My TSA Experience

By Julian Delgado

At 5:30 am, April 2nd, the other TSA students and I left the RSA campus to go to the State TSA meet in Fort Worth. We had fun, got souvenirs, and met some crazies. This is the story about how it all happened. 

When we left, I brought a duffel bag, a backpack, a lunchbox, and a toolbox (for my competition.) I also brought a blanket and a neck pillow. Because I am a veritable midget, I could not carry all of this, so it took me several trips to make it from the pile of stuff to the bus. I didn’t forget anything. Not yet. Dun dun dunnn... 

I had fun on the bus ride there, but I had my wallet in my duffel bag, which was the ONLY BAG that I put in the bus storage space. I could only spend $21 on food and couldn’t buy any souvenirs. On our first stop, we arrived at a gas station, and the FIRST THING I SAW was a cool cowboy hat that I would have loved to have. But, because I didn’t have my wallet, I passed it by, longingly gazing at it from afar. Diego got one, though. And Frances.  

This is a pretty good time to introduce you to the cast of characters. I’ll start with the people I was usually with, like Frances, Diego, Hailey, and Ruben. On top of that, we have Gabriel, Alondra, Franz, Vanessa, Heidi, Natalie, A.D, and Jan. The sponsors (the people in charge) were Mrs. Castaneda and Mr. Valdez. Oh yeah, Frances’s grandma and Gabriel’s mom were there too!  

Now that we’re all introduced, let’s get back to the story. We were supposed to buy breakfast at the gas station, but when we left the gas station, I had only bought a bottle of soda. I ate Chile Limon Sabritones, which are a kind of puffy chip, and drank soda. Surprisingly, I got full off of that. Anyways, Diego and I played videogames on my laptop until we got to our second stop: Buc-ees. We were supposed to get lunch there, but Diego and I spent the ENTIRE 45 MINUTES looking for a BUMPER STICKER. I didn’t get any food from there. So, AGAIN, I ate Chile Limon Sabritones and drank soda for my meal. Though, I did get a free donut from Mr. Valdez.  

After that, we headed to Wal-Mart. We got Sprite and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. (We didn’t eat any of the Cinnamon Toast Crunch. At all. Diego let me have it when our parents picked us up, which is why I’m currently eating it right now. Thanks, Diego!) Our last stop was the hotel, and the last 30 minutes of the bus ride were the longest, because I ran out of downloaded movies to watch (watching horror movies while having the desktop goose mod on my laptop is the most surreal experience I’ve ever had. By the way, if you don’t know what Desktop Goose is, look it up. It’s entertaining.)  

When we got to the hotel, we had to take out our stuff from the bus. Remember when I said, “dun dun dunnn?” Yeah. This is where that comes into play. I brought all of my stuff off the bus, except for one thing. I didn’t get the TSA toolbox for my event. To explain, my TSA competition was Technology Problem Solving, and I needed a toolbox to compete. I was too busy helping Diego carry his stuff to remember that I HAD LEFT MY TOOLBOX IN THE CARRY-ON COMPARTMENT OF THE BUS! I remembered this later that day and told Mr. Valdez. He said he would work on it, but then he forgot, because I didn’t remind him.  

The next day, we went to Corner Bakery. Corner Bakery was a bakery a few blocks away from our hotel. We went there every morning when we were at the TSA conference. That morning, I ordered pancakes, like every other day. They were good. 

At the TSA conference, I didn’t have my event. I don’t think anybody DID have an event that morning. We just sat there. It was not fun. I didn’t have a cellular device on me, so I just sat there. For HOURS. It was almost worse than the STAAR test. I say almost, because I could still talk to my friends.  

We went back to the hotel. I didn’t eat anything. Mrs. Castaneda told me that I had a competition, and I changed into my uniform. That’s when I remembered. I DIDN’T HAVE MY TOOLBOX! I told Mrs. Castaneda, and she called Mr. Valdez. He reprimanded me for forgetting to tell him, and told me that I just had to improvise. Needless to say, I improvised. 

I told Francis my dilemma. We got a spare toolbox from Alondra and A.D (no idea what event they were doing, but they had a toolbox) and asked the event proctor whether we could just not use safety glasses. He said that it was fine, because we weren’t using any dangerous materials (except for the paper clips that we cut in half.) We spent the first 15 minutes building with duct tape (and then spent 15 taking it off, because apparently we were supposed to be using masking tape) and had a dandy time experimenting with different concepts. After they announced we had 45 minutes left, we decided that we were  just going to build a tower out of paper cylinders. Surprisingly, we finished at the VERY END, and got SECOND PLACE. I walked out of that testing room more pumped than I’ve ever been in my life. We got to stand on the podium with the winners, and it was a bit demeaning to just be herded off like cattle, while the winners got a plaque, but at least we qualified for nationals (which, by the way, we might not be able to go to, because the school doesn’t have enough funds.) 

After that, we went back to the group, I got lectured for forgetting my toolbox, and all was well. We went back to the hotel and got Mexican food. I tried my first Mexican Coca-Cola! Apparently, Mexico makes its coke with pure cane sugar and not corn syrup. It cost a bit more than a regular coke, but it did taste different. The carbonation wasn’t as defined, and it was a bit softer, I guess. I also got a burrito that I couldn’t finish (which just languished in our minifridge for the rest of the trip. Poor guy.) After that we went to Hoya, a Korean restaurant, which I didn’t get anything from. We went back to the hotel for the night after that. 

The next day, we went to Corner Bakery (again), but we went later, so we met some crazy people. There was one woman who started sniffing me (I cannot stress how weird this was) and was babbling to the floor. There was another who asked to skip the line and to just get her coffee, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in days. I felt bad for her. After that, we finished our breakfast and went to the TSA conference (again.) We were there from 9 AM to 1 PM. I didn’t have an event OR a cellular device, but I did have a mini tablet with Magic Tiles 3 on it (Magic Tiles 3 is a game where you click piano keys in time to music.) I got new high scores on Sunflower and Axel F (different songs on the app) but then got destroyed by Hailey and Ruben, because they’ve been playing the darn game since they were like 5. Besides that, Franz got first place in RC car racing in the entire state of Texas! RC car racing is a strictly Texas event, so he didn’t qualify for Nationals, but it’s still cool.   

We went back to the hotel and then to the Fort Worth Water Gardens. They were peaceful, but I couldn’t really enjoy them, because I was with a group of loud teens (not that I’m complaining. I was probably the loudest of them all.) After we went back to the hotel, we went to The Cheesecake Factory! I had a Bacon Bacon Cheeseburger (which I could not finish) and an Oreo milkshake. Frances’ grandma paid for EVERYBODY. All of the 13 kids and two adults thanked her, and we went back to the hotel for the day.  

The day after that, it was just the award ceremony. I got second place in the state for Problem Solving! Natalie got second place in her event as well, (I don’t remember what event she was in) but she had to go to the bathroom while they were doing the awards, so when they called her competition, Hailey had to sub in for her. Natalie came back immediately afterwards, and she was disappointed to find that she didn’t get to go up on the stage. After Natalie came back, I turned to Diego and sang, “All that work and what did it get me? Why did I do it?” and he yelled, “Shut up!” which got us in trouble with Mrs. Castaneda.  

After the awards ceremony, we went and took pictures at the TSA 2024 sign and in front of the Water Gardens. It was still morning, so we went back to the hotel and decided to go to... the mall.  

The mall was about an hour away from the hotel (in Dallas) and we had to get on the bus, drive for an UNHOLY amount of time, and then visit the mall for a couple hours (and then drive EVEN MORE to get back to the hotel. It was not fun.) On our way to the mall, we stopped at a place near Fort Worth. I don’t know the name, but it had an ice skating rink (which I hadn’t ever done.) We had fun at Hot Topic (I got Gravity Falls and Peanuts socks there) and then we went to an anime store that I don’t know the name of. I didn’t get anything (because I don’t really watch anime) but Hailey, Francis, and Ruben got stuff. Then, we went to Build-A-Bear, which is SO OVERPRICED that it would have cost all of the money that Mrs. Castaneda gave me for food for the day, and more. Needless to say, I didn’t get anything. Then, we went to ice skate! 

I was a little nervous, because I’d never ice skated, but I figured it was going to be a little like roller blading. It was, and my second lap around the rink was quicker than some of the kids that had skated before. I fell once, when Diego kicked my legs out from under me when he fell (thanks, Diego.) I tried to help Hailey and Diego to skate, and Hailey kind of got the hang of it! Not Diego, though (poor Diego. He fell more than anyone.) After Mr. Valdez told us that we had to leave the mall in 15 minutes, we took our skates and went to our stuff.  

As we were putting on our shoes, Diego took his phone out of his pocket. His pocket. After ice skating. And falling, many, many times. Needless to say, the screen had more cracks than a pane of glass hit by a hammer. Diego looked at it in shock for more than 30 seconds, then looked at me with his jaw dropped almost to the floor.  

“How am I supposed to explain this to my dad?!” He asked. I shrugged.  

He called his dad and tried to explain, and his dad took it pretty well. His dad told him that he knew a guy who could fix phone screens (but he hasn’t gotten it fixed yet.) On our way home, I sat with Frances and talked with one of my friends. The drive back from the mall felt WAY faster than the drive to it. After we got to the hotel, we packed our stuff and went to bed.  

The next day was the last. I woke up to Diego and Ruben having their stuff packed up and MY stuff just lying there. We had like fifteen minutes, so I grabbed it all and carried it down to the bus with the rest of the group. I slept for most of the trip back, because I was so tired. On our way, we stopped at two Buc-ees, and I got a kickball and some souvenirs for my family. Diego tried to gaslight me into thinking that we had only been to one, because I fell asleep when we were sitting outside the first Buc-ees, and I woke up when we stopped at the second. Diego tried to gaslight me, but Ruben couldn’t hold in his laughter, so I realized what Diego was trying to do. After realizing this, I mock yelled at him and went back to sleep. I woke up about an hour later and decided to play a video game with Diego. He got obsessed, and after more than an hour playing the DUMB GAME, I just decided to sit and look out the window for a while. I gave Ruben my controller so that he could play with Diego while I absentmindedly stared.  

When we were almost there, the bus stopped on the side of the road. Apparently, it overheated. It did this one more time. While it was stopped, we went to a gas station and looked at a claw machine. I say looked, because it cost an UNHOLY amount of money to use it. It was like 10 dollars per game, and it was for fake Rolexes. 

We got to RSA about thirty minutes after, and Diego gave me the Cinnamon Toast Crunch he got from Wal-Mart. It took two trips to bring my stuff from the bus to the car, and I might have forgotten a few things. Mental note: bring a suitcase next time, instead of a duffel bag and a backpack, because I can’t carry that much stuff.