Today and yesterday

Yesterday: went to Michigan Northwestern game. dad rooted for michigan, i rooted for northwestern. NW lost.
Today: watched Bears game. Bears lost. now 1-3.

Spain, Traverse City, Mexico

Wow. so i basically have to catch myself up on everything i did this past summer. that would take an excruciatingly long time. yikes. okay, well, let's do this. pretty much anything i remember now i will remember in a couiple of whatever's; i dunno: weeks, days, somethin. ill write about my summer then. now, im just going to try to start writing in this every day ( iknow, i know, ive said that before). But now, i will make it just a few lines every day; like one line. That way it own't take as long and it will be more appealing to write in it, and i will want to do it more. I don't really need the 5 paragraph explanations of my day, anyway.

Today, we wrote poems in lit, had a test which i think i failed miserably on in physics, and went over a workshee which i did terrible on in geometry. After school, i went to some politcal club meeting and then hung around at school til 5:30 when i did tech for an open mic event at the school.

Well Well Well

Sooo...I haven't posted in a long time...just haven't found the time. Wow.. last post was the first of may, so i skipped an entire month, and now here we are: June is almost over! Well, let me just say that my show just closed. We had an excellent run; only one cancellation, which is good for our theater. We had 19 shows. I felt pretty good about the job I did. I played a character that only whispered; he never had any lines. Also, I graduated at the beginning of this month. We prepared for graduation for a few weeks, but we still managed to mess it up. The most fun part, though, was not the graduation or the party that followed it (a party for class members and parents), but the show that I had that night. My mom invited a bunch of people, and paid for all of them, I think. We had a full house, and at curtain call everybody waved signs around saying Congratulations and stuff like that. Then, everybody came over to our house for a party. We had a big cake with a picture of me in costume on it. The artistic director was the last one to leave, probably around 3:30. I don't remember very well. My dad also started his show, called "I Sailed With Magellan." It's based off a book, and I actually auditioned for one of the roles. They would have cast me if I had not gotten so tall and gotten such a deep voice all of a sudden. He really had a tough time in rehearsals, and said he was kind of having a rough time with his role. But I've seen it three or four times now (it opened yesterday, or I guess two days ago because it's past midnight), and I think he's doing a really good job. I got to help build the set for it a little bit, as I was always hanging around the theatre. I've helped the main set builder on sets at that theater before, too, as my dad has done several shows there. This show is certainly very challenging tech-wise. There are a couple hundred visual cues, a couple hundred light cues, and a couple hundred audio cues. Also, 10 actors play over 50 characters. It's really good though. And it's running really smoothly, which, according to my dad, wasn't the case during the first couple previews, as the actors didn't know where they were going, I guess. They have cut a few scenes, so I guess that helps. I've gotten kind of a reputation among the actors, though, because I always come backstage at intermission and before and after the show. I have a lot of the lines memorized, so I'll give line notes to my dad about lines he messed up. Now everybody backstage is teasing me about that. After opening night for the show, my dad and a couple other actors and some friends and I went to a bar/grille across the street from the theatre and had a little celebration. Since it's summer, I now have a lot more time for reading (I'm reading American Pharaoh right now, about the first Mayor Daley) and watching movies. Since the last time I wrote in this blog, I've seen A fish Called Wanda, Some Like it Hot, The Queen, Dr. Strangelove, and probably a few others that I can't think of. We've also certainly established ourselves as regulars at Cafe Selmarie, a restaurant near my dad's. We've been eating there almost every day for the past week. We ate father's day brunch there, which I gave my dad "The Assault on Reason" for. He loved it. Speaking of presents, I got some great ones for graduation...mostly money, which I used to buy some books for (library books are fine with me, but we were near a borders so we figured "why not?"). I also used it to buy "The Assault on Reason" for my dad. The books that I got were Washington Gone Crazy (about the Red Scare), Chasing Ghosts (a Soldier's perspective on the failures of the Iraq War), and God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (self-explanatory), by Christopher Hitchens. I also am looking forward to reading Freakonomics, about Economics, obviously. I only read non-fiction these days, and I like books pretty much in the topics of law, economics, and U.S. history. I also want to read two books of my dad's ( as well as "The Assault on Reason," when he's done), and those are "The audacity of hope," by Barack Obama and "Sea of Thunder," about the WWII battle of Leyte Gulf. As for a construction update on the house across the street from my dad's, they've now got the entire frame up, and the roof and chimney done. Today, or i guess yesterday, as it's past midnight, my dad and I went out to two of my grandma's (who died Feb. 1st) old houses. They're both out in the suburbs, and it will be the last time I will have seen either. Her really old one was initially built in the 1850's, when Chicago was still a teenager. That one was gradually added onto over the years, and th newest part was built in probably the early 2000's. The newer house, the one that she moved into when she got sick, was only one story (she was having trouble getting up and down stairs), and was much, much newer. Now, the newer one is getting sold and the older one is getting demolished. It's sad because the developer initially said that he was going to live in it, not demolish it. He did rent it out at first. But now he is going to demolish it, and build several new houses, although the plans are kind of on hold, as a lot of it depends on the clearance of a neighbor (something to do with the zoning), and the developer is not getting it. In the mean time, the Long Grove fire department is using it as a training ground. When we arrived, we could see they had totally raped it, but my dad said that as long as one firefighter had learned a life-saving technique, it was worth it and my grandma would have been happy. They didn't actually burn it, but instead had been practicing how to tear holes in walls and ceilings. The door was open, so we went inside. It was really sad, seeing all these rooms where so many memories had amassed with holes in the ceilings and holes in the walls right through into the outdoors. The coachhouse had taken the brunt of the pillaging though, as it was almost completely falling apart. But, like I say, I'm glad the firefighters are learning something. I am really sad to see it go, though, as my dad was pointing out to me stuff he had written in the wood walls when he was a boy. So much nostalgia. It's really too bad. If they are tearing it down, I wish they would just burn it down, so the firefighters would get practice. To me that's a more honorable way, if they do have to do it. Just keep lighting controlled fires until it's totally gone. They could also practice putting out brush fires, as the yard has gotten so overgrown that it's become like brush. We went and saw the creek one last time, too. And swung on the swing. As we were pulling away, we saw a fox. They hardly ever show themselves, so I think that was a good sign; a good omen. From the new house, we picked up some rugs and furniture, and, in the process, broke a pane of glass in a picture frame. Our dog, L.D., had a great time running around both lots. Too bad she won't be able to do that ever again. Oh, I forgot to mention my closing-night gift from one of my castmembers. He made three CDs of music for me, which was really nice. It was the top five favorite songs of all the company members. I have been listening to them, and since I don't listen to much music, it's been great. Also, in other news, I was walking home from a pet store to buy a condolence gift for our neighbor and his dog when I saw my science teacher in his car driving by. He honked, but only my dad actually saw him. The reason we were buying a condolence gift was because my dog attacked their beagle the other day when she got out into the alley without a leash on. My dad had his hands full, so he couldn't stop her immediately. It was the night of my dad's opening so we were late leaving, and then we had to double back to make sure the doors were closed and locked (turns out we were just paranoid; they were.) We still ended up getting there 10 minutes early, even though we thought we were going to be late. That's still much later than my dad likes to get there. Anyway, I'm enjoying summer, and am beginning the first leg of my real summer activities this Thursday, with my trip to Spain through Northwestern University. But I will tell more about that later. I'm sure there is much more to catch Future Will up on, as I did go a whole month and a half without posting, but I think this is enough for now, or at least enough for the basis of future posts. I must get off to bed now. Good night.

May Day

The first day of May brought our last rehearsal before tech week, the closest an actor will ever get to the dramatic equivalent of SEAL bud/s training. As we had painted the day before, the first thing I did was look around at our work. We then pretty much did a run-thru, and worked two songs afterwards: nothing too exciting. We did, however, have some props for really the first time. As far as school goes, we had service today. I'm in the Earth Care service (read a few blog entries back for detail). We didn't get started on collection utnil really late because we had a meeting first to discuss problems concerning materials being thrown in the recycling bin (plastic, food, and other prohibited materials/unrecyclables). Subsequently, we didn't have time to enter the numbers into the Excel workbook on the computer (we always weigh the bags), but we did get it down on paper, so maybe we can get the numbers in next week. Or maybe the math teacher (she presides over the Earth service) will enter them for us. At least we managed to get everything collected. As far as a construction update, they dug the hole for the basement today, and as far as a construction update for the construction site across the street from my dad's, they've applied the black sealant to the concrete. In other building updates, my dad finished getting the doors of the garden shed mounted, now all we need to do is make the walls. At the theater, I learned that we may be getting air conditioning, which will be very nice. Once the lobby is redone this summer, we will have markedly improved environs for our patrons. Anyway, I must go to bed, as we have tech tomorrow and the day after that.

2 in 1

So yesterday, I forgot/went to bed too late to blog, and tonight it's 1, and I have to get up at 7 tomorrow. So, again I have stayed up too late. But let me just say that yesterday, I bobbed (manned the box office at my theater) for the kids show there. However the director was there, and she handled a lot of my duties so I could actually see the show, because I hadn't seen it before. There was a birthday party that came, and it was nice to have a more senior company member/veteran bobber there to handle things. When I got home, I washed patio furniture and then we grilled out. Anyway, moving on to today. It was a Monday, which sucked, but I did start in a yet more advanced part of math class. Thinking back on the day, that's really the only thing I can think of of any significance. At 7, I had rehearsal. I walked there, and then stayed until 10:15 for the regular rehearsing (run-thru with stopping + one of the songs), one of our longest rehearsals yet. I then stayed afterwards to help paint. I mainly painted a section of drywall that hadn't been painted since it was put up. Then my mom arrived at the theater and took me home. Wow, that was short for two days worth of activity! But, future Will, that will have to be good enough as this Will is really, really tired.

A better part of my day at the theater

Today, I had to wake up at 10 because I had to be at a burial service for my paternal grandma at 11. It was out in the suburbs, and it was about a 45 minute drive, so we had to leave about 10:15. She passed away Feb. 1, and was cremated. We threw some of the ashes of Peanut Butter Ridge on Ajax Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, the same place where some of my paternal grandfather's ashes are. But the rest we buried today, in the cemetary across the street from the montessori school she founded. After the burial, we went out to brunch. I had a chocolate crepe. Afterwards, my aunt inquired about getting someone to speak to the montessori kids (she now runs the school) about the Department of Peace, which I am promoting through the Peace Alliance. I volunteered myself. She also said maybe I could talk to the high school kids at the high school that my cousins went to. Now I have to find a date between now and their graduation when I can come talk, and prepare something. At about 1, we headed back to town, and we got back at around 2. I mowed my dad's lawn (I had been with my dad ever since he picked me up at my mom's at 10), and then went to the theater for rehearsal at 4. It was possibly the shortest rehearsal ever, with us jut running one song. We were done by 5:30. Nobody's getting used to that though, as tech week is next week. I then walked to my mom's, and played computer games here until 7:20, when I walked back to the theater to go to their hit show that is now closing after 7 years. I think I'm the only company member of the theater that's never been in it. Anyway, on the way there, there was an ambulance and firetruck stopped with their lights on, but I didn't see any action. I got to the theater at 7:40, and waited around until two castmembers of the show that I'm rehearsing for now showed up. The fiancee of another of my castmembers (and a member of the cast of the show we were about to see) was there, and it turns out it was his birthday. This was like the fifth time I've seen the show, but the first in two or three years. It was really funny. When it was over, I hung around a little and talked to a few people (there were quite a few company members and/or castmembers of the show I'm rehearsing for in this show), and then when they all went off to the bar that all the people from the theater always go to after rehearsal/shows, I walked home, as I can't go in the bar. When I got home, I looked at new posts on Engrish.com, one of my favorite websites. It is so funny. It's mis-translations, if you will, of Japanese/Chinese text into English. Now I am too tired to do anything more, so I am turning it in for the night.

Can you say "100 percent?"

I'm writing this so late (1:15 am) that it's actually 4/28/07. But this is the post for 4/27/07, and oh what a happy Friday (isn't that redundant?) it was! The big news: I got a 100 on my Constitution test! Only one out of the 39 that took it. So here's how it went down: A few days ago the Social Studies teacher had about 15 of the 39 graded, and although she didn't want to hand those back, she did let those people come up and hear their score. I didn't go up then out of fear of what my score might be. Then, today, she had all of them done but still didn't want to hand them back until the final person that needs to take it takes it. So, she said people can come up and have their score told to them. I just continued working on an outline I was working on, again, because I was scared. Somehow, somebody had figured out that I got 100 because they asked me. I had no clue what I had gotten. Then the teacher said, "Will, aren't you curious?" and I was like, "Oh, I'm so scared." She then mouthed to me "100." I was so happy. In other school-related news, I found out that a company I have stock in, Wrigley gum, is donating $5,000 to my school. I also have to begin searching for a salsa recipe, as we are having a Cinco de Mayo/annual salsa cookoff/competition in Spanish class. I voluntarily made salsa two years ago, and then didn't last year. But this year, it's required, so I'm trying to come up with a good recipe now. In math class, I began my advanced work, and in language arts, we had our final quiz (there's usually a quiz after each act, or every other act) for Romeo and Juliet. In construction site news, they finished loading all the debris into the dump trucks. We had a few classes in the atrium or library instead of in the normal classroom due to complaints by both teachers and students of a dizzying diesel aroma in the rooms along the back part of the school (closest to the alley). This was caused by the dump trucks being on for the entire time they were being loaded, even though they were not moving. I did not smell anything. When I got home, I pretty much goofed off until 8:30, when I went to see my uncle in the city's improv fest. It's the second straight year I've gone. We arrived 45 minutes late, but it was okay because my uncle hadn't gone on yet anyway, and we came mainly to see him. After the show was over, we got to go backstage, and then got to leave the special actors-only exit. This was because a large crowd had amassed outside for the 10:30 show, and it would have taken forever to get through it. On the way home, my mom and I stopped at a 24 hr. diner and I had ham and hash browns, which was way too greasy for my liking. I picked up an especially funny edition of the Onion, too. It was hilarious. Probably the funniest Onion ever. The Onion was also, by the way, a sponsor of this improv fest I had just been at, along with Chemically Imbalanced Comedy (CIC), a theater troupe that rents space from my theater company. After I got home, I just wasted away time staring at the computer screen, and now am going to stop doing that, and finally go to bed.