Well, I finally got around to creating the blog about the Vauxhall meet. The drive was, like, 6 hours so that's naturally where I'm going to start this blog.
We watched, according to my request, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat (I got it on DVD for Christmas), Star Trek, Kung Fu Panda 2... We were watching movies for almost the entire ride, if we weren't sitting around making odd noises at each other. I'm serious. Braeden and I were definitely talking weird almost the entire time we were in the van. We stopped at Scott's Parable where I got 4 CD's for 8 bucks (W00T!) and we continued on to Lindon where we stopped for some amazing lunch and the best pie in the world, and it was generally an awesome ride down.
Quizzing starts, not a great first quiz. I don't remember if I erred out or just didn't do very well but we weren't too happy with that quiz. -shrug-
The hotel was fun... We went to Boston Pizza despite our experience with the wait times there at the last meet, and headed back to the hotel to enjoy it while watching the last 20 minutes or so of the King's Speech. It was interesting from what I remember but I don't remember much... I had melatonin in my system and I was doing flashcards (let me know about any typos... I am sure that there are several)
I woke up against my better judgement at 5 in the morning and tried to focus on my studying as I couldn't get back to sleep. Patricia insisted that 7 was the best time to meet for breakfast so that's when Lana and I went down, eventually no longer making any resemblance to zombies and getting pumped for the rest of the meet.
The rest of the meet was kind of a blur. NEXT 1 was either really tired or just not prepared enough... We ended up in consolation in the afternoon despite a WXYZ quiz that went a thousand times better than the rest of the morning. Didn't do too well in consolation either, though, so I guess it was a good thing that we didn't end up in championships... we would've gotten crushed. As Jon said, it was a lesson in humility if anything... A reminder that even if we had a good meet last meet and a good year last year doesn't mean we can study less or not try as hard. I think it was also a reminder that getting into championships, doing well... They're things to be proud of. Puts things into perspective.
NEXT 2, however, rocked the socks off of the meet, winning the Rookie Division finals! (They were amazing. Seriously. NEXT 1 could learn a few things from them).
The drive home was filled with G.I. Joe and studying... Chapter 8. You'd think that I'd give myself a bit of review time after that meet... Heh. It probably would've been a really good idea. But at least I'm really good at chapter 8. Its an easier chapter but I'm good at it now.
From the ride home I went straight to LAJ with Lana... It was an extremely surreal weekend, to be completely honest.
NEXT 2 has been keeping up the good work at practices and seem to be getting better every work, and NEXT 1 has, with renewed focus, gotten back on track and are ready for anything next weekend at the Southgate meet. Well, almost anyways.
Once again, I am studying for my Highland theory and realizing how much my Quizzing is helping my Highland and vice-versa. For example: one thing my teacher told me at my private lesson once that has become my motto for the rest of the year: "They're not neccessarily better than you... You're just not trying as hard as they are." I feel like I haven't been trying as hard this year, and I feel like keeping that in the forefront of my mind will remind me that it isn't an issue of being a 'good quizzer'... It's a matter of effort and trying hard.
Anyways, I'll blog about the upcoming meet another time. I only have up to chapter 5 in flashcards done and I really need those things...
Question of the blog: How was the last meet for you guys? Learn anything new?
Quizzers Unite!
Maegan
Is that even a word? I'm not sure. But April once again is awesome and has reminded me that I haven't blogged announcing the next quiz meet yet, like I usually do! Obviously, Winter break has taken a bit of a toll on my mind (and as my team would testify, my quizzing :oS). But I do have a list of valid excusees including the following (yes, I'm about to list a bunch of excuses for not blogging):
It's January, and not only does my dance school have our recital in the beginning of January, the 25th of the month is Robbie Burns Day, and Highland dancers are naturally super busy around that time. I had a dance performance yesterday and I will have another one tomorrow. If that's not excuse enough, my class was also working on new choreograpy at the beginning of December that we had just over a month to prepare, and I have a championship that I've been preparing to enter in, so I've been super dedicated to my dancing lately. Not that I haven't been trying to study as much quizzing as possible, of course.
Also, I've been really busy with my new job at Jysk. At one point I was working 20 hours in one week, although now it has eased up considerably to 7 hours, 6 this week. I literally wore pieces of dance costumes under my work clothes twice this week.
Annnnd I am now co-directing (coaching and choreographing for, scheduling practices for, writing letters to the parents of) a dance team at my church. Which if you lie in Edmonton you need to ask me about because it is awesome.
So if that's not excuse enough to have been caught up and not available to blog much, you either aren't a dancer, or didn't actually read the last few paragraphs.
But, yes, thus is my life. My flashcards are WAY behind, my blog hasn't been updated since... did I even blog about the last quiz meet? At all? Man, do I have some catching up to do!
So, let's start with the last quiz meet. Lots of fun stuff happened including a massive game of Gump that got slightly out of hand, falling flat on my face trying to do fouettes without warming up, running off to the mall during the break between prelims and championships... and oh yeah, QUIZZING :o)!
We had some really really good quizzes, all of which I am extremely proud of. There was one really crappy quiz which I would prefer not to really talk about, which was our last quiz of the day (Lana almost fell asleep on the benches, actually. It was pretty funny), but it was a fun day in general. Like normal, we took the long way around things, and placed 7th in Championships! Without a stats sheet in front of me I don't remember how NEXT 2 placed, but they did really awesome. In my opinion, they could be in the Senior bracket but *shrug*. They're doing awesome.
Personally, I placed 8th in the championship bracket which is a huge success! Not a personal best, but awesome nonetheless.
This next quiz meet is just... Gah. I'm too tired most of the time to really force myself to get pumped (dancing takes a lot of emotional, mental, and physical energy which I don't seem to have a lot of lately). However, while well-rested and caffienated, the thought of it sends my stomach butterflies insane. Without caffiene I'm not panicking though, so I guess that's a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. Bad thing because I am WAAAAAY behind and a little bit of freaking out could do my quizzing a lot of good.
I'm looking into binaural beats for focus and high brain activity, and I'll let you guys know what my experience is. Right now I'm desperate so I'll try almost anything.
Quesiton of the blog: Do you get less motivated over the Winter months? I sure do.... this happens every year!
Anywhoodiddles. There is studying to be done and I have a dance out tomorrow and I don't really have the time to be blogging :oP
QUIZZERS UNITE!
Maegan
Now, you're probably wondering: Why is April awesome? How would you know that April is awesome at this particular moment? You're in different regions!
April commented on my last blog and reminded me indirectly to write a blog about the quiz meet :oP. Thank you April, I needed a break from writing flashcards anyways (I'd just accidentally written 'since' instead of 'sins' and it's, like, 9 at night).
So. The quiz meet. It was awesome. First of all, my team, Evan, Hannah, and I, were a pretty awesome combination. Y'know, Hannah and I dancing around and Evan awkwardly standing there for, like, half of a time-out wondering what we are doing and... why? So that was fun. The Great-West-quizzers-quiz-out-on-three rule was at first depressing, but it made sense, it being the first regional and all, so who am I to argue? And also, we had a mascot. His name is Elephant. He is an elephant. Cause, y'know, an elephant never forgets. And cause elephants are pretty awesome.
We got to the hotel and decided to have pizza (Me, Mrs. Put, Hannah, my mom, and Lana were staying in the same hotel room). Panago wasn't open anymore, so we went with Boston Pizza, who said they wouldn't deliver (even though when my mom and Mrs. Put went to pick up the pizzas, they were delivering for someone else), then told us that they didn't have 2 of the pizzas we ordered, so they gave us perogie pizzas, which we DIDN'T want, so they had to wait even longer.
Meaanwhile, Hannah, Lana, and I are in the hotel randomly dancing, laughing and trying to buy pop from the drink machine in the lobby.
We had pretty crappy prelims :oP It was actually kinda funny when we got to the afternoon, finished our first quiz in last, then won the rest of the quizzes until finals... Like, WHAT just happened??? Oh, wait. Evan started quizzing out (GO EVAN!). Then Hannah happened. She decided that Evan and I werenot sufficiently stressed, so she waited until question 23 in the tie breaker, when Evan and I were quizzed out and couldn't jump, to jump, get it right (in what seemed like slow motion), and win the quiz. Thank you Hannah.
Anyways. We all did pretty well at NEXT. NEXT 1 went to championships (W00t!), my team, NEXT 2, placed 3rd in consolation, and both of our rookies were phenomenal!! Y'all are gonna have to watch out, they are showing NO signs of slowing down!
Elephant didn't jump at all. He was all distracted by his friend the frog stress ball. *shakes head* He needs to focus more, Elephant does.
We finished the meet at Smitty's as a team, and headed home, I'm not sure about anyone else, but I was pumped, no matter how sleep-deprived I was.
The district meet is already on my mind. Well, not 'already', I guess. It's not too far away. Time to start cracking down on my references and doing more flashcards, I guess.
Speaking of flashcards, I really should work on those, shouldn't I?
If there are spelling errors in the cards, now you know why, at least.
Question of the blog (and you thought I forgot): First meet of the year! How'd it go? How are your rookies doing?
Quizzers Unite!!
Maegan
So, yes, I'm tired right now. I was drilling my references (I didn't even really mean to, I was doing flashcards with the incorrect ones on repeat and I just happen to suck at verse-references) until, like, 1 last night and that's not a good idea, especially when the adrenaline hasn't completely kicked in for today.
Yup. The regional is today! I'm pretty darn excited, and this is Claire and Evan's first meet (they're our awesome rookies who are awesome) and we only have 4 small chapters... Nothing like what we had to do for John!
So, flashcards are done for up to this meet. Link in the last blog.
Annnd How I'm feeling going into this meet. Kinda iffy. Last night we had a pretty good practice but I made a bunch of really stupid errors so that was frustrating. (and by stupid I mean, really stupid, one word off, or just completely missing the question altogether). Everyone else is ready, I think. So bring it on, North people!!
Anyways. To our Southern counterparts: Good luck wherever you are (I'm unattentive and I have no idea where you guys are quizzing. Heh.), and to the rest of the North peeps: See y'all in Edson!
QUIZZERS UNITE!
Yeah, I know this is kinda last-minute for most of y'all but I FINALLY got some flashcards done. I mean, I had some done before but not enough that I was about to post about them. That would be embarassing. But anyways: FLASHCARDS! Knock yourselves out, kids: http://www.flashcardmachine.com/1507808/t1g3So. We at WCD are approaching quiz meet #1... the regional. My outlook on this meet: Positive. We have some pretty die-hard rookies and I'm actually caught up all the way for once! No cramming for me! I'm not stressing yet (well,no more than I usually do at quizzing) but that'll come in due time.
Speaking of cramming, the week of chapter 3 (2 weeks ago) we had pretty much THE worst practice ever. We as a team made, what was it... 17? Errors IN A ROW. Blech. It was horrible. Thankfully last week we redeemed ourselves and had some amazing quizzing going on!
Tonight is an important practice for me... This will give me an idea of what I need to be studying this week right before the meet... Which verses and sections I need to work on more than others. Not that I won't be studying it ALL but y'know. I didn't post this in the last blog, but for every error I get this year in practices, I write that verse out for one page... 30 times. Yeah, probably overkill but I figure that it's constructive in the end. Besides, it keeps me busy and errors suck. After Great West I did something similar (every verse once for every error I got there... Never ended up finishing that) but it was WAY too much and too sudden. Heh heh.
So... That brings me to the question of this blog (I can't believe I've been able to keep these up)... I know I already asked about weird quizzing habits, but I never asked about studying... Do you do anything weird when you're studying that nobody else does (or is willing to say they do)? For me, it's the 30-verse thing, and probably the fact that if I take breaks, I lose every bit of motivation to study I had. I have to study in lonnng sessions or I just don't. Every
Anywhoo. I'm going on for too long. *steps off of soapbox*
Quizzers Unite!!
Maegan
Well. I stopped the title before it became a song reference. Are you proud of me? I'm proud of me. Are you proud of me? LOL!
Anyways. I totally disappeared, didn't I? Yes... I vanished sometime during the last quiz meet and I haven't blooged about it and I feel like a terrible person for it. So here's the down low on the last quiz meet.
I was actually pretty relaxed by the time we got to our first quiz, probably too relaxed. A group of us quizzers got together and got a tour of Ambrose University (they have an amazing music room, by the way), and we had watched Tim Hawkins for most of the drive, so we weren't really in the worst mood. Dropped my stuff off at the hotel where my mom and I were staying, went out for supper and showed up a bit early, not that it was a bad thing. Talked to some people, got pumped up, went to announcements, and trekked upstairs for the first quiz of the meet.
Jon and Patricia did really well in the first quiz, but I erred out. Talk about a bad move right off the bat. I couldn't think about how everyone else was doing as much cause I just kept thinking about how stupid all of my jumps were and how much of a moron I felt like for getting the questions wrong that I did. It was not a good quiz, in my opinion, and after the quiz Jon and I ripped up the score sheet into several pieces. My mom took me out for ice cream right before DQ closed, and we watched a movie. WOAH! What happened there? I wasn't studying? Like, really? Yeah. I freak myself out, too.
I admit, I still didn't sleep very long but when I woke up I wasn't in a panic like I usually am during quiz meets. Which was odd. But on to the stuff we care about, right? The quizzing. The morning quizzes went a LOT better than the quiz the night before and we all felt better in the end of it all, making it into championships and stuff. We were excited, like we always are when we do well, and even though we took a long road in the afternoon, didn't make it to finals. We had some amazing quizzes, impossible questions, Patricia banged her head on a microphone (then got the question right) and we had an all-around good time. Jon, Patricia and I all made it to Great West and we're all going, after I talked their heads off and threatened to kick Jon. Heh heh. I'm not violent.
BUT WAIT! There's more! We all went to Great White North practice together!! YAY! That was fun. My quizzing was... off... Patricia didn't feel too good either, but the day was fun. Before the practice, Patricia and I went looking around at Home Hardware, then I felt bad for just hanging around in the store and bought tic tacs. :oD.
The practice itself was great. I got some good advice on jumping, challenging tips (no, I'm not gonna dedicate an entire page to challenging. Maybe.), and TONS of motivation.
Anyways, Great West is a day after tomorrow, and I have a LOT of work to do... I'm gonna go finish up the flashcards! Up to chapter 18 is up... I apologize for the wait and the rushed-ness of this blog!
Quizzers UNITE!
Maegan
Tomorrow! Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrooooooow there'll be suuuuuuunnn! Just thinking abooooout.... Tomorrow! Wipes away the cobwebs and the sorroooooow till theres noooooone...
Yeah. The quiz meet? Its tomorrow. Lets all break out into song. From Annie. Yeah. We're all that cool. Who's ready? Not me! Although, when am I ever ready for these things?
So... after arranging rides and everything to and from Calgary, NEXT had an epic practice today! Our last-minute stuff always goes well... even though today we were all acting unnaturaly protective of our specializations and stuff... we're trying to all get really great personal scores to get into Great West and that I guess is turning us all into total divas... LOL!
Preparation for the meet... I'm going to wake up early tomorrow morning to get my flashcarsd done and getting everything ready for the meet tonight so I have nothing to worry about tomorrow morning. Around this time every meet, I usually have my cards done. Unfortunately, this time I don't. I apologize.
Here at NEXT we have decided (well, at least kind of decided) that we are going to attempt to avoid the candy, sweets, and any form of unhealthy food that we may come across for this entire weekend in attempts to have sharper minds and healthier bodies for quizzing. Jon's theory is that the 'junk' food will slow us down and we won't quiz our best. Or, ahem, as Patricia would say, beyond our best. Hopefully this is the right move, or at least a good one that we can keep up. I guess I'll have to switch to herbal tea to keep me awake, huh?
Well, I have flashcards to do, sleep to try to get, and a bag to finish packing.
Question: What is the most important item you have at a quiz meet, other than studying materials?
So... until we meet again, QUIZZERS UNITE!!!
Maegan
Okay guys. Quiz meet. You knew that this blog was coming. You knew it... its the blog about the quiz meet. And boy, do I have a blog for YOU!
Okay, so, chapter one: Arrive. Talk to friendly people who I like talking to until my parents arrive... my dad actually came for Friday night! Not as freaked out as I was last meet, finally spot my team and stand around talking about how pumped we are and playing cat's cradle (or attempting to, in my case). Sit down in the sanctuary, choose a stress ball for the night, hand out some blueberry-pomegranite gum and sit, talk, and wait for announcements to start with a huge case of the butterflies. We. Were. Ready.
Chapter two: After waiting around, watching quizzes, and running through a few dances in the hallway to get my blood pumping and get excited and stuff, we sit down to quiz. I, of course, MUST have the seat furthest away from the quizmaster or I get a bit freaked out. We did well that quiz... Finishing with 180 points, we did well and my dad was proud.
Chapter three: Fast forward to Saturday morning. My dad unfortunately couldn't be there, but we, NEXT 1, were determined to do well. First quiz of the day was a perfect quiz. Like, it couldn't have gone any better for our team. We all quizzed out with no errors, finishing with a score of 300! This gave us the confidence boost that we so needed for the rest of the day... and believe me... that little boost was all we needed.
Chapter 4: Last preliminary quiz, 170 points. Happy face :o) The rest of my team went to Ikea for lunch, but my mom and I went to Fat Burger, and that was the best veggie burger EVER! Just saying. I got a new fidget toy from Education Station (a didget fidget... look em up. They're fun!) and arrived back to find out that we, NEXT 1, had actually placed 1st in the morning. I did, in that moment, feel unprepared for this, so I went and studied until Alannah and Jessica from Edson 1 came and said hi to me. Then all of the sudden there was, like, a party in room 7. That was fun. At 2:00, though, with dropped jaws and twinkling eyes, we headed to our first quiz of the afternoon. We had a great afternoon after that... We all had those moments where we got questions that we thought otherwwise impossible and were happy to have some very close quizzes with neck-to-neck competition. After a few of these quizzes, we had done what in previous years, and even just moments before, we would've thought impossible. We actually made it to finals!!!!
Chapter 5: After running outside for a little bit to cool down, eating some fruit and freaking out a bit more, it was time. We were called to the sanctuary for announcements. I was dying on the inside. I really was. I just wanted to get this over with... we had already decided as a team that now nothing mattered. Even if we all erred out, it wouldn't matter. So we walked in, jumped fast (but smart), respected eachother's specializations, and started the quiz strong. John got an impossible quote (number wasn't really even close to finished)... We were feeling good, but we didn't really take the quiz seriously until we got third person in. Now the rubber met the road. Question 11. We can actually do this... we can do this because we really actually don't care. We're not freaking out. We're not stressed. I answered the last question. Multiple answer. What came... grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. They said I was right. My face went beet red and I ran back to our seats crying. We did it. We actually did it. We prayed and thanked God for giving us the opportunity and putting us on such a great team together... still couldn't believe it!
Great meet... I placed 10th, Jon placed 8th, Patricia placed 13th... and we're all VERY happy! :oD! Teamwork is a valuable thing!
NEXT 2 did really well too! Shoutout to Lana for placing 14th in Consolation... we're all, at NEXT, doing a lot better than we ever have before. I think I speak for everyone at NEXT when I say that we all did our personal bests. (patricia says that best i
Question: How was YOUR quiz meet?
Quizzers UNITE!!!
Maegan
So... first of all... I thought it'd just be responsible of me to say this... My Nerves page is not a cure for anxiety disorders, nor is however the advice works for you diagnostic of an anxiety disorder, however, if you are experiencing extreme anxiety that cannot be subdued, or the anxiety is unexplainable or continues even when you're not quizzing, if it is interfering with your life or if you have to sit out quizzes because it gets that bad, you may want to consider talking to your doctor about the possibility of an anxiety disorder. They won't judge you... in my experience, my doctor was impressed that I brought the issue up on my own and helped me find the help I needed. If you need advice or support in doing so, feel free to email me at [email protected].
I'm also going to copy/paste this to the Nerves section... but seriously. If you have anxiety that you suspect is a problem, even if it isn't a treatable illness, just asking your doctor for a referral to a psychologist or group therapy IS A GOOD IDEA.
Now that I'm done telling you about that, let's move on to the issue of the week.
In case you didn't notice in my last post, its the quiz meet.
I did, and I am proud of this, talk to a Kids Help Phone counsellor this morning and recieved some great advice on how to avoid getting myself worked up so I'm not freaking out as much as I usually am. Extra practice today went well, and I feel like I'm prepared for (almost) anything. Team strategy is getting worked out for NEXT 1 (we're all shooting for Great West) and we are READY! Yes, yes I did actually just say that. We're ready. Are you?
Question of the day: What is the first thing that goes through your mind when you've just quoted a loooong verse and the quizmaster says the dreaded word: "Again"?
For me, I think, "My. Life. Is. Over." For half of a second, then I realize that self-pity never helped anyone and start going over the verse again, and super slowly.
Quizzers UNITE!!!!
Maegan
Pardon my Alesana reference... if you don't know what that means, don't try to find out... just for those of you who...
Okay, I'll stop being obsessive. This blog is really, really, late. Who missed me :D??? *cricket sound effect* FINE! I'll just write this blog to myself. Dear me...
I'm kidding. Anyways, due to the lateness of this blog I still haven't reported on how the first quiz meet of the year went. For me, it was definitely an exercise of self-control... not only are the standards of jumping in John much slower than Corinthians but I was told by many people at numerous different times to *not* quiz out all the time, slow down and let the rookies get used to jumping... and I tried! I really did, I swear! But... like I said, controlling my jumping? Not my forte.
In the end of it all, NEXT came first in both divisions, championships and consolation, my team being in consolation, I placed first in consolation and Jon placed first in championships and Patricia placed 3rd in championships and we were all umping around in room 1 and sqealing about how much of a coincidence it was...
Anyways, mixed feelings towards that quiz meet, cause as slow as I was trying to jump I still managed to get an error in all but 2 quizzes... Oh well. Just means I should be studying more, right?
So.... another quiz meet in less than 2 weeks... WHAAAAAT? Where did the time go? Oh, I know, NaNoWriMo (writing a 50,000 word rough draft of a novel in one month)... darn it. No... I shouldn't use writing a novel in a month as an excuse... I really should be studying more... so last night I got my word count 3,000 over so I could study...
Question: What's your biggest distraction from studying? I doubt I'm going to get any answers from that question. I really don't think anyone wants to say that.
Update on the car accident: Still a bit sore, but physiotherapy has been helping a lot and if all else fails, I've got all the right medication... (no I'm not a drug dealer...)
Anyways, back to the books, keep sending stuff in... COMMENT! Please? April gets 5 stars for commenting on my last blog :o)
Quizzers UNITE!!!!
Maegan
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