Performance Tips after Open Mic Gig

In case you were interested, this is what I learned from doing a poetry performance last night:

Before the night

Practice 

Practice Practice Practice your poems. Make sure you've done it perfectly at least about ten times before you perform. That means no stopping and soldiering through if you stuff up.

Suss out the venue

Find out if there'll be a mic or a stand or if it's possible to do it without either. This will tell you what sort of gestures you could do.

Invite your friends

They will be good for moral support and for wolf whistling at the tight dress you're wearing which shows the curve of your belly.

Record yourself performing

Record yourself performing before the night and on the night. This allows you to pick up little habits you may have like swaying or overusing a phrase like "I mean" or "like" or "anyway". This is also good for uploading to YouTube to show your friends who were unable to see you smash it out.

Visualise success

This is a trick that will take more practice but can help with confidence. Picture a moment when you felt powerful/successful. Maybe you'd just won a prize, or you easily did a handstand, or you got a PB in your race. Hold that thought, and do some sort of gesture. It might be a simple hand movement, like touching your pointer finger to your thumb. You might tap the ground twice with your heel. You might raise your arms above your head. Whatever you like, just as long as you're thinking of that good feeling. You must practice doing your gesture and thinking of that moment a few times a day. Eventually, just doing the movement will evoke the feelings of that moment without you having to consciously think about it. Pavlov's Dog. I learnt this trick at a workshop and it has helped.

Another trick is to picture yourself saying your poem perfectly. Imagine the audience's reaction. Hear them laugh and applaud. Imagine how that would make you feel. This trick can be done many times, but is especially good to do on the day of your performance.

Feel that you've got it and make it real

Things that will help you remember your lines

• Put actions/gestures with the words
• Have a similar sound at the end of one line and start of the next
• Think of the narrative and what logically comes next

When you arrive at the gig

Mingle

Talk to people before and after the gig. Get to know you're audience and other poets. They might also tell you about upcoming gigs.

Be grateful for your audience

Feel grateful and loving towards your audience. Even if you don't say anything about it, this gratitude will come across to them. Some poets thank the audience after their poem, but sometimes this detracts from the power of the piece. See what feels right for you.

During your performance

You're up! The MC calls your name. Awkwardly navigate around the chairs to get to the stage...

Be ready to go

If you know you're up next and you are sitting up back, start making your way up to the stage. Don't give the audience a chance to start talking among themselves or you'll have to play teacher and say "quieten down".

Say hi

Introduce yourself to the audience. Ask about their night. Possibly introduce the poem. This sort of thing helps to establish rapport with the audience.

Talk to your friend

It may help to imagine that you're talking to an old friend (it also helps when such a friend is sitting in one of the front rows).

Make eye contact

Make eye contact with the audience but don't let thoughts of what they're thinking distract you. You can look around them and not directly at them. They'll think you're looking at them anyway.

A few final tips that I personally learnt last night

• Holding a microphone means that I can't do my actions properly and my vertical star angel looks more like a wave for help;
• If you stuff up, people might still enjoy your poem;
• Try not to apologise when you forget the next words. Just pause for "dramatic effect";
• Putting down the microphone will make it screech loudly and is not good for keeping the audience on side;
• You feel like such a schmuck for telling people you miss hugs, but at least it results in more hugs after the gig;
• Doing smaller gigs is great practice for bigger gigs, and also helps you to assess what parts get a response out of the audience and what parts don't.

I hope these tips help you! Let me know your experiences by posting in the comment section below.

How to Laugh More: The Happy Chappy Experiment

Let's call it the Happy Chappy experiment. In a book called The Happy Buddha, it said that you can increase your daily laughs by doing a simple exercise: Smile as naturally as you can for 15 seconds in morning and night.

Available here

Also, laugh for a full minute, even if nothing's funny (I prefer to find a place where no one's around, but it depends on your personality). I've only done this experiment a few times, but already I've found I'm laughing more. Although it's a bit awkward when I'm the only one laughing at stuff, sometimes my laughing encourages other people to laugh, too.

The book suggests that laughter is not just caused by external factors, but more so by your own ability to find things funny.

I want to know if this works for anyone else. Literally, after doing it for two days (a grand total of 3 minutes) I was laughing more. Please someone give it a go and comment below if it works for you, too.

Pencils are the new roses

Note: For the smiling thing, it also helps to put a pencil between your teeth. Otherwise you might get distracted and start singing or wondering what’s for lunch. No? That was just me? Ok then.

Getting Stuff Done

I've stopped moaning now and am focussing on doing what I can, because I really am very busy in the next few weeks especially.

I've contacted a girl from dance group to go over some of the dances (I hardly know the dances at all). She got back to me straight away and is going to ask other people from the group if they'd like an extra practice, too.

I've sent off tons of emails about the Creative Sparks Project. This is a collaborative project where you can work with many different disciplines. The theme is water. I'm using the movement of water to symbolise the different stages of making friends in a new environment. I want to work with film, music, and science students. Right now it's a waiting game.

Speaking of games, I want to organise a board game night. I was inspired to do this after seeing it in Meetup. That event only allowed four people. That's so lame. Board games should include as many people as possible. I could do it up in the kitchen. I know the girls in T block have board games. I have cards. Maybe the girls from dancing will want to join in, too. I could make biscuits and snacks. I love to cook.

I will be painting more. That forces me to stay in the present moment. It's meditation in itself. Plus it's just plain ol' fun, and right now fun is good.

I also have to start preparing for a presentation on Tuesday.

And I have to learn two poems off by heart for a performance on Monday night. I've sent off one of them to a competition. There are other competitions I am working towards.

Plenty to do.

Keep up with my writerly stuff on my Facebook page (or type in Sophiebubblebath to the search engine in Facebook).

Meetup

I've spent the past few hours looking on Meetup, that social networking site. I'm always busy when they have stuff on. Either that or the event is in the middle of nowhere.

I almost made my own group but stopped when you had to pay $19 a month. I know that's cheap, but I don't even know if it'll be a go-er. There are groups out there. I just have to wait till our schedules align.

There's an Improv group that looks really good. Run by someone from Idle Things Comedy group, which I'm a part of. Only thing is it's on a Wednesday night, and meditation literally is saving my life right now. Meditation is as important to me as breathing, and it's so much easier to focus when you're with other people who are meditating. Plus I met a lovely Russian girl called Lienna there.

I like cycling but it'll get expensive after a while and the only group I could find goes pretty fast and will go 45km abouts. That's too hardcore for me at the moment. Maybe I'll work up to it.

Maybe I'll just go around Bath and try out the different fun activities that I haven't done yet and then see about creating a group.

There are people at uni I really like. It's just hard getting a group together coz everyone's busy and has different schedules.

That Improv Group seems really good. Monty seems like a really nice person. I've seen her perform. Plus I love her soft Scottish accent (not so strong that you can't understand).

I mean, I've got tons going on in the next few weeks. The Bath Literature Festival is coming up, and I'm writing reviews for that, which will be published in Milk, BSU's magazine. Mum and Dad are coming on March 11, and I've got assessment such as the presentation due on Tuesday. I've also got another open mic on Monday night, which I'll be going to with people. Just suck it up for a while and try to do what I can. I'm not doing myself any favours by staying up really late. Better go to bed.

Rainbow

I saw a full rainbow today. I swear the colours at the bottom even went over the buildings not far from me. I only saw it for less than a minute. I saw it from the kitchen through the grimy window. I had to go away from it to blow my nose (my cold's almost gone thank God) and when I came back it was gone. I haven't seen a full rainbow in ages.

If this were a book I would say it's a lame-ass metaphor, but this was true, so whatever.

The house it went over was Harrington. They look like they have a lot of fun in the kitchen. I always see them there talking. I can see them from my bedroom window.

I can hear people outside. They sound drunk. I wonder if that's my housemates. They're fun to talk to in small groups, but I don't hang out with them much socially coz they go out to clubs and out drinking and it's just not my thing.

I think I'll go make shortbread. I can't really be bothered but I also don't want to sleep.

Locked out

I'm in tons of groups at uni. I go to all my classes. I talk to people all day. But I've never felt so lonely.
I was out with a friend and mutual friends last night. I went out and had a great time at an open mic event the other night and met lovely people. Stupid Skype locked me out. At least I'm in my room safe and warm. I'd locked myself out of the building at one point, after rushing out the door.

I'm getting along really well with my housemates. No complaints. I've had a few good conversations with most of them. Just earlier I went to the other kitchen to jam with some of the girls. It was one direction and stuff but still fun.

Fuck, why is life so harddddddddddd. I need to feel good about stuff coz if you feel bad about it then it'll get worse, but how can you feel good if you don't. Like, watch funny movies and hang up pictures of me with friends I guess. I don't want to do anything. I have plenty to do. I should go to bed. I literally feel like doing nothing. Maybe I'll try to meditate. If you're with your deeper self then you don't need anything.

My cold is getting better. That's a plus.

I fucking hate my life right now. I don't but I'm in that mood. I really should post this coz it's just me complaining, but I think it's important to show that life isn't all fun and games. It gets hard but I'm sure it'll get better. At least, I have to convince myself of that else I'm not going to get through the weekend.

Do people hug here? I think they do quite a bit, if you're friends. Stupid awkward making friends thing. Probably doesn't help that I'll be gone in a few months. Maybe they think it's not worth the effort if I'm gone soon. I don't care--quality over quantity. I'm really tired. My room's a mess. Whatever.

PS I can't stand pity. Don't you dare pity me or I'll kick your ass.

London was so fun!

Just in case you're in any doubt that I'm having fun, here's what I did in London:

• Saw the Natural History Museum and learnt how volcanoes and mountains are formed

You can go up, but don't expect to get out again...not with all the wonders to see!

• Saw art galleries and many paintings by artists like Monet (not to be confused with Manet, though I saw his work, too), Da Vinci, Picasso, and many more.
• I had a good breakfast

I enjoyed it a lot

• Got lost and found my way again
• Took a bus and accidentally saw a local's tour of London
• Saw all the main attractions without going on a tour

I saw London Eye

• Saw Cirque du Soleil (I'd booked tickets only hours before the show)
• Afterwards, saw a guy about to cross the road and he did an elegant side step with his arms out to protect his friends from the oncoming traffic. It was a very good impression of the sorts of moves we saw in the show

An extract from the show I saw

• Had The Best Hot Chocolate Ever (quality chocolate with your choice of spices)
• Saw the Hipster part of London and wished my stomach wasn't full from the hot chocolate so that I could fit in the scrumptious market foods (but there were so many that I probably couldn't have decided anyway)
• Saw some of London's finest graffiti

I call him The Gate Eater

I call him The Traffic Watcher

• Stayed in an 8 person room in a hostel all by myself and got to walk around in my grey long johns without feeling self-conscious (these were the ones that sagged at the bottom)
• Had breakfast with ducks, pelicans, and swans

"Oh yes, splendid day. And you?"

• Took London's underground tube 

(the peak hour trip is not included in this fun category)

• Heard many talented buskers. The sound echoes nicely in the underground tunnels

This tunnel reminded me of something out of an 80s sci fi movie

• Saw many amazing poets at a poetry night, and got to talk to a lot of them afterwards
• I bought all the poetry books and EPs on sale. I have no regrets; they're as awesome as the live performances
• I had a snog. It was yum

Shall I keep you in suspense? Could be fun. Make your guess in the comment section

• I found out that policemen in London do actually wear these hats!

Poetry: An Eloquent Bee-Swallower

She’s an eloquent bee-swallower.

All the boys crowd around her and think,

“I just want to wallow in her.”

She takes each of their stings and spits it back in their

Brick-like faces, only they can’t see the beauty of its slime.

She’s an eloquent bee-swallower.

They call her this, that and the other.

She says, “You don’t know the half of it.”

I just want to wallow in her.

Eyes of blue and green are

wasted on the colour-blind bricks which long for the moisture of her spit, but

she’s an eloquent bee-swallower.

Her eyes meet with mine and we share

a joke only we two can appreciate, in its sophisticated simplicity.

I just want to wallow in her.

We roll our eyes and leave the empty room together.

We two will be intimate in our silent understanding.

She’s an eloquent bee-swallower.

I just want to wallow in her.

Poetry: Bristling Lovers

The drip echoes in the tiled room.

I try to ignore the hard round edge of the glass that digs into my back,

and focus on you opposite me.

We are both perfectly still, just the way they left us.

I swallow.

I long to slip towards you,

To lean against you,

the way you used to lean against me.

But we’re stuck, rubber against porcelain.

I can tell you want me too, from the way your slender body drips with moisture—

Sweat or tears or spit.

We liked it better under the counter,

where the shadows hid the slime.

You would smack into my head and the very fibres of our being

would bristle against each other,

Mint and muck foaming together.

The more we tried to fit, the more our edges frayed,

stuck out at odd angles.

But it was only by finding our way into each other’s murky crevices

that we’d merge as if we’d only ever been one.

Now they lift me out, away from you.

They do this daily; take each of us like we’re common objects,

able to be used at will.

I stand soldier straight and do what they ask,

if only to have a chance to come back to you.

They make me brush up on their picket fence lifestyle

At least I can see they’re not as pearly as they seem.

For once, they fumble.

I fall back on you.

For a moment it’s like it was.

It doesn’t matter if that’s your minty saliva or mine.

They pull us apart,

muttering about how we shouldn’t mix,

complaining about our frayed ends.

But who wants a perfect fit anyway?

They lean me opposite you,

The round edge hard in my back.

The drip echoes.

The Frog in a Pond

My family and I used to go to this restaurant once a week when I was young.

I’d always order the same dessert—frog in a pond.

There was a real frog in there.

If they could survive in muddy puddles, surely they could live in jelly.

I could picture poor froggy now.

Crying, trapped, alone.

I had to free it.

Only problem was, by the time I’d finished my dinner, I hardly had any room for dessert.

As much as I tried, I could never reach the bottom of that tall glass.

Time after time, I’d leave the restaurant whispering apologies, until one day I decided: enough was enough.

I marched into that restaurant with a new sense of purpose.

After slurping down some spaghetti, I boldly pushed away the plate.

‘Aren’t you going to finish that?’ asked Mum.

‘No’. I had a frog to save.

When the dessert came out, I was ready. I gripped my spoon and dug in, mouthful after mouthful. Never stopping, never slowing.

Were there any spotty limbs waving for freedom? Not yet. Keep going.

At last, my spoon hit something. I dug around it carefully. It was brown. Maybe it was a toad?

Wait, I knew that face. This was none other than Freddo Frog! That great pretender. He tricked me into thinking he needed to be saved.

I had my revenge in the only way I knew how. I chomped that frog until he was no more than chocolatey mush in my mouth.

I would continue to eat frogs like this for a long time… until Mum explained to me the concept of an analogy.

Poetry: My Australia

Sweat washed away in cool water of pool.

Sushi came down to supervise.

I splashed her. She barked like a maniac, took cover under ferns

grown as tall as tin roof of our house.

Dad watches from balcony. He’ll come down soon, to sit on deck chair

while Mum and Gabbie practice aqua aerobics. Mum will laugh

so that her belly jiggles. I’ll like that she is happy.

For now I simply float, look at big blue sky and bright white clouds.

The water sounds like inside a hippo’s belly.

I start paddling again, hear lorikeets

from gum tree down the hill. They’re so eager to share

news of the day that they talk over each other, skeet, skeet, skeet.

Usually I’d smell chlorine, but instead fresh breeze fills my lungs.

Ferns move like they’re waving to me.

I wave back with my whole body, star angel in water.  

Ripples rock me side to side.

Hippo’s belly gurgles; that makes me giggle.

My tummy jiggles.

That means I’m happy.

Poetry: History in the Making

That night it was just me and her

me and her

me and her

…ok, so Bennie and Jezz and Connor were there, but basically it was just me and her.

It was skin on skin

skin on skin

skin on skin

…maybe there were a few layers of clothing between us, and maybe she was sitting on the other side of the room—alone—and that was all about to change, when I came over with my

vintage champagne

vintage champagne

vintage champagne

…well, that was locked away in Dad’s cabinet, but instead I had with me two cups of Coke

sweet and bubbly

the taste would pop in our mouths

…I think I might’ve left the bottle out overnight…might be a bit flat. But that doesn’t matter, 

coz the charge between us is

electrifying

electrifying

electri—ow!

Did you just zap me? It’s ok, it’s probably just the friction between us.

Yeah, there’s a charge between us, babe, it’s—what? You have to go now? The party’s just getting started. You have to go home to charge your phone. Oh. That's cool. I'll see you at school.

Ten ways to have a hugful day

1. Get a good night's sleep

Otherwise you'll be grouchy when your little sister snuggles into bed with you in the morning.

Note: If you don't have a little sister and feel something crawling into your bed, let's hope you have a dog.

2. Have a good breakfast

Eating well not only gives you more energy for hugs, it also gives you a healthy complexion, which will make you more attractive to others.

Note: The food must be consumed to have these effects, although wearing a fruit hat may also make you more attractive.

3. Do a morning exercise routine

Exercise will limber you up for hugging. For a simple exercise that can be done in the loungeroom, you could crank up your favourite tune and bust a move.

Note: If someone complains about the noise, or the fact that you just broke their china teapot, then they are obviously feeling aggravated, which means they need a hug. Hug them.

4. Put on deodorant

If someone gets KO'd from your BO, it'll be more awkward to hug them.

The cactus thinks he was rejected because he has prickles but really it's because he stank

Note: Hugging an unconscious person might also result in a court order.

5. Laugh

Laughter is contagious and will make your hugs happier. Laugh all the way to the bus stop. When you get on the bus, laugh outrageously at the not very funny comic strip from the paper next to you.

Note: If anyone shushes you, they may want you to engage in a quieter activity. That is the perfect opportunity to hug them.

6. Observe hugs

Find a well populated area and try to spot people hugging, to give you tips on proper hugging technique.

He is looking at hugs and she is depressed because she can't see it. The guy behind her can, that's why he's smiling.

Note: If they start to do more than hug, shout at them to get a room, then giggle madly as you run away.

7. Free your hands for hugs

As you will be passing many possible hugees, it is important to keep your arms free at all times.

These two could hug any second now

Note: If you are holding many items, consider putting them in the nearest charity bin. Do you really need to carry around your entire teddy bear collection? Hug them and let them go.

8. Tag on to a hug

If there's a group hug happening, sneakily snuggle in on that.

Note: If they catch you out, just smile and say 'that was nice' and walk away. Don't look back.

They'll never know...

9. See a funny film

To finish off your hugful day, go to your local cinema and see a funny film. Go sit down next to the most attractive person in the room and do the old 'yawn and put your arm around them' trick.

Sure, you can practice on a giant bag of popcorn first, if you feel like it

Note: If you can't find anyone willing to put up with you--I mean, someone who is uncontrollably attracted to you-- at least enjoy the film and laugh loudly until people throw popcorn at you. Then eat the popcorn because you're too cheap to buy your own.

10. Hug yourself

By now you should be just about hugged out, but before you get too sleepy, give yourself a big hug. You must love yourself before others can love you.

Note: For a bit of fun, you can stand in front of a wall and do the old make out trick.