The fairies from a Midsummer Night's Dream.

[raven]

I was supposed to get up today at seven. Thanks to a blessed combination of inaccurate alarm clocks, I didn't fall out of bed until a quarter to nine. I got in to school for ten and therefore had a first - I was in the right place at the right time having had enough sleep and so not pissed off. The first thing I noticed is the fact today was workshop day. First of all, the helpers, who were all in uniform and tiny, but they weren't as scary as the workshop-people themselves, who are absolutely minute. The school was full of them, and the quad stopped seeming like a quadrangle and more like a playground. Full of screaming kids.

I'm missing the point. We were doing make-up, and I can honestly say I was crap at it. I don't wear make-up myself. Is that so hard to believe? I mean... I like lipgloss. Who doesn't? And I like some stuff. I just don't ever wear make-up unless it's imperative that I do, and so, naturally, I did not enjoy having to do some in the morning today. That was natural, human make-up, and it was okay. Happily, the helper-person (I think her name was Laura) was a lot more helpful this time. She was in fact very nice. So I managed, and even agreed to the digital camera being brought near. No, you can't see the pic.

Lunch. cucharita turned up, and Mrs Bush thought we were sixth-formers. This was frankly scary and made me feel old, especially as I was standing in the dining-room which was at the time full of screaming nine-year-olds. I don't think I ever went to a worskshop day like this - obviously, didn't go to the Birkenhead one, and I didn't get into Stanfield when I was nine - so it was a new experience, even if I was only an observer. They were being persuaded that Merchants' is a good place by the quality of its food. I had my own lunch, bagel and banoffee pie, but I took some strawberries. It seemed like the right thing to do.

The afternoon's make-up was the fancy one - the fairies from a Midsummer Night's Dream. Yusra went first, and I looked.... unbelievable. I had black lashes and eyeliner, with this pink 'n' blue 'n' white design done round my eyes with the greasepaint stage make-up. I couldn't believe it when she'd finished it. At the same time, Becca was making Thomas up as Oberon, and he was a real gentleman, not complaning when she got grey stuff all over him and tried to make him up as a negative photograph. He even agreed to don a cloak and say, "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania." I was Titania the first time round, as I somehow know that whole section of dialogue, and then I had to play the unnamed fairy with Ella as Puck. I love that play. For some reason, the syllabus specifies we have to do the make-up for a performance, but it doesn't specify how long that performance should be. So we went from "Ill met by moonlight," to "...forsworn his bed and company," and that constituted a performance. We now have to evaluate it and write it up. Much joy.

I walked home and it was freezing cold, and for some reason the whole of Crosby smells of fish. I don't know why. I also just missed the train, so I was a little annoyed, but I read some more of Dead Famous, walked home from the station - Formby smells of salt and pine as always - and collapsed onto my bed. It's been a very tiring day and I still have pink eyelashes.

Comments

[dixsept.livejournal.com]

Once, we organized a day like the "Workshop Day" you describe at my school, for kids potentially entering the Junior School. We had to wear our #1 Dress Uniforms (which, if you check out their website (http://www.rns.cc) are awful) and were stationed around campus, having been given different tasks. I was supposed to greet people in the parking lot and show them to the auditorium. Challenging job. Anyway, as it was, no one showed up. Not one single tiny screaming pimply eleven year old showed up to throw cake at me or play basketball with their food in the dininghall or whatever. We ended up skateboarding for an hour or so, then were allowed to go and eat the "convince them RCS Netherwood is a good school by feeding them food of far higher quality than we give the troops on a normal day" goodies in the dininghall, before they sent us back to class. Ah, those were the days.

Re:

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Oh, if only that had happened! But no, we have to cope with hundreds of them... and we were all covered in bizarre make-up and I think we might have scared them.

The skateboarding sounds like fun... :)

[just-the-ash.livejournal.com]

I would so love to see pictures of you in that makeup!

Re:

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*sighs*
So many people have said that. If I get hold of the pictures, I'll scan them in. And then await the hysteria.

[dixsept.livejournal.com]

Skateboarding was the RCSN National Sport. You always had to be careful walking through the quad because there'd be some kid coming barrelling down from the chapel aiming to jump over you.

I was a prefect though, so I had to be there to greet new kids when they came in the fall and I remember evaluating them one by one and thinking, "Oh God, I have to live with YOU for the next year? *shudder*." Little boys are pure evil.