Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (Johanna)

Sometimes I get this extraordinary feeling of impetus – I have to do something, I have to do everything, right now. It’s not happening yet, but I feel it’s just on the horizon. Yes, there are assignments due soonish that I should attend to, but my heart is just about at bursting point for bigger plans and ideas. I’m just not exactly sure what they involve yet. Maybe a bit of guerilla art.. perhaps!

Last post, I talked about adventuring with my newest friend. Seems that he has sparked something in me that is steadily growing to a flame – university and life in general can seem so aimless when you don’t have a guardian angel to help you along. It’s like in Amelie when she’s confronting Collignon and a voice comes from somewhere telling her exactly what she should have known that she wanted to say, and giving her the power to say it – “At least you’ll never be a vegetable – even artichokes have hearts,” she says, and it’s perfect. Here is a picture of my personal mascot (below), drawn by the deliciously delightful Keri Smith. My personal guardian angel is trying to help me becoming “Daring Girl” – I’m a long way off, but getting closer day by day.

One thing I have discovered about uni is that it isn’t the place to be shy. In my last post, people left an unprecendented number of comments about the difficulties of making friends or establishing relationship here. It is difficult, and even more so when you’re too afraid to really talk to anyone. This semester, I made a point of starting with a positive attitude. After my first theatre studies class, I walked boldly up to the lecturer and told him what a good job he’d done – I introduced myself and said that it was a nice change to have such a passionate and interesting lecture and that he should be proud of himself for being so inspiring. He looked at me like I was crazy, his eyes darted around at more important people standing behind me, and he said, “Yes.. well, that’s good” and floated away. Maybe he was having a bad day, or maybe he was genuinely too busy to accept a compliment, but it was crushing – someone who is supposed to act as a role model and a source of impetus for the students revealed himself to be arrogant and dismissive.

Not all the lecturers are like that though, by any stretch of the imagination. I am taking Age of Revolutions: French Revolution History – the lecturer is Professor Peter McPhee who is an absolute joy. He is the way an academic should be. He has so much passion for what he teaches, it’s contagious. He plays us music and makes us watch films and isn’t afraid to go off onto tangents to keep us interested. For a while, I have wanted to tell him how good he is and let myself be known, but once burned, I’m afraid to play with fire again. The way to go seems to be an anonymous note or something – anonymity suits me, I think.

Gah, I have to go to Geelong soon. Oh the horror. Rehearsal for Anything Goes, which is more than tedious at present. I think I have bemoaned the state of affair before, but let me rehash it for you: as an understudy for a lead, I’m in the ensemble as well but I have a very limited part due to the fact that they might need to pull me out at short notice. Therefore, I have all of two lines in the show. Mind you, that’s two lines more than most people, but I’m craving something more. Being involved in theatre is one of the most wonderful feelings in the world; taking pure emotion and crafting it into a performance on which meaning balances. It’s indescribable, but unfortunately there isn’t a lot of acting involved in saying, “I want my money back!” and “I’m a sinner!”. Nor is there much singing or dancing for me. Gah, let’s not talk about this anymore – it’ll just put me in a bad mood.

Oh, I might as well share my account of a great Krispy Kreme adventure that I had a couple of days ago. Not half as well photographically documented as Sophie’s, but mine has some quirks that hopefully will make it even slightly comparable. After spending a Friday night seeing Snakes on a Plane, drinking cocktails with some theatre friends, eating pancakes and just general silliness.. Matthew, two other friends and I decided that it would be a Really Good Idea to drive to Fountain Gate at about 2am in the morning to hunt for some Krispy Kreme doughnuts. When we got there, I was a bit shocked to see about twenty carloads of people had the same idea. We lined up in the drive through (about 7 or 8 cars long) and went through, spending a ridiculous amount of money on doughnuts. We bought 4 dozen, shock! After a little more driving, we found a suitably grassy knoll and proceeded to eat said doughnuts. A random man with a dog walked past (what he was doing walking his dog in those ungodly hours, I don’t know) and didn’t even blink, like it was an everyday sight to see four gangly youths sitting on the hill surrounded by a sea of doughnuts. We managed about 16 doughnuts between us before we were feeling too sick to go on. Decadent and slightly gross – we had fun. The next morning was a little more restrained: I had one (1) doughnut for breakfast and had the heart to share the rest with my housemates (despite the fact that the majority of them I’m quite sure are in fact Neanderthals who either travelled forwards in time or are the result of some strange cloning program). At least it meant that I couldn’t eat any more.

Overall, the doughnuts were definitely worth it. My advice: don’t try to eat four at once, especially when tipsy.