A couple weeks ago Star Wars Son's drama class did a one night only performance of Cinderella. It was a British version written by a playwright whose name I cannot remember. It was HILARIOUS!!!
Cinderella's father's name was Baron Hardup.
Her stepsister's were called Asphyxia and Euthanasia. See the sister to the left of Prince Charming (played by SWS)? That's a guy... All the parts, except Cinderella and the Prince were way over acted, on purpose. Evan, who played one of the sisters stole the whole show. It had been a long time since I laughed so hard.
There was also singing and dancing. I wasn't expecting much because SWS kept saying how horrible rehearsals were going and how behind they were with all aspects of the performance. They were so behind that they ran out of time to make a playbill, which was disappointing to me, being a scrapbooker and all.
Anyway I did not take my camera. There is one thing I learned from Dancing Daughters dance shows... I cannot enjoy a performance while taking pictures. I was hoping to go to a dress rehearsal of Cinderella like I do with DD shows, but it just didn't happen.
So these are pictures my mom took and they are not very good, but they are better than nothing.
Star Wars Son's drama class is performing Cinderella the musical tonight. Yesterday was the matinee performance for younger kids, when I asked SWS how it went he said "AWFUL"! I can't tell you how excited I am to see his singing/dancing version of Prince Charming. If nothing else, it should be entertaining!
I finally got caught up on Lost! Whoa that show is something else. Every time I see an episode I'm blown away with the imagination of the creators and writers.
The other day I was happily reading a post by Mrs. G over at The Women's Colony. I'm not linking to the post because it had a spoiler about Dexter season 4... I'm still playing catch up in the middle of season 2. To say the last thing I expected was to find out how season 4 ends while innocently reading about about how Mrs. G lies to herself would be an understatement. GAH! Please post spoiler alerts even if the season has been over for a while, you never know who's watching past seasons on Netflix for the first time!
I checked out another Photoshop book from the library. The more I try to learn the more I think I need to take a class.
I had a big epiphany over the weekend regarding employment and careers. I'll be sharing it with you soon.
The second semester of school started yesterday. As I was making coffee this morning it hit me that my son is in his last semester of high school. It took my breath away. I remember my last semester of high school. By planning ahead and getting most of my credits out of the way my final semester schedule was light and short. Star Wars Son is in the same position.
Period 1 - Economics - I know this class sounds hard but the counselor
told SWS it's the senior "skate" class. Star Wars Son had this to say
about the teacher... He's an older guy and I'm convinced he was
high yesterday. He talked really slow. When his computer announced he
had a new email it was very loud and it startled him, in very slow
speech he said, "I guess I should turn that down."
Period 2 - Beginning Guitar - The rumor is the final test of the class is to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?!!
Period 3 - Film Appreciation - SWS's very smart and sharp English teacher told him not to take this class. She called it Movies For Dummies. I'm pretty sure that comment convinced him to take the class. SWS had this to say... The teacher is crazy! She said if we bring a drink to class other than water she's going to spit in it! But we are going to watch some cool movies like The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. First we have to sit through the silent movies. I'm excited to hear how this class plays out.
Period 4 - Drawing and Painting - SWS finally has the best art teacher in the school who is retiring at the end of the year. I'm very glad he gets to have the experience of being taught by her.
That's a schedule I would have loved as a final semester senior!
(I made it through a whole post without mentioning job hunting or being unemployed... almost)
Star Wars Son and his band recorded a song over the weekend. Have I even mentioned that he's in a band? You do know he plays the drums, right? I guess I haven't talked too much about it, cause you know how teens are with bands... First they are in one, then they aren't or the guitar player quits, or the singer has a sore throat so they can't practice, blah, blah, blah... I didn't really take it too seriously.
SWS, on the other hand, takes his band very seriously. He writes the songs. He motivates the other members to practice. He brainstormed a bunch of different band names for them to vote on, the name they chose is Act of Bravery. He made a My Space Music page. He designed their logo. He's really into this.
Now, my regular readers know I love music. I love almost every type of music. I appreciate the making of music, both the writing and the playing of it. The music SWS is into is difficult for me to listen to, technically it's called hardcore, I call it scream-o. I've heard a lot of this scream-o music lately and not just from Act of Bravery, although they do practice at the house regularly. This music is very popular with the teens and young 20's. Some of it is not so bad and actually I like the music part of it. I'm a rocker at heart... But the singing?! Oh. My. Gawd... Someone save me.
Here is an example, don't feel like you have to listen to all of it...
Stick To Your Guns - Poor Mans Poor Sport
Ok, now you have an idea of the type of music that is inspiring my son and his band mates. SWS tells me that this band sings about stopping racism, respecting women and about family and friends. I have to take his word for it because who the heck can understand those lyrics?! They are also inspired by Blink 182 and A Day to Remember, both bands I enjoy a lot.
So SWS wrote a song, the band learned the song, they practiced for a while and last weekend they recorded it. It needs to be noted that they recorded it using Garage Band on the iMac and the Rock Band Mic. They have no "professional" recording equipment. They recorded it one instrument and vocal part at a time. SWS produced and edited the song. It took hours. The only way to share it with you is to give you their my space link, Act of Bravery. The song is called Something Real. The mean scary sounding vocal is the guitar player, Tyler. The other background vocal is SWS.
Give it a listen, if nothing else it will excite SWS to see more people have listened to their song.
I'm really proud of SWS and his friends. They have stuck with this for a few months now. They have survived one of the guitar players quitting and have recorded a song, albeit an amateur one. He's pretty much living the dream that I wanted to be living when I was a teen. You keep on creating SWS!
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I'm continuing to send healing thoughts to Haiti. Please go check out Mental P Mama's post from yesterday. She has great links for donating.
According to a recent twitter message by Chris Cornell and this Billboard article, 90's Seattle rock band Soundgarden are reuniting for some concerts in 2010. This means Matt Cameron, who is the current drummer for Pearl Jam and past drummer for Soundgarden will have a busy 2010. Pearl Jam is already scheduled to perform a few shows in May, June and July.
I've never been a huge Soundgarden fan, but I can appreciate the important role they played in the Seattle music scene of the 1990's. I did see lead singer Chris Cornell during his solo tour and was blown away by his talent.
Today I'm sharing one of Soundgarden's hits with you as well as a story!
Soundgarden - Spoonman
Spoonman is a real Seattle performer named Artis, yes the song is about him and yes that's him playing the spoons in the video. He plays the spoons as I've never seen them played before. He is amazing. Not so much now, but in the past he played regularly at street festivals and as a busker at the Pike Place Market.
In 2008 we had a big 16th birthday party for Star Wars Son and his best friend C... Their birthdays are only a couple weeks apart. C's parent, Sharon and Michael are artists who make their living making and selling stained glass kaleidoscopes at the Pike Place Market and know Artis the Spoonman.
Artis donated a performance to a charity auction being held at the Pike Place Market. Sharon got word of it ahead of time and we decided it would be great if we could win the bidding for the performance for SWS and C's birthday party. We came up with a dollar limit and Sharon started bidding. We were the lucky winners and Artis the Spoonman performed at SWS and C's 16th birthday party!
He was amazing! He plays the spoons with his whole body. Between "songs" he talked to the kids about all kinds of stuff, but the main message was to stay away from drinking and drugs. They were all enthralled with him and later some of them told me they could have listened to him play and tell stories all night.
I feel so fortunate to have had him perform at the kids party, it really made it extra special!
Here is a performance Spoonman did on Night Music in 2006... This is a must watch!
Since I was without a computer for a week at the end of the year I didn't get a chance to report on a few events.
Right before winter break Star Wars Son and a partner completed a graduation requirement! It's called the CBA (Classroom Based Assessment). They did it in their Senior History class and the subject they chose was Religious Intolerance. Their presentation was 25 minutes long and very detailed, especially regarding the history of religion.
The presentation was judged by a panel of 3; teacher, and 2 alumni. They were very nervous before, especially SWS's partner!
They had no reason to be nervous, they were well prepared and did a fantastic job. The requirement of the presentation was to cover three areas, the conflict, the share holders and a resolution. The share holders were what they considered the major players in religious intolerance, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and the non-religious.
They spoke of the similarities between the three religions; they all have a single God, a Messiah, and stories of miracles. The Atheists don't believe in a God of any kind, they are driven by proof or scientific evidence, something solid they can see or experience. The Agnostics are somewhere in the middle, they acknowledge there might be the existence of a God.
They covered how the wars throughout history have mostly been over religion. They made a great point about how even though the killing of millions of Jewish people happened during the holocaust the Jewish religion is still going strong today. War does not stop a religion, it just kills innocent people without killing the religion.
Their resolution was about how if each religion took some time to see how similar they are and how if people would just accept other religions, not agree or even understand them, just be tolerant of all different beliefs war might be avoided. They even suggested that maybe, since there are many similarities in the three main religions, maybe all those different paths lead to the same God. Maybe all the religions are right?
They wrapped up by talking about how studying and preparing for this presentation changed them. Halfway through the research they came to realize one was a Christian the other an Atheist. SWS's partner explained to him about how most people have to believe in something, how having faith gives them security and keeps them going. SWS explained how he's more secure in knowledge and proof than faith. They both left this experience more tolerant than when they started. I was so proud of both them.
A quick parenting note... This presentation took place on a Thursday evening at the school. There were about 30 kids presenting, 3 different presentations to a room. Besides SWS we watched a presentation on the US budget for war and one on the war in Afghanistan. We were the only parents there. SWS said there were a couple parents who were on panels, but there were no other parents to watch or support their kids. I find that very disturbing.
Here is a group picture taken in the school library:
The teens are invading our house this evening. It will be the first time both my kids will have friends over at the same time. It could be interesting. Dancing Daughter and Star Wars Son are about as different as two people can be, yet so much the same. Neither has any patience for drinking, drugs or smoking.
DD is an active Christian who attends church activities twice a week (sometimes three times). SWS is a self proclaimed atheist, although when pressured he will say that he MIGHT believe in the Force, which we all know is very spiritual.
DD is very uncomfortable hearing foul language. SWS and his friends are all about the foul language.
DD and her friends have no tattoos or piercings, SWS and his friends are all about the body art (not that SWS has any body art, besides pierced ears, but whatever).
DD is not into the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing. SWS has had a few "serious" girlfriends.
DD wears a purity ring. SWS.... Well whatever.
We are not really sure how many kids on either side will be showing up, but at least we have the computer back and running well. While one group is using the only TV we have, the other group can be on the computer or playing one of the 1,000 board games we have.
We have 3 half racks of soda, 5 bags of chips, many leftover Christmas cookies, meat and cheese platter, crackers, hummus, salmon ball, carrots... And wine for me. I think we are all set!!
At least once a year I get asked to help shaporone a field trip, usually by my son and usually to a play. I always say yes whether I'm interesting in seeing the play or not. When your high school son asks you to go on a field trip with him, you just say yes!
Yesterday I went with my son's English class to a performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The performance was held in the Center House Theatre at the Seattle Center. The place was all decorated for the holidays.
The play was performed by the Seattle Shakespeare Company who did a magnificent job. I'm not knowledgeable about Shakespeare, except Romeo and Juliet. I was never forced to read any of his plays, nor have I ever seen one before yesterday. I loved it! The story was hilarious and I had no trouble following it, though I thought I would. Before the show started the Company did an audience warm up with some kids who volunteered, Star Wars Son was one of the kids who volunteered. I was glad I took my camera, he's 3rd from the left.
It was an improv exercise where the participants had to use a descriptive word for a cat from A - Z. First person started with A, second B, and so on. It was fun and interesting to hear some of the words used. SWS was not the winner, but he had fun doing it!
I was excited that I was able to get good pictures in the low light without a flash, until I heard that absolutely no photos or taping of the actors is allowed. I was really disappointed.
Have I mentioned that it's really cold here?! We had to wait outside for about 15 minutes in the 15 degree morning, only to get on an ice cold school bus! Brrrrrrrr!
Star Wars Son is a senior this year. So many expenses. We've already been hit up for cap, gown, tassel, graduation announcements, thank you cards, class ring, the list goes on and on. We decided to save some money and do his senior pictures ourselves. I have a great camera, with great lenses. I know how to take a picture. What I don't know how to do is edit. I use a very minor program that came with i-photo, but there are not many editing options to choose from. To say I was anxious about taking SWS senior pictures would be an understatement, until I won a contest over at These Nine Acres. Tracey offered her editing services free of charge to contest winners.
I got busy and shot about 50 pictures. Out of those SWS and I picked 5 we really liked. Most of them had major exposure issues. I didn't know if two of them could even be edited, the exposure was so bad, but they happened to be our two favorite pics, of course. I emailed all five images to Tracey telling her if she couldn't work with any of them to let me know and I'd send others.
She rose to the occasion and did amazing work. I'm so impressed with her eye and talent.
The original photos are on the left, Tracey's handy work on the right. I love every single one of them!
That last one is my favorite! SWS loves the one right above it!
Tracey's work has inspired me to learn how to use photoshop (one more thing to add to my list of things to do!)
To see what Tracey did with the other contest winner's pictures follow her blog over the next week or so. She will be posting before and afters of all the contest winners!
The appraisal was completed on Monday. Handy Man walked the guy around and answered all his questions about what we've done to the house and when the work was completed. He took a lot of notes and pictures, but oddly enough didn't ever use a tape measure. He mentioned he was having a really hard time finding comps. I was really hoping we'd have some news by now, but nothing yet.
Star Wars Son is having a great time with Cinderella. Yesterday when I picked him up from school he said, You are going to laugh really hard when I say this, but I really love musical theatre. He was right, I laughed. It's so unexpected. He was dreading the whole thing at the beginning of the year and now he's having a blast. Surprisingly he also said, I love the dancing part. I almost drove off the road when he said that. I love it when my kids amaze me.
More Star Wars Son news... I can't remember if I posted that he broke up with his "out of town" girlfriend? There was a little too much lying on her part going on so he called it quits. Now he's working on another girlfriend who lives only two towns away, has her own car and two parents. He's trying out a different kind of girl he told me... A stable one.
I'm looking for some book recommendations. I just read a couple of really great books (The Kite Runner and Plainsong) and am having a challenge finding another one on par with those. I just started The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, so far it hasn't grabbed me, but I usually give a book 100 pages before I quit. I'd love to hear what you are reading or have loved reading.
