happy turkey weekend

so I survived the long weekend at home. it all started off with a bad omen Wednesday morning when they forgot to put my checked luggage on the plane and I had to wait an extra two hours for it to come on the next flight (luckily I got a $50 voucher out of the ordeal). hopefully that's the last time that happens. the good news was that I got to hang out with my brother a bit longer and that was nice. later in the afternoon, we went to see the new movie version of RENT. I was very happy with how it turned out (see previous post), so that was a relief. I'm going to see it again this week. yay!
Thursday (turkey day) went off without a hitch. we all went over to one of my uncle and aunt's houses in Thousand Oaks and had lots of good food. it was the first time everyone on my mom's side of the family was all in one place in a really long time. it was really nice to see everyone and play with my little cousins (two of them just started playing soccer, so that was fun).
friday, I stayed as far away from the malls as possible, and saw a couple of friends. I had lunch with Laura and then some coffee with Carolyn later in the afternoon. it was so great to see both of them! :)
saturday, my mom and step-dad took me to lunch in Venice Beach and then to the Getty Museum. if it hadn't been such a blustery day, it would have been slightly better, but it was actually pretty nice. sunday, my littlest cousin was getting baptized, so I saw most of the family again for that.
all in all, it was a pretty good time at home. I got some work done, which is good, and saw some people I hadn't seen in a while, which was great.
now, back to the grindstone for a few weeks and then super-study-time through winter break. ugh.

confessions of a renthead

in the fall of 1997, when I was a junior in high school, a friend of mine introduced me to the musical RENT. I remember the first song of it that I heard and I remember exactly where I was: on a school field trip, on the bus, listening to "one song glory". the rest is history. I quickly became obsessed with jonathan larson's amazing rock opera. for the first few months, I listened to the entire show every single day before I went to sleep. I basically fell in love with it. it was so optimistic, so idealistic, so full of life and love, of strength and family & friends overcoming tragedy and loss. it gave me a new philosophy on life; a new way of looking at people and the world and myself. and it has changed me forever. I don't think that any other thing has affected my life in such a deep and meaningful way as RENT did and does. I saw the stage production three times, in los angeles and in san diego and even saw the original mimi in one of the casts. each time I saw it, it reaffirmed my beliefs that love and hope can overcome anything.

so you can imagine my feelings of both apprehension and excitement when I heard that they were finally making it into a movie. on one hand, I couldn't wait to see it on the big screen and to see six of the eight original cast members that I had fallen in love with. on the other hand, I had such high expectations and ideas about what it should be. however, I had faith that they would not let the movie lose what makes the show so special.

so, I saw the movie this morning, and I must say that I am really impressed and amazed at what they did. somehow they were able to translate from the stage to the screen without losing too much of the power and presence that the stage affords the musical. each medium is different and it is interesting to see how things have to be altered and how certain things work better in one or the other. there were minor changes, and they added some extra stuff in to fill in some of the gaps, and I can honestly say that I loved it. they definitely did the best that they could and I can't ask for more than that. (and I definitely can't wait for the dvd to see the few scenes that they deleted.)

so, in conclusion, I am still a proud renthead, and can't wait to see the movie again later this week.

no day but today!

aargghh!!

what is wrong with these people?
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/11/08/evolution.debate.ap/index.html

how appropriate that today was the day I gave a presentation in my science ed class about the philosophy and nature of science. argh. makes me so upset. and motivated. I guess I won't be out of a job for a while. *sigh*

my solution: I'm joining a new church so I don't have to think about this any more.

more pirates!