Early this morning, a beautiful soul went home to be with Jesus. Esther Earl, a sixteen-year-old from Boston who was fighting thyroid cancer, passed away, surrounded by her family. I never met her, and I first heard of her only a few months ago, but her strong spirit, love of life, and commitment to awesome touched me deeply.
Esther was a Nerdfighter and a Harry Potter fan of the highest caliber. She truly cared about people and she had a passion for decreasing worldsuck. Though I'm sure she was often frustrated and in pain, her tweets and her videos were always upbeat and never self-pitying. She faced her illness with strength and grace (Grace was her middle name), and she reached out to other people and vigorously supported great causes, such as the work of the Harry Potter Alliance. Her Make-A-Wish Foundation request was for a gathering of close friends and her favorite author, John Green. John told Esther that for her birthday, which was about three weeks ago today, he would ask Nerdfighteria to make videos about any subject of her choice, and her choice was love and family.
I've celebrated many fantastic events with the Nerdfighter and Harry Potter communities over the past year and a half, but this is the first time I have mourned with them. From the moment I woke up, my Twitter feed has been full of messages in her memory and prayers and wishes for her family and friends. Two beautiful songs have already been posted to YouTube about Esther, and I'm sure more will follow. People have been saying "R.I.A." for "Rest in awesome," and they've been reminding each other of Albus Dumbledore's wise words about life and death. We are all saddened to say goodbye to Esther, but we will continue to honor this brave girl who inspired so many people to make the world a better place.
Heaven holds just a little bit more awesome today than it did yesterday. Rest in peace, Esther.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Playing summer catch-up
Hello, faithful blog readers! (I'm pretty sure there are two of you.) I have been quite remiss in my blogging duties lately, so I'll try to catch you up on what's been going on with me lately...which isn't really that much, now that I think about it.
This is the first summer that I've had a real job. I'm working at the local middle school doing a day camp-type program. Some days I hate it, and other days it makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon. I like my two co-workers, and a few of the kids are sweet, but I really hate the middle school age group, and I really can't deal with all of the disorganization and lack of people explaining things to me in advance. I keep being told, "Well, you know we're in a new room this summer and we're all busy and sometimes you've gotta just roll with the punches".....but come on, it's well over halfway through the program. I shouldn't still be searching through haphazard piles to find the folder for the old attendance sheets. It pays well, and I occasionally get to see my good friends who work at one of the elementary school sites, but my hours keep getting cut because we don't have enough money to pay two staff people when we have seven or fewer kids. At this point I'm just trying to grit my teeth and get through it, but August is going to be killer: a trip to King's Island and an overnight lock-in at the school. To be perfectly honest, I was grateful when I woke up this morning and threw up multiple times, because it meant I didn't have to go in to work.
This summer hasn't been all bad, though. I've gotten to see two wizard rock shows with my sister and our friend Maddy. We saw the Parselmouths, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Lauren from the Moaning Myrtles and The Whomping Willows (who together make up Armoured Bearcub), and ALL CAPS play in Akron, where I got to meet Kristina and Hayley of YouTube's Five Awesome Girls. Barely a week later, we drove down to the world's largest YMCA in southern Ohio to see Skyway Flyer, Tonks and the Aurors, the Remus Lupins, and Witherwings, who happens to be my friend Mandala. In addition to Mandala, I got to see several other wonderful friends from the HP-Ohio group, whom I hadn't seen since the Crystal Ball in January. In other Potter-related news, I'm all registered for LeakyCon 2011!! Maddy is registered too, since I'll be her chaperone, and my sister will register soon. Now we're just trying to figure out the rooming situation so we can book a hotel room!!
The best and most exciting thing that's happened lately is the Wilson family reunion that took place this past weekend!! It only happens every other year, so it's always a true joy to get together and catch up with everyone. We had about 40 people this year who came in from across the country. It was my branch's turn to plan it this year, and since central Ohio hasn't really changed much in the past eight years, we went to a state park lodge down in Hocking Hills. There was a nice swimming pool, a beautiful lake, hiking trails, basketball courts, and more. We had a campfire one evening and made s'mores, and we all sat around and talked for hours (and rearranged the furniture in the lobby multiple times!). I had so much fun catching up with all of my cousins. I talked all about B-W with my second cousin Anna, who was up there in June for a music theatre workshop, and I know I'll be seeing her in November when she comes up to audition for the MT program. Other events included analyzing "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly"; obsessing over Major League Baseball trades and making postseason predictions; having fun with physics on a see-saw with my sister; measuring the precise distances between horseshoes (and making up the rules for "cornshoes"); singing Beatles songs with my honestly brilliant two-and-a-half-year-old cousin; looking at scrapbooks of family photos that go back to the 1800s; and hearing the story of how my aunt and uncle met. I am truly blessed to have such an incredible family!!
This is the first summer that I've had a real job. I'm working at the local middle school doing a day camp-type program. Some days I hate it, and other days it makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon. I like my two co-workers, and a few of the kids are sweet, but I really hate the middle school age group, and I really can't deal with all of the disorganization and lack of people explaining things to me in advance. I keep being told, "Well, you know we're in a new room this summer and we're all busy and sometimes you've gotta just roll with the punches".....but come on, it's well over halfway through the program. I shouldn't still be searching through haphazard piles to find the folder for the old attendance sheets. It pays well, and I occasionally get to see my good friends who work at one of the elementary school sites, but my hours keep getting cut because we don't have enough money to pay two staff people when we have seven or fewer kids. At this point I'm just trying to grit my teeth and get through it, but August is going to be killer: a trip to King's Island and an overnight lock-in at the school. To be perfectly honest, I was grateful when I woke up this morning and threw up multiple times, because it meant I didn't have to go in to work.
This summer hasn't been all bad, though. I've gotten to see two wizard rock shows with my sister and our friend Maddy. We saw the Parselmouths, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Lauren from the Moaning Myrtles and The Whomping Willows (who together make up Armoured Bearcub), and ALL CAPS play in Akron, where I got to meet Kristina and Hayley of YouTube's Five Awesome Girls. Barely a week later, we drove down to the world's largest YMCA in southern Ohio to see Skyway Flyer, Tonks and the Aurors, the Remus Lupins, and Witherwings, who happens to be my friend Mandala. In addition to Mandala, I got to see several other wonderful friends from the HP-Ohio group, whom I hadn't seen since the Crystal Ball in January. In other Potter-related news, I'm all registered for LeakyCon 2011!! Maddy is registered too, since I'll be her chaperone, and my sister will register soon. Now we're just trying to figure out the rooming situation so we can book a hotel room!!
The best and most exciting thing that's happened lately is the Wilson family reunion that took place this past weekend!! It only happens every other year, so it's always a true joy to get together and catch up with everyone. We had about 40 people this year who came in from across the country. It was my branch's turn to plan it this year, and since central Ohio hasn't really changed much in the past eight years, we went to a state park lodge down in Hocking Hills. There was a nice swimming pool, a beautiful lake, hiking trails, basketball courts, and more. We had a campfire one evening and made s'mores, and we all sat around and talked for hours (and rearranged the furniture in the lobby multiple times!). I had so much fun catching up with all of my cousins. I talked all about B-W with my second cousin Anna, who was up there in June for a music theatre workshop, and I know I'll be seeing her in November when she comes up to audition for the MT program. Other events included analyzing "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly"; obsessing over Major League Baseball trades and making postseason predictions; having fun with physics on a see-saw with my sister; measuring the precise distances between horseshoes (and making up the rules for "cornshoes"); singing Beatles songs with my honestly brilliant two-and-a-half-year-old cousin; looking at scrapbooks of family photos that go back to the 1800s; and hearing the story of how my aunt and uncle met. I am truly blessed to have such an incredible family!!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Beautiful Montreat!
First off, I'd like to ask anyone reading this to send up a prayer for my friend Clay. He had some serious surgery yesterday, and he's in a LOT of pain and will have a long road to recovery. He had to have two ceramic rods inserted into his back, and he had to go all the way to St. Louis to have it done because there isn't a doctor in Ohio who can/will do it. Prayers and good thoughts are greatly appreciated!!
Now back to your regularly scheduled blog.
I'm coming to you live from Montreat, North Carolina, this week! It's a beautiful little town up in the Black Mountains, and its main claim to fame is a Presbyterian college and conference center, which the Presbyterian Association of Musicians is using this week for their annual worship and music conference. This is my ninth year here, and let me tell you, it is glorious to be back!! My days are spent in choir rehearsals, handbell rehearsals, and a liturgical dance class. In my free time, I get to hang out with friends and family. We climbed Lookout Mountain on Monday, which is only a one-kilometer trail, but it sure kicked my butt. It's a beautiful view from the top, though, and we could see our amazing house. The house where we've stayed for the past seven years holds twenty-two people, but we only have eighteen this year. It's nice to have my dad here, since he hasn't come in a very long time.
The coolest thing that has happened so far was this morning's worship service. The sermon was incredible and exactly what our church members at home need to hear during our current transition period. I got to perform the Lord's Prayer with part of the liturgical dance class, and a big yellow butterfly flew in one of the open windows and was flying around -- definitely the Holy Spirit at work.
Well, I'd better go now...My friend Maddy is waiting to steal songs off my iTunes. That's another great thing about this week...
Now back to your regularly scheduled blog.
I'm coming to you live from Montreat, North Carolina, this week! It's a beautiful little town up in the Black Mountains, and its main claim to fame is a Presbyterian college and conference center, which the Presbyterian Association of Musicians is using this week for their annual worship and music conference. This is my ninth year here, and let me tell you, it is glorious to be back!! My days are spent in choir rehearsals, handbell rehearsals, and a liturgical dance class. In my free time, I get to hang out with friends and family. We climbed Lookout Mountain on Monday, which is only a one-kilometer trail, but it sure kicked my butt. It's a beautiful view from the top, though, and we could see our amazing house. The house where we've stayed for the past seven years holds twenty-two people, but we only have eighteen this year. It's nice to have my dad here, since he hasn't come in a very long time.
The coolest thing that has happened so far was this morning's worship service. The sermon was incredible and exactly what our church members at home need to hear during our current transition period. I got to perform the Lord's Prayer with part of the liturgical dance class, and a big yellow butterfly flew in one of the open windows and was flying around -- definitely the Holy Spirit at work.
Well, I'd better go now...My friend Maddy is waiting to steal songs off my iTunes. That's another great thing about this week...
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The magic is real!
I've written here before about my frustrations with people who don't understand the hype Harry Potter, but I'm going to write about it again.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the newest portion of Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida, is now up and running, and it will have its grand opening on June 18th. Tonight NBC aired a half-hour special about the making of the theme park, and of course my whole family watched. Even though I'd seen most of the footage and heard most of the information before, I still cried. When I watched the videos (here, here, here, and here) that the PotterCast trio posted after their visit last week, I cried. I understand why some people think my fellow fans and I are ridiculous, but we don't appreciate being treated like we're immature or insane.
Imagine that somewhere in your imagination exists a universe that is the most beautiful, incredible, elaborate, thought-provoking, magical place that anyone has ever known. You've gone there to mourn, to celebrate, and to simply find refuge from the frustrations and fears of everyday life. You know every detail of this place -- top to bottom, left to right, inside and out. It represents most of the major turning points in your life, and it symbolizes the greatest good you've ever known and a triumph over the darkest evil. Beyond all of this, the most glorious part is that your best friends know this place too. It exists in their imaginations, and together you have explored it, analyzed it, excavated it and created new dimensions. You've wept, celebrated, and taken refuge...together.
Then imagine that one day, someone invents a way for that place to become REAL. You can go with your friends and physically explore it together -- see it, hear it, taste it, smell it, feel it, live it. It is the greatest fantasy of your life, your life-long dream and deepest desire come true.
This is what the Wizarding World of Harry Potter means to me. I won't make it there this summer, but I'll be there 401 days from now. I'll drink butterbeer and eat cauldron cakes, fly on hippogriffs, send owls, breathe in the steam of the Hogwarts Express, and have a conversation with a portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw. I'll probably cry when I walk under the stone arch and enter the village of Hogsmeade, but I know I won't be the only one. I'll be there with my sister and friends who have become my family, and we will all, finally, be at home.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the newest portion of Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida, is now up and running, and it will have its grand opening on June 18th. Tonight NBC aired a half-hour special about the making of the theme park, and of course my whole family watched. Even though I'd seen most of the footage and heard most of the information before, I still cried. When I watched the videos (here, here, here, and here) that the PotterCast trio posted after their visit last week, I cried. I understand why some people think my fellow fans and I are ridiculous, but we don't appreciate being treated like we're immature or insane.
Imagine that somewhere in your imagination exists a universe that is the most beautiful, incredible, elaborate, thought-provoking, magical place that anyone has ever known. You've gone there to mourn, to celebrate, and to simply find refuge from the frustrations and fears of everyday life. You know every detail of this place -- top to bottom, left to right, inside and out. It represents most of the major turning points in your life, and it symbolizes the greatest good you've ever known and a triumph over the darkest evil. Beyond all of this, the most glorious part is that your best friends know this place too. It exists in their imaginations, and together you have explored it, analyzed it, excavated it and created new dimensions. You've wept, celebrated, and taken refuge...together.
Then imagine that one day, someone invents a way for that place to become REAL. You can go with your friends and physically explore it together -- see it, hear it, taste it, smell it, feel it, live it. It is the greatest fantasy of your life, your life-long dream and deepest desire come true.
This is what the Wizarding World of Harry Potter means to me. I won't make it there this summer, but I'll be there 401 days from now. I'll drink butterbeer and eat cauldron cakes, fly on hippogriffs, send owls, breathe in the steam of the Hogwarts Express, and have a conversation with a portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw. I'll probably cry when I walk under the stone arch and enter the village of Hogsmeade, but I know I won't be the only one. I'll be there with my sister and friends who have become my family, and we will all, finally, be at home.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sigma Delta Pi, Ecuador reunion, and Diva Night
Today is the second-to-last Monday in April, which means it's the second-to-last Monday of classes for the semester. That is completely ridiculous and impossible. Two weeks of classes, a week of exams, and I'll be a senior in college, and one who is planning to go to grad school just to avoid the real world for a little bit longer but has yet to decide what to actually study in grad school. My mother almost had me convinced to get a master's in creative writing, but then on Saturday she said she thinks I should go for a master's in publishing or editing or something, which is also intriguing, but I have no idea whether or not any grad school would even accept me into such a program when the only English class I've taken as an undergrad was Latin American lit as part of the Seminar in Ecuador. I hate decisions.
And now I'll apologize, because I feel like I complain about my lack of time and my abundance of work every single time I blog. It's kind of on my mind all the time, though.
...Moving on...
This afternoon I was inducted into Sigma Delta Pi, the National Hispanic Studies Honorary, and I'm pretty proud of that. Several of my friends were also inducted. We were all kind of surprised at extreme formality of the ceremony, which began with all of us lining up in the hall and waiting for one of the professors to give a secret knock on the door to another professor on the other side before we were allowed into the classroom. I was waiting for someone to start chanting In Omnia Paratus or something (Gilmore Girls reference FTW!). The whole ceremony was in Spanish, of course, and at a couple of points we had to repeat a few lines after Dr. Cambria. She's hard to understand some times because she's very old and speaks with the traditional lisp of central Spain, so sometimes I had no idea what she had just said so I just tried to repeat it phonetically, but then once I was saying it I found I understood the words that were coming out of my mouth! That was rather odd.
On Saturday night I had the opportunity to reunite with almost everyone else who went to Ecuador at a fiesta at my friends Katy, Caitlyn, and Emily's house. We were only missing four students, and Professor Martin and Dr. Melampy, the trip leaders were there too, along with Nancy, Dr. Melampy's wife, and her friend, Suki, who joined us for the Amazon/Intag portion of the trip. We had a blast!! We had SO much food, Ecuadorian and American, and we looked at pictures from the trip, played lots of reggaetón music, and made a Facebook video for Antonia, who's currently back in Cuenca taking classes at the University of Azuay. We're all very jealous of her!!
As I promised previously, here's a little bit about Diva Night, the fabulous fundraiser for the Arts House that I went to a few weeks ago. The musical acts were not nearly as good as last year's (so I'm told; I couldn't go last year), but everyone looked totally glam in their get-ups, whether they were male or female for the evening. The winner was the one true standout, a girl from my acting class who sang a song from The Gospel According to Tammy Faye Baker, an original and as yet unproduced musical written by one of her friends. My friend Carolyn sang "Dance: Ten, Looks: Three" from A Chorus Line and did a fantastic job considering she learned the song in about three hours. My roommate, Jamie, and I decided that dressing up as boys was no fun, so we just went the obnoxiously-sparkly-pop-star route thanks to some old dance costumes of mine and my sister's. We did help Pat and R.J. with their outfits, and we all looked ridiculous and fabulous, if I do say so myself:
And now I'll apologize, because I feel like I complain about my lack of time and my abundance of work every single time I blog. It's kind of on my mind all the time, though.
...Moving on...
This afternoon I was inducted into Sigma Delta Pi, the National Hispanic Studies Honorary, and I'm pretty proud of that. Several of my friends were also inducted. We were all kind of surprised at extreme formality of the ceremony, which began with all of us lining up in the hall and waiting for one of the professors to give a secret knock on the door to another professor on the other side before we were allowed into the classroom. I was waiting for someone to start chanting In Omnia Paratus or something (Gilmore Girls reference FTW!). The whole ceremony was in Spanish, of course, and at a couple of points we had to repeat a few lines after Dr. Cambria. She's hard to understand some times because she's very old and speaks with the traditional lisp of central Spain, so sometimes I had no idea what she had just said so I just tried to repeat it phonetically, but then once I was saying it I found I understood the words that were coming out of my mouth! That was rather odd.
On Saturday night I had the opportunity to reunite with almost everyone else who went to Ecuador at a fiesta at my friends Katy, Caitlyn, and Emily's house. We were only missing four students, and Professor Martin and Dr. Melampy, the trip leaders were there too, along with Nancy, Dr. Melampy's wife, and her friend, Suki, who joined us for the Amazon/Intag portion of the trip. We had a blast!! We had SO much food, Ecuadorian and American, and we looked at pictures from the trip, played lots of reggaetón music, and made a Facebook video for Antonia, who's currently back in Cuenca taking classes at the University of Azuay. We're all very jealous of her!!
As I promised previously, here's a little bit about Diva Night, the fabulous fundraiser for the Arts House that I went to a few weeks ago. The musical acts were not nearly as good as last year's (so I'm told; I couldn't go last year), but everyone looked totally glam in their get-ups, whether they were male or female for the evening. The winner was the one true standout, a girl from my acting class who sang a song from The Gospel According to Tammy Faye Baker, an original and as yet unproduced musical written by one of her friends. My friend Carolyn sang "Dance: Ten, Looks: Three" from A Chorus Line and did a fantastic job considering she learned the song in about three hours. My roommate, Jamie, and I decided that dressing up as boys was no fun, so we just went the obnoxiously-sparkly-pop-star route thanks to some old dance costumes of mine and my sister's. We did help Pat and R.J. with their outfits, and we all looked ridiculous and fabulous, if I do say so myself:
Friday, April 9, 2010
How is it April already??
I don't understand how we got to this point. I thought it was February last week. Not fair! I have entirely too much to do in the next 4 weeks before school is out.
But nobody really wants to hear me whining. Instead, here's a bit of a review of what's been going on in my life lately.
School has been keeping me super-busy -- more busy than usual, in fact -- and it's kind of a problem that I've come to that point in the year where all my motivation just goes out the window. The nice weather lately hasn't helped much. We had sun and temperatures in the 70s and low 80s from last Friday through two days ago, although now it's down to the low 40s and rainy. Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the low 60s again, though...welcome to Ohio, folks. Anyways, on top of trying to figure out how the heck I'm going to combine dance and creative writing into a thesis project for next year, I've had sooooooooo many papers to write! I made the conscious decision to really enjoy my Easter break (yes, we get a week of spring break and then we get a 4-day weekend when Easter rolls around!), so I did no homework while I was home. Therefore, I spent all of Tuesday researching and writing a six-page rough draft for Spanish and spent Wednesday finishing my soundtrack practicum for my film class and yesterday writing the paper to accompany the practicum. Yay college.
I did have a very nice Easter break, though. The highlights were church on Sunday and the start of baseball season. I can't express how glad I am that we're back to watching baseball!! And my Braves started their season off with a bang by beating the Cubs 16-5!! :D Don't get me wrong, I love my Cubbies, but the Braves always have been and always will be my number one. The other good part about Easter break was getting to spend a lot of time with my family, especially my poor sister who had surgery on her ankle on Thursday. She's handling both the pain and the frustration really well, and I'm very proud of her. She won't be able to dance normally for 4-6 months. She'll be in a soft cast for another week till the swelling goes down, then a hard cast for a month, and hopefully she'll get her walking boot the day before prom in May.
I'm looking forward to a fun weekend, starting tonight with a low-key party at the Arts House and then going to the Arts House's second annual Diva Night tomorrow. (Diva Night is basically an excuse for everyone to dress up in crazy-fabulous outfits or in drag and enjoy an awesome cabaret show. I'm sure it will give me a lot to write about!) In between, I'm hoping to get some thesis research done, catch up on the Glee episodes I missed while I was in Ecuador, and finish another chapter of the story I'm writing for my friend Emily about Neville Longbottom.
Enjoy your weekend!
But nobody really wants to hear me whining. Instead, here's a bit of a review of what's been going on in my life lately.
School has been keeping me super-busy -- more busy than usual, in fact -- and it's kind of a problem that I've come to that point in the year where all my motivation just goes out the window. The nice weather lately hasn't helped much. We had sun and temperatures in the 70s and low 80s from last Friday through two days ago, although now it's down to the low 40s and rainy. Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the low 60s again, though...welcome to Ohio, folks. Anyways, on top of trying to figure out how the heck I'm going to combine dance and creative writing into a thesis project for next year, I've had sooooooooo many papers to write! I made the conscious decision to really enjoy my Easter break (yes, we get a week of spring break and then we get a 4-day weekend when Easter rolls around!), so I did no homework while I was home. Therefore, I spent all of Tuesday researching and writing a six-page rough draft for Spanish and spent Wednesday finishing my soundtrack practicum for my film class and yesterday writing the paper to accompany the practicum. Yay college.
I did have a very nice Easter break, though. The highlights were church on Sunday and the start of baseball season. I can't express how glad I am that we're back to watching baseball!! And my Braves started their season off with a bang by beating the Cubs 16-5!! :D Don't get me wrong, I love my Cubbies, but the Braves always have been and always will be my number one. The other good part about Easter break was getting to spend a lot of time with my family, especially my poor sister who had surgery on her ankle on Thursday. She's handling both the pain and the frustration really well, and I'm very proud of her. She won't be able to dance normally for 4-6 months. She'll be in a soft cast for another week till the swelling goes down, then a hard cast for a month, and hopefully she'll get her walking boot the day before prom in May.
I'm looking forward to a fun weekend, starting tonight with a low-key party at the Arts House and then going to the Arts House's second annual Diva Night tomorrow. (Diva Night is basically an excuse for everyone to dress up in crazy-fabulous outfits or in drag and enjoy an awesome cabaret show. I'm sure it will give me a lot to write about!) In between, I'm hoping to get some thesis research done, catch up on the Glee episodes I missed while I was in Ecuador, and finish another chapter of the story I'm writing for my friend Emily about Neville Longbottom.
Enjoy your weekend!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
A short rant, but then I promise there's good stuff
Angry, angry, angry. News flash: I am not a child. I don't drink. I don't really understand the rules of football and basketball even after seven years of watching games. I don't always get the mature (read: vulgar) jokes right away. And I literally could not care less about March Madness. None of those things, however, in any way make me five years old. I am an adult. I don't need to be protected from stupid things people say. I don't need you to cover my ears when someone makes a dirty joke, even if I'm going to find it completely disgusting and unfunny. And guess what...I don't need to be informed that boys - particularly boys I know very, very well - get angry when their sports teams lose. I am tired of being treated like a baby.
Okay, moving on. I just had to get that out there.
Last week I was home for spring break, and it was the week of the musical at my high school, so the entire household revolved around the show. The production was Thoroughly Modern Millie, and what a fabulous show it was!! I got to see it several times, because I got permission to watch rehearsals for research for my project for my Dance in the Musical Theatre class, and it just got better and better and better. My sister was in the show, playing the role of Alice, one of Millie's friends, and also serving as an Ensemble member, Dance Captain, set and logo designer, and the understudy for Millie. My parents and I got to see her perform as Millie at one rehearsal, and I was so proud! Everyone else in the cast, crew, and orchestra made me proud too! I have a number of friends who were involved, including one of my best friends, Emily, who played the actual role of Millie, and she gave the performance of her life so far, which is definitely saying something! I think it might be the best show our school has done since we've been in the district, and that's even more impressive when you know that 90% of that success came from the kids and 8.5% of it came from the awesome parent volunteers, the orchestra director, and the choreographer. Suffice it to say the director is less than the ideal candidate for the job (since I don't need to get into another angry rant).
Other highlights of spring break were shopping with my mom, watching LOST with my friend Helen who was home for her break, and seeing Alice in Wonderland (the 3-D is totally not worth the extra cost!) and having other random adventures with my friend Carie who was also on break. But mostly, it was a week about Millie.
Alicia as Millie
Emily as Millie and Alicia in the brown wig and pink top directly to the left
Okay, moving on. I just had to get that out there.
Last week I was home for spring break, and it was the week of the musical at my high school, so the entire household revolved around the show. The production was Thoroughly Modern Millie, and what a fabulous show it was!! I got to see it several times, because I got permission to watch rehearsals for research for my project for my Dance in the Musical Theatre class, and it just got better and better and better. My sister was in the show, playing the role of Alice, one of Millie's friends, and also serving as an Ensemble member, Dance Captain, set and logo designer, and the understudy for Millie. My parents and I got to see her perform as Millie at one rehearsal, and I was so proud! Everyone else in the cast, crew, and orchestra made me proud too! I have a number of friends who were involved, including one of my best friends, Emily, who played the actual role of Millie, and she gave the performance of her life so far, which is definitely saying something! I think it might be the best show our school has done since we've been in the district, and that's even more impressive when you know that 90% of that success came from the kids and 8.5% of it came from the awesome parent volunteers, the orchestra director, and the choreographer. Suffice it to say the director is less than the ideal candidate for the job (since I don't need to get into another angry rant).
Other highlights of spring break were shopping with my mom, watching LOST with my friend Helen who was home for her break, and seeing Alice in Wonderland (the 3-D is totally not worth the extra cost!) and having other random adventures with my friend Carie who was also on break. But mostly, it was a week about Millie.
Alicia as Millie
Emily as Millie and Alicia in the brown wig and pink top directly to the left
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