The best time at Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you've all had a nice holiday season so far. I know I have. For the first time in three years, my mom, dad, sister, and I were able to have our family opening of presents time out in the living room around the Christmas tree instead of all crowded into my bedroom. That was probably the best gift of all this year, for me -- to be out of bed like a "normal" person. This is also partly why it's been so long since my last post -- I've been busy doing things and spending quality time with my sister, Joanna, who's home for the holidays.

It seems like on every talk show I see, someone gets asked about their best Christmas memories, so I thought I might tell you about my favorite part of Christmas growing up. . . Early on Christmas morning, usually before sunup, Joanna and I would get up very quietly and head downstairs to find our stockings and see if Santa and the reindeer had eaten what we left for them. We would turn on the Christmas tree lights and spread out on the living room floor. Then we'd take turns pulling one item out of our stockings to check out and show each other. When the stockings were empty of goodies, we'd start reading the Christmas picture books like The Polar Express, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Christmas Mouse (which tells the story of how a mouse helped write "Silent Night"). It was so quiet. No tv, no phone, no computer, no parents, not even pets. Just the two of us -- wrapped in blankets, on the floor, before the sun came up, discovering the treasures in our stockings and reading the books we read every year.

I'm afraid that, like the people in Polar Express, we may have lost of a little of that Christmas magic; but we still hear a little of the sleigh bell's jingle when we see what's in our stockings each Christmas. Just the two of us . . . sometime after noon.

Desert Island Records

Well, I figure it's better to write something than nothing at all. Since I don't have much on my mind at the moment, here's my answer to one of those classic questions: what music would you want to have with you if you were all alone on a desert island? Maybe it's archaic to even make such a list when all I really need would be a 30 GB iPod and a solar charger, but here (in no particular order) are my top ten must have albums if I were ever stranded --

1) Rent, Original Broadway Cast
2) Something, Lost And Found
3) Sound Theology, Jonathan Rundman
4) Spirit, Jewel
5) Californication, Red Hot Chili Peppers
6) Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette
7) Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Original Cast Recording
8) The White Album, The Beatles
9) Grace, Jeff Buckley
10) Hymns, Various Artists (compiled by Youth Encounter)

Now, a little explanation. The one ground rule I set for myself was to only bring one album per artist. (Don't ask me why, it made sense at the time.) And here's a few thoughts on some of the specific choices --

1) Rent - there must be broadway, and this is my favorite, hands-down.
2) Something - picking one L & F album was tricky, but this is the one I listen to the most
3) Sound Theology - one song for each week of the church year. and I do get to take the liner notes, right?
5) Californication - for me, this is the peak (and my first RHCP)
10) Hymns - yes, I am that much of a church nerd.

So, that's what I have to say tonight. Please post or email me any comments as I'll probably do more top tens in the future. This was kinda fun!

Snow!

It's snowing, huzzah! It seems somehow appropriate for the first December blog to be about snow, though in the Baltimore area, you often have to wait much longer for something worthy of the name. We've actually gotten a few inches on the ground way before Christmas, which makes me happy. I actually got out of bed first thing this morning (and by morning I mean almost noon) and ran outside to catch a few flakes and throw a few snowballs. I'm glad to be living out in the country a bit where the snow actually stays white. White snow was sort of a revelation for me when I moved at the age of seven from inner city Baltimore to rural Gettysburg. Now we're back in Baltimore county which is nice because we can go to the theatre and get good Greek food, but there are trees and the snow stays white. I just wish we got more of it. But then again, I never have to worry about driving in it . . .

Goodbye good tv

Let me start by saying, I watch a lot of tv. And it's looking like the best shows will be slowly disappearing from the airwaves while this writer's strike continues. I'm no expert on the ins and outs of this whole thing, so this is in no way a breaking-news blog. But from what I've read about the negotiations, it sounds to me like the writers have totally legitimate complaints and I support their right to strike -- I'm just really gonna miss their work.

Firstly, there has been no "Daily Show," for five weeks now so if I want to know what's going on in the real world, I have to watch the actual news or look stuff up online.

Monday was the fall finale of "Heroes," which will now, it appears, be gone until further notice. I do know the intended fill-in show, "Heroes: Origins," has been put on the back burner. Too bad -- I thought getting to see some new characters would be fun. Plus, writer/director Kevin Smith was supposed to do an episode, which would have been awesome! They are making a bunch of online content and putting out a "Heroes" book, but (call me old-fashioned) I like my tv on tv, I guess.

Another show I'm worried about is "Scrubs." This was supposed to be its final season, so will the strike mean fewer episodes? Or will the season run later than usual after everything is resolved? Anyway, I'm really hoping both sides will be able to figure this thing out before too much longer because I don't want to get cheated out of the last episodes of one of my favorite sitcoms!

Then there will be some shows returning in January like "Lost," "Psych," and "The Tudors," all of which I'm really looking forward to. Also returning in January is the final season of "The Wire," which is really must see tv. Season four just came out on dvd and for anyone who's interested in a truly great crime show set right here in Baltimore it's really worth catching up on those back seasons. It's intense and complicated, but really pays off.

Also, there's always reality tv, which is another can of worms entirely. I'm really glad "Project Runway" is back for one. And I suppose we'll be seeing more and more reality shows in the weeks to come. Like "Farmer Wants a Wife." (I'm not kidding -- that's a real show)

Cause I am so analog

You are reading the blog of a person who doesn't read blogs. Or have a cell phone. Or use MySpace. I've only seen like five YouTube videos in my whole life. I'm kind of ambivalent about technology in general. Sometimes I feel like I could be perfectly happy spending my time reading my 19th century literature and playing the piano and generally living "the simple life." (And I don't mean like Paris Hilton) But then I look at my TiVo menu or my iPod or feel the need to look something up on the Internet Movie Database and I think, maybe this 21st century is not so bad after all.

Ironically, one thing I always preferred doing the old fashioned way is writing. While I have gotten used to emailing, I still like to do my creative writing with pencil and paper. I don't really know why this is, I just feel more artistic. Also, I think I find a blank notebook page inviting and a blank computer screen intimidating. This is one I'm really trying to get over.

One thing that helps is seeing what other people are up to -- I'm enjoying reading a blog now by one of my favorite singers, Jonathan Rundman. (check it out) I got to hang out with him for a while after he performed at our church recently. I've admired Jonathan's work for a while and it's always great to find a kindred spirit! I had the best time, and he gave me the necessary shove in the right direction to enter the digital age and start blogging myself.

"All our feelings and thoughts
Expressed in one and oughts
In endless spiraling chains
You can't decode or explain
Cause you are so analog. . . "
~ Random Number Generation from Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Inner "Critic"

When I looked at the blank screen before beginning my last entry, I really thought that all I had to say was - "I finally started to play the piano again. It went pretty well." Turns out, once I started talking, I couldn't stop. This is a problem I often have in real life and I'm doing my best to transfer it to this blog. I really want to write like I would talk to a friend, since I know I have a few reading this! What I have working against me is my pesky perfectionism (more on this later, I'm sure).

Does anyone else remember the animated series from a few years back called "The Critic"? It starred Jon Lovitz as a very picky movie critic. Well, I'm beginning to feel like Jay Sherman is living in my head shouting, from time to time, "it stinks!" With this written form, I find myself wanting to fix everything and turn it into an english assignment instead of a conversation, which is really what I want it to be. So, I guess this is fair warning to anyone who might plan on sticking around - I may let myself run off at the mouth (or keyboard or whatever) a bit in future. In fact, I hope I do.

A little good news for those who are following along - I have been practicing piano a lot. In fact, I think I missed it more than I realized. Also, I've already re-learned just the right hand part of that "Rent" vamp. It's a start and makes me feel like I've accomplished something, which is really half the battle sometimes. I hate feeling stagnant. So . . . yay progress!

Back on the horse

I played the piano today, which I haven't done in almost three years. Since I've been feeling better physically lately, it's been getting harder and harder to come up with reasons not to get back to practicing. I was afraid I'd be more or less back to square one, but actually it wasn't that bad. My hands have gotten weak, with the possible exception of my left thumb which I believe must be super strong by now thanks to its unending service to TiVo. So, I'll have to put my nose to the grindstone a bit and do those good old fashioned Hanon exercises. The other part I need to work on most is reading the music. I'm afraid my old enemy the bass clef has come back to haunt me. Every time I think I've learned it, it gets erased from my Etch-A-Sketch of a brain by some health problem that keeps me away from music for a while.

On a more positive note, (no pun intended), I found that I can still read a melody line and play block cords. I even played the cords and sang an entire song straight through, which is way more than I really expected to be able to do on my first day back at the keyboard. It's a simple, but beautiful song -- "Your Memory" by Lost and Found. Does anyone detect a pattern here?

Anyway, one of my reasons for sharing this news with whoever may be reading this is the hope that it will make me keep playing. I've played a couple of instruments in my life (clarinet and bassoon plus piano) but I've never been faithful about practicing. So I state now, for the record, that I intend to spend some time working on the keyboard/piano at least two days a week. One thing I want to do is to re-learn the opening vamp to "Seasons of Love" from "Rent," which I used to be able to play. I'll let you know how it goes.

What's in a name?

Just a little business I should have mentioned in my first post. For anyone who's wondering, I borrowed the phrase, "Laugh Like Sarah," from the lyrics of "New Creation," a song by my very favorite band, Lost and Found.

It's something that meant a lot to me not just because of the Genesis reference, but because I've been told I have a good laugh. I mention that only because I think it's a really great compliment as it's something I really have no control over and I love that it sort of aligns me with the biblical Sarah. I feel a much greater connection to the name Sarah through her laughter than through the actual definition of the name -- "princess." That was fun when I was younger, but I really don't feel "princessy" anymore. Now, my middle name, Elizabeth, means "promise of God" which I don't think I could ever get tired of!

Final thought -- in the Bible, both Sarah and Elizabeth have children when they are advanced in years. I always wondered if that holds some sort of sign for my future.

One

Hi. Welcome to my very first blog post. To start, here's a little background -- My name is Sarah, I'm 24 years old, and I've been dealing with chronic health problems for about ten years now. But that is not what this blog is mostly going to be about. If you know me (or if you don't) and are interested in updates on my health, please visit my dad's page at sarahmarshallupdates.blogspot.com.

What I really want to do in "Laugh Like Sarah" is just let the world know what I'm thinking. I spend most of my days absorbing media in some form or another, so I'm sure if you keep reading you will find commentary on tv and movies. I've also been a pastor's daughter all my life so I'm sure issues of faith and religion will find their way in too. The challenge for me will be to conquer my inner critic and post frequent, honest, uncensored messages. I received some great encouragement to start this blog in the first place and I hope it will be worth your while to read it. Wish me luck . . .

"Now Sarah said, 'God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.'" ~Genesis 21:6