In Memory of a Special Little Friend

On Sunday the 9th, a little 7 yr. old boy from our church passed away. He had been very sick since the age of two, and was in the hospital for these last 7 months. He was in a lot of pain for the majority of the 7 months, but he was so brave throughout it all; he was a very special little boy, and he touched everyone he met.

He was very close to my heart, and I'm really going to miss him. I'm not going to give away any information, or names, because his parents might not be comfortable with that; I just wanted to give that special little warrior the recognition he deserved.

He's definitely in no more pain, which is wonderful, but those he left behind are grieving. Please pray for his parents, as they prepare for his "celebration of life" service, which is this Saturday, and get through this extremely difficult time. And also for all the rest of his family and friends who loved him dearly, and will truly miss him.

Way to go bud. You were the bravest knight of all, and you'll always be my special little hero.

I worked hard, tried out for Les Mis, and....

Got in the chorus. As did most of the other people who didn't get a main role. Haha!

But that's ok. I really wasn't expecting to get a main role, and being in the chorus will still be a lot of fun, especially as all of my friends will also be in the chorus with me.
There really aren't too many main roles for Les Mis, so its fine.

However, there are some areas of the casting that I have some issues with. Mr. J, Mr. M, Mr. R and Mrs. H (the teachers in charge of the musical, and the casting) have all said that the priority for roles goes Gr 12, then Gr 11, then Gr 10, then Gr 9. That way, the grade 12s, who will never have another chance again, will have a better chance of getting a main role, and the younger grades, who still have more years ahead of them to be in other musicals will still have fun, but give more of the grade 12s a chance. Well, this is what is supposed to happen.

So imagine everyone's surprise (kind of.. I'll explain in a minute) and disgust, when a grade TEN got the role of Cosette, one of the more major roles in the whole play. Now, this grade 10 is very nice, and does have a good singing voice, but she is also a known favourite of 2 out of 4 of those teachers (the 2 teachers with all the say in this matter- the other 2 are supposed to have a say in it, but everyone knows they don't!).. as were the rest of the people cast as main roles. I'm really not going to mention any names, as its not anything personal against those people.. I'm sure they'll all do a great job. And its certainly not because I didn't get a big part that I'm saying this.. like I said before, I wasn't expecting a main part. Its the fact that the teachers have favourites, and they make it well known to everyone who those favourites are that really gets to me.

I know its bound to happen, that teachers will pick favourites, but when that affects the entire school, I don't think it's right. There were several grade 12s who were excellent in both their auditions and their call backs, worked extremely hard for it, and are well known for being wonderful at both singing and acting, that not only did not get the part they were trying out for, but did not get any part at all.

All this to say.. I really don't think a school should run on favouritism. Having said that, I'm still really excited about doing it! It'll still be a really fun experience, and we'll get to sing the songs, and dance, and get cool costumes!! lol.. the only downside is the amount of rehearsals we have to attend. The first one is tomorrow, and its from 3-9:00! We also have October 4 and 5th off, along with Thanksgiving weekend, and we have Rehearsal ALL day on BOTH those days (not Thanksgiving.. the Pro-D days)! So that part kind of sucks, but oh well. It'll be fun!

And I just want to emphasise again that I was not complaining because I have a personal dislike against the people who were cast.. for the most part I like them, and I think they'll do great. And I was also not complaining for my own sake, because I wanted a role... I hope it didn't come across that way. Sorry if it did! :S

Oh, and on another note.. my brother also tried out, for the part of Gavroche, and I'm pretty sure he made it! They are going to have 5 young Cosettes, and 5 Gavroches (which is stupid, and makes it really hard for rehearsing, in my opinion), but Josh is most likely one of them, which will make it even more fun! They still haven't told them for sure, but all the teachers we've talked to have said that they're sure that Josh has a role, because the "judges" were all talking about how awesome he did! Aww, I'm so proud of him.. especially since I taught him the song (Gavroche's song- Little People), and all his actions, which they said were very well done! Yay for Erin and Josh.. what a team! :P

Egypt!!!!

Some of you might know that I applied to go on an outreach team with my school.. well, I just found out today that I'm on Team Egypt!! Yup that's right... in springbreak, I'm going to be going to Egypt!! I can't believe it, I really can't! Oh man, I'm so excited!!!!!

I've made a blog for my trip (already.. can you tell I'm excited? :P), so there's more details on there:

http://erin-egyptandbeyond.blogspot.com

Check it out! :D

My Cousin's Wedding

Here are some of the rest of the pictures from my cousin's wedding in 2002. I was 11, so I was a little old to be a flower girl, but a little young to be a bridesmaid, so I was a Junior Bridesmaid! :D I felt so important... but it was a lot of fun. Megan was another flower girl, and Josh was the ringbearer... Ayana and Moses weren't with us yet!
My uncle is a photographer, and these are some of the pictures from his website.
If you want to see more, I'll try to find the link to his site, and post it on here soon. But for now, enjoy!

Wasn't she adorable!!

My cousin Chris (younger brother of the bride).

Rachel, my cousin and her husband Jon.

The whole wedding party.


I love this picture.. its so cool! Look at Megan's face! :D


Josh hanging out.


Me, Megan, Josh, Rachel, and Jon.


I love this picture too... its just a cute shot!

Josh and another cousin, Scott (not brother to any of the wedding party)


During the ceremony.

My brother, always the comedian... Jon's full name is Jon Schmidt, so Josh went up during the reception and sang "John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt" a few times! :D


Jenna (my cousin, and younger sister of the bride) and Josh at the reception.

Something wierd is happening with my Blogger, so if the spacing in between the pictures is all messed up, I did not to it intentionally.. its Blogger's fault!!

Picture of the Week

We're on our way to Whistler (leaving in 2 minutes!), as our last little holiday before school starts. Before we leave, I'm just quickly posting this.

Ok, so it obviously wasn't from this week, but I found it this week, and I just like it so much. My uncle took it at my cousin's wedding in 2002. Megan and I were flowergirls (I still maintain that I was a Junior Bridesmaid!!), and Josh was the ringbearer. This was during the picture session, and everyone was taking a break. There's lots of gorgeous ones that he took, and I'll post more later this week.