we're all f***ed together

[Dana S]

first day of Joseph

Lovely day. Smiles and sunshine and rainbows. At least at school. My grades are lower than they have ever been, but I refused to let it bother me today. I arrived at school angry and upset and generally pissed off, only to see Lee! My chorus singing buddy from last year who graduated. He put me in a wonderful mood. He's just such a goofy, nice guy.

Then afterschool, it was the first day of auditions for Joseph and the Technicolor dreamcoat at my school. And as asst. director I got to watch. I was given the job of timing them and when a minute rolled by I stood up so they knew to end at the end of whatever phrase they were on. So all the auditioners were watching me as they sang. Song after song, seemingly just sung for me. It was enough to inflate anyones sense of wellbeing. Fun fun in the sun, except we were inside so not technically in the sun. Awesome.

And then yesterday. The nightmare of schooldays which informed me that I was going to recieve my first C and not just one but 2 or 3. I still think I'll have a 4.0 or thereabouts bc they are in AP and honors classes, but still. A C is a C. And it was crushing for me. I just need to work. I'm smart I know I am, I just got senior slack a year early. Anyway, this awful day was interspersed with the fun event of being in a video for the videography class. I was one of several girls who rejected the loser main character. It was my friend Ben and it was funny, especially when he said "I know this is fake...but I think this may start to have a negative effect on my self-esteem.

And my sunshine rainbowy day as always ended abruptly when I got home. Then it clouded over a little...more than a little actually. My parents are being their usual psychotic selves. My mom's having surgery again too. She was reminding me of the day she was having surgery "remember that I'm having surgery this day", only I didn't remember bc she never told me. My response "surgery, whos having sugery? On what? Since when? why?"

Ack. It's muddy outside. Metaphorically...if that makes sense.

 

[Dana S]

post-mexico party quotes

Life sucks. My mom's lumbar puncture came back positive-she has MS. And my grades are so low I may be kicked out of the national honor society if something doesn;t change. I don't know what the matter with me is. I've completely lost my motivation for school related activities.

Junior Follies was supposed to be this weekend but it got postponed because of the snow. Because of the like 2 inches of snow!

I had a fun time last night at my neighbor's party. I have some memorable quotes for you. Mainly from a six year old boy named Kelly who is just hilarious.

(Kelly is watching a home video of Ted. Ted is also sitting right behind him)
Kelly: (to the tv) Why are you in the tv Ted? Answer me!
(Ted walks away from the camera in the video)
Kelly: No! Ted come back! I need you!

(kelly is holding a green paper cut out figure)
Jarrett: whats that Kelly?
Kelly: We're not gonna talk about that
Jarrett: is it a green ghost?
K: no its laughymon, a pokemon I created
J: what are his powers?
K: wanna hear his worst attack?
J:sure!
K: I say 'Relax' and he relaxes and his opponent beats him up
J: uh..that sounds like kind of a lame power
K: I sad worst attack didn't I? Say it with me WOORRST. (forcing us to say it with him in unison, Kelly runs to the top of the stairs) once more. WOOORRSST!

Ted: (being attacked) Are you biting my trousers?
Kelly: (unintelligible response)
Ted: Well stop it!!

(video footage of 3 statues of saints)
Dana: okay, so 3 guys walk into a bar
Jarrett: 3 saints c'mon, get the joke right!

(video footafe of a little boy and his mom kneeling in a chapel, the boy is holding a spiderman doll)
Jarrett (as mom) "son, I think its time that you begin to live up to your full spiderman potential. You see, God wants you to be spiderman!"

Jarrett narrating video footage of Ian and Ted:
(Ian walks on in a martini shirt)
Ian: I want a drink. My shirt tells me I want Corona
Ted: I want a drink too. Good thing its legal for me to drink down here in Mexico.
(Ted points into the distance)
Ted: don't even try and tell me I can't have a drink. I'm gonna drink and you're gonna like it!
(Ted and Ian walk away)
Both: Time for Corona!
( cut to video footage of a shrine to Jesus)
Ted: -long pause- all hail the shrine to Corona!

Kelly: the melt Ha Ha's melt stuff. Except stuff like fire, because fire, well...y'know its fire. You can't...well you understand, I don't need to explain it to you.

Funny stuff.

I got to play in the snow today with my sister's boyfriend's nine year-old son Kalyb. We had a snow ball fight and it was fun.

I gotta go now.

 

[Dana S]

Friday breakdown

Bad bad week. Friday was the worst. Sort of the culmination of all things bad. Living with my sister, as much as I adore her...and I really do, is very hard sometimes. Everybody is upset and fighting with each other, and my grades are lower than ever, although I still have a 3.7 at least, so I'm not going to be kicked out of the National Honor Society or anything. Plus my mom was diagnosed with MS. A diagnosis we've expected for a long time, but which just became final. She's upset and in pain and we're all upset. And she left for 2 weeks to visit my godmother. Friday I lost it after 4th period. We had a hard test, and I just couldn't concentrate. And on the test that decided whether or not my grade fell on one side or the other of the line between one grade and the next. I burst into tears. Which is big for me, because I really try not to let people see me cry. Not at school anyway. I cry at sad movies, but I try not to let the everyday get me down. Something I can't always avoid it. So I spent my lunch studying french for my test 5th period. And my friend Brianna ans Christie were angels trying to cheer me up. After my test I just left and sat crying in my guidance counselors office for 2 hours. And I have to go see her weekly for a while, because she's worried about me I think. I'm just having a rough year. My friend Matt died this summer, and on Friday I woke up 5 minutes before my ride came to get me for school, from a dream about him. It was just not a bright day. It did shine in moments though. We watched clips from the movie Mighty Aphrodite in theatre, and I got to skip 3rd to see an improv show. My favorite part of which was when they picked documentary as one of their styles for styles replay. Then after school was play practice, this week was just learning the music Iso got to leave after taking attendance. My asst. director duties will start next week. So I went and did tech work for a while, which made me happy too. It really does mean a lot when you see people genuinely excited to see you. It means an awful lot at times. I made them all laugh too with a couple non squeaky clean jokes, because people kept saying things that well...made for the perfect set up. This resulted in my quote of the day from my friend Bevin:
"Dana's a closet skank"

 

[Dana S]

Happy list

Screw the bad stuff. I've decided to stop complaining and list the things that have recently made me happy. Any complaints I make will only be to emphasize why something made me so happy, if I complain at all...(pretty sneaky, eh!)
~my wonderful theatre class, and the fact that the character I'm playing right now is a total poser who says things like "word homie, dawg you know I'm down" and "dude, thats sketch" I love my character
~the fact that in this same play we do a rap
~and also in the same play the character of God gets a swivel chair
~the spontaneous race between Cory and Thomas during tech: they each grabbed a wooden animal and raced to the top of the auditorium and back
~looking up from nailing together a palm tree for the set to notice Mark watching me with an amused expression only to say "for such a small person, you have an awful lot of violence"
~how I walked in on the techies talking about how I have repressed anger (they say I get an evil look when I use the nailgun), it was perfect timing-we all burst out laughing
~how my mom FINALLy came back from her three week hiatus in Florida
~how she came back with gifts from my godmother and godsister
~my friend Nancy making me laugh and constantly boosting my self-esteem by telling me how great I am...and then prompting my guy friends to do the same...with humorous effects
~Cory (who is from England) noticed a postcard on my wall that my friend had sent me from England. He stopped and said with a mix of disgust and disbelief "why...do...you...have...a...picture...of...Prince William...on your wall!?!?!"
~seeing Byuioo, a musical entirely in giberrish which was the single most impressive musical I have ever seen
~the prelude stuff to Byuioo which cracked me up
~watching Rajeev and Pablo fight in diapers onstage in Byuioo
~sledding at midnight
~slipping on ice...falling on my back...getting up...and then slipping on the ice again
~skating on the road without skates
~falling down to make snowangels...to painfully realize that the snow was iced over
~having people tell me I'm great
~getting to go see Speak of the Devil sing Happy Birthday to my friend for her suprise b-day party. Fear not-she doesn't know I have an online journal
~going to play shopping cart tag in Walmart on Sunday with my friend Kat
~how if I can make a deal with my math teacher to give me a B because he said he might work something out with me...I will have gotten a 4.0 despite my C's because of value points for honors and AP classes (and if not, then I'll have about a 3.9)
~tomorrow is Improv
~there wasn't zero period today so my mom took me out for coffee (decaf...bc caffeine is bad)
~my friend Stephen telling my friend Nika (who is Russian) about Russian ways, and how they're always just so darn sneaky. And her replying with "well the french just suck...no explanation needed" (he's french) and his reply "Nika...don't you take french?" and her reply "so, you take russian" and the silence that ensued, while I laughed
~getting to read my book
~how after a four day break, we came back for a friday, so that the weekend is now here
~watching my friend Meaghan get thrown into the snow
~watching Nancy and Rory get into a screaming debate over whether or not morals evolve...or something...I wasn't really listening
~how I made oatmean cookies
~I'm very happy right now after writing this list. So many terrible things have happened lately, much more than I would put in my journal (no offense), and I've been pretty down lately. And probably a downer for those around me. But everyone around me is so wonderful, and I want to thank everyone for just being themselves. I need to list happy things more often. Now if I can only go to sleep I'll be set! (that was NOT a full-fledged complaint!...it was only a borderling complaint)

 

[Dana S]

Slightly religious worries (or lack thereof) and fishnets

I worry a lot. I worry a lot and about a lot of things. Things from whether or not I'll make my next audition for Governor's school to why Bush is president. I have a lot of worries and I'm starting to lose the one core belief about the order of the universe that I ever kept. I don't really follow any one religion. I was baptized Presbyterian, and I've attended just about ever kind of Christian service since, plus a couple of Jewish ceremonies. I have a statue of Buddha and I don't know what I believe. I don't know if I even care. Gandhi once said something along the lines of that he was every religion. Someone asked him and he said something like " I am Hindu. I am Christian. I am Buddhist. I am Jewish. I am Muslim." or the equivalent. I believe something like that. I think they are all just different interpretations of the same story. What I always believed though, was that there was a balance to our lives. In some way, all the good things and bad things weighed themselves equal. Which is why those with the most end up having the greatest suffering as well. Or if life sucked now, then it would be made up for later on. I guess I was just searching to find that life was fair, and it isn't. I'm not being so glum by anything recent, just the sum of all things. I see my life as compared with some of my friends and I just don't get it. And maybe I'm playing the drama queen here, knowing how much I love playing that role; I'm just feeling that life is unfair, which contradictory to what I used to believe. High School has been hard. It seems like everything bad is happening now. I'm just clinging to the thought that someday I will leave for good. I think there will be confetti that day. I think it would very much indeed be an occasion worthy of balloons and confetti.

My Governor's school audition is also magnifying my stress and worry level by some unknown exponential factor. I'm freaking out amidst all the other bad stuff going on. Wish me luck, I think I'll need it. I ended up throwing up last time because I was so nervous. Hopefully there will not be a repeat experience of that. Just a flawlessly talent-filled audition whose end result will restore my sense of balance in the world.

I really need to get started on my AP World essay. For any highschooler's reading : Do not under any circumstances take AP World. It is Satan's spawn in classroom form.

My happy thing for today is that I wore fishnets, They're fun, I got asked to wear them so I did. I also am going to be quoted in the school paper. My friend Chriss needed a funny quote so I sat there until I had one to fit her article. I end up sounding like I moron. I say: "In a sumu wresstling match, East stress could take down all the other school stresses put together!!" and then "or at least come in a close second."I'm always willing to look like an idiot if it means helping a friend.

 

[Dana S]

Gov audition, Moscow and Andy

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
I am freaking out. I have my audition for Governor's school tomorrow. Oh Goodness. Everybody wish me luck as hard as you can. I want to make it so very very badly.

Today my friend from Russia was very upset because there was a bomb in a subway in Moscow. Her cousins live in Moscow and take the subway at the same time the bomb went off. Needless to say she is slighlty frantic about their wellfare.

One of my freshman friends, Andy, really made my day today. He was like 'everything you wear is so cute! You just always look so cool. And everything you wear fits you perfectly. Like those button up shirts you have. I want a tight shirt. Not that I have anything to show but it would be cool. I wish I were you. Maybe I'll get to be you in my next life. I'll need a lot of good karma, but maybe I could be you next!" It was adorable.

I gotta go sleep so I'll be ready for tomorrow. Oh goodness. I will do fine I will do good I will do excellent I will do amazing I am very cool and very talented and the judges will of course have to pick me, hopefully I won't throw up like I did last time ...wish me luck.

 

[Dana S]

This weekend (audition,follies and chocolate)

I had my audition for Governor's school ( which, is a very prestigious state funded summer program, for all of those who think it is a school for Governors, or a school to teach you how to say "hey guvenuh!" as lil G thinks it is). I actually think my audition was pretty solid. And hopefully the judges thought so too. Hopefully the judges will be like 'hey, this kid is dandy, I think we need her!' I was last on the list in the last group who finished, so I had to sit around in a hall for two hours getting to know the other nominees in my district. Which was actually pretty cool.

Then I went shopping with my crazy friend Nika and I went to junior follies, which was pretty awesome. I got to see the Chapel Hill nominees whom I had met at Governor's school, and see my friends perform. One of the MC's entered from a harness on a rope from the cieling. It was wicked awesome. Bevin and/or Margot and/or Klara ( I couldn't see which) threw underwear at the boy's a cappella group, which was pretty amusing. And when this one guy came out and crooned all by his lonesome, instead of waving lighters, people got out their cell phones and started waving them. The finale was my favorite part. The band Break North played while all the other acts danced around onstage as bubbles came down from the cieling and smoke came from the stage. And then my fiend Steve who always has girls dress him up as a girl, came out with a bra on and was lifted up by the crowd onstage, while his mom sat in the audience shaking her head. Spiffy.

The quotes (more or less...my memory sucks) of Yesterday are:
"Dude is the Governor of today. Governor is the Dude of 1800's England"-lil G
"More like 1700's England"-Austen
"Damnit"-lil G

"I win this Conversation!!"-Corey Brown (talking to Lisa P)
"you win....?"-Dana
"I win!!!!!!"-Corey Brown

Ross White:"You know what I hate? when people do that shit" (pointing out the window at hams, Dana turning, and Ross stealing Dana's cheese sticks)

And today I volunteered at the Chocolate Affair, which is a fundraiser for the Cornocopia house. I bussed tables as people ate more chocolate than I have ever seen in my life, and bid crazy amounts of money on things in the auction. Whistling lessons went for over 200 dollars. And as a volunteer, the people handed me mass amounts of chocolate to take home. I got an entire bag of Great Harvast oatmeal chocolate cookies, an entire small chocolate cake. And lots and lots of chocolates. It was really fun.

A good weekend. Although...I should probably finish my homework now. Trigonometric Identities...why do you plague me!!!!! (actually they're kinda fun...although very irritating)

Everybody at DSI, I hope you know I love you all dearly.

 

[Dana S]

Today was stressful. Ms G put me in charge of the last half of rehearsal for the musical. We wanted them to run all 6 songs 3 times each in one hour with notes. We didn't have time, and it was so stressful. It's very difficult to get all 60 or so actors to follow my directions.

I haven't done improv in a very long time and it makes me sad. I miss it very much. And I think I'm getting very rusty, not that theres much to get rusty in the first place. I'm going to try and get a job soon so I can manage to pay for classes and for, just other things in general. Including some means of transportation.

Quotes of the day:

"It's good to be a heterotroph!"-Erin
"I'm writing that on my hand (writes it on hand), awesome!"-Bevin
"you spelled heterotroph wrong."-Hannah

"It's like a merri-go-round. You ride until you're dizzy and then you get off."-Carla (you kinda have to understand the context)

 

[Dana S]

pre-valentines day '04 (friday the 13th!)

Today was a cute day. It just was. My friends made me happy. I brought a myriad of lollipops to school to share with everyone and I had fun passing them out. Although I will admit to chucking a couple at people's heads. I chucked one at Blake and his reaction was "OW! that...oo a lollipop thanks Dana!" Then at play practice Russell threw his at Chris and it bounced off somewhere onstage ( I was backstage stageleft to help the stagemanager with cues). We were wondering about it's location when Sara came off and said "Ow, something hit me...I think it was a lollipop." to which my response was "uhhh....hey Sara do you want a lollipop?" Lollipops rule the world.

My two favorite parts of the day:
1. A very stressed asst. stagemanager Mark turning to me and saying "I demand that you give me a hug!"
2. Andy complimenting my hot pink heels. "You are just so cool it's not fair! I wish I could be more like you" and then when I gave him a lollipop with the message: 'I'm Your's' he said "are you really? It would be cool if I owned you. Cause then I could wear all your clothes!" That kid is just so frickin adorable I can't stand it sometimes. He is the best freshman EVER.

In french we made valentines with a very odd valentine vocab list. I think you guys need a valentine.

Ton Billet-doux:

Mon ange,
Mon petit lapin, mon amour, mon loup, c'etais un coup de foudre. Je t'aime. Je t'adore. Je te veux. J'as besoin de toi!! Je raffole de toi. Donne-moi la main et sois mon valentin. Mon coeur bat pour toi parce-que tu es un grand seducteur qui es superchouette!!
Grosses Bisses,
Dana

Your love note:

My angel,
My little rabbit, my love, my wolf, it was love at first sight. I love you. I adore you. I want you. I need you. I'm crazy about you. Give me your hand and be my valentine. My heart beats for you because you are a big seducer who is supercool.
Big Kisses,
Dana

Happy pre-Valentines day. I just finished babysitting these two girls whom I had to persuade that mad cow disease would not get them. I told them that it was thousands of miles away and that if they did get it then they could sue the company and buy a pony. (who needs logic when Dana is babysitting?). And then I promised them that they could personally hold me responsible if they managed to somehow get mad cow disease. They needed reassurance.

 

[Dana S]

Carmen Sandiego Advertising

I went to the Advertising Slogan Generator that Kit gave a link to on the DSI website and put my name in. All the slogans were pretty amusing, but my favorite by far has got to be:

Happiness is a Cigar Called Dana.
&
When the going gets tough, the tough get Dana.

So true, so true.

I was contemplating a question today, that has plagued many a child's young mind, and I ask it of you now...

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Personally I think she's hiding in Sandiego. Because honestly, who would suspect that? I think she's actually the mayor there. They worship her. Little do they know that she's mayor sandiego of sandiego as opposed to mayor smith of sandiego. She's a wily one that Carmen. Indeed. Wily like a coyote. Because she and Wily Coyote are amigos like flamingos. And the flamingos are their mignons. Mignons are like pawns. And they are all in one big chess game. The chess game of LIFE. And in the game of Life they've just won a promotion. A promotion to mayor. But it's just a theoretical promotion because she's already mayor. If the villagers only knew....but like all stories, this one ends as....dum dum dum....the villagers rejoice!!!!?!!!!! We know not why.

 

[Dana S]

perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

I'm going to complain a little. So sit back. Not too much though. I semi-promise. I've missed the last 3 days of school bc I've been sick. Some sort of stomach flu thing. I'll spare you details beyond that. I thought I was dying. My sister finally just told me to shut up bc I was sitting there going 'I'm dying, I'm dying!' But I was in some major pain, yo. I will never say yo again. Halfway-promise. On a healthier note, I got my top picks for workshops for DSIF. Or at least to my knowledge I did, I'm not too sure because as we all know (or I know) my memory sucks, but as far as I can remember I got what I picked. So yay! I'm also going to start wearing my glasses for a little while anyway. Apparently my headaches will be remedied by the wearing of my glasses. I've just been avoiding them lately because it seems like many many ppl have adopted the black plastic frames look recently and since I haven't worn them in quite a while so I didn't want to be poser-ish. Maybe avoiding something to not be a poser is being a poser in itself. Screw it I really don't care. Anyway, I promise I've had these darn glasses for years. Standard emo glasses are what my friend Stephanie calls them. La di da. So many style classifications, so little do I care. One crazily annoying girl I know came up to me and asked me what my style was, once. She said she just couldn't figure it out because I just dress differently all the time. Why do people need to fit a style -group ( IE: prep, punk, emo, etc)? I don't think it really matters. But thats just what I think. My eyebrows look silly. I dyed my hair and eyebrows very dark brown and my eyebrows look smaller or further apart or something. They seem odd to me, but again, perhaps this is just me. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps... who sings that song anyway?

 

[Dana S]

What's up?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is all I have to say.

 

[Dana S]

I should be doing homework/sleeping right now

Is a single section of a zigzag a Zig or a Zag. Are the ones on the left Zigs and the ones on the right Zags? Or are they all Zigs except for every third one which is a zag? I feel this is a matter of importance.

Word I have been insanely busy. DSIF was so insanely awesome that I can't describe it...so I won't. Then last weekend was crazy because of my school play. Scheduling was all screwed because of the snow so we couldn't do a Thurs night show like usual because the auditorium was booked for band. Instead we ended up doing a Sunday matinee...after a Saturday night cast party. Something I do not recommend. Let's just say that there was much groaning whenever someone hit a high note (it was a musical). But it went fairly well anyway. Monday after I was exhausted and left school early. And during my time at home I managed to fall up (yes up) my stairs, hit my head on a step and blackout. Something I had never even considered as possible. My head still really hurts. Then Tuesday my chorus class went to choral festival and earned a Superior (word up!). We all then went to Southpoint for lunch and most of us skipped the rest of the day. Business. Wow! Business if the noun form of busy. I was going for busy-ness like coolness is to cool, but business is already a similar but different word. I just re-read that-I am such a moron.

I got the best drivers test story from my friend Benzie: his friend failed because he was speeding way over the limit and when the instructor told him to slow down he said nervously "I'm sorry, I'm not used to driving." I found this entertaining and uplifting at once because it made me feel much better about my level of intelligence. No offence to whoever this quote comes from.

I need to go finish my homework-I keep getting WAY distracted. Note this journal entry...case and point. I better go. Buh-Bye! ( I HATE it when people say it like that) ARGHGHH. My mom is getting me tested for ADD soon...or so she says. At the library there is this poster for the "new AA"--ADD Anonymous, I kid you not. Why you would care who knows you have ADD I have no idea. And apparently nobody else does either because none of the pull-off numbers had ben taken off the flyer. I went ahead and took one to get the ball rolling. I should seriously go now. Bye.

 

[Dana S]

I forgot to mention something AWESOME! My parents bought me a car. It's an '86 Saab. And I adore it. Her name is Lola. So I could ride around listening to the Kinks song and sing it to my car but my friend Kat named her car Lola after the song and I don't want to start and teenagery fight thing. So I think her name is Stella AND Lola. That way if I forget her name isn't Lola anymore it's cool and plus since my car is blue, she can be Stella Blue. And I can go "STELLAAAA!!!" When she stalls out (it's a stick shift...which I need to learn). Anyway, I gotta go but how cool is that!?!?

 

[Dana S]

The world annoys me sometimes.

I miss the cast from Joseph that I asst. directed. My play didn't get picked to be performed at my school either. (the theatre 2 students all pick a one act and do a directors notebook and they are then sent of to UNC to be judged and scored, top 3 get to be put on) There was a really close 4th place so we have 4 one acts. Directors being Samara, Adrian, Beth and Bevin. And they will all do fantastically. I made the cast for Adrian's play (Death by Woody Allen) but my part is so small I'm thinking of quitting, because it seems like someone else could very easily double up and do my part as well, and I wonder why Adrian didn't just do that in the first place considering all the complaining he did about having a large cast. I know I'm being snotty I just don't think that such a small part is worth all the reharsal, but I'll probably just see if I can double up and do tech for the show as well or something.

I also auditioned for treble ensemeble (an auditioned singing class) and the list will go up Monday.

In theatre 2 we're doing a unit on farce and we're doing a bunch of Monty Python sketches and since there's an odd number of people, I get to be the floater and be in almost every scene, it's really cool.

My big happy thing for the week is that I finally figured out what I'm doing for prom. My friend Carla was thinking aloud that somebody should take my friend Daniel to prom because he'd be so much fun, and so I ended up asking him and now I have a date! Exciting. Plus we're going to go in the limo with the band playing prom. The Princess Pinky mobile will be awesome. We're getting 20 people to ride around in a limo for an hour before prom. It'll be awesome. Plus I'm going to New York next week. YAY!

 

[Dana S]

Prom Night '04

Word I haven't journaled in quite some time. And I have a bunch of stuff that's happened which I will detail more fully later. I met Matthew Broderick. I turned 17. I ran for school Vice president and lost by several votes. And then I went to prom.

Prom was kickass. First of all my dress was killer. It was the coolest one and I was the only one who had it. It was awesome. Let's start at morning. First thing yesterday I dyed my hair dark brown (almost black). Then I went and got my hair done. It was poofy and hairsprayed so that it was hard, but it looked cool. I also have a few bangs now because the lady missed a chunk of hair and since she'd already shellacked the rest of it she looked at the hair for a second and went 'huh.' SNIP! So I have like 2 bangs, it's kinda weird. So after make-up and tights and shoes and putting on the dress my date came and picked me up. And then we went to his house for dinner. There ended up being about 20 of us. After dinner we all headed to the prom and watched the band play (we came with the band, 10 of the 20 were the band members and their dates) who played as a prize for winning battle of the bands. And we all danced the night away. And it was awesome. I went with my friend Daniel Acker and he was a really fun date. A portion of our little crew skipped out early because one of them got really sick. Poor kid she felt so horrible. And later on another of our number fell to the sickness. After prom a few of us went to Polly's house. There was supposed to be a big afterparty shindig I think but since Polly was sick only a couple of us stayed. Steve G.,Steve C., Steve A. (seriously people stop naming your children Steven!), Sean, Daniel, Marianne, Keri and myself. (grils and guys slept on different floors son't worry) We stayed up and talked till like 5 in the morning. Daniel and Stephen Greenslade were trying this pool trick where you shoot three balls at once from one of the center pockets and one goes in each of the corner pockets on one side and the other goes into the other center pocket. So they tried it for like 2 hours and Greenslade finally made it once. So I decided to try it and after having Stephen remind me how to hold a pool stick. I did it on the first frickin try. Because I rule the world. So finally we all went to bed as the birds started singing and we woke up around noon. And left around 1:30. It was an awesome awesome time. Lot's happened. I even saw a couple kids trippin on E. Which was educational. It was really so much fun. How can we possibly expected to do any homework this weekend? Let alone face school tomorrow. Oh fuck my play performance is next weekend. Oh well.

To summarize prom night rocked out hardcore. I had a blast.

 

[Dana S]

My first trip North: NYC

I'm gonna detail my trip to NYC for you all who care to know about it. Partly because if I don't hurry the bejeez up and write it down I'll forget and partly because I really should be doing my homework but don't want to.

I finally went North of the Mason-Dixon Line!

So my mom and I got on a plane to La Guardia and as the plane was on it's descent I saw Yankee stadium and the statue of liberty! Cosmic. So we got our luggage and hailed a cab, my first ever, and headed to the Hilton on 6th avenue. After finding our room and me laughing on the elevator up as two guys talked in french, assuming I didn't understand, my mom and I put on some dressier garments and then went downstairs to meet my Great-Aunt Yuki, whom I've never met.

So we all get in a cab and when asked "where to" by aunt says "Tavern on the Green" And we went there. The food was wonderful and it was gorgeous inside. The place was set up to look like a garden and was dripping with mirrors and chandeliers. And I even got sung to for my birthday. MY great-aunt was a trip to talk to too. She's this little, proper, Japanese woman who is simply adorable and elegant, and she started telling us stories about my Great-Uncle Bill (who was a concierge at this ritzy hotel called Navaro way back when). I mean he knew everybody, celebrities all over. She was telling us this story about when the 'Graceful' Dead, as she calls them, invited her and Bill to a sold out concert and just put two chairs in a corner of the stage for them. She said the band was passing around a bottle of scotch and when they had gone down the line they passed it to them. And I just imagined my little Great-Aunt with her purse and gloves being handed a bottle of scotch from Andy Garcia, and I nearly died laughing it was so cool. So after nabbing some matches (I collect matchbooks) and oohing and ahhing at the first horse carriage I'd ever seen, out front, we went to our hotel.

The next morning I woke up early to a nice hot table of room service, which was yummy. Then I speed-dressed and hit the streets in order to be super-prepared for seeing the Producers. So I went out and bought and autograph book and permanent markers and then headed back. Then it was time for a quick change to ritzier gear and off to pick up my Great-Aunt to go see (angels sing) THE PRODUCERS!!!! So we get there and find out that my mom had gotten the time confused and we were an hour early, so we went to Sardis (unfortunately I forgot to get a matchbook...of all places!) for drinks and I spent the whole time trying to figure out what celebrity was hiding away in the corner booth way far away from everbody else. Then we went back to the theatre to go see the singlemost wondeful performance ever performed ever. Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane became Broadway gods. I was awed. The set was so impressive and the acting was so awesome. It was closing night and the show awed me. Some guy who had apparently seen the play over 30 times said that it ran 25 minutes longer from adlib lines the actors had just thrown in. Wonderful. I skipped out slightly early on a false tip that they were letting people backstage, and as I descended the steps I saw Sarah Jessica Parker. And I will admit to shamelessly running after her for an autograph...which I recieved. Then I went outside only to find that people had lined up behind the barricades already and I was doomed to move to the back where I would never in a million years get autographs. So I just kind of stood in front of the barricades and they told everybody to move behind them...except for me. So actors came out and I got 6 of the leading players' autographs, two of which even have my name in them. Then Nathan Lane came out, signed like 5 autographs and left, ignoring the fact that I was so cold I was shivering and sad pleas from me saying "please Mr. Lane I've come all the way from North Carolina and it's my birthday next week" but no, he left. I am still cranky about that, but he gets almost all the way forgiven because he is so talented. Then Matthew Broderick came out. Since I wasn't barricaded, he was right near me and I dorkily said "I've come all the way from North Carolina to see you!" and he was very nice about me being an annoying, adoring fan and thanked me for coming. And then he signed my program and consented to having his picture taken with me (which the security guard/body guard took for me). I was on cloud 9 for a full week. I am such a Broderick fan it's sad and pathetic. But I don't care, because I have a picture that I'll treasure even when I myself am rich and famous.

So after watching Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker drive away in their limo my mom and I went back to our hotel again and then went out for dinner at some place near the restaurant I can't name. Then in the morning, I packed my things and went shopping. I started walking to H&M and got whistled at by construction workers (I didn't know they really did that!) and then saw some hockey team walk down the sidewalk nearby. I went to Saks and H&M and got some cool stuff and then hailed a cab all by myself and rode it all by myself to Macy's. When I paid the guy the man said "Thank you, flower!" in a thick Indian accent and wished me a good day. So I shopped and found a prom dress, and then my mom showed up and we raced to the airport, only to find that our flight had been delayed a few hours. Hours that could have been more valuably spent shopping.

Long, long journal entry short: New York is the most wonderful city in the world.

 

[Dana S]

Death (the play) and AP world

I realized that I said I auditioned for treble ensemble and never said if I'd made it or not. And I did! Treble is this competitive audition only singing class at my school and I made it proving to myself that I actually do have some (underline some) singing talent.

I also auditioned for Death by Woody Allen and was cast as the lesbian police officer. It was originally a bigger part than it ended up being but the director accidentally cast two people as the same person. But it was a fun show. Before the last performance my friend Lindsay and I went to Spencer's and got our director some items we thought he would find useful. I won't detail EXACTLY what we got him, my personal fave (and the most appropriate) was a giant World's Best Mother Award card which we all signed. And as our motherly director we found it fitting for him. He's bat-fricking crazy but Adrian really is a genius sometimes, he's going to be famous someday I swear. I wrote on his card that I thought he was the secret bastard son of Woody Allen and Matthew Broderick and he is. Truly. After the final show we should've had a cast party but the plans kinda dissolved. We didn't have a house to have it at and so all the players in death were going to go to the asst. directors pool but it rained so we went to Applebees with the actors from the other two one-acts. Then a few of us went over to Marianne's house and watched a movie till 3 am. I really am nerdy. I also auditioned for The Real Inspector Hound and got a call back and they should've been today but they were post-poned for Ap testing so it'll be tomorrow. There are two things I hate most in the world of acting: auditions first, and the end of a play's run second. Auditions freak me out (as in I get so nervous I have to be careful I don't eat anything for at least a few hours before...which is fucked because I don't get nervous onstage like at all) and the end of a run just makes me sad because I won't be seeing the people that I've been seeing avery day for months nearly as often anymore. They both just suck.

Oh AP testing, what an awful awful thing. 4 hour long tests including 3 essays and a multiple choice session with a ten miniute break after the multiple choice. Never in my life have I had so much fun. If only I had another AP test!! Oh wait!...I do. The essay session is what really killed me, at the end of it I wrote a little note to the people grading the essays: 'I had fun, I hope you did too' with a smiley face afterwards. It really really sucked. And what fun, not only do I have another AP test next week, but I have a final exam on Friday. Will the joy never stop?!?!

I also have a funny quote from my friend Mark when we were auditioning yesterday. One of the characters was an arrogant womanizer and he said: (more or less) 'but I can't do that. I'd be a sensitive, caring womanizer' It amused me.

Well I really should be doing homework. When is there I time that I shouldn't be? So I'll go and pretend to do that.

 

[Dana S]

!

Wow. I sure am lucky to have such a fan-fucking-tastic family. First let's leave Dana at school for 40 minutes to wait in the hot sun for 40 minutes when she is sick. Then let's bitch at Dana on the car ride home. Then let's freak out at Dana right after she woke up from her nap. And not even bother to set Dana straight when a very disoriented Dana thought it was morning and accidentally took tomorrow's ADHD medication. Then let's bitch and bitch about how we're all sick (even though Dana has only just regained use of her voice yesterday) and yell at her for not helping out. Then let's (SURPRISE!) tell Dana that she can't go to her cousins wedding because her counselor (whom they had a secret meeting with-the fact that the counselor hates Dana isn't taken into account) says shes missed too many days from being sick. Yes that sounds like fun. Let's forbid Dana from going to see her only female cousin get married. Let's make her miss the beach wedding with my cousin's brother as the maid of honor. Let's make Dana miss seeing family whom she hasn't seen in YEARS because nobody fucking likes this branch of the family! Sounds like a plan. And let's make every possiblity (letting Dana drive, or take a bus or anything) not work and just as Dana is crying hysterically because she won't get to see her FAVORITE cousin, whom she hasn't seen in over 3 years be the male maid of honor in his sister's wedding, not to mention the wedding itself. Yes just as Dana is crying hysterically, let's get ANGRY with her and yell at her about her grades and school and threaten to take away theatre and improv (they've pretty much already taken away improv for the most part). Sounds fun, let's threaten to take away drama, Dana's favorite thing in life. What an awesome family. Joy to me for being for lucky. And joy of joys now I get to continue working on homework. Could life get any better? I'm going to start on my homework before I decide I'd like to more fully detail how my parents make me unhappy.

 

[Dana S]

My own personal bushism, and velma too

There were a few good things about today though. In third period I was trying to say drastically and dramatically at once and I ended up with 'dramastically' the class laughed and someone goes 'Bushism!' and I found it amusing.

I also had call-backs today and they were pretty low key. I know the director and we were all auditioning different scenes and we made Samara laugh because my friend Adrian and I went and read this scene and switched gender roles. He played the gorgeous young woman and I played the crotchety old inspector. It was a lot of fun. And I had fun just chilling and hanging out with the theatre folk. Those people never fail to make me happy.

And also in theatre two we're doing musical scenes which'll be fun. Adrian and Samara are doing a muppets song. Evan is doing Mr. Celophane from Chicago, Lyzz and Cassy are undecided about which song from Grease they want to do. Blake and Mark are going to do the oompa loompa song, Chris is going to do Sweet Transvestite, Bev and Malcolm are undecided but are most likely going to do light every candle from rent. and my friend Kat and I were going to do another song from rent..which I can't remember but then we got together with Beth and Minnie and the four of us are going to do The Cell Block Tango from Chicago instead. I'm really excited I'm going to be Velma (Catherine Zeta-Jones' character) and it's gonna be awesome. We're all going corset shopping together. It'll be hot.