Speech!

Hm... well, last weekend was interesting. I didn't get to go to the debate at Concord, because my brother and partner couldn't attend due to some studying for AP Chemistry. It turned out for the better, though, because I got a break, plus the opportunity to go trick-or-treating Friday (as Hannah Montana, ha, ha, ha... I was definitely a rock star) and to party Saturday, which was awesome, except for that one crazy, adrenaline-pumping moment. Ei! Of course, then dodge ball with Turtles at her church on Sunday was awesome! I had an absolutely great time, so thanks, Turtles!



After school on Monday, my Debate coach convinced me to join Speech, the first meet of which will be this Saturday. It should be awesome, because it requires practically no preparation (yes!), and I have a bunch of friends on that team who I don't get to see much anymore. I've been feeling a little empty since Spell Bowl finished, too, so I'm going to try to fill that space in, but there is no way that Spell Bowl can ever be replaced. It's way too great.

I'm double-entering in Speech, which means I compete in two events. I will be doing U.S. Extemporaneous and Impromptu - very exciting. In U.S. Extemp., I'm giving a box of magazines a question that I select out of three, a note card with (max fifty words), and a half hour to write a speech up to seven minutes long. It looks pretty fun, and it'll keep me informed. Then in Impromptu, you get a card with one word or a quote on it. Some examples I got were "honesty," "winter," and the less likely "meat." I turn and face a wall for thirty seconds, and then I talk to the judge about it for a maximum of five minutes. That should be really fun, I think! =)

The Spell Bowl party after school on Tuesday was pretty good. It can't compare to meets, but it was fun still. I haven't laughed as hard as I did when I got my award in a long time! I would scan the picture and put it on here, but, well, ha, ha, ha... you know! =)

The Comeback (CUM LAUDE) Kid Award

Dude... that's hot.

Colombia City Kleptomania

Well, I had my first Varsity debate ever last Saturday. It was in Colombia City, which was a blessing. I got to sleep in almost two hours more than usual for debates. My public forum team, my brother and I, got ninth, which I'm really excited about. I didn't think that we'd even place in the top ten, so that was a real joy. I was tired and lacking spirit, though. I had no gusto at all while I was speaking, which probably didn't help us.

Watch out, she's a bit of a klepto.

Although I love debate, I can't say that's exactly how I like to spend the entire Saturday of my fall "break." Furthermore, this Saturday is another debate. The topic is whether or not America should adopt the French health care system, I think is a really boring and lame subject, especially compared to nuclear energy, our October resolution. Anyway, last Saturday, I was ready to go home after round two. Had it not been for coffee and walking around the upstairs before the competition started, I would've been dead tired. Our experience with the doorstop was priceless - definitely a sweet nibbletz moment.

Since 19__, we have erected __ nuclear facilities.

I heard a great story from one of our Congressional... people (COUGHhomosCOUGH). During a debate about whether or not naturalized citizens should be allowed to become president, a competitor said that because Jesus died for all of our sins, everyone had the right to become president. Obviously, he didn't win. Ha, ha... I think he might have been a little bit desperate.

Save the environment; mate with manatees.

I am still super-psyched for "Underworld." Ah!!! The demo comes out tomorrow on "Tomb Raider Chronicles," and I'm really pumped. It should be very amazing. =)

I have to get a Hannah Montana costume tomorrow, too. I'll be sad if I don't get one. =(

I went home early today, because I had a splitting migraine. I was only going to miss IED and Spanish. In IED, we're doing a project that I'm three days ahead on and in Spanish we're making Justo posters, so I wasn't exactly going to miss much at all.

Spell Bowl at Hamilton!

Sorry I didn't post this sooner. I tried five times before to do so, but the photos option was under construction. We all know there isn't much of a point writing a Spell Bowl post if you can't add pictures!

Ha, ha... Spell Bowl was so amazing last Monday (a week ago now). BK icees afterwards rocked, too!

Come on people, these words aren't gonna spell
themselves!

Embrocation with Ben-Gay to help your sore muscles.

Polynomials, too.

Rawr!

Go Mrs. Ohneck!

It was definitely awesome. I was trying to decide which meet was the most fun, but I can't decide. They were all to fabulous to choose just one! Here are a few words we spelled:

~ monogramattic

~ aggrandizement

~ eclecticism

~ ebullience

~ fiduciary

~ embrocation

~ periphrastic

~ piece de resistance

~ lambency

~ presbytery

~ ubiquitous

~ illimitable

~ miscible

~ hemorrhage (hee-moor-haj, right Turtles?)

~ Aristophanes

~ homogeneous

~ sapience

We got 27/66 in state, so we are better than average anyway! We were also the top school in Fort Wayne, which is gratifying. Unfortunately, my own contributions were not all that fab at this competition (6/9). That's OK, though, I still had fun! =)

I am so excited for Tomb Raider: Underworld. It's less than a month away, and I'm going insane. I have the eighteenth all planned out. My brother is driving me to Best Buy directly after school, so I can go pick it up - sweet nibbletz.

I had a debate meet last Saturday, which went quite well I thought, but I'm saving that for my next post. Spell Bowl and Debate are both amazing but in their own ways, so I think they should have their own posts.

Indianapolis Debate

Indianapolis was great yesterday! I was very pleased with how it went; 4-0, and the competition was a lot tougher than Munster. My first round we were aff second. In the second round we were con second, in the third, con second, and in the fourth, aff second. Ha, ha... going second rocks, but I really hate aff. That's OK, though, because I can advocate.


The first round was fairly tame. It was our first time ever debating aff, so we had a few stumbles, but we pulled through in the cross fires and by means of a strong first constructive and final focus.

I couldn't help but cracking up in the second round. Every time before we talk, we have to ask, "Judge ready?" and "Opponents ready?" Well, when I asked the latter, the Asian I was deposing had a lisp, "Yessssss (clicks)." I tried to restrain myself from totally cracking up.

The third round was probably the most colorful. They must've had some sort of debate death wish or something. Besides calling me unpatriotic (what the heck, personal attack, much), the guy I was against in cross fire said, "I don't need proof," "Statistics don't mean anything," and "When it comes down to it, we have to put our faith in America's troops." For some reason, he wanted to talk about the war in Iraq, even though the debate was about nuclear energy. I would've felt bad for him if he wasn't going after me personally like he was. Since when has it been unpatriotic to be against significantly increasing America's use of nuclear energy anyway? Ha, ha... whatever. Uninformed people are fun to debate. =)

The fourth round was definitely our hardest. We were power matched (meaning we were both 3-0 to eliminate ties) against an Asian and an Arab (a deadly combination in debate). They won the coin flip and chose con, so we were aff second. Besides being aff, they were really good. Once again, though, the cross fires and final focus pulled us through. I delivered the final focus, and I was kind of mad, because they said that we would not be able to discover how to recycle nuclear waste in 10,000 years, which is preposterous. I quote from the last speech, "I also have to object to paranoia and pessimism being submitted as evidence." Ha, ha... a little inflammatory for a debate, but they were getting on my nerves.

So yeah, all in all, it was totally awesome! The bus rides weren't as fun as Munster's, but I think the debates were better. Not to mention, we got four rounds instead of three.



Hey CHS people! Wednesday from 6-8 is "Support Speech and Debate" at Buffalo Wild Wings. I hope to see my peeps there!

Nooooo, David! Stop ittttt! Nooooooo!!!

Ha, ha... Spell Bowl is so amazing.


Ryan's was sweet nibbletz last night! Ha, ha... And we have yet to actually see a movie at Ryan's movie nights. =)

Brebeuf Jesuit!!!!

Wow. I'm psyched for the debate at Brebeuf Jesuit in Indianapolis tomorrow. I have to get up at 3:30 A.M. again, but for a nuclear energy argument, I'll do it. Ha, ha... yeah, I'm a debate nerd. =P



There's a P.A. party at my house tonight, but I'm not sure how much I'll participate. I really need to use the time to practice for aff tomorrow. I'm very prepared for con, but I'm not too comfortable with affirmative yet. Last time I got lucky and debated con for all three rounds, but it could easily be different this time. All meets from on out with have four rounds as well.

The victims are on the paper!

Here's my amazing video from the Spell Bowl bus to Belmont, and my awesome cat. =)

Ha, ha... like Shirley Schmidt.

I'm really excited about this new blog. I can actually load video! At AOL Journals, I couldn't put on any vids that were over 2 MB or something if I was downloading it from my computer. Here, my limit is 100 MB. Ha, ha... yeah, so it had to pretty much be about two seconds long over there. The pictures transfer a lot faster here, too!