Wilt thou listen if I do speak to thee?

Um wow.

I competed today in that Shakespearean competition. Remember that I won the school competition?

Not so much for this one.

I was 7th out of 10 people who were there for the competition and wow. These people were serious about their acting. They were all "I plan to major in Theatre" and "I used this monologue to audition for my college theater program." And I'm sitting in the corner meekly saying, "Um... I do theater on the side?"

These guys were good. Really good. Blow me out of my seat good. I can't believe how nice they were, too. Usually there is all sorts of snobbery going on at these things, but everyone came up and chatted with me and were plenty cheerful.

So the competition:

My monologue = fabulous. Great. Best I've performed it.

My sonnet = tanked. Completely froze up and couldn't remember a thing. Ended up just walking off the stage.

The last guy to perform did exactly the same thing. Went all out on the monologue (he looked like he was genuinely crying) but froze up when it was time to do the sonnet. I don't know. With the lights and the audience and the everything, I completely forgot what I was doing.

In any case, I didn't go there expecting to win, just to do my best, and, with the exception of the sonnet, I got what I wanted.