201A — It's like we fell to the top...
Today was a really good day. Honestly, it was so much better than I could have ever expected it to have been. It started off poorly, however.
First, I went to sleep relatively late, and this resulted in me not being able to get up very well at 6:00 AM, when I had to. This problem was exacerbated by someone who thought it was a good idea to get up at 4:30 AM, which woke me up and sent me into full panic mode, because I was so dead and not ready to get up and I couldn't tell what was happening. Even after realizing the time, the adrenaline lasted for a little while, depriving me of some sleep, although I eventually recovered.
I got up at 6:00 AM, and then packed everything up and had breakfast, which consisted of a self-brewed milk tea where the ingredient proportions...left something to be desired. I began consuming actual food, but quickly realized my stomach was not going to have any of it this morning (sympathetic nervous system!), so that plan was rapidly deserted.
The first thing I did when I got to the tournament was check my extemp results, where I was two "up"! Then, the caffeine in my system got me through my first policy round at 8:00 AM, which ended up being against a novice team, and we won it on a 2-1 decision, which meant that we advanced to round 4 of double elims somehow. This also meant that we were the only non-SF Roosevelt team left in Policy Debate, which was actually kind of impressive.
This realization all occurred after my first extemp round, however, which felt relatively rough. I stumbled quite a bit with a dry mouth, which made the round relatively difficult and uninteresting. In any case, however, I still ended up getting an "up" (ranking in top half) in the round because I took ranks of 1, 3, 3 from my judging panel, which was pretty good.
Then we went back to policy debate. This round was pretty awful, and was essentially lost in the second-to-last affirmative speech, which I had no control over. We lost on a 3-0 decision, so it was unanimously considered bad, which is a great time. I found out that I was still two up (no losses in double elimination) in extemp, meaning that I was essentially guaranteed a spot in finals.
In my second round of extemp, I gave a very interesting speech that started with "Who here wants to go on a cruise?" (I'm not disclosing specific topic because I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do so.) Some of the judges bought it more than others, and I got ranks of 1, 2, 3 from the judging panel, which was decent. I felt really on top of it and good about the speech however, and so it was almost unsurprising when I ended up two up going into the final round. I did find out I lost the policy round. This was not very surprising to me.
My final round of extemp was categorically the worst round I've done. Surprisingly, however, I still placed 5th out of 6th in the round, which was better than I expected, honestly. Coming out of the round, I felt kinda horrible. I had made it the whole way without screwing up too badly, but I took a "down" in the last round, and I was pretty sure that meant I had no chance of placing higher than 5th.
And so the long wait for final results occurred. I slowly waited as time went by, but eventually they got to International Extemp.
"Sixth place and second alternate from O'Gorman..."
Okay, not my school, not me.
"Fifth place and first alternate from O'Gorman..."
I think I heard an audible gasp or reaction from my school as they realized what that meant. Since I wasn't first alternate, I had qualified for nationals in my last year.
I was the next person they announced. When they announced I had qualified, I felt so relieved. Standing there, the only person in casual clothes in the midst of a bunch of people who hadn't changed out of formal wear (hey, at this point in my senior year, it doesn't really matter anymore), I had made my mark on something bigger than myself. It was a great feeling.
And then, they announced LD results, and then policy results, where we were the only non-Roosevelt team standing on the stage. I got a second mug as the district's second alternate, and although I feel bad for some of the teams who got screwed over by pairings, I am proud enough of my placing. This is my final year. I clearly did at least two things right, and so I'll take it.
We left from there. We stopped at the mall (boba + sushi!), and then slowly made our ways towards home. The difficulty of the roads and winds, however, meant that we've stopped for the night at a hotel in a town which, normally, would be an hour away from Sioux Falls, but instead took us what felt like nearly three hours to traverse. I spent some time chatting with novii, calling my parents, etc. Today's prompt ("Dear Diary") was hard, but it went relatively okay. I'm planning on sleeping as soon as I finish this blog.
Last weekend I reflected a little bit on my Science Bowl career. But that was something that was almost uninteresting in the continued success story. Debate has been nothing like that for me. I expected I had some non-negligible probability of qualifying, but I didn't actually expect to accomplish it. I've literally never placed as well at international extemp at any tournament (or policy debate, for that matter.) I got really lucky with pairings, but also something clicked for me. It's so interesting to see that happen—I've always been at least decent (breaking in every event I've ever competed at quals for), but never good. I've put five years into this activity, and so many judges and people have changed over time but I feel like I've been a constant in the community. I was always worried that I had peaked freshman year—where I took 6th in policy—but this year has somehow managed to overturn that. 5th in policy is a new record (although, admittedly, not a very good or deserved one), and qualifying in extemp has vindicated the extreme stress I've put myself through for the past four years. For once, I'm actually kind of proud of my debate career.
Debate specifically, however, has depended a lot on having such a powerful community and team around me that kept me here and in the activity. I honestly love how chill the policy debate community has gotten now that it's shrunk a little, and the friends I've made throughout the circuit are honestly really awesome. That's not even mentioning the fact that I have been fortunate enough to have teammates who really taught me how to do these events (better than the coaches in some cases), and teammates who have just supported me in whatever ways necessary throughout the journey, and parents who trusted me to go to random tournaments far away for many weekends without much concern, even when I wasn't succeeding at all. Debate is so different from what I want to do in life, and so many of my different activities, but that's what has made it amazing for me, and why I'm kind of so proud right now. I probably should eat a few pieces of humble pie now, but for this instantaneous moment, I'm going to milk my moment in the sun for all I can get.
Tomorrow, going home, hopefully. Homework, and the presidential scholars application. Good times.
First, I went to sleep relatively late, and this resulted in me not being able to get up very well at 6:00 AM, when I had to. This problem was exacerbated by someone who thought it was a good idea to get up at 4:30 AM, which woke me up and sent me into full panic mode, because I was so dead and not ready to get up and I couldn't tell what was happening. Even after realizing the time, the adrenaline lasted for a little while, depriving me of some sleep, although I eventually recovered.
I got up at 6:00 AM, and then packed everything up and had breakfast, which consisted of a self-brewed milk tea where the ingredient proportions...left something to be desired. I began consuming actual food, but quickly realized my stomach was not going to have any of it this morning (sympathetic nervous system!), so that plan was rapidly deserted.
The first thing I did when I got to the tournament was check my extemp results, where I was two "up"! Then, the caffeine in my system got me through my first policy round at 8:00 AM, which ended up being against a novice team, and we won it on a 2-1 decision, which meant that we advanced to round 4 of double elims somehow. This also meant that we were the only non-SF Roosevelt team left in Policy Debate, which was actually kind of impressive.
This realization all occurred after my first extemp round, however, which felt relatively rough. I stumbled quite a bit with a dry mouth, which made the round relatively difficult and uninteresting. In any case, however, I still ended up getting an "up" (ranking in top half) in the round because I took ranks of 1, 3, 3 from my judging panel, which was pretty good.
Then we went back to policy debate. This round was pretty awful, and was essentially lost in the second-to-last affirmative speech, which I had no control over. We lost on a 3-0 decision, so it was unanimously considered bad, which is a great time. I found out that I was still two up (no losses in double elimination) in extemp, meaning that I was essentially guaranteed a spot in finals.
In my second round of extemp, I gave a very interesting speech that started with "Who here wants to go on a cruise?" (I'm not disclosing specific topic because I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do so.) Some of the judges bought it more than others, and I got ranks of 1, 2, 3 from the judging panel, which was decent. I felt really on top of it and good about the speech however, and so it was almost unsurprising when I ended up two up going into the final round. I did find out I lost the policy round. This was not very surprising to me.
My final round of extemp was categorically the worst round I've done. Surprisingly, however, I still placed 5th out of 6th in the round, which was better than I expected, honestly. Coming out of the round, I felt kinda horrible. I had made it the whole way without screwing up too badly, but I took a "down" in the last round, and I was pretty sure that meant I had no chance of placing higher than 5th.
And so the long wait for final results occurred. I slowly waited as time went by, but eventually they got to International Extemp.
"Sixth place and second alternate from O'Gorman..."
Okay, not my school, not me.
"Fifth place and first alternate from O'Gorman..."
I think I heard an audible gasp or reaction from my school as they realized what that meant. Since I wasn't first alternate, I had qualified for nationals in my last year.
I was the next person they announced. When they announced I had qualified, I felt so relieved. Standing there, the only person in casual clothes in the midst of a bunch of people who hadn't changed out of formal wear (hey, at this point in my senior year, it doesn't really matter anymore), I had made my mark on something bigger than myself. It was a great feeling.
And then, they announced LD results, and then policy results, where we were the only non-Roosevelt team standing on the stage. I got a second mug as the district's second alternate, and although I feel bad for some of the teams who got screwed over by pairings, I am proud enough of my placing. This is my final year. I clearly did at least two things right, and so I'll take it.
We left from there. We stopped at the mall (boba + sushi!), and then slowly made our ways towards home. The difficulty of the roads and winds, however, meant that we've stopped for the night at a hotel in a town which, normally, would be an hour away from Sioux Falls, but instead took us what felt like nearly three hours to traverse. I spent some time chatting with novii, calling my parents, etc. Today's prompt ("Dear Diary") was hard, but it went relatively okay. I'm planning on sleeping as soon as I finish this blog.
Last weekend I reflected a little bit on my Science Bowl career. But that was something that was almost uninteresting in the continued success story. Debate has been nothing like that for me. I expected I had some non-negligible probability of qualifying, but I didn't actually expect to accomplish it. I've literally never placed as well at international extemp at any tournament (or policy debate, for that matter.) I got really lucky with pairings, but also something clicked for me. It's so interesting to see that happen—I've always been at least decent (breaking in every event I've ever competed at quals for), but never good. I've put five years into this activity, and so many judges and people have changed over time but I feel like I've been a constant in the community. I was always worried that I had peaked freshman year—where I took 6th in policy—but this year has somehow managed to overturn that. 5th in policy is a new record (although, admittedly, not a very good or deserved one), and qualifying in extemp has vindicated the extreme stress I've put myself through for the past four years. For once, I'm actually kind of proud of my debate career.
Debate specifically, however, has depended a lot on having such a powerful community and team around me that kept me here and in the activity. I honestly love how chill the policy debate community has gotten now that it's shrunk a little, and the friends I've made throughout the circuit are honestly really awesome. That's not even mentioning the fact that I have been fortunate enough to have teammates who really taught me how to do these events (better than the coaches in some cases), and teammates who have just supported me in whatever ways necessary throughout the journey, and parents who trusted me to go to random tournaments far away for many weekends without much concern, even when I wasn't succeeding at all. Debate is so different from what I want to do in life, and so many of my different activities, but that's what has made it amazing for me, and why I'm kind of so proud right now. I probably should eat a few pieces of humble pie now, but for this instantaneous moment, I'm going to milk my moment in the sun for all I can get.
Tomorrow, going home, hopefully. Homework, and the presidential scholars application. Good times.
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