DECEMBER

Dear Devoted Blog Readers. . . yeah I know, there's like one and a half of you.

Hi, I suppose I should start posting on here sometimes. I apologize for not posting more often, but I wasn't aware that you guys actually read this. Hmn. Good to know.

So where should I start. The beginning is as good a place as any:

I was born on February 12th in the year of 1991. . . Okay fast forward to this month at least. December.
Its a big month for me because, thats right, you guessed it, HACK AND SLASH CHRISTMAS SPECIAL. Its my taste of faire during the off season and believe me I didn't realize how much I was missing it. We went to the Saturday Matinee show this year, which I wasn't happy about, because no one I knew from faire was really there. However, T-Shirt Boy was there, and let's be honest that's half the reason I was so excited to go. (Yes, please mock me all you want. But he's fantastic.) It was a great show though. I was really impressed with Christmas Future this year. He wasn't a faire performer, (maybe that's why he was so good.) but I have to say I was really impressed. The London Broil were also wonderful as the Cratchets (SP?) those guys make me giggle.
This year Jason and I got Hack and Slash holiday survival kits. . . we thought they were cute. OH! And we finally sprung for VIP this year. It was pretty sweet to not have to wear my glasses to see the show. Even when I sat further back with Erik during the second act, I was fine without them. Yeah, so that was great fun.
On the way home we had some fantastic pizza. It was sausage and ham and bacon and messy, but quite delicious. It was ultimately a great day.

What else?
Oohh I finally finished writing my one act. Its awful. Let's be honest. It is in no way a well written show, but my cast is awesome and the one rehearsal I've had so far was a blast, so things in that department are looking up. However, I did find out that I don't technically need to direct this show for IB credit. I feel like I"m doing it for nothing, but all is not lost. I know that its a great experience and I'm having a blast playing Director for a little while. Nick even mentioned that my directing style is very like Ms. Passey, and I took it as a compliment. :)

Speaking of Passey, (these segweys are getting quite good) she's back in the states visiting and I saw her Tuesday. Hooray! It was great to see her and talk all about her German adventures. We miss her a lot here, but I think we've all finally adjusted to McCormick. Class has been frustrating lately, because I haven't learned anything of a performance nature this year. He wants it to be independent study, but its pretty much been all about one acts or Fiddler. Hopefully we'll pick things up.


SO TODAY IS CHRISTMAS! Definitely forgot about that until just now.
My amazon wishlist was WIPED OUT this morning. I got more books then I know what to do with. I'm a little sad that I don't have more time to read them all, but I'm very happy with all of my gifts. They're great. Among the more surprising ones were a surger!!!! (Mrs. Shelton will probably appreciate that the most), the entire Angel series on DVD (my Joss Whedon collection is getting quite impressive), an external hard drive, and like a thousand books (no really, every other gift I opened today was a book. I'm not complaining.). Jason got me Dr. Horrible's Sing A Long Blog on DVD, and I was quite stoked. We've already watched it once today and I can't wait to see the special features.
The food today was pretty excellent and I officially feel like I'm going to explode. I also managed to epically fail a game of phase ten, but my fierce score from last night's scrabble game makes it all alright.

o0o! Also, I'm working on a bucket list. 100 things I want to do before I die. It isn't something that I would normally do, however, Erik asked me to do it so that he knows what my goals in life are, so that he can help me achieve them. Did I not say that he was great? I'm only on like. . . eighty something though, so if you've got any suggestions PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE feel free to suggest away!

Anywho, I'm exhausted. Today has flown by!

So Merry Christmas and blah blah blah. I'm going to watch a movie or read a book or something equally relaxing.

I'll try to keep up with this thing a bit more.

A bunch of random things to say. . .

So One Acts. . .

Wow. Auditions were Monday and Tuesday of this week and can I just say I really miss some of the people we used to have at Edison. Not to say that those who auditioned were terrible, but I do get kind of irritated when people just get up and read. Where's the interpretation? Characterization anyone? I don't care if its wrong. . . just something would be nice. I'm mean I was pretty sure that they could read before going on stage I didn't need them to prove it to me. But anyways, let me step down from Maria's Bitter Bear Chair. Callbacks are tomorrow and I'm optimistic about finding a great cast for show. That I haven't finished writing yet by the way. Which is on my stress pile. . . yeah its a big pile this week. Especially regarding the two major tests I have tomorrow on units that I pretty much slept through. Thank you Fiddler on the Roof for that. . . Alright lets be honest it isn't completely fiddler's fault. I mean. . . I haven't exactly gone to bed before three at all this week. . . Thanks to a certain t-shirt boy. Heh. Yeah. Aside from severe senioritis things have been really great lately. *Knock on wood* Like last week was just one wonderfully epic event after another. As if two and a half days off school isn't enough to make me ecstatic I also amost completely finished moving into my new bedroom AND!!!!! I got a kitten!!!!!!!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! She's awesome. I named her Willow after much debate between that and Moglet. Eventually I came to the conclusion that Willow would be easier for the rest of the family to remember. She's super sweet and sounds like a motorboat when she purrs. All cats should be this awesome.



Did I mention she's gorgeous? Yeah, that too. She kind of took over that basket. . . I don't know why but she seems to like it a lot.

Right, I'll leave you with that for now. . . perhaps some studying will happen before bed.
heh.

Fiddler on the Ruff.

Wow. So CRAAZZZZZY experience. That show, despite my distaste for its solemn nature has kind of become my baby. Why you may ask? Well I will tell you. Lets start with make up. I enjoy doing hair and make up it's definitely a blast, but you know what I do not enjoy at all? Giving men artificial facial hair. First of all, spirit gum. . . will never be pleasant. Ever. It smells awful and I felt so bad for all the guys who had to wear it on their chin all night for many nights, not just the shows, but the dress rehearsals too. Also, the shinanigans that we used to gray their hair. Was even worse. The make up room was like a pool of toxic fumes by show time. I'm amazed I didn't pass out every night. However, in my opinion the guys looked great. Particularly Will Glad who played the rabbi. People didn't even recognize him. We aged him quite a bit. I was proud of the work we'd put into it. It was definitely worth the many many hours I had to stay AFTER rehearsals to try and force decisions out of McCormick about beards and hair. Next, costumes. I didn't design them so I can't take credit for that, but boy did it feel like I made a lot of them. I spent many nights working on shirts for Kit and Brianna trying to help them out with the MASSIVE load they'd taken on. Ultimately I thought things were pretty authentic right down to the hats and the prayer shawls. Definitely worth the extra hours. Although I've officially slept through way too many physics and topics classes and have no fallen behind. Oh wait did I mention the acting part. Yeah. STRESSSSSSSFUL. I was so freaked out about the whole thing. Don't make me sing. Really. That's way out of my comfort zone. I thought Inga Swanson surpassed my comfort zone. Yeah I was wrong. Singing is way more nerve wrecking than flirting incessantly. I think I learned a lot though. Especially about character development and working with new people. Directors especially. It was definitely way different than what I was used to, but in the end I was greatful for Mr. McCormick's firm direction, because while it wasn't necessarily what I wanted to do with the character it was still a good push in a good direction. I think I've come out of this show with significantly more strength in my ability to act as well as my ability to take criticisms constructively.

So thanks to everyone who came to the show and if you came to see the show this past Thursday, let me personally apologize for everything that went wrong. Much of it wasn't anyone's fault, but still. That was a poor excuse for a show. Saturday made up for it, and I wish everyone who'd come on Thursday had returned on Saturday, because if you were honest when you said that Thursday was good, you would have been blown away Saturday.

Anyway, hopefully photos to come, because that would be neat.

My First Non Faire Post Faire Weekend.

Okay, so I cheated. I went to PA Faire. But it was dramatic. . . .

So first we all woke up a little later than we had anticipated. The faire didn't open until ten which meant we had to leave our house by 8. I didn't get up until about 7:20. For those of you who don't know me very well, it takes well over 40 minutes for me to get ready in the morning. But I jumped in the shower really quickly (opting for curly hair due to the rainy forcast) and got out. I decided to just wear my pants and a cami instead of my chemise and corset on the ride, because that wouldn't be comfortable. So I get everything together and I decide that I should just put my make up on in the car to save time. Well. . . we get about half an hour down the road before I realize that I have forgotten my make up. So no make up. Not a big deal. . . . Maybe not for you. Half my confidence comes in my make up. Its exactly why I'm willing to pay so much money for it. It makes me feel better about the pizza pie that is my face. Anyway another hour and I had gotten over that.

Well according to our GPS we arrive three hours later, but wait. . . that was the wrong address and the real faire was actually another 40 minutes away. . . this meant we were going to be 40 minutes late to the opening of faire. Gr! On the way to the real faire grounds we got stuck behind an accident. More ickyness.

But finally we got there and we all finished dressing. It even looked like the clouds had cleared and the rain was finished.

We weren't there for an hour before it started POURING. Unfortunately it poured at a pretty costant rate, so it was very hard to walk around without being miserable. Mandy and I were both cursed with cold wet feet and Jason was soaked from head to toe. Needless to say that fairgrounds were like a ghost town. There was NO ONE. Finally we gave up and took shelter under a small over hang where some guy was singing good songs, and we tried to wait it out. We were under there for a really long time. It was cold, and windy, and wet and no one seemed to be very happy. One tiny silver lining was a rather attractive man that was also under the overhang, but he quickly went from attractive stranger to creepy guy.

After forever we decided to brave the rain (me with a spiffy new umbrella) to go shopping. (PA is an excellent shopping faire btw.) Well by that time all the shops had begun closing up. . . the faire was closing. . . and we had to leave.

To add insult to injury as we walked out they were handing out free tickets for the next day (sunday). We were planning to go home THAT night and couldn't come back the next day. So the three of us had paid 30 bucks to stand under an overhand and then get kicked out of the faire.

We were seething. . .

I've generally had a good opinion of PARF I've been there two or three times before and they were all a blast, but this was really upsetting. In Maryland. . . we would have stayed. They would not have closed and it would have been one of the best faire days ever. Just like Hurrican Hannah. I understand that they have a significantly smaller gate count than Maryland usually does, but still. Thats ridiculous. They even have paved roads. Maryland turns into a swamp on days like that, and they don't close.

Ultimately I was really dissapointed with my weekend. However, I do have photos for you. Including one of me and my umbrella. Not the lack of make up though. Scary isn't it?

H&S's last weekend. :(

This past weekend was Hack and Slash's last. Boy is that a sad concept. Let's be honest, they're the most comical act there. They're both freakishly intelligent and very talented performers. I hate that they give up the final weekend at Maryland for the Medieval Babes who I find to be vastly overrated. Anyway on a slightly less bitter note, I hate fun yet again this weekend.

Despite a rather slow start Saturday was likely one of the best days ever! Not only was it Jason's birthday weekend, but Jim Nieb AND Scott Grossman were back visiting. Albannach was also back looking just as fantastic as ever. I even got to see Becky Sue for a bit. Which was great.

Needless to say Bloody Drama was FANTASTIC having Jim and Scott back. Not that Slash and Bob don't get the job done, it was just nice seeing the old crew up there again.

Sunday had a rather slow dramatic start as well, but eventually we made it to faire, but the overall mood of the day was kind of sad. It was my second to last day and I was pretty down about it. I'm not ready to say goodbye to everyone for such a long period of time. Despite my general unhappiness I still had a good time. Running into a real scotsmen :) and getting to spend time with Jesse and Joe and all the other people there that I love a whole bunch.

Plus Jesse gave me the pretty rose ever.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more to say later. Maybe at some point I'll start to talk about my non faire life. . . . didn't think I had one of those did you? Well I assure you its significantly less interesting.

My Men Have Left the Building. . . well obscure woodsy area actually. . .

So this is a little late, but you'll get over it I'm sure. So the weekend before last was The London Broil's last weekend. Let me just say, if you haven't figured it out from my previous posts that I ADORE this juggling trio. I'm incredibly upset by the fact that they're gone now, but they've moved on to other faires. I'm not the only faire for them obviously. But anyway, so I've made it a tradition to give them gifts on their last day. This year. . . . *drum roll please* it was homemade throw/cuddle pillows or implements of destruction as some of us call them. I made each of them a pillow that matched their outfits. Accent colors included. Yes sir. They also got other individual gives that were specific to them. Duncan got oversized sunglasses to help him with Debra. Louie got new bunny ears with a tail and bow tie. And Matt got IB profen and a pain relieving heat patch to help him with his painful fall from Saturday. They all really really liked their gifts and I was pleased with that simple fact. I can't wait for them to come back next year, they're really a hilarious group. I miss them already.

I got a lot of commendations from random audience members for my idea. . . which was weird, but flattering nonetheless.

Here are the color coded giftbags. :)

Matt Opening his gift!

Louie Opening his gift!

And Duncan opening his gift!

Oddly enough, something I haven't mentioned was that this was also Pirate Weekend. Which as a rule is my favorite weekend and is often very crowed, however, on Saturday it was pretty rainy so there wasn't as many people there as usal. Although it was an impressive number based on the amount of rain. Naturally this made Sunday a complete Mud Show. People were litereally getting stuck in the mud. It was especially fun to watch the girls in high heels sink. :)

This past weekend was Oktoberfest and boy what a blast. There were more people there than I think I have ever seen and the weather was fantastic. We got there late both days and had to park really far back in the parking lot, but all in all it was a great weekend. Saturday seemed dull sometimes, because I didn't have the London Broil to occupy my time. But we did see Wolgemut and Hack and Slash. :) Mandy and I like Wolgemut a lot. Let's face it, they're all attractive, and they all strip.

We also finally got to catch up with Bloody Drama on Saturday. This year Spencer (slash of Hack and Slash) is an addition to the show.

Then on Sunday, possibly the most eventuful part of the weekend was Mrs. Sheltons involvement in the Polar Bear Dancing Contest! She was by far my favorite, but she didn't win. Though she did get a very neat Wolgemut pin. Sorry the Video is sideways, Mandy didn't think about it.

Been Slacking. . .

Okay, so I've been slacking quite a bit on the whole blogging thing, but give me a break. I'm a busy woman. :P

So I have lots of new photos from the last two or three weekends of faire. They were wonderful as usual. Some highlights:

Hurricane Hannah!!!! Which of course by the time it reached Crownsville, Maryland was just a tropical storm, but guess who spent all day outside in it. Yes, that would be me. :) In the rain. It miraculous. There were very few people at the festival that day, and it was a blast!

Us before we made the final decision to go: (We even had to check the MDRF website to make sure that they were still opening.)

Other fun things. . . Scottish Weekend!!!! Lots and lots and lots of men in kilts which I have to admit I have a bit of a weakness for. Plus. . . . ALBANACH!!!!! Best Scottish band any renaissance festival has ever seen. Plus, they're incredibly attractive. They were definitely worth sitting in the CRAZY heat for.

Also worth mentioning. . . Wolgemut. I really love their show. It's high energy and upbeat and they always make me smile. They also did a little strip bit. . . and the King was there. . . it made for a good laugh.

And of course The Londond Broil holds a very special place in my faire heart.

I'm in the process of getting their farewell gifts together, which I decided this year, that I want to start doing every year. Last year, I gave them Tiaras, this year I'm making the. . . CUDDLE PILLOWS, along with some other odds and ends. I finished Matt's pillow last night. It turned out pretty well, and it didn't take long with I was pretty please about. They're all going to be round, and the colors of their costumes. Matt's happened to be christmasy. Green with a red accent color.

Finally, on a non-faire related note, I was cast as Golde in Fiddler on the Roof. Yeah thats pretty much all I have to say about that. Its kind of sad how little I care about my non faire life.

Just for the hell of it. . .

Lets discuss the first week of school, shall we? So the first day had potential to be bearable until that ungodly long senior meeting during which I learned nothing that I didn't already know. The only two classes I was actually able to attend were Forensics which I'm thinking I don't like very much and Topics, which I had forgotten my summer work for, but I went home and picked it up. Shhhhh. Thats a secret. Topics is good, Ms. Kelly is fantastic and its great to have another class with her this year. Kiggins seems to be pretty neat, but I don't know that this class is for me. I think if it were just forensics then I would be alright, but its coupled with Debate 2 and Speech Communications. I don't know why they did it that way, but its certainly making things interesting.

The next day actually involved all of my classes. A TL, Physics (in which I am the only senior so that is kind of strange), Theater, and English. TL was just like any TL in the beginning of the year when I don't have anything to do so I have deep conversations with whoever else might be in the library. I'm taking it with McCormick though, hopefully to help him get settled in and to be there if he has any question about how we normally did things. Physics seems to be painfully easy. Its a lot of silly experiment stuff that I managed to pick up in IB Chem 2 last year. Theater was. . . well dramatic actually. There's a lot of tension between classmates which makes it difficult to enjoy. We mostly discussed the plan for the year and the fall musical, which is Fiddler on the Roof by the way. Auditions are next week. Let's hope that goes well. . . *nervous face* English wasn't as bad as I thought although we were given a blind commentary on day two of the class on a poem that I honestly did not understand. I think my BSing skills are pretty up to par though. So hopefully I didn't completely bomb that.

When I finally did get to math class I found that I'm in the same room with the same teacher in the same seat as last year. . . it won't be much different. Just different people in the class.

Ultimately, I'm not particularly fond of any of my classes. Hopefully that will gradually change throughout the year, but until then, I'm just glad faire is around to begin and end every week on a happy note.

Faire Faire Faire!

So the first two weekends of the 2008 season were HOT HOT HOT. But still fun. The humidity at points was just a step under unbearable, but we were still there all shiny and disgusting. Mandy brought her friend's daughter Emmy and we all got our faces painted, which would have been much more fun if I hadn't sweat it off halfway through the day.

We didn't get many pictures, but we did get a few. Emmy took quite a few herself, and for as young as she is, I'd say she didn't pretty darn well.

The London Broil is back again this year, which for me is very exciting. They are by far one of my favorite acts at faire. Emmy liked them too, Louie (or Willy as she called him) was her favorite, and she only wanted a picture with him. I was pleased to see that they put the tiaras I gave them last year in the show.

The following weekend, which I have lovingly named, "The real first weekend" was the only three day faire weekend. Saturday (the first of the three days) was super fun. Mrs. Shelton, Mandy, and I watched shows almost all day. Among them were, Hey Nunny Nunny, The O'Danny Girls, Romeo and Juliet Tag Team, Nocheux (sp?), The London Broil, Hack and Slash, and Mike Rose. Mrs. Shelton and I both had new costumes to show off, which is always fun and exciting. And I bought new tights, which was a momentous occasion as it was the first time I'd ever purchased garb there, or anywhere actually. Mandy and I also both had our first Steak on a stake, which was magnificent by the way.

During our show watching adventures, Mrs. Shelton's large skirt, often took up part of my lap. It quickly became my "seatbelt" and we felt compelled to do a mock roller coaster shot. Ultimately it was a fantastic faire day. (or weekend rather, but no pictures of the last two days, sorry.)

Let's be honest, three faire days in a row is entirely too many. I was rendered exhausted by the end of Monday.