Escalators: We're moving up in the world.

Apparently, I haven't blogged in so long that Blogger changed up everything up on me!  Here's to learning something new about formatting.

Oh where to begin? NFA? That sounds about right... I think.

So seven creative and slightly crazy individuals loaded up a ten passenger van and decided to drive from Minnesota to West Virginia. Why West Virginia? Because there was a national tournament in Ohio. Duh. More clarification is on the way, let me explain. The tournament was in Athens, Ohio (it's actually more fun to say, "I'm going to Athens for a week. Kisses!" but they only envy you until they find out you are lying.) But considering that every one in the country who owns a suit was also going to Athens for the week, we were forced to get a hotel room slightly farther away.... In Parkersburg, West Virginia. That's about an hour away for those of you who aren't geography whizzes. Regardless, that makes 16 hours in a van traversing across 6 states. That's right, MN, IA, IL, IN, OH, and WV. BAM. Though we travel cross country relatively often, there is always that breaking point where everything is funny. EVERYTHING. Suddenly as people are giggling about murals of rams, and hypothetical situations that involve fist fights in suits, there's a moment where everything makes sense. I mean why not drive a ten passenger van across the United States to wear suits at ungodly hours and talk at people for trophies? Obvious decision.  I will say that this distance thing played in our favor at least in some ways. For instance, When was the last time you fit 5 girls in one hotel room comfortably? Hmm? I didn't hear you, you said 'never' right? WRONG! It happened.

Imagine this with me for a moment. Open the door and there are three beds pushed up against the wall directly opposite the door.... But you have to take about 4 giant steps to get from the door to the foot of the nearest bed. Once you are there, you must shout to make the the person who is standing across the room hear you. This is an amphitheater. A place where you can do an entire floor routine with ease (provided that you can do a floor routine), run sprints and/or relays, pitch tents, and learn to ski. I'm kidding, there's no snow. But it seems so silly to have to yell at your teammate while she straightens her hair just to get her attention. There were cartwheels done. That's all I'm saying.

NFA went how NFA does. It starts slowly (UNDERSTATEMENT) and then 3 days later, acts like a regular tournament when you don't really have time to eat and adrenaline is pumping all the time. But those are out-round days... Short list of successful things: Me-Quarterfinals Drama, Chloe-Quarterfinals ADS, Semifinals-Inform, Final Prose (3rd), Kaitlin- Quarterfinals Persuade, and Finals in Forensics Criticism (3rd). Not half bad right? Go scary cats! Wait for it. Awards finally rolls around, and we are frantically counting how many events we brought.  Each division is divided up according to how many slots your brought. Division III: 1-17 slots. Division II: 18-26 (That's us), Division I: 27-48, and Open: All the other slots. So with our total of 26 slots, we won our division. But the shocking part is that our point total bumped us into the Open Division and placed 9th! HOLY GUACAMOLE! The proudest scary cat.

Then there's the reverse tale of driving back home... You know, like counting license plates, playing tag (outside, in the gas station, in the van... it's a long drive ok, stop judging me), inventing games that involve pillows, crackers, and sleep deprived people=olympic sport, singling loudly, staring contests (KBG and Shelbs 10:00.....  not exact, but definitely certifiable), and knitting. Ok the knitting was just me, but still. I like to think it was productive, or part of it was. I will finish that baby blanket if it kills me. The most miraculous part is that super star Cadi drove the whole thing by herself. What a beast. We will break the NFA two-clap rule to give her a standing O. Back on campus, and it's the weirdest to not climb in a ten passenger van every weekend.

So I'm going to wrap this up here. And if I'm really good I'll let myself blog again soon... maybe even sooner than you think.