My Fifth Semester of College

Recently finished my fifth semester of college (also my first semester as a junior). It was a busy year, full of stress and business (and some things didn't turn out how I wanted them to), but there was also a lot of good too :) :D I was FINALLY cast in a mainstage show (:D :D :D :D), I got a part time job at a restaurant (I make the food!), and I WILL be going to England this next semester to study abroad. I also had fun with my classes, made new friends (and got closer to the kids in my major, so YAY :D ), and worked backstage. 

This semester was, quite frankly, exhausting in many ways. Firstly, I was doing 18 hours (two of those hours were my practicums, but STILL), working a part time job, AND I was in a play or working crew (and doing TKD when I wasn't doing the above). I also got a crush on someone near the end of the semester, which hasn't been fun :( :( But some good news- I've been watching season 12 of Supernatural (which I've been enjoying, though not as much as last season, which is to be expected since last season was one of the very best ones we've had, AND the season isn't over yet and there is a WHOLE lot to come, like the Cas-centric stuff!!), been reading way too much fanfic, found someone to  read through my book and give me notes, and found a lot of good music. :) AND made money at my job (which I got over the summer). OOoo, and I got my RED BELT, HALLELUJAH! :D <3 nbsp="" p="">

Unlike last semester, I didn't have to write that many papers, but I DID have to read a whole bunch, as well as take a lot of exams. I also had a lab at 8:30, so you can imagine how fun that was XD 

During the first week of the semester, I went in and auditioned again O_O There were too shows, one being "The Importance of Being Earnest", which I had done before. One thing I did differently this time was meet up with a lady I (and my sister) know to have her coach me on my monologues. She did an excellent job and I was definitely a lot more prepared for this one. It was one of the strongest auditions I feel I have ever done and my director/teacher said it was a good one :) Also unlike the last time, I got called back <3 :d="" a="" and="" as="" be="" bit="" both="" bracknell="" but="" cast="" chausible="" different="" dr.="" ended="" finally="" for="" going="" guys="" happy="" i="" in="" it="" lady="" list="" miss="" nbsp="" nervous="" online="" only="" p="" posted="" prism="" read="" reading="" saw="" so="" the="" thought="" tkd="" to="" took="" two="" up="" very="" was="" we="" were="" while="" who="" with="">

Rehearsals didn't start for a while, but I knew all the kids in the cast, which was nice, and it really helped me to feel like I fit in to a degree with everyone (yay!). I also made friends with some of the kids, which was nice :) 

I started out doing Taekwondo during the semester but had to take some breaks for working crew and being in the play/working. Since I have to work crew for TWO shows to get my degree, I decided to work my second show. This time I did costume crew, which I had done at my last school, so I had a good idea of what to do. The play wasn't all that well written, but it was good to work backstage and get more experience on the crew side of things. 

This semester, as I was not only in the play but in an ACTING class again (<3 .="" :d="" a="" acting.="" acting="" after="" and="" back="" be="" director="" do="" fact="" first="" from="" got="" her="" how="" i="" in="" it="" lot="" monologues="" my="" nbsp="" nice="" of="" our="" p="" quite="" rehearsal="" scene="" shakespeare="" so="" talking="" teacher="" telling="" to="" was="" which="">

The show took up a big chunk of my semester, so I'll go over that. Overall, I had a really good experience and I was SO THANKFUL to be cast in a show before I was a senior. I wish I had started at this school now, since I probably WOULD have been cast sooner :(

Anyway, the role was quite difficult but I pulled it off. My director gave me a lot of awkward- for me- directions and as someone who is autistic/an aspie (and therefore doesn't really know what flirting is) and is on the ace spectrum (and therefore doesn't really understand the sex-obsession many people have), it was difficult but apparently my character liking Dr. Chausible came across and was believable (YES! :D). Me and the other actor worked on our character's relationship too (we're friends in real life- he's a really cool guy) and I feel that helped make the connection that much more realistic. I also got to do a British accent for this play (like I did the last time), which was a ton of fun! :) Oh, and the theater  department head THOUGHT I WAS GOOD! :O He even said I was a knockout in my costume! :) YAY! :D And many people said I did very well and 'vanished into the character', which is the best compliment an actor can get. 

Everyone in the cast was a really good actor and I hope that we all succeed in our endeavors :)

Also, the costumes were quite lovely and I especially loved mine! I had to wear a corset, even though I really didn't need to, since I could fit in my costume without it :p Oh well, it was an interesting experience nonetheless (and, hey, it must be lucky, since I was wearing it when a guy said I was pretty- for the first time ever! :) ). 

The performances went well and we even got standing ovations TWICE. Many people said it was one of the best shows at our university, which made me very proud. 

Here are some pics of me in my costume :) (sorry I look, personally [everyone else looks fine, I just don't] disgusting with glasses on- it wasn't my idea.)

By the time the play ended, the semester was rapidly coming to an end. I got back to doing Taekwondo, writing various papers, and preparing for finals (and procrastinating, shh). 

Here are my thoughts on my classes (in semi order)

American Government: As someone who has always been interested in politics, this was definitely an enjoyable class. The lectures were very interesting and fun to listen to and our professor was really cool! The class was huge, but I got to talk to her a bit and she recognized me from theater (I had seen her before in a play too!). The TA was pretty cool as well and while a lot of the kids in my discussion section were a bit weird and annoying, the activities were pretty fun. I also got 100s on TWO of the tests (one being the FINAL), so that was a huge plus :D 

While I've always had a good understanding of government, I felt like I did learn quite a lot; I also learned that I know more than most people, cause most of the kids were all "whaatt" about most things.

And, randomly, I am glad that the teacher cancelled class the day after the election because I did NOT want to go! :( (I was too busy being upset and feeling dead inside).

Psychology: I've always been interested in this subject matter, so I was excited to take it. At first, it was a little obvious my teacher was a grad student who hadn't done it before, but she quickly got better and the lectures became very enjoyable. We watched a lot of fun videos that explained the topics well and the textbook was also informative and an intriguing read. We also got to participate in psychology studies, which I thought was really neat. I also made a friend in this class (he was in this one and my next one) which was really great! :) I hadn't expected to, but I did :) :D I also got As on a lot of this stuff in this class, which made me happy :) I also answered a lot of questions! 

Oh, and this is random, but it made me happy- so we were talking about attraction and she asked what we liked in other people and we all answered personality stuff  only. When asked about physical things we were all silent and one guy went "....good hygiene?" XD Gave me some positivity towards humanity :) (which I needed since that disgusting dipshit of a dump head won the election. F that guy, seriously!).

Logic and Critical Thinking: This was a hard class and while I didn't do terribly or anything (I did better than the majority of the class, including that stupid Trump supporter >:D ), I still didn't do my usual best. I think it was because it just didn't click as well inside my brain :( But I did like my professor, he was cool, AND he came to see my play and thought it was really good! :) He was impressed with my acting, which made me happy :) Oh, and like I said above, the new friend I made was in this class as well and so was a member of my cast, so that was nice :) The three of us all often got together and did the in-class activities together. 

Geography and Lab. 

It was a bit similar to geology, but I still enjoyed the class a lot. We learned a lot of various topics and I could tell that my professor (who was a grad student) was very passionate and knowledgeable about the topic. I did well on the exams and the homework and got mostly As. We learned a lot about how the earth works and how it changes and what processes it goes through. We also learned about storms and weather and climate change and all of those important things We also got to go on a field trip, which was a ton of fun! :) 

The lab was a bit difficult since there was math involved and it was at 8:30 in the morning O_O I, however, did well in it and even answered things better than the teacher XD I didn't do too well on the first lab exam but I did a LOT better on the second and I definitely succeeded in the lab :)

Run Crew and Acting Practicums

For the run crew practicum, I basically worked Costume Crew for the first show of the semester. I pressed the costumes, helped with quick changes, and would take inventory to make sure all the costumes were there (well, at least for the actress I was taking care of); I also kept a journal. For the acting practicum, I had to keep journal entries and then add them to a very long paper I had to write in regards to my role :O It ended up being 23 pages when the journal entries were included. I got As on these, so yay! :D 

Acting III 

My last full class was that of my acting class. After a while of doing an acting class, it was really nice to be able to do one again :) We had a small class, which was nice, since we all got attention and focus from the teacher an we all got to know each other pretty well. Our focus was heightened language pieces, particularly that of Shakespeare (we learned scansion for iambic pentameter so now I know how to mark my scripts). For performance assignments, we had to do a poem, a sonnet, two monologues (comedic and dramatic) and a scene. My poem was from Revenge of the Sith (the novel) and everyone was impressed with the writing (told you it was good! :D). I did a Shakespearean sonnet and the monologues were from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Macbeth". My scene was from "Othello" and I played Desdemona :) I got to pick everything but the scene, but I really enjoyed doing the scene and I felt very good about how I did it at my final (I did the scene and my comedic monologue). I also read a couple of Shakespeare plays for this and while I didn't care too much for Macbeth (the flow was all over the place and just, dude, FOCUS your plot! Sheesh!) Othello was really enjoyable to read, though, I loved performing it even more. Now I want to play Desdemona when I am older! :) (maybe have James Earl Jones be Othello- I saw him perform a piece from it, and it was really well done).

Overall, I had a good semester (even if I did get upset after finals) and I am- again- so thankful I was cast in a show!! :D 

May the Force be with you! 

Jedi Shena Tokala signing off