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Aaron Merritt
Mrs. Campbell
UIL Misfortune
27, October 27, 2004
UIL Misfortune
	Last year at the UIL area competition for Computer Science, I won 2nd place with ease. When we got back our scores, I learned that I would have to go compete at region. When we set off to the competition, a friend and I ate at Taco Bell. While we were eating, my friend said I shouldn’t drink so many sprites because I’d have to go to the bathroom really bad. Had I been more open-minded as to what he was saying, I would have performed much better than I did. By the time we had finished eating and drinking, it was time to go. We arrived on the MSU campus and began searching for the building we were to report to. After searching for awhile, we came across it and started 
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killing the extra time we had. When we finally received the test, it wasn’t five minutes into the time that I had to use the bathroom. I then remembered that they won’t allow you to leave once the test begins. It wasn’t long that I began to regret not listening to my friend’s advice on slowing down with the drinks. About 10 minutes into it, I could no longer concentrate on the things I was trying to do well on. All the questions I looked at from that point on were merely a blur and made no sense at all. I waited impatiently for the time to end so I could rush to the bathroom. I was very disappointed in my performance that day. If I’d been more open-minded, I might possibly have gotten 1st place. The moral of this story is that being open-minded to new ideas or advice could be the difference of winning and losing.