OK, I will start with Thanksgiving. Yippee! The pilgrims came and killed my ancestors… Yay! I don’t like Turkey! Yay! I don’t like stuffing! Yay!

Past Week:

Over the past week or two, I have had a lot to think about. Or rather, just one thing to think about really hard. Whatever, you are just going to have to speculate as to what it is, because I am not saying. Anyway, to say the least, I was not overly enthused for the holiday, though I was able to see my aunt, which is always enjoyable. The highlight of my Thanksgiving was watching the movie Elf (which happens to be my favorite holiday movie of ALL TIME). I was really feeling the holiday spirit after the credits, with the puffin keeping it real and all. I started listening to holiday tunes, though. The only amusing part of the day was how my mother spent all day preparing an amazing dinner for my extended family and when we all sat down, it took me just under two minutes to eat my meal (and I wasn’t even rushing). F’real. I timed it. So I just sat there for the remainder of the meal, not eating.

Friday I spent the day watching TV (not normal for me at all) and I tried to clean my room (tried being the operative syllable). Finally, I went to Night of the Mayas, which was quite enjoyable, if somewhat tedious due to my companions. I will not elaborate, as it would not do to speak ill of others, especially as they have no chance for equal advocation.

Saturday, I spent again watching TV (the last time I watched this much TV on a weekend, I was watching the Lord of the Rings movies with my father. I watched the whole extended trilogy in just over a day [it was a little over 1:00 in the morning, if memory serves] and without break. It was intense. Anyway,), then proceeding to church. Nothing too exciting at church, except for the whole save-your-eternal-soul kinda thing. On the way home, we picked up one of my brother’s friends and another one came over so I am writing listening to the cackling of the three in the main basement area. They were playing SuperSmash Bros., which I opted to avoid for the majority of the evening. I did play one round, which my brother forfeited, saying he had wasted his energy on a CP. Noob. Now they are playing Naruto, and saying random things like “My Chakra didn’t charge fast enough, noob!” and “I am now more powerful, despite a lack of Chakra!” I think Chakra is an energy or something… I dunno.

Debate:

I went to a bunch of tournaments since last I posted. I didn’t do overwhelmingly well, but I am learning a lot on blocks and general LD material from my debate captain. He is a senior, and when he graduates at the end of the scholastic year, I am pretty much done, as I will no longer have a way to win in debate. My life will be over as far as successful debate is concerned. I will post my cases for this topic, once they are irrelevant.

One debate my opponent and I walked into the classroom, and the judge asked us if we had timers. We replied yes, but we agreed that we still wanted hand signals. We go through the round, and the judge dutifully gives us our signals for three, two, one, half, and time… until my last six-minute speech. I forgot my timer on my desk, and the judge either forgot, or actively decided not to give me hand signals, so I ran to 7:12 without knowing it. The judge informs me of this at the end of the round, and says she will just take speaker points off. Well, she did. She took ten points (on a six to twenty-five scale, this loss is critical) so I lost by a pathetic amount. The shame was I beat my opponent on every point they made, and I beat their value criterion, extended all my points, and protected my criterion… *sigh*

Another debate (and this one actually got me mad, and I don’t get mad at debate tournaments, except for when faced with incompetence) I give my first six-minute speech as the Aff. I run a second (5:59) under-time, and I had to cut my last two sentences (no biggie). My opponent stands up and asks me for a brightline on my value criterion (my value criterion being the equal observation of human rights, this question was pretty simple), so I answer, “equality must be served totally, or it’s not served at all, by definition”. Not overly clever, I’ll admit, but it answered the question. They then ask me for the warrant statements for my second and fourth contentions. I don’t have warrant sentences for my second and fourth contentions. If my case had one sentence warrants, then I would have about fifty contentions. As it is, I use paragraph-sized explanations for all my points. So I answer, but she cuts me off after the first clause, and says, “so you don’t have warrants, then, do you?” Affronted, I say, “No, I don’t have warrant sentences. I have warrant statements.” I then proceeded to repeat my paragraph explanation for want of a better answer. She cut me off saying, “I already told you: you don’t have warrants”. Well, I may not be the LD Guru my debate captain is, but I know what a warrant is. She then says, “Ok, that’s all, but let’s move on to something else. Let’s examine your Value Criterion some more…” She then ends cross-ex and gives her speech. She starts by saying, “Ok, well, my opponent lacks warrants for his contentions, and by the rules of debate, if you vote on a point anyone makes, it must be warranted so you can just throw away his contentions. Looking to his value criterion, he lacks a brightline, so we can discard that from the round as well. Don’t let him extend these points! They are no longer valid! So with no offense coming off the affirmative, we can default to the negative and I win. I don’t mean to be technical, but you can’t vote for the affirmative anymore. However, I will go over my case again, just to be clear, then give you voters for the round.” . . . . . . Ok, where to begin…?

1. Do not use terms such as “warrant” and “brightline” in a debate.
2. A value criterion that has “equality” in it, USUALLY doesn’t need a brightline.
3. I can’t extend points when I have only had one speech, as was the case when she told the judge I couldn’t extend points.
4. Refuting her arguments would have been extending points, so by her order, I could not even argue.
5. A debater isn’t supposed to declare voters until the other debater has had at least one chance to respond to a speech. In other words, NOT DURING FIRST SPEECH.

So I respond to the speech opening with, “My opponent just told you that she does not wish to be technical, but that’s too late. What is happening is: 1. She misinterprets my lack of a warrant sentence for a lack of warrant. I will explain why this is untrue. 2. She says that lacking a brightline negates the validity of a value criterion. Again, equality cannot have a brightline, for to have one, means to have no equality at all. 3. To make things really clear, I will explain the warrants for each and every one of my contentions again, just in case it wasn’t heard. 4. I will refute my opponent’s case. Starting with my case…” Then she gives her rebuttal using new arguments to my contentions (BAD), and then she does not extend her own points (REALLY BAD). I give my final speech saying effectively that she cannot make new arguments in a debate, if we are being so technical. I then said that she dropped all her points, at which point she stands up and says “I DID NOT!” (she did, though). Talking during your opponent’s speech is about as bad as it gets in debate, short of blood shed. If I had made a false statement, that is for the judge to decide, then hold against me. By talking during my speech, she looked sloppy, and she called attention to something that ultimately worked against her, as I was telling the truth. I still don’t know whether I won the round, but I really need to know, because I didn’t break, and if that round was the cause, I may actually get annoyed. But enough ranting for now, until later readers!

Anjo,

Post-Script~

Oh, yeah! Here are some of my favorite quotes:

1. Luck is the residue of design. Fate is the residue of stupidity ~ me
2. You sit on a throne of lies ~ Elf
3. Confidence is power. Arrogance is foolery. Hesitation is weakness ~ me
4. Let’s take an Apathy Vote! ~ me
5. Deliberation is Wisdom. Initiative is efficient. Rashness is vulnerability ~ me
6. You will have to excuse my low tolerance for condescension ~ The Boondocks
7. It’s just the weight of the world ~ Josh Groban

Toodles!