Week 1*

*This is really the second week of my holidays, but its the first week of my blog. So there.


My main goal for this week is to prepare myself for my performance parts at the Marxism Fundraiser this Friday night (7th Dec), so that I can bring the freakin' house down. I'm doing a joint performance of a few songs in a quartet - we practiced two of the songs last night and got them down pretty well, with all the harmonies seeming to come together. Its the first time I'd tried to sing as part of a group with harmonies so I'm glad it worked out well. The bass part was quite a bit lower than I'd normally try to sing. But yeah, it was a good experience and got me even more excited for the night itself and for my solo parts.

I'm also performing Bob Dylan's 'Times They Are A Changin'' and Joseph Bovshover's 'Revolution' (a poem later put to music by Dick Gaughan, http://www.dickgaughan.co.uk/songs/texts/revolutn.html). The Dylan song I'll be singing, but trying to give it a bit more punch and relating it to the struggles of today and Australia's position in world capitalism in the context of the economic crisis, austerity policies and the fightbacks across Europe. I first heard 'Revolution' as the song by Gaughan, but I think its words would be given much more impact with a spoken word style (taking some inspiration from the theatricality and power of Slam Poetry, which I have come across lately and don't know much about, but want to look into more). I'm pretty excited about both of them. I think that if I put the effort in to learn them properly - with some punch, emotion and polish - then they'll be crowd pleasers for sure. It'll be a good way to get some experience performing and maybe start taking this more seriously as something I want to pursue.

So, to make this happen, I need to:

1. Practice the shit out of them. The bbq tomorrow night will be an excellent time to get the Dylan song down alongside musical accompaniment. This one I'm not as worried about because I know pretty much all the words and and have a good idea of how I want the performance to go, but I do need to practice it and practice it good until I know I have it right. 'Revolution' is a lot longer. I've memorised the first couple of stanzas but there are a lot more and I don't want to have to rely on my phone or a sheet of paper in front of me on the night - that would really take away from the performance. I've also only got a broad idea of the phrasing I want and the style of performance itself because I haven't practiced it as a whole. This one will need a bit of work.
2. Find out if there are going to be images of the various struggles or of political figures that I can point to in the performance. If there isn't going to be any, then (if there's time only, because its not crucial if I do a good job with point 3) make an accompanying slideshow of images to play throughout the performances.
3. Write and practice a bit of an introduction to each of the songs. I reckon this could be almost as important as the performance itself, giving it some grounding by explaining some of its crucial parts (at least in the way that I would like them to be interpreted). It will be even more important if I don't have anything to point at to help with interpretation.

Other things to do this week:

• Buy some sweet ass books to read for cheap over the interwebs.
• Clean up the damn front room, porch, bedroom, front bathroom and Zephy's hutch.
• Get the Dip Ed application for Notre Dame in.
• Read more of The Casual Vacancy
• Get over being sick (came down with a cold properly yesterday (it had been brewing for a while) so I just bundled myself up and the worst was over by the arvo - flippin' sweet!)
• Find more work if I'm actually not getting more shifts (just got a roster for the holidays where I only got one shift for the whole six weeks - joy!)
• Hang out with Ash (I know you're reading this)
• Visit the folks and sis.

Things I Want To Do

I expect that I'll edit this list quite a few times as I think of more things to add, but here it goes:



Prepare for the Dip Ed:
Read books on Education -
Education and Capitalism,
Paulo Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed,
Get Stationary.

Sing:
Practice singing.
Find breathing and vocal techniques.
Bring the freakin' house down at the Marxism Fundraiser.

Read Political Stuff:
Marxism and socialism.
Refugee rights.

Read More Broadly:
Casual Vacancy - JK Rowling?
The Self Illusion

Get Fit:
Keep playing basketball.
Look for a bike on gumtree.
Look for a kayak?
Look into fitness generally - boxing bag? weights?

Cook:
Learn to cook some healthy, delicious, cheap, bulk meals.

Live it up:
Go camping with Ash.
Party.
Have fun.
Take it easy - relax.

Do things for the Bunnies:
Try and make an enclosed area of the front yard for them to run in.
Make a hutch for them if they can stay in the same one.

About the Summer of Awesome

My Summer of Awesome begins as I finish a hard slog of a semester at uni and will end at (what will hopefully be) the beginning of another year at uni that seems like it will be an even harder slog. I have applied to get into a Diploma of Education and all reports are that it is an intense work load, with assignments upon assignments and prac upon prac - unpaid work for weeks on end, where your days are taken up by teaching and your nights are taken up by preparing for the next day with lesson plans. Most people that I've talked to have said that there is no time to work on the side, so I'll be relying on Centrelink payments and my girlfriend (thanks in advance Ash, this year I'll be your dependent) to see me through financially. Its kind of daunting, looking at it and I'm sure the year will have its fair share (or more) of stresses, but I'm looking forward to it too. It'll be good to be learning something at uni that I'll be putting into practice. It'll be good to go through the year, to take it all on, and come out the other side knowing that I've put the effort in and got the reward and that I'm ready to hit the world of full-time work (if there are jobs around that is). I think teaching high school students will be both a huge challenge and could be very rewarding.

However, this is all far from certain as yet. I'm waiting on word back from TISC to see whether or not I've made it into the course. Tuesday 11th of December is the day that I'm supposed to find out (now less than 2 weeks away), which seems a bit strange because my results from this semester just gone are meant to be released on the Monday the 17th and getting in depends on those marks. If I don't get in, it'll be because I haven't done well enough in the four English units I did to qualify for a teaching specialty minor in that subject area. It'll mean that I'll have to spend another year doing more English units so that I can get my marks up. That would be annoying. Quite annoying. It'd throw out plans to go go on a trip to Europe in a few years and feel like a waste of a year. So yeah, I'm really hoping all goes well.

If it does, then I have until the 25th of February without a pile of uni work hanging over me and I damn well plan to enjoy it - cue the Summer of Awesome. If it doesn't work out, then I may as well have a Summer of Awesome anyway, right? So, the purpose of this blog is to help me to get what I want out of the approximately 3 months or 12 weeks that I have of relative freedom (still have to work, still have other commitments), so its really more of an organising and motivating tool for myself than it being intended as a public spectacle (even though I'm posting it all on that very public of spectacles - the internet). I'll be making a list of all the things that I want to do over the Summer (that will probably be edited a few times as I add stuff to it) and I think I'll make weekly posts on goals for that week.

So there it is: The Summer of Awesome. That's the plan and I plan to stick to it - for Awesome's sake.