Right. So this is working. I’m actually blogging.

There was a blog page on my website but- to be honest, I was actually quite bad at updating it. The whole point was to try and get myself writing, and it kind of failed rather spectacularly.

So what’s in my life at the moment?

Well- I’ve recently come off a gigantic burst of work. Being a freelance journalist means that you do have tremendous amounts of freedom (the freedom to be poor, the freedom to stare at yourself in the mirror and wonder “Why the hell am I doing this again?”), but it also means that “No” is the most frightening word in the history of the English language. You just can’t say it. So, I’ve had a couple of weeks when it’s just been a non-stop tide of screenings and work. I’ve gotten to the end of it, thankfully, but not for long as next Monday, I’m off to the Edinburgh Film Festival for two weeks. It’s a long time since I’ve done something like this (Last time, I journeyed across America for six weeks visiting movie locations). It’s going to be good, but it’s also going to be hard work. And the worrying thing is that I’m ill at the moment.

Just over a year ago, I got iller than I’ve ever been in my life. I had a combination of glandular fever and tonsilitis, which I really can’t recommend to anyone. It basically meant that for a solid month, I could barely do anything. I couldn’t eat without being in pain. I couldn’t drink without being in pain. There were a couple of points where my tonsils were so swollen, I started having these weird images of them swelling further and blocking my throat so I couldn’t breathe. And that was on the good days.

I got through it, but the trouble with glandular fever is that it sticks in your system. I had a brief relapse earlier this year- it tends to happen when I get very run-down. And that’s exactly why it’s happenned now. Thankfully, it’s not too bad, but there’s nothing scarier than just having to hope that your body gets well in the next few days, when you’re kind of screwed if it doesn’t.

I guess we’ll see…

Okay- Now trying it through the benificent wisdom of iJournal.

This is all slightly new for me.

Please do not adjust your set…

Okay- this is the point where I type something in just to check whether or not it’s working.

Blogging is nice. Blogging is fun. Blogging is bother for everyone…

(Back soon)

Gorillaz on the radio, steel guitar in my soul…

Did an amazing thing today- sat down and wrote. Just went ahead and wrote 6,750 words in four hours. It’s one of the biggest bits of intensive writing that I’ve done in ages- and it feels good. It feels like I can actually do this. It’s a good feeling, and I’m going to do more, mainly because deep down I know that this is what I’m supposed to do. It’s nice to feel like you have a destiny.

Got an article to write this week on the Big Summer blockbusters, and how it’s all panned out. I’ve also got five screenings in the next forty eight hours. Sometimes, fitting all the stuff into my life is a serious headache.

Another annoyance- my computer is acting a bit sluggish. I never like it when this happens. It’s always a sign of severe difficulties to come.

Typical. You blink, and a month passes. My whole ‘regular updates’ thing has slightly gone for a burton, mainly because of the fact that the last month has been a busy, surreal and deeply unsettling experience. Bombs on the underground, varying weather, a trip home to Cornwall, and more films than seems healthy.

I’m also now going to the Edinburgh Film Festival- as long as everything goes according to plan- so I’ve got the second half of August to look forward to as a surreal reprise of my Celluloid Highway adventure- lots of sleeping in a hostel and mooching around a city I’ve never been before

It’s hot. Way too hot. Not hot in the way that Las Vegas or New York is hot- but more in the non commital, slightly annoying way that London gets. The kind of temperatures reserved for a city that likes pissing off its inhabitants. George and I bought a fan on Saturday, and it’s been running almost non-stop since.

It’s been a very strange week. What was supposed to be a big “sorting out” time turned into lots of confusion, plenty of learned Japanese Kanji symbols, and an impromptu visit to a film shoot that ended with me spectacularly panicking my head off in the middle of a car park. Then a weekend break, more subbing work, and the general feeling of not having quite enough time. Something that’s becoming quite regular.

Sorry- I need a new chair, and my hands are hurting. I can’t type when it’s painful.

Well- it was almost as bad as I expected. Kind of a mixed episode (rather like the season)- when it’s actually trying to be serious and scary, it’s pretty good. When it’s trying to be funny, it’s bloody embarressing.

No. I’m not going to get upset about this. I’m almost tired of getting this worked up about a TV programme. I just need to get myself writing again. I need to get the stories in my head out into the real world. Who is no longer for me- and I can’t tell you how sad that make me feel. It’s like a long-treasured friend has decided he really doesn’t want to hang out with me anymore, and he’d far rather go and get the attention of the “cool kids”.

Am tired and slightly emotional. It’s possible that I’ve actually done a hell of a lot today, so I’m going to chill. Relax. And take a very deep, calming breath.

There’s more on the site. It’s actually all coming together. A bit of a shock. I just wish my wrist wasn’t hurting so much at the moment. The trouble is, sorting out an RSI situation isn’t quite as easy as it should be. I don’t want to end up putting it off too long.

Well, there are new reviews on the site as well. I may dislike them intensely by the end of the day, but at the moment they’re there- and I like it.

Listening to the Peaches album- and it’s quite the filthiest thing I’ve heard in a very long time. Hurrah!

I’m planning to cook a Sausage Casserole for George tonight. Whether or not it works is another matter, of course….

There’s an hour and a half until tonight’s episode of Doctor Who- and it’s the “Reality TV” spoof episode that’s supposed to also be the first part of the big end-of-season cliffhanger. I’ll go into more detail about exactly why New Who has hacked me off soon- but I don’t think it helps that I watched the end of Season One of Lost this week- and my god, that’s a good show. Whether they can keep it going for Season Two remains to be seen (I loved the first season of Alias, and really didn’t like the Second), but for the moment it’s stunning stuff. And Who looks pretty dumb in comparison.

I’ll be back…

Blimey. It’s taken me so long to get here, it’s difficult to remember a point when I haven’t been incessantly tring to update the site. Well, it’s done, it’s all in place, and hopefully it won’t take me quite so long to get around to doing it again. That’s the principle, anyway.

This may be a pointless Blog. It may never reach critical mass, or get to the point where I think “Wow! I am a blogger, well and truly!” But, it’s here, and I’m going to be updating it whenever I can.

It’s the absolute definition of a relaxing Bank Holiday. I’m tinkering with the computer, and the TMF freeview music channel is spewing out the 500 greatest music videos ever. If a thousand years pass before I hear “I will always love you” by Whitney Houston again, it’ll be too short a time.

Got things to do. More soon…