Characters that I relate to in musicals...

With the Oscar season coming up and certain movies that are combating for awards, there are many good movies that are going to be released between now and Christmas...  One of these movies is Les Misérables, where they have taken the stage musical and made it for the big screen.

There have been several movies done with the same title already, but it has always been the story inspired by Victor Hugo's work, it has never been about the musical...  Until now.

So, this got me thinking...  I was thinking about certain characters from musicals and how I relate to them...  Here are two that I relate to, of course our experiences differ slightly, but I can imagine how they would be feeling:

1) Donna Sheridan, from Mamma Mia!.

Donna runs a villa on the island and also has a daughter to feed, as well as prepare a wedding for.  She works hard to make ends meet and makes sure that she doesn't get into the red, does repairs around the hotel to make sure that it's kept up and also because she wouldn't have to call a repairman...  She had a romances when she was young and has not had any romances since then.

I totally know how she feels.  I have a friend who's getting an iPad 4th generation 64 GB for his/her birthday and another friend who's been on more dates in one week than I have been in on the past three years.

The song that I most relate to:  Money, Money, Money.

(Cue song):

I need a break, I need a holiday, someone's getting an iPad 4th generation 64GB for their birthday and this one here's had more dates in one week than I have had in three years!

I work all night, I work all day to pay the bills I have to pay...

(And the rest of the song applies relatively well to my situation)

Who wouldn't want a wealthy man (or woman) to be pampered once in a while, right?

2) Fantine, from Les Misérables.

Fantine has a summer romance and is left pregnant.  Then the boy just clicks up his heels and leaves her to fend for their daughter...  Making her an unwed mother, which is severely frowned upon in Victor Hugo's time...

She has to hide her daughter with innkeepers in the country where she sends them money to care for her daughter.  Of course, these two are greedy bastards, so they take Fantine for practically every penny she gets.  They make up stories about how her daughter is sick and needs doctors and medicines when in reality they treat her daughter like shit because she is not one of their own.

There is an argument in the factory where Fantine is working and then she is fired from her job.  Fantine has to sell stuff in order to make ends meet, and eventually has to turn to prostitution.

There's a part in the trailer for the Les Misérables movie where I totally feel Fantine's pain:  (At 0:33 to 0:51)

This is my fifth year in teaching and I have been at four different schools.  Every year, it's a new challenge because I start off at a new school again and I have to re-establish rapport with the students.  I always try my best and then at the end of the school year, there is nothing for me, because people with more seniority or what not have to be placed first and I never get absorbed into a school.

(Cue part from the trailer):

"Out my boy, on your way..."

"Help me please, I have a student loan!!!"

I have a dream my life would be...  So different from this hell I'm living, so different now than what it seems?

So yes, I totally feel her pain in the song.  Although, I haven't had to resort to selling my hair, my front teeth, or becoming a prostitute.  I just have to continually hound schools in hopes that they have an opening and then I hope they hire me...  Or spend an entire year as a substitute teacher.  Of course, I dream of having a tad more stability...  Getting onto the priority/recall list (tenure would be nice, but let's take baby steps) and being a regular at a school where I can say I am a teacher at "such and such a school" because I have taught there for x number of years.

True, I have no daughter that I have to care for and support and I do not have to swallow my pride and make money that way, but it is just relatively frustrating when this is the outcome every year.

Oh well, Keep Calm and Carry on, as they say.

That's bureaucracy for you...

Today, I was checking information about my account for fun, and discovered that I was charged $0.26 in interest from my university.

I had applied to graduate, but when I realized I wasn't going to make it, I asked for my name to be removed. I thought, since I didn't pay the fee, it would be $40 and then -$40, which would give $0 balance. However, I was mistaken. I was charged $0.26 in interest. Happily, when I spoke to the Accounts balance people, they took that off. But seriously, $0.26 of interest?

Next time, when I apply to graduate - and this time it's going to happen (I've already booked an appointment to talk to a Writing Assistant about structuring my project, and I have a rough outline of how I envision my project),I'll pay my fee right away, to avoid this situation again. Seriously, $0.26 in interest?

What about the little guy? (part three) - aka - Resto du vilage - my favourite diner no more

Today, I went to my (formerly) favourite diner for my regular meal of three eggs (over easy), with sausages, home fries, toast (no butter) and coffee. And boy was I greeted with a surprised, and not a pleasant one for the owner too... I walked in, around 12:15 p.m., on a Sunday afternoon. In all my years there, Sundays are very busy for greasy spoon breakfasts. I mean, there are some off weeks, but that happens rarely. But this seemed to be more of a common occurrence when the owner decided to not only raise prices yet again by about 5 - 10%, but also decided to take out the: "taxes included". So, today, I walk into the restaurant, and it was like a ghost town. there were only a couple of tables that were occupied, and I would say a good 60 - 70% of the tables were not occupied. On top of that, my favourite waitress, who knows my order by heart, and knows that I am a coffee addict, stopped working there, and that last week was her last week. I found out that she now works at Chez Cora.

So... More and more reasons for me to stop going to this restaurant... Price raises every year, but not really justified, considering that the quality is not increasing, and the prices are. I understand that prices increase because of inflation, whatever, but at a certain point, it passes the consumer value of what he/she believes is worth it... When I found out that the prices increased again, there were really two things that kept me going... (And I already sort of had one foot out the door): The coffee, and the waitress. And now that the waitress is gone, I don't think the coffee is good enough to keep me to stay... I could get good coffee at Tim Horton's...

And on top of that, I did some price comparison between the two places... At Chez Cora, I could get two eggs, bacon or sausage, home fries, toast and coffee for $5.25 plus tax. At Resto du village, I get three eggs, bacon, ham or sausage, home fries, toast and coffee for $4.75 plus tax... I think now that it's only the coffee that I would go for, I will just fork out an extra $0.75 + tax + tip for a better ambiance... Especially since I know that my favourite waitress will be working there.

What's even worse, when I paid the cash today, I was digging around for money, and I paid the guy a $5. (The total was $5.36 - which he automatically rounded up to $5.40). After he took the $5 bill, he automatically shut the drawer. When I dug out a loonie, he just told me to leave it there, so he got more tip than he deserved. I mean, I don't take much back, I just take the dime back, and a dime is not a huge amount of money, but it's the principle that counts.

Seriously: When I went to the restaurant three years ago, my meal was $4.00 (taxes included), and then it increased to $4.30 (taxes included), and then it was $4.50 (taxes included), and then now it's $4.75 (taxes not included). This was a time span of three years. I don't think that this type of increase is justified over three years. Every time the price went up, I went to the restaurant less and less... At first, I would be there like two or three times a week (including the breakfast on Sunday), and then the first price increase, I would go once or twice a week (including the breakfast on Sunday0. After the second increase, I would only go once a week (for the breakfast), and on some very odd/rare occasions, I would go a second time. Once they put the price up to $4.75, I swore that I would only go once a week for the breakfast, and half my foot was already out the door, because as soon as I found a place that does good coffee, I was going to leave.

As the title suggested - Resto du village, my favourite diner no longer.

What about the little guy? (part two)

It's been a week since I discovered that the prices at my favourite diner has increased. Right now, I haven't found a new diner yet, so I am still going to go to the same one temporarily. However, today, when I went, about slightly less than half the tables were empty.

It could have been an off week, but I don't think so. The basic rules of economics still apply.. When you raise the prices, customers go elsewhere, or they come less often. I know I'm already considering going elsewhere.

It's about compromise?

Today, I was replacing someone for a fitness class. At about 11:30 a.m., a bunch of kids and their supervisors entered the gym. At this part of the course, I was finishing with stretches, and I don't mind the kids there. However, they weren't quiet...

So, I tried to get them to be quiet, and I was flat out told, "It's our time now, they have the right to be here."

Also, the volunteer in the weight room also said, "You have to cut your class."

I didn't start until 10:40 a.m. (because the previous class wasn't out until then), it would be unfair for me to cut my class 10 minutes.

There was a lot of negative energy in the above situation... And I think this could have been resolved in a much better way if the other people had approached the situation with a more positive attitude, i.e. communicate positively. Instead of saying, "You have to cut your class short", say "Is there something that you can do so that the kids can get into the gym on time at 11:30?", and then you would find out that the previous class didn't leave until 10:40 a.m..

Or instead of "It's our time now, we have the right to be here.", "The kids are really excited about their gym time, because they only get half an hour."

And I agree that I was not very positive in my responses, because of the negative energy that was first projected like a spitball in my face.

Just an observation of life. I think we would be much more harmonious if we thought out how we should phrase things before we said them. Unfortunately, not everyone does that.

And honestly, I know it's hard to keep a group of children quiet, but if you're hired to do so, then it's your job to do it, and if you can't do it, then it's a problem with your skills.