Sunday, May 5, 2013

Working a Lot Right Before a Tournament

Today I had a brilliant idea. I know that one time I told you not to bribe judges, but if you didn't listen and are okay with staining your immortal soul for a trophy or two, I figured out a sneaky way to do it. This is probably a good idea: tape money ($5 in prelims, add five for each outround) or some other incentive (perhaps a logo of a coffee company) to the back of your flowpad, along with a piece of paper and an arrow that says, "YOURS IF YOU VOTE FOR ME." Then hold it up so the judge can see it while you speak. The judge will probably go along with it, and your opponent has no way of knowing! It's brilliant I tell you, brilliant!

Well, ok. The fact is, NITOC is coming up, and thinking of ways to bribe judges is proving easier than thinking of ways to revise cases. On a similar note, every alumni judge I've asked has agreed to take a bribe to vote for me. And some of them also coach. At least two of them were, in fact, on their way to judge me, but unfortunately I had nothing to offer them. They like candy and coffee. Still, if you weren't concerned about the future of America enough already, you should be.

Although, to be somewhat honest, I have actually been working on stuff some. I have IMDB open in another window so I can copy stuff from there for Mars Hill. Additionally- well, due the nature of the competition, I'm not going to tell you exactly what else I did, just that I rewrote my Aff, Neg, and/or an interp of mine last night, and it thrills me to think of others potentially researching applications I'm no longer using and/or being completely unprepared for apps I replaced them with because I'm that kind of person. For TPers, this is similar to the joyous feeling you get when you know other teams are working like crazy to find evidence against that case you're not running anymore. I have been on both sides of that scenario, and it's fun if you're on the right one.

Whoops. So now you know I wasn't rewriting interps. Well, I did that too, but that doesn't affect you. Then again, I haven't really given anything away. Which is good, because NITOC is soon, and I plan to continue working hard to prepare.

We do that, don't we? We save up a bunch of work for speech and debate until (sometimes literally) moments before we enter the round. You can blame procrastination, you can blame a boatload of other schoolwork, or you can blame it in on accidentally sleeping in a lot or forgetting about the competition, perhaps unintentionally, but the fact is this is a thing with us. Well, those of us who have been around for a while, not those super enthusiastic novices who practice their speeches every day like I sometimes wish I could still be. Though at this point in the season, no one is that new. So maybe we all put off work. Eh. What're you gonna do.

Tournament season has almost finished. Nationals is practically upon us. Now would be a great time to do all that stuff you've said you were going to do since January. Unless that stuff involves adding another event, because, you know, it is actually too late for that. Save it for next year.


You're homeschooled. Get to work!