2013--you aren't my friend!

Here I am blogging from my iPad that I just got! No it isn't an iPad air, or a 2nd generation-it's mom moms old iPad because she just got an iPad air! Thanks mom for the free iPad!

2013 was an interesting year to say the least. I didn't quite achieve the goals that I had set out for myself. But I did h ave some fun! So I guess it wasn't a total waste. 

Let's start at the beginning of 2013.

Second semester of my sophomore year started.

Second semester of sophomore year ended...hallelujah!!!

Now comes the summer. Summer wasn't as fun as some would think. My parents decided earlier that year that they were going to sell the house they've lived in for the past 23-24ish years and become homeless. Okay maybe not homeless. We ended up selling the house before we found a new one which mad everything go crazy! Well maybe that wasn't the reason. Right as the negotiations for selling the house were going on our family found out that my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. My parents went head first with the treatment--which btw, chemo treatment sucks!--for my mom. Seeing her go through the pain of chemo was the hardest thing to see. Once June hit my parents had bought a new house and we, along with a lot of help moved everything into our new house! (not everything-we have a storage unit packed with stuff!) this all happened within 2months. So much crazy at one time! Let me just say that if mamma ain't well ain't nobody else. I think that's how the saying goes.

This fall I started my junior year of college! I was cast in the musical The Wedding Singer which was so much fun and a highlight in my collegiate theatrical career. I was able to perform with so many friends and gain so many new friends! For me rehearsals for a show or concert is the perfect way to meet new people because I don't go out that much and when I do it's with friends. I learned how to tap dance and the basics of ballet. I learned so much about auditioning for theatre in my acting class. And now the best part of my year is my mom feeling so much better! She had surgery over thanksgiving break and has recovered very well! Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers!

201 is going to be an amazing year with so much opportunity! I seriously cannot wait to see what it brings! 

Cheers to a new year!

Jonathan D Strom

24 Adjectives that describe me!

"Harmony-seeking Idealists are characterised by a complex personality and an abundance of thoughts and feelings. They are warm-hearted persons by nature. They are sympathetic and understanding. Harmony-seeking Idealists expect a lot of themselves and of others. They have a strong understanding of human nature and are often very good judges of character."

The above paragraph was my result of taking the ipersonic.com personality test. I agree with 90% of this result, being an introvert and all. Below are the 24 Adjectives that describe the type I am.

"Adjectives that describe your type...
introverted, theoretical, emotional, planning, idealistic, harmony-seeking, understanding, peace-loving, sensitive, quiet, sympathetic, conscientious, dogged, complicated, inconspicuous, warm-hearted, complex, imaginative, inspiring, helpful, demanding, communicative, reserved, vulnerable"

I'm going to touch on these adjectives just to answer some questions about myself? Maybe?

Introverted--An introvert is someone who has to rest to reserve the energy to cope with life. This describes me to at 'T'! If I know that there is a big party on a Saturday night, I need to stay in and rest, read a book, watch TV, or just be alone so I can have the energy to go to the party.

Theoretical--Hmm...This is interesting. I do like to think of the hypothetical situations in life. I really like to think of the "What if's" in life. What if this happened. What if that happened. It's hard for me to live in the now, and enjoy life.

Emotional--Now I wouldn't say I'm a cry in public emotional person. But yes I have a plethora of emotions going on at one time. I have learned to hid my emotions too well from other people. But once I'm alone I could cry for HOURS!

Planning--YES. 100% yes. I need to plan for every single thing in life. Even the "what if's" mentioned earlier. I'm going to NYC for spring break (Sorry Mom and Dad if I haven't told you yet and you're reading this) and I feel the need to plan for every single minute of my time there. Also every single day I feel like there needs to be a plan for something.

Idealistic--YES. O-M-G YES. I am an Idealist.

Harmony-seeking--Life should work in harmony. People should get along and there should, idealistically, be no conflict. See I am an Idealistic.

Understanding--Yes and No. I can be understanding, sometimes too understanding of situations. But then again, I can be not so understanding of people and things. This one isn't relevant to me. I'm very in the middle.

Peace-loving--Yes.

Sensitive--This goes along with emotions. Emotionally. The most little criticism can tear me apart--Externally I'm fine, Internally I'm not. Worldly. I can't watch the news because I want to do something about a social issue or I'm too torn up about a government in a 3rd world country abusing their people. Being sensitive is good, but it also has it's downfalls.

Quiet--Yes around new people I don't know. But if I get a good vibe then I will come at you like a torpedo. Also, I can have a resting-bitchy-face (Sorry for the language, Mom and Dad) which can give the wrong impression. A mean-judge-y-quiet and not a cute-shy-quiet.

Sympathetic--My sister-in-law recently asked me If I was having sympathy pains because she's pregnant. Well I'm not, but when I did live with my Brother and his wife during her first pregnancy I Did. Maybe that's the wrong sympathetic. But it's still sympathy. Usually I'm a cynical-bastard (Again, sorry Mom and Dad).

Conscientious--So yeah, I am. I think about my actions, what will come of them.

Dogged--Not sure what this means. So I will Google it. "having or showing the attitude of a person who wants to do or get something and will not stop trying : stubborn and determined"--YES ME. I get what I want.

Complicated--Just read all of these adjectives. YES I AM COMPLICATED. Come at me bro!

Inconspicuous--I like to do things, but not necessarily for attention or award. This is not on purpose, I just don't like unwanted attention.

Warm-hearted--Yes, I love my close friends and family and I have a soft spot for kittens. Don't worry puppies your loved as well.

Complex--This goes along with Complicated. You've made it this far, so you know I'm complex.

Imaginative--My imagination still runs wild as a kind-of-adult. Which is nice because I'm an aspiring actor. But that leads to day-dreaming a lot and not being productive.

Inspiring--Hopefully. I don't feel like I can answer or justify this one myself. I hope I can be an inspiration to someone someday!

Helpful--Yes. Hopefully. If you're one of my close friends or a family member I will usually drop what I'm doing and help you. Whether that be emotional help or you need to fix a door. I'll be there. But it is hard for me to be helpful to someone I don't know that well.

Demanding--Thank you, ipersonic.com for letting me know I'm a dictator. I'm honestly not sure how to perceive this one.

Communicative--Yes. If there is important information that I need to know. Let me know! PLEASE! Especially if left in charge of something. I want to know all of the details--Preferably in writing so I can go back and make sure nothing is left out!

Reserved--See "quiet." It's the same thing.

Vulnerable--Yes, and I hate it. I hate being vulnerable. So i shield myself from vulnerable situations.

I've learned so much about myself by typing this blog post out. And you've probably learned some about me. Or you're reading this and going "Yep, yeah, totally, he's that, wow he didn't know that about himself!" or maybe that's just my mom, dad and brother.

This is probably the deepest blog post I will ever write!
-Jonathan D. Strom

Here is the link to take the test ipersonic.com...Its takes only 10 minutes and is easy. Feel free to share your results.

Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone!

So I'm just going to give you a cliché list of what I'm thankful for in no particular order of importance!

• My family
• My friends
• My job at McCain Ambassadors
• McCain Ambassadors--The Organization and the members
• Musicals--All of them...Well most of them!
• Wicked--The Musical
• Memphis--The Musical
• Cupcakes
• Stephen Sondheim
• Cookies
• Pecan Pie
• Pumpkin Pie
• Whipped Cream
• iPhones
• iPhone cases that look like cassette tapes
• Twitter--So I can stalk all the celebrities in a socially acceptable way.

So, yeah! Hopefully this post will hold you over 'till I have something interesting to blog about!

-Jon

I can't be...November? Can it?

Is it really November? Wow!

So a lot has happened since I wrote last. Well not a lot. We had our one week of The Wedding Singer, which went very well. By far my favorite show I've done so far. I made some of the most amazing friends in that show and I will be forever be grateful for that!

So one of the groups on campus I am apart of is the McCain Student Ambassadors. We are the group that advocates the arts on campus and specifically the McCain Performance Series (www.ksu.edu/mccain). The Monday after we closed the Wedding Singer we had our first recruitment event of the year. Students were able to get discounted tickets to Brian Regan and then come to a reception after the show and learn about what the McCain Student Ambassadors do! We had 13ish people sign up for more information! (If you are a KSU Student interested in serving on the McCain Student Ambassadors group please email us at mccainstudentambassadors@gmail.com and request more information!).

Also this past Friday, Memphis the Musical came to McCain Auditorium and I was able to work the show. I am on the over-hire crew at McCain Auditorium which means that I come in and help set up the big shows that come through the venue. For Memphis I was able to work load-in--Which is unloading the show from the trucks and setting up; I worked the show as a dresser in the wardrobe department. What an experience! It's a professional tour and being backstage during the performance showed me what it's like to be an actor or stagehand on a tour/proshow!

I am also happy to announce that in the spring I will be singing/acting in the KSU School of Music, Theatre, and Dance production of Trial By Jury which is a one act opera by Gilbert and Sullivan. I am very nervous and excited as this is my first opera.

I wonder if anyone actually reads this blog?

Sincerely,
Jonathan D. Strom

It's September almost October!

HEY!

Did you know that It's almost October? WOW! I absolutely love the fall! Well let me brief you all on the past two weeks since I didn't have a chance to blog last week.

Last week Tuesday our family received some not so fun news that my Grandpa, my mom's dad, had passed away. Now, this was a particularly hard news to get the first thing in the morning, and then try to go to all of your classes. My Grandpa had lead a wonderful life of 87 years, WOW! I can't even imagine making it to 30, let alone 87. This was my first grandparent to die. I was sad at first and I still am; But then I remembered that I have had all four of my grandparents for 20 years of my life, not many people can say that! What a blessing, and what a blessing to have 3 amazing grandparents now! My grandpa's funeral was the Friday after he passed, and it was a beautiful ceremony honoring his life!

We started our 3rd week of rehearsal for "The Wedding Singer" and we now have most of the music learned and we are working on the choreography for the show! Coming up next the leads start blocking out the scenes! Get your tickets soon www.ksu.edu/mccain.

On Wednesday of this week I got the opportunity to work the load-in for the national tour of BLUE MAN GROUP! This was an amazing opportunity to see how a huge production moves from one city to the next. We had to be at McCain Auditorium at 5:45am to clock in and get ready for the 6 semi-trucks and 2 tour busses to get there by 6:00am! My particular duty was a "loader" which is someone who stays at the truck while it is docked and moves the items from the truck to the dock, then the "pushers" take the equipment from there to the stage where other stagehands put the scenery, sound, lighting and props in their correct placement. It took us until 2:00pm, yes in the afternoon, to unload the 6 semi-trucks. I wasn't able to see the the BLUE MAN GROUP because I had rehearsal both nights the show was in town. That was a bummer! This next week I believe I will be working two other shows coming into McCain Auditorium. Make sure to see their season lineup at www.ksu.edu/mccain! All of the shows presented by the McCain Performance Series (Minus the McCain Student Showcase) are professional shows from New York, Kansas City, and Other major entertainment cities as well as from foreign countries!

See you next week! Hopefully I will have the blog up in a timely matter (between Sun-Tues)!

Love you all!
Jon Strom

First Rehearsal & Perks of Being A Wallflower.

Hello!

Today has been the perfect Sunday! I Started the day by sleeping in 'till noon--I may have forgotten to set an alarm for church--and then I listened to music, read for my acting classes, then went to the first rehearsal for "The Wedding Singer". The first rehearsal is always fun. Getting to meet the new cast members, seeing friends, and most of all reading/singing through the script/score! We all knew our parts but we--the ensemble members--found out our tracking (Tracking is a fancy way of saying that we play multiple parts in a show). I can't wait for you all to see this show! Just a warning to not bring your children under the age of 8. After all it is based on the Adam Sandler movie, which is PG-13, and the musical is as well.

Also, over the past 2 weeks I've been reading--and just finished--Stephen Chbosky's Perks of Being A Wallflower and wow. I have never really considered myself a reader or book worm, but this book was by far the best book I have ever read. I will confess and say that I saw the movie before the book, but that prompted me to go buy the book and read it. I'm really bad at writing reviews of anything because I don't remember much of the book because really live in the moment of whats happening in the book. I'm like this with movies and stage shows as well. I do want to encourage everyone to read this book. It is in the same spirit of Catcher in the Rye where a young person finds themselves, or finds themselves, finding their self. That didn't make much sense. But It's 1:45 in the AM and I'm not wanting to re-word anything right now.

That's all for now. But I will say that I will try and up-date this blog once a week at the least. It will contain a lot of wedding singer content and rehearsal updates. But it will also contain up-dates about what I'm reading, or doing other than rehearsals!

Thanks for reading,
Jon

New Semester!

Greetings one and all!

It's been 3 weeks since I've started my 3rd year of college. And lets just say that this year is going to be the best! There are a few things I'm wanting to tell you, but can't because the paperwork isn't done yet. If you know what I mean. No, seriously, there is actual paper work that needs to be done in order to tell you the big announcement. Well maybe it's not that big. but hey.

I can tell you that I've been cast in the Ensemble of Kansas State University's school of Music, Theatre and Dance production of "The Wedding Singer!" I am so excited to be apart of this show. I'm actually taking a break in studying the show to write this blog post! The show is so energetic and fun that everyone who comes out to see the show will love it. Oh, and yes, it is based of the 1998 Adam Sandler movie of the same title.

Also I'm pumped to say that over spring break '14, I will be making a second trek to New York City. This trip is to gain audition experience and well, you know, just be in the city that I love. It truly is a home-away-from-home. I can honestly say NYC if the first city that has ever felt like home. I guess I'm trying to say that, even the first time I was there it felt like a home! I cannot wait to visit and see my future home!

So now you have it. What's going on in Jon's life. Also I will be starting a website for myself in the near future. Just to start advertising myself as an actor/singer!

I will try to post once a week on here. Hopefully my life is exciting enough for you to read about it!

Love always,
Jon