Preparing for Summer Camp

It may only be March, but we are in the fourth quarter of the school year, AND spring break is about to begin! Ladies and gents, summer is just around the corner!

With summertime comes summer camp. Whether you're a cheerleader, dancer, or just going for the heck of it, summer camp is a pretty big deal. Like, I measure my life in camps. As an aspiring actress, I attend a performance camp every year, and it's really strict. So, this year, I'm going to give it my all!

So, what exactly will you need to ensure you have an amazing time at summer camp this year? Here is a list of things you won't want to forget to do, and things you won't want to forget to pack.

1. Fill out those forms!

This is so, so important. Make sure you have everything done as soon as possible, from signing up for camp to the day it begins. If you're applying for a scholarship and you know financial aid is limited, send in your application as close to the date announced as possible. Remember to turn in medical forms, too. This may all seem like common sense, but really. People forget.

2. Get a backpack.

Even if you're not attending an overnight camp, you're going to need something to hold everything-- your water bottle, hair ties, makeup, dance shoes, gym shoes, spare clothes, deodorant, pads/tampons, baby powder, lotion, sheet music, etc. Believe me. Every performer has a bag. Models have model's bags. Swimmers have bags with extra gear and whatever else they like. So, get a backpack. You'll need it.

3. Be informed on the camp.

This applies specifically to performance camps. If you're going to Les Miserables camp, you should probably know the melody of "On My Own." If you sing it all the time in the shower, that's cool. I do, too. I mean, it's just so... I can't help it... "I love him, but every day I'm learning all my life, I'VE ONLY BEEN PRETENDING!!! Without me, his world will go on turning. A world that's full of happiness that I have never KNOOOOOOOOOOWWWWNNNNNN! I love him. I love him. I love him, but only on... my own..."

4. Brush up on your techniques.

So, you're a gymnast and your coach is having a super intense boot camp, huh? Well, you better work on that tumbling pass you never seem to stick. At my camp, I know we'll have auditions on the first day, and I know my sight-reading is rusty and my double pirouette is stuck in single rotation. I'm not a dancer, so I'm trying to get to an acceptable level. Get to an acceptable level. You don't need to be perfect. Else, why would you be at camp?

5. Bring any braces or bandages you use.

Musical theatre is pretty much a sport. So, if you use a knee brace during gym class, you sure as heck will need it for choreography. Never leave home without it!

6. Bring your iPod (and maybe download a piano app).

Every performer should have an iPod with music from the show downloaded, and it is also important to have a piano app. This is why being able to read music is SO important as a performing artist-- if you can't seem to sing a part right, you can play it out on the piano to find out how it should sound. So, bring your iPod with you. During lunch or downtime, you can figure it out.

7. One word: SPF.

Even if camp is held indoors, you're probably gonna be sitting outside waiting for your parents. Even if you drive yourself, you're still gonna be exposed to the sun eventually. So, if you burn easily, just bring it anyway. Now, I'm black, but I don't want cancer, either, so...

8. Spare clothes.

It's nice that you'll be wearing biker shorts and a sports bra, but... it's gonna get cold. I mean, it's summer, and summer means air conditioning. So bring sweatpants and a jacket.

9. Tampons. Need I say more?

Well, I'll say more anyway. A lot of girls (another awkward post, here I come) with... smaller figures... really don't like using tampons, but... I mean, if you're a dancer, you're in a leotard. If you're in musical theatre, you gotta dance, too. In most sports, you're going to be in situations that are not that great for a woman who is menstruating, if you are, in fact, a woman reading this. If not, you don't need to read this. Now, I know it's easier to just use a pad, but... in this case, bring out the tampons.

10. Your resume.

For all you know, there could be resume activities any day. There may be a resume critique, or for audition day they may want to see it. So, bring it.

11. If it's optional, bring it anyway.

Last year before theatre camp, they said, "Jazz or ballet shoes are optional." I begged my mom to get me jazz shoes, but she was so hung up on the word "optional" that it really killed my audition. So, the word "optional" does not exist in a performer's vocabulary. Optional means DO OR DIE.

12. What to include in your bag overall.

-Deodorant
-Small snack (or lunch)
-Lotion/moisturizer
-Body spray (optional... for real)
-Sweatshirt/jacket
-Sweatpants
-Rosin (for violin and dance)
-Dance shoes, depending on what type of dance you do
-Muscle braces
-ACE bandages
-Tampons/pads
-Hair ties/headbands
-iPod/earphones
-Baby powder (especially if you decide to wear basketball-style shorts)
-Dry shampoo (baby powder can be used for this... after sweating, don't sacrifice fabulousness)
-Oil-blotting sheets (I use a Japanese rice powder)
-Sheet music/binder
-Sunscreen
-Extra forms
-Notebook (to take notes in classes)

If I missed anything, I'll update soon. So, what is on your must-pack list?

The Sound of Music is the Sound of Love

My passion for music is something indescribable. Like, seriously. I can't verbalize it. Music is something so beautiful there isn't much to say. So, I decided to write an entire blog post about my love of music! I'm going to try my hardest to put this stuff in words.

I haven't always loved music. In fact, I just started actually listening to music last year. You may be thinking, "How is that possible??? We can't be friends!" I've always been surrounded by music but I took it for granted, you know. Like, remember when I first started using a blog playlist and had over 100 songs on it about a year and a half ago? Yeah, I honestly didn't really like at least 75 of those songs. So that explains why the playlist is so little right now: I have songs on it that I actually like.

Music is in my genes. It's the one thing that I love about my family. With my mom playing alto clarinet in high school and my dad being a bassist, I was almost guaranteed to have some sort of musical talent. My mom is one of those people that can play an instrument but later decide they don't wanna do it anymore even though they got to play in orchestras. My dad is one of those people that can figure out any instrument you put in front of him. You give him a trumpet, he'll play it. You give him a guitar, he'll strum it. You give him a bass, he'll go crazy without it. You put a drumset in front of him, he'll... he'll do something with it.

And then there's me. Seemingly the only child in the house that has received musical talent from them. My sisters (no brothers, as you'd imagine there's a lot of drama) are good at school stuff, Charity is good at tennis and track, and then I'm the odd woman out. Cheerleading, gymnastics, piano... you name it.

I remember back in first grade in Sunday School at church, we were making "guitars", the tissue box kind. I had done it many times before when I was younger, but it was that moment when the guitar was finished that I noticed something strange. It clicked in my head that this "guitar" would never work, because:

1. The rubber bands sounded more like a bass than a guitar.
2. There were no frets. I didn't know what frets were, but I knew that something was missing.
3. There were no tuning things.
4. There were only four strings, ahem, rubber bands.
5. It was too small. It was the size of a ukelele, but the sound was on the other end of the spectrum.
6. It was ugly.

And it was that moment that I decided I wanted a guitar. A real guitar. I begged my parents for months until that snowy day of December 2006, beginning of second grade. Finally--- my own guitar. Pink, acoustic, small enough for me to play, and meant for a left-handed person. It was perfect, and still is. I still play it to this day, because, I just started playing it this year. It's a long story... let's just say that I took my first guitar lesson from my dad in January 2007 (big mistake) and he was trying to teach me all these four-finger chords when guys, I could barely hold that guitar. He was trying to get me to read sheet music when I was positive he was trying to teach me Chinese. So yeah... not the best music experience I've had... let's just say I started crying and never wanted to even see that guitar ever again. But, guitar isn't that painful. Four-finger chords are not the devil. Do they hurt? Heck yes, but I'll live. However, sheet music still is the equivalent to Chinese. Good thing I'm taking Basic Chinese next semester at school with a whole bunch of my friends!

And I'll never forget the first time I strummed a guitar and felt the vibration make its way to my nerves.

Not long after getting my guitar I got a keyboard. I fell in love with that like that. I'm not big on piano now, but I play it every chance I get. I play by ear because of that whole Sheet Music/Latin/Chinese thing. Plus, I've never played a piano chord in my life. Oh wait, that's a lie... but I don't think that chord really existed, so yeah. Never played a piano chord in my life. But I'm working on it. I've figured it out.

And after that, I began singing. Now, it may take a while to convince some of you that I actually can sing. I'm not conceited, either. I don't think I have the best voice on earth because I've got work to do, but my voice is something I am very confident about. If you know me because of school and I gave you my URL, you're probably thinking, "Hope. Can't. Sing." And I am alright with that. Because when I sing "Friday", that's technically not my real voice. I'm not purposely singing out of tune, I'm just putting no effort into it. I'm not gonna walk the halls singing like Regina Spektor, y'all. So, I wanted to start singing in fourth grade, but I made a lot of excuses, so I waited until fifth grade in which I made too many excuses. In sixth grade I forced myself to make a move, and next thing I know, I'm leading the vocals (thanks to the actual leader being in Paris) in the band on a Sunday night in front a fair amount of our church and singing harmony at Nationals in Phoenix. All in my second year of singing.

And then after that (you may be thinking, "How many more instruments will this girl talk about before I fall asleep on the keyboard?"), I was just sitting in my house, all done with my seventh grade homeschool stuff, as bored as a dog (sorry, Lexi...). Faith and I were just listening to music and she decided to turn on some Regina Spektor music. Now, don't get me wrong, Regina rocks, but.... These were some annoying songs Faith was playing. So, she turned on "Fidelity". I was so freaking bored. I wanted to try something new. I turned around to see the 6 feet tall bass that had been standing there, way out of tune, in need of a repair, for no less than two years. No one had touched it since it had entered our house. So I turned up the music, walked over to the lonely bass sitting in the corner, and started plucking it. Just plucking and picking whichever string seemed right. "That actually sounds pretty good," Faith told me. It sounded great. So simple. I wasn't playing any notes or chords... just plucking. And that's the day I fell in love with bass.

AND THEN, a couple months ago I was playing with a drumset... ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH.

And then, it finally clicked. And then, music revealed its beauty to me.