I was working from home, listening to my Melissa’s Megamix playlist on Spotify and the song “Stand” from the NBC show Smash came on. I could go on and on about the lyrics and how they resonated with me and stuff, but I’m going to just tell you one thing: list, and I mean really listen, to the lyrics – they will speak for themselves.
As someone who personally was belting out various Disney tunes last night around my fire pit, I wonder how my neighbors would have graded my performance. This came across my twitter feed this morning and was too good not to share. . .
I really hope I would be graded along the lines of “Tiny Dancer” and not “Walk This Way”. . . .
Next weekend, I may have to bust out some Broadway songs and maybe a dance number with jazz hands.
Author’s Note: This is another re-post from a site that no longer is live, but I wanted to share it here as well. Enjoy.
Not many people know that I was a Girl Scout for 15 years (as both a girl and an adult member) and received my Gold Award, which is the Girl Scout version of the Eagle Award. I worked for two summers as a counselor at a day camp run by my local council. I was the keynote speaker at a Gold Award dinner while I was in grad school. While I’m currently not an “active” member – which is something I really need to remedy – I still consider myself a Girl Scout since I am a reflection of the organization and the skills it taught me throughout my many years of involvement.
Over the past few months, Girl Scouts have been in the news. While, many of the stories highlight the 100 years of successful programming for girls currently being celebrated, there have also been a number of attacks made on this organization that are quite simply distractions from the actual mission of Girl Scouts of USA. This is, in my opinion, taking away from what should be a positive year of celebration by causing the organization to play defense.
The past few days have been absolutely lovely – weatherwise – here in Minnesota. Granted, it’s likely a titch warmer than it is supposed to be at this time of year, but who am I to complain. The sky has been stunning – bright blues, fairly cloud free, and just picture perfect and smile inducing.
It is quite the contrast to what has been going on generally in the world. It seems as if over the last few weeks (and months and years really) there has been a lot more negativity especially in the ways that people are talking to each other and about each other. Granted, we’re in an election year (with two especially divisive constitutional amendments on the ballot here in MN), and this has become expected, but it doesn’t mean it’s right. I have a hard time, at times, reading the news or going on twitter because of the hate being shared and spread just makes me feel . . . .sad.
Some may know this and some may not, but I must confess . . .I’m a bit of a musical theater geek.
I have been known to get into a mood where I’ll become a one-woman musical and just belt out my favorite songs, dance around and just have fun doing my own off-off-off-off-off-Broadway productions. It is actually one of my life goals to have a musical break out around me – I guess it would be more of a flashmob – but you get my point. I would not be sad in the least if someone came up to me and said that they wanted me to move to New York right away to be on Broadway for a few weeks. Granted my singing skills aren’t those of a Broadway lead, but I can totally sing back up and sway in the background – not. a. problem. And the campy dance numbers! Sign. me. up.
Growing up I saw a lot of shows in Chicago, including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat about a bajillion times during its long run with Donny Osmond at the Chicago Theatre and Jesus Christ Superstar in religion class during lent. Not to mention my stint in choir in grade school included numbers from Phantom of the Opera and JCS and in band throughout the years we played various musical numbers and I have also done solo performances of some of my favorite songs. There is something utterly beautiful about musicals. Something that sets the music apart form the rest of the music that is out there. The strong chords, the beautiful ballads, the drama, suspense and emotion that comes through the songs is just almost unexplainable. You know what I’m referring to, that feeling you get when the music just hits you (i.e. ~2:30 in “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from JCS, ~4:30 in “Defying Gravity” from Wicked, ~1:00 in “One Hand, One Heart” from West Side Story, or ~3:08 in “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Mis).
I should get back to my tasks for today, which totally includes singing and dancing around my house. 🙂
Today is a busy day, so clearly I needed to take a few minutes to share some randomness.
1. KFC and Pizza Hut closed in Nepal
From a Agence France-Presse story posted here:
All four KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in Nepal shut down on Tuesday saying that staff had attacked and threatened to kill branch managers. Devyani International, which operates outlets of KFC and Pizza Hut in Nepal and neighbouring India, wrote a letter to authorities announcing the immediate closure of its eateries in the capital Kathmandu.
“In order to disrupt our operations, some staff have physically attacked and threatened to kill the senior managers,” the company said in a letter leaked to local media and seen by AFP.
“These acts have put the life of senior managers at risk. To maintain the safety of our restaurants and the staff, we have shut down our services for an indefinite period,” it said.
The shutters were down at the four restaurants on Tuesday, and Devyani International and the police were unavailable for comment.
Now, this warrants being posted for two reasons:
2. Excited Seal is excited!
I have no real reason for posting this other than it’s a photo that never ceases to amuse me.
Granted, the circumstances that led to this photo being possible were scary and tragic, and I know the folks impacted by the flooding are still recovering. Help if you can, cool?
If you’re in Minnesota or Wisconsin, vote today. If you’re not in either of those states (and even if you are!), do something nice for someone today. Share some kindness.
