Through whatever reason of stumbling here, please feel free to take a seat and grab yourself a nice cup of tea and a good book.

All I can say is 'blame Inspired-Quill'. Especially if it has anything to do with me not having time to do other things these last few months.

In two weeks I start my MA course...and Directing Dragonsong. And keeping up with IQ. And having a social life. And getting a job (or two...or three).

I'd say 'heaven help me'...but I guess it's my fault, so there's no need for that. Still, a bit of good luck on the job front wouldn't go amiss right about now.

Needless to say, I did indeed drive my friends mad with talking about nothing but 'Collectormania' for the entire week...and quite a while afterwards. I made a prat of myself infront of Kate Mulgrew whilst trying desperately to remember the really interesting question I had for her. (Which consisted of asking her to compare the difficulty of playing an airy fairy character like 'Emily' from 'Our Town' on stage to playing the legendary Captain Janeway on-screen). Instead I blathered and missed my opportunity, but through the glasses of hindsight, I wouldn't have /not/ gone. We (and by that I mean my good friends Kenneth and Matt) had a wonderful day all in all, and it was just as nice hanging out with them as it was having the other experiences.

Talking about acting, I've been rather involved with an am-dram film project over the past few weeks. Not only have I played a thoroughly interesting part, but I've also done a lot of camera work and I've been doing other misc. 'backstage' work for it as well. All in all, we've completed about 10% of the film, but what we do have is of a quality that I'm proud to be involved with. It's going to continue to be a bit of a slog, but by the end of it we'll have a feature-length film. Fun times!

I also got an Oscar at this year's 'LUTheatre' Awards. When I say 'I', I technically mean 'Amy, Laura and I', since all three of us were on the costume/makeup team for 'The Lady's Not For Burning'. I ended up with the Oscar however, for my services as 'History Nerd'. The next big thing on the LUTheatre calendar is the 'Intro Evening' for the Freshers next year...which I have to organise. Fun times. I should really start getting that sorted, if only to allow myself to keep some sanity over the summer.

Yes dear readers, I managed to graduate with that expected 2:1 (albeit with an average of 64, something which I shall be twitching at for a while), and I've been 'unofficially' accepted onto the MA program. W0ot! It'll give me an extra year to get my head into 'career mode' and get stuff done in terms of experience and suchlike. I'll also be living with Keith & Jess (who are both LUTheatre peoples) as well as two more guys who I'm sure I'll get along with.

Apart from bitching about putting on weight/inches despite going to the gym 3 times a week and running on alternate days, I don't have an awful lot more to say.

Except the fact that drinking a whole bottle of Jager is never a good idea. Ever.

Labels: Convention, Film, LUT, Masters, Star Trek, Uni

Well, that's my undergraduate course over and done with. Yes dear reader, in a couple of months I'll be dressing up in a gown and collecting my diploma. I'm crossing my fingers already for no embarassing trip-ups...because we all know that if it happens, it's obviously going to happen to me. I'm more or less on course for a 2.1, although there's always the unknown factor which may or may not slap me down to a 2.2...but I'm fairly confident that won't happen.

Since the whole 'degree is over now' thing hasn't really sunk in yet, I'm going to talk about something else instead, which has a decent degree of epic attached to it.

I've just booked tickets to go to 'Collectormania' in Milton Keynes next weekend. Essentially, this is a Sci-Fi convention (I know I know...don't judge me) that has stalls and guest speakers and suchlike. The reason I'm so hyped about it is that Kate Mulgrew and Patrick Stewart are going. Now, I'm not a die-hard fan of Star Trek. It's okay I guess, but I'm not about to run out and buy a Klingon costume with all the accessories. Oh no. I'm going because these two people are absolutely phenominal actors.

Seriously. I think my friends are going to get very tired of me this week...but I've already warned them that my topic of conversation will be very limited anyway.

W0ot!

Labels: Acting, Convention, Exam, Sci-fi, University

...is there anything better than having had a lie in (after pulling a number of all-nighters to get work done), followed by eating some Weetabix and half-dancing around the room to Tina Turner and other such songs? Plus, the sun is shining through my window. I can see a wonderfully blue sky patched with wispy clouds.

Well, there's probably a lot of things, but I can't think of any of them at this moment.

P.S. Slang Dictionary handed in. That leaves a Post-War to Post-Modern essay and my exam. Plus, it looks like i have somewhere to live next year. (Fun times!)

I've noticed with a mild chagrin that I ceased to update this blog properly after beginning to run Inspired-Quill with any sense of stubborness as to its regularity of updates. I can't promise I'll start to post regularly again, but at least I haven't forgotten this blog entirely.

So, according to the copy of the Daily Telegraph I have on my new iPhone (birthday present from my auntie and uncle. I used to dislike Apple-Users (especially Mac users), but I have realised that in this case at least, I may have turned pretentious but shardit the phone actually works!)...Where was I? Ah yes, the Daily Telegraph.

It says today that about 615,000 students will be battling it out for approximately 415,000 University places next year. The Telegraph however, seems to think that this is a bad thing. I'm sorry...what!? No. No, it really isn't. If everyone gets into Uni to do some sharding Micky-Mouse degree (but it's /still/ a degree, mind you!) then what's the point of Uni in the first place? Surely only the most academic percentile ought to be able to go? Within ten years, the Government apparantly want 50% of people to go to University. In my opinion, this is 100% absurd.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all up for people having opportunities...but why not have less places for the same price? That way the 'poor' kids (I say this with irony, I'm up to my eyeballs in debt) will still have their shot, and only the best will actually get in. For the love of common sense, bring back apprentiships, make school more interesting...shake things up by all means, but don't dumb down the system. In the end we'll all suffer if that happens.

/rant

(For now)

Uni is hectic, Inspired-Quill is going well, I've joined the gym again. Aren't I good for summing up just over a month in one sentence? I waswalking back to my current accommodation (Salisbury Houses, yay for Halls) today from my gym session and realised I hadn't posted here for ages. I was also walking back on the side of the path that was ankle-deep in leaves instead of one the part that had been swept. Go figure.

On a good note, I seem to have turned more sociable this academic year. I think I'm also learning to actually trust people to be my friends, instead of people who simply put up with me. Yay for minor self confidence/slimming down of paranoia. I'm glad that I'm starting to get a good network of friends, instead of having to rely on myself or my family members for 'support' (and I use the term loosely) when I need it.

Soooo, yeah. Life is going generally well. My knee has decided to be nice to me for now, I'm exercising regularly (I -will- fit into my old Prom dress for the LUTheatre Oscars next year!) and my Uni work is going along smoothly enough. I'll be chatting to a few of the lecturers about potentially moving onto an MA next year, which I'm rather enthusiastic about. If I do, I'll probably take a part-time course, which would be over two years instead of one, but it would mean that I could work at the same time and pay my way a little better.

Here's to another sporradic section of regular blog updates.

Labels: Friends, Guitar, Gym, University

So I'm lying on my bed, wearing underwear and a pair of socks (one of which happens to be inside out) and drinking tea from a thermos flask. I have a liquorice stick (the actual thing with bark, not the sweet) by my left elbow, and an assortement of books and paperwork on my right hand side. I'm only just realising how utterly random I can be. But y'know, that's me.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the kind of person I am compared to the kind of person I was, and I think it's true what they say in that when you have a certain amount of struggles in your life, people tend to either become very jaded or very optimistic. One is a coping mechanism, and the other stems from giving up hope. Whenever I meet people who aren't my peers - that is, people who I'm not automatically intimidated by - everyone agrees that I'm a very nice young woman. I'm polite, considerate, charming, et cetera. Parents love me. There have been times when my friends have actually been a bit peeved because their parents try to engage me in an in depth conversation when I'm meant to be spending time with them.

With my peers however, I tend to turn into either a slightly manic twit with a 'please like me' complex, thus trying too hard...or a quiet person who sort of moves to the side because the cool kids shouldn't have to deal with me. It always surprises me when people genuinely think I'm 'cooler' than them. I made the mistake of introducing myself in the first year to each indicidual in my halls...and they all felt intimidated by me and thought I was the warden or something. Me! The person who would actually rather wait for a spider to walk away from a plant before trimming the plant back, and then apologise for having to wreck its web. (I kid you not).

Secretly, I kinda mostly like the person I am. Alright, so I want to go to the gym, and I'm slowly overturning my wardrobe...but those are superficial things. Up until a couple of months ago, I was cold and sarcastic, even when I didn't need to be. I was constantly talking about me, instead of just shutting up and /listening/ to other people. (Again, a part of my 'please like me' complex). I say up until a few months ago, because I'd like to think I'm getting better with that. And to be honest? I don't think I could have done it, or even noticed, if my person and I hadn't had an argument and after-talk. I don't think they know it - and I don't think they read this blog anymore, so I'm good to write whatever I want - but I strive to be a better person because of them. I /want/ to be a better person. The ironic thing is that it irritates them when I talk about that sort of thing...so that's something else I've stopped doing. There are other friends and factors as well of course, but still.

I think having people around you that you adore and value is the push that anyone needs to be better, but at the end of the day, it's something you have to do for yourself as much as for anyone else. But the push is needed. I don't tell the people in my life how much they mean to me nearly as much as I ought to do. I try to, in my own so-subtle-it's-almost-not-there way. (Telling people to 'take care', and calling people 'dearest' are two examples). People are important. My people push me, inspire me, make me laugh and make me cry. They frustrate me and make me love them so entirely that it's a wonder I can still breathe at the end of it all. and I wouldn't change them for the world, despite everything.

This has been a long entry, and a rather disjointed one from my usual; 'this happened, and I'm hoping to do this, and by the way my knee hurts' posts that I normally do, but a bit of change now and then can only be a good thing. The best thing to do is just roll with it.

I seem to be in a good mood, eh?

Name: Sara-Jayne Slack
Nicknames: SJ / Tath
Age: 22
Gender: Female

I may or may not be addicted to cups of tea and American TV shows. Seriously.