Screen Test

So, it's already 11:45 P.M. I promised myself that I'll go to bed by 11:30 but I'm still here, doing some of my homework. I was out today with Miss Judy herself as she drop by here for a quick weekend trip. We did some catching up and it was really good to see her again, as usual. This could be the last time I'll see her until probably next year during Chinese New Year? But then again, who knows, I just might catch a flight back this end of the year and spend Christmas at home.

Anyway, it's a Saturday, who do I need to sleep early? No school tomorrow, right? Well, yeah, no school tomorrow but tomorrow is kinda a big deal to me. I got casted in a short film. Yup, that's right. There are only two characters in the film, a guy and a girl, so I guess I'm playing the female lead! Haahahaha. It's kinda a long story and while I've acted before, I've never done it for the camera. I'm honestly pretty nervous because I don't know what to expect. What if I screw up? I dunno. I really don't.

I've read the script and have done my actor's homework. It's called Confidential and it's about a girl, Shondra who needs a job and is being interviewed on the phone. The lines are not too long and I think I can handle that but as for the other bits? I'm not too sure.

I'll talk to y'all about this after tomorrow. But before that, let's just keep our fingers crossed that this is going to go well?

I'm off for the oh-so-important beauty sleep.

I hope you're having a great weekend because I am. Busy. But fun. For now.

Acting Plans

Lights! Cameras! Action! ... yeaaahh.... About that.

I'm really proud of myself to have been able to make that decision. Stand my ground. Firm and strong. But lately, I'm starting to really question how strong I really am to get through with this. I know, okay? I'm extremely lucky to have a pair of parents who probably don't like the idea of me choosing this crazy and obviously risky field but supports and encourage me anyway. What some of you

most probably don't know also is that I have quite a number of extremely supportive friends behind my back. These people have no idea how grateful I am. I mean, really. 

I've been scouting through quite a few colleges both in the States and Canada and as of now, I've not found any one that I can attend. It's either the Film faculty of that university is not good enough for my expectations or the college is just waaaayyy too expensive. I was at Linden American Education Fair the other day and found this awesome art school that I fell in love with. It's called Colombia College Chicago. If you Google Columbia College, there'll be a ton of different results. That's because there are a lot of colleges under the same name but apparently the one in Los Angeles and this Chicago one are under the same family/management. I absolutely love this college and even the alumnus list is impressive (President of HBO Films, Production Designer for shows like Alias, Chuck, Melrose Place, Cinematographers for films like Avatar, Dirty Dancing, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Isabella Hoffman who was in Dear John and Burlesque,  the writer of I Am Legend and Poseidon AND the FREAKING CREATOR AND ANIMATOR OF POWERPUFF GIRLS AND DEXTER. The list goes on) but the tuition is also b-e-a-u-tiful. So, now, we're (parents and I) are back to looking at the state universities in California. State universities are, of course, cheaper because it's subsidized by the government unlike private schools and Colombia Chicago is a private college.

Those of you who kept up or actually read my tweets about rich girls. Well, yeah, it was based on my experience at Linden. It was held in Hilton KL and there were a lot of rich kids there. My mum and I was probably one of the poorest. You know how these city AND rich kids are like. I know I said I'll bring the last conclusion here but I kinda don't feel like talking about it anymore and it's also because I forgot what conclusion 3 is. Heh. Bottom line is, they can be so arrogant and they think that the rest of the world exists to serve them. These younger generation, especially. Because they were all born with silver, gold, diamond spoons in their mouths, never having to know the feeling of being broke. Anyway, I got over that because it's so boring now. Lol.

Another problem about doing an art major is that many universities want you to submit what they call "samples of creative works" or rather, just portfolios. You know, like how models bring around a file of their previous gigs and shoots to show future clients what they are made of and what they can offer. This is the same concept. Some college, one of the admission requirement is a portfolio and so far, most of them want you to just submit creative works in any branch of art. From films to videos to animations to painting to sketching to sculpting and photography. NOW the problem is I REALLY HAVE TO GET A MOVE ON WITH THIS. I still don't have any "samples" ready and I only have about a year to go.

I have some stuff planned but sometimes I feel like I just don't cut out for this world. I know I have it in me, okay? It's just so hard to get it out at times. Like, for instance, I've been trying to put together a nice new proper script to start on. My friend (whom I consider my rock for my film making dreams), Wise told me that I can just make a series of "webisodes" and post them on YouTube. Great idea, I know. But to have a mini series episodes, you'll need to have one big story to start off with, no? Or at least a concept you can work with. But that's the thing! I couldn't find any! I kept coming up with these silly little stories or stories that are just way too complicated. 

Apparently, many of my stories have elements of sadism in it. It's sort of my thing. I kind of don't like happy endings because that's not always how it is in real life and plays and movies are reflections of how we live, experience, feel and act.  

Then, there was the idea of adapting Tangled Lies into a film.

Now, for those of you who don't know what Tangled Lies is; it's a play I wrote, directed and stared in for my Theater And Acting class last year about a guy whose dark past never stopped haunting him and continue to haunt him and that turned him violent in the end. I think the play managed to blow the audience away because of the acting on the night also. I'm pretty proud of Tangled Lies (despite some of the cheesy lines, yes). but if I were to film it, I'd like to cast another girl as my character, Jane because then it'll be easier for me to focus fully on the directing aspect of the production. Since I directed the play also, I realized how much easier it would be if I didn't starred in it because with me in the scenes, I can't really see the flaws of the acting or movements that needs to be worked on. But then, I can't not act because this was how we were evaluated for the class. 

I can also do the photography thing because a close friend of mine, Prashan is into photography and owns a DSLR (I still don't know what that stands for) camera. He used to go to Nilai and when he was there, he was a regular photographer for many of the events in college and he was THE videographer. So, he really know his stuff. Now that he's transferred to INTI (which is only about 10 minutes drive away from Nilai U) and super busy with his other school stuff, he passed his camera to me to use because apparently, in his own words, "You need it more than me now, with your events and stuff. You can take pictures" Yes, I suppose I am that busy in college (thus, the lack of activation here. Sorry). So, the sweetheart is teaching me how to use it and I can work with it from there, right? 

Meanwhile in college, my number one mission now is to set up the Drama Club. Yes, that's right, we don't have a drama club yet. So, I'm going to have to set it up but then, it's the paper work and possible politics that is making me a little reluctant to do it but I'll have to and I must. Besides, Drama Club! It's going to be so much fun, right? :)

The thing now is that in order to set up a new club, we'll need to get a minimum of 10 people to show the interests people may have in the club. They advised me to get 15 because then it'll be easier and naive as I may be, I do believe so too. But for now, I only have about 12 people including myself. So, only a few more to go. 

I guess that's all I have for now. I really need to stop freaking out, start pushing it and get a really really thick face to get things done. Fingers and toes crossed for that.

I hope you guys are doing well because whoever you are reading this, you should know that you deserve a cookie. Ask me for one the next time you see me. Heh.

P/S: What do you all think about my changing the URL to primadonnasheenanigans? Some of you would know the significance of Prima Donna in that. Hit me up on Twitter or Facebook or comment below and let me know? :D

xo.

Here and There

For those of you who follow me on Twitter and actually read my tweets, you'll most probably know that I was also involved in the organizing team of the college prom. I was in the publicity team under my lady boss, Michelle along with 3 other pretty cool people as teammates (Steve, Illaina and Hajar). Our theme was "Black Swan" and it was supposed to be not just prom, but also the graduation dinner for the graduates (as it was supposed to be held on the night of graduation day) AND it was also a masquerade ball. Ah, masquerade balls. How classy and mysterious, right? I was also very very much involved in the decorating process throughout the whole thing. Masquerade balls, for me, is just one of those things that you know you just have to do, you know? For some people, they refuse to attend prom by using the excuse "I don't have a date" and to combat that, we initially planned a singles' auction but then switched to speed dating! Even us organizing members wanted to join in the fun of Speed Dating (yup, even those who already have dates. HAHA) And yes, I was super excited about it all and to be directly involved in getting the event together too! That meant my thoughts, comments and ideas would be heard and considered! We did a fabulous job, our whole team but sadly, because of some drama with the annoying school management and all, THEY cancelled the whole thing on us. So, yeah, I suppose my first major college event didn't go as well as I would like it to but hey, can't expect everything to be perfect, can I? Besides, I got to meet and became friends with so many cool people along the way despite the drama and I think I totally put my not-so-good Photoshop skills to a whole new level because I got to design a couple of posters. That's something to be proud of. :)

I did these two posters though the Speed Dating one never got printed out. Still proud. :)

Michelle, Emmy, Shaun and Embrys stayed up til about 3am at the SRC office to finish this up only to receive the news that prom was cancelled the very next day. We had a booth at the school walkway and this was supposed to be our decoration for it. The real thing looked about 123489271049374 times better.

Pullman Hotels and Resorts in Putrajaya. It's by the lake and absolutely beautiful at night, drove pass it couple of times. It was supposed to be our venue. 

So, yeah. Kindda sad if you think about it because we had a lot of great ideas that we may never see come to life. But that's okay, I guess it's the school's loss. Sucks for them. BAHAHA.

ANYWAY, after prom got cancelled, we all went back to our normal lives. About a couple of weeks later was already finals weeks. On the weekend before my finals, my parents thought it would be a good idea to go for a short family vaca at Melacca since dad was going over for work at the end of that week and it was going to be a long weekend. I brought my book along but yeah, like that helped anything. I think I only brought it to calm my conscience. Hehe. We've been to Melacca before but that was quite a number of years ago when I was about, what, 12? Of course we went to Jonker Walk. Jonker Walk is one of Melacca town's big highlights and they sell souvenirs. I didn't spend all that much but got super excited when I found a bunch of dream catchers!!

I know they're not the original dream catchers though. But hey, they look pretty! Hehe. I bought two, one bigger one and the another smaller one. Gave the bigger one to a friend and kept the smaller one to myself.

I only had 3 days of finals since I only have 4 papers to sit for and they were all in 3 consecutive days. Starting with English Composition on the first day, American History and Acting on the second and Chemistry on the last day.

And I've also gotten my results back. Hehe. Super proud of myself. I mean, c'mon an A- for Chemistry? That's really something. For someone who had gotten a C for the very same subject for SPM. :)

With a CGPA of 3.91, the pressure is on for the next sem. :|

Be Seen and Be Heard

"Be seen and be heard", an actor's golden rule, according Mr. Mano. Yup, that's right. THE Mano Maniam. If you don't know him, he's a Malaysian actor and he's been in the business for a long long time. He was in that movie, Anna and the King (starring Chow Yun Fatt, Jodie Foster and a very young and super adorable Tom Felton) and in the highly successful local sitcom in the 90s, Kopitiam. He was pretty much everywhere: on stage, in movies, on TV, behind the camera, teaching in classes. I was lucky enough to have him as my instructor when I signed up for a new course that Nilai was offering (this course was being conducted for the very first time just as I arrived at the school. Talk about timing! And how lucky I am).

The course was for only about 7 weeks with 4 hours sessions, once a week. And then consisting about 50% of our final marks, we had to do a final presentation (yes, performance) for the school (or anyone who wants to come, of course). And let me tell ya, 

It's Sh-Shownight!

Wow. Is it MORE THAN A MONTH I've abandoned this baby already?? :/
Seriously, guys, time flies. Even when you're not exactly having fun... Heh. Just sayin'.
So, anyway, just let me quickly wrap this up because, boy do I have a lot to tell ya'll. :)

I was honestly worried that morning when I woke up. There were still so many things our group's performance lacked and what if I go up on stage tonight and my throat closes completely, thus stopping me from being able to say anything at all? You know, the usual feeling you get before you go up on stage to make a fool of yourself in front of a huge bunch of people. HAHA.

Though, this is going to be a long day, because I still have acting class that afternoon and actually, I have to perform during acting class too, debuting our story for everyone in class. So, I had to perform twice that day! But hey, that kept my mind off the event that night and made me focus on something else, so that's good.

Building Up to Showtime

In order to write this post, I actually needed some time to sit down and really think about the whole thing. How am I going to tell ya'll about something that has happened so many weeks ago? I initially wanted to put everything related to Orientation Night in just one post, but when I was moving on to talk about the night itself, I realized how long this very post was already. So, I decided to cut it short and have an entirely different post for the night itself! Besides, it'll make your reading easier too! Heh. I guess I'm going to have to start from the very beginning again since I don't think I've told any of you the ENTIRE thing. All the drama, the story line, the hilarious moments during rehearsals, the last minute changes, the awesome counselors and of course, the people who make up the group. We might have

The Many Firsts

Okay, seriously, I don't think I'm very capable of short posts at all. That's what happen when you are so far behind on your posts. Heh. So,  really, guys and girls, brace yourself for another long one. This post is sort of a mash up of everything major that happened over my first couple of weeks in class and school. Of course, some details I would have to skip and kept for my closest confidants only. This might be a public diary but you can't expect me to tell you everything, can you? (*wink wink*). There's quite a few stuff to cover, that's why this is going to be another long post. But don't worry! After this, there'll only be just one more super duper long post coming up, which will be the Orientation Night post (I'm really excited to tell you guys about that one!) If you're still even reading at all by the end of this post, then,