Leaving Florida this time around feels a little different. It feels as welcoming as it does uninviting (at least by the end of this vacation). I flew into Florida on December 21st and I head back to New York tomorrow on January 22nd. That's four friggin' weeks! I spent more time in Florida during this break than I did last summer (due to summer session in New York and Musical Directing in Ohio and Sweden). I really love how the catholic school boy in me still considers this break to be "Christmas Vacation" and then I end up seeing Valentines decorations all over Florida before I leave. All in all, it was a very busy vacation with many wonderful experiences. And even though I won't be able to call Florida my home in a few months, I learned that there are parts of Florida that will always be with me (how many coming-of-age movies say that line?) And it's heartwarming to know that. In elementary school, we were often asked to write about what we did during the summer or winter vacations. And this senior year in college is no exception. Here's just the bullet points of how the past four weeks went down:
1. I spent a lot of time with some friends whom I never get to see, and that all happened primarily because of the Lovewell Songbook concert.
2. The Lovewell Songbook Concert! It was a maddening three days of rehearsals and jamming out with almost 80 Lovewell students, staff, alumni, parents, and friends. I got the chance to propose to Tyler onstage, wail out a blues song written in Ohio, and act like a zombie with Tobi, Jamie, and Carrie (just to name a few). These are people I care about immensely and because I work in Ohio over the summer, I never get to see the Fort Lauderdale crew. They're endlessly inspiring people.
3. Rocking out to the rough draft of the "Reporting Live" original cast recording! I ended up getting sick of my own music. But I did a lot of driving over the course of the past four weeks, which led to many listening sessions.
4. I drove about 2000 miles. This is not a joke.
5. Over a dozen movies in theaters. These films include, but are not limited to: The Chronicles of Narnia, The Fighter, Black Swan, True Grit, I Love You Phillip Morris, The Kings Speech, How Do You Know, Hubble 3D, Burlesque, Season of the Witch, Tron, and Blue Valentine. Some of these movies were horrendous (yet hilarious to watch regardless). And many of these were just awesome. The King's Speech, Blue Valentine, and Hubble 3D were all amazing movie going experiences.
6. Pegasus! I played the hell out of my baby grand piano. Thank god he is not staying in Florida.
7. New television shows. I started watching Dexter and flew through the first couple seasons (season 3 is still downloading...). I did a lot of catching up on Modern Family (a show that makes me laugh out loud, constantly). And then yesterday I finished watching the entire first season of Skins from BBC. It only took me two days.
8. Tela conditioning. I hope she's proud of me when we start up class again. I really tried...
9. Christmas. This included my family watching the Sondheim concert on DVD, eating way too much food, playing a racist edition of Scategories (in which I beat my dad for the first time in my life... by three points), and of course gifts that included some awesome new sheet music and biographies.
10. I saw Rock of Ages. It was okay.
11. Partying it up in South Beach! I had one hell of a night in Miami with Henry Mackalacka.
12. I made a Twitter account?
13. Pixar Documentary. It might have been the best night I had during this break. On a night that wasn't going especially well, I came home at around 1 a.m. to turn on the t.v. to see that a documentary about the creation of Pixar was starting. I watched it from start to finish, and it's an incredible story. Watching footage of Tim Allen and Tom Hanks recording dialogue for the first Toy Story was amazing. And to know how long it took those guys to get to where they are today, it created a nice ray of hope for someone who's graduating in May with little to no plans. And it's wonderful to see genuinely nice people work hard and think big in order to meet their goals. Why doesn't the rest of the world work like Pixar?
14. More bonding time with my dog!
15. Bombed at bowling.
16. Droid.
17. I got a brand new pair of glasses for the first time in god knows how long. It's been so long that I actually get dizzy when I wear them. But hopefully in time I'll adjust. And I really like the way they look.
18. This one might be overly sentimental, but it's important nonetheless. While I was in Florida I spent a lot of time reconnecting with people whom I had lost touch with over the course of the past couple years (and even the past couple months). As lovely as that is, I also learned something else that proved to be just as valuable. It made me appreciate the friends that I've made in New York. I called people in New York constantly and missed them quite a bit. It's just a nice reminder.
Last semester of college... and... GO!
No comments:
Post a Comment