Down in the dumps

It's okay to feel down in the dumps for a little while, as long as it doesn't go on too long.

The Saturday trip to Liverpool went off without a hitch: Daughter got her Jujitsu Black Belt 11th Tab (roughly equivalent to "First Dan and a bit" for a junior), and the Boy is now a Black Belt.

We were so close to Aintree that we could hear the announcements and race commentary. However we arrived and left early enough that we weren't affected by the traffic. Still, sitting (or even "sitting still") in a car for 6 hours is not very exciting.

My relocation to Reading is turning into a bit of a nightmare. The agency just informed me that they have to account for my employment for the entire previous year. What? I've had two contract jobs but the rest of the time I've been writing and editing stuff for other people, usually taking only a few days each.

I had nothing like this on the previous jobs, they didn't even ask.

And what's really sweet, the agency guy says "oh, it's alright if you don't remember the names of the people you worked for ... " as in line/project managers " ... I'll just call the HR departments and ask."

Oh you will? You'll phone individuals living at home who had me edit their book and ask for their HR department? Real world, living, not.

And, you know, I'm not a stupid person, but the forms that I'm required to fill in for the job and also the flat rental. I'd like to scream.

So while sitting in the car in Liverpool I chose a flat to live in in Reading and paid over a deposit, sight unseen. Not that I had Internet access in the car, that was just from a note I made. Not the best way but choice? None of.

One property agent I spoke to refused to allow me to pay for a flat without seeing it. I'm not really critical of this, it's their company policy based on bad experiences with tenants who kicked up a fuss when what they got wasn't what they thought they'd get. Fair enough. But no use to me, at all.

Anyway the agency I'm using seemed quite nice people, I even spoke to the guy who owns the company. They offered me a bedsit that they own themselves, which would have been good from one point of view but I prefer to have a lounge/kitchen with separate bedroom so I can keep bits of my life separate. Call me an old fogey, I don't mind.

In the midst of all this there is ScriptFrenzy which I'm supposed to be doing this year. Not doing well, I'm days behind. The idea is to write 100 script pages in April (30 days) which is about 3.3 pages per day. I'm on 7 when I should be on 25 today. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up once I get the job and property sorted out. (I am a professional writer, after all, should be a doddle.)

I did ScriptFrenzy last year on my Monsters TV series project, and the year before I wrote a novel during NaNoWriMo both of those were well prepared. This time I have barely more than an idea -- I'm writing a story inspired by the 10CC album called "The Original Soundtrack".

Confused? You will be.

This 10CC album was not the original soundtrack of anything, it was just the name of the album. It's the album that has the wonderful "I'm not in love" song, a full gorgeous 8 minutes of it. It also has a narrative track called "One Night In Paris" and I'm writing "Une Nuit a Paris".

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit better now. Thanks for listening. Same time tomorrow? If I'm not busy? Fine.

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What's on the turntable? Enrique Inglesias singing Hero in Spanish.