Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Last Friday I accompanied students to an Invitational Math and Science Trivia Contest in another school.

First of all, we were only given a week’s warning (although one of the organizers told me that they had sent out announcements a month before to other schools, most of whom did not show up).

In my confirmation letter, faxed on the last day of entering, I also asked to be called in the office to know about the range of topics.

They called me on the following working day, and except for two topics, Mathematics of Investment and Science, Technology and Society, I felt that the two (freshman) students I picked would be naturally prepared for it.

When one of the students requested for information on the type of contest, I just assumed it would be like the usual type of competition where teams are allowed from 10 seconds to two minutes to solve certain problems. After all, their initial letter identified the event as an Olympiad.

First hitch: we were supposed to leave the school early. I was already at the gas station waiting for the shuttle when I saw it going in the other direction, full of students. I already had a bad feeling about what had happened. So the driver of the vehicle we were supposed to take drove the second shuttle, and we left a bit later than expected.

Second hitch: We got off at the grade school of the host campus, where a similar contest was being held, and had to be redirected to the college. That’s solidified my original suspicion.

Third hitch: Besides starting at least an hour late, I was surprised that it was going to be a team (or pair) competition. So why did they ask for one Science and one Mathematics representative in their original invitation, as if they would compete separately?

Fourth hitch: The game was patterned after a game show, with teams competing for blocks to complete either a horizontal or vertical pattern. There was no problem solving - so much for memorizing formulas then.

Fifth hitch: Even though the seven teams only played by twos, the set up of the hall was such that the coaches sat apart from the contestants, so there was no built-in opportunity for the coaches to give last minute (or between rounds) instructions to their charges.

Sixth hitch: The quizmaster and the operator of the projector were not coordinated. These types of contests usually have the emcee reading the question first before it is flashed on the screen. Here though the question is read once at the same time it is projected on the backdrop. So whoever could scan through the question faster (assuming they’re not just listening to the quizmaster) buzzed first. In fact, at some points in the contest, the computer operator clicked on the answer before the contestants could answer it.

Bad points are done, good points to follow tomorrow, as well as the consequences in some of my classes. For now, class dismissed.