Being the Bad Guy

Last night was alot of fun. After the show last night, Skyler, Perry and I went over to the lovely Fife home to spend some time with some of our favorite people in the world. Kirk was kind enough to grace us with his presence for a great game of Killer Bunnies. Throughout the course of the game, we had various discussions on numerous topics. at one point however, Perry brought up a question about an upcoming show. In essence, his question was what role he should try to perform in this show, whether it would be a managing position over the show, or acting in the show. I however, saw this as a perfect opportunity to cover up the fact that I don't really know much about musical theatre, and slipped in a quick question of what the show was about.

I got a very detailed explanation of the show, and I feel like I wouldn't even have to see the show and I could tell you all what it is about. One part of the explanation did however stick out to me. The character description given to me of a Mr. Bill Sikes. I took the liberty of looking up a description of him this morning, and this is what I found.

He is one of Dickens's most vicious characters and a very strong force in the novel when it comes to having control over somebody or harming others. He is portrayed as a rough and barbaric man. He is a career criminal associated with Fagin, and an eventual murderer. He is very violent and aggressive, prone to sudden bursts of extreme behaviour. He owns a bull terrier named Bull's Eye, whom he beats until the dog needs stitches.

Dickens describes his first appearance:

The man who growled out these words, was a stoutly-built fellow of about five-and-thirty, in a black velveteen coat, very soiled drab breeches, lace-up half boots, and grey cotton stockings which enclosed a bulky pair of legs, with large swelling calves—the kind of legs, which in such costume, always look in an unfinished and incomplete state without a set of fetters to garnish them. He had a brown hat on his head, and a dirty belcher handkerchief round his neck: with the long frayed ends of which he smeared the beer from his face as he spoke. He disclosed, when he had done so, a broad heavy countenance with a beard of three weeks' growth, and two scowling eyes; one of which displayed various parti-coloured symptoms of having been recently damaged by a blow.[1]

His prostitute girlfriend Nancy tolerates his violent and lawless behaviour, perhaps because she, being a thief since the age of six, needs stability in her life, and because she believes that she loves him. However when he thinks Nancy has betrayed him, Sikes viciously murders her. The murder is especially gruesome and one of the most graphic, frightening scenes Dickens ever wrote. In the end a mob hounds him through the streets of London until he hangs himself while trying to escape. It is left ambiguous as to whether or not this was intentional.

Sikes has almost no redeeming qualities, although Dickens does give him some shading: at the robbery in the countryside, Sikes, rather than leave Oliver at the scene of his botched burglary of Rose Maylie's house, picks him up and runs with him as far as he can. This, however, was as much for his own self-preservation, as he eventually does abandon the seriously wounded boy and shows absolutely no remorse about doing so. After he brutally beats Nancy to death, he apparently is capable of feeling guilt—although this is essentially suspicion that Fagin lied to him about her betrayal, and fear of the possibility of being caught.

Sounds like quite the charmer, no? Yet somehow throughout this description, a note was struck inside of me. I wanted to play this character. Some weird part of me wants to play the bad guy. Is it normal for a person to want to be bad? Not really bad, just pretend. That makes it ok, right? 

-Tenacious Tenor

Why did we not think of that?!?

Had to take the boys down to the school this morning for a Polo game, and I apparently took the wrong route, and we got stuck at the 'Light of Death'. There is a certain light that is notorious for taking an extremely long time to change for people going east or west, and the boys had been stuck there so many times it had earned itself a nickname!

We were behind a friend from the team, and his carpool buddy, and we had noticed each other and were making faces and having fun driving to practice, but when they got to the 'Light of Death', they knew exactly how to deal with it! The carpool buddy jumped out of the car almost immediately, ran to the side of the road, and pressed the button to alert the light of a pedestrian, and ran back to the car. We waited about thirty seconds after that until the light turned green, and we were able to go through. Behind me I heard a chorus of 'Awe man!!! How come we never thought of that?!?!?'. Landon sitting next to me, turned and looked at Lucas and said simply, 'Because, when we are here, it's five in the morning, and our brains don't function until we hit the pool.'

How often do we go through life with problems we think are 'Problems of Death', and all it takes is a simple solution, but we can't think of it ourselves. Do we sometimes not think about what's going on until we 'hit the pool'? I wonder how many problems I have given up on when all it took was getting out of the car for a second.

How much would our lives improve if we had a carpool buddy to help us out with problems we can't figure out ourselves? Don't we have that buddy? Just like a carpool buddy, if your car isn't a good environment, no friend is going to want to drive with you. If you are a mean person, people don't want to be around you. The same is true of the Spirit. If you don't have a good environment, he won't hang around, but if we invite him in and do things to keep him there, he has offered to be our 'carpool buddy' through life. He is there to help us through the simple problems we can't figure out on our own.

I challenge you to make sure you are living your life so that your carpool buddy wants to ride with you.

-Tenacious Tenor

Our Dream Starts Now!

Recently watching TV, I saw a commercial for American Idol where every contestant from one city got together and yelled the phrase, "Our Dream Starts Now!"

I think that's a great idea, that this is their dream, and because of this show, they get an opportunity to live their dream.

But at the same time, I wonder about how they feel if they don't make it? Do they think this was their only dream, and their only chance? Do we sometimes feel that way? That if this one big thing doesn't work now, it might never work? Do we limit our dreams? Do we leave our dreaming in the hands of others to make them come true?

I have been thinking about my 'dream', and what exactly that is. Do I have one dream? I don't think so. I have always dreamed of a family, being a good father and husband. I have dreamed of serving a mission, and sharing the gospel with those who need it. I have dreamed of various jobs through the years, anything from professional baseball to a pediatrician. I have dreamed of luxurious trips to remote islands, and rough and tumble camping trips. I have had dream come true, I have given up on dreams. But in the end, it all come back to the same question. When does the dream start?

Do we wait until our dream comes to us? We could be waiting years. Do we go get our dream? What will it take to make our own dreams come true? Do we sacrifice things we have now to get the things we want later?

I agree with American Idol. I think 'Our Dream Starts Now!' I think we find our dream and work towards it now! If you have a dream job, get into classes! If you have a dream home, start saving! If you have a dream family, make yourself the person you have to be to raise that family! If you have given up on a dream, take another look at it. It's still there, you just forgot about it for a while. Sometimes the things we think are least likely, we can make it happen.

Let your dream start now.

-Tenacious Tenor