Sunday, March 28, 2004

Train of thought now arriving at Platform Solo...

Yep, updating again. I can't actually think what to say now. I had re-enactment training yesterday, in which I managed to gain two minor injuries- one was my left big toe (I've no idea how I did it, but it still hurts), and the second was my right thumb- a sword scraped down it and broke the skin by the edge of the nail. It looks worse than it is. Thankfully Mum had to buy some frozen peas on the way back, so I had an impromptu icepack to hold onto it, heh. Apart from that it's mostly been preparation and rehearsals for LAMDA, Haroun and Bouncers, along with singing and driving lessons. I had my first driving lesson for three weeks on Friday, and I'm still having problems with clutch control >.> Figures. Still, with a new car coming on Tuesday I should be able to quicken my pace of learning. I hope mum isn't too bad a passenger... Neglect Hmm, I hate knowing I haven't said something I perhaps ought to. I've had little time recently, and it still bugs me. I've said it before and I've no doubt I'll say it again sometime in the not-too-distant future. There are things I read and enjoy but never have a chance to say anything (Mimmi's 'Tainted Hands', for one- I meant to leave a post on OB about it but it never happened. Shinmaru, Charles, Desbreko, James, Heaven's Cloud and wrist cutter are more victims of my lack of anything decent to say despite always enjoying what I read there), and there are friends for whom I miss times when they're down. There's more than enough nice people to give the support you need, but I don't want them to think I don't care. I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm trying to say, really ^_^; The Easter Holidays are only a week away- I will have plenty catch-up time then. Anime Rundown- Trigun My complete series arrived today, and I must say I'm very impressed with it. I had no idea what to expect, and unfortunately I know a little bit about what happens later on because of all the spoilers I read with the assumption I wasn't ever going to watch it (>.>), but I loved the first episode. There was more humour in it than I expected- more than Outlaw Star, I reckon. When the bar was completely demolished in the first episode the animation completely blew me away. I've not seen a series look so detailed before. The way the splinters, plaster disappeared, the shine on the guns... great stuff. Vash is a great character, too. Not what I expected at all, either. I'll watch episode 2 tonight, I think. Once I've got through my LAMDA rehearsals... For now, food. Yep, I'm hungry at MyO time again ^_~

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Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Got Dutch?

The last few days have been fairly interesting, if not wholly satisfying. I spent a large proportion of Sunday watching Full Metal Panic and the first volume of Final Fantasy: Unlimited. I like Full Metal Panic (we watched Volume 2 today, and Volume 3'll be shortly after that), and FF:U is worth watching just for the incredibly cool and hilarious Dr No-esque Chocobo ending. Jeremy and I were in stitches, heh. Yesterday... I can't remember doing very much. But I can remember doing very little. LAMDA exams are next week, and I'm not really ready yet. John said not knowing the pieces inside out at this point is treading a thin line between passing or not. But whatever- there are retakes held in June; if I fail I doubt I'll be the only one. I'm not trying to insult everyone else's acting ability, not at all- it's just that not everyone does pass first time round. When one guy did it last year he was told that he murdered Shakespeare. I can't imagine my Cassius going that badly. We found out the details about the Holland audition, to be held after the Easter Holidays. I'm really looking forward to it, actually- getting to tour round Holland for eight days and getting paid to boot ^_^ I decided on the song I want to sing for the audition this morning- Tears, by X-Japan. It's now my favourite song of all time, I think, and I want to learn to sing it well. So I've ordered the X-Japan Popular Choice Singles Album (or whatever it is), and X-Japan on Piano, which is the only CD I can find with the instrumental version of Tears on it. I need a backing track. Even if it isn't the only one, I love piano music anyway, so it's no loss ^_^ I've also ordered both the complete Trigun and Magic Knight Rayearth series (1 and 2) on DVD. Big spender me, eh? Tell me about it >.> I'd have spent that on Yu-Gi-Oh cards instead if I didn't have any restraint. There was no way I was paying £105 for six cards. It's ridiculous. Various things surrounding this make me incredibly frustrated, but I won't go into them here. Maybe if I catch anyone on AIM I'll rant horribly about it. Wizardry 8 Update: Many high levels are being reached, and it pleases me ^_^ Kyru and Aeryn (Lord and Valkyrie respectively) have both learnt some really decent spells. and Delanis is doing very well as a Bishop, rather than a Mage. Better Divine Magic Spells, you know ^_~ Thanks to everyone who's posted in Digimon: The Way of the Worlds so far ^_^ It makes me happy. I'm working on a WHATE post at the moment, it should arrive tomorrow morning with any luck. I need to learn Haroun now, desperately. We've worked out we only have three rehearsals left until we have to perform, and we're nowhere near finished yet. I hope we'll be able to do it...

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Thursday, March 18, 2004

.....*collapses*

I'm so exhausted, and there's still one more day of performances left to go. It was great to talk to everyone I did last night, even though it was only for a brief period. There are people I still want and need to talk to, but I don't have time or energy. I couldn't even bear to look at the Anime Lounge, heh. I want to help Shy with the Otaku Awards, but I won't have enough time till Saturday. Bollocks. I've slipped down to #11 in MyOtaku rankings. Meh, I shouldn't complain. There are 8,000-odd active profiles, I think realistically anything above 500 is pretty damn good as it is. I need to talk to various people at college, home and re-enactment for various reasons. Meh and bollocks. I need... sleep. And to rest my voice. My god, I've never screamed like that in my life. The whole audience came out at the end of the second act saying nothing. We scared them that much. It's quite satisfying to have such an effect on people when you're performing. After all, you're there to be watched- if you don't at least get some kind of reaction out of them then it seems kind of empty. But now, I rest. Tomorrow morning I'm having a bloody bonanza on PM/IM/OB contacts before the matinee >.>

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Sunday, March 14, 2004

Whoo

I can't think of an awful lot to say, save for the fact that I've finally finished Chapter... 6 (eheh, I forget) of Enter the Net. I'm always apprehensive when it first goes up, but after the first few responses I start feeling confident about what I've done. It's an odd feeling- I guess I never really know how good something is until someone else tells me. It's not a shallow thing- it's just that when you look at something by yourself you can get a different view of it than you would normally. So to get a real opinion of what something's like, you have to look at it from as many perspectives as possible. I don't mind if it's not liked, so long as I know why it's not liked. If that person has bad taste or misses a point, fine. At least I can do something about it. Sort of. It took me all day to write it, heh. I pretty much locked myself into the library and said that I wasn't allowed to order any more Yu-Gi-Oh cards until I'd finished. I was so tempted to go ahead and buy them anyway, but I didn't, and I'm glad that I didn't. I didn't even play on Wizardry 8, heh. I do have willpower after all. Two rehearsals tomorrow. Bouncers, then Oh What A Lovely War. Great stuff. One's first thing in the morning, the next is in the evning. Ah, to not be able to do one of them would be nice... it's something I really need to think about. Oh What A Lovely War! involves real military training with a real loud shouty army general, and Bouncers is getting too close when we've done far too little to it already. Lovely War isn't that bad a play and I don't mind the rifle training either. But it's more of my time, really. Monday evenings are a hassle at the best of times. I might not go to Holland, or something. Either way, I need to be doing less somewhere along the line. Yes, I shall think about it. EDIT: How Rare Just looking at the adverts that randomly appear at the top of my site; they generally tend to apply to things I write about, assuming that people come here to read specifically what I write and gain more interest in their sites. Makes sense. But since when have I talked about gourment coffee? And finally... I got a letter from Sara yesterday ^_____^ Great stuff, definitely.

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Thursday, March 11, 2004

I-hate-us, Hiatus

Mmm, wordplay... It just gets better and better, heh ^_^; Next week is production week for Marat/Sade, the play which Sara found a describing quote as "20 lunatic actors, a sex fiend and a dead guy." Throw in a lot of words and you have the play. As for me- I'm doing alright, but I miss OB. This is the first time I've had enough time to do anything solid online, and that's only because the rehearsal this afternoon was rescheduled. I'm not complaining in the least (well... maybe a bit). At least I still have some time every now and again to do things. Tremainitis Wow, I hadn't realised I'd left such a painful legacy ^_~ I'll start the next Enter the Net chapter after lunch and see how far I get. It won't be very far, but it should be enough to get me started again. Shout-Outs I think I'll get a Shout Box. Anyway: DDG: I owe you a PM. Ben: We owe each other RPG stuffs ^_^; Pyrophobic: Thank you. I owe you a PM as well, but like I said I've had hardly any time for anything and I'm sorry to leave you hanging in the stix. I will send you one as soon as I can, I promise. moletta: I actually had to return the OVAs. There was no dialogue on episodes three or four of the first disc, which was rather annoying >.> rustym: I get urges to light matches, but not to burn anything huge, heh. I love the flare noise they make when you strike 'em. Fwsssh! Mimmi: I can be very lewd if I so wish ^_~ But I often don't, because sometimes it just comes off as tasteless. In the right scenario yes, and if I feel comfortable enough with the people I'm around then I can let loose. I'm still hungry, incidentally ^_^; It's not the same hunger as in my last post (cripes, I can't go that long without eating), but it's still... hungeracious. Quote: "LOOK OUT! SLOW DOWN! DON'T BE FUNNY! LIFE IS PRECIOUS! CARS COST MONEY!" - Chorus, Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

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Saturday, March 6, 2004

Ramblerant

I can't actually remember exactly what it was I was going to talk about, so I'll just start typing and hope things will come back to me as I go. It's very odd for me to be on first thing on a Saturday morning. Usually I'm doing something else, like eating breakfast or watching TV or playing on Wizardry 8, heh ^_^ I meant to buy RahXephon Volume 4 yesterday whilst in town, but when I was in MVC I kind of slipped and accidentally bought the Sakura Wars OVA Collection instead ^_^; I've not watched it yet, but I hope to this weekend... assuming my sister's friend goes early >.> It's not that I don't want my sister to have her friends round, it's just that she becomes a different person around her friends. Well, I think she does. Maybe it's just me becoming more reclusive and sensitive to silliness. I know people do react differently when around others- family and friends can become a rather awkward mix in which case. I tend to be more bold around close friends, but when they come round and Mum's in the room I just become quiet for fear of swearing or saying something lewd (yes, I can be lewd). But with my sister, she tends to retain the same silliness with her friend when she's here and it frustrates me because I like her more when she's sensible. It's a silly argument, really. Basically, I think I'm afraid of her growing up too quickly. I try to be rather protective over things she does for no real reason other than I see the same mistakes I made almost being made in her. That's not to say she's naive- she's incredibly intelligent and can stand up for heself with the best of them. I just... want my lttle sister back. Voices Isn't it odd how you can be thinking something and suddenly you hear a voice in your head that tells you the exact opposite? It's bizarre, and annoying. I can be thinking about something I'm quite worried about, say... just before I go to bed I might get some really disgusting visions- nightmares, basically -about stuff I really don't want to happen, and I can't get a voice out of my head that tells me I want it to happen. It's like an anti-conscience. It's not schizophernia, I know that. Just an odd quirk of the human brain, I suppose. A slightly less-worrying incarnation of that is tha inner monologue- i.e. you talk to someone, say one thing and think something completely different. I don't like thinking a lot of things that I do in these cases (mainly because they're often related to my dad). I can't punish myself for thinking them either, because I can't help how I feel. I know it's not his fault and I tell myself that but sometimes it can be hard when the struggles you have to deal with are in your own mind where everything seems irrarional and you've not anything physically viable to grab hold of and stop. Wow, I'm hungry o_o;

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Thursday, March 4, 2004

Borge Borge
A man is giving a piano concert in Denmark and begins playing a song. Part way through, he leaves and doesn't come back. A few weeks later he comes back, his piano is on stage and he plays a single note. A person asks him where he's been, and his reply is simple:

"Long time, no C."

I don't know if anyone's heard any of Victor Borge's routines but they are fantastic. Unfortunately he died a few years ago but he was an absolute genius with his comedy. He was a fantastically able piano player too, and the way he integrated the two aspects was hilarious. I watched some of my mum's videos of him a few days ago and they always make me laugh. What I wrote above is a paraphrasing/re-telling of one of his jokes.

Anyway, "Long time, no see" is pretty much why I'm writing this post, heh ^_^; It's been a while since I last updated and I apologise to everyone who's been lacking in something better to do while I've been busy ^_~

What's been happening, then? Nothing too out of the ordinary. I was due to update yesterday but I really didn't feel up to it; on Tuesday Lawrence stayed the night and Monday was Finding Nemo, Smallville and Big O night for me.

Finding Nemo is an absolutely beautiful film. I don't often say it but there's a lot to be said for animation that isn't anime. I pretty much swear by Japanese animation now but Pixar have done really well. They deserved the Oscar, I think.

I missed the second episode of Big O, but caught all of the third on last night, with the gigantic electric eel thingummybob. It's very good, but it feels oddly Batman of the Future in its looks. I can't help half-expecting to see the Joker looming around a corner ^_^; But seeing as I can hear Gene Starwind's voice actor in it don't mind. He has a very cool voice ^_^

Sah- you're most welcome- your stories are great to read. I'm sorry I've not been around too much lately. I suppose I might become more scarce in most online aspects at least until after the end of March, which isn't all that long away. I hate making promises that I can't hold on to, so I can't say for sure if I'll be on AIM at all for some time, but I will try. I'll still be on OB and MyO as regularly as I can, but as two hours of my Monday evenings will be taken over by Oh What a Lovely War! as of next week, quite a huge amount of my time is being taken from me. Marat/Sade is being performed in two weeks- once that's over I'll get my two free weekdays back (Thank God...); another two weeks after that are the LAMDA Gold Medal exams. Then I have two weeks off college entirely to really concentrate on relaxing, Bouncers and Haroun. It's a very busy time. I guess this is what they really meant by an 'Intensive Acting' Course, heh.
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