Highlights recently travelled to Kansas City, Missouri for the NSPA/JEA Fall Convention.
I really don't feel like going into a whole spiel about the trip; quite frankly, I'm surprised that I could even drag myself to type this paltry amount of words out.
So, bullets for now, perhaps some explorations later. Perhaps.
- We didn't place for Best in Show, but it doesn't really matter because Highlights is the bloody best it's ever been since I've been going to this school, thanks to the redesign by our EICs.
- I now see why Whamboozal is considered epic, even though its spelling goes against all instincts.
- 2010 roommates > 2009 roommates, for a variety of reasons. Nothing personal.
- Kansas City is a really pretty place, with nice people [here's NOT looking at you, Gates BBQ lady, though]. I liked the structure, with the different districts. I wish we had horse carriages.
- The Best Western exceeded all expectations, but the absence of the fabled Chuck left us all heartbroken.
- HOW MAY I HELP YOU?
- Word of advice: don't order soda pop if you notice there's only one size. Two people will not be able to finish one drink.
- Meat≠happiness
- ^^^ I'm okay with not eating any meat ('cept some chicken)- or barbeque for that matter- for a long, looong, loooooooooong time.
- Wtf is up with all the other high schools giving us snobby looks?
- Word of advice: There is such a thing as too much chili pepper in you Mongolian barbeque. Which, incidentally, was probably the best Mongolian barbeque I've ever had.
- Did you know that you actually spell barbeque 'barbecue.' I googled it to make sure my Dashboard dictionary wasn't lying to me.
- Click click? No.
- Cinnamon rolls? Yes.
- Coffee? Not unless you want to have a weird meltdown just before the afternoon awards show.
- Fran's knows it's food. And hot chocolate.
The competition itself was interesting. There were four categories of competition in one room, so it was quite packed; I competed in Editorial Writing.
Everyone else seemed to possess an air of confidence that was in no way exuded by myself. I have no idea if that sentence was grammatically correct. They were all armed with dictionaries and thesauruses [thesauri?]- even bloody tape recorders.
The panel time and subsequent writing period vanished quickly. Some-in the same competition- finished literally ten minutes after the end of questions. There was still a significant amount left, though, when I finished, ten minutes before the time limit.
I felt extremely drained after finishing. I blanched when I first saw the topic, but I felt a bit better after roughly outlining it.
I still didn't feel completely confident, though. The lead was wonky and I wondered if the concluding paragraph wa
s a bit abrupt. Most of all, I was concerned that I hadn't made a clear proposition.
Anyway, everything worked out. I was one of four to win Superior for the category, and I got lovely feedback from t
he judges-the lead was a bit off, but they liked the conclusion.
I was...shocked. And happy- VERY happy, although I guess it took a while to sink in.
In all, there were five winners from our school.
Now we want to place for Best of Show. Watch out, SM Southnortheastnorthwestwestsouth High.
:o
^^Courtesy of
Check out Danny's website too.
