In the Most Delicious Way . . .

Okay, that silly song phrase is from an Arrested Development Season 2 Episode, and if you are a fan you'll get it. Love that Tobias!

We went to CiCi's Pizza tonight at about 9:30, because we had made a trip to Target and it was late and we hadn't had dinner and it was close and cheap. We were the only customers there other than one couple, and they close at 10pm. The manager introduced himself to us and was so cheerful and attentive to us, and asked if we wanted any kind of pizza they didn't have out, and since Andy and I love the BBQ pizza, we mentioned it and he cooked one up for us special (I highly recommend it!) and brought us several pieces to our table. By this time we were the only customers in the restaurant. He stopped by our table several times to see if we needed anything, and then, to top off the great service, he brought us a box and told us to load it up with all the pizza we wanted. BONUS! He said the last customers get to take home all the pizza they want! We loaded up pizza and those incredible cinnamon rolls they have.

I love CiCi's and I don't know why we don't remember to eat there more often. I've decided we really get ripped off by Pizza Hut! Cause pizza ingredients all are about the same cost, but their pizza sure as heck costs more. Just remember that next time you want pizza. You can pay $3.99 for all you can eat, which will include dessert and salad and pasta, or you can pay $25.00 for a coupla large pizzas. Yes, you have to go there instead of delivery, but they will make any kind you want and it's sooooo good and fresh!

Will the real Kermit the Frog please stand up?

Yesterday Sam (he's the cutie in the pic to the left), my grandson who's 2, wanted to see Miss Piggy on my computer, and rather than go to the usual Muppetworld.com, I decided to search for something different to let him see. I stumbled upon a site called ToughPigs.com, and it had an article about how Disney, who now owns the rights to the Muppet characters (that's scary enough as it is) since apparently Jim Henson's company kinda split apart. I've included a quote here that tells pretty much the gist of the article:

You see, Disney paid a lot of money for the Muppet characters, and now they want to step up their campaign to get the Muppets back into the public eye. That's fantastic, and that's what we all want. Unfortunately, the way they want to do that is to have Kermit appearing simultaneously in different places. There'll be a Kermit performing on a Disney cruise line, and a Kermit greeting customers at the World of Disney store in New York, and a Kermit making an appearance on a local news show in Kansas City. And then somewhere in the world, hopefully, is a Kermit that's performed by Steve Whitmire. You remember Steve Whitmire, right? The guy who performs Kermit?

I, for one, as a 30+ year HUGE Muppet fan, longer really if you count how much I loved Rowlf the Dog on the Jimmy Dean Show when I was a kid, am thoroughly incensed and offended by this new venture. Muppets are real, at least to those of us who really love them, and they are individuals. Here is another quote that explains it better than I can:

One of the things that I like best about the Muppets is that they can appear out in the real world -- on talk shows, or awards shows -- and they're treated like they're real celebrities. That creates this amazing double-vision feeling, tickling our suspension of disbelief in a uniquely pleasurable way. Just by being there, the Muppets are poking fun at the show they're appearing on, turning the real world of show business into a parody. In order to do that, the Muppets need to be "real" to the audience. Kermit needs to be Kermit, not just some puppeteer playing Kermit.

If you are a Muppet lover and agree, please do the following: First go to the Touch Pigs site at http://www.toughpigs.com/journalsavethemuppets.htm and read the whole article. Then click on this link, http://savethemuppets.com/, and get more information and addresses so you can write a letter to protest this.

I know this may seem like a silly cause to many people, but I raised three children, one in the 70s, one in the 80s, and one in the 90s, and now a grandson, all of whom have loved and learned from the Muppets, and who will always have special childhood memories of all of them, and I personally have derived so much joy and laughter from them over the years. I own all the Muppet movies (Muppet Christmas Carol is our family favorite and we always watch it several times over the holidays), and my grandson watches at least one of them every single time he is at my home. One of his early words as he was learning to really talk was Hupmits, which was how his little 15 month old mind said Muppets. He is now a little over 2 and can clearly say Muppets, and Muppets Space (his favorite), and can identify by name all of the main characters, including Pepe, Rizzo, Gonzo, and all the rest. The Muppets are a part of our family history going into the third generation, and I cringe to think of them being commercialized in a way that destroys their unique individuality. Jim Henson must be shaking his head in disgust . . .

MUPPETS RULE!

Who can say if I've been changed for the better ?

But because I knew you, I have been changed for good. The main lyric line from the chorus of my favorite song from Wicked. It applies to my relationship iwth a dear girlfriend that has gone to a deeper level in the last six months. Today I found the courage to confront this friend about an incident that happened last night, not a big deal but something that hurt my feelings quite a bit (I probably overreacted).

Now that might not sound like a big deal, but in my entire adult life, I cannot think of a time (there may have been a couple but I don't remember any) where I actually was able to step out of my comfort zone enough to tell a girlfriend, hey, so and so that you did or said really hurt my feelings or made me angry or the like. My practice has always been to just say nothing, stuff my feelings and act like it never happened, or to talk to someone else about it. Even as a child I did this, though as a teen I had my share of silly snits with girlfriends. But my innate people pleasing nature, coupled with a conflict avoidance personality and a fear that if I say what I'm really thinking people will not like me anymore, pretty much has resulted in a very unhealthy way of dealing with conflict, with the exception of those very closest people (meaning my spouse and kids - not even my parents). With them, I felt safe enough to express my true feelings (sometimes too much I guess) knowing they would love me no matter what.

So though this may seem small in the scheme of life, it was a really huge step in personal growth for me, to step out of the "safe" zone and take the risk to tell her that she hurt my feelings. And of course, she totally understood, especially since I reminded her of a similar incident that had happened to her with a couple of other friends and she got her feelings hurt. She is much like me in her difficulty in forming female friendships, desire to please everyone, and conflict avoidance. We both come from pretty dysfunctional family backgrounds and have survived and turned out relatively normal, but with our own weirdnesses that come from that.

This day was kinda sucky in that I had a lot of things weighing on my mind, but this particular personal risk that paid off kinda makes the rest of it a little less heavy. I guess I need to step out of that zone more often . . .

My Review of Wicked

Wow, I can't think of a proper superlative - how about supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! If you get a chance to see this show, SEE IT! It was well worth the ticket price! We were on the 16th row, and the venue is small, smaller than Bass Hall, so we could see the facial expressions and costume and set details. It was awesome. Fantastic music, great story. Incredible singing, both from the leads, who were fantastic, and the ensemble, which sounded much larger than it was. Many funny things that you must see the show to get, many clever references to the Wizard of Oz movie without actually tying it in. The show won a Tony for Best Musical, and I can totally see why. And bonus, we had no traffic troubles at all - straight shot down I-30, pulled into the parking lot right across the street, and when we left, once we got out of the parking lot, hopped on 30 and boogied home with no traffic.

All in all, a great happy early birthday to me! On a side note, I got a cool t-shirt that says Devy Gravity (a term from the show) on the front and Wicked on the back. It looks like a baseball t-shirt but with little cap sleeves. The funny thing is, those shirts are cut very small, "girl sized" instead of unisex, but are usually extremely tight, baby t fit. I got a 2X, which is the largest size they had, and it's a perfect fit, but believe me, I'm NOT a 2X. I would normally be a large or maybe extra large depending on the fit of the shirt. Kinda funny to me.

GO SEE WICKED, or at least buy the soundtrack. Can't get the music out of my head, neither can Andy.

Oh Yeah, WICKED!!!!

SCORE! Oh man, today I scored four tickets to see Wicked tomorrow night!!!!!! Me, Andy, Tiffany, and Peggy Moulden are going (Peter decided not to go so after all). Josh (Peggy's son) is looking for a single ticket so he can go too. Been trying for over a week to find some, at regular price of course, and no luck, all sold out. Today I decided I should check once more on Ticketmaster. I found one single ticket, but we needed four, so I decided to call the box office to see if they had any last minute tickets. They didn't, so I asked for a Ticketmaster number where I could actually talk to a live person to see if they had some singles all on the same night. I got a guy on the phone, told him what I wanted, and in a few minutes he came back and said - well, the only thing I have is for Friday night, but I do have four together. I said "you what?" So of course I begged him to hang on for a sec while I called Tiffany to make sure she could go tomorrow night before I committed my credit card number since there are no refunds. She of course said something to the effect of "OMIGOD, YOU DIDN'T!" so I got back on the other phone and told the guy I loved him and he made my day!

Now, you might be wondering why this is such a big deal and why in the world we are so excited about this. I only recently heard anything much about this musical, when Tiffany mentioned it to me and I borrowed Jody Lee's soundtrack because she told me the music was so great. Wow, some of the best music I've heard since Phantom! Very different, not at all like Phantom, but very memorable, clever lyrics and just some incredible singing. It is basically the story of the life of the Wicked Witch of the West and how she got that way. Not really to do with the Wizard of Oz, and yet it is. You can read about it online here http://www.wickedthemusical.com/ and read a more detailed synopsis of the book (which in musical theater terms is the story part of the show) and also about the song lyrics, etc. here http://www.musicalschwartz.com/wicked.htm. It is adapted from the novel Wicked - The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire, and is a fascinating twist on the possible backstory of the Wicked Witch we all know and love from Wizard of Oz. It is a very political story, and the nature of good vs. wicked is explored. Brilliant, in my humble opinion!

Cannot wait! I will write my glowing review later. You may be jealous of me now . . .

Stuff and Things

Hmmmm, haven't posted in a while. Watching a lot of TV - new season in full swing. Lots of good TV these days. If you haven't watched Lost, I highly recommend you rent the first season, catch up and start watching. Most amazingly complicated and fascinating show I've watched in a long time.

My favorite show list, in order of love: Gilmore Girls, Arrested Development, Lost, Everwood (those top four are my personal Must See TV), Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal, Alias, Nip Tuck (my guilty pleasure - I know I'm bad, but it's a great, edgy show, definitely an R rating - can't believe they can do and say that stuff on basic cable), Grey's Anatomy (love Sandra Oh and that Dr. McDreamy), ER (I'm still hanging with this show after 10 years, but I miss Carter and Dr. Greene), and a few new faves, Veronica Mars, My Name is Earl (hi-freakin-larious), Kitchen Confidential (can you say Bradley Yummy Cooper?), and The Office (still deciding on that one). I watched Supernatural once, it was really scary, but haven't watched again. Watched House, liked it, may try to catch it now and again.

Oh, and of course Sex and the City reruns. Love love love that show. Wish I had those kind of girlfriends. Yeah.

I admit it, as you must already be thinking, I watch a LOT of TV. I LOVE television. I was raised on TV, I am of the TV generation, and television shows throughout the years have defined the pivotal periods of my life, along with popular music. It shaped who I am in a really core way. There is a lot of really, really good writing these days on TV, and I am a big fan of good writing and good acting. I HATE reality shows, with the exception of American Idol (not even really sure why I like it but I do), and I used to like Real World until it got all skeevy. NEVER watch Survivor, or any of those bachelor or bachelorette humiliation shows or anything else. I like scripted shows with great writing that make me laugh and cry, not that make me squirm with the discomfort of someone else's pain (again, American Idol is the exception there).

I also LOVE movies. And I love to read. If I could spend my time doing anything I wanted, I would read, watch movies and TV and travel all the time. Better yet I'd write books and be a wildly successful writer who travels a lot. Hey, I can dream, can't I?