All you really have to do is shine.

I HAVE BEEN WAITING MY WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS!!! AND TONIGHT I...

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:48:00 -0400

I HAVE BEEN WAITING MY WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS!!! AND TONIGHT I SHALL SEE IT!!!!! ON A BIG SCREEN!!!!!!!

The Great Gatsby Adventures, Part 2390.

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 22:11:01 -0400

Remember Monsters, Inc? Remember how the monsters were fueled by children’s screams?

I am 95% convinced my kitten operates on a similar system.

Gatsby’s new favourite hobby is hiding in funny places. He does not do this because he is afraid of things. No, no. He is much too maniacal for this. He hides somewhere small, someplace he knows I don’t go on a uber-regular basis. His new favourite place is inside my super awkward coat closet. Why do I go in a coat closet when it’s 90 outside? I don’t. He knows that.

He sits. And waits. And then, just when I least expect it… HE ATTACKS.

Not maliciously. He doesn’t want to hurt me. I am convinced his goal is just to make me scream as loud as possible.

He jumps on my face when I sleep.

He jumped into the shower this morning. While I was showering. Sixteen hours later, he’s STILL acting like I tried to kill him.

He occasionally just lingers in the kitchen out of sight and then will just RUN AND JUMP ONTO MY SHOULDER. Like a parrot. A big, jumping, parrot who can’t talk.

Currently, my all-white kitten is laying on the frame of my also white bed against my white wall. I maintain he is trying to camouflage himself so that he can attack again soon.
I’m on to you, innocent looking kitten.

Songs for a New World.

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:26:53 -0400

It’s been quite a few months since a musical (although really SFANW is really more of a song cycle than a proper musical) has felt this relevant, this powerful, this needed. I’ve known of it for years. I listened to it before. But now, when I needed it most, it presented itself to me.

It’s about one moment:

that moment you think you know where you stand

That one moment:

the things that you’re sure of slip from your hand

And you’ve got one second:

to try to be clear, to try to stand tall

But nothing’s the same, and the wind starts to blow.

And, oh, you’re suddenly a stranger, in some completely different land

And you thought you know, but you didn’t have a clue

That the surface sometimes cracks to reveal the tracks to a new world!

It's been one of those days.

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:55:16 -0400

Sometimes something hurts you. And you deal with it. And you forget it. Not forget it, necessarily. But… you move on.

And you stop thinking about it.

But then someone, harmlessly, without even knowing… brings it up. And then you can’t stop thinking about it all over again.

And it’s like the band-aid got ripped off only to find you’re not as healed as you thought you were.

Stars and the Moon.

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:00:44 -0400

Stars and the Moon.:

Jason Robert Brown can melt my heart in a way no one else can. Songs like this are why I will always adore musical theatre.

Damn straight he is. I would abandon all my morals for Andrew...

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:20:35 -0400

Damn straight he is. I would abandon all my morals for Andrew Rannells. Just saying.

When you're twenty, you're just starting.

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:11:16 -0400

I’ve got about three hours of teenage life left. Three hours and two minutes, as of right now.

I vividly remember turning thirteen. I was in Texas with my mom and [not quite but almost] step-family. I remember laying there in the dark, after everyone else was asleep, staring at the red numbers on the digital clock of our hotel room and holding my breath during that magical moment when 11:59 changed to 12:00. August 5 changed to August 6. I changed from twelve to thirteen, and I remember an almost magical feeling. I was a teenager.

Now in three hours, I’m going to be twenty. Twenty sounds so much older than nineteen. Everyone has been telling me that this is the “stupid birthday,” because I gain no privileges and am still 365 days away from being able to buy alcohol for myself. But I don’t think this will be a stupid birthday at all. Twenty will be a big year. Lots to look forward to.

Bring it on, new decade. Let’s see who I am at the next big milestone birthday.

But, you know, I did just finish reading Pride and Prejudice for the seventh time. Once a year, every year, since I was thirteen. Some things, with age, will never change. :)

New Kitty.

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:25:25 -0400

Things Gatsby (my name of the day) really enjoys:

Waking me up at 4 am
Sleeping on my laptop’s trackpad
Feathers on a stick
Meeting everyone
Cuddling with everyone
The My Fair Lady soundtrack
Typing. Especially when I’m Facebook chatting people.
Sitting in the shower (weirdo.)

Things Gatsby really does not enjoy:

The noise my fridge makes
Being ignored
Not being allowed to eat chocolate
Not being allowed to scratch up my carpeting
Not being allowed to do things
Sleeping past 4 am
Sleeping more than three hours at a time.
Sleeping at any time I am sleeping

Well. I’m not lonely.

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:41:40 -0400

Well. I’m not lonely.

HP 7.2

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 23:16:36 -0400

My mom started reading the first book to me, until I got too impatient and read it myself.

Chamber of Secrets reaffirmed my fear of snakes.

I finished Prisoner of Azkaban and wished I had an adult in my life as cool as Sirius.

I vividly remember staying up way past my bedtime to finish Goblet of Fire. I was also eternally thankful to JK Rowling for putting “HER-MY-OH-KNEE” into Goblet of Fire because then I knew how to say it.

I was in London for the release of Order of the Phoenix, which still is one of the coolest experiences ever.

In fact, I got yelled at by my father because we were in at the British Museum and all I wanted to do was read Harry Potter.

The Half-Blood Prince was the first time I bawled over a character dying.

I put off finishing The Deathly Hallows because I couldn’t accept that it was the end.

I was very upset on my 11th birthday when I did not get my Hogwarts letter.

For years, every Christmas = a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

I’ve run into the wall for Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross on two separate occasions (much to the chagrin of my father), and I will never stop believing that Hogwarts is on the other side.

Thanks for the childhood, Harry/Ron/Hermione. I don’t care what anyone says… it’s not over tonight. It’s not ever going to be over.

MISCHIEF MANAGED.

I love oxford commas.

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 21:36:03 -0400

I love oxford commas.

Inspiration.

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:30:28 -0400

For the first time in a long time.

Maybe this class will be good for me after all.

A Day in the Life.

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:45:22 -0400

Today, I sat in a room with a bunch of people. We stared at Excel spreadsheets and graphs for a long time. We discussed the subtle nuances of “few,” “some,” “many,” and “most.” We spent ten minutes grappling with word choices before someone would say something and we’d all cheer, because it was perfection.

Those other people were teachers, and we were designing curriculums.

It’s tedious.

It’s also really, really, really really freaking hard.

About two hours into the day, I was sick of sitting and watching. I had sat and watched Spanish teachers. I had sat and watched Fine Arts teachers. And now I was sitting and watching Religion teachers. I was dying to get involved. I felt like a kid standing outside a candy store, face pressed up against the glass, watching other kids eat the candy I could practically already taste. So I raised my hand.

I made my point. And it turned out to be a good one. And then I was involved. People asked me questions. I asked questions. I put my two cents in and it was listened to. I contributed to test questions and essay topics and rubrics, help morph them all into beautiful things that perfectly met all the benchmarks for semesters.

I spent the next four hours being involved. I am in love. With education. With the people I was with who, like me, are crazy enough to WANT to spend their summers discussing whether the rubric should say “some” or “many” or “few.” I learned so much in those few hours. When I had to leave at 3:00, I was legitimately disappointed. I wanted more. I still do. I put my toe in the water and it just made me that much more impatient to dive in headfirst.

Oh, and, as I left… I was offered a job.

A real, live, teaching job.

In New York City.

Pinch me. I am dreaming.

Photo

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:07:39 -0400

I can’t stop listening to this song. It feels...

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:31:27 -0400

I can’t stop listening to this song. It feels applicable.

I’m already out of foolproof ideas. So don’t ask me how to get started—it’s all uncharted.

Hmm.

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:01:59 -0400

Just got an e-mail about how I can complete my student teaching in Rome.

Currently: In love with the idea, but trying to decide if being abroad for the last five months of college is something I want to do. Leaving y’all so early would be tough.

Worth it? Maybe.

Please--no more.

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:11:17 -0400

Please--no more. :

Sondheim, stop knowing my heart. It’s almost freaky.

STORY OF MY FREAKING LIFE. I spend all day in the sun and only...

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 22:28:37 -0400

STORY OF MY FREAKING LIFE. I spend all day in the sun and only become slightly less glow-in-the-dark-pale. Ergh.

I haven’t listened to this musical in a long time. I...

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:38:29 -0400

I haven’t listened to this musical in a long time. I ~~knew~~ worried that it would hurt to listen to it again. But then I saw this, and now I’m on a Company binge.

Photo

Sun, 29 May 2011 18:09:37 -0400