A funny thing happened on my way to post my first blog here. It was translating to HINDI, of all things. Luckily, it did not take me too long to notice this nor did it take me too long to discover how to disable this "feature". I don't know Hindi, nor am I personally aware of anybody who does. So. Yeah. Onward!
One of my resolutions for this year, for lack of a better term [not that I really ever make resolutions, I think they're pointless and when I fail to attain them it makes me feel like dirt] is to blog more. Would you believe I originally invented this blog title nearly a year ago and have yet to post a single thing on it? Yeah. Fail.
Cherie [my stepmother] needed me to judge for a speech/debate tournament this past weekend. It was held at ISU, my old Alma Mater. It was weird traipsing about the ol' stomping grounds, considering I haven't been to college in over 6 years. I attended ISU for 5 years, and in a lot of ways, it was as if I hadn't even left. Precious little had changed on the campus, with the major exception that they had built the Rendezvous building smack in the center of everything. It is the huge monstrosity, a multi-functional building that you can't call just "dorms", "classrooms", or a "student union". It is a bizarre amalgam of all 3 things, plus a few others of which I am not aware. Impressive building? Yes. But perhaps not in the way the university wished it to be.
Everything about the tournament was centralized in the SUB [student union building]. I lucked out in that I only had to travel to upper campus once to judge a round, and it was half a round at that. The BEST part was that I got to judge the "championship" round of duo interp. Eight of the finest teams of the tournament were mine to judge! In 3rd place was a team of boys who did the most hilarious parody of Twilight that I have ever seen performed by high schoolers. They made me laugh so hard, it brought tears to my eyes. I think my favorite part was when "Edward" said to "Bella", "This is the skin of a KILLER! *thrusts out chest* and Bella responds with, "OMG, BUT YOU'RE SO BEAUTIFUL!!! *practically starts weeping at Edward's feet*. The audience, including myself, was positively roaring with laughter.
The first place were a guy/gal team who wrote and performed their own version of "A Series of Unfortunate Events." They had impeccable timing, unparalleled characterization, and never missed a single cue. They also had fabulous volume, crisp actions, high energy, and used the entire stage area. In three years of judging, I don't think I've seen a finer team perform, and I was ecstatic when they were awarded the first place trophy for their event. The other two judges in the final round must've felt they merited the top spot as well. It's always nice to see those who deserve it the most get rewarded!
The weather for the tournament the first day was colder than Dante's hell. I'm glad I wore my alpaca-knit hat! It was warrrrrm!
Another random thing to blog about... one thing you readers may or may not know is that in honor of Harry Potter and the Yule Ball, several different balls like unto it are held around the world. Some of them are fundraisers, most of them are formal, but all of them are generally huge events which center entirely around the Harry Potter universe and typically have one or more live wizard rock bands on hand to play for the dancing and entertainment.
One ball in Ohio is entitled the "Crystal Ball" and it boasts about being hosted in "a real castle". My WELSH friend and I both looked at the picture of this so-called castle. Although a beautiful structure, it makes a laughable castle! Being as my friend Jessome is from the United Kingdom, and lives within 10 minutes of 3 different actual castles, she's rather an authority on this particular subject.
These, my deprived fellow Americans, are castles!!!
Castle 1
Castle 2
Castle 3
