Thursday, November 4, 2010

Reasons Why I'm Feelin' Good About Debate

1. We won this past round. This was despite an embarrassingly horrid performance on my part, which I promise will not be repeated. Anyway, I don't want THAT video ever getting out.
2. Next round will be against our strongest opponents in the field, the Media University of China. They're really good at the performance aspect, and really good at Chinese; because of this, they also have a habit of not preparing all that much. It's definitely best that we run into them now, as I think we're ready for our biggest challenge at this point, and if we're to lose then let's not drag it out.
3. Our topic is really, really conducive to debating (especially compared to last time) - our side in particular.
4. We're the affirmative side. (Not gonna lie... it took me about five minutes to find that word on Google/Wikipedia. Despite the fact that I did a few years of debate in high school. My former English ability is officially irretrievable.) This means that we get to perform first, speak first, ask questions first, and speak last. Another advantage, us.
5. Unlike last time, when I was literally editing my script the morning of the competition itself, we've just now finished bringing our ideas together and uniting behind one framework to prosecute our point. This means that I can start memorizing tomorrow, and have two nights to get everything down; that should be plenty. It also means that we have two days to spend on skill-building instead of arguing and philosophizing.
6. Also, I don't mind noting that the main point we've finally agreed on - the focus of our thrust as the affirmative - is the one I've been supporting all along; the structure is the one that the three of us ACC students brought to the table this evening after finally getting fed up at the apparent inability of anyone else to come up with a reasonable, understandable, defensible, arguable introduction and list of three main points.
7. I had a fantastic nap today. It was taken on the carpet, because that's where the sunlight was. It was glorious. I then went for an equally glorious 15-minute bike ride, during which I saw this gorgeous set of trees (saw them yesterday too but forgot to bring my camera both times... next time!) and finally found the nearby park I've heard talk about. The leaves are turning here but we've been having a warm-ish spell (i.e., fall-like, instead of the few winter-like weeks we had earlier), and when I'm not feeling allergic I really really appreciate the weather right now, both night and day. Two nights ago, I even saw a whole bunch of stars! - which is basically unheard of in Beijing.

That's all, folks.

1 comment:

  1. "We won this past round."

    AWESOME!!!

    (Yes, sunshine is critical in my life, so the oncoming winter in CT doesn't thrill me...)

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