Top 10: Random Songs I always forget I love

Have you ever had a moment when you're listening to your iPod on shuffle where a song you'd completely forgotten about starts playing and you find yourself saying 'oh yeah, I remember this! I love this song'? Of course you have, everyone has. There simply aren't enough hours in the day to remember, or even fully appreciate, everything. So here's a list of random songs I heard this week and remembered that I rather enjoyed (note: all from artists who aren't normally on my playlists or in heavy rotation).

• Bob and Bonny – Houston Calls
• So contagious – Acceptance
• I want to feel like love – The Hint
• Prettier – This Is Me Smiling
• The long way home – The Material
• Half as much as you – Every Avenue
• Clouds – The Morning Light
• Song in my head – Sherwood 
• Shiver me timbers – Mercy Mercedes
• The Minstrel’s Prayer - Cartel

Music: American Slang - The Gaslight Anthem

A quote before sleeping

You can build walls all the way to the sky and I will find a way to fly above them. You can try to pin me down with a hundred thousand arms, but I will find a way to resist. And there are many of us out there, more than you think. People who refuse to stop believing. People who refuse to come to earth.

- Delirium, Lauren Oliver, p.441

--
From Donna, with love.
[[Watch it, spaceman!]]

Heart speeds up endlessly

You know, life's pretty fabulous at the moment. Even though it's Monday, the start of another dreary, repetitive work week, I'm feeling rather chipper. I guess a good weekend will do that to you.

It all kicked off on Friday when a group of us girls from work went out to dinner at a gorgeous tapas place at Walsh Bay. I wasn't particularly keen but it turned out to be really enjoyable, and it was nice to get to spend more time with them, seeing as I am always in my little office on my own. They invited me along to clubbing the following night, but as I already had plans with M and R during the day, I didn't think I'd make it – correctly too, as it turned out.

We three had made tentative plans to go to the beach – of course this meant that it was overcast and rainy. Just our luck! I picked up my glasses and did a bit of shopping before meeting them at R's place and heading out to lunch and movie watching. When all else fails, there is always movie watching. We saw Morning Glory, in which Rachel McAdams plays an excruciatingly awkward producer for a breakfast tv show and Harrison Ford plays himself. Ok not really, but by all reports he is just as cranky in real life. It has quite a few good laughs and I know there was one point where the three of us were giggling uncontrollably, but I have to say that the awkwardness at the start of it is so painful to watch. We spent the evening watching tv and R finally got to see the first two eps of Sherlock. I think she's coming round to my Cumberbatch appreciation.

Sunday, we were off to the farm. Four girls piled into M's car, and we set off to Exeter. It was beyond lovely. In fact, I could never even have anticipated how lovely a day it was. Mind you, why M puts up with us, I don't know. We were so bratty, asking whether we could stop for ice cream, doubting her sense of direction and generally just whining about her not stopping at McDonalds. Kids have nothing on us! We got to the farm around midday, gathered all the supplies in the 4WDs and set off to the spot where A and his friends had camped the previous night.

After getting a fire going, the mistake was made of putting me and R in charge of turning the meat over – in our defence, it was already burnt by the time we got down there to turn it over the first time. Not our fault *cough* We relaxed, ate, stopped complaining about hungry we were, sweltered in the heat, laughed, chatted and played Uno. As you do. Once R and A had quite enough of arguing about rules and winning, we set off to feed the cows. Here's where we learnt a valuable lesson – hay, like sand, gets everywhere. We also learnt R doesn't particularly like cows very much – at least not when they're circling the truck, demanding to be fed. Well, as demanding as they can be, they're a skittish lot.

Anyway, it was really fun and relaxing. I have a faint sunburn to remind me of it. I definitely won't pass up to opportunity to head out there again. See, country air is good for you, even if that means you don't have any reception.

Nice day for a picnic

Cow goes mooooo!

Right, who's rounding up the cattle?

A's friends had a pit bike down there with them and I've pretty much decided to buy one. It's a small off-roader, a mini dirt bike really, obviously not for road use, but seeing as I just want to learn how to manage the gears and such, I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's much cheaper than a full-sized bike, and also has the benefit of being a lot closer to the ground when I fall off it. I've seen them around before and always thought they were kids' bikes, haha. I'm looking for a second hand one (apparently you can get them for around $300) with little luck so far, so I'll ask the Blink Revival Crew for help and opinions this afternoon. I'm a bit careful about it because I don't want to buy something that needs to be fixed up – while I'm sure dad will love it, Jack requires all the funds I have for mechanical extracurriculars, I can't work on a bike as well. Speaking of Jack, he needs new brake pads. You see, there's always something.

Right, so, back to work for me. I spent an insubordinate amount of money this weekend. Not sure how I managed that, but I better start behaving!

Music: Everything's magic - Angels & Airwaves

Top 10: Current Favourite TV Shows

This Friday is dedicated to my old friend, television. Here they are, the shows I've been watching the last couple of months and adored to bits.

• Fringe
• Doctor Who
• Lie To Me
• Sherlock
• The Big Bang Theory
• Buffy The Vampire Slayer
• Life on Mars
• Dead Like Me
• Battlestar Galactica
• Mad Men

Currently watching: Blackpool (season 1, disc 2), Brothers & Sisters (season 1, disc 1)

Music: Parlay - Hans Zimmer

No circumstances could excuse

So I’m trying to figure out the logistics of going to London then Jo’burg then London again without it being a colossal amount of money and I end up looking at tours (as you do). One of them happen to be a tour of the Kruger National Park and surrounding areas –

We head out along the Panorama Route to explore world famous sites like Blyde River Canyon, Three Rondavels, Bourke's Luck Potholes, God's Window, and one or two waterfalls en route. The Panorama Route is one of the most beautiful and popular travel destinations in South Africa. It leads through the rugged mountain range of the northern Drakensberg. Here, in the north-eastern part of the Great Escarpment, the inland plateau declines abruptly and steeply and opens up fantastic views of the plains of the Lowveld a thousand metres below…The world-renowned Kruger National Park offers a wildlife experience that ranks with the best in Africa. Established in 1898 to protect the wildlife of the South African Lowveld, this national park of nearly 2 million hectares is unrivaled in the diversity of its life forms and a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies. Truly the flagship of the South African national parks, Kruger is home to an impressive number of species: 336 types of trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals.

I almost got weepy reading it. That’s my childhood, right there. Virtually every year, we’d head out that way. So many memories. That is the only thing I can say I truly miss about that country, nothing quite compares to it. My heart aches at the thought of it. It’s no secret that I look forward to my trips to South Africa about as much as Oreo looks forward to a visit to the vet, but if I could go to the Kruger every time, instead of having to be captive in the cities, it would be entirely different! Oh, in an ideal world.

Nostalgia has been pretty heavy handed with me today.

Anywho, I’m trying to see if I can get some sort of round the world ticket and do some other travelling along the way. I completely freaked out this morning when I realised I’ll be 26 in three years and there is still so many places I want to go, so many things I wanted to do. Got to get my act together, staff discounts wait for no demanding daughters.

Note to self: stop spending money on random things. Save! Save like you’ve never saved before.

With a little luck, eight months to go!

Music: Every you, every me - Placebo

Won the world at a carnival

I have been feeling decidedly less than well the last two days. Yesterday was…painful. That is the only way to put it. Dragged myself entirely unwillingly through the day. Who decided the work week should be split 5/2? That’s not a fair split at all. 4/3 would be much better. When I am supreme ruler of the universe, I’ll definitely change that.

My main concern at the moment is how incredibly tired I am. Despite sleeping a whole lot more than I normally do, I’m still exhausted. Perhaps the extra sleeping is causing the prolonged tiredness? I don’t know but I am not amused. As those who know me well are aware, I consider sleep an incredible waste of time. Enjoyable, sure, but hours are just thrown away! Anyway, if you’ve been wondering why I’ve disappeared offline lately, that’s the reason. That and the chronic headaches. I’ve been trying to give my eyes a bit of a rest and not stare at a computer for sixteen hours hours a day (you think I’m exaggerating, that’s cute).

Other than that, life is treating me well. I had a wonderful day hanging with M and R on Sunday. We ventured out to La Perouse for brunch and when the clouds let up for a bit, we made full use of it by storming the beach. Of course, in typical us fashion, we weren’t exactly prepared for a beach visit and after a valiant effort to soak up some sun, we had to admit defeat and went shopping instead. We finally ended up playing board games and watching Indian tv, as you do. Overall, muchos fun.

I’d like to organise a proper beach day at some point but with the weather being so utterly woeful and unpredictable, I suspect it is a lost cause.

Ok I shouldn’t complain about the weather, things being so awful up in Queensland and all. The state has been hit by horrendous floods that have destroyed many towns, some areas have a river peak of 20 meters while another received something like 150ml of rain in two hours. For those of you unfamiliar with the humongous nature of this crazy country, here be a slightly outdated map.  Last I heard, the affected area is reported to be the size of Germany and France combined.

After the flash flooding of Toowoomba yesterday, they’re expecting Brisbane to flood as well. Thanks to work, I know a whole lot of people in the affected areas and I hope everyone is staying safe. It’s not just the water either, there are bugs and snakes and other fun, deadly things to watch out for. Hundreds and hundreds of snakes. Of course this affects the whole country in the end as prime industries like mining and agriculture have taken a huge hit. I shudder to think what’s going to happen to grocery prices. Since I’m on the topic, you can donate to the flood relief appeal here.

More photos of the madness and destruction at The Brisbane Times site.

In the face of that, anything I say will probably sound incredibly trivial. So let’s leave it there, shall we? Busy week ahead.

Music: She had the world - Panic At The Disco

Top 10: Albums of 2010

My first Friday Top 10 is dedicated to my favourite new releases from 2010. It's still early enough in the new year to get away with this sort of thing!

• American Slang – The Gaslight Anthem
• Would it kill you? – Hellogoodbye
• The Winter of Mixed Drinks – Frightened Rabbit
• Lowcountry – Envy On The Coast
• Heaven is whenever – The Hold Steady
• High Violet – The National
• Of the Blue Colour of the Sky – OK Go
• Age of Adz – Sufjan Stevens
• Invented – Jimmy Eat World
• My Dinosaur Life – Motion City Soundtrack



I've rounded up a current favourite track from each album, click for link.

Albums I still haven’t listened to yet and are therefore not listed:
Hurley – Weezer, The Suburbs – Arcade Fire, Tourist History – Two Door Cinema Club, Blue Sky Noise – Circa Survive, Dark is the way, light is the place – Anberlin, White Crosses – Against Me…um, others…

Music: Recognizer - Daft Punk

Frying pans, who knew!?

First week back at work vanquished successfully. Woo! And I don’t think I’m behind on anything for a change, that’s definitely a plus. Unsurprisingly, nothing has happened during this time. I did see an advanced screening of Tangled with M and A on Sunday however, very enjoyable. I think Max, the horse, is probably the best bit. A classic Disney film though, so if that’s not your cup of tea I can’t imagine you liking this much.

I finally visited the optometrist last night. According to him, I’m ‘environmentally myopic’ aka six years at uni has made me blind. That should be on the pamphlet. It was entirely expected however, for the past six months I’ve been saying I needed to get tests done. I hadn’t realised just how bad it had gotten until I was asked to read the bottom line on the test screen however…blurry shape, blurry shape, m? is not the correct answer. Who knew? Anywho, I’m getting glasses now – for use in classrooms and such. If I’m just generally doing stuff, I don’t need 'em. So it’s not too bad. I both mourn my perfect vision (and oh, what beautiful vision I used to have when I was little) and am kinda gleeful that I’m going to have glasses. I’ve always wanted those. Like all people want things they don’t have, you know what I mean.

The optometrist asked me what I was studying and made quite the amusing lol face when I said creative writing. Haha, useless degree is useless and everyone knows it. Song interlude!

What do you do with that BA in English,
What is my life going to be?
Three years of college,
And plenty of knowledge,
Have earned me this useless degree.
I can't pay the bills yet,
Cause I have no skills yet,
The world is a big, scary place! 

Ahem. He did ask me about my favourite authors though and then made a comment that I must be a Lord of the Rings fan cause he recognised my Evenstar pendant. Ten geek points to the optometrist! Glee.

As we're on the topic of uni, I've actually been considering doing a psych degree when I get back from overseas. . Only problem is that, to practice, you need to do six years so by the time I finish I will be 31. Horror. I was bouncing this off mum last night and lamenting that I hadn't thought of it earlier.
Mum: I did suggest it.
Me: Did you? I guess I wasn't interested.
Mum: You said you didn't want to solve other people's problems.
Me: I was probably too caught up in my own.
Mum: That's exactly it. You said you had enough problems of your own and you didn't need anyone elses.
Me: Well of course, at eighteen, my problems were the end of the world.
Anyway, I'm hoping to get a ton of credit if I do it through an arts stream since I've done all the arts subjects, just need the psych ones. And the PhD I want to do is still relevant to that too, so that works out nicely. But, as with all things, I'll have to wait and see if I'm still interested in it when I return. Who knows what can happen in a year, after all.

In other news, we now have a NAS at home - network attached storage, for those playing at home. This means we can hook up all our external hard drives (between us we have about 5) to this one box and then access it from anywhere. I had my doubts about this thing for quite a few reasons, one being that mum wants to create one ginormous itunes library with all our music in it, and I have enough trouble keeping mine organised as it is. But it certainly has its pros, as I discovered last night lounging in bed watching Fringe on ze laptop without worrying about cables or USBs. So in that respect it's very handy. Guess we'll see how it goes, I'll get used to it no doubt.

Anywho, I'm starting a new regular blog feature that I will hopefully manage to maintain. Every Friday I will post a top 10 list of...well, whatever. Could be something silly, could be something useful, could be anything! I'm kicking off with my top 10 favourite albums of 2010. Next post.

Music: Juicebox - The Strokes

I have a head and it aches

I miss Forgive Durden, is Thomas still making music? I also miss Kisschasy. Ah, my youth - it's so ridiculous to be nostalgic for three years ago.

She exits her gold chariot
One pump at a time.
Cloaked in her matching pin-striped
Arsenal of next month's nows.
She grazes through the dark,
Downtown concrete planes.
She sinks a special kill,
A flesh she's never had before.
A prey who's blood is rich with love.

I want to sink my teeth into
Skin I can't see through.
I'll clench my jaw deep down inside.
Lick my lips hoping to find
A taste of life with you.

Holes freckle her hips.
She's sick of breaking necks
With designer prints, French tips.
Her shoes as red as lips.
Every meal tastes alike.
I want something I can bite.
Like the tethers of this diet.
Let the shackles fill my cheeks.
Feed these itching jowls.
Flush my painted teeth.
My palate has been cleansed.

I want to sink my teeth into
Skin I can't see through.
I'll clench my jaw deep down inside.
Lick my lips hoping to find
A taste of life with you.

Jewels and stones cut so precise.
Held up by a ring.
Catches all glances and looks
Hoping to distract from
The finger to the left
So bare and unfurnished
Named for sporting such hardware.

With dreams cut so precise.
She's held up by her strings.
She catches all glances and looks
Hoping to find someone who can
Dress her naked hand.
I'll tear my heart right out
And have you sport it as hardware.

Music: Beware the jubjub bird and shun the frumious bandersnatch - Forgive Durden

There's music and there's people and they're young and alive

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2011, the year of change and decisions.Sydney put on a particularly fine display this year and I have come to the conclusion that it really is a better NYE spot than anywhere else in the world. For one thing, we're practically first. America is so far behind it makes me wonder why you'd bother heading out that way to celebrate. Plus Sydney throws quite the party, so I can't really image why you'd want to be anywhere else to usher in a new year.

I welcomed it in the company of some of my favourite people, feasting on delicious food and a really nice cake, and playing, or rather arguing over, Trivial Pursuit. T'was excellent and I wouldn't have traded it for anything. If the way you spend NYE is supposed to guide the way you spend the rest of the year, it's going to be a very enjoyable one.

The New Year in turn treated us to a soaring 39 degree day that I spent, after dragging myself rather reluctantly from bed at 9 to entertain guests that had decided to overnight, watching films and visiting the beach super quickly. Too busy and too hot for a substantial visit, but enough to keep us all entertained. The guests finally departed just before six, leaving me to nurse my epic headache in peace. Let the record show that I watched Prince of Persia and it is exactly the kind of ridiculous mythical action film I adore. I have added it to the list of terrible films no one else likes but that I really enjoy...Troy appreciates having company.

It seems that today will hold more of the same - still quite hot, still quite headachy (the two aren't mutually exclusive) and since it's the second last day of my holiday, if I spend it sleeping and beaching, I don't think anyone will blame me.

Music: There is a light that never goes out - The Smiths