I Guess Trying Does Work

Yesterday was my state school tournament. Mom was judging so I got to take three friends (Kris, Becca, and Delia) to and from in our car. I was extremely excited because I'd spent a lot of time working on my cases and I had one goal in mind- don't be intimidated by any opponent, no matter what.

So on Saturday, I got up at 5:30 to curl my hair. It seems like a silly exercise but it made me feel beautiful and confident, like anyone who tried to cross me would be shot down.

My first LD round was against Maria Wei (who shares my name, obviously), one of my good friends. We had to walk 15 minutes out in the cold to our debate room and waited there a while for the judge to show up. When he did, he turned out to be a former graduate from our school and he went to my temple too. Maria and I were evenly matched, I'd say, but I suppose I ended up winning. We walked back to the prep room and my hair started to fall limp.

My second round was against someone from a different school, who was in his first year debating. I didn't go easy on him because I wanted practice, and besides, how would anyone learn unless they went against someone better than them? I think he was mad at me for that, because after the round he snapped at me when I tried to talk to him. His logic was horrible, though. How does getting raped deter you from committing crimes?

Then there was a lunch break. My friends and I went to the Q, and I ate my packed lunch instead of hotdogs and fries. Good thing, too, because Kris threw up afterwards.

We stopped to help him clean up, so we were a little late getting back. We were a minute away from the prep room when we saw other LDers walking the other way, calling, "Hurry up, rounds are starting!" So we all looked at one another with horrified expressions on our faces, and ran as fast as we could to the prep room to find out where we were supposed to go. Then we all ran to our rooms, trying to get there before our opponents could claim that we had forfeited by not showing up.

Lo and behold, when I finally found my room, I was late, and I was up against Jack, who if you recall from a post last year, is the one debater that I made it my goal to beat. My hair was a complete mess and my face was red, so I wasn't off to a good start to the round already, but I steeled my nerves and hoped that my judge would be lenient.

Unfortunately, then I zoned out for half his case. I looked up when it was time to cross examine him and there was nothing written on my paper. I'm certain that my face was beet red at that point, and I tried to get through the round as fast as I could. I walked out of the round relieved that it was over and sure that I had lost.

Then we had another break and it was announced that the last round would be power-paired (against someone the same skill level as you) and the winner would be determined by speaker points. Then, they announced that I would be against one of my other fellow debaters, who is as good as Jack but much more polite. I was shocked- perhaps my last round hadn't been a complete failure after all?

We debated. And then we waited. And waited. And waited.

For three hours, we were stuck in a cramped, crowded prep room waiting to know who had won the tournament. I was literally bored to tears, and extremely hungry to boot.

But in the end, they did announce it. Jack got third place, and I got second, meaning that I'd beaten him in my round! My opponent from the last round got first place, and tied with Latika, another LDer from my school.

So I got to take home a trophy, and I get bragging rights today.

Now time to prepare for next week...