With Credits to Kathe

While at the Everson, I stumbled upon some hats. Some very COOL hats. Kathe and I both got an idea, and soon enough, we had THIS collection:























It's true, readers---I am the mad hatter!

(All photos were taken by Kathe, Maya's mom. Thanks again!)

My Week in Pictures

I'm back from Syracuse!

To Kathe, Tom, Maya, Lydia, and Squeak: thank you so much for letting me stay! I had so much fun, but I think I'm ready for some time communicating with Maya via webcam. ;-)

And now...the pictures! (Most photo credits go to Kathe. Other photographers are Maya, Lydia, and Quinn)











I know that's just a snippet of the 150+ photos from the trip, but of course, those will come in time. As for there, those are mostly highlights. Not THE highlights, but highlights in general. (One can only edit so much when you have 45 minutes on a plane)

My Old Kentucky Home

Tomorrow Im headed back for Kentucky. The visit went really well, but I think I'm ready to go home (One can only skittle so much, after all.) I'll be in Louisville by about noon tomorrow, therefore getting home somewhere between 1:30 and 2. Then I have about four days...and summer will be over.

Admit it.

I'm awesome:



After a bit of tweaking and exploring, I have managed to put both Charlie the Unicorn and its sequel on my iPod. 9 more minutes of glee.

A Little Fall of...Priest?

Maya and I went to her friends' house today. Both of them (Lauren and Michael) are into musical theatre, especially Michael. Lauren seems to be more into dance. However, Michael is a GENIUS on piano and owns just about any book of sheet music you can imagine. Only things I didn't see were "Beauty and the Beast" and "Wicked".

We attempted to do a little concert, but it kind of went...well, weird. We all did "One Day More", and we had to be like, three people at once. I was the Thenardiers, Enjolras, Eponine, and Random Chorus Person. It was kind of awkward, but in the final snippet when everyone sings different lyrics, Maya took over Eponine and dropped Marius/Cosette. (Thanks, Maya!)

I also soloed on "I Dreamed A Dream", which really was a lot of fun. I love me a good alto-belt song, and it actually is an alto song that goes LOW rather than HIGH (Bad thing about "On My Own"). Maya said that I actually hit the notes correctly...but I do think I slipped up a few times. Her own rendition of "On My Own" was pretty much FLAWLESS, though. She's amazing.

It was strange how fast Michael was able to catch onto songs. He heard the 30-second clip from Avenue Q, "I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today" a couple times, and poof: 10 minutes later, his fingers were flying across the keys on not just the VOCAL line, but the ACCOMPANIST part. Don't even get me STARTED on his sight reading, either. (Tried "Jack's Lament", and it was incredible)

I only have two more days in Syracuse, a day for traveling, then four days at home. Then school starts. However, I think that I'm looking forward to 8th grade. It's going to be nice both taking a math class that is somewhat difficult and also taking German. I think that having a basic understanding of the language is going to help a lot, and if I need advice, I can just call Katherine. That's one of the lovely things about having bilingual friends, after all!

Y-M-C-A!

Well, there's several items to blog.

Item #1: Maya and I saw Sweeney Todd last night. It was AMAZING---personally, I think their Sweeney-Lovett beat out Judy Kaye and David Hess. They officially rank as my 2nd favorite pair, coming very close to beating out Angela Lansbury and George Hearn. Maya knew the person playing Anthony, along with two people in the chorus. It was great finding out who the heck her Gifford people were, and they were incredible! (She told me to add the she hugged Anthony, who she knew.)

They were selling Mrs. Lovett's meat pies, and although we didn't buy any, we found a laugh in the sign that said they sold "Vegetarian pies---made of REAL vegetarians".

Item #2: We went to the YMCA to go swimming today. I was able to show off my backstroke in the lap lane, mess around in the kiddie pool (It was actually really fun), and test just HOW many pool noodles one can sit on without flipping. Apparently, five is the number.

Item #3: We're currently having a Sweeney Todd marathon---we're watching the Angela Lansbury stage production right now and might watch the Johnny Depp movie. However, Johnny Depp/Helena Bonham Carter remains my least favorite pairing our of four. (Scratch that---they are fourth out of five. Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris are my least favorite. You're great, Cerveris, but having LuPone as Mrs. Lovett ruins it)

Demon Barbers About

All set for the theatre:

The Mall of Shopping

Maya, Quinn, and I bombarded the Carousel Mall today. We went seperately from Maya's mom and her sister, Lydia, and wound up having a lot of fun! Maya didn't buy much, but we all tried on stuff, ate way too much junk food, and actually started jazz squaring in the middle of the walkway.

Quinn dragged us into Aeropostale and American Eagle (And almost added Hollister and Abercrombie to the list), which was rather interesting. Really---me, dressed in black, did NOT look like the average AE customer. Quinn, however, insisted I looked fine---I still had to point out that I wasn't wearing a jean mini skirt nor a pink frilly camisole. I STILL think we were ripped off when Quinn paid $5.23 for a shirt that was marked 70% off from $12, but oh well.

My stores of choice were PayLess Shoes and f.y.e. I didn't find what I was looking for at f.y.e (Some Nightwish CD---only thing I found was a Stevie Nicks soundtrack with "Edge of Seventeen" on it), nor exactly did I at PayLess. Actually, I did find a pair of ballet slippers that fit pretty well---it's just that I figured I didn't really need any more dance shoes right then. However, I found a pair of ballet FLATS that are totally awesome...even if Maya claims they'll give me some knee or ankle failure.

I must admit, I actually shopped at Claire's. I usually don't---I think it appears like a Purple Bomb exploded. However, I found out recently that I can do MORE with my hair then put it in two ponytails or in barettes: headbands actually work. I scored a pack of three, a pair of blue dangle earrings, and a totally awesome hat. Here's a picture of me "modeling" the earrings and (Squee!) hat:



At the end of the day, I finally scored a bag that I liked. I'm pretty sure I can take it to school, as it's not too freakishly big. Still, I totally love it. It pretty much racked up the last of my money, though. Still---I was able to get a Vanilla soft serve to mark the end of a great day.

Not Much Else of Interest

Maya, Quinn, Lydia, and I did a little bit of filming for our Twilight movie (I'm playing Alice), and did some regular video recording. We introduced Quinn to the first three songs of Wicked, fell backwards onto the bed while listening to "Defying Gravity" , and attempted making a tent out of a few sheets.

However, all video is on Maya's macbook. So here's a photo taken a few minutes in Photobooth. (Yes, I am aware of how dazed I look. I just woke up from the most UN-powering 'power nap' ever)

Greetings from Syracuse!

Quinn, Maya, and I are currently watching "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (I'm a Tibby), and Quinn's sleeping over. Not much else to report---flight was good, and there'll be a week of skittling-related news.

His Super-Sweet 16

Today is Mike's 16th birthday! Fill up the comments with birthday wishes for our favorite Pete Wentz look-alike:

(I couldn't find a baby picture my mom didn't use, so here's his brithday from LAST year)



In other news, I'm leaving for Syracuse tomorrow! Maya, Quinn, and Lydia---I can't wait to see you all and skittle to the maximum degree! This is going to be TOTALLY "awesome possum"! (As my friend Jillian would say)

Strike Out!

Tonight was the Strike Party, and it was so much fun. A little depressing at the end, though...

It mainly consisted or wild chatter and eating, but considering that what teenagers do best, that was good enough. We had fried chicken, salad, chips, ice cream, and cake---it was really good!

The awards (Nerds and Rubber Chicken) were hilarious. They were "hosted" by the seniors, and they each had a Nerd category. Some of the entries were pretty basic---newbies trying to hit the high note, missing a prop, etc. However, the winners were outrageous---I believe Gaston and Beast singing "Gaston and the Beast" rather than "Beauty and the Beast" at all the Meet-n-Greet's won for Backstage Romance!

The rubber chicken went to our Monsieur Darque, and Andrew's (Lumiere) explanation for it was hilariously funny. I don't remember all of it, but I remember the main thing was that someone in the guy's dressing room was always shouting, "Richard, it's your fault!"

The last hugging circle was somewhat of a mess. It took forever, both because we added the crew to the circle and because it was the last goodbye. Some of my friends completely broke down, and I was close to crying myself. (I got emails from all of my closest friends, though, so I'll be keeping in touch)

All in all, it was an amazing experience. To think that when I got the casting list, I was close to dropping out because I didn't think I would want to spend my entire summer dressed as a Rug. Not only did I love being dressed as a rug---I met chairs, menus, candlesticks, tea cups, beer steins, bassooning inventors, cakes, etc, etc, etc.

As I said to Lumiere at the end of the hugging circle, though, "The show always ends like this." In other words: incredibly and fabulously amazing.

End of the End

Tonight's the final show! I'm going to miss everyone, but I'm going to enjoy not putting a new face on with my makeup every night. Also, I'm going to Syracuse for a week on Tuesday, so I'm looking forward to that.

If you can't make it to the show, enjoy some pictures and some video at the YTHC website.

For Aubrey

A new reader of mine, Aubrey, requested a picture of my Pete-Wentz-look-alike brother. Well, here he is (and me):



Come to think of it, he looks like Beethoven, too:

Hate to do this twice in a row...

...but you have to admit: it's kind of cute.

LOL of the Day

Following the Trend

Two blogs I read have started posting their celebrity crushes. Considering nothing exciting is going to happen with my life today, here's my list:

Johnny Depp:



I love him in just about anything; Pirates, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are just a few of my favorites. I also like how he doesn't always hide his glasses---in fact, they're rather big. Oh, and his hat. Can never forget his hat.

Billy Martin


This might just be because Good Charlotte is one of my favorite bands, but I totally love Billy. He doesn't really have a signature hat, but his eyes and ever changing hair make up for all of that. Oh, and did I mention he's hilariously funny?

Mikhail Baryshnikov



All right, just about anyone around the age that this post is meant for is going to wonder who the heck this is (Unless, say, Maya or Quinn comes along). Basically, he's a retired Russian ballet dancer. He also starred in the 80's movie White Nights, a couple episodes of Sex and the City (Kari's boyfriend, I think), and a few other things. He's incredible, and totally shows that ballet is NOT just for girls.

Pete Wentz



All right, I'm so-so about putting Pete Wentz on the list. Although he IS rather pretty and can actually pull off (and put on) eyeliner, he bears an odd resemblance to my brother. It might just be me, but it's kind of weird to like someone who looks like someone you're RELATED to. Either way, I felt obligated to save a little room for "Peter".

Emile Doles



All right, so he's not TECHNICALLY to complete star status yet, but he's a local celebrity in Florida (And Karen would shame me forever if I didn't put him on this list). I actually have his signature (Thanks, Karen!) along with the rest of the original bands'. However, Emile is my favorite. There are a lot of reasons, but one of the top ones: his black hat.

NOTE: Yes, I know that I didn't include the Jonas Brothers. That's because, although they seem like really nice guys, I don't have a crush on them. On any of them. Just wanted to point that out so I wouldn't get an inbox full of "You forgot Joe Jonas----but he's mine!!!!!!!!!" ;-)

Apologies to anyone who could have cared less about this post. It was either this or an LOLcat...

Speaking of which, I'll throw one in:

Vote!

Yes, I know it's 2 AM here (I can't sleep), so I just thought I'd tell you about my new poll. Recently, I've been getting a bunch of random readers commenting here, and I've been curious how they got here. Therefore, July's poll has started.

So whether you're a new reader or one that's been with me since the beginning of the year, how about taking two seconds out of your demanding life and telling me how you even got here? It'd sure satisfy my curiousity, and people of all ages might find more interest here than in the last one.

At Day at the Office

Well, my little office room is more or less set up! I figured out how to set up my printer tonight, and it triples as a scanner and copier. It's rather nifty, and fits right next to my desk. The printer stand it's on has some shelves, so I'm able to put all my electronic junk/spare paper there. Eureka!

I feel all technology-savvy now. I can either watch DVDs on my Mac or the PS2 (Which doesn't serve much other purpose, as my brother owns most of the games), take pictures on my computer, print my own stuff, AND scan my pictures, all in the warmness of my little escape. (AKA bedroom)

I was a little nervous that it wouldn't work, but here's official documentation that my printer can print from my laptop:



And here's my 'office' in all of it's glorious mess:

Dear Apple,

Please sign some DMR thing so I can do NetFlix instant watch.

Love,

Alicebelle (And Patrick Ryan Murpny)

I'm serious---I was about to watch Law and Order, when I found out that it isn't compatible on Macs. I love my MacBook to death, so I'm not dissing the system...just wish I could watch said movies. Oh well---I'll watch it on my mom's laptop tomorrow. Right now, it's Jeff Dunham time.

From Monroe to Manson

I've noticed that my look changes a lot whenever a put on makeup. For Beauty and the Beast, I have to put on a LOT of makeup, therefore changing a lot. When I'm in costume, it's all fine and dandy. I look really nice, because my costumes are brighter than my street clothes (Read: not all black).

However, once I put on my black hoodie and capris, especially at night, I sort of look...well, scary.

To give you a basic idea of what I'm talking about, here's me without any makeup at all:



And here's me with makeup and regular clothes (Well, today's opposite day at BATB. I'm dressing preppy):


Not bad, really. However, add a black jacket and volia: we've got Marilyn Manson.


Just because I was bored---and my camera is working again---I took this random picture of me. I kind of like it:

Be Kind

Well, considering you've probably already seen the videos of parent's night on my mom's blog, here's another video that made my day: "Be Kind" by Sophia.



Even so, here's my favorite clip from the show, Maison des Lunes:

Performance 2

We had the bank performance tonight, and it went pretty well! Nothing major happened, but these are the highlights:

• Someone took a picture of me in my rug
• The dances went rather well
• We got cookies after the show
• Some little girl asked me to sign her playbil
• I got to see most of the inside of the playbil
• I was more or less bombarded with hugs when I left for some odd reason. I totally love my theatre friends.

Tired Again

Tonight was Parent's Night, and it actually went pretty well! My mom is uploading her picutres and videos right now, so as of now, there's not much to say. We have another special performance tomorrow, then real opening night is Friday. (Not Thursday, as I've previously said---I was having a stupid moment)

Squeal!

Tomorrow's Parent's Night for Beauty and the Beast! Sure, the technical opening night isn't until Thursday, but theme days start tomorrow, and at least SOMEONE gets to see what we've been doing for the past two months.

Short post, as I'm running short on time. REAL post (hopefully) tomorrow.

Posting Just In Case

I might be getting home around midnight tonight, so I'm blogging early just in case. To make this count as content, meet my latest roleplay character:



Name- Mr. Fuzzles (That’s what his owner calls him, at least. Call him Fuzz)
Gender- Male
Breed- Chinchila
Age in Chinchilla Years- 21
Coat Color- White
Eye Color- Black with a little bit of light blue
Personality- Fuzz is a bit of a flirt. He’s quite a lady’s man (Or Chinchilla), and is almost peakock-like
sometimes. He has a tendency to ruffle his fur when excited, making him look like a feather duster.
Besides that, he is sort of stubborn and will sort of loose his mind when flirting. Either way,
he’s pretty friendly. As for fighting? He has a way of slipping out when it begins and coming
back when it’s over.

Bleh

Tired. Very. Tired.

Just had a 6 hour rehearsal, where we ran the show with costumes, start to finish, then cleaned up certain parts. Tomorrow we add makeup and hair. I haven't really eaten, just a cereal bar and a packet of dried apricots. Actually, we were told we couldn't bring food anymore, but not to binge before we get there. 5:30 to 11 tomorrow is certainly going to be interesting.

Half in Half Out!

Well, actually the halfway point for Blog365 was a few days ago (182.5 days), but I'm behind on a lot of stuff (Such as a 4th of July post), so I just thought I'd post it now. I just have to do what I did...AGAIN. It wasn't too painful, actually.

Happy belated 4th of July, people! Hope you ate a lot of potato salad (Or fruit salad or whatever), enjoyed some fireworks, and slept late.

Videos!

Well, here are the videos from the mal show. Some of them fade to black too soon and are sort of hard to see, but you get the basic idea.

"Belle"



"Me"



"Home"



"Gaston"



"If I Can't Love Her"



"Human Again" (I'm the one who does the forward roll once everyone starts singing)



"Beauty and the Beast"



"Finale"

Promo At the Mall

Beauty and the Beast had it's promotional show at the E'Town mall today. We opened up with "Star Spangled Banner" and "My Old Kentucky Home", then did eight songs from the show: "Belle", "Me", "Home", "Gaston", "If I Can't Love Her", "Human Again", "Beauty and the Beast", and "Finale".

I hope the people who saw the show decide to see the real thing, opening on the 11th and running until the 20th. It's been really fun, and everyone's been working really hard. Everyone's sort of become friends, and I'm really cherishing every moment of it. I can't wait until opening night---power to Rugs! (And chimney sweeps)

Welcoming a New Challenge

I'm currently learning three piano exercises, several sogns, practicing bassoon, and have rehearsal every day for three hours (Soon to become longer). So what do you think I need? A break? Not at all: a completely new task: play, record, and put all three parts of THIS together:



For non-movie watchers, it's an oboe-flute-bassoon trio for "Narnian Lullaby" from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

Happy 1st of July!

Wow, it's hard to believe we're into the 7th month of the year. It's also hard to believe that, technically, today is the halfway point of the year. By midday today, the year will be halfway over, meaning I just have to blog this streak...AGAIN.

July also means opening night is coming soon. Beauty and the Beast starts on the 11th. I'm sorta freaked, because I haven't gotten my rug costume yet. It seems that everyone else has gotten their castle costume, so I'm just going early today, directly into the girl's dressing room, and requesting to try it on. I am NOT going onstage opening night, not sure if I can do everything right.

July also means there's only a month left of summer. I'm not TOO bummed out---except that I have some piano exercises that I haven't even started working on. Oops! The first looks easy enough, then the second and third are nearly the same. There's just something about switiching which finger you use. I just need to FIND all three of them, and then I'll be in good shape.

Pictures from Last Night

As promised, here are the pictures from last night!

Me with Mrs. Potts



Some cast members, Belle, & Beast



Me and Lumiere (Tyler Bliss!!!)



Actually, Tyler played Barnabas in Hello, Dolly! last summer, so here's the shot last year:

"Show me the Beast!"

Well, we saw Beauty and the Beast at Derby Dinner tonight. It was really good! I knew the person who played Lumiere (Tyler Bliss---he was one of my Broadway Bootcamp instructors), so I got to see him after the show. (Picture probably tomorrow!)

The show itself was great! The people who played Darque, LeFou, Beast, Lumiere, Gaston, and the Silly Girls were especially good. There were a few scenes they cut out that I wish they didn't, but it was still good. It made me even more excited about opening night (The 11th!!!), and I can't wait to try on my rug costume. I saw it today at the show, and it looks cool!

Guinea Pig Squeaks!

Katherine's here! We're about to watch Nightmare Before Christmas, and I just remembered that I needed to blog.

Pictures from our 11-day get together will be posted as they're taken, so stay tuned!

A Day Backstage

Maya suggested that I blog about rehearsal, so I suppose I might as well.

I have yet to try on my rug costume, but the costumes that I've seen are incredible. So far, we have Wardrobe, Cogsworth, the salt and pepper shakers, the Darques, Gaston, LeFou, and several others.

We've been able to get to where we can get through the entire show in three hours. Sure, there are times in which someone says "Line?", but things are actually going really well. I can't wait for the complete rehearsals---with costumes and orchestra!

Videos that Made My Day

Well, actually several things made my day.

-Meeting a fellow bassoonist at rehearsal
-Finding out that both the girl who plays Mrs. Potts and the choreographer play the oboe
-The fact that I'm going to watch Nightmare Before Christmas again tonight
-These videos!

Most of them are by the same person, besides

"Because...You're Dumb!"



"Happy Working Song"



"Frollo the Unicorn 1 & 2"





"Tim Burton and Danny Elfman Movie Melody"

Pointe Shoooes!

Maya got her Pointe Shoes today! She totally loves them, and I even got to see her in them via webcam. She hasn't done much in them yet---besides squealing---but I think she's going to do great!

Congradulations, Maya! Mikhail Baryshnikov and Svetlana Zakharova would be proud to know another aspiring dancer is now on Pointe.

Blogging from Bed

I'm really liking this new setup with my Mac. Considering it doesn't weigh five million pounds, I can easily carry it between my desk and bed. Thanks to the built-in-battery, I don't even have to bring the charger with me. It's awesome, and I think I like the ability to compute in bed.

I spent the evening transferring my files from the old laptop to the new laptop, which actually required booting up both computers. It reminded me of what it was like to use the old Sony Windows laptop---slow, clunky, and...gray. (I was IMing with Maya and Ally on the new laptop, so it was all good) Of course, getting the files meant renaming and sorting, which I probably should have done when I transferred them. I nearly tore my hair out when I thought I deleted all of my photos, but I didn't. I found them someplace else, safe and sound. I really am still getting used to Mac controls, so minor things like that really freak me out.

Mac n Cheese

Well, I did it. I made the switch over to Mac computers, and I'm currently posting this from my new MacBook, Patrick. He is named after the YouTube star Patrick Ryan, who starred as Tom in the Wizard of Oz parody, No Place Like Home.

Current things I've done so far with my Mac:

-Charged it
-Webcammed with Maya (And I still am!)
-Gotten an IM from a random reader using my AIM widget. (Random readers of this blog, don't hide! I give milk and brownies to random readers. I love hearing from them)
-Blogged!

I really think I like this style of computer better than Windows. It's self-explanatory, fast, easy, and just plain awesome. I think Patrick and I will have a long, happy time together filled with excitement and adventure. (When I get my first boyfriend, I suppose I could use that same line!)

...and some PHOTOSHOPPED art...

I did this during the school year, actually. I had the entire Computer Apps period free (As I did for about three weeks), and decided to do something slightly productive rather than just playing Solitaire. Thus, I opened Photoshop, and 45 minutes and a few layers later, this was the result:



Yes, I'm a huge Lion King geek, in case you haven't noticed.

The world has officially gone to the dogs:

(Click on it to expand and show how truly insane modern society is)

More Art

Well, today was rather routine ("There must be more than this provincial life!"), but I did try my hand at Corpse Bride art. I think this came out pretty well for a first shot! I also only had two shades of blue! Besides the pink, all the coloring is done with two shades of blue that were nearly identical. I used black and white to shade and tint, but besides that, it was just blue. Hope you like it.

Artsy

Well, I stayed up until one last night finishing two pictures I've been working on. Here they are:






The quote is the last line of Nightmare Before Christmas:

"My dearest friend, if you don't mind,
I'd like to join you by your side,
Where we can gaze into the stars.
And sit together, now and forever,
For it's plain as anyone can see:
We're simply meant to be."

Same Boring Day

Rather than hearing about my boring day, add some zing to yours by gazing at an incredible drawing Ally did based on me in one of my shorter skits:

At Last!

Maya and I are finally skittling again. It's been forever since we've done so, and currently we're writing about the Phantom Crew having a PJ party at Phantom's. Raoul ate the key in his Key Lime Pie, so everyone is stuck with just their pajamas. Let's see how that goes.

Catching Up

All right, so I have some photos I need to post and have delayed on. Well, here they are:

Ally and me


Me playing bassoon at the last band concert


Ginger enjoys a good book


Stupid sign humor


Heath and me at Callaway Gardens


There! I'm pretty much all caught up. Anything I missed?

Two Celebrations

Two things:

1. Happy Father's Day, dad!

2. Happy birthday, Billy Martin!

See? How convienent is it that two great days are on the SAME day? And 27 is Billy's favorite number, and he's turning 27 today. Hooray!

Freee!

Well, I did it. I survived the ACT.

Didn't exactly THRIVE on it (I was totally slaughtered on the math test), but I made it through. That ought to count for something, right?

It's weird, though---it's like I have nothing to do with my life now that I'm not studying or trying to procrasinate. I'm now enjoying a time of roleplaying, movie-watching, and just plain doing nothing.

Tomorrow's It!

Well, in 12 hours I'll be sitting in a room, taking the first part of the ACT. I'm reviewing math stuff now, and then it's straight to bed. (Well, after finding my passport, sharpening pencils, etc.)

Tired

No, I really can't think of a better title. I really am tired.

-It's about 11 PM
-I got up at 8 after going to bed at 1 this morning
-I had three hours of rehearsal
-We ran just about the entire show

Three hours of running here, there, and everywhere, going up and down stairs...and trying on the Dress of Doom. Well, actually it's a rather nice dress---it's my costume for "Gaston" and "Belle", and well as the finale. The only problem is that it doesn't fit me, it's hard to get on and nearly impossible to get off, and doesn't convey the fact that I'm a chimney sweep very well. Rather, I might be selling lace or something. Nooo: I'm going up and down chimneys, sweeping ash while dressed like Johanna Barker. I just hope my rug costume will be a bit easier to breathe in.

10 minutes of those three hours were used to attempt to (and fail) learn the two-person roll that I the rug and the guy that plays LeFou perform during The Battle. We've figured out what to do...we just can't figure out how to do it. We tried it in the grass, and I have the green stains to prove it. I'm totally wearing jeans next time.

Cast Your Vote!

Ever since I've opened up my LibraryThing account (I'll get the widget back up soon!), I've been itching to see what everyone else is reading. Therefore, I set up a poll.

Which book are you most looking forward to? I'm imagining several people will say Breaking Dawn, but I know there are Eragon and Artemis Fowl fans out there. And Inkheart---that's rather popular.

Of course, there are those lamenting about how there's not going to be Harry Potter: Year Eight or Series of Unfortunate Events: Book Fourteen, "The Chilling Climax---and I'm serious this time".

ACTing in Every Way

Several ways I've ACTed this week:

-Going to rehearsal (Which requires acting)
-Cleaning my room
-Roleplaying way too much
-Practicing/studying for ACT's on Saturday!!!

I'm sort of nervous, and not looking forward to it all that much. Not so much the test part that makes me so negative---more the getting up early and taking a test in general. Oh well: it's not like it's an all-day thing. 5 hours of my Saturday morning...well, when you put it into other terms, ALL of my Saturday morning.

I know it may help me get into stuff, but I can't wait for this week to be over.

Personality for a Rug?

I just got home from rehearsal (Three hours in jazz shoes---my feet hurt!) and they've given me an assignment: come up with a personality/background for my characters, Rug and Chimney Sweep.

Problem is, neither of those have lines or solos, and therefore are sort of a face lost in the crowd. One is an inanimate object that most people walk on, and one is someone who cleans chimneys but can't break out into "Chim-Chimney" from Mary Poppins.

The rug might actually be easier. They say that in Beauty and the Beast land (France, actually), castle characters became the objects of what they were. The wall was 'dull as a brick', and is therefore a brick wall, Babette was a French Maid, resulting in feather duster, someone was freakishly vain and turned into a vanity, etc.

All right. So maybe the rug was a bit of a doormat. That's easy enough...now one just has to make the personality big and perform on stage. It's sort of hard to make a shyer, quieter, stepped-on-er character show through.

As for Mrs. (Or possibly Mr. if they see my short hair and ability to stuff what hair I do have under a hat to make another guy character) Chimney Sweep...well, I'm still working on him or her. For the "Belle" sequence, I suppose he's probably just out to earn some cash by sweeping chimneys (Duh). In "Gaston", he's at the bar because...that's the hip and happening place to add excitement to him/her otherwise dull life.

Fromt the Heat of the Posting Session

My mom just had to remind me to blog. I think I would have forgotten otherwise---Maya and I are in a very intense posting fit. It's nerve-shattering!

To keep you entertained for the night, I just set up a LibraryThing account. I'm having a hard time getting the widget to work, but I think I might like it.

One Hour

That's what I have on the computer this morning. Mike's stupid alarm woke me up at 6, and he was able to fall back asleep. I wasn't, so I just came up here. However, we don't have to start getting ready for another hour, so considering nobody else is up, I can check my boards. Hoozah!

Going Back

Well, tonight's our last night in Alabama. Pictures coming soon, but my mom doesn't have Photoshop, so I can't do it now. Toodles until tomorrow!

Random Reports

Today was a rather mixed bag. Not so much that there was good and bad, more that the events were of mixed...genres.

Item the First: We went to the local library, which was having a "Bags of Books" sale on used books. Personally, I thought a better title would be "If you can find the book you want, you can buy it for uber-cheap", but I suppose the first is a bit easier to remember.

I was looking around for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but struck out. However, I got a few rather nice titles, and my mom got TONS (I found Angela's Ashes just in the nick of time). However, I'm happy with what I got: Hunchback of Notre Dame, Nanny Diaries, and Animal Farm. I probably got more, but those were the highlights. This is really good, because I've finished both books I took here!

Item the Second: I tried playing the organ for the first time today. It took a lot of experimenting and trial-and-error before I decided that I'd stick with piano for awhile. I want to be able to play organ, but with a loudness pedal, who knows how many switches, two keyboards, AND a large series of wooden pedals for your feet that are basically a deeper version of the keyboard! I might wind up taking lessons someday, but for now I'll stick to piano, that you very much.

Item the Third: I finished the book I started yesterday. It was called Escape by Carolyn Jessop, and it was a memoir about the group of Mormons (Or previous Mormons---I can't remember) in Utah and Arizona. It was really well written, but not for the soft-hearted. It's thrilling, interesting, but most of all WEIRD. It gets a lot slower towards the end (She kept needing money and---surprise, surprise---kept getting it. It seemed a bit fictional), but overall it was a rather good read. However, I think I need something a little bit lighter---Nanny Diaries might be next on my book queue.

Halfway Point

Well, we're at the halfway mark of our Alabama trip, and so far, it's been really nice. I was able to play piano a couple days ago, and yesterday we went to visit Sandra, a friend of my parents', and her son Heath. We actually got together a few years ago in Germany, but this time was a lot more enjoyable.

We dropped Ginger off at Sandra's office, and headed to Callaway Gardens. We had lunch first---Subway for the kids and barbecue for the adults, but I wound up helping my mom with her sandwich---and heading to the butterfly exhibit. We got some rather nice photos, but when the butterfly exhibit wound down to seeing two kinds of cockroaches behind glass, a tarantula, and the freakiest praying mantis-of-sorts, we found the gift shop to be rather bug-free. We even found some other girl named Annabelle, spelled the same way! That hasn't happened since we saw Annabelle's Wish on VHS.

We also saw the Florida State circus, which was really cool. There was only one guy on a unicycle, but it was a giraffe uni and he juggled on it, so it made up for the one-wheel deficiency. When they said not to try any of this stuff at home, I was expecting to have to jab my mom in the side if they brought out unicyclers, saying it was "too late not to try it at home".

Once we were done at the gardens, we picked up the dog and headed to Sandra's house for a really nice cookout. The main course was steak, which I don't eat, so I made myself a meal of cheese, crackers, tomato & mozzarella salad, and baked potato. The girl I was sitting next to kept on giving Ginger food from her plate (Too much cheese, tons of potato, and about half her pound cake), and now Ginger has an upset stomach. It must have been nice while it lasted, though.

The BEST thing about yesterday, though, is this one guy's first impression of me. When he saw me, what did he tell my mom he thought I was? Pretty? Older? Smart? No, something even better than all of those put together: adopted from Eastern Europe!

When he told me, he added that he didn't mean to offend me. I told him no worries: having someone think you look like you're from Eastern Europe is about the biggest form of flattery among my friends (Well, at least Maya and I). My mom told me he thought I was originally from Ukraine or---get this---Russia. Yes, Maya, if you're reading this, RUSSIA.

Guinea pig squeaks!

"Posting Real Quick-Like"

We're going to be late coming home, so here's an early post! We're visiting some old friends, and Ginger's coming with us to have a puppy playdate. Exact writing of the event coming tomorrow! (More likely on my mom's blog)

Ugh! Gack! Bleugh!

I know about a week ago I was celebrating that I was able to write as Gal again. Now, only a few days later, I'm gagging at my own writing. Of course, Gal has started "writing himself", as we roleplayers call it. That means they sort of break the rules, but the writing is so much cooler. You sort of turn into that character while writing them.

Problem is, I don't LIKE turning into a perverted male gang leader who tries to steal other people's fiancees while he has a girlfriend himself and also has a drinking problem! He's gross to write, and although it's sometimes funny to see other people write (GAG! CHOKING! NOT BREATHING!), it sort of counteracts itself, as I'm also gagging, choking, and not breathing.

Back in the Dark Office

Well, we made it to Alabama. This was the first time I took the DVD player in awhile, and I'm really glad I did. Nothing helps pass time more than Pirates of the Caribbean or Sweeney Todd special features!

We stopped at Panera at lunch, which sort of presented a couple of problems:

A) I'm really starting to get a little sick of Panera
B) I eat one thing on their menu
C) It's soup
D) The soup sometimes makes my stomach hurt
E) I would have ot eat it in the car

However, I survived with all due respect to my Jone's Root Beer---best thing EVER! I have no real plans for this week, besides movie watching, reading Twilight (again and again) and listening to Fergie on my iPod. (Yes, Mike, if you're reading this: FERGIE! And you can't stop me!)