Glee - Remembering Cory... Farewell to Finn

I wasn't able to watch last night's Glee Episode which was the Farewell to Finn episode until today.... Wow - talk about a really tough episode to watch.....

I debated all day about when to watch it... I knew it would be emotional but I didn't know just how emotional it would be....

(For those of you who only know me "electronically" - it's probably worth noting that I am not generally an overly emotional person.

You may be thinking "chelle you are crazy to be so emotional about some silly TV show" maybe you're right... but I don't think so.... It's so much bigger than just some silly TV show. Yes I have absolutely grown to really love this show and have become emotionally involved in the fictional world it is but this episode spoke to tragedy which so many of us have experienced in life in some way or another and it did it in a very touching way.

For those of you who don't know Cory Monteith played Finn Hudson on the hit show Glee. A few months ago Cory was found dead of an overdose much to the surprise of many. The writers of Glee decided that they had to tackle the loss of his character in a way that was true to Glee and I think they did an amazing job.


The show never goes into why Cory died but instead shows the emotions and pain of those who loved him so dearly. In that facet, yes this is a fictional show but it is done so true to real life that if this episode doesn't tug at your heartstrings, I don't know what will.

Perhaps one of my favorite parts of the show was when Kurt (Finn's stepbrother and dear friend) says  "Everyone wants to talk about how he died too, but who cares? One moment in his whole life — I care more about how he lived."

I will openly admit I started crying about 5 seconds into the show. The opening scene is "Seasons of Love" from Rent done in a very similar fashion to how it is done in Rent. Very effective emotional set-up for all of us who are fans of Rent because every single time I've seen Rent live on stage... that song/scene always makes me tear up.

Perhaps one of the reasons I love Glee is that while I am not a particularly musically inclined person, music has always spoken to me and been better about expressing emotions better than I can ever find the words to. I listen to songs and the evoke such strong emotions sometimes and sometimes I wish that I was a better singer so I could use other people's words to express how I am feeling. The characters on Glee do this all the time so perhaps that's part of the allure of the show for me. Each song sung with such emotion in the episode kept the tears cascading down my cheeks...

Let's put it this way - even though I was watching on DVR and could've fast forwarded through some of the commercials... I ended up watching some of the commercials just so I could catch my breath and let the tears subside a little..

The emotions of each character were truly palpable as you watched the episode... I highly doubt there was much acting required for their emotions because they truly were paying tribute to their dear friend. Seeing their very real tears and their very real pain of the loss of a loved friend just tore at my heart and kept the tears flowing. I read in an article that almost every scene in this episode was done in only 1 take (absolutely unheard of in TV) because cast members would have to run out of the room crying they were so emotional. That all comes through on the screen and makes this some of the most emotional scenes I've ever seen on the screen in any facet.

Bottom line... I think this episode was beautifully done....

And yes I went through a lot of Kleenex for my buckets of tears... just see my previous Facebook post comments to see how many :)

This episode definitely hit close to home for me in a wide variety of ways from the feelings of the pain of the loss of someone you love to the various ways that grief manifests itself in different people and at different times in different ways...

I hope this episode reminds everyone that life can be entirely too short....  Embrace life! Embrace the ones you love! Remember that each day is not guaranteed and to make the most of your days....

I send hugs to all of you my friends.....

How is that comfortable!?!?

Guinness gets himself into the funniest of sleeping or just lounging about positions.... so often Ken and I just look at one another and ask "How is that comfortable?!" But Guinness seems pretty darn happy so I guess he is!

Half Marathons in Consideration

Man I have been a slacker this year (and who am I kidding last year too - even more so then!) about getting registered and running some half marathons...

I was thinking that I really wanted to do the Hershey Half Marathon (I mean come on - it's Chocolate Town USA!) and so when my slacker self got around to looking to register this a few weekends ago  wouldn't ya know... it's sold out! Grrrr! I should have known better. Really I do know better.... so now I'm sitting down to really start hashing out some East Coast Half Marathons that I want to get to work on getting on the calendar... Why especially East Coast? Well because at the end of the day I know we are "short timers" here in Annapolis (meaning we have a finite amount of time that we will be living here) so I ought to take advantage of this geographic location while I can.

Rock-and-Roll Series
As much as I was completely irritated with the RR series after the Vegas half a few years ago it sounds like they've gotten their act together regarding that race and honestly the other races they run have been pretty darn good. Assuming they do this again for 2014 I am considering breaking down and getting the tour pass and knocking out as many as I can with that...
http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/tourpass?icat=rnr-website_marquee_300x200&icamp=

Annapolis Half Marathon - November 23, 2013
http://annapolisrunningclassic.com
I have pathetically signed up for this before and then not run it (was overcome by events) and while November is cold to me I really do have to run one of these that I can walk to from my house!

Divas Myrtle Beach - April 27, 2014
http://www.runlikeadiva.com/Events/Divas_Half_Marathon____5K_-_North_Myrtle_Beach.htm
My dear friend Eve lives in Myrtle Beach so at least I've got a place to crash :) This one looks like fun and fits my East Coast slant that I am working on...

So those are the ones immediately on my radar... am open to other prospects...

Anyone want to join me at any of these? Anyone have any other suggestions? :)

Guinness Goes to a Ballgame

A few weeks ago Ken & I took Guinness to Bark in the Park at the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. We all had a whole lot of fun and Guinness made a few new friends too!

Guinness was not so sure about meeting Pinch but Pinch wanted to be his friend....

Baseball Parks...

I mean in all seriousness the following statement....

      If I were to win the lotto one of the things I would absolutely do is go to every Major League Baseball Park in America (and many of the Minor League ones too)! 

I suppose that's part of the flip comment I frequently make about how Ken married me for beer & baseball :) 

What can I say - I love baseball and so does Ken! So much so that we got engaged at a Spring Training baseball game and ever since have been trying to visit as many parks as we can! One of the beauties of our time here in Annapolis is that there are so many Minor League Parks in the area for us to checkout... I suspect there will be a lot of days where I may kidnap Ken and drag him off to a game for an evening! (Currently I am hoping the weather is good on Monday because if it is we are going to take Guinness to Bark in the Park at the Waldorf Blue Crabs game.)

We want to see all the baseball parks together so our ground rule (different than a ground rule double!) is if we haven't seen it together it doesn't count on the list of parks that we have been to. 

So here's the rundown of what we've seen.

MAJOR LEAGUE STADIUMS

Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)

Old Yankee Stadium

Shea Stadium (Old Mets Stadium)

Citi Field (Mets New Stadium)

Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles)

Cellular Field (I still call it Comiskey! Chicago White Sox)

Citizens Bank Park (Phillies Stadium)

Chase Field (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Progressive Field (Cleveland Indians)

Minute Maid Park (Houston Astros)

Nationals Park (Washington Nationals)

MINOR LEAGUE STADIUMS

Norfolk Tide

Bowie Baysox

Frederick Keys

Toledo Mudhens

Portland Sea Dogs

Pensacola Blue Wahoos

... I think I've got them all that we've been to together... hope I didn't miss any..

We've been to a whole bunch of Spring Training Games in Arizona and Florida too as well as 2 different stadiums in Japan but I won't bore you with all those listed :)

Here's a great link to a map of all the baseball parks
http://www.milb.com/milb/info/geographical.jsp

We didn't make it to quite as many this year as we had hoped (stuff just got in the way) so we are already promising to make a better effort next year. Gotta check off those East Coast parks while we're living here! 

Batter Up!

Well Said Ashton... Well Said

Okay I will openly admit that I was never been a big time Ashton Kutcher fan... I didn't dislike him it's just that I wasn't going to rush out and be first in line to see a movie he did because I was such a fan. He's been entertaining so for me he fell into the category of actors that are entertaining enough that I will watch their movies but I'm not necessarily going to pay big bucks to see it at the actual theater.

I must admit... I am now a much bigger fan. I know this video has made the rounds after the Teen Choice Awards but I want to share it as well just in case you didn't see it or if you didn't watch it because you thought "Meh - why would I care what this guy has to say."

He's speaking to a demographic that is so in need of inspiration and a demographic who is so impressionable... I am really impressed with the way he took to heart that what he says has such an impact on these kids. He's frank.... He's honest... He's just a regular guy speaking from the heart and experience.

I love that he points out that he thinks that "Opportunity often looks like Hard Work." And then points out all the menial jobs he's done over his life... so often in today's "Instant Gratification" society many people forget that there's a lot of hard work to get to where you want in life.

"Opportunities Look a Lot Like Work." - Ashton Kutcher

Next quote I love...
"The sexiest thing in the entire world is being really smart." - Ashton Kutcher
YES! I would've thought that by now in society we'd be over the idea that it's not cool to be smart but sadly we're not over that idea. Why would you want to look like the idiot? I don't understand it! Thank you Ashton for reiterating that smart is sexy!!!

He then goes on to talk about how we can all build a life instead of just fitting inside the box that society has created. For those of you who've heard my quote from my talk in Glasgow - "Forget just thinking outside the box - throw the box away!" - you can see why this really resonates with me.

All I can say is pay attention people! This man knows what he's talking about. Heed this advice!
Haven't seen it - well check it out for yourself. Ashton says it much better than I can summarize it... (And I hope that maybe if before you didn't want to watch it now after hearing some of my comments you can't wait to watch it!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXwKGZHmDc#at=143

Ashton - you have yourself a new big time fan. I will be heading to the theaters to see your movies (and paying the premium to do so) because I believe in supporting those who make a positive difference in this world... And I am a big believer that you have made a hugely positive difference in this world with your speech.

Thank you Ashton

Bon Voyage Scott! But Guinness is NOT Happy About It!

Guinness has become very attached to many of "his mids" and "his Ensigns" but he is especially attached to his best buddy Scott.

Scott & Guinness have definitely had some fun (well at least in one of their minds it was fun) here in Annapolis.

But alas... now it is time for Scott to flee the nest and head out of Annapolis to EOD school. Yesterday we said our "good-byes" for now which were really more "We will see you soon!" because Scott will certainly be stuck seeing us for many many years to come.  Guinness knew something that he didn't like was up and he was very sad to see Scott go (even pouted extensively after Scott left!) so I promised that once Scott is settled into more permanent housing than the BOQ I will bring Guinness out to visit.

Scotty you will be missed here tremendously by all of us but we will see you soon! We wish you lots of luck! Love ya man!!!