Science Fiction, Beloved Offspring, the Rafters, and Popularity

1. Dreamed that I'm playing a science fiction video game. There's a part where you have to find and use three keys. This leads to a character played by Julian McMahon.  I get to that point, and there's an option where you can watch an interview with McMahon. I consider doing this but decide to skip it.

I leave the game for a bit to hang out in the kitchen with various people. We wash dishes together. 

Then it changes a bit, and the game is more of a TV show that I've been watching in the den.

I go to check the TV and see that I forgot to pause my show. The show's been going on without me.  No, big deal. I can rewind it back when I need to.

Then I come back later and find some guy has turned my show off and is watching a game. I'm very angry at him for doing this. I think it's rude,  especially since he's in my house, and not his own. I'm very mean about the whole thing...and stubborn. 

I talk to someone about myself. I say I used to be like Hayley on Coronation Street—very kind, and always putting others before myself. But now I've changed, and I'm not like that anymore. 

Later I end up reading a book or magazine that has gossip about Julian McMahon. It says when he was on Charmed, he tried to get together with Alyssa Milano. When they were about to sleep together, he asked her questions about her ancestry. He wanted to know whether or not she was Italian. The assumption about his behavior is that he was seeking to create an heir since his father was once Prime Minister.  

2. Dreamed that I turn the TV to NBC and see that they have Wentworth playing. I'm happy to see a real Australian show on regular American television.

I also dreamed that I remember I have a V sweatshirt. I think that was inspired from the V T-shirt on Outland.

3. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.

I'm very glad that Tyler (Travis Burns) is coming clean about working for Dimato.

4. Liked Paul's (Stefan Dennis) advice to Terese (Rebekah Elmaloglou).

Terese snoops and  looks at Paige's (Olympia Valance) phone. She sees a text from Paige's brother, asking about Paige's quest to bring Lauren (Kate Kendall) and Brad (Kip Gamblin) back together as a couple.

Terese thinks she should tell Brad. Paul says he won't believe her. Why? Because it's hard for people to face negative aspects of their own children. Paul reminds Terese about her own reaction when her son (Harley Bonner) punched Chris (James Mason).

Paul says Paige will probably deny having a plot to break up Terese and Brad.  It's better to just keep quiet. Now that Terese knows what's going on, she can fight back in her own quiet, secretive way.

Paul also tells Terese that having a child together is not enough to make two people fall in love. He says he hardly speaks to the mother of his children.

5. Thought of my own experiences in life. When I don't like something about someone, I sometimes try to get other people to see what I see and agree with me. It never works—not when they're such huge fans of this person. I think they have to see it for themselves. If that never happens, so be it. But if I try to convince a fan of the person that the person they admire doesn't deserve to be on a pedestal; I think it just ends up making me look bad.

6. Ashamed and disgusted with Paige. Tyler has come forward and confessed his crimes. She could too, but instead she's keeping quiet.

7. Listened to Vance Joy's "Riptide" while exercising.

I really love that song. It's one of my favorites.

8. Started to watch season three of Packed to the Rafters.

I'm not really in the mood, to be honest.

It's nothing against the show. I'm just not feeling my best lately—kind of depressed and stressed.

I feel like the times when I have to go to a family thing. I know I had fun the last time I saw them, but I still dread it. I'm not excited to see anyone and would rather just be alone at home.

Usually, I end up having a good time. I end up feeling the love.

Maybe this will happen to me today.

Maybe the Rafter family will pull me out of my mood.

9. Started to enjoy my time with the Rafters. Getting a warm cozy feeling.

I think it's because I took a break from the show and did some exercising. That almost always helps to make my bad feelings fade.

10. Liked the scene with Cabo (George Houvardas) learning how to change a diaper. It was predictable but cute.

11. Felt stressed for Jake (James Stewart). He's had two seizures, but the doctors can't find any issues in his brain. Still, he's being advised not to drive or do dangerous work. Dangerous work includes climbing ladders, which Jake has to do for his job. Oh! And he can't play rugby.

He has to pretty much put his life on hold. If I understood things right, he needs to wait six months, and then he can consider himself in the clear.

12. Wondered if Jake will be able to stick to his restrictions. If he does, how will he feel after six months? Relieved? Tentative? Paranoid?

13. Thought about popularity, because of Facebook discussions on Packed to the Rafters and a hospice blog post about a well-populated memorial service.

In the blog post, the hospice doctor says,  I cried because I couldn't imagine a memorial service for me looking anything like the one for Rob. I cried because I couldn't imagine that twenty people, let alone two hundred, would give up an evening to say nice things about me. I cried because I couldn't imagine that my life, already a lot longer than Rob's, would ever have that kind of meaning and impact. I understood then that my patient's short life was telling me to live the rest of my own life better -- to be warmer, and more open-hearted, and more loving.

I have my doubts that a crowded funeral proves that someone was well-loved and worthier than a person who has a smaller funeral.  First of all, who goes to funerals?  It's not just those who love the deceased. It's also those who love the ones that loved the deceased; or they simply know a family member of the deceased and feel obligated to go.

Personally, I'd rather have a very tiny funeral with people who truly love me than a funeral with a crowd of people who hardly knew me.

As for Facebook. It's revealed that Cabo has close to a thousand Facebook friends. Though the years I've come to see that having a large number of friends and followers doesn't guarantee worthiness. It doesn't even necessarily indicate popularity. There are people who add hoards of people to their friends and followers list, knowing a large percentage will add them back. But not all will. I think the easy way to spot these friend hoarders is to find someone who is following around 500 or more people, but less people are following them.

14. Thought of one of my old blog posts I read recently. This was back when I was on Facebook. I had started a Facebook page for this blog. I saw, to my delight, that I was getting a fairly decent amount of "Fans". But then I quickly realized that these "fans" weren't actually visiting my blog.

And with these people who gather a lot of followers on Twitter; I think they're usually trying to promote something. Does having a thousand people on their followers list translate to selling more tickets, books, music, etc?  I doubt it.

15. Wondered about some of the T-shirts worn on this episode of Packed to the Rafters.



TWA is an American airline.

Cabo is wearing something called Bauhaus. This could refer to an art school in Germany or an English band of the 1970's.

Nathan (Angus McLaren) is wearing a shirt that says Cosmic Frontier.

The US government has a division called Cosmic Frontier.  The shirt might refer to that, but it looks more like a concert shirt.

16. Got a closer look at the shirt. The back says world tour 1982.

17. Could not find anything about a cosmic frontier world tour.

Maybe I've misread the front of the shirt?

18. Started watching another episode of Packed to the Rafters.

This episode is about breastfeeding problems. Julie Rafter (Rebecca Gibney) did fine breastfeeding her three older kids, but the new baby prefers the bottle.

19. Wondered if there are babies out there who happily take both breast or bottle.

Well, I'm sure there are.

Actually, I think most of my nieces and nephews were willing to do both.

20. Wondered how common it is for a baby to refuse the breast or bottle. And which is refused more often?

21. Glad to see that Rachel (Jessica Marais) is now getting along well with Jake's mother (Mercia Deane-Johns). They even went shopping together.

22. Liked that Rachel referenced Psycho when Jake was a bit overly worried about his mom being out all night with a man. Actually, though, even though I was amused by the comment; I think it was uncalled for.

Yes, it's probably odd for a grown man to worry about his mother's love life.  On the other hand, Jake lives with his mom. They're housemates. I think it's quite normal and safety-conscious for someone to worry if their housemate is out all night.

How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and it was easy for our dearly-departed to talk to us via the Internet?   

The Dead are Online, a novel by Dina Roberts 


 

23. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to listen to the 22nd song which is "Pittsburgh" by The Amity Affliction.

24. Wondered if Amity refers to the haunted house.

25. Remembered that Melissa George was in the Amityville Horror movie.

26. Watched the trailer for Amityville Horror.  I wonder if it's a remake of the 1970's movie or a sequel.

27. Realized that Amity is not the same word as Amityville. Maybe they're not related.

I think Amity, though, is where Jaws takes place.

28. Started to watch the video for "Pittsburgh"

29. Wondered if the song was heavy metal, because parts of it sound that way.

Or is that the right term? What's the style of music where it sounds like someone is screaming to the point of losing their voice?

Anyway, it starts out screaming, and then there's some regular singing.

30. Observed that there's one guy screaming and another one singing.

31. Saw a man jump off a cliff.

Was he trying to kill himself?

Maybe he was just seeking excitement.

32. Figured he might be trying to hear the voice of Edward Cullen.

33. Remembered that I was going to check the lottery numbers from a few weeks ago. Tim bought a ticket, and I don't think any of us checked.

Why did I remember that I wanted to check?  Because there's a scene in the video where people are underwater in a room. It looks kind of like they drowned. I thought of Charlie on Lost. And Lost, of course, reminds me of lottery tickets.

34. Saw that we did not win the lottery.

35. Learned from Lord Wiki that Amity Affliction doesn't refer to the setting of Jaws or the haunted house movie.

Amity refers to friendship. Affliction refers to the fact that their friend died.

I guess maybe the name is saying that friendship can be an affliction, because if a friend dies, there's pain.

36. Learned that the screaming part of metal music is called unclean vocals.

37. Started to watch a Neighbours backstage video. This one stars Scott McGregor, who plays Mark Brennan. And then there's also Sarah Roberts who plays Sienna. I think Sienna was before my time.

38. Learned that Sienna was accused of shooting Kate (Ashleigh Brewer).

39. Saw from IMDb that Sarah Roberts was in only eleven episodes of Neighbours.

40. Learned from the Perfect Blend that Mark met Sienna during his time in witness protection. So I'm guessing Sienna would mostly be known from the webisodes.