WALES the adventure Week 9, 10, & 11. (part 1.)
So much for my ‘on time’ streak huh?
I had to really work as to not burst into tears. I always want to cry when I leave my dad. Waving goodbye to him at Paddington station was probably the hardest thing I’ve done all trip. I kept wanting and hoping he would come with me, and to pass the ticket check and watch him stay behind was oddly jolting. As soon as I could manage it, I turned my attention to finding the cart that had no reserved seats…but even then all I felt like doing was crying. I miss dad, and I don’t think I realized how much I really miss my family back home. Yet, there is an odd sense of comfort in traveling that I have always found to lull with me. There are many times where travel is stressful and all you can think about is finally getting to the end destination. Beneath all that stress, in the actual process of traveling (in this case by train back to Carmarthen), there is a quiet and soft feeling. Almost like accomplishment, but more soft like tranquility. It’s indescribable. I’ve always found that going from one place to another makes me think about my life and the places I’ve been as well as the places I wish most dearly to go. I love travel, and am almost scared to admit that I may even be slightly addicted to it. It’s hard and unnerving to stay in one place for too long. Oh but forgive me, it’s been three weeks hasn’t it? Let me start back at the beginning...
Monday & Tuesday-
I’m going to be honest. It was two days full of rehearsal hours. Tuesday day was probably the most stressful of those, because it just lagged on and on. Everyone was getting tired and frustrated with working and the energy for every scene was just depleted. Many of the actors had lost hope for the day, which admittedly was one of our main problems from the start. Then at the end John was giving us notes and by that time everyone had thrown up their hands and pretty much said ‘Yes crap run today, we will do it better tomorrow- can we just go?’. Yes, even I was short tempered by the end of the day. Tuesday night was an international dinner for St. Davids day. After the long day of finalizing the second act we booked it to the dinner place and stock piled food before bolting off to redo our makeup and hair before again, bolting over to the dinner we were already late to. The dinner was ‘ok’ and the desert, Welsh cakes, was phenomenal. I’ve never had them, but I guess being in Wales, well….gotta have Welsh Cakes. I managed to snag a few more from a couple at the other tables before leaving for the night. They had some choir students come and sing for us and they sung ‘anthem’ from the musical Chess in Welsh. I fell in love with that song when I heard Josh Groban sing it, and hearing them- well…let’s just say I couldn’t help but sing along. In English of course.
I want my bangs back......eeeww forehead.
Wednesday- This day was an odd day. After the many days stuck in rehearsal all day, we got something of a day off. Well most of the cast, those of us in the ‘preshow’ took today to choose our songs. I was unwilling to sing a solo so I decided to just jump in with Cat’s “Dilly Dally” song. I was comfortable with this, I like singing- but I’m not confident in my ability to do so. Never really have been, and singing seems to be the only time I get stage fright. Anyway, we got our sheet music and we headed back to my room to practice. It turned into a three hour talking session and then a promise for dinner. We went back to change a little bit and I went to get take away for dinner so I could eat the left overs later. I ended up eating it before going out anyway. We went to dinner at this place called Wetherspoons. It’s a larger pub with lots of seats and dim lighting. I had your typical fish n’ chips for dinner and Cat and I shared a bottle of wine. It was definitely one of my favorite girls nights out. We spied our old Shakespeare teacher having dinner with our friend Shane. I gotta say, we where giggling pretty hard after that. We finished the wine and went back for the night. At that point I really needed a girls night out. I just was not feeling like myself lately, and it was helping to talk to others. I went out to the union after dinner and hung out at the upstairs bar. I didn’t drink anything but we hung out with a couple of buddies before getting kicked out. Hanging with Andrew and Shane was fun again. It reminds me of hanging with my guy friends back home and too be honest, I was glad for the guy buddy company for once. I think over all I just wanted to be with friendly company. I don’t know why, but I guess…I was getting lonely.
Thursday- Spent the entire day in rehearsal. Gotta say, I was wiped out. Went to bed shortly after replying to all those rp games I’m in. I really need to catch up with those. Speaking of which, Pandora hearts keeps getting better and better, in my opinion. I have also started a few new series like sengoku basara, afterschool charisma, and re-reading vampire knight. All this and I started watching Supernatural. Lord I’ve hit the wall since all I do is watch and read things lately. No wonder my rp attendance is poor. Sorry my 7 characters currently in games….I will get back to you I promise.
I also think this is a good place to mention how much I miss cosplay. I keep seeing photos from the Sakura gathering and certain *cough* Harry Potter *cough* photo shoots and I literally just want to rush to a fabric store and start sewing. Sewing was also a huge stress reliever back home, and it kept me from going insane. I think that is a big part of my life that I’m missing right now- a good stress reliever. I hate missing things, and missing the photo shoots is just plain painful. I know, that is just so pathetic and weird…but I’m addicted to it and I don’t care. It keeps me happy. So missing it means a slightly pouty me. But I keep reminding myself that I’m in Europe- ….how do I ever keep forgetting? Anyway, I miss my sewing machine, I miss cosplay, and most importantly, I miss my friends back home- a LOT. And just to be more stalker then I really should be- here have a couple of their awesomely beautiful photos.
Squuueeeeeeee!!! Super Epic you guys. So Jealous. (James Potter, Lily Potter/// Regulus Black/// Lucius Malfoy)
Friday- Ah, interesting night Friday. You can take a wild guess as to what the day was filled with. I’m pretty sure you’ll get it right. Friday I went out to the bar to just get out of my room. The more I’m alone, the more I think and recently that is NOT what I want to do. Lately I keep plaguing myself with thoughts of me being a person that I had every intention of NOT being back home. Guilt is the fuel for the fire of depression, and to be honest I was feeling really guilty. So I went out to try and ignore myself for a while. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately…I should probably be worried. When I got there I saw a lot of people I knew and it was rather enjoyable to chit chat with certain people. Monty came to the union completely drunk, and well- I was tipsy and in the ‘ignore every moral aspect of yourself’ mode anyway. So in exchange for him buying me a drink, I kissed him. More like made out with him. It was er….enjoyable to the very impulsive and lonely side of myself. The other half of me was rightfully calling myself a slut. For the first time in months I was arguing with myself again. Because I was totally missing my shoulder angels bicker back and forth….totally. I quickly set off to hit my head against a wall, literally folks. After that, and after Monty left with help from the ever so lovely Carl, I went back upstairs to hang with Harry, Montys roommate. Tired of my moral side getting to me I decided to just give up all hope of me being saved that night and quickly talked Harry into mixing me a drink. Drank it, and five minutes later I was drunk. The rest of the night is like looking through thick water. Only a blur of images and the taste of shrimp flavored ramen are what is left of that night. Something tells me that’s a good thing. It’s times like these that I appreciate Monty being casual and calm as he is…some part of me wishes I could take things in stride like he does. Too bad my shoulder angel *good* would never allow me to do anything without intense scrutiny either before or afterward. I do remember hanging out with Simon a LOT that night. Him and Harry- geez I feel bad for the guys. Sorry, you two, for any trouble I caused.
Saturday- So here is was, and I woke up with a slight hang over. Nothing a little spring cleaning couldn’t cure. This past few weeks at Carmarthen has seen the first signs of spring. The sun (regrettably in my tastes) is out almost 100% of the time and with no clouds to boot. Tiny colorful flowers are popping up in the grass and the air is cool with the lingering wisps of winter. Being a Californian, I usually still need a coat to keep warm, but a lot of people are taking to sun bathing and shorts. I can’t help but think it IS beautiful. All the green and cool air, but I do miss the rain. I chose today of all days to finally clean the pig sty my room had become. Taking two loads of laundry to the mat, I came back and quickly began to clean using actual cleaning supplies. I washed the windows, the counters, my clothes and managed to dust and remake the room back into perfect working order. I was feeling really content in doing small chores like these while blasting my music from my poor computer. It’s times like these I realize the small comfort one gets from simple tasks like this. The odd happiness that comes with scrubbing the window sill as I look out at the beautiful welsh landscape. I was thinking that I really could live here…and I could be happy by myself in a welsh house, cooped up with a computer and books to keep me happy. Of course I remember the lack of conventions--- maybe as a retirement home then. I also have times like these to remember that I have a certain four parents to thank for forcing me to clean the house every weekend for years. Otherwise I’d have been stumped trying to survive today.
Well Saturday night was the long awaited Girls Disney night. We invited several people but stuff happens and we ended up with Alberie, Cat, Caroline, and myself for a night full of laughs and sighs. We started out the night with Cat bringing over her monstrous collection of dvds and we all ordered Chinese food from oriental china. I got severely addicted to rice crackers. It didn’t help when we finally managed to finish them and then my neighbor came over and asked if we would like her extra pack. None of us could resist. We watched Hercules, Thumbelina, and Hunchback of Notre Dame. We actually watched and sang along with Hercules, but as soon as Thumbelina came on, so too did the impressions and impersonations. By Hunchback we were lost in having more fun with Carolines character by character do over. We had also cast the entire movie of Thumbelina with the ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ cast. This brought on a few fit of giggles. We also had a large new set of jokes. (Cornelius and his single finger sticking out of the ice, Cornelius and his bee fancy, the connection between the pierrots(sp?) in the play and the frog quartet in the movie, Alberie having more than three teeth, not having a mustache, and definitely not being a frog, and a bunch more throughout the movie. I fell asleep that night, content. Castle tomorrow!!!
Sunday- Kidwelly castle was slightly more complete then the other castles I had visited lately. Guess I survived the English raids a little better. When I woke up I was super excited, I had loved the last trip- like hell I was missing this one. I was running a bit late since I over slept but it didn’t take me long to run out the door with Alberie in tow and to Caroline’s apartment. We were quickly on our way with our little band of girls. Caroline, Amy, Alberie, and I. It was already going to be a good day. It has also been confirmed that Stefani will from now on require a leash when visiting any site of historical significance. I was in the castle before anyone could catch me (almost without paying). Quickly we all began to climb the towers and explore all the places we could crawl into. Of course we totally missed the sign at the front forbidding anyone from climbing on the rocks that where unmarked to be climbed. Totally missed that.
I quickly whipped out the camera and set off to snag some awesome photos. You can look at all of them on my facebook but some are below for you to just get a small glimpse.
The Castle itself was gorgeous. Some of the rooms, while their furnishings were gone, were well preserved and you could clearly envision what this castle would have been like almost three centuries ago. Climbing the stone steps and striding the length of the tower walls. It was exciting. The landscape was beautiful…full of green rolling hills on one side with scattered houses and a flat beach on the other. Later I would pass this site by train and see the castle for a second time, and this view would come back into memory. Being here inspired hundreds of ideas for a photo-shoot and I longed to go change into some pretty dress and do my hair up and go dance around. Honestly, half of me was content to stay laying on the grass in the inner courtyard where I had been laying for Amy to take an above shot. The grass was dry and not itchy so it was actually very comfortable to lay there and stare upwards at the stone structures. Instantly this letter came into my mind,
Dear Mother,
Won’t be coming home, going to live at Kidwelly castle forever- ok? Okay.
-Sincerely,
Gone with the wind.
After Kidwelly we tried for another castle but the cost and time was just a bit crunching so we rushed back to school for a late evening rehearsal for the car scene. I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but we needed it and I was glad we had it. Andy had been working really hard on the sound for the show, I give him a big hand for putting it all together. Seriously, epic work there.
Chibi Mozart for Andy. XP More for me...
Monday- rehearsal all day. Yup that was pretty much it. I was lucky that this night brought about the resurrection of the vegetable kiev. Well it was one of the nights this week- since my memory at this point is blurry.
After that Alberie and I ran back to our rooms with our to-go boxes and then gathered in my room to watch the new episode of Supernatural. This has become something of a habit with us. We had a blast making faces at the screen and taking pictures of our reactions to the hilarious episode. I personally had a blast just having girl time in the room and watching the episode. We also spent some time taking pictures of the scary bird hordes outside my window. Really they are pretty as they are scary, and they are extremely entrancing to watch. It was a good end to a long day.
Tuesday- Today we held something called a costume parade. Basically you are put in your costumes and made to go out on stage and the directors scrutinize you. It was kinda odd being up there and standing still for so long. I didn’t pass unfortunately for our amazing costume designer Kat. My ankles were showing waaaay too much and apparently I looked a little too bare. It was fun to wear the costumes though, since I’ve always wanted to wear an Edwardian outfit. Everyone looked amazing, and I was secretly jumping for joy in my costume. Being a history fan and a cosplayer- it was almost like a dream come true. I love how easy it is for me to slip into character once a costume is on my back. The boys in the military jackets also made for a good day. Big thumbs up for all the men in our cast, you looked simply DASHING. I was keen on stealing some of the jackets and my favorite piff (SP?) helmet which made me look like Jane from Tarzan. Unfortunately never did manage to sneak them out. After the costumes where off we did a run of the show and then sauntered off to dinner.
Later that night around 8 we were supposed to meet for Pancake Day. Yes, friends…this is ACTUALLY holiday in the UK. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy about a holiday. It’s a holiday for food! Of course there was one slight problem. UK pancakes are more like crepes then your normal fat fluffy pancakes. I hate to say it folks, but to all my UK friends, that- what you make- is definitely a crepe. Same consistency and same size- everything, because it is a crepe. Fluffy and fat, now there is a pancake. Not that I’m complaining. I like crepes better then pancakes any day. This day was no exception. I filled mine with blueberries, chocolate nutella, and powdered sugar. I think I died inside, it was soooooo good. The night was filled with fun and I really enjoyed hanging out with everyone like that. I find I always enjoy my time when I’m with Caroline, Amy, Andy, Cat, Alberie, and Monty. Never a dull moment.
Wednesday- More running the show. By this point I think I was about ready to bash my head against a wall. First was that stupidly white room that could never be the right temperature. Second, was the fact that I acted for 9 years and then decided it wasn’t for me. I’ve always wanted to be in the entertainment industry, and acting was just the first job on the list of many there. I loved acting, but after a while it just wasn’t enough for me and all is turned out to be was plain tiresome. I cant explain it really, but by senior year of high school I was tired of my career choice. I just couldn’t expand as much as I wanted, and the job itself felt limiting. The we were assigned directing assignments for advanced drama and then it hit me. I was having fun. Finally after four years of waffling I was having fun again. I loved it. So it quickly became my career path. But being back at acting, well…at first it was enjoyable, but I was quickly reminded why I changed to directing. Today it was at its worst. I just didn’t want to be sitting in the actor seat, I wasn’t having fun.
After rehearsal the sun was shining and everyone decided to get together to sunbathe. I went along for something to do other then sit in my room for hours on end. It was fun to hang with the gang and come up with some rather funny jokes about wizard sleeves. Honestly, I felt like I was not really there, just a person watching in on a good group of friends. It really is nice to see the friendly and family atmosphere around everyone here. Even though there has been drama and stuff, they still trust each other and it’s obvious in the way they get along. Everyone here is so nice and open and it makes ‘me’ sad that they will be graduating at the end of this term. Although I’m not really a part of their group in that way (because I haven’t been here for three years) I don’t want their fun together end. Really they are such great people. I wish we had this back home…
Thursday- First tech, and it was a doosey. Granted, first techs always are. It’s not the actors day, it’s the technicians day and usually I love it. But by lunch we had only gotten ten pages in. It was looking like it would be a late night in too. My feet were extremely sore because of standing so long and the fact I have weak ankles and a bad back were not helping. By lunch it was painful to sit or stand and I felt like an 80 year old grandparent. My body wanted to just curl and clamp up in bed and never get up again. It was extremely painful, and so my mind was kind of gone all day because of it. After lunch however we managed to make it to the end of the first act. I was extremely excited for dinner and bed- once again I was missing water polo. One of these days I’ll go play again. But I was in far too much pain that day to even put on a bathing suit.
Friday- Ran all of act two for tech. Back was sore again- and my mind was wandering all day long. I had a lot of things on my mind and I was really too tired to go out. I ended up staying in and watching more supernatural. We would be having rehearsal tomorrow.
go onto part two....
I had to really work as to not burst into tears. I always want to cry when I leave my dad. Waving goodbye to him at Paddington station was probably the hardest thing I’ve done all trip. I kept wanting and hoping he would come with me, and to pass the ticket check and watch him stay behind was oddly jolting. As soon as I could manage it, I turned my attention to finding the cart that had no reserved seats…but even then all I felt like doing was crying. I miss dad, and I don’t think I realized how much I really miss my family back home. Yet, there is an odd sense of comfort in traveling that I have always found to lull with me. There are many times where travel is stressful and all you can think about is finally getting to the end destination. Beneath all that stress, in the actual process of traveling (in this case by train back to Carmarthen), there is a quiet and soft feeling. Almost like accomplishment, but more soft like tranquility. It’s indescribable. I’ve always found that going from one place to another makes me think about my life and the places I’ve been as well as the places I wish most dearly to go. I love travel, and am almost scared to admit that I may even be slightly addicted to it. It’s hard and unnerving to stay in one place for too long. Oh but forgive me, it’s been three weeks hasn’t it? Let me start back at the beginning...
Monday & Tuesday-
I’m going to be honest. It was two days full of rehearsal hours. Tuesday day was probably the most stressful of those, because it just lagged on and on. Everyone was getting tired and frustrated with working and the energy for every scene was just depleted. Many of the actors had lost hope for the day, which admittedly was one of our main problems from the start. Then at the end John was giving us notes and by that time everyone had thrown up their hands and pretty much said ‘Yes crap run today, we will do it better tomorrow- can we just go?’. Yes, even I was short tempered by the end of the day. Tuesday night was an international dinner for St. Davids day. After the long day of finalizing the second act we booked it to the dinner place and stock piled food before bolting off to redo our makeup and hair before again, bolting over to the dinner we were already late to. The dinner was ‘ok’ and the desert, Welsh cakes, was phenomenal. I’ve never had them, but I guess being in Wales, well….gotta have Welsh Cakes. I managed to snag a few more from a couple at the other tables before leaving for the night. They had some choir students come and sing for us and they sung ‘anthem’ from the musical Chess in Welsh. I fell in love with that song when I heard Josh Groban sing it, and hearing them- well…let’s just say I couldn’t help but sing along. In English of course.
I want my bangs back......eeeww forehead.
Wednesday- This day was an odd day. After the many days stuck in rehearsal all day, we got something of a day off. Well most of the cast, those of us in the ‘preshow’ took today to choose our songs. I was unwilling to sing a solo so I decided to just jump in with Cat’s “Dilly Dally” song. I was comfortable with this, I like singing- but I’m not confident in my ability to do so. Never really have been, and singing seems to be the only time I get stage fright. Anyway, we got our sheet music and we headed back to my room to practice. It turned into a three hour talking session and then a promise for dinner. We went back to change a little bit and I went to get take away for dinner so I could eat the left overs later. I ended up eating it before going out anyway. We went to dinner at this place called Wetherspoons. It’s a larger pub with lots of seats and dim lighting. I had your typical fish n’ chips for dinner and Cat and I shared a bottle of wine. It was definitely one of my favorite girls nights out. We spied our old Shakespeare teacher having dinner with our friend Shane. I gotta say, we where giggling pretty hard after that. We finished the wine and went back for the night. At that point I really needed a girls night out. I just was not feeling like myself lately, and it was helping to talk to others. I went out to the union after dinner and hung out at the upstairs bar. I didn’t drink anything but we hung out with a couple of buddies before getting kicked out. Hanging with Andrew and Shane was fun again. It reminds me of hanging with my guy friends back home and too be honest, I was glad for the guy buddy company for once. I think over all I just wanted to be with friendly company. I don’t know why, but I guess…I was getting lonely.
Thursday- Spent the entire day in rehearsal. Gotta say, I was wiped out. Went to bed shortly after replying to all those rp games I’m in. I really need to catch up with those. Speaking of which, Pandora hearts keeps getting better and better, in my opinion. I have also started a few new series like sengoku basara, afterschool charisma, and re-reading vampire knight. All this and I started watching Supernatural. Lord I’ve hit the wall since all I do is watch and read things lately. No wonder my rp attendance is poor. Sorry my 7 characters currently in games….I will get back to you I promise.
I also think this is a good place to mention how much I miss cosplay. I keep seeing photos from the Sakura gathering and certain *cough* Harry Potter *cough* photo shoots and I literally just want to rush to a fabric store and start sewing. Sewing was also a huge stress reliever back home, and it kept me from going insane. I think that is a big part of my life that I’m missing right now- a good stress reliever. I hate missing things, and missing the photo shoots is just plain painful. I know, that is just so pathetic and weird…but I’m addicted to it and I don’t care. It keeps me happy. So missing it means a slightly pouty me. But I keep reminding myself that I’m in Europe- ….how do I ever keep forgetting? Anyway, I miss my sewing machine, I miss cosplay, and most importantly, I miss my friends back home- a LOT. And just to be more stalker then I really should be- here have a couple of their awesomely beautiful photos.
Squuueeeeeeee!!! Super Epic you guys. So Jealous. (James Potter, Lily Potter/// Regulus Black/// Lucius Malfoy)
Friday- Ah, interesting night Friday. You can take a wild guess as to what the day was filled with. I’m pretty sure you’ll get it right. Friday I went out to the bar to just get out of my room. The more I’m alone, the more I think and recently that is NOT what I want to do. Lately I keep plaguing myself with thoughts of me being a person that I had every intention of NOT being back home. Guilt is the fuel for the fire of depression, and to be honest I was feeling really guilty. So I went out to try and ignore myself for a while. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately…I should probably be worried. When I got there I saw a lot of people I knew and it was rather enjoyable to chit chat with certain people. Monty came to the union completely drunk, and well- I was tipsy and in the ‘ignore every moral aspect of yourself’ mode anyway. So in exchange for him buying me a drink, I kissed him. More like made out with him. It was er….enjoyable to the very impulsive and lonely side of myself. The other half of me was rightfully calling myself a slut. For the first time in months I was arguing with myself again. Because I was totally missing my shoulder angels bicker back and forth….totally. I quickly set off to hit my head against a wall, literally folks. After that, and after Monty left with help from the ever so lovely Carl, I went back upstairs to hang with Harry, Montys roommate. Tired of my moral side getting to me I decided to just give up all hope of me being saved that night and quickly talked Harry into mixing me a drink. Drank it, and five minutes later I was drunk. The rest of the night is like looking through thick water. Only a blur of images and the taste of shrimp flavored ramen are what is left of that night. Something tells me that’s a good thing. It’s times like these that I appreciate Monty being casual and calm as he is…some part of me wishes I could take things in stride like he does. Too bad my shoulder angel *good* would never allow me to do anything without intense scrutiny either before or afterward. I do remember hanging out with Simon a LOT that night. Him and Harry- geez I feel bad for the guys. Sorry, you two, for any trouble I caused.
Saturday- So here is was, and I woke up with a slight hang over. Nothing a little spring cleaning couldn’t cure. This past few weeks at Carmarthen has seen the first signs of spring. The sun (regrettably in my tastes) is out almost 100% of the time and with no clouds to boot. Tiny colorful flowers are popping up in the grass and the air is cool with the lingering wisps of winter. Being a Californian, I usually still need a coat to keep warm, but a lot of people are taking to sun bathing and shorts. I can’t help but think it IS beautiful. All the green and cool air, but I do miss the rain. I chose today of all days to finally clean the pig sty my room had become. Taking two loads of laundry to the mat, I came back and quickly began to clean using actual cleaning supplies. I washed the windows, the counters, my clothes and managed to dust and remake the room back into perfect working order. I was feeling really content in doing small chores like these while blasting my music from my poor computer. It’s times like these I realize the small comfort one gets from simple tasks like this. The odd happiness that comes with scrubbing the window sill as I look out at the beautiful welsh landscape. I was thinking that I really could live here…and I could be happy by myself in a welsh house, cooped up with a computer and books to keep me happy. Of course I remember the lack of conventions--- maybe as a retirement home then. I also have times like these to remember that I have a certain four parents to thank for forcing me to clean the house every weekend for years. Otherwise I’d have been stumped trying to survive today.
Well Saturday night was the long awaited Girls Disney night. We invited several people but stuff happens and we ended up with Alberie, Cat, Caroline, and myself for a night full of laughs and sighs. We started out the night with Cat bringing over her monstrous collection of dvds and we all ordered Chinese food from oriental china. I got severely addicted to rice crackers. It didn’t help when we finally managed to finish them and then my neighbor came over and asked if we would like her extra pack. None of us could resist. We watched Hercules, Thumbelina, and Hunchback of Notre Dame. We actually watched and sang along with Hercules, but as soon as Thumbelina came on, so too did the impressions and impersonations. By Hunchback we were lost in having more fun with Carolines character by character do over. We had also cast the entire movie of Thumbelina with the ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ cast. This brought on a few fit of giggles. We also had a large new set of jokes. (Cornelius and his single finger sticking out of the ice, Cornelius and his bee fancy, the connection between the pierrots(sp?) in the play and the frog quartet in the movie, Alberie having more than three teeth, not having a mustache, and definitely not being a frog, and a bunch more throughout the movie. I fell asleep that night, content. Castle tomorrow!!!
Sunday- Kidwelly castle was slightly more complete then the other castles I had visited lately. Guess I survived the English raids a little better. When I woke up I was super excited, I had loved the last trip- like hell I was missing this one. I was running a bit late since I over slept but it didn’t take me long to run out the door with Alberie in tow and to Caroline’s apartment. We were quickly on our way with our little band of girls. Caroline, Amy, Alberie, and I. It was already going to be a good day. It has also been confirmed that Stefani will from now on require a leash when visiting any site of historical significance. I was in the castle before anyone could catch me (almost without paying). Quickly we all began to climb the towers and explore all the places we could crawl into. Of course we totally missed the sign at the front forbidding anyone from climbing on the rocks that where unmarked to be climbed. Totally missed that.
I quickly whipped out the camera and set off to snag some awesome photos. You can look at all of them on my facebook but some are below for you to just get a small glimpse.
The Castle itself was gorgeous. Some of the rooms, while their furnishings were gone, were well preserved and you could clearly envision what this castle would have been like almost three centuries ago. Climbing the stone steps and striding the length of the tower walls. It was exciting. The landscape was beautiful…full of green rolling hills on one side with scattered houses and a flat beach on the other. Later I would pass this site by train and see the castle for a second time, and this view would come back into memory. Being here inspired hundreds of ideas for a photo-shoot and I longed to go change into some pretty dress and do my hair up and go dance around. Honestly, half of me was content to stay laying on the grass in the inner courtyard where I had been laying for Amy to take an above shot. The grass was dry and not itchy so it was actually very comfortable to lay there and stare upwards at the stone structures. Instantly this letter came into my mind,
Dear Mother,
Won’t be coming home, going to live at Kidwelly castle forever- ok? Okay.
-Sincerely,
Gone with the wind.
After Kidwelly we tried for another castle but the cost and time was just a bit crunching so we rushed back to school for a late evening rehearsal for the car scene. I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but we needed it and I was glad we had it. Andy had been working really hard on the sound for the show, I give him a big hand for putting it all together. Seriously, epic work there.
Chibi Mozart for Andy. XP More for me...
Monday- rehearsal all day. Yup that was pretty much it. I was lucky that this night brought about the resurrection of the vegetable kiev. Well it was one of the nights this week- since my memory at this point is blurry.
After that Alberie and I ran back to our rooms with our to-go boxes and then gathered in my room to watch the new episode of Supernatural. This has become something of a habit with us. We had a blast making faces at the screen and taking pictures of our reactions to the hilarious episode. I personally had a blast just having girl time in the room and watching the episode. We also spent some time taking pictures of the scary bird hordes outside my window. Really they are pretty as they are scary, and they are extremely entrancing to watch. It was a good end to a long day.
Tuesday- Today we held something called a costume parade. Basically you are put in your costumes and made to go out on stage and the directors scrutinize you. It was kinda odd being up there and standing still for so long. I didn’t pass unfortunately for our amazing costume designer Kat. My ankles were showing waaaay too much and apparently I looked a little too bare. It was fun to wear the costumes though, since I’ve always wanted to wear an Edwardian outfit. Everyone looked amazing, and I was secretly jumping for joy in my costume. Being a history fan and a cosplayer- it was almost like a dream come true. I love how easy it is for me to slip into character once a costume is on my back. The boys in the military jackets also made for a good day. Big thumbs up for all the men in our cast, you looked simply DASHING. I was keen on stealing some of the jackets and my favorite piff (SP?) helmet which made me look like Jane from Tarzan. Unfortunately never did manage to sneak them out. After the costumes where off we did a run of the show and then sauntered off to dinner.
Later that night around 8 we were supposed to meet for Pancake Day. Yes, friends…this is ACTUALLY holiday in the UK. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy about a holiday. It’s a holiday for food! Of course there was one slight problem. UK pancakes are more like crepes then your normal fat fluffy pancakes. I hate to say it folks, but to all my UK friends, that- what you make- is definitely a crepe. Same consistency and same size- everything, because it is a crepe. Fluffy and fat, now there is a pancake. Not that I’m complaining. I like crepes better then pancakes any day. This day was no exception. I filled mine with blueberries, chocolate nutella, and powdered sugar. I think I died inside, it was soooooo good. The night was filled with fun and I really enjoyed hanging out with everyone like that. I find I always enjoy my time when I’m with Caroline, Amy, Andy, Cat, Alberie, and Monty. Never a dull moment.
Wednesday- More running the show. By this point I think I was about ready to bash my head against a wall. First was that stupidly white room that could never be the right temperature. Second, was the fact that I acted for 9 years and then decided it wasn’t for me. I’ve always wanted to be in the entertainment industry, and acting was just the first job on the list of many there. I loved acting, but after a while it just wasn’t enough for me and all is turned out to be was plain tiresome. I cant explain it really, but by senior year of high school I was tired of my career choice. I just couldn’t expand as much as I wanted, and the job itself felt limiting. The we were assigned directing assignments for advanced drama and then it hit me. I was having fun. Finally after four years of waffling I was having fun again. I loved it. So it quickly became my career path. But being back at acting, well…at first it was enjoyable, but I was quickly reminded why I changed to directing. Today it was at its worst. I just didn’t want to be sitting in the actor seat, I wasn’t having fun.
After rehearsal the sun was shining and everyone decided to get together to sunbathe. I went along for something to do other then sit in my room for hours on end. It was fun to hang with the gang and come up with some rather funny jokes about wizard sleeves. Honestly, I felt like I was not really there, just a person watching in on a good group of friends. It really is nice to see the friendly and family atmosphere around everyone here. Even though there has been drama and stuff, they still trust each other and it’s obvious in the way they get along. Everyone here is so nice and open and it makes ‘me’ sad that they will be graduating at the end of this term. Although I’m not really a part of their group in that way (because I haven’t been here for three years) I don’t want their fun together end. Really they are such great people. I wish we had this back home…
Thursday- First tech, and it was a doosey. Granted, first techs always are. It’s not the actors day, it’s the technicians day and usually I love it. But by lunch we had only gotten ten pages in. It was looking like it would be a late night in too. My feet were extremely sore because of standing so long and the fact I have weak ankles and a bad back were not helping. By lunch it was painful to sit or stand and I felt like an 80 year old grandparent. My body wanted to just curl and clamp up in bed and never get up again. It was extremely painful, and so my mind was kind of gone all day because of it. After lunch however we managed to make it to the end of the first act. I was extremely excited for dinner and bed- once again I was missing water polo. One of these days I’ll go play again. But I was in far too much pain that day to even put on a bathing suit.
Friday- Ran all of act two for tech. Back was sore again- and my mind was wandering all day long. I had a lot of things on my mind and I was really too tired to go out. I ended up staying in and watching more supernatural. We would be having rehearsal tomorrow.
go onto part two....