Saturday, 16 January 2016

Any Dream Will Do


When I was but a wee llama, I was madly in love with Jason Donovan. You know, back when he looked like this. Oh be still my pre-teen beating heart! The tousled blond hair, the brown eyes, the perfect smile, the tan... ♥

I adored him as Scott Robinson in Neighbours and my little heart was broken when Scott married Charlene. There were tears. I remember it well.

I loved his music too. I had all the singles on 7" and all his albums on tape. I'm not sure I should even be admitting this but I can still sing along wordperfect to songs like Too Many Broken Hearts or Especially For You (I'd forgiven him for marrying Kylie at that point!), or When You Come Back To Me. My parents even took me up to London to see him playing Joseph in the West End, which started a whole new love.
I still have a ridiculous amount of love for that musical and have seen it many many times. ALL THE LOVE.

Then, of course, it all came crashing down with the drugs and he disappeared into obscurity, once again breaking my tween heart. The pain, the agony! *cries*

I also have no idea why I'm writing a blog post about my late 80s/early 90s love for an Australian soap/popstar. I have however discovered he does an All 80's Show on Heart FM on a Sunday night so I might have to look into that.

And sure, the drugs and all really aged him badly but he's still a good looking guy and I also can't help but think how much he looks like his dad!

I'm now going to be really pathetic and wander over to Spotify or iTunes and see if I can't find me some 'classic' Jason to listen to!

Sunday, 10 January 2016

Message In A Bottle

One of my Christmas presents from Dragon was a writing prompt book called ‘642 Things To Write About’, and Dragon being Dragon she got me the ‘Young Writer’s Edition. Or, to put it much plainer, the kids version. *grins* Thanks Dragon.
Today seems like a good time to crack open the spine and take a look at my first writing prompt:
You’re enjoying making sandcastles at the beach, when the ocean waves wash up a message in a bottle. You pull out the message. What does it say?
Firstly, I’m going to assume I’m on a beach that is not in the UK in the middle of winter. Just for clarity’s sake, I’m going to go ahead and say that my beach is in the Caribbean. I mean… it’s 6C, raining and blowing a gale out there. This is not optimum sandcastle building weather!
Not that the prompt is asking this, or that it’s anything do to with the prompt at all. Just saying.
It’s probably testament to the kind of sci-fi and horror that I adore that in my mind, the message says something along the lines of opening this bottle has freed an evil spirit. You have 24hrs to capture him and cast the spell that returns him to this prison or he will take over your body.
Orrrr that opening the bottle has unleashed a plague upon the world that shall cause the population to be decimated. You are now Patient X. It would probably also say that even if you killed yourself you would still cause the virus to spread.
I’m quite fond of this second one actually because then you could have the CDC kicking into gear, quarantining the area, trying to use anything left in the bottle in conjunction with my blood/cells/what-have-you to find out what kind of virus/plague it is, to synthesise a cure or a vaccine…
Not that I’ve been wtching things like 12 Monkeys, Helix, The Strain etc recently… no, not at all. It also make me want to watch that early NCIS episode S.W.A.K – y’know, the one where Tony got pneumonic plague. That was fun.
Yes, I’m sure ‘fun’ isn’t necessarily the correct word.
What can I say – I’m bloody weird!
And, of course there’s always the good old “Good morning, Mr. Phelps…. Your mission… should you decide to accept it, is to [mission of the week described]. As always, should you or any member of your IM Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.”
Now how am I supposed to fit all of that in that little box the book gives me? Hah!

Sunday, 3 January 2016

Write Here, Write Now

I'm sitting here, in my nice, clean, tidy living room feeling very pleased. I'm starting the year with my main room in order. I have a nice cold glass of Cherry Pepsi Max, I have a cheese & salami & apple sammich and a warm mince pie and clotted cream.

My feet are up, White Collar is on the TV and I'm remembering how much I utterly adore Matt Bomer as Neal Caffrey. There's something incredibly attractive about Neal Caffrey, physically and otherwise.
Bridget Regan is also in this season and she's awfully pretty. I adore her as Dotty in Agent Carter and am very pleased she's coming back for season 2

I have plans for this afternoon that involve walking down into town and selling my old TV at Cash Converters. I will also do some work on my fanlistings collective, assuming that the domain transfer has completed.

I am going to do some writing this evening. My aim is to write 300 words a day which shouldn't be too taxing. The oldest file in my WIP folder is called 'Post-paradise lost Jack/Sam so clearly I need to rewatch the SG1 episode Paradise Lost. Oh, what a chore, however will I cope?!

It's a pretty good Saturday. I am approving of it :)

(I'm not sure how well I've done at writing this in present tense like the promp suggested. I <i>suck</i> at tenses - just ask my poor, suffering, beta reader. Tenses and POV shifts are my kryptonite!)

Friday, 1 January 2016

Stroke Of Midnight


And here we are. January the 1st. The 1st day of the New Year. A Fresh start.A blank slate. Start as you mean to go on. Blah blah blah. Etc etc etc. And so on. I think we all know the drill!

Midnight found me curled up on my couch, in my Hello Kitty onesie. I was watching Stargate SG1 on Netflix, I had an ice-cold glass of Pepsi in my hand and a bar of chocolate. I was chatting with my Natalie on gchat and to a young lady I know only as 'Aura' on OKCupid.
Yup, that was a pretty good place to be to start the New Year. I'm fairly certain the only way it could have been better would be to have someone curled up with me. OK so that would involve the couch being a wee bit bigger but it's the sentiment, really.

I'm not big on New Year's Resolutions. I have a few goals I'd like to achieve in 2016, I suppose some would say it's the same thing but heyho, each to their own.
Be healthier - Eat better. Stop going to the vending machine and eating chocolate. Stop ordering pizza. Cook.
Keep taking my meds - Every. Damn. Day.
Try and be more positive - Emphasis right now on try
Read 75 books. - I read 71 in 2015 so that shouldn't be too much of a stretch
Save all the money for Gatecon - Travel and hotels are already covered, just need to save the pennies for the fun side of things.

Today finds me starting a good clean up of my flat. My mental health - and therefore motivation levels - have been utterly shit and my flat is paying the price. I'm getting a little sick of the place being messy so I'm doing something about it. I've taken out the recycling, I've done a couple of loads of laundry. I've cleaned and tidied 1/3 of my living room - but we're talking moving furniture, wiping down skirting boards, as well as the vacuum and polish thing.
Let's hope it's a good sign of things to come this year!