#143 Grow a Beard

Alright, it's not the strongest beard I've ever seen, but I'm all set with it. I grew it out for Peter Pan, which ended today. It was a ton of fun, but I'm very excited to get back to my (extremely busy) music schedule. My first rehearsal back from break with the New Hampshire Master Chorale was wonderful, and it completely energized me for my upcoming concert with the kids...but I digress. This post is about beards! I feel confident that this was achieved because every student at school asks about it and calls it a beard. That's 300 people who thinks it's good enough, and that's plenty for me! I'm psyched to shave it off!

Also, I'd like to note that I started this blog on January 3rd (significant because if I want to complete everything on the list, I need to do one of these things every three days...1/3...omg!) and I've checked off nine of them. I think I'm pretty much on schedule for a win! #143 is crossed out, Melanie and Jenny stop cringing, I'm going to shave right now.

#26: Be in a Musical

This is one of the things that is more of a checkmark than a goal. I'm planning to be in a musical every January at the college near home. I love it because it has a huge cast (this year 82, not including crew/pit) and it's a ton of fun, especially because some of my students do it too. This year's musical:

Well...not the frothy delicious kind...but still good! We opened last night and have five more shows through Sunday. There is minimal singing (sad) but it's a lot of fun being a pirate. AND it helps me with my beard growing. I'll update Sunday or Monday with a picture. I hate my beard, but might keep out of spite for others who like it. Just kidding...I really hate the beard. It's going the second the show is over. #26 is done!

#142: Watch The Last Brickmaker in America

Perhaps the odd duck on the movie list, The Last Brickmaker in America is a 2001 made for TV movie starring none other than Sidney Poitier. As many things on the list, #142 needs a little background.

While student teaching I had a few vacations with the college and the school I was teaching at not line up. In these cases the college would shut down and not let students stay in the dorms or student apartments, so I went to my friends house in Rochester, New York. On one of these occasions we saw a movie on TV: Lilies in the Field. I think the channel was still on PBS from watching Lawrence Welk the night before with my friend's father, and the movie was required watching according to him. Here's a clip of the iconic final scene.

Anyway, for graduation...or a birthday? Or my recital? For some gift giving event, I got the DVD from my friend's father, and on the next gift giving occasion I got The Last Brickmaker in America.

It was the perfect snow day movie. It was all the inspiration of a made for TV movie, without any extra cheese...although if I had to give constructive criticism, it could use a little more "Amen!" Made in 2001 it was the last movie Mr. Poitier was an actor in that wasn't a documentary or he wasn't playing himself or something like that.

I'm making progress on #34, #26, #105 and #143 (while #208 seems to have fallen through, at least until next year) #142 is checked off.

#48: Write a Children's Song to use in Class

This one feels like cheating, because I had to write some songs and wasn't even thinking of the blog! I was asked to do a workshop at a Children's Arts Festival and it was called, "I've Gotta Crow!" or something like that. All the workshops today were based on the upcoming beard growing musical spectacular: Peter Pan. For this, I wrote two songs (let's just count it as one though, as they are short).

The first put "Usdasunalayi, Osiyo" ("welcome, hello" in the Cherokee language) into a greeting song as the children entered. The other was also based on Native American rhythms and used hand drums. The kids loved it, and I told them that they weren't authentic Native American songs, so everything was copacetic.

Another part of the workshop had kids write new words to the song, "I won't grow up!" If you don't know it there are probably a billion versions on youtube, as well as a really cool slower laid back version on iTunes (the third one down...don't remember the artist). My favorite one they wrote was the third grade:

I won't grow up! (I won't grow up)
I don't want to take a bath! (I don't want to take a bath)
Just to scrub behind my ears! (Just to scrub behind my ears)
And then clean out the cat box! (And then clean out the cat box)

Hilarious. #48 is checked off.

#110: Read a Short Story I've Never Read

I am having a frustrating time with my dead Italian friend. I'm reading his biography and it has entirely too much math at this point, so I decided to take a break from him. When I put down one book for another I rarely finish the first, so I didn't want to start another. As a short story enthusiast, I had a multitude of collections from different authors (Faulkner, Hemingway, Vonnegut) and chose one I haven't read since lying around on spring break in Aruba.

Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox...etc.) is highly recommended: they are light, but not fluff. I read "William and Mary" which probably doesn't have anything to do with the institution of higher learning, but I truly have no idea, knowing nothing about it.

I refuse to make this a book review blog, because I don't know how to write a review without ruining the ending, but the story was about a newly widowed woman (Mary) and her dead husband. William is a dickwad, but Mary isn't entirely endearing. William has an interesting surgery and Mary is not sure how she feels about it. It was a wonderful and welcome break from stupid math reading, and checks off #110.

#31: Sing my Favorite Hymn at Church

This was easier than I thought! A little background first...

I sing in my church choir, and although I'm not very good at going to the rehearsals, I'm pretty loyal for Sundays, especially when you consider I live 50 minutes away. Anyway, the first week of October we sing a hymn in church called "Tu has Venido a la Orilla" or "You Have Come Down to the Lakeshore" (#173 in the hymnal at my church). With a Spanish flair and lyrics like, "On the sand, I have abandoned my small boat and with you I seek other seas" and a little something about fish nets (although, I don't think it was a reference to the stockings) this was an instant hit in my mind.

Like most Sundays, I went back up to Plymouth after church to practice choir music for another ensemble that I'm in with a friend of mine. I told her about the hymn and she was familiar with it, so we sang it all day, even though we knew few of the words. It's quite catchy. You can hear a midi organ version without the words here.

She then said one of the smartest things I've ever heard about going to church. She mentioned that she wasn't particularly religious, but she greatly enjoys a community to come together one a week, sit, listen, talk with each other, sing, and just think about spreading peace. She said it a lot better than that...the way I put it sounds stupid, but you get the picture.

Anyway, the next week was a hymn sing Sunday. If you aren't familiar with the ritual, people in the congregation get to church early and sing whatever hymns they want. It's led by the pastor or choir director and people just yell out numbers. I called out #173, as the choir had taken so much time (ten minutes the previous Sunday) to learn it, and I had such fond memories, I thought it needed another go. Also, our church is in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Seems fitting to me!

The next month, the choir director was on to me, so when I requested it he said, "No! No! No! No more selections from the choir!" Luckily, it was my birthday, and people knew it, so pretty soon the entire congregation was yelling out 173! 173! It worked. We sang it. We went to the Lake shore. We wore fishnets. It was awesome.

Fast forward to this morning. I think I was absent on the December hymn sing, or at least gave it a pass to sing Christmas carols instead. Regardless, I was hankering for some Orilla. I opened up to it and guess what it said on the top: Epiphany! It's a song for the Epiphany season! And today was the Epiphany service! I pointed this out to the choir director. He groaned, but because it was Epiphany (by the way, wtf is Epiphany?) I planned on making a request. Someone else in the choir picked the first hymn and the director said, "No more from the choir!"

Heartbroken, I gave up. I'm playful, often sarcastic, and somewhat adventurous, but ultimately a rule follower. Fortunately, someone (and I wish I knew who so I could give them a hug) must have seen that it was an Epiphany song and requested, "173!" I yelled out, "Hey-oo!" and my choir buddy Carl yelled out, "Bingo!" much to the disdain of the alto section. I didn't care though, I've long known I'm a heathen, even if my church attendance record is well above average for a 24 year old.

Looks like Lakeshore has become a hit at my church. Number 31, by the grace of God, is checked off.

#157: Try 10 new recipes

Let me say first that I have many of my goals in progress. I'm currently rehearsing for a musical (#26) in which I'm a pirate. They asked me to grow out my facial hair, so I haven't shaved in almost a week (#143) and don't plan to until January 31. I'm also reading a biography (#105) on an Italian man who died a long time ago...more on that later. Unfortunately, I'm trying to base this blog on results, so when presented with a Saturday free from work and rehearsals, I decided to work on the 333.

I thought my roommate had a copy of Lord of The Rings, so I can check that off...but I couldn't find it, so I put on Dexter and started looking through a cookbook. I've been unimpressed with season three of Dexter, but have never been as in love with the show as others, so it seemed like good recipe-finding background noise. I went through my favorite cookbook first: GDL's Everyday Italian.

I highly recommend the book, it's very good...although this will be the third recipe from it that has not turned out well. Still, I'm convinced that this is because of my cooking, not because of her writing. I tried the Vodka Sauce, which I have looked at before, but never attempted as it calls for three cups of marinara. I suppose I could buy some, but was raised thinking that was a sin. I didn't have any (I rarely make it) so I looked at her recipe. I thought that it might be nice to make hers, as that's probably what she would do, and Giada can do no wrong.

I burnt the first thing that went in: garlic. She told me to let it simmer for ten minutes on medium high heat, and I did. And it turned black. Gave the sauce a "smokey" taste that some may enjoy, but I was not one of them. After the marinara cooked, I added vodka and cream to make the vodka sauce. Tasted awful. I tried smothering it with cheese, but it still tasted like burning and alcohol. Yum!

I added some sausage after plating the dish, which was a great idea, because it tasted like meat! The vodka sauce did taste like vodka...but a little too much. I took a picture with my phone, but couldn't send it, so I took a picture of my phone with my computer! The quality is oddly like the dish: disappointing.

Anyway, if you are good at cooking, give this a try. You're results will hopefully be better than mine! In the mean time, #157 is checked off.