Adventure of the Week: Adult Spelling Bee
I've been striving lately to try new things. I am a creature of habit, and during the winter months, it is not atypical for me to get up, got to the work and the gym (maybe), and then retreat to the depths of my room to watch reruns of TV shows. I may or may not have been doing this for the past couple of weeks. Minus the gym and winter part.
Time to snap out of it! I'm young, unattached, and have too much time on my hands to not take advantage of the different things DC has to offer. In that spirit, I was approached by my friend, K, to participate in an adult spelling bee (It's not what you think, I promise. The raciest word given was piccolo. Which I spelled correctly, and a member of the audience thought it sounded like "penis."). As a middle child, I love being the center of attention, as it's usually rare. I relish in giving speeches, my birthday (and the multiple events that go along with them), and even being a point of contact on an event or project (just to prove my importance...therapy is definitely in my future).
However, one of my biggest fears in life is embarrassing myself in front of other people (despite the fact that I do it pretty much every weekend if I have a Vegas bomb or two in my system). Being under a spotlight and misspelling a word in front of a crowd of people qualifies as an embarrassing moment. In the spirit of expanding horizons (and a free beer with the purchase of the $5 admission), I agreed to join K.
I convinced my older sister and her roommate to join K, her boyfriend, and I. Turns out K's boyfriend was runner up in state wide spelling bee when he was in third grade, so I was instantly intimidated, and turned to the bar to claim my free beer for some liquid courage. I don't want to say I was nervous for nothing...but that's pretty much the case. The MC of the event was a wedding DJ who took pleasure in awkwardly heckling the contestants while giving us various tidbits of his life (His wife works for an association, he has an obsession with pronouncing people's last names correctly, and he has DJ-ed hundreds of weddings...captivating, let me tell you.). Turns out, all three of us were abysmal spellers (My sister and her roommate were our cheerleaders, but could not be convinced to participate, despite the fact that I'm sure my sister would have won the whole thing, with a fabulous prize of a painting and wine-tasting class...that would have been some great sister bonding right there.). I made it to the "face off", whereas K and her runner-up spelling boyfriend were eliminated in the first round of their heats. I was up against two other chicks of questionable intelligence, and got out on the word "recommend", so I shouldn't do too much boasting. Or any, for that matter.
No prizes were won in our group, but you bet your ass I'll be making a sophomore appearance after some rounds of flashcards. That painting and sipping class is MINE.
Our "fuck up" chip, which makes it impossible for anyone to get kicked out on their first word. I stole mine. Take that, Mr. MC!
