oh, what a lovely term…

…Right. But it hasn’t been THAT crappy either, no worries. =) I’ve a feeling that this post wouldn’t be THAT up to par with my own standards, but YM.net needs love now.

So. I survive my first term at Queen’s College, and am prepping myself for the next one. This time, I won’t be able to go home during the half term as it’s only a week long (it’s a bit too expensive to jet back then, no?) - which leaves me with my guardians at Torquay, Devon. Now I’ve NEVER met them; but Chidge (Hannah Chidgey, my clarinetist-buddy) claims Torquay’s a lush place as it’s by the seaside. And to quote that old poem title which was made into a song for Oh What A Lovely War, “I do like to be beside the seaside…” =P (I guess this is something only English will get. xD)

So, what’s this “Oh What A Lovely War” business I’m talking about? Well, it’s the name of the senior school’s (Years 10-13) MAJOR annual theatre production - in the past, they’ve done stuff like A Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare) and Wind in the Willows (for the lower school; meaning Years 7-9.) So this year, Mr Evans - who’s the head of the Drama department and also my GCSE Drama teacher, decided we’d do a war-based play. And a satirical one in fact. =)

It’s not our own creation; it was actually “spun off” from a radio documentary about the First World War. At that time, Joan Littlewood (producer of the original stage musical) was listening to it with some of those involved in said war. For some reason, these people thought that the the was the documentary was presented on radio didn’t do enough to convey the message about the war. So Joan had her friends then share their experiences. One thing led to another, and these same people were soon involved in the stage musical version of Oh What A Lovely War.

One of the fun things about it is that there isn’t a “main character” in this story. This, however, can sometimes make it hard for people to understand the play. But well, condensed for you guys, OWALW has us actors dressed up as circus pierrots - and the audience gets the feel that they’re in a circus, watching pierrots “do impersonations” of incidents that have happened during the war. Say, how people ridiculed Mrs Pankhurst of the Suffragetes (although I read that Pankhurst supported the war!), how officers were given army drills and so on.

And although we didn’t have any teachers acting, Mr Mann (one of the rugby teachers) was such a sport to become the harsh (yet somewhat lovable) drill sergeant for the play. Tee hee. XD When I get the DVD of the play (which will take eons), I’ll rip that bit and have y’all see.

Well, what did I do for the play? I had some minor techie (technical) work to do - I wasn’t supposed to, but since my best bud Katie was doing tech work, I helped her when I could. And yes, I had some speaking parts as well as choral singing (yelling my head off at Mrs Pankhurst is fun. XD)

…Okay, I guess you’re all getting bored with my ramble on war plays - so I should just swap the subject, no? Well I’ve been back in Malaysia for about a week already… 2 more to go for this winter break. Funnily enough, what was supposed to be a “relaxing” session for me just turned into a crazy one. See, I had to rush to this Christmas party hosted by my mum’s friend-cum-boss after I reached the airport. Yes, nearly-jetlagged Ari who had been staying up watching movies for 10+ hours on the plane to reset her body clock; otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to sleep properly that night. -_- Leave UK at 2200 hours on Friday, reach Malaysia at about 1700 hours on Saturday. It’s only fair that I wanted to stay up. Ah well, I’m not complaining; since the party was a nice one.

Next? Had to work at my auntie’s art centre slash stationery shop for about a week from 9 to 6. But working at nine, translated in my family, means getting up at 6am, prep yourself, have brekkie, and leave home at 7.30 to be there at 8ish. Then spend an hour prepping the shop before opening. (Note: my auntie lives less than 5mins away from me.) Customers = real bitches at times, but that’s the way of the world.

One thing that’s not helping is that I’ve emailed some of my friends (both offline and online), and they’ve said “yeah, let’s chat sometime on MSN now you’re back” or that they’ll drop me more emails. Sadly, that isn’t the case. I feel like giving up; but if I did every single time a friend got busy - then I’d be on an island by myself now. If you guys remember K (from my posts before), the person who kept me hanging on - he was one of them who emailed me promising to stay in touch. He didn’t.

So yes, I give up on humanity. And I’ve learnt that 8-hour-mall-marathons with mum and Jerry can somehow be quite pleasing. Merry Christmas in advance to you all. =)

4 scribbles to “oh, what a lovely term…”

Scarlie scribbled on December 24th, 2007 at 12:44 pm

Noelle scribbled on December 27th, 2007 at 3:24 pm

Naz scribbled on December 28th, 2007 at 7:18 am

Faye scribbled on December 28th, 2007 at 2:18 pm