Making a Difference

I've gotten to thinking, everyone makes a difference and everything that everyone does makes a difference on everyone's lives. Every single little decision that anyone makes can start a chain reaction of events. I mean, if I chose to use the rest of my milk in my cereal this morning, then I wouldn't have milk to make that special casserole for dinner the next night. That is, unless I went to the store to buy more, but then I'd have to choose if I wanted to walk or drive. If I wanted to drive, I'd have to find someone with a car, which then affects whoever owned the car. They would then have to take time out of their schedule to drive me to the store so I could pick up some milk. If I took too long in the store, I could accidentally make them late for their class. If they were late for their class, they might miss an important piece of the lesson and decide to attend a tutor session. At this tutor session, they could meet someone of the opposite gender and become friends. After a while they could start dating and soon they get engaged and are married. If I had not decided to eat cereal that one morning, or if I decided to walk to the store, or if I hadn't taken so long, or if the friend hadn't decided to go to tutoring, those two people might never have met! So many decisions were involved.

Now, that was just a random (and maybe extreme) scenario that I came up with, but think about it. Everyone has an impact on everything. No matter how small we may feel, we are always important. I mean, in my above scenario, I basically brought two people together, inadvertently.

I always think about the story of Alma and Abinadi in King Noah's court. How important were both of those men's decisions in that moment? Abinadi's case may have seemed hopeless and futile. He preached so hard to so many, but only converted one man. But that one man that he converted started such an incredible chain of events that impacted so many throughout the rest of the Book of Mormon. If Abinadi had decided not to preach in King Noah's court, Alma would not have heard the word and would not have began his own preaching, then Alma the Younger would not have come about, nor Helaman, or the stripling warriors, or the conversions that Alma the Younger brought about, or anything after that.
Also, if Alma had not decided to listen to Abinadi's words, all that I just listed above would not have come to pass. It is really quite extraordinary, in my opinion.

So if we can make such a difference without trying, imagine what we can do if we get out there and try to do something about our problems. As Dr. Seuss, the source of all wisdom, says: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, things aren't going to get better. It's not."

The Demon Teacher

My friend, Alex will know exactly who I'm talking about. We never refer to our senior year english teacher by name... Dr. Rooth. I clench my teeth just thinking about him.

My year with him started out rough. He started picking on me right from the beginning. He called me to his desk during like the second week of class and asked me if I had "inner anger". You can only imagine my confusion as to why he would think that. In class, I try to keep as low a profile as possible and when I do speak, I am generally cheerful and pleasant. I'm sure my shock at the question was clear and I told him no. He then proceeded to explain why he thought so (brace yourselves): In my summer reading journals I constantly mentioned my disproval of the character's choices of sexual immorality, as well as other immoral choices and would tend to "rant" about them. (The summer reading journal instructions specifically told us to be open with our opinions, so I did not see anything wrong with being open with how I felt with the character's choices). Now I was doing the same thing again with book we were reading in class with the character.

I was so mortified and confused, that I didn't know what to say. I don't even remember what I said. I sputtered some excuse and sat down. Then I berated myself and came up with a million better things I could have said. When I went home (after some encouragement from my mom) I wrote him and email explaining myself.

You'd think that maybe he would have gained some respect for me after that for standing up for myself. Or at least understood where I was coming from and left me alone. Guess again. I'm only speculating here, but I don't think he really liked my opinions at all and I think he thought I had a closed mind. And I think he thought that stemmed from my religion (which I mentioned in my email). So that is what I believe is his core for his dislike of me and the core for his excessive rudeness and random punishments for things I didn't do. (Although there is a hole in my theory, because he LOVED Angela who is also LDS).

With him if you were on his good side, he was almost always nice to you and for some reason you had a good grade in his class. If you were on his bad side, he picked on you a lot and it was almost impossible to rise above a C even if you deserved it. I was on his bad side. Never in my life had I gotten below a B in an english class!

So, I still tried to keep as low a profile as possible throughout the year even with him randomly picking on me in class to read my essay which he knew was incomplete or to answer the hardest questions or trick questions (and then make me feel stupid if I didn't know the answer). But then... came The Day.

The day my life ended basically. We were reading Macbeth in class and for our midterm, we were supposed to write an essay IN CLASS, may I emphasize. We were allowed to do some research beforehand and take ONE page of notes to reference. I did so and read several webpages in preparation, reading them over and over (even right before the class) and took my page to class. I really wanted to do well because, as I mentioned before, I just couldn't rise above a C in his class. So, I wrote the essay, turned it in, and thought that was that. I thought wrong.

Not too long after, the demon teacher called me up after class one day and accused me of plagiarism on my essay. I had never been more speechless in my life. He showed me his proof. He said that my essay didn't sound like "my words" so he looked it up on the internet and found a site with a match. Sure enough, it was one of the site I had been studying so carefully. Just like one little paragraph and he caught it! Can you believe this guy? Going out of his way like that to nail me? (I wonder if he carefully went through all my essays, typing each sentence into Google, looking for a match). I felt my stomach drop to my feet as I realized that several sentences were almost identical to some on the website. I must've studied it too hard and subconsciously put it into my essay. (Those of you who know me are aware of my memorization skills, like with movie quoting and such. Isn't this plausible?) But he would NEVER buy that! I gave it a shot anyway. He asked to see my page of notes. He obviously didn't believe me and thought that I wrote it down on my one page of notes. Of course, just my luck, I had already thrown it away! My situation just got better and better by the minute.

When I got home, he had already called my dad, who believed HIM and was all ready to punish me for cheating! But then I explained it and I can tell it sounded far-fetched to him, but he believed me. Then after I explained it to my mom, she arranged for a meeting with the demon teacher, she, and me.

By this time, I was an emotional wreck, but I was determined not to cry in front of him and show that he was winning power over me. I explained everything to him, but with each explaination, he came up with a "plausible excuse" as to why my explanation was bogus. Finally, he told me that he was going to give me a zero on my essay because that's what happens to people who plagarize. I just couldn't take it anymore and I broke down in front of him. This is the ridiculous part. He just watched me. Not a sorry look in his face at all. Not a tinsy bit of sympathy like "I'm sorry, I have to punish you because I believe it's for the best.". It was more like "I'm the one with the power. I'm enjoying your suffering".

I thought that was that, but no. I was finally getting over it about two weeks later when one day in my Physics class I was pulled out by a campo. I was beyond bewlidered. I had never been pulled out of class by them in my life. I was taken to the detention office with the other bad kids. When I finally went in, I was told that the demon teacher had written me up for plagiarism and there were different levels of punishment, including suspension. The guy I was talking to was nice and thought that punishing a "first time offender" was harsh so he gave me minimal punishment of two days of saturday school (and not the demon teacher's recommended punishment, which I don't even remember what it was).

If you thought I was sour towards that teacher before...

That was only the stuff he did to me. There were my friends too. Alex, for example. She was on his bad side as well.

In her own words: "I didn't give him an advanced warning about a band event, but he got an email about it, but in his book that didn't count, so he wouldn't let me leave early. And when I told him that it was necessary for me to go because it was part of my band grade. He got mad and accused me of being defiant and said I couldn't go. But then the class went anyway, and I went with them, but he stayed behind to do stuff so I just went with the band anyway (because he didn't specifically say I couldn't join the band, he just said I couldn't go early). And when he got there and saw me there with the band, he got super mad and filed a misconduct."

Wow. Just wow. Then she told me that he told her that she was a loser and would be stuck doing nothing for the rest of her life. He could be sued for saying something like that to a student!

Then, Angela. He totally loved her for some reason. Apparently he pulled her aside one day and asked her where she wanted to go to college. When she told him BYU, he said that she shouldn't go there because she wouldn't live up to her potential there. Really, man?

Anyways, there is a point to this post other than me reliving old bad memories and ranting about them. So, this demon teacher never had a good thing to say about my writing. In fact, he constantly heavily implied that I was a bad writer and that I would never go anywhere with it. He bullied me so much my entire senior year and I graduated with a C- barely after the plagiarism event. I could have taken his words and implications to heart and given up on my writing, "oh yeah, he's probably right. I am a bad writer." No way! Not me! I decided to prove him wrong! I am determined to write a book and have it published before I graduate college. I don't care if it becomes super popular (because it probably won't), but I just want to prove that I am good enough to get my work published. So every time I think about the demon teacher, the more I'm motivated to write my book.

Good Literature

Just a quick rant. I have many friends on Facebook who are haters of The Hunger Games because they aren't "real literature". I haven't read them myself. I've only read the first chapter of the first book, but I can tell you that reading that much tells me enough of how the entire book is written. Just because it's not phenomenally written or it's not a classic series like Lord of the Rings or something, doesn't necessarily make it a bad book. In my opinion, it's the story that really matters. I've said this before about movies-- about how the special effects, music, camera movements, etc. are nice, but the story is what always brings people back again and again. It's the same with books. The flowery words, the acute descriptions, the symbolism, the metaphors, and so on are always great, but the story is what people are looking for.

Now, there are some books that have a good plot, but are just so poorly written that I can't bear to finish it. So, yes, the literature is important. But if the book is not poorly written, if it's an average book like The Hunger Games, I don't think it deserves to be called "bad literature". I believe that "bad literature" consists of poorly written books that can also have bad plots *cough* Twilight *cough*. You can find real "bad literature" on the fanfiction sites (believe me, I've been there :/).

So, I say you can dislike The Hunger Games if you don't like the plot, go right ahead. But don't hate on it because it's not "real literature", because that's just a ridiculous excuse when it clearly is.

Rumplestiltskin Part II

It's been many moons since my last post on this subject, which you can read here (which you might need to before proceeding onwards, because I might be referencing back to it a lot). I mentioned there that I could easily go on. Well, here we are. I wasn't joking.

Rumplestiltskin from the TV show, Once Upon a Time. Why do I insist on continuing to analyze and write about him, you wonder? Well, I find him an absolutely fascinating character. He's my favorite, as I mentioned in my previous post. I'm learning more about him and his motives as the show progresses, but he still continues to intrigue me. He's not a very straightforward character like most of the other characters in the show. This time as I write, I will not be worried about spoilers, so beware if you have not watched the show up to the latest episode. (I have recently rewatched all the episodes from the pilot to the most recent one with my mom and have had a chance to look at things more closely and to notice things I didn't notice the first time around, thus sparking another reason why I've decided to write this post.)

I covered most of my thoughts in my last post, about how he is certainly not a good guy, but I don't think he's necessarily a bad guy either.

I'm going to do my best to summarize his story so far. I see him as a Faustian figure. He was once a widower wool merchant with one son who would be taken away from him when he turned 14 to fight in the pointless Ogre Wars. Rumplestiltskin once ran from the wars himself and was abandoned by his wife and shunned by everyone else because of his cowardice. Shortly before his son's 14th birthday, an old beggar tipped him off

of how he could gain power over those who would come to take his son. He would have to break into the Duke's castle and steal a dagger that had "The Dark One"'s name inscribed into it. The dagger was the reason why the Duke could control the Dark One's great powers and use it to get people to fight in the wars. If Rumplestiltskin stole the dagger, he would control the Dark One's powers. If he killed the Dark One, then he would take the power for himself.

Rumplestiltskin used his wits and managed to obtain the dagger. Rumplestiltskin summoned the Dark One and declared himself his master. The Dark One was not impressed and wondered aloud what the timid little man would have him do. Rumplestiltskin's answer was "Die!"and he killed him. The Dark One revealed himself to be the beggar from before. He laughed and told Rumplestiltskin that "All magic comes with a price". The magic transferred into Rumplestiltskin, changing his appearance and he became the new Dark One. His name then became inscribed on the dagger. He returned home and used his power to save his son from the Duke's men, declaring that he was not scared of anything. But his son was afraid, seeing that the man in front of him was no longer his father. (We have yet to find out what became of the son after that. There's supposed to be an episode about it in the very near future.)

After this, Rumplestiltskin's story came in chunks. He lived on a large estate somewhere, like a castle. He began using his great power by making deals with people that they thought were to their advantage. Examples of his actions include playing the role of Cinderella's fairy godmother after killing the real one, arranging for the secret adoption of Prince Charming and his twin brother by the king, and giving the evil queen the curse that sent everyone to the real world. At some point, he took a young woman, Belle, as payment for one of his deals, to be caretaker for his estate. In a very Beauty and the Beast fashion, he fell in love with her, though not so obviously until she was gone. He is considered the "most dangerous being in all the realm". Eventually he was trapped by Cinderella when she had him sign a contract with an enchanted quill. He was then put into a special cell built especially for him in the dwarf mines where he remained until the evil queen's curse was enacted, then he became a wealthy pawnshop owner in Storybrooke, Maine, named Mr. Gold.

Mr. Gold, although no longer magical, still possesses a great deal of power and influence over the residents of Storybrooke. From real estate to politics to the personal lives of the town’s residents, his knowledge and involvement is infinite. In fact, he’s got his hands in so many things happening in the town it’s almost scary. According to Granny he “owns” the town. Also, most of the citizens seem to be more intimidated by him than the mayor, Regina (the evil queen). He continues to make shady deals with people who are willing to pay the price, except he plays by the rules of our world. Eventually it is revealed that he remembers his past life as Rumplestiltskin.

Rumplestiltskin will do whatever someone asks, so long as they can pay the price. This is why I don't see him as either good or bad. He has helped both sides at one point and both sides are afraid of him. The Beauty and the Beast episode, where he played the role of the beast, showed a bit of his softer side. That he is still just as alone and cowardly as ever, but it is now hidden under his mad and powerful exterior. He has a power-complex. He desires to be the most powerful being in the realm (which he is) and stay that way. He wants to

do the impossible, such as bottle love (which he eventually manages to do). He is paranoid about losing his power. I think that he feels that he will be like he was before, but worse since he doesn't even have his son anymore. He says of himself before he got his power, "All I got is my boy. And they're going to take him away from me. If I lose him, then I will truly... truly become dust." So I think that his power has replaced his son in a way.

He's like the representation of people's greed, I think. Like "I can give you what you want without having to work for it... but it'll cost you." Also, I've observed that although he's creepy and a little bit insane, he does have his own code and morals that he always seems to follow, they're just different from everybody else's. For example, he has never actually lied to anybody before, but he gets away with so much by manipulating them and/or avoiding the truth.

Back to my claim of him not being good or bad. Lots of people say he's a villain, which I can easily see why they would think that (in some episodes, he sort of is. That's the role he plays for some). But, I don't see him as such because he only does things that are to his advantage. He could easily take over the entire fairytale world and rule over everybody, make everyone his

slaves, or whatever, but he doesn't. He could also help save people from whatever trouble they may be in (genuinely help them), and use his powers for good, but he doesn't. I think this is partly because then what would he do once he had accomplished that? The other reason, and main reason is that it doesn't really benefit him in any particular way. Also, he has a very subtle style most of the time and taking over the fairytale world or something wouldn't fit in his code. So if someone wants his help to take over, he will help them if they can pay the price. A perfect example of what I'm talking about is while he is Mr. Gold in Storybrooke. He is fully aware of the predicament that everyone is in (that they are all storybook characters trapped in the real world, unaware of their true identities, stuck without their happy endings), but he chooses not to do anything about it... because how does it really benefit him? But he doesn't hesitate to give other characters a little nudge if they start to remember their past lives.

Yeah, I think I've covered all the thoughts I've ever had on the subject. So I guess I'll wrap it up by saying that although he's a creepy, insane, sneaky, strange, crafty little devil, Rumplestiltskin is still my favorite character (and marvellously portrayed by Robert Carlyle. I almost forgot to praise this guy for his outstanding performance. He's absolutely brilliant in this role.)

Watch one of my favorite scenes with him (his very first scene) here.

and

easily the most spine-chilling scene with his counter-part, Mr. Gold here.

Cliches of Life

As some of you know, I'm a writer. Well, obviously if you're reading this blog, you know that. But I mean I write stories-- novels, works of fiction. This stems back to my childhood before I could even write. I would make up my stories and then draw them out, sort of like a comic book. I made up stories all the time and, not to toot my own horn, I was pretty good at it for my age. I started actually writing my stories out in novel form in my tween years. I still remember the first one I actually finished. It was the first in a series of books called "The Crossed Swords Series". They were strongly influenced by the Zorro stories, with lots of my own twists thrown in. Now, I'm still working on my BOM-historic novel that I hope to someday get published. I've written and rewritten it several times and I'm still unsatisfied with it.

Anyways, my point is that I've had a lot of experience with fictitious writing (as well as non-fiction stuff, like essays for school and stuff). Now there are several different directions in which I could take this post, but the topic I really want to focus on here is cliches. I don't want to talk about cliches in writing, I want to talk about them in life.

People don't really give me credit for how observational I really am. I notice a lot more than people think, I normally just don't say anything, or I ignore it, or I pretend I didn't see it for whatever reason (I also have a history as an actress. I can really put on a face if I want/need to). I often perceive life as a story, because to quote Doctor Who, "we're all stories in the end", so I look at life like a book or a movie.

All. Stories. Have. Cliches.

At least one. This is a fact. I mean, I seriously cannot think of a single story that did not have at least one cliche in it somewhere. Whether it was in the plot, the dialogue, the setting, the type of character, etc. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. No, no. If they're done properly, at the correct time, and/or there are not too many of them, I fully appreciate the cliches in the story. Sometimes even if they're painfully obvious, I still will sometimes enjoy a good cliche, because nowadays people are trying too hard to be original that I enjoy seeing stuff that's old hat. However, if I am bombarded with cliches, then the story automatically loses several points in my book.

I feel the same way with life. I see cliches all the time. After all, the stories in our books and movies are based off of our everyday life. The cliches had to start somewhere. Of course, it goes both ways. Something may have started on TV or something and now it's happening everywhere.

So, if I am bombarded with cliches from someone or something in real life, they automatically lose several points in my book, just like a book or a movie. I'm praying to high heaven that he never finds my blog and reads this, because that would be extremely embarrassing, but I went on a date this last Saturday. Now, it was a good date, I had a really good time, so don't get the wrong idea here. But it was full of cliches. The date itself was original: drive into Hollister, lunch, then drive to Carmel, and walk around the mission. Nothing really cliche there. However, how I was treated was the cliche part. He always opened the door for me (all the doors), he offered me his jacket, he paid for everything, it was always "ladies first", and if you can think of any others, he probably did it. Now I know that some of those are expected from a gentleman on a date. And maybe I'm just different from other girls, because I'm fiercely independent and don't fall all over that stuff (my friends would love it, I know that). But mostly I'm not impressed by it all because they're cliches. Now I wouldn't have minded if he had hit me with just one of them, or if he did all of them, but did them jokingly like he knew they were cliche and was just trying to be funny, but he wasn't.

When I'm writing, I try to be original, but I throw in cliches every once in a while just to spice it up a little. Like I keep saying, one or two of them are OK, but when you're flooded with them, it's a turnoff and you're probably going to get a bad review. At least, that's how it is for me.

A Drama Reminisce

As the high school's performance of "High School Musical" approaches and I watch Afton prepare for her part as Kelsi the composer, I become more and more nostalgic. I truly miss being in the high school plays. I miss everything about them. I miss the stress and pressure of the auditions, the anxiety as you first read the cast list and find out your part, the first read through, the practicing long hours after school, learning the songs, memorizing your lines, remembering your cues, missing your entrances, getting chewed out by Ms. Porter for texting backstage, the silly warm-ups that Ms. O/Amy taught us, wearing your costume for the first time, the first tech-rehearsal, the first orchestra rehearsal, Ms. Porter and Amy pulling their hair out during the first tech and orchestra rehearsals, dress rehearsals, "nakey time!", the excessive makeup, cast gatherings before each performance, the applause, the singing and dancing for a live audience, flubbing up, the bowing, and then sprinting around backstage to the front doors so everybody can tell you what a fabulous job you did XD.

5th Grade

My first ever play was in 5th grade. I don't remember what it what called. But it was literally a full blown play, not a silly little skit. But we had no stage, no lights, no fancy costumes or makeup; just our scripts, a few props, and our elementary acting skills. I was one of the main characters, Bebe. If I remember correctly, the play was about three kids who, on the 4th of July, got stuck back in time during the Revolutionary War time. I don't remember really what happened, it was sort of an educational play (which is why we were doing it). I was the only person to go off-book for the entire play. And I was a main character. This was when I discovered my appreciation for drama-like areas. (However, I eventually leaned more into the video-making department, but that's for another post.) I know my mom came and took pictures, but I can't seem to find them anywhere. I do remember my costume though: blue and white tennis shoes, blue jean capris, and a red and white shirt that said "Top 5 Reasons Why I'm a Princess" (I don't remember the reasons). My hair was just left to itself and I had no fancy makeup.

Anything Goes

My second play was my sophomore year of high school. This is where my nostalgia really begins. My friend, Angela had been in the play "Once Upon a Mattress" during our freshman year and I thought it looked like fun to be in. So, the next year she agreed to do the play with me (because I was scared to do it by myself). However, like a week or so before auditions, she decided she wouldn't be able to balance the play amongst her already busy schedule and dropped out, leaving me torn. I would have to audition by myself and if I got a part, I would not know anybody. Now, understand, back then I was one of the shyest people you would ever meet and had terrible people skills (I have since improved, but am far from perfection).

The Audition

After changing my mind several times, I went to the audition. It was only a singing audition... and easily my worst nightmare. I went in with two other people, a boy and a girl. I sort of knew the music director, Amy Oelrich, but not really. She taught us a few lines of a song and had us sing it as a group a few times. Then... she had us sing it individually. Worst. Nightmare. There I was singing solo in front of three other people with my not-even-close-to-Kelly-Clarkson voice. After preforming, we were free to go, without any comment or criticism. I of course was beating myself up and wanted to go hide under a rock.

The Part/Read-through

I don't remember how long we had to wait, but after at least a week, the cast list was posted. I was listed under "Ensemble". Great! It was exactly what I wanted. There was no way I wanted a lead after that traumatizing audition. So, we had our first read-through after the Christmas break... which I did not know about and missed. Ms. Porter, the drama teacher, was very stern with me when I came the next time. So there I was, the poor little sophomore who was already terrified and knew absolutely nobody in the room. There were two groups of the ensemble: the passengers and the sailors. All the sailors were men, so I assumed I was going to be a passenger. And I was for a couple read throughs. However, Ms. Porter soon realized that I was not the slacker she originally thought me to be and could actually be a very capable actress if I could just find the confidence. So she made me a sailor. Yes, I was the only female sailor. I was the sailor who arrested Moonface the gangster ^_^.

The Plot

The S.S. American, sailing from New York to England, carries an unusual group of passengers. Included amongst them are a gangster (Moonface Martin), a wealthy debutante and her mother (Hope and Evangeline Harcourt), a nightclub singer (Reno Sweeny), and a wealthy New York businessman and his stowaway assistant (Elisha Witney and Billy Crocker). It turns out that Hope is Billy's long-lost love. Unfortunately, she is now engaged to a wealthy Englishman, Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. During a series of comedic happenings, Billy attempts to win back Hope. Meanwhile, Billy's friend, Reno, tries to seduce and win Lord Evelyn. All this happens while Moonface Martin attempts to escape the law and Hope's mother strives to maintain her social status.

The Costume

Sadly, my mom took plenty of pictures of our performances, but we are unable to access them right now. I remember my costume though: a white sailor's top, a waist-high, knee-length navy blue skirt with silver buttons, a white sailor cap, and black buckle heels. I had my hair in small, tight curls, and my makeup was extremely dark, but just natural colors.

Annie

I had so much fun doing "Anything Goes" that I decided that I wanted to do the play the next year no matter what it was. This time, my sister and her friends had all started high school and wanted to do it as well. (I had quite an influence on them XP). So we all signed up for the same audition day.

The Audition

Now that I knew what was going on and I was older, I was not as terrified as last time. Plus I knew a lot of the people there, so it helped a little. This audition was a singing AND acting audition. I braved through the solo part of the singing audition. There were more people listening this time. The acting audition was kind of fun. Since I had more confidence this time, I decided I wouldn't mind having a bigger part (not a lead, mind you. I'm not stupid, deaf, and/or full of myself. I know I'm not a good enough singer to ever get a lead in a musical). I gave it all I had in the parts that Ms. Porter had me read (I remember reading for some of the orphans, some of the servants, and one person from Hooverville). I really wanted to be an orphan. I never got a callback, but I think Afton did... I'd have to double check that. Because of that, I was afraid that I didn't get ANY part. So many people had auditioned and Ms. Porter had warned us that there would be people that wouldn't make it.

The Part/Read-through

The waiting seemed to take forever! But finally the cast list went up. Luckily I DID make the list. I was Mrs. Greer, the housekeeper. I wasn't entirely happy at first, but I was over it by the time the read-through came around. At least I had an actual name this time, not just "Ensemble". And as we read the script, I found that I even had my own solo line, "Bubbles! No, soap I think." I thoroughly enjoyed having people I already knew in the cast with me. There were people I had befriended from "Anything Goes" and then basically the rest of the cast were Mormons.

The Plot

In the depths of the 1930's, Annie is a fiery young orphan girl who must live in a miserable orphanage run by the tyrannical Miss Hannigan. Her seemingly hopeless situation changes dramatically when she is selected to spend a short time at the residence of the wealthy munitions industrialist, Oliver Warbucks. Quickly, she charms the hearts of the household staff and even the seemingly cold-hearted Warbucks cannot help but learn to love this wonderful girl. He decides to help Annie find her long lost parents by offering a reward if they would come to him and prove their identity. However, Miss Hannigan, her evil brother, Rooster, and a female accomplice, plan to impersonate those people to get the reward for themselves.

The Costume

Ah-ha! I have pictures from this. All the female servants wore these large gray dresses, white aprons, and white caps. My hair was simply plastered to my head underneath the cap, and my make up was excessively dark, but natural colors.

Warbucks and the orphans

Mrs. Greer

Warbucks and Annie

Seussical

Senior year! Senioritus... yeah, it hit me hard. But it didn't stop me from wanting to the play that year. I knew that Ms. Porter always favored seniors and gave them favorable parts. There was no way I would pass that opportunity up. Even if I didn't get a "favorable" part, I still wanted to be in the play, so I, along with the majority of the "Annie" cast, signed up for auditions.

The Audition

Auditions were basically the same as last year. Singing and acting. No problem though, I had done this before, I was more experienced, I didn't have to worry, right? Well... except for one minor detail. I had just got my wisdom teeth out about two weeks before the audition and my jaw was still sore. I pressed on though. Once again, I braved through the solo part of the singing audition (although I had to quit in the middle because I couldn't hit the high notes). I knew that would hurt my chances of getting a good part, but I did NOT want to be singing that high in front of people by myself. I did have an advantage during this audition since I already knew all the songs and the story (and was probably the only one besides Ms. Porter and Amy). The acting audition was fun and I was given big parts to read. Ms. Porter actually laughed heartily at my performance of the Cat in the Hat. I was in fact called back for the Cat, Mrs. Mayor, and a bird girl.

The Part/Read-through

Waiting didn't seem as long this time. People kept telling me that they thought I would get the Cat. That would be nice. I considered the possibility sometimes, but when it really came down to it, I knew that I wouldn't get such a big part. And I didn't. The list came out, I got a bird girl. Even though I knew I wouldn't get a huge part, I was still just a little bit disappointed. But, the bird girls had a lot of stage time since they did a lot of narrating (they were the jungle gossipers). The read-through wasn't long since most of the play is singing. I grew to love my part and the other bird girls (and was exceedingly glad not to be a lead in this particular play after seeing how hard they had to work).

The Plot

The Cat in the Hat is the host and emcee (and all-around mischief-maker) in this romp through the Seuss classics. When the sweet, good-natured elephant Horton hears a small cry for help coming from a small speck of dust, he promises to rescue and guard it because "a person's a person, no matter how small." On that small speck of dust lives JoJo, an imaginative young Who. JoJo has astounding "thinks," in which anything's possible, but his parents believe this creativity is inappropriate for the son of the Mayor of Who-Ville. Meanwhile, the one-feathered bird, Miss Gertrude McFuzz, desperately wants Horton to notice her. Maybe, she thinks, she just needs a more impressive tail. At the same time, the amazingly lazy Maysie La Bird connives, cajoles and convinces Horton to sit on her egg while she goes off on a spree. Will the planet of Who survive? Will Horton pay attention to Gertrude? Will Maysie ever return for her egg? Dr. Seuss's beloved classic characters find themselves intertwined in an incredible crazy-quilt adventure, in which the power of imagination and the most miraculous "think" ever save the day!

The Costume

We got PLENTY of pictures of this production. I loved my costume for this and I especially loved my makeup. Hair, not so much. It was really uncomfortable. All the bird girls wore a fancy dress, a feather boa, a feather tail, and a feather puff in our hair. Our hair was pulled back and had to sit on our heads in curls like a nest, or if it was too short, sprout out like a tree. Our make up was extravagant, it could be whatever we wanted, it just had to match our bird colors. Mine was just the green and pink with sparkles and bedazzles.

Cat in the Hat, Mrs. Mayor, Mayor of Whoville, Jojo

Bird girl

Horton the Elephant

Gertrude McFuzz, Horton, Sour Kangaroo

Ahhh... I do miss it all. I actually remember parts of dances to some of the songs in all of the plays. Yes, even as far back as "Anything Goes". I'm excited to go see "High School Musical" this month. I'll actually be sitting in the audience instead of backstage or in the spotlight. It'll be fun to watch and know what's happening behind the scenes :)

Detective Stories

"I like detective stories. And detectives... Brainy's the new sexy." --Irene Adler, BBC's Sherlock: 2x01: A Scandal in Belgravia

My sentiments exactly to the above quote. Even if a book or movie isn't directly in the mystery genre, but just has an intriguing plot and/or overtone, that's good enough for me. I've always had a passion for mystery stories ever since I was young. I always tell people whenever they ask that I don't really have favorites (like favorite type of music, favorite type of food, favorite type of movies, etc), but I will say that if a book or movie is in the mystery genre, it will most likely gain at least a few points in my book.

NANCY DREW

As a kid/preteen, I read the Nancy Drew series. I absolutely LOVED these books as a kid! I think these were probably my first leap into the mystery genre. I'm going to do my best to describe her from memory. It's been years since I read the books. Nancy Drew is an 18-year-old girl who lives with her dad and housekeeper. She's extremely polite and modest, as well as very attractive and talented. If I recall, she comes across a lot of her cases either by accident or because her Dad is a lawyer. She also doesn't accept payment for them if she can help it. I like the Nancy Drew books because they are particularly unique compared to a lot of detective stories nowadays. The originals were set in (I think) the 1950's/60's which is an interesting time period to me. Plus, FEMALE detective! Heck yeah! I can't really rant too much on this (although I kind of really want to) because I haven't read these books in years :(

SHERLOCK HOLMES

Sometime in my early teens I began to read the Sherlock Holmes stories (read my blog post here). Those are true detective stories. They turn crime-solving into a sort of science, instead of the detective solving the mystery mostly because of their own dumb luck. Sherlock Holmes is a fascinating detective whom I adore in basically all adaptations, because he's just a brilliant character. Starting from the original source. If you watch this extraordinary video here, you will see Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself explaining how he came to write the Sherlock Holmes stories. I agree wholeheartedly with everything he says and I think that it just goes to prove how Sherlock Holmes is a exceptionally unique detective. Sherlock Holmes is a middle aged man who lives with his flatmate in London. He is a bit of an eccentric because he has such a brilliant mind, capable of noticing the tiniest details and making incredible deductions from them. He is inconsistent with his habits especially while on a case, he has a cocaine problem, he plays the violin, he is fair-mannered for the time period although not extremely polite, he can be very moody, and one of his enemies says that one of his biggest weaknesses is his endless curiosity. I love, love, love Holmes! He is an actual detective for hire (aka private detective) and is "the world's only consulting detective" (meaning when the police are out of their depths, they consult him). I love how utterly brilliant he is, how he can make such giant, yet accurate leaps from the tiniest details. (Like in BBC's Sherlock, he is able to determine that a murdered woman travelled to London from Cardiff because her coat was damp). I love his arrogance and indifference to everybody's opinion of him, because he knows that they have to put up with him because they need his expertise.

SHAWN SPENCER

Lately I've started watching the TV show, Psych. (My family started watching it while I was at college, so when I came home and saw a few episodes, I thought it looked interesting so I decided to start from the beginning. Before I knew it, I had passed them up and finished all the episodes up to the current one.) Shawn Spencer is yet another fascinating detective. His hyper observational skills and photographic memory allow him to pass himself off as a psychic. Someone on my other blog described Psych as "Sherlock Holmes on a sugar high", which is actually pretty darn accurate in my opinion. Like Sherlock, he is a detective for hire/private detective, but he is also a constant consultant for the police. Also, in Sherlock's case, at one point he was eventually considered to be a fraud because his deductive powers and sleuthing skills just seemed too unnatural to be real. The same thing happened here, except Shawn managed to get out of it by claiming to be psychic. Anyways, focusing back on Shawn, not Sherlock. In one episode he was profiled by a criminal profiler as "highly intelligent, but you’re shameful of that fact so you play it down with the use of inappropriate behavior, and you live in fear of showing your weakness so you hide behind a constant barrage of jokes and sarcasm." Yeah, I think that about sums up his character in the best possible way, I don't think I could really add much more onto that. He grew up with a police officer for a father, who wanted nothing more than his son to follow in his footsteps, so Shawn really did not have a normal childhood at all. He would be locked in the trunk of a car and told to escape, he wasn't allowed to read comic books, he was reprimanded for playing hide-and-seek "wrong", etc. Despite having a strange childhood, he learned some good life skills that turned him into a great detective. I love the show because most of the mysteries are intriguing and the comedy is gold! I laugh my head off in every single one.