It's just an Asian thing...

Our dear friend Hannah (My Book of Days) posted on this confession, joking that “Asians are just easily amused.”

Confession: I think Asians ARE just easily amused. Hence Hannah and I having the bestest time ever, jumping on a picnic table.

Let me explain. During speech camp this last week, Hannah and I went outside to check on the weather, and discovered an old picnic table. For some reason, we started jumping on it.
Our conversation went something like this – but with lots and lots of laughter in between and during each comment:

Hannah and Me: Yaaaaay! *jumping on table*
Shorty: Why is this fun?
Me: It is! *almost falls off*
Shorty: No, no, tell me WHY this is fun.
Hannah: Well, it’s a table. And we’re jumping on it! On a table!
Shorty: I’ve swing-danced on tables at rest-stops before… But jumping?
Me: Uh-huh! It’s fun! You have to try it!
Shorty: Okaaaay. *gets up on table and starts jumping* Why are we jumping?
Hannah: See? Isn’t it fun?
Shorty: No! … I think… I think it’s just an Asian thing =P
*everyone dissolves into laughter*

hmmm....

So, I've been thinking. I've been thinking that I should post. But I can't think of anything interesting to say. At all.

I started off by wondering if I could write about some of the crazy people at my school. But honestly, how much can you say about those weird little kids who run around trying to pull old dirty dried gum off of the sidewalks, the odd people who leave random Google searches for Ke$ha songs open on the school laptops, the teachers who keep bothering you to "vote for our playground!", or the funky "Sonar Kiosk" that is being built on-site? They're all interesting stories, but they aren't worthy of an entire post.

Discarding the idea of posting about school, I considered writing about speech and debate tournaments. Those things are always crazy experiences. One of my friends at the last tournament made the... uh... interesting choice to consume approximately 9 Monster energy drinks in one day. That was a very unique situation, to say the least. :D I also thought about writing about the notorious Infant Room. Let me explain. In one of the rooms in the church that was hosting the tournament, there was a little cubby-hole thing with a fence-type door in the corner, which bore the astonishing label of "Infant Room".

It was disconcerting. Moving past that situation, I thought about writing of our walk through the city to a vegan coffee/bake shop, during a break in competition. I had a cupcake at that shop. It was super duper yummy, and covered in sugary coconut frosting. (In case I hadn't mentioned, I'm allergic to wheat and dairy, so cupcakes I can eat are a super duper treat, and have the tendency to make me hyper, even if they aren't overly sugary.) With me bouncing around being hyper, we started to walk back to the tournament location. However, we took a slight detour when I discovered rotten flowers lying around the sidewalk. It is very very very fun to throw flowers at people, especially when you're all in business attire (skirts and heels for the girls, suits for the guys), and you're all super stressed and sleep-deprived, and some of you are pumped up on sugar, or on energy drinks ^_^

It's also funny to see everyone's reaction when they realize that the whole flower fight was videotaped.

Although my tournament experiences are fun, and some of them deserve recounting, it didn't really feel like I could write a whole post about them... I thought that perhaps I could write about my conversations with Shorty this week. My conversations with her are almost always funny, but this week, she's had the stomach flu :( It's very sad, and at one time or the other, I have sent her messages, in attempts to cheer her up. The conversations in her more awake moments have been very amusing. She randomly sent me a text, comprised solely of the statement, "I'm married to a bunch of people ^_^" I asked for context, and she replied, "There isn't really context. I was just thinking about it." She seems to be on much medicine for her cold, and for her allergies to animals (as detailed in her previous post). Out of the blue she sent me an email telling me, "i r bery super ti-red & teh puupy wont be quiet. also. i r takin teh benedrylz. it so super funn." :) As amusing as these conversations are, I didn't think I could spend an entire post on Shorty's sickness. Also, that might be kind of weird. ;)


Finally, as I complained to Shorty about my inability to think of something to post about, she suggested, "Why don't you write about not knowing what to write about?"

Hmm... Now that's an idea... ;)

About us

Self portraits (courtesy of Flair, by Facebook), part 1

This is me. I love books, nature, God, friendships, and music, but I am also totally crazy. I certainly have a serious side, but you won't see much of it here ;)

Me? Hyper? Never. BUT ITS SO FLUFFY.

THAT THING IS CREEPY.

Puget Sound Qualifier 2011

One tournament, it’s a headless bust of Lincoln. At another, it’s the disembodied head of Lincoln.  I don't know what to say. Actually, I do know what to say. "THAT THING IS CREEPY!"

Speech and debate is wonderful. It's especially wonderful when it makes you get up at 4:30. BUT. I WAS SAVED. The snow was my friend for the day. It delayed the tournament, and I got to sleep in until around 7! So nice. The sleep deprivation didn't make me feel like a 9 year old child pumped up on Red Bull running around a campfire wrapped in a carpet yelling "I SEE BEYOND! I AM A GIANT SALMON. WITH WINGS." :) It was quite refreshing.

But guess what? WE BROKE. Yup. Apparently, the outrounds can't stand Shorty's caffienated-ness, or something. We debated. And debated. And debated. IT WAS FUN AND TOTALLY AWESOME. So amazing.

But then semifinals came. And we had to debate people I didn't want to debate. And I thought we failed. I was pretty relaxed, because if we lost, we wouldn't advance to debate finals. I was wandering around downstairs, after watching speech finals, and then I saw dawgdude (our debate coach) sprinting down the hall towards me. My reaction? "Oh snap." Turns out we had actually won that round, and advanced to finals!!! It took me a bit to process the fact that we won the semi's round. I started to say "what the frizz!?!", but stopped halfway through. The people around me looked shocked, and dawgdude was slightly speechless. XD

Finals were really really really fun, and turned out surprisingly well.  I was standing about talking with some of my friends, when something round and gold entered my peripheral vision. Jabba (our other debate coach) had snuck up behind me, and was waving the disembodied head of a Lincoln statue over my shoulders. I cannot express how creepy it was. The Lincoln head had a hole where the neck should be, so Jabba put three of his fingers into the hole, and then pretended his pinky and thumb were the Lincoln head's arms. Jabba kept creeping up on me, sticking the Lincoln head over my shoulder, waving his fingers, and squeaking "HI THERE!"  Uncontestably the most disconcerting thing ever. Then, he made me rub the Lincoln head "for luck". I DON’T UNDERSTAND.

AND THEN WE WON. THAT WAS SO AMAZING. Shorty picked me up, and was going to carry me up the stairs for awards-- then she realized that she was in heels, and that doing so would probably ensure my destruction. So she didn't, and I was immensely grateful.

Speech and debate tournaments are wonderful. There, and only there, will you hear conversations about disembodied Lincoln heads and foreign policy towards Russia discussed in the same breath :)

"I'll Try Almost Anything Once.. Maybe Twice"

Energy drinks in enclosed space: A joint analysis pt 2

I would like to share a recipe with you all that I just encountered it a couple weeks a go. It's pretty awesome.

A recipe to you, from Shorty: DISASTER (makes four servings, approximately)

Ingredients:

-Several doses of various cold medicines

-Lack of sleep

-Four days worth of tournament stress

-A nine hour drive

-Two devious young ladies (recommended: Shorty and B)

-One bottle of Five Hour Energy

Directions: Blend together cold medicines and lack of sleep. Whisk in stress and the nine hour drive. Let chill for a couple of hours. Add young ladies and five hour energy.

And watch the magic.

Note: Results may vary.

No really, B and I split the five hour energy during a long car ride back from a tournament. I don't remember half the car ride... Pretty impressive.

I wonder, what would happen if we each drank a whole one...?

Edit: Just to alleviate your, by now, quite concerned mind I will tell you that there were no fatalities, and that B and I are still on speaking terms. In fact, she and I just got home today from another tournament adventure.

MORE CAFFEINE.

*Ahem* Excuse my outburst.

**WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME**

Energy drinks in an enclosed space: A joint analysis, pt 1

This is one of the worst, albeit most amusing, ideas I have ever heard.

On the drive home from a speech and debate tournament, Shorty and our dear friend B decided to split a 5-hr energy drink. This lead them to sit backwards in their seats, sing a rendition of an impromptu "I love Starbucks" song, exclaim randomly, and make "your face" jokes. There really is only one appropriate reaction to your friends bouncing off the walls in an enclosed van during a 10 hour drive: laugh. 

So let me give you some background. While rifling through her mother's purse, Shorty discovered a 5-hr energy. B looked curiously at the energy shot, and declared that if Shorty would drink half, she would drink half as well. They solemnly drank the energy shot, amidst a background of me mumbling disapprovingly ;) We then sat in silence, I dreading, they anticipating, the onset of the energy.

Then, it happened.

Shorty exclaimed "I AM A MONKEY" and the two of them went off into gales of giggles. This declaration was followed by various nonsense statements. Let me give you some examples:

•  "I think I saw a fish!" 
• "I am a dysfunctional helicopter!"
•  "We can, look, a, um, a, thing. A, Fred Meyer thing. We can get the thingy there, the, um, thingy... The, Despicable Me! YEAH! We can pretend to be, like, the, you know, minion things! Aehehheheeeee!"
• "That guy looks like an Oompa Loompa!"
• "That truck has onions in the back. It reminds me of your bedroom."
• "I love your foot, because it is soft and fuzzy."
•  "IMMA EAT YOU!!!" 
•  "All of our conversations are completely normal. And not hyper at all. We are much too responsible for that. **high-pitched giggle squeak of joy**" 

That ride was, interesting, to say the least. But definitely amusing :D

-Shrimpy