1:29 p.m. - 2002-06-18
Little dancing girls dressed up as frogs, and I finally write about Kelsey's Bat Mitzvah
Quote of the Day:
You'll find your happiness in Rio,
The beaches there are strewn with pearls,
The tropic breezes always blow there,
And so, I hear, do the girls!
~THE PRODUCERS: The Book, Lyrics, and Story behind the Biggest Hit in Broadway History!, by Mel Brooks and Tom Meehan, p. 26
If you've seen the play, and you liked it, I highly recommend this book. Mom got it for me as a birthday present some time ago, but forgot to give it to me until recently. It has the script of the whole play, and lots of interesting information, including what never made it to the stage (like the line above).
Alrighty then. Please read the beginning of the last entry to find out about the notify list and my plans for this diary for the summer and whathaveyou. Thank you Katy and Sally and Georgie and Samantha for signing up for the list. I'll have to go send out an email once I update this! Wohoo! That should be interesting. Jessica vs. the computer...
Before I go back and write about Kelsey's Bat Mitzvah, I'll write about something more recent. The dance performance on Saturday.
For those of you who read jessica5787 (which is now locked, so let me know if you want a password), you'll know that I took three or four ballet classes in the fall. Just three or four, because they conflicted with Marsha (therapy). I did ballet when I was younger, and I didn't very much like it then, but I thought that now I would appreciate the structure and discipline, and I did. Lauren and Alexa have been dancing with a woman named Lorna who lives about twenty minutes away. She's very old, but used to be one of Balanchine's ballerinas, and she's so nice. So I took a few classes with her, but didn't make it longer than that.
Last Saturday was the performance. Lauren and Alexa were both in it, and also, though we didn't know until the day of, the daughter of one of the guys who works in Dad's office. (Those guys are very interesting. But that's a whole different story.)
The performance started at seven, but we got there before six so we could get seats in the very front row and so that Lauren and Alexa could have some warm-up time. Carley, her friend Katherine, Renee (Dan's mom), Lauren's friend Lindsey, and Lindsey's mom came too. I brought "The Shadow in the North"; I don't usually like mysteries, but it's Philip Pullman!
There were so many little kids. They're so funny! This mom was filming her daughter, dressed up as a frog (the whole deal; she had a green hat on with big buggy eyes) running around with her slightly older son. Basically, the two of them did everything they could to give the other one bunny ears.
Watching those little kids dance, I was hysterically laughing, which was a little embarrassing, but I was far from the only one. For one thing, they were all dancing looking in the exact same direction -- towards the wings, where Lorna was prompting them. And I mean EVERY SINGLE little girl is looking in that direction. And they're all doing different things. They're supposed to stick out their left foot in unison? Nuh-uh. Lorna will show them, and maybe two will do it. A few will do it with the right foot, then quickly switch to the left. Some will do it with the right foot and never notice the difference. Some will decide they don't like that step and decide to randomly do a twirl, or a curtsy. Then there will be the ones who will do the step five minutes later, while staring off into space and looking lost.
They crack me up.
There's always that one girl who has no idea what she's doing. She doesn't look unhappy, she just looks zoned out. Everyone else is looking at Lorna, doing a few steps, thinking, "Hey! I'm so cool! I'm such a big girl! Wheeeee!" and this girl is just clueless. She's the one who throws her sombrero almost off the stage, while the others drop it right next to them, and doesn't even notice. When everyone else is skipping around, she's standing off to the side, thinking while chewing a strand of hair.
But the absolute funniest is when they bump into each other. Hahahaha. I know I'm such an evil persun, but it's hilarious! I mean, picture a group of little three-year-old girls dressed up as bears running around, and trying to make a straight line, and just running into each other. It looks so funny!
The first dance was Hansel and Gretel. Lauren did an opening dance with five other members of her adult class. Surprise, surprise, the girl who danced Gretel was Lorna's granddaughter, Carole. That girl gets so much favoritism. So you have the mother, the father, Hansel, Gretel, and then the (giggle giggle) little kids. First were the Birds; then the Frogs; then the Leopards; then the Bears; then the Dragonflies; then the Sandfairy and the Dewfairy; then the Butterflies; and finally, the Witch.
10-minute intermission. I went backstage. Kelsey had spent the whole thing backstage helping out; she was in charge of the Leopards. She looked so cute, she had a little Leopard sitting on her lap! Alexa hadn't had anything to do in the first act, so she had helped out too, as had Lauren. I talked to them briefly and hung out with Carley and Catherine; Carley knew Lorna, and her sister Edie had danced with Lorna before.
Second act: Around the World in Less than 80 Minutes. Lauren was in the first dance as a sailor (wearing a red-and-white striped tank top and white flared jazz pants). Then came Mexico, and Egypt; one of the girls from Egypt needed a bra or some support SO BADLY it was a little terrifying. After that came Arabia, which Lauren was in, wearing a bizarre concoction of red and gold, where the top ended just below her boobs and then there was like a sheer gauze thing over their stomachs... very, very weird. Then came Ireland, and after that Lauren's solo as a flower vendor. Yay! She actually had an okay costume; it was red, a soft material, and then a big red-and-yellow tutu and the straps were fake flowers, and she had a headband of flowers too. The little girl sitting behind me told her mother,
"Oh, she's so beautiful. Those are my favorite colors. I wish I could look just like her."
I told Lauren that, because she had been looking depressed after the dance was over; she hadn't thought she danced her best throughout the whole thing. I thought she was great. But let me just quick finish this part.
After Lauren's solo, Alexa danced as Poland, in a hot pink and black outfit with a big long pink gauze skirt; then came a lace vendor; then Scotland; then Lauren danced in France, with a big skirt and they did a can-can imitation thing; then Italy, which Steve's daughter Libby was in; then a scarf vendor; then Lauren danced in Spain, don't really remember the outfit, lots of red; then came the Sailor's Sweetheart, and then the finale.
Yeah, these costumes. They were pretty ridiculously hideous. The place where Alexa takes jazz and tap doesn't let you keep the costumes, but Lorna does. Lauren decided that they can be her Halloween costumes for the next six years.
And now, I'm going to write about the Bat Mitzvah.
5/25: We all, of course, got up early, because there was SO much to do. The people had already come to set up a big white tent outside, and dropped off the tables, but we had to set up the tables and the chairs outside, plus 60 chairs in neat straight rows inside, plus set the tables (tablecloths, plates, cups, silverware, folding napkins). Kristen and Kay worked together on the tables, they were so funny to watch. Peter and Steve were definitely out there helping too. I mean, we had to take the paper out of sixty cups, set sixty places, fold sixty napkins, set up sixty placecards. It was a bit daunting, but the tent looked fantastic when we were finished. We were so lucky it didn't rain, like at David's and Lauren's. It was a little windy, but we managed.
Then we each had our own special tasks... Mom, Lauren, and I had spent a lot of time working out the seating arrangement, and we had placecards printed, but Mom decided that Lauren and I should each take an entrance and direct people to their seats. So I made a list of the table and people sitting at each table and glued it onto cardboard for easy reference. It was pretty funny, though, we were quizzing each other...
"Jane?"
"Religious table!"
"David K.?"
"Kid's table!"
"Hey, I'm sitting at the table! I'm not a kid!"
"Oh, uh, whoops."
We thought of ways to remember each table... single's table, couple's table, family table... it was fun.
We got dressed around 4, and Mom did our hair. We ran through the service one more time in the living room.
People started arriving before six. The K.'s were one of the earliest; Andy, Charlie, David, and Sarah had driven up from South Carolina, after having already gone to a Bar Mitzvah that morning! That's true love! Abe came, who's definitely one of the most fun and interesting people I have EVER met. Her dad was the prime minister of Ghana, her sister's an actress (has anyone seen "The Color Purple"? she also wrote the screenplay for "Beloved"; and it's through Acosua that we met Danny Glover), she's a published poet, a tenured professor, and Mom's best friend at Oxford. It was funny, Donna (photographer) told us later when she came by with the proofs that she had been really fascinated by Abe and had practically been stalking her... haha.
Here's a list of people off the top of my head who were there: Gramie and Grumps, Aunt Dale/Uncle Jon/Allison/Scott, Dr. Joan, Alyce & Bruce (Alexis' biological mom and brother), Talia, Lia, the K. family, Renee/Neal/Dan/Ted, Aunt Jill, Laura & Lorenzo, Peter & Kay, Kristen & Steve, Bunny, some older relatives like Don & Patsy and Hal & Bea, Lois & Leonard, Nancy & Morris (Morris is the guy who might write me a recommendation if I decide to apply to JHU), the rabbi and his wife Ivy, the cantor and her husband David, Jane, Joanne & Ted, Beth & Jack, Maggie & Ken, Dirk, and a whole bunch of others that I'm forgetting. The only persun who didn't show up was Emily, Katie's younger sister. Katie told me on Monday that Emily had been sick and had tried to call, but we had disconnected the phones so that they wouldn't ring during the service, and we didn't know.
The service. It went well. I didn't mess up my prayer or my Aliyah, which was a big relief. Kelsey was good. I mean, she needed some prompting at the end of her Torah portion, but hey, I did too! And I really liked her speech, even if she didn't write it herself, it was exactly what she would have written if she had bothered to put any effort into it. Sometime I'll have to type up what she read about us siblings, because it's funny. It was a good combination of funny and sincere.
Then the service was over so quickly, and everyone hugged and kissed everyone and said congratulations, and we moved outside onto the terrace. The people from our favorite local Japanese restaurant were catering, and they made some yummy appetizers like teriyaki on skewers. (They also made something with pork. Now, we don't keep kosher, but don't you think that's a little inappropriate for a Bat Mitzvah? Oh well.) I mostly stayed with Sarah and Scott, and then other people came in and out of the circle to talk. See, Scott liked Sarah while we were in Israel, and I didn't want it to be awkward, but... hmmm, I wonder if he still does... *scheming mind* just kidding! :)
We were out there for a good half-hour while the people from H. (the Japanese restaurant) finished setting up, and then Lauren and I ran to the two entrances and told people where to sit, which was actually kind of fun. Unfortunately, Mom put me at the kids' table because she knew that Kelsey's friends (Lia, Talia, and maybe Emily, except she couldn't come) would need watching over. So I was between Sarah and the phantom Emily. Alexa, Scott, and Sarah's younger brother David were also at the table.
Dinner was soooooo gooooooooodddd. Wow. Chicken tempura, sweet potato tempura, asparagus salad (with the best sauce in the entire world), asparagus sushi, cucumber sushi, egg sushi, chicken teriyaki, yummmmmmm. It was awesome. I don't like raw fish in any form, so those are about the only kind of sushi I eat, but they were so good!
The five of us (David, Lauren, Jessica, Kelsey, Alexa) had been instructed To Drift And Mingle, so we did. I had a long conversation with Alexis' younger brother Bruce. They don't get along well, but he's a pretty nice guy (he does, however, have dreadlocks down to his butt, which I desperately wanted to play with, but refrained from asking). He's a journalist, so at least I was able to talk about my stupid class. At one point I sat down next to Morris (let's talk JHU, right? oh, I'm such a suck-up), but he was telling some story, so I ended up talking to the guy on my other side, Leonard. I'd talked before to his wife, Lois, a good friend of Mom's, but never really to Leonard, and he was interesting too. He told me about his days in the navy in Japan. I talked to Lorenzo, and we made plans to go see The Two Towers on the day it comes out, December 18th. I talked to the rabbi's wife Ivy for a little while too.
The problem with this sort of event is you never have enough time to talk to everyone you want to. I mean, I didn't get to talk to Nancy and Morris, or Laura, or Abe, or Alyce, these people who we don't get to see that often, which was a shame. There was also the added point that I had to make sure Sarah was comfortable, so I didn't want to leave the table too often, since she really didn't know that many people. Donna took some more pictures of us outside in the dark; none of the ones of me turned out as well as the ones from day before, though. :(
Dessert was amazing. We had been sampling a bunch of cakes from different bakeries for months before the Big Day, and we picked this incredible one with a chocolate layer and an espresso layer... it was amazing. They made a huge cake, at least a foot by a foot, square, with multi-colored polka dots and a big chocolate bow and writing that said "Congratulations Kelsey!" It was amaaaazing.
Then people started leaving. I had been talking to Bruce for quite a while, and I looked up, and -- whap! the tent was half-empty! Such a shock!
My shoes hurt so bad. I had borrowed a pair of Lauren's, black high heels, because I knew I could NEVER walk in mine, but they were still unbearably painful. I really liked my dress -- it was the same one I wore to the fiftieth anniversary party last year, I was the only one who didn't get a new dress -- and I liked my earrings and my necklace (gold scallops from Nantucket), and I even wound up liking the way Mom did my hair (she braided it to the side and then put in a little shiny grey flower-thingie). But the shoes were painful and my stupid stupid tights kept rolling down. I hate tights. They're quite possibly one of the most evil inventions ever.
But, yeah, once a lot of people had left I really just wanted to get inside and take off those shoes. The problem was, no one else had taken off their shoes, so I would have looked like an absolute midget. Which would not have been Good. So I left them on... and left them on... and limped... and limped... Kelsey and Alexa went upstairs to bed, and still there were people hanging out in the kitchen, and finally I got permission for me and Sarah to go upstairs. Damn, my feet have never felt so happy as when I got off those shoes. I almost kissed them.
This night was the worst in terms of a housing crunch. Lauren, who had been sleeping with me, relocated to Alexa's bunk bed; Sarah came and slept in my bed (I have a queen); Andy (short for Andrea) and Charlie slept in Kelsey's room; Kelsey slept on Alexa's floor (well, she had a comforter and pillow and everything); Dan G. slept on David's bunk bed; and David K. slept in an extra bed in our David's room that Dan had brought over.
That's ten houseguests.
Sheeeeesh.
And that's enough for now. Alexa wants the computer, I want to go read "The Tiger in the Well," and we need to work on that video for Mom. We filmed two scenes already. In one, Dad's lying outside in the sun sleeping with a huge MOM sign around his neck, and saying how much naps are beneficial, because she always makes fun of him for sleeping so much. In the next, Kelsey's giving the camera a huge smile and saying how much she looooooves writing thank-you notes.
I filmed 'em both, so it kind of looks like "Mom"-Dad is sleeping through an earthquake.
Rock on.
Anyone else want to join the notify list? I'm going to go try to make it work now! :)
Written after I sent the notify list... I forgot to put a link to the diary... so I hope you found me and know who I was... I'll remember next time! :)
