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I didn't exactly know what I should title this post...I just feel like I need to write out my anger and depression towards my parents.

Every year I do a ballet production of The Nutcracker with my dance studio, Coupe. I have been ever since I was in 2nd grade, which is the minimum age to participate in the show. (Added note: JJ's sis is also in this production...just thought I'd say it :D) Me and all my friends live on the stage, and The Nutcracker is basically THE biggest event of the year for all of us. Everyone, dance friends or not, knows this is important in my life. Suddenly today, my mom out of nowhere tells me I'm not allowed to participate in The Nutcracker this year...The only thought running through my head at that point was "WTF??" (and no, F doesn't stand for a curse, it stands for frig. I don't enjoy curse words/ swearing)

Ever since 4th grade, I've gotten really good parts in The Nutcracker. Yeah, I'm not all that bad of a dancer. I've been in above-average roles and some were even solos or principal roles. Even so, my parents don't believe I'm capable of doing well this year, and feel I should just give up. I absolutely refuse to stop performing, so when I told my mom that, she said I HAVE to get a very good role in the show this year or I'm not allowed to do it ever again. She stated that I'm not one of the "Chosen Ones" (our name for the studio director's favorite dancers) and that I'll most likely just get cast aside and be used for some meaningless part that anyone can get. Seriously, mom? I thought you were supposed to be supportive of my decisions!! The worst part is, about a year ago, I asked my parents if Icould go to an art program or something, either during the year or as a summer camp. They said a career as an artist doesn't pay the bills, so classes were out of the question. Just now, right before I started writing my angry rant, my dad said instead of Nutcracker, I should consider some ART CLASSES!!! Oh, so now he supports my artistic ability? Thanks a lot, Dad. Way to back me up at the completely wrong time.

Yes, I know, I'm sorry if my angry rant is annoying. I just needed somewhere to write all my feelings down, and what's better than a blog? Sorry, but I have more to complain about. I'll contain it to one paragraph, so if you're sick of it all, just skip the next section and continue on to the end :)

Anyways, I'm going back to the whole "Chosen One" thing. So my mom believes that I'm not one of the favorites at the dance studio, and I completely agree with her. I'm not super skinny, but I am a pretty good dancer. Just ask my ballet teachers. I'm not half bad. Sure, my arch could use some work, and I should really get my BMI to a perfect 20, but for the body I've been given, I've made the most of it. This year at summer camp (which was at Coupe) I feel like did really well in ballet class (and I was my teacher's favorite...which was good and bad at the same time) and I've improved a lot since I was younger. I was moved up once or twice in pointe class, and I'm in the advanced ballet class. What more does my mom want from me? If that's not good enough for her to consider me up for a decent role in The Nutcracker, than what am I supposed to do? If this sort of thing happened at any other time than now, I'd probably be bawling my eyes out in my room, with the dook locked and no contact with the outside world. However, I'm in a particularly good mood, seeing as I did nothing all day but watch Naruto on the internet and I just ate a chocolate bar. Yeah, great for a dancer. Anyways, my anger is now gone. Thank you blog, for giving me a place to express my feelings :)

So, on that note, I can now write about my day. It's a Sunday, so I went to church as usual. The chuch I go to is REALLY small, and especially small during the summer, when services are an hour earlier (they're at 9:30 as opposed to the usual 10:30). Oh, and those times are in the morning, just saying. I was at church this morning when one of our family friends asked me and my bro to help out with the Summer church school because she was having trouble with the craft (it was a God's Eye/ Dream Catcher thing and she had to have her son explain it to her. I don't blame her, I had trouble making those things when I first started em too). Only two little kids were at church today, so when she left, she yelled out "I need some big kids too!" Then, just like that, all of PYC (Presbyterian Youth Connection-kind of a youth group type thing) that was in the church sprang up and went over to church school. There were only a total of four kids who were supposed to be at church school (two of em are older-ish), and guess how many helpers? Seriously, guess now. Done guessing? Ok, there were seven of us. So, the helpers outnumbered the kids. It was pretty hilarious, if you ask me. Eventually, after the bible story (The one about Jesus rising from the dead, but isn't that supposed to be told during Easter?) two more small kids showed up, so it was six to seven. Still, just imagine it, seven highschool kids (Freshman to Senior) making dream catchers...haha...it was a funny sight. Especially when one of my friends was utterly failing :D

So, yeah. That's my life for now. I use the word "so" a lot, don't I? Oh well. I'm off to bed now to I'll blog again eventually. I get my retainer tomorrow and I have a doctors appointment :( Bye!

Okay, this is JJ who must point out that Basil is not an "above average dancer" she's an "amazing dancer." And just a little note. Basil if, for some strange reason, you don't get a big part in the Nutcracker (which I KNOW won't happen), never stop dancing. It's criminal for someone with your talent to do such a thing. Oh, and take up your Dad on those art classes. I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to do with my life and at some point, I realized I kept thinking I was worthy of something better in a lot of situations. But if you love being on stage, then be on stage. If you love writing, than write. If you like art, then be an artist. Don't stop and think you have the potential to be a doctor, because you also have the potential to be an artist or a dancer. And years from now, when you look back, you'll be happy. And who cares if your parents are fuming in the background? They'll come around. They just want to make sure that your future is set in stone. But if it is, then it won't be as much of an adventure. And it's your life. Do what you want, and no matter where you wind up, I think you'll wind up happy. I haven't decided what I want to do with my life, but I think I've decided that when the time comes I'll do what I want. Without fear, without hesitation, without the push of my parents. And I think I've made the right choice.

Back Home!!!

As from the title, you could probably gues that I, Basil, have finally returned home after a week of vacationing in Montauk. I hate to say it, but it's good to be home, in a beautiful world of air conditioning, not broken screen doors and most of all, no small children to wake me up at eight in the morning. Oh, and more than 12 channels of TV. That's nice too.

JJ should really post somehing soon so I can make random comments about it, but she's busy with HHYT so I don't blame her for not posting/finishing her posts and such. I really want to go to her show tonight, but my mom won't let me leave the house since we have to unpack. Also, she probably doesn't want to spend any more time in the car than she already has. Three hour drives really take a lot out of a person. Well, not me because I was sleeping the whole time, but you get the gist.

So,I woke up this morning at around 8:15 but not because of the screaming kids. I couldn't go back to sleep because my left ear was really bothering me. My ear still hurts right now, so I think I have swimmer's ear. Great, just great. I was really looking forward to doing that flip off the diving board sometime soon. The ear drops I've been putting in my ear have been helping with the pain, but not for the rest of my body, since I now have an assortment of bruises and scratches all over my legs. Did you know that it's really hard to judge distance when your head is tilted sideways? I didn't....at least not until 15 minutes ago. Going up and down stairs is hard work with a sideways head.

I'm really going to miss Montauk. Well, not the house I stayed in, but the place itself. The little not-chain shops on ever corner, the bake shop with key lime donuts, the sunny beaches I've grown to love and most of all, the lobster rolls. Lobster rolls are now my favorite lunch food. We actually stopped at this place called "The Lobster Roll Restaurant" with Millie's family on the way home. Needless to say, the lobster rolls there are AMAZING. Especially with iced tea...I put around 5 packs of sugar in mine...hehe. Following the excellent lunch that costed about $180 (there were nine people, so I guess thats normal. $20 each?), Millie was brutally attacked by the automatic sliding door on my mom's car while trying to say her farewells. That door is VICIOUS!

You know what I was thinking today? No? Didn't think so. Well, I was thinking about blogging, and I thought to myself, "What is blogging but a giant, more detailed version if Twitter?" I never really answered this question, but think about it. You write about everything that you're doing, whether people want to read about it or not. It's a way of making a novel of your life that practically nobody will read (happy? I said practically, so that doesn't mean there aren't readers out there :D). Though, it is really fun and a good way to kill some time.

Check it out!

Hello! This is Basil....again. It's been a whole 15 hours since my last post!! Well, I'm bored right now, so I figured I'd tell you (whoever "you" is.....) that I made a very random blog called My Opinion-The JJ and Basil Way. Why? Because I can. The web address is www.myopjjb.blogspot.com. Yeah, all the other web addresses I wanted were taken :( And yah, the title kind of sucks, but I made it...when? Oh yeah, late at night...or was it early this morning? Wow, this just shows the capacity and attention span of my brain.....

The nearby beach was demolished by high tide last night. According to Millie's mom, about 3/4 of the beach just disappeared. Also, the clouds have been doing this really weird thing today. They've been moving so fast it's just abnormal. I'm kind of worried, to tell you the truth. OMG IT MIGHT BE THE APOCALYPSE!!!!!!!! Just kidding, i don't really think that. However, I've heard things about a hurricane approaching Montauk soon, so that worries me as well. Anyway, due to the lack of beachy fun, I've been swimming in the pool a lot, and I learned how to do a flip! I did flips off the edge of the pool, so it'll be much easier when I have a diving board when I return home. I can't wait!!!

Well, I really don't have anything else to write about, so I'll just stop writing to prevent rambling on about completely useless stuff. Sorry for the amazingly short post, and JJ, break a leg tonight!!!....and read the other blog and tell me how bad it is :P Bibi!!

Greetings from The End!!!

Heyyyyyy from the bold font you can probably tell that it's me, Basil here (well, unless you read degrassipwns, then you might think its Mango)!! It's about midnight right now, so I apologize ahead of time for any typos/spelling or grammar mistakes i might type up in this blog.

For the past week, I've been in Montauk, NY (also known as The End) on vacation. We rented out a house with two other families, so that's where I've been staying for the past week. We go to the beach every day, swim, eat, have fun, play Wii, etc (and if you're wondering, for me, etc=watch degrassi seasons 1 through 5 on the internet). Sounds like so much fun, right? Well, it is, but the vacation could do without:
-4 kids under the age of 10 living in the same house as me (one of whom I believe is a demon child)
-A scratched game of Super Smash Bros Brawl (as a result of said children)
-Broken screen doors
-Mosquitos in the house (but I don't have to worry much because like JJ, I'm a walking mosquito repellent)
-No air conditioning
-Only 12 TV channels
So yeah, I'm having a pretty good time despite these minor disturbances.

As said above, I've been watching Degrassi on the internet and I have come to the conclusion that JT is awesome!!!!!! Too bad he had to die....grrrrrrrrrrr Degrassi, grrrrrrrrrr..... Also, I'm always wondering about how some Canadians say "soory" as opposed to "sorry"
...it just really bothers me for some reason.

Along with watching obsessive amounts of Degrassi, I've been bonding with my brother by watching episodes of Wipeout and I Survived A Japanese Game Show. Wipeout is hilarious, if you're the type of person who enjoys watching the failure and pain of others, which I do. Some of the challenges on that show are just so incredibly mean, yet they look like they'd be so much fun (aside from the "sucker punch", a wall that consistently punches you with boxing gloves)! My favorite is in the fourth stage (the "Wipeout Zone") for some seasons, where contestants are literally catapulted into the arena about 20 or 30 feet in the air. It so looks like something I'd do! Sadly, my brother and I ran out of episodes of that to watch, so we had to find some other show (since, of course, he would NEVER watch Degrassi). He chose I Survived A Japanese Game Show (season 2), which turned out to be AMAZING!!!! The challenges are so random and ridiculous that it's the perfect show for us to watch in our spare time. The person I was cheering for (if you watch this show, it was Cathy) from basically the start ended up not losing a single challenge, and eventually winning the whole entire show. That's not something you see every day (except for in Hell's Kitchen, season 2 but that's something else entirely). Yeah, my total time wasters for when I'm not outdoors turned out to be pretty entertaining.

One of my really good friends (I'm going to call her Millie) happens to also go to Montauk around this time of year. Millie and I have been doing a lot of stuff together, like going to the beach, shopping and eating lunch. While on the beach, we coincidentally discussed Helen Hayes Youth Theater, where JJ is currently doing a show. This year, Millie was in two HHYT shows, Seussical and Thoroughly Modern Millie. She was a Wickersham Brother in Seussical and Millie in TMM (Hence why I am calling her Millie). I came the the conclusion tat next summer,not only am I going to attempt to get into the NYSSSA Modern or NYSSSA Voice summer program, but I'm also going to do several HHYT shows, since Millie told me how they were so much fun. Hope to see you there JJ!! Oh, and before I forget, break a leg tomorrow!!!

School starts again soon, and I still have so much sumer work to finish! I have to finish one book, read another, and find 15-17 current events articles in 2 weeks!!! But even so, I can't wait fpr highschool to start! Sure I'm scared of being a freashman, mostly because of the bigger people and "Freshman Friday", but the school drama and musical will make it so awesome. Since I didn't read all of the blogs before this (sorry JJ I forgot) I don't know if this was ever mentioned, but JJ and I already had our first HS musical (no, not the movie) experience when we were in 5th grade. The highschool did a production of The Music Man, and they needed younger kids to be in it. They chose two girls and two boy from our grade, and coincidentally, JJ and I were the two girls! It was one of the best experiences of my life, so I really can't wait to get back into performing. Especially after the horrifying school play experience this year...*shudders*. You don't ever want to know about that.

Oh no! I just remembered that I get my retainer on Monday! Ugh I got my braces off at the very end of July, and I'm enjoying the freedom so much! Now my stupid orthodontist has to go and ruin it again :( Sigh, why can't life ever be perfect?

**NEW BAND ALERT**
My uncle was the first person to recommend Foo Fighters to me and my brother, and they ended up being one of our favorite bands. Just a few days ago, he told me to look up a band called INCUBUS (no , it's not really all caps, I just wanted to quickly emphasize the band name but my font is already in bold). Look them up on Youtube, iTunes, Google, whatever. They're pretty good if you're into the whole rock-ish country-ish type thing. I personally really like them, especially their song "Drive". Look that up and listen to it while you're at it. The only odd thing about them is that the lead singer has this thing for never wanting to wear a shirt while singing. You'll see what I mean.

Again, I'm very sorry for any spelling mistakes or typos or whatever. This site really needs spell check....Oh well. I have to go, considering it's now one in the morning, so as they say on I Survived a Japanese Game Show, MAJIDE!!!!!!! *does weird hand symbol* :D

You know there's a spellcheck function, right?

HHYT, Week 2, Day 3

You know how everyone has a crazy fantasy that's realistic, but you know will never happen? Well, mine is always that the lead will fall off the stage or get sick or just be a total jerk and get fired (it varies based on the company and the actor) and due to my freaky memorizing ability, I'd be able to replace them.(she does have this really freaky memorizing ability...she can memorize a song after only hearing it once or twice...) Now, I never thought anything even remotely similar would happen, but when my friend Alli hurt her back... well, guess who's now playing Monsieur D'Arque? I'll give you 3 hints.
1) This person looks a lot like me.
2) This person has the same roles as me.
3) My time off stage just got majorly reduced seeing as Alli was also the statue and the baker. (ummm....is it.....your sister? :P)
No, it's not Luke... not a PA... I'll give you one last guess. Do you give up? Fine, I'll tell you. It's me! Yes, me, JJ, the one writing this blog. Surprised? Yeah, I was, too.(WHY DON"T YOU TELL ME THESE THINGS????? Oh and congrats!!!) So now I have about as much stage time as Belle or Gaston, I have more lines and a lyric in Mob Song, and I have a featured bow thing. (Yay!!!) I run out with Maurice and the Enchantress and we point towards the Enchantress, then they point to me, then we point to Maurice (it's a stage-point, more of a gesture).


Today we did our first run through in costume. Because I'm like 5 different people, I have about 100 changes. Okay, not 100, but a lot. I start out as Narrator 1, then have just the 8 bar introduction to Belle to change into the baker, then I change back into Narrator 1, then I change into the statue, then I run and change into a villager with sneakers (so I can do my round-off backwalkover), change into utensil, then become Narrator 1 again, then I become Monsieur D'Arque, become narrator 1 again, and then I'm D'Arque until the curtains close.


Today was my day of stupid mistakes. I woke up and went to get my leotard from my drawer and slammed my hand in my drawer when closing it. Then I was walking down stairs, stepped on Nicki's shoebox, and felt it colapse under me. I slid down the stairs, flew into my mom's thumb (yes, poked myself in the eye with someone else's finger), and artfully flipped down onto the ground. It hurt a little, but I laughed it off and felt better in an hour (if Basil hasn't mentioned it already, I'm her "pain tolerant friend" due to my uncanny ability to feel minimal pain)(<-----it's kind of creepy how you can punch her and she feels absolutely nothing). During our rehearsal of Gaston, I backed up and almost knocked down a table which was behind me that I hadn't noticed. And finally, during my round-off backwalkover, I noticed I was about to knock over another table and kick it onto a group of kids, so I forced myself to stop mid-air and fall down, which was just splendid. I figured that was the end. I mean, 4 strikes, I was already technically out. But I figured maybe the two seperate tables would count as one strike. Of course, I was wrong. Because, as you already know, I have many costumes. But I unfortunately changed into the wrong one right after Be Our Guest. The dressing rooms were flooded, so we were changing up in the main lobby, which helped us create a marvelous stage picture. Imagine this: Narrator 1, running down the aisle shouting "Belle ran into the forest as fast as she could" in half of her Monsieur D'Arque costume. The other narrators freaking out because Narrator 1 isn't with them, so the half dressed D'Arque/Narrator cross-breed stands on stage and recites Narrator 2's line. Narrator 2 wondering onstage and staring at Narrator 1. The other narrators coming on stage and continuing the scene. Narrator 1 handing Belle an imaginary prop because she came from the aisle, not the wings, and couldn't grab the prop. Blackout. Yep, it was magical. You're looking at the world's stupidest narrator here. But don't worry, "this is why we have rehearsal." So you can make a fool of yourself BEFORE the people come.

HHYT, Week 2, Day 1

So on Day 1, week 2, my day started when I arrived at the theater. We're out of the studio this week. The first thing we did was finish staging the show, which started with the "Storming the Castle" scene. HHYT has taught me many things. Not only am I a more skilled gymnast than I thought, I'm also a pretty good fencer. Or at least staged-fencer. Because I'm now supposed to fight with Denise in the scene, which is a lot of fun! We finished the staging and were sent off to lunch after getting a tour of the stage (I learned that the curtains seperating the wings are called legs and the light fixtures behind the legs are called boons). We went to Starbucks and then to pizza where Kevin, a PA (that stands for production assistant), stole stuff from my friend Jessica. It was pretty funny. She'd grab her cellphone to protect it and then he'd run off with her cream soda. Nicki was always sent to get it back for her, and because she's so cute he'd return it. To taunt Jessica, Nicki put her Izzie drink in the middle of the table in Kevin's reach, but he would ignore it, then steal her stuff. After lunch, we had our first run through at the theater. And maybe it was because it was the first run through at the theater, but it was god awful. I mean, words cannot describe the lack of enthusiasm we displayed (which means I'm pretty bad at my job of writing if I can't describe stuff). So we got our first ever "If you fail, I look bad, so do it for me. Because I care just as much as you should" speech from John, the musical director. It was new and different, and it actually worked, because when we ran it one last time and everything fell into place better than before. Everyone knew their lyrics and blocking and no one walked into set peices or props... it was a dream come true. But it lasted about 5 minutes, then we fell apart again and were dismissed. But I'm being hopeful. Because I know the show will be amazing. I have faith... I do believe in fairies. I do, I do.

HHYT, Week 1, Day 6 and 7

It's not technically this weekend, but I'm going to write as if it is.

So on day 6, we did a lot of driving. We drove up to my great-grandma and great-great-great-aunt to visit them and celebrate my Nana's birthday. It was fun, and then we went back to the house where we sat around and did nothing due to Nana's paranoia about us breaking something. After the excruciating hour of nothing, we finally left and drove to Connecticut to visit my Dad's friend's family and their children in their new house... which is huge. Like, the size of 5 of my houses. And I have a pretty big house. Once we arrived we got ready to swim, but then it started to rain. There was this single cloud above their house. Everywhere else it was blue and sunny, but we had to wait half an hour for the cloud to pass. Then we did go swimming. We tried playing volleyball, but I apparently hit too hard while our friend Emily hits too soft, so we got all of nowhere. When that became apparent, we switched to diving contests which featured dives from Mancove, Emily, and I, and bizarre leaps from Ethan, Emily's little brother. When dinner time came around, so did every mosquito in the state of Connecticut (not that I minded since I've only been bitten once in my life... I'm a little mosquito repellent... better than bug spray) so we had to turn around and go back into the house. Dinner was directly proceeded by a game Ethan and Nicki like to play in which they pretend to be dogs and Emily jumped in, too. I pretended to be the shelter owner while Mancove was my best friend who helped me. But one thing lead to another and soon there was a ninja fight, an epileptic puppy, a psychotic vet, and an attempted murder... just a side note, if you ever want to play a normal game with me, don't. Mancove and I share runaway imaginations, so things never turn out normal.

After our... creative game, we got in the car for more driving, this time we drove all the way down to Long Island. We spent hours in the car, listening to our iPods (we got a CD to practice from for Beauty and the Beast) and reading our scripts as we rode. That lead to a very excluded Mancove, so we gave her a script and ran lines together with her to promote family unity... just kidding, it was so we wouldn't get a family unity lecture from our parents. We soon arrived in Long Island and I tried to blog, but i couldn't connect to the internet.

The next morning, we woke up and got ready to go to the beach. We drove to Robert Moses beach which was beautiful, despite the tiny, eroded beach which was jam-packed. If you didn't gather my passion for big and wild waves from my Cape May posts, I'll directly state it now. Robert Moses beach was nothing like Cape May. There were minimal waves and if there were any they crashed about a foot from the shore. But the water was practically crystal clear and a beautiful shade of blue-green, a completely flawless and endlessly consistant river of that water you only see in dreams, the water that lets you know it's a dream. The sand, although limited, was beautiful in its own way. It was a deep shade of purple and so thin it would get caught in the tiny creases in the skin of your hands. My sisters, father, and cousin built an awesome sand castle - no, sculpted an awesome sand castle - which looked magnificent. I was shocked that I had actually helped build - sculpt - it. It was one of those crazy awesome things you see on the beach that makes you just stop moving and stare for a bit. Later, Nicki and I danced and practiced in the sand. Nicki then put on a little show for my dad's cousin and her partner and their friends.

After the performance (accompanied by the soundtrack of JJ since Nicki can't harmonize with herself), we packed up to leave. But unfortunately, the fates were not with us on that. You see, there had been a car-crash on the bridge we had crossed to get to the beach and we were stuck. Yes, trapped like... things that get trapped a lot. We were stranded on that island with no exit. So it wasn't until 10 PM that we got home for dinner. And we were so hungry by then we would've eaten garbage, but dinner was fabulous (although there was a NYRA meeting at the same time, so I ate hurriedly) and soon after the meal I had to leave the meeting and drive home for hours.

And the day ended with me going to bed. Which I should do right now.