Monday really was mostly just studying for the elective history class. I'm starting to think that taking all four was one of the dumbest things I've ever done. I've enjoyed them all but it's a heavy workload. It's a good thing I'm one of those people who prefer a hard class you get a lot from rather than an easy class you don't get much from.
The most amazing part of it was Monday night when we went to a play called Bingo. The play itself wasn't that fantastic. BUT. Patrick Stewart, the dude who plays Charles Xavier in X-Men and Captain Picard in Start Trek was in it! After much whining and pleading, I switched spots with Jordan in the group so I could sit front row for the first half. I could have reached out and touched him. At one point he looked out into the audience and right at me. I beamed at him. He's amazing.
After the play we came back and studied until our brains turned into puddles of goo and then got up early to do as much studying as possible before class and the test. Unfortunately it was one of the tests where you have a bunch of things you're not quite sure about. I had six or seven things from the essay question I didn't know and one essay that I wasn't well prepared to write. Guess what? I got ALL of those unsure essay questions and the one essay I didn't know what to talk about. My first instinct was to laugh. My second was to get teary. My third was, "Well, not gonna do well. Might as well just go for it." I think that relaxed me a lot so I did a lot better than I would have otherwise. My score wasn't fantastic but still not too shabby.
Then yesterday most of the group went to see Les Miserables at 2:30. I don't like Les Mis. I think the music is brilliant. The set and the acting was brilliant. The costuming was fun. That trombone player was incredible (I know most people don't rant about that after seeing a play but there were moments when the trombonist played some super hard stuff and I was very very impressed). I think it's a good commentary of various things. But it still bothers me. Thankfully it didn't bother me as much as the last time though. I can read, talk, or think about prostitutes, starvation, or wars and be okay but I have a really hard time seeing it. For example, I can watch Lord of the Rings because it's not a true story but Titanic gave me nightmares for weeks and I saw it for the first time when I was a senior in high school. It's the human suffering that gets to me I think. I have a horrible time watching a woman who is so desperate that she has few choices but to go be a prostitute, gets an STD, and dies a miserable death. I have a hard time seeing a little boy get caught up in a cause and die for it. Did he even understand what he was getting into? I have a hard time seeing a man who does his best to be a good person and still ends up alone in a dark room at the end of his life until a few people show up just in time to watch him die. All those people decided that they have a cause worth fighting--and dying-- for but most things are still not resolved. I can't take it as just a story because I know those things really have happened and some of them are still happening.. It frustrates me to see how horrible humans can be, how awful peoples lives have been at times, and most of all how I can't do anything to stop prostitution or end world hunger. I know some people like social commentary or seeing the best and worst of humans in a book or play but it always disturbs me. I had a really hard time sleeping last night. Maybe I'm just too tender hearted.
Good things:
1. DONE WITH KITCHEN CREW! I'm going to miss spending a couple hours with the Mason girls every night but it's a relief not to have to worry about it anymore.
2. The Masons have suddenly been showing us their hidden talents. The other day Matt started rapping and then Nick did it and then they did it together for a grand finale. It was amazing. Also, when we went to Les Mis, Nick's daughter was going with us so he said, "I just have one request" and then sang "bring her home." It was hilarious.
3. Last night I was brave and ate duck for the first time. It was quite good.
Nice. I liked duck when I had it.
ReplyDeleteI knew every recording (London, Broadway, International Cast), read the unabridged version of the book, and anything else about Les Miserables that I could get my hands on, but still hadn't seen it when I went there to London at the age of 24. Knowing all about and loving "Phantom" made seeing it just a bit of a let-down, and I was afraid it would be the same with Les Mis, and at first it seemed I was right. I was almost in the back row of the same theater you were just in! Everything seemed so far away. And, like you said, it was miserable (surprise), depressing. And then the final number hit me like a ten ton truck, though it started out so softly:
"Do you hear the people sing, lost in the valley of the night? It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light. For the wretched of the earth, there is a flame that never dies. Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise. We will live again in freedom in the garden of the Lord. We will walk behind the plowshare. We will put away the sword. The chains will be broken and all men will have their reward!"
And then thunderously:
"Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me? Somewhere beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see? Do you hear the people sing? Say, do you hear the distant drums? It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes! Tomorrow comes!!!!!"
I thought I knew this musical backwards and forwards, but I'd never GOTTEN it, 'til then. Yes, there is misery and horror, but there is also God and his light we can all climb to. It's his battle we are all fighting. It's that battle which Jean Valjean won. And that's the hope and the beauty it.
Thanks for reminding me, and thanks for letting me reminisce a bit on your blog.