theduke

Well with only three days left I feel I should do a proper goodbye blog.

SG has been part of my life for almost five years and it has been an amazing experience. I've had some great highs and lows and made some awesome friends. I'll never forget when I drove around the country in 48 hours to visit a bunch of you guys, the burlesque nights in Bristol a few years ago where I saw some SGs do some fantastic work, and of course organising Justin Lee Collins's birthday picnic

I'll always be thankful for the community on this site and the friends it has given me. I actually met my girlfriend at an SG meet two years ago so I should be thankful for that too! It's a great place and was a marvelous concept for an online community. It's not without flaws, but nothing is perfect and there's nothing on the site that is forcing me to leave, I just need to concentrate on the real world now.

I'm currently moving house to live with my amazing friend JP. He's a writer and and sometimes comic colourist. He's a good guy and I'm really looking forward to the creative atmosphere in the new flat, as I really need one at the moment as my own writing career is finally gaining momentum. I've got a meeting with a director on Friday to work on a joint film project that should be done in the summer; ee've already met a couple of actors and I found a great cinematographer. The funding should be in place by July, so it's all boding well. I've also had some great feedback from some people in the industry so I'm finally confident enough to approach agents to get myself some proper representation. Of course this all means a lot of writing needs to be done over the next few months so that's what I have to focus on right now.

Also, and I need to be honest here, I don't need the site anymore. My SG blog used to be a place I would vent or just speculate random thoughts, but now it's just a list of how great everything is and that bugs me because it sounds so smug. I blame my girlfriend for this entirely. We've been together since October and she's easily become the best thing in my life. Despite the distance of 118 miles between us we talk everyday and she always puts a smile on my face. We can talk about anything and she's really creative herself, which helps as it keeps me motivated. She drew a sketch of one of my characters after reading a script of mine and I have it framed above my desk for inspiration, it's fantastic. We also pull each other through when we're having a tough time. I'm an optimist so I can always show her the silver lining and she's a realist so she can always show me the pragmatic approach, it really works and I don't think either of us have ever felt so secure in a relationship before. I'm spending Easter with her side of the family so I get to meet her sisters, should be an experience. Now I just need to find the time to inflict my family upon her

Anyway, for most of you reading this this isn't a goodbye. I'm still on facebook and myspace and I'm regularly found propping up the bar in the King Billy in Bristol. I'm going to set this account to private before I go, as the reactivate account feature annoys me, but if you want to get in touch then add me on myspace here. I have no idea how to link facebook, but I'm lurking around there too. I have the same profile pic so I shouldn't be too hard to find - I think.

Anyway, that's enough from me. Keep on living life and enjoying it and I wish you all the best. If you watch or read something in the future that was written by Thomas David Parker, just letting you know he was once known as The Duke and is a very proud Bristolian.

Here's hoping the next five years prove to be even more awesome!

Sincerely

Thomas David Parker