Most of my entries are friends locked, primarily to prevent RL friends from seeing them. If you want to add me, please do! I love to meet new people~ However, be warned that the vast majority of entries are about musicals (Austrian, Hungarian, Broadway, Spanish), my own pathetic life, or books. I also have an ungodly obsession with anything related to Kunze/Levay.

My musical trading/sharing list should be one entry below this. If you want anything, let me know!

This is my list of musical videos/recordings that I'm willing to trade with/send to anyone. I mainly deal with foreign musicals, particularly those from France, Austria, Germany, Japan and Hungary. However, I like pretty much anything and even have some Broadway, Russian, and Polish musicals sprinkled in here and there.

I don't have any trade rules. Leave me a comment and we'll figure something out ^^

Complete Listing of Musical Audios and Videos

So, I totally stole this meme from _pseudonym. However, I'm heavily addicted to my ipod so I just had to do it:

Name the top twenty albums or artists that your iPod (or other mp3 player of choice) simply cannot be without. Then, tag twenty people to do the same (or less if you choose)

My favorite albums are:
1)Side Show (OBC)
My favorite musical of all time. I can't live without this soundtrack. My CD is all scratched up from my abusing it over the past ten years. Thank goodness for mp3s!
2) Cirque du Soleil - Alegria (sad memories ;_;)
3) Les Cowboys Fringants - Break Syndical
4) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
5) Elisabeth (all versions)
6) Les Tetes Raides - Gratte Poil (if only for l'identitie)
7) Oyster Band - Holy Bandits
8) Matmatah - La Ouache
9) Shakira - Laundry Service (DON'T JUDGE ME)
10) Le Roi Soleil (OST)
11) Les Kitchs (Little known, now disbanded French folk group. Awesome music)
12) Loreena McKennitt - Live in Paris and London
13) The Beatles - Love
14) Moist - Mercedes Five and Dime
15) Christophe Mae - Mon Paradis
16) Rebecca (Complete Live Recording)
17) Rob Thomas - Something to Be
18) Altar Boyz (OOBC)
Fluff, but I love it!
19) Bare OST (*sniff*)
20) Sunset Boulevard (LA Cast)
I know people hate this musical, but I've been in love with Alan Campbell's voice since I first heard it as a child.

Somebody showed me this yesterday, and it completely blew my mind.

I wish I got that much in grant money ;_; Even 1/4 pound bag would be just fine.

( M&Ms - Survival of the Fittest )

Preparing for the tutorial today. I thought I would get lots of work done this morning, but it's already time for me to trek up to North Campus Building. I still have to finish marking, staple and have a shower.

We're doing genealogies in one of my courses, and I've been having fun trying to trace my ancestry. It's hard to do it via the internet, however, because the last names of my grandparents are 'Edwards' and 'Fritz'. Not rare names, surely.

However, I accidentally came across Robespierre's genealogy a few moments ago. I can't believe that they were able to trace him through 18 generations! That's well over 400 years, I think.

There's been a huge conflict recently over the NIH GWAS databases. In September, a group found a way to detect individuals in complex mixtures using only SNPs.

Suddenly, the genetic community is getting nervous. Why? Because this apparently extends to databases. If your sequence is contained in a medically sensitive directory, a person can determine whether you are there are not if they have your genome sequence.

Similarly, there is the worry that law enforcement officers will move past crime database, and scour medical databases for possible perpetrators.

When I first heard about these issues, I sort of scoffed at them. However, the amount of discourse that they've opened up is astounding. I don't think anybody expected that these debates would explode so quickly.

It's snowing. I don't want to leave the house today >_

I don't think anybody will know the answer to this (although I know some people on my list were in New York recently), but I can't find it via google and I really want to know because I'm SUPER cheap.

Regarding the Broadway Student Rush in New York, it says that you have to present a student card to get the 20$ prices. . .

Does that only include New York student cards, or would Canadian (or ISIC) student cards work as well?

So few shows have 'Anyone Rushes' right now ;_; But the seats aren't filling up lately, so there are probably lots of student rush tickets available.

On Saturday, I went to go see Joe Cummings speak. He is one of the former hosts of the Arts Report on CBC, and has just released a book on poetry. I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the seminar was, but he discussed the 'writing process' and tried to give the audience an appreciation of poetry. He also covered a brief history of poetry through time, and pointed out that it was never a particularly revered profession (although more respected in the past than present).

I've never had much love for poetry (except for The Highwayman ♥), and have not done any personal creative writing since high school (horribly weepy Mary-Sue stories, at that). However, the talk was fascinating. I guess I understand a bit more the reason why people write creatively.

This link just appeared on one my livejournal communities. Apparently, an undergraduate student was sent to a mental institution because he wrote a very dark short story in a creative writing class.

I think it's really hard to know what to do in situations like this. Creative writing can mean so many things. It can be a fictional story, or a reflection on reality. This student was found with guns (although they turned out to be meaningless/harmless). However, the kid from Virginia Tech also had his writing brought to authorities (and ignored) many times.

Freedom of speech is scary. I don't know where I stand 0_o

My graveyard/martini buddy is leaving for Thailand next week. It sounds like an awesome trip and there's so much to do there. I'm JEALOUS! For some reason, though, I've lost any desire to travel this summer. The more I hear about next year, the more scary it seems. It's nice to take a couple months off for myself. I also thought that this summer would be very very very boring. However, there's enough going on in London that time is flying by. I can't believe 1.5 months are already gone!

Spent the morning downtown cruising the used bookstores. My obsession with mystery novels is growing. Kathy Reichs is such a fantastic author.

Been playing a bit of Persona 3 lately. If I can't actually go to school/study during the summer, then by God, I'll do it virtually.

Alright. . . I'm probably the only person who watches Desperate Housewives but. . .

OH MY GOD

That was like. . the best season finale ever. There were rumours that they were going to do that, but I didn't think they were true.

What the hell happened to Mike?

And why is Susan kissing Gale Harold!?!?!?!? He looked really familiar and at first I thought it was Ashton Kutcher. But OUCH!

All of my favorite childhood actors are slowly moving to DH.

Andrew looks so handsome in a suit ♥

Edit - WAH! He's going to be recurring. Does that mean the series now takes place in the future ?_?

Just got back from another morning shopping trip. I find that I'm spending my money on nothing but food lately. I haven't bought a single article of summer clothing yet, and feel like I'm in a complete rut. I'm at that age where I no longer have a style. I want to dress professionally, but most of the skirts and blazers are horribly ill-fitting on me. I'm just so sick of denim ;_;

I also find myself ostensibly avoiding The Bay lately. I've got to get over this. Especially when I have the tendency to force others to walk to the opposite side of the mall.

( Medical School Tangent )

Avenue Q is going to be in Toronto from July 29 to August 30. I can't wait ♥ I've been looking forward to this for awhile.

I've been marathoning Ugly Betty episodes lately. And by marathoning, I mean watching one episode a night (which might help explain why, after my three month X-Files marathon, I'm still on season three. . . I just can't stare at a TV or computer for more than an hour at a time). I absolutely LOVE Ugly Betty. The characters are so fantastically catty and the plot is deliciously unpredictable. Santos' death really affected me a lot, and I love the Daniel/Alex(is) interaction. I thought I was a Henry fan (especially after that Grubstick speech) but I also adore Gio.

I was cruising afterelton.com yesterday morning (yes, yes, shut up) and came across the description of a new play on Broadway called Good Boys and True. It actually sounds really really interesting. According to afterleton: The show is set at an all-boys prep school and begins with the discovery of a graphic sex tape of an unidentifiable boy assaulting a girl. Brandon, the school's top student and star athlete, is implicated as the attacker. Brandon protests his innocence, but as the mystery unravels what comes to light is Brandon's secret gay relationship with a fellow student. WANNA SEE!

I've been raking through the Archaeological Fieldwork Index lately. There's still a chance I might head out on a dig this summer. There are some open in France and there is an interesting Nenanna Complex one in Alaska. I also have a couple resumes floating around for Ontario digs. I secretly have no desire to work this summer, but I'd grab any opportunity to get more fieldwork experience (even though I will have no need for it in the future ;_; By taking a molecular anthropology masters, I've more or less given up any chance of being an archaeologist).

Bought some more books at Chapters this morning! I'm really into mysteries lately, so I grabbed Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile. I also picked up a book called Sky Burial because it was cheap and looked interesting. It's supposedly a biography about a women who spends her life with nomads in Tibet after her husband was killed. Also got The Murder Files because I'm in a morbid mood right now. It's about interesting murders throughout history.

Faa. I had no reason to write any of this. I just needed a break. And now, I'm off to buy shoes and booze. Well, definitely booze. I probably won't find any shoes today either ;_; Busy weekend ahead!

P.S. - This is the best X-Files rewatch blog ever. Primarily because I never noticed Tooms' bubble-butt until I read it, but also because of the heavy breathing ♥9

Bah. I haven't been in a very good mood lately. Whenever I'm home alone for more than two or three hours I get this insanely horrible 'lazy' feeling. I hope this goes away once the weather gets nicer. I just feel so mopey, melancholy and dissatisfied lately. I really don't know what to do with my life right now.

Maybe I just miss the feeling of stress and the all-nighters that come during the school year. I never want to graduate from school. After my Ph.D, I'm SO going for my M.D. <--- semi-serious.

Mother's Day this past weekend. I took my mother to Coras for breakfast and then on the Shunpiker tour. As always, the tour was crowded with elderly people and the stops were quite dull. So we ended up going to a bunch of monuments and historical sites instead. I'm amazed how much history there is around this town and I love wandering through the old graveyards here and I think I'm going to contribute to the Canadian Cemetery Project this year as a photographer. A couple of weeks ago, there was a reenactment of the 'Battle of Longwoods' so it was kind of surprising to see the number of wreaths surrounding the monument where the battle took place (it was quite a distance from the reenactment). I guess people never forget these things. I took a picture because I'm nerdy like that.

The official XF2 trailer was released last night at 12:00am PST and. . . it's horrible! It's more or less the same thing that screened at Wondercon with the cool parts (running from the helicopter) removed. The only good things were seeing Callum Keith Rennie during an autopsy, and Mulder's "I need you on this" paralleling his "I need you on this" from the XF1 trailer. Bah. This whole week has been disappointing for XF2 news. A couple days ago, fake therapy sessions for Mulder and Scully were released that led fans to believe that they had been spending the last six years apart. However, they turned out to have been ad-libbed by Gillian and David during one of the script readings, so they could mean anything. I really have no idea what I want out of this movie. I think it would be awesome if they went in different directions after that hotel room in New Mexico, but I kind of don't want them separated either ;_;

In terms of movies and television, this really is a year for the 1980s kids. Everything from my childhood is getting a sequel: 90210, X-Files, Sex and the City, Speed Racer (yargh), Batman, Indiana Jones, etc. Yay?!?

Just finished reading 'The Birth House' by Ami McKay. I'm really not too fond of books such as this. Maybe it's because I've had too much experience in the sciences. However, although I see value in practices such as midwifery, I find the author gives them a BIT too much credit. Also finished 'Bridget Jone's Diary' last week. It was. . .a bit disappointing? I didn't like the writing style.

I guess I should start cleaning. I just want this lethargic feeling to go away ;_;

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD

E-mail of doom has just appeared in my inbox, just like it did three years ago.

If I reply in the next 10 minutes, I'll be given a job in Quebec. Full-time, 3.5 months, about 10$ an hour.

WHAT DO I DO?!?!?

And I have to leave for my lunch meeting by 12:30. Can't decide, can't decide, can't decide.

I know this is a double-post. . .but EGAD.

Edit - I SORT of need to stay home and clean this summer, but surely I'll be bored by July and August? The positions also start on May 12th, so I'd have like. . .no time to prepare.

Edit 2 - Surprisingly enough, I'll probably reject. I have SO much work to do this summer and hardly any time to do it. As much as I love Quebec, I'll also be working through the summer next year and could do without stress for awhile. I hate getting offered positions that I want, but can't accept.

Edit 3 - Rejected. However, is it wrong that while considering this, the first thought that came into my head was "Well, if I go to Quebec instead of France at least I'll get to see XF2 on its release date. . ." I feel dorky.

YES YES YES! My grades just came in and they were 100x better than I thought! I didn't get a single 70, and I got three 90s!

I thought I'd get a 70 in Paleoepidemiology (80), Seminar (85) and Lab (90!) so I'm thrilled right now.

Life is good. My overall average is also not as bad as I thought (87) so I really can't complain about anything.

I also got a 91 in Sociocultural Anthropology. So unexpected, because that has continuously been my weak point over the years.

I'm just SO happy right now, and it feels like a lot of stress has just drifted away.

I have absolutely no reason to be writing a LJ entry right now. However, my feet are hurting something fierce and I haven't built up the energy to move just yet. I still need to go to 7-11 to get something to drink and clean the house because we can put out an unlimited number of garbage bags tomorrow.

I spent most of the afternoon volunteering at the book sale and it was quite fun. The visitors today were really chatty, and I have about 30,000 book recommendations that I have to go through. The lady who I was working with today is a huge fan of forensic anthropology-based books, and gave me the names of many many many authors.

One thing that was surprising, was that a lot of children wanted to stop and look at the books. However, their parents quickly ushered them away. I understand that some parents are quite busy, but a lot were waiting for other family members (we were near a seating area). I think that if children are interested in reading, that love should be fostered and not put aside. The children's books also only cost a quarter. Surely that isn't too much? Fortunately, there were other parents who were quite enthusiastic. One woman bought her daughter about 40 different 25 cent books.

William's Coffee Pub for dinner. Much better than I thought. I got this Chipotle Turkey/Bacon panini, and it came with the cutest mini salad. I also gulped down a Cappuccino and am madly craving more coffee right now. Once I start. . .

Tomorrow, I'm meeting a friend for lunch who is also packing up for the University of Toronto next year. I'm surprised how many people I know will also be in the vicinity. Unfortunately, the medical school is quite difficult to get into there so most of the genetics students will be staying in London. It makes me wish I had socialized more with the anthropology students this year >_<

Grades go online tomorrow. I AM SO SO SCARED! I didn't do nearly as well this year as I did in previous years. It's because I chose a set of courses that I'm incredibly bad at (sociocultural anthropology, seminar, laboratory) but I still feel really stupid and bad. I KNOW I've got at least one 70, and I feel so ashamed. If I get all 80s, it will be by shear luck and I doubt it will happen.

I think I'm finally going to get up, and get to work. It's just so hard >_

I HATE MY ESSAY

I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT. I didn't do enough pre-research so it's really bland and made up. I have no idea how to make it better in 1.5 days. I still have page to write, too. I've decided to pull an all-nighter even though I'm not sure what to do. Read more articles and try to incorporate them? Rewrite everything?

ARGH. I hate this topic.

HATE

HATE

I'm getting drunk on Tuesday night >_< Oh, wait. I can't because we have a freaking NINE HOUR LAB on Wednesday: 8:30am to 5:30pm. We only get an hour break too.

Edit - Heh. 'Bambi' and 'Fox'. I just got why they used first names. Yes, I'm slow. I WAS TOO BUSY ANGSTING OVER THE ENIGMATIC ONE. Yes, I'm also obsessive.

Ack! These past few days have been insanely stress. I had my first graduate school application due today, and it seemed as though things kept going wrong.

- My transcripts didn't come when they were supposed to
- My formal application got diverted
- I was worried one of my references wouldn't get to it.
- I had nobody to go over it with me (and didn't want to bother Marie at 1 am)

Fortunately, it all came through in the end. The documents all found their way to the right place (the morning of the due date!), the reference letter went in, and the ever-wonderful oroboros7 spent the entire night (err. . day) going over it with me. I feel very lucky right now ^^ I spent at least 3 hours sobbing yesterday, though.

I still have tiny bit of work to do, and then it's over. I think having no exams is more stressful than having 5. At least with studying, you have complete control over the situation. I've felt lately, that so much of this graduate school stuff is out of my hands. I hate asking people for references and I hate having to leave the delivery of transcripts up to the courier.

Sweeney Todd CD was leaked *laughs* The Broadway communities are horrible with leaking files early. Alas, I'm still going to buy it for my mother because she has an ungodly obsession with Johnny Depp. I found the CD INSANELY painful to listen to. However, the movie has been getting rave reviews so I suppose the combination of music and picture is better than the music alone. As well, I haven't listened to much yet. Only Epiphany and A Little Priest.

The books I bought two weeks ago arrived: Broadway Nights, Spring's Awakening and Not Since Carrie.

Seth Rudetsky's book, Broadway Nights, is absolutely delightful. I never thought I would enjoy it this much. It was published in 2007, so it is really up to date and is the wittiest thing I've read in a long time. The book is supposed to be fiction, I think, but he sways into reality so often that I have trouble differentiating the two. His main character (despite being in his 30s and male) is the most relatable character I've read in a LONG time. I make a lot of the same faux-pas that he does. I made the mistake of bringing this on the bus the other day, and embarassed myself by laughing a few times.

Spring's Awakening is quite beautiful as well. I like it better than the Broadway play. It's got a lot of memorable lines. However, the ending is SO different from the musical. Am I the only one that thinks the 'Man in the Mask' is Melchior, himself? Most people think it's the author or 'life'.

There are six productions of bare being performed this year. I am happy.

Yesterday was the German Christmas Festival in Kitchener, Ontario. I always loved going to the German Festivals when I was younger because of the music, goodies, and best of all, FOOD!

Apple Fritters, Plum Cake, Potato Pancakes, Sausages and Sauerkraut, Pretzels, Spicy Wine, Waffles, Pulled Pork, Schnitzel on a Bun. . . YUM!


Potato Pancakes with Applesauce

( More German Food Pictures~~ )

There was an interesting television staging of two of the songs from the German version of Wicked. I was really surprised when I saw it. I've always disliked Wicked, for some reason. I don't know why, but there was just something really really irritating about it. The songs were too pop-friendly and it was just boring. However, I really like what the German version did with the staging. It has become a lot more classical and serious. The girl playing Elphaba is AMAZING.

( German Wicked Clip )

My christmas break has officially started! YAY!

No exams this year, but for some odd reason I really miss the feeling of studying at 3am. I love school, and it scares me that I'll be done my undergraduate degree in only four months. I really hope I get into graduate school, but if I don't there are so many more options. I'm happy with the degree I've chosen because it lets me travel and go on archaeological digs and work in laboratories.

I'll never be able to settle for a normal job, I think ^^;;

I've started to plan my summer for next year, but have come up completely dry. There's too much that I want to do! Montreal, Vancouver, France, Greece, Turkey and the US all have very interesting internship positions. Madagascar is out, though; I didn't apply because I would have had to postpone my graduation.

Cry-Baby is about half-way through previews (I think?) and is still yielding excellent reviews. I really hope James Snyder manages to pick upa Tony award in something this year. He's an amazing actor and seems to do everything whole heartedly. I find it cute that he checks his IMDB page :p Everybody who knew him or went to school with him keeps saying that he's 'down to earth'

Spring Awakening was nominated for a Grammy.

Went to see Enchanted this week. It was cute, but not as good as I was expecting. I wasn't too fond of the animation style when it was used. Amy Adams fit the role well, at least.

And so much is happening in Austria, I can't keep up:

- New Elisabeth box-set being released this month. It has lots of bonuses, but it's just a re-release of the 2005 Vienna cast. I would have preferred to see one of the performances from Japan.

- Lukas Perman will be playing a minor role in 'My Fair Lady' >_< It fits! Really it does!

I know I've been posting too many entries lately, but it was just announced:

THE LOCAL ONE STRIKE IS OVER!

I know at least 3 people who ought to be thrilled.

It's still only a tentative agreement, but most of the old favorites will be opening tomorrow. YAY?!?

@#$%@#$. SO much money is being lost through this strike. The equity actors are still getting paid, at least.

Presentation today went decently. Better than my genetics presentation at least. I rather like the environment in my Human Evolution Class more than in the Genetics Seminar Class. There were only ten people there today, so the presentations felt a lot more interpersonal. I spoke a bit sporadically though.

Didn't ask for a reference ^^;; I'm going in tomorrow to do it. E-mailing my other possible referees tonight. I have three options, but only need two, so hopefully it will work out (even at this late date!). Writing my Graduate School statement of intent on Saturday. FEAR!

Situations like this really scare me. I love traveling, and have chosen my career and area of study because it gives me a lot of chances to explore different regions of the world. However, reading stories like this kind of makes you realize how difficult it is to be politically and socially conscious in different places, and how easy cultural misunderstandings can occur. If I don't get into graduate school next year, a part of me wants to teach in the North of Canada. However, it is apparently a very scary and rough environment with a different set of cultural expectations.

My archaeological field school is officially over. I rather miss it. I have two essays due Friday (quite small ones) for the class but I really want to get back out into the field. Difficult during the winter, I know.

We finally found out why no professors showed up for yesterday's genetics seminar presentations. . . Dr. Krishna was called out suddenly on a trip and asked another teacher to substitute. This other person FORGOT. Marie, Robyn, and Michael now have to go next Monday. It also means I have class next Monday when I normally would have had the day off. ARGH.

EDIT: ACK! I just realized I completely missed the Christmas celebrations at the archaeological museum this Sunday. They were supposed to have tons of delicious foods and crafts. I think we were told there would be like. . . 10 different free colonial dishes there! I missed the 'lighting of the lights' at Victoria Park too. At least the downtown Christmas celebrations are still on.

Well, it it seems as everything may sort itself out by December. At 11pm, The League and Local One have announced that they are close to an agreement. The strike may be over as early as tommorow.. I'm rather curious about the details of the agreement that will be reached though.

So. . . no San Diego for me!

I've spent the day working on my Human Evolution seminar. The topic I've chosen is extremely difficult. I'm basically arguing that after bipedal locomotor skills evolved, they diversified to produce a number of different locomotor types. This, by itself, is rather interesting. However , I'm having trouble sorting the data into a coherent presentation. I NEED TO DO WELL ON THIS!

Looking back, fourth year has been a bit of a joke. I'm sitting at 100% in two of my classes. One of my classes is a guaranteed 90%. Another class I bombed, but am still guaranteed a 90% (provided I do well on the essay). It's odd; I always thought fourth year would be insanely difficult but it seems that the professors are more reluctant to give bad marks at this level.

I don't want to go to my genetics class tommorow, but Marie is giving her seminar so I think I have to. She'll get a 90%, for sure <----- mildly jealous.

I'm really in the mood for clothes shopping lately. Each day in Genetics and Anthropology, the girls have been doing mail order shopping. I almost ordered a pair of boots last Thursday off somebody's account *blushing*. They were red and leather and high-heeled, likethe boots Sarah wears in TdV. Going through the GAP catalogue, I see SO many things I want. I think the SA GAP advertisement was a bad influencce.

Cry-Baby has been getting excellent reviews, and is already slated to win a Tony. I'm so happy! I adore James Snyder (probably because he almost ALWAYS plays the cultured 'good-guy' role).

Well, enough procrastinating! Off to work. . .