Chipped Polish & Wornout Jeans

I wasn't going to blog about this, but some of it might be interesting. Last weekend I was Judge Bulldog, instead of Captain Bulldog, for the first time. I was a mock trial captain last year, and it was my fourth and final year as a participant. This year I was invited back to judge the Midsouth Mock Trial Invitational. I plan to do this every year so long as I can and I am invited. I really enjoyed getting to see it all from another perspective, and it was pretty awesome to be able to sit and talk to coaches, judges, attorneys, and other former mockers. I also enjoyed getting to see the mockers who are still participating; being in KY while they are in Boro and only having a quick conversation on Facebook is not the same as getting to talk and hang out.

It was strange waiting for the rounds to let out, being out of a suit on a tournament weekend, and watching the teams trickle out. Sitting on the bench instead of at counsel table was a totally new perspective. I judged three rounds and presided once. Judges meetings last forever for a reason, and now I know why we used to spend all that time in the room waiting for the judges to arrive. Arriving in the round was strange, since everyone stood up for us instead of the other way around. And scoring was not easy. I'm very picky and harsh, so scoring was a challenge for me. I didn't want to be "that judge"; you know, the one everyone hates. I did give a couple of low scores though, cause I just had to do it. If they weren't good, they just weren't good. I saw some interesting things, and I almost wish I had taken pictures. I saw a witness with what I would like to call super high "hooker shoes". I kid you not, these were at least 7 inches tall stilettos with platforms. She was supposed to be an actress. It wasn't appropriate for court. I also saw two individuals, who I thought might be coaches. One of them was wearing the strangest outfit I had seem in ages. When I had seen her before, I thought that she might be playing a crazy witness, but then she appeared in the judges meeting. She was not a young woman and yet she was wearing this ridiculous black essemble complete with dress that was way too short, shimmering sleeves, and fantastic knee high boots with buckles and straps.  When in Midlands.... The land of mock trial is always a trip.

After the tournament Dr. Vile and his wife hosted the annual gathering, and it was awesome. I got to see my old captain and my newbies from last year. It made me feel so old to see my newbies as captains and even the President of the organization. We swapped stories of the old days, talked about some of the crazy things we used to do in rounds, the way we used to fix mistakes. I met some of the newbies from this year, and there are some good ones. Of course, Jacob and I didn't do much more than hang out between rounds and at Dr. Vile's, and we snagged some breakfast on the run the morning of the second day. We are going to have to make up for that. We had planned to go to the movies or bowling or something after Dr. Vile's but that didn't pan out, at all.

That was weekend adventure on the other side.