MIDTERMS:

1st Meeting:

We had a 30 mins discussion right before class and we were each assigned to find out some interesting music for our dance and we came up with a rough idea for our storyline for the mime. We were basically unprepared. Sigh.

2nd Meeting:

We came to college on Saturday to come up with what he had compiled for both our acts. At first I suggested with a fight which took place in school and Ainan suggested to also put in some blow up effects in the scene. It seemed violent and didn't go well with the storyline so the idea was unacceptable. Ainan then suggested that a group of friends who were trying to bring down a door to retrieve a football. Hmm. Scratch that. In the end we came up with a BGR relationship where the guy gets excited for a date and he goes to get a cake and flowers for their date and realizing he was late, he was forced to take a 5 minute shower.

3rd meeting:

We didn't really went with our previous idea because we thought it would confuse the audience and the examiner. We did major changes to the mime sketch and we came up with " Zhang's horrible day at school". The story was about a boy who was late for school and ended up in a fight with his fellow classmate. Then we had to work with the music for our dance piece. We weren't ready at all. We began youtube-ing and ended up with a jungle themed music. The song was a little to long and we ran out of ideas so spiced it with the creepy " One Missed Call" ringtone. The rehearsal was TODAY and we have not finished up our dance piece.

4th meeting:

Stayed in college till 8pm today. We managed to perfect our mime and mostly our dance piece. It was fun staying back with the other groups, fooling around and practicing. We practiced continuously mainly for the dance because we were nowhere near ready and there were some parts where we forgotten what we were supposed to do. For the mime piece, some scene had to be taken off because it was longer than the time limit given but i thought that it would make the story much more sensible. oh well! 

5th meeting:

Today's the day! Right before class, as usual we met up to practiced our performances at one of the classrooms and passerbys' would give us a weird look. We just went hardcore on our practices and made sure no one forgets the steps.

6th meeting:

Practice seemed pretty awkward today, we were all laid back and relaxed compared to last practice.   I seemed to have forgotten some of the steps as well. We did not manage to do all the steps as the space was limited. Hope we do well and not screw up!

12th

We continued with our midterms today and right before my performance, i had some last minute jitters. I was jumping around, freaking out and i could feel my tummy making backflips. :|

During our performance, i could hear soft laughter from the crowd and for a second there i ask myself if we were making a fool out of ourselves. 

Right after that, we started our class and we were taught to speak gibberish. Ain was my partner and she was to act flirtatiously towards me while i played hard to get. At first she was fidgeting with her hair and stepped closer to me while i backed away, trying to tell her that i wasn't interested. She then took a step closer and went down on one knee... she was proposing! We were laughing till Mr Rey stopped us said that it had gone too far. Hahaha.

Later then we had to switch partners and mine was Kim. I was a tourist lost in KL city and she while she gave me directions. She directed me to take a round and end up at the same place where i started. Syahirah was my third partner of the day, the scene was accusing her roommate (me) as the culprit for stealing her purse. While i was being accused, her expression was trying to be mad but she couldn't help smiling. 

When i got home, i watched my group's performance which was recorded by Azri and my, it was really funny and i watched myself make a whole lot of mistakes. Yikes!

Just. Got. Into. My. First. Accident

This morning I was heading home from college right after a test. Being a person who hates driving slow, I slid to the right lane as it was clear and i sped my way through till i saw smooth flowing traffic. The car infront of me was going slow and the nearer i got to it, i realized it wasn't moving at all. I braked instantly and BAM! My car rammed right on it's boot. I thought it was a dream and kept pinching myself to realize that i was in deep shit. It was a thrilling and an exciting sensation which drove me to do it again but i managed to get a hold of myself. Its's the feeling when you get when you play bumper cars but this was on the road. This was the REAL DEAL!!!

(i love playing bumper cars btw). 

When the passenger got down, he gave me a thumbs up with a mixture of an angry and smiley look on his face which sent a message saying "pandai la kau ni" which meant "smart alec". Surprisingly, he smiled and came up and told me to take a chill pill while i called my dad. Through the rear mirror I could see the traffic behind getting congested so I told him to settle it somewhere else or everyone would be at cursing us. When I hit the brakes to switch to the Drive gear, my hands were shaking and my legs turned jelly-like. It turns out that the cars hit like a domino effect as the car before hit the emergency brakes which cause the second car, (the one which i hit) to brake at the same time but i did not see it coming. The back of my car was also damaged by another driver but I didn't realize until they told me... and also the person ran off. Idiot.

eleventh

MIDTERMS! *dum dum dummmmm*
The day has finally come... 

MIME.
I thought it was going to be a little boring since we've all watched each other's performances and since we already knew the story line for the mimes but i was wrong. The other groups had given a surprise twist and turn to their performance and it was really entertaining to watch their performance. The group that i was in was to perform last and we had to cut out some scenes on the day itself because our act was over the time limit but it went smoothly as practiced. :D

DANCE. one thing i was never good at.
There were dances of every genre. One group had come up with steps which required everything we were taught in theater class. "The Thinker" pose was also brought up in the midst of the performance and it was really creative. There was also a group which came up with a sweet melody gone wrong with a scary twist the tune gave me goosebumps, literally. Nevertheless it was also entertaining and not forgetting scary as I was a little creeped out. In the middle the performance, the lights went off and it was pitch black. I thought it was part of the act but the lights never came back on, so we had to postpone ours to next class. :(

10th

We presented our mimes and dance performances today. I was scared that the audience could not understand the multiple roles we played as they were a little confusing but they seemed to enjoyed it (especially the bathroom scene) haha. The other groups were pretty good and hilarious as well while some were a bit tad confusing but I got the hang of their storyline later on. Later we watched the other groups' dance performance. One of the group's idea was a creepy because of the music. It turned out to sound like a toy box tune that went wrong. My group didn't performed cos we were only halfway with the song and dance steps.

Looking forward to this thursday! :O

AUTHORITY & POWER

This happened to me when I was 14. I was not a mini rebel or anything but I learned to adopt to using vulgarities in my everyday life. There was this teacher in high school who loved picking on me. She would make every small mistakes i make, turning them into big deals and also giving other teachers a bad impression. In my school, the teachers would always have their gossiping sessions in the staff room. Throughout my life in school, I was never once the teacher's pet, no matter how well i behaved or did my best. There was always this sense of dislike against me. One morning right before her class, i confronted her. I told her it wasn't nice about her to badmouth me to the entire staff room and that I didn't like the attention which was given to me. She told me she was just fooling around. (what did i do to piss this woman off -.-) She told me that it was all fun and laughter, and that I did not have to take it so seriously. I mouthed the word "bitch" and she got a hold of that and the next thing i knew, i ended up sitting in the principal's office. Sigh. Eversince then, she never really did spoke to and talked about me anymore.

Ninth

"Imagine that your vertebrae is slowly being released." 

My body just bent forward with my arms hanging in the air. There was a jumpy song in the background and we were all dancing and swaying to the side and jumped each time they sang "JUMP!" Apparently we were being filmed by an imaginary camera and the first thing that hit me was new years eve! (like the scene in FRIENDS where they were filming for new years eve)

Next we did this balancing act and my partner was nikki (since we had to find someone of the same height...) First we had to get up by only balancing our backs which i had a hard time getting up. I really disappointed my partner in this. I'm just not good at balancing... We also had to balance elbow to elbow, nose to shoulder and much more. 

Later we played a trusting where it was about trusting your peers that they would be there to back you up whenever you fall, no matter if you fall to the front, back or even sideways. There will always be someone to put you back on your feet then later lift you up. Mr Rey did a demonstration for us to understand it even better. The second person we lifted was Azri and due to the people, I was pushed out of the crowd and I tried to find a space and where they needed my help. I was picked out next because they needed someone petite. I felt like a BALL, while I was getting pushed from every direction. When i was being lifted, all i wanted to do was open my eyes and look around but i didn't.

We were then divided into groups where each of us had to be carried while practicing to the beat of the song. The group that I was in did the "Superman", the wheelbarrow and a couple of lifts. We came up with the lifts from some experience of cheerleading (to be honest, i miss cheerleading a loooooot). Each time we were being lifted we'd have to shout "TA-DAAAAH!" Had a really fun session. :-)

GOODBYE

That was one word I never got to say. I never really lost someone in my life. This was my first time dealing with a passing.

Before that, he was already fighting in a weak condition and it gradually became worse. Everyday my aunt would ring up my mum and update her about his condition. His appetite gradually became worse and in a month’s time, he grew so thin. The very last time I saw him was when he was in KL for a medical scan. The results came out, stage 4 cancer. The last critical stage. We were all afraid to break the news to him.

One night, my mum got called up saying that he slipped and the doctor said he was in a critical condition. I was supposed to tag along but i had to attend school due to studies purposes. Being a prefect, I broke the rules to just bring my phone to school. I kept praying and hoping that he would wait for me to get there right after school. In the middle of class, my phone buzzed and i excused myself to the ladies. It was a text from my mum, saying that he’s passed on. I started crying and my friends came to look after for me because I was away for quite some time. At night, when i got to my gramps place, I walked to where he was laid, he looked so peaceful. Seeing my mum cry made me cry even more. I just could not forgive myself for not being there one last time. 

Before the coffin was sealed, we were all given one last chance to say our goodbyes. I told him that i was sorry, for not being there. For putting him aside and my studies first. I will never forgive myself for this selfish act. I lost my grandpa to cancer last year. Despite him not being around anymore, I know that he would be watching us from above.

AGONY : PHYSICAL

In high school, I was never fit enough to join any sports due to my size and my constant lack of breath. The only sport I ever did joined was cheerleading.

A couple of years back, the BLUE house team decided to put me in a 400m track event. They were desperate because they needed someone to represent their team or else they would be forfeited. I tried to persuade the captain and the teachers that i could not do it as i was only a short distance runner. A few minutes before the race started, i started to get butterflies in my stomach and my palms were starting to sweat. “Low Sher Ryn!” the teacher in-charged called, “it’s your turn. You’re up next!” My teammates around me wished me well and that it would be done in a matter of seconds. All i could do was just smile and prayed that this wasn’t happening. I would make a fool out of myself if I came last.



“BAM!” The trigger just got released. This was the cue for me to lift myself up and ran for my life.  Like any other smart-alec, i sprinted for the first 100metres and ran as fast as my legs could bring me... It was a really stupid decision. My legs started to get tired, and my breathing became vigorous and I had to breathe through my mouth. The sun was just shining so brightly and i was just panting and running. Soon everyone else was over taking me and i became the last. My friends were cheering at me to finish the race but all i wanted to do was cry, and i did. Due to having a past record of having bronchitis, i was scared that it could come back and haunt me. I just could not risk it. My vision blacked out for a moment, but i could still feel my legs working and suddenly. I was a few metres closer to the finishing line and suddenly i felt a sharp jab. My ankle felt like it was burning each time i moved. The pain was horrendous and i was limping to the finishing line. I just needed to get this race over with! I told myself I was fine and ignored the pain while i limp back to the finishing line. One of the teachers at the side came up to me and pulled me into a bear hug.  I could hear my friends telling me that I did a great job but all i wanted to do was to forget about it.

Eighth

In the morning before class, i checked my emails and i came across a post saying that our midterm was this THURSDAY. i was panicking and freaking out and ahh! how are we suppose to get ready in a day? when i got to class, turns out that it was a typing error. thank goodness.


Today as a class, we acted out as an aggression machine and we had to come up with sounds repeatedly. I came up with guns and began shooting the person infront of me. We all took part in being part of an aggression machine and turned into a loving machine which was spreading kisses and love towards Nikki as she was the last to join us.

Later we did our stage combat again and this time, I was the victim while Mark played the "hitter". At first he was patting my stomach and it was as if he was patting a cow... or a pet and that made me felt really ticklish and I could not hold it up which the both of us ended up bursting into laughter while everyone in the hall was being plain serious. It was really weird and awkwarddd having someone patting my tummy. I had to control myself and stop giggling or we'd be kicked out. We were the second to be picked out to perform and all i needed to control myself. I'd imagine that there was no one in the room, only the both of us.

Awhile later we joined Nikki and Weiren into this abstract movement dance thingy, which was the same as last class but this time, we managed to get the hang of it. We did some sort of dance where  there were forces of attraction and also repelling against one another. The guys came up with one jumping over one another and we all just let loose of ourselves by jumping, twisting and twirling along with weird hand motions. :-)

7th

for class today we learned about mirror image and Nikki was my partner. She was leading the act and I had to follow her every move. I think we started well until it was my turn to lead. I tried to come up with some creative, but i just couuld not come out with proper moves. We tried doing yoga balancing poses and both of us just looked like wobbly statues. We took turns and I also tried doing star jumps while Nikki followed me but our timing kept getting off track. Later we joined ee wern and weiren into this abstract movement thingy... I had fun. I did, but we didn't really come up with the negative and positive movements. we tried tangling but it seemed that everyone was also doing the same... so we danced around, and we also came up with a movement similar to the kids game, london bridge. hmm. 

After that, we did some stage combat and my partner was Mark. I had the opportunity to punch a big guy in the face :D At first we practiced punching the air and falling. I was the puncher while Mark was my victim. In order to make the punch look real, i was to smack his palm creating the sound of being punched in the face. To perfect our act, we practiced several times and poor Mark 's wrists were already hurting. In the midst of practicing, out of the blue he shouted "fuck you bitch" and i was shocked for a moment there but turns out it was just to perfect his act -_- gee thanks. We gave our best when it was our turn to perform. It was fun fun fun :D

AGONY : Emotional

A relationship which I thought would last. 

Last year, I went through a horrendous break up in my life which caused me misery for months. The reason why the relationship ended was because studies were his first priority as we were having a major exam and he did not want the relationship to affect him. 

The first week was hell. Everyday I would come home with tears in my eyes. I just could not accept the fact that it was over between the both of us. I just could not accept the fact that something which I thought would last, just ended in a blink of an eye. I could not face my friends whenever they asked what happened. I could feel the heartbreak and tears would well up in my eyes but i managed to put on a brave face for months.  The guy who broke up with me was also from my school which made it ten times worse. As much as i try to avoid him, he was always there. For months, I would lash out my frustrations and anger on Twitter. I felt angry and betrayed because he was acting as if nothing happened and would flirt with one of my closest friends. All they could advice me was "it's okay, you will get over it. time heals all wounds"... and it sure did.

During those months of trying to get over him, I watched him change into someone else. He would curse relentlessly and would act like someone he wasn't, which later I found out that a couple of his friends actually disliked who he had become and they took a step back from him. Once he tried to get things back on track and told me how sorry he was but I turned him down and I was really happy for myself that I finally got over him.

Sixth?

I was really eager to perform the little sketch with my partner, but she texted me in the morning saying that she was feeling unwell and she couldn't come. :-(

We played Ice & Fire today! I love playing catching games as it keeps you pumped up for the rest of the day. BUT, there's a twist to this game, when someone is frozen, the only way to unfreeze them is to go through their legs and also when Mr Rey yells FREEZE, the person who is halfway underneath the other person's legs have to be stationary throughout the game. It was pretty sick.

Then we had to come out with our miming sketches. Mr Rey gave us some time to practice and it turns out that Wanli's partner too did not show up. So we were both the lone rangers sitting at the corner while everyone was preparing for their sketch. We talked about going for the play and it hit me that my dad got a pair of complimentary tickets for the Empress Wu but he was going to watch it with my mum, but i was already looking forward to watch it with my theater mates! Later we joined the others and watched the pairs performed. They were good :D

I got to pair up with Ainan for the next activity and it was having a watermelon spit fight. It was funny to see his facial expression when i spat at him. We also tried flying a kite which took us a hard time because whenever Ainan threw it up in the air it came back down again. When it did flew, the string snapped and the kite got stuck on a tree! The next act was sitting on a rollercoaster, Ainan played a brother who disliked rollercoasters and who also sleepy at the same time while i played the sister who was scared and going on the rollercoaster for the first time. When we reached the peak, i tried waking up "my sibling" who was half asleep but all he did was sleepily shoving me during the ride.

FAMILY MATTERS

It was a couple days before New Years and my parents decided to go to Singapore to take some time off their busy schedules and to relax. We had the coach tickets bought and hotel booked a week because my dad would not drive for 5-6 hours. On the night when we were supposed to leave for Singapore, my brother was doing some last minute packing 20 minutes before. The coach was supposed to leave at 8.00pm and we only left the house at 750pm. When we arrived, i saw a bus taking off and i told my parents "shit, is that our bus?! cannot be lah right, it's only 7.58!" True enough, it was our bus! I saw my brother looking up with a shocked expression on his face. My dad started scolding my brother for taking his own sweet time and my mum tried to calm my dad down. I was just watching all of this and could not believe that I just watched the bus passed by us.

My dad called up the office to stop the driver but that was no help. The man refused to give us the driver's number which was ridiculous considering that the bus only left a couple of minutes ago. I could hear my dad cussing on the phone and spoke angrily at the man. He then passed the phone to my mum and walked to my brother's direction and lectured him. She also did her best to persuade the man to give us the driver's number. My brother came up with an idea, that was to go after the bus when it needed to refuel but our efforts came to no avail.

When we got home, my brother was again lectured it made him annoyed and mad  but my dad kept rubbing salt into his wound and made it worse. They got into a really heated argument and my mum and I had to break them off. Things cooled off a couple of days later. It was a really memorable NYE with us having to chase after the bus and was also a lesson learnt that we as Malaysians should be punctual as most of us are known for our "dilly daley" ways.

5th!

Today, we did a little something interesting where we have to act out a surgery scene. The roles of the surgeons and the victim was already taken, so i decided to be the victim's mother. I think we did well and we did look like we were performing a real surgery with imaginary scalpels. :D

After that, we went to our space with an imaginary gust of air in our hands and we have to mold them into objects. I decided i was going to mould the air in my hands into this...

a red velvet birthday cake (looks delicious!)

My partner was syahirah and we had to exchange our imaginary objects with each other. At first, she showed me a phone in her palms, and it was touch screen. When she swiped the bottom, i instantly knew it was an iphone. I was pretty happy that i could guess it easily. When it was my turn, i showed her a round but flat object and placed candles on top and lighted them. 

Afterwards, we were separated into two groups playing tug of war. I have never been in the game before because my high school team mates thought i was small and i was not capable of tugging the rope. I was always at the side, cheering for my teammates. After 18 years of existence i was finally qualified to join the game, but imaginary. I could feel blisters on my palms, the rough grass patches below my feet and under the scorching hot sun. My team mates were yelling "PULL!" and arms did as told and the next thing we knew, we won! Later we had a second round and collapsed against one another after getting defeated by the opposing team.

Wrapped up the day with a miming act. We imagined ourselves hanging a picture on the wall and painting it afterwards. Amanda (my partner) and I, pretended we were Hansel and Gretel, coming across the gingerbread house and nibbling candies and cookies off the walls and roof. Next thing we know, we were locked up in the oven by the wicked witch! 

Mr Rey gave us a pair assignment where we have to act out a small miming sketch. I am already looking forward to the next class! ;)

fourth!

LE 5 SENSES

touch. sight. smell. taste. hear.

For today, we had fully utilize our 5 senses and also our IMAGINAAAA-TION

To start of the day, we started by passing the usual BUT imaginary yellow ball around,which then started shapeshifting into different colours and sizes and eventually into a tiny little marble. I honestly do not know how to play with a marble except when they use it during a game of congkak. I had a pretty fun time passing imaginary objects around and some of my classmates made it look so surreal!

After that, we went through an act of endowment. We were to picture ourselves walking on hot surfaces where i pictured hot coals everywhere and there was no way out until they cooled down. Then there was also stepping on sharp objects, being at a muddy situation (it brought back fond memories from river trekking, and there was also once where my foot was caught between the roots), stuck in a room filled with candies (there was colourful m&ms everywhere, it was HEAVEN!!!). There was also popping balloons and also a getting stuck in a room filled with nothing but money and everybody was swimming, making "snow" angels and stuffing every piece of them in their pocket.

The last we did for the day was "hey, (blablabla) whatchu doing?" and i was to assist Ain in picking out clothes from her closet. The first thing i imagined was a pretty pink princess-y looking closet, overloaded with beautiful dresses. Later, it was my turn to act out finding for an earring. I think it was okay. I need to present more EYE in future.

STALKERIFFIC

I was having breakfast with my mum at a nearby coffee shop near my place. While we were waiting for the food, i didn't have much to do other than playing around with my phone so I decided that i would go "hunting" for a person to stalk. (ha ha that sounded a little wrong) 

I paced up with this lady, a waitress's act and she was slouching on an empty seat, scribbling on her notepad and when her name was called to get the orders, she stood up angrily and somehow dragged her feet to the table. While the customer was contemplating what he should have, i saw the lady tapping her foot impatiently. She then raised her voice and said "that's all ah? nothing else?"... then she placed the orders and went back to her seat.

well somebody must have pissed this lady off.

3rdddd!

As usual, we did our “walkabout” and played passing the ball but this time we had to switch places and while we were doing that, we would have to act out our love and compassion as well as hatred among each other. Firstly, it was a little weird for me as all eyes were on the both of us and I got nervous. Second, my mind went blank and i didnt know what to put up and instead, i just smiled and blew an awkward kiss to my partner.

Later then, we played a different game where Mr Rey would throw the ball to whoever and the rest would have to run to the person and freeze, with their acts connecting together. The next thing i knew, I ended up with the ball with both my arms in the air, surrounded and almost of everyone’s hands were all over my head. (why? i have no idea) 

We wrapped up the day with our “stalking” sketch.  I did really bad in this. I couldn’t bring a dialogue up and all i went was “okay… okay… okay…”. After that all i wanted to do was bang my head on the wall. I tried practicing it at home (well just for like a few seconds) but when i went up, i couldn’t pull it off.  I freaked out while trying to get adress eye contact to the audience. NOOOO i failed miserably

Second!

Today, we did something different for this class. We played the ball game again but this time, we have to remember the name of our friends. I had a hard time as I could only remember their faces. Heh.

Later we did a much different activity where we had to walk in circles and pair up with a random partner and play the staring game. We cam about finding our likes and dislikes about them as well as imagining them on their first day of school. It was a pretty simple task except the awkward eye contact. I could maintain mine, (tried to do it as if I’m staring into someone’s soul) but it broke off when the other person looked somewhere else and I couldn’t help but look away too, to break off the awkwardness. All I had in mind was what the other person was thinking about me, especially what she/he disliked about me.

After a couple of rounds, we adjourned to a different activity where were given a word and had to act to it. Thid applied to everyone in the group and we also had to cooperate amongst each other. It was really complicating at first but then i got the hang of it later on. I really did not expect myself to raise up my arm when it came to “body odour”… and also almost everyone came up with pinching their noses.

To wrap up the day, we had an impromptu act where would have to pull off a scene whether it would be cooking or sweeping which would look surreal. There was also no props given or whatsoever. I just really hope that I can pull off what i came up with on Tuesday! Also, I have to work on my facial expressions too. Hmm.

1st

My very first theatre class! 

The day started with us introducing ourselves and I had to go first because I was really scared and also that I did not know anyone there but things soon started to warm up and everyone seemed friendly and non-judgmental.

We started with passing a ball around and shouting our names along with the number of times we held the ball and after three counts, we had to get out. Later, we went though a vigorous exercise as we ran around the hall, playing a game of tag which was then instructed to be done in sloooow mooootion…

It was a really funny sight seeing everyone moving at such a slow pace and also we looked like we were dancing to the music video of Thriller but at a snail-like pace. Then in the midst of the game, we had to freeze and stop what we were doing and it looked like Mr Rey had a time machine on his hands where he would be able to control everyone’s movements.

After that, we had to act up a violent gang fight, where everyone was pushing, slapping, kicking and crawling up to dramatically again, at a slow pace. Later Mr Rey spiced things up with a short sketch of the Vampire Lesbians of Taylors. I definitely had a hard time thinking of what I was going to put up. I thought of holding hands with a girl (since we were all playing lesbians), but i thought that would have creeped her out so i suggested to give a friendly hug but in the end, i only got to come up with “clawing”. It was pretty much an epic fail as i went up to my victim and started “clawing him to death”. Then there was a twist in the story… the guys revived as zombies and took down the vampire clan.

Overall, i had FUN on my first day 

Name: Low Sher Ryn

Student ID: 0307747

Contact Number: 012-6524838

Major: Business

Advisor: Ms Anna