steph

Woohoo, today was my day off. i thought i'll treat myself to a deserved lie in. Unfortunately i was unceremoniously forced out of bed by the frigging fire alarm. Half dead I put on some clothes, in hope that they would be appropriate-ish for other people to see me in, and staggered outside. Surprisingly I managed to remember to take my key and my handbag, which kept me from breaking in my own room later on. While we were waiting outside and the fire brigade arrived, I took the opportunity to buy some bread, and as nothing was actually on fire (someone must have forgotten to close the kitchen door while cooking), we could go back inside. How is that for an exciting morning.

About an hour, 2 slices of toast and a tooth brush later, I was on my way to ‘run errands’. £110 for my flipping car insurance. That’s more than the car is actually worth. But it’s so easy to just write out a cheque, somehow it doesn’t seem so bad, as it’s no real money, only a piece of paper with some scribbles on it. It’s nearly as bad as plastic. It’s amazing, I hand over a piece of paper or a tiny plastic card and in return get loads of fantastic stuff. And the only thing that changes is the number on my online bank statement. Crazy world.

Never mind. I then found a nice café and did some reading for my course. Capuccino, chocolate cake and classical acting. Nice. I actually like this part of the course - learning about history, plays and playwrights, it's great. no, honestly, no sarcasm intended.

The first play we have to read is Sophocles’ King Oedipus. I kinda know the story, but reading the play is actually quite difficult, due to the language. So it’s a rather slow process trying to understand the context and especially getting to terms with all the different gods and references to other events. So I have started to research greek mythology. This is probably quite useful knowledge anyway, it just takes some sorting through and making simple graphs of relations etc. I always wanted to get a clearer picture of this, so this might just be my chance, as my former english teacher hasnt really succeeded, although this was his favourite subject in the world ever (believe me...it was!!)

I still havent got a job, but so far I actually don’t seem to have time to work. It would be cool to only have to work once or twice a week and to then fully concentrate on the course. We’ll see. In the meantime my bank balance is on a downward slope, and me frequently making use of the amazing shopping facilities in this town probably doesnt help at all.

Anyway. Time to go to bed, tomorrow is an early start. Voice and speech in the morning…I am a bit petrified to be honest...but i shall overcome the fear and learn...

I always wanted to do acting. not just for fun, but to actually make a living of it. there's not much else i'm any good at, so i hope this is gonna be it.

my course started properly this week. so far we had voice, acting and movement classes. most of it is really just ice-breaker games, so that we can get to know each other and the tutors see our abilities, but by next week we should be starting the 'real stuff'. the level seems to be very high, which is good in a way, because it should be more fun playing with the others, but unfortunate in a quite different way as there is obviously more competition for everyone. does this sound arrogant? nevermind.

i hope i'm gonna learn loads from this course. i dont want to waste my time, as i am not getting any younger and should at some point start to earn some proper money and stop being a student (although i rather enjoy it).

i already have a long list with things to read, research, look up etc to be fully prepared for the lessons and get the maximum benefit of what they are talking about. i'm still quite excited about the whole thing. so far we mainly played around (all under the heading of 'using our imagination'), but its good and enjoyable and probably one of the reasons why i want to be an actress...playing around and getting paid for it (not...most of the time to be honest). what better job can there be?

the whole course should be good for my body as well and i might even tone up a little bit. the main thing i need to work on so far and where i am hoping for lots of inspiration and guidance is my voice. i hate my voice. its as easy as that. i cant do anything with my voice. those of you reading this who know me from the good old days in the rübekamp choir know what i'm talking about. i suck. i cant sing, i cant do any accents, i cant do sounds, i talk too quickly and my projection could do with some work as well. so, i basically start at zero. woohey. so my aim for the next two years is to be able to hold a tune, have at least 2 proper accents (apart from the mix and match thing i'm currently pretending to be english) and to considerably improve my diction, which will hopefully slow me down. this shouldnt be too hard to achieve within two years.

it's really nice of so many people to encourage me and tell me that they really think i can make it and that i'm good at this sort of thing. i just hope you are right and were honest with me. cos guys, this is what i'm gonna be doing for the next two years and maybe (hopefully) for the rest of my life. so wish me luck.

Woohoo,

this is quite exciting. my own blog. not sure whether anyone bothers to read it, but in case you are interested in what i am currently up to...well, here you go. sorry, it's in english, but i can't be asked to translate everything.

I am just sitting in my rather spacious room in the centre of newcastle (uk), getting the net on wireless (isn't technology fantastic) and try to get my head round all the changes that have currently been happening in my life.

new city, new life, new career, new people, new shoes, new everything. new me? not really, well, maybe. don't know. so far i am feeling pretty much myself, but just wait in a few months i'm gonna be a totally stuck up bitch who pretends to be so much better than the rest of the world (or did you think that about me already anyway...?). why? well, cos i am gonna be....tatatataaaa....an 'actress'. oh, no, an 'actor' actually, the female version has been lost somehow (equality and stuff). not sure whether i'm ever gonna be an actress (i think i stick to the female version. just because i can), but this it what i am going to college for at the moment.

so far its been rather, hm, boring i guess. filling forms mainly. but that's hopefully done and dealt wiht now so that we can actually start doing some proper stuff. well, playing around that is.

newcastle is absolutely fantastic. i have only been here, what, 2 weeks, and i'm loving it. you should all come and visit. it's fab.

well, i think that's it for the first post in my new shiny blog (i haven't actually seen how it looks and don't really know what to do with most of the different functions, but i shall explore).

for now

love

steph