Into the Woods...

I went to see the Randolph Academy's performance of Into the Woods at the Bathurst Theatre with Chris on Wednesday (I really want to see the one in Stratford, but as I am sorely lacking in transportation, this is not likely). But I was pleasantly surprised. Oh, there were shaky spots (the one problem with being in a choir with a director like Geoff is it's REALLY hard to shut your inner choir geek up when you get back to the real world), and some odd interpretive dance bits so the dance students had something to do, but it was, on the whole, excellent.

Of course, there was the problem of the hole in the wall blowing frigid exhaust fumes on us (we moved across the theatre during intermission), and the extreme theatre geek beside us during Act 1 (extreme theatre geeks are the theatrical equivalent of extreme sci-fi geeks. You know of whom I speak. Fortunately, Chris and I know how to deal with both). He kept going on about how "most people really enjoy Act One" with Chris being all "no, don't spoil it, la-la-la-la-la...". Which I just found funny. I used to feel that way about the play. When I was ten. I have since grown up, and now appreciate the show for what it is (that being one of my favourite musicals of all time). And I have to give the actors their due -- Sondheim is really frelling hard to sing (imagine having to perform when your cue to come in is two seconds of silence -- this happens often in Into the Woods), and they all did extremely well.

There were two casts (being an excess of female performers at the school, all the female roles are doubled), and I'm very interested in seeing Cast 2 perform on Saturday at 2. Anyone else game?
posted by Sarah E. at 3:14 PM

Nice Thing to Hear in the Morning...

"Good morning, Sarah, this is [name I'm not sure I'm allowed to give out] calling from Loreena McKennitt's record label Quinlan Road..."

Yeah. So a few days ago, I got an e-mail from Loreena McKennitt to the southern Ontario residents of her mailing list, asking who'd be interested in attending a rehearsal at an undisclosed location in Toronto before she and her band fly off to Edmonton. Of course, she got several hundred responses. They picked twenty-five names.

I'm a very happy girl right now.
posted by Sarah E. at 10:16 AM

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Poking Head Out of the Sand

Yes, yes, I know, I know. Life has been nuts. So, without further ado, my top ten list of things that have happened to me since the last entry (in no particular real order):

1. Naturequest. It rocked. I had such amazing kids, and only a few minor casualties (such as skinned knees, one run-in with a wasp's nest, and a three-foot dive off a balcony at the Jaime Bell adventure playground). Everyone learned something, and everybody seemed to have had a great time, despite the heat. The Naturequest necklaces were a hit, and I'm so proud of all of them.
   
   
2. Actually finishing my Animal Antics curriculum. Over a week late, but done nonetheless. All I can say in my defense is that planning courses for 5-year-olds is hard, and during my 20-day-straight stretch of work, I never did find time to work on other curricula (but did end up getting "curriculi-curricula" stuck in my head as a song). But Roaming the ROM will be different. I swear.
   
   
3. Going to Trek immediately after Naturequest. And I mean immediately. I still had my Naturequest crown that Leadership made for me. Despite being completely exhausted, I did have a wonderful time (made even more wonderful by the last-minute addition of Karina). My panels were a hoot, especially Biology of the Bizarre (we'll never look at hugging the same way again), and the now-somewhat-infamous "Alcoholic Newfie Zombies from Space". Which was basically a half-hour on how to apply for grants, followed by a very tongue-in-cheek creation of genre canlit called "Prairie Oysters" (yes, I will be pulling that page together soon, I promise!). We did actually get a couple of "best panel at the con"s from that (huge squee!), and we're reasonably sure we'll be doing "Revenge of the Alcoholic Newfie Zombies from Space" next year. The dance sucked for the first hour or so, as is the norm, until they started playing the good stuff, at which point it rocked. Especially when they played "Doctorin' the TARDIS." We do so love our fandom. And I found out that Michael Shanks is one of the guests next year, ensuring that a) I have to go, and b) actually have to do the fangirly photo thing. First time I've felt that need since I met Dominic Monahagan and Billy Boyd, but what're you gonna do?
   
   
4. And speaking of, new episodes of Stargate! Whee! I love, LOVE Ben Browder on SG-1 (which I started watching because he was joining the cast, and then got hooked on it in its own right, which then made me wary of the cast change), and Claudia Black just sends me into hysterics, constantly. ("Yeah! Let's make babies!") and the "limited genepool" line had me pretty much on the floor. And I admit, I wasn't a fan of Atlantis in season one, but certain elements of season two (particularly any time Hermiod out-McKay's McKay) are really winning me over. Whee!
   
   
5. "So You've Finished Harry Potter…" is the new window at Bakka, and it's quite nice if I do say so myself. :o) Though Erin's right -- I should have used the Slytherin scarf. Ah well. I did enjoy Half-Blood Prince though (but even it could have used about 100 fewer pages and a bit less wandering plot). It was way better than the last one.
   
   
6. READY OR NOT by Meg Cabot. Lovely sequel to ALL AMERICAN GIRL, even better than its predecessor, and managed to completely and utterly take me by surprise, which a book hasn't done in… well, a while. Funny, too. And much needed brain fuzziness.
   
   
7. Multimedia goodness. First came the llama song (which started it all), then the Sawyer song, and now, best of all, the dalek song. Good stuff. Plus, trailers for Rent, MirrorMask, Pride and Prejudice (and hurray for my Bride and Prejudice DVD! Already well-watched and I've only had it a week!), and the Brothers Grimm. Saw Charlie and the Chocolate factory with Chris and Karina, which was good fun in its own right, but the best moment of the movie came during one of Willy Wonka's flashbacks to trick-or-treating at Hallowe'en. This woman opens the door, and there's this simultaneous loud gasp from me, Chris, and Karina, followed by hysterical giggles as the rest of the theatre looked at us as though we were mad. Followers of the new Doctor Who will get this when they see the movie. Everyone else will think I'm nuts.
   
   
8. My dear friend John's wedding. It was a lovely (tiny -- smaller than even my family's weddings at my grandparents' house) ceremony that took place on a boat cruise on Lake Scugog. Simon was a big fan of the cheese. :o) But John was giddy, Nikki was radiant, and I wish them all the best.
   
   
9. The Doctor's new look -- one look at the shoes and I'm totally sold (warning -- spoilers for the end of season one. Do NOT follow this link if you haven't seen it). But these lovely casting announcements regarding season two guest casting also had me jumping about squealing in glee. GILES!
   
   
10. Playing tourist with Karina. We explored Casa Loma on Monday -- thoroughly -- and had a lovely time doing it. We did get rather frustrated by the annoyingly large numbers of locked doors, spiral staircases, and towers that we weren't allowed to go through, but we did manage to discover a new sooper sekrit tunnel! (Complete with pictures, which I'll post as soon as a) the roll is developed, and b) I see if they came out). See, rushed people passing by? It's much more fun when you snoop. We did almost get locked in, thanks to finding a rather nice rock in the garden, but we did make it out in time.

Now, onward to session 3 of Summer Club, Into the Woods, possibly Enter the Haggis, renfaire, and several writing deadlines. In the next two months or so. Whee!

P.S. -- Could anyone who watches Stargate Atlantis and who knows what I'm talking about (and, of course, who feels like doing it) please make me a "Crap Indeed" icon? Please?
posted by Sarah E. at 3:29 PM

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Wacky Fun...

So the reason I haven't been on in a while is I've been frantically planning curriculum for my Naturequest class at the ROM, which begins next week, and frantically replanning as we find that what seemed simple (large plastic jars) are, in point of fact, impossible to find. Oy.

But the big event last weekend was the launch of Fantastic Companions at Bakka, and again at Book Expo Canada the next day. And it was so much fun!

The launch, as it was, went swimmingly (though I got very suspicious when I heard fellow-author John, at the second signing table, say, loudly, "oh, you're Sarah's father!") But I'm told he kept his comments fairly sane. There was also some oohing over my window display, which almost (but not quite) made me prouder than the book. I mean, I'm reasonably confident by this point that my writing doesn't suck, but I'm not quite as confident about my interior design skills, despite my lofty ambitions. :o) But it truly was a joy, and there are plenty of signed copies if anyone wants to order one. And I'm still occasional staff (I lost my regular weekday, as happens at an independent store when they need to cut corners, but I'm still doing events and windows and things), so if you'd like it personalized, just let them know.

Book Expo was also fabulous. Heather, our illustrator, was there as well, and I got a lovely sketch of Variel in my book. Whee! And I got seated next to John this time, as opposed to across the room, which basically meant that I didn't stop laughing the whole time. The laughter continued as we, only slightly tipsy, made our way to East Side Mario's for dinner (joined by my sibling, who was in the city for pride returning a DVD). And we were still laughing long after the alcohol obtained at the Penguin Party wore off. From our incredibly ballsy waiter following my sibling into the bathroom to find out what he wanted to drink, to the Incident With The Milk, we ended up having a really, really great time. I haven't mentioned it enough lately, but I really do love my friends.

As, incidentally, I love my city. Pride has a somewhat different meaning for me, as wandering around last week and seeing all the rainbow flags prominently displayed in the windows around town (including Bakka's), I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride in my city. I really do love Toronto.

And speaking of love, I watched a really neat film on quantum physics called "What the (Bleep) do we know?", and there was one particular section on how we affect the world around us. In one experiment, they brought a large number of people from around the world to Washington to meditate for long periods of time, and found a 25% reduction in violent crime.

And in the same section, they discussed the work of Masaru Emoto, who discovered that different messages create different patterns in water crystals, and presented it as evidence that thoughts affect reality.

Now, I'm not saying anything regarding the scientific validity of these studies because I haven't had a chance to read up on them, but I do agree very much with the sentiment. And I don't think we tell each other often enough how special we really are. So if you e-mail me with "Nice Thing" in your subject line, I'll e-mail you back with something nice I think about you but wouldn't necessarily ever think to tell you. Maybe even two. :o)
posted by Sarah E. at 2:00 PM

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