"Once again we've gone off track and lost all hope for coming back. It's time to restart again and try all over again." ~rooney

I highly recommend watching Conan tonight. It's a good one. Look for me in the audience (second row), although I doubt you'll see me. They don't do too many audience shots. I went to the taping and had a blast. Lauren Graham (my favorite actress; best known for portraying Lorelai on Gilmore Girls), Steve Zahn (he looked really good), and Rooney (love them) were all on the show. I'm exhausted now. Start thinking about that lyrics game.

"Do you believe in magic, in a young girl's heart? How the music can free her, whenever it starts. And it's magic, if the music is groovy, it makes you feel happy like an old-time movie. I'll tell you about the magic, and it'll free your soul, but it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll." ~lovin' spoonful

I'm sure this isn't going to work very well at all, but I'm going to try anyway. It's a game going around LJ. My friend Gen inspired me to try it. It requires participation; I know I have a few lurkers who don't comment, so now's the time to come out of the woodwork and participate. Here's how it goes:
Step 1. Put your playlist on random.
Step 2. Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3. Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly. NO GOOGLING.

So your job is to comment with the song title and artist of any that you know. Again, no googling/searching. Some of these are easy and some are not. I posted more than one line for most of them to make it slightly easier. Whoever gets the most wins...I'll think of a prize.

1. I'm changing lanes and talking on the phone, driving way too fast.
2. Every night I just want to go out, get out of my head. Every day I don't want to get up, get out of my bed.
3. Once there was a way to get back homeward, once there was a way to get back home.
4. So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain.
5. Thought you had all the answers to rest your heart upon. But something happens, don't see it coming, now you can't stop yourself.
6. Coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine, gotta gotta be down because I want it all.
7. Before we met I was free, I never had to worry about anyone but me.
8. You do not worry, you do not try, the winter froze all of your things and you went inside.
9. I dream of rain, I dream of gardens in the desert sand. I wake in vain, I dream of love as time runs through my hand.
10. Readying to bury your father and your mother, what did you think when you lost another? I used to wonder why did you bother, distanced from one, blind to the other.
11. When I think of Heaven (deliver me in a black-winged bird) I think of flying down into a sea of pens and feathers and all other instruments of faith and sex and God in the belly of a black-winged bird.
12. Give me one more chance and you'll be satisfied, give me two more chances, you won't be denied.
13. Beautiful day, watching you as you awake, morning stars in your eyes, your hand in mine.
14. If it were love, I would give that love every second I have, and I do.
15. Back in 1957 we had to dance a foot apart, and they hawk-eyed us from the sidelines, holding their rulers without a heart.
16. Your words get me under; you're like shooting me in the heart.
17. Now come on, come all to this tragic affair, wipe off that make-up, what's in is despair.
18. Two can be complete without the rest of the world. Two can be complete without the rest of the world.
19. Adia, I do believe I failed you, Adia, I know I've let you down.
20. The guitar he could not find a purpose for, only pieces of wood he muttered. Break it up and float it to a distant shore to pursue his own good.
21. I can't believe the news today, I can't close my eyes and make it go away.
22. Afraid of an airplane, of a car swerving in the lane, of a dark cloud too low, of being swept away by an undertow.
23. To think that a man as famous as you are could love a poor little nothing like me.
24. Are your friends really your friends? Are you still waiting for the end of the day? Hey, hey, when will you learn to love what's sent from up above?
25. Hey little sister, I heard you went to Mr. so-and-so, knocking on his door again last night, said you needed it bad, you know that ain't right.

"Pressure, pushing down on me, pressing down on you...It's the terror of knowing what this world is about, watching some good friends screaming 'Let me out!' Tomorrow takes me higher, pressure on people, people on streets..." ~queen feat. david bowie

I haven't been in a writing mood lately. I'm not good at transition periods. I loved being in college. I know I'm going to love being a teacher and living in the city. But I hate this period in which I don't know where exactly I'll be teaching and living. I hate going to placement fairs and plastering a big, fake smile on my face as I frantically try to convince principals that I really am a good teacher. I hate coming home and listening to my mom tell me what else I need to be doing; even though I know she's just trying to help, it bugs me to no end. I just want someone to give me a job. And an apartment. I'm sick of looking at apartments that are better suited as closets. I know it will all work out, but I'm ready for that to happen.

Last weekend was a nice break. Actually, it was a fabulous break. Eleven of us stayed in a cabin in the Catskills. We hiked up Hunter Mountain one day, which was a blast. The total hike was a little over 8 miles, which isn't a big deal, so we left in the morning and assumed it would take us about half a day. We ended up getting down as it was getting dark; it took us more than twice as long as we thought it would. The "trail" we took going up cannot be called a trail in the traditional sense of the word. It was impossible to navigate; we lost the "path" multiple times. Tons of trees had fallen and they obstructed the way; we had no choice but to go over and through them. I (stupidly) wore shorts, and my legs ended up covered in cuts and scratches. The funny thing is, I loved it. I couldn't help but laugh. And when we got to the top we felt like we had really accomplished something.

I feel like I have multiple personalities, and last weekend I was theatrical, fun, outgoing Claire. I sang during the hike when anyone asked me to, even though usually no one else joined in (I think because they were too out of breath). We played Charades one night, and someone called it the Claire and Dina show because we were the ones who kept guessing everything (the person who guessed the correct answer got to act out the next clue, so the two of us kept going back and forth). I love Charades. And I'm good at it. Katie picked up on the fact that I get into it and am willing to act out pretty much anything, so she kept giving me really funny clues, like "Superman" (I ran around the room pretending to fly like Superman) and "Ninja" (never mind that "Ninja" is just a word and not a movie, book, TV show, play or anything). I loved just letting loose, and I didn't care about looking like an idiot. It was a good feeling. I only knew a few people on the trip before we left, but everyone was very friendly and we got along well. We built a fire outside and roasted S'mores one night, and we went on a short hike to a great waterfall on the morning of the day that we left. It was hard to come back to reality. Maybe I'll post pictures later.

Ooh, the Tonys! I forgot to talk about them! They cheered me up a whole lot. Spring Awakening won 8 Tonys (best musical, best book of a musical, best original score, best featured actor, best director, best orchestrations, best choreography, and best lighting). Billy Crudup, one of my favorite actors, won best supporting actor in a play. Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson (from Grey Gardens) won best actress and best featured actress (respectively) in a musical. Julie White's win was the one I was most excited about, though, because it was unexpected yet totally deserved. She won best actress in a play for her performance in The Little Dog Laughed, in which she was absolutely amazing (that play was so underappreciated; I wish more people got to see it, because it was hilarious and relevant and smart and just wonderful). She was up against Vanessa Redgrave, Angela Lansbury, Eve Best, and Swoosie Kurtz, which is an insanely impressive list of actresses. White's acceptance speech was the best one of the night.

"Hey there Delilah, what's it like in New York City? I'm a thousand miles away but girl tonight you look so pretty, yes you do. Times Square can't shine as bright as you." ~plain white t's

I love that song. I want to learn how to play it on my guitar. It sounds pretty easy (I'm sure that statement will come back to bite me in the ass).

Pretty soon I'm heading off to Hunter Mountain (in the Catskills) for a weekend of much-needed relaxation/fun. I know I'm not currently working so it doesn't seem like I would be in dire need of a weekend getaway, but job and apartment hunting have been pretty taxing. And I need a break from my family. So I'm excited. My friend Christin organized the whole thing (her company has a house there that she's allowed to use for the weekend), and a bunch of us are driving up there this afternoon. I hope Dina has enough room in her car for all of my stuff, because it's piled up in the kitchen right now and it looks like I'm going away for at least a month. The sheets, towels, games, food, boombox, and random stuff like that take up a lot of space.
We'll get back on Sunday night, hopefully in time for me to watch the Tony Awards (I'm recording it, but watching it live is so much more fun). Tony night is one of my favorite nights of the year. Nicole is going; I'm jealous. I'll have to watch for her on TV. I've got my fingers crossed for Spring Awakening; I really think (and hope) it will win Best Musical.
Next week it's back to the grind. On Monday I have another placement fair (oh joy) and on Tuesday I'm going to a hiring fair for a specific school (it's one at which I would LOVE to teach, but unfortunately I'm sure there will be a lot of people there competing for the same position). I just want the searching to be over.

I'll leave you with the music video for "The Bitch of Living" from Spring Awakening.

"I don't know you, but I want you all the more for that." ~glen hansard & marketa irglova

The career fair that I mentioned before sucked. It was three hours of wandering around a huge ballroom full of rows and rows of tables where principals/school reps sat. All the teachers (there were tons of us) walked around the room and stood in line behind the tables to talk to the school reps. When you got to the front of a line, you'd have a mini-interview with the principal. The room was so loud, though, that you had to shout across the table at each other. And you had a whole line of people breathing down your neck waiting to "interview" for the same job. That is not an ideal interview situation to say the least, and I'm not even good at normal interviews where you can actually hear the person to whom you're speaking and don't have to worry about the crowd of people standing behind you. I spoke to a whole bunch of principals, most of whom said they'd email me once they decided if they wanted a follow-up interview and/or a demonstration lesson. I'm pretty sure I won't hear back from any of them. I'm still trying to set up some interviews on my own, but it's hard. English teachers are not in high demand. I know I'm guaranteed a job somewhere in the city, which is a comfort, but I'd love for it to be at a school that I like.

Today (actually, I guess it's yesterday by now) I went into the city and Nicole and I looked at a bunch of apartments. None of them were any good. We got to hang out for awhile, though, and we went to see the movie Once, so that made it a pretty fun day. The movie is fantastic; it's the best movie I've seen all year. It has a 97% on rottentomatoes.com (which is unheard of), it won this year's Sundance Audience Award, and it's been getting rave reviews all over the place, so you don't just have to take my word for it. It really is a beautiful film. The music will break your heart. It gave me chills throughout most of the movie. I liked being able to recognize much of the setting; it's an Irish film that takes place in Dublin. A lot of it was filmed on Grafton Street, where I spent a good deal of time last week. I can't say enough good things about the movie; just go see it. There are some video and audio clips and reviews here.

I saw a few other movies over the weekend. One night Kim and I went to see the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which wasn't fabulous. I still found it entertaining, though. I would find a video of Johnny Depp reading the phone book entertaining. I liked Keith Richards' cameo. We also saw Knocked Up, which was hilarious (yet also touching). I loved it. Katherine Heigl gave a very good performance, and Paul Rudd, one of my favorite actors, stood out in his supporting role. Go see it if you need a good laugh.

Hopefully this week I'll put photos from my trip to London, Edinburgh, and Dublin in an actual online album. I have tons.