Friday, November 25, 2011

Day 15 – 25/11/11

Getting into gear.

Both projects have been prepared as well as we could. About 16 kilograms of sweets are stocked, with bags, and we have two cellphones and an irc chan to handle the orders. That should cover this weekend's endurance test. In the worst case, we can go buy a few extra on Saturday. If things go well, we might turn out a profit :D !

For the Monday night one, we started to plan a few activities : mlp projection in full wide screen (in one of those classrooms meant for 200 students), of course, but also a few others : A blind test based on that one : http://www.sporcle.com/games/sproutcm/my-little-pony-or-porn-star , give-away of the leftover sweets from this week-end, a maybe a few mlp-themed drinks, if we can afford it.

The prises for the blind test were supposed to be mlp toys, but we had some trouble with the toy store. Apparently, they don't 'own' the toys and can give them only if Hasbro agrees to it. The communication between them is going slow, and I'm afraid it won't work out in time. I plan to call Hasbro directly tomorrow to see if I can help to speed up things in some way.
Maybe going directly to their national hq ?

Luna and Sweety Belle just left. They are going to take the midnight-6am shift. I'll have the 6am-12am with Rarity, which should allow me to phone Hasbro during the morning. Which means I should have around 6 hours of sleep if I go to sleep now. Which I will be doing.

I'll be there to rise the sun, take care of the night for me, Luna, will you ?

Celestia, out.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Day 14 - 24/11/11

Productive day.

More precisely, productive afternoon and night. I woke up at 1pm. I must have been really tired. I went to school quickly, knowing that I was late for a meeting with the others' lists leaders. Some bronies had gone there for me, but they didn't have the informations I had and I spent some time trying to fix things as best I could. I think I might have annoyed a few of them.

Then I went to get the camera, and we started the recordings. We could make the one for Luna and the one for Scootaloo. I wish we could have done something for Applejack and Applebloom, but they weren't there, so we'll do without videos for them. A shame.

I went back home with Pinkie and Fluttershy, and we started the video editing. Luna and Rainbow Dash joined us for dinner, and stayed after. I sent a few mails while Luna worked on the website.

Our two next projects will have to be prepared Friday : during the week-end, we'll be delivering sweets all across town (at any time or day or night), and Monday will be the first of our two parties. Both events will need stocks.

I can't wait to see the students' reactions to our videos.

Celestia, out.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Day 13 – 23/11/11

Believe it or not, nothing unexpected today.

Waking up early when you're used to go to bed at 3am isn't easy. But when you have a duty to your group, things are always easier. That's with that thought that I went to school this morning, not falling asleep only because the bags' handles were making my hands hurt.
The breakfast went fine. We could have used more food, but with small rations, everyone was given something. We even had two apples and a toast left at the end. A bit short on drinks.

After that, I left Pinkie and a few members to take care of cleaning up while I went to my exam. Things weren't bad, but I don't expect a good grade either. It's not like I took the time to study these past weeks.

This afternoon, I made up some text I'll have to use tomorrow for our school's newspaper, then the lack of sleep and the stress hit came back. Hard. I went home and crashed into my bed, waking up at about 9pm. Everyone was scattered, so I called it a day and let everyone rest. We'll have to make recordings, so it's better if everyone is in good condition.

As far as I know, the members of the list are satisfied with how I lead them. That's reassuring.

Celestia, out.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Day 12 – 22/11/11

Dear myself, today I learned that I'm an horrible planner.

So, where should I start. Everything was fine until a certain phone call from Pinkie Pie, around 3pm. « Hey Celestia, I haven't read anything about tomorrow's event on the google group. Are the preparations going fine ? »
Oh, so, that's what I was forgetting ? Nothing important, really. Except that I will have to feed hundreds of students the next day at 8am !

I'm getting the hang of those things, actually. I lied to Pinkie saying things were going smooth and I had things planned. Not sure if it was out of pride or to avoid panic and confusion. Not much time to reflect on it either, I'm afraid. Later maybe.
We're going to need 3 things to make it happen. Tables, food to put on the tables, and people to serve the food. I asked Pinkie to gather the willing members of the list, I would take care of the food and for the tables, we'll see tomorrow.

I went to the nearest store and searched for ideas and things I could use. I got a few ideas, but without time, nothing we could do (baking a cake might take 1 hour, but it only feeds 10 students, so if you want to feed 200, prepare for 20 hours of hell).
I settled for classic and easy things, like bread and jam, nutella, orange juice.

Total cost : about 35 euros. Money left : I... should ask Rarity about that. The event we are supposed to make on the 28th evening might not be cheap either.

Back at home, I tried to contact Pinkie, but no luck here. I have no idea at all who will be up there with me in the morning. I hope I won't be alone. That would make things hard.
I still have to finish those video recordings for Luna, Applejack, Sweety Belle and Scootaloo. I have a feeling we're going to skip some of those eventually. A shame.

I have a feeling something, anything really, can happen and will happen in the afternoon to come.

Celestia, out.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Day 11 – 20/11/11

Here we go again, oh here we go again.

I'll skip the morning classes, boring and without interest. Today was supposed to be important for us. The lists' presentation, in front of the students, is an important venue to show the members and speak about the program.
I had a few guidelines and ideas about how to keep it interesting, a few jokes along the way. The first critical moment happened at 2pm, right before my afternoon classes. Our Luna informed me that we were expected to present something more than a speech. Something involving several members, showcasing our motivation and creativity.

The presentation was in 4 hours. Challenge accepted. Afternoon classes would have to do without me, today.
I grabbed the first idea that came to my mind : write a small song that we could sing to the others. Fitting the mlp theme, but how could we learn it that fast ?
To simplify things, I chose to use a base I knew everyone would know : winter wrap-up, rewriting the lyrics into a different language and using an election campaign tone. (I'll post the lyrics if someone ask, but I doubt a lot of people understand French around here).

That took about 2 hours. At the mid-afternoon pause, I started to gather the members, and I had to ask them a difficult thing : skip their classes just like me in order to prepare the song. It wasn't difficult for them to accept, but very hard for me to ask.
Our list is meant for fun. It is not important for their future, while their classes might be.

Just before the class ended, the second critical moment. Luna (again), that had been attending his classes, explained that is was a very important class upon which a significant part of our grades would be based.
Funnily enough, it was for the management course. I went to the classroom and met with the teacher. I explained my case and managed to negotiate that I would do the class as homework during the week. Not a solution I liked, because I already have little time left for myself because of (or thanks to) ponIIE, but I didn't really have another choice.

I gathered the list members willing to try their hand at singing and went to an isolated classroom. 2 hours left, and 4 singers for a script needing at least 5. Scootaloo, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and myself. No choice but to work with that.
I won't speak much about the quality of the repetitions. It was better than what I expected, and worse than what I was wishing for. Rarity joined us around past 5pm, and quickly learned a few lines toward the Rarity and Fluttershy duet.

6pm. We aren't ready, but we're out of time. At this point, the only thing I can do is remind everyone that if they laugh, either with or to us, we win. But we have to do it through their reactions, no matter what. That's what they will remember.

I have no idea if it was a failure or a success, in the end. The other lists had Weak things to show, and our song was the most interesting thing to see (seriously, most of the lists had barely more than a mascott or a drawing on the blackboard).
We started singing, and it was horrible. We messed up really bad, having awkward stops, missing lines and everything. During the full thing, everyone in the public was singing other songs as loud as possible, shouting or simply boo-ing us.
And when everything was finished, they all applauded.

I not sure what to think of it. It was an epic afternoon, and I regret little of the choices I made then. I believe the students saw we made something and went through it, and respect that. The conditions were such that no-one was able to hear the lyrics I made, but we agreed to re-record it and broadcast it with our school student-only email system.

Tomorrow, I'll have much less to do for the list, but homework is catching up with me, so that should keep me busy.

For now, rest !

Celestia, out.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Day 10 – 20/11/11

Another day, another night.

You remember yesterday's log ? Well, it's kind of similar. Woke up late, made some recordings and some computer gaming, and voilĂ . Long version ? Long version.

Things didn't start as I hoped. I was supposed to get called at around 2pm by Sweety Belle who was lending his apartment for the recordings. My phone wasn't working, and gmail had a bug. I couldn't be reached before 3:30 pm, and they didn't want to start without me.

A bit late, we started the record of mine and Pinkie's part. Basically a fake speech of Celestia with Pinkie keeping interrupting her and being herself.
The play included a part where I drank some tea. After several takes, I was already full and believe me, the last few were horrible :S.

Rarity's and Belle's parts were recorded just after, but both of them were lacking motivation. We got a few takes, but I'm not sure if we will be able to use them. Expressive genuine pony faces aren't on demand, and our list works better with them. I couldn't get their spirits up, not sure if that was a failure for me or just impossible/not my place to do.

We gathered a few more ideas for short films for the 28th video projection. We are thinking of small records where a normal student cross the path of a pony/brony and abnormal things happen, with an ending in 'pony-ed' (a pun between pony and pwned).

Not much more pony-related things to report for today. Tomorrow will be another story, though. There will be the 'lists debate'. An hour (usually more) where every list leader is put in front of all the students and asked questions about the list, the program, what they intend to do during the year...
I'll probably have a few tricky or stupid questions asked to me. But I believe as long as I stay true to what I defined for the list, seriousness, hope and ponies, I will present what I wish to show the students.

The choice of friendship is then theirs.

Celestia, out.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Day 9 - 19/11/11

Slow days are best days.

Woke up midday, gathered with my friends. Everyone was waiting for today's new mlp episode. It turned out that daylight savings messed up our schedule and we had an extra hour to wait.

After the show, we started the recordings. Things went slowly but steadily. We've been able to record Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle and Spike. Then it was night and we decided to record the others (Rarity, Sweety Belle, Pinkie Pie and myself, Celestia) when it would be day again.

Evening was spent talking between us about mlp and other subjects, catching up with homework and playing together.

Pinkie Pie edited a bit of video to see what we could do with the recordings. Things look... acceptable. Not as great I would have wished, but good enough.

I'll mention it again when it'll be ready.

Celestia, out.