I know I write about my speech team a lot, but, I (almost literally) do not love anything in the world more than I love my speech team. Gimme twenty (or a thousand) seconds to gush about them and then I'll talk about cosplay and KhaoticKon.
This past weekend, we drove from north-central Florida to east-central Texas (fourteen hours in one weekend dlgkdfljdklfjd) to attend the first of two national speaking tournaments. I am sosososososososo proud of my teammates: my team as a whole got into the top 25% of scores, and then, one of my teammates snagged 19th place (out of several hundred!!!) and got named a quarterfinalist.
Last year around this time, I posted a journal:
Legendary Day: April 18, 2011 (and Ten Facts meme)Don't you guys remember the days of your life that are so exceptionally good, they will always remain heavily in your memories? I've got a few days like that. Most markedly, the best day of my life was Sunday, March 8th, 2009: I was a (……………slightly) timorous 18-year-old college freshman, and I was at my first national speech tournament: Novice Nationals, in Houston, Texas. The first-year-students-only tournament had been tremendous fun: and, on that Sunday morning, I learned that I had advanced to finals in two of my speeches. This was a huge, huge, huge deal!about how I, too, quarterfinaled! It's a -humongous- deal to get into national outrounds: it means great publicity for the school and truly is a manifestation of dreams coming true (and you get to do it in front of your, essentially, FAMILY). Last year, I was named 17th place in my type of speech; it was the biggest honor that I've ever worked that hard for.
The way speech tournaments work: there are six finalists. At the awards ceremony, the six have no idea how they ranked: they walk forward, simply knowing that they are finalists, and wait for the host to call their names in order. In 6th place, from this school, this competitor. Applause. They get a trophy and go away. 5th place, this school, this competitor, clap, trophy, go away. This goes on unti
This year, I wrote a speech about a much more personal topic: my speech is about revolutionary leukemia treatments. In September 2010, my father died of leukemia; I wrap up the speech by adding a sort of "boy, I wish my family coulda had the option of this cool new treatment" part. It was often a little bit difficult to give this speech, but, I wanted to find a healthy way to mourn by placing mourning inside of an activity that brings me nothing but joy. I'm grateful for the chance to have done that.
I dreamed that I could be successful with this speech, too. I could graduate from my speech career, holding that quarterfinalist (you're a quarterfinalist if you get between 24th and 13th place) title close; but, always wondered if I could semifinal (getting between 12th and 7th place) or even final (6th to 1st place). I wondered what it would feel like to be told that not only was my speech good for the sake of it being well-researched and that I practiced hard, but also, that people supported me in my mourning and pursuit of happiness through this medium.
This past weekend, I was blessed with the opportunity to experience that. On April 9th, 2012- the NEW new best day of my life- I was named a SEMIfinalist; ultimately, 8th place in the nation. My mom said "dad would have been so proud of you." The fact that he WOULD have been proud- he wasn't actually proud, but, he WOULD have been- reminds me why I give this speech in the first place. These tournaments are the healthiest things that have ever happened to me, and, the idea of no longer being able to compete is what is making me experience situational depression regarding my impending graduation in three weeks.
I'm sorry if that sounds like bragging. It just is that I want my friends to share this experience with me; I wish that I could properly put into words (ironic, isn't it) the way that my heart thrashed when I saw the big poster that dropped down, revealing that I had been sent forward into the semi-final rounds. There is one more national tournament that we're going to.... and, I will take the constructive criticism from these ballots and make myself an even stronger performer for my very final tournament.
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Yes. Right. KhaoticKon!
and I are driving down there on Friday morning to meet up with 
and 
! I'm real excited- Team Four Star will be there, and I cherish every opportunity to see them 
I think I will actually NOT cosplay as Seto Kaiba at all. I'm in a humongous Anastasia mood. I feel like I won't get too many chances to go to cons anymore after graduation, so, I want to give Anastasia a chance to be cosplayed! I love this costume and am so excited to waltz around in it. Maybe if I get lucky, someone will cosplay as Dimitri!
If you're going to KhaoticKon, please say hi!
I love meeting new people and taking lots of cosplay pictures. I'm pretty hard to miss: I have startlingly red hair and I won't be wearing a wig, so, I'll be pretty identifiable 
I guess I should list my convention appearances; I want to know ahead of time whoall I'm gonna run into! Let me know if you're attending any of these:
Definitely Attending:
-Khaotic Kon- (Tampa, FL- April 2012) khaotickon.com/
Maybe Attending:
-ComicPalooza- (Houston, TX- May) www.comicpalooza.com/
-Otakon- (Baltimore, MD- August) otakon.com/
-Youmacon- (Detroit, MI- November) www.http/youmacon.com/
Cons that I Considered But Unfortunately Am Not Attending:
-PariahCon- (Lakeland, FL- April) pariahcon.com/
-MetroCon- (Tampa, FL- June) metroconventions.com/
