I loooove that song. They played it at the concert I went to a couple of weeks ago and as I keep listening to my recording of the concert (which turned out really, really well), I'll play that song over and over. The lyrics are great.
My life has been insane lately, I haven't had any time or energy to write. There have been both good and bad insane things. I now feel like unloading, so get ready for a long post. I'm going to start with the bad and end with the good, because I like to end on a happy note.
The bad things:
1. On Friday night (I was at home with my family), actually I guess it was early Saturday morning (around 2:00am), my dog had a seizure. I can't tell you how much Josie means to me. We've had her for 14 years and she's a part of our family. I love her to death. Luckily most of us were still up and hadn't gone to bed yet. I was upstairs but heard her barking/squealing/making strange noises and ran downstairs. She lost control of her bowels, was drooling, and shaking uncontrollably. It was one of the scariest things I've ever seen. I'm crying right now as I'm typing just thinking about it. My dad told me to stay away from her, thinking she could have rabies and might bite me or something, but I ended up just holding her, not caring about getting her poop and drool on me. It finally stopped and she seemed scared. She was hyper and couldn't stop running around the house, stopping occasionally to jump on someone. We called the emergency vet number and my mom and I drove her to the animal hospital. So around 2:30am on Saturday morning I found myself sitting in the backseat of my car, crying as I held Josie as close to me as possible (of course she struggled the whole time). She stayed at the animal hospital that night, and she had another seizure while she was there on Saturday so she had to stay the next night as well. She came home on Sunday night, after I had already left to go back to NYC. They don't know exactly what's wrong with her. Worst case scenario, it could be brain cancer or a brain tumor. There's not really anything they can do to find out. She's on some kind of medication right now (I'm not sure what it does; I think it's like codeine). My parents say she's doing okay, but I'm still terrified. I can't lose her. I would be devastated. She means so much to me. I know she's old (14), but she still seems like she has a lot of life left in her. So that really shook me up.
2. I was observed this week at school. That's a serious thing. The principal can either give you an S (satisfactory) or U (unsatisfactory), and if you get a U you're in serious trouble. You have to meet with the principal ahead of time to discuss your lesson plan, which we did on Tuesday, and mine needed some changes. On Tuesday night I spent 6 hours working on it. 6 Hours for a 90-minute lesson. How crazy is that? And that was just 6 hours of revising what I already had done. Total it was like 10 hours. So I was very stressed this week because of that. I didn't sleep at all last night. I was observed today and luckily I got an S.
The good things:
1. I can now relax a little bit (nerves-wise, not work-wise; I still have tons of planning to do) because I have my S.
2. I got to spend lots of time with my family last week. Thanksgiving was fantastic, as usual. My aunt and uncle's new apartment is beautiful, and we all managed to fit into it rather nicely. We had lots of family staying with us over the weekend and I loved seeing them.
3. There was a free run-through of the Broadway play The Homecoming on Sunday night. Because of the strike (which just ended!), they couldn't begin previews when they were supposed to and they wanted to perform in front of an audience. It was their first time doing it in front of people, and they performed it at a small off-broadway theater because they couldn't use their own. Raul Esparza joked that apparently the setting of The Homecoming is now Cuba (because the set for Celia was up). Despite those obstacles, they did a good job. It's a bizarre play, though. I think it's one of Harold Pinter's most controversial. The actors, although they still need some time to become accustomed to their roles, gave strong performances for the most part. Ian McShane was particularly hilarious. I adore Raul Esparza, I think he's one of the strongest (if not the strongest) musical theater actors working today, but he seemed nervous and he needs to work on his accent. Eve Best was wonderful. Anyway, it was a great evening of theater and I was very glad to be able to go. They collected money for BC/EFA, a wonderful organization that's been suffering because of the strike, which was very smart and kind of them.
4. On Monday night I went to a free advance screening of The Savages. Go see it. Now. Seriously. It's wonderful. Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman give Oscar-worthy performances (I'd really love to see Laura Linney win an Oscar; she deserved to win for You Can Count on Me). The Savages is brilliantly written, directed, and acted. It's funny and sad and hopeful and touching. I really expect and hope to see it do well when awards season rolls around. My great-aunt has dementia, and my mom keeps joking that she should take her to see it. I don't think she would understand the connection to her at all, because she doesn't realize she has a problem.
5. The Broadway strike is over!!! Nic and I are going to see Rock 'N' Roll on Friday and I can't wait. I was supposed to see it last week but of course it was canceled because of the strike. We're also seeing one or two other plays this weekend (she has comps).
That's all for now. I think. I need to start planning lessons for tomorrow.
I'll leave you with my baby:
ETA: Just got a call from Nic, now I'm going to see The Lion King on Broadway for free tonight! The comps are rolling in for Nic right now. Never mind that I have no lesson plans completed for tomorrow. I'm not crazy about The Lion King, but I'm not one to pass up a free show. And I think I know the kid who's playing Simba. Ah, the perks of living in New York. And having a best friend who works in theatre.
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