Some Backstory

All true - how Michael became Amanda. For those who are just tuning in now, but maybe used to know me back in the day.

Let’s see if I can do a pithy summary of my 2018-2022:

My brother attempted suicide.

My Dad died of cancer.

Made friends with Michelle Cameron.

Our company got involved with a big drug dealer.

Stephen had his first big mania.

Gary and Dakta had a difference of opinions about the club direction.

Gary, Stephen and me went up to Okura to get the DMT.

The DMT was good. So some mates bought bulk.

I got a job summarising the news.

I came out. It went shit -- I got groped and assaulted.

Stephen and I kept fighting.

Dan McCaffrey went mental and chased me out of my home; then my Mum trespassed him.

Stephen sold the house.

I moved into the Mt. Vic flat (which I’m fairly sure was owned by Dakta or someone friendly to the cause...)

I had my first mania.

I quit my job.

Drank my way through Covid 1.

Mushie trip with Sam.

Acid trip.

Got on TV for 2 seconds as part of On Weed.

Ran an Ad during the 2020 Election. We lost.

Flat tension. My second mania. Got a beating.

2020/2021: Good summer - read The Dream Swimmer, got drunk and watched cricket etc.

Got a freelance editing gig.

Drank my way through a few months of Studiosity.

Lost the plot. Then Portrait of a Knight screened at the Roxy.

Wrote Shipwrecked on Islands (the song).

Came back to Weeded Out, which I started during the first lockdown.

Kept drinking. Took acid and DMT again instead of trying to go to a big shindig I wasn’t invited to.

Finally got well.

Then Amanda rose like a phoenix from the ashes: and you probs know the rest of the story... For the literary nerds:

I’m sure a book could be made from my various journals. It’d take a pretty fearless editor to sift through it all, though... I mean, a lot of it is batshit crazy! Because it was written as part of Myths and Legends - Stephen built a tabletop game for his part of Riddell Productions; this is what I did with my fear of surveillance and covering my arse. 👍

👁️