judging...judgment...judge

well, my first day of judging the middle school one-act plays is done. it was a fun day. i saw some good plays. watching 12 year-olds do drama and comedy onstage is really one of the finer things in life. it's something no one should miss out on, kind of like having a kitten. not giving birth to a kitten, but buying or acquiring one and watching it bound about.

my only regret about today, which is really something i have no control over, is that a friend of mine who is one of the directors wasn't given an award for his play, and i'm afraid it will damage our friendship. i felt that his play was lacking in its ability to let the characters interact truthfully and therefore to achieve an emotional impact. yes, we're talking about 12 year-olds and i took that into consideration. and there were so many things in the play that were great (i did give his play the 'best actor' award as well as two other acting awards), but there were other plays that achieved better results, and i had to stay true to my feeling on that. during my comments this friend of mine's face was quite stony. all i can do is hope that he will come around and be my friend again, despite my severe judgment of his work.

tomorrow i will see six more plays.

it is fun seeing them. the aspect of 'judging' is, after all, kind of gross and i don't like the way it makes me feel. ideally, in the future, i would like to be a 'clinic' judge instead, so that i don't have to choose winners and losers but can still see the plays and comment on them. that would suit me much better.