Great Guys, Pushy Friends, Being a Part of Something Wonderful, and Torn Loyalties

1. Dreamed that, I've made grand plans for my very last post for this blog. But then I realize I really don't want to quit the blog.  

Like the recent Costas Mandylor dream, this was another one that I didn't remember upon waking, and I didn't write it down.

It wasn't until I was driving to the grocery store, that I suddenly remembered it.

2. Started watching an episode of Home and Away.

3. Annoyed with Emma (Samantha Clarke).

Hannah (Cassie Howarth) had sex with Emma's husband (Luke Pegler), and Emma isn't pleased about that. I don't blame her. But then she says, You know. I feel sorry for Andy. He's SUCH a great guy.  

As far as I know, Emma met Andy once the night before, probably quite briefly. I don't think they spent much time together.  From that, she can conclude that he's such a great guy?

I really can't stand when people think they can label other people as great after spending a short time with them.

Even if you spend a not-so-short time with someone, it doesn't guarantee you're getting the full picture.

4. Thought that some of the people in Summer Bay were being rude and unfair to Jett (Will McDonald) Marilyn Emily Symons), and John (Shane Withington)

Jet's  going to boarding school. He's a bit sad about leaving his parents, and they're sad about being away from him. Earlier, they came up with a solution. They'd move with him.

When their Summer Bay friends find about how this, they give Marilyn  and John a hard time about leaving. They push for them to stay. Then Alf (Ray Meagher) even lays a guilt trip on Jett for taking his friend Marilyn away from him.

I understand that it would be hard for Marilyn and John to leave their friends and jobs. But I also think it's very hard for them to say good-bye to Jett.

I don't think there's a right answer. I think plenty of teens go to boarding school, away from their families, and do fine.  I also think many people leave the town they feel comfortable in, and they end up adjusting.

What I do think is that John and Marilyn's friends should have been more supportive and less pushy.

5. Thought maybe it was unfair of me to label what Alf says as a guilt trip.  He might not have purposely tried to make Jett feel bad, and he might not have been trying to be manipulative. He might have just been expressing his feelings.

BUT...sometimes we have to be careful about expressing our wishes, fears, and worries, because we might end up accidentally giving someone a guilt trip.

I'm not saying we should always keep our mouth shut about our feelings.  I'm just saying it's a good idea to try to be sensitive.

It might have been good idea for Alf to stop and think.  Hey, maybe Jett already feels conflicted about taking Marilyn and John away from the Bay. Maybe it's not a great idea to talk about how much I'm going to miss Marilyn. It might be better to just wish them all well.  

6. Started watching another episode of Home and Away.

7. Saw Hannah (Cassie Howarth) apologizing to Andy (Tai Hara) again.This time it's for sleeping with another man.

The thing is, she was ready to break up with Andy and start up again with her ex until she found out the ex was a married man.

This is all very unfair to Andy.

I do have some sympathy for Hannah. I think she's very confused about her feelings.  But it's not fair of to her to cling to Andy and act like she's 100% committed, when, in reality, she's very unsure about the whole thing.

8. Thought about Andy's physical appearance and personality. He certainly doesn't need Hannah's charity.

9. Realized what I said is so hypocritical. I'm just like Emma. It's not like I've spent a lot of time with Andy.  I've just seen bits and pieces of him. Who knows what goes on when he's not on screen?

Okay, nothing. Because he's fictional.  Yeah.

But let's pretend he's real.

He might have gross habits. He might talk about boring things. He might have really bad taste in TV shows and music.

10.  Continued to think that Charlotte (Erika Heynatz) looks like Natasha Henstridge.

11. Liked Evie's (Philippa Northeast) outfit—the dress with the earrings.



12.  Felt love for my blog.

I had some thoughts the other day.

I thought about how I love the entertainment industry, and maybe it's actually not too late for me to become part of it. Maybe one day, a miracle will happen. Someone will read one of my novels and decide to turn it into a TV show. I'll be a part of it all.

But then I realized something. I already feel like I'm a part of it all.

I personally feel that writing about fiction is as important, or almost as important, as creating the fiction.

It might be even nicer if I was part of the elite group of people who are very successful—making lots of money.  But I'm happy enough with the way things are.  Plus, I feel like I'm in very good company. There are so many people working hard, doing great things, but they're not very famous, and they're not making a lot of money. For example: There's the Tropfest nominees I've learned about, and all the people with a web series.  Then there are other enthusiastic fandom bloggers and other such people on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Whether people are creating fiction, working in the industry of creating fiction,  or loving on the fiction....whether they're very famous, moderately successful, or failing to make any money....I think it's all fantastic.

13. Felt it is probably stretching things to say we're all a part of the book, TV, film, video games comic books, etc. industries  just because we consume what's out there.

But I do think that as soon as we start reviewing, posting, blogging, vloging, commenting, etc. we become an important part of it.

14. Thought that if a genie came to me and said I have a choice between making my novel a TV show or my blog slightly more popular, I think I'd probably pick the blog thing.

Well, maybe that would be a bad choice money-wise.

If it weren't for a money issue, I'd pick the blog thing.

15. Didn't  know if novelists get a lot of money if their work is used for a TV show.

16. Figured the genie would make things equal. If my blog is becoming only slightly more popular, it wouldn't be a choice between that and having a hit TV show.

It would be one of those TV shows that few people have heard of. If you went to a party with two hundred people, maybe one or two people would have heard of the show.

In that case, I'd feel okay with picking the blog option.

17. Thought if it was a choice between having a super popular blog and a super popular TV show, I'd definitely pick the TV show.

I'd love to have a 100-150 hits on my blog a day.  That would be awesome. I would not want thousands. That would probably be scary and humiliating.

A TV show would be better, because I'd get a little bit of attention, but most of the hype would go to the actors.

18.  Thought that Josh (Jackson Gallagher), on Home and Away, is being unreasonable towards Evie.

He's being cold towards her, because she didn't tell him that her aunt cheated on his brother.

I think he should be understanding towards the fact that Evie was torn between two loyalties.

19. Tried to imagine one of my sisters dating Tim's brother or sister. If my sister cheated, I'd feel very torn.

20. Understood more now why Evie became so emotionally involved in Hannah's transgression.  I thought she was being a bit of a busybody.  But now, realizing, that the victim of Hannah's mistake, is Evie's boyfriend's brother, it makes more sense.




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