at the end of july 2005, i came to south africa for 2 weeks. i’d been living in l.a. for the past 12 years, but my brother was getting married (sort of a spur of the moment thing) and i was coming back for the wedding before buzzing off to burning man.

4 days after i got back, my agent tracked me down via my mom and talked me into meeting with the producers of a new soap which was about to start filming. apparently they’d been struggling to cast this particular character and they wanted to see me for it. the company faxed me the sides, i learnt the scene and then went to meet with one of the producers. that was friday afternoon. by monday morning they made me a very convincing offer to persuade me to stay.

i never thought i’d come back to south africa, especially johannesburg, after what happened to me here, but it was an offer too good to turn down. i was planning on staying for the first season. 8 long months. but i think i knew even then (though i could not yet admit it to myself), that it would probably mean the end of my american sojourn – at least for the immediate future. 3 years and a major continental shift later, here i still am. how amazing that they imported me all the way from l.a. to come and speak afrikaans (initially with very strange american inflections!).

the 500th episode aired last night and it looks like the show is set to run for many years to come (the company is even building a new studio!). most of my american possessions have been given away or else is sitting in storage and i’ve just this year bought a house here in south africa. the latter being a move not so much about putting down roots, but more a financial consideration.

500 episodes, so many slices of soap! enough to get one slip-sliding off, or possibly on, course.
and an appropriate, and timely, topic for my 100th blog post, i thought.

now let’s see where, and who, i am in another 500 episodes….