Hol_lsterz's Xanga

The Summer After Nationals...

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:24:28 GMT

Oh...

Hello.

I guess my last post was right before leaving for Nationals...

Well, today was my first day of school

Hehe

Before Jumping into what happened during my summer, I must say a few things about Alabama...
-Fried Catfish is amazing
-Swing and ballroom dancing for four hours with a bunch of debaters is amazing (and should seriously be a more common occurence )
-Philip and Stefan are amazing
-Ice cream sandwiches are amazing
-And I just got a memo reminding me that nationals was the highest level of competition.

(Just kidding)

Moving on...
The weekend after Alabama, we left again for Eureka. There I took the CHSPE and then went to an outdoor gospel concert that my dad played in. Eureka was...different. Admittedly, it was more of a culture shock than Alabama--but I won't get into detail in case anyone from Eureka reads this. For you people, I think you're all wonderful people with great taste...

(For my real opinion, talk to me in person sometime.)
Once we returned from Eureka, I stated to my family I did not want to stay in any more hotels or travel any more until August. So the rest of summer was made up of spontaneous activities such as Tightwad Tuesdays with Trujillos and Board Game Days. Summer 2007 Matt and I went to see a movie every Tuesday, and this year we opened up a facebook group inviting friends to join us. We saw 11 different movies in theaters, two of them twice, and will be seeing our last one tomorrow. Afterwards we'd have dinner at Mr. Pickles, our new favorite sandwich shop .

Thanks to the Vineyard Dutchman, we haven't needed to declare bankruptcy.
For the entire month of July, I became a vegetarian. I'd read something online about health benefits, but I'd have to say the primary reason I did it was for the heck of it. Aside from what seemed to be a slight gain of weight, it didn't do much for me. I had less frequent stomach problems, but come August I was eating meat and getting stares from Larry the Lunchcow* once again. It was strangely satisfying to tell people "I'm a vegetarian" but probably not as satisfying as a good steak.

But to be honest, tofu really isn't all that bad.
This last weekend was a perfect end to summer. Matt's last board game day before he leaves for college was on Friday, a card game night with old friends on Saturday (and thus the birth of the "soda time sorority" ) and a fabulous production of The Merchant of Venice on Sunday (where I knew a good number of the cast members, and even more audience members )
Now that I take the time to look back, I realize that this summer has been quite an interesting journey. I've seen friends graduate, seen others get married, and even some pass away. I've seen plans for the rest of my life begin to fall into place yet still had spontaneous adventures that have no plan, design or even sometimes purpose. I've learned how to love and appreciate people deeper, laugh harder, share my own thoughts and feelings and listen quietly to others as they spill their thoughts. My eyes have been opened to many of my own flaws, weaknesses, and personality defects - and I'm starting to learn how to either triumph over them or reconcile with them (as opposed to drowning in them, which is my tendency). I'm learning how to lose people I love without falling apart, and reach out to others without holding back. I'm still in the learning process for all of these, but I look forward to where each road and lesson takes me.
Matt's leaving for college in two days
Today I went back to school at the JC. I wasn't sure if I was quite ready for school to start after such a long and wonderful summer but today I was blessed in feeling complete comfort, happiness and a total peace.
I have great classes at the JC. My debate/speech club has 41 students, most of them new and almost all enthusiastic. And I get to work with and coach them all year . I already know that this semester is going to be fantastic and God's going to take me to new levels of growth.

Summer was great, but...

Why should the adventure stop there?

Until next time,

~*Hol

* Larry the Lunchcow is a little rubber cow that sits on our dining room table and stares at you if you're eating beef or something of that nature. I narrate Larry's thoughts to the rest of my family, much to my parent's chagrin.

Goodbye, Sweet Home California

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:02:50 GMT

Leaving for Atlanta, Georgia tonight at 12:40 AM.

Let the adventures begin

Prayers would be appreciated (especially for on time flights, tolerable weather, and no speeding purple taxis.)

See you on the other side ^_^

~*Hol

Three Tournaments Later....

Tue, 06 May 2008 04:32:53 GMT

Hi...

It's been a while...

Touche (Santa Rosa)

God blessed Tim and I in allowing us to make it to nationals in our duo. (Squee!)
Watching the lil Toucheans at their first speech tournament was so fun I love the novices, they're my kiddos =)
Swing dancing!!!
Meeting new people by singing broadway musical numbers (great way to make friends!)
Cows...^_^ Need I say more?
Introducing the 'awkward turtle' to my friends ^_^
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine!"
Getting interviewed by the Press Democrat =D Squee!
Anthony becoming Ironman. Yay!

Biola
Debating against some super awesome opponents (Jorgen, Ryan, Trevor, Kate, and Chad)
Watching LDers band together and help each other out during outrounds. The team spirit was inspiring.
Deferring from outrounds = best feeling ever. You get your name announced in breaks, but you don't have to do anything about it
Steven and Teddy qualifying in LD...awesome!!! Even though I am now the only girl on LD team CA...I'm still elated that those two deserving gentlemen got the last two slots.
Kate and I trying to get to our round...wow. We're still mad at you, Aaron Krive. ^_^
Seeing my old debate partner after nearly two years. Even though we only saw each other for about ten minutes, it was still special =)
Finally making people cry in DI...That was a treat after I stopped feeling bad about it ^_^
Being 8th in my persuasive finals room...and waiting over an hour with Joseph Mollath in that building for my turn. (Thanks for waiting with me and sharing the iPod ^_^)
The tournament that ran four hours late and got out at 1 in the morning...not one any of us are likely to forget...
Getting 4th and being one place away in persuasive. I wish it had qualled, but it still felt pretty good...since it was my first platform ^_^
"TOHOT...LD must be really fun!" Wow.
Writing stories about extemp carts on the way home...
Nic becoming Ironman. Yay!

CHAT State Championship

Fresh Choice on Friday night...good times!
I officially nominate the CHAT tournament for most awesome impromptu topics ^_^ I've been waiting years for somebody to do demotivators!! (Apples to Apples cards and 'things mom would say' were clever too...The faces in finals were pretty out there...but I didn't break, so I'm not complaining ^_^)
Crocs (AKA "Kate Shoes") = amazing
Watching Craig 'beat up' Annabelle.
Running down the stairs singing broadway. And thusly making Kate laugh so hard she cried
Egyptian war with speechers (namely...Jamie Silva ) = bad if you value your hands.
I want to know why there are no Chipotles around here...it's the most amazing Mexican restaurant ever
"Yeah..well...he's a good looking pug dog."
Being in 'the wings' when they announced that all duo finalists were going to nationals. Yay for hugs and happy tears and jumping up and down. Even though you guys realize you're doing this...because you get to go to...Alabama....
Yes, I was a little disappointed that persuasive and DI didn't make it past semis...but...God is in control, and both of those speeches did a lot better than I expected they would this year. I still consider myself incredibly blessed
"You guys are doing a funny piece right?"
"Yeah"
"Yeah, I can't see Holly doing something intense..."
"Yeah...which is probably why my DI didn't make it past semis"
"You're doing DI?!"
Teddy becoming Ironman. Yay!

What a fantastic year. I've met so many new and wonderful people and shared a whole lot of great memories with all of them. I think something I've learned in the past month is how much I really do love people. I felt pain when I saw them suffer and felt immense joy as they celebrated their victories. I felt sick when I watched distressed friends miss out on qualifying by one slot at Biola and actually cried tears of happiness when they finally succeeded at CHAT. And this principle hasn't only applied to tournaments...I'm beginning to experience it in all areas of my life that include people.

So I guess this means I am emotional...

Drat.

^_^

See you in Alabama

~*Hol

(Pictures of the tournaments are on facebook)

The Clutch

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 07:00:09 GMT

So Wednesday was turning out to be a normal Wednesday. It started with fencing (I am working on another college days, but it is hard since my classes are so broken up schedule-wise making it hard to make a decently lengthed post...but I digress.)

After fencing was breakfast at my new favorite coffee shop, which was followed by lab time, which was followed by walking from campus to the last debate class of the season

(Moment of silence)

Well, it has become somewhat of a routine that after debate I get picked up and taken to my brother's school, where he is then picked up and taken to his piano lesson. During his 45 minute lesson, we can't go home, because we live across town from his teacher, and by the time we'd arrive at home we'd have to turn around and go back. (or at least Dad would, I'd vote to stay home)

Anyway, my point is, we had 45 minutes to kill and pretty much nothing to kill it with. We bludgeoned a good 5 minutes getting jamba juices, but once that was done, we really didn't know what to do. Somehow, our conversation led to Matt retaking his driving test after he comes home from his big trips (he's leaving this Wednesday for Peru...). I jokingly remarked, "Speaking of which, can we find an abandoned parking lot?"

"Sure!"

Heheheheheheheheheee

As we found a good location, my thoughts echoed "I'm gonna drive a car! This is gonna be fun!"

I'm pretty sure Dad was thinking "She's gonna drive a car, we're both going to die."

We arrived at the parking lot, and switched seats. It's quite a powerful feeling to hold that steering wheel and know it that it was connected to neither go kart nor bumper car.

For some reason, I figured my experience with go karts and bumper cars had prepared me for this moment. I was proud of the fact that rather than ramming my bumper car into the others, I would carefully drive my little car around the circle, careful not to hit anyone, until our time was up. I even got good practice shouting "I HOPE YOU HAVE INSURANCE!!" whenever someone else decided to ram into my car.

Well...that was different. There was more to driving a car than one pedal to stop and the other to go. I suppose now would be the time to point out that the car I was driving was not only not one of these carnival rides, but was a clutch.

A clutch.

This added the confusing element of not only stop and go, but releasing the clutch pedal while pushing the gas, moving the lever thing to make sure it's in the right gear, and hitting both the clutch and the brake to stop, so as not to roll into a wall, pedestrian, or the like.

Believe me, it's not as easy as it sounds.

"Ok, Holly. Ease up on the clutch while pushing the gas."

VROOOOM

"You're pushing the gas too fast!"

"AAH!" ::hits brakes::

"You killed the engine."

(repeat ten times)

I did manage to get the car to move forward a little and backward a little. As I was backing into a parking space, I panicked and slammed the brakes. There was something about the car moving that made me panic and slam the brakes.

"You didn't need to stop. I'd tell you if you were getting too close to the curb."

When I got home that evening, I began thinking about my experience. Of course, I was still a little "first-drive high" (if you can call what I did driving) but I also began to see a deeper parallel.

Like my dad trusted me to not completely destroy his car, has not God entrusted us with some of His most important posessions? He trusts us with relationships, the lives of other people and probably most signficantly, a specific life calling. When we hear our pastors talking about people who listened to the promptings of God, we think "Yeah! I can do that!" but when God sets a task before us, we hit the brakes before even going anywhere. "Uuh, I can't do that. I'll look stupid. I'll fail. I need to stop before I hit the curb."

But this is just an excuse for our fear. The truth is we can't even see the curb. Too often we stop far before we're supposed to, and we miss the mark completely because of our insecurity. We forget that faith is blind, and God isn't going to lead us into a wall if we follow Him.

And yet every time we humans fail (or 'kill the engine' so to speak) instead of obliterating us for our uselessness, he gives us another chance...and another...and another...until we finally overcome those obstacles that keep us from moving forward.

Hmm..it's ten minutes to midnight.

Meaning this could be one of those posts that I write on Friday night, reread on Saturday, and think "Huuuh?"

^_^ Aaah, the beauty of late night posts.

Goodnight,

~*Hol

It Must Be A Leap Day Thing...

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 04:46:05 GMT

Something's wrong with me.

It seemed as if I was able to find unspeakable joy running around the beach, climbing everything there was to climb: leaving a criss crossed array of footprints on the sand...Yet the greatest part was that there was nobody there. The private beach I visited was accessible by a narrow unguarded path followed by sheer cliff, and only yours truly felt like braving the trail to get to it today. It felt great to be in such place that spoke of God's creation all by myself.

All by myself...

But when there were people around...for instance, in the car on the way to and from the beach, or even just at home, I felt isolated and introverted. Perhaps even a little irritable.

I felt like I'd failed at something somehow, and didn't want other people around to judge my error. Perhaps I unintentionally hurt someone last week and now I'm feeling the regrets. But why? Perhaps someone thinks I'm obnoxious, naive or irritating...Or is that just my imagination? Maybe it was just an assignment that got in late, and my mother is now mad at me. But...ok...no question there. Most of all, I felt like spirit and soul just dropped dead, and nobody was around to really care. The people I wish to see the most are the people who are furthest away.

For pretty much the rest of the day I felt like I had done something unforgivable, but I didn't know what. I felt like someone resented my existence, but I didn't know who. I felt like I had failed...but I didn't know why. The only peace I could find was being alone on a beach where nobody would follow me. Where nobody could follow me. Where I could feel the presence of God in my own private sanctuary.
And yet once other people in my life appeared, I suddenly felt alone and unresponsive.

Weird huh?

I feel like the social butterfly/comedian/energetic part of me got killed by a guilt and regret of some sort that I can't even explain.

I feel bad even posting this because I run the risk of some of you hating me for boring you to death.

See? I think I've gone insane.

Which is interesting, because I figured insanity felt rather different than this...

Perhaps it's temporary...

Prayers would be appreciated anyhow.

~*Hol

Oh...And Happy Presidents Day.

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:51:50 GMT

100. WHAT’S YOUR PROFILE SONG AND WHY?
Profile Song? I don’t have me one of those at the moment…

99. DO YOU HAVE A JOB?
Yes. I’m a waitress aboard the “Vineyard Dutchman”. 7 months down, 99 years and 5 months to go.

98. MIDDLE NAME?
Yes.

97. DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON SOMEONE?
Nope.

96. LIED IN THE LAST 24 HRS?
Don't think so.

95. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?
Blue

94. WHERE WAS THE LAST PLACE YOU TOOK A PLANE TO?
Colorado

92. WHAT MAKES YOU MAD?
Stupid people. And Injustice. And stupid people being injust.

91. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Taller.

Haha, I know I know. Either doing something along the lines of law/policy or writing, or theater/singing. =P

In other words..I don't know.

90. WHAT'S YOUR NAME?
Holly. (I was wondering when you’d get to that..)

89. WHO'S YOUR BFF?
I have many.

88. DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OF THE OPPOSITE SEX YOU CAN TALK TO?
Yes. I can talk to most of them. Considering they all speak English.

87. DO YOU HAVE ANY SIBLINGS?
I have one.

86. WHERE ARE YOU NOW?
At my desk.

85. WHAT FUN THING DID YOU DO THIS WEEKEND?
Duo practice at the Danfords, working on LD with the Ortiz’s and A cappella practice at Mark’s house. In between all those I was getting phone calls from CO and hearing breaks. It was fun ^_^

86. DID YOU DO ANYTHING TODAY?
I practiced my persuasive, and posted a blog on xanga. Gasp.

83. ARE YOU HAPPY?
Yes, what’s new?

82. WHAT IS SITTING TO YOUR LEFT RIGHT NOW?
A parakeet on a perch.

81. WHERE IS YOUR GRANDPA RIGHT NOW?
Heaven

80. DO YOU HAVE ANY KIDS?
Not biologically. I have students in debate though. And I refer to them as "my kids" on occasion.

79. HAVE ANY NICKNAMES?
Hol, Holly by Golly, Hollsters, Oyi, Holly Berry, Hol brain, jelly, hey there stupid, etc.

78. CLOSEST BLACK OBJECT?
The keyboard I’m typing on :P

77. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING RIGHT NOW?
My “TMM” T-shirt and jammie pants. Haha.

76. DO YOU LIKE MUSIC?
Do I like breathing?!

75. DO YOU SING IN THE SHOWER?
No, actually. I always get a mouth full of water and shampoo when I try to do that…

74. DO YOU OWN ANY PETS?
A parakeet and a rat

73. WHERE WAS YOUR DEFAULT PIC TAKIN?
I don’t know, I didn’t take it :P Looks like somewhere snowy.

72. LAST TIME YOU LISTENED TO COUNTRY MUSIC?
::Quickly turns off the new Carrie Underwood album playing on her iTunes::

Me? Listen to country? Ha! Never!

71. DO YOU PLAY VIDEO GAMES?
On rare occasions.

70. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE CANDY?
Take 6 is quite good

Or is it Take 5? One of them is candy, one of them is an a cappella group.

I like them both anyway =P

69. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU DROVE?
I, uh…don’t have my permit yet *cringes*

68. WHAT CAN YOU HEAR NOW?
Carrie Underwoods “American Girl” and jackhammers outside.

Haha..ok, perhaps I should either change the answer to #72 or #96

67. CAN YOU PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?
I’m an accomplished kuzooist. I can also play guitar hero.

As far as instruments I’ve “messed” with… piano, violin, vocals and recorder.

66. IS THERE A COUNTRY THAT YOU WANT TO GO TO?
Italy. Spain. Ireland. Africa (yes, I know that’s a continent)

65. WHOSE YOUR FAVORITE DISNEY PRINCESS?
Mulan. She’s cool like that.

64. LAST PERSON TO COMMENT YOU?
Do you really want me to go back and check?

63. DO YOU SING?
DUH.

62. SCREAMO OR COUNTRY?
Country…not my favorite, but at least it can still be defined as music.

61. ROCK OR RAP?
Rock

60. DO YOU LIKE CHEESE?
Yes, it makes me happy.

59. WHO DID YOU LAST CALL?
Uuuh I have no idea.

58. WHO LAST TEXTED YOU?
One of my debate partners...either Christine or Kat...

It’s been a few years...

57. WHAT JEWELERY DO YOU WEAR DAILY?
Well, I wear my watch pretty much every day.

56. CAN YOU COOK?
My brother always takes seconds of my cooking. That indicates yes.

55. WHAT'S THE WEATHER LIKE?
Gray today.

54.WOULD YOU DIE FOR SOMEONE?
Totally.

53. CAR?
Just…a cool looking one…

52. ARE YOU COLD NOW?
Kind of.

51. WHAT DO YOU SMELL?
Nothing actually

50. Is ANYTHING BOTHERING YOU RIGHT NOW?
Perhaps.

49. SUNBURN OR MOSQUITO BITE?
You mean which would I prefer? Oh, how quaint. I guess…Sunburn.

48. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TOMORROW?
Duo practice. Homework.

47.What did you eat for breakfast?
I just threw a bunch of vegetables in a frying pan. I called it “plate ‘o fried vegetables’.

46. LUNCH?
That hasn’t happened yet.

45. DINNER?
^^ Please refer to #46, thank you. ^^

44. ARE YOU SCARED OF ANYTHING?
Losing people I love, Being alone, inadequacy. (And clowns, talking on the phone, the garbage disposal, crosswalks, puns, and…)

43. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FRUIT?
Blueberries and strawberries =)

41. DO YOU HAVE AN IPOD?
Not of my own.

40. DO YOU USE CHAPSTICK?
Rarely.

39. ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT SOMEONE RIGHT NOW?
Sure.

38. ARE YOU WEARING NAILPOLISH?
Yeah.

37. FAVORITE SMELL?
Anything you can legally put in an oven, tropical things, and cinnamon.

35. UNITED STATES OR CANADA?
US of A.

33. ARE YOU CRAFTY?
Well, I never thought so. But some of the pranks I’ve pulled in the past few months have been rather good, I must admit.

32. JEANS OR SWEATPANTS?
Jeans

31. WHAT SHOULD YOU BE DOING?
Not this.

30. ARE YOU GONNA DO IT?
Eventually when I get to #1.

29. IS YOUR COUCH COMFORTABLE?
Yes. More comfortable than my bed, I’ve found.

28. DO YOU OWN BIG SUNGLASSES?
No. Should I?

27. HAVE YOU CRIED SO HARD YOU MADE YOURSELF SICK?
Wow. I don’t think so.

26. DO YOU LIKE TECHNO?
Mm, nah.

25. WHAT MADE YOU SMILE MOST IN THE LAST 48 HRS?

The pranks I played at work last night with Walter. And my own random thoughts usually make me smile

24. WHATS YOUR FAVORITE BAND?
Inner Mission! Casting Crowns.

23 . WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER?
All numbers are equal to me…

Which is probably why I’m so bad at math…

22. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSEPAD?
Fingerprints :P

21. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT?
Speech/debate, Ballroom dancing and fencing.

20. WHAT DO YOU GET FROM TACO BELL?
Food poisoning.

19. FAVORITE TV SHOWS?
The Colbert Report.

18. DO YOU LIKE 80'S MUSIC?
You’d have to tell me what that includes

17. WHO ARE YOU MISSING?

Too many people

16. WHO IS YOUR HERO?
Jesus

And mommy
15. DO YOU LIKE TO RUN?
Not all the time.

14. HOW'S LIFE?
Great!

12. BEEN TO LONDON?
Someday.

11.CAN YOU LICK YOUR TOE?
I can. But I choose not to…

10. HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN ANYTHING FROM AMAZON.COM?
Nope.

9. BEEN TO A COLLEGE?
Yeah.

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DO?
Make people laugh. Not just chuckle...I mean laugh.

7. FAVORITE TIME OF DAY?
Well, that would depend on the day!

6. SOMEONE EVER LICK YOUR CHEEK?
Uhm, the rat has.

5. SEEN ALL THE SPIDER-MAN MOVIES?
Yup.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
I don’t know. I’m finding this year they’re all very appealing in different ways.

3. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO?

Next tournament, next a cappella practice, nationals, summer, graduating, going to college, getting married, having lots of kids, doing something important with my life, dying and going to heaven.

2. EVER GOTTEN LOST IN THE DARK?
I have more of a tendency to get lost in broad daylight.

1. WHERE IS YOUR NUMBER 1 FRIEND ON MYSPACE?
Where? What an odd question…

First of all, I don’t have myspace. Myspace is evil.

My #1 friend on facebook, however, is my brother

And he is paint balling with Walter right now.

A convieniently short but utterly pointless post.

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:03:35 GMT

So here's how it currently stands as far as upcoming competition...

CO Springs Open...out

Concordia...out

Clash...out (but I may drop by on Saturday to see how mah kids are doing )

...As far as I know there're no LD or I.E. tournaments in March...

It must be that tournaments starting with "C" just don't like me.

Pooey

::puts briefcases and suits away for April::

---

In Other [Non-Topical] News

I ballroom dancing. Hugs to my CO and D.C. buddies for getting me inspired =).

Today my duo partner and his twin brother helped me and my family move a desk up our staircase and into my parents room.

We nearly killed ourselves. My fingers and feet got smooshed several times either by a desk or by Tim's feet. We only learned at the top of the staircase that the top of the desk could be disassembled to make transportation easier...

Irony, how I hate thee.

I got contacts last week. They're pretty awesome. It'll be nice not having to push my glasses up the bridge of my nose every so often.

...

I had to get all that off my chest..

It's midnight...

I'm done now

~*Hol

Bullet Points

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:42:12 GMT

It seems as soon as I finally caught up on sleep, JC classes started again. Unfortunately, I made the stupid STUPID mistake of not clicking "complete transaction" when registering online, so at the moment I am not enrolled in any classes. I am on the waiting lists though, and am fairly confident that I can get in, since people drop classes frequently.
This morning I checked out my fencing and voice classes. Fencing looks like a rough workout, but I imagine it can't be any worse than circuit training. It looks pretty fun too. Voice looks more involved than it sounded...and I'm wondering about possibly dropping it. At this point, I'm rather unsure about both. Tomorrow I will see Spanish 2 and Thursday will be Ballroom dancing. I'll be sure to take something so that I can keep writing "college days"
My grandma was taken to the hospital last night. She had dizziness and was in a lot of pain apparently. She's also losing her memory rather badly. We're not quite sure what to do.
Peanut has become quite the escape artist. She has figured out a way to weasle her way out of the cage even when the door is closed. We now have to make sure it's locked, or else she may try to escape to wake Matt up at dawn again .
I guess Fed-Ex was sued a while ago, so they changed their policy to squeeze through a legal loophole, and therefore, my dad has decided to quit. As of yesterday, he handed over the truck to someone else. I'm kind of relieved, since he'd always come home really late at night and we hardly got to see him except on weekends...but...he now has no job. This is a biggie in the prayer department.
On a happier note, I've started writing my OO! Hopefully I can finish it in time for the Touche tournament. (April 11-12). It seems far off, but tournaments have a bad habit of sneaking up on you when you procrastinate like I do.
My brother's birthday was on Saturday! He's 18! Happy late birthday, Matt! =D It's kind of strange realizing that this is the last birthday he's going to celebrate here at home for a long time...
In case I didn't mention this before, my [only] brother got accepted to Biola University last December, and plans to go this fall. While I'm incredibly happy and proud of him, the fact that I'm going to be alone starting next semester is starting to sink in. I wonder how ready I'll be when the time comes.
I suppose I'll worry about it when it does come. For now, the Trujillo children wreak havoc together
At said party ^, my glasses broke. At costco, not only did I find out that they are unfixable, but my prescription has expired anyway. So at 3:40 today I'm going in for an eye appointment and also to get fitted for contacts.
Yes! I am finally getting contacts! This makes me happy

I think that's all.

Yeah, not super exciting. I just needed somewhere to ramble
Until next time,
Hol

San Diego Recap...

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:27:10 GMT

Wow....

I don't even really know where to begin...

The San Diego Classic is the most amazing tournament of the year in CA. I felt completely unprepared, but totally at peace. This was only the first tournament, and I was hoping for constructive comments on how to improve my speeches and cases for the rest of the year. No expectation of breaking.

Certainly not qualifying...

But wow, God loves to throw us curveballs, eh?

Recap of Day 2 and 3 (The interesting ones)

God is absolutely incredible. I'll never forget how weak I felt on Friday night. It was right after I had done my LD octofinal and Impromptu quarter final. It was late. It was dark. Half of the competitors had gone back to their hotels. I was sitting in between Kate and Mark for announcements, partially hoping I wouldn't break again because I was so drained

And then I did...

Mark and Kate grabbed me and hugged me, and the first thing out of my mouth was "Shooot meee!"

God gave me strength to get through quarters, which ended at about 10 PM.

I was sure I had lost, but at that moment I was more concerned about sleep....

Day 3: Saturday. I arrived at the auditorium...I felt nauseas. They announced LD semi finalists
Joe Laughon
Logan Herche
Will Kelly
Holly Trujillo

I felt like a goldfish cracker in a pirahnah tank. Two of those four would go to nationals, but they had to win the next round.

Then, to make everything more fun...I broke to semis in Duo, DI, and persuasive...

And my stomach went kaput!

Not only that...but it was raining. Rather hard, actually. After my duo I wandered around in the rain looking for my mom (who had my cameras). Mrs. W then nicknamed me "Drowned rat" which was an accurate and appropriate nickname at the time. I gave my persuasive and DI and then headed to my LD round. God cleared my mind and after a tight but fun round, I felt completely energized.
I.E. finals announced. I only made it in Persuasive and was last in my room. I watched Mark's HI, Catie and Alex Nogy's Expos, and was going to watch Claire Sloan's OO when someone burst in and said debate breaks were being announced...
I guess I should be there for that...so I left and headed back. I saw Trevor Ward leap towards Mae enthusiastically telling her that they made it to quarters in TP. I congratulated them and asked about LD

"I think I heard your name" Mr. Ward said

WHAT?!

This was confirmed by Mrs. W rushing at me

"YOU QUALIFIIIIIIED!!!!"

And my brain went kaput!

I asked the tough question "

Who am I facing?"

I knew I had two choices...

Joe Laughon, probably the best LDer in CA who had won this very tournament in LD twice in a row and took 3rd at nationals last year...

...Or Logan Herche, who has qualified in TP multiple times (not to mention about every I.E. event), yet adapted to LD incredibly fast...not to mention he has the last name "Herche".

Both of them do extensive research on their topic, would probably know more about my case than I did, and were masterful at speed and spread.

Decisions, decisions....

Testimonies
The closest debate and speech have come to killing me was on Friday and Saturday morning. I thought doing 4 events and debate would be awesome, and though it was...it was nearly the end of me. But I held on to a verse that my weakness was God's strength. I couldn't remember the rest of the verse...but I knew that was in there somewhere. I was amazed when the next day Mrs. Moreno told me that the verse she had been meditating on that morning was that very verse.
Wow

I'm trying to think of a 5th event for the Touche tournament
God really revealed Himself to me through the encouragement of my friends. Claire's enthusiastic smile and insanity, Sarah's loyalty, Kate and Mark's tight hugs, Alex and Ashlyn's sweetness and encouraging words, Mrs. Moreno's prayers, fun conversations with Dan, Jesse, Sam, Sarah B, Craig, Tabitha, Esther and Miriam, Talia, Michael, Hunter, my entire club's amazing support and prayers, new friends and acquaintances...Wow, you guys are amazing. You all are a constant reminder that no matter which path I choose or how much I have left inside me to take it, I'll never be alone. Thank you for not valuing isolationism
Breaking to finals was the most exciting yet terrifying experience. Logan and Joe were both people I literally prayed I wouldn't hit.
The Good News: I've almost completed five years of debate without ever hitting a Herche
The Bad News: I had to hit Joe
But as I sat there, waiting for the round to commence, I felt inexplicable peace that sustained through the rest of the round. I'll never forget that. After a really fun round and a sound beating from Joe, I finally saw what exactly I needed to do to fix my affirmative case. I also learned that the best LDers research more than most Team Policy debaters . Anyway, it was a great learning experience and it was an honor to finally debate Joseph. I didn't cry or faint, so I'm good .
Yess, for those who are wondering, I AM going to talk about the awards switch. While most people came up to me and told me how cruel it was or how sorry they were, you want to know what I thought? I thought it was hilarious. In fact, I thought it was awesome. Even though it wasn't God's will that I should win the tournament, He still let me experience what it would have felt like. Isn't that great? I mean, c'mon, Joe deserved to win anyway. I practically didn't do a lick of LD research since the CBU round robin* and Joe clearly did his homework. I'm confident he'll represent CA excellently at Nationals as he has in the past. Congrats, Joe!

Memories
I got the awesomest quotation in my first impromptu round
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity" - Frank Leahy.

That was a fun round
"I'm not talking about extreme national security, but I --"
"What is extreme national security?"
"Bubbles"
-Round 6, Paradigm Kate Nagatani v. Touche Holly Trujillo
My conversation with Jesse about stringed instruments.
Nearly getting strangled for saying that a 'violin' and a 'fiddle' were the same thing...
"A piano is just a suicidal stringed instrument"
Sarah, Claire and I "wrecking" havoc
According to a statistic, 15 out of 11 [illegal immigrants are terrorists] - A TP Debate round I watched.
"Have more"
"I don't want more"
"Why don't you want more?"
*takes a deep breath* "I don't like skittles"
"Why?!"
"Because they're chewy"
"That's the best part!"
"But...I don't like chewy candy!"
"You need help"
"I do..."
--Talia trying to get me to eat more skittles.
"The Holly and the Craig" painting idea
Watching Jonah and Patrick's TP round as they argue the criteria of economic prosperity and national security
"A Porsche isn't going to do you much use if you're dead."
Sambi leans over to me...
"What if it's a ferrari?!"
"This is kind of like raising Helen Keller."
"No, because Helen Keller eventually overcame her dumbness"
Dad and I talking about Matt.
Dinner at Chiles on Saturday night...Yeah, that in itself is an event
So many more...I'll probably be editing this post several times as I remember them...

A Few Notables...
This was the first tournament I've actually won a negative in outrounds (in LD). I broke the curse! At the same time, it's the first time I've lost an aff in outrounds. Oh well!
Congratulations Michelle, Jonah, Patrick, Mae and Tim for breaking! And Congrats Mae and Catie for QUALIFYING!! (And for all your debate successes, Mae!)
On Monday, Matt and I went to Magic Mt. We have now conquered every roller coaster at Magic Mountain except for X. I really wanted to go on X...but it was closed...
I can't wait for the next tourney Keep me posted on LD tournaments in CA and if they determine a location for nationals...
Until next time,

~*Hol

* Don't try this at home!

The Fun Just Never Ends

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:20:03 GMT

Looking back at previous posts, I think I should just have this saved on my computer.

"Well, In about ___ hours I'm going (north/south/east/west) for ___________ for the ____ (tournament). I'm looking forward to seeing you all there. Prayers would be appreciated =)

~*Hol"

<Copy>

<Paste>

"Well, In about 13 hours I'm going (north/south/east/west) for San Diego for the SD Classic. This is probably the most unprepared yet most relaxed at the same time I've ever been before a tournament, especially the Classic. This is also going to be the most catagories I've ever done at one tournament. And since they put LD in the I.E. patterns, I may not live past Friday

Hmm...

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Prayers would be appreciated =)

~*Hol

P.S. For the first time, I'm bringing Mel with me, so I'll still be able to keep in touch with you all while I'm down there. =P As long as I can find a wireless internet connection.