Sunday, April 18, 2010

A Little Anxious...

...about what's coming next.

You've heard that bad luck comes in threes? I have, and it worries me.

First bad "luck": My Dad has two mini-strokes, which spark the onset of hereditary mental disorders, landing him first in the VA Hospital's mental ward, then in a care center in the St. George area.

Second bad "luck": Mom is a passenger in a van that rolls six times while moving at freeway speeds. No one was killed, luckily, but Mom shatters her right shoulder and breaks her left tibia.

Third bad "luck": Your guess is as good as mine. It has me watching over my shoulder, though.

Back to Mom's accident and her subsequent stay in the hospital. She had gone to Phoenix, AZ to visit her siblings. Had a great time. On the way back, about 30 miles south of Flagstaff, AZ my Aunt Tina, who was driving, attempted to change lanes. Unfortunately, there was a car in her blind spot.

A highway patrolman witnessed the accident and counted the number of rolls: six. The vehicle stopped rolling passenger side down. This means my mother was on the bottom, with Aunt Tina dangling in the air above her, suspended by her seat belt. My cousin and her three kids, who were in the back of the minivan, had been jumbled and rocked and rolled.

I haven't heard any details on the other vehicle, just that they were injured. No deaths. In my family's car Aunt Tina broke a rib and my cousin's oldest was concussed. And Mom broke bones. She got the worst of it, that's for sure.

I'm just glad that everyone is relatively okay.



Saturday, April 10, 2010

Notre Dame de Paris....

...is a fantastic musical. Just fantastic.

Okay, here's the story. Back when I worked at the Taco Bell in St. George, I worked with Amanda. Amanda took French in high school and had some French music. She loaned me two cds from a musical that I then copied into my iTunes.

These CDs comprised the soundtrack to Notre Dame de Paris. The more I listened to these CDs, the more I understood the music, and the more I understood the music, the more I came to love many of the songs. To the point that I haven't listened to the songs in order for a long time. They play randomly whenever I'm listening to my iTunes music collection.

A while back I found out that there was a DVD of a live performance of the musical, featuring the original cast. I really, really wanted the DVD, but it was rare enough that Amazon.com didn't have a copy in stock and all the used copies were going for about $100. Way too much for a DVD. Even if I had the money, I didn't want to pay that amount.

A week ago, I got a very nice tax refund. Very nice. While most of it is going into savings, I did want to have a little bit of fun. I check Amazon.com again. This time they have it in stock, for half the price I would have paid before. I decided to go for it.

I'm glad I did. The DVD case is actually a book that includes all the lyrics to the songs. Makes it nice for me, as I can now read the lyrics to songs that I didn't fully understand before. Spoiler alert: Everybody dies. And Phoebus is a bastard. End Spoiler.

So I watch the DVD through. I don't know if there are spoken lines in the musical. I would imagine so, but I don't know. The DVD just shows the songs and doesn't show any transitions between them, unless one song goes right into the next.

Watching the DVD altered my opinions about the performers just a little. I still don't like Esmeralda's voice a whole lot, but I appreciate her character a little more. Quasimodo's physical performance is pretty amazing. Of all the singing voices, my favorite is still Patrick Fiori, who plays Phoebus. I don't like his character any more, but I love his voice. Phoebus is a bastard. And Disney completely invented that happy ending.

Anyway, I can't wait for the semester to be over so I can have more free time to watch this DVD again. It's AMAZING!


Monday, April 5, 2010

What Did They Expect?

In Portland, Maine a large group of women and men marched topless to protest the double standard of society in regards to men and women going topless. Here's a link to a news article. Yes, it's safe for viewing, the only picture is from behind.

In Portland, it is legal for anyone to go topless. You only get in trouble if you take it too far and show your genitals while going topless.

What I find amusing about this situation is that the organizer of the event was "outraged" by the fact that lots and lots of men showed up to ogle those that were participating.

I get where she's coming from. Really. The whole idea was to protest the idea that topless women draw much more attention than topless men. I get it. And if I lived in Portland, Maine I probably would have marched topless to show my support.

But I can honestly say that I would have enjoyed the view.


Thursday, April 1, 2010

My Imagination...

...sometimes it drives me nuts.

Here's the thing. Tonight I was planning on doing some research for a story idea that's been floating around in my head for a while.

The villain is going to be a skinwalker, so I wanted to track down some of the original Navajo legends.

I didn't even think about the scary skinwalker stories that I heard growing up near the Navajo and Piute reservations. All I thought was, "I need to research skinwalkers."

For the last two hours I've been afraid to leave my bedroom.