minootas

Salzburg/Heidelberg/Amsterdam.

2012-02-24T06:42:00.000+11:00

Jetlag has certainly taken it's toll because here I am, 06:20h, wide awake since 04:30h blogging. Cool life. After Italy the tour took us to Salzburg - arguably the coldest place ever (I swear it was colder than the Swiss Alps). We only spent a night here but that was long enough for me to acknowledge that Sydney sucks (as if the entire trip didn't reinforce this enough) and that I would much rather be living elsewhere (apparently you can buy an apartment for $30,000 in Berlin - w h a t ?). Also in Salzburg we went into a Manner store and I bought the best hazelnut and chocolate wafers in the world (at a very reasonable €2.18 for 400g!) and a hot chocolate with rum. Their wafers are so good that it's reported the Arnold Schwarzenegger receives a shipment every six months. If it's good enough for Arnie, it's definitely good enough for me.

We were told by our tour guide that Heidelberg is a university town. My university has much to live up to. You know when your heart aches when something/someone it's so impossibly beautiful that you question reality? Yep. My heart ached.

Our final stop for the tour was Amsterdam where my friends got Amsterdamaged. What happens in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam but you could probably guess what happened there. Here are a couple of hints: red light district, coffee shop, McDonald's and public transport.

I don't remember what the castle is called but this was taken by the river. Clearly.

How this dog had so much energy I do not understand.

By night.

Jane and Mel walking.

This is Heidelberg Castle. If you go up, it literally looks like an abandoned castle from a fairy tale. No joke. There I go with my fairy tale talk again. My apologies.

Heidelberg from the castle at dusk.

By night, on the Old Bridge.

Our 'botel' in Amsterdam. I would not recommend staying there.

It's always so peculiar seeing ducks in the wild. Same goes for the swans in Lucerne.

Amsterdam probably ties with Salzburg and Heidelberg as the second most beautiful place we visited (after Switzerland).

On our tour we were meant to go on a canal cruise, much like a gondola ride in Venice but the canals were frozen over.

A sneaky pic of Mel and Jane on a frozen canal. Given my predisposition to falling I didn't dare go down in fear of the Dutch judging me.

Italy

2012-02-23T16:26:00.001+11:00

I had very high hopes for Italy. Rome... what can I say about Rome? I can't blame you for being snowed under during the cold snap but I can still blame you for having shitty people. The three of us went into this restaurant Dal Tuscano - by far the worst customer service I have ever come across. Pretty much everything that person said - waiter was awful, the food took forever to arrive and when it did come, it was cold. Obviously if you've got French, German and English on the menu you should have waiters who speak those languages. We couldn't even get out of there quick enough because our waiter took at least fifteen minutes to get the bill. Aside from Rome, Florence and Venice were lovely.

Pont Vecchio.

Inside the Duomo

Outside the Vatican Museum

The Vatican's arms or something which has lapis lazuli which loses its colour once it's not in its crystalline form so it's barred off.

Trompe l'oeil! The ceiling's actually painted.

Saint Peter's Basilica

The Colosseum

Snow falling off some trees near the Roman Forum.

The Victor Hugo monument. This was my favourite because it looks like a giant marble wedding cake.

Juliet's (of Romeo and Juliet fame) balcony in Verona. I don't understand how a fictional character has a balcony in real life.

The Grand Canal in Venice.

The Rialto Bridge.

On a gondola.

It looks sunny here...

but Venice was actually freezing.

Switzerland, revisited

2012-02-23T10:29:00.002+11:00

Here are some better photos of Switzerland. We stayed on Mt Rigi, at a hotel called Hotel Rigi First. It was a nightmare to get to but we were rewarded with real Swiss fondue. The second day we were there we went down to Lucerne where we had rösti. I would say Switzerland was the friendliest place we visited on the tour.

There was a castle! Told you it was stuff from fairy tales.

This is the Lion Monument.

The snow was fluffy, unlike in Rome or the Australian Snowy Mountains.

REAL SNOWFLAKES!

On the way back to the hotel there was a playground covered in snow. It was quite an achievement I didn't slip and crack my skull as this photo was being taken.

My furry beret caught lots of snowflakes.

There was a bench which overlooked the alps. It was kind of on a cliff's edge because beyond it was just a massive drop down.

Paris pt 2

2012-02-23T10:06:00.001+11:00

The third and fourth days in Paris were spent sightseeing - we went to the Notre Dame and Montmartre.

This was taken near out hotel in Picpus.

I don't have very good photos of the Notre Dame so here's a close up of the front.

This is the back where you can see some flying buttresses.

Walking down the steps from the Sacre Coeur.

These signs are so cute. It was kind of surreal seeing all these things which were featured in Amélie.

Mel feed some sparrows.

Paris pt 1

2012-02-23T02:03:00.000+11:00

Apologies in advance for the photo dump which is going to be the next few posts. I can't help that all the places we visited (bar ROME - worst place ever. More on this to come) are so photogenic. Our first stop on our eurotrip was Paris. We arrived via the Eurostar at Gare du Nord station. It's one of the stranger feelings in life when you arrive some place where everything is in a foreign language.

This is Kings Cross/St Pancras station in London.

Inside the Louvre's pyramid.

Mona and a hoard of paparazzi.

The irony was too great.

Heaven.

Taken at the Tuileries.

HOME

2012-02-21T10:32:00.001+11:00

I'm back. I haven't yet pressed 'view blog' because updating from my phone I couldn't format properly. Expect photos soon. By soon I mean in about a week's time. Hello editing 8GB worth of photos.

Swiss Alps

2012-02-02T17:33:00.001+11:00

I wasn't really looking forward to the Swiss Alps at the beginning of this tour but now that I'm here I don't want to leave. Everything looks as if it's from a scene in from a fairy tale. The trees are all covered in snow, like icing on a cake (yum). The cold is kind of unbearable though. The temperature doesn't reach above 0C - I think yesterday it was -8C. Food is good. Lots of cheese, much to others' dismay but not mine hehe.

Paris

2012-01-29T08:42:00.001+11:00

It's the end of the second day here in Paris. Jane and Mel are already both in bed (it's only 22:14h) and I'm sitting with my feet outside the window because the cold helps keep swelling down. Dad called on Skype and warned me how if I don't get rid of the swelling I won't be able to walk by the end is this trip. Not sure how likely that is.

Today started early. At 6. We had the most amazing breakfast (and will again in a couple of hours). After breakfast we went to the Eiffel Tower via train. We walked from there to the Champs Élysées where we shopped. I'd been to a Sephora in China but that one had nothing on the one here. I love that the sales assistants there speak English. The only French I have learnt is 'sortie' which means exit and that our transport system is absolutely shitetastic. I digress though. I came out of sephora unscathed with only one product - the Makeup Forever HD powder. Even though I haven't used it I can tell its going to be be of the greatest purchases I will have ever made. We found Ladurée and I kid you not it is dessert heaven. Ohhhh man. I bought eight macarons - orange blossom, black forest, marshmallow, chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, vanilla and pistachio. After all of that we walked down to the Jardins du Tuileries until we hit the Louvre but as we had already visited it the day before we walked back up for dinner. I was super excited for the Tuileries because there are so many street style photos of chic women taken there but i saw no such thing. Just lots of people in black, navy and res. On the way I bought a coat. It's black.

We have planned to go to Sacre Coeur and Notre Dame tomorrow before meeting up with the tour group. I'm hoping we can find some time in the coming two days so we can visit the Musée d'Orsay and the Pompidou centre. By that I mean I'll have to drag the other two along because they think art is bollocks and aren't interested and would rather pull a grumpy face for a couple of hours. Wrinkles guys, wrinkles.

After two days I can conclude that yes, the guys here are definitely better looking, everyone is well dressed, Ye children here are cuter and the cold is crisper. I think it was 7 degrees here but I still haven't donned a puffy jacket yet.

If all goes well I will be able to post some photos. If it doesn't then this will be a text only post.

Europe

2012-01-26T11:11:00.001+11:00

So I promised myself I'd get a post up before I leave for Europe and here it is. I know it's a poor excuse for a post but honestly, I have nothing to post about. I considered making one on recent acquisitions but things get in the way, my short term memory is, fair to say, below average and things fall by the wayside.

It's 10:44 in the morning and I have finished packing (my flight departs at 15:45). I sprained my ankle last night so I'm not sure how I'm going to deal haha. It was about 1 in the morning, my contacts were dry so vision was blurry etc, I'm just making excuses for my own clumsiness.

The day before last I saw that the Gareth Pugh collection for MAC was available and got excited. After looking at the reviews online for the blush in Strada (4.5/5 and 106 reviews) I had to get it. Now my wallet is aching as much as my ankle but that's okay, I ruv it. This doesn't count towards the makeup ban because Gareth Pugh is an exception to everything. The Naked palette I got also doesn't count because I bought it last year and only received it a few weeks ago.

This trip to Europe will be the longest I've ever been away from my family. I'm not sure why I shared that I'm not even that sentimental. What I'm really excited for is the food and foreign TV. I LOVE WATCHING TV IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

As a gesture of love, I'm going to tidy my room under Mum's request. (Really, she threatened she'd throw away all my stuff and I can't afford to lose all of it.)

Ban

2012-01-03T14:26:00.006+11:00

My makeup addiction is no secret. I cannot even begin to explain what it is that draws me in - the packaging? The colours? The act of applying? The transformation? I ran out of my YSL Touche Eclat a fortnight ago and was eager to buy another one (not at full price though) and browsed a couple of my favourite e-stores. I ordered some stuff from cheapsmells.com for the second time. Don't let the name put you off though, the products aren't faulty and bargains are a plenty (Hoola for £13? ummmmmmmm yes please). I ended up buying much more than just Touche Eclat, let me tell you.

Porefessional.

I couldn't decide between Georgia or Dandelion but I heard that Georgia was discontinued so I bought it (and because it's peach coloured and you all know that I'm a sucker for anything peach/coral). I'll buy Dandelion next time ;) Also, you should buy this because it smells delectable.

Hoola! I was surprised that it came in the new flip top packaging. Magnets are fun yo.

Now that I've amassed a makeup collection to last several lifetimes, I'm going to go on a makeup buying ban. I don't think I'll be able to go cold turkey so I'm thinking this year I'll allow myself three lipsticks, one blush, two eyeliners, one eyeshadow (I don't even wear that much anyway), two perfumes, one foundation and one powder. No limit on msacaras because I'm pretty responsible. I only use one at a time. I don't really practice making (or keeping) New Years resolutions so I suppose this counts.

On a low note, I have to get my prime lens repaired in time for Europe. Not sure what happened but the focus ring is a nightmare to turn.

year

2012-01-02T00:34:00.000+11:00

This is the only lifestyle I want to lead this year.

food comas

2011-12-26T13:27:00.002+11:00

Every year when October rolls around and the Christmas decorations are put up in public places, you know the end of the year is just almost at an end. Three months of tinsel glistening in the Spring and Summer sun (perchance rain), it's almost ridiculous that we have a quarter of the year to prepare for the week between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Personally, I dread this time of year. I am burdened by the fear that next year will be even worse than the one that's about to pass. The impending doom that is the slew of uni assignments, the numerous times I will embarrass myself in public, my atrocious time management which is bound to get me into trouble, growing older, wrinkles, crows feet, not having enough money to afford anti-aging treatments - the list goes on. However, as our culture dictates, the end of year is a time to spend with those you are close to and who am I to complain about coming together for food?

Working 9-5 on Christmas Eve, I don't think it's anyone's ideal way to spend the day. Lucky me. As the minute hand ticked over to 12, I swiftly left work and headed to Martin Place to meet Jane, Mel and Carrie. Our stroll to Jamie's Italian was pleasant as we caught up on the things which happened since we last met. The opening of the restaurant was a little inconspicuous, perhaps it was my oblivion but I could only tell it was a restaurant by the staff in white shirts circling about. We sat down and took our pick from the menu. It was a pretty hard decision, I just about wanted everything. Enough writing, onwards with the photos.

I ordered the mushroom ravioli.

Mel had the veal saltimbocca (which she only ate half of haha)

Jane's carbonara.

Carrie's prawn linguini.

The posh chips, which were, to be frank, a little disappointing. For the price I expected more and the chips were not the best I've ever tried (hello Manning and Harts Pub chips).

Salad.

Whiney.

Carrie

Dessert! I had the panna cotta

Both Jane and Mel got a brownie each.

Carrie fancied some sorbet.

It was 8:30, but it was still bright outside and we needed to walk off our meal (we were so full) so we headed down the street to Circular Quay.

End of golden hour.

Christmas Day - I woke up fairly late and drove my family to our cousins (who live in up in the North... and we live in the South). There was so much food, it wasn't even 2pm and I was already in a food coma. I spent most of the day watching American Horror Story and went downstairs for more food when I was anything less than about-to-explode. I didn't take many photos at all, mainly because there was nothing interesting enough to shoot, but I did take this. I think it summarises how I would like to spend 2012. Beer and laptop. Nothing else.

yy's face

2011-12-21T17:21:00.000+11:00

Only about two weeks late, but here are some of the presents I received for my birthday. I did receive some food and alcohol which I have since eaten/drank. Whoops. I also received a cheese board/knife set which is in a box somewhere as I still haven't unpacked. Double whoops.

The coolest watch ever from Jane and Jenny.

Illamasqua goodies from Vivian. Despite the number of lipsticks I own, I didn't actually have a shade like it. The closest would be my OCC liptar in Grandma but it's not as orange and a little pinker.

Perfume from Samwich.
In other news, my passport arrived this morning! Warning: herp derp alert. My most recent passport photo is such a disappointment. I went to the photo place and the guy taking my photo told me my eyebrows had to be visible. My eyebrows haven't been visible to the world in years. Literally. So on top of my derpy expression, you get to see my forehead. Great. I'm going to look like Frankenstein's monster ~~Martin Kelly~~ in my passport for the next decade. However, as you can see in the image below, at least 3/4 times I will have my herpderp face on. What's also fun to note is the hair/no hair/hair/no hair pattern going on. Note to self: grow hair out so that I can tie it back for my next passport photo.

19 +

2011-12-14T20:08:00.000+11:00

I don't think I can recall ever experiencing rain on my birthday but it happened this year, despite my wishing it wouldn't. No birthday wishes come true for me. Jane and I trekked through the botanical gardens with the sole aim of finding a gazebo. Turns out a couple metres away there was an even better one, surrounded by roses which I only found out about as we were about to leave. Typical. I received some awesome presents (I'm counting the food people brought as well) and thanks to the people who came ~~and no thanks to the ones who bailed on me~~.

Mel and Jane

I have cool friends.

Very cool ones.

Jasmine ~~showing off her tattoo~~ stretching.

My birthday cake from Guylian. I think it's the spiced poached pear cheesecake.

We left and walked towards Martin Place. Stopped by the Christmas tree to take pixpixpix.

Eventually we ended up at the Maccas next to the Apple store. It's almost a tradition.

The day after my birthday was moving day. What a nightmare. The removalists we contacted originally didn't show up and after three hours of waiting we got new ones. They were super strong. Our place is still a mess (think Supré after a hoard of crazy preteens have raided it, having been told tickets to see Justin Bieber were stashed somewhere instore)

A cockatoo feather.

I'm not sure what this is, but they look like miniature lily pads.

Hydrangeas are so pretty in the mundane-suburbia way.

2011-12-02T18:35:00.001+11:00

The past two days have been kind of hard for me. As I am relocating, my ISP has cut the internet from my current place and are rewiring (or doing something technical which is too complex for me to comprehend much less explain) to our new place. This means I won't have the internet for almost an entire fortnight. I remember those days of dial-up internet, when I used to go on about once a week to chat with relatives overseas (complete with microphone and webcam. We were a tech savvy family) or play games on neopets. I wonder how my neopet is doing. That was a little beside the point, what's new?

So, now that half my life can't be fulfilled for the next couple of days I've been slowly going through all the films I have on my laptop. I began with The Outsiders, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Restless and Burke and Hare followed. I couldn't finish The Outsiders and neither X-Men or Burke and Hare were that good. However, Restless... what can I say about Restless? I just about bawled my eyes out. Cute film, slightly twee but I enjoyed it immensely. I also spent a great amount of time cooking yesterday. By that I actually mean assembling and blending. Chickpea and pine nut dip, oh man.

I woke up one morning (used as loosely as possible because really, I wake up at noon most days) and clouded by my hazy mind I can't remember when this was, but that's kind of irrelevant. The most genius idea came to me. I want to make a calendar. No clear idea on what I'd have every month but I can see it being quite cute. I'm not really the world's best illustrator but I kind of like that amateur aesthetic. I'd probably have to do it quite quickly though, it's already December.

You may be wondering how I am updating. Simple. I'm not at home. If anyone would like to invite me over to theirs to share their internet (I'll cook for you) I'm more than willing to come over. Providing it's easily accessible by public transport/you're willing to drive. Yeah, don't nag me about getting my P's, I get that enough from my parents.

day

2011-11-28T00:53:00.001+11:00

Jane and I went to the Rock 'n' Roll markets at the Jets Sports Club in Tempe. Maybe we were there early, but it was kinda quiet. We went around the stalls thrice and we ended up both buying coats - I bought a tailcoat and she bought an oversized red and white polka dot one reminiscent of those in Raf Simons' fw11 collection. We had a quick bite of lunch at Ikea (obviously) and I bought a iceblock mould. I can see myself making mojito iceblocks all summer long (minus three weeks BECAUSE I'M GOING TO EUROPE).

Jane then drove to my new place. We walked to the park down my street and took some photos. Here's a gif of a stream.

In my backyard we pondered the pH level of the soil from which the hydrangeas grow.

Jane's outfit which received a compliment from the woman who sold us our coats.

It was dizzyingly hot. Is that even a word? My point exactly.

We played half a game of Monopoly. I pretty much had to teach her how to play. Not a side-eye in the world powerful enough.

While we were playing Dad worked on the plumbing.

Some solder which had fallen to the ground.

Waiting for golden hour.

Jane left just when it began.

2011-11-20T01:01:00.000+11:00

Being the cheapo and makeup junkie I am, who was I to say no to super cheap makeup from cheapsmells.com? In this mini-haul (can I even call it that? I only bought three items) was a YSL Rouge Pur Couture in #13 Le Orange, which is reportedly Kourtney Kardashian's favourite lip colour, an Urban Decay set and a D&G perfume. I'm not sure whether it was my unrelenting lust for orangey/coral/peach colours or whether it was Kourtney which won me over. Maybe the price, I don't know. While the beauty blogging world is still raving on about the Urabn Decay Naked Palette, I haven't got my hands on it so the set is kind of a quick fix. 1/2 of it was. The eyeliner is pretty super - I hardly ever wear pencil eyeliner out (read: never) and I was pleasantly surprised by how well it lasted and didn't transfer under my eyes. Nice. Not sure about the glitter though. As for the perfume, I can't say much about it. I like it... it's kind of fresh, citrusy... mellowed out by some floral notes? I have no idea how to describe it without sounding like an unknowledgeable wanker.

I'm not a complete social retard, almost though. I went out with Jane and Alice to Sculpture by the Sea on Thursday. Despite the horrendous conditions, which I would have ordinarily enjoyed but I was out and walking, it was still an enjoyable day. I have photos, just nothing worth showing.

toast

2011-11-06T14:26:00.000+11:00

I haven't really had the time to cook recently but seeing as I had already wasted half the day sleeping, I thought it wouldn't really hurt to waste a few more minutes whipping something I'd enjoy eating.

Slice some King Brown mushrooms.

Fry them up with a few pine nuts (read: A LOT). How I usually do this is fry the mushrooms with a little oil until the pan is kind of dry, then add about 50mL of water with some stock and let it reduce until it's almost dry then add the pine nuts in the last minute.

Toast some bread.

Spread some avocado with greek yoghurt. (I added pepper because I'm a pepper fiend)

Top with the mushrooms and pine nuts

Some really roughly scrambled eggs on top.

Some tomatoes as well. I probably should've diced these but slicing means you halve the chopping time.

Finally some rocket on top of that already delicious mound and you're done.

heaven on earth

2011-11-06T14:18:00.001+11:00

With only two assessments left and armed with an incurable case of “that can wait”, Vivian and I went to Ikea. There is no better way to spend a Saturday.

These would make such cute shot glasses.

This was a half assed post brought to you by my laziness. Sorry for the poor photos and ugly formatting. Nah not really.

you knee stuff

2011-11-04T13:25:00.001+11:00

Semester's almost over and I've finally got time to do something other than either 1 - thinking of doing work, 2 - procrastinating or 3 - doing work.

I thought I'd share some stuff I designed for two of my assignments.

This is my font. It was inspired by the shadows created by an oversized safety pin I own. I named it Walking the Lines because it's a play on words (Walk the Line anyone?) and because my tutor suggested that it looked a little like railway tracks and thought that my w, k and g were particularly strong.

I designed a series of book covers as well. As part of the brief, this series was meant to be a modern remake of classic books (I chose the Australian fiction set). The covers had to work individually and as part of a series. So here they are in alphabetical order:

Yep, I am aware that I still need to change my header.

2011-10-30T16:47:00.001+11:00

from DESIGNerd

2011-10-28T16:31:00.000+11:00

meow

2011-10-28T15:10:00.000+11:00

2011-10-16T11:37:00.001+11:00

Last week I went out to the Night Noodle Markets with a bunch of friends, despite my ridiculous workload which is almost impossible to control with my atrocious time management skills because, as I've said time and time again, nothing comes between me and food. The consequences of this are usually delectable at the time. Afterwards, not so much.

Jane wearing colour? NFW.

The night usually isn't over unless we stop over at Maccas. Mel is kind of a genius and paired her McFlurry with an apple pie. nayce.

2011-10-09T21:12:00.004+11:00

Anna Selezneva: Santa Sangre on Nowness.com.

Gareth Pugh ss12

2011-09-29T14:39:00.003+10:00

Bunnies and food

2011-09-25T01:47:00.002+10:00

Vivian needs to learn how to eat.

2011-09-22T15:19:00.000+10:00

Awkward hands, SAY HI TO THEM.
No but really, what do people do with their hands in photos?

Out Getting Ribs

2011-09-21T20:20:00.000+10:00

My gosh, how is this guy only 16? Practically a foetus.

I wish I had a good excuse for my absence, but I don't. Nothing much has happened. I did write a handwritten post a couple of days ago which I still haven't scanned up. In it I basically reiterate what everyone knows: I suck. A week after completing a uni assignment last minute is probably more than enough time for me to have recuperated from that ordeal. (Ordeal it was - what I wanted to do wasn't substantial enough so instead of 36 pages I had to watercolour 54.)

Hmm, I had written something before but it didn't seem to save. Ah that's right, I was waffling on about how I'm so lazy that even after tweaking my layout I neglect to change my header and so as a result, it's off centre. Does this say something about me? I'm sure it does.

I implore everyone to try 4 Pines' hef. Amazing.

I made some glow-in-the-dark jewellery and intend on making more.

Bought Pink Dusk for Jenny (split with Jane because these cost an arm, a leg and an organ). Of course, this isn't her tube.
Words cannot begin to express how much I love Ivania Carpio of Love Aesthetics. You could say that I copied her (in particular this post). Imitation is the best form of flattery, AMIRITE? Who am I kidding, I could never even compare to her.

Yes, it's the same colour.

I bought this mens xxxl shirt ages ago (I had intended to deconstruct it) but I never got around to it. I wasn't happy with the collar and the sleeves were way too low. So I hacked at them with scissors. Much more time efficient DIY imo.

Some of you eagle eyed people might think 'Surely it wasn't that time efficient if the first photo was taken in the morning and the latter one taken much later in the afternoon...'. There is a very simple explanation. I forgot to photograph it when I finished. Classic scatterbrained YY.
So there. The last three weeks poorly recounted through crummy photos and even crummier words.

Oh gosh, three weeks? I actually don't know how long it's been. I'm having a déjà vu moment right now. I'm sure I've typed something like this before.

Speaking of déjà, Deja Entendu is possibly one of the greatest albums ever recorded.

ƒ∆$hµn $höö†

2011-08-27T23:33:00.000+10:00

V and I went to lunch but before we parted, we thought we'd snap up some photos of her outfit.

Here it is in all its glory.
We wait forever for this tourist to finish doing whatever she was doing.
Ready for her closeup.
These indigo flowers complemented V's outfit perfectly...
Just as how these red ones did her Fire and Ice lips.

Shoes: Smelly by Marc Jacobs
Jacket: Denim jacket thrifted from V's mother's wardrobe (hers from the 90's, so adorable).
Chinos: Zara, unwashed for a month to give it a grungy edge.
Shirt: Grey V from American Apparel, damn them hipsters know best.
Bag: Longchamp bag from every Asian's collection.
Necklace: Gift from Asian gods, enter codes 'YY' or "VIVIANDABB' for 10% off*
Sunglasses: Gifted... after selling an arm and a leg for undisclosed sexual favours.
Cleavage: Model's own, ain't no chicken fillets yo.
Makeup: Common street whore lipstick, eau de pizza hut buffet toilette.

*offer only applies after 8pm, on asiangodjewellery.com
note: website does not accept orders after 5pm.

Whitechapel

2011-08-22T23:25:00.000+10:00

S.C.U.M: Whitechapel on Nowness.com.

Watch this brilliant music video and realise that everything else you've seen before is subpar.

random memory of the day

2011-08-06T12:35:00.001+10:00

This morning as my egg was laying sunny side up and my sliced field mushrooms began to sizzle in the heat of my pan, I was reminded of this one particular day in my childhood. I was about seven or eight, my parents had just begun to trust me and my culinary skills. It was before lunch, maybe after breakfast, perhaps even breakfast knowing how late I wake up. I heated the pan over the electric stove (I use induction now, how fancy), drizzled a little oil in it and waited. When the pan was ready I cracked the egg open and the yolk broke. Everything was going swimmingly. Back then I had no idea how good runny yolks are and because I had just started to cook, everything had to be cooked well. By well I mean overcooked, nothing remotely raw. Keeping in mind I still hadn't hit the big double digits age-wise, I thought I was being extra experimental when I dusted cracked black pepper as the egg was cooking in addition with salt. I mean, how awesome would it be to have both salt and pepper? The egg was carefully hoisted out of the pan with the aid of a flimsy plastic egg lifter even though it wasn't necessary on the account that it was as stiff as cardboard. My tongue was still very sensitive to heat, so I left it in its plate for a little while as I went to watch a little television. I came back to eat my egg and found little black spots in my egg. 'Ah! There are bugs in my egg!' - I picked out the specks of pepper thinking they were contaminants only to realise a few minutes later when half the egg was discarded that it was the pepper I had added. Whoops. I think this story also goes to show that I will eat anything.

deckchairs and cigarettes

2011-08-03T19:31:00.001+10:00

aircorp blue-black

2011-07-28T00:24:00.001+10:00

crap + more crap

2011-07-22T14:48:00.001+10:00

The rain has been pretty incessant for the past several days and as much as I love to be a shut-in (hehe) I cannot resist a call from beer, especially if it's with my beer buddy Vivi. Actually, Faustus was on and we just like walking in the rain for hours. Half of that sentence is a lie.
The day (it was actually after noon thus making the sentence I'm in the middle of kind of invalid) began at Löwenbräu Keller. German beer and food - gut. That's about the extent of my German aside from ich bin ein berliner, das ist mein hamburger, frankfurt and schlachtag*. V ordered a kalbsbratwurst - chargrilled veal sausages served with mashed potatoes, buttered peas and crisp onions and a Hofbräu Dunkel. I had a Schwammerl-Goulasch mit Semmelknödel - creamy mushroom goulash served with bread dumplings and a side salad and a Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier Dunkel, I think - it doesn't say on the menu . Look at me abusing italics. We greatly appreciated the cute napkins, the stained glass windows, the waitstaff's uniforms (both of which were kind of kitschy... in the good way) and the logos in the chairs. The lighting was dim, but thankfully not too dim. Poor ambient lighting is one of my pet hates. It's fine if you want to great a cosy atmosphere, but I would like to actually see the food I ordered. V's kalbsbratwurst was basically a glorified bangers 'n' mash, I don't know what it tasted like. My mushroom goulash was delicious (er... as food is most of the time) - perfect for a cold winter's day (any day in fact...) The bread dumplings, which I think were just pieces of bread held together in a ball, were huge. I was expecting something like gnocchi and was quite surprised when they arrived. It wasn't until I finished I realised I had just eaten enough to satiate a GROWN-ASS MAN. Whoops (not actually apologetic). Not sure what we did for the next hour, but we ended up at the Museum of Sydney's café (MOS - pronounced as 'moss' by V) sipping on Turkish apple and camomile and lavender tea. We went to Maccas as the skies continued to pee to watch people get caught in the torrential rain. We soon got bored and walked over to Starbucks a few metres away to wait for Euni and Sammi. As soon as they arrived we left for Harts Pub, home of the Rocks Brewing Company and recommended by BeerMenTV. There were two massive hills we had to battle along with the wind and rain but we made it there eventually. Cute bartender... but we were upstairs. V and I ordered a beer paddle each, with the four beers the Rocks Brewing Co. produce but that's about where the similarities ended. She ordered a crocodile burger. With fries (which were fantastic...) obv. Their vegetarian options were very limited. I asked the bartender what vegetarian options they had and she was like 'uh... we've got linguine... and... a side salad'. Euni ordered the same as me and Sam had a chicken kiev with fries. I'm not sure which glass was which, but I'm pretty sure it was the Hangman, the Butcher, the Governor and the Boxer. I don't remember much about the Hangman (I didn't write down any notes because I had food in front of me... and I eat when food's available) but I recall it being quite standard. It was the most bitter of the beers we tried (33 IBU). The Butcher was V's favourite, I found it standard. The Governor was my favourite - it was like summer in a glass. Forealz. The flavour is described as 'stone fruit and citrus with subtle bitterness' - it was light, fruity and provided for really easy drinking. The Boxer was malty, smooth and warm. I'm so bad at describing beers (...everything, really) you should just read up on them here.

This is turning into quite a long entry, I promise I'm almost done. Look what arrived (after two years of lusting). />

tdf

2011-07-22T11:43:00.001+10:00

There are no words to describe how happy I am for Andy Schleck after yesterday's stage of the Tour de France... so I'll post some tweets (which may or may not be unrelated to his win).

related

A bit slow...

THE BEST SERIES OF TWEETS EVER.

But seriously, to attack 60-something kilometres from the finish line and to maintain a lead up two mountains is remarkable. Andy, if only you could time trial as well as you climbed.

Thomas Voeckler has done a pretty astounding job so far, wearing the yellow jersey for 10 days after being in a successful breakaway (where did he even come from?), but Andy's only 15" behind him so theoretically he should be able to make up that time in tonight's stage. Samuel Sanchez and Alberto Contador... sneaky sneaky planning eh? Oh my gosh if the Schleck brothers both get a podium position I will cry with joy.

2011-07-09T20:22:00.002+10:00

Sa-fry-ri

2011-07-07T02:09:00.001+10:00

I wish I were a little more witty in declaring my love for chips, but alas I am not. As I have said before, chips (or fries) would be one of my desert island foods if, in the unlikely situation, I were stranded on an island which happened to be a desert. On Tee-yooz-dey (Miranda reference) I went out to eat. Actually, I'm not sure why I was out, but it turned into a food outing. Wai Lam said there was a food outlet which sold truffle chips and we began there. I identified them first go (these were my thoughts: truffle chips... classy update on staple food => fresh yet traditional => look for company logo which looks classic but modern => oooh Charlie & Co.!) Jane and I ordered the parmesan and truffle oil fries for $8, the most expensive we've ever paid for chips. This was our 'lupper'/'linner' (actually my breakfast...) (yet again another Miranda reference) and I think it was pretty tasty. I mean, it was kind of hard to tell when I had my senses dulled by my cold (the most severe in years) and also when the other person eating had one too. The chips were fried to perfection - light and crisp - however, they were a little on the thin side and I prefer chunkier chips. I can't say much about the taste, which is a shame.

finished!
After Wai Lam parted, Jane and I went to get proper dinner, but because we had just demolished a bowl of chips, we needed something to counterract its artery-clogging-goodness.
I ordered a garden salad. While eating I made the silly mistake of eating both an olive and a cube of feta at the same time.
Jane ordered a caesar salad without the egg. SMH.
We eventually made our way to the Lindt Café, which has become sort of a customary pitt stop for us.

Champagne and hazelnut, the usual.

Bear with... bear with... (how is everyone handling the Miranda references? HAHA SUCH FUN)
Jane had the genius idea of checking up how much it'd cost to attend a macaron class, but we concluded it's just cheaper to buy macarons once in a blue moon. I think I need to learn how to use my camera at night. These photos are shite-tastic.

ii

2011-07-02T15:44:00.001+10:00

Eager not to let the 20% off coupon code pass me by without taking full advantage of it, I ordered from NoteMaker again. This time I bought three more black Rhodia #19 grid pads, a bottle of Noodler's ink, a clip and a Moleskine.
Everything came in this cute bag. I don't know what I'll use it for though. A much needed pen clip. I've been struggling to find a way to carry pens with my moleskine. Currently waiting for Dad to come home so I can go to work, all the while wishing I didn't have to. Work just called to ask if I could start early. errr

hi

2011-06-27T16:35:00.002+10:00

I still haven't read these magazines. The first one I bought back in the first week of February. Found straws and made stars.Watching the first ep of season 4 of True Blood while blogging.

Breakfast at 3.

2011-06-20T16:20:00.002+10:00

Having been on my mid semester break for almost a week I've done nothing but sleep, eat and go on my laptop. By sleep I mean for at least nine hours a day and wake up in the afternoon after hectic nights of watching Nigella Express and Spongebob Squarepants. This past week has been pretty unproductive, bordering on boring but, I quote Dan Harmon, 'I am bored, and I don't want to be not-bored, because being bored is a luxury, but it's a boring luxury'. Maybe I should watch Community. eta: With all this time I am unapologetically going to clog up your feeds.To relieve my boredom (I really get bored watching shows I like... err) I made some meringues last night with a berry sauce with some remaining frozen berries I had stashed in the freezer.
I couldn't take a very good photo without opening the oven door. (and my brother and I ate all the meringues before I could take any photos whoops) While the meringues are baking in the oven I started on the sauce. miam miamWoke up at 3 today and complained to Jane about having nothing to eat. Nonetheless I gathered some ingredients and had a pretty terrific meal. Didn't realise photo was blurry until I started editing. Forgive me, I've only been awake for a little over an hour.Pan toasted some bread and used the egg yolks from last night's meringue eggs to make eggs in a basket. Sliced some avocado and warmed up a chickpea patty.Yoghurt and museli, topped with the berry sauce I had left (which turned into a jam!) Mixed. Ate some grapefruit.

2011-06-19T20:50:00.002+10:00

okay, I gotta start charging. Gon b rich.

2011-06-18T19:22:00.001+10:00

luv luv luv

The video's been removed since posting. It was British Style Genius The Street Look.

An addiction of sorts

2011-06-16T18:25:00.003+10:00

If you've had the displeasure of meeting me, you probably know that I am a nut for stationery. It all started in Year 1 when my parents would reward me a Pentel gel pen (they were cool) for every school merit card I received. The first one was gold, then silver, blue and red (these were all metallic). Nothing much has changed since then besides a marginally bigger budget (I am no longer six years old) and slightly refined taste. Last month Inscriber sent out a newsletter informing subscribers that they were closing and merging with NoteMaker... and sent me a 20% discount code. HELL YES. A few days ago NoteMaker had a Queen's birthday sale so armed with my discount code I went shopping. I didn't purchase much though and may take advantage of the code again.
Look at the grain, LOOK AT IT. 2 A4 Rhodia pads. Cheap as. (they were $4.95 each) Lamy Safari in AQUAMARINE hehehehehehehehehe

2011-06-13T13:51:00.041+10:00

My semester's over but I'm still trying to complete this assignment (haha 'trying to complete this assignment' - all I've done is write a checklist of things I need to do). Despite this minor bump in the road (to er, happiness?) I've planned out what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my seven week break.

sleep until 13:00h every day unless I've got work
save up
watch as my bank balance goes up
write on The People Repeller
BRAT PACK FILMS!
maybe rat pack as well?
watch the 32gb worth of films I have on my laptop currently (this is kind of embarrassing...)
swim w/ Jane (Jane we must. You get to see little kids.)
delete stuff from my laptop. I don't care what. I have less than 100gb left and I'm freaking out.
READ HARRY POTTER (TIA Jane)
not attempt to make macaron shells and waste egg yolks
listen to the music on my iTunes then delete stuff.
attempt to fix my skin up
annoy people with my incessant blogging
design headers for V and S
buy Tom Ford lipsticks before they get repackaged
restart Mixtape Mondays
get a start on typography for next semester

That last point looks out of place but after last Thursday's lecture by next semester's subject coordinator I am shitting my pants. We have three assignments and for one of them we are actually designing our own WORKING fonts. We even need symbols and ligatures. SHIT BRIX M8. Feeling sorry for my future self.

Wednesday is going to be brilliant.

Oh yeah, turns out it isn't blogger which is making my photos look funny. It's actually Google Chrome and its shitty colour rendering. If you view my blog in Safari/Firefox/other browser errthang should be sweet.

2011-06-06T23:20:00.025+10:00

I'm on a 5 day weekend but instead of attempting to complete the two assignments I have left I've been watching films, eating and sleeping in.Today I woke up at approximately 12:30 because the phone rang (I missed the call anyway). I would've stayed in bed for longer if it weren't for that call. I bet it was a telemarketer. Got dressed in my usual hobo get up, put on my mask and went to the post office to collect what I thought would be a parcel but turns out they were just tickets. I went into Westfield to buy some lunch – a focaccia. When I returned home I realised I had enough ingredients to make a better one. $8 wasted. I've had the biggest craving for sour ears for the past couple of days and knowing me and my self control I went and bought some pick 'n' mix. So good.The other day my brother gave me some Hershey's. Crappy American chocolate.I'm not sure what's up with blogger but all my photos have this weird green tinge to them. I'm definite it's not my photos because they're fine when I edit them and when I've uploaded them to flickr.

270511

2011-05-28T14:19:00.004+10:00

In the past I would breathe a sign of relief, 'TGIF', but since uni started that hasn't been the case. Having a 9am lecture then a three hour break before a marathon three hour tute I've been dreading Fridays ever since (Friday afternoons a different story). I attended my lecture and after that I went to do some work which was going to be due in the tute. However, after eating lunch and coming to the conclusion that I wouldn't be doing anything productive in it, I skipped it. To drink. No, I'm not a drunkard, I needed photos for my assignment. Anton wanted to eat at Star Bar. So we went.
Anton's lunch. My lunch. V decided to get a spaghetti she later regretted.Easy V ~~don't come for free~~ is happy. Cleaning my lipbrush on a serviette. I don't even know. Anton had to leave for her tute so V and I hung around Pitt St. We found the DJ section in the new JB HiFi and had a play. Even though I had no idea what I was doing.
I had made plans with Jane to eat at Moo (best chips ever. Better than Lord of the Fries) in Newtown. Originally we were going to go to the cinema but she had too much work. That was until we decided that we were going to Circular Quay and the Rocks to check out Vivid. Her burger. My burger. I was a little too close for my lens to focus haha.Condiments!Condiment guardian! Jane's a legit doctor with a stethoscope yo. Lights

(better) late (than never)

2011-05-28T13:33:00.004+10:00

You know you're getting old when one of your youngest friends is finally 18. Last week was Vivyan's birthday but instead of giving her presents, my friends gave me my present. I did take a few photos but they're not very good (err... like the rest of my photos haha). We went to eat at Blackbird Café in Darling Harbour. I must say, I got so confused seeing the waiters and waitresses in their black and yellow uniforms, reminiscent of TweetDeck's logo. They even had a bird ffs. That being said, I didn't tweet that much during the dinner (I have awful table manners). After dindin we went over to Docks Bar then Albion Place Hotel.
Tired Tiff takes time off.I received a Pac-Man Moleskine set and a Danish dessert cookbook.'we are a small country, we gotta pimp ourselves out.'

2011-05-25T23:47:00.001+10:00

It's Winter. All I want to do is watch this drink tea and watch this film over and over again. I recently found a download to the second disc which I didn't even know existed. It has all the instrumental songs plus alternate versions to the songs already on the OST. There's one track which I'm particularly fond of (this is saying a lot because I'm pretty sure the Les chansons d'amour soundtrack is one of the most played albums on my iTunes) and it's the theme song, creatively named 'Générique'. Whenever I start watching the film and hear the first few notes of the theme song I get a comforting wave of nostalgia and melancholy. The song starts at 1:32 in the video above. It's actually 'Au Parc' sung by Chiara Mastroianni but it's the same song.There are only a few weeks of first semester left and as much as I'd love for this semester to be over already I'm not looking forward through them trying to complete my assignments. I've been rostered to work on both days of the weekend - that's when I usually get my work done so I'm kind of shitting myself. Tonight was one of the rare nights I actually sat in front of the television watching something. Usually I stream tv serials online or download them because I can never be bothered to leave my room and Australian television is always a few weeks (even a season) behind. There was this 'report' on the 7PM Project about MS and they listed a few symptoms, one being 'constant fatigue'. Now, I'm pretty sure I don't have any neurological disorder but sometimes I wish I had an excuse to explain why I'm always so tired. I know I'm lazy but laziness doesn't explain why I'm always exhausted. I wake up for uni and by the time I get back home I'm ready to sleep (wake me up when winter ends, eh?). It leaves hardly any time for me to do my homework because 1 - I need time to psyche myself into starting and 2 - I'm just too tired. I spend my two days off sleeping past midday. No Jane, this doesn't make me a slob - I work better at night. I wish the Doctor wasn't a fictional character and I was one of the lucky few to be one of his companions just so I can skip to a better point in my life. Whoops, that was about as dramatic as Cristiano Ronaldo falling on the field, clutching his knee with an obviously feigned expression of ~pain~. What I'm trying to say is 'I would like to wake up refreshed and be somewhat pleased with my life at any one time'. That last paragraph was a poor excuse as to why I haven't been updating, but really, bar a couple of my closest friends, no one reads this blog. I haven't taken many photos because I've done nothing but go to uni, work, sleep and eat. As I said before, I tire out easily (go read my last post about introversion. EVERYTHING EXHAUSTS ME) so even updating The People Repeller has become a chore, despite starting it for fun. Don't get me wrong, I have ideas (a whole page of them) but I just haven't written them. Writing's hard, especially when you're sharing a blog with two others who have much superior English skills to your own.

2011-05-23T22:24:00.006+10:00

I was linked by Jane to this page on introverts. All ten points are applicable to me.

Then I came across this line: If the science behind the book is correct, it turns out that Introverts are people who are over-sensitive to Dopamine, so too much external stimulation overdoses and exhausts them I WAS RIGHT. BEING NICE IS EXHAUSTING.

I think I'll just copy and paste everything. This can be a 'getting to know me' post.

Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.
This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days.
I tell people I don't like to talk out of convenience.

Myth #2 – Introverts are shy.
Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite.
Preach.

Myth #3 – Introverts are rude.
Introverts often don’t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting.

Myth #4 – Introverts don’t like people.
On the contrary, Introverts intensely value the few friends they have. They can count their close friends on one hand. If you are lucky enough for an introvert to consider you a friend, you probably have a loyal ally for life. Once you have earned their respect as being a person of substance, you’re in.
i h8 errone.

Myth #5 – Introverts don’t like to go out in public.
Nonsense. Introverts just don’t like to go out in public FOR AS LONG. They also like to avoid the complications that are involved in public activities. They take in data and experiences very quickly, and as a result, don’t need to be there for long to 'get it'. They’re ready to go home, recharge, and process it all. In fact, recharging is absolutely crucial for Introverts.

Myth #6 – Introverts always want to be alone.
Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts. They think a lot. They daydream. They like to have problems to work on, puzzles to solve. But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don’t have anyone to share their discoveries with. They crave an authentic and sincere connection with ONE PERSON at a time.

Myth #7 – Introverts are weird.
Introverts are often individualists. They don’t follow the crowd. They’d prefer to be valued for their novel ways of living. They think for themselves and because of that, they often challenge the norm. They don’t make most decisions based on what is popular or trendy.

Myth #8 – Introverts are aloof nerds.
Introverts are people who primarily look inward, paying close attention to their thoughts and emotions. It’s not that they are incapable of paying attention to what is going on around them, it’s just that their inner world is much more stimulating and rewarding to them.
ALOOF IS MY MIDDLE NAME

Myth #9 – Introverts don’t know how to relax and have fun.
Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways. Just look it up.

Myth #10 – Introverts can fix themselves and become Extroverts.
A world without Introverts would be a world with few scientists, musicians, artists, poets, filmmakers, doctors, mathematicians, writers, and philosophers. That being said, there are still plenty of techniques an Extrovert can learn in order to interact with Introverts. (Yes, I reversed these two terms on purpose to show you how biased our society is). Introverts cannot 'fix themselves' and deserve respect for their natural temperament and contributions to the human race. In fact, one study (Silverman, 1986) showed that the percentage of Introverts increases with IQ.
Nigz, that's right, I'm smart. The internet says so.

These ten points are so relevant to my life I can't even.

sick

2011-05-11T10:42:00.003+10:00

Yesterday was pretty shite-tacular. NB: I'm always sick. Sick of self, sick of people, sick of life.I skipped both my lecture and tute yesterday and hung with V in Fisher library. By 'hung' I meant I did my assignment and she slept. I got judged by USyd students when they saw the UTS logo on my assignment brief.

2011-05-08T13:22:00.002+10:00

LOOK WHAT I FOUND.

A HAT AND A PAIR OF GLOVES. WINTER, COME AT ME.

eta:

Agger is always relevant.

2011-05-06T00:09:00.001+10:00

I like the look of you moving easily in the street, stopping to notice the clouds, the flowers, the cut price clothes in the store window. Eyes slipping stealthily sideways to catch your own image in the windows as you pass to make sure you look as good as you feel. I noticed you yesterday too, and a time or two before that. But then I was in haste doing my own thing and you just flashed into my mind a vision looking good. But today you look good and available.

inactive observation

2011-05-02T20:29:00.000+10:00

First day of design camp today. My alarm went off at 6:59, I got up at 7:14, way too early considering I've woken up at noon for the past fortnight. I got to Cockatoo Island half an hour late, but saved myself from listening to some tedious and theoretical introduction on design, probably. After five hours of doing pointless shit I was about to leave at 3:40 but just missed the ferry after signing out which resulted in a group of us waiting for an hour for the next ferry.

Being nice is exhausting. I fell asleep on the train (as I do most of the time).

In order to avoid seeing people from uni on the platform at Circular Quay, E and I decided to take a bus to Town Hall. That plan fell through because a) I'm hopeless with buses, b) we didn't know which bus to catch and c) when we found a bus to catch we realised that it was peak hour and it'd be more time-efficient just to walk. Saw some people from uni - another failed plan. I realised by the time we were at Wynard that I could catch a train from Martin Place because it's on the Illawarra line and it'd save me from walking. However, some guy rocking a grey skinny suit (with a leather satchel with an umbrella tucked under the flap) had an even better idea - mini skateboard. What a BAMF. BAMF spotting should be my second job.

Through my active observation I've come to realise how oblivious people are to the people around them. It seems as though people who dress similarly always find a way to each other (I'm a design student, I'm allowed to be shallow). So many girls in design dress like the typical whimsy tumblr girl we're all sick to death of - floaty dresses, large knit cardigans, ripped stockings and Doc Marten's. I doubt I would've noticed if they didn't all congregate together but the fact that they do makes it pretty obvious. It may be a stretch, but I'm hypothesising that when these people see each other they think to themselves'I like the ~~[crappy]~~ way she dresses - she looks like me therefore, she must have something interesting to say'. Now that we're in the second half of the semester, everyone's found their own group. It's kind of sickening to think that these people, adults, are still as cliquey as teenage girls. No, I don't put myself out there, I don't talk to people out of the blue and no, your clothes are pretty fucking terrible, but that doesn't mean that you should leave a 10m radius around me BECAUSE THAT'S DISCRIMINATION.

That was another poorly flowing mass of words and spaces brought to you by my inability to express myself. #coollife

Gaarden of Hoes

2011-04-23T21:46:00.003+10:00

This song, THIS SONG. We cannot be friends if you don't listen to this. My day, basically. There was no pregnant woman with a pram in sight, I did not confuse the accelerator with the brakes and yeah, my u-turns were pretty spectacular yo. More photos because that's all I seem to post. Fuck writing.Note my glasses slipping down.V channeling her inner Robert Smith, HA.I don't usually let creeps in.Many a-joke to be made from this. (something about white beer, white people and Nazis... if we disregard that Belgium was a neutral country in WWII and were actually defended by the Allies BUT I DIGRESS)I bought a litre of hand sanitiser. Clean hands for life.Despite my intense love for chavs, I've decided looking like one really isn't going to work for me. I came to this conclusion after wearing some light pink lipstick for two seconds and being ridiculed for some time after that. What am I talking about, I'm ridiculed by everyone 24/7. h8 errbody, errthang.

RECAP

2011-04-08T23:02:00.003+10:00

Photos because I feel like using up your internet.

And to share two brilliant quotes from one of my lecturers. Talking about a tutor 'She's kind of a type Nazi and I can say that because I'm from Austria'. In reference to our shoddy, ever-failing technology 'I suggested the other week that we should just drop the 'T' so we'd be University of Sydney'. No, I'm afraid that name's been taken by the University of Sydney.

A found note.

Anton's friend never showed up.

Found art.

Nicole and I were on a break.

The DAB art store has the best signs.

Katie's favourite. Bob Dylan just saying 'hi'.

Something one of the Gallagher brothers said.

Today. Looking like a legit creep lying on the grass in USyd.

Met up with Vivien.

Vivien found some insect in her cup.

Naturally we dust over some salt and pepper.

Maths is her life.

I had burger cravings so we went to Moo in Newtown.

We can't get a photo with Douglas Booth (who plays Heinz in Christopher and his Kind) so we settled with a bottle of tomato sauce.

Skyping w/ ma and bro.

TVEGC

2011-04-01T15:15:00.000+11:00

Since uni's started I've dreaded waking up. Not only because I never want to get up, but because I have to actually decide what to wear. Obviously I cannot walk out looking like a hobo (although I've come dangerously close) so I've decided I need more t-shirts because I can simply throw them on and walk out the door after I've put on my bottoms and shoes. I found this Victorian English Gentlemens Club t-shirt last year but forgot about it until I realised 'lol I have no clothes'.They're such sweeties they even sent me a vinyl (complete with feather!) and a thank you note. I may need to visit a friend with a record player soon. So I don't completely smell like I live in a bin...Powder. It smells good.After uni on Monday Jane and I finally bought our lip tars after lusting for them for months. I bought NSFW and Grandma.Finally got a watch.

NOTHING

2011-03-28T00:21:00.001+11:00

This is a post about nothing in particular except for the fact that people are ridiculous.

I went to work today and stood on point for three and a half hours (that is, ripping tickets, looking pretty with my freshly cut hair, being compared to Knives Chau from Scott Pilgrim vs the World, faking lots of smiles etc). About an hour and a half in a purple hoard of pre-teens and their mothers come marching down the stairs with purple glowsticks and purple 3D glasses. I was like 'what the actual fuck?' then I read - Justin Bieber someone's backpack and jumper. smh @ humanity. A few minutes later this woman and her three kids come to me and ask 'hi, we just came out of the cinema and my daughter's lost her Justin Bieber glowstick, can we go up to get it?' UM, LOOK AT YOUR LIFE. LOOK AT YOUR CHOICES. It's a glowstick for fuck's sake, IT'S NOT GOING TO GLOW AGAIN.

Oh yeah, and there's this guy who works at the candy bar who looks EXACTLY like Andy Schleck.

bollocky wankshite

2011-03-20T01:08:00.002+11:00

It's been 5 days since my last update and really, nothing has changed. Jamie Stewart remains a babe and I still continue to hate uni.

Loosely inspired by my favourite film, Les chansons d'amour (or as I say, Love Songs, because it is legitimately embarrassing when I attempt to pronounce anything in French) this post will be divided into three parts. Truthfully speaking I'm just putting off work and waiting for the Bayern Munich v Freiburg game.

The Departure (from my lazing about at home)
After three weeks my friend count has plateaued at a whopping 0. I have made some acquaintances but I don't know anyone well enough to greet them with a 'fuck off out of my face you dumb bitch' or something similar yet. My friends will testify to this. I've now gotten to the point where I want to be known as some loner bamf who swaggers out of lectures. It's not that I hate people ~~that much~~ it's just I have no clue how to begin, sustain and end a conversation amicably. I'll pretend that that's part of my 'charm'.

Infuriatingly, I finally got a job after four months of doing nothing at home and just when uni started. (Literally. My interview was after my first day at uni.) I like the environment so much more compared to uni. People actually talk to me and no one minds my idiocy (I'll pretend they embrace it). Yeah, to milk it for all its worth, I ripped Angus McLaren's ticket. On the first night I got a blister from sweeping. My guns are now bad-ass and ripped thanks to those brooms and collectors.

The Absence (of friends)
I really wonder if I'm going to make friends at uni. Yeah. That's all.

On Friday I hung out with some journo kids and will be forever jealous of their tight-knit group. I felt like I belonged for three hours. Everyone was so friendly and open. I must've looked like such a creep just entering their library room.

The Return (of work)
Let's just put this mildly and say that I am drowning, not waving.

My life in three parts. No photos. Not even comprehensible writing. Just bollocky wankshite. (although, e-stalking, which makes up a significant part of my so called life, has been swinging!)

At 18.25 I still haven't got my P's. It is so embarrassing knowing that my lad neighbour is in year 12 and got his P's last year.

CEREMONY

2011-03-15T17:40:00.001+11:00

I don't want to do anything but listen to Ceremony and all its covers in bed.Joy DivisionNew OrderXiu XiuRadioheadGalaxie 500

XIU XIU

2011-03-09T14:22:00.000+11:00

Just because they're fabulous.

jfc what a babe.

2:20 - I die.

brb crying

JAMIE v XYLOPHONE

I Luv the Valley OH! again for good measure. Look at Jamie playing on that Hello Kitty Nintendo DSi.

nuffin'

2011-03-06T00:22:00.004+11:00

Dicking around with makeup. And cameras.

This is the first time I'm using the tag 'photography'.

2011-03-02T18:47:00.005+11:00

I'm not one for words. Here are a few photos and tidbits about my life 25/02/11 - 02/03/2011.

Uni began on the 28th. On the first day I arrived at UTS a little too early and freaked out waiting outside. I've met a few people but most of the people in my faculty need to yank rakes out of their asses because they're stand off-ish and pretentious. (I'll probably be proved wrong later on.)

Since it's started I've had to buy a shit tonne of supplies. The upside to visiting Eckersley's is that I now have a student card which rewards me with a 10% discount on every purchase.

I went to the post office this morning to ask if they knew where my packages were but I was told to phone them instead. The lady on the line was super sweet and laughed at the fact that I was phoning her from the train station and had to stop for City Rail's announcements to finish. After lugging my hippo ass to Bondi to buy supplies from Eckersley's I returned to the post office where I had three parcels. One of them being my portrait by Oslo Davis.

Paul Smith for Rhodia notebooks. The paper quality is phenomenal.

Turquoise is one of my favourite colours jsyk. I actually made a 'favourite colour flag' the other day. It's here.

Bobbi Brown Nectar Shimmer Brick.

I think it's unscented but the product smells awful. It's not strong (it's rather faint) but it smells gross. If I wanted my olfactory senses to be assaulted I would jump in a bin, jussayin'.

In case anyone misconstrues my posts as bragging (idek, why would I even be bragging, I'm poor), let me just say that I have nothing else to post.

2011-02-25T15:42:00.003+11:00

Long overdue. Click to read.

This a recap of the past fortnight.

Liverpool FC fans are legitimately insane.

Giant blocks of chocolate.

Some steampunk looking pendants.

Pancakes

Sam's 18th. Their garage is truly a spectacular sight.

Loser.

Losers.

Kelly's 18th. I ordered a Madame Violetta because 'Plymouth Sloe Gin' stuck with me after chatting with Vivien... who was chatting to ex-bartender Ed.

Ice cream afterwards.

A molten bin.

Walking to Central from some USyd event.

RISOTTO

2011-02-12T14:34:00.002+11:00

It was after dinner last night when I found a pack of arborio rice I had neglected. I was tempted to make risotto last night (common sense? what is it?) but Mum was like 'aw hael naw' and I decided to munch on some nuts.

Fast forward to this morning. I was in bed, it was 11 and the only thing that got me out of bed was the thought of risotto.

Ingredients:
- 10g butter
- 200g pumpkin (I used Jap), 3mm slices
- 8 medium sized mushrooms, 3mm slices
- handful of basil leaves
- 1½ cups arborio rice
- some chopped spinach, however much you want
- 2L vegetable stock (around this much, adjust accordingly)
- 1tbs olive oil

Method:
1 — Heat a little oil (I use rice bran oil), just enough to cover the pan and lay down your slices of pumpkin in a single layer. You may not be able to fit all of it in one go. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Put aside the pumpkin. Melt a little butter and oil (to stop the butter from burning).

2 — When the butter starts bubbling, add in the basil leaves. Add the sliced mushrooms when basil is fragrant. Cook unti it looks a little something like the photo below.

(I added wholeseed mustard)

3 - In a pot heat the olive oil and add in rice. When the rice looks glassy add your first ladle of stock. Stir until the rice has absorbed the liquid and repeat.

4 - When you've used about 3/4 of your stock add all of your spinach and half of your pumpkin and mushrooms. I quite fancy the idea of the pumpkin breaking down and becoming part of the rice.

5 - When risotto is done, stir through the remainder of the pumpkin and mushroom. Spoon the risotto into bowls.

Serves 4+

MELB PT2

2011-02-09T22:15:00.008+11:00

Day 4
Under the presumption that the NGV Ian Potter Centre and ACMI would take the entire day we headed down the road to Federation Square. We then realised that the Ian Potter Centre was tiny and that the ACMI admission fee was too high for us cheapos. The exhibition, The Naked Face at the NGV was fantastic though. It was just our luck when we stumbled out we found the stop for the free tourist shuttle. We boarded it and went to the Docklands (it was advertised online as a new shopping district. It sucked). Disappointed by the poor shopping experience we set our hopes on Luna Park to cheer us up. Unbeknownst to us, tram stops aren't chronological so we got off too early. When we arrived we found that Luna Park was closed. Despite going to cheer ourselves up, St Kilda's Luna Park is more terrifying than jovial. Not willing to waste our tickets we continued walking down the street and found so many bakeries. I die. We settled with a churros dinner. smh @ us.

Jane pissed off as usual.

Jane obviously has problems because she thinks a pink Nissan Micra is following her.

Little Bastard Choo Choo - Sparklehorse

Day 5
Jenny and Jane needed a shopping fix (I quote 'once I start shopping, I can't stop. I get this from my mother. Where ever she goes she has to bring half the city back with her'). We went to Chapel St in South Yarra - it's like Newtown but less alternative. As we had already spent money on our tickets we went to the actual NGV, NGV International just down the road. Obviously it was too far for us. We got there pretty late and I didn't finish seeing everything in the gallery. Jane and Jenny didn't share my love for the chairs. UGH THE CHAIRS! I don't have many photos from the day.

Kit, how I love you.

Jenny and Sergio.

Jenny and Sergio again.

An Interlude - The Decemberists
Day 6
This was our last full day in Melbourne so we went shopping, obviously. Dangerfield was playing amazing music and I found out that the guy who served me on my first day in Melbourne really was called Joss. Lunch was at Grill'd. Their burgers are so big I had difficulty opening my mouth wide enough to eat but I managed. Nothing gets in the way of me and my food, NOT EVEN MY TINY MOUTH. The guy who served us had a very peculiar accent and a deep voice. After shopping we got back to the motel but I was still itching to go back to the NGV. I left, Jane and Jenny did their own thing. I got back and found no one there so I went down and got a coffee, using my fake name Anne of course.

Mag Nation. I bought Lula from here.

OF COURSE Jane and Jenny read some football magazine when there's tonnes of other more interesting things to look at.

That post office which got converted into a shopping centre.

cutest cons ever.

Delish. I love peach flavoured anything.

Jane finally got her red velvet cupcake.

We had some sparkling wine to celebrate. Jenny has no tolerance to alcohol as we discovered.

La Noyee - Yann Tiersen
Day 7
I had my first Maccas breakfast on this morning. I think that deserved its place as first sentence. We checked out of the motel and had nothing to do for 4 hours. Jane and Jenny were boring so I went on a walk by myself. Great fun. I walked along the river from Federation Square, crossed a bunch of bridges, made it to Southbank and walked back to the square along one side of Flinders St Station. When I got back to the square J and J were still sitting there. I phoned Anton to catch up on football (haha, not really). Ah, I love Dagger for elbowing Torres. There were some cute ~~underage~~ boys sitting in front of us on the steps.

Morning.

This was my lunch I ate before boarding.

Or - Sonic Youth

MELB PT 1

2011-02-09T20:59:00.006+11:00

This is part one of my recount of my week in Melbourne which I dubbed 'school camp on steroids'. I find difficulty in conceding that Melbourne, overall, is a ~~classier~~ better city - the people are more polite and welcoming, the city is far easier to navigate, people dress better, people are healthier and there are no lads or Asian gangsters.

Day 1
Arriving at our motel we unpacked (at least I did) and after lying down on the beds for a while we went about familiarising ourselves with the city, our home for the next six days. It was just as hot as Sydney that day, but not as humid. However, unlike Sydney it actually cooled down. Straight after buying some groceries from Coles we went to Lord of the Fries. I think that says a lot about us.

I found this heart. The motel obviously loved us before even letting us in.

On the other side of Swantston St

The warped mirror.

This is the motel from outside and St Paul's Cathedral.

In the Royal Arcade.

Nerdiest sign ever.

I Like Van Halen Because My Sister Says They're Cool - El Ten Eleven
Day 2
We caught the free City Circle tram to Melbourne Museum. At night we went to the Night Markets (original name) at the Queen Victoria Markets. There we shared one sangria (that sounds frugal but Jane's underage and Jenny and I already had cocktails). As we were enjoying the cool weather outside while Sabrina and the Red Vans played there was the coolest old man ever who just danced like a bamf. Unbelievable.

SAGL

even better

Sorry About Your Irony - El Ten Eleven
Day 3
In the morning we went to Flinders St Station and had no idea how to buy a ticket. The stops in Melbourne are categorised into zones 1 and 2. We were looking for a return ticket but turns out that a Daily ticket gives you unlimited access to trams, buses and trains. We headed to Spotswood for Scienceworks. It's like Questacon 2.0 aka heaven. Returning to the CBD we went to the Pancake Parlour, Melbourne's version of our Pancakes on the Rocks. They may have better tasting food but it lacks atmosphere. We didn't know at the time but Chinese New Year dinners are supposed to be had on CNYE... but seeing as we are Ch inesewe decided to have our obligatory Asian dinner. Jane and Jenny had their peking duck, I had a plate of vegetable noodles. The guy sitting next to me was unbelievably hot. RIDONKULOUS.

Biggest cheapos ever.

The best chips ever.

Killing time outside the library.

Fat Gym Riot - El Ten Eleven

OUT

2011-01-29T18:19:00.002+11:00

Once in a blue moon I venture out of the comforts of my room, out the front door even. Today was one of those days. In preparation for my upcoming trip to Melbourne I had to buy a weekend bag and I did. The point of this post is coming up, I swear. After buying the bag Jane and I went to the Apple store to check ONTD. As Jane said 'the one day we're not sitting in front of our computers at home we're out... and on the internet'. Ah, my life... ~~is tasty~~. I had a blueberry bagel with cream cheese and tiramisu gelato. miam miam.

As much as I am embarrassed to say, I am a kind of camera snob but recently I've been in the 'whatevs' mindset and have begun actually taking photos with my phone camera. Pics from my adventures after the jump.

Manly w/ Jane and Angela.

We learnt that Jane has no idea how to apply sunscreen properly

Went to Sam's to make Vivien's present. Amazing house. This isn't her house.

Went to James's. This was the view.

The other view. When I am rich...

Trying to use up a tube of lipstick is hard work.

Went to Vivien's for a pre-Australia Day picnic. It was a blisteringly hot day.

GPOY EVERYDAY

THE BROWN DWARF LOP IS MY FAVOURITE RABBIT AFTER PETER.

In a QVB lift.

Ice ~~ice baby~~ cream. Err... gelato actually. (Did you hear that Vanilla Ice slipped on ice? I lol'ed)

ONION SOUP

2011-01-26T14:33:00.005+11:00

Waking up late from my nine hour beauty sleep (I'm scoffing too) as per usual, my mind immediately went to food and what I'd eat for lunch. At my disposal were onions, bread and lots of time. The last time I ate onion soup was in year 8 when all the French classes (languages was compulsory in year 8) went to The Little Snail in Pyrmont. This is a lazy recipe for lazy people. All that you really need to do is know how to chop and stir. Really. Again, I have no recipes of my own - source here.

Ingredients:

30g butter
1 tbs olive oil
3 onions, sliced thinly (around 3mm)
1 tsp sugar
1 tbs plain flour
2 cups stock

Method

1- Heat butter and oil in a saucepan over low-medium heat until sizzling.
2 - Add onions and the salt, cooking until the onions are very soft, about 45 minutes. Stir regularly.
3 - Dust over the sugar and stir, caramelising the onions for 10 minutes.

It should resemble something like this by this stage
4 - Sprinkle in the flour, stirring for 2 minutes.
5 - Add stock and 1 cup of water. Reduce heat and let simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.
6 - Allow to cool slightly and ladle soup into bowls (or bowl if you're really hungry).

In other news:

BABY

2011-01-24T19:51:00.002+11:00

Say hi to my new baby. It's my present for getting into uni.

Hi.

Regardless that it's at least 27 years old, its inside is still remarkably clean.

Look what finally arrived several millennia after ordering.

SATURDAY

2011-01-22T17:12:00.003+11:00

Most of the time I'm reluctant to clean my room because I convince myself that there's no point and that I'll eventually mess it up again. I think I'll have great fun doing so after I spent the entire day tidying my room. Really. It took an entire day. Pix later.

To celebrate our uni offers, J, J, J and I ate at Little Italy, a small Italian restaurant in ~~the middle of no where~~ Allawah on Thursday. The last time I went was in year 6 with Signora Fennel and the two OC classes. Obviously when you're 11 and can't cook you're bound to have fond memories of wood fired pizzas so needless to say I was really flippin' excited to go back. We decided to order one 15" margherita pizza, a pesto fettuccine and uh, I'm not actually sure what J and J ordered - some beef tortellini dish I think. For dessert we had a Mars bar mouse and a gelato trio - vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. After stuffing ourselves we hung around Kemp Field like hobos until we could actually move where I discovered that a former school mate (I use the term 'mate' loosely) actually has a new born. What the flipping hell? Ah, white trash.

WHY WON'T MY BASIL BUSH GROW?!

Desert island food - forealz.

Best Mars bar mousse ever.

Before the epic battle between me and my room began, I started my morning off with tea, my brunch (because I kind of wake up too late for breakfast everyday)

It is seriously the coolest bag ever. Not because of its tetrahedron shape but because there are no seams. It's like the bag is a bubble. Even the string is attached magically.

My favourite spoon to use with tea.

Some frozen grapefruit.

Miam miam.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a hoarder. I don't even know where this gene came from because both my parents love throwing things away. So this is what my room looks like now. I think this is the neatest it's ever been.

Plus one additional image to prove that my desk is actually neat.

Obviously the coolest tissue holder you've ever seen.

click below to see something you're probably not interested in.

JenWen finally came back from China and because she's obv all about giving I received a few things from her. Actually, she just texted me (ah, she's seriously into this giving thing) and apparently a MAC store is opening in Town Hall? FLIP YEAH.

PINK LEMONADE

2011-01-19T18:40:00.004+11:00

The first time I made this with Jane was after we went to the Rocks Markets and were ripped off when we bought $3.50 cups of pink lemonade with plain water (as opposed to sparkling). It was after swimming and naturally we were rather exhausted and lethargic. Although I can't speak for Jane, I originally made it to spite those people who sold it to us and the results were surprisingly good, actually what we concocted is better than what we bought.

I used this recipe as a guide.

It's quite simple to make - Squeeze a cup of lemon juice and dissolve a cup of sugar (uh, I never actually put in a cup) in a saucepan and allow to cool. Mash some raspberries in some pink guava juice and strain, then pour into the cooled lemon/sugar mixture. When ready to drink just pour a little lemonade concentrate into the bottom of a glass and top with sparkling water. I find that the mixture is just enough for a 1.25L bottle of sparkling water.

The concentrate

MIXTAPE

2011-01-12T19:59:00.004+11:00

This isn't a mix I created for this blog, rather it's a compilation of all my current favourites I put together for Al in return for her book recommendation list so there are heaps of songs I've already posted in my older mixes. There are 55 songs because I had a hard time cutting it down. It's so large I had to split it into two files so if you're downloading you'll need hj-split to put it back together. There's a lot of TNPS in comparison to the other artists because I'm trying to find someone to go with me to their concert when they come which is hopefully in the very near future.

part 1 part 2

Easy chocolate mudcake

2011-01-11T19:11:00.006+11:00

I adapted my recipe from this for my Dad's birthday cake.

My dad's birthday this year is in binary (11/01/11). I think I need Bender or Fry.

Only when I was reviewing my photos I learnt that my brother doesn't know how to compose a shot or keep still. I apologise in advance for the crummy (GET IT?) photos.

Ingredients:

200g butter
100g good quality dark chocolate
1/4 cup water
1/4 cocoa powder, sifted
2 tbs instant coffee powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp coffee essence
1 cup caster sugar (although really, I never go to the extra effort to buy caster sugar. I used raw.)
3 eggs
½ cup self raising flower
¼ cup almond meal
¼ cup currants

Method:

Preheat your oven at 160ºC and grease a cake tin.
Mix butter, chocolate, water, cocoa, coffee and vanilla in a medium saucepan on low heat until combined. Allow to cool for ten minutes or until lukewarm.
Whisk sugar and eggs until the mixture is pale and creamy. Pour in chocolate mixture and mix until combined. Stir in flour and almond meal until smooth. Add in currants and combine.

Pour batter into cake tin and bake for 55 minutes.
Allow to cool completely before icing.

I didn't have a recipe for the icing but I threw some ingredients together and it turned out alright.

Ingredients:

20g butter, preferably unsalted but it doesn't matter, room temperature
¼ – ½ cup of icing sugar
¼ cocoa powder
10g cream cheese
½ tsp vanilla essence
½ tsp coffee essence

Method:

Beat butter and cream cheese until pale.
Add vanilla and coffee. Stir.
Gradually sprinkle in the cocoa powder and sugar while beating.

I just tried the cake and holy shit, it is amazing. It's really moist and rich without being heavy, if that makes any sense. ~~Walking through chocolate heaven rn~~

By the by... Dark chocolate and peppermint mmm...

post xmas

2011-01-04T18:29:00.005+11:00

These packages took their sweet time getting here. Only the makeup and mini Moleskine diary were sent incase you were thinking something else.

The earrings I bought from Coco Liberace, the stall/store (because it technically wasn't a store you could walk into) Sophia blogged about. I've curbed my jewellery buying the past couple of years and select items which I feel are actually to my taste but I'm pretty sure my friends would say otherwise.

All wrapped up!

Unwrapped.

Apparently you can't get this in store, only on Chanel.com. It's LE. Obviously my memory is beginning to fail me because I could've absolutely used Tehran in the capital cities game on NYE BUT DIDN'T.

~~sekrit log0~~

The formula is really dry but isn't drying. It feels great on.

I love that Benefit always provide instructions on how to use their products.

TRUFAX

The navy one was shipped here. I bought the larger one from AGNSW because they had 50% diaries and calendars. Originally I was worried that I'd have no use for the navy one after I found out how small it was after ordering but now I'm pretty sure it's going to be hella u s e f u l. I'm amused by how Jane is regretting purchasing her red daily Moleskine diary now. She may have her fancy schmancy stickers but I have functionality.

I've started adding things and customising. These two pac-man stickers are to note Jasmine and Mel's birthdays (because they're so dark HAHA).

I bought seeds from Sportsgirl.

SHOUT OUT FREAKIN' LOUDS

2011-01-03T01:24:00.003+11:00

As I type this my ears still continue to ring from tonight's gig at the Annandale Hotel. I've loved Shout Out Louds for so long and jumped at the opportunity to see them, knowing I'd be 18 by the time tonight arrived. I don't know whether I was more excited for the fireworks on NYE or knowing that I'd see Shout Out Louds a few days later.

The night began when I met Al at Town Hall. We caught a bus (with a hilarious bus driver) to Annandale. On the bus there were two really nice people. They saw us looking at the GPS on Al's phone and one of them asked where we were off to and he gave us directions. When we were about to get off another one tapped us and told us to get off. Life ambition: to be as nice as those people. After walking up and down Parramatta Rd for about an hour trying to find food we settled on a margherita pizza with oregano, parmesan and chilli from Pizza Hut which we ate at Maccas because he started to pour. The weather was kind of appalling considering it was blisteringly hot during the day. On our walk we past Annandale Hotel where we saw Adam and Bebban on the balcony. I got so excited but had to contain my joy because I didn't want them to go back to Stockholm with the impression that Sydney is filled with creeps like me.

The clock struck 1930h and we made our way to the hotel which looks like an absolute clusterfuck from the outside. Inside we played two games of Indiana Jones pinball while we waited for the doors to open. Inside the actual venue we sat on the side looking like wallflowers and discussed deep and meaningful things like religion, books by atheists and our love for Futurama. NTS: make Al's mixtape. The place started to fill up and as Al said 'THERE WERE A LOT OF BABIN' GUYS TONIGHT! was findin it hard not letting them distract me.' — TRUFAX. The supporting act was The Seabellies whom I enjoyed listening to but their ill fitting jeans were distracting. After The Seabellies left the stage and packed away their set the curtains were drawn (it was actually a large overhead projector screen) Al and I moved to the front, behind this really irritating girl who NEVER SHUT UP. Honestly, she spoke as much as I would in a week in only half an hour. There was this qtπ guy to our left who had massive hair styled in an almost quiff (guy quiff?) and a black/white/grey gingham shirt, first button done up.

Throughout the night gingham shirt guy really got into the music which brings me to the point I have to make about people who just stand at gigs. I call them dead fish. The couple to my right were dead fish. Please, if you enjoy the band, show it. I dont need to you ruin my night but really, I DUN GIVE A FUCK because I dance and headbang relatively hard just don't be within my 5m radius.

Finally, after much anticipation they came out and began to play 1999. Adam was wearing white jeans which I recognised immediately from when he was on the balcony. Bebban's hair was so cute - I think it was an attempt at a top knot but she doesn't really have thick hair so it was just flat. Carl was a qtπ. Eric came out with glasses but after the first song he took them off. Ted and Adam shared lots of adorable stage bonding time (okay, this is probably my year 8 love of slash fiction coming through). About thirty seconds into the song Adam steps onto the front amp (which was less than half a metre away from me) and starts leaning forwards towards us but unfortunately stumbled a bit. He then proceeds to WALK DOWN THE CENTRE OF THE AUDIENCE. DAMMIT, I SHOULD HAVE TOUCHED HIM BECAUSE HE WALKED STRAIGHT PAST ME. A couple of songs later they played my favourite (one of my favourites...) You Are Dreaming. Adam stuffed up his playing a few seconds in but quickly recovered. I'm glad he stuffed up though, it made it even more memorable. Just before the last chorus the entire band paused and when they finally resumed playing I pretty much lost my head.

The setlist (which I tried to get but another chick got the last one I was eyeing):
1999***
Such a good song to start off the night. Upbeat and characteristically them.
Tonight I Have to Leave It
Seeing them play this live have inspired me to start playing the cowbell. I kid.
South America
Paper Moon
Fall Hard***
SO GOOD.
You Are Dreaming***
Ditto previous comment.
Candle Burned Out
I admit I didn't really like this much but it sounds much better live.
Throwing Stones
Adam said he wrote this on his way back to Stockholm from Australia last time he came.
Very Loud
The Comeback***
Almost everybody loved this.
Hard Rain***
The line your breath smells like cardamom gets me every freakin' time.
Please Please Please***
Almost the entire room singing along is kind of self explanatory.
---
At this point they had gone out and the next two songs were they encore songs but lol, they were on the setlist and I found it very strange that they weren't going to play Walls.
Impossible***
AH, AGAIN, SO GOOD.
Walls***
Such a good way to end the night.

At one point the guy behind me (who was a qtπ and later CAUGHT MY TRAIN... IN THE SAME CARRIAGE) passed Adam a note requesting they play Blue Headlights and Normandie (another favourite of mine). Adam responded 'we are not a juke box' which was kind of adorable. Another adorable moment was when Adam needed a drink and so he kneeled down in front of this girl (who was in front of Al and me) and asked 'is this [bottle] yours or mine?'. I DIE.

I thought they'd play more songs from Work but they actually mixed a lot of their older songs in. I'm kind of disappointed they didn't play Normandie though. I don't think any of the concerts I've been to in the past can compare to tonight. It was absolutely amazing. I loved the familiarity of the songs and how well they translated live. Errbody needs to see them.

NYE

2011-01-01T16:25:00.006+11:00

Waking up at 0830h isn't an ideal start to NYE so I slept in for another fifteen minutes. Once those fifteen minutes elapsed I begrudgingly stumbled to the bathroom to get ready knowing that'd I'd be spending over half a day roasting under the 27˚C (I bet it was much higher) Sydney sun. Went to Coles and bought some stuff to hopefully last us the day (it did).

When Jane, Janet and I arrived at Circular Quay there weren't too many people, certainly much more than usual but very modest for NYE. Making our way to the top of the Opera House we were kicked off the top ledge which was reserved for those lucky few who were going to eat inside the Opera House later in the night and then later kicked off the one below that because the view from that layer was reserved for those people once again. Those rich bastards. Jasmine came about an hour later with bread rolls and more dip.

Behind us were three foreign girls. They weren't French, Russian, Spanish, Italian or German I don't think. In front of us were these Japanese tourists who literally had EVERYTHING. Laptop, LASAGNE and ICE among their bazillion useful items which sparked our envy. Next to them were a group of white people. There was this one guy in the group who wore a long black sleeved shirt with full length khaki pants - WHAT THE? I'm pretty sure he was German... that or he had a really deep voice (I assume Germans have deep voices... idek). There were these two surfer looking guys (I'm pretty sure they were Aussie) (okay, ngl, they were alright looking) who started talking to the Japanese tourists, buying one a VB. It's a little presumptuous of me but I like to think that J, J, J and I thought 'wtf' simultaneously.

I have never felt more like an Asian and tourist on the same day ever before. We used umbrellas to shield us from the sun. Although they did much to reduce the heat it didn't prevent Jasmine's feet tanning to an unsightly charcoal shade which later on blended in with the night. It was a fairly unproductive day although we did learn about capital cities, aquatic animals, that Jane is slightly a Big 2 noob, how to cool ourselves down with spray on sunscreen (and looking like a smurf while doing so) and that Japanese tourists are prepared for everything.

The cooling of the air and the bats flying overhead signalled nightfall and our excitement escalated (or maybe that was only me). Some annoying losers came up to our prime photo taking spot and spoiled the view but it isn't really apparent in the photos. After the family fireworks at 2100 we sat back down and started playing cards and light painting with my fairy lights and Jane's phone torch. I'm only slightly disappointed (read really freakin' bummed) that we couldn't light paint a fart coming out of someone's behind. Half an hour until midnight some lebs started going into the restricted area and FUCK I WANTED TO CUT A BITCH AND A HALF ALL MY PHOTOS HAVE PEOPLE'S HEADS AND TORSOS IN THEM. THOSE FUCKERS. I DIDN'T ROAST IN THE SUN FOR OVER HALF A DAY FOR ALL MY PHOTOS TO BE RUINED. Whatever, no use crying over spilt milk. The fireworks were fairly good this year - I thought the sequences were cohesive and the Harbour Bridge was used effectively in the display. However, towards the end there was just too much smoke for the finale, which probably was supposed to be the highlight of the night, to actually look good. It was just a big, glowing haze.

Hilarious - Jasmine's feet.

Jane being Asian.

Some Asian being nerdy. He solved it then mixed it up and started solving it again.

Dip and cards.

The crowd which had filled the Opera House forecourt to full capacity at around 1330h.

Basically our gpoy. We could easily stick our faces onto Jasmine's and it'd still make a whole lot of sense.

Jane and Janet.

Jasmine's diluted piss 'beer'.

Nightfall.

Jasmina and bokeh.

Family fireworks

Jasmine playing with my lights.

Janet and me.

Jasmine's laser eyes

Janet ten eyes.

Jasmine's failed turd head.

Midnight

Said glowing haze.

Obligatory GIFs:

I ♥∪♥ IKEA

2010-12-30T21:01:00.000+11:00

$3.99 mini fairy lights. They are remarkably bright. I might take them out tomorrow night.

Scented candle which has only just started to smell after at least four hours of burning.

xmas 5x5

2010-12-26T17:22:00.001+11:00

2010-12-21T21:00:00.003+11:00

Apple are kind of unreliable at calling people up and since the beginning of this HDD debacle I've called them thrice. Ridonkulous! After today's phone call they confirmed that my laptop was available for pick up. When I got there the guy at the counter was like 'so, can I have some ID?'. I showed him but the repair was under my dad's name so he told me that he mightn't been able to give my laptop back because I'm not my dad (obv). A few minutes later he was like 'luckily Jacob recognised you so I can give it back to you'. ~~I didn't catch his name but he was an absolute qtπ. For reference, he kind of looks like Keith Murray of We Are Scientists only not a silverfox.~~

Last time I went to Bondi I was in Lush checking out the soaps with Jane when this SA came up to me and asked 'So do you need any help? Oh, you're not new to Lush are you? You've been here before. I recognise you'. Okay, I think it's safe to say that I am pretty much UN-FOR-GET-TABLE. Is my haircut too severe? Am I so vertically challenged that I'm an oddity? Do I offend? It may be my bitchface...

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE (in Professor Farnsworth's voice)! Aunt Rosie decided to visit me and put me out of my stress and anxiety! Aunt Rosie is getting into the spirit of giving this Xmas.

There's been so much good news these past few days so I'll continue recounting. Yesterday I found out through James and Dad that the annual Christmas party isn't going to be held! Fantastic! As long as Asian parents don't socialise everything's swell.

Tom Ford Private Blend Lip Colour - Bruised Plum

2010-12-17T14:54:00.003+11:00

Yesterday was the release of the ATARs. I'm a little disappointed but the mark wasn't really a surprise. However, I think I'll still be able to get into my course. Determined to put that past me I went shopping. I kid, that wasn't the main reason I had to go to Bondi. I phoned Apple on Tuesday and they said my new HDD had arrived and I could drop off my laptop any time I wanted. So I did. Andre look-a-like Andrew was working.

Lovely Whiney had a $20 gift voucher from years ago which she never used and so gave it to me to spend at DJ's. Obviously the only reason I go to DJs is to check out Tom Ford's lipstick (30% truth). The Tom Ford SA was supernice and pretty much gorgeous. I was initially going to pay at one of the cosmetics checkouts but the SA's there were 'new' and so clearly had no experience meaning J and I had to trek from level 3 to 1 to Customer Services. The lady at the counter was very polite and said that nothing was wrong with it. Up to level 3 again and TF SA referred me to the fragrance pay station where I happily gave her my card to pay.

The bag.

More-pricey-than-usual tissue paper.

Front

Top

Inside.

Taking it out.

After purchasing the lipstick we made our way (eventually) to the Myer fragrance section where we were both given a sample of Britney Spears' Radiance fragrance.

In all its cheap, tacky and pink glory.

a,y,18

2010-12-14T22:48:00.000+11:00

I didn't get a photo with the other birthday girl.
mmm...
I admired from a distance. Honestly, not every food needs meat.
The vegetarian pizza didn't look as delicious.

I was so full I could only have one spoon of this.

sunsunsunday

2010-12-13T00:14:00.004+11:00

A quarter of an hour after I had woken up TNPS' Doppelganger began playing, catapulting me into slight anxiety. Could that missionary be persistent enough to phone for the third time? Alas, he isn't, it was my dear friend Whiney (I forget how I came to call her this) requesting suggestions of activities to occupy ourselves in the sweltering Sydney weather. A couple of my suggestions included making handmade Christmas cards to send via snail mail, playing guitar together (or as I'd like to think in my head jamming), shopping and having a picnic at Kemp Field where there is not one speck of shade ever. ever. ever. One sentence led to another (as they do) and soon we planned our trip to the city, mainly to get some lunch and have a walk. After waiting a very long while for JenWen (who had previously agreed to come) we eventually got through to her via her home phone to which she told me she was cleaning and was still at home. Bitch needs a bitch slap (once she comes back).

Our however-many-minute train trip consisted of laughing over the ridiculous lyrics penned by wannabe rockstars I was so fond of years ago, discussing how annoying Britney Spears' voice is, trying to decipher the lyrics to Atreyu's Bleeding Mascara and coming up with an ingenious plan to analyse Lady Gaga's lyrics using English literary techniques. Creative train trip over, we make our way from Circular Quay station to the Rocks and found Pancakes tucked away inside probably a heritage building (idek). We ordered a Potato au gratin and a Devil's Delight. The Potato au gratin was potato, I'm thinking mashed, mixed with savoury pancake mixture (to tie in with the name of the restaurant, duh) with cheese, fried until slightly crispy and golden brown served with a salad, a grilled banana and a slice of grilled pineapple. I enjoyed the savoury pancakes immensely even though the texture was kind of strange when you consider that gratins are never actually in pancake form. The hollandaise sauce was alright, nothing to obsess over and the sour cream was sour cream (ie delicious). I'm not a fan of pineapple or banana so I gave the grilled versions a try. I still don't like them. Devil's Delight was two chocolate pancakes with strawberries, cream, chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce drizzled all over and icing sugar to add the final, unnecessary saccharine touch. The pancakes (imo) were too thick and crumbled like cake. The cream was unnecessary as the ice cream melting on contact with the hot pancakes allowed for syrupy moisture to the (in all honesty) dry pancakes. Or we can just say I've never been a fan of cream, whipped or not. The strawberries were good.

After stuffing ourselves almost to our limits we pretty much rolled out of the restaurant to stroll through the Rocks Markets. First stop was a lemonade stand where we both bought a pink lemonade each and made plans to recreate the product with sparkling/soda water. I was about to buy this really awesome lipbalm inside a shell but after much contemplation decided against the idea because 1 - I already have too many lipbalms and 2 - if the shell breaks inside one of my bags it'll mean no lipbalm and clean up. Skip to the end of the street we saw a glassblower making glass stilettos holding a stick of glass in his right hand, constantly returning it to a fiery flame fueled by a huge tank of gas, and in the other hand the stiletto on the end of another stick of glass. We were absolutely blown away by his techniques (and the flame was pretty) we spectated until he finished. Bogged down by our stomachs and cameras we began heading to the Botanical Gardens. On the way I bought some freshwater pearl earrings, my first pair of earrings in about four years.

Around the foyer area of the Opera House and before it the set of Oprah's Australian special was being set up. Cue people, more people, metal scaffolding and more people. Coco Rosie and Blonde Redhead are having shows at the Opera House early next year and the tickets aren't too expensive. Eventually making our way to the Botanical Gardens we walked until we found a suitable place where we could rest our feet, and really, by this stage, ANY shaded place was suitable. I took a photo of a couple about twenty metres away from me and after some quick examining I'm pretty sure I took a photo of a gay couple kissing - cool (but also a little creepy I admit). Whiney and I skimmed through issue #2 of The Gentlewoman with Inez van Lamsweerde on the cover with a beard. The paper is so luxurious, the content is actually fascinating and the photography is although at times bordering on US Vogue standards, on the whole very refined. Getting back up on our feet after a much needed rest we got lost on our way to the Rose Garden but encountered some dragonflies which were happy to pose for us (or were suffering from heatstroke as a result of the atrocious amount of Sydney sunshine). Just as we were about to enter the Rose Garden I saw the funniest statue ever. It wasn't funny because it was a statue of a man with a cup in one hand and some dead looking plant in the other named Winter, it was hilarious because it permanently has the best 'judin' u' face ever. I have photographic evidence of this, scroll down. Shaded by some fairly large trees and high rise buildings behind it, the Rose Garden was reasonably cool. I pointed out all the colours which would make fantastic lipsticks and came to the conclusion that I will have to spend a day reading there before I die.

Waiting for pancakes. Jane's photo.

The dish I ordered, Potato au gratin. (We swapped later on). Yum yum yum. Jane's photo.

Devil's Delight, even though it really doesn't look like a delight in this photo. Jane's photo.

My pink lemonade which I later spilt over my skirt because of a huge gust of wind which caused me to flash to the entire market and my automatic instinct was to ensure that exposure time was as short as possible with my drink in hand. Jane's photo.

Jane's comfortable shoes.

Poser friend #1.

Poser friend #2.

This reminds me of weddings.

Me taking a photo of a rose. My luscious glory is no more. Back to shit coloured hair! Jane's photo.

Judgin' u statue

I'm pretty sure this won't be happening very often in the future.

Earrings.

2010-12-10T15:12:00.004+11:00

Waiting for my driving lesson in the humid weather outside under the blazing sun these two missionaries came over and started preaching to me today. Hoping they'd leave me alone I told them I was an atheist. Obviously it was my fault, not realising that it'd spur a whole tirade of religious crap I don't care about, but really, was it necessary for them to tell me how Jesus saved their lives blah blah blah, LET ME JUST FREAKIN' LIVE MY LIFE VICARIOUSLY. I don't care if I return to my dismal state after turning the TV off, I don't know what my life's purpose is and I don't want one. I want to live in the moment, be spontaneous and not limited by religion. Sin? WHAT IS SIN? As Jenny Holzer says, sin is a means of social control.

eta: So during that flurry of religious bullshit and wanting to leave one of them asked for my number to contact me later about talking about Jesus which I gave because mostly I thought they wouldn't call and they'd leave me alone. THESE PESKY MISSIONARIES ARE SO PERSISTENT. I just got a phone call and hung up on him.

2010-12-08T23:34:00.000+11:00

2010-12-06T00:37:00.011+11:00

SP6 and SP7 have been completed (actually for a few days now). Bunnings Warehouse still hasn't been graced with my presence. Photos to come.

Excuse me while I recount what has happened for the past I-don't-even-know-how-long.

The death of my laptop's hard drive has been pretty much all that's been on my mind. I suppose it's a good thing that my HDD is getting replaced - I could never bear delete music off it. However, it's a little sad that all my podcasts (especially the ones unavailable to download) and all my rare music is gone. Originally I had planned to move everything from the desktop computer to my laptop so I did so and thought I deleted everything but thankfully my inability to actually complete tasks means I still have my photos (my GIF collection is gone though).

Backtracking a little bit, I went into the Apple store with high hopes because I had made a disk image of my HDD but after a while of trying to fix it the Genius was like 'we have to get it replaced' so I asked if I'll be able to replace everything since I have my HDD on my external drive. He was super nice (okay I'm going to make that one word from now on) and sweet and told me 'you may be able to get a few files off it, maybe a quarter, maybe half but I'd be really surprised if you get everything off it'. I swear he looked exactly like Andre from the first season of Masterchef - NO FREAKIN' JOKE. EXACTLY. AND HIS NAME WAS ANDREW. COME ON. WHAT IS THIS? I CAN'T EVEN. So after a few more administrative steps he told me that Apple Bondi will phone me in a couple of days to tell me that the replacement HDD has arrived and that I'll need to take it to the store and leave it there for a few days. Supernice-Andre-lookalike was such a sweetie that he put in an extra note to instruct 'someone' to save and return my original HDD back to me after everything that's going to happen and will refer me to a data recovery guy because in his words 'it'd suck to lose everything'. I LOVE NICE PEOPLE.
JenWen and I came to the consensus that one of life's pleasures is to go into the fragrance section of department stores and spray everything which takes our fancy onto those sample cards to put in our bag to keep our bags smelling good. Hael yeah-ah sistah.

We also agreed that Magnum Chocolate Temptation is better than green tea ice cream in moderation.
Sophia and Maddy's birthday dinner was held at La Piazza inside Bankstown Sports Centre. Bankstown is such a scary suburb so I spent all of the time outside the centre being paranoid that there was going to be a drive-by shooting playing out before my eyes. I enjoyed my pasta with loads of parmesan. The theme of the restaurant was a little pan-Italian and tbh, it could've been any laneway in Australia. Talk of school and the upcoming release of HSC results and ATAR scores bored me to no end. I totally should've worn tranny heels because I was severely lacking in the height department. Jess H actually recognised my nail polish - AMAZING.
Mum advised me not to wear my tranny heels (only after this incident did I dub them this) because they make me look 'fake'. Really I think she was trying to say they make me look like a hooker. She told me I should buy shoes which have a slimmer heel. No. I love tranny shoes ~~never gonna give you up~~. The higher the platform and thicker the heel the better.
I actually drove somewhere. I don't mean to say I haven't driven anywhere now that I'm 7 hours into my required 120 but I actually drove somewhere I needed to go in our family car. I made a slight booboo when I didn't realise I had to let a car merge into my lane but to my defense the driver didn't indicate s/he was going to switch lanes. My mum was in the car and later told me that I was turning too fast. In all honesty, if I turn any slower I'd create a traffic jam.
There are four egg whites dehydrating in my fridge. This time I told mum that I will actually be using them as opposed to last time when she thought I had no use for them and only needed the yolks. Whiney is coming over on Tuesday to give me a much needed hand in making the macarons. Hopefully this time they actually rise. Before cooking we are going to swim then watch Narnia. SKANDAR YOU RAGING BABE.
Mum trimmed my hair and it's not quite even. Because of my haircut I have to have the top of my neck (where hair line meets rest of neck) shaved and... I quite enjoy it shaved. I feel like I have a head-shaving connection with Oliver Sim. In one brief interview (on youtube) he (and Romy) were asked what their vices were/are and he answered shaving his head too often (how endearing. I luv him).
You can tell that I'm being serious when I don't use proper English. When I type without proper punctuation I'm being lazy. When I write like I do on my blog (like a proper person) it means I care. Whn eye typ liek diz it meanz i hav trubl conveyin my real feelinz sew eye haf 2 res0r+ 2 typin liek im illiter8. if eye typ liek diz it also meanz i luv u nd wanna hav yo babiez. Then if I'm actually angry I'll write with very succinct sentences (or at least as succinct as possible).
NGL, I have fallen back in love with tryhard punk music from circa 2k5 after listening to JenWen's iPod on El Clasico night/morning and today on the train. I'm on fire and now I think I'm ready to bust a move. Check it out I'm rocking steady.... or THERE'S NO ONE IN THE WORLD LIKE EME-LLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE or perhaps AND WILL YOU TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS, YOU'VE GOT YOUR GUN TO MY HEAD. THIS SONG WAS ONLY WISHFUL THINKING or even a little splattering of JamisonParker (ah I luv dem. JENNY, YOU MADE ME SAD FOR NO REASON, NEITHER JAMISON OR PARKER IS DEAD) and A7X (but the Rev is dead).
Singing Mariah Carey is a requirement at karaoke. I haven't been to karaoke in about a year but my point still stands. We Belong Together is my jam. I need to make a fool of myself by attempting screamo soon. Excluding Connor, do you remember trying to scream on our Friday night phone calls? GOOD TIMES.

D'=

2010-12-01T12:39:00.004+11:00

After all the fun and frivolity of yesterday's El Clasico sleepover something has to go wrong. As soon as a come back from JenWen's I turn on my laptop and it's stuck on the grey loading screen. Is this karma's way of telling me that I shouldn't be having fun after the HSC? That I should be more active in my job seeking (urgh, and my resume's on there as well)? Fuck off, I don't even believe in karma. Right now I'm trying to back up my harddrive and it's taking forever. I'm so paranoid - what if all my music, photos and films have been wiped? This is the first time a computer's crashed on me, what is this?!

Um, wow, my blog looks like shit on a Windows platform.

eta: congratulations to TNPS whose album is #1 on the NME Albums of 2010 list. Step 2 of their world domination, now all they need to do is come to Australia. Here they are playing one of my favourite songs, Three Thousand.

11111111111111111

2010-11-30T00:36:00.000+11:00

minootas is now one year old.

Celebrating by watching El Clasico at my friend's, eating junk food and watching trashy films.

dee eye why

2010-11-27T14:51:00.001+11:00

It's been a while since I last did anything DIY. SP5 still hasn't been completed because I haven't been to Bunnings Warehouse yet. Looking back through entries tagged secret projects I realised I hadn't posted any photos of SP4 or SP3.

I bought the material for SP6 a while back but HSC got in the way of actually finishing it. Today I went to the fabric store to buy fabric (duh) for SP7 and also bought a zipper for SP6.

SP3. I wore these to Lady Gaga.

SP4 is a scarf. I knitted about 10x300cm to make it. I intended for it to look a little like a spiderweb, I suppose it does if you try.

Sneak peak of SP6. It's similar to SP2.

eta: SP6 is done!

2010-11-22T13:13:00.006+11:00

If someone had told me how fun driving was last year I would've started right away!
This was my morning:
I wake up and check my laptop to see if my iPod had finished syncing (it had) but when I wanted to shut it down it didn't, so I forced it to shut down (laptop brutality). The main reason I was so eager to check if it had finished syncing (at 0852h) was because I didn't start listening to the Grandma's Virginity Podcast last night and was (still am) super eager to get started. GVP weren't kidding when they said on their facebook that it was going to be super long. It's two and a half hours long. miam miam! I love long podcasts!

After some listening in bed I kinda fell back asleep until mum came home from taking my brother to school. I really can't sleep in with her around so I automatically stumble to the bathroom to check if my skin's still peeling. It is. I rinse my face brush with water then load it with cleanser, pat dry then SLATHER on moisturiser. Ta da! No more peeling for a while. Walk out, and breakfast is ready (ah post HSC life).

My instructor calls me five minutes before he arrives so I walk out and hop in the car when he arrives ~~wow this sounds like a voluntary abduction~~. He drives somewhere where there are fewer cars and we switch positions. A lot of explaining of things I already knew then all of a sudden he's like 'okay, right indicator light on, you can drive now'. Holy shit I had no idea what to do. Talk about freakin' the fuck out inside my mind. A few minutes later it was all cool. I noticed as I was driving my instructor kept tilting the steering wheel to the right because I was always driving too far from the middle of the road (in my defence, it's really scary when it looks like you're five centimetres from cars in the other lane). Due to my lack of experience I never really stopped in front of a stop sign close enough, haha. I was probably like, three metres away from the line when I stopped so my instructor was like 'move forward, duh' without the ', duh'. Another criticism he had was that I turned too quickly. Honestly, pressing the brake, looking both ways, taking your foot off, turning the steering wheel then accelerating is too much of a bother. Overall it was really fun. My next lesson is at 1400h on Friday.

~~~
Last night was my last generationext event (not a single tear was shed) where I saw the Annie Leibovitz exhibition. I thought it'd be fairly small but her photographic splendour took up entire floor. Besides Annie Leibovitz there wasn't much else to see because there was only the ground floor (Primavera) and level three that was accessible to us. The food was average, the mocktails SO MUCH BETTER and the music MUCH MUCH WORSE. Nevertheless I don't let the crowd sway my mood (that's stretching it somewhat) so Jen and I decided to headbang to the hardcore (they say punk/metal on their unearthed page) music Cloud Four were playing. It didn't last for long and my base of my neck is still sore. The uptight people in the crowd gave us weird glances so we retreated back to where Jane was sitting. A few minutes later we see people dancing like hippies and decide to join in. I don't think they were very appreciative so then we walked to the front of the crowd and fucking lol, they did the crabwalk (please refer here) much to my delight. Queue cheering from everyone. In real life the move looks like a brilliant exercise to tone inner thighs. One more mocktail later we left and it was still kind of bright outside so we walked to (I think) the Martin Place 24/7 Maccas. Martin Place is so beautiful at night, the designer boutiques need to install more lights so I can window shop without the embarrassment.

2010-11-20T14:58:00.003+11:00

Somewhere someone is thinking of you. Someone is calling you an angel. This person is using celestial colours to paint your image. Someone is making you into a vision so beautiful that it can only live in the mind. Someone is thinking of the way your breath escapes your lips when you are touched. How your eyes close and jaw tightens with concentration as you give pleasure a home. These thoughts are saving a life somewhere right now. In some airless apartment on a dark, urine stained, whore lined street, someone is calling out to you silently and you are answering without even being there. So crystalline. So pure. Such life saving power when you smile. You will never know how you have cauterised my wounds. So sad that we will never touch. How it hurts me to know that I will never be able to give you everything I have .

I WILL NEVER GET SICK OF THIS QUOTE. SO MUCH LOVE, SO MUCH FREAKIN' LOVE AND RESPECT.

2010-11-18T20:05:00.002+11:00

KA POW POW! I'm finally going to learn how to drive, you know, like one and a half years after I got my license. By now I've completely forgotten every road rule I learnt in preparation for the DKT. I tried to brush up but gave up after about ten minutes of reading.

Looking back on my posts with images it seems the quality of my photos has progressively worsened. Is that photobucket's fault? I swear when I save them they look crisp. No matter, I've made a flickr just for blog pics, cool life, yeah?

The StGGHS school formal was on måndag evening and it was my first and last formal, THANK HEAVENS. It was fun dancing but I was stuck on the sausage party table (come on all girls high school, why were there more guys than girls on my table? Y, you and your three dates, I'm looking at you). The food was mediocre, nothing I couldn't have made at home. I was actually jealous of the eggplant the meat eaters got. Sure it's easy to grill eggplant but 1- I really can't be bothered using the grill and cleaning up and 2- it would've taken ages. By the time they cut the cake I was too full to eat it so I just ate some of the white chocolate (bleurgh) shavings on top. The DJ was a looker but hot dayum, he sucked. As I said to K, the songs needed to be more homoerotic. All we got was overplayed dance and... I don't even know because I only knew about 4 songs.

The other day mum phoned me to tell me that I had something to pick up at the post office. When I got home the first question she asked was 'WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN ORDERING ONLINE?' lol mum, I don't even have any money on my debit mastercard. Reluctantly I got off my spinny chair and walked to the post office. It was almost a walk a shame only without the shame but embarrassmentx∞ because living in Hville you're bound to see people you know or know of and that day was no atypical. I was handed over the parcel and it was from UNSW. THANKS UNSW FOR MAKING ME WALK MY WALK OF EMBARRASSMENT IN THONGS, YOU'RE NOT EVEN MY FIRST PREFERENCE, ARE YOU TRYING TO GUILT TRIP ME BY SENDING ME IMPRESSIVE LOOKING STUDENT-MADE MAGAZINES, A CD DOCUMENTING LAST YEAR'S STUDENT WORKS AND AN INVITATION FOR ME TO GO TO THIS YEAR'S COFA EXHIBITION?

Anyway, here are some pix

Oh yeah, I also watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 today. Sooo good. Now all I need to do is read the books.

recap

2010-11-13T20:17:00.003+11:00

Wednesday - VA exam.

Thursday - Signing out pt1

Friday - Signing out pt2 (because I forgot a VA textbook the first day)
I went to S's after signing out. John Cusack was a looker but his recent films give me a clitoral hard-off. Hot Tub Time Machine? U mad? Gross. We watched Glee's cover of Teenage Dream a billion times and not once did I fail to not laugh at this one guy's HUGE mouth (at 1:39 here). Forget DSL (dick sucking lips), he's got a DSM (dick sucking mouth).

Caturday - ridiculously hot. I booked a skin consultation because my skin is kind of ridiculous. Helped JenWen find a clutch (not really, but I'll take some credit anyway). Bought an angled brush from Sportsgirl and it sucks at applying Fluidline but is actually amazing with eyeshadow (stamped on it is 'eyeshadow brush'). Anton spammed me with photos of Aaron Ramsey and he looks different in every one. No joke.

Found out that my insurance company is transferring ownership of my insurance policy to me which means paperwork. I HATE PAPERWORK.

Um, I don't think Moleskine Asia charged me for the second Moleskine so uh, I'll just keep that Pac-Man Moleskine and use it. HELL YES, I LOVE BOGOF.

WISHLIST

2010-11-05T22:36:00.010+11:00

Floating some ideas....

Wacom Bamboo Craft tablet

Karen Walker Number One sunglasses

Tom Ford Private Blend lip colour in Black Orchid, ~~Bruised Plum~~, Moroccan Rouge, Smoke Red, Cherry Lush, True Coral, Ginger Fawn and/or Pure Pink.

Chanel Rouge Coco's in ~~Téhéran~~, Sari Doré, Rouge Noir, Camelia, Legende, Orchidee, Gabrielle, Rivoli, Bel Respiro, Cambon, Satin and/or Lune Rousse.

Chanel Rouge Allure's in Genial, Darling, Super, Insolente, Lover, Audace and Excessive.

Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in Dragon.

Burberry Lip Cover in Deep Burgundy, Union Red, Tea Rose and/or Brick Red.

Marc Jacobs Splash fragrance in either Cucumber, Pomegranate or Rain

Tom Ford White Patchouli

Kiehl's Creme de Corps (Ken Done edition if possible)

Magic Mouse

More Lamy Safaris

Ink - Scheaffer Skrip in green, brown, purple//Noodler's in ... the list is too long//J Herbin inks - any//Aurora Black

pour jenwen

2010-11-05T17:44:00.003+11:00

China Glaze Rain Storm. It's a dusty, muted ultramarine with a subtle sprinkling of fine glitter. I was so excited to try this home when I picked it up at the store but as soon as I began applying it I was sorely disappointed. It took at least four layers for it to achieve its bottle colour. Despite how sheer it is, I'm not going to give up on this. I may decide to layer this over other nail polishes or on top of white.

Essie Ups. It's described as a 'deep and brave red wine'. To me it's a blood red with a crimson base. This applied very well - smoothly and dried very fast. ETA: this stains nails like NO OTHER. Holy shit, I have nail jaundice.

China Glaze Solar Power. Cadmium yellow with matching shimmer. It's far easier to wear yellow on your nails than on eyes à la the models at Peter Som SS11.

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover. Amazing colour - my favourite of all the polishes I bought. It looks like a forest green tinged with some teal and is a cream finish. This is the colour I have on my toes at the moment. It applied well like the rest of the polishes bar Rain Storm.

China Glaze Recycle. Yeah, excuse my ragged cuticles, I'm fairly certain it's not good to remove nail polishes from already disgustingly dry cuticles three times within an hour. Medium grey, cream finish. Actually now that I have it on my fingers, it looks a little taupey/mushroomy. Maybe it's the light, idek. I like this a lot, mainly because I like grey ~~no1curr~~.

C‹•••••••

2010-11-05T17:22:00.002+11:00

My camera couldn't pick up the text very well which is why this photo is so dark

I don't think they even charged me for this =\

eta: they have charged me.

pizza

2010-11-05T17:20:00.000+11:00

2010-10-31T13:13:00.004+11:00

The Cribs - We Share The Same Skies by wwwta

CANNOT STOP LISTENING

No point in denying
Anxiety was my favourite feeling after jealousy
Yeah I'll concede

fun timez

2010-10-30T21:38:00.008+11:00

After Legal Studies:

~~Sculpture by the Sea~~
~~Eat Pray Love~~
A Nightmare on Elm St
Broderskab
Copie Conforme
Dream Boy
Gainsbourg (I never finished it)
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
~~Help JenWen get her debit mastercard~~
~~Buy nail polish~~
~~Sculpture by the Sea with Jen^2~~
~~bludge~~
~~maybe attempt to make macarons~~
look at my basil bush. Perhaps showing it my love this way will help it grow so I can...
FINALLY MAKE PESTO
~~Look for a job~~ to fund my spending. (for the record, I do have self control I just don't like exercising it, okay?)
find a job
Perhaps listen to all the unlistened songs in my iTunes library
Reply to letters
GO TO BUNNINGS WAREHOUSE
BEGIN MY SCULPTURE
PAINT
~~MAKE SOPHIA'S HEADER~~
~~NOT THINK ABOUT LEGAL STUDIES EVER AGAIN~~
vlog
Rewatch the six Star Wars films. 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in that order.
~~Finish Super~~ Paper Mario
~~Finish Super~~ Mario Galaxy
Buy Super Mario Galaxy 2
Finish Super Mario Galaxy 2

A small package for me

2010-10-28T13:25:00.004+11:00

Bobbi Brown shimmerbrick in rose. The mirror is so awesome. It's comparable to 17% opacity deep indigo difference layer on Photoshop. Honestly.

In case fluidline dries out.

I think it's time to go to Mecca to buy an aluminium compact for this.

MAC Slimshine in Gentle Simmer

Obviously I've been too lazy to study for Legal so I've been listening to the Grandma's Virginity Podcast all over again. So many lulz I can't even.