Okay, here we go. Blog post. Get excited.

I’d like to apologize. My academic life is in shambles right now so blogging hasn’t been at the tip top of my priority list.

- The Homewood fall play ‘Ghost Box’ has come and gone. I was the assistant director, which was interesting. Not sure whether I’d jump at the opportunity again, but any experience is good experience, right?

- I’ve been cast in the ensemble of Ragtime, a fantastic musical that will be going up in February. Imma keep you posted.

- I was not cast in 13 the musical, which I auditioned for last month. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed, but I’m excited to see the show anyway. And harbor grudges against the entire cast. Just kidding.

So this turned out to be a lot more theatre-centric than intended, but it’s a blog post anyway. I’ll be back soon with more substantial material.

Stuck in neutral.

Today I noticed something that’s been hiding in my room for five years. Even when I moved two years ago, it remained a perennial and unnoticed feature on my wall. This morning I brushed my teeth and went to get my bag. And I saw it. A canoe paddle, finished with swirling calligraphy. ‘Alpine Honor Camper 2004,’ it reads.

Alpine was a month-long summer camp I attended every year for four years of my life. At the end of each term, campers in each grade level, along with counselors, would vote on an ‘honor camper.’ It was never really explained what this meant, although in my years at Alpine I saw it go to the quietest kid, the nicest kid, the richest kid, and me. Sure, it was flattering at the time, but it somehow managed to hide in plain sight right over my bed for five whole years.

Tonight I took down the canoe paddle and placed it in my closet, where it now resides with my ‘Most Improved 8 and Under’ swimming trophy [I beasted at backstroke. True story.] and my certificate of participation for a cub scout soap box derby. Maybe one day I’ll go through my old stuff and smile when I see the canoe paddle, the trophy, and the certificate. But for now they’re where they belong. Not on display. My identity is certainly not defined by what’s in my bedroom, but it also has nothing to do with a barely legitimate award from five years ago.

So now I forge ahead, hoping a more current canoe paddle will be given to me, for a more lasting reason. There’s also a map of Narnia hanging in my room. Maybe I’ll get to that next week.

Some stuff I like in September.

You know what? I’m about ready for this month to end. It’s true. August and September are the worst. They both go by slower than any other month. Regardless of my hostility towards this time of year, I’ve compiled this list of things that are awesome.

1. I love ABC’s new half-hour comedy Modern Family. It follows three exceedingly abnormal families trying to live, as the title implies, modern lives. The pilot episode aired on Wednesday, and has got to be one of the funniest pilots I’ve seen. I look forward to seeing where they take the show with such sharp, intelligent writing.

2. One of ABC’s other new fall shows is FlashForward. If you’ve been watching the network at all in the last two months, you know that ABC is putting all their eggs in this strange, sci-fi basket. I had huge expectations going in, and the first episode really delivered. The direction and writing, courtesy of Dark Knight co-writer David Goyer, are both on a cinematic scale that rarely sees the light of primetime. It’s more than enough to hold me over until Lost returns in January.

3. Go buy an I am Birmingham shirt HERE. Seriously, just go get one.

4. In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor of French Elle magazine, had a stroke which resulted in locked-in syndrome, a condition in which a person is fully functional mentally, but physically paralyzed. Bauby was totally paralyzed save for his left eyelid. Using a painstaking system with an assisstant, Bauby blinked out a 139-page memoir of his inner thoughts called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The book was adapted into a film by Julian Schnabel in 2007. The movie is a unique portrait of a man whose true feelings aren’t expressed until a near-death experience jolts them out of him. It’s inspiring, funny, devastating, and hypnotic. Netflix it.

5. Greg Holden, the English musician who opened for Ingrid Michaelson the other night at Workplay, has been on rotation on my iPod since. Check out Thinking of You and The Chase.

This I Believe.

I’ve always found NPR’s This I Believe interesting. I think it’s cool to hear people’s philosophies and convictions in under two minutes. It reveals a lot about the person.

However, when I was asked to write an essay in the style of This I Believe for English, I found it a lot harder than it looked. Not matter what I wrote, I always found some problem with it. It’s too generic. It’s too weird. It’s not really what I believe.

Anyway, I thought I’d share the finished product below. Sorry about the bad sound.

Noah’s This I Believe

New schedule.

Old Schedule:
- AP Environmental Science
- Algebra II with Trigonometry
- Advanced Acting
- French II
- Yearbook Staff
- AP Language and Composition
- US History Modern

New Schedule:
- Herbology
- Arithmancy
- Transfiguration [?]
- Ancient Runes
- The Daily Prophet Staff
- Charms
- Muggle Studies

I recently discovered MLIA [My Life is Average] which gave me this outstanding idea. Next year, Chemistry will be Potions. And Driver’s Ed will be Flying.

Stuff I need to do:

- Do that homework that I was going to do yesterday.

- Clean my room and actually keep it clean for more than a week.

- See the following movies: Moon, Ponyo, Inglorious Basterds

- Write that monologue that’s due on Wednesday.

- Update that blog I have.

School these days.

August has come with the gratuitous amounts of dread and misery that I’ve grown to love. This year, I had very little time to savor this feeling of impending doom, as the Homewood school year started on August 10th. I’ll gladly repeat that. Homewood. Started. School. On. The. 10th. [annoyed groan] Because I enrolled in an AP English class, I was assigned 3 books and 4 rather time consuming assignments over the summer, which I completed… the night of August 9th. And the wee morning hours of August 10th. I finally got to bed at 5 am.

I was woken up 70 minutes later to find that the lower left side of my face had swollen horribly. It wasn’t pretty. The impeccable timing of this dermatological disaster was all too apparent as I pondered the social consequences of going to school looking like Rocky Balboa after a fight. Thankfully, my parents are nowhere near as cruel as you probably think they are [I love you Mom and Dad] and they let me stay home. I unethically asked my dermatologist for a school excuse for the day.

Anyway, school. My AP English class seems enjoyable. I like the teacher and the other students. More importantly, our main text has essays by David Sedaris in it which is pretty darn cool. Other noteworthy classes include Advanced Acting [my friend Megyn and I are doing a song from Starlight Express for our first project, complete with roller skates], French Deux [it was obviously a long summer as I couldn't remember how to say 'six' in French], and Yearbook [yearbook staffers can stay in the classroom during lunch which makes me extremely happy].

I’m confident that it’s going to be a good year for me. I need to bring up that ol’ GPA, so I’m determined to work slightly harder than I did in years past. 3 down, 177 to go.

‘There was so much left on my bucket list…

…So many different buckets I wanted to own.’

I have recently made a pact with my two siblings. This serious agreement states that before any of us die [particularly me] we’re going to go sky diving. Tandem sky diving. With an instructor. Not alone. We’re not that crazy.

Anyway, this seemingly humorous decision got my brain juicer going. It is my honor to present to you now the fresh-squeezed results of this thinking. Lots of pulp.

Things to do before I’m no longer alive:

1. Go on an adventure. Any sort of spontaneous tom foolery will do. I’m easy to please.

2. Publish something. Even if it’s a letter to the editor of Us Weekly. Once again, I’m easy to please.

3. Audition for The Amazing Race. See number 1.

4. Eat sushi and lobster and caviar and all those foods I’m supposed to have tried by now.

5. Delete my Twitter account. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with Twitter, but I should probably be done with it before I die.

6. Sing karaoke in a public place.

7. See the northern lights. With some hot chocolate.

8. Take a class in something random. Like needlepoint or Icelandic.

9. Attend Sundance. Or, better yet, submit a film to Sundance.

10. Be happy with my life. I’m generally happy at this point. So just don’t screw anything up I guess.

Blah blah blog post.

The school year is coming to a much-welcomed close! We’re at the stage where we’re just prepping for finals and no one’s actually teaching anything. My schedule for next year filled up VERY quickly, and some of the courses I wanted to take [AP Psych, Advanced Acting] had to be put on hold for things I had to take [SGA, French II]. I’m also still missing a PE credit, which is embarrassing and ridiculous, but will have to wait until my senior year.

This summer I’m doing so much visiting and traveling with the family that I don’t think I’ll be able to do much by way of activities and such. But I will enjoy going to Disney World [for the Presbyterian General Assembly, of course], the beach, and Philadelphia. Much to my mother’s disbelief, virtually no one hires people under 16, so a job isn’t much of an option at this point. My mother doesn’t think this to be true.

Okay, my favorite things for May:

Star Trek – What an awesome movie. I’d never seen a Star Trek film or television program before seeing the new movie, but that didn’t matter. It was fun and exciting and I enjoyed it immensely. Wolverine, take note. This is how you make a summer movie.

Summer Heights High – An Australian comedy mockumentary series about a public high school called Summer Heights High. Chris Lilley created the show and stars as Mr. G, the flamboyant drama teacher; Ja’mie, the exchange student from a private girls’ school; and Jonah, the troubled youth who is ‘the best break dancer in the whole suburb.’ Netflix it.

Katie Herzig – I like her all the time, but her latest album, Apple Tree, has been on repeat on my iPod of late. She’s one of the most original and consistent singer-songwriters right now. She’s performing at WorkPlay on Sunday the 17th. You should go.

TCBY – Go to TCBY. Order the Cookie/Cookie Dough parfait. Your life will change.

Are you there blog? It’s me, Noah.

I’ve totally been slacking in the blog department for the past few weeks, so I’m addressing the elephant in the room with some bullet points.

- Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical opened last night. There are two more performances: tomorrow at 7:30 and Sunday at 2:30 at the Virginia Samford Theatre. You should come.

- I led a successful campaign to become vice president of my class at school. I really just wanted to make posters. And now I hear there are ‘responsibilities’ involved. Anyone know what that’s about?

- I really want Mel Gibson to go away.

- I really want to be Susan Boyle’s best friend.