Gradlife

Jump to Comments

I love musical theatre. While most people are content with imaging a soundtrack for their life, I like to take it a step further and (try) make my life a full musical production. Run out of food? Sing about it. Have to write 50 pages over night? Sing about it. Late for class? Stumble-dance my way there. More often than not I’m wiggle-dancing as I sing along to my favourite songs (that are chosen especially to fit the occasion, of course).

So when my friend told me about cheap tickets to Mirvish productions she gets at work, I took up the offer right away. Toronto always has musical productions in town. Productions famous and infamous make their way to the city all the time. I got to watch The Musical of Musicals, The Musical! before they left. The show parodies the styles of 5 great musical theatre composers/teams, including Rodgers & Hammerstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Each styles is used to create show performances that all revolve around the same plot. As a comedy act, it was priceless. But as a creative exercise, it was genius, especially if you’re familiar with musical theatre classics. I won’t go into the plot here, but one thing’s for sure – I need to watch more shows.

Now that I think about it, I think it would be more accurate to say “I need to do more things.” It hit me this week that all I’ve been doing since I started my masters program is my masters program. While that’s important and the main reason why I’m here, I promised myself in September that I need to experience more, try more. Really, that’s one of the biggest reasons why I’m blogging here.

But rather than just run headlong into anything interesting that comes my way, I want to approach this in a few different “styles”, much like how the creators of The Musical of Musicals approached their show. You know what? Why don’t I just write a quick synopsis for this production. The title and plot for my show shall be “I Needs New Hobbies  – The Story of My Life“.

Act 1: Health

I’ve been talking about being healthy all year long. Time and time again I’ve blogged about staying healthy, getting your flu shot and just being all around more active. Sadly, the only thing I’ve managed to do is get my flu shot. Everything else fell into the sidelines as soon as things started getting busy. This semester, I’ll make going to the gym a hobby, starting by signing up for this Strength and Conditioning for Grad Students Grad Escape. I also want to cook and eat healthy, which means no more poutine and a lot more health conscious grocery shopping.

Act 2: Culture

Toronto is a city rich with culture and history. Sadly, I’ve never really gotten to experience it. My first culture hobby is to watch more shows. Not just Mirvish productions – there are also Hart House productions and lots of college productions right on campus. Culture isn’t just limited to theatre. The magicians at Grad Escapes also managed to get tickets to Toronto Symphony Orchestra performances and George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight.

Act 3: Solitary Pursuits

There are a lots of things I’ve always wanted to do. Things like writing, photography and composing. All of these I consider solitary pursuits. There are plenty of creative classes at Hart House that can get me started. I’m going to start with photography, something I’ve been putting off since last summer.

Closing Act

Will I succeed? Can I possibly do all of this and complete my degree in one piece? I’m not sure, but it doesn’t hurt (much) to try. And even if I don’t, I hope that many of you will. It’s worth taking some time out to plan and dream to do all these things, even if not all of them will work out. What things do you want to try?

Will there be a song every step of the way? You betcha.