The play's the thing

Aloha friends!
After a lengthy absence, I am back at it (I hope). I spent a week in sunny Florida. Well, I'm told it was sunny and it sure looked beautiful from the windows of the conference center. But who am I to complain, I still spent a week in Florida. Other than one teary moment thinking of Oliv and Al, I done good!
Before I left for Orlando, my aunt and uncle took me to see the play Wicked for my birthday. Wicked: from the official press announcement: Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch. This was a cute play. Nice musical numbers (Glinda was fabulous!) and I thoroughly enjoyed it - until I realized intermission wasn't the play's end.
I love The Wizard of Oz. The movie to me is just completely wonderful. I have to tell you, if you love the movie, Wicked may not be the play for you.
This musical plays quite a bit on the history of Oz and changes it at will.
I may spoil some stuff here, so if you were planning on going to see this play - stop reading now.

I think the play could have explained the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba (who eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the West) and how Elphaba was drawn to a dark magic, while having good intentions, without bringing it to the point of Dorothy's visit to Oz and Elphaba's "death." There is a point in the play when you see a lion cub who gets very scared (ahhh! ok) - cute, right? wrong! If it had just been those little glimmers like that, all would have been well. But to redefine how the Tinman and Scarecrow came to be? I was just left feeling like they took the easy way out.

So if you want to be entertained by a show, Wicked is worth the cost of admission, but you have to take it to be an entirely different story with no real relation to the true story of Oz.

Well, another year in the life of me has passed and I have entered into my true 30s. 31 - blah. What did 30 bring? Many changes in career, plus a year with Olivia in my life. I look forward to more time with Olivia and Al and all the changes this year will bring!
Take care,
V

No words? No problem

Parenting is a really crazy business. It's not that Alan and I weren't competitive before bringing Oliv into the world - we were... a lot. But now? fuggedaboutit. We are constantly (and very unfairly - is that a word?) measuring our daughter against other children. We sit and worry that she doesn't say shoes, or yellow (and yeah, Kyla's parents, if you're reading this, that was a reference to your smart and wonderful little girl!), or too much of anything. Not that she's silent. We can tell she is speaking to us in full on sentences - pauses and giggles in between (she cracks her up!), but we just have no idea what language she is speaking in (just look at my participle dangle). She sings, dances, runs, laughs, and now she jumps too! Anyway, we were getting worried at the lack of words, and we are still finding it hard not to compare her to other children her age - seriously, what's wrong with us? (Monty Python, The Meaning of Life: "Is it a boy or a girl?" "I think it's a little early to start imposing roles on it, don't you?") But the truth is, she gets her point across with amazing ease. She wants to go out? Oliv will go tug on her coat, put on her boots and point to the door saying, "mom" (which means mom or dad).
My favourite part about time with Olivia right now is that she loves to be tickled. She'll lay there and laugh, it's fantastic. She also loves to climb on people and jump on their backs when they are on the ground. Oddly, I'm the parent of choice for that - that's not how I saw that one going.
She has started a new daycare and so far, so good. The short version is that there were some issues with the private home care she was receiving and I no longer felt that it was the best or safest environment for her. She's pretty adaptable so far and hopefully that will hold true. She's been sleeping fine with the other children, playing well and eating (natch!) like a pig!
My love, my joy, my liv.
Take care,
V
P.S. - truly funny blog - Query Letters I Love. The comments are as brilliant as the pitches are sad and terrible.