A Brighter Future

Great. On the day that I plan on going into the city, it rains. Why couldn't have it rained YESTERDAY? Seriously...

Anyways, recently I've been getting good news from many of my friends. My friend Dylan, with whom I volunteered at The Tech, is now a realtor!! He works for Prudential and has his own office. It's been a while since I spoke with him and he im-ed me on Facebook to tell me the news. To think that he's practically the same age as me and he's already working professionally while still in school( majoring in electrical engineering). Maybe I should take the test to get a realtor's license.

And this morning, my friend Sophia im-ed to tell me that she's going to South Africa for study abroad. She had been put on the waiting list and was expectantly waiting to hear back. She was determined to go and was planning to apply through the university. I guess she found out this morning and is leaving in mid-July. How exciting!! It's hard to imagine studying and living in another US state let alone a foreign country... considering I've lived in the Bay Area my entire life, and now that I'm going to college here as well. It would be nice to have a change of environment maybe for just a couple years.

Hearing the news from my friends make me excited for them, but at the same time disheartened for myself. I'm struggling to keep up with school and can manage little else besides school. My hope is that things will change in the near future and I'll be able to get back on track. Many important decisions are coming up. Most of them are short term, but still are very important for me.

It's the start of a new month. And April is when I will find out whether or not I'll be able to make the next leap to a different future. But in the meantime, there are still next year's classes and housing to figure out! Here's to hoping for a brighter future!

American Idiot Changes: Berkeley Rep vs. Broadway

American Idiot began previews on Broadway a week and a half ago to a fairly strong attendance (76.8% capacity for the first five performances). Let's hope it will continue strong all throughout previews and after opening night April 20th. There have been a few changes that I've noticed between the run on Berkeley Rep and its current state on Broadway. I've listed the ones I've noticed below:

1. American Idiot - they changed the parts for the beginning. Johnny doesn't sing the first few lines.
2. Johnny’s monologues are now shared by Will and Tunny. (For the most part.)
3. Dates have been added at the beginning of each monologue. I don't like the addition of the dates before each monologue...maybe it'll grown on me, but it just seems unnecessary.
4. Tales of Another Broken Home - addition of drum solo + guitar
5. Last Night on Earth – Didn’t notice any changes! So glad because it's one of my favorite songs from the show.
6. Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Tunny (I think) sing/repeats “City of the damned” a few times at the end of the song when it transitions to "Favorite Son"
7. Last of the American Girls/She's a Rebel - The creative team have had some trouble perfecting this scene/song. There have been numerous changes throughout the run at Berkeley with a late addition of Last of the American Girls a week before closing. According to various tweets from cast members on April 1st (April Fools joke?) that a new version went into the show that night.
8. Rock and Roll Girlfriend - Will exclaims "What the fuck?" (I'm assuming when Heather enters. It's a nice addition. - According to a friend, Heather and Miguel's character come out in a black box representing a TV set and he uses Heather as an instrument.)
9. Otherwise, nothing else has changed musically that I could notice. Most of harmonies and orchestrations have stayed.
10. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Song was added after curtain call during the last week and a half of the run at Berkeley Rep. It seems like it isn't included anymore.

Only 17 days until opening night!