Barack-tastic

The Democratic Debate is being held at my college tonight and I can't go! No fair. Well, it's my own fault I suppose. I have play practice. It's HELL WEEK. For those of you who aren't theater nerds, "hell week" is the last week before a show opens. I think you can probably guess how those usually go. They are hellish of course. Actually, things aren't going too badly. We have a preview show on Wednesday that I'm a teensy bit worried about. People are still a little shaky on lines, including myself. I have rehearsal every night this week, plus a bunch of schoolwork that's really piling up. I also just learned today that my Spring break is only 1 week long! I thought it was longer. It should be anyway. I really need a break.

I am disappointed that I can't go to the debate. From what I've heard, it was pretty difficult to get tickets anyway. They had to reserve so many seats for press and such. They couldn't just give all the tickets away to the students. Some of my friends said they did a lottery-type thing to get tickets. I'll have to tape it and watch it after rehearsal.
While I'm on the subject of politics, let me just say that I was shocked when I heard that Ralph Nader, just now, announced he was running. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. I don't even fully understand how he can do that so late in the game, especially since so many states have already been decided. It's not that I particularly disagree with Nader's ideas, I just think he should have abstained from running because he really doesn't have a chance. All his running will do is probably take votes away from Obama, just like he took votes away from Al Gore during the 2000 election, and look where that got us! Hopefully people have learned a thing or two by now.

And a quick note on the Oscars. I missed some of the first half because I was writing an English paper, but I was so happy to see Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova win for best song! 'Once' is such a beautiful movie with an incredible soundtrack. I love them and they seemed so genuinely happy and humble. Thank goodness too that they invited Marketa to come back on stage after they so rudely cut her off before she even began to speak. Also, I couldn't believe that Enchanted had 3 songs nominated! As much as I love Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz together (Pocohontas soundtrack, hello!) I haven't seen Enchanted yet, but I would have the same opinion about any movie having 3 songs nominated in the same category. I LOVE Dreamgirls, but I didn't like they had 3 song nominations last year either. I feel that it's a bit unfair. But who am I? I guess, it really IS fair, but it still seems like it isn't sometimes.

Tubby The Tuba

I just wanted to share this video with everyone, or anyone who wants to watch it. I have this on VHS and I used to watch it constantly as a kid. I still love it. I think it would interest any artist, animator, musician, or just anyone who appreciates creative things and nice stories. :) Let me know in a comment or something if you watch it and like it.

Shooting in Illinois

Some of you have probably heard about the shooting at Northern Illinois University on Thursday, February 14, 2008. A former student stormed into a Science lecture class. The gunman first shot the professor, then started firing at the students and then shot himself. As of now, I believe around 7 people have died (including the gunman.) I think around 20 were shot and students are still in critical condition. This happens far too often and it's very scary to think about. I found out today, that my cousin was in that classroom. Before she had a chance to get down on the floor, she saw the two people sitting right next to her get shot. She managed to crawl out and she's fine now. She wasn't killed or shot, thank goodness. But I'm sure she's traumatized. It's scary to think that that could've been my college classroom.

Today in my Geology class (which is also in a giant lecture hall) I passed my friend a note asking her if she had heard about the tragedy. She wrote back that she had and how scary it was. About 20 seconds later, the lights started flashing and a loud siren began to sound, along with a computerized voice telling us that there had been a reported emergency and to evacuate the main classroom building. We cleared out, waited in the university center and eventually they opened the building again, but I still have no idea what that was about. There were police everywhere and we know it wasn't a drill, but I doubt I'll ever know. Oh well. The timing was what made it scary.

Things like this tend to make me think about things a lot. I'm really lucky never to have personally experienced something like that. Hopefully I won't ever have to.

School & Plays

Hello! Well, I've been quite a busy bee these last couple days! I've come to the conclusion that this second semester of college is far more taxing than the first. I have more classes than last semester, plus the majority of my classes are more difficult. A few of them have no tests, which may sound nice at first, but I have to write giant, detailed papers for those instead. I have two papers due in two weeks actually. My sleeping patterns are currently whacked out as well.

Aside from schoolwork, I'm also in a play at a local community theater, which opens in two weeks. The play is called Steel Magnolias. You may have heard of it. It was made into a movie in 1989 and starred Julia Roberts, Sally Field, Shirley MacLain, Dolly Parton and Daryl Hannah. It's a great movie, kind of a chick flick I suppose. It's really funny though, and sad at the same time. The plot is basically the same in both the movie and play. I play Shelby, the Julia Roberts character, the diabetic who insists on getting pregnant despite the her medical condition.

*SPOILER ALERT!* (Like you care anyway.) I get to have a diabetic seizure and throw and spit juice all over everyone on stage! How cool is that! Haha. Plus, I DIE towards the end! I don't think I've ever died in a play before, so that's quite exciting. I don't actually get to have a death scene on stage though, which kind of stinks. I die off stage and then the cast talks about it. Oh well. Still cool.

I really have to work on memorizing my lines for that. I've been trying, but I'm nowhere near off-book. I've been so swamped with homework and studying. It's imperative that I keep up my GPA, so I can keep my scholarship. I did well last semester. I even made the Dean's List! :-) So, I've just gotta really buckle down to stay on it!

Needless to say, I'm welcoming this weekend with open arms. I really need some time off. Plus, tomorrow night, Mom and I are going to see Wicked at the State Theatre! I've seen it once already in Columbus over the summer, but my mom hasn't seen it yet. I'm really excited! :) She's going to love it. The tickets were a Christmas present from my Aunt Bonnie, who took me to see it in Columbus. I love Aunt Bonnie. :)

First Post!

Hey there! If you happen to be reading this, you either know me from my YouTube account, my myspace music page, or perhaps somewhere else, but most likely the first two. Anyway, here it is! I've made a blog. How exciting. Aren't you excited? No? Well, you should be. I will try to update here often enough. I'm not sure how often that will be, but just wait and see! :) Thank you for taking an interest. I find that very cool.