Rent entry #2

Is it just me or did my number of views just go up? Are people reading my blog?! Or is it some kind of glitch? Unless I've been oblivious, it seems I've got up 5,000 views in a few days and I don't see that possible. I'm pretty sure everyone is being linked through that Miley Cyrus pic. Well... if you're actually reading, thank you.

But back to the most important thing: I CAN'T BREATHE.

Well, that's an exaggeration. But you get the idea.

It still hasn't hit me that Rent is closing. Seasons of Love came on at work today and I kind of froze, I stopped breathing for a second- but really I was just being a drama queen. I went right back to doing what I was doing. I don't even remember hearing the song go off. I even went to Borders today and almost bought the Rent bible but decided against it, with the reasoning that I really had no where proper to put it. I keep all my books in my dresser and there's no way the huge coffee table Rent book would fit in there. I was considering getting a "no day but today" tattoo but I'm even wary against that now, even though I've been so sure for the last how-many years. It's weird. I'll probably end up crying at work tomorrow. Or on Monday.

Where did all of this Rent business begin? Well, for me, it all started on February 24, 2006. I was in my junior year of high school. I had heard of Rent before but not enough to get me interested in it. Then, the musical theatre group at my school started rehearsing "Seasons of Love". I was an orchestra dork but we all did shows together because we shared a teacher so I got to hear them sing the song millions of times. Somewhere between the first and fourth time I heard it, I got tears in my eyes. Conveniently, the Rent movie was coming out so I would definitely have to see it. I ended up waiting until February so I could rent the movie from Blockbuster. I was so excited, I didn't even want to hear what the store employee had to say. I was more concerned with getting home and popping this bad boy into my dvd player.

I am not going to lie, not even a little bit. I was slightly confused. I didn't know who was HIV+ and who wasn't. I didn't know what the hell happened during Today 4 U because I didn't pay attention to the lyrics. I swear to God, I didn't know the song was called Out Tonight so I thought Rosario Dawson was saying, "Owwwoooo tonight". (You know, like that mating call/scream thing people do when they get excited or whatever.)

However, I cried and cried and CRIED when the movie ended. This was Rent? This was FANTASTIC! I couldn't even believe it; I was in shock. This could have been in my life for a long time- I just never knew how amazing it was. Suddenly, everything became Rent. I woke up bright and early the next morning and watched the documentary on Jonthan Larson. I cried at that too, OF COURSE. I was in awe of... this whole story. I was in awe of Jonathan and what he'd written and what happened to him and how monumental his piece seemed to be. After that I watched the movie again. This time, I got the "Out Tonight" and what happened to Evita the Akita. I made my dad watch it with me, even though he claims to hate musicals. I'm sure he did not appreciate it one bit.

I spent forever researching Rent online. I slowly began to figure out the lyrics (por ejemplo: "...Even your own blood cells betray" and "Find the one song before the virus takes hold"). I got the Rent bible and spent all night reading it. All I talked about was Rent and I was starting to no more than the musical theatre kids. I'm sure everyone around me, and especially my family, was annoyed but Rent was in my life now and it was never going to be the same again. Rent changed my life, and I'll tell you more about that tomorrow. (YIKES! TOMORROW. I'm scared.)