SETC Madness

I've been ridiculously exhausted lately, and it's really no wonder why. Some pretty stressful things have been happening back to back in a matter of days.

First thing was SETC. Last Saturday, I did my SETC screening audition for the State of Alabama. I was horribly nervous and I kind of felt left out up until I arrived on the campus of Montevallo because no one had asked me if I needed a place to stay up there or a way to get there. I ended up going with my mom, and we made it a good experience. I was ultimately really glad that she was there. She calmed me down when I was nervous and about to go up there. She was the last person I saw aside from my fellow group members when I went up to the auditorium. That really helped. She also warmed me up in the car before my group was called. I think my audition went really well too. I felt totally solid on my first song and my monologue. The second song was really strong too, but I felt that my high G could have been a bit better, but you know, there are always things we wish we could change. IN the long run, I was feeling pretty confident in my chances to get passed on to go to the conference itself, or at least make it onto the alternate list.

So that was one thing. The second thing was my second Japanese test. Which ended up being a breeze. My upcoming Oral Interview on the other hand....... I'm scared. Let's just say that.

Third thing: SETC got totally effed up. Let me explain from the beginning of this whole fiasco. They decided to do the results differently this year. Traditionally they would post the numbers of who got passed on and who was an alternate at the end of the Saturday auditions, and people would find out that way. This year they decided to automate things and make a database on their server that they would enter the information into and then it would send us the emails. Well.

Basically, they told us before the Saturday auditions started that we should expect the results on possibly Monday, more likely Tuesday. So. We waited patiently through Sunday and Monday. We waited impatiently through Tuesday. Still no word. One of the seniors called them on Tuesday asking about results, and they said that they had been locked out of their program and that they were trying to break back into it, so they hoped to have the results up by that night or early the next day.

So we wait really impatiently through Tuesday. Still nothing. It gets to be Wednesday and they are now a day late. We wait through the day and... can you guess?? Still no word!! People are getting pissed off by this point. So Thursday, yesterday, comes and there's still nothing. We finally get an email in the middle of the day saying that the database had switched up people's numbers and their scores, so they now had to sort that out and make sense of it all from the audition sheets. Ok. They might be dysfunctional and complete dumbasses, but at least we know what's going on. Or so we thought.

Apparently they have UTTERLY NO CONTROL over their own system, because at about 3:30 this morning, a whole slew of false emails were sent out to the auditioners, saying that they had or hadn't passed. Literally everyone from Auburn except for 3 people got a "not pass" email, including myself, those who got passed on last year and some of the most talented people in the department. We knew something was wrong when Bridget and Chris didn't get passed on. Completely preposterous, especially since not only was Chris's audition completely solid and hilarious, but he's already Equity and therefore has priority. So after our 8am class, Dan, the head of the department, emailed the head of the entire Theatre Conference program and asked what was going on. We then received an email forwarded by Dan saying that they're looking into it and that hopefully it will be rectified soon.

But seriously. How effed up is this place?

Now I just have to worry about my two tests and my interview next week. Ew.

But, there was one really awesome thing about this week.

I went to my second ever Wizard Rock show yesterday!! Originally it was going to be me and Kelly C, then I told Elizabeth about it and she was totally down with it, so we were all set. Then Kelly's grandpa started having serious health problems, so she pulled out. Completely understandable, but it was still sad. I know it meant a lot to her, so I agree with her choice.

But Elizabeth and I ended up leaving Auburn at 1 yesterday, only because I managed to take my Piano Skills test early, and we spent the entire ride talking HP and listening to MoM and awesome music. We totally nerded out. When we got to Decatur, I was really happy to see that the show was on the same street as the ROFLCOPTOUR stop this summer! What was not happy about it was how few people were there! In the summer (probably because it was the summer xD) there was a line out the freaking door to get in. There were probably at most at one time 20 people there to see them. But honestly, I didn't care.

I got to see The Whomping Willows, Lauren Fairweather and JFF and the Sugar Quills again!! The whole first hour or so of the show, we just stood at the merch tables talking to all of them. I got posters for Kelly and Jennie, who both gave me money to buy them posters, and bought posters for myself. We all donated to the Friends of Esther fund to raise money to help her parents pay for Esther's hospital bills. I couldn't decide what to do with the rest of my money, so I waited to decide until after the show was over.

Armoured Bearcub, Lauren and Matt's band, opened with some my favorites, "In Which Buffy Slays Edward," "We're On Fire," and "Peeing in a Bottle" among them. Then JFF played a fabulous show, as always. What I love about JFF is that even though his songs are repetitive, he's so into what he's doing, so invested in each story he tells that you can't not love him! He's so funny and energetic, and he's just a great performer. That's what really impressed me about him this summer when I saw him. It was really great to see someone so involved with the character. As an actor, that always makes me really happy =]

Lauren played next, and there was a really beautiful moment when she talked about Esther and their donation jar and then played her slower song "Art Class." I was really blown away by the emotion and the sincerity. I recorded it on my new video camera (which is beautiful btw!). Too great a moment not to capture.

Matt closed as the Whomping Willow. He was totally hysterical, as always, and the audience really got into his songs. What I was really happy about was the fact that I got to go up on "stage" with him and a couple other people and teach the crowd the dance to the Neville song!! Elizabeth, being the best friend ever that she is, recorded it for me on my camera!! He high-fived me afterward!! YAY!

Afterward, I eventually decided on Matt's Whomping Willows t-shirt, the Armoured Bearcub digital download CD, and JFF's CD with all my favorite songs on it, as well as two JFF buttons. The rest went to the donation jar. Of course.

I had some really awesome conversations with Matt and Lauren, and I gave them my Mix CD contest entry. No word yet on if they like it... I think there are only 3 entries including mine at the moment, so we'll see.

Overall, Elizabeth and I had a blast. I think she was really psyched to be at her first Wizard Rock show, even if they were bands she hadn't really listened to ever. I asked her if she enjoyed the show and she said she really liked everyone. That made me happy =]

That's all for now!

HPRT: I wore my Whomping Willows shirt today to school =]
Current Book: None, but I finished Mockingjay two weeks ago. I'll write a blog post about that later. Because I sure have a lot to say about it.
Current Song: "In Which Buffy Slays Edward" by Armoured Bearcub