Darkness Pulls Itself Over The Night Like A Warm Blanket

I think of you.

Long-time fans will recognize that as an extract from one of my poems, and right now it couldn't be a more fitting metaphor. I'm exhausted tonight. So much has happened in such a short time and keeping the smile cranked up to the 'crowd-pleaser' setting takes its toll.

Right now it's settled onto 'content' - not to be confused with 'contempt' - and I'm taking stock of things.

Thing one - I have a very busy acting schedule. The eccos of Panto (ahoy there, boys and girls!) are still ringing in my ears and yet now I must focus fully on LonDram's February debut. And the little one-off films I'm doing here and there, but mainly LonDram. No sooner will I finish that, but I'll be on set for filming series one of Kill Day, a web series in which I have a (not unreasonably sized) part. And then the slate is a bit blank. I'm almost thankful for that at the moment though. March and April have commitments of their own to uphold.

Thing two - work. I'm bored again. Don't get me wrong, the call centre is ten times better than fundraising, but I want ten times better than that. A hundred times better than fundraising, and then some. Which is why, by the time I publish this, I will have received an email from the London Eye telling me whether they've invited me back for induction and training after a 2-stage interview process this week. Fingers crossed, find out at the end.

Thing three - my role in Kill Day requires me to be a soldier. I'll not say more for the sake of spoiling the plot, but needless to say a soldier generally needs to be, well, physically active. So I've got a month to get myself looking more front-line than back-bench. To that end, I encourage everyone to send me various forms of electronic communication to force me to do some sort of physical exercise. Be it sit-ups, step-training, swimming, whatever. Just no press-ups or jogging. I don't have the shoes to jog and my shoulder is acting up badly at the moment.

***

Update: I didn't get the London Eye job, which I'm pretty gutted about, but consoling myself with the knowledge that it obviously wasn't meant to be. They've got more jobs going, and you can bet my application will be in the pile somewhere.

I've also started doing daily sit-ups. Currently ranging from 20-50 per day over the past week. My previously forgotten muscles ache.

Blogs And Why To Write Them

I was going to entitle this 'and how to write them', but I thought that would seem a little too vain.

Now before you ask, yes - this is London related. But yes, I have another blog it would be a more suitable a post for, but I have a very specific system with that blog, and the next post needs to be a story update. And I can't think of one. So here's my heavily London-based blog post about blog posts!

I'm writing this for two reasons:

1. Mrs. Dindorf's classes at Leipzig International School. They're studying writing styles, and apparently 'blog' is a style of writing. Fascinating! What's more, they've been looking at this very blog as an example! This should be a treat for you lot, then. I'm taking the whole teaching element out of my mother's hands and presenting it to you in a fun, easy-to-read format. Granted, if I remember my mother (which I do) this is how many of her classes are presented anyway, so you can begin to see the family resemblance.
2. Jake Hamish Frinkman Harvey Clive Rundle III, Esq. Because although that may not be his real name, he needs some convincing on how useful blogging can be.

So, with the recent extinction of the ado (*ba dum, tsh*), let us begin.

What is a blog?

This is. Duh.

Why should I write one?

A good question, perhaps you should spend some time thinking about it. Write down any thoughts you come across during this process. In fact, write them somewhere public, somewhere where you'll never lose them and where you can share them with people at will.

But what would I write about?

Did you completely skip the last question? Go back and read it again. Then skip this question.

No, seriously, what goes into a blog?

Whatever you want. Or don't want. Most often a mixture of both. I have a simple mindset when I blog: expect everyone in the world to read it. Of course, in reality very few people will read your blog, and that's fine because the people who do read it want to do so. The most important rule, though, is don't ever assume something isn't worth reading. No matter how mundane the subject, you know you can make it sound freaking epic.

It's a good idea to have a theme for a blog, be it poetry, trying to organize otherwise random thoughts, murder and deduction, or baking, a blog can be about anything you have to say. Even if you have nothing to say. Write snippets. Jot down ideas. Come back in a year and read them over, add to them, and abandon them again - websites are a lot harder to lose than a piece of paper.

Fine, you've made your point. How do I start?

The all important realization that I'm right question. I recommend this. Blogger. It's simple, straightforward and run by Google so if you've already got Gmail then you've got a Blogger account. The design tools mean you can pick from a pre-determined selection of images (such as the one you're looking at now) or upload your own. The writing and editing section is the same as writing on Word, but makes doing things like THIS a lot simpler. You'll have already clicked on the various links I've been plugging, inserted just as easily with a couple of button-clicks, you get the idea.

That's more or less all I can think to say on the matter. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to reply one way or another.

Best of luck with your own blogs, minions!

On The Road Again. Later.

I know it's been a while since my last blog, and you're all dying to know how Christmas and New Year were, but that will have to wait for now.

Because something happened today. Something that affected me so much that I haven't been so happy in such a long time that I had to blog about it.

I had an audition.

Well of course that's not all, I have auditions every couple of weeks. This was a special audition. An audition for paid acting work with a national TIE touring company. But not only that, a closed audition.

For those that are confused as to the significance of this: an open audition is what you may have seen when Star Wars was looking for the Skywalker Jouniors. Crowds of people, instant dismissal, dreams don't even have chance to form before they're crushed, basically anyone can turn up and have their few seconds of supposed fame. A closed audition means a casting director invites you to meet them and participate, their are a limited number of places available, and if you're lucky you'll get the last one. Which is what happened to me.

I got a voicemail message while I was at work on Thursday. I called on Friday morning but she wasn't in her office. I left my number and a few seconds later I got a call back asking if I wad interested in coming to their London audition. I don't think I could have sounded more keen. Just after 9 this morning I was leaving my house, with an idea for a song in my head (part of the audition) and a bag full of other scripts on my back (I'm busy at the moment).

I found the venue (a dance and music centre) easily enough and was immediately glad to be there. No idea why, it just felt nice. Old building with that performing-arts-until-I'm-demolished feel. After initial introductions we were given two lists of short character speeches, and instructed to choose one from each list to perform for everyone. After embarrassing myself by mishearing someone else's name as my own somewhere in the middle of the group, my name was called (ironically last) and I got up.

And that's when it happened.

I'd decided my first speech would be The Mad Hatter explaining the concept of The Unbirthday, a short and simple speech which a couple of people had done before me. I had been sitting there trying to choose a voice, thinking about who to use from the 'audience', and looking at the lines. Then as soon as I got up I felt a strage sensation of what I can only describe as confidence, and I started to speak.

I cannot tell you what voice I used to perform in, nor the speech I gave, because I didn't look at the script once and the voice was not one I had thought about, but I did enough to earn smiles and applause afterwards. I moved on to my second speech (Gandalf) which was much more according to my previous plans (measured, deep voice, etc) and then sang the first half of Be Prepared which went swimmingly apart from my throat catching - luckily between notes, and as it was unaccompanied it was just a dramatic pause before the crescendo to my audience.

After that ordeal, we got the full explanation of the company and the job, what would be expected of us and what we could expect in return, and then individual interviews. Marie, who was in charge of the whole thing, took me up for my private interview and we chatted about my previous school work, theatre work, and availability. Unfortunately with my current commitments I wouldn't be able to start the tours, according to their plans, in February and because I don't have a full driver's license I wasn't eligible to do a tour starting in March who needed an extra driver. Marie seemed saddened by this, which in the acting world is usually a good sign, so I asked about dates for winter tours (Pantomime). Apparently they can run from as early as September all the way to February. I asked when I could register interest in that, and was told if I emailed her on Monday - after I'd thought about the commitments - along with everyone else for the summer tours, she'd keep me informed. Auditions begin in May but she dismissed my idea of auditioning again, "Oh no, I don't think there's any need for that." She said with a small smile. Another good sign for those of you unfamiliar to acting nuances.

So I got two very interesting points from today:

1. If there was ever any doubt that acting was a career I wanted to pursue, it is gone. Acting is organic to me. I don't even have to think about what I'm doing and people like me enough to laugh, applaud, and offer me work.

2. I have an offer of future work with a well-known and very successful touring TIE company. The excitment of this prospect is difficult to contain.

Now I just have to entertain myself until September, and hopefully find a job which won't mind my vanishing for the winter period.