I Never Outgrew That

Really Good Movie: MIA

    Picture for me if you will, an excited 6 year old. She is blonde, she is chubby, and she is very excited. Why is she so pumped? Well, she is watching Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" for the fourth time since she woke up. Her 6 year old self is emitting rays of happiness and sunshine into the room about her, rays that are soon darkened by a terrible and horrifying thing...her sisters. The 11 and 12 year old look down upon their little sister in her stupor of joy. They are sick to death of the gypsy Esmeralda and the evil Frodo, they do not see why this movie should be watched again. As the 6 year old gallivants off to the kitchen to find a snack, the dark shadows move in for the kill. In the blink of an eye the movie is gone, and so are the shadows. The 6 year old comes prancing back into the room and looks around for her movie so she can watch it again, but it is nowhere to be found. That little 6 year old? She was me.

She is so awesome!

           This is a true story. My sisters hid my copy of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" when I was 6 and I didn't find it until I was 11. In my defense they hid it really well, in fact, they hid it so well that the only reason it was found was because my mom was packing things up because we were moving. Man, that was a triumphant day. I loved that movie so much. I had an Esmeralda back-pack, her barbie, her little action figure, and I named one of my cats Esmeralda. She was the coolest Disney character ever, and I wanted to be just like her. Now why I wanted to be like a gypsy living in the sewers is hard to understand, but remember, around this time I also wanted to be a grocery clerk so...keep that in mind. My little 6 year old heart was broken the day my movie went missing, and I believe that is the reason why I still watch movies or listen to new CDs over and over again.

Just 2 little girls from Little Rock

    I first noticed that I was different when I knew all the songs to the "Wicked" soundtrack and my friends only knew the popular(ha!pun) ones. This was when I realized most people do not listen to entire soundtracks and memorize them. They do not listen to just one CD until they know all the songs, they behave like rational adults and change their CDs every now and again. I'm kind of the same way with movies, I'm sad to say. When I was home for my Spring break I watched "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" at least 4 times, and that was in less than one week. I like to memorize every part of a movie so I can feel fully informed on it when I discuss it with my friends, at least that's what I tell myself. In reality I know that the reason I keep listening to the same CD over and over again is because the catchy parts of the song get stuck in my head. When this happens I wake up at two in the morning singing to myself, "Turn around and turn around try floating through the air", and I can't sleep until I figure out that this phrase is from "Hello Dolly's" song "Dancing". This is just the way my brain works.

Love me some Gordon MacRae!

   You make think I'm just squirreling around, but this is a very real part of my life. I remember one morning I was having a great dream about a high school that wasn't painful, and I fit in(it must've been a dream). Right as I was about to kiss the super cute boy, I hear the television blaring up from the living room. My eyes pop open and I start getting furious at my father. It is at this point that a phrase starts running through my head, "Hush you bird my baby is sleeping, maybe got a dream worth a-keepin." I had to sing it out loud repeatedly until I figured out that this particular phrase was from "Oklahoma!" in "The Surrey with the Fringe On Top". Not only do odd phrases run through my head, but phrases that fit the situation also come to mind when I see something I recall from a song.

Seriously in love with Cosmo Brown

   The old saying my piano teacher Mrs.Sperry used to tell me is true, there is a song for everything. Maybe I took that too much to heart, but damn if I can't find a song to fit every situation. Take for instance a situation where your friend has gone completely crazy and is thoroughly convinced that his toes are roses. At this point you can start singing "Moses Supposes His Toeses are Roses" from "Singing in the Rain". Now this situation is maybe not very likely, but at least I have a song in my arsenal supposing it does happen. A more likely occurrence is when you are trying to help someone with their homework. Say they are struggling with some very difficult problems, like math for instance. "If Tom is half as tall as Bob, but twice as skinny at Dan, when will Tom die of cat leukemia?" This is the time for a situational song like "Learn to Do It" from the cartoon version of "Anastasia" (which is a 20th Century Fox movie, by the way). Your friend is bummed that they have to do math so you cheerfully sing to them, "If I can learn to do it, you can learn to do it!Something in you knows it! There's nothing to it. Follow in my footsteps shoe by shoe. You can learn to do it, too!" And then they will have renewed hope in life and discover that Tom will die in 5 months from his tragic infection of cat leukemia.
    Maybe, it's a good thing that I learn all of these songs. I mean, if I can save my friend from killing themselves over a math problem or being so crazy that they think their toes are some kind of flora, that has to be a good thing. In order to preserve my peace of mind, I must first disturb it with countless songs for the sake of everyone else's peace of mind. You know, either that or I just have some kind of fixation based on a childhood mishap. But I'm gonna stick with saving the world one topical situation song at a time.

This is how I'll save the world...you can learn to do it too!