American Fans, Exceptions, Happy Thoughts, and Toilet Snakes

1. Dreamed about being in Australia.  I don't remember much, except that I didn't have my usual excitement and/or happiness about being there. I was ambivalent, and I think my ambivalence bothered me.

2.  Bored by the people I follow on Flickr, so I decided to broaden my horizons by looking at the follower of a follower.

Actually, it might not be a follower. It could just be someone who commented on a photo of someone I follow.

Anyway, the Flickr user I started to look at is Jacqi Bartlett.

I liked some of the pictures on her photostream.

Then I looked at her album list, and saw that she went to Australia in 2012.

I'm going to look at that album.

3. Saw that Jacqi Bartlett went to Cairns.

4. Thought that this was the place that I read about recently in some blog. I forgot what it's called. But it looks like the same place, and I remember the place was near Cairns.

5. Thought this building looked familiar to me.

I think some of these photos are from Sydney, so I probably saw it there.

6. Started to watch an episode of Neighbours.

7. Decided there's one good thing about Neighbours abandoning me.

I get to go on Random.org to pick a new show to watch.

I like doing that.

8. Saw a user comment on the episode of Neighbours I'm watching.

Sheila Russell-Thurber from Maine says, I Love Neighbours and could watch it forever.

Well, unfortunately that might not be possible.

Actually, it's definitely impossible, unless Sheila Russell-Thurber is a vampire or other type of immortal.  But now, because Hulu is losing Neighbours in a few days,  all of us American Neighbours fans won't be able to watch it past September.

9. Wondered how many American Neighbours fans are out there.

10. Wondered out of all the American Neighbours fans, how many started watching it because they're fans of Australia?  And how many started watching it, because they like trying shows from different countries. Then because of watching Neighbours, they've become Australia fans.

11. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to be listening to the 58th song, which is "Everything is Shit Except My Friendship with You" by Ball Park Music.

That's cute, but kind of depressing.

What if this friend decides to end the friendship?

12. Thought that it is kind of helpful to come up with a list of happy things when feeling not-so-happy in general.

Lately I've been having some angst. The Neighbours thing is kind of the icing on the cake.  Well if it was a cake of shit.  I think you're supposed to use icing on the cake for positive things. Right?  I could use the straw that broke the camel's back, but I don't think I'm broken.

I'm just feeling anxious about a few things. In the scheme of things, they're not huge. But they feel huge to me. Or I can say, they might be trivial things, but the negative feelings I'm getting from it are not small.

I'm worried about some stuff. I'm overwhelmed by other stuff.

I also dread having to pass on certain bits of news.

It's that kind of thing.

But anyway, at times like this, it is helpful to think happy thoughts.

Maybe I'll start with the fact that, unlike the above mentioned song-title, I have more than one thing on my not-shit list.

13. Started to feel depressed, because I'm realizing everything on my happy-list feels tainted.

For example, I was going to say television in general, but I think now I'm paranoid that Hulu is going to start losing my other favorite shows.

What if Coronation Street disappears?  What if I'm in the middle of season eight of Doctor Who, and that vanishes?  What if Hulu never obtains the other episodes of Wonderland?  What if they get rid of Packed to the Rafters, and I never get past season three?

14. Decided maybe the only thing on my pure-happy list right now is my dreams. Those are the one thing that feel safe and constant.

Yikes. Maybe I'm even worse off than the title of the song.

15. Wanted to say that I'm not completely miserable or depressed.  I don't want people to get this idea that I'm lying in bed with the shades closed, contemplating suicide.

I'm actually mildly happy lately.  I'm enjoying life. It's just certain things are getting me down if I allow myself to think about them. But usually I don't think of them.

Now I'm thinking of them. That's not good. I'm going to blame Ball Park Music. It's the fault of their song title.

16. Thought about the song title, and how it really isn't a good idea to depend on one person for your happiness.  But maybe it's not a good idea to depend on ANY one thing for your happiness.

What if the thing that can bring you joy in times of darkness is chocolate donuts, and then you find out your diabetic?

What if your happy thing is running through the park; then you become paraplegic?

What if The Cosby Show was the one thing that could make you smile when you were feeling down? I think the Cosby-rape drama might sour that.

What if it's backyard bird watching that makes you happy? How are you going to feel if all the birds go Hitchcock on you?                  

17. Couldn't find an official video for "Everything is Shit Except My Friendship With You".

So, I'm stuck again watching a user uploaded video.  That's fine, I guess. I wonder if that's going to be the case for most songs on the bottom half of the Triple J list.

18. Saw that the user video has lyrics. That's cool. Then I won't have to look them up later.

19. Predicated that if someone told me that everything in their life was shit except their friendship with me; we probably wouldn't be friends for long.

I feel easily suffocated.

Although if it was just a temporary feeling; that would probably be okay.

20. Imagined if someone actually said that, it might not be a compliment. It might be more like they're saying, Everything in the world is shit.  But then they don't want you to be offended, so they lie and make you an exception.

It's like if I'm with someone and they want to say, All blogs are complete shit. But they don't want to be rude to me, so they lie and say, All blogs are complete shit except yours.

21. Thought that the song probably wasn't lying to be nice.

I think maybe the friend truly was appreciated.

Or not.

I'm not sure, really.

22. Read the Australian snake story that's been popping up in non-Australian newspapers today.

There was a snake in a toilet.

Exciting.

Okay, two toilets actually.

The headlines of one article? "Giant Snakes are Slithering into Toilets as Scientists Discover New Deadly Species".

They make it sound like Australia is enduring some kind of horror movie epidemic. There's some kind of new deadly snake that's trying to bite Australian asses. No toilet is safe!

BUT...the toilet snakes and the newly discovered deadly snake are not one and the same.

Speaking of snakes, have you seen the new The Jungle Book trailer? It terrified me—not the snake part, but the bears and big cats.  It looks amazing, though.

23.  Started to watch a Neighbours backstage video.

This one is about the return of Tom Ramsey (Gary Files).

24. Tried to remember who's Tom Ramsey.

I think he's the brother of Madge (Anne Charleston) and Max (Francis Bell). Right?

25. Figured that Tom is Daniel's (Tim Phillips) great-uncle.

26. Wondered if tomorrow is the last day I can watch Neighbours, or will it be Thursday?

Hulu says the show is going to expire in two days, but I'm not sure when Hulu days begin and end.

27. Decided instead of being spiteful about being abandoned, I'm going to watch another episode of Neighbours.

28. Watched Brad (Kip Gamblin) and Terese (Rebekah Elmaloglou) fighting.

Usually, I put most of the blame on Brad. But in the past few episodes, I think they've both been to blame. Terese has been very unsupportive—first regarding Brad's woodcarving endeavors and then about his teaching successes.

29. Felt it's hard not to blame Brad for turning to Lauren (Kate Kendall) for support.

30. Annoyed at Josh (Harley Bonner) for completely taking his father's side and telling Terese to treat Brad better.

His general message is treat Dad better, or he's going to go elsewhere.  So really. What he's saying is Terese has to be the one to be a better spouse, because she has competition. I don't think Terese is being a worse spouse than Brad.  I think they're both awful to each other.

31. Wondered if I'm jumping the gun.

Maybe later Josh will lecture his dad.

I hope so.

Although I probably won't be around to see it.

No...I'll be around. It's Neighbours that won't be around. At least it won't be around for me...or other American Neighbours fans.





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