Ashes

February 27, 2016

We tennised until we could no longer see the ball. Singles, doubles; mini tennis, champs of the court; volleys, groundstrokes; whiffs, aces.

I hadn't touched a tennis racket since the season ended in October. Plans made on a gorgeous Saturday a few weeks ago failed because of how spontaneous and last-minute they were. Zac called me at 5pm and we stepped onto the Deerpath courts at 5:10pm. One court was already taken over but from a distance, I could make out the profile of Max and Teddy, along with two others that were unrecognizable from far away. Zac and I hit a few minutes of mini tennis on a court adjacent to the court that the four other high schoolers are playing on and after those few minutes of disaster because neither of us have played tennis since October, we set up a game of Champs of the Court with Max, Bevin, Nick, and Teddy (first two and last two are each a doubles team, Zac and I were the third).

The other four have been practicing, some for perhaps a few weeks and others for months. Guys tennis is also way different from girls tennis. I was terrified standing up at the net because of all of those reasons, but also because my volleys are nonexistent because I haven't been playing tennis for a long time.

But there's something about the atmosphere in guys tennis, the conversations and humor and goofing off when playing with guys, that makes it so much fun. Teddy told me several times that I should be a manager for the guys team, which would would be fun, but that's such a huge time commitment, and I think Weronika and Sydney are already managers. Which for tennis is a vestigial role. IHSA rules for tennis (both guys and girls) state that managers can't hit tennis balls with tennis rackets...so what else would managers do? Tennis is a pretty low-maintenance sport (our school's tennis team has survived without managers for a good 6 years or more). However, having Max and Alex this year was pretty convenient not only because they helped pick up tennis balls and fed us tennis balls by underhand throws, but also because it was good to have more pairs of eyes watching during matches. We only have one Coach Gerber and one Coach K, but having two extra people to watch and help call one of the coaches over when they think we need some advice is helpful.

For an hour, jokes were cracked, awful puns with song titles/lyrics were made, and savage banter was tossed around. Oh yeah, and tennis balls were hit, champs were crowned and dethroned, and all of us realized we have a long way to go if we want to get good again.

As the sun set, it became increasingly harder to see the neon yellow balls. Groundstrokes were scarier and lobes became even more terrifying because no one knew where the ball was. We finally called it quits at 6:20 when the lighting became so ashy and dim and Teddy had to leave.

Ashes are what remain after a dazzling fire burns and burns until it can no longer blaze any longer.

#23 in the high school studio theatre

Every year, the theatre department at my school puts on a winter play. Every year, they also put together something called One Acts, a series of skits written and directed by students themselves. I'm kicking myself because I never went to see them for the first three years of high school. 

I went this year. Not going to lie, after all the hype for weeks that Blue Monday was being performed at this One Acts, I made every effort to come watch and watch I did. The whole thing was spectacular. 

Sydney was so gosh darn cute in the first skit and she was the perfect person to play that part. She's inherently so bubbly and the adorable awkwardness and the stuttering and excitement was so so tangible and so her, and so incredible. Thank goodness they had a few minutes of silence in the dark between each act (as well as a 10 minute intermission) because each skit hit me with a flood of emotions. A-Train Plays gave me this warm fuzzy feeling, The Subtext of Texting filled me with all the teenage angst anyone could ever dare to wish for, Scripted sent a chill up my spine, especially when Elaine (Erica) shrieked. Post-Its brought tears to my eyes, Surprise made me laugh, and then gasp, and Blue Monday was just...Blue Monday.

Scott will always be Scott (take it however it's supposed to mean), but his musical talent is undeniable. All-State Choir, attendee at Merit School of Music, has already written several things, of which titles like "Atlantis" have been floating around the music hall. Blue Monday has not only been uttered from Scott's mouth, but others and these two words have been echoing off the walls of the music hallway for weeks. Haunting snippets of the songs in this operetta have been floating around as well, since Scott has casted some of the finest artists from our school to act in Blue Monday. Finley on the piano (with Youngseo as his page turner); Spencer as the trumpeter who lends not only his acting, but also his incredible voice and amazing trumpet-playing; Aubrey with her dramatic gestures; Noah with his smooth, warm voice; Mia with her breathtakingly light soprano voice; Sneha, Nicole, Darby, and Cache who are the incredible backup singers (some also play the roles of minor characters in the play) that support the whole ensemble. 

First time I saw an opera was at age 12. Thankfully it was sung in English so I could understand it and that it was only half an hour long because all I remember from the experience was being amazed during the first 10 minutes that the performers had the ability to carry on conversation through only singing, and that for the last 20 minutes, I writhed in agony, wanting the performers to say one word, just one single word, without singing it. That single word never happened. 

Blue Monday left a larger impression on me than that play, The Last Leaf by James Niblock. I guess, after knowing Scott, I could smirk at some of the clever snips he threw in musically, and because I knew the performers (which makes me pretty biased), I loved Blue Monday even more than a person outside of our community would. But at the same time, I think it's one of the first few works of his that has been premiered and to write a whole operetta, music, script, parts, staging and all, that's quite the feat.

I don't know if Blue Monday could be considered an official opera and one that could "satisfy" this bucket list item, but when it comes to this, I'm not one for officiality and so this counts. It was a stellar performance regardless of what it can be classified as. 

The most notable aspects of tonight was that the majority of the performers in all the "one acts" were non-seniors and that the studio theatre was absolutely packed. I'm talking, all the seats filled, with folding chairs brought in to seat more people kind of packed. And the applause after each skit and after each scene of Blue Monday was the kind that just fills up a space but also creates a feeling of largeness. It was an incredible night, well-spent. I suppose one regret of high school is that I didn't do enough. I know I regret not seeing Into the Woods my freshman year and Twelve Angry Jurors this year. I regret all the One Acts I never went to and any of the other theatre productions that I've missed because I've missed out on things quite wonderful.

the program

opening 10 seconds of Blue Monday

#22 (and half of #21) at the new movie theatre

I had a free weekend but apparently some friends did not. Undeterred, I walked into the movie theatre alone because hey, I went for the movie. It's a new movie theatre that opened recently, furnished with luxurious reclining chairs. I had heard about how comfortable these seats were but I never had the chance to try them out myself. Also, Star Wars (movie 7) has been out for almost 2 months now and because it is somehow still showing in theatres (namely this new theatre) and because I had a free evening (and figured I should try to work through my bucket list), I went.

Despite knowing utterly nothing about Star Wars (or for that matter, what that and Star Trek are even about), I could still follow the plot and though there were some odd comedic moments (almost too much), they didn’t require knowledge of what happened in previous movies. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it. My experience would have been absolutely stellar if not for two things (and I take full blame). Firstly, I couldn’t figure out how to pull out the footrest and recline the chair backwards, so I wasn’t able to enjoy the full experience of the chair. Secondly, my traitorous bladder failed me 30 minutes into the movie. Given that the movie is 2hrs and 46 min long, and I was not about to miss a single second of the movie, it was a trying 2 hours.

To complete my crazy night, I was driving home on a two-lane street, with an island separating the two lanes. Some genius this late at night was driving on the wrong side towards me and had it not been for a break in the island that allowed that car to swerve onto the right lane at the same time I slammed on the brakes, I probably would have died. Okay, maybe not that drastic, but certainly a head-on collision would have occurred with awful consequences.

What made it even worse (or better?) was that my dad had called me and I picked up the phone a few seconds before this happened and the the call connected just as I yelled some swears...whoops.

It was a night well-spent and I would give the movie 5 stars out of 5. Of course, I’m not the most reliable critic because I haven’t seen any of the six previous movies...

Oh and I watched it in 3D. Sure, 3D was a cool experience, but 2D wouldn't have been any less out of this world.