new york, new york...

yes i'm here again...
but first, a quick recap - last we spoke i was in rehearsals for a production of cabaret, which opened a couple of weeks ago, and may i just say it was fab. i had such a brilliant, BRILLIANT time playing sally bowles, surrounded by an amazing cast, a lot of whom are very good friends now, and i love them all. bring on the next production!!
but for now, here i am in new york. the purpose of this particular trip was, once again, to audition for a drama school. i arrived on wednesday night, with my mum and my friend andrew in tow (andrew played cliff in cabaret, and it was a very spur of the moment thing that he came at all, but i'm glad he did, fun times for all!).
on thursday we did some touristy stuff, hit the empire state, macy's, times square - andrew's never been overseas before, let alone somewhere as crazy as new york, so his head explodes every now and then, it's pretty funny. on thursday night we went and saw hairspray, which i have seen before, but mum and andrew hadn't, and we all loved it, it's such a fun, vibrant, brilliant show!
friday we generally just ambled around the city, we had planned to do some stuff in central park, but it was a bit cold a crappy, so instead we wandered down 5th avenue, went into bloomingdales, did some window shopping - andrew actually came very close to blowing US$1500 on a leather jacket (granted, it was a very, very, very hot jacket), but i talked him out of it and got him out of the store as quickly as possible. we stopped at a TGI Friday's for a late lunch, and it turned out to be pretty amusing - they had some good sounding cocktails on the menu, and we thought hey, this is the first time i've been in the states since i've turned 21, let's have a drink - they turned out to be the BIGGEST COCKTAILS KNOWN TO MAN. it was like drinking a mojito out of a bucket! Andrew was the funniest though, when his food arrived he decided he couldn't quite wash it down with this massive cocktail, so he'll order a different drink. and he gets a beer. that cracked me up. i was thinking maybe a water, a soft drink, but no, he goes for even more alcohol. the cabaret cast would be proud!

I had my audition this morning, and i think it went well, i should find out in a couple of weeks whether or not i've had any luck - if i have it means 2 years living on the upper west side of manhattan...oh yeah...
after that andrew came and met me, we killed some time in the park (in the rain, joyous) and then we met up with his friend lisa, who's and au pair in upstate new york - now lisa didn't have a clue that andrew was actually here, she just thought that she was doing him a favour by meeting up with his friend who's her alone - a carefully spun web of lies, which he was very proud of, espescially after seeing the look on her face when he appeared! we spent the afternoon in the park and walking about 50 blocks to the Seinfeld restaurant - very cool.
we are now literally running out the door to see a new show called Curtains, starring David Hyde Pierce (from frasier!)
more updates soon
xx

wow what a crappy week...

BUT i am determined to find the little rays of sunshine that must've occured in the last 7 days, so i shall attempt to find 10 good things!
* it was mum's birthday today, and we went to Jonah's at Whale Beach for lunch - good food and a heck of a view
* awesome new friends, who will totally stick their neck out for you and come to your rescue even though they've only known you a few weeks.
* your best friend risking running late to her own anniversary dinner so she can cover your shift for a couple of hours cos you're sick.
* the abundance of compliments at wednesday night's rehearsal. yes andrew, we did kick butt, and let's hope we continue to kick butt for the run of the show!
* quiet periods at work, where you can just take a minute to relax.
* the girls showing up with starbucks and chocolate when you need them to.
* hugs.
* as shallow as this will sound, i bought a new skirt and it makes me happy. pure and simple vanity. bad, but so good...
* car trips that are just long enough to have a good conversation

ok i only got up to 9, but going by the last week that's fairly impressive.
i start afresh this morning, hopefully it will be better!
x

home now!

POINT NUMBER ONE: it snowed in london. multiple times. crazy stuff.
POINT NUMBER TWO: izzy-bizzy is the cutest 2 and a half year old known to mankind.
POINT NUMBER THREE: 2nd audition was unsuccesful, no callback, but a fun day was had!
POINT NUMBER FOUR: turns out i didn't have any luck with the first school either - after a loooooong flight home i found a letter waiting for me saying very politely thanks, but no. ah well. there is disappointment, but -
POINT NUMBER FIVE: i'm going to go to new york in may for an audition for another school, and am considering auditioning for waapa in october/november.
POINT NUMBER SIX: jet lag is evil.

tataa!

i will try and keep this short...

OK so i had my first mountview audition on thursday - here's a quick rundown of the day
STAGE ONE:
46 people got split into 2 groups, my group went and did the dance first for an hour (i was apparently in the 'advanced' group, having danced before, but there were some real doozies in there. if you are in an advanced dance group and have to ask what a channe turn is, you're in the wrong room.) after the dancing we swapped with the other half and went and did our singing: a little intimidating, cos we had to sing in front of everyone. i got through my first song no worries, was quite pleased with it actually, especially seeing as i had been developing a cold perisistently for a day or two.
SO after this we all went into a room and waited while they deliberated on who to call back. Luckily i was one of 8 who got called back (yay me!) so we then went off to stage two.
STAGE TWO:
we got split again into 2 groups of 4, i went off with 3 other girls for the acting part - we had to do our shakespeare monologues, then our contemporary monologues, relatively painless. then we swapped again and went and had a bit of a sing again, doing our second song - over in a flash! So i thought i was done for the day, we went and had a little chat to the registrar, she told us all about fees and scholarships etc, we were ready to go, then surprise:
STAGE THREE!!:
this was just for four of us, the head of the course wanted to see us sing - i am yet to decide if this is a good or a bad thing, cos they said it just meant that the panel hadn't made up their minds on us yet, whereas with the other four they had made a decision one way or another... so now i just have to wait a couple of weeks to see if they're offering me a spot or not - hundreds of people audition, and they only take about 36, so please keep your fingers crossed!
on FRIDAYme and mum went to my aunt/godmothers place in guildford, hung out there for the day, went out for dinner that night (seeing as she couldn't make it out for my birthday like she planed to, we had a little celebration - jewellery and champagne were involved)
SATURDAY we went to mum's best friend's place in knebworth, hung out there for the day, went to dinner that night (seeing as they also couldn't come out for my birthday, the celebrations continued - more jewellery and champagne) then on
SUNDAY we went to another family friend's place in rickmansworth, hung out there for the day, then came back to the hotel and craaaaassssshhhheeddd - sleep is my friend.
today (MONDAY) we're about to go to chelsea westminster hospital to visit mum's goddaughter and her little girl, who's only 2 and a half but been in and out of hospital her whole life - she's an ANGEL and i'm quite excited to see her now - i shall put some pics up next time.
i'm off for my second audition tomorrow, then home on wendesday! yay!

sorry, that was meant to be short.
x

london calling...

hello my dears
SO first day in the uk
mum, gran and i endured a pacticularly looooong flight, but i don't remember most of it because by some miracle (know as the delightful drug stugeron) i managed to sleep! i had time for a couple of movies (dreamgirls (pretty, but average), stranger than fiction (so glad i finally saw it, very clever) and the prestige (recommended! lots of twists and turns, a little confusing every now and then but very cool nonetheless).
So we arrived in london at around 6.30 this morning (wednesday) and i was so glad i went shopping the other day and got a new jacket cos it was SO cold! mum and i parted ways with gran and set off for our hotel, met up with dad who was on his way out for a meeting, and in a valiant attempt to stay awake went for a quick wander around oxford st, breezed in and out of a few shops and picked up some 'essential' food items in marks and spencers. that only got us to about 11.30, and mum couldn't take anymore so we went back to the hotel - she passed out asleep, i got down to learning my lines for tomorrow audition for school number 1. i got a little bored and suddenly and inexplicably very awake, so i went for a wander and ended up finding some cheap tickets to see a matinee of Cabaret, which seemed like a good idea for some research for my upcoming production. it was really good to see the show, finally, but i am still confused by the inexplicable nudity that presented itself every now and then...there was one point where it wasn't exactly necessary, but at least made sense. (i think that the sailor could've at least been wearing undies as he ran away from the prostitute's room, but i can understand why they chose to leave him very very naked...) but the other couple of times are totally lost on me.... BUT it still was a good show - for those of ou who have ever watched the delightful british comedy 'gimme gimme gimme' you will know who james dreyfuss is, and he played the Emcee, and was super.
after the show i walked all the way back to the hotel to find mum and dad both passed out asleep (mum at least has jetlag, i don't know what dad's excuse is...) and sat down here! OH wait i had a celebrity sighting this afternoon - Adam Garcia (yummy.) he's in london at the moment playing Fiyero in 'Wicked' on the west end, and i saw him sitting outside a pub. it was exciting.
i head off for my audition at Mountview tomorrow, which i think is my favourite out of the 2 i'm here for, so hopefully all will go well and i shall stay for a callback and shall be sitting down to write a quick note tommorw night! either that or they'll cut me after the first round and i shall be lamenting tomorrow afternoon...
toodle pip!

after a long absence...

ok, i didn't totally forget about the existence of my blog, i just never got around to finishing a post. SO a quick update on the goings-on of kate - let's make it point form, just for fun
~ i turned 21 last week. much rejoicing.
~ i'm in rehearsals for a production of cabaret, going on in about 7 weeks, playing my first leading lady role. much rejoicing.
~ last month i went on a road trip in NZ with my best friend Sabs, her fiancee Walshy, and 2 mates Lem and Chalky. It was fricking awesome. check out my flickr for photos, i'll eventually post stories on here.
~ in the last 24 hours 2 couples i know have gotten engaged. crazy stuff.
~ in about 12 hours i'll be on a plane on my way to london for a super quick trip while i audition for 2 drama schools. they're both 3 year BA (Hons) in Musical Theatre. i'm petrified but a little excited at the same time. but mostly petrified.
while i'm away i'll be keeping you bloggers in the loop on here, giving you the inside scoop on the goings-on of the london educational system.
if you're sensing any sarcasm or whatever in here that would be cos it's 3.39am, and i'm only half packed and i have a cold. i'm tired and cranky.
whinge whinge, i know.
stay tuned...