it's that spelling bee time of year

A couple hours ago J and I came back to our hotel room, flipped on the TV (having a TV around is kind of fun, I have to say), and there was the National Spelling Bee! Actually, it was a rerun of the 2008 National Spelling Bee. The 2009 bee starts tomorrow.

So it reminded me that it's that spelling bee time of year again. It's kind of funny, because the last 5 years I have been in DC during it, which brings back memories of my own national spelling bee experience in 1992, here in DC.

There's not much to say about the bee itself. I spelled out in the first round. (On sagittal, which I believe I spelled sagital. It means arrow-shaped. If only I'd been a little more into astrology I might have figured it out-- think Sagittarius!) But that week in DC was kind of a dream come true. I have this memory of reading a magazine article about the National Zoo, specifically about the monkeys in the National Zoo-- this must have been when I was in 7th or 8th grade. I wanted to go to the National Zoo and see them so badly. Who knew that at the end of 8th grade I actually would get an all-expenses-paid trip to DC (Mom and Brian went as well), where I would not only get to see the National Zoo, but all sorts of other great DC sites, as well as stay in a fancy hotel and meet lots of other nerdy kids my own age? It was all a blast. I remember this fancy barbecue at a historical house that had belonged to George Mason (and square dancing with an intern who was so glamorous in my 13-year old eyes), seeing the DC sites, going to some other historic city (Old Town Alexandria perhaps?), and parties at the hotel.

I do remember crying my heart out, like I couldn't stop, after I spelled out. I think it was from all the tension of the event (bright lights, cameras, not to mention months of build-up) as much as disappointment at spelling out. Or maybe I had delusions of winning the bee, who knows. So many things seemed so grievously disappointing at that age, that I just laugh at now.

Other memories: Being on the front page of the Corvallis paper a couple times. (They were sponsoring me so of course were interested in doing features about their little contestant!) Being recognized in the Albany mall once (I guess from my newspaper picture). One little boy I used to babysit was (by his mother's account) so starstruck over his babysitter being on the front page of the paper that he sat at breakfast staring at the paper and refusing to eat. Months were consumed in studying little flashcards with color coded words. (Mom, how many hours did you spend making those cards and coloring the vowels-- ironic that it wasn't vowels that tripped me up but double consonants, in the actual bee!) I remember getting 2 new snazzy (so I thought) outfits for the trip-- my favorite being a baggy turquoise t-shirt tucked into long baggy shorts with a torquise-and-hot-pink on white plaid, all from The Closet. (Ah, early 90s fashion!) That was what I wore in the actual bee. Oh, and the trophy I won at the local bee sitting in the entryway of my tiny junior high school for an entire year. I think I actually felt pretty awkward about all the attention. (Thirteen was a very awkward age for me anyway.) But getting to go to the bee was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

And now, every year when the National Spelling Bee rolls around and I see those cute, awkward kids on TV, it brings it all back...

I have been at a conference this weekend and also working crazy hours on a consultant project that just threw me an impossible deadline. I am past the deadline, and exhausted from too little sleep and too much conferencing, and drinking coffee in the middle of the afternoon just to keep my eyes open and my fingers typing, and I think I am almost done and then can have a bit of a break tomorrow before my next conference starts on Wed. In the meantime, while I am working away this afternoon, I am taking little breaks to amuse myself with all things Spelling Bee. Their website actually has a quiz you can take to see if you would qualify (well, supposing you were in 8th grade). Supposedly I would, although every year when I watch the kids spell I think that they are waaay smarter than I am. And I also found this fun article about what has happened to some of the champions, when I was looking up what happened to Miss 1992 (who, it turns out, has her own Wikipedia page). The article seems to be quite interested in whether or not they still put their win on their resumes!