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  1. Whyyyyyyyy?

    November 14, 2009 by Amy Hansford

    …Probably because this month had a Friday 13th in it. Innit.

    So, why the whyyyy? Here’s whyyyy.
    The innocent act of having a little stretch at my desk heralded a little twang from my lower back. Not thinking anything of this, I was somewhat surprised when, at rehearsals, I was unable to bow and later on, unable to get out of my car looking like anything other than a drunken hunchback.
    I was amused at the need to complete an ‘incident a work’ report form for a little stretch, but less amused at how this effectively eliminated me from attending the Rocky Horror blu ray extra auditions in London. To be fair, I’m not in much of a shape to go fainting here and there or doing floorshow bends (for Janet is a bendy little nymph indeed), but I wish I could have gone to document the experience.

    Of course, this does put a spanner in the works for the panto. With two big pratfalls in the mix, not to mention more dance routines than I have ever done in any show ever, I know I need to rest my back this weekend. So it is off to the Osteopath I go this afternoon. I haven’t seen one before, so I’m not sure exactly what to expect. Fingers cross they’ll press a magic button hidden in my spine somewhere to fix everything, then I can repeat the appointment for the next few Saturdays to get me through the show.

    In the meantime, I guess I have plenty of time to update my websites :o)

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  2. October update

    October 18, 2009 by Amy Hansford

    It’s that time again where I realise I’ve not blogged for a month. My bad! So, what’s been going on in my life?

    I’ve been to see a fair few shows: Communicating Doors by Dunstable Rep to see my friend JJ playing a serial killer, The Stripper tto find it was lovely to see Richard O’Brien in something that wasn’t corsetted or gameshow related, and Rocky Horror at Milton Keynes, complete with a backstage tour. I got to see and play with all the props and costumes which was brilliant.

    After her death last summer, I finally put Mum’s house on the market. If anyone’s looking for a gorgeous one bedroom bungalow in Hillingdon in a nice area, do let me know.

    I started rehearsals for Jack and the Beanstalk with the Griffin Players in Luton. I’ve gone from a bratty younger sister to a dumb blonde – I’m very happy with that, although wearing lip gloss will be new for me. I’m pleased as I get a big hand in the comedy scenes. As for the slapstick ones, I think I’ve avoided being on the wrong end of a pie but not sure I’ll make it through the show’s run without ending up bumped and bruised. Another test of my abilities!

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  3. Quickie

    September 18, 2009 by Amy Hansford

    I went to see the opening night of the new tour of The Rocky Horror Show last night. Possibly more on that in a later post.

    But for now, I just wanted to share this photo with you. It gives me a sense of relief that someone in charge of the USA is an actual human being who is a bit like me in their geekiness, not just a politics bot.

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  4. September update

    September 13, 2009 by Amy Hansford

    I thought I’d just write a quick update on me, myself and I.

    I still haven’t worked out exactly what this site should be. If it were devoted to costumes, the updates would be sporadic. If it were devoted to me, it would become a job and would rarely be updated with anything interesting. Besides, I’m better at funny stuff in 140 characters or less now than swathes of text. So in the meantime, it’s a mish mash of everything; costume lists, things about me and The Student’s Guide to Rocky Horror Costumes. For now, a bit of an actually-about-Amy post.

    I got me a job! It’s only temporary for now, but I’m working for Bedford Borough Council. It’s really good for me, getting back into the 9-5 way of things and being able to do something I can do well. Fingers crossed it goes permanent.

    I got me some kittens! They’re called Echo and Max, are black and white short hair crossed with Siamese so they’ve very talkative, and they are great fun. I try not to witter on about them, but it’s hard not to.

    I got me a show! After the debacle of Rent (there’s a secret sacred code of am dram that says ‘you go with what you’ve got’), I ran to the welcoming arms of the Griffin Players and am delighted to have been cast in the comedy role of Barbie (Jack’s bratty little sister) in their 2009 pantomime, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. More info on that along in time, I’m sure.

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  5. Frank’s Green Gown

    August 20, 2009 by Amy Hansford

    The fabulous Phil Dunk over at the Timewarp forums has discovered this superb Frank surgeon gown. Notoriously difficult to find, this little beauty is pretty much perfect. Phil suggests that you may wish to snip off the elasticated wrists. Aside from that, this is an incredibly important find, given the difficulty people have had tracking them down. And at just over a tenner each, it’s worth getting a couple! Well done Phil!

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  6. Location, location, location

    July 22, 2009 by Amy Hansford

    It’s all been a bit quiet on the Awakey front, or so you would think. I’ve actually moved up from London to Milton Keynes to our new house, which is very exciting! Four days after we moved in, all the boxes are now unpacked and we’re back to normal life, which is lovely. My other half is testing the new route to work – a little different from changing tube stations – while I’m free to job hunt and give a bit more time to the As If By Magic Costumes orders. My colleague Ilona has made some truly beautiful things of late, so I’m looking forward to publishing pictures of the latest pieces soon.

    I’ve also been working on the costumes for the New Expressions production of We Will Rock You. I wouldn’t say it’s been too much of a challenge, just tricky when the cast swear they’re one size when they’re actually another. Such are the stigmas attached to size labels! Much kudos to Maggie for the loan of her amazing purple furry boots.

    Keeping with the amateur dramatics side of things, I’m looking forward to auditioning for Rent with Luton Light this weekend. I’ve not auditioned for what seems like years, and am well aware that my singing peak was back in Anything Goes in 2007, so I’m a little nervous. But excited!

    So, not a huge update. Just a little update to let you know I’m still kicking about.

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  7. Analysing

    July 1, 2009 by Amy Hansford

    About once a month or so I use Google Analytics to have a quick look at how many people have looked at the site. My favourite facility on this is seeing what people have typed into their preferred search engines to find awakey.com – don’t worry, I only see the search term, not who looked for it.

    Here’s my favourite three this month:

    Gizmo costume – I love the idea of a Gizmo costume. Not one of those follows-your-body-line ones, I mean a full on ratio costume like a mascot. Big cuddly belly, soft fur and a big head. If you ever find that costume, let me know!

    A Team Kids Costume – if a mini Mr T is as brilliant as the mini Hagrid costume worn by a kid attending a Wizard Apprentic party I ran once, it’ll be pure genius. And yes, I do love the Marathon/Snickers advert. Foo.

    Bishopshalt School has Swine Flu – Really sweetie, every school in the country does by now. No point in telling you though – the world would go mad. Yep, it’s all a big conspiracy. Surprise!

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  8. Smoothie

    June 24, 2009 by Amy Hansford

    Completely and unashamedly stolen from my nephew on Facebook. I love this.

    “my pokemon brings all the geeks to the yard
    and their like
    do ya wanna trade cards
    and im like
    yeah i wanna trade cards
    pikachu
    for electric charge”

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  9. Buying a house

    May 17, 2009 by Amy Hansford

    Following in the footsteps of a friend? who has done something similar, I’ve decided to keep a basic track of the house buying process. More for my own delight in efficiency and organisation than anything else, but I like to think it’ll be helpful for other first time buyers.

    Do bear in mind that if something took us two weeks, it doesn’t guarantee it’ll only take you two weeks. Every house sale is different, so just see it as a time guideline.

    We started looking around properties in April 2009. We decided to look at non-terraced houses (from a sound point of view) and we knew we wanted a garden, garage and/or driveway, within 3 miles of the train station to allow for commuting and three bedrooms to allow for a guest room and office.

    We saw an upside down house, a multicolour bungalow (twice), a tiny house, a big smelly house and a house on a marina. In all the initial viewings we looked at the space, facilities and general order. We realised we wanted to move in somewhere with no work needed, which led us to see the house on the marina again.

    On the second viewing (mid May – we could only do house stuff on weekends) we thought ahead about what we wanted to lookely more closely at and what questions we wanted to ask the vendor. We looked in more detail: up in the room space, at the state of the wooden balcony (being by the marina made me suspect [correctly] the wood could be damp and rotten), kitchen space issues (we’d need to sacrifice the washine machine for a freezer or visa versa) and vermin issues around marinas (rats, ducks etc).

    The day after the second viewing (Alex advises to not jump on immediately or you look too keen and you won’t get a good deal) we rang the estate agent to make an offer. It was ?12,500 under the asking price as we had to consider the following:
    – replacing the upstairs and downstairs wooden balconies
    – new downstairs toilet and basin
    – purchase of our white goods
    – making an interior door to the garage (needed as we’d be putting the washine machine and dryer in there as per the kitchen space quandry)
    – solicitor fees
    – moving fees
    – survey fees
    We wanted to stay in budget, hence why we factored in all costs. We were also aware that we wanted to stay under the ?175,00 mark – over this and you have to pay 1% tax on the house. However, we also said we’d like to negotiate fixtures and fittings. At the same time, we put in a lower offer than that which we were willing to pay, preparing for the offer to be rebounded and needing to raise it a little.
    This means you can say ‘we’ll also have the curtains, light fixtures and that nice wardrobe for ?xxx’ and it’s counted outside of the purchase price.
    The estate agent came back twenty minutes later, said they understood our offer as it was in keeping under the stamp duty bar and that the vendor would accept ?175,000 on the dot. After a quick chat, we called back to confirm the offer of ?175,000, and thus began the next stage of the buying process: fiddy bits.

    So to review:
    1 month: house viewings (over two weekends)
    1 day: offers made and accepted.

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  10. Swine Flu

    April 30, 2009 by Amy Hansford

    swinfluavatarbigThe BBC are toying with how severe the Swine Flu pandemic really is.

    The breaking news this morning is that the threat level has been turned up to Level 5 (of 6) [I find this a tremendous advert for Watchmen], how the Health Service have started up the helpline etc.
    The follow up news story on the same programme says how really, it’s *just* the flu. We’ll get Piggy Sniffles for a week and get better. It’s never nice to be ill, but that’s all it will be. Unless you’re an ‘at risk’ person (old, blood problems, respiritory problems, pregnant) in which case, well, yeah, we’ll sweep it under the carpet, but yeah, you could get really ill.

    However I have worked out how to truly gauge the severity of the pandemic.
    The more severe the pandemic, the wackier the ‘and finally’ story.
    Today it was about cross country skiers in their pants. From this guideline, we can assume that we’re all going to get a little woozy in the coming months.

    I work a mile or two down the road from Barnet where a case has been confirmed and this weekend we’re off to see my elderly grandparents in Paignton where another case has been confirmed. We’re not running away, just stocking upon Berocca.

    But well done Michael Jackson. He saw this coming from a mile off. He’s been wearing his mask for years.

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