Well, the first week of regular school is officially over, as we have Labor Day vacation or whatever we're celebrating. I still have theatre school tomorrow, but I'm fine with that.

I am feeling very good about this school year. It's going to be hard, definitely. i have AP Literature, Inquiry Seminar (a class for Gifted kids [I'm not a certified Gifted student, but my scores say I am, so whatever], which focuses on philosophy), math, and chem.

I am horrible at math, but actually, I'm sort of liking it so far (mind, we've only had four days of it). But the stuff we're doing is a bit hard, but for some reason I enjoy it because it reminds me of art... don't ask me why, but it does. But last year I had a completely horrible teacher, so this year's teacher is seeming pretty good. And actually, she has a very good reputation, so I'm hoping I'll pass her class. Thankfully, my mom told me that if I get a bad grade, it kind of doesn't matter, because all the colleges I'm applying for only require three years of math. Obviously, I'm not going to get a bad grade on purpose, but I've worked harder than I ever had these past three years and have barely passed math- even with good teachers. So we'll see.

I am absolutely LOVING my AP and Inquiry classes. My teachers are so awesome and passionate about teaching. They're not new, but they teach like they are, which is great. I had my Inquiry teacher in eighth grade for Enriched Communication Arts. I had a really hard time in her class that year, even though I got  good grades. But I think this year's going to be awesome. We talk in-depth about stuff that I only ever get to have short conversations about, and it's so awesome. And my AP teacher is great, too. Everyone's afraid of her if they don't know her- she's really tall and has short grey hair, so she looks kind of mean. But she's actually really nice and so into books. We had to read Crime and Punishment, which I just hated. Unlike my last year's AP teacher, she's willing to listen to my opinions. So those classes should be really good.

I'm not so sure about chem... I was supposed to get the really good teacher (my guidance couselor is great and makes sure I get good, patient teachers for math and science), but it didn't fit into my schedule 'cause of theatre school. So now I have a new teacher, which makes me kind of nervous. I'm sure she's good and everything, but if she's just out of college, she may not want to deal with a girl who can't even add consistently.

As for theatre school (CASA), it's going pretty well. I was a little overwhelmed by the size of the class- last year, we had seven people. This year, we have 21! I wasn't the only one, either- my friend who was in the clas with me last year called me that day and was like, "How are we going to survive?!" But I like all but one girl in the class (who's there for tech anyway, so I won't have to deal with her). I was shocked to see one girl from a dinner theatre I go to there. I don't know why, I just never expected her to be there. Possibly because that theatre kind of shuns our school for the lack of musical theatre- we have music and theatre, but no combination. And I wasn't too happy about seeing her because she's never even spoken to me, even though we're in the same voice part and are in the same grade. But apparenntly, being taken away from the other leads of that theatre, she snaps out of that and has become sort of a part of our group of four (taken from last year's class). She knows me and my friend from that theatre, and she went to school with one of the other girls in our group. So it'll be interesting to see what happens when we're back at the theatre.

Through her, I also learned that she got the part of Hodel in Fiddler (we both tried out for it, though for different parts)... and the one girl I can't stand got the part of Chava. Anyone else, I would have been fine with getting the part, but not her. So I'm especailly glad that I said no to chorus- I couldn't watch her play Chava. She's far too arrogant. But the CASA girl deserved Hodel, she was definitely one of the best, so I congratulated her.

The school play was announced this morning. The director has been flip-flopping around about what we would do- he's told me three different "final decisions" since May. First it was The Diary of Anne Frank, then it was The Miracle Worker, and then, finally, it was A Midsummer Night's Dream. I love all of these plays and I was so excited. But none of those choices was announced. Instead, we're doing The Cave Dwellers. Anyone know anything about it? I am very angry about this. No one in our school even knows we have a school play, and performing an obscure one is not going to get us any audience (our town is not a theatre-going town; during State Fair, the auditorium was barely half-filled every night). I can only charitably think of one reason why he'd choose a new production- he thought about how many people would be auditioning and decided to choose a show with a bigger cast. It's happened before- in my tenth grade year, we auditioned for one show, but were cast in another.

Oh, and exciting news! I had a phone call when I got home from school on Tuesday from the diretor of the theatre I was talking about a few paragraphs ago, asking me to be one of the theatre's Ambassadors. I don't know if many theatres do this, so I'll explain (even though I don't know much about it myself). The director and producer choose one person from each (or most) school represented at the theatre (presently, about 26, I think). It's not terrible difficult to choose one from my school because, well, I was the first from my school to go there and only four or five followed. But I'm really glad they chose me. I mean, I am the oldest, but that doesn't really mean they had to choose me. So anyway, these Ambassadors get together and write the motto and make the goals for this year and then they spread the word around their schools (not looking forwar dto this, as my school isn't very receptive of the arts). They are also kind of the theatre's leaders, in charge of helping new kids and stuff. That's the bit I'm most looking forward to- I remember when I first went to that theatre (almost two years ago), I was so worried they'd all hate me, and the Ambassadors were so amazingly nice and I want to be like them.

Well, this entry has been long enough and that's all with me! Bye!