Freedom From The Mundane - A Writer's Blog

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Things I Might Have Done

HALLELUJAH!! WE HAVE SOAP IN THE OFFICE TOILET!

But then, if nobody noticed it running out a fortnight ago, they sure as hell aren't ever going to notice it has been refilled.

Moral: Don't shake hands with anyone who works for The Company.


I left work early last night. The late nights spent writing and lack of sleep when I do get to bed, finally caught up with me. All this week I have been getting worse; headaches, sore eyes, a head cold, exhaustion. So I went home, cancelled my snooker evening and went straight to bed.

I slept till 9pm then got up for something to eat (nothing wrong with my appetite!). Then I went back to bed and worked on my poem about Edinburgh and read more of the scripts from the sitcom book.

I started to get really tired again and so I went to sleep at 11 o'clock. That was me until 8am this morning. In total I got about 13 hours sleep. The exhaustion is gone and I feel much better, though the head cold is still here. Beecham's can take care of that; at least I can bear being out of the house and awake again.

My friend Angela wrote an interesting article in her blog the other day and it got me to thinking. She listed things she had never tried or done that she would wish to.

I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now and remarkably, there isn't many things (outwith writing) I can think of that are still outstanding on my life 'to do list'. This is remarkable, but true.

For example, I've done a bit of travelling - not as much as I would like but other priorities came along. I married the right woman. I met the right people and did the things I wanted. And that's the secret - I did what I wanted. My motto always was; Why reason why, when you can reason, why not?

Most of the other things I might put down on a list, either I never intend to do or quite simply can't.

And so I took the list further and developed it to come up with this. The following is a list of things, some of which I have done, and some of which I haven't. Anyone who sends me the correct answer for each point will win a prize! (Y=done N=not done).

Obviously I'm not going to say on this forum which is fiction and which isn't, 'cause my dear old Mum might be reading. :-)


Things I Might/Might Not Have Done


  1. Jumped out of an airplane
  2. Bungee jumped
  3. Rode a stunt helicopter
  4. Been to a film premier
  5. Been to the Oscars
  6. Appeared on the television
  7. Rode the 'Big One' at Blackpool
  8. Been to a Cup Final at Hampden
  9. Walked the Wembley Way
  10. Met the band Madness
  11. Seen Pink Floyd live
  12. Seen The Beatles live
  13. Walked around a live film set
  14. Had sex on Arthur's Seat
  15. Had sex on an airplane
  16. Had sex with a bloke
  17. Had sex with someone famous
  18. Slept rough
  19. Drunk a litre of whisky in one night
  20. Drunk for 36 hours continuously
  21. Taken a class A drug
  22. Smoked cannabis
  23. Had an autograph tattooed on
  24. Broken a bone
  25. Dislocated a joint
  26. Seen the Pacific Ocean
  27. Taken part in a pitch invasion
  28. Been arrested
  29. Been run over
  30. Appeared in a tabloid newspaper
  31. Signed the Official Secrets Act
  32. Formed a Limited Company
  33. Hired a private detective
  34. Been part of a conspiracy
Answers to competition@colingalbraith.co.uk. Good luck!

I finished reading the script book for the Last Laugh and decided what scripts I have narrowed it down to. I will write endings for Last Quango in Paris and The Old Guys. Mike Davis P.I. came a close third but just lost out. The rest didn't do it for me at all.

Next move is to finalise my ideas for each ending, write the scenes out then script it accordingly. After that, pray to God someone finds it funny. My mate Dave Graham is going through the same process and we've agreed to read each other's manuscripts once they're written. He's picked 'Last Quango' also, so it'll be interesting to see how he approached it.

Gail bought me a nice surprise dinner: curry from the Prince Balti restaurant. I had a beautiful medium/hot chicken dupiaza with pilau rice and nan bread. Just what I probably need to sweat the last of this cold out.

I worked on my Edinburgh poem and fought with three titles. I settled on In the New Town Mist and posted it to my forum to see if it gets any feedback.

I polished up issues 58, 59 and 60 of Hunting Jack for submission to the editor. I'm waiting for the go-ahead to actually send them in because she is having such dreadful computer problems. Issues 61 and 62 just need a polish and then I'll be a month ahead again.
Colin 9:57 am

2 Comments:

I'm so glad you have soap. That was so funny. Have a nice weekend.

Brenda
You've NEVER been arrested! (Just kidding.) Hee hee - these are good.
Ann

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