Greiving

It’s time, I’m afriad, to say goodbye to one of the ties in my small but brave collection. I know all their stories, and Ol’ Yella is no different.

Ol’ Yella came to me sometime in 2002 or 2003 as a donation from my english teacher, in support of my movement to be different. I instigated “Formal Friday” (the alliteration formed the basis of a much stronger cause than ‘Casual Friday’ - or so I thought), and at it’s peak I had a handful of followers.

I continued wearing ties on Fridays for quite a while, and I think there were people interested in which tie I would wear each week, and I often recieved ties as gifts. As for Ol’ Yella, he saw most of his action during 2003, and hasn’t been out since. It is for this reason that it’s time to send him off to neck tie heaven.

I won’t be burying him, instead I believe in reduce, reuse, recycle, so I’ve got plans for him that he’ll become the new band for my free King Kong watch that I scored in my last box of Sultana Bran, and he’ll also be used as a patch in a pair of jeans that have developed quite a rip.

In response to my impending loss, and to see OY out in one last blaze of glory, I have put together a photographic series of how to cope with the loss of a loved one. Check it out here at my flickr account. Oh, and neck tie with a grey Bonds t-shirt is cool.

All Our Children

The murder mystery party was great. You can see the photos here. Halfway through the second or third round I had seriously thought I had done it. The evidence was mounting. I think we even got into it more this time than last, and had a much better idea of what was going on story wise. I can’t wait for it to happen again! Who knew murder could be such fun!

Costume test

Against my academic self, I went out for a bit of a shopping spree today, doing the rounds of the op-shops. I got my costume for tomorrow night’s murder mystery party sorted. Here’s the final one of several variations I decided upon.

Now to fail tomorrow’s exam. I’m going to have to do this subject again. Ugh.

I can smell freedom in the air. It smells substantially better than the 5 pairs of underpants lying at the base of my bed.

Come Saturday afternoon I’ll have my final uni engagement over (an economics exam I am, as usual, woefully understudied for), so long as I finish my final concert review on Friday. I’m so excited. And then on Saturday night I’ll be heading to Heather’s for our Murder Mystery party! So much fun to be had! Click here for the photos of our last Murder Mystery party.

Boy, oh, boy am I excited about summer break. I really loved uni this semester, and I’m going to be keen to get stuck into my final year of music next year, but in the mean time I have plenty to get on with. Most dominantly I’ll be musically directing You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Heather and I plan to revise (well, just me) and then actually stage Maths: The Musical. We have been chatting and we have some VERY cool ideas I hope happen. Lastly I want to work on an idea I’ve been brewing, which I’m publishing here so if anyone else comes up with the idea before I finish it, I’ll have proof I didn’t steal it.

I want to write a musical parody of the ‘old-woman-from-the-general-public-who-solves-mysteries-that-the-police-incorrectly-solve’ genre, and it’ll be called “Murder, She Sings” (I like it a bit better than “Murder, She Sang”, which is the correct tense).

In the meantime I’ll do some mindnumbing study and stress endlessly until 11.15am on Saturday when they wretch that pen from my aching hands. Oy, I can’t believe its 2am and I’m still studying… three days away from the exam!

I’ve just had quite an amazing day.

It’s currently 3am and I’ve just gotten back from the after-party for Cabaret. Out of character for me, I really enjoyed myself, mixing with the variously intoxicated and un. I had the great opportunity to chat to my new friends, chat to people I had been meaning to talk to, and meet new people. People were continuously introducing me as “our musical director”, and endless people took the time to comment about the band and the music.

As always, these situations throw up quirky scenes. One was a guitarist for local band telling me how much he admires my musicianship. Alcohol loosened up one of my band members to tell me she loved the opportunity to get to know me, while the other, self-declared ‘off his face’ held his drink up to the sky and spoke the words to ‘Cabaret’.

The whole season went well. There were hiccups along the way, such as a thunderstorm falling on the tin roof of the theatre making several scenes all but inaudible, and one performance when two of the entrance doors were locked, meaning actors (and me) had to improvise for a few moments. Working with Gaye ended up being a real joy, and her note to me revealed just how much she appreciated my commitment to the project. It was very rewarding to have this confirmed, because dedication is really something I bust my gut for.

I know this all sounds very self-indulgent, but why wouldn’t it be? This is my little curtain call (even though I did actually get a curtain call each performance). It is these wonderful moments that makes the hard work, and it truly is, all more than worthwhile. I got to know some truly stunning people who, although we will be parting ways, have promised to keep in touch. I had the opportunity to work in a focussed environment more intense than I had before, and I was forced to learn new skills very quickly. To quote William Finn, “I need theatre! Give me theatre!”.