Since the Easter Holidays, I haven't been keeping up my blog at all. It's not because I haven't had anything to write about, but rather that I haven't had the time or energy to write about all the things that have been happening.
In the last couple of months, I have:
Been to Comic Con
Visited my father in Portugal
Went on the world's tiniest spinning teacups with my brother while my family participated in the Market Drayton 2013 10K race
Watched the Exorcist
Been voted Vice President of Warwick Glee
Won Performance of the Year with I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift in Glee Club
Finished all assignments and exams for my first year of University
Had my younger sister visit me for a couple of days
Bought an iPad with my birthday money
And probably a whole lot more that I can't think of right now.
So, my plan for the Summer is to get back into my blogging. I will start it off by writing posts about my C date and D date, then see where we go from there!
Where do I begin with the last couple of weeks? I have been so busy that I haven't managed to keep up my blog between Glee and assignments. Why have I been so busy, you ask? Well, for the last month or so, Warwick Glee have been rehearsing for the Masters of Show Choir 2013 competition. Masters of Show Choir is the only inter-University show choir competition in the country. Last year Warwick lost to Cambridge, so our President and Creative Director really wanted to step it up this year and show them what we're really made of.
These last two weeks of rehearsal have been intense, the last week especially. We had 5 to 10 rehearsals every night. I was actually only a reserve for the team, but I wanted to be there for as many rehearsals as I could so that I knew the songs and the dances. Ok, I didn't really know the dances in the end. I knew the moves (sort of) but not where they went, or in which order... It's a good job really that no one dropped out!
Apart from wanting to know the set, I also really just enjoyed being with Glee. Sure the rehearsals were long and tiring, but the people in Glee are some of the nicest, geekiest, funniest, weirdest, cutest, most talented people I've met and I love them all for it. We actually got to the point where we'd been spending so much time together, that quite a few of us were dreaming about Glee club!
But onto the actual competition. As it was down at Royal Holloway University in London, and we had to be there quite early, it meant we had to be up and meeting up at 8.30am... on a Saturday... after a week of daily 5 hour rehearsals... It was so worth it though. When we got there, we had to do a tech rehearsal so we could sort out any problems with lighting and sound. Later on we had a dress rehearsal to see how the set would be on one full run through. Here is where we ran into some problems. I don't know why, but the band was fine with everyone else's music, but as soon as it got to our set, they played too fast, they played too slow, they played the music completely wrong, and were generally just rubbish. It's not like the music was overly complicated either, and they were sent a recording of how it should sound as well. So our dress rehearsal wasn't exactly a run through. A couple of times our Creative Director had to stop the set to tell the band what to do. It wasn't helping the nerves of the team at all.
Luckily, everything was running ahead of schedule, and they were kind enough to give us an extra slot of time to sort out the problems. After that, we just sat around waiting for the show to start. I read my kindle while everyone was getting into costume or taking naps. Eventually it got to show time.
As I wasn't actually on the team, I got to watch all of the performances. Cambridge were up first, then it was Sussex, Swansea, Warwick and finally Royal Holloway. Each team had roughly 12 minutes of performance, then comments from the judges. It felt very X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent like. I have to say, even though I am totally biased, I enjoyed our set the most by far. Cambridge were very good vocally, and Sussex did an amazing a capella version of Black Bird by the Beatles, but our set was the most fun. The singing was great, the dancing was fantastic, and they just looked like they were having the most fun. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the other performances as well, but I just got such a buzz after Warwick went up.
After all the teams had performed, there was an interval while the judges went to discuss their thoughts and choose a winner. Naturally, me, the other reserves, and a couple of other members of Glee who weren't in the Show Choir team ran upstairs to pounce on everyone. I have never given nor received so many hugs from such smiley people in that short amount of time. Everyone was so pleased with their performance, it was lovely.
When they called the teams to line up again so they could go back onstage, we returned to our seats in the audience. I don't think I've experienced a more intense moment than while we were waiting for the judges to come back so they could announce the results. I was literally shaking with excitement.
There were 4 awards to hand out. The first was a Special Recognition award, which could go to an individual, or a team. When they were describing the reasons for choosing the team they did, based on the previous comments we'd heard, we guessed that it would go to Cambridge. When it did, we began thinking, "Can they win Special Recognition, and Masters of Show Choir? Is that possible?" We thought Cambridge were our main competition, so we began to get hopeful. The next award was for best arrangement, and deservedly went to Sussex for Black Bird as I mentioned before. The third award was for best soloist. There was one girl from Cambridge who I thought it could go to, because she was really good, and made singing Alone by Heart sound easy. But when the judges said that the award was going to a pair of soloists... for their amazing version of a solo song turned into a duet... everyone from Warwick knew who it was for. They were on our team!! And to be fair, they did sing Run by Snow Patrol amazingly. I must have heard it a thousand times, and I would still listen to it more, and still get goosebumps.
Then the moment came. The final award for Masters of Show Choir 2013. Honestly, I was so happy for our soloists that I didn't actually care about what would happen the rest of the evening. Saying that, it was still very nerve-racking waiting for the results. As with the other awards, the judges gave a mini speech of the reasons why they picked the team they did. They said it was a very hard choice, because there were two teams that were very deserving. Then they used a lot of keywords that slowly made every Warwick jaw slowly start to drop. Individuality. Personality. Interaction and friendship between members of the team. Basically everything we put in our show. When they finally (after what seemed like forever!) announced the name of the winning team, they screamed, we screamed, they hugged, we clapped and cheered and screamed some more.
WARWICK GLEE ARE THE OFFICIAL MASTERS OF SHOW CHOIR 2013!!!!!!!
They came back on to perform their big dance number I Don't Feel Like Dancing by the Scissor Sisters, and it was even better than before. Everyone was so happy it was just amazing to watch. Then of course there was much more hugging and congratulations and even some crying by our Creative Director!
The bus journey home involved a lot of alcohol and singing. That was probably my least favourite part of the day because I was sat in the front, so I couldn't really join in and felt a bit left out, but it was nice to hear how happy everyone was. But then one of the girls actually thanked me for all the help I'd given, even though I didn't think I'd really done much, just pressed a few notes on the keyboard sometimes. It made me feel really happy.
So, even though I wasn't really on the team, I feel honoured to have been there for everyone. This past month has been one of the best experiences of my life. I would especially like to thank our President and Creative Director for letting me be a part of it. Love you guys <3
Note: I will add any videos as and when they get put on youtube!
This week, I pretty much spent the entire week being excited about going home at the weekend. I had the usual load of work to do, and I had a load of fun at Glee, but all I could think about was seeing my family again. I did get to use my new knife set though. It's better than my old knife, which is surprising as they only cost 10p. But they are so pretty!
I like colourful things. That's the only picture this week unfortunately. I'm really not good at remembering to take them.
Anyway, Friday finally came around, and I got to go home. I had to stand around waiting for a bus for an hour, because three didn't come when they said they would, and then I was waiting for another half hour for the train, so by the time I got on the train I was pretty freezing and worn out. But the train was warm, and only an hours ride to Stafford where Apollo was waiting to pick me up.
When I got home, there were lots of hugs waiting for me, which made me very happy. I had a bit of a sing song with my sister, and performed Skyfall for my mum and Apollo because they wanted to hear it after I told them about singing it at Glee. Then me, Apollo and my sister all watched Dark Shadows to end the evening.
Saturday was basically spent singing with my sister. We worked our way through three High School Musical piano books (yes, we are that cool), Wicked, Disney and, of course, our favourite I Dreamed a Dream. Which reminds me, I may only have one picture, but I have a video I can show you!
The most exciting thing about the weekend though, and the main reason I chose this weekend for a visit, was because Les Miserables was playing at the local cinema. I have been wanting to see this film ever since Apollo told me about the trailer the first time he saw it. I had no idea what it was actually about, but I knew it would be amazing. It had three very important things going for it for starters.
1) It has I Dreamed a Dream in it, which, as I said before, is a song that I very much love because I sing it all the time with my sister.
2) It has Anne Hathaway in it. If you hadn't noticed that I am basically in love with her by now, then I worry for you. I'm not very subtle about it.
3) It has Anne Hathaway singing I Dreamed a Dream in it. Everything I could ever ask for!
I was under no illusions that this film would be a happy film. It's called Les Miserables for starters... But I was still so excited to see it.
I was not let down. It was honestly amazing. I cried, like, three times and got goosebumps during some of the bigger songs. Oh it was good! Even Sacha Baron Cohen wasn't annoying in it, and I really don't like him normally. It is playing again on 18th March, and I have pretty much already decided that I'm going to go see it again.
The rest of the weekend was spent just slobbing around watching House with Apollo, trying to do a bit of work, recording the piano for a song to sing in Glee on Tuesday, and filming the video above.
When it got to the time for me to leave, it still wasn't any easier than the first time. I don't know why, but I still cry every time. I mean, I'm halfway through my second term now, and I still cry at the thought of leaving my mum or Apollo. It just makes everything that much harder, and makes me feel really weak and like I can't do anything. It's really annoying because it eats into the time I do spend with them, as I'm just moping around at the thought of having to leave later. I'm trying to remind myself that it's only two weeks until Apollo comes to visit again though. Hopefully the time won't go too slowly.
This week I have been so tired. A mix of staying up too late, having lots of work and rehearsals for Glee left me feeling pretty dead on my feet. I don't really want to talk about the week though. The weekend was much more interesting.
For the first time in 4 weeks, Apollo came for a visit. 4 weeks is probably the longest we've gone without seeing each other, and after practically living together over Christmas, it was really hard. I don't like to be away from my family.
When he got here on Friday, we just slobbed around for the evening, eating pizza and watching TV. We finally got round to watching the other DVD we bought after Christmas when the whole poster fiasco happened.
I really enjoyed it. Lots of explosions, chases, fight scenes and Scarlett Johansson running around with Ewan McGregor. Top film. Even if some of the things they survived were completely ridiculous.
On Saturday we got up early to venture into Coventry to buy a book for Apollo and to go into the comic book store, Forbidden Planet. I love it in there. There are so many cool things that I could just look at all day. Unfortunately they are also quite expensive, but I can still dream. That Lego Millenium Falcon will be mine one day! We did leave with one treat though. We bought a Spiderman Graphic novel. I'm looking forwards to reading it when I get the chance.
After getting some chips for lunch, we spent most of the rest of the day hanging around with Glee, preparing for the performance we had in the One World Week Carnival in the evening. I know it can't have been too much fun for Apollo, just waiting around all day, but I'm really glad that he did because I really enjoyed the performance and I'm happy that he got to meet my fellow Gleeks. This was the first performance where we had proper costumes that weren't just a vague colour scheme. It was awesome. The look we were going for was creepy.
I think we managed it XD I walked round Costcutter looking like that as well. I've never had my hair so big! I felt like I'd fallen out of Grease with my big hair and black clothes. Then someone told me I looked like Bellatrix LeStrange from Harry Potter, and basically made my life. Seriously, of all the Harry Potter characters to look like, Bellatrix LeStrange is an awesome one. It was nice that Apollo got to see us perform as well. I didn't have any solos this time, which would have been nice for the weekend he was here, but I think our songs were cool enough that I didn't mind.
Although the costume was awesome, it was kind of hard to get the make up off. The black eyeliner came off fine, there was just a lot of it, but the gold line was stubborn. In fact the black underneath the gold came off before the gold did. I'm not sure how that works... The hair wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to tame, but it did leave my brush looking rather fabulously sparkly.
We spent the rest of the evening feasting on the magnificent dish of nachos we made, and watching How I Met Your Mother.
They were gooooood.
This morning, Apollo introduced me to a show he watches at home called Britain's Brightest. Weirdly, one of the contestants reminded me of my Differential Equations lecturer from last term. He then watched the Rugby while I got on with my analysis assignment. I surprised myself this time, because normally on Sunday morning, I know that Apollo will be leaving soon and spend most of the day on the brink of tears. This time it wasn't until he said "I'm going to leave after this finishes" that it really hit me. I hate it when he has to go. I cry every single time, today was no exception. He's here for just long enough that I get used to having him around again, and then he has to go. It sucks.
I just have to try to remember that I get to go home next weekend, so I can see him and everyone else again. It's just hard sometimes to not think that a week is a really long time. Because right now it feels like it is.
This week saw the snow begin to thaw. It's just as well, the ice rink outside my building was starting to be a bit treacherous.
And I think I've been wearing my gloves maybe a little bit too much...
I don't have any pictures of this, but on Tuesday I got to sing my first proper solo for a Glee performance. I sang Skyfall by Adele and everyone said I did it really well. One person even told me I gave her goosebumps when I sang it in the practise! I've never given anyone goosebumps when I've sung before, so that made me really happy :)
I didn't feel quite so happy after my first tutor meeting of the term on Thursday. It's bad enough that I had three assignments all due in that day, as well as almost 6 hours solid of work starting at 9 o'clock in the morning, but during the tutor session we had to describe our strengths, weaknesses and skills we learned in the modules we did last term. I hate doing that sort of thing. I actually cannot do it. It made me feel like I hadn't learned anything. And then I had a bit of a panic attack that I wasn't good enough for the course, and poor Apollo had to deal with me being all depressed and grumpy. So the next day I came up with a plan. It involved a quick trip to Wilko's, and lots of colourful pens.
Hopefully with this extra work I plan on doing, I will feel more confident that I can actually do maths at Warwick standard.
After a very long week, and with our kitchen having power back in the plug sockets again, I made myself a hot chocolate with marshmallows and a crushed flake I found in my snack box.
Today is the last Monday of my first term at university. It has gone by so quickly, but I am ready to come home at the weekend. I keep counting down the days, I can't wait! In the meantime, I have run out of pictures, so I think it's time for more puzzles. These are from Ball of Confusion again.
As I am sat here learning Christmas songs for Glee club, I feel it is appropriate to start with a Christmas puzzle.
Christmas past, Christmas presents
On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me, a partridge in a pear tree. That was 1 present, but on the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, 2 turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. That was 3 more presents - 4 in total. We know, of course, that this continued for the entire 12 days of Christmas. How many presents arrived on the 12th day of Christmas? How many presents arrived over the entire 12 days?
What to wear where
Three girls turned up to a party in a black dress, a green dress and a white dress. They were Miss Black, Miss Green and Miss White. Miss Black said, "It's amazing - our dresses match our names, but none of us is actually wearing the dress that matches her name."
The girl in green said "So what?".
Who was wearing which dress?
A toast to toast
You only have a grill and space for two pieces of bread under it, so it takes 4 toastings to do 3 slices on both sides. Or does it?
Can you toast 3 pieces of bread on both sides in less than 4 toastings?
That's all from me this week. I would find more, but I have songs to practise. Answers on Wednesday!
