We are the Supernumaries!

So the show that I am in is in just over a week away and I'm still learning the words to the songs. I can learn the notes really quickly but I have a mental block when it comes to learning the words to songs. I can normally pootle along quite easily without knowing them but then it's not tidy. The diction gets thrown out of the window and I have a slight delay whilst my brain takes in what everyone else is saying and making the right sort of sounds with my mouth. It is a very useful ability except when you are performing a show and you really really should know all the words by now. Especially as it is G&S which means that the people listening need to know what we are saying because it's the plot.

Now one thing I am impressed with is the fact that I have been learning the lyrics seriously since Sunday afternoon and now know most of them. It makes me wonder what I could actually do if I tried hard enough all the time. I know I have abilities that I shouldn't waste. I can learn things rather fast when I put in the practise. Like in my first year of university when I had to do a performance module. So after some lessons and stuff I had a couple of pieces that were coming along nicely and one piece I just could not play. I was told off quite a lot and a week later I could almost play the piece fully. How? I practised over an hour every day. For those of you who are musicians this was a grade 8 standard piece. All I did was some good solid practise and I was away. In fact my teacher was shocked and couldn't understand why I hadn't done it sooner.

Maybe I should blame anime. You know when there is a big battle, or sometimes even just a small battle, where one of the people within this battle realises something or improves through it or sometimes is just a battle? And they are all:

"You shall never defeat me!"

*Starts getting their ass kicked*

"I guess I should start taking this seriously!"

*Is still getting ass kicked*

"Now for my super special final attack that will actually do something!"

*Wins*

Ok sometimes they don't win but if they are following that line and they don't die but also don't win it's because they make a revelation just before they should win and realise that they are fighting for the wrong team or whatever. Now I always wondered why they didn't just go *super awesome shiny attack of win and less death* but I think I might actually understand a little now with this ramble (yes I think I've just had the revelation moment!). I'm the same just not at fighting. I totally put off having to do the practise until I really have to and if I had done it sooner it would have made the rehearsals I attended easier. I have been wondering the things I could have been if I had only practised more. A ballet dancer, a dancer in general, flautist, west end chorus member, a singer, an artist. Yes everything is creative and that is what I exceed in the most. I'm not saying I could be the best at these I'm just saying, mostly to myself, that I have let myself down a lot. The dancing ones are now really not practical. Lead dancers have normally practised from practically birth for most of their lives and have had a lead role by now. Or at least have been in professional shows by now. I'm just too old to actually be able to make anything of that. There is still time for the other things though =D

I do miss ballet. One of my few regrets is that I never learnt how to go en pointe. I stopped dancing just before I got to that stage. If I can fit it in I might go back to the dance school I was at and try to get that achievement. *checks website* It's on straight after my Tai Chi class... with no travelling time to spare. Guess I'll have to wait until I've finished uni first then.

 Ballet photos: Swan Lake, Swan Lake, pas de chat (step of the cat, a ballet move).

Having potential is quite bothersome when you are lazy.

I wouldn't be bothered about this so much if it wasn't for the fact that my life has potential to be long and so I still have many years to do things. What if it isn't? What if it's short and it isn't just nothing after you die. What if you have to sit there and consider how much you messed up. How much you didn't take advantage of your self and actually did something with you life? It's just a bit scary. I don't like the word potential very much which is why it's in red... although I don't dislike the colour red.

I'm trying to be more active. To do more things in my life so that I can't complain too much when it gets to the end. Morbid, a little, but very practical. I don't want to have regrets. They suck. I'm trying to make it not an issue.

I guess a counter argument is is that if I had started on some of these things from an early age I wouldn't be right here right now. Depending on how dedicated I probably wouldn't have the friends I do now, certainly not as close as we are and I certainly wouldn't have my G&S friends who are all wonderful people. I don't make new friends easily. I'm shy and overly self conscious but the friends I do have I wouldn't change for the world. Although I would have other friends I guess =p but that is beside the point. I'm here now with the people I know now and it's all pretty good.

I'm not complaining, I'm just saying is all =)

So... stuff

Kate Voegele: Don't Look Away

Something I haven't listened to before but have on my computer. First track seems fair, a hint of country and blues but pretty much generic singer songwriter pop. It's not bad but there is something about her voice that is a bit weird. You know Shakira? Think of her voice. Got it? Well it doesn't really matter that much either way, it's just that Voegele seems to have a similar effected deepness and accent that Shakira has. It's not throughout but there is some of that, I don't know if I'm just making leaps into a connection there but it makes me think of the song Underneath Your Clothes. It's a little perturbing but like I said it's not throughout, it just happens sometimes. Not a bad thing just definitely weird.

The music seems to be inoffensive. It's really generic. Think of Taylow Swift, Amy Studt and the ilk. It's nothing bad just much of a muchness.

It's borderline 3.5ish but it's really inoffensive so it can be 4. It's not the most interesting thing I've listened to but the tracks are ok by themselves. I can see it growing on me a bit but it definitely won't be one that is a favourite and I certainly won't be hunting for a track by her to listen to specifically. Mostly because I don't really remember any of them. It's just not very catchy or interesting but it isn't bad. Meh is a good term.

33/100

Something different!:

Markus Zusak: The Book Thief

OMG I FINISHED IT FINALLY! I haven't been reading much but then I was all like "why not?" and I couldn't remember why not so I decided I was going to finish this one. Ralph P.Watch (pronounced Rayf just so you know) lent it to me. In fact he pretty much handed me the book knowing that I had over 100 books by then of my own to read as well and told me to read it whenever but to definitely read it. So it stayed on my bookshelf for a year or two making its presence felt, a bit of an elephant. Then around November ish(?) I started reading it (I've just realised I enjoy giving the back stories of things in my reviews... I'm rather self-centered and like telling people stories =D just go with it I will get to the actual book soon enough).

Now it hooked me instantly but for some reason I took over 3 months to read it. I'm not the fastest reader in the world but I'm not that slow either I just kept putting it down and not picking it back up for a few weeks. When I did I was reminded of how awesome it was and so things continued. Later, around the 150pages to go mark I found a copy in a local Oxfam shop for £2 so I picked it up and gave back Ralph's.

Ok so the book. It's different. It's very good. I can see that it will be joining all those "modern classics" that are in the "x amount of books you must read before you die". You know what? It's worth of all that. It's different like I said.

You follow the story of the Book Thief who is a girl named Liesel in Nazi Germany of WWII. I don't normally care for war fiction. It's like history but too modern to be really history. The focus is normally on the horror of everything and how people can survive under the greatest of bad times and all that other stuff that accompanies war. This is the story of a girl of about 11-14 (I think, I know she was young-mid teens for a lot of it). She was sent off to a couple to live with them whilst the war was going on. It's just the little things in her life. It's narrated by Death.

The horror that does happen is done so well that it's not all samey. It's actually quite well done. I fell in love with Liesel (something that I haven't had in a while, I don't normally care that much about the characters because I haven't been able to get into them recently. Not sure why but they've always seemed a bit artificial). I wanted to be her friend. To know her. To know her mama and papa. Everything just seemed to hook me in and when I came out the other end (with almost tears but I was reading on the bus and I don't like crying in public =p) I wanted more. I wanted purely more but was satisfied with everything I was given. It wasn't that I felt like I had been let down. I wasn't. It's just I had a thirst for this writing now.

I don't know if it was the story or the writing that had me hooked more. I just wanted more and more and more. That is a satisfying feeling. That is a good book feeling. I get it from my favourite books. Not the feeling of, "well that's that done, what next?" but "wow, that was wow and I still want to read more". I could quite easily reread it already, which is also pretty different for me. It has been put under my loved books on shelfari. I only have 29 on that list (I have 445 on my list of books that I have read to put my list into perspective). Although that list only has one book per series that I loved. So only one of the Dragons of Pern series, almost all of whom could go on there but that would be ridiculous, I use my listing system differently to that =p. Actually I'm a bit weird in that regard but I understand it and that's the main thing.

Anyway. Excellent book that I would recommend to pretty much anyone. I will go and force my mama to read it... actually one minute.

Hahahaha she's going to start it tonight =D awesome. See I recommended it like I said! You should be able to pick up a copy from a charity shop pretty easily if you fancy reading it. It's been in a lot of 3 for 2 offers in Waterstones because it became a bestseller pretty quickly so it isn't hard to find.

3/52 yeah I'm behind but I've already started my next one =) I'll catch up.

Such a good read =D

It's tea now and then I have a rehearsal so I should probably do things other than just blog today... maybe I'll play some more HeartGold (Pokemon - DS game). More sewing tomorrow and a wishlist! Awesome.

Catch you all later

Love Buttercup xxx