December, Don'tcha Know?

Oh Lord it's been a while, but maybe not much has happened? Since last time...

1. Messiah concerts went pretty dang well in my opinion. I have enjoyed singing it several years in a row because each year I get to know it more and find new parts to work over and revel in. I adored the conductor - a delightful Bernard Hill-ish schnauzer of a man. Very gentle and a very clear conductor, even when playing the harpsichord and conducting with his head. We also had a lute - who knew one little lute could make such a difference?
2. Home + Christmas = Happy. Family, pets, home made tamales, rum and egg nog, Christmas goose, listening to Messiah with family while doing crossword puzzles, Shirley Jackson stories, friends I haven't seen since summer, Doctor Who, knitting store afternoons. Glory.
3. Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes and Beethoven 9 concert - so fun. The waltzes are a grand mix of lovely, darling, rousing, beautiful, eerie, peppy and lilting, most coming in at around 1 minute-ish. We sang a few of them sophomore year of college with Dr. Hodson and I still remember some of them (only now we're singing them in German - ja!). Beethoven is a blast because you just get to sing all crazy and loud and you realize how exciting and interesting it all is and how much more there is to it than just the standard melody that everyone knows. Only downside - we didn't break it down Sister Act 2, 90s style at any point. That's okay, I did it in my head. ("I'm down with G-O-D -- yeah you know me! -- I'm down with G-O-D -- EVERYBODY! Come and join the chorus, the mighty mighty chorus...)
4. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve Anacortes style. Am I ready for 2010? We shall see.
   

And wild and sweet, the words repeat...

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep.
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!
The wrong shall fail,
The right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men!"

In recent years I've been rediscovering Christmas songs I've known forever. Rediscovering in the sense that one day I somehow notice the words, listen to them, and the song suddenly becomes even more wonderful than I once thought it was. This year it's "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", which I'd swear I heard for the first time years ago on an episode of Touched by an Angel (YES, Touched by an Angel) and never thereafter heard a version I enjoyed. I spent a good long while searching yesterday and discovered one by Sarah Morgann that, to me, does the song justice.

Brand new songs discovered this year:
"Gabriel's Message" performed by the Choir of Clare College (Oh. So. Beautiful.)
"What Sweeter Music" performed by the Choir of New College Oxford
"I Saw a Fair Maiden" performed by the Cambridge Singers
"Wexford Carol" by Anuna (I knew the song but this version is spectacular!)

All We Like Sheep

I'm abandoning life in favor of choir. By that I mean I'm about to disappear into Messiah rehearsals and performances. I'll be back Sunday night. My voice WILL hold out! I WILL stay conscious for all of it! Hooray for choir!

Sentence Fragments! Just Phrases!

Thanksgiving. Knitting. Lots and lots of food. Wine. Gone With the Wind. Lots of sitting around. Coffee. 2012. Puppy. Homework. Newborn baby. Broken down car. 20 block walk to apartment at 10at night. Stressful conference prep. Choir rehearsal until 10pm. 4am wake-up time. 14 hour work day. Nice real estate appraisers. Car repairs tragically expensive. Egg rolls and wine. Fell asleep at 9:30pm. Woke up sick. Car still broken. Bus ride to another choir rehearsal. Still sick. Wrong car trouble diagnosis. Repairs 3 times original estimate. Some tears. Looking at kids books for a while. Chicken pad thai. Amazing Masterpiece Theater version of Jane Eyre. 30 Rock.

I think that about covers it.

Thank you sir...

Older gentleman have been giving me odd compliments lately. There was the one in choir who told me I breathed beautifully. Today a man at the gym told me that I stretched well.

I miss writing papers in English class

Last night I watched a film adaptation of Jane Eyre from the late 90s starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Hurt (sorry W, I like you but...boo). The description said this movie was a "faithful adaptation", but in an attempt to technically hit major plot points in 156 minutes they seemed to forget two little things: "emotion" and "reason".

The thing I love about Jane Eyre as a book is that, as Jane's personal recollection of events, you see that even though she is very good at keeping quiet she notices everything and has very thoughtful, emotional and deep reactions. Excellent example: Jane sits quietly in the parlor while Mr. Rochester's party goes on about her. No one pays attention to her but she notes and appraises each guest and their speeches. You see and understand how she struggles with the unjust and unkind treatment by her aunt, her school; how she learns to move on and forgive; how she comes to love Mr. Rochester and the pains and joys, large and small, that brings; and on and on.

When you can't read those internal thoughts you either have to externalize them as dialogue or show them physically with the motion/facial expression/setting/lighting/music/framing/etc. Somehow this movie skipped that notion, so it ended up being an extremely reserved film with very little dialog in which I gave not much of a damn about anyone. There was more emotion in the first 15 or so minutes showing Jane's childhood than in the rest of the film. By the time she heads to Thornfield she's just a quiet, dull, expressionless thing. Very resilient to be sure, but not showing any of the intelligent and strong yet well-mannered spark that connects her to Mr. Rochester. Even Bertha Mason, the freakin' MAD WOMAN, is basically an unkempt woman in a nightgown standing quietly by the fireplace. "Oh my GOD, she's BAREFOOT! Look out! She'll rend your flesh from your bones!"

And because you don't have the slightest clue as to Jane's feelings and internal reasoning behind her decisions to come or go or do such and such, many plot points seem abrupt and strangely off-handed. Her ability to love and forgive is reduced to one sentence - saying to her aunt, "I'm not vindictive." Her desolate wandering after discovering Rochester's secret is now an odd, forgettable 4 minute sequence and some abrupt scene changes.

I don't think this movie is a good recommendation of the book at all - it's more akin to picking up the Cliffs Notes and reading the first sentence of every other paragraph. If you're going to do an extremely abbreviated version of a story I'd rather you get the feeling behind it. Jane Eyre has heart, this movie had a checklist. If anyone is still tempted to give the movie a try, DON'T. Instead, read the next few sentences in a quiet English monotone with no change in facial expression other than a slight frown now and then. You'll get the gist of the movie but save yourself about 155 minutes:

"My aunt's mean and school sucks but who cares because I'm at Thornfield all of a sudden and there's a guy here who looked at me once and is almost amusing. My aunt's dying and, oh, I'm rich, that's nice, I'll wander back to Thornfield now, but, Rochester, you're getting married? that's sort of uncool, I guess I love you, so now we're sorta engaged. Crazy wife, huh, maybe I'll get in a carriage and go back to that St. John dude I met once for 15 seconds and be ill for no reason. 1 minute long proposal sequence out of nowhere? Sure, but I sorta think I'll go back to Thornfield now...wait...why did I leave in the first place? Meh. It's burned down and you've got a goofy eye now, but whatevs, I'm apparently not surprised. Looks like I'm happy."

SQUEEEEEEE!

Last night I went to a fancy charity auction with my roommate. It was to benefit the adoption agency she works for and it was a blast. We dressed up nice 'n' fancy, then went and sipped champagne and each won an item in the silent auction. I got two tickets for a theatre company in Redmond (about 30 mins away) and I think I'll use them in April for their production of A Doll's House. I remember reading it in high school and loving it. Depressing in the best theatrical way. Then there was a delicious dinner during which they had a regular auction, complete with super-fast-talkin' auctioneer. It was amazingly entertaining to hear him and watch other people bid. The best was a woman who fought hard for VIP Kiss tickets, didn't get them and then went on to win tickets to Oprah's day after the Oscars party. KISS....Oprah. I like this lady. Then Liz bid on a puppy for her sister who had said, "Just put in the first bid." Someone won the first puppy for $350. The second puppy came up and Liz went ahead and put in a first bid again...AND WON IT. We were shocked, SHOCKED. No one else even bid! Liz panicked a bit - "Oh my gosh, I hope she meant it BECAUSE WE HAVE A PUPPY!!!"

Surpriiiiise! Now feed me and care for me for life.

She's half beagle half they don't know what ("The father is an unknown Don Juan," read the description). We picked her up and took her home for the night. She was a little scared and whiny so I took her out of her carrier and held her on the way home - so warm and soft and snugly and precious and unbearably lovable.

Bow to my pwecious snugwy wugwiness, puny humans!

I chew your stuffs?

At home she trotted around, sniffing and playing and jumping and exploring. We got down on the floor and she just hopped around and covered us in kisses and tried to wrestle and play and I LOVE HER. I'm glad Caitlin will have her since we can't have pets. 1. No dog could hope for a better home, Caitlin is the best dog mommy. 2. We'll get to see her at Thanksgiving and whenever we visit! I'm a proud God mother.

SQUEEEEEEEEEE!

O Fortuna

I'm done with Carmina Burana and sad to see it go. When concerts end sometimes I'm relieved, sometimes I'm sad because I just started to understand and enjoy the piece, this time I'm sad because I've always loved this one. We did a fine job and had an enthusiastic audience - both performances ended with swift and violently cheery standing ovations. I love hitting that last note. You're BELTING it out (in good choral form of course, never shouting) and then you hit it and hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, crescendoooooooo DONE! and know you've kicked some serious aural ass. It's just a wonderfully fun piece. It also makes me wish I were a dude because they have some amazing bits I thoroughly enjoy and deeply desire to sing. ("Hinc, hinc, hinc, hinc hinc equitavit, equitavit, equitavit, equitavit-tavit-tavit-tavit-tavit-tavit"!) And having done it once before and listened to it a lot since I've discovered so many more little parts that bring me joy (the flutes in 19 - the FLUTES! I've been loving flutes this year) and some of the rhythms just make me wanna DANCE! I've also realized that someday I'll need to see a performance of it myself instead of singing in it. That would be at treat.

Fun moment from the concerts: In warm ups one day I heard behind me, "Young lady. YOUNG LADY!" and turned to see an old gentleman with delightfully floppy hair and a slight stoop. "I've been watching you breathe - beautiful! You had an excellent teacher, he would be so proud of you!" Funnily enough, right before he told me this I was thinking of how Shas once told us, "You know, you can take a breath without losing your vowel shape," and was trying to do just that. Apparently it work - thanks Michael!

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

Behold, mortals, the mighty and fearsome wonder of Stephen King!

I said BEHOLD!

Do you see that? DO YOU!? Well, perhaps not, it is an odd picture. Okay, I'll explain: His newest book is the frickin' width of my hand! And I don't have dainty little cute girl hands, either. That there, friends and neighbors, is 1000+ pages of hopefully pure insanity. So far there's been a smashed airplane and a woodchuck sliced in twain, so I have high hopes. Cross your fingers.

Creaaaatiooooooon!!!!

I've been working for quite some time on a pattern for a wrap that I found online. It's called "Muir" and I looked at it to start with because I have a fondness for Muir Woods. Fortunately it turned out to be a lovely pattern.

I am working the above lace chart 13 times before doing the upper and lower borders. I know, not the greatest picture, but it gives you an idea. I'm currently working on #7 of the chart repeats and you can see below (with my lovely feet "for scale") how far I've gotten and what approximately 50% complete looks like.


The wrap itself is not that wobbly looking, I just laid it out hastily and it's also pretty springy yarn so it doesn't want to lay flat. Once I've blocked it it will look square. I've never blocked lace before, so we'll see what that's like. I'm excited! I love knitting!

Emma: Thank You, Book-It Theatre!

Tonight I saw Book-It Theatre's production of Emma. That story brings me no end of joy in book form, in film form and now in play form. It was a small theatre in the round and when I showed up someone had cancelled, so I had a front row seat. At times I literally had to tuck my feet in so that the actors wouldn't trip on me - now THAT'S a theatrical experience! There is a lot of humor in Emma and they did a bang up job of bringing it out. One excellent facet was the "imagination sequences", for lack of a better description. Emma would get carried away making up stories in her head and suddenly you'd hear the classic harp trill, the lighting would shift and other actors would come out and perform what she was imagining - all overacting and silent movie-style physicality. They also did quite well with a lack of set pieces - there was some ingenious work with ribbons, descending light fixtures, chair positioning, lighting and acting skill. By far the best occurred when Mr. Elton and Emma are alone in the carriage after the Christmas party. To represent the carriage they put four chairs very close together facing each other...and then the actors bobbed and shook and joggled themselves in their seats for a jiggly carriage ride! Amazing! And after the disastrous declaration of love, the awkward silence while they joggled themselves - the overly long, profoundly awkward, unbearably hilarious silence - PERFECTION.

John Bianchi as Mr. Elton was PRECIOUS - in a hilariously over the top, grossly off-putting way. Frank Churchill's wardrobe design made me smile - everything just a bit more flash than everyone else's. His coat (and sometimes pants) were velvet, his buttons a little bigger, a little shinier, a little more profuse, his trim a bit more...trimmy. And my favorite part: his jacket shoulders just a bit poofier. Sylvie Davidson as Emma was delightfully enthusiastic and prim and self-assured and selfish and sweet. You could actually feel that Emma was a young and naively spoiled 21-year old who sincerely thought that she was right in determining every one's best interest. Dylan Chalfy as Mr. Knigtly was spot on for an upright, good and no-nonsense gentleman with a sense of humor. I think the casting department watched the Gwyneth Paltrow/Jeremy Northam film and cast as Jeremy-Northam-ish an actor as they could find in Seattle. Not that it was a problem, he was EXCELLENT, but I wonder if they knew. Or maybe Knightly just calls for a man with dark hair, a straight nose, direct eyes and a mouth that looks ready to smirk at any moment. It's a combo that certainly seems to work.

Oh my, I do love plays, and I do love Emma. And something else - when people talk about romantic male heroes in classic literature etc Mr. Darcy ALLLLLWAYS comes up. Always. He makes some women all gushy. While I don't deny that the whole Mr. Darcy/Elizabeth Bennet thing is great, I just have to think that not enough people have read/seen Emma. That's the only explanation that makes sense - forget Mr. Darcy, he's rubbish compared to Knightly! I'll take one Mr. Knightly, please.

What Makes a Weekend...

1. Last night I couldn't sleep because of the lighting blazing in my room. And the rain POUNDING. And the hail plinking off my windows. And the thunder so loud I could FEEL it in the floor hear it rattling my blinds.

2. Today during work: rain, rain, RAIN, rain, HAIL, hail, RAIN, rain, blue skies bright and clear, RAIN.

3. Tonight there is a small steak with sauteed mushrooms. Sunday there will be a pot roast. And turnips.

4. Tomorrow there will be the Book-It Theatre production of Emma.

5. I'm a potato slut. In my cabinet right now I have red potatoes, yellow potatoes, russet potatoes, blue potatoes and one sweet potato.

Don't Stop! Belieeeevin'!

Got some new music recently. Tonight's workout mix was comprised mainly of:

Foreigner Eye of the Tiger
Journey Any Way You Want It
Journey Don't Stop Believin'
Journey Separate Ways
Lesley Gore You Don't Own Me
The Chiffons One Fine Day
Frankie Valley & the Four Seasons December, 1963
Queen Don't Stop Me Now
Queen We Will Rock You
Cat Stevens Here Comes My Baby

Best 4 miles ever. Good Lord, how does good music make everything better? These are all great, but let me tell you, Don't Stop Me Now is the mood boosting ass-kicker of all mood boosting ass-kickers.

Things to look forward to in the next week or so:

• Casual Friday - I loves me some jeans
• Knitting even more!
• Liz coming home
• Trying my hand at a pot roast
• New Stephen King book

I enjoy the little things :)

Mall Dance Baby

I used to be so much better at journaling - and I had to write all that crap out by hand! You'd think typing a blog would make it easier to update. Funny thing is, the more that happens in my day to day life, the less I blog. Not because I'm too busy, but because when I think, "But how am I going to summarize that?" my brain shuts down and I think, "I'll figure it out later," only later never comes. Lest you think that means that I've been reveling in a wildly exciting, jet-setting, adventure-having lifestyle, I just mean that I'm so wordy that if ANYTHING happens it's a chore for me to summarize it briefly. It's...part of my charm?

Last Saturday Liz and I spent a whole afternoon footling aimlessly about the mall. We'd really gone down to hit up Target for baby shower purposes and only entered to mall so I could utilize their food court. Four hours later we made it to Target. I'd forgotten how much time you can waste in a mall - seventh grade Darcy knew so well. Saturday night was dancing at a club for our friend's birthday. We had the interesting experience of going to a club with a huge line out front - only a week or so before we'd talked about how that never happened to us. Then we realized that reserved room parties got to go in the VIP (much shorter) line and we were then escorted to our room by a suit-wearing, headset-having gentleman bouncer. It was vaguely fancy (I say "vaguely" because the club itself wasn't that fancy, but the entry experience was).

Sunday we went to Liz's sister-in-law's baby shower. I suppose I'm sort of a fake Richards because Rayna introduced me as an adopted sister and often grouped me in when gesturing to "Noah's sisters", which made me feel pretty good. I'd be okay being a Richards. I blame Liz for not having more brothers, I'd totally marry into that family. Just FYI, Rayna is the best person to buy presents for. She screamed over EVERYTHING. EVERY present was "the GREATEEEEST!" which sort of makes you feel like "the GREATEEEEEST!" even though it was said so many times - her constant enthusiasm made up for any loss of meaning through repetition. Good job.

Wedded Bliss

So Sharon went and got married this weekend - weird.

SHE'S SO PRETTY!

Yes, this weekend I went down to Santa Barbara for Sharon and Zach's wedding. I've been looking forward to this for WEEKS. On Friday I got up ridiculously early, drank some coffee and landed in LAX where I was met by Kara!

The best.

Then, like grown ups, we got in our rental car and drove up to SB. Westmont's construction is CRAZY. I don't even know what to do with it - I'm excited to see the finished project. Saturday was the wedding and it was wonderful. I wore a yellow polka dot dress and hung out with some fabulous fabulous people - choir alums and otherwise. I miss all of them so much and I didn't want the day to end. I literally hung around longer than any of the other guests because I'm awkward and lonely and it was the greatest. Sharon was lovely, Zach was adorable, their first dance was super cute. Of course, I was sick all weekend and still am - full of mucus is no way to enjoy a wedding but I did my best. I think the wild dancing jarred some of the illness loose.

I love that place and those people.

There was also a bear. Do with that what you will.

Go Forth and Autumn

It looks and feels like autumn now. That makes me happy and sad. I really appreciated and enjoyed summer this year so I'm far more sad than usual to see it go. On the other hand it makes me that much more excited to greet what has always been my favorite season. Whereas bright clear summer days make me want to sprint-dance around and high five everyone while listening to "Mr. Blue Sky" by E.L.O., autumn makes me want to snuggle with the whole world and make food for people I love and write letters and appreciate life. It's a more thoughtful, cozy in-love-with-the-world-ness. What is more beautiful than a color-changing tree in the hour just before sunset?

Goals for autumn (generally domestic, mainly culinary):
-finally knit a sweater
-bake an apple pie
-cook with fresh pumpkin
-cook with turnips (I have no idea how they taste, but they look so plain and friendly)
-write more letters

Blurgh.

I worked a crossword puzzle today which had the following awesomeness:

Clue: "Madcap goings-on" Answer: "Antics"

I think I need some more madcap goings-on in my life.

Also, my co-worker's 4-year old daughter drew this picture, which I get to keep.

Oh glory.

Things of Yesterday

Things of Yesterday...

• Coming home and seeing that somehow the play of light through my window/curtains/blinds had clearly projected onto my wall the image of the house next door. Amazing and mysterious. I took pictures but can't find the cable that connects my camera to computer...
  
• Reading after work and falling asleep for two hours. Reading quietly and uninterrupted in the late summer evening has such a clear, pleasant, settled quality - there's nothing quite like it.
  
• Flailing restlessly around the apartment for two hours with roommate after waking up while having tiny existential crisis.
• Going to a house party at 11:30pm where we only knew one person.
  
• Feeling bad about myself while everyone talked about their volunteering/traveling/life dreams involving foreign locales, international justice and sustainability.
• Falling into bed after 2am but still having to read before being able to fall asleep.

Things That Will Be of Today...

• Going to the gym - the fancy downtown one that has showers so I don't have to decide between going home then going out again, or spending my day sweaty.
• Going to the Seattle Art Museum to FINALLY see Andrew Wyeth's Helga paintings. I saw them in a book two years ago while working in the Westmont Library and fell in love. So excited.
• Going to the Frye Art Museum to see The Puppet Show, where 29 artists give us their take on puppets in contemporary art. I can't even begin to imagine how creepy and awesome it will be.
• The last disc of the final season of Battlestar Galactica :(

I think today will be a good day.

Weekly Math

Waking up at 5am to run registration for a work event: -15 points
Driving 40 minutes each way to registration: -8 points
Nothing but Pumpkin Spice Latte for breakfast: -5 points for hunger, + 2 points for deliciousness.
3-day weekend/4-day work week: +15 points
Prospect of buying new issue of Empire Magazine after work: +5 points
Prospect of buying new Sondre Lerche album Heartbeat Radio after work: +67,432 points

Weekly outcome: + 67,426 points

WIN!

SANGRE POR TODOS LADOS!!!

Yesterday while chopping lettuce for my lunch I chopped out a chunk of my finger. A wee one, but a chunk nonetheless. Let me tell you - gross. I didn't know a finger could bleed that much.

"Heeeeeey!"

I could SEE the chunk missing from my finger and it wouldn't stop bleeding so I hopped over to the emergency room (about 2 minutes down the street) just to make sure I didn't need a stitch (certainly couldn't need multiple stitches). It took about 4 nurses and a doctor taking my vitals and brief medical history and all telling me "No, of course you don't need stitches," just to have the FIRST nurse came back to bandage me up and send me on my way - could this be a small part of why health care costs so danged much? But they were all lovely people ("Aw, you just need a kiss on the finger and you'll be good to go!" quoth Nurse No.1) and I was in and out before my lunch hour was even over and now I have a good story to go with my massive finger bandage.

Finger sock?

La Di Da

Well praise be, I'm done with my choir audition. Woot! Of course, I don't know if I'm in or not, but I'm pretty darned confident that I am. This confidence pretty big for me since my usual state of being is self-doubt bordering on certain doom. I should back up and say that, seeing as how I was in this choir last season, it's really a RE-audition but that didn't stop me being nervous. When auditions were announced we were told we'd sing a Mozart excerpt in quartets, a melisma from Messiah, a solo piece of our own choosing as well as sight reading and range testing. I practiced more than I normally do (which is barely) and decided on "And He Shall Feed His Flock" (also Messiah) for my solo. I've been dreading this, but when I get to the audition, I find out that we're NOT doing sight reading. My heart soared. I felt approximately 65 times better. Our octet went in, we jammed through the piece, walked out, went back in one at a time for the solo and melisma. As I should have expected, the accompanist plays my piece at about 1/2 the speed I practiced. Combined with my nervousness-related breath control issues I sound warbly and - of course - nervous, but I make it through and I think I manage to stay on pitch. I rock the melisma (bless the fact that I've sung Messiah a few times) and then HAUL ASS out of the building. I was literally in my car, out of the lot and down the street in less than 5 minutes. It feels so good to be done.

Of course, now it's Friday night and Liz and I are trying to figure out something fun to do. What do young human beings do for fun when they're footloose and fancy free? Probably don't say things like "footloose and fancy free" but that's beside the point. Um...I think I suck at being young?

Things That Make Me Laugh Uncontrollably

Photoshop Phriday's latest installment Randomly Generated Video Games! (Part 1 of 2) brought me the greatest of joy. The first two are my absolute favorite, but I have to say, if it were a real Wii game, I'd definitely play "Scottish Trampoline Showdown" from page 7, no question.

This wonder was inspired by The Video Game Name Generator on which Liz and I spent way too much time tonight. I'll leave you with some of my favorites:

Ancient Janitor vs. Street Fighter
Spooky Mall in Space
My First Jungle Hoedown

Big Business Fiesta
Trendy Robot in Middle Earth

Dangerous Hobo Nation
Generic Nudist Dance CD

Things That Happen on Weekends

I like going with Liz to visit their family. If I can't see mine, I'll see hers. I also like visiting Liz's family because they have fun things. Like a new puppy named Sophie who is too small and too cute to live.

OH, GOD! THE CUTENESS! I THINK I'VE GONE BLIND!

Also, at her dad's new office there are all kinds of fun things to put on and get into. I only wish there'd been a full biohazard suit. But I guess you can't have it all.

Outbreak 2 - coming soon to a theater near you


SAVE YOURSELVES!

What the Frak, So Cal?

1) We're having an open house going away party for my supervisor tomorrow with a number of our clients. There will be wine at work starting at 3pm. Think sober thoughts, Darcy, think sober thoughts.

2) Went to a class at the gym today. The human body can only take so much jump roping. Childhood me would be so disappointed in 25-year old me.

She could totally kick my ass.

3) I want to go to Sharon's bachelorette party more than anything. WHAT THE FRAK, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA! WHY ARE YOU SO FRAKIN' FAR AWAY!?

Tell You Why, Mrs. Lovett, Tell You Why

Greetings, friends. Nothing particularly fantastical has occurred since last we met EXCEPT that I realized I'd forgotten to tell you all about Sweeney Todd. About two weeks ago Liz and I went to see a youth summer production of the musical and it was one of the best plays I've ever seen, youth, professional, community or otherwise. Seriously. The kid who played Sweeney was mind blowing. I've never heard any guy his age (nine-friggin-teen!!!) with a voice that sounded that good. If there were a cast recording with him in it I'd buy it and rank him juuuust behind the original with Len Cairou, slightly before the revival with Michael Cerveris (and I love MC's voice, I want to have it's babies, but still...) and way the hell out in front of the movie with Johnny Depp (sorry, Johnny). I also loved it because he made Sweeney almost affable. Really, you can play him creepy all you want but it seems more likely that you'd get in his chair if he appeared to be a normal person rather than a terrifying dead-faced brooder, right? And yet he was entirely believable when he had to be a horrific, hopeless, outraged, vengeful killer. This production also put in all the humor and just-bordering-on-over-the-topness that I love about the play and which was sorely lacking in the movie. Mrs. Lovett was loud, busty, deceitful, ditsy, amoral, needy, salty and thoroughly entertaining. Sweeney and Lovett really seemed to be enjoying themselves while heckling Tobias as he tried to sell Pirelli's Miracle Elixer and the puns go over so much better in "A Little Priest" when they seem silly and even a little slap-happy with their so-crazy-it-just-might-work murder/cannibalism plan. It wasn't a perfect production, of course, and some little things REALLY made me laugh in a way that the director probably did not intend. Example: the kid playing Antony was, shall we say, of noble heft, and the tight white sailor pants really did nothing to flatter his figure. But all in all, a damn fine way to spend $15 and a Wednesday night. If it weren't for the fact that it's no longer running I'd go see it again right now.

"Silence is the Perfectest Herald of Joy""

For all that I can be incredibly loud, one thing I really appreciate is comfortable silence. While half the time I'm rambling at a high decibel, the other half I absolutely cannot think of anything to say and would prefer not to try. In honor of my second half, I judge to some extent the strength of my relationships with people by whether or not I can just sit in silence with them. Maybe we're doing nothing, maybe we're engaged in separate activities, but whatever the reason, it feels comfortable, relaxing, and pretty darned okay.

Have I mentioned before how awesome Liz is? Today we had a Quiet Day. We both woke up fairly early considering how late we went to bed, moved out to the living room and have spent most of the day napping, reading, going on the computer, watching a movie, and being almost entirely silent. Despite the fact that I felt ill for a majority of the time, it was one of the most pleasant days I've had in recent memory. And this afternoon when she went out for a walk, she came back with a popsicle for me. I have an awesome friend.

Recommendation: Buy someone a surprise frozen treat, it'll make their day.

The Hills Are Alive

You know what I enjoy? Music. In many different forms it causes me to freak out. As in my last post, there is Sondre Lerche squeal-mellow-joy-bouncy-upbeat-adorableness-wicked-way-with-words style joy. In February The Sleeping Beauty Ballet is going to be performed in Seattle which brings me a dance-Sleeping-Beauty-on-Ice-Diseny-movie-memories-instrumental-kick-assness kind of joy. Last night I went to a Summer Sing, an event put on by my choir that's open to the public where you spend one evening singing through a well-known piece on stage in Benaroya. It was PACKED and made me smile to see all the new people; plus, I forgot how plain ol' FUN Carmina Burana is. This brought me sexy-drinking-reversal-of-fortune-good-memories-I-wish-I-were-a-dude-so-I-could-sing-THAT-part-choral-music-f-ing-ROCKS kind of joy. It took me about two hours to wind down after Carmina last night, I was so jazzed.

How does music do that? Case in point: sitting at work today I put Carmina on to entertain myself. Several times I found that I had to restrain my enthusiasm and force myself to work instead of dancing and silent-singing. Having spent so much time in choir and hanging out with music majors in college part of me thinks I should have been a music major, too. On the other hand, I only took one Survey of Western Music course and while it was pretty darned cool to learn, I apparently didn't need to take all that theory and history and composition and conducting to enjoy music to the point of soul-bursting, face-splitting, high-kicking joy that occurs oh so frequently in my life. If I added any new musical knowledge, thus increasing my ability to appreciate and enjoy, I might explode.

Rock on.

I'm Toning Up for my Norwegian Lover

I hurt. After...holy crap, a YEAR, I finally joined a gym again and have now gone a total of twice. In order to give myself energy for my workout today, I ate approximately 3,000 pretzle thins at work - soooo delicious. After I moved up here I ran a bit, but then I mangled myself at Christmas and it was all downhill and up calories from there. So I'm back, baby, and weaker than ever. Here's hoping my muscles remember how to do something other than sit.

Unrelated to exercise, I found out that Sondre Lerche's new album comes out September 8th. I can't wait for two more months. I can't! it's too long! But now I have something to look forward to. You know what else I have to look forward to? SONDRE LERCHE IS GOING TO BE IN SEATTLE IN SEPTEMBER!!!! WOOOOOOOO!

He's only smiling because he doesn't know we're married yet.

Maybe I'm ever so slightly excited. I've missed him! And he'll be playing at the Triple Door, a right spiffy venue. Alas it's not as awesomely intimate as the Troubadore, but it's got more candlelight and lights on stage that make it look like the band is in space. Tickets go on sale on Saturday and I am so buying mine immediately. Thusly, I shall prove my love.

Lord, Smite This Music...

I don't think I've mentioned it, but my choir is performing a piece that was commissioned (read: brand spankin' new) for us ... and it's KILLING us. Over the weeks we've been rehearsing we've sloooooooooooowly grown fond of a few certain parts but the majority is still just unbearable and difficult (Direct quote from a singer last night during break: "Can you spell 'painful'?"). Our concerts are this Thursday - Saturday and I cannot WAIT for it to be over. We had a last minute rehearsal on Saturday afternoon (hooray?) and every night this week is rehearsal/performance (rehearsal didn't even END until 10pm on Monday). Let's just say that while I know we desperately need all the practice we can get, I am NOT pleased that THIS is the reason I haven't really been home except to sleep since Sunday. The only thing that makes it better is that Liz promised we could go see Transformers 2 on IMAX on Sunday. Nothing clears horrible choral music out of your head like 2 hours of robots fighting and blowing shit up. Later this weekend I will also post the only thing that kept me sane during this process: the series of (slightly blasphemous?) cartoons I did wherein the composer is a completely oblivious devil who doesn't realize that his music is making God cry. Stay tuned - we'll see if I survive.

Eat, Eat, You're Skin & Bones!

My sister came up for a visit last weekend and it was GREAT. Fortunately my sister and I actually like each other a whole lot (though we wouldn't make for any good dramatic films involving awkward holiday homecomings with tears and bitter recriminations that end in the realization that even though we fight we love each other and we're all we've got - how unfortunate). We started the weekend right with a trip to the Triple Door to see The Portland Cello Project. I'd heard of them from the sister but hadn't listened to them -they were great! And it was actually like seeing about 6 mini concerts because every few songs another guest artist would come out and there would be 2-3 totally different kinds of music. There was pop (covers of Justin Timberlake, anyone?), classical, trumpet-infused folk, soulful delicate folk, modern indie girl rock, and straight up cello. We also went to the symphony (yeaaaah comp tickets!) where we heard Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, a 20th century violin concerto (interesting, and ultimately enjoyed it) and Stravinsky's The Firebird. The funny thing is that, though I've been in the symphony hall plenty, I've only done it as a performer, so I had no idea how to go about entering through the front door - I honestly didn't even know where the entrance to the hall was. My main reason for attending was The Firebird. I'd never heard all of it, but I do love the ending - I think "rousing" is a good word for it. Verdict: Awesome (I would be the worst music critic ever). In between concerts there was a LOT of eating. Man, do Sis and I love to eat and boy are we good at it. And Liz got to come along for the gastronomic ride. The best discovery was a Puerto Rican restaurant on Market called La Isla. I pass it all the time and don't know why I've never been in, but we LOVED it. Shrimp, rice and beans have never tasted better. They have a plantain sampler plate! Their margaritas are EXCELLENT (and pretty sturdy)! Their happy hour is AWESOME! ($2 plantain plate, anyone?) They bring my favorite flavors into one place: garlic, cilantro and margarita. Damn, I love eating. That was a good weekend.

Holy Crap! It's the Sun!

I believe I mentioned in an earlier post how much happier the sun makes me here in Washington than it did in Santa Barbara...

Sorry for the bad image quality, I am neither a technological nor photographic wizard, so just go ahead and click on it to see a bigger version.

Seattle, Seattle, It's a Hell of a Town

My visit with Jessie went just swimmingly. Wait, you're telling me you don't know who she is? Shame on you. This is Jessie:

Girl + fake monocle = hip

She flew up from So Cal to visit for the weekend and we had a BLAST. Saturday we did the Underground tour: hilarious/fascinating. It's about Seattle literally building themselves an "underground". They were built far too close to the ocean which meant high tide brought all sorts of unpleasant problems and led to them (after a fortuitous fire that destroyed 33 city blocks) rebuilding the city at a higher level. The tour takes you through the lower levels and our guide was hilarious, occasionally bursting into song, unrelated to the tour - what's not to love? We also went to Pike's Market, up the Space Needle and spent all time between those moments walking around the city. After the Space Needle we sat by a fountain for a rest and were delighted to realize there was a prom happening somewhere near. Every few minutes high school students would walk into sight and Jessie and I would judge their attire harshly: mostly ill-fitting and extremely slutty - one has to hope that their parents didn't see them before they left the house or else they are guilty of both bad taste and not caring if their daughters are propositioned every few minutes by strange men on the street. However, there was a boy in a white dinner jacket, black bow-tie and black pocket square who saved the day. Well done, you. We partially crippled ourselves with the long day of walking, but it was worth it. Saturday we went to Bainbridge Island by ferry. I've never driven my car onto a ferry before and it was tragically entertaining.

View from the Ferry on the way to Bainbridge

It was an adorable place. We only explored a few blocks, but had a wonderful afternoon: gorgeous weather, good company, tasty lunch and interesting sights. There was a children's science museum type place thing dealy on Bainbridge. Out front was this sign which confused and frightened us in the best way possible:

Shaun seems to have some species issues

The weekend was finished with the best damn ice cream I have ever tasted ever. It was from a bright little place called Mora. Jessie got Mexican chocolate ice cream - light and just a bit spicy and utterly delicious. I got "dulce de leche swirled with dulce de leche". That's right, caramel swirled with caramel.

I'll have caramel swirled with joy, please!

All in all it was one of the best weekends EVER and I was so sad to see her go. Now she just needs to move up here. I am working on my strategy. Namely constant harassment. It can't fail!

Awwwwww! I like you!

Nom Nom Nom!

You know how pregnant women are supposedly hungry all the time and have cravings? Well if that already happens to me, what's going to happen when I'm really with child? If you've spent more than an hour with me you know that at some point I'm bound to suddenly say, "I want a taco!" or "I could really go for a Cinnabon" or "Mmmm, bacon". 95% of the time this has nothing to do with the current conversation or else I'm just blurting into the silence. I'm currently eating applesauce. Five minutes ago I had a hard boiled egg. Which followed the hummus and veggies. Which I ate after consuming half a package of Saltines. Which was right after my lunch. Speaking of which, pizza sounds delicious. But not as good as pork ribs. Dinner last night was two peanut butter and honey sandwiches plus a hard boiled egg, two pickles, an oatmeal cookie (which I salted), some rice crackers, a couple of shrimp and some cherry tomatoes. When I'm actually pregnant maybe I'll STOP having cravings.

If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands

JESSIE'S COMING TO VISIIIIIIIT!!!!!!!!

Can you tell that I am excited to see my friend? I am. It's been three long months since our last weekend visit (in our old SB stomping grounds) and now she will grace the Northwest with her presence. I love that gal, she's one of the glorious people I discovered after I graduated Westmont. I knew her while I was a student, we sat together in choir and I knew she was awesome, but we didn't actually hang out and become real friends until I'd graduated, don't know why. And now I'm doubly excited because we're going to do touristy things like the Space Needle and Pike's Market. I've done those before, but not in quite a while. I actually haven't done much in Seattle due to my classic "Meh" attitude towards getting out of the house. I was that way in Florence (Russ and I spent a whirlwind day during our last week trying to get in things we'd spent 4 months not doing) I was that way in SB, I'm that way everywhere. I really want to make an effort to actually get to know the city I live in. I'm making strides (small ones -- stridettes?) in Ballard, and now that it's turning into spring (slowly, slowly into spring) I have high hopes for myself. A winter indoors really makes you want to spend all your time outside as opposed to SB where I never felt like I was missing an opportunity because, heck, it was going to be just as sunny tomorrow. So Jessie will visit and we will romp and prance and tour and whatever the hell it is you do. We might even, dare I say it, take a ferry somewhere! And look! It's (for the moment) beautiful and bright and sunny out my window. Life is wonderful! Huzzah!

Saints Preserve Us!

Sweet grandmother spatula, I'm gonna lose it. All morning my skin has been itching and prickling like crazy - what the flip is going on!?

DAMNIT!!!

I suddenly realized that the shirt I was wearing is one I wore two weeks ago when I got a haircut. I'm wearing a hair shirt! This is probably why I should put things in the laundry instead of just tossing them towards the laundry: if it misses and just lands on the floor I sometimes get it confused with my clean ("clean"?) clothes. If this were the the 17th or 18th century and I were incredibly pious maybe I'd say that I was mortifying my flesh to better my soul. As I am me and it's 2009, I'm just going to spend all day twitching and grousing and using adult language until I can get home and put on a better, non-hairy shirt. Curses.

It's a Beautiful New Day (He-e-ey)

"Hey there, gorgeous!"

I can't believe how much I love spring. "Then why the heck," you may ask, "did you leave Santa Barbara where it's spring every day?" Because apparently I can't appreciate sun without rain. It has officially been spring for a while now, but today it FELT like spring. Of course, it may be raining by the time work is over - that's the great thing about Seattle, you can't really tell if it's going to be grey or sunny when you wake up. Or 10 minutes later. Or when you look out the window, look away, then look back. SURPRISE! But while it was gorgeous out I took my lunch to Golden Gardens, just 3 minutes down the road from my office, rolled the windows down and felt the breeze and watched the ocean. And now I'm in the most amazing cheerful mood! Rain doesn't depress me, I'm not sad during winter, but being out in the sun, suddenly everything is GREAT!! I want to be standing up and running and smiling and especially rocking out to happy music. Music can change my mood from bad to good and now from great to kick ass bubbly. I can't decide which happy song will be the best, so maybe a few from my "Oh, It's Happy" playlist:

Mr. Blue Sky - E.L.O
Walk Like A Man - Frankie Valley & the Four Seasons
Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale
Die, Vampire, Die! - from Title of Show
Let My Love Open the Door - Sondre Lerche
Mama Mia - ABBA

Maybe I'll go for a run around Greenlake after work--that will only increase the happy! Tee hee! (you heard me).

Safety Blanket Books

I was reminded this week of part of why I'm keeping my list of current readings on my blog: not only do I want to see what I read in a year, I want to see how many of the books are ones that I've reread. I'm rereading Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, which I haven't read since sophomore year of college. Even some new readings are inspired by old ones. For example, I read all four books in The Song of the Lioness Quartet (YA fiction, easy read, all 4 in one weekend) because it's by Tamora Pierce who wrote The Immortals Series which I read in jr. high and high school and which is still one of my favorites and what I would call some of my Safety Blankt Books. These are books I read probably once every two or three years (if not every year). I'm so familiar with some of them that I can sometimes just read selections or skim them and it still satisfies me. I have to have them with me wherever I live or I feel sad and lonely; they're mentally snuggly. I actually felt kind of depressed in my new apartment until I was able to put them on a bookcase and could SEE them. Hey! LET'S WRITE ANOTHER LIST!

Safety Blanket Books
The Immortals Series by Tamora Pierce
The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
The Stand, The Shining & Desperation by Stephen King ("You call those mentally snuggly?" Shug up.)
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Do other people have Safety Blanket Books?

My Waterloo (Some Assembly Required)

Ikea says that you can't assemble their beds alone. I beg to differ. But hooooly crap did my back hurt afterwards. So maybe you CAN assemble their beds yourself, but you shouldn't.

What this means is that Liz and I moved into our new apartment last weekend--HOORAY!!!! Of course, it's still a horrible mess--BOOO!!! When I moved to Carpinteria two years ago I bought a $40 Target bookcase. It took me maybe 30 minutes to assemble and lasted the whole two years I lived there. I bought the exact same bookcase at a Targe in Seattle. Took me maybe an hour to assemble, then the last piece didn't fit in and when we tried to stand it up it was so wobbly we didn't even let go of it, just lowered it back to the floor again. And there it lay, taking up my entire floor all week. Today I tore it apart, literally. They said you could disassemble it, but they were liars. Of course, I think I gained much more satisfaction breaking it ("DAMN YOU, YOU INFERNAL PIECE OF CRAP!" CRACK!!) than I would have if it had disassembled nicely. I got my money back and went looking for a new bookcase. Surprisingly hard to find a bookcase under $100. I might order one online that looks decent, even if it won't come until at least next weekend. I had such high hopes of getting a bookcase and actually being able to put stuff away this weekend. Alas, I will live in squalor for another 7 days or more. I could scout out Goodwills, etc, but I don't have a truck or van with which to move fully assembled furniture, nor does anyone else I know, except Caitlin up in Anacortes. Hmmm...am I just making this more difficult than it needs to be?

ACCIO, BOOKCASE!!

Ah, crap.

Behold the Ravages of Age!

Next Tuesday I will be OLD. And by "old" I mean out of the 18-24 age bracket which I think is where the "youths" reside. What do you call someone who is 25? "Young woman"? Boo, that's so dull. Can you call at 25 year old a "girl"? I like being a girl--the same way I still call guys "boys" ("men" sounds odd, somehow when in reference to people under 30). Maybe I can be a "gal". Ooh! Ooh! Could I be a "dame" now or a "broad"!? Or is that the 30-40 age range? I don't know. And can you do anything exciting when you turn 25 other than rent a car from anyone and without having to pay an outrageous price?

Unrelated to age other than in an "I can do vaguely grown up things" way, I'm also moving into a new apartment this weekend--HUZZAH!!!! I've been waiting for so long! I'll have pictures eventually if I ever find the danged cable that hooks my camera to my computer...consarnit.

And to Live By the Girl Scout Law

Oh my God.

I just ate way too many Thin Mints.

Curse you, Girl Scouts!!!!

Maybe I'll Just Read Practical Magic. Again.

I just finished reading The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker and let's just get this out of the way right now: I sincerely wish that Alice Hoffman had written it. That's all, I might have really enjoyed it then. There was a feeling about this novel that the story and the characters should either have been weightier and rougher, or more magical and lyrical. I just couldn't grab hold of anything she'd written. The characters seemed distant in a way I can't explain. She did a good job of giving her main character some human flaws in with her strengths and she also had an interesting, sometimes beautiful turn of phrase. I can't personally complain about the way she fit together her sentences, but the story and the characters who populated it just didn't...stick. Err, I wish I had words for how slightly disappointing and mystifying the whole thing was when it was over. It was a pleasant read, I never considered giving up on it, but when I had finished, it was as if I internally frowned and blinked in surprise, thinking, "Really?". Here is the closest I can come to summing up the feeling: it is as if someone implanted a false memory in me of having read the story--in my mind all the facts are there, but it feels thin and unreal and I'm beginning to doubt it happened at all.

See The Amazing Hermit Girl!

Why am I so good at being bad at socializing? And by that I mean, why am I so impossibly intimidated by pretty much everyone who is not me? My housemate's girlfriend had a birthday party last night--dinner and out for drinks and dancing after. And it was my strongest urge all day before anyone arrived --and even the first little while when everyone was over-- to hide in my room. It wasn't even a large group of people, and almost all faces I at least recognized. I even ended up having a pretty good time and went out with them after dinner and talked to some nice people and had fun. And yet...

I'm so good at being by myself. I usually don't feel lonely, I like spending time by myself. I like reading and knitting and watching TV and drawing and doing crossword puzzles and going to the library and walking around by myself. But when I have to be around people I don't know...that's what I don't like. Which is silly. No one's mean to me, they try to be nice, I'm just nervous all the time and feel like I'm better at keeping my mouth shut.

So in a way I hate that my roommates are social and have people over and kindly invite me to do things with them. And in a way I'm really grateful. I have the capacity to have a good time, I do. And sometimes I'm actually really amusing and good at talking to people and carrying on conversations and I have fun doing it. But more often than not I forget that fact and am just filled with terror and a really strong urge to hide in my room. The housemates are out for round 2 of birthday -- playing flag football. I sort of hope they bring some people home afterward...

Jane Eyre: The Musical!

Last night I took myself to see the musical version of Jane Eyre put on by Seattle Musical Theatre. I'd heard of it before, but a few weeks ago I was struck with another bout of insomnia and what else do you do when you can't sleep at 1am but buy musicals off Amazon.com? I was actually hoping to find something in a similar vein with The Secret Garden and I guess I hoped that another musical based on a book set in England way back when would do. The first time I listened to it, I was alternately bored and deeply annoyed. A few more listens and it started to grow on me. In my opinion there's plenty of room for improvement in both musical/lyrical execution (sorry, that sounded snobby, but I promise I'm not smart enough to be a real snob). You can hear in the music when they were trying to hard and it gets a little clumsy. I think it would have benefited from a more delicate touch? They definitely edited down the story but didn't seem to want to do that with some of the music, particularly lyrics. It's a very wordy book, I'll grant you, and even though the story of Jane Eyre can be quite melodramatic, it seems that certain musical moments could have done with some restraint. I will say I really enjoyed playing "Guess the Musical" and finding which portions sounded just like other plays. There were snippets of Into the Woods, Wicked, The Secret Garden, and an incredibly hilarious parallel -- we'll say "parallel" rather than "rip-off" -- with Anastasia the animated musical at the end of the number "Sweet Liberty" ("at laaaaaaast!"). Even that just made me more fond of it, oddly. So I finally decided, "What the heck, I'll give it a whirl."

It was an admirable production in many ways, and definitely a fun way to spend my evening. I quite enjoyed it and I'd be interested to see how it would go with a full orchestra and more resources. It must be hard to condense such a long book, and one that is from Jane's perspective and so includes much inner thought and observation versus action. They did a decent job of hitting the high and low points: school for orphaned girls, Thornfield, scowly yet charismatic leading man, crazy lady in the attic, etc etc. And while I know they needed to detail Jane's growth towards strength, forgiveness and faith and her relationship with Rochester, it seems like they skimmed over the harshness of her childhood and her distress while wandering alone after she leaves Thornfield. I mean, those are major traumas! But her childhood was just her cousin tearing a few pages out of a book and her aunt scolding her once and that's about it. And her desolate wandering lasted about a minute and a half and consisted of her kneeling on the ground while the chorus of spirits (hey there, Secret Garden, how ya doin'?) who act as the spokespeople of her inner thoughts said "I cried a lot and I was hungry and it SUCKED" (I'm just a fan of show, not tell, especially in a play, which by its nature is largely about showing). It seems to me that her turmoil and sadness and, consequently her eventual happiness, would have had a lot more meaning if she actually appeared to suffer deeply in her life. Oh well--again, it's a damn long book and they needed time to sing, I guess.

Song-wise, I was pleased by the addition of a number of in-between, move-it-along songs. The cast album I have is a single disc and one thing that bothered me about it was how uneven it seemed--in terms of plot timing they'd have a number of songs crammed together, then skip important story lines and then have a song that seemed overly long for how small it's plot point was. The full show evened it out nicely. And seeing it performed live made me reconsider and even enjoy songs that bug me on the CD--that's why I love going to musicals, you may know the music backwards and forwards, but when you see it performed by actors in character on a stage it takes on an utterly new life.

Casting-wise they did a pretty decent job. Jane Eyre had a wonderful voice, youthful but strong and very clear--I was thoroughly blown away by her opening number in act two, it was the first time her acting really moved me. The little girls who played Jane and Helen were excellent, I wanted to hug them both and I was quite impressed with Helen, who had her own song and managed it nicely. A few cast members were a little shaky on their pitches, particularly the man who was a chorus member/Mr. Mason, he was consistently under pitch and I think he might be the reason that when the chorus performed segments of harmony it was naggingly off. And they seemed to agree amongst themselves that belting it out was always the right way to go, no matter what the mood was supposed to be, bless their hearts.

But lets get down to the important part: Mr. Rochester. He was definitely the best part of the show. He seems to be from the fist-making school of passion. I don't know, maybe it's a 19th century man thing, but I've never really made a fist to display my distress and high emotion. He was actually quite charismatic; and while he could have stood to be a bit more scowly and mercurial at times, I give him a solid and enthusiastic thumbs up. I want to see him in more plays. And what of his voice? Let's just say that I want to have his voice's babies. Sing to me Edward, sing loud.

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeep?

Today was a strange day. Friday night Liz and I watched Scream (haven't seen it in YEARS--still good!) and I went to bed at about 11:30. Wasn't sleepy... Wasn't sleepy... So I watched the 2008 remake of Prom Night on Netflix. Not a good movie, but funny--the killer was Jimmy from That Thing You Do! ! Also, it seems like if everyone is dying of stab wounds there should be WAY more blood. And by "way more" I mean "any". Apparently if you're stabbed--even have your throat slashed-- you die so instantly that your heart pumps out NO blood. Still not sleepy. Watched I Know What You Did Last Summer --man, I never realized how boring and utterly useless Freddy Prinze Jr.'s character was. Still not sleepy. Finally fell asleep at about 3am...

...and woke up at 4:30pm. I slept for 13 1/2 hours. I NEVER do that, no matter how late I stay up I'm usually awake by 11 at the latest. SOMETIMES noon. I only sleep that much when I'm sick. Did I get sick and not know it? And so I've spent only a few hours awake today and wasted most of my weekend. On the other hand, I suppose weekends are supposed to be for resting up and enjoying yourself and I do love sleep. But in the interests of not throwing off my sleep cycle horribly and screwing myself when I have to wake up for work on Monday, I am going to force myself to go to bed now at 12:12 am even though I am not tired (I took the sleeping pill to prove it!). We'll see how this goes. And maybe, just maybe, if you're lucky, tomorrow I will tell you about how I spent the few hours I was conscious tody. They involve the words "Jane Eyre" and "the musical"!

A Musical To Do List

I love making lists. Always have, always will. Mom says I got it from Dad, who is also a list maker. We apparently both create lists of random things: to do, movies to see, movies we've seen, what we want to read, etc. etc. etc. Apparently we also leave them around and forget them (I sure as hell know I do). Over the years I've made various attempts to organize my lists and keep them. I write them in my diary; now I'm keeping a list of books I've read in 2009 on my blog; my Netflix queue (over 300 and going strong) is any movie I'm even vaguely interested in looking into; Amazon.com's wishlists are for books and music I'm even vaguely interested in looking at/listening to. Maybe it's because I'm such a naturally forgetful person that this helps me to avoid thinking, "That sounds awesome" and then having it drift away. The only things I can usually remember are quotes, actors in movies, and the lyrics to musicals. Or maybe it just makes me feel like my life has some order or direction, who knows. But I loves me a list. So here's another one: Musicals. I don't know why, I'm at work, it's lunchtime, I'm bored--all that points to, "Let's write some lists". Here we go:

Musicals I've Seen Performed (in no particular order):
1. A Little Night Music
2. Wicked (I want to say 3 times?)
3. Ragtime (3 times)
4. Phantom of the Opera (2 times)
5. Rent (at least 4 times, I think)
6. Miss Saigon
7. The Secret Garden (student performance)
8. Into the Woods (student performance)
9. Godspell (student performance)
10. Guys & Dolls (community theatre)
11. West Side Story (student performance)
12. Anything Goes (student performance)
13. LesMiserables (2 times)
14. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
15. Aida (not the opera, alas)
16. The Lion King (I think 3 times? maybe just 2)
17. Spring Awakening
18. Cabaret
19. Jesus Christ Superstar
20. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat
21. The Fantasticks (community theatre)



Musicals I NEED To See:
1. Marie Christine
2. The Music Man
3. [Title of Show]
4. Titanic
5. Caroline or Change
6. The Secret Garden (a non-student performance)
7. Into the Woods (a non-student performance)
8. Assassins
9. Sweeney Todd

And there are plenty of other musicals I'd willingly see if they were around and the price were right. Those are just the ones that I thoroughly enjoy and so I feel like my musical life truly would not be complete until I'd seen them. It's ever-changing, too, as I discover new musicals. Example: I'm probably going to go see Seattle Musical Theatre's production of Jane Eyre next weekend. That's right, Jane Eyre: THE MUSICAL! It's not life-changing, but it's fun to listen to and I am intrigued by the idea of seeing it (thanks, in large part, to Westmont College's amazing '08 production of the Polly Teale stage adaptation. Not musical, but still reminded me how much I enjoyed Jane Eyre).

At any rate, lunch is over now, so I suppose list-making time is done. That was fun! ...for me, at least. Maybe not for you. But I place the blame squarely on you for continuing to read. It's not my fault you don't like lists or musicals.