Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Obsessing Over What to Wear for Tournaments- Carey Vandewalle

(Carey is attempting to commandeer my blog. This is evident by the numerous guest posts. But her posts are so funny that I have no motivation to foil her devious plot.)

Hey guys.
Guess what.
There’s a tournament tomorrow.
Yea.
I know.
It’s crazy.
I hope you’re ready. I hope you’re excited. I hope I’ll see you there, and I hope I’ll see you onstage at awards.
Onstage at awards?! In front of all Stoa?! Yep! Relax. Because you have your suits all planned out, to look your schnazzy best all four, long days.
It’s very important to take a break from frantically scouring the internet to make sure your case did not go inherent LAST NIGHT, and distractedly printing every brief you can find against Death Tax, and calmly and collectedly putting the finishing touches on your case explaining why personal freedom ought to be valued above economic security. Heh. No bias here.
But that break must be taken to open your closet and consider your options.
Maybe it’s just me. But I suspect that we all spend quite a while pondering the important question: which blouse looks best with which skirt? What shirt color would best set off this tie?
Me: “Mom, does this work?”
Mom: “Hmm, because that shirt is cream-colored, it doesn’t go with the white in the skirt”
(4 outfits later, I think she’s just telling me ‘yes’ so that I stop asking her).
Friend who does debate: “So, I’ve been wanting to experiment with some new shirt/tie color combinations. Do you have any suggestions before my mom takes me shopping?”
Some girls are lucky. They have a guy for their duo or debate partner that they get to advise on what to wear. I am without either. So I leapt at the chance to give my friend all my great ideas I’d be saving without a person to give them too.
Deciding what to wear for the tournament is very important. Maybe this is your first year and your suit is already perfectly pressed, ready for you to rock. Maybe you just have to decide which of your two suits to start the every-other-alternation with. Maybe you’ve been doing this forever and have an entire closet of options. But whatever it is, you have spent a good amount of time pondering how to look your best. If you’re like me, that is.
There are a couple of reasons why it’s important.
First, suits are just plain awesome! One of my favorite parts of tournaments is looking around at everyone looking so pro in their suits. Really. It’s great. And you are awesome, so you deserve to look great, too.
Second, your appearance really does matter. There’s a little box on your ballot for ‘professional appearance’ and here I could tell lots of horror stories of very particular judges with high expectations. It pays to look good, trust me. Judges have been known to vote on which guy’s tie they liked better. I’m pretty sure my partner and I only won a few of our rounds because of his tie. Almost every mom judge we had made some kind of comment like “Wow! You looked great! Wonderful tie/shirt combo with your coloring!” Maybe once every five ballots someone would say “pretty pin!” to me. It was funny. You can laugh. I don’t mind.
You’ve worked so hard on your AI (Awesome Interpretation) and practiced your impromptu so many times. Now it’s time to brush your hair, don your suit, straighten your tie, add a pretty pin, and take on this thing. You’re going to be amazing.
You’re homeschooled. I like your suit/blouse/shoes/tie.

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