What up gang,
I told you I'd be a little elusive since 2nd semester of law school started, but felt I needed to check in. Unfortunately, for those of you looking for fantasy-related stuff, that's next post, and I promise I'll post more often. I've made a "contract," if you will, with myself that binds me to that promise. It's like an attorney-client relationship: You click the mouse, I protect your (fantasy house).
Anyway, today I want to turn back to something that was one of the highlights of my 2008 year: The 2008 National Spelling Bee. Not just the actual spelling bee itself, but the events that led up to it. (But if you do want to see my thoughts on last year's bee, look up what I wrote last summer w/ posts on June 1st and June 7th).
First off, I am no spelling whiz. In junior high, I had 3 chances at spelling bee glory and failed miserably all 3 times: 1.) My first year I actually got to the school spelling bee, where I was eliminated on the word "melisha," or at least, how i spelled it. It was only later I found it it was militia, which seems obvious to any clear-minded adult now but was a mystery to me back there, i thought it was either a term for a cute-looking girl or some sort of watery cesspool, one of the 2. )The next year I was eliminated on "winsome" when I thought my teacher pronounced it "windsome," which might be a word? I didn't think to ask for a re-pronunciation back in the day, and I still contest that she didn't say it that well, kind of like the infamous "banns" controversy in the "Spellbound movie." 3.) My last time through, I also advanced to the school spelling bee, knocked out on "opthamology"- I think that's how you spell it. Tough word for an 8th grader.
Anyways, my point is that almost all kids have some memory of going through a spelling bee. Most of us remember that word that we got out on, the few seconds of disappointment of what could have been, then go back to our normal lives. I think for the few exceptional students who make it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee every year, it just makes it so much more amazing that they're there. They compete against 20 million other students across the country in this competition, PLUS spellers from foreign countries. Every time there's a national spelling bee, then, it's a compilation of some of the smartest, most hard-working, competitive, and hope-inspiring kids that come across the country to compete for one goal, and I think it's one of the best aspects of our country. ( And people say U.S. is behind in education? pssshhhh).
I know there's a few blogs out there that cover the National Spelling Bee in-depth on the days of the spelling bee, but I'd like to throw my name in the hat, and if you guys are long-time readers you know I provide smart, funny analysis of live games, and I'm gonna pour my heart into blogging for the spelling bee this year as well.
I'm also going to be updating the blog on days leading up to the big event, like a "only 20 days until Christmas sort of thing." So this year, the spelling bee is May 26-28, starting on a Tuesday, so we only have 108 Days Until the National Spelling Bee! Yay! But yea, lemme build up the hype, come along for the ride, I promise you're gonna like it.
So what's this Josephine Kao effect, you might wonder? Well, last year I was really impressed with several of the spellers in the spelling bee and blogged about a few being formidable contestants for this year, and I identified most with Josephine cuz she's a fellow Californian, a fellow Asian-American (I'm assuming this is right, correct me if I'm wrong), and it didn't hurt that she got an interview on ESPN with Erin Andrews ( who if you don't know, EVERY male sports fan wants to have a prolonged conversation with).
Anyway, I blogged about Josephine and her mad spelling skills, and she actually read the blog and commented back! (At least, someone claiming to be her) Yay! Proof that hard work pays off, and that I'm not just writing about nothing! Haha, but yea, my post was very sincere, every spelling bee that I have watched I have a favorite, and I root for that person. So needless to say, I've hopped on the Josephine Kao bandwagon. I feel like I should make a catchy shirt that says, "Josephine: the spelling queen" and have Erin Andrews come interview me at the spelling bee as a super-fan. Meanwhile, Josephine and many other young spellers are studying really hard right now just preparing for that day 4 months away when they can showcase their skills, leave it all out on the microphone, and put their spelling where their mouth is.
So that's that. Make sure you get ready to watch the spelling bee this year, make plans to come back to this blog on those days to get the latest update on the bee, even if you're watching the bee you should come on here just to read the posts, I promise to keep it entertaining for you.
Fanaticize on,
Robert Yan
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