It’s September already which means Christmas is basically tomorrow. Time to make a start on my Christmas cards… otherwise they will never be sent in time. This month would have been my holiday month on a cruise ship splashing from Brisbane to Cairns and back. Alas, it was cancelled earlier in May for COVID reasons and rightly so because my travel buddy is stuck in Sydney for an indeterminate time. See you never Merryn. Luckily the gem of a woman sent over travel pics from our 6 months of euro-adventures in 2016. Here’s a few throwbacks incase you are missing travelling too.
Since we last spoke, I’ve been socialising quite a bit and doing many bits and bobs. Most notably is I now have a jamming crew. It’s me (the singer) and four other men (playing instruments) on a Monday night. Pure bliss. So far, we focus a lot on the blues and Aussie classics, but very slowly I’m introducing songs I like to sing like ‘Dreams’, ‘Dock of the Bay’, etc. It is fabulous. I love singing for the fun of it. In my old band, there were all sorts of members – ones doing it for fun, ones that wanted to hang out and others that wanted to quit their day job to be a professional act. Definitely not how I saw the band, which is why jamming with the guys is really nice.
Speaking of sing-songing, this month I auditioned for a Christmas choir. To be specific, for the Lord Mayors Christmas Choir. I used to watch this show every year for Christmas, and over time I started recognising friends and teachers on the riverstage. So this year when the opportunity presented itself, I thought I'd audition. Unfortunately, I just received the news I didn’t get into the choir. Devo. I have no idea how they were choosing choral members. There was no individual singing audition and some of the altos were switched over to sing as tenors on the day too, with not much preparation time. Pretty pooped about missing out but at least I’ll get to watch my favourite lady, Irena, sing up a storm while I throw roses from the front of the stage.
Moving along to film… the first Canadian short I acted in won “Best Canadian Short Film” at the Vancouver Independent Film Festival. I play a Ryan Seacrest-like host who follows the fashion show from start the finish waiting for an exclusive trend announcement. Looking back, I think I looked absolutely fabulous with such long and luscious red hair. God I miss my hair… getting there.
Last month, two kids content initiatives popped up out of nowhere. Those who know me well, know that I’d like to write and direct for Nickelodeon or Disney one day. My obsession for kids content is known to most. So when these ditties popped up, I got tagged a fair few times. Thank you, friends, and keep tagging me in future! I did feel a wave of anxiety and stress when they popped up. I’ve already got far too much in my basket and these tipped it slightly overboard making me a little too overwhelmed. But in the end, I spent a whole day setting up a private pitch tab on my main site for the ABC Kids opportunity and I’ve decided to not go ahead with the Stan submission. I don’t have the time right now, and I really can’t deal with the stress. In the future, I might have a producer who is particularly strong at submissions (which I am not) and plus, my film is too much like ‘Hardball’, so I’ve got to wait a few years until handball is forgotten once more and needs a revival.
As for my film, Zombie Bro, well it’s still available in North America. I noticed a few friends still entering their films into film festivals and for some reason, I thought that stopped once you hit the distribution stage. But I talked to my people, and they said that it was fine to continue entering into festivals. So guys, I shall begin once more. This time, I’m going to focus on just Australian (and surrounding area) festivals. I got an LA-based pal to buy the DVD from over there and send it over to me. This way, when I enter the film, it will have the final sound and banners on it. Who knows, maybe the distributor changed some bits. Looking forward to watching it for the hundredth time.
Aside from my movie, this past month I watched four movies. I watched 'Free Guy' earlier in the month. It was so good. Ryan Reynolds is so funny. Next, I saw 'Respect' in cinemas; a really dark re-telling of her life story. There were light bits but they didn’t focus much on her music or activism, mostly on all the controlling people and circumstances in her life. Also watched the Amanda Bynes Snow White movie. Good D-grade movie. Finally, I watched 'Shang-Chi' with almost a full cinema in the city. This film was great, specifically, because I did a San Fran trip when I was about 20 with the legend Niall Ray, and we drove down that swivelly road and walked through the loud and long tunnel that most of the bus scene happens in. Very exciting to be getting travel flashbacks throughout the first half of the movie. I’ve recently found a Facebook movie night group, which is why the cinema was so packed. I miss my Canadian movie night crew and debates about the final verdict on La La Land.
Books-wise: zilch. I must say that I was reading a novel 2 months ago about some horrific family trauma and then I had a break-in. And so the idea of reading a dark book while dealing with feelings of being unsafe in my home, and struggling with sleep just wasn’t sitting together, so I pushed it off to the side. Obviously, I feel guilty for not keeping up with reading. Although it isn’t too bad, seeing as though I am doing 5 units this semester and there is just so much god damn textbook readings to get through in any given week. I will get back to reading eventually, maybe it's just waiting until semester break again.
What a big blog this month!
To finish, I share with you the beautiful cat I’m fostering for the next month. He is recovering from surgery that removed his left arm and I’m recovering from all the allergies he brings out of me.
Thanks for reading.
Much love, May
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