A Wander in Aliceland

Having just read through 'Entry The First', it occurs to me that it must be a very specific set of circumstances that lead to me ever posting on LJ:

1. It is study leave, again.
1.b) Specifically, with exams in a few days time.
2. I am finding it hard to concentrate on revision.
3. I am feeling creative, and this is distracting me from work, and contributing to #2 (see above).
4. It's almost lunchtime, again.

Last year, when I posted, I was excited about poetry. I spent a year or so being excitied about poetry, writing it, putting it all together, and ended up with a whole book of the stuff - only a little one, mind, but 'whole' in the sense of it being a complete and rounded collection, or at least seeming so to me. I entered it into a competition, and lost. Which was a shame. But maybe it will find other routes to publication somehow, someday. It doesn't seem all that urgent now; that chapter is closed, and I appear to have moved on from being a poet, for the moment at least, to being a musician.

I've been playing my guitar every day for the last little while or so, twiddling away, making things up, remembering some of them, occasionally singing (but only when nobody can hear - shh, don't tell) - I've been trying to teach myself keyboard, with some success; I've been maybe neglecting the bass and the theremin and the electric a bit, but they've all had some attention, and I've certainly not forgotten them; I've expanded my musical armada into the world of the ukulele, which is due to arrive in the post in a week or so (the delay is probably a good thing, considering how much more a Brand New Instrument would distract me from working for these most-important-in-my-life-so-far exams). Currently, music appears to be the most exciting and inspirational thing going on in Aliceland. I want to compose and record and, shockingly, even perform. I have half-formed plans to start engaging in some form of music-based street performance art (perhaps just 'busking', as you or I might call it), and feel that as the creative juices seem to be flowing in that direction, it might actually work out, however far-fetched a scheme it may seem.

It's interesting to notice this pattern emerging - if you can call it a pattern, as it's only recordable and noticeable in two sections, over two years - and it makes me wonder if I'll carry on like this for ever more. Following different creative persuits each year, just as the inclination changes. Just because it feels like the right thing to be doing at the time. Just Because.

And you know, if I can somehow make a living out of that, I'd love to. If I can inject the world with lovely shiny things that will make it seem a slightly nicer place to be for somebody out there, I would be over the moon. Life of whim-based creative dabbling, here I come.

 

And Entry the First it is indeed.
I apologise in advance if this turns out to be Entry the Only, but hey, it's better than nothing, right? 

For the purposes of making this post, I have not only updated my little picture there, but I've made the backroud and all that a nice colour scheme. It's called April. ("April is in my mistress' face" - good old Bill, we love him so). Well, we can't have my first/only post looking too shabby, can we?

And dear me that's two rhetorical questions already. I shall try to avoid doing any more.

But yes. Here I am, on study leave, sitting at home. I should be learning quotes for my English exam on Wednesday, really, but somehow the quote learning mood hasn't grabbed me yet. However, the productive procrastination mood has, and my mind has been spewing out poetry and ideas for the last couple of hours or so. And it has got me thinking that this little project I have started work on, at first for my own entertainment, might actually work out as something big. I've just started on a new little spark of inspiration, and it's something that feels like it might actually be truly original. It's early days yet, of course, but this is exciting stuff for me. I am, indeed, excited. And I just needed to share that little thrill of "goodness, we might be onto a winner with this one" with somebody. Somebody nice and vague and formless, like perhaps some kind of internet-based journal/blog type setup, where nobody will ask me for more details, probably. (Don't, please. Patience is a virtue and all that jazz.)

So there it is. Alice is excited. She's feeling creative, she's feeling oppertunity could be lurking round a corner not so very far away after all.
And now she really should get some work done.
Well, maybe lunch first.