Singing, dancing, parties, and Harry Potter stuff...

Just had my last dance classes till September. Frig, I'm tired... In modern we did some improv and it was fun. We also did some floor work. In ballet, we had a regular class. Megan (my current teacher) thinks most of us are ready to do pointe work next year but Peggy (the head ballet teacher at the studio) is doubtful. I might take class at the Island Dance Academy next year too, and I'll do whatever it takes to be ready for pointe - it's what I've wanted for years now. Jazz was fun and Julia loved our class, since we all blended well together despite the different ages and levels of experience.

The music festival went well, and I got a good mark - 85%! My voice teacher said that the vocal adjudicator hasn't given any marks higher than 85 this year, so I think I did quite well! And when the adjudicator talked to me after my performance, she said I have a lovely voice and was disappointed to find out that I wouldn't be singing in other festival categories this year.

Neal had a rockin' party at his place last weekend. The food was good and the company was great. Ultimate frisbee isn't really my thing, but it was fun. And the dance party rocked!

Since I managed to go 3 months (well, almost 3 but there's only about a week left of this one!) without using my credit card at all (saving up for Spain next year...), I rewarded myself by buying a wand from an online Harry Potter merchandise store. I wanted a Griffindor sweater, but apparently there are none left in my size so I got a wand. I didn't wait till the end of the month to buy it because of a discount they offered to people who ordered before the 22th. So yes, I'm going to have my very own Harry Potter wand! Rosewood, 14.5 inches, essence of hair from the mane of a unicorn.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I've got more speculations and theories to present about Book 7! I've been reading some stuff on other websites and some of the speculations are quite interesting:

-Remember the dementors and how they destroy your soul when they give you the kiss? And how they don't distinguish between the one they're hunting for and the one who merely gets in their way? Well, what if one of Voldemort's horcruxes "accidentally" got in their way...

-What if Dumbledore isn't truly dead? I think he is, but there are some arguments for the "Dumbledore is not dead" theory that actually make sense. First of all, when Harry and Hagrid found his body, he is described as looking as though he were asleep (draught of the living death anyone? Perhaps Snape was in on the idea to fake Dumbledore's death). Plus, at his funeral, smoke rose from the coffin and took the shape of a phoenix - Dumbledore's patronus is a phoenix.

-Stan Shunpike (the guy from the Knight Bus) might be a squib. That may be why he wasn't a student at Hogwarts.

-In book 6, Narcissa was freaking out about Draco's mission (to kill Dumbledore). Since she is obviously very protective of her only son, perhaps if Voldemort tried to kill Draco, she might sacrifice herself for him in the same way that Lily did for Harry? Which means that Draco would also be marked by his mother's love, which could establish a bond between him and Harry, and they might end up fighting against the Dark Lord together. I don't think Draco is truly evil, since he kept chickening out when he had a chance to kill Dumbledore. He is simply misguided from his upbringing by a Death Eater father (Lucius) and a mother from a pure-blood-fanatic family (Narcissa).

Well, that's all for now...

Yay for books, movies, and music!

Well, I read the entire DaVinci Code within 3-4 days. It wasn't busy at work so I brought the book and read most of it there. The heresies in it were blatantly obvious, but as a murder mystery, the story was brilliant. So many plot twists and action! Actually, some of it reminded me of Harry Potter - anagrams (TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE - I AM LORD VOLDEMORT, anyone? Hehehe...), riddles and codes, never knowing which characters are evil and which are good (Snape, Quirrell, Pettigrew/Wormtail, "Moody"/Barty Jr), etc. You know you're a Harry Potter nut when you notice similaries to HP in other books you read... Anyway, I wanna see the movie when it comes out!

I also finished reading The Nymph and the Lamp recently, and that one was brilliant too. In many ways, it's a lot like Jane Eyre. Actually, in the Writing by Women class I took a few years ago, I realized that many of these romance stories are similar to Jane Eyre. Even those cheesy Harlequin romance novels! We had to pick one of those trashy romances, read it, and write a term paper about it! And can you believe that the one I picked was set on PEI?! Yes, a Harlequin paperback romance novel set in the Montague area (with some parts in Charlottetown and a few other places on the Island).

I rented the Phantom of the Opera movie last week, and I enjoyed it. Except the singing wasn't as good as I expected. Then again, I have the soundtrack with the original cast, and I don't think anyone can compare to Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman as the phantom and Christine. Emmy Rossum was way too young for the part (frig, it's dangerous to sing opera when the voice isn't mature enough - for women it's not fully mature till the late 20s or early 30s), and the guy who played the phantom in the movie wasn't ugly enough. Also, some of the scenes where cut out of the movie.

Harry Potter movie 5 (Order of the Phoenix) is being filmed and will apparently be in theatres next year, I can't wait to see it! I especially want to see the scene where the Weasley twins make their grand exit on their brooms after leaving a portable swamp in the hall to annoy Umbridge! And the Department of Mysteries... except I hope I don't cry in the part where Sirius dies. Even though I've watched Goblet of Fire many times since buying it, I still cry every time during the part when everyone realizes that Cedric is dead.

Rehearsal with my accompanist went great, and my voice teacher said that all the problems we were working on earlier are gone. Whoo!

Hooray for Centred!

The dance show rocked! All the dances went great and the audience loved them. Of the ones I was in, the one that went best was the jazz one - Made Ya laugh! We totally NAILED it! That was, hands down, the best we've ever done for that one, and we were so happy and excited after we finished. And Julia loved my funky clown costume. The Musical Theatre one (The Cool Dance) went awesome - we nailed that one too. Kim and Sara came to see the show and Kim said that The Cool Dance was her fave - the one with the claw action! Whoo take yer shirt off! ;) Actually, in the part where the two teams are clawing/hissing at each other, I pretended that my ex-best-friend was in front of me, and that helped to really get into it... Ballet went great - the only flub was that we ended slightly ahead of the song, but that didn't really matter because we were all in unison anyway. I almost lost my balance after the promenade in arabesque (frig, you try turning slowly on one leg while keeping the rest of you body stiff but graceful!) but I didn't fall and it wasn't noticeable. In modern, I guess nerves made me sweat, which made my feet sticky so I couldn't turn as well as usual - I was thinking "frig, I shoulda worn dance paws or foot undeez..." but wearing those would probably cause Martha Graham and Isadora Duncan to roll in their graves... (for anyone who doesn't know, they are two of the pioneers of modern dance, and most modern is supposed to be done barefoot) but the dance still went good. Tap was fun too, and the audience cheered for us! A lot of people said that Aaron stole the show, he is an amazing dancer! And far from being a pansy. Frig, even in class he's always doing triple/quadruple turns while everyone else is doing singles/doubles, and his jumps are amazing! My mother was like "who's that boy with the curls who jumps really well?" I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he ends up becoming a professional dancer.

I borrowed the DaVinci code from Sara-Sour and will start reading it tonight. In Theology On Tap, we'll be discussing heresy and the DaVinci Code, so I want to read the book to be ready to discuss it.

I'll be singing in the Queens County Music Festival in a few weeks, and tomorrow I have to rehearse with my accompanist. At my last lesson, my voice teacher said I'm doing great and she thinks I'll end up getting a good assessment from the judge. Yay!