Do you hear the people sing?

*** work commentary has been deleted. I'd rather not be fired.***

Anyways, I am eagerly anticipating my long weekend. I'm going up the river (by choice) on Friday night to see a school production of Les Miserables. With a revolving stage. And a live orchestra. Anyone want to come?

And in the interest of thorough documentation, I had another Anne dream on the weekend. During this dream, I was sitting with my FOHers at the back of the theatre after the show, discussing the new changes to the show. We were all sitting backwards in our chairs, facing the big brown doors. It gets fuzzy after that. I think the show was good, but I don't remember seeing it.

Soon the wait will be over!

P.S. After hearing me rant about my lack of baby carrots, one of my coworkers brought some into work today for me. Aww.

Great workers for the cause

After a fun-filled weekend of spending time with my mom and aunt, eating copious amounts of food (mmm... waffles), and relaxing in my apartment, I find myself swamped again at work. Really, it's my own fault, as I knew perfectly well that I left a stack of things to do on my desk on Friday. Did I think the work fairy was going to be there over the weekend and do everything for me? Perhaps.

Tomorrow evening I'm doing a presentation for some patients up on one of the units. This is quite fun, because I love to hear myself talk, I love to talk about ears (perhaps you've noticed), and it's a treat to leave my cave and venture into other parts of the hospital. Unfortunately, the computers were not working this afternoon at work, so I didn't have a chance to work on my powerpoint. Now, if I had been on the ball, I would have done the presentation a long time ago, since I've known about it for ages. However, that would be entirely contrary to my nature. Instead, I spent an hour this evening downloading a trial version of powerpoint onto my home computer and a further three hours making my presentation. How I expected to accomplish this at work today, I don't know.

To add to it all, the last two days at work have been super busy with unanticipated happenings, my grocery shopping woes continue (what kind of grocery store sells out of baby carrots?), and I have an excrutiatingly annoying paper cut on my right pinky.

Honey, Honey

I am entirely too fond of Honey Bunches of Oats. I bought a box in the groceries on Tuesday, and I think I have eaten three bowls a day since then. It's a delicious combination of corn flakes and, well, honey bunches of oats. Add a splash of cold milk, and I just can't stop indulging. Next week, I'm switching back to All Bran.

My mommy and my aunt are coming to visit me this weekend! I can't wait to give them the special "sights of Fredericton" tour, which consists of going to the Market, walking on the Green, and driving around the North and South sides. I haven't been to the Market in a while, and I'm definitely looking forward to some waffles.

And holy cow, the hockey game is crazy tonight! So many penalties, and now the Oilers are mounting a comeback! The crowd is nuts!

Getting to know you

It's another big tv night with the season finale of Lost, and I am pumped. I would be more pumped if I weren't so darn tired - all this tv watching does nothing for my sleeping patterns.

I should have actually watched the earlier airing of Lost at 7-9 pm, but I was out. May is speech and hearing month, and there was a small shindig at Dooly's to celebrate. So after work I headed down there to meet some Fredericton SLP's I've never met before. It was rather interesting, but somewhat awkward trying to integrate yourself into a group of people who all seem to know each other already. Fortunately, speechies don't bite and are quite friendly.

Anyway, back to Lost. And I thought Alias was convoluted. I don't even try to figure out what's going on anymore, I just sit back and enjoy the ride. They're on an island, and we don't know why. The others keep taking people, and we don't know why. There are unresolved plotlines all over the place. Hopefully some of them will be answered tonight, but I'm not holding my breath. However, if the Hanso Foundation is a code name for Rambaldi, and the castaways find a hatch with a big red ball in it, I'm gonna throw something at the tv.

There are pants, pants, all kinds of pants.

I don't know about anyone else, but I have a hard time finding pants. Due to my short stature and perpetual lumpiness, it's tricky to get a good fit. I have been looking for months for suitable summer work pants. The ones I used to have either don't fit, or they're all worn out. The same goes with my winter work pants. It's quite a desperate situation, as I really only have two pairs of wearable work pants.

Two pairs of pants, and four to five work days per week. I get a break on Fridays because of casual day, but still - my current pants are working overtime. And I do a lot of laundry.

The thing is, there aren't whole lot of places to buy pants here. Plus, the summer has brought the return of the cropped pant, which looks ridiculous when I try a pair on. With the plethora of cropped pants, there is a paucity of regular pants. And there's only so many times you can go shopping in one week and see the same crappy non-fitting pairs of pants staring back at you.

And you know what else really grinds my gears? When you finally find a pair of pants that you want to try on, and they don't have your size. Does this happen to anyone else?

Anyway, tonight I went shopping and tried on ten pairs of pants. One pair sort of fit, so I bought them. I lucked out as well, because they were missing a button, so the salesgirl took 10% off. Then I shortened them by hand, because I want to wear them tomorrow. Unfortunately, I didn't have thread that matched, and I don't really know how to hem pants. This resulted in random light grey dots along the bottom of the dark grey pant legs, but hopefully no one will notice.

So now I have three pairs of pants. Woot.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night.

Whose bright idea was it to put the season finale of 24 and the series finale of Alias in overlapping timeslots?

While it is highly tempting to watch Jack Bauer save the world yet again, I will be watching the convoluted saga of Sydney Bristow, Super Spy, come to a conclusion. I know I have already subjected you to my favourite Alias moments, so I won't go there again. And despite my recent grumblings on the subject, I'm going to miss my weekly dose of kick-butt spy action. I'm crossing my fingers that the show will be brought to a satisfactory end. Bringing back Sark was a good move, but if it ends with the death(s) of Sydney or Jack Bristow (Spy Daddy Extraordinaire) or Irina Derevko, I will be most seriously displeased. Anyone else is fair game.

Thank goodness I can PVR 24 in a later timeslot.

P.S. I promise my tv-related posts will decrease as soon as May sweeps are over.

On my own

It has been a weekend of unexpected solitude. I was originally supposed to have visitors this weekend, but plans change, and I've been on my own for three days straight. I did manage to thoroughly clean my apartment - even my fridge. I've also been walking a lot and catching up on my sleep, which is always good.

As always, my thoughts are never far from the summer. I was perusing The Buzz online, and came across this article announcing the Festival's summer cast. Seems like an intriguing mix of new and familiar faces. I started to google some of the new cast members to see their past work, and I came across this cast list for a production of Anne in Ontario last summer. I invite you all to take a gander, then cross reference with this summer's cast, as well as former casts. Interesting, n'est-ce pas?

At last

Reason #247 to love the CBC: this afternoon they reaired their coverage of the men's free skate from the Olympics.

Some of you may remember my extreme angst in February when my PVR ran out of recording space during the first week of the Olympics. When the men's free skate was going on, I was in London watching Les Miserables. As a result, I totally missed Jeff Buttle's bronze medal performance, along with all the other skaters. I didn't even find out he won a medal until the plane ride home.

Some days after, I did manage to find a somewhat blurry version of his skate on youtube, and then I watched it on tv when CBC ran its "Medal Magic" program. It was enough to somewhat alleviate my anxiety, but I still longed to see the entire free skate (or as much as was shown on tv).

Today, I finally had a chance to see the whole men's free skate coverage. Well, actually I think I missed Emanuel Sandhu's meltdown (no biggie), and I only caught the tail end of Evan Lysacek's performance of a lifetime. But after that, it was like I was transported back to that night. I even got jittery waiting for the last guy to skate, thinking that he might knock Jeff off the podium. Happily, the results did not change, and Jeff still came third. Woot!

Thank you, CBC.

Sucks like a Hoover

Everyone should have a vacuum - they're quite useful objects, really. When I was in my first year at Dal, I did not own a vacuum. When it came time to clean my floor, I would spend copious quantities of time furiously pushing an antiquated carpet cleaner back and forth over the threadbare carpet. Then I would pick up the leftover chunks of dirt by hand. Hardly an ideal situation.

When I was in my second year, my mom bought me a little yellow and black canister vacuum. I called it The Bumblebee. It didn't have a lot of sucking power, but it was ten times better than the carpet cleaner. Besides, my apartment that year was so small there was hardly any free floor space to get dirty.

In third year, I rented a furnished apartment. It came with its own grown-up vacuum.

When I moved out on my own in Charlottetown, my apartment had hardwood floors, which The Bumblebee managed to clean quite adequately.

Since I've been in Fredericton, I've kept using The Bumblebee. It's alright for surface cleaning. For example, it does an excellent job of sucking up Christmas tree needles. But it doesn't have enough oomph for a deep down clean. So today I decided it was time to graduate to a real vacuum.

I decided to go to Sears. My mom recently bought a nice vacuum there, so I figured it was a safe bet. I really don't know a whole lot about vacuums, so I hovered in front of the vacuum section, looking perplexed and trying to attract the attention of a salesperson.

Easier said than done. The salesperson was busy watching Drew Carey on the wall of televisions. Maybe she didn't see me. I walked around the vacuums, moving my arms a lot and trying to catch her attention. We made fleeting eye contact, then she turned back to her tv's. My blood started to simmer.

Then some guy sauntered by and started looking at stereos. Immediately, Salesgirl approached him to offer her assistance. Supremely unimpressed, I made fleeting eye contact with her again and started to circle around the vacuum display, blatantly indicating that I was interested in the vacuums. Once the guy left, she started to walk up and down the aisles in my direction. Finally. I positioned myself in front of the vacuum I wanted, and when I looked up to talk to her, she was walking away from me!! She went back to her spot to watch tv!!

That was it. She lost me. I was perfectly willing to plunk down cash for a new vacuum, and she blew it. I stormed out of the store and headed to the Future Shop, where I bought my new vacuum. It's a Eureka. It even has a HEPA filter. And it's also yellow and black. I call it the Big Bumblebee.

After I assembled the Big Bumblebee, I spent a good amount of time vacuuming my living area. The Big Bumblebee is a little loud, so I made sure I stopped at an early hour, so I wouldn't disturb my Downstairs Neighbour too much. Apparently that was all for naught, as she is currently retaliating with her thumpety-thump music. At midnight.

Oh well. At least my carpet is clean.

Detour

It's been a rather dull Thursday. The most exciting moment came when I encountered a detour on my way up the river this morning. It totally freaked me out, because I had no idea where I was, even though the route was well marked. Give me the #2 highway any day, especially when I'm running late. I don't handle change well.

I've been amusing myself watching the trailer for A Prairie Home Companion. It appears to be a star-studded cross between "A Mighty Wind" and the "happy time gospel hour" music they air every Friday night on the Vision channel. I'll even forgive them for casting Lindsay Lohan. Now I know why Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep appeared together on the Oscars this year.

Speaking of dull, I just finished watching the ho-hum finale of "Will and Grace".

The only cure is more musicals

My musical fever has returned. I find myself with the overwhelming desire to listen to nothing but showtunes. It's that time of year, you see. First there was Cinderella, then they're doing Les Miserables in Woodstock, then there's the Tony's, and then there's summer.

Last weekend on my drive home, I broke out my London cast recording of The Secret Garden. I've had the Broadway version forever (since the Rural did it one year), but I was super excited to pick up the London version when I was in London in February. It's remarkable music that has the ability to sweep you into the story. It was interesting to hear that some songs from the London CD had different lyrics and/or melodies than the Broadway version, so it was almost like listening to a different show.

I'd also like to say that I've had another Anne dream. This time, they tried to insert a Celtic dance into the middle of the show. All I can remember from the dream is Terry Hatty in a kilt. Perhaps it should be classified as a nightmare rather than a dream.

Insert Grey's Anatomy quote here.

Seriously. A prom. In the hospital. And everyone has to go. Because I'm sure every dying 17 year old girl wants a bunch of neurotic doctors at her prom.

And I don't care what people say, Izzie was wrong wrong wrong to cut that cord. And everyone else was wrong wrong wrong for helping her.

And you know what else was wrong? Mer/Der. Meredith is back on my black list. And Derek has joined her.

Poor Denny. And poor other guy with two kids who really deserved that donor heart. And poor dog. And poor Addison (I can't believe I like her now. It's gotta be the different coloured scrubs).

Thank goodness for Bailey.

I'm not sure if I really liked that season finale or not. Let me think about it some more.

Me likey tv

Three hours of Grey's in two days.

I'm still digesting the season finale. I'll write more later. It's still airing in some of my vast readership areas, so I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

Right now, I'm watching 24. I'm fairly confident that no one who reads this watches it, so I would comment about it now, however I'm sure this would hold little interest for anyone except for myself.

It's hard to write and watch tv at the same time.

More coherent thoughts to come at a later date.

On the road again

So the guilt of not being home for Mother's Day has gotten to me. As a result, I'm heading home tomorrow morning. This means I probably most likely will not be home for Victoria Day weekend. I'm trying to convince my mom to come visit me that weekend instead.

I bought a rug for my apartment at Canadian Tire. It's a neutral beigy colour, and I can't decide if it looks right.

Oh, and I was just watching 20/20, and they said that the finale of Grey's is 3 hours!! One hour on Sunday and two on Monday! Woot!

Did I mention that I like ears?

Ears are all around today.

How cute is this little boy who got to sing for the Pope? See his super cool hearing aid? It's a bone-anchored hearing aid.

Then there's this film festival in Toronto that features the work of dead filmmakers. How neat is that?

Also, apparently CBC radio ran an item describing these "revolutionary" glasses that hear. The neat thing is that they have directional microphones in the arms of the glasses, and that can help improve listening in noise. However, the eyeglass hearing aid is not a new concept. They actually used to be around a long time ago. Check out these snazzy glasses.

I like ears.

"It gets worse. I've been doubled."

Riiight.

So new mom Sydney Bristow has a clone.

And Nadia, the not-quite super-spy, gets killed (yes, she's really dead) after being pushed into a coffee table by Sloane, who is now evil again.

And the boring new characters have some sort of seemingly irrelevant sub-plot.

And now Sloane is having visions of a dead Nadia?

And now Good Sydney is pretending to be Evil Sydney, who was pretending to be Good Sydney?

Yeah, this is almost as good as Luke spending the entire season being a moron and Lorelai running back to Christopher. And Rory's bangs.

At least there's Sark. I'm still waiting for Lauren to pop out of the freezer.

In other news, big birthday greetings to my brother Jason, who is 26 today. Sadly, I had to miss his birthday cake. And you know how much I love cake.

The night of two suppers

Know what happens when you can't smell?

You burn your supper.

I was trying out a quick beef stew recipe I found in a magazine. It's all a part of week 2 of the apartment therapy plan ("cook a meal at home using a new recipe", or something to that effect). I even bought good steak, the kind you don't have to marinate. It went into the pot with beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery. Then I brought the mixture to a boil and covered it, just like the recipe said.

The recipe was wrong. Apparently boiling the crap out of my stew was the wrong thing to do, because I ended up with burnt stew. Burnt, inedible stew. Burnt, inedible stew and a charred pot.

If I had been able to smell the burning, maybe I could have salvaged some of the stew. Alas, I am still stuffed up from my cold (see: the hell that was last week), and I did not discover the burning until it was too late.

So my second supper of the evening was cheese and crackers. Not that I could taste them.

The Prince is giving a ball.

At long last, here it is: my review of Charlottetown Rural's Cinderella.

My acquaintance with this musical dates back to the late 90's when I used to tape episodes of CBC's Say It with Music with Richard Ouzounian from the radio. One Sunday afternoon he profiled several recordings of Cinderella, including the Rodgers and Hammerstein version. I was charmed by the music, and I would listen to the songs repeatedly. Coincidentally, the new Disney version with Whitney Houston and Brandy aired at about the same time, which I did watch but was not quite as taken with. I never committed to buying the soundtrack to Cinderella, but still regarded the musical quite fondly.

I was delighted to hear that the Rural would be performing Cinderella this year, because it would give me the opportunity to see the music performed live. It was with eager anticipation that I waited in line for half an hour to get my seat for Friday night's performance.

Visually, the production was stunning. The set was a fabulous multi-level construction with incredible painted stone detailing. The lighting design complemented the set perfectly. The costumes were also impressive, with a few exceptions: it was unfortunate to see the Prince in a tapered-leg pant, and I did not expect to see Cinderella in a ball gown with big buttons on the front. I did however enjoy the high prevalence of hoop skirts, which naturally made me think of the infamous igloo of the pageant scene in Anne.

The vocal performances of the cast members were remarkably strong. I was very pleased to hear such wonderful solos, and I got goosebumps several times while listening to the songs. I particularly enjoyed "Boys and Girls Like You and Me", which I had never heard before, and "Impossible", which I remembered well from my well-worn tape. The orchestra put forth a good showing, and I can't believe they all fit down there in that pit.

If I could be a little critical of the production for a moment, I would say that the lengthy scene changes had a negative impact on the flow of the performance. At times there was a lack of energy on stage. Some of the snappier bits of dialogue seemed to fall flat, which was unfortunate because it appeared the bulk of the comedy of the show was in its dialogue.

However, overall the performance was enjoyable. I have been continually impressed with the improvement in quality of the Rural's musicals over the past few years. There is something magical about seeing live musical theater, and the participants in this year's production should be extremely proud of their ability to sweep us into the world of Cinderella and her Prince.

The undiscovered country

This afternoon Rosey and I spent copious amounts of time walking. First we did the trusty boardwalk jaunt, but then we explored some new territory for me. We took a right after the boardwalk and ended up behind ATHI at the Irish Memorial, which I had no idea even existed. It was super cool. Then we went out to Beach Grove and walked on the memorial path there, which was also a new discovery for me. My only excuse for not knowing about these things is that I'm not a townie.

Re: tonight's Grey's Anatomy:

- huzzah for Alex and his "heart in the elevator" moment. It's about time. Anyone else forsee an on-call room rendez-vous with him and Dr. She-Shepherd?

- huzzah for George and his Georginess, as always.

- this Izzie/Denny thing still feels weird and inappropriate to me, much as I love them both. I know he's probably going to die soon, but I am hoping there will be some sort of consequence for Izzie forming a relationship with her patient.

A lovely night

It's been a lovely day, really. Today I managed to spend quality time with all three of my siblings (yes, I do have three siblings). My brother Jamie and I watched some Season 4 Alias this morning (it's suprisingly good the second time around). My sister Katherine and I went shopping this afternoon (no significant purchases were made by me). I went over to my brother Jason's house before supper to take a look at his new fence (and to attempt to figure out what he wants for his birthday without asking him directly).

This evening I was back at the Centre, not to watch the play again, but to catch up with my Centre peeps. I only got to see them briefly yesterday, so it was fun to spend more time with them. I especially enjoyed bonding with Fiona and Kelly over our mutual appreciation for Dolly Parton. After the show, I walked over to Pat & Willy's with Catherine to check out the newly renovated interior (very snazzy). I almost stayed for a while with her and her friends, but I was super tired, plus I wanted to get back home and squeeze in some quality time with my mom before she went to bed.

And I know I promised a review of Cinderella, and I had full intentions of giving you one this evening, but it's late, and I am rapidly losing my ability to think clearly. It's probably best to save it. See, I don't even remember typing that last sentence. I should sleep now.

In my own little corner

It's already tomorrow, but I had a very busy Friday: a quickie Moncton shopping trip that included locking my keys in the car at the gas station; an evening at the theatre; and nachos and sweet potato fries at the Gahan House with Rosey, Catherine, and Amanda.

And now it's way past my bedtime. A review of Cinderella will be forthcoming...

Regular as clockwork

How do I know it's almost summer?

Well, for starters, the weather is getting super warm again. I keep forgetting that Fredericton seems to be a heat magnet. It's always a few degrees warmer here than anywhere else in NB or PEI. That may be fine for the winter, but it's not so pleasant in the summer. Plus, this sudden jump in temperature has made me realize how few summer clothes I have. Soon it will be time to put away my collection of v-neck sweaters. What will I do without them? I'll also have to dig out my fan. Maybe this summer I'll get that air conditioner.

Anyway, the real reason I know summer is coming is because my Anne dreams are starting to increase in frequency. You see, fall/winter/spring marks a period of Anne withdrawal for me. I try to fill it with my other areas of passionate enthusiasm, such as curling, figure skating, Olympics, etc. However, I need my Anne.

Throughout the winter I usually have one or two vivid dreams about the show. They usually involve some sort of drastic change to the show, or some castastrophe that leads to me being in the show. As the summer approaches, the dreams start to happen more often. This week, I had a dream that they changed the "Clearly Requested a Boy" scene to an interpretive dance with Rachel Lynde providing narration. Highly irregular. A few weeks ago I dreamed that I was floating throughout the rows during the show, yanking cameras away from people. Super fun.

I can't wait until June, when the show starts up again. I always get this incredibly joyful feeling the first time I hear the orchestra start the overture. Pure happiness.

Good times are coming. I can feel it.

Double trouble

So I thought being able to breathe out of only one nostril was bad, but not being able to breathe out of both nostrils is much worse. Also, my throat is sore and I have a cough. Blech.

In other news, I have finally trained myself to remember when Gilmore Girls is on tv. Consequently, Tuesday is now one of my favourite tv nights, because I can watch it twice: a rerun on the W network at 6:00 and then a new eppy at 8:00. Someone needs to hit our dear Luke over the head with a stick. A big stick. I am also saddened by the news that Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino are no longer going to be with the show after this season.

Still McSicky

Stupid body. Why won't it get better when I tell it to? Who's the boss here?

On the bright side, I got to go home from work early, because I took half a sick day. Then I got to watch Roman Holiday, with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Very enjoyable, even if it was filmed in black and white. I haven't seen too many films with Audrey Hepburn, but I found her enchanting and delightful.

Then I watched Shopgirl, which was also immensely entertaining. Not your typical rom-com. And it took a while for me to get past the whole age difference thing, because I still see Claire Danes as the girl from My So-Called Life, and to think of Angela making out with Steve Martin, well it's just icky.

I will leave the more thoughtful and well-written movie reviews to Catherine and Holly.

Then I thought I would plunk myself down in front of the computer and write some long overdue emails, because I am a horrible, horrible, horrible emailer. However, my internet has decided to be super slow lately. Like, slower than dial-up slow. Who knows how long it's going to take to publish this post. Plus, my drugs are wearing off, and I'm getting achy again. Well that's just going to have to stop, because I am totally going to work tomorrow, and I am going to feel better. So there.