Coping with Fame

Yeah. So…Lots going on lately. First things first: Q just starred in “Aladdin”, and T got in as a bit player, too. She was adorable – very serious, very dedicated, but sprite-like (she played a sprite at one point) and radiant. And Q was phenomenal. That boy is such a great actor. He just pain felt the role, top to bottom, and exuded it effortlessly. He gave no indication at all of being nervous – then again, neither did any of the rest of them. They were supremely well prepared. Our beloved Mae was the Genie, which is really the role of the whole play, and played it to perfection. It’s hard to say too much about it now – I feel like I’ve said so much to so many people already, and had them say so much to me. One of the interesting moments, though, was when it was all over, and the whole cast and crew went outside to the playground for the post-production cookies and juice. While the adults stood around and chatted, a huge swarm of sixth-graders played this sort of short-range, small-scale game of soccer, all standing in front of the goal and just barely resembling anything truly soccer-like – mostly, it was a flirt-fest. And I kept looking around while it was happening, wondering where Q was. Finally, though, we were made aware – by Amy Backiel, I think – that he was up in a tree with Alex and Sam C, two boys who are probably also, from what I know of their personalities and their spot on the adolescence spectrum, had no interest whatsoever in flirting or in being flirted with. Just not into it yet, thank you. Not that they could always avoid it. Q got pseudo-cornered in the tree by Hannah, who played Jasmine (wonderfully). T, at some later point, supper, I think, asked Q if he liked Hannah. Probably brought on by all the romantic stuff in the play. “No.” “Does she like you?” “Yep.” Oh – Now I recal: Auntie Jayne, who deserves a medal for driving all the way out here from Wisconsin to see the play (and to present in T’s class), asked which girl he did like, and he declined to respond. It’s all very gooey and complicated for the Gru right now, and he’s dealing and coping in his own way, at his own speed. It’s wonderful to watch, if a bit painful. Not that he appears to be suffering at all, outwardly. You just know what’s coming. These are not easy years. There were a lot of compliments going around, and we had to coach Q on how to handle them. Look people in the eye, be honest and appreciative, etc. Something he wasn’t really used to. Who is, at that age? But the compliments came from strangers, from friends, from friends’ parents… It was a constant barrage. Very much deserved. A bloody exhausting weekend, though. Three performances, two soccer games on Sunday prior to the matinee performance, and Auntie Jayne in the house, who is an easy guest, but is still a guest. Jeepers. She was wondering how parents do it, since it’s such a whirlwind, but it isn’t like that all the time. Just most of the time. T’s soccer game was a lot of fun – she played goal for the first few minutes, and stopped a couple of balls, let a couple others go through. She really has a good sense of space, and a tremendous control on the ball, I think – plus the ability to absolutely power a shot. All the tools. But much like her older brother, she does not like to mix it up. Everyone on her team is a second-grader, but they have played two games so far, and both have been against teams of third- and forth-grade girls. It’s U10, and T is all of 8. As are her teammates. So they’re getting pounded, but in a nice way, and the skills are really building up fast. T sets up cones and weaves in and out of them on the days she can (it’s often raining lately), and I can’t stress it enough: She is physically very graceful and coordinated. Fast? No. But smart, and pretty strong. It’ll come. Or it won’t – who knows? She’s having a great time and learning a lot. Q’s game was similar, really. Most of his teammates are 6th-graders, and they pay U-14, so he, who is 11, was often guarding / being guarded by someone close to six feet tall. They lost 3-1, though Q knocked in a lovely long ball that he lofted over the goalie’s head, only to hear the ref declare him to have been offsides. He claims he wasn’t , and claims that Blair (his coach) claims he wasn’t, but I’ve seen the kid play for years and he lives offsides. I guess we’l never know because I didn’t film it. I don’t know – it may be that at this level they play 11-a-side, but he’s so far away from me at any given point that yelling instruction or encouragement would be utterly futile, so I wasn’t tempted to. Last fall I discovered that videotaping the game kept me from getting too involved emotionally, and it’s something I’d resolved to continue this spring. But I’ve only made it to the one game, and since I was also going to be filming Aladdin that afternoon, I didn’t want to have the camera filled up. (It’s slow to upload to the computer.) So I didn’t film it – and it turns out, I may not need to. Still, they’re nifty documents to have. OK, it’s getting late, and this latest DVD is about to finish burning. (I’ve burned six or seven this evening already.) Looks like I can get to bed a titch early, as I have to be up early in the morning to take the car in to Flynn Motors. Beth Gray from work is going to follow me in, and she likes to get there god-awful early. So it’s off to dreamland. Good to be back. Posterity awaits!