West Side Story!

Hi everybody!

So, I am freaking out right now! Tonight is the opening night of our school’s production, “West Side Story.” I am so excited!

I am sure many of you have heard of this great musical before, but you really don’t know what it is about, right? Well, here is a basic overview of it: West Side Story is an American musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and conception and choreography by Jerome Robbins. It was inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.

Set in New York City in the mid-1950s, the musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. The members of the Sharks from Puerto Rico are taunted by the Jets, a white working-class group. The young protagonist, Tony, one of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theatre. Bernstein's score for the musical has become extremely popular; it includes "Something's Coming", "Maria", "America", "Somewhere", "Tonight", "Jet Song", "I Feel Pretty", "A Boy Like That", "One Hand, One Heart", "Gee, Officer Krupke", and "Cool".

I absolutely love this play and everyone in it. We have the best cast, orchestra pit, stage crew, and backdrop artists around. I am so proud of everyone and the great work they have done to make our performances great.

This is one of those plays that you have the music in it stuck in your head twenty four seven! It is kind of ridiculous! At least I love the music!

This play has a great message. Pretty much what it is saying is that everybody should love everybody else, no matter what or who you are, no matter what race or color or background that you may have.
If you live anywhere near Paris, I highly suggest you go to see this wonderful musical and everybody in it!

Tonight’s performance is at 7 o clock. Tomorrow we have performances at 1 ( this is our childrens matinee, it is highly shortened and has no dirty or raunchy content in it, where as our normal content does have these things) and at night again at 7. Last but not least, we have our performance on Sunday at 1 o clock also. I highly recommend this performance, because we tend to somewhat ad lib most of the time, and try to make things more humorous, but without taking away the main plot and story line that this great play has.

Like I said before, it would mean the world for anybody to come watch us! I promise, it will be really good! The tickets are 7 dollars for adults and 3 for children. I really hope to see some of you there! By the way, have a really great spring break everyone! Bye Bye for now!

Hunger Games!

Hi people!

I am so so excited for tonight. Not only is it Friday, but it is March 23, 2012. Is this date important to anybody else? No, it isn’t my birthday. No, it isn’t Christmas. Obviously. It is the day that the Hunger Games comes out in theaters!

Have any of you ever read the amazing book series that is the Hunger Games? If you have, then you know why I am so excited. If not, then you are completely missing out and need to read them as soon as possible!

I have recently read this book series, because I knew that the movie was coming up, and I knew I wanted to see it, but I never watch the movie before reading the books. I instantly fell in love with them. I finished all three books in a matter of a week.

I would give you a plot summary, but that is what the movie and book are for! Well, if you still aren’t convinced, here are some great reviews for you:

"Relax, you legions of Hunger Gamers. We have a winner," writes Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers. "The screen 'Hunger Games' radiates a hot, jumpy energy that's irresistible. It has epic spectacle, yearning romance, suspense that won't quit and a shining star in Jennifer Lawrence, who gives us a female warrior worth cheering."
"'The Hunger Games' runs nearly two and a half hours in length but is the rare film that never drags and doesn't overstay its welcome," said the Associated Press' Christy Lemire. "It could keep running as long as Katniss (the main character) does, and we'd want to be right there every heart-pounding step of the way."
The New York Daily News' Joe Neumaier called the film "light years ahead of 'Twilight'." "It’s better and scarier than its source book," he wrote, "And aims an angry eye at our bloodthirsty, watch-anything-and-cheer culture."

That said, does writer/director Gary Ross (Seabiscuit and Pleasantville – not to mention writing credits on Big, Dave, and Mr. Baseball) ultimately deliver a Hunger Games film adaptation that accurately transports fan-favorite characters and events onto the big screen – as well as offering up an entertaining movie experience for audience members who haven’t bothered with the books?

Despite a few hiccups that come with distilling a 350 page book (told in first person) into a two hour and twenty minute film, The Hunger Games is not only a solid adaptation of the source material – it succeeds at covering a copious amount of backstory, while at the same time delivering some genuinely entertaining (and at times, thrilling) moments, even for those who are still unfamiliar with the book series. The Hungers Games books are jam-packed with supporting characters and in-depth mythos – and so is the film adaptation (at times to a fault).

The basic story takes place in a dystopian future where the Capitol rules over the country of Panem (in what used to be North America) – and uses “The Hunger Games” to suppress the surrounding districts. Each year, the Capitol randomly selects one girl and boy from each of the twelve districts to participate in the Hunger Games – where the 24 “tribute” children fight to the death until only one remains.

I hope all of these reviews made you want to see it! Well, I am of to see the Hunger Games! Bye!
Love,
Me<3

82 Degrees in Winter?

Hey Everyone!

How was your week? Was it hot like mine? It is insanely hot outside!!

Okay, so it is the middle of March and it is like 82 degrees outside. That is ridiculous! I live in the middle of Illinois, and it never gets this hot out during this time of the year. I don’t understand why Mother Nature is doing this, but I am loving every minute of it!

So, I decided to look a little research about the temperatures here, and what they really should be. This is what weatherspark.com says about my town:

“Over the course of a year, the temperature typically varies from 18°F to 83°F and is rarely below 4°F or above 90°F. The warm season lasts from May 20 to October 2 with an average daily high temperature above 73°F. The hottest day of the year is July 13, with an average high of 83°F and low of 64°F. The cold season lasts from November 28 to March 1 with an average daily high temperature below 43°F. The coldest day of the year is January 25, with an average low of 18°F and high of 33°F. The probability that precipitation will be observed at this location varies throughout the year. Precipitation is most likely around May 20, occurring in 55% of days. Precipitation is least likely around September 11, occurring in 30% of days. Over the entire year, the most common forms of precipitation are thunderstorms, moderate rain, and light snow. Thunderstorms are the most severe precipitation observed during 42% of those days with precipitation. They are most likely around June 23, when it is observed during 39% of all days. Moderate rain is the most severe precipitation observed during 21% of those days with precipitation. It is most likely around November 12, when it is observed during 16% of all days. Light snow is the most severe precipitation observed during 14% of those days with precipitation. It is most likely around February 1, when it is observed during 21% of all days.”
Okay, we aren’t even in our “warm season” yet, and our average temperatures are already higher than the average temperature for the hot season! I wonder if this has something to do with global warming somehow, but who knows? It could be anything. What I don’t understand is that there was snow on the ground last week! It had to be at least thirty two degrees outside for it to snow, so how much have the temperatures differed? Over fifty degrees! That is literally insane.
It might seem like I am complaining, but I am far from it. I actually love this weather! I actually get to wear shorts, t shirts, and flip flops again! I don’t know what I would do without flip flops, by the way. The only thing I don’t like about this is that it scares me about what is supposed to come this summer. What, is it going to be like one hundred and ten degrees for a low or something?!
Love,
Me <3

Hectic Days!

Hi everybody!

My week has seemed to drag on for forever and ever, but it is finally Friday! Thank goodness! I don’t have much homework, which is great. But the one thing that I don’t have, is free time.

Yeah, Yeah, I know I am a high schooler, and we are supposed to be in tons of activities, and I am, but I have no free time anymore! I am always so busy, doing this or that or this other thing. It seems like I don’t even have a social life anymore, because I don’t ever have time to socialize it seems like.

This time of the year is always busy. First, as you all know, I am involved in our Spring musical, West Side Story. We have two weeks left until our very first performances, so we practice almost ever day of the week. We usually practice in the gym, so we have all that room to act as our stage and have room to actually, you know, move around. We usually have practice for, I don’t know, maybe three to four hours around this time. On Saturdays, I also have play. Play Practice always starts at nine o’ clock, and usually gets done around 12 or 1ish. The week of the play we are usually at the school until about mid night every night. It is crazy.

I am also trying out for cheer again next ear. We are already starting clinics for try outs, which are towards the middle of May. I usually have those twice a week for around to hours, and those are always really really exhausting it seems like. Also, I take gymnastics privates with an instructor twice a week too. I am trying really hard to get my back handspring, which is a pretty hard tumbling skill, and is basically required to make the team. So, if I don’t get my back handspring, it is very likely that I won’t make the team. It is pretty much crucial that I get that tumbling skill if I want to make it next year on the cheer team, so I have no choice other than to take privates. Those usually last around half an hour to and hour at length either once or twice a week, depending on how busy I am and when I can get in to take one.

I am also in May Fete. For those of you that don’t know what that is, the underclassmen girls make up dances for the senior girls and do them for them, and they get to dress up in really nice dresses. They pick a court and a May Fete queen also. Anyway, I am a choreographer. I make up some of the dances. We usually practice for around four hours every Sunday afternoon, teaching all of these dances. You also have to try and take time out of your week and try to come up with stuff. Seriously, when do I have time for homework?

I hope you all aren’t as busy as me, because it kind of stinks. Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Me <3

The Future

Hi people!

My week has been a lotbetter than last week. I am glad to say that I am not sick anymore! Yay! I had a ton of makeup work to do for school, and I am finally done with that, thank goodness.

Anyway, do you guys feel like you know me? I really don't think you do. This blog post is going to be strictly and my present and future. It might not be exciteing for everybody, but it is what is going on with my life, so it is pretty important to me.

Okay, first things first. I ama sophomore at Paris Cooperative High School and I started this blog because of my Creative Writing class, where it is necessary to keep a blog and make a post on it every week. don't get me wrong, I really like writing on it, even though it is mandatory!

I obviously plan on graduating high school, hopefully the top of my class (my grades are very important to me, I have a five point zero grade point average). I want to go to EIU (Eastern Illinois University) and majoring in Early Elementy Education, specializing in third through the fifth grades. I have always, always wanted to be a teacher, and this i know will never change. I Would like to minor in something liek Dance or even some form of Music.

I wnt to get a four year degree at Easterna and the get a teaching job somewhere. i would love to stay in the Mid West region of the country, but I will go whereever my job or family needs to take me. No matter what is going on in my life, family is always going to be my number one priority, forever and always.

Everybody is probably thinking, "Why in the heck would you want to be a teacher? they get absolutely no pay and they get terrible benefits. That would suck so much!" I really don't care about what everone else thinks. I would love to be a teacher! it is my dream job, always has and always will be my dream job, no matter what! does the pay stink? Yeah. Do you get good benefits? No, not really. But who cares? I will bedoing what I love and that is all that matters to me.  Maybe iI will marry a rich husband and the money issue will never be a problem. wow, how great would that be? the best thing about the job is that I will get to see my kids a lot, and stay off in the summer with them, and like I said before, family will always be very very important in my life.

Now you hopefully know a litttle bit more about who I am and what I want with my life. I told you it wuld be pretty boring, but i know it won't be. Life can never ever be boring. You can't even try to make it boring. It is basically impossible. Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love,

Me <3