wounded kite

Australian and Brazillian

2012-05-11T21:40:00.001+10:00

When I was in high school I had a stereo that let you set an alarm with a CD as the buzzer. Paul's Boutique was always in the CD 1 slot, so every morning I'd be gently woken up by To All The Girls before being rocked out of bed by Shake Your Rump.

I miss that. I need to figure out how to do that with my phone.

Yauch

2012-05-05T09:11:00.000+10:00

Boiler Paddock

2012-04-11T23:39:00.000+10:00

Need to do well at uni so I can be accepted into honours so I can write a thesis on the Anita Cobby murder and how everyone in Sydney collectively flipped their shit and wanted the death penalty back because she was just the most perfect, innocent victim we've ever seen. I'd also kind of like to meet Mick Murdoch. I often wonder about him and how he's doing in jail.

Fuck, I love that I am studying in a field where I can display my obsession with crime and not look like a complete nutbag.

Lincoln Park After Dark

2012-04-07T10:29:00.001+10:00

Don't wear fancy nail polish if you don't like strangers touching your hands. I made it my new years resolution this year to always wear fly nail polish, which has really helped me in terms of application and experimenting with designs and fancing it up. But omg, it's like an open invitation for people serving me in stores and co-workers I hardly know to grab my hands to take a closer look.

I don't not like it. It's cool to get a compliment, but it's just a bit strange. Hand holding is usually something quite intimate but all of a sudden I'm getting close with all these people I've only just met.

PS: I usually post pictures of my nails on my Tumblr - http://newtowngelato.tumblr.com

Up The Knights

2012-04-05T09:04:00.000+10:00

Last night at a gala dinner the Newcastle Knights announced the five inaugural inductees into their hall of fame: Matthew Gidley, Michael Hagan, Paul Harragon, Andrew Johns and Allan McMahon.

Very good choices across the board, inspired choices even. McMahon, Our first coach, who set the foundations for the great club we are today. Hagan, the best coach we've had who led us through our golden era. Harragon and Gidley, two of the best club men we've seen who still devote much of their time to the club. Then there's Joey Johns. They greatest player the game's ever seen. Sure he's a temperamental bastard, but on the field he's in a different stratosphere to everyone else. It's one of those things you can tell your grand kids when you're old and a bit crazy; I used to go and watch Andrew and Matthew Johns play a smarter brand of football than anyone else has ever dreamed of.

I'm proud to be a Knight

Commuter problems

2012-03-27T14:21:00.001+11:00

As an inner westie going to uni in Bankstown, I spend a lot of time on the M5. This morning I got stuck behind a hearse and stretch limo mini procession doing 60kms right before Henry Lawson Drive.

I understand that they couldn't go any faster, the flowers might start moving around or the body might fly out of the casket going round a bend, but god it was frustrating. Surely if you were carrying such delicate cargo as a dead body covered in expensive flowers, you'd stick to main roads where you wouldn't be driving 50 Kms per hour under the speed limit.

Just Dance

2012-03-05T09:55:00.000+11:00

I had to cancel my gym membership recently, for two reasons. My gym is in the city and now that I'm no longer working in the city, I'd struggle to get there and money is a lot tighter now that I'm back at uni and it was an expense I could no longer afford.

I've been going for long walks around my neighbourhood but I wanted to do something else to mix it up a bit. So I bought this

My Fitness Coach Dance Workout for Wii. It was onlt $29 at JB Hifi so I thought I would give it a go.

I have the house to myself this morning, making it the perfect time to try out some of the dance tracks. I like to dance, but I am terrible at it. I have no rhythm and even less coordination, so I find dancing in public to be very embarrassing. That's what makes games like this great, I just spent the last half an hour in my underwear in the comfort and privacy of my loungeroom salsa dancing to Lada Gaga and having a ball. Who cares if I was going left when I should've been going right or two steps behind, the important thing is that I had a blast and burnt some calories.

This particular game also has some boxing programs and some fun mini games like dodging bulls in the virtual streets of Pamplona.

What I wore today 03/03/12

2012-03-03T21:21:00.002+11:00

First, apologies for the shitty iPad photo. I thought it might be a cool idea to document some of the outfits I wear, because I like to consider myself a fashionista and I like to think that a lot of the things I wear are cute and quirky. Anyway this is what I'm wearing today to work at the refuge.

Top: Big W
Shorts: City Chic
Tights: Target (Target are finally making plus size tights in colours other than black!!)
Cardigan: SES
Brooch: Secret Santa from work this Christmas just gone

Small Update

2012-02-25T14:26:00.002+11:00

I've lost 7kg since November. I'm getting there slowly but surely. Soon I'll be back to the weight I was when I got home from overseas.

Oh dear...

2012-02-23T21:54:00.001+11:00

All the material for my courses went online yesterday which means I have been able to take a look at my assignments, weekly readings, lesson plans etc. I'm starting to worry that I've made a huge mistake. There's so much work to do. And the assignments look so difficult. They require a level of analysis and critical thinking that I'm not sure if I can produce. I'm really starting to think I should've stayed in the safe little world of tafe, with it's easy case studies and competent/non-competent grading.

It is going to be a long and hard three years. I'm determined to get through it, but it's going to take everything I've got and then some.

Shiny New Things

2012-02-17T06:45:00.002+11:00

I got some new additions to my army of awesomeness yesterday.

First my car. What can I say? It's the bomb. It's so smooth and zippy. And so spacious inside. We are going to be very happy together for a long time, I just know it.

I also got an iPad yesterday. I know I have a laptop and a phone already, but now that I'm starting uni I wanted something lightweight enough to carry around all day, but powerful and big enough to type notes and read PDFs etc. I've loaded it up with apps like iStudiez for organisation, Pages for note taking and PDFPro for reading and highlighting handouts. I am fucking turbo organised for uni. If organisation decided marks I would already have a hd average. I'm typing this post on the iPad and I'm finding it very easy to use the on screen keyboard. I'm going to wait a few weeks and see how much typing I'm actually doing during my day on campus and perhaps buy a Bluetooth keyboard to go with it.

I bought this a few weeks ago but wanted to give it a plug. If you have an iPad, you need to get yourself a ZooGue case. The cover doubles as a stand which can, thanks to the magic of Velcro, be set to any angle. It also comes in a lovely shade of pink.

No wanky Instagram picture this time but I also bought a new printer. Last year I printed every assignment at work. I probably completed a fair portion of them there as well. But now I am finishing up that job at the end of next week and I figured it would be far easier to bite the bullet and purchase a printer myself to be used whenever I want than having to wait and print everything from the library at uni. I picked up a cheapish HP model which comes with AirPrint to be able to print wirelessly from my iPad and laptop. What an age we live in.

Holy Shit I bought a New Car

2012-02-12T18:54:00.000+11:00

Since I applied for uni in Bankstown I've been thinking about getting a new car. I currently drive the 95 Corolla my mum passed down to me in 2006 when she got a new one. My car is good for what I use it for at the moment; trips to the shop, driving the 3kms to work and regular trips to Ikea. But it's old. It gets pretty shit fuel economy and is costing more and more money with every service. Now that I know I'm going to be driving 45kms a day, four days a week I decided I needed to do something.

My Mum and I are Corolla people, I always figured I'd end up with another Corolla. But I sat in at least 10 different Corollas, both new and used, and they just didn't feel right. Then today, I went and sat in a Barina sedan and it was just perfect. Plenty of room, lots of features, a great drive and a better price.

So just like that I am the proud owner of a brand new urban grey Holden Barina. I pick her up on Thursday. Eeek. I'm so excited and nervous about having a brand new car. Shit, son.

The Day After

2012-02-11T09:12:00.000+11:00

The wisdom teeth removal went pretty well. I was under twilight sedation which was weird. At the time I felt like I was awake for all of it, just really out of it. But now I don't remember much so I don't know. All I remember is I had headphones on with some kind of best of 2WS playlist happening and Africa by Toto came on. I have a long conversation with myself about how one mountain can be like another mountain.

Today I'm a bit swollen and a bit sore, but nothing major. It hurts to eat food that I actually have to chew, so WeetBix and I are now good friends.

For the benefit of the internet I took a photo as soon as I was done with surgery.

This Week

2012-02-10T07:55:00.001+11:00

I had my enrollment day and planning session for my course yesterday. It was good to get back into a lecture theatre and to meet my course co-ordinator. It was weird though. At uni the first time around there were only 23 people doing my course, and last year at TAFE only 20. Here doing social science there's more like 150 and some of our core subjects will have about 1000 people in them. Sheesh. Talk about small fish in a big pond.

I went to school fairly close to the campus so I had been there a couple of times. Returning there yesterday was vaguely familiar. But I was surprised how small it was. Smaller even than Ultimo TAFE and smaller than CSU Mitchell, which I always assumed was a very small campus. At least then I shouldn't get too lost.

Anyway I've pretty much decided that instead of taking elective subjects I will be boring but practical and do a double major in Crime and Criminal Justice and Child and Community. My aim, of course, is to work with young offenders and this should give me the best shot.

Tute registration is next Tuesday, and given how many people will be signing up, I need to resign myself to the fact that I will probably have lengthy gaps between classes. I need to learn to use that time wisely and go to the library rather than to Mum's house or shopping at Bankstown Square. I guess I do have time on my side and can afford to be spending all day on campus. I finish up my day job in the next two weeks and I will only be working at the refuge probably one day a week [omg, I can't remember if I told you that I started doing paid casual relief shifts at the refuge I did my work placement at. In January I went for a permanent part time position there. Whilst I didn't get it, they wanted to look after me so they have promised me guaranteed one shift a week on Sunday nights, and then whatever else I can pick up during the week, which should be enough for me to survive on].

We went and saw Any Questions For Ben? last night as a Valentine's Day treat. For reasons I will explain in a bit I might not be up to seeing a movie or doing anything on Tuesday night, so we made sure to do something a bit early. It was a good flick. A nice, light hearted romantic comedy. Probably the best rom-com ever released by an Australian. Stealing the show was the engorged man brute himself Ed Kavalee as a bleach blonde olympic archer. I'm not sure if they were intentional or not, but there were two Late Show references to keep the long time fans amused. It was kind of weird though seeing the guy who played John Bunting in Snowtown as a good guy. I kept expecting him to make someone shoot a dog at any second.

So yeah, in about an hour's time I'm heading out to Liverpool to have my three remaining wisdom teeth out. I'm not nervous which is surprising for a dental-phobe such myself, probably because I'm having the procedure under twilight sedation. Afterward I'm off to my Mum's for the weekend to recover.

It feels good to write about things that are happening again, even if it is boring to read. I will try and keep it up.

Redemption

2012-01-30T12:32:00.000+11:00

For the last ten years I've regularly had nightmares about high school and uni. Dreams where I'm late to exams, in class naked, being made to start again from primary school or being made to do the three subjects I needed to get my first degree and failing them again.

Last night I dreamt that at the start of last year I had, due to my decision to go back to tertiary education, been re-enrolled in the HSC, Even though I didn't go to any classes and didn't sit for any exams I received my new UAI which was 20 points higher than the one I got back in 2000. I still flunked Physics though.

It felt like my subconscious mind has finally forgiven me. The weight of my biggest burden, and biggest regret has finally been lifted from my shoulders.

38 Pieces of Flare

2012-01-27T13:55:00.000+11:00

Sometimes I feel like I haven't really grown up yet. I mean, I've been out in the big bad world on my own for sometime now, but I'm just not professional. I don't have "work clothes" I wear the same dress, leggings and cardigan combination to work that I would wear on the weekend. I would always choose a bright nail polish over a neutral tone. I was buying an iPad case last night and after much debate I got the baby pink one instead of the sleek grey one. Last but not least my ringtone on my phone is I'm on a Boat by The Lonely Island.

I wonder if there's a point when I will outgrow the kitsch? I'm slowly decorating my house into something I'm proud of, and while it looks great and matches, it's all bright bold colours. On my walls are three posters very tastefully framed and hung, but they are pictures of Matthew Caws from Nada Surf, Gob and Franklin and FAC01.

But is there anything wrong with this? Most of the time I'm happy being the person that brings colour and happiness to an other wise grey society. But I guess that if I'm even having these thoughts whether it's time to change.

And it's another thing that ties into my weight. It's hard deliberately standing out in a crowd when you already do because of your size and how much room you're taking up on the seat of the train.

Now Face West

2012-01-22T21:00:00.000+11:00

Back in September I spoke of my conflict about what to do this year. I ended up applying for the criminology course at UWS, and I found out this week that I got in. I've decided to accept the offer and I'm Bankstown bound for the next three years.

I hope to god I don't fuck it up like the last time. I'm so scared that I will.

...of toilet paper and relationships

2011-11-20T12:59:00.000+11:00

I just had an experience that summed up my relationship better than words ever could.

I went to the bathroom and realised we were low on toilet paper. So straight away I went to the cupboard to get some more so the next person to use the toilet [presumably Phil] wouldn't run out half way through. Phil had noticed before me that the toilet paper was low, but waited until he was going to the loo again to do a refill.

Memories

2011-09-20T15:51:00.000+10:00

One of the coolest things I've ever seen happened when I flew from Liverpool to Bratislava. It was night time and we were somewhere over France or Germany. Flying over a town or city maybe, who can tell from that height at night, they were letting off fireworks into the night sky. Flying over those fireworks and watching from above was just magical.

What to do?

2011-09-12T14:20:00.000+10:00

I'm so confused about what I want to do next year. I had my course all planned. I'd do the Youth Work Diploma and then do Social Welfare via distance ed at CSU. Now I am really considering scrapping all that and doing criminology either at UNSW or more likely UWS.

The confusing part is whether I should continue doing the diploma. I doubt it would get me any advanced standing at uni (for example if I was to do something like Community Welfare at UWS I'd get recognition of prior learning for a whole year's worth of credit so it would only take me two years instead of three) but it would give me more of a broad range of career prospects. If I do Criminology I am setting myself firmly down the juvenile justice path.

What's stopping me from 100% staying with the diploma is that so many jobs require a degree. So if I know now which degree I want to do, why am I wasting my time with another year of something that isn't going to get me to my ultimate target?

The last thing I need to think about is how late I've left it. I need to decide this pretty quickly if I want to start a degree next year. And if I do then I need to register for the STAT test pretty quickly but then apply late and have to pay a fortune to do so.

I don't know. I'm so confused.

2011-09-11T23:08:00.001+10:00

If I could be anywhere in the world right now I'd be in Prague. Eating menu 2 in Wenceslas Square.

Nada Surf Moments

2011-08-16T16:44:00.000+10:00

Stalemate, off the 1996 Album High/Low is my favourite Nada Surf song to hear live. Between the second verse and the bridge they often cut into a verse or two of Love Will Tear us Apart before tearing back into Stalemate; “should’ve been a wreck, might’ve been a wreck.” It’s just so magic and one of the reasons why I love my favourite band so much.

Here's a good version from the YouTubes. There's also a quality version on the Live in Brussels album.

Changes

2011-08-15T14:36:00.002+10:00

Gosh it’s been so long since my last update. Tafe is going really well. I passed all my first semester subjects with flying colours and I’m three weeks into semester two. Classes feel a bit harder this semester, but deeper, covering subjects such as counseling techniques and dealing with crisis and trauma.

I’ve also started my work placement at a refuge. I’m enjoying it so much. It’s definitely an affirmation that I am doing the right thing, and I’d even go so far as to say that I have found my calling. The place is run by such strong women who are great role models for not only me but the people staying at the refuge and I’m so lucky that I get the chance to learn off them every week.

I turned 28 in June. Ever since then I’ve really felt a shift. Like things are different now. It’s reminded me of something I heard a few years ago that your life is lived in stages of seven year periods, and every seven years you change. I don’t know why but I really believe this, and it seems pretty true for me.

Years 14 to 20 were really about finding my character. Working out who I was as a person and forming the foundations for my adulthood. 21 to 27 was about getting my shit together. Growing up, working, travelling, having relationships and having some hard times as I grew and learned. Now, 28 to 34 is all about setting the foundations for the rest of my life, working on my career, hopefully getting married in the next few years and doing adult stuff like buying a new car and a house.

there's 80 windows we can see

2011-07-17T13:24:00.001+10:00

You say you like the one with the father who always eats with his son

I like the rows of lights because they keep me calm

Music wot I have been listening to lately

2011-05-18T22:28:00.000+10:00

Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2

Of course I have. May I say that it's fucking nice. Like most Beastie fans I was disappointed with To The Five Boroughs. It was just so.. abrasive. I could see what they were trying to do, but they just didn't pull it off. That came out in what, 2004? Yet it's only been in this last year, with the impending release of HSCP2 that I actually gave it a real chance, and while I do like some tracks, it's probably all together my least favourite Beastie Boys album.

Hence the reason this album has come as such a revelation. It's tight, the beats are like nothing I've heard before, and the rhyming flows so much better than the last album. I'm not in to listening to albums in full, I much prefer listening to a whole bunch of different stuff on random, but I find myself playing this album as I get dressed in the morning or on the way home from work.

It's true what they say, there ain't no sunshine when Mike D's gone.

Misc. Nada Surf

I was drying my hair the other morning and in my head started singing Paper Boats. I stopped and thought to myself, wow it has been a long time since I've heard that song. Nada Surf are definitely still my favourite band, and I guess some times I take them for granted. I never really listen to them by themselves anymore, just when songs pop up on random. So this week while I've been doing assignments I've been making it a point to listen to an alarmingly high list of songs that haven't been played in this incarnation of iTunes which has existed since I got a new logic board over a year ago. It's been lovely to spend time with some old friends.

The Lonely Island - Turtleneck and Chain

And it's shit. Seriously terrible. The only good songs are Motherlover and I Just Had Sex which of course we've all heard a million times already thanks to the magic of YouTube. Trust me, give this one a miss.