Well I haven't updated in while, so here's th scoop:  The Spring Play is Once Upon a Matress, which is a musical, and I got one of the female leads(Winnifred) so I have 3 solos.  Yay, but scary.  ^^;

However, we have to open in three weeks and we don't even have all the major roles cast.  Tomorrow is our last chance to do a complete, memorized run-through, and if we can't, the plug is pulled.

No show.

The reason for this is that we've had three weeks rehearsal and we don't even have the freaking lines memorized yet.  There are some major roles without people in them, and some of the people in the leads don't seem to think this play is important enough to actually take seriously.

Almost no one is actually dedicated to the play - it's ridiculous!  And the people who ARE dedicated - like Matt and Brenna and me - get to have it all ruined.  This is Brenna's last chance to be in the high school play - she's graduating next year.  Now she's assistant-directoring, and doing a really good job trying to keep everyone on track, and it's all going to be wasted because nobody want to make the effort.

So tomorrow is our last chance.  And since no one can take a single rehearsal seriously, we're going to blow it and there will be no spring play.

I know I said I was going to start doing little comic-y blogs, and I might still, but I keep forgetting.  *wanders off to sketch*

Well, hasn't it been a while?  Yeesh.  I AM a slacker.

So I have updates on the Spring Play, but that's not what I'm going to talk about right now.  I'll wait until tomorrow, when I'll be blogging fresh from the first rehearsal.

I have an idea, which I may or may not follow through with.  First, let me say this:  I love writing.  I love poetry, prose, fiction, and nonfiction (but only nonfic as it applies to blogging and essays you KNOW are good).  But let's face it:  I never keep up with my blogs.  And I also love drawing, and I need a lot of practice.

So here's my idea:  Instead of writing a blog every day, some days I'll do a webcomic.  Like if something funny happens or I'm just feeling weird.  That way I'll still keep my hand in writing but I'll also get back in the drawing mode too, and I can practice without feeling too pressured.

What makes it easy is I try to wear somewhat interesting clothes.  What this basically means for those of you who know me is jeans and a T-shirt but maybe some cool shoes and an unusual jacket.  Or hats.  I'm big on hats.  Like right now I have on an AppleGeeks power symbol bandana, my mom's old navy jaket adorned with my Megatokyo character buttons, and my fuzzy boots made entirely out of black faux fur.  Oh yeah, and black jeans.  And a t-shirt.  ^_^

So that means I have some interesting shapes to work with in character design and things.  What I was thinking was, since technically I do wear the same things a lot (jackets, shoes, etc - the things that don't have to get washed after one wear), I could have different characters showing different sides of me.  Like, I don't know, what I'm wearing now could be the playful slacker side, and then my BRITS sweatshirt with stretchy belt and bowler hat could be my inner (and outer) drama geek.  It's a work in process.

One of the things that inspired me was This Class.  (I don't know if you have to be a member of the forum or not to veiw it, but try it anyway.)  It is amazing.  One of the best tutorials I've ever seen, because it goes past "this is how you draw arms and legs" and into the actual character you've made and/or are making.  If you aren't a member of the MT forums you can always just follow the steps and then post on dA or whatever forum you're on, or even on your blog.

I have two of the silhouettes for the first step done, and I'll post them here later, when I get the chance to scan them.  ^_^  If they look a little off it's because you're not allowed to use the stick-figure base in the beginning.  >.< But I think they turned out well.

Anyway, let me know what you think.  And join me in it, if you like.  ^_^

Well, my friend is all right.  Her mom found her lying on her bed, exhausted, a few hours later.  XP  So it's okay.  Long story, not one to be posted here, especially since no one really took enough of an interest in it in the first place to bother to comment.

Right before Christmas, Mom and I got some much-needed and much-enjoyed money because a peice of property we inherited a while ago FINALLY sold.  So we were able to buy the car, and we donated some money to the choir program and the drama program at school.

Today in Drama, Mrs.Ammon told the class that my mom had donated money.  She even told how much.  It was way embarrassing, and I don't get embarrassed easily.  Now, if I get a good part in the next play, people might think that I only got it because my mom gave the Drama Department money and not because I have some smatterings of talent.  I do want people to like me, or at least respect me.  Now it'll be all over school.   Ugh.

Well as long as I've started whining, I might as well finish.

I really need to get in shape.  I'm not fat or anything (yet -_-), but I'm definitely getting flabby in places that would look far, far better if they were firm or at least pulled in a bit, namely my stomach (though I do not yet have a spare tire that I can see, thank god), my arms, and my legs.  And my face.  My face is really round, not quite chubby, but full enough to almost completely erase any trace of bone structure.   

I mean, there's nothing wrong with being overweight, other than the obvious health issues.  My mom is and some of my friends are, and often as not it works for them and they are quite pretty despite it.  But I like the way I look, and I don't want it to sort of deteriorate into a lot of superfluous flabby flesh.  I'm pretty sure I couldn't pull off looking good overweight.

My legs are really the worst, I actually have cellulite there.  Wrinkly and gross.  But I'm glad they're the worst because they're easy to hide with tights or leggings or just pants. 

Anyway, the upshot of all this is that I should start eating what is good for me instead of what I like, and start excercising rather than sitting in front of the computer all day on my well-padded thighs.  It really isn't too late for me to pull things back together, but I more than anyone know that I am a huge procrastinator and have amazingly weak self-control. 

Do you think being able to eat what you want if you excersize a lot is just denial, or would it actually work?  I mean, it's not as if I'm chugging 15 sodas a day and finishing it off with three large pizzas and a milkshake.  I don't even drink soda.  I usually drink milk or water.  And okay, I have a weakness for chocolate, but what woman doesn't? 

I've never got the hang of salad, but I like egg rolls.  Maybe I'll just stick to Chinese food.  Whatever.

I don't whine like this often, but since I have no boyfriend or crush and therefore cannot fill my blog with melodramatic heartbreak, here is my token to the gods of high school and blogging: a whine about my body.

At the start of 2007, I was sitting at my computer, having just watched 3 rather odd movies - "Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Forum", "Smile", and "The Squid and the Whale" - checking and replying to my email.  As 12:00 struck, the fireworks began and I could hear the horns from cars on the highway heralding 2007.  I went out to the head of the stairs, but the fireworks are from a few roads down and the hill behind my house blocks any pretty explosions in the sky, so here I am, blogging to the sound of keys clacking and fireworks cracking, one of my first acts of the new year.

By 2010, I'll be getting ready to transfer from 2-year to 4-year college.  I'll be 20 years old, too - well, 19 on New Year's Day, but 20 for most of the year.  My god, three years, that's it.  I can't believe that by that time I'll be in college, have a job, maybe even have lost my virginity.  It's amazing how much can happen in a year.

Okay - New Year's Resolutions, with a side of drumroll, hold the fanfare.

1.  Get an issue of The Muse out by February, or at the very least the website up and running by the end of January. 

2.  Blog regularly, for heaven's sake.

3.  Get my first real kiss.  I'll be 17 soon, and it's about time!   I think I have one other friend who hasn't had theirs yet - well, actually, he told Brenna he hadn't and she 'stole it' from him, but I don't think that counts - but for heaven's sake, if I want to get mine before I graduate I'd better get it together.

4.  Get to know my friends better.  I have a lot of friends, but I don't know any of them very well and I'm really a loner, or at least I feel like one.  Not that I have a problem with that.  I just want to get to know people better.

5.  Turn my flippin' homework in instead of procrastinating on/losing everything!

I guess that's it.  ^_^  5 isn't too bad.   Oh, one more:

6.  Catch up and keep-up with letter-writing - email and otherwise.  ^_^

OK, done.  I'm starting the New Year with money in my savings account, a new car, and a cat who pukes up mucus and then drags her tail through it.  I wonder how 2007 will end...

Happy New Year, everyone!

So much for keeping up with the blog.  It's not even as if I'ver been really busy!  Ah, well.  What's happened since I last poked my head in here (as if anyone is actually keeping track)?

Well I had to drop out of NaNo, what with homework and rehearsals.  The play went really well!  I'll post a picture of me all witchy.  No one recognised me - hell, I couldn't even reconise me.  But it went great, on the last night there was even a line out the door for tickets!

I learned how to knit, too.  Renee was knitting during rehearsal and she got me and Alex (the lion) started.  I don't know if I'm actually doing it right, but hey, there's fabric coming out the end of my knitting needles (read: chopsticks) so what the hell?

I got a brand-new stereo, and it is awesome.  We got some new CDs, among them an album of Dean Martin songs and an album of Bobby Darin songs, so I can just stick them in my new stereo along with Tony Bennet and listen to some damn good music.  No, I'm not 80 years old.  These are classics.

And I got a new, bigger set of Prismacolor colored pencils, and we went to Barnes & Noble and spent a TON of money on books and movies and still didn't get everything we wanted, and today we're going to go test-drive a car. 

Some property we inherited sold, so we got some extra money just before Christmas.  ^_^  W00t!  And now we're going to buy a Honda Element.  Which is great because we've been driving my Grandpa's truck, which has no room at all and has been kicked by a horse and possibly other large animals.  My grandpa was a large-animal vet and we're still finding used syringes behind the seat.  I am going to love this new car.

My cat is sick.  She has phlegm in her lungs and some strange liquid pooling up between her lungs and her ribcage and her stomach is all bloated with gas, and the vets are for the most part mystified.  So we have her on antibiotics and she's in the house (usually all the cats stay outside) and all last week while Mom was at work, I was home alone with her for company and it was nice.  Except for the times when she puked up phlegm.

Anyway, I guess I should end this blog sometime.  So that's it for now.  ^_^

We had our first rehearsal today.  It was really just a read-through, but we got our rehearsal schedules and our scripts.  The director seems like he'll be good. 

I don't get any flying monkeys!  But I get slaves and pet cats, so I guess that's okay.  I'm only in the first scene of the second act, but I get to act out and I think I can create a memorable character, and I get a death scene too, so much fun! 

I think I am going to try to do NaNoWriMo, between homework and rehearsal, because I only have 2 hours of rehearsal on Saturdays and no rehearsal at all on Sundays and Fridays, so I will be able to get something done.  And I am getting credit for doing NaNo in my English class.  I doubt I'll get 50K words, but I'm giving it a shot.

The fact of it is... I really doubt I'd get anything done at all unless I challenged myself.  I'm lazy that way.  NaNo is the only time I really get any novel-writing done, and I don't want to miss it this year.

Thank-you to everyone who replied to give advice on my last post (Gooberpea and Random9).  I think I can make this work!

By the way, my NaNo blog is thenanofiles.mindsay.com.  It might not really be set up yet when you click that link, and then again it might.  It's on my to-do list.

I'm going to make a charm bracelet with a charm for every play I've been in.  So I'll have something for Complete History of America Abridged (a scroll maybe), one for Comic Potential (a robot), one for 15-Minute Hamlet (a skull?), and one for The Wizard of Oz (a scottie dog or a witch hat).  And I can add charms as the year goes on!  Who knows?  Maybe someday I'll have to make it into a necklace.