I'm the biggest geek ever (also the biggest GLEEK), so you can bet that I have on my Outlook calendar to watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals tonight, starting at 8PM on ABC. When I was in sixth grade, I won my class spelling bee, and also beat every other classroom winner in the school. I went on to compete in the district, where I lost out on first place by one word. ONE WORD. I'll never forget the two words I blew: tariff and magnate. They told me I'd step in for the winner if he/she couldn't make it for some reason. Of course, I never got that phone call. It was the saddest day of my life.
Ever since then, I've been trying to live vicariously through the winners of each year's Scripps Spelling Bee. I even borrowed that documentary on the Bee from the library, crying into my pillow, "That could've been me!" My goal is to train my kids to enter the Bee someday. They will be spelling "etymology" before they begin to teethe. I will take them to DC and they will get to shake the hand of that guy with the glasses who reads all the words, if he's still around. They will meet all the Indian kids and learn to spell their names, backwards, as this will surely psych them all out, not to mention give my kids the boost of confidence they need to win the Bee.
Until that glorious day, I will settle for watching the Bee on television.
(Pictured: A contestant in this year's Bee. That could've been me! High-waisted pants and all.)
LOL! I did a search on the Bee and stumbled upon your blog. Anyway, I actually won district in 6th grade and went down at state on the word "metalworker". I was SO angry at myself because I spelled it with a "d" (how it was pronounced over and over) instead of a "t". I had them repeat it several times, but they weren't going to emphasize that "t" for anything. Sighhhh. :( (That could've been me!)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on winning district in 6th grade! Since you went further than I did, it could've been you more than it could've been me. :)
ReplyDelete