fireside...

It's interesting to me how names tend to stick. A fireside is no longer a legit fireside. Unless, of course, you go to a canyon and use one of the city installed fire pits, bringing wood you bought at a gas station that's wrapped in plastic, and a gallon of gasoline to get the wood wet so you can light it with one match. And the fixings for s'mores and three or four bags of Starbursts to roast. Then you've got a fireside.

But that doesn't happen very often. A fireside now just takes place in the evening when you could have a fire because it's dark and a little chilly, but since they're normally in buildings you'd bring the Fire Marshall running with a fighting crew and a massive pile of paperwork, including at least one rather large ticket.

No bueno.

Tonight's fireside was very good. I highly enjoyed it, even though there was a rather horrific mistake (if you were listening for mistakes) during "I Stand All Amazed" among many members of my section. We are so fixing that tomorrow! However, it was really good to sing for Matthew Holland, president of the university. He's one of our biggest fans, and he's super nice. Not only that, but he's a great speaker. Really great.

His topic tonight was about being in the world but not of the world. His definition of "of the world" went something like this: searching and using the easiest, flashiest, most glamorous way possible to do things to gain power, popularity, or fortune with no intent to serve anyone but yourself. To be "in the world": doing the work of the world, such as gaining education; pursuing a career; creating a family; serving in the community; not for personal gain but to bring honor to the church, glory to the Lord, and to bless the lives of others.

I thought it was interesting, how different the two things are, and it comes down to this main point: one way of living serves you, and the other way of living serves others. Being of the world is to embrace it wholeheartedly, not caring if it's right or wrong, but only caring if it benefits yourself (whether or not it does in the long run). Being in the world is to embrace others, to make yourself better so you can help others. So very different.

Another great thing about President Holland is that he always tells funny stories. He tells serious ones, too, but the funny ones are always hilarious. I'll share one in closing:

‎21 year old girl: "All of my friends are getting married!!"
Grad student: "All of my friends are getting divorced."
Elderly couple: "Well, all of our friends are dying."

Puts life into perspective, doesn't it?

rehearsal....of DOOM...

Yesterday was our first Rehearsal of Doom, otherwise known as pre-tech. It was basically a watered down version of what will come next Saturday, aka Tech Rehearsal, which is the major whopping Rehearsal of Doomness.

It started out at 9:00 in the morning. For me, Emma, Balin, Jazmin, and the Ewell clan, it began at about 9:14. We were late because of Perry's (Carisa's hubby) anxiety over their four boys' lack of hair combing. The Tornado of Hair commenced, with Perry squirting down each kid with water and slashing the comb through the hair. Voila. Perfectly straight side parts, with a masculine sweep across the forehead. Very dashing.

The girls and I didn't have anything to do until the middle of the first act (except me, who isn't onstage until after intermission). We spent most of the morning laughing and shrieking hysterically about nothing. Greg did make us collapse in fits of giggles when we saw him-the whole Gonzo Tin Man thing was still fresh in our minds from last night. Brenden laughed so hard when we told him why we were laughing at Greg that he couldn't make a sound. Greg laughed at first, but after a third retelling to passerby he growled. Really. That just made us squeal louder.

Thankfully we only had to run MOLO and Jitterbug once through. Doing it twice is death times twenty. Not good. Once I got finished with all of my scenes, I pretty much did nothing. I read some of the book that I brought ("Sister to the Wolf") and just watched the run of Act II. It wasn't until dad got there with Misty that we decided to go and get food. Yay!

Wal-Mart sandwiches are truly the bestest thing ever. While mom and Misty were being filmed for a couple of the scenes (Mom as Auntie Em inside the witch's crystal ball and Misty in the Wizard chamber), dad, Sister 1, and I went to the store to pick up some lunch. Sandwiches, chips, PowerAde, and some grapes made the menu. Misty had a little bit of the meat on my sandwich, but not much. Otherwise she gets WAY picky and won't eat anything. Malteses are like that.

So, Rehearsal of Doom ended at about 3:00 for my family. Naptime commenced, with me not waking up until 9:00. Haha. Oops. Since I couldn't sleep, I watched a few episodes of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" on my laptop. I like that show. Too much, probably.

Oh, boy, I can't WAIT for Rehearsal of Doom part two! It's going to be sooo amazing!

Not.

whack-a-mole...

Part of the stage at PCT is false, or fake, or just boards covering up a big hole where the orchestra can sit if they choose to have live music (which they generally don't; thank heavens). This works well if you want to have trap doors to make exits, like for a melting witch, or appear to have your legs removed, like for a Scarecrow Demolition Derby.

Last night was the first time they used the trap door in the front of the stage for the scene in which the Scarecrow is torn apart by the flying monkeys. As Brenden was lowering himself into the hole, Greg pulled out his axe and said, "Oh, yay! Whack-a-Mole!" He then proceeded to dance around the stage, miming smashing Brenden, Darren, and anyone else within reach on the head with his axe. It wouldn't have really mattered if he'd hit anyone; the axe is plastic.

That was definitely the highlight of last night's Act II run.

crowk...

Sister 2 is now a Crow. The person who originally had that part didn't show up to rehearsal, so Sister 2 got it instead. Sister 1 could potentially be an apple tree; she just isn't sure about the stilts. I wouldn't be either-even though I'm a dancer I'm terribly clumsy. Sister 2's only concern is changing from costume to costume. She's all ready a flying monkey and a Munchkin. She's crowking with concern at this point.

A crowk moment for me was going to rehearsal last night just for kicks and giggles with my mom and Sister 2. Erin, our dearly beloved choreographer, has struck again. This time she pretty much took over the blocking rehearsal to polish the Munchkins' dance. Not cool-Steve (director) needed all of the time possible to block the Munchkins, Dorothy, Glinda, Witch, and Toto. Again, I see the problem in dancers of too many chiefs and not enough indians. Ugh.

Speaking of plays (since this blog is dedicated to one :) ), I went to see my friend Ruthie's play tonight. It's called "The Promised Land", based on First Nephi in the Book of Mormon (yes, I'm LDS [if you didn't know that all ready :)], and to learn more email me at wannabkenobi at gmail dot com or check out mormon.org). Ruthie wasn't the only one in it; my friend Jordan had a major role as well, playing the youngest of Ishmael's two sons and the sort of flip-flopping between good and bad type. As I watched him, I began to realize how much I like him. Which is a second crowk...Ruthie has liked Jordan for a very long time. I've always tried to suppress the fact that I find him attractive (and gorgeous) because of this. Well, can't help it now. Just keep it between us, okay?

Crowks and more crowks. Sheesh.

off of seeing wizard...

No rehearsal this week. It's so weird. I had Girl's Camp last week, and now all of my evenings are free for another two days. What should I do? Practice my dancing? Go see a movie? Go swimming? Tag along with my mom to watch her rehearsal?

Or maybe I'll just catch up on my Health class, seeing as I'm on lesson six and there are seventeen and my final is on August 13. Haha. Yeah.