• We (NTU - B, for superstitious reasons) broke. We were on 5-2, average speaker scores, but whatever - we BROKE. :D
• SIM-DLSU, the team comprising our dear squad alumni Amit and RK with A DLSU gal, Lucinda, reached the end of the preliminary rounds on 7- 0! The only Asian team in the history of the Australs to do so, they beat Monash 1 *twice* (putting Monash on 5-2), Amit was ranked 3rd best speaker of the tournament and RK 5th. AWESOME. ( Me, I think the "We are SIM" song made all the difference in overcoming the subversive effects on the cosmos of the "We are the chicky girls" song. )

Since this is the place for me to be mushy about my teammates... I can safely say it's the best team I've worked with. Siok Hwee's a fabulous first - clear and structured and precise and calm. Her collected manner was a huge asset, considering NMK's vigour and my weakness for informality and (attempted) levity. Plus, she's the dream roommate who lets you borrow her lip gloss when your own gets too boring and her lovely tops when you've run out of clothes. Howzzat for a killer combo?

And NMK - he's literally a walking encyclopaedia with a brain that's bursting with facts and figures, relevant or otherwise. He can just keep talking and weaving those crazy facts and arguments together till they all make glorious sense. Yeah, he'll drive you crazy by telling you to "*Hammer* them!" and do the rebuttals "Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!" over and over again, till you start thinking "Hammer Hammer Bam Bam" is your team's motto (hey actually, as mottos go, that's not so bad....) but without that passion he wouldn't be the NMK we all know and love, would he? (Your cue for the 'Awwwww.....')

But of far greater importance is the fact that he singlehandedly inspired me to temporarily ditch atheism during the tournament. Spurred into a religious fervour by his own zeal, I went to the temple near our hotel, voluntarily, gazillions of times to pray for our success. And that's what I think got us whatever meagre luck we had - I mean, what's God going to reward more readily, the conversion of an atheist or an old faithful plugging in his usual 9 rounds around the deities? :)

So. To sum it up, I clearly was the most important person in the team, HA. Siok Hwee was the classy gal, NMK our 'terra firma', the foundation guy, and moi, the one wooing Lady Luck.

And no, you may not draw conclusions about my sexual orientation from that statement. (:P Yeah, debaters don't have a very sophisticated sense of humour - I have to expect to be ribbed about this stuff.)

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