I know I posted a few hours ago, but I decided to post again. Why? It giv es me something to do until we leave for recital.

I have a question for all the graduated seniors and anyone else who has had or is getting senior pictures. Where did you go? We need to make an appointment somewhere before we leave so that we can have them done before school starts. Any help would be great.

I found out just now that I only got 1 B this trimester. That is so cool! I just got really excited. Woohoo!

My sister, my aunt, and I went to see Bewitched today. It was ok. it wasn't a knee-slapper, but it had some funny parts. It might have been more enjoyable with my dad there, you know to laugh at everything. He really makes things more enjoyable.

And for those of you who are curious, I am watching Beauty and the Beast right now. Crazy? Yeah I know, but I really enjoy watching parts of it. Well, I'll see you at recital :)

Bad News

I just found out that a freind of ours was killed in a plane accident last night. I am shocked. I really don't know how to react. I want to cry but I'm in such a state of shock that I can't find the tears.

I had just gotten to know the family during Nutcracker. They are the coolest and nicest people I know. The dad (who was killed) always gave me a bad time during rehearsals. He was so much fun. I really enjoyed playing around with him. The mom is so sweet. The kids are very sweet too, and they are so cute! I can't believe this happened to this family.

The kids might dance tonight, but they might not. If they do and I see them, I don't know how to react. Should I offer my sympathy? Should I act like nothing happened and kid around with them like I usually do? I am at a loss. I feel like I've lost one of my own family memebers.

Help, please.

Dress Rehearsal

Dress Rehearsals are always amusing. Most of the dances today went pretty poorly (at least the ones I was in). The very first dance I did I fell down. It was my first big fall on stage...ever. I previously had been able to proudly say that I had never fallen on stage before. Now that title has escaped me. And my dad and mom weren't even there to see it. Mom was at work while Dad was backstage at the boys dressing room. Lucky for me, Aunty Bette taped it...that was sarcasim, in case you didn't get that. In every dance, I messed up somehow. It was just not a very good rehearsal. But you know what they say, a bad rehearsal means a great performance. I hope that's the case tomorrow and Saturday.

If anyone wants to come watch, the recital starts at 6:30 tomorrow and 1:00 and 5:00 on Saturday. Tickets are $7.

Oh and I sing in this recital. Yeah that's right, I sing. My sister's dance group, DV, is doing Carryin' the Banner for their song and I get to be the mother looking for Patrick. Origionally I was supposed to be a nun with Courtney and Becca, but the girl the teacher wanted didn't ever show up so I was given the part at the last second. I have the stage for a total of about 30 seconds. It's pretty cool...I guess. But if you come see the show for anything, come see it for that number. Courtney and Becca are hilarious, even though they are supposed to be serious.

Just FYI...jusgt because I'm leaving on a big trip does not mean I will stop blogging. I plan to blog everyday, since we're bringing the laptop. I also plan on reading other people's blogs so keep them updated. I would like to know what you are up to :)

Anyone know of any good books? Good books meaning books I can get extra credit for English next year? I have a list, but I don't really know what ones are good. Please give me any suggestions before I leave. Thanks!

I have decided that I can't type. Even though I re-read my posts (usually), after I post I still find typo's. So I appologize for my lack of typing skills :)

Well, that's all for now. I hope to see you all at recital either tomorrow or Saturday! If not, I'll be terribly crushed but I guess I'll live. Have a wonderful night!

Why Do I Watch Home Videos?

It has occured to us...It has occured to us...name that movie. I have decided that I watch home videos because I long for the memories that came from that particular event.

As I was watching Beauty and the Beast (musical theatre style), I thought to myself...self...sorry I couldn't resist. Anyway, I thought to myself, Why am I watching this? And I came up with the conclusion that I long for the moments that made each home video (by that I mean anything my mom or dad taped) special. As vain as this might sound, I think I love watching Beauty and the Beast because of my choreography. I am amazed that I did all of the choreography I did. Probably my favorite part is the Pas de Deux. I can't believe I came up with that. And Andrea looks so beautiful dancing it too. I also love watching "Me" because 1) I love the song in general and 2) the memories teaching it (My probable favorite: I remember when I had both Michelle and Scott together and Scott didn't catch Michelle's hand on "Escape me there's no way", so in reality she did escape him. It took quite a while to regain our composure). Of course the show wasn't really as bad they all said it was. I find that I love watching pretty much all of the songs. This brings me to the conclusion that when I say, "So I watched_______(Insert home video name here) last night" I really mean "I skipped the dialogue and watched the songs". This concept goes for pretty much any home video I watch; Beauty and the Beast, Into the Woods, Choir Concerts, Jazz Cabarets, Variety Shows, Sound of Music, King and I, etc, etc, etc. Dance tapes offer a slightly different concept because I watch whatever I feel like watching at the time. I probably am just justifying myslef and I guess that is waht I am trying to do. But I just wanted to let those who think I'm crazy for watching home videos 24/7 know a possiblw reason why I do so.

In conclusion (that kinda sounds like an essay...gross), I find that when I watch home videos, I really want to relive the moments that made each performance special. So when I say, "I wathced________", I'm saying "I relived________". I remember all of the good times...and sometimes the bad...that was shared between cast memebers and/or dancers.

So with that...I watched Beauty and the Beast, Variety Show from this year, Spring Choir Concert, and Dance tape #5 today.

Weird Day

As the title clearly states, today has been a weird day. I realize the day isn't over, but so far the day has been in fact...weird.

I woke up this morning to an interesting dream. I don't really remember what happened. All I remember is waking up kinda weirded out. Then I went to the dance studio to help Dad with the wagon we built. It didn't really fit into the suburban, so we called Rachel to ask if we could use her truck. She said yes, but I had to go to Glencoe to help with set-up for recital.

Here is where the day becomes even more weird. As Betsy, Becca, Courtney, and I were setting up white posts, a young man walked up and started to talk. I looked up and didn't recognize him, so I went back to work. Courtney looked up, did a double take and exclaimed, "Alex?". The young man smiled and gave each of us a hug. This young man was indeed Alex. He used to dance at my studio but left for Arts and Communications about 3 years ago. He left, not only because his schedule was very busy, but also he and his mom didn't like the way he was treated. In actuality, it was the way he treated others that caused him to leave. 3 years ago (and the years before), Alex was the only male dancer capable of doing anything hard, even though he wasn't really that good. Unfortunately he knew this fact and wasn't afraid to remind people of it all the time. He wasn't very nice to some of my friends either. At times felt like being mean to him, like my freinds were, but since I had known him a lot longer than others had, I tried to talk to him about being nicer to people. Many times we had talks about respecting others, so then they would show respect back. He didn't really take my advice and ended up leaving to dance somewhere else, where he would get solos 24/7 just because he was a guy even if he didn't deserve them. Anyway, it was really strange to see him. He had definitely grown taller and had lost a lot of the weight he had back when he was dancing with us. His personality seemed different too. I think going to A&C really helped him a lot. Betsy and I are planning to go there and see a dance recital to see how good he really is. When this will happen, I don't know.

What is slightly ironic about our meeting is that Betsy and I had talked about the recital thing yesterday and who should show up but Alex himself. Anyway, that is only a little bit of the day. I might post again before the day is through. But maybe not. I don't know. That's all for now.

Home Videos

So, since I have no life I'm watching home videos. As of right now, the movie of choice is the spring choir concert. Why? I don't know. I just had an urge. So anyway, as I'm watching, the camera is pretty much focused the whole time on 4 people. Michelle...can you guess who? I'll tell you anyway for all of the folks out there who don't know. Those 4 lucky people are...Me (of course), Devin, Scott, and Michelle. And how ironic that in concert choir we are all standing next to eachother. Hmm...I wonder how that happened? If someone asked to have a tape of the show, they would get the Crystal, Devin, Scott, and Michelle show, not to mention only the songs I'm in. I laughed while watching the show because literally the show is of only us 4. Yay for us. During Zig...however you spell it (you know that German one), there is of course the 4 of us. What's lovely to watch is Michelle and myself laughing throughout the entire song, all of us not knowing the words at some point, Devin looking at his hand just because, me running into Scott because he wouldn't move therefore causing Devin to run into me, um...what else, oh yeah, did I mention us not knowing the words? It's a great tape to watch if you want a good laugh.

Next video...I don't know. Anyway, I felt I should write and spread my joy of watching us sing together.

Minnesota

WARNING: This post will most likely be a really long one so, I'm planning on catagorizing what I want to say so that you can skip to whatever you wish to read.

FLIGHT-On our way to MN, Brooke and I found that the airline attendants were much more friendly than on the way back. We took 2 planes, one was a big plane and the other was a smaller plane. Everyone was pretty friendly until the lady who took us to our 2nd plane. She wasn't as freindly. She seemed like,"OK, let's get these kids on the plane and out of my hair". But other than that, the planes weren't too bad. Our way back was probably the best. Our first flight consisted of a smaller plane with a flight attendant named...GASTON. Why did I put that in caps? Because it was so cool. I have never met anyone named Gaston before. He was really nice too. After we landed (in Cincinnati, which is the total opposite direction), we were escorted to a kid's room by 2 pretty attractive young men. Unfortunately, they weren't very freindly either. Then we spent like 3 minutes in this room, only to be escorted to another room just like it. This room was near to our gate. After about 30 minutes, we were escorted by a very freindly young lady. Then the time to go back home came. We boarded first and got free headphones. The movie we watched was Hitch. Unfortunately, a couple about my parent's age 3 rows in front of us decided to make-out. They did so for a while. Once we landed, Brooke and I were the last ones off.

INTO THE WOODS-Funny story. My cousin's fiance's sister did Into the Woods and guess what? She was the Witch. Her cast of characters were similar to ours. If you are curious as to what I mean, ask me in some other form because I don't really want to post it. My cousin said, however, that the witch disappearing after Last Midnight was lame. She screamed and ran off stage. My grandma brought the copy we gave her to show my uncle, so they have it (this is the family who has teh cousin who is getting married). Kinda weird that they also did Into the Woods huh?

MISS MINNESOTA-I have a lot to say here. First off, I should say that Jennifer (my cousin) was 4th runner up. We were all shocked. In a most unbiased way, she was the best. OK, there was one I picked out who could beat her (this girl ended up winning). Anyway, I now feel that this was for the best. It obviously was not the path God wanted her to go down. The girl who won was very good (much better than last year). I'll be able to stand watching her in Miss America. The organization decided to try something different this year in judging. After they announced the top 5, the judges wiped out all of the scores and scored according to the final question and on who they thought would be the best person (in other words they used their gut feelings). Oddly enough, when they announced the top 5, the way the places were awarded were in reverse order. So Jennifer was announced last for the top 5 but annnounced as 4th runner up. The winner (Karyn) was announced 1st as top 5 and awarded the crown. So this made us believe that the judges knew who they wanted from the beginning. And Jennifer got the award for Best Talent Overall (which should count for more of the score because it is 35% of the score) but Karyn recieved the Best Interview Overall. And even though interview was 25% of the score, we believe it counted for more than the talent. It was interesting that Jennifer had won Interview for the past 2 years and finally won talent but didn't win overall. This means that the only award she hasn't won (besides the crown) is Miss Congeniality. Interesting...Anyway, I was outraged at first, but then I realized that it was for the best.
-Same catagory. Tiffany (Miss MN last year) sang 5 songs. I wanted to shoot myself. She sang some character song first, then You Can't Get a Man with a Gun, then the Nat'l Anthem, then Roxie, and last another character song that I don't remember what it's called but it was pretty funny. Anyway, Tiffany was sharp on every song she sang. It was horrible. The first one her accompanist had a little trouble. The next one was the one she did last year and I hated it...still do. I had heard it previously done really well but she ruined it for me. The Nat'l Anthem went pretty well...unitl the end. She changed keys 3 times. And not in the usual spot. It was the very end of the song. I cringed a bit. Roxie was by far her best song. She sang that last year in the local competition Jennifer had beat her in. If Tiffany had stuck with that song, I would have been more comfortable with her winning. The other song was humorous, but not done well by her. Oh Michelle, you would have died.
-One of the girl's name was Crystal. She looked like Katherine McNichol, only she was 20 and Katherine is not. Her talent was a jazz song called, "Cheek to Cheek". Oh yes, that is the sond Devin sang last year for Jazz Cabaret. Wierd huh? A Katherine look-a-like, singing a Devin song, who's name is Crystal.
-The 3rd runner up sang The Trolley Song from Meet Me in St. Louis.Judy Garland was from Minnesota so it was a tribute to her. I thought to myself, I wouldn't make a tribute to Judy Garland if I sounded like that. Again, Michelle, you would have died.
-One girl danced. She wasn't very good. The only good thing about her dance was that she was flexible. I was watching her and thinking, Heather is better than you and she's about 10 years older than you. Also I was thinking, Where's Kara when you need her?
-One girl sang opera. She was spectacular.
-Jennifer was awesome. A few times she flubbed but it wasn't really noticable.
-One girl played a very catchy piano peice. It was called Gypsy Dance from Carmen.
-Karyn played the piano very well.
-That was pretty much what I need to say about the competition. If you want more details, you can ask me.

JAKE-This is an apology. I'm sorry that you thought I was seriously angry at you. I wasn't at all. I was just being my sarcastic self at that time. When I got your message, I laughed out loud in teh Salt Lake City airport. I would have called, but you left your number so fast that I couldn't catch it. So, I'm not mad at you at all.

WEDDING-As a side note, not like anyone reallt cares, but at my cousin's wedding, Emily (the bride's sister) is singing The Prayer with some guy. Why is this interesting? First off, because Sarah (teh bride) asked my dad if he knew the song and could sing Itlaian. Well Dad didn't know the song but I said he does know Italian and that I knew the song and could help. Anyway, so Dad isn't going to sing it but oh well. Then, as we drove to the hotel in MN, my aunt (mom of cousin getting married) said that my dad and I should learn the song and sing it sometime. She said possibly for my cousin Lori's wedding (another cousin, not in Jennifer's family however). Of course my aunt isn't saying what should be going on durning Lori's wedding, but she did ask if I was singing in it. So maybe Dad and I will sing then. Who knows?

BATMAN-I saw the movie with my cousins in Mall of America. It was OK. I don't really need to see it again though.

That's about it right now. I work tomorrow, posing kids for pictures. I actually like doing it.

Overall, my trip to MN was fun. I'm glad I was able to see Jennifer compete one last time in a pagent, even though it meant flying to Cincinnati to get back home!Have a wondeful night.

The Good, the Bad, and the Interesting

As my junior year has come to an end, I kind of want to reflect on how many wonderful and aweful things have happened. I know so many more good things happened this year, so it should be a happy post...I hope. But I'll start with the bad, to get it out of the way (and these are not in any particular order, just what popped into my head).

THE BAD
~No Elizabeth
~Dance Team/ Play conflicts
~Not assisting a little kids class
~Not being in musical theatre
~Knowing there will be no Nutcracker next year
~Being in the middle of the Sil/Heather debates (in other words being the person who tries to get a message to the other in the way they said it via email when one or the other had a question and sometimes getting yelled at from either end, just because either was iritated)
~No Michelle in Encore
~Being gone most of the summer
~English
~Losing seniors (some I just met, others I knew for a while)

THE GOOD
~Meeting new people
~Making new friends
~Reaquainting myself with those I had know once upon a time ago but didn't really talk to for reasons unknown
~As weird as it sounds...Encore
~Jazz Cabaret
~All Northwest
~Variety Show
~3rd in State for singing solo
~3rd in State for Dance Team
~Getting a lead in the musical
~Getting the opportunity to act with some amazing people
~Choreographing musical theatre
~Nutcracker
~Chritsa coming into Encore
~Being on the Exec board for thespians
~Choreographer of the Century
~Becoming presidant of thespians
~Becoming more outgoing
~Link Crew for the second year
~Dance Team Captain
~Getting credit for my choregoraphy in The Nutcracker
~Being in Paddle Your Own Canoe
~Leaving for Disney World

Ok, I think I'll stop there, but this was aminly for me, so when I look back, I can remember most of the things that happened my junior year of high school. Well, I must leave for Minnesota, so goodbye for now.

Trucks are Taking Over the World!

Brooke and I have made a very interesting recent discovery...trucks are in fact taking over the world. Today, on my way home from Hilhi, atleast 4 blue trucks passed by. 4! Blue is slightly significant because my sister was almost killed by an old lady driving a blue truck who decided not to stop at a stop light. Anyway, on our way home from Target with my aunt a little later, we saw so many trucks. A lot of them were blue too. It was weird. Trucks were eveywhere! Then on our way to dance, we saw more trucks. It was insane! So Brooke and I have decided that trucks are taking over the world. Foe those of you with trucks, I'd watch out if I were you.

Today was the last day of my junior year. Wow. Just seeing that typed is weird. This means I am in fact a senior. Yicks! It was a pretty normal day, surprisingly. I woke up at 7:30 and went to 0 period to check in with Ms. Davis. Then I went to 2nd period and watched the movie "Stand and Deliever" (I remeber what it's called now). Jennifer and Scott visited for like 2 seconds. That was nice because I know they were at school really to see Charlotte. But I enjoyed seeing them again. Then the 20 minute break thing happened. I cleaned out my locker, which was pretty clean to begin with, and said my goodbye to Ms. Davis. Then 4th period came and we took our final(if you can call it that). We translated a chapter in a book. Then we played "Murtre" (like Clue but charades style and in french bien sur). We played that for quite some time. Then we played a fly swatting game where certain phrases and words are on the board and you have to be the first one to slap what she says in english in french on the board with teh lpastic fly swatter. It's actually a pretty intense game. Finally, the bell rang and it was the end of school. As I was walking to my car, I saw Michelle. That was cool. I enjoyed our breif confrontation. Throughout the day, I asked people if it seemed at all like the last day of school. They said no. I don't feel like it is either. As strange as it is, I'm ready to go back to school tomorrow. Hmmm...wake up at 6:30 to go to 0 period...maybe not.

After school, my aunt, sister, and I went to see "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". It was pretty cute. Behind us, however, were some girls, younger than Brooke, who insited on talking. Some of them had apparently already seen it becaus eat one point a girl said, "This is the saddest part". She didn't really say it softly either. Also at one point a wedding takes place. And the movie isn't exactly correct in the procedure because the bride and the flower girl go down the isle pretty much at the same time. That really didn't bother me except for the fact that the girls behind us decided to say something to the effect of, "That's not how it's supposed to go. Weddings aren't like that", and so on. I actually laughed to myself, rather than being annoyed. After the movie, we went ot Fashion Bug to get our yearly pajama shopping done. We have a tradition that we go shopping for PJ's on the last day of school and have a girl's night out. Well, since Brooke and I have to be up at 4:00AM, we decided to have family time at our house. Anyway, Brooke didn't find anything there so we went to Target, and who did we see? The one and only, Megan Schutze! We talked for a while. That was fun! Then Brooke and I returned to Fashion Bug. We then went to Subway, had food, Brooke and I went to dance, came home, and we played Break the Safe. It's a cool game. The max time it lasts is 30 minutes.

I found out that Alison is leaving for France at the same time Brooke and I are leavinf for Minnesota. She has to change flights and we do too. I wonder if we're going to be plane buddies? That would be awesome!

Anyway, I'm really excited for Minnesota. I won't be writing until I get back, but that's fine (thank you so much Michelle for giving me that wonderful phrase).

Happy Birthday Charlotte.
See most of you in August, unless anyone wants to do anything on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Have a wonderfull summer!

Almost there

Today really was a waste of my time. I slept in until 8:00. 1st period was ok. The discussion was interesting. I actually said something. And on our survey of the class we did on Tuesday, one of my comments was mentioned today. It was the fact that just because people don't talk doesn't mean that they aren't engaged in the conversation. So, Cleveland took that into consideration today.

2nd period, we watched a movie for 20 minutes. We're watching tomorrow too.

3rd period we made extra credit posters for the books we read this year. Our IB papers were really bad so these posters helped a bit, though not my grade. It'll stay at a B. I was slightly depressed once I got the news of that, but oh well. Anyway, about half way into the class, I was finished with my poster, so I went to Musical Theatre. They we watching "10 Things I Hate About You". I came in at the same part I came in yesterday, but that's fine.

4th period was interesting. We watched Jake, Ermine, and Nathan's french skit from yesterday. Why? Because it was very funny, so said Madame. And it was very interesting. nathan and Ermine did a little kung-foo, actually beating eachother. This was something I assured Madame that they did quite often and didn't mind doing. She apparently didn't know that they are best friends.

5th period I didn't take the final and went to Drama and watched a bit of "10 Things". Then I left and went to Dad's school. Once there, I watched "Boy Meets World". Then we left and had lunch/dinner at Reedville Cafe. Then I went to dance, and my knee hurt, and I almost killed myself doing a pirouette on pointe. Yeah, that was fun. Then I went home and watched the Jazz Cabaret from last year and this year (selected songs of course) and I also watched the Variety show from last year (again selected songs).

Yeah, so pretty much now that school's almost out, I have no life. I dance and watch home videos.

I leave for Minnesota Friday morning. I'm pretty excited. I hope my cousin wins. She should have done so last year, but oh well. I know she'll do well no matter what happens. I'll be back on Sunday, which will mean a short trip, but that's ok.

If anyone would like to see my recital and if you don't want to pay, come on Thursday June 23. It's dress rehearsal so it probably won't be as good as the actual performance, but on a good note, you don't have to pay. If you want to see the show with backdrops and all, you can come on Friday June 24 and Saturday June 25. Friday is, I believe at 7:30, maybe 6:30. Saturday is at 2:00 and 5:00. As for the price, I'm not sure. I think it's $7.

Jennifer, if I don't see you tomorrow, have a wonderful time in New York. I'll miss you this summer! I'll see you in August.

As for the rest of you, I hope to see you before I leave on my family trip. And if not, I hope to see you in August. Everyone have a wonderful summer. I'll try to keep my blog up to date while on my trip. It'll be a challenge, but I'll try.

2 days!

School's almost out for the rest of us. I can't wait!

I'm finished with my math happy meal box. It's actually pretty cool. It looks neat too.

As for finals tomorrow, I have a big TOK discussion 1str period. Then 3rd period we're finishing our extra credit posters. Then 5th period, I'm leaving school because Griff said I could since I don't have to take the final. I have a really tough day tomorrow! Actually, teh only class I'm worried about is TOK because we're being graded on whether or not we speak. It shouldn't be a problem, however, because I know what we're talking about and actually do have an oppinion.

I was really exctied to see Michelle, Missy, Jennifer, and Devin this afternoon. You guys made me happy. However, I was sad not to see them 5th period, since I had something to give to Jennifer, but oh well. I watched "10 Things I Hate About You" with drama instead.

Tonight my dad and sisiter went to Jennifer's house to drop off a working 2nd disc of Into the Woods. I was sad that they didn't wait for me, but he didn't know when I'd be done dancing so I guess I'll have to wait to give Jennifer her thing until Thusday, unless I decide to drop by her house sometime tomorrow...maybe I will. I don't know. We'll see.

My knee hurt tonight in dance. Anyone know any good cures for these bothersome pains? It was irritating to dance with a bum knee, but I did dance full out everytime Heather asked. SO tomorrow I'll probably pay for that. And tomorrow equals pointe. Oh joy.

My sister just informed me that we only have 10 more days until we start our extravaganza. 6 weeks of traveling. I am prepared for the worst...Brooke and I killing each other by the end. But hey, that's why I can drive up front sometime. Yay for me. And it's more spacious in the front than in the back anyway.

I found out tonight that when I'm in LA with elan we're going to take 2 classes a day, that means 3 hours of butt-kicking exercise. It'll be really fun. That definitely will be my major dance work-out this summer. We also plan on having one day for Disney (both parks). Erica and I are dragging Courtney on Tower of Terror whether she wants to go on it or not. And one girl has never been on a rollercoaster before. That'll be interesting. I can't wait.

That's all for now. I should probably prepare a little more for TOK. Boo!

Paddle Once Again

Definitely watching Paddle Your Own Canoe again. Well, finishing where we left off. It's a good one. During the Intermission act (Pretty Maidens), there is a very nice close up me and Dave and then the camera pans over to my mom and Terry. It is very funny.

Tonight, my dad, sister, and I ate at Baja Fresh. It was fun. They had never been there before. For once I took them somewhere they had never been.

Tonight I learned how to work a table saw and an electric screw driver. My dad was making a wagon and platform for the recital. So now I know how to work each of these essential tools. Now Joey won't have to work alone. I'll be able to help him build.

In Paddle, the Corps just sang Paddle Your Own Canoe. It's hilarious. I wish I could have been apart of that group, they really stole the show! But I suppose a girl in the midst of all those guys would have looked a bit suspicious. Rainy Day is a great show stealer as well. Darn those guys!

Tomorrow I get to leave 5th period because we're just studying for the final I don't have to do so Griff said I could do whatever I wanted. So I'm going to visit Jennifer and whoever else is with her in Sil's office. I'm really excited.

Well, got to go. I have a TOK test tomorrow. Oh joy.

Paddle Your Own Canoe

That's right! The DVD came tonight. Dad, Brooke, and I watched part of it then Dad decided that it was time to go to bed so we have to finish it tomorrow. But we got to right before the Ladies of the True Azaleas come out. So pretty much I saw myself in the opening number and laughed, saw Devin, Scott, and Spencer in their Knights of the whatever they are song, and I saw my dad looking goofy as ever. It was great.

Grad parties are interesting things, I think. I went to 2 today, Devin's and Scott's. Thanks to Courtney, I managed not to get lost. Yeah I definitely missed a street because I was talking to her and it was a good thing she knew where to go. It was hilarious, but i guess you had to be there. At Scott's grad party, I really didn't know anyone. I had a good time talking to Courtney, Charlotte, Jennifer, Kara, and others. At some point, Jennifer's aunt, I believe, asked Scott to sing something so from a window comes "And the rocket's red glare..." Oh yes, he was defifitely singing the Nat'l Anthem. But nobody where I was really heard it until he was done. I heard little bits of it and it sounded very lovely. At Devin's grad party, I listened to the beautiful voice of Michelle Burnett. I loved it, even though she said her voice was shot it sounded great anyway. After she left, Devin sang some more. Then Sue pretty much was like "Crystal, get up and sing. Come on!" and then Rachel didn't help any starting a "Crystal! Crystal!" which, thank goodness, nobody joined in on. But yeah, I sang "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" because that was the only song I knew that the pianist (I don't know her name) had played for Devin once upon a time. So that was fun...I guess. Then I got into a conversation with a very nice man in a yellow shirt who was getting autographs of people who were in the King and I so when we become rich and famous he can sell our signatures on ebay. This man and I talked for a while. It was fun.

After the parties, Courtney and I went to my house to kill time before picking Brooke up from a party. We watched a bit of King and I. The time we watched was when Courtney knocked over the house at the beginning of "Uncle Tom's Cabin". That was very enjoyable. Then we skipped backwards to when the dancers first come on and only 3 of the 5 were on stage. That was a good one. Then we fast forwarded to "Shall We Dance?" to watch Devin polka and hear Elizabeth's breath-taking voice. Then we decided to go pick Brooke up.

At a certain point on our journey, a pickup decided to run a red light. So the car in front of us nearly got hit. Luckily the truck stopped. That got me to thinking (who knows why) about if I got into an accident, who would come to my hospital bed? I told Courtney this and she was thinkging along the same lines only she thought, "Who would come to my funeral?" It was oddly an amusing descussion. We both came to the agreement that neither of us would have nearly as many people come to our bedsides as were at Devin's grad party. Of course, we laughed a lot about this conversation and it amuses me thinking about what all we said.

Well, unfortuantely I must get up at 6:30 AM to go to Encore and neither Devin nor Scott are willing to come tomorrow just for the heck of it. Surprised? Not really, but I thought I'd ask just in case either was dying to come back.

Good night.

So, an up date on the Into the Woods front.

The DVD player worked fine. I was able to get through Act 1 and until "Last Midnight" before the player decided to get heated again. So I'm waiting again until it cools off.

My sister and dad came home about the time when the cast decides to give the narrator to the Giant. But they both went upstairs to go to bed, so I am left downstairs watching by myself, which is probably better because I won't be likely to talk but actually enjoy the show.

Since the player is cooling, I'm watching America's Funniest Home Videos. They're doing a play-off of the Oscars. It's called The Homies. Some of the videos are actually pretty funny.

Well, I'll try the DVD player again.

"But it isn't my fault I was given those beans"-Jack (aka Andrew Barlow)

"And who destroyed MY house? That boy asked for shelter and then he stole our gold, our hen, AND our harp!"-The Giant (aka Amber Kraft)

"Always thinking of yourself. Look at my garden!"-The Witch (aka Me!)

"High in a tower, like yours was but higher, a beauty asleep. All round the tower a thicket of briar a hundred feet deep. Agony! No frustration more keen. When the one thing you want, is a thing that you've not even seen"-Cinderella's Prince

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"-Rapunzel's Prince as he leaps painfully from atop Rapunzel's tower (aka Ermine Todd)

"Moooooo"-Milky White (aka Bubba Likes)

"Thank you birds"-Cinderella (who is probably thinking, "Hey where are my birds?")

"Stop it!"-The Baker

As most of us know, graduation was today. It was interesting. I say interesting because I feel like a parents letting my kid go. As Encore sang the Nat'l Anthem I thougth, "This is the last timje I'll get to sing with these people". Now there is a hole in me. But as Jennifer told me, it'll start tough but get better (or something to that effect).

So I'm at home now, all alone because my dad, sister, and aunt are at my dad's concert in Tigard. That was the reason he wasn't at graduation. I got home about 6:00 and wondered, "What to do now?" So I turned on teh TV and watched a little ET (Entertainment Tonight). During the show I decided to watch Into the Woods. So I looked for that for a while. I couldn't find it, but found the tape of Encore singing the Nat'l Anthem at a Blazer game, so I watched that and laughed at us, well with us. My mom had also taped "Behind the Scenes"stuff. Then I searched some more for Into the Woods and finally found it.

I'm watching the 29th. It actually isn't bad. It's one of the better performances. Unfortunately the DVD player decided to heat up, so teh DVD skipped. It has done that twice so I'm still on Act 1 but am almost done. I thought watching this would make me feel sad, but it actually makes me laugh and fills my mind with great memories. I can't believe that was only February! It seems like such a long time ago.

Last night I found the tape of Freshman year's Drama 1 kids performance (aka "The Three Litte Pigs). I laughed so hard. And I totally forgot that Charlotte was in my class and was in that play. When the show started, everything came back to me and I laughed even harder. The costumes are hilarious! Well, the pig costumes and the wolf mask are hilarious. But the kids loved it. There is this cute little girl who is right in front of the camera who was dying to be picked and we didn't see her. I feel really bad, but that's ok she was really into the show and loved it anyway. Oh, I was watching this with my sister, who was laughing just as hard when I told her why I was laughing. This performance was when Mike had brokenm his foot and wasn't remotely scary, but alas one kid definitely was and he is on the tape too. Charlotte, sometime I should show this to you. If I remember, I'll bring it Monday.

My voice recital was today before graduation. It was interesting. My Italian peice went very nicely. The musical theatre one didn't go as well. I sang "Show Me" from My Fair Lady. Singing wise, I was fine. Word wise, not so much. I kept forgetting what words came next so I sang whatever came into my head. In other words I sang the same phrase like 3 times, all of course at differnt times in teh song. If you're extremely curious as to what I'm talking about, I'll show you the video. It cracks me up. Now that's twice that's happened, once at NATS and now at voice. Oh dear.

I'm going to see is the DVD player has cooled off yet so I can finish Act 1. I hope it has!

"Into the woods it's time to go. I hate to leave, I have to though. Into the woods its time and so I must begin my journey. into the woods and through the trees to where I am expected ma'am. Into the woods to Grandmother's house!"-Little Red (aka Katherine McNichol)

"Rapunzel? Rapunzel? What kind of a name is that? Surely you jest!"-Cinderella's Prince (aka Scott Smith)

"He's a very smart prince. He's a prince who prepares. Knowing this time I'd run from him, he spread pitch on the stairs. I was caught unawares. And I thought, well he cares"-Cinderella (aka Michelle Burnett)

"It takes two. I thought one was enough, it's not true. It's takes two of us"-The Baker (aka Devin McNichol)

"So CC, I came to ask you if you would help me with the birds" "Oh I'd love to help with teh birds" "Ok thanks. So, you're coming to help with teh birds, right?" "Wait, is that the birds? Oh yeah, I'd love to help...Hey Jennifer, I was wondering, do you need help with the birds?" "Yeah that would be great" "Ok I'll be there"-conversation between Jennifer Rasmussen and Crystal Carlisle (aka Crystal's reminder to help with the birds/moving house at Act 2 beginning)

English

I'm sitting in eglish writing an IB paper. Ok actually, I'm done and I'm sitting doing nothing.

Jennifer visited Sil's office during luch today. It was great seeing you again!

On Kara's blog there is a hilarious website. I watched it last night and showed my dad this morning. He liked it too. Thanks Kara!

Tomorrow is not only graduation, but my voice recital too. I'm not exactly ready for therecital. I still mess up the words to my Italian peice, but oh well.

On July 11, my family and I are visiting teh one and only Elizabeth Daniels! I'm extremely excited. We're planning on getting a tor of the school from Elizabeth and hopefully watch a rehearsal for her show. I can't wait!

In math we'r doing a time wasting project. We're making Math Happy Meal Boxes. I say time wasting because it's just to get us to do somethign and to put points in the grade book. I wish we weren't doing it. Actually, I'm really ready for school to be done. I don't want to do any more work.

In TOK we're doing a final of debating about 3 topics that we chose as a class. I don't really want to do that either. I don't mind the talking so much as the research. Believe it or not, I actually have something to say about the topics.

I love it how in French Madame said we weren't going to do anything, yet we definitely have a project due today. Yes I did it, but no work? Yeah right.

On a happier note, my english paper is done. I'm actually ok with it. I feel way better about this one than the last one I wrote. Also, I don't have to take Grif's health final, even if I don't have over 100%. I do as of right now, but I'm prettysure I bombed the test we just took because I was writing my english paper. But hey, no health final is fine by me!

I really can't wait for school to be out. The last day can't come soon enough!

Seniors continued

My computer last night was extremely slow and irritating so I didn't get to write more.

Neil, if you read this, you are awesome. I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to act, laugh, and get to know you. Next year is going to be very tough. Make sure to visit!

Kara, if you read this, you amaze me in every way. You dance with such passion. My eyes can't be torn off of you once you're on stage. You are such a sweet person. Dance team will miss you dearly. I'll miss you dearly. Good luck with college and life. I know whatever you decided to do, you'll succeed with flying colors. Make sure to keep in touch.

All my other seniors, who I'm not sure if tehy have a blog or not, anyway, I'll miss you all dearly. This next week is going to be really tough. I love you all! I wish all the best of luck to you.

Seniors

Tonight was actually pretty good. We didn't do as poorly as I thought we would. I say that because the show was barely coming together this morning.

I know tomorrow will be a very tough day. It is the last day for the seniors. I know many of them are jumping for joy, but me, I know I'll cry. I already have shed a tear. I cannot begin to say how much certain seniors have ment to me. I really don't know how I'm going to survive next year.

Jennifer, if you read this, I love you sooo much. Words cannot express how much you mean to me. You have always been there for me. I really appreciate it. I truely am speachless. Whatever you do, don't forget me. I know I'll never forget you.

Michelle, if you read this, I have no words to express how wonderful you are. I really enjoyed our many talks. I don't know what else to say. There is so much to say, I can't put it into words. If you foregt me, I'll be extremely sad. I love you!

What can I say about Scott and Devin? They amaze me. I'm really glad I know them. I only wish I had gotten to know them sooner. I really enjoyed singing with Scott this evening. I hope to sing together again sometime. And Devin, All Northwest was a lot of fun because of him. I wish I could have sung something with this talented young man too. Maybe sometime in the future.

I could go on and on about each of these people who have really touched me, each in different ways. This might be the hardest year to let my seniors go. I really want to keep them with me until I graduate.

I love you guys so much. Thanks for making tmy junior year a truely spectacular one.