Stage Shennanigans

Went to see "Volver" last night. I hereby appologise profusely to Val, Mona and anyone else I may have offended with my statements about Penelope Cruz's acting skills or lack thereof. I've yet to see a Pedro Almodovar film I didn't like and I have to admit that Penelope Cruz pulled off a fab performance in a fantastic little film. *Eats humble pie*

- Go No Go, Ghent -

On the way to the cinema though, I happened upon R.E.M.'s "Losing my Religion" while channel surfing the radio and this brought back a stream of memories which made me realise that really... I should never again be allowed on stage in front of a big audience.

Several years ago, our school held a benefit to raise some cash for a good cause. For some reason, my 14-year old self and two of my mates decided it'd be a good idea to go on stage with our guitars and have a little jam session in front of the whole school (1,500 people) to help raise money. The morning before the benefit, some bright spark had decided to move my guitar from its safe spot near my desk, to a very damp little area near the radiator and placed it up against the radiator with the snares down. Too nervous to ponder this fact any further, my mates & I walked on stage a few hours later, positioned ourselves and hit the first few chords of R.E.M.'s "Losing my Religion". The minute my hand struck the snares I knew I was dead in the water: My guitar had gone out of tune completely. Unfortunately, by the time I'd come to my senses the entirely school was collectively belting out the song along with us and it was too late to request a moment to tune my guitar. So I basically sat through the next half hour of our performance PRETENDING to play my guitar. I can assure you... that felt GRRREAT *cough*

I shalln't mention the time I had a solo dance act as Gene Kelly in a school performance of "Singing in the Rain", when the stagemaster erronously poured all the rain right NEXT to me, instead of above me, making me fall out of step to try and catch up with the rain. Or the time I'd been given a part in a dance-recital but the lead dancer misjudged the stage-width and left two of us dancing BEHIND the curtain.

Aaahhhh, the memories...

Anyway... I got a quote for my Round The World Ticket today and it's been provisionally booked to take off August 28th. I checked my itinerary online and have calculated that if all goes to plan, I shall board 11 individual flights and will spend 63 hours and 4 minutes in the air. Did I mention I've a fear of flying? Just a few times then... "ALL FOR THE GREATER GOOD" Seems to be my mantra of self assurance this week. Although I may slip a few horse-sedatives in my First Aid pack ... just in case.