T1B16

I went to a debate workshop yesterday. It was for beginning debaters. I was in the junior category, which means we learned about the Canadian National Debate Format or something like that.

I just realized I'm writing like I'm in Kindergarten.

OKAY, sorry, let's not be kindergarteners.

Anyway, we were supposed to just learn CNDF, but I think there were a lot less juniors than they thought, so we kind of covered Cross-Ex (which is novice debaters) more. I actually knew most of the format, but I thought it would be good to get a sort of refresher and also, the teacher in charge, Ms. Spencer (I think that's how you spell her name?) had a lot of really good tips. I stayed for the practice rounds after, but I was working with someone I basically had met that day, and our communication wasn't very good, so the practice round wasn't very... well, effective... I mean, we certainly got practice, but not practice winning debates. Yes, I said "winning", because technically, you do have to "win" debates. Anyway, that day, I learned, first of all, that communication is VERY IMPORTANT (which I really should know by now, considering some of the experiences I've had... :P) and also, that it's really important to know good strategies for debating because, contrary to popular belief, it is NOT just arguing and is actually kind of complicated. Maybe one day I'll suddenly find the urge to explain it, but it's honestly so hard to do it that I just won't do it today. Because seriously, I know some terms and stuff, but it's really hard to learn at first. I should know.

And therefore, as a result, I have a pile of yesterday's homework awaiting me, because it went from basically 3 o'clock ('o clock? 'o'clock?) to about 8 pm. *sigh* But I had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot, so I therefore deem these 5 hours Not Wasted. :)