What I've been up to...

'Nuff said? Allow me to explain...

I directed a play! Er... music directed a play. ...let me rephrase that further- I was the musical director. Aw yes, much better.

Now, you're probably thinking something like, "But Shauntel, you're such an attention nut! Why in the world would you choose to take a management position and not to be on the stage?"

I'll answer that with a simple question- what am I doing in approximately two months and a week?

...Oh yeah, graduating.* Kind of a big deal.

See, I've always wanted to be a part of the management team, and this was honestly that last time I would ever for sure get a chance to do that. It's an experience I'd always wanted to have, so I took a leap of faith and did it.

And you know what? I had a blast. No regrets on that one. Pictures (hopefully) to follow. (Or you could just, you know, look at my Facebook or something...)

So yeah, that's been my life since January (it ended about two weeks ago... hence the lack of blogging. In all seriousness, I have not had a brain at all in that time. Everything non-vocal training related either A) went down the toilet, or B) was dealt with poorly...). Spring break, for a variety of reasons, could not have come at a better time.

But you know what spring break means? No school! And you know what that means? Books!! (And also 12 hour Lord of the Rings extended edition marathons. But that's besides the point.) So yeah, I've actually been reading. Quite a bit actually. (I have most definitely not abandoned my new book blog! It shall be updated in due time... But in the meantime, I'll give you snippets of what's to come.)


Finally finished the Mortal Instruments series (although I guess their author is going to write more of them... I'll probably end up giving them a shot.). And you know what? I ended up really enjoying them. The third one was easily the best of the three, and I actually legitimately liked it. I complained rather loudly in the review of the first one that there were too many characters with no actual purpose. Well... most of them had a point by the end. (There are still a few who I just don't understand why they were even written.... But whatever, I'll still just go with it.) So yeah- this series is officially recommended. So go get it. Right now.








I also read Hero, by Perry Moore, and am absolutely in love. Alright, it wasn't perfect (a couple of the secrets just weren't secret enough, and it got a wee bit too trigger happy at the end) but come on- it's comic book superheros in regular book format. And yes, I mean the super cheesy, catch-phrase spouting, spandex wearing ones. It simply does not get any better than this, people. It's not exactly a secret that I'm a total sucker for superheroes, and this could be the beginning of a whole new genre. *crosses fingers*




I pride myself in having very tough skin. Very rarely do I actually cringe at something horrifying and/or disturbing and/or scandalous that happens in a book. But this... *shudders* Lord of the White Hell went as far as to combine some of those categories. Cheesy cover aside, this is not a YA book. Can I just leave it at that? (Plus it had a terribly cruel ending. Which is lame, because I totally saw it coming, yet I couldn't help but throw a fit anyway. And then the sequel wasn't at the library. Or at the bookstore. I'm still waiting for it to come in the mail. Is it trying to torture me further?)**

Point is, I might have to break out the sharpie for this one.






I just started The Book Thief not too long ago, so nothing much to say yet except that it is very good. Go read it. I'll elaborate further when I can.






(No, I didn't read all of these in a week. There are just some of the things I've read since January. Keyword, of course, being some. The ones with interesting back stories that is.)

Oh! My ADD brain just remembered- research papers. I hate them. I just finished this huge (not really) one on the short story EPICAC and let me tell you... that was the single most painful thing I have ever had to write. I just... with every fiber of my being, I didn't want to do it. There wasn't any reason- I just really, really didn't want to. That's what happens when homework gets assigned on the holy period of rest that is spring break. It's... not cool. Not cool at all.

And because I'm such a responsible student, I started it about two days ago and barely finished it this evening. (My school is awesome and doesn't go back until Tuesday.) So yeah... EPICAC... supercomputer... I'm just gonna stop right there.

Oh! I dyed my hair. Booyah! First time ever too. If I can ever take a decent picture, I'll put one up. In the meantime, I'll just say that it's red...ish. And also blonde streaked. Double wammy. So yeah, 'tis awesome.

But yeah, school tomorrow. At least I have my after school time back... for now...

*sigh* Easter Pageant starts next week. Don't get me wrong- I'm super excited. But... it is one more thing I have to prepare for.

(Scholarship auditions, concerts, school projects... where did my life go?)


*Woah. I'd never actually calculated the exact time until now. Nine weeks... May 26th... Hot dang- I'm officially old.

**I just made the book sound terrible, didn't I. No, no- there are so many good things about it. The plot, the politics, the world... Crazy good. And the characters- *~amazing~*. I honestly cannot speak more highly of its good aspects.

But hot dang- why must all the best books be so unrecommendable?

(Wicked... Watchmen... heck, even the Bible when you think about it...)

In Which I Haven't Updated in Way Too Long...

So yeah... sorry 'bout that. No, I'm not dead or anything. Just lazy.

So yeah, summer. Whoosh. Let me tell you, I have honestly been gone every other week. Which is totally weird frankly- I've never been gone this much in the summer time. Actually, by the time school starts, I'll have been gone a grand total of five weeks. There's eight weeks of summer. Do the math.

First vacation- Girl's Camp. Which was okay... I guess... The theme was very cool- superheroes- so there's some good stuff there. Every ward was supposed to pick a superhero as sorta our mascot, and ours was Optimus Prime. Once again, very cool. Some of the other wards picked liked, Wonder Woman, Super Girl, stuff like that, all of which are legit and cool too. One of them picked Rosie the Riveter randomly. I was kind of like "what?" but I ended up accepting it once I saw some of the laughable stuff the other wards had picked. Some of them I guess decided it was okay to start making up their own so we ended up with things like "Virtue Girls" and "Shikara" (which I guess for all I know could actually be a real one, but she's drawn in Japanese anime style so I'm automatically entitled to make fun of it anyway). Also, one of them picked the "Fair Maidens". *sigh* I don't know how you get princesses out of superheroes (Xena: Warrior Princess maybe? But if that was point... well they obviously missed it.) but I guess it was bound to happen.

Haha funny story. Our camp, with our Optimus Prime, was stationed right next to the "Fair Maidens" camp. And trust me, the two campsites... well, you could say they looked very different. To give you an idea, this was our logo:
...and theirs went something like this:
So yeah... I think they missed the point.

Second vacation- EFY. I'd never been before so this was all a new experience for me. Two of my best friends on the face of the planet were going to be there, (one of whom was to be my roommate) so that had pretty much guaranteed before hand that even if it sucked, it couldn't be all that bad. It didn't suck, but I think it deserves it's own post, so I'll save the details.

Third vacation- Ramah, New Mexico. I've been there at least a million times, but it always manages to be fun. More details later? That would probably be easiest.

But anyway, the here and now! Fourth vacation- Washington. Well, I'm currently in Utah, but that's besides the point. I'm staying with my uncle and aunt currently (Dallan and Stephanie, for those who are curious) and so far it's been pretty fun. I've pretty much been (literally) bombarded by my cousins with love and hugs (my sleeve is being violently tugged on as I speak... er write) but they love me so it's cool.

Haha, another funny story. So the last time I saw my cousins, they stayed at my house for a week. I had them watch Cats. Soooooo, I walk in the door two days ago and the first thing the older one says to me, at 100 works a minute, is "Oh Shauntel! I love that Cats movie you showed me; I think I'm going to buy it." Not a "hi" or a "sup" or even a "what are you doing here you freak", just a, well, that. Stephanie explained to me that ever since they watched it, they've listened to it non stop and kept the DVD for months when they rented it. She's happy with it though. As am I. I'm actually rather proud of myself for converting them.

Anyway I suppose I sorta lied since I'm not actually in Washington yet, but I'll get there eventually. It's funny though. I mean, I'm in Utah. And as most people know, I like to make fun of Utah. It's fun. However, I'm quickly running out of fodder, since so far all the stuff I've seen has been awesome. Plus, you can look at the sky (which, turns out, is blue, and not grayish) and not hurt your eyes.

Also, everything is green. It's kinda weirding me out.

But whatev. That's the Arizonian in me speaking. And we all know Arizona is still the best state ever.

My ACT Adventure

As you probably gathered from the title, I took the ACT test. And let me tell you, it was.... interesting.

Saturday: April 10th:

5:05 AM- My alarm clock starts blaring annoyingly. I shut it off, and mentally smack myself for forgetting to turn it off.

6:45 AM- My mother enters my room and wakes me up. Sorta. But I, being a teenager...

7:00 AM- ...take at least 10-15 minutes longer than the rest of the world to actually become conscious.

7:15 AM- I'm totally prettied up and ready to leave.

7:25 AM- Mom and I drive through McDonald's for breakfast. I marvel at just how greasy the wrapper is.

7:35 AM- I arrive at the school giving the test.

7:36 AM- I'm really mad about how long the line is to register. I mean seriously, it's fifty feet long and I'm a half hour early!

7:37 AM- I text my friend. WTF R U?!?!????

7:39 AM- I spot the friend in question. She's 49 feet ahead of me in line.

7:55 AM- I finally reach the registration desk. So far, so good.

8:08 AM- One of my buddies asks me to check the time. We all wonder why in the heck we havn't been let into the building, despite being 8 minutes overtime.

8:10 AM- Two of my friends, one wearing a Team Edward shirt, the other sporting Team Jacob, start dissing the other's clothing.

8:11 AM- I bring up Jacob's airbrushed abs and Edward's unnervingly bi-colored nipples. Neither of them can disagree.

8:20 AM- We're finally let into the test center and split up into rooms. Only one of my friends is with me.

8:30 AM- We're assigned seats and given a booklet and answer document. We're then informed we have to wait some more because two of the peeps in our room haven't arrived yet.

8:45 AM- We start without them.

9:00 AM- We finally- finally- get through filling out the stupid thing and hearing the proctor read the instructions 36 times. I open my booklet...

9:02 AM- I realize, with joy, that the entire first section is on grammar. I smile, knowing this will be a breeze.

9:17 AM- The freaking "Hosanna" song from Jesus Christ Superstar is stuck in my head. It's very distracting.

9:45 AM- The proctor announces it's time to stop testing. I'm happy, because I finished 5 minutes ago and seriously knew the answer to every single one. Yay for potential scholarships.

9:46 AM- I realize, amusingly, that none of the students will stand up during the short break between tests unless someone else does it first. Tired of sitting, I decide to be that someone.

9:55 AM- The math test is next. I mentally groan.

9:56 AM- I realize delightfully that I know how to do the first problem. Maybe this won't be so bad afterall.

9:57 AM- Nevermind. It's bad.

10:21 AM- This time, "One Song Glory" from Rent is playing in my head. Strangely, it's the German version that keeps running through, which is actually good. The words don't distract me so much (since I can't, you know, understand them) and, as much as I love Adam Pascal from the English one, nothing beats Roger when he's played by the gorgeousness that is John Partridge. 'Cept for maybe when he was Electra. Or maybe when he was in that opera. That was in German too...

10:22 AM- I realize I should probably be focusing on irrational numbers as opposed to irrational loves...

10:55 AM- The test is over. My brain starts to melt out my ears.

10:56 AM- We're allowed to wander the hallways for ten minutes and get our minds off the test. It doesn't work.

11:08 AM- My friend and I creep back into the testing room and pray that the proctor lady doesn't notice we were late. She doesn't.

11:09 AM- As the teacher continues explaining the ridiculous amount of rules surrounding the test, my mind starts to wander. I think about how grateful I am that, despite the minor distractions the previous songs in my head had caused, there hadn't yet been anything detrimentally annoying or distracting lodged in there yet. Such as "Sweet Trans-" Crap. No. Get out!

11:10 AM- Start on the reading comprehension test. No big deal right? Sure, until you factor in that we only have 35 minutes. And 40 questions. Which, you know, wouldn't be a big deal (we had like 70 questions and 45 minutes for the grammar test) 'cept we have to read some stupid 2 page essay before answering the questions. And there's like 5 of them. Whee...

11:28 AM- The proctor announces the halfway point. I realize, in surprise and horror (Rocky Horror that is, 'cause that song is still there), that I'm exactly halfway done and had better get a move on if I'm going to finish with any time left over.

11: 35 AM- Shut up Tim Curry. Just shut up.*

11: 45 AM- The reading comprehension test is over. And oh my gosh my heart is pounding. I seriously was like speeding. See, I probably would have done great if they'd, you know, not given me less than a minute per question maybe? I mean really guys. Ridiculous.

11: 46 AM- Eh, the science test. I'm not worried. More curious than anything. 'Cause seriously, what's even going to be on it?

11:47 AM- Aw fudgemonkey. Graphs. So no, it's not science. It's basically math comprehension. Which I suppose is appropriate since the previous was reading comprehension, but still. Come on.

12:01 PM- Oh my gosh. Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh. I am so behind.

12:07 PM- Have finally accepted that I'm not actually going to finish in time. Time to make pictures with the bubble answers!

12:08 PM- I've decided drawing pictures probably isn't the best way to fudge on a college entrance exam...

12:10 PM- Have resorted to simply skipping all the questions I don't know. Might as well do what I can right?

12:13 PM- Realize that my blood sugar has dropped to "eat you moron, or you're gonna collapse" level.

12:20 PM- The time is up for the "science" test. And if you thought my heart rate has high before...

12:21 PM- Our booklets are collected. We're allowed a few minutes break before the essay portion.

12:30 PM- The essay prompt is passed out, but it's sealed shut. I pray that it's actually something I care about.

12:31 PM-(The following portion has been deleted due to the fact that I'm not supposed to disclose the topic for the essay. Yeah stupid, I know, but I'd like my test to be valid thank you very much.)

12:55 PM- I'm done with the essay, and darn if it weren't easy.

1:00 PM- Time is up for the essay. Suddenly it dawns on me- I'm done. I'm free!

1:01 PM- I'm not free. 'Cause I still have to wait for mom to show up...

1:08 PM- K, I'm free. For realz this time. And oh my gosh I'm exhausted. I realize that my plans for finishing my homework this evening are probably null and void...

1:15 PM- Mommy and I eat at Chipotle. And it's delicious. Also, we feed the little birdies some rice. And it's cute to watch them.

Whew, and that's it. Let us pray I never have to do it again...

*No offense to Tim Curry. I usually like him. It's just that, at that moment, he was singing what will go down in history as probably the most distracting song in the history of the universe. Sorry Dr. Frank, but your song has no melody.

My Top 10 Favorite Musical Songs

Like I said before, I'm back from my blogging hiatus and I'm here to tell you some more of my totally biased opinions. But this time, its in the form of song!

Literally. I'm mean, we are talking about music here. Aw whatever, lame joke alert. Just pity laugh K?

Anyway, here is a list of my top 10 favorite songs ever from a musical.

(But before that, I'd like to explain something. In order to avoid picking too many songs from the same musical, I picked what I thought was the best song from said musical. This was done based off music style, the tone, what effect it has on the show, and just pure likability. For example, despite my love of "Popular" from Wicked, I like "Defying Gravity" better. So despite liking "Gravity" better than say, "Castle on a Cloud", its still not on the list. Get it? Got it? Good.)

10. El Tango de Roxanne from Moulin Rouge* - This song is seriously intense. Why? Because jealousy is an intense emotion. Which is why this song works so well.

9. Castle on Cloud from Les Miserables - This falls into the genre of "tragically adorable". I mean really, you just wanna give this poor little girl a hug. You simply can't not have your heart broken when you hear it. (Also, from a technical standpoint, I like it because its in the key of A Minor, which means, pianoistically speaking, there're no sharps or flats. That is a definite win.)

8. Go Go Go Joseph from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - It starts on gorgeous, it ends on awesome. Plus it tells like three different stories throughout the song's running. That is very cool with me.

7. The Tango Maureen from Rent* - A song a guy sings regarding his cheating ex-girlfriend to her new girlfriend. Simply the premise of the song tells you its gonna be entertaining.

6. Everyone's a Little Bit Racist from Avenue Q* - Equipped with a biting message and a catchy little tune, this lovely little song is actually probably the least offensive song from the musical. That isn't why I picked it thought; I just pretty much love it.

5. By the Sea from Sweeney Todd* - In a show so dark and packed full of horrible happenings, this hilariously upbeat song completely offsets the entire show. Its all about one of the character's dream of living, well, by the sea someday. The movie version films it in an especially humorous manner- the colors and costumes are almost obnoxiously bright and cheery, despite the characters maintaining their emotastic appearances.

4. The Phantom of the Opera from, well, The Phantom of the Opera - Do I even have to explain why it's on the list? Everyone knows this song. And in many ways, that's part of it's awesome- the fact that everyone recognizes it's opening chords.

3. AC/DC from Starlight Express - I, being the epitome of maturity, went and counted all the questionable innuendos in this song. In less than a three minute period, I counted 14, 9 if you don't count the ones that were repeated. Heck, even the title. The title. Now, you'd think this would draw away from it's charm. But not only does this song have an ridiculously catchy beat, clever lyrics, and awesome backup singers, it was sung by the gorgeousness that is John Partridge. So maybe I'm just suffering from swoon bias, but this song so deserves it's spot on the list. (Update: I recently bought the piano book for this show, and I realized I missed a big one. There's 10 unrepeated innuendos. Just though you should know.)

2. Defying Gravity from Wicked - Greatest show stopper ever. Seriously. I still get goosebumps when I hear it. Its probably the best pre-intermission song ever. Why? Because, in full representation to the character singing it, it starts out small and builds to something grand and powerful, something worth hearing. I love epiphany songs, and this is easily my favorite of those.

1. Mr. Mistoffelees from Cats - This song is special and I just love it. It comes at a perfect point in the show- it's one of those all hope is lost, the bad guy just kicked out rears moments- when suddenly bang!, the underdog hero and his friend come out and save the day. It's got this wonderful smooth, up-beat jazz tune, the guy who sings it has a beautiful voice, visually the dancing is incredible, and gosh darn it, it just makes you happy.

*Yeah yeah yeah, any show with this marking has an interesting reputation preceding it. Well with the exception of #6, they don't deserve it.

I guess sparkles can be good...

Oh goodness dearie me, I'm back from my blogging hiatus! 'Cause let me tell you, doing two plays in a row (South Pacific, followed immediately by Annie) can really suck the life out of ya. And then, low and behold, I got sick. Seriously, who does that?

Anyway, it's Spring Break, and I now have something commonly referred to as "time". This is actually quite an anomaly for me, so I've decided to just sorta ease into it. But in celebration of this newly discovered "time", I decided to actually blog about something.

Namely, that fact that I TOTALLY SAW THE NATIONAL TOUR OF CATS THE MUSICAL AND IT WAS ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!!!

*clasps hand over mouth*

*cough cough* Excuse me; brief moment of insanity now over. *shudders* That was weird.

Anyway, the show was awesome in case you hadn't already gathered. I didn't love the vocalists as much as I would have preferred to, (they were still very good however) and the dancing and music was spectacular. Admittedly, I tend to hold an aversion to sparkly beings,

but Mistoffelees was, hands down, my favorite.

Then again, I'm pretty sure he always has been. Anyway, Growltiger and Griddlebone in all their operatic glory were both a close second,
and the fact that that the number isn't in the movie still continues to tragify me.

Remember when I saw Phantom of the Opera? Well this was better. Wicked? Not so sure, but it was definitely its equal, possibly superior. Either way though, Cats was spectacular.

(On a funny note, the fire alarm went off near the end of the first act. It was a false alarm, probably triggered by the fog machine, but it probably couldn't have come at a worse time. I mean, here comes Grizabella, about to sing the only song you've ever heard of from this musical, Memory, and then there's this obnoxious mechanical voice in the background telling you to get the heck out of the theater. Lovely. Aw well, like I said, the show was still terrific.)

















...












Ha!

And you thought I was going to talk about Cats and not mention the Rum Tum Tugger. You're so silly, you actually thought I was going to behave all mature like. Ha and double ha!

Although not my favorite representation of him (no one beats the gorgeousness that is John Partridge, ever), the guy was still great. Hilarious too. Mom's gaydar went off, but surprisingly mine didn't, but that's probably because I'd read in the program that the guy, Adam Steiner was his name, was married. To a girl. Which, quite frankly, kinda' makes him a freak of nature. I'm mean, who ever heard of a straight guy playing the Rum Tum Tugger?



I mean really.

Up there on the "Bestest Updates Evar!" list...

I sincerely apologize for my unexplained leave of absence. You know how some people do "research" before writing something funny/useless? Well, I decided to try that out and have had some... humorous results. You'll get that update soon enough.

But I'm also lazy. That's not really a secret.

Anyway, things have been cool. I've been seeing a boatload of live plays lately. Seriously. I mean, just this last weekend, I saw this hilarious spoof-melodrama called "Because Their Hearts Were Pure", an adorable version of "Robin Hood", and...

*Drum roll ensues*

Phantom of the Opera at Gammage!

And, let me tell you, it was AMAZING!

Oh goodness it was incredible. I could rant about it all day, but I'll spare you. There's more important things to be done.

Random Blurb: Childhood Crushes

Aw young love. It really is rather sweet at times. That doesn't mean I can't still make fun of it.

I was babysitting once for four little girls, aged from 6 months to nine years old. Their obsession with certain male Disney Channel Starz unknown to me, I made the unfortunate mistake of showing them IMDB.com, which is, for those who may not know, a site that has details and pictures for pretty much every celebrity to grace the screen. I was promptly shoved aside as they looked up Joe Jonas, Zac Efron, and others along that same line. They literally, and I'm serious, screamed when they saw them. (Including the baby, but I don't think that had anything to do with translucent, nasally-voiced male pop "singers".)

My point is, I don't get it. Seriously I don't. Maybe I was just some sort of dud who's first real crush came in the 8th grade. Am I the weird one?

The elder of my younger sisters has fallen prey to this phenomena as well, (Hopefully she isn't reading this right now...) albeit not with Disney Starz, thank goodness. Naw, she focuses on real boys.

(I won't elaborate further on that subject. I don't want to wish certain death upon myself just yet.)

I suppose I am being somewhat hypocritical. I guess I did have somewhat of a celebrity "crush" at about age four. However, for me, a "crush", if that's what is was, consisted of me thinking not that the individual was "cute" but "cool". I didn't want to meet him, I wanted to be him. Emulate him.

Looking back at my own naivety, I now see the irony of this philosophy...



Look, I was FOUR! I didn't understand the disturbingly lurid overtones! I just thought he had a cool costume!

And, if I might retain some dignity by the end of this post, I hold that John Partridge still sings better than Joe Jonas.

So there.

Random Blurb: Opinions

So have you ever noticed that there are some subjects that, no matter whom you speak to, people always have an opinion on it? And it's rarely an indifferent opinion, they either love it or hate it. I've compiled a short list of a few I notice in my everyday life...

1. President Obama

Might as well start with the elephant in the room. Overall, this is a rather touchy one simply because most every person I've spoken to either thinks he's the savior of our country who will bring upon a new era of peace and prosperity, or thinks he's some sort of anti-christ who will destroy our country/world. Personally I think either philosophy is ridiculous but whatever. I often have a funny feeling that I'm one of the few people in the world who actually is indifferent. And for me to not have an opinion on something- that's kind of a big deal.

2. Twilight

Aw good ol' Twilight. We've had many a laugh, it and me. Although that generally consisted of me laughing at it as it yelled things like OMG EDWARD IS SOOOOOO HAWTT!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!!!11111

Yeah, you get the picture. Anyway, there are lovers, and then there are Twilighters, the ones who spout out quotes such as "You're exactly my brand of heroin" that in a normal society would get them arrested.. And on the opposite side, there are those who love to flame Twilight Lexicon's chatroom with pro-Harry Potter propaganda. It's a seemingly never ending war that simply can never be won.

3. Cats the musical

There are, quite simply, two kinds of people in the world. Those who love Cats, and those who find it just too odd. (There's also a lesser mentioned third party, those who haven't heard about it, but we'll skip them for arguments sake.) This is how a typical conversation between a pro and an anti might go...

Pro: I love Cats the musical!
Anti: But it's weird...
Pro: The music is superb and unique!
Anti: But it's weird...
Pro: The dancing is so talented!
Anti: But it's weird...
Pro: The story is so deep!
Anti: But it's weird...
Pro: The costumes are so cool!
Anti: But it's weird...
Pro: The Rum Tum Tugger is so hot!
Anti: But it's weird...

Need I say more?

4. PETA

... ...I'm not even going to elaborate on this one...

5. Violent Video Games

To the animal rights groups who said Super Mario Brothers abused turtles, to the women's rights groups who said Grand Theft Auto was mean to hookers, such a controvery should have been long seen coming. I mean, people will complain about anything if it gives them 5 minutes on TV and free pizza.

There are those who say it's good for three years olds to shoot old ladies on the street as they push A several times in an attempt to steal her purse, and then there's those who claim that if you even consider smacking a pixelated hungry tiger, you will undoubtedly become a serial killer. Undoubtedly.


So is there a point to all this? I think it's that the Rum Tum Tugger really is kind of hot...

But maybe that's just me.

'Tis the end of an era...

Aw summer. Guess there's really not that much else to say overall. 'Cept that it's done.

*sigh* School starts on Monday. Lovely.

But that's not what this post is about! No no, we're going to be positive, not put the past behind us, and discuss summer. Because it was pretty hot.

Nothing especially exemplary happened this summer, until the end, in which I was gone for almost three weeks straight on two entirely separate vacations. In the first, as many of you know, I went to New Mexico for Pioneer Day. Pioneer Day in Ramah, New Mexico, is very much like it is in Utah, namely there's a parade, people are off work, and children run around covered in sawdust looking for loose change. Unlike in Utah, at least I would assume, the parade was only about 5-10 minutes long, about which I was perfectly fine. Best parade I ever saw.

The next major vacation spot was at the Homestead, which is where all the dad's family's family reunions are held. It was cool (literally), mostly relaxing, and very sociable. I ate a crawdad that my cousins slaved away at catching for me, viewed a truly vicious spider attack, and squirted water on my younger cousin's from the balcony, causing them to honestly think it was raining. It was a good week.

And while the above are the only major vacations that occurred, there were plenty of smaller things that happened as well. I didn't read much this summer, a fact that's disturbing me greatly, I assure you, I saw plenty of movies. But more strange than all the movies is the musicals I saw this summer, both live and on screen. Starting a few weeks before school ended, I saw Fiddler on the Roof, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Cats, Wicked, Sweeney Todd, Across the Universe, and part of the Pirates of Penzance. Odd. Very odd. And, if I get around to it, I might just have to devote an entire post to the stupidity that is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Yeah, some of you might like that show, but you cannot deny that it made no sense whatsoever.

So that was summer, or some if it, at least. So yeah. That's about it.

Just remembered, I lied, that's not about it. I got a car. Kind of. So there. That's about it.

'Twas as "wicked" as I remember...

Yup, I saw Wicked. And yup, it was pretty much amazing. Even with our craptastic seats (seriously, who's idea was it to install a third balcony in a theater), it was a fantastic show.

What to say about it? Well, it was almost embarrassingly better than the show that inspired it. (Is it a crime to think The Wizard of Oz is kind of lame? I mean yeah, it's a classic but...) It's sweet, it's funny, and near heartbreaking in some places. It gives the original story depth and character, something I always felt it lacked.

So I'm Seriously Excited Because...

I'm going to go see "Wicked" tomorrow! Anyone who knows me knows that I love this play like no other. So this is kind of a big deal for me.

I'll tell you all about it on Saturday...