Wahoo!

Today Mom and I went and I (finally) obtained my drivers license! After I acquired it, Rebekah asked me to take her to Le Mouton Rouge, which I did, so I've already driven without an adult in the vehicle. I'm really excited but also nervous about not paying enough attention while driving and killing myself. I'm going to try to ease myself into it before taking a long trip by myself, even though those are the times when I'm more excited about because I was less likely to convince someone to drive me.

So, apparently the bison are actually at Buffalo Rock state park and not Starved Rock.
Today we had school and it went pretty well. Later I have rehearsal and then I'll hopefully go to the dance.

Bison

Today we went to starved rock state park. As we were driving around, we found an enclosure with two bison inside. I declared my desire to get out and see them (I mean, look for shed fiber) quite eagerly and unignorably. I don't think anyone else actually wanted to get out except maybe Grandt, but everyone except Mom ended up getting out and going to see them. Unfortunately, I didn't find pounds of fluff sitting on the ground outside the fence, or inside. Sigh. Besides, it's illegal to take anything out of state parks anyway, so I would have been stuck trying to clean, spin, and knit or crochet the fiber before we left, five minutes later, with no finished product to show for it. I decided that in lieu of actual fiber, touching it on the animal would be good enough. One of the bison was actually right up by the fence, which was chain link and didn't look sturdy enough to halt a charging bison. Most of us were standing next to the fence by this time, some people closer, some farther depending on their comfort level. I pointed out that it wouldn't really be able to hurt anyone unless it got through the fence, at which point we would all be dead anyway. For some reason, though, nobody moved closer to the fence. The one closer to us was grazing contentedly almost close enough to touch, but every once in a while it would sort of snort and jerk its head up, which made everyone jump. It's head was close enough to the fence to feel, and I was about to get up the gumption to pet it when it jerked again. Those horns aren't just for show folks. I didn't really want a puncture wound. Finally, the animal turned and started grazing parallel to the chain link. Of course, it was on an angle so there was no way I could reach it's less dangerous back or side. I was literally standing there and pleading, "Move over here a little more, come on," etc. Eventually it got close enough to touch. I poked my finger in the fence. What do you think it felt like? Actually, I couldn't tell, because I yanked my finger out of there so rapidly. Oh, well. The bison just moved it's head a little. Then, Johnathan and Rebekah decided to try their luck. Rebekah stuck her finger in a few seconds later, but she too yanked it out before she could actually feel it. Then, Johnathan decidedly put his digit through the fence, and jabbed it into the bison's ribs. Apparently, it was really soft, but the rest of us won't ever know, because the bison immediately jumped out of reach. Then, we went home.

Merry Christmas!

Accompanying

Yesterday I had the very exciting opportunity to accompany a middle school choir on the piano. Mrs. Greene is the pianist, and the choir performed a song that had two piano parts called Rhythm of Life. Mrs. Greene called Mom last Wednesday to ask me if I could do it. I had to call the director of The Miracle Worker about it because we had rehearsal on the same night. Anyway, I was (obviously) given the green light. I first played the piece on Thursday, so I kind of stressed out about learning it. I practiced with Mrs. Greene again on Sunday, went to rehearse with the choir on Monday, and played it a few more times yesterday before we left. I really, really enjoyed accompanying. I enjoy being in the partial spotlight when I'm playing piano rather than playing by myself when all the attention is on me. Also, when you're accompanying if you mess up you just keep going instead of trying to fix the mistake and getting all nervous and embarrassed. I definitely missed some notes last night, but it didn't bug me as much as it usually does. Maybe that's because I knew that perfection was practically impossible in less than a week!

Crazy Day

Today was a little bonkers, because I forgot to write on my audition application that I couldn't rehearse on the third Monday of the month because of a previous commitment. I've been teaching some of the people who participate in the Friendship Ministry, a local organization that ministers to physically and mentally disabled people, a song to sign to. So, I had two things going on today, at the same time. I was kind of totally stressed out about calling people to figure out how to do both of them. The Friendship coordinators said they would try to fit me in before they ate, but as it turned out, the church where they meet was rehearsing choir while we were going to be practicing, so it didn't work out. Then I went to rehearsal. It went well, and I'm excited to see the show come to life. It will be a little more difficult than I anticipated, because the character I'm playing is written as an African-American servant, but the director wants me to do it with a southern accent. I can't wait to get back into the whole theater thing!

The Miracle Worker

I'm super excited, because I found out yesterday that I made it into The Miracle Worker. I am Percy, who is the Keller's servant's son. Johnathan also got a part; he is Anne Sullivan's brother Jimmie. I'm also excited because some of the people who were in Annie are also in this. I found that out today when the cast list was published.