Clips That Bring Me Joy, Vol. XIII

If you need some joy in your life, try these clips. They've given me some.

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lists

I Think I Did Something That Could Be Considered Exercise This Morning

Thanks so my schedule, I wake up early, even on weekends. And I haven't been doing my morning weekend walks in the park because I've been tired from work, and how hot it's been. But I woke up this morning at 5:30 and checked the weather, and when it said cloudy and 73 degrees for the morning, today was the day to shake the dust off of my walking gear and get back to it. And at 7:30 am, I did just that. 

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journal

Earworm: The Spring Awakening Cast Album and All That Followed

So, the entire cast album of Spring Awakening has never one that's been in rotation for me. I had never seen the show. My sister and I asked to see it in 2007 when we were 11, and our dad said he'd look into it, and a few days later he said no, it was, and I quote, "highly inappropriate". I never really sought a bootleg of it once they were being put on YouTube, and that was sort of that. 

But, me being a theater nerd, songs seeped through and made it onto my showtunes playlist. Those were "Mama Who Bore Me", "Mama Who Bore Me (Reprise)", "The Bitch of Living", and "Totally Fucked". That was the extent of my relationship to the show. Then the documentary, Spring Awakening: Those You've Known, debuted on HBO, I watched it. And it sent me deep into the wormhole.

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earworm, the theatre

We Are Halfway Through the Year and I Have Made No Progress on My Reading Goal

I thought five books would be attainable. So far, I have not even made it halfway through one book. And that seems pathetic. And it's not because I don't want to read. I have Taylor Jenkins Reid's new book from last year sitting on my shelf ready to be opened. I have Barnes & Noble gift cards burning a hole in my wallet waiting to buy books, but not because I'm just not reading any, so why buy the books now when they're just gonna mock me sitting on my shelf.

However, I work 12 hour days and by the time I get home from work I barely have the brain capacity to pay attention to a YouTube video, let alone the written word. And weekends I'm trying to either catch up on errands or housework I don't have the energy to do over the week, or trying to go out and do things for fun because seeing movies and plays is self-care. 

I also don't want to start a book and take five months to read it. Because that is the exact situation right now. I started Brit Bennett's The Mothers in March and I am barely through the first third of it. I can only concentrate on two chapters at a time, and that's if I have the energy to read. But I am so tired and kind of burnet out right now, that it has just become impossible.

Here's hoping things pick up for me for the second half of the year, but at this point if I finish one book that would be an accomplishment.

journal

I Just Saw Little Shop of Horrors For the First Time

Yes, this is true. It took me 26 years, but I finally saw Little Shop of Horrors. And it was so much fun! The only things I knew about the show before I saw it was Audrey II ate people, and the song "Suddenly Seymour", but with no context for its place in the show. That was how little this show had permeated my brain.

But I'm so glad I got to go into it pretty much clean. It's not like it was a show I listened to the cast album a bunch, so I didn't have a version of what it was supposed to look like in my head, so I could just sit back, be surprised and laugh. And laugh I did.

It was such a great time in the theater. I got to see Christian Borle perform for the third time, and the Seymour I got to see was Skylar Astin in his last performance, so that was pretty cool. And now I'm gonna listen to the cast album from this production, which means I now get to experience Jonathan Groff's Seymour. So, two Spring Awakening alum's for me. Skylar Astin was the third original cast member to play Seymour after Groff and Gideon Glick, so I wonder if there's gonna be anybody else to do it. I shall wait and (potentially) see. 

journal, the theatre

My Atypical Relationship with Watching Stranger Things

So Stranger Things is a phenomenon, and one that I've had a strange (ha) relationship with compared to other tv shows that are cultural phenomena. Breaking Bad I binged like everyone else. Game of Thrones I knew what was happening because everyone talked about it, and watched the final season out of morbid curiosity. I've never seen an episode of Westworld or The Sopranos. Probably others but I don't care so much I don't know what shows I've "missed out on".

Stranger Things, however, I've watched bits and pieces of. When Netflix first dropped it, it didn't pique my interest. I've kind of been over the whole 80s nostalgia trend since it began I tried the first couple episodes the first season a few months later and it didn't grab me. And I don't have the issue where I feel forced to watch what everyone else is watching and be part of the cultural conversation. You continue to watch stuff you don't like, I'm fine over here actually enjoying the things I do watch. 

So, season two rolls around, still don't care. But season three, it's summertime and I'm bored, scrolling through tumblr I see scenes with the incredible foursome of Steve, Robin, Dustin, and Erica kicking ass. I make the decision to start the season, and if the other characters don't grab me, I'll just watch those four. And that's what I did, and I had a blast with it. 

When the first part of season four dropped, I didn't immediately go watch. I still haven't watched it. And now that part two has dropped, still have no desire to press play. It's not a spoiler if you don't care if you know what happens, and I know what happens this season and I don't care. I'm still gonna watch my people, and I'm glad that Nancy, Max, and Lucas are joining my dream team. And I think I'm coming to the realization as I type this that I don't like the Byers, Eleven, Hopper, and Will. Would totally be fine without them in the show. And I think the show would be better for it if we just watched the characters I like just living their lives and vanquishing monsters. Oh well, I'll just fast forward. 

the telly