Razzle Dazzle

It's December. To me, that means one thing. ELVIS' CHRISTMAS ALBUM.

I went and saw Chicago with Mary last night. I must say, my near-encyclopedic knowledge of the movie version did me in. Everything I compared to the movie, and typically found less than up to the task. Granted, it's the touring show. I mean, there's a preordained stigma anyways. The point in which the show excelled was the choreography, which was very very good. You could tell they spent a lot of time on it. The singing, eh. I would characterize it as generally good, but not what I would expect from a touring musical. Billy Flynn was not very good. He definitely could have used a good critical watching of the movie and taken some notes from Richard Gere. Richard Gere's presence in general would have greatly lifted the quality of the production. It was quite odd, it seemed as if the entire theater was comprised of high school age girls. At least the cheap section that we were in was. The theater was entirely too big for the show. I feel as if Chicago is a show that would greatly benefit from a more intimate performance venue, to get that cabaret feel. I make it sound as if the show sucked. It didn't. I was entertained. But I prefer the movie to the UK touring version. So sue me.

This week has been perhaps the worst week of the semester, in terms of workload. Being gone over the weekend, I had Monday and Tuesday to write a 1,500 word history essay on the motivations for European expansion and colonialism in the early modern period. I also had to deal with Mark and Carol's Paideia Final of Doom on Tuesday night, which featured 2 hours of straight essay-ing. Honestly, I didn't find it as difficult as I feared it may have been, but it was definitely intense. But with the relative laxidasical quality of stuff at the university, a little Luther-esque kick in the face was probably good. Anyways, I got the essay turned in, my journals for the weekend at Stratford complete. All that now stands between me and (hopefully) skiing in the Alps is a seminar presentation on Friday and a wack oral presentation of some sort of Paideia final to the directors on Monday. Plus some studious practicing of the trombone. Given my academic demands as of late, I have not been able to practice for a week, which really irritates me. It always happens this time of year, but it doesn't ever get less annoying. In good news, I got my first essay back, this one from American History. I scored a 70, which converts into an "A" in the American system. Considering it was worth 50% of my grade, I was okay with that.

Another momentous hurdle was lept yesterday in my struggle to become BRITISH. I purchased and subsequently ate a pre-packaged sandwich, similar to the one pictured. Rather, mine was chicken and bacon, and I got it at Boots, the Walgreens wannabe chain pharmacy. Britain is the land of the pre-packaged sandwich, and I am continually mystified by their enduring popularity among the masses here. One will not believe just how many people walk around with these things on a regular basis. I'm sure there are more than a few students at the university who are completely sustained by them. You would not have caught me dead with such a sandwich in the States. But, I concluded that a certain level of sacrifice was necessary for greater cultural understanding. I'm somewhat horrified to admit that it wasn't all that bad.

Travel plans are irritating me, but I found something to do in the 3 days between Chamonix and Prague. I'm going to Fussen, Germany. It's in Bavaria, 10 minutes or so across the border from Austria. It features the castle pictured above. I don't really know where I'm going to stay yet, but I'm hoping to figure that out by the weekend. I'm learning the advantages of early booking, especially when it comes to hostels. So either I'm going to get lucky with some hotels, or I'm going to be staying in some random person's guesthouse in a backwater Austrian town. No, really, I might. In any event, it will be a good test case for future travels.

Why am I still on this thing? I need to figure out this lame seminar crap. More European colonization. I keep feeling I should be some sort of celebrity, because I'm from the place colonized by Europeans. That makes no sense, I'm not Native American. Out.