No - I've been thinking about that last post on and off - Nup!
I am really happy with being Fiona Peel - its amazing how many people remember the old Fi....
And I liked the old Fi....
And I like what I am becoming....
So strike that - I don't want to hide behind a false persona!
I am Fiona Peel! Loud and proud!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
A new beginning
As I splashed through the rain on my way to church this morning, I reflected on the show that I had seen last night - The Burlesque Hour - She's Back.
Apart from Toni Lamond, Moira Finucane and possibly Jess Love(?), I realised that I think every other actor in that show had a stage name.
A great idea, I thought. As an entertainer, the general public often perceive you, rightly or wrongly, as a certain person - generally based upon the works you chose to perform as well as any media coverage you may score (positive or negative). So in alot of senses - entertainers project a certain "persona" to the world which may not be a true reflection of who they are. And at the end of the day - if you fall from that pedestal in the world's eyes, you still maintain your own personal dignity and credibility - you can revert back to who you were pre-performance days and live out your life in relative peace...
"Hey lady aren't you whosis? Wow! What a looker you were...
Or better yet:
Sorry lady, I thought you were whosis. Whatever happened to her?"
I'm Still Here - Follies - Stephen Sondheim - 1971
I thought about this blog. I know that my friends and family read it - but just recently I have discovered mummybear has been following and commenting on it. I still don't know how I picked her up as a follower... maybe she followed my bloglink in from Rav, or P2P? I don't know. But it made me realise that whether or not I originally intended it, this blog is being read by people from outside of my immediate circle. That is totally fine - kind of flattering really - but not why I originally created Griffiths Family Home.
I am developing a persona of sorts - a cyber-persona. While these blogs have all been about myself, Steven (earlier) and the kids, they have not been fiction, or performance - they have been the truth.
I thought about my cyber-persona a little more. fionag77. I did a google search. That brings up my etsy page; a comment I made on youtube; my friend Karen's page () - silly linkie thing - search for hippocampusextensions.com/karen; a comment I made on the TechKnitting site; a Bloglines search on Bipolar personality that links to my Resurrecting Dreams blog post from a couple of weeks ago; a couple of my recent p2p post and of course, my blog Fi Friendly Pages.
Fi Friendly Pages.
Fi Friendly.
I never really liked Fiona Peel as a performing name - I always thought that it sounded a little lacking of something. Its a great name - one that I have really grown into - but even performing in Jesus Christ Superstar as Fiona Griffiths with Picton Theatre Group in 2005 and later as Fiona Griffiths-Peel (better I thought) in Les Mis with WOFTAM in 2006, sounded much better in my mind.
But I could no longer use either of those names without Steve's permission. Well, technically I could, but I have moved on from there, I don't want to use either of those names.
But Fiona Peel or Fi Peel just doesn't sound right. It lacks stage presence...
What about Fi Friendly?
Nope.
It makes me sound like a drag queen and tranny I ain't.
Fi Friend?
My mind went back to my childhood. While dad was CO of Chowder Bay, he had an officer working under him named George Friend. I loved George - he was always interested in me. He took the time - which alot of the other officers didn't - to chat with me - however briefly the situation may have necessitated. I loved going to social events when he was there, because he always snuck me an extra sausage or an extra can of drink.
At one point, he started bringing his girlfriend to the Army Maritime School's social events. I can't remember her name. I distinctly remember talking to her at an event where we sat on the grounds of the base and watched the tall ships sail into the harbour in celebration of our nation's bicentennial year - 1988.
She was lovely and I connected with her just as much as I loved George.
I wonder if they ever got married?
That was it!
In honour of a man who treated me like a princess - as every little girl desires to be treated - I am taking on a stage name...
Fi Friend.
And since coming to Canberra has meant the resurrecting of dreams and opportunities that I never dreamed possible - even if I only EVER usher for the Street Theatre - in honour of what God is doing in my life - I will become Fi over cyber-space and in creative circles I will be Fi Friend
For a few reasons.
Fiona Griffiths is gone.
Fiona Peel was marred my abuse, grief, illness and bad decisions
And then there is this:
"Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed." Revelation 6:1
I am still waiting for the day when Jesus returns, and yet I have already been given my white robe. It is the mantle of salvation. I have a friend, and I know of others, who, upon becoming a Christian, took on new names to symbolise the passing of the old, sinful self, and to celebrate what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new "has come!"
So I am taking on the name of Fi Friend and if I continue down the path I seem to be on and become a performance artist, you will be able to find my bio in the show's program as Fi Friend - my stage name.
Maybe it is a bit drastic, but this really is a more than a new chapter in my life. It is a new phase. It is a new beginning. God has pointed out that the life that was opening up for me in Canberra all of those years ago is still available for me and will now be even more beautiful than before BECAUSE of the 13 years of illness, marriage and motherhood that I have been blessed to experience.
So - Hi! I am Fiona Peel, formerly Fiona Griffiths, and Fiona Griffiths-Peel.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it brings me great pleasure to welcome to the stage (because "All the world's a stage") my dear friend and fellow traveller - Fiona *ahem* Fi Friend.
Apart from Toni Lamond, Moira Finucane and possibly Jess Love(?), I realised that I think every other actor in that show had a stage name.
A great idea, I thought. As an entertainer, the general public often perceive you, rightly or wrongly, as a certain person - generally based upon the works you chose to perform as well as any media coverage you may score (positive or negative). So in alot of senses - entertainers project a certain "persona" to the world which may not be a true reflection of who they are. And at the end of the day - if you fall from that pedestal in the world's eyes, you still maintain your own personal dignity and credibility - you can revert back to who you were pre-performance days and live out your life in relative peace...
"Hey lady aren't you whosis? Wow! What a looker you were...
Or better yet:
Sorry lady, I thought you were whosis. Whatever happened to her?"
I'm Still Here - Follies - Stephen Sondheim - 1971
I thought about this blog. I know that my friends and family read it - but just recently I have discovered mummybear has been following and commenting on it. I still don't know how I picked her up as a follower... maybe she followed my bloglink in from Rav, or P2P? I don't know. But it made me realise that whether or not I originally intended it, this blog is being read by people from outside of my immediate circle. That is totally fine - kind of flattering really - but not why I originally created Griffiths Family Home.
I am developing a persona of sorts - a cyber-persona. While these blogs have all been about myself, Steven (earlier) and the kids, they have not been fiction, or performance - they have been the truth.
I thought about my cyber-persona a little more. fionag77. I did a google search. That brings up my etsy page; a comment I made on youtube; my friend Karen's page () - silly linkie thing - search for hippocampusextensions.com/karen; a comment I made on the TechKnitting site; a Bloglines search on Bipolar personality that links to my Resurrecting Dreams blog post from a couple of weeks ago; a couple of my recent p2p post and of course, my blog Fi Friendly Pages.
Fi Friendly Pages.
Fi Friendly.
I never really liked Fiona Peel as a performing name - I always thought that it sounded a little lacking of something. Its a great name - one that I have really grown into - but even performing in Jesus Christ Superstar as Fiona Griffiths with Picton Theatre Group in 2005 and later as Fiona Griffiths-Peel (better I thought) in Les Mis with WOFTAM in 2006, sounded much better in my mind.
But I could no longer use either of those names without Steve's permission. Well, technically I could, but I have moved on from there, I don't want to use either of those names.
But Fiona Peel or Fi Peel just doesn't sound right. It lacks stage presence...
What about Fi Friendly?
Nope.
It makes me sound like a drag queen and tranny I ain't.
Fi Friend?
My mind went back to my childhood. While dad was CO of Chowder Bay, he had an officer working under him named George Friend. I loved George - he was always interested in me. He took the time - which alot of the other officers didn't - to chat with me - however briefly the situation may have necessitated. I loved going to social events when he was there, because he always snuck me an extra sausage or an extra can of drink.
At one point, he started bringing his girlfriend to the Army Maritime School's social events. I can't remember her name. I distinctly remember talking to her at an event where we sat on the grounds of the base and watched the tall ships sail into the harbour in celebration of our nation's bicentennial year - 1988.
She was lovely and I connected with her just as much as I loved George.
I wonder if they ever got married?
That was it!
In honour of a man who treated me like a princess - as every little girl desires to be treated - I am taking on a stage name...
Fi Friend.
And since coming to Canberra has meant the resurrecting of dreams and opportunities that I never dreamed possible - even if I only EVER usher for the Street Theatre - in honour of what God is doing in my life - I will become Fi over cyber-space and in creative circles I will be Fi Friend
For a few reasons.
Fiona Griffiths is gone.
Fiona Peel was marred my abuse, grief, illness and bad decisions
And then there is this:
"Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed." Revelation 6:1
I am still waiting for the day when Jesus returns, and yet I have already been given my white robe. It is the mantle of salvation. I have a friend, and I know of others, who, upon becoming a Christian, took on new names to symbolise the passing of the old, sinful self, and to celebrate what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new "has come!"
So I am taking on the name of Fi Friend and if I continue down the path I seem to be on and become a performance artist, you will be able to find my bio in the show's program as Fi Friend - my stage name.
Maybe it is a bit drastic, but this really is a more than a new chapter in my life. It is a new phase. It is a new beginning. God has pointed out that the life that was opening up for me in Canberra all of those years ago is still available for me and will now be even more beautiful than before BECAUSE of the 13 years of illness, marriage and motherhood that I have been blessed to experience.
So - Hi! I am Fiona Peel, formerly Fiona Griffiths, and Fiona Griffiths-Peel.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it brings me great pleasure to welcome to the stage (because "All the world's a stage") my dear friend and fellow traveller - Fiona *ahem* Fi Friend.
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