Anything Can Happen If You Let It

As some (or most) of you know, Joanna and I are really into musicals. Sometimes the music from Broadway musicals is much more intricate than some of the drivel that is in the music world today. That's not to say that today's music is terrible. There are plenty of new artists out there that I really enjoy. But this blog post is not about Pop and Rock music, it's about Broadway.

Mary Poppins, The Musical, opened last night in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson Theatre. Joanna had already seen the show in New York last year, but I wanted to see it and she was more than willing to see it again. However, when tickets were first announced, we were never able to get tickets on a day that we could go - or even in a section that would be somewhat decent - so we sort of gave up hope that we would be able to go.

Lucikly, Joanna has figured out the whole system of ticket lots. It seems that most theatres will open up the "good" seats just before opening night. Joanna - on an unknown whim - decided to check the tickets for opening night and found two (next to each other, even) and purchased them. I got a call at work after lunch from Joanna asking if I wanted to go, of course, I jumped at the opportunity.

We drove out after work, filled with excitement to see a show that I already knew the music from (Joanna had gotten the CD last Christmas and I have listenened to it constantly). Our excitement quickly faded as we ran into traffic. And not just a little bit of traffic, but a TON of traffic. This traffic was being forced from four lanes into two. Ridiculous. It took us an hour to get from the 57 Freeway to West Covina (a trip that would normally take about ten minutes or less).

Eventually, we made our way to the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles and went inside. I can tell you that the music is only one half of the experience. when we got there we discovered just how good the seats were. Can we say, second row? Yes, the seats were on the right hand side, but we didn't miss out on much. We got to see everything from their facial expressions to their heavy breathing after a physically demanding number.

The visuals that are created by the designers and production staff make up another part and the performers make up the rest. It was nice to have the original Mary Poppins and Bert from the Broadway version because it seemed like they were giving it their best all night.

And now, a note on the title of this blog. There is a song toward the end of the musical that mentions, "Anything can happen if you let it". I decided to think more on that song in regards to the story that I am hoping to have published (see previous blog entry). I'm going to keep querying agents (I have found two more) and if it works out great, but I'm not going to let the NEED to publish outweigh the DESIRE to just keep enjoying writing. I'm not going to let the BUSINESS of writing get in the way of actually writing.

So, to use another phrase from Mary Poppins:

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Rejection Is Part of the Territory

Week One of National Novel Writing Month is complete and according to my word count, I'm just a little behind. Well, not a little. More like 2000 words. That's okay. For some reason, this year, I'm not as concerned to complete the story. Yes, I would be glad to finish the 50,000 words just for the accomplishment alone, but this year, I am simply writing to keep writing.

Yesterday I decided that my story that I wrote for last year's NaNoWriMo was ready to be published. Of course, I want it published by a real publisher, so I need an agent before I can really get to a publisher (it's apparently easier for someone the publisher knows to bring a manuscript instead of just little ol' me).

My first choice was Nathan Bransford, an agent working for Curtis Brown, Ltd. He's based in San Francisco, but travels to New York quite often. I wrote a Query Letter (which is standard for agents) and sent him several pages from my story. Unfortunately, he felt he was not the proper agent to represent the story.

I used to think that being rejected by a publisher/agent would be the end of the world. I consider myself a great writer as you have witnessed on this blog (yes, that was a little joke). But all joking aside, I still feel that I am a good writer. Because of that, I used to simply expect someone to want to publish/represent my work. I must have grown up (scary thought) because when I got the email from Nathan that he would not represent me, I didn't even blink an eye. It's not that I expected to be rejected. I just gave up the worry about it and decided to not let his decision ruin my chances for eventual publishing of my story.

In fact, I'm just glad that I sent the Query out. It's the first step in a very long journey to publishing my story and Nathan's rejection letter is the just the foundation that will help me get to where I want.

I'm going to do some more research on Literary Agents with the hope of submitting my story once again to a different agent and see what happens. But I'm not going to worry about it anymore. If someone wants to publish my story - fantastic. If not, I'll just find a way to let everyone read it anyway.

20th Reunion....Am I Really That Old?

Significant events in 1989.....

- George H.W. Bush becomes president of the United States.
- The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Alaska
- Rain Man receives the Best Picture Oscar
- The TV show, Seinfeld, begins
- Pete Rose is banned for life from baseball

And the most important, of course.....

I graduated from the 8th grade. Wow. 8th grade. I've been out of the 8th grade for 20 years. That's a long time.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to meet up with several people from that 8th grade class and catch up. And while a few of them joined me at my high school (and I saw a few at the 10 year high school reunion - 6 years ago), it was fun to see others whom I had not seen since our graduation party.

It was a little strange to see them all with children though. It was weird to see some of my friends who were a little less responsible in 8th grade now be responsible for one or two or three children. One friend of mine even has four kids. Four kids?!?!?!? I don't even have one. Not that I'm jealous or bitter or anything. Everyone lives their lives differently and I'm happy the way mine has turned out. Sure, I don't have kids yet, but I am happy with my wife and my cat and my new home and I know kids will come in time.

But it was cool that we could see each other and talk about what we had been doing with our lives for a few minutes and then revert to as if we were back in 8th grade - with the stories and jokes and just plain having fun. I think if I were living in Phoenix I might be willing to get together with different friends at times and keep those friendships growing.

Twenty years may have passed, but for those of us that were at the get togethers, it was as if time stood still. I had a great time and look forward to at least staying in semi regular contact with these people. I had forgotten just how much fun they were.

It's Back - The Return of Wiki

The Question:

Why are oyster crackers called oyster crackers?

The Answer:

It's actually a misnomer. They are not made of oysters. They were simply called that back in the mid 1800s because they were crackers that were usually served with oyster stew or clam chowder. That's about it. Nothing fancy. Yes, they kind of LOOK like oysters, but that's about the extent of it.

Hope it helps.

- Wiki.

Anniversary

Joanna and Chris. You are about to celebrate your 4th wedding anniversary. What are you going to do next?

CLICK HERE to find out.

A Man's Home Is His Castle . . . .

And, since you know I love castles, you know I'm going to love my new home. That's right kids, Joanna and I bought a house. It won't finalize for another two weeks, but we are 99% hopeful that nothing will go wrong between now and then. Of course, there will be things to take care of - minor cosmetic repairs - but we'll be able to do that.

We are definitely glad to finally have found a home. We started this experience in January and it's what, August, now? Yeah, it took that long. And that's with a "buyer's market" in our area. That term is such a crock. It's only a buyer's market if you're only talking about investors. And not just regular investors, but investors with CASH. Yes, cash. We had bid on four previous houses and were denied because there had been cash offers each time. It was discouraging, but we kept a small glimmer of hope that the house was out there for us. And now we've found it.

Now comes the fun part....moving. Packing. Cleaning. Oh, and spending more money to fix the minor things and purchasing appliances. Well, at least I'll have some new toys to play with.

Pray for our sanity through the process, as I think it might get unstable sooner rather than later.

Simple Image

It was with great joy that I was able to meet up with my friend Glenn Lorenzo yesterday. Glenn is very talented and very kind. We have known each other for some time now and though he lives in Japan and we rarely get to talk, hanging out with him yesterday was like we had never parted.

Glenn is probably one of the few people that I can do that with. I don't know what it is, but we have a bond that simply keeps us together, despite the distance and the time between actual visits.

Our visit yesterday consisted of food and music. Two of our favorite things. The music was provided by Glenn (since I don't play an instrument) and I sang. Most of the songs that we sang were written by Glenn's older brother, Virgil (his band name is the title of this blog post). Sadly, Virgil died several years ago, but I think that Glenn and I keep him alive by singing his music.

Even though I flubbed up more than my fair share of lyrics, eventually, I found them again and Glenn and I were offering a free concert to anyone willing to trudge up the side of the hill and actually listen to us. I tried to get some of it on film, but my video camera battery was not fully charged and only got a snippet. Glenn managed to use his camera to tape a little of the session, which was good.

The music that Virgil wrote, even though I don't constantly listen to it anymore, still holds meanings for me all these years later. Even some songs hold deeper meanings than others and I am glad that I can still connect to that music in my own way.

Glenn is a very special friend and I am glad that I made the effort to spend time with him yesterday.

Thanks, brother, for making the trek just for me. The music was fun. The food was good. And the friendship brilliant.

God Bless.