#thursday thoughts

Thursday Thoughts...

For those of us who have lost people we love...

this is beautiful. ✌️

A peaceful moment at the park ✨

​The quiet of the morning, the freshness of the green trees, and these swings waiting peacefully... A little pause frozen in time during my walk. There is nothing better to start the day and breathe in the fresh air. 🌿

I realized something recently: I have an unusual opinion about Kermit the Frog’s voice.

With all the excitement around the new Muppet Show special, which is frankly delightful, I’ve seen a lot of people posting about Kermit’s voice, and that they don’t like it. It’s the only piece of criticism I’ve seen about the special, really – that Kermit doesn’t sound like he used to.

What’s interesting is that until I saw these posts, I hadn’t noticed that Kermit’s voice was different. Okay, that’s not really true – I had noticed. It just hadn’t bothered me. The different voice didn’t strike me as an important detail to the Muppet’s character.

In hindsight, that’s a bit odd of me, isn’t it? After all, a puppet is two things – how it looks, and how it sounds. Kermit looks just like he did when I was a kid, and when my parents were kids, but he doesn’t sound exactly like he used to. If you change the voice, haven’t you changed fifty percent of what makes this character who he is?

Maybe so. But maybe there’s more to it.

I grew up immersed in live theatre. A common method my parents used to get us to stop bothering them for a while was to tell us to go put on a play – which we did, enthusiastically. We listened to Broadway soundtracks more than any other albums, we watched movie musicals, and we went to community theatre and local school productions all the time. We saw three different productions of Seussical the Musical in a single year, at one point. Sometimes we even saw the professional productions that came to the convention center in town, or drove up to Chicago for an extra special treat. I participated in school musicals and plays, as an actor and pit orchestra player throughout high school, and as a production assistant, stage manager, and writer in college. And then I ran off to Disney World to pursue a career in themed entertainment, which has a lot of live production elements to it.

The point is – my experience with characters spanned different performances, different performers. Elphaba sounded different when I saw her in Chicago than she did on the album. But she was still Elphaba. She was still doing and saying what Elphaba would do and say. The performer brought the character to life. She didn’t need to be Idina Menzel – she needed to be Elphaba.

When I watched the Muppet Show special, I watched Kermit the Frog doing and saying what Kermit the Frog would do. He played the straight man to his absolutely bananas coworkers. He stressed about the show going well and gave it his all; he avoided Miss Piggy’s affections and provided dry punchlines. He sang, he danced, and he threw his wiggly arms in the air with a wholehearted “YAAAAAY” for his guest star. All those things make him Kermit, beyond what he looks like and what he sounds like.

Besides, any writer will tell you that there’s more to “voice” than sound. When I comment on a fanfic that the writer captured the character’s voice, I’m not saying that I’ve “heard” anything. I’m talking about the word choice, the tone, the character’s motivations and decisions.

It’s okay if the literal sound of Kermit’s voice being different bothers you. It’s okay if for you this detail means he isn’t Kermit. But I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other people who watch him and think, “Yeah, that’s the Kermit the Frog I know and love.”

This past Sunday, I conducted a poll to help see if I should just indulge in lingerie, pick out what someone my age should wear, or allow my readers choose the esthetic or style. The readers won of course.

Now I'll go over the styles I'm interested in.

Bimbocore

Business Professional

Lolita (any anything else thats frilly)

Goth

Throwing theses in as well, but the choices are limited

Maid - Note I consider this to be Lolita

School Uniform -I consider this to be in Lolita or Bimbocore

You are not crazy — this is a do-over as previous was mislabeled by the blue hellsite.

Work thing meant I had to be “available” all evening yesterday. Missed my spin class and, of course, nothing happened. Then this morning, woke to late-night emails and early morning texts. Did some stuff from home then got myself to the office — thankfully traffic lighter than usual due to upcoming holiday. I’m already tired and day barely begun. Will ask to leave early today.

Am reading a book set in Jamaica and it’s hitting all of my West Indian heritage feels. There are many similarities to my Bahamian roots — eating guineps, sayings like “jeesum peas!” And the subtle differences that signal that not all Caribbean islands/cultures are the same — rice and peas (in The Bahamas it’s peas and rice), gizzadas, not coconut tarts, etc. Oof, but the status stuff … that’s universal.

Next 3 weeks are 4-day work weeks for me: Independence Day and I took Friday and Monday of my birthday weekend off. Coworker is taking “summer Mondays.” He has every Monday off from now till the end of September. I could do “summer Fridays” but I like to have more vacation days in my bank for end of the year. Although, just counted and that would only be 8 days more than I’m already taking if I end it Labor Day weekend. Hmmm …