Day 1128: Snowed In

A good number of my professors have related over the past few days that there were roughly only one or two times they can remember school getting canceled here at St. Norbert College, and I was already lucky enough to experience one of them. For those of you that don't live in Wisconsin, or have yet to enter the wonderful college world, I'll let you in on a little secret: college here almost never gets canceled. While other schools, elementary schools, will be canceled hours before the storm even hits, college students and professors tend to still make the trek across the winter wonderland we call home for months out of the year. So for school to actually be canceled, and campus closed, for the majority of the day is an absolute blessing.

It also means that there is suddenly a lack of things to do. College campuses are busy places, especially during the school year. The summer and J-Term, when I'm frequently on campus for work, leave the college quiet and peaceful, but with the bustle of students around during the semester, there's always something going on and somewhere to be. When we're all trapped up in our dorms, however, just as everyone in the area is trapped in their houses, there isn't much for any of us to do other than watch Netflix, do some work, or, if you're me, practice conducting.

Then again, there is one thing you could do! I've been working incredibly hard these past few weeks to get my life in order and not only catch up on my projects, but then get ahead, and make attempts to keep it in order from here on out. It's one of my goals for this semester: stay ahead and stay happy. Now, Everyday Disney is caught up, my homework is almost finished for the entire week, I'm practicing every day as much as I can, the music library is getting cleaner, my food is made for the week, and new videos start TODAY on my YouTube channel!

I figured that since it's been two months or so since my last video (aside from Star Wars), we could start simple in 2016 with a Disney Haul from my last trip! It's a bit long, despite the fact that there isn't that much in my basket of Disney treasures, but I think this makes it clear why I don't usually do haul videos. I'd have to either talk for over an hour or split it up into sections!

I have to say that it's good to be back making YouTube videos, and you can expect one every Tuesday from here on out, beginning with a new vlog from my January trip that will go up next week Tuesday! I don't think I realized how much I missed making these videos until I was editing this one yesterday, and now I have a whole list of ideas for future videos I'm playing around with in my head! Let's just say it's going to be an interesting year! 

Have a magical day! 

Day 393: No Class

Here in Wisconsin, it's so cold that our college actually CANCELED classes and closed campus. I'm not kidding..they did, and that alone should be amazing enough in itself, considering the fact that we like NEVER close here. Most of us live on campus, so it has to be cold enough for it to be dangerous for us to walk simply from one building to another...which is normally no more than a 5 minute walk.

So what did I do on my day off, you ask? Honestly, I really just did homework. I slept in and watched some HIMYM, and then got up, took a shower, ate some brunch I suppose, and then sat down to do my work. I did end up watching an episode of Once with my friend Jessica in the middle of the afternoon, but other than that I really just worked for about four hours straight.

And then, of course, since it warmed up enough by 5, we ended up having Wind Ensemble. I'm cool with that, except for I was really looking forward to spending an entire day inside the warmth of my dorm room, and that just did not happen, but that's alright. Heading to the music building for wind ensemble and then the caf for dinner meant that I got to watch another episode of Once with Jessica (we're catching her up so she can watch with us when it returns on March 9...she just watched Good Form). And then I headed back to my dorm for more homework: philosophy to be specific.

Luckily I finished my Fairytales reading on Monday, so I didn't have to worry about that. I have to say though, Sleeping Beauty HAS to be one of the most disturbing stories I think I've ever read. I mean, it's awful. In one version we read there were instances of rape, birth of twins while asleep, cannibalism, attempted murder, stripping, adultery and burning at the stake (twice). Yeah...not the best story if you ask me.

In other words, it has finally 100% occurred to me WHY the Disney versions are often so different from the original fairytales, and in many cases, I think it's ridiculous for critics to get on Disney's case about it. These are stories that have been passed down for generations, and there are multiple versions of each because they all end DIFFERENTLY. Therefore, the Disney version is just another version of the story. Either Walt's or the Company's take on the classic story that's written in print.

But if you think about it, it's basically impossible for Disney to accurately represent the story in it's original form. Go back a couple paragraphs to what was included in the one version (the earliest we have) of Sleeping Beauty. In no way could a film, live action OR animated, present all of that and not get some sort of terrible criticism. You can't just have all of that in one movie and have it be ok...especially when Walt's original goal was for his films to be viewed by adults and children alike (when he began it was really for adults...and now society has made it into "only for children." Although I'm pretty sure at least half of college students would argue otherwise. We love Disney here).

Tomorrow I'll read Cinderella...and if you know anything about THAT story you'll know that it's not exactly the cleanest story either. The whole chopping off the foot to fit it in the shoe thing might turn a few people off. But surprisingly, I'm really enjoying reading these fairytales. Let's just hope *knock on wood* that my "contract" to not watch Once Upon a Time unless I read everything for this class actually isn't all that hard.

I mean...with everything I know is coming, I really want to be sitting in front of my TV at 7 PM on March 9.

Have a magical day!

Day 58: Snow Day!

When I woke up this morning I was assulted with texts telling me we had, at first, a two hour delay, and then a Snow day. This was kind of a bittersweet moment because we love snow days, but at the same time it also meant that unless we wanted an extra day added to the end of the school year, it was our last snow day. I guess it's alright for us seniors because we wouldn't have an extra day anyways, but still.

On this lovely day I decided to watch a movie, and my cat suggested The Muppets (not really, we just pretends that's what she suggests). So I pulled out one of my new movies I got from my parents, "Muppets from Space."

I have to say that this movie is adorable, and probably ties for my favorite Muppet movie I've seen so far. I think my favorite part was the opening though, because watching how a house full of muppets functions in the morning is just entertaining. Despite the fact that the food was all burned and the bathroom had a line a mile long, I still think it'd be fun to live there. 

Here's today's Disney History: 1995: Michael Eisner and filmmaker George Lucas are on hand at Disneyland for the official dedication of the park's newest attraction, Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. Although the attraction had its grand opening ceremonies the day before, Indiana Jones won't open to the public until March 3. 

Have a magical day!