September and October

The calm that I experienced in September gave way to a chaotic October, it feels like. I was so excited that I was balancing work and school so well, I even had time to keep reading The Kite Runner, which I started about a week before work/school/chaos began. But now the novel, although great, has been set aside for required reading, and paper grading. Guess I'll have to wait until Christmas break to see how it all turns out.

I haven't managed to do anything too exciting over the past couple of months, although I have seen a bit of theater. I saw Spring Awakening on South Beach for only $15 a couple weeks back. It was a production put on by New World College of the Arts.

I'd never seen the show or heard much about it, other than Leah Michelle originated one of the roles on Broadway and Duncan Shiek did the music. The show was about teenagers in the early 1900s who are, like, awakening sexually. It was kinda awkward but I guess I could see how a teenager could be obsessed with it. The music was pretty great and my favorite character was played by a little gay with a mohawk and I wanted him to be my best friend. The performances were great; one girl who sang a song called "The Dark I Know Well" (which also turned out to be my favorite song) had this husky, bluesy voice. Really, really pretty.

After the show we got some ice cream at Giradelli's and headed home, a fun, cheap night out under our belts.

I also saw The Addams Family on October 30th, a birthday gift from Tanya. The show was pretty fun because some of the people dressed up (like the people who sat next to us, a Spiderman, a princess, a Morticia, and a zombie/Frankenstein thing), and I'm pretty sure that the powers that be at the Arscht center hand-picked the door people, 'cause most of them were cree-py. They looked like the could have BEEN in the Addams family, for sure.

The show itself was funny--much funnier than I thought it would be. There were two Michiganders in the cast--clearly awesome--and the story was, well, musical-ly. Love, complications, magic, blah, blah, happy ending. There were some cool effects in the show, which I am always fascinated by. I always think of special-effects in movies, but never stage shows. They were really clever and fun to see. The best part, though, was that, I swear, the people who were working there were PART OF the Addams family. It was outSTANDING.

My final October adventure was a pumpkin carving party for Halloween. This year, I carved the word "Nevermore" in the shape of a raven. Pretty complicated, but the Poe is necessary since I read "The Raven" to my kiddos each Halloween (give or take a few days) and I like to light the pumpkin to help create a mood.

Life is crazy, as always, and some time to slow down and settle would be great. But... I'm doing what I can!

2011 is flying by, huh?

Much love.