Ever re-play a funny or fun event from the past? Well today I was looking back on this past year at FSU ( A pretty great school). :) Here’s one of my most embarrassing moments at FSU so far…

This past semester I was in an opera at FSU. After we were given word if we were first casted, the costume designer (the one and only Miss Lucy Ho) immediately measured us for our costumes. Well, once rehearsals began and mid-terms came around, I gave up on exercising, was eating lots of junk food, drinking lots of coffee, and consequently gaining some weight. A few weeks before the show opened I tried on my costumes, a school girl outfit with a skirt and blouse, and a kimono. Everything fit perfectly, except for the skirt. It was too small! I let Miss Ho know and pinned a note to the skirt, and she said “oh. ok. I fix it. No worry”. So I figured, okay, I lose a little weight and she adds more material and velcro to the waist, no problem. Five days before the show opened, the first rehearsal with dress, I slipped on the skirt, which had not been altered. Not to mention I had just eaten a monster sized bean burrito. Bad idea. I would’ve pinned the skirt, however, for some reason, within a dress shop, I couldn’t find a safety pin for the life of me. (???) Onward I went to the first “school-girl” chorus cue, huffing and puffing, trying to suck in everything so that the velcro would stay attached. May I mention that this scene, along with every other scene in the opera, required dancing… not ballroom dancing, hip-hop and other strange choreographed creations. So I ran on stage and immediately I felt the velcro come undone. I tried sneakily to hold up my skirt and hide behind people in order to replace the velcro about 3 attempts, I visibly held up my skirt. But then the real choreography began, and that’s when it happened. The skirt dropped, and I had no choice but to throw it offstage. There I was, lights, directors, alternate cast, and other random people in the audience, with my yellow tights and short-not-meant-to-be-seen-in-public shorts (but thank God for them, otherwise the humiliation would’ve been 20x worse). Afterwards, the director looked at me and said, nice touch, and thankfully found it humorous. Needless to say, after that, I am a carrier of safety pins, and I permanently pinned one to my skirt, which never was altered.

Lessons learned: 1) Ask for a size bigger when being sized. 2) Don’t gain weight after being sized. 3) Carry safety pins always.