May "Madness" - The Round of 32

Having an Android:

Where in the world do I even start? I think I'll take you to the beginning - eighth grade. I was turning fourteen at the time and had asked for a phone, the first one I would be having. Seems pretty reasonable, right? My cousins were over for my birthday, and they overheard my parents talking about going to get the phone, so I was pretty excited. They came back with this:

A Samsung Galaxy A7, 2017 model. It was clunky and a little small for my hands, but I was happy. It was my first phone, and that was enough.

Oh, you naive little fool. 

Unbeknownst to me, that would set up about a year of torture. Virtually everyone and their great-grandmother have an iPhone, and I had to be the only guy that didn't have one. The stigma wasn't that bad in eighth grade, and I didn't face too many problems with the phone, but it put me on a bad path. It was serviceable until the beginning of my freshman year where, funnily enough, I cracked the screen. But I wasn't worried. This would be my chance to right the wrongs my parents made a year prior.

"I'm going to Best Buy, and I'm asking for an iPhone." - Freshman Michael

Pfft yeah, right. I have a better chance now of getting a featured quiz than I did getting an iPhone back then. I went with my mom, which is a little unfortunate because if I went with my dad, I think I could have coerced him into at least an iPhone 6 (this is 2018 btw, so it would have been cheap). I asked for an iPhone 6, and she would not budge.

"See, here's the thing, Michael. Apple products are made to be addicting. They try to be flashy with all their accessories and little features, which tempt you into spending money.  Plus, they make the older devices slow down."

She wasn't wrong. Actually, she was a visionary. This was before we had touchpad iMacs, Airpods, Apple TV, and a bunch of other things. Apple also did have to dish out $113 million for slowing down older devices.

She also walked out of the store that day with an iPad.

I came out with an LG G6. This was the beginning of the end.

The LG I have is getting old, and I think I'm going to get a new phone as a graduation gift. At least, now my parents are getting me an iPhone. Better late than never.

Cracked screen:

I seem to have some pretty unfortunate luck when it comes to keeping technology intact. My luck is so bad I've had things broken, cracked or scratched, without even touching them.

"What? Michael, It really can't be that bad. I mean-"

My brother sat on my laptop, and it broke.

Yes, that actually happened. It was partially my fault, though. I left the laptop on the couch, the couch was brown, and the laptop was black...you get the idea. One of the hinges broke, so you had to prop the screen up, or else it would just fall. It got so bad that the screen and the keyboard disconnected. Here's a list of things that I've broken in chronological order, with causes:

Now you might be saying, "That sounds like a 'you problem.'" And it is. I've got to be more careful. But that's a lot of money, a lot of data lost, and if the LED gets messed up, RIP.

Winner: Having an Android - Unfortunate for Cracked screens to come all this way and lose, but that's just how the cookie crumbles.

Bad Wifi: 

Bad Wifi, we've all experienced it. Maybe you're even experiencing it more due to the pandemic. I know I am. This last year of high school (or Zoom University) has really exposed our need for a second router. Our single router can't handle everyone working at once, plus some areas of the house are quasi-dead zones. I do school in my dad's office or down in the basement. Care to guess where it gets terrible? Any google doc with more than five people working at once refuses to load. I get pop-ups that say, "Some fonts could not be loaded. Try reloading," any time I open Google Docs. Zoom already has a delay when showing videos, and then it's compounded by the wifi. I also deal with my Wifi randomly changing during class. We bought a Wifi range extender to try and help, so we have about 5 different networks to choose from (Regular, Extended, Plus, 5G, 5G-Extended). Obviously, I use the Wifi that works best depending on where I am. However, when I'm in the office, the Wifi will randomly switch to the 5G-Extended version, which is meant for the basement. So then I have to switch back, and I miss class. Actually, come to think of it, I can use this to my advantage during French class.

Maybe I can bunk at one of your guy's places? I can pay monthly rent.

Video buffering:

These two grievances go hand in hand, but I'm separating them. I know bad Wifi usually causes buffering, but it's my tournament, okay?

My favorite sport to watch and play is soccer (or football for all the Europeans). In the United States, the Champions League is a commodity that's hard to come by. CBS holds the rights, but instead of showing it on television, they decide to show the matches on CBS All Access. This annoys my father and me to no end. So what's our solution? We watch the games on 100% totally safe non-illegal streaming websites. And besides the pop-up ads we get, a lot of these 100% totally safe non-illegal streaming websites have buffering issues. From the group stage to the quarterfinals, I've missed goals, saves, nice passes, tackles, and a whole lot of entertainment from buffering.

Also, YouTube plays into this with its stupidity.

For some unknown reason, you have to choose between these four options instead of just picking the resolution you want. Yes, you can change the resolution in the "Advanced" portion, but it only applies to the current video. I like to watch videos in 1080p, 60fps. But to make all my videos this quality, I have to go to "Video Quality Preferences," as seen, and set the option to "Higher picture quality." But this also means that I get videos at 1440p or 2160p, which my phone can't handle. So what does that mean? Buffering. Which could have been easily avoided if they had stuck to the old system. Idiots.

Winner: Video Buffering - Our first upset of the tournament. It just slightly edged out "Bad Wifi" and moves on to the next round.

Uncharged phone: 

You wake up, ready to go out and start your day. You reach over and grab your phone to check the weather. And to your chagrin, your phone's on 10%. Now, this is annoying to me for a few reasons. I have both "battery saver" and "comfort view" (no, I'm not old, blue light can harm the eyes) turned on, so my phone is already darker than usual. So if I want to go out anywhere, I have to turn my brightness down just to make it through the day. So I'm out there struggling, the sun shining down on the phone, 10% brightness, with battery saver and comfort view.

Obviously, the next problem is if I have to go out anywhere. This means I can't use my phone for the duration of my time out. You would think, "That's easy, just ask for a charger." Well, hardly anyone rocks around with a USB-C charger. They all have iPhone chargers. So then I also have to carry my charger around if I want to use it while out.

This is also another "me" problem, but my charger doesn't fit well in many of the outlets. So a lot of the time, I have to keep replugging the charger back into the socket. If I don't check, great, that's 1 hour and 10 minutes of waiting.

Forgot password: 

Password stipulations. I guess they're a necessary evil.

Okay, I'm exaggerating, but you get the point. Obviously, these rules are to make sure your password isn't easily guessed. But this also increases the chances of you forgetting the password yourself. If my username is 'WhatColorIsTheSky' and my password is 'Blue,' then that's my fault. But don't go out of your way to make me change my password, okay? It feels like you're insulting my intelligence as if I can't make a password without your supervision.

Having these rules set on your own password can backfire. The entire purpose of a password is that only you know it. Cause a password is useless if you don't know it, right? But sometimes, the websites will make you alter your password so many times, to the point where you forget it. This has happened to me, of course. Like many others, I usually have one go-to password, and by looking at the GIF, you see the problem.

imnotmichael --> Imnotmichael --> Imnotmichael72 --> Imnotmichael72felicits

If each password was a website that's FOUR different passwords, all derived from the same one. What? These aren't Latin roots. Now you've got me making Quizlet flashcards to remember my passwords. Thanks.

Winner: Forgotten Passwords - Two upsets in a row. This 6th seed moves on.

Spam callers: 

One unfortunate side-effect of getting my new LG was the fact that I was using an old phone number. When I was in ninth grade, I didn't understand the consequences of this. Back then, I was just a fourteen-year-old kid.

Now, as a high school senior, I'm thousands of dollars in debt due to student loans, and I need car insurance. At least, that's what the spam callers keep saying. So today, I announce my official retirement from JetPunk to focus on the crippling debt that I don't have. I get these calls almost every day, and it's ruining my self-esteem. And I'm not even the one to be worried.

Not having Spotify Premium:

"Want a break from the ads?"

Don't you patronize me. That's exactly what I want. It really kills the vibe when I'm winding down, and I randomly have to listen to Walmart advertisements. In reality, this is a commentary on how I'm too lazy to get a job throughout the year to pay for Spotify Premium. But we won't talk about that.

I must add that a music streaming service that doesn't allow you to listen to exactly what you want without premium is counterintuitive. Want to listen to a song that isn't on your playlist? Okay, we'll give you this playlist with random songs you didn't want to listen to.

Winner: Spam callers - Spam callers are moving on, and it looked pretty comfortable from the start.

Teacher's pets: When I was planning out the tournament, I had this described as "Students who remind the teacher of HW." I realized this wasn't strong enough to be a 1 seed, so I rebranded it to "Teacher's pets," and here we are.

Let me delve into my initial name for this inconvenience. Class is almost over, and you're packing up. Bell is about to ring, and everything's looking good.

"You forgot to give us homework."

Why on earth would you think to bring that up? It literally benefits no one. What does a teacher's pet even get out of reminding the teacher of homework? That's at least an extra 10 minutes of your day allocated to something else you enjoy. You're really telling me you would rather do integrals than enjoy some time reading or something. And in addition, everyone in the class is going to be annoyed with you. A lot of these teacher's pets need some complexity cause all they do is suck up. The protagonists in my short stories from third grade had more depth than them.

Unknown students:

Students have a significant impact on how you enjoy a class. If you know people, or you can gel well with everyone, and the teacher is nice, then you get a fun, laid-back class. If you don't, then it can be pretty torturous. Then there's the third option, where you don't know anyone. First, it's boring because you can't talk to anyone in the class. When you have friends, you've already got established inside jokes, and you get along well. But here, you have to go through the awkward phase of getting to know everyone.

Also, anything that deals with a group is pretty awkward. You never know who to work with because everyone already has their established groups. So then the question becomes: who do you work with? Or do you work alone? Are you willing to put up with being alone for the entire year? Decisions, decisions.

Winner: Teacher's pets - Easy win for the 1 seed here. They are the first to make it in the School Conference.

Poor communication: 

Poor communication can ruin just about any relationship. In the real world, you can divorce your partner if you find things to be getting rocky. In my second semester, I can't switch classes, so I'm stuck with my French teacher. Weird divorce analogy, I understand, but I've covered weirder topics earlier, so I'll roll with it. The reason I'm upset is because of two assignments. I turned the in late, which is my fault, I'll admit, but the senioritis got to me. However, it wasn't a big deal. My teacher has touted that you can turn any assignment in, no matter how late, and she'll still give credit. But unlike a lot of the other stories I've mentioned, things aren't going to plan. I emailed her once in March, and she said she'll try to update the grades over the weekend. I waited, no change, and then I emailed again later, in April, no change. It's now approaching June, and I still don't have the credit.

Yes, I understand that I should have turned it in on time. Yes, teachers are very busy. But why even state, "turn it in however late, and I'll give you credit," if it's not true. Plus, my grade is getting hit by this lack of communication. Does anyone know a lawyer? I feel like I should sue for false advertising.

Class complainers: 

You know the saying, "Beggars can't be choosers"? Well, sometimes they can. Here we have the class complainer. This is the student who takes a load of courses, usually honors/APs/IBs, and then proceeds to whine for the rest of the year.

"Gosh, I have so much work. Like you guys don't understand how much it is."

Yeah, and my brother sat on my laptop. We've all got our own problems. Except you chose to take APUSH. You made this decision yourself, and now you have to live with it. Actually, for the people who were forced into hard classes by their parents, I can understand. But for those who willingly take 5 AP courses just to complain about your workload, what did you possibly expect? I'd be like working with Gordon Ramsay just to be upset that he's too harsh. I guess it makes sense that these students usually are hypocritical. They sign away their sanity after selecting their courses.

Winner: Class Complainers - Just like "Video buffering," this 5 seed moves on.

The bathrooms:

There are a few things I could say about these bathrooms. For whatever godforsaken reason, stepping into a school bathroom is like going to a mini cafeteria. Let me paint the picture. Our bathrooms have a mini hallway before you get in. So you open the first door, walk through a 5-foot hallway, open the second door, and then voila, you're in the bathroom. So in that hallway, you can hear everything going on. This is the first part of the cafeteria analogy, as there are usually people talking in there. You can't go in there looking for peace because that's now how school bathrooms work.

You may be saying to yourself, "Michael, don't cafeterias have food?" Yes, and that's exactly where the next part of the analogy comes in. Look to your right, and there are chicken fingers with fries in the sink, some on the floor too. There's probably a stray meatball in the corner. Sometimes, if you get there at a bad time, you'll look into the urinal and a concoction of various foods. Why? I don't know. Free lunch, I guess.

Graded discussions: 

POV: You just asked a question in a graded discussion, and someone answers:

"And when we're looking at these sort of multifaceted issues, I think it's really important to think about what lens we're sort of looking at this through. Because our solutions are going to have to be multifaceted as well. Right, there are different angles to be looking at this from. And it's crucial to juxtapose the contrasts within the realm of these varying perspectives. I think it's the, it's the whole idea of like, *chuckle* 'Are we asking ourselves the right questions?'..."

And it's a shame because I actually like graded discussions. Some keywords to look out for include: juxtapose, multifaceted, ameliorate, lens, sort of, global context, literally, etc.

Winner: The Bathrooms - Bathrooms win here. Partially because they're gross, partially because I actually like graded discussions.

Humble Bragging: I was fortunate to go to a pretty good high school. We had good funding, afterschool programs, good teachers, and the school was relatively well kept. We are also a pretty smart school as well. This culture also brought about a pretty big beast, humble bragging.

"I only got a 93" was a phrase I heard a little too often. For some reason, people felt the need to stress that their GPA was 3.67 instead of 3.7. And it wasn't even in class too. It was pretty much any time that one talked about grades, someone would either humble brag or bring up a story of humble bragging. Afterschool programs were no different, forensics, MUN, robotics. There were a lot of smug people in the school. It was like a big ego contest, which nobody likes.

Group projects: 

For this inconvenience, I'll tell a story.

So two of my friends were doing a history project. They had to create a magazine (like Time) about World War II. They were given two weeks, I believe, to work on the project. My two friends put in effort and time towards the project, and they both did their parts.

Now, there was a third member. This dude apparently never said a word to them during the two weeks other than "I'll get it done." Each time my friends checked the document, nothing had been added by the third member. Eventually, the day before the project is due, they both check the document in the middle of the night. The third member is on at 3 AM, working the literal day it was due. This seems bad, but it wasn't even the worst part of the entire story. The problem was, everyone in the group got the same grade. Meaning the third guy, who literally didn't touch the document until the morning it was due, got the same grade as my friends. They eventually explained to the teacher what happened, and she changed the grades accordingly. But group projects are still a scare.

Winner: Humble braggers - This 2 seed moves onward and rounds out the School Conference.

Loud Chewers:

As Ken Pomeroy eloquently stated, "It's not necessary to smack your lips. Come on." My opinions haven't changed. Is there something you gain out of letting everyone know you're eating? Do you want a cookie or something? Actually, I shouldn't suggest that, because then you'd scarf that down too. Please, have some decency.

Here's a rule that I came up with just now. If you eat a bag of chips, the loudest sound should be opening the bag. If I hear a *crunch*, then we've got some problems. It's just plain etiquette to be able to eat without making an auditory and visual mess. Also, this includes people that burp without covering their mouths. We're sharing the same airspace, you know.

Stained Shirt:

I've recently been doing more clothes shopping. There's an argument to be had that the "new shirt smell" rivals the "new car smell, but we'll save that for another day. A secondary argument could also be deciding what's worse between spending big amounts of money on clothes or getting them stained. I'll be speaking about the latter. Nobody likes a stained shirt, I included, especially when you're out in public.

I sometimes get food on my shirts, which is ironic since I had just mentioned my annoyance for bad eaters. But this whole blog is sarcastic, so who cares. Getting a big stain on a shirt in a public scene makes things worse. If you're at home, you can throw the shirt into the washer and get a new one. I don't know if I'd be able to pass a stain from my sandwich as a fashion statement while in public.

Another problem is white clothing in general. Seeing a white shirt or even white shoes get stained is painful. Creased shoes are bad, but stained ones may be worse.

Winner: Loud chewers - Just too much to handle. Another 1 seed moves onward.

No leg room: 

I stand at a lanky 6 foot. Just tall enough where buses, cars, trains, and airplanes can get a bit too crowded. Plus, my knees crack at the age of eighteen. What a combination. In 2017 I went to go see my cousins down in Florida. We had this grand idea, "we're going to drive from Florida to the Grand Canyon."

"Go on the trip," They said. "It will be fun," they said.

I'm only kidding, though. The trip was both fun and funny. What wasn't fun was the amount of legroom I had. It was a van with 10 of us all squeezed together on hour-long trips across the country. I don't know what's more surprising, the fact that I didn't lose my sanity driving across the US with my younger cousins or turning into the real-life version of "Flat Stanley."

The year before, in 2016, we had another pretty big family reunion in Florida. For some unknown reason, we decided to drive from New Jersey to Florida. I don't think I'm too crazy in saying I'd rather squeeze myself for 2h 30m at most in an airplane rather than the 15h (at least) it takes to drive to Florida. My dad is about 6'3, so he needs to move his seat back whenever he drives. I like to sit behind the driver's seat. You can see where this is going.

FOMO: 

Our Prom was this Friday (May 14th). I didn't go due to my disinterestedness and the many restrictions due to COVID. Stipulations forced us to be separated into two rooms, and it only became clear that dancing would be allowed about two days before the event. I think the event was "decent at best," from what I've heard. So why even worry about it if I probably wasn't going to like it anyway? FOMO, or "Fear of missing out." For some reason, our brains can be trolls. And when you don't go to social events, they have to start worrying. We think of "what if" situations, wondering if we missed the biggest event of the year. This is why the recovery score is very low. My brain makes me worry about things that I wouldn't have even liked in the first place. Couple that with my introverted nature, and you've got overthinking.

But who am I kidding? A lot of friends didn't go, so it would have been boring. I probably would have said, "last night was a movie!" when in reality, I was playing games on my phone for the majority of the time. I would have rocked the suit, though.

Winner: FOMO - Looks like the 4 seed here will be missing out as FOMO moves on.

Fake crushes: 

This inconvenience had a Recovery Score of 1.5, the third-lowest in the tournament. Why? Because how in the world do you convince people that you don't like someone when everyone thinks you do? No, seriously, it's happening to me right now. I'll give five dollars to anyone that can answer. Here's the deal with my situation. I don't like this girl, but people seem to think that I do. I don't even talk to her. I can't even say I have a platonic relationship because I've never spoken to her outside of class. But,  people seem to think I like them. You're probably saying to yourself, "Well, just tell everyone you don't like them." That'd be the easy solution, right?

Wrong. 

For whatever reason, if I say I don't have feelings, people just assume I'm sheepish. So there isn't much I can do in this situation. Once again, please tell me if you have a solution. Five dollars.

Not ready to order: 

If I'm going to eat at Subway or some other "build-your-own" fast food place, you should be ready to order. Know what you want before you get there. Why should I wait because of your indecision? I'm hungry, that's why I'm here. Let's get it moving, people.

I don't know if these kinds of people understand, but it is called "fast food." So the service should be relatively fast. Please don't hold up the line because you don't know if you want black or brown beans. Do I make you wait you wait for my blogs? No, I post a blog every day because I'm that efficient. When you're ordering, be more like me.

Winner: Fake crushes - Once again, five dollars for anyone who's got the answer.

Bad hygiene: 

I'm going to make this short and sweet. If you don't care about your grooming in public, you're a menace to society.

Slow walkers: 

Speaking of making people wait, we've got slow walkers. I think this quote from our initial interview with Walkers' coach tells the story:

"Everyone's wanted to kick a slow walker up the backside at least once."

They're not wrong. It's so infuriating when people decide to walk slow. We're literally all walking to a place, and we need to get there at a certain time. So do you. So why even walk so slowly in the first place when you need to get somewhere? Plus, a majority of these slow walkers take up the entire walking lane. Please speed up before I turn the quote into a reality.

Winner: Bad hygiene: As annoying as slow walkers are, bad hygiene has to win here.

Unjustified lectures: 

Parents seem to be a ticking time-bomb. Either that or they're motion sensored lasers. Whatever the case may be, they seem to be looking for trouble. It might be the stress of a 9 to 5 job, or it could be getting older. I don't know the root, but something is bound to set them off. Everyone could be having a nice time, and you'll do something super minuscule, like forget to close the blinds, and they delve into a rant.

"Michael, you left the blinds open. And about that, your GPA is 3.5, which could be higher. In fact, that's why you don't get any takes on your quizzes..."

A majority of the time, the rants explore completely unrelated ideas. Or they just come up with random correlations between one mistake and my struggles in another area. I could forget to put the dishes away, and my dad will pretty much state I'm not cut out for college. I love my parents more than anything, but let's chill out, guys. If you're angry at your boss, take it up to HR, don't blame me.

In my house, some things are delegated by mom, some by my father. At times, it makes asking for things super confusing.

"Hey, mom, can I go over to a friend's place?" --> "Go ask dad about it and see what he says."

Then one of two things happens:

Winner: Unjustified lectures: The first inconvenience of the domestic conference to move on to the Elite Eight.

Sibling troubles:

When my younger brother was around eight or nine, he cried a lot. I remember we went to go shopping, and there was an ice cream place nearby. He cried in the car because we wouldn't go inside to get a cone. Eventually, my dad caved in, and we bought the ice cream, but I'm pretty sure we both got a migraine. In fairness, the ice cream was good, so I'll let it slide.

Anyone with younger siblings can attest to these kinds of problems. My brother is now 15, and we get along really well, but dealing with him at a younger age was at times hostile. When we were both younger, we wrestled over something stupid, and he started crying. I was freaking out because I needed to figure out how to calm him down before my parents got back home. One thing hasn't changed, though.

I'm always Player One.

Chore annoyances: 

Much like "Teacher's pets," this grievance got re-branded. It was initially about when you do a chore out of merit, and then you're asked to do the chore. Like if I was to say, "Hey, I'm going to go wash the dishes," without anyone asking. And my dad comes in and says, "Michael, go wash the dishes. Welp, there goes all my motivation. Remember: Only do things if you can benefit from them. Why wash the dishes without getting any recognition?

As the older sibling, I get the short end of the stick regarding my chores. I'm tasked to clean the bathrooms. Scrubbing the showers down with bleach (which hurts my eyes, I might add) isn't too fun. Neither is cleaning the toilets, but somebody has to do it. I'll also add that any chore that isn't specifically delegated to my brother or me essentially becomes mine. The two of us are in charge of organizing the recycling; we're supposed to sort out our recycling bin, cut down any boxes, and take the recycling out every other week. Except, I end up doing everything. I'm a lean, mean, recycling machine.

Winner: Sibling troubles - The first four seed of the tournament to make it to the next round.

"Buying one thing": 

When I was younger, I obviously wasn't trusted to stay home alone. Most people looked forward to Saturday mornings, a great opportunity to sleep in. But as a kid, mine consisted of shopping runs. These were both clothing and grocery shopping sprees. Many times we went to multiple stores. Usually totaling hours of our day gone. We'd leave at 12 PM and get home anywhere from 3:30 to 4 PM on an average day. The only thing worse than these runs was the dreaded phrase, "I'll be out quickly. I'm just going to buy one thing. You can stay in the car."

You might as well start mapping out the next ten years of your life.

"Should I go to a big or small college? Econ or Comp Sci? I should decide where I want to live after college. New York is nice, but it's too crowded..."

I cannot remember the last time that "buying one thing" was true. At least I got time to plan my life.

Weekends: 

Weekends should realistically be the time where I'm able to relax. My dad is actually fine with me staying up late. It's my mom that has a problem. I used to miss out on Pro Clubs sessions with my friends because I couldn't even look at my Xbox One after 9 PM. Over the last year, it's improved. 11 PM now. But it's annoying to see virtually any other person my age be able to dictate their daily schedule. It works the same way for sleeping in.

It doesn't even make sense as well. I'm leaving for college in August. The likelihood that my sleep schedule is messed up is probably very high. Have to start letting me make decisions at some point,

Winner: "Buying one thing"

"Because I said so": 

I don't know if you can tell, but I like discourse. I wrote about it in my last blog. I mentioned nuance and all that jazz. No surprise that "because I said so" is a grievance to me. It's a phrase heard by many, but it holds almost no weight. Yes, some things just cannot be explained by parents, but it's such a "cop-out" answer.

All I'm asking for is a little clarity. If there's a genuine reason for the lack of explanation (privacy), then that's fine. But if we're talking about why I can't have ice cream, or something trivial, just tell me. I don't need a professional opening statement made by a lawyer, just something that I can wrap my head around. Please, just a little communication.

Disturbed quiet:

There aren't many places in the houses where I can find some space to myself. My dad occupies his office, so I can't work there. My brother is in our room and usually watching something on his computer. My mom occupies the living room, she can be pretty talkative, so it can be distracting. So, I'm forced to use our basement. It's not terrible, but I'd prefer to have a better workspace. I had to bring a heater down there until it started getting warmer recently. I also have to bring an extension cord because there's no outlet next to the only couches in the basement.

Funny story, actually. I was writing some of this blog in the basement, working in silence. The walls must be somewhat thin because I could hear someone playing the guitar just as I got focused. Like it was if I was being tested. I had to leave my room because my brother was playing music, and the second I got to the basement, they decided to start playing their guitar. I blame my neighbor for the late release of this blog.

Winner: Disturbed quiet - The biggest up set of the tournament so far as this 7 seed is making its way to the elite eight.

Here is the updated bracket after the first round

Round one is done, and 16 inconveniences are still dancing. Lots of drama, a few upsets, some funny stories. Real treat this first round. I hope you're still enjoying the tournament, I hope your brackets aren't totally busted, and I hope your dark horses are still going strong. Round two is coming soon.