Friends. Season 10. Episode 18.

I recently re-watched the Friends series and something has started to bug me more than ever. I was going to let it go until I read an article a friend posted and it really solidified my thoughts. This article established why Joey and Rachel’s hot second of a relationship really could of worked and has been linked if you’re curious.

 

I don’t know why, because it’s so incredibly hard to definitively pick a favourite character, but I always seem to come back to Rachel. I think her character development from ditzy run away bride to working single mother is the most captivating to me. Some of my absolute favourite episodes are within season 9 while her and Joey fall in and out of feelings for each other.

 

I have been single for nearly four years (this is a statement of fact not an opportunity for you to compare how long you’ve been single and cry boohoo). In my opinion a relationship isn’t worth counting unless you make it to some sort of celebratable anniversary, so for the sake of this article I have been single for 4 years.

 

I’m sure there are plenty of reasons for this and I’m not looking for a deep soul search into my flaws and insecurities but one reason I come back to when I do dive into that dark pit is my occupation. I travel a lot. This year I have spent approximately 55 of the 365 nights sleeping in my own bed, in my own home, with my beautiful pet cat. However a lot of this is voluntary, unpaid travel and I wouldn’t want to change it.

 

Whoever I date in the future will have to understand that this passion of mine for travelling, performing and training will come first. No opportunities will be missed based on the amount of time spent missing them.

I think in some ways this is why the circus industry seems to date within itself. Then your partner should understand without a doubt how dedicated you are to your job because they feel it too. I would love to date a muggle but if they’ve been raised on shows like Friends, which put such emphasis on success being romantic, then they might not be able to handle being my second priority.

 

This is why I have such a problem with her getting off that plane!

 

I would never have gotten off that plane! An opportunity like that and IN PARIS!

You’ve worked the same job for 10 seasons Ross, I’m sure they’ve got dinosaurs in FRANCE, get off your ass and let Rachel have this one!

 

As a plot point, I agree, it’s amazing. I love it, I nearly cry every time. It rounds off the whole show with the 6 of them in one place, bloody magical. But I get to imagine what happened afterwards and I say Rachel still moved to France.

 

Flick x

Without Hindsight. The End.

I had a series of blogs: Without Hindsight.

That’s over now. They were pretty bad.

Not only was it nerve racking to put some premature and primitive thoughts without editing but they were just shitty bits of writing. Without a chance to edit and recollect my thoughts from a certain occasion or emotion, I’M NOT SO GOOD AT WRITING!

It’s all about the proof-read people! All blogs henceforth will be with hindsight.

A new blog series will surely emerge. I have ideas… but i’m going to let them sit as notes in my phone with all the others, just for a few months or so…

My Own Brand Of T-Shirts With Quotes On Them

On the last day of the Australian Theatre Forum a joke was made about how we should be making T-shirts with all the quotable statements being made on them. I’d already been thinking about writing this blog so that just reaffirmed for me that the notes I’d been taking over the three days needed to be shared. Here are the noteworthy quotes and thoughts that made it into my research bible, the one’s I feel like sharing with you now:

 

“I’m an artist. By which I mean that art making is the best way I’ve found to have meaning in my life”

– Jo Bannon in her keynote on ‘How Art Can Unfuck the World’ in which she titled ‘We Are Fucked’.

 

“Audience’s arrive as strangers and leave as a community”

– Ivan Heng of Singaporean company W!LD RICE, in his keynote speech.

 

“I don’t give a fuck if your theatre was built 70-100 years ago, my people have been here forever!”

– Linda Kennedy of Future Black in her keynote speech.

 

“If you are not actively participating in dismantling [white supremacy] then you are participating in white supremacy”

– Bali in his considered response to the opening keynote speakers.

 

“Do people see diversity and engagement when they look for you on Facebook, Twitter etcetera or do they see a bunch of white faces?”

– Bali in his considered response to the opening keynote speakers.

 

“Why am I choosing to exhaust myself in this way? What is it that I desire?”

– Unknown.

 

“If your heart isn’t in it then you will not be able to stay up all night when you need to.”

– Teila Watson, also known as the Ancestress, in her keynote speech.

 

“My sister is older in age but not in the head”

– Unknown.

 

“Our most diverse audiences are our schools audiences”

– Elena Carapetis on breeding diversity in your audiences by making them feel welcome and invited.

 

“Because there isn’t a lot of money in the arts, we’re not very good at asking for it”

– Erica McCalman on knowing your worth as an artist.

 

“The worst thing that happens is that you don’t end up working for an asshole!”

– Unknown in reference to turning down low paying work.

 

“We can do shit even when we have our periods”

– Sara Scarlet Strachan on how badass women are.

 

“Don’t sit with us so we can appropriate your culture”

– Alethea Beetson making a Mean Girls reference to being excluded from institutional business meetings.

 

“It’s not enough just to be an artist, you have to know your place in the conversation”

– Erica McCalman in conversation about activism and art.

 

“They are the inhabitors of the Earth right now, not just the inheritors of the future”

– Luke Kerridge on working with youth in the arts.

 

“An arts organization should be as much art as it is institution”

– Unknown.

 

“Dramatic structure is based on the male orgasm, but what if it was based on the female multi-orgasm?”

– PJ in her considered response, referring to the story arc widely used in the making of theatre.

 

I’m not sure how thought provoking any of this is without the 3 days of entrenched context to surround them but my mind is a buzz with these ideas and more. My mind has not been blown but it has been expanded to consider how theatre (and relatively circus) can explore social and cultural issues between now and the next ATF in two years time.

For perhaps more coherent information and notation, check the Australian Theatre Forum website: here.

Enough talking… it’s time to create.

 

Flick

x

Without Hindsight #8

10-11-15

The next time you find yourself thinking you’re life is like a fairy tale, maybe you’re walking into the school formal or trying on your wedding dress. If you catch yourself thinking you’re the princess in a fairy tale, stop and remember… The princess usually gets hurt and fairytales are often just a tool for teaching you a lesson.

Without Hindsight #6

31-08-17

This time last year I went overseas and I fell in love. Yet for all of 2017 I have not been in love. Going overseas this time had a new aspect of terror that I wasn’t expecting to experience. Two types of terror actually; that either I would repeat history or that I wouldn’t. Both fill me with trepidation.