It's been ages since I did this. I heard that there are thousands of abandoned blogs on the web, which is probably because most people don't have much to say, nor much time to say it. Some people have mentioned to me that they've seen it, and they seem positive, but then people lie to me a lot.
Today I heard that a colleague, a fellow voice artist and member of the Calypso clan, Brad Lavell has died at the age of 47 from a sudden heart attack. I was in the Calypso office when they told me. I worked with Brad several times, and he was a very funny, very talented man. He did some work on The Secret Show, which was the last thing we were in together. There is nothing one can say about this, much beyond the usual, pointless, platitiudes, so I won't go on. He'll be greatly missed. Apparently he was with Calypso (that's my voice agent by the way) for about 20 years. So long Brad, sorry to see you go guy.
The death of someone close to your own age always hits you harder than you expect. You know we all have to go, but it's so rare that this happens in the normal run of things, and we're so protected from death generally (despite seeing it all the time on TV, we are not actually exposed to it very much in real life unless we work with it) that when it happens, we don't know how to react. I'm not sure there is a right way. The one thing it always does is to stop you worrying about life. The petty concerns that crowd your head all the time. At present, for instance, my car is in for repairs after a minor collision and I'm driving a courtesy car, I've had an offer accepted on a flat in Highgate (an amount that I never thought I'd ever offer for anything, but it's a beautiful flat and I'll end up with a managable mortgage) and I'm worried about that, I'm renovating the house I'm in at the moment, shuttling between this place and my mother's as I still don't have a usuable bathroom - and that's getting me down. Work is very thin indeed, despite being with a good agency, I feel a little left out at the moment. I spend hours working on the house, then realise I've not had a phone call for a few days. And I'm buying a flat in Highgate. And I don't know how much I'm going to earn this year, and I'm trying to get my website revamped and and and and.... and then I hear about Brad. It's all a bit silly really. Stop worrying and have a drink. Or maybe I'll go to the gym and have a nice swim. Haven't been in a few days.
Did a great job today, having said I was unemployed, doing some fake dubbing for an ad campaign. Badly dubbed and improvised dialogue over old movies for a few maltesers ads (which may or may not run). Very funny. Was with Simon Greenhall, who is one of the funniest VOs in the business. I should be doing more of this. Instead, I'm tiling a floor and editing some language tapes for a friend. (having said all this, the money I have to spend on the flat was made directly from selling my old flat, so tiling a floor may be more profitable than doing VO work. I should shut up).
Other than that, I have to say I haven't much to report, so I'll go. It's too late to make anything up. I could tell you that I'm training for the Olympics. They have a grouting event now, which I'm sure to win. And they are talking about a monathalon, which is doing one thing for two hours. Doesn't matter what it is, you just have to keep doing it for 120 minutes. I'm thinking about what I could do for that long at my age without injury. Blinking. Possibly. Moaning about the economy. Too easy. Pointing at things. Maybe. Suggestions?
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