The BBC Proms

Well the other day I actually won a competition...
It was the review the BBC Proms, cool I know! haha

But anyway I thought I would post the finished article on here as well for you to give your opinions and thoughts :)

My Royal night at the BBC Proms

Last Friday (The 7th of September) was mine and my partner’s first trip to ‘The Royal Albert Hall’ to see the BBC Proms.

In fact, to be more specific it was Prom 75: The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performing Haydn’s symphony number 107 and Strauss’s Alpine symphony.

On arrival to the hall I was lost for words, approaching this vast beauty of architecture. The dome shaped building with all its grandeur was utterly breath taking. We entered the main entrance to collect our tickets, and then headed to our seats. All of the staff were extremely friendly and well mannered.

Entering the hall was again an experience in itself, the hall was illuminated with coloured lights and decorative banners which told us we certainly had arrived at the proms.

The tension of pre-performance wasn’t a long one as we sat down and discussed the beauty of our surroundings the lights dimmed and the orchestra appeared from the side of the stage.

They were welcomed of course with a warm round of applause and then were seated ready to tune up and begin. The conductor Bernard Haitink entered with grace and poise well prepared to start Haydn’s last ever symphony entitled ‘London’; Quite fitting for the location! The air began to fill with a slow simple melody which slowly injected its way around the circular hall. The tension of the piece slowly built with crescendos and healthy harmonies slowly arising. The mellow vibrancy and simple melodic phrases only found in classical works such as Haydn or of course Mozart. This was 30 minutes of mellow music with a string dominated orchestra just characteristic of the classical period, which I think is just charming. At the end the orchestra were again welcomed by a colossal round of applause, which was well deserved.

The lights arose and the interval began, we decided to take a wonder around the halls and admire the pictures of celebrities who have played in this wondrous hall. We then headed to get a bottle of water which took a while because of the queues, and then returned for the second half.

As we walked in the setting of the stage had changed to accommodate the full orchestra needed for a Strauss Symphony.

The same round of applause was used to greet them once more and we began. The mood had definitely changed as we have moved on through music history into the late romantic period. The full orchestra took us out of our seats and astounded us. The addition of the wind and percussion section just added a fuller sound in which everyone could appreciate. These 50 minutes of Strauss told a story and the ups and downs kept me seduced the whole way through.

When the whole event was finished the orchestra was met by astronomical applause and admiration for their superb playing. In fact this caused the conductor to go on and off stage several times and then to my surprise an encore was played!

Such a fantastic night and reminded me that the sophistication and regal atmosphere is why the Royal albert hall remains one of the top music venues.

It certainly put the ‘Royal’ into the Albert hall.

Written by Sophie Ogden

There it is for you, hope you enjoy it!

Also here are a few pics I took;

Me and the boyfriend looking smart!

 I know I haven't blogged in a while, I will do soon and I am starting University so might have a few bits to write about!

BYE!

A London endeavour

As I had a couple of days off from work I decided not to sit around as I usually do but do something.
Also the fact it was mine and my boyfriends anniversary kind of helped(1 year).

Chiquitos
On Wednesday night (the night of our anniversary) we decided, despite having no money to go out somewhere nice. We went to a Mexican restaurant in Leicester square called Chiquitos, it was amazing!
The atmosphere was lovely and the choice on the menu spectacular!
We received free nachos to begin with and came just in time for the weekday happy hour on cocktails which meant they were all £3.50 hooray!
The array of traditional Mexican cuisine was so much, I decided to go for the traditional fajitas BUT with two types of sauce on the chicken. I had a sticky BBQ one and one named Louisiana hot.
It came on a sizzling plate with mini fajita wraps and loads of little extras including cheese/lettuce/sour cream/salsa/guacamole, just amazing!
Highly recommended.
My boyfriend decided to take a picture of me whilst enjoy them...

yum yum fajitas!

After the restaurant we headed to the Ben&Jerry's shop (for my benefit of course) and there I decided on an ice cream milkshake, any Ben&Jerry icecream flavour in a milkshake...wow. I went for my favourite choice of phish food. SO NICE. So creamy and a little bit sickly but worth the money I paid.

My boyfriend

And then we decided to be tourists for a bit.












But not for very long you'll be pleased to know,we headed home for the night.



London Zoo

The next day I woke up wanting to do something exciting, but we all know that costs money. But you don't get many opportunities to have a nice day out so we went to London zoo for the day.
Started out as a lovely day nice weather and an elated mood to match, we booked out tickets only £20 each, which I think isn't too pricey!
Got 2 buses to the zoo and started our tour.
The venue is MASSIVE we were lost straight away.
Penguins were what we spotted first luckily this made me happy, such delightful birds. And they were darting about in the water.
As we continued we found it hard to find anything and this got tiring and eventually we were exhausted. We saw just about everything, my favourite being the bats!
And they have an aquarium built in with the zoo so extra value right there.
I will upload pictures to my blog google+ account if you want to see more but here are a few pics I managed to take on my phone.

https://plus.google.com/100561541777987630135/posts

Upside down jellyfish

Crab

Moon Jellyfish

A bird that tried to attack Damo!

Dragon fish

Look fishes!

ME+FISHHHHHHHH

All in all a good day and totally worth the money, the only thing I disliked was the amount of children moaning and banging into me!

They just have no manners/awareness. 

Anyway I hope you enjoyed my recent endeavours and I am sure I will have some more opinions about life to share soon! 

Bye for now!

 

Everyone wants to be on top

A thought hit me the other day whilst on the humid and sticky Picadilly line...

Everyone wants to be something, there are millions of people wanting/competing to be the top of their game. Or even to be in their dream careers!

So when I am sat there thinking about how hard it is to be an actress or a singer or a musician. I now think, everyone else thinks that too.
When you are sat at an audition or an interview you think 'everyone is better than me' they must have more experience/more talent, but what if they don't? What if in fact you are superior in that respect?

Self doubt is something EVERYONE of us has. It's the first thing we think, could we have done more? are we prepared enough? we will succeed?

Most of the time you know if you're prepared, deep down honesty lies there, you either made enough of an effort or you didn't.

You have to live in the moment. However hard it is not to look into the future and determine your own fate, you have to resist.
Also looking into the past and saying 'what if?' that is all irrelevant now. The past has gone it has been left behind for you to live in the present and nothing else.

Threat is a big topic on auditions/interviews. As I was saying we judge ourselves and others around us in these tense situations.
In my line of work what comes into mind is 'she has better looks' or 'he's in good shape' or most of all I bet they can dance/sing/act/unicycle/speak 10 different languages....
But in fact, all you need to know is your strengths.

My mum showed me a clip from that program 'Superstar' yesterday including a guy called Nathan who was an amazing singer. But the fact is he knew he was. He used that confidence to perform well and sing well all the time. He never made a mistake and was flawless.
But Andrew Lloyd Webber hated him. He hated that he was a diva. But his talent was undeniable...

What is that fine line between cockiness and being humble about your talent?
And when does confidence turn into cockiness? You are slated for being too shy, too confident, too talented, not talented enough..
There is no such thing as perfection which I think today's society needs to fully understand.

Don't let people's opinions get to you, because in the end they are not fact they are SOMEONE'S thoughts.

I may not like some celebrities or pop stars but I respect where they are and what they do because the industry is tough and they do well not to let it get to them.
A good example of this is Lady Gaga, she is admired by millions and called crazy by millions more, but she doesn't let it effect her. She knows it happens, she is probably hurt by people's comments. But she remains to be herself. And for that I admire her.

The moral of this blog is basically just get on with YOUR life, don't let people ruin it for you. Don't let silly doubts get in the way of living your dream. Because the fact is, everyone could be where they want to be.

All you need is self confidence and determination!

Confidence, What is too much?

Confidence has always played a vital role in my life, whether it has appeared when needed or in fact not appeared at all.

In any career, especially performance based confidence is a key factor.
You need it to give you the adrenaline to perform in front of millions of people or a few people who can change your career forever.

Over the years whilst performing both acting and singing I have met a lot of people who have similar goals in life to me. And they all seem to differ from me in one way.
They have mounds of confidence, in themselves and what they do. Which is a great thing to have!

But the question is, when does confidence become over-confident?
and when does cockiness and arrogance start worming there way in...

From my experience and from my perspective I find most (not all) people who are in my profession to be intolerable. Their confidence spreads into their everyday life which causes an over dramatic side to follow with great speed. And sitting there talking to someone about themselves all day doesn't strike me as a day I would enjoy.

My view on drama/acting/singing is this:
I act when I need too, I sing when I need too and I don't let it take over me.

I am believe it or not quite a level headed person who also enjoys using the right side of my brain as well as my left side. I like that I can do this, but it also means I don't quite "fit in" anywhere...
I love drama, music and writing, but I also like the logic of a good political debate or working with computers.

Most people in the performance profession are creative and not much goes on with logic, I would say emotion takes over like in a performance.

You may think I am being quite biased but I have a mother who is an opera singer and I have performed since the age of 8, so you would think I would be all for over-confident!
But living with a dramatic mother all of your life puts a dampener on the excitement it is supposed to bring.

I also think there are a lot of factors with confidence, but here are just a few;
-Good looks
-Good figure
-Actual talent
-Multiple talent (can sing/act/dance/play an instrument)
-Being supported from a young age
-And most important LUCK!

You can be the most talented person in the world, but unless you are at the right place at the right time you won't get anywhere...
I've been taught this from a young age and I believe it to be the truth!

When I get all of the above ^ I will let you know how the confidence thing is going....
Who knows I might become the thing I most hate!

Ciao!

I would love to hear people's opinions on the subject and there experiences, and like I said I love a good debate ! 

Karma?

Does anyone believe in Karma anymore? Is it just a worldly phenomenon that we get our just deserts or  is it just coincidence that what goes around comes around?

The fact is that is what I've been asking myself today.

I am a very opinionated person and sometimes that conflicts with others especially those who lack outside views on the world. I can also just be hated by people for being myself.
I suppose this is bound to happen in my lifetime. Some people were born to make friends and keep them. I on the other-hand have a couple of friends I keep in touch with but I would not say I have those people that have stuck around.
Which is quite a sad thing to admit to yourself...

I have realised that I am who I am, even if that's someone who is still learning/growing which is what everyone is doing.

I don't like being hated or disliked for no reason, because the fact being is that is in fact a childish thing to do.
I've learnt over my lifetime not to do, although it is hard not to judge people I try and accept everyone that is nice to me. If not then that is a reason to dislike. But hatred is such a strong word. I must say I don't think I hate anyone even if I use the word.

Well, today I have decided to be the bigger person and this is my pact:

I am going to apologise to everyone who I have done a wrong too. Even if they perhaps have been as horrible if not more horrible to me. I am going to make a mends with people. If those people let me.
If not I will still be the bigger/more mature person and in the end that is something to be proud of.

But in the end I know my destiny in life might not be to make friends.
It might lead to a life of acquaintances but that is something I will have to accept.

In the end, how sad it is to admit.
I like being alone. I've grown accustom to it. 

But having that one person by your side who is your boyfriend/best friend helps.

Anyway, moral of the blog...

I'm going to apologise/make amends/be the mature person.

Wish me luck.

HA

Motivation

It has just dawned on me that my long term goals have been pushed aside these last few months. And to be honest I can't afford to be doing that. If I want to get into drama school, which I do! Then I need to get practising and learning my monologues, I need to be perfection... I need to be more than perfection.
Impossible? most probably.

But having this full-time job and a part-time job is tiring me out. Draining me.
And the saddest thing is I have absolutely no money to show for it... ridiculous

Also as I'm going to university this year that is on my mind. I'm scared I am going to waste a year there, on the other hand I don't want to be working a full-time job all year whilst trying to do some training which I won't have the time for/be able to afford. A vicious circle. Frustrating to say the least!

My motivation (sticking to the title) has gone out of the window. Each year I have changed my career path and this has led me to not fully knowing what I want.
I'm not the worst academic and I am quite creative at the same time, and so this leaves me in a mess.
Obviously I prefer the creative side to me, but this requires dedication and commitment which I am lacking. Most people have one side of their brain active and the other one barely gets used. I am within the minute population who uses both sides equally. I think logically, but when I need to I go to the other side where I act and write and sing.

At the moment I'm trying to make myself feel better by saying that I am doing things little by little to encourage myself into full blown commitment.

I have started the gym, which will hopefully get me fit/toned/slim and give me more confidence to know I have a chance in the acting world.

I try and blog as often as possible, but now a days that isn't that much.

I have been waking up earlier even on my days off which gives me a more positive feeling in the mornings.

                    I think most of all, having nothing to look forward too is killing me.

I don't have any money to plan a trip/book an acting course/book a holiday or even treat myself to some new jeans (which I am in need of).

All in all, my balance is off set to negative rather than positive at the moment, and I am trying my best to get and stay positive.




If you have any tips on staying positive and motivated. PLEASE, let me know! haha

Rant over.

Actually been busy!

The fact is for once I have actually been busy...

Shocking I know!

I have started training for my new job at (anon) a big place in which I can't mention the name of.
So far its been very draining and most of the time boring.

Waking up early to get dressed, walk to the tube, travel on the tube and walking time at the end of the journey means my hour of awakening has been ungodly and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone.
I have been going to bed especially early but this hasn't really helped my case.
So drained all the time.

On top of that I still have the night job of a weekend so that means my weekend nights are taken up, I thought I would be able to quit this job following my recent day employment but the fact is I don't get paid until the 31st of July from my main job, which is ridiculous. Also I am not working during most of July which means I would have had 0 income if not for a second job. Just my luck.

So at the moment I'm living off a pathetic amount which most of is going on travel into the city centre almost everyday.

So I am broke.
Money is the route of all depression. Well mine anyway.

I would say on a lighter note....but there is nothing.
Oh wait, maybe..

I have made a few friends whilst training, which I am glad of, means I'm not a complete social reject anymore. We will see if it lasts, but I hope so.

This year is going way to fast for my liking, I am thinking about starting university already and its only the end of June. It's complicated but basically my summer job runs over into when my university starting date is so I need to prove to them I have been accepted and the date of acceptance. Pain in the bum.
Hopefully new friends will be made at uni. too, fingers crossed.

Also the next auditions for drama schools will be coming up end of this year which I need to be prepared for. I have started looking at monologues, I think I'm going for a comedic approach to my chosen monologue this year, I think it suits me better...ha. I have been reading a book of monologues and duologue's by Victoria Wood which has a couple of gems in!

This money business is just the bain of  my life at the moment, I need a new bag as I have 2 in my possession and neither one is practical, ridiculous.
I still have a positive outlook that this is just my low time and that it will pick up in no time...
One day I will have enough money to be comfortable if not above that.

Joined the gym = get an actresses body (the dream)

Hopefully I will blog sooner this time but who knows! and may even be more interesting...

P.s If anyone would like to give me money they are more than welcome!!

Goodnight and Goodbye!