I like vox's funky layout and... stuff, but I hate how it keeps randomly leaving out words, so I've decided to go over to typepad for my primary blog...
You can find it here: http://www.paintingwithlight.typepad.com/
Please come visit! :)
You were small
You were compact
You were all shiny with one groovy clipped corner
You were pink… And you drew attention wherever you went
You were my secret to happiness.
No more shall we frolic together around GC,
Happily swiping you through the many many eftpos machines.
(And boy, you did get around didn’t you my little friend!)
No more shall I see your cute little pink corners winking at me from within my wallet,
Just begging me to swipe you (and swipe it good)
No more shall I feel that the world is my oyster,
That I can do anything, go anywhere (up to 3k, that is)
Because you are with me everywhere I go.
No more will I be able to combat boredom with copious amounts of retail therapy-
And trudge home with a tonne of things I will never use nor wear.
And no more will I be assuaged with guilt over your constant swiperage,
Or worry about how I will get your balance back down to zero.
Who knows if we shall ever see each other again, Pinky.
For now you are firmly in trenched somewhere secret within the bowls of the beast (aka the bf’s wallet)
Until I complete my quest to become a socially and financially responsible adult.
Which could take quite a while…
I have been sitting here staring at my lappy’s screen for the past 15 minutes trying to think of a way I can sum up the weekend and the Brisbane Nerdfest™ in a few concise paragraphs, but given that I have the memory of a goldfish and the tendency to blather on about everything under the sun, you’re just going to have to put up with my ramblings.
Okay, starting with Friday… I re-discovered my local library. Ah, joy of joys. Have to say that being able to check out 7 books and not feel a single shred of guilt was the best feeling ever! Yay! I also caught up with a couple of the gals from college and got to be a lady-who-lunches for the day. We went to Bulimba and found a groovy little shop called Thousand Island Dressing that sells awesomely price jewelry and some home wares (I love their lamps!!). There was so much I wanted to buy but couldn’t. Bah! Stupid money.
Friday night the bf & I went along with some friends to a Turkish/Middle Eastern restaurant called in the Valley. Good atmosphere, good company, good selection of food… not bad, but not quite as good as my much beloved Ahmets (eyeballs , Jen & Enny… you guys are so blacklisted :P). We only just missed out on the belly dancing when we got there much to my disappointment but the bf’s relief. I think he lives in constant fear that one day, a belly dancer is going to pounce on him and force him to dance in front of a room full of strangers.
Saturday morning the bf & I braved the crowds at GC because the bf wanted a hair cut. Actually, it was more like lunch time. A week before Xmas, a major shopping centre, a Saturday, and at lunch time. Are you insane!? Parking will take us 5 hours alone. But, then I had forgotten the freakish luck my bf has when it comes to finding a park. We arrived at GC, and found a park instantly. Right next to the shop doors. Undercover. Some weird kind of carpark voodoo magic happening there I don’t know about I’m sure. We also spent a whopping $200 on groceries. (And it still feels like the cupboards are bare! What is up with that!?)
I fluttered around the house after we got home with a tummy full of butterflies, all nervous about Nerdfest™ . Sat down on the couch to watch a bit of TV to calm my nerves, lost track of the time and subsequently ended up being late and leaving poor Jade to defend herself against the hoard all on her lonesome.
Finally I arrived at Nerdfest™ and was thankfully rescued from looking like a friendless git by Jade who took me over to the birthday girl, Jen & Enny. Omg, I was so freaking nervous. I don’t think I was even coherent, let alone brave enough to make eye contact or introduce myself to anyone. I’m sure everyone noticed and must have thought I was really rude- sorry guys!!!! I was so nervous I practically threw ’s gift at her and then nearly sat on Jade’s without realizing. Oops. I ended up being nervous the whole time we were there I think, right up until we walked out. Nerdfest™ was singularly the most bizarre moment of my life to date. I mean, you guys know more about me than my RL friends do… and that’s a pretty big feat because I usually keep myself to myself in RL. Kinda freaky deaky, man.
I should really have just got myself a cocktail (or five) to relax.
I wasn’t sure who was who at first (save for D’Jen, & Jade)… Jen was as cute in real life as her profile pic online and has awesome taste in jewelry. That goes for Jade as well. I still can’t believe we have actually met face to face. Jade & I have been trying to plan that for years… Trust D’Jen to come along and be all awesome-like and get us in the same room together! I’m not sure what I was expecting with , but he turned out to be hilariously funny and also came across as a perfect gentleman. Here’s what I’ll be getting him for his Xmas pressie, lol. Natalie is waayy funnier and way cuter in RL than online, which I didn’t think was physically possible! She also has super-awesome hair. Her husband looks strangely familiar to me but I have no idea why? Tokenwoman (not sure if I should use real name so erring on the side of caution here) was quite lovely in the few minutes I got to speak to her. I have a bit of reading to catch up on her blog there…. And Enny… the guest of honor who I didn’t get to speak to at all! Damn, and we had so much in common too! Well, okay, two things for sure, lol.
Seriously, you guys have no idea how scared I was… I think I must have gone into post traumatic stress or something because I actually can’t remember too much of the event and who said what to who. It’s kinda a blur… but I do remember how awkward and shy (how embarrassing!) I was so maybe that’s why my brain is shutting it out ? I just have to rely on the other’s blogs to jog my memory.
I should have stayed at Nerdfest™ and consumed copious amounts of Dutch courage instead of pissing off to what turned out to be a disappointing work party. What was first planned to be Karaoke and dinner and drinks morphed into 5 drunk women eating pizza and shrieking like banshees for about 4 hours straight. Don’t get me wrong, while it was good to catch up with some old friends, the work party and Nerdfest™ could not have been more different. Nerdfest™, socially responsible non-smokers enjoying conversation and soothing the nerves with a few well paced cocktails… And the other mob sculling beer, vodka, and champagne with corn chips, loud music and chain smoking and falling down stairs as much as they can as quickly as possible to reach their own personal nirvanas of sheer drunken oblivion. It wasn’t terribly sophisticated. Those drinking games just aren’t much fun with mineral water. So NOT my ideal way to spend a Saturday night. Ahmets would have been much nicer. *sulks*
Sunday was a fun day. I had a belly dance concert to shoot in Beenleigh (my god, it felt like the other side of the world driving there) which actually turned out to be a whole lot of fun, although with slightly depressing results. I took along a friend of mine from college who is a bit cashed up as much much MUCH better equipment than me… and boy, could you tell in the photos! I really need to upgrade my stuff if I’m going to keep doing this sort of thing regularly because clearly, the current kit is not cutting the mustard.
Anyway, so that’s about it from me. I hate leaving it so long in between posts. Too much to wade through.
And for the record, I’m so glad that I’m not doing those Santa photos… I saw a Santa and a photographer today when I went to post some xmas cards and I’ve never seen anyone look more bored before in my life!
Is there anyone out there aside from me that thinks that $9 is a little excessive for a vegetarian burger? Not even a gourmet vegetarian burger, just a lentil patty on a bread roll with a bit of salad and a tomato…. NINE bucks for that?! Come on! That’s insane!! I just about fell over when the bf came home and told me how much he spent on my dinner last night.
I had a bit of a run in with one of the guys from college today, and I feel pretty darn crap at the moment. I was supposed to be helping him with a kind of santa photo- only the religious version. I was kinda excited (albeit a little nervous) at the prospect. It wasn’t great work, but at least it was experience and for only $7 an hour, experience is ALL it was about.
However, he neglected to tell me that I would be required to source my own public liability insurance, business attire, business cards and equipment. Business attire would not normally be a big deal, except that I don’t FIT into any of my old stuff, which means I would have to go out and buy more. And the business cards… well, as I have no intention of going out on my own with my own business just yet, these would be a waste of money (I plan to work with a pro if I can as an assistant or photoshop guru). The equipment, yeah okay that’s alright, I can understand that, except my digi has been dropped a few too many times and isn’t all that reliable.
But the corker of all this is the insurance. The insurance will cost me more than I will earn in the whole week I will be working. And with my precarious financial situation at the moment, I’m not willing to fork out anymore than what I have to to get by.
Anyway, when I told the bf the situation, he was pissed. He doesn’t want me working for $7 an hour… hell, I don’t wanna be working for $7- especially not considering how much I have got done around the house since I have been home. Sure, the experience would have been cool, but santa photos… talk about a production line. There really isn’t too much involved in that, is there? Its like pixie photos – all set up.
So I had to ring the college guy today and tell him I couldn’t do it… I felt so bad and he was freakin’ pissed. As you would be. I feel really bad for him and cried like a sissy afterwards. I feel like I have burnt bridges and he accused me of not being professional… but frankly in my mind I wasn’t doing this as a professional – I was just trying to help him out, but he mislead me with the costs involved. Why else would I consider working for $7 an hour?? He was always the first to tell me not to sell myself short when pricing myself or my work.
I feel pretty rotten that there’s someone out there badmouthing me… but my reasons are legitimate…. Aren’t they??? Oh man, I feel crap L
In other news… I still can’t quite relax and feel like I am on holidays. Since I have been home I have been feeling awfully guilty that the bf is at work and I’m here, so I have been trying to do as much as I can around the house…. Its certainly long over due. Yesterday I focused on the bathroom and finally got some shelves for the laundry and bits and pieces like a shower caddy (omg! How did I ever survive without one?!) so now the bathroom is in a really nice state. And I tided up the deck, dismantled the darkroom so we could have our outdoor setting and spare room back… and I even tided the bookshelf and my corner where I had all my photocrap… it feels like the house has just doubled in size and the bf loves having me home doing all this stuff. I like it too… I cant wait until I can make the house presentable enough to have guests over!
On Tuesday night we went and saw Casino Royale. I really really super enjoyed it… considering that I normally go for chick flicks with nice, happy safe predictable endings where no one dies particularly violently. It was nice to watch an action movie and not think it was real life… all though I did feel sorry for the family of the dude that ended up laying face first on the tarmac… its just a movie, man! Get over it… sheesh! Usually I think that the entire way through movies… hence why I don’t normally like them.
Anyway, I must get a move on… if I impress the bf with my stay-home-wife awesomeness, maybe he wont force me to back to work straight away heh…
So it’s 2am and I’m still up with the tv humming away in the background when an ad comes on for some ‘miracle’ makeup. I don’t know if it’s the lack of sleep, the American accents, or what, but I’m finding myself sitting up, paying attention AND getting suckered in.
I have bad skin (uneven tone & breakouts), and would LOVE miracle make up – if this stuff is as good as they say it is on the infomercial, then I WANT SOME!
It’s called Sheer Cover – has anyone heard of it, used it or knows someone who has?? Please please, if anyone knows anything about it, please let me know… I’m just itching to whip out the cc and order some but I’m a bit skeptical too... Suffice to say, I'm pretty gullible and would rather not waste the dough if its a crap product.
At this point in time, my faithful little camera and tripod are out in the back yard, in the rain. I’m in the middle of shooting the very last assignment for college which is a double exposure. It means I can’t move the camera in between shots so instead of trying to do it again tomorrow and risk missing the deadline, its currently got a plastic bag over it to brave the wet weather. I’ll take the second shot soon and bring it back inside so I can process the film. Hope it doesnt get hit by lightning in the mean time!
I’m really starting to feel the late nights and the pressure now. I still have quite a bit to do and I just feel so bone tired. I had to lay down a couple of times today for 10 minute kips simply because I could not keep my eyes open and found myself nodding off at the keyboard. All I really have left is a little bit of printing in the darkroom and a tonne of typing which SUCKS because a rather nasty pain in my head has started today. I feel awful. I’m tired, I have a headache (please god, don’t become a migraine!), and I can't even remember when I last had a decent meal. My eating as been absolutely appalling recently, which no doubt accounts for the crappy way I feel but I simply had the time to go shopping, let alone cook anything.
I can’t wait til this is all done and dusted!
Bit knackered today…. Thursday was an all nighter and I didn’t get to crash until 2am last night (Friday) and was up again at 8am this morning… not doing too bad. I seem to feel worse if I sleep, instead of just staying up.
Discovered that I am working quite well under pressure (no more freak outs since last Friday) and I’ve found it’s actually kept me focused which is unbelievably good. I think it’s possible that I may even get it all done with time to spare…!
Here’s some crazy assed stats on my course requirements for this year:
Assignments in total: 67 (each assignment must be shot, developed, hand printed and mounted onto mount board and some require multiple images)
Number of weeks that course runs for: 37 weeks
The assignment work doesn’t include the other stuff we have to hand in for final submission to get our cert. We also must have comprehensive notes on all subjects (colour, black & white, Photoshop), plus famous photographers (we get graded on our index), folio (which requires a minimum of 20 x A3 photo spreads – not allowed to use assignment work for this) or Photoshop (5 projects) work either.
Holy shit, no wonder I’m so stressed!
I never realised how much I missed out on by going to bed before midnight… What a totally awesome selection of TeeVee viewing we have – namely Hotdogs, and his retarded game/quiz show.
But I have to say that, tonight’s programming by Channel 7 takes the cake…
Wtf?! Why is this on at 1.15am??? And what adult is actually watching this crap?? (other than me but thats only because I'm procrastinating about finishing off my work). It’s hilarious to see a kiddie show with those raunchy dating and Paris Hilton Sex video ads in between… Oh dear. Some one at channel 7 has really dropped the ball there!
Hero's in a half shell - turtle power! Oh, wait... wrong show...
Look what arrived for me this morning…
Yay! My Lonely Planet books – a big THANK YOU to the gorgeous Brooke, because if it was not for her, I wouldn’t have been able to get my hands on these books. Thanks B! You’re truly a star!
The Travel & Urban photography guides are by Richard L’Anson who’s seminar/book launch I went along to back in October (see previous post on the subject here). I really wanted to buy the books on the night and have him sign them, but I was simply too poor. These new ones may not be signed by the author and fab photographer himself, but I can live with that – they are so inspirational and chockablock full of vital technical knowledge. Top stuff.
And while I was at it, I also got some for my friend M who is big into travel photography especially. He’s gonna be stoked!
I won’t be able to read these until after the course but its going to be nice to have something to look forward to. I found out today that it IS actually possible for me to get all my work in if I just keep at it (which is fab, because I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I was so far behind and that I won’t get the certificate because I won’t have every thing done in time). It’s kinda given me more motivation to keep plugging away at it. Not that the certificate is worth anything anyway, but it will be a nice feather in my cap. More for myself to prove that I can achieve something.
Heading back into college tonight for more printing. I cracked a hissy fit today about the darkroom time on Monday being taken from us, so now we CAN print in the afternoon if all our photoshop work is done. Even if it’s not done, there’s no reason why I just can’t keep plugging away at my photoshop at home. God knows I’ll get more done at home than with those ancient machines at college!!
So please, keep your fingers crossed for me… I will barely scrape through (and only by the skin of my teeth) and I don’t care if its not done brilliantly, just as long as its DONE as well as I can given the restraints we’ve got. It will be worth it once I’m out in the real world!
Guess where I’m typing this from? My couch! On my new laptop… Yay for me!
If I’m lucky, I might just get to bed before 4am tonight – the late nights are really starting to catch up with me. I find that I am falling asleep sitting at the computer! The only thing good about being up so late is that I can listen to Passions while I ‘shop, heh.
I’m pretty freakin’ pissed though. I’ve been working my ass off to get my stuff ready for my folio because we were told it all had to be finished off and today so it could be taken to the labs to get printed. I’ve been working to this time table so I’ve pushing hard to make sure all my photoshop work is done and dusted and to do this, I’ve had to temporarily neglect my assignments. I think the folio is more important though, since this is what we will be showing people once I'm out in the 'real world'.
Fuckers.
Okay! That’s my vent for today. I’m unbelivebly tired so I might go to bed. I’ve already processed a bunch of films, photoshopped a couple of extra pages and got my new lappy all set up and ready to roll (except for email). I love having a laptop… This thing is going to end up containing my whole life- my fiction, my photos, my music, my vids… I love that I finally have something portable. It’s 2nd hand so although the outside is a bit battered, the internals are just as good (if not better in some areas) than our clunky old desktop. Gotta love that. And it was free, which means that the money I was going to put towards a laptop can now go towards a new camera body and maybe some lenses… Mmmm... 5D *Drool*
Oh, I’m trying out the card reader built into the side of my lappy and thought I would share a photo of my dirty whore of a cat lying on his back. This is how he sleeps! I snapped this one a couple of days ago on the bf’s ancient old (but still damn good) IXUS.
We call this his 'dirty whore' pose, LOL. He's such a funny cat.
Oh! And a MASSIVE congratulations to Nicky on her super duper totally awesomeness news... She kept us in suspense for a while, but it was worth the wait. Can't wait to see the article!!!!
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Jadey said:
Just Stopped by to wish you a year full of joy and success, health and prosperity! Happy New Year! xox read more
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madamx81 said:
i cut up my pinky the virgin last year.....i am destined never to be a virgin again!!! read more
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Jadey said:
Uh Oh - I just got a pinky. No one informed me how dangerous it could be, it looks so... read more
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Hi! I can't get into your typepad.com blog :( have you moved somewhere else again? lol read more
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