In a Bit of a Muddle

I've been skimming over some of my previous posts from the last couple of days, and I've realised just how erratically I've been writing - much like the way my life has been of late. My head is all over the place - I can't seem to keep track of anything, and following on from one thought to the next is near impossible; I seem only to be able to spew forth arbitrary bits and pieces, much like a CD player stick on random for so long it forgets how to play things in sequence.

I put all this down to having started a new job, and finally actually doing some work. This has caused a chemical imbalance in my brain, as previously I did nothing for so long, I am now having to re-learn work ethics and patterns.... ha ha ha, sorry, that was funny - you know when you're typing but one fingers slips on the keyboard? And as result you're thrown off balance and you're still hitting keys in the correct order, but your fingers are hitting the wrong keys.... well, that just happened and it made me laugh. You see, I'm not my usual self. That would normally annoy me.

I feel quite odd at the moment, but definitely odd in a good way. It feels great to be doing something constructive at work, and even though this is not quite my dream role, I'm really really liking the office environment and the people, and as I'm sure you know, often that makes a job great.

Something I really wanted to write about which I somehow omitted was our experience at We Will Rock You. You might remember I posted about the upcoming event, and was quite excited by it all. Well, we went on Tuesday last week, and it was absolutely brilliant - everything I expected and more.

This is the story: The time is the future, in a place that was once called Earth. Globalisation is complete! Everywhere, the kids watch the same movies, wear the same fashions and think the same thoughts.It's a safe, happy, Ga Ga world. Unless you're a rebel. Unless you want to Rock. On Planet Mall all musical instruments are banned. The Company Computers generate the tunes and everybody downloads them. It is an age of Boy Bands and of Girl Bands. Of Boy and Girl Bands. Of Girl Bands with a couple of boys in them that look like girls anyway. Nothing is left to chance, hits are scheduled years in advance. Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality. But Resistance is growing. Underneath the gleaming cities, down in the lower depths live the Bohemians. Rebels who believe that there was once a Golden Age when the kids formed their own bands and wrote their own songs. They call that time, The Rhapsody. Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see. Legend persists that somewhere on Planet Mall instruments still exist. Somewhere, the mighty axe of a great and hairy guitar god lies buried deep in rock. The Bohemians need a hero to find this axe and draw it from stone. Is the one who calls himself Galileo that man? He’s just a poor boy. From a poor family. But the Ga Ga Cops are also looking for Galileo and if they get him first they will surely drag him before the Killer Queen and consign him to oblivion across the Seven Seas of Rye. Who is Galileo? Where is the Hairy One's lost axe? Where is the place of living rock? Anywhere the wind blows.

It's tongue in cheek, doesn't take itself too seriously and consists mainly of 2 hours of solidly performed rock songs that elevate Queen even higher in the echelons of rock gods. With current pop-culture references to everyone from John Lennon to Britney Spears, this is a young musical that celebrates its youth and love for music. I enjoyed every second of it, and so did Shoes, amazingly enough. He clapped throughout the penultimate song We Will Rock You - hands in the air as well, just like the rest of the audience, and stood up for the standing ovation at the end without hesitation! Just as well he enjoyed that one so much, as he has declared it to be his last foray into theatre. He reckons he'll never enjoy another musical as much as that one (the thought of Andrew Lloyd-Webber and 2 hours of Cats has him shuddering like his old Ford Escort), so it's a waste of money to drag him along. I have accepted this with my customary good grace - ie, since it leaves more money for me to go to theatre, I have no complaints at all!
I got a little choked up towards the end of the show, which is a normal reaction for me to have when watching people up on stage. This is partly due to a dormant longing to be up there - everytime I go to musical theatre, I curse my parents for not divining that I wanted to be a child star and hustling me off to drama school; and partly because I always feel quite moved by a really brilliant live performance, in a way that movies don't often touch me. I definitely shouldn't see a play where everyone dies at the end - they'd have to carry the soggy heap that would be me out of the theatre. Scarves and I have booked tickets for Dirty Dancing the musical (I know, can you think of anything I could possibly love more than a stage adaptation of the movie I can quote word for word from start to finish!), and we've also got tickets to see Gwen Stefani later this year, so we're doing pretty well in the theatre and concert race. The race is with ourselves, to see how many we can see without breaking the bank. We said the guys can so their own thing when we go out, but since they are such easy-to-please lads, they'll probably want nothing more than what they want every weekend - to sit in front of the tv with a 6 pack of beers watching sport non-stop from sunrise to sunset. It's a man's life - thank god!