LDers, CXers and Interpers, Oh My!
I haven't really had any time to write in my journal these past few days. I spent this entire weekend working at the tournament. I wasn't sure how the Adams would react when I walked in, and sure enough Mr. A was an ass. The first thing he said to me was, "You look like you have a booger in your nose" referring to my nose ring. But I didn't get a chance to talk to Mrs. Adams until later in the day, and by the end of the tournament, we were talking and hugging and laughing again. I had to get rude with Mr. A at one point. I was joking with Mrs. Ralston and Holli about Abby's farting problem, and he said that I should tell her, "You stink. Stop it. Take some Beano." But the way he said it was so mean/cruel, and he was talking to me like a was a five year-old idiot. So when he said, "That's the mature thing to do. That's how you get stuff done," I had to say, "Mature? I'm going to take advice about maturity from a middle-aged man who still collects comic books, video games and obsesses over cartoons?" He didn't say a whole heck of a lot to me after that. Dick. Judging was great, though. Friday I judged the first and semis round of duet and a flighted round of LD. In the first duet round, I gave first to a piece called "Crystal Clear", which was a beautiful piece about a blind couple. The guy looked so much like Chris though, that I freaked. His name was even Chris! I judged him in Poetry semis the next day, and before the round started I told him, "By the way, if I'm looking at you funny, don't take offense. It's just because you look exactly like my ex-boyfriend." He acted all cocky and said, "Was your ex-boyfriend handsome?" I said "I thought so." "Was he cool?" "No, he was actually a huge asshole." Once I said that, he sunk down in his chair. "Fuck. Guess who's getting marked down." Then he asked why Chris was an asshole, to which I replied in a cheery voice, "He moved away, went to college, met someone else, fucked her, never told me!" It was so hilarious, everyone in the room was cracking up. This guy was one of two good interpers that I saw during the entire tournament. I gave him first in that round as well. The only other talented interper was a guy named Scarbrough who did a duet called "Jane's Park." I wrote on the ballot, "I typically HATE cancer pieces. Anyone can do one and go into finals because mommy judges like this Lifetime Channel crap. This was one of the best duets I've ever seen. Bravo." But overall, the quality competing was definitely not up to par, especially so late in the year. The LD rounds on Friday were re-dick-you-lus!! The resolution is something along the lines of "The United States government should enforce a strict separation of church and state." This is the EASIEST TOPIC EVER to write an affirmative case for. But both debates I judged had terrible, stereotypical, textbook AFF arguements (gay marriage won't hurt anyone, there is no one religion in this diverse country, blah blah blah) and they couldn't even defend their cases! Neither AFF argued why their core value was superior and the first girl didn't even have a core criteria!!! As much as I hated to vote NEG, I had to both times because they won on technicalities. The first NEG had a really shady case that was along the lines of "we should not separate church and state, we should oppress all religions because truth in faith comes from suffering." WHAT?!?! He backed this up with very fucked up Nietzsche philosophy. I hated this guy, because I competed against him last year. I kicked his ass every time, so he treated me like shit. I didn't want to give him the vote, but he upheld his value, didn't drop any arguements and tore apart the AFF's CV. I had no choice. The second NEG almost turned this into a CX round when he ran a T on the word "strict". I liked his ideas, but not his format. His case wasn't even in contention form! He won, again, on technicalities. The interp rounds weren't so great either. The DIs were melodramatic and annoying, the HIs had funny pieces, but the interpretations were horrible. Poetry semis were alright, but prelims were beyond bad. Prose wasn't too bad. The pieces weren't very original, but the interpretations were fairly good. I judged DX finals and there were some pitiful speakers in there, along with two or three good ones who spoke well and cited sources. One guy said "'n stuff" after almost EVERY sentence. How did he make it into finals? I guess it's just a bad year for competition. At sometime in the afternoon Saturday, an ambulance came to the high school to pick up this girl who fainted in the cafeteria. Apparently she said, "My left side is numb" and then passed out. Could've been a seizure or anything. I hope she turned out alright. OH! I got to see Adam Eaton again, which was so awesome! He's absolutely sweet and adorable, and I'm told he still has a crush on me, which is so cute. For those of you who don't know Adam, he has the stereotypical geek voice, like Urkel, he has this long, stringy curly brown hair, is around six feet tall and thin as a bean pole, but he's my favorite speech geek ever. An incredibly nice guy. I beat him out of Nationals last year, and I felt so bad because he's amazing in Humorous. He was so happy for me that I felt a million times better. I still wish he had made it though. Goddamn, I judged every round in that fucking tournament. Before the award ceremony started, Mrs. Adams pulled me aside and held my had. There was a bill in her hand, and I told her I didn't want to be paid because I just came to help out and have fun, but she forced me to take it. I thought it was a $10 bill, but when I took it out of my pocket at home, it was a $50! Apparently, they pay ex-team members, but not any of the other judges! SWEET! I thought awards were slightly fucked up. Reina gave Chris-look-alike last in finals, so they ended up placing 6th, which pissed me off! However he won first in Poetry. I saw all of the other duets and there was no way they were anything less than first. One girl who I gave last in a Prose round won first in something else, which sucks because she has no talent. She's all format. Oh well. I gave honest critiques, and at least I got to hang out with some friends I hadn't seen in a long ass time. In other, non-speech related news, Ronnie called me yesterday night and asked me to dinner Wednesday. We're going to go to that vegetarian restaurant he was telling me about, which will be awesome. I'm so excited! Today I hung out outside for a while and played with this new cat that randomly showed up on our back porch a few days ago. It's a marmalade female, and she's so sweet. She's been declawed, and that's terribly sad because someone dumped her and now she can't even kill for food or defend herself. Obviously we have too many cats as it is, but we're not going to abandon her. Mom mentioned that if I get an apartment that allows pets, I can take her with me. AWESOME. Really pretty cat and so nice. After that I went to Tony's house for a while. I talked to Lisa (his mom) about getting him ready for college and answered all her questions about life at UT. I love this lady. Of course I hung out with Tony for a while too, and he seems excited about the idea of going to UT, but I don't think he's 100% sure yet. I told him that if I get an apartment this summer and need a roommate, he's welcome to come live with me in the fall. Lisa loved the idea, because Tony's like an oblivious kid sometimes and needs someone to remind him about common sense things. Tony's been like a little brother to me since he was a freshman, so I wouldn't mind rooming with him. He's a cool guy, but he needs some help and some growing up. Erin's changed him a lot, and that sucks. He's a lot more introverted. That comes from all the bitching and put downs, I'm sure. I think once he gets out of Big Spring and Erin is in the past, he'll get back to normal. Anyway, that about catches you up on everything (you being the people who are bored to the extremity that they are reading this journal entry). I shall now stop writing, for I am getting sleepy and need my hands to smoke.