Thursday, April 29, 2010

Bucket List

I was sitting on the couch the other day, talking to Jason, and realized I have so many things I want to do before I die. Here are some of them. I'm sure I will add to them as I think of things or become awe-inspired by something.
•Learn Gaelic
•Learn Cherokee
•Finish school
•Get married
•Perform for a living
•Accept myself for who I am and not who I could be
•Dance from my heart
•Sing from my heart
•Love without abandon
•Conquer my fears
•Travel the world
o Ireland
o Scotland
o Germany
o Italy
o India
o Egypt
o Australia
o Japan
o Norway
o Greece
o Morocco
o Spain
o Brazil
•Be in a movie
•Be on a T.V. show
•Swim with dolphins

Like I said earlier, more to come :)

Thursday, March 18, 2010

A somewhat organized start to a paper...

This is a personal start to a paper I'm writing this semester. I'm actually enjoying writing this part.


Growing up with my Grandmother has made me more appreciative of entertainment many people of my generation don’t really know about. She introduced me to a couple silent films, radio shows and musicals. When I was younger, living in Columbus, I saw a silent viewing of “Phantom of the Opera”. Needless to say, not having any form of contact with silent films before this, it was nothing like I was expecting. My grandmother tricked me into to going to the viewing by tapping into my interest in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s operetta, also titled “Phantom of the Opera”. Tricky woman. The phantom was not the mysterious, half-masked man I had seen posters of. Instead, he was this gruesome, disfigured creature in dire need of some serious dental work. The viewing was not a complete disappointment, however. I was intrigued by the technique that was used to add sound to the “silent” film. While the film was showing up on the massive screen, someone was playing a piano that was sitting on the front corner of the stage. Silly me for thinking it was to add to the atmosphere (especially since it was all about a ghost in an opera hall).
In hindsight, that was an influential event in my life. Granted, I had some really weird dreams for a few nights after. From that night on, I realized I have an interest few people my age have, including the eclectic group of theatre majors I have recently met. As I mentioned earlier, my grandmother has had a lot of influence on my cultural affairs. After my parents divorced, we moved in with my grandparents and after my grandfather died, it was just my mom, grandmother, brother and me. My mom was the breadwinner of the family and ended up becoming the “father” figure, while my grandmother did most of the “mother” things, like taking care of my brother and me. This included driving us to skating lessons, scout trips and even taking on roles as scout leader. These activities gave my grandmother plenty of time to trap me in her car, where she would turn on the radio while driving like a bat out of hell. Since it’s near impossible to read while one is getting tossed to and fro, the only thing I could do was listen to whatever she had playing. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed hearing “News from Lake Woebegone”, a part of “Prairie Home Companion”, in which the narrator talks about the little town and its inhabitants. One week, my grandmother brought an episode of “The Shadow” to my brother’s cub scout meeting (that I had to attend because of lack of transportation elsewhere). My brother’s troop didn’t really appreciate the flashback from my grandmother, but I did.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Cats

Why is it that no matter how many cat toys you buy, the cats want nothing to do with them? Why is the box more fun than the toy and why are grapes more fun than the toy things?