A little update

I'm writing a rather personal piece about a couple of things that happened about a year ago: the passing of my mother's second husband and its aftermath, and me being kicked out of a television project that was unrealistically dear to me. But it's taking me a while, and I'm not entirely sure if I should be talking about those things on here, because other people were also very deeply affected by these events.

So I decided to re-read what I've written so far. It made me realise that actually quite a bit has happened to my life, and the way I look at it, since I started writing these blurbs about five weeks ago. All that positivity seems to have produced results, somehow.

That test at the interim office turned out to be a bit of a moot exercise in itself, but talking frankly  to the people there (they actually took the time to do that) left me with a more realistic view of how my resume might be viewed by a potential employer. It was very plain for the lady at the office that anyone looking for an employee would clearly see that they wouldn't be able to hold on to me the minute I got an offer as an actor. And this prospect might seem more realistic to them, than it did to me. This helped me enormously towards viewing myself as an actor again.

And then "Familie" called. A Flemish soap opera. And I was happy they called me. And I was happy to take the job of a soap actor. Playing a junkie. For five shooting days. In a soap opera I haven't managed to sit through as a viewer once.

This would have seemed cynical and sell-out and horrendous to me only a few months ago. But I'm done fighting that fight. I'm going to play to best I possibly can under the circumstances. And I'm going to use the money (it's not a lot but it's a start) to get my life in order.

Some friends of mine have a small theatre company, and they asked my to help out with mixing some of the music tracks they had made, and do the live sound and lights on the two performance nights they held. That was a blast.

Another friend of mine is out of the country for a couple of days and asked me to replace him as a deejay and a sound guy on a couple of nights.

I'm also deejaying two sets on two different locations in Antwerp this saturday.

Another friend is writing a play for kids, to play in June of next year. She asked me to act in it with her, and to make music for it with her.

Starting this sunday I'm taking part in a stand-up comedy workshop. That'll be four afternoons, and should -in combination with having heard myself make a bunch of mistakes that I think I can avoid- bump up my comedy to the next level. One can hope.

Another friend wants me to make music with him.

And I'm still making music with the eternally starting band I wrote about before. Last rehearsal I kind of messed up. I had forgotten about it to be honest, and had only about an hour and a half to spare for the rehearsal. So I was mad at myself and not in the right frame of mind to be creative. But my friend had written a beautiful song, lyrics and all. My diving stories had inspired him to write about a guy that falls in love with a mermaid. It was a great rehearsal, in spite of my mood.

And while all this is going on, my girlfriend and I are preparing, slowly, to leave on a round the world trip. We're leaving less than a year from now. And we'll be gone for a year.

So there. Now you're updated. I have some things to look forward to. And although I'm still afraid I might not find enough work to make a decent living this year, I'm a lot more hopeful now than when I started writing this blog.

And that's a good thing.

Wait what two blogs?

So I started blogging in Dutch. Over here.

Just thought I'd let you know.

Yeah you. My reader.

You know who you are.

And so do I.

So there.

TTYS

(that's "talk to you soon")

(at least it used to be, when I was young)

(those were the early days of the interwebs)

(before hashtags)

#irememberwhenthiswasallfields