My lungs are staging a mutiny. I fear that I am yet again going to be taking home a chest infection as my main souvenir from London. We clearly have an abusive relationship.
I've finally made my peace with going home - not much to be done about it after all, everything has been settled now. I can only resign myself to my fate. Had my last day on Friday followed by leaving drinks and some overenthusiastic karaoke. We were all out again last night as well - completely mental.
Things I am looking forward to:
> Seeing my dog again
> Getting a huge hug from the parentals
> Beach!
> Going to the hairdresser for the first time in basically a year
And so on and so forth. There are some definite pros to this going home business. I just have so much shit to sort out though, sort of makes me want to curl into a ball and cry. Not only for finalising things over here but also for getting organised back home - for example, how to get to work? Gah.
In other news, love this song...
He's already on the outskirts
I'm still pulling at his sweatshirt
He says, fate is not a factor
I'm in love with every actor
Music: Want it back - Amanda Palmer
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Monday, November 19, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Cause it's all you can be
I'd forgotten how much I loved London like this, the cold and the dark. It's seem contrary to my innate dislike of the cold but it's gotten to the point now that I wear loads of layers without fear of overheating later and once I'm wrapped up in a thick scarf and gloves, it doesn't feel that bad at all. It's only been one day since the clocks went back and it just feels different somehow. The world is muted and you can sense the change in the way people live, everyone turning inwards and settling in for the long stretch of winter.
I moved back in with F on Saturday and I can't think of a more lovely way to spend my last couple of weeks here. It's comfortable and I love this area, in all my tourist romanticism. I'll be walking to work, and though I know there will be horrible days of cold and rain, it's a beautiful route and just such a snapshot of London that I'm glad for the opportunity to do it. And I'll try to remember that when I lose feeling in my face because the wind is blowing straight off the north pole.
It's been a pretty hectic couple of days - today has felt weirdly warped and out of proportion. I watched the clocks change last night at a Halloween party with Abbi and co, a lovely night with fun people, where I did my best living dead impersonation. Slept on their couch because of course it would be the day I'd just moved out of my old place and the thought of navigating night buses at a chilly 2am (new 2am) was entirely too much. That was only the tail end of festivities as Friday was quite a big night out for a work friend's leaving do (boo) that played out across many places, on many cold streets, and through some dubious decisions. At least I managed to get the last train home that time. And there was Thursday, more impromptu festivities with work friends. My scarf smells of cigarettes and aftershave.
This is what London does to you. The thought of leaving becomes harder every day. But is it only because I've decided to go that it now suddenly seems so impossible? Viewed through goggles of premature nostalgia, everything is somehow more amazing, and everything seems like a good idea.
Life would be better if I could think about things less. Turn off my brain and just let things fall as they may. What does introspection help anyone, anyway?
Back in Sydney, summer awaits. Family, and (of course) my puppy. A challenging new job. Old friends. New friends. Adventure.
And I want it, I do. But my heart aches at the thought of leaving all this behind. I suppose in a way it's better, better to leave when I feel good about things, rather than hating it all and being driven out by misery. So that's why I just want to make the most of these last few weeks, enjoy myself and not worry so much. There really isn't time for all this thinking.
You cannot always be torn in two.
In other news, went to Belfast with Lizzie, which was great. And went on the Harry Potter Studio Tour with Abbi, which was, hell I'll say it, magical - as you would expect. Life went on - I watched films, Abbi fed me delicious things regularly and I started a Dance with Dragons, leading to numerous moments of near book-throwing frustration.
Today I sat in cafes reading Sylvia Plath's poetry and probably looking pretentious. I read a brilliant short story in the New Yorker called The Semplica-Girl Diaries and wrote maybe a page and a half of my own stuff. And that is one of the great things about staying here, in particular, everything becomes much more writerly.
I'm a couple of chapters into Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, this month's book club book (for Friday, so I should really hurry up), and I am really enjoying the writing so far. So yes. Tea, book, early night. Perfect Sunday evening wind down.
Music: Me vs Maradona vs Elvis - Brand New
I moved back in with F on Saturday and I can't think of a more lovely way to spend my last couple of weeks here. It's comfortable and I love this area, in all my tourist romanticism. I'll be walking to work, and though I know there will be horrible days of cold and rain, it's a beautiful route and just such a snapshot of London that I'm glad for the opportunity to do it. And I'll try to remember that when I lose feeling in my face because the wind is blowing straight off the north pole.
It's been a pretty hectic couple of days - today has felt weirdly warped and out of proportion. I watched the clocks change last night at a Halloween party with Abbi and co, a lovely night with fun people, where I did my best living dead impersonation. Slept on their couch because of course it would be the day I'd just moved out of my old place and the thought of navigating night buses at a chilly 2am (new 2am) was entirely too much. That was only the tail end of festivities as Friday was quite a big night out for a work friend's leaving do (boo) that played out across many places, on many cold streets, and through some dubious decisions. At least I managed to get the last train home that time. And there was Thursday, more impromptu festivities with work friends. My scarf smells of cigarettes and aftershave.
This is what London does to you. The thought of leaving becomes harder every day. But is it only because I've decided to go that it now suddenly seems so impossible? Viewed through goggles of premature nostalgia, everything is somehow more amazing, and everything seems like a good idea.
Life would be better if I could think about things less. Turn off my brain and just let things fall as they may. What does introspection help anyone, anyway?
Back in Sydney, summer awaits. Family, and (of course) my puppy. A challenging new job. Old friends. New friends. Adventure.
And I want it, I do. But my heart aches at the thought of leaving all this behind. I suppose in a way it's better, better to leave when I feel good about things, rather than hating it all and being driven out by misery. So that's why I just want to make the most of these last few weeks, enjoy myself and not worry so much. There really isn't time for all this thinking.
You cannot always be torn in two.
In other news, went to Belfast with Lizzie, which was great. And went on the Harry Potter Studio Tour with Abbi, which was, hell I'll say it, magical - as you would expect. Life went on - I watched films, Abbi fed me delicious things regularly and I started a Dance with Dragons, leading to numerous moments of near book-throwing frustration.
Today I sat in cafes reading Sylvia Plath's poetry and probably looking pretentious. I read a brilliant short story in the New Yorker called The Semplica-Girl Diaries and wrote maybe a page and a half of my own stuff. And that is one of the great things about staying here, in particular, everything becomes much more writerly.
I'm a couple of chapters into Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, this month's book club book (for Friday, so I should really hurry up), and I am really enjoying the writing so far. So yes. Tea, book, early night. Perfect Sunday evening wind down.
Music: Me vs Maradona vs Elvis - Brand New
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Echoes of a city
I have the new Florence + The Machine playing, the neighbourhood is quieting down and Oreo is snuffling outside under the window. All in all, things aren't too shabby. I'm utterly exhausted and should really be doing other things but you know, still.
The move is pretty much complete. Just a couple more boxes to unpack and things to move into place, but generally, it resembles a house.
I at least won't be heading back to the old place again. I'll miss it, but I can't deny the new place has a lot more room. Dad's certainly appreciating the lack of stairs. The community is very friendly too - and very family-orientated. All the kids in the street seem to be playing together outside all the time. It's sort of charming in an old-fashioned kind of way.
I took time out of the horrors of moving/cleaning last night to attend a Halloween shindig hosted by lovely people from my writers group. As I'm too cheap to invest in a proper costume at the moment, I instead raided my wardrobe and went as Ramona Flowers. I think it worked out pretty well!
Not the greatest pic - someone, somewhere has a full-length I'll share at some point. But I have to admit I really loved being Ramona. She's awesome. It was a fun night too, I'm glad I managed to drag my sore, sorry self out for it. Everyone made an effort and dressed up and were generally brilliant - quite a feat for an Australian Halloween thing (I blame the heat, it's always too hot for any costuming). Also, almost everyone recognised who I was meant to be which I feel is a testament to the level of awesome of the people I hang out with. Yes, awesome is my word du jour lately. Don't know why.
Finally, today marks the tenth anniversary of our arrival in Australia. It feels like it's been a lot longer somehow. I am forever grateful to my parents for making the hard decision when it came up. No matter where I may wander off to, I'll always love you Sydney.
Now I think I might go and collapse in a pile somewhere. And catch up on some Merlin.
In the meantime, tell me which cover of the X-Men: First Class limited edition I should buy! Charles or Erik? I can't decide!
Music: Heartlines - Florence + The Machine
The move is pretty much complete. Just a couple more boxes to unpack and things to move into place, but generally, it resembles a house.
 |
| New room |
 |
| New study |
I took time out of the horrors of moving/cleaning last night to attend a Halloween shindig hosted by lovely people from my writers group. As I'm too cheap to invest in a proper costume at the moment, I instead raided my wardrobe and went as Ramona Flowers. I think it worked out pretty well!
Finally, today marks the tenth anniversary of our arrival in Australia. It feels like it's been a lot longer somehow. I am forever grateful to my parents for making the hard decision when it came up. No matter where I may wander off to, I'll always love you Sydney.
Now I think I might go and collapse in a pile somewhere. And catch up on some Merlin.
In the meantime, tell me which cover of the X-Men: First Class limited edition I should buy! Charles or Erik? I can't decide!
Music: Heartlines - Florence + The Machine
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
A whole lot worse for wear
Things that suck about moving…
Oh wait, making a list of that would take far, far, faaaar too long. It is not an enjoyable undertaking whatsoever. Still, things are chugging along. It seems to be taking forever because we’re sort of doing it in drips and drabs as we all coem home from work. So far I’ve managed to completely transpose my room, study and bathroom – although the latter is not completely unpacked due to a lack of shelves. Most of the kitchen has also been moved, thanks to the very efficient assistance from M and A. Awesome friends are awesome.
I’ve been staying in the new place by myself since Sunday night, the house creaks like there’s an axe-murderer on the roof so it’s taken some getting used to. I also desperately miss having Oreo with me all the time – I can’t even imagine how much I’m going to miss her next year. Woe. But! Tomorrow the movers will be transporting all the big stuff over and then it’ll pretty much be home. Only have to unpack and clean the old place. Ugh.
I am covered in so many bruises I can’t even count them. There are three on my left hand alone. It’s quite the worry being both spatially challenged and an easy bruiser. I also have to wear a wrist support since I’ve managed to acquire a pretty nasty case of RSI and lugging stuff up and down stairs isn’t really helping. So yeah, pretty much just falling apart.
Cannot wait for it to be over. No mooore booooxes.
In other news –
I didn’t realise how much this meant until they finally actually won it. I’m just so proud of this team, my team, I could combust with happiness. They nearly gave me a heart attack, but hey, they did it.
I would just like to give credit to Stephen Donald’s shirt — in a highly stressful time, the fact that it clearly wasn’t made for him amused me greatly. The poor guy! That number 10 shirt must’ve been cursed. Insanity.
How lame is this, I still break out in a giant grin just thinking about it *shakes head*
There has also been progress on the Trip front – I booked our Venice accommodation last night which means we’re all set for Carnevale. Excitement abounds!
There’s a lot more to be said but no time to say it. Busy times at work (as usual) and chaos at home. I’m so tired, I feel like my head is floating somewhere near the ceiling.
Music: Casanova, baby! - The Gaslight Anthem
Oh wait, making a list of that would take far, far, faaaar too long. It is not an enjoyable undertaking whatsoever. Still, things are chugging along. It seems to be taking forever because we’re sort of doing it in drips and drabs as we all coem home from work. So far I’ve managed to completely transpose my room, study and bathroom – although the latter is not completely unpacked due to a lack of shelves. Most of the kitchen has also been moved, thanks to the very efficient assistance from M and A. Awesome friends are awesome.
I’ve been staying in the new place by myself since Sunday night, the house creaks like there’s an axe-murderer on the roof so it’s taken some getting used to. I also desperately miss having Oreo with me all the time – I can’t even imagine how much I’m going to miss her next year. Woe. But! Tomorrow the movers will be transporting all the big stuff over and then it’ll pretty much be home. Only have to unpack and clean the old place. Ugh.
I am covered in so many bruises I can’t even count them. There are three on my left hand alone. It’s quite the worry being both spatially challenged and an easy bruiser. I also have to wear a wrist support since I’ve managed to acquire a pretty nasty case of RSI and lugging stuff up and down stairs isn’t really helping. So yeah, pretty much just falling apart.
Cannot wait for it to be over. No mooore booooxes.
In other news –
I didn’t realise how much this meant until they finally actually won it. I’m just so proud of this team, my team, I could combust with happiness. They nearly gave me a heart attack, but hey, they did it.
I would just like to give credit to Stephen Donald’s shirt — in a highly stressful time, the fact that it clearly wasn’t made for him amused me greatly. The poor guy! That number 10 shirt must’ve been cursed. Insanity.
How lame is this, I still break out in a giant grin just thinking about it *shakes head*
There has also been progress on the Trip front – I booked our Venice accommodation last night which means we’re all set for Carnevale. Excitement abounds!
There’s a lot more to be said but no time to say it. Busy times at work (as usual) and chaos at home. I’m so tired, I feel like my head is floating somewhere near the ceiling.
Music: Casanova, baby! - The Gaslight Anthem
Monday, October 17, 2011
Weekend's worth of thoughts
Out of all my pet peeves, I think the thing I hate the most is being copied. It makes me irately annoyed. But it’s also funny because Em knows how much I loathe it and she always starts laughing in a knowing sort of way whenever it happens and that, in turn, gets me laughing. It’s probably a more healthy response. So thanks for that Em, you’re probably doing wonders for my blood pressure!
On the opposite end of the mood scale, pure euphoria last night with the All Blacks through to the final. Woo! I was almost too nervous to watch the game, I just couldn’t bear the thought of it all going horribly wrong – especially against Australia. I was majorly stressed for most of it, but luckily everything held together. We have to win this thing. Not only because we deserve it, but also for Dan. Ugh, my heart breaks for the guy. If I feel utterly devastated, I can't imagine how he feels. So anyway. I am so excited for the final. It really should have been against Wales though. France has been playing terribly all tournament, it’s pure luck that they’ve made it this far. Ah well.
In other news, applying for my visa tonight. Eee! And probably buying tickets and booking accommodation this week. I’ve just this moment sent off a message to my cousin with dates so if he can put me up, I’ll be off to Botswana at the end of December. I am hoping it works out, I am dying for a safari. I can’t believe how soon it all is – it feels both insanely real and somehow intangible. I’m itching to set off and at the same time, I’m already missing everyone and everything. My puppy mostly, I’m constantly randomly attacking her with cuddles much to her confusion.
She’s very unsettled at the moment cause mum and I started packing on the weekend. She sits and watches me with this look that says ‘There is mischief afoot!’ And then she’s poking her nose in boxes and titling her head in a way to clearly asks ‘What witchcraft is this?’ But seriously, she’s not keen on all this packing activity. She probably thinks we’re going on holiday without her again.
Ugh. Packing. Slow and arduous. We did most of the study on Sunday. Books! So many books! I did throw out about three bags worth of stuff and have another bag to donate (not books, we don’t throw out books in my household) but there’s still so much! How does one accumulate so much crap and fit it all in tiny rooms? Sigh. We’ll probably start the kitchen tonight. Double sigh. I’m already covered in bruises and we haven’t even started the actual moving yet. Bodes well.
Can't stop yawning. I was up at 5.30 this morning, a time reserved for those in the first circle of hell. I have so much work to do, I figured I’d come in early but even though I left home way earlier than normal, I still got to work at the time I usually do. WHAT. Why dost thou mock me, traffic?
Speaking of work and its quantities, better get back to it. Can’t even think about how many profiles I need to write or I’ll be paralysed with apprehension.
Music: American Slang - The Gaslight Anthem
On the opposite end of the mood scale, pure euphoria last night with the All Blacks through to the final. Woo! I was almost too nervous to watch the game, I just couldn’t bear the thought of it all going horribly wrong – especially against Australia. I was majorly stressed for most of it, but luckily everything held together. We have to win this thing. Not only because we deserve it, but also for Dan. Ugh, my heart breaks for the guy. If I feel utterly devastated, I can't imagine how he feels. So anyway. I am so excited for the final. It really should have been against Wales though. France has been playing terribly all tournament, it’s pure luck that they’ve made it this far. Ah well.
In other news, applying for my visa tonight. Eee! And probably buying tickets and booking accommodation this week. I’ve just this moment sent off a message to my cousin with dates so if he can put me up, I’ll be off to Botswana at the end of December. I am hoping it works out, I am dying for a safari. I can’t believe how soon it all is – it feels both insanely real and somehow intangible. I’m itching to set off and at the same time, I’m already missing everyone and everything. My puppy mostly, I’m constantly randomly attacking her with cuddles much to her confusion.
She’s very unsettled at the moment cause mum and I started packing on the weekend. She sits and watches me with this look that says ‘There is mischief afoot!’ And then she’s poking her nose in boxes and titling her head in a way to clearly asks ‘What witchcraft is this?’ But seriously, she’s not keen on all this packing activity. She probably thinks we’re going on holiday without her again.
Ugh. Packing. Slow and arduous. We did most of the study on Sunday. Books! So many books! I did throw out about three bags worth of stuff and have another bag to donate (not books, we don’t throw out books in my household) but there’s still so much! How does one accumulate so much crap and fit it all in tiny rooms? Sigh. We’ll probably start the kitchen tonight. Double sigh. I’m already covered in bruises and we haven’t even started the actual moving yet. Bodes well.
Can't stop yawning. I was up at 5.30 this morning, a time reserved for those in the first circle of hell. I have so much work to do, I figured I’d come in early but even though I left home way earlier than normal, I still got to work at the time I usually do. WHAT. Why dost thou mock me, traffic?
Speaking of work and its quantities, better get back to it. Can’t even think about how many profiles I need to write or I’ll be paralysed with apprehension.
Music: American Slang - The Gaslight Anthem
Monday, October 10, 2011
Catch me if you can
Okay. Lots of things have happened and most have been detrimental to my mood, which has been consistently terrible since Wednesday.
Firstly, The Academy Is… has officially called it quits. William announced it yesterday. It’s not entirely unexpected – with them all being all over the place – but it’s still sad. TAI was one of my favourite bands, and they’re one of the few bands that I’ve known since before their official first album. I wasn’t there for the whole 8 year journey, but it had to be 5 years at least. That said, I completely understand where they’re coming from. We’re all practically the same age and if I think of how I have changed, and what I’ve wanted to move on from, through the last 8 years, it only makes sense for them to feel the same. Such is life.
But I will miss TAI terribly all the same. Though I’m sure the boys will pop up in other things from time to time. I’ll always have three albums I adore and, of course, the memories – seeing them play every time they came out here, the meet and greet, the surfboard…oh dear god, the surfboard *headdesk*
On some level it feels like 2011 is holding up a giant neon sign declaring ‘It’s over. You’re grown up.’ And I can’t say I particularly care for it. It feels like everything has ended, the last remnants of life before responsible adulthood have all crumbled away. And honestly? I’m just not ready yet. This adulthood thing…it’s not good. I’ll have to be dragged kicking and screaming into it, and I’ll have to be caught first. Ah well. At least I’ll always have Green Day.
On the topic of responsibility and reality and how much it sucks, we were informed on Thursday that the house we’re in is being sold. You know what that means – it’s moving time. Again. I’m not going to lie to you, internet, I was utterly devastated by this news. I love the house we’re in now, it’s pretty much the kind of house I’ve always wanted. I love the deck and being able to lie in my hammock and just let the world go by. I love that it has a open, sprawling kitchen. I love that everything is on levels. I love that I have a room that’s not a shoebox. I love that it backs onto a reserve so it doesn’t feel like your fenced in and stuck in suburbia. I love that there’s even wildlife popping up these days – at the moment we have ducklings waddling down the street. Ducklings. And I love the area, with shops nearby, great library and the beach 20 minutes away. Just…yeah. I’m very disappointed. If I was three years old, I would chuck a giant tantrum and refuse to leave. And I’d expect my parents to sort it out.
Unfortunately, that sort of attitude doesn’t really work anymore so instead I’m saddled with a feeling of responsibility and general unhappiness. See? There's that adulthood thing again. My parents aren’t taking it too well – especially my dad who takes every reminder that we rent as a personal attack on him. They're not natural renters (which is why they keep building/painting etc at our own expense and inadvertently pushing the property values up, idiots that we are) and it hits dad very hard that he doesn’t have a place of his own. Despite my numerous attempts at convincing him that owning a house in Sydney is actually rather shit cause you’re stuck with a ginormous mortgage that you’ll probably never pay off, he still gets depressed about it. But you know, the simple fact of the matter is that my parents gave up a house and a comfortable lifestyle when they moved here, and I think it makes him feel like a failure that he can’t buy a house here. Frankly I think having an great standard of living is way better than being saddled with a huge debt-in-house-form but you know, whatever. When it comes to packing up all your crap and trying to find a new place for the third time in two years, I can understand why the lack of stability makes him miserable.
Of course, despite knowing me all my life, my parents still fail to realise that I am highly tuned to other peope’s emotions and the fact that I have a habit of suppressing my own in favour of carrying theirs goes completely unnoticed. But when I’m stressed and I snap, I’m the one who ends up in the dog house. Good times.
Anyway. We’ve applied for a new place so hopefully we’ll get that. It would be as straightforward and as painless as these things can be. Which probably means it won’t happen. What? I’m a natural pessimist. It helps me manage disappointment. The area we’re looking at is about twenty five minutes from where we are now…in fact, it’s just down the road from the doctor’s surgery I used to work at. It’s further away from my current job, so that’ll mean even more traffic (thankfully only 52 days to go) and it makes the weekend job I got kind of annoying as well (what used to be my local shopping centre is now a 30min drive away.)
It’s a nice area and I'm trying to be upbeat about it, but it’s definitely not as great as where we are now. Unfortunately the houses in our current area are going for about $800-$1000 a week, which is pretty steep – especially since I won’t be contributing to rent next year. But you know, all things told, it’s probably better to move. Both the 'rents have messed up their knees and the stairs weren’t really helping things. The house we’re hoping to get is freshly painted and carpeted and quite big, so there won’t be a lack of room at least.
Oh whatever. Doesn’t help to ponder these things. It has to be done and that’s it. We’ll deal. It’s more a case of it being unexpected…and being too comfortable were we are. I am going to do a major clean out this time though – I’m not lugging all that junk around again. I’ve reached the point where I’m quite happy to be ruthless. Ebay all the things!
In other news, yes, I finally got a second job. So I’ll be working pretty much all the time from mid November until Christmas eve. At “normal” work, things continue to be entirely batshit insane and one of the ad reps made a complaint about me to management on Thursday because he doesn’t like my attitude. I am cheerfully setting his car on fire with my mind. My parents aren’t speaking to me because I got annoyed at them for keeping me out all day Saturday after I was promised it wouldn’t be a late one and because I made the mistake of telling them I just wanted to be left alone, which they’re now taking to petty extremes. I’m not going to apologise either cause I’m still resentful of the fact that I always have to be everyone’s emotional support and yet the minute I slip up, that’s held up as some sort of trademark behaviour. It’s just like at work – no one ever notices when you’re doing things well, but make one mistake and you never hear the end of it.
It’s especially aggravating because I only went along on Saturday to help them out, a) by driving into the city and b) by keeping mum company as I know she doesn’t like going to these rugby things by herself because dad is useless and usually abandons her within 2 seconds flat (he is like a toddler, you have no idea). And I voiced all my reservations before we left so they were well aware of how I felt. But my dad doesn’t think, ever, so he agrees to things on a whim and so, at 11pm, I’m in Chinatown with a bunch of middle-aged couples. And all of them keep telling what a good daughter I am, how they wish their kids would come out with them and blah blah blah. Do my parents think so? No. Two days later, I'm still a pariah. Charming.
BUT! It’s not all annoyance. I attended a lovely High Tea at the Shangri La hotel yesterday, courtesy of L. It was prefectly decadent and exactly the right kind of escapism. Plus I got to catch up with R and K for a bit, always nice and relaxing. My friends always know when to save my sanity.
Now, back to work I suppose. The way things are going here, I won’t be surprised if I’m working till 7 or 8 every night this week. Sigh.
Music: Daytripper - The Beatles
Firstly, The Academy Is… has officially called it quits. William announced it yesterday. It’s not entirely unexpected – with them all being all over the place – but it’s still sad. TAI was one of my favourite bands, and they’re one of the few bands that I’ve known since before their official first album. I wasn’t there for the whole 8 year journey, but it had to be 5 years at least. That said, I completely understand where they’re coming from. We’re all practically the same age and if I think of how I have changed, and what I’ve wanted to move on from, through the last 8 years, it only makes sense for them to feel the same. Such is life.
But I will miss TAI terribly all the same. Though I’m sure the boys will pop up in other things from time to time. I’ll always have three albums I adore and, of course, the memories – seeing them play every time they came out here, the meet and greet, the surfboard…oh dear god, the surfboard *headdesk*
On some level it feels like 2011 is holding up a giant neon sign declaring ‘It’s over. You’re grown up.’ And I can’t say I particularly care for it. It feels like everything has ended, the last remnants of life before responsible adulthood have all crumbled away. And honestly? I’m just not ready yet. This adulthood thing…it’s not good. I’ll have to be dragged kicking and screaming into it, and I’ll have to be caught first. Ah well. At least I’ll always have Green Day.
On the topic of responsibility and reality and how much it sucks, we were informed on Thursday that the house we’re in is being sold. You know what that means – it’s moving time. Again. I’m not going to lie to you, internet, I was utterly devastated by this news. I love the house we’re in now, it’s pretty much the kind of house I’ve always wanted. I love the deck and being able to lie in my hammock and just let the world go by. I love that it has a open, sprawling kitchen. I love that everything is on levels. I love that I have a room that’s not a shoebox. I love that it backs onto a reserve so it doesn’t feel like your fenced in and stuck in suburbia. I love that there’s even wildlife popping up these days – at the moment we have ducklings waddling down the street. Ducklings. And I love the area, with shops nearby, great library and the beach 20 minutes away. Just…yeah. I’m very disappointed. If I was three years old, I would chuck a giant tantrum and refuse to leave. And I’d expect my parents to sort it out.
Unfortunately, that sort of attitude doesn’t really work anymore so instead I’m saddled with a feeling of responsibility and general unhappiness. See? There's that adulthood thing again. My parents aren’t taking it too well – especially my dad who takes every reminder that we rent as a personal attack on him. They're not natural renters (which is why they keep building/painting etc at our own expense and inadvertently pushing the property values up, idiots that we are) and it hits dad very hard that he doesn’t have a place of his own. Despite my numerous attempts at convincing him that owning a house in Sydney is actually rather shit cause you’re stuck with a ginormous mortgage that you’ll probably never pay off, he still gets depressed about it. But you know, the simple fact of the matter is that my parents gave up a house and a comfortable lifestyle when they moved here, and I think it makes him feel like a failure that he can’t buy a house here. Frankly I think having an great standard of living is way better than being saddled with a huge debt-in-house-form but you know, whatever. When it comes to packing up all your crap and trying to find a new place for the third time in two years, I can understand why the lack of stability makes him miserable.
Of course, despite knowing me all my life, my parents still fail to realise that I am highly tuned to other peope’s emotions and the fact that I have a habit of suppressing my own in favour of carrying theirs goes completely unnoticed. But when I’m stressed and I snap, I’m the one who ends up in the dog house. Good times.
Anyway. We’ve applied for a new place so hopefully we’ll get that. It would be as straightforward and as painless as these things can be. Which probably means it won’t happen. What? I’m a natural pessimist. It helps me manage disappointment. The area we’re looking at is about twenty five minutes from where we are now…in fact, it’s just down the road from the doctor’s surgery I used to work at. It’s further away from my current job, so that’ll mean even more traffic (thankfully only 52 days to go) and it makes the weekend job I got kind of annoying as well (what used to be my local shopping centre is now a 30min drive away.)
It’s a nice area and I'm trying to be upbeat about it, but it’s definitely not as great as where we are now. Unfortunately the houses in our current area are going for about $800-$1000 a week, which is pretty steep – especially since I won’t be contributing to rent next year. But you know, all things told, it’s probably better to move. Both the 'rents have messed up their knees and the stairs weren’t really helping things. The house we’re hoping to get is freshly painted and carpeted and quite big, so there won’t be a lack of room at least.
Oh whatever. Doesn’t help to ponder these things. It has to be done and that’s it. We’ll deal. It’s more a case of it being unexpected…and being too comfortable were we are. I am going to do a major clean out this time though – I’m not lugging all that junk around again. I’ve reached the point where I’m quite happy to be ruthless. Ebay all the things!
In other news, yes, I finally got a second job. So I’ll be working pretty much all the time from mid November until Christmas eve. At “normal” work, things continue to be entirely batshit insane and one of the ad reps made a complaint about me to management on Thursday because he doesn’t like my attitude. I am cheerfully setting his car on fire with my mind. My parents aren’t speaking to me because I got annoyed at them for keeping me out all day Saturday after I was promised it wouldn’t be a late one and because I made the mistake of telling them I just wanted to be left alone, which they’re now taking to petty extremes. I’m not going to apologise either cause I’m still resentful of the fact that I always have to be everyone’s emotional support and yet the minute I slip up, that’s held up as some sort of trademark behaviour. It’s just like at work – no one ever notices when you’re doing things well, but make one mistake and you never hear the end of it.
It’s especially aggravating because I only went along on Saturday to help them out, a) by driving into the city and b) by keeping mum company as I know she doesn’t like going to these rugby things by herself because dad is useless and usually abandons her within 2 seconds flat (he is like a toddler, you have no idea). And I voiced all my reservations before we left so they were well aware of how I felt. But my dad doesn’t think, ever, so he agrees to things on a whim and so, at 11pm, I’m in Chinatown with a bunch of middle-aged couples. And all of them keep telling what a good daughter I am, how they wish their kids would come out with them and blah blah blah. Do my parents think so? No. Two days later, I'm still a pariah. Charming.
BUT! It’s not all annoyance. I attended a lovely High Tea at the Shangri La hotel yesterday, courtesy of L. It was prefectly decadent and exactly the right kind of escapism. Plus I got to catch up with R and K for a bit, always nice and relaxing. My friends always know when to save my sanity.
Now, back to work I suppose. The way things are going here, I won’t be surprised if I’m working till 7 or 8 every night this week. Sigh.
Music: Daytripper - The Beatles
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Dance to the rhythm and die young
Jack has been resurrected in better shape than ever. He is now a new old car, pretty much everything has now been replaced. He's a little bit old, a little bit new, and has been brought back from death. I named him well. I have to say it was a rather joyous reunion. I absolutely love driving Martha around, especially since she has all the possible comforts I could want and I've gotten used to the controls on the steering wheel. People actually take me seriously with her, I'm considered a responsible adult. Jack is...unrefined. He's not a bad looking car and I've got absolutely killer rims on him, but he's still an old model and it's not really a car that screams sophistication or anything like that. Yet I am SO glad to have him back. I don't have to be precious with him, I don't have to feel nervous about where I leave him or how I drive him. He's got battle scars that predate my ownership and so it's ok to be a bit rough, it's not the end of the world.
Now that they've fixed everything, he drives beautifully. Better than he ever has. He doesn't rattle like the world is ending when I'm stopped at the lights and the engine is quiet. I don't know why I didn't do this earlier. I just have to get used to the lack of power steering again. That I'm going to miss. I am now however broke for the forseeable future. I missed The Used pre-sale yesterday cause I had to clean out my accounts. This year is a saving nightmare, no matter how much I try to save for travelling, something keeps coming up. Ah well, we'll get there in the end.
I visited the ever fabulous Ms Roze and her perfect new haircut at work today. Fandom, it demands to be indulged. Plans were made. I've got quite a busy week next week. I revel in the socialness but my uni brain is weeping at my flippant approach to time. I wish my uni brain wouldn't be such a nag.
Another Mat Devine Agony Uncle post, another noteable piece of advice. Conquering your fears 101:
Listen, I’m giving you homework: Go to the nearest pool. dive in, pull up that dumb robot, slap it around and repeat after me: ‘I believe introductions are in order. My name is Elias. I am a human being. I am the top of the fucking food chain, I am a marvel of evolution, engineered to conquer the earth, the sea, and the moon. what are you? Some punk ass robot. That’s all. I am your god. I am your maker. Remember this face. You so much as let out an air bubble when I’m near this pool again, I will come down on you like a storm! LIKE A STORM!”
Also, in the meantime you can try swimming in cenotes in Mexico, like I did last year. No pool cleaning robots there, just snakes and violent monkeys and shit. You know, rational fears
I think I say this every week but still, I love this man.
Last week someone actually mentioned Bourdieu in a comment. That dude is rivalling Marx and Freud in repetetive mentioning in uni readings and then unceremoniously appearing in my everyday life and never leaving me alone. I kind of love that Mat has these existential and philosophical debates with people and that his fans themselves go on to talk about it. It's a whole different plane to the one the bands I usually like operate on.
I was going to put up some pics of the new room but I can't seem to take a decent one. This, however, is the view from my window.
Now, on the topic of pictures, anyone see the new photos from the Hubble Telescope? Astronomy was my first obsession, way back when I was 6. So gorgeous.
Between an immensity of land and an immensity of sky they sat there, incomprehensible, smiling at a continent.
Music: New York City Speed - Kill Hannah
Mood: Should really be working
Now that they've fixed everything, he drives beautifully. Better than he ever has. He doesn't rattle like the world is ending when I'm stopped at the lights and the engine is quiet. I don't know why I didn't do this earlier. I just have to get used to the lack of power steering again. That I'm going to miss. I am now however broke for the forseeable future. I missed The Used pre-sale yesterday cause I had to clean out my accounts. This year is a saving nightmare, no matter how much I try to save for travelling, something keeps coming up. Ah well, we'll get there in the end.
I visited the ever fabulous Ms Roze and her perfect new haircut at work today. Fandom, it demands to be indulged. Plans were made. I've got quite a busy week next week. I revel in the socialness but my uni brain is weeping at my flippant approach to time. I wish my uni brain wouldn't be such a nag.
Another Mat Devine Agony Uncle post, another noteable piece of advice. Conquering your fears 101:
Listen, I’m giving you homework: Go to the nearest pool. dive in, pull up that dumb robot, slap it around and repeat after me: ‘I believe introductions are in order. My name is Elias. I am a human being. I am the top of the fucking food chain, I am a marvel of evolution, engineered to conquer the earth, the sea, and the moon. what are you? Some punk ass robot. That’s all. I am your god. I am your maker. Remember this face. You so much as let out an air bubble when I’m near this pool again, I will come down on you like a storm! LIKE A STORM!”
Also, in the meantime you can try swimming in cenotes in Mexico, like I did last year. No pool cleaning robots there, just snakes and violent monkeys and shit. You know, rational fears
I think I say this every week but still, I love this man.
Last week someone actually mentioned Bourdieu in a comment. That dude is rivalling Marx and Freud in repetetive mentioning in uni readings and then unceremoniously appearing in my everyday life and never leaving me alone. I kind of love that Mat has these existential and philosophical debates with people and that his fans themselves go on to talk about it. It's a whole different plane to the one the bands I usually like operate on.
I was going to put up some pics of the new room but I can't seem to take a decent one. This, however, is the view from my window.
Now, on the topic of pictures, anyone see the new photos from the Hubble Telescope? Astronomy was my first obsession, way back when I was 6. So gorgeous.
Between an immensity of land and an immensity of sky they sat there, incomprehensible, smiling at a continent.
Music: New York City Speed - Kill Hannah
Mood: Should really be working
Monday, September 7, 2009
IT LIVES!
Internet! Oh glorious, wonderful internet. I was beginning to think you were just a dream. FINALLY back on-line! Here's a post I wrote last week when I naively thought I was connected only to be proven wrong at the last minute. More recent nonsense to follow after I indulge in some Good News Week. There shall be blogging, glomping of individuals on msn, reading and replying to 87 emails, and getting through the 312 items in my Reader. Oh internet induced sleep deprivation, I've missed you!
***
This is the first time my laptop’s been on in 7 days. It made weird dinging noises when I tried to start it up the first two times, nearly gave me a heart attack. It would be terribly fitting for my laptop to really give up the ghost this time. God knows it’s the way things have been going lately. Current war victims:
- Jack
- Jasper
But I will get to that later. Oh by the way, EPIC BLOG OF DOOM WARNING. You’ve been informed.
First, and randomly, last week’s Time Magazine has a feature on Johannesburg and the World Cup. It has the following delightful paragraph:
Few cities in the world can match Joburg’s terrifying reputation for crime and fear –and it has been that way since it was founded.
Doesn’t that just fill one with pride for one’s hometown? As the old joke goes, I’m not scared, I’m from Kempton. To be honest, I’m glad I grew up there. I think it taught me a lot. But honey, that ain’t no way to live.
Oh, the article goes on to talk about how reuniting the city will resolve its problems and all the initiatives in place for the World Cup next year (which I thoroughly look forward to cause I think the criminals are going to have a field day). It appears the backbone of the plan is to plant trees, because apparently, “wherever you make a place greener, you don’t have so many problems….green spaces give people hope. No grime, no crime.” Maybe I’m just cynical but I find a gaping hole in this logic…mostly in the sense that huge amounts of crime go down in places like Central Park (have you watched Law & Order? Honestly, how many bodies have they pulled out of there?) But I digress. No wait, not quite. People do realise there is more than one township in South Africa right? I mean, I don’t see why Soweto always has to hog the limelight. You can do tours of Soweto, so you know, as far as townships go, they’re not too bad off, at least they have a tourism industry. Timbiza, just down the street from my childhood home, does not have that luxury. Am I being flip? I don’t mean to be. It’s hard for me to treat any of this stuff with perhaps the gravity it requires. I spent 14 years there listening to other people do that and it’s kind of made me apathetic to the whole thing. I just take some gleeful sort of pride in coming from a place with a “terrifying reputation for crime and fear.” Clearly, I’m just an idiot like that.
Speaking of Law & Order, UK versions on tonight. I missed it last week and was so not impressed. It is followed by Numb3rs which makes Wednesdays Jen-takes-over-the-TV night. I’m unduly fond of both shows.
Anywho, where to begin? At the beginning I suppose. I’m answering my own rhetorical questions. That’s a bad sign. (Do I know what rhetorical means!) The chaos and destruction of the moving that commenced last Wednesday, culminated in epic amounts of bruises and aching limbs by Friday. Three people are not meant to move an entire house worth of stuff by themselves. Especially when two of them already have a variety of aches and pains (all motorcycle induced, come to think of it) which leaves one to run from one to the other and pick up the slack. Also, this is a terrace house. I’ve climbed more stairs in the last week than I possibly ever have in my life. Even when I climbed to the top of the Voortrekker monument…oh wait, did I do that? I can’t remember. I was there though. We had movers in on Thursday to move some of the bigger things. They were actually very lovely boys. I bought them lunch but I kind of regretted that afterwards when I realised they had wrapped the cabinets in a sort of non-stick plastic wrap which they didn’t remove and which is a total bitch to get off. Ah well, what’s done is done.
We weren’t even a day into the move when Jack had a meltdown. Considering his age, I suppose it’s not a totally unexpected thing. He was overheating and so we’ve discovered that either his head gasket has blown or the thermostat has. Either way, I can’t drive him long distances and pretty much have to stop every couple of blocks to top up his water. A call to the Daihatsu garage suggested it would be cheaper just to replace the entire engine rather than just the blown part. Apparently I’m looking at $2000 here *headdesk* I’m driving Martha around now, most of the time. She’s a really lovely little car. I have to say I’m very impressed with the Getz. Considering that it’s one of the cheapest cars on the market, it really delivers and it’s got all the little comforts you could possibly want. Still, I have to take Jack in on Friday, I hope they can fix him and that it’s not as severe as the guy on the phone seemed to think it was.
Friday saw the last few things dragged over and the old house cleaned. I had taken the day off work to get everything sorted. I also forgot I had a hair appointment so had to rush off to that. I also had a gig that evening which I wasn’t going to pass up, regardless of how sore and tired I was. The Academy Is…! How can you resist. Roze decided not to come so I was left to my own devices. Ironically, I managed to offload my spare ticket to a guy begging for one in front of the venue. I used this unexpected cash wisely…by buying a hoodie. Again *headdesk* it was also around this time that I broke Jasper’s already fragile left cover. Repeatedly shoving it into my back pocket twisted the poor piece of plastic until it snapped. I am now contemplating taking it to Telstra to see if they fix sidekicks, or merely utilizing the wonders of superglue. That would be fine until there came a day you actually wanted the cover off *ponders*
Back on point, TAI were brilliant of course. William is really starting to challenge Adam Lazzara in the microphone acrobatics stakes. I envision a black eye for one of the others in the near future. I don’t know what Mike has done to his hair. The shortness combined with the ridiculous faces he pulls while playing reminded me of a geeky older brother playing guitar hero. Adorkable. I always forget Sisky is actually my age, he never looks it. Especially not with the beard thing he has going on. I so wish they weren’t just a support, the set was far too short. They did have a nice balance between old and new though. It always makes me smile to think that this is really a band I’ve watched grow from demo days. Such love. I realised halfway through that this was actually the first time I’ve seen them sans Cobra Starship. I only stayed for about 8 songs of Anberlin’s set. I love them but I think they’re one of those bands that do more for me from the recorded comfort of my iPod. I was just not that interested in their live performance. That’s not saying anything bad about the band, technically they were completely on form. Even though Stephen was having some major issues with his mike. They played ‘A day late’ which is one of the first songs I ever really loved by them, so I left quite content. I ran into an acquaintance outside the venue, she works for a promoter now so she was preparing to hand out some material. I never quite know what to make of her, but she was really lovely that night and we had a nice chat. I love how my social skills only work when they want to. I’ve been really good lately actually. I’ve been feeling a lot more in control of myself.
Since then it’s just been the madness of trying to unpack things and get them in their right places. There was the obligatory trip to IKEA, since apparently no matter how much my father complains that we have too much stuff, it doesn’t stop him from encouraging the acquisition of more. I did need a chest of drawers though, so I’m not complaining. At least I have somewhere to put my t-shirts now without the threat of them toppling over and killing me every time I open the closet. I’m also not lacking on the space for one. My new room is huge. It’s like a proper room, the one I’ve been whinging for these past 8 years. I also love the kitchen, it’s just such a nice set-up. To be honest, I just love the house. It’s the kind of modern terrace they always advertise around the city. I’ve always liked this sort of thing. It’s full of feature walls I wholeheartedly approve of. My room has one in an off-colour red, so it fits perfectly with my stuff. The study is that institutional prison blue I cannot stand. I however share it with my mum so all our bookcases hide it almost completely from view. My OCD is none too keen on this shared study business since all my furniture is dark wood and all hers is birch. It’s not matching! But no, suppress, suppress. Sacrifices are a natural part of life *zen moment*
I’ll post up pics of everything, such as the fire-hazard view from my bedroom window, just as soon as I find the connection cable for my camera. There’s always something missing.
It felt like an epically long week so when Monday rolled around I was almost glad to go back to work. It didn’t last long since we were so incredibly busy and I had to do end of month. [Side note – how can it be bloody September already? Where has the year gone? My thesis is due in three months! AAAAGH and so on.] I had an awful day yesterday, one thing after another. I was running late for my train and of course that would be the day I couldn’t find parking at the station. Eventually I gave up and parked illegally. I still managed to make good time, so I was only 5 minutes late to my meeting with Mandy. I had been holding out for this for weeks now. I just wanted someone to rip into my creative piece and tear it to pieces. She didn’t do that. She did edit the entire thing professionally and gave me some really useful suggestions that I think I will definitely take on board. I aim to re-write the entire thing and have all the external media done by next week. We get along so well, cause she’s just so laid-back and I feel like I can say anything and there isn’t an expectation of me to do the academic poseur thing. She actually said to me the piece could work fine academically but she wanted to treat me like a professional writer, not a student. It was a really good meeting, I felt like I actually wanted to go out and work on it again afterwards.
So yes, that’s what I’ve been doing with myself. A whole lot of bruise-inducing chaos. I loathe all these boxes still standing around. I may be developing a box-unpacking mania. I was going to mention some current affairs things that have piqued my interest, like that ludicrous school death, and sheer randomness of TV shows such as Talking about your generation which last night asked its contestants to dress up as important figures of their generation and so Gen Y dressed as Harry Potter and Gerard Way, but I’ve sort of run out of steam. Shall go make room in my closet for my shoes instead.
P.S. I realise I never posted that playlist I said I would. The modem was unceremoniously disconnected before I even got a chance to think about it. So it shall go up sometime in the near future.
Music: Bowl of Oranges - Bright Eyes
Mood: Hungry
***
This is the first time my laptop’s been on in 7 days. It made weird dinging noises when I tried to start it up the first two times, nearly gave me a heart attack. It would be terribly fitting for my laptop to really give up the ghost this time. God knows it’s the way things have been going lately. Current war victims:
- Jack
- Jasper
But I will get to that later. Oh by the way, EPIC BLOG OF DOOM WARNING. You’ve been informed.
First, and randomly, last week’s Time Magazine has a feature on Johannesburg and the World Cup. It has the following delightful paragraph:
Few cities in the world can match Joburg’s terrifying reputation for crime and fear –and it has been that way since it was founded.
Doesn’t that just fill one with pride for one’s hometown? As the old joke goes, I’m not scared, I’m from Kempton. To be honest, I’m glad I grew up there. I think it taught me a lot. But honey, that ain’t no way to live.
Oh, the article goes on to talk about how reuniting the city will resolve its problems and all the initiatives in place for the World Cup next year (which I thoroughly look forward to cause I think the criminals are going to have a field day). It appears the backbone of the plan is to plant trees, because apparently, “wherever you make a place greener, you don’t have so many problems….green spaces give people hope. No grime, no crime.” Maybe I’m just cynical but I find a gaping hole in this logic…mostly in the sense that huge amounts of crime go down in places like Central Park (have you watched Law & Order? Honestly, how many bodies have they pulled out of there?) But I digress. No wait, not quite. People do realise there is more than one township in South Africa right? I mean, I don’t see why Soweto always has to hog the limelight. You can do tours of Soweto, so you know, as far as townships go, they’re not too bad off, at least they have a tourism industry. Timbiza, just down the street from my childhood home, does not have that luxury. Am I being flip? I don’t mean to be. It’s hard for me to treat any of this stuff with perhaps the gravity it requires. I spent 14 years there listening to other people do that and it’s kind of made me apathetic to the whole thing. I just take some gleeful sort of pride in coming from a place with a “terrifying reputation for crime and fear.” Clearly, I’m just an idiot like that.
Speaking of Law & Order, UK versions on tonight. I missed it last week and was so not impressed. It is followed by Numb3rs which makes Wednesdays Jen-takes-over-the-TV night. I’m unduly fond of both shows.
Anywho, where to begin? At the beginning I suppose. I’m answering my own rhetorical questions. That’s a bad sign. (Do I know what rhetorical means!) The chaos and destruction of the moving that commenced last Wednesday, culminated in epic amounts of bruises and aching limbs by Friday. Three people are not meant to move an entire house worth of stuff by themselves. Especially when two of them already have a variety of aches and pains (all motorcycle induced, come to think of it) which leaves one to run from one to the other and pick up the slack. Also, this is a terrace house. I’ve climbed more stairs in the last week than I possibly ever have in my life. Even when I climbed to the top of the Voortrekker monument…oh wait, did I do that? I can’t remember. I was there though. We had movers in on Thursday to move some of the bigger things. They were actually very lovely boys. I bought them lunch but I kind of regretted that afterwards when I realised they had wrapped the cabinets in a sort of non-stick plastic wrap which they didn’t remove and which is a total bitch to get off. Ah well, what’s done is done.
We weren’t even a day into the move when Jack had a meltdown. Considering his age, I suppose it’s not a totally unexpected thing. He was overheating and so we’ve discovered that either his head gasket has blown or the thermostat has. Either way, I can’t drive him long distances and pretty much have to stop every couple of blocks to top up his water. A call to the Daihatsu garage suggested it would be cheaper just to replace the entire engine rather than just the blown part. Apparently I’m looking at $2000 here *headdesk* I’m driving Martha around now, most of the time. She’s a really lovely little car. I have to say I’m very impressed with the Getz. Considering that it’s one of the cheapest cars on the market, it really delivers and it’s got all the little comforts you could possibly want. Still, I have to take Jack in on Friday, I hope they can fix him and that it’s not as severe as the guy on the phone seemed to think it was.
Friday saw the last few things dragged over and the old house cleaned. I had taken the day off work to get everything sorted. I also forgot I had a hair appointment so had to rush off to that. I also had a gig that evening which I wasn’t going to pass up, regardless of how sore and tired I was. The Academy Is…! How can you resist. Roze decided not to come so I was left to my own devices. Ironically, I managed to offload my spare ticket to a guy begging for one in front of the venue. I used this unexpected cash wisely…by buying a hoodie. Again *headdesk* it was also around this time that I broke Jasper’s already fragile left cover. Repeatedly shoving it into my back pocket twisted the poor piece of plastic until it snapped. I am now contemplating taking it to Telstra to see if they fix sidekicks, or merely utilizing the wonders of superglue. That would be fine until there came a day you actually wanted the cover off *ponders*
Back on point, TAI were brilliant of course. William is really starting to challenge Adam Lazzara in the microphone acrobatics stakes. I envision a black eye for one of the others in the near future. I don’t know what Mike has done to his hair. The shortness combined with the ridiculous faces he pulls while playing reminded me of a geeky older brother playing guitar hero. Adorkable. I always forget Sisky is actually my age, he never looks it. Especially not with the beard thing he has going on. I so wish they weren’t just a support, the set was far too short. They did have a nice balance between old and new though. It always makes me smile to think that this is really a band I’ve watched grow from demo days. Such love. I realised halfway through that this was actually the first time I’ve seen them sans Cobra Starship. I only stayed for about 8 songs of Anberlin’s set. I love them but I think they’re one of those bands that do more for me from the recorded comfort of my iPod. I was just not that interested in their live performance. That’s not saying anything bad about the band, technically they were completely on form. Even though Stephen was having some major issues with his mike. They played ‘A day late’ which is one of the first songs I ever really loved by them, so I left quite content. I ran into an acquaintance outside the venue, she works for a promoter now so she was preparing to hand out some material. I never quite know what to make of her, but she was really lovely that night and we had a nice chat. I love how my social skills only work when they want to. I’ve been really good lately actually. I’ve been feeling a lot more in control of myself.
Since then it’s just been the madness of trying to unpack things and get them in their right places. There was the obligatory trip to IKEA, since apparently no matter how much my father complains that we have too much stuff, it doesn’t stop him from encouraging the acquisition of more. I did need a chest of drawers though, so I’m not complaining. At least I have somewhere to put my t-shirts now without the threat of them toppling over and killing me every time I open the closet. I’m also not lacking on the space for one. My new room is huge. It’s like a proper room, the one I’ve been whinging for these past 8 years. I also love the kitchen, it’s just such a nice set-up. To be honest, I just love the house. It’s the kind of modern terrace they always advertise around the city. I’ve always liked this sort of thing. It’s full of feature walls I wholeheartedly approve of. My room has one in an off-colour red, so it fits perfectly with my stuff. The study is that institutional prison blue I cannot stand. I however share it with my mum so all our bookcases hide it almost completely from view. My OCD is none too keen on this shared study business since all my furniture is dark wood and all hers is birch. It’s not matching! But no, suppress, suppress. Sacrifices are a natural part of life *zen moment*
I’ll post up pics of everything, such as the fire-hazard view from my bedroom window, just as soon as I find the connection cable for my camera. There’s always something missing.
It felt like an epically long week so when Monday rolled around I was almost glad to go back to work. It didn’t last long since we were so incredibly busy and I had to do end of month. [Side note – how can it be bloody September already? Where has the year gone? My thesis is due in three months! AAAAGH and so on.] I had an awful day yesterday, one thing after another. I was running late for my train and of course that would be the day I couldn’t find parking at the station. Eventually I gave up and parked illegally. I still managed to make good time, so I was only 5 minutes late to my meeting with Mandy. I had been holding out for this for weeks now. I just wanted someone to rip into my creative piece and tear it to pieces. She didn’t do that. She did edit the entire thing professionally and gave me some really useful suggestions that I think I will definitely take on board. I aim to re-write the entire thing and have all the external media done by next week. We get along so well, cause she’s just so laid-back and I feel like I can say anything and there isn’t an expectation of me to do the academic poseur thing. She actually said to me the piece could work fine academically but she wanted to treat me like a professional writer, not a student. It was a really good meeting, I felt like I actually wanted to go out and work on it again afterwards.
So yes, that’s what I’ve been doing with myself. A whole lot of bruise-inducing chaos. I loathe all these boxes still standing around. I may be developing a box-unpacking mania. I was going to mention some current affairs things that have piqued my interest, like that ludicrous school death, and sheer randomness of TV shows such as Talking about your generation which last night asked its contestants to dress up as important figures of their generation and so Gen Y dressed as Harry Potter and Gerard Way, but I’ve sort of run out of steam. Shall go make room in my closet for my shoes instead.
P.S. I realise I never posted that playlist I said I would. The modem was unceremoniously disconnected before I even got a chance to think about it. So it shall go up sometime in the near future.
Music: Bowl of Oranges - Bright Eyes
Mood: Hungry
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Yesterday just took me hostage
Could someone explain to me what the deal is with Tumblr? I don't quite get it...and I hate not getting things. Especially interwebz related things. And music related things. And book related things. And...oh who am I kidding, I'm a sponge.
Abs introduced me to My Life Is Average today, cause yes, I needed another avenue of procrastination, there can never be too many avenues of procrastination! I had to share this one since it is so completely and utterly me:
Today I took a quiz on fb that said "How will you get kicked out of Wal-Mart?" It said that I would be kicked out for sneaking around the isles suspiciously and humming the mission impossible theme. I know what I'm doing tomorrow. MLIA
I am amazed I haven't been kicked out of a store yet. There are often sword fights, spoon fights, and weirdness along those lines. Back on point though, is there a particular reason why there are so many Harry Potter reference on that site or is it just mere coincidence of everyone using it being awesome?
Work this morning was uneventful, if quite busy. The most noteable thing I did was read Mat Devine's latest Q&A blog post. Oh that man, he kills me. He's equal parts scathing sarcasm and brutal honesty. It's fantastic.
Q: Mat, my friend is missing, she just disappeared today. We were going to meet at the train station, but she didn't show up and I didn't have a phone to call here with so I had to go home and try to call her cell. But she didn't answer and I can't find her. What shall I do?
A: You did the right thing. Everyone knows, in the case of an emergency, go online and email a lead singer. Ok people, pay attention: Please do not ask me questions that are gonna get me either sued by parents or involved in some Interpol investigation. my resemblance to a police sketch of the Wicker Park Rapist from 3 years ago already has me on the short list for the next season of To Catch A Predator. Please don’t give them more ammunition.
I managed to make it to my meeting in time. I'm really settling in well with Mandy, I think we're perfectly suited to each other. It's very rare in my academic setting to have someone say "but it's all so subjective, really" as she did within our first five minutes. I am a firm believer in subjectivity, and it's nice to have someone who understands where I'm coming from. We seem to be very similar in our approach to writing. We've got another meeting next week, so I hope she gives me some useful feedback on my piece. In the meantime, she's lent me a copy of a collection she's just edited to read.
I have this desperate need for someone to really tear my creative piece to shreds (metaphorically, in terms of criticism). I don't know why.
Today also featured a trip to the UTS library, where actual books were checked out for the first time in four years. I'm a bit disappointed since I was hoping I could go my entire academic career there without ever needing their library, but it was not to be. It's all Wolfgang Iser's fault. I can't believe the State doesn't have his work. So I've got plenty of reading to do this week. Better start forming a theoretical framework I suppose. Fun *cough*
It was an odd sort of day really. I was feeling rather confident, tired and coughing, but completley balanced. Doesn't happen very often.
My biggest problem going to uni is the way I can't resist stopping by Basement Books, which always ends in the acquisition of something or other. Honestly, why can't I just say no? It's the only way I ever read classic literture though, they sell all the Wordsworth and Penguin classic editions from $2-$8. Today I went in looking for poetry. I emerged with 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and 'The Last Man' by Mary Shelley. Since I only planned on getting a couple of library books, I had my Muse tote and it now loathes me for squeezing eight books in there. Well, I say the bag loathes me, but really it's my shoulder.
There is a fatality about all physical and intellectual distinctions, the sort of fatality that seems to dog through history the faltering steps of kings. It is better not to be different from one's fellows. The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should live, undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet.
In other news, I need new black jeans, I'm thinking skinny ones, and I desperately need new sunnies. Why do the damn things break on me? Oh, and those shiny footless tights Dangerfield are peddling. They'd go well with my newly acquired purple dress. Don't know when I'll find time to actually go shopping though. Sigh.
Tomorrow the moving starts. Out comes the paint-spattered BFMV shirt and torn jeans. I will probably be off-line for a bit. Well, as off line as I go anyway. I'll post up a playlist tonight but sans downloads I'm afraid. I don't want blogspot deleting any more of my posts (bastards). However, should anyone actually want any of the songs, I am always more than happy to oblige, just drop a comment.
Music: Believe - The All American Rejects
Mood: Accomplished
Abs introduced me to My Life Is Average today, cause yes, I needed another avenue of procrastination, there can never be too many avenues of procrastination! I had to share this one since it is so completely and utterly me:
Today I took a quiz on fb that said "How will you get kicked out of Wal-Mart?" It said that I would be kicked out for sneaking around the isles suspiciously and humming the mission impossible theme. I know what I'm doing tomorrow. MLIA
I am amazed I haven't been kicked out of a store yet. There are often sword fights, spoon fights, and weirdness along those lines. Back on point though, is there a particular reason why there are so many Harry Potter reference on that site or is it just mere coincidence of everyone using it being awesome?
Work this morning was uneventful, if quite busy. The most noteable thing I did was read Mat Devine's latest Q&A blog post. Oh that man, he kills me. He's equal parts scathing sarcasm and brutal honesty. It's fantastic.
Q: Mat, my friend is missing, she just disappeared today. We were going to meet at the train station, but she didn't show up and I didn't have a phone to call here with so I had to go home and try to call her cell. But she didn't answer and I can't find her. What shall I do?
A: You did the right thing. Everyone knows, in the case of an emergency, go online and email a lead singer. Ok people, pay attention: Please do not ask me questions that are gonna get me either sued by parents or involved in some Interpol investigation. my resemblance to a police sketch of the Wicker Park Rapist from 3 years ago already has me on the short list for the next season of To Catch A Predator. Please don’t give them more ammunition.
I managed to make it to my meeting in time. I'm really settling in well with Mandy, I think we're perfectly suited to each other. It's very rare in my academic setting to have someone say "but it's all so subjective, really" as she did within our first five minutes. I am a firm believer in subjectivity, and it's nice to have someone who understands where I'm coming from. We seem to be very similar in our approach to writing. We've got another meeting next week, so I hope she gives me some useful feedback on my piece. In the meantime, she's lent me a copy of a collection she's just edited to read.
I have this desperate need for someone to really tear my creative piece to shreds (metaphorically, in terms of criticism). I don't know why.
Today also featured a trip to the UTS library, where actual books were checked out for the first time in four years. I'm a bit disappointed since I was hoping I could go my entire academic career there without ever needing their library, but it was not to be. It's all Wolfgang Iser's fault. I can't believe the State doesn't have his work. So I've got plenty of reading to do this week. Better start forming a theoretical framework I suppose. Fun *cough*
It was an odd sort of day really. I was feeling rather confident, tired and coughing, but completley balanced. Doesn't happen very often.
My biggest problem going to uni is the way I can't resist stopping by Basement Books, which always ends in the acquisition of something or other. Honestly, why can't I just say no? It's the only way I ever read classic literture though, they sell all the Wordsworth and Penguin classic editions from $2-$8. Today I went in looking for poetry. I emerged with 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and 'The Last Man' by Mary Shelley. Since I only planned on getting a couple of library books, I had my Muse tote and it now loathes me for squeezing eight books in there. Well, I say the bag loathes me, but really it's my shoulder.
There is a fatality about all physical and intellectual distinctions, the sort of fatality that seems to dog through history the faltering steps of kings. It is better not to be different from one's fellows. The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should live, undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet.
In other news, I need new black jeans, I'm thinking skinny ones, and I desperately need new sunnies. Why do the damn things break on me? Oh, and those shiny footless tights Dangerfield are peddling. They'd go well with my newly acquired purple dress. Don't know when I'll find time to actually go shopping though. Sigh.
Tomorrow the moving starts. Out comes the paint-spattered BFMV shirt and torn jeans. I will probably be off-line for a bit. Well, as off line as I go anyway. I'll post up a playlist tonight but sans downloads I'm afraid. I don't want blogspot deleting any more of my posts (bastards). However, should anyone actually want any of the songs, I am always more than happy to oblige, just drop a comment.
Music: Believe - The All American Rejects
Mood: Accomplished
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Lend to my ear a clear and a deafening sound
I return to the land of blogging after another major argument with my father. Over nothing, as per usual. I'm so tired of him just bossing me around and not listening to what I'm saying. He's just always so sure his viewpoint is the right, and only, one there is. I am tired; I am stressed; I have worked two days of back to back double shifts; I have yet to make progress on my piece so 4,000 words to be written; I have prior engagements that cannot be put off; I don't know whether I should be packing or unpacking and I just want my some consistent normality; and it seems thousands of razorblades have taken up residence in my throat. I'm not exactly in the best frame of mind to just let things go. Petulance, your name is Jen.
I'm verging on the stage where everything descends into a borderline blind panic. I haven't had that since I had to do three-unit math exams. Can't say I've missed it. But what can you do, trudge along.
Meant to mention this earlier but got sidetracked. I was trying to decide whether I should take Martha or Jack to Penrith last Friday and mum insisted I take Martha because, and I quote, "Jack is reckless, Jack gets people killed!" There was a moment where I just looked at her and we both promptly dissolved into giggles. I love that this has managed to translate into my relationship with my parents, my mother in particular. She's really taken to it. It makes a nice change.
On the moving front, will someone please shoot me and put me out of my misery? Don't know if we are moving anymore since apparantly the bank/owner have reached an "agreement". Ahuh yeah, and how long will this last? I don't actually want to move, but I don't want to go through this every three months either. If he can't keep up with his mortgage this will just keep repeating. Our lease is only for a year, of which there is nine months left, I dont' exactly want to be living out of boxes for that time. Goddamnit. The poor estate agent is having a nervous breakdown, she has her obligations to this owner and to the one of the Forks house we were supposed to be moving to. I'm just so over it. I'll live in a tent in the backyard if it means people will just leave me alone.
I really need to focus on my Honours, I only have like 76 days left or something. I don't want to deal with all this crap!
General state of study environment before:
What has become of everything after:
This is not conducive to a happy working relationship. The fact that Jasper's quality is consideriably crappier than my camera is further proof of the deterioration of this state of affairs.
Sigh.
Oh, while I was packing I found some soap bubbles...
Oreo, believe it or not, was scared of them. She's a great guard dog *rolls eyes*
Random observation, I am so underwhelmed by the new Kisschasy single, Generation Why. It just...I don't know, it lacks energy I suppose. That spark that made me love them so much that I never missed a show. I'm also not really all that impressed with the new Cobra Starship album.
Anyway. I need to get some flu meds in me, followed by a good night's sleep. Tomorrow I have a free screening of District 9 to attend.
Music: Ramalama - Roisin Murphy
Mood: Sick
I'm verging on the stage where everything descends into a borderline blind panic. I haven't had that since I had to do three-unit math exams. Can't say I've missed it. But what can you do, trudge along.
Meant to mention this earlier but got sidetracked. I was trying to decide whether I should take Martha or Jack to Penrith last Friday and mum insisted I take Martha because, and I quote, "Jack is reckless, Jack gets people killed!" There was a moment where I just looked at her and we both promptly dissolved into giggles. I love that this has managed to translate into my relationship with my parents, my mother in particular. She's really taken to it. It makes a nice change.
On the moving front, will someone please shoot me and put me out of my misery? Don't know if we are moving anymore since apparantly the bank/owner have reached an "agreement". Ahuh yeah, and how long will this last? I don't actually want to move, but I don't want to go through this every three months either. If he can't keep up with his mortgage this will just keep repeating. Our lease is only for a year, of which there is nine months left, I dont' exactly want to be living out of boxes for that time. Goddamnit. The poor estate agent is having a nervous breakdown, she has her obligations to this owner and to the one of the Forks house we were supposed to be moving to. I'm just so over it. I'll live in a tent in the backyard if it means people will just leave me alone.
I really need to focus on my Honours, I only have like 76 days left or something. I don't want to deal with all this crap!
General state of study environment before:
What has become of everything after:
This is not conducive to a happy working relationship. The fact that Jasper's quality is consideriably crappier than my camera is further proof of the deterioration of this state of affairs.
Sigh.
Oh, while I was packing I found some soap bubbles...
Oreo, believe it or not, was scared of them. She's a great guard dog *rolls eyes*
Random observation, I am so underwhelmed by the new Kisschasy single, Generation Why. It just...I don't know, it lacks energy I suppose. That spark that made me love them so much that I never missed a show. I'm also not really all that impressed with the new Cobra Starship album.
Anyway. I need to get some flu meds in me, followed by a good night's sleep. Tomorrow I have a free screening of District 9 to attend.
Music: Ramalama - Roisin Murphy
Mood: Sick
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Forever to search for the flame
Ugh. Pain. Fairly sure I've strained a muscle today, I can barely move my leg. I also have a ginormous bruise on my collarbone from where my bag cut into my shoulder. See, I was hanging with Lizzie today and we were originally going to the movies so I thought it would be fine to take my laptop along, but instead we ended up wandering around the city for hours. Lugging it along wasn't a complete waste though, I did get some work done at the State Library this morning and will hopefully get even more done tomorrow. Anyway, did some shopping despite my better judgement, tried on a dress that was about ten sizes smaller than the tag said it was, and got Lizzie a going away present of sorts. Overall, not bad. Exhausted now though.
In other news, this house business is driving me up the wall. So over it, just want to live in a cardboard box. So much paperwork and red tape and just annoying things that I can't be bothered even contemplating. I think I'll just sit in the corner and ignore everything.
Last night, the girls and I went to see Avenue Q. Epic. Glee. I think it's safe to say we had a great time. It was especially hilarious since we had conversations very similar to the content while having dinner before the show...you know, things like the extreme uselessness of BA's in English/Writing and everyone being a bit racist. Of course it has just given us more random things to say at inappropriate times. Roze and I have already messaged each other about bad news bears and 'If you were gay' lyrics. Good times.
I also have to mention that lovely Abbi adopted a word for me! FLAIL. Haha, WIN. You rock dude!
Law and Order: UK premieres tonight (I've already had to field a few "Hey, it's Martha!" comments.) I shall be watching for the sheer novelty of it, see if it's any good. I'm quite sick of Law & Order to be honest, my dad is a total junkie and easily watches an episode a day. There's only so much *gavel sound* I can take.
Music: Daniel - Bat For Lashes
Mood: Sore
In other news, this house business is driving me up the wall. So over it, just want to live in a cardboard box. So much paperwork and red tape and just annoying things that I can't be bothered even contemplating. I think I'll just sit in the corner and ignore everything.
Last night, the girls and I went to see Avenue Q. Epic. Glee. I think it's safe to say we had a great time. It was especially hilarious since we had conversations very similar to the content while having dinner before the show...you know, things like the extreme uselessness of BA's in English/Writing and everyone being a bit racist. Of course it has just given us more random things to say at inappropriate times. Roze and I have already messaged each other about bad news bears and 'If you were gay' lyrics. Good times.
I also have to mention that lovely Abbi adopted a word for me! FLAIL. Haha, WIN. You rock dude!
Law and Order: UK premieres tonight (I've already had to field a few "Hey, it's Martha!" comments.) I shall be watching for the sheer novelty of it, see if it's any good. I'm quite sick of Law & Order to be honest, my dad is a total junkie and easily watches an episode a day. There's only so much *gavel sound* I can take.
Music: Daniel - Bat For Lashes
Mood: Sore
Monday, August 10, 2009
Don't throw it all away
I'm freezing my ass off. I'm hoping the new house has carpets in the rooms cause this tile business is beyond stupid *shivers* I'm currently wondering whether I should go to a doctor since my muscles are aching like they're on fire and I haven't done anything, so it can't be normal activity related muscle pain. My shins, in particular, are hurting like all hell, but I suspect that may be in some way related to the ballet flats I wear to work. They're supposed to be bad for your feet, so hey, makes sense.
Danny's band is in the charts. How random is that?
What else, what else....work today was a nightmare. So many people, I was contemplating the validity of shooting some of them to put them out of their misery. Sigh. I've been cooking a lot lately, made dinner three times last week. Tonight I made chicken parmigiana with roast potatoes, vegetables, and garden salad. Apparantly there's a beautiful kitches in the new place, so I may even start cooking properly. It's quite a relaxing activity in some weird way.
Tonight's agenda includes hot chocolate and good news week, followed by manic typing in vague hope of finishing first draft. Tomorrow's revolves around some more work, manic typing, and Avenue Q.
Should probably do some more packing as well - so far I've managed 11 boxes and they consist of my books and cds. I am a firm believer of "no such thing as too many books" but all this moving thing is testing my faith.
Music: It's not over yet - Klaxons
Mood: Cold
Danny's band is in the charts. How random is that?
What else, what else....work today was a nightmare. So many people, I was contemplating the validity of shooting some of them to put them out of their misery. Sigh. I've been cooking a lot lately, made dinner three times last week. Tonight I made chicken parmigiana with roast potatoes, vegetables, and garden salad. Apparantly there's a beautiful kitches in the new place, so I may even start cooking properly. It's quite a relaxing activity in some weird way.
Tonight's agenda includes hot chocolate and good news week, followed by manic typing in vague hope of finishing first draft. Tomorrow's revolves around some more work, manic typing, and Avenue Q.
Should probably do some more packing as well - so far I've managed 11 boxes and they consist of my books and cds. I am a firm believer of "no such thing as too many books" but all this moving thing is testing my faith.
Music: It's not over yet - Klaxons
Mood: Cold
Sunday, August 9, 2009
I touch the place where I'd find your face
"Time may be relevant but nothing lasts forever. Everything falls apart in the end, a soft unraveling of the very fabric of existence. It doesn't matter if it's a single-cell amoeba, a city, or a civilization - everything has its time. Everything dies, and suffering...suffering is part of the human condition."
I'm trying to harness the dark mood that's been hanging around for the past month for my creative piece. The numb complacency which has developed as a result wasn't proving useful so I purposefully watched something that sent my emotions into a free-fall. Paired with this Snow Patrol song that for some inexplicable reason just jangles the right nerves, I now feel sufficiently fragile to write. However, I am definitely questioning the standard of said writing. God forbid creativity ever seems rational.
Little Miss Sunshine was on tonight and I made the parentals watch it. Such a good movie. Have had far too much sugar this weekend - peppermint crisp tart FTW. Wish I could have been more productive though. Really need to get this first draft sent off and start packing up my stuff. We should be able to move in next Monday. Gah. So over all this crap.
Photo essay of the arduous moving process to follow...
Your words in my memory are like music to me
Music: Set fire to the third bar - Snow Patrol
Mood: Frustrated
I'm trying to harness the dark mood that's been hanging around for the past month for my creative piece. The numb complacency which has developed as a result wasn't proving useful so I purposefully watched something that sent my emotions into a free-fall. Paired with this Snow Patrol song that for some inexplicable reason just jangles the right nerves, I now feel sufficiently fragile to write. However, I am definitely questioning the standard of said writing. God forbid creativity ever seems rational.
Little Miss Sunshine was on tonight and I made the parentals watch it. Such a good movie. Have had far too much sugar this weekend - peppermint crisp tart FTW. Wish I could have been more productive though. Really need to get this first draft sent off and start packing up my stuff. We should be able to move in next Monday. Gah. So over all this crap.
Photo essay of the arduous moving process to follow...
Your words in my memory are like music to me
Music: Set fire to the third bar - Snow Patrol
Mood: Frustrated
Friday, August 7, 2009
I'm hiding out in the big city blinking
Just got back from Roze's, so full now! She had a delicious Tiramisu cake. Om nom nom. It was quite a nice relaxing evening, just chatting and being idiots over dinner. I'm quite content to curl up in a warm bed and sleep now. Hmmm sleep.
Tomorrow consists of work in the morning and significant thesis work afterwards. Significant dammit!
Random thoughts I had today -
I'm going to be so busy next week. I've got Avenue Q with the girls, hanging out with Lizzie on Wednesday, another possible study date/break with Roze, Lizzie's farewell on Friday, and then Annie's birthday party on Saturday night. Plus there's another play/cabaret/thing we want to go to, but it closes on the 22nd so we'd have to fit it in before then and inbetween the two gigs I have lined up, plus thesis work, plus various movie dates. Wait...I think...I think I have a social life. Shocking.
I got stupidly excited earlier about The View being on the Falls Festival line up , then I remembered the festival happened in Victoria. Fail. I could probably trek down there with friends, but it seems like so much effort. Would be a great NYE though. Still, hope they do sideshows. Can't come all the way out here just for one show. That'd be mad. While we're on the subject of festivals and line-ups, You Me At Six have been confirmed for next year's Soundwave. I'm fairly meh about the whole thing so far, although Spinnerette, Billy Talent, and Alexisonfire are rumoured to be on the bill as well. There's the whole cost thing too, it was just too expensive this year and if anything, it'll probably have gone up. Ah well, don't really like festivals anyway, I always hold out hope for the sideshows.
Pegged pants are making a come-back? Oh god, please tell me they’re joking. I’m tired of these stupid cyclical fashion trends. I went shopping the other day and there was just boho stuff everywhere, didn’t we do that like two years ago? Can’t we space it out a bit more at least? Blah. Shopping has been very unfulfilling lately.
I follow this completely rambling movie blog through google reader that just updates way too much, but often they amuse me, so I stick with it. Today I was greeted with the tag “Guy Ritchie admits ‘Sherlock Holmes’ is totally gay?” and it goes on to talk about the supposed undertones in the upcoming Holmes movie (which I've been quite keen to see, the first preview made it seem like one of those movies I will adore regardless of how atrocious it is.) I can’t say I’m very surprised by this revelation, there’s always been that kind of undertone to Ritchie’s work. It’s part of the reason I loved Rock’n’Rolla as much as I did cause I so did not see that coming and Lizzie and I were in hysterics for the duration. So I say bring it on. I can’t believe that sort of thing still has the ability to aggravate the studio or turn audiences away. Seriously? C’mon people, live a little! Actual post be here.
One of the guys at mum’s work has gotten into Torchwood, he’s just about halfway through season 1. I’m watching his progress with some bemusement since he’s one of those real blokey bloke metalhead types. I have gotten half that office making Whoniverse jokes, I’m so proud of myself. Dad’s colleagues are coming along nicely as well. It’s the power of my keychain, you see. Whenever that’s lying about, they all regress to the age of 6.
We hopefully have a house to move into. We’re just waiting for the paperwork to come through. Yet again, I haven’t seen it since the open house I went to fell through. It’s just a suburb over from where we live now, so the move shouldn’t be an epic quest. That’s something at least. I’ve seen the outside of the place and considering it’s surrounding area, it look like I’m moving to Forks (seriously, look at all the trees.) It’s a bit smaller than the place currently in, so we’ll see how we go. I do not look forward to dragging my stuff up the stairs. I have my doubts whether my bed will make it to be honest. It barely survived the move here…but whatever. No point speculating about these things.
This is amazing 3D art.
These drawings are quite cute as well. Random, but cute.
I am freezing. Ugh. Blankets. Now.
P.S. Currently completely in love with this song -
Let's forget about the tongue-tied lightning
Let's undress just like cross-eyed strangers
This is not a joke, so please stop smiling
What was I thinking when I said it didn't hurt?
I want to glide through those brown eyes dreaming
Take it from the inside, baby hold on tight
You were so right when you said that I've been drinking
What was I thinking when I said good night?
I want to hold you in the Bible-black predawn
You're quite a quiet domino, bury me now
Take off your Band-Aid because I don't believe in touchdowns
What was I thinking when I said hello?
I'd always thought that if I held you tightly
You'd always love me like you did back then
Then I fell asleep and the city kept blinking
What was I thinking when I let you back in?
Music: I am trying to break your heart - Wilco
Mood: Cold, but overall content
Tomorrow consists of work in the morning and significant thesis work afterwards. Significant dammit!
Random thoughts I had today -
I'm going to be so busy next week. I've got Avenue Q with the girls, hanging out with Lizzie on Wednesday, another possible study date/break with Roze, Lizzie's farewell on Friday, and then Annie's birthday party on Saturday night. Plus there's another play/cabaret/thing we want to go to, but it closes on the 22nd so we'd have to fit it in before then and inbetween the two gigs I have lined up, plus thesis work, plus various movie dates. Wait...I think...I think I have a social life. Shocking.
I got stupidly excited earlier about The View being on the Falls Festival line up , then I remembered the festival happened in Victoria. Fail. I could probably trek down there with friends, but it seems like so much effort. Would be a great NYE though. Still, hope they do sideshows. Can't come all the way out here just for one show. That'd be mad. While we're on the subject of festivals and line-ups, You Me At Six have been confirmed for next year's Soundwave. I'm fairly meh about the whole thing so far, although Spinnerette, Billy Talent, and Alexisonfire are rumoured to be on the bill as well. There's the whole cost thing too, it was just too expensive this year and if anything, it'll probably have gone up. Ah well, don't really like festivals anyway, I always hold out hope for the sideshows.
Pegged pants are making a come-back? Oh god, please tell me they’re joking. I’m tired of these stupid cyclical fashion trends. I went shopping the other day and there was just boho stuff everywhere, didn’t we do that like two years ago? Can’t we space it out a bit more at least? Blah. Shopping has been very unfulfilling lately.
I follow this completely rambling movie blog through google reader that just updates way too much, but often they amuse me, so I stick with it. Today I was greeted with the tag “Guy Ritchie admits ‘Sherlock Holmes’ is totally gay?” and it goes on to talk about the supposed undertones in the upcoming Holmes movie (which I've been quite keen to see, the first preview made it seem like one of those movies I will adore regardless of how atrocious it is.) I can’t say I’m very surprised by this revelation, there’s always been that kind of undertone to Ritchie’s work. It’s part of the reason I loved Rock’n’Rolla as much as I did cause I so did not see that coming and Lizzie and I were in hysterics for the duration. So I say bring it on. I can’t believe that sort of thing still has the ability to aggravate the studio or turn audiences away. Seriously? C’mon people, live a little! Actual post be here.
One of the guys at mum’s work has gotten into Torchwood, he’s just about halfway through season 1. I’m watching his progress with some bemusement since he’s one of those real blokey bloke metalhead types. I have gotten half that office making Whoniverse jokes, I’m so proud of myself. Dad’s colleagues are coming along nicely as well. It’s the power of my keychain, you see. Whenever that’s lying about, they all regress to the age of 6.
We hopefully have a house to move into. We’re just waiting for the paperwork to come through. Yet again, I haven’t seen it since the open house I went to fell through. It’s just a suburb over from where we live now, so the move shouldn’t be an epic quest. That’s something at least. I’ve seen the outside of the place and considering it’s surrounding area, it look like I’m moving to Forks (seriously, look at all the trees.) It’s a bit smaller than the place currently in, so we’ll see how we go. I do not look forward to dragging my stuff up the stairs. I have my doubts whether my bed will make it to be honest. It barely survived the move here…but whatever. No point speculating about these things.
This is amazing 3D art.
These drawings are quite cute as well. Random, but cute.
I am freezing. Ugh. Blankets. Now.
P.S. Currently completely in love with this song -
Let's forget about the tongue-tied lightning
Let's undress just like cross-eyed strangers
This is not a joke, so please stop smiling
What was I thinking when I said it didn't hurt?
I want to glide through those brown eyes dreaming
Take it from the inside, baby hold on tight
You were so right when you said that I've been drinking
What was I thinking when I said good night?
I want to hold you in the Bible-black predawn
You're quite a quiet domino, bury me now
Take off your Band-Aid because I don't believe in touchdowns
What was I thinking when I said hello?
I'd always thought that if I held you tightly
You'd always love me like you did back then
Then I fell asleep and the city kept blinking
What was I thinking when I let you back in?
Music: I am trying to break your heart - Wilco
Mood: Cold, but overall content
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Begging for the sun in a mid Missouri winter
I have had the worst headache all day. Makes sitting up seem like the most difficult thing ever. Finally seems to be breaking a bit, which is a relief. Too much to do, don’t have time for blinding pain right now! Bah.
House hunting has taught me there are some truly horrible places out there. Some look as if they’ve come straight from Life on Mars, others look like they’ve been housing Weevils, while yet others have that distinct “No beer and no tv make Homer go something something” look to them. So it’s either painful 70s décor, or house of horrors. Brilliant. I for one am pissed at having to move again. I like this house. I have painted the entire place, I have a Saxon green study. SAXON GREEN DAMMIT. I have the back of the house to myself and no one bothers me. I also like sitting outside just reading. Fuck. I’m not going to get it this good again and I’m certainly not painting again. Life is being such a bitch this year. And I’ve bought extra furniture which I will no doubt no longer have space for *weeps uncontrollably*
Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a rental property around here on short notice? One does not simply walk into Mordor, and neither does one simply walk into the rental market. There is evil there that does not sleep!
PROMOFAIL – How not to inspire confidence in potential occupants.
Speaking of not inspiring confidence...oh Panic, what are you boys doing? They seem to be going the same way as Blink. One band people liked splitting into two that will no doubt have its moments, but in general do little to ever come close to what people once loved. Brendon and Spencer have gone the utterly underwhelming generic route with ‘New Perspective’, while Ryan and Jon (as The Young Vein) seem to be continuing on their Beatles revival experience with ‘Change’. Blah. Let me know when I should care again.
Meanwhile, on the internet:
> Handerpants!
> Goths in hot weather
> Texts from last night
> "Why I won't follow you on twitter"
> Wait, LIVING goo???
> D'awww cuteness
> Gay exorcism = church!fail
> Kyle and Jackie O = radio!fail
> Buffy vs Torchwood
[Killing your gays or how RTD tried for Titanic and ended up with Pearl Harbor. It's interesting that so many cannot help but make the Whedon comparison, I suppose it’s the epic character deaths that do it. I also find it interesting how general consensus seems to declare Whedon to have done it properly and so he still ends up with fan support. So perhaps a better tag would be 'Killing your characters for the plot - you're doing it wrong!']
Music: Topeka - Ludo
Mood: Frustrated
House hunting has taught me there are some truly horrible places out there. Some look as if they’ve come straight from Life on Mars, others look like they’ve been housing Weevils, while yet others have that distinct “No beer and no tv make Homer go something something” look to them. So it’s either painful 70s décor, or house of horrors. Brilliant. I for one am pissed at having to move again. I like this house. I have painted the entire place, I have a Saxon green study. SAXON GREEN DAMMIT. I have the back of the house to myself and no one bothers me. I also like sitting outside just reading. Fuck. I’m not going to get it this good again and I’m certainly not painting again. Life is being such a bitch this year. And I’ve bought extra furniture which I will no doubt no longer have space for *weeps uncontrollably*
Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a rental property around here on short notice? One does not simply walk into Mordor, and neither does one simply walk into the rental market. There is evil there that does not sleep!
PROMOFAIL – How not to inspire confidence in potential occupants.
Speaking of not inspiring confidence...oh Panic, what are you boys doing? They seem to be going the same way as Blink. One band people liked splitting into two that will no doubt have its moments, but in general do little to ever come close to what people once loved. Brendon and Spencer have gone the utterly underwhelming generic route with ‘New Perspective’, while Ryan and Jon (as The Young Vein) seem to be continuing on their Beatles revival experience with ‘Change’. Blah. Let me know when I should care again.
Meanwhile, on the internet:
> Handerpants!
> Goths in hot weather
> Texts from last night
> "Why I won't follow you on twitter"
> Wait, LIVING goo???
> D'awww cuteness
> Gay exorcism = church!fail
> Kyle and Jackie O = radio!fail
> Buffy vs Torchwood
[Killing your gays or how RTD tried for Titanic and ended up with Pearl Harbor. It's interesting that so many cannot help but make the Whedon comparison, I suppose it’s the epic character deaths that do it. I also find it interesting how general consensus seems to declare Whedon to have done it properly and so he still ends up with fan support. So perhaps a better tag would be 'Killing your characters for the plot - you're doing it wrong!']
Music: Topeka - Ludo
Mood: Frustrated
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Ghosts with just voices
I hang my coat up in the first bar
There is no peace that I've found so far
The laughter penetrates my silence
As drunken men find flaws in science
My heart just broke a little. Again. Ugh. It's like it's held together with superglue, but it's not really the right consistency, so it pulls apart at odd times, and you have to really press down on it, to get it to stick. If you've ever tried to glue something back together that was never really meant to be glued back together, you'll know what I mean. You just keep applying pressure and hope that it'll stick this time.
Today has been...odd. I'm not in the best of moods. I had every intention of spending the day in my pjs, and distracting my dad with movies so he'd just be quiet for three hours. We couldn't agree on anything - I wanted Batman, The Prestige or something sci fi. He wanted the likes of Bridget Jones's Diary. There's something wrong there, I know. It didn't matter in the end since I had to drive him to Cambelltown to drop off his helmet - the insurance want it with the bike, or something. Grumble. An hour's worth of driving later, I took him to lunch. Finally returning home, we receive a letter telling us that we need to vacate the property. Vacate. The. Property. By 20 August. After I've just painted this entire.bloody.house. I take it our landlord hasn't paid his mortgage so they're repossessing the house. Which is great, cept for the part were we have a 12 month lease and we just moved in. I...don't even want to touch this issue. I've done some research and they can't make us leave until they have gotten a court order and spoken with the estate agent (who knew nothing about this), so I've left it in her hands to sort out.
The last few months have really not been good. It makes me wonder what deity we pissed off. First, we were unexpectedly asked ot move out of the old place and the mad scramble to find somewhere to live (not easy in the current climate). Then dad had his accident. Not even two days later, this happens. All the while, I'm supposed to be doing an Honours degree. I put up with it the first time because, well, it needed to be done and I wasn't too worried because I figured once we were in the new place, I'd be set and I'd have time and space to work on everything. This...this is going to be a nightmare if it doesn't get sorted. I cannot move again, work, and research/write an Honours thesis. There is no fucking way. I need to be in the right frame of mind and have the opportunity to really focus on it. I can't do that if I'm looking at houses, packing, cleaning, working - and keep in mind that if we have to move, my dad will be useless since he has enough trouble moving himself around, let alone any furniture.
I neither have the time, nor the energy, to deal with any of this.
Music: Set fire to the third bar - Snow Patrol
Mood: Definitely moody
There is no peace that I've found so far
The laughter penetrates my silence
As drunken men find flaws in science
My heart just broke a little. Again. Ugh. It's like it's held together with superglue, but it's not really the right consistency, so it pulls apart at odd times, and you have to really press down on it, to get it to stick. If you've ever tried to glue something back together that was never really meant to be glued back together, you'll know what I mean. You just keep applying pressure and hope that it'll stick this time.
Today has been...odd. I'm not in the best of moods. I had every intention of spending the day in my pjs, and distracting my dad with movies so he'd just be quiet for three hours. We couldn't agree on anything - I wanted Batman, The Prestige or something sci fi. He wanted the likes of Bridget Jones's Diary. There's something wrong there, I know. It didn't matter in the end since I had to drive him to Cambelltown to drop off his helmet - the insurance want it with the bike, or something. Grumble. An hour's worth of driving later, I took him to lunch. Finally returning home, we receive a letter telling us that we need to vacate the property. Vacate. The. Property. By 20 August. After I've just painted this entire.bloody.house. I take it our landlord hasn't paid his mortgage so they're repossessing the house. Which is great, cept for the part were we have a 12 month lease and we just moved in. I...don't even want to touch this issue. I've done some research and they can't make us leave until they have gotten a court order and spoken with the estate agent (who knew nothing about this), so I've left it in her hands to sort out.
The last few months have really not been good. It makes me wonder what deity we pissed off. First, we were unexpectedly asked ot move out of the old place and the mad scramble to find somewhere to live (not easy in the current climate). Then dad had his accident. Not even two days later, this happens. All the while, I'm supposed to be doing an Honours degree. I put up with it the first time because, well, it needed to be done and I wasn't too worried because I figured once we were in the new place, I'd be set and I'd have time and space to work on everything. This...this is going to be a nightmare if it doesn't get sorted. I cannot move again, work, and research/write an Honours thesis. There is no fucking way. I need to be in the right frame of mind and have the opportunity to really focus on it. I can't do that if I'm looking at houses, packing, cleaning, working - and keep in mind that if we have to move, my dad will be useless since he has enough trouble moving himself around, let alone any furniture.
I neither have the time, nor the energy, to deal with any of this.
Music: Set fire to the third bar - Snow Patrol
Mood: Definitely moody
Thursday, July 9, 2009
I taste blood every time I think of summer
There are a number of things about my new area that amuse me. One of them is that the local paper is called 'The Leader' and so every time I pick it up, I can't help but do the whole "Na na na na na leader!" thing. It's gotten to the point where even my parents do it now. I don't think it'll ever really get old.
Today when I glanced at the front page, I got a bit freaked out as a photo of school children stared back at me.
We are coming? No, apparantly better school safety is coming. Still, don't do that to me!
My dad can be so completely adorable sometimes. I came home to find him flipping channels and he informed me Torchwood would be on again shortly. I suggested he watch it since it's more suspense at the moment with no creepy aliens on screen, and he said no because the music freaks him out. The music! D'awww. It's so cute how he has the nerves of an eight year old.
You know how you sometimes see someone's tattoo and go, yes, that's exactly what I want? That happened to me today. It was just a script tatt on the wrists, but it's exactly the style I've always pictured. Nothing ground-breaking, but it just feels right, you know? Now if only my mother wouldn't murder me, bring me back to life, murder me again...actually, she wouldn't be mad. She'd be disappointed which for some reason is way worse. Sigh.
I'm currently debating whether I should go shopping or not. I don't really have money, but the prospect of sitting here staring at the laptop all day, trying to do work and failing miserably, doesn't seem very appealing.
Music: Topeka - Ludo
Mood: Contemplative
Today when I glanced at the front page, I got a bit freaked out as a photo of school children stared back at me.
We are coming? No, apparantly better school safety is coming. Still, don't do that to me!
My dad can be so completely adorable sometimes. I came home to find him flipping channels and he informed me Torchwood would be on again shortly. I suggested he watch it since it's more suspense at the moment with no creepy aliens on screen, and he said no because the music freaks him out. The music! D'awww. It's so cute how he has the nerves of an eight year old.
You know how you sometimes see someone's tattoo and go, yes, that's exactly what I want? That happened to me today. It was just a script tatt on the wrists, but it's exactly the style I've always pictured. Nothing ground-breaking, but it just feels right, you know? Now if only my mother wouldn't murder me, bring me back to life, murder me again...actually, she wouldn't be mad. She'd be disappointed which for some reason is way worse. Sigh.
I'm currently debating whether I should go shopping or not. I don't really have money, but the prospect of sitting here staring at the laptop all day, trying to do work and failing miserably, doesn't seem very appealing.
Music: Topeka - Ludo
Mood: Contemplative
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Now I get what I want
Ok I think I can get into this Castle show, it's quite amusing. It reminds me a bit of Californication if you replace the sex and dysfunction with murder. Wait. That sounded wrong.
Remind me to go to Supanova this year. It's the only real convention we have around here and it's worth just putting in an appearance to for once not feel like the geekiest person on the planet. Although last night I found out Face from the A-Team is going to be there. It completely cracked me up, I do believe I flailed at my mother. He was also Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica, who is of course a girl in the new series. I actually read something interesting on that while doing research for my cyberspace presentation. In an essay [Write something on my wall: Body, Identity and Poetry by Kazim Ali], the argument opens with a parallel between the old and new Starbuck, to illustrate how body is like a signature. Anyway, it goes on to the following - "One's second thought was to look back at the original Starbuck character and asks was the sexual tension between Apollo and Starbuck always there? If you look at those old episodes, you will agree that it was." And in there somewhere is a commentary on why sci-fi spawned slash. I love the concluding remark on that paragraph though - "The past writes the present, but the present always returns the favour." I have an appreciation for cyclical arguments.
In other news, our phone number here appears to have been used by a variety of business before being allocated to us. People keep ringing for print cartridge refills and tree removals (apparantly, it's in the yellow pages for that one). The best part is when I explain to people that this is now a residential number and they still ask me if I know who could help them or if I could offer any advice *shakes head* I also have a feeling the owner is some sort of conman and keep expecting the Mafia to show up, asking for the pretzel money. Then again I do have an overactive imagination and spent years convinced the people across the road were dealing drugs (it turned out they were music teachers). My way of looking at the world is far more interesting.
The only other pressing concerns I have at this moment is the fact that I can't breathe if I lean forward and that I appear to be having random heart palpatations. As I mused on twitter, I'm too young to have a heart attack, right?
Speaking of Twitter, the police are on it! How freaking random is that? It started as a hoax but then they thought it was a good idea. Oh, technology, you weird thing.
Now, random photos:
- This is what I meant by "hill in the backyard"
- This be my room.
- I need to get something up above the bed. Thinking of those big photoframes that has all different sized slots on the inside. That's a fail description, I know. Something black and white, at any rate. I'm getting a canvas printed of one of my Paris pics to put up on the wall joining my study and my bedroom.
- This be my study, it's a bit dark from this angle. The Saxon Green (hee!) is way brighter than that.
- And the other angle. Look, I have room for more books and dvds! It makes a nice change. Also look at the epic amounts of uni work strew about. Sigh.
- Finally, here's Oreo. It's blurry, because as everyone who's ever tried knows, she hates photos.
The only things that I still really need to do is organise the right side of my wardrobe, get the full length mirror and new desk chair from IKEA, print new photos and the canvas piece, and paint the bathroom. Oh and find out what that weird fucking smell is that I can't seem to get rid of in any permanent way. It's gross.
Grrr. My parents are constantly bickering and arguing and it's driving me bloody insane. I can't work under these conditions!
Where did I put that iPod...
[I have concocted such a bizarre "study" playlist, I've updated it on here too]
Music: Since you been gone - Kelly Clarkson
Mood: Working
Remind me to go to Supanova this year. It's the only real convention we have around here and it's worth just putting in an appearance to for once not feel like the geekiest person on the planet. Although last night I found out Face from the A-Team is going to be there. It completely cracked me up, I do believe I flailed at my mother. He was also Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica, who is of course a girl in the new series. I actually read something interesting on that while doing research for my cyberspace presentation. In an essay [Write something on my wall: Body, Identity and Poetry by Kazim Ali], the argument opens with a parallel between the old and new Starbuck, to illustrate how body is like a signature. Anyway, it goes on to the following - "One's second thought was to look back at the original Starbuck character and asks was the sexual tension between Apollo and Starbuck always there? If you look at those old episodes, you will agree that it was." And in there somewhere is a commentary on why sci-fi spawned slash. I love the concluding remark on that paragraph though - "The past writes the present, but the present always returns the favour." I have an appreciation for cyclical arguments.
In other news, our phone number here appears to have been used by a variety of business before being allocated to us. People keep ringing for print cartridge refills and tree removals (apparantly, it's in the yellow pages for that one). The best part is when I explain to people that this is now a residential number and they still ask me if I know who could help them or if I could offer any advice *shakes head* I also have a feeling the owner is some sort of conman and keep expecting the Mafia to show up, asking for the pretzel money. Then again I do have an overactive imagination and spent years convinced the people across the road were dealing drugs (it turned out they were music teachers). My way of looking at the world is far more interesting.
The only other pressing concerns I have at this moment is the fact that I can't breathe if I lean forward and that I appear to be having random heart palpatations. As I mused on twitter, I'm too young to have a heart attack, right?
Speaking of Twitter, the police are on it! How freaking random is that? It started as a hoax but then they thought it was a good idea. Oh, technology, you weird thing.
Now, random photos:
- This is what I meant by "hill in the backyard"
- This be my room.
- I need to get something up above the bed. Thinking of those big photoframes that has all different sized slots on the inside. That's a fail description, I know. Something black and white, at any rate. I'm getting a canvas printed of one of my Paris pics to put up on the wall joining my study and my bedroom.
- This be my study, it's a bit dark from this angle. The Saxon Green (hee!) is way brighter than that.
- And the other angle. Look, I have room for more books and dvds! It makes a nice change. Also look at the epic amounts of uni work strew about. Sigh.
- Finally, here's Oreo. It's blurry, because as everyone who's ever tried knows, she hates photos.
The only things that I still really need to do is organise the right side of my wardrobe, get the full length mirror and new desk chair from IKEA, print new photos and the canvas piece, and paint the bathroom. Oh and find out what that weird fucking smell is that I can't seem to get rid of in any permanent way. It's gross.
Grrr. My parents are constantly bickering and arguing and it's driving me bloody insane. I can't work under these conditions!
Where did I put that iPod...
[I have concocted such a bizarre "study" playlist, I've updated it on here too]
Music: Since you been gone - Kelly Clarkson
Mood: Working
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
To be a rock and not to roll
The BBC is driving me to distraction with their inability to set.a.freaking.date for TW S3. I mean really, how hard can it be? We were promised June. That’s next month! It seems unlikely to happen. I feel as if we’ll never see it; instead it will forever be dangled in front of us like a carrot in front of an especially stupid donkey.
Speaking of TW [oh look, something new and different for a change!], come oooon people. Don’t bitch about Almost Perfect so much. It was completely and utterly hilarious, surely you can see that, even just a little? No? You don’t see it? It was so freaking silly, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry half the time. You can’t tell me you read these books as intelligent literature, so why does it matter if it was total crack fiction? It’s bloody sanctioned fanfiction, for crying out loud. And yes I admit, Ianto as a woman got a bit off track there near the end, but to say Gwen is the only person who’s characterisation was any good is ridiculous, cause I really wanted to shoot her for saying/thinking poor lamb or whatever it was every few paragraphs. That said, it was structured fanfuckingtastically. I mean hell, I enjoyed it so much I’m adopting a similar structure for my honours thesis. I just don’t get why it upset so many people. Much like I don’t get why Combat is so many people’s favourite episode. Hello, derivation. You are all familiar with Fight Club, right?
Meanwhile, in the real world, I braved the madness that is IKEA and spent too much money today. Bought the wrong colour desk. Head met said wrong coloured desk. Damn it. Now I have to trudge back there tomorrow and exchange it. Bookcases are good though, also got a mirror for my wall. Still need a full length but saw a gorgeous one that I didn’t quite have the cash for atm, so will wait. Also got containers that will work perfectly in the green room wardrobe. Now I just need to have one of my Paris pictures printed on canvas for the wall outside my door and unpack all my books and cds and I am D.O.N.E. Well excluding the painting and the bathroom anyway. Did I mention I now have a fridge in the green room? It’s quite strange, but we seem to have an abundance of fridges so I got one. At the moment it’s just filled with bottles and bottles of Lipton Iced Red Tea.
Someone remind me to take my pills tomorrow morning please, so I don’t have a fucking nervous breakdown doing this damned presentation.
I have ten pages worth of bullet points…that’s enough to maintain an half an hour discussion right?
Siiiiiiiiiigh.
I don't think I will ever stop hating presentations with every fibre of my being. Now, to bed. Where it is warm. Hopefully.
Music: Stairway to heaven - Led Zeppelin
Mood: Sleepy
Speaking of TW [oh look, something new and different for a change!], come oooon people. Don’t bitch about Almost Perfect so much. It was completely and utterly hilarious, surely you can see that, even just a little? No? You don’t see it? It was so freaking silly, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry half the time. You can’t tell me you read these books as intelligent literature, so why does it matter if it was total crack fiction? It’s bloody sanctioned fanfiction, for crying out loud. And yes I admit, Ianto as a woman got a bit off track there near the end, but to say Gwen is the only person who’s characterisation was any good is ridiculous, cause I really wanted to shoot her for saying/thinking poor lamb or whatever it was every few paragraphs. That said, it was structured fanfuckingtastically. I mean hell, I enjoyed it so much I’m adopting a similar structure for my honours thesis. I just don’t get why it upset so many people. Much like I don’t get why Combat is so many people’s favourite episode. Hello, derivation. You are all familiar with Fight Club, right?
Meanwhile, in the real world, I braved the madness that is IKEA and spent too much money today. Bought the wrong colour desk. Head met said wrong coloured desk. Damn it. Now I have to trudge back there tomorrow and exchange it. Bookcases are good though, also got a mirror for my wall. Still need a full length but saw a gorgeous one that I didn’t quite have the cash for atm, so will wait. Also got containers that will work perfectly in the green room wardrobe. Now I just need to have one of my Paris pictures printed on canvas for the wall outside my door and unpack all my books and cds and I am D.O.N.E. Well excluding the painting and the bathroom anyway. Did I mention I now have a fridge in the green room? It’s quite strange, but we seem to have an abundance of fridges so I got one. At the moment it’s just filled with bottles and bottles of Lipton Iced Red Tea.
Someone remind me to take my pills tomorrow morning please, so I don’t have a fucking nervous breakdown doing this damned presentation.
I have ten pages worth of bullet points…that’s enough to maintain an half an hour discussion right?
Siiiiiiiiiigh.
I don't think I will ever stop hating presentations with every fibre of my being. Now, to bed. Where it is warm. Hopefully.
Music: Stairway to heaven - Led Zeppelin
Mood: Sleepy
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
My heart, it don't beat the way it used to
Holy hellcats Batman, the blog's alive!
The word chaotic doesn't even begin to cover the week I've had.
Where did I last leave off? Ah yes, graduation. Well I have to say that went a lot better than I expected. It was actually kinda fun to see all the randoms again like Emo Boy and Mohawk Boy. I even roped the latter, lost and unsuspecting, into line with us. I made plans to hang with Ally, took photos, and made silly Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings jokes with Lizzie. They dress you in a robe after all, ringwraith and Voldemort jokes are unavoidable. "Robe me!" indeed. It only went for 90minutes, and though it is essentially just an extended roll call, it wasn't nearly as boring as I had expected. My parents were really happy, which is nice since I did it for them. Mum actually cried, which never happens. It was quite sweet really. We were all just so tired after all the painting and cleaning that it kind of took some of the shine off the evening. We just wanted to collapse somewhere. But as they say, all's well that end's well.
The rest of the week was dedicated purely to the completion of the painting job of doom, and Saturday we actually started moving the furniture in. I've been sleeping here since. Since there is no enclosed area outside and I don't have a kennel for her, Oreo has been sleeping in my room with me. I think she's enjoying it. Considering what obscene times I usually go to bed and what obscene time my dad gets up, she was only really sleeping outside for perhaps 3 hours a night. Whatever. I think her only problem is that I may or may not be kicking her if she gets on the bed during the night. Sometimes I toss and turn a lot *shrugs*
Yesterday and early hours of this morning was spent finishing a really half-assed version of that godforsaken Proust essay. I really can't keep dragging it out and figured it was better that I at least submit something. Of course, the tutor wasn't there today. Epic. Sigh. Then again it's not like I printed it to submit it, in all the madness I've failed to notice that I'm out of ink. Mandy took our class for an hour just talking about our creative pieces and so, as everyone else dispersed to no doubt do uni work, I went shopping. Of course. Ended up buying two sweater dress type things from Sportsgirl and tights. God I love tights. I actually wear my skirts and dresses thanks to them and it gives some colour to my wardrobe. Next to Starbucks Mint Hot Chocolates, they almost make winter worth it. Almost. I ran into someone from mum's work while milling around drooling over shoes in Myer, felt very grown up standing around in my work clothes with shopping bags talking to a colleague. Oh, total random moment earlier though, as I caught my reflection in a revolving door coming down Pitt street with my black vest and purple long sleeved shirt rolled up to the elbows, I couldn't help giggling to myself and think that I was channeling my inner Ianto. You know, because it's sorta like what he wears in 'Captain Jack Harkness', the episode where angry!Ianto is angry and shoots Owen and generally just looks fucking hot.
Yes, these are the things that amuse me.
Speaking of, had everyone giggling at mum's work yesterday. I was over there using their internet and geeking out with the IT department while trying to do my Proust essay, and everyone kept stealing my Doctor Who key chain to "exterminate" and "upgrade" people. Even today they kept making me press the "Exterminate!" button and then we'd all giggle. Being geeky is such fun.
Anyway, busy schedule for the week. IKEA and more clearing up tomorrow, Presentation and movie with Ally Thursday, Friday involves work, Wolverine with the girls followed by Danny's gig. Possibly Star Trek on Saturday. Yay for socialness!
Now random things I've wanted to mention:
1) Why does 13 on House get to go to Chase's bachelor party...I mean just because she's bi? Does that mean she gets to go to the hen's night as well? That hardly seems fair. Actually, I loved how House sent her and Foreman to choose the strippers. It was quite amusing. She is very pretty though, almost as gorgeous as Katie McGrath, but not quite...don't get me started.
See?
2) New season of Numb3rs finally started! Larry is made of win. End of.
3) I'm covered in so many cuts and bruises that I look like the victim of some sort of domestic abuse. It's terrible. I don't mind the visuals so much, I just wish my muscles would stop aching. I mean hell, my hands hurt. I can barely touch my steering wheel. For this I blame the paint roller.
4) Merlin got obscenely high ratings for its first episode and I hope this continues. I really can't stress enough how adorkable that show is.
5) I read a completely random Mat Devine interview from 06 which had some classic Mat moments I feel I need to share -
Mat: (interrupting) Dude! I just found myself wandering around - I'm now in a closet filled with wine! Boxes and boxes of wine!
***
Mat: My greatest fear is being in a car crash.
Interviewer: Oh really?
Mat: Yeah. So that's like...if a shark attack was your biggest fear and being put in a shark tank every day.
Interviewer: So, who does most of the driving then?
Mat: We do it. Dan does.
Interviewer: Wouldn't you feel more secure if you were?
Mat: No, I just take Xanax and Ambien.
Interviewer: I could see how that would help
***
Interviewer: One day you wake up and you're president of the United States, what are the first three things you would do?
Mat: Ok number one, take over Canada.
Interviewer: Why Canada?
Mat: Cause it's there! It's right next to us and it freaks me out!
***
Mat, you are insane, I love you.
6) Music is so much more fun again now that I'm no longer so emotionally invested in the people behind it. Always give the music the benefit of the doubt
7) My thoughts midway through the move was that this was a lot like Frodo's journey, except in reverse. I am going from Mordor to the Shire. And yes, I am officially a hobbit now. Too bad really, I would have picked Rivendell if given the choice.
8) Overheard at work today, unimpressed older lady to her husband while reading a Woman's Weekly or some such anout a celebrity wedding, "I don't think your great grandmother would have worn a dress like that!"
9) Folie A Deux really is brilliant. Everyday I have a different song in my head. It's fantastic. My least favourite song on the album is probably 'America's Suitehearts' and that's saying something. I skip nothing when listening to it, and I've continually listened to it for most of the duration of the move. I haven't done that since...well since From Under the Cork Tree. People always put pop-punk down as being trivial and easy, but it really isn't. It has so many layers and above all it's fun and catchy. I could go on but I'm too tired to write an essay on the values of popular music.
10) It's not even really winter yet and already I'm as dried out as a piece of fruit left in the sun. Moisturize me! Moisturize me!
Oh and also, tweet of the day goes to the zany James Moran for saying "I *am* a squeeing fangirl!" in response to someone else. Frank Iero also gets a special mention for the following: "The quote "the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades" should only describe the lifestyle of either a teenage vampire or doing tons of coke". Oh Frank *pats*
Now I shall digress and retreat to the couch for some Torchwood, tea, and an early night. I think I've earned it.
Music: For Reasons Unknown - The Killers
Mood: Sore
The word chaotic doesn't even begin to cover the week I've had.
Where did I last leave off? Ah yes, graduation. Well I have to say that went a lot better than I expected. It was actually kinda fun to see all the randoms again like Emo Boy and Mohawk Boy. I even roped the latter, lost and unsuspecting, into line with us. I made plans to hang with Ally, took photos, and made silly Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings jokes with Lizzie. They dress you in a robe after all, ringwraith and Voldemort jokes are unavoidable. "Robe me!" indeed. It only went for 90minutes, and though it is essentially just an extended roll call, it wasn't nearly as boring as I had expected. My parents were really happy, which is nice since I did it for them. Mum actually cried, which never happens. It was quite sweet really. We were all just so tired after all the painting and cleaning that it kind of took some of the shine off the evening. We just wanted to collapse somewhere. But as they say, all's well that end's well.
The rest of the week was dedicated purely to the completion of the painting job of doom, and Saturday we actually started moving the furniture in. I've been sleeping here since. Since there is no enclosed area outside and I don't have a kennel for her, Oreo has been sleeping in my room with me. I think she's enjoying it. Considering what obscene times I usually go to bed and what obscene time my dad gets up, she was only really sleeping outside for perhaps 3 hours a night. Whatever. I think her only problem is that I may or may not be kicking her if she gets on the bed during the night. Sometimes I toss and turn a lot *shrugs*
Yesterday and early hours of this morning was spent finishing a really half-assed version of that godforsaken Proust essay. I really can't keep dragging it out and figured it was better that I at least submit something. Of course, the tutor wasn't there today. Epic. Sigh. Then again it's not like I printed it to submit it, in all the madness I've failed to notice that I'm out of ink. Mandy took our class for an hour just talking about our creative pieces and so, as everyone else dispersed to no doubt do uni work, I went shopping. Of course. Ended up buying two sweater dress type things from Sportsgirl and tights. God I love tights. I actually wear my skirts and dresses thanks to them and it gives some colour to my wardrobe. Next to Starbucks Mint Hot Chocolates, they almost make winter worth it. Almost. I ran into someone from mum's work while milling around drooling over shoes in Myer, felt very grown up standing around in my work clothes with shopping bags talking to a colleague. Oh, total random moment earlier though, as I caught my reflection in a revolving door coming down Pitt street with my black vest and purple long sleeved shirt rolled up to the elbows, I couldn't help giggling to myself and think that I was channeling my inner Ianto. You know, because it's sorta like what he wears in 'Captain Jack Harkness', the episode where angry!Ianto is angry and shoots Owen and generally just looks fucking hot.
Yes, these are the things that amuse me.
Speaking of, had everyone giggling at mum's work yesterday. I was over there using their internet and geeking out with the IT department while trying to do my Proust essay, and everyone kept stealing my Doctor Who key chain to "exterminate" and "upgrade" people. Even today they kept making me press the "Exterminate!" button and then we'd all giggle. Being geeky is such fun.
Anyway, busy schedule for the week. IKEA and more clearing up tomorrow, Presentation and movie with Ally Thursday, Friday involves work, Wolverine with the girls followed by Danny's gig. Possibly Star Trek on Saturday. Yay for socialness!
Now random things I've wanted to mention:
1) Why does 13 on House get to go to Chase's bachelor party...I mean just because she's bi? Does that mean she gets to go to the hen's night as well? That hardly seems fair. Actually, I loved how House sent her and Foreman to choose the strippers. It was quite amusing. She is very pretty though, almost as gorgeous as Katie McGrath, but not quite...don't get me started.
See?
2) New season of Numb3rs finally started! Larry is made of win. End of.
3) I'm covered in so many cuts and bruises that I look like the victim of some sort of domestic abuse. It's terrible. I don't mind the visuals so much, I just wish my muscles would stop aching. I mean hell, my hands hurt. I can barely touch my steering wheel. For this I blame the paint roller.
4) Merlin got obscenely high ratings for its first episode and I hope this continues. I really can't stress enough how adorkable that show is.
5) I read a completely random Mat Devine interview from 06 which had some classic Mat moments I feel I need to share -
Mat: (interrupting) Dude! I just found myself wandering around - I'm now in a closet filled with wine! Boxes and boxes of wine!
***
Mat: My greatest fear is being in a car crash.
Interviewer: Oh really?
Mat: Yeah. So that's like...if a shark attack was your biggest fear and being put in a shark tank every day.
Interviewer: So, who does most of the driving then?
Mat: We do it. Dan does.
Interviewer: Wouldn't you feel more secure if you were?
Mat: No, I just take Xanax and Ambien.
Interviewer: I could see how that would help
***
Interviewer: One day you wake up and you're president of the United States, what are the first three things you would do?
Mat: Ok number one, take over Canada.
Interviewer: Why Canada?
Mat: Cause it's there! It's right next to us and it freaks me out!
***
Mat, you are insane, I love you.
6) Music is so much more fun again now that I'm no longer so emotionally invested in the people behind it. Always give the music the benefit of the doubt
7) My thoughts midway through the move was that this was a lot like Frodo's journey, except in reverse. I am going from Mordor to the Shire. And yes, I am officially a hobbit now. Too bad really, I would have picked Rivendell if given the choice.
8) Overheard at work today, unimpressed older lady to her husband while reading a Woman's Weekly or some such anout a celebrity wedding, "I don't think your great grandmother would have worn a dress like that!"
9) Folie A Deux really is brilliant. Everyday I have a different song in my head. It's fantastic. My least favourite song on the album is probably 'America's Suitehearts' and that's saying something. I skip nothing when listening to it, and I've continually listened to it for most of the duration of the move. I haven't done that since...well since From Under the Cork Tree. People always put pop-punk down as being trivial and easy, but it really isn't. It has so many layers and above all it's fun and catchy. I could go on but I'm too tired to write an essay on the values of popular music.
10) It's not even really winter yet and already I'm as dried out as a piece of fruit left in the sun. Moisturize me! Moisturize me!
Oh and also, tweet of the day goes to the zany James Moran for saying "I *am* a squeeing fangirl!" in response to someone else. Frank Iero also gets a special mention for the following: "The quote "the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades" should only describe the lifestyle of either a teenage vampire or doing tons of coke". Oh Frank *pats*
Now I shall digress and retreat to the couch for some Torchwood, tea, and an early night. I think I've earned it.
Music: For Reasons Unknown - The Killers
Mood: Sore
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