Word.

This might look like a really blurry picture, and that would be because it is a really blurry picture. That’s what happens when 15 hands shoot upwards as everyone cries “1,2,3, ARC!”

ARC+Girlies= “Garcies”! (I thought it sounded pretty cool)

Goofy with his girls.

These two pictures were taken inside the Riverwalk mall where we parted ways after spending the afternoon looking at the Alamo, watching a short documentary, walking along the river, and eating at a Mexican restaurant. That was an awesome idea.

Goofy boys with Donald

Yep, it was a pretty fantastic tournament.

The tournament was amazing, in the full sense of that descriptive word!

Ten things I am mentioning about the tournament, because I feel like it:

1.) The schedule was really weird. Until I got used to it, I kept forgetting the day and the time.

2.) LD rocks over TP. No offense, just personal preference here! *hides from angry TPers*

3.) I suffer from an appalling lack of music at tournaments. I soaked up as much of it as I could get, whenever I found an opportunity! I should get an ipod.

4.) I had cards on all my apologetics topics!!

5.) 5 hours of sleep per night is NOT enough.

6.) I now have 3 Narnian ‘siblings’. Peter, Edmond (spelled the French-Canadian way), and Lucy.

7.) I was late for almost every meal. I got the LAST Taco Cabana bag.

8.) The next generation of NCFCA is going to blow our minds!

9.) I’ve seen Fleming/Hardy’s duo 10 times now.

10.) It’s pretty fun to write random notes and draw random pictures on your flowsheets. And words, like gracious and revenge and incompatibility and ardent, as they come to mind! Sometimes I was bored enough, even when timing! The back of the timer sheet is also a good place to write music.

11.) I know, it wasn’t in the thesis statement, but I just had to say, ARCers are awesome!

I had a splendid time, overall! I especially enjoyed having a camera, and I took lots of pictures, lots of which are in the slideshow below. That’s why it’s so long!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfLaYITOg7Y&feature=channel_page

~Grace E.

I appreciated Brian’s previous post because some of my favorite conversations were with and about little kids. Like Wyatt. I was getting really excited in the car because I was reading Grace E.’s ballots (she did so well!) Hearing the noise, Wyatt started staring at our car, and finally he poked his head in.

“Hi.”
“Oh, hi, I’m Christina, what’s your name?”
“I’m Wyatt.”
We talked about his family for a while.
“How old are you, Wyatt?”
“I’m five. And before I was five, I was four!”
“And what were you before you were four?”
“I…um…I was Wyatt.”

CUUUUUUUUTE!

Alright, now for some pictures:

I was impressed with this talented team.

Frequent commenter on ARC blogs, Alex A. (right) came down on Friday to watch Semi-Final speeches with siblings and friends (friend Margaret on left). They both watched one of my LD debates.

Sharing laughs.

Cool shot of Geoffrey.

Even though Caroline, Renee, and I competed against each other in Finals of Original Oratory, our bond of friendship went so much deeper than competition, and I’m so thankful for the times that we prayed together.

life.

I was reminded about looking at life like a child.

I gave an impromptu speech on “It is only when you know nothing that you can know anything at all.” I talked about being like a child. About removing biases. About being honest. Jesus told us “Unless you be as one of these, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

So I came to church to teach 5 year old Sunday School, and got a big reminder about doing just that in real life. When we were having our cute little 5 year old worship, we sang Doxology.

Praise Him from whom all blessings flow…
Praise Him all creatures here below….
Praise Him above ye heavenly host….
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost….

Well, the person leading in song (thankfully not me) said “do you want to do it again?” And these little children… Do you think they wanted to sing something like that more than ONCE? BBOOOARRING… right?

Well, they didn’t think so. “Yeah!!!” And they didn’t just say “yea” it was “YEEEAAHHH!!!”

I don’t know. I had to think about how honest and unashamed they were about it. After a weekend of talking to adults about adult stuff and acting mature and all, I think the greatest honor may be when I get to talk to these little ones.

Innocence. Honesty. Wow. I want to see Jesus like a child.

As usual, I had a great time with friends.

We had an all-ARCers double-octafinals round.

We also had a nice respresentation of ARCers in outrounds for almost every speech.

After awards, we all visited the Alamo.

And then we went and ate at this awesome Mexican food place on the Riverwalk and my camera battery died and I didn’t get any good pictures.  I do know that there was an amazing amount of laughing, talking, and fun that took place.  And I think we need to make sure that we do stuff like that more often.

The end.

P.S. I don’t want to be debating at 11:45 pm ever again.  If at all possible.

“In an underground bunker in an undisclosed location… HEEERRREE’SS BEN!”

Hey Guys,

Today was the last day of the tournament. Which included LD Finals, TP Finals, and awards.

The TP finalists were: Harding/Pinero and Rosenburger/Strack. Harding/Pinero came in first.

Afterwords we went to the Alamo and to Casa Rio (Mexican Restraunt) on the river walk.

All in all, I learned a lot and had fun.

Until Arkansas,

-Ben

P.S. I’m sorry, I don’t remember who all got awards.

“In an underground bunker in an undisclosed location…HHEEERREE’SS BEN!”

Hey Guys,

Today was the day of out rounds. Full of breaks excitements… and juniors

DEBATE:

TP:

ToniM/BrianM made it to Octa’s. Katherine GraceC/DavidU made it to Semi-Finals and we will see if they go any further.

I believe most of the other teams unfortunately dropped in the early hours.

LD:

ChristinaH made it to Quarter’s.

SPEECH:

Apologetic Speaking:

AveryL, KristenR, BrianM

Dramatic Interpretation:

DavidU, Katherine GraceC, GraceE

Original Oratory:

ChristinaH, KristenR

Expository Speaking:

JoshuaU, AlexN

Extemporaneous Speaking:

BrianM

Impromptu Speaking:

KristenR, ToniM, BrianM

Open Interpretation:

DavidU, ChristinaH

Persuasive Speaking:

Katherine GraceC

That’s it for breaks in the Out Round Day. I’ll try to make a post tomorrow. We’ll see about debate finals tomorrow as well. So there it is!

-Ben

“In an underground bunker in an undisclosed location… HEEERRREEE’SS BEN!”

Hey guys,

Here is the list of Breaks that came about tonight:

SPEECH:

Apologetic Speaking:

KristenR, AveryL, Katherine GraceC, BrianM

Dramatic Interpretation:

DavidU, GraceE, Katherine GraceC

Duo Interpretation:

BrianM/JonathanM, AlexM/AnnaM

Expository Speaking:

JoshuaU, AlexN, DanielG

Extemporaneous Speaking:

BrianM

Humorous Interpretation:

DanielG

Impromptu Speaking:

ToniM, KristenR, BrianM, Katherine GraceC

Open Interpretation:

DavidU, ChristinaH

Original Oratory:

KristenR, ChristinaH, BrianM

Persuasive Speaking:

AveryL, Katherine GraceC

DEBATE:

TP:

ToniM/ BrianM, BenC/HopeC, JoshuaU/BethM, DavidU/Katherine GraceC

LD:

ChristinaH (Yea!)

That’s all that I know of. Please comment below or wave your electronic arms (Just tell me) if I missed anything or anyone.

-Ben