Falling Behind and Falling Asleep…

Do you know how long it’s been since I blogged?

WordPress has logged me out. It’s been that long since I posted something, that I had to actually log back in this time. What’s going on there?

In fact, it’s been that long, that I haven’t blogged since I was 18! (Admittedly, I’ve only been 19 for a week today, but I couldn’t resist using that joke).

So… surprise surprise, I’m ill again. I’m seriously considering giving up on my body; it’s doing its best to give up on me. More tests await me – a blood test next week to find out if I could be coeliac, and it’ll apparently take a few weeks for the results to come back, but at least it’s another thing crossed off the list. I’m more interested in how long it’ll take to hit a vein – last time, it took five jabs before it actually went in. I’d like it to be less this time, but I’m not holding my breath.

The play is going well so far! We’ve had fair sized audiences, and good feedback. There’s two shows left now – tomorrow and Monday – so hopefully they’ll go just as well if not better. I’ll be honest, it’s the first time I’ve kind of thought “I’m looking forward to it being over”. It’s been a stressful one, but it’s not enough to put me off acting, or the theatre group – I love them too much to just disappear!

I think the hot weather has got us all feeling bothered; which may contribute to us wanting the play to be over. Those dressing rooms are HOT, and have you tried wearing pancake when you’re sweating buckets and it’s 30 celcius outside? Goooood grief, it’s been incredible, but we need a rain shower to freshen everything up! I’m lucky; I live on the coast – we’ve been spending a lot of time in the sea – but I feel sorry for those further inland.

On the writing front; was doing Camp NaNoWriMo but I think I’ve fallen too far behind; I’m still writing though!

Didn’t we have a lovely time, the week we went to Poole…

Again, by “we”, I mean my family and myself. Not you – although, if you did have a lovely week in Poole – or elsewhere – I’m glad to hear it!

So I’m back after a lovely holiday! I’ve returned to a provisional licence, a book on the highway code, a load of letters which (disappointingly) aren’t a specialist referral and a hell of a lot of unpacking and line-learning to do. I return bearing souvenirs; a couple of teddys – Little Daf, and Gascgoine the Gibbon – some postcards, and tonsilitis, which is quickly turning into a chesty cough. I’m not feeling incredible, but I’ve had such a great week that it doesn’t make me feel too sad!

Managed to get a fair bit of writing done – “Blue” is taking a break for a while because I want to retain my ability to write outside of Christopher Maine’s universe and create my own, so that’s exactly what I’m doing! I’ve experimented with both first-person and third-person perspectives and third-person is working a little better for me at the moment, so I’ll stick with that. Still no title to speak of, and it’s in the baby stages right now, but it looks like my July camp NaNovel is sorted! 🙂

Keep flying and stay shiny,

Maddy x

Me And My Hectic Life!

I apologise for the lack of updates recently, my life appears to have exploded. That or someone’s replaced the old Maddy who sat in her room writing all day with one who actually has loads of stuff to do and doesn’t seem to get a moment’s peace to just sit down and blog. I think it’s the first one, my life has been feeling very ‘splodey lately.

Glyndwr Uni is currently hosting Ffresh Festival, the Welsh student film festival, and it seems to be going really well. I’ve been doing a couple of hours of volunteering on the registration desk yesterday, and I’m doing the same this afternoon – in 45 minutes, to be precise – as well as helping to judge the best actor award (not just me – there’s three of us doing it), so it means going to watch all the showcases (the one we saw this morning was very good!) and then making a decision.

As well as that, directorial performances are next week and I’m in two, so rehearsals are still ongoing. I’ll be honest, I’m looking forwards to getting them over and done with now. Having to schedule in rehearsals every week around everything else is mad. I’ll be glad of a break!

Going to see Train on Saturday and honestly, I can’t wait! I’m so worried that something will go wrong – we’ll lose the tickets or they’ll cancel last minute – because I’ve wanted to see Train for ages, they’re my favourite band and I love their music so much. I think my Mom’s still convinced that she’s coming with us, and honestly if I knew she liked Train when I was buying the tickets I would’ve gotten her one too, but she didn’t decide she liked them until around the day after tickets sold out. Next time, I promise!

So, lots has been happening in the world – I know I said I wouldn’t post too much on current affairs but it’s been a big couple of weeks – since I’ve been AWOL.

Oscar Pistorious and the shambles that has been his bail hearing – how it’s going to be a fair trial now with all the mistakes that have been made is beyond me, but I’m hoping it is all just a big mistake and he really mistook her for a burglar.

The human incarnation of a Chucky Doll calling the-woman-formerly-known-as-Kate-Middleton “plastic” and basically having a go at her because she’s pretty – what else would have sparked such a vicious and personal rant? It’s fine to have an opinion, sure, but there was some definite bitterness going on there – which made me giggle really; it’s been good for the Twitter lulz.

Bedroom taxes and workfare schemes galore; political cock-ups I’m not even going to delve into because I could spend all day ranting about Ian Duncan Smith; but I’ll spare you that one.

Still, the story that’s caught my eye isn’t a miserable one, or one filled with anger and bitterness. It’s one of hope; one that’s really affected me in a way I didn’t think it would. I’m referring, of course, to the announcement of Mars One (at least, it’s the first I’ve heard of it) – the plan to start a colony on Mars. I’m thrilled, because it’s a step towards the universe I’m writing about – Christopher Maine’s universe, of course – becoming a reality, and I never thought we’d even taken one step towards it during my lifetime. I really hope it becomes a reality and isn’t another of those far-fetched schemes, doomed to failure, because the hope the news has filled me with is surprising.

So that’s just a little update from me, to warn you that it may be a while until you hear from me again. I’m still alive, still plodding along (or rather, running at everything head-first and hoping it doesn’t hurt too much) – I’m just a busy bee!

Freshers Week – Day By Day

This time last year, when I was all excited about starting uni, one of the most exciting – and nervewracking! – prospects was Freshers’ Week. I was excited for the freedom – the partying and settling in and meeting new people – but I was also worried that I’d hate the parties, and I wouldn’t settle in, and I’d hate everyone I met. From what I’ve heard from others, their experiences have been very much the same, so I’m here once again to try and soothe a few more nerves any prospective students may have about Freshers’ Week.

On paper, it sounds great – a week (or two, at some unis, and actually three weeks at mine!) of partying and activities and getting to know people, with a few taster lessons of your course but nothing too intense, and time to settle in, get used to living away from your parents and take those tentative baby steps into the big wide world of suddenly being an adult.

Then you start to think about it, and the doubts start to creep in. What if everyone hates me? What if I end up alone in my room on the first night, crying and wanting to go home? What if people don’t like me because I drink too much/don’t drink/don’t want to go out every night? These worries are all normal, and anyone who tells you it’s abnormal to have these worries is lying through their teeth.

Before I started uni, I went on The Student Room and found loads of conflicting threads, and came to one basic conclusion – Freshers’ Week is the Marmite of university life. From what I read, you’ll either love it or you’ll hate it. The threads were full of people saying “I have no friends, I hate it here, I don’t drink, I want to go home” – and, conversely, there were people posting drunk threads about what a great time they were having and how they couldn’t believe they’d been missing out on this for the last eighteen years of their lives. It didn’t seem like there was any middle ground. However, my experience proved that wrong.

My Freshers’ week was enjoyable. It wasn’t incredible and amazing, but it wasn’t bad at all. The great thing about Glyndwr is that we had three weeks of Freshers – pre-Freshers, Freshers and Re-Freshers. This meant that there was something for pretty much everyone to do, regardless of whether they liked drinking or not.

I’m going to be brutally honest and say that there is a lot of drinking at uni, particularly during Freshers’ Week – but if you’re teetotal, you won’t have a terrible time by any means. I have a few friends who drink very little, and I think they all enjoyed their Freshers’ week too. If you don’t go in there expecting one week to change your whole life, you won’t be disappointed.

Don’t worry too much about not making friends immediately during Freshers. Chances are you won’t have started your course yet, so the only people you’ll know will be your flatmates. If you’re lucky, like me, and you have great flatmates, you’ll get on with them and have a whale of a time. If you’re not so lucky, you and your flatmates may not be so compatible, but don’t give up hope! If things are beyond salvaging and you know you won’t be happy with these people, contact your university’s accommodation services team and request a room change. It may cost a bit, but it could be worth it!

So I’m going to do a bit of a day-by-day on what my Freshers was like, and what kind of things you’re likely to do/encounter throughout the week(s). Stay tuned!

Productively Poorly

For some reason, I seem to get the most work done when I’m ill. The past couple of days I’ve been feeling really under the weather – headaches, light sensitivity, sore throat, stiff neck, aches and pains everywhere – you name it, it hurts! And yet, I’ve gotten so much work done. I’ve written up my notes for uni. I really feel like I understand the work. I’ve started learning my lines for directorials, and I’ve written an ending I am REALLY pleased with for my most recent project. As well as this, I’ve also tidied and hoovered my uni room (it desperately needed a good hoover!). 

Why is it I always get distracted by stuff when I’m in full health, and yet as soon as I’m not feeling tip-top, I’m overwhelmed by this need to get everything in order and finished? It’d be a good thing if it hadn’t left me feeling even worse – I’m running on a combination of orange squash and painkillers right now. 

This blog post isn’t entirely pointless; I also need to explain something. You’ve probably read a couple of my posts about gay marriage in the past, and how I am in full support of it. I’m guessing some of you were expecting a post about the recently-passed second reading of the bill that will allow gay marriage – however, I’m trying to go in a different direction with this blog. I want it to focus mainly on my writing and my life at uni, as opposed to my views on current affairs, and I want it to be as inclusive as possible, so to avoid any issues or arguments, I’ll be laying off discussing religion, emotive current affairs and sports for the time being (although, for the record and as one last battle cry, I’m an atheist, yay same-sex marriage and GO WALES!). 

We apologize for the interrupted transmission…

For a weekend that hasn’t actually been that busy, I somehow haven’t found time to blog regularly (or at all). I’m really enjoying watching the Olympics, especially seeing as I recognize the places where it’s being held (I love the idea of beach volleyball in Horseguards’ Parade) and there’s a certain sense of patrotism associated with it being on home turf. And how about the opening ceremony, eh? There’s been the old naysayers, “Beijing was a million times better”, but I honestly thought that Beijing was… alright. It didn’t blow me away, didn’t appeal to me, didn’t really show me anything much. I’d rather be associated with the Queen, James Bond, the NHS, Mr Bean, children’s literature and the creator of the internet than getting a 7 year old to sing but telling her another girl was going to take the credit and appear, because the actual singer wasn’t “pretty enough”.

I loved the tribute to the NHS; I thought it was beautifully done, and the lights on the beds were so skillful. How about those puppets too? The giant Voldemort rising into the sky, the beds flying up – everyone was amazing! I loved the way they lit the Olympic torch too; I thought that was brilliant and really captured the motto of these games – inspiring a generation. They’re the next generation of Olympians we’ll be seeing in 4/8 years time, and to have them featured was brilliant. Danny Boyle really showed his genius with that opening ceremony. I loved the children from the four nations singing national songs (although I’d have liked Cwm Rhondda to be in Welsh 😉 ) and the Industrial Revolution section, with those drums and that music, was phenomenal, and Pandemonium was certainly an apt name to it. Every bit of it – including the memorial to the war dead, the moment of silence with the poppies – was well done. I didn’t really understand the significance of the interpretive dance as a memorial of the 7/7 bombings; I think they could have done something a bit better there, but I’m glad they included a tribute to it, because it has been an important part of the journey since we won the right to host the Olympics seven years ago – the day after we had such jubilation, there was sudden shock and sadness, and it was right to commemorate that.

In other, non-Olympic related news, I can jog! Not incredibly far, but it’s a start. You can sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/madison-matthews , please do if you can because it’s such an important cause! Training’s going well, I need to start getting some songs on my mp3 player to motivate me but I have a brilliant training partner in my other (better) half, who is also doing the half marathon (www.justgiving.com/dafydd-williams09) and he’s keeping me going, as is a steady supply of Mini Milk ice creams!

Rehearsals for the musical start a week tomorrow and I’m pretty excited for that, could do with making a start on learning my lines though. Three weeks of rehearsals sounds like a long time but it flies by, especially when you have music and dance rehearsals too, and you’re trying to put it all together! Still, it takes my mind of results day, which is less than three weeks away now!

On that note I shall leave you, with a vow to blog more frequently and my thanks for continuing to read and follow this blog, even though my sporadic updates may be a bit annoying! Your continued readership is much appreciated.

Moom’s Views: 100 Days To Go!

Yes, it’s 100 days to go until the 2012 Olympics open in London. The Olympics have completely divided Britain into people (mostly the ones from London) who are absolutely thrilled and excited and can’t wait, and the people (mainly from everywhere else) who are fed up of hearing about it, especially when it won’t benefit them, and are fed up with the focus always being on London.

Personally, I feel like I’m one of not many people who is in the middle. I mean, I’m not screaming my excitement from the rooftops or anything, because I’m honestly not that excited. I’ll watch the events I’m interested in on TV, and it’ll be good to see what they come up with for the opening and closing ceremonies, but I’m not particularly interested in it. I’m not much of a sporty person and London is hundreds of miles from me, so I’m really quite indifferent to it. However, I’m not incredibly opposed to it like a lot of people seem to be.

Yes, we’ve heard a lot about it on TV, and it can get a little tiring of having people enthusing about how wonderful London is all the time – but let’s face it, the modern Olympics have only been held in London twice before. The events aren’t ONLY taking place in London, although it might seem like there are, and the vast majority are being held there – there are events happening all over the country – but, it does seem a bit like a “let’s pay attention to London and throw money at it, even if it means neglecting the rest of Britain” thing, so some of the anger is understandable.

The thing I hate the most is this very British way of being miserable about everything. You don’t have to hate everything – British people are allowed to enjoy themselves occasionally, and we are allowed to get excited about things. A lot of it seems to be jumping on the bandwagon – it’s suddenly cool to be annoyed about the Olympics, because apparently it shows solidarity amongst all the places that don’t have events taking place. It doesn’t really – it just makes you look a bit stupid really, because it’s so bloody obvious that you only dislike it because lots of other people do too.

Personally, you wouldn’t get me into London for those two weeks for love nor money, because of the massive terrorism risk. I hope that nothing will go wrong because it doesn’t bear thinking about, but it just seems like such a big risk – all those people gathered together is an accident waiting to happen. There’s also the problem with the fact that there’ll be so much traffic disruption, the whole “will the underground cope?” debate (judging on what I’ve seen of it on a normal day at rush hour, my guess is that no, it won’t) and the tickets were so overpriced that there’d be no reason for me to go to London as I don’t have tickets anyway!

I’d rather be at home, where it’ll be busy (such is the side effect of living in a busy holiday area) but hopefully, not as busy as usual – I’m hoping many people will opt to stay at home for a couple of weeks and watch the Olympics, or that they’ve got tickets and will be in London, so we might get a couple of weeks of peace and quiet during what is usually our busiest time. That way, there’s no insane queuing, no travelling to be done, hopefully nice weather to enjoy and, if I want, I can watch the games on TV, but I won’t be having it shoved in my face all the time like I would be in London.

But, in short, if you’re sick of the Olympics by now, just ignore everything to do with it! No-one’s forcing you to read about it in the newspapers or buy merchandise or watch TV programmes about it – you can switch over or not read it or not buy the stuff. Some people really do need to realize that they are their own person – rather than expecting the rest of the world to tiptoe around them, maybe they should look out for themselves, stop blaming the TV or the LOCOG or anyone else and realize that, if you don’t want the Olympics being shoved in your face, the onus is on you to avoid it. This is, I think, a good thing for Britain (morally, in any event… financially, it remains to be seen!), and surely that is worth a few months of  a few whingers having to change their lives slightly to make it a bit more comfortable to them.

*Happy Dances*

I only have one chapter left of book 2 to write! I’m currently on just under 75,000 words, and hopefully the next, and last, chapter, will take me up to just under 80,000. I’m feeling much better today (seems like it’s finally on it’s way out, but it still hurts like hell!) so I’ve been able to get some writing done, and I’m quite happy with it! So, one chapter left, then I might take a break (but probably won’t!) and then start on Book 3, which is the last in the trilogy. Then, the epic editing session can begin whenever I can be bothered to do it 😉

By the way, if you’re in Britain, Ireland, America or Japan, over the next few weeks there is a documentary airing called “Titanic with Len Goodman” (BBC1 in the UK, RTE something in Ireland, PBS in American and apparently it’s in Japan too), and I am (hopefully!) on one of the shows – I spent a day filming in August so not sure if I am on it, or what episode it’ll be, but it sounds like it will be an interesting and informative programme anyway, so check it out!

 

Theatre Review – “Avenue Q”, Rhyl Pavillion Theatre

Last night my mom and I were lucky enough to get front row seats for Avenue Q’s UK tour in the Rhyl Pavillion Theatre. I’ve known of Avenue Q for a while – I had the soundtrack for my birthday one year – but I’ve wanted to see it for a couple of years now, and it’s finally come on a tour which comes close enough and isn’t too expensive for us to go and see it! We went to the 5:30pm performance and although there was a fairly good crowd there, it was by no means packed. Our seats were almost exactly in the centre of the front row, absolutely brilliant seats, and because of the theatre’s layout, there was no craning our necks.

To be honest, I don’t think either of us knew exactly what to expect. We both knew that it was foul-mouthed puppets – Mom’s been telling everyone the past few days about how we were off to go and watch Muppet Porn, including my Nan – but I don’t think either of us realized quite how good it is. It’s like a social comment – they, uh, “tackle” issues such as racism (by concluding that everyone is a little bit racist and we should all just admit it), and education (exactly what do you do with a BA in English?) – with lots of comedy, amazing music (sung by an amazing cast who not only have to, like most musical theatre performers; act, sing and dance – they have to do it all whilst operating puppets. Some actually operate two or even three – and they do it all brilliantly) and just a dash of that essential puppet sex which makes Avenue Q what it is.

It’s not recommended for children under 12, and unless she’s got a great sense of humour, it’s not one I’d suggest taking your granny to for a “nice day out to see a show” – that said, there were some women “of an age” in the theatre last night, and they didn’t seem to be complaining as they left! – but if you want to laugh until you cry, maybe shed a tear at “Fine, Fine Line” (an amazing performance by Katharine Moraz, who has a stunning voice), and end up naming your new sat-nav “Lavinia Thistletwat-nav”… or maybe that’s just us?, book tickets to see this musical! You will not be disappointed, and, if you’re anything like us, the second you step out of that theatre you’ll be wishing you could get back in and watch it again. It’s one of those musicals you can just watch again and again and again – and you’ll almost certainly be spouting quotes and singing the songs for days afterwards!

Three Charities!

I’m going to use this post to highlight three of the charities I support

– BeatBullying. It’s quite personal to me, having experienced bullying and also being falsely accused of it, I know all too well the effect of bullying, as do so many people in the UK and across the world. http://www.beatbullying.org.uk has information for what to do if you’re being bullied, and http://www.cybermentors.org.uk has young people trained to talk to other young people who are being bullied.

– Ronald McDonald House Charities. I’m hopefully going to be raising some money for this charity later this year – haven’t decided how yet (I’m toying with the idea of baked bean boots/baked bean bath, which would be quite amusing for anyone watching because I LOATHE baked beans!). They provide accommodation for the families of poorly children in hospitals, so that families can stay together and retain some sense of normality at what is one of the most difficult times for any family. You can find out more at http://www.rmhc.org.uk/

– To Write Love On Her Arms – This movement, and what they’re trying to do, is beautiful. They’re raising awareness of self-harm, and encouraging, inspiring and saving people who have depression, self-injury and are suicidal. It’s such a taboo subject and it can be so hard, I know, to admit you have an SI problem, that anything that raises awareness of it is good by me. Their vision is beautiful – it does have religious undertones, but anyone, be they religious or not (I’m an atheist and I love the TWLOHA movement), can appreciate how important the messages are – that everyone should love and be loved, that we’re not alone and that people need to come together and help each other to overcome depression and addiction – it shouldn’t be a taboo subject. We should be able to talk about it without fear of people telling us we’re stupid, or don’t deserve help. This particular part of their vision, I find incredibly beautiful –

The vision is that we would learn what it means to love our friends, and that we would love ourselves enough to get the help we need.

The vision is better endings.  The vision is the restoration of broken families and broken relationships.  The vision is people finding life, finding freedom, finding love.  The vision is graduation, a Super Bowl, a wedding, a child, a sunrise.  The vision is people becoming incredible parents, people breaking cycles, making change.  

The vision is the possibility that your best days are ahead.  

The vision is the possibility that we’re more loved than we’ll ever know.  

The vision is hope, and hope is real.

You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story.

 

You can find out more about TWLOHA at http://www.twloha.com