Encore.

The hardest part is waiting. Everyone has those jitters and no one can quite keep still; yet everybody is still motionless enough to keep an ear out for the first of many people arriving on the other side of the curtain. No-one’s allowed to take a peek at the audience, although I’ve seen a few doing it while the producer isn’t looking.
There are so many people much more nervous than me though. The proof is on everyone’s faces – and in the side stage “chunder bucket”.

There are kids sitting on the risers with scripts in their hands – merely repeating that tricky little sentence of dialogue that gets them every time. At centre stage are the choreographers with the younger kids – showing them just how to turn and silently yelling at little Justin who waited until opening night to tell them he doesn’t know the chorus movement.

I walk out the side door and head towards the dressing rooms, holding my breath as I walk past two very attractive seniors having their last cigarettes for the night. I soon immediately become thankful to the make-up ladies for applying blush, as the blonde one winks at me. I duck my head and keep on moving. “Curtains open in 10 minutes” I hear someone in the background yell.

"The proof is on everyone’s faces – and in the side stage chunder bucket."

The hallway to the change rooms are in a fury – there is a young girl crying in a phone, screaming to her mother that she had had her costume when they had gotten into the car. A boy about twice my size is holding singing warm ups for those soloists who need the last minute tune-up before the big night, yet most of the notes I hear are not ones I would pay to listen to.
There are people rushing past me with shoes half on grabbing their stage props as they go – these guys obviously have mic-checks before the show. I shake my head and give a smile at my friend Denise who, as always, has made another huge hole in her tan stockings, and is busily trying to stop the rip with clear nail polish.

I finally make it to the female dressing room, where the chaos was surprisingly at its minimum. I smell the toasty warmness of the hot chocolate on the bench, and the entire universe can hear the welfare lady urging us to put jackets over our costumes before we all “catch pneumonia”.
I can see good luck cards and bouquets of roses all over the place, mainly from eager parents wishing their child good luck.
It all reminds me of my kindergarten jazz recital – the first time any of us had been on stage. I can still remember the sea of families grinning up at us, proud that their child doesn’t have to watch the instructor doing the movement below the stage.

Then there’s that voice again that brings me back into the present: “Curtain opens in two minutes people! If you’re not down there now then you’re not on stage!”
My long Victorian skirt swishes along the floor as I collect the final prop from my bag – a lacy cardboard fan – and race back up to the stage. I can hear the orchestra start their overture that makes the crowd more anxious to get the show started. I take the hand held microphone from the tech team and walk to the middle of the stage. The stage lights dim immediately as the audience applauses the band, and the dancers take their places behind me. I take a breath and get ready to sing my heart out and steal the show.

The curtain opens, and the heat of the spotlight on my face is amazing, and the watchful gazes from the audience is so intensifying, that the moment is truly perfected when I open my fan and see the words written in the scrawl of that blonde senior boy;
"Break A Leg"


[This was a descriptive piece I wrote for English]

Graffiti Rant.

Hello fellow readers I'm back! :)

Thought I'd write another ranting blog. Probably one not as controversial as my previous post haha.

Well every day on the bus to school we go past so much graffiti and it really pisses me off when I see the men with their little vans scrubbing all the paint off walls. I'm not pissed that they're removing it - I'm pissed that there is actually a need for those kinds of jobs to exist!

And what do these lads n lasses actually achieve from tagging everything huh? Do they think they are so cool because they sneak out in the early hours of the morning with their lil spray cans n "tekkies" or whatever. Most these kids are probably shit at school and this is all they have. But seriously. If they pulled their heads out of the ground and just TRIED to understand, then their grades would improve and they might actually have a good future. One that doesn't involve a fast food frier all their lives, prostitution or even the jerk who never says "have a nice day" at the toll booths on the highway.

"Not that they're probably bragging about every lil texta mark they're making on a school desk"

And okay, I'll admit: the graffiti art on the train lines are reeallly cool sometimes when they're all coloured and awesomified. But no one ever "awed" over some stupid "212 boyz" tag on a street pole. It's ridiculous and kind of embarrassing for anyone in the pennant hills suburb actually. Do this "gang" think they are like the bomb because they're too cowardly to come out and say "oh by the way, we're the douche-bags that are making pennant hills look like a dog kennel". Not that they're probably bragging about every lil texta mark they're making on a school desk.

And wat's with PMK? Lol they're so stupid they think they're amazing because they write their work everywhere. But they're the under-dogs and even if I was given money to join, I still wouldn't become one of them because I'd just be embarrassed to be seen with a bunch of loser nobodys who are going to wind up with jobs that no one wants. Haha "Penno's Most Korupt"? Learn to spell ;)

And I also understand that some of these poor kids do actually have fucked up families/parentals with aggression and all that jazz and sure maybe they have an excuse but come on - it doesn't always have to resort to this kind of thing! You can bunk in with friends, see counselors, etc. And talking about family issues even to close friends makes a difference. Just don't tag okay people? It's silly :)

Sorry if this bulletin has insulted you because you think you are an awesome tagger. But this is my blog and frankly - I don't care :)

xx Dannie

Religion :S

***First off, if you are sensitive to the topic of religion (more Christianity), I would recommend not reading this post. I am actually a nice person and I accept other people's beliefs, so I think you should all try to hear me out and attempt to accept my beliefs too.***

Okay so basically this time last year, I was content with my spiritual life/self. Then the Christian Ed teacher left and was replaced by a much keener teacher: Miss Grady? lol I think that's her name. (Why do we even have Christian Ed as a subject anyway? It's not a catholic school, and we live in Australia for God's Sake! Seriously, we're as multicultural as it gets! We should have Religious Studies instead!!) Woops..side-tracked...

ANYWAYS, Mr Tav - our first CE teacher, was more easy-going, and wouldn't mind us slacking off. He'd basically put on a nice christian movie or something and tell us a bible story every now and then. But Miss Grady is more interested in seeing that we are all like, saved from Satan. Once she came, I found myself getting all annoyed at Christianity and the ways of it. Before I knew it, my faith in God was slipping and I found myself asking all different kinds of questions in class.

"Apparently God loves us unconditionally, but everything sounds like a heck of a lot of conditions to me."

Miss Grady was also telling us about her church friends who were off in Iraq or something spreading the word of God and converting people. I was appalled by that because sure - it may be acceptable for people to do that in Australia or America even; where the nationalities are more diverse, but in a country in the middle east? Who's to say your religion is the right one? If someone came to me and tried to tell me that my beliefs were wrong and theirs were right and they have proof - the Bible - I would slap them across the face. There is no right or wrong. People should leave other religions alone instead of this converting crap. This is why wars break out. Usually in "God's name" or whatever. Dudes - if you are doing this for God, do you think he'd really want you to murder other people? And for him? It's one of the ten commandments anyway. Geez!

But what really led me away from God was the lesson we were having on relationships, and Miss Grady said "when Sin entered the world, so did things like rape and homosexuality". And I was all "hellooooo? You can't just say those things in the same sentence!!" Seriously. It made me so mad that those two things were basically being linked together in God's eyes. And I believe, that people are BORN with their sexuality. It may just be realised later in life.
Miss also told us that she had a friend who was a homosexual and he is currently taking therapy to change himself and be right in the "eyes of God" so that he can go to Heaven. And I'm all; sure. That's his choice, but can you actually imagine changing whatever your sexuality is just to be right in someone else's eyes?! I think it's pathetic. God should love us for who we are, not who we can be (I love that saying). So yeah I'm not actually a lesbian but I still think this is wrong and this shouldn't be taught at our public schools and stuff.

If anyone would like to try help me understand all this stuff about God and his views on us being the perfect lil un-sinners then feel free to comment and try help me see this from another angle. But before you try to do this, I recommend reading "Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult. It is a true test for faith - and don't worry. It is written in multiple minds so it's not biased. Like, there's a catholic priest, a man claimed to be the re-incarnated Jesus, an atheist lawyer, and her father; a Jewish rabbi. It was such a good read and it, is my "Bible".

Apparently God loves us unconditionally, but everything sounds like a heck of a lot of conditions to me.