Cheered Up

There was this one time during my sophomore year at college when I got really bummed out about something...I think it was because someone was being mean or had said something about me that wasn't nice, or something like that.

And I was sitting there all bummed out when I got a call from some my best pals...Katy, Iz, and Greg...and they whisked me away to the guys' apartment for a game of Cranium. We had an awesome night and laughed so hard, and I just kept thinking how lucky I was to have such great friends.

And what's so awesome about that memory is, I don't even remember what happened that created the need for my being cheered up in the first place. I just remember the fun night that followed and the wonderful memory of having buddies that would be so great and go to the effort to cheer me up!

I think as you get older, you appreciate your friendships so much more, because they become a little more rare and special once you're out of school. I'm so thankful for all of the friends I have, new and old, near and far away! Just thinking about them cheers me up! :)

Happy Monday!

You Too!

Brian Regan at the Long Center

Update: So...Lisa got in trouble with the copyright police for using a Van Morrison song in the original version of this video. So I had to change the music and re-post the video. Oopsie!

Last Thursday Katy, Marla, Sarah, and I went to see Brian Regan downtown at the Long Center, after I snagged some unclaimed tickets from the station. It was a blast! You can watch my video to see the whole story!



Until later!

Let's go to the movies...

...let's go see the sta-ahhh-ars!

There are lots of movies I want to see. I saw one of them today and I'll tell you about it in a minute. But first, the other ones I want to see are "Burn After Reading" and "The House Bunny." I think there are some other ones coming out soon, but I can't remember...so the list will grow. And friends, be ready to go see them with me!

OK, so I had the best day ever because one of my dearest girls, Katy, is back in town with a teaching job, and we went to church, lunch, Starbucks, and a movie today and laughed more than I probably have in a month. I love that girl like a sister! And I'm so glad she's in town so I can (hopefully) see her more often!

Now to the movie--"The Women," a remake of a 1939 film of the same title. I made sure to watch the original first so I could compare the two (if you want to see the 1939 version, you can watch it on YouTube), and I have to say the original is better (which is usually the case, isn't it?). Meg Ryan and her all-star supporting cast was great, but I felt like the story was a lot weaker than the original. Part of the reason why, I think, is because the women in the 1939 version were catty and gossipy more than they were caring and considerate of each other's feelings. The new version's women were much more sympathetic, but less entertaining. Part of what makes the old movie so fun is watching busybody Sylvie Foster get in everyone's business and make arch comments at all of her so-called friends. The 2008 Sylvie is kind of a cutthroat, business-first woman, but truly does care about her friends underneath the harsh exterior. And though I liked that the new version has Sylvie and Mary making up and working as a team to bring down Crystal Allen, I felt that they could have done a lot more with that part of the story.

Speaking of Crystal, that character was very underdeveloped and under-used in the remake. When you have someone as gorgeous and fun to watch as Eva Mendes cast in the role, you need to put her on the screen more than what they did. Joan Crawford's Crystal in the original is so villainous in the way that you just love to hate her, and I think Eva could have done the same if they would've given her the chance. The same can be said for Bette Midler's Countess, although I will say that I and the two other people in the theater who'd seen the original (they were sitting down and to the right) got a big kick out of "L'amour, l'amour..." I appreciated them keeping that and several other great lines and scenes in the screenplay.

The neat thing about this movie and the original is that you never see a man on screen the entire time. However, the way they did it in 1939 was in a way that you didn't really wonder where all the men were; you were just seeing the world from a woman's perspective, in a time when all the men went to the office all day and all the women went to spas, salons, fashion shows, and department stores all day. In the modern version, it's more like an alternate universe where men almost don't seem to exist. Part of this is probably due to bigger, wider camera shots we use now that couldn't have been achieved on some of the soundstages of 1930s Hollywood. But I felt like it was forced...even writing in a lesbian character seemed more of an excuse to put the ladies in an all-female night club than to present a more modern version of women.

Overall, I felt like most of the characters were underdeveloped, as was most of the story, and taking all the catty fun out of the script made the movie seem a little boring and slow. But Meg Ryan is a lot of fun to watch (as always) and the film has some great touching and funny moments, as well as several nods and winks to the original. Something worth seeing, but I probably won't buy it when it comes out on DVD.

OK, DAVID'S CALLING!!!! So I better wrap it up. Until later!

Who's Having the Best Week Ever?

I am!

I just spent a week without talking to Ryan, which was tough, but I reminded myself that Michelle spends half the year not being able to talk to anyone but the people on her ship. So I was very constructive and worked out every day, worked like a dog, and made some moolah, all the time with that anticipation of talking to and seeing Ryan. Don't you think that you appreciate someone so much more after you've been away from them for a time? It just helps you not take things for granted so much. Then I got to see my two best friends from the start of our freshman year at Purdue together.

I saw Katy at Scotty's; she was there with Sam and his mom and dad, after getting him moved back to Purdue. She just finished her first week teaching sophomores English! She's a real teacher! We both talked about how it's great to have our own places all to ourselves, even though the first couple nights alone are a little scary.

I had lunch with Beth today and we did a lot of catching up. She's got 6 weeks of class and then student teaching, so it'll be nice that she'll be in and out of town for the next month or so. I think she's getting to the point Katy and I were earlier during senior year; where is my life going, I'm going to be on my own, etc. The thrill of independence but also the scariness of not knowing what's coming next. Anyway, she, Katy, and I are going to try to plan a trip to my number one destination of choice: New York!

Let me back up and tell you more about where Ryan was all week. He was at Glee Club camp! They weren't allowed to have their cell phones, hence the no talking to him for the week. He came back and I had the best night listening to him tell me about camp! He's in a new specialty group, "Boiler Boys" based on "Jersey Boys," the musical about the Four Seasons. And Beth's already heard them (she went to their show at camp) and said they were great! I can't WAIT to hear Ryan sing at the Glee Club's show on Friday!

More reasons I'm having the best week ever: I now have the soundtrack to the musical version of "Legally Blonde" thanks to Beth, and it's very funny! If you're a fan of the movie, you'll love the music. Hopefully I'll get to see this in New York...hmmm! Also, High School Musical 2 came out this weekend. I actually have yet to see the entire thing, but what I've seen is cute and very catchy. What can I say, they've hit the jackpot with this franchise. I know it's a little cheesy, but it's great and it's great for kids to get into singing and dancing, and it's great material for school music departments to get kids involved. And I love it.

And now there's a possibility of my getting hired full time at the TV station! Keep your fingers crossed! I hope it works out. I'll definitely keep you posted.

Lastly, I turned 23. Nothing exciting happened except that I am now officially off my parents' health insurance. But, hey, it's a birthday! And I love birthdays! Caitlin took me to lunch on my birthday, and that was nice. And Ryan said he's going to take me shopping for stuff for my apartment. Yay!!! He knows I love my birthday, and since he had to miss it altogether due to being at camp, he said we'll get to celebrate now that he's back. And he does know how to make a girl feel special. Can't wait!

Well it's time to make some TV magic. And I don't have to go to school tomorrow! How cool is that?

Good night!

Graduating

I have sat through two commencement ceremonies a year for the past four years here at Purdue, because the Purduettes sing at the winter commencements. Here at Purdue, the ceremonies are split up because there are so many thousands of people graduating that it would be impossible to fit everyone and their parents in one ceremony at Elliott Hall, which, by the way, seats over 6,000 people. So in the winter they split it into two ceremonies, and in the spring they split it into four. Just to give you a picture. Each one is about two hours long, and there are so many people that only the graduate and doctorate degrees get their names read; everyone getting a bachelor’s or associate’s degree gets to see his name up on a screen with about ten other people as he walks across the stage. Which, don’t get me wrong, is pretty cool.

I just figured, knowing how boring and long and impersonal these things could be, it wouldn’t mean a whole lot to me.

I knew it meant a lot to my family, and hey, they knew what to expect. My mom and dad both graduated from Purdue. And if it was important to them, I’d try to make it a special day. Ryan even pointed out to me what a great accomplishment it was.

“You’re the only person I’m this close to who has ever graduated from college,” he said. “It’s a big deal.” And he was absolutely right.

It’s not like I didn’t want to go through graduation…I just wasn’t really excited about it.

Plus, it was weird; none of my Purduette classmates were graduating with me. Beth has another semester, and Laura still has more school. Meghan was going to go through graduation, but I didn’t know what section she was in, so as far as I knew, I would show up at the armory, get in line, and go through the ceremony with a bunch of strangers that I had apparently been going to school with over the last four years. It wasn’t like high school graduation, where you’re with all your friends, and all the teachers are there, and everyone knows you. I’d be lucky if the Glee Club guys, who were going to be singing onstage, would catch me as I walked by.

When my family arrived, it felt like something out of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Marla popped her head in the door to give me about a ten-second warning that everyone was here. Then in came Mom, Dad, Mamaw, and Papaw, with hugs, questions, and comments. Mamaw immediately pounced on the graduation robe I had laid out on my bed and began wishing she’d brought her steamer.

“Well, I bet we could iron it right here on the bed,” she offered. I told her no, thanks, because no one else’s was going to look any better, and from where everyone was sitting they wouldn’t be able to tell if it had wrinkles anyway. I was almost ready when they all got there, but not quite, so then I had the fun of people watching me get ready. For some reason, this is a pet peeve of mine. I think it’s because I worry that the person watching me is thinking, “Is she really going to do her hair like that?”

Finally it was time to go to the ceremony. I had to be at the armory, next door to the Hall of Music, an hour before the ceremony, and everyone else was going to go find seats. At the armory, Dad helped me put my little white collar on my robe while Mom and Mamaw corrected my placement of my cap on my head. Marla, who was taking pictures of all of this, told me I looked pissed off, and I knew my lack of excitement and slight irritation at all the nitpicky attention was coming through loud and clear. I had to at least try to act as excited as they all were.

That’s when Katy showed up.

Katy was my roommate and instant best friend our freshman year at Purdue. She was getting ready to graduate with a degree in English Education, and soon after would find out she’d been offered a teaching job in a high school near Indianapolis. She was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority and about a year ago talked Marla into rushing. Marla joined DG, and Katy took her under her wing from the very beginning, doing everything from pairing Marla with the perfect match of a Big Sis in the house to teaching Marla how to tease back her hair.

I can’t tell you how glad I was to see Katy. Just like when she showed up in our dorm room during orientation week with all of her cute dorm accessories and reminded me how fun and adventurous college life was going to be, she showed up in front of the armory asking my dad for help with her collar, since he’d figured out mine, and wanting pictures of the two of us together, and she reminded me how special it was going to be to finish this fun and adventurous time and start off on a new one of even greater significance.

Katy and I went inside and parted ways to sign in. Get this—we had to get a sticker with our names and numbers next to them so we’d know who to stand behind in alphabetical order! I felt like one of the calves at my grandma’s farm when my parents and aunt and uncle are working cattle; I might as well have had a tag in my ear. Wouldn’t that be funny? All the tags in colors to match our tassels representing our schools and degrees!

I was trying to find which line to get into when I saw standing together Ashley from the Purdue Bells in PMO, Lindsey, who used to go to my high school, and Amanda, a former Purduette classmate. The three of them were standing together and talking, and as they greeted me enthusiastically, I got the feeling that this kind of was like high school graduation…all of your classmates waiting in the gym, checking to see if someone’s cap is straight or if someone’s hair doesn’t look too goofy under the cap. I finally found my check-in line, and when I got to the front, who was there to sign me in but Colleen Williams, the academic advisor who had helped me schedule my classes every semester and who never let me completely commit academic suicide by taking on too much.

“Oh, you got your hair cut!” she said as she found my sticker and patted it onto the shoulder of my black robe. I smiled. She was like the teacher who always helped you out during high school, even if you didn’t have a class with her.

I lined up, it turned out, behind a guy I had met my first semester at Purdue. He remembered me, so it was really fun to be within speaking distance of a previous acquaintance. A few more people ahead of him stood Amanda, which was also a comfort. And after some final instructions about when and where to stand, sit, or walk, we began the ceremony.

We all paraded out of the armory and past the Hall of Music and the bell tower. Then we took a lap around the Engineering Mall as people stood outside waving and taking pictures. There was something really cool about taking this walk down sidewalks you’d hurried across so many times as a student, only this time at a leisurely pace and in a cap and gown. It made me feel the finality of walking in these places as a student for the last time. And I realized that this was the part I had never seen before when I sat through those winter commencements.

This was the special part. This was the part of the ceremony that was for me.

The rest was for Mom and Dad, Mamaw and Papaw. The speeches were great, the music was beautiful, and the university president, who knew me through Purduettes and a scholarship group I had been in as a freshman, made a point to get up out of his chair and meet me onstage as I walked across. He gave me a hug and shook my hand and asked what I would be doing after graduation, and he wished me good luck. I think it was a special ceremony weekend for him as well; he was retiring from Purdue at the end of the school year.

The two hours of commencement were gorgeous, and they meant a lot more to me than I could of imagined. But whenever I think back to the day I graduated from Purdue, it won’t be the stage full of glee clubbers, band members, faculty, and trustees that I will remember. For me, it will be that stretch of pavement between Elliott Hall and the engineering buildings, where I last walked as a student at Purdue.