It’s about that time of year. When the good grades don’t offer enough enticement for the countless hours of paper-writing and studying they require. Friday night I had great plans for Saturday- I was finally going to spend a day working on some projects around the house. But when Saturday rolled around and reality hit, I gave up my hopes of working on the house and instead studied and wrote papers all day.

I just have to remember that in two weeks I get a two week break before we head off for the holidays, in which time I’ll have plenty of opportunities to finish my house projects- I just have to be patient.

We had a wonderful week. Monday night I teach, Tuesday night I teach, Wednesday night we had a soccer game, Thursday night we went and saw Wicked! at Playhouse Square, Friday night we had a thanksgiving potluck with friends, and Saturday night we worked late and then watched a show while I worked on Christmas presents. It’s good to do a little review- because in a way it all passed in a blur- but thinking back I remember all the delightful parts. (Like, my paper whites are blooming!)

Wicked! for example was so fun. Tom and I have been wanting to see the show for the longest time, it quickly sold out the first two times it came to Cleveland, so when we were offered a chance to buy tickets this year we jumped on it. The acting and singing was wonderful, and the plot was not only heartwarming but thought provoking. I loved the witty references to The Wizard of Oz, and was impressed by how well they fit together. Our seats were in the far back. Which made me all the more grateful for our lucky break in getting tickets to Mary Poppins on Broadway, that were in the seventh row! I think I would have loved Wicked so much more than I already did had I been able to really see all the facial expressions. It raises the question: is it better to just go see it and buy the tickets you can afford or wait until you can afford tickets were you can get the full experience?

There were several moments in Wicked! That just got inside of me. Moments when I thought “Oh I would love to do that!” The song “Popular” made me want to portray a complete ditz someday- just to see if I could pull it off as well as the girl we saw, and Elphaba’s spells were so captivating it made me to wave my arms around as well. Why is it that we each have our different passions. Things that often are irrational. Why do I so love portraying a character other than my own, or performing physical characterizations foreign to those most people would associated with Kjirsti? Where do passions come from?