This month's obsession is not a person, place, or thing. It's a mindset.
I'm actively working on being the strongest, healthiest, most accomplished, most confident version of me I can be. This little cartoon kind of puts it into a lighthearted perspective.
I didn't want to skip a month in my Obsessions series, and I have something to share with you! Clearly, this blog has occupied some of my obsessive attention this month.
I've wanted for some time to make significant changes to it. It has had the same widgets, the same look, the same general everything for the past year. I had also come to greatly dislike the name, the one I gave it almost three years ago. I'll probably be in college for a few more years as I transfer to a university, and the title seemed to put limitations on my blog's longevity and topics. I don't write just about college, or theatre, which were the things I originally envisioned being the theme of my blog. Plus, I just felt a little ridiculous saying "Debbie: The College Years" out loud. :-p
The truth is I may not be in theatre forever. I may start "the married years" while still in "the college years". Anything can happen, I've grown, and I want to continue to take my blog with me.
So if you look around, there are some changes. The name, quite obviously. I brainstormed for awhile trying to settle on something cute and descriptive for a blog that would have no identifiable theme, except well, my life! I owe the clever dude behind Why Men Can't Cry for "Deb's Blurbs".
The design (though similar to the old one) and the pages are all new. Everything is purposefully simplified and organized. If you look to the newly-placed sidebar on the left you will find only the archive (called "Blurb Catalog") and my labels ("Blurb Guide"). My brief profile is at the top under the title, and I wanted that to double as a quippy welcome as well as a description in place of the old one.
The things I write about probably won't change much, except that I feel a new freedom and excitement in what I share with you. So, visit for a few minutes and then tell me what you think! I'll be back to regular writing sometime soon. :-)
"Angry Birds is a puzzle video game developed by Finland-based Rovio Mobile. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the game was first released for Apple's iOS in December 2009. Since that time, over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store, which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones, such as those using the Androidoperating system, among others. In the game, players use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with
the intent of destroying all the pigs on the playfield. As players
advance through the game, new birds appear, some with special abilities
that can be activated by the player."-Wikipedia.com
Boyfriend's new Android phone isn't safe around me, nor are those dastardly piggies! It is annoyingly obvious that he is better at the game than I am, but that only makes me want to play it more. :-p
A cool promo project by T-Mobile:
There's even an interactive Angry Birds on YouTube!
Have YOU played Angry Birds online or via smart phone? Is it a guilty pleasure, a fun challenge, or of no interest whatsoever?
Well, I have a confession to make about this month's obsessions: It was hard to settle on what to write about! With a lot more free time on my hands, I have been allowing lots (probably too much) of media to eat up my time. Within a couple weeks I watched an entire season of three different television shows! Said TV shows were Gilmore Girls (season 3), The Unit (season 1), and The Dick Van Dyke show (season 1). The last one is on Hulu, in its full five-season glory and it makes me giggle so hard and brightens my day! Adorable cast. :-)
I've also been listening non-stop to Skillet's "Awake" album. For a week or two in which I was really depressed and frustrated for no reason, listening to it somehow felt like a release. So I've been listening to it a lot (very loudly).
However, I have picked one thing to meaningfully present to you this month. Earlier this week, someone very close to me made a comment which I found demeaning and hurtful. Unintentionally (I think) they basically told me that theatre is of no value to life. Well, I'm a theatre major! I'm an actress! And like it or not, I look up to this person. I'm still so upset I haven't been able to tell them how much they hurt me. I've actually barely talked to them since the comment occurred. Well, out of that hurt a song called "Rose's Turn" from the musical Gypsycame to mind, and I've kept it close to my heart all week. Rose is "the ultimate show business mother" who put her dreams on hold for everyone else, but this song is her anthem of recognizing herself, her needs, and her personal demons. While the context of the story and who Rose was is very different than my life, I still identify with it. It's traditionally sung with such anger and passion that listening to it motivates me to stay true to one of my greatest loves-performing.
Here is the awesome Bernadette Peters singing "Rose's Turn" on the Tony Awards in 2003:
Well, someone tell me, when is it my turn?
Don't I get a dream for myself?
Starting now it's gonna be my turn.
Gangway, world, get off of my runway!
Starting now I bat a thousand!
This time, boys, I'm taking the bows and
everything's coming up Rose!
Finals are over! Besides obviously being relieved that I am no longer responsible for schoolwork, I am happy this means that I can make a return to blogging. :-)
This video is my current obsession. Everytime I watch it I laugh and make high pitched noises because it is just that danged cute! I've made my family, my boyfriend, and my boss watch this video. I just love it that much. Enjoy!
I enjoy all Larabar flavours, but this one is my absolute fave. Mom bought me a whole box, and I eat at least two a day and love them with a cup of coffee.
Bat Boy: The Musical
You've probably already read the posts about my current show, so I won't elaborate on this item. I'm at the stage where I'm eating, sleeping, and breathing the songs and the lines and trying my darndest to nail the choreography. I've even been awake at 4am thinking about the show and working through various problems and projects in my head. Always when I work on a show, it consumes me.
So that's March summed up- eating Larabars while at Bat Boy rehearsal.
I have a feeling that February is going to blow past me, windburn and all, making me wonder where it went. I mean look, I'm ten days in and I honestly could easily believe that the semester started yesterday. But anyway! before it's too late, here are February's obsessions...
Two guys named Rhett and Link and the hilarious videos they make! These gentleman are sponsored by and featured on YouTube, and they have two channels. Their main channel presents a new video skit every Monday. Epic Gun Battle will make you laugh your butt off and Pillows is brilliantly executed and edited! Their second channel has a weekday-ly segment called "Good Morning Chia Lincoln". GMCL is talk show in which Rhett and Link discuss whatever comes up in their week, from traffic tickets to pianos on islands to netty pots to childhood memories, and at the end they check on the progress of Mr. Lincoln (in the form of their Chia pet.) Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, it may be, but I'm a sucker for two witty, well-dressed, good looking guys that grew up together and never fail to make me laugh. Check 'em out!
Some may say it's pathetic, others that it's perfectly normal-either way, tweeting has become a habit for me. When I feel like sharing a blurb about my day, a random thought, or a piece of news, it tends to end up on my Twitter. I no longer post a lot of personal things on Facebook because I try to limit usage of that to networking or very general personal updates. I just think Twitter to be a much less intrusive form of online socializing. I enjoy that many celebrities, causes, and news sites have twitter feeds and I can scroll through brief updates instead of checking multiple websites or reading overwhelming emails. FYI: My twitter handle "GlitterChild86" was inspired by the B-52's song "Debbie". ;-)
By what means have you been watching, tweeting, or obsessing?
Welcome to my new blog feature, [Monthly] Obsessions! The timing of these posts will fluctuate, but every month I'll bring you a few of things I'm recently really, really into!
For January it's all about:
This picture:
I think it's cool, Boyfriend thinks it's creepy!
This song:
I'm posting this version because it's the original, and I like to be loyal to originals. But the Glee version is very good and makes me want to dance every time I listen to it!
This food: Something I've missed most is mac and cheese. This is a vegan and gluten-free version, and it's delicious. I find it very hard to keep any in my freezer because it gets straight into the microwave and on into my tummy!
click the picture for product info!
Let me know if you enjoyed any of these, or if you have some current obsessions!
It's a new year, so I've decided it's time for a new feature on my blog! You guys have been really kind to my "Monthly Postings", but after over a year, I'd gonna put that to rest for awhile. (Though it may pop up if I'm having a particularly exciting month! ;-)
Drum roll please!
"[Monthly] Obsessions"
Every month I'll share what is occupying my free time and thoughts, be it music, drinks, a thought, a movie...any random thing that grabbed my attention and made me do my Debbie Dance, basically! ;-) It won't be a boring list of rambling randomness either. You can be looking forward to videos, links, and other multimedia to spice things up!
I'll be back to share the first round of 2011 obsessions near the end of January. If you like this idea, you should do monthly obsessions with me!
