So Blogging friends,
this is my final blog and its also the final countdown!! From starting this blog a mere eight months ago, I never thought that i would say this but i am sad that the time has now come to say goodbye!
from doing this blog i have learnt alot about myself, others and the project. I feel that now i have embraced blogging that I am now more confident in my writing abilities and taht what i have to say is just as interllectual, funny and entertaining as a professional piece of writing in my own way.
As for Ham House with less than two weeks to go I'm sure that we have all done teh best work that we can do and that the 22-23rd of May will eb days that we will never forget!!
Before I go i just want to say a big thankyou to everyone involved, thanks for the laughs and the good memories. It has been a great pleasure working with you all!
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
The Blog where it is all going on...
Hey Blogging world,
Sorry that it has been a while since my last blog but i hate to tell you that this blog is going to another blog of epic proportions so apologies.
To start off with Jenny and Ben have written a fantastic story that will kick of the action at Ham Common and begin the procession. The story which was written ties in brilliantly with the happy birthday theme. When all the class sat down to hear it we were all laughing and smiling at how much fun the story was. If just listening to it was fun then being in it will be epic!!
On the 23rd of April Megan and I both went over to Mark's to clear out his garage for things to sell at the carboot sale. As we spent a while looking through Mark's various bits and bobs it became clear to me that there were alot of things that I would like to buy in particular a rugrats mug!!! We soon packed and piled up Marks car all ready for the big sale on Sunday.
So the week began with another sucessful meeting, and everything is coming together which is fantastic.
The first thing on the list for the week was the community day at Ham House which was on the 24th April. The day began early and we were met at the House by some beautiful weather. The first thing on the agenda was setting up the gazibo which we had borrowed from the SU. Now the first thing that came to mind was that it would be very easy as there were about 8 of us and that it would be up in no time at all. How wrong was I took us about an hour and half to put it up. In the end some other helpers from a near by stall came and gave us some assistance. We then decided to divide ourselves up into teams, some of us would be doing facepainting, play games with children waiting for their face to be painted, while the rest of us would be handing out leaflets. I was on the leafletting team to start with and i was happily shocked to find that people were saying that they had leaflets come through their doors. It seems that our leafletting from the previous week paid off!!
As soon as it hit lunch time there was a manic rush of children all wanted to get their faces painted. Seeing as there was such a big waiting line, all of the team ended up taking up brushes to create face painting masterpieces. However it soon became aprant that we did not have enough brushes or facepaint to use at the same time. So we spent most of the day sharing which I found very entertaining as soon as one of us put down a brush or paint there was a made dash to grab it. The end of the day soon approached we were all covered in face paint, grass stains and all very tired. Unfortuatly we had to turn away a few people who wanted there face painted and wanted to play games. This day went extremely well and I think that the facepainting is always good to get people involved within the event. With the story now in place there are so many ways that we can incouporate and included people.
The next day was the car boot sale at Grey Court School, Jennie, Megan and myself were at Mark's at 7.30 in the morning. A time i still maintain does not exisit in the morning, as the early bird team attempted to fit ourselves around the various assortments that was in Mark's car the heavens opened and it began to rain. All while we were setting up, haggerling various items in the cold. Fortuanatly we found out that we could transfer our patch inside the school hall, oh how we all lept for joy!! The day was long but we managed to sell a lot of items and made a profit of around £70..which is fantastic!!!!!
Well that's it for now bye!!!
Sorry that it has been a while since my last blog but i hate to tell you that this blog is going to another blog of epic proportions so apologies.
To start off with Jenny and Ben have written a fantastic story that will kick of the action at Ham Common and begin the procession. The story which was written ties in brilliantly with the happy birthday theme. When all the class sat down to hear it we were all laughing and smiling at how much fun the story was. If just listening to it was fun then being in it will be epic!!
On the 23rd of April Megan and I both went over to Mark's to clear out his garage for things to sell at the carboot sale. As we spent a while looking through Mark's various bits and bobs it became clear to me that there were alot of things that I would like to buy in particular a rugrats mug!!! We soon packed and piled up Marks car all ready for the big sale on Sunday.
So the week began with another sucessful meeting, and everything is coming together which is fantastic.
The first thing on the list for the week was the community day at Ham House which was on the 24th April. The day began early and we were met at the House by some beautiful weather. The first thing on the agenda was setting up the gazibo which we had borrowed from the SU. Now the first thing that came to mind was that it would be very easy as there were about 8 of us and that it would be up in no time at all. How wrong was I took us about an hour and half to put it up. In the end some other helpers from a near by stall came and gave us some assistance. We then decided to divide ourselves up into teams, some of us would be doing facepainting, play games with children waiting for their face to be painted, while the rest of us would be handing out leaflets. I was on the leafletting team to start with and i was happily shocked to find that people were saying that they had leaflets come through their doors. It seems that our leafletting from the previous week paid off!!
As soon as it hit lunch time there was a manic rush of children all wanted to get their faces painted. Seeing as there was such a big waiting line, all of the team ended up taking up brushes to create face painting masterpieces. However it soon became aprant that we did not have enough brushes or facepaint to use at the same time. So we spent most of the day sharing which I found very entertaining as soon as one of us put down a brush or paint there was a made dash to grab it. The end of the day soon approached we were all covered in face paint, grass stains and all very tired. Unfortuatly we had to turn away a few people who wanted there face painted and wanted to play games. This day went extremely well and I think that the facepainting is always good to get people involved within the event. With the story now in place there are so many ways that we can incouporate and included people.
The next day was the car boot sale at Grey Court School, Jennie, Megan and myself were at Mark's at 7.30 in the morning. A time i still maintain does not exisit in the morning, as the early bird team attempted to fit ourselves around the various assortments that was in Mark's car the heavens opened and it began to rain. All while we were setting up, haggerling various items in the cold. Fortuanatly we found out that we could transfer our patch inside the school hall, oh how we all lept for joy!! The day was long but we managed to sell a lot of items and made a profit of around £70..which is fantastic!!!!!
Well that's it for now bye!!!
Sunday, 25 April 2010
So its about 12.40 in the morning and as i sit here writting this blog im fillied with sadness, as on my way back from the pub after a few drinks with emily. On our usual walk back to our lovely shop house i was faced with something that i had not felt since i was 13, racism. So as we approached our house some drunken idiots thought it would be fun to throw around a certain few phrases about my appearance as well as the colour of skin...im no this has nothing to do with ham house but its the only way i can process the feelings that im going through at this moment in time. Right now we live in a society where it is said that we should have tolerance for all races and religion and pride in who we are....right now im crying my eyes out at these phrases which were said..im already self consious enough about myself as it is and it has been a bit of a shock too the system!!! i know i should get this go and move on but im not sure how to as i right now i feel have taken several steps back to my early teens when i asked myself what is wrong me? Why can't i be treated and accepted by society and that people could see past my skin colour....i know that people do as i wouldn't have the friends i have and the support they have given me through the good and bad times....and now that i have written that i feel that maybe i should have known better and not to have let it affect me as it has done.
Now i think i may have calmed down a bit but not that much it has occured to me that although the twats that said these terrible things were a: drunk and b: probably part of the bnp that i really hope that in next months general elections that the BNP do not get into Barking (a diverse place by my hometown) and the rest of the places where they are hoping to gain seats...so that racism and facism can be stopped and i just hope that people are smart enough notto believe there lies...i dont understand a great deal about politics so i maybe wrong in this statement but this is just the feeling i get from it all...
Well thats all i really have to say for now and it doesnt have anything at all to do with ham house so apologies i just need a way to vent and gain some closure...im sure i will be fine by morning and brushed it off to some extent and right now as i look at my facebook status comments and inbox messages of anger of what happened tonight, i feel a bit better that not all people in this world are like the twats i encountered and that they are just a small few and we most definatly outnumber them...
Now i think i may have calmed down a bit but not that much it has occured to me that although the twats that said these terrible things were a: drunk and b: probably part of the bnp that i really hope that in next months general elections that the BNP do not get into Barking (a diverse place by my hometown) and the rest of the places where they are hoping to gain seats...so that racism and facism can be stopped and i just hope that people are smart enough notto believe there lies...i dont understand a great deal about politics so i maybe wrong in this statement but this is just the feeling i get from it all...
Well thats all i really have to say for now and it doesnt have anything at all to do with ham house so apologies i just need a way to vent and gain some closure...im sure i will be fine by morning and brushed it off to some extent and right now as i look at my facebook status comments and inbox messages of anger of what happened tonight, i feel a bit better that not all people in this world are like the twats i encountered and that they are just a small few and we most definatly outnumber them...
Sunday, 4 April 2010
The Blog about Mexican Night, a meeting with a Dame, Laughter Yoga and the Easter Egg Hunt...
Hello Blogging world,
Once again these last couple of weeks have been incrediably hectic so here is another long blog im afraid!!!!
So the Mexican night was upon us all very quickly and at 10am we were at the Su under the comand of Jennie to transform the SU. My first job of the day was to take down the Smuc Radio and Simmstock banders that were hanging from the ceiling. As we couldnt get a ladder i ended up standing on tables with a pair of scissors. All of them came down very easily apart from one which refused to come down for another half an hour of hacking at it!! Next Emily, Charlotte and I raided the basement of the theatre to try and find more things to decorate with. On our returnt we found a sandy coloured piece of material, some foliage and a rug. At lunch time Jen and I then had an appointment with Emma and Mark on the request lunch show. On it we plugged the SU night and the Ham House project. It was great being back in the radio studio as there has been so much going on that i have had to miss the last two weeks shows. After the show Jen and I both went back down stairs to meet up with the rest of the group where we continued to attach decorations to the hall and foot ladders. Finally at around 3pm we had finally finished and to celebrate we all had a pint of our fancy and admired our handy work!!! When the evening finally came round everyone was commenting on the transformation of the SU and people apriciated the SU like they did in our first year, which was great to see. Although it wasn't a packed night at the SU quite a few people turned up and had a great time!!! For the majority of the night i was at the Pool table with Mark. We played best of three game which im glad to say that i lost again spectactulary and ended up buying Mark a drink!!! The rest of the night was a bit of a blur...but i guess that shows that one and all had a great night!!!!
The next day i was up again bright and early to go to Ham House, as Megan, Ed, Mark and myself had an important meeting with Dame Fiona Reynolds the National Trust's Managering Director. In this meeting we had to explain what our relationship with Ham House was and explain the 400th Birthday celebrations and future projects and our personal goals!! Dame Fiona was really interested and loved the interest that we have generated for the house during and after the Christmas storytelling which we had done. From the 10-15minutes which we had talking with her it was clear to see that she really wanted to see our partnership with the National trust extended to other properties. After our meeting we posed for pictures and she wished us all the best of luck for the 400th celebrations.
Next on Sunday 28th Ben and I ventured to Kilburn for the laughter yoga session, we were both a little unsure what to expect from the even that was being held. When we arrived at the venue i once again lost at shotgun with ben, which ment that i was the first one to enter. As we walked in we were welcomed with smiling faces and free sweedish waffles as we were the first people there we decided to pass the time by painting some flower pots. I decided to go crazy with mine and put lots of colours on mine and attacked it all the stamps that were on offer. Although i had lots of epic fails with my pot the funniest being with the o.k stamp that came up backwards everytime i used it, only then did i realise that i was using the stamp the wrong way. Ben's flowerpot was lovely as it showed a tree (which was had a green trunk to start) a giant bee and a sun with his hat on. Unfortunatly our designs didnt survive the train ride back home. After lots of flowerpot painting we contributed to the community murial that was on a back wall again Ben drew another bee while i opted for a rainbow helpfully (or not) ben pointed out that it looked more like a Rastaparian's hat!! Next came the Laughter yoga it was am amazing thing to be part of and i felt really connected to everyone in the gruop. By the end of the session the world seemed a happier place and any stress that i had about due essays, family circumstances and how i will survive till next loan day..it was the happiest i have felt in the last few weeks!!
Fast forward to this weekend myself, Chantelle, Carloina, Charlotte, Zoe and Sarah all took part in Ham House's easter egg hunt. For the most of the day we were doing the usual facepainting and talking/ handing out flyers for the 400th celebrations. As each of the days drew to a close Gary came along baring gifts of chocolate eggs and he kindly allowed us to take part in the easter egg hunt. By which Carolina, Charlotte and myself got rather over excited. We literally ran round the route searching for clues that would tell us who stole the easter bunny's eggs!!! So all in all its been a very busy couple of weeks and i feel that this project is finally coming together!!
Once again these last couple of weeks have been incrediably hectic so here is another long blog im afraid!!!!
So the Mexican night was upon us all very quickly and at 10am we were at the Su under the comand of Jennie to transform the SU. My first job of the day was to take down the Smuc Radio and Simmstock banders that were hanging from the ceiling. As we couldnt get a ladder i ended up standing on tables with a pair of scissors. All of them came down very easily apart from one which refused to come down for another half an hour of hacking at it!! Next Emily, Charlotte and I raided the basement of the theatre to try and find more things to decorate with. On our returnt we found a sandy coloured piece of material, some foliage and a rug. At lunch time Jen and I then had an appointment with Emma and Mark on the request lunch show. On it we plugged the SU night and the Ham House project. It was great being back in the radio studio as there has been so much going on that i have had to miss the last two weeks shows. After the show Jen and I both went back down stairs to meet up with the rest of the group where we continued to attach decorations to the hall and foot ladders. Finally at around 3pm we had finally finished and to celebrate we all had a pint of our fancy and admired our handy work!!! When the evening finally came round everyone was commenting on the transformation of the SU and people apriciated the SU like they did in our first year, which was great to see. Although it wasn't a packed night at the SU quite a few people turned up and had a great time!!! For the majority of the night i was at the Pool table with Mark. We played best of three game which im glad to say that i lost again spectactulary and ended up buying Mark a drink!!! The rest of the night was a bit of a blur...but i guess that shows that one and all had a great night!!!!
Next on Sunday 28th Ben and I ventured to Kilburn for the laughter yoga session, we were both a little unsure what to expect from the even that was being held. When we arrived at the venue i once again lost at shotgun with ben, which ment that i was the first one to enter. As we walked in we were welcomed with smiling faces and free sweedish waffles as we were the first people there we decided to pass the time by painting some flower pots. I decided to go crazy with mine and put lots of colours on mine and attacked it all the stamps that were on offer. Although i had lots of epic fails with my pot the funniest being with the o.k stamp that came up backwards everytime i used it, only then did i realise that i was using the stamp the wrong way. Ben's flowerpot was lovely as it showed a tree (which was had a green trunk to start) a giant bee and a sun with his hat on. Unfortunatly our designs didnt survive the train ride back home. After lots of flowerpot painting we contributed to the community murial that was on a back wall again Ben drew another bee while i opted for a rainbow helpfully (or not) ben pointed out that it looked more like a Rastaparian's hat!! Next came the Laughter yoga it was am amazing thing to be part of and i felt really connected to everyone in the gruop. By the end of the session the world seemed a happier place and any stress that i had about due essays, family circumstances and how i will survive till next loan day..it was the happiest i have felt in the last few weeks!!
Fast forward to this weekend myself, Chantelle, Carloina, Charlotte, Zoe and Sarah all took part in Ham House's easter egg hunt. For the most of the day we were doing the usual facepainting and talking/ handing out flyers for the 400th celebrations. As each of the days drew to a close Gary came along baring gifts of chocolate eggs and he kindly allowed us to take part in the easter egg hunt. By which Carolina, Charlotte and myself got rather over excited. We literally ran round the route searching for clues that would tell us who stole the easter bunny's eggs!!! So all in all its been a very busy couple of weeks and i feel that this project is finally coming together!!
Sunday, 21 March 2010
The Blog about the Epic Spaced Flashmob!!!!!
Time: 10:40am
Rendezvous Point: Twickenham Train Station
Partners in Crime: Megan Bailey, Edward Anthony and Benjiman Abbott aka the Simmies Spaced Pack
Jaffa Cakes: Were found in my bag after the event!!!
The day started of windy, a little cold and very drizzly (by this i mean the weather couldnt make up its mind it was very much "Ooooh shall I rain or shall I rain ,maybe I'll provide an annoying combination of both!!!") however this did not dampen our spirits!!!
Today was the day that we re-created a scared and payed homage to one was the best voted sitcomes for twenty somethings!!! For those of you I realise have never have heard of 'Spaced' here's a quick run down.
"Spaced revolves around two idle twentysomething flatmates-immature skateboarding would-be comic artist Tim (Simon Pegg), and moody, responcibilty shy writer Daisy (Jessic Stevenson), and their self-induced lack of sucess in employment, relationships and life in general. Together with their oddball assortment of friends and neighbours: Marsha, Brian, Mike and Twist, they exist in a world perched precariously on the edge of normality."
The idea of this gun fight comes from Tim's best friend Mike who is counter arguing Brian's comment about women being supior to men. By having the gift to create life and sycronize menstral cycles if they spend long amounts of time with eachother. In this clip it then leads to Tim and Mike showing Brian the inate knowledge of unspoken telepathy that all men share, which is just as powerful as this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sqSQ5Vu8vM
From this later on in the episode there is a blockbuster of gun fight between the main protagonists Daisy and Tim and some Romford Youths...you know what check it!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2tLKjeOstg&NR=1
This is something that everyone who particpated all wanted to create and have fun with and it was a dead cert that it was going to be fantastic.
So there's the "theory" behind it..back to Saturday we met Ben at Clapham Junction and from there we went onto Trafalgar square. We were told via the facebook campagne to be around the fountain in Trafalgar Square at 1pm. We were amused to see that there was a speaker at the base of teh lion statues preaching about violance...the irony of this amused me greatly knowing what was about to happen, i then wondered what his reaction to the flashmob would be!! When we got there we were not surprised to find a crowd of around 200 people standing around chatting, joking and just general loytering. As the Simmies Spaced Pack found a spot to stand it became obvious to me, who was waiting for the flash mob and who were generally just happened to be around. I know your probably thinking that this would be pretty obvious Siobhan to work out, but i know this will sound strange but i'm going to argue that just the simple eye contact that i made with other Spaced fanatics there was definatly the unspoken telepathy between us. As each Spaced fan came into contact with each other there was a smile, respect for one another and a sense of love for this television show.
As the clock struck 1:15pm it began.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=652v7bKGsOI
The fight was spectacular but my "death" was even greater, not only took down the person who shot me but i also managed to get another five people .It started so slow but ended all too fast and yes me being the weird person i am the video above i am in YES!!! if you want to play Where's Siobhan? look at 2mins 45sec... I wont tell you where iam but im there, but if you really can't find me here's a clue i'm wearing a blue hat and I join in on one of the lines!!! If you were wondering about the preacher that i mention before he still carried on talking while it too place...although i doubt that anyone heard him above all the noise that we made!!
It was such a fantastic experiance and i would suggest to anyone to get involved in a flashmob if you find one around!! You feel privilaged to be part of something so unique and special. Plus not only do you get to be part of it with friends but for moment in time and space your sycronised with 200+ people..and that my friends is pretty cool!!!
That was the end of a fantastic day and this is something that i will not forget...
Friday, 19 March 2010
The Blog about the Sucess and the Stress....
Ola Blogging world,
This week has been very stressful for me as there has been so much to do and so little time to do anything, but im pleased to say that i have powered through and have got some positive results!!!
Firstly on Wednesday Megan and myself went and had a meeting with Sue Whitham the manager of Student Services. During this meeting we discussed the accomedation for Ed and Laura, in this meeting we raised our questions and we got our answers and a result. It turns out that the student services have seven contracts, which all end at different tiomes of the term. As we are part of the undergrate ba programmes terms ends for us on the 21st May so anyone in Halls must leave by the 22nd May but seeing as we were only needing to be there up until the Monday Sue managed to work it out that Ed and Laura can still have halls till then and that they wont have to pay a single penny. However they will need to be out by 8am so that the cleaning of their halls can take place!! So all in all good progress was made.
After this meeting Megan, Ed, Emily and myslef, ventured once again to Ham House for a photo shoot for the new picture for the poster. It was a lovely day and Christine came down and got a lovely couple of shots of us and Gary and Jorge and other helpers at Ham House.
In other news its now 5 days till our Mexican Spring Break Night at the Su, im sure its going to be a fantastic night and that lots of people will turn up and have a ball of a time!!!
Tomorrow Ben, Megan and Myself will be attending and taking part in a Flash Mob to try and get some inspiration for one that we can create!! Iam very very excited about this!!
Well that's all for now, Blogging world
Cheerio!!
This week has been very stressful for me as there has been so much to do and so little time to do anything, but im pleased to say that i have powered through and have got some positive results!!!
Firstly on Wednesday Megan and myself went and had a meeting with Sue Whitham the manager of Student Services. During this meeting we discussed the accomedation for Ed and Laura, in this meeting we raised our questions and we got our answers and a result. It turns out that the student services have seven contracts, which all end at different tiomes of the term. As we are part of the undergrate ba programmes terms ends for us on the 21st May so anyone in Halls must leave by the 22nd May but seeing as we were only needing to be there up until the Monday Sue managed to work it out that Ed and Laura can still have halls till then and that they wont have to pay a single penny. However they will need to be out by 8am so that the cleaning of their halls can take place!! So all in all good progress was made.
After this meeting Megan, Ed, Emily and myslef, ventured once again to Ham House for a photo shoot for the new picture for the poster. It was a lovely day and Christine came down and got a lovely couple of shots of us and Gary and Jorge and other helpers at Ham House.
In other news its now 5 days till our Mexican Spring Break Night at the Su, im sure its going to be a fantastic night and that lots of people will turn up and have a ball of a time!!!
Tomorrow Ben, Megan and Myself will be attending and taking part in a Flash Mob to try and get some inspiration for one that we can create!! Iam very very excited about this!!
Well that's all for now, Blogging world
Cheerio!!
Monday, 15 March 2010
The Blog about the Last Meeting...
At the last meeting on Thursday only nine people turned up and they also included the house liason team although they had a meeting of their own to get to at 5pm! To see so few faces at the meeting as time is running out was deeply frustrating, i understand that people had genuine reasons for not comingh but as a class of 20 plus only nine tuned out is not a good statisic in my book!!! Plus the design team had come along ready to do a workshop with us and i felt terrible for them as each week they come wanting to show us these nice things which they have learnt how to make and every week its the same people that attend these sessions.
So can everyone please try their best to attend the meetings as we have less than 10 weeks to go before Ham day...(yes that is what i shall be calling the event from now on!)
So in this meeting we came up with an order for the Parade (not procession) and we also mangaged to get another confirmed group in the form of a morris dancers group...well done Zoe :) . We also contacted more groups to be part of the Ham day!!! Ben and myslef also began trying to work out how my flash mob idea could be put into Ham day, plus we are both going to attend a flashmob in london next week to get a real feel for it!! For those that don't know what a flashmob is have a look at this very popular flashmob that we have seen befiore:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3kkqXX85c
For more info on what we have doen its in the email account so please please please read it!
We soon called it a day after doing a lot of work and getting extremely hyperactive i feel that although the meeting didn't go to plan we ended up getting a whole load of work done!
Well that's all i have to say for now
Auf Wiedersehn!!!
So can everyone please try their best to attend the meetings as we have less than 10 weeks to go before Ham day...(yes that is what i shall be calling the event from now on!)
So in this meeting we came up with an order for the Parade (not procession) and we also mangaged to get another confirmed group in the form of a morris dancers group...well done Zoe :) . We also contacted more groups to be part of the Ham day!!! Ben and myslef also began trying to work out how my flash mob idea could be put into Ham day, plus we are both going to attend a flashmob in london next week to get a real feel for it!! For those that don't know what a flashmob is have a look at this very popular flashmob that we have seen befiore:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3kkqXX85c
For more info on what we have doen its in the email account so please please please read it!
We soon called it a day after doing a lot of work and getting extremely hyperactive i feel that although the meeting didn't go to plan we ended up getting a whole load of work done!
Well that's all i have to say for now
Auf Wiedersehn!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
