It happens...you know it happens. You start with one video, which leads to another and another and before you know it, you've been sucked into the Youtube vortex. You've spent an entire evening skipping around watching who knows what!
It didn't start out here, but every so often, I need to get my Les Miserables fix. I know, I know ...really??Les Miserables?? Yes, really. Les Miserables.
These boys were a surprise...it gets really good towards the end.
And really...you just can't go wrong with this. The finale gets me every.single.time.
P.S...I think I would die of excitement and happiness if I ever had the opportunity to be in the "back-up" chorus at a concert like this. Holy crap...that would be the most amazing thing ever!
1. Started violin lessons. I absolutely adore it! I always wanted to take the violin growing up, but thought my short, pudgy fingers weren't appropriately long and graceful enough to play the violin. So, I never mentioned it and stuck with the piano (which I still love). Many told me I would sound like a screeching cat for the first few months. I am happy to report, no cat-like sounds have come from my violin...yet.
2. discovered the addictive joy of jewelry making. It's a slightly expensive hobby, but it keeps my hands busy and I've got something cute at the end of it. I have several gift ideas for people and I'm excited to put the plans into action.
3. attended Utah Core Academy. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the new education standards for Utah. I'm not 100% sure why people are up in arms about it, but I support it. I haven't had a conversation with anyone that is really anti, but I've read what's in the newspaper and I just don't understand the argument. From where I sit, we're challenging our students and trying to insure they are competitive nationally and globally. What's so bad about that? Additionally, society is much more mobile. The patchwork quilt of education standards across the country is a disservice to our students. By having a national standard, we are insuring that students are taught the skills needed to, not only succeed, but be competitive in a global economy. We all want that, don't we? But enough of my soapbox. I left the workshop exhausted and yet energized to plan out my curriculum and implement some of the strategies we talked about this past week.
4. will spend the 4th in small-town Idaho. I'm excited to experience the small town patriotism that is stereotypically American. It will be great. AANNNNDD.....I'll get to spend some time with Lisa. It's been a difficult adjustment for me and I'm totally psyched to see her again!
5. gotten more involved with family history. I spent some time at my Stake (local LDS congregation) Family History center and I got the bug. It was fun to go back and see where my ancestors came from and read some of the documents about them. I'm going to be reading my Grandma and Grandpa's (mom's side) personal history and synthesizing it a bit to then be uploaded to familysearch.org. I'm also going to work on getting pictures scanned and uploaded too. I figure, I've got tons of time, why not put it to good use.
6. I'm hoping to get out to Denver as some point to see the Denver Buies. My older brother, Conor, and I have been talking more the past six months or so. Growing up we always just kind of missed out on getting to know each other. By the time I was old enough to not be quite so obnoxious, he was out on his mission, then college. When he moved back to Utah, I was in California. When I moved back, he was married, in school and working. It's been great to spend more time just talking. Even though he's in Denver, I know that I can call him with any problem and he'll help, or I can call to just chat. It's great. I have an awesome older brother. You all wish you were so lucky.
7. I was made Language Arts Department Chair at my junior high. It isn't as cool as it sounds. It's just the middle rung of the ladder that needed to be filled when our previous department chair took another job.
Thanks to very kind and generous friends and family, I got to see this performed live...twice! He is so amazing. I have seen both him and John Owen-Jones sing this amazing song live.
I was driving around in the car yesterday and I heard this song on the radio. It's supposed to be a love song. Now, this is going to make me sound really old, but some of these lyrics just confuse me.
I know you've never loved The crinkles by your eyes When you smile You've never loved Your stomach or your thighs, The dimples in your back at the bottom of your spine But I'll love them endlessly I'm sorry...but huh?
As the lights dimmed for the second half, I clasped my hands in delight and couldn't help a (hopefully) quiet giggle escape from my lips. I leaned over to Lisa and said, "if there ever comes a day when I don't get excited at a live performance of Les Miserables, we know there is something seriously wrong with me." It was so great! It was definitely worth the quick trip down and back to Cedar City.
We also made a quick jaunt down to St. George to search for a used bookstore I've been thinking about ever since a trip to see Tarzan at Tuacahn several years ago. A little shopping, some new books, Les Miserables...all in all, a great trip.
I am currently loving this song. It plays over and over in my head. Please don't judge...
Got two rather interesting gems from the dentist this week: 1) I have an "angry tooth". I'm not entirely sure what that means but it hurts. 2) I have great tongue control. Personally, I just view it as a great sense of self preservation. I don't know about you, but I personally don't want my tongue to get caught up in the drill. I'm in enough pain as it is, I'm not a masochist enough to voluntarily get my tongue caught up in the drill. No thanks.
School starts two weeks from yesterday. Would you actually believe that I'm a little nervous about it? I'm halfway through my program. This will be third of six semesters and yet I'm as nervous as if it was my first semester...go figure.
Is really irritated by the fact that I wake up every morning at 7:50. I don't usually need to be up until about 9:00...really? Come on!
My nephew turns six this Sunday. SIX! I have another niece that turned 13 last December...these kids are making me feel old.
I'm heading up to Bear Lake. I'm ridiculously excited. I love water...LOVE IT. It comes from all those summers spent at Lake Powell, living in your bathing suit for a week and actually having a tan. Man...those were the days.
1. So glad the sunburn is fading...not peeling or pealing. Either would be gross and awkward.
2. Get to go see Harry Potter tonight with some fun peeps.
3. Slept through the night without waking up...I know, sounds like a new born baby update but seeing as how i haven't been sleeping well for about two weeks, this was a very welcome change.
4. Looking forward to a fun picnic with the tiny humans on Friday. I forgot how much I love Liberty park.
5. Finally got an answer to a nagging question and feel pretty good.
6. I have left over Empanadas for lunch today...Yum!
7. Duet with Lisa has been performed without any major hiccups...croaking notes, passing out or bursts of tears.
8. Clean room!
9. New friends are fun
10. Did I mention I'm going to see Harry Potter tonight....?
I LOVE the musical Les Miserables. I mean I really love it. I've seen it done regionally twice, the touring company four times (three in SLC, once in LA), once on the West End in London, the high school production once and the 25th Anniversary O2 concert in the theater. I saw it again tonight (or last night, rather) with my sister and my mom. To coincide with the 25th anniversary of the shows opening, they redid the staging, costumes and sets just to update the overall show. It was so wonderful. Have I mentioned that I like this show?
It all started when I was about ten or so. My sister and her friends were obsessed with Phantom of the Opera. I'll let you in on a little secret here...I adored my older sister growing up, even if she was a little scary at times. I wanted to do everything she did. She collected cat figurines, so I collected bunnies. She would wear her hair a certain way and I would try to copy it. She liked Jewel so I liked Jewel. It's a lot of why I started dancing and pretended that I could write fiction. It was lucky, however, that I ended up loving to dance... we don't talk about my attempts at fiction. Anyway...I wanted to be like her but I knew that if I said I liked Phantom she would get angry. But we had a tape cassette of highlights from Les Miserables and I had a Walkman. I remember sitting at our tank of a computer playing solitaire or Oregon Trail and listening to that tape over and over and over again. I didn't quite understand the story of what was going on but I fell in love with the music. When I got older I understood the story more and it is such a powerful story of redemption and love. I could tie all sorts of gospel analogies here but I'll refrain.
I saw it for the first time when I was around 12. It was magical to me. I cried when Eponine died. I cried when Valjean prayed for Marius at the barricades. I was hooked. I've almost lost count the number of times I've seen it and people look at me askance when the hear how many times I've seen it, but I don't really care that much.
Last week Lisa asked me why I like it so much. I've never really thought about why I love it so much before so I couldn't really give her a good answer. She attributed it to the fact that I've been listening to it for over a decade...almost two decades. I'm sure that plays a part but I don't think that's the only reason I love it. I love it because I can listen to the recording and still get chills. It still makes me cry. I love the story of a man that spends his entire life trying to make up for single mistake of his past. I love the love story and the sacrifices made. It's just good music. I love it because of this...
How often have we all heard that line...? I know it's not "cool" to like country but I do. I like it because there's a lot of soul and faith in country music.
As a, possibly, fellow blogger I'm sure you understand or have used the phrase "blog-worthy". I wonder if it's part of the urban dictionary or if it's even in the dictionary. How long does it take for a word to be added to the dictionary? I know "bootylicious" is in the dictionary.
Bootylicious (adj.): slang sexually attractive, esp with a curvaceous buttocks.
No joke that is the definition of bootylicious on dictionary.com. But I digress...what I mean is there are moments in life that are ironic, sad, happy, exciting, hysterical, upsetting, weird ect. and I think to myself...man, that's blog-worthy. Now, sometimes I'm blogging simply for my own catharsis. It's a bit narcissistic, I know, to assume that the anonymous masses out there would actually care about some of my so-called "blog-worthy" moments. BUT blogs are narcissistic in nature and if you can't get behind that then why have you read this far...hhhmmmm?
But I digress yet again, my apologies. The point of all this yammering is last night I had a 100% blog-worthy evening. I went with a couple of people to see the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary concert at Century 16. You know all those previews you see for the Met? Well same concept except this was Les Miserables. Oh my heavens....so so so so SO good!!
At the very end of the concert, after the finale they brought out the original cast. Colm Wilkinson (original Valjean), Alfie Boe (Valjean for the concert) another London cast of Valjean AND John Owen Jones, arguable the best Valjean I've ever heard, all sang a gorgeous four part harmony of "Bring Him Home". It was amazing. The writers, lyricist and the original producer were all there. It was so worth the $15 I paid.
Nick Jonas played Marius and I had to giggle a little...or a lot when he first showed up. So serious and earnest! But I reread the bio info and apparently he played Gavroche in the original Broadway run of the show...go figure!
Shannon and I decided that we'll go to London for the 50th Anniversary concernt because THAT would be amazing!
-I am leaving for St. George in hopefully two or three hours...waiting for laundry to be done. -Went wake boarding for the first time in nearly a decade on Tuesday and totally rocked it. -Face planted twice on Tuesday due to not wake boarding in nearly a decade. -Found several bruises and scrapes from Tuesday but I figure if you don't go home with some bruises then you're not playing hard enough. Go big or go home, right? -Spending the weekend with Ash, Sarah and Jon....big laughs are sure to be forthcoming! -Half Naked man swinging around on synthetic vines and singing with men/women dressed as gorillas...somewhat skeptical about this one but we'll see how it turns our. -Start school next week along with new work schedule. -Considering auditioning for the Institute Singers. Pro- get to sing regularly with talented singers and sing at CES broadcasts and such. Con- would have to wear a not so attractive choir dress. thoughts? -Made a new friend via Facebook chat...wouldn't you know it, a social networking site actually did some social networking. -Get to see Lion King next weekend with my niece...very excited!
....is all the separated me from three time Tony award winner Audra McDonald tonight. I got to see her perform at the Hale Theater in Orem in 110 Degrees in the Shade. A guy from my ward is in the cast and was able to get us some pretty sweet tickets (3rd row) for super cheap. I had never actually heard of this musical and didn't know much about it, but a.may.zing! Hale Theater is theater in the round and it's a tiny little theater so there really wasn't a bad seat in the house. BUT we were third row and I was right on the end so whenever they used those stairs for entrances and exits I could have reached out and touched them. Audra McDonald. She's amazing!
