Friday, I'm in Love: Sleep & National Spelling Bee

I'm a tad sleep deprived, so I'll be practicing what I preach tonight and shutting down early in the name of reestablishing some balance. In the meantime, I am completely and utterly enamored with the National Spelling Bee. Each year, this televised convergence of the country's topnotch young spellers sneaks up on me, and each year, I'm elated. How life-affirming that children still know how to spell! Surely, there's a video game or iPhone application to do it for them, right? Psittacosis? Gyascutus? Senryu? Say what? OK, I'm nearing delirium; time for bed. But just one more thing . . . A particularly slight, bespectacled boy just took the stage, and S.O. summed up the scene thus:

I love these little dudes. He's a f*ing assassin.

Standout spelling and a good night's sleep. Does it get better? Wait, it just might. Check out this clip of a speller from a couple years ago, who faints and still manages to come to and spell his work correctly. Brilliant.