Cats

This is a picture of some members of the cast of Cats, one of the shows I was in at Payson Community Theater. I'm the one in the middle area with the orange V on my forehead, the one that's smiling slyly. This is my favorite show I've ever been in. So far, it was also the hardest.

If you don't know, Cats is an all singing, all dancing show. I was really lucky because I was cast as Carbuckety, who is in every scene but two. It was the best experience of my life. Love to the cast!

Auditions

Last night my family and I went to auditions for The Wizard of Oz at Payson Community Theater. You might think "ew, community theater" but I just got to tell you that Payson's community theater is very good. I have been in three productions with Payson, The King and I, Singin in the Rain, and the Utah Valley premiere of Cats. They have been some of the best experiences of my life.
Any who, at the auditions last night, I auditioned for Dorothy (though I already know that I won't get the part. Too young, but might as well try) and any other part that the director would want me in. I would really like to be a Jitterbug because they have the big dance number. There was a dance part of the audition, which I think I did relatively well at. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed that part.
Then there was the singing part. I sang On My Own from Les Miserables. Sarah sang God Help the Outcasts from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Amanda sang Honey Bun from South Pacific. Dad sang Dulcinea from Man of La Mancha and mom sang Defying Gravity from Wicked. Singing is one of my favorite things to do, but I didn't really feel too confident last night. For one reason, I have a cold. For another reason, I know everyone that I was singing for, the director, the music director, the co-director, because I've worked with all of them before. I felt like they'd have a certain expectation and that I wouldn't fill it, so I was very nervous. I think I did alright. The rest of my family did terrific.
Mom and dad are at callbacks as I speak, or I should say, type. Mom is being called back for two roles, dad for one. And, because we are extremely good friends with the director, he thought it would be funny not to tell them what roles they were being called back for. Ha ha. Mom could hardly sleep last night. I'm dieing of curiosity right now because I won't know until they get home.
The director told Sarah, Amanda, and I that we are all cast, but we didn't need to come for callbacks. That means we are in the play, we've been cast, and that we don't have any lead roles. Which, I can tell you, is a big relief. But he didn't tell us what roles he cast us in. URGH! I don't know when I'll find that out. Someday I will and then I'll be able to relax a little.

History Fair

I am a student at Lakeridge Junior High. I am in the Gifted and Talented English and History class taught by Sara Hacken. For part of that class, we are required to participate in the our region of the National History Fair competition. (Horrible punishment!) It is not easy. First, we have to research. Then we have to figure out if we are going to present as a documentary, paper, exhibit, website, or performance. Next, you have to put the project together. And finally, you have to present it in front of judges (Worst part for me).

This year the topic was An Individual in History. It is way easier then most topics. Last years was Conflict and Compromise and the year before was Triumph and Tradegy. This year I chose to do a group documentary with my friend on J.R.R. Tolkien, writer of The Lord of the Rings. It was actually rather fun putting it together because we got to work with computers. But it was a lot of hard and tedious work. I hate writing bibliographies. I hate having to redo everything several times. But what I hate more then anything is the fact that I had to show the documentary to judges! Argh!

On Monday, March 16, my class and I went to the History Fair compition for our region (which, BTW, is one of the most competitive regions to compete). I was nervous the whole time. When it was our turn to be judged, I thought we were doomed, but at least it would be over soon. I relaxed a little when it appeared that the judge liked it. He smiled through the whole thing, but every time he made a mark on his clipboard, my heart skipped a beat. When our documentary was done, we relaxed. Hurray! History Fair was over!

WRONG!

We feaking won first place! Terrific, right? Wrong again. That means we have to go on. By that, I mean we have to go on to compete in state and see more judges! ARGH! I was so not happy. Neither was my partner. We had been planning to celebrate the end of History Fair. Well, that rained on our parade.

So now I have to go back to my documentary, redo some more things, add more to my bibliography, go through another day of torture and nerves, and cross my fingers that we won't win and go to Nationals.

vs.

I am a fan of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and I really enjoyed reading the books. Last week I went and saw the movie of Twilight in theaters. I really did like the movie. I thought it was exciting, interesting, and pretty well done. But it also, as it is to be expected, flawed.
One of the things that bothered me most was that the movie left so much out that was important in the book. I understand that it is pretty much impossible to take a book and put every single detail from it into a movie, but I think that there were too many important things left out.
In the movie, you never really get a chance to learn about the vampires. They are there, but you don't get to understand them. You never find out how each of the Cullens were turned into vampires. You never even find out that Jasper has a power.
I didn't really like Kirsten Stewart in the role of Bella. She is not really at all what I imagined her like. Bella wasn't as endearing in the movie. I did like the rest of the cast, especially Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward. He did a really good job portraying Edward. I also really liked Taylor Lautner as Jacob. The way the movie set up Edward and Jacob's dislike for one another made me really excited to see New Moon.
I didn't realize until I'd seen the movie for the second time just how much was left out. Bella and Edward's relationship is a little too different. It comes across that they don't love each other as much for their minds or their good qualities as they do for the fact that each is beautiful. In the book, you know that it is more then that by their conversations, the way they respect each other, and how they think of each other. This was one thing that bothered me during the movie.
I did really enjoy the movie, but, like I've said about thousands of movies, the book was way better.