What I won't miss about coaching debate..

1) Hotels...
19 of the past 35 days in some hotel or another... granted, some of that was for hubby's sun state conference, but still... about half of that is due to debate.

2) Tournament hangover...
The re-entry from a tournament is tough. Going back to campus and seeing people who look like debate people is weird. The world doesn't run according to prep time or what round it is. Nobody really cares that the team you watched ran a cool pre-fiat rhetoric turn on T...

3) Rental cars and the whole travel thing....
Pick-up strange car, return it just when you know where the controls are, hassle, hassle, hassle -- bus to the airport, sit and wait... the whole travel bit gets old. Make sure you have nothing liquid or that you have a baggie... yadda, yadda, yadda. Add to that people who don't know what they are doing trying to bring prohibited stuff into security, whre the hell have you been... don't you know your 20 oz contact solution could be a f-ing bomb? Dumb-asses who are too impatient to wait for their luggage trying to stuff their huge suitcase into the overhead bin...

4) "learning" things from debaters...
Like the ERA has been passed (huh? when, how did I miss that??), that "no men can understand what it is like to be a woman, so they shouldn't pretend to try" and "sports are bad for women's bodies"... considering I only judged 4 rounds this time (the beauty of having only one team, I judge less!!!!).

5) Being the bearer of the tournament emergency supplies....
Extra timers, pens, batteries, post-it notes, Tylenol and other medical supplies, extra paper, etc... stuff I don't use, but that they'll need.

6) Planning the rest of my life around debate travel...
Really, next year I want to have a Spring Break. It isn't too much to ask, is it? A week during the Spring Semester when I don't have to either run or coach at a national tournament... or prepare for one. It has been 10 years since I've had a Spring Break. I think I'm due.