Although it's late and I should probably be thinking about going to bed (my sleeping pattern is a bit up the spout at the moment), I have decided to write a blog after just watching the film "Yes Man".
Asides from being a huge fan of Jim Carrey and loving the work of Zooey Deschanel and Rhys Darby, I like the film Yes Man because it makes you think about life and not missing out on chances.
When I was in my early 20s, I used to be a proper "go-get" kind of girl. It wasn't to do with whether or not I was single or in a relationship, it was primarily that I loved life and just wanted to try things. I think working in theatre as soon as I came out of college helped this as I tended to have a "work hard, play hard" kind of lifestyle. Within months of starting my first proper theatre job, I was working three other jobs to build up some money and gain experience. As you can imagine, this didn't last for long because I was literally working everyday, going from one job to the next barely getting time to eat meals - in this period, there was not much time for play. However, I did get to add to my CV: Student Dance Teacher, Front of House Assistant for Starlight Express, Christmas temp worker for WHSmiths and Box Office Assistant all for the same time period, which was always an interesting talking point for future interviews. After I cut down the jobs, the going out and fun started.
Ok, so I didn't used to be a Yes Woman, but I did used to be a kind of "Yeah, alright then" kind of person. Asides from the usual going out and getting hammered with various mates/colleagues and their mates (another blog, another time, lol)I got to try a lot of stuff. Due to the fact that I originally trained as a performer (6/7 - 18 years was the main time, with odd things going upto about the age of 21), I liked doing extras work or bits and pieces of performing when I got the chance. This did bring a lot of fun over the years, highlights include: being a Zombie outside the Imax and along the Southbank; being an angry villager in a short film clip used for a TV screen in a parody theatre show; being dragged out of a local theatre and murdered (plant for the show) and being one of the Chorus Witches in Birmingham Rep's Roald Dahl's The Witches in a local venue. These experiences not only allowed me to meet lots of cool people but I had so much fun doing it.
Another thing that I have been involved with is voluntary work - partially to add to the CV and also just for the thrill of trying a new role. One of my favourite voluntary roles was doing street teaming for TrafficOnline and Xtaster based in Camden (unsure if they still exist now). I used to do a range of roles which would be anything from getting people to listen to new tracks and signing them up to mailing lists to working on a merchandise stall at a gig. Over the years of working with them both, I supported lots of up and coming bands as well as more prestigious names (which was great because they both specialised in Indie and Metal music which I loved). Bands I supported included (the late and great) McClusky, We Are Scientists, The Departure, Mando Diao, The Offspring and Maximo Park. Oh how I miss the days of doing a bit of voluntary work and then getting to watch a band or two for free, sometimes also the odd album launch with free alcoholic drinks all night - bliss!
Then there's the random things I used to do. There has probably been more than I remember because I did used to be rather random. There are two rather memorable ones that stick out though:
Number 1: A well known comedian (I won't say names) asked for a member of the audience to come on stage to do a tap dance and they would get a free drink and a tenner. Being a little tipsy and with a large group of mates, I decided to push my way through the row and run straight on to stage. Unfortunately, it was all a bit of a joke, as there had actually been a plant in the audience but I had beaten her to the stage. The shocked comedian then didn't know what to do, so he asked me to show some of my tap dancing to the audience, which I willing did. For my efforts, I got the prizes offered and had a great chat with them with my pal at the bar. I also landed up going up for a bow at the end of the whole show. Even to this day, mates who were there mention it, lol.
Number 2: Even better than the first, I landed up entering an Air Guitar competition in Dublin after a slightly tipsy (yes, you'd think I'd learn) me was convinced by three pals to apply (I think they thought I wouldn't do it, but I did). As you can imagine, I had not prepared to go up there, so when my name was called, I went up wearing my rock top and jeans, tied my friends bandana round my head and jumped around like a maniac to Blur's Song 2. The crowd was quite crazy and I always remember this guy near one of the speakers shouting "Shake that ass", LOL. Well, if that wasn't funny enough, when I got back from the holiday I got an email, only saying I had got into the top ten and they wanted me back for the final! (None of this is a joke, I still have the email and I just had a look at it - that and why would I make this stuff up! LOL) Unfortunately, the flights back to Ireland had gone up considerably and I was also back at work so had to turn it down. Such a shame though, as if I'd won that, I would have been going on a free trip to Finland to compete on behalf of Ireland (Dam it!). Even looking back now I wonder what would have happened. I could have been the Winner of the European Air Guitarist competition, sniff sniff. (Air Guitar competitions are quite a big thing now, so maybe I should re-enter for the UK and see what I happens - I haven't got the guts I had when I was younger, but I'm sure after a few drinks, I'll be sold : p)
It's when I look back at all this stuff and wonder where it all went. Most of it is down to money, things coming up at the right time and work, but it still sucks. So many of the things that I did on a whim and the career choices I made helped me find the like minded friends I have now and for that, I am SO grateful!
However, watching this film tonight has let me know my life may be very different to what it was (and I have to learn to grow up sometime) and I may miss my old lifestyle, but I can still be me and have a bit of serendipity in my life.
In the last year or so, I have decided to put some of my time into doing random things for charity, which has made life a bit more different and interesting, whilst being able to support worthy causes. My favourite things so far have included: working at the London Marathan 2011 for Oxfam; working on a live filmed phone in evening on QVC for Breast Cancer Care; tried on and bought second items at an OxJam Event whilst boogying away in their clothes aisles; making train carriage bunting for the Craftivists Collective to use at a rail fare rally, working with the Gorillas.org at Latitude Music Festival and dancing at an open aired silent disco in the early hours of the morning with @CaraNeedsHelp and @sarahverrall to support Free2Dance. Doing charity work has been some of the best stuff that I have done around my other jobs recently and I intend to keep it going : )
Over the years I have done fun things, pushed the boundaries of my own fears and have tried to improve my life on the ride. So like Jim Carrey's character, you may not want or need to say it all the time, but this little word plays an important part in all our lives and sometimes we just shouldn't be afraid to say "YES" .
Below are some great charities that I have done stuff with that you may be interested in:
www.oxfam.org.uk @Oxfam
www.breastcancercare.org.uk/ @BCCare
http://craftivist-collective.com/ @Craftivists
www.gorillas.org/ @Gorillas_Org
www.free2dance.com/ @dancebritain
Post title from a song from one of my favourite bands of all time, The Beatles. This particular video is from the Yellow Submarine film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvLj72apGLI
Asides from being a huge fan of Jim Carrey and loving the work of Zooey Deschanel and Rhys Darby, I like the film Yes Man because it makes you think about life and not missing out on chances.
When I was in my early 20s, I used to be a proper "go-get" kind of girl. It wasn't to do with whether or not I was single or in a relationship, it was primarily that I loved life and just wanted to try things. I think working in theatre as soon as I came out of college helped this as I tended to have a "work hard, play hard" kind of lifestyle. Within months of starting my first proper theatre job, I was working three other jobs to build up some money and gain experience. As you can imagine, this didn't last for long because I was literally working everyday, going from one job to the next barely getting time to eat meals - in this period, there was not much time for play. However, I did get to add to my CV: Student Dance Teacher, Front of House Assistant for Starlight Express, Christmas temp worker for WHSmiths and Box Office Assistant all for the same time period, which was always an interesting talking point for future interviews. After I cut down the jobs, the going out and fun started.
Ok, so I didn't used to be a Yes Woman, but I did used to be a kind of "Yeah, alright then" kind of person. Asides from the usual going out and getting hammered with various mates/colleagues and their mates (another blog, another time, lol)I got to try a lot of stuff. Due to the fact that I originally trained as a performer (6/7 - 18 years was the main time, with odd things going upto about the age of 21), I liked doing extras work or bits and pieces of performing when I got the chance. This did bring a lot of fun over the years, highlights include: being a Zombie outside the Imax and along the Southbank; being an angry villager in a short film clip used for a TV screen in a parody theatre show; being dragged out of a local theatre and murdered (plant for the show) and being one of the Chorus Witches in Birmingham Rep's Roald Dahl's The Witches in a local venue. These experiences not only allowed me to meet lots of cool people but I had so much fun doing it.
Another thing that I have been involved with is voluntary work - partially to add to the CV and also just for the thrill of trying a new role. One of my favourite voluntary roles was doing street teaming for TrafficOnline and Xtaster based in Camden (unsure if they still exist now). I used to do a range of roles which would be anything from getting people to listen to new tracks and signing them up to mailing lists to working on a merchandise stall at a gig. Over the years of working with them both, I supported lots of up and coming bands as well as more prestigious names (which was great because they both specialised in Indie and Metal music which I loved). Bands I supported included (the late and great) McClusky, We Are Scientists, The Departure, Mando Diao, The Offspring and Maximo Park. Oh how I miss the days of doing a bit of voluntary work and then getting to watch a band or two for free, sometimes also the odd album launch with free alcoholic drinks all night - bliss!
Then there's the random things I used to do. There has probably been more than I remember because I did used to be rather random. There are two rather memorable ones that stick out though:
Number 1: A well known comedian (I won't say names) asked for a member of the audience to come on stage to do a tap dance and they would get a free drink and a tenner. Being a little tipsy and with a large group of mates, I decided to push my way through the row and run straight on to stage. Unfortunately, it was all a bit of a joke, as there had actually been a plant in the audience but I had beaten her to the stage. The shocked comedian then didn't know what to do, so he asked me to show some of my tap dancing to the audience, which I willing did. For my efforts, I got the prizes offered and had a great chat with them with my pal at the bar. I also landed up going up for a bow at the end of the whole show. Even to this day, mates who were there mention it, lol.
Number 2: Even better than the first, I landed up entering an Air Guitar competition in Dublin after a slightly tipsy (yes, you'd think I'd learn) me was convinced by three pals to apply (I think they thought I wouldn't do it, but I did). As you can imagine, I had not prepared to go up there, so when my name was called, I went up wearing my rock top and jeans, tied my friends bandana round my head and jumped around like a maniac to Blur's Song 2. The crowd was quite crazy and I always remember this guy near one of the speakers shouting "Shake that ass", LOL. Well, if that wasn't funny enough, when I got back from the holiday I got an email, only saying I had got into the top ten and they wanted me back for the final! (None of this is a joke, I still have the email and I just had a look at it - that and why would I make this stuff up! LOL) Unfortunately, the flights back to Ireland had gone up considerably and I was also back at work so had to turn it down. Such a shame though, as if I'd won that, I would have been going on a free trip to Finland to compete on behalf of Ireland (Dam it!). Even looking back now I wonder what would have happened. I could have been the Winner of the European Air Guitarist competition, sniff sniff. (Air Guitar competitions are quite a big thing now, so maybe I should re-enter for the UK and see what I happens - I haven't got the guts I had when I was younger, but I'm sure after a few drinks, I'll be sold : p)
It's when I look back at all this stuff and wonder where it all went. Most of it is down to money, things coming up at the right time and work, but it still sucks. So many of the things that I did on a whim and the career choices I made helped me find the like minded friends I have now and for that, I am SO grateful!
However, watching this film tonight has let me know my life may be very different to what it was (and I have to learn to grow up sometime) and I may miss my old lifestyle, but I can still be me and have a bit of serendipity in my life.
In the last year or so, I have decided to put some of my time into doing random things for charity, which has made life a bit more different and interesting, whilst being able to support worthy causes. My favourite things so far have included: working at the London Marathan 2011 for Oxfam; working on a live filmed phone in evening on QVC for Breast Cancer Care; tried on and bought second items at an OxJam Event whilst boogying away in their clothes aisles; making train carriage bunting for the Craftivists Collective to use at a rail fare rally, working with the Gorillas.org at Latitude Music Festival and dancing at an open aired silent disco in the early hours of the morning with @CaraNeedsHelp and @sarahverrall to support Free2Dance. Doing charity work has been some of the best stuff that I have done around my other jobs recently and I intend to keep it going : )
Over the years I have done fun things, pushed the boundaries of my own fears and have tried to improve my life on the ride. So like Jim Carrey's character, you may not want or need to say it all the time, but this little word plays an important part in all our lives and sometimes we just shouldn't be afraid to say "YES" .
Below are some great charities that I have done stuff with that you may be interested in:
www.oxfam.org.uk @Oxfam
www.breastcancercare.org.uk/ @BCCare
http://craftivist-collective.com/ @Craftivists
www.gorillas.org/ @Gorillas_Org
www.free2dance.com/ @dancebritain
Post title from a song from one of my favourite bands of all time, The Beatles. This particular video is from the Yellow Submarine film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvLj72apGLI
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