Got up at around 9am to some credit card agency dude asking me if I'd thought about direct debit and when the hell was I going to pay them the money I owe them. Dammit. I told him I was getting some money soon, but it was dragging on and it would be real soon. He said fine and went away. But now of course I was up.

The loan cheque arrived this morning so now I can pay all that stuff I owe and get through the next few months till hopefully I sell the house and we can all move on in more ways than one. Trouble is it's probably going to be freaking wednesday before the cheque clears. Can anyone tell me in this day and age WHY do companies still use paper cheques sent through the post and WHY does it take three working days to "clear". The money could be in my account instantly. I'll tell you why because banks are greedy (expletive deleted)s and have it all their own way. I tell you something if I won that 125 million pounds on Euromillions the other week I would have used some of that money set up a foundation to lobby to change that. I can't count the amount of times that process has (bleeped) me up the (toot). Anyway...

Had to be at junction 27 on the M5 to pick up the kiddles at about 1pm, so set off around 11.30.
Got there bang on 1pm. Ruth and the kids didn't arrive till about 1.30pm. Hmph. Still had a little time to clean the car up a bit before they got there. When they arrived got to meet Ruth's partner Richard for the first time. Seems like a nice guy. Despite all the bad blood between me and Ruth lately, I'm happy she's at least found someone to be with. Maybe one day we'll be friends again, but for now that's not going to happen. More of that some other time. This isn't a forum for washing my dirty laundry. :)

Lovely having the kids back. They seem to have had a genuinely nice time, despite the fact that Ruth's house in Cornwall is tiny and not really designed to house four people.

So after a hectic and yet kid free week, everything as they say is back to normal. WHatever that means.

Spent the day briskly whipping through all the tasks which have accumulated while I've been out on the shoots. Managed to have a meeting with the costume supervisor for my film. She wants to design the costumes as well as make and source them. That's cool it's supposed to be a training exercise albeit an interesting one.

Everyone is so jazzed to be making this movie. I'm so proud.

Got a copy of the new iLife 06 software suite for the Mac. It's really cool. I'm really enjoying being Mac based now. Since I gave up my PC to Mia I've managed to make substitutions for all the things I need to do with a computer. There's still very few things I need a PC for, but I have a PC at work for those things. I want to use the PC as a Skype server for when I'm at work. I've also got a new Skype phone coming, IPEVO free+1, the only Skype phone which really supports the Mac.

If you don't have a Skype or VOIP phone by now you should really get one. Calling any phone all over the world for about 1.2 pence? Totally free calls to other Skype phones? What's not to like? Check it out.

Final shoot of the week. Three different movies in three days. It's been a challenge.

This one is a story about a surprise gift which gets refused but the refusal backfires... it's a nice little film I think. Lots of nice performances from the boys in it, all friends of one of the students making the film, and we got some nice scenes.

We wrapped early but I drove out of school into the worst traffic jam in Clifton for about 5-6 years. Didn't get home for about 2-3 hours. Glad this is the last shoot this week. Getting really tired now.

Another day, another shoot. This time it's a romantic comedy about a guy who likes a girl but can't stop doing stupid things around her. It was a really fun shoot, with some really odd things going on. We spend a goodly amount of time filming in a hallway with a guy in a towel answering the door to collect a parcel and getting the towel caught in the door... it was really funny. Plus we filmed a screen kiss, my first shot directing actors to do something difficult. I kept focus, had them do it over and over until it was right. It was my most satisfying shot of the day.

Filmed the first short film in the video project today. A story about teenagers having a party and finding a sex toy in a parent's bedroom. We had a good shoot, especially the party scene, when we had to make a full looking party room with about five people. We got some good shots especially one with a red light shining on a wall with silhouettes of people talking. It was cool.

Finished early enough to leave the students packing up the kit, then left picking up flowers and chocolate on the way home for a lovely Valentine's Day evening with Mia. She cooked some really good fajitas, we had pear cider, and generally had a real good time.

Hectic day. Making sure I got everything sorted out so we can start shooting the first of the first year video projects.

Finding it hard to get by without any money at the moment. I got the loan I was going for but it's not going to come for days... It's going to be tough scratching around for petrol money etc. for another week. But I've been doing that kind of thing for years. I'm getting kind of good at it. That doesn't mean I like it, but I can do it.

Anyway, I'm fine. Sounds bleak but it really isn't. Ever since I decided to make this film, everything is fine. It doesn't matter what goes on in my life I have this thick wad of paper on my desk with 80 pages and lots of original and entertaining words on them. Yes, I've written a whole full length feature screenplay, and that means more to me than almost anything I've ever done. I'm so jazzed about even finishing it that I don't care if I never get to make it. I'm planning to, but I'm not scared either way. I've gotten further towards my dream than I've ever got so I'm just so happy about that that everything else seems totally insignificant.

Got up at 8am so I can get the kids ready for 10am when their grandma is coming to pick them up. When they went I stayed up a bit and wrote some more of the screenplay. Only about 15 pages left. Feels weird to be this close to finishing a feature screenplay. If I finish it today it will have taken me just 8 weeks to complete.

Spent a good part of the day just mooching about, using the computer, watching stuff on TV. A nice lazy day. Feels weird not having the kids around, but enjoying the peace and quiet. Miss them, though.