last weeks at the grove

the time seems to be rushing by. i need to update more often.

like i said, two weekends ago was one-acts. it was also all-college sing, which was delightful as always. counterpoint performed "can't help lovin' that man of mine" from showboat, and we won again. i was a little worried, especially because the ABT's were really good this year. they did "let's hear it for the boy". they boys were absolutely hilarious. the adels did "robin hood: men in tights" and actually wore green tights (fortunately under black shorts). there were lots of oldies songs from the guys, which i loved. AEX won for housing groups with a great rendition of "come and go with me", and the okies won for frats with an amazing version of "bailamos". their dancing was a riot. i'm really glad i decided to sing again this year.

the last week of student teaching was a little hectic. it was like it was the official "rocky grove field trip week". between tennis, track, baseball, and softball, i never had more than 4 people in 10th period. i didn't see the baseball boys once the entire week. and the gifted kids were in and out the entire week. it was really frustrating, because i was trying to finish up my unit, but my classes were on different schedules based on who could take the test when. i was really kind of sad to leave. i've gotten attached to the little buggers. i said good-bye to some of my seniors, which was hard because i really like a lot of them. and apparently some of them really liked me too. i got a letter from one of them, claiming that he fell in love with me and wanting me to contact him. yeah, right. like i'm going to do that. it was sweet, though.

when i returned to school, i found my room filled with balloons. a 4 1/2 foot high stack of balloons covering my bed, desk, dresser, etc. (for a pictoral reference: http://lessoftheshadow.blogspot.com/2006/05/ballooning-im-still-taking-break.html) apparently shelly wanted to fill someone's room with balloons, and i was the lucky candidate. for the record, nearly two pounds ends up being a hell of a lot of balloons. fifteen garbage bags worth. it was really funny. megan said my face was priceless when i came into the room. we hauled most of them to pew for TAP inductions/bash. we used about half of them for that, then on saturday i popped the rest of them in one of the dressing rooms. it was the best feeling. it was like freshman year finals balloon popping taken to a new level. appropriate, seeing as how i'm now done with college, not just finals. it was very cathartic.

thursday were TAP inductions and the TAP bash. during inductions, i got to bring the return of lady drakmuth, second spirit of TAP and keeper of the secrets of the order. i love being creepy. the bash was fun. i wore the golden chili pepper shimmy dress. the seniors did a dance to "i wish i could go back to college" from avenue q. a funny song, but slightly depressing at the same time. then we played a slide show of pictures of all the shows we've done for the past four years. i won best costumes and best soft tech for pirates. it may sound silly, but i'm glad i was able to win for a show i actually designed, instead of just chiefed.

on friday, i ventured back to rocky grove to go on the 9th grade field trip to the henry ford museum in detroit. i had a really good time, but 18 straight hours is way to long to spend with a group of 15 year olds. 4:30 am to 11:30 pm. the museum was fascinating. they had the oddest collection of stuff - trains, planes, old cars, a model house, the car kennedy was assassinated in, the chair lincoln was shot in, rosa parks' bus, old furniture, a diner. outside, ford had actually moved all sorts of historic buildings to the museum: the wright brothers' house, thomas edison's laboratory, noah webster's house, a southern plantation house, a general store, the first building to have electricity, etc. it was odd, but very interesting. i think the kids (and me, obviously) would have had a much better time had it not been raining and cold. thus, i think their favorite place was the glass-blowing building, because it was warm. it was also fascinating to watch. everybody was pretty much well-behaved the whole time, which was good. and i decided that i have serious problems, because i was thought to be both a 9th grader and the mother of a 9th grader. how is it that i can look 15 and 45 at the same time?

i've spent the rest of finals week wasting a lot of time, watching a lot of tv, and packing random things. i've managed to watch a lot of gilmore girls.

me: i've watched 3 seasons of gilmore girls in about 5 days.
ryan: i don't think that is healthy

i'm obsessed with that show. i love it. as far as packing goes, i haven't been that successful. i just don't pack well unless it's after 2 am. i should maybe work on that. i was able to find a new bathing suit today, though the experience of shopping for it was traumatizing. forget going tanning in order to go to the beach, i think people go tanning to be able to try on bathing suits in the store.

tomorrow is a group adventure to pittsburgh to pick up trey from the airport, more packing, and then the theatre people are going to beth's condo in seven springs to hang out for the night.