Weather Vanes My One And Lonely

Okay, this title doesn't make as much sense but it's from Northen Downpour and it will somewhat make sense soon.

Task: Weather With You

Write a descriptive paragraph or poem about a character.
The weather shows how your character is feeling e.g If she is sad, the weather will be grey and cloudy, maybe with some rain.

Here are some quick notes I took before writing this:

Happy - Sunshine

Tired/unfocused - Foggy

Angry - Storm

Sad - Cloudy 

Upset - Rain

(Okay, yeah, the last two were kind of the same but shhh)

In love - Rainbow

Watch. Just watch. Look how the sun's rays brighten as her smile curls upwards. The small creases beside her lips and eyes deepening as the clouds fade away almost as quickly as her frown. It brings a whole new meaning to your smile lights up the world. Watch how her tears fall quicker than the drops of rain landing on her window pane. Listen to how her cries of anger ring louder than the thunder, her wrath more powerful than the bolts of lightning. Check out how a familiar arch of colour appears as her crush walks through the door, her heart pounding in her chest as her rainbow grows brighter. Note how she has to peels her eyelids open in class to stay awake as the fog outside grows thicker. So. If you're ever wondering why the weather acts like a girl on her period... don't be surprised. All you have to do is watch. Just. Watch.

If You Love Me, Let Me Go.

Today's task: A Letter to your Writer’s Block

It’s time for you and Writer’s Block to part ways. 
Write a letter breaking up with Writer’s Block, starting out with, 
“Dear Writer’s Block, it’s not you, it’s me … .”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Writers Block…

It’s not you. It’s me.

Okay, I’m sorry, that’s a very cliche thing to say. I’ll try that again. This, whatever we had, can’t go on any longer. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it wasn’t good for either of us. Through most of this relationship, I couldn’t even do work in class, it was that bad!

Remember that time I was in English, and you just showed up out of the blue? You continued to pester me for the entire lesson and the only work I could actually do was write my name and the date. What about that time I was trying to write for fun at home? You literally wouldn't go away for an entire day! You randomly went away in the middle of the night and I couldn't remember any of my idea the next day!

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, you're incredible, really, just... not for me. You need to understand, this decision is quite hard for me to make but if either of us wants to go anywhere, or be happy in life, it's only best for the both of us. I apologise but from now on, each of us needs to go our separate ways. It's been nice knowing you.

Maybe we could still be friends?

Sincerely,

Sam

Stop There And Let Me Correct It...

...I wanna live life from a new perspective... I'm sorry, there's no escaping the P!ATD song titles.

It's time to bring it all together! With less than two weeks to go, we're in a craze trying to piece all that we've been working on.

This is the coat with the main dress underneath,
please ignore how blurry the photo actually is.

Obviously, we began with our usual warmup, with Covergirl, Five More Hours, and Fireball. First up, after the interval, we go through our final number, learning that we as an ensemble need to go into slomo fighting as Meagan and Nadia begin to sing. We continue to be in slow motion fighting up until the third verse where we begin to move up to the front in our four lines. After that, we did a run through of the full production. It went pretty smoothly other than everyone talking and a few mishaps when it comes to where songs were set. We actually did Hello properly for the first time. I got a little shy and didn't really sing the best I could

After lunch, we once again split into a few rehearsals groups. I once again went with the actors for the whole lesson, though I have a strange feeling I was meant to be rehearsing Hello with the other girls at one point... Anyway! During this rehearsal, I had brought the coat I was determined to wear, so I was almost there with my whole costume! Sadly, there are no actual photos of me with the coat and hat on but I promise you it actually happened!

Sorry for the shorter post today, with less and less time until the performance we haven't really had time to do big things, but thanks for reading and I hope you continue to follow our journey through musical theatre!

Lost A Bet To A Guy In A Chiffon Skirt, But I Make These High Heels Work

More P!ATD related titles muahahahahahaha - Costume edition.

Okay, no extra blog tasks today, so right into the reflection! Thursday was pretty action-packed in the way of choreography. Like always, we start of the day with our warm up dances to Covergirl, Five More Hours, and Fireball. We then ran through Fat Sam's Grand Slam, singing, before finally starting the blocking for it. We first placed the main actors on stage, the ones who don't have lines beforehand, such as Knuckles, Fat Sam, and Tallulah, then the dancers, then the staff and so on and so forth. The basis of the scene is everyone is in the speakeasy, having conversations, dancing, drinking, working etcetera, etcetera. Fun fact: I actually don't start on stage for this part as there's the short scene between Blousey, Bugsy, Fizzy, and Pop Becker where I ignore Meagan then disappear into a "bookshelf" which is actually just the closed curtains. I end up waiting outside of Nadia's office for a chance to audition! The group spends the first period on this until the interval bell rings.

After interval, we split into our individual groups once again. I went off to Kowhai with the actors, minus Fat Sam and his (her?) gang. Once again, we go through our play, fast forwarding through bits we couldn't do. As we did this, Joanne Jones helped some of our cast members start out with costumes (hence the title) I have already started to think about my own costume/s, which has proven itself to be quite difficult. I don't think anyone truly understands how hard trying to find good, casual, blandish, 1920's dresses actually is, as Blousey isn't exactly a over the top kind of person. I do have a few options so far, including the dress pictured on the left (It looks better being worn, I swear) and a few others Joanne has presented to me. Other than that, the school has a red 20s hat I've been using so far, I have a pair of plain black heels that I think suit my character, and I am currently on the hunt for a light brown trench-type coat. Makeup on the other hand is super easy for me, all I really need is a dark glossy lip, blush above the hollows of my cheeks, a frosty blue on my eyelids, a dark brown in my crease with a lighter brown extending to my brow bone, and a small eyeliner wing. That probably made no sense to a lot of people, I apologise.


Anyway, back to the topic at hand, we went over the acting part of the play for the next two hours, until after lunch when we headed back to our "base" or the whare. Before doing more blocking work, we did a couple small acting warm ups. One involved finding a partner. With the partner, upholding eye contact, we had to count to three. Sounds easy, right? Well, you go off each other, eg. one person says "one" the other person says "two" and the person says "three," so on and so forth. Now, we slowly add in actions. One is now a clap, but two and three stay the same. After that, two is now a wave. You continue this until you finally make three a jump. It's actually a lot harder than it seems. Then, using a grid technique, we found another partner and practised forced perspective/slow motion combat. One person would "slap" the other and the other would refute with a "punch." For the rest of the period, we worked on blocking our finale, "You Give A Little Love." While doing so, we started from Meagan's line where she's directing all the Down and Outs into position. This means I have to somehow find my way up to the front so we can talk about going to Hollywood. This must make no sense to anyone who hasn't seen this... If you haven't watch this one (It's really good). Anyway! During this process I figured out I suck at hugging people as I hit Meagan in the face with my shoulder at least once (Sorry about that one, Meagan) See the previous photo for more proof if that isn't enough. Oh! Oh! Combat scene!! We began to work on the splurge/custard pie fight scene that occurs at the end of the play! I'll be honest, I don't really want to get involved in it? Whether it's giving someone a pie to face or receiving one, it's not really my style. Jess still makes fun of me because I feel bad about smashing a cake in her face (that she asked for) for a food fight scene in her English film.

Anyway, that's all for now! Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to follow our journey through musical theatre!

When The Light Begins To Fade And The Clock Just Makes The Colours Turn To Grey

Today I chose to take the "free writing" square today and post my creative writing award entry. Enjoy!

Task: Free Writing

This is a chance to write about ANYTHING you want.
It can be a Poem, a Rap, a Song, a Speech, a Story, a Novel… The list is virtually endless!
You can write about whatever sparks your imagination.
Be descriptive!
Be creative!
Use good words!

The Hue Of It All

The little swirls on the ceiling dance around more and more as I stare at them. They wriggle around the roof like little snakes or worms, little creatures, searching, hunting for their daily meal. One thing is bugging me though…. Since when did the school ceilings have swirls on them. I remove my hands from their weaved position on my torso to rub any excess sleep from my eyes. It hardly works, I can tell the dark circles under my eyes are more prominent than ever. That’s obvious, with or without a mirror. I can't remember the last time I slept, properly at least. I don’t know why to be exact. School and life have just stressed me to the point of insomnia, haven't they? It's such... fun... Rolling over, I feel the emptiness of the bed surrounding me. What time is it? 2:52 am. Oh god, classes... My classes tomorrow! And I can’t sleep. Because of one day. I still remember that day. That day that caused all of this.

“If people could just, you know, see life through my eyes, it would be really useful. Make my job a bit easier, would you?” My voice echoes through the almost empty practise room, the dark silhouette sitting by the old grand piano. 
“We get it, Brooke, we get it. Life’s hard being blind. Now, if you would shut up and help me with my science homework, it would be greatly appreciated.”  I roll my eyes and wander over to the dark-haired girl. I sit myself down in the middle of the wood-lined floor. 
“Right, where are we up to?” 
She flips a page, “Chapter 4. Physics. Fun.” Sometimes I wonder about this girl. How is the Mya Branne, top of our year, year eight, in almost every subject, this unenthusiastic about school? 
“All about how colour reaches the eye, huh? Well, I’m sure I can help you with that one,” I scoff as she flips another page. 
“Right. Friends with a blind girl.”

I know, I know, Mya keeps making jokes about me being blind. It’s a little too obvious to say I’m not. However, ask me to define my… disability… and, not to brag but, I could tell you about it perfectly, back to front, even in my sleep. Achromatopsia. A condition characterized by a partial or total absence of colour vision. In English, I’m colourblind. Completely colourblind. My life is completely black and white, literally. I was born this way, I don’t know what yellow actually looks like. All I know is that it’s a different shade of grey to red and blue. At least I got out of those damn tests... While other 5-year-olds learnt how to spell the colour of the sky and the colour of grass, I was learning to remember how to identify and differentiate the different shades of grey, then label them with said words. There’s at least fifty- That was completely unnecessary, I apologise.

“Friends forever, though, right? We stick through our high school years together at this dump of a school,” I nudge Mya’s arm with my elbow, a sly smirk stuck on my face. Totally kidding, by the way, Silver Oak Academy is one of the best intermediate to secondary schools in our area. People say it’s where talent is born. 
With her smile fading, her expression remains stone cold, “Right… About that… Brooke? Please don’t be mad at me…” She closes the book, sitting up, “My parents are expecting a job. In another city… We’re moving in the holidays, Brooke… I’m not coming back to Silver Oak next year.”

A rock drops in my stomach, my eyes glassing over. 
“Oh. Right.” 
Her dark grey eyes widen, the ones that weren’t truly grey, “But! I might be coming back if they don’t get the job! Oh, Brooke, please don’t give me that look, it’s not my fault!” She didn’t understand, did she? Pretty ironic, if you ask me, she was the only person who stuck around long enough because she understood. She understood that it was okay that I was different, that I saw the world differently to everyone else. Nobody else has understood that. Even if they didn’t say it, the way people act about it is so damn obvious these days. And that’s… the light in my pitch black world is... It’s leaving.

Moving on. The hardest challenge you face, ever. God, I’m being so melodramatic. That was three years ago, Brooke! She didn’t come back, you’re starting year twelve this year, and everything is new. Same school, same people, but somehow new. 
“Hel- Oh, I didn’t interrupt, did I?” I close the black diary in my hands and look up, the unfamiliar voice belonging to an unfamiliar face. The girl had light grey hair that lay in waves around her narrow face, fair grey skin, covered in little dark grey freckles, pale grey lips, pale grey eyes who shimmered in the morning light that seeps through my curtains. She was pretty. Like someone out of a film. 

“You’re Brooklyn, right? Brooklyn Motley? Ms Escott said I was meant to meet you at orientation or at dinner but you weren’t at either so she just gave me the dorm number instead, I hope you don’t mind me bursting in,” She smiles, placing her bag on the bed on the opposite side of the small room.  
“Oh no. No, it’s fine, I was just- Don’t worry about it.” Something about her smile was comforting, it made me feel tingly inside. That sounds weird. I didn’t mean it that way…
“I’m Anastasia, by the way. New girl. Like, the only new girl in this year,” her giggle bounces off of the walls. It reminded me of something.

Later that evening, I was having trouble sleeping. Again. 
“Brooklyn? Are you still awake?” 
“Y-Yeah… I-Insomnia… I guess…” I begin to stumble over my words. The springs in the mattress creak with stress as Anastasia sits up in her bed. 
“Right, well, don’t count sheep, that doesn’t help. At all. Best things to do involve relaxing, slowing your breathing, reading, and turning off all electronics at least two hours before sleeping. With the breathing, breathe in for four, hold for seven, breathe out for eight.” Her voice is soothing. Practising the breathing, I already feel a little dazy. 
“Thank you, Anastasia…” 
“Please, call me Ana.”

The next morning, I was feeling a little strange. Things just seemed different. Though, it was quite apparent when I opened my eyes. 
“Brooklyn… Time to wake up…” My eyes flutter open, I gasp at the sight. Above me were two pale eyes, they weren’t grey, however. In fact, they weren’t the only things that weren’t grey. 
“Y-Your- Your eyes… They’re…” I sit up, my chest rising and falling rapidly. 
“Blue? Brooklyn… Are you alright?” She seems concerned, genuinely concerned. 
“Your eyes are… blue? And… I can see that? H-Hold on… I gotta- I gotta go…” I jump up, brushing past Ana on my way. 
“Brooklyn! Brooklyn, wait!” I ignore the distressed voice.
“Leave me alone!” I sprint down the halls, my short legs not carrying me very far. She didn’t understand, she didn’t even know me. Desperate, I stumble my way into the headmaster's office.

“Ah, Ms Motley. What a pleasant surp-”
“Blue! I- can- Blue! Ana! Eyes.... blue...” Words tumble out of my mouth like broken pieces of glass, confusing the older man with jumbled and unintelligible nonsense. His hair and clothing were the only familiar things to me, short strands of grey hair with a black and white suit to pair.
“Ms Motley, are you okay?” His concerned eyes matched the darker wood of his desk. They were like the earth… Brown…? 
“I’m- I’m fine… Sort of… Not really, actually. I- I woke up and could see… I could see colour, sir! The… the blue of my roommate's eyes! What’s going on… I though achromatopsia couldn’t be cured!?” My chest begins rising and falling rapidly, it felt like I couldn’t breathe. A heavy… weight crushing my chest. I was dizzy, my head throbbing.

“Ms Motley? Ms Motley!?” Everything fades to black, I couldn’t see anything but it was almost as if my hearing had doubled. As light as a feather, I start falling. Not landing. Falling. Into the void, nothing but darkness.
“Oh my god! Brooklyn! Is she okay, sir?” A soothing voice enters my void, the butterflies returning to my once empty stomach.
“She’s breathing, that’s good.”
“What happened? She ran out of the dorm, then came here, I couldn’t catch up with her.”
“That doesn’t matter right now. Here, Ms…?”
“Pixton. Anastasia Pixton, sir.”
“Right, Ms Pixton. If you would please help me transport her to the nurse's office?”

My eyes flutter open, blinking a few times to adjust. Bright lights that will blind you if you stare at them for too long. White walls that make you feel insane after a while. That daydreamy feeling you have after you leave a movie theatre. Where am I? Why am I here? 
“Oh! Brooke! You’re awake!” I sit up as an eager voice echoes around the small room. Ana’s face seemed so concerned. Why is she concerned about me? What happened!? 
“You fainted in my office, Brooklyn, we brought you to the nurse's office,” I swear Mr Haley can read minds… I look around, taking in my surroundings. Nothing was monochrome anymore… What is actually happening?

“Ms Motley? Ana was telling me about why you fainted? Is it true you can see colour?” A nurse appears through the doorway, already asking questions. Her hair was black, the only thing about her that was black… Everything was colourful again. My head throbs as I think of an answer.
“Y-Yes… I think so… I can see things I couldn’t see before… does that make sense? The only problem is… It only happened when I met... Ana...” My gaze falls on the blonde, now hiding in the corner. Right… Right… She’s the missing link here… How much of a coincidence is it that my ability to see colour comes back the day after I met her? It sounds almost… unrealistic. The nurse nods, writing something down on the clipboard in her hands.
“Right… Well… Obviously, your doctor will need to do a few tests but by the sounds of it, you may no longer be colour blind.”
“What?!”


~A few months later~

Right. Where were we? I no longer have Achromatopsia. My parents and I talked to a doctor. Even they said it was strange, unrealistic. In what world does it take a girl to cure being colour blind? It’s taken me a few months to get used to it but with a lot of Anastasia’s help, I’ve figured out most colours perfectly. Girls who would previously make fun of me would now straight up bully me but I dealt with it. I still feel like a baby in art class though, surrounded by people who have known these colours for 15 or 16 years now. Term 3 is starting today, Anastasia and I haven’t seen each other for two weeks and, considering we’ve become basically inseparable these last few terms, that’s too long.

“Brooklyn! Brooke! Over here!” A familiar voice echoes through the courtyard. I wave a quick goodbye to my parents and head over to the owner, clicking up the handles on my suitcases and dragging them lifelessly behind me.
“Ana! It’s so good to see you again!” We drop our bags, desperately wrapping our arms around each other in some sort of bear hug. As I said, two weeks is way too long. “So, how have you been? How were your holidays? What did you do? Did you go anywhere?!” She giggles at my childlike behaviour, clicking up the handles on her own bags.
“Calm it, will you?” The blonde chuckles to herself, the loose curls around her face bouncing as she strides alongside me. “I’ll tell you everything at dinner… But… We kinda have a surprise first.”

There was noise coming from our dorm, confusing me. The door slowly creaks open, revealing a dark brown haired girl wearing the light green blouse, dark green socks and skirt that make up our uniform. When she looks towards us, I recognise her face instantly. Those eyes, those dark green eyes that I could now actually see in their true colours.
“Mya?! Oh my god!” Her smile widens, her eyes glistening in the morning light. I drop my bags and race to her side.
“Long time, no see, huh, Motley?” Mya giggles. I practically lunge towards her, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. When I finally let go, she smirks, “Hey? You wanna help me with my science homework? It’s all about how colour reaches the eye. Physics. Fun!”

If You Wanna Start A Fight, You Better Throw The First Punch, Make It A Good One

Okay, I kinda didn't have to make this blog post but I really wanted to use this title so here we have Panic! At The Disco lyric related titles: 'The Good, The Bad, and The Dirty' Edition



Today in drama, Chyna and I went over my Bugsy Malone lines for the entire hour. We did this while the rest of the class researched combat scenes, hence the title. At the beginning of the lesson we watched a couple of cream/custard pie fight scenes. Obviously, we didn't do the whole thing but Chyna was nice enough to help me go over my lines by reading out Tallulah's, Bugsy's, and Fat Sam's lines. After that, I showed her how to block out the stage and we did a small run through. This really helped me learn my lines.

Coz' These Words Are Knives And Often Leave Scars- Nah, It's Just Twenty's Slang

Sorry to inform you, but yes, all of my titles will (hopefully) be Panic! At The Disco lyrics. I apologise in advance.

Before we even began passion projects, Monday was already off to a personal great start. Long story short, the person who I was understudy-ing for is now my understudy, which means I now have the role of Blousey! Which is really cool for me, as this will be my first lead role at Hornby unless you count an angry goddess in Shakespeare or a narrator as a lead role. I'm not sure how many people know, but I actually used to do drama outside of school. I did two years at Hope church and a term at Ignite studios, giving me a track record of about 2 performances with 4 plays. Plus 5 or so years of hip-hop and like a term of ballet. So, I have a little experience up my sleeve ;)

Anyway, not the point. We'll get to the reflection later, but for now?

1920s Lingo!

What better way to get into acting a part of the roaring 20s than to learn how they would've spoken! To do this, we've been given the task to create a conversation between our character and someone else in the cast using 20s slang. So, here's a small conversation between Blousey and Bugsy! (don't worry, there will be a 

Bugsy: Slurred Helloooo, Blousey
Blousey: Oh, go chase yourself, Bugsy! You're completely zazzled!
Bugsy: C'mon Blousey, don't be such a wurp. I have to go see a man about a dog, come with me, let's blouse!
Blousey: Know your onions, wisie, no need to end up in the big house tonight.
Bugsy: Man, no need to be so upstage about it, everything's jake.
Blousey: Go on without me, buster and don’t take any wooden nickels.

Okay, yes, that was very exaggerated and slightly out of character. I'm sure nobody would use that much slang in one sentence. I kinda hope not. No idea what just happened? Well, here's a loose translation

Bugsy: Slurred Helloooo, Blousey
Blousey: Oh, get out of here, Bugsy! You're completely drunk!
Bugsy: C'mon Blousey, don't be such a buzzkill. I'm gonna go get myself some whiskey, come with me, let's get out of here!
Blousey: Know what's going on, wisie, no need to end up in jail tonight.
Bugsy: Man, no need to be so snobby about it, everything's fine.
Blousey: Go on without me, man, and don’t do anything stupid.





Right, with that out of the way, reflection time! Ugh, that sounds like some primary school lesson. Well, like always, we started off with a warm-up. We did our usual, with Covergirl and Five More Hours, except this time we learnt a new dance to Pitbull's iconic Fireball!







After this, and the roll, we split up once again. The main actors went with Mr Aiken and Mrs Clark over to Kowhai to begin blocking, which is like my favourite part of performing because it's the first time you actually get to see how everything is going to come together and your lines are no longer sentences on a page, while the dancers learn Fat Sam's Grand Slam choreography and the ensemble learnt So You Want To Be A Boxer choreography.

Over in Kowhai, the mock stage area and the props were already set up so our first run through was more so getting used to props and spacing. For me, as Blousey, I get to use the old type dial phones and a cool vintage bag, paired with a red 20s hat. I kinda look like a dork with the hat on though... Anyway! It was super fun to watch as the script began to come together. This continued throughout the rest of the day, with a few hiccups here and there with overlapping roles as we had actors who were also dancers or whatever.

Return in a few days to see any new progress. Thank you for reading and I hope you continue to follow our journey through musical theatre!

The Process of Making a Balancing Toy (Sort of...)

My unfinished project

The Process of Making a Balancing Toy

With Sam :D

For the last term and few weeks, 9Hh have been working on making balancing toys in Tech! We followed our journey using google slides. Sadly, I did not get around to finishing my toy, as I didn't get around to welding (it was too busy and only one person could weld at a time). This (To the right) is what it ended up being, and underneath is what it should have looked like (Thank you, Jakita, for letting me use your photo)


This is my slideshow that walks through each lesson. Sorry if some of the slides are underwhelming or unfinished.

Jakita's finished project

The World Of The Play

1. Summarise the play (what is this about?)
"Based on the cult classic film of the same name, Heathers is the story of Veronica Sawyer, a senior at the fictional Westerberg High. Veronica longs to be cool like the clique of it-girls that runs Westerberg: the unaffected, unattainable Heathers. Unfortunately, in addition to awesome levels of popularity, the Heathers are also cruel, choosing to mock and bully their kingdom into submission. When Veronica uses her skills as a forger to get the Heathers out of detention, she impresses their leader Heather Chandler— so much so that they agree to let her into their exclusive club. At first Veronica is thrilled—until she finds out that being one of the Heathers means bullying the same kids she used to call friends. Meanwhile, Veronica finds herself attracted to a mysterious newcomer at school named Jason Dean (JD). When an innocent drink mixup results in the accidental poisoning of Heather Chandler, JD convinces Veronica to stage Heather’s suicide. The results are so successful that Veronica and JD, exhilarated with their newfound power, resolve to rid Westerberg of the cruelly popular elite forever. With raw, edgy, and culturally relevant numbers like “Beautiful,” “Candy Store,” and “Yo Girl,” Heathers is fast becoming a fan favourite among community theatres and high schoolers everywhere." - Stage Agent


2. What are the main themes of the play?
Bullying, adolescence, friendship, mean girls, high school, cliques

3. Symbolism visual or repeated symbols, colours considered visual metaphors in a musical consider lyrics, in a drama identify key lines from script or stage directions.
Red, green and yellow represents the three Heathers, Chandler, Duke, McNamara.

 4. Name 3 Characters and describe what happens to them within the play and their character movements (what the characters say about each other or what their action say about their clothes and vice versa, think about what colours you might use to describe their personalities).

Character1: Heather Chandler
Red, powerful, leader

Character 2: Heather Duke
Green, sick, follower, wannabe leader

Character 3: Heather McNamara
Yellow, upset, scared, follower

Alphabet Story/4 Items, 1 Paragraph

Alphabet Story:

This one was a bit harder... I wasn't really able to get a full story, getting stuck when I got to the letter x.
Task:

• Write a story about sitting in the food court of a busy shopping mall. 
• Each word must start with the consecutive letter of the alphabet
• If you run out of letters, go back to the start of the alphabet.

A blur. Chaos, dismay. Exits forgotten, gaps hypothetical. I’ll just kindly leave, my newest opportunity pending. Queues redundant, starting thin, ultimately, visually, widening. 

4 Items, 1 Paragraph:

• Come up with four things:
• A specific source of a light (a flashing neon light reading: "21 and Over", a flickering fluorescent bulb, moonlight filtering through drawn shades)
• A specific object (a pink hairbrush with blonde hair matted in the bristles, a discarded replica of a Dali painting, a baby robin, poking its wobbly head from a rickety nest)
• A sound using onomatopoeia (the pinging of a glass bottle ricocheting across a cobblestone street, the ching of a handful of coins in a man's pocket, the wet splat of phlegm hitting the sidewalk from the old lady smoking near the laundromat)
• A specific place (the dingy alley between Brooks St. and 6th Ave., the empty science classroom filled with glass beakers, hot plates, and frogs floating in formaldehyde, the darkened, smoky interior of Flannigan's Pub)
• Once you create the list, write a one-paragraph story using each of the four items and a single protagonist of your choosing. The story has to briefly introduce the protagonist, put him or her through a struggle (large or mild) and resolve the struggle in one way or another. It's much more fun to write if you keep the list items as random as possible and to put them all together at the end. Don't plan your story prior to creating the list!

My objects:

- The moonlight through tree leaves

- Black ps4 controller
- The splashing of water
- The back of an abandoned school.


Wallowing in own self-pity and fear, I slowly stumble through the maze of wood, fronds, and leaves. Moonlight seeps through the small gaps in the leaves, guiding my path as I make it towards the opening. Oh, right, I'm River. Why I'm in the forest? I couldn't tell you. How I got here? ...I... also... couldn't... tell.... you... Where I'm going? Can you guess? Furrowing my eyebrows in confusion, a large building comes into sight. There's silver wire fencing. You know, I could very easily just go around the fence. Or maybe just turned around and walked away. What did I do instead? I jumped it. I jumped the goddamn fence. Sometimes I wonder what's going on in my head. A lot, probably, I bet it mainly pandemonium, a mélange of trivial knowledge. Like ...that I know that mélange means a medley or a mixture and that pandemonium means utter chaos. The splash of a water droplet hitting me on the head draws me out of my own head, a daydream in the middle of the night. Is it really a daydream then? I haven't fallen asleep, so it's not a normal dream. What? School. It's a school. An abandoned school. That's where I am. Right. You can tell by the numerous broken desks lining the back wall. I... I think I may be stuck? And I think I may have cut myself on that fence. My queries are answered when a sharp pain creeps up my leg. I look around for something to quench the pain. A few desks... A... black ps4 controller? A bunch of other rubbish? I would just go back over the fence but considering it hurts to lift my leg higher than a metre, that may not be the best idea. Wandering around the building, I search for an exit, an escape. Nothing, nada. Except for a small gap near the front of the building... Maybe if I just squeeze- Boom! I'm out! Freedom! Now... How do I get home?

Hallucinations Only Mean That Your Brain Is On Fire

Also known as the more or less 'iconic' lyrics from the Panic! At The Disco song, 'Roaring 20s'. *wink wink, nudge nudge*

Maybe from that, you can guess where I'm going with this... If not, passion projects have finally rolled around and we're diving right into the Roaring 20s musical theatre with Bugsy Malone! 

We're already jumping right on in the action, even though we're only on lesson two, with casting already done. With Nadia as Fat Sam, Meghan as Bugsy, I managed to score myself the role of Blousey's understudy! This landed me with a possible mini solo (a whole three words :O) in our (Blousey and co.'s) performance of Hello, which happens after Blousey is blown off or forgotten by someone, again. 

Anyway, that's not exactly why we're here, are we? No, that reflection stuff is for later. For now, however. Bugsy Malone is a musical set in the 1920s, also known as the Roaring 20s, and what better way to get into the mindset of someone living in the 1920s than to... research it! So, without further ado- 

Life In The Roaring 20s

What were buildings like?

To sum it up, it was a whole lot of tall fancy buildings like skyscrapers. I couldn't really find much information that I really understood, a lot of it was architecture stuff I didn't get, but if you want to read it yourself this is where I was reading up.

What was fashion like? (clothing, hair, make-up)
The 20s had iconic fashion, especially for women. From flapper dresses, rolled stockings, cloche hats, camisoles, scarves, to fedoras, suits and ties.

Makeup in the 20s was very all out, as before the 1920s makeup was not as accepted in society, the sudden change caused women to copy makeup styles from movies. This meant women would pluck their eyebrows paper thin, apply eyeliner pencils and Kohl (a dark eyeshadow like powder) to their eyelids and lashes, and overlined their lips for an exaggerated lip line.
20s hairstyles do range but all have similar bases. Most of them have specific names, which is kinda cool, kinda weird? These include 'The 'Dutch boy' bob', 'The Eton Crop', 'The 'Marcel wave'', 'The Castle Bob', 'The 'Shingle' bob cut'.


What was home life like? (jobs, gender roles)
Most obviously, gender issues, with women either being at home taking care of jobs like dishes and cleaning up, taking care of kids or if they were talented enough, performing to entertain, while men went out to be lawyers, clerks, etcetera etcetera.

What was entertainment like? (music, dance, art deco, films)
In the 20s, the radio became the first mass broadcasting medium, while television was still in the process of being properly invented and produced. The 1920s was really when cinema began to boom, with the release of films with sound! This virtually cut out the Vaudeville style of theatre. 


As for the reflection side of things, I already mentioned some stuff, didn't I? However, it the second lesson in and it's already jam-packed!


We start the day off with a warm-up like you should. Our warm-ups, lead by the wonderful Ms Richardson, are short, somewhat simple dances to the songs Cover Girl and Five More Hours. Both, when done at 100%, can really get you in the mood to do some musical theatre! 




(This video is actually from Monday but we're going to pretend it was shot Thursday. Capisce?)

After the roll and warmups were done, my nerves were already starting to freak out, I knew what was coming. I'll be fair, I tried my best to prepare myself for disappointment. That sounds really sad, but really, it's more of a precedent thing. To my surprise, I actually got the role of Blousey's understudy! This means if the main actress were to, say, disappear mysteriously, I would step in. Yes, I'm totally kidding, I would never... ever... ever... hurt someone else for the sake of a role :D 
(Ah, actually, quick edit. There was a little recasting... it turns out I'm no longer the Blousey understudy and am now the main actress, which is really cool because it will be my first proper acting role in a Hornby High musical!)

Once everyone is into and aware of their role, we proceed to begin our first, proper table read! By table read, I mean sit around in a circle read. I'll just call it a script read. As the main Blousey wasn't there, I got to read out Blousey's lines! I was a little disappointed they had left out my favourite conversation between Blousey and Bugsy. The conversation goes a little like...
Bugsy: What's your name anyway?
Blousey: Brown
Bugsy: Sounds like a loaf of bread.
Blousey: Blousey Brown
Bugsy: Sounds like a stale loaf of bread.

After we finished that, we began blogging, given two tasks to complete. One being the 1920s research, another involving exploring our character's identities. About twenty minutes into it, the main actors and the singers were separated to do some workshops with Ms Richardson and Mr Taylor. The singers went with Ms Richardson to learn 'Hello' while the actors went with Mr Taylor to work on accents, projection and delivery.


Me being both went with the singers at first, landed myself a possible short solo at the beginning of the song by opening the song with the famous lines, 'Hello... It's me...' We practised for a while, making sure we were confident singing with each other, as we aren't all completely familiar with each other. After this, I quietly slipped into the acting workshop where they were just doing a read through with each other. This was quickly interrupted by, again, the singing workshop where we were performing for Mrs Beer. If you want to know everything that happened I recommend checking out Nadia's blog.


These workshops brought us to lunch. After a break and a quick location change, we begin to work on our first ensemble number! Though it's not the first song in the soundtrack, Fat Sam's Grand Slam is still an awesome and catchy song. Considering it was the first time some of us has even heard the song properly, I believe we did super well! 


Wanna hear? Watch the video!


So far that's all we've done, but, for just one (short) school day - four hours! - I think it's pretty impressive! The next job would be...

Getting Into Character!

The point of this task is to take our character and create a character profile for them. Somethings will be in the script, others I will add in on my own part!

Full Name - Blousey Brown
Age - Though portrayed by a younger teen, I imagine Blousey to be in her early twenties, ranging from 20 to 23
Place of Birth - A small town in 
ew York, not too far away from Chicago
Most Common Emotion - Either anxious or sassy, it truly depends on who she's with really. She can either be extremely shy or timid when around people she barely knows or can be confident and outspoken around people she's closer to.
Physical Characteristics - When out of her comfort zone, she tends to be more closed in on herself, hunched over and holding herself, slowly walking. When in a comfortable environment, she has more of an arched back, relaxed shoulders, and tends to stride rather than stagger.
Strengths - Blousey is genuinely talented, very hopeful and force to be reckoned with.
Weaknesses - She gets upset quite easily and doesn't speak up for herself, causing her to be brushed aside a lot more often
Fears - I believe Blousey is afraid of being cheated, forgotten, replaced, or overlooked in life, whether it be by lovers, jobs, friends et cetera et cetera.
Their childhood/upbringing - Blousey grew up with her mother, a very outspoken but paranoid person. Her mother is very protective and strict but very talented, which is where Blousey got her talent from. 
Who are their important relationships (with others in the cast) - Blousey's main relationships are with Bugsy Malone, Mr Stacetto and Tallulah. Bugsy and Blousey have a 'mutual love interest,' Blousey works for Mr Stacetto, and there's a sort of love triangle between her, Tallulah, and Bugsy

Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to follow our journey through musical theatre!

Don’t Think, Just Write

My task:

• There are eight exercises below and each one comprises 
• a simple set of three questions.
• Each one should be answered as quickly as you can.
• Don’t stop and think just start writing and keep going.
• Once you have completed all 8, pick the one that appeals most to you and turn it into a short- one page- story. 

1. Who is coming round the corner?
Brayden

2. What is their secret?
He's only half human

3. What are they carrying?
A remote that controls his physical state

~~~

1. Who has found something at the back of the wardrobe?
Lilly

2. What have they found?
An old music box

3. What will they do next?
find out it's magic

~~~

1. What building can you see Rose leaving?
The library

2. What is she wearing?
black jumper, black heels, red pleated skirt

3. Where is she going?
heading west, in a fluster

~~~

1. Why is Ian finding it difficult to steer the car?
He's tired; he keeps fading in and out of consciousness

2. Where is he going?
into a deep, dark 

3. Who is there?
His family

~~~

1. The view is blocked by?
A large oak tree

2. Whose view is blocked?
A small child named PJ

3. If the view wasn’t blocked what would they see?
A brilliantly vibrant waterfall

~~~

1. Where did the accident happen?
Outside of a schoolyard/campus

2. Who was hurt?
A schoolgirl, Faye.

3. Who helped?
A close-by citizen and the paramedics

~~~

1. Who closes the window?
A teacher

2. Why?
The classroom was getting stuffy

3. How old are they?
Early thirties

~~~

1. Why did Peter lose his temper with Joanna
Joanna was being messy, leaving things around and refused to clean up

2. Where did he go after he stormed out?
His friends' house

3. What happened to him when he got there?
He crashed there for the night.

~~~

Her hair fell around her face in a dark mess as she looks around frantically. I cross my legs under the table from across the street, watching intently as a familiar face stresses. The wind catches her shiny, soft, dark auburn hair, only adding to her layers of stress.

If you hadn’t met Rose, you’d think that she was a nutcase. Or that she’s very well-kept. Or that she had been diagnosed with some form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Or that she was one of those stuck-up rich folks with assistants who do everything for her. Or that- You get the point.

Anyway, you couldn’t be any more wrong. Rose is one of the most stressed, broken, and overworked people I have ever met, top ten at most. She’ll find a way to freak out over anything, - I mean anything - working herself up to the point of falling apart at the seams. I remember one time she freaked out because she was going to be, get this, on time. She doesn’t mean to do it, she tries to get help, she tries to be societies ‘normal,’ she just... can’t. It’s something about her nobody can change. It’s a part of her personality, a perfectionist to the point it overtakes her entire life. Now that I think about it, maybe she has been diagnosed with OCD? I wouldn’t know, we don’t talk that often. I would love to help her but she refuses it, she shuts out anyone who she doesn’t think would meet her over the top, impossible, crazy standards.

Now, here she is, standing outside the public library in her iconic black knitted sweater, dark red pleated skirt, and black stiletto heels, looking as though someone was holding a gun to her head from behind. With her eyes wide and glassed over, her muscles clenched, and her breathing irregular, the sight made my heart sink. As she looks around once more, her eyes catch mine. Before I know it, I can hear the clicking of her heels against the cold ground as she crosses the busy street. Her dark hair flows behind her as she takes long strides towards me, her eyes narrowing in response to the constant honking of passing cars.

“Katelyn? Katelyn, please. You have to help me...”