Showbiz

This week I've been involved in a couple of theater productions. First, I helped with a DDF fundraiser, the annual talent show. We had about twelve contestants and interspersed the acts with skits about 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. We had a kid playing in a kiddie pool on stage with action figures, then had real people recreate his story at the side. We brought in a big yellow septic tank (unused) and had Capt. Nemo inside. He pops out and has adventures with a shark, mermaid, and giant squid.

I got to be stage manager, meaning I had to make sure the props were in place, the talent was ready to go on, and all of the mic stands and instruments were adjusted right. Besides a few minor mishaps (I knocked over a keyboard in front of 50+ people and had to struggle to keep it upright) everything went well. I, for some reason, have always loved fundraisers and the excitement of a stage production. I guess these things let me socialize with people, but with a common goal. I hate just hanging out with people, as I don't know what to say or what to do. In a fundraiser or production, we have something we have to do, so there is no wasted time talking about random topics. I suppose it makes me seem overly obsessed with work, but working and fundraising is fun to me. It is certainly a lot easier than school work, and I don't really have to think very much, just work. It is sort of like a productive way to take a break.

A day or so after the DDF fundraiser, I volunteered to help with the high school drama class's production of The Pink Panther Strikes Again. I wasn't in the drama class, but they needed someone to help with the sound and lights. One of the teacher aides was in charge of the lights, and he showed me how to do the lights. I had one rehearsal to get the cues down, and then we did a public show. It was a lot of fun. I got to use a spotlight to follow characters and use the light board to set up lighting for all the different scenes. Besides I few mistakes, I did okay.

I still haven't finished my New Zealand video, but school is out in about a week, so I should have a lot of time to work on it then. Hopefully I will have some usable footage, but I haven't had a chance to review it all yet.

On Saturday, a couple of hours before my rehearsal for The Pink Panther, I hiked up Mt. Ripinsky with my family and a friend of my sister. There are about four trails that go up Mt. Ripinsky. To try something new, we parked one car at the bottom of one of the trails, then hiked up another one. We would hiked down to are car at the other end. We hiked for a while and came to part of the trail where there was still snow. We had all dressed for warm weather (shorts and T-shirts), so as  we fell into the snow, it scratched up our knees and legs. We went this way for a while and got up to the cell phone tower. I found out that the tower is powered by a gas generator and was loud and stinky. My mom is allergic to exhaust, so it made her sick. I suppose this is yet another reason not to use a cell phone (besides the fact that they affect bees and give you  brain cancer).

Besides that, it was very beautiful. I love high altitude meadows and bogs. I also like the moss covered ground and the granite rocks sticking out of it.

We kept hiking through the snow, but couldn't find the other trail down to our car. It was getting close to the time I had to be back for my rehearsal, so we ended up turning around and going back down the way we came.