I woke up this morning and was feeling rather stiff. Seems I got more exercise yesterday than I realized I did. Of course now I REALLY feel stiff and sore, but you will find out why soon enough.

I rode my bike to school again. The seat post is still giving me trouble. I am going to try and fix that problem permanently on Saturday. It looked like it was going to rain. It didn't rain on my way up to the school, but the menacing looking clouds reminded me that eventually I am going to have to deal with a lot of rain on my 25 minute ride up the hill every day.

I got to school about 8:10, which means I had 50 minutes before anything started. So I got out onto the lawn and started a juggling circuit that I have been developing. It is pretty basic. It is done with clubs and goes like this: 100 throws in a 3 club cascade with single spins, 100 with double spins, 100 with triple spins, 100 throws in a 3 club reverse cascade, 100 with double spins, 100 with triple spins. Then I go into 4 club stuff: 100 throws in a single spin fountain, 100 throws in a double spin fountain, 100 throws in a triple spin fountain. Then I repeat the last 3 steps, but do it in a reverse fountain, and then again in columns. Anyhow, I am not finished developing the circuit, but I feel that it is helping me a lot already. I have needed, for years, to take some time and just work on the very basics. Making my throws perfect each time. I have spent too much time goofing off with tricks and playing around with passing, and have not focused on making sure my very basics are perfect.

After doing my circuit, it was time for classes to begin. We started at 9:00am, with everyone doing a group warm up together. It was a light warm up, with some good stretching. That lasted until 9:30am. At that point, we were separated into 3 groups. I was again in Group A (though there were a few different people in my group this time.) Our group left the gym and went over to the aerials room to have our first class of aerial.

Again, this is one of the classes I have been dreading. And for a good reason too. I did horribly in it. They taught us how to get up on the swing (I'm sure there is a more technical term for it, but I don't know it at the moment.) You do this by hanging on it by your hands, and then kicking your feet through the window created between your body, your arms, and the bar of the swing. From there, your legs kick up over the swing bar and hook onto it. At this point you can let go of it, and just hang from your knees. Needless to say, I didn't even get this far. But the instructor was patient with me, and said I would have time to work on it over the next several weeks. I don't know if I will ever get this one, but I will keep trying. The other students, who were more successful than me, learned to swing up into a seated position, and how to stand up on the swing by two separate methods. It looks like fun, but I just don't seem to have what it takes at this point. :( Next we started learning how to climb a rope. I came a little closer to being able to do this, but I still found it nearly impossible. If it wasn't my lack of coordination trying to get that silly rope to wrap around my leg, it was my not enjoying the pain of that rope burning my skin from the friction. Oh well, once again, the teachers were patient with me, and encouraging. I feel like a dork, but I am doing my best so far. After we worked on climbing ropes for a little while, the class was over, and it was time to go to our next class, the E&M class.

Needless to say, I was excited about this class. Finally something I knew I could do, and wouldn't make a fool of myself! When we got there, we met our instructor, and he sat us down and gave us a little talk about what his class would be like. He said that he would be teaching the class about 60 percent of the time, and the rest of the time we would have special guest instructors. He mentioned Haggis McCleod, and Sean Gandini. A funny moment happened during the class. He was talking about the fact that we would be trying all sorts of forms of manipulation, like hats, devil sticks, diabolo, etc. And he said, "Everyone will have to try each of these things. Even if maybe you have been juggling for 5 years or so, and you have tried one of these things (like diabolo, etc.) and you thought it was crap, don't bother telling me it is crap, because you are going to have to do it anyway." To this I quickly replied, "Does that go for poi?" And he looks at me, giving me a knowing smile and says, "No, you can say whatever you want about poi."

The class was pretty simple. He separated the people who could juggle from those who couldn't (in my group there were only 2 girls who couldn't.) The girls who couldn't juggle went off with an assistant instructor who started teaching them the basics. For the rest of the class, he basically wanted us to juggle 3, 4, and 5 balls, so he could take notes, and get an idea of our skill level. In my group there were 2 others besides myself who could juggle 5 balls. The class ended with him introducing rings and clubs as well, and letting us know that we would focus on these three props for the first two weeks. He also started to describe a juggling circuit that we had to put together and work on. It sounded very much like the circuit I mentioned above, so it seems like I have a head start on that already. He also gave us some homework. We are to find an object (a non, juggling prop object) that we are comfortable catching and throwing and we are to bring it in. He didn't give us any details, but it sounds like our first juggling performance will involve this object.

After that class was over, we had a 45 minute break. I sat down and ate my lunch in the student room, and had a chance to hang out with some of the other students. It was nice. I am starting to get a feel for each of their personalities. I really like this guy Phil. He is super friendly, and has a great dry sense of humour. After I ate lunch, our group had a short session with one of the directors (who's name is escaping me at the moment, but she was the same woman who taught our movement class yesterday.) She basically went over the schedule for the next 5 weeks, and answered any questions we had about it.

After that "group tutorial" session, we had another break. It was actually our "official" lunch break, but we had been advised to eat earlier if we could, to give out stomachs time to digest, because we would be having a rather gruesome session of exercise in the afternoon. So having already eaten my lunch, I hung around the student room for about ½ an hour, and then headed off to practice my juggling. I got a chance to pass clubs with Oscar (the guy who is the best juggler of us) and I realized that his passing is not as good as mine. Which is good, because it means, I will have things to share with him, in exchange of him sharing some of his 5 club skills. And speaking of 5 club skills, I broke my record today, and did a run of around 136 catches (with a clean finish.) It felt really good.

After our break, it was time for what most of us were really dreading. It was time for the physical fitness test. We all went into the main gym, and after a very short warm up, we had to do as many sit-up/crunches as we could in 2 minutes. Next we had to do as many push-ups as we could in 1 minute. Nest we were instructed to go to these 6 different stations. Each station tested either strength or flexibility. So all the information gathered from these tests was recorded onto a piece of paper so we can see our progress when we get tested again. I think we get tested at the beginning of each term and at the end of each term. It will be interesting to see how I progress. I will just say I didn't do very well on this test.

After that, we were ushered outside for the next part. First we took our pulses for a minute and recorded it in our books. Then we did a quick stretch, followed by a 10 minute circuit training session. This basically involved running, and stopping to do some form of exercise, like jumping jacks, or skipping back and forth across a field, etc., and then some more running. I was amazed at how difficult this was. I started out fine, but about ¾ of the way through, I was getting very tired. I know I should compare myself to others, but I was pleased that there were 3-4 others who did worse at this than I did. I have done a lot of running in the past, and if it weren't for my bad knees, I would probably do a lot more. Anyway, after that was over, we took our pulse again (needless to say it was much higher, and I remember thinking it was much easier to find my pulse after all that.) Then we went in, and did a nice long slow stretch session. My body was tingling all over from the circuit. I really liked the way I felt. We have to do that same circuit twice a week. And eventually we will have to do it 3 times a week. After the stretching was over, we did one final pulse check, and recorded it all down. I am impressed at how much information we have to keep track of.

After that, we all sat in a circle, and Liz, the woman in charge of our physical fitness pulled out our "physiotherapist reports" that we had to turn in (I faxed mine in a while ago from the HSU Theatre Arts fax machine) and she began to ask us questions about our physical condition-so she could create groups that would work well together according to strength, flexibility, etc. After she went through the entire class I realized that something was wrong, as she didn't seem to have my report with her. I was in luck, though, and just happen to have the original that I faxed in my bag. So I gave it to her. She asked me a few questions. Eventually, hearing my accent, she asked where I was from. I said I was living in California. Turns out she is from California too. Most of her training is in dance.

Anyway, with that done, our day was over. I heard the other students talking about getting together for dinner at 8:00. I'm sure I could have come along, but all I could think about was getting home, and possibly taking a warm shower. I am very sore right now. But that is a good thing! :)

Our day today was divided into 7 sections: Diploma Notes, Performance, Lunch, E&M Practice, Devising, Presentation, and Questions.

I got to school today a little earlier than usual (around 7:50am) and worked on my juggling. For some reason, today I was having an off day, and my juggling sucked. Oh, well, it was still good for me to practice, even though I didn't get any nice long runs of five clubs.

At 9:00am it was time to go into Studio 2 for our "Diploma Notes." Basically what it was, was Rod, the guy who teaches E&M talking about what will be required of us to receive a diploma at the end of the year. He talked a lot about our Journal/Diary. He said that it needed to include the following things: What we did in each session, How I did in each session, My thoughts on each of the sessions, responses to outside shows I get to see, a detailed account of performances I am in throughout the year, and anything else I find important to document about my progress. He also talked a lot about Action Plans. An Action Plan is a plan that we put together at the beginning of the term, that lists all the things that we want to accomplish over that term. It is basically a list of goals. We are to list our goals, and state what we will do, and who we will ask help from in order to achieve those goals. So basically, we set up our goals, and then create a schedule of what we need to do in order to accomplish our goals. I will be setting up a separate page on my web-pages just for Action Plans. We will be setting up our first Action Plan on Monday. After he was done talking about that, we had about half an hour to sit around and write in our journals. I wrote down several goals that I have for this term, and for the entire year. I will post these when I set up my Action Plan page.

Before I had to go to my next class, I decided to go to the office and check a couple of things. I wanted to check my balance (and make sure my check cleared,) and I wanted to get a copy of the schedule they have given us so far. When I got there, Helen Crocker asked me if she could talk to me for a moment. I said sure, and she pulled me into the "sleeping room" in the student room, and closed the door. Now, I have been paranoid for a few days that I would get kicked out of the school because of the fact that I am such a large person, and there are many things I am just not capable of doing. In my paranoid state, I was starting to think that I was dishonest in my video audition, and they would not have accepted me had they known how large and clumsy I am. Anyway, she sat me down and explained to me that they were concerned about how poorly I had done in the Aerial class, and that they were concerned about my injuring myself. So she tells me that she is considering having me go to an extra Conditioning class on Tuesdays instead of going to work on the trapeze. I immediately told her I thought it was an excellent idea. I am not at all interested in learning aerial stuff, and would much rather spend my time on getting in better in shape and getting more flexible. However, though I agree with her, completely, and I am excited about having an extra conditioning class, I can't help but feel a little bruise on my ego. It's hard to realize that there are some things you just can't do. :(

Well, after that, I headed back to hang out on the lawn and juggle a bit before our next class. I got to pass with Oscar a bit. He is fun to pass with. At 11:00am our next class started. It was called "Performance," though I am not completely sure why. It was more of a warm up to take us into the "Devising" period where we actually put together a performance piece for the "Presentation" section. Anyway, we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon with Bim Mason, the head of physical theatre. During the two-hour "Performance" section we started with a warm-up, and played several theatre games. Before the warm-up though, we played a quick game that we learned on the first day, where you stand facing a partner, making eye contact, with your hands palm up below their palm down hands. And from this position, you try to move your hands up and over theirs and slap their hands. And they, of course, try to pull their hands out before getting slapped. We did that for a few rounds, and then he had us do it again, but this time, the person who was doing the slapping had to hold a conversation with the other person and try to distract them, making it easier to slap their hands. The warm up consisted of standing and focusing on our various body parts, and our posture. It was a slow, meditative type of exercise. He had us raise and lower our arms very slowly and take note of how it felt to move. It was interesting to analyse how it feels when your muscles are working. Next he had us focus on an invisible line going through the top of our heads, down our bodies and into the ground. Then he had us rock forward a little, and rock to the right, and rock to the back and then to the left. Doing this over and over again to the point where we were drawing little circles with our heads around the invisible line through our bodies. Then he had us make the circles smaller and smaller, until it seemed that we were not moving at all. At this point he had us walk about in that same posture, taking note of how our bodies felt in this centered state. After that warm up, Bim had us go through several theatre games. The first one was not so much a game, as it was just learning to work with other people's weight. We were instructed to get a partner, and stand in front of them, and lock arms with them. At this point, we were to lean out, and find the point where both people were balanced by each other. Then with this balance set, both people would slowly bend their knees until they were sitting down on the floor. Then with a little tug, and maintaining the balance, they would pull each other back up to their feet. The next one was your basic trust exercise. Two people stand on either side of a third person. One of the two then reaches forward to push him towards the other person. That person is required to catch them and push them back. The person in the middle, has to trust that his two companions will not drop him. The next game we played was called Taxi. We paired up with a partner, and one person would close their eyes, while the other person "drove" them around the room by giving them faint signals with their hands pressed against the person's back. I thought this game was fun, though apparently my driver had a hard time putting me in reverse. The next game was your basic Mirror game. Two people stand in front of each other. One person leads, by moving their different body parts, and the other person tries to mirror that person. Then, of course he changed it so that he could at any time call for a change, and the other person would take over and become the leader. After that, we did it one more time, but with no leader. I found this interesting because you were constantly trying to figure out whether or not to move, or wait. The neat part about that exercise was the brief moments where both people seemed to move together without anyone actually leading. The next couple of games I didn't really like. I didn't think they went over too well. The first one was called Birthday Present. Two people have to improve the opening of a birthday present. The present is a mimed present, and each of the people involved have to offer improved suggestions as to what it looks like, until between the two, it is decided what the object is. It was supposed to work similar to the Mirror game "without the leader." But I don't think it worked as well as it should have. The next, and last game was another improv game. We were supposed to stand opposite our partner, and walk towards them, and walk past them, and then turn around and begin some kind of improv. It was messy, in my opinion, because Bim allowed people to speak. I think it would have gone over better if people were not allowed to speak in this exercise.

After all those theatre games, Bim handed us our assignment, telling us to get in groups of 5. The assignment was to create a piece that would last approximately 5 minutes. Taken from the handout he gave us "A place and an event - establish a location - give detail, atmosphere, roles. Then create an event, building dramatic tension. Then try to resolve situation created." But before that, we still had lunch and a ½ hour E&M practice session.

After our lunch and E&M practice session (which is not worth mentioning, because my juggling today was horrible!) we started the "Devising" session. We had exactly 1 hour to put together our show. I was set and ready to go. I wanted to do a scene in a restaurant. I was imagining all these great characters: Two lovers having a romantic dinner, the waiter, the owner of the restaurant, and the cook. But none of the people in my group wanted to try my ideas. One girl wanted to do a pool scene, another wanted to do a laundry matt scene, one girl wanted to do a scene in a movie theatre. But none of them had nicely defined roles. They were just people. I wanted the scene to have identifiable characters. I guess this is the result of working on a Commedia piece. I want archetypes! Oh, well, we ended up doing the movie theatre scene, and if nothing else, I got to have a couple of lovers in the scene. Here is how the scene we put together went:

A group of three characters are in a movie theatre watching a scary movie. They are sitting side by side and there is an open chair on either side of the group. Enter the lovers, who quickly realize that there is nowhere they can sit together. After failing to convince one of the three characters to move, the lovers decide to sit in the available chairs with the three other characters between them. The lovers soon realize that they are going to have a problem sharing their popcorn with each other so the male lover convinces the three in the middle to pass the bag of popcorn down to his girlfriend-the bag being handled by each of the three characters in the middle. The female lover, wanting to embrace her boyfriend, decides to hug the person next to her. This character looks at her confused, and she indicates that he should pass the hug down the row until it gets to her boyfriend. The hug is passed down, with varying responses from the three characters until it reaches the male lover. The male lover, overtaken by emotion from the embrace, whispers something in the ear of the person next to him with instructions to pass it down. The message is passed from character to character until it reaches the female lover who responds with much anger, getting up and slapping the male lover. Obviously the message got distorted somewhere down the line. :)

So anyway, after an hour of working on this piece, we were ready to present it to the class during the next session which was called "Presentation." I asked Bim if we could go first. I like to go first in situations like this. I will never forget something my speech teacher told me once. She said, people will always remember the first and last things they see/hear. But everything else in the middle is a blur. Anyhow, we got a very good response from the class. They laughed a lot. Bim was also very complimentary. After listening to his responses to the other pieces, It was obvious we did a good job.

After that was over, Bim had a quick (20 minute) session of talking to us about the layout of the program over the next year. He also took several questions. I didn't have my notebook handy, so I can't really repeat what he said with any accuracy right now, but it is all information that will come up again.

After that, I stuck around and did a lot of stretching for about ½ an hour. Then I got on my bike and headed home. Ready for my first weekend. Of course, there is a good chance I will be going in tomorrow (Saturday) to get some more practice in.

But for now, I think I am gonna hit the hay.