A little over a week ago my sister came up to visit for the first time in a year. I had some worries that she would get her, and I would see her, and things wouldn't be the same. I was also sad that once she arrived, I only got to see her for an evening, then I was being whisked away to Regionals in a different state. I didn't know if that was evening was the only time I was going to have with me sister. I waited up until almost midnight just to spend at least an hour with her. I heard her voice from my room, and ran up to see her. It was as if she had never left.

She was so gorgeous even after a long flight. She couldn't get over how tall C. was getting, and how deeps his voice had gotten. To her, it was just yesterday he was barely up to her shoulders and still had a high voice. After some catching up, we broke out the pie, and started talking about stuff that she remembered from the last time she was here. I practically had to drag her downstairs to show her pictures from the play, so I could at least get some sleep that night.

Regionals:

I left Friday with mt dance teacher and another dancer. On the way down, we listened to Sundays at Tiffany's, which is insanely interesting, and I was very sad I didn't get to finish it. We got to our hotel, and K. left for a meeting, so M. and I were on our own for dinner. I was doing really well at keeping myself calm; whereas, M. was already flipping out about the competition on Saturday. Once J got to the hotel, we all decided to go dip our feet in the hot tube. We all just laid there dangling out feet in the relaxing warn water. Pictures were taken of this, and I ended up falling asleep.

I woke up still feeling calm: I got ready and went down to breakfast. I managed to eat at least half of what I got, but then the nerves started hitting me a little bit. I wasn't competing until one, so I didn't know what the deal was. My whole family called to wish me good luck, and that made me really happy. I had already prepared myself mentally for not placing: My class was, without a doubt, the toughest group to compete with. I had to dance up with the 18 and Over class because I turned 18 before June 1st. So we're talking about me, a newbie, competing against twelve other talented dancers, who have all been to Nationals before, and some have even gone on to win at the Championship. I was taking this competition as a learning experience. Not mention I was sick, and that wasn't a great thing to throw into the mix.

I gave it my all, and sometimes your all just isn't good enough. The one thing that made up for it all was this: I had just finished the Reel and was getting myself ready to fill-in for another one. I was waiting backstage when two other dancers come running back and start taking their numbers off. Something was wrong on stage, but I had no idea what. Through a rush of events, I ended up rushing on stage to bail out another dancer, who couldn't breath. I made sure she was ok once I got offstage again. Turns out she had a cold too.

I sat there and cheered on three of the girls I danced with who got awards. Two of those girls are going to Nationals. I was SO happy for them. I thought is was better to be happy for everyone else, then to sit there and cry about how bad I did. It's not my time to go to Nationals yet. Someday --- someday I'll make it.

Back home:

Monday night I finally got to see my sister again and her friend T., who I hadn't seen since last year February. We watched Bride Wars and The Duchess (which is no one of my favorite movies). S. almost ruined the whole night with her bitchy attitude. The next morning I said good bye to my sister because I wouldn't get to see her again before she left.

Coming to the present, I've been pretty sick since Wednesday when I got a horrible migraine, which triggered the nausea that never went away. I woke up Thursday, and couldn't even move: My whole body hurt. After sleeping in till one, I felt a little better, but couldn't stand for long periods of time. This was really bad considering I had a school concert that night, and I was singing a solo. The good news is I toughed things out, made it through the concert, and sang my solo. No one even new I was feeling nauseated.

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever! I do have some exciting news to share with you all. Last Tuesday I was talking to a friend, who told me I should try to help out back stage for the play in April. Try outs for the play were last week. I didn't think much about it until later that night. As I was thinking something occured to me: There's always this bond that forms between everyone who's involved with the play. and to some extent I've always wished to be a part of it. Plus being a part of the back stage crew would help me get to know everyone better. So off I went to talk to the director.

Earlier that day we had our concert dress rehearsal (don't worry this all ties in), and I had to swallow my fear and sing my solo in front of the whole school. It didn't go as bad as I thought. Anyways going back to that night, the director told me that I should just try out for the play. The play happens to be a musical, and after hearing me sing he saw no reason why I shouldn't. I frantically rushed off to find my sister, the assistant stage manager, to help me figure out what I needed to do. I couldn't have tried out without her help. She helped me prepare a song to sing for part of the audition. The song I chose was "All I Ask of You." Of course, I had to sing both Raoul and Christine's part.

During the try outs, I surprised myself: I wasn't nervous at all! I had to sing a song from the play and a song from The Sound of Music in front of everyone, and usually I shake like nobody's business. This time I didn't. Even more shocking was finding my name on the cast list the next day. The funny part about it all is I get to be a man haha. I'm the Duke from Huckleberry Finn. The first read through was on Monday, and I absolutely love my part!

Thursday night: The concert I was excitedly looking forward too. I was singing "That Yonge Child" by Benjamin Britten. The harpist accompanying me was amazing. Again, I wasn't feeling nervous: I told myself to breath, to have fun, and not to look at the people in the crowd. I get more nervous singing in front of people I know, so I was better off not recognizing a familiar face. I went down to sing my solo and made it through without shaking violantly. After the concert, I got a lot of "Wow I had no idea you could sing like that," "You sang like a friggin' opera," and "You gave me goose bumps."

Well I can honestly say now, if I didn't have a life before, I definitely wont have one now. I hope I make it through the next coming months.