Monkeys, bears and killer bunny rabbits

Long time, no write (infact, i think that may have been the longest i'vre not been on the internet since we got it at home! :o )

A quick update from the jungle for you. I'm in Lahad Datu atm (closest town to project site - a couple of hours in 4x4 and a 3 hour trek...) because we've just come back from our trek, whih was absolutely awesome!!!!! All you need to is put Maliau Basin or maliau Falls into google and it will tell you how indescribably beautiful it is - well, that's where we've just done our week long trek - time out from the actually project.

It was quite a trek to get there - well over 12 hours in 4x4s, but largely because of the state of the 'roads'. The first 5 hours were decent, but there after you go onto logging roads, which are absolutely massive, but muddy and full of holes and ditches from the massive trucks that drive along them. Infact, the trek aside, the drive in was a real eye-opener. For anyone that's not familar with the geography of Borneo (...) the Maliau Basin is an uninhabited area of primary rainforest, that, as yet, has not been logged because it has huge ridges that the trucks cannot really get over- if you look at a satallite image, you'll see what i mean. But atm, they are logging right up to the very edge of the basin. You can look at pictures of logging and deforestation of the rainforest in textbooks or in the news all you like, but until you drive through it for hour after hour (literally) you just can't even begin to understad the complete devastation it causes. It's absolutely colossal what they're doing, and completely heart breaking. And this is just compounded by the fact that the remainder of our drive (and, infact, the drive into project as well) was spent driving through hours of palm oil plantations - all of which is planted on deforested land - and it's all you can see as far as the eye can see. It's just so sad, what they're doing/have don to their country.

Anywayz, rant over - i'm sure i'll fill you all in at great length when i get back - i could go on about it for hours, it's just so awful.

Back to the rainforest. As i said, just come back off trek, and it was the most awesome week so far! The first day, with all our bags and food, was sooooo hard and entirely uphill all the way - to the extent that we had to pull ourselves up ropes for a bit of it... but the first campsite was brilliant and had a beautiful river to wash/play in. It also didn't have mud - you have noooooo idea how happy that made me. More about mud later. That evening we saw a civet, watching us - although, it could, possibly have been a killer bunny rabbit - who knows? We also had a days food stolen by either a monkey, or a wild boar, or maye a bear - we're not sure. But my vote goes with beart since it broke a full size caribeener (sp?) and ripped the rucksack handle off the hammock...
Second day was basically 'scrambling' and thus was extremely fun. The last hill (the route, once agaoin beoing unceasingly uphill) nearly killed me, ad there were some ladders at the top that must have been built by giants, i almost couldn't reach the next rungs, but it was sooooooooooo worth it, as it leadd to what has to be one of the best view points in the entirew world!!! How many people can say that they've stood on top of a peak surounded 360* as far as the eye can see by primary rainforest?? Best.View.Ever.

Next day we went to maliau falls which is a huuuuge 7 tiered waterfall, and i must say that although there are bigger waterfalls in the world - they lack the location :D

The rest of the trek was very cool, but with few sites - although we did see a 'squirral' the size of a good sized dog.... scary....

But enough with the trek - what else have i done? hmm...

Well, after last email i went and met up with the group - all of whom are v cool - it's a lovely gropup and we all get on really well. Then we had a couple of days in a youth hostel, with the nicest olypic style semi-open-air swimming pool ever, ad had lessons on foirst aid abd kit etc. The a couple of days at Kiulu adventure centre and as few more in the jungle across the river soing such exciting things as river crossings, fire lighting, shelter building and jungle navigation (i ca now proficiently orientier in jungle where there's only 10m visability :D ) I also have a very sharp machete, after hours of work at it, so hink very carefully before you argue with me ;o) Don't know how i ever lived without a machete, v useful tool. hmm...


After that we headed for our project site in Tabin - a v pretty conservation area, with monkeys, and, bizarrely, giant tortoises... and elephants too, but i've yet to see an actually living one, only the evidence that they've been there... ;o)

The project is really cool. We're basically putting in the infrastructure for an orang-utan release and research site - it's like a non-tourist version of Sepilok, if any of you have heard about the centre there.
And we'll get to visit there at the end of our trip, which is ace, because i didn't think i'd be able to fit it in and it would seem silly to come all this way and not go. Also - did any of you watch, or know about, Survivor - where they dumped people on that tropical island - well, that's where we're having our finally party at the end of project :D :D :D hehe.... it's gona be sooooooo cool.

However, only bad thing about the prject is that we've been having freak weather and when we foirst got here it didn't stop rain for a week - literally... and i'll have none of this - 'but you're in the "rain"forest' rubbish, because it;s NOT supposed to rain that much (*there's been floods and evacuatios etc in thew surrounding areas) and as a result our camp is currently almost knee deep in mud - lovely - and half the team has trench fooot - which is actually not as bad as you might think, but it's a bit weird watching your foot start to disintergrate! I managed to get it on our first day of trek, and now have had sufficient dry weather to get rid of it (the weather in Maliau wasd ace!), only to return to the muddy wallow and make my feet all wet again... hohum... apparently it;'s dried out a lot in the last week and we'rte making a platform area for our admin site, so a;ll is good.

Must go now, time is short, must get back to the jungle!!!!

Left on a jet plane - part 2

Rio justy had some extra time, so i'd just like to point out that my trip has since become far more interesting and 'cultural'.

Last night we we to the night market and had our dinner cooked infront of uys at one of hundreds of hawkers' stalks, which was the best funb - why don';t we have them in britain?

and today we've been out getting a final few bits and pieces (as we head off intot he jungle tomorrow) and in the mean time have tried Durian - read about it on the interent - in singapore, it's banned inside because of it's smell and when you cut it open it looks like raw chicken (Ands feels like it too). It has a tase that's singularly bizrre, and should be tried once, but probably only once.... weird stiff. We've also been drionking coconut milk out of coconuts fresh off the tree!

It's very nice here, i really like it. (for mum&Dad: it's alsmost like Kusadasi (sp?) but soooo much more humid). Plus they've very big on sea fod and have a huge set of aks next tot he restaurant where you can choose your fish (just off the boat) and they will then kill it and cook it - it couldn't get anymore freesh!

Travelling - arrival!!!

After well over 30 hours travelling (or 2 days ignoring the time difference) i finally made it! I'm currently sitting in an internet cafe in malaysia - how cool is that? Its like 30*c outside and KK is a really nice city by the looks of it. It is kinda like San Pedro (in Honduras) but it's more prosperous and there's less poverty. It even has sea views :o)

I think, yesturday (or was that the day before, i'm really not sure - completely lost track of time...) i finally understood why people kept saying to me before i went 'oh, i could never do that', or words to that effect, because i think going through departures to get on my flight, leaving everybody behind, and flying half way round the world on my own, with no one i know to meet me at the other end, was quite possibly the scariest thing i've ever done! HOwever, as i said, i'm here now, so it's fine - seems like a perfectly nice place to be!

The flights were really really long, but i would soooo highly recommend singapore airlines - they served food that you coud practially sell in a restaurant. V nice. and they had more than 60 films to watch and interactive stuff and tv with one of those little screens in the back of the chair infront - every chair should have one! BTW Hannah - reckon we missed each other at singapore, by about 6 hours- i should've stuck around and said hi!... Singapore airport is quite cool, and has free interenet, so it must be good - also has massage and reflexology places - alas i didn't have time to check them out this journey. Brunei airport on the other hand actually couldn't be anymore boring, which is a shame, because i had to spant 5 hours there and whilst i was too tired to do anything, i couldn't really fall asleep either... horrible place...

I've had a really, um, cultural morning ;) whereby i finally decided to get up - went on a nice long walk in the wrong direction before deciding it definitely was the wrong direction... and walking all the way back again. Having got back to where i started i got the bus into town (where i'm staying is on the edge of the center and while it is perfectly walkable, it's not once you've alredy been on a hike - and the buses have air-con!!!! I love air conditioning. It has, once again become my favourite thing on earth, ever!!!!
\n \nHaving got into town i really needed a really really cold drink, so i wondered along the sea front where, apparently, they work very much in time with me and don\'t open until a later much more sensible time - but that does rather lead to a lack of cafes (ok, there were more intown, but it was hotter there - plus they were all full of men, and decidedly, sitting in one of them i would simply have been stared at for an hour... nice...). So i managed to find the most western cafe in KK, where the only other customers were a few english tourists, and for some reason they had a bizarre french and german radio station on. I then had an american drink, and linguini for lunch... so, ok, maybe it wasn\'t very cultural, but it was definitely international!\n\n \nCurrently i\'m in the most humongous shopping center i\'ve seen (equivilent tothat one in calais on music tour - or maybe bigger...), which, agaoin has air con - how am i going to manage two-months in the jugngle without it??? Speaking of which, i should be meeting up with Rio tonight (also jungling), which will be really nice - wondering around here on your own (and you\'re female) is an invitation for beeping your horn and whistling - which, admittedly is reduced if you walk around looking at the ground, but you don\'t see very much like that... - it\'s not nearly as bad if you\'re with someone else. \n\n \num, i don\'t really have anything very interetsing to say yet, as basically i arrived, fell asleep - got very confused when i woke up at 9.30pm (according to my watch) but it was light outside -sooooo confused, but in fact it wasn\'t lightout side, it\'s just that the mess that runs around th top of my room (a la The Beach, if nyone\'s seen it) doesn\'t actually face outside.... ::) ) oops - i\'d had a long day(s)....) then i did as above, and now i\'m here.\n\n \nHohum... I shall go do something interesting now, so next time i think maybe my email might be a lttle bit more entertaining...",1]
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Having got into town i really needed a really really cold drink, so i wondered along the sea front where, apparently, they work very much in time with me and don't open until a later much more sensible time - but that does rather lead to a lack of cafes (ok, there were more intown, but it was hotter there - plus they were all full of men, and decidedly, sitting in one of them i would simply have been stared at for an hour... nice...). So i managed to find the most western cafe in KK, where the only other customers were a few english tourists, and for some reason they had a bizarre french and german radio station on. I then had an american drink, and linguini for lunch... so, ok, maybe it wasn't very cultural, but it was definitely international!

Currently i'm in the most humongous shopping center i've seen (equivilent tothat one in calais on music tour - or maybe bigger...), which, agaoin has air con - how am i going to manage two-months in the jugngle without it??? Speaking of which, i should be meeting up with Rio tonight (also jungling), which will be really nice - wondering around here on your own (and you're female) is an invitation for beeping your horn and whistling - which, admittedly is reduced if you walk around looking at the ground, but you don't see very much like that... - it's not nearly as bad if you're with someone else.

um, i don't really have anything very interetsing to say yet, as basically i arrived, fell asleep - got very confused when i woke up at 9.30pm (according to my watch) but it was light outside -sooooo confused, but in fact it wasn't lightout side, it's just that the mess that runs around th top of my room (a la The Beach, if nyone's seen it) doesn't actually face outside.... ::) ) oops - i'd had a long day(s)....) then i did as above, and now i'm here.

Hohum... I shall go do something interesting now, so next time i think maybe my email might be a lttle bit more entertaining...

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