3 Long Years?

Wow. It's been almost three years since being on this blog. It was one of those things that just faded away with time. I recently thought about this blog after discovering a old movie that I reviewed on this blog for a blog party.

This is rather short, and I'm just curious to see who still reads this very inactive blog. And, if it can get at least two comments (legitimate ones) and more than 25 page views, maybe I'll do a life update and see if I can get this blog back up and running. But let's see where we can get?

Since it has been three years, I'll leave you with three things that I will certainly highlight if I get those two comments and 25 page views.

1. Graduation
2. College
3. Podcast

Like I noted, I highly doubt this inactive blog gets any reads and such anymore, but I'm genuinely curious to see how this will go.

So, if you do read this, and you've been a previous reader over the years, pop in and send me a quick comment letting me know how you're doing. I'm interested to hear how you all have fared in the last three years.

Life is Just Thoroughly Modern

Wow. It has been a really long time since writing a post, let alone publishing it. My well of time, inspiration, and fun has kind of dried up. Life gets in the way and you often have to prioritise your time. Right now this is MLK Day, so no school for me today. But I wanted to take this time to announce that the spring musical for our high school is Thoroughly Modern Millie.

If you don't know anything about Thoroughly Modern Millie, it's about a young woman from Salina Kansas who ventures off the New York City. She raises her skirts and bobs her hair and becomes a "modern woman." There she meets with Jimmy, Miss Dorothy, Mrs. Meers, and Muzzy and goes on a wild adventure involving love, stenogs, and white slavery. You can look it up more on the internet.

There was a new audition process this year, one that I really think benefitted a lot of people. Instead of doing impromptu dancing, singing and acting, all of our material was given to us early. We had the chance to practise and perfect our auditions. And I can't tell you how glad I was for that.

I practised my dancing the most. If there's one thing everyone knows about me, is that I. Can. Not. Dance. To. Save. My. Life. The singing portion I didn't really practise much. It was comfortably in my range, however belting the last note isn't my strong suit.

We had a choice of four monologues and I couldn't decided which one I wanted to do. But on the day of the audition, 20 minutes before going to audition, I decided.

We went in with groups of eight others. Mine were all girls. It's weird to go to these things and be surrounded by people and knowing that some of them will get in. And some will not.

My dancing was alright. My singing, however was good and somehow I managed to "fake it til you make it" belt the last note.

Unfortunately, my monologue was not as strong as I wanted it to be. I'm sure I was a little too quiet and pretty underprepared.

I walked out feeling decent. I predicted at least chorus. I was hoping for a name part. More like praying actually. :)

Callbacks came and my name wasn't listed, which made me a little nervous.

Then it came.

The day and the cast list came out. Two other girls and I were anxious to look. And our speech class teacher let us out early to see the cast list. One of my speech classmates and friend got the role of Millie (we all called that one)(She's so amazing at singing, dancing, and acting) and our other German exchange student got the role of Ethel Peas. Millie's boyfriend actually got the role of Jimmy, so I was super pumped for that. I scanned for my last name (the list was in alphabetical order of last names)

There it was. My name and my role(s). I got the role of Dorothy Parker and chorus. I was so happy. I GOT A NAME PART!

I have four lines. I'm not in the front for any of the numbers. BUT I HAVE A NAME! ONE THAT I DON'T HAVE TO MAKE UP! I couldn't be happier.

For me, my life is Thoroughly Modern Meeeeeeee.

"Whether the weather is cold, or whether the weather is hot......"

"Whether the weather is cold,

or whether the weather is hot,

we'll weather the weather

whatever the weather

whether we like it or not"

I have some semi-exciting news to announce to everyone. I finally made it into one of my school's plays.

If you've been reading and following along with this blog for a while, you'll know that my school puts on a fall play and a spring musical every year. I've tried out my freshman and sophomore year for both of them and failed to get into any of them.

Freshman year problems
I was this measly freshman who knew no one. I'm not outgoing by any means. I'm also extremely serious and I find it hard to let loose at all. I also can't dance.

Sophomore year problems
The more-ish popular version of me still trying to stay out of trouble and keep improving my relationship with the Lord........... and I was still being self-conscious and modest and low-key. Turns out that my acting skills are not up to par. And did I mention that I really can't dance?

Junior year success
So, as you all know, I've got a new job as a cashier/cart wrangler/bagger/janitorial person at one of my local grocery stores. And I was a little hesitant to try out for the fall play this year. I mean, that'll knock me down to three days of working, unlike my usual five. However, that uncertainty didn't last long. All I was thinking was "I have nothing to lose. If I get in, great. If I don't, then I work and make money. There's really no win/lose situation, I guess."
The day came. It was full of freshman and veterans. I watched amazing people go and even some not so amazing ones. And then I went on. Tried a Jamaican accent, smirked, rolled my eyes, gasped, acted to the best of my ability.
Come Thursday after school, a crowd was gathered outside the teacher's room. I looked up there.... No name, no name, no name. Kept scanning..........

And low and behold........

My name at the very bottom.

Yes, I made it as house staff and an understudy.

What? You might ask? Just an understudy? Just part of the house staff?

I have to say that I was so surprised that I even got in. I was stunned to say the least. And then to go into the teacher's room and have a script handed to me. It was an amazing feeling. Sure, I've been handed plenty of scripts, but they were all for tech crew cues and cuts and scenes. And while those were great, it's amazing to hold one and know that you have even the fewest of lines. The teacher cut a lot of parts to make room for the best of the best actors. And I was lucky to even get casted above some veteran members. She let me and another house staff/understudy name our characters and design them how we like (My character's name is Evelyn and the other understudy happened to name himself Edward) (Double E's!) I have no solo lines; just group lines. I walk in and out and stand in place and make faces. I hide a telephone and serve tea. It sounds mediocre right? Not to me; I couldn't ask for anything more. But hey, I'm up on that stage now. And it's amazing.

I'm still learning how to let loose and stop being self-conscious of everything I do. I'm still learning it's okay to look and act like a complete and utter fool sometimes. I'm still learning that it's on the stage where you can be anyone or anything. You leave yourself in the wings, and yet you leave yourself on the stage as well. I'm still learning that even the unseen are important, as I learned with the tech crew. Trust me, we're just as important.

Now, that brings me to the tech crew. Unfortunately, with my job and homework and school, and for right now, play practise, it looks as if I won't be returning to tech anytime soon. It makes me sad, and yet, I know that if I get a chance to go back, I will return sometime.

It's a funny thing, you know. Being on stage and hearing the actors act and do lines and not hear it through mics and speakers. It's interesting to watch the show pan out in front of my own eyes and not through a zoomed in/out black and white camera lense. It's the weirdest feeling when you flip the pages of your script in your binder but it's not to watch for where to move a camera, but to see when your next group line or cue is noted.

I can't imagine how it's going to feel; But I'm excited to find out. How is it going to feel to walk into the dressing rooms? I won't be there to turn on the TV's or hang with my friends who are always in the plays and musicals. I'll be there to get into costumes and get my hair and make-up done. When we go to eat before the show, I may actually sit with the cast and not the tech crew. And when I get on that stage..........

I'll be looking at the audience faces instead of their heads. I'll be doing the bowing instead of recording it. And I'll get to watch the curtain go down in front of my face instead of being a mile away in the camera booth.

It's scary, to be honest. But it's a good scary. A scary that I hope will continue from now on.