Wednesday, July 14, 2004

*Gets Down... Shakespearian Style!*

Today's the beginning of the (final) end of the Intensive Acting course. In four days I'll have completed everything and performed my last performance of the year. Aside the obvious sense of nostalgia and ambition to do something better and greater than before, there also occurrs confusion over presents for tutors, grabbing things in the nick of time (and sometimes just afterwards), hectic line-learning, lots of booze and strange feelings of apprehension. I was asked to bring my digital camera in yesterday, and then nobody asked me to use it for any reason o.o. So what I was supposed to do I've no idea. but no doubt someone'll make a passing comment about somehting they wanted and I'll feel guilty about it ^_^; I love it really, heh. I just wish people would be more organised sometimes. I guess it's a bit much to ask from students, though *pokes* Generalities I can't think of that much to actually say, but I did notice something: When you log into Hotmail and find you have no new messages (as I often do- not that I mind), it says: You have no new Mail from your Contacts. Add people to Your Contacts. As if not getting any e-mail meant I didn't have enough friends. I don't have an e-mail address for the simple sake of having something in my Inbox when I check it; but for people to contact me if and when they need to. It's just a silly presumption the site makes, heh. I would write more, but I need a shower. My hair's gone incredibly crap through sleeping on it, and needs re-styling. So that I shall do. See you later, heh.

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Monday, July 12, 2004

Heh

Maybe I am too hard on myself... but really it's a retrospective type of thing. I know I want and need to say what I have to say, but often once I've said it I start getting paranoid about it for whatever reason. I should just have more faith, heh. Everyone else does. With everything all drawing to a close this year and everything still pretty much up in the air about what's going to happen and people going in all different directions, I was just afraid of being left behind on my own. Although I know I could learn to live without it, OB and MyO are very special places to me- I don't want to lose all the friends I've made here. The odd thing is, I'd probably lose more friends by saying 'You don't want to listen to me' than actually saying what the problem was in the first place, heh ^_^; Emotions- flaw, advantage. They're neither really. Just incredibly confusing. Just Wild Beat- Communication I got a letter from Sara today ^_______^ You've no idea how happy that made me, hehe. I found it sitting glowingly on the sofa *smiles* Sara rocks. And then some. Also *grin widens*, I got a phonecall from the one and only Lady Asphyxia ^_^ I think she's still in England at the moment for her sister's wedding which was on Saturday (many congratulations, Asphy's sister!). She phoned me Saturday morning about ten minutes after I'd gotten up. It was really nice. Admittedly I wasn't making the best conversation though, as I'd only just woken up and it was quite a surprise ^_^; Still, lovely lovely stuff anyway. And on top of that I'm already making plans to be at Anime Expo 2005... Shout-Out (or as Azure would have me say it, Shout Back ^_~) Mimmi- Heh, and there was me thinking a wired network would be simpler ^_^; I guess not, heh. The friend of ours who's rigging it together's gathering technical information about it this week, see if there are any tweaks he can perform to get it stable. Fingers crossed, eh? Shin ^_^ (I felt that smiley needed to be there)- Writing about problems... it's a release, I suppose. Even though you're not actually talking to anyone directly when you type out problems in a post, you still get things off your chest and get to look at it through a subjective point of view. It's nice to get feedback about it too, so you know you're not alone. I usually am very open, but at times I just get paranoid about whether people actually want to bother with me anymore. It's a stress thing, I think. Arcadia- The girl in the piece is the main character of the story, heh. She's much older when the story starts; it was a scene I thought of late at night and couldn't resist writing it, heh. It's one of her memories. I know exactly what you mean about social lives. This has been the first year I've actually had anything remotely like a real social life; there are times when I'm doing so much my head spins, and other times I feel such an outsider that I just want to go home and stay in bed. Which I must do early tonight. It took me until 2:00am to get to sleep last night. Ben' curse strikes again, heh. Wondershot- Way of the Worlds should be resurrected as soon as I find time to post (although its future is looking a little bleak, to be honest. I think I've left it too long. but there's still hope). Future Prospects was one I really wanted to get finished- I'll definately be in touch, hehe ^_^ To tell the truth, I get rather upset thinking about my toys breaking. Yes, I'm almost 19 (11 days left!), but they mean a lot to me. I bought three more the other day, heh- two Energon Transformers and a He-Man thingy. I spend a fair amount of money on them and I have more than I can count, but they make me happy. I like each one in a different way and I don't want to have to lose them yet. I'm sure I will eventually, but I might as well enjoy them while I can. Ademption- You're right- Shinmaru does have a better approach ^_^; I'm just too conscious about what other people might think. I've had entire friendship rings cave in on me because of things I've said; perhaps it's an old relic of that fear that's still restricting me. But I don't do it for attention's sake. Thank you ^_^

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Sunday, July 11, 2004

Witless Networking...

The last few days, aside from being social, anti-social and asleep, we've been having a wireless network installed to try and get our three computers on a network. This enables me (and my sister) to have a Broadband connection upstairs, which is muchly appreciated since all I've had is crappy half-speed dial-up. The problem is: it only just works. When my sister and I tried out a network game of Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, the whole thing crashed. Every time. So there are still a lot of problems. Witless Brainworking... I'm afraid I'll be fired if I don't keep up with the Moderating left to do. I missed a mass-spamming episode in the Anime Lounge afew days ago, and it's something I should really have had responsibility for. Dagger had to sit through it all, bless her. It's all cleared up now, but I can't help but feel in many ways I'm only hanging by a thread. It's an unpleasant feeling, something I'm sure would be cured once the course is over and done with. But even there I seem to drift between social groups. As people are getting ready to say their goodbyes, they're forming into cliques of their best and better friends, leaving me and Lawrence relatively in the middle, and even he sems to get noticed more than I do. I have to physically put myself in the picture to... But you don't want to hear all that, heh. I made a personal vow to myself to stop whining about myself and actually get moving to do stuff about it. But it still bothers me. As much as I know this site is meant to be just for me, I know other people read it. I want you to read something you might actually find interesting, rather than read another 'typical' blog. There are few popular MyOs which are 'typical' as such, but... yeah, you know what I mean. Anyway... I've actually started on two different Enter the Net chapters. With any luck (and a lot of work), they should be good 'uns. First, here's a Nazreal extract. * * * "Wheee!" The young girl's ecstatic voice echoed throughout the marble chambers; a joyous sound that warmed the hearts of everyone roaming the castle. The young fox-empress sat gleefully in one of the windowed halls that she'd dubbed her play-room, swinging her tiny wooden figurines from left to right in a happy dance. Digger and Seoul- the two fox-figure friends on an adventure to have fun. She grinned, letting herself fall completely into the wonder of her fantasy game. Lifting herself from her protective circle of pillows and throws, she skipped to a table by the side of the room and rested the two animal figures on it. Unbeknownst to her, her father stood behind the drapes of the doorway, peeking underneath the cloth to watch her play. As she smiled, he smiled too- she was a beautiful daughter, pure of heart and soul. "Now, you stay here," she said in her firmest play-voice to one of the statues, who was balanced precariously near the edge of the massive wooden table. As she whirled round to fetch her pillows, she heard a clatter behind her. She looked round quizzically and saw only one of her figures on the table. The other lay on the floor, one of its legs snapped in two. A terrible silence followed, where the young heir to the throne stared desperately at the toy, almost in disbelief that such a horrible thing could have happened. A single sniff, and she stooped down to pick it up. The leg wouldn't fit back on any more. No matter how long she held it onto its stump for, it kept falling back to the floor. Her eyes welled up with tears and she let out tiny whispered cries from her throat. Within seconds, she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She didn't turn to look at her father, but continued to stare forlornly at her broken friend. "What is it, Faron?" She sniffed loudly. "My... my Digger's broken." The emperor wrapped his arms around his daughter's body and lifted her into a hug, holding her closely to his chest. "Oh dear," he said softly, gently rocking her to and fro as her cries became louder and more despairing. "Ssh, it's alright." "But he's broken..." she sobbed, burying her face in his arms, tears streaming down her face. Kier reached for the two pieces of broken toy and studied them carefully. The wood had split across the grain- it could easily fixed again. “Faron, it’s alright. He can be fixed.” Kier soothed. Faron’s cries subsided slightly; she turned and looked at her father through watery eyes and wiped her nose. “He can?” “Yes,” Kier said with a smile. Faron wiped her eyes, but still didn’t look happy. “But Digger won’t be the same now he breaks,” she croaked. “He might break again, and Seoul too.” Sensing that she was about to cry again, Kier brought Faron back close to him again, hugging her tightly. “But would you like to keep playing with them?” he asked. She nodded glumly. “Then I’ll fix him for you. They might break again, but at least you’ll still be able to have them with you.” Faron sniffed again. “Maybe I shouldn’t have gone to the table…” Kier smiled. “You shouldn’t regret playing with them, Faron. These things happen. Think of all the fun you’ve had with them so far. If you’d never played with them because they might have broken, you’d have lost all those happy memories. Is that what you’d want?” Faron turned round boldly, resting her arms on Kier’s and gazing into his eyes. “Dad, I want to make more happy memories.” Kier hugged Faron tightly and picked her up, handing her the two bits of Digger. She rested her head against his chest and they began making their way towards the door. As they reached the drapes, Faron turned her head towards the table and patted her father on the shoulder. He walked back and knelt down next to the table. Faron reached for Seoul and pulled her into her chest, next to Digger. As her father carried her towards the castle grounds, she looked at the two figures in her hands and smiled. * * *

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Monday, July 5, 2004

Wind of Change...

If you’ve not heard that song, you must. It’s by Scorpion. I think I've posted the lyrics in here before, actually... Anyway, the last few days have been quite an experience. The last performance of Oh What A Lovely War went well once the slide projector was working. Unfortunately, since it was such a vital piece of equipment, the impact of a lot of the bits in the first Act probably weren’t put across, but at least it was working after the interval. After the final song, we stood on stage while Jason made announcements giving thanks to everyone involved with the show. And then John was given his retirement present from the cast and crew of the show- a massive framed picture made up of loads of different pictures taken in the dress rehearsals. He was really moved, and then he gave his speech. I can’t really describe what it was about; it didn’t really differ much from anything you might expect for a retirement speech, but it was so moving. I was actually in tears once I got off stage, heh. I’m really going to miss John once he’s left. I’ve not known him as long as some people, but he’s been responsible for the best year of my life and has helped me so much. I’ll always be grateful to him for that. It put this whole year into perspective; how much I’ve changed, the new things I know and friends I’ve made… Anyway, we went out celebrating, to a nightclub called Thursday’s. I hate nightclubs, but I wanted to be with people. I was pretty much the only one who was sober, and I must say it was certainly… uncomfortable. Music so loud it’d knock your teeth out, an atmosphere you can feel gathering on your skin and drunk friends don’t make for an ideal situation by any means, and having Lawrence accidentally shoulder-barge my chin, simultaneously ripping my jaw muscles out of place again was certainly unwelcome. Yes, sometimes I wish I had been drunk- there are some experiences I’d rather not remember. But onwards and upwards. I got an hour and a half’s sleep underneath a table at Steve’s flat, lying on the very hard floor. Next time I sleep over somewhere, I’m making damn sure I get something comfortable to lie on- something more than a shoe and a towel. Most of Sunday I spent at home, relaxing and trying not to fall asleep. Coffee is amazing. I did manage to watch the first Reboot movie- Daemon Rising was fantastic, heh ^_^ Definitely worthy of the Reboot series, even though bits of it did seem a little rushed. I’m apprehensive about My Two Bobs, though. I’ve heard about the ending and it’s probably something that’ll leave me incredibly pissed off. Considering Mainframe are usually so good with their stories, what I’ve gathered happens seems very out of place. Today we started really rehearsing for Shakespeare and Women. I was pretty nervous about the Romeo and Juliet... It’s rare that I kiss anyone anyway, let alone in front of an audience. My first stage kiss, I guess. And I need to do it twice ^_^; I guess I shouldn’t complain… especially as the person who plays Juliet is incredibly sweet, heh. *Gets cake and candles ready* Tomorrow is my two-year anniversary at OB ^__^ I will officially have been a member for two years as of Tuesday, hehe. It feels odd- there are times when I still feel like a Newbie even though I know I’m getting to be more experienced with things every day. I still pale in comparison to people like Shy, Piro and James in many ways, but I’m so glad to still be a part of such a great community, and I’ll continue to be part of it and help it for as long as I can. I suppose the major events have been the upgrade to v7 and the advent of MyOtaku. V7 had been building up pretty much ever since everyone had become used to v6, but when it did come it was certainly different. It’s still OB, and until a while ago I thought that something deep within it had actually changed for thr worse, but in the last few weeks I’ve noticed it’s still the same place, just a bit bigger. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to Sara’s name change, though ^_^; MyOtaku’s a godsend. And by that I mean that Adam, James and Justin ought to be worshipped. Now the OB blogs I visit aren’t stretched out over the web- they feel much closer despite the fact that they’re always a link away regardless of where the site actually is. It just makes things that much cosier, you know? Normally, I’d be online to celebrate such an occasion, but since it coincides with the Intensive Acting party at Smith and Western, I may not be back until quite late. So if I’m not there, I suggest you read Shinmaru’s MyOtaku to celebrate, or muse about Kill Adam Volume 2/hero/Apartment Building C/Torment/anything else you’re itching to read or take part in, hehe. But I shall definitely find an excuse to leave early- since we’re eating first and then due to go off to a bar, I may skip the bar and come straight back home. It’s not like there aren’t going to be more parties in the next two weeks anyway…

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Friday, July 2, 2004

I Want to go Home...

One more performance to go now... Whether it's to do with Oh What a Lovely War, hayfever or my torn jaw muscle, I've had an almost permanent lump in my throat for the last few days, as if I'm going to burst into tears at any moment. I know I'm not, but my throat feels like that. Maybe it knows something I don't... Anyway, today's production went pretty well, but some bugger stole my officer's hat just before I needed it to go on stage. I had to use someone else's. It sounds odd (they all look exactly the same anyway), but sometimes you can get very protective over these things. I do. There's a specific walking stick that I like to use in the grouse shooting and bayonet drill scenes, and I get rather upset if other people take them on instead. I don't make a scene about it, but it's like a comfort blanket. If you've dubbed something as being 'yours', you want it. Well, I do. I'm not being completely strange, am I? "Waft waft ye winds, waft waft ye!" Well, aside from the band being off-cue, playing the wrong introductions and talking backstage, light and sound cues being all in the wrong places from time to time, things have gone fairly well. But... On the first night, during the grouse shooting scene (in which I play France), there is a guy in a wheelchair (playing America). During one of his pieces of dialogue, we heard this rather musical note, rather like that you would on a sick trumpet. People in the front row started laughing. We almost corpsed on stage. Yes, he farted. On stage. Thank god I had a walking stick in my hand so I could cover my smirk by pretending to shoot a grouse... A big fear when performing is drying up, completely forgetting your next bit. Unfortunately, in another scene I was in, my scene partner dried up mid word. So instead of saying "Happily you are powerless", it came out more like: "Happily you are po-ar..." He covered it well, though. Some events haven't been quite so funny, though. One guy decided it'd be hilarious to pull a guy's trousers down just as he was entering the stage in a scene where the Germans and English meet in No Man's Land at Christmas (based on a real event)- a really touching scene. That, to me, is no joke. It completely mucks up the poignancy of the scene, doing something that idiotic. I almost felt like hitting the guy who did it. There are mistakes and there are jokes, but that was neither. Just plain stupid. I've not actually had many problems myself so far, but I always manage to end on the wrong foot for the songs where we all march in line and matrk time with our feet. We're all meant to end with a big stamp on our right feet, but mine's always left. I hope I can get that sorted out by tomorrow. It's the massive Gala performance tomorrow, with all the audience in period costume and poppies falling from the ceiling in the last scene. It's a really beautiful, funny, touching, relevent production when done properly. Solo On: Writing This is what I meant to do a few days ago, sorry for the wait ^_^; I hope people are still reading this, by the way... I know I've not been online an awful lot, but if I'm getting boring or anything, please let me know... I owe almost all of my writing abilities to my mum, actually. When I was in year six, we had to write a story as part of a major assignment. We had to choose from one of two titles: The Building Site or The Old Gate (or something like that) and make up a story around that. I'd written down what I thought was a perfectly good story... until I showed it to mum. She'd spend hours going through the story and while sticking to my original plot, she'd ask me "How did it move?", "How does that character feel?", and direct me as to how to write things in a more exciting way. There was another story we had to write and I had no clue what to do, and this was going to decide what English set we were to go into in High School next year. Mum wanted to make sure I was in a high one, so she set me to work. I guess... in retrospect she kind of wrote it for me, but that wasn't to say it was wasted at all, and I certainly learnt from it. She explained everything to me, all the little bits of detail she put in and why it was there... I learned a lot. There was one more story I did, later that year once I was actually in High School. I (like every other normal student) left it until the last night to actually do, and showed it to mum. I was up until 11 that night, going through the entire thing. It went from two to six pages, but by the end it was pretty damn good. And I was pretty damn good, too. I even moved up a Set. So even though she did a lot of the work for me, everything now I do under my own steam. Writing Starfox fanfics was great experience, and sending bits of those off to my first penpal was good too, as it gave me confidence with all the feedback I got. It was nice to know someone who also wrote stories about the same kind of things you did, too. Well... she kind of introduced me to fanfics, in a way. I'd never met anyone like her before, so I tried to do my best to impress her. The first scene I wrote her was a death scene (nice, eh?), and... by my standards now, it was very schmalzy, and incredibly cheesy. I'd never write like that again. Think Mills and Boon and you'd be close. I was always deathly afraid of reading other people's fanfics. With something like Starfox, which has no real background storyline to it outside the US (Where the bloody Nintendo Magazine never published the comics, the bastards), there were lods of alternate SF universes, and there still are today. I'd completely made my own set of characters, and then found out that there were some canon ones already set up, and everyone was using them in their stories. There was one writer in particular who'd always make me weak at the knees. not because of the characters she used, but because of her writing style. It seemed so much better than mine, heh. Sillabub. That was her name. I've no idea how it'd compare to me now, but she was certainly good then. And I'd get put off writing my own stories because other people's were so good. I've changed, though. Rather than wanting to give up when i read something good, I feel inspired to write something good as well, and I challenge myself to do as well, if not better. I'm always looking for ways to improve my style, which is why things like Dark Conflict have taken so long to produce. I'm still re-writing the first chapter even now, because I feel it's missing something. Every time I look something over, I change it. Enter the Net's an exception- that rolls off pretty spontaneously and only needs one real look-over. But the levels of creativity I have change from day to day. I might get a burst of inspiration that has me writing for days, but then I can go weeks without having it again. Lately I've written very little even in RPGs because I've had so little time to think about anything else. But when I listen to music, I start imagining scenes I could write about. Thare are certain scenarios I imagine with each piece of music, and some bits really make me want to write them down. But I can't imagine as vividly and type at exactly the same time, because I ususally listen to music with my arm over my face and the headphones on to cut out any kind of external distractions. I still get ideas, but they aren't as strong. But there are lots of different ways of doing things. As long as I eventually finish what I want to finish, I don't mind. And as long as I'm happy with the end result, it doesn't really matter how long it takes. It takes as long as it takes, and the best stories are never completely finished. There's always something you can add to them.

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Thursday, July 1, 2004

On Thursday a Terrier from Tooting...

On Friday a Midshipman or two, But on Saturday I'm willing, if you'll only take the shilling, To make a man of any one of you. I like that song, heh. Very very busy here. I'm only able to post this here because my parents saw the show, so they could give me a lift back as soon as I was out of costume. I'm sat here in my Pierrot make-up (and getting foundation and blusher all over my jacket >.>), shattered. As if two two-and-a-half-hour performances weren't anough, I had to go to a Mixed Doubles, Mixed Dreams rehearsal this morning *cries* I can't wait until Saturday. Well, Sunday, as I'm going out with everyone for a big knees-up after the gala performance. I think I've lost my watch... bugger. Never mind, heh. Agh, the Reboot Season 4 DVD is sitting on my sofa, waiting for me to open it and shove it in the DVD player. As it is, I can't find out what happens to Bob and co until after this weekend *cries again* but, I do have Lost Universe to tide me over in the meantime. I decided that despite Asuka's rather scathing review of it, it was a series I really wanted to give a try to anyway. The first two episodes haven't been outstanding so far, but they've been enjoyable. I've been told it takes a while to get into though, so I'm not making any judgements yet. And having this bloody pain in my jaw doesn't help. I think I've done something more than strain it now; it's still as painful as it was two days ago. I've probably torn the muscle, or a tendon... great. So, injuries aside, the shows have been going well. I'll let you know of the rather interesting faults we've had in scenes so far tomorrow, heh. Now, I must sleep. EDIT: It seems every time I write a MyO post, I either need sleep or food. Interesting... EDIT 2: A GAME I found some photographs from some of the Dutch schools we visited of our performances and workshops. For people who don't know what I look like (or have forgotten, heh), I'd like you to try and guess which one I am ^_^ Photos 1 (This might be easier to guess from, as they're clearer, and bigger). I'm in four of these, nearly. I'm nice and clear in one, but not so good in the others, heh. And there's a nice riddle for you ^_~ Photos 2 I'm in three of these photos, and none are partifularly great, heh. I'll get my own Holland ones up soon- I've a picture hosting site all set up, many thanks to rustym for recommending it to me ^___^ See you later, heh.

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Sunday, June 27, 2004

^___^

I got a massive burst of inspiration last night for my various writing projects yesterday. I knew I'd been trying to over-complicate things. First was Nazreal: I now know how I want to handle various story elements and I realise from reading various other online stories that the chapters I want to write don't have to be very long for them to be decent. One particular story about furries I was reading had chapters not much longer than those in Kill Adam. And they seen a really good size- long enough to give a decent amount of detail, but not long enough to make your thoughts wander off and skim-read. But writing style would play a part in that, too. I'd always assumed that the chapters I wrote had to be girt long things like those in Dark Conflict. But as it's probably not going to amount to much more than a web-based story, it's not important. The Nazreal and Anime Stereotype High School RPGs will be winging their ways along soon. Actually, Shin's Apartment Building C was partly how I invisioned ASHS to be like. Shin's should be good stuff, so I'd watch out for it. Dark Conflict's still in limbo at the moment, but I'm getting closer to it. I think I may go over it from the beginning and give it another makeover, but not a huge one. Just aesthetics, to make it a v3.1. The Resistance and Torture Museums in Holland helped quite a bit with giving me ideas. Uhm... I don't really think there's much else I can say. there are things I want to say, but they're probably best saved for private messaging services. I Don't Want to be a Soldier... Another re-enactment do today, in Fort Purbrook. It's a fantastic place, if very exposed to the elements. There's a geat view over the entire Portsmouth area that sprawls for miles and miles; in a golden sunset it looks spectacular. I gained a few injuries today- I was hit in the spine by a sword pommel and got a nasty scrape across my knee by a blade, but I got off quite lightly compared to others. I've been lucky so far, save for that nasty bump at Christmas, hopefully I'll remain so *touches wood* To save this post from inaneity, I'm going to start up the end of my Solo On: topics. The first of which shall be Books. At least, I'm going to attempt to write it. My spelling's been atrocious whilst typing this all up. If I never corrected my mistakes, I'd never have become a Moderator... Solo On: Books I would like to say I've read a lot of books in my time, but there really aren't a huge number. My sister's probably read more than me. It's not that I don't like reading, it's just that sometimes I get bored with the story and want to get straight to the end. That's only a trait that's developed in recent years: I'll find myself skim-reading large paragraphs to try and find something of significance. Quite what it would be I don't know, but I often force myself to read it through, which can get quite tiring. My first set of books that I remember really well were the Deptford Mice trilogies (the first set and the Histories), by Robin Jarvis. Theye were fantastic, hehe. They were easily accessible to people- not pretentiously written or overly simplified despite the fact that all of the the characters were animals. I don't know if anyone else knows them, but they're great fun. There's action, love, drama, comedy and various other genres, and a great darkness to them. They're almost like anime in book form, I suppose. I'm suprised it's not yet become any kind of series or film yet, considering even Redwall had a crappy animation made out of it (does the books NO justice, I can tell you). The books are all set in and around London (with the exception of the third histories book), where communities of mice, rats, bats, squirrels and various other creatures all play their part in a mysterious and dangerous battle. The animals aren't like those in 101 Dalmatians; they're more like those in Starfox, but less humanised. The illustrations show them really well, I think. My favourite character was Thomas Triton, the Midshipmouse. He lived on the Cutty Sark, wore a wooly hat and carried a sword made out of a pin ^_^ He was very cool, and had his own book written for him- that was the third Deptford Histories one, called Thomas. I won't spoil anything about the books, but so much happens in them it's sometimes hard to take it all in. If these were released now, they'd give Harry Potter a run for his wand. Unfortunately, they were released at a time when I don't think many people were too interested in books as a whole, so these are terribly understated. The most recent book I finished was The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse, by Robert Rankin. It's one of the funniest things I'd ever read, and I'd recommend it to anyone. One bit in particular had me incapactiated with laughter for ages. I will now poorly attempt to paraphrase it from memory: He was handed his sandwich, gloriosuly filled with filling, stuck between two pieces of bread. He viewed it with relish. "I'm afraid we haven't got any relish," said the barman. Ah, I can't remember it right, ut it's fantastic stuff. I draw a lot of ideas from books; more often than not they influence my writing style. If there's something I feel I lack, then reading a book can give me some ideas on how to go about writing with that particular attribute. Since this article is so closely related to Writing, I'll do my Solo On: Writing post next, heh. That, and I can't think of a decent way to end this article. Maybe I should read some book endings... Ciao!

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Friday, June 25, 2004

Aw...

I miss the best stuff... But if I did actually sign up, I wouldn't be able to post in it until after next week anyway. Ah well. Seems beloow fur teh final Hollanded postehness.

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HOLLAND TRIP PART 3: Fun, Fantasy and Farewell

A.k.a Venlo, Veghel and Very Nice Jumpers!; Games, Gollum and Goodbye; etc On the morning of Day 6, we were set to wake ourselves up at about half six in the morning. Which basically meant that I set my alarm and tried to haul everyone out of bed. This seems like a plan with no drawbacks… except when you take into account the fact that male drama students are harder to rouse than people in comas. Actually, waking up Tim was no problem. Next, I came to Steve, who said emphatically that he wanted to be woken up at 6:30. I sat on his bed and poked him on the shoulder. Nothing happened. I poked harder, and more voraciously. Nothing happened. I poked even harder, faster, and more voraciously, and on his face. He pulled the blanket over his shoulders and rolled over. “Bastard.” I grab his shoulder and shake it. Very. Hard. Steve leans up and looks at me with bleary eyes. “It’s 6:30.” “I was really drunk last night.” “Er… yes.” “What is it?” “You wanted me to wake you up at six-thirty, remember?” “Robbie-” “I’m Hugo.” “Oh… I’d rather sleep in, thanks.” “Right. Okay.” The showers in the Youth hostel were awkward, to say the least. There’s nowhere to put your clothes, so you have to hang them over the doorframe. Thankfully, my trousers had lots of pockets, so I could shove most of my stuff inside them and sling them over without much fear of them slipping into the poorly-drained cubicle. The water temperature was incredibly erratic, controlled by two taps. And the temperature’s boiling hot until you use any little bit of the cold tap, at which point it still stays boiling hot until you actually let go of the tap, whereby it freezes your various appendages off. After a brief chorus of seething, yelping and shivering, I struck a balance. With my fist. Shower had (more or less), I went off to rearrange my bags so that everything I needed in the right ones were in the right ones and so on, then made my way down to get my takeaway breakfast, which I found out we didn’t need because we were actually leaving an hour later than I thought we were. But we managed to scab a second breakfast off them too ^_~ Their bread rolls and jam are very very nice. But after the fifth day you do start hankering for something with a little more… something-that-isn’t-bread-and-jam-ish. We arrived at the Central Station by tram, my squeaky wheels squeaky-wheeling their way all the way to the echoey depths of the Metro station, where I got fed up and picked up the bloody thing. We then went back to the school we had coffee at on Friday for… more coffee. We were then due to head to Zwolle. I can’t remember much of Zwolle, but since we had no accommodation there we didn’t have to stay long. Or, more appropriately, we couldn’t stay long as we had to get all the way up to Venlo before the evening. I think the workshops went alright; I honestly can’t remember. Venlo Ho! Venlo is a lovely little-ish town in Holland. The end we came through to get to the college/school thingummy isn’t amazing, but once you get into the centre it looks really nice. I think this was the nicer bit of Holland that John was telling me about. It’s worlds apart from Amsterdam- I actually felt safe here. But then, nobody had warned me about there being pickpockets in Venlo, so maybe I wasn’t conscious of it. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose… I’d stayed on my own with a host family once before, but I was still a little apprehensive about doing it again. When there’s someone else with you, you feel that much less isolated. I suppose… on my own, I almost felt like a burden at times with the way that they so kindly went out of their way for me ^_^; I know they probably didn’t see it that way, but I hate treading on people’s toes. Anyway, we were split up, shovelled around the room and asked to sit with out host family partner, which we did. I think it made everybody tense for a while. I was on a table with Lucinda and Robbie and their partners, so it’s not like we were taken away from each other completely. It’s just being throw straight off the coach into it that got rather disorientating. And I’m generally shy with people anyway… I was actually really worried about that night at first- I didn’t seem to have anything in common with the girl I was staying with, and she didn’t know as much English as a lot of the others I was used to talking to. So communication started off difficulty, heh. But it got better ^_^ Later on, we went for a walk into Venlo itself, where we were trying to look for an Irish pub. So we sat outside a Spanish bar for a while. O_o; I bought myself an Irish Coffee (from the Spanish bar) and Lieke (my host family partner, as it were) some Sangria. I had no idea whether she’d be allowed to drink or not, but I figured it’d help break down barriers. Some fun with Steve’s cigarettes ensued when he turned around to talk to someone- I discreetly hid them underneath my hand. When he noticed my smirking, I gave them back. I don’t normally do things like that; I just feel compelled to act a little silly from time to time. It was at this point that I was properly introduced to Maddie (and Emmelie as well, I think- I know she and Laura came along at some point), who were sat with Jez. The Irish Pub was, in fact, very similar to the Spanish bar, but it had a massive ‘Guinness’ beer sign outside it. And it looked much darker inside. Lord of the Shops: The Gawper of the Shop Jez arrived at the Irish pub about half a minute or so behind everyone else, and told me that I had to see this shop that he’d looked at. Maddie, Emmelie and Laura took me, and... It is amazing! They sell hundreds of Alchemy Gothic items- so many I can’t even begin to list what they were. Dragon/Crystal statues, chess sets, pendants, rings (including one huge one that goes over your entire finger in a fantastic gothic style… that was expensive, but very very cool), and they had Lord of the Rings swords, LotR-style clothes, board games, figures, statues… everything you could want, heh. I could easily have spent so much money in there… …were it not closed. We went back to the Irish Pub and talked for ages about anime, music and all sorts of things, and I gave them Art of Life to listen to. We didn’t have enough time to get to the best bit, though- just after the extensive piano solo, heh. That single verse is my favourite bit in the entire song. Damn, I want to listen to it now >.> Alas, eventually we had to part and go off to our host families. In the car, on the way ot the house, I was relieved to hear that Lucinda would be staying nearby, and that we’d be going out together in the evening. My host family didn’t know a huge amount of English (mind you, it’s infinitely better than my Dutch), which added to a slight feeling of isolation I was getting. But with the parents and aunt there I relaxed a bit more. Once conversation’s started and the ball’s rolling, I’m generally in. It’s getting started that’s the hard part. The host house was very cool. They have chickens and a really big treehouse. It’s got camouflage netting over the top, heh ^_^. And their rooms are so big! The house probably has less floor space than ours, yet has rooms that seem so much bigger. I guess it’s economic design. But there was another spiral staircase, heh ^_^; I’m a veteran of lugging huge suitcases up them, now. Still not very good at it, but a veteran nonetheless. AISU CREMU! Yes, ice-cream! The place we went to had been voted as having the best ice-cream in Holland two years in a row, and with bloody good reason. Simply amazing. Even Carte d’Or could learn a thing or two from these guys. I had two scoops of strawberry and yoghurt flavour- lovely. After choosing we went out onto the patio at the back where we met Lucinda’s host family. It was a lovely evening. The patio overlooks a wide river, down which a ferry service helps people commute to and from work across the area. Otherwise they’d have to drive fifteen kilometres to get somewhere that’s only really 1km away from their house. My bed for that night was a modified sun-bed. I was rather wary about sleeping only twelve inches away from a set of UV light bulbs. But I didn’t smash it ^_^ Early start next morning: We had to present certificates, do two workshops, then it was on to our penultimate performance. Away With Words Away With Words was the name of our cabaret-style show, and comprised of many different things. This was the runing order: -Kicking the whole thing off was Tim, reciting ‘Oh to be in England’ -Then the company sings three songs about London: Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner, Lambeth Walk, Any Old Iron. -Celia takes Westminster Bridge, by Wordsworth -The company starts again with Oom-Pah-Pah -After that comes my ‘Shall I compare thee…’ -Lawrence, Camilla, Steve and Ceila sing ‘Tea for Two’ -Robbie, Tamar and Steve act out a poem called ‘To those I shall never meet’ -Tamar and Steve sing ‘Can’t Take That Away From Me’ -Celia recites Rhubarb Ted -The whole company performs ‘Hints on Pronunciation for Foreigners’ -Jason and Steve perform a poem about a reflection (can’t remember its name) -The two of them then sing ‘Me and My Shadow’ -Holly recites ‘Sunflakes’ -Short verse of a song from Blood Brothers, performed by whole company, moving into: -‘First Day At School’, where we all have to pretend to be schoolchildren. This is where the thumb-sucking came from, heh. -Huge Musical Number (performed by everyone except Robbie): Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! After the performance, we had half an hour to spare. Jez and I ran off with Emmelie, Maddie and some of their friends to the fantasy shop, which was gloriously open. I managed to buy a ring, and very nice it is, too. It’s a dragon skull with one beaded eye. Lovely, but you have to be careful put it on after jumpers and whatnot, otherwise the horns rip all the way down the inside of your sleeve >_<; Football Frenzy The town we stopped off in to do shopping I can’t remember the name of, but I went off with John and we walked around the city looking in shops and buying clothes. I found a lovely blue and grey slim-fitting jumper for €9.50! Great value, hehe. And the town itself was a beautiful place. Somewhere I wouldn’t mind being if I were to live in Holland, I think. It has a relatively large shopping centre and a trading card shop- the first I’ve ever seen. It was PACKED with people trying to trde Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Unfortunately I didn’t bring mine with me, so I couldn’t scab an End of Anubis or Ghost Knight of Jackal -_-; Veghel was the next stop, where we would watch the Holland-Germany match of Euro 2004 with gusto… or beer. Or a trampoline, if you didn’t fancy drinking or football. We had to watch out for the dog, though. A little terrier thing (dubbed ‘Schwinehund!’ by Tamar) would try and jump on or bite you from the underneath. Not a particularly nice dog, but has good comedy value. I’m not lending another shirt to Jason again if he’s wearing face paint. I couldn’t get the damn stuff off. Thankfully, the host family I was staying with soaked it in some soapy stuff for me ^_^ I was very appreciative, heh. The barbecue wasn’t awe-inspiring, but there were some nice chicken and pineapple kebabs there, and the burgers were nice. A lot of us spent the last portion of the night lying on the trampoline serenely, all of us slowly sinking towards the middle to end up in a big huggy mess. And ‘Huggy’ is now my pet name, courtesy of John. The host family we were with this time had not one but two spiral staircases for me to lug my suitcase up (oh yes, I loved this place), with Lawrence in tow. He and I were up talking for hours in the attic-like area of the house, with a small door right next to Lawrence’s bed. We assumed it was just an airing cupboard. Thank god we didn’t look inside… The next morning, we’d just woken up, and were about to get out of bed when the ‘airing cupboard’ door opened, revealing a 14-year old girl. She smiled, said “Good Morning” and went downstairs. Apparently the looks on our faces were priceless. It was hard to imagine going home. Once we were in Holland, it seemed like we’d been doing it forever, almost as if it was all we’d ever known. And for a while, it was nice almost letting yourself believe that it wouldn’t end, because you had another day or so to relax and not worry about anything. We all connected so much; I don’t regret going one bit. There was really only one thing that soured the memory, and that happened on the very last day. I won’t go into it now- it was nothing to do with me and was fairly personal, but the fact that it happened shocked and dismayed all of us. Well, almost all of us. The flight home was almost as terrifying as the flight there, but this time I had John to distract me, and we had turbulence coming back into Gatwick. Sunny skies- there were just clouds on our flight path. Bastard things. I’ve never read the Daily Mail so intently in all my life. But I did look out of the window all throughout take-off, and I looked out whenever someone saw something interesting out of the window. So I’m getting there, step by step. I loved going to Holland. There were times I might have liked to avoid, and times where I might have liked to do more, but it was a great trip. And there’s no reason why I couldn’t go back with someone. Or go somewhere else with someone, on a similar adventure. It’s put a taste in my mouth, I must say. I was always thinking about going somewhere away from the UK for a while, and now I believe I can actually do it. Going on my own would be a bigger step still; I don’t know if I’m quite ready for a plane flight without someone to grasp hold of, but I’d be more willing to give it a try. Anyone want to fly with me?

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Thursday, June 24, 2004

*finds time*

I've been so busy lately, which is why MyO's not been updated in a while. It's all a bit crap really, as I love updating here and I probably won't have the chance until Saturday >.> Many Goodbyes I suddenly realised that we had our last proper lesson of college yesterday afternoon. I'll still be in class for rehearsals and what-have-you, but the last lesson as a class went by with almost no-one in it. I gave my presentation on Picasso at the Lapin Agile and left. Jeremy left for America yesterday, too. We had his leaving party on Tuesday night. It ended rather abrubptly, though, which was a shame. His dad phoned him up and asked why he hadn't finished packing yet... And then Frasier ended last night, heh. That choked me up a bit. But everything moves on at some point. I'm not depressed, just a little lost. It's still uncertain whether this course I want to apply for next year will actually be on, and if it isn't then I've no idea what I'll be doing. Everybody curse the head of our Drama Department for me. Grr... *sigh* It'll all work out. Like I hope my new computer does >.> 511 Megs of RAM, 128MB Graphics Card, 1.4Ghz processor... and the only game I can successfully install and play on it is Gunman Chronicles, and that's not very good. Methinks it needs some tweaking... See yes later. With the third bit of my Holland Trip diary, if all goes well.

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