Shiver

I'm gonna say it again - it is so cool to be on holiday right now - it's just icy outside and I get to stay indoors, relax, blog, write, and watch hours and hours of TV series on DVD. I LOVED the first season of "30 Rock" - I knew I would, Tina Fey is a legend!

I had my Drama classes tonight. Last night I spent ages online finding monologues for kids, and I found quite a few - from "Finding Nemo" and "101 Dalmations" and "Alice in Wonderland" (amongst others) and I gave them to the younger group to do - and... (trumpets sound)... THEY DID IT!!! They focussed and read over them and then got up and read them in front of the group. I'm pretty chuffed!

Blazie and I braved the cold first thing this morning (actually Blazie LOVES the cold - must be that fur coat) and went out to give Sakie some extra feed. I brought her in and put my hands up under her rugs (she's wearing three) - it's toasty under there - thankfully!

I'm ready for a new commitment - I started the Celebrityslim diet four days ago - I didn't admit it till now because I've tried to start about four times in the last month and chucked it in after a day! This time, though, it's sticking. I didn't weigh myself before I started because it's too cold to get naked on the scale before breakfast but I will set a goal to reach by the opening night of Quandary - and I will set that goal as soon as I know when opening night is! So I'll keep you informed on my progress.

Speaking of Quandary, tonight I asked my theatre daughter Ann to teach me to play poker. We've decided to make every Tuesday night Poker Night. I'm so excited! She and Gosh are gonna teach me Texas Hold 'Em. This can be our mother/daughter bonding time - maybe we can work it into the play.

I'm gonna go watch "The L Word" Season Three. Bette and Tina just had their baby! Aww!

End of Semester

What a slack blogger I've been!!! Slack, slack, slack... I know, I know...

Here's a quick fill-in. I finished prac, finished my presentation on "cognitive theories of learning" (do NOT ask me what Amy and I talked about for forty minutes as I DO NOT KNOW), finished my essay, finished my portfolio, did my exam this arvo, and am officially finished for the semester. (Pop! Streamers! Confetti! YAY! Little dance... BIG dance!)

I'm now ON HOLIDAYS for AGES. So... it's BOOT CAMP. No more junk food. No more laziness. I'm getting healthy before the onslaught of semester two.

I've added pics of my favourite thing I've been doing - we started on "Quandary" with a weekend workshop and photo shoot. Here's pics of me sitting between my two theatre children, Ann and Matt, at the reading, and the promo shot. All in a police lineup. Cool, huh?

The coolest bit is... did I do it? Am I a murderer? I get to choose - and no-one else will know except me.

It's a Quandary!!!

Sunday Afternoon

I did start my essay last night - but it ground to a halt when I re-read the marking criteria. Evidence of reading widely and deeply is required in the form of quotes and references. Dammit. I had done 600 words (out of 2000) without opening a book.

So today I got up nice and early. I then:
1. Went to tell my neighbour, Neil, that his mate in Kiama phoned me to say he had Neil's lost phone (wierd).
2. Went to quickly feed my horse but ran into friends out there and it was a nice sunny day so hung around chatting and grooming the horses.
3. Got a phonecall from Judith who was in town so went and had coffee. For two hours.
4. Wrote more prose.
5. Had a visit and a chat with Neil.
6. Watched "Bound". Again.
7. Decided a blog was in order.
8. Will shortly go to Neil's house for dinner.

Yeah. See.... Essay schmessay.

Ooh! I almost forgot! I received a call from Cat - the director of "Quandary" - I'm playing Ami - the woman suspected of murdering her husband. YAY!!!

AND I've been having lots of fun writing - not essays, obviously - but check out this site, it's such a fun idea. You have 7 1/2 minutes to contribute to stories with other writers. It's a hoot - and very freeing - www.storytimed.com

I think I have time for a nap before dinner.

RIP Jack

I just got one of THOSE phonecalls. Mum and Dad just had their gorgeous bull arab, Jack, put to sleep and they did it without giving me a chance to see him or say goodbye so now I'm a blubbering mess and have absolutely no intention of doing anything productive tonight.

Prac has been going well - it isn't easy by any stretch - let's just say today's sixteen year olds don't appreciate Arthur Miller quite the way I do - but I'm learning heaps. I plan to win them over. Poor Jack.

I spent a fair bit of time over the weekend workshopping/auditioning for Judith's play, "Quandary". The director, Cat, is really nice and very switched on so I hope I get to do the show - and the potential cast is very exciting... Pauline, Brian, Ann, Kathy - I love these actors! - I'll keep you posted on that. And the play is great, by the way. A Quandary, indeedy...

I went to the movies with my lovely neighbour two doors down last night. His name is Neil and he's got a gorgeous dog called Winston and he's completely won Blazie over by giving him treats... He slow cooked a great stew yesterday which we had after the movie, it was really nice. Nice. Lame word. But it was. Nice.

Bless you Jack. Everyone loved you cause you were such a lovely, lovely boy. A real beauty. Wish I'd told you goodbye you fine old dog. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Saturday Again

Wow, a week just passed in the blink of an eye - and I didn't get a chance to blog! Mainly because I left my laptop hooked up at my parents house cause I was working on my Wiki assignment there on their PC.

So it's finished now. It's on Death of a Salesman. Here it is - Tah-Dah!

Hello world, what did I miss?

Well, the temperature has dropped significantly. I've had to turn on the gas heater, even though I said I wasn't going to. I think my ass has spread in direct proportion to the amount of time I've spent sitting on it lately. Working. But sitting nonetheless. Except today - I've been riding. Sakie was none too impressed! But it was lovely, as always, and everyone was there.

My after school workshops started up again yesterday, the older group were absolutely priceless. We played theatresports, and they had me falling about laughing. They were spontaneous and hilarious and bold and wonderful - I'm so excited about working with them. Wow! I feel lucky!

Next weekend I'll be doing an audition/workshop for a play that Judith (the director of Agnes of God) wrote. It's being directed by a director from out of town. Should be a fun process. I got acting itchy feet already. (It doesn't take long!)

I start prac teaching five days a week this week so I'm off to read the novel I'll be teaching Year 7 (I would've read it before now, but Wiki, Wiki, Wiki...) I'll read it right after I finish reading "Porcupine".

Brrrr. I'm hungry.