I was someone in a tree.

I was younger then.

Over the past few months I've embarked on learning about Sondheim. So far I know Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Follies, and Assassins extremely well. I have a decent knowledge of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (who doesn't?) through various student productions and the movie with Zero Mostel and I saw The Frogs with Nathan Lane and Roger Bart. Today I listened to the majority of Company. I know selected songs from Sunday in the Park With George, Pacific Overtures, and A Little Night Music.
Of course this list doesn't even cover musicals for which Sondheim wrote the lyrics.
So what have I learned? That Sondheim is God? Maybe.
More that Sondheim took an old-fashioned narrative form and transformed it in a way that had never been seen before. His work isn't easy, and he makes no compromises, and he seems so utterly nonchalant about it.
Of course I don't know Sondheim. I wonder if his attitude is like that of Dionysus in The Frogs:

"And eyes that looked at me as if I were a god, which I am..."

Sondheim is the history of musical theatre. The modern musical.
Epiphany. I love three things, someone once told me: Art, English, and Theatre.
Why am I not studying theatre? What is wrong with me?
I would give anything to be involved in the theatrical community. Even as a critic, a historian.
Why didn't I get involved with theatre here in Gainesville? I don't know. I just don't know.
I don't want mediocrity. I want...
...immortality? I don't know. (Gee, what a common theme).
Forgive me. My life is too full of what ifs. Maybe I should just quit school and become a stage director.
For now I am locked in academia and rules and academic appeals.
I'll survive. And perhaps figure out my path.

"There are no stars in Hell. Just as well."