Love In The Asylum

Best. Day. Ever.

I was actually kind of mildly sad this morning, because I had to be out the door right as the Spain v. Italy match was starting, and what kind of Spain fan am I if I miss that sort of game? But it ended up working out for the best - I got downtown earlier than I expected to and one of the places I wanted to go was closed, so I had an hour to kill, and the only sports bar(/pizzeria) in town that shows European football was right across the street. So I watched the second half of Spain v Italy in a bar full of Italy fans while eating deep-fried ravioli, which is really the best way to do anything.

After the game was over I went back over the university campus to hit up the library for some research time. I swear, more than anything else I miss since I graduated college is my access to JSTOR - I know they are trialing the individual accounts now, but the journal selection is really limited, especially if you are into the less mainstream academic subjects. And considering that I downloaded 25 articles on Heian-era Japanese lit and medieval monasticism this afternoon, I think we can safely say that mainstream is not a word to describe my academic obsessions. This batch of papers should keep me busy for awhile, at least. The 'Sodomy and the Knights Templar' essay I expect will be very relevant to my interests.

And then. The actual reason I was downtown in the first place. LES MISERABLES. OMG IT WAS SO PHENOMENAL I CANNOT EVEN. MUSICAL OF MY SOUL YOU GUYS. This was the 25th anniversary production, and just. God. It's one of my favorite musicals but I've never seen it live before and this was an amazing show. I pretty much started tearing up around Valjean's soliloquy in the first act and didn't stop until the curtains went down. Marius might be incredibly boring, but I maintain that Empty Chairs is the saddest post-revolution song in the world. And On My Own and Eponine's death - most of the Eponines I've heard in recordings were fairly demure sopranos, but this girl could seriously belt it out. Which made a nice contrast with Cosette's role, and I ended up awfully fond of her by the time she kicked it. And Javert. JAVEEEEEEERT. WHY MUST YOU GIVE ME ALL THE FEELINGS JAVERT? I DON'T WANT TO LOVE YOU THIS MUCH YOU ARE KIND OF A JERK AND THEN YOU DIE. I don't know, I think his suicide song might be one of my favorite songs in the show (aside from all the awesome heart-breaking crowd songs in the middle, because I am a sap), just because it is such a complex and crushing character moment. I had to reread all the Javert bits of Roommates as soon as I got home, just to remind myself that there were still Javert stories in the world that don't make me sob.

So, yeah. Utterly awesome day, I am going to be singing Do You Hear The People Sing all week at work, and now I have to go and read all the Javert fic that exists.