Patient and steady with all he must bear,
Ready to meet every challenge with care,
Easy in manner, yet solid as steel,
Strong in his faith, refreshingly real.
Isn’t afraid to propose what is bold,
Doesn’t conform to the usual mould,
Eyes that have foresight, for hindsight won’t do,
Never backs down when he sees what is true,
Tells it all straight, and means it all too.
Going forward and knowing he’s right,
Even when doubted for why he would fight,
Over and over he makes his case clear,
Reaching to touch the ones who won’t hear.
Growing in strength he won’t be unnerved,
Ever assuring he’ll stand by his word.
Wanting the world to join his firm stand,
Bracing for war, but praying for peace,
Using his power so evil will cease,
So much a leader and worthy of trust,
Here stands a man who will do what he must.

- AFP

We made it! Today I wrote the check that would assault our savings account and pay for my trip to Prague (Czech republic) with Ben. We are so excited!!! Thank you to everyone that helped make this possible: all our family members that donated money, Merlinda who found me extra jobs, and my clients that pay me well and treat me even better. We could not have done it without all of your help!

And of course- a special thank you to my husband for all his hard work, and to Dave Kosloski & the Clark College Speech and Debate Team- Thank you so much for this awesome opportunity and for letting me tag along!

This weekend we had our last tournament for the quarter in Speech and Debate. We had a pretty good, well actually great, placement between the 2-year schools and were even competitive with the 4-years. In fact, we took 1st place in our division (2-year) and took 2nd within the entire tournament itself — Just behind a top 4-year school while beating many others!

In debate, one Junior team broke into out-rounds (past preliminary) but lost (I think it was a 1-2 vote). Nik and I debated in Novice although it was kind of a mistake. One judge even pointed out that we really shouldn’t have been on that level. We felt bad… to a point. In the end though, Nik and myself, and Andrew and Zach (another Novice team from Clark) also broke in outrounds and we ended up in a “Close-out”. Meaning, we each won our first out-round (on 3-0 votes no less) in Semi-Finals and since we couldn’t necessarily face each other, our school takes both top spots in the Novice tournament! On top of that, we had several speakers in the top 10 of the tournament in Novice and Junior. I received a neat little gavel for placing 4th amongst all those in the Novice debate.

In Individual Events we also had a great turnout. My After Dinner Speech took me to finals but I ended up with two rather unruly judges in a round full of attractive women. The odds were against me before I even opened my mouth. One judge (who consistently berates me on my ballots in other events) wrote a very short and sweet comment on my final ballot: “Wrong. In a special way.”

Jerk.

The mix of classical and electronic music, when presented the right way, is as sweet and sultry as chocolate meets chile. Mmmm. Yummie O Fortuna. Thank you, Project Apotheosis, and many others.