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.

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 voilà. 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.

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.

Day 8 - 18/11/11

I'm feeling fine, but that isn't be the case of everyone here.
Not much to mention today. Tired faces everywhere, and I don't think anyone will be able to come up with a stroke of genius. I decided to let everyone have some time for themselves, since I'm going to require their presence tomorrow.

It will be a pony-filled day, between the recording and the new episode. Seeing episodes in groups is different. I can't just skip the parts I dislike, which I often do when alone. Not sure if it is a good or a bad thing.

Still no news from the toy store. Maybe I should return there ? Prepare a sample ? I should wait a full week before making a move, but time is running out. The vote is on the 8th of December. I can't let things drag on too long.

I should try to get a pic of that pony figurine we got. Couldn't identify it. Looks like nothing G1 to G3.5, and I think I would have identified a G4 pony. Any experts out there who saw that before ?
It looks more like a horse than a pony, to be honest. In addition to the white coat and mane, there is a collection of.. pink spots where the cutie mark should be, and another smaller collection on the upper arm zone. One of the two hind legs is articulated, and I think moving it used to make the wings flap, but the wings are broken now. The mane is brushable (thought in a horrible state). A small molded printing reads : 2006-2011 HCS 2005-2011 CC / Made for McDonald's 2011 / Made in China TRC. Searches on the net were to no avail, but I haven't looked deep into it.

(Click to enlarge)

Luna won't be here this weekend. We will have a little time to record on Sunday evening, I hope we'll be able to come up with something funny before that. The point is to present each member of the list through short funny scenes. I'll explain a bit on the next log. Yesterday's events finally caught up with me and I'm going to go to bed.

That week seemed so short, yet so long. It feels we are only at the beginning, and already a quarter of the time is gone.
Relativity, why do you love me so ?

Celestia, out.

Day 7 - 17/11/11

I knew it would be a very long day. But it was worth the energy.

The day started early. Boring class about group management. Funny how different things are between the nice and clean theory on that board and the reality of my daily group-related problems.

Grabbed a meal and met with members of the list.
Apparently, there will not be another occasion to present videos before the 30th. Since we have an event on the 21st, and another one on the 28th, we have to rush a second video because the first one only dealt with the first event.
Our Fluttershy, always on the edge, had something prepared, but that needed a few tweaks. Good thing I had no classes that afternoon.
Left school at about 6pm. Went to town to buy stuff for the evening. The video broadcasting should begin at about 9pm, and the lists activities at about 10pm. It's all right.

I gave to call to Luna  to remind him to takie the gloves with him while I was bringing the sweets to school. Both of our videos have been sent to the students preparing the broadcast. Money left : 78€.
In the second video, we mention that our website that is almost finished, but yet unavailable. I had to rush it with Luna and Rarity. 8pm, http://poniie.iiens.net/ is now online ! It's really not much but for something made in two days between classes and video editing...

The broadcasting is a bit late. It's 9:30pm, and they are far from being ready. They are always late, but it's making me stressed.

11:30pm. The broadcasting started very late, in the end. Our videos were not boo-ed, which is a small victory in itself. Most of the students are still up there. I should have about 30 minutes to prepare the stand before the rush. Moment of truth, second edition.

4:30am. I'm at home. I dare say this was a major success. I was afraid most of the students would shun our lack of alcohol and silly game (opening a sweet using boxing gloves), but it was one of the most popular ones. The sweets were a good idea, and some students went for our grenadine to help their sore throats instead of stronger drinks.
Three happenings to note :
Someone anonymously dropped a pony figurine on our stand while no one was watching. Looks like a .. silver tiara-wearing, white-colored, wings-sporting equine, with star-bursts all over the mane. White hair as well. Not sure if it is old generation pony or unrelated. The wings are broken, but I'm sure we can do something with it. Besides, just the thought of the gift is a huge boost to the morale of everyone after what happened yesterday.
Speaking of yesterday, the second interesting point : some of the people who messed up our stand yesterday came back today. Not sure if it was the mood or the alcohol, but they were quite friendly today. Nobody said anything about what happened, and everything went fine.
Last but not least, a student I had never heard of came to our stand and asked to become a member of our group ! He can't become an 'official' member since we had to send the complete lists a week ago, but we'll use all the help we can find ^^.

That will be all for today, but it is a lot already. Tomorrow, we will get back the camera for the whole weekend. Maybe it won't be as useless this time.

I hope.

Celestia, out.

Day 6 - 16/11/11

Feeling disheartened. If that's a real word. Day went by quite well. Managing between the list, school and other activities is tiring. I get some rest whenever I can. I was planning on playing some skyrim, you know ? Maybe next year... Luna almost finished the actual site, Fluttershy got us a few other posters. No news from the store. Not really surprising.

The big moment of the day was tonight, the hour with the camera, obviously. It went bad. Nothing we could record is of much use, not even speaking of visually aesthetics. Besides, we were only 7, when our group is supposed to include 15 persons. That would just be problematic, but the real problem is that while we were away recording stuff, some.. people from another list messed up our stand. Nothing too serious (though I doubt the knife marks on the tables can be washed away), but it's been done in front of a room full of students. About 80 of them, I'd say. I don't think any of them even tried to stop what was going on.

I'm going to gather what everyone thinks of that asap. I am resilient when it comes to such events, but I can understand people not wanting to let others step on their toes. As far as I'm concerned, I'm leaving the school in a few months. I do notcare  for my reputation then. But for the few first and second year students... I have to think about them. I'm not sure it's up to me to choose to ask them to keep silent and show smiles and friendliness in the midst of adversity.

I .. don't think I'll be able to work for the list tonight. Not feeling like it. Maybe some League of Legends or SPAZ will get my mind off all this.

Tomorrow, we'll air our first video, and make our first public event. We got our hands on a pair of boxing gloves, and we're going to give candy to anyone who will be able to open the wrappings with the gloves on. Not easy having hooves on, is it ? The animation will last for the evening. I hope we'll have enough candy for everyone. And that it'll be consistent with our budget.

Tomorrow is another long day ahead of us.

Celestia, out.

Day 5 - 15/11/11

Slept all morning. Luna was at school tending the stand. In the end, I ended up working for a long time last night. Me, Luna, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. We achieved a lot of stuff : We have a void but existent website (Luna), a fake electoral program (myself), and an almost completed 50-seconds-video for Thursday (Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie).

Which is why I hopefully won't have too much to do today, except organising people. As I said before, our Luna has some trouble with html and css, after a few years of learning other programming languages. It's.. not very efficient, but I'm confident he'll manage it. Rarity offered his help (of course, out of generosity) for some crash course learning tonight. We now need to print those flyers, complete that video, ah, and make an image with every pony in it.

A few hours later. Met with the boss of another list. We agreed on sharing an evening during the week before the election. That was strange. I was afraid he wouldn't agree, because of some past events between us. During the days just before starting the actual list, we were both looking for members. We have to include 8 members of first and second year students, or the list isn't agreed upon by the association regulating the campaigns. And on the last day, one of his members defected to our side. Because of ponies. When that happened, he was short of one member and his list couldn't make it. He had to urge a merging with another fake list lacking members as well, and compromise on his projects. I thought he would think bad of our list because of that.
It would have been bad, because he is part of the students that manage the tv screen, cameras and other media equipments of the school. He really could have broken our communication methods to pieces.

Actually, he was quite friendly. We went outside to some restaurant and ate together, and managed to find common grounds. With that out of my mind, I can invest some time reaching out to toy stores in the town. Going to try tonight, right after classes.
The frowns of my non-bronies friends that are looking at me being silly are still bearable.

Going to bed. Met with the toy store manager. Things looked favourable for us. Gave him our mail address, maybe it will be of some use in the end. Tomorrow will be a gathering of many of us, and we'll have a camera. I wonder what will happen.

Silly business, serious ponies.

Celestia, out.