Europe bound!

This is the eve of my first trip to Europe. Starting at around 2:30 tomorrow and concluding at around 6:30 on August 9th, I won't be here. There is the slight chance I actually muster up the energy (and the Francs) to get some Internet passes and blog from the Chalet in Switzerland, but that remains to be seen.
If I don't, please don't think it's because I'm dead. I'll just be gone for 20 days with a severe lack of Internet access. I promise I'll be recording everything in the numerous photos, journal entries, and letters and postcards I will be writing.
I'm quite certain that the most money I'll spend on anything will be my numerous trips to the location in which stamps are sold in order to send international letters. It's going to be wicked expensive. I will therefore swear to myself not to purchase anything between August 9th and Fall Formal, and get all the knitting commissions I can. Hopefully I will be able to get some cool shindigs in Switzerland or Italy to make it worth it, though. I really don't want to come home with no cool things, but I really don't want to come home broke, either. Ah, decisions, decisions.
Unlike with Disney, where essentially EVERYTHING is overpriced, it's harder to tell in Italy whether or not what you are buying is way over-priced, because I, as a tourist, have probably never seen it before (unless it's one of those key chains with people's names on them, because EVERY tourist shop in America has them). Also, I'm pretty sure all the Italian merchants will be able to tell that I'm a tourist and try and sell me whatever it is anyway. I feel like that's how half of the street vendors in any city make most of their money - exploiting tourists from some place the vendor has never been. I'll try and tell the merchants off... Not sure how, as I don't know Italian... Whatever.
What I'm most nervous about is the long hikes in Switzerland and the language barrier in Italy. And also, the overnight dawn hike. I'm so pumped for that, but I'm also terrified. I don't know why.
What am I most pumped for? um... we'll be visiting a castle in Switzerland as an Excursion (this is planned by the people at the Chalet), which should be really cool because it's really old and stuff. It could also help for writing purposes. We're also visiting the Coliseum when we go to Rome, which I'm really pumped for (the history is the main reason I'm willing to go to Rome).
Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd I really should be going to sleep now. Farewell!

Dear Rebecca Black...

Well, apparently, Rebecca Black has a new video called "My Moment." And she seems to have taken voice lessons (or stopped smiling while singing) since releasing "Friday," and the difference is noticeable. And it's a good change, too, which is kind of a surprise (albeit a good one - she seems to have good potential). Maybe it's partially due to the fact that the tune of "My Moment" is nowhere near as annoying as the tune of "Friday", but I think her voice has really improved a lot (her lyrics could stand to be a little less corny, but at least there is some corniness to be had in the new song, which is a step up from only being able to scorn the lyrics of the first one... and she apparently had a song called "Prom Night," which was basically a rip of "Friday." "My Moment" is a new tune as well. Score!).
So, since I need to get my letter-writing skills on for Switzerland, here is a letter to Rebecca Black, from me (that she probably won't read because this is a really unread blog, but whatever):
Dear Rebecca Black,
Whatever you have been doing to step up your game since you released your first song... keep doing it. It is noticeable and it is an improvement. And the rest of the world now has no reason to say you suck, because you no longer suck. Congratulations! Please continue to do whatever you did between releasing "friday" and doing "my moment," because there is a change and it is good. HOORAY!
From,
Drillbit :)

Let chaos commence!

Well, if you walked into my room right now (I don't reccomend it), you would find that the closet is barfing clothing, a suitcase is dangerously close to falling off my bed and adding to the clothing chaos on the floor, and an assortment of travel necessities mixed in with books, pens, and whatever other crap was already in my room. YAY FOR PACKING!
I rarely pack for a trip this far ahead (it's Monday. We leave on Thursday), but I will be gone for a total of nineteen (yes, 1-9) days, visiting five (at least) cities, two countries, and living out of ONE suitcase the entire time.
Also, as of right now, I have... one second, while I count... 20 people who want letters. One letter for each day! (and one double-up). I think the most money I am going to spend while overseas will be in the form of buying postage stamps. Apparently, it's almost two Francs (around $2.50) to send a postcard overseas.
And then there's the fact that I'm going to have to buy 40 postcards (two for each person - one from Switzerland and one from Italy) at the very least. I'm going to be doing far too much writing - if I don't wind up keeping a journal, everyone who got mail from me will just have to get together and compare the dates on their mail to see what I did that day, and THAT will be how we record this trip (aside from the photography, of course).
With all this packing, the trip we have been planning for almost two years is finally becoming sort of real. Not entirely real yet, but real-er than it was when we started planning it a few years ago. Two days, after all, is a lot shorter than two years. AAHH!!
The only thing that will make it more real is when we actually get there. I am SO pumped, you have no idea. I have no idea how I am going to avoid clearing out all of my finances on souveniers, but I'll have to figure something out. In the mean time, BACK TO PACKING!

Camp Photos

Well, here are some photos that I mooched from my camp friends' Facebook profiles. There are only two, I know, and I am in them, I know, but here they are.

1. This was taken by my good friend Catherine at rehearsal on Tuesday. It was when I was learning to use two weapons on the Mercutio versus Tybalt fight. I feel like it is the most intense of the options. :)

2. In this one, the lovely Maria is playing Juliet; Alessandra is playing the prestigious role of 'Upstage Balcony Column,' and I am the awesome role of 'Downstage Balcony Gargoyle.' Photo cred (at least on Facebook) to Talia.

Shakespeare... farewell...

Well, today was officially the last day of Camp Shakespeare. It culminated with a performance that occured this morning, which went really well. Except for two people forgot lines.
It was supremely awesome to perform in a professional theater, though. Except for the blinding stage lights and ample amounts of space.
The fights in the show went reasonably well also. The parents of some of my campmates have said that I was really good on the fights and that the anger of my character was evident, but I want to wait until the DVD comes before I say whether or not I agree with them. I probably won't, just because I like watching my stuff even though I think I am lousy a lot of the time (this may or may not be true).
I'm just really sad that camp is over, which has not happened in a while. Maybe because this time I did a lot of stuff that I would not do in shows at school - fighting with two weapons, comprehending Shakespeare and enjoying it, and sharing roles with several other people, to name a few.
Also, I went in to the show knowing absolutely nobody, and I came out with fifteen new friends. At school, I go in knowing a lot of the cast and get to know the people I have not officially met yet. Now, I know a lot of cool people whom I had no idea existed before last Tuesday, and I willingly made an effort to comprehend Shakespeare! IT WAS AWESOME!
Now I kind of want to analyze more Shakespeare, but alas, I have found none so far in the house. It is hard for me to believe that we own nothing by the Bard. I will have to work on that.
And I will.
Right now.
Farewell, for the time being! I shall post in the future!

Feeling of Badassery, commence!

Well, today in camp, we did lots of cool shindigs.
My favorite part of the day continues to be Stage Combat, and that is where the Anecdote of the Day takes place.
Well, the Anecdote of the Day is more like the News of Today, which is this: I get to fight with two weapons at the same time! IT'S EXCITING!!! AND AWESOME!!! I feel supremely cool.
I haven't entirely mastered some of the blocks and and attacks with two weapons yet, as I had memorized the routine with just the sword (as opposed to having a sword in my left hand and a dagger in my right), but I'm working on it, and it's a lot of fun.
I don't know why I'm so excited by the fact that I get to do combat; I just am. (Don't take it as me being a crazy weapon-maniac - outside of combat rehearsal, I take slight fear of any sort of weaponry that is not my fists).
Anyhow, in other news, we finished blocking most of the show today. It's coming together well, considering that the show goes up in four days and that we've only had six days of rehearsal (counting today. If the United States had declared its independence on a different date, then we would've had seven days of rehearsal. But, these things being as they are, we've had six. I AM glad, however, that the US is independent. YAY INDEPENDENCE!).
I'm really excited for the performance. Especially for being a gargoyle. That's going to be loads of fun.
All in all, I'm most pumped for the combat. If it were a musical, I would be pumped for the music and the dancing as well as the combat. But this is Shakespeare, not Sondheim.
Shakespeare is awesome, though. I love Shakespeare.
I didn't think I would wind up liking Shakespeare (or comprehending his writing, for that matter), but here I am, enjoying Shakespeare (and making sense of the show, too!). Go figure!

News and Such!

Well, it's official: the Scene Four Kiss is going to haunt me until I get over my fear of doing Theater PDA. I don't know WHY I have a fear of doing Theater PDA, but I'm quite certain that I'll have to do a kiss in Scene Four of every show I'm in until I get over it. Wonderful, yes? (and yes, this DOES count "Romeo and Juliet," which is going up on Saturday). Time to commence Operation Deal With It!
Anyway, in other news, "Romeo and Juliet" goes up on Saturday morning and everyone should come see it! YAY FOR SHAKESPEARE!!! (which I now can spell correctly! Woohoo!!) The only difficult parts so far (aside from dealing with Scene Four) are actually memorizing the lines and being the only left-handed sword-fighter in the entire group. I hope that doesn't totally screw up the fight choreography.
Which gets me to my Most Excited Part: I REALLY enjoy doing fights. I don't know WHY, but I do know that I am SUPREMELY excited to die.
Speaking of dying, remember how I had to die in "Benagridazir?" Well, I was hoping that there would be a really cool photo of me dying, but I couldn't find one. Until yesterday, that is. And here is this supremely awesome photo (photo cred to Rachel, the photo teacher at my school):



I can't stop gawking at it.
And I will leave you with that.
Farewell!

long rides and stuff

Well, I was late this morning. Which was bad. Camp was good, though, because we actually got to block the first scene at the end of today. After we blocked the first scene, we spent half an hour in our 'offices' (each person's little corner to put their stuff in and hang out in for work time) working on our lines. This involved three things:
1. figuring out the rhythms of the lines. There are more variations on the emphasized beats in Shakespearean verse than I thought existed. Each pair of beats is called a foot, and within each foot there are four different possible pairings, and each pairing has a different name that I do not remember. Oh, the joys of learning stuff in the summer!
2. paraphrasing - this really means 'translating, line for line, your Shakespeare lines into language you would normally use without killing the meaning.' This is more difficult because a lot of Shakespeare's words have become obsolete, and some of them have several different meanings that could affect the meaning of the line in different ways.
3. essential memorization of lines and such. This is rather easy when you're analyzing the phrases so much.

So far it has been a good time at camp (aside from missing the bus this morning. And also taking an hour and a half to get back because the metro was slow and crowded today, so I missed the bus AGAIN, which meant that I had to take the 6:22 bus home, which was annoying).
Anyway, now I'm home, and now I must eat. Farewell until the morrow!

Shakespeare, combat, and DEATH

Well, I have FINALLY learned to spell "Shakespeare" without having to spell-check it to make sure I am doing it right (I used to write it "Shakespheare"). YAY FOR SHAKESPEARE CAMP!!!
So far, camp has been rather awesome, and I've only been there for two days. We are doing an hour of combat a day, which is a lot of fun and makes me very happy.
We also got our roles today. The way casting works in this camp is that each character (with a few exceptions) is played by a different person depending on the scene.
For example, I do the second half of the prologue in Scene One. In scene four, I play Juliet, but my Romeo was different from the Romeo in Scenes Two and Three. In Scene Five (since it's so long), Juliet and Romeo have several replacement actors.
The next time I go on, I'm Tybalt in Scene Nine (and I'm probably the second or third Tybalt at that point), and I get killed by Romeo (who is played by a different guy than the one who was Romeo when I was Juliet).
In Scene Ten, I'm the nurse, and I tell Juliet that Romeo killed Tybalt (therefore, I die, and then bemoan the fact that I'm dead).
My final character is in Scene 15 - I'm Lady Capulet, and I think Juliet is dead when she's really just taken a sleeping potion to knock herself out for a few days.

I'm most excited to play Tybalt - or, rather, I'm really excited to play Tybalt and engage in one of the most famous fight scenes in all of Shakespearean Literature.
And subsequently bemoan the fact that I died.

I have been absent...

Yeah, I've been away for a while. And then I forgot to post. I fail.
Anyway, ASP was a lot of awesomeness, like it always is. This year, we fixed insulation in walls and under a house and fixed some floors. For the second year in a row I found myself staying late on Friday with the rest of the crew. Also for the second year in a row, I singlehandedly installed most of a floor. This year, however, I was hammering (last year I was drilling), and afterwards I had a huge headache. It wasn't fun. YOU try hammering for two hours in a confined space, and YOU see what it does to YOU. But at least it's done, and this week's crew is probably doing something equally important and full of awesomeness.
Anyway, now I've started a Shakespeare camp, and it is (from my impression of the first day) rather awesome. We get to do at least an hour of combat training a day, which makes me very happy. And there will be girls cross-dressing as guys in the show, since there are more girls than guys in the cast and there are more male parts than female parts. The show is "Romeo and Juliet." All the guys will be playing Romeo at some point; all the girls will be Juliet. I really hope that my non-Juliet bit is in the role of a dude (Mercutio, Benvolio, or Tybalt, maybe?) who is most likely to get into a fight, simply because doing stage combat is SO MUCH FUN! You get to run around looking far more badass than you probably actually are, and you get to 'hit' people and not actually hurt them (and if they fall wrong, then it's probably their fault).

ASP!

Well, tomorrow morning, I leave for Appalachia Service Project. We'll be in Kentucky this year. It's exceedingly exciting. It also means that I will be nowhere near any computers, phones, Internet, or iPods for the next week. I'll survive somehow. I think the power tools will help get me through it (the return of the Saw Queen is nigh). And the exceeding amounts of music and stuff will help, too.
I'm SO ready.
I just have to finish packing and find my camera charger and I'm SET.

I think I'm finally ready to accept senior-hood and allow myself to be pumped for summer. I think the reality of ASP is bringing that.

I have a list of addresses in my backpack (the one I will be carrying around the entire summer, not my school backpack), and I got some more stationary today (the blank kind that you can get at CVS), and all I need is stamps, and soon I'll be writing SO many letters that I will not be doing anything else (except for eating, sleeping, using power tools, and partaking in other shindigs of equal degrees of awesomeness).
Anyway, that's my story for now. It's time to go PACK, and then go SLEEP, and then go SAVE THE WORLD!!! (maybe not in that order, and maybe not the last one. I don't know yet. It would be really COOL if I saved the world, but I don't know if I can. I'm not THAT awesome).

YAY SUMMER!!!

This is going to be an ADVENTURE, and it's going to be FUN, and I will LIKE IT. HOORAY! I'm off to sleep and pack and write letters and use power tools and help people and spend a week wearing contact lenses and a bunch of awesome other things.

Also, a word of advice: if you have never seen the musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," I GREATLY recommend you do so. I saw it last night at my school (It was someone's senior project, and I think the only time he could reserve the black box was after school was out), and it's easily the funniest musical I have ever seen in my life. It's also one of the few shows that has gone up in our black box that doesn't involve things of a dark and depressing nature.
It's one of those shows that lasts two hours, but takes eight hours to explain because all of the situational humor and catastrophes and lies and stories gone wrong and plans screwed up and thinking on one's feet because the worst possible thing just happened at the worst possible moment. It's also one of those shows where you leave with your cheeks hurting because you're laughing so hard. Seriously, it's a pee-in-your-pants, laugh-your-butt-off, nearly-choking-from-laughter kind of show. And you (yes, YOU!) need to see it.
It HAS been made into a movie. GO SEE IT!

Last Day of School!

Well, today was the last day of school.  I have been free from the labors of education for a full six hours, and I STILL do not know whether I am happy about it.  And I do not know why, either.  ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!