Categories
Miscellaneous

#020: Cages or wings, which do you prefer?

Currently listening to: “Louder Than Words” – tick, tick…BOOM!

So, two things.

1. “Louder Than Words” from Jonathan Larson’s very first musical, tick, tick…BOOM! (Revival, please???)

I’ve been listening to this song for the past fifteen minutes. The lyrics have absolutely hooked me in, sucking me in even deeper in this whirlpool of Jonathan Larson-love and sheer lamentation at the state of Broadway today. (Spring Awakening is slated to close, as is Spamalot. What sheer rubbish.)

Jonathan:
Why do we follow leaders who never lead?

Michael:
Why does it take catastrophe to start a revolution?

Michael and Susan
If we’re so free, tell me why?

Jonathan:
Someone tell me why
So many people bleed?

Cages or wings?
Which do you prefer?
Ask the birds.

I pick the wings. Idealistic? Unabashedly so.

—

2. Life is a walkathon.

People walk in and out of our lives; we walk in and out of the lives of others. Sometimes each interaction is brief, all too brief, like momentary “hi”s and “goodbye”s, coffee dates and a “see you later”, a short and superficial conversation on the bus. Sometimes, they can seem like perpetual drudgery we’re trudging through, like walking to work in cloth sneakers when it’s raining on a day you’ve forgotten your umbrella. We pass others on the way. Sometimes we stop and interact. Sometimes we rush right by. Sometimes we don’t even notice them there, we’re going so fast we forget to stop and breathe and be human. Sometimes we dash forward, leaving them in the lurch; sometimes, they dash towards the end, leaving us choking in their wake. And we wonder where they’ve gone, wonder if it was us or them or really neither at all. Sometimes we just never see them pass us at all, and wonder where they’ve gone. We all have some sort of goal we’re walking towards. The way we take to reach that goal varies. But we all want to get to our goal. It takes a long time. It takes all these interactions, long and short, quick bursts of sprinting, slow strolls, stopping to smell the flowers. Sometimes we stray off the path, or they do. Then when we get to the end of the road, we look back: what now?

Categories
Academic Miscellaneous

#019: Miscellaneous prattle.

Currently listening to: an inane conversation I’m eavesdropping on

I’m currently hovering in the foyer of Swing, waiting for Psych to start in a little over half an hour. After getting up early to surprise a friend for her birthday, and a delightful cup of coffee, I find myself returning to update this blog. Life has been madness of late. I realize fully that, of course, means that I’ve been neglecting this space, and feeding it tidbits of junk when I can spare a moment. It’s momentarily filling, but essentially unsubstantial. But honestly, that’s what life can seem like at times. Great to be living in the moment, but upon introspection and retrospect, not quite whole.

Two seconds of thoughtfulness later (it never quite lasts), let’s skim the surface of comings and goings of late.

1. WPNCUP (basically, the Western Canada regional conference for the Canadian University Press) is THIS WEEKEND, and I am super excited! Essentially, it’s a chance for student journalists from across Western Canada to meet, attend interesting and informative sessions on reporting, covering various events, etc, and talk to people in the business…it all sounds terribly interesting and I’ll keep you updated on how that goes! In the same vein, a friend of mine who lives in Edmonton will be here for that, so that‘s fabulous too. In a nutshell, lots of general goodness going around on that front.

2. Midterm fever: Psych midterm went relatively quietly – it’s come and gone, and nobody really knows where it’s snuck off to, the tricky blighter. The Arts One in-class essay on Plato’s Republic appears to have disappeared into oblivion. No, not really. It’s tomorrow, after much madness and postponing. Whoo-hooooooooooooo. Let’s hope my brain doesn’t disappear into the Cave never to return again…that might just be a slight problem.

3. I miss acting something terrible ): Work has become such a major thing in my life and it really doesn’t leave very much time for theatre. Which, of course, means that I’m ending up spending lots on watching shows and such. Ironic, no? The time which could be otherwise spent doing shows is used for work…and the money from work is used to watch shows…and rendering my penniless again…it’s a vicious cycle, what can I say? On that note of shows and theatre, I’ve been looping the AVENUE Q CAST RECORDING lately. Rah rah rah.

Psych is starting in a bit. More soon, hopefully. Ta for now!

Categories
Academic Miscellaneous

#018: Lovelovelove.

Currently listening to: “Nine People’s Favourite Thing” – [title of show]

So [title of show] has closed on Broadway, but their music lives on!
This officially-released music video of the [currently listening to] track brings on a wave of the sniffles.

Watch it, go watch it, it’s brilliant, I swear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtdgvmYUuuA

“I’d rather be nine people’s favorite thing
Than a hundred peoples ninth favorite thing

Nine people’s favorite thing
Than a hundred people’s ninth favorite thing

Those nine people will tell nine people
Then we’ll have eighteen people loving the show
Then eighteen people could grow into
Five-hundred and twenty-five-thousand, six-hundred people
Loving our show!”

D’aaaaaw.

In other news, my Psych 100 midterm seems to have gone rather alright; we shall wait and see. Now, on to reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses! Ta for now!

Categories
Academic Miscellaneous

#018: Time management. Say WHAT?!?!

Currently listening to: “My Freeze Ray” – Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

“With my freeze ray I will stop the world
With my freeze ray I will find the time…”

Firstly, I hope everyone’s had a superb Thanksgiving weekend! In other news, that song [see above] is hilarious, so go listen to it. I promise you much chuckling and further YouTubing in search of the rest of the Dr. Horrible videos.

Secondly, I could definitely use that freeze ray. (“Stop the world…I wanna get on!” – The Producers reference, ha. But I digress.) Amidst terrible planning, an absolute lack of an attention span (as you must’ve noticed) and NO ability whatsoever to stick to a plan, I am finding myself with three days to the in-class paper for Arts One (Plato’s Republic, how delightful!), and four days to the Psych 100 midterm. Of course, in true Mary style, I’ve barely done any preparation for either (and will probably end up sliding through with a sheer stroke of luck and some subtle wordplay, thus giving me no incentive to actually study, the vicious cycle never ends). Must get on that…soon…good grief, will the procrastination never end? Honestly, girl, get a grip. On the bright side, the Arts One paper (Medea) is completed, though I doubt the legitimacy (and general prettiness) of the cover page. Gave it my best shot- I’ve no regrets. At least until we get them back…ha.

Thirdly, the “say WHAT” in the title of this entry is a tribute to a friend who defined, to a foreign student learning English, the term as “an expression used to follow up any ridiculous or crazy statement”. Most excellent indeed, though I can’t quite fathom for the life of me how frequently that phrase might come in handy.

Off to bed…before 2 a.m.! Mad props.

Categories
Miscellaneous

#017: Of technology and [title of show]

Currently listening to: “Histoire de pêche” – Les Cowboys Fringants

Alright, so I seem to have lost my sidebar image-link to the BlogSquad blog.
Does anyone (who technology doesn’t hate) know how to get it back there?

—

In other news, [title of show] is closing on Broadway today, after 102 Broadway runs and 13 previews.
You’ve gone from Off-Off-Broadway to JULYceum to…here.
Goodbye, [tos].

Thank you, Hunter Bell, Susan Blackwell, Heidi Blickenstaff and Jeff Bowen – for keepin’ it real on B’way.

Spam prevention powered by Akismet