I am SO behind on this.

Oh my goodness. So much has happened since the last time I posted almost two months ago. I almost don't know where to start.

I guess I should begin with Pops. Wow. That legitimately seems like forever ago. Pops was stressful and high energy and draining/exhausting/any other adjective that is to the same effect. But it was also freaking awesome. Everyone pulled their stuff together during the last couple days and made the show absolutely wonderful. Joey, the director and my voice teacher, said to the girls in the number You Could Drive A Person Crazy (which I was in) that it was the most technically pristine number he'd ever put together. That really touched me, and I was so grateful to have been given a chance in a number of that caliber. The night as a whole went very smoothly, just as in rehearsal (better than, even, especially in One Day More). Overall it was a great night, ended at Joey's house with fantastic food made by the host himself.

After Pops, all I had to worry about were my finals. First up was Beginning Acting. My scene, from David Auburn's Proof, went so well. I was so proud of my scene partner (a non-major who I was genuinely concerned about toward the end of rehearsing) who really stepped it up and brought the necessary tension to the scene. It went very well and I felt really good about it.

Two days after that was Intro. Oh goodness. Let's just say going last did not help my confidence like I thought it would. There were three group performances, and we were the only ones doing Taming of the Shrew. The group that went before us did a hilarious combination of vaudeville and Richard III and... well... it wasn't fair. Let's put it that way xD

I was very disappointed with my performance. I totally flubbed up both scenes I was in and felt like I had really let my group down. Everyone I talked to about it, however, stated that they hadn't noticed anything, and that when it was completely obvious that something was wrong they hadn't thought it was my fault but my partner's fault instead. That just made me feel worse, because I knew it had been my fault, but I shouldn't have been so hard on myself. It was just some dumb final performance. Yeah, a lot of the professors in the department were there, but it wasn't like I hadn't taken the assignment seriously. I ended up getting an A in the class, so I tried not to think about it later.

My last final was Art History. Which I dominated. 88 out of 90. Got an A. Very happy =]

Art History was on Monday, May 10, and that night I had a movie night at my house. Sarah-Jean, Kelly C and Kelly D came over to watch Ironman and The Princess and the Frog. Overall, totally fun!

The next day, that Tuesday, I went to see Ironman 2 with Kelly D and Sarah-Jean, and we were all blown away by the awesomeness. I would very much like to see it again. My parents got home from their NYC trip that night and it was nice to see them.

Wednesday the 12th I got up earlier than usual because my mom and I had to go to the airport. My flight left at 4pm eastern and all went smoothly flying into Chicago. I was SO HUNGRY when I landed, but all was forgotten as soon as I found Meredith!!

That's right all. I finally went back to Madison!

Meredith and her dad drove down to Chicago to pick me up, and we stopped at a Panda Express on the way. We literally stayed up until 4 that morning playing Guitar Hero and filming us being, let's face it, total idiots for her Thursday video. We spent the next day editing the footage and making last minute trips around town to get things she needed for her costume.

THE NEXT DAY WAS ANIME CENTRAL 2010!!!!
We left a little later than we'd hoped, but Meredith, her brother Jeremy and I had everything we needed to make the weekend totally awesome.* We arrived at the Hyatt at around 7:30ish, checked in, lugged all our stuff up to our room (which was conveniently only one floor up from all the con action!) and Meredith and I swiftly changed into our costumes. Jeremy and I had to go to registration as he hadn't registered yet and I had (STUPIDLY) forgotten my badge at home and needed to get a replacement.

Two awesome things happened that night.
1) I ended up not having to pay the $20 for my replacement badge because it was so late and because there had been some confusion about where I needed to go in order to get a new badge, AND they didn't take cash where I ended up and that's all I had. So the guy at the counter took pity on me (either that or he thought I was hot) and didn't charge. Sweet =]
2) On our way back from the Convention Center where registry was, we ran into this guy who was cosplaying as Ichigo from Bleach (I was Rukia and Mere was Rangiku). He literally looked like he had stepped out from the manga/anime. He was that perfect. And he was hot. I mean seriously, look at him! Meredith and I were hunting for him the entire rest of the con for pictures. You don't find that perfect of a cosplay every day, you know ;P

The next day we got up early-ish to go to a voice acting panel. It ended up not being that informative to Meredith since she knew like, everything they were talking about (which was thankfully all correct compared to what her agency had been telling her all semester). It was only an hour. We then went back to the Hyatt briefly to find Mere's brother, who was working on his costume (he was in the room almost all day finishing his gourd ((he was Gaara from Naruto)) ) and then we headed back over to the Convention Center to check out Artists Alley.

Oh. My. God.

That place was unbelievable. So many of the artists there were incredible. I wanted to buy everything I saw for the most part. Meredith bought a breathtaking print of Hitsugaya from Bleach from this guy known as the Yanimator (his last name is Yan, so it was a funny play on words), and I bought some stickers of Rukia, Hitsugaya, Zuko and Aang from Avatar and Light from Death Note. 5 for $5. Pretty awesome deal!

At 3 we went over to the loading dock for the Bleach gathering. There were so many people there who'd cosplayed as someone from Bleach. We were there for the entire allotted hour. I got a cute picture of me hugging my bro (Rukia and Byakuya) and another great picture of me getting attacked by Kaien and being saved by Ukitake. Fun times, fun times =]

We generally just wandered around the rest of the day, and there were tons of people who asked us if they could take our picture. We were pretty convincing as Rukia and Rangiku. When Jeremy's costume was finally finished, he was literally the best Gaara at the con. We all went to karaoke from 10pm-2am (it went till 3am) and then headed back to the hotel. We were beat.

Sunday was the last day of the con. We tried not to think about the fact that it was ending since it was like, the best fun ever, but we finally got Jeremy out to Artists Alley. I bought some really cool things, like an amazing Avatar print (which I want to frame) and Jeremy literally got glomped by four pre-teen girls. It was HYSTERICAL. I really wish I'd gotten it on video.

The rest of the week in Madison was kind of a blur, but it included us going to see Robin Hood with Meredith's friend from high school, me going over to my friend Catherine's house to decorate cupcakes with her and my friends Caela, Aya and Kirsten from middle school, me hanging out with Catherine, Amy, Caela, Dashni and Kirsten again the next day to watch Ponyo and eat pizza, Meredith and I playing a lot of Super Smash Bros Brawl, Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts, and finally, watching the rest of Avatar: The Last Airbender until my heart was crushed that it was over. It was an amazing week and a half and I miss her already.

My flight home was less than smoothe because my flight was delayed for 2 and a half hours and they didn't bother to tell us until after everyone had already boarded the plane and it had pulled away from the gate. Dumb weather in Atlanta.

I only got two days off to rest because that Monday I started summer school. Way to go, Madeleine, why'd you sign up for summer school?

So that's what I've been doing the last couple weeks. I'm taking costume construction and I'm in the summerstage play. We're doing a collection of short scenes and they're all really fun and powerful. Tonight was our crew view, which means that opening night is only a week away and it feels like it's tomorrow and five years away simultaneously. I don't know how that happens.

News coming up:
After the show is over, everyone that's in town from the Theatre Department is going to Six Flags in Georgia. I'm so excited. I haven't been in 5 years. Sad day.

After that I get half a month off to prepare for the Awesome Summer of Awesome trip. Are you ready to hear what that entails? Are you sure? OK.

Day 1: July 14th. Jennie and I are driving down to Orlando to meet my friend Amy and her friend Caitlin at the airport. We'll go to our hotel and chill for the rest of the day.
Days 2 & 3: July 15th - 16th. Kelly C, using her tickets, will get us into Disney World. Park hopper. I'm finally going to get to go to all Disney parks!! I haven't been since I was 11 so I'm pretty excited.
Day 4: July 17th. We're all going to Infinitus, the Harry Potter convention being held at Universal Studios. We'll be seeing A Very Potter Sequel and going to the Infinity Ball.
Day 5: July 18th. We're spending as much of the day as humanly possible in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I. Can't. WAIT!
Day 6: We're driving back up to Atlanta for ROFLCOPTOUR, where we'll see ALL CAPS, The Moaning Myrtles, The Whomping Willows, Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills and the Parselmouths. My first Wizard Rock concert. I'm going to die, literally. I'm going to meet Kristina Horner, Luke Conard, Lauren Fairweather, Nina Jankowicz, Matt Maggiacomo and all other famous Wizard Rockers in those bands. GAH!

Can you say Harry Potter nerdfighter-love?


HPRT: *. It's fairly obvious what the rest of it is. See above ^.
Current Song: Teething from the Little White Lie soundtrack (created by StarKidPotter, the same people who brought you A Very Potter Musical)
Current Book: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Geez, everything is HP related today!