..."Start spreading the news..!"

"There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, 'Yes, I've got dreams, of course I've got dreams'. Then they put the box away and bring it out once in a while to look in it, and yep they're still there. These are great dreams, but they never even get out of the box. It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, 'How good or how bad am I?'

That's where courage comes in".

- Erma Louise Bombeck

So I'm currently at home, listening to Otis Redding "Sittin' on the dock of the bay" (forgot how good this song is!) with a bit of a mental block...it's been rather a long time since my last blog post and I feel a little bit out of practice! But feeling the need for an update....

Since my last post a lot has happened...I had my re-audition for The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts!!

I would like to say that the audition went as amazingly well as it did last year...unfortunately I think nerves got the better of me!

Which is why I felt the above quote was really relevent, not only to me but to my future classmates at NYCDA and to anyone else who has a dream for that matter.

Having gotten onto the 2 year course last year I felt an immense sense of pressure on me to perform as good as I had done previously. Not just from outside sources but mainly from myself- I'm my own worst critic!

When you've wanted to do something for as long as you can remember its incredibly hard to gather the courage to:

"put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, how good or how bad am I?"

Which is why I would like to say a massive congratulations to everyone who auditioned this year and even more so to everyone who auditioned and who actually got into NYCDA - well done for having a dream, putting it on the line and pursuing it!

However, despite not making the grade for the 2 year course (I knew as soon as I came out of the audition that I'd messed up- fluffed my lines etc...which I know happens, but I REALLY didn't want it to happen at the biggest audition of my year!)

After the audition I will admit that I felt pretty rubbish I thought that was it, and that I would have to wait and audition the following year. Everyone kept saying the same thing: 'what will be, will be', 'everything happens for a reason' etc. which to be honest didn't really help!

But then I had a conversation with my best friend Emma, who told me 'The Maybe Story' (which is quite long but I'll be happy to elaborate on if anyone's interested!) it's really motivational and it gave me a renewed sense of ambition and hope..and to be honest I think about it whenever other aspects of my life don't go according to plan...Thanks Emma!

Not long after this conversation I got the phone call from New York and I feel really privileged to say that I've been given a second chance :) and I will be flying out to the big apple at the end of July for an intensive summer course in Acting for TV and Film with the option to audition again for the 2 year course at the end of it!!!

I'm soooo excited but can honestly say that it still hasn't sunken in yet that I'M ACTUALLY GOING TO NEW YORK!!!

The past year has been a bit of a rollercoaster trying to get funding/sponsorship/finding audition pieces etc. I would like to thank everyone particularly my family and close friends who have helped and supported me in pursuing my American Dream! I know a lot of people donated money to me for sponsorship to help towards my fees so a massive thank you to you all! :)

I don't think it will actually sink in until I'm actually on the plane and landing at JFK...and it's only a month away and there's so much to do!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit nervous/apprehensive about travelling to a huge city that I've never been to before and on my own aswell...but this is far outweighed by the sense of excitement, achievement and adventure that I feel- I can't wait!

In other news...

I may have mentioned in my previous blog entry that I'd had a small role in a new comedy series for the BBC...this actually starts tomorrow and I'm really excited to watch it!

It's called "Lee Nelson's Well Good Show" it's on BBC3 and it starts on Thursday 10th June at 10:30pm.

Unfortunately I don't know what episode I will be in, but I was lucky enough to see Lee AKA. Simon Brodkin perform stand up, live at The Comedy Store in London recently and he was hilarious! It's well worth watching anyway as I think he's really funny but have a look out for me if you're interested (I'm in the Hugo Buzz Box sketch!)

As always thanks for reading :)