It's a strange time. Maybe strange isn't the right word. I'm sad for those who suffered and are still suffering from Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. My heart goes out to them.

I'm also very aware that my internship is coming to an end in a couple weeks as I return to school.

Here's another wakeup call: I lose my parents' dental coverage when I turn 22. Yes, I'm happy to turn 22, but whoa. I really AM growing up (I wanted to do that when I was 11, and now I don't want to at all ... go figure). Soon I'll need to get a job that has benefits, and I hope to God that I'll be hired to do something that I love doing.

*sigh* *deep breath* I hope I'm ready for the real world. Part of me thinks I'm ready ... and part of me just doubts it all. I think I now know what they mean when they say that college is the easy part, and you have no idea what you're in store for. Where do they teach you how to prepare for life after college? Where's the reassurance?

ANYway, I don't know about you, but I need an escape. Who's with me?

Dude, that is sweet

Happy Labor Day!

I simply wanted to check my e-mail on Yahoo! and the page took me to a new My Yahoo! page. I've been customizing the content for the past 20 minutes or so. I can't stop raving about it!

Who cares if Yahoo! now knows much more about me? Having the top headlines, my horoscope, TV listings, comics, entertainment headlines, other news headlines, brain teasers and the weather all on one page is pretty awesome!!!

And all I wanted to do was check my e-mail. Silly.

Playbill.com, move on over. I have a new home page.

August, oh August

You flew by so fast. Highlights of the month:

Hanging out with family/relatives

Seeing Siegfried and Gotterdammerung

Seeing Princesses with mi familia

Seeing Princesses with Brittany

Working at the press table on opening night

Seeing Princesses on opening night with Janice

Attending the cast party at Sazerac

Seeing Princesses (the last performance) with Mom

Continuing to do my internship at The 5th

Okay, so I saw Princesses four times. What can I say? :) I like it. And you totally get a new perspective on musical theater working behind the scenes.

March of the Penguins

Saw March of the Penguins yesterday with Mom. I laughed, I sighed, I awwwed, and I definitely got emotional when the moms mourned the loss of their unborn babies or chicks. Emperor penguins are resilient, amazing and way cute. And how about sliding on your belly when you want to give your feet a rest? That looks enjoyable. Waddle waddle. Flop and slide. :)

During the mating scene (yeah, you know), I leaned over and whispered to Mom, "This IS rated G." But yeah, you knoooow. And today when Mom was telling Dad about the movie, she said it was rated X. LOL! Liar liar, pants on fire.

"First, I was inspired...

... now I'm sad and tired." Okay, it's not very often that you get a chance to quote Jesus Christ Superstar out of context, but what can I say? Tim Rice's lyrics once again strike a chord within me.

I got all gung-ho about cleaning my room towards the end of last week. I was excited to de-junk, if you can believe that. I couldn't wait to get home to do it. And for a while there, it felt great to repeat Janice's "in the trash" mantra. It felt really good to get rid of "so much crap" (heh, stuck in a Princesses lyric too). But now I'm all crapped out. LOL! Sorry if you're offended, people. I didn't say this would be pretty.

Two thumbs up

For the Ring and for Princesses

Yup, Wagner's four operas and the new musical comedy get two thumbs way up from me. :) Ain't too hard to please.

Subject line poetry

TGIF

Crash and burn

Don't run for the bus in 80-degree weather

Why did I eat that cupcake at 3?

I have "By Heart" stuck in my head

Will Princesses play at the Neil Simon Theater?

Crash and burn

TGIF

To buy or not to buy ...

... that is the question. Well, what do you think? Should I purchase Romeo & Juliet (1968, dir. Zeffirelli) on DVD at $9.36 from deepdiscountdvd.com, or should I wait? 'Cause who knows? They might release a special edition DVD in three years for the 40th anniversary. Hmmm... decisions, decisions. :)

You heard it here first

And when I say "you," I really mean me. And when I say "here," I mean The 5th Avenue Theatre. Hehehe.

Princesses was great! We saw the very first preview of the world premiere. Woohoo! My favorite LOL moment was:

Kevin Finch: "Is it hot in here, or is it just me?"
Dena: "IT'S JUST YOU!"

LOL just thinking about it. Sorry if I spoiled it for you, but I figure (as does Janice) that only our family reads these blogs. Family and a few good friends. You know who you are. :)

Yesterday, I used the restroom in the theater (well, whenever I use the restroom during my internship, it's in the theater) and got to hear the cast rehearsing withOUT their microphones. I noticed the vocal arrangement was different from Tuesday's show, and I have to say, the song sounded gorgeous. The father-daughter duet was enhanced by the girls harmonizng "ahhs." I wish you could have heard it for yourself. And I say "you," I mean you! Maybe they'll implement the change for tomorrow's matinee. I hope so!

This one's for Jason: "Whoa there."

Past hope, past cure, past help

My room's a certified mess. Certified by whom? I don't know. Me, I guess. Heh heh. I've been meaning to clean it this summer, but I just run out of time in the evenings and weekends. And now, my man-made disaster of a room is giving Janice a chance to work out as she jumps over my backpack to enter. Brave sister, that one. :)

Well, I'm determined to tackle the mess. I just have to do it a little at a time. But when do I get to write a brilliant song? When do I get to catch up on the books I want to read? *sigh* So much to do, so little time.

(Ring review and Princesses review to come...)

They're heeeeere!

Jason and Janice! Woohoo! Hi, sibs. Hi, 'rents. Lookin' forward to having pizza and seeing Princesses with you. Wow, it's so nice to have a day off, too!

S-M-R-T

I started listening to NPR yesterday. Hehehe. I have my reasons. Oh, you'd like to know? Okay! Well, the major one is that KUOW is supposed to air the 5th Avenue Theatre's underwriting about Princesses, and I worked on the copy. :)

ANYwho, it's amazing how intelligent you feel when you listen. All things considered, maybe it's just an illusion, a simulated feeling of intelligence, but I'm happy to be informed about things like the extension of daylight saving time. And you know NPR means business when they get it right. Daylight saving time. Not daylight savings time. Now, does this need a hyphen? Not that you can hear that on a radio, but I figure I should know it as a copy editor. I'm too lazy to look it up right now.

Sweet!

I just downloaded the RENT screensaver, and it has a countdown to the movie! Hence, "Sweet!"

Not so sweet: I went to the library earlier. As I was driving there, apparently I was on auto pilot 'cause I ended up driving past the intersection where I needed to turn left. Whoops. I suppose it didn't help I was singing "As Long As You're Mine" while I drove on down 320th. Chalk it up to driving the same route to the park & ride every day. Heh.

I love my internship at the 5th Avenue. I really do. It's so much fun. Got to go backstage and in the theater during rehearsals today. :)

Saturday, good ol' Saturday

No work. No bus rides. No schedules. I love Saturday. I spent the morning catching up on e-mail and reading about Harry Potter on various Web sites. :) I am definitely suffering from HP withdrawal.

Just wanted to post something new 'cause Mom complained that I hadn't updated in forever. So here I am. Not really sure what I should say. Here you go, Mom: Teatro Zinzanni. And happy 28th anniversary (plus one week), Mom and Dad.

Sweet smell of success

Booyah! :) Heh heh, can you read that? H$4,021,261.62. Too bad it's not real. Heck, I'd take 1%!

HSX: An update

To recap, when you start an account at Hollywood Stock Exchange, you get $2 million. Right now, I have $3.97 million. I'm oh-so-close to doubling my fake moolah! :) Thanks so much to RENT, Jennifer Garner, and Robbie Coltrane.

Yay!

My splurge package from Amazon.com arrived! I have a new book and two CDs: Lapsing Into a Comma by Bill Walsh, Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson, and Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park. OK, so I'm a little late in buying Linkin Park's CD. I actually wanted to buy the import version for the longest time because it has "My December" on it. However, I was able to re-acquire that song (hehehe) and just decided to buy the cheaper, regular release.

I just read the acknowledgments, introduction, and first chapter of Lapsing, and I'm already intrigued! "I couldn't diagram a sentence if my life depended on it." Right on, Bill Walsh! :) Should be a great read. I also expect I'm gonna mark up this book and place flags all over the place. I really am a dork. But you know, I don't care! :)

If I could be anywhere in the world tonight...

... I'd actually want to be at the Hollywood Bowl. Celebrities and regular peeps like me (OK, they're theater and/or major Sondheim fans... and/or Grobanites) will be celebrating Stephen Sondheim's 75th birthday with a concert.

Here are just a few names:

James Barbour (have never actually heard him, but I've heard much about him)

Carol Burnett (needs no parenthetical explanation)

Barbara Cook (she's legendary in the business)

Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut! Woohoo!)

Josh Groban (*grin*)

Marin Mazzie (just listened to her on Ragtime again. Wow)

Audra McDonald (I have who-knows-how-many CDs with Audra McDonald. She needs to return to Seattle someday and soon)

The list goes on. Dang, that's a great list. So yeah, that's where I'd rather be tonight. Hopefully, someday I'll have more money and time to travel and see these concerts.

Yo, check it out

http://www.5thavenuetheatre.org/staff.shtml

*grin*

I'm a dork

Or, at least I feel a little dorky right now. :) And not that that's a bad thing. Why do I feel like a dork? I haven't blogged in a few days, but I keep coming here (to musicallispeaking.blogspot.com) to check on my own blog. And I *know* that I haven't updated, but somehow I hope it'll inspire me to write something. Hasn't happened.

So let's see about updates: Me? Nope. How about Jason? Nope. Janice? Nope. Dad? Hey! Dad's blogging more than anyone else! Heh heh.

Mo-om... it's your turn. :) I'm in a bloggin' funk. No wit. No clever anecdotes. No stories to tell... other than I'm still deciding on how to spend my $94.45 that I won from gambling. Woohoo!