2010 in Review

Welcome to the third installment of my annual wrap up blog. Bet you thought I wasn’t going to do it since I SUCK at blogging lately! Well, surprise!

Overall, this year will go down as the year that the world screwed me. Life with Lauren was great, but almost every other aspect of my life seemed to fall apart. I’ve been left rethinking my career, rethinking friendships, and regretting way too much.

On the plus side, that means 2011 can ONLY get better, right? That’s how I’m viewing it.

Thank you for your friendship this year. It’s been a really hard one, and I really appreciate it. And if you were the source of any trouble, then when I have some free time in the near future, and I record a cover of a famous song by Cee-Lo Green, consider it dedicated to you!

Favorite Personal Theatrical Experience: Snoopy! the Musical
I taught at Meridian for one year before it suddenly closed the Thursday before the new school year. Out of all the shows and events I worked on there, this one was my favorite. It was with a small class, consisting of ONLY upper school kids who wanted to be there and were willing to work. We threw the whole musical together in roughly 4 weeks, with about 2 hours of rehearsal per school day, and yet the kids really pulled it off. War of the Worlds would have been my favorite, but some fellow cast members who weren’t invested took it down a notch. Same story with Dirty. I loved working with Chris again, but some members of the cast were egotistical and downright rude.

Runners-Up: The War of the Worlds, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Least Favorite Personal Theatrical Experiences: Willy Wonka
I just simply didn’t love doing this show. And I only did it for the money, which makes me a whore. I hated aspects of Fantastic Mr. Fox because of some nasty kids from my middle school class, but in the end, it turned out decent, and there were enough hard-working kids to make me proud.

Runner-Up: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Favorite Local Theatre Productions: 110 in the Shade at Hale Orem
Audra McDonald 4 feet in front of me. Brilliant supporting cast. Enough said.

Runner-Up: I really didn’t see much theatre this year, and NOTHING compared.

Favorite Movies: Inception, Toy Story 3, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
No need to elaborate. I just loved them.

Runners-Up: Paranormal Activity 2, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Tron: Legacy

Least Favorite Movie: Skyline
I’ve never hated a movie this much. I still can’t believe it exists. And Alice was boring, poorly acted, and the 3D gave me the only 3D-induced headache I’ve ever had.

Runner-Up: Alice in Wonderland

Favorite Movie-Going Experience: None
Nothing really stood out this year. Although, when we went to see Tron: Legacy, Lauren and I were super impressed with the dad who politely shushed his child when he tried to talk. Good for you! Way to start teaching children to not be awful.

Least Favorite Movie-Going Experience: Skyline with Lauren and my sister’s family
The movie itself was bad, but the annoying people who never shut up made it even worse.

Favorite New TV Addiction: Modern Family
I can’t believe I didn’t get into this until after the first season was over. We watched the entire season in three afternoons before season 2 premiered, and the quality has stayed consistent.

Runners-Up: Raising Hope, Ma’s Roadhouse
Honorable Mention: LoneStar

Least Favorite New TV Shows: Hawaii Five-O, No Ordinary Family, Running Wilde, Undercovers
We’ve given up on almost every new show we’ve tried to watch this year. Some of them lasted a month, most lasted a couple episodes. They were just all so lame. Hawaii lasted the longest of these, Family the shortest.

Favorite SNL Sketch: 1920s Party
It was the most quotable, anyway. SNL has really gone downhill this year. I skip through more than I watch anymore.

Favorite Album: Bruno Mars’s “Doo-Wops & Hooligans”
This is the only new album I got this year that I’ve been able to listen to straight-through more than once. It’s not as offensive as a lot of music I’ve heard lately, and it’s just so darn infectious. I will never tire of hearing “Just the Way You Are.”

Least Favorite Album: Mariah Carey’s “Merry Christmas II You”
She’s ruined her voice. And now she’s ruined “Christmas Time Is Here,” which might be my favorite Christmas song. And she made a sex jam about the Baby Jesus. And her mother has AWFUL teeth.

Favorite Trip: Disneyland with Lauren
Good times. Not too busy. Did everything we wanted to do, including many firsts for me (Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, The Blue Bayou, Innoventions, etc.).

Runners-Up: St. George for theatre teacher’s conference, Disneyland with Lauren’s family

Favorite Class: Upper School Drama
After a first trimester with too many kids who wanted easy A’s, I was able to weed it down to just kids that wanted to be there. And it was GREAT. So much fun to teach.

Least Favorite Class: Middle School Drama
Too many kids, and most of them had bad attitudes. I gave multiple F’s, and no kids or parents even tried to fix them when they knew that’s what was coming. That’s messed up.

Best Concert: Paul McCartney
Dream come true. A Beatle in person. And he performed for almost three hours straight. BRILLIANT. Loved every minute. And sharing it with Lauren, Teri & Bristol was great.

Worst Concert: Stadium of Fire with Carrie Underwood
Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike Carrie Underwood? Well, it’s a whole lot. And when the fireworks show afterward sucked, it made it so it was even less worth sitting through.

Here’s to an amazing 2011!

Go Go Gadget Blog!

It’s after 1 AM, and I’m sitting in bed watching Inspector Gadget. Not the bumsucking movie, but the 80s cartoon series.

I should be asleep, because teacher inservice is tomorrow morning at 9 AM.

Oh, wait. That’s right. The board e-mailed me tonight to let me know that enrollment for school has dropped so low this year that we’re not opening. At some point, I’ll probably write a full blog about that. But not tonight.

Instead of venting about how ridiculous some of the people are at my former place of employment (secret blog, maybe?), my focus right now is to figure out what to do with the massive amounts of free time that I’m going to have. So far, this is my list:

1. I’m going to become a house husband. While Lauren is at work every day, I’m going to do the laundry and cleaning. I’ve already been handling a lot of the cooking lately. (Btw, I made the most amazing cod tonight. It was smothered in salsa and cheese and stuff.) I would start getting into soap operas, but apparently, they’re dying out. I read recently that any remaining daytime soaps will probably be off the air within a couple years. At my age, I don’t have time for relationships that aren’t long-lasting. I guess I’ll just have DVDs on all day while I’m doing the housework.
2. I’m going to do little projects around the apartment that have been craving my attention for as long as 7 months. Believe it or not, I own a toolkit and I know how to use almost everything in it. I’m going to put them to use soon. Project #1: Hang all the pictures on the wall above the couch. They’re sick of sitting there collecting dust.
3. I’m going to write. Blogs, letters, music, plays. Maybe I’ll finally get around to that play that I’ve been sitting on for years that will probably make me go apostate when it doesn’t go over well with the Mormon community. On second thought, I hate my ward so much right now that I’m already struggling with Church. I don’t need to do anything to cause controversy for myself… Ooh! I’ll finally write my Friday the 13th musical!!!
4. I’m going to be in a play or musical. IN. I’m tired of being on the staff (even though I could probably use the money more now than before). I’m going to start getting my performance skills polished up and start auditioning.
5. I’m going to read. Do you know that when the movie of Casino Royale came out, I bought a boxed set of ALL the Bond books for around $15-20 at Sam’s Club? I’ve never read a single page of them. They would be good to read. I could also follow Mark Fossen’s example and start reading a play a week. I have half a bookcase of plays, and I’ve read less than half.
6. I’m going to do a lot of recording work. I can earn quite a bit doing that, and I love being able to set my own hours.
7. I’m going to start exercising. And by exercising, I mean doing the Dance Hall Diva routines on Comcast. Learning how to stand out at the club for the RIGHT reasons + burning calories = mental AND physical health!
8. I’m going to get a cat and a metal arm and take over the – wait, sorry. Sidetracked by Gadget.
9. I’m going to brush up my piano skills. I used to be pretty good. I think I can get there again.

That’s it so far. I may come back and add more later.

In the meantime, have you seen this video? If you haven’t, you should watch. If you want bonus points, you can do the assignment I gave my FORMER students and make a list of all the things about the video that you’d consider “theatrical.”

So, yeah. I’m goin’ down…to bed. Night!

[Insert (attempt at) Clever Title]

I’m really tired, but I’m clearing off my DVR tonight so that it doesn’t get too full while I’m gone for the rest of the week. It’s sad that my priority is TV and not packing. I will probably get to the competition and find that I forgot to pack underwear because I was so tired when I packed. Oh, well. Sometimes TV is worth going commando. In the meantime, I’m watching/recording stuff off my DVR and recording random thoughts.

I wish I was a better writer, like Trash or Julie. My blogs are more lists than actual writings lately, and that saddens me. I used to LOVE to write and always wanted to make it better. Now, I just throw a list together and call it good, like I’m a theatre reviewer for the Deseret News or something.

I’ve had a weird feeling all night. I can’t put my finger on it. I don’t know if it’s about Shakespeare Competition, Urinetown, or something else that’s not as present on my mind. Whatever it is, I’m not liking it, and I wish it would go away.

I also dislike feeling like somebody is bugged by me, and they won’t say why so I can fix whatever I’m doing to bug them. 9 out of 10 times that I feel this way, it’s usually me just being stupid/sensitive. But tonight, I had several moments, and I’m paranoid. It doesn’t help that I’ve had that other yucky feeling.

I’m not going to see Lauren again until Sunday. This sucks. Luckily, though, we live in an age where there are cell phones for texting and calling anytime. I could not have survived in Shakespeare’s time.

I want to be in a show. I want to perform somehow. It kills me that UVU is doing shows that I would love to be in – AFTER I’ve graduated. I know I’m not very good at acting and singing, and that I can’t ever get cast in anything but A Christmas Carol, but I’m dying to be on the other side of the table at auditions for once. I love directing. I like music directing. I LOVE teaching/coaching. I just miss the days when I balanced it better and went back and forth between music directing and acting. Sadly, I don’t see any performing in my future. As long as I don’t have a full-time job, I have to only do jobs where I can get paid, and acting isn’t one.

I don’t want to be sitting on a bus with students for 5 hours tomorrow. I bought some new headphones that are REALLY good at noise-canceling. We’re driving straight from Orem to St. George to see Aida at Tuacahn. Please, God, give me the strength to not kill any children.

I’m missing the following people right now (for different reasons): Grandma Orton, The Culps, Heidi T., Bryan, John, The Masons, Pre-Crazy/Skanky Mariah Carey

Saturday Night Live has not been funny this year. I think I’ve only chuckled a couple times so far. That was pretty funny when the new girl said the f word, though. And that freakish thing that was dancing inside a giant metal atom was pretty laughable. I’m told she’s some famous singer, though.

I think I’ve finally narrowed down my Halloween costume to a few choices. I’m not terribly excited about any of them, which leads me to believe that maybe I should just not dress up this year.

I’ve been blogging semi-regularly for 3 1/2 years, and while this isn’t a huge accomplishment, it’s pretty big for me. I’ve NEVER been good at keeping a journal, so it’s fascinating to go back and read my thoughts on what was going on and how I was feeling months or years ago. When I look back on this post, I’m going to think: “Wow. I was a real downer that night.”

My Big Book of Grievances

• Another teacher let some kids back into the school after I had kicked them all out when rehearsal was done last Saturday. Guess who got blamed?
• When I was leaving school yesterday, I noticed a door that’s NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE UNLOCKED – and it was unlocked. It’s the kind that you work with an Allen wrench, and I couldn’t find one anywhere. My key to the school didn’t work the outside of the lock, either. I was stranded at the school for almost 40 minutes. God bless fiancées who come and rescue you with sets of Allen wrenches.
• I’m pretty sure several of my students don’t care about performing well at Shakespeare competition, and are just going for fun. Punks.
• Last school grievance: I had another teacher get really ornery with me the other day for something that was HER fault. Blah.
• I have a really messed up work/sleep schedule.
• I hate stupid questions.
• I don’t have any good ideas for Halloween costumes.
• I spaced home teaching TWO months in a row. UGH!
• I couldn’t find Mountain Dew Voltage at TWO places today. It’s Pepsi Blue all over again…
• My knee is sore for no reason.
• I’m already behind on TV, and the fall season has only been going a week or so.
• I finally finished Buffy. I will never again see an episode that I’ve never seen before.
• It’s October. OCTOBER. This is good, because it means that we only have two more months of waiting for a wedding. But it’s really bad, because I feel like I missed September.
• Being busy stinks.

Hallelujah!

Don't you HATE it when you spend a $#ng hour writing what could have been the BEST blog of your life, and then you accidentally hit a button that sends you back a page, and when you come back, it's gone!? ALL of it?!

GRRRR. I'll try to recreate it as best I can...

In two days my month from Hell will be officially over. And it wasn't NEARLY as bad as it could have been.

My youth theatre show, Honk! Junior, closed last night. It was very bittersweet. I would have loved to have it run longer. I was extremely proud of the kids. However, everyday rehearsals SUCK. I won't miss them at all. I really love that job, though. I love kids (well, most of them). I love some of the parents. I LOVE my coworkers. I love getting teary-eyed on the first performance (yes, I'm a wuss). I love the satisfaction I feel when the kids are proud of themselves. Youth theatre is SO much more rewarding to me than any other kind of theatre. And sadly enough, it makes me want to have my own kids A LOT.

Tomorrow night is the final performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Meridian Shakespeare class. It will be bittersweet as well. It's a GREAT show, and I'm proud of all of the kids. And I'm glad that I get to keep teaching the class for the next month- even if we don't get to work on an actual show. However, as thrilled as I was with our performances at region and state drama, I'm sad that some of the kids had a crappy attitude and couldn't commit. Because some of them did a half-arsed job of preparing, they'll learn the lesson that they can coast through life and still win. UGH! It makes me sad, but at the same time, very proud of the ones who committed and worked their butts off.

Today was David's graduation, and I went to the convocation with Heather and David's family. Afterward, we went to dinner, and then to H&D's new house to visit. I love it when my friends' families make me feel like I belong. As I was leaving, Heather's mom showed up and was telling her sister that she claimed me as her long-lost son. Love it.

This week, I had the opportunity to go to not one, but TWO birthday parties (after performances, of course) for one of my favorite people in the whole world. I love you, Lindsay! The first was awesome, because I got to see some friends that I haven't really seen for months. The second was great because it was my first ever "How to Host a Murder" party. I loved it! So much fun. Can I just make it officially Lindsay's birthday every day?

I was also really touched this week because five- FIVE friends came to see Honk for the purpose of supporting me. Most of my friends roll their eyes at youth theatre, and nobody other than Teri has ever really supported it before. And I didn't bug any of them to come, either!

I went and talked to a counselor while I was at UVSC the other day, and I'm in the process of reapplying to go back and finish my degree there. I may go to summer classes if I get my stuff together soon enough. If not, I'll be going back in the fall for sure. It's kind of scary how much I'm looking forward to getting my butt back in school. I've missed it. And I'm REALLY looking forward to taking math again. And chemistry. My brain has gotten rusty.

I think that's about all I said in the amazing blog, only it was much more detailed. Some people would probably consider it a blessing that I lost the longer one. Oh, well. I'm going back to catching up on the hours upon hours of TV that I have stored on my DVR receiver from the past month...

*Sigh*

Today was State Drama. I woke up at 4:42 AM and had to be in Nephi by 7 AM. Which I was. My niece, Kaylee, came with me.

We were supposed to perform at 8 AM at Juab High. We got to Juab High, and they told us we were in the wrong place and that we needed to go to the Jr. High. So we went there. And then Mindy actually looked at her letter and found out that we were supposed to be at the County Building (of all places). So, we hauled A over there and didn't perform until at least 8:20. The kids did a pretty good job. There were some minor flubs, but overall I was pretty proud. (And I love the fact that most of the things the judges critiqued negatively were things that I've told certain kids about. Maybe they'll listen better when somebody else backs me up.)

We have a parent performance next Saturday night (which anybody who would like to come to is welcome- Saturday, April 29, 7 PM at the SCERA) and then I'm done with A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's kind of sad, really. It turned out to be a pretty darn good show. I'll still be teaching at Meridian two days a week, but now that the show is pretty much done with, it will become actual teaching- not just directing. And it will be co-teaching with an AMAZING teacher.

My youth theatre show opens on Tuesday. We perform until Thursday, and then I'm done with them for the school year, other than the cast party. I'm pretty bummed, actually. Last year, I couldn't wait for the show to be over so I'd have a summer without seeing the kids. For some reason, though, this year is harder. I actually like the little boogers. I'm going to miss seeing them every week. Well, most of them. I can't wait until I'm a real teacher so I can work with the same kids for a whole school year more than just once a week (and every day for three weeks at the end of the year like this month has been. Ugh.) I love teaching. I really do. Even when the kids mock Batman and try to convince me that Spider-Man is better. Dumb kids. They'll learn. Someday....

I think that's about all I have to say right now. I'm SO tired, but I just can't fall asleep. Thank goodness that I get to sleep in tomorrow. I don't have to be in Pleasant Grove until noon. That's right! I get to sleep in until almost 11. Yay!

I'm going to bed now. And I'm TOTALLY wearing my Mr. Bubbles shorts (wink, wink Dave) and my Smilin' Bob (from the Enzyte commercials) t-shirt. Love it. It didn't use to fit very well. But it does now. Woohoo!

Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax...

I haven't really blogged in almost two weeks, so I figured I might as well, even though I don't really have a ton to say.

I'm still really happy about life in general. So, that's good.

Monday was region drama, and the class from Meridian that I've been teaching two days a week for the last month competed with the one act I directed (with some polishing by my friend Mindy Young). It is an abbreviated version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, set in a 1950s high school. They got straight Superior ratings (which is the highest you can get) and a trip to state. And out of the three shows that competed in this region, we got first place. The second place play was an avant garde adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. It was CREEPY. Some of the kids from that school flat-out frightened me. And the show used the theme song from Six Feet Under, which I can't help but associate with corpses being wheeled around as in the opening credits. And now, whenever I think of Alice in Wonderland, I'll think of corpses. Thanks for that!

I had to judge for the individual events at the competition as well, and some of them were REALLY good. Some were pretty scary though, including the kid who smelled like he hadn't showered in weeks. It was seriously so bad that he stunk up the whole room, and it literally took hours to air out. And he sat right next to me, almost causing me to gag. It was creepy. BUT! Meridian pretty much swept the individual events as well. Go Meridian!

I've been either recording or teaching almost nonstop since I got back from Disneyland. I'm ready to go back there now. I'm SO in need of a vacation already- which sucks, because April is hell, due to youth theatre rehearsals every day. And now the stress of getting ready for state drama may very well kill me. If nobody hears from me during the last week of the month, please send out a search party.

I'm really into Christian Rock right now. I think Jeremy Camp is one of my new favorite artists of all time (and all music). Although, I rather like Chris Tomlin as well- especially the song "Holy Is the Lord". There's nothing like rocking out to songs about Jesus. It's crazy. But I love it. And I love that there are Christian CDs that are knock-offs of the "Now" CDs. They're called "Wow!" And I bought 2 2-disc sets last week. And I've listened to all of them. Some songs several times.

I kind of want to act right now. Well, not right now. But after April is over. There's nothing going on that I'm interested in, though. And the thought of a somewhat free summer is SO incredible. I'm already planning out what movies I'm going to watch come May (hooray for Alfred Hitchcock and Mel Brooks boxed sets!)

Okay. That's pretty much all I can think of to say right now. If you read this, wow! Gold star for you. You're a caring friend. Thanks! If you didn't read this, then poo on you! Of course, you'll never know that I said that, but poo on you all the same!