How Glee Club Went Wrong, Part One: The Beginning

In my high school choir, most of us immediately fell in love with FOX's Glee. I mean, I'm sure a lot of you can see why: the glorification of singing pop songs to express our feelings, how we meet people we'd never normally get along with in choir, bonded by our love of music...

Anyway, the point is that it was our dream to be exactly like them. Two of my good friends decided to approach our choir director about making a Glee club for our school. It seemed like a good idea. We had auditions, we sang, we danced, and about 12 of us were a part of the new group. What could possibly have gone wrong with two awesome co-presidents?

The one issue with both of them was how independent each girl was. Auditions was the first example of things to come. One girl had gotten an outside party to lead us on those days, and the other was a bit cross. Not to mention, that dance was exceptionally difficult. I was sore for hours after auditions, and there were pirouettes and moves I'd never heard of or attempted before (or after) in life. However, we brushed it off as nothing and went along with it, knowing that nothing would bother the existence of the DV Glee Club too much.

After I made the club, I actually didn't attend for several months. Halloween was going to be our first performance, but I made it very clear to our leaders that day was not available, since it was my dad's birthday. They agreed I could sit out of rehearsal until such a time when I was needed again, and so I stayed home after school instead, wondering what was going on.

During my first actual rehearsal, only one of the presidents was there, and showed us an idea for a mash-up of no less than five songs that she had prepared. I was skeptical, but I let it pass. I was pretty sure nothing could go wrong.

Right?

Right?

... Riiiiiiiight?

Nope. Dead wrong. As usual.

Our other president led us in the following rehearsal, and at that time we decided to vote for positions, effectively demoting the other leader to VP. Our new VP didn't take the demotion kindly and promptly left when the news reached her. She had every right to be upset, but it was what it was. Our new solo president taught us a quick song for the upcoming Winter Choir Concert, and we rehearsed until we were more or less confidant with what we had. We performed, we were decent, and we congratulated each other on what had gone down. Hopefully, next semester's Glee Club would work out after our reauditions.

How Glee Club Went Wrong Part Two: Division

(If you haven't read the previous post, please do so!)

As much as I hate to admit it now, I sincerely hoped that all of the drama would be behind us. Yes, we were in high school, but I hoped that we could be mature enough to work out something that would be able to work. Of course, this was apparently way too much to be asking of high schoolers.

Auditions this time were much easier. Our former president had choreographed a verse to the Glee version of GaGa's "Bad Romance" (a personal favorite of mine) and we were to just dance. Singing came at a different time -- which didn't totally make sense to me.  But then again, I wasn't in charge. Auditions came and went, and our two leaders decided to do something that I knew would only lead to more problems.

There would be a larger group around 20 people which was more of a beginner club, and a smaller, elite group of 12. The larger group took up a majority of rehearsal, which was about two hours for them, and then another hour for us in the smaller group to work. The sad part about this new system was that there were problems right from the get go.

The leader of the larger group (let's call her BL. Saves time.) was a new girl who had been brought in at the last minute to help us with our Winter Concert performance. She was friendly enough and had a ton of show choir experience. I knew in the long run this would truly benefit us, but I still had misgivings about dividing the group into what were perceived as a better and worse group.

Our president from last semester (SL to save time,) meanwhile, took on the task of leading the smaller group. We had a lot of fun mostly working on Bad Romance when we started, but the smaller time slot was definitely taking its toll on our performing. We were good, but deep down I thought we could be so much better.

Tensions and rumors began, one of which involved me going to our faculty sponsor and telling him how awful we were. (Let me be clear that I did no such thing.) On Valentine's Day, we performed for the school during lunch, and the only performance I felt was worth actually watching was our small group's rendition of Bad Romance, and even that needed some extra polishing before I would've been too proud of it.

While I don't really know the details of exactly what happened, I knew there was a rift between the two leaders that occured during the Spring concert that caused the groups to split off permanently. Spring break came along, and suddenly it seemed like the two leaders were fighting for our attention. Apparently more rumors began, this time saying that SL had quit the club because her boyfriend got her pregnant. It was rude, it was vicious, and I decided at that point that I would support the smaller group from then on.

Unfortunately, we couldn't garner enough support, and ultimately we were forced to disband while the larger group continued to work.

"I'll Only Marry You If..."

Nathan and I are just like any other couple, I guess. We've both got our own weird little quirks, we're both Nintendo fans, and we're both fairly well-read. These last two have made us both set up conditions for our eventual marriage once we're ready.

As many people are, I'm a Potterhead. There I said it. Insert a great big sigh of relief here. I've lost track of how many times I've read the books inside and out. It's always amazing to go back, having read the entire series from start to finish, and pick up on nuances that reference events to happen. I almost always catch myself finding something new each time I read it. The movies were decent, but the books were truly where Jo Rowling's series shined.

Nathan, however, has only seen the movies and thought it was strange I reread the books at least two times a year. I just shake my head and tell him he doesn't understand, that if he actually read the books, he would understand. So, I approached him one day after he told me about an eReader he wanted. I told him that I would purchase the Kindle Paperwhite for him on the condition that he read all seven Harry Potter novels by our wedding day. (I was originally inspired by my friend who set up the same condition for her fiancé.) He agreed, and I thought the subject was dropped.

I was quite sadly mistaken.

As I said, Nathan and I are both major Nintendo gamers, but one series I had trouble finding too much enjoyment in was The Legend of Zelda. I knew quite a bit about the series, but I'd experienced very little of it. About three months ago, Nathan approached me with a counter offer: if he's to read all seven Potter novels before we can get married, I have to play the five major console Zelda titles. I laughed at first because I thought he wasn't serious. It turned out he was.

I had previously purchased Ocarina of Time 3D in the Nintendo eShop, but I never got the chance to play it through on my own time because I just... well, I couldn't really get into it after I got to Jabu Jabu. For one reason or another, the game just didn't really interest me enough to hold my attention. However, after we came up with this agreement, I decided to finally give the game a chance.

Slowly but surely I got through the game, and I was amazed at what I saw. It was such an interesting world to get lost in that I had to keep playing. And so, I moved on to Twilight Princess. Once again, the game and world were amazing, albeit a bit annoying with Nathan's constant directions.

I'm still in the process of playing all of the Zelda games, but I certainly hope to continue exploring this wonderful new series. And hopefully sometime soon, I can get Nathan to read Harry Potter once I get him a Kindle Paperwhite.