6-29-97 2:38 PM

Well, it's been a while. "Oliver" was put on, I was Mr Bumble, the master of the workhouse in the begining of the play. It was cool, they loved it. I graduated. It wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be, but still, sitting around the house aimlessly does have its disadvantages. But that's ok. I'm enjoying the opportunity to improve my webpage. It's cool. I haven't had any time recently, in fact it was March the last time I updated. Now I have three new picture pages, or will by the end of next week. My friends all leave soon. Well, Mary left the 20th but will come home soon. Coelle is leaving on the 1st of July, and so is Eric. PJ has gone to the beach and Kim leaves tomorrow for the Naval Academy. I bet she'll have a ball! :)  Ha ha ha ha!!! Right, well, I have to go and work on the webpage some more.

3-23-97 2:13 PM

The auditions for "Oliver", the spring musical my high school is putting on, are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm auditioning for Fagin, the keeper of the little pickpocket children. In my opinion, he is the most dynamic character there is. My audition slot is for Tuesday at 5:25 PM.  I hope I get the part of Fagin and not Mr. Bumble. I've already played the fat authoritative figure before many a time. Beth Nesbit is the assistant director this time around. Poor Beth, people get annoyed at her when she's back stage because she's doing her job. She takes it upon herself to tell everyone to shut up when they're back stage. They don't like that, as you can imagine. All County Band was this weekend. I was second chair euphonium. It was a fun experience especially because I got to miss school. I got to hang out with my friends and have a ball. The funniest thing happened when we were first starting rehearsal. Miss Freeland, my band director and host of All County, went up on the podium and asked if she can have everyone's eyes, (which of course doesn't mean she wants you to actually give your eyes to her.) Then, Kmack, a silly tuba player, said, "Mine don't come out, sorry." My eyes widened with amazement as the whole half of the band that heard it turned around to see who said it. "Right, who said it," Freeland asked the crowd of high schoolers. Kmack slowly raised his hand. The tension built between Freeland and Kmack. I was right between them, their ouras were bumping heads right in front of me. Then, a lightning bolt came shooting out of Miss Freeland's eyes! I just barely dodged the streak of electricity as it hit Kmack dead on. The Feelandator stood there, zapping current into his little caricature like body for a while. Then she pointed her finger to him and a big blue light came out and took hold of poor Kmack. The force lifted him out of his chair and moved him one chair to the left. Johann, the man sitting next to him, moved to Kmack's seat for fear he would be squished by the falling tuba player. And a good thing he did too, for within a few seconds, the lightning stopped and the blue light disappeared leaving him to fall four feet into his new chair. It was truly a sight to behold. Ok, so I embellished a little, but I'm sure she could have zapped him with electricity...

I went to Ithaca, NY last Thursday to visit Cornell University. It is a big place. Lots of buildings and dorm rooms. The food was great! Hmmmmmm! French Fries, burgers, hmmmmm... I got to fly on a twin prop jet plane. A real piece of crap. When I got home, it was 4:30, and I had to be at school around 6:00 so I could hang out before the last show. It felt like opening night because I wasn't there the first two nights. But that night was great. Every play was supurb. Especially Lonestar. It was gooooooood stuff! Now that the one acts are over, it's time to think about the 10 minute plays. I get to direct one. I forgot the name of it, but it's about these people trapped on an island. There's a man and a woman. The woman truly dispises the man, but the man won't let that stop him from trying to seduce her into his control. This guy's a real idiot. Then, a ship goes by and a blind lookout thinks he sees two beautiful women on the shore. So the captain and the lookout go to shore and the lookout falls in love with the man. There's some lovely acting and stage violence and I give it two thumbs up. My friend, Mary Speed wrote it with her own two hands. Mary is my assistant scenery crew head for drama productions. Her specialty is painting, and mine is putting things together, so it works out nicely. I can't wait until Oliver. There will be so much work to do for that set, it will be so insane and draining, but that's what I live for. To be drained. :)

I went to see The Empire Strikes Back tonight. It was cool. I wasn't as impressed with that one as I was with the first one, but I like Return of the Jedi, so the next one will automatically be cool. PJ was ranked fourth chair at the All Virginia band. Auditions were today at James Madison University. It was good stuff. Right, sleep is a good thing. :)

First entry. The last performance of the student directed one act plays was yesternight. It went well. Well, not really well. The night started out like any other night, the casts were exited, Mr. Ellis was pumped up. He even started to do the white-man's dance with me. We were white boy hommies! The people arrived and circle started. We had dedications and warm-ups and all that jazz. Then, Mr. Ellis started to speak. He said to all of us, "I know tonight is supposed to be joke night. Far be it of me to interfere with tradition, so I'll say, do it in good taste." Those words stuck with us for a while. About an hour and a half, for that was the time when the last play was scheduled to perform. Yes the fourth and final play of the night, Express Line, was on next. The only comedy in the bunch, and the only one not student directed (as if that would give the cast a level of maturity). This was Mr. Ellis's baby, and he wanted it to be a success as much as any of us. The curtain opened with Brian and Jamie arguing about BAB-O, that lovable kitchen and bathroom cleanser. I knew at that point, life would be insane for the next half and hour. The argument started with Fred and the Cashier, and all they were talking about was BAB-O! But, the audience was getting a kick out of it so, who was to argue, eh? Well, meanwhile, back in the jungle of Mr. Ellis's mind, he's going bizerk! "What the hell is going on?" he wonders. Some of the cast wonder the same thing as the play slowly turns it's nose straight for the ground at 300 miles an hour. They go and get the cop and I come on with my doughnuts (which is a harmless joke that could have been used all three nights) and the next lines that were to follow were as follows:

COP: What's going on here?
Mabel: I won't let this man through because he has too much BAB-O! (at this point I wonder what my next line should be
because as of yet, no one has told me this was an express line. I had to go with it)
COP: You mean you called me in here because this guy has too much BAB-O?
MANAGER: Yes, this isn't a BAB-O stand!

OK, this signified the end of the end. The plot had gotten so out of wack that no one was able to say their right line and still be going with the new plot, "The wonderful world of BAB-O". In the end, we all fell into the BAB-O pit and died a gruesome and horrible death. The last few minutes of the play (and usually the best few minutes I might add) were diminished to total ruin. Nothing was salvageable. The world was gone. I knew I was in for it when I muttered out those eleven words, "You know, I still don't know, what the hell is BAB-O?" This was Chris's que to talk about the production of the lovely cleaning agent and thus destroying what plot was left.

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