29/7/2011.......

Today, was our big day. It all came down today. The final exam, the last play, the last act we put all our sweat and effort into it. When everything was over, nostalgia took over me.

I won't beat around the bush, I am really satisfied with the last performance. Everything was ready, everything was good to go. We came a long way from start, I've seen transformation in 2 particular members of the group which went through significant changes, and it was remarkable.

The whole team finally came nicely together, as in the skid and chronology. I personally think that we've all improved in our individual ways, thanks to the guidance of Mr. Rey, the best theatre lecturer. Wise in his ways, he led us to learn many things indirectly. And I have to admit, he takes theatre to another level, one that really brings out the inner personalities in people.

The course is finally over. I have but a few last words to say. Thank you Mr. Rey for your teachings, it led me to be a better person. You'll create future actors, and craft them perfectly. You're a great lecturer and a lecturer advisor. Stay awesome.

Yours truly, signing out -
Josh~

Story #4: Bad habits - Foul languages

I will speak this out clear. I have this issue myself. Sometimes unexpectedly, a word or 2 belonging to the vulgar category would pop up. It has a really long term adverse effect, and im paying the price of it.

Vulgarities is one way to express yourself in terms of anger, happiness, sadness or excitement. But overusage of it really costs someone dearly. I lost many friends. In the beginning I thought that spitting vulgar words was a form of being cool, damn I was so wrong.

I notice sometimes when I blow a vulgar word, the group of friends would turn silent, or stare at the ground. I hadn't notice it until recently. Then when i asked a close friend of mine what was happening, they said it was because of me.

Shit, I really fucking regret vulgar word abuse. I have given a good example, and hopefully nobody follows in my footsteps :).

Story #3: Bad habits - Smoking

This here is one bad habit that really should be taken into consideration. It is something observed outside of me, yet the harm in it subdues me sometimes.

Smoking is considered one of many bad habits ever to be practiced. I learnt that the price to pay for is very high, the cost is death. My grandfather died recently because of lung cancer. He smokes 3 packets of cigarettes a day during his time. He died younger than my maternal grandfather, who is currently older and much fitter than him because he smokes less.

Another incidence is that of my friend. I try to talk him out of smoking, but to no avail. He says smoking is to relieve stress, depression, loneliness and such. But in my personal opinion, smoking itself worsens the effects of stress and depression a lot more than it helps.

This habit not only endangers the smoker's life, but also to people around it. It is very serious, and must be put to a stop at once.

Story #2: Bad habits - Procrastination

There is this boy, who loves to leave things to the last minute. Every single time he is given something to do, he will put it off and leave it to the next time.

Procrastination, is a really serious bad habit. Homeworks, house chores, are all left till the last minute. The parents really couldn't stand that boy's attitude.

There was once where this boy's exam was approaching, he didn't study till 1 day before the exam, and his results he got were terrible.

Procrastination may endanger somebody else too. If a job was assigned to you, that involves other people, if you didn't play your part, the whole team is in jeopardy.

Never put something off when something can be done today...

Story #1: Bad habits - Nail biting

I will start of with a story. A group of pixies once threw a party to their human friends. 3 boys were invited. The first boy was served marshmellows. He was overjoyed because it was his favourite food. The second boy was served roast chicken, similar to the first boy, he was overjoyed. But the third boy was served with different types of nails and screws. He was confused and he asked the pixies why, the pixies just replied, because I saw you biting your finger nails every day.

Most people have this bad habit but hardly any admit it. Biting nails is like a disease. I once knew that biting nails was a bad habit, but people around were doing it unintentionally.

I observed that people tend to bite their nails and spit it out everywhere, or worse, swallow it. But honestly I do not know what is so bad about it, because nails are calcium, we're just consuming the calcium back.

Nevertheless, everybody categorized it as a bad habit, therefore I just followed the flow. Another example was that I witnessed a boy once bit his nails, and spitted it out into the food in front of him during mealtime. I could see the shock in the parent's eyes, but they suppressed it really well. But the boy felt perfectly normal about it.

As another example, I noticed friends around biting nails especially during examination. It is a sign of nervousness. Biting nails obviously is a trend, a habit, and should be avoided being done in public.

Thursday 23/06/2011

Mid term exam was just over!! *exhausted*

I think we really did well. Both the Abstract piece and Group piece. Everyone did a great job. That's all I can say.

Many constructive criticisms were given by Mr. Rey after the examination was done. It was really 'constructive' indeed. Like what he always use to say, every play is a work in progress.

After the mid-term exam, Mr. Rey immediately discussed about finals. Stress level at maximum.
We have yet to decide on a topic. Topic will be decided latest by tuesday though.

Signing out,
Josh.

Tuesday 14/06/2011

I was feeling quite stressed out. My days has been so stressful so much these days. I was 10 minutes late to class, because somebody told me that THTR101 started at 10.30am. So I was feeling double stressed today.

Nevertheless, Mr Rey instructed me to takes note of what the others were doing, and join in. So I observed every single person was doing a specific sport. So, I chose squash, since nobody was doing it. Doing it in slow motion, fast motion, and play it like I'm having a championship. The last ball, the crucial, ball, that determines the victory or defeat.. Showing the emotions where it was either defeat, or victorious, then we shook out.
Personal comments: Venting out on the defeat part was what I needed.

Class was divided into groups of 2. We had to work on proxy. My group was me and Leanne. We decided on a Bus Scene. Imagine on a bus, on a rocky road, crossing bumps, stopping for passengers, sudden halts. Yeah I think I did mine well. Learnt the Michael Jackson Walk, as what Mr. Rey called it. We swat mosquitoes next. Got bitten by them, and a whole swarm was hovering upon us and we have to swat them all. FuN.
Personal comments: Mime walking was the real name. It looks like shuffling + moonwalking.

Later, we worked on something new again. This was an abstract piece as Mr. Rey termed it. While music is played, we made lines, circles, and clumps with our bodies with various styles and positions. Mr Rey played 2 different types of music, each transitions we did follows the type of music played. Example, if it was a happy piece, we gracefully danced out of each formation. If was a soulful piece, we moved swiftly through space with deep emotions.
Personal comments: As usual, I love the last part of class. The abstract piece really cranked me up ready for more.

End of class.

Thursday 9/06/2011

# I got screwed by Mr. Rey for not keeping my journal up-to-date. Truth is I was super busy, with a lot of outstanding assignments to complete..

#another note, I missed Tuesday's class, because I was away at camp. Not that I wanted it. But it just adds more stress to myself.

Walked around the room to delve into thoughts again, I needed to shake up my whole body to relax myself. I had a really stressful week..

Today's first lesson was last week's final lesson lol. Mirrors. This time with a little twist. All I could remember was the Chorus and Shadow.. I really feel myself having fun doing mirrors. That's all I can say about it.
Personal Comments: I still love it.

Groups of 2 are formed. I have no idea why at first, till suddenly Mr. Rey turned on the music. One person has to do an action, the other person has to react. Still somehow in the form of a mirror. The music somehow provides us the feeling and mood. Later Mr. Rey merged 2 groups of each together, forming 4 people in a group. 2 leads, 2 follows. 1 lead, 3 follows. 3 lead, 1 follow. Wow at the spontaneous positions everybody can think of. Indeed.
Personal Comments: This was the start of an Abstract Piece. It feels, intriguing.

Mm, watermelon. Yea it was a hot day, had to imagine it was hot. An imaginary watermelon lies in front of us. Grabbed a knife, cut it with style, picked up a piece, and share it with your partner.
And suddenly, Mr. Rey asked us all to spit watermelon seeds at our partners! Spitting was fun. Imagining the projectiles flying at your body, face and head, and reacting to it. Hence we learned: Proxy.
Personal Comments: The word proxy made me remember the OTHER word. It was Spotting.


Overall Summary: Today's lessons really geared us up for more acting. I feel as we're getting more prepared for the mid term exam. I'm all a tingle to know what's coming up soon.

Thursday 2/06/2011

Today's entire lesson was really different, and it really caught my attention.

I was sleepy, but Mr. Rey kicked off today's lesson with a different twist: Meditation. This is my first time doing meditation in my life. From the toe tip, up to the ankles, up to the knees, butt cheeks, belly, chest, neck, head, face, and even hair.

Personal comments: When lying down on floor to meditate, I slept. So peaceful.

The Emotion Ball was next again. I guess not much is needed to explain about it again.

Personal comments: Indifferent.

Next, the we have to 'give life' to the floor. Damn it I keep forgetting the term for it. If it was hot, we jumped about and make faces. Sounds included. Same goes for it being sharp and muddy. I realised something here. Different people react differently to the floor. I thought it was all the same. I remember playing in the mud, when mother called to return home, react to the shock on her face, and we froze......

Personal comments: Indulging in what we're doing really does put us into that position well.

Took a break, I went to a corner myself. I did some quiet time...I needed it.

Later we had a 'tug of war'. In this case we had to imagine ourselves doing the tugging and everybody wanted to win. But in truth this imaginary 'tug of war' wasn't as easy as it seemed. To make it look realistic, both parties have to give and take. Again this is a form of chemistry. When one side opens the opportunity to the other, immediately the other party should be aware of the opening and grasp the moment to immediately respond to it.

Personal comments: This was a really beneficial exercise. A good form of telepathic communication training.

Final lesson of the day: Mirrors. This is something new. So we formed groups of 2. Facing one another, one will lead, the other will follow, just like a mirror. Is there anything more to elaborate about it? Oh yes there is. Sir Rey wanted us to do it in such a way that he couldn't tell who was leading and who was following. As time pass, we grew more comfortable with each other's movements, and there it starts to become fun.

Personal comments: I always love something new. This is extremely fun.

Tuesday 31/5/2011

Today I was kinda late. Warning from Mr. Rey.. 1 minute late was late. Discipline was hard.

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Kick off lesson with the Emotion Ball. It was light, heavy, hot, cold, electrifying, love, and sweet. I learnt it was putting life into the ball. I forgot what was the term to describe 'adding life into the ball'.. Whilst passing the ball to somebody else, it is also transferring the emotion to another person.

Personal Comments: Just another warmup.

Placing some blocks around the room once more, we are called to run around and touch blocks as we past them. When Mr. Rey called for stop, each person must do an interesting stationary position on the closest block. Then he called for 2 people on a block. Oh damn, split second synchonization was needed for 2 people to create a connection to do a pose on a block. I thought this was honestly fun.

Personal comments: Indifferent.

Going on to the final lesson of the day: A scene in the Women's Clothes Department Store. Each person has to walk in a imaginary door, and browse around in the 'store', till the payout at the cashier. We have done the first play ever in THTR101.

Personal comments: First play was well done. Nice rep.

Summary of lesson: --> I learnt the most with the Women's Department play. Acting out in serious motion was intriguing.

I wasn't quite in the mood that day. I have no idea why..

Thursday 26/05/2011

I was a wee late for today's lesson.. But I made it in the nick of time. Sir Rey did every lesson's warmup as usual: walking around the room pondering in our own thoughts.

Today's lesson kicked up with an Emotion Ball. Everybody has an emotion in them, the ball transitioned the emotions among each person when it was passed around. Emotions like anger, happiness, sadness, love, were passed around. In my opinion, in real life, emotions really DO pass around like that ball. For example, if I am angry, I can pass that emotion to somebody who is totally innocent, and that person becomes angry as well.

Next we were called to make a circle. Last lesson's activity was 'replayed' again; Sir Rey were to give a word, and we have to act out that word in 2 seconds or less. First activity was to act out Mud, next was a Car Accident, lastly was a Cheating Husband. Sir Rey later related on how spontaneous acts work more efficient, rather than to write a script. Spontaneous acts can make a play in less than 5 minutes, whereas writing a script will take maybe 4 weeks.

Last activity of the day, students were required to move to the center of the circle one by one, and act out something. I believe everybody really learned something about acting.. Every movement, from walking into the act to leaving the scene, is vitally important to putting on a good act. Personally, I've acquired new information today. "You don't have put in too much to make a good act. The lesser you try, the better the show."

Thursday 19/05/2011

My first THTR101 class initiated today. With Sir Rey handling the ice breaking session. We each introduced ourselves later. The introduction was well-off as we understood little pieces about everyone.

Sir Rey later introduced us the two parties involving the performer, and the audience. Sir Rey took a ball and placed it in the center of the room/stage. Obviously the ball isn't doing anything. But I came to know that even so, that IS a performance. Because it is doing 'nothing'. I learnt that anything or anybody can do a performance, as long as the prerequisites of the questions that the audience have in their head are answered, such as 'why is he standing there?', 'what will he do next?', 'how does he do that?'.

Many more self-discovery activities were played on. One of the most in-depth activity was about discovering our most comfortable zone, and our most uncomfortable zone. My most comfortable zone was in a dark corner, whereas my uncomfortable zone was, as long as it wasn't dark. Sir Rey told us that every different individual's comfort zone vary according to their childhood. I throw in my full support to that.

We joined hands later, forming a circle, and I was the troublemaker. Leading the entire team into an impossible twist, and back out again. Sir Rey explained how a leader leads the team into trouble, the whole team will follow the leader. Vice versa, a member of the team can lead a team out of trouble. In theatre, this is bound to happen.

Finally there was the 'epic finale'. In the blind of night, (darkness of the room), we were instructed to close our eyes, students were situated all around the room, and we had to find our circle again. Blindly, I followed my instinct and groped around to join back the hands to recreate the circle. Honestly I wasn't sure what was that for, but I sense a serious deep meaning to it.