Grab Bag #4

Well, my life is getting chaotic again. Next week, there's another tournament, and immediately following it, the Regional Invitational. Now, the week following Regionals (that's three weeks from now, if you're following) I have a couple big research papers, a few essays, and an oral report due, not to mention the AP tests I ought to prepare for. Busy, neh? But before jumping back into the madness, I'm going to give you a reel of the high and low lights since the beginning of January. Why? Because I feel like it.

In January, I flew to California for a tournament and a college visit. The TSA took my cookies, and discriminated against me because I chose to wear a skirt on the airplane. At the tournament, my persuasive took second place, a feat that I've yet to repeat.

Also in January, two weeks later, I drove from my home in Western Washington to a tournament in Medford, Oregon. This was my first extended exposure to Shrimpy and Shorty. I've got to say, the car ride was the real highlight of the trip. That, and the really messed up cake we made for Calvin's birthday.

Two weeks later, another tournament in Idaho. Once again, I carpooled with Shorty, and we gave Rubbish a ride over to Idaho, but not back. Yes, Rubbish is a new character in this saga. She's named for one of her favorite adjectives. Ahem. Idaho's tournament was an emotional rollercoaster, but surprisingly, I had the most fun at that tournament than any other so far. It was groovy, and I watched Despicable Me for the second time in 4 weeks.

Two weeks after that, yet another tournament - but this was less groovy. I competed as a Team Policy debater, and my partner and I qualified to Regionals, which was unexpected. However, I had stomach flu for the entire tournament, and ended up losing a lot of weight from a. my inability to keep food down, and b. running around a lot. My impromptu speeches went over well with the judges in finals, and I finished 3rd. Despite this comparative success, throwing up all night and competing all day did not make the tournament one of my fonder memories. It got so bad that I almost didn't show up on the second day. Also at this tournament, I spent more time with Shorty. Yeah, I'm really adding up the hours.

After the stomach flu tournament, I had a month to "get ahead" in homework. I'll spare you the details. The next tournament was toward the end of March, and it was ... frustrating. Friends of mine with champion speeches didn't break, showed poorly, or lost their titles to unexpected contenders. There is some personal disappointment, I admit. But frankly, some of the results were entirely unjustified. I'm not saying that the people who won didn't deserve, because the strange results didn't extend through all events. However, some of the results were extremely frustrating.

The tournament was held at a university in Seattle, so Shorty stayed at my house. At the time of my writing this, Shorty and I have spent a cumulative total of 135 hours with each other, using the most conservative estimates. We had some very interesting conversations at early 'o clock, before falling asleep. Actually, Shorty and Gabby's visit during the tournament was the highly of the weekend.

Unless, of course, you mention Gertrude and Alfonso. Wrath, Calvin's little brother, was in a bad mood on that Friday night - and I was entering the state my parents call "rummy." It ended up with Wrath and I waddling across the college campus like a pair of senile penguins, muttering to each other and occasionally yelling "quack!" It was quite fun, and I'm afraid we've permanently scarred some of our friends.

At this point, you've been brought up to speed through the present. You may be wondering how I have time to write all this if I'm so busy preparing for the next weeks. I have two answers: First, I don't have time. Second, I'm writing this in the car on my way from church. So there.

I've been doing a bit of thinking about things over the past three months. I'll try to get some time to type the thoughts up into scintillating blog posts, but your best bet for intelligent thoughts will be in a couple weeks after Regionals. Thoughts that should be coming soon includ: beauty, vulnerability, aspiration, passion, defiance, and surrender.

Now, aren't you curious?
B