Musicals!

The last 12 months have been The Year of the Musical for me. I saw The Lion King on Broadway last December, Wicked at the Kennedy Center for my birthday, and last weekend I went to see Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center. I think Les Mis was the first musical I ever saw in person. They're doing a 25th anniversary tour, so I took advantage of the opportunity to see it for the third time. I'm sure my neighbors are all thrilled that I did, since I've been spending a lot of time wandering around my place singing bits of songs at the top of my lungs - connecting random lines, since I never seem to remember an entire verse intact, and switching keys as necessary to get the song within my vocal range (especially since my favorite songs are not for 1st soprano).


If you want to revel in the moment with me (or have been living under a rock for the last 25 years and don't know any Les Mis songs), here is my favorite - "On My Own", as sung at the 25th Anniversary concert. Just for fun, you can also watch Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel sing a bit of "Confrontation" (including the really, really low note!) and Idina Menzel (Wicked!) and Lea Michelle sing "I Dreamed a Dream". And then you can join me in wandering around singing Les Mis songs to the great joy of all the neighbors!

You are here

I go to FSI (aka: the National Foreign Affairs Training Center) about twice a month for Japanese Area Studies, where we get a little culture, a little history, a little current events. I think it's really interesting. When I was there last week, I noticed the site maps that have been placed around the campus. I loved them so much, I had to take a picture. 

Isn't it great! A site map that's blank. I love it! There are several ways I can think to interpret this. 1) Stating the obvious. "You are here." Why yes, I am. 2) Some sort of existential/philosophical interpretation. Am I really here? Where is here? Who am I? 3) A blank slate representing the no-man's land in which those of us at FSI exist - having left one assignment, but not yet at the next assignment. 4) They haven't gotten around to putting the maps on there yet.


I think I'm hoping for #1. Or maybe #2. 


Right next to this particular sign was a rather good coyote statue. I believe they're supposed to scare away the geese. This led an Air Force friend to joke that they (the Air Force) just have the Marines take care of the geese. And that led to all sorts of images in my head of 19-year old Marines with big guns and flame throwers and the like going after a field full of geese. Which is probably evidence of how burned out I was getting and why I decided that I needed to take most of this 3-day weekend to NOT study. I know; I'm a rebel. But I really do feel so much more energized now. I think I may actually manage to shove some more Japanese words into my head before the weekend's over! Assuming that I am here, that is.