Call backs

I went into call backs with a strong opinion about who I wanted to play Romeo and Juliet. Both of the kids are seniors and strong actors. I was sure they would bring their A-game to the call back, but I was wrong. We called back 18 kids and had the stage manager start them off with theatre games to warm up. I walked into the PAC as the warm ups were underway and made a really interesting observation. The younger kids (primarily sophomores) and kids with very little theatre experience were going full out on the games and having a really good time. My R&J "shoe-ins" were barely participating. I asked the SM to have them do something where they would go full out...again...nothing from the so-called thespians in the group. I was disappointed. The disappointment continued throughout the audition. I will say that they gave us an incredibly passionate kiss during one of the scenes, but the rest of the scene lacked any kind of emotional connection. It's too bad, because I always thought they were strong actors. I guess they entered the audition process with too much confidence. Well, I guess this will be a lesson learned...hopefully.


On a completely unrelated side note--

My friend who shot and is editing ST:OGAM sent me a link of some asshats on a Mac board dissing the movie. I've been avoiding all the message boards lately--primarily because I don't have time with the play starting and grades due next week. I'm sick of negative people who are so quick to judge the creativity of others. It simply amazes me that they complain about the acting, script, and special F/X from a 6 minute trailer. Some of them said that they only watched half the trailer...WTF! Yeah, I'm sure their lives are so important that they can't spare a few minutes to watch the entire thing. People like that make me sick! And they wonder why the majority of the computing world thinks Mac users are idiots...excluding the creative individuals who use it to make awesome fan films! LOL! I still want to bust out MACO-style on all the idiots who complain about things they know nothing about. ARGH!!!

Breaking My Rule

Yeah...so...my head is killing me. I'm exhausted. And, frankly, I need to pee. I know I should spend a 1/2 an hour in word vomit mode, but I just can't bring myself to do it right now. I will make a couple of comments:

• I will never get my grades done on time if I don't start kicking kids out of my room during lunch. I don't want to hurt their feelings, but enough is enough.
• R and J auditions begin tomorrow...I hope that I just know when Romeo and Juliet take the stage. They hold the entire show together. The line load is incredible. I know these kids can handle it, I just want to make sure that I choose the right ones. The sucking up is going to end on Friday...I need to start milking it! LOL!
• I'm pissed that I have to wait for over a MONTH for Heroes to start again. Argh! Well, at least that will give me time to focus on R&J, Sci-Fi, scrapbooking, and...dare I say...exercise!
• I feel feverish. I need to go to bed.

Word Vomit

I swear that being an English teacher has ruined me as a writer. I don't have the time to write...or read for that matter...because I have to grade papers or plan lessons or veg out so I don't kill myself or my students. I've been doing a lot of the latter over the past few years. What I should be doing is the former. How am I supposed to teach writing if I don't do it myself? It is a ridiculous paradox that makes me angry.

Another problem with being an English teacher is that I'm in "perfection" mode all the time. I can't seem to take off my editor's hat when doing the most mundane things such as typing an e-mail or posting a bulletin on MySpace! I here vow to knock it off!!!! This blog...journal...whatever I want to call it...is my space to vomit words. I'm not going to stop and ponder; hell, I'm not even going to re-read. I just need to work on speed and getting it out. I hope that I will soon have something interesting to say.

I've been spending the day reading a memoir project my students completed earlier in the year. Most of them have come up with some great stories! I'm going to keep the assignment handy and work on it when I don't have anything interesting to say.

For now, my word vomit is over. I need to get back to grading. Argh...why didn't I become a math teacher?! Or PE? Yes, PE would be better, because then I wouldn't be fat. Blah.