My Latent Troubles

CHAPTER 29
The Journey Begins - The Other Leg - The Joys of Cribbige with a "d" - 24601 - The Long Signature - Tommorrow we'll do the Jay's - Endings

Bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce...

"Forget Regret, or life is your's to miss!" (Lease Rent) Well, it's been a while. But back I am indeed. I have spent the last while traveling to far off and sometimes distant landes (which is like 'lands', only more exotic). I have traversed and indeed travel'l'ed to the deepest reaches of the land known as Tencendor (a silly sounding name), wherin dwell the Acharites (another silly name) the Avar (silly) and the Icarii (silly silly). I travelled there for many a long while, and explored most (but not all) of that wonderful, yet strangely named) place.

But my travels were not over, oh no! After a brief pit stop, as it were, back at home, I was feeling like somewhere different. I had seen the exotic and beautiful land of Tencendor, and so felt that instead of travelling to another place, what if i travelled to the same place in a different trouser of time? So I went to a place where Adolf Hitler hadn't been born. I thought "what the heck. Let's just see what things would have been like!"... they were interesting. Gay's were against the law, blacks were still obscenely low class, someone else had risen to power in Germany and had succeded in not only killing all the Jews, but had taken over ALL of Europe (including England)! On the upside, cars were cleaner, computers shat all over our ones, cities were safer (especially New York) and Nickson hadn't resigned... All up, things were kinda crazy!

And then I came back to reality... Yes, those funny, witty, high jinx adventures were inside none other than a group of Novels! You see, gentle reader, I have had the 'misfortune' of having to quickly and rather unexpectedly move house. This has taken up a lot of my laboriously wasted time and turned me from a pitiful mouse of a creature, to an exhausted pitiful mouse of a creature. But fear not for either my health or sanity, as I shall say hale and whole, and my snaity is far gone (yes, my mind is indeed frazzaling and gesticulating wildly, even as we speak). Due to this constant state of exhaustion, I have of course been reduced to reading many many many many books well into the wee hours of the morning. I can't help it! Things are so drag-some that I have been reduced to mild attempts at escapism through literature and the occasional battle with the game Cribbige (or is that Cribbidge? Either way it is a fiendishly difficult game to play... so don't). Most of the second part of that last scentence was a lie. I just want to play Cribbidgdge, but can't, so I don't.

The world will end on the twenty-fourth of June, 3001. This is the message blasting forth from the Gates of the Pneumonic Monks' temple of Grand-(yet-inescapably-orange)-Design. It was originally ending in the year 2001, but when that passed and things didn't go quite as Kaput as they were hoping (things did go Kaput, but only registered as 3.4 on the K-Scale) they sheepishly re-worked the calculations, then repainted the sign above their opaque welcome mat. How do I know this, you ask ponderously? Well, gentle reader (or 'read-ess' for all you politically correct femenenenists out there), the story is a short yet time consuming one, and it started in Joe's Garage... or rather in my father's garage (who is not called Joe)...

I was looking for something. I don't remember what because my Dad had told me to look for it, and like most things my father tells me, I soon forgot about it. Stumbling around in this Labrynth of car parts, boat parts, bike parts, scrap, scum, nuts, bolts, blowers, busters, screws, seats, chairs, parts, pipes, flues, 'fings', crates, boxes and other miscellaneous junk/stuff/fings ('things', but pronnounced differently) that clutter up his bizzare creative space, I came accross something so bizzare and wonderful that it out shone all others in the room. It was a knot board. Now I hear you ask (in the same way I always hear such voices ask), "What is a knot board, and why is this particular one so special?" Well, gentle and frequently understated reader, a knot board is made when one is in Scouts. As a scout (or sailor) you use knots a lot. So you have a board of them should you forget what they look like or how to form them. This particual knot board was mine. It was from 1998. Now the astounding thing is what I saw on the back. I turned it over and right there on the back was my signature, preactically unchanged from what I have now... I have had the same signature since I was eleven, if not before, but definately since then! Well, at least I'm consistent.

Now you are pondering, quite possibly aloud by now and if not then I encourage you to do so, what that has to do with a bunch of Monks. The answer, genteele reader, is quite simply 'nothing'. The monks and the garage are two separate things, which I suggested were conjoined to enforce your continued reading. Well done, have a biscuit. Ultimately, you may choose to believe however much of this you wish. Some of it is fanciful, some true. Some of the fancies are dressed up as truths, and some of the truths are dressed up as Goths fancies. Take it or leave it, it's all in the mind, you know...

An old favourite, the 'hidden' things...

1. The Road goes ever on and on - was going to be the alternative for "the Journey begins".. oh well...

2. Trousers of Time - like the title thins, it's a Pratchett saying.

3. Cribbidge - Stephano (Count Olaf in disguise) played by Jim Carrey, in "A Series Of Unfortunate Events", mentions this several times in the special features of the DVD and once in the background on the movie.

4. The pic is from Don't Hold back by the Potbelleez. Good song.

5. Tencendor is from the Axis Trilogy by Sarah Douglass. The non-hitler world is Stephen Fry's Making History.

6. The monks are from my head... sometimes my brain dones strange things. That whole apragraph was merely to do the eld of the world thing, which is 24/6/01, ie 24601 JeanValJean's prisoner number.

7. Joe's Garage is a really good song by Frank Zappa.

8. well, at least I'm consistent - whenever I have revealed this to someone (Glenn, dad, whomever) I have always said "God I'm boring" to which they have replied varients of "well, at least you're consistant." hence the mentioning it there.

9. well done, have a biscuit - this is from Bill Bailey's stand up show Part Troll, refering to Bush's idiocity. Also, "Tommorrow we'll do the Jays" is from that too. Also, I call biscombe biscuit...

10. It's all in the mind you know - this is a favourite saying of the Goons, especially from one of their episodes (I think it may [or may not] have been "The Silent Bugle-er").

11. The quote at the start is from Rent. THere is a struck out "Lease" there, which is the 'pay-out' version of Rent in "Team America"

Thanks for watching, see you when I see you!

Ambiguous Fridge and the Magnet of Shoebox!

CHAPTER 28
Drunk - The return of Sherlock Holmes - Light yet serious - Good night to all, and to all a good... wait, that's not right...

And the continuity continues!

"Hey, It's Sherlock Holmes!" (Some Random Geelong-ian) This is something that I heard tonight a lot. After some careful deliberation, I decided to go out tonight. Abandoning all prejudices and pre-conceptions, I threw cation to the wind and decided to go out with Glenn tonight. He invited me, I went. I am now at his place, typing because it is better than attempting to sleep with the world revolving right before my eyes. Also, I am ever so slightly drunk, and for that I apologise.

I felt the need to "hang" tonight, as I did not feel happy with the long separation from my friends. Now, those who know me know I am not the "clubbing" type, but tonight was an exception , and what an exception is was! Not only did I run into a childhood friend (whom I recognised right away, but who took a second chance encounter to recognise me) but I went to Bended, then lamies (shut) then 4play (steel capped boots not allowed.. but i think it's cause glenn looked drunk), then home house (glenn to drunk to go in) then room99 (in which I danced!!!) then eureka (which I swore never to go into, but it wasn't that bad. met eve and her bf whom filmed her pashing some other chic)... Met Eve, and Glenn (old friend) and Paige and a heap of people. I was wearing a white shirt, horrid looking tie (which eve told me to wear over my vest) a cream/mustard yellow vest, one of those "olden days" hats (the ones you see old people wearing or in old films the kids wear them), and a brown trenchcoat type thingy. It was individual and no mistake.

I had a ball, and Glenn had quite a time also. But he sombered (not sobered) up, and so I took him home, which is where I am now, his home. I am slightly not sober still (even though I was legal to drive him home... go figure :P ) and so, in conclusion, I have had a good night, I have hiccups that will not go away, I am still "tipsy" (even tho I am "sober") and I think I need a good nights sleep as I appear to be solely responsible for packing up Bally for the move to Werribee, as everyone else in the 'family' is working or schooling... Speaking of which, I need to get home to pack then pick up kris then paint the werib house then drive home... eep!

Drunken ramblings over... yay! Night was good. yay! havent had so much fun in ages! thanks francis! also, needed that escape from reality and the gentle reminder that so long as I am willing to "get down and boogey" my friends will be willing to party with me... yay for tonight! gonna go to sleep! hope I don't throw up... only time will tell :P ...

Is there anybody out there feeling something?

CHAPTER 27
After a long rest - It's really over - Life get's the better of MT - Damn it!

Aaaand we're back!

"Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority." (The Doctor, in "The Wheel in Space") For me this is always a fun argument. Logic can only get you so far, because if you are arguing logically you are assuming that the other person will also argue logically or will listen to your arguments and not just keep harping on at their own. But I digress...

It's been a while, oh yes indeed. I feel as though a great weight is about to settle onto my shoulders and there is nothing much I can do about it. The Mikado is over. So over, in fact, that I shall not even grace it's presence with a {gong}. Sad, I know, but true. Oh, there will be a fleeting moment of happiness that is the celebrated "viewing" but after that reality shall rudely awaken once more and begin again it's ever ominous onslaught. I am strongly disliking so-called 'life' at the moment. I feel distanced and detached from all my friends. A large part of this is the whole living in the middle of nowhere without internet or phone reception. Also, we are moving house again, and by we I mean my parents who have guilt tripped my into helping again, not that I mind, but I would like to use my ONE free weekend to do something else besides that. I am dreading going back to my "other" work here (ie Coffee Shop) as Mr Singer aka the Russian shall be making my life miserable there. I need a new job and I need it NOW! The music prac one, which is where I get to play with this computer, is not very well paid. I feel listless and restless and yet can't seem to "go" anywhere. The feeling of wanting to skip a few months of my life is getting stronger.

I recently discovered the "spending an hour writing an sms to someone only to delete it unsent" Dilemma. Of course, mine was of a different sort. I was reading about this aforementioned dilemma when I was visited by the "I want to call but it will ammount to nothing and I still have to go back to boring home to be boring and bored" dilemma, or something like that. I was seriously considering called a friend of mine, but in the end decided it would be futile.

I think I am unhappy with "home" partly because whenever I end up there I'm always left with a list of things to do. I know that everyone else is working or schooling and probably "do their bit" both there and at the other house, but it feels like I'm the only one who's doing anything merely because they know I'm there and not doing anything else "productive". I know this is all self-something ranting and I shouldn't do it (indeed, it is beneath me. I am too intelligent to sink to such foolish delusions) but I can't help it. For now, emotions hold sway and they are not good ones... I want out.

I am tired. I want to hide, but no-one is letting me. I fear I shall soon decend into the straight-black-hair poetry-writing whiny gits (ie emo's) style of emotional bitching. I know I should stop complaining and DO something to better my circumstances, but there seems to be some internall workings of my head that is stopping this from happening. It's like my brain wants me to succeed in destroying my life and making me miserable... I seem to be sounding like a petulant child now... great.

Ah, well. All this moping aside, work draws to a close. No one turned up for music prac as they all had some muck up/pay out night or something. But that means I get paid to sit here and listen to "Don't hold back" and "Fitter Happier" and "Heart's a mess" (and "Aqua's Barbie Girl" but don't tell anyone about that one)... but not paid much. Good night, sweet dreams, and call me on my home phone so I don't prematurely bore myself to death...
We're moving house...

more blogthings

I swear I'm not obsessed... Blogthings seem to have taken over my life for the moment... God these are fun!

• I could definitely be a vampire.

• I am from mercury.

• If you were born in 2893... Your name would be Aki Vuis and you would be a time traveler (sweet!).

• you are 80% a sociopath "The good news is that you're devastatingly charming. The bad news? You mostly use those charms for evil!".

• your brain is 73% female and 27% male.

• 84% movie buff.

• I'm not normal but I mostly keep my weirdness for myself.

• In 1920 I would be called Wardell Oakley and in 1950 I would be called Glenn Marvin (I like the 50s name better!)!

• 40% emo (introspective, but not to the point of driving yourself crazy).

• In the worlds shortest personality test I chose the pic of the blue wavy stuff, which said "You are dependable, popular, and observant. Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness. In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do. You are unique, creative, and expressive. You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while. And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!"

• How Feminine are you? You can hang with the Guys and Girls. You've struck a good balance between girlie and laid back. You can keep it casual but when you dress up, you are as girly as the next girl.

• What sexual orientation are you? You are Gay! In your opinion, there's nothing sexier than your own sex. There's definitely nothing straight about you!

• I am 70% wrathfull!

• My family is dysfunctional :P

• The Gay childhood icon I am is... "The Very Gay Bert and Ernie! Two grown puppets living together, sleeping in the same room? They've even got coordinating striped shirts!"

• In high school I was "The arty drama kid" AND "The Brainy nerd kid"...

• I am 100% Bipolar (God Damn IT!)

• Kissing Purity score of 86% during high school, 46% now"You're not one to kiss and tell... But word is, you kiss pretty well."

• My Drag Queen name is Helena Handbasket (lol!)

• I should get an abstract tattoo

• I am 76% a gentleman!

• 68% pure " You're pretty pure, and you have no plans on changing that. You do have a devilish side though... and it will probably get the better of you."

• I failed 8th Grade Math

• Your blog should be green

• I am TOTALLY ANAL RETENTIVE!

• I make a Great Social Impression "You can handle almost any social situation with grace, even the tricky ones. Strangers often find you charming and interesting. You are often remembered fondly. Even if you're not naturally outgoing, you can make conversation with anyone if you need to. Whether you were born this way or had to work to get here, you are definitely charismatic. You're popular and well liked. People definitely look forward to being around you. Your social connections bring you a full and rich life. You understand how important it is to make a lasting impression."
  

• My life is 65% off track. I am living the wrong life.

• Your Geek Profile:

Academic Geekiness: Highest
Fashion Geekiness: Highest
Gamer Geekiness: Highest
Movie Geekiness: Highest
SciFi Geekiness: Highest
Geekiness in Love: High
Internet Geekiness: High
General Geekiness: Moderate
Music Geekiness: Low

• I should paint my room purple! (wow, first my fav coulor is pruple, then I am dark pruppley, now this!)

• I was nice this year!

• I failed the US citizen test (my answer to most of the questions was "Who Cares?")

• I am very happy being single

• I am addicted (but not totally dependant) on Blogthings (the site these come from www.blogthings.com)

Fun FUn FUn FUN FUN FUN FUNF UN FUN FUNF~

I promise, I'll get a life soon... Now, off to the FINAL show of the Mikado! {gong} Wish me luck! (and a guild) :P

Still Up... oops!

Ok, so I said I'd go to bed, but I was reading this and decided to take the test... twice. The first time was for what I would enjoy doing if things were 'normal' and the second time I took it for how I'm feeling right now. The first one called me severely introverted (no surprises there) and the second one said I was extroverted with a strong introversion streak... This got me interested in all the other crazy quizzes and so I started quizzing....

I am 80% gemini, I have a slight crush (which may be due to a recent break up of mine), I am the Charmer when it comes to "seduction", I REALLY need therapy, I may be extremely depressed ATM (go figure), I am a horrible friend (re-take that one! ...), I am a funny friend (much better), I am not sexy but am interesting to be around, I am very stressed. I am a creative problem solving person. I am a creative cheeky (problem solving) muse, I have low self esteem 100% of the time, I am a GREAT liar (hmmm), Borderline Personality Disorder (basically, OBSCENELY Bi-Polar), 30% Gross, 60% jealous, Kissing Grade A minus, I am DARK PURPLE (what purple are you? quiz), I am a Drama Princess, He is prettier than me, 93% manic, my inner gender is female. My Personality is Very Rare (INFP)....

It's kinda scary that of all the tests I took MOST of them were an approximation of how I view myself at the moment. It was an interesting thing, to take a bunch of random non-connected tests and then step back and look at all the answers as a whole, they somehow manage to sum me up in interesting and sometimes surprising and scary ways. The tests really do work!

I don't know whether I'm just looking for stuff to "get me right" as it were (like when you SEE things that match up with your life in your star sign or see the number 23 everywhere merely because you are looking for it) but some of these things are quite close to what I thought, and lead to some interesting and scary and even surprising conclusions at times. I know myself pretty well in some areas but was completely off the mark in others... Anywho, I strongly suggest you have a look at the quizzes, I found them quite 'good'.

Who's the President of Canada?

A (small) break in continuity!

"Evil is the new love." (Richard) which holds no bearing on any comments I wish to say today but is a fun quote nonetheless! Tonight shall be a short post as I have a whole lot of sleeping to do!

Tonight reeked of penultimate.... it was the penultimate show, the penultimate pizza land supper and quite possibly the penultimate get together of the delightful crew I have been hanging with. I fear all this will soon come to an end. For most of this stuff, like pizza land and the show, that is to be expected. But one thing that is really quite bothering me is that last bit, about not hanging...

I'm not sure what it is, but in the last little while I have become decidedly less of a traditional introvert. I actually disliked it the other day when people didn't go out and all went to their boring homes for boring sleep-before-work or boring studying. Partly this is because I wanted to go out and was so used to Glenn dragging us off to some place for hours of fun meaningless chatter about life the universe and everything. But I fear it is mainly internal reasonings of which I am even hesitant to write of. But write of them I shall (as soon as I remember what they were... I got distracted and forgot... just hang in there... ah yes!)

I think I am hiding. I fear commitment, be it to a job or a lifestyle or whatever, but I really really don't want to go near it. Specifically I seem to fear the commitment to work, or at least to look for work. I don't want to look for work. I don't mind working as such, indeed in many cases I quite enjoy it, but the whole rigmarole of looking for a job from hunting the web/paper to calling to interviewing to filling out forms to emailing a CV, it makes me ill. I feel physically (and mentally) ill just from attempting any of these things. I dislike it. And yes, I used the Mikado to hide from this, merely because it was a logical step. I had just had a bizarre and rather painful break-up and to cope with the emotional ramifications went and hid inside the craziness of a show (I hadn't originally wanted to do the Mikado{gong} but am sooo glad I have! It's brilliant!), so it was an easy step to then hide from seeking a job in the show. I have therefore latched on to a type of crazy "out there" semi-extroversion that I otherwise would steer clear of in order to ignore the greater part of my life. I probably shouldn't, but I am.

Unfortunately, the show is coming to an end, and I don't feel emotionally ready to face the real world again. I still need time to hide. I still can't look for a job, I still need money, I still need time away from people associated with BBFFDDD as I so lovingly call my ex (roughly translated it reads "ExplixativeA, ExplixativeA, ExplixativeB Face, Die Die Die!") and I need to go have fun and feel like you did at school, where you did "stuff" and "things" but you didn't affect the real world and it stayed the hell away from you!

I want to just skip a huge chunk of my life and come back to it later when it's stopped being so damn painful! I mean, yeah ok this last while's been fun. But that's almost over. And nothing was solved or fixed or anything. Stuff still sucks! And I can't ignore it, but I can't happily solve it. I hate things. I dislike feeling helpless and hurt and alone. I'm feeling ever so slightly depressed now (well done moron!), so I'm going to sleep and shall see you all bright and cheerful and all yay-nothing-is-wrong-with-life-wooo-hooo! so go me! I'm the crazy friendly one whom we all love to be around cause God Damn he's wacky! Ok, I am so done bitching about my crap. Good night.

1. Title: Steve Carell was on David Letterman's show and he was talking about Hockey or Ice Hockey or something and he was talking about getting hit as a Goalie and how the other goalie's dad ran up to him and was asking DIFFICULT questions which he couldn't answer (which meant that they thought he had concussion)!
2. there are more I think but cant be botherd. night all.

Ebb and Flow

CHAPTER 26
The Story So Far (again) - Beach Beauties - Bam! and the dirttyre is gone! - Empty carparks, empty spaces - Just so you know I hid something...

There is such a thing as taking it too far...

"I never make stupid mistakes. Only very, very clever ones." (The Doctor) and what a mistake I made today! Not that it was a mistake, more a set of circumstances, but they were fun ones! When we last parted, I was heading off to bed for less than two hours sleep. Just a qhick backtrack, that evening we had gone out to see Hairspray... well, we had gone out to see Resident Evil 4, but we missed it by 15 minutes. We then decided to hang out at Pizza Land and proceded to move back to Reading to watch Hairspray. This ended with me going back to Glenn's to Blog out in style... And so the story continues....

I was woken up by Glenn at not 6.00am, as he had decided to let me sleep in. It was early in the afternoon and he wanted to go to the beach. I moaned consent to his whim-and-a-half and slowly climbed out of bed. I must make it clear that I was in no way equipt to go to the beach. The day was the first summery day of summer, so we drove down to the beach. I wore my brothers blue top and my work pants. We left my shoes (and glenns shirt) at the steps and went into the water. It was FREEZING but oh so delicious, for I hadn't been to the beach in an age. Then we walked back to the car, got sunscreen and alcamahol and proceeded to walk on the beach again. When stopping for icecream two things happened. My feet decided to become ultra-sensitive and so the walk to the icecream shop became painful and painfully slow, and the sun went away, so Glenn was freezing. We made it back to the car, and then Glenn dropped me off at my car. The beach was good.

Now, the other interesting thing that happened was that I then headed out to GGS to say hi to mum. On the way there, just outside the mill markets, my rear-right tyre blew up. This is the "mistake" as dad had previously mentioned that the tread on that wheel was crappy, but it would do, so I left it. Now, I had a HUGE truck up my ass and had no idea what had happened. The car all of a sudden lost a heap of traction and a crazy thunking happened. I flung on my hazard lights and headed for the clear space next to the train tracks across the road from Pilkingtons. I then procceded to rummage through my boot and find the spare tyre and jack. I jacked up my car and stuck on the spare, and went to say hi to mum. I speak of this in a light tone now, but it was a really scary thing at the time. I had never changed a tyre on my own before (I had done it before, but not alone) and so it took a while to jack it up and change the tyre. The dead one was in tatters, the rubber had ripped itself to shreds! Mum bought me a new one because my spare has a hole in it or something and so isnt really safe. Thanks mum.

Going to be going to Resident Evil tommorrow, will see everyone then. Then on Wednesday I'm going to meet up with Biscuit for the play's send up... hope that goes well, then that night I'm working again... and that's life!

The odd hidden thing....
1. Bam and the tyre is gone, is a pay out of that cleaning product: Bam! and the dirt is gone!
2. empty carparks.... this is a copy of les mis "empty chairs at empty tables" and it was what Glenn and I were thinking of doing as a TAC add or something :P . Also, it is about the fact that the carpark will be empty as I have a life ie not just parking and letting the traffic go past me kind of metaphor.... meh.

Dark side of the Rainbow

CHAPTER 25

The Missing Song - Title Explained - The Hollow ManFriend - The Town of Titipu - Meiosis at work - Crashing (counting sheep) - A few explanations

My continuity shall be my undoing...

"And so,/ Although/ I'm ready to go,/ Yet recollect/ 'Twere disrespect/ Did I neglect/ To thus effect/ This aim direct,/ So I object" and object I do! Although quite happy with how the Mikado {gong} is going (something I'm going to extrapolate on a tad later) I have a 'pet peeve' which many of my nearest friends (and other people who happened to be near me at the same time) will know by heart, and it is this: While it is true that the show lagged somewhat in the second act, and that Simon Galahad-her had 'vamped' it up a bit, I believe the wrong songs were cut. Our Director, who by-and-large is a great guy and quite a comedian with a firm grasp of characterization and visual pun, cut out The Criminal Cried (one of my favourite songs) and left in The Sun Who's Rays, which is a song I'd put on par with Katisha's [cut] song (nice, but slow and it puts me to sleep). And Mr esSGee cut out half of the patter song (the better half) I am so Proud! I could go on, but it would be pointless, as the songs aren't in the show and that's that...

In the Green Room the other day The Mikado{gong} (whom I shall refer to as Biscuit, which is a parody of his nickname) was talking.... a lot. He's quite a funny character and has a lovely sense of humor which is really refreshing if you're having a bad day. Biscuit was telling the few of us there that he was a Pink Floyd fan and as such had come across the Pink Floyd synchronicity. Biscuit went on to explain that (apparently) if watching the Wizard of Oz (good ol' Judy Garland) you have Dark Side of the Moon on pause and un-pause it when the MGM lion roars for the third time near the beginning and the two synchronize crazily! dum-dum-dum! I then thought of the catchy title Dark side of the Rainbow (and was quite happy with myself), which is of course an amalgamation of the names of these materials. Then I found out that this title is a well known phrase used in connection with this whole synchronicity thingy... bother.

I have had a few conversations with Francis recently (who is also known as Glenn, but not Biscuit) and within them a reoccurring theme has appeared. As is my wont, I have mentioned in passing a 'group' of friends in Melbourne (mainly two of them, Nick & Dani) and my activities with and around them. Glenn has taken it into his head that somehow I have created these characters in my head, and therefore they do not exist. This is a lie. They are as real as Euarro's Friend or Scary-Irish-Priest if not real-er! But Glenn demands that they do not exist, which has led to some very interesting conversations and interjections on his behalf. I feel that he may be pleasantly surprised when I point out my friends to him (at a distance) when they come to see the show on Saturday...

The Mikado{gong} is going well, as I said before. We had the final Dress Rehearsal on Thursday, and it went well... After a few shaky starts with lines still a bit not-quite-there throughout the week I really churned through it over and over and it started to come together. The space was huge compared to last time I worked in the Ford (there was a giant castle interior taking up most of the space... not that I got a chance to use the castle... stupid village...) and I had a bit of difficulty fonding my way around and getting into places that didn't feel like I was six hundred miles away from the audience.... By opening night I felt ready for anything... There were the odd lines mixed up and the odd thing that didn't do what it was meant to do, but all up it went well. I had survived an audience! There was even a [sole] response to my line "Yes, it's quite usual, isn't it?" (we later found out that the voice was my mum, bless her Irish heart, so we applauded her over the phone!). Then came the crunch. Saturday was a double set of shows, with one on nice and early and then a later show a few hours later. We were there from 11am 'till 10.30pm... It was crazy... I was still feeling shaky so I went over my first few lines of my first song... and again... and again... and again... then went on stage and promptly forgot them! This caused me to end my little song several bars before the band (an occurrence which I blamed on the inability of the ensemble to remember my instructions. A re-occurring theme already in place in that song during their windmill 'dance')! Thankfully this somehow didn't phase me and I managed to deliver My Little List without flaw, and the rest of the play flowed on... My memories of the second performance of the day are as follows - I didn't mess up my opening number & someone misplaced my handbag so I was unable to 'hide' my phone during the mega-mix. Also, Glenn messed up some of his character's titles, so I had to remember what he'd improv'd and "tax bloke" is what came out... That's it. I don't really remember anything much other than that.

People have accused me of undermining my acting ability or understating my situation, a sort of introspective meiosis if you will, and in some ways i guess they are right. I haven't held my 'ability' as anything exciting and still don't really. I wasn't even considering going for B&B until Dani practically through me across a train because me saying I couldn't act was BS (an occurrence which Glenn says never happened). I don't even know what I did during the performances that was funny. Oh, there are the odd things that were originally in there like the snot joke or the darth vader, which will always get a laugh. But the improvisation stuff I don't remember. People keep saying "OH, that thing you did in ActII was brilliant!" and I have no idea what they are talking about. For me, the comedy and improv is all 'of the moment'. I didn't even realise I had milked the snot joke more than usual during the second performance. But apparently I did. I just go out there and play the character and what happens happens. Bah!

So anywho, it's late, and Glenn is waking me up in less than 2 hours to go to some family thing, farewelling someone at some place, but I may give it a miss (as much as I don't want to). I am stuffed, and have work tomorrow. I probably should have gone to bed earlier, but I wanted to write this up, and it kinda sucked my brain out of my head... I swear I trailed through hundreds of pages on Synchronicity and Mikado{gong} lyric pages... My head is trying to kill me...

The 'explanations':
1. 'bother' at the end of the "title explained" paragraph... It's partly genuine feelings of bother towards other people stealing my ideas before I think them, and partly from Ron in PotterPuppetPals... silly Ron.
2. The {gong} after the word Mikado{gong} is reference to the play, where every time that word is mentioned it is followed by a gong noise.
3. good night.

Would you kindly read this post

CHAPTER 24

WARNING: May contain spoilerz! (Adam on a Cloud) - Mikado Mikadon't - Broke your parole? (The Playschool Code) - Moctober & Hair=cool - That's a wrap (the nearly final paragraph) - Not so hidden meanings... again

Continuing the style from the other day...

"There's a fascination frantic with a ruin that's romantic." Well, this is certainly correct when the world of ruined Rapture is concerned! I have recently, and at the same time not so recently, abdicated from my senses and invested in a copy of Bioshock. This is nothing strange, except that I don't own a XBox 360. But, Nick my friend does, and he is quite willing for me to use his console to house my game. SO in awe I was of this unique game that I was compelled to buy it, and would urge you all to do the same. At first glance it is your run of the mill FPS (Fairly Pathetic Storyline or more accurately First Person Shooter) but it quickly reveals itself to be far more than this... and that's just in the demo! The world of Rapture is an underwater city built in our 1920's, but when our story starts it's the 1950's and the city is ill kept and not quite right... I love the whole thing, but if I had to choose I'd say my favourite part of this game would have to be the story telling. Part of it is in the linear way the character moves through the game, part through your interaction with characters and other AI in the game , but the largest part is (in my opinion) in Audio Devices which you can pick up and listen to while in the game. If you don't grab them, then the story is bland and uninteresting (and makes very little sense) but if you hunt and find and listen, then the true richness of the world of Rapture as it is and was is truly unfolded, and that is the magic of it. If you want the story you can get it, but if you don't you can skip huge parts of it. The game is about choice (be it the choice to listen or run-through, kill or save, destroy to heal or pay to be healed another day), but ultimately it is about a rich world, and the way the creators impart this world and story... God I love it!!!

The Mikado will soon go to 'air' as the audiences come in! It is shaping up to be a brilliant show, but it needs more audiences. They will be good but we want great! So would you kindly book tickets to the Mikado and come see it! Tonight was our second night running the show in the Ford Theatre at GPAC (if you can't trust GPAC who can you trust!?) and for me it was a very good run. I only really messed up once and for most of it was really on top of the thing and just had fun with it... but I need to now remember WHAT I did that was great!! I know there was stuff that was funny that I added in just that night, but I can't for the life of me remember what it all was! Oh well, hopefully everyone else does what they did so that when the time comes I shall remember what I did and do it again!

Les Mis is still on my brain (and in my ears right now! Thank-you 10th anniversary CD!) and looks to be that way for a while yet! After listening to a couple of other versions I really think that the 10th anniversary English one really is the best I have seen. Philip Quast was stunning as Javert... Hell, they were all brilliant! Apart from Eponine mixing her accents the damned thing was flawless! I love Les Mis...

I am currently wearing a mustache and it's driving me insane! I am hoping that I can get rid of it as soon as the Mikado is over, which means that around the time I shave off the facial hair Glenn will be shaving off (or just cutting) his celebrated dreads. I think if he keeps his facial hair and straightens whatever hair is left it will look quite fetching, but he is having deep psychological battles of the "inner" variety over how this will affect his "coolness" and "awesomeness" and "smecksy-ness" and "golf swing, especially on those 3par courses you know"..... but I think he's just making stuff up!

So after all that, if you've read this far (not that I think anyone but me reads these anymore... oh well, PROVE ME WRONG!) then thanks a bundle! Now, I have to head to bed as it is late and I need to sleep, or so I'm told. So would you kindly comment on this and previous posts, and I'll see you all at the Mikado!

More explanations of stuff that the writer has subtly put in this blog post.....
1. Still using the Pratchett-like manner of writing, and each title is kinda linked to each paragraph...
-WARNING: May contain spoilerz! (Adam on a Cloud) Paying out my own title of this blog (warning that there may be Bioshock spoilers in the corresponding paragraph). AND Castle on a cloud is a song from Les Mis. AND it is sung by a small girl so I drew a comparison between her and the little sisters from Bioshock and Adam is the stuff these girls harvest from the dead.
- Mikado Mikadon't Here is a play on the Play Mikado by G&S AND the "We Can Be Heroes" character Ricky Wong's song "Indigeridoo", the lyrics of which are kinda 'similar'...
- Broke your parole? (The Playschool Code) Phillip is in Le Mis. He was in Playschool. So the parole thing is related to his character in lemis and the PScode is part Playschool hint and part pay-out of DaVinci Code...
- Moctober & Hair=cool This is about my moustache, and a play on the fact that it is October (not November, which is when the celebrated MOvember is on....). Hair=cool is the thingy about Glenn......
- That's a wrap (the nearly final paragraph) This one is merely because it is the last-but-one... I was gonna call it the Penultimate Paragraph, parodying the line from Monty Python's 'The Pope and Michaelangelo' skit, "we'll call it the Penultimate Supper...". But for some reason I didn't choose that as the under-heading-heading... meh.
Not so hidden meanings... again This 'paragraph'.
2. Would You Kindly - This is a phrase that my favourite character in Bioshock uses. Atlas is a lovely Irish man who, being Irish, says this. He is great! (PS, there is a DEEPER meaning, but it spoils the plot, so shh MT, shhh!) You can find it throughout this Blog post... Those of you who know the DEEPER meaning will realize why I used it where I did!
3. "There's a fascination..." It's a line of mine from a song in Mikado. I chose it merely because it kinda can be applied to Bioshock, which is a ruin of a city but still holds the ghost of the romantic feeling it once held.
4. Fairly Pathetic Story - FPS's are renowned for having next to no story, so its kinda a lame insider joke... meh.
5. Le Mis reference - I recently played the Wii Zelda game "Twilight Princess" and called my hero JonV.Jon (the original name was Link, but re-named a misspelling of Jean Valjean) and my horse was called Eponine (Epona was the original name, which is pretty close!)... I'm not obsessed I swear!

And Old Joke (via email)

An Old Joke

A strikingly handsome young man walked into the office of a Hollywood agent with his resume and portfolio in hand. The agent reviewed the young man's slim resume and small portfolio with the care that was deserving of his fine young specimen.

"You have the very obvious good looks and excellent demeanor of an actor. Tell me, have you had any roles that I might be aware of."

"Other than the requisite high school and college plays, no sir," said the handsome young man.

"I dare say I know the reason why, with a name like yours," said the agent.

"Sir?"

"Your name. Penis Van Lesbian. That's not a name that will go far in Hollywood. I'd love to represent you, but you'll have to change your name."

"Sir," the handsome young man protested.

"The Van Lesbian name was my father's, my grandfather's and his father's name. We have carried this name for generations and I will not change it for Hollywood or any other reason."

"If you won't change your name, I cannot represent you young man."

"Then I bid you farewell -- my name will not change." With that, Penis Van Lesbian left the agents office never to return.

Five Years Later: The Hollywood agent returned to his office after lunch with some producers and shuffled through his mail. Mostly junk mail, trade journals and the like. There was one letter. He opened the envelope and removed the letter. As he unfolded the fine linen paper, a check dropped from the folds and onto his desk. He looked at the check. It was for 50,000 dollars! He read the letter:

Dear Sir: Several years ago, I entered your office determined to become an actor. You refused to represent me unless I changed my name. I objected, saying the Penis Van Lesbian name had been carried for generations and left your office. However, upon leaving, I chanced to reconsider my hastiness and after considerable reflection, I decided to heed your advice and endeavored to change my name. Now I am a famous actor with many roles and known to millions worldwide.

Having achieved this fame and fortune, it is often that I think back to my meeting with you and your insistence that I change my name. I owe you a debt of gratitude, so please accept this check with my humble thanks, for it was your idea which has brought me to such wealth and fame.

Very Sincerely Yours,

Dick Van Dyke

4 days more!

CHAPTER 23

Feelings of nonreciprocating guilt - Le Mis. - Sidestepping cats of two professions. - Crashing through a barricade, the art of. - People seem to like me - Introspection aside, Mr Shneebly. - Looking behind the curtain.

So, It's been a while indeed since things unfolded in an unfolding way (as such things often do), not that these things were in any way interesting or noteworthy... but they were things, and they unfolded...

I awoke to a screaming in my head. This was, on the whole, not unusual as the previous day I had forced it to do some horrid things, but it was not pleasant. While attempting to dim the din I noticed the time on my watch. It was 8:something-something and I was late for bump in. Any normal person would have rushed up and out of bed by this stage, but true to style I was to be less (or more... it's hard to tell) than normal. Instead of a mad rush or dash, I merely sat up suddenly in a moment of realization of my lateness. Then, in an attempt to fix up one of my socks (I say my but the left one is mum's and is white, the right one is dad's and is gray), I did the dangerous thing of resting my eyes and... promptly woke up at 2:30pm that same day to a phone screaming WHERE ARE YOU? at my inner thigh. Oops.
I feel kinda guilty about that, but it happened and I really couldn't help it. I tried, I really did. But time kinda got away from me. I take my severe amount of sleepage as a deep seated NEED for sleep (ie I was really tired and sleep was a good thing, if ill timed) and therefore don't feel so bad. I'll need it for the show.

The other thing, or indeed one of the other things, that has been happening is I have finally managed to sit down and find out about the musical of all musicals, Le Mis. For too long that girl stared down from posters and refused to give me answers as to why she was so popular. I was sat in front of a TV and we watched the 10th anniversary concert (which was pretty damn good for a concert, feeling more like a play with the leads all in costumes and with Javert visibly aging as the play/show went on). It was, in a word, sublime. I really can understand the hype attached to this show. Now I want to see it live, or be in it... live.

I feel as though I have run my course, theatre wise, for now. After the Mikado finishes up in two weeks or so, I'm not touching theatre again until next year, where I'm going to attempt to get into The Producers. This means that I shall not be attempting to get into Cats. Which is a good thing in my opinion because (although I love the song Magical Mister Mestophalies) I really don't look good in a skintight lycra bodysuit built for a lithe, spring-in-his-step, sex demi-god to whom the role would naturally go to. Cats, for those of you not in the know, is a show based on poems about cats. So we get a glimpse of individual cat's lives and stories, without there being one overall story arc. This is an annoyance to many, but I believe it can be remedied with the simple addition of other (more)interesting cats. For example, Purr (my cat, or rather, my family's cat) walks out on stage. It is clear there is something not right. She is missing a lot of fur and seems to totter around as if she were drunk. The situation unfolds, through song, that her fur was becoming so clotted and clogged and burr-filled and bogged that her owners could no longer tame it. So in desperation the called for her hair to be clipped, and the vet had her drugged so she'd be easier when snipped. And all the mean while she staggers round the stage, lamenting the fact that she can't stand up straight! I'd pay to see someone slur their way through that scenario!

While I may be blogging like a master (chief) I am also thinking about important things. Things that have been torturing my very sole. I have sore feet. Toes, to be exact. Big toe on my right foot, to be painfully exact. I have tried ignoring the pain, erecting a pain barrier etc, but it keeps getting worse. Now, I doubt very strongly that it will ultimately result in anything worse than me having to cut the nail back and keep putting the good-for-you cream I've got into the painful areas on it. I'll have to do this because my feet are starting to smell dead. They have cleared the room. The smell seems to have a crafty way of doing this though. Instead of a full frontal assault, as most smells do, my foot smell disperses itself to the far reaches of the room and then proceeded to move inward, trapping any unwary persons in the room with no way of escaping it's foul odor. It slowly crushes their defenses and seeps past any barriers.... I really am not on good terms with my feet atm. We've even stopped talking on msn, that's how bad it's got!

Despite my more obvious failings and flaws, people seem to still like me (provided my shoes stay on!). Whether this is merely because I am a fun-to-be-around-but-not-an-actual-genuine-friend friend or because people do really and truly like me is something the cynic in me just wont stop contemplating. This is in no way a cry for help, reassure me I mean something kinda thing. This is merely that bastard of a voice in the back of my head that tells me nasty things to make me feel bad saying this. But I can't help but listen. For years I was not liked. For years I was tolerated. For a bit there I was more than tolerated (I was used [Harry Potter 3rd book from UK when it wasn't out in AUS yet = friend of all]) but then I went back to being tolerated. It kinda takes a while to get over that. Years of fringe sitting by myself without a friendship base OF ANY KIND never mind just a small one, has left me bitter and twisted inside. Yay! If Joss can create masterpieces from this state of mind then damn it so can I!

But I digress, I think... Oh, yes. Despite all this nagging and niggling that goes on in the inner turmoil, I am still enjoyed as a companion and fun-goer. But looking past all this inward thinking, I have got a bizarre few weeks ahead. With no work for the next few week due to the play, I've got very little in the way of ready cash. This means that very soon getting to the show from home will become difficult. Eeep! But I shall attempt to do it, then get to work, then find a better job, while at the same time look for a good agent and attempt to get into (then defer from) a uni course.... It's all too complicated at the moment and I just want to hide from it all until it's over. Like whats-her-face did in that movie when she magically grew up. I just want this next month to fly past and I'll come back to it later. Gah!


Now (as a final word in edge-ways to finish off this post), for those of you who are not savvy, or who cannot read my minds, here's a list of random happenstance and attempts at subtle allusions throughout today's humble postings....
1. "4 days more" is a rip from the Le Mis song "One day more" and also refers to the fact that in 4 days (or so) the Mikado goes to the audiences! And a continuity thing, with the previous post being a '6 days or so to go' thing.
2. Chapter 23 - a homage to the movie "The Number 23"
3. The setting up the top is a method used by Terry Pratchett in his latest two Discworld books Going Postal & Making Money. In them, at the beginning of chapters, he has a little list of what's going to happen in the course of the chapter and he sets it out like that. So each little section of story/paragraph is mentioned (even this one! "drawing aside the curtain" is this explanation)
4. "2:30pm" apart from being pretty damn near the actual time I really awoke, it's another 23 in the post.
5. "That Le Mis girl" is the one on all the posters and is always on the poster... just in case you didn't get that.
6. The Purr thing actually happened. My cat is a very furry cat. she got professionally clipped and they had to anesthetize her. She was funny (but very sick so we won't do it again).
7. Master (Chief) is a Halo reference, which for some reason always reminds me of Master and Commander... not sure how or why.
8. In the Chapter description - 'Crashing through the barricade' is a Le Mis reference. 'Mr Schneebly' is from School of Rock. 'looking behind the curtain' I think of the curtain in Wizard of Oz. In my mind it makes sense.