I've Never….played a violin before

Now, I'm not claiming to have learned the violin. Oh no -- far from that. It's merely about me playing a violin for the first time…ever!  In fact, I'm pretty sure it's my first time even holding a violin.  So just know that if you click on the video below, you are listening at your own risk.  It's a little painful - okay, actually a lot painful, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Me at a piano recital

I've actually wanted to learn the violin for a while now.  I already know how to read music due to my lovely mother forcing piano lessons on me for almost 10 years of my life (there was some literal kicking and screaming at times as she can attest to).  I also learned the clarinet in band which I played in for a few years. 

Me again

If I had had a choice, I would have done orchestra and not band.  It just sounds so much classier, doesn't it?  Plus, then you don't have all the parades and pep band stuff which was the worst part for me and probably one of the main factors of why I quit band halfway through high school.  It just wasn't really my thing. And don't get me started on those band uniforms.  I only had to wear them once or twice for homecoming games since I avoided the marching band but those 2 times were enough to make me want to have a uniform burning bonfire. 

Band uniforms!

But anyway, turns out my school district was not super great.  I didn't really realize how awful it was until I came to school in Utah and heard about all of the amazing opportunities and programs that others had had growing up.  For instance, my cousins were taught foreign languages in elementary school!  My high school offered French and Spanish--but did we actually learn how to speak it? Ha. In any case, orchestra was not offered in my high school and even if it were, they probably wouldn't have been able to recruit enough students to make it worth it.  My school was the type of school where the goal was just to get people to graduate. And even that was pretty difficult, it turns out.  I'm pretty sure my graduating class was only about half the size that my freshman class had started at (of course, not ALL of those were drop-outs…but still).

So long story short, my school didn't offer orchestra and violin was just never a thought that I even had growing up.  But then, when I came to Utah and everyone and their mom plays some kind of instrument or sings amazingly, violins started popping up all over the place.  And all of a sudden, I really wanted to learn how to play. 

Me in band - Sorry it's blurry

Lucky for me, Amy plays the violin!  And after a few years of established friendship (I promise the violin thing wasn't the only reason I wanted to be friends with her), I started occasionally throwing in random comments about how I wanted to learn the violin.  And finally, it worked! And Amy gave me my first violin lesson.

I discovered that holding the violin is really awkward -- at least it was to me.  You have to cram it up against your jaw bone, and maybe I was a little too intense (since Amy threatened me if I dropped her violin) but I actually had a bruise there the next morning.  I asked Amy if they happened to have left-handed violins but she said everyone learns this way.  I really think it would feel more natural for me to hold it on the other side and hold the bow in my left hand.  But I suppose that's something you get used to and I'm sure it will be fine after a few more practice sessions.  Also, you can't really play the violin with long nails.  So, if I want to get serious, I'll have to chop them off.  Not that my nails are creepily long (at least I don't think so…) but I just really don't like the feeling of super short nails.

Within an hour or so though, she had taught me how to hold it, how to use a bow, where to place my fingers on the strings, and even taught me to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!  Well, "play" is used very loosely here -- it's more she taught me how to screech out the song.  And Amy was so sweet…She kept telling me that I was doing amazingly for my first time.  I can't really tell if she was just being nice or what but either way, it's not pretty so again, only listen if you enjoy scratchy violin noise.

We've never...been to Comic Con

Harry Potter + Doctor Who

I don't know how many people are aware of this (maybe it's super obvious?) but I'm a huge nerd.  In my defense, I didn't really stand much of a chance of not being one.  I mean, two of my siblings are engineers, my dad is an engineer, his dad is an engineer…  And for anyone who knows engineers (or happens to be one), you know the stereotype is there for a reason.  And so with that kind of upbringing, I am prone to love some pretty dorky things.  My main loves, or perhaps obsessions, are Harry Potter and Doctor Who.  If someone tells me they don't love Harry Potter, my heart literally breaks a little, so if that's the case, just keep it to yourself, please.

Anyway, these 2 loves were pretty much the only reason I went to Comic Con, and despite some people making fun of us (*cough cough* Mike), we were pretty excited.  Going in, we really had no idea what to expect.  They had an app with this schedule of panels about various shows and topics that were going on throughout the day. And so initially, we assumed that we would just go from one panel to the next.  Turns out, we only ended up going to 1 1/2 panels the whole time we were there.

But we did wait in a LOT of lines.  

We didn't go up until Friday afternoon because of work stuff, but our goal was to go to Tom Felton's panel which had originally been planned for 3:30. However, it seems that sometime that same day, they had changed the listed time to be 3 o'clock.  We unfortunately didn't get to the convention center until just before 3 when we found a massive line of people already lined up for Tom Felton's panel.  Turns out, it really didn't actually start until 3:30, so I'm not sure why the time had been changed, but in any case, we waited in line for about 40 minutes, just to be told that the room was full and they weren't letting any more people in.  It was very devastating (mostly to poor Cat who didn't have Doctor Who to fall back on).

Waiting in line for the Doctor Who panel

Before we had even been told we couldn't get into Tom Felton's panel, people had already started lining up for the Doctor Who panel (featuring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Billy Piper!) which wasn't for another…2 hours!  For that one, though, everyone had to buy tickets ahead of time, so we knew we would get into that, but we ended up hopping in line right then anyways in hopes of getting better seats.  So then, we waited in line for another 2 hours.  At this point, Comic Con is looking pretty lame since literally all we've done is wait in line. 

In the Tardis

Luckily, the Doctor Who panel ended up being AWESOME.  Matt Smith was exactly how I had imagined him being--just so hilarious and sweet.  And he and Karen Gillan played off each other really well with a lot of playful bantering.  Matt Smith kept making fun of her wrists (apparently they creep him out because they are so tiny) and all of their accents were adorable.  Billy Piper was interesting…I liked her but she was a little weirder than I expected.  She seemed a little drugged up almost. And she couldn't sit still which was kind of hilarious. She was constantly changing positions and slouching.  Matt Smith called them "Pipes" and "Gills" which was cute.  

And they were really good at handling awkward questions. There were a couple of people who gave some big back stories about how Doctor Who literally saved their lives because their mom had died and they almost committed suicide or stuff like that (which, I'm not trying to sound insensitive because it is very sad but that doesn't mean it wasn't uncomfortable for the rest of us).  They handled it so well, though, and were so sweet. They even invited one lady, who couldn't stop crying while trying to ask her question, to go and sit with them on the stage for the rest of the panel, which probably just made that lady's life complete.

After that, we pretty much just walked around and took pictures.  Some random group of people dressed as Harry Potter characters pulled us into a picture with them and we got some pictures in the Tardis and with a really creepy weeping angel (I know she was fake, but I still couldn't stand close to her for more than a few seconds).  We also ate a 7 dollar slice of pizza because we were super hungry and that was pretty much as cheap as it got there.

Random Harry Potter group

For the next day, we had decided that since we didn't get to go to Tom Felton's panel, we would split the cost of a single autograph so that we could at least meet him.  I'm not sure who sets the price of autographs and photo-ops and if the celebrities have a say but every celebrity was vastly different.  I'm pretty sure his was one of the cheaper options and it was still $45 for a single autograph.  I think a couple celebrities were $100 for an autograph, which is crazy.  Can you imagine someone paying $100 just to have you sign your name and shake your hand?!?!  And it sounds like every celebrity had different rules. Like some offered selfies as an option and some would let you meet them without buying something whereas others wouldn't.  It just made things really confusing and difficult to figure out what we were allowed to do and not allowed to do. 

Getting attacked by the weeping angel

Anyway, when we got in line, we found out that you had to pay for a selfie when we had thought you could ask for one at the same time as getting an autograph (wishful thinking, I guess).  However, they let us exchange the autograph for a selfie.  And again, with the lines -- we waited in line for about an hour I think.  I feel bad for the celebrities. They literally sit there and sign autographs all day. 

While waiting in line, though, the line zigzagged right in front of where Tom was sitting.  And just listening to him talk to other people was the cutest.  He was so genuine and so sweet to people, even to the girl who I'm pretty sure was trying to convert him to Mormonism during her 2 minutes with him (I'm not even kidding).  And his accent wasn't bad either ;).  I didn't realize I had a crush on Tom Felton until we were in line to see him. 

Selfie with Tom Felton!

Our friend, Cat, was seriously going to have a heart attack out of pure excitement to meet him (She loves Harry Potter even more than I do, I think).  And so she was trying to plan out her conversation with him, which was hilarious.  She wanted to ask him about his dog because apparently he tweets about it all the time (Good thing she didn’t because we found out later that his dog is good and dead.)  He shook all of our hands and repeated our names as we introduced ourselves (he even threw in a "my love" with my name -- how cute is he), talked to us for a minute, and offered to take the selfie himself because as he said, he is a "Selfie Master".  He's definitely one of my favorite celebrities now.

Our awesome glitter tattoos 

So after that, we didn't really do much.  We ended up leaving to go get lunch since we didn't want a $7 slice of pizza again, and when we got back, we got some awesome (and nerdy!) glitter tattoos.  We tried to go to a small panel about the Muppets but it was so incredibly boring. We ended up leaving before it was over and just walked around and looked at the artwork and people's costumes before we ended up heading back to good old Provo.  We also debated going to their Sci-Fi speed dating for a while but decided against it for obvious reasons.

In the end, Comic Con was not really what I had expected.  It was a huge money pit and there was a lot more waiting in lines than I had expected.

But am I glad I went? Yes.  I mean, I got to see Matt Smith and meet Tom Felton!  Will I ever go again? Mmm…Probably not.

I've Never... Seen a Premiere

… and this week I got to see two!

DON VERDEAN

I’ve lived in Utah for 8ish years now and I’ve only taken part in the Sundance Film Festival a handful of times. “But Amy!” you may exclaim, “you were a film major!” I know, right? In my defense, the festival happens at a pretty inconvenient time. During school, a new semester was well underway, I usually had a job, and I rarely had a car that I felt confident driving through the canyon in the snow. And now I work for a tax company making the end of January/beginning of February pretty busy for me.

I’ve gone up on the odd Saturday to celebrity-see here or there. I even saw a short program in SLC a few years ago where I got to meet Joseph Gordon-Levitt!

2009- Amy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt just enjoying some film!

But I had never seen a film, let alone a premiere. I decided to try it out.

For those who don’t know how the Sundance Waitlist works, you’re not alone. I had never waitlisted a ticket before and all day I had been racked with uncertainty about the process and my ability to work the system.

Turns out, it’s super easy and I’m a little embarrassed by how preoccupied I was with it all day. Two hours before any showing, a specific number of waitlist spots are made available online. You add a film to your waitlist, are assigned a number, and then you go to the theater and get in line. If they have enough left over seats, they sell the tickets to those waiting. Piece of cake.

On Wednesday afternoon I rushed home from work and sat anxiously at my computer, anticipating 4:30: the second that waitlist tickets would become available for Jared Hess’s newest film, Don Verdean.

San Rockwell and Jemaine Clement in Don Verdean

4:30 hit and I clicked like my little heart depended on it. Reserving two waitlist numbers (for Desiree and myself) we got numbers 8 and 9 out of 300. So I was pretty stoked.

We then immediately drove up to Park City. The drive is less than an hour, but we had to be at the theater at least 30 minutes early or our spot would be given away. Luckily the showing was at the biggest theater closest to the free parking!

Desiree and Amy on the Sundance Shuttle

Everything went incredibly smoothly. We met some colorful people in line, got in to see the show, laughed a LOT, and then watched the awkward but fun Q&A with the cast and creators afterwards. All in all: awesome!

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

The second premiere was not a film, but a play. A musical, to be exact. Frank Wildhorn, the same musical genius to bring us such classics as Jekyll and Hyde and The Scarlet Pimpernel has written a new musical based on the novel, The Count of Monte Cristo.

BYU Cast of The Count of Monte Cristo

I’m not going to lie: I have no idea how musicals get made. He and Jack Murphy wrote it back in 2009 and it’s been performed in several different locations and in several different languages. But its English premiere in its entirety was made at BYU? I think?

Regardless of the semantics, Wildhorn selected BYU to premiere his show and I got to see it.

Although the musical was based more on the movie than the book, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The music was excellent and the acting was incredibly impressive. Mormons are talented. Like, really talented. So talented that it’s kind of depressing to be one sometimes. But they sure do put on a good show.

I knew one of the cast members and had met in passing a few of the others. It was incredible to see such talent on stage and to see one of my favorite stories performed in one of my favorite styles (I freaking love musicals).

We were also fortunate enough to participate in the Q&A with the cast afterwards. Turns out Wildhorn and Murphy were changing the show throughout the entire rehearsal process and even into tech week. They’d add songs, cut lines, rearrange things. Kept the cast on their toes, but you wouldn’t have known from the performance they put on.

Also, Q&A’s are really uncomfortable. They definitely prove that there is such thing as a stupid question.

But it’s been quite the week of firsts for me. Did I get much done on my thesis? Nope. Did I get to the gym as much as I should? HA! Nope. But that’s the point of all this, isn’t it? To try new things. And I loved both of the premieres I saw and the experience of seeing something so new. Definitely a “never” that I hope to make a more “regular” thing.