Musicals, Cancer, and Advice

  These past few months have been crazy. Really, they have been. So we'll just have to glaze over those and move on to now and I'll try to go back through those months later. Anyway, let me just try and throw myself back into this and I can apologise quite more later. Yes. Sorry for having disappeared.
   This post will come in 3 Wonderful parts: Alice In Wonderland (as in the musical and me), and The Fault In Our Stars (As in JOHN GREEN!!!!:) ) and advice (because I've been watching Dear Buck and listened to Very Good Advice like 40 FREAKING TIMES today...).

PART 1: ALICE IN WONDERLAND


Yesterday, I had a concert band concert at Northwestern (which was lovely, by the way). Which meant that it was placed directly during the time at which I was supposed to be auditioning for a production of Alice In Wonderland Jr., which was obviously impossible. So, I recorded a video of me singing the audition song which I then sent the directors. And (lucky me!) I got a call back! Which is why I spent my afternoon (from 1-4) in a freezing cold auditorium, surrounded by semi-annoying actresses and entirely nice actors.
During the auditions, we were asked to be respectful, so I did nothing but listen to the auditions whilst the girls in the row behind us (more on "us" in a second) kept up a constant chattering of obnoxious criticism. The funny part about this is, of the three girls, none of them were in a position in which they had the right to criticize, because they weren't called back for those parts and they didn't realize the girls they were judging for their singing (when nothing was wrong, really) were all three-five years younger than them. So that was a bit annoying...
Anyway, I got called back for the Mad Hatter and for The Queen. I was lucky enough to get to sit there for an hour and a half listening to the same songs over and over and OVER again. Literally 30 times in a row sometimes. Halfway through the audition, I auditioned for the Queen. The audition song was from Oliver and it was "Perfect Isn't Easy". The beginning was fine and I was perfect up until the end where I (accidentally) sang a line in a way completely different from the notes. Lucky for me it still fit but I didn't mean to... And they saved the Mad Hatter for last. When I did it, I put as much energy as I could and I got the pitches right... SO I think they both went well! YAY!

PART 2: THE FAULT IN OUR STARS


I know better than to spoil the book (my friend did for four different people...) and it's not fair to do so over the internet. So let me just recommend this AWESOME book by award-winning novelist and lovely v-logger John Green. Co-founder of Nerdfighteria and wonderful father (I'd guess considering how awesome he is). A common misconception about this book is that it's a cancer book. Let me say this: this is not a book about cancer. Is a book about characters who both happen to have cancer and met because of their illnesses. Cancer is a big part of the book but it's not a story line in the book; it's a thing in their lives that causes story lines and changes them. This is a beautiful book and I swear you will not regret picking this book up. I promise you.

PART 3: ADVICE


The funny thing about advice is that we're good at giving it and okay at asking for it but horrible at taking it. However, can I suggest that giving advice is best done when you can give advice on how to act on it. I'm saying this because I have been giving a lot of advice lately and I know this.

LOVE YA'LL
Rex