Has it really been a year already?

It is fun watching movies set in the USA as 90% of the time I get to say "been there" - although I have started to cut back on doing that (mainly because I was annoying myself!). While it is a hoot and a holler to reminisce, I am amazed that it has been a year since we left on the holiday of a lifetime. Looking back at it, the 3 months we drove around the United States flew by so fast at the time that I had difficulty making sure I didn't fall behind in writing up each day's adventures in my journal. Some days were harder than others, like when we were sleeping in a tent in the middle of a forest. It's hard trying to write by moonlight - believe me, I've tried!

I have wanted to revisit my travel journal and so I have decided that I will post my journal entries here, on this blog. I will post each entry exactly as I wrote it in my Smiggle Travel Diary and try to post at least one new image for each day (considering we took over 1000 photos on the trip, it shouldn't be too hard). For the adventurous reader with nothing better to do, I will only post one entry a day so people can experience the journey exactly as my wife and I did. I am excited as I open the journal for the first time in almost a year... here's what it looked like at the start of the journey:

I guess you could say that if nothing else, this will be a good test of whether or not I can keep this blog up to date. I am excited to revisit the journey and I hope you are ready for 15,000 miles of road trip fun!

Eliminate the negative!

33. Accentuate the positive

"Life without pain has no meaning" - Arthur Schopenhauer

While Schopenhauer may have a valid point, I think it is how a person deals with their pain that defines their personality. Recently, I was made redundant at my place of employment - for the second time! 3 years ago I was made redundant when the TV network I worked at closed down its production department (it was reported on a rival network as being the largest TV production department in Australia). After a brief period, they approached me to come back as their secondary studio director for their live nightly news bulletin (which had been one of my roles when I was in production). Reluctantly, I agreed to venture back into the director's chair, mainly because I am friends with the director and he needed me to cover for him when he was sick or wanted to take holidays. I enjoyed directing the news more than I thought I would, certainly more than I used to back when I was expected to do my normal duties as well as the director's full work load. Trust me when I say that it isn't easy trying to do 16 hours worth of work in an 8 hour day, every day!

So back in May, during a 3 and a half week period where I was directing news (the regular guy was on holiday), I was told that it was likely that a new position was going to be created which would be a full time senior camera operator role which would also incorporate my current job of relief studio director of news. Talking with the head of the news department, she asked about my skills and what I thought of said position, which I expressed interest in. A few days later the new position is announced and advertised, for which I applied. I was amazed at how much the position was written specifically for me as after having worked in TV for over 15 years, I had all the experience required. A couple of days later, one of the regional camera operators came in for an interview for the position and I was surprised that he had as I didn't think he wanted to substantially increase his work load for the same pay he was already getting. I thought nothing else of it and looked forward to having my interview for the position.

The next thing I knew was that the other guy had been given the job and I hadn't even been asked for an interview. To say I was crushed would be an understatement, and the fact that I had a whole week ahead of me directing the news made me physically sick. Clearly, my life had been given more meaning... How could the head of the department not even ask me for an interview? Writing this now, I still feel like I was never really considered for the position which definitely hurts. Needless to say I pushed my self to stay professional and the news went cleanly to air that night. After two sleepless nights filled with depression, I decided to accentuate the positive. I wish I could describe how I went from having zero self worth to a point of joy - maybe I created a pro & con list in my head and just don't remember, but the truth is that I felt like I just decided to do it, initiating an instantaneous change.

I can recall that back when I was in high school, I adopted a "what's the worst that could happen" approach to life, carrying out my actions based on whether or not I could live with the worst case scenario (I can think of a couple of times where the worst case scenario I came up with was so bad that I chose inaction as my course of action). I still have that approach to life but I sometimes forget it, especially when strong negative emotions are involved. When I originally created my list of 40 goals, my father was losing his battle with cancer and every time the phone rang, I was expecting to hear the inevitable news. Far from accentuating the positive, I feared the phone and had to prepare myself to hear the worst every time I answered a phone. Sadly my father passed away just before Easter last year, a week before my sister's wedding. Life was a crazy emotional roller coaster.

It has taken me a while to rediscover how to look on the bright side and see the river lining, and I know I have reconnected with a "what's the worst that could happen" approach to life. With my own son on the way, I hope I can continue to accentuate the positive.

STATUS: 4/40 = 10%

Stand by for General Shenanigans!

7. Make a sketch comedy series.

For as long as I have known my nest friend Scott (26 years), we have always had similar tastes in comedy. We would watch the Goodies and Comedy Company, listen to Monty Python and the Goons, and we would say to our selves "we have to do our own sketch comedy show one day."

Back in 2002, I was talking to a different friend (James) and he convinced me to do a comedy TV show with him. It was going to be called CrassTV and we started working on ideas. Then he got a job teaching English in Japan and CrassTV was shelved.

Then I got together with some different friends (Jess, Neville and Brooke) and we decided to make a sketch comedy series to be called Mostly Filler. We had a team of writers writing scripts, we held casting over a couple of days (and saw hundreds of people), we cast a core team and started rehearsals. For reasons that I can't quite recall, we had a difference of opinions on which way the show should go, and sadly Mostly Filler was shelved.

With the bitter taste of failure in my mouth, I decided that sketch comedy was something that just wasn't going to happen. There was instead a Red Dwarf fan film competition I was going to enter. I wrote a B grade comedy horror short film called The Killer Bikini Vampire Girls. It had every cheesy cliche you could think of... it was so popular and so much fun that we did a sequel. And then another. And then another. We had a series of several more that we were looking at making, including a musical. Then one day, I was being interviewed for a job in production at a TV station and the station manager looked at me weird when he saw all the Killer Bikini Vampire girls films on my resume. I got the job but I felt I was known for the KBVG films only. For better or worse I decided that it was time to distance myself from the KBVG films. I moved on and did several dramatic films, all in the hope to show that I could do other things.

Then my friend Scott said "we really need to do that sketch comedy idea" and the ball was rolling. We threw around ideas, wrote sketches and then secured cast and crew. Although slightly behind my original schedule, we have filmed the majority of the sketches! There are a couple we have dropped because they have been done before, or they just weren't as funny as we originally thought, but we are looking good. Here is the first sketch that I have edited together:



From here we need to film one or two pickups and cutaways, then edit it together. We will then pitch it to several TV networks and hopefully, we will be picked up. We will also cut together a web series so I am well on track to fulfilling this goal :)

"Read it? I devoured it!"

I have always enjoyed reading - books, comics, the trivia on the inside of bottle tops - it doesn't matter what it is. Usually with books, I find that I take a while to get through them - one chapter at a time. I don't know if it is because the book doesn't grab my interest or if it takes too much energy to read. Perhaps I find it hard to find the time to actually sit down with the book...

None of that is relevant when talking about "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline.



When my friend Scott gave me this book for Christmas I was a bit "a book?" Not because I don't like books or that I think books are bad presents, it was because I was uncertain if I would like the book. Just because the giver likes a book doesn't mean the receiver will. My first impression was that this book was going to be about some kid back in the 1980s who liked to play computer games. Boy, was I wrong. Set in the no too distant future of 2044, the major of the world's population prefer to spend time in an artificial reality that makes the Matrix look like an 8 bit Sega arcade game.

I cannot remember the last I enjoyed reading a book as much as this one. I have devoured the occasional book in my time - The Red Dwarf Omnibus springs to mind, along with "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" by Mitch Albom. The Red Dwarf book was mainly retelling the TV episodes with added fleshier bits (which were what I enjoyed), leaving me a bit cold about the book because I felt that there wasn't enough new material. Mitch Albom's book is far from a happy book, pulling on emotional heart strings, but it was still a great book to read.

"Ready Player One" was fun and exciting and full of so many nerd and geek references that I could relate to the central character scarily well. For anyone who knows anything about AD&D, Atari 2600's, Monty Python, or 80's pop culture, this book is for you :)

STATUS: 3/40 = 7.5%

9 Months In...

Alright, so I might be failing on keeping regular posts happening, but it's been a slow couple of months. I have been working a lot on the sketch comedy show (And Several Butchers' Aprons) and I am well on the way to achieving that objective.

Reading over my list you may have guessed that I am a fan of Doctor Who. I even applied for a job to work on the current series as script editor. I didn't get the job but after watching the last couple of seasons, maybe I should have. I haven't been a fan of alot of the writing as it hasn't been good Doctor Who; good sci-fi perhaps, but not good Doctor Who.

For example, the 2011 Christmas episode has the Doctor put the other 3 characters in mortal danger and then watches them save themselves. The Doctor could have left the episode half way through and the same outcome would have happened without him. Personally I think the Doctor should be the hero and should save the day.

Considering the ups and downs of the 2011 season, and the late schedule for the 2012 season, if I was working on Doctor Who, this is where I would have the show go from here:



Episode 7x01 - 2012 Easter Special (airs 7 April 2012). To be written by Steven Moffat. The Doctor, Amy & Rory have one final adventure - this would be the farewell of Amy and Rory from the series. The Doctor realises that he needs to carry out a much quieter existence after Amy and Rory are nearly killed as a direct result of the Doctor's actions. Someone in the story mentions the lost prophecies.

Episode 7x02 (airs 4 Aug 2012): "By Any Other Name" to be written by Stephen Greenhorn. The Doctor arrives on Magnus Delta and is mistaken for a galactic official. He is constantly called by the incorrect name and his true identity is never revealed. The Doctor uncovers a plot by an alien race to turn the population of Magnus Delta into slaves, but thwarts their plans.

Episode 7x03 (11 Aug 2012): "The Lost Prophecies" to be written by Chris Chibnall. The Doctor has tracked down the legendary lost prophecies, one of which include details about the fields of Trenzelor when silence must fall. Arriving at the Archaeology University on Saltyx III, the Doctor meets 'a new friend', a female historian, who mistakes him for the new history professor, Giovanni Ferrari. Due to mistaken identity, she does not know that he is 'The Doctor'. The Lost Prophecies are in the possession of Professor Glenelg, a middle aged man who knows the Doctor (albeit not by name) whom he blames for his menial job in the back waters of the cosmos. The Doctor does not remember the Professor ("I meet a lot of people - I can't be expected to remember everyone") which makes matters worse. After a battle, the Doctor gets the prophecies but the Professor escapes.

Episode 7x04 (18 Aug 2012): "Grandfather Paradox" to be written by Steven Moffat. The Doctor and the female historian materialise on modern day Earth. The female historian is amazed and can't quite believe that time travel is actually possible. They meet a teenage boy caught up in an alien plan to kidnap children. The aliens want children to plug into their living spaceship to use as an energy source as imaginations are what the alien space craft needs. The aliens realise that the Doctor has a huge imagination and they try to use him as an energy source. The alien spacecraft however is overloaded by the extensiveness of the Doctor's memories and experiences - the Doctor is the ultimate grandfather paradox after all.

Episode 7x05 (25 Aug 2012): "Pages of History" to be written by Paul Cornell. The Doctor and the female historian are on a tour of an archaeologically important site with a group of other tourists - an ancient library. The Doctor is annoyed at the inaccurate information the tour guide is giving and shows little interest in staying with the tour group. Having left the tour, the Doctor discovers a group of raiders stealing ancient artefacts. The female historian's life is threatened by the raiders and the Doctor is forced to make a hard decision to save her.

Episode 7x06 (1 Sept 2012) & Episode 7x07 (8 Sept 2012): "Spare Parts" by Marc Platt. Assuming that there isn't any restrictions turning this Big Finish audio into a BBC episode, it is a brilliant Cyberman story that I think will work. At the end of the second part, the Doctor returns the female historian (who was almost assimilated by the Cybermen) to her homeworld.

Episode 7x08 - 2012 Christmas Special (25 Dec 2012). To be written by Steven Moffat. The Doctor visits modern day England, trying to keep a low profile. He discovers a transmat device from the future. Witnessing a person use the machine, he follows them. Materialising in the future, he discovers that the Earth is under attack by the Zygons. Starting to lose the war, the Zygons have decided to go back in time and change the course of history. The Doctor manages to stop them.

Episode 7x09 (20 April 2013). A Dalek story (without the word 'Dalek' in the title) to be written by Mark Gatiss. A damaged salvage spaceship docks at a remote space station run by a caretaker - The Doctor. The Doctor has been passing time on the station researching the lost prophecies. One of which include this particular space station. The crew tell of how they barely managed to get away from their attackers. The space station comes under attack - by Daleks. With the shields offline and main power & life support failing, several red drone Daleks, a blue strategist Dalek and and an orange scientist Dalek board the station. Turns out the salvage spaceship has aboard pieces of the destroyed 'Crucible' and unbeknownst to them, the remains of Davros. The new Dalek paradigm have been searching for their creator. After all of the salavage spaceship crew are killed, the Daleks trick the Doctor and leave the space station with the remains of Davros.

Episode 7x10 (27 April 2013). To be written by Gareth Roberts. The Doctor meets up again with the female historian. Several years have passed and she is now running a museum from which was stolen a sacred relic from the constellation of Kasterborous. The Doctor helps her track it down - it is a Timelord artefact designed to track and locate any TARDIS. In the end, the thief (a hired mercenary) and the artefact are vaporised by an unseen assassin.

Episode 7x11 (4 May 2013). To be written by Helen Raynor. The female historian pieces together the truth: the Doctor is a Timelord.

Episode 7x12 (11 May 2013). To be written by Stephen Greenhorn. The TARDIS is under attack by an unknown force. The Doctor is forced to do an emergency materialisation, landing on the dark side of Proxima Centuri I where it is always night. On the planet the TARDIS is attacked by an alien species, similar to those seen in "Planet of the Dead". In this episode, the Doctor gets to know the female historian better. In the end, it turns out that the TARDIS was initially attacked by Professor Glenelg.

Episode 7x13 (18 May 2013). To be written by Toby Whithouse. After tracking down Professor Glenelg, the origin of Glenelg's hatred is revealed - the Doctor is responsible for the death of the Professor's wife. Still having no memory of said events, the Doctor tries to talk things through with Glenelg. Glenelg has an evil plan in motion to destroy the Doctor. In the end, Professor Glenelg's plan backfires and he is vaporized.

Episode 7x14 (25 May 2013). To be written by Keith Temple. The Doctor believes he can change one of the prophecies without dramatically affecting the flow of history. He goes to great lengths to change it, in the process, bumping into a young Professor Glenelg, one who has never met the Doctor. The Doctor tells the Professor about the Prophecies and asks for the Professor's help - the Professor thinks the Doctor is a delusional madman. In the end, the Professor's wife is killed - the Doctor's actions are what causes the prophecy to come true - the Professor now hates the Doctor. The Doctor realises that he no matter what he does, the prophecies all come true. As such, he sets the TARDIS controls for Trenzelor, unsure as to what will occur.

50th Anniversary Special (23 Nov 2013). To be written by Steven Moffat. On the fields of Trenzelor, the question is asked - "Doctor who?" This episode would see the regeneration of the Doctor (the prophecy says "at the fall of the 11th") and the farewell of Matt Smith from the series.

While I know that the actual series will probably be nothing like what I have here, I don't know if what they officially come up will be any good. There are rumours that they are looking at filming in Australia but that makes no sense financially. Yes they shot in the USA but that was a part of trying to increase their presence in the US market, and was financially aided by a poor US economy - neither of which is applicable to Australia. That said, I like being proved wrong... Wouldn't it be great if Steven Moffat liked my ideas...

Update: September 2011

Alright, so it has been 6 months since I set myself the 40 Before 40 objective. I can report that I can cross some things off my list.

Item #1 - Drive around the United States of America
Yes. Done. Achieved. And boy was it a blast :) Here are just a couple of pics: Graceland... THE grassy knoll... Mesa Verde National Park







Item #11 - "The Art Of War"
I have to say that this book was not an easy read. It's not that it is difficult to read, it is just a boring text book of opinion. However I can say that I am ready for the revolution when it comes!

STATUS: 2/40 = 5%

Superannuation Spectacular

Item #5 - sort out my superannuation

I have sifted through the huge pile of superannuation statements from the last 6 years that I had stock piled and worked out that I have 9 separate superannuation accounts. My task now is to ring them all and work out how to roll them all into one account, hopefully not losing the entire day doing so.

sigh

The only thing is that I sifted through the pile 6 years ago with the same goal but obviously got distracted (or curled up under the table crying because it was all too difficult) and didn't get it completely sorted. Sadly I am procrastinating and writing this blog post...

sigh