2021.... wait and see

Anyone who thinks this year is going to be smooth sailing compared to the last is probably kidding themselves. We are having it relatively easy in Australia... I cannot even fathom being in the US or Europe at the moment....

I have a son in California and my parents and sister live in England... it seems that they will get no relief from this relentless virus... no sooner are vaccines created ... mutations are occurring.

It sounds silly to complain about a handful of cases given what is happening elsewhere.. but we have been through months of one of the strictest lockdowns in the world and had a couple of months with zero cases... we were beginning to kick back and enjoy life again... seeing light at the end of the tunnel....daring to plan little holidays ... nothing dramatic ... just a trip to another state... something we hadn’t been able to do.. going to restaurants and even very recently, the theatre and cinema.. these amazing things that we had taken for granted in 2019.., now felt extra special.

ACTING OUT

Being a theatre maker myself ... I dared to think about how we could stage a show... I got writing.. because at the very least I could have things ready to go...

I had started penning a webseries with a friend.... but lockdown 2020 and just processing past events meant that that was headed for a rewrite, but that was ok I’d have the time. Hopefully we’d be able to film again soon..

Now we are teetering on a precipice... somebody somehow has brought this virus back into Melbourne and whether we get to travel is hanging in the balance... as the number of infections begins to tick upward again.

I certainly appreciate how lucky we are to be able to travel at all... we can still get away locally. Wait and see I guess...

NEW CHALLENGES

It’s been a strange year in general.... I found one door closing on my day job... but it’s going to be ok... I have already secured returning to a previous career, with better income and probably more flexibility and satisfaction... that said it’s a big leap to be making, so I will be busy during the Summer holidays ( in the Southern Hemisphere our big summer holidays are right now) to get fully prepared for my return to teaching. I’m excited... I haven’t taught for a while .. so I feel it’s a big challenge...

ZOOM

Hopefully too, I’ll be able to get back to what I was missing the most, acting and my acting classes. The classes were put on hold ... until we could safely meet in person... which was great in fact.. so many schools chose to continue online. I’m very glad that they didn’t choose this option.....

I, like most people at this point, was all “zoomed” out. In addition to endless zoom meetings relating to my day job, I’d actually taken part in some online zoom performance ... a weird experience and not immune to the glitches of technology... and very far away from the immediacy of theatre.

TECH RULES

Personally I’ve never been a fan of replacing human interaction with technology... I want to see someone in person... actually look at them ...let them see me. Body language is very telling....but even I have had to accept the various technical ways of staying in touch... and have pretty much adapted to it now. In fact a lot of us in Melbourne found it strange to go out and see people ... still my preference, but I’ve embraced tech in a way I never thought I would or could. I can think of a few connections that in previous years fell by the wayside because of their over reliance on tech. If you could not see me in person... then I could barely call you a friend... that was until this year. My attitude has had to be reshaped!

My plans for this year cannot be fixed like they used to be... it’s all “wait and see”....

What I’ve achieved in 2020 while in lockdown

A tiny amount of acting training

Writing

More writing

Films for the school students learning from home.

Creating resources for school

Hippy artworks

Online theatre performing my own monologues

Planning for career change

Reading

Spending more time with my daughter

Helping my son move out of home!

Less than I might have meant to do, but something is better than nothing.

It does mean my 2021 will be very busy, just hoping I don’t find the time by being in lockdown again... one things for sure 2020 might be over ... I doubt 2021 is going to usher in an easier time...