Briefly | We’re going to see Hamilton! I managed to snag tickets for my sister, a friend, and I to see the Chicago run of Hamilton for March 11, 2017. Yes, we’re planning a theater trip nine months early. No, we’re not sorry about it.
Reading | I think I finally hit a reading groove this week. I finished Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley (a follow-up to his excellent debut, The Rook, about a government bureaucracy tasked with saving Great Britain from supernatural threats). It was a delight, if maybe 100 pages too long. I also made good progress in two other titles — Another Day in the Death of America by Gary Younge (Oct. 4 from Nation Books) and Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend. They’re both great so far, and I am so glad to be getting over my reading slump!
Watching | After finishing Person of Interest, I needed something that seemed more fun. Enter Grace and Frankie from Netflix, a comedy-drama about two women who come together after they learn their husbands — business partners for 20 years — are in love and want to be together.
Loving | Marigolds! There’s a house down the street with two beautiful planters of marigolds right by the sidewalk. They make me smile every time.
Hating | Like many Americans, I was late to paying attention to the vote in England over whether to stay exist European Union. But now that the vote has passed, I’m trying to catch up. I thought this article on voting demographics was particularly telling.
Experimenting | I’m working to build some better lifestyle habits playing around with Habitica, an online role-playing game where you turn to dos and habits into a game where you can level up and earn treasure. It’s silly, but I’m having fun so far.
Anticipating | We’re headed to the cabin again this weekend! This time it’s for a bit Fourth of July celebration my parents throw every year, and since it’s a long weekend we’ll actually get to be there for longer than just 24 hours. Hooray!
Can’t Let It Go | I thought this article from TV critic James Poniewozik on coverage of the House Democrats sit-in over legislation on gun control was great. I love his point about there being no “neutral” way to share the news given the oddities of who controls television access in the House chambers:
All this put C-Span in an unusual position, carrying a news event shot from the perspective of an interested party. But it was news, and another interested party controlled the usual television cameras. There was no party-neutral decision to be made here, but there was a journalistic one, and C-Span made it.
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You’re not alone with early Hamilton planning! I bought tickets for our October trip 11 months early – seems that’s the only way to do it right now. Congrats on the grab 🙂
I felt so ridiculously victorious when we finally got the tickets. I’m a little nervous — March travel in the midwest can be easily derailed by sudden storms — but hopefully everything will be fine 🙂
I’m jealous of the Hamilton trip. There were rumors the play was going to come here, but our new season was just announced and it wasn’t on the schedule.
I am so sick of both US and world politics right now. It’s such a scary time!
That is a great article about the sit in! I had Facebook friends saying things like “stop the sit-in and do your jobs.” Which I found ironic given that the whole thing was about the Republicans refusal to vote and that they couldn’t do their jobs because Ryan had decided to close up shop regardless.
It’s all kind of frustrating, since a lot of it (all of it?) is just political maneuvering in advance of a major election. I do hope that there continues to be some momentum on gun control measures, but I’m not sure what it will take to make a real difference.
Yay on the Hamilton tickets…until it’s in a much wider performance release it will be years before we see it in Orlando. Planning and timing is everything! I didn’t know much about the UK exit from the EU either, but know I fear it’s just a tumble down cluster F, and between that and our own politics I really feel sick. I hope your weekend away is relaxing!
I will have to check out Habitica- I’ve never heard of it! Anything I can use as a competition, even with myself, makes me happy.
It’s kind of fun! I’m trying to use it strategically, more on building habits than tracking my to do list, which it seems pretty well built for.
Someone commented on your Instagram that Daniel O’Malley is good on audio (I think that was your Instagram…) so I plan to go that route and finally read him after hearing good things! Have a great long weekend! I am looking forward to mine, too. It is great that both Canada and the US get long weekends this weekend. 🙂
So excited for you to see Hamilton! The longer in advance you book the tickets, the more time you have to get pumped for it!
We also got Hamilton tickets for Chicago, on Jan. 4! And by “we” I mean my brother and sister-in-law, who stood in line at the box office but got most of the tickets online while standing there.
We ended up getting ours using the Ticketmaster app, rather than the website, which seems a little odd to me. But whatever, it worked and we’re going!
I’m so jealous that you got Hamilton tickets! And I’ll have to check out Habita; my schedule is so out of whack, and I could really use some help developing better habits.
Ooh, so many good things! Hamilton, pretty flowers, good books (can’t wait to read Another Day in the Death of America, even if it’s sure to get me down). I couldn’t help but think of how goofily I grin every time I passed by daffodils in the spring. Something about them is just so kooky, and they always put me in a good mood.
Enjoy your trip, and be sure to log your Dailies so you don’t get attacked by any boss monsters! (Yes, I got bitten by the Habitica bug, too.)
Oh gosh, I didn’t even think about Habitica while I’m away this weekend! I think there’s a way you can put it on “pause” so that it doesn’t hurt you to miss dailies and habits, but I’m not sure… now I need to investigate!
I didn’t know that was the premise of Grace & Frankie! I’ve been looking for a new comedy-drama to binge-watch. And Habitica is fun, isn’t it? I feel so productive thanks to it. 😊
I really enjoyed Enchanted Islands…I’ve put another of Amend’s books on my TBR because I like her writing so much
I’m really enjoying it too! I love the format — a lady looking back at an exciting life — and the topic. I’m hoping to finish it this weekend.
So jealous! I keep trying for lottery tickets for the Broadway run.
My mother LOVED Grace and Frankie. I have it on my list to watch but I wanted to refresh myself (like I really need it) with Girlmore Girls
I love the idea of gamifying life. You should checked out the books Reality is Broken and SupperBetter both by Jane McGonigal.
Hamilton — awesome! And it’s great that you’ll get to look forward to it for a while — I always like that aspect of planning ahead.