One Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was finally the day I had been waiting for! It was finally July 1, one year since Tony and I started dating! I couldn’t sleep very well Monday night at all! Amie and I were at Tony’s grandma’s house Monday night so she could do my hair for today. It took two hours to do that and I even had about five inches cut off my hair a couple of weeks ago. (I miss my hair :'( !) But anyway, Tony came to pick me up at 10:30 yesterday morning and Amie had to stall him for a couple of minutes because I wasn’t quite finished, I still had to brush my teeth. I gave him the movie National Treasure and he gave me a white rose. His mom insisted on taking pictures because she said it was a once in a lifetime occassion to see me dressed up like that. I had Amie take some pictures with my camera also. We headed off to Defiance and had Ponderosa for lunch. I missed eating there, I really haven’t been there in years. After that we went to Wal-Mart so I could pick up Daddy’s Father’s Day present (The Ultimate Guide to Indiana Jones). At the mall, we walked around and visited the bookstore (I didn’t buy anything, though I really wanted this nice journal and a book called Twilight). We also saw Claire’s and F.Y.E. At 1:30 we walked over to the movie theater to watch Wall. E. We weren’t sure if we wanted to see Wall. E, Wanted, or Get Smart, but we decided that the other two could wait. We will most likely see them once they come out onto DVD, but Wall. E, I really wanted to see. We didn’t want to go home right away because I wanted to do something special, something different, that we wouldn’t normally do. While we were trying to think of something, we walked over to Jo-Ann Fabrics, to look at material for a Mara Jade outfit. It was then that I decided I wanted some craftbook stickers so I could put yesterday into my scrapbook, whenever I get around to it. I didn’t find anything I liked, so we walked to Wal-Mart where I found two things of stickers, plus two picture frames. We made a couple of copies of the pictures from my camera and now we both have a picture from this day, to put anywhere we want. Yesterday was the best day of my life! I didn’t want it to end, but I know that it had to. But at least it will always be in my heart and memory!

I love you, Tony. 😉



Time for Sleep?

Two days in a row with minimal sleep, and I’m now exhausted.   I’m surprised I have kept going this long.   Not much going on except that my youngest is in another play.  She just finished one, and starts another 2 days after closing…

Being the person that I am, I will probably help out is some shape and or manner on this show too.  Lighting, rounding up kids backstage (it is Childrens’ theater).  I’m sure the director will find plenty of ways I can help out.   Even if I complain, I’m happy to do it.

Night all…



That theatre bug

Reading the post on Jamiahsh’s blog about his favorite things, I started to respond to his post then realized I probably had enough information for my own post, so here goes.  While I was in a school play when I was 7 and in the chorus of one when I was 10, theatre didn’t really enter my vocabulary until I was 16, before my senior year in high school.  Here are some of my milestones and interests in this regard:

Cheaper by the Dozen [note: link is not my production] (yes, it was a book, play, and movie before Steve Martin came along…) was a play my church at the time did as a student show.  I got to play the role of a 10-year old (I was 16 at the time, but then none of us were younger than high school) and had such a blast at it I would delve into theatre big time after this.

Scapino! was the first show I acted in in high school.  I played the part of Argante.  Very fun, and probably the most interesting audition I had ever.  This included theatre games and improv in addition to a little singing and script reading.

South Pacific was another high school show I didn’t try out for since it was a musical (hadn’t been bitten by that particular bug yet), but it was the first and only show I ever played in the pit orchestra.  I used to play trumpet but I wasn’t very good at it.  I never could get past moving my jaw as I played, a big no-no in technique.

Bishop of Aahs was written in-house (in-church I guess) as a parody of, you guessed it, Wizard of Oz.  This was the second show I did at my church and the second show that opened new doors for me, this time into musical theatre.  I played one of several “munchkins” (teenage kids).  Unfortunately that’s about all I remember of it.  Of course we sang munchkin songs with new lyrics.  Of course I started trying out for musicals after this.

Finian’s Rainbow was the first community theatre show I ever performed in.  Well, it was youth community theatre and not really a very well-run group (though it still exists today).  Anyway I was just in the chorus for this one, but hey, chorus members are people too!  After this show I would start private vocal lessons.

Phantom of the Opera was a show I have never been in, though I did do a different Phantom about 12 years ago.  Rather, this was the first professional musical I heard on CD, and later saw in Chicago.  This would be the only musical I listened to for awhile, though I did eventually broaden my horizons first with other Andrew Lloyd Webber shows including the dreadful Aspects of Love, and later with other shows.  Les Miserables would become my new favorite a few years later.  I still want to be in that show- come on, release the amateur rights already!

Speaking of Les Miz, it was the first and only show I ever auditioned for professionally.  They never called me…

Grease was a show I was in twice and didn’t perform even once.  Both times the rights were pulled when the tour came to town.  If you ask me, the second time the group should have done it anyway- pulling the rights is just evil.  Once give, the publisher shouldn’t be able to go back on it.  The first time they lost the rights immediately and so were able to do another show with the cast they had (Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?).  This became the first show I had a solo song in.  I was never told what role I had in Grease, though a friend tells me it was a combination of the Teen Angel and another role.  The second time I was actually asked to be in the show and was given the role of Roger.  We made it about halfway through rehearsing before we lost the rights.

Little Shop of Horrors… Okay, let’s not talk about this one.

Oliver! was a show I had a huge interest in at one time (I still have multiple CDs of this show).  I did try out for it a couple of times previously, but just a couple of years ago it became the first show I ever had a true lead in.  I was offered the role of Fagin, and according to several people I did an outstanding job at it.  Life has kept me from community theatre since, but I have been doing drama at my church so it hasn’t been all bad.  Next show…?  I would like to do Secret Garden I think, but who knows what the future will bring?



July… A Super Month

I never before realized what a great month July is. Not only does it bring the birthday of a very good friend (and the up-coming birth of the couple’s fourth child) but also many Superman related anniversaries

Happy birthday (or deathday as it were) to all.



A Few Of MY Favorite Things

My introduction to musical theatre was in the first grade as I sat in the high school gymnasium watching a performance of a Rodgers and Hammerstein show that I will come to later. Let me just say I was forever changed at that early age. I have to say that I enjoy a musical even more than a regular play because not only do they tell a story through dialog and action but also through music. The best musicals use that music to progress the rest of the action on stage… becoming a character all its own. Some of the greatest musicals also have a third component that I shudder to mention: d-d-d-d-ance (?) or as I prefer to call it stylized movement.

The following is a list of musicals that have found a permanent place within me. I would not necessarily say they were my “favorite.”

I just know I am forgetting at least one.

Broadways Best at Amazon.com



Hereditary Thespianism

Ok, so thespianism is not a real word, but it should be!  My husband has been acting in plays since an early age, and I was even in shows way back when before the stage fright got ahold of me, so it’s only natural that we’ve been waiting for the chance to get our daughters involved in plays and community theater.  Now that our oldest has finally reached the minimum age to participate in the local summer children’s theater, we find ourselves back in the world of rehearsals 3 nights a week – yuck to that part of it.

But we are greatly anticipating her stage debut in the Phantom Tollbooth…  though judging from her audition, she is more like me on stage than her father.  Hopefully she’ll overcome her shyness because she will have lots of fans in the audience!  Performances are August 1, 2, and 3rd in case you’re wondering!



Tim McGraw – Country Singer, Actor, Vigilante?

Being a country music fan, a recent news item caught my attention.  Seems country superstar Tim McGraw had to step in to perform security duties at his own concert.  He spotted a large man in the front row roughing up a female concert-goer, and since security wasn’t close to the guy, McGraw grabbed him up on stage to intervene in the situation.  I don’t know why security wasn’t anywhere near the front row at the time, but it seems McGraw can add something else to his list of accomplishments.  The guy already has an pretty interesting biography…  He believed his step-father was his biological father until the age of 11 when he accidently discovered his step-father was not listed on his birth certificate.  His mother took him to see his real father, baseball superstar Tug McGraw, who denied him until Tim was 18 and he realized how much they looked alike.  They remained close until Tug’s death in 2004.  He met fellow country singer Faith Hill – a country superstar in her own right – when they toured together, and they married and have 3 daughters.  He is one of the most talented and successful country singers of our time and has been in the headlines for a few bizarre incidents, including a run-in involving a police horse (his friend Kenny Chesney, a huge country star himself, was accused of stealing the horse and McGraw was accused of shoving an officer during the melee.  The two were later acquitted of all charges after it was proven that Chesney had permission to ride the horse and McGraw was trying to keep his friend from being thrown off the horse).  And now this.  What a way to get on stage to meet your favorite country singer.  And throughout the entire incident, the band played on and McGraw didn’t miss a lyric.  I really have to get to a country music concert; it’s been awhile!  Check it all out here:

 



My list of books…

Ok, it is late at night, early in the morning again.  I had about 1/2 hour nap earlier today, and I’m wide awake again…  So my list of favorite books.

1 – 4  The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy  — Tolkien

5-11  The 7 Harry Potter Books  — Rowling

12-14  The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Trilogy  — Donaldson?

15 – 20    Maybe more, but since I’m going by memory…  Isaac Asimov’s  Robot/Foundation Series  He went and tied many of his books together, I like all of them

21 A Christmas Carol  — Dickens

22 Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

23 Complete Sherlock Holmes  — Doyle

24-26  Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant  — Donaldson

27-28  Mirror of Her Dreams/A Man Rides Through  — Donaldson

29 Isaac Asimov GOLD

30 Isaac Asimov Silver

31  Chronicles of Narnia — Lewis

32  Ring World  — Niven

33  Journey to the Center of the Earth  — Verne

34 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea — Verne

35 A Wrinkle in Time  —  L’Engle

That’s a start, I can add more later



Books as Movies – 2

I remembered a book I enjoy yearly that was made into a movie. It was an animated movie, but it was a movie.

Long before Peter Jackson made the “Lord of the Rings” series, Rankin-Bass made “The Hobbit”. This was actually a decent handling of the book. This movie was designed as a family friendly TV movie. That is exactly what it was. There were a number of things that were different from the book, but what can you do in a 70 minute movie.

This little animated movie actually set the stage for the animated movie I wanted to talk about. Rumors were rampant about the quality of the animation for the “Lord of the Rings” in 1978. I think that is the only thing that made the movie interesting. A 132 minute movie trying to fit a trilogy the size of “The Lord of the Rings”. There was a lot of stuff left out in the 10+ hours of the Peter Jackson movies, how did they think they could do any of this justice.

Well, they didn’t. For me, the animation had some problems, mainly with the big battles. They didn’t look like they fit with the rest of the movie. Other than that, I don’t remember much about this. My problems were with the story adaptation. There were many things missing in the story (of course) and the way the characters were drawn and written, made me wonder if anyone read the book. There was no depth to any of the characters. No drive in the Hobbits. Gandalf just seemed like an angry aging wizard (standard issue). And other characters seemed flat.

Before Peter Jackson made his films I thought of getting this movie just for a collection. I’m glad I waited.



Books to read…

Stole this one from Tanja’s site. It looked like fun.

The Big Read, an initiative by the National Endowment for the Arts, estimates that the
average adult has read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.
How about you?

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible (multiple versions)
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (Partially)
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (Not Yet)
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Marte
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure -Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’sWeb – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

I counted 41 read from this list. Some of them I had to read for High School or College,
and can not remember them. Others on the list I’ve looked at but
could not get through the first chapter. Some I haven’t even heard
of. The list is lacking Science Fiction, not even Jules Verne or
Isaac Asimov. I feel both authors have better books than the Dune
Series by Herbert