Thursday 18 December 2008

Thursday: One Week To Go!

"What did I tell you guys? They're always chasing me!" - Sonny

So, it's the Christmas holidays, and only one week to go until the big day itself. I'm so excited! If I was to get an Xbox, it would definitely be the best thing ever - fact. But that's a week away, and this stupid English essay is right now. Three days of battling against this confusing array of non-fluency and prosodic features, phatic talk, and Grice's maxims. And what do all of these tell us about spontaneous speech and the way in which language is scripted for a purpose? I don't know. Pffft. It's not too bad, it's just I don't know what to say, and then I think of a point, then realise it's rubbish, and I'm back to square one. Shit.

It doesn't really help as well that last half term at College was probably the best I've had at Toot Hill since I started. Grease was better than I think all of us could have imagined, so much fun to perform every night, new friendships made, others growing stronger. And panto rocked too. I was so happy and relieved that it all came together, and ultimately exhausted. It was a long, tough week, but it paid off brilliantly. So the impending Christmas holidays almost passed me by - I only truly realised that the Friday was the last day of school when I turned up, and there was a notice about free pizza (epic win) for all the hard work that had gone into making the half term such a success. Needless to say it wasn't a tough day - though I didn't feel too great. The panto after-drinks bit all went well, though we were absolutely stung for drinks (£2.50 a shot?!), and I used my charming (and modest) personality to scab a few drinks out of some very, very nice mates. I wasn't smashed or wasted or completely gone. But I had a great time. All was well in the morning - I wasn't feeling the best, but I never usually am in the morning. It wasn't until I went downstairs for some breakfast and opened the fridge to get the milk that I smelled the ghastly, mind-numbingly awful cheese that set my stomach upside down for the rest of the day. I couldn't eat breakfast. I felt quite a lot worse after that.

I had to do this presentation in media first lesson about representations of gay men in the media. I'd written the presentation about two weeks previously, and couldn't really remember anything about it. Hence, a stab at a random episode of Skins, hoping it contained homosexual gold, and confused ramblings about stereotypes, contertypes and the like. But I got away with it, and I think it mostly made sense. Yes! We opened our Sociology Secret Santa presents in Shelly's lesson, and I was so surprised at the quality of gifts, especially considering the £3 limit. Jo got me a photo frame with a picture of me and Krazy Karl Marx, some Ice Tea and Maltesers - really nicely thought out, and personal to me. Then it was Christmas assembly time, the usual guilt-trip, but with added Muppet Christmas Carol for an upbeat finish. I spent lunch in the beach hut with friends, munching on free pizza, hoarding the BBQ chicken flavour, and talking with Imo and Harnan. Then it was off to play hide and seek in the concert hall. Hide and seek is particularly difficult in an empty room, thus the need for invention was present. I hid by some chairs under my coat, but was rumbled quite quickly. All in all, I was quite sad to be going home for three weeks. Lie-ins and general rest sounded ace though.

Back to Grease. It was one of the best experiences of my life. The performances flew by, and there were so many great bits. The buzz at the end of every night was incredible. Panto was a much less polished production, but that was kind of the point. On the monday, I was distraught, ready to tear my hair out. I went home and comfort-ate some chocolate. Nice. But over the next couple of days it improved so much, and both performances were fantastic! To have Val say that it was the best College panto she'd ever seen was amazing, and even Harnan was impressed! The cast and crew - if you read this, you were ace! Well done, and thanks for sharing in one of the best times in my life. "Cos that sure ain't cheesy..."

So now, I'm in my room, trying to make sense of a horrific transcript for English, on the verge of giving up. I shall leave you with a video of an awe inspiring feat - this guy is 13 years old. What the hell. If I do not blog before then, have a Merry Christmas!