I Played Flute

In our basement, recording flue for Tie These Hands

I've dabbled in a variety of hobbies in my life.  I took tap dancing and ballet classes in second grade,  I tried painting as a hobby in middle school, attempted violin in 4th grade, and joined the band playing flute in 5th.  Fifth grade was also the year I got my first big performance role in a school musical. 

Unfortunately I was unable to carry all of these hobbies through my life.  I had to give up on painting.  It took too much time and I could never draw a straight line.  I felt like I was kicked out of orchestra (I got yelled at every day for not sitting up straight while playing the violin...good thing my parents chose to rent instead of buy).  But for some reason, singing (somewhat dancing), acting, and playing the flute stuck.  Those were my things.  On the back of my letter jacket in high school were the words Academics, Drama, Music.

I'm really fascinated by the fact that I played the flute for 8 or so years.  I never really liked concerts, and always had a hard time reading notes that weren't on the staff, plus most of my band teachers were very unhappy.  When I started high school though, I got really into it.  It could be that band camp was the FIRST thing I did in high school.  It is where I met friends.  I loved marching band.  It had a performance and competitive aspect that I could really appreciate.  I had a band director my first couple years of high school that actually had fun in class, and I began learning to play the notes to the songs that were put in front of me (though I'll admit that I still can't play our school fight song correctly).

I was never good at the flute, but I look back on my years of band instruction fondly, and I think it is something that helped me gain additional respect for actual musicians.  I've been blessed to always be surrounded by brilliant musicians.  I even got to marry one. I think this is why I am so honored that my husband wrote a flute part for one of his band's songs and asked me to play it on the album.  (I know that in reality, him writing that part had nothing to do with me- the song called for some flute.  And I know that in reality, the only reason I'm on the album is because it is being recorded in our house, I have a flute and I don't charge anything).  But regardless of the reasons, I had a lot of fun doing it, and I also gained a lot of respect for this process of recording.

Be sure that you give a listen to the new Tie These Hands album coming out in the fall so that you can hear my big debut!  (And all of their other awesome songs :)).

I Love: (A List)

Today I've been cleaning up my desk area and looking through old folders of lessons and paperwork, and I stumbled upon an OLD notebook (with David Hasselhoff in his Baywatch get up on the cover) that contained some of my poetry from college.  The poetry is AWFUL, but got me through my emotional outbursts for four years.  I think I used the notebook to show students that I valued writing a few years ago... anyway- I stumbled upon a delightful nugget that I thought I would share.  I bet that it is from 2005 or so.

It was a List

.
I Love:

Flowers
Compliments
Non smoking concert venues
50's dresses that accent my waist
Uniball vision micro point pens
Musicians
Scholars
Abby Sheppard's Writing
Open Minds
Writing Poetry
Everything that Michael Ian Black says
Wet Hot American Summer
Weekends with my significant other
Vacation
Breathtaking views
Motivating Students
Optimism
Lists
and The Girl Song by Tie These Hands when played with Ryan Phillips

Best Moments of the 2010-2011 School Year- Part 1 The Wildcat Theatre Workshop

When the school year starts to come to a close, I can't help but reflect on all its big events, especially in our drama department.  This is my life.  So many hours of my time as well as my students' time goes into our productions and activities all year.  I would like to devote some space here to showcase and reflect on our accomplishments.

Above everything, there was one event I was extremely proud of this past year.  We called it the Wildcat Theatre Workshop.  The idea for this workshop came from my 2009-2010 drama officers, but this year our group was able to bring it to fruition.   Our goal was to provide a day where we could allow younger students to come to Millard West High School for a theatrical experience.  We want to promote creativity and theatre in our community and give young students an opportunity to participate in it.  I thought maybe we would have 30 participants if we were lucky.  We ended up with over 100 youngsters, grades 3-8!!

Here is what we did:

We broke students up into groups of roughly 10-12, with two or three high school leaders.  Each group was assigned a fairy tale story (nothing too well known) and the leaders explained or read the story to their groups in various locations around our theatre department.

Here, Sarah and Cassie and Jordan familiarize their group with its story in our Auditorium lobby.

After some planning and rehearsal time, we all the groups rotated between three separate stations.

One was a "costume" station where students got to decorate T-shirts based on their characters.  We color coded the groups for organizational purposes and the colors of the shirts matched the group color.  We used fabric markers for decorating and students got to take their T-shirt home with them!

Students decorating T-shirts in our Black Box Theatre.  You can see the set to our Spring play in the background.

When students were done with the shirts, they got to pick out some props that might add a little pizzaz to their story.  (It was fun picking out these silly objects at Michaels).

Another station was an acting station, where the leaders would help each student perfect the blocking and characterization for the students.

Bailey, Taylor and Kyle directed students in the light room. I was so proud of my high schoolers!

 The final station (or first depending on each groups schedule) was the "Set design" station, where students used fat poster markers to draw on a double wide sheet of butcher paper.  The drawing was supposed to represent the setting of the story and the whole group had to work together on it.  The scene shop got really crowded, but they had fun!

This is the crowd drawing their "sets" on paper in the scene shop.

Each backdrop was hung on a rolling white board and was used during the final performances behind the actors as their set.
After all the groups went through every station, some played games or talked about how they could improve their show for later.

Allie and Payton's group played games outside the scene shop while they waited.

Then we fed the students lunch in the cafeteria, and after, prepared for our final performances in the Auditorium where we would have a large audience of friends and family.

The pictures didn't turn out very well of the final performances, but you can get the idea here of what it looked like in our auditorium.  The little kids were so cute performing and the audience loved it, and took plenty of video and pictures of their childrens' first experience on the stage.

The white group was mostly 3rd graders.

This is the purple-ish group. :)  Maybe we could have called them light indigo?

We followed the 45 minutes of presentations with a cake reception in the cafeteria.  My high school students and I were exhausted afterward, but we think that all the young thespians had a wonderful day.  I was so proud of our work.  AND we raised over $1200!!  (It cost $25 per student to register for the workshop.  Lunch and a T-Shirt was included in that price, plus we had the kids from 8:30 a.m.- 2:00p.m.  Try finding a babysitter you can pay less than $5 an hour!)

With the turn out we had this year, we plan to do TWO workshops next year.  We will do one for 3rd-5th graders, and one for 6-8th graders.  That way, we can hopefully keep the groups smaller and design the workshops differently to be more appropriate for the age groups.

Top 10 Things Migraines Make It Hard To Do

My saving grace...after two doses and 7 hours.

1.  Sleep
2. Celebrate your graduating Seniors' last Monday in school
3. Move without feeling nauseated
4. Read
5. Be in well lit areas
6. Follow the directions for proper use on the Tylenol bottle
7. Dance
8. Be a wonderful wife
9. Not complain
10. Fully enjoy the experience of a Motorhead/Foo Fighters concert (though it doesn't make it hard to want to try)

You Win Some, You Lose Some

But sometimes when you lose some, it feels like you lose all of them at once.  During a time when lots of lovely things are going on that should be celebrated, I am sucked into the losses.  and while I know very well that when I say "losses", I mean things that are small and not a big deal.

Sunday began the week with a terrible loss on the softball field.  I felt I played a decent game, but the night ended with our team's worst defeat in 10 years.

Monday and Tuesday weren't bad, but Wednesday I got roped into being the Treasurer of the Nebraska State Thespian Society, among other things.  I really didnt want to, but I'm a sucker for doing things that are good for students and while this position isn't directly, the organization is.

Thursday night was the Drama II showcase of student adapted and directed plays.  My class works for one third of the semester on their pieces and it is always rewarding for them to perform (some of them for the first time!)  I like to record the evening's program and have my students watch and analyze it in class.  The showcase went very well, but when I went to play back my recording, I realized that I didn't get the microphone turned all the way on, and so the whole show recorded sans sound.  I was devastated.  Especially since some of my students were counting on a video to share with their parents who couldn't make it.  I hate when I make stupid mistakes that I could have not made had I been paying more attention.  Turns out- my kids didn't really care.  At least- they didn't care enough to re-do it.  So much for trying.

When I got home from my showcase, I was pumped to watch the season finale of The Office, which I had stored on our DVR.  Ryan and I finally sat down to the viewing and realized that there was something wrong with the feed and the whole show recorded cutting in and out.  We didn't get to see The Office finale, and for some reason, it made me so mad!  This is horrible, I know, because people have actual things to get mad about, but after my long day all I wanted to do was laugh along with The Office, and that wasn't going to happen.  I have a hard time when my plans change too suddenly.  I felt like I went to bed with out supper.

This bad mood carried over through the school day on Friday with various things getting on my nerves (mostly students- I had to send one to the principals office!)  Luckily- I made it through the week.  I was fortunate to have plans Friday night with some great friends and we ate at INGREDIENT, a hip restaurant that moved in where the California Pizza Kitchen used to be.  We ended our night watching the first six episodes of the first season of Arrested Development.  A great way to end the evening.

What I've realized about my week is that sometimes a person just has to let off some steam.  Even if what causes the steam are very minor infractions in general.  It is natural to go through a spectrum of emotions every once in a while.

What does it take to turn my frown upside down?

• Some affection from my husband.
• Time with friends
• Productivity (Today, I was able to get five hours of grading out of the way and a week's worth of laundry and I feel amazing!!)
• Good television (Ryan and I watched the office online just over 24 hours after its original airing.  Isn't the future great!?)
• Shopping and finding great deals.  (This works every once in a while when I don't feel guilty for spending money on myself.)

I'm glad last week is over, and I'm two weeks closer to summer vacation.  My mood should naturally only increase from here.

What do you do when you find yourself in a bad mood?

Dancing WIth The Stars and I Don't Take Risks

I would never miss an episode of Dancing with the Stars.  There is something about this show that I absolutely adore.  Maybe it is the glitz and the glam, perhaps the stories of relationships and couples with dedicated work ethic, or possibly it is just the dances themselves, but I am a dedicated fan.

Tonight the show was jam packed with drama.  Heinz Ward's partner Kym Johnson suffered a serious neck injury during rehearsal as they were practicing a special lift for their next great dance.  It was really hard to watch.  It made me sick to my stomach.  She was rushed off in an ambulance, and after the shock and excitement of this televised event wore off, I started to remember why I'm not a risk taker.

I don't want to be paralyzed.  I'm not ready to die. I don't ever want to end up worse off than I am.  (Thankfully, Kym Johnson recovered and danced two perfectly scored dances with Ward tonight.  I called and voted for them, my first vote of the season, because Ward cried his first dance and really showed how much he cared for his partner).

Now- me not taking risks may not be true in all circumstances.  I think my 403b investments are "high risk," but all I could lose there is money.  When it comes to my life- I am a tad more cautious.  Life is precious!  Sometimes I envy those people who are willing to sky dive, bungee jump, or climb over the rails of the Grand Canyon to get the perfect picture, but other days- like today- I'm glad that I don't take risks, and that I'm still safe and sound on the couch at home with my husband.  Maybe I'm just a coward.

I know the saying goes "no risk, no reward,"  but I think "no risk, no risk."  And usually, I prefer to be safe rather than sorry and that is how I'll stay, until I can find a reward great enough to push me past my comfort zone.

Still Learning

Somehow all of the comments on my Bossypants post disappeared as well as a few layout changes all within a period of 24 hours.  Sorry if yours was one of those comments.  I'm working on figuring this all out a little better.

This morning I'm headed out to catch a pre-noon showing of Bridesmaids.  At AMC you can go to a movie before noon for a discounted ticket price of $4.50.  That's how much it SHOULD cost to go to a movie.  I feel a little guilty about going out though.  I woke up and noticed a mountain of laundry that needs doing, and my husband had to cancel his golf plans due to weather.  Remember me saying how I have a hard time trying to relax?

Actually, I'm looking forward to my day, so I won't over analyze it on here.  Maybe I'll come home and my husband will have done all the laundry with his newly acquired free time. :)

I hope Bridesmaids gets me laughing.  I like Kristen Wiig.  The noises she can make with her voice are so ridiculous sometimes, it is hard not to chuckle at least a little.

Here's to Saturday!