May Days
Hey hey hey!
I know, I know… it’s been a month… my longest hiatus ever… you’re probably all really worried about me. Especially since I’m usually on the cusp of some sort of nervous breakdown.
But I’m fine!
(hehehe she laughs crazily)
I’ve just been really busy sort of rejigging life things and didn’t have any quick Daze & Weekes ideas to throw out at you. And I still don’t! But I thought I’d better check in regardless.
What has gone down in May while I’ve been away from the Pressing of Words?
As some of you kind souls who signed up to/were forced to be on the mailing list for my music website already know, I’ve had to shut down that site this month. I just can’t financially justify renewing the license for another year with so little interest. I decided I need to move on and focus on other things…. until I strike it rich and can hire proper equipment and musicians! That’s said, I might share the odd song on here. Thank you so much, those of you who have been soooooo sososososo nice and supportive!
In the words of Lafayette…
Moving on (sob), I’ve been doing a lot of actoring this month, which is great. Like, GREAT. I was cast in a short play at the end of the month (omg it’s in 4 days now!), and lovely Helen of the Beasties has been helping me get into my Irish character. Thank you, Helen! Perhaps you will be treated to my excellent (bahaha) Irish accent in a future vlog post.
(Speaking of Ireland, it turns out that my favourite fantasy fiction writer Tammie and favourite Beastie maker Helen met up earlier this month in Dublin! You can check out some of their adventures (without me, ahem) here! Not jealous at all…)
Anyway, it has certainly been a change of pace to have somewhere to be every evening after a long day at the office. But no matter how drained I feel from social services, I am somehow imbued with a supernatural second-wind-strength when I step into the rehearsal room.
That said, it has additionally been unacceptably busy at work. Don’t they know I have lines to learn and blogs to catch up on?!
What else?
Some of you might care to know that Jane and Edward have celebrated their 6th birthday this month. 6 years! I honestly have trouble remembering life before them. Did I exist? Did I talk out loud to myself? How did I keep warm? What did I do at night (sleep) when I wasn’t getting up every hour to feed Edward? Was my life void of all love and happiness? Did my black clothes (all my clothes) not have white cat hair all over them? Did water-filled glasses and paperback books go lying around unmolested in my flat?
I have also been to Kew Gardens with the fam, the Keats House with Cordelia, and to see THE ROLLING STONES with my brother — all worthy of their own blog posts… but will I manage?! Only time will tell!
It’s looking like I shan’t come up for air until the end of June–a moment that I am not particularly eagerly anticipating. I’m not looking forward to cutting the CSSD apron strings when my second course finishes up. It’s particularly nice as an actor to have some sort of reliable weekly source of…. acting. Outside of classes, it’s a lonely meandering profession, always looking for the next gig. But, I guess that’s when you have to make your own opportunities! Sooooooo I’d better suddenly turn into a go-getter!
BUT June still has a number of actor-y events to keep me motivated. Those dreaded new headshots are finally occurring at the beginning of the month, and I shall be signing up the casting website, I think. July – September is a dead zone for classes, but it looks like things start back up in October.
Chekhovian theory (Michael, not Anton) has sparked my interest this time around, and it turns out that the Chekhov studio in London is IN MY NEIGHBOURHOOD! I had my eye on an eight week series that starts in October…. however, it appears now that the director of the studio suffered multiple heart attacks in April and has now suspended all future courses!!!! Lordy! I hope he is able to access the Chekhovian ‘sense of ease’ in his recovery! I guess I need to research a Plan B!
Okay, that’s probably enough about me for now! I’d better get cracking on all those to-dos and let your get on with your Sundays!
How has your May been? Any exciting outings or revelations? I’d love to hear about your life in the comments!!
Peace and love.
xWG
Winter-Maker 
I just finished my Memorial Day post and my thoughts were indeed with your long posting interval. Sorry to hear that the musical foray is on hiatus, but I have only admiration for the acting craft, as when trying it myself, if only in the audio dimension, I was reminded that–well–how difficult it is to do well.
The first duty of the artist is to survive. New tactics, a new theater of operations. Sounds valid.
Despite foot and half snow storms to 95 degree F. heat I’ve kept busy with finding and reading early 20th Century poets whose work I can plunder in the last month. I’m somewhat dreading summer, which starts off with some necessary repairs to my mouth and to my house. Either could cause me to despair or take longer between posts I fear.
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Augh and then I disappeared again and have taken forever to respond!!! Thank you for checking in and letting me know I was missed!!
Haha that rapid change in temperature sounds totallllly normal and not alarming at all! Ugh, why can’t things just stay a nice temperate 50-60 degrees with partly cloudy skies, eh? Repairs to the both the mouth and the home does not sound… fun. I’m suddenly worried about how long it has been since I’ve seen a dentist. But if all my teeth fall out, then I’ll finally be truly British, right? I hope things are going even more smoothly than planned and you are able to keep up with all you need to do!!!
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Love this! So you! So happy you are back in the saddle (acting). Keep it up! But don’t stop writing.
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Augh still catching up with writing! But I won’t stop! xxxx
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Barbecued cats?! Sad that I can’t come to your play and hear that accent of yours! Xxx
Sent from my iPhone
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I’ll give you a private rendition of my accent soon for your mocking pleasure. And don’t get Mehroo excited – the cats survived the flame! xxx
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Oh wow, May has been a bit of a mad one, hasn’t it? I’m glad (and a little amazed) that we all survived! And thanks for the shout-out – I’m always happy to help! Especially when you have soooooo many lines! 😵 So, break a leg (although please not literally) in your upcoming performance(s) and good luck with your new headshots. Don’t forget to smise! Also, Jane and Edward are born stars – those pics are adorable!
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Omg I totally tried really hard to smise despite being dead inside…. and I think it worked! I hope you are enjoying your well-earned holiday after your mad May. J&E are awfully cute, aren’t they? That makes it acceptable that I spend most of my time (while claiming I’m ‘busy’) flipping through photos of them on my phone and reacting out loud with strange noises? Right? Thanks for catching up with me!!!! 🙂
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But of course! I think it helps that J+E are so very photogenic… My own pics of our family cat are basically just a series of black blobs! And I think I saw the headshots on Instagram the other day… They turned out lovely!
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Hahaha yes, I feel that way a little bit about Jane sometimes. People always seem to love pics of Edward, but I can’t quite capture just how adorable and beautiful Jane is in real life! And good eye – yeah, the photog put up one of the shots, and I’m still waiting on the rest…. but they didn’t turn out to be as devastating as all of B’s pictures of me in recent years! Success!
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And that’s what you pay them for! 😂I know what you mean though, I’m pretty sure there’s a monster that lives behind my face and only comes out when it hears a shutter click!
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Hahaha
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Happy Birthday Jane & Edward!! You SOOOO need to get cat beasties made of them to go with Sinead. I’m exhausted just reading all this, so I can’t criticize you (much) for not keeping your loyal blog readers happy. And those lines! Those lines! I would see all those and run for the hills, or say, “Wait, no I auditioned for The Priest role, right?” But hey, at least you found the perfect acting coach for your Irish role. Now get out there and break that leg…and be sure to tell us all about it (with photos and video, please, if it’s not too much trouble). Oh and thanks for the shout out, I can now add “Weekes’s Favorite Fantasy Author” to my CV!!
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I KNOW! I definitely have J&E Beasties on the back-burner desires list. Hahaha yes, when I got the script, I turned to B and went, ‘I’d rather play the priest!’ And the writer kept rewriting it up until right before the performances (damn writers!)!!!!! But I survived and managed not to flub and people seemed to think I was actually Irish (#acting). And it WAS really well written. Speaking of good writing, my first pleasure upon finishing the show was to finally sit down and finish ‘The Maze’! Woohoo! Bonds here I come!
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Ok, why am I just now finding this comment? Curse you WordPress!!
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Great update, Weekes! I’m glad to hear that you’ve been busy with rehearsing and line-memorizing lately (those are a lot of highlighted lines!). And hooray for supernatural second winds! That is wonderful to read – it’s the stuff that living is made of, no? A very happy belated birthday to Jane and Edward this month, too. I look forward to seeing them showcase their unique supporting-role talents in upcoming vlog installments, and always enjoy their contributions to your dramatic exploits (I’m sure they’re trained improv performers). And what a lovely (former) headshot – you are channeling some serious Liz Taylor levels of gorgeousness. Truly! I wish you lots of fun projects and opportunities in the coming time! 🙂
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Awwww thank you for checking in! J&E truly are talented, aren’t they? I probably should have gotten them headshots instead. Not that there aren’t 1,000,000 photos of them on my phone. Gaaaaah Liz Taylor – thank you, I wish! Though I probably did channel Liz Taylor White Diamonds era this time around hahaha. Thanks again for dropping by, Shirley, and I’m looking forward to catching up with your latest post!
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