Bring the Future Faster

Things I Have to Do in the Next Three Weeks:

• Create and give my graduation project presentation
  
• Study for and take three AP exams (English Lit, Spanish, and U.S. Government and Politics)
• Read Pride and Prejudice
• Memorize "Spark of Creation" from the musical Children of Eden (a musical with no cast recording on iTunes, lovely) for my voice recital next Sunday,
  
• Take my Gov final eventually, along with about 4 other tests this week
• Find shoes for prom, get my dress tailored, book appointments and organize a limo
• Plan an end-of-the-season party for the Middle School Guard
• Save my choir teacher's job.

Things I Want to Do in the Next Three Weeks:

• Sleep.

I guess it was too much to ask for an easy end to the year. On top of trying to graduate, the school district made some major budget cuts and decided to let go of 3 music teachers. Unfortunately our choir director is the third most junior music teacher in the district and could be on the chopping block. We're all working diligently to make sure he doesn't go and that the choral program and musical stay in tact next year, but sometimes I just don't feel up to the fight. I feel really bad about it, too, since I want to help him and the underclassmen out. I'm doing the best I can to make sure there is a musical and a choir next year, but sometimes my best doesn't feel like it's enough.

I really can't wait for APs to be over with. Fortunately and unfortunately all three of my tests fall in the same week. Even though my brain will be completely fried by that weekend, I'll be done with them, and I'll have an entire week to relax and get ready for our band trip to Boston the next weekend. I'm really looking forward to the trip this year; we're going to Six Flags, seeing Blue Man Group, and visiting Salem. Not to mention Boston is just a cool town :). The trip will be pretty bittersweet since it's my last, but I can't wait to spend five days with my favorite band/guard nerds.

Committing to a school feels kind of weird. I mean, the fact that I'll be in college in 4 months is bizarre itself; it feels like just yesterday that I was making a list of places I was remotely interested in. I'm happy to be done with the stress of choosing, though. If I still had that decision hanging over my head, these next few weeks would be even more torturous. I love Drexel, too. Accepted Students Day last Saturday was awesome and I can't wait to start in the fall. :)

I also saw the musical Rooms: A Rock Romance last Saturday with my dad at the Prince Music Theater in Philly. It was an intimate two-person rock musical centered around two Scottish musicians in the late 1970s - Ian, a gloomy guitarist, and Monica, an ambitious singer-songwriter. The two pair up when Monica asks Ian to help her write a song for her neighbor's bat mitzvah. They find they have not only creative chemistry but romantic chemistry and take the emerging punk rock scene by storm. Rooms is kind of the Scottish lovechild of Rent and The Last Five Years in that it is highly energetic but also rather intimate. I felt like I was really in the story, and felt every emotion the characters did. The songs are super-catchy and mostly appeal to fans of contemporary musical theatre (though my dad who generally doesn't like most rock musicals really enjoyed it). I would highly recommend Rooms. It's playing in the Prince Music Theater's Independence Studio until May 2nd and is presented by the 11th Hour Theatre Company.