Spring break '07 in Los Angeles. At the end of March, Eric and I were able to visit Kelsy in her element. Stayed downtown LA and came home with many stories. Finally got to see and buy stuff for one of her most recent apartment moves - got bedroom stuff at IKEA, that was fun- and more bedroom stuff and her own drill kit at Target, of course. Also borrowed her car and drove down to San Diego to see the folks and my sister and her family for a few days.

Kelsy gave us yet another tour of places around LA which was fun! Took pictures of typical Hollywood sites for the kids at school.  We also were able to go to her and Alburn's church on Saturday and worshipped together -awesome band-and were inspired by their pastor's message. Good, solid people.

She also gave us the tour and introductions at her place of work-10x10 Productions. All the people we met said nice things about her and about how hard of a worker she is...felt like we were at parent-teacher conferences.

Countdown now until the end of school-4 weeks!

The Orchestra Stampede, #12! was this past weekend. The theme was Magic Kingdom (since we couldn't advertise it as a Disney theme-you remember what happened during SuperBowl time and the "can't advertise anything as Super Bowl this or tha? So, Eric being the smart one in the group and wanting to avoid lawsuits, had it named Magic Kingdom, but the students and adultsl were dressed as Disney characters.

Carlyle and I were MCs again and he thought we should come as Mickey and Minnie. Yeah, well, we are both 6 ft tall -he as 6'2"- and, to me, there's nothing quite as frightening as HUGE Mickeys and Minnies. So, here I am again in an "interesting" outfit, posing with yet another guy not my husband.

Enjoy.

New entry time 'cause I got a pic to share. My year-long Theatre class finished up oral interpretations and we decided to read our last piece "coffee house" style. The idea was to come dressed-50's or 60's style- and to read an original piece. (Actually, I bought this pair of pants-and glasses- at Lynn's Paradise Cafe, when we met up with some "old" friends in Louisville, and I have been waiting for an opportune time to wear them which led to this activity .) Atmosphere was provided by the First Baptist Church's Cafe, and bongos, coffee, hot chocolate, and cookies were provided by the class.  It was different and a fun time away from class ( the church is across the street from the high school). Of course, I had to get a picture with our principal. He is a crazy guy, too.

Second semester as a new, first year teacher is better. Due to a few students dropping my Advanced Theatre class because of schedules and because I strongly encouraged others to drop, the advanced class is down to 13 and we are putting on a children's production! It really is for all ages. 3 fairy tales are combined into one and there is slap stick, one liners, and running gags added to the familiar story-the older ones will get the jokes and musical jokes. We are practicing during class and are all of one mind. Hurrah. My other classes are going well. Got a new group of kids in 3 of them and so far, so good.

Well, the play is over and I'm relearning what life after 3:30 is all about...it's about school work and creating finals and final study guides for 5 different courses. But, about the play.The whole directing a high school play experience is akin to labor and birth...once over, you just remember the good! and, unlike labor, my "play" labor lasted 2 1/2 months ( and like birth, I lost 12 pounds)! IBit, 'll just mention one bad incident of the experience- my new 3-day old camera, an upgrade so I could take good play pictures, was stolen during the last play rehearsal. Out of 36 cast and crew, I can think of 6 that would do it. Yeah, that's the kind of group I had .

I'll jot down the good...the play was exceptional. The actors' perfomances were superb! The audience really did enjoy themselves and said that they were surprised that it was a high school performance...great praise indeed. I had the main actors come to me and thank me for the directing job and getting them to the point of "good acting", which was my main concern throughout. They listened and acted upon it and they were great! I also had a few say they now know why I am called "The General"-not sure if that was a compliment, though.   I am very proud of my actors (most of them) and the crew who worked so hard (Eric being part of the backstage crew for the final weeks) .So, it was quite a journey and I learned much....things to do and NOT to do EVER again.

We had 4 different set scenes and then scenes in front of the main curtains for when we changed the set scenes (that's why I made us a sound track). We had 2 black curtain scenes. Many students were highlighted in their scenes and so I only really had one person in all the scenes and he didn't have to carry them. I liked that.  Pictured: Scrooge(first time on stage-unbelieveable!) Cratchit ( also a first timer-he was really "pitiful" and made us cry when Tiny Tim was no longer), Christmas Past- quite the sprite!, Present -very powerful when she gave Scrooge the business, and Future-she had excellent carriage and gave us the shivers(music helped). Not pictured is young man Scrooge - he really showed us the change from loving to "Bah, Humbug". He also played Joe the pawnbroker with eyepatch and all. He was fun to work with. Oh, and don't forget my delightful elementary school boys( all from church) who played Tiny Tim (quite adorable), Boy, and young boy Scrooge-all very good. And we had some of  Eric's high school Fiddlers to play in in the lobby before the play, in the opening, and at Fezziwig's party-where they played the music for the dance which Daughter Brittany taught the actors.Actually I only had maybe 2 weak actors, but their parts were so small that it didn't matter. The rest didn't underact or overact! Hurrah!

These guys were great! They were nephew Fred's party scene people and they just clicked the first rehearsal and were fun to work with! Mostly freshmen and a sophomore.

Well, what have I've doing since notice of my "new venue"? Working on the high school production of "A Christmas Carol" to be presented December 1st and 3rd. It's been interesting, to say the least. There's been some good times - like when real acting comes out of these high schoolers and it's great to behold; and there's been some not so good times - like "Where the heck is everyone!? Don't they know we have a play to produce?!"

The next few weeks will be putting it all together. My nerves are already shot! I'm too old for this! and etcetera.  So, it boils down to one thing -Prayer is a great thing and works! So, please do so.