Thursday, March 22, 2012

Welcome Back to Life.

Wow, it has been a while since I've blogged. For those of you who noticed my absence, no worries, I've just been extremely busy. It's going to be challenging to get six posts in the next week, but with spring break beginning this weekend it should take some of the pressure off. So since I haven't blogged in while, I'll just kind of ramble on about new things in my life.

The Hunger Games. You may have read the series. You may have not. I have spent the last couple of weeks reading the series for the first time. I believe I wrote about it in a post a couple weeks ago when I was reading the first one. Anyway, I certainly recommend the entire series. It's a fairly quick, easy read and it's great if you like fiction/action books. The series offers many twists and turns and certainly a lot of combat. However, I must be somewhat critical. I felt that the first book was absolutely outstanding--I was practically demanding more when I finished--and then I was somewhat disappointed when I got to the second and third books. Also, my ratings for the books descended in chronological order. I'd give the first book, oh, four and half out of five stars. I'd give the second book 3 and a half. And the third book (which I am not quite but almost finished with, so this rating is subject to change) I would give about a 3. The books aren't bad, and I would recommend them to almost anyone, but I guess the first book set my expectations for the series very high, and I was slightly disappointed.

School Dances. Last Friday night, my school held its annual WPA (Women Pay All) dance in the small gym. Being to five school dances prior to ths one, I felt that this was probably the best one, at least location-wise. The small gym is much better than the cafeteria in that it's actually bigger (despite the name 'small gym') and it is much, much cooler. Yet to me, school dances are kind of becomming overrated. What's so great about hanging out in a gym with sweaty people that are way too close for comfort? Or spending two and half hours doing your hair when it's going to be ruined in ten minutes anyway. It just doesn't make sense to me anymore, although I am looking forward to prom. Prom will be different, right? It's not held in the school, the dress and hair are more expensive, the boys wear tuxes. Yeah, prom will be better.

Show Choir. The 2012 show choir season has now passed its boiling point and is coming to a slow simmer. We leave for nationals exactly one week from today, at two o' clock in the morning (best part of show choir). We'll be in Nashville for three days, two of which will be spent performing in the Grand Ole Opry theatre. I couldn't be more excited to perform on the very stage where legends from all over the world (and most of the country music folks) have given outstanding performances. But most of all I'm thankful for a school that has a choir program that can actually take trips like this one. We are able to compete and show off what we do to a national audience. How many people can say they've performed in the Grand Ole Opry? (Besides all the famous people, of course.) After nationals, when we return home to boring old Iowa, show choir comes to nearly a dead halt. We have no evening rehearsals until May, and our class time was cut off at the beginning of March. This leaves room for my next topic:

Show Choir Auditions. The show choir audition process at my school is what I describe to be a catastophe. There are hundreds (literally hundreds) of people who try out for show choir each year. More people try out for show choir and don't get in than the number of people who do get in. It's simple: you sing a song, you dance a dance, you get callbacks. But it's so much more than just that too, as your personality, attitude, contributions, ect. are all taken account of. So many talented people just don't make the cut at my school. Like our director says: it's a blessing and a curse. A blessing because we have the talent and the resources to do what we do. In fact, we have an abundance of talent and resources. A curse because there just aren't enough spots for everyone. So if show choir auditions aren't enough to get my blood flowing:

All State Jazz Auditions. Certainly are. We've been preparing for them for months, and yet I still don't feel that my scales, solo, and prepared piece are good enough. The auditions are on Tuesday, yes, in five days. Only sixteen people out of the hundreds in the state that try out make it in. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be a member of the all-state jazz choir, but I honestly don't think I've got what it takes. I know, I know, self confidence and all that. But I am confident. Just not about all state jazz auditions.

Work. And lastly, I was recently hired at my local Coldstone Creamery store. I've only worked twice so far, but I'm starting to get the hang of things. And I love ice cream. So that's a plus.

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