( 'I was sorry to read about your death,' said the guest. )
I've thought of acting as a fiery, consuming pursuit ever since After Math in Sec Two, when my senior Olivia wrote:
Why do we do it? Why do we always have to break our hearts like this?
I don't know. But I know I could never live otherwise; never live steady, never live routine, because we are actresses and actresses burn. They live in bursts of colour, and even though there are long periods of darkness in between, they live for those bursts of colour. Our food is the emotion of an audience: we feed on their laughter, drink their tears, breathe their applause; but yet it's not about them. We don't perform for an audience, although we need them to perform for. We don't perform for the money, or the points, or the sake of performing. We perform for the play, because the play is alive and it is part of us, a part that goes deeper than flesh, deeper than blood and bone. This is drama; we are drama.
I didn't agree with her then, but it's been a long time since, and many productions later, when I find myself coming inevitably back to the stage again and again (even though it hurts and it is costly), I begin to see her point.
Why do we do it?
When I act, I feel as if I'm entering into a heightened kind of living. It's a whole new world, you can become anyone, convince people of anything; life becomes fuller when you're not just being you. We live more intensely, more in earnest on stage, because we become more ourselves when we pretend to be other people. Olivia was right- it's not the audience- it's never been the audience. We choose the play long before we draw the audience, and we do it because it seizes us, because it grabs us and and it makes us think, "Yes."
As I plough through my seahist notes for the exam tomorrow I realise that this is really a pretty good analogy for our life on earth! "It's a struggle, it's a war" (Les Miserables) but in the end IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT, because in a few days' time I will be FREE.
And so "I count all these things rubbish"! :D
Today's post is dedicated to cool things I've been following on the Internet :D
1. Lunch in a Box: Building a Better Bento
http://lunchinabox.net
Biggie used to live in Japan and now uses skills picked up there to pack lunches for herself, her husband and her four-year-old son named Bug (: She prides herself on being a speedy lunch packer, and her blog's full of useful tips about possible lunch menus, bento containers and even the mechanics of lunchbox packing. I really like her blog, especially because it's so heavily influenced by Japanese culture :D I visit when I get tired of work, and it never fails to make me hungry (:
2. Kristen Leigh Wedding Photography
http://kristenleighphotography.blogspot.c
I love this blog because her photos are so incredibly beautiful! They shine with the happiness of the people in them, and everyone in them looks so natural and so completely in their element (: My favourites are the ones set in absolutely ordinary places, like outside supermarkets or gas stations, because she makes it look so magical anyway. I guess this blog's grown to have a greater significance to me over this year, since my sister's getting married in December. Just as Lunch in a Box always makes me hungry, this blog always manages to cheer me up (:
3. Threadcakes
http://www.threadcakes.com/home
The competition's over, but you can check out the gallery :D This was a challenge to make cakes in the image of threadless tees (which is another site I love!) There's a 3D category and a 2D category. The 2D ones are pretty, but some of the 3D ones are really amazing. Check out the winners! Also, this one didn't win, but I think it's so adorable: http://www.threadcakes.com/entries/view/5
Hello again! Following the Japanese tradition of describing the weather in journals, it's a nice rainy day and the weather's very cool, which is a pleasant change from the blazing heat that usually dogs us here in Singapore. (Although I have no idea how Matthias and I are going to run later if it keeps raining :D) Considering the number of people who want to talk to me about my last post, I'm probably going to post again on leadership sometime, but for now, here's a book recommendation:
Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot
For those who've read my earlier posts, you'll know I really like her!
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
twinkilya recommended it to me in November last year, and this book really challenged me to think about my relationship with and commitment to God. The author tells the story of her relationship with Jim Elliot, but this book is much more than a guide to godly courtship. It's a challenge to give God everything- yes, everything!- you have or want. Judging by the different speeds at which twinkilya and I made our ways through the book (she couldn't put it down, while I took a long time to digest it), you learn differently from it depending on the circumstances you're in. Which is great, because it means you learn something new everytime you pick it up! :D Also, as we're close to (but not quite on) the topic of books about women, here's a passage that's really influenced my ideas about women:
( An Old-fashioned Girl, by Louisa May Alcott )
While I don't agree with all the ideas in there about women (especially the one where she is to stand alone), I love the idea she has here of what a woman can and should be, noble, strong and loving.