What a Week?!

I had a smashing week!
Oh, by the way - it's quite long.

PRIOR TO THE SMASHING WEEK:
My showcase pieces from Thursday had been very well received within our school. LOADs of people have come up to me and said how much they liked it and how surprised they were. And one of the tutors has said that based on my showcase, he thinks I have been miscast and underestimated by the school repeatedly in all the other productions. Which I already knew. Bah! A bit bloody late now! Oh well. Anyway, now I have just one more week of uni left! Then I'm finished forever! Hurrah! Dilemma: We have been told by the school again not to waste the first year out of uni. Principal Stephen said for that year, we are the shiny new graduates and people will be prepared to go out of their way to see what new talent is on offer. In a year, we're just part of the mass of actors and there is a whole new class of graduates that everyone's fawning over. BUT I WANT TO GO TO ASIA WITH SIMON SOON!!!!! GAAAAAHHHHH!!!! Don't know what to do. I chatted to Simon briefly on MSN t'other day - he is enjoying South America. What other news?
Oh - Jess has asked me if I want to move in with her and her mate in Bearwood next year for some time. Tempting. I need to mull this over.

THIS WEEK:
I went to London on Monday - we got the coach down from the Link building in town. I say coach - It was the tiniest coach I've ever seen! But we all fit on it (snugly!). There was the usual hour or so hiatus where songs are sung, and all those things that must just make bus drivers cringe occurred - A rousing chorus of Hail to the Bus-Driver Man included.
Well, when we arrived at the theatre, we unloaded, and then those of us staying in the hostel went off to find it. After some confusion about whether we were actually booked or not, we found our rooms (6 floors up - the view down the stairwell was dizzying!). Unfortunately, the one I was sharing with Polly, Naz, and Cath smelled of damp water because the nearby womens shower was playing up. That was sorted and so we went to the pub. In the end, Rod, Martin, Johan and I ended up traipsing round Soho before Martin went to meet a mate and we three remaining kings found a lovely (read: lovely & cheap) little Thai restaurant. We then spent the rest of the night in a really cute (read: cute & cheap) pub. Martin rejoined us, and the night before showcase we were all a tad merry.
I woke up feeling fine, Johan felt rough as a dog. Showcase went very well, and then came the horrible bit afterwards, where wine and snacks were served and we had to mingle with agent-types.
I spoke to Nicole Ribet, our old battleaxe movement teacher. She is really a lovely person outside of a teaching environment. She was glad I'd cut my hair at last - she was the biggest force pushing for me to do that. I was glad she'd commented and she rightly said I'd be disappointed if she hadn't. About travelling, she said "Follow your heart - not that I need to tell you, you always have anyway" and basically said, Acting will always be around but I wouldn't always have the chance to travel. She also said she travelled and it didn't do her any harm. Hmmmm - more to mull!

Since then - I've had Shane Collins - a very good agency be intouch. They're a partnership and one of them, Polly saw me. When I rung the office back, I spoke to a bloke who told me Polly had been "raving" about me all day! So that's nice! I've gotta call them back on Monday when Shane himself is back off holiday! I also had a Birmingham agency call school about me - I've gotta ring them back too. And also a London based Co-Opperative agency. They basically said ring back when I'm living in London, but it's nice to know there is some interest.

I went to the pub with everyone that night, bumped into some old 3rd years and dips, had a great night (No - I didn't get drunk!), went back to the lovely and cute Thai restaurant and pub with Johan (he and I have been getting on very well recently) and then went to bed. Was awakened by Naz coming into the room at 3:30am asking if James could stay there despite him not having paid to. Since Polly was in Tom's room I said yes cuz he was saying he'd have to sleep on the floor otherwise, but regretted it when he turned lights on, talked, then buggered off to get food, and returned just as I was nodding back off, turned the lights on and ate, then fell asleep before me and started snoring. I coulda throttled him!

The next morning, Polly, Rod, Naz and I went to get a full English, then sat in a garden chatting, then I went to Picadilly Circus to get a tube to Chiswick to meet Matt. He was at uni til 9 but had an hour off for lunch. I like getting around London. In the handful of times I've been there, I'm picking up the lay of it pretty well. I'm quite good at finding my way around places. My plan was to meet Matt at his for lunch, then go to the Tate Modern for the rest of the evening and figure out a plan for late evening later. WELL - what should I see on the tube station wall, but a poster for BEIJING OPERA in Sadler's Wells in Islington. And it was running for another 3 days! Islington is MILES from Chiswick but I HAD to go and see it! I've wanted to see Chinese Opera for YEARS!!!! Blame Jackie Chan - It's what he trained in as a child. But I read up on it and found it really interesting. Matt was at uni til 9 so on my own, I trecked clean across London to the Tate Modern. I spent two hours there, and only managed to see the Still Life wing. It's immense! The more I go to art galleries (or the older I get) the more I appreciate them. I really enjoyed the cubist art for the first time in my life. I'd never been keen on it before as I never saw the point but this time I saw a point to it. I will definitely be checking out more. I walked across the Millenium Bridge to leave, and then trekked across London again and walked for ages from the tube station in Islington to get to the theatre. As I said, I enjoy travelling round London. No doubt it's novelty has a shelf life. The opera I saw was about a woman who had been a benevolent snake spirit, who married a man. But a jealous monk told the man she was an evil spirit and convinced him to get her drunk so she revealed her true form. He was so shocked he died, and she had to go to the Magic Mountain to steal a herb to bring him back to life. It was amazing - so unlike anything I have ever seen - really stylised. The fighting was amazing - pleanty of acrobatics, and interestingly, I can see why the old kung fu films looked so obviously clunkily choreographed - they still hadn't broken away fro this ultra-stylised stuff. Highlight: when the Snake Spirit was fighting an army, she was surrounded by about 10 men, all armed with sticks, and for ages they threw sticks at her, and with deft flicks of her feet and hands, she flicked the sticks straight back at them, over long distances with amazing accuracy. And when they ALL threw their sticks at her, she jumped in the air, and with what seemed one movement, sent all the sticks flying out again in different directions all at once, straight back at each guy! Amazing! And I had the best seat in the house! I bought a standby ticket, available to concessions only and hour before the show. I got it for £15. It was in the centre of the very first row of the first circle. The guy next to me paid the full £50 for his!!! I was smug! Then I headed back to Matt's. We played Guilty Gear X 2 for a bit, then went to bed. He had to be up in the morning.

I woke up later than I wanted to, played the PS2 for a bit, then went to an internet cafe to check my emails (maybe another agent had been in touch!!! They hadn't though I did get the message about the co-op agency and rung them back while I was there) and to book the Megabus home. Then I ambled round Chiswick for a bit in the pissing rain. Then went to Matt's when I got too wet and learnt some lines for the all but neglected Portfolio assessment on Monday. Matt rung me at 6 to say he had finished, and met ex-Stage 2-er Bethan who was auditioning for ArtsEd, so for the rest of the evening til about 9, we went to the pub and caught up which was very nice. Then we went back to Matt's and watched Kill Bill which he has never seen!!!

This morning, I awoke to find him sticking pens in my hair, got up, remembered that I'd had about 4 different dreams (or at least one dream with about 4 very different happenings!) throughout the night, found my way to the Megabus, nodded off mosta the way home and here you find me - I've learnt some more lines this evening, also discovered I'm flat broke and spent my last £2 on cheap-ass food from Kwik Save. Jenny went out with her mates tonight and got back in about 12. She was very sleepy so much as I wanted to, I haven't trecked over to hers as I would be trecking to go to sleep. She's got work tomorrow too so I wouldn't see her in the morning either really. So I'm gonna stay in tonight, and finish off learning lines. How sensible, no? I'm gonna work tomorrow afternoon til 9, Jen's working in the hotel from 12pm til 3pm and Eddies from 10pm til 4am so I shan't see her til Sunday but if I learn all I need to now, we can spend all Sunday together so that'll be nice. Dad texted me not long ago too. He wants to go for a pub lunch with me and Jen on Sunday so that will certainly be welcome!

NEAR FUTURE:
Monday - I have to ring Shane Collins to arrange an interview, ring a Birmingham agency that wants to speak to me, go to uni and do this assessment.
Friday - there is a cheese and wine thingy at uni for us, given that it is OUR LAST DAY!!!! And I have to hand in our Business Plans - basically telling school how we intend to further our careers once we leave. It is assessed. Then the ball at the Botanical Gardens in the evening.

My life from here on in has no rigid structure to it bar these few things. After Friday - I have no known compulsory events in my life. For the first time in 18 years. Very cool. Very scary.
I know 6th form and uni weren't compulsory, but they are the sort of things that, once embarked on, feel very much compulsory.
How weird. On leaving uni, I am at once relieved and sad. Relieved because, if you know me well, or have been following my LJ, you will know I have struggled with the course and have not liked what it has done to me. It has made me more insecure and noticably less happy and buoyant. At times it has felt like it is sucking the very life outta me. But yet, I am enjoying it now, and have been for some months. I have appreciated the people more (perversely, and probably not coincidentally just as I was thinking about the end being nigh) and will miss seeing them routinely. I have gotten used to BSA. I wonder who I will stay in touch with as now I know there are people I will make an effort stay in touch with and would be upset to lose touch with, and people I would quite like to but am not sure whether I actually will. This is as opposed to before, when I really couldn't have cared less. I'm gonna go away now and read some old LJ entries. The mood indicator says I am jubilant. I was when I started this. I think melancholic would be more appropriate now.
Don't worry about me. I'm perfectly happy!
Just thoughtful.
Night -xXx-