Even though I've not written on here for over two weeks, this will (hopefully) be a fairly short entry. Though saying that, I ramble on a lot and often say quite a lot when I'm tired so this could well turn into a longer entry.
There are a few reasons for this...since starting back at university last week, not a lot has happened in my life. I've had a fair bit of work to do already with the last part of the Core Language portfolio and a Phonology essay, which were both due in today, and handed in on time. We'll wait and see as to whether I get a decent score for those, but I certainly hope so. Well, hopefully the Portfolio gets a good mark. I've been pretty consistent with the previous three entries over the year so if that happens for the final part, I can be pretty happy with it.
Also, I'm incredibly tired. I know that some of it is self-inflicted...it seems that staying up to watch very delayed (2 weeks old) coverage of the ADAC GT Masters on Friday night, UFC on Saturday night and then Raw on Monday night has meant that I haven't gone to bed at sensible times, but I've not been able to sleep anyway. It's not a case that I haven't been tired...I'm tired, I'm just unable to sleep.
This comes and goes really...there'll be times when I can go to bed at a sensible hour and sleep right through, and there are times like I'm having at the moment where I'll find myself awake and unable to sleep, sleeping very little and still waking up in the night. So even on a "non-busy" night when there's no reason for me to be up late, I'm not getting to sleep until after 3 in the morning.
I guess I could probably find a way around this by changing something in my life to try and get a few more hours of sleep, but I don't know what...maybe if I knew WHY I wasn't sleeping, that'd help.
Of course, we're in that crazy and hectic month after the Easter break now where everyone is slightly mad thanks to the impending deadlines of doom. There's very little point in commenting on the workload, since I don't have it as bad as some people (especially those doing joint honours with a lot more essays AND exams to take), but I don't think I've done much moaning (if any) so far, so we'll cross that bridge at a later date.
In what is seemingly become a regular feature with what shall simply be the "ADAC and Austria Update", I now have a start date for my work placement in Austria, which will be 9th July. Of course, this is the day after the British Grand Prix...so in some respects, I'd quite like Button to pull off a race win so I've got some bragging rights on my first day at work. After that, Vettel can win the rest of them and I'll still be happy, but it'd be a good way to start the year. Obviously, 9th July isn't that far away, and it's really just 10 and a half weeks away. I need to sort out a flight over there, find somewhere to live, sort insurance (though that's now done through the university)...there's still a fair bit to be done before I actually get out there. I've still been translating articles too which is good. I did about half a dozen pieces today on Formel ADAC and some of their drivers ahead of next weekend's races at Zandvoort (for which I'll be doing translations again).
Also, I'm feeling inspiration from people on Twitter within the seemingly ever-growing Deathsquad family and I'm doing some serious consideration into trying out a bit of podcasting before I venture abroad for a year. I'll have to look into getting some equipment for it and whatnot, but maybe that'll happen...I hope so.
There we go...not too long an entry! I'll be back at some point over the next few days with something new to discuss. I won't do one of these weird life update style entries, I'll have something of interest to talk about. Until then though, take care.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
To future gains and friendships lost
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night. Wherever you are in the world, whatever time of day you're reading this...first of all, thanks for reading it. It's nice to know that I'm not just writing this for my own amusement and that there are people out there reading what I put in here and keeping up with what goes on in my life. Somehow, I suspect the podcast I always wanted to start up will either forever sit in the "To do" list, or it won't start up until after my year abroad. Then again, starting it during my year in Austria could be a really fun experience. I might have to do some serious thinking about that as an idea, because it's something that might be worth looking into and trying to set up. I'm rambling and thinking to myself as I type here, so I'll stop that and drag it back on topic.
Was there a topic? Well, I've written "Easter catch-up" in the title, so I guess I should probably talk about the last few weeks. I've had an interesting few weeks.
I spent the end of March/beginning of April doing some work for adrivo, who are the company I'll be working during my year abroad. We'd discussed the possibility of doing some freelance part-time work doing translations, and this opportunity arose during that weekend as the first weekend of the ADAC Masters series took place in Oschersleben. So over the course of the weekend, I was translating a variety of texts on the ADAC GT Masters (which is essentially the German national championship for GT racing with GT3 models in a Pro-Am championship) and Formel ADAC (which use 145bhp Volkswagen engines and is a feeder series to the German F3 championship...so a bit like Formula Renault or FFord in the UK).
Saturday and Sunday were both early starts for me as I was working to the German racing weekend, so I had the first translation of the day sat in my inbox at 8.15am on Sunday morning...and I didn't finish the last piece of the day until 12 hours later. Yes, there was a gap of several hours in the afternoon where I was able to watch the BTCC meeting and play with Maisie and Joseph when they came round to visit, but I worked a not-quite-but-sort-of 12 hour day. I think that was one of the first time I've really been able to bond with Maisie though, so it was definitely a good day...and maybe she doesn't dislike me that much after all! :)
I've done a couple of other bits and pieces for them since then which is good, and it's been useful to see how good my German-English translation skills are. I've had a few terms and phrases that have been a bit strange to me, but I'd like to think that I managed to figure most of them out. I didn't get any complaints about the standard of translation, so hopefully I'm doing something right. If you want to see my work, you can find the articles on the ADAC GT Masters and ADAC Formel Masters websites (though I didn't translate every article that you see on there).
It's given me a good idea of what I'll be doing full time when I move to Austria and hopefully I'll continue to get sent work over the coming weeks. I really enjoyed doing the translation work, and it's given me a reason to start following another racing series!
April 1st was Wrestlemania 28 which was...well, it was a really enjoyable night with friends. Friends, a LOT of food, some bizarre jokes and Wrestlemania is always a good night, and I'll definitely miss out on it next year when I'm not in the UK. I love spending time with those guys though. I owe a lot to luck that I know them at all, and even though circumstances have changed a LOT since I met Crawley, Jon, Foy, Emilio, Hamling (and even you Mark, don't think I've forgotten you!), that change in life probably just made me even better friends with them. Hooray for single-ness!!
That's not been the case with everyone in my life though. Even though I've stayed really good friends with those guys, I've lost contact with a lot of people from school. Maybe it's because Crawley and co aren't people that I've known for years, and I wasn't seeing them virtually every day...I honestly couldn't tell you why. But for some reason, I've seen more than enough people leave my life in the last two years.
Even when we were in school, there was always a discussion I had with some friends that things were going to be different when we all took separate paths and went to universities around the country. People grow and develop as individuals and (obviously) gain new friends, and you can easily lose contact with people after you've spent the last 5 or 6 years in school with them 5 days a week for 6 hours a day. Yet I always knew that I would stay friends with some people...there are people with whom I was always really close and got on well with. We can joke that we'll never be able to get rid of each other, but in some respects, that's true...and it's a really good thing. Even though I was part of a larger group of friends in school, I'm now only close with just a handful of those people.
I'll be completely honest and say that quite a part of that responsibility falls at my feet. Maybe I didn't make the effort to try and keep in contact with some people...maybe we weren't ever that close to begin with. Who knows? Looking back at the last two years though, there are people who have slipped out of my life who I wish I was still close to.
But then...I lost some friends from school and gained new ones at university. Even though there was that horrible period last year when everything seemed like a complete disaster and I was regretting a lot of choices, I've come out of it as a stronger person for it. I'm sure I've written about that in a previous entry so I won't bring that all up again...but let's just say that things got a hell of a lot better and life is pretty good now.
We've gone in two completely different directions on this entry tonight. It started off so well and it's trailed into a look back at life. These things happen though, and life being in a good place now is about as useful a place as any to end a blog entry.
So I'll leave it there. Whatever your relation in life to me, whether you're "just" a Twitter follower who doesn't really know me that well (yet!), someone on Facebook, someone I've drifted away from or someone I'm really close to, thank you. You're all in my life for a reason...let's make the most of that reason and enjoy our time.
Was there a topic? Well, I've written "Easter catch-up" in the title, so I guess I should probably talk about the last few weeks. I've had an interesting few weeks.
I spent the end of March/beginning of April doing some work for adrivo, who are the company I'll be working during my year abroad. We'd discussed the possibility of doing some freelance part-time work doing translations, and this opportunity arose during that weekend as the first weekend of the ADAC Masters series took place in Oschersleben. So over the course of the weekend, I was translating a variety of texts on the ADAC GT Masters (which is essentially the German national championship for GT racing with GT3 models in a Pro-Am championship) and Formel ADAC (which use 145bhp Volkswagen engines and is a feeder series to the German F3 championship...so a bit like Formula Renault or FFord in the UK).
Saturday and Sunday were both early starts for me as I was working to the German racing weekend, so I had the first translation of the day sat in my inbox at 8.15am on Sunday morning...and I didn't finish the last piece of the day until 12 hours later. Yes, there was a gap of several hours in the afternoon where I was able to watch the BTCC meeting and play with Maisie and Joseph when they came round to visit, but I worked a not-quite-but-sort-of 12 hour day. I think that was one of the first time I've really been able to bond with Maisie though, so it was definitely a good day...and maybe she doesn't dislike me that much after all! :)
I've done a couple of other bits and pieces for them since then which is good, and it's been useful to see how good my German-English translation skills are. I've had a few terms and phrases that have been a bit strange to me, but I'd like to think that I managed to figure most of them out. I didn't get any complaints about the standard of translation, so hopefully I'm doing something right. If you want to see my work, you can find the articles on the ADAC GT Masters and ADAC Formel Masters websites (though I didn't translate every article that you see on there).
It's given me a good idea of what I'll be doing full time when I move to Austria and hopefully I'll continue to get sent work over the coming weeks. I really enjoyed doing the translation work, and it's given me a reason to start following another racing series!
April 1st was Wrestlemania 28 which was...well, it was a really enjoyable night with friends. Friends, a LOT of food, some bizarre jokes and Wrestlemania is always a good night, and I'll definitely miss out on it next year when I'm not in the UK. I love spending time with those guys though. I owe a lot to luck that I know them at all, and even though circumstances have changed a LOT since I met Crawley, Jon, Foy, Emilio, Hamling (and even you Mark, don't think I've forgotten you!), that change in life probably just made me even better friends with them. Hooray for single-ness!!
That's not been the case with everyone in my life though. Even though I've stayed really good friends with those guys, I've lost contact with a lot of people from school. Maybe it's because Crawley and co aren't people that I've known for years, and I wasn't seeing them virtually every day...I honestly couldn't tell you why. But for some reason, I've seen more than enough people leave my life in the last two years.
Even when we were in school, there was always a discussion I had with some friends that things were going to be different when we all took separate paths and went to universities around the country. People grow and develop as individuals and (obviously) gain new friends, and you can easily lose contact with people after you've spent the last 5 or 6 years in school with them 5 days a week for 6 hours a day. Yet I always knew that I would stay friends with some people...there are people with whom I was always really close and got on well with. We can joke that we'll never be able to get rid of each other, but in some respects, that's true...and it's a really good thing. Even though I was part of a larger group of friends in school, I'm now only close with just a handful of those people.
I'll be completely honest and say that quite a part of that responsibility falls at my feet. Maybe I didn't make the effort to try and keep in contact with some people...maybe we weren't ever that close to begin with. Who knows? Looking back at the last two years though, there are people who have slipped out of my life who I wish I was still close to.
But then...I lost some friends from school and gained new ones at university. Even though there was that horrible period last year when everything seemed like a complete disaster and I was regretting a lot of choices, I've come out of it as a stronger person for it. I'm sure I've written about that in a previous entry so I won't bring that all up again...but let's just say that things got a hell of a lot better and life is pretty good now.
We've gone in two completely different directions on this entry tonight. It started off so well and it's trailed into a look back at life. These things happen though, and life being in a good place now is about as useful a place as any to end a blog entry.
So I'll leave it there. Whatever your relation in life to me, whether you're "just" a Twitter follower who doesn't really know me that well (yet!), someone on Facebook, someone I've drifted away from or someone I'm really close to, thank you. You're all in my life for a reason...let's make the most of that reason and enjoy our time.
Friday, 23 March 2012
It's good to be home
It's a weird feeling being back home. It's definitely a good weird, but weird nonetheless. I guess this is what happens when you live in a different city for so long. Everything is just as I remember it at home, but things are a bit strange and it's taken a bit of time to settle down again.
With the exception of a brief run home at the end of January after TNA when I was barely in the house anyway, I've not been back home the start of the year. I moved back up to Leeds on January 3rd and haven't been back to Liverpool since then. It's only been two and a half months, but it started to feel like a lot longer as the end of semester drew nearer.
One major plus (naturally) is that I don't have to cook every day. I've missed my mum's cooking, I really have. There's a fair bit of cake making going on which I quite like...I guess if anything it should just make me want to do more baking back in Leeds. I think she's on a bit of a mission to fatten me up and add a few pounds to my waistline before I go back. I dread to think what she'll be like when I move to Austria and don't come home until Christmas...
Regardless, it's good to be home. Even though it's been a relatively quiet week and I've not been overly busy, it's been good to take a week and not overdo it with work. That'll all have to change next week though...there's a LOT of work to be done. I've made a steady start on it, but I need to hit the ground running next week. To be honest, the major things that need to be done are the Portfolio submission and a Phonology essay. The Portfolio shouldn't be a major problem and I've done a good chunk of the first task, but the Phonology essay is a bit like pulling teeth. Taking an hour or so to read about 10 pages isn't great progress...but doing that meant that I understood what was going on. Sort of. Oh, I really regret 'picking' that module...
Anyway, I've been keeping myself occupied with work. Remember the company I'm doing my year abroad for in Austria? Well, we had some email communication over a few things earlier in the week, and the topic of part-time work came up again. So I've been doing a bit of translation work this week for them. It's been really interesting doing work and looking at the level of German being used. From what I can tell, it's not too dissimilar to the level we were doing in Applied German Language earlier in the year, and I'm far happier translating into English which all works out splendidly. I've become something of an expert on the ADAC GT Masters championship though! Seven articles all related to that championship in some respect is quite a lot of knowledge to pick up about it. But I'm looking forward to getting some more work from them in the near future and seeing how that goes.
One thing that was really good during the week was going to Beatlife. I've not done any drumming for a few months for various reasons, and I've really missed out on that because it is something pretty important to me. I hadn't been to Beatlife since...well, I think the Southport Air Show last summer was the last time I played with them. That was back in July. That's a hell of a long time to not play with these people.
Going back there was good fun though. I'm amazed at seeing how much people have grown (namely Harley and Matthew), and it was good to see everyone again, have a little chat with people and get some drumming in. If anything, Beatlife is proof that my short term memory is the problem with having a terrible memory. I can't remember what I did a few days ago, but I can easily remember Beatlife rhythms that I've not played for 8 months or so. Maybe it's just because I'm awesome though. ;)
My Facebook page finally made the switch over to the new layout earlier in the week. It couldn't hold out any longer and went over automatically, so I figured we may as well just get on with it. I don't look at my page too often anyway, so if it's a mess, it can be a mess. One thing that's useful though is that I could quite easily delve into the archives of my Facebook page. So I went for a little trip into the archives and looked up some stuff from a few years to see what's what. There are still hazy patches that I don't quite remember after the concussion, so they're where I usually go to when I look in the archives. Facebook offers "high points" as an option to view stuff...but unsurprisingly doesn't have "low points and moments you don't want to look back on". I wonder if that option was deleted during beta testing...
The trip down memory lane was a bit grim though. There's a reason that stuff is in the past and I haven't looked back at it for a while, so maybe next time I want to go into the archives I'll look up things that aren't so crushing for my self-esteem. We choose what we look back on in life.
I said a few weeks ago that things happening really quickly, especially in relation to year abroad stuff. That's all coming true now...Hessie said to me earlier that she's off to Frankfurt on June 8. Obviously, that's a really early point to move out, but that's how things are working out for her. It gets the ball rolling though. I'll be moving out a month or so afterwards...it's all a little crazy.
Crazy is one word for it. Exciting is another. Things are really picking up in life. Short term, the next few weeks are looking good with some exciting things coming up. Long term...well, it's going to be an experience, and it's going to be an experience that I'll be making the most of.
With the exception of a brief run home at the end of January after TNA when I was barely in the house anyway, I've not been back home the start of the year. I moved back up to Leeds on January 3rd and haven't been back to Liverpool since then. It's only been two and a half months, but it started to feel like a lot longer as the end of semester drew nearer.
One major plus (naturally) is that I don't have to cook every day. I've missed my mum's cooking, I really have. There's a fair bit of cake making going on which I quite like...I guess if anything it should just make me want to do more baking back in Leeds. I think she's on a bit of a mission to fatten me up and add a few pounds to my waistline before I go back. I dread to think what she'll be like when I move to Austria and don't come home until Christmas...
Regardless, it's good to be home. Even though it's been a relatively quiet week and I've not been overly busy, it's been good to take a week and not overdo it with work. That'll all have to change next week though...there's a LOT of work to be done. I've made a steady start on it, but I need to hit the ground running next week. To be honest, the major things that need to be done are the Portfolio submission and a Phonology essay. The Portfolio shouldn't be a major problem and I've done a good chunk of the first task, but the Phonology essay is a bit like pulling teeth. Taking an hour or so to read about 10 pages isn't great progress...but doing that meant that I understood what was going on. Sort of. Oh, I really regret 'picking' that module...
Anyway, I've been keeping myself occupied with work. Remember the company I'm doing my year abroad for in Austria? Well, we had some email communication over a few things earlier in the week, and the topic of part-time work came up again. So I've been doing a bit of translation work this week for them. It's been really interesting doing work and looking at the level of German being used. From what I can tell, it's not too dissimilar to the level we were doing in Applied German Language earlier in the year, and I'm far happier translating into English which all works out splendidly. I've become something of an expert on the ADAC GT Masters championship though! Seven articles all related to that championship in some respect is quite a lot of knowledge to pick up about it. But I'm looking forward to getting some more work from them in the near future and seeing how that goes.
One thing that was really good during the week was going to Beatlife. I've not done any drumming for a few months for various reasons, and I've really missed out on that because it is something pretty important to me. I hadn't been to Beatlife since...well, I think the Southport Air Show last summer was the last time I played with them. That was back in July. That's a hell of a long time to not play with these people.
Going back there was good fun though. I'm amazed at seeing how much people have grown (namely Harley and Matthew), and it was good to see everyone again, have a little chat with people and get some drumming in. If anything, Beatlife is proof that my short term memory is the problem with having a terrible memory. I can't remember what I did a few days ago, but I can easily remember Beatlife rhythms that I've not played for 8 months or so. Maybe it's just because I'm awesome though. ;)
My Facebook page finally made the switch over to the new layout earlier in the week. It couldn't hold out any longer and went over automatically, so I figured we may as well just get on with it. I don't look at my page too often anyway, so if it's a mess, it can be a mess. One thing that's useful though is that I could quite easily delve into the archives of my Facebook page. So I went for a little trip into the archives and looked up some stuff from a few years to see what's what. There are still hazy patches that I don't quite remember after the concussion, so they're where I usually go to when I look in the archives. Facebook offers "high points" as an option to view stuff...but unsurprisingly doesn't have "low points and moments you don't want to look back on". I wonder if that option was deleted during beta testing...
The trip down memory lane was a bit grim though. There's a reason that stuff is in the past and I haven't looked back at it for a while, so maybe next time I want to go into the archives I'll look up things that aren't so crushing for my self-esteem. We choose what we look back on in life.
I said a few weeks ago that things happening really quickly, especially in relation to year abroad stuff. That's all coming true now...Hessie said to me earlier that she's off to Frankfurt on June 8. Obviously, that's a really early point to move out, but that's how things are working out for her. It gets the ball rolling though. I'll be moving out a month or so afterwards...it's all a little crazy.
Crazy is one word for it. Exciting is another. Things are really picking up in life. Short term, the next few weeks are looking good with some exciting things coming up. Long term...well, it's going to be an experience, and it's going to be an experience that I'll be making the most of.
Friday, 16 March 2012
Taking to the stage
I'll warn you now, this is going to be an entry heavily focused around one topic. I'm not sure why that's a warning...if you read these, you clearly have some sort of vague interest in what happens in my life to some extent, and since this is about something that's been fairly prominent in recent life, it matters.
Back towards the beginning of the academic year, there were plans put in place for a German Theatre Project. Some time around late October/early November, sessions started running for it. The only reason I can make that connection is the fact that we had a session on my birthday which was...an interesting way of spending my 20th birthday. Such is the joy of life though! Anyway, we had some sessions, were given a gigantic pad of paper which consisted of the script and told to go off, find a role we liked the look of and then audition for it. Due to being a fairly small group, there wasn't a great deal of competition for the parts. It was largely a case of reading some of the lines and then being congratulated on getting the desired role. Huzzah!
At first, I was pretty sceptical about the project. I'm not an actor by any stretch of the imagination, so the idea of being involved in a theatre production wasn't something that captured my mind. To be honest, I wasn't planning to be involved at all. It was only after the first session when Amanda told me that there was a distinct lack of male representation (a slightly problematic scenario when the play is about four male friends) that I thought about getting involved. So I told Mandy after Core that I was interested in getting involved and before you know it, I was involved.
It was always pretty difficult doing rehearsals knowing we were still missing out on key characters, namely Bruno. Bruno's part was pretty significant as the entire play takes place in his house really...so he wasn't the sort of character we could cut out. After the Christmas break though, we suddenly had a main character and a completed cast with the addition of the German department's favourite Giles: Dr Harrington!
And so it began properly. A full cast and an edited script with a couple of dates chiselled into the future. The idea of performing in early/mid March before the end of semester seemed ideal. I mean, when you're in January, March is a fairly long way off...right? Unsurprisingly though, the last six weeks, much like the rest of this year to be completely honest, have flown by and we quickly found ourselves with the realisation that the play was coming up on us quickly.
There were some fun moments along the way. At the tail end of February, we did a collaboration day with Sheffield Uni. I won't lie...this day was incredibly useful and great fun, but it also served as a gigantic wake up call regarding the amount of work that we had to do to get the play up to standard. This was February 25th, so it left us with...about two weeks? At this point, I think a fair few of us were thinking whether we'd actually be able to get this done. Even with having such a small group, I don't think we could really say we were comfortable knowing our lines and being able to do scenes. Panic stations.
So to counter this, we scheduled a lot of extra sessions. I think we must have clocked up over half a dozen extra rehearsals as we got closer so that we could have everything nailed.
I was quite impressed though when it got to the week before the play and I suddenly knew my lines. It turns out going through them endlessly either on my own, on Skype with Jess and Amanda or during rehearsals did actually get them engrained in my little brain, the words stuck and I was able to start doing scenes and try to figure out how to act.
Acting was always going to be a problem. I'm not an actor. I've never really acted. I was a shepherd in the Nativity in primary school, I was the Wizard of Oz in Year 2 when I did most of my scenes behind a screen (just like in the film) and then I did a Big Brother voice over in Year 6 when I was again behind a screen. So it seems that I'm pretty good at doing voice overs and whatnot behind screens, but I've never really had to do acting. Any other type of performance I've been involved in has had me on the musical side of things like I was for Fiddler on the Roof. That's much easier I think.
Most of it seemed to just occur though. With my character, I was either getting bossed around by Jess, who was playing my wife or drinking and stumbling over my words (unintentionally). We cut out the stumbling over words with the great realisation that I could just speak a little bit slower, which also helped nail pronunciation when that was a little bit of an issue with some words.
So to the performances. In short, they went really well. We knew our lines, we knew when to be on and off stage, we knew when we were active and when to be frozen in position. We had a healthy audience on both nights consisting of students, friends and teaching staff from the German department, and we got some really great feedback and comments from staff about our work. All in all, everyone seemed pretty pleased with it.
Tuesday night brought an end to the Leeds German Theatre Project for 2012 though, and it was a bit of a sad moment really. We'd worked hard on this for a few months and things came together, everyone was pleased with the work and...well, I don't really know what I'll be doing with my time when I've been learning lines and in rehearsal. It's a good chunk of time that I've gained back now, but I think I'd rather be in the project!
All that's left for me to say is to thank everyone. It's going to seem REALLY cheesy, but well...it's all true. I don't go for the sentimental stuff all of the time, so make the most of it!
To Mandy and Helena for coming up with the idea to put on a German play, thank you. It's been great fun and despite my initial hesitance, it turned out to be one of the best things I've gotten involved with.
To Julia for helping with the language and prompting us when we let a line escape our heads, thank you.
To Thomas J-C for helping us to film it, thank you. Hopefully we get to see an edited version where everything will look perfect at some point after Easter!
To Hessie for designing a set and controlling the lights so that we looked professional, thank you.
To the cast: Amanda, Amy, Helena (again), Jess, Jacqui, Lucy, Susan and Dr Giles, thank you. It was great fun working with you guys. We had a lot of laughs and goofed around a fair bit, but we still managed to put on a great show which everyone enjoyed. We made it!
And to anyone who came to see us, thank you. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as we did.
Back towards the beginning of the academic year, there were plans put in place for a German Theatre Project. Some time around late October/early November, sessions started running for it. The only reason I can make that connection is the fact that we had a session on my birthday which was...an interesting way of spending my 20th birthday. Such is the joy of life though! Anyway, we had some sessions, were given a gigantic pad of paper which consisted of the script and told to go off, find a role we liked the look of and then audition for it. Due to being a fairly small group, there wasn't a great deal of competition for the parts. It was largely a case of reading some of the lines and then being congratulated on getting the desired role. Huzzah!
At first, I was pretty sceptical about the project. I'm not an actor by any stretch of the imagination, so the idea of being involved in a theatre production wasn't something that captured my mind. To be honest, I wasn't planning to be involved at all. It was only after the first session when Amanda told me that there was a distinct lack of male representation (a slightly problematic scenario when the play is about four male friends) that I thought about getting involved. So I told Mandy after Core that I was interested in getting involved and before you know it, I was involved.
It was always pretty difficult doing rehearsals knowing we were still missing out on key characters, namely Bruno. Bruno's part was pretty significant as the entire play takes place in his house really...so he wasn't the sort of character we could cut out. After the Christmas break though, we suddenly had a main character and a completed cast with the addition of the German department's favourite Giles: Dr Harrington!
And so it began properly. A full cast and an edited script with a couple of dates chiselled into the future. The idea of performing in early/mid March before the end of semester seemed ideal. I mean, when you're in January, March is a fairly long way off...right? Unsurprisingly though, the last six weeks, much like the rest of this year to be completely honest, have flown by and we quickly found ourselves with the realisation that the play was coming up on us quickly.
There were some fun moments along the way. At the tail end of February, we did a collaboration day with Sheffield Uni. I won't lie...this day was incredibly useful and great fun, but it also served as a gigantic wake up call regarding the amount of work that we had to do to get the play up to standard. This was February 25th, so it left us with...about two weeks? At this point, I think a fair few of us were thinking whether we'd actually be able to get this done. Even with having such a small group, I don't think we could really say we were comfortable knowing our lines and being able to do scenes. Panic stations.
So to counter this, we scheduled a lot of extra sessions. I think we must have clocked up over half a dozen extra rehearsals as we got closer so that we could have everything nailed.
I was quite impressed though when it got to the week before the play and I suddenly knew my lines. It turns out going through them endlessly either on my own, on Skype with Jess and Amanda or during rehearsals did actually get them engrained in my little brain, the words stuck and I was able to start doing scenes and try to figure out how to act.
Acting was always going to be a problem. I'm not an actor. I've never really acted. I was a shepherd in the Nativity in primary school, I was the Wizard of Oz in Year 2 when I did most of my scenes behind a screen (just like in the film) and then I did a Big Brother voice over in Year 6 when I was again behind a screen. So it seems that I'm pretty good at doing voice overs and whatnot behind screens, but I've never really had to do acting. Any other type of performance I've been involved in has had me on the musical side of things like I was for Fiddler on the Roof. That's much easier I think.
Most of it seemed to just occur though. With my character, I was either getting bossed around by Jess, who was playing my wife or drinking and stumbling over my words (unintentionally). We cut out the stumbling over words with the great realisation that I could just speak a little bit slower, which also helped nail pronunciation when that was a little bit of an issue with some words.
So to the performances. In short, they went really well. We knew our lines, we knew when to be on and off stage, we knew when we were active and when to be frozen in position. We had a healthy audience on both nights consisting of students, friends and teaching staff from the German department, and we got some really great feedback and comments from staff about our work. All in all, everyone seemed pretty pleased with it.
Tuesday night brought an end to the Leeds German Theatre Project for 2012 though, and it was a bit of a sad moment really. We'd worked hard on this for a few months and things came together, everyone was pleased with the work and...well, I don't really know what I'll be doing with my time when I've been learning lines and in rehearsal. It's a good chunk of time that I've gained back now, but I think I'd rather be in the project!
All that's left for me to say is to thank everyone. It's going to seem REALLY cheesy, but well...it's all true. I don't go for the sentimental stuff all of the time, so make the most of it!
To Mandy and Helena for coming up with the idea to put on a German play, thank you. It's been great fun and despite my initial hesitance, it turned out to be one of the best things I've gotten involved with.
To Julia for helping with the language and prompting us when we let a line escape our heads, thank you.
To Thomas J-C for helping us to film it, thank you. Hopefully we get to see an edited version where everything will look perfect at some point after Easter!
To Hessie for designing a set and controlling the lights so that we looked professional, thank you.
To the cast: Amanda, Amy, Helena (again), Jess, Jacqui, Lucy, Susan and Dr Giles, thank you. It was great fun working with you guys. We had a lot of laughs and goofed around a fair bit, but we still managed to put on a great show which everyone enjoyed. We made it!
And to anyone who came to see us, thank you. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as we did.
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Where does the time go?
It's not quite been a fortnight since the last blog entry. But then again, the last entry I posted was while sat in a train station at stupid o'clock in the morning while waiting for the first train out of Preston. Not that I have too much against Preston, I just wish that they had trains running to Leeds a bit later than they actually do.
So, I'll start with one of the big points from the last entry. After sending off my application to Adrivo Sportpresse and having an interview, I was sent some translations to do so that they could evaluate my translation skills and see what my written English is like. I sent those off on the Monday and on Tuesday morning I woke up to an email telling me that they definitely want to offer me a job and had some brief contract details. Needless to say, I had a bit of a grin on my face for the rest of the day.
Now that the Employer Proposal form has been put online, that was sent off yesterday to be filled in. Once that's done, this could all be sorted and finalised before the end of semester next week.
That's a bit of a mental thought though...I finish for Easter next week. That's just 5 more days of university (I'm not including Fridays since they're a day off) until I have four weeks off. Not that I won't be busy during those four weeks though...I've got a couple of essays that I'll be working on over that break. Even though most of them aren't due in until May (and even as late as May 21st for AGL), I'd quite like to have most of the work done by the time we come back from the month off. We'll see how true that is in just over a month.
Another rather saddening thought is that this time next week, the Leeds German Theatre Project will have been completed. Successfully. We're in the run-up to show time now, and there are just a couple of rehearsals left on Thursday and Sunday (though I think that's largely for the tech stuff to be sorted out). Back at the beginning of the project, I was sceptical as to how well we could do with this. Two months ago, still without a lead character, I was sceptical. Three weeks ago, I was sceptical. But with less than a week to go, we're going to do it. After a considerable number of re-writes and edits, we've all pretty much learnt our lines and we know what to do. There are photos of us in costume and there are posters to promote. We're all set to go, and it's going to be good fun. Once it's over though, it'll be a bit of a shame. It's taken up quite a bit of my time in the last few weeks, and rehearsals have been a near constant thing since November on a Tuesday evening. What on earth am I going to do with that time?!
So, I highly recommend Jugendfreunde next Monday and Tuesday evening in Baines Wing. It's a delightful little comedy about four friends and marriage. Plus, you get to see some of us in costumes and Dr Harrington will (hopefully) be wearing a moustache. What more could you want from an hour of German theatre?!
All of this leads me to my question which, rather handily, makes up the title of today's entry. Where does the time go? I mean, I know where it goes. Our rock revolves around the Sun, and as it does, our clocks and watches move in a circle. The sun rises, it sets, it rises again. Time is one of those things that we don't really think about or consider too much, but it's always there...ticking away in the background.
But I mean, it's already March. MARCH! That's the third month of the year. Pretty soon, I'll be done with my second year of uni and I'll be moving out to Austria for the year. But of course, that'll no doubt fly by as well and before we know it, I'll be back in Leeds for the final year of my degree. After that, I graduate and get thrown into the big wide world and have to start living more like an adult. I know I'm not the only one like this though...I've had this conversation with a few people in recent days, and we're all amazed as to how quickly life seems to go.
I have no idea what the next few months will bring...the only way to find out to is sit back and enjoy the ride.
So, I'll start with one of the big points from the last entry. After sending off my application to Adrivo Sportpresse and having an interview, I was sent some translations to do so that they could evaluate my translation skills and see what my written English is like. I sent those off on the Monday and on Tuesday morning I woke up to an email telling me that they definitely want to offer me a job and had some brief contract details. Needless to say, I had a bit of a grin on my face for the rest of the day.
Now that the Employer Proposal form has been put online, that was sent off yesterday to be filled in. Once that's done, this could all be sorted and finalised before the end of semester next week.
That's a bit of a mental thought though...I finish for Easter next week. That's just 5 more days of university (I'm not including Fridays since they're a day off) until I have four weeks off. Not that I won't be busy during those four weeks though...I've got a couple of essays that I'll be working on over that break. Even though most of them aren't due in until May (and even as late as May 21st for AGL), I'd quite like to have most of the work done by the time we come back from the month off. We'll see how true that is in just over a month.
Another rather saddening thought is that this time next week, the Leeds German Theatre Project will have been completed. Successfully. We're in the run-up to show time now, and there are just a couple of rehearsals left on Thursday and Sunday (though I think that's largely for the tech stuff to be sorted out). Back at the beginning of the project, I was sceptical as to how well we could do with this. Two months ago, still without a lead character, I was sceptical. Three weeks ago, I was sceptical. But with less than a week to go, we're going to do it. After a considerable number of re-writes and edits, we've all pretty much learnt our lines and we know what to do. There are photos of us in costume and there are posters to promote. We're all set to go, and it's going to be good fun. Once it's over though, it'll be a bit of a shame. It's taken up quite a bit of my time in the last few weeks, and rehearsals have been a near constant thing since November on a Tuesday evening. What on earth am I going to do with that time?!
So, I highly recommend Jugendfreunde next Monday and Tuesday evening in Baines Wing. It's a delightful little comedy about four friends and marriage. Plus, you get to see some of us in costumes and Dr Harrington will (hopefully) be wearing a moustache. What more could you want from an hour of German theatre?!
All of this leads me to my question which, rather handily, makes up the title of today's entry. Where does the time go? I mean, I know where it goes. Our rock revolves around the Sun, and as it does, our clocks and watches move in a circle. The sun rises, it sets, it rises again. Time is one of those things that we don't really think about or consider too much, but it's always there...ticking away in the background.
But I mean, it's already March. MARCH! That's the third month of the year. Pretty soon, I'll be done with my second year of uni and I'll be moving out to Austria for the year. But of course, that'll no doubt fly by as well and before we know it, I'll be back in Leeds for the final year of my degree. After that, I graduate and get thrown into the big wide world and have to start living more like an adult. I know I'm not the only one like this though...I've had this conversation with a few people in recent days, and we're all amazed as to how quickly life seems to go.
I have no idea what the next few months will bring...the only way to find out to is sit back and enjoy the ride.
Saturday, 25 February 2012
One on the road
As I write this, I'm writing on my phone while sat in Preston train station. Why am I doing this? Well, I'm a bit insane. I was at PCW tonight (Friday 24th) and since I've got a Theatre Day at Leeds Uni tomorrow morning, I couldn't go home. And since there are no trains to Leeds, I'm stranded. It's certainly an experience. There are no people apart from staff and some guys doing repair work. Just me on a bench listening to podcasts. I've got a train at about 3.50 to Manchester, then one to Leeds. If all goes to plan, I can be home by 7am...and then sleep for 2 hours before Theatre. Yaaaaaay!
Anyway, I've had a few very good days. I sent my application off to adrivo Sportpresse for my year abroad on Wednesday afternoon...and within about an hour and a half, I had an interview sorted for Thursday. So even from that, I was pleased to have an interview...that could have been enough for me.
The interview went really well though. They were really impressed with my CV/cover letter and I think seem very keen to take me for a placement. Already, that's fantastic enough for me. But I've got some translations to do with some potential to do a bit of part-time work with them before starting a placement in summer.
Oh, there's a train. Freight train. A lot of empty hollowed carriages attached though. Aaaaand it's gone again. Back to the silence.
Cricket took an improvement too during the week. I think I've finally cracked the problem with my bowling which is useful. It's all about the run up, or so it seems. I was much better than last week, and the accuracy seems to be getting there. I picked up a few wickets. Yay! Still plenty of work needed with the bat though.
So all in all, things have been good. Theatre might destroy me during the day. We'll see. I won't be getting much sleep. I'm not sleeping in the station, but I'll (hopefully) get a bit on the train.
That's all from me. My hand's gone numb from cold. I assume I'll be posting this. I can't see why not.
Anyway, I've had a few very good days. I sent my application off to adrivo Sportpresse for my year abroad on Wednesday afternoon...and within about an hour and a half, I had an interview sorted for Thursday. So even from that, I was pleased to have an interview...that could have been enough for me.
The interview went really well though. They were really impressed with my CV/cover letter and I think seem very keen to take me for a placement. Already, that's fantastic enough for me. But I've got some translations to do with some potential to do a bit of part-time work with them before starting a placement in summer.
Oh, there's a train. Freight train. A lot of empty hollowed carriages attached though. Aaaaand it's gone again. Back to the silence.
Cricket took an improvement too during the week. I think I've finally cracked the problem with my bowling which is useful. It's all about the run up, or so it seems. I was much better than last week, and the accuracy seems to be getting there. I picked up a few wickets. Yay! Still plenty of work needed with the bat though.
So all in all, things have been good. Theatre might destroy me during the day. We'll see. I won't be getting much sleep. I'm not sleeping in the station, but I'll (hopefully) get a bit on the train.
That's all from me. My hand's gone numb from cold. I assume I'll be posting this. I can't see why not.
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Lumps and bruises will make me a man
Maybe this is turning into a fortnightly blog. Maybe that's just how long it takes for me to realise that I've not updated it and I ought to scribble something else down. I'm not overly sure...but it has been two weeks since the last entry, and I would be willing to place a bet that the next entry will be in two weeks. Then again, maybe not. The next week looks busy so I'll have stuff to write about. As a spoiler, look out for a potentially amusing story about me falling asleep in Preston or Manchester train station and shenanigans occurring.
What's good people? Are we enjoying February? The weather's certainly picked up after a week or two of rather chilly weather and snow. It worked out quite nicely though. It snowed on Saturday and by the time uni rolled around on Monday, most of the roads and pavements were clear and relatively ice-free to allow a trip-free journey to uni. Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy the snow as I spent the time working. But I did watch the snow falling out of the window.
I'll start off where I finished last time around. I was writing about how I had the first nets session with a new team coming up, and of course, that's now been and gone (in fact, we've had two sessions)...and they've been really good productive sessions. I know that I'm not a great cricketer, but I think I've got the potential to be a good player and not be a disgrace to any team who has me in their side. First of all, the Yorkshire facilities are marvellous. They really are. Secondly, this team are pretty good. Thirdly (am I just making up words now?), I'm slowly feeling some improvement. After getting some advice from a couple of the players regarding both my bowling and batting, I've got a better idea of where I'm going wrong and should hopefully be able to put these words into action. With a bit of luck and plenty of graft from me, I'll become a better player.
I've taken a fair few knocks though...and they hurt. We had nets on Wednesday. It's now Sunday. My thigh still has a cricket ball shaped mark (including a bit of the seam!) and my right leg has a lovely purple patch on it. That one baffled me. It didn't hurt at the time, but when my leg came up with a nice lump on Wednesday night, something wasn't quite right. Still, I'll be back for more punishment on Wednesday. Bring it on!
The German Theatre is ticking along nicely. We're less than four weeks away from show time...and thinking about it, that's a bit scary. It's time to play the music, light the lights and get things started on the Muppet Show Leeds German Theatre Project. Learning lines is fun...and a bit tricky. I realised that having a memory as terrible as mine is probably counter-productive when it comes to trying to learn a script. It's getting there though, thanks in part to some helpful words of wisdom on Twitter (if you read this, thanks Jeremy!) with techniques.
On Thursday, I went and indulged in some pirate metal at The Well with Hessie when we saw Alestorm. I hadn't ever really heard of Alestorm before my sister showed me one of their songs last year, and I thought they were pretty cool. As you'd expect, it's a different style to the norm as it brings the lovely combination of pirate themes and lovely loud music. In short, it was a cracking gig. The support acts were pretty good too which is always good, and included an Australian band called Claim the Throne who were cracking jokes inbetween songs. I don't think I've ever heard a white guy with such a deep and gravel-like voice before!
Just remember, pirates are better than Vikings. And they're certainly better than ninjas.
We did make a slight mistake in not going dressed as pirates though. Quite a few people had done that and there was definitely a hint of regret that we hadn't fully embraced the pirate theme as much as we could have, but it was still a cracking night. Live music at The Well is always something of a guarantee to be fun entertainment.
The Year Abroad application stuff should take a gigantic leap forward this week. Well, it will. I can't afford it not to. Then afterwards, I get to play the waiting game and hope that the lovely people at Adrivo decide they want to give me a job.
There's something strange with the weather recently. It's still a bit chilly, but the sun is still throwing out some impressive heat. When I've been sat at my desk working over the weekend (which has been quite a large portion of the daytime), the sun has been on my back virtually the entire time. That's one of the things I love most about my room: I get sunlight all day and it's...well, it's bloody good.
Once again, the sound of the PA system from Headingley Carnegie is an audio accompaniment to my working day. Leeds Rhino were playing on Friday to become the best in the world, and they did it. Of course they did. They're Leeds flippin' Rhinos. There's something awesome about hearing 20,000 rugby fans cheering and celebrating on a Friday night right outside your bedroom window. Once we come back from the Easter break, the cricket season will burst into life. I'll be spending as much time there as I can, especially since I'll only have until July to do so!
The clock is ticking. It never stops.
What's good people? Are we enjoying February? The weather's certainly picked up after a week or two of rather chilly weather and snow. It worked out quite nicely though. It snowed on Saturday and by the time uni rolled around on Monday, most of the roads and pavements were clear and relatively ice-free to allow a trip-free journey to uni. Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy the snow as I spent the time working. But I did watch the snow falling out of the window.
I'll start off where I finished last time around. I was writing about how I had the first nets session with a new team coming up, and of course, that's now been and gone (in fact, we've had two sessions)...and they've been really good productive sessions. I know that I'm not a great cricketer, but I think I've got the potential to be a good player and not be a disgrace to any team who has me in their side. First of all, the Yorkshire facilities are marvellous. They really are. Secondly, this team are pretty good. Thirdly (am I just making up words now?), I'm slowly feeling some improvement. After getting some advice from a couple of the players regarding both my bowling and batting, I've got a better idea of where I'm going wrong and should hopefully be able to put these words into action. With a bit of luck and plenty of graft from me, I'll become a better player.
I've taken a fair few knocks though...and they hurt. We had nets on Wednesday. It's now Sunday. My thigh still has a cricket ball shaped mark (including a bit of the seam!) and my right leg has a lovely purple patch on it. That one baffled me. It didn't hurt at the time, but when my leg came up with a nice lump on Wednesday night, something wasn't quite right. Still, I'll be back for more punishment on Wednesday. Bring it on!
The German Theatre is ticking along nicely. We're less than four weeks away from show time...and thinking about it, that's a bit scary. It's time to play the music, light the lights and get things started on the
On Thursday, I went and indulged in some pirate metal at The Well with Hessie when we saw Alestorm. I hadn't ever really heard of Alestorm before my sister showed me one of their songs last year, and I thought they were pretty cool. As you'd expect, it's a different style to the norm as it brings the lovely combination of pirate themes and lovely loud music. In short, it was a cracking gig. The support acts were pretty good too which is always good, and included an Australian band called Claim the Throne who were cracking jokes inbetween songs. I don't think I've ever heard a white guy with such a deep and gravel-like voice before!
Just remember, pirates are better than Vikings. And they're certainly better than ninjas.
We did make a slight mistake in not going dressed as pirates though. Quite a few people had done that and there was definitely a hint of regret that we hadn't fully embraced the pirate theme as much as we could have, but it was still a cracking night. Live music at The Well is always something of a guarantee to be fun entertainment.
The Year Abroad application stuff should take a gigantic leap forward this week. Well, it will. I can't afford it not to. Then afterwards, I get to play the waiting game and hope that the lovely people at Adrivo decide they want to give me a job.
There's something strange with the weather recently. It's still a bit chilly, but the sun is still throwing out some impressive heat. When I've been sat at my desk working over the weekend (which has been quite a large portion of the daytime), the sun has been on my back virtually the entire time. That's one of the things I love most about my room: I get sunlight all day and it's...well, it's bloody good.
Once again, the sound of the PA system from Headingley Carnegie is an audio accompaniment to my working day. Leeds Rhino were playing on Friday to become the best in the world, and they did it. Of course they did. They're Leeds flippin' Rhinos. There's something awesome about hearing 20,000 rugby fans cheering and celebrating on a Friday night right outside your bedroom window. Once we come back from the Easter break, the cricket season will burst into life. I'll be spending as much time there as I can, especially since I'll only have until July to do so!
The clock is ticking. It never stops.
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