Good Morning Vietnam!

Ha, ha, ha. I make that my title because it is what the character Michael Scott says on The Office when he starts a speech, and we have been watching a lot of The Office lately since I am now *trumpet sounds* at Chloe's!

Been taking pictures and hanging with clients. It's a good time and I would prefer for this to be a photo post rather than words because I think that is more effective for this scenario, but I forgot my necessary technology at home and thus I cannot upload any photos today. It will have to be when I get home, probably on Sunday, which is the day after I get home.

So far this week we have achieved incredible feats: I've had very substantial breakfasts every day, I've woken up early to go work out, I worked out after working all day (which is saying something, because nobody likes to do that) and, the biggest of all, I crossed a huge bridge and lived to tell the tale.

I'm very proud of myself. I am afraid of crossing bridges, most of them, and this was no ordinary, light-traffic, five-second Collingwood bridge crossing a river or ravine: it was a very, very long bridge with lots of fast-moving traffic (including BUSES and TRUCKS which are freaky to have speed past you even when you aren't walking across a death trap) that took a long to cross and it was passing over even more traffic while simultaneously being on a mountain. The first time we went up the mountain I was panicking. I was already hot and breathless from biking uphill toward the mountain as it was, and it only got worse as we got off of our bikes and hauled them up the bridge on the WRONG effing side of the road because there is no sidewalk on the SAFE side with all this freaky traffic surrounding me and we were all close to the edge and there's cracks in the sidewalk so it must mean the bridge is falling apart and my helmet will come off and go over the edge and I will be upset and the whole world will end and the guy who is standing on the bridge looking suicidal is going to grab me and hurl the both of us over the edge and I'll die knowing my fear was entirely rational.

I actually cried a little bit crossing that bridge.

Part of me, after reaching the sweet mercy of solid earth, wanted to stop moving and sit down and cry and be scared and dwell on my frantic emotions but I'm glad we kept moving, because we had a client to see and it gave me a chance to calm down and pep talk myself and have internal solution meetings.

Fuck.

So, a feat indeed. I am still horrified at the prospect of crossing bridges, particularly that one, but somehow I know I should be glad I made it. Going back down wasn't as bad because we were biking and it was downhill so it went quickly, but the traffic was more frightening since I was closer to it and the tire is sort of warped so it looked like it was going to wiggle right off at the high speed and was scaring the crap out of me. However, I did it, and...that is a big deal.

I met three clients I didn't meet last time. One of them commissioned me to beat some songs on Rock Band because I am an all-star, one had flavoured coffee which isn't really my thing but I drank a lot of it and the other is a Chloe-described "horndog" who "likes anyone that is good-looking". I was presented this description by Chloe when I asked her if he liked me. I don't mean to make him sound bad because he is very good, but I thought I would share that tidbit with you. This is Chloe's refreshingly bright and pleasant perspective.

In other news, we are using the computers at McMaster University because Chloe has no internet, as mentioned in my "Right About Now" thing over there, and Facebook isn't working! AUUUUUUGH. This is a disaster. I was in the middle of several conversations with people I haven't seen all week and I wanted to write on the walls of those who weren't on! I would call them but I don't know when anybody is home, which is usually never, and I don't want to make them call me back long-distance just to talk when we could do it for free on Facebook. Sigh. Truly unfortunate.

Oh, and if I didn't already mention, I did audition for that musical and, what I know I haven't mentioned, is that I did get a part! Woo! So did my friends CJ and Carly! This is awesome. CJ got a really awesome part. We are doing "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and CJ is Charlie's Grandpa! Isn't that sweet? He's like the main male other than Willy Wonka, but he I think probably does even more than Willy in some aspects. I'm so happy for him. I'm Mrs Teavee, Mike Teavee's mother. She has a singing part apparently in the musical version that I don't know about at all, but that's good! Mike Teavee is the last kid to get kicked out anyway so that means more stage time. I am also super-excited! Carly plays one of the Grandmothers. I'll bet she's the grouchy one. So, success. Eventful days ahead.

And guess what else this means?

Musical mania is back, baby!

Let's start living again.

SUGAR LUMPS, BITCHES

Alright. So guess who's had a life for the past while? Callie has! And it has prevented her from blogging. Shucks, eh? Well, I won't be doing an actual, thought-out blog today, or at least not right now, because that will take longer than I have time for (my life is still existent-even as I type this). I've got a busy weekend ahead of me, which may possibly include auditioning for another musical (?).Still debating, although I have a monologue and song prepared. We shall see. CJ is, so he will probably persuade me to.

So, real blog soon to come, I hope. In the meantime I am working on lsitening to this endless playlist Sherman gave me and I am currently on song fifty of one hundred. I know it isn't actually endless, but it's very long. I like it.

I thought I'd post this video partially because it has always been a favourite FOTC song of mine, but mostly because I had a dream last night that I was in a sort of blend of some of my other dreams and a party-type setting, and among others, mostly those from the musical, Jemaine Clement was there and we were hanging out and the whole time I was trying to get him to sleep with me. Oh Jemaine is the one with the obnoxious sideburns and is strangely attractive in his unattractivenss, for those who don't know. It was very vivid, as are all of my dreams, but also very strange and hilarious now that I think of it. Ha, ha, ha. Sometimes dreams really do depict your deepest desires.

I mean...

Did I say that?

XD

Do I Seem Bulletproof?

Unfortunately I can't embed this video "by request", so here is the link to the video I wanted to post here. Watch and then come back here to read my fabulous post. Please.

La Roux-Bulletproof

I dig this song and the video is pretty neat too. I like the relatable message of the song and the lack of sex appeal she has. The boyishness demonstrates how this song is liked because of the music, not the sexy. Tres 80's. With hair like that, how can you not like her? Plus, and this is the main reason I decided to post this, don't you think she sort of resembles the guy who plays Finn on Glee? I think they look like they could be siblings. Also not just looks, but expressions, like, mannerisms. They move the same. Maybe I'm just so desperate to relate real life to Glee I will grasp at straws, but I like to think I'm not. Shh.

I wonder what La Roux's hair looks like wet.

Yes? No? Am I out to lunch?

And ha, ha! I just read a comment on that video and it is almost exactly like mine.

While searching photos of Cory Monteith the suggested search was "cory monteith shirtless". Stay classy.

I'm procrastinating. What else is new? Deadlines to meet and time to spare, you'd think I would be able to get some work done, but nope. Not Callie. Callie is good at avoiding things.

Oh ha, ha! Did I mention the cast party for Beauty and the Beast on here? I don't believe I did. Well, normally I would provide some photos for illustration but I unfortunately didn't bring my camera to that fateful night. Anyway, most people were wearing white shirts that we all decided we would write memories of the musical on during the party, myself included, and I wrote "CALLIE LIKES PARTY" on everybody. Ha ha ha! Capital letters, no punctuation. Yes, cast mates, that is how you shall forever remember Callie McIntosh. Intoxication levels shall not be mentioned. Needless to say, I quite enjoyed that party.

Ugh. I guess I'd better end this post and do some dastardly deeds. By dastardly deeds I mean not this, which is unfortunate. Compared to what I was just doing, this is hugely entertaining.

Well, I hope you ghosts had an alright Sunday. I say alright only because my own was so uninteresting and continues to be, if you can't tell. It must be uninteresting enough for me to have to write about how uninteresting it was in order to create interest, which it has done in an astonishingly satisfying way. I dedicate this post to Joe just because. I'll end today with a period--simple, straightforward, no smudges, black ink.

Thou Shall Not Want

On Facebook nowadays there are recommended pages on the right that change every time you refresh or visit a new page, such as links to your friends if you're looking a pictures of them or a fan page of something related to anything you have become a fan of in the past. Today I was looking at some of my old pictures and getting rid of the ones I needed to and I happened to glance over at my recommended pages, which, by the way, I never do because I could care less, plus I have an agenda when I'm on Facebook. Anyway, I suppose at some point I decided to "like" the page DORY, as in Dory from the most excellent Pixar animated film Finding Nemo, and on my recommended page thing it said something I sincerely was not expecting. You would suspect a related page to DORY might be the Finding Nemo fan page or maybe another cartoon, like Shrek or Wall-E or something. Nope, not on Facebook. The most closely related page to DORY they can come up with is--wait for it--Slush Puppies. Yes. Because those are the same thing. An interesting correlation, I thought. Oh, I love that goofy animated fish...hey, a Slush Puppy! Ha, ha, ha. So silly. As a note, Slush Puppies really are delicious.

In other news, as some will know, musical mania is officially over. :( I hate emoticons, in all truthfulness, but I felt that was almost entirely necessary. I'm sad! It feels kind of childish to say it like that, but it is the best way to put it. People say I should be glad to have my life back, but the musical was my life. Now I don't have one. It's strange having so much free time and not seeing my musical family for at least three hours a day. It's not easy to be yourself when you've put your entire self into something and then it's gone, but I'll get there. At least now I can get back to my soul mate (Katelyn, of course, for those who don't know) and we can go on dates and eat cheese and read together again! I'm also hugely looking forward to tanning. My legs are starting to scare me at night because they glow with whiteness.

And on a sort of but mostly not really related note, I have a horrific habit I must stop: music bingeing. I find a song I like and listen and listen and listen and listen until when I listen to it I just want to turn it off and can't listen to it again for a few months. It's awful! I'm ruining good songs for myself and it's really hard to stop. It's like a serial dater--out of one fling and into another because you feel lost if you're not in one (to clarify, I am not a serial dater). I'm a serial listener. I garner such pleasure from one tune that I pour every listening hour I have into it until I have to banish it from every play list, from which I run to the next awesome song because I don't want to have to think about what I want to listen to. Examples include that Electric Feel remix I showed on this here blog, Five Years Time by Noah and the Whale (it's been a while since that, though--I listen to that again), Love Game by Lady Gaga (I know it's awful, but so addictive!) and I think I'm doing it right now with Bad Day by Darwin Deez. Gah! It's just...I don't know. If I don't have a list of music in front of me to tell me what must come next I'll just get into a loop. A vicious, destructive, song-killing loop of torture. There are a few songs I have made myself listen to within reason despite how deeply, even passionately, I want to over-listen, Parachutes by Pearl Jam among them, so I know that I can do it. It's not the ability, it's the decision. As is the case in more serious problems, I'm sure. At any rate, I'm trying not to over-listen to the music I dig right now, so wish me luck. I shall not listen to Darwin Deez again today. I forbid myself!

Oh, but do listen to this. Catchy. I dig it. Shall not music binge. Shall not music binge.

"I am Not a Robot"-Marina and the Diamonds

A Graphic Letter

Dear Sick,

I have a few words to share with you, and if it offends you to hear, I still won't apologise because I feel strongly about this and you deserve to hear it from the horse's mouth.

You were not a part of my life until very recently. Ever since that fateful day you have been relentless, cruel and inconsiderate beyond belief. I was entirely healthy before you disturbed my peace and turned my world upside down. You took away my comfort, my sleep and most importantly my voice, which I need more than anything right now as I am in "Beauty and the Beast"--a musical which, as can be expected, requires me to perform numerous vocal feats.

Perhaps I was asking for you to come, what with my burning the candle at both ends. I was stressed--about the musical, about school, about relationships--my entire life was a mess. I was sleep-deprived, over-exerted mentally and physically and turning to no one for help. Perhaps it was my own exploitation of self that invited you in to worsen my situation tenfold. Perhaps it was my own ignorance that didn't take the necessary precautions when I should have seen it coming. Perhaps I would have become sick in any case.

Regardless of why, the fact is that you are still present and appear to have no intention of leaving. You still plague my mornings with a nasal cavity so plugged I am forced to mouth-breathe, my days with painful coughs that rattle my insides, my evenings with the practical vomiting of phlegm the size and shape of slugs and my nights with endless restlessness. I have consumed more OTC drugs than food this week and quite frankly I'm tired of tasting like medicine all the time. I can't even sleep unless I down a dollop of Buckley's (which stings my raw throat, by the way) and a side of Gravol.

The way I was coughing the other night, I think if I was any younger I would have thought I was dying. Hunched over my bedroom garbage can, eyes watering with the pain and effort, gobs of slime slowly working their way up my esophagus with every hacking, torturous cough, my ears ringing with the great lengths my jaw went to to open wider than I thought possible. It was awful.

And you are to blame.

You did this to me, you are doing this to me, and it appears that you are going to continue doing this to me. Sick, you are heartless and tyrannic! How could you prey on someone so in need of her health? I curse you. I commission you to end this. You have compromised my dignity, stolen my instrument and condemned me to watery liquids. What more do you want from me?

You know more than you let on. Force me to endure this no longer. I have worked too long and too hard to lose my voice. Please, leave me forever and always, I beg of you. You can't make things any worse.

Desperately yours,

Callie.

Jason Collett~

Isn't it bizarre how the increase of volume when listening to music brings greater enjoyment? Whenever I listen to music the volume is all over the place. For songs I don't want to hear I make it background noise, for songs I feel like listening to I turn it up loud enough to bob my head to and for songs that make me crazy I blast it so I can sing really loud with it. It's so strange! Humans are a confusing species. It isn't as if the music is different, it's just louder. But somehow, some way, our brains register a pleasure boost. Crazy.

I was looking at Eunju's book that she's reading today and it is in Korean. It's fascinating. Not so much that it's in Korean, because that is really not very exciting, particularly when it is in the hands of a Korean person. It was interesting that I couldn't read it. I have always found reading to be one of the most intriguing abilities of humans. We have made a series of symbols so powerful that when grouped properly they can make us feel and think and change and argue. Then you see another series of symbols you aren't familiar with and while those symbols have the same significane to one person that other symbols have to you, you can do nothing but perceive the lines and strokes as exactly that. Reading jsut blows my mind. I think that's why I enjoy it, and intensely. I'd have to say the most emotionally intense book I've ever read was Phantom, by whom I can't recall (and I'm too lazy to check!), which was about the life of the man who became the Phantom of the Opera. It was really unique and powerful and painful. It actually made me cry, like, sadness crying, out loud. I'm glad I didn't read that part in public.

I'm not reading anything these days, which is a stinker. I want to get another grahpic novel from the library but in order to do that I have to go to the library and for the next month I probably won't have time to read anything anyway. That is due to the musical.

I don't think I mentioned my crazy musical schedule for May on here. It consists of rehearsing almost every day for long hours. I took a leave of absence from work because of it. The only days we don't rehearse are a few days before the shows so we can rest our voices and get pumped to perform and the performances themselves. Don't expect a whole lot of blogging, by the way. Sorry. I'll do my best.

~Love is a Dirty Word. Listen to it.