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Ponderings
Aug 13, 2009

In the space between sleep and wakefulness I am very creative and elequant. I have lots of great ideas and lots of energy and desire to do them.

Why does that change the moment I actually get up?

(2 replies, Latest reply: Aug 14, 2009)

Light Rants
Aug 9, 2006

There are several things that have made me want to rant in recent weeks- some serious some not so I thought I would start a collection here!

People who take those suitcases that you pull along behind you on the Tube. Now travelling on the London Underground in the rush hour during summer is unpleasant to start with but I would consider it a necessary evil for some of us poor commuters. People are packed together in a tight space, all of them with a place to be. There are a few places that bottleneck like the bottom of escalators and commuters expect to get up close. So why then do people need to insist on dragging their wheelie suitcases behind them in these circumstances? I know they are heavy and designed to be pulled but people push other people over them as they can’t understand why they are leaving a gap – after all pulling the case makes you take up the space people expect to fit 3 or 4 people into. Hence an unpleasant experience becomes painful if not downright dangerous as people are pushed into and sometimes over cases that people are pulling behind them in a crowd. There is another way to move a case in a crowd you know.

That reminds me an long term rant – umbrellas in a crowded place especially when there is almost no rain. Why? You take showers dont you and the only excuse I have every heard is people worrying about their hair - well adverst and experience tell us that there are great products available to stop your hair going fizzy. No excuse.

People who cant be bothered to stop at junctions and use your car instead of brakes. Now some of you may know that I don’t like my current company car but that is still not excuse – the agro of sorting it our even with accident management and another drive who accepts liability is unbelievable. Oh and it made my neck hurt. Oh and another thing - being as I don’t like the car she could have had the decency to do the job properly and mean that I have to change the car!

Football closed season – what happened to it? Now I understand this was the World Cup Year but the Test Series has not finished yet and we are already well into the League Season (especially in Scotland) and its just the Premiership we are without – mind you we still have European Qualifying. Do people not realise there are some people who don’t want to watch football on their precious time at home (and I get so little of it). There are other programmes you can watch - dont people know that?

People who ask for 5 mins of your time just as you are looking to leave (often once you have give some strong clues like pack your bag) and its already almost an hour after close of business and who then take over an hour of your time. No that’s bad enough when you have a manageable commute but for a lot of the offices I spend a day in I have a two and a half hour drive and I left home at 6am ish. Now you could say no but there is a difference between a 5 min chat and a hours work!

Buying a bag of Cashew Nuts that warns me it may contain nuts – it better had since that is what I am buying …

Rant over for the moment!

(6 replies, Latest reply: Oct 29, 2006)

Is it just me?
Jul 17, 2006

Or is anyone else having a problem with google tonight (Monday evening UK time)

Since I got home from work I have been trying to log onto my gmail account and get a time out message. Its not my computer as I have tried our home computer too. I am also having problems doing google searches - the computer tells me it is working on it and then just sits there for 5-10 mins when it times out. I can use other search engines and other internet mail accounts

What I dont know is if this is a google problem or are they just trying to tell me something?

Any thoughts?

Just because I am paranoid does not mean they are not out to get me!

Light

(8 replies, Latest reply: Feb 16, 2008)

The show does not go on ...
Jul 9, 2006

So that is it! Last night was the closing night for 'A Tomb with a View', the first play that I have directed on my own.

I have had a really good time doing it, and been fortunate enough to work with some great people. I am missing them already - its going to be strange not to see them all tomorrow.

I definitely have a case of the post show blues!

Overall I am please with what we created - there have been some lessons to learn as well and some things I will do differently next time I direct. Audiences seemed to love it but I am not sure what kind of reaction it will get from the critics, the nights both of them came were probably our worst two nights!

After the show we had a cracking party - out of a cast of 11, 7 of them were still here at 5am!!! Lots more than that came to the party and I think they all enjoyed it

The play was about a rather ecclectic family who gather in a sinister libary for the reading of their fathers will. The money is however missing and by the end of the play all but two of the cast are dead. We asked the cast and crew to bring food and drink to the party with them that was appropriate to either their character or their role. People did this really well - we had a coffin full of strawberry's for example and the person who played a character who thought they were Ceasar brought a Caesar Salad! The lady who played Dora who makes (poisonous) home made wines had found individual bottles of wine for each of the characters (all different) and relabelled them illeteratively using a poison and the characters names - they were great.

It was definitely a good party - we have lots of food and drink left but still had to make a trip to the bottle bank today

So the show is really over

(6 replies, Latest reply: Jul 12, 2006)

Return to the Lighthouse
Jul 2, 2006

Return to the Lighthouse


Hello there – it seems it has been over eight months since I last posted.

How is everyone?

I am not sure where the time has gone! I know I was ill for a while (return of the dreaded ME) and all my energy had to go into coping at work.

I still work for the same people and still spend way too much time in my car getting to and from the various sites. That’s the only downside on a job I love – that and the nights away from home. In January I had a lot of fun organising a conference for 150 people from all around our world – hard work, exhausting but great fun. I got to meet some great people. Since then its been work as normal with several great projects and lots of coaching. I am really enjoying that and enjoying getting even better at it!

Outside work I have been exercising and developing my creativity in ways other than writing – paper crafts a little and more importantly at the Theatre. I have worked on several shows and co-directed a play this year.

We are currently part way through the run of my first solo directorial project. So far the audiences are loving it. I have had a great time doing it. I am really pleased with the way the set has worked out – with the lights and music it creates a fab environment for the actors to perform in. Audiences have even applauded it It creates just the mood I was after. I am also really pleased with the way some of the actors have developed and are giving performances to a standard they did not think they could achieve. The more experienced actors are also doing a great job so overall the show is going well.

I have been asked to direct two other shows, one for our theatre group and one for a new company, which is really exciting and should keep me busy over the next year or so.


So that’s been me … I wonder what has been happening around here …

Light

(17 replies, Latest reply: Jul 9, 2006)