New Places. New Stories.

It's crazy how life works isn't it? My life has been a weird kind of hell for the last year or so. I mean, I was captain of a team that should have gone all the way to finals, I had to drop out of a musical I had the lead in, I broke my arm and had to stop working and wrestling due to the fact. It hasn't been great, but then out of the blue, it can all change. I mean I'll never get back to the amazing season I had with my brothers on the football team, but it was awesome while it lasted! I won't get back this last season of wrestling, but heck I can wrestle again, and my job, thank god for the Union. No the whole "I'm down on my luck" mentality is all self imposed. I stopped to look around at my life the other day and I said, "Why am I down?" I got a chance to be a lead in a musical with a different production, on an audition I was soooooo unprepared for, and I get to work again. I can play sports in the future, as long as I keep up with physio. So yeah, I shouldn't be down on myself.

The "New Places. New Stories." part starts now, just as an fwi. The musical I got the lead in is Shrek the Musical, which was the show I was originally supposed to be a part of. So when I got the call telling me I was a lead, I was ecstatic! I had heard that at the place I was auditioning for, your first time you had to be in the chorus, so I was super optimistic about my chances. When I talked to the director after, he told me that I was the best fit for the role, so that was a huge pat on the back. But I didn't really let it hit me until last Tuesday. Last Tuesday was my first rehearsal and I realized that there was going to be about 40 people that I'd never met before, who for the most part already new each other. Some of which I had "stolen" the lead from. I had to make friends with all these people, and I still have to act like this is my show. I didn't know what to expect, but I think it's going to all work out well. Which is awesome! I just think it's weird how all of a sudden you can be a new situation that's completely alien to you, but then. That's life.

Solitary Confinement- Short Story Writing

(1) What did you do/write/create today?

(2) What did you learn (About yourself, your story, your writing, etc.)

1) I started writing my story outline. I find it hard to just start writing, so I took today's class to start figuring out what was going to be in it. I'm not going to give away my theme or idea, because it's going to be a surprise for everyone, however I will tell you what I accomplished. I came up with the main idea for the story, the sort of story it's going to be (a funny one) and started working on characters and plot. I feel like it's going to be a fun story to write and I hope it's going to be a fun one to read.

2) During the writing process today I learned that apparently I fixate on one thing too much. I started with an idea that I'd just go with a mystery because it would be comfortable, but I told myself, "Hell no! Push yourself!" So I threw out my original idea which I think would've end up being crap and decided to go for a light hearted, yet funny and interesting story. I found out that I need to write more, because it's been a while since I have, and the creative process is taking longer than anticipated. I feel like as I write the story will evolve into an interesting piece, simply because I've never done a funny story before. But I'm excited!

So What

http://io9.com/concept-art-writing-prompt-creating-a-god-1503062646

Creating a god. I feel like the creator of this image wanted to show how much we rely on technology these days. No one is created different not even "God".

But if you can break away from all the technology, you can be yourself.

TEDx Fort Garry

So I meant to post this on Wednesday or Thursday, but I never got the opportunity. On Wednesday, a group of us went to watch a group of youths from around Manitoba do TED Talks. It was a really cool experience and there were some great presenters. One that comes to mind just off the top of my head was a guy named Nereo the II. He was guy who had given up a "real" job to pursue what made him truly happy, spoken word poetry and art. He told us about coming back from a rap battle in Cincinnati, Ohio and getting arrested at the US/Canada border for having drugs on his person. He got taken to court here in Winnipeg and as he was pleading his case the judge found out that he did spoken word, and said, "Go ahead, do some" and so Nereo did the same spoken word for us as he did for the judge. And the judge threw out the case. Why? Well it turned out that he was a director on the board of Rainbow Stage (A semi professional musical theatre group in Winnipeg) and seeing Nereo do that spoken word reminded him of a good time when the arts was a huge part of his life. Well Nereo took that and went with it, but he didn't stay out of trouble that long. Five years later or so, he got caught spray painting a cop car. They brought him in to do some questioning, and as the officers questioned him and demanded to know what he was thinking, he did another spoken word. And the arresting officer looked at him and said that he had wished they had met somewhere else, and that art was something Nereo should pursue, not vandalizing. So he did. He start a group for artists and had one of his students come out to do a spoken word, and finally he did one last spoken word for us to end the speech on a super high note. I'd give his performance a 4/5.

Another great presenter was Chris Voth. He is the first openly gay National level volleyball player. And he talked to us about all that, and how he had transformed into the man he is today. I don't remember all the little details of his speech, but it was very passionate and very very good. The theme of this whole event was "Transformers" so all of the speeches had something to do with change or growth, but some didn't necessarily hit the intended mark. There were a couple who just didn't know how to put what they were saying into a way that was positive for the audience, but I know first hand how hard it is to be on stage in front of strangers, so I applaud every presenter's effort.

The entire day was awesome, and I would recommend to anyone to go see a TED event if you ever get the opportunity, because they are phenomenal!

-Ben