"They will see us waving from such great heights, 'come down now,' they'll say. But everything looks perfect from far away, 'come down now,' but we'll stay..." ~the postal service

I had so much to write about today, but I can't remember much of it at all. I hate it when that happens. So this will be another disjointed, random entry that's probably missing the important details of my life. Oh well.

Kelly, Joy, Michelle and I got an apartment for next year! I'm very excited. I'm already looking forward to being a senior.

Ooh! Big news. Counting Crows are touring with the Goo Goo Dolls this summer. I'm excited just because CC haven't done a tour in a really long time. I saw them in 2003 during the Hard Candy tour, and that was the last tour they've done. That was awhile ago. I can't wait to see them again. My friend Nicole and I will probably try to catch them in NYC. I'm not a hardcore Goos fan, but I don't mind seeing them. Here's a story about GGD. When I was younger and everyone used Napster (including me), I would download music and burn cds with whatever random music I was listening to at the time. I burned 20+ cds, and every single one had the Goo Goo Dolls' song "Name" on it. I was obsessed with that song. I listened to it all the time and put it on every single one of my cds. So if I get to hear them perform that song live, I'll be happy. I haven't listened to it in awhile, so I think I'll go do that now. I really need to find a job for this summer, because there are so many events (Broadway shows mainly) that I'm dying to see. This is just one more event on a long list.

The other day I was telling someone about the Coldplay concert I went to last summer (with my concert buddy Nicole). It was filmed for MTV Live Leak, and it was in the smallest studio ever. It was pretty cool; I was thisclose to Chris Martin. So here's an awful screencap from the TV broadcast. I think this is from "Fix You," which is such a beautiful song. Even the people who aren't Coldplay fans or who don't like the album X&Y have to admit that it's a pretty good song.

"Oh now the roots are reminiscing. Recurring dreams of minor chords, metred time, muted chimes find the beat." ~maria taylor

I have my schedule planned out for next semester. Hopefully I'll actually be able to get into all the classes that I want to take. I'm afraid it'll be a fast-finger race to get a spot in the English seminar I want, which is Children's Literature and Theology. I'll practice my typing skills before I register. Everyone else who is trying to get into that class better watch out.

In an earlier post this week I wrote about how everyone thinks I'm so young. And how it sometimes bugs me. It especially bugs me when people think I'm younger than my brother (who is actually 3 years younger than me). Here's a picture of him (taken 7 months ago, but he hasn't changed that much). Now those of you who don't know him can judge.

"In a way, it's someone else's story. I don't see myself as taking part at all..." ~chess

Initially I was disappointed that Grey's Anatomy was a repeat tonight, but the fact that it was a really good episode mollified me. It made me cry. The (admittedly overly blatant) parallel between Mer and the woman with a pole through her body got to me. I'm a sucker for drama like that. Dr. Bailey yelling "She's crashing!" (referring to the pole woman) as Mer realized that Der chose Addison was pretty emotional. I know that a lot of people aren't liking Meredith all that much right now, but I do. I feel for her. And seeing this episode again solidified that feeling for me.

Tonight I went out to Aunt Sarah's Pacake House with friends and it was so nice to get off campus. I'm getting a little sick of d-hall, particularly because it's downsized d-hall. I've had cereal for way too many meals in the past few weeks.

I don't know what else to write; I don't really have anything to say. I'm just trying to put off reading Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair for tomorrow. It's an amusing play, but it's incredibly difficult to get through. I suppose I'd better go wade through it, though.

"To be broken you were made." ~the old 97's

The other day I received a wedding invitation from a friend who is getting married this summer. I’m incredibly excited and happy for her, and I hope I can make it to the wedding because I really want to go, but it was a somewhat scary wake-up call. This girl is younger than me and she’s already found the person with whom she wants to spend the rest of her life. I’m nowhere close to marriage. I definitely want to get married and start a family with someone, but I don’t see that happening in the near future. I hope it happens eventually, though. I'm terrified that it won't.

I had a funny phone conversation yesterday, with a guy from whom our synchro team is buying an underwater speaker. I was in Amelia's office placing the order (she's in charge of sports clubs). When I called, the guy said he had to turn on his computer, so he talked to me while it was turning on and warming up. It took 20 minutes. He just kept talking and talking. Amelia kept looking at me, wondering what on earth was taking so long for me to be able to order the speaker. The guy was telling me about a recent trip he took and I responded with something like, "Um, no, I've never been to Budapest..." and the look/eyebrow-raise Amelia gave me was hilarious (because she could only hear my side of the conversation). It was an interesting phone call.

I saw North Country tonight and I enjoyed it. The three Oscar-winning actresses in the cast (Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, and Sissy Spacek) are all fabulous. And I adore Woody Harrelson.

I babysat today and I have some funny quotes from one of the kids. These two boys I babysit are definitely a handful, but boy can they be endearing and adorable. Hanging out with them is a nice break from college drama. I love kids. Anyway, here are the quotes (from a five year old).
1. "Do you know why God is so great? Because he can't go to jail."
It was the most random statement and I had absolutely no idea how to respond.
2. "No, it won't fit you, because you're almost 71."
HAHA. Almost 71. That was acually quite a refreshing change, because people usually think I'm at least 5 years younger than I acually am (which is 21).

My music of the moment is Chess (the musical). I always find myself coming back to it and not being able to stop listening. I loooooove this show. I wish they'd revive it on Broadway. Right now I'm listening to the Actor's Fund Benefit recording of it. Julia Murney is fantastic.

"Don't wake me, because I was dreaming. I might just stay inside again today. Yeah, well, I don't go out much these days. Sometimes I stay inside all day." ~counting crows

Lately I've been downloading a bunch of Counting Crows bootlegs (don't worry, it's legal; the band actually promotes the distribution of bootleg recordings of their concerts). They're one of those bands that you can't fully appreciate until you hear their live stuff. I just listened to an old recording from 1994 (Paris 12/9/94) and then I listened to one from 2004 (Rotterdam 3/10/04), and it's interesting to compare the two and see how the band changed over that 10 year period.
The 1994 recording is of one of their best concerts ever. Adam's voice is so full of emotion; it sounds so raw. They played the most beautiful version of Perfect Blue Buildings I've ever heard (and I've heard lots). The concert is the one where they played their epic version of A Murder of One. I think most true CC fans are familiar with this particular performance of the song. If you say to a CC fan, "that epic Murder of One performance," they'll probably know exactly what you're talking about. It makes me cry every time I hear it. It's about 17 minutes long and it is definitely one of the best live performances I've heard of any song by any band. It blows me away.
In the 2004 recording there doesn't seem to be as much spark. Which makes me sad. I know it's just one concert, and there are other fantastic concerts that are pretty recent (my fave is the last Hard Candy show, in Tampa). I also know that one big difference between the concerts stems from the different albums that they're touring. The 1994 tour is for August and Everything After, their only album at that point. The 2004 tour is for Hard Candy, which has a completely different feel to it. They do play a few songs from AAEA, but the focus is on HC. So I can't expect to get the same thing out of each concert. But still, I think something is missing from the newer recording that was there 10 years ago. There aren't as many alternates in the 2004 Rotterdam show. A lot of the songs are shorter. They still improvise and add new lyrics and melodies and add some alternate song snippets, and the acoustic versions of some songs are great, but Adam seems tired. Hopefully the break the band has taken will mean they're resting up and will blow everyone away with their next album and tour. There's a rumor that they'll be touring with the Goo Goo Dolls. I like them, so I'd be excited about that. I'd be excited to see CC do anything.

See what a procrastinator I am? Instead of doing all the work I have to do, I just wrote a lengthy analysis of Counting Crows bootlegs that no one will ever read. I've been updating this blog a lot lately because I don't feel like writing anything of importance, like papers. Instead I feel like writing poorly organized and written blog entries about nothing. It's nice to feel like I don't have to be brilliant or profound.

Because this is such a boring entry, I'll add a photo. Here's me and Sara Ramirez, who's currently on Grey's Anatomy (one of the best shows on television right now). She won a Tony Award for her performance in Spamalot, so I think she should join Burke and George's band on the show. She has an absolutely amazing voice, and those guys need all the help they can get. :D

"And when i see you, I really see you upside down. But my brain knows better; it picks you up and turns you around, turns you around, turns you around." ~death cab for cutie

I'm trying to learn that song on the guitar, but it's a little trickier than it seems. That's always the case. The tabs look so easy, and then when I try to play it, it doesn't sound right at all. One of the problems is that the guitar is supposed to be tuned slightly differently for that song but I've been too lazy to tune it that way.

Monday was the Areopagus dinner with the English faculty members. There were four students (including me) and five faculty members. It actually wasn't as akward as I thought it might be. We went to Bottoms Up and talked about...normal things. It's always nice to receive conformation that teachers and professors are normal people. They watch movies, have families, are "from" somewhere...who'd a thunk it? :-D

It was 87 degrees on Monday, and it was lovely. I wish it would stay that way. Unfortunately it's already gotten cold again.

Today I had lunch with a prospective student staying with one of my friends. I took her to the place where she had a meeting scheduled because it was convenient for me to take her there. I kept trying to talk to her but she was sooo shy and unresponsive, so I figured she wanted space and was silent for awhile. Then as we were walking, she said, "I'm sorry I keep providing monosyllabic answers. I'm just really nervous and homesick." And I think she cried a little. I had no idea what to do. I had this overwhelming desire to give her a huge hug, but I couldn't. I absolutely love hugs, but I'm not good at giving them. Especially to people I've only known for only about 15 minutes. I wish I had been able to comfort her, but I'm afraid I wasn't much help. I just started talking, telling her I got homesick too and then trying to distract her by talking about what I felt about Richmond. I was at a loss. I wish I knew how to handle situations like that. I'm not very good at communicating with people; I wish I had better people skills. I'm so akward sometimes. I love people, I love studying them and listening to them, but I'm not good at interacting with them.

I realize that I spend so much time waiting. Waiting for the weekend, waiting to find out what I'll be doing this summer, waiting to graduate, waiting to move to NYC, waiting to find my soulmate and start a family...but I'm afraid I spend too much time thinking about the future. I need to appreciate what I have now instead of anticipating what's next. I'm going to try to work on that. We'll see how it goes.

"Some people think they're always right, Others are quiet and uptight. Others they seem so very nice nice nice nice nice oh oh, Inside they might feel sad and wrong..." ~the Strokes

I'm back in Richmond after Spring Break! I had a lot of fun. I didn't open my backpack once, which means I'll be insanely busy in the next few weeks, but not doing work was worth it. Here's a recap of my break.

On Saturday I went into NYC and Nicole and I saw the matinee of Jersey Boys. It was fantastic. I'm wary of jukebox musicals, but I loved this one. It actually had a book (a script/story, for you non-theater folks), and the actors were all great. We did student rush and we ended up in the front row, which was lucky. So I'd recommend it to anyone.

That night we went to The Strokes concert. Oh boy, what an event. It was insane. I'll cut down my review, though. We ended up in the front row, right on the railing in front of the stage. That was an incredibly lucky break. We cut about 200 people ahead of us in line to get in, who had been waiting there all day. The concert workers told us to, though, so we were just following orders. They started a second line to go in with us, so we were among the first people in the building and got an amazing spot. The opening band was Eagles of Death Metal, which we were wary about, but they turned out to be pretty funny. The lead singer was a redneck who, no joke, before every song said something about how much he loves "The Ladies." He'd be like, "Now this song REALLY goes out to the ladies!" It was hilarious. And when he wasn't talking about how much he loves the ladies, he was talking about how much he loves New York (I can't disagree with him there). The guitarist seriously reminded me of my grandpa. He had white hair, but it was in a mohawk, and he had these huge rimmed glasses. The band was quite an assortment of characters, so Nic and I enjoyed making fun of them.
When The Strokes came on, it got crazy. I can't even describe it. The crowd was INSANE. INSANE. We were in the front row and we ended up turned sideways because it got so crowded. I was squeezed between Nicole and this other girl. The crowd would jump up and down, and my body would automatically move up and down along with everyone else's because I was squished between people. At one point I was tired so I relaxed my legs. If I had done that without anyone around me, I would have fallen. Instead my body was held up by everyone around me. I can't even describe how closely we were packed in. I couldn't clap because I couldn't bring my hands together in front of me. It was quite an experience. Afterwards Nic and I decided we felt like old foagies, because it was way too intense for us. But the music was amazing. They played a variety of songs from all of their albums, which was great. Here's a pic of Julian, who's absolutely gorgeous.


Later during the week I went to see the play Hetta Gabler at BAM. Cate Blanchett was absolutely fantastic; she has such an amazing stage presence. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. The play was wonderful. Hugo Weaving was in it, so I'm providing a Hugo Weaving picture treat for y'all called "The Many Faces of Hugo Weaving." He's so good at transforming himself.

Me and Hugo Weaving:


Hugo Weaving in The Matrix as Agent Smith:


Hugo Weaving in The Lord of the Rings


Hugo Weaving as V in V For Vendetta