Show Tunes and How Apparently They Aren't Normal People Music

     When asked what kind of music I like best, I usually answer with country music. Really I only listen to two genres; country and show tunes. Broadway show tunes are just so underrated it's sad. I'm sorry if wanting to be involved in a story while singing. That's what these songs do, they help tell a story. A wise person once said, "There is a show tune for every occasion." That wise person was spot on because there are just so many!
      Having a bad day? "Hasa Diga Eebowai" from The Book of Mormon is your song. Going on a date you are really excited for later? Try singing "Tonight" from West Side Story. Getting mixed feelings from a "friend"? Then "Mix Tape" from Avenue Q is for you. Just met someone special? "I Can Hear the Bells" from Hairspray. Feel like eating your town? "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd. Trying to learn Spanish? "Sunrise" from In The Heights. Trying to write a newspaper for rebel newsboys? "Watch What Happens" from Newsies. Stripper? "Out Tonight" from Rent. Do you dream of being a house wife? "Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm" from How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Are you a perky blonde who is giving your abnormally green friend a makeover? "Popular" from Wicked.
     There is always a good moment for a show tune because there are so many musicals about really crazy things! Some are believable and even have historical accuracy like Newsies, Rent, In The Heights, and West Side Story. Others go off of stereotypes like The Book of Mormon. Some come from movies like most Disney musicals and Hairspray.
     Some people however, like my mother, don't appreciate them at all. Apparently "normal people" don't listen to this kind of music. This really sucks because how cool would it be to pull up to a red light next to some gangster who is blaring some ghetto rap music and be able to thwart him with "Ohmigod You Guys" from Legally Blonde The Musical. Wouldn't that just feel great?!
    

Confusion on Cliques and Where I Will Sit For the Next Four Years

     As I've mentioned before on this blog, this fall I am doing something pretty big. I start high school. *insert thunder and lightning here* In the movies, when you see a high school cafeteria you see all of these different tables with all of these different groups of people sitting at different tables. I've begun to think: What table will I sit at? My clique is made of all kinds of different people. Come to think of it, do I even have a clique? I'm friends with all kinds of people; theatre geeks, nerds, stoners, goody-two shoes, preps, athletes (shocker I know).
     My closest friends and I are just kind of weird. I am bonded with these people for all kinds of different reasons. Some I like because they are funny, I perform with, I secretly don't even like, they are nice, and so on. It's odd now that I think about it. We are just a big melting pot.
     I think we will just have to claim a table to ourselves. It will be like The Island of Misfit Toys but for my friends and anyone else who wants to come. A table for people who are just like us. Unclassifiable.

My Fourth Of July and How Rebecca Needs Insurance

     I've never been a very fearless child. I can't swim, ride a bike, or pop fireworks. That third one is sometimes a problem around this time of year. Now that I'm a teenager and not looked at as such a little kid, I can avoid fireworks with more ease. Fireworks just make me jumpy and give me heart attacks. To me they are just little red bad ideas. Most of the time parents teach their children not to play with fire, but on this particular summer night, they hand them the fire. But this isn't even normal fire. This fire is loud and pops everywhere and at everything.
   My family always has an annual Fourth of July party and this year my friend Rebecca tagged along with us. Besides multiple bug bites, everything was going well and we were having fun. Then my niece, Maria, pulls out packs of 100 count Black Cats. Black Cats are little firecrackers that you light in your hand then throw before they explode. I was a good sport and threw two but then decided to just sit down and hand them the fireworks instead. Maria has been doing them for years. I remember being much younger and her having all kinds of explosives in one pocket and a lighter in the other. She would always drag me along with her to set them off so I trusted her. Rebecca on the other hand has always lived in Corpus Christi, a city an hour away that has too much concrete and too many bans against this sort of thing. Needless to say, I was weary.
     As the night grew on Rebecca gained more and more confidence and eventually was competing with Maria. It was a game I used to play (and always lost at). It's like a game of chicken. The Black Cats have a long enough fuse so that when they are thrown they don't explode in the air and they do on the ground. What the players do is hold the lit firework in their hand then throw it at the last second so that it does explode in the air. Maria was in the lead and Rebecca kept gaining confidence and making me more and more nervous.
     Then Rebecca did what Maria and I kept warning her not to do. She held on too long. The firecracker went off in her hand. Becca stared in shock. Maria jumped. I screamed, flipped and freaked the hell out. I thought my friend had just blown her hand off!
     As I was trying to catch my breath and return my heart rate to a normal beat Rebecca came towards me.
     "Can I have another one?"


To check out Rebecca's blog,  ***click here***