I really wanted one. They were like, the coolest trophies ever.

Anyways. The other day I was looking at pictures of my siblings on Facebook (because I finally got one of those things). There was one picture I saw with me and them, right after a debate tournament. They were all holding trophies. And I wasn't. Despite the fact that the picture was from like, three years ago, I grew a little bit jealous. Yes, even after all I've been through this year, I started wondering, 'why don't I have any trophies? How come I only have eighth place medals and a couple over-glittered check-marks?'

Then I was like, 'Hadley, you're an idiot.' 'No I'm not.' 'Don't be ridiculous. Of course you are! Thinking you need trophies after all you've been through. WOW. Just... WOW.' 'You're right!' "Of course I'm right. I'm always right.' 'You're never right.' 'True...' And that's a conversation I regularly have with myself. ANYWAYS. I still wanted trophies. But I remembered something I learned last year.

One of my favourite parts of a tournament is the awards ceremony. Usually by the end of it, my hands hurt, my throat hurts, my head hurts, my feet hurt and I'm in tears. Sounds like fun, right? Well, the pain and the tears aren't what I like about awards. I also don't like the super long speeches that sometimes come with them. What I do like is my friends pwning faces. It took me awhile to realize this, but it's just as exciting when your friends win something as when you do. *Gasp!*

Seriously. There are few awards ceremonies I have left with dry eyes, and that's because I have amazing friends. I have three friends who have gotten first place in persuasive at a tournament. I have amazing friends who have pwned at impromptu and apologetics and extemp. And debate. And duo. And other events. I scream really loudly at awards. If you know me, then you know that. And I often go home on Sunday without much of a voice. And my hands are sore from a great amount of forensic clapping. And I'm crying because I'm so proud of my friends. And my feet are sore from a great amount of tournamenting. I just made tournamenting a word, in case you were wondering. Tournament is now a verb. So ha ha to you, grammar.

Having awesome friends who do awesome things is awesome. I hope you have awesome friends like I do. And if you don't have awesome friends, I can be your awesome friend. (Yes, I did just call myself awesome, in case you were wondering.) And then you can meet my awesome friends, and I have a lot.

But you don't have to pwn faces at speech and debate to be amazing. While pwning is one way to be amazing, true amazingness comes from other things. Like if a friend wants to pray with you before the round, that's amazing. If a friend congratulates you on winning even when they didn't, that's amazing. If your friend practically tackles you when they see you after going even a little while without you, that's amazing. If a friend is willing to talk about serious stuff, like their faith and their testimony, that's amazing. If a friend talks about stupid stuff like how cute some boy/girl is with you, that's amazing. If a friend helps you laugh at yourself, that's amazing. There are a lot of ways for friends to be amazing, and I'm so blessed to have a lot of friends who are.

Last year (among other things) I learned that as nice as trophies are, and as nice as if feels to break to finals, and as much as I want to win, it's really, really, really awesome when my friends win stuff - maybe even better than winning stuff myself.

So here's to all my awesome friends out there. To those I've had for years, and those I've known for less than one. To the friends who have won first place, and the friends who have only ever gotten 5th and Belows. To the friends I haven't even met yet. You guys are awesome. Don't stop being awesome, okay?

And vote affirmative, because the trophies are really pretty this tournament. ;)

Medals are shiny

Trophies are cool

My friends are awesome

Just like you!