Camp NaNoWriMo, VBS, and musicals

So, I'm doing Camp again, trying to finish.  And it seems to be working.  I've been giving myself a 30 minute word-war against the clock every night and it seems to be doing the trick.  I've gotten on average 4-5 pages done, which translates to 2,000-2,500 words. I started the month with 24,500 words, or 47 pages.  I just added 20 pages to that in the last 6 days (33,500 words) and FINALLY figured out Jennie and Micah's love theme in a way that it didn't sound like the soundtrack from How to Train Your Dragon... and fit well with Connie and Nolan's theme...and now I have them together! at last!
It's a perfect mystery under the stars!

VBS started today, and this year is the Luminous Mysteries! (link in case you don't know what those are)
I'm Glinda, the VBS volunteer!  I wear a pink tutu *scowl* pale pink shirt with tulle "wings" on the shoulders *scowl* Elli's pink flats, which are kinda small, even on me (they're 2's, if that gives you any idea.  She wore my shoes today on accident-we each have a pair of $5 "fairy-tale" black flats [they look like the flats from the Disney movies, so we call them fairy tale flats] hers are 2's, mine are 3's.  She's like "My shoes feel too big" Me: "Are you sure they're not mine?" They were.  Oh well.) oh, and a tiara.  (COOL!  I like tiaras!)

So let me set the record straight here:
I love fairy tales.  In every way shape and form, I am a total fairy tale freak.
I love Disney.  And magic. (Watched Beauty and the Beast last night with Elli *smiles insanely wide*
I DO NOT like pink, glitter, or otherwise insanely girly things, like tutus.
Pouffy ballgown?  If it's not pink, then yes.  Tiaras?  Definitely. I'll wear coral, but not pink.  Especially not in that abundance.  And I had a bad experience with glitter when I was the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella of Loreland (not Disney...) The glitter would not come off for weeks, and in every picture I took I have shining triangles on my cheeks.  We used glitter eyeshadow all over me.  And the last performance- well, let's just say they were trying to get rid of the glitter.  By slathering it all over me.  I was glittery for two weeks. No joke.

Also just got a whole bunch of soundtracks and musicals and Disney music from the library.  Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid on Broadway. (She's in Love, Me...ah!  great songs! One Step Closer...) I have the soundtrack for How to Train Your Dragon and I love listening to it because every character has an instrument.
Dragons=brass
Toothless specifically=French horn (or so I think)
Astrid=violin
Vikings=bagpipes
and Hiccup, our hero? A Tin Whistle.  And it fits him perfectly. :)

Gotta go.  It's late and Glinda needs her beauty sleep...

Senior Pictures...what???

Okay... sorry I haven't blogged in a while. It's been slightly crazy.  Finals are over-yay!  And I'm finally going to edit my novel from NaNo- my code expires next month- yipes! Time flies.
A little bit on my life at the moment:

• I went and saw "Beauty and the Beast" (the DISNEY version!) at a high school not far from mine.  It was great- except the girl who played Belle was more of a Megara (from Hercules) and kept belting out heartfelt lines like "Oh but then/as my life has been altered once/it can change again" from Home.  And they put her in a blue, yellow, and orange diagonal striped bodice.  You'd think as the main character, they'd find her a plain blue bodice.  Seriously.  It threw me off every time I saw her.  I give the whole performance a B.  The Beast was awesome, as were Lumiere and Cogsworth.  For some odd reason, I also found myself liking Maurice, though he didn't do anything spectacular- he just stuck out to me- in a good way.  I think.
• Went to open my Grandma's Cabin.

This is where the post title comes in.  On the way home, my mom says, "You know, we have to start thinking about senior pictures."

I was like "What?!? Oh.......wow.  Um..." I had my yearbook with me and asked my mom which senior pictures she liked.  She, of course, picked out all the boring ones- ones taken in studios with plain drab backgrounds in boring clothes that looked good, but were nothing special.  Now here's our problem.  I want my senior picture to be unique, just as quirky and odd as I am.  I want people to look back at my senior picture and remember something specific about me.  One kid had his dirt bike in his senior picture; you may not remember him, but you'll remember he liked dirt bikes by looking at his picture.  Last year, our tuba player Alex had his tuba in the picture with him.  Some people take it with a special place in the background.  Others with their musical instruments or animals, like their horse.

My mom wants me to wear a formal to semi formal outfit- preferably a green blouse that I wore this year for school pictures, with a plain background.

I want something that is more...me.  Those plain pictures can have so little personality in them and are easily forgotten.  I want to have a unique picture- something that reflects my personality.  I'm a dreamer- I suggested an eyes-up pose.  I thought about recreating this pose from my favorite movie:

In different clothes, of course.  Wouldn't want to make it too obvious that I'm basing a picture off of an animated Disney movie.

Still, the more I look at this pose (the first one, not the compilation) the more I like it.  I could wear a bow in my hair as a headband (I used a scrap of purple fabric tied in a bow as a headband one day and you wouldn't believe all the compliments I got!)  If I don't have a scrap I like, I can buy a two inch sample from Joann's (didn't know you could do that- now I do.  It's awesome!)  If not that, I could wear one of the dragonfly hair pieces I made in ninth grade.  I wore the necklace this year in my school pictures.  The hairpiece too, but you couldn't see it.  If I used a daisy instead of a dandelion, it would also mean something- daisies and dragonflies are important symbols in my life.  Dragonflies remind our family of my brother Steven (my only biological one) who died at 2 days old.  The story my parents read to 1 1/2 year old me to explain death to kids had to do with a dragonfly who couldn't go back with the water bugs.  Water bugs being the living people, dragonflies being those in heaven.  They can see us, but can't come back.  Daisy was my nickname as a baby- very little used, at that- as in oopsa-daisy.  Yep- I was always klutzy.

And not only is Beauty and the Beast my favorite fairy tale, but it's one that means a lot to me.  I'm writing a novel based on the fairy tale, so it would also reflect my writing.  She's singing in this pose, so it would represent my love of music.  And since I'm almost acting, it would also show my passion for drama.  This is the kind of picture I want- something with deep meaning... hopefully my mom agrees... :D

Bad Luck Sandwich

So I find it funny and ironic that the one day of these past few days of my life that I haven't had bad luck was Friday the 13th.  Because Thursday the 12th I got a concussion.  I managed to keep myself out of trouble on Friday the 13th.  Saturday the 14th, (today) I locked my keys in the car at Burger King and had to walk to dress rehearsal.  Luckily, my school is very close to Burger King, so I didn't have to walk far.  I had to call the police after dress rehearsal and pay them $20 to break into my car since my parents don't tell me where the spare key or jumper cables are until I need them.

Anyway, as far as dress rehearsal- it went okay.  Certainly better than Cinderella of Loreland, the last play I was in- we didn't even make it through the whole play.  The main issues of my scenes were that people didn't know their lines. *Cough cough Greedo Graspo cough cough.*  The throwing scene went well- got a little tangled up in my cloak, but that's it.  (I have a cloak!!! And it's green!!! And awesome!!! And too long!!!)

Speaking of too long- that was the story of my life.  The costume shop did a shoddy job of costuming our play.  I heard that the costume shop let their apprentice do our show.  They will be getting a call from my drama teacher, let me tell you.  They just don't seem to believe that I really am 4'9".  They did make an effort to hem my skirt and I commend them for that, but we had to hem the hem in half- much like my servant girl costume.  I wear basically a nightshirt with a peasant neckline and long puffed sleeves (it's white) under a lace up vest, which is tan with green leaves and pinkish red flowers on it.  My skirt is green, and I have a green hooded cloak.  Do you know how epic cloaks make you feel?  Really epic, let me tell you.  I only get to wear it for scene 1, though, and the beginning of scene 2. *sad face* But scene 1 is really long *happy face*  So many of the princess' costumes are way too huge and don't look very princessy at all.  I feel bad for them.  They sent us a wig with a ponytail for the Beast- and a mustache/beard thing.  He looked like a bearded lady.  Graspo (my son-in-law) is upset because his costume looks like a dress.  He's had a lot of crummy costumes- I feel bad for him.  He was really upset about something today- though I'm not sure what.  He wouldn't tell me.

I have old-age makeup for this play.  I've never had it before, and it's certainly...interesting.  My hair is in one french braid down my head (my hair's real short, so we tuck the tail of the braid under the rest to hide it) and grayed.  I felt so tired today, and I joked that I could feel every one of the wrinkles on my face as tiredness.  I also got my first nose bleed- it wasn't bad- taking off my make up.  I have no idea how that happened. And yeah. That's about it.  I have to go edit a whole bunch of portfolios now.

Adios

Updates and Aladdin

So after some research, I have come to the conclusion that I did, in fact, suffer from a grade 1 (ie minor) concussion on Thursday night.  I also talked to several people and figured out how I hurt myself.  Going back to the doodles, this is what happened:

Yeah, so... it was very interesting telling my college friends I had a concussion:

ME: Yeah, so I got a concussion last night...

THEM: *concerned* How?  What happened?

ME: Well, it's a weird story, but...I got thrown by a Beast on stage and hit my head.

THEM: O...kay...

WHAT THEY'RE THINKING: What?????

:D  I told my band director and she was like "You got a concussion?" It was kinda funny.  Apparently I take too good of care of myself to get concussions, in her mind, anyway.

So, I was watching Aladdin last night- forgot how much I loved that movie- but the DVD was scratched.  So I skipped from Aladdin's first wish- to be a prince- to Jafar taking the lamp and Jasmine trapped in an hourglass.  The movie skipped the whole second act!!! The best part!!!

However, I did not miss a certain part.  When Aladdin wakes up after Jafar traps him in the cave thing and he falls and all that- he says "Oh... my head!"

and I immediately thought "Oh my gosh, Aladdin has a concussion, too!!!!! AHH!!!"  Then the poor guy meets genie and is like "Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought!"

Oh..  Okay- I just really liked that

 I should really go work on editing stage play portfolios- I have dress rehearsal today and shall be very busy.  Adios!

Acting is a Dangerous Sport...

So, today we were practicing Act I, Scene I (well, actually all of Act I...) and we got the part where I, as Madame Rondeau (the "Maurice" of this Beauty and the Beast tale) decide to take the Beast's coveted rose as a gift for my daughter after the Beast has allowed me to stay in his castle.

Anyway, before I can even get a hold of the rose, he comes storming in, crying, "Thief!  Thief!"  I throw my hands up in front of my face to protect myself, crying, "Mercy! Mercy!"  while he grabs my arms and tosses me across the stage.  It's a sort of dance move, the way we do it, so that no one gets hurt (by no one, .I mean me.  I'm the one who gets tossed to the ground.)
Well, we've gotten it to work really well- and had only been painful (for me at least) the first time we tried it, since we had to do it multiple times in order to figure it out.  Well today... (they say a picture's worth a thousand words, so since I'm in a doodley mood- here're some paint pictures I made.  Beast=brown, Me=blue, hard stage=black pain=red)

"Theif!"
"MERCY!"

"I'll show you mercy!  The mercy of the Beast!"

WHAT'S SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN:

WHAT HAPPENED TODAY:

Stage Manager's eyes bulge, people gasp
I'm thinking: Ouch.  That's not how that's supposed to work. OW!  That really did hurt!!

Anyway, I stuck it out.  A lot of people didn't quite figure out what had happened until later.  One girl was like, "Yeah, I heard something bang." To which I replied.  "Yeah, that was my head."
Then I said to him, "You do realize that when you tossed me today, I hit my head, right?"
Him: (sheepishly) "Yeah..."
Me: "We need to work on that some more..."
Him- "Yeah."
I'm thinking: "I know we need to practice... but I'm not looking forward to being tossed to the ground more times than I need to in a given day.  I have serious thrill issues...
As my drama teacher put it, "You almost killed her today.  You NEED to figure that out."

Hence we had to practice tossing me to the ground for ten minutes straight.  I'm still not sure how this is all going to work out, but I'll find out tomorrow.  I have to also work on the part where wolves are taunting me.  As long as I get to stay on my two feet, I'll be happy.  I have more of this falling and what not to look forward to tomorrow- dress rehearsal's on Saturday!!! AGGG!

I'm tired and my head's a bit woozy and I'm just slightly wacked out- or maybe that's normal.  I don't think I have a concussion, because you are dizzy and sick to your stomach when you have one- I'm experiencing those on a really low level, so I might have a very minor concussion... whatever.  I'm okay.  I think.

Ironically, this hasn't been the first time I've gotten hurt in a play.  I was "Village Woman 1" in Jack and the Magic Beans and I got wacked in the mouth by the troll's staff.  (Some kid- not the girl who played the troll, mind you, was messing around with it)
In Tom Sawyer, I don't think I got hurt- but I did get to throw shoes at Huck Finn, which was fun.  I was a school girl nicknamed "Pup" I had a regular name, but I don't remember it.
As Hermione, the spy in "Kilroy Was Here" I had to wear shoes that were WAY too small (I have tiny feet- so I asked for 5s and got a pair that said 5 but fit like 1s.  They were puny and left marks on my feet for hours afterwards.  That was how I figured out that my left foot was bigger then my right- the lines stayed longer on the left foot and the right one wasn't as squished.)  I also ran out over these steps for a dance and totally tripped (in said tiny shoes) and scraped up my leg.  It was a rehearsal, but I got up and kept dancing all the same.
In "Cinderella of Loreland" I don't think I managed to do bodily harm to myself, despite the fact that I was wearing heels...(as the Fairy Godmother) though the fairies that were supposed to follow me around (8 girls between the ages of 11 and 14) were always lost and fighting and "she's too bossy" "she won't practice" "she thinks she's so much better than us..." UGG.  Worst. Play. Ever. To be in- I could never find the fairies, so I guess my stress level was harmed.
And obviously, here in "The Enchantment of Beauty and the Beast" I have gotten hurt.  I wouldn't be surprised if I get hurt again.

I don't know if I'm just a klutz or if acting really is dangerous.  I think it's more of a combination of the two.