We watched long enough to pick out favorites and become irritated at the tediousness of the thing. But still we watched. I have questions. Why doesn't the emcee just GIVE the speller the language of origin, the alternate pronunciations, the definition, and the alternate definitions? Good grief. Every single kid up there asks for this stuff. Why must they do this, Mister Microphone Man? Just give it to them already so that we can shave a few hours off of this thing, designate a winner, and finally let ourselves change the dad gum channel.
Well, in all honesty, I love words, and I love spelling them too. I remember in fourth grade the exact word that was to burst my own spelling bee glory bubble. It was "citizen." So I spelled it "sitisen" -- gimme a break, I was ten. As soon as they said the word to me, I remember feeling all of the blood drain out of my face and the actual sensation of becoming the color gray. I knew I was toast as I finished with the last letter. There was a sad shake of the head, a slinking walk back to my mom's lap, and quiet little tears. Ahh... spelling bees.... good times. Every kid needs a little torture.
Anyway, we watched the last 20, or so, spellers dwindle one by one. I loved Tia Thomas. She had such a cute little smile every time she walked up to the microphone. I also loved her little nervous tick when she first heard the word she was to spell. It was a little lean to the left so that she could flip her hair behind her shoulder. What a cutie. Ahh... but she didn't win. Ugh.
My next favorite became Sidharth. He was easy to love because... well... who doesn't find a special place in their heart for a 12 year old with facial hair? He was so sweet to watch. His little tick was to finger spell the word on his hand as he said the letters. Oh Sidharth... we are kindred spelling spirits. I used to do that too. (I also had a little OCD habit for a short time in my life where I actually felt compelled to visualize my hands typing specific words over and over in my head too. This wasn't the result of spelling bee misfortune, but rather, a consequence of taking a keyboarding class in high school. I got an A, but I think I took it a little too far.) So what was I saying? Ahh, but no... good ol' Sidharth didn't win either.
Congrats to Sameer. Yeah, okay, Sameer. I'll give this one to you. But only because I have recently watched the movie "Office Space" and am still fresh with an appreciation for a character who shares your first name. It's a different spelling though -- Samir. Sameer, Samir... who really cares about the spelling, right? ...... crickets chirping.
An aside to my work friends who teach fourth grade social studies: Most of these words I'd NEVER heard of before, but girls, we would've known one! Parfleche! Imagine me all puffed up and throwing a little trash talk to the girl who missed that one. Oh yeah, baby!
My demise was the word "awful." Who knew it had a "w" in it! In my head it only made sense to be spelled allful.
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