My Last Day As A Baker Bronc

     Today was the end of a long journey for me. I've spent the last three years here and changed so much.
     I've gone to school with these people for the past eight years so we have all become brothers and sisters. It's why most of us don't date. Who would want to date their sibling? No one, that's who. It's why if we do date, we date kids form other schools.
     First period we got our end of course exam results (I did well) and the whole class was buzzing with anticipation and nerves. It hadn't hit us yet that this was our last day together. By fifth period however, I was ready to start crying. The following are just a few of the people I had to say goodbye to today.
      I had a couple of friends in theatre who I wouldn't see anymore. Christian was going to Carroll and I asked him if he was going to continue doing theatre over there. He said yes and that made me feel a bit better because I knew I would see him again. I did make him promise to not be better than Ray before I gave him a hug.
     I shared that theatre class with Alec too and he was going to Moody because that dork got into the health and science program. That class we were watching a Broadway documentary and West Side Story segment came up. I looked at all of my friends and they all smiled at me; I looked at Alec and he was slouched over fast asleep. WHAT HUMAN IS ABLE TO SLEEP THROUGH WEST SIDE STORY?! All I'm saying is that he better not sleep like that when I'm up there as Anita. He assured me that he wouldn't.
     The next period was Spanish and I had to say goodbye to Matthew. Matthew is a little monster and he "stans" lots of celebrities. Whenever I am curious about pop culture or music in general, he is my go-to guy. His Twitter is @MatthewBGaGa1 and you should all go follow him. Anyway,Matthew is very...well he's very white. Spanish is not his strongest subject and often depends on other people to help him. The day before, we took our final exam for Spanish and needless to say, we were all worried about the grade he would be making. He needed to make a B and he had a 78.6 in that class. When we got our scores back he informed us that he got a 99! Good for Matthew! We were all very proud of him and sad to see him go. But hey, he heard the Spanish teacher at King is very lenient so hopefully he will survive without us.
    In U.S. History I had to say goodbye to Ryan because he, like Alec, was going to Moody. When I first met Ryan we were doing a duet scene. He was a fox who was trying to convince a bunch of grapes to let him eat them. I was the grapes (not exactly winning a Tony for that performance anytime soon). It was a comedic scene and our director decided to showcase it so it was a success. This year Ryan and I became closer through our History class and NJHS. Everybody had him in a group hug as the final bell rang. Needless to say, the tears flowed freely.
     The hardest to say goodbye to however was definitely Steff. We rode the bus together for five years straight and old each other everything. We were best friends and she is going to Carroll in the fall. We both saw this coming but didn't want to acknowledge it until now. As we got nearer and nearer to her stop the tears came more and more. What would we do without each other? We vowed to do things together over the summer and I hope she stays true to her promise.
    


     Today was a very hard day because I had to say goodbye to say to a lot of people. Really it wasn't goodbye but a see you later. I know I can call, text, and look at their Facebooks, but it's not the same. We can't see each other everyday anymore. When we do meet again, it will be a special occasion, not just another Tuesday. Today was inevitable because now I can go to Ray in the fall and be totally prepared. Even though I said goodbye to these people, I will always have their love and support.

My Night of Neon Light

     At my school when we hear the word "dance" a lot of us think that means "dry hump each other to ghetto music". So when I heard we were having a prom, I wasn't exactly thrilled.
     Another thing that really put me down about it was that I wanted to go with a certain guy. About a week before prom I told him that I had a crush on him. His response? "Yeah, and you're a great actress." A GREAT ACTRESS?! That's the best possible complement he could give me? While that did wonders for my confidence level, my best friend was also left heartbroken by a different boy. So we figured we would go to prom with each other. It's not like we were going to get asked anytime soon.
     The day of prom I didn't bother to even go to school. Our final exams were over and we weren't doing much anyway so I thought I would just spend it prepping for prom. I went to go get my hair done and the stylist straightened it. It took an hour and a half to get all of my curls to go flat. I got up thinking that we were done, but she shoved me right back down into the swivel chair. Then she begins to curl my hair. I'm sorry; what?! After another hour of glaring at the stylist through the mirror, I ask "Are we done now?" She laughed. She then commenced the most complicated pattern ever on the back of my head. Finally I had a perfectly messy bun with a red flower in my hair. How it happened, I have no idea. In the end I looked very well...Latin.

     When it came to makeup, I was told "Go find the reddest lipstick you have." so I came back with my favorite stage makeup. I put it on and got a "DAMN THAT'S RED!" I threw on my dress and then was out the door and headed to Kate's house, where I was meeting up with some friends. From Kate's house we went to City Diner and laughed until our stomachs hurt. We figured that the dinner was going to be more fun than the prom itself. Eventually we left for the Ortiz Center where our prom was to be held.
     As we drove up we saw one of my good friends, Quentin. He looked dashing in an all white tux and we called him over to us. The first words out of his mouth made my night, "OMG your dress! You look just like Anita! So West Side Story!!!" Quentin knows just what to say to make me smile. As in one of my previous posts, I have a bit of a fetish for West Side Story and Anita is my dream role. Of course we danced and took plenty of pictures that were very West Side Story-esque. He was my Bernardo for the night.

Frances and Austin

     Every dance I had meant something different to me. I danced with another one of my good friends, Natalya (click here to see a 5 second clip of us dancing) and remembered why we are such great friends. As another one of my friends, Austin, spun me around the dance floor to "Neon Moon" I realized how much I missed having classes with him. With Frances I noticed how grown up and beautiful she was and it hit me that we were all growing up. With Steff a wave of dred hit me like a brick. I didn't want her to go to any high school except mine. I jumped around with Kate and I could barely contain my excitement to do high school theatre with her in the fall.
    Technically Lauren was my date, but she enjoys dancing more than I do so she never left the dance floor. I didn't mind; I walked around and chatted a bit with everyone.
     Our theme was "Night of Neon Light" so there were glow sticks everywhere. It was actually really pretty; so pretty that we were all surprised. The only thing that wasn't perfect was the DJ. He would stop the song so that we were all singing acapella. It wasn't pretty. If we wanted to hear these kids belt out lyrics to songs they barely know, and butcher it, Baker would do more musicals. DJ aside, it was a great night. My date and best friend, Lauren, spent the night at my house and we talked about who we danced with and who we wish we had. It was a great way to end the year and we lit up the night with our high spirits alone.
        

Diego Boneta and How I Saw Him First

     I don't want to sound like a hipster in the fall so I'm saying it right now. I liked Diego Boneta before he was super cool. He's cool right now, but most people don't know who he is. He isn't mainstream yet but after his next movie, he will be.
     Let it be known that I've liked him since like forever. His movie "Rock of Ages" comes out on June 15 an good Lord, I can see it now. All the fangirls are gonna go nuts. I am a fangirl myself (a Lautie) so I can criticize us. I've known about Boneta for years and as soon as I saw the words "based on the hit Broadway musical" I was all over this movie. 
     As my friends know, I've already called dibs. They gave it up pretty quickly too. "Sure you can have the guy no one knows..." Well let's see what happens on June 15 when they are all swooning in the theater over all the Diego Bon-awesomeness. I will bet someone money that there will be at least one war over him. So that's why I'm posting this. Let it be known to the world. THIS IS ME CALLING DIBS, LADIES!!! THE BONETA IS MINE!!!

Legacy and How I Realized How Much I Want to Leave One

     I was looking at my Twitter feed the other day and I saw a familiar name. Michael Cantu. I couldn't remember where I'd heard it but it gnawed at me until I finally asked a friend about it.
"Michael Cantu, as in football, Michael Cantu?" my friend clarified.
At the word "football", it hit me like a brick. He was in 8th grade when I was in 6th. Michael dominated on the football field and basketball court. Gabby had an über-dorky crush on him and we all teased her because he probably didn't even know her name. Looking back, I don't blame him. Most of our 6th graders are just flat out annoying.
I went to look at his Twitter feed and what I saw didn't surprise me. It looked something like this:

• baseball
• baseball
• baseball
• girlfriend
• baseball

     Of course he still was all about sports.
     So I got to thinking. I began to realize the legacy he left behind at Baker. All the guys wanted to be just like Michael. He was an upper classman, of course they looked up to him.
Then it hit me, CRAP! I'm now one of the upper classmen! When 6th graders look at me, what do they see? I only know a couple of them and just barely. But that's probably what Michael said...
     The more I thought about it, the more I thought about other upper classmen. I thought about who I would love to be remembered like and my mind immediately went to Mel Barrera. She is a year older than me but every time I would see her around school I would think to myself "She's a great actress. I want to be like her." I started thinking more and more and soon I realized how all of these people who didn't even know most of us could make an imprint on the lower grades.
     What kind of legacy will I leave behind?

Bullying and How It Gave Me Something To Do Today

     For the past week a selected group of students from my grade have been putting togther a play for an antibullying summit at the American Bank center for school administrators. It sounds really boring but it's been really great. To start off with, our teacher/director, Ms. M, told us we could write our own script. So for those of you who don't know me, I am a control freak. Before anyone even began to write ideas down on paper I had turned in a script to be reviewed. Ms. M decided that she liked it so we began to learn lines. The storyline revoloves around three main charcters; Russell, John, and Danielle. Russell was played by my good friend, Quentin Arispe and was a teen who just came out to his school that he was gay. Because of this, he loses all of his friends but by the end, he gets them back and support of the school. John, played by Douglass Hagemeister, is at first a life long friend of Russell but cannot accept that he is gay so leaves him. Once he sees how Russell is being treated however comes back to the rescue. Danielle completes the trio of friends and is the martyr of the show. Danielle was played by me and gets cyberbullied until she eventually commits suicide.

     We had rehearsals everyday during 7th period and at Aurora Arts Theatre. When we were at the theatre, the owner came to watch us do a dress rehearsal. "You've got a great set of kids you've got here, RaMina." said the owner.

     "Yeah, I made sure to pick my absolute best." replied Ms. M.

     At that we all smiled.

     When we arrived at the summit we realized that we were the only group who were here to have fun. We got on a bus with kids from Ray and Collegiate and immeadiately noticed that they were all buisiness. Those kids talked about the matter at hand while he sat at the back of the bus belting Book of Mormon and Wicked songs. Once we got settled in at our table we went to the bathroom and made a makeshift dressing room. We got into costume and put on stage makeup until we were stage ready. Then we returned to the Baker table to enjoy a fancy meal. How our school district could even afford it, I have no idea.

     Then we actually particiapted in the summit. It soon became obvious as we were grouped with the Ray kids that we were chosen to participate for different reasons. Most of us just let the juniors do the talking but then there was Quentin who wouldn't stop talking. Kate drew elephants on her script, I was on Twitter, but every now and again we made (somewhat) sigifigant contributions to the conversation. 

     Finally it was our time to go and perform. I was so proud of the cast that was assembled because everyone did fantsticly. The audience ate it up! When Russell announced that he was gay, people stood and appluaded. When John left Russell they all boo-ed. When my suicide scene started, one guy in the back yelled "DON'T DO IT!" Finally when we all went for bows, we got a standing ovation. As we walked offstage reporters there covering the summit came to talk to us and take pictures. The superintendent came and told us how well we did. A teacher from Ray came up and commended us as well; we even made her cry.

     Pretty good for a Monday.

Auditions and How They Aren't the End of the World

     At every audition there are those kids who think that they are just the bee's knees and are better than everyone else. Just because they star in everything, can sing "Defying Gravity" better than Idina Menzel herself and have been in dance classes since before they could even walk. There is always at least one.
     I am not one of these people. Sure I do shows but I'm not winning an Oscar anytime soon. As for my singing (oh God...), my own mother has asked me to stop singing in the car. Dance-wise I'm not terrible but I've never taken a dance class in my life.
     So I have no reason to be one of those crazy confident people. The thing is, I am. I know what I can and cannot do. I know that when I go onstage people are going to look at me; they are here to judge me. That's the whole point of theatre. Hey! Look at me! I'm here to tell you a story! Isn't that an established fact? It shouldn't come as a shock. This is why I get so frustrated with people who are there looking nauseous at auditions. If it makes you sick and uncomfortable, why do you put yourself through it?
     I don't get nervous before an audition; I get nervous immediately after. As soon as I walk offstage I think about how I could've done things differently. How that sucked compared to what I can actually do.  I always have to have faith that the director sees something in me that he/she likes.
     The picture above was taken at an audition. There was a line of chairs along the wall all filled with auditioners. I was second to last. As the auditions went on and the chairs began to become empty I noticed the boy next to me, Alec, kept looking worse. At first we made conversation but suddenly it died. Alec started looking greener than his shirt.
     Because of the lack of conversation, I started to talk to my friend, Natalya. Natalya was across the hallway and was the one who took the picture. She was laughing at how calm I was compared to the now sickly Alec.
     Soon it was my turn. I went in, did my two monologues and even got complemented on my characterization from my auditor. I came back out into the hallway and told Alec it was his turn. His face made it look like I just told him I just murdered his whole family and that he was next. He came out not even thirty seconds later. I asked him how it went and he told me about the horrible experience.
     He went into the room, and said "Hi my name is Alec and-". Then he made eye contact with our auditor and froze up. Then he just walked right back out of the room.
     A piece of advice? If you are someone like Alec don't audition. Work on your confidence. Wait until you know what you can do. Once you know what you can do, show it. Audition your butt off and do your best every time. It may take time but with every audition you get better and better, trust me. Soon you will be one of those kids that has crazy confidence because you've auditioned so much. An audition? No problem!