1. Dreamed about Olympia Valance again. I'm at some place, and Olympia Valance is there. She's being asked questions by someone. I am about to ask her my own question but then I decide to wait, since she's probably already had enough questions.
The question I have in mind is, would she rather have someone take over her character after she's stopped playing her? Or would she rather play a character that's already been played by another actress?
I decide if I ask the question and she answers, I won't put it on my blog. My feeling is if I want a question answered for my blog, I would tell the person answering that I'm asking a question for my blog.
When I was recording the dream on Livejournal, I realized the question could be interpreted as would you rather lose your job or gain a job? But I don't think that's what I meant in the dream. It was more about being the one replaced or being the one struggling to fill another one's shoes.
It kind of reminds me of that movie Stepmom, where Julia Roberts has the stressful task of filling Susan Sarandon's shoes. And Susan Sarandon is dying and hates the idea that Julia Roberts will be replacing her.
2. Dreamed about Nicole Kidman. I don't remember much about it. We're at a table and she gives me a not-so-friendly look—like someone looking down at you but forcing a fake kind of friendliness.
I guess you could call it snobbiness.
I guess you could call it snobbiness.
3. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.
I feel bad for Georgia (Saskia Hampele). Nick (Damien Fotiou) is using her in a betting game with Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) If he gets Georgia to sleep with him, he wins. Meanwhile, her husband Kyle (Chris Milligan), who should be jealous of all the attention Georgia is getting from Nick, is too busy to care or notice.
I suppose Nick is the only one to blame here. He's the one that's acting maliciously—purposely trying to sabotage a marriage. I can't really blame Kyle for being busy. He has work stuff going on. That happens sometimes. Though it's hard to tell when someone truly is swamped with work and when someone has simply put their significant other low on their priority list.
4. Liked that Harold (Ian Smith) still finds his elderly wife Madge (Anne Charleston) attractive.
I feel so old and ugly lately, and I'm only forty-two. I feel it's close to impossible for me to be attractive to anyone now, and I imagine it will get worse as I get older.
It's nice to see an old man loving on a woman close to his age rather than lusting after a much younger woman. Even if it is fiction.
The thing that scares me is, what if it's not about age? What if I've just turned ugly? And while there are beautiful women in their sixties, seventies, eighties, etc; what if I'm not going to be one of them?
5. Told myself that even if I'm ugly and get uglier; there are still people who will like me. And I still can be happy. It doesn't really matter if people find me attractive or not.
6. Relieved to see that Georgia has overheard Nick talking about the bet. So she won't fall prey to his false charms. But still I feel really bad for her. He made her feel good about herself—gave her all these compliments about her personality and gave her the idea she could go far in her career. Now she's learning that all the nice things he said were a manipulation ploy. I think learning that could be a blow to her self-esteem.
7. Started watching the first episode of The Librarians. It's directed by Wayne Hope, who also is a director for Upper Middle Bogan.
8. Did not laugh it anything in the first five minutes of The Librarians. I'm worried I won't like the show.
Or maybe I'm just in a bad mood this morning.
9. Enjoyed reading about Nikki's experience of taking young children on a flight from Sydney to Adelaide. It's quite stressful. One of her daughter's has a small bladder; and has to go to the bathroom a lot. I can relate to that in a personal way and a motherly way.
So her daughter has to pee in that awful time where you're informed that you should fasten your seatbelt, stay seated, and wait for the plane to take off.
Desperate and clever Nikki decided to use the airsickness bags as a makeshift toilet. It ended up working out for them.
It's not easy traveling with young children.
10. Finished watching The Librarians episode. I didn't laugh out loud at anything, but I did find it interesting.
11. Saw Josh Lawson in the credits of The Librarians. I didn't recognize him on the show. I'll look for him in the next episode.
I think maybe he's the guy who's doing his community service at the library.
12. Decided to try another episode of The Librarians. Well, I'm going to try the whole season, actually. I just mean I'm going to try another today rather than waiting for tomorrow.
13. Saw Josh Lawson. He's not the guy doing community service. I'm not sure who he is on the show. Well, I can see him, but I don't know anything about his character.
I did vaguely recognize Lawson before; but I couldn't place him. Then once I knew he was on the show, it was easy for me to find him.
I'm not sure if that makes much sense.
14. Reminded of myself when hearing Frances (Robyn Butler) complain about something that happened many years ago. I remain angry about things for a long time. Or forever, actually. Though I still continue to like/love the person who angered me.
The thing is, though, people help to remind me what they've done wrong by repeating the same behavior. So if I open up to a friend about something that's stressing me out, and he completely ignores my problem, I will then remember he did the same thing two years ago, five years ago, six years ago, etc.
15. Saw Kate Kendall from Neighbours on The Librarians. She's looks quite different. Well, her face is the same, but her style is very different.
16. Learned about the term Yankii from Eric Thompson's Japan blog.
Thompson says it's a word used to describe teens who are seen as being delinquents. The Yankii is for Yankee, because these teens would sometimes dye their hair yellow, and that reminded people of Americans.
17. Started watching another episode of Neighbours. I'm looking forward to Georgia bitching out Nick.
18. Felt Matt (Josef Brown) is being very unfair. His wife Lauren (Kate Kendall!) is very angry at him, because he allowed himself to be bribed by a criminal. Matt pressures her to forgive him, bringing up the fact that he forgave her when she had a kissing affair with Brad (Kim Gamblin).
Okay? But Matt took a long time to forgive Lauren. He gave her the cold shoulder for many episodes. She groveled a long time before he budged. In light of that, he should expect to grovel for awhile. And he certainly shouldn't expect her to quickly forgive him.
Now if he was super understanding and quick to forgive Lauren when she kissed Brad; that would be a different story.
If someone easily forgives us for our sins, it's nice if we easily forgive them for theirs.
Yeah. I know. I said a few paragraphs above that I hold onto anger for a long time. But it's not like I act like Lauren and Matt for a long time. I don't sulk or give the person the silent treatment...at least not on a long term basis.
19. Saw Delta Goodrem on Neighbours. It's funny. She's on the March 16th episode, which is my niece's birthday. Delta Goodrem is probably one of the few Aussie celebrities that my niece knows about. She watches The Voice Kids Australia on YouTube.
20. Realized it's rude for me to assume my niece doesn't know of many Aussie celebrities. I should just say that all I know that she knows is Delta Goodrem...plus the contestants on The Voice. She might know of others.
21. Loved Michelle's blogpost about an Australian expat family's attempt to celebrate Thanksgiving in America.
I love what she says here. Also placed in the trolley was the cornbread packet mix and (oh the shame) the turkey stuffing mix. And my excuse, which I will no doubt still be touting in twenty years time, is that as first generation Americans we have little choice. There is no family recipe and, seriously, what could be more American than packet mix cooking!
And I love: But arguing over the best way to cook a turkey and complaining about the inferior qualities of turkey meat seems to be about as American as the apple pie that my oldest child is currently carefully preparing for Thanksgiving dessert.
I don't remember hearing arguments about the quality of turkey meat at our Thanksgivings, but I'm sure there's been intense discussion about the best way to cook a turkey.
22. Wondered if Michelle and her family had pumpkin pie to go along with the apple pie.
23. Thought it was nice that Michelle is trying to have a Thanksgiving at her house, but I wish she had an American family that invited her over for Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is a family holiday, but I also think it's a time to open your house to friends.
Then again. The friends that we have over are more like family.
24. Wondered...if we moved to Australia, would someone invite us over for Christmas? Well, I guess it's not really an Australian holiday. But it's Christian, and we're Jewish, so we'd be a bit lost.
How about an Australian Day barbecue? Would we be invited to one? Or would we have to struggle to create one in our own backyard?
25. Learned that Nina Tucker, Delta Goodrem's character wasn't created for the 30th Anniversary Celebration on Neighbours. I thought she was. But then with the way Karl (Alan Fletcher) and Susan (Jackie Woodburne) reacted to her; I got the idea that maybe she was actually a character on Neighbours.
And IMDb shows me this is the case. Nina Tucker lived on Ramsey Street from 2002-2005.
26. Learned from Lord Wiki that Goodrem had to leave Neighbours for a period, because she had Hodgkin's disease.
27. Tried to understand the Nina Tucker stuff. I think what happened is Goodrem left the show between 2002 and 2005 because of cancer. And then she came back to fulfill her contract. But before that, her singing career had already taken off. So then they made Nina Tucker an aspiring singer.
28. Learned more. I had it wrong. Goodrem had been pursuing a singing career since the age of fifteen. I was picturing her launching the singing career after she started on Neighbours.
Now I'm getting the idea that the singing and soap opera career happened simultaneously. Then cancer interrupted all that.
The song "Born to Try" premiered on Neighbours. That's pretty cool.
29. Started to watch "Born to Try" on Neighbours. I'm guessing this is the original one.
The song is used for scenes in which Karl and Susan rip up divorce papers.
30. Surprised that Nina is surprised that Paul Robinson owns Lassiters. He was showing interest in owning that place back in the 1980's. Or am I remembering things incorrectly?
Maybe it took a long time to make his desire a reality?
Or maybe Nina was one of those people who wasn't aware of what's going on in the neighborhood.
31. Looked on The Perfect Blend website. Paul owned Lassiters from 1989-1994. When Nina lived on Ramsey Street, the hotel was owned by Lambert Industries. So, it would make sense she didn't know about Paul owning it.
Paul owned Lassiters again from 2005-2007, and then went back to owning it in 2010.
Paul has an on-again-off-again relationship with Lassiters.
32. Liked the storyline about Nick, because it shows how someone with an admirable and heroic career can be a complete asshole.
Nick does oncology research, and I'm very grateful to people like that. But Nick's not at all likable. He's selfish, callous, and very rude.
33. Thought more about Michelle and her family. I think of her as an expat, but maybe that's not true. In her blog post, she refers to her and her family as first generation Americans. And I know they have citizenship. So maybe they'd be immigrants instead of expats?
Are expats and immigrants synonymous? Or are expats people who are in the other country only temporarily?
I suppose some people don't know if they're entering as long-term visitors or immigrants.
It's kind of like moving within a country. I moved many times when I was growing up. I think each time my parents envisioned that the move could be permanent.
34. Consulted Lord Wiki. He says an expat is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country other than that of their citizenship.
He also says there is controversy about who is called immigrant and who is called expat. He says often caucasian people, from the west, are referred to as expats, while other folks are called immigrants. So there's a racial thing there.
35. Decided to watch a third episode of The Librarians. I wish it was because I love the show and can't get enough of it. But it's really because I want to be done with it and move onto the next thing.
I don't hate it. I'm just not really into it. And it's not making me laugh. The best I did was have a half smile once.
No, it wasn't even a half smile. It was like 1/4 of a smile.
I don't get it. I love Upper Middle Bogan. I think that made me laugh a lot.
I could blame it on my bad mood, but I think my bad mood is over. It was only a morning thing.
36. Thought about the Australian comedies I've seen. Most of them seem to involve a very unlikable character. In Kath and Kim, Kim is very self-absorbed. In Very Small Business, the main character is a sort of con-man. In I Rock, the main character, like Kim, is self-absorbed. In The Librarians, the main character is racist, politically incorrect, and insensitive.
I think the main difference between most Australian comedies and US ones is that the US ones have more heart. The characters have negative traits, but there's also something very endearing about them. I think American comedies also have more tearjerker tender moments.
37. Recognized kids on The Librarians as the kids from Very Small Business.
I don't know the character's names, though, so I can't verify on IMDb.
38. Thought of the Australian comedies I have liked a lot—A Moody Christmas, Mother and Son, Upper Middle Bogan, and some of At Home with Julia.
I think the difference between the comedy I like a lot and the comedy I tolerate is the former centers around a lovable loser and the latter centers on an aggravating one.
Read my novel: The Dead are Online
And I love: But arguing over the best way to cook a turkey and complaining about the inferior qualities of turkey meat seems to be about as American as the apple pie that my oldest child is currently carefully preparing for Thanksgiving dessert.
I don't remember hearing arguments about the quality of turkey meat at our Thanksgivings, but I'm sure there's been intense discussion about the best way to cook a turkey.
22. Wondered if Michelle and her family had pumpkin pie to go along with the apple pie.
23. Thought it was nice that Michelle is trying to have a Thanksgiving at her house, but I wish she had an American family that invited her over for Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is a family holiday, but I also think it's a time to open your house to friends.
Then again. The friends that we have over are more like family.
24. Wondered...if we moved to Australia, would someone invite us over for Christmas? Well, I guess it's not really an Australian holiday. But it's Christian, and we're Jewish, so we'd be a bit lost.
How about an Australian Day barbecue? Would we be invited to one? Or would we have to struggle to create one in our own backyard?
25. Learned that Nina Tucker, Delta Goodrem's character wasn't created for the 30th Anniversary Celebration on Neighbours. I thought she was. But then with the way Karl (Alan Fletcher) and Susan (Jackie Woodburne) reacted to her; I got the idea that maybe she was actually a character on Neighbours.
And IMDb shows me this is the case. Nina Tucker lived on Ramsey Street from 2002-2005.
26. Learned from Lord Wiki that Goodrem had to leave Neighbours for a period, because she had Hodgkin's disease.
27. Tried to understand the Nina Tucker stuff. I think what happened is Goodrem left the show between 2002 and 2005 because of cancer. And then she came back to fulfill her contract. But before that, her singing career had already taken off. So then they made Nina Tucker an aspiring singer.
28. Learned more. I had it wrong. Goodrem had been pursuing a singing career since the age of fifteen. I was picturing her launching the singing career after she started on Neighbours.
Now I'm getting the idea that the singing and soap opera career happened simultaneously. Then cancer interrupted all that.
The song "Born to Try" premiered on Neighbours. That's pretty cool.
29. Started to watch "Born to Try" on Neighbours. I'm guessing this is the original one.
The song is used for scenes in which Karl and Susan rip up divorce papers.
30. Surprised that Nina is surprised that Paul Robinson owns Lassiters. He was showing interest in owning that place back in the 1980's. Or am I remembering things incorrectly?
Maybe it took a long time to make his desire a reality?
Or maybe Nina was one of those people who wasn't aware of what's going on in the neighborhood.
31. Looked on The Perfect Blend website. Paul owned Lassiters from 1989-1994. When Nina lived on Ramsey Street, the hotel was owned by Lambert Industries. So, it would make sense she didn't know about Paul owning it.
Paul owned Lassiters again from 2005-2007, and then went back to owning it in 2010.
Paul has an on-again-off-again relationship with Lassiters.
32. Liked the storyline about Nick, because it shows how someone with an admirable and heroic career can be a complete asshole.
Nick does oncology research, and I'm very grateful to people like that. But Nick's not at all likable. He's selfish, callous, and very rude.
33. Thought more about Michelle and her family. I think of her as an expat, but maybe that's not true. In her blog post, she refers to her and her family as first generation Americans. And I know they have citizenship. So maybe they'd be immigrants instead of expats?
Are expats and immigrants synonymous? Or are expats people who are in the other country only temporarily?
I suppose some people don't know if they're entering as long-term visitors or immigrants.
It's kind of like moving within a country. I moved many times when I was growing up. I think each time my parents envisioned that the move could be permanent.
34. Consulted Lord Wiki. He says an expat is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country other than that of their citizenship.
He also says there is controversy about who is called immigrant and who is called expat. He says often caucasian people, from the west, are referred to as expats, while other folks are called immigrants. So there's a racial thing there.
35. Decided to watch a third episode of The Librarians. I wish it was because I love the show and can't get enough of it. But it's really because I want to be done with it and move onto the next thing.
I don't hate it. I'm just not really into it. And it's not making me laugh. The best I did was have a half smile once.
No, it wasn't even a half smile. It was like 1/4 of a smile.
I don't get it. I love Upper Middle Bogan. I think that made me laugh a lot.
I could blame it on my bad mood, but I think my bad mood is over. It was only a morning thing.
36. Thought about the Australian comedies I've seen. Most of them seem to involve a very unlikable character. In Kath and Kim, Kim is very self-absorbed. In Very Small Business, the main character is a sort of con-man. In I Rock, the main character, like Kim, is self-absorbed. In The Librarians, the main character is racist, politically incorrect, and insensitive.
I think the main difference between most Australian comedies and US ones is that the US ones have more heart. The characters have negative traits, but there's also something very endearing about them. I think American comedies also have more tearjerker tender moments.
37. Recognized kids on The Librarians as the kids from Very Small Business.
I don't know the character's names, though, so I can't verify on IMDb.
38. Thought of the Australian comedies I have liked a lot—A Moody Christmas, Mother and Son, Upper Middle Bogan, and some of At Home with Julia.
I think the difference between the comedy I like a lot and the comedy I tolerate is the former centers around a lovable loser and the latter centers on an aggravating one.
Read my novel: The Dead are Online