Not Happy Dinosaurs
Nervous Harpy Dogs
Never-ending Horrible Days
etc.
The specific NHD I'm referring to stands for National History Day, though that last one is pretty accurate, too.
Participating in NHD was one of my best and worst middle school decisions.
The first year I participated in the competition was seventh grade. My social studies teacher had managed to convince our class that National History Day was THE CLUB to be in (she runs the club), and my friend Mushroom and I signed up.
Let's just say, there was a lot more work than we expected, especially since, being the geniuses we are, we chose to do an exhibit. Not only is that one of the most work-intensive categories, we didn't start the physical triboard until the week of the competition. We went to each other's houses everyday after school and slept inhumanly late.
Again, not exactly our wisest decision e_e
At first, it didn't look THAT terrible, but then we saw the other exhibits.
Ours was so ugly
And terrible.
And not worthy.
Needless to say, we didn't make it to states.
However, the day of the competition was really fun. I spent the whole day with my friends, running around on the college campus the regional competition was hosted at.
The next year, we signed up again.
"Oh, we were inexperienced in seventh grade. WE GOT THIS NOW"
This time, we forced our friend Emu to be part of our group as well. We figured that since she didn't procrastinate, she could help us start the thing before the week it was due.
This time, we started the exhibit TWO weeks before the competition :')
I was so proud.
We went over to Emu's house everyday after school, and I mostly remember how creepy her basement was and how good her chips were.
My mom doesn't buy me potato chips. MEANWHILE, EMU HAD SO MANY AT HER HOUSE AND I ATE THEM ALLLLSLFK
As for her basement, it was really creepy. It was like, out of a horror movie. There was dust everywhere, and it was dark and cold. It looked like the perfect place to hide a dead body >:D
Unfortunately, that is not the air you want your basement to give off.
I also remember building a stegosaurus out of a cardboard box :'D
Besides dead stegosauruses and potato chips, the exhibit involved lots of glue. And cardstock. And cutting. And charcoal. And painting. And work. And time.
AND BLOOD. AND SWEAT. AND TEARS.
Okay, not really. I just wanted to use that phrase.
It didn't help that we still had homework from school, too.
We stayed up to even more inhuman hours, but our exhibit was also a lot better.
The quality of the project varies inversely with the amount of sleep one gets.
Quality = a/(amount of sleep) :'D
Gah this is terrible. I just wrote a function for the success of our project.
AGHHFGFDKJG MATH IS TAKING OVER THE WORLD
sorrysorrymovingon
Of course, the year we had a project that was pretty enough to make states, we had to get terrible judges. They didn't even let us present, and just kept asking us about our sources.
We have never made it past regionals.
So much time and energy spent with no results.
Today, all my eighth grade friends and middle school social studies teacher went to NHD.
Naturally, they all made states.
Aww all the memories from these blog posts are making me feel like a middle-schooler again :')
Maybe I can force my friends to do NHD with me again next year :D
Then again, sophomore year is supposed to have much more work than freshmen year.
I guess we'll see.