ALSA UI 2008, Seven Days of -everything-… Part 1
7 DAYS OF MIRACLES
It all began with a dream of a girl with no hope of reaching her dream. 2007 was a year full of complicated things, where I transferred myself to a more rebel one coz frankly I was really tired with my monotonistic life. When debate came to my aid and changed my life, ALSA UI was one of a thousand dreams of mine. I couldn’t go there coz I was a real beginner and I didn’t have enough confidence to begin with.
Thanks to my masters at ITB, little by little I started to gain confidence and started to have a better goal in competitions. I used to have a goal of “just break to the next round” , but since I had practices with them (since November 2007) I had my spirit burning inside my heart and found myself a more skilled debater (although, still, I’m not really good).
At the top of all my dreams, this national competition, ALSA UI. I obviously couldn’t participate in ISDC (that chance had been grabbed unfairly from me), so this is just my last hope of joining a national competition.
At first, my honourable coach, Mr. Uphie, defined the first team as Me, Ega, and Gichie because we passed the InterComp. After several “magical spells” (not to mention being spoiled kids), me and Ega managed to change it into a more comfortable x) one : Me, Marini, and Ega. Yeah! Luv my teammates so much! We’re so synchronized each other folks!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
17.00 – Went to Jakarta by Xtrans (is it important?)
Really sorry for the other passengers, but well we three were so noisy..talking about boys and love and friends and first world countries and Beijing Olympic and ASEAN Charter…almost everything, and suddenly arrived in Jakarta (about 20.00) and slept in one of Ega’s cousin’s house.
We also talked about debate matter and I adjudicated a debate between Ega and Marini about Teacher Certification Scheme. (don’t forget…we were also gossipping…yeah! Long live gossip! Haha. THBT Gossip is one of the most important part of a debater, I’m pro).
Thursday, April 17, 2008
I thought it was the day of technical meeting. But well, it was just intended for opening ceremony. Hwaaa…I had just realized how big this competition was. Not too narsisstic when the committee claims that ALSA UI is the biggest English competition in Indonesia. It is.
Met with our LO, Agan. He was ex-student of SMA 3 and really cooperative, altho I don’t know whom he was when he was still being SMA 3 student.
The opening ceremony, held in Balai Sidang, was actually great. But well, just for footnote, there were too many unneeded speeches in the opening ceremony. Hey, what’s the point of telling the audiences that you’re married for the 2nd time at the present? xP
The opening ceremony ended at…before noon I think. Me, Ega, Marini, and the other SMA 3 team (Afifa, Aria, Gichie) plus St. Angela Team (William, Agus, Debora) wanted to have a sparring at first. But when we ended up at Wisma Makara and lied on comfortable beds and spoiled by air conditioner, that incentive changed T_T. Rather than spar each other, we took photos (being narsisstic…again and again…this sickness x) , exchanged gossip (again and agaaaaiiiinnn), watched TV… I had a small talk about blog and law enforcement with Aria and Agus but after that no serious talk happened again. (I was “distracted” by SMSes from my crush, though xP).
Went back ‘home’ at 13.00. Brainstorm with Ega and Marini (filled with some unimportant talks at YM) and ended our day with a hope and pray that we’d be at our best the next day.
Friday, April 18, 2008
The first day of competition! Yeah!! Gathered at Auditorium Djokosoetomo. Almost every seat was fulfilled. Lil’ lil’ girl in a big big world. Felt a feeling that you only feel when you start your first day of debating.
First opponent, Santa Ursula Jakarta. Several gossip came to our ears that they were really good and Canisius spars with them. But we tried to ease that fear (in my mind was : those who are good is the level of Uphie and Masyhur. Wahahaha. It was effective, though).
It was a flip-stance debate, but we tried to stick to our real stance. Almost no clash, we were afraid that we were gonna lose,,coz we were on the negative side whose job is to clash with the affirmative. But then again….
WON! Split decision 2 to 1. First adjudicator (adj) gave the winning to them (margin 1). The chair adj gave it to us (margin 1). The 3rd adj…margin 7.5 to us! Hahaha…thank God. (btw, Ega and Marini said that the chair adj was good-looking…but I didn’t think he was, at least at first. He seemed more attractive at the last day for me ^_^).
That was the only debate for the first day. SMA 3 B won too. Watched Varsity debate between ITB B (Elfa, Tyson, Pandu) and UNILA. My alliances, ITB, won xP
Went back home with a glimmer of hope.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
2nd day of debating.
SUCKS. Haaah. 2 rounds. Both lost.
2nd in tabulation, had to face Canisius A. Altho we were the government side and the motion was THW Limit Professional Work Force Migrating From Developing Countries, we lost. Aaaarrrggghhh. I’ve long wanted to beat Canisius since my first loss in ALSA UNPAD! Huhuuu. But well, I have to say that every debate with Canisius Team is always fun. ^_^
Boby, Stef, William! Someday you’ll feel my revenge. Haha. Just kidding guys, you’re nice. Well, revenge in debate is not revenge in the real world.
After that, hmm. Top of the 1VP-ers. Next opponent…WSDC (World School Debating Championship) A. Dennys, Grace, and Dimas. Impromptu motion. Nyaahaa. THW Give Quota For Ethnic Minorities in Parliament. Halah. I didn’t even know the issue, Marini hadn’t read much about Malaysia although it was her job, and Ega tried to be calm but still frantic.
I had the WORST casebuild ever in my life! Ega couldn’t concentrate, and couldn’t ‘stimulate’ me and Marini to think as usual. Marini tried to bring this case to Malaysia but then again no further explanation. After a bit this and that (freaking Opera Mini!) we decided to bring the case to UNITED KINGDOM. Okay, it was a TOTAL DISASTER. Blah. In addition to all of this, I didn’t have the same perception as Ega. I thought it was A, and when I delivered A in my speech, Ega blamed me because she and Marini had been thinking about B. Sh*t! I was always synchronized each other with my teammates! Hell!
While remembering every little oath that I took about “no crying thingy”, I tried to be strong. Hmm, personally I think maybe I can beat them…in some better occasions (not to mention I had my worst there). But who knows…
Yeah…as predicted, lost. Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh. Lost with 4 margin. Ended up the day with some curses BUT not tears. Tried to be strong. When we got home we promised to do our best the next day. Coz what else could we do? We HAD TO win. Cleansweep for the next day!
*btw, ITB A lost twice too that day. ITB B had a blaze of glory.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Yeah well. WE COULD NOT LOSE. NO WAY WE COULD LOSE.
We really had a BIG pressure…well if we lost just once that day, we couldn’t go to the next round. We couldn’t break, and WE DIDN’T WANT THAT.
Again, top of the 1-VP-ers. First opponent, SMAK 3 BPK Penabur Jakarta B. Their first speaker’s face was so like me in many ways (but I have to say that I’m pretty much sweeter, ahahah. At least I’m friendly to new people, she wasn’t). THBT Wikipedia Should Weed Out Trivial Entries. We were…negative. Yeah! Why the hell should Wikipedia weed out trivial entries, heh? The definition brought up by that so-called “my twin sister” was really funny. Trivial entries: something that should not be in encyclopedia, because what should be in encyclopedia is only SCIENTIFICAL RESEARCH THAT HAS BEEN PROVEN SCIENTIFICALLY. Hey, even scientists themselves have different opinion and we can’t be sure where the truth is!
Well, we took that definition to our advantage, of course. Asking continously about “the limitation of right and wrong” made everything good for us. Won with 4 point something margins, and the best speaker(s) were THE THREE OF US. HAHAHA. The most memorable part of the debate, well: Debating about whether or not NARUTO is in wikipedia! Ahahaha! Hey FYI, I saved every little thing about Naruto that I found in Wikipedia. Even I knew that Itachi died in Sasuke’s hands because of Wikipedia! HUAHAHA.
Nah, this is the toughest part. After smiled and laughed because of the existence of Naruto in a “scientifically proven encyclopedia”, now we really had to win.
Once again, we were the top of the 2-VP-ers (always became the top of the losers, eh?). Had to face…SMAN 1 Depok. Somebody said that the third speaker was bitchy. Ah, I thought, he couldn’t’ve been bitchier than Dimas, rite? Ahahah, I’m used to weird species, don’t worry (sorry Dimas, this is not intended to mock you. Eheheh).
Well, the motion was THW Disarm Its Citizens. Ah, I remembered the first time Uphie came to SMA 3 and began coaching…trial version it was…that beautiful (hehehe sorry) skinny man with green shirt, tried to make us understand about THW Abolish The Constitutional Right To Bear Arms and he said it was one of AUDC’s motion…
Enough flashbacking. Huhu, how nice he was when he began coaching. No heartless at all. But as time went by… T_T
So thanks to “The Holy Bible” of Pros and Cons: A Debater’s Handbook and digging up the old memories about Uphie, we successfully brought the case to USA and the negative seemed didn’t expect us to bring it to USA. But they were good. Eventually we beat them in the end, and, waow.
The atmosphere of Auditorium Djokosoetomo was quite unfriendly. Everybody was waiting for their names to be displayed on the big screen as the Octofinalists. I was quite confident that my team would be one, coz even if we had only 3 VPs but our team score was high. At the end of the day, yes, we launched to Octofinal! With THE HIGHEST TEAM SCORE OF ALL! HOORAY!
That’s all for Part 1. Next will be the 2nd part: Knock-Out Rounds. ^_^
