Uni is fun!

Hellooooo!

Ok, this weekend, after a punishingly boring, and tiring, week at work, i finally went to visit Jenny, in Bath.

It was great to see you Jen!!! :D
I really miss everyone - it's so fun meeting up again.

Um... all the weekend has merged together a bit in my head due to staying up to late, sleeping to late and arriving really late, but the highlights and points of particular interest are as follows:

--> Arriving and meeting Jen at the station - cos it was so cool to see her after about 4 weeks of absense, and Bath is very cool aswell, even if it was very wet and cold.

--> Meeting every one in the house - a very lovely bunch. i can see living in halls next year is going to be a lot of fun! It's just like being in a youth hostel with a bunch of mates, butwith more facilities and things to do, and a little bit of work thrown in.

--> The film version of Phantom of the Opera is rubbish, an more than slightly confusing - don't watch it. Particularly at 2am when you're already falling asleep...

--> bring many 20ps to uni, so that you can wash your clothes...

--> Bath has many many very cool shops - must go xmas shopping in Bath - but no cheap shoe shops, hich is a bit of a bitch when you're wearing flipflops in November, in the rain, and you want to buy something to keep your feet dry... oops (maybe i should have thought about that before i left).

--> Firework night - without the fireworks - woohoo!!! hehehe... but at least we had the Union to ourselves!

--> 'Retrieving' washing up liquid (or 'redistribution of the washing up liquid wealth') in the middle of the night should be classified as a new extreme sport.

--> Equally, egging people and their houses should perhaps not be...

--> must learn how to play Slam (and where the hell have i seen, or done, that before?)

--> Phone calls at 3am, stalkers and pumpkins are great for creating extreme paranoia about all people who walk past the window... and the phone as well... especially when they can see you, but you can't see them... hmm...

that's all

tired now, but that was fun - i wanna do uni til january, miraculously have travelling money, travel, then do uni properly - it would be so much fun!

peace
Rachael xxx

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Phaedras' Love - Sarah Kane (Bristol Old Vic Studio)

Last night i went to see an amazing play - in sooo many ways.

Now, i hadn't actually read the play before, but i know that Sarah Kane is renowned for being depressing/weird/more than slightly demented (etc)... so i looked forward to the play with both interest and trepidation.

Now, here's what i knew about it beforehand:

"Sarah Kane's radical reworking of Seneca's classical tragedy of incest and unrequited lust. Phaedra's Love is a bold and provocative revisioning of the story of Phaedra's obsessive and destructive love of her son Hippolytus and his violent punishment by Theseus."

"Cynical and bored heir-to-the-throne, Hippolytus, is not a fan of the world in which he lives. He sees it as both hypocritical and without morals. He rejects the outside world and instead fills his life with sex, television, masturbation and hamburgers, yet none of this satisfies him. His stepmother, Phaedra, has a burning desire for Hippolytus. When the world-shunning heir also rejects her love, it sparks a chain of events that eventually delivers Hippolytus what he longs for."

Whilst this certainly all happens, it's not exactly the essence of the play as you see it. The play really really does pictate (hehe, i created a groovy new word! :D ) very effectively a dark side of life as we know it full of cynicism, disallusionment and deep dispair.
The play was being performing in the studio theatre at the Bristol Old Vic - v cool theatre - and as such, we entered into a pretty small black box to find any seats we could, while on stage Hippolytus slouches on a sofa (/chais long) 'watching tv, flicking the channels and fidgiting. The TV was so effective that'm not actually sure whether they were using a really tv, or whether it was just a sunken light flickering, with a sound track(random freaky talking) played over the top - though, i would hedge my bets on the latter.
Never before have i seen a play which start with the main character sat there examining his various socks, left lying all around himself, to see whether they're clean enough to wipe his nose with - and, i might add, the main problem with the socks was not that they'd been worn, but that he'd found an alternative use for them - i refer you to above synopsis (and instead fills his life with sex, television, masturbation and hamburgers) and leave the rest to your own imagination... well... maybe don't think too hard...

The play proceeds with a rapid introduction to Hippolytus' step mother (Phaedra), who is clearly in love and reveals this to Hippolytus (as if it wasn't already clear enough) then give him a "present", to 'see the look on his face'. But he is cold and cynical - he did warn her that girls have him and then end up hating him, but she has decided this will be different. Mortified by his complete non-reation - that is, eating sweets and continuing to watch tv throughout... - she is distraught and kills herself (off stage).
The situation is then complicated by Phaedra leaving a note saying that Hippolytus raped her. This royal family is the most popular for years, so his family say he has to deny it, but he knows what will happen if he doesn't and realises that, by some twist of irony, Phaedra may actually have given him a genuine present, in her suidicide as it evetually leads to his death - and, ultimately, complete release - just what he has always wanted.
In between times, Hippolatys' step sister is in love/slept with his father, but is then raped and killed by the very same when she goes to protect Hippolytus - who is thrown to the mob, which has grown outside the house, and is beaten to death, his throat cut, has a certain, poinient, piece of his anatomy cut off (quite realistically!) and thrown around, as well as extremely realistically having his heart cut out - ala knife up his ribs and lots of fake blood. That being the only point at which i actually couldn't watch any more... almost too realistic. Very impressive, and extremely effective - but omg! very scary...
There was also a very interesing scene when he is in a prison cell, with the family/prison priest begging him to reconsider his 'guilty' decision, for the repercussions it will have for the family (royalty). Hippolytus somehow gets on to a really inetersting philosophical monologue about religion and faith and the unforgivable sin - i have got to get the script for it, it was brilliant.

I think one of the most harrowing scenes has to be when Hippolytus is taken out, by the policemen, to the mob gathered outside, who them give him to the mob and leave him to be beaten to death (and worse ^^). It's scary, because you know it could happen, and you just can't quite believe they just leave him there. Infact, when it is all over, they don't even have the decency to move the body - they leave him, his step sister and Theseus (his father - who has, in his guilt, commited suicide - again, graphic...) out for the vultures. It certainly makes you think.

"Sarah Kane's writing divided and shocked her audiences, but is now considered central to modern European theatre. Phaedra's Love has only been seen once before in the UK; when Kane directed it herself at the Gate.
Phaedra's Love is directed by Anne Tipton, the 2004 winner of the James Menzies-Kitchin Award for Young Directors."

There's something about this play that really reminds me of Beautiful Child - that i saw at this year's Edinburgh Festival. They certainly shared the same audience reaction of completely shell shocked silence - occasionally leading to slight hysteria, mixed with a great deal of reflection; and they both had very similar taboo subject matter - one of child molestation (and homosexual molestation at that), and the other of incest and all the dark aspects of life - yet both had over riding themes of both (to a greater or lesser extent) love and release. The love generally being the various relationships between characters, while at the end the main character got a release of some kind in the end. I don't know why i find the two of them so striking, but they were both certainly some of the most interesting theatre i've seen.

They also shared a common style of design - Phaedra's Love was more complex, but both had a desolate grey/black set - and very rectangular, harsh and cynical. Beatiful Child being particularly effective in this purely for it's simplicity. (see, eariler edinburgh post, for more indepth description http://www.wanderings-of-a-lost-sheep.blogspot.com/ - most of the way down "Edinburgh Festival still... RSC day!!! Amoungst other things...").
This play was set mainly on the square metallic stage directly infront of us. I thought that this was really interesting choice, because while they were in a posh stately house, it was coompletely in line with that kind of minimalist, expensive look, but equally, as a prision cell it was desolate and emtpy - then when they were outside, it can look rough (well, not neat and stately home like) and rustic as the ground. It was also very 'echo-y' in the prison cell scene.
There was also brilliant lighting in that scene - for most of it there is a stripey gobo creating the effect of light shining through cell window bars than lit the wall and the stage from above and the front. After the minister had been 'taken' by Hippolytus we lost the lights on the back wall, so the stage was only lit in beams from above. Hippolytus then looks up and it had an incredibly Christ-like/divine affect. While i haven't read the script, i've never been given the impression that there are religious over-tones to the play - and i don't think that, extrovertly, there are. But there is certainly something very christlike about the main character - obviously no with is behavious, but especially with his suffering, isolation and release through death - until this point, he also does seem somewhat invincible and untouchable - nothing has any affect on him - you could imagine Christ becoming like that after nobody listened, and he was isolate. Maybe i've thought about his too much...

One final design point i want to get down is the use of the gauze, which at first i thought was just a screen. At first it is used, as such, in bewteen scenes with a stong colous wash and a pulsating heart beat sound. Later, however, you gradually come to realise that there is, infact, another level to the stage, much higher than the rest, which it covers up. This is discovered as Phaedra's body is cremated. She is lying on a plinth up there lit with a dim white light and lots of red/amber. On the gauze is a flickering orange/red light flickering like flames. This gets stronger and more vibrant/intense as the sound volume goes up and up. It was quite one of te most effective, yet simple evffects i've seen. As it intensified i, and i think, the whole audience, really did feel very uncomfortable - it was so oppresive, and intense. I suppose it's largely just because it looked kind of realistic and as a culture we are simply not used to seeing that kind of thing. I just find it amazing that something so simple can create such an amazing effect on people.

Despite the deep despair and really harsh side of life it so drastically portrays, there really is something very compelling and, once you've recovered, really quite addictive, about Sarah Kane's play. I really do intend to read more - and particular see them, if i can find them. It certainly makes for an interesting evening out - particularly if they were all as well designed, directed and staged as well as this one.

The Tempest - a 3 man troup that's not the Reduced Shakespeare Company!

"Mark Rylance clearly relishes a challenge. The World and Underworld season at the Globe is his last as artistic director; it would have been easy for him to turn in a safe and straight-forward Prospero and finish off his tenure in a muted but popular manner.

Instead he opted to stage Shakespeare's late play using only three men - and a rope. The resulting production has been met with a rather sniffy reception by the critics but surely it's to Rylance's credit that he was willing to take creative risks up until the last.

Prospero, as played by Rylance, is a man capable of descending into quiet depression and of working himself up into a magical rage. According to the play's director, Tim Carroll, there was a definite and conscious decision to paint Ariel and Caliban as direct opposites within the production - letting them reflect the different elements of Prospero's character as they war with each other for dominance.

Once the psychological reasoning behind this decision is understood it becomes easier to see how the remaining roles were apportioned amongst the cast. So, in addition to playing Prospero, Rylance also gives a very funny performance as the drunk Stephano - who Caliban mistakes for a god.

But this role-hopping is less successful when he switches to some of the smaller parts: Alonso or Sebastian. This isn't a comment on his skill as an actor; it's just that, unless you know the play very well, it can become rather confusing working out exactly who is talking to who.

Edward Hogg takes on the roles of Miranda and Ariel. He plays them both as other-worldly intellectuals who see only the best in the people around them. His Miranda is not only very engaging in her innocence but also very funny; her wonder and coyness around Fernando drew some of the biggest laughs from the yard.

Of the three actors, Alex Hassell is perhaps the most successful at clearly defining his roles in the eyes of the audience. His Caliban is a true creature of the earth; he walks with his knees bent and swings and hops around the stage. It's quite a performance, which therefore makes it even more impressive when he, in the blink of an eye, transforms himself into the handsome hero Fernando.

This is a complex and concept-heavy version of the Tempest requiring the total commitment and concentration of the three actors involved. Though they all perform superbly in their various roles, the production fails to satisfy on a number of levels. A few of the devices used in the play confuse more than they enlighten: there are these chess pieces that, at the beginning, seem like a rather clever idea but they soon feel overused. And the novelty of that rope, dangling in the centre of the stage, soon starts to wear thin - although when Caliban swings from it or Ariel uses it to fly, it does come into its own.

It's not just the props that create problems. Though the harmonising of the six singers, who sat above the stage and performed with no accompanying instruments, was undoubtedly beautiful, it often distracted from the action.

The same could be said for the dancers (for some bizarre reason clad in leather jackets) who represented the spirits Prospero commanded on the island. The only time their presence actually worked was during the sequence when Prospero conjures a wedding masque, then the Globe worked its particular magic and the audience were spellbound.

In the end that was the real problems with this production: everything had the potential to work well - you could see the thinking behind each of the elements - but thrown together the whole thing jarred. This Tempest was a worthy experiment that did not quite come off."

Great review - really really intrguing play. I really enjoyed it, particularly it being my first Globe experience - although as it point it, maybe didn't quite pull it off. I don't know the story of the Tempest on any detail whatsowever, and much to my surpirse discovered aftewadrs that there was about 5 more characters than i had realised... oops... but it fairly well made sense anyway!

The use of props was great. The rope int he midle of the stage was undoubtedly on of the most ingenious for all it's mulitple uses. And the chess board as a representation of the story and puppeteering going on was excellent. The others escape me at the moment, but i guess it was just really refreshing to see theatre with no light or sounds effects worth talk about - pure acting/theatre... a yin to Woman in Balcks aYang :o)

memes :D

Which British Band Are You?

absolutely :D

Woooo - travell-y ness and shakespeare and stuff!

Well, um... still not very good at this regular updates lark... hohum... (and i never did post reviews of AMSND and CoE, but i will get round to it at some point)

Anywayz - i've done lots since i last updated!

Started work at Group4Securicor - which is thrilling... but the people are really nice, it's not difficult and it pays well, so i have nothing to complain about. It's also genius that it starts at 10am, i no longer have to get up stupidly early every day - yay! That weekend i worked my last day at the pharmacy as well - i won't really miss it, but some of the people were very lovely - admittedly, some of them were less to my taste, but it's all swings and round-a-boutses...

Then, seeing as how it was the bank holiday weekend - which i had totally forgtten about, we (Olli, Scot, Jenni and me) went to Weston-Super-Mud and made (and then accidently collasped, just before we took at picture) the biggest sand castle ever! Although, i'm starting to think that the beach at weston is not mud, and is infact some form of cement - the sand was grey! :o

Next week end i went camping with mum at the Gower Peninsula, which is stunningly beautiful. I wasn't sure about spending a whole weekend camping with her, but actually it was really good - nice to just relax on a beach and in the sea. The next day we went surfing - the fact that there were no waves, and it was blowing half a gale only made it all the more interesting! heheh... i've decided to add 'learning to surf' to my list of things to do in my gap year - but i've decided that it will be easier somewhere warmer that has waves, so i think i'll do that elsewhere... I now really appreciate the genius that is wetsuits though - they're soooo cool (or, infact, warm - that being where the geniusness lies...). So that weekend was lovely, i really could have stayed there for sooo much longer -i really love the sea, can't get enough of it, it's just magical - and so big and expansive and powerful *imagines being on beach with big expansive sea, right now* *sigh*...

So... um then i worked all week (inc. saturday - how very lucrative that is) and spent stupid amounts on clothes... but then, they are kinda necessary.
Sunday we (Allen, Scott, Alex, Jenny, Jenni and I) played poker - hehehe... that was funny - then we failed miserably (well, fairly jovially, actually) at the pub quiz - i'll miss them all so much when they're gone... hohum...

More work ensued...

Friday night, we went out - £8 champange cocktail - mmmm.... then Peppers and then the Bongo Bar - hehe that was funny, before SubTone. I can't believe that we got IDed in all the places we maxed out on Orange juice and coke and didn't when we bought Champange and liquer cocktails... where's the logic in that?!

Some time around then i actually managed to post my Deposit for Trekforce - woohoo!! Jungle here i come. I also succumed to Allen's insistence that i should read the Da Vinci code and bought a copy... more about that later

Then that sunday i finally met up with Anna, my potential travel parnter for SE Asia. Funnily enough, i wasn't really nervous, i just wasn't so sure what we'd talk about all day... But it really wasn't a problem in the end. I was stupidly tired because i stayed up far to late the night before looking at photos and the leavers book... then caught the bus at 7am. oh well...

Got to London with perfect timing and made my way to the Tate Modern - she'd said she was running late, so when a rather confused/lost looking person turned up that vaguely matched my imgined anna, i wondered whterh i was right for a minute- but after looking curiously at each other for a second, we both came to the conclusion that we were who we thought we were... hehe... so into the Tate Modern!

I really don't know how anyone managed to make, what is essentially a rectangular building, so utterly confusing?! i can never find my way in and once you're in - how do you get out again?!? Plus there's always more than you think there is. I do like the Tate - it's totally insane, and some of it is really just rubbish... but there's some amazing exhibits there. The highlight this time - Bill Viola being lacking - was a Chris Offili set of 13 relief paintings/collages, called The Upper Room. This is quite literally a whole (very swedish looking) room inside (the room inside) the gallery.

What i really love about it is basically the colour and the light (but then, i would - it's always the light/colour that i love - think Bill Viola's 5 Angels and you'll know what i mean). It's just sooo theatrical :D It was loosely based, i think, on christ and the disiples, but i've forgotten about the rest, i just know i liked it.

having whizzed round the TModern at break neck speed - i'm really not sure how we ended up doing it so quickly... - we deiced that lunch was in order and wondered outside staright into some kind of weird alternative hippy carnival thing... It was very cool - especially the bicycle band who were, quite lieterally, playing a bicycle - don't ask... - and there were loads of food stalls aswell, so we each had a lovely curry for lunch - best (and cheapest) meal i've had in london for a long time.

With lunch came the opportunity to discuss all things travelling :D We re-established that we were planning what we thought we were planning - so that's all good. Anna really is lovely, and very well-read/interesting. i think i couldn't have come across a better online travel buddy - even if everyone does think i'm mad for doing it - but i spose you don't know til you try - it might be brilliant, it may be a disaster, but i'd rather regret doing something, than regret not doing something!

After lunch we've still got hours before the play, so decided to tackle Tate britain as well - and that is one hell of a lot of art for day (especially when followed by a standing play!). But the Tate was, again fun - plus we dicovered that the easiest way to get there was the river boat, so we took a brief jaunt on the river - which was fun, though i feel would have been marginally better if it hadn't been raining and generally grim...

So, hvaing absorbed just about as much culture as is humanly possible - and attempting to kill our feet - we must have walked literally miles of art galleries! - we headed back to get tickets for the play and a snack.

We got back only to discover that said play was sold out... oops, but that we had a reasonable chance of returns. So, although we had to pay a bit more, we got a couple of separtate returns in the gallery and then asked if we could stand anyway... just for the genuine globe experience :D and actually despite the fact it was about 2/2.5 hrs of standing, you really didn't notice and it was brilliant being soo close to the stage.
The Globe is really really amazing! It's far more ornate than i had ever imagined, but very very cool. Although, what;s possibly more amazing is that what looks like a tonne of marble and gold is, infact, just maticulousy painted wood - damn impressive!

Hohum, once we'd come to the end of the play (3 man version of the Tempest - more than slightly comfusing, but very good nonetheless and some excellent actors - ariel - mmm.... see review for more info.) they performed a dance, which is apparently traditional with all of shakespeare's globe plays - it was tres cool - traditional rennaisance dance with some street moves incorporated - v v funny! :D I like.

The only problem with said dance is that it aided the 25 minutes that the play ran late and left me with less than 30 minutes to get to the bus. Now, if you have everbeen to either Tate or the Golbe, you will realsie what a ridiculous distance the nearest tubes stations are - the nearest being about a 10/15 minute walk across the bridge - and Victoria being about a 10/15 minute ride away - as well as the 5/10 minute walk at the other end to the bus staon. Now, as you can see, these figures don't add up - so we went to find a taxi que - but the nearest was 10 minutes walk, and apparently the traffic was bad and tube would be faster - *eek*!!! So, daily excersize=run as fast as is possible in flip flops, over the bridge, through the people, in the dark to a tube station that we weren't quite sure where is was.... hehe... hohum - we got there, aid an extremely brief good bye :( which was shame, but necessary, then i managed to get on a train just before it left, and relax. A similar amount of running (albeit on more familiar territory) and one broken phone later i got to the bus with about 2 minutes to spare - yay! so that all worked out terribly well.

It really was a fun - if not ridiculously tiring - day and hopefully all things will work out well. We seem to have pretty similar interests in what we want to do, so it'll be great if it works out. YAy for lovelypeople - i wish there were more lovely people - nice is under-rated :)

*yawn* tired now - must go to bed - zzzzzzzzzzzzz..................

peace y'all

so, the waiting's over... and i'm still stuck...

Well... results day.

Now, i kinda assumed that if i got my grades for uni (well, more if i got straight As, but since that's what i needed...), that i'd be happy - you would think so, wouldn't you? Well, i wasn't really - just immensely relieved.

I did get the grades (just). Philosophy-A, Maths-A, Further Maths-A, Music-A (just... by 3 ums... or 0.5%... hehehe... yeah managed to royally screw up my music exam - oops... that kinda ruined my ambitions to achieve only As in every exam i took (as well as overall), but it'll keep me humble :D And also - though i hardly cared by the time i'd got my As - i got a merit in the Addvanced Extension Award for Philosophy - 4 marks off a distinction (which i think i might possibly have got if i had actually revised half the stuff i was supposed to... but as i said, i don't really mind - and i keep forgetting about it...)

Anywayz, so the next reaction you'd expect to get is "OMG i got into Cambridge - one of the best unis in the world - wooohoo!!! i can't wait to go" - except, um... i'm still stuck.

I orginally applied because of the fantastic opportunities it offers, the people, the teaching etc - all of which still stands - i think i'd have a really good time there - and the benefits it could potentially offer in the future are important aswell. But i still want to do theatre, and thus am not sure that doing a philosophy degree is the best way to go about it... although, there looks to be excellent opportunities at cambridge for student theatre - so i'm sure it would be an excellent source of experience.

But on the other hand - even if i train oin theatre after doing philosophy, i don't see how i could possibly afford the time or the money - particularly when i'd really really like to do Guildhall's Course (possibly the best course on the planet for tech theatre/stage management). So even if i did a one or two year post grad - it couldn't be at Guildhall (though that does rather rely on them accepting me first anyway...).

*eek*

i wish i knew what to do, because i know this is just going to hang over me until i make a final, firm, unchangable decision - and i can't see that happening any time soon... awwwwww!!!!! grr!!!!

Also, a month from now is looking kinda bleak... everyone is leaving (bar me and hannah, just about) - i'm gonn amiss everyone so badly, and they'll all be having too good a time to miss us (which is a good thing, i might add), it just seems kinda lonely... Hohum... maybe i will me a soul-mate at new work - whatever that might be - guess i'll find out monday/wednesday!

hohum...

in much stuckness

peace xxx

or alternatively...

78991 seconds... *eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek* *implodes* *squelch* ;)

21 hours, 56 minutes, 31 seconds...

All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players...

Right, it's late and i've got things to do, and since brevity is the soul of wit, i shall be brief!

Today, other than not get particularly far in getting a job, albeit further than i was before, i left Cheltenham for Stratford to see some more of this years' comedies season - see if it continues in the stunning respect in which it started (See AMSND and The Comedy of Errors reviews (once i've got around to typing them...) but suffice to say they were stunning - AMSND to the point that it is one of the best productions i have ever seen and i think i will ever see!).

Tonight the bill was As You Like It (and NOT All's Well that Ends Well - i get them sooo permanently confused) and the first thing that struck me was that the set was perfectly as i liked it. It was basically one hugely realistic (in size and asthetic) coniferous tree in the middle of the stage. Very simple, but highly effective and really all that was necessary.

The play began with the entire chorus on stage singing, to set the season, the tree glittering with pale blue fairy lights and a snowy scene of winter. From there it made a strong start by introducing Orlando (Jamie Ballard?) and almost immediately he took his top off - good move! I'm not usually one for shamelessly eating up eye-candy, but my god he was good looking - toned, very toned... mmm... (he was also an excellent actor, but that's pretty much taken as read at Stratford). Infact, by the end of the first half, i was pleasantly happy, and enjoying the acting a great deal, but i must confess that while i knew roughly what was going on, i wouldn't have liked to try and explain, and i was completely lost as to what the connections between the various characters. I did, however, decide to bear with it, which did indeed ultimately pay-off.

The second half was somewhat clearer and quite a lot funnier - i could actually follow what was going on; largely, ithink, because the various dukes had disappeared from the story, leaving us with the somewhat less complicated lovers. Though shakespeare did try to complicate them as well by adding phebe and selvius into the equation, for what reason i know not. It has to be said that while this was a brilliant production, and i really did enjoy it, i don't think it can be said to be one of shakespeare's better written plays. The hassle at the beginning with the dukes is confusing and unnecessary, and there are several additional characters, for reasons i cannot deduce, while end of the play seems a little contrived - a very forced happily-ever-after, where there wasn't really much strife or confusion in the first place...

Having said that, it is all forgiven with the epilogue, because that was really quite genius, infact it really remined me of the Edinburgh strett performers who got the audience to clap for any reason at all simply to attract a crowd... hehehe... the cheek - but it was a totally enjoyable evening, even if it was not quite the match for AMSND or tCoE.

Best lines in the play, purely because it's so brilliantly random, and has a post in it...

JAQUES: Why, 'tis good to be sad and say nothing.
ROSALIND: Why then, 'tis good to be a post.

Anyways, after that we headed of home... which would have been a hell of a lot easier if we hadn't completely forgotten which direction the car was parked in... oops... (we did, as you may have guessed, find it eventually... hehehe)

"That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness, and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."

The other idea of this evening, or rather, the position of this evening's little outing, was to distract me from the impending doom that is A-Level results... humph. I really really hate this waiting - i really can't stand it!!! Hmm a day and a half left... *eek* And the fact that i can't decide what to do with my life really really isn't helping. The more i go to the theatre - having decided that that is what i wish to do for a career, regardless of what happens in the nearer future - the more i wonder whether i should simply apply to do theatre straight away regardless of what Cambridge say... but at the same time, i could get some really got experience at cambridge, have an amazing time, and get a good degree from one of the best unis in the world... hmm... tough choice (and i don't even know if i have to make it yet - argh!!!) But even if i get rejected, i'm gonna be soooooo stuck - UCL/theatre/UCL/theatre??? Awww..... soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stuck :o(

"Time travels in divers paces with divers persons. I'll tell you who Time ambles withal, who Time trots withal, who Time gallops withal, and who he stands still withal."

Night xxx

Lost in so many ways :D

Helllooo!!!

Ok, i've finished updating on Edinburgh - finally - now to real life... well, what i'm currently watching on tv anyway... hehehe... I managed to miss all the first episodes of Lost mainly from being in Edinburgh and working and stuff - but then i discovered that the geniuses at E4 were repeating them all in one go tonight - so i just watched the first 3 episodes (and Lost Revealed) straight through - and i must say, i'm intruigued. It seems like a really good, interesting show - not only with the character development, but also the whole polar bears/monster thing they've got going on... although i hope it doesn't start to seem, after a few epidsodes, that they're unnecessarily dragging it out and not telling you anything, because that would start to get annoying - and the final reveal of what's going on witht he island better be good too, 'cos i think a lot of people will be very unhappy if it's not, but for now i'm happy and i'm hooked - oh dear...

Having said that, it does distract me from the looming menace that is exam results (only 3 days 9 hours and 46 minutes, or alternatively, 290567 seconds... not that i'm counting ::) ). Thing is, i reckon i might be really really stuck what ever my results are. I don't know if i have the grades for Cambridge or not, but i doubt i'd miss UCL as insurance. But then, do i go to UCL or do i just apply to do tech theatre instead???? And, i've been starting to wonder whterh i'd actually like to go to cambridge even if i got in anyway... but i think maybe i'm just being paranoid and subconsciously preparing myself for missing my offer.... who knows? So, um academic or practical? Philosophy or theatre? hmm... grr - i can't stand this waiting - i think i may just go mad in the next 3 days... (well not that i'm not already, but ya know what i mean...)

hohum... i should go to bed or something

peace
zzzzzzzzzz

Home again... :o(

Today we got up stupidly early and got a couple of buses across edinburgh, in bereft silence, to the airport. After a remarkably reasonably priced hot choclate and croissant, while Jenny got scared that she had left her nail scissors in her hand luggage and would be branded a dangerous terrorist, we went to the gate and boarded our plane for an uneventful journey back to Brimingham. Birmingham, btw, is one of the most confusing poorly designed airports i've ever been in! We couldn't even find check-in when we left and we were't the only ones... Anywayz, then we got lost finding the exit aswell... not help by the fact that i think we were both ridiculously tired...
Then at Birmingham New Street we decided to go home via the Bullring, since i'd not been there since it opened. It was sehr nice, but we got tired of trying not to knock stuff of with our backpacks and then we wandered into Supredrug and the alarm went of, so clearly it would go off as we left as well... and it did - so we hung around, nobody came, we started to walk away and some bloke said the alarms went off as we left and we said that we'd noticed that... but that they'd gone off when we went in aswell and he said fine and let us go. Now i can't help thinking that if you're a shop lifter, this is a really easy get out... you simply bring something you know will set of the alarm as you going IN, and then you'er sorted, with that kind of attitude... hohum.. i don't understand some people. But anywayz... then we got scared of the shops and decided to head home... hehehe... we make me laugh ::)

Anywayz, got home and fell asleep... then in evening i went to a friend's friend's quiz night, who was rasiing money to do the New York marathon - and good luck to her!!! and we were beaten by 3.5 points, out of about 150... so close yet so far! But it was fun :)

Edinburgh Festival still... RSC day!!! Amoungst other things...

Wednesday – a new day!
Today, having got organized we already knew roughly what we were going to do – no more faffing about up and down the Mound! Yay! So we got into Edinburgh in good time and meandered towards the Plesance, arriving just intime to join the ingoing queue for Completely Hollywood!, a long awaited new arrival from the Reduced Shakespeare Company. We shuffled to our seats and then spent quite a lot of time shuffling in our seats, because really there were too many people for the venue and no marked seats… It really is the coolest venue though – dunno what it is/was normally, but it has a ceiling like a tudor banquet hall – v v cool J
So once the entire audience was squished in (v sardine-like), lights went down and the show started. Right from the beginning it was clear that it had diverged from the traditional format, although I really don’t think I should say why – I’m sure y’all want to find out for yourselves. There were so many things in the perfromance that I sat there and thought – “must remember that and put in psp for everyone” just because I thought it was so cool or funny – but alas I actually can’t remember anyone of them now :o which is rubbish, but I’m like that, I can’t remember very much of any of the plays even the ones I’ve seen serveral times…
Anywayz, once aspect I particularly loved in the new play was the prominence of a geek as one of the main characters!!! How cool :o) I think geeks are under-represented in society on the whole, so that is very welcome. Hehehe… Although that is one of the things I found quite strange - that the three of them were less themselves being themselves and acting out characters when necessary and much more acting one character throughout, then being that character acting a character when necessary – if you see what I mean. Sorry that wasn’t very clear.
The silent movies bit was really good, especially after the bit about cancelling world debt – that was really really random… I think I missed the point somewhere… And I like the idea of the foreign language films dubbed into english/american (so they got the culture and could understand) that looked really funny – heheh… simple things. I also enjoyed the discussion of how many different story lines there are in films – I’m converted to the ‘Jesus Story’ philosophy completely – every film story line is essentially the Jesus story – absolutely! Who need any others?
Overall I thought it was really funny, and pretty good – having said that I thought it was a different type of ‘funny’ – if that make sense to anyone – more light laughter and less hysterics…
Having said that, I thought a lot more of it went straight over my head than any of the other plays – maybe because I read a lot more than I watch movies (particularly classic Hollywood ones…) – and at times I really didn’t get how it all connected - and in answer to your question, Rabid, about how I agreed with bits of the Times review – she clearly didn’t either… “For no clear reason we get a Latvian version of The Wizard of Oz, in which the yellow brick road leads to an anti-capitalist paradise, and a super-hero cowboy called Cattleman arriving with his sidekick, Saddlesore … Blofeld appears, with a cat that doubles as a gun, but why I never understood.” And while they were in themselves quite amusing moments at times, I didn’t get the connection quite a few times, it seemed to lack a completely coherent thread through the show, which would have made it much more funny because then there would have been some kind of context for the jokes (if you see what I mean) – infact there probably was, and I simply missed them or didn’t understand them, but at the same time, whether they’re there or not, if the audience doesn’t understand them then it’s lost on them. And the other bit I agreed with was her comment about Hollywood coming out remarkably unscathed (“But Tinseltown emerges from the RSC’s frisky mockery even more unscathed than the Bard, the Bible, human history and the world. And that is a pity.”), which is not something I had thought about at the time, but in retrospect I think there’s an element of truth in that. I mean, particularly in Shakespeare, Bible, America and the MM, the subject (or the in the case of the MM, the Church) was constantly picked at, teased and reverentially mocked to quite an extent throughout the show, and whilst Hollywood was lovingly mocked I really don’t think it, um… suffered quite as much as any of the previously mentioned.
On the other hand, as I pointed out at the beginning, it was a very different show, and I am perhaps unfairly comparing it to all the other shows – after all, other people would simply revert to saying it was formulaic if it followed the other shows in so many aspects. Overall, I really did enjoy it (despite some advocatus diabolus in agreeing with bits of the ‘evil’ Times review…) and there were sooo many bits that I wanted to mention and then couldn’t remember – so if this maybe seems a little unbalanced that’s only because I can’t remember the bits I laughed at… of which there were many :D
Great job guys!! (Though it definitely lacked a song or two…)
So with the show over we headed outside to see if we could find any RSCers – I saw Reed on the stairs, but he looked busy (he was talking to Suu I think) and I don’t like interrupting people so I left them to it. Besides which I don’t think he’d have any idea who I was... and he wasn’t in the show so it’d be a bit random… However, as we went outside I did spot Austin, so I went over and introduced myself – and he was indeed lovely. I like meeting people for real that you’ve only ever seen on TV or in pictures – they’re usually much more interesting in real life :D (although I ‘spose that rule does have some exceptions…).
After that I wander away up the hill smiling – don’t you just love it when you’re really happy for no reason at all (or for really trivial ones in any case). After that we had planned to go to another show and rushed off to get tix, but there were none left so we went to get lunch. At which point we came across the most genius shop ever!!! They had a vegetarian baked potato shop (and reasonably priced too – every town should have one) so we got the most humongous potatoes you’ve ever seen (which made us wonder what the ‘large’ sized potatoes were?!) and went and sat down on the pavement (before we burnt our hands) behind the craft fair thingy where there was a street performer doing stupidly dangerous things with knives and unicycles twice my height… He was very good, but I wouldn’t have wanted to have got any closer.
After food we spent the afternoon (before our next show at 6pm) shopping in the various quirky (non-touristy) shops Edinburgh has to offer – there was a very cool crystal shop there, and a Christmas shop, and a fudge shop that smelled sickeningly good. We also spent a significant proportion of our time watching more street performers (with umbrellas up…).
The street entertainment is one of the things I most love about the festival – you could actually wonder around for days and be entertained without spending any money at all – and a lot of it would be absolutely excellent (like the guy who chased a pigeon, encroaching on his area, with the chainsaw he subsequently set permanently going and then juggled… he was brilliant, if more than a little scary; or the Canadian escape artist who was somewhat less threatening, tied up in a straight jacket and chains :D ; but even the one we saw who’s act went terribly wrong when his CD player stopped working, had some excellent moments before and did keep his audience subsequently, even if it did involve locking a kid in a suitcase and carrying him around… we still kept watching…). We also took the opportunity to find some photo spots for Jenny having completely forgotten top take any photos the previous day – I didn’t bother since I think I went slightly mad with photos one year and have tonnes, but it was good to wander around looking at the beautiful city that is Edinburgh for a bit. We wanted to go up to the entrance to the castle, where there’s a really good view, but the police had already closed it off for the tattoo, so that was a slightly unnecessary uphill walk… but then that was slightly the story of our days in Edinburgh…
At 6pm we found the venue for our next show (C venues – central), Beautiful Child, by Nicky Silver. This was a bit of an unknown quantity. We were told that it had just come over from America, where it seems it has, for the most part, attracted brilliant reviews, and we knew that is was quite a bold morally interesting play, but we didn’t really know what it was about.
It is a hard play to describe to someone because they tend to put the emphasis in totally the wrong pace in their heads. It focuses, largely, on one family that is in crisis and is generally falling apart in many ways. The wife doesn’t love the husband, who is serially unfaithful (and is currently embroiled in an affair with his secretary, which he can’t get out of because she’s pretty screwed up as well, and is also pregnant), but loves her all the same. Then their son (now in his 30s) comes home and asks for help because he’s on the run after having a ‘relationship’ with one of his pupils (an 8 year old boy). However, this is not a play about child molestation – far from it – it is much more about the parents, and how they come to make a judgement on their son about what they should do – what’s the morally correct thing, and what can they do given that he’s their son and they love him. They also question, who is to blame for it?
It is an interesting character study (there is also a strong theme about love and different types and expressions of it) with the son’s childhood psychologist returning to challenge and talk with the various characters; she is also stuck in her own affairs, and says that she had other things on her mind (like her marriage…) when she was treating him.
As you can see, it was somewhat complex – in fact it gets more and more complicated every time I think about it, but it was really interesting. I did feel at the end that while the body of the play was pretty excellent the end was quite crude and should perhaps have been left a little more ambiguous. Having said that, it didn’t seem to detract from the effect it had on the audience by the end, which was one of stunned, pensive silence – but I would certainly recommend it, even if it does take a while to recover…
Also, one more mention to it – it had an inspired set, constructed largely of breeze blocks in scattered piles across the floor, and a plank to make a seat – a sofa was then constructed by adding two cushions… I have read American reviews of the off-Broadway production and it seems that they had a much more realistic set, which wasn’t highly rated. I hope that if this play continues in Britain they stick with the current set – it so well portrays the isolation of the characters that are still trying to build bridges with one another with varying success, and the complexity of the relationships – which sounds really pretentious, but for once I think it’s true. Good play.
So, after that we headed of for some food and discovered a really expensive chip shop (which, btw sold deep-fried mars bars… I was soooo tempted to try one – I think it’s one of those thinks that you have to try once. Hehehe), got some chips and sat on the Royal Mile being entertained by another performer and then spent some time meandering back down towards the buses musing about how much we could stay there for weeks, how I really need to get around to working there next year (I meant to this year, but A Levels took over and I didn’t), and how we soo much didn’t want to go home :o( I felt how I used to feel when we went on holiday and then it came to an end just far too early, but then I ‘spose I haven’t had a proper holiday for a few years, but yeah, it felt like that – more at home there than at home; having said that, I’d rather be quite a lot of places other than home at the minute.
When we finally got around to going back to the flat we had every intention of packing and going to bed, since we’d have to leave the flat at 6am the next day to get to our flight home – yay! [/sarcasm], but instead we stayed up talking ‘til gone midnight and I drew a thank you card to go with the chocolates we’d got them. Aww.. it was so sad – we didn’t want to go; but then as I said to Jen – Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all, or something…

Tales of a non-extinct prehistoric fish :o)

Today we spent an awful lot of time being indecisive and running (well… walking as quickly as the Royal Mile allows…) up and down the Mound, deciding what we wanted to see and getting tickets. So, having missed one play we’d meant to see already, we settled on a really random play called Coelacanth (pro. See-la-canth) by Ben Moor, at the Pleasance Attic. Now this one-man play, or perhaps it is better described as an old-fashioned story time, is hard to sum up briefly, so I’ll quote The Stage, who sum it up quite nicely.

“The coelacanth, a prehistoric fish that lay undiscovered and unevolved for millions of years, seems an odd motif on which to hang a yarn of love, life and climbing trees. But then writer/performer Ben Moor has built his reputation - this is his 19th Edinburgh show - on such seemingly random associations. And, as it unfolds, his latest one-man shaggy dog story reveals a delightful rhyme and reason to even the most fanciful, Edward Lear-like flights of fancy.
Moor casts himself as a tree-obsessed loner introduced to the sport of competitive tree climbing by his father, who then meets the girl of his dreams, loses her and then discovers, the hard way, his true way in life and love. It is nonsense, of course, but the unassuming Moor who, bearded, shoeless and suited, resembles a shipwrecked bank clerk, is such an engaging, warm and witty host that while you are in his company you take it as gospel.”

This really was a heart-warming play, which I wholley recommend. I, personally, particularly enjoyed its complete random-ness , but then, I would… It is a story, of life and love and rejection and regained lust for life again etc. told so simply, yet compellingly. And you may even learn something (albeit about a non-extinct prehistoric fish…).

After this we hadn’t booked another show until 10.30 that evening (another show chosen by my attraction to complete randomness) which was Jason Byrne: The Lovely Goat Show, which, again, comes with a whole-hearted recommendation – it was very funny, and had a gaot dance at the beginning – what more could you ask? But more of that later…
Since it was Jen’s first time in Edinburgh, or infact in Scotland, we decided that something touristy was in order and there were really only two main attractions I’d not seen before (those being Edinburgh Dungeons and the Auld Reekie midnight haunted town tour thingies).
However, one of them stood out since – a) it was open at a sensible time of day and b) I mentioned it at the bus stop, we then had two pound off vouchers on the back of our bus tickets and then at Pizza Hut we were given two-for-one vouchers, clearly we were meant to go to the dungeons…
Edinburgh Dungeons, the attraction, is not actually Edindurghs dungeons… something I did not realise until we had actually go in It is more like a history of the kind of things that went on there. It was quite entertaining, if not anything more, although it does have by far the best mirror labyrinth I have ever been in – that really was very confusing and v v cool! The end of the tour through the various set ups is a little disappointing, and slightly bemusing. But by then we didn’t mind much – it was all in good spirits. I would recommend a visit if you have nothing better to do, having said that I would only recommend it if you have two-for-one vouchers. It’s easily worth a fiver to while away some time, but certainly not the £11 they try to sell it to you for normally…

When we came out the dungeons it was chucking it down… (and we thought we’d picked a good week… hohum), and since we still had a few hours before our next show and couldn’t be bothered to go back up to the ticket office to see something else, we returned to my uncle’s apartment for somewhere warm and dry to work out what we were going to do the next day. On returning he asked us if we’d eaten and then took us out for an Indian meal at the end of the apartments – second nicest indian I’ve ever had :o) Aww… I do love my uncle, who is both unbelievably random and one of the most kind and decent people I know. Thank god there’s people like that in the world, me thinks. And plus, we got to hear about the new business he is setting up with a friend, that will be a fair-trading business thing – how cool!

After our dinner we hopped back on the bus (btw Edinburgh buses are just sooo far superior to the ones at home, it is unbelievable – they’re also cheaper) and found our way to the Assembly rooms. Then we waited in a queue in the rain for another half an hour… and just to top it off, there were some very fantastic sounding fireworks going off just the other side of the building from where we were stood, which was highly frustrastng. Having siad that, it was a very friendly queue and the ice cream sellers (at 10.30 at night in the dark, cold and rain… hmm) did very much keep us entertained, even if it was just that we felt so sorry for them. We also made this guy’s might by taking his last flyer, so he could go home for the night – doesn’t it just give you such a warm fuzzy feeling, making peoples evenings ‘n all.

But to the show. I knew it was comedy – that was really it. But it was possibly our best random choice of the week. From beginning to end we were kept highly entertained, whether it be by the genius goat dance (v v good!) that opened the show, the dry ice that just wouldn’t disappear, and thus meant we couldn’t actually see Jason Byrne for a good couple of minutes, the picking on the audience or the loose thread of anecdotes that somehow held it altogether. Infact, the audience really was a huge part of the show – he basically spent the vast majority of the evening taking the piss, very effectively I must add – particularly out of the ‘posh kids’ in the front row (who lived in hertfordshire/just outside london and one of which had a piolets license at 17!). Truly no one was safe – particularly if you decided to go to the bar or the toilet – just don’t. The show ended even more spectacularly than it had began. Volunteers were bought on stage as backing dancers to his goat dance (it was not actually, btw, Byrne dancing at the beginning – there was a quick, not-so-subtle switch in the ice at the beginning) and another one to lead – who eventually ended up in a giant cricket jumper with byrne trying to get him to mve correctly… I won’t say anymore incase anyone wishes to see it – but suffice to say, it was spectacular and had pyrotechnics – which is always a good thing!
Having left and wandered around looking for a bus – we discovered there wasn’t another one til 0109… and got a taxi instead… then back to the apartment and zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Edinburgh Festival 2005!!!! Wooo!!!

Woo! I’ve just had THE best 2.5 days. (but i'll post in order of days, just so as to confuse everyone...) So, after working a stupid amount of hours last week, I packed a bag and met Jen at the train station on Monday morning. We proceeded to get on a train that, funnily enough, was going to Edinburgh, only to get off at Birmingham, get another train south to B’ham International, and get a flight up to Edinburgh… It was cheaper and quicker than staying on the train – go figure?!?!

The flight was brilliant because we had window seats and it was clear pretty much the whole way, making for a stunning view. After being picked up from the airport by my oh-so-wonderful uncle we went out to dinner at the poshest Italian restaurant I have ever set foot in – nice! Then we went for a drink afterwards. It was so much fun and we hadn’t even hit the festival yet…

An update, since i've been so rubbish at regualr posting...

Ok... not doing so good with the whole, keeping up-to-date thing... but a quick resume of what i've been doing recently...

well, working figures quite a lot, but that's good, i need money.

then there's driving - now that was interesting...

Decided that now i have time after exams, i'd do pass plus, then insure mum's car for a week and go places... so i did pass plus and went on the scary scary motorways :) and insured mums car. The first thing we did was for me to drive mum up to stratford, so that i could get used to the car and because we'd got cheap seats for The Comedy of Errors (which i might post a review of at some point, if i get around to it). The drive there was fine - i could actually drive!! I was quite pleasantly surprised really :D We got there in great time and saw the play, and it too was excellent - it has confirmed my thoughts that it's a really good season - so hopefully i'll persuade dad to take me to see the other two at some point.
Anywayz, driving back home and we'd nearly got to mum's flat (about 10 minutes away) and then discover that the raod's closed because of an accident - so on my first time driving a car without my intructor i got to do a turn in the road on the A46, which i don't think is something many can claim... Anywayz, we turned down some single track country lane (in the dark, at midnight, on my first long drive...) which mum hoped went in the right general direction. Got to the end of the lane fine, but it was a really really steep hill start onto the next road - so i put the hand break on - and guess what - it had snapped!!! *eek* so, um... then we wondered what do do... but eventually i reversed it down the hill a bit and rested it on the verge so it couldn't keep rolling downwards... To cut a long story short, the frindly police man that was there (because it was the other end of the road closure) stopped the traffic for us so we could just not stopped at the top of the hill junction and keep going - we did get home eventually...

Next day, we got the hand brake fixed, so i was going to drive back to cheltenham. Got half way up the hill and the power started cutting out... so i changed down a gear into first and still had no power, which was more than slightly worrying - so i stopped and swapped with mum, and it happened to her too, so i was reassured that it wasn't simply my driving... but it did mean that the car was really ****ed... so we called the break down people and i got the bus home - woohoo! this was not quite how i meant the week to turn out - although i am now well practiced in 'what to do when your car breaks down'/'you have no handbreak and are stopped on a steep hill'...

1 week later...

cars fixed!! so i insured it again and took jaunts to bath, bristol (M5, M4 and M32!!!), tewksbury and oxford, with various people, and thus, it was fun :)

apart from all the car excitement, i've been working, quitting my job and writing my CV, oh and looking up trusts that'll give me money for my gap year - there's sooo much money out there if you fit all the right catagories (which i mostly don't...)

hohum... edinburgh soon - yay!!!!

Going to the Fair!

Hey there! Ok, well it's been a whole five days since i wrote, so i thought i'd better check in again, before i forget about it and the whole idea slowly dies a painful death... right...

Anywayz, Tuesday was all good. i was going to walk to Gloucester - since i feel a gap year is to do things you've always wanted to do, and i've always wondered how long it would take - as you do... So i was all booted and coated etc and then it chucked it down with rain... so, instead i waited a while, walked to the Shurdington road, todays excerise quota... ::) and got the bus to Claire's house for pizza, sweets, ice cream films and generally have fun.

And it was fun, and before we knew it it was Wednesday and the birds were singing and we were chattering and then, maybe about 5am, we finally fell asleep watching muppets... so having got some sleep and got mightily confused as to where to get off the bus, me and Elmo walked back home across the fields, just in time for me to make some lunch and drink some tea in an attempt to NOT fall asleep while spending two hours driving (Pass Plus - car in two weeks baby!!! woohoo!). So all was well and i discovered, much to my delight, that after nearly 7 months of car-less-ness i could indeed still drive :D Then i came back home and sorted a three foot pile of paper in to subjects with a view to filing them sensibly - but i never got that far, i fell asleep, so now they're all becoming one pile on my floor again... oops... ooo and i cut the grass as well, so the garden smelt (smelled?) cool.

As for Thursday - it was pretty much a write off because i spent 5 hours in the middle of the day at work, so i didn't do anything much before and couldn't be bothered to work, so i cycled instead. Then after work i was tired, so i wrote an interesting to-do list and went to bed, having stayed up rather to late doing nothing very much, but then, i guess doing nothing was pretty much the plan this week, whereas working wasn't...

Today i was in a great deal of pain when i woke up, so i curled up in a ball and fell asleep again. Since i didn't feel like risking making myself feel worse i stayed in bed and read Harry Potter #1, just 4 more to go in the next week! (think i might not be doing anything else in the next week...). After that i felt i ought to eat something, so i made some lunch and ate about a third of it... yeah, so that was worth it... then i remembered i was supposed to be going to the fair and walking into town. nearly didn't go, but thought i ought to get out the house. So all drugged up i wandered slowly into town with Jen, and met Jennie, KT, and then Ollie, Elmo and her brother. Fairs=ridiculously expensive, but it was very fun all the same and i won loads on the penny falls first time, but then i had loads of coins that wouldn't fit in my purse... so i had to spend them... hehehe... and then we shared candy floss and went on some rides, and it made me happy - even moreso, because the co-op now have 'robot tills', which are hilarious...

Then wandered back home again past Jen's house - really nice night altogether, glad i went out. I'm not doing very well at the whole saving thing... but nevermind - having fun :)

Tomorrow, working, then Shoots house for food with music people - so it's all good... :D

peace xxx

There and back again - a sheeps tale...

Hello! Welcome to my new blog - place of all things travelling and fun :D

Thought it might be fun to record my gap year online, so anyone that wants to can read about all the exciting things i'm doing while they're stuck in university, in Britain, in the cold... and i'm enjoying warm tropical waters, and all things sunny! (or jungly, or mountainy etc...).

Plus, i figure it'll probably be easier to keep semi regularly than a paper journal (which i'm sure i'll do aswell), given the prevalence of internet cafes absolulety everywhere all over the world!

Anywayz, guess i should outline my rough plans for the year.

Atm i've just finished my A Levels - as of last Thursday infact - and am currently enjoying doing absolutely nothing (relatively speaking) and not feeling guilty that i'm not working... After this short hiatus, i intend to work full time and save every penny i can, so as i can strech out the travelling bit as long as possible! I'm also hoping to hop up to the Edinurgh Festival in August for a few days, 'cos it's just soo cool (plus, it'll be an opportunity to see the Reduced Shakespeare Company's new play :D ).

Travel wise, i'm slightly undecided right now - there's just soo many things i'd love to do, i'm just not sure how i'm going to fit them all in or finance them all... Current plan is to set of around January. I'd really like to do a project with Trekforce, involving 2 months conservation in the Malaysian (Borneo) jungle living in hammocks and getting eaten by leeches etc... After that, i'm hoping to travel around SE Asia including Nepal, Thailand, Vietman and Cambodia, amoungst others.

If i've still time and money, i'd also love to visit Equador, Peru and Chile in S America. As well as visiting the USA and/or Canada - though that's not looking too likely atm - but then there's always university summers!

So, um, to sum up my travel pans - i wanna go everywhere! (apart from africa, apparently... i already have plans to inter-rail around Europe in a couple of summers time...)

Over the next few months i'll hopely keep up to date with my plans and fundraising, and generally all the interesting (or not so...) things happening :D

oh yeah, and whilst i remember, for anyone interested - after my gap year, providing i get the grades this summer, i'm off to study Philosophy in Cambridge. That or i'll change my mind completely and apply to do Stage Management and Technical Theatre ;) - can't you just see the similarities?!

anywayz, enough of that,

Hope you enjoy the tales of a wandering lost sheep :D

peace
Rachael