and as i climb into an empty bed... oh well, enough said

Lovers and dreamers, it has happened. MindlessMunkey has discovered The Smiths. Be afraid.

The Gods Of Fortune (or the producers of the Truman-Show-esque reality TV program MunkeyTV, depending on which you believe in) certainly have a sense of humour. Remember this? Well the world has a funny way of deciding to remind you about things - not just once, but over and over again, as if just to really really rub it in. The Saturday just gone was a year to the day since Mr Ryan and I got together. So I was thinking about that and blah blah blah. Then, I suddenly received a completely out-of-the-blue call from one of his former housemates - with whom I remained vague friends. She just wanted to say Hi and see how I was going. Odd timing, of which I'm sure she was unaware. Then, within an hour of this phone-call, I received an email - our first contact in many months - from the "man" himself (and I use the term loosely). No need to divulge details, but suffice to say it began with the phrase, "Who the fuck do you think you are?" Oh goody.

I replied long and proper, but in a very calm, reasoned way. I got quite a few things off my chest... essentially reminding him of the things he did (not just to me, but in general) and the ways in which he's refused to take responsibility for it. Enough with the victim act already! YOU DID IT. YOU ARE NOT THE VICTIM. There has been no further reply. Maybe he couldn't read all the big words. *reeeow!*

To top it all off, The night before the "anniversary" I went with patermunkey, ElectroBoy and Ms Cait to see The Lion King ...long postponed and finally come to fruition, after the original tickets we payed for six months ago mysteriously never appeared *AHEM*.

The Lion King was a great piece of work. It was a little patchy - certain sequences were literally breathtaking, while others just didn't quite gel. But overall it was quite exquisite - in particular the costume and make-up design which created the animals without removing or disguising the human actors. The main problem I had was that I wished I hadn't seen the film so many times (thankyou Ms Cait for watching it every weekend without fail for years!). I found myself knowing the dialogue off by heart, and unable not to compare the actors' delivery with that of the original film. Sometimes this wasn't a major issue, just a distraction. Other times (yes, posy pompous dude who played Scar and is certainly no Jeremy Irons, I'm looking at you) it created a frustrating comparison. For this reason I found myself most enjoying the parts of the show that deviated from the film, in particular when it took full advantage of the theatre environment, filling the whole auditorium and surrounding the audience, making me (and I know I wasn't alone) feel like a jaw-dropped wide-eyed child once more.

The rest of the weekend was spent drinking and playing movie trivia with my lovely ladies (during which I was AVENGED over Jelly, after my trouncing on Oscar Night), watching DVDs and listening to music, having a coffee with Mr Stephen, and generally keeping very unseemly hours. Despite not doing much besides watching Kes (wonderful and so sad) and Freaks (such a fascinating concept, such dated filmmaking) and Undertow (mmm Jamie Bell) and reading about the 14th Century, I seemed to find myself staying up all night, then sleeping all day... and of course the much-welcome end of Daylight Saving only wreaked further biological-clock havock. Needless to say awaking at 6am on Tuesday (after a pleasant RDO Monday) was not pretty.

My one big achievement for the week has been writing a new song. I realise that completing one solitary piece of work is no real effort for a supposed creative person, but since it's the first song I've written in literally months, I was quite chuffed. I'm not sure exactly why I was suddenly inspired after all this time, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit it is in some part owing to the encouragement of a certain very talented person. Receiving praise from someone who not only appreciates what you're trying to do, but is a successful practitioner of the form themselves, is quite a powerful force it seems. You know who you are. Thanks.

In other news, a door has closed. Something which seemed to have lovely potential has sort of... fizzled out. But such is life. Better fizzling out than exploding and leaving everyone involved to nurse their shrapnel wounds. This feels like a positive step in the right direction. And hey, the world is full of potential, right? Right?! Please tell me I'm right! Nah bugger it, I know I'm right. I'm in no mood to be pessimistic and defeatist. There is an antarctic blast gusting through the streets of my life and infusing every dark corner with fresh, crisp air. I get to wear my big black coat like a dear friend once more, it's dark in time for Neighbours as it should be, and munkey genuinely feels capable of conquering the world, for the first time in a long time.

*cue triumphal fanfare*