Where Are You, Christmas (Show)?

It's mid-October. It's starting to get cold. And the normal American is getting ready for Halloween.

I'm ready for Christmas.

For the past 4 years I have spent this time of year putting in serious time learning various arrangements of Christmas songs and carols for the Purdue Christmas Show. And before those 4 years, I was at least starting to learn a Christmas song or two for one choir concert or other. This year, I'm not doing that, and it's weird. There is definitely a void.

So today I had to give in to the urge and pop in an old Christmas Show rehearsal CD on my way home from work. I almost cried; I am really going to miss being in that show.

Don't get me wrong; it's fantastic not to have the stress and anxiety connected with preparing for a show of that magnitude. But Christmas Show was my favorite part of Purduettes, PMO, and Purdue. I spent all year getting excited about it, and I never got tired of rehearsing for it. When the curtain finally rose in front of a live audience, I was in my element. Nothing else will ever be like performing on that stage, and it's a little sad not to look forward to having that thrill this year.

On the other hand, I am building up anticipation to being in the audience for the first time since I was in high school. I will definitely have a different kind of appreciation for it now that I've been a part of it. And maybe I'll get to sing with the alumni onstage during the carol sing.

P.S. -- I finished training for the producer job today. I did the whole show by myself, pretty much, and it went well! I am excited about flying solo come Sunday night. I really need to watch "Anchorman" again...so many references come to mind now that I'm writing what goes in the teleprompter and dealing more directly with the anchors, but they don't come to mind as readily as they should. I've forgotten a lot from that movie. Time to brush up!

Well, it's past my bedtime. Merry Christmas and a Happy Halloween!

Lamp

Because I work at a news station, a lot of people ask me if this or that is like the movie Anchorman, or if we quote it all the time. And normally I will say, "No, but I'm sure that when the movie came out, they did quote it a lot at the station," or "no, it's not really like that." Occasionally I will humor the Anchorman fans and say, "Yeah, it does remind me of that a little bit."

I actually loved the movie Anchorman, and after being asked about how the rest of the station felt about the film, I asked one of the real live anchormen, who sort of made a face and said he thought the movie was pretty stupid.

Sorry I asked.

Well, the reason I thought of this subject today was because I walked into the production office and opened my email, and there sat a message from our accounting lady. The email was entitled, "Lamp." It was just a note about a lovely lamp in the front office that was up for grabs, but I immediately thought of the over-quoted phrase, "I love...lamp. I love lamp!" from Anchorman, and I couldn't help laughing out loud. Luckily no one else was in the office to hear me.

I'm actually here early because I couldn't stand being in my house any longer; the air-conditioning isn't working. It's 85 degrees outside, and 85 degrees in my house. It actually feels better outside because there's a slight breeze, which for some reason my ceiling fan can't compete with. And it's always FREEZING here at the station, so I thought I might as well go in early to get some work done since it would be a lot more comfortable here.