Via Centre Arts I met a lovely lady called Jenna Monroe who is a fantastic singer. I had wanted to do a workshop she was running but it was canceled so I have been on the look out for anything else she does. I can't afford singing lessons at the moment but one off workshops are just about doable especially as I still had the money left from the first attempt.
The actual workshop was Vocal and Physical Improvisation with Jenna doing the vocal part and a man called Adam Fotheringham doing the physical part. I found the physical bit a tad taxing and had to sit out for large chunks which was a shame as I didn't get to 'let go' of inhibitions and things in the same way as alot of the others could. I dare not jump with my pelvis still though I managed a lot and took part in all the 'acting' type exercises.
It was a lot more New Agey than I was expecting but that was good in some ways as it helped relax me into stuff which of course is the point of it. I have come away with some wonderful ideas for poems and stories and pictures to render. For me the best bit was an exercise were we all started off singing one thing and then other bits were added and we just sort of had to decide what we wanted to sing. I struggled with this right up until she told us to close our eyes, suddenly singing was easy, suddenly the sounds were there as ribbons around me and I could see where my ribbon, my voice needed to be woven into the pattern (metaphor obviously). It was the same a singing to the girls, there was nothing other than the sound and the hum and the harmonics of the voices mingling and mixing.
When we had finished this exercise I felt really serene and happy to take part in the rest of the activities. I had been very nervous about going to it to be honest. Later on there was another vocal exercise where we lay on the floor and then took it in turns to wander around the room singing. There was some real tribal, old, folky stuff coming out and then I got up and sang the first thing that came into my head and as I was confronted by a dark room with people laying down I just automatically started singing the Lullaby I made up for Jeany and that me and Al sing to the girls still.
I felt I learnt a lot and it was a fun afternoon, the activities when on a bit too long for my staying in one postition pain threshold but it was worth it 🙂
As I was singing the sun was setting and the sky was lavender and pink tinged, the light coming into the room had been amazing all day with trees autumn leaves fluttering down, first in sunlight, then in winter cloud glow and then through a condensation haze that settled on the windows like snow flurries. I eat cake and drank tea and at the end before the lights were switched on I took a photo of the candle that had been the only light as the sun set - I just thought it looked excellent and yes my head was very Bill and Ted when I emerged.
Being nervous and sky these sorts of workshops are invaluable to me. I am finding myself increasingly on stage and though two years ago if I went to read I was the best stage presence (not the same as the best poet!). I am now going to event where I am the worst performer (not the same as worst poet! Not that I really feel poetry can be gaged like that) and I have always wanted to sing on stage. I miss singing in Choirs and Musical Theatre Society etc...
I really enjoyed it plus I discovered there is a cute dinky little hall hidden away in Painswick.
Dream last night: An eerie pub started up in Bristol and I went there for lunch with the baby - it was in a huge old castle type thing with a field but was like actually on an island in the river. It was lovely and we ordered food and chatted to a historian about it, the place had an affinity for words and there were word games on the walls. But these sunk backwards and a hidden passage way appeared only rarely - this happened and zombie goths and cyber and stream punk and skaters etc.. started to pour out.
They were preparing for a war with the Metal Gods who slept in the labrynth within. The Bristolians got involved too and began to storm the castle - I was sort of caught in the middle of this with the Metal King laughing and saying I would have to join in the battle - I realised I could not kill so asked if I could heal or attend the dying. He said no but then one of the female goth zombies smuggled me and the baby out but only after I sustained a hit from the now angry Metal King (from his rather large broad sword as all the fighting was with swords).
I was running along wounded and found Alaric in a traffic jam, but people started shooting at us as it turned out he had upset a local golf fanatic. We ended up on a foot path at the edge of a golf course with all this dense silver twiggy/heather like growth around it, the growth was as tall as any tree here in the UK. We ducked off the path and hid in a little hollow sitting on the heather stuff and I dug lead shot out of Al's shoulder before it could poison him. A passer by gave us some TCP.
And then we rejoined the path as we could hear helicopters and thought that hiding would show us up as suspicous on the heat detectors.
The strangest bit though was that the whole thing was occurring to a sound track of Jesse J mostly her Hot Under The Collar :/
With a few alterations I reckon I could get a novel out of this - the zombies and Deamon Metal Kings were all people I actually know as well. Dream analysts I would love to know what you make of this!
Mary had a Children In Need thing at nursery on Monday and Jean had a spotty day today at school so my mum run up these cute little matching outfits for them 🙂
In other news I am about to break the 50K barrier on my NaNoWriMo novel! I am so pleased with myself 🙂 Alaric is at about 11K and we both had a productive time at the Bristol write-in last night! Unfortunatly I am going to have to swap my focus over to making christmas presents and stuff like getting The Little Book of Festive Poetry ready to raise money for Jean's school library - on the plus side I have been enjoying the spotty mug I got last year whilst writing!
Don't forget you can sponsor us for the writing 🙂
Today I am popping out to vote - this time police commissioners. I really don't like this - not that I have a choice of vote but that it is linked to political parties. I like the fact that our police force is separate otherwise they are just a branch of the military in my opinion or hired thugs - with issues such as privatization sneaking in I am very concerned.
The police need to be separate and a public service, I don't want people with the power of arrest over me that are doing it for the highest bidder or because one faction has decreed it so. I want them to be looking out for the polis - the people. I want them to retain the power to retain those in power in the country if those people are misbehaving - if those people are paying them then that balance shifts.
I've been looking at Gloucestershires candidates and only one of them is an ex-cop. Now I'm not saying the others can't do the job but I am fearful that you could get such a position without at least seeing what it is like to work on the 'shop floor' as it were.
Also the information for this round of voting has been almost none existant - you need to be internet savy to have gained any info on who is even standing in your area. This is not how you get people to actually go out and vote. Now I hate the leaflets through the door that are party specific but really a summary sheet with more info can be found here and here covering the basics of the candidates would be a good idea.
Democracy is more than being able to put your mark on the card it is being given the power to make an informed choice. I will go bannanas if I find flyers for specific parties in the booth again like I did with the voting referendum.
In the process of looking up info I have also discovered that there is planned closer of like two thirds of this counties police stations - who could possibly think that is a good idea? Centralisation can only make this effecient up to a level and then you start to have issues with time lag which when we are dealing with the emergency services is bad news indeed.
We have already lost our fire station which was also a place for the rapid response units etc.... it is now too far away for me to happy. As in it is now as far away as the nearest was when we lived in a village - village is one thing this is not a village. High population centers need visible policing. I saw more cops in the village than I do here - what is going on with that?
I am once again scared by the politics in this country.
Tuesday Morning we went for a stroll around various bits of London on the way to Paul A. Youngs Fine Chocolates in The Royal Exchange. I have to say that a) I was surprised the Royal Exchange was a shopping centre and not a bank or something and also it was quiet boring as shopping districts go but there was lots of pretty buildings and statues around it to photograph.
The Chocolate Shop itself was something else! I was could have just spent all afternoon photographing the chocolates to be honest! Plus the shops were obviously designed with me in mind - see even the bags are purple and the boxes tied up with little purple ribbons - tell me why there is not one of these in Cheltenham? Next to the Cheese Works would be best - just saying.
I may have ended up with a book on cooking with and making chocolate etc....
Alaric is going to try and get it signed for me at some point 🙂 I'd really wanted to go and look in the kitchens or do the tempering course but when we looked they seemed to only be for Chocolate Week 🙁 But I have coffee beans covered in chocolate - t my mind there is slightly too much chocolate on the bean but it is a lovely roast! Alaric got a Marmite bar. The chocolate still contains soya lectin unfortunatly so I can't exactly eat a tonne of it - but then shouldn't really anyway 🙂
I then took more pictures of London 🙂
We headed over to the Institute of Contemporary Arts to have lunch and meet a friend. This statue was on the way and is of Uri the first man in Orbit!
I didn't even know the ICA existed!
Lunch was veggi curry of butternut squash and chick peas for Al and tarragon chicken with mushrooms for me 🙂
It was really tasty!
We looked around some of the exhibits the main one was The House to Die In which had a large narcotices theme running through it though I thought the structures looked like space ships. We found the perfect present for mum but had fortunatly had already gotten her a sketch pad as the blanket was £450!
We mainly sat in the coffee shop with all our stuff and wrote things and drew things and designed things and made things.
We had tea and ginger bread men and chatted lots to Dez who I some how failed to get a photo of :/ Though I took this sequence...
Alaric kept moving his eyes about which was funny 🙂
We then headed over to Padington Station to make our journy home - I filled up my dragon note book mostly on this four day adventure 🙂 And I haven't arted Alaric out - I think he almost Artied me out and I've ended up with a set of Tech/Net/Web/Geek tarot cards from the ICA which I love and am going to write so many stories from. Al broke the 10K barrier on his novel and me the 40K barrier which is just fantastic
Polyps Together the Colony Unitied 🙂
Events and Outings, Health, Music, Sarah | sarah | 
Mon 19th Nov 2012 10:46 am | 
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