"Destinate and Imaginate"... Globally.

States was this weekend for me and my DI team. We left in staggered intervals on Friday [Kailey and I left school at 10:20...definitely a great feeling...] and met up later, after dinner.

Until late that night, the six of us set up the sales booths [our team manager is the sales director for MICA] and then went to Coldstone to be paid for our labour. We laughed together, talked together, and had a good time; Kailey and I were subjected to hours and hours of hearing how the boys had eaten bison burgers and should now be considered "men."

She and I just laughed, because no matter how many burgers those four eat, they're still always going to be our boys, and we're always going to take care of them.

Saturday morning was an early rise. We kids went and watched my brother's team perform, and they did an excellent job. From that point on we only had an hour and a half to unload our props, get into costume [much easier said than done], run over the script, double check EVERY portion of our skit, and squeeze through the door to the prep area.

It was then that the world stopped. Our other TM left us in the little room, wishing us all the luck he could. We waited for the other door to open, for the official to grant us permission to enter the launch area and begin. After what felt like hours, our chance came.

We performed our Central Challenge at 10:06. It was a good run, I must say--we hit the right time mark, we nailed our new lines, and made the audience laugh with the humour we'd provided. We took risks. We put ourselves on the line.

Overall, it went rather well. :] Our score ended up being 179 out of 240. Not spectacular, but apparently good enough...

I can't discuss Instant Challenge, but I can tell you that we got a 99 out of 100, something that's probably unheard of in all DI history. We were very... ecstatic, I think is the word. We've always struggled with IC, and FINALLY we did well.

After breaking down the sales booths, we attended the awards ceremony, eagerly awaiting the outcome.

The called sixth, fifth, fourth... Then they called our biggest competition [from Regionals] in third. My jaw dropped. Either we managed to beat them, or we'd gotten seventh...

Second place, going on to Globals. The announcer's voice was already lost in the talking around us, but not so lost that we couldn't hear him yell our school name in the microphone. We jumped up, shouted, ran and got our medals, and took a bunch of pictures. Our parents smiled and other DIers shook our hands.

It was another one of the State moments that I will remember for the rest of my life.

So we're going to Global Finals again, down in Knoxville. Third year in a row that we'll be visiting the good ol' UT campus. Fifth time--for me--that we'll compete against teams from all around the world.

I must say, it feels pretty darn good to know that we're good enough to be global. Feels even better to know that meeting people from so many nations will turn me into someone cultured, someone who can better understand this world.

But it feels the best to know that I've got five people on my team who will always, always keep me grounded.