Another "Eliza's Story: Long Live the King..." article.
Copyright 2021 Lady in the Blue Box Publishing, Rachel Beth Ahrens. All Rights Reserved. You know the drill. Don't plagiarize. Reader discretion is advised. Love you. Oh... now I'm rhyming...
Black Lives Matter, Trans Rights are Human Rights. Everyone Deserves Love. Don't be cruel in the comments, I respect all of you guys.
So. It's been about half the month (or more) of NaNoWriMo. We are THIS CLOSE to the end of November and so very very close to Thanksgiving.
And November has proven to be a complete minefield sleeping here in this crappy apartment, my mom asleep in the master bedroom, and me in a tiny den, which feels as spacious as a walk-in bedroom closet. I hate it here in Baltimore. Dreams don't come true in Baltimore, I always say, and Maryland too, for that matter.
It gets worse. Not only are the holidays among us, and it's hard to hide it right now because my mom started putting up snowflake shaped wall decorations around the place, very slowly mind you, there is a lunar eclipse out there, and it's nearly 4 a.m. here in Maryland as I'm writing this.
I'm not watching it for a very good reason. I can't see it out my bedroom window because I'm on the first floor apartment and I have to crane my neck to see it in the sky, and also, I should be asleep.
Again, another 4 a.m. epiphany, and here I am writing again.
It gets worse than that. Disney's Encanto is less than a week away from its debut in theatres on Thanksgiving. I didn't even get the ghost of a chance to see Dune or the new James Bond 25 film No Time To Die yet, both of those movies were two of my dad's favorites that he never lived to watch because he passed away nearly a whole year ago. The anniversary is coming up this holiday season, which is why I'm basically a Grinch this holiday and I basically hate all holidays except for Halloween. I currently have no favorite holiday, even though I love Halloween- I can't make Halloween my favorite because 1- mom hates it, and 2- it's the 10 month mark since dad left New Year's night. Like the Don Henley song goes, one of my dad's favorite Christmas songs to sing. My dad LOVED Christmas, he felt the requirement to play Santa Claus for me and mom every single year without fail. Not this year, because we basically have nothing left of his except for all the possessions he left behind, and now we want to part with it. It's exhausting and it's stressful parting with the entire embodiment of joy in my life that was the only man in my family and the only head of the house I had. Gone.
I have no father figure now. I've exhausted Google on where to find time to find a father figure to walk me down the aisle at my distant future wedding, if I get married, and still pay a tribute to my dad. My therapist suggested I skip making a tribute to my dad and walk down the aisle alone like she did, then visit my father's grave- but wait a minute, my dad was cremated, he never had a grave site and never will. My parents didn't have enough money for it, and dad never had life insurance and no will...
Yeah, my daddy was right. "You'll have a courthouse wedding and this 'walking down the aisle with your dad' is bullshit! You will get married in court and like it! Deal with it!"
That saying made me cry all afternoon when he said it back in 2017 or 2018, couple years before he had cancer. I still hate courthouse weddings- think about it, you're getting married at a big scary house where criminals get prosecuted, people fight, lawyers fight, and people get divorced. It's barbaric and totally not romantic. I like the sentiment of having a father-daughter dance or a song I can sing with my dad. I've never danced with my dad, ever. The last time I saw my dad dancing with someone was with my mom at Tom and Nicole's wedding, my cousin Tom, Aunt Tracy's son. Dad's nephew who looks a LOT like my dad, same with Tom's twin brother too.
Ok, enough of the sob fest story. Moving on.
There are a ton of movies I still need to see. Tick Tick Boom! is another one.
Guess what? It's playing anywhere but Baltimore. Not even Havre De Grace. Bethesda, Annapolis, and Washington, D.C. Not even Bel Air and Harford County! Nowhere within a 10 mile driving distance. I can't go see it.
It's just now playing on Netflix. There are way, Way too many movies and shows I can't get here because they're all on streaming services and not where I can get them on cable TV, and definitely not on Hulu, which is the only streaming service my mom can afford. I basically live below poverty, so I can't buy a subscription service to Disney + either- I have less than $5 in the bank right now. I'm serious. I've gone through CCBC, Division of Rehabilitation Services, job coaches, temp agencies, church, Indeed, Monster, Career Builder, LinkedIn, even Craig's List as a last resort. Nothing to find an income. Patreon is all I have- patreon.com/arachelbethahrenscreation
My boyfriend Alexander can get Netflix. But we're so busy with Stellar Con this weekend and his mother's birthday next week and Thanksgiving on top of all this, I have no time for anything. I don't even have the time to research for Debutante of Cassiopeia or even talk with my friends as much. Nada.
But writing for me is slow going either way.
And then I see an article from the Los Angeles Times>>>
The photo linked to it is blurry as hell, I had no idea what I was looking at, considering the first impression. It was probably done in high resolution and digital, obviously, since most photojournalists use high resolution cameras and camcorders, plus, there are photo editing apps on your phone...
Then I clicked the link, thinking, there is no way they'll let me in to read the entire article without charging me to sign up for a subscription...
It loaded perfectly and let me view it anyway. Lucky, perhaps.
I thought- what is that, fireworks- no, soap tends to distort the lens, you can see the transparent rainbow effect... Soap bubbles tend to be round, transparent, and the light hits it like a crystal prism, distorting the colors and refracting them under white light...
Bubbles?
My god, this is precious. And the article? A revelation and a godsend of hope, just what I needed to get through today.
I almost felt like I was 14 years old again, reading my favorite Rolling Stone magazine articles on John Mayer and Kings of Leon all throughout high school and college, growing up. I used to read those articles like teenage bedtime stories I'd tell myself at night, dreaming of one day becoming a writer of rock band and rock music journalism, like so many before me: Jann Wenner, director Cameron Crowe, Hunter S. Thompson, Austin Scaggs, the greats...
And then I found out the magazine took a turn for the worst when they started writing nothing but politics and then writing about Taylor Swift, the most vile singing voice I have ever heard.
And get this- the LA Times article is STILL trending on Twitter.
I think maybe Lin-Manuel Miranda is on the fast track to finally become EGOT status. He even won another Emmy because of the release of Hamilton on the Disney streaming service. Why haven't I seen it already- I've waited SIX YEARS! Grrrrrrr.
Jonathan Larson, however, wanted to write his first musical since eight years before he turned 30, according to the autobiographical show, which is now a musical, and led to the Hollywood film where Miranda is not starring as the lead role. (Andrew Garfield is an incredible singer, by the way, I had no idea he could sing, and no one did either, apparently...) Lin-Manuel Miranda is actually DIRECTING the movie.
I really hope he wins Best Director at the Academy Awards in 2022.
Wait, did I just say that? Whoops.
Well, I meant it. Especially since there's a new CBS show I'm wrapped up in. Ghosts. Isaac is hilarious.
That reminds me- What I learned so far from the Eliza Hamilton bio:
*Angelica Schuyler is actually SO much like Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. The spy she marries, John Barker Church, is really hated by General Schuyler, Eliza's dad, because he's a bit like Mr. Bingley, but in a scoundrel kind of way because he and Angelica conspired to elope together. This was very irresponsible in the Regency and Colonial/ Revolutionary War eras. If you were a young lady of the marriage age (18-27), it was disrespectful to go behind your parents' backs and run away with your lover unaccompanied. If you did, you ruined the family and you were all shunned, because you weren't considered faithful and a virgin anymore. This was commonplace in the Catholic and Protestant Church.
*Much worse, Angelica and her new husband John, whom General Schuyler did find them in time for them to marry before they ruined the family name, the newlyweds were spending so much money more than they earned. Kind of like Mr. Bingley. And Angelica was always shy and hard to control of herself, rather than reveal her true self to anyone, as a matter of fact.
*Eliza actually DID meet Alexander Hamilton before the Winter Ball of 1780 where she set her sights on marrying him. Problem was, at first sight, she didn't like Mr. Hamilton. She was too hopped up on another soldier, Tench Tilman, pining hopelessly for him, but with the war raging against England, coming up on 1776, Eliza's life was in danger, and so was her mother's, as General Schuyler got caught up in a political scandal, followed by getting him reinstated in time for the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Also, I hate the name Tench. I can picture the guy's face too. It's revolting.
*Tench Tilman never came back for Eliza. Just like another soldier. Mr. Wickham. Serves him right, the jerk. He wooed her for a while, but he never made a promise of marriage and he deserted her in a lurch. Eliza felt trapped in her own right, especially with the British having a bounty on her head, her father's and the rest of her family too.
*Does this mean that Alexander Hamilton is the dashing Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy? Well, from what we know of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical, Mr. Hamilton is below poverty and a disgraced immigrant of the Caribbean, because his mother was left abandoned and pregnant by a father he never really knew, he was an only child, he and his mother got sick and she died while he survived, and then he only made it to the Colonies by a scholarship to go to school. Then war broke out, he decided to be the Aide Du Campe for George Washington, as well as the eventual Lieutenant Colonel in the Battle of Yorktown. He was dirt poor, which is why Eliza didn't like him at first. And really, Hamilton thought Eliza was "kinda" pretty? But he possibly admitted she looked too plain.
"Handsome, tolerable enough, I daresay... but not handsome enough to tempt me. I am in no way swayed by ladies whom have been slighted by other men..." -Jane Austen, of Mr. Darcy
?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!
Ouuuuch. Ouchie.
This is definitely some First Impressions notions, before Austen turned it into the greatest romance of all time!
I can't wait to read more, but it may have to wait until I get to the part where NaNoWriMo has ended and I finished writing... Hmmm.
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This post is written in loving memory of my dear high school friend, Ashley Nevins, 1988-2021.
I wish we had more time together.
Everyone deserves love. Na night.
I checked Twitter again- Miranda's article in the LA Times is still trending today as of 10 p.m. EST. People are going crazy over Tick Tick Boom!.
Mr. Spielberg, may I have the envelope please...
The Academy Award for Best Outstanding Director of a Feature Film... Goes to.........
*Jonathan Larson plays a soft piano tune of "Happy Birthday" from Heaven*
Like I said. Very, very, very close to an EGOT status. I'll be waiting in 2022 to hear his speech written in poetry format when he gets the Oscar....
So close...
But I still don't feel the need to sing "Auld Lang Syne" for my dad on the day he died. I don't feel compelled to sing the song on New Year's Eve, no matter how long it's been. And it's been a whole year. I still feel like my dad is here, but half of me feels like dad is gone. I want him back...
Love,
The Lady in the Blue Box
Playlist selection-
A song about being poor as I am-
