T3B67

Okay! Junior Nationals!

OMG. It was SOOO awesome. Although it wasn't as hard as I thought, but that might have been because we didn't really go against really good teams (which would have meant we were bad...?) Maybe we just have a really strong region, so we're used to harder teams than usual.

The first two teams we met were okay. They weren't bad, but they weren't as sophisticated debaters as I was used to. Maybe that's also because we face a lot of grade 10s in our region, and they're most likely better than the grade 9's. Maybe that's because I got better. Maybe that's because I was expecting too much. :S

Anyways, the rounds were pretty good, and I learned some new strategies for impromptu prep, plus some new language and organizing strategies for a case. I definitely learned a lot, and I'm really glad I went. :)

AND THE TABS CAME OUT AND I DIDN'T COME IN LAST AND I'M SOOOO EXCITED! AND HAPPY! EVEN THOUGH WE HAD SUCH A LOW NUMBER OF WINS AND OUR TEAM WIN-LOSS RECORD IS PRETTY BAD OUR SCORES ARE HIGH SO YAAAAAH!

:D Sooooo happy.

T3B66

ALL OF THEM <3

T3B61, 62, 63, 64, 65

I'm having a crappy day today.

So it only seems reasonable that I post this image.

:(

1. the nice person 2. the optimist 3. the environmentalist
4. the chef 5. the jester 6. the businessperson

^This guy UNDERSTANDS me

I really appreciate all these cheesy and random when life gives you lemons variations.

Oh. Haha. I meant, "lemony."

Okay that was actually the worst pun in the history of puns, that didn't even make sense. NEVER MIND I SAID NOTHING XP

Anyway, I know I haven't posted for a long time, but that's because I was at Junior Nationals, I'll blog about that tomorrow... when I'm hopefully having a less crappy day...

Ironically (or maybe unironically) someone got this quote at Speech Provincials (impromptu): "Smile though your heart is breaking." And it was pretty cool the direction she took it in--she started by observing that it was completely contrary to what modern-day society tells us, yet she used a personal story to explain how she agreed with the quote after a while. It's pretty amazing how many directions you can take a topic in.

T3B60

Working on my resolution... *cough cough*

In actuality: browsing the PJ fandom

#FANGIRL

OMG the Stoll brothers are legitly so awesome. (Yes, autocorrect, I know that's not a word!)

OMG LOLOLOLOL #DEBATE

T3B59

OMG, the speech provincials were just AMAZING.

I learned so much. I felt kind of like this weekend was wasted, though, because I didn't do my best--but one person mentioned at our celebratory lunch that you learn a lot.... unless you do well. So I guess this wasn't wasted--because I learned a lot. XP That was kinda complicated.

We had lik 8 rounds, which is A LOT for a tournament. I could have done better in my debate rounds, I think I was just tired that day and I didn't do as well as I could have.

For interpretive reading, I think those were my best rounds--Mr. Hauck recommended me to read, "This is Water", an essay by David Foster Wallace, and it was really good. I found this speech (shortened) version of this, and I used that with a few edits, because it was still too long.

For persuasive speaking, I don't think my topic was "big" enough. A lot of the best speakers tackled really big topics, like drugs and poverty, whereas I talked about dropping math scores across Canada. I think my topic could have been bigger and more exploratory, which would have made it better. I'll keep that in mind for next time.

For impromptu, oh my goodness, it was legitly awful. It was (take a deep breath) calamitous, deplorable, lousy, pitiful, sad, unfortunate, unsatisfactory, woeful, terrible, made me want to cry of how bad it was, etc.

Okay, no it wasn't that bad, but it sure seemed like it at the time.

So, you notice that the really good speakers are creative and can make any topic into a deep, worldly problem, arguable topic.

This one guy got something like, "The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." a quote by William James.

AND HE SOMEHOW MANAGED TO TURN IT INTO NEGLECTING THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES BY FIRST WORLD COUNTRIES

AND I WAS LIKE WHAT THE HECK HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE WHY IS HE SO GOOD

LIKE WHAT WHAT WHAT

And I got like, "You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give."

And I didn't take it anywhere, I just talked about a contrast between a billionaire named John and a single parent named Mary. (I know, I have the best names. XP) AND I JUST TALKED ABOUT MONEY NOT BEING THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN LIFE AND I COULD HAVE JUST KICKED MYSELF

AAAAAGHHHH

Actually I just listened to it now, and it's not as bad as I thought. Maybe I banana-sundaes it better than I thought. XP At least, I sound more confident than I was.

My second round was... well, in some ways better, and in some ways worse.

The advice that Mr. Hauck gave me was to be creative--because they're not looking for the amazingly polished arguments set out in the persuasiveness, they're looking for your ability to take something ordinary and turn it into something extraordinary. My second topic was "Milk". (LIKE, MILK. WHAT ON EARTH??? WHERE DO THEY EVEN COME UP WITH THESE THINGS???) But then I thought about milk going sour (because my family's terrible at finishing milk. We don't like milk XP) and then I thought about friendships going sour. BOOM. MY AWFUL MILK/FRIENDSHIP ANALOGY WAS BORN.

I talked about how it takes a long time for you to meet friends (waiting to be picked up as milk), and sometimes it goes sour (same) but something good might come out of it--you could meet someone new (yogurt/cheese. I <3 yogurt, by the way, but that's beside the point.)

Anyways. It was kind of awkward.

Still, I learned a lot, and I'm super excited for the next speech tournament. :)

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T3B58

AWER8YI LAFKSJDN ;AKLSJDF;ALSJD;FLKJASD;FKJ  CAN WE JUST NOT OMG OMGGGG

AAAAAHHHHHH I'M SO SCARED NOW

Yesterday there was this huuuuuge wasp. Someone was like "Don't kill it, bees are dying" and I was like YAAAAAAS FINALLY SOMETHING I ACTUALLY KNOW ABOUT but then I looked a bit more closely and I think it was a wasp. For one, it wasn't cute and fluffy like a bee, it was a lot darker and a lot bigger.

I think it was a wasp.

I think. (I hope.)

Because someone rolled his notebook up and smacked it so pro-ly it was just amazing.

Scenario:

Competitor 1: "OMG it's a bee." (Like, she said it really, really calmly.)

Competitor 2: "What do we do?"

Competitor 3: "KILL IT!"

Competitor 4 and me: "DON'T KILL IT BEES ARE DYING!"

Me: "Wait no that's not a bee, it's too big, that's a wasp. KILL IT!"

Competitor 5: *deftly takes out and rolls notebook, eyes target, slowly moves toward target*

Competitor 5: *SMACK* *one dead wasp, one smushed window, one clean notebook*

HOW PRO WAS THAT

IT WAS SO PRO I WISHED I'D RECORDED IT

It was so pro.

I know we're supposed to protect nature, and I agree, but wasps do absolutely nothing to society.




OH WAIT I TAKE THAT BACK--I just did a google search (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftQ6A3DKKeg) and apparently wasps can a. pollinate, and b. eat pests.

Huh.

I'm sorry, wasp. Most of the time you still are a pest.

T3B55, 56, and 57

LE SPEECHES ARE FINALLY OVER

YES

#AWESOME

#LESSSTRESS

#FREE

I'll blog some more about the strategies and observations tomorrow. :)

Meanwhile I'll just cram like 3 posts worth of photos in here :)

IS THIS NOT THE CUTEST PHOTO EVER OMG

I love it when normal characters are put into really cute costumes/drawing styles :)

Plus it fits them so well! Leo = fiery = Charmander (fire type Pokemon)

Jason = electric = Pikachu (electric type Pokemon)

Percy = water = Squirtle (water type Pokemon)

Frank = animal transformer = Ditto (this Pokemon that transforms into other Pokemon)

I never watched the TV shows/animes/movies and never played the video or card game, but I have an embarrassingly impressive collection of Pokemon books. XP