Finally, I have time to breathe. I've been nearly disengaged from the internet and general society for about two weeks now with how busy I've been with Science Olympiad Regionals. I now have a day off, and then one week of studying until Knowledge Bowl State. Then three more weeks until Science Olympiad State. Should be a busy month.
Regionals was pretty messed up. Two of our best people couldn't go due to the SAT, so I convinced about 5 people including myself to cover everything they were doing. Strangeness ensued, as I attempted to compete in 7 events within 6 event periods. 16 teams showed up to the competition.
1. Technical Problem Solving - 3rd place. I got gold last year and the year before, but we had a bad draw this year. Of all the possible categories, the one they chose was the only one I hadn't prepared much for, that of colorimetry.
2. Chemistry Lab - 7th place. Neither me or my partner had taken chemistry before, and the fact that every group had to spend half the time getting their materials at the beginning (the event supervisors hadn't considered getting them beforehand or anything...) meant that we didn't even finish the lab, but neither did most other teams.
3. Sounds of Music - 5th place. Normally one of my better events, but my partner was SAT testing and didn't have time to finish his PVC french horn. Instead I showed up with a gutter-pipe marimba and my partner took the unfinished horn and tried to use only his mouth to change notes. (We ended up playing a horribly mangled Ride of the Valkyries, but got bonus points for creativity when I explained the physics behind my partner's "Tsungi horn.")
4. Rocks and Minerals - 2nd place. I was really prepared for this event, with about 20 pages of notes and diagrams. Too bad I left them at home. I wrote down everything I could remember in the 20 minutes before the event started, and then we guessed what a lot of rock samples were. I was surprised.
5. Dynamic Planet - 1st place. I won gold last year, and did so again. The test was a lot harder, but this proved to be somewhat of a boon. Half the teams there didn't even stick around to finish the test, and it was all about freshwater systems.
5.5. Protein Modeling - 2nd place. I rush-delivered my protein model for judging while running to Anatomy and Physiology. My partner took the protein test alone, as I was busy.
6. Anatomy and Physiology - 1st place. This was the one of only two events our B team participated in. We were called up for fourth place, but then we were called up for 1st place once the confusion was sorted out. (Our B-team actually got 4th.)
As a team, we did pretty badly on the build events, but now we have a month to finish them. I'm going to be finishing my bagpipe and my partner his french horn, so we've got a shot at Sounds of Music. (Damn reeds are hard to carve when you can't use actual reeds. I'm using yogurt cups!) The Mega-Pipes of Doom will have to wait a bit.
In other happy: I got accepted to The EverGreen State College, so now I just need to apply for boatloads of scholarships.
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Topic: [MILK] There were 12 eggs here what did you do with them? (Happy thread?!) (Read 16271819 times)