Wednesday, December 23, 2009

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas. . .

Wow, it's been a while. SO much has been going on!!
First of all, even though this is by no means chronologically right, WE GOT SO MUCH SNOW!!!! We got about 19 inches and two extra days of Christmas break. This is really exciting, because last year we got a total of two snow days, and there wasn't even any snow. I know that this is no comparison for my grandmother who lives in Michigan, but we live here and I'm thrilled! And the snow's supposed to be there on Christmas this year, which means that we'll have the first white Christmas for a really long time. [That's my mom out in the snow.]
Anyway, moving back to. . . well, the beginning, I mentioned a while ago (okay, a long while ago) that I was in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Well, that ended about... a month and a half ago. But it was fantastic! Or as fantastic as we could do with that show (sorry, Andrew Lloyd Weber, but it's just not for me). We managed to rock it with only a few major mistakes (i.e., the microphones, the sound system, and the time that a column got caught on a curtain and almost fell over onto the stage crew as the audience watched on the edge of their seats. . . although that last one was pretty awesome in hindsight), and the audiences seemed to love it. So, I say that it was a job well done. And. . . we looked pretty awesome, too. I just love working with these people. We get to meet other people who, otherwise, we would never know, and we have SO much fun togther, all while putting on a great show. I love it.
Sometime in early November my mom and I went up to PA to visit some colleges (Temple University and Penn State). First of all, I drove in Philadelphia which is both very exciting and very terrifying, particularly when your mother makes you back out of a service entrance to a parking garage into the street because she doesn't want to go around the block again (thanks, Mom). We toured Philly for a day, which was fun, and our hotel was right down the street from all of the historic stuff that I just learned about in US history. We also learned that there are two ways home from Penn State and that we pretty much took the wrong one and discovered many towns that were. . . small. There was one that went like this: we passed the town limit sign, saw a couple of houses, a barn, and passed the next town limit sign. It was a little bit ridiculous, but I though it was hilarious. The roads were all windy and roller coaster-ish, and I thought it was fun, but my mom was freaking out a little bit, especially since we were running low on gas and we had no idea where the nearest gas station was (it turned out to be this dinky one on the side of the road with two pumps: one diesel and one regular, and they had the old-fashioned pumps on the side with the numbers that spun when the gas pumped). But anyway, I LOVED both campuses, and both schools have REALLY good journalism programs. Right now I think I'm leaning more towards Temple, just for the city environment. I like the excitement. But we're also looking at some other schools, so that'll come later.
And then there was my mom's birthday (the big FIVE-OH, to be exact). We all got together and went to the delicious and lovely Russia House for some fantastic Russian food. After my mom's birthday was Thanksgiving, when we all got together again and ate MORE delicious food and played Scene It (and... *ahem* won). After Thanksgiving, all of us Pickwick people (in case you don't know, Pickwick is the community theater group that I'm part of and with which I did Joseph) got back together to put on a lovely Christmas-palooza of everything Christmasy. There were songs and skits and tap dancing (that was what I did), and we all got to get together with people from past shows that we'd done and meet people from other shows that we didn't do. Now, to satisfy my acting thirst, I'm in my school's competitive one-act, War on Tatem, which is about a bunch of kids. So, not only do I get to act, I also get to be a little kid. How much better could it get?
And then. . . THERE WAS USO! Every year, my school's history club (of which I'm an officer, and which also happens to be the best club in school. Just saying.) puts on a 40's-style USO swing dance. We teach our members about the history and the fashion of the times, make sure they know what to wear, teach them swing, bring in the jazz band to a perfectly-decorated venue, and let them dance. Now, you have to understand, for most of us, this is basically the highlight of our years. We look forward to it for months. And you also have to understand that we're not the type of kids that would be stupid about it, either. We really do swing dance the whole time. And we're good. It's pretty much the best thing ever. It's really amazing to watch, too: a bunch of teenage kids dressed in period dresses and military uniforms swing dancing to a live jazz band. Wow. Pretty freakin' amazing!!!
So. Now we only have a couple of weeks left in 2009! We've made it to the next decade! I hope you have a wonderfully merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year! Woo, 2010!
And here's a list of movies that I've recently watched:
  1. New Moon: I admit, I saw it. I'm somewhat ashamed. But you have to understand that my friends and I went for the sole purpose of laughing at it. And we did, because Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson (and especially Kristen Stewart) don't have any talent and, we've decided, singlehandedly (or... double-handedly??) ruined the movie. The director of this one was really, really fantastic. The direction was really creative, and whoever it was that played the bad guy was great, and Taylor Lautner was (besides very, very good looking) a decent actor. I have to admit that this one was actually an okay movie. Still not that great, but it was good (not that it can really get much worse than the first one).
  2. The Imposters: Really funny and different. Oliver Platt and Stanley Tucci are hilarious. And Tony Shaloub plays a Communist first mate on a cruise ship. Um, I don't really know what else to say about it. It's funny.
  3. Eagle Eye: I have to admit that this was actually a pretty good movie. I'm not usually much of an action movie person because they're all pretty much the same, but this one was decent. Shia LaBeouf is a good actor. I never knew, because I can only see him as the kid from Even Stevens on Disney channel (which was an awesome show). There was a lot of pointless explodey stuff, but it was an action movie so that was to be expected.
  4. Time Bandits: Wow, what a strange (but excellent) movie. It's Terry Gilliam, so of course it's wonderfuly different. It was one of those movies that leaves you thinking, "Huh. . . never would have thought of that." I love those movies. This one spoofs on different historical figures, like Napoleon (who lists every short conqueror in history) and Robin Hood (who is played by John Cleese so is automatically hilarious), and Shelley Duvall plays this really random character who keeps getting her romantic hopes dashed. I highly recommend it.

1 comment:

  1. Yo Snooty...long time no hear from!:) You sure have been busy. The Dance sounded like lots of fun...love the dress...good color on you!;)

    So...what other schools are you going to look at? Another down the road less traveled? ArrAr!;)
    Have the bestest Christmas ever!!
    xo

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