Dispute Everything.

Today was the James S. Rickards High School Preseason Invitational.
We all got there at about 8:00am. I arrived at the bottom of the school (because it was built on a big hill) and saw Mr. F walking nearby. We waited until he and an older kid walked back with a few boxes of Krispy Kremes, and walked up to the auditorium. Directions to get to the auditorium were something along these lines: " Walk up some stairs, and after a while, walk up some more stairs, and some more stairs, and when you get higher up, walk up some more stairs, and when you're finally at the top of the school, walk up a flight of stairs to walk up some stairs."
Yeah. I hate stairs now.
We arrived at the auditorium, and everyone for Algebra 2 kind of converged together as a group of people yelling at each other (like always :).
Shuyao kept trying to grab Diana's notebook because it had math notes from our practices, so Diana kept telling her it was her "Certamen" stuff. (Certamen is a Latin competition.)
Over half an hour later (or so it seemed), we finally got two hot pink pencils each to use for the scantron tests. I was handed two scantrons because I had to take the Theta Open test since I didn't get onto team 1. And there's only one team per school x.x
Everyone from Chiles walked out of the auditorium to a tiny area while Mr. F told us random useful information about the day.
THEN, it was off to the tests! Jack, June, and I walked towards the Theta Open rooms. There was an intricate wheelchair ramp next to a slightly-larger-than-normal flight of stairs. It basically went in a sort of zig-zag shape. They immmediately raced down it. I found that extremely odd.
Now, every time I see a ramp, I'll think of them running down that big, awkward one at Rickards. I walked down the stairs like a normal person.
When we arrived in a Theta Open classroom, for about 10 minutes, there were only Chiles people in the room, not including the proctors, of course.
Then, one Rickards kid and a whole group of Fairview Middle School kids (who will eventually be Rickards people) entered. We took the astonishingly difficult test, and left.
We arrived at the dispute room, and almost everyone disputed number one. This was because two line segments were given to be parallel, but one of the end points in one of the line segments didn't exist in the picture, so there wasn't enough information to determine the answer.
There were geometry problems because it was Theta Open- the test we all take since we're not on team.
About team- each school had one team, so you had to be in the top 4 to not take Theta Open. During that time was Theta Team.
After disputes, we marched right back to the 400 building to take the next test- Algebra II Individual. Individual was more difficult because this was the one that everyone took. So the team people did it too.
This test was a bit more difficult than the astonishingly impossible Theta Open test.
Then, we went back to the dispute room to dispute everything. Yes, that's my math motto: "Dispute Everything."
A sophomore at Chiles told me that she saw all these high schoolers who had a LOT of dispute forms and were bascially disputing everything. She thought it was Lincoln High School. I now have a sort of respect for them.
Right before Individual, this guy from the Lincoln team told me that they only scored 2 points. And Rickards got TWENTY-NINE points!!! Apparently, since Rickards wrote the tests... It wasn't too fair...
Chiles placed 3rd with 7 points. Yes, a measily 7. It wasn't their fault, though. There were all these types of unknown permutations that could never exist in a textbook and other odd things.
2nd place was Seminole High School with a few more than 7.
Diana told me that they got the distinct permutations question correct and that she said "Kejing taught me that!" when she saw it. I was incredibly happy that I actually kind of indirectly helped the Chiles team!
For lunch, the sophomore and her mom took Diana, Shuyao and me to Governor's Square Mall where we ordered food from Tropical Smoothie Cafe because it had the shortest line. Actually, when Shuyao and I got there, there was no line ^^.
When we got back, we walked back up the amazingly copious amount of stairs to go to the dreaded auditorium again. We sat there for... Let's see... What felt like an hour (and yes, literally an hour).
Diana kept saying, "OH NO!!! I DID HORRIBLY!", Shuyao wanted to kill herself, my stomach felt extremely nervous but I was actually just mad at myself for being so stupid so I don't know how it could've been nervous (no comment from you, Diana), Ryan just sat there, William tried to make Diana feel better (which didn't work, in case you're wondering), David came late and sat down, June told Diana to "shut up", and Jack was hungry. No suprise there.
FINALLY, some guy (probably principal of RHS) welcomed everyone. He mentioned something about "excellent math students". Diana, June, and William started coughing. :D It was pretty hilarious, but we couldn't really laugh out loud because we were supposed to be quiet and listening.
By then, everyone had a very basic idea of what they scored on the tests because after we had handed in the scantrons, we were given the answers so we could dispute (everything- lol). We all had an idea of how we compared to each other. Except me. I was so weird that I simply did not calculate my score. I also didn't circle all the questions I "bubbled in" on the scantron, so there was no way of calculating it even if I had all the answers on my Individual test.
First- Pre-algebra individual was announced. Then, team. Then, Open.
Next- Geometry. Same order.
And then, of course, Algebra II. Notice how individual is announced first. So, basically, the people who scored in the top ten for Algebra II Individual had to go onto the stage first.
Well, this is the scary part.
They called my name first.
I'm not even kidding.
I actually didn't get up until Diana was like, "KEJING! THEY CALLED YOUR NAME!!!"
I was in shock.
ME????? How could I place????
When I got back down, June said they (meaning our group of friends) did the wave. I didn't see them because I was in such great shock.
Even later after that, Diana said that the guy who has to do with the grenades *explosion* was one of the first people to stand up for me when they announced my name and gave me my trophy or something like that.
I got 6th place for Algebra II Individual. Five Rickards people beat me.
For team, William, Ryan, Diana, and Shuyao (in order of how they scored at school when we took the test to get into team) went up. They got the 3rd place trophy!!!! :D
Then, they announced Theta Open. Diana said, "You probably won that one."
I got 2nd place in that, much to the dismay of some people from Chiles because I heard "sad" noises coming from that direction of the mass of haleconia-colored t-shirts.
Again, a Rickards person beat me. She said "good job" as I walked past her to get off the stage, which was really nice of her =)
Next was Pre-calc. Carolyn got 2nd place, which was extremely shocking and sad and I felt really sorry for her because everyone says that she always wins.
Then, Calculus. No suprise there. I don't know how the class of 2010 is going to live up to them.
I didn't rememember there being Stats. I just don't remember.
For Sweepstakes (highest average score, or t-score which is more accurate, for each school). I think Chiles got 3rd. As the president and vice-president went up, Jack also stood up until June whispered (loudly), "SIT DOWN!"
After the awards ceremony, Mr. F called us towards him so he could tell us that we have to beat Buschholz (#1 in the state or something) when we go to Gainseville in December. I think it was December. I'm pretty sure... I think.
Then, a group picture was taken of all the CHILES MAO people.
We talked for a while until Mr. F pulled out the list for Algebra II Individual. I was looking at with, standing behind Diana because she's pretty short. My dad suddenly appeared out of no where, so Mr. F talked to him for about 10 seconds. Then, I left, walking down the "infinite staircase" to go back to the parking lot and go home.
My mom and brother were in the car, waiting for me. They were quite suprised.
The first thing my brother said to me when he saw my trophies was, "Can I have one?"