Tag: Rogue Cinema

Getting Used to the Silence

My front garden (aka front yard)
My front garden (aka front yard)

Up until Friday the 26th of March this year, I was used to a (to me anyway) fairly full house. Then my daughter and her fella moved out of the house.

Now the house feels very empty…and quiet.

I’ve spent the past two days cleaning and washing and sorting the house until it looks fresh. It also looks empty. I decided this morning to take a few pictures and describe this silent location I live in. So tighten up your belts, the tour starts now.

The first thing you’ll see coming into my abode will be the front hallway –

My front hallway.
My front hallway.

Not too exciting by anyone’s standards but it is mine and it leads into the kitchen.

IMG_0067
See! I told you I’d been cleaning!

Then, if you turn around and go straight to your left you enter…The front room, aka sitting room.

My entertainment corner! Video games are mandatory.
My entertainment corner! Video games are mandatory.
My place of work...the downstairs one. Gloves for the heavy jobs only.
My place of work…the downstairs one. Gloves for the heavy jobs only.
My Stevie King collection, unfortunately a lot of them are in the attic due to lack of bookcases.
My Stevie King collection, unfortunately a lot of them are in the attic due to lack of bookcases.
My "remembrance" wall, The Twin towers skyline before 9/11 and my Gran Know way on the right.
My “remembrance” wall, The Twin towers skyline before 9/11 and my Gran Knox way on the right.

Then if you go up the stairs the first room you come to will be this one –

My third bedroom, cum spare room, cum office.
My third bedroom, cum spare room, cum office.

Then the very empty and too quiet second bedroom –

It's so empty! *sniff*
It’s so empty! *sniff*

And finally my last refuge at night, the master bedroom!

Complete with American "made in Missouri" quilt.
Complete with American “made in Missouri” quilt.

I’ve stopped the tour here. Why? Well because as the post title says “Getting Used to the Silence”  and that is a bit of a misnomer. I’ve discovered that since I have become the sole occupant of this house, that it makes one hell of a row at night. Especially at bedtime and especially just as I’m drifting off to sleep.

I don’t know how I never noticed it before. the house: creaks, pops, shuffles (I know, weird right), groans, snaps and makes a myriad of other sounds that defy description.

The end result of this cacophony of noise? Me jumping back awake every two minutes or so until I’ve convinced myself that, “Yes the downstairs doors were all locked and bolted. And yes, you are alone in the house!”

I personally blame the emptiness, and the pervading quiet that disarms me and is taking ages to get used to.

But honestly, it is allowing me to get on with my new-found work (I’m writing for Rogue Cinema and I’m now a part of the staff with owner/editor Duane L Martin and a bunch of other folks (including Misty Layne from Cinema Schninema).

I’m also signing on with Tomorrow Comes Media to participate in their author’s tour programme as well as writing my own blog and trying to write my first book (along with creating more short stories for a collection).

On top of that, I’m still watching films and excitedly awaiting the shooting date of Once Bitten, Twice Shy written, directed and produced by the super talented Natasha Harmer.

My cup truly “runneth over.”

So I’m trying to get used to the silence (except at night) and working on a schedule that will allow me to do everything and get to spend some quality me-time in my back garden.

We've got the sun, now we just need some warmth!
We’ve got the sun, now we just need some warmth!
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Spring Cleaning in the Middle of Winter & A New Lease on Life

Seems like only yesterday...
Seems like only yesterday…

Okay, not really, it just feels like the middle of winter. Of course the added bonus of the sun shining brightly outside, even though all my toils have been “under-cover” makes my energy levels rise accordingly.

Regardless of how flaming cold it is, and will be throughout the entire month of April the helpful weathermen are saying, my energy level has sky-rocketed. I don’t have quite the high levels that, say, Superman has, but compared to my practically non-existent levels just six and a half months ago, I feel like I should be wearing a cape and my underwear on outside of my clothes. (Any references to a young Madonna will be ignored)

Part of this cleaning frenzy is down to the sunshine and down to the departure of my daughter and her fella who had been living with me. Meg has been living under the same roof as me since she finished uni.  Max was a recent addition to the household while they both searched for their first abode together. I am not intimating that they were messy, it’s just that I couldn’t be bothered to clean around half-filled boxes and piles of items that were awaiting their fate.

The other reason I’ve had this energy boost has to do with the last visit to my surgeon. While I sat there, heart pounding, (which to be fair it always does now after the surgery) we looked at each other wordlessly for a moment. He then grinned and said, “Well, it looks like the tear has healed.”

I sat for another moment, stunned by this information. I looked at him and said, “What??”

He went on to explain that as they could not do  yet another bypass operation around the injured Aorta after they’d torn it, that he decided to “take a chance” and put a couple of stitches in the tear. As he put it, “It couldn’t hurt and at any rate it wouldn’t matter if we had to bypass it later on.”

So, here we are. I’ve been given, in essence, “a break” and despite the fact that I still have damage to my veins and capillaries, etc, that will have to be monitored for the rest of my life, I can now do pretty much anything I want. Even wrestle with prisoners, although with the alarming alacrity that the Prison Service ill-health retired me, I would not want to return to their world.

Call me bitter, but that’s how I feel. I now have to attend some rehabilitation sessions (which they would not book me on before, because they were afraid they were going to kill me) and try to get some sort of work that pays me, before my one-time payment runs out.

I still don’t know what I want to do.

Wow!
Wow!

My options are many, and some, have been most surprising. The wonderfully talented Natasha Harmer over at Films and Things has asked me to be the lead in her new (and first) independent short film Once Bitten, Twice Shy. I accepted with a speed that probably made her immediately regret asking. It will be the first time in a very long time that I have stepped in front of a camera in a professional capacity (I don’t count YouTube). I am excited, nervous and very pleased. I may have to wait for a while as the project is pretty much dependant on the generosity of others for funding.

If you can afford to spare a bob or two (or a buck, guilder, et al) click here and you’ll find the indiegogo site for the film.

I’ve also just started working for the web magazine Rogue Cinema, the main guy what’s in charge Duane L Martin has thrown caution to the wind and allowed me the privilege of writing reviews for his “zine” and I’m tickled to death.

Of course I never would have gotten this great opportunity if it weren’t for Misty Layne over at Cinema Schminema so I have two lovely and talented ladies who are responsible for my life taking a new and exciting turn.

It goes without saying that you really should go and check their sites out and stop by the Rogue Cinema magazine as well. They specialise in independent film and Duane is currently working at a frenzied pace to get this month’s issue out.

Stop by and tell em I sent ya. You won’t get any special treatment if you do, but, it would make me feel good.

In the meantime, I need to cook myself some tea, and then relax. This spring cleaning malarkey is good for building up and appetite and the urge to go lay down on the sofa is becoming too strident to ignore.

Until next time, Ciao and bon appétit!!

Photo on 23-03-2013 at 16.37

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