Talk the talk.

I'm currently at a forensics tournament at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. For those of you who don't know, forensics is a fancy name for speech and debate, a.k.a. the art of competitive public speaking. I've been doing this since seventh grade (except for last spring when I took a semester off).

Now, I love to talk. I have since my very first word which, by the way, was applesauce. So why would I pass up the chance to get to talk and earn trophies for doing it? But no, that's not the real reason why I get up early and stay up late to do this little-known activity.

I've always wanted to be an actress, and this is a way to exercise my acting chops without running all over the country spending tons of money on head shots and gas to get to auditions and all that. (I would like to do that one day, but right now my funds are extremely limited.) Not only that, but I feel like I'm spreading my message throughout the world. In speech, you choose what you want to talk about--the message you spread is yours completely.

I'll miss this activity dearly when I graduate. I know most of my happiest memories from the past ten years of my life have had something to do with forensics. But until my speech career is over, I'll just have to keep making new memories and loving every moment.