The Voice Acting School :)A few weeks before, the studio told us to bring a bottle of water, a writing utensil, and a snack. After a very fretful sleep of nervousness, my cell phone woke me up at 6:30 AM. I got ready and when my dad and I got on the bus, there was a boy across from me who was watching an anime on his iPod. It was like it was a sign to not be nervous. When we got to the studio, we had arrived 15 minutes late. There were about 9 adults in the room including a lady who was the instructor. I got settled and had to fill out a sheet (like my name, my hobbies, my voice acting goals etc). Her name was Kristen and she was in the middle of explaining techniques to use with your voice. Kristen said that the reason why it was asked what our hobbies were was that if the studio thinks that you have potential, they'll help lead you in the right direction to which voice acting market is best for you best on what you listed a your hobbies. I said my hobbies were piano, creative writing, drawing, animal rights activism and acting. Soon it was time to do a group exercise. We all stretched (some of them were very funny  ) and said some lines as a group. I took notes. We used different pitches. I had promised not to say anything in a sensual way even if they asked me to because I feel that is not why I would be in the voice acting business. So when a line was required to say something in a sensual way, I barely moved my lips - hope she didn't notice. THEN  , she wanted everyone to do a commercial in the booth itself with everyone else playing director giving helpful tips. She asked everyone who wanted to go first. I raised my hand and Kristen smiled at me and every eye was on me  . She opened the heavy door the booth and taking a deep breath, I stepped in. There was everything just I had always dreamed of. A set of headphones, a music stand for the script, a microphone above the music stand, and a glass window to look out to your director. Gathering all 5 years of fantasizing of that very moment, I put those wonderful headphones on my head. Kristen had to fetch my script for me lol - I had left it on my chair. No words can describe my feelings right then and there. It's very quiet and chilly in the booth. And once you put on the headphones, all sound is blocked out. Then I heard Kristen's voice in my headphones saying that she and everyone could all hear me, asked me if I was ready to read. I said yes and began to read immediately - but of course, Kristen wasn't ready! LOL! I said oops but Kristen reassured me and said it's fine and that I'm eager. That must have made a good impression. Then I heard Kristen saying asked me if I was ready to read. Pushing all thoughts of doubt or distraction to one side on my mind, I said yes. Then she said "You're on!" and she pushed a button. Clearing my voice to how I always used it for when I said lines from movies on my own, I began to read an advertisement for Boston University. No words can describe that moment either. I heard my voice echoing in the headphones and on the microphone. After I was supposed to reach a certain point in the paragraph, Kristen stopped me and asked the rest of the group what I could do to say the piece better. They said I should slow down and Kristen said I should put a smile on my face and think of something that makes me happy. She then asked if I was ready to read, I said yes, and again she said "You're on!" and pressed the button. And guess what I thought of? I'll give you a hint - this board is dedicated to him. That's right. I thought of Josh! I added a little grin to my read and read it more slowly and clearly. Kristen said that was great and for me to come out of the booth. She really sounded impressed. With a little regret, I took the headphones off and put them on the rack. At first, I couldn't open the booth door but then somebody opened it for me.  . I could have been stuck in there forever lol. When I came out of the booth, I was strangley worn out and very thirsty. Then Kristen put background music to what I had just said in the booth...and it sounded so natural! Everybody was smiling at me saying I did a good job. I was blushing so much lol. The rest of the group was assigned different advertisements to read in the booth one at a time. The man after me wasn't so great though. Kristen had to keep correcting him till she decided he should come out of the booth. After the booth exercise, we took a 15 minute break. I ate some pretzels I had brought. When we resumed, we did some more group exercises. One man there said he could speak fluent Spanish and French. He was assigned to read an advertisement in Spanish. We went around the room ready advertisements and I was asked to read one about Macy's and a children's computer game. Here's the thing: I hope I'm not being a show off by saying this but I think it's the honest truth. I think I was the only one who was only corrected twice and got it on the second try. The rest were corrected multiple times. Though I don't think I read with the same intensity as I did in the booth but maybe it was just the heat in the room that made me relaxed and sleepy. I hope I wasn't being a show off either for this one. The lady next to me wanted to read an advertisement for ATM Bank and Kristen said she could. Then I was next and I asked if I could choose to read one I picked, Kristen said no, that she would choose for me. Soon time was up at 1:00. Kristen thanked us all for coming and said the evaluation would come during the week. If she thinks we were good and have potential, they'll ask us to come back to the studio and see what type of training we should have. I stupidly asked Kristen if I had potential. She got this weird look on her face and said she can't say anything till the studio staff member calls me during this week. I will never forget those moments of being in a voice acting recording booth for the first time in my life. After my dad picked me up, he and I went to a building where he said he used to work 10 years ago. It was such a happy reunion! Three people - his boss and two coworkers remembered him. The fish were the same and the had babies lol. He told them he was in the area because of me. They wished me good luck in the voice acting business. Then after we left, my dad and I went to go eat some pizza. Back on the train, a girl next to me was reading some pages from a book called The Song of Solomon. I excused myself and said I couldn't help noticing what she was reading. She explained what it was about. It's a modern story. She said she was in 12th grade and I said I'm homeschooled, 11th grade and never heard of that book before. I asked her if she had read about Helen Keller before and she said she read one part of her biography before. Our stop came, and we said bye. Yesterday was really awesome! see ya, Laura | 
I have made some friends but the one that actually wants to hang out with me isn't in with in creative writing or swim. Which stinks. I'm cast in two plays. One is called The Real Inspector Hound, maybe some of you have heard of it. It's a strange play...full of drama between murder and love affairs lol. I'm just the Radio Announcer # 2 (voice actiiiing 
) and in the second play, which is a comedy is called Dogg's Hamlet. Maybe you guys have heard of that also. I'm cast as sort of the main character. I'm Dogg. It's a REALLY weird play. These people have a language that's the english language but words that they say don't mean what it is. Like Vanilla doesn't mean vanilla - it's a curse word. Cube means thank you and Brick means here. Yah. So these weird people are putting on Hamlet (a play within a play) and I'm cast as the one and only Shakespeare. Pretty cool if I do say so myself! 
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