Catching Up With My Family

Now that everyone has heard enough about my husband (see previous 12 posts), its time to reassess what is going on with my family.

The holidays have luckily stretched out for us with college not starting again until tomorrow for Spencer. He'll head out into the snow to his university an hour and a half away. I've firmly told him that I want him to leave in time to drive in the daytime. The road is a nice 4-lane highway for most of the way, but once he gets to Athens, the hills and dips in the road might make things treacherous.
I'm trying not to get too excited, but Spence met a girl his first week home at an ugly Christmas sweater party and they've been dating since. She's his age and lives not too far away. She does go to another college, but we'll see how they balance this once they're both back at school. Generally, he dates a lot of different girls, but this one seems different. I've long suspected that a steady relationship would be good for him, so we'll see.
As for Tucker, my 19-year-old has once again decided not to go back to his college. Instead, he'll stay home and take classes at the nearby community college. He think he has a major he's interested in -- sports videography. So he's taking classes in videography with a sports management degree. I hope he stays excited about it. He could have continued at Ohio University with a degree in journalism, but I was paying $4000 for three classes, along with $2000 per semester for his apartment. I still have to pay for his apartment even though he isn't living there, but the cost for classes, 5 classes, will be less than $2000. Plus, he is already back working at his previous job as a delivery driver for Jimmy Johns. He's working five or six days a week.
The drawback of course is that 19-year-olds generally aren't that pleasant to live with. Hopefully, we'll all be busy enough that we don't trip over each other. And his long-time girlfriend, he's been dating her for a year and a half, which is nearly a 10 of his life, lives here in Columbus and has her own apartment. That should help too.
Grace continues to enjoy her job and has health benefits now, along with a free gym membership, paid vacation. She's thrilled about that. She's rehearsing for a show now How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying, where she's in the ensemble, but it's a producer with good connections so she's trying to cement ties with him so he can help her find jobs in the future. She was asked to audition for a paid show, and she tries out tonight. She also sent in her resume for an independent movie that is shooting in Columbus and got asked to audition for that -- a female serial killer.
The more engaged my children are with their lives, they happier they seem, so I'm all for busy schedules as they spread their wings. She's also been dating one guy for nearly half a year. The drama in my house reduces greatly when everyone has a steady boyfriend or girlfriend.
The kitten which Earl rescued in November has finally gone to a new home. Tucker's girlfriend took him in. The other cats are starting to trust that the kitten is gone. They slowly start to sleep in the living room or bedrooms again rather than cowering in the basement.
The kitten, who is now called Thomas, had to visit on Friday. His apartment was being sprayed for bugs. The kitten remembered everything about living here, and, unfortunately, the cats remembered the kitten. Our house was full of hisses that day until he left.


I'm teaching five classes this semester, but one of the colleges where I teach doesn't begin until next week, so I still have more down time. Yay! Another of the colleges where I teach started last week, so I'm easing into my new schedule. I've been in a down period as far as writing goes, but I'm planning to buckle down this week and get Paris Runaway revised.
As for me and Earl, remember that things aren't perfect, but we enjoy spending time together and we have a countdown clock for our move to France: One year, 131 days and the hours count down.

Grown-Up Life

I know I've been a horrible blogger lately, but I see no end in sight!
This weekend, I'm catching up on writing for NaNoWriMo and I have big stacks of papers to grade. Plus grocery, laundry and watch a big football game. (Priorities!)
So I just wanted to post a quick picture of Grace who is at a big audition this morning. In spite of being in Week 3 of mono, she and Earl traveled to West Virginia, and she plans to persevere.

The life of an actress with her coffee and her wheeled suitcase!
Notice the awesome, kick-ass shoes.
Break a leg, Grace!

Musical Spectacular

I had never seen Into the Woods, the Steven Sondheim musical. So last night I was thrilled to see it with Grace performing as Cinderella.
The first act entangles a bunch of fairytales. In addition to Cinderella, there's Rapunzel and Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood. They follow the Brother's Grimm version rather than the Disney-fied version, but at the end of the first act, everyone lives happily after. A neighbor of mine went to the show Friday night and left at intermission, thinking it was over.
After the intermission, the characters return,  and they aren't quite content with their happily ever after.
The show made me laugh a lot and I thought Grace did beautifully.
I hope to record one of her songs this afternoon and include it in the post.

Here is Grace with me and Earl after the show. 

To-Do List

Yesterday I was kvetching about my to-do list. At the time, I didn't realize that it would have another item thrown in there.
I got a text from Grace in the morning asking if she could borrow my wedding dress.
No, she isn't getting married, but her character, Elaine, in The Graduate is. The dress they had found for her buttoned up the back in those tiny, white, cloth-covered buttons. She couldn't possibly make a wardrobe change in that.
The problem with wearing my wedding dress -- I'm seven inches shorter than Grace.
I immediately sent texts to all my tall friends asking if they had their wedding dresses and whether they zipped up the back.
Luckily, I found one.
So added to my day, a drive over to my friend's house to pick up the dress. A drive up to Grace at school where she tried on the dress and felt so gorgeous in this dress with its full skirt of tulle.

I hope she feels this giddy when we go shopping for her actual wedding dress someday. 

I'm still getting through the rest of the things on my to-do list, like calling car insurance agents, but tonight, I get to go watch Grace perform.

Here's another photo she sent in her hips 60 wear.

Hope your Friday night is groovy, baby. 

Funny Grace Stories

A lot of joy in my life comes from my kids; of course, a lot of the worry in my life comes from them too. Since I tend to write about the worry more than the joy, I thought I'd share a couple of stories about Grace that actually made my friend Najah stop in the middle of our run to laugh.
Grace was home for part of the weekend. On Saturday evening, she was getting ready to shower for her evening out. She went into the bathroom and said she was going to put on a facial mask that I'd picked up at the store. I explained that she'd need to let it dry, so she might as well come out of the bathroom and wait.

She came into the kitchen where I was fixing dinner -- black beans, rice and chicken. As we stood talking in the kitchen, her face a pale purple with the mask on, we heard the water in the other bathroom turn on. Tucker, just back from a day of Ultimate Frisbee, had hopped in the shower before her.
"Guess you'll have to wait," I said as I cut the chicken into pieces and dumped it into the frying pan with olive oil.
"Fine," she said. "I guess I'll just go watch football until he finishes." She turned around and walked toward the living room.
The television was on with the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
I laughed.
"Grace, it isn't football season anymore," I called.
"Well, baseball or whatever," she said.
I just shook my head. Even growing up with two brothers, a father and a sports-crazed mother, Grace had no interest in sports and seasons. Maybe some day if she has sons of her own, she'll be able to keep it straight.
Another story she shared this weekend had to do with her part in the play, The Graduate. Grace is playing the part of Elaine, Mrs. Robinson's daughter. She's the one who Benjamin, the main character, falls for after his affair with her mother.
The play had been in rehearsals for nearly a week when Grace informed us that the main character had quit. He was just uncomfortable with the sex scenes with Mrs. Robinson, Grace said. He and Grace had already practiced the kissing scenes too. The young man pulled Grace aside after announcing his decision to let her know that his choice had nothing to do with Grace. I'd seen his picture and he's a cutie with bright blue eyes and strawberry blond hair cut short.
"Bummer," I said.
The next day were new auditions for the part of Benjamin. Another guy who Grace knew tried out, and it looked like he had the part. Then the director asked him to make orgasm sounds.

Here's the ending shot of the movie The Graduate. Grace
 gets to wear a wedding dress for this scene. 

"We just want to make sure you're comfortable with the sex scenes," the director told the young man.
"He tried," Grace said, but she confided that he didn't really have much sexual experience either. So he felt really awkward with the scenes too.
The rest of the cast were stumped. What would they do?
Then a student from OSU came in. He was tall enough to play Grace's leading man, but when he began to speak, the cast all exchanged glances. He sounded blatantly gay when he spoke. They couldn't see him in the role.
But when he started acting, he took on the characteristics of the very-straight Benjamin.
One hurdle gotten over.
Then the director asked him to make orgasm sounds. Without skipping a beat, he launched into the orgasm sounds. He had no problem.
They had their new Benjamin.
Later, as they rehearsed, the new Benjamin asked the rest of the cast why the other guys couldn't play the role. The cast hemmed and hawed, wanting to be polite, but admitted that it was about making sex noises.
The new Benjamin seemed a little surprised.
There's something sweet about young men being too shy or too sexually inexperienced to take on the role of Benjamin, but it's not really optimal when they're playing the character on stage.

The Theater

This morning, I feel slightly drugged from an overload of overscheduling and overemotion as I watched the end of my children's high school theater career.
I shouldn't be sad about the end. I should be thrilled that we got more high school theater time after Grace left. I never pictured Tucker throwing himself into theater productions.
He started off his sophomore year in the chorus of Oklahoma!
Combining theater with swim season is difficult.They practice three hours after school in the theater, then get to come home for about an hour before heading off to swim until 9.
But, Tucker's junior year, he accepted a role as the UPS guy in Legally Blonde. I thought that might give him the theater bug because he got so many accolades. He brought down the house every time he walked out in those UPS shorts and nodded toward the audience in his cool, nonchalant way.  Of course, he also had to wear a blonde wig in that production since he was bald from swim season. They usually shave their heads at the end of the season.
They announced the musical this year as Kiss Me Kate. Tucker didn't really have much interest in that. He'd never heard of it. He had to drop his vocal group class because it conflicted with his AP Stats class, so he wasn't singing regularly.
When auditions came around, he didn't go.
That's when the choir director started to pester him about trying out.
Tucker has never sung solo songs. Too self conscious? Too unsure of his voice?
He didn't think he wanted a big acting or singing part.
On the day of callbacks, that's when they bring in the students for specific parts, Tucker agreed to audition.
He sang "Hallelujah" and I like to think of him sitting on a stool with his hands strumming the chords of his guitar as his soft baritone voice sang the words.
Two days later, he told me he had the male lead -- Fred Graham.
The story of Kiss Me Kate is set in the late 1940s. Fred and Lily, an actress, are divorced and acting in the Shakespeare play The Taming of the Shrew. So it's a play within a play.
Tucker made it to States in swimming this year so his rehearsal time became sporadic. He caught the flu and missed a week of rehearsals.
He claimed he'd never be able to memorize all the lines, especially the Shakespeare lines.

And then the show opened and he amazed us. 

By last night, his voice cracked a couple of times, worn out by the fourth show, but he pulled off his role with aplomb.

At one point, one of the boys in the show told the woman in charge of wardrobe. "Tucker was really mad at me." She explained to him that Tucker was only acting because he was supposed to be mad in the scene.
Maybe he could pull it off.
Tucker wouldn't stand still for pictures, except this one of him and his swim friends.

I'm back at the high school today to strike the set and put away costumes. My last hurrah with the high school theater. 

First Paragraph, Tuesday Teaser -- Elegance

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
Better late than never, I'm posting from my current read, Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro.

I was reading a book that had some horrible, cruel scenes in it (see my teaser from last Tuesday) and I didn't stop reading in time to keep those scenes out of my head. So I quickly needed to turn to a book guaranteed to make me smile. I've been reading a lot of Kathleen Tessaro since I read The Perfume Collector, so I knew she would distract me.
This novel is basically about an American woman who wanted to be an actor. She married a British man and five years in finds herself truly depressed and working in a box office. She finds a used book about elegance and recreates her life based on the instructions of the book. I'm enjoying it.
Here's the first paragraph.

It is a freezing cold night in February and my husband and I are standing outside of the National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square.

The opening may not be very catchy, but the book is a terrific escape.

Also this week  is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read  and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your tease.
Here's a teaser from page 301:

"So you think you can just sleep with me and then bugger off without a trace!" Eddie grins. "Cup of tea please, while you're at it. Chop. Chop! My audience is waiting!"
He's wearing a tea towel on his head and has a large faded blue travel rug wrapped around his body.

I look forward to seeing what everyone else is reading.

Saturday Snapshot -- Starring in Emma

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme, post a photo that you (or a friend of family member) have taken. Then leave a direct link to your post on West Metro Mommy. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
As a parent, I'm always amazed by my kids talents. This weekend, Grace is starring in a production of Emma that has been transformed into a musical. So in addition to her acting, she sings beautifully too. The photos of her and Mr. Knightley are so beautiful that I tried to convince her she should marry  him so we could use the pictures for their engagement. They also sing a lovely duet about being in love -- the perfect wedding song they could sing to each other. Alas, Grace believes Mr. Knightley's attractions may lie in another direction.

For last night's performance, I took a dozen coral-colored roses to give my star. I'll try to get some photos of her on stage tonight. 

Hope you all have a colorful weekend.

Saturday Snapshot -- Les Misérables

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on West Metro Mommy. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
My daughter Grace has the acting bug. And I believe most musical actors are enthralled with Les Misérables. She tried out this spring, and although she didn't get a big role, she decided to continue with it, just thrilled to be part of the production. Her main role is as one of the barricade students whose boyfriend goes to fight, but she also gets to be a whore in the scene with Fantine and Woman #6 in a solo singing role.
At the end of the show, she was in tears from the sheer joy and emotion of the show. Here she is right afterwards, still wiping away tears.

The show went off with only a small hitch. In the whore scene, a banging off stage ended up with the women kind of standing around for a few minutes, still in character, but unsure what to do. 

It turns out the conductor fainted. He had been going through cancer treatment and a stand-in conductor continued the show.

It could have been a little uncomfortable for us, Grace's parents, to watch her portraying a whore, but Earl jumped right into the stream of things and leaned over to me to whisper, "Hey! Grace got a client!" as she walked off stage with one man only to return a few minutes later and be taken off stage by another. 

Grace was enchanted by the 10-year-old playing Gavrotte. He's a heckuva singer and actor and has quite the good cockney accent for an American. 

And here are Grace and her friend Carmen dressed as whores. No wonder they were getting all the business on stage.

I'm also joining in with Paris in July this month cohosted by  Thyme for Tea and Bookbath.

Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the $10 Amazon giveaway here. Just leave a comment to be entered and follow my blog or like me on Facebook for extra chances to win. 

She's All That

For adults, our lives are fairly predictable. We go to work, do all the household chores, occasionally indulge in hobbies or vacations. Life is not like that for my daughter Grace.
Grace is 21 and in January she decided not to go back to her college in New York (10 hours away). Instead, she took some classes locally and applied to other colleges. She'll be going about 20 minutes away from home in August for a theater/broadcast journalism major.
But she's not sitting home waiting for August. She'll be appearing in two shows this summer. In Les Miserables, she's a prostitute in the first act and a barricade girl in the second act. She was so thrilled to come home and tell me she was a whore!
The other show is Emma by Jane Austen, the musical. And Grace is Emma.
I know!
Promotional photos for Emma came out the other night and I was wowed. What do you think?

Here she is striking a fierce pose with Mr. Knightley 

All innocence

Each time I choose one as my favorite, I look again and prefer another one. 

Slightly mischievous

What do you think?Which do you like best?
 I can't wait for the show.

Grace's Dilemma -- Hollywood or New York?

One of my friends (Phyllis) complained that I never blog anymore -- not about the interesting stuff like embarrassing situations or my kids getting into trouble, etc... All I ever write about is books and book reviews and France. Of course, I am obsessed with books and France, but my kids are still a major part of my life. So here's a blog about one of my kids...
In January, Grace stayed home rather than going back to her college in far away New York. I want her to finish college, but having her home was so nice. She took classes at the local community college -- theater, ballet, communications, nothing too strenuous. She got a job at a local French restaurant and has learned that she gets bigger tips if she speaks English with a French accent. The tight black skirt also improves tips. She performed in the chorus of a local community theater production.
As April bloomed, it was time to find another college where she could attend and finish. She applied to four colleges and was accepted at all of them. We visited Ohio State where she could continue with her French and languages major. The campus and the program just didn't win her over.
She and I together visited one of the campuses about 15 minutes from home. As we walked onto campus, I commented that it reminded me a lot of her college in New York. She agreed.
"Why didn't we look here?" she asked.
Mostly, cause they don't have a swim team and at the time, Grace was planning to swim in college.
Grace, now 21, has decided to change her major to theater. That has been a big struggle for me -- not that I have that much say in it. But I think majoring in theater is like sowing dandelions in your green lawn. It's going to be a lot of work for something you may or may not succeed at. I have no idea whether Grace is a good actress. I have no idea whether she can succeed on Broadway or in Hollywood. But who am I to say don't go for your dreams?
I always wanted to be a writer, but  I can write after the bloom of youth has faded. For actors, youth is pretty much a necessity. So I gave Grace my blessing to major in theater but asked her to pick another major too, like communications. She agreed.
 My cousin, who was a successful actor, appearing in movies like Oh Brother Where Art Thou, and  television shows like Seinfeld and Malcolm in the Middle, cautioned that having a back up means that you won't throw your heart into acting.
I didn't change my mind about the double major though.
So as we toured the campus, they said the tour didn't include the Communications building which was a little way down the road. We said we'd like to see the building and they called ahead to alert the secretary we were coming.
The secretary took one look at Grace, 5-foot, 10-inches before her platform pumps, an insouciant scarf draped around her neck, her brown hair falling in a curtain down her back, and said, "Oh, I see you're here for Broadcast."
Grace and I both looked at each other.
Grace said afterwards that she felt like saying, "Well, I am now."
The chair of the department came out into the hallway to talk to Grace and was explaining some classes then said, "But that's really for the writing side of things, not Broadcast."
"Grace is a pretty good writer too," I threw in there. After all, Earl and I are both writers and pride ourselves on the fact that we may not have passed along math skills but our kids can write.
Then as we continued on the tour, one of the broadcast professors came into the hallway to meet us.
"I'll take over from here," he told the secretary. "I can see she's here for broadcast."
After we walked out of the building, we looked at each other and said, "Why didn't we ever think about this before?"
Theater and broadcast journalism seem like a perfect match. Grace will have to learn how to operate the cameras, to edit, to direct, to read the news, to covers sports and other stories. Hopefully she can find a fabulous internship in New York City that allows her to work on news during the day and try out for shows in the evening. The auditions alone would be hugely helpful.
So now Grace is registered to attend a new college only 15 minutes away and even closer to her work. She's still debating whether she'll live on campus or get an apartment for the school year. She's taking some more classes at the community college this summer, and I'm praying she can finish by the end of next summer, but in the fall of 2014, I'll have another kid headed off to college.

Saturday Snapshot -- High School Musical

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
My son Tucker, 17, is a junior in high school, and this year the school is putting on the musical Legally Blonde. That is not a musical, or even a movie that I had seen. All I knew about it was Reese Witherspoon, so when Tucker told me he got the part of the UPS guy, it didn't mean much. All he told me was that the female character describes him as "walking porn."
Here he is, wearing a blonde wig, because his hair is still growing in from where he shaved it for the swim team state meet.

I got to see the show Thursday evening after work and Friday evening. It always amazes me how good high school shows can be. 

Tucker's part isn't huge, but last night, he literally stopped the show as people laughed and then broke into applause after his first line. He first swaggers across the front of the stage carrying a box. The musicians play some strutting music for him, similar to bow chicka bow wow... He nods his head and raises his eyebrows at a few audience members and they're all laughing before he gets to the other side. So when he walks into the salon and says, "I've got a package." Everyone howled with laughter. The actors had to hold their poses for nearly a minute while people laughed then clapped.

Here is Tuck with a few other cast members after the show. Those black eyebrows really stand out against the blonde wig.

Hope you all are having "yourself a super day."

Three Musketeers - A brief clip

The whole family went to see The Three Musketeers yesterday since it was the final performance. Tucker brought along his girlfriend and Spencer barely fit into the seat, his knees jamming against the wooden seat in front of him. But neither of them were prepared for how uncomfortable the play was going to make them.
Here's Grace's first scene. As you can see, it was a bare-bones set.

From the very first scene, when D'Artagnan tells Grace's character that she's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen, the boys were squirming in their seats.
The next seen, D'Artagnan kisses her.
From then on, they tensed in dread whenever D'Artagnan was on the stage with Grace.
"Oh no," Spencer mumbled under his breath. I may have even captured it on some of the scenes I filmed.
At the intermission, I let them leave, even though they didn't get to see Grace's character kill Catherine de Winter. Yeah, the story totally changed in this one, but it added a lot of comic elements.
Here's a shot of Grace with some friends after the play was finished.

Now, let the summer begin.

Pride and Prejudice - The Musical

This weekend was the culmination of 3 months of rehearsals for Grace and cast in the production of Pride and Prejudice -- The Musical.
Grace played Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth Bennett's best friend who married Mr. Collins, the annoying man that Elizabeth turned down.
Here's a picture of Grace getting ready to go to the theater for the first show.


And here she is right after the show in one of her fabulous costumes.
In the book and the play, they constantly talk about how plain Charlotte is, but they didn't do anything to make Grace look less beautiful (in my opinion). They did make her act clumsy.
This production ate up a good part of Grace's summer and helped her gain some great new friends. It was the first time she's done a play that included adults in the cast, so that was a nice balance as she eases into the adult world. Some of them were creepy (Mr. Collins), some of them were parents of teenage friends, and some of them were college students.
Some of her former high school friends were in the play, which made it more fun. Here she is with Jeff who played a member of the regiment in the play, but is leaving to join the Navy this month.

It's fun to see Grace, who tends to be quiet around strangers, blossom on stage. She even steps in to move the show along when someone forgets a line. She's become a real acting pro, along with applying makeup for the cast before hand.

Showtime

Lights. Camera. You're on!
I stand blinking in front of a new college class.
More and more, teaching feels like acting to me. I have to be "on" in front of the class. I have to be prepared. I have to be entertaining yet informative.
Truthfully, I love it.
Last quarter and again this quarter, I've had four online classes at the main college where I teach. This week a new semester started at my back-up university. I have two classes where I get to be in front of actual students.
I'm always nervous before I start.
I have my lesson plans. Is this enough to get me through four hours and keep them awake? Where will I add the ice breaker that makes them get up? Where should I include the small group sessions so they start to know each other? How about the youtube videos that will make them laugh?
I dressed carefully. A linen dress with a straight skirt that nips in slightly at the waist and pooches out a little where my belly isn't quite flat. My Jambu shoes that are comfortable to stand in for four hours. My hair is curly, pulled back from my face.
The first few minutes are chaos. Students who have been reassigned to my class coming from another class. Conferring with the other professor. Done. 21 students sit before me. Some like baby birds ready to be fed. Others like Missourians with their arms crossed daring, "Show me."
There is Mulu who was in my class last session.
"How'd you get stuck with me again?" I tease.
"I knew it was going to be a tough session," he replies. "I asked for you."
I smile but I'm flattered. Mulu is from Africa and English is his second language, although his speaking and writing are excellent.
I begin class.
The computer isn't working so I can't flash the syllabus onto the screen. I move on to the next thing on my lesson plans. I ad lib. If students start to look bored, I tap dance faster, trying to keep their attention.
By the end of the evening, by 9:30 p.m. as we move to the computer lab, they are approaching me individually to clear up questions. They are handing me their prewriting for their first essays. They are asking for confirmation that they're on the right track.
I soothe them. I flash smiles. I offer words of reassurance.
And then they are gone. I sit alone in the computer lab, plugging in attendance and going over the successes and failures for the evening.
Probably 15 years ago I took a personality test that confirmed I was an introvert. That means I gain energy from being alone rather than being in a crowd. But these things can change, I think as I walk toward the car.
I call Earl so his voice can keep me company through the dark parking lot. I regale him with my performance.
The voices of the students echo in my head like so much applause.
I'll be back for an encore the following week, perhaps to a more receptive audience or to a tougher audience as they judge how successful I am at performing.