Still Alive...

So, it's been a long time since my last post - I have a feeling I was still living in Newcastle back then!

I'm currently living in the Hawkesbury District on my teaching prac, of which I have two days to go. Crazy how quickly the last ten weeks has flown by.

I've been having a blast at this prac. The school is lovely, the staff really welcoming, and the kids have been... interesting. Nah, they've been fabulous - you know how kids are, you get every type.

Living in this area has been lovely - it's so peaceful and calm being out in the bush. If I could get my computer to not be such a bitch, I'd upload some photos of the area. I took the Newcastle kids to a nearby apple picking place recently, and from that got some work for the Queen's Birthday long weekend.

Today is a strike day, which is good because I'm actually really sick. If I could, I'd be up at Town Hall for the march, but I'm taking advantage of today to rest up so it doesn't interfere with my internship. If you'd like to learn more about the strike, you can find more information here. It's a very important issue, and unfortunately, any time the media mentions anything to do with the strike, it's about the inconvenience to parents. Whilst this is understandable, I think people need to see the bigger picture and look at the inconvenience of a second rate education.

I've pretty much spent the last 10 weeks creating lesson plans and resources for my classes, so I don't have much to show on the crafting front either. I still haven't heard from the department as to which school I'll be placed, and I'm starting to panic a little. There's just the two week school holidays and then I'm supposed to be starting at a new school that I don't even know about? Huh? Yup, panic.

Anyway, as soon as I get my computer to stop being lame, I'll upload some pics =)

My Last Week in Newcastle

So, the time has come (the walrus said) to finally leave Newcastle. It has been the best and worst of times, for sure, starting off incredibly horrible, then getting incredibly awesome, then me going overseas, then me coming home and it getting awesome again, then being incredibly horrendous, and now, just as I'm leaving, getting back to a general level of pretty rad. I'm heading back to Sydney (though technically, it's not in Sydney) for my teaching internship which will last for all of term 2. I'll be living at my aunt and uncle's house, and I'm looking forward to some home cooked meals. Mind you, I get a lot of home cooked meals up here from Mikey, but those are extra special. These will be normal. And daily. And I think that's a winner.

As soon as the internship is over and (fingers crossed) I pass, I'll be placed in a school to work for the next three years. It's nice to not have to worry and know that it's all sorted out for me. I know a lot of people need that level of control, and need to know where they're going and when and every detail, but for me it's enough that I have a guaranteed job, and where it is doesn't matter too much. That's other people's problems to have to sort out.

***

I had my last session with my therapist. I'm going to miss her a lot. She's been so helpful the past two years (except for the slight break when she had a baby). It felt like a really perfect time for us to stop too, because I think I've made all the progress I'm going to make with her, and I'm in a really good place now compared to when I started seeing her. She told me she was really proud of me and to keep her informed of my goings on.

***

Packing. Blergh. It sucks. Luckily I'm able to store all of my furniture at my brother's place, but it's still annoying. There's just so much stuff, and so much stuff that I still want/need. I've done a lot of decluttering and throwing things out. Charities have benefited greatly from this move. I've also sold a bit of stuff on eBay and made a pretty nice profit. Having the eBay phone app makes it sooooo easy to list things. I'm going to list a bunch more things this afternoon.

***

Yesterday was my birthday and I kept it pretty low-key. I spent the morning getting my car fixed, buying more fabric I don't need (you know, in case I don't have enough to pack), watching tv and eating chocolate. Then in the evening the boys came to our place and we just hung out and ate pizza. Beau made me a crazy awesome ice cream cookie cake. I can't believe I still have half of it left. It'll be gone by tonight.

***

I'm spending this weekend in Sydney for Emma's hens night. Unfortunately, it looks like the weather is gang to be crap, but I hope not- I've planned a picnic and outdoor activities, damn it!

Farewells

Is it weird that I just made some tea towels for my therapist? It's my last session with her and I'll really miss her.

Anyway, Spotlight had 40% off fabric on the weekend, and I've been really enjoying how quick and easy tea towels are to make. I hope she likes them- I have no idea what the rules are for receiving presents from patients...

Sophie

Have I mentioned that, apart from living with my housemate Bec, I also live with her cat, Tom, and her dog, Sophie.

Sophie recently underwent surgery to remove her eye as she had glaucoma in that eye which was causing a host of problems for her. What I love about her is how dopey she is- I'm pretty sure she hadn't even noticed she has only one eye, she bumps into things just as much as before.

Here are some photos of Bec, Sophie and I enjoying a beautiful Sunday walk to a local cafe. Soph was crazy popular with all the people walking past, and whenever she looks at you with her missing eye, you can't help but wink back. Is that cruel?

Deemed Satifactory for Teaching

I had my personal suitability interview for teaching today and I passed!!! *happy dance*

This is pretty much the highlight of my life right now. All I have left is to pass my ancient history subject, pass my ethics class and pass internship.

Ugh.

I wish I hadn't written it all out. It sounded a like a lot less work ahead of me when I was just thinking about having passed my interview.

Oh well =)

Keep on hexagon

So, I left this blog on a pretty down note. It's been a rough few weeks, but one day at a time and all that. Thanks to everyone that checked in on me xxx

On a completely different note, I thought I'd share some pics of my hexagon quilt-in-progress. It's getting huge, yet it still seems like I have a tonne of work ahead of me.

Long and ranty - you may as well skip this.

So, it turns out that I'm definitely not over the shit I went through at Borders last year. Am I allowed to name the company now? It doesn't exist any more, so I will.

I thought I had managed to get over it all, but the past week I've been having emotional meltdowns galore, and it's made me reassess myself (again) and my friendships.

Basically what happened at Borders was that I stood up for what I thought was the right thing to do, which was holding our corporate psychopath of a general manager (I got that term from my psychologist and it's incredibly apt) to account for his lies, manipulation and breaking of every industrial relations law; made an off-hand remark on Facebook about the company going down the crapper; had one of my "friends" from work take a screenshot and complain about me; had a teenage style tantrum on Facebook and posted a status that people could kiss my arse, then proceeded to delete the people who made the complaint. In the end, I really should have done it the other way around, because those people who made the original complaint then went and took a screenshot of my teenage-style cranky status and saw that they were later deleted and wrote letters of complaint about me for "bullying."

Irony.

I'm not saying that I was right to have that mini meltdown on Facebook, and I was and am completely aware of how juvenile I was about the whole thing, but this in no way excuses the people who were one thing to my face, but another thing behind my back, and all for this psychopath who they all claimed to despise. In the end, I was left beaten and broken in a heap. It still breaks my heart to think that I went into bat for these people, only to have them do this to me, and for what? A bit of flattery from a dickhead and a chance to jump on a sinking ship. Awesome. But these people didn't blink an eye and moved right on with their lives, got new jobs immediately, and show absolutely no remorse.

All that aside, and it still breaks me in pieces, I know on a cognitive level that they are cowards and whatnot. It drives me nuts that there's been no repurcussions for them, and that every day I'm living with mine. But I know there's nothing I can do about them, they were obviously fake and in it for themselves etc.

I think what hurts me the most is the people who I thought were my friends, and I don't think had anything to do with what those people did to me, but at the same time never thought to even call and see how I was doing. If it weren't for some of the people around me, I wouldn't be here right now. I think because I crack jokes and make self-deprecating remarks about how "I'm a bully" and things like that, people think I had a bit of a cry but then I was OK. Only a couple of people really know how painful this experience has been for me and how it still affects me. People from Borders that I thought were really good friends stood by and let this happen to me, because apparently everyone knew and decided it had nothing to do with them so they wouldn't get involved. The same people that would have gladly let me stick my neck out for themselves, and in fact I did, many times, which is what got me in the psychopath's target in the first place. One of these people lives under my roof, and I struggle daily to not scream at him. I know it's not fair, because these bystanders didn't do anything to me, but, whether or not its irrational, I feel that because they turned a blind eye and stood back, they are just as guilty as my other "friends" who stabbed me in the back.

And I have some beautiful friends that stood by me through all of this shit, and it gives me joy. But at the same time it breaks my heart because they have also been punished just for being my friends. They've also been cut out of the social circles and denied their rights, just because they didn't think that what was being done to me was right. And for that I'm forever thankful, because they're the ones who pulled me out of the hole I was in, but at the same time I'm also filled with guilt that because of me they also felt the fallout.

This has all come up again because of Australia Day when I got drunk and started crying again about everything. That's when I realised that I wasn't over it like I told everyone I was. That's also when I realised that people think that I should get over it; that I'm being overly dramatic. I don't think they realise that I can't get over it. I'm living with it every day. I know I'm not normal: because of my effed up family situation, I've always put too much into my friendships. That's probably why it hurts so much to have something like this happen - I considered these people my family, and to be honest, I'm tired of my family effing me over.

And Australia Day is when it came to a head. There were some people that understood what I was going through and wanted to help me, and there were others that I could feel just rolling their eyes at me being a crying drunk. I can't control what people think about me, although I'd love to! And I know I should just not care about what they think, but I'm so tired of having to justify myself. I'm kind of tired of everything.

A Weekend in the Country

I think I've mentioned a couple of times that when I finish my degree I want to teach in a country town, mostly because I've never really experienced life in the country. To me, moving to Newcastle was the same as moving to the country because I saw it as a small town, which will make my Novacastrian friends laugh because they believe that I grew up in the country because we lived on acreage in Sydney. Of course, I soon learned my lesson, especially when I took a trip with uni "Beyond the Line" and went to a town called Inverell for a week. It was 8 hours' drive away and had a main street. The highlight for the town was the opening of a Big W. Talk about a reality check.

So when my friend Rachel suggested we go on a roadtrip in-land, I was pretty keen.

Only Rachel, our friend Nicole and I were able to go, and we basically left all the planning up to Rach. She did a random google search and ended up finding:

Mount Misery.

Obviously the decision to go there was based on the name alone. We had no idea what we were heading into. It turns out that Mt Misery is the name of the old goldmine that was there, and the town itself is called Nundle.

So the girls drove up from Sydney on Friday and picked me up on their way through and we were off! We spent our time on the road watching out for kangaroos (we saw one hopping along on our way there, and about 5 or 6 dead ones on the way back - poor things/poor cars), eating lollies and making up verses to the song we had created about the roadtrip.

"We are driving in a car

We are driving very far

Off to Nundle. (Off to Nundle!)"

We'll never win creativity awards, but damn it was fun.

We hadn't gotten very far out of Newcastle when we saw a sign for a winery and decided that would be the perfect place for a picnic lunch.

We've drunk a lot of Wyndham Estate wines, but hadn't realised how close the vineyard was to us.

 We ended up buying several bottles of wine and wandering through the vines, visiting the graves of the original owners.

 Eventually, after driving through lots of small towns and windy dirt roads, we arrived at our destination:

We stayed in the guesthouse that's on the top level of the old gold mine and it was lovely. And cheap. And convenient, as where the gold mine sign is is actually a cafe now, with the Mt. Misery Gold Mine Museum attached. In fact, it turns out that the door to the original mine was located almost right under our beds.

Spooky.

We spent our time there checking out all the local shops, many of which were antique shops and craft shops. I actually learnt something from the quilt shop which will save me a heck of a lot of time on my hexagon quilt, but more on that in another post.

When we weren't shopping, we were driving along the River Peel, looking for the best spots to go fossicking for gold, as we were very determined to become rich off this trip. In the end, the only thing we found was beautiful scenery and our own sense of stupidity as we all ended up incredibly sunburnt.

The view of Nundle from Hanging Rock Lookout

Saturday night we decided to head to the Nundle Sports and Recreation Club where we had the best time ever! Nicole won herself a meat tray in the raffle:

We made friends with the locals and have been invited back. Everyone was just so lovely and friendly, and genuinely interested in who we were and what brought us to their town. It was just the most wonderful weekend. But alas, it had to end.

On Sunday we packed up the car and left Nundle behind, heading to Tamworth to check out the Big Golden Guitar:

Turns out it wasn't very big, and it was a little dull to be considered "golden". But at least we can cross it off our lists of things we've seen.

After the girls dropped me back home in Newy, I finished the weekend with a trip to the cinema with my housemate, Bec, and laughed at cried together watching The Muppets Movie.

Such a perfect weekend.

Cost Per Snip

Today, I went and got my hair did for the first time in, oh, maybe a year. Yes, it has been that long, and yes, my hair reflected that ugly fact - any sense of a styled cut had grown out, and the ends were dry and damaged, however, I still couldn't be bothered going to get it done. Why? Two reasons: I hate hairdressers, and they charge WAY too much.

Why do I hate hairdressers? I don't hate the individual people themselves, I just hate the salon experience, I guess. I hate the head massage they give you as they wash your hair; I hate the lighting that makes you look washed out and sick; I hate the smell of the chemicals they use; but mostly, I hate the small talk.

- Getting your hair done for a specific event?
- How's your love life?
- Oh, the weather.
etc.

The annoying thing about this small talk is that you have to engage with it, especially because the fate of your hair is in this person's hands. You can't look pointedly at the magazine in your lap, because that would be rude, and you can't just answer: you have to join in and ask questions back. It's exhausting! I could never be a hairdresser because I couldn't cope with the constant chit chat. It's one of the reasons why I feel like a fraud when working in retail: I'm sure the customers can see through my act and that I just don't care about their day.

Plus, I've never left a salon feeling overjoyed by my hair. I always say how much I love it, then I need to put it in a ponytail for a couple of weeks until the cut has grown a little and looks more me.

But I decided to deal with it and suck it up, because my hair has been frustrating me to no end over the past few weeks. Also, I've been watching all three seasons of Tabatha's Salon Takeover to get psyched up, so I feel I know what to look for now.

I heart her so! If you haven't seen this show, go and watch it now. It's kind of like Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares, but for salons. I love her bitch please face, and the way she says, "Fucking upstart bitch." She's crazy hot.

Which brings me to the second reason I hate getting my hair cut: the price. $87 for a wash, cut and blow dry!!! WTF?  I nearly died when they read the cost out to me. I had a $20 giftcard I'd gotten from my area supervisor at the Santa gig, so that helped a little, but $87?! How on earth can anyone justify charging that amount? And I didn't even get offered a coffee! I was offered a "complimentary hand massage" instead. But I didn't take it because I HATE massages of any kind. Now I wish I'd taken it just to feel like money was spent on something.

How on earth can a salon justify charging that amount. And in this economy! And how is it that with all the gay friends I have, not one of them is a hairdresser?

Oh well. I actually don't mind my haircut because the hairdresser was lovely and actually listened to what I wanted, which was basically to keep my hair the exact same. Hmm... Maybe it's exactly the same? It would explain why for once I didn't walk out covered in my hair clippings...

Lady of Leisure

So, I've been enjoying myself immensely this past week now that I've finally had absolutely no plans. It's been lovely waking up in the morning knowing that I can take my time with the laundry or my crafty pursuits without having to rush to be anywhere. Having worked so hard and so much the past two months, I'm luxuriating in this freedom.

I'm also finding that I'm actually quite productive when I'm not pressured into being so! Tonight I managed to do something I've been putting off for a long time: my Grad Recruitmen Application for the DET. I'm so glad to have it finished - at least the online part. It didn't even take that long to complete, and all I have to do now is get some documents notarised and I can sit back and wait for my interview.

I've also been working on my hexagon quilt.

This picture isn't that great, but you get the general idea. At the moment it's not very big. I want it to eventually be able to fit a king-sized bed, because why not? It's basically a mish mash of all the fabric I own, plus I've bought scraps and charm packs specifically for this quilt. It's a vomit of random colours and textures, but I love its hideousness. Plus, it keeps me busy, and even though progress is slow (first you have to cut the hexagon papers, then sew each scrap of fabric around each piece of paper, then you've got to join them all together), it's relaxing and keeps my hands busy. I think I have RSI though, or some kind of joint stiffening. My right hand is so stiff and sore - I know I should take a break from the sewing, but it's kind of annoying.

In my leisure I've also been shopping. I know, it's stupid to do that when normally I'm broke, but I've only been bargain hunting, I swear! The other day I went to Target to try and buy something to organise my makeup. I didn't find that, but I did find a new dress. I don't have a pic, but it's a mid-length, cream with navy stripes... I'm bad with descriptions. I know I shouldn't be shopping, but it was originally $59 and was marked down to $29. THEN, because the cashier noticed that the sash on it was missing (I didn't even realise it was supposed to have one), the cashier took it down to $23!!! It totally made my day.

Then yesterday I went op-shopping with Mel and found this little beauty:

The cutest little espresso-sized cup and saucer. The colours in the pic don't show it very well, but it's a blush pink colour. And did I mention it only cost me 50c?? Win.

So I've been enjoying this time, and tonight I'll be catching up with my uni buddies for the first time in a long time. So far I'm enjoying 2012. Now if only I could get rid of this cough...

Looking Backwards and Forwards

So, as with most people, I find the end of the year/start of a new year to be a time of reflection.

I spent my NYE with Mikey, one of my favourite people on the planet. It was one of those nights when everyone seemed to have plans and those plans didn't seem to include me. Actually, that sentence sounds kind of mopey. What I mean is, everyone had plans already, and I wasn't really in the mood for anything ridiculous as I think I'm getting the flu. So Mikey and I hung out and watched The Muppets Movie and got all soppy about friendship.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post.

This past year has brought me a lot of turmoil. I haven't had a shake-up like this since high school, which is pretty normal to have fallings out with your friends. I rang in 2011 surrounded by people I thought were friends, only to have them turn around and stab me in the back during the year. It breaks my heart to think about how much I loved these people. Not only did I lose friends, the way in which it occured left me doubting everything about myself: my values, my personality, my ability to be a good friend, etc. I'm still a little shakey, and I'm still left questioning myself, but the soul-searching that this incident required has make me stronger in the end, I feel, and has reconfirmed my core beliefs. I've come to the tentative conclusion that those people were dealing with their own issues and pushed them onto me. It doesn't stop the hurt and the self-doubt, but it helps on a logical level.

At the same time though, what I went through this year has helped to strengthen the relationships that are genuine. The people that have stood by me and supported me, and have never doubted me, even when I doubted myself, have made this year worth the hassle.

Uni-wise, I've passed all my subjects and now only have internship to go! I can't believe I'm only 6 months away from graduating the degree that felt it wouldn't end. I don't want to jinx it, but for me this degree was so difficult - not from an academic point of view, but from a personal point of view - that I'm so proud of myself for what I've accomplished. I know I still have to get over the major hurdle of internship, but I'm confident in my abilities and I know I'll be able to get through it.

I've also really enjoyed the fact that this year I've really gotten into various crafts. I miss having hobbies. At the moment I'm working on a completely paper pieced hexagon quilt. This baby may take me years, but it's a lot of fun. I've also started making my first dress. It's about halfway finished now - just the interfacing and zipper to go. I can't believe how long I put dressmaking off, and how easy it has been!

Now, for the resolutions. I'm not normally one for resolutions, because I hate the idea of setting goals and not being able to achieve them. But I think these ones may be within my limits. I'm dividing them into groups though.

UNI
- Graduate.
- Get a job in the country.

MONEY
- Pay off credit card.
- Use the things you already have before buying new things. OR, use the one in, one out method: for every new item purchased, something has to be thrown out or given to charity.
- Start saving.

CRAFT
- Start working on UFOs (unfinished objects) before buying anything new.

HEALTH
- Actually use gym membership. Twice a week shouldn't be too hard.
- Get proactive about mental health. Do excercises the therapist gives you. Don't put things off or dismiss them as too hard. Take medication on time and regularly!!!

LIFE
- Don't get too caught up in drama.
- TRAVEL!!! Goal is to go overseas during the Christmas break.

I think that should do it. I should probably start it all by getting out of bed, but I'm so sleepy!

The Tale of Two Santas

So I'm currently slaving away, working for The Man. The Man being Santa, of course. I'm currently running a Santa photography set in a shopping centre in a pretty dodgy town. It's been... interesting, to say the least. Particularly the things I have noticed about those who live in this town:

1. Shoes are optional.

2. Mullets are still cool, and I have a feeling that in this town, they never went out of style.

3. Teeth are a privelege, not a right.

4. Parents wish for their children to be Younike and dif'rent, so their names and spelling variations should be a reflection of this.

I originally applied to the job because I knew that I'd be out of work during Christmas through to February, as the work I've been doing for the past 6 months has been childcare/school related. I figured that at least it would be 6 weeks of fulltime work and I could get a bit of money behind me to not have to worry too much over the school break.

Also, I kind of thought it would be like being in a David Sedaris story.

The ridiculousness of the work is the same, but that's about the only difference.

My main disappointment is that I don't get to dress up as an elf. I wear a T-shirt and black work pants, and the only Christmas-y thing I do is wear Rudolph earrings, and if the shopping centre aircon is working, a Santa hat. So I don't often wear the Santa hat.

Then there's the Big Man himself. Santa. Oh, Santa.

See, the problem is, we have two Santas. One is the most lovely man on the planet. He's 78, he has grandkids and great-grandkids, he buys me milkshakes, he gives me gardening advice, he jokes with kids and makes them comfortable, and he reminds me so much of my granddad. I want to adopt him.

Then, there's Bad Santa. Bad Santa is a DICK. An absolute arsehole. He spends his days whinging about everything from his costume, to his hours, to his boredom, to the uncomfortableness of his chair. He never smiles in photos, which, despite the beard covering half his face, is very noticeable. He doesn't do different poses so I can try and convince the parents to buy the largest pack with all of the photos. He takes long breaks, longer than he's allowed to, and when it's quiet he will just get up and go for a walk without telling me, leaving to me make excuses about reindeer and Mrs. Claus to the kids and their parents. He makes my shifts unbearably long, and I've been so close to just screaming at him, "You know what?? You get paid twice as much as I do and do half as much work, so shut the hell up!"

It's not like someone who dresses up as Santa particularly needs the work - it's seasonal. How have they been living for the past eleven months? It's something you do if you LIKE KIDS and Christmas, and want to make a little extra money this time of year. When there's no kids about, and he hasn't gone walkabout, he spends his time looking at his reflection, whinging about how much better last year's beard was.

The really frustrating thing about all this? There's nothing I can do about it! It's not like I'm his boss - hell, the company I work for aren't even his bosses. He's contracted out by a company that trains Santas for this time of year, and he's contracted out by the shopping centre.

I have four weeks to go. If you see Santa being thrown off a roof, I've finally cracked it and I've done away with him.

Trying to Catch Up

So last week I finally finished uni for the year. I spent the whole of Thursday in bed, working on a quilt I'm making (more on that in another post), watching TV, and having mini anxiety attacks, thinking that I had something due for uni or had to go to work. I kept checking my phone calendar to make sure I hadn't missed anything, and the relief that came when I realised I had nothing on was heavenly.

I basically spent the weekend doing nothing much - hanging out with my friends, being Sunday people down on the Central Coast, and trying to organise my new job.

Have I mentioned that starting this Sunday I'm going to be a Santa Elf???!! Well, not really. I'm just working for a Santa photo set, and unfortunately, we have a uniform - it would be so much better if I could be an elf. It's only for 6ish weeks, but I'm already stressed from the job because I've been made the Set Supervisor, and having to try and chase my staff and lock in training dates and new staff when the old ones quit before they even begin is doing my head in. One exciting thing is that I've got Mikey working for me every weekend. Basically, I'm going to be working 6 days a week on the Santa set, then on the 7th day I'll be doing before and after school care. That's not to mention the tutoring afterwards. Sigh. I'm looking forward to it, and I know it's not for very long, but the thought that I'm not going to be able to see my family until Christmas Day is a bit sad. BUT I need to do this in order to survive the Christmas holidays, money-wise. Although I love looking after kids and tutoring, one of the downsides of this kind of work is the zero work during the school holidays.

Meanwhile, after tomorrow night's tutoring session, I'm going down to Sydney to see my family. There's been some crazy big news from that camp, so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. I'll let you in on the news once everyone knows. But annoyingly, I then have to come back on Thursday night or early Friday morning for my set's training session (today's was cancelled because our equipment hasn't turned up), and then go back down to Sydney Friday evening so I can see my lovely friends on Saturday.

Hectic. But worth it.

Yes, this is the most boring post in the world. Sigh.

Grease 2: Even Greasier

So, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but Grease 2 is one of my favourite movies. I say that without irony. I think that the first film was a bit "yeah, it's alright," but Grease 2 came along, and Michelle Pfeifer climbed that ladder, and Maxwell Caulfied was "That Guy," and I was hooked.

In fact, Grease 2 brings people together like no other Grease can. I highly doubt that Mikey and I would be as tight as we are if it weren't for this film. Although we got along well from the beginning of knowing each other, it was only after we realised that we both loved the film Grease 2, and we both loved it hard, that we realised we would be together. Always, together. Like birds of a feather forever and ever.

So when we heard that our beloved film was going to be on stage in Melbourne, we immediately booked ourselves on the cheapest flight we could find and made sure we were at the opening weekend. We knew we'd have to fly, seeing as Mikey and I have driven down there twice before, and it's still too soon after our last drive down to think that it was actually fun to be in a Toyota Echo for 14 hours.

We got on the world's earliest flight (or, 7am) and arrived at Avalon airport not long after. But then we faffed about waiting for the one airport bus to take us into the CBD. This was all before we'd been able to eat. After we checked ourselves into a hostel called The Mansion and had to defend ourselves to various international randoms about our love of Grease 2, we finally got ourselves some brekkie.

***Note: I spent about half an hour right now trying to upload some of my photos from the trip, but our internet is being a massive bitch. I think it got it from me - I love being influential! There'll be photos added to this sometime in the future.***

We then wandered around Melbs for the rest of the day. We headed towards the Occupy Melbourne protest, because I'd been following the Occupy protests in the States and wanted to show my support. When we got to the area where the Occupy protest was supposed to be, Mikey and I were very confused. All we could see were "Free Palestine" banners, and "Boycott Max Brenner" posters. Maybe we'd stumbled upon a different protest? Not so, as the protesters started chanting: "Occupy Melbourne, not Palestine!" Mikey had to hold me back, I was so angry. Firstly, the issues aren't even remotely related. Secondly, I don't agree with their reasoning for the boycotting of MB stores. Boycott them for their shitty service (Charlestown store, I'm looking at you!), but maybe don't blindly follow the hippy in the Che Guevara shirt. And thirdly, how the hell are you going to carry out a proper protest when there is no unity in your message??? People were angry about everything from the carbon tax, to gay rights, to global warming, which is all great to be passionate about, but maybe start your own protest? Somewhere else? Having all these conflicting and unrelated voices simply dilutes the message and shows a complete lack of unity. It made me glad to see the "occupy" tents being taken down by police.

After many hours of ranting about this to poor Mikey (where does one buy soapboxes, in these days of cardboard, I wonder?), and getting distracted by EVERY BOOK STORE AND BOOK MARKET IN MELBOURNE (what can we say, we met in a bookstore, we love books and Grease 2!), we went back to the hostel to suit up and get ready for our moment.

After I had a two hour nap.

And locked Mikey out of the room for those two hours.

But then we were sufficiently suited up and were freaking out with anticipation for the show. Would it be good? Were they parodying an amazing film? (Not on MY watch!) What if they somehow ruined the film for us, like when you read a brilliant book and then a movie comes along which screws the book over, and then the book must forever bear the terrible film's taint?

Well, I am here to tell you that the show was PERFECT!!!!!!!!!! There was a lot of licence taken with some of the characters, but they deserved it. They did Cool Rider to perfection, ladder and everything, and also made fun of some of the terrible songs, like Charade. (I'm allowed to say it's terrible, because its terribleness is part of the brilliance of the film as it shows Michael's transition from loser new kid to the awesome cool rider. Or maybe I'm just giving the director/writer way too much credit.) The girl that played Stephanie, Melanie Ott, was absolutely sensational. Her voice was just amazing, and she was perfect as Stephanie.

Mikey and I acted like crazy fan girls the whole time. It was just great to see something we love so much up on the stage.

After the musical, still on a high, we met up with Bel, one of our old Borders (blergh) buddies that had moved down to Melbourne. She took us to a couple of bars and Lord of the Fries, some of the best late-night-drunk food I've ever had. And apparently it was all vegan. I wish they had stuff like this here in Newcastle so I could take my housemate Bec out for some good, greasy (lol) food.

Then Mikey and I managed to get back to the hostel, crazy drunk (it's CROFT, Mikey, not LOFT!), and slept as well as one can in a hostel.

The next morning was not pretty. We checked out of the hostel and met up with Bel for brekkie. After drinking ALL of the coffee, we decided that we didn't need to do any more touristy things because our poor little no-longer-20-year-old bodies couldn't handle the morning after. We spent the day in comic book shops, in magazine shops, and in other book shops. Yes, our Greasiness is only trumped by our bookishness.

And then later that night we flew back to Sydney. And then drove back to Newcastle. It was a long bloody weekend, but it was worth every moment.

Where've I been?

So, I've been a bit busy lately, and haven't had a chance to post, so here's an update:

1. I attended the This is Not Art Zine Fair. I picked up some great zines on a whole bunch of random topics, and also bought a greeting card that's a print of a painting of one of my lovely friends, Bronwyn, made by her sister Rob, who's also on the card.

It now has pride of place on my bookshelf. We didn't get to check anything else out during the festival though due to the revolting weather. No wait! I lie - I forced my tired and over-it friends to head back out into the cold and go to the pub to see a spelling bee hosted by Lawrence Leung, just because I heart him so.

2. On Saturday night, Bec, Wade, Mikey and I travelled down to the Central Coast and joined the Hunter Paranormal Society on a ghost hunt! We went to a cemetery and a local beach (Jenny Dickson Beach), and used a bunch of high tech equipment to see if any ghosties were about. Here's Bec checking out a lone grave:

Here's a terrible photo, but the only one I have, of one of the heat sensors that were used:

And here's a shot of one of the K2s, which sense ectoplasm or something, a voice translator thing, and Mikey's hot gold shoes.

After all that, I didn't get to see any ghosts, and there was NOTHING going on at the beach (at least at the cemetery there were some readings on some of the equipment), but all in all, it was a fabulous night. I highly recommend it. Best thing about it? The fact that a Hunter Paranormal Society even exists! Win!

3. To continue the spookiness (not really), I've finally begun reading The Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman:

Mikey leant me this series months and months (and months) ago, and they've just been sitting on my bookshelf gathering dust. I mean, they were sitting on my bookshelf being lovingly taken care of and in much better condition than when they first arrived. (Phew - covered that one up!) That is until Bec decided to start reading them and forced them upon me, and now I'm hooked! Sure, I'm 20-odd years too late to the table, but I run on Filo time.

4. I spent Sunday morning with the boys at the Darby St Fair.

It was actually a lovely day, considering how gross the days leading up to it were. Darby St was packed, and it was difficult to navigate through the foot traffic, but there were some lovely stalls, and what looked like some awesome food.

Anyway, I'm going to leave this post here because I have to get through these before I leave for Melbourne on the weekend:

Oh yes! I'm off to Melbourne. More on that later xx

Blurgh

When I restarted blogging, I made a conscious decision that this would be whinge-free. So far I've sort of kept to that promise to myself, although, it has made the posts rather fluffy, but today I'm breaking it with an obligatory uni whinge.

I'm currently sitting at the back of the uni library waiting to finally get the motivation to finish the assignment I'm working on. I'm using prezi for the first time, and while it's easy enough, I just can't be arsed. I'm working on an assignment for a 1st year class I'm taking during this uni break as they introduced it at a weird time a year or so ago, and I'm only now getting around to taking it. The fact that it's 1st year means that it's hella easy, and the fact that I'm even using prezi means that I'll automatically get 8 marks out of 20. BUT I just cannot be arsed. It's due at midnight tonight and it feels like more effort than it's worth. I'm currently working on getting the motivation to finish it today, rather than wait for the weekend.

I will say one thing about prezi: it definitely lends itself to the way my mind works. I like that I can write down whichever idea comes into my head, then at the end of it all I just have to click on each area to decide on the order the information is viewed. Even if I put random info together, I just don't have to show the other area until I'm ready for it. Excellent.

And the most frustrating thing of all is that I'm so close to the end of the semester! Two of my classes end the week after the break, the one I'm doing now is only a compressed course, so it's just this week and next week (although more assignments are due later), and so I've only got one more that goes for the rest of the semester, which is really only one more month. BUT this is the time where I usually start deciding that it's all too hard and it will never end, then do something that will sabotage everything. I'm working really hard to ensure that this is not the case this time, especially since I'm so close to the finish line. After this semester, I just have a few weeks of classes, then internship. Then I'm done and don't have to worry anymore.

Le sigh.

Sunday People

So, keeping with tradition, I've been working very hard this week to ensure that I put my assignment off as long as possible. I think I've succeeded nicely, what with it due tomorrow and my having started it... half an hour ago. Success!

In my effort to procrastinate, I like to ensure that I force others to abandon their assignments too, because if I'm going down, everybody's going down. One way I succeeded in doing this was by hijacking Mikey this past weekend and forcing him to accompany me in this quest.

Saturday was an awesome, everything-filled day. It started at Bar Beach, meeting Beau and Mark for some sun baking. The beach was crazy packed with people enjoying one of the first lovely weekend days of Spring, so Mikey and I only lasted half an hour. We then went to the library in town, because we're super hardcore. At the library, we borrowed a stack of books on Christmas food, as we're already planning our now annual Parkhill Christmas dinner. I know, right? You wanna be us.

Then, we were about to head to Bunnings in order to make use of their sausage sizzle (a recent obsession of ours), but were distracted by the sound of music coming from Civic Park. Curious, we decided to drive past the park and see if THEY had a sausage sizzle. Indeed, they did. AND IT WAS FREE!!! It was run by the Lions Club, and they didn't seem that enthused for us to have one, so we gave big donations out of guilt. It turned out that the reason for the sausage sizzle and the music was that it was a celebration for South Sudanese Independence Day. Mikey and I had absolutely no idea that they'd even gained independence! That's how up to date I am with World News. Anyway, it felt good to celebrate with everyone, but we had to head off before the real celebration began. Why? Because we were actually going to head to the UNI LIBRARY and do UNI WORK.

Well, we did go to the library, but we got absolutely no work done.

All in all, a productive Saturday.

Sunday is the day of the week where we feel that anything is possible, and when we become Sunday People. Sunday People enjoy being out and about, going where they fancy, never rushing, and always on a whim.

Wade, Mikey and I headed off the Glenrock Lagoon for a bushwalk. I had never been there before, but really wanted to, and hadn't realised how close it is to my house!

Afterwards, we had a late barbeque lunch at Blackbutt Reserve, where this peacock decided that he'd join us. Silly peacock - he thinks he's people.



Things that happen when you're supposed to be studying...

So, I find that I am at my most productive, life-wise, when I have a tonne of stuff to do for uni. I know it's been awhile since I posted, but I've been waiting to take photos of things and only just bothered to actually get my camera battery off Mikey.

First, let me show off a blog giveaway I won from Kiki Chaos:

I won these two art deco style tea cups from her giveaway. I'm so in love with them! I've had them on the kitchen table since they arrived, and I'm just so in love with them. I love their unusual shape and their colour - I don't normally like green, but I love the green on these.

Here's a closer look:



Crazy pretty. Thanks so much for this, Kiki Chaos!

I've also finished some projects I started. I know, the horror! It feels so good to actually finish something I started.

First, last Thursday I decided to skip uni, as often happens with me. But this time I decided that if I was ignoring my studies, I should at least accomplish something. So, remembering a pattern that caught my eye a couple of months ago on Ravelry, I decided to make this earring holder:

Here's a close up look:

It's basically a crocheted mesh (done in the picquot stitch which I learnt as I went), then I bought a cheap frame from a Salvos store, took out the glass, covered the backing board with some pretty paper and stretched the mesh over the whole thing. I think it looks really cute, and I'm still pretty chuffed that I decided that I would make it and actually carried through with the plan, and finished it in a few hours. That said, I thought I owned a lot more dangly earrings that that! A reason to go shopping?

I've also managed to finish my little sister's birthday present:

(Ignore the un-ironed hem.) It's just a simple skirt made with fabric she chose, and a hair ribbon to go with it. I'm still not over how quick this was to whip up - it took me about an hour. The part that took the most time was trying to figure out how long to make the hem. I made it for her in time for her birthday, but I deliberately didn't hem it. When Mary-Anne tried it on, she decided she wanted it to be about three inches shorter than I had cut it. Kids these days. Meanwhile, my baby girl is 17!!! Next year she'll be 18, as she loves reminding me at every moment. I love that little brat.

The ribbon in the middle of the skirt is actually a hair clip I made her. For some reason she's into bow hair clips. I've never been a ribbon person, and I always envied those in primary and high school who were. I just never felt like I could pull it off, or if I did wear one in my hair, I felt like I was lying to the world, trying to pretend to be a much sweeter and lovelier person than I really was. But Mary-Anne's really into them at the moment, and spends heaps of money on them. I figured it would be very easy to make one of my own. Well, it is, but it's actually quite difficult to find the right sort of clip. I did find some eventually, and then bought a hot glue gun. Those babies are so much fun to play with!

Here's a close up of the ribbon:

Too cute!!

Next up are my works in progress. First is a blanket that, fingers crossed, will be ready in time for next winter:

Why I decided to make it so big, I'll never know. No, wait - I do know: I wanted something really snuggly and thick. I just didn't realise how long it would take to work up, and how much wool it would require, especially because I decided that I wanted it to be 100% wool, and I only found small balls of this colour at Spotlight. So, I've been through about 8 balls of wool so far, and it's not even a quarter of the size I'd like it to eventually become. But that said, I'm enjoying the process.

It's a chevron pattern that I found in a magazine, but I'm just keeping it all the one colour. I'm envisioning it on my future lounge, looking gorgeous in its neutralness and adaptability. No matter what, at least it will be warm.

And last, but not least, in order to assure my place on the Nanna-in-Training podium, last night I attended my first ever quilting class. Yup, I'm a loser. BUT I'm a loser that now has her first four patches!!! Here they are thrown onto my messy bed:

How cute is this fabric?

The sense of accomplishment that came with making these was awesome. I was so chuffed with how they turned out, although, I really just chose the placement of the patches and sewed them together. The fabric was bought in a pre-cut bundle, so it was all in a complimentary colour scheme, and the lady holding the class was the one that guided me through step by step. Whatever - I'm proud of myself, and I'm also a proud flag bearer in the nanna brigade.

And that's what I've been up to. Oh, apart from hanging out with friends, drinking too much, buying too much and all of that. It's been fun though. I'm working on something right now to give to Jenni's baby when I finally get to meet him.

A Perfect Weekend

So, I'm pretty sure that this weekend has definitely made my decision for me. How can I possibly leave Newcastle early when I've got such wonderful people around me that I'd miss too much?

Saturday was spent with Mikey and Wade at the uni open day. It was kind of a fizzer, seeing as the seminar we went to for Mikey's intended course wasn't very inspiring. But, the staff in the Great Hall were excellent and gave us so much information that Mikey's got it almost figured out.

After the open day, we headed off to the shops to get some dinner goodies. Mikey and I, it turns out, are the perfect team: he loves to cook, I love to be cooked for! So Wade and I spent the evening watching Mikey prepare a lamb roast, whilst filling ourselves on cheese and biscuits. Simon and Chris came and joined us for the actual eating of the meal, then Mel, Beau and Lauren returned from an ice hockey game in time for desert. Wine was flowing, merriment abounded, and we ended the perfect evening with a viewing of The Princess Bride. I'm pretty sure Mikey and I pissed everyone off by reciting each line with the film, but I like to think that we enhanced the perfection of the original.

The next day, I'm pretty sure I was still drunk because I was in such a pleasant mood, Mel, Mikey, Beau and I headed off to the Farmers' Market to buy some goodies for a picnic lunch. I have no idea what I bought, but I came home with no money left at all. We were joined at the market by Bronwyn, bought some awesome nibblies, then went back to Parkhill 2.0 to enjoy our picnic. The weather didn't seem to be able to make its mind up, so we thought it would be safer to picnic at home so that if it started to rain we could quickly run back inside. But for once, the weather held off and we enjoyed a lovely, stomach-exploding lunch, followed by some Better Off Ted viewing, and then I had to run home and finally get some sleep.

And that's how you have a perfect weekend.

How can I ever go back to retail knowing that weekends exist, and that they are awesome?

Yep, It's Official: I'm a Nanna

So, just in case it wasn't over-the-top obvious before now, today I confirmed my spot in the retirement village by attending the Craft & Sewing Show. It wasn't exactly what I thought it would be, as I thought there'd be more knitting and crochet aspects, but it was mostly quilting and scrapbooking, and I think I have enough scrapbooking stuff stashed at my grandma's place to last me a lifetime. But apart from that, I actually really enjoyed myself. I attended a number of seminars, spoke to lots of different people, browsed through all the stores, bought the most expensive bottle of water ever ($4.50 - WTF? How can they possibly justify that? I'm such an idiot for not even considering bringing my own bottle), and even did a workshop where I made a cutlery roll. It's adorable. I can't take any photos at the moment due to my camera battery going AWOL. But trust me - it's fab.

Attending the show today has, unfortunately, resulted in another craft I need to try - quilting. I've wanted to quilt since I was a very little kid, and never quite understood what to do. Today I spoke to someone from the Newcastle Quilter's Guild (there's GUILDS! For everything!) and she answered every question I've ever had about quilting and gave me some excellent advice. So now, I want to start quilting.

But first, I need to finish the assignment I've got due on Monday. Or should I say, start the assignment that's due Monday. Surely creating a lesson plan for a year 8 class and writing 2000 words about how awesome I am at improving literacy rates shouldn't take too long...

And then I've got to finish the cushions I'm making for Emma and Mick's engagement. The one that was back at the beginning of the year. I finally finished embroidering the first one, and it's beautiful, but I haven't even started sewing the actual cushion case together, let alone started on any of the other ones. Sigh.

BUT, onto even more important news:

JENNI AND NICK HAD THEIR BABY!!! Little James Robert was born 19th August, and from the photos I've seen, is absolutely beautiful! If you're reading this Jenni, I cannot wait to meet him. I doubt you'll read this for some time, what with the business of the next few months. <3