After a long hiatus, I am back on my blog for one final time in the 2010s to recap this roller coaster of a decade. I mean, it's been the most transforming and wild decade compared to the 1990s and the 2000s, during which I was a child. This will be a year-by-year replay of the most important events from the last ten years.
2010: Holy wow! I was 16 years old. I had my driver's permit and had barely driven twenty minutes (period). Hormones got crazier. I probably got a lot moodier and "angsty." I fought with friends and made up (thank goodness because they were pretty important to me). SAYF had completely taken over my time and care. I saw Wicked for the third time. I was also in our school's production of The Wizard of Oz as Uncle Henry, the Oz Guard, and the Winkie General. That was when I realized that I truly loved theatre and was going to miss doing a show when it was all over. I also started the yearlong quest towards a national cheerleading title and joined the high school varsity cheerleading team. I believe this was also the year my obsession with Twilight started fading. We also got the white Christmas of my dreams that December.
2011 - We won the National Title!!! Yes, this was easily one of the top three moments from all of 2011. After a long and difficult season, we came out on top at Myrtle Beach and went home with a trophy, jackets, and a shiny medal. The last Harry Potter movie came out and I went to my first midnight release. This was also the year I became a senior in high school, took a couple of college classes, and had Danish Gymnastics reenter my life for the next four/five years. This was also the time when I was in my first relationship (of five weeks...yeah). I started my obsession with NCAA gymnastics this year. We also had an apocalypse on the way.
2012 - The world ended. Just kidding. We survived (I guess). After five years, I finally placed individually at our academic team Governor's Cup District Tournament and went to Regionals for the first time since 2007 (then placed 8th in both of my written assessments and felt proud). I was in my last high school production (Neil Simon's The Odd Couple). I graduated from high school. I graduated from SAYF (and fully sobbed for the first time in about five years). I enjoyed a fun summer before starting the Journey Towards the Bachelors Degree. I moved out of my house for the first time ever and into the dorm. The last Twilight movie came out as did the first Hunger Games. I also obsessed over gymnastics at the 2012 Olympics in London.
2013 - College continued. I performed in my first college theatre production (Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart), where I had three whole lines, but then worked the rest of the show as part of the scene crew/props master. The show was a hit and we even had protesters opening night. So cool! Oh yeah, and some rising gymnast named Simone Biles started her dominance.
2014 - This was a pretty substantial year. We had a lot of snow that winter. I was in a super huge production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which was Berea College's first (and only?) fully sold out production. That summer, I went to New York City for the very first time and did an awesome one night reading at the Dramatists Guild of America. Cinderella was my very first Broadway show followed by a splendid performance of The Cripple of Inishmaan, which starred one Daniel Radcliffe.
2015 - This was a much bigger year than 2014. I was in a fun production of The Great American Trailer Park Musical, for which I was an understudy for two main roles (and I got to perform a lead role for the first time ever). That summer was the absolute best I ever had. I was fortunate to study abroad in Greece for five weeks (with a four day trip to London, England beforehand). I saw a couple of West End shows in London (Mamma Mia and Wicked for the fourth time), visited the Acropolis (feat. the Parthenon and the Theater of Dionysus), and made my pilgrimage to modern and ancient Olympia (the year before the next Olympics). I also started my senior year of college.
2016 - This was it. The final year of my academic career. I finished strong with Danish Gymnastics (and sobbed while hugging my mom after my last performance because she was the one who told me about it when we moved to Berea in 2001 and I started at 8 years old). I walked across the same stage that I did for my high school graduation (small town life) four years earlier and got my actual, real-life college diploma. I had my Bachelors Degree in Theatre and I was done with school forever!!! I also started working my first two post-grad jobs, the second of which I still have. I even moved into my first apartment in December and performed in my first show with Spotlight all in the same day! Oh yeah, Simone Biles and Aly Raisman ruled Rio 2016.
2017 - I continued performing in dinner shows and productions like Clue, The Carol Burnett Show, Charlotte's Web, and Elf. I also went back to NYC for a week long vacation (after three shows back to back). I saw ALL of the shows (i.e. Dear Evan Hansen, Hello, Dolly!, Waitress, Beautiful: the Carole King Musical, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Wicked for the fifth time, but first time in New York). I got to see amazing friends while in the city as well. I finally got my driver's license too!!!
2018 - This was the toughest year of the decade. I had some huge highs like getting my first ever professional acting gig, but the lowest of the lows came in the same week as the show when my only grandmother Gloria passed away. My family is still grieving her loss even almost two years later. Still, life went on. I got the chance to perform in a local production of Joe DiPietro's Over the River and Through the Woods, where my character had FOUR grandparents and I sobbed during closing night, which I believe was really the beginning of my grieving process, albeit it was a few months after her passing. Then, our long time family cat Butter passed away after having some health issues in his old age. That Christmas, his ornament had a special place on our tree. On the bright side, Simone Biles came back to competition.
2019 - Things got better after two major deaths, and then my beloved aunt Darlene (my dad's sister) passed away, which was another punch in the gut because we always visited her and her family at Christmas. Our trips to Columbus will never be the same since we've learned they've sold her house. Life can really suck sometimes, but we have to move on. A positive was that I started auditioning and applying for jobs in Cincinnati with hopes of eventually moving there. I've done more fun shows (i.e. Spamalot and The Drowsy Chaperone) and booked a gig through an audition (details to come in 2020).
The 2010s has been quite the decade, with the last few years being the most monumental for me and my family. I cannot wait to see what the 2020s bring us. It'll be an interesting time, for sure. Will we finally have our first female President after 100 years since the women's suffrage movement? Will Simone Biles be the most decorated gymnast of all time? Will I move out of my hometown? Will more '80s sitcoms be rebooted and cancelled on Netflix? Stay tuned, I guess. Until then...HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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