Trying to get to States (original) (raw)

Hmmm....	[18 Jun 2006\|02:02am]
You know, upon looking at this BC Speech community, I have noticed that it is a bit underused. In fact, the last 3 entries, or rather, 4 entries as of this, are all from ME. I feel like such a loser being the only one posting. Maybe I'll just shut this community down. It will have been nice while it will have lasted. Wow, I don't think I have ever used a purely future past sentence correctly before. I don't even know if that is correct. Anyway, I'm done.

[18 Jun 2006|02:02am]

You know, upon looking at this BC Speech community, I have noticed that it is a bit underused. In fact, the last 3 entries, or rather, 4 entries as of this, are all from ME. I feel like such a loser being the only one posting. Maybe I'll just shut this community down. It will have been nice while it will have lasted. Wow, I don't think I have ever used a purely future past sentence correctly before. I don't even know if that is correct. Anyway, I'm done.

(Qualify me!)

Phew.	[01 Dec 2004\|03:42pm]
[ mood \| stressed ] Oh my god, I'm finally finished. The end is probably crap (i doubt doubt it) but i was rushing and pushing myself to do it. So praise my efforts to overcome procrastination. I'm very proud of myself actually... But PRINCETON IS STILL IN TWO DAYS!!!!! GAAAAAAAH!!! So memorize memorize memorize for the next fifty seconds that i have. I'm going to make it last forever, because I'm going to start RIGHT NOW... well.... right after I finish this entry. Poo to the people who made livejournal such an addicting concept.And by the way... Let my proclamation ring out across the land:FUCK!Time to memorize.

Phew.

[01 Dec 2004|03:42pm]

[ **mood** |

stressed ] Oh my god, I'm finally finished. The end is probably crap (i doubt doubt it) but i was rushing and pushing myself to do it. So praise my efforts to overcome procrastination. I'm very proud of myself actually... But PRINCETON IS STILL IN TWO DAYS!!!!! GAAAAAAAH!!! So memorize memorize memorize for the next fifty seconds that i have. I'm going to make it last forever, because I'm going to start RIGHT NOW... well.... right after I finish this entry. Poo to the people who made livejournal such an addicting concept.And by the way... Let my proclamation ring out across the land:FUCK!Time to memorize.

(1 qual | Qualify me!)

Woo hoo!	[24 Oct 2004\|09:21pm]
[ mood \| cold ] So after our BQCFL tournament Saturday, I felt pretty confident in my ability... to improve the writing of my oratory. Yes, I admit that I was disappointed; Alyssa on the other hand, ranked 4th place and got a trophy. I came back with Honorable Mention and an Honorable Mention ribbon.Since I am utterly bored at the moment, I will post my rankings for each round and my opinions of what each judges said.Round OneTime - 8:23Rank - 2 out of 4Judge was from: Cathedral Prep_"You speak clearly"_ - I guess my efforts payed off_"Gestures seem somewhat mechanical. Make them more flowing"_ - I beg to differ..."Learn your piece a bit better. You do a wonderful job but you lost your train of thought." - Yes, it's the age-old problem of memorization. But hey, it's only the first tournament. I'll kick ass next time.Round TwoTime - 8:30Rank - 3 out of 4Judge was from: Nazareth_"Speak louder, with more authority and slow down You are speaking at a rapid pace."_ - Grr.. Guess I was nervous. I was sailing on my initial momentum, though, which felt pretty good.Round ThreeTime - 10:02Rank - 2 out of 4Judge was from: I think he wrote "Fontbonne Hall" but that doesn't sound right."Can you not find 600 dunkin' donuts in New York City?" - He's got a point. I don't think you can, though. Donuts are more of a Boston thing, right?."Try to find a unique way to introduce your points." - I've been wrestling with this for a while."There are so many interesting thins you could read to improve this speech... [etc.]" - Of course! I know! He's very very right about that... oh, if only Oratory didn't require as much work..."Sorry about the cell phone. I asked everyone to turn them off." - Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a guy's cell phone went off right in the middle of my oratory, and the judge had even asked everyone to turn them off. It was really annoying.My comments on this round are as follows: I needed to speak a bit faster, because 3/4 of the way through I noticed people stretching and yawning; unfortunately, because I noticed, I stumbled. That was really bad. But the judge was smart and I liked him. He's pretty fair, though he was tough. I like tough though, because it helps me improve. Woo!Hmm. It's very cold where I am. Stupid lack of heating in my house... TURN THE HELL ON, DAMN FURNACE!Oh, and Margo---We know you're stalking us.

Woo hoo!

[24 Oct 2004|09:21pm]

[ **mood** |

cold ] So after our BQCFL tournament Saturday, I felt pretty confident in my ability... to improve the writing of my oratory. Yes, I admit that I was disappointed; Alyssa on the other hand, ranked 4th place and got a trophy. I came back with Honorable Mention and an Honorable Mention ribbon.Since I am utterly bored at the moment, I will post my rankings for each round and my opinions of what each judges said.Round OneTime - 8:23Rank - 2 out of 4Judge was from: Cathedral Prep_"You speak clearly"_ - I guess my efforts payed off_"Gestures seem somewhat mechanical. Make them more flowing"_ - I beg to differ..."Learn your piece a bit better. You do a wonderful job but you lost your train of thought." - Yes, it's the age-old problem of memorization. But hey, it's only the first tournament. I'll kick ass next time.Round TwoTime - 8:30Rank - 3 out of 4Judge was from: Nazareth_"Speak louder, with more authority and slow down You are speaking at a rapid pace."_ - Grr.. Guess I was nervous. I was sailing on my initial momentum, though, which felt pretty good.Round ThreeTime - 10:02Rank - 2 out of 4Judge was from: I think he wrote "Fontbonne Hall" but that doesn't sound right."Can you not find 600 dunkin' donuts in New York City?" - He's got a point. I don't think you can, though. Donuts are more of a Boston thing, right?."Try to find a unique way to introduce your points." - I've been wrestling with this for a while."There are so many interesting thins you could read to improve this speech... [etc.]" - Of course! I know! He's very very right about that... oh, if only Oratory didn't require as much work..."Sorry about the cell phone. I asked everyone to turn them off." - Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a guy's cell phone went off right in the middle of my oratory, and the judge had even asked everyone to turn them off. It was really annoying.My comments on this round are as follows: I needed to speak a bit faster, because 3/4 of the way through I noticed people stretching and yawning; unfortunately, because I noticed, I stumbled. That was really bad. But the judge was smart and I liked him. He's pretty fair, though he was tough. I like tough though, because it helps me improve. Woo!Hmm. It's very cold where I am. Stupid lack of heating in my house... TURN THE HELL ON, DAMN FURNACE!Oh, and Margo---We know you're stalking us.

(2 quals | Qualify me!)

Oratory finally finished.	[27 Sep 2004\|10:10am]
[ mood \| I HAVE PANTS ] Thought I might as well post my oratory and prove to Alyssa that HA HA I AM WEARING PANTS!!!Here it is!!!!“I can’t get no satisfaction” Welcome to America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, and the only country where you can find 600 Dunkin’ Donuts within the city of Boston alone. This is our country: America, the land of profits, the land of buying and selling, the land of no money down and 0% financing. All these features are what make our country suitable for our own interests, with the added benefit of helping us achieve satisfaction and happiness. Or do they? Does advertising’s invasion of your private life make you happy? Does buying a certain product make you permanently satisfied? This mindset of buying for happiness is a prominent aspect of our lifestyle, and it is one of the main driving forces of our economy. As we explore this way of life, we will find out how it has come about, why we think we’ll be happy by buying things, how corporations exploit our desire to be happy, and finally, what we can do to actually be satisfied.So what is this mindset exactly? The way of life we have depended on for happiness for so long is just a myth. And almost everyone believes in it like a religion. But why do we all believe it? Because corporations are always looking for ways to exploit our innate desire to be happy—over here, a better bleach. Over there, a clearer cell phone service. As new products are produced, however unneeded they actually are, they are marketed to the public in such a way that a demand for them is created, because according to them, we WANT their car. And because the search for happiness is pretty much innate, we have a strong desire to believe that we do actually want their car. So how do these companies keep us in a constant state of need and want? According to the Center for Media Literacy, some of the most common advertising strategies include using children slightly older than the target audience in an advertisement, for example, a 12 year old using a product designed for a 10 year old. This projects what the “ideal” child should be in the minds of the viewers. Another strategy is putting the product, such as a Barbie doll or a 4-wheel drive SUV, into life-like settings, or making them do amazing things. For example, Barbie is always pictured prancing around on the beach, and SUVs are always pictured driving through streams and forests, over rocky terrains, and climbing mountains. Obviously, the beach isn’t included with the Barbie doll, and chances are you won’t be using your SUV for wilderness expeditions at all. But, why do companies use visual trickery to get their way? First, let’s find out how a new product evolves: A company has an idea for a new product, let’s say, disposable vacuum cleaners. They then decide how to make the biggest demand possible for their new product, which ends up being something that most appeals to our desires. So they take that concept and target our desire to be dirt-free, tricking us into thinking something completely ridiculous, something like ordinary vacuum cleaners don’t actually clean, they just pretend to clean. And, voilà, the public is immediately hooked on a product that wasn’t really needed in the first place. I mean, we’ve already got bag-less vacuum cleaners, so what would be the point of buying more and more disposable ones and throwing them away? Well, in terms of corporate interest, it’s profit. Companies want to maximize profit and minimize cost and effort. So that results in lower-quality products that you have to throw away more frequently and that ingeniously keeps you, the consumer, coming back for more. Now, the problem with this corporate desire to minimize costs and maximize profits is that it lowers our quality of living. In our current age of mass production, our priority has become quantity over quality. Yes, the general public wants to minimize costs too; but the corporations have the first pick, and we end up sacrificing quality for a small price tag. On another level, buying for happiness actually decreases happiness; to explain, let me give you an example. Imagine you want to buy furniture for your apartment. So you start working longer hours and put much more effort into your work, so your boss will notice and start paying you more and just maybe promote you. Eventually you get the money to get the furniture you need, but you want even more. So you start working even longer hours and working harder at your job. Pretty soon you’re coming home exhausted after each 15-hour day, plus, you’re doing the same thing Saturdays so you only have Sundays off. You have no time to enjoy your new furniture now, because you’re so exhausted to even notice that the bed you collapse on is a $50,000 antique from Spain.So now you see that buying for happiness is a continuous circle of buying and buying that never really gets anyone true satisfaction. The main reason? There’s no quality in the things we buy. So what can you do to achieve satisfaction? It’s simple; buy things that will last. Buy things that will have some significance to you in the future. Instead of buying a cheap toy that will break after the first two uses, buy a toy that will stand up to thousands of uses, chucking it against the wall, and all other forms of abuse that might occur to it. Instead of buying that car because you feel safe in a huge Hummer, buy an economically practical car that suits your needs, and only your needs. Instead of buying a cheap plastic souvenir from the airport of a place you visit, buy something traditional made by the natives, or a stone from the beach. If you make the effort to choose the products you buy wisely, you’ll finally be able to answer to the song “Satisfaction” with simply, “yes I can.” Thank you.

Oratory finally finished.

[27 Sep 2004|10:10am]

[ **mood** |

I HAVE PANTS ] Thought I might as well post my oratory and prove to Alyssa that HA HA I AM WEARING PANTS!!!Here it is!!!!“I can’t get no satisfaction” Welcome to America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, and the only country where you can find 600 Dunkin’ Donuts within the city of Boston alone. This is our country: America, the land of profits, the land of buying and selling, the land of no money down and 0% financing. All these features are what make our country suitable for our own interests, with the added benefit of helping us achieve satisfaction and happiness. Or do they? Does advertising’s invasion of your private life make you happy? Does buying a certain product make you permanently satisfied? This mindset of buying for happiness is a prominent aspect of our lifestyle, and it is one of the main driving forces of our economy. As we explore this way of life, we will find out how it has come about, why we think we’ll be happy by buying things, how corporations exploit our desire to be happy, and finally, what we can do to actually be satisfied.So what is this mindset exactly? The way of life we have depended on for happiness for so long is just a myth. And almost everyone believes in it like a religion. But why do we all believe it? Because corporations are always looking for ways to exploit our innate desire to be happy—over here, a better bleach. Over there, a clearer cell phone service. As new products are produced, however unneeded they actually are, they are marketed to the public in such a way that a demand for them is created, because according to them, we WANT their car. And because the search for happiness is pretty much innate, we have a strong desire to believe that we do actually want their car. So how do these companies keep us in a constant state of need and want? According to the Center for Media Literacy, some of the most common advertising strategies include using children slightly older than the target audience in an advertisement, for example, a 12 year old using a product designed for a 10 year old. This projects what the “ideal” child should be in the minds of the viewers. Another strategy is putting the product, such as a Barbie doll or a 4-wheel drive SUV, into life-like settings, or making them do amazing things. For example, Barbie is always pictured prancing around on the beach, and SUVs are always pictured driving through streams and forests, over rocky terrains, and climbing mountains. Obviously, the beach isn’t included with the Barbie doll, and chances are you won’t be using your SUV for wilderness expeditions at all. But, why do companies use visual trickery to get their way? First, let’s find out how a new product evolves: A company has an idea for a new product, let’s say, disposable vacuum cleaners. They then decide how to make the biggest demand possible for their new product, which ends up being something that most appeals to our desires. So they take that concept and target our desire to be dirt-free, tricking us into thinking something completely ridiculous, something like ordinary vacuum cleaners don’t actually clean, they just pretend to clean. And, voilà, the public is immediately hooked on a product that wasn’t really needed in the first place. I mean, we’ve already got bag-less vacuum cleaners, so what would be the point of buying more and more disposable ones and throwing them away? Well, in terms of corporate interest, it’s profit. Companies want to maximize profit and minimize cost and effort. So that results in lower-quality products that you have to throw away more frequently and that ingeniously keeps you, the consumer, coming back for more. Now, the problem with this corporate desire to minimize costs and maximize profits is that it lowers our quality of living. In our current age of mass production, our priority has become quantity over quality. Yes, the general public wants to minimize costs too; but the corporations have the first pick, and we end up sacrificing quality for a small price tag. On another level, buying for happiness actually decreases happiness; to explain, let me give you an example. Imagine you want to buy furniture for your apartment. So you start working longer hours and put much more effort into your work, so your boss will notice and start paying you more and just maybe promote you. Eventually you get the money to get the furniture you need, but you want even more. So you start working even longer hours and working harder at your job. Pretty soon you’re coming home exhausted after each 15-hour day, plus, you’re doing the same thing Saturdays so you only have Sundays off. You have no time to enjoy your new furniture now, because you’re so exhausted to even notice that the bed you collapse on is a $50,000 antique from Spain.So now you see that buying for happiness is a continuous circle of buying and buying that never really gets anyone true satisfaction. The main reason? There’s no quality in the things we buy. So what can you do to achieve satisfaction? It’s simple; buy things that will last. Buy things that will have some significance to you in the future. Instead of buying a cheap toy that will break after the first two uses, buy a toy that will stand up to thousands of uses, chucking it against the wall, and all other forms of abuse that might occur to it. Instead of buying that car because you feel safe in a huge Hummer, buy an economically practical car that suits your needs, and only your needs. Instead of buying a cheap plastic souvenir from the airport of a place you visit, buy something traditional made by the natives, or a stone from the beach. If you make the effort to choose the products you buy wisely, you’ll finally be able to answer to the song “Satisfaction” with simply, “yes I can.” Thank you.

(Qualify me!)

I'm really happy to see people posted in the speech community	[19 Sep 2004\|10:59am]
[ mood \| okay ] So I missed Speech on Friday because of it being a day 6 (I have euro then)but heard from maryse about the magee update. I also will be missing speech tuesday due to my little vassar trip. Sorry guys! By the way though Maryse and I found a duo. Yay!!!! What's the first tourny you're all going to?

(1 qual | Qualify me!)

ok that was not cool.	[17 Sep 2004\|12:41pm]
[ mood \| alyssa's stupid.. ] yeah alyssa did that at the end she's stupid and not cool. she's right we're going to kill eachother by the end of this year we'll drive eachother insane. ya...AND YOU'RE STOOOOOOOOPID, ALYSSA!

(Qualify me!)

How to not write an oratory, Part 1	[17 Sep 2004\|12:38pm]
Yeah so I'm in the tech room with Alyssa and as you can see from her post below we can't retrieve her oratory. But I've got my oratory and should be doing it, but Guess what? I'm writing a stupid livejournal post instead. That's a good way to not write my oratory and revive the speech community... yeah...im bruffee and i'm stooopid

(Qualify me!)

	[17 Sep 2004\|12:34pm]
[ mood \| sad ] i actually should be working on my oratory but i don't have it saved at the school so i tried to get it from the attatchment i sent to bruffee but aol says the message doesn't exist. bruffee heard karina say that mrs magee is the speechie coach now. WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE TURNING INTO AN ACTING CLASS WHY WHY WHYspeech is so not the same without zak and brad and clary and ruth and amandaeven though clary scares meme and bruffee are definitely going to kill each other before the year is over, so even on the off chance that i'd actually qual for states i wouldn't get to go because bruffee would kill mebut wait even if i lived and didn't go to states brad would kill me so i'd die anywaythis is quite a predicamenti was going to post this on my own livejournal but then i saw that its all aboot speech anyway so i think i'll post it here.

[17 Sep 2004|12:34pm]

[ **mood** |

sad ] i actually should be working on my oratory but i don't have it saved at the school so i tried to get it from the attatchment i sent to bruffee but aol says the message doesn't exist. bruffee heard karina say that mrs magee is the speechie coach now. WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE TURNING INTO AN ACTING CLASS WHY WHY WHYspeech is so not the same without zak and brad and clary and ruth and amandaeven though clary scares meme and bruffee are definitely going to kill each other before the year is over, so even on the off chance that i'd actually qual for states i wouldn't get to go because bruffee would kill mebut wait even if i lived and didn't go to states brad would kill me so i'd die anywaythis is quite a predicamenti was going to post this on my own livejournal but then i saw that its all aboot speech anyway so i think i'll post it here.

(Qualify me!)

Havent heard from the bc speech community in awhile have you?	[23 Aug 2004\|06:22pm]
Randomly today I went to barnes and noble to buy a planner and the guy who worked at the cash register was none other than one of my duo opponents from cathedral.I enjoyed that. I actually ran into him last month on the train and we talked. I now feel bad about maryse and i secretly making fun of his piece.

(Qualify me!)

sigh	[06 Jul 2004\|12:34pm]
Maryse and I still have to find a speech. Any good ones you saw in duo that maybe we can use?

(Qualify me!)

at last, it is finished	[29 Jun 2004\|10:55pm]
here it is, my beautiful majestic amazing oratory. marvel at it in all its total awesomeness. ( Read more...Collapse )it hasn't got a title yet, so if you guys have any ideas...

(3 quals | Qualify me!)

Announcement everyone...	[21 Jun 2004\|12:05pm]
[ mood \| accomplished ] I've started my oratory. Finally. Y'all better be very proud of me!!!!In other news, Canada has decided that even though she's got more of her oratory done than I do, I'm STILL going to kick her ass. I was greatly opposing this thought when it occured to me that, hey, she's probably right. But she's still a better writer than I am, even if I'm a more humorous writer than she is.And that's all with the speechie news. BYE Y'ALL!!

Announcement everyone...

[21 Jun 2004|12:05pm]

[ **mood** |

accomplished ] I've started my oratory. Finally. Y'all better be very proud of me!!!!In other news, Canada has decided that even though she's got more of her oratory done than I do, I'm STILL going to kick her ass. I was greatly opposing this thought when it occured to me that, hey, she's probably right. But she's still a better writer than I am, even if I'm a more humorous writer than she is.And that's all with the speechie news. BYE Y'ALL!!

(Qualify me!)

	[02 Jun 2004\|05:31pm]
since julie thinks we should all post more in here, i'm just going to let y'all know that my oratory is currently in a stage of suckiness due to the fact that i can't write non-run on sentences. like that sentence just now was 39 words long.

(Qualify me!)

I changed our background	[31 May 2004\|09:32pm]
I changed our background. It looks a lot cooler now. I think we need to revive our bc_speech community.

(Qualify me!)

Interests	[14 May 2004\|06:20pm]
add to interests: villiger, harvard, bqcfl, christ the king, mary lewis, break rounds, 1s, wake forest, states, time signals, chaminade, bishop kearney, nationals, half quals, full quals, the compleat wks of shkspr abridged, fetishes, zak's spot, .......post others if you think of them

(4 quals | Qualify me!)

	[12 May 2004\|09:50pm]
bruffee i think we need to put interests and add more flavor to the speech journal plus get more people to join.

(2 quals | Qualify me!)

oratory	[11 May 2004\|05:25pm]
[ mood \| accomplished... and sad ] Hey I got a name for my consumerism oratory. My tutor led me right into this, but I found it myself anyway! Here we go:singsI CAN'T GET NO... SATISFACTION!! I CAN'T GET NO... SATISFACTION!!stops singingaight I'm all happy that I have a cool name for my oratory and I didn't have one last year.But my tutor's only coming for two more weeks... after that he's moving back to CALIFORNIA. Waah all my tutor/teacher people ditch me after a complete session. I'm sad. (Don't tell anyone this... but I kinda had a little thing for him.. I have interesting taste in men... He kinda looks like James Morgano.. Don't tell anyone that either. So I'm sad.)By y'all.

oratory

[11 May 2004|05:25pm]

[ **mood** |

accomplished... and sad ] Hey I got a name for my consumerism oratory. My tutor led me right into this, but I found it myself anyway! Here we go:*sings*I CAN'T GET NO... SATISFACTION!! I CAN'T GET NO... SATISFACTION!!*stops singing*aight I'm all happy that I have a cool name for my oratory and I didn't have one last year.But my tutor's only coming for two more weeks... after that he's moving back to CALIFORNIA. Waah all my tutor/teacher people ditch me after a complete session. I'm sad. (Don't tell anyone this... but I kinda had a little thing for him.. I have interesting taste in men... He kinda looks like James Morgano.. Don't tell anyone that either. So I'm sad.)By y'all.

(1 qual | Qualify me!)

how's this	[23 Apr 2004\|06:31pm]
[ mood \| lazily annoyed!! >:o ] fine HOW'S THIS????does THIS MAKE YOU HAPPY????if not, i'll give you managing capabilities and YOU change it. I dunno what ya want. that what you can't yell at me! har har har!

(1 qual | Qualify me!)

no one ever posts here	[22 Apr 2004\|08:00pm]
so come on people. talk aboot something eh? and bruffee, change the colors. pink and gray=ugly. por favor.

(Qualify me!)

YAY	[17 Apr 2004\|05:08pm]
[ mood \| HAPPY! HYPER WAHOO ] yay I'm happy! people have joined the community!!! I LOVE YOU JULIE AND ZAK!!! MWA YOU ARE THE GREATES PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!!! phew ok I'm a little over excited hyper-ventilates pant pant pant pant pant ok... calms downbut I'm really happy about this!!!! is really hyper and happy ok ok ok ok ok yay yay yay yay yay bye now