Life Threatening Situations, Varying Truths, Immigration, and Bad Stuff

1. Dreamed that I try to imitate Dorothy the Dinosaur.  The people I'm with are not impressed. They say I don't sound like her. I tell them I need to hear Dorothy the Dinosaur talking, and then maybe I'll do a better job. I watch a video of her. It has Dorothy the Dinosaur showing black and white video clips of the woman playing her NOT being Dorothy the Dinosaur. The woman sings. I start to doubt I'll be able to imitate Dorothy the Dinosaur.  But at another point, I wonder if I did do a good job of imitating her. And I think to myself, that if other people heard me, they might have disagreed with the listeners who had been critical.

2. Dreamed about Wentworth. I'm with my family. I learn that none of them have had the chance to continue watching the rest of season one.  I start talking to my dad and then think about all the various things that happened in season one. I get excited and want to talk about it.  My dad wants to know what happens, but I can tell he's torn between watching it for himself and letting me tell him.  

Then it seems he gets overexcited about watching it. I see he has turned it on even though my young nephews are right in the next room. They could come in at anytime and see scenes that are inappropriate for them.  

3. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.

4. Felt that some force out there is trying to kill poor Nell (Scarlett Anderson). A few episodes ago, nurse Georgia (Saskia Hampele) almost gave Nell a double dose of Paracetamol. Now, in the episode I'm watching today, Paul's estranged daughter Amy backs up and hits Nell's stroller. Fortunately, Nell wasn't in the stroller.

But it's twice, in a short range of episodes, that someone has had to apologize to Sonya (Eve Morey) for almost harming/killing her daughter.

5. Had an email from someone mistaking me for Bruce Woodley.

It's not the first time I've confused people with my blog.

And in the past I confused a lot of people with one of my novels.

6.  Started watching an episode of Farscape.

I think it's fun to think about how Pilot is played by Lani John Topu, and Topu is the same guy who plays Crais.

7. Saw that Linda Cropper is a guest star in this episode.

I know her from Offspring. She plays, Geraldine, the matriarch of the Proudman family.

8. Thought this was a fun and clever episode.

In the "Ugly Truth", the crew of Moya are interrogated about a weapon being employed to blow up a ship.

The characters are questioned individually, and each time we see a flashback that corresponds with their story. Each time, the flashback is bit different.

For example, in the scene we see at the beginning D'Argo is intensely angry and aggressive. But when it's his turn to be questioned, though we see the same (or almost the same) words coming out of his mouth, his demeanor is much more calm and peaceful.

9. Wondered if D'Argo is purposely lying. Or does he just have an inaccurate view of his own behavior?

It makes me think of fights I've had with family members. For example, there are times that Jack says I yelled at him about something, and I'm pretty sure I didn't actually raise my voice.  Is he exaggerating or am I in denial?  I can also think of times that I got mad at Tim, because he spoke to me in a rude tone. Then he claims he didn't. Who is wrong? And who is right?

10. Thought that this (photo below) might be Linda Cropper; because so far it's the only female guest star character they've shown on this episode.

That's a lot of make-up!

11. Realized I might be wrong about the first flashback scene on the episode. I thought it was reality, but maybe we were never shown that.

Now I'm thinking that what we saw in the beginning was Aeryn's (Claudia Black) interpretation of the events. So maybe she saw D'argo as being aggressively angry, but he really wasn't.

12. Started to watch another episode of Farscape.

This one has a mind control storyline similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers in that characters lose all negative emotion.

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 



13. Inspired, by A Singaporean in Australia's advice post about moving to Australia, to look at all the Australian Visa's available. There are a lot of them!  I don't remember there being so many the last time I looked.

14. Saw that certain countries get a free tourist visa (subclass 651) for Australia.

The US isn't one of them.

What's the deal?

15. Looked at the list of countries eligible. They all seem to be in Europe. I wonder what that's all about.

It's not a big deal for us, though. The visa (subclass 601), we're eligible for, costs only $20.

16. Thought about how we didn't manage to move to Australia. I've kind of given up on that dream. But I do have a new dream.  I hope, one day, to use the subclass 601 to its full capacity—stay for the full three months. That would be nice.

17. Looked at the filmography of Simon Bossell, the actor who played Chiana's (Gigi Edgley) brother Neri, and saw that Bossell played Alan Fisher on Home and Away. Alan was the son of Donald. He died of an aneurysm. If I remember correctly, he romantically pursued Bobbie, not realizing Bobbie was his half-sister.

18. Went out to dinner with Tim and Jack. On the way home, I blabbed on and on about immigration and expats.

19. Swept the floor at home while having deep thoughts.

I thought about how I used to have big dreams, and now I really don't.

I used to want to be famous. I don't want that anymore.

I used to want to move to Australia. I don't really have a huge desire for that anymore.

There are some things I sort of want, but I don't feel my soul will be shattered if I don't get them.

Then I realized that instead of a bucket list, I have a don't-want list. As long as certain things don't happen, I'm good with life and relatively happy.

Some things, on my list, are big. Some things are small.

Want to hear my list?

Probably not.

But I'm going to share it anyway.

So here you go.

Here's what I don't want in life: 

Electricity outages that last more than four hours

Running water outages that last more than an hour

Clogged toilets

gastro illnesses that involve vomiting.

Cavities

Any illness besides a mild cold while we're on vacation.

Anyone close to me getting terminal cancer or almost-terminal cancer.

Anyone close to me dying earlier than the average lifespan.

Anyone close to me getting a brain injury.

Becoming infamous for a mistake I've made, a crime I did not commit, or a controversial thing I've said.

Irukandji syndrome

 Someone I know getting kidnapped/going missing.

Destructive house flooding/leaking

Accidentally causing the death of someone.

To me, happiness is not having these things happen

Of course, some things are easier to get over than others.  Some things would cause me to be depressed and anxious for a few hours. Others would make me depressed and anxious for months or years.

20. Wanted to add that when I say anyone close to me, I include myself in that. Because really. I am VERY close to me.

21. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

I'm going to watch another video.

The next Australian song on the list is the fifth one.  It's another Peking Duk song. This one's called "Take Me Over". It features a person named Safia.

22. Saw from Triple J Unearthed that Safia is a musical group, not a person.

It's three guys in Canberra.

23. Started watching video for "Take Me Over"

The video involves a man and woman fighting and a young boy in a typical boy bedroom with lovely typical boy toys—airplanes, a crocodile, a dinosaur, etc.

It makes me think of the kind of bedroom that would be in a 1980's Steven Spielberg movie.

And there's an astronaut.

24. Felt the video is fantastic...beautiful.

It's about a boy whose family is experiencing depressing drama. The mother and father are fighting. Then the mother packs up the boy's belongings, and they drive away in the car.

The boy reads books about various adventures and imagines himself experiencing them.

Basically, it's about using fantasy to escape real life.

25. Thought about how the video was so wonderful, and  I didn't want it to be just a music video.

I want to stay with the characters. I want it to be a movie, or better yet, a long-running TV show.

26. Started watching a Neighbours backstage video.

This one stars Jackie Woodburne, who plays Susan.

I like her.

Well, I like Susan.

I'm not sure if I like Jackie Woodburne.

27. Realized that I like Susan, the wife of Karl; and I like Susan, the friend of various people on Ramsey Street.  But I don't like Susan, the principal of the school; and I don't like Susan, Brad's (Kip Gamblin) boss. I think she's really intimidating. When she gives Brad a hard time, I feel nervous and defensive on his behalf.

28. Went to Jackie Woodburne's IMDb filmography.

She was born in Ireland.

Her first episode of Neighbours aired on October 3, 1994.

Jesse Spencer was on that episode. I wonder if his parents were anti-immigration back then. Would they have been against Jackie Woodburne migrating from Ireland?

29. Consulted Lord Wiki about Jesse Spencer's parents. I can't remember much of what I learned in the past.

He reminded me that they started a political party called Australians Against Further Immigration in 1989. So in 1994, I bet they were still against immigration.  But I guess they were only bothered by new immigrants and not immigration that occurred in the past.

30. Saw that Jesse Spencer played Billy Kennedy. He has the same last name as Susan. I'm guessing Billy was one of Susan and Karl's sons.

31. Saw that Woodburne was on many episodes of Prisoner: Cell Block H in 1985 and 1986.

I mean it was a lot of episodes—like she was one of the stars of the show for that particular season.

32. Found video of Woodburne on Prisoner: Cell Block H

Someone forces her to take drugs.

She starts tripping.



33. Thought Prisoner: Cell Block H seemed much less dark than Wentworth.

There's a lot of drama, but it seems to be less intense and depressing.

34. Learned from Lord Wiki that Woodburne auditioned for the role of Pippa Fletcher on Home and Away.

35. Thought about how Pippa and Susan are a lot of like—kind of one of those women who's a mother to everyone.

36. Followed link, provided by Lord Wiki, to an article that talks about Woodburne being on an audio program.  It's called Night Terrace, and it's a science fiction thing.

37. Saw that you can listen to the first episode of Night Terrace for free. Then the rest of the season costs $30.

38. Felt the downloading process seemed a bit confusing.

I probably wouldn't buy it anyway.

But maybe one day I'll listen to part of the first episode.

39. Listened to the the very beginning.

It doesn't sound like my type of thing.

It reminds me of the TV show The Strange Calls, which I didn't end up liking very much.

40. Learned that Dorothy the Dinosaur is/was played by a woman named Carolyn Ferrie.

Ferrie appeared in a few episodes of Neighbours in 1989. She played a character named Cass Boyle.

41. Found an interview with Carolyn Ferrie. It's about an Anzac musical called The Front.  One of the songs is in the video, along with the interview. It sounds kind of religious/spiritual.