Not too Shabby.

So today marks the beginning and an ending to my speech and debate career. Nominated to do an exemplary or cultural artifact speech after week one of school, I ignored the invite to be part of the CSULA forensics (forensics being the the speech and debate branch, not the csi kind) because I wasn't free on friday and saturday of the three day tournament that I had just competed in. Being part of a competitive group isn't new to me; I actually thrive in competition. I am hardly motivated to do anything if what I am about to do has nothing to do with some kind of goal, prize, reward, etc. With that being said, I did, and kinda reluctantly, joined for the last day of the tournament to represent CSULA as a novice persuasive speech orator, and I can honestly say that I liked today and what happened.

To reiterate, I like being in competitive groups because unlike being in a traditional clique or social group, one is provoked to reach a higher echelon of self-actualization, and in my case today, the higher echelon of self-actualization for me was through speech and debate (and as you, the reader, can tell through the way I'm writing this entry, I'm still in competition mode). Warming up with the team reminded me a lot of my high school years warming up with the drumline in a giant arc, but today, we were in a bolus, cramped in a tiny classroom. However, a few moments into warm-ups, this bolus conglomerated into an organized unit, united as one, screaming at the top of our lungs, "WE ARE LA. THIS IS MY PLACE. THIS IS MY TIME. YOU WILL REMEMBER ME." The recollection of this right now just gave me goosebumps.

The tournament was organized in four rounds. Preliminary eliminations, then quarterfinals, then semi-finals, and finally...finals. I felt pretty, in the words of hardcore forensics enthusiasts, "iced," for my first round, which I later found out during our 2nd postings got me 1st place in my round with a score of 93.2something. Off to quarterfinals I go..

A seemingly long 45 minute break ensued in which I joined with fellow team mates Yurie and Melanie to get some scones at the starbucks CSULB had in their library. Feeling overly confident, I let my egotism get to me, and I didn't do too hot at my 2nd round. I noticed that the competition got a lot better than the previous round. I guess they really weeded out the truly novice of the novice division, lol.

After my quarter-finals round has ended, this is when things got a little bit rushed, but this worked to my advantage. With the speech still fresh in my head, and discovering that despite my bad performance during 2nd round, I still managed to get into finals with my 3rd place finish scoring at 89.something. There was only two minutes to get to next the lecture hall all the way on the other side of campus. I guess the adrenaline really helped, since I butchered my last round.

It was a 2 hour wait until the finals posting went up. I didn't make it. I placed 13th overall. I placed 2nd in my quarterfinals by a ridiculously small margin of .0something. I'm not too disappointed though, I did very well my first shot in an atmosphere that is foreign yet eerily familiar to me. Again, I felt the camaraderie of teamwork, but these feelings of nostalgic value come and go too often, and I doubt that I'll be doing another gig like this in the near future.

To my teammates:
We are LA. This was our place. This was our time. We ARE remembered. We earned the bronze. At least we beat UCLA, yeah?


Notes:
[+] just because you're filipino, do not think you're cool with me
- do not be mad because i did better than you and this is my first time and you've been doing this your whole time at a community college
- don't compare your parliamentary speech with mine because we're in two different fields of focus
- and do not give me "constructib creetisism" right after you insult me by saying my speech was too "showy" and "attention whore-esque." there's a reason why the audience stayed awake during my speech and you heard snores
- work on your accent, fob ass bitch