Passing Out at the Computer

Today has been the longest day.  I think I say that every Wednesday.  

The reason Wednesdays are so horrifyingly long is because I usually work 8-4:30, then go to help set up for youth, then there’s dinner at the church, and then youth until 9:00.  And tonight Travis and I had to clean up after youth was over, so we didn’t leave the church until after 9:30.  So it’s been a long day.  It was good.  It was just long.  It was so long that I have had to type parts of this paragraph several times- my fingers just don’t work right when I’m this tired.  It doesn’t help that I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night either.  I think I’ve been home for about six hours in the last two days, and I was sleeping during all of them.  My Thursday morning off will bring a welcome rest.

Today a woman came into my store that was literally half my size.  She was a little wizened old woman, hunched over a walker.  I don’t know how tall she was naturally, but with the walker she was approximately hobbit-sized.  I mean, I’m six feet tall, so if she was half my size, that would make her roughly the size of a hobbit.  I don’t know.  All I do is report what I see.

One little tidbit before I sign off:  There are clips of Adam Pascal as Roger up on the Rent website.  It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven.

Well.  This is another short post.  Tomorrow is Danielle’s and my weekly Library trip/McAllister’s Feeding Frenzy, so I’m sure I’ll have more to talk about then.  Until tomorrow or so,

Brianne <><

Saturday Morning Fun

It’s Saturday morning and I’m ready for my day a little earlier than usual because I’m going to meet my friend, Travis for lunch at 11:30. I have to work at one.

Right now I’m listening to my daily dose of Rent- “Take me or Leave Me” again. (I think that last time I was listening to this and typing at the same time, “Take me or Leave Me” was on. Weird.) What can I say, it’s a fun song. There was a trailer for the movie on during Everwood the other night, and I tell you, I stopped breathing. If you think that I am joking, then this must be the first of my posts that you’ve read. It wasn’t really anything that I hadn’t seen a million times already- it was sort of cobbled together from two of the trailers that have been out on the internet for months. I actually have them saved on the old computer, so I watch them periodically. It was the fact that it was on TV that made me so excited. Tomorrow is the 23rd, so that means that in a month and a day, I will be sitting in the movie theatre. Yay!

My blessed roommate, Danielle, went to St. Louis this weekend, so I am living alone for a few days. They have progressed exactly how I expected- the place is a mess. I’m going to have to pick things up and clean the kitchen before Danielle gets home- I’m sure that the last thing that she wants to see when she walks in the door is the god-awful mess that her home has become. It’s not like she’s my mom, or anything, I just think that it’s disrespectful of me to be messy all weekend and then expect her to deal with it when she gets home. It’s sort of part of the “roommate code.”

Anyway, this is a short post today because I’m on the run, but maybe I’ll add more tonight. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Franz Ferdinand are going to be on SNL tonight, so hopefully I’ll have something to talk about after that. Oh, and by the way, I’m up to the “I’ll Cover You Reprise.” Jesse L. Martin, you are a god among insects. Until later,

Brianne <><

Squirrel Chasing or the Sights and Smells of the Trade

Yesterday morning I was waiting at the drive-up at the bank when I saw a squirrel run in front of my car.  I had this overwhelming urge to jump out of my car and chase it.  Let me explain.

College of the Ozarks, my alma mater, is covered with trees.  It really is a gorgeous campus- it’s not in the middle of a city, it’s a pedestrian campus and there is a landscaping team that keeps it looking beautiful.  But since the place is covered with trees, it’s also covered with squirrels.  That’s where the squirrel chasing began.

My friend, Travis (also a C of O alumni) likes to take credit for the phenomenon, but he can’t have been the first person to ever chase a squirrel up a tree.  No, I think this is something bred deep into the heart of every C of O student.  We see a squirrel, we chase it.  It’s just something that we do.  Talk to a certain kind of student that currently attends of has graduated from there, and they will say, “Sure, I’ve chased a squirrel.  Who hasn’t?”  Who hasn’t, indeed.  And even now, almost three years later, the want- no, the need- to chase squirrels is still grained deep into my psyche.

Completely switching gears, this is something else that happened yesterday: I saw a woman who was at least fifty or sixty years old wearing a shirt that I could see through.  She wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath it.  It was so thin that I could see the color of her skin through the fabric.  I was justifiably horrified.  I mean, I could see naughty bits.  (I visibly shudder.)  

It makes me wonder what goes on in people’s minds when they prepare for their day.  I have seen the lowest of the low when it comes to fashion: the before-mentioned woman with the naughty shirt on, old people with uncomfortably short shorts on, young people showing every part of themselves permitted by law, rednecks wearing shirts with foul language, half-naked women, or a combination of the two on them.  And then let’s talk about the smells.  I have smelled all forms of BO, urine, and general body-funk.  Old ladies wearing too much old-lady perfume to cover up other smells, old men who smell like they have been chain-smoking the entire ride down from Minnesota.  The worst smell ever?  The old lady who smelled like a combination of stale fried food and too many cats.  Stale fried cats.  Oh, Lord.  I am assuming that every hotel in the city has a shower and a mirror in it, so why don’t tourists use them?

And finally, for everyone’s information, there are some incredibly cute, entirely too short clips from the Rent movie up on the Rent blog.  They’re not “clips” per se in that they deal with a specific plot point from the movie; rather they are sort of video montages for two of the characters (Collins and Maureen) with footage from several of their scenes.  It made me very happy to come home from a long day yesterday and see those two “nuggets of joy” (to borrow a phrase from Zorak.)  I am waiting with baited breath for the Roger montage.  Roger is my favorite character, he sings my favorite songs in the show (“One Song Glory,” “Another Day,” and “What You Own,”) and I love Adam Pascal, who plays him.   Anyway.  This has been a random, disjointed post.  Have a good day, everyone!

Brianne <><

Wasting my Time

So today I worked at my job that is not the bookstore.  Honestly, sometimes it seems like a waste of my time.  It’s not a bad job, and I’ve been there for over two years, but sometimes it just seems like a waste of my time.  I mean, the only days I work there are on my days off from the bookstore, so if I have to work there, that means that I don’t get any days off.  Which makes me generally pissed off when I have to work there.  It wasn’t a bad day.  I just thought of a thousand places I would have rather been than there.

I got all excited that I was going to be home tonight because I thought that I was going to get to watch Arrested Development and Kitchen Confidential.  I cooked some stir fry and couscous and sat down to watch funny TV and what was on instead?  Baseball. I almost cried.  So instead I put on the DVD of Angels in America that I got from the library.  I’m a little over halfway through it and I don’t know if I like it or not.  The characters spout a lot of ideals that I don’t think they even believe.  A lot of just plain wrong theology and a cracked worldview all around.  Besides that, there is a lot of explicit sex, nudity and vulgar language in it.  I tried to fast forward through the worst of it.  

The acting in this is fantastic, holy crap.  I got it mostly because Patrick Wilson was in it, and I hadn’t ever seen him really act before.  He’s so good that I forget that he’s Patrick Wilson.  It makes me like him more than ever.  He’s an amazing singer, but I had only seen him act in the Phantom of the Opera movie, and I didn’t like that movie that much.  I don’t even like that musical. (Musical theatre fans everywhere are rising up to murder me in my sleep, but I don’t care.  Can you hear me?  I don’t like Joseph either.  Or Cats.  Ew.)  

Anyway, despite how good Patrick Wilson and the rest of the cast are, I don’t think that their fantastic performances redeem this for me.  I’m afraid that it’s a little too much to get through my worldview filter.  So I can’t recommend Angels in America.  There’s just too much crap in it.  It’s a great piece of writing and directing and acting, but unfortunately, it does not do a good enough job of portraying the truth.  There are small moments of it, but it is so polluted by the rest of the crap that you can barely see it when it comes up.

In other news, I was browsing on Amazon and I found out that Space: Above and Beyond is coming out on DVD next month.  I was so happy that I almost cried.  I have been waiting for it for years and years- it’s only my favorite TV show of all time.  For those who don’t know, Space is a space/war drama.  It’s inspired by the old war dramas in the forties and fifties, and it’s definitely the coolest show I’ve ever watched.  It was on in like, 1996 for one season and was cancelled.  I remember the day of the series finale well.  The Tony Awards were on that same night and Jenny and I were going to watch those, too, and we were so stunned and shocked by the end of the show that we missed the beginning of the Tonys.  But now it is on DVD and I am so happy.

I’m finally mending from my wretched cold, but I still have a hacking cough.  It’s ten times less attractive than the runny nose.  At least with the runny nose, people knew that I just had a cold.  Hacking like this, people are going to think that I have TB or something.  Plus I totally disturbed church yesterday morning.  Ahh, church yesterday morning.  My evaluation of that is best saved for its own post, at some point in time when I can be objective about the events that took place there.  Church itself was great, it was just some of the encounters that I had with people there that pissed me off.  

Anyway, it’s time for me to sign off.  I’m tired, I need  a shower, and I have to work tomorrow.  I’m turning into an old maid, I swear.  Until next time,

Brianne <><

Sloth Baby

Today’s post results from something I saw at work last night.  I was horrified.  

An annoying family walked in.  Not every family that walks in is annoying.  This one was because they basically acted like the store was their house.  They completely ignored me and proceeded to take over the entire store, yelling at each other from across the store, messing up displays, not putting things back where they belong, that sort of thing.  That really ticked me off because it was like, eight thirty and I had already straightened up the store for the night. And these were adults- a mom and a dad, two grandparents, and an aunt and an uncle.  The father looked like a Neanderthal- he was tall and ugly and had a stupid look on his face.  And he was holding the true subject of this post.  Sloth Baby.

This was the first thing I thought when I saw this child.  This was the largest baby I have ever seen.  He couldn’t have been more than eight or so months old, but he was huge.  I guess it was inherited from his jurassic father.  I don’t mean that the kid had a big head, like the “Big Head Baby” in Sarah Dessen’s Keeping the Moon.  No, this was just a huge baby.  I mean, he was the size of a three year old.  I thought he was going to stand up and demand that his dad feed him a pizza.  

The reason why I thought of him as Sloth Baby was because he was fairly oozing down his father.  The kid was just sort of laying all over his dad.  (I think that was because he was too heavy for a human being to carry around for so long.  Why didn’t they get a stroller or something?  The kid had to weigh like, fifty pounds.)  The dad put him down on the floor and let him ooze around on the floor for a while.  I stopped watching when he started drooling.  Oh God.

Here’s the thing.  I never realized that babies could be ugly until I saw Travis and Erin’s daughter, Emma.   That sounds horrible, but let me explain.  Emma is the most beautiful child I have ever seen.  I’m serious.  I held her the day she was born and she came out looking like she had been found in a cabbage patch.  One of Erin’s friends from work asked her if Emma was a c-section baby, Emma was that perfect.  But in the room next door to Erin and Emma was… The Ugliest Baby I Have Ever Seen.  I never saw it in person, but when I visited the hospital website to see a picture of Emma, I saw it.  Oh, Lord, did I see it.  I swear to God it looked like one of the members of the Addams Family.  And the worst thing was that Erin and Travis knew the baby’s parents.  They had to go visit this baby and say how cute it was.  

We’ve had two more babies at our church since Emma, and they’re both beautiful.  Thank God.  Emma set a precedent.   I hope that someday, when I have babies, they’re as cute as Emma.  If not, then all our friends will say, “Well, you know, Emma was cuter.”  And that’s just not fair for any of us.  Anyway.  I’m going to go get ready for my day.  Danielle and I are going to go see an early showing of Serenity with some friends.  I hope none of you have nightmares about Sloth Baby.  Adios,

Brianne <><

Sick Day

I’m sick.

You heard me.  Sniffly nose, cough, snot everywhere… I just generally don’t feel good.  I woke up at 4:30 this morning desperately needing to blow my nose and take some ibuprofen.  Yesterday I had to work and I sniffled and snotted through eight hours of rude and unappreciative customers.  

One smart aleck brought a copy of Terry Goodkind’s Pillars of Creation over to me and dropped it onto the counter from a height of three to five inches.  I think he just wanted to hear the sound it would make when it hit the counter-this is a thick book.  I gave him a “what the-?”  type of look, attempting to subtly let him know that I didn’t appreciate his little gesture.  He said, “Well, what have I got to lose?” meaning, of course, what did he have to lose from buying a book for four dollars.  (This was how much the book cost on sale.)  I said, “I don’t know, but I could have lost a finger from that,” I said.  Now.  That probably wasn’t the nicest thing I could have said, but it was late and I was tired and he had a bad attitude.  And I didn’t say it in a mean way.  I laughed a little to let him know it wasn’t a big deal.  (My sense of humor tends to be dry at times.  This confuses some people- they think I’m being serious when I’m not.)  

Anyway, I called my family on the way home, because I know that they’re all home on Monday nights and it’s about a twenty minute drive from work to home, so we can usually get in a decent length conversation from the door of the bookstore to the door of my home.  My sister and my mom didn’t have to work yesterday because it was Columbus day and they work at a school (my mom substitutes-she’s retired- and my sister is a teacher’s aide.)  My sister was watching The West Wing on DVD and ironing a shirt, and even though the DVD belongs to her and she can watch it any time she wants, she still was exasperated to the point of distraction at having to talk to me.  This was not an insult.  It’s just the way she is.   I also made the mistake of telling her that I was sick (it was pretty obvious- I sounded like a sixty-year-old smoker) so when I called back not five seconds later to ask my mom a question about a recipe, the first thing she said was, “Jenny says you’re sick.”  I don’t want her to worry.  I’m not that sick, it’s just a sinus thing and I’m going top be fine.  I already feel better, and I get to stay home today and recuperate.  

Last night I watched the Killers on Jay Leno, which made me happy.  They were great.  I feel about them kind of how I feel about Beck- their live performances are so much cooler than listening to them on a CD.  I mean, their CD’s are great, but watching them live just takes it to a different level.  

Speaking of live performances, I am so happy because the movie cast of Rent is going to be on Live with Regis and Kelly on Thursday.  There’s a fansite that I go to to get Rent news and they had it posted on there.  I’m going to be home that day, so I’m going to be glued to the TV.  And I’m taping it because Danielle has to work.  Since I’m taping it, I’ll probably rewind it and watch it a second time as soon as it’s over.  And I’ll probably dance around the living room at some point, especially if they talk to any of the actors.  I wonder what they’ll sing?  I ask this every time they’re slated to be on some talk show, but I pretty much know that they’ll sing “Seasons of Love.”  It’s the most popular song from the show, after all.

Well, this has turned into a long, rambly post.  I guess that I’ll get back to being lazy- I have an important nap to take, and I’m pretty sure that there are some books that need to be read.  And if things get really wild and crazy, I might watch Love Actually or Garden State again.  Right now, I’m listening to my daily dose of Rent- I’ve gotten up to “Take me or Leave Me.”  Tons of fun!  Until something interesting happens,

Brianne <><

Musical Theatre Love-Fest

Today has been a blessedly lazy day.  I read books and did the dishes (take that, Danielle!  I do, too do the dishes!)  Last night I couldn’t sleep, so I camped out on the couch with… er… Camp.  The movie, I mean.  It’s not the great American musical or anything (that designation is taken; read the rest of my posts) but it is good, mindless musical fun.  The plot isn’t stellar and the acting is B-rate at best, but the musical numbers are fantastic and the singing and dancing are great.  I love the songs in it- I think one or two of them may be original numbers written for the movie, but most of them are gleaned from other musicals. (The movie is about kids at a performing arts camp.  They produce a show like, every two weeks during the summer, plus a benefit at the end.  That’s basically the plot.  Seriously.)   Whoever wrote the script has a healthy love of Stephen Sondheim, as should all people who are obsessed with musical theatre.  They even got Mr. Sondheim to make a guest appearance in the movie.  

I was “Cinderella’s Stepmother” in Into the Woods my senior year of college.  It was one of the coolest experiences of my life, and it was the catalyst for my current love of theatre.  I had been in show choir productions in high school and I played in the pit orchestra the year before Into the Woods, but none of those things constituted a real theatre experience.  I had never played a role on stage before.  I am not an actress.  My friend, Rachael is an actress.  My friend Daniel is an actor.  They are also the most talented singers I know.  But I am just a singer, which made me especially glad to receive the role I did.  Since then, I have been in community theatre productions- Music Man (ugh,) Bye Bye Birdie (oh, God, the most horrific musical ever) and Big River (actually a fun and entertaining show, and the best one that the community theatre has put on in years.)  I was in the chorus of all those shows- well, except Music Man.  In that,  I was Ethel Toffelmyer, the “pianola girl” who was also one of the “Grecian urn ladies.”  Anyway, I’ve always had a lot of fun in the chorus.  

My friend, Laura, who is also an amazing actress and singer (how do I get myself involved with all these people?) asked me if I just never wanted a big role.  I reminded her that I was not an actress and also reminded her about my voice.  I studied classically in college, and my voice would be best served in an opera or a Gilbert and Sullivan musical.  Plus, remember that I can’t really act, and I’m also six feet tall.  I’m not exactly leading woman material.  But you know what?  If a role came along that was perfect for me and a director offered it to me, I would take it in a heartbeat.  I always want to try something new.  It would be they biggest struggle of my life and I would probably nearly kill myself doing it, but I would do it.  Because it would be fun.

All that said, here are my top five musicals, in order of how much I love them and why.
     

1. Children of Eden.  This show is by Steven Schwartz and it basically flopped.  I wish it hadn’t, because I think it’s one of the best shows that have come down the pike in the last fifteen years.  (It opened in London during the first Gulf War, and tanked.  It never even made it to Broadway.)  It follows the books of Genesis in the Bible from the Fall all the way through the flood.  (It’s a loose translation of events, which made some ultra-conservative, “Super Christians” at my school mad.)  Cofo did this my junior year of college, and I played the French Horn in the pit orchestra (multi-talented, you ask?  You haven’t heard me play.  Ugh.)  Besides having a great message and gorgeous music, it got me hooked up with some of the people I am still friends with to this day, five years later.  I wrote my Senior capstone term paper about this show: “Children of Eden: Art or Heresy?”  It was fifteen pages long.


2. Rent.  See the rest of my posts.  I think I have made my case clear.


3. Wicked.  Also by Stephen Schwartz.  What is not to like about this show?  It’s based on The Wizard of Oz, it was written by my favorite musical composer, the music is clever and intricate, and it has two great female roles.  They were originated on Broadway by my favorite Broadway actress (Idina Menzel) and one of my other favorite Broadway actresses (Kristin Chenoweth.)  I spent several long, tedious months memorizing this show in the passenger seat of Danielle’s car.  We’re planning on singing “What is this Feeling?”  sometime soon (the song is the touching story of two roommates who completely and utterly loathe and despise each other. Hmmm….)


4. Into the Woods.  Like I said, I was in this in college.  I love the campy grossness of it (people get killed, a lot of stuff gets stomped on by giants, and I personally got to shed blood onstage, which made my mom gag) and the slightly corny humor is a good juxtaposition to its thinly-veiled anti-war message.  We performed this in early 2002, months after September 11.  The music is tricky and wordy and challenging, and I loved every minute of it.  Everyone with a passion for musical theatre should get a chance to be in this show, because it’s a great learning experience.

The verdict is still out on number five.  I really like the music from Aida, but the plot isn’t that great.  And Jekyll and Hyde is a great story, but all the songs sort of sound the same, even though I really like them.  Then there are the off- Broadway shows I enjoy, like Bright Lights, Big City (love most of the music, but again, the story sucks) and Tick, Tick… Boom! (Another show by the person who wrote Rent, Jonathan Larson.)  And you never know, I may see some show soon and think, “There it is.  My fifth show.”  I’m really picky about things like that.  I placed Rent at number two, even though I think it’s the best of all those, because I can’t bear to make Children of Eden anything but number one.  It’s my favorite, it always will be.  It’s so special to me and it’s hard to explain why.  People who were there know why, and nothing will ever replace it in my heart.

Well, this has gotten long and drawn out, and I have to go to praise team practice.  So I think I will sign off for now and talk again at a later date.  Bye for now,


Brianne <><

Books of Note

Last night I mentioned that Beck was about to be on the Letterman show.  He was fantastic!  It seems like I have amnesia when it comes to Beck.  I really like him, but I tend to forget how much I like him until I see him perform on some show.  His CD’s are great, but his live performances are really where he shines.  He played this song called “Black Tambourine;” it had this great beat.  Beck has this presence when he is performing that makes you feel like you’re getting way more than just a song.  His band was cool, too.  His other guitar player put down his guitar at one point and just started rocking out on all this auxiliary percussion he had set up on a table in front of him.  I could tell if he was a percussionist who also played the guitar or a guitar player who also played percussion.  There were also two drum kits, and this funny-looking guy who played a tambourine and danced (for aesthetic effect, I think.)  Seriously- one of the best “live” (it was performed live, I didn’t see it live) performances I have seen in a long time.  

In more random news, 29 people wearing some sort of khaki pants came into my store today.  What can I say?  Work was boring.

I also read a book for the fiftieth time: Sarah Dessen’s This Lullaby.  I have mentioned her before, and you can go to her blog by clicking on her link in my sidebar.  I love her books because while they’re not just fluff, they still have the ability to make me happy.  They’re funny and she creates some of the coolest characters in literature.  They’re like people you knew in high school or college.  Some of them you were friends with, some of them you weren’t, but they’re still all real people.  My favorite of her books is The Truth About Forever, but I think that her best is Dreamland, which is what I am going to read (again) next.  

I swear.  I have all these books I have checked out from the library and none of them satisfy me like the ones I already have.  I still keep on going back to the same authors I have on my bookshelf over and over again: Sarah Dessen,  Elizabeth Peters, Neil Gaiman, and especially Madeleine L’Engle.  She is my favorite author, hands down, no foolin’.  She was who inspired me to write and told me that it was okay for Christians to be artists and to appreciate the art of this world.  Her book, Walking on Water is a must-read for all Christians who are also artists.  (I really reject the terms “Christian musician,”  “Christian writer,” etc.)  She talks about serving God by serving the gifts he gave us, and says that if we don’t do something with our gifts, then we’re not serving God the way he created us to.  Thinking about that makes me want to wake up every morning with a new idea, a new way to use my gifts.  As someone who graduated from college with a degree in music, who loves to write and (sort of) act and wishes she could draw better and dance even a little bit, I appreciate Madeleine’s addressing Christians who are artists and letting us know that it’s okay to be the way God created us to be.  (Special message to Jess: read this book!  Please!!!)

Anyway, there’s my soapbox for the evening.  Been a long time since I jumped up on that thing, hasn’t it?  I hadn’t addressed books of note before now, so here is a partial list of my favorites (fiction and non fiction):

1. A Ring of Endless Light, Madeleine L’Engle (my hands down, all time favorite book)


2. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman


3. Touching the Void, Joe Simpson


4. Sunshine, Robin McKinley


5. Praise Habit, David Crowder


6. Girl Meets God, Lauren F. Winner

Like I said, just a partial list.  Give me more time and I could make you one a mile long.  Anyway, I’m going to wrap this up.  I’m definitely going to be in bed before one o’clock tonight, with high hopes of getting more than six hours of sleep for a change.  I don’t have to work tomorrow.  Joy!  Till we meet again,

Brianne <><

Guess What I Saw the Other Day?

The other day someone threw up outside my store.  I watched.

I didn’t watch on purpose.  It was about ten thirty in the morning and I was staring out the window- there weren’t very many people in the store and things were kind of boring.  And then, suddenly, someone was throwing up right outside my window.  Needless to say, it was disgusting.

Unfortunately, that’s about the most interesting thing that has happened to me in the last couple of days.  I’ve worked a lot in the last couple of days.  I worked seven hours at my job that is not the bookstore yesterday.  Actually, three of those hours were a meeting, but I got paid for it.  We watched training videos that were unintentionally funny.  I won’t divulge any of the content for fear of revealing the name of the corporation, but let’s just say that I came pretty close to getting in trouble for my big mouth.  Sometimes I just can’t help myself-I laughed hard, and with abandon.  Nobody else was laughing.  I realized that I was the most obnoxious person in the room.

So, as a result of my boring weekend, this is going to be a short post.  I’m tired, I feel fat because I just inhaled a whole Totino’s Party Pizza (Three Cheese) and Beck is about to come on David Letterman’s show.  So until something interesting happens,

Brianne <><\