Well hellooooooo. It's been a busy couple of weeks since I last thrilled you with my writings and thoughts and blabbings on. Let me fill you in. Hold on to your hats, it's going to be an exciting read. Woooo, you may just explode from the excitement. Are you ready? Okay.
Well ... first off there have been a couple of birthdays. Yay. My very cool sister had her 40th, which is a very impressive achievement I reckon, and scarily enough it isn't actually all that long until my 40th ... only a few years ... oh my god, I am almost 40, that means I am almost old! I shall have to remember to grow up one day.
At the other end of the age scale my amazing niece Makhala turned 7 yesterday. We had a party here on Sunday for it, which was a very quiet, calm affair with 15 six and seven year olds running around. It was awesome though, and even the 6 million blows to the head with helium balloons couldn't wipe the smile off my face. Great fun. We gave Mak a keyboard for her birthday, so can't wait to use, I mean hear her playing that.
I also went to the Eltham Craft Market last weekend for a workout. What's that? A workout at a market? Surely I jest. But I jest not, there were gale-force winds and rain and there was little old me clinging on to my tent in the hope that not only would it not break or fly off, but if it did that it didn't take me with it ... and if it did take me with it, hopefully it would come down somewhere near my house.
Than earlier this week I went out to Mulgrave to visit Albany Rise Primary School, which was great fun. The kids gave me a wonderful reception when I went into the classrooms, which always helps in me getting straight into fun mode with a little bit of the crazy. So I had a ball out there, and once again some amazing drawings were done by the kids. Even one dog I think it was with his eyes popping out of his head. Awesome.
So that is it from me for now. My bathroom is just being painted ... for the third time since we have lived here ... I think someone in the house needs to stop farting in the shower and making the paint peel off the walls.
Have a great week everyone, and keep living the dream.
Stay Gold.
Wally
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Scoping out Mt Scopus and visiting Lily and Dale
Well helllooooooooooo! I'm back, haha, I'll be back. You have to read that in an Arnie accent, or it makes no sense at all, well the last bit at least. All of it in an Arnie accent might sound a bit weird, especially the well helloooooooooo bit!
Anyway, it's great to be back. I've been away from typing here for a while, and it's great to see such a huge crowd waiting to see me again ... Hi Mum, how are you? Actually, I don't think even my mum reads this. Oh well, it might make her think I am even weirder if she did!
It's been a great couple of weeks since I last wrote. I visited two schools, Mt Scopus College and Lilydale Primary School.
Mt Scopus was first. I visited there last year, as the Grade 4s were doing a unit of work on Humour. i thought it was just the best thing ever. they look at all different types of humour, at different senses of humour, and more. They go deeper than just looking at funny movies or spending the day on You Tube like I do ... whoops, I have said too much. Anyway, they are doing the unit again this year with the new Grade 4s, so I was invited out again to do my thing, and I had an absolute ball again. Those kids are a great audience, and they offer as much as they take humour-wise, so it was a really great experience.
Then last week I was out at Lilydale Primary School for a couple of days, drawing with the kids out there. Again I had a great time. On the first day one class in particular was perhaps the best audience I have ever had in terms of response. I'm sure they laughed when I breathed one time, and it wasn't even with a whislte nose or anything, just a normal breath! It wasn't really like that, but they did have some great laughs, and as a consequence I upped the crazy a little bit more as I fed off their response.
It's an interesting point actually. I find that two things get me acting more "out there" and a little bit crazy. One is when I get a great response. It spurs me on to get more laughs. The other is when I get no laughs at all. My response is I'm going to get you guys laughing one way or another and I up the crazies. One of the things I am working on is just having the crazy there no matter the response, just because I let go of my inhibitions and go for it without worrying about looking silly. That is when I am at my best and most relaxed and probably funniest as well.
This is one of the great things about performing in one way or another. You always learn, and can always improve on what you do. If you rest on your laurels you won't get anything out of it. You should always be looking for new and exciting ways to get your message across.
The other thing to remember, and I have found this out, is that the same jokes and routines won't always get the same response. I guess this follows on from the Mt Scopus different sense of humour focus. I can do one thing in one class and get a great response, and in the next the kids will sit and look at me like I'm some kind of weird boring guy. This doesn't mean the material is bad, it just means you need more up your sleeve, more ways and means to entertain. It may even mean you strike on something brand new in that moment. I am learning to not be afraid to try things as I go along. All that can happen is that I don't get a great laugh, and I sometimes get that anyway!
So go for it. Take risks. Fall flat on your face sometimes, but have a great time doing it, get up, and go for it all over again.
Have a great week, and keep living the dream.
Stay gold.
Wally
Anyway, it's great to be back. I've been away from typing here for a while, and it's great to see such a huge crowd waiting to see me again ... Hi Mum, how are you? Actually, I don't think even my mum reads this. Oh well, it might make her think I am even weirder if she did!
It's been a great couple of weeks since I last wrote. I visited two schools, Mt Scopus College and Lilydale Primary School.
Mt Scopus was first. I visited there last year, as the Grade 4s were doing a unit of work on Humour. i thought it was just the best thing ever. they look at all different types of humour, at different senses of humour, and more. They go deeper than just looking at funny movies or spending the day on You Tube like I do ... whoops, I have said too much. Anyway, they are doing the unit again this year with the new Grade 4s, so I was invited out again to do my thing, and I had an absolute ball again. Those kids are a great audience, and they offer as much as they take humour-wise, so it was a really great experience.
Then last week I was out at Lilydale Primary School for a couple of days, drawing with the kids out there. Again I had a great time. On the first day one class in particular was perhaps the best audience I have ever had in terms of response. I'm sure they laughed when I breathed one time, and it wasn't even with a whislte nose or anything, just a normal breath! It wasn't really like that, but they did have some great laughs, and as a consequence I upped the crazy a little bit more as I fed off their response.
It's an interesting point actually. I find that two things get me acting more "out there" and a little bit crazy. One is when I get a great response. It spurs me on to get more laughs. The other is when I get no laughs at all. My response is I'm going to get you guys laughing one way or another and I up the crazies. One of the things I am working on is just having the crazy there no matter the response, just because I let go of my inhibitions and go for it without worrying about looking silly. That is when I am at my best and most relaxed and probably funniest as well.
This is one of the great things about performing in one way or another. You always learn, and can always improve on what you do. If you rest on your laurels you won't get anything out of it. You should always be looking for new and exciting ways to get your message across.
The other thing to remember, and I have found this out, is that the same jokes and routines won't always get the same response. I guess this follows on from the Mt Scopus different sense of humour focus. I can do one thing in one class and get a great response, and in the next the kids will sit and look at me like I'm some kind of weird boring guy. This doesn't mean the material is bad, it just means you need more up your sleeve, more ways and means to entertain. It may even mean you strike on something brand new in that moment. I am learning to not be afraid to try things as I go along. All that can happen is that I don't get a great laugh, and I sometimes get that anyway!
So go for it. Take risks. Fall flat on your face sometimes, but have a great time doing it, get up, and go for it all over again.
Have a great week, and keep living the dream.
Stay gold.
Wally
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
BALI!
Hellooooooooooooooo everybody! Wow, what a wild few weeks it has been ... relatively at least, compared to the usual stuff that goes on. Anyway, here it is. I have just got back from Bali! That's right, yesterday morning, at around 5:20am, after exactly ZERO hours sleep, I walked off the plane at Tullamarine Airport in a bit of a daze. And it was freeeeeeeeeeezing! After a week in Bali, where the temperature went from a low of around 25 to a high of about 30 every day, Melbourne's kinda chilly!
It was good though, swam at the beach, sat around the pool, went to a market where 5 million people try to sell you their stuff at the one time, got driven around by the coolest, most laid-back guy in the world, and basically chilled out. It was great. I did want to meet Boss Monkey, my nemesis from 25 years ago, but he was nowhere to be seen, the coward!
Also, I applied for the new ABC3 channel, which is taking applications for people to be hosts and presenters! How cool would that be? Very, I will answer for you if you didn't say anything, very cool indeed. So now it is wait and see. Everything is crossed, which is kinda painful, but apparently brings you good luck.
So that is really that for the last couple of weeks. Now I am just gearing up for the next few months which will be nice and busy with markets and schools and Mac O'Beasty launching and all sorts of other cool stuff.
Have a great week, and keep living the dream.
Stay gold.
Seeya.
Wally
It was good though, swam at the beach, sat around the pool, went to a market where 5 million people try to sell you their stuff at the one time, got driven around by the coolest, most laid-back guy in the world, and basically chilled out. It was great. I did want to meet Boss Monkey, my nemesis from 25 years ago, but he was nowhere to be seen, the coward!
Also, I applied for the new ABC3 channel, which is taking applications for people to be hosts and presenters! How cool would that be? Very, I will answer for you if you didn't say anything, very cool indeed. So now it is wait and see. Everything is crossed, which is kinda painful, but apparently brings you good luck.
So that is really that for the last couple of weeks. Now I am just gearing up for the next few months which will be nice and busy with markets and schools and Mac O'Beasty launching and all sorts of other cool stuff.
Have a great week, and keep living the dream.
Stay gold.
Seeya.
Wally
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Der Wally!
Okay, so it has been a month since I last posted anything on here, and there is good reason for that. I am a bit of a der. I have a new email address, and last time I posted I changed to the new email address for my blogging account. All well and good, except since then every time I have tried to log on to blog I have used the old address, and have wondered why I couldn't log in. Well, again, there was a very good reason. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN USING THE NEW ADDRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I tried different passwords, everything, and only tonight I was like, "Oh, hey, like, maybe I should try the new email address and see if that works." Lo and behold, it did, so once again I will have to give a month run down of my activities.
Here we go.
I went to Kew Primary over a couple of days and saw the Grade 3/4s, and had just a sensational time. It was great fun at a great school, and was close to home, so the regional tour stopped for a couple of days.
I also started out as ambassador for the Boys, Blokes, Books and Bytes program at the Reservoir library, for Ruthven Primary. This has also been fun, and finishes next week, although I have struggled a bit with what my role should be. I hope I have done okay, but aim to finish well next week.
I did a session at my niece, Makhala's school. Mak's teacher asked if I could go in so I went and we drew and read and they asked a lot of awesome, awesome questions. It was so much fun, and one of the absolute highlights of my year. It's actually one of the highlights of my writing career.
I appeared at the Emerging Writer's Festival, which was great fun. I did a reading and then a short interview, which I really enjoyed and learnt a lot from.
What else? Well, the regional tour continued with a drive out to Newborough East Primary. I got to stay at Mum's for a couple of days, which meant bread and butter pudding and a roast yeah! It also meant a couple of awesome days out at a really nice school. Again, the kids and teachers were so welcoming, and made me feel right at home over the two days I was there.
Then last week I was out at Mossfiel Primary in Hoppers Crossing. I had been out a couple of years ago to see the older kids, and this time it was the Grade prep/1/2s I saw. Fun? Yep. I was even rapping and being called DJ in one class, it was very funny.
And that pretty much brings us to now. OH! And I have How to Draw a Shark. That's right folks, How to Draw a Shark!!! Very exciting, I almost fell off my chair I was so excited.
Check it out on the site, and hopefully I will be bacj with a new post in less than a month!
Tomorrow is haircut day, and then Thursday I am off to see Pink! I love Pink, she's great.
Have a great week (or month) and keep living the dream.
Stay gold.
Seeya
Wally
Here we go.
I went to Kew Primary over a couple of days and saw the Grade 3/4s, and had just a sensational time. It was great fun at a great school, and was close to home, so the regional tour stopped for a couple of days.
I also started out as ambassador for the Boys, Blokes, Books and Bytes program at the Reservoir library, for Ruthven Primary. This has also been fun, and finishes next week, although I have struggled a bit with what my role should be. I hope I have done okay, but aim to finish well next week.
I did a session at my niece, Makhala's school. Mak's teacher asked if I could go in so I went and we drew and read and they asked a lot of awesome, awesome questions. It was so much fun, and one of the absolute highlights of my year. It's actually one of the highlights of my writing career.
I appeared at the Emerging Writer's Festival, which was great fun. I did a reading and then a short interview, which I really enjoyed and learnt a lot from.
What else? Well, the regional tour continued with a drive out to Newborough East Primary. I got to stay at Mum's for a couple of days, which meant bread and butter pudding and a roast yeah! It also meant a couple of awesome days out at a really nice school. Again, the kids and teachers were so welcoming, and made me feel right at home over the two days I was there.
Then last week I was out at Mossfiel Primary in Hoppers Crossing. I had been out a couple of years ago to see the older kids, and this time it was the Grade prep/1/2s I saw. Fun? Yep. I was even rapping and being called DJ in one class, it was very funny.
And that pretty much brings us to now. OH! And I have How to Draw a Shark. That's right folks, How to Draw a Shark!!! Very exciting, I almost fell off my chair I was so excited.
Check it out on the site, and hopefully I will be bacj with a new post in less than a month!
Tomorrow is haircut day, and then Thursday I am off to see Pink! I love Pink, she's great.
Have a great week (or month) and keep living the dream.
Stay gold.
Seeya
Wally
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Busy boy
April 22nd was my last post, and not the trumpet thing, but the last time I wrote anything on here. Speaking of the last post on the trumpet, that really is one of my favourite bits of Anzac Day, when they play that.
So what have I been up to this last few weeks? Well you may ask, as I have been mightily busy. I have visited Williamstown North Primary (awesome, awesome day), Bacchus Marsh Grammar (great day, drove past a lot of apple shops), and Kew Primary (was out for one day of writing, and am back for drawing next week, and can't wait!).
I have also spoken at the State Library, been the feature poet at O'Sullivan's poetry night (and I even sang an original song! Yes I did!), shown a couple of groovy Americans around town (including some real live in the wild kangaroos, which was very exciting), and went up to Clunes (which is just out of ballarat and turns into a book town once a year. Good fun. A lot of books. Smelt a little musty).
So that is that. Today is a day off, and it all starts again tomorrow, but that is another story for another time. For now, I believe I shall either go and enjoy some sunshine, or go and have a nap, or both!
Have a great week, and keep living the dream.
Stay gold.
Wally
So what have I been up to this last few weeks? Well you may ask, as I have been mightily busy. I have visited Williamstown North Primary (awesome, awesome day), Bacchus Marsh Grammar (great day, drove past a lot of apple shops), and Kew Primary (was out for one day of writing, and am back for drawing next week, and can't wait!).
I have also spoken at the State Library, been the feature poet at O'Sullivan's poetry night (and I even sang an original song! Yes I did!), shown a couple of groovy Americans around town (including some real live in the wild kangaroos, which was very exciting), and went up to Clunes (which is just out of ballarat and turns into a book town once a year. Good fun. A lot of books. Smelt a little musty).
So that is that. Today is a day off, and it all starts again tomorrow, but that is another story for another time. For now, I believe I shall either go and enjoy some sunshine, or go and have a nap, or both!
Have a great week, and keep living the dream.
Stay gold.
Wally
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Writer's Relief and a great Share-a-not story
Well helllloooooooooooo! How's it going everybody? We here in melbourne are enjoying some of the most awesome days weather-wise you could imagine. I looove Autumn. Maybe it's because I am a golfer that Autumn is just the best weather. Not too hot, still, blue skies, birds chirping, birdies being scored, it just doesn't get much better ... now I just have to actually get out there and play some golf!
To other news. Writer's relief is a website bloggy thing I follow, and highly recommend to other writers. It has great tips, advice, websites to look at, just all very useful really, and covers all genres. They just put up these cool buttons which I can use, to advertise them and I also think it applies to all us writers ...
To other news. Writer's relief is a website bloggy thing I follow, and highly recommend to other writers. It has great tips, advice, websites to look at, just all very useful really, and covers all genres. They just put up these cool buttons which I can use, to advertise them and I also think it applies to all us writers ...
So anyway, that was just the best thing to happen. A great day.
Have a great week everyone, and keep living the dream.
Stay gold.
Wally
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
What's been going on?
Wow, well it has been almost a month since I last posted anything on here. I have an excuse though. I was grounded. I mean, I was out of town. I mean, I had to visit a sick relative. My dog ate my homework? Okay. Fine. I have been slack. Busy, but slack, if that makes any sense. I have been doing lots of stuff, but there was still time for me to get on here and write something, surely. So I will give you a quick rundown right now on what has been happening in the last almost month since I last wrote.
I visited Warragul Primary School, with a loverly drive down the freeway to get there. I had an awesome day, and even showed the kids my new shark picture, which only one other school had seen before.
I went to a friend's wedding, which was awesome. It was a guy I had been to uni with, and it was a really nice day. Perfect weather too, and I ended up rolling around playing in the grass in my suit with one of the kids who was there. We were doing crazy falling downs. It was crazy, all the craziness.
I worked at the Arty Farty Fest. A fun day, but really I just wanted to say arty farty.
The Share-a-not missed out on being on the short list for book of the year, so that was a bit of a kick in the pants for me. I was down for a little bit, but moved on fairly quickly as I hear so many nice stories on how kids are liking the book. That is why I write, although I would love kids to like the book and win awards too! That would be extra cool.
I got told I say the word cool a lot when I speak. It's true. I have no argument.
I've been to Red Hill, Bendigo and the Botanic gardens for markets and festivals, all great fun.
And finally, last night, I went and saw STOMP. i tell you, if you ever get a chance to see them, do not miss out. It is one of the greatest shows I have ever seen (I have seen them three times now!). They are absolutely amazing.
So that is it for me.
Have a great week, and keep living the dream.
Stay Gold.
Wally
I visited Warragul Primary School, with a loverly drive down the freeway to get there. I had an awesome day, and even showed the kids my new shark picture, which only one other school had seen before.
I went to a friend's wedding, which was awesome. It was a guy I had been to uni with, and it was a really nice day. Perfect weather too, and I ended up rolling around playing in the grass in my suit with one of the kids who was there. We were doing crazy falling downs. It was crazy, all the craziness.
I worked at the Arty Farty Fest. A fun day, but really I just wanted to say arty farty.
The Share-a-not missed out on being on the short list for book of the year, so that was a bit of a kick in the pants for me. I was down for a little bit, but moved on fairly quickly as I hear so many nice stories on how kids are liking the book. That is why I write, although I would love kids to like the book and win awards too! That would be extra cool.
I got told I say the word cool a lot when I speak. It's true. I have no argument.
I've been to Red Hill, Bendigo and the Botanic gardens for markets and festivals, all great fun.
And finally, last night, I went and saw STOMP. i tell you, if you ever get a chance to see them, do not miss out. It is one of the greatest shows I have ever seen (I have seen them three times now!). They are absolutely amazing.
So that is it for me.
Have a great week, and keep living the dream.
Stay Gold.
Wally
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