I leave for Dallas tomorrow! Woot! :)
In another life, I would have been in China right now (probably on an overnight legit train ride to Hogwarts--ope, I mean Xian!!) with four other incoming seniors, an incoming junior and a coolio chaperone-io, off to teach little Chinese kids conversational English, live the life of an international volunteer, and eat legit Chinese food for three weeks (I'm salivating as we speak--next to Filipino food, Chinese food is my favorite . . .).
But in this life, I'm packing up to go to Nationals with my awesome debate partner, our little LD princess (who is coming with us as a sta--I mean, observer, haha!), and our two rockin' coaches, off to debate US foreign military presence against mainland "spreaders", improve our now-terrible Southern drawls, impress and awe mainlanders with our Hawaiian one-ness with "da 'aina", and, of course, eat lots of the "nasty fried and oily junk food they have up there, all of which are not good for [my] skin" (haha, the words of my dermatologist's assistant!). And I'm excited. Like, REALLY excited (no sarcasm there, I'm serious!).
See how quickly a single weekend can change your life?
Before practice even began for States, I was set on going to China. Every time someone mentioned anything related to China, this explosion of daydreams would go off in my head: Great Wall! Chow mein! Terracotta warriors! Kung pao chicken! The Bird's Nest! Sweet and sour pork! The Forbidden City! Beef broccoli! Dim sums! Wonton soup! . . . you get the idea.
But when I heard Mr. Teter call our names as State champs that night back in April? All of the daydreams began to come together, blurring into each other until they slowly began to look like a lumpy ball of . . . stuff. As I looked out into the sea of bodies, the whole room cheering and clapping (the loudest being our team!), I saw the lumpy ball becoming more compact, slowly collapsing inward toward its center. As Mr. Newkirk handed us the trophies, the ball got smaller and smaller and it continued to do this as Rachel and I walked off the stage, dazed and smiling, with our trophies, certificates and plaques. Then I looked at Rachel and she said, "Too bad we can't go!" and the ball completely disappeared. The next thing I know, the words "I want to go to Nationals" were coming out of my mouth and a huge smile started spreading across Rachel's face and her hand was tugging mine to go outside the ballroom to talk to Mrs. M and Mr. T right then and there and my fingers were dialing my mom's cell phone number and my voice was yelling into the speaker: "I'm not going to China, I'm going to Nationals!"
See how a single weekend can change your life? Except, I'm not really sure if it was the weekend, really, that made the difference.
Was it Friday night, the night we broke finals?
Or was it a single round--the semifinal round or one of the rounds before we even broke?
Or was it a single speech--a constructive or a rebuttal?
Or was it a single specific argument--maybe a stock issue argument or one of the disadvantages managed to secure a judge's vote, a critical one that pulled us up to the top four?
Or was it a single scrimmage prior to States?
Or was it a single piece of key evidence that we printed out on Friday morning?
Or was it one of the qualifying tournaments--Districts, IDT, NIT?
Or was it one of the non-qualifying tournaments--Kahuku, Le Jardin?
Or, maybe, it was the moment that Rachel agreed to be my debate partner for this season.
--Jen :)
Today......
I really loved... packing.
I smiled because... of all the Chinese food mentioned in this post.
Lyrics playing at this very moment as I type this portion of the blog:
" . . . Undertaker, please drive slow for this lady you are carrying, Lord I hate to see her go. . . "
(Will the Circle Be Unbroken by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
Hours of sleep last night: 10 (I've been waking up at 9 every morning so far...)
Friend of the day: StarKid Potter
P.S. So I was checking out our Stats Tab yesterday and I find it weird and funny that someone got to this blog by clicking on a link on a website called "Save Marriage with Psychology." Ha!
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