I Love You People

I came home from an interesting Music Man rehearsal to find myself awarded on my dear Lady Rose's blog, tagged by Katie, and begged to update by the same. You dear, dear people certainly know how to make a person feel loved. So Katie, I will do your meme the next time I get on the computer, because the nearest books are all schoolbooks. :P

Lady Rose awarded me this lovely award on her blog:



Thank you! I award... ah... Elenatintil, Leigha, Serendipity, Miss C.N.W., Olivia, The Real Katie, and Alyosha.

Now, some updates: I mentioned that we had an interesting Music Man rehearsal tonight. Let me tell you about that...

Last week, our musical director told us that we would have a "special guest" tonight. "He's had a lot of experience, and you're going to like him," she promised. Tonight, before my younger sister's rehearsal, we were talking to a friend of hers. "You're in for a surprise tonight," she said. "You mean you know who the special guest person thingy is?" (That was his nickname before we knew who he was: Special Guest Person Thingy.) "Yeah, but I can't tell," said the friend. That was only mildly aggravating.

Then my sister and her friends went in, and some of my group people arrived. So we were all talking about character shoes and movies and dancing and such, when we heard the younger crowd screaming inside as the real special guest person thingy entered. So one of the girls peeked in... and saw a guy standing on the stage. "That's him? I don't recognize him," she said. I peeked. "That's what they were screaming about?" I thought, "Hmm..."

Then I started talking to people again. And another scream was heard. The girls peeking in the window jumped back with a gasp. "Oh... it's... it's..."

Then one girl said, "Oh no! I really don't like High School Musical!"

Yes. It was Corbin Bleu, from High School Musical. There was general pandemonium outside, ranging from, "Noooooo!" to "Hm... wow..." and "Really?" Then more people arrived, peeked, and shrieked and "Corbin Bleu is here!!!" was whispered constantly for the next 15 minutes.

So, yeah. He gave a talk on theatre and acting, and answered questions (among them, "Is that your real hair?" HA) which was neat. And a lot of people went up and got his autograph. And we danced the Shipoopi for him. Hahaha... yeah, that's coming along pretty well, actually. :) But... the screaming... squealing... whispering. Fans scare me.

AND THEN came the really exciting part. ;) We learned part of "Marian the Librarian"!!! I was so excited to learn that the ensemble gets to dance in that song! I was beginning to think we wouldn't. That dance is probably going to be my favorite. That, and "Trouble." :)

I got some cavities filled today. My teeth are still in pain... but the dentist said that I'll probably have "sensitivity" for the next two weeks to two months. Fun. My mouth was numb for about two hours. I had a lot of fun poking, scratching and pinching my chin to see if I would feel anything at all. I didn't. :D (Yes, I get enjoyment out of strange things.)

Have a lovely week, everyone!

Happenings

Apparently I'm hard-hearted: On Saturday after my sister's soccer game, someone came to the field with a box full of puppies marked "Free." The kids picked up the puppies, annoyed their parents to ask if they could keep them, and apparently the lady considered the dogs as "claimed." As far as I can gather from my mom and sister's versions of the tale, my mother told Courtney to put the dog she had picked up back in the box, but the lady had already put the box away and said she wasn't going to take it. So off Courtney went to my mom again - she again said no. But the lady was gone. GAH. So we were the owners of this puppy for about 20 hours. I didn't want to keep it, although my sisters did call upon me to name it (Elinor, or "Ellie."). And then of course I was accused of being "mean" because I didn't want it... Ah, well. We found a home for it with a family that I like very much. I'll call them the V's.
Mrs. V is the dramaturg for my town's Shakespeare Festival. She ... knows a lot about Shakespeare. And literature. And she does NaNoWriMo every year!
Mr. V is a musician - he leads the community band. He's played on movie soundtracks such as Ratatouille and Pirates of the Caribbean - and on the Focus on the Family Narnia productions. So they got those for free, I think. Way cool.
Little V the elder knits and acts - she and her cousins put on their own Thanksgiving Shakespeare Festival each year. This year she's playing Katerina/Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew. She and Little V the younger are in The Music Man with me, and she played the Duke in The Comedy of Errors.
Little V the younger loves piggy-back rides. We established this as a fact on July 4th, 2008. After a long, hot Comedy of Errors rehearsal, both of our families drove up to a nearish town to watch fireworks. We sat around for a few hours waiting for them, and in that time I swordfought with both Little V's, gave them piggy-back rides, spun them around, etc. Quite fun. And she looks like Georgie Henley sometimes.

They have a dog named Curly who has, as Mrs. V said, fallen in love with Ellie or Spicy as they have named her (she is a sort of spicy color :) ). So I don't feel bad at all about not wanting her. :P

I woke up this morning at six o'clock with a stuffy nose and the kind of sore throat that makes you feel like you're going to swallow your whole throat when you gulp. So I got up, nodded sleepily to my parents (dad leaves for work very early) and made myself a cup of chamomile tea. My mother made me take some Airborne (gag), which I managed somehow, between a cup of water and a box of crackers. It was a mild lemon-lime flavor - definitely not as nauseating as the orange stuff I took last year. Blech. So I drank my tea and went back to sleep for a few hours, and woke up feeling a bit better. Then at around 2 o'clock I lost my voice. I've never lost my voice before. It was very strange: I would try to say something, and finally just give up because I could barely hear myself. I was very worried, since we had a Music Man rehearsal tonight; but I drank a lot of special Throat Coat tea, and I feel a bit better now.

On Wednesday we Music Man leads had our first run-through of Act 1: with double and triple cast characters, this was interesting. It usually meant that whoever was more prepared would do one scene or another, and both the Harold Hills and Marians did their songs together for extra practice. I had a lot of fun doing a scene with one of the Harold Hills. We had blocked it, but never acted it out before, so it was fun to experiment a little. But my favorite moment was watching Marian the Librarian. Some of the cutest blocking I've ever seen, involving the Harolds lying down and folding their arms over their chest at "I could lie on your floor unnoticed, till my body had turned to carrion." I'm used to the movie, so I just about fell off my seat laughing. Next favorite was watching one of our Alma's do a small scene in the middle of Iowa Stubborn: "And there I was, in Madison Hospital, and no one come to see me!" Both of our Alma's are small 12-year-olds with POWERFUL voices. So it's a lot of fun to watch them.

I'd love to sit here and type up the whole evening (I've committed much of it to memory) but I'm being told to get off the computer now. Have a lovely week, everyone! :)

Dead Tired

Some things to say before I drop off to sleep in front of the keyboard:

We had a long, hard rehearsal tonight. I can't remember my Iowa Stubborn alto harmony for the life of me whenever we start singing. The sopranos have it so easy. Bleh. We worked on partner dancing tonight. My cousin Lindsay was my partner first, which was fine because we both know the dance, and we're about the same height. But then I danced with a boy who was a good deal shorter than me, so his elbow angle was obtuse where it ought to have been right. (Yes, I'm doing Geometry this year...)

During my little sister's rehearsal, I got to stand around for about 45 minutes with my town's Shakespeare Festival's "dramaturg," talking Shakespeare. AND NANOWRIMO!!! I'm not doing NaNo this year (I'd love to try it... maybe next year) but as I know so many who are participating, and follow their wordcount status eagerly, I was SO thrilled to learn that she is participating - and has for years! And she's gotten to 50k every time. Wow. Her 9 or 10-year-old daughter who played our duke in Comedy of Errors is also doing NaNo. :D

My very wonderful confirmation class teacher gave all of her students little pro-life pins. The exact replica in size and shape of an unborn baby's feet at 10 weeks after conception. The pin is titled "Precious Feet" for good reason. When I showed my four-year-old brother, he asked why I was wearing it. How can you explain "pro-life" and abortion to a four-year-old? So I just said, "To show that I love all the babies in mommies' tummies." Well, it's true.

Um... I think that's all I have to say tonight. ;)