Casa De Shao

Category: University

  • Bump-in; Mannequins

    I’m losing my grip on the mystic art of stage managering; finding a 200 dollar shoe cabinet’s receipt and literally dropping a mannequin and smashing a hole in its head right after paying for it.

    A friend told me with a concerned look, “I hate you for being a terrible stage manager, but it’s not your fault.” I blushed at the aptness of the description and proceeded to stumble over everything in the bump-in, holding the words dear. Humility, yes, but mostly discomfort at… at how dare my lack of experience endanger everyone’s enthusiasm and blood for Stage.

    “Are you okay?” multiple people asked.  With a grimace betraying my joke, I shimmied into the space below the sink to hear my heart pound my head, asking if all was for nought.

  • Epilogue II – NS

    Epilogue II – NS

    Countries Visited: 7 – United Kingdom, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Taiwan

    Steam Games Purchased: 14
    Books Read: 4 (probably)
    Laptop: Surface Pro 4

    NS-Friend-Meetups: ~12
    Weight Gained: 8kg
    Jobs Held: 1

    Club Visits: 2
    Alcohol Consumed: ~5L
    Parties Attended: 4

    Runtastic Activities Started: 111 Activities (1 Activity every 3.3 Days)
    IPPT Standard: Silver -> Fail

    Friends Made: ~200
    Modules Taken: 10
    CCAs Joined: 2
    Flowers Received: 5
    Mystery Gifts Received: 1

    (more…)

  • Description Medicine

    Lying, as spread-eagled as possible, on the narrow bed.

    Multi-pitched warbling of birds, shrill droning of insects and a sudden groan and roar of a bus’s engines… And a rhythmic but almost silent beeping from a distant, unattended alarm.

    Eyes gummed shut with a night’s worth of the sandman’s handiwork, till it makes a disgustingly audible sound as I blink back consciousness.

    Skin, cold and numb but radiatingly warm in my core. Throat, sandpaper; head, pulsating like a bowling alley’s strikes.

    I scratch up a checklist from my fragmented mind:
    emails
    emails,
    emails and delegation
    and tutorials and sit-in labs
    And medication.

    ‘Bonetrousle’ creeps from my phone, placed a metre away, both measures by my 11pm self to ensure that my 7am self can get up; I hate him and thank him as I always do.

  • Let’s Get Physical

    So I’m nearly hitting hundred.

    Ran 6km with Derek (panting like a wet dog, of course) and loudly groaning as he declared ‘our legs won’t stop moving until 1 hour is up!’

    An absolute chore having to get this sputtering engine of mine started again, but I’m hopeful.

  • Here

    I just sent off my blockmates to the patient, humming cabs of the night, awaiting their journey off to the frenzy that was the F. Club. I was told “F” stood for “Fashion”, but who knows.

    The door to XY’s room was a curtain of heat and the thick stench of alcohol with yesterday’s sweat. Messy glasses of expensive liquor mixed with convenience-store fruit juice sat around the room’s various shelves, surfaces and floor tiles that weren’t already taken up by the 8 people crammed into the room.

    I settled into the corner and let my senses soak up whatever was around; the girls, some of which showing only the whites of their eyes, were falling onto the shoulders of the bewildered but smirking males next to them; the guitar-players strumming off-tempo and belting out terrible lyrics; feet stumbling about, sharply kicking whiskey glasses along the floor…

    The haze of being the only sober person in the room, as I repeatedly raised my palm to politely refuse the glasses pushed in my direction, seemed very similar to that of being the only drunk in the room. It wasn’t particularly testing or anything, just that I felt further estranged from this bundle of fellas which I was already nervous about. I wonder what Zach would’ve done.

    As the cabs drove off into the night, only the stench of alcohol, and I, remained.

    I looked at the tiny, bleeding nick on my finger from the pill’s blister pack, and hoped it was all worth it.

  • Responses

    The dark canvas of the new year’s sky overhead shimmered with the sequins and glitter of explosions.

    The crowd gasped, whistled and cheered at the marvellous rediscovery of fire in the sky, through the chaotic stench of alcohol, and the fog of cigarette and gunpowder smoke. I was unfolding and refolding my arms in awkward indecision. (I originally raised my hands to bite my nails in excitement but Mum slapped it out of my mouth without so much as a glance)

    ..

    My bid as a Stage Manager is shaping up; I’m supposed to be some sort of “RSM” to these fellas as they fumble around giving each other directions. Like the blind. Leading the blind. Leading the blind. Half the things they mentioned today were mind blowing in technical depth and cemented my interest in Theatre (along with the term, Theatre Nerd, Ping and An warned me of)

    Conversation was difficult, and being the only junior in the lot didn’t make it much easier. I sensed some of them reaching out to me, but my responses were as firm as a wild garden hose. I swear, if I’d cringed any more at myself, I’d soon have no neck left.

    ..

    You know when someone mentions a flaw of something that you’ve never noticed before, and you end up seeing it all the time?

    Well, I’ve finally gotten my Surface Pro 4. A heavy iPad or a light laptop that you’re too lazy to retrieve from your bag of choice.

    Too clumsy to be a good tablet, too weak to be a worthy laptop and too crash-prone to be a good device.

    —

    (more…)

  • Protected: 0.5mg, Avoid Alcohol

    Protected: 0.5mg, Avoid Alcohol

    This content is password-protected. To view it, please enter the password below.

  • Protected: My Mind Will Listen to the Stars

    This content is password-protected. To view it, please enter the password below.

  • Distant thunder

    Distant thunder

    Day 1 is upon us…

    What’s going to happen tomorrow? I hear the buses and the road and a distant roll of thunder.

    My legs are chilled to the bone; muffled slipper steps and doors closing startle me every time they occur.

    It’s a new beginning again! NS was a comfort in how we were told about everything to do… The long and leafy roads are but a distant memory and I’ll have a new dull routine to follow and yearn. New stories to tell and rubbish to smell.

    I’m afraid, but everyone in this block has been friendly thus far. I don’t really know anyone yet, but…

    I don’t think it’ll be that bad. It won’t be!

    I’ll make it through, damn it!

    Stand up and fight!

  • Protected: Fresh Start for a Freshman

    This content is password-protected. To view it, please enter the password below.