If by Rudyard Kipling

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

Thanks for the inspiration Kipling.

Hollywood. And lots of it.

The buildings of downtown L.A.

The tunnel from Back To The Future 2, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

The most wonderful woman in the world. I love you Kimberlee

Hollywood Boulevard.

Kara, Kimberlee, Martha, Jennifer and Tita. We were a very multicultural crowd.

The rest of the pictures are in my picasa album.

So, on Monday my dad was working around the house of this woman, he’s in telecommunications contracting just so you know, and they got to chatting. She mentioned that she was a First Assistant Director on several popular TV shows in the UK. He then proceeded to talk her ear off for the next hour or so about me, and my media experience. She was very interested, she gave my pa her number to give to me [are you keeping up?] he texted it to me, I left a message on her voicemail, and then settled into bed, ready to try again on wednesday evening, today.

My phone rang, it was her, and we proceeded to talk for around 90 minutes about the industry, what I wanted to do, her work, my work….

She called me “Babe” and said that she could be the first entry in my “little black book”. It was exactly the sort of conversation I envisioned having with someone in the business we call show. A business with no equal apparently.

So I’ve been writing and reading my previous works, editing and refining and picking out my best work. It’s been a busy few days, but it could very easily be very, very worth it.

So: signing on tomorrow, collecting some meagre cash. Then on thursday I’ll be collecting some real money, and buying a bike lock. Don’t have one at the minute, and they frown on me bringing my bike into shops to keep an eye on it. Either way, today’s picture.

It’s pretty grim right about now, I’m down to my labtec webcam, which I bought 3 years ago. The little camera I was using has no battery power, and I can’t afford batteries at this moment in time. So today’s picture quality is low. But nevertheless, I’m here, posting a picture. Logging in. Getting it done.