find me now, find me here

so today did not go as planned. remember how i was planning on waking up at a normal time and then blogging all day? yeah......no. i tried to wake up by noontime. i got up. shut off my alarm clock. put socks on. got back into bed. and fell right to sleep again. woke up at 3.

got up. made a sandwich. washed my hair. got dressed. went to the post office. i made it on time!!! left the house at 4:48 and they close at 5!!! i knew i wouldn't have time for another trip until friday. and i needed Bride Wars asap.

there was a new man working at the window! and i kind of was in love with him for a little bit. he was ruggedly handsome. i handed him my 'yellow package slip.'

HANDSOME POSTAL WORKER: How are you today?
JULIE: Good! How are you doing?
HANDSOME POSTAL WORKER: Good! Box number?
JULIE: 2057.
HANDSOME POSTAL WORKER: Twenty fifty-seven?
JULIE: ...yes!
(a moment passes)
HANDSOME POSTAL WORKER: (emerges from out back) 2-0-5-7?
JULIE: Yep.
HANDSOME POSTAL WORKER: Hm, I didn't see anything.
JULIE: It should be a Netflix.
HANDSOME POSTAL WORKER: Hm, ok.
(he goes back to the mail room)
HANDSOME POSTAL WORKER: (shouts from out back) AH HA!!! (come back out) I found it! Someone had put it on the wrong shelf. Thank you.
JULIE: Thank you very much!
HANDSOME POSTAL WORKER: Have a great afternoon!
JULIE: You too!!

it was a pleasant exchange. i hope i see him more often.

so then, as i'm pulling out of the post office parking lot, i think to myself, 'crap, i was supposed to go to the bank.' and it was quite unfortunate, because i didn't have my two checks to deposit. ah well.

i headed to the grocery store instead.

bought some lettuce. tomatoes. chicken salad. flour. brown sugar. an Honest Tea - Moroccan Mint variety. it's not as good as the mint tea from the Moroccan place in Northampton, Massachusetts. where i want to go really badly.

came home. put groceries away. looked up 'flat bread' recipes online. called kara to see what i could use for a shortening substitute. i asked, "applesauce?" she answered, "butter." and it was settled.

then i filled out my time sheet! this is always quite a process. the first time i did it, it took me roughly 45 minutes. now i've got it down to about 20ish. it's hard because i have so many half hours, quarter hours and three-quarter hours. and i have to separate my "overnight" hours from my "daytime" hours. it just takes me a while.

but! the result this time was surprising. i worked more hours overnight hours than ever before! 17!! seventeen hours in the overnight!!! that's like working in the airport lounge. that was 18 hours for two weeks. so, that's pretty good.

and in my daytime hours, i worked 48. not a record, but still good. my longest day was 13 hours. yime! i think that was the day i was in the ER until 2am.

so then i brought my time sheet downstairs. fun. saw some babies.

came back up. took a nice bath. very calming.

OH - BAD NEWS. the bed bug guys came today and they still found alive ones. IN A DIFFERENT ROOM. so, the old room with them is all better, but now there's a new infected room. SUCKS.

and one of the bed bug guys said he had never seen a bed bug as big as one of them that he found. GROSS GROSS GROSS.

i still haven't seen any up here. or, any more up here.

but, the girls told me tonight they the guys said they don't think the bugs are breeding here. they think someone keeps bringing them in. GROSS.

i guess i'll have to keep living in fear until the problem is remedied. i think the whole house needs to be sprayed.

IN GOOD NEWS! i made flat bread tonight!! it was really easy to make. although, it only came out so-so. I DIDN'T HAVE:

- shortening, so i used butter
- a rolling pin, so i used a bottle of apple cider vinegar
- a griddle, so i used a baking sheet

i also didn't measure a lot of the ingredients. and i added garlic and onion powder. i mean, it's not bad flat bread. it's pretty good. tasty. it just kind of tastes like baked dough. instead of bread.

so, i took a sturdy enough piece, cut it in half, and made it into a sandwich! with chicken salad, lettuce and tomato!! it's quite good. i'm trying to recreate the best sandwich i've ever had in my life, from Davenport's. can't quite get there. i'll have to keep trying. i love flat bread.

hm. what else about my day.

last time i went to Davenport's i had just gotten my ear pierced. crazy. it's still sore sometimes. and i heard that KERIANNE GOT HER EARS PIERCED!!!!! both of them!!!! pierced!!!!!! insane! which, i guess, brings me to my saturday and how i found this out.

ok, let's move along. (i just took a deep breath. i think i am ready to recreate this day for you.)


SATURDAY, 9 MAY, 2009


today was a big day. i had big plans. i had a ticket reserved for the world premiere of Sense and Sensibility: The Musical. this was the first big step. now, i had wanted to see this musical for two reasons, but really only one main reason.
1. i heart sense and sensibility.
2. josh young was originating the role of mr. willoughby.

reason 2 is the main reason. remember Josh Young? i remember him. i first saw him EIGHT years ago in portsmouth in Titanic: The Musical. then i saw him in A Chorus Line and Hair. all the same summer. and then i didn't see him in anything UNTIL this past fall when he performed as Marius in Les Miserables in Ogunquit, Maine.

that was a long stretch of time. in between Hair and Les Mis. but, in the meantime, i had bought his CD and written this livejournal entry, which then Josh Young and Josh Young's mother went onto read. yikes.

(if you would like to refer to my livejournal entry after seeing Josh in Les Mis this past fall, please click here.) (it was also the day before david's birthday!!)

SO. back to saturday. i had a ticket for Sense and Sensibility and was going by myself! i was scared to do this, because we've established that i hate doing news things and going new places by myself. it's like, the hardest thing in the world.

AND. i had made a deal with myself. a self-promise. i said,

JULIE: The only way I'm going to let you go to this performance is if you promise that you will go up and say hi to Josh Young afterwards.

and i promised myself. and it was done. i reserved a ticket. i made the promise.

OH, i should mention this also. the whole production was being directed by Sam Scalamoni. now, i had worked with Sam when I was in 6th grade in a production of Annie at Hackmatack Playhouse. i was too tall at the time to play an orphan, so i was a homeless person in the Hooverville scene, and a tourist in the NYC scene. (and there was one performance where me and Maria - who was also in the show - were backstage with our tourist cameras and mine totally fell apart and made the loudest CRASH on the floor. and we were laughing so hard, and we still laugh about it to this day.)

so, i knew the director of the show too. and i have a picture with him somewhere at home. so, that was a cool thing because now he's a big shot and all.

anyways - back to saturday. so, i left my house just after 10:30. i needed to stop at the post office and get gas and get dunkers. i also wanted to leave time incase i got lost.

oh! you don't know where i'm going. i was headed to Lenox, Massachusetts. which is in the Berkshires, off the Mass Pike. about 45 minutes south of Hampshire College. so, i made plans with Aliya, Elizabeth and Joe to stop in on the way back!! exciting!!!!

now, the drive down was nice. i love the drive on 91 south through Vermont. it's so pretty. and the drive through MA is nice too, because i hadn't been south of Hampshire, since going to Hampshire. it brought back some nice memories, of course.

so, i picked up the Mass Pike in Chicopee and headed west. i was SHOCKED AND THRILLED to see that i didn't have to pay when i got off!!!! i had been saving up my $1's all week knowing that i would have to pay an outrageous toll. but i didn't have to!!! that was the first sign that this was going to be a good day.

ALSO: this was my horoscope for 9 May:

Count to ten before you say anything more complicated than 'hi' today. Your brain and your mouth are a little out of sync for the moment, but they'll be back to normal by tomorrow.

reading this on friday night was making me even more nervous than i already was to say hi to Josh Young. i did think this was a pretty perfect horoscope, though.

OK.

so, i drive into Lenox. um, hello cutest most sweetest town ever! i couldn't believe it! everything was so pretty. if i remember correctly, there was a pink restaurant in town! there were lakes and flowers and sunshine and it was beautiful. who knew?!?!

i find my way to where the show is playing, in the Elayne P. Bernstein theater. there is this whole Shakespeare Company in Lenox that has this, like, huge campus. and Sense and Sensibility was playing in one of their theaters, but was being put on by the Berkshire Musical Theater Workshop.

so, i drive onto this property (which is in the middle of like, all these huge mansions) and find my way around. there's a roundabout. a lake. many buildings. but, there are signs pointing me to where i'm going. thank you, shakespeare and company.

i park in this huge muddy parking lot. and just as i'm pulling in, who else is pulling in? Sam Scalamoni. the director. hm, i think. so, we get out of our respective cars. he makes a comment to me about the muddyness of the ground. and then i basically just say to him,

JULIE: So, you're not going to remember this, but I was in Annie at Hackmatack Playhouse!

he was surprised to hear that. we talked about it a little. the cast, etc. it was a nice chat. and we walked into the theater together. and then he was bombared with people excited to see him. he did ask me what brought me to the show and i said that i was a fan of Josh Young. i think he was also surprised to hear that. but, he said that Josh was a good guy and did a great job in the show. (um, duh.)


:::sidenote::: i'm still eating that chicken salad sandwich on the flat bread i made, and i just decided that the bread is disgusting. it's just like eating chicken salad wrapped in dough. i won't be finishing it :::end sidenote:::


so, Sam and i part ways inside. he does tell me that if i would like to meet Josh Young, to just flag him down after the show and he'll introduce us.

i get my ticket from the box office. use the restroom. and then stand in line. the doors to the theater haven't opened yet, so there's a crowd of people waiting outside. it was kind of scary. i didn't have anyone to stand with. anyone to talk to. it was then where i realized, 'holy crap, i'm doing this alone.'

it's kind of like the first time you go see a movie by yourself. like, it's okay once the movie starts, because nobody talks anyways. it's just the social aspects of the outing you are missing. and it's those that are the hardest to get over. now i love going to see movies by myself. (my first "alone movie" was Crash)

so, the doors open and i find a seat. there are tons of seats reserved for important people. i choose the first "non-reserved" seat in the back row. on the 'stage right' side.

now, this show wasn't a full production. it was just a staged reading. which, i had never experienced before, so i was quite curious. the stage was empty save for chairs and water bottles. i was getting super excited because it was the world premiere! nobody else had ever seen the show before!!!!! well, not an audience.

also starring in the show was the great Todd Alan Johnson. (he doesn't have a website, but back in the fall, i stumbled across this site which asks the question, 'Does Todd Alan Johnson look like John Travolta?' it's a very in-depth site devoted to the debate. pretty hiliarious, actually.)

so, i had seen him also in Les Mis in Ogunquit! he played Javert. and i was in love with him for 1. playing Javert, because he's my fave. and 2. Stars. that song, Stars, that Javert sings. still, to this very day, i can still remember the feeling i had listening to him sing that song. chills. one of the greatest musical theater performances i've ever seen. ever. the only thing that could distract me from Josh Young that night was this guy singing. intermission conversation:

MOM: How are you liking the show?!
JULIE: I love it. Did you hear that guy sing Stars?!??
MOM: Yeah, he was good. How about Josh Young?
JULIE: Yeah....BUT JAVERT!!!!

i was very excited to see him because he was playing Col. Brandon. alan rickman! and i had been hoping the entire way down that there would be an Edward/Willoughby/Brandon song. somewhere along the lines of 'The Blame' from Titanic: The Musical and 'Agony' from Into the Woods. but, there was no such song. ah well.

SO - the show starts. Josh Young is there. it's a great show. like, a super really great show. very funny. very sweet. and the casting was outstanding. all of the actors completely looked like the characters they were playing. it was extrodinary. especially for Sir John and Mrs. Jennings and John and Fannie. and Mrs. Dashwood. oh, just everybody.

Marianne had this great song called 'Destiny' which was really sweet. about love at first sight and soul mates, etc. i love Marianne.

anyways! so, GREAT SHOW. if you ever get the chance to see it, SEE IT. funny, touching. i almost cried during the song at the end when Elinor is begging Marianne to live. and to not die of a broken heart.

during intermission i started talking with the lady next to me. she was an older lady wearing a teal jacket and a straw hat. i liked her a lot. she was somehow related to the director of the Berkshire Musical Theater Workshop, who was also playing Marianne in the show. so, we chatted a lot about the first act.

LADY NEXT TO ME: What do you think of the acting?
JULIE: Oh, I think it's incredible how much the actors look like their characters!
LADY NEXT TO ME: I agree. This casting is just incredible. Who is your favorite?
JULIE: I like Col. Brandon a lot, although I feel he hasn't really gotten a chance to express himself yet. I want him to have a song.
LADY NEXT TO ME: I agree, we'll tell them that after the show. I do wish they would speak a little clearer, but I bet they're all used to speaking with mics on.
JULIE: Yeah, that's a good point.
LADY NEXT TO ME: I do like that John Willoughby. He's really projects his voice.
JULIE: (omg she's talking about Josh Young!!) He's got a beautiful voice.

so, it was a nice conversation. and then the second act started. great! the whole show was just awesome. the music was great. they really did a good job of condensing the story. but, keeping in the good parts and not losing the overall feeling.

and even with no sets or costumes i could totally see the whole thing! that was cool. to just see the actors performing in their regular clothes.

they had handed out surveys on our chairs about the show, so i gave some good feedback. and there was a 'talk-back' after the show, which was really interesting. everyone thought that Brandon needed more stage time. and that the relationship between him and Marianne at the end needed to be expanded. i was really thinking, 'i wish col. brandon would just sing Stars already.'

and there was one comment that i really liked about Marianne and Willoughby. the lady said,

LADY COMMENTING: I wanted to see more of why Marianne loved Willoughby, rather than Elinor's disapproval of her loving him.

i was like, 'BRILLZ!!' i thought that was very insightful and well-said.

so then, the show was over. and now i had to say hi to josh young. so, i start to pack up my things and then he goes backstage.

JULIE 1: (thinking) Oh, he's so busy with all his friends. He doesn't have any time. I'll do it next time.
JULIE 2: (thinking) NO JULIE! YOU PROMISED YOURSELF! You have to do it! Just do it!!! Just DO IT!
JULIE 1: (thinking) Ok, ok. I'll fill out my survey and then catch him on his way out. (OMG)

so, i fill out my survey. i said that i wished Col. Brandon had a better song. that he's such a nice guy, but we really didn't see that until later. and we're supposed to know that he loves Marianne and that he's much more better for her than Willoughby. so, i suggested that he have a really great solo song that told the audience of his love for her, while keeping Marianne oblivious still. (again, just have him sing Stars.) he could be swearing on the stars that he will never rest until he marries Marianne. could make sense. Marianne and Jean Valjean have the same number of syllables and kind of sound the same at the end.

nevermind. i'm listening to Stars now. it couldn't make sense.
1. he never says 'Jean Valjean' so that rhyme is out.
2. the whole part with him talking about the fugitive and wanting him behind bars probably couldn't be worked into the story.

sorry. it won't work. WHAT!? why am i even talking about this?!?! ok, back.

so then, i'm at the end of my survey and just as i look up, Josh Young is walking out from backstage. i hurry again to pack my things up and walk down to the stage. he's been intercepted by other people. surely not fans of 8 years, i assume. and, i'm standing there completely freaking out. like, totally the most nervous i've ever been in my life. that's probably not true. but actually, may be true. i don't know. so, then he starts to walk away. and i somehow gather my voice and say,

JULIE: Hey Josh Young!

and he turns, and it begins. 8 years of build up, for these next 3ish minutes. i'm not going to recount our conversation. i'm pretty sure i remember what was said, i just don't remember any of it happening. but i remember him looking at me. i remember him. he remembered the blog incident*, which i brought up. i think i was insanly nervous and he probably thought i was a crazy person. he did tell he'll be back in maine this summer doing (insert tony award winning musical here). it hasn't been announced yet on his website, so i don't want to announce it here. Josh, i'll let you be the first.

*where his mother found my other gushy livejournal entry and sent him the link. and then he commented. (link to entry is above)

SO. it happened. i spoke to Josh Young. we shook hands. we walked out of the theater together. he told me to "have a safe drive" in the parking lot. it was wonderful. i wish i could remember it better. although, if i remembered it better, i'd probably want to re-do it over completely. anyways, it was perfect enough.

and as technology would have it, we are all able to experience the wonderfully talented and beautiful Josh Young courtesy of Youtube.

(actually, 'wonderfully talented' really doesn't cut it. can't find words right now to describe what an amazing performer he is.)

here we go:::publicity:::

:::Josh singing "Later" from 'A Little Night Music.' um, this is incredible. stick it out through the shakyness in the beginning, it only lasts about 19 seconds.

:::Josh singing "Maria" from 'West Side Story.' so beautiful. someone commented on the video and declared it, "the best vocal performance on youtube." agreed.

:::Josh singing "Run Away With Me". my favorite track on his CD. the most beautiful song ever. from the Kerrigan and Loudermilk musical, 'The Unauthorized Biography of Samatha Brown.'

those are the three best. if i had a video of him singing "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" from ogunquit OH MAN that would be up there. number one.

SO. moving along. i got in my car after meeting Josh Young and couldn't focus. i was able to text Aliya telling her i was on my way to Hampshire. but that was all. i seriously drove out of the parking lot and wasn't even paying any attention. it took me like, 5 minutes until i was like, "holy crap am i even going the right way!!?" i was, luckily. i was blindly driving. then i realized i needed to focus on driving. because even though Kate Winslet has won her Oscar, even though I had now met Josh Young, i still needed to live.

the drive up to Hampshire was nice. i was again, thrilled that i didn't have to pay any money to get off the Pike.

Hampshire College was as beautiful as ever. even more beautiful on this beautiful day. everything just looked better after meeting Josh Young. the world was just a better place. much like i felt after Kate won the Oscar. or, the feeling you get when you drive into Canada. it's just nicer.

i parked in Enfield and Elizabeth came running out to greet me!!!!! she was beautiful as always. saw their modmates Emily, Luke, and for a minute, Ian. and then Aliya! also gorgeous as always. sooooooo wonderful to see them. after a few minutes, Joe and Julia came in! the whole gang! minus Kerianne. but, we talked about her a lot. which is how i found out she got HER EARS PIERCED. crazyness.

they made an awesome dinner. pesto risotto with roasted red peppers, tomato and cheese salad, broccoli and cabbage salad (is this right?), and then a high-protein, gluten free chocolate torte for dessert which was delish! everything was great. it was so much fun. even managed to get in a glass of local beer! yum...?

we talked a lot about our trip to Ireland IN TWO WEEKS. did lots of online researching. which, didn't really amount to anything. just more confusion and indecision. but, it was still fun.

i could only spend about 2 hours there because i had to drive two hours back to Lebanon. and it started thundering, lightening and downpouring. i left a bit earlier because i knew i wasn't going to be driving as fast in this weather.

sad to leave. but - i'll see them next weekend for graduation!!!!!! holy crap! graduation!!!!

oh - it was terrible driving away from Hampshire. i hate it. i just want to stay there. miss it so much.

and then i returned home. still in a daze. i couldn't wait to tell Courtney about my exciting day. i basically told her:

JULIE: I just went to see the world premiere of Sense and Sensibility: The Musical!
COURTNEY: Hahahaha.
JULIE: It was great!! I love Sense and Sensibility and musicals, so this was perfect. And this actor that I really like was in it, so that was fun.
COURTNEY: Wow, sounds like a great day for you!!

ha, that's how i described Josh Young. "this actor that i really like" yeah, and then i go and gush about him forever and forever in my blog again. IF ONLY you had been there that night that i first saw him in Titanic. you would understand. it must have been the way the stars were aligned. (well, my dad was there and Josh didn't seem to have the same effect on him as he did me...) and it just means even more that it was Titanic. would i have had the same reaction had i seen him first in Les Mis? um, probably. what about Hair? um, most definitely. so, really, it doesn't matter what i see him in. he's just perfect and beautiful. and that voice....

SO, friends, that was my lovely and incredible saturday, 9 may, 2009. one for the history books.

it's almost 4am now. it's taken me a super long time to write this. but there's so much audience interaction! links galore, videos to watch! please, experience it all. just indulge me. and support Josh Young!!

i hope you all had a lovely start to the week. it's tuesday now. here's my schedule for today:

- 6:30 - 8am = work
- 12:30 - 4:30pm = staff meeting
- 4:30 - 8:30pm = babysitting newborn baby girl

should be a busy day. i might take a mom nap when baby is sleeping. i am excited to listen to those rockabye lullabyes again. i was almost going to play them tonight while i was in the living room, but then i said, "no, you are 23. save the lullabyes for when there are 2 month olds around."

ok ok!! have great tuesdays. sorry for the delay in this posting. i'm really still in airport lounge posting time.

love you! i'll talk to you again soon!!


let me be your ride outta town
let me be the place that you hide
we can make our lives on the go
run away with me

<3,
.Jacuzzi.Jacuzzi.