In Fall 2019, my friends and I bought tickets to see The Wanderer at Paper Mill Playhouse in June 2020.
Then the pandemic happened. š«
Almost three years after purchasing those tickets and exchanging them for new tickets and a new show, we saw Hercules! The Disney film is one of my all-time favorites, so I was beyond excited to see the newly adapted stage version. To make it even better, the cast is stacked with Tony Award nominees and winners. James Monroe Inglehart as Phil was absolute perfection!
The story is a little more fleshed out and there are a few new songs. Overall, it is a fun show that I hope my makes it to Broadway after a few revisions. The first act is too long and the second act is too short. The second act also included a few changes that weakened the story.
But overall, it was a great show with fabulous music. The five muses were standouts, Meg was a more well-rounded character, and the puppetry was great! (Side note: the resurgence of puppetry on Broadway makes me happy!)
March is seriously the best sports month, which is good considering itās the longest school month. This was my set up at the end of the day as my students finished watching more of Act 2 of Romeo and Juliet. (It was the fourth time in 24 hours that I was watching the same scenes).
Rutgers lost today, but I canāt even be mad. This is the happiest Iāve ever been after a loss because the team fought like hell and almost beat Purdue for the third time this year. Itās incredibly difficult to beat any team three times, but itās even harder when that treat has a 1 in front of their name on the scoreboard.
And now we wait. Hopefully Rutgers is in a solid position to get a bid on Sunday, but Iāll be sweating until I see their name called!
What a win for Rutgers today! The Big Ten tournament started for Rutgers today with a noon game. I had my seniors during that period, and many of them are fans, so they asked if we could watch the game. I obviously obliged. It made for an interesting Socratic Seminar!
Luckily, I was off after 1:11pm, so I got to watch most of the second half live. What a win, baby! After some brutal losses, this was much needed.
Taylor Swiftās tour starts this month and I still donāt have tickets. I was waitlisted, so I had no chance at initial ticket sales. the secondary marker isā¦.š« .
But there is an amazing fan-run Twitter account verifying and posting tickets fans are selling at face value. They are doing the Lordās work! Unfortunately, NJ/Philly tickets never come up. š When they do, they are always floor/lower bowl and too expensive for me. I actually did the math to see if it was cheaper to fly to another city for the concert.
A few minutes ago the account posted a pair of MetLife tickets for $250. I DMed immediately but didnāt get them. Ughā¦the struggle continues.
How does today, Tuesday, feel like Friday? Or maybe Iām just Friday tired? Thatās not good on day 2 of the week!
We woke up to a dusting of heavy wet snow. It was 50Ā° yesterday, so it was a bit of a surprise! It quickly melted, though. By the time I went upstairs at lunch it looked like it had never snowed. Sounds like we could get some more snow this weekend which would be great. We have had no snow this winter and I hate that. Maybe a storm or two in March will break up the longest month of the school year.
This is going to be a random post because I am exhausted. I know itās only Monday, but it feels like it should be Thursday. š„š„±š¤
Last night Rutgers played an awful game. Looking for bright spots after the last few brutal, horrific RU losses I reminded myself that I have high school students who are fans of Rutgers basketball today. They are just as mad as I am this week, and 10 years ago none of my kids gave RU basketball a second thought. Twenty years ago I would have signed up for heartbreak like this without a second thought!
My freshmen are studying Romeo and Juliet, so we are watching the best adaptation ever (the Claire Danes/Leonardo DiCaprio one, obviously). Last week, as we discussed Romeo and Juliet, I referred to Romeo as emo and my kids could not believe I knew what āemoā meant. If they only knew.
And then today I couldnāt stop laughing when one kid turned to me and said, āYoung Leonardo DiCaprio looks like heās in a boy bandā. I had to explain that was a whole look in the 90s š
Today Kells decided, āSleep is for chumps!ā (to quote Chris). She woke up before 5:30am. She refused to nap while I tutored from 9-12:30. Not only did she refuse to sleep, but she decided to bark instead. At one point she sat on my lap while I tutored until she decided to chew the iPad cord.
Did you know puppies should sleep most of the day? Iām talking 18 hours of sleep, minimum! Unfortunately, I think she was overtired. Iām certainly overtired at this point!
The good dog
Navan would really like Kells to relax and sleep today.
Kells has had a very busy day of socializing so far! The HTHS roboticsteams are competing in the state tournament at Bell Works, the old Bell Labs. Bell Works is now a thriving metroburb (as they call it) with a dog-friendly mall on the first floor. I brought Kells over and it was awesome.
She saw fountains, strollers, people playing basketball, a dance class, and much more. So many people stopped to pet, and we practiced a little bit of obedience with distractions. Then we snuck downstairs to the competition where a bunch of HTHS students got to meet her. It was a great!
Before leaving, I grabbed some coffee at the coffee shop where the manager even asked to pet Kells. Sheās pretty exhausted now!
Iām currently being held hostage by a 3.5 month old puppy. Itās 9:00pm and she has decided to be full of zoomies, which includes lots of nipping and barking. As a result, sheās relegated to the mudroom where she can chew to her heartās content. Meanwhile, Iāve got puppy calming music playing on the HomePod to help her start settling down and Iām buried up on the dog couch. Much like a little kid, an overtired puppy is a crazy puppy. š¤Ŗ
Iām hopeful she will tire herself out soon and lay down. If not, I will have to enforce bedtime.
Itās not looking like sheās feeling tired yet.
My life is currently controlled by a tiny tornado. Kells is a 3.5 month old Energizer bunny ( aka Australian Shepherd) who loves walks, playing, and eating. She keeps us on a strict schedule, so I rush home after school to let her out, feed, her lunch, and head out for a walk.
Today we walked at the county fairgrounds because I knew it would offer some new scents for this still-learning-and-growing girl. It delivered, but not in the way I planned!
For some reason, Navan decided to be the terror today. He found something in the grass and proceeded to roll in it.
And roll in it.
And then he rolled some more.
I assumed it was just goose poop, but as soon as he started walking next to me I was walloped with an awful smell.
And we still had to drive home. Needless to say, it was a long and smelly drive home. š¤®
Needless to say, Navan was not pleased when he had to suffer the consequences (a bath) of his actions (rolling in poop).
RT @LaneyHawes: Hey book loving Twitter, buckle up for a wild ride, Iām about to share with you some of the challenges & complaints my schoā¦ 2 hours ago
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The Reading Zone 