Kitty!

About 8 months ago, my dad's cat Cookie had her second litter.
My friend Thom kindly adopted one of the kitties. The other week at uni I went over to his place to check out how little Izzie was doing!

Look how cutie she is!

Studying

I try to always light a candle while studying. Along with drinking tea (in between energy drinks / coffee) I think it works to help lower my stress levels...even if only slightly!

Completely taken over my living room working on this assignment.
Told you I've been busy.

Opposites Attract

When my alarm went off at 6.45 this morning, and I noticed it was grey, miserable and pouring rain outside, two things came to my mind:

1. YAY! Winter!

2. URGH I have to go outside in this weather to get to uni. 

It took almost all my energy to fight the will to stay in bed - especially since I hardly got any sleep last night thanks to the endless mountain of uni work atm. 

But I was excited it was cold because it meant I could get my favourite red coat back out from my wardrobe!

• One Teaspoon pants
• Lucky 13 Red Coat
• Cotton on black 3/4 length skivvy

Of course, because life hates me at the moment, by the time I got to Wollongong the sun had fought its way through the clouds and it was really warm. 

I must have looked so out of place, all rugged up, compared to all the locals in shorts and singlets!

I don't regret it though - that beautiful red jacket kept me warm through my arctic, 15-minute-delayed train home.

Shittyrail fail. 

Again.

Wow, haven't I been a depressing blogger as of late.
Unfortunately, I have been so busy with uni and work and life in general.
I haven't even had time to think about what to wear in the morning, let alone take a photo of it.
Not to mention that my laptop was in repair last week due to dead pixels on the screen - but it is back now yay! Samsung are excellent at fixing things quickly!

This week is going to be another hectic one - I have a politics assignment due tomorrow, a mid-session take home exam for property law due Friday, and two Mandarin tests next week which I will have to prepare for.
Not to mention general class readings and note-takings and whatnot.

The soccer season has started up once again, which means my job as a referee is back!
I took last season off due to trying to work out uni life and whatnot, but I'm back! I reffed the all ages men pre-season flood relief cup yesterday, and not only was it so much fun, but it made me realise how much I miss it as an outlet.
All that running around and all that abuse I cop (ha, ha!)
So, I'm very excited about that.

Anyway, this is going to be kept short and sweet, as I have assignments to attend to.
I promise I'll have better, and happier entries very soon!

Only the good die young.

I've been sitting here, at my desk for about half an hour now, trying to think of something fitting to write.
To find a way to explain this, or to comment on it sufficiently.

But I can't. All I can say is:

RIP George Matchett. I'm sorry I didn't know you as well as some of my friends did, because you sound like such an incredibly guy.
I'm in shock, I've cried, and I'm devastated at what's happened, and we weren't even that close - I'd only seen him around campus, and hanging with some of my other friends. I can't even imagine how they're taking this horrible news.

This is so horrible and tragic, and he was so young.
To anyone reading this right now, please don't let his death be in vain. He was an incredibly athletic guy, who surfed regularly.
If anything, this has just driven home that none of us are invincible. Listen to lifesavers, swim between the flags.

My thoughts are with his family, and all my friends suffering at the moment.
xx


http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/student-dies-in-treacherous-seas-20110324-1c7fi.html:

Student dies in treacherous seas

Michelle Webster

March 24, 2011 - 11:26AM

Some sat on the sand holding their heads in their hands in disbelief. Others comforted their emotional friends with an embrace or an arm around a slumped shoulder.

The friends of a university student who died in treacherous seas off Fairy Meadow, four kilometres north of Wollongong, yesterday morning were grieving for his loss after they tried desperately to save him, lifeguards said.

George Matchett, 22, from Grenfell, was pronounced dead by paramedics about 9.15am as his friends watched.

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Wollongong police Chief Inspector Graeme Donnelly said the young man had left the University of Wollongong's Campus East and headed to Fairy Meadow Beach for a surf with two friends just after 8am.

But, before hitting the waves, the men decided to test the conditions, swimming straight into strong rip currents and big seas.

"In the water, two of the gentlemen got into trouble," Inspector Donnelly said.

"One of them has been able to get himself to safety and ... noticed that his male friend couldn't get out of the water; he's then disappeared."

The friend raised the alarm and police, ambulance and surf lifesaving crews rushed to help.

Before help could arrive, another group of friends arrived for a surf, heard what was going on and entered the water to help, Inspector Donnelly said.

After several minutes, the group spotted Mr Matchett, who had been swept 400 metres south of the surf club.

"During the search some young gentlemen have found the young male out the back [of the waves] ... they've done what they can to assist in keeping him alive," Inspector Donnelly said.

A short time later, Wollongong City Council lifeguards arrived by jet-ski and brought the unconscious student to shore.

Council recreation services manager Mark Bond said lifeguards began CPR and used a defibrillator in a bid to revive Mr Matchett until ambulance paramedics arrived, took over the resuscitation effort and brought in extra personnel by helicopter.

However, after more than 40 minutes, Mr Matchett was pronounced dead.

Grief-stricken friends gathered nearby.

Inspector Donnelly said the rescuers who risked their lives to save a mate had done everything they could.

"The lifeguards here have actually commended the young fellows in the water and we'll be dealing with them through the offer of counselling," he said.

Yesterday, a University of Wollongong spokesman said the university would offer counselling to any students or staff affected by Mr Matchett's death.

He confirmed Mr Matchett was a second-year student who lived at Campus East.

Mr Bond appealed to beachgoers always to swim between the flags, at patrolled beaches.

Rainy Weekends and Reflections

Rainy weekends are the best.
The world looks so miserable outside my bedroom window, and so matches my mood perfectly.
I've been a bit melancholy the last few weeks, which although sounds good in poetry and literature, does not translate well in real life.

I'm disappointed with a few people in my life at the moment.
Friends who cancel plans, or just completely forget about them.
Flatmates who take no responsibility and can't follow through with the ONE thing that they're supposed to do.
My parents, for a variety of reasons.
Myself.


That being said though, it is at these sad, self-destructive moments that I notice who really is important to me. That although there are certain people who I feel like telling to just 'fuck off' if they're not serious when they say 'let's catch up for coffee/movie/whatever' , there are those who really shine through. They know who they are.

It's ironic, because it's when people are shit to me that I get the most introverted. I don't want to leave my bed, talk to anyone, return messages or facebook messages.
But a part of me knows that if I properly succumb to that then the feelings will just get worse. It's happened before. It's not nice to be like that.
I don't really know what to do or how to get out of this.

My boyfriend has been amazing throughout all this. I think I would be a complete and total mess without him to hold onto, to cry into, to cuddle at night.
Words can't even express how much I love him, or how thankful I am everyday that I have him.

I wanna be a punk rocker

• Band shirt
• Myer 'Miss Shop' red and white dotted bodysuit
• LEE jeans
• black havainas .

Apologies for the poor quality photos. 

This shirt got absolutely destroyed at No Sleep Til Sydney. As you can see in the last photo, there are huge holes in it! 

Worn with red and white dotted bodysuit underneath and Lee Jeans. 

I love when your jeans start to feel lose, and you just shove them in the dryer and they fit perfectly again!

Oh Japan!

Watched the news this evening for the first time in forever and almost cried at the images of how ravaged Japan is.
Minami Sanriku has been absolutely destroyed:

 

 

 

Photos taken from here.

I can't even comprehend the amount of destruction that this country has to face. 

The number of people missing, presumed dead just breaks my heart. 

There's a few Japanese girls in my Mandarin class. Another girl in the class asked her if she had heard from her family and they were okay, and she just looked so sad. I hope that they're all okay, I really do. 

Death is hard enough to cope with but when it's on such a large scale, and for no apparent reason I think that makes it so much more difficult. 

Merowyn's blog at Blithely Unaware yesterday commented on the complete lack of sensitivity that one of the screenwriter's for Family Guy harbours. the complete lack of sensitivity harboured by one of the screenwriters for Family Guy. How anyone could even allude to the fact that Japan deserves any of this is way beyond my comprehension. Especially when it's a totally different generation and innocent people are not only suffering, but have died. I was listening to This American Life (a podcast - download it free from iTunes) on the train on the way to uni yesterday. The story they shared was of Iraq soldiers coming home - whether for only just over 2 weeks, or permanently. I won't lie - I did shed a little tear. War had completely changed them. These were 19 year old boys being exposed to such horrific acts of violence. No amount of COD could ever prepare anyone for what they've witnessed. 19! That's so goddamn young. And of course, in earlier years, the boys were just 16, 17. My own Pop served in Malaysia underage - doing a duty to his country. 

I'm not too sure what the point I'm trying to make is - I haven't been in the greatest frame of mind as of late, so I'm not entirely sure if anything I'm writing has any form of cohesion. 

I hate war. 

However, regardless of what Japan - or any other country, for that matter - done during WW2, these are not the same people suffering now. 

They say that disasters bring out the best and the worst in people. 

I'm just so baffled that anyone could twist this into a "they deserve it" story. 

Even in this news story the message comes across as "well they deserved it because they were greedy". 

I'm outraged, to be honest. What poor journalism. 

What a sad world we live in. 

Shorts and Storms

The weather down in Wollongong is always different from the weather in Sydney. 

For the last two weeks I have gone down in jeans, packed a jumper and been incredibly hot and felt very out of place. There is a lot more humidity in Wollongong, which counts for the increased temps a little. 

So today, after checking the weather, I decided it would DEFINITELY be shorts weather in Wollongong, based off everything I had learnt from last week. 

And it was very cold and I froze the whole day as this storm crept closer. 

It's a good thing I don't trust Cityrail's air-conditioning and brought a jumper anyway. 

Tattoo Inspiration

All of these images are courtesy of Fuck Yeah, Tattoos!

I've been thinking lots in the past few months about my next few tattoos.
I might get the next two together, maybe, if I have the money.

I'm not going to give away what I want, because I don't really want to hear judgement and opinions before I get it done. Here are some inspiration photos:

Love the placement, and the font size.

Love the placement.

I could never do this to my body, due to my chosen profession. But I think these are beautiful photos:

When I was in Canberra over Christmas, J's sister expressed to me that she didn't see the point of tattoos - especially when they're in places where yourself or others can't see them. 

My tattoo is across my back. And although I can't see it (unless looking in a mirror), that doesn't change the fact that I know it's still there. 

For me, tattoos are a spiritual experience. Mine holds significance for me; significance which I will - and have in the past - been happy to express to those who ask. It is a motto for living my life, and the way which I see the world. 

Getting tattoos hurt. Ask anyone who has one. But again, that pain is part of the spiritual experience of getting this idea, this thought, this sentiment etched permanently on to you. It is no longer just an thought, idea or a sentiment - it becomes a part of you and who you are. 

Tattooing has been around for thousands of years, marking rites of passage, status, rank, religious and spiritual devotions, fertility, love, punishment, etc etc.  

Unfortunately, although they are becoming more mainstream, in the wider community they still aren't that accepted. When thinking of tattoos, placement becomes an important aspect for me, because not only do I want something that flows with the curves of my body, but I want somewhere that can be covered up in corporate clothing. 

So despite the fact that I can't see it, or that other people can't see it, this doesn't change the spiritual meaning of it, and the reason why I got it. 

Sunday Tea

Drinking: 'Detox' blend by T2
Nails: OPI The Show Must Go On.

I love this nail colour. My friend Av got it for me for Christmas last year, in a little OPI Burlesque "teaser" pack. This colour is hot pink with orange-y shimmers, which is unlike what I'm used to wearing!

I spent most of last night cleaning my room so today I could get straight into studying.

No more procrastinating!

Loungy Weekends!

I'm only in my second week back at uni, and it's already incredibly hectic!
My timetable this semester is quite accommodating, and allows me to get most of my readings done, AND have notes summarised ready for class, which is an amazing feeling.
I'm very much enjoying doing my arts subjects - learning another language, although challenging, is very fun!
I have even found a "study buddy" in my class! Someone with whom I can practice talking with, which will definitely come in handy for our oral exams!

I tried to install language tools on my Microsoft Word, so I could practice writing phrases in Chinese on the computer, and to help me memorise the characters. It didn't work though, and my computer ended up having a massive freak out!

Anyway, J got back from spending all week in Canberra on Thursday night. After Uni on Friday, I headed straight over to his. He really wasn't even gone for that long, but gosh I missed him so much! (Does that make me totally lame?)
So we spent all last night and today snuggling in bed / on the lounge watching Malcolm in the Middle and Rocko's Modern Life.
We bleached my regrowth (yay for my hair being one colour again!) and ate lots of junk food.

Although this entry probably isn't exciting in the slightest, it was definitely the perfect weekend!
I promise I'll come back with some more pictures and more exciting things to say!

Soundwave '11

As promised, here is my review on Soundwave!
The weather was great - not too hot, but still quite warm when standing in the sun. Excellent shorts / shirt weather.
The Sydney location was moved rather last minute from Eastern Creek to Homebush. I have been to every single Soundwave (except the very first one), and have been to each venue that has held this great event. Therefore, I can say with much conviction that the swap was a good idea. Not much walking time between stages, lots and lots of toilet facilities (that appeared to have people looking after them throughout the day - excellent!), great free water stations, lots of food vendors, plenty of shade and areas to chill and no mud!

Generally the crowd at Soundwave is pretty good. Most people seemed to be there for the music rather than for the image, and were pretty chilled. Of course, metalheads are my favourite kind of crowd, so I am slightly biased, but generally the atmosphere was quite nice. This is the largest crowd I've ever seen at Soundwave - it just keeps getting so big!

Now onto the bands!

We spent the first few hours just cruising around, checking out the layout, getting our 18+ wristbands and chilling at a few stages. Trash Talk were the first band we saw.
Don't really remember much musically about them, but I do during their last song, the guitarist climbed up the side of the stage ... and then very anti-climatically, climbed down again. So, no cool tricks from them.

  

We watched some of Bayside's set, who seemed to be pretty fun. I've never listened to this band before, but the general vibe was there.

The first real band worth mentioning is of course, SUM 41.  I loved them so much when I was like, 11, so the nostalgia element was definitely nice.
They were playing at stage 3, which was under this huge blue tent. It got pretty warm in there, but the crowd went absolutely crazy. They started off with the Hell Song, which was so much fun, and then moved on to We're All to Blame. They did play some of their new stuff (which was kinda boring tbh) but they played mostly old over new and ended with Fat Lip. Definitely a good show.
It was disappointing that Derryck got pneumonia and so they couldn't play at their side-show (not that I had tickets), but they did mention they'd be back in Sydney soon. So I will probably go see them if they do!

We then headed over to stage 4, to check out DevilDriver. I've seen this band a few times before, which was a good thing because they were pretty awful.
Generally though, the sound at this stage sounded pretty awful, so I'm not too sure who to blame.
The band lacked energy and I don't think that Dez Fafara was really into it - some of the songs were hardly recognisable from where I was standing. Meet the Wretched - one of my favourite songs - was just fucking awful.
But don't let this performance (if you saw it) discourage you - generally they are an EXCELLENT band live.

Murderdolls were another band, excellent for the nostalgia. Last time I listened to them pretty sure I was an angsty 15 year old. It's funny how easily I remembered all the lyrics (even though admittedly they're not THAT hard to remember)
Twist my Sister and Slit My Wrist were fun songs to dance to, after not having heard them from so long. I stayed out of the mosh for this one, as they were playing at a stage where the sun was, but from where I was standing it looked pretty hectic.

We caught some of Primus' set. Very entertaining, although I wasn't really feeling it. I think they're the kind of band you go see if you're really into them, at their own concert. Not too sure if they're festival material.

We headed back over to stage 4 to catch Dimmu Borgir, a Norwegian Black metal band who are fucking brilliant. They're one of my favourites and it's so great to see them finally come out to Australia! They were fantastic. Corpse paint and goth clothes and satanic mumblings is so funny to watch. And his accent was really cute too - reminded me of Skwisgaar from Metalocalypse!
So glad they finished with Puritania, Progencies of the Great Apocalypse and Mourning Palace!

We watched a bit of Il Nino and when to get lunch, only to get told that Slayer weren't coming on stage.
Cue crowd riot.
As disappointing as it was to not have them play, the crowd reactions were pretty hilarious.
Grown men began acting like children, setting their shirts on fire, catapulting bottles and other projectiles onstage, and even chucking entire garbage bins through the front barrier.
It was awesome.

So we left that stage, and ended up catching some of Foxy Shazam.
EXCELLENT! This band was absolutely amazing. I have never heard of them before, let alone listened to any music, and they must have had the tiniest crowd ever, but they were SO energetic and entertaining and upbeat. I would pay to see them again. Highly recommend you check them out.
The singer even swallowed lit cigarettes? How's that for entertainment value!

We caught some of Mad Caddies, and headed over to watch Queens of the Stone Age.
Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol ... c-c-c-c-c-cocaiiiiiine!
Lots of fun.

We more or less watched most of their show while waiting for Iron Maiden to come on.
Poor guys, they're so old now. They had an awesome multi-level stage though, and various changing backgrounds, with an animation introducing them onto the stage, straight into the Final Frontier.
Very cheesy, and kinda lame.
Bruce Dickinson looked kinda cute in a beanie and a "Psych ward" t-shirt (pretty sure I owned the exact same one when I was like, 13 from Supre'?). He kinda looked like a little boy?
They were cool to watch, but J wasn't digging it as much as me, and since I'd seen my fair share of metal that day, we headed on over to Less than Jake.

But we got sidetracked, by this cool ride, and ended up riding that.

Our night finished with Pennywise, who are one of J's favourite bands. I've never listened much to them (despite having their entire discography on my ipod), but they were awesome. They too were in the blue tent stage and had pulled a massive crowd. There was so much energy and it was pretty infectious.
They finished with Bro Hymn, which I've heard they do for every show. The atmosphere and the feeling that resonated within the crowd at the end of the set was pretty amazing. The chants were still going as we were walking out the gates.

Despite having the entire festival finishing at 10.00pm, and thus having tens of thousands of metalheads all leaving at the one time, to head to the one train station, we escaped pretty quickly.

The organisation this year was done much better than it has before in previous years, and I personally had minimal clashes. It will be interesting to see if it can be topped next year!!

Rhinosinusitis

I am so sick at the moment. The changes in weather and all the added pollen and whatever has seriously aggravated my hayfever, which in turn has aggravated my sinuses.
I was literally in tears yesterday.

Sinus headaches are intense. They feel like someone has smashed your head against a concrete wall and there's a huge crack right down the front of your forehead, in between your eyebrows. My eyes felt like they were vibrating there was so much congestion.

Thank god for drugs and beautiful boyfriends who drop everything to rush over and make sure I'm okay.

End of Summer!

Happy end of Summer!! I'm so glad that the cooler months have finally arrived! Yay for rugging up!

As well as marking cooler days, the beginning of March also marks Uni being back in session.
I've only been back for two days and am already exhausted at how busy it will be.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am studying mandarin this year! It has been so fun so far. I feel like I'm in kindy and learning the alphabet for the first time.

This is only going to be a super quick post with lots of pictures because I have to get back to studying before
my class tomorrow morning!

On Sunday J and I went to Soundwave! It was sooo much fun. I promise I will do a proper review on this soon! Maybe on the weekend, if I have a bit of time.

I didn't get proper photos, or any great photos since they were all taken on my shitty phone camera. But here are a few:

Sum 41

DevilDriver

Murderdolls

Dimmu Borgir

Foxy Shazam

Foxy Shazam

Spelling mistake on the "Insanity" Ride

I had two packages at work for me today when I went in. One of them contained my lovely prize from Merowyn - when I won the pancake mix! (find her blog here!):

She had also written this cute little card to me!

It was so lovely getting to work to have this waiting on my desk for me. I can't believe she went out of her way to write me that card! -dies- I love blogland. 

I bought this 1TB external hard-drive online for super-cheap a few weeks ago, along with some cookbooks and they arrived today which was all very exciting:

 

I'm not actually a big seafood eater at all (I really wish I was sometimes, like tonight when I was watching My Kitchen Rules and Prawn Cocktails were on the menu...they looked so delicious!). The last book came free with the other two. The other two recipe books have some amazing food suggestions in there, along with some tips for freezing food and what to do with leftovers and what not. I'm such an awful cook, so hopefully this will help me expand my repertoire. I've already gone through and flagged quite a few recipes!

And some other exciting news:

I've been picked for JURY DUTY!! Which I know to most people is a massively tedious and boring task, but I am sooo excited.
Unfortunately, undertaking a law degree is extremely difficult, and I doubt I'll have the time. My summons sheet estimates the length of the trial to go for 5 weeks, which is far too long for me to miss out on uni. Most of my subjects have attendance as part of the assessment marks.
Tomorrow I will go to the law faculty and ask them how I get out of it (*sob*).

Moments like this I wish I worked full time so I COULD do it :(