The Driver's Side, Tropical North Queensland, Anthony Simcoe, and Laziness

1. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.

2.  Thought that the show is leading up to a romance between Kyle (Chris Milligan) and new-in-town Amy Robinson (Zoe Cramond)

Georgia (Saskia Hampele) has been gone only a few episodes and already Kyle and Amy are having that comical friction which usually eventually leads to romance.

3. Saw that Zoe Cramond is one of the stars of Packed to the Rafters.

She's in season four, five, and six.

4. Amused by expat Nikki's post about driving on the wrong side of the road.

Well, she didn't literally drive on the wrong side of the road. That probably wouldn't be funny. But since she's an Australian living in Atlanta, she felt like she was driving on the wrong side of the road.

My favorite part of the post is when she talks about accidentally going to the passenger side of the car when she plans to drive. I think I did the opposite when we were in Australia. I wasn't the driver; yet I'd head to the driver's seat. Well, because I thought it was the passenger seat.

Speaking of....

Yesterday, Tim and I started watching the TV show Strain.  It takes place in NYC, and a guy gets into a car that has the steering wheel on the other side. I thought maybe the show was filmed in Australia, and those in charge were too cheap and lazy to get the right kind of car for the scene.

But no. We checked. The show is filmed in Canada. Do they drive on the left side?

5. Googled.

Canadians drive on the right side of the road.

6. Found article about the car in Strain.  The actor picked out the car for his character.  Those in charge vetoed it because the steering wheel was on the wrong side. The actor pushed for it and created a backstory in which the character sold his Rolex to get the car so he could escape warlords.

That's cute. I wonder if they ever mention the car or the warlords on the show.

7. Disgusted with Brad (Kip Gamblin).  Lauren (Kate Kendall) spends the day with Robin (Max Brown), a guy who is doing art stuff in Erinsborough. Robin is a little bit interested in Lauren, and she enjoys being with him. Then Brad comes along and tells Robin to back off from Lauren, since her husband recently died. Brad isn't very friendly about the whole thing.

Brad is acting possessive of Lauren even though they're supposed to be just friends, and Brad has his own wife.  He tries to act like the caring friend, but it seems what he really wants is to be the man who has two women wanting him.

8. Saw from my weather app that Cairns is going to have lovely weather all week.

Lately, I've been in the mood to go to the Great Barrier Reef area.

I want to sit at the pool or on the beach, drinking a non-alcoholic cocktail.

I wouldn't try to get into a book. I'd just stare into space. I'd daydream.

9. Imagined maybe I'd trade in my plans of visiting multiple towns and driving around Australia. Maybe instead I'll just find one town in Queensland—spend a month there half bored and half relaxed.

10. Thought that I'd like a vacation that's about 80% relaxing and 20% sightseeing. But when I say relaxing, I include taking walks with that.

The walks, however, would have to be relaxing. It wouldn't be about trying to get somewhere or trying to find something. It would just be about wandering.

Well, maybe there'd be a destination; but not a sightseeing type thing. The destination would be a bakery or ice-cream shop.

11. Started watching an episode of Farscape. I have four episodes left for season two.

12. Wondered how many hours in the make-up chair did Anthony Simcoe have to endure each day?

13. Found a video interview with Anthony Simcoe. I don't want to watch the whole thing, because it's about season three.

Simcoe doesn't look anything like I'd expect him to.

I kind of pictured him being dark—not necessarily a black person, but maybe a white person with dark hair. A lot of hair. Instead, he's quite fair-skinned.

14. Found another interview; or it's just one question, really. He talks about coming up with the voice for D'Argo.

I guess I also probably imagined that the actor actually talked that way.

15. Realized that D'Argo kind of reminds me of Hagrid. So I guess I pictured Anthony Simcoe looking like Robbie Coltrane.

Though, looking at pictures of Robbie Coltrane...You know what, I probably pictured Hagrid playing D'Argo.

16. Read another interview with Simcoe. This one answers my make-up question. He says it used to take four hours, but now it takes two.

I wonder if it takes that long to remove the make-up.

17. Learned from the interview that Simcoe was in The Castle.

I really need to watch that one day.

18. Saw that The Castle is on my to-watch list.

That's good.

19. Saw that Claudia Karvan is on this episode!

I knew she was on Farscape, but I didn't know when.

I wonder if she'll have tons of make-up; or will she look like herself.

20. Listened to D'Argo and realized he doesn't have an Australian accent.

I'm not sure how I didn't notice that.

Maybe I noticed it in the past and then forgot?

What's wrong with me?

21. Saw man I recognized on Farscape; and I recognized his name as well. Nicholas Hope.

I looked at his filmography, and saw he was Patrick's daddy on Offspring.  I've seen him recently on something else, because I remember recently doing the exact same thing—looking for an actor and then seeing he was Patrick's dad.

22. Scrolled down and saw the show was Rake.  It was the first episode—the one with Hugo Weaving as the cannibal.  I don't remember who Nicholas Hope was in that.

23. Saw Claudia Karvan.




She looks exactly like herself.  I'm sure she had a very short time in the make-up chair.

Seriously, though...no, I can't see Karvan in that face.  But I can hear her voice. She changes it a bit, but still sounds like herself.

24. Went to a website about Cairns.

I've just been thinking. What if Tim and Jack are both too busy to go to Australia; and my recurring dream comes true? I end up getting a chance to got to Australia, but I have to go alone.

I can't drive, so I'd have to stay in a place I can easily get to by flying. Would Cairns work for me?

I kind of picture people flying to Cairns; and then driving off to a nearby town.  But I guess people also stay in Cairns itself, sometimes.

25. Realized the website I want to is about Tropical North Queensland in general, but there's a page specifically about Cairns.

26. Figured I'd probably enjoy a smaller town. Maybe?

I think I'm probably wishing for something that doesn't exist.

Really. What I want is that island from Reef Doctors.

27. Felt lost when it comes to North Queensland—mostly because I've never had much interest in the area until recently.

28. Started watching another episode of Farscape.

29. Thought storyline of this episode is similar to Michael's storyline on Lost. Michael on Lost is so desperate to get his son back that he's willing to kill in cold blood.

On Farscape, D'Argo is told the only way he can save his son is to deliver Crichton (Ben Browder) to his enemy Scorpius (Wayne Pygram).

30. Imagined that I would do very bad things if I believed it would help me save my child.

31. Looked at the Beachcomber Coconut Caravan Village in Mission Beach.

This might be something I'd like.

Where is Mission Beach?

32. Found Mission Beach on Google Maps.

It's about two hours away from Cairns.

How does one get there if they don't have a car?

32. Figured you don't.

I think you have to get a car.

33. Saw you can take a bus or train.

I probably would be too lazy for that.

34. Looked at a website about Great Barrier Reef islands.

This is probably what I desire, but I don't know if they'd be too expensive.

35. Saw for Lizard Island, that the lowest rate for one night is $1,365. That's not in my price range.

36. Started to think I should drop the idea of going to a Great Barrier Reef island.

If I really want to do an island, I should probably just go to the Caribbean.

37. Figured I won't give up on the island thing completely.  But maybe we'll just go there for a weekend. This morning I kind of had this idea of using all our Australia time on the island—really vegging out.

I think I was just in a lazy mood.

38. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to watch the video for the seventh song on the list. It's Chet Faker's "Gold".

39. Saw that the video starts with a street.

I like the beat in the beginning.

40. Thought the beginning of the video is eerie and creepy. On the street, from faraway, you can see a figure. It kind of looks like a ghost or zombie; but then as it gets closer, you can see it's just a woman on roller skates.

41. Liked the song.

42. Started to watch a Neighbours backstage video.

This one features two people—Stefan Dennis and Jane Hall.

Stefan Dennis plays Paul Robinson.

Jane Hall played Rebecca. I'm not sure who that is.

Maybes she was connected to Paul in some way?

43. Thought that Stefan Dennis is slightly adorable.

He's funny.

And I admire him for sticking with the same soap opera, and the same character,  for thirty years.

I have a lot of admiration for long-term soap opera actors.

44. Hoped that Stefan Dennis stays on Neighbours for thirty more years. Or even more.

45. Learned that Jane Hall had been on the show three years before. She left and then came back. Maybe it was for a guest appearance?

46. Learned that Paul was married to Rebecca.

47. Learned, from Lord Wiki, that Rebecca was on the show from 2007-2011; then she returned briefly in 2014.

48. Learned that Paul blackmailed Rebecca into staying with him.

Paul! Really?

See, I know Paul has a bad side, but I haven't seen that much of it. He's been pretty tame during the times that I've watched the show.




How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and we could easily talk to our dearly-departed loved (or hated!!!??) ones with the Internet?   The Dead are Online