Post the Ninety-Seventh - moving on up

Today, amid yet more dissertation graft, I had a very important medical appointment. I won't go into the details of it, because some of what was discussed was highly sensitive and emotional, and doesn't only involve me. Nevertheless, I wanted to give some mention of it on this blog, as it is extremely relevant to the subject matter and marks the first point in the process of me being able to make some pretty fundamental changes in my life.

So here's to moving onwards and upwards!

Post the Ninety-Sixth - one girl and her dog (and dad)

Today has been such a lovely day, spent in the company of my dear Papa and my Darcy dog. It was full of hard work, as I blasted off a scene of my latest draft of my play, but it was very definitely lovely - especially because my break consisted of taking said dear dog for a long walk on the Heath. The walk in itself was wonderful, of course, but it felt even more so for the simple reason that it's still such a novelty to me that I can get out there to go for the walk.

Yay for fixed chairs!

Post the Ninety-Fifth - healing hydro

I know, I know. I write about hydro far too much. The thing is, though, my instructor was away last week and I missed out on two sessions. She had a lovely and much-needed holiday, so I didn't mind, but it felt so good (so good) to be back in the water this morning!

Post the Ninety-Fourth - sleepy scrambled eggs

(I've decided that, although I feel super guilty about the backlog, it's better not to create more of one whilst I'm in the process of trying to clear it. So, despite the fact that I definitely haven't got time for long posts right now, I'm going to try and make time for some sort of update each day, even if it's just a sentence of gratitude, until the plethora of backdated posts materialises. For instance, today, I'd really like to write something longer to honour the centennial of the breakout of WWI, but I'm being very strict about my timetable - and my use of electronic devices, in a bid to sort out my sleep.)

Instead I write in homage to my Mama - and scrambled eggs. Sleep has got difficult again (having become considerably better, as you'll be able to read once I've got caught up) and this morning I was really feeling it, and consequently not feeling like breakfast. Or brunch. Or any meal whatsoever. Now, Mama knows that, when I get like this, I need something which is full of protein and which I can eat without much effort.

Cue scrambled eggs, cooked with basil, because plain egg has a texture that I can't always swallow that easily. And because my Mama is a star.

They, and she, provided me with the energy to get through today, to write more of my play (rhyme unintentional) and then to have a lovely catch up with a primary school friend. Huzzah!

Post the Ninety-Third - list

Firstly, I realise that, at the moment of publication, this is not my ninety-third post. Secondly, however, it soon will be - and that brings me to an explanation of the dual meaning of its title, 'list'. 

On a mundane level, then, it simply refers to the fact that (amidst the pages and pages of the play which makes up just half of my dissertation) I am still keeping an (ever-longer) list of dated daily topics for this blog. Yet it also has a deeper resonance, because I hope I may convey how much I list - a (now relatively archaic) synonym for 'want' - to be writing more regularly than is possible at the moment.

I'm not sure how many of you will even be reading this insignificant slice of the internet any more (I imagine very few) but I nevertheless would like to convey my sincerest thanks if you have stuck around, as well as my deepest apologies for letting you down so abysmally on the update front.

Love,

Jessi xxx

Post the Seventy-Seventh - imini emnandi kuwe, Tata Madiba!

Today is the 18th of July and it is Nelson Mandela's birthday. Had he lived to greet it, Tata Madiba (as he is affectionately known by most South Africans) would be ninety-four. It felt very odd writing that last part of the previous sentence. Due to the fact that he was alive for nearly a century, as well as the huge presence he had around the world as well as in South Africa, to be celebrating his birthday in his absence is...new, and I guess we haven't got the blueprint for how to do it, especially with all the mixed emotions that will come up.

However, in South Africa, sadness is always met with joy - and if anyone knows how to party it's us. So hopefully we can honour his day and his memory as he would have wanted us to - with fun, laughter and friendship. I only wish I could be over there myself, but we will light a candle and sing tonight. 

Imini emnandi kuwe, imini emnandi kuwe... 

We love you, Tata.

Post the Seventy-Sixth - perpetual beginning and ending

NB: I should note here that this post is the first in another series of backdated entries so, although it is marked as 17th July, I am actually writing it a full ten days later on the 27th. Again, this is not due to a lack of subject matter, merely a lack of time - for which I once more profusely apologise. Several people have asked me what has happened to my blog, to which I can only reply 'dissertation', before attempting to make amends and catch up. I would say this won't happen again, as I did before, but that clearly wasn't true or successful. So I'll simply try to make my way through the backlog.

Having posted yesterday about the pride and congratulations I wish to give to those of my Warwick friends who have reached their own graduations, and how I can't quite believe it's been a year since mine, today I want to do something similar for my current cohort of friends and colleagues at RADA. For, whilst we have yet to reach graduation, this week brought with it the performances of those of us who decided to stage a work-in-progress piece as part of our practical dissertations. I am writing a play, so this does not apply to me, but I have attended most of the productions. Unfortunately I can't go tonight, because I have had tickets for something else for months, but I know that the performance will be as brilliant as all the others have been.

That is why I am proud. My friends have exhibited the diversity and the complexity of their imaginations, dealing with a range of topics in a variety of different styles, and they have shown the real power and joy of theatre - anything is possible, if you can think it up. Most importantly, they have given it their all, and done so with style, grace and professionalism. If these are 'works-in-progress', then I can't wait to witness the finished articles, should they choose to develop them further.

Yay MA T&P - what a wonderful year we've had!