Christian Schools Lit Meet

So perhaps the thing I dread the most about the debate team is the yearly commitment we all have to make when we sign our scholarship contracts. And that, that is the commitment to judge the CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS LIT MEET [voice of terror in the background]. It's this tournament wherein all these strange little people from odd little high schools and junior highs come to compete in RIDICULOUS events like Computer Aided Drawing and Design and to butcher the concept formerly known as debate. And so, a breif overview of my weekend:


Thursday:
After my classes were over, I headed over to the tournament in COBA [ the College of Business Administration Building] and we began the long and dreaded day of debate. After three rounds, there were quarters, semis and finals [and the consolation bracket round]. In the consolatioin round which Tuttle and I judged along with one other dude, there was this little kid, Overton from school 8, that was ROCKIN' IT. Man oh man did he have a line by line! And man! His analysis in the 1NR was GLORIOUS! So, after we turned in all of our ballots [declaring that he was the man], Sally told us we had better find him and begin the recruitment schpel. We turned around, and found that he had left. We discovered that he had indeed gone to Taco Bueno. And the adventure begins. Tuttle, Zeb, Michael, and I went to Bueno. We found him and discovered that he was in fact A FRESHMAN.

ah the saga. We stayed for a while and Tuttle and I chated the whole time - it was good.

I'm home now - and tired.

Layne

And now, the Best Actor Award goes to Layne Rouse. Layne - you've been there for me through thick and through thin. You've been there for my trips to the grocery store, my hard decisions about Law School, and helping me decide what I should wear for my date yesterday. I will never forget standing outside your house at 2:00 am in my [matching of course] pajamas because I couldn't sleep knowing we had fought. Nor, will I ever forget your phone call last night when you told me you wanted to talk about our little "tiff" in Starbucks before you got angry, because, as you said, "I love you and you deserve better than that".

I will miss the unpacking of cleaners in your house, the shopping for the freshest asparagus, and cleaning your kitchen. I'll miss you helping me look for my [correction, your] CD when I've "misplaced" it it my apartment. I'll miss finding sweet notes and long sections of post-it-notes stuck together on my desk from you. I'll miss your mom calling me "mom" and I'll definately miss you being willing to leave a meeting to take me to the airport when it's an emergency.

Thanks for taking me to physical therapy, the airport, to get my medicine, and to rent a movie. Thanks for picking me up off the floor when I got stuck, calling me when I'm gone, and getting me a smoothie when Congress is driving me crazy. Thanx for my CDO chance and thanx for Chiken. Thanx for remembering my birthday and when I took the LSAT. Thanks for the phone calls on every holiday.

Enjoy Baylor.

I love you and miss you much already.

All-Star Cast

Sometimes I think that friendships are born in the strangest ways, and solidified in even stranger ones. [But I can't think of a stranger one than a car trip!]

My time here has been good. My show has run in all the best theaters in town for sometime now - it's had a good run. But the time has come to pass out the All Star Cast Awards, do the reviews, and find the the theme to the play before the last curtain call.

All that randomness aside, the time has come for me to tell each one of you how much you mean to me.

*Melanie: I can't even begin to think about what my life would be like without you. You're strong and secure, and the greatest role model I may have ever had. I can always trust you and depend on you - I know you'll always be there for me. Your parents and your brothers are wonderful so it's no big surprise to me that you love God with your entire being. Metaphysical knowledge aside...I'll always have my butterfly luggage to remember you by. Always be a good listener like you are now, and don't let others pull you down just because they feel ashamed in your shadow.

*Tyler: Ah my dear Capitalist! I shall miss our Starbucks outings, our glorious shopping trips, movie rental night, cooking for two while watching British Comedy, and of course, being obnoxious to jewlrey sales clerks about the origins of their diamonds. Your loyalty puts even the most faithful to shame, and I will always carry with me the imprint of what friendship truly is about inmy heart when I remember you. Don't you ever let people force you to believe that you have to be different than you are - I see God in your eyes everytime you help a child through Enterprise City. I love you much and will miss you more.

*Paul: Oh my dearest Paul - how much I will miss you. I'm not even sure what to say except that you will always be my prayer partner and my late night Milkshake Date. [Except, maybe next time we should leave Whattaburger BEFORE we have to call 9-1-1!] Your gentility and prudence are to be praised and don't you ever think I will forget you or how much you loved me. Dude, law school is for lawyers and life is living - serve God how you NEED to.

Friends

There are times when I wish I could talk to everyone in the world for like 5 minutes [and by everyone in the world I simply mean all of ACU and Co.) and still be cool. I don't have the time to talk to everyone I want - and yet as hard as I try, I can't seem to communicate with those that mean the most to me.

When I was a Sophmore, and The Artist Formerly Known As Boyfriend was a Senior, I didn't understand why he was always too busy to get to me at a normal hour. I remember one time, when I was waiting for him in the campus center and he took from after chapel until about 1:15 to finally get to sitting down next to me on the cushions, and then I had to go. I read an entire magazine that day...and wondered how he could be like that. Now I know.

Last week, one of my kids waited for me just that long in the campus center. I made it to the sitting down part, but everytime he got a word in edgewise, someone wanted to see me, or ask me a question, and the burdens of leadership dictate that I answer. I had this feeling that he could wait because he understood - because he loved me. Then I knew - I was losing sight of what I'd promised to always remember. I don't want to be a name on someone's buddy list - on 150 people's buddy lists. I DO want to be a VIP in my five closest friends' Cell Phones, or in the know when good stuff happens to them, and not just the one who finds out through the 6 degree of ACU [Facebook].

I've got to make sure they know.

LIfe

So it's been a while since I've blogged. Instead of trying to catch everyone up on MY ENTIRE LIFE AS IS, I'll just do a bulleted list to communicate where I am as far as LIFE general.

*I am going to speak at Senior Dinner

*I am the LD National Debate Champion

*I'm very tired

*I hate Kansas

*Half my friends have turned out to be jerks

THE END