My Name Is Chrisanne and...

...I'm a Gleek. I am so completely and totally head-over-heels in love with Glee that I want to take it to a Miley Cyrus movie and make out with it a little bit afterwards...we share a rather innocent sort of love. Words cannot describe my attachment to this show but seeing how this is a blog and all I have to communicate with my legions of fans is words, I guess I will try my best.

For anyone who knows me well, my obsession with this show is a no-brainer. If you will, take a ride back in time with me through bits of my life. Our first stop, third grade music class. Mr. Cheshier calls me to the front of the room to audition for the solo part in the spring concert and, fast-forward six weeks, I am singing said solo in front of a gym full of people wearing big pink glasses and white stretch pants. A star is born. Fast forward yet again to the fifth grade and I am singing "My Favorite Things" at any venue that will take me- the Corn School variety show, the 4-H Fair Talent Show- you name it, I probably sang there. Fast forward yet again to high school where I weaseled my way in to the Show Choir (after failing to make it after a bad audition in eighth grade) and continued to participate in every musical production created for the Lakeland High School stage between 1995 and 1999. My high school career culminated in winning the lead part of Maria in the Sound of Music which I am not ashamed to say is one of my proudest accomplishments to date. You know, aside from graduating college, getting a job, not failing at life so far, etc. Even my high school boyfriend screams "Glee"...he might as well have been the Jesse St. James of Westview High School and proceeded to graduate and become a huge part of the Purdue Varsity Glee Club. Those were the good ol' days and I loved them. Did I mention that...I wasn't very good at any of the above? That is the great thing about having supportive friends and family- they tell you you're great and you believe them until you can actually see yourself for who you are and realize that you are totally average. But, I digress.

After high school, I tried to find different outlets in my post-secondary education to express my musical desires. There was a brief stint in Intro to Ballroom Dancing, but there were only two dudes in the class and Jess and I ended up dancing with each other most times. It's hard to figure out who's supposed to be leading in a same-sex pair. Then I joined the mother of all college musical undertakings: IU Sing. I was a willing participant my freshman year as a pledge where our awesome songleaders created a mini-musical solely from Billy Joel songs whose plot line centered around Steve the Crocodile Hunter. It was IU Sing GOLD. The next year, my friend Angie and I assumed the roles of house songleaders and wrote the mother of all IU Sing routines, were paired with an awesome house, and were on the fast track to IU Sing infamy. All of this came to an end when the frat we were paired with was kicked off campus mere weeks before the big performance and our act was unable to receive the respect it deserved. It was a devastating time in our lives and I still feel a little emotionally scarred. If anyone is reading this from E! or Lifetime, contact me if you would like the deets to form a True Hollywood Story or a Lifetime Movie of the Week from this experience. I don't discriminate.

Glee has reminded me of my absolute love for music and it is one of those shows that speaks to me. Now, I watch a lot of TV and many shows speak to me in different ways. Like America's Next Top Model speaks to me and says, "Thank God you're not a tall, crazy bitch" and The Biggest Loser speaks to me and says, "Please never let yourself turn into a big, crazy bitch" and The Vampire Diaries says to me, "Never let yourself be bitten by a tall, crazy bitch (or dude)." Glee speaks to me in a totally different tone. It says to me, "You can be whatever you want to be as long as you express yourself in upbeat song with a little bit of 'tude." This is my kind of language. Think about it- what part of life wouldn't be better expressed in song? Let's take today for example. I had to teach a totally boring lesson to my juniors regarding future careers. How much fun would they have had if I started the lesson out as normal and then broke into "Tik Tok" to teach them the proper way to get ready for a night on the town and use that night to pick up dudes that look like Mick Jagger? Or, when I was talking to a parent today about one of my students that may not graduate, I could have expressed the student's point of view by breaking out a little "Parents Just Don't Understand" (I'm an advocate for the student, remember). If I could live my life through song and under the influence of 1.5 alcoholic beverages (which I fully intend to make the topic of a blog in the near future), I believe that I would have the perfect existence.

Needless to say, I am ecstatic that Rachel, Finn, Mercedes, Puck, Quinn, Brittany, Santana, Artie, Sue, and Mr. Schuester are back in my home every Tuesday night. If there is any way that I can magically be transformed into a young twenty-something with mad singing and dancing skills who was a shoo-in for a part on that show, please give me the number to that fairy godmother. Until then, I will continue to go to work, talk instead of sing my feelings, and imagine what my life would be like if I lived in the magical world of Glee.