Scriptin', driftin', cruisin', dreamin'

As you know, I'm no longer in the Neighbours story room. Very maturely, I've re-named a room in my home 'The Story Room'. So I can still say "Hmmm, I'm off to the story room!" and mean it. Such a little thing, but the difference it makes ...

What do I do in my story room? I write speculative scripts, which is truly the best fun in the universe (with clothes on)(note to self: try it without clothes on). One day this activity might even make me money - I CAN DREAM. For now I'm still trying to show Neighbours people that I have useful 'talent' (LOL) and shouldn't be forgotten like the 1,000,000 other trainees who strived for a TV career in the Erinsborough deus-sphere.

"I'm not dead yet!" I cry, despite being thrown on the cart.

In other news, I think Battlestar Galactica has just started screening season 4 in the USA. Damn you, Australian networks!

Facebook is interesting! Who'd a thunk it?

Buffy - The Long Way Home (aka season 8, episodes 1-5) is AWESOME! Are you a Buffy fan? And are you reading it? If not - good grief. Go to a comic store and buy it! This first story arc is written by Joss! This is the show! Profound.

Nothing But Red

Today is the day to remember Du'a Khalil. Please follow this link and hug a woman you love.

Lil' Trinkles

* Just found Amanda the Aspiring TV Writer thanks to Jane Espenson. As always, the net is full of yummy reading. I kinda imagined that this blog might cover my Neighbours experience the same way that Amanda dissects Hollywood, but ... it didn't. I couldn't be objective, therefore I couldn't really share anything useful. And as for the juicy ... maybe another day.
* Portsmouth FC are through to the FA Cup final, for the first time since 1939. I've almost completely forgotten about yesterday's Kangaroos/Hawks debacle.
* I've come across 2 references to Joan Crawford's real name being Lucille LeSueur in the last 24 hours. I never previously knew this. The third is gonna weird me out.

Sunk and countersunk

As you might've guessed, I finished my adventure in Erinsborough last week. I've now had seven days away from the heady world of network TV.

There's been tears. Sorrow. Tinges of despair. And, for a change, wailing.

I lie, I haven't cried once. It was all too weird this time around, and until I figure out an intellectual explanation the emotional disappointment isn't quite so cutting. It just remains a huge WTF hovering in my recent past.

The universe is being kind. Little lessons are appearing everywhere, providing an infrastructure of regrowth and evolution. I don't have a job yet, but I'm feeling better about the current abyss.

I'll try to write here more. The adventure gets good now.

No Joking

I'm now three weeks into my four-week reprise tenure as a trainee storyliner on Neighbours and ... good grief ... I'm awful. Worse than just being bad, I find I'm totally humourless. How does that happen to a person?

I used to be witty and sly and irreverent. Didn't I? Fuck, I hope I did. It seems so difficult to remember the jaunt in my step and the song in my heart. In so many ways my life is wonderfully, gloriously happy, and yet ... I'm just a big dour blob at work. I don't know what to do.

Imagining people naked is not good. I'm imagining some people there naked the whole time and it's not relaxing me.

Being happy there lasts me about ten minutes, 'til that thing (whatever it is) grinds me down again.

I can't really complain about the environment there either. Okay, I lie, of course I could complain. But there's nothing to be gained from that. The Neighbours story community has as many positives as negatives, so it's my fault if I get bogged down by the blues. Blaugh.

So I have one week left to lighten up and be brilliant. Tips welcome.

Found

How awesome is Lost right now? Season 4 is zooming along like a fine automobile after its first three episodes, and - bonus - we're getting them just a few days after the US. The best bit of that is the chance to theorise with world. Lost is all about idle speculation, and the wub is the perfect forum for that kind of fun.

I don't know how I lived before I found Lostpedia, but if you want to see the funny side you've gotta visit Ack. Her recaps are almost as good as the show itself. It's a nice world we've made for ourselves here.

Still here ...

Two weeks until I return to Neighbours. Hello weird other universe.

In this particular universe, I had the pleasure of witnessing the arrival of my daughter Drusilla Selene three weeks ago. Random adjectives both predictable and accurate: gorgeous, divine, sublime, profound.

Other things:
- glad the Writers Strike is over, although I hope the outcome is more in line with Howard Gould and less with Harlan Ellison.
- nice work, Giants, wish it could've been my Seahawks.
- new Malkmus album comes with great offer on-line.
- if you're white, middle-class and open-minded, was it enough to simply applaud Kevin Rudd's monumental apology, or did you actually need to cry too? And carry a supportive sign around town? The criers scare me a little more than the ... okay, no-one scares me as much as the Liberals. But still.
- welcome to a world where you get the pleasure of Freak Angels for free. Bask.
- I trust you're watching Skins (SBS, Monday 10pm), the best show out of the UK in ... oh ... forever.
- heard Prince's Purple Rain in a hardware store the other day and had tingles for the whole seven minutes. Yes, I'm a SAD OLD MAN.
- writing is good ... magickal ... critical. Please remind me when I start to question the point of it all.

Still breathing

I'm on a ten-week break from Neighbours for personal reasons, back in the first week of March. They're giving me one month to prove my worth ... the Ides of March, as it were.

As I won't have interesting TV-world updates until then, I probably won't be adding much here (as you might've noticed). If I think of anything I'll let you know. If you think of anything, pester me through Facebook (or email me ... wow, do I sound like a Luddite or what?!).

If you need something to obsess about, think GO SEAHAWKS!