False Alarm

Today I watched two very dramatic episodes of Home and Away.

Bobbi Morgan gets in a fight with her husband Frank. She wants to go out for the evening. He wants to stay home with Bobbi cooking their dinner.  They fight. She walks out.

While Bobbi's away, there's a fire at their house.  It's assumed Frank was in the house and has perished. There are lots of tears and regret, plus some catatonic behavior.

Then, in the end, Frank appears. He's alive! It turns out he left the house to get some dinner.

His death didn't happen. No need to grieve. It was a false alarm...which kind of sums up my weekend.

On Friday, I had a medical-related freak out. I won't go into details, but I'll just say it was pretty much a matter of me losing the plot.  For one or two hours, I thought my whole world was collapsing. Then I realized I wasn't looking at things correctly. Sometimes it's painful to realize you're wrong about something, but this was one of those cases where I was very happy to be wrong.

Then....

On Saturday night, past one in the morning, our alarm went off.  I woke up absolutely terrified.

As luck would have it, Tim wasn't there.  He was out on a birthday weekend field trip with his brother-in-laws.

I had no idea what to do. I mean I had ideas, but it was all a panicked mess.

First I went to Jack.  He was still sleeping despite the very loud alarm. I tried to wake him. He moaned a bit,  but showed no signs of really waking.  I told his sleeping self that we were going to lock ourselves in the master bedroom.  But then I listened more carefully to our alarm, because it actually talks. It tells you what part of your house has been compromised.  Well, in our case it was the Master bedroom window. No point hiding in there.

That being said, I had been awaked from that room and didn't hear any door opening, so I had some feeling that it might be a false alarm.  I was scared, though, that someone was in our backyard TRYING to open doors. I probably wouldn't hear that in my sleep.

I'm not sure if this was a smart move, but I went ahead and turned off the alarm.  When the alarm company called, I told them I wasn't sure what happened. But I gave them our code, thinking if I have more reasons to freak out, I can call the police.

The main reason I made this move is a few years back the same thing happened—again with Tim out of town.  I had the police come, and Tim acted a bit annoyed about that.

I think next I called Tim, but it was like one of my dreams where I'm struggling to make a phone call and can't make it happen. I was probably shaking too much, and my phone has so many apps.  It took some time for me to find the phone app.

Anyway, I finally called him.

He wanted me to check the doors.

I was really too scared to go peaking behind curtains that might be hiding a serial killer or boogeyman.

What Tim wanted, pretty much, is for me to act the part of a character in a horror movie....the one that gets yelled at by the audience.

At some point, Tim got the idea that the alarm could be saying master bedroom, but other rooms might be included in that message.  Why does it have to be so confusing?  I guess to keep us on our toes?

He asked if I had gone outside on the upstairs porch earlier in the day.

Yes, I had.

But  I was pretty sure I had locked the door.

He wanted me to check.

He suggested I turn on all the lights?

Why, Tim?

Because it will make you feel safe.

I was wondering how the hell light would protect me if there's some kind of monster upstairs?  I told him as far as I can remember, the only monster killed by light is gremlins.  If it's a zombie or serial killer, light isn't going to do much.

Still...you know what.  I did it anyway. I gathered up courage and went up there by myself to check the door.  I guess I was too tired and out of it to talk myself out of being a horror movie character.

I found the door unlocked and it was a struggle to get it closed and locked.  It seemed likely that it was a matter of me not locking the door correctly during the day; then the wind (or a ghost) opened it.

After that, it took me an hour or so to get back to sleep, because I heard noises and they made me very jumpy.  I was still not 100% convinced that there wasn't someone (or something) lurking in the house.

It all turned out fine.  I was brave enough to check the doors on my own. I didn't have to resort to calling the police. I handled things okay on my own with my husband out of town.

But if there had been someone in the house, I would have been the stupid girl who should have just let the police respond to the alarm.

It's so damn hard to know when to seek help and when to say it's fine; don't turn it into a big messy drama.

Wet Blanket

Today I had another Neighbours and Home and Away coincidence. 

On my episode of Home and Away, young Rebecca Fisher wants to go to a dance and participate in a dirty dancing competition. Her father Donald Fisher, who's also the school headmaster, says, no way.  He's strict with his daughter...a little bit too strict at times.

Rebecca, along with her new boyfriend and newly discovered sister, put pressure on Fisher, and he eventually agrees to let her go to the dance.  Some of the tactics they used were lying, pouting, calling him a "wet-blanket"and reminding him of his failed relationship with his recently deceased son. Fisher eventually gives in and allows her to go to the dance.

I do think Rebecca should have gone to the dance, but I'm not fond of how Donald Fisher was pressured into saying yes. 

It's one thing to provide a valid argument. It's another thing to give people the message we're going to insult you and treat you like crap until we hear what we want to hear from you.

Okay, so that's Home and Away.

On Neighbours, Jim Robinson (an early incarnation of Charles Widmore and Bradford Meade) gets visited by his usually absent mother that he hasn't seen in over five years. She's the type of mother who valued traveling the world over staying home with her child.  She also makes Jim Robinson feel insecure by making comments about his lack of sense of humor.  They don't get along very well.

Oh!  And then she reveals that she's actually not in town to see him.  Or that's not the main reason she's in town. The basic message is she doesn't put her relationship with her son on the top of her priorities.

Jim Robinson's not to pleased to have his mother around but his son Scott is. They have some major grandparent-grandchild bonding. Grandma Robinson offers to take Scott to some film thingie.  The catch is he'll have to miss school. Jim Robinson's pretty strict about school stuff.  Traditional education is important to him.

Now as an unschooling mom, I totally think a kid should take the day off of school to see a special film with his grandmother. But again, this was a case of someone being pressured into giving an answer they didn't want to give.  Grandma Robinson said manipulative things and eventually Jim said yes.

I'm wondering if I've ever used unfair tactics to get someone to say yes to something.  Well, I'm sure I have...somewhere along the line.   I'm guessing I did it more when I was younger.  Hopefully not too often, though.  


P.S-I don't think the movie outing is going to happen, because the episode I watched today ended with Grandma Robinson looking dead on the couch.  

Lance Smart Returns

This week, on The Home and Away episodes I'm watching, Lance Smart starts to feel unappreciated, rejected, and ignored. He decides he'll disappear for a few days; people will miss him; and then he'll be appreciated.

Only one person even notices that he's gone.  It's not his best friend but instead Sally Fletcher, a little girl who lives near him.

He returns to Summer Bay five days later and joyfully announces his return to his best friend and others at the local coffee shop. They barely stop their conversation to respond to him.  Then it turns out they had barely noticed he was even gone. Nor do they give a crap that he's returned.

I can totally relate to all that.

It's what's happening to me with this blog right now.

I can't say I stopped blogging because I felt unappreciated. That was probably one of the reasons. But the main reason is I was at a point in my life where I felt the need for a lot of privacy.  That being said, I admit I wouldn't have minded if people reached out and told me they missed my blog. 

Now I've returned, and like Lance, I haven't been welcomed back.

I'm not sure people have noticed I've been gone. I don't know if they notice I've returned. I don't know if anyone cares.

It should make me feel pathetic.  But it doesn't.

It makes me feel human.

In a way, it makes me feel strong.  Well, I'm proud that I've been writing all week despite the lack of validation, because I've come to learn I have a habit of giving up on things too easily.  After writing my recent novel, I promised myself I wouldn't give up on it if things don't go well at first, and I definitely wouldn't give up on writing.

So writing a blog when hardly anyone seems to care that I'm writing a blog....well, it's kind of good practice.    

Unschooling in Queensland

I was pleased to find a recent article about unschooling in Toowoomba Queensland. 

I think it's actually one of the most positive things I've seen about unschooling.

Usually, I find there's a story about a family who imagine they're doing the right thing.  Along with that, there's a strongly oppositional opinion from a professional educator or psychologist.  Then there's a ton of comments from people who equate the unschooling family to child abusers, fools, and the people who are going to ruin the world. 

This Toowoomba article has no negative opinion from professionals.  The only negativity comes from the unschooling family themselves.  They describe their personal former opinion of unschooling. 

The mother says, When I first heard about it, I thought what are those parents doing to that poor child?  

Yeah. See those are the type of comments I usually see accompanying unschooling articles.

Maybe more people are starting to accept unschooling.   

There's a poll on the article.  Are traditional schools the best place for a child to get their education?  

I had clicked on the poll, bracing myself to see a lot of people against homeschooling.  I thought at best it would be something like 60% for traditional schooling rather than 95%

Well, guess what.  80% were NOT for traditional schooling.

That doesn't mean the 80% all support unschooling.  But at least the majority of readers have the idea that there are alternatives outside the traditional schooling route.

When I saw the results, I thought, Well, it's not a scientific poll.  Only people who care enough to vote are voting.  But it says something to me that haters aren't rushing to the article to gawk and vote.

Maybe unschooling is becoming less sensationalized and less villainized.   

That being said, at this point our decision is to move away from unschooling when Jack starts the high school stage. We're still going to do homeschooling, probably. But we're going to do a more structured program.  Jack wants to go to university eventually.  I do know there are stories of unschoolers getting into universities, but I feel a slightly more structured curriculum will increase his changes of getting into the school he wants.   

I was just googling to find more websites about unschooling in Australia.  I found this blog.  Sparkling Adventures.   

These people are living my dream life—a nomadic existence around Australia.  

The most recent post has them conga dancing in Tasmania.  That's very cool.

Easy to Love

In a previous post, I mentioned that most of my Australian obsession is now concentrated upon 1980's episodes of Home and Away and Neighbors. 

There is, however, something else. Music. About a year or so ago, Jack got me into Spotify. Since then I've amassed a huge amount of Aussie songs for my playlists.

I'm thinking it might be fun to do posts about some of my favorite songs.

So here's the first. 

It's "Easy to Love" by the Jezabels.  I became familiar with the song when it was played on a very emotional episode of Dance Academy. 

Oh.  Look.  It seems someone has uploaded the actual Dance Academy scene. It has some major spoilers, so don't watch it if you plan to watch the show. And I WOULD highly recommend the show to most people. It's fantastic.  

But if you don't plan on watching the show and would like to watch a short scene....

Or you might be one of those people who like to know spoilers before watching a show.

OR maybe you're a Dance Academy fan and want to do some reminiscing.

I'll shut up already and post the video.

Actually, now that I watch the video...there's really not too many spoilers. The spoilers are actually in the video comments.  Well, and there's a sort of spoiler in the title of the video.

You know what. I just remembered that I posted spoilers about Dance Academy in a previous post.  So why am I so worried now?

Let's move on.

I'm asking Lord Wiki about the Jezabels.

He says they formed in 2007.

Their lead singer is a woman named Hayley Mary.

Their name comes from Jezabel in the bible. Lord Wiki says the name is now associated with false prophets and promiscuity.  I think I've heard it in that context.

The Jezabels (music group) toured America with Imagine Dragons in 2012.

Another one of their songs was featured on True Blood. "Easy to Love" was featured on Grey's Anatomy. 

According to one of my new favorite websites, Tunefind the Grey's Anatomy episode was season eight's "Hope for the Hopeless".

The song played in True Blood was "Nobody Nowhere" and it was in season five's "In the Beginning".

Some Jezabel songs have been in TV shows I've not heard of.

Have any of you heard of The Ringer with Sarah Michelle Gellar?  

"Easy to Love" was in a TV show with Henry Thomas, the ET kid.  

Here's an article about Haley Mary's dislike of critics. According to the article, she suggests that if someone doesn't like an album, they shouldn't review it.

I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I might agree, except it makes me feel guilty, because this morning I posted a negative review of a book I read.

As a writer, though, I'm thinking, wow. Wouldn't it be nice if only the people who liked my book spoke up about it?  

I think both viewpoints make sense.

And in a way, it's fun to see a variety of opinions.  You know what I like. I like when I dislike something popular and then I read a negative review. It makes me feel less alone. Example: Gravity.  I really did not like that movie.  Then I came home and read some excerpts from a few funny negative reviews. It felt nice.

It can go too far, though. There are some critics who are just cruel and nasty not just towards the work of art but also towards fans of that work of art.

There's a difference between saying, I don't like this, because.... and, This is complete shit. Anyone who likes it is worthless and doesn't know anything.   

Here's an editorial written by a critic responding to some other not so nice things Mary Hayley said about critics.

Well, what she said is that they should get a real job, because apparently critiquing isn't one. But it's okay to critique people in serious positions such as the army.

So the critic basically points out that Hayley Mary is sort of saying music is not an important thing.  The critic ends his editorial by saying, I humbly suggest that if Hayley Mary really cares that little for the art form her band is associated with, then she should (to use her phrasing), "f-cking get a real job".

I don't like when people say things like "Get a real job".  Who gets to define what is and what is not a real job?  If critiquing isn't a real job, then why is being a music star a real job?

Crap. Now when I heard "Easy to Love" I'm probably going to associate it with people who are intolerant to criticism rather than Dance Academy. 

Darius Perkins and Fish and Chips

Every day I watch one or two episodes of Home and Away and one episode of Neighbours. 

For Home and Away, I'm watching episodes from 1989.

For Neighbours, I'm watching episodes from 1985 or 1986. 

So, it's not in synch.

Sometimes there are fun coincidences, though. 

A month or so ago, an actor named Darius Perkins was on both shows that I was watching.  He was a regular on Neighbours. He played Scott Robinson, a nice kid with a nice family living on Ramsey street.

On Home and Away, he played a very creepy and annoying con artist who was trying to steal money from almost everyone in Summer Bay.

Before he started doing the con stuff, he was falsely accused of rape by Carly Morris.

At the same time, on Neighbours, I was seeing him in a storyline about his best friend Danny Ramsey being falsely accused of mugging someone.  

Then both stories also involved the not-guilty party asking someone else to lie to protect them.  In Neighbours, Darius Perkins played the one asked to lie.  In Home and Away, he was the one needing someone else to lie.

Then this week I had another coincidence. Yesterday, on Home and Away, Stacey Macklin accidentally threw away Bobbie and Frank Morgan's dinner. Bobbie announced that they'd have to go get fish and chips.

Today, on my Neighbours episode, Danny Ramsey was having trouble making dinner, and he (or someone else) suggested getting fish and chips.

I'm wondering if fish and chips is the typical meal that Australians get if they ruin dinner.

In America, I think our go-to meal failure replacement is pizza.  At least that's what's mentioned in Disney World's Carousel of Progress. When 1990's dad burns the Christmas turkey with his amazing interactive oven, it's suggested that they'll have to order pizza.

Wait. I just found the script for Carousel of Progress. They don't order pizza. They talk about making frozen pizza. Actually, that makes more sense.  I'm not sure pizza delivery is open on Christmas.  

Back to Darius Perkins. I did some googling just now and saw he's back on Neighbours.  He's playing a different character right now, though.

Well, actually it looks like he's gone already. It wasn't a long role.

Do They Still Say....

Home and Away and Neighbours has exposed me to language I've not heard before.

I'm wondering what phrases, I'm hearing, are still used in Australia and which were 1980's lingo that's not used anymore.

Here's the list on the top of my head.

1. Give them (her/him) the flick= dumping someone or firing them.

2. Shoot through=Leaving town—maybe more in the concept of running away.

3. Give it a miss= I guess it's saying no to something.

4. A Rage=I'm not sure.  I think it's a party—probably one that involves drinking.  I don't think anyone would say, Let's go to the birthday rage. 

There's probably more that I'm forgetting.

I might post them later.  

A Year Ago

A year ago we were in Australia.

Now we're not.

It's kind of sad, especially since I don't know when and if we'll ever return.

But anyway....

I was thinking I should honor the anniversary in my blog somehow; then I realized I don't think I ever posted photos from our trip. Videos...yes.  But pictures, no. I actually did have them on the sidebar via the Flickr widget.  So maybe some people saw them there.

I thought though that I should put them in a post, and it might also be nice to see some of Tim's photographs (which were not on the sidebar) too. He's a really good photographer.

So...well here.  I'll show some of my pictures first.

That's some Aussie cereal.  I was really into Weet-Bix on that trip, especially the kind with fruit mixed into it.  I think it was my favorite food.  Since we've been back, I've been eating the UK version, Weetabix.  It's readily available in Fort Worth. 

That's a shop with American food.  When we were in Australia in 2007 and 2009, it was fairly rare to see American food.  It wasn't in the average store, but you could find it in specialty shops. 

In the 2013 trip, it seemed to be everywhere—in just normal average convenience stores.  I think it was more the case in Sydney; maybe less so in Melbourne.

Anyway, in the olden days it was kind of fun to see American food in Australia.  But now there's too much.  It's less fun.  It's slightly annoying, actually. Then again, it might be nice for homesick expats.

That's our bedspread at our 44 Bridge Street apartment.  For some reason, I like random photos like that.

 

And with that in mind, here's a random house in St. Kilda somewhere.

Here's some random trees from Halls Gap.  I love trees, and I especially love Australian trees.

Here's a photo from the Grampians.  It's such a beautiful place.  I look at the photographs now and think they're so beautiful.  Yet when I first took them and looked, I felt they totally failed in capturing the beauty of the place. 

So what you see in the pictures is nothing compared to what you see with your own eyes.

I wonder if the same can be said for Uluru and The Twelve Apostles, because I often think, I don't need to go there! We've seen the pictures!

Still.  I don't really want to see those things. What I want to see is the Pinnacles.  

Okay.  Now for Tim's pictures.

 

I think that's a wallaby, but it might be a kangaroo.

I think that's a good picture of an ant. I'm impressed. I don't actually remember seeing this, but I guess I did.  Maybe it was overshadowed by all the kangaroo pictures.

I think this is an amazing picture.  If you look closely, there's a kangaroo under the tree.

That's our dessert from some Asian dessert place in Melbourne.  I forgot the name.  I really liked it, though, and this past year I've been really in love with Asian style desserts.  I wish we had eaten more of it in Australia.  It's not as easy to find it in Fort Worth.  

These are toys, but when I look at it fast, I forget and think they're real.

If anyone wants to see more of the photos, here's my set on Flickr.   Tim has his photos divided up into several sets, so I'll just give you a general link to all of his sets (Some not Australian) 

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

My Dream about Stefan Dennis and Other Stuff

I decided to do what I said I might do in my last post.  I found my dream about Stefan Dennis.

I was right too. The dream did involve zombies.  But when I woke up, I wasn't sure whether or not the Stefan Dennis bit was part of the zombie storyline.

Anyway, here's the dream:

I'm in the kitchen.  A young Stefan Dennis is there. I talk to him as I load the dishes into the dishwasher.  He tells me about a trip he's going to take...by flight.   (In 1980's neighbours, his character is a pilot)

I ask where he's going, and he names some famous sunset place. After that, he's going to London.  He likes the idea of going far away; then staying for a short time.    

I then ask if he knows his character eventually becomes a villain.  I also tell him that I once wrote a blog post about him, and I say he's as good a villain as ones I've seen on other soap operas.  I worry, though, that I may have written negative things about him on my blog—things I've forgotten, and he'll end up seeing it. 

Now I have other stuff to talk about.

1.  I wanted to use my blog to promote Jack's new video channel.  He's making Minecraft videos.   Here's a link to one of the videos.  I love the video because I'm a big Minecraft fan, and I think Jack did a good job with it. If you don't play Minecraft, you'll probably be less interested.  But maybe you've heard of Minecraft and you're wondering, what's all the fuss?  The video could be a good introduction for you.

2.  I think I'm going to be writing more in this blog, but I'm also going to revive another one of my neglected blogs.  It's called Fiction Addiction. I started it in 2012, and then stopped posting in the beginning of 2013.  I wrote only twenty-two posts, and according to Statcounter, it's had a total of only 227 page views.

I hope to change that. Previously it was my place to talk about non-Australian related fiction (usually books or TV shows).  I'm going to continue with that but also use the blog to talk about my own fiction writing.

I'm still going to talk about my novel here....and beg you guys to buy it.  But most of the talk will be on the other blog.

3.  I feel the need to warn people that this blog might end up being mostly about Aussie soap operas from the 1980's.  My Australian obsession these days is pretty much centered around me watching Neighbours and Home and Away.

I'm not really paying much attention to Australian politics lately.  I know that Tony Abbott is Prime Minister and that there were recent protests related to immigration and asylum seekers.  That's about it.

Thanks to my new favorite Australian website, I was able to see Scott Ludlam bitch out Tony Abbott.  It was mean, but in an intelligent and fairly civil way.

I like when people are nice to each other.  But there is a time for speaking out and being harsh.

Anyway, I have a feeling that my tiny handful of regular readers (which I may have lost anyway by disappearing) are not going to be interested in Summer Bay and Ramsey street.  So I have to face the sad fact that I might lose readers. Or worse,  I'll have people who read out of obligation and habit, and I'll end up boring them to tears. 

I'm sure I'll talk about other things ,though.  So...

You know, it's like Junkee.com (my new favorite Australian website).  They talk about that TV show Girls, a lot.  I think they're big fans. I don't watch it, so I don't look at those posts.

It's one of those questions about blogging.  If you follow a blog, are you obligated to read everything?  I sort of feel you shouldn't.  I think it's better to just read what interests you. 

4. I'm going to try to get away from making rules for myself, especially when it comes to blogging.  I'm going to blog when I feel like it, when I have something to say. There might be some days where I have 55 posts, and then there might be weeks where I don't post anything.

You read what you want to read and I'll write what I want to write, and vice versa.  

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Guess What!

The first thing I should say is I have mental issues.

I've been wanting to return to blogging, but I couldn't because I made up silly rules about when I could return.

Then a month or so ago, I decided to get back to another type of writing. Novels!

The thing is, if you want to be a novelist in this day and age, you probably need a blog so you can promote your work.

I already had a blog, but I had this rule about not writing in the blog.

So yeah.  Problem there.

This morning I thought, maybe I can return to my blog.  I'll flip a coin and see if it's meant to be. I didn't flip real coins.  I flipped virtual coins on random.org.   (I think that website is actually an enabler for my mental issues).

I flipped Australian coins, of course. Heads meant I can return to blog, and tails meant I could not. I got tails.

No blogging. I was disappointed.

Hours later I felt compelled to break my own rules. So here I am.

Now that I think of it though, I should have had it reversed. Since it's between Queen Elizabeth and kangaroos on the coin, the kangaroos should have been yes. I like the Queen (probably not as much as Menzies did) but I like kangaroos better.  So kangaroos should have carried the answer I wanted.  Not the Queen.  

I can think to myself, I am being a naughty girl and not listening to answers given to me by random.org.  Or I can say I read the answers the wrong way.

I have so much to say.  It's a shame I'm wasting it on my mental issues.

So what else?

I'm very much into Home and Away.  I watch at least one episode a day, sometimes two.  I'm watching old episodes though, from 1989.  I really wish I could find other people who are currently watching the old shows.  It's lonely to be watching a show on your own. I want to be able to talk about Donald Fisher and Bobbie....

I love nice Roo, and sometimes get scared she's going to turn back into evil Roo.

I adore....crap, forgot this name.  It's Carly's old boyfriend.

Okay, I had to look it up. Matt!

He's such a nice guy.

I have a thing for nice people.

I have a major thing for people who were once mean and then turned nice—like Roo and Donald Fisher.

Sometimes I like Martin and Lance, though they get on my nerves sometimes.  The guy who plays Lance is now some kind of meditation guru in Los Angeles.  I thought that was interesting.

I also watch Neighbours.  I don't love it as much as Home and Away.  I'm kind of bored by it and divide my attention by playing QuizUp while watching.  Which by the way, I am top of the world in Australia.  I apologize for my bragging.    

A week or so ago, I was actually going to quit watching Neighbours. Then I had a vivid crazy dream about Stefan Dennis.  So I felt it was a sign telling me to get back to watching.

I think there were zombies in the dream.

Or was that another dream?

Later I might have to go back to my dream journal and copy/paste it here.

There was something about him being a pilot...which he is on the show.   

Anyway, I shall talk about my novel now.  Don't worry. I'm not going to beg you to buy it yet.  It's not ready.  I still have to edit.

But there's some Aussie stuff in it.  The funny thing is, I ended up having three expats in the story.   My Aussie character is going to school in Florida. Then I have characters in Sydney, but the point of view character is actually from America.  She's married to an Aussie and lives in Parramatta.

I also had a character living in Halls Gap, but she's sadly on the cutting room floor.  She, though, was actually an Australian living in Australia.

The expat thing can be a wish fulfillment thing.  I wanted to be an expat.  It didn't work out, so I'm living vicariously through my characters.  I think it also allows me some leeway in terms of language.  If I mess up and make the Aussie say something too American, I can use the excuse...well, she's living in America. It makes sense that she's picking up some of our lingo. And though the American lives in Australia, she probably still speaks a bit of American.  Right?  

Other Australian connections in my novel:  I named one of my characters Eugene Ramsey after Ramsey street in Neighbours. 

I named another character after the Home and Away actress that plays Morag. Cornelia Francis.  I took just the Cornelia, though, and left the Francis. 

I am bursting with so much to say, all of it's pretty trivial. And you're probably thinking....she should have listened to the Queen Elizabeth coins.  

Sorry.

We were really into Desperate Housewives.  It was hard to say good-bye.  Ugly Betty was our rebound show, and the awesome thing is we ended up loving that even more.  In both those shows, Vanessa Williams plays a bitch. And in each show she dates an Australian character played by an actor who's not really Australian.  I thought that was funny.

Or well, maybe they are Australian but not born in Australia.

I'm going to go look that up.

I am very wrong. Charles Mesure played the Aussie in Desperate Housewives.  He was born in England, but moved to Australia when he was 5. So he's definitely Australian.

Then the other actor's Grant Bowler. I just looked him up.  He was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia when he was young.

I think I'm a horrible purist deep in my heart, and I have this belief that if you weren't born in Australia, you're not really Australian.

That's horrible and pathetic, seeing that I wanted to move to Australia and become Australian.

I'm very ashamed that I have this viewpoint, and I definitely need to continue working on changing it.

There was another Kiwi-Australian on Ugly Betty.  Jim Robinson from Neighbours! Alan Dale.   He was on Lost as well.  Lord Wiki seems to be telling me that he did not move to Australia during his childhood.

I heard Modern Family is having an Aussie episode.  We haven't been watching this season but plan to catch up eventually. I think I've mentioned before that noticed Modern Family often makes random Aussie references.  Maybe one of the creators is like me and really obsessed.

Anyway, I shall shut up now.

Tomorrow I might wake up with a blogging hangover and then disappear for many months.

Or maybe I'll be feel happy and confident about blogging and get back into it.

I don't know.

We'll see how I feel in the morning.

I hope all of you are well.  And if you're not well, I hope you get better.... or at least not get worse.  

Oh wait!  One more thing.  I totally forgot.  I have one other thing to brag about.  My blog was mentioned on this website called Junkee.   I think it's the biggest honor my blog has received.  I was so happy but also sad since I wasn't blogging anymore. I never heard of this website, but after they mentioned my blog, I became a fan.  I look at it often.  And I don't just mean the article with the link to my blog.

I've grown to hate bragging, but I'm getting the idea I'll have to do it if I ever want to be a writer who actually makes real money.  

Hopefully I won't become one of those people who do it excessively.  I've been on Twitter and have lost some respect for certain celebrities I adored because they keep bragging.

Truth be told, I don't have much to brag about, so I probably won't NEED to do it too much.

Maybe I'll balance it with negative stuff about myself.

Here's something: I fart a lot. Jack's making videos and said I could stay in the room with him while he records. But then he nicely asked me to please refrain from farting.

So that's me. I'm a farting girl who knows a lot of Australian trivia and was once mentioned on a very awesome website.

I'll shut up now.  For real.

I may be back tomorrow.