Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Every Thanksgiving, the Tregeagle clan makes the long trek to the Golden State for an 'annual family trip'. This year, however, it was put off. you see, this year my aunt who lives in Flo Flo decided to come visit for Thanksgiving instead of her usual visit on for Christmas. And, since banners are raisen, parties are thrown, and multi-colored confetti are prepared weeks before she arrives, the family trip was immediatly haulted till further notice. My goodly parents scrimped and saved for us to go a month after the usual date to return a mere five days before i move to the Sunshine State.

And so our journey began Christmas Day. We woke up to re-affirming beliefs in Ole Saint Nick, went to my grandma's for family breakfast, and an hour later we hit the open road. The hours sluggishly ticked off and around 8 we were dying for some grub.-One problem, Einstines that we are we fled our home the one night that basically the entire nation is shut down. Two cities and four hours later, we wound up at getting varied edibles from a Maverick gas station. Not my choicest of quisine but the mental image of my grandmother deigning to eat a microwaved breakfast burrito was worth any incovienience.
-Las Vegas- the foul stank regret douced in booze eminates from miles away. Ok, ok, to be fair Vegas really wasn't that bad except our 'hotel room' smelt like a wet mink coat that sat in a wardrobe for 78 years.

The next day, we packed up and moved onward. When you're trying to get somewhere its remarkable how slowly time goes by. We made it to Cali with limited family feud fortunatly and decided to go for some chicken dinner from Knott's Berry Farm. My grandma decided it was too cold to sit outside on the picnick benches and, being the crafty woman she is, found an alcove where i'm sure was once used for some eccentric purpose. Oh, and it was next to the restrooms.

The next day we went to Disneyland/California Adventure and had a perfectly pleasant day until the sun went down and Jack freakin' Frost came out to say "You will never escape me, you foolish mortals!"

The following night, I got to see Wicked in L.A. Besides seeing an advance screening of Juno, it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. It was so unbeliveably brilliant that I would take Idina's tony away and give it to Eden Espinosa playing and singing Elphaba with the most talent i've ever seen in a single person.

The drive home was a toned down torture seen from '24.' Everyone wanted to be home and out of the car and we let each other know it. Ten people in a minivan screaming at each other. Sounds like an episode of a bad 90's sitcom.

But I believe Dorthy said it best. "There's no place like home"

Footloose and fancy free

So I have seen Footloose (both movie and musical) around thirty times. Ren McCormak moves to an up tight town where dancing and "loud music" are prohibited. Seriously. In Boughmont, you can't play that funky music white boy. Ren therefore decides to rebel against the town and break free of their over-protective morals. In the musical, this is brought to the light through the song "I'm Free". Ren gets nearly all the teens in the town to join his cause.

I'm gonna pause that topic. Get back to it in a bit.

Yesterday was my last day working for the groceric industry. Now, in the last two weeks I unfortunatly began liking it there. I made a few friends and while disliking what the job actually entailed, it wasn't that bad. In fact, I was about to get sad that I was leaving. Then something happened. My manager decided to let the other cashiers go home early and since I was closing I could have no such luxury. Meaning, I was the lone cashier.
And, it being the night before Christmas Eve, it got busy. And while the store is busy it's not too stressful, until you are the only cashier. I was freakin stressed trying to get all these people checked out in a timely fashion. That's when it all came rushing back to me. My complete hatred for the task I was performing. I had an hour left and I had already felt completely defeated.

When closing time finally rolled around, I counted out my till, clocked out and walked out of my groceric prison to feel the bitter winter chill. In that instant, it was like a two ton man named Clem was lifted off my shoulders. I was the Genie and Aladin just granted me freedom. And I couldn't help but shout Dean Pitchfork's suddendly poetic lyrics. I'M FREE! (ah, see what I did there?) I no longer have to say hello to a customer if they are five tiles away. I can forget the damned 'Better Basics'. No more asking if people need stamps or ice or if they'd like paper or plastic. I'm Free. And now, like the Genie in Aladin, I'm going to DISNEY WORLD!!

Favorite songs heard in '07

Now these might have been written years ago, but I had never heard them until this year. They don't go in order. It's just a happy helping of songs i loved this year.

"Sun Comes Up" by John Legend- This will definatly play at my wedding. One of the best love song I've ever heard.


"The Nicest Thing" by Kate Nash- Sung so eloquently, Nash knows what she wants.

"Scarecrow and Fungus" by Regina Spektor- Her lyrics are as addicting as her melodies.

"La Familia (Guy Sigsworth remix)" by Mirah- Provided a perky contrast of waking up after drunken sex on Grey's Anatomy. And delighted me to no end.

"Piece of Me" by Britney Spears- Her personal life may be a trainwreck but Brit still makes songs with killer beats and lyrics.

"Paperweight" by Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk- Fantastic harmonies + Air-y voices = amazing song.

"Drowning" by Missy Higgins- States my feelings on Utah for the past two months.

"The Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani- What can i say? It's a damn fun song!

"Death of Romeo and Juliet" by Logan Kendall- Played at the end of a production I was in. Perfectly tailored for the high-tech R&J.

"Keep Breathing" by Ingrid Michaelson- I have sung this repeatedly to myself when freaking out.

"Without Love" from HAIRSPRAY- Best number in the whole movie-musical.

"The Moment I Said It" by Imogen Heap- Inspired Mia Michaels to create my favorite group dance on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE?

"Teardrop" by Massive Attack- Theme of HOUSE, which i also became quickly addicted to.

"The Great Escape" by Patrick Watson- Played repeatedly on those terrible days, which seem to have happened quite often.

and finally,
"Listen Up!" by The Gossip- The only song by a band. All the oooooohs and killer beats made it an instant favorite on my iPod.

So there they be. I'm sure most of them no one has ever heard before but maybe some have. Here's to equally fantastic songs in '08!

Jealousy killed the C.A.T.

A strange thing ocurred tonight. I was/am jealous of a friendship. Ok, I know I have no right to be jealous, I mean, I haven't exactly tried my hardest to be really close with these two individuals, but I couldn't help but state in my head, "Hey she was my friend first. BACK OFF!"

Yeah, it's a little childish and stupid but I couldn't help it. When i first met the girl, i loved her! We were the same person. I really think had I maybe tried a little harder, we could've been the friendship I observed a mere hour ago.

The thing is, I've known the male counterpart of the frienship longer. Nearly three years. So I can't really hate/make-fun of/swear about him behind his back. I like him too. He is an old friend. A good friend. But Damn it! I am jealous. I can't help it. It's just like that saying, "Jealousy killed the cat". Wait. I think that was curiosity. Meh, ah well. It still applies.

Patron Saint

I believe Dwayne Hoover wrote it best:

Enemies:

1. The winter/snow/ cold weather
2. The whole damn states of Indiana and Kentucky. I need my friend back now. Ok?!

Nothing much happens...

My friend Ness and I have been having discussions of late. It's crazy how we both feel exactly like we did last year at this time. Damn winter.

I have reflected back. At this time last year, our good friends were about to move florida. I seriously could not imagine what life would be like without them here. Then more quickly than i liked they were gone and I no longer had to imagine. Now, I know that i've talked about this before, but hey, it's my blog. They left and soon everyone started to leave, more for mission purposes but they left all the same. And thus this damn city became empty. Void of the people I grew up with and was tight with.

I got off the point. I was trying to say that we were getting ready to HAVE to say goodbye. Now, we are the ones leaving and I think we are getting ready to HAVE to say goodbye again. Granted, we're more happy about it this time around, but the waiting is driving me nuts. Waiting for something good to happen is always hard though. You just want it to come sooner. It's pretty much the same waiting for bad things. You'd almost just rather get them over with. The sooner things change the sooner you can adjust. You can move on. You can start to find some new happiness with things as they currently are. But the fact that it's 37 days away? I'll go grab my straightjacket.