31 July 2013

WHITSTABLE

At this exact moment, I'm curled up on the sofa in the living room of a beachfront house in Whitstable, England, with a cup of coffee and my book to my right, the front door open, and the sounds of seagulls carrying in from the beach out the backyard.  Not a half hour ago, I was sitting with said book and coffee in the backyard, watching the waves, and with the salty sea breeze around me.  Alas, the breeze was a bit too much for the pages of my book and the bits of hair that wouldn't stay in place and kept tickling my face.  So now I'm indoors, but no less content.

28 July 2013

...WE ARE SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE ON, AND OUR LITTLE LIVES ARE ROUNDED WITH A SLEEP

That is one of my favorite quotes - spoken by Prospero in Shakespeare's The Tempest.  Today I read an article on Thought Catalog, based on this quote, which made me think really hard about it, questioning the meaning.  Something about the article bothered me.  Not only the fact that the quote itself was quoted incorrectly, or that the author skated over not knowing where it came from, but just the overall interpretation of the meaning.

This line is one that is frequently misquoted, and as a result, people spew out all kinds of varying meanings that they find.  This is all very typical, and some of these things are actually quite valid, but they aren't based off of Shakespeare's actual words, just varied ways of paraphrasing.  When finding the meaning of Shakespeare's actual text, it is essential to get the words right.  Another common misinterpretation is in the word "dream" itself - a dream like you have at night (as is meant by Shakespeare in this line), and a dream as in an aspiration.  This dual meaning of the word "dream" contributes to the misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the line in the article.  But what irked me most about the article on Thought Catalog [TC] was that, despite the line being misquoted, the intended message of the words didn't really change, and the meaning that the article took from it is, I believe, not the intended message.  So let me share my view on the meaning of this fairest quote.

I believe that it means we are the dream, as opposed to the ones dreaming.  It is a metaphor - our lives are a dream.  Both dreams, and our lives, are rounded with a sleep.  Besides that given circumstance, the subtext of the words is relaying how our lives, and the fact that we are alive and existing at all, are themselves the type of fantastical and incredible content that is in a dream.  As the TC article says, we are lucky:
"We are lucky to be able to dream, to see even a tenth of what we dream for become some sort of reality."
"We live in a world where a few things are certain: the existence of love, and the existence of our ability..."
Though the author is saying these things in a different context, it does align with the intended message.  We are lucky to be capable of dreaming in any sense of the word.  We are lucky to be capable of love.  And as he also says, the fact that we as individuals do play a part in the lives of others, the dreams of others.

Our lives are the dream simply for the incredible fact that we are breathing, thinking, walking, loving, living creatures with the sheer ability to do any of these things and more.

I'll leave it with Prospero's line in more of its entirety:
"Our revels now are ended: These our actors,
(As I foretold you) were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air,
And like the baseless fabric of this vision
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great Globe it self,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And like this insubstantial pageant faded
Leave not a rack behind: we are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep."
I really do want to know what people think.
What meaning do you take from these words?

27 July 2013

PARTY AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE


I'd been anticipating the royal birth for quite a while, especially over last week - high alert time!  So when I found out through the alert on my phone Monday morning (yes, I get the alerts on my phone), that Kate had been admitted to hospital for early labor (or labour here in the UK - there were many a political joke about that one), I was very excited!!  We were here for study abroad when we got the breaking news from Buckingham that she was pregnant, and as soon as we both found out we'd be here for the birth, it was the perfect bookend and Kelly and I promised we would be at Buckingham Palace for when it was announced.

21 July 2013

WANDERLUST

I just want to travel all over the UK.  I can't get enough!  I love London, really, I do.  So much.  And I don't ever want to leave in the sense that I want London to be my permanent place of residence.  But I do want to leave in that I want to go to Ireland.  Scotland.  Wales.  Even the small little towns nestled into the English countryside.  I want to go EVERYWHERE.  And I love the names of some of these places.  Like in Ireland - Dún Laoghaire.  That's just so fun to say.  Dún Laoghaire.  I've just been to Dún Laoghaire.  (I wish.  I don't even know what's there, but I still wish I've just been there.)

20 July 2013

GABRIEL

(All photos from the Shakespeare's Globe Facebook album)

Last night was Press Night for Gabriel at the Globe - the big night!  Gabriel has been the show that we've been working primarily on while I've been here, and the sheer size of the project and all that entails was the main reason I was invited to come intern.  But before that leads to some news I have, I just want to try to put into writing how incredibly proud I am of this production.

17 July 2013

BY THE SEA [MR. TODD]

 After our magical night turned morning on Friday/Saturday, I had to hit the ground running on Saturday, and boy that was a bit rough after 2.5 hours of sleep.  But then, I had Sunday off, and Kelly and I decided to bookend our amazing weekend with more awesomeness and head down to Brighton.  Now, I'd already been there once a couple weeks previously with my sister (which is a post I still have yet to create... whoops), but it had been on the chilly side then, and rather cloudy/drizzly weather.  This time, it was sunny and hot!  The train down there was packed full of people all heading to the beach, and Kelly and I ended up sitting on the floor of the train car aisle where we had been standing.  But we got to Brighton raring to go and headed straight for that beautiful, albeit rocky, beach.

14 July 2013

MIDNIGHT MATINEE AND A LONDON SUNRISE

Every Tuesday I look forward to grabbing a copy of that week's edition of Time Out London.  It's a simple pleasure, I know, but really, that magazine is just so handy!  Bored?  Check Time Out London and you're guaranteed to find something to do.  One of the things I had remembered reading about were these, I dunno, walking tours I guess?  Basically an organized group that would meet in the early morning hours to catch and photograph the sunrise as the group walked from Point A to Point B.  Now, I'm not about to pay to join a walking tour, especially just a photo walk, when I can grab Kelly and we can do our photo walk thang, ya know? (Don't let me ever say "thang" again.  Please.)  So I suggested we photograph the sunrise sometime.  She was game, as I knew she would be!

Now, the Globe does this thing called a Midnight Matinee.  Each of the three main shows gets one, and it's literally just a showing of the performance at midnight.  I wasn't about to miss out on it, especially since this one was Midsummer Night's Dream, and how perfect is that to see on a warm summer's night at Shakespeare's Globe at midnight?  Pretty damn perfect!  So what we ended up doing Friday night was catching the midnight matinee of Dream, then sticking around for the after-party in the theatre (which apparently went until half past ten next morning!), before heading out to walk along the Southbank towards Westminster, taking in the dawn and the peaceful serenity and emptiness that is so uncommon in that area.  It was truly magical.





11 July 2013

LET'S PLAY A LITTLE CATCH UP...

In the, oh I don't know, month since I've been back in London, a lot has been happening.  A lot a lot.  Some things on a large scale and some on a smaller one.  For example, I've become a tea drinker - this classifies as large scale, because anyone who knows me can tell you that my body runs on, like, 75% coffee.  So to say I now drink tea (in addition to coffee - don't worry I haven't replaced it!)....

10 July 2013

LATELY


These are just a few photos (of the many hundreds (over a thousand?)) that I've taken in the past several weeks.  Eventually I'll get the basics down on this here internet corner (why is it always a corner of the internet? If everyone on the internet had their own corner, the internet would basically be round and we wouldn't have corners at all!).  ← Fine example of my brain going off on one of it's tangents right there.  I need to keep reminding myself to stay on topic, but then that requires my brain, which is elsewhere... it's a vicious circle.

ANYWAY.


It's been quite hot over the past weekend in London Town, and is supposed to stay this way for a bit longer.  I don't know whether it's the heat or what, but lately, I've just been wanting to take the first day I have off and go out into the countryside in a loose flowy dress with a crown of fresh flowers in my hair and gallivant about the hillside like some sort of hippie Sound of Music.  I want to wear as little as possible as I lie back and eat British strawberries with cream and drink a big iced pitcher of Pimm's.

The thing is, I basically could do this.  I just need a free day, and technically, I could make it happen.  Which is exciting.  And I'll probably do it.  In fact, it might be fun to rent a Boris bike and ride it out somewhere.  I'd really like to go camping, too, but alas I don't have camping equipment and I'm not so skilled that I'm prepared to work only with what the wilderness offers.  I need a sleeping bag and food, thanks.

01 July 2013

CHANGE

When I started this blog, it was as a multi-fold resolution.  I wanted to take more photos of things in my life, not just main events.  I wanted to document my daily life (especially theatre as it was usually what I was doing) in photos and words.  I wanted this blog to be an online scrapbook that I could look at in the future and recall the things I did and what I though/how I felt about them.  And I wanted to use the blog as the vehicle for exploring and expressing my personal style, something is always been interested in but never wanted as a career.  A [life]style blog was, I felt, the perfect way to do that.

However, recently I've been neglecting the blog in more ways than one.  I haven't been posting much, which is awful because there's a lot that's been going on that I should be and definitely want to be documenting!  The problem is that I haven't felt like this blog is completely in keeping with what I want to write anymore.  What I want to write has changed, and this blog doesn't reflect that.  So instead of changing the blog, I just haven't been posting.
But this blog is going to change - both aesthetically in it's appearance, and in the content.  It is an online diary.  Sometimes I may still put up outfit posts if I really like an outfit, but it won't be a focus.  Theatre will still be a focal topic, as it is a permanent fixture in my life and much revolves around it.  But there will be other things, personal thoughts and occurrences that sometimes I just want to write about.  I want to write my thoughts and not have to edit them to make them censored for the people I know do or can read this.  I dont want to tailor my blog to my readers, because that's not being me.  That's not what I want to worry about.  This is my space to say what I want and you can stay or go, whichever, it's up to you.  I'm going to write how I think.  I'm going to write how I speak.  Sometimes I might talk about things that I just need to vent about, or a random thought I have.  Fair warning: it may include swearing, it may not always be politically correct or ladylike.  I don't give a shit.  This is a space where I can be real and me and not have to worry about that stuff.  I'll save the editing and censoring for other places.
I've considered keeping this blog how it is and starting a new one, a private one, since I know my family reads this, and because it's linked to Facebook, etc., employers can easily read it as well.  But I really don't want to have to worry about all that.  If people don't like what I have to say, or don't approve of what I'm saying, then they don't have to read.  I'm not asking anyone to read this blog.  That said, if you want to, by all means, do.  It's a free space.

The next week or so will be very busy for me at work, since we have Macbeth press night on Thursday and our Gabriel rehearsals in full swing.  But expect changes to the blog to happen in the next couple weeks, along with some catch up posts because Jesus Christ there's a lot to catch up on!  Seriously I have so many photos and stuff that I meant to document.  Because obviously this blog is still gonna be a scrapbook of sorts - I know I'll be pissed at myself if I don't record this stuff as it happens, because I definitely want to be able to look back and remember everything about right now!  Right now is pretty damn surreal and I need to prove to myself that it's real, ya know?
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