What a week

It's been a big week. Last Friday night I went to see my friends Justin and Gilbert in our school's production of Up the Down Staircase. It was a good story, and though the basic storyline of the teacher who arrives at a bad school and touches the lives of her students is pretty clichéd, they did a good job of making it interesting. Justin played the obliviously principal; he added a nice touch by giving his character some silly walks. I had nearly forgotten that Gilbert was going to be in the play (sorry, Gilbert), but he had a more important part: he was the overbearing assistant-principal-type person who was at odds with the newcomer teacher. Some other people I know were in the play too. They all did a great job. I've gotten word that they're going to be performing the play for the whole school soon. (It kind of makes me regret having bought a ticket, but the money went to offset the costs of the production.)

On Saturday and Sunday I did tons of Christmas shopping. Yes, that's right -- I'm actually buying things for more than a few people this year. I guess that's a good thing. It means I have a lot of friends, right? I suppose so, and it also means that I have a lot of money (thanks, job!). Anyway, coming up with gift ideas has been pretty crazy, and I've constantly been afraid of buying someone something that they don't want or already have. But luckily, it's given me a chance to use a ton of gift cards that I've had for years, so my wallet hasn't taken that much of a hit. I'm looking forward to exchanging gifts with Natasha. I got her a Florida souvenir T-shirt (that was her mom's idea) and some other stuff that I think she'll like. Besides that, I have more shopping to do. But I should go to the post office first.

Yesterday in my first hour, I got a note saying that I was to report to ASVAB testing. One problem: I didn't know what that was. A girl in the class also got the same note, so I followed her. She said it was a military test, I guess to see what branch of the military you'd be best in. I asked her if she had signed up for it. She said she had. Apparently someone had signed me up, and now I was going to be subjected to... well, I didn't know what. Push-ups? Waterboarding? I had no idea, and so I was really frightened. We got to the auditorium, and there was a small group of people already there. I figured that whoever signed me up -- someone in the office, no doubt -- had a quota to fill. "Make 10 smart people take this test against their will or lose federal funding." I thought a lot about what I would do on the test. Should I answer the questions truthfully? I knew that if I did well, I would never stop getting junk mail from the military for the rest of my life. So I considered guessing randomly and making stuff up.

Then the proctor mentioned that the test was going to be three hours long, so I decided to speak up. "I think there's been a mistake," I said from my seat behind everyone else. "I didn't sign up for this." Everyone laughed, and she said I could go. On my way out, some lady asked for my name. I told her, and she said I should talk to my guidance counselor. Of course! My guidance counselor. I bet she (or he -- I don't know who it is) had some sly reason for it. It couldn't have been an accident, could it? Well, today I heard someone casually mention that they had involuntarily been signed up for the ASVAB test last year. And my friend Megan said that her brother, who eventually joined the Marines, got tons and tons of junk mail after taking the test -- and he still does -- including mail from the Marines. I'm glad I made a fuss instead of going through with some test that I didn't ask to take.

The Year Without a Santa Claus, the play I'm in with the youth group, is coming along... well, not nicely, but along. We had a big rehearsal last night. Also yesterday, we found out when we were going to play at St. Elizabeth, the school whose church the youth group belongs to. Apparently it's going to be Friday, which is excellent news because it doesn't conflict with my school schedule. (I'd really hate to miss school, unlike most people.) Then we can finally get it over with. It may be bad, it may be good, but to the kids, it won't matter as long as it's funny. The show I'm more worried about is the second and last show, which will be the weekend after next. There's going to be a paying audience (probably all of our parents), so we absolutely have to give them something good. But I'll be glad when all these practices are done with. Actually, they pretty much are. Some people wanted to have a rehearsal tomorrow night, but Nick (the director) said no because he wouldn't be able to make it. People were split over the issue of having a practice without the director to shout and yell and judge. I sided with Nick, mainly because I'm lazy and don't want to practice, but also because a happy director directs happy actors, and happy actors put on a good show. (I thought of that myself, so be sure to give credit to me, Jordon Kalilich.)

A quiz: What American Accent Do You Have? It says I have a Midland accent:

If you've ever read movie trivia, you've probably heard how they wanted to get such-and-such for this movie, but due to scheduling conflicts, he had to turn it down. If you find that sort of thing interesting, check out notstarring.com, which has listings of "your favorite stars, and the roles they didn't get."

Two years ago: "I guess people are right when they think of me as the guy who likes music."
Three years ago: "My friend Mark is playing a drunk guy, which means he's going to be stumbling, shouting, and ad-libbing lines."