From a Bad Debater to a Good Debater

I'm in the debate club in my school.  I just joined this year, and golly, have I improved.  I remember in the beginning, I would've just stood there and stammered, not knowing what to say and how to say it.  But now, my partner and I have become way better.  And somehow, I feel like it was a sudden transformation.

It was the first week of December.  We had been paired up with two of our classmates who were...better acquainted with us.  We had walked into our assigned room, sat down, and began debating.

We didn't do very well.  That's an understatement, even.  Maybe it was because we knew our opponents too well and we couldn't stay formal and distant, but anyhow, we messed up.  I left debate club that day feeling down and depressed.

I went home and thought hard.  What had gone wrong?  What had happened?  I made a list of everything we could've done but didn't.  Then it hit me:  I knew how to improve.  And I was determined to improve.  I swore to myself that I would never do that badly again.

My partner also worked very hard, and I could see that she wanted to become a better debater just as much as I did.

The next week, we did phenomenally well.  We stated our points clearly and effectively, and I can say that if there was a judge in that room evaluating us, we would have won hands down.

Every week after that, we improved some more.  One time, we had a mini-competition, and there was a judge in our room.  We got incredibly good feedback.

Too bad that to this day, we never got to debate against our first-week-of-December opponents again.  They would be so surprised.  We could cream them now.  ;)  (And points wise, we did.  The mini-competition day, the judges gave us way higher marks).

We have debate club every Tuesday.  I bet that if my partner and I keep this up, we'll be able to achieve even higher heights and become true top-notch debaters.

(But considering that we're beginners, we are already pretty darn awesome.  :D)

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

Now that French class is over

My Favourite French Class Quote:

Me:  "Pourquoi est-ce que 'bouche' est un nom féminin?"  (Why is "mouth" a feminine noun?)
Classmate:  "Parce que les filles parlent trop."  (Because girls talk too much.)

To those of you who know me personally, I guess I should apologize for constantly bombarding you guys with my favourite subject in the entire world:  FRENCH.  Le français est la meilleure!  And I'm SORRY that throughout the semester, I have loved to randomly converse with you in French.  My passion is strong, and that habit of mine is hard to break.  xD  Ah, French.  So happy I had you as a class right from the beginning of the year.

So why do I love French?  Gee, that's hard to say.  I just know that I have always enjoyed learning the language and that French will always be a great part of me.  I wouldn't be the person I am today if French wasn't taught at school.  Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais c'est vrai.

Maybe it's because I'm Canadian.  I mean, French is the other official language over here in our magnificent, beaver-loving country.  It's only natural that I'm interested in it, right?

I remember Tuesday.  It was the last day of French class for us, and I was feeling kind of low.  But everyone else was so happy.  I recall that they literally ran out of the classroom, flailing their arms and wearing huge grins on their faces.  A lot of them were screaming things like, "French is FINALLY over!"

I wasn't as high as them, however.  I had looked back at our classroom door, Room 112, and sighed.  For a brief moment, I just stood there and thought back on everything we have done in that room.  L'imparfait, les pronons, les grands personnages canadiens...Everything.  Then I had turned around and slowly walked away.

Next week will be the start of a new semester.  Which means, no more French class.  "..."  I'm pretty disappointed.

A semester without French...Now how will I survive through that?

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.

The Zodiacs Changed!

So anyways, I was having a really good morning.  I went to piano class, had an informative lesson, and came home feeling great.  Then I turned on my laptop and went to Yahoo news, and a headline nearly made me choke.

Guess what?  THE ZODIACS CHANGED!  That means that your zodiac sign could be something completely different than what you originally thought it would be.

I won't tell you my birthday, but I used to be a Taurus.  I was a happy Taurus, loving my horoscope and feeling proud to be who I was.  And now the world is telling me that I'm an ARIES?  What the heck?

See the news here:  Yahoo News

Now Scorpio is only a week long and on top of that, they've added a new zodiac!  Ophiuchus, to be exact.  (Try pronouncing it; I can't).  My head is still spinning.

For me, my personality is actually more Aries than Taurus.  I'm a self-confident, assertive character who is rather ambitious and spirited.  I like the colour red, and diamonds and rubies appeal to me more than emeralds.  But somehow, it still doesn't feel right.

My sister changed from Cancer to Gemini, my dad from Aries to Pisces...Oh my goodness.  Now, a lot of people will have to start reading a new horoscope and I bet that there will definitely be confusion.

This is going to be complicated.

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.