3/26/08

My Happy Ending

I don't know what I am going to write about. We'll just be honest up front.

Today I have a pain right near the center of my chest where my the fourth chamber of my heart is. (I think). It hurts to breath. Do you think that means I might be having a heart attack?

My mother doesn't understand me. I am sure that this is not the first, or the last time in my life that this will happen. But in my head she has always been the picture of understanding. Right now, I don't feel that that is the case. I try and explain to her my fears of life ranging from what is going to happen next week to what is going to happen in three years. I feel kind of like she is just grazing over my fears. Almost like she doesn't have enough time to listen to them anymore. She probably doesn't. She probably shouldn't have to. I just feel like she should.

That makes me feel alone. This is not the first time that this has happened either. But that's what it is. Loneliness. And that is what scares me about three years from now. Loneliness. David will be working 120 hour work weeks with residency, if we are lucky. Most residents are not allowed to report their hours because they work so much. Should I not worry about this right now? Probably not. Right now I should enjoy the time that I have. But I wish people would stop talking to me about this phantom called residency that sucks the life and joy out of every marriage. Jeez. I thought you were suppose to feel refreshed after your visiting teachers came. I just feel drained for them and scared for my own mental functioning.

I was asked to direct a road show next month. A road show. I thought that they got rid of those things. My mother in law told me that she finally believed that the church was true when they did get rid of them in her stake. But they still do them here. And get this. I have to write a play for it. A script for 9 minutes. So here is everyone's new assignment. Supply me with ideas for this road show and the winner will get a lot of chocolate shipped directly from Hershey. I'm not even kidding. Here's the theme that the road show has to center around: "My Happy Ending." Quaint and appropriate isn't it? I really think that they got the wrong girl for this job. But please, please give me ideas. Perhaps I should have put this paragraph first. Oh well. Help!!!

14 comments:

Brad & Emily said...

Julie,

I don't know what the rules for your little road show is, but several years ago, when my ward did one, we threw several different things together--Out of the Woods, South Pacific, other things......anyway, we got disqualified because it wasn't TOTALLY original, but we also won because it was the very best. I could get a copy of it from the lady who wrote it, if you'd like. Then at least it could give you an option or some ideas maybe. Just let me know.

Jami said...

Julie,
As you were talking about lonliness I thought to myself, "finally someone expressed why I'm so scared to go to grad school." Loneliness. I don't know of much else that scares me more.
Can't help you much with the road show thing. . . except that we're supposed to grow from "trials." I don't think they intended it to be that, but it seems like it from my perspective. I'll pray for you while I ask around for more creative people to help with the ideas. There. (Everyone will probably have a heart attack that I've commented on the blog.) Hope all is well, Julie.
~Jami

Sara said...

You're right, Jami. My heart almost completely stopped. What a shock.

Julie-
I think you should write the heartwarming tale of Molly Mormon and Peter Priesthood. You know the story--two young Latter-day Saints who stalwartly follow the prophet. They both graduate seminary, go to BYU, fall in love, get married, and have 17 children. It's a touching story, really.

Or for variety, you could write about Holly Homemaker and Eric Eldersquorum. Their story borders on apostate, though. Eric once drank a Coke.

S.Morgan said...

How about a take on the Robinson Crusoe film when Crusoe is sinking up to his eyes in quicksand, and Guy Friday is just sitting back watching, picking his teeth, then just as Crusoe is about to suffocate with slime in his mouth and nose, Guy Friday snaps out of his daydreaming, breaks off a branch, and pulls him out. Now THAT'S a happy ending. (Good to see you posting. And Jami also. Wow.)

iBo said...

Hi Julie you don't know me. Anyway, anytime I hear the words "my happy ending" it always seems to be ironic, like someones entire universe fell apart and thats their "happy" ending. It almost seems "into the woods"-esque where everythings hunky dory the first act and then the bad stuff happens in the second. I don't have any experience with Roadshows, are they supposed to be happy events? Well it's the Mormon world, so I guess everything is supposed to be censored and happy at a church function. XD

E. Anona said...

Okay Julie, I'm taking you seriously. The following is me brainstorming.

Roadshows have lots of singing, right? You could do some American Idol /America's Got Talent spoof, with each contestant or dance team a different scripture character(s). You have lots of parts:
Judges, (example: Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel could be the three judges.) fans that can talk about the performance, a show host/narrator, performers, and then lots of humorous options for characters, like the 10 tribes who start arguing with their choreographer (God? Moses? Probably too sacreligious)in the middle of their dance.
The set would be way easy, you could work in whatever theme you want, and as for the "Happy Ending" part, you'll have to take care of that, but at least it doesn't have to involve a boy-girl scenario.

Good luck. You really should have a team of writers on this.

Julie M said...

Thank you for the ideas so far. They are all really good, but the judges are still waiting for final idea submissions from Chandler, Hyrum, and the rest of the people that I don't know anymore. The prize will be decided up at that time.

Julie M said...

And Jami, no one has expressed this current "assignment" better. A trial is just the right word. It is really good to hear from you and Sara. What have you two been up to anyway? And Sara, good luck with grad school. All my best and all my love goes with you.
Keep posting, both of you, if you have time.

Hyrimskikorisikov said...

you could reenact the capture and eventual hanging of Saddam Hussein. . .just kidding.

Im not too sure about road shows, never done one before. Why are they called road shows? Are you actually going to show this on road or is it going to be in church gym (I dont know if your supposed to call it that, but I cant think of the proper term right now)?

You could turn all of Shakespeare's tragedies into happy endings. Romeo and Juliet don't off themselves, instead they realize their fornication didnt do any good and they go off and marry other people. Or you could do the Tempest. Caliban actually marries prospero's daughter, although I guess that wouldnt be a very happy ending for her (in fact, i dont really know if I got any of those names right but you get the picture).

Chan said...

I like Sis. Morgan's idea, except the part where Friday saves Carusoe.

Hyrum, your suggestions made me laugh the most.

Umm, I really don't have any good ideas. Jacob 7:26 is pretty upbeat. Maybe something based on that.

Happy endings...some fairy tale (Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty) with a LDS twist? I kind of gag thinking about that, but it would be do-able.

Julie M said...

Good ideas. Leanna, any thoughts?

Leanna said...

Okay I know I'm a bit late on this, but that's because I've been trying to think up a winner. (What can I say? I'd do anything for Hershey's bars!)

Actually I don't know if this is a winner, but I have been doing some fun stuff with my 6th graders with fairy tales that I think you could translate into a road show.

I had them do three things. The first assignment was to come up with an advertisement for a product that either a fairy tale character would need or a fairy tale character could sell. Ex: Sleeping Beauty could promote Red Bull with the slogan "Who needs a prince when you've got Red Bull?" or Rapunzel could sell shampoo that makes your hair strong enough to climb, or Prince Charming could promote a kissing booth to wake up the ladies, etc., etc.

The second assignment was they had to write a fairy tale from a minor character's point of view. If you've ever read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs told by A. Wolf, then this is a perfect example. Others could obviously be the ugly stepsisters telling their side of Cinderella, etc.

The third and final assignment was to take a fairy tale and continue it, starting at the "Happily Ever After." The students had to pick a fairy tale, then think up realistic problems the characters might face after the "happily ever after," and continue the story with those problems and then come up with a solution. A good book to use as an example of this is The Frog Prince Continued. (Basically the students would end it with their own REAL happily ever after.)

Anyway, I figure you can use some fun ads inbetween scenes or whatever and then make the road show either a different point of view story or a continuation of a fairy tale with a REAL happily ever after. But whether you use these ideas or not, I hope all goes well. Good luck!

Chan said...

Okay, so Leanna's ideas are pretty cool, but for the record, I brought up the fairy tale thing first. I'm sure your ideas are completely original Leanna, but there are Hershey bars on the line, fresh ones straight from the factory. So, Julie, if you go with Leanna's ideas, I think I should get at least one Hershey bar because I mentioned fairy tales first.

Boy, this blogger-brainstorm thing is great. I'm going to use this next time I need a thesis for my paper.

Julie M said...

The winner is...

Anona. Congratulations! My youth writing committee loved the American Idol idea (we are now doing Roadshow Idol) and they even have a heart warming moral at the end. When the script is done, I'll post it on the blog.

What's your address Anona?