Do I Need to Grow Up or What?

Some of you may not like or appreciate this post. But once again. My blog. My words.

OK. I am at least not in denial.

I'm aware of the radical situation here. Really.

I’m thirty-eight years old. I told myself, “Self, do not do this. Restrain yourself. You are an adult; a middle-aged adult, almost ready to celebrate her 20th reunion from high school. You are on the brink of becoming a novelist (how long must I endure this BRINK, self asks?). You are a mature, seemingly so anyway, woman. With a family. Responsibilities. An image to upkeep.

I told myself, repeatedly. I tried to make myself understand. I mentally said, “Do not blog about this. No one will care. Keep it inside. Enjoy the moments on your own. Pull them from your memory when needed. Whistle the tunes quietly, if you must. Sneak through the magazines when you think no one is looking in the grocery store. But, don’t let them know of your addiction…

But I cannot hold it in any longer.

The secret must be shared. And tonight, I shall share it…

I have been waiting for this night all summer long now, and alas, I have already broken my promise to not blog about it…

BUT I CAN’T NOT BLOG ABOUT IT!

Some of you loyal readers, you know. You know what I’m about to tell you. Yes, you, CMommy, and you, March of the Seas…, for I believe you are two who share in the addiction.

And that addiction, my friends is High School Musical...

Two.

In fact, I am such a High School Musical Dork – slash – addict that I posted blog notes during the commercials…

Let me take you there, if you dare …

I’m in the middle of watching HSM2, and just now, Mr. Manic looks over to me and says, “You are giggling like a 16-year-old.”

I am! I love it! It totally reminds me of the two summers I worked at a bath and tennis club, complete with the summer romance! The best summer of my life. I was working at a resort-like place, there were rich people all around, and us kids were shlepping them tuna salad on pineapple boats, getting exactly 15 percent tips from the lunching tennis ladies, who actually would pull out their calculators to determine 15 percent of 7.95. But there was also the ‘staff’ side of the job, where everyone was working to make money for college, everyone was looking for the next party, or, in my case, the next boy to kiss. It was a summer full of memories, not unlike the summer depicted in HSM2, and one that I’ll always remember, and I’ll always cherish the first moments I had at that summer job, falling in love with a lifeguard, while I was on the other side of the tracks, because lifeguards and waitstaff were world’s apart and shouldn’t mingle. Actually, now that I think about it, I was much like Juliet to my lifeguard’s Romeo – drawn together, yet pulled apart, the Montague’s and the … who was the other family?

Anyway, digressing, but there was no accidental death in this particular summer romance; just a confession from Mr. Romeo Lifeguard who admitted he had another Juliet back at college, yet he really could be in love with two Juliets at the same time. Yeah. Right. I wanted to be THE Juliet, not the I'm-The-Summer-Juliet-While-I've-Got-A-College-Juliet-As-Soon-As-School-Starts-Back-Up Juliet.

OK, now I’m bummed out.

Enough of my wistful reminiscing. Back to the show…

Ryan and Sharpay are HILARIOUS. They are spying on Gabriella and Troy, and Ryan has a walkie-talkie and when he calls Sharpay, he says: “Goldenthroat. It’s Jazz Square.”

Get it? I guess you’ll only get it if you know the characters. It’s freaking hilarious! Like Sharpay is named Goldenthroat for her singing ability. I am cracking up over this show. And Ryan calls himself Jazz Square… well, if you didn’t see High School Musical One, then, well, you just won’t get it. But, we all know how many times I have blogged about HSM. I am like the biggest dorkiest fan in the thirty-plus range!

Are there any fans of the show in the thirty-plus range? I’m scaring myself.

OK, I’m blogging during commercials, and they just did the I Don’t Dance song on the baseball field. And then Sharpay gets mad and when she’s walking out of the dance room, she says to the drummer, “Give me a beat.” Like as in Janet Jackson, Ms. Jackson if You’re Nasty Give-Me-A-Beat… And then struts out of the room. And then she rips on the Wildcats saying, “What is this? A production of Grease?”

Really though, High School Musical is so much better than Grease ever was. And I’ve blogged about this too. Sure, maybe it’s unbelievable, but I would love for my kids to have friends like the Wildcats in high school. There are no drugs, no unplanned pregnancies to deal with. No keggers. No one-hitters, no bongs, no tin-foil prepped pipes…

OK, so it’s Disney, folks. But it’s so nice. And safe. And I want my children to be safe. And it sends off an extraordinary message… a message about being in the moment, and not forgetting who you are to get where you think the future has to take you. It’s about staying true to yourself, and your friends, and having fun along the way. It’s a great message. One I really admire.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I have a major crush on Troy Bolton, and Corbin Bleu, and the whole cast is amazing, and they all appear to be very hard workers, and I think these kids deserve the success they’ve achieved.

And, I guess I’m missing a big part of my youth too. It’s sad really, to start feeling old, and to know your kids are getting just old enough that they’re not going to want to Bop, Bop, Bop, Bop to the Top with you for much longer. And that pretty soon they’ll realize exactly how much of an embarrassment their mom is really going to be to them when they get smart enough to know that most moms don’t try a jazz square or try to sing the latest Disney songs at the top of their lungs while driving in the minivan. Sad, really. I’m very sad.

Know what’ll make me happy? I think I’ll go watch an encore presentation of High School Musical 2… because You’ve got the music in me….

PS… To view all previous posts about High School Musical check here (there are really too many to post individually:

High School Musical Previous Posts on Manic Mom.