“In an underground bunker in an undisclosed location… HEEEEEEEERRREEE’S BEN!”

Howdy y’all,
Here is the update on debate, and the breaks to Semi-Finals in speech. (Side note: If an ARCer did not break in a particular speech, it will not be listed below.)

Speech:

Apologetics:
ChristinaH, AveryL, BethM, Katherine GraceC, BenS.

Dramatic Interpretation:
GraceE, NathanE.

Duo Interpretation:
ChristinaH/BenS.

Humorous Interpretation:
GraceE.

Impromptu:
AveryL, DanielG.

Persuasive:
ChristinaH, BethM.

Original Oratory:
NathanE, GraceE

Thematic Interpretation:
PaulE, KatyM, DanielG.

Debate:

Team Policy:
BenS/LaraS. By the way, BenC/HopeC (debaters that used to be in our club, but are now in a different region) broke at the regional qualifier tonight.

Lincoln Douglas:
AveryL, KatyM.

Enjoy,
-BenB

“In an underground bunker in and undisclosed location…. HEEEEEEERE’S BEN!”

Howdy y’all,
Just posting double octa finals for the Texas National Open 2010.

TP:
DanielG/AlexM, and BenS/LaraS

LD:
ChristinaH, AveryL, AnnaM, and KatyM.

There you have it!
-BenB

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeJV35EjMVc&feature=channel_page

LOL!

It was awesome to hang out with other clubs and see alumni from last year. The girl in the orange shirt is Rachel Thompson, a very sweet and smart friend of mine, who graduated in May and now attends Cedarville University in Ohio. With her college so far away, I was not expecting to see her, but her Spring Break was the next week so she was coming down anyway. Since the last time I had seen her was at Nationals, it was really exciting to see Rachel.

Go timers!

This is what people do during the TP debate finals.

I thought this was a cool perspective. Toni and Brian, in case you’ve ever wondered, this is what you guys look like from behind.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget this Sunday afternoon lunch at a Chinese Resteraunt. All I’m going to say is that the owners were probably glad when we left.

And I just thought I’d stick this one in there.

I competed in Apologetics as well as Dramatic Interp this time. Apologetics is awesome! This being my first try, I did not do terribly well, but I had a great time. My speaking time never exceeded 3:51. Which is to be expected. But anyhow, even though I was not very good, it was really amazing, and I’m looking forward to the State tournament next week, where I can do it again!

Highlights or interesting facts from the Houston National Open:

1.) Timing every preliminary debate round! I like timing.

2.) Flowing for the first time. (fun!)

3.) Watching all the duos in the finals round! They were all amazing. Naturally I’m biased towards the teams from Texas, though. Fox/Louis and Fleming/Hardy rock.

4.) Timing OI semi-finals.

5.) ARCers. I love y’all

6.) Getting to play the piano just a little bit every day at our hosts’ home. It was all the music I had, besides my singing!

7.) I spilled water *counts on fingers* like 7 times over the weekend.

So, yeah, it was memorable! I’ll try to get that slideshow up, because I am well aware of how boring narratives are, and I’m not one of those people who have the power to make them amusing, deep, or otherwise original.

~Grace

But I feel pity for its image-void pages and so have shared 3 photos from the tournament (actually I would post a lot more, but our camera situation was similar to other’s).

The Ingram sisters made a surprise visit. Their family was in ARC before moving to Minnesota.

Some ARCers waiting before the award's ceremony.

Prayer on Saturday morning, by far my favorite picture from the tournament.

Other than coming home feeling like you can’t move or talk, the tournament went pretty well .  Unfortunately my camera went missing for the first two days, which obviously caused a tragic shortage of decent pictures.  So you’ll just have to imagine it all.

As usual, there were lots of highlights (both good–and bad).  Here are a few:

• The script submission line ran the whole length of the fellowship hall.  Made me very grateful and happy I had passed on doing prepared speeches this year .
• Seeing people I recognized from around the country.  The tournament had 9 out of 10 regions represented, with Hawaii being the only one that couldn’t make it for some reason.  There were competitors from 25 different states.
• Not hitting any of those dreaded squirrel cases that we had no evidence on was a nice surprise.
• I liked the weather.
• No podium in room 363 called for some improvising, but a stack of chairs worked.
• I like our affirmative case.
• The schedule on Friday was interesting, to say the least. We broke in debate and debated in partial triple octafinals–there’s a mouthful for you.
• I felt physically dead in our double octafinals round.  I think I sounded and looked like it too.
• We had the distinct honor and privilege of losing to Bruno/Stevens in double octafinals, who went on to grab one of the nationals slots for Region IV.  Yayness.
• I managed to catch the last two duos in duo finals that just so happened to be the 1st and 2nd place winners.  Cool, no?
• Region IV picked up lots of speech slots for Nationals.  And yes, the rest of us are very, very grateful .

And there were soooo many other things that were noteworthy, but I guess I should save some for other blog posters.  I was so pleased with ARC as a whole, everyone did an outstanding job even if the final results weren’t what we would have hoped. You all are winners because of the effort you showed and the lessons you learned–congratulations to everyone!

Until next week’s tournament, this is Toni, signing off.

Lydia

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

Hey guys,

Sorry for not posting last night. But tonight is a special night. The night when people broke…. and fixed arguements I’m going to do my best to tell you who broke. Please comment or something if I miss anything. (I might not remember the place number either)

Team Policy:

ToniM and BrianM broke to triple octa’s and then double octa’s. And qualified for regional’s for the 3rd time.

AveryL and KristenR broke and are going to be debating in the octa’s tomorrow.

That’s as much as I know as far as Team Policy goes.

DI:

DavidU

OI:

JonathanM and ChristinaH

Apologetic’s:

ToniM, BrianM, KristenR

That’s all I know.

Your Updater,

-Ben