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..