It's that time of year again when our scripts are engraved into our heads, dance steps are rehearsed and rehearsed again, and every Tuesday and Wednesday night is lost to the theatre.
Polish your dancing shoes, kids - Croft Players return.
Producer Janice informed us last night that we have six rehearsals left until we get an audience is...just six. Wow.
I know Scene One. I know Scene Six too - that's only one line. But the introduction of dancing has really thrown any coherent memory of song lyrics, and yet again it's hard to find that balance between right steps and right words. As I said on stage last year, "Oh, Bollocks...."
I made a bit of a cock up - the phone number and Sat Matinee time on the posters were wrong. It actually got me down last night, since they've been printed, laminated and distributed. Fail.
Let's hope there're no such cock ups on the programmes, hey...
I'm also designing, rigging, colouring, focusing and programming the lights this year - and it's looking quite good, to be honest. Always nice to have that little bit extra, you know? This is our 35th anniversary show, and it'd be nice if we managed to do it well...
However, we are rigging the day after Hannah's birthday party. That'll be interesting!
Kenneth and I had gone cycling, looking for a weir that we could take some nice long exposures of. It turned out to be an utter failure without a ND filter...
...but to the ford on Watery Gate Lane, what do I find abandoned in the ford? A red Mini cooper - classic Brit, not German shit. With a white chequered roof.
Now there's only one person I know who drives a red mini with a white-and-red roof...Dan, the eejit who kept talking over me at the last School Council meeting. Could it possibly be him?
Hell yeah.
Me and Kenneth loved it... best photo moment in ages and beat the weir by miles! Dan had to get his Dad to come, and his mates John and Adam who bought a Land Rover with a trailer. It took me, Dan, his Dad, John, Adam and a passing old lady [who'd suffered a dognapping] to push the Mini up onto the trailer. I snapped away happily whilst Dan ate humble pie...
Oh, it was a great way to spend an afternoon. I'd have loved to have been there to capture Dan's face as he climbed through the window of his stricken Mini...
This post is dedicated to Taran Maguire, who sadly is still with us. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time...
Don't go into theatre, kids. It's stressful, tiring and not worth the hassle.
Right, lads, let's have some video...
Yes, it was a great weekend for Michelle and her girls did really well, they had a great show. And the light and sound wern't too bad either. A bit of clarification, in that video I say that the desk and the computer "wern't talking to each other" and by this I do not mean that they'd had a bit of a fall out. I mean they electronically were not interfacing.
They hadn't had a little tiff in the car on the way to the venue.
And to be honest it did kinda hinder the smooth running of the day, we had to do a few bits of lighting off the cuff, which to watch was a little like me playing piano on the desk for the chase scenes....
Taz did the filming, and he was good to have around for the day. As was Liam Payne, who gave up his day to keep me calm and thinking technically, which he did well and I'm grateful for.
So now the show's over and I'm looking forward to the next one - Croft Players, 8th April onwards...
Looking good - I just happen to know the rig at Croft uses ancient Patt 123 fresnels, which are 165mm gel frames. Hey, guess what I don't have any of... Actually that reminds me, I should make a trip to Thomas Estley and retrieve my gels from their lights from the show - I did invoice them for them but they never got back to me...
In other news, the Winter Olympics are playing hell with my sleeping patterns...but Amy Williams is going for gold in the Skeleton tonight. And Curling is a fascinating sport.
I went out to take some pictures today. I was out ten minutes, and then me and Kenneth got caught in an absolute blizzard. I am no longer a fan of snow. I'd taken a grand total of 14 pictures... but I have bought a 3 stop ND filter!
Finally, yes, a rant. Live Eastenders tonight. WOO! No. Don't ever go near a theatre, you can;t act and I'll be stood centre stage waiting for you with a shotgun. Everyone's like "Oh, 17 million people watching, wow..."
Piss off. Lady Diana's funeral was watched live by 2.5 billion people worldwide, and she didn't bat an eyelid...
It's been another long week, and all I've done all week is upset people. Never fun.
I headbutting Katie was too far, but every one else asked for it. Especially Amelia, who spent a large part of Thursday night's drama session complaining about her throat herpes. Bugger off.
We're at the last weekend before science exams. Biology first. I must remember to choose the stupid answers, as they seem to be the right ones - "She remembers she needs to turn left when she smells the sweet factory." This woman should not be allowed to drive.
Physics and Biology are looking fair, but Chemsitry will be a total blag. This is not entirely my fault. It's more the fact that half the subject hasn't been taught to us. Between a revision session with another teacher and the godsend of CGP revision guides, Rupert and I learnt more about atoms and the like than we've been taught so far this academic year - and we're about half way through it.
I've finally got round to improving some photos in Photoshop - mainly because DI are madly booked for February and I'll never get time if I leave it much longer. I should probably start with the Fiona pictures from Halloween, but I got so sidetracked with my robins this morning I lost an hour somewhere...
I'm not complaining, I'm actually quite pleased with some of my pictures. Which is good for my morale, because Kenneth has been sat in his bag for a week, all dejected. But this is not a pleasant time of year to be outside taking pictures.
My LeCAP form is nearly complete - I'm applying for Leicester and Brooksby Melton. I've also put in for Lutterworth's Post-16, with my choices made in three minutes flat on Friday morning...followed by a classic "Oh, Bollocks!" moment when Dave pointed out it needed to be signed by my parents. Morale of the story, kids, is deadlines are not the time to be doing your application forms...
Best of luck to everyone who're taking exams in the next two weeks x
Firstly an apology - there have been no posts this week. This has been entirely down to the fact that I am now back to the daily grind at Lutterworth. So here, I'll sum up basically what happened during this week...
Monday - Fiona came early, fell asleep in my bed. Visited Thomas Estley to look at light/sound boards for MASOD Show in Feb. Piece of piss. Seeing Michelle Saturday to sort out technical details. Fell off bike on Swannington Road. Saw the film "Nine". It wasn't much to write home about.
Tuesday - Back school. Mediocre day, nice to see everyone again. Double Mulla. Snow starts to fall. Abi's birthday. Got slapped.
Wednesday - Take camera to school and take snowy pictures during registration. Very cold. Snow is starting to cause trouble. Pass chemistry test at B without revision - high mark compared to class.
Thursday - Snow continues. Ice starts to form - big boots on. Spend the morning learning French Controlled coursework. Fail French coursework. Mrs S in good mood - scary. Big fight between chavs and Indians - resembling 80s Bradford. Received correct course code from Leicester College. Croft Players rehearsal moved to pub - enough thespians to go ahead with show. Very happy. Followed by poor signing as Vicky forgot lyric sheets.
Friday - Perks [rightly] outraged by race riots. Bans snowballing. Effective punishment - not been hit by ice all day. Gave Abi her birthday present from the Emerald Isle. Wore six layers at one point. Failed at Badminton. Mrs S still in relatively nice mood - Codd disagrees. Snow continues to fall as Britain is rendered useless by powdery white stuff. Talk of grit running out. Methinks snowday on Monday. Spent the last four hours drinking wine and photoshopping the Croft Silver Band pictures.
