A Year in the Life
Hola, friends!
So, a couple of posts ago, I was talking about the horribleness of my life situation. As my last post said, things are starting to turn around for me. Oh, and btw, I did go on that trip to Lebanon and Austria, and it was totally amazing, and I hope to be able to write more indepth about my experiences there soon, but that is not the intent of this particular blog post.
I was pretty upset back in December, and I had been upset in November as well, when they first announced that BTSR would be closing (to say nothing of the notice about immediate closure.) In the last few weeks, I've been attempting to remind myself about better things in 2018; I don't want my entire memory of that year to be clouded over with that one bad memory, terrible though it may be. So, I sat down recently and thought about the experiences and treasures that have saved my memory of 2018. Because it was NOT all miserable, despite what my more recent memories would have me think.
Item 1: Traveling to El Salvador in January 2018 for my Missions Immersion Experience at BTSR.
-----> This was an unbelievable experience. Not only was it my first opportunity in my life to work on an international mission project, but it concerned a topic very close to my heart -- immigration and the after effects of civil war. Now, we did not do the typical humanitarian short term aid that normally characterizes international mission projects, nor did we run a VBS or anything like that. We simply went and listened to the stories of various groups in El Salvador -- the families that had a parent or spouse or child in the US that was working to send money back to family, returnados who are living in fear for their lives after being threatened by gangs, political leaders who are searching for ways to eliminate the need that drives the people of El Salvador to leave their home country in the first place. We listened and learned what ways the US and the Church can better assist the nation and the people.
Item 2: Regeneration Who 4
--------> This particular fan convention is, for the most part, a classic!Who convention, and as a classic!Who nerd, it is my favourite con to go to. (It was cancelled this year though, sadly.) At Regen Who 4, I got to meet Mark Strickson, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding, John Leeson, Matthew Waterhouse, and Peter Capaldi. I also got to meet Peter Davison for the second time (though I got his autograph this time) and Nicola Bryant for the third time (she's one of my fave people, both on and off screen.)
Item 3: Seeing Kinky Boots, Anastasia (for the 3 time), and Hello Dolly on Broadway in March
-------> My best friend jack_is_love17 and I like to travel to New York City periodically and see random shows. She gets to go a lot more frequently than I do because she has friends who live in the city, but I take day trips at least twice a year. (I ride the bus up, see a couple of shows and then ride the bus back down late in the evening.) We saw Kinky Boots at that time specifically because Jake Shears and Wayne Brady were doing limited run stints in key roles. (Jake Shears was the frontman for the band Scissor Sisters and Wayne Brady is a famous improv comic.) The show was absolutely brilliant (unsurprisingly), and even though Wayne did not stage door, Jake did. I then was able to get his memoir signed with a personalized autograph and get a picture with him!
That same weekend I also got to meet Victor Garber at the Hello, Dolly stage door. He does not stage door, but he does take pictures with fans and give autographs if you meet him in the street. So, my bff and I waited outside for him to arrive at the theatre, and then he actually stood around and chatted with us for a few minutes in addition to signing stuff for us. I got my copy of the Godspell Soundtrack signed (which, as much as I loved him as SpyDaddy in Alias, he will always be Jesus from Godspell first and foremost to me), and he was flabbergasted that I had memorized the date he had done a cabaret performance at 54 Below (which I had gone to see him perform in and was my first real trip to NYC, back in 2012.) He was a joy to meet and I was a bit starstruck. My hands were shaking the whole time.
Item 4: Being introduced to the works of Mischief Theatre Company and seeing The Play That Goes Wrong (twice)
------------> So, on May 12, I traveled to NYC (this time without my bff) and saw two plays in one day. The first of those plays was a JJ Abrams produced play entitled The Play That Goes Wrong. Before I saw it, I knew absolutely nothing about it; I had simply seen an interview of Abrams a couple of months previous on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. And when JJ said that he was the executive producer of a play, I mentally added it to my list of stage shows to go see. (I watch anything JJ puts his name on. ANYTHING.) Now, this show has been in existence since 2015 (first on the West End and then it came to Broadway in 2017), but I'm listing my saving graces that I discovered in 2018, and this play was new to me. It was so funny! I was in tears laughing, and even after I saw it a second time (this time with my brother on his first ever trip to NYC in September of 2018), I still thought it the funniest stage show I've ever seen. I cannot recommend it enough. It is absolute genius. I mean, even my brother loved it, and I can't get him to watch Anastasia the Musical to save my life. If you like to laugh, this play is a must see. (In truth, anything the Mischief Theatre Company writes is worth checking out.)
Item 5: Meeting Joshua Jackson
------> So, the same day that I saw The Play That Goes Wrong, I also went and saw Children of a Lesser God, which starred Joshua Jackson and Laura Ridloff. The play was absolutely brilliant (and the fact that Josh learned sign language for the part is just amazing) and I am heartbroken that it only lasted on Broadway for a little over a month. It deserved a much longer run, but... Anyway, that day was wet and miserable, but I was excited anyway because my bff had seen the show a few weeks before and confirmed to me that Josh does indeed stage door. You just have to be willing to wait a couple of hours for him to come out. And I totally did. By the time he came out, there were only about a dozen of us waiting, but he actually chatted with each person for about 4 or 5 minutes (sometimes entirely in sign language). I was at the end of the line, and I got him to sign my Beyond the Fringe comic (of which he was the writer on one of the stories), and I got a picture with him. It's blurry, but still.
For all those Fringe friends of mine, I can confirm: he is an absolute sweetheart. He legit giggled when I pulled out my Fringe comic for him to sign and when I apologized to him about how horrible the picture would be because I suck at selfies, he said that it was better to suck at selfies because if a person is good at them then they obviously spend too much time working on them. Then he added, "But I suck at selfies too, so I'm probably biased." I then told him that I just wanted more of his face than mine in the photo to which he said, "Who would want to have to stare at my face?" I was just like, "Um...have you *seen* you?!"
Yeah, I never expected to get to meet my Fringe crush, but I did! Never gonna forget that moment.
Item 6: Snow Patrol's "Wildness"
--------> It was Snow Patrol's first album in 7 years, so I was already pretty excited about it to begin with. I mean, it had been a long time and they are one of my favourite bands since university. Then I got to hear the new album and I think it's their best work so far. "Empress" was released as a single a couple of days before the album came out, and I was doing two summer session classes at Eastern Mennonite University, where I was studying peacebuilding. If you have never heard "Empress" before, stop whatever you're doing and go listen to it. Not only did the timing of the song's release feel like kismet, but when the shit hit the fan in November, the lyrics to Empress kept me going and reminded me why these last 2 1/2 years have been so important, with or without my Masters of Divinity degree.
Item 7: Discovering Buzzfeed Unsolved
-----------> This webseries has actually been around since 2017, but I discovered it in June of 2018 through a "you might be interested in" link on another webseries I watch. I initially was watching the Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural series and then found out there was a whole series about Unsolved True Crimes as well. I got so addicted...and paranoid. Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej both saved and ruined my life in 2018. Their antics give me endless amusement, and I am always fascinated by their breakdowns of cases and supernatural events. But man, I sometimes also feel like the show is making me lose brain cells, lol. (I was stoked as hell that there were 4 vids for the series on Festivids this year though. Best news of January for me.)
Item 8: Bohemian Rhapsody
----------> I had been waiting for that movie for *literally* a decade. It had gotten to the point where I assumed it was never going to happen, and then it finally arrived. I know that some people have issues with the movie -- they did mess up the time line for some Queen songs -- but on the whole, I genuinely love the film. I am a life long Queen and Freddie Mercury fan. My dad, brother, and I have spent endless hours watching Queen documentaries and concert videos, and we had all the albums on 8 track and record and casette and cd. I had high expectations for the film and it met all of them in a very satisfying way. I could not have been happier that the movie defied critics' expectations and walked away with numerous awards. Did my classic rock loving heart proud.
Item 9: Doctor Who series 11
---------------> I love Thirteen. Could the episodes have had an overarching theme for the season? Sure. Were some episodes forgettable? Yeah. But, the same goes for every other season of the show. None of the seasons have been perfect, and there are some real stand outs for season 11 -- Rosa was a brilliant ep, and the Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos came out the weekend before my school announced its immediate closing, so I took a lot of comfort in the Doctor's words of "Keep your faith. Travel hopefully. The universe will surprise you. Constantly."
Item 10: Riding the Cyclone at Coney Island. My brother and I made the trek out to Coney Island in September, specifically to ride the Cyclone (we are both roller coaster enthusiasts). It was $10 for one ride, but totally worth it. Unlike most coasters which lose their momentum on turns, the Cyclone got faster on the turns and had more air time as it went around. It also keeps its original safety restraints (i.e. none), so there is an element of natural danger to the experience. Getting to Coney was a real adventure (more on that another time), but the Cyclone experience was totally worth it (and having ridden a lot of classic coasters that didn't live up to the hype, I can say that this one being worth it is a rare claim.)
Item 11: Mumford and Sons "Delta."
----------------> This album came out about 2 weeks after the initial announcement of my school's closing. I popped the cd in, telling myself that I was not going to get emotional. About 30 seconds into the first track and I was a sobbing mess. Even now, this album hurts (in a good way). It was one of those albums that feels like a gift from the universe just for me, at just the right time. I mean, the lyrics on "Beloved" of "She believes that the Lord has a plan, but admits that it's hard to understand." Ouch. Sucker punch right to my current life experience.
Item 12: Netflix's "The Haunting of Hill House."
---------> I went into this series not expecting to like it AT ALL. I am a HUGE fan of Shirley Jackson's novel and the 1962 version of The Haunting is the film by which I judge all other horror movies. It is my favorite ghost story of all time, and when I saw the trailer for Netflix's series, it left a great deal to be desired. Because it obviously did not follow the novel or the 1962 film adaptation in any way, shape, or form. Still, I watched it so that I could give my honest opinion on it. And not only was it "not bad," it was amazing. It is not Shirley Jackson's story at all, and that's okay. It is its own entity completely. What I've always loved about ghost stories is what this show articulates so well -- "Houses aren't haunted. People are." Stephen Crain's monologue at one point about how ghosts are a lot of things, such as regret, grief, resentment, loneliness, but that most of the time a ghost is what we want to see -- a ghost is a wish -- that speaks to the heart of a good ghost story. Add in to that, the changes that this adaptation made to the dynamics of the characters (i.e. having all of them be related instead of just psychics thrust into the same space) made the family drama into a beautiful opera. I spent all of episodes 5 and 10 in tears, and I don't mean the silent kind, but the legitimate sobbing messy tears. This show absolutely ruined me, and I mean that in the best way possible. It was not what I expected, and I am so thankful for that. Next year, they're doing an adaptation of my second favorite ghost story -- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, which they are calling The Haunting of Bly Manor. I cannot wait to see what the writers do with that one. :)
These are not all the good parts of 2018. I know I read some good books in there too somewhere, but I am drawing a blank on them right now. There were also amazing cds put out by Lily Allen and Florence + The Machine and Muse and others. But, well...not all of them had the same emotional impact as the ones listed. Friends and lurkers, what spoke to you in 2018? What got you through those tough days and difficult moments? Leave me a rec in the comment section, and maybe I can get around to checking it out after my graduation in May. (Yes, you read that correctly. I will actually be able to graduate, despite not thinking it was a possibility 4 months ago.)
So, a couple of posts ago, I was talking about the horribleness of my life situation. As my last post said, things are starting to turn around for me. Oh, and btw, I did go on that trip to Lebanon and Austria, and it was totally amazing, and I hope to be able to write more indepth about my experiences there soon, but that is not the intent of this particular blog post.
I was pretty upset back in December, and I had been upset in November as well, when they first announced that BTSR would be closing (to say nothing of the notice about immediate closure.) In the last few weeks, I've been attempting to remind myself about better things in 2018; I don't want my entire memory of that year to be clouded over with that one bad memory, terrible though it may be. So, I sat down recently and thought about the experiences and treasures that have saved my memory of 2018. Because it was NOT all miserable, despite what my more recent memories would have me think.
Item 1: Traveling to El Salvador in January 2018 for my Missions Immersion Experience at BTSR.
-----> This was an unbelievable experience. Not only was it my first opportunity in my life to work on an international mission project, but it concerned a topic very close to my heart -- immigration and the after effects of civil war. Now, we did not do the typical humanitarian short term aid that normally characterizes international mission projects, nor did we run a VBS or anything like that. We simply went and listened to the stories of various groups in El Salvador -- the families that had a parent or spouse or child in the US that was working to send money back to family, returnados who are living in fear for their lives after being threatened by gangs, political leaders who are searching for ways to eliminate the need that drives the people of El Salvador to leave their home country in the first place. We listened and learned what ways the US and the Church can better assist the nation and the people.
Item 2: Regeneration Who 4
--------> This particular fan convention is, for the most part, a classic!Who convention, and as a classic!Who nerd, it is my favourite con to go to. (It was cancelled this year though, sadly.) At Regen Who 4, I got to meet Mark Strickson, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding, John Leeson, Matthew Waterhouse, and Peter Capaldi. I also got to meet Peter Davison for the second time (though I got his autograph this time) and Nicola Bryant for the third time (she's one of my fave people, both on and off screen.)
Item 3: Seeing Kinky Boots, Anastasia (for the 3 time), and Hello Dolly on Broadway in March
-------> My best friend jack_is_love17 and I like to travel to New York City periodically and see random shows. She gets to go a lot more frequently than I do because she has friends who live in the city, but I take day trips at least twice a year. (I ride the bus up, see a couple of shows and then ride the bus back down late in the evening.) We saw Kinky Boots at that time specifically because Jake Shears and Wayne Brady were doing limited run stints in key roles. (Jake Shears was the frontman for the band Scissor Sisters and Wayne Brady is a famous improv comic.) The show was absolutely brilliant (unsurprisingly), and even though Wayne did not stage door, Jake did. I then was able to get his memoir signed with a personalized autograph and get a picture with him!
That same weekend I also got to meet Victor Garber at the Hello, Dolly stage door. He does not stage door, but he does take pictures with fans and give autographs if you meet him in the street. So, my bff and I waited outside for him to arrive at the theatre, and then he actually stood around and chatted with us for a few minutes in addition to signing stuff for us. I got my copy of the Godspell Soundtrack signed (which, as much as I loved him as SpyDaddy in Alias, he will always be Jesus from Godspell first and foremost to me), and he was flabbergasted that I had memorized the date he had done a cabaret performance at 54 Below (which I had gone to see him perform in and was my first real trip to NYC, back in 2012.) He was a joy to meet and I was a bit starstruck. My hands were shaking the whole time.
Item 4: Being introduced to the works of Mischief Theatre Company and seeing The Play That Goes Wrong (twice)
------------> So, on May 12, I traveled to NYC (this time without my bff) and saw two plays in one day. The first of those plays was a JJ Abrams produced play entitled The Play That Goes Wrong. Before I saw it, I knew absolutely nothing about it; I had simply seen an interview of Abrams a couple of months previous on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. And when JJ said that he was the executive producer of a play, I mentally added it to my list of stage shows to go see. (I watch anything JJ puts his name on. ANYTHING.) Now, this show has been in existence since 2015 (first on the West End and then it came to Broadway in 2017), but I'm listing my saving graces that I discovered in 2018, and this play was new to me. It was so funny! I was in tears laughing, and even after I saw it a second time (this time with my brother on his first ever trip to NYC in September of 2018), I still thought it the funniest stage show I've ever seen. I cannot recommend it enough. It is absolute genius. I mean, even my brother loved it, and I can't get him to watch Anastasia the Musical to save my life. If you like to laugh, this play is a must see. (In truth, anything the Mischief Theatre Company writes is worth checking out.)
Item 5: Meeting Joshua Jackson
------> So, the same day that I saw The Play That Goes Wrong, I also went and saw Children of a Lesser God, which starred Joshua Jackson and Laura Ridloff. The play was absolutely brilliant (and the fact that Josh learned sign language for the part is just amazing) and I am heartbroken that it only lasted on Broadway for a little over a month. It deserved a much longer run, but... Anyway, that day was wet and miserable, but I was excited anyway because my bff had seen the show a few weeks before and confirmed to me that Josh does indeed stage door. You just have to be willing to wait a couple of hours for him to come out. And I totally did. By the time he came out, there were only about a dozen of us waiting, but he actually chatted with each person for about 4 or 5 minutes (sometimes entirely in sign language). I was at the end of the line, and I got him to sign my Beyond the Fringe comic (of which he was the writer on one of the stories), and I got a picture with him. It's blurry, but still.
For all those Fringe friends of mine, I can confirm: he is an absolute sweetheart. He legit giggled when I pulled out my Fringe comic for him to sign and when I apologized to him about how horrible the picture would be because I suck at selfies, he said that it was better to suck at selfies because if a person is good at them then they obviously spend too much time working on them. Then he added, "But I suck at selfies too, so I'm probably biased." I then told him that I just wanted more of his face than mine in the photo to which he said, "Who would want to have to stare at my face?" I was just like, "Um...have you *seen* you?!"
Yeah, I never expected to get to meet my Fringe crush, but I did! Never gonna forget that moment.
Item 6: Snow Patrol's "Wildness"
--------> It was Snow Patrol's first album in 7 years, so I was already pretty excited about it to begin with. I mean, it had been a long time and they are one of my favourite bands since university. Then I got to hear the new album and I think it's their best work so far. "Empress" was released as a single a couple of days before the album came out, and I was doing two summer session classes at Eastern Mennonite University, where I was studying peacebuilding. If you have never heard "Empress" before, stop whatever you're doing and go listen to it. Not only did the timing of the song's release feel like kismet, but when the shit hit the fan in November, the lyrics to Empress kept me going and reminded me why these last 2 1/2 years have been so important, with or without my Masters of Divinity degree.
Item 7: Discovering Buzzfeed Unsolved
-----------> This webseries has actually been around since 2017, but I discovered it in June of 2018 through a "you might be interested in" link on another webseries I watch. I initially was watching the Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural series and then found out there was a whole series about Unsolved True Crimes as well. I got so addicted...and paranoid. Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej both saved and ruined my life in 2018. Their antics give me endless amusement, and I am always fascinated by their breakdowns of cases and supernatural events. But man, I sometimes also feel like the show is making me lose brain cells, lol. (I was stoked as hell that there were 4 vids for the series on Festivids this year though. Best news of January for me.)
Item 8: Bohemian Rhapsody
----------> I had been waiting for that movie for *literally* a decade. It had gotten to the point where I assumed it was never going to happen, and then it finally arrived. I know that some people have issues with the movie -- they did mess up the time line for some Queen songs -- but on the whole, I genuinely love the film. I am a life long Queen and Freddie Mercury fan. My dad, brother, and I have spent endless hours watching Queen documentaries and concert videos, and we had all the albums on 8 track and record and casette and cd. I had high expectations for the film and it met all of them in a very satisfying way. I could not have been happier that the movie defied critics' expectations and walked away with numerous awards. Did my classic rock loving heart proud.
Item 9: Doctor Who series 11
---------------> I love Thirteen. Could the episodes have had an overarching theme for the season? Sure. Were some episodes forgettable? Yeah. But, the same goes for every other season of the show. None of the seasons have been perfect, and there are some real stand outs for season 11 -- Rosa was a brilliant ep, and the Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos came out the weekend before my school announced its immediate closing, so I took a lot of comfort in the Doctor's words of "Keep your faith. Travel hopefully. The universe will surprise you. Constantly."
Item 10: Riding the Cyclone at Coney Island. My brother and I made the trek out to Coney Island in September, specifically to ride the Cyclone (we are both roller coaster enthusiasts). It was $10 for one ride, but totally worth it. Unlike most coasters which lose their momentum on turns, the Cyclone got faster on the turns and had more air time as it went around. It also keeps its original safety restraints (i.e. none), so there is an element of natural danger to the experience. Getting to Coney was a real adventure (more on that another time), but the Cyclone experience was totally worth it (and having ridden a lot of classic coasters that didn't live up to the hype, I can say that this one being worth it is a rare claim.)
Item 11: Mumford and Sons "Delta."
----------------> This album came out about 2 weeks after the initial announcement of my school's closing. I popped the cd in, telling myself that I was not going to get emotional. About 30 seconds into the first track and I was a sobbing mess. Even now, this album hurts (in a good way). It was one of those albums that feels like a gift from the universe just for me, at just the right time. I mean, the lyrics on "Beloved" of "She believes that the Lord has a plan, but admits that it's hard to understand." Ouch. Sucker punch right to my current life experience.
Item 12: Netflix's "The Haunting of Hill House."
---------> I went into this series not expecting to like it AT ALL. I am a HUGE fan of Shirley Jackson's novel and the 1962 version of The Haunting is the film by which I judge all other horror movies. It is my favorite ghost story of all time, and when I saw the trailer for Netflix's series, it left a great deal to be desired. Because it obviously did not follow the novel or the 1962 film adaptation in any way, shape, or form. Still, I watched it so that I could give my honest opinion on it. And not only was it "not bad," it was amazing. It is not Shirley Jackson's story at all, and that's okay. It is its own entity completely. What I've always loved about ghost stories is what this show articulates so well -- "Houses aren't haunted. People are." Stephen Crain's monologue at one point about how ghosts are a lot of things, such as regret, grief, resentment, loneliness, but that most of the time a ghost is what we want to see -- a ghost is a wish -- that speaks to the heart of a good ghost story. Add in to that, the changes that this adaptation made to the dynamics of the characters (i.e. having all of them be related instead of just psychics thrust into the same space) made the family drama into a beautiful opera. I spent all of episodes 5 and 10 in tears, and I don't mean the silent kind, but the legitimate sobbing messy tears. This show absolutely ruined me, and I mean that in the best way possible. It was not what I expected, and I am so thankful for that. Next year, they're doing an adaptation of my second favorite ghost story -- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, which they are calling The Haunting of Bly Manor. I cannot wait to see what the writers do with that one. :)
These are not all the good parts of 2018. I know I read some good books in there too somewhere, but I am drawing a blank on them right now. There were also amazing cds put out by Lily Allen and Florence + The Machine and Muse and others. But, well...not all of them had the same emotional impact as the ones listed. Friends and lurkers, what spoke to you in 2018? What got you through those tough days and difficult moments? Leave me a rec in the comment section, and maybe I can get around to checking it out after my graduation in May. (Yes, you read that correctly. I will actually be able to graduate, despite not thinking it was a possibility 4 months ago.)