Speeeech

This happened a week ago. But whatever.

I had a speech tournament. My first.

It was a novice tournament, so everyone there was doing it for the first time, but it was still stressful. The night before I was utterly hyperventilating. But whatever.

I got up at 5:50 on last Saturday. (Yeah. Crazy, I know.) I put on my skirt suit and my makeup, packed a bag, ate a small breakfast, and drank some coffee. I got to school at seven and bundled into a car with three other sleep-deprived competitors. The driver (a parent) had gotten us munchkins, which was nice.

After an hour-long drive, we arrived at Most Catholicly Named School Ever, aka Sacred Heart. We put our bags down in the cafeteria/gym place (I really didn't get it either), then found an empty room in which we could do voice and body warm-ups. After that we returned to the cafeteria and checked the postings for where we would be competing. Then came the nerve-wracking first round.

For a first-ever round, I think it went pretty well. Nerdfighteria was included in the speech I presented, and one of the judges was a Nerdfighter  - I saw her smiling at me the whole time and, as I found out later, she wrote DFTBA on my ballot!

I was still nervous, though, and I was pretty much shaking when I came back to my seat. It turns out I got my lowest ranking in that round - third out of six places - but that's not bad either.

The second round was far easier, but my stomach kept growling at odd intervals. I was so tired that I hadn't noticed how hungry I was, and ended up having to surreptitiously stuff sunflower seeds in my mouth between speakers. That was awkward. But my speech went fine, and I got ranked second!

Then it was lunch/critically review your performance in the first two rounds with your friends/critically review other people's performances in the first two rounds with your friends/re-apply makeup/freak out all over again time. *cue elevator music*

Anyway, then there was the third round, in which I was also ranked second, and then we had time to sit around and do nothing/take photos with other team members. And then we went to the auditorium, where there were seniors who had competed in NFL (that's National Forensic League) finals, and they presented their pieces. There was a girl who did declamation just amazingly, a spectacular duo interp of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde, a phenomenal extemp person (where you're given like 30 minutes to prepare a speech and then you present it), and a hilarious humorous interp. It sort of made you think, "Why do I do this again?" but it was quite entertaining to watch.

Then there were awards for anyone who'd gotten first place, which I hadn't, and then we got our ballots, took a team picture, and went home. We were all simply exhausted, though I was vaguely hyper on the fact that two of the six people who had judged me were Nerdfighters.

People ask why I do speech, why I take the time to write and practice and wake up at 5:50 and give away my Saturdays. First, you get to talk all day, and people have to listen. Second, why does anyone do a sport or play music or make art? Because they like it, or because they want to get better at it. I love words. I love moving people with words. And that's what speech is all about.

A dream

Today I thought of Israel, and suddenly it didn't feel like it ever happened.

Suddenly people forget that I was ever gone.

Suddenly it all feels like a dream, like something that fades away as the day goes on until finally I don't remember and it doesn't affect me anymore.

Is this what was always going to happen?

It's scaring me. Really scaring me.

But every so often I have these weird almost flashback things. It happens when I'm thinking about nothing in particular and suddenly it feels like I had something, something I can't even grasp anymore, and I just miss it so much. Like on Saturday, when I was in a cupcake shop with my girlfriend and Titanium came on the radio and it reminded me of the surprise party my friends and I threw for one girl's birthday, because Titanium came on and I was singing really loudly to it. The sliding glass door to the balcony was open and a summer evening breeze was coming in. At one point in the party I just went outside and stood there and thought of the impending end of Israel, the end I'd felt like would never come. There was a flock of black birds that took flight over the dirty white buildings, the graffiti showing the more permanent expressions of free speech. It was quieter than inside but I could still hear all the cars and bustle on Allenby and King George street, and I felt nowhere but everywhere, almost like floating. I don't know if I'll feel it again.

And sitting in the cupcake shop it just hit me, how much it's faded from my memory, and how much I do miss the people I met and the places I love and the friends I made. It feels like a dream now because it was, it was a beautiful way to start over and remake myself. The dream is over, but I guess it will always lurk in my subconscious. I hope it never disappears.

Computerless Saturday (well, up to now)

My parents were in Jerusalem today and yesterday, so we (my brother and I) slept over at my grandma's. This means:

1. No internet
2. Good food (not that ours is normally bad)
3. Better sleep (see number 1)
4. More time to do stuff (see number 1)

So, I got up after a much better night's sleep than I have had in a while, ate breakfast, and generally prepared myself pour le jour. My aunt came over with a backpack full of cameras (!) and, since she had promised me a few months ago, we were going outside to take photos. She was teaching me to use an analog camera - do stuff the good ol'-fashioned way.

We walked by the Yarkon (the muddy strip of water that we call a river) and took photos of the park around it. Since it's Saturday, the park was full of people. I had a great deal of fun playing with the zoom and focus. We went all the way to the port, which isn't really that long, taking photos of things and windows and stuff, and then took a taxi to meet my brother and then went for hamburgers at a place called Wolfnights. They were delicious. There's not much more to say.

We then went back to my grandma's and sat around for a few hours. My brother practiced his violin. I took more pictures on the cameras. I now have two full rolls of film (36 photos each), which doesn't sound like a lot but it is when you're selective with the photos as we were.

Then, my uncle and cousin came over with a basketball and we went to the park to play. First we were just shooting hoops, then we played a few games that included shooting hoops, then we played an actual basketball game. Kids versus grownups - my uncle and his sister (my photographing aunt) versus my cousin, my brother, and me. And we won - twice.

The best thing? I didn't feel like I needed the computer at all.

Saturday

Today is Saturday! Oh yeah!

Saturdays are special because they are my one day off. It's like a treat. I don't mind my one-day weekends so much anymore, since what the heck, at least I have a day! And the school schedule here makes some sense, so that's nice. And I do enjoy going to school, I just despise homework.

This morning my family and I went to Independence Park, which is a park overlooking the sea. From there we went down the path to the marina and had a look at the yachts. We walked across the beaches, which today were absolutely chock-full of people playing volleyball and sunbathing and surfing and sailing. Everyone loves a warm Saturday.

After that, we walked back up the street to my cousins', where we ate lunch. My aunt was watching Sherlock, which I've wanted to watch ever since I heard that Steven Moffatt, the head writer of Doctor Who, is one of the creators. So I watched an episode and a half of season one with her, which I found exceedingly interesting. I would definitely recommend it.

A short time later we went home. I'm currently supposed to be studying for my Israeli heritage test or doing some science homework, but (1) I gave myself a challenge, (2) I am a procrastinator, and (3) I detest homework.

Right, off to procrastinate some more. Maybe I'll write two blog posts today!

One-Day Weekends

They're too short. It's not fair! You work and study six days and then it's finally the weekend...and, poof, it's gone. It's Saturday night and it feels like we barely had a break. Which we did - I mean, one day, you know. Of course, the schedule here is much less stressful so maybe we don't precisely need two-day weekends, but it sure would be nice.

On an up note, Purim vacation is less than two weeks away! Three days plus a Saturday of doing absolutely nothing! Hooray! And at the end of March Passover vacation starts. Those will be some awesome two weeks.