Thoughts

I think things are finally coming together on the homework front. It's all almost done, which means that my planned celebration can certainly take place on Thursday night. It seemed to hard before it was all done, but now I realise that it was just me making too much out of it all.

I suppose the truth of that will out when I get my marks back.

It's a drab, dreary day here. It's raining, and the sky is dark, and I really don't want to go out into the rain to get to class later on tonight. Perhaps it'll have settled down by the time I go. I'm not complaining about the rain, of course, seeing as we need it so badly. And it is nice to be warm and snug at home with one's love.

I'm thoughtful, today. I have a lot to think about, when it comes to the future. Will I find someone to move in? Well, probably, yes, seeing as rental is so tricky at the moment. Will I move to the country to work in radio? I'm thinking about it. Will I get to Sweden soon? Perhaps, if I save.

The moving to the country issue is an interesting one. I can see why there are several good reasons to do so, first and foremost among them that when I've finished the course (and even before) I'll have quite a few job offers available to me. We're already getting emails from various stations asking if we'd like to go and work there. Walking into a job is quite a feat. Also, seeing as I'm not quite sure yet exactly what I want to do in radio (although announcing is one thing I do want to do for sure) it would be good to do a job that let me have a go at a range of things. It's common in country stations to do jobs as they come. Also, making mistakes is not as dire, so one can learn and practice without too much worry in that respect.

Perhaps it's because I associate so many negatives with the country. It's actually quite unfair to do so, seeing as I've overblown it in my mind, but there are still reasons. For one, not driving is fine in a city like Melbourne, with all of the public transport. Not having a car in the country makes me feel completely stranded and helpless. I feel like I can't be self-reliant at all, and I hate that. I really want to get my licence, but it's just so hard with not really having much spare money for lessons, and it being hard to imagine magically getting a car.

Also, I tend to associate the country (or maybe just Castlemaine) with all of the crap that happened when I was younger. I feel like I've grown and changed into a different person since all of that, and going back there sometimes makes me feel like I haven't.

There's also the fact that I'd probably be really, horribly lonely if I was living by myself in a little country town. I don't really cope well with living by myself, having always had people around me. Maybe I'll find someone to live with, I'm not sure, but that's also something to consider.

So, I'm thinking about all of that. I love living in Melbourne, and having the city and all of the bars and restaurants and bookstores and shopping that I could want at my fingertips. I love having the ability to get where I need to whenever I like. I love having friends so close, even if I don't see them all of the time. And, I like my job at the moment. Swatch is a really great place to work.

So, there are the things that I'm thinking about.

A Good Cause

Time to hijack the blog on behalf of my wonderful friend, SYN.




They're running a donation drive at the moment (yes, I was supposed to be helping with producing the announcements... Sorry Nick...) to keep the station on air, because with the horrible VSU comes no funding from RMIT. There isn't any Government funding either! So SYN relies on generous people to keep the station (and me) on air.

Go to www.syn.org.au to have a lookie at what they're doing.

If you can, donate! SYN puts hundreds of young people onto the air every year and really gives Melbourne a unique sound. They're awesome!

Grah

Stressy stress stress-o-rama.

Well, that pretty much sums it up. I have so much homework to do at the moment, it's absolutely killing me to pieces. *sigh* It's all complicated production stuff to go, which freaks me out, seeing as I have a somewhat tenuous grasp on that kind of thing.

Of course the point is that we're learning how to do all of this stuff, and it is a challenge, but the terms of the challenge are rather, well, fucked.

We have to do work in the studio, right? Yeah, well, people are clamouring for time and even though I do have some booked, I'm not entirely sure if it'll do. Luckily, the undergrads are supposed to be done now, so we can steal their little smaller production studios if we need to.

I just need to get my interview done, and produce and edit it, and then my second-last assignment is done. Aaaargh. Then the two-hour show. Stress. Streeesss.

(Also, I had a completely shit morning today, seeing as I had to try to deal with horrible Centrelink and trains that kept getting cancelled. Connex, I hate you, you son of a bitch.)

Apologies for the copious swearing...

Miss Snark Calls it Quits!

Miss Snark, blogging agent extraordinare has retired! It's a sad day for writers everywhere, and I for one am mourning her blog closing.

She gave writers so much helpful advice! She snarked nitwits and swilled gin. She and Killer Yapp were on my bookmarks toolbar and I stopped by her blog a few times a day ever since Ash showed me with link when I was in Sweden.

I was so moved, I created a Musical Tribute.

Woe. Woe! *swills gin in tribute*

Celeb Crush of the Week!

Ye gods, is it time for this already? Just goes to show how slack I've been.

Actually, today I've been horribly productive. I got up early and went to Swinburne to work in the recording studio (got everything done except my interview) and then came home to watch Dark Angel. After vegging for a bit (no sleep last night either, feeling tired and yuck) I washed dishes and washed clothes and cleaned the kitchen and bathroom...

All that aside, this week is a rather mournful Celeb Crush.



Oh, poor cancelled Veronica. *sniffle* You're so tough and cool, and you always fight the good fight, with your pixie spy magic and biting sarcasm. Your hair was so much better in Season Three. Oh, why! Who would cancel you? That's OK, Veronica, I'll comfort you in your hour of need...

*sings Veronica tribute karaoke*

Ash is now Blogging!

Yes, the day has finally come. Ash was going to do a guest post on my blog about her trips around the Melbourne train network, instead, she's actually started one of her own.

For the marvellous adventure, see here.

Yes, of *course* she edited the html to make it all black. It's Ash we're talking about here...

($10 to whoever hacks into it and makes it rainbow. Hee hee hee...)

Insert Word Other Than 'Content' Here

Isn't it amazing how good you feel when you've handed in an assignment? I'm sitting here, singing along loudly to Silverchair, about to install an audio editing program and contemplating an essay.

Or maybe I'm just happy because the weather's beautiful today.

Either way, I'm happy happy happy.

Celebrity Crush of the Week

This is inspired by a radio classmate of mine who has a Husband of the Week. Seeing as I'm sure Ash would be quite unhappy if I were to announce Wife of the Week, I've decided to call it Celeb Crush.

And who has the honour of being my first Celeb crush of the week?

Why, Miss Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters, of course.



Seriously, how can you not love a sexy, foul-mouthed rock goddess with a robot tattoo? Can't be done. She was maaaarvellous when I saw them live. Oh, the cooler than cool NY accent. The outfits. The backing vocals to the fabulous Jake Shears.

Put your hands together for Ana Matronic. Uhuh.

Sexpot Tones

OK, so it's not another podcast, but it's the closest you'll come to getting another one anytime soon.

This is an ad that I scripted and read for my course. I was actually wanting to know... how does it sound? Is it TOO sexpot? Because I'm actually a little embarrassed.

Listen here.

(Thanks to Q for the FTP help!)

Q!

A NOT-SO-SUBTLE REMINDER TO Q TO PLEASE, PLEASE BURN ME BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

(She asked me to remind her...)

What Emma Did Last Wednesday Night

Why, I went to see Silverchair, of course.

Long overdue is my blog entry on this, my apologies. Emma has been a sick girl, and also a busy one.

So! What made the concert so very very good? So many things. For a start, the fact that I actually got to go. Bless friends, really, bless 'em. And once more, just for fun.

Right, so I met up with Meg just before I finished work. I'd totally hijacked the stereo and was playing Young Modern very loudly for the last hour of my shift. (We can pretty much play whatever we want on our iPods at work. Which, of course, rocks.) I packed up the store, and then we went to get a beer and something to eat at the Lounge. Jamie joined us soon afterwards, and then we made our way up to the Metro. Now, I've only ever been there for slightly-dodgy nights out (a friend used to do promotions there, which meant we drank for free) and was pretty sceptical about how good it would be as a venue. It was actually awesome as you could see the stage from pretty much anywhere, including the three levels at the back.

We had a quick drink and I checked my bag, and then stood around for a while waiting for the support act. They were good! Actually good! The support act for Muse was so godawful that I thought I was scarred for life, but the support act (Dappled Cities Fly) were really great! The lead singer looked like David Tennant! The crowd gave them a lot of love, and they were all so excited. Great stuff.

About half an hour after they finished up, the lights dropped and everyone screamed.

The curtain at the back of the stage parted to reveal a massive set looking like the front cover of Young Modern, and then Silverchair came on stage. The whole place had erupted. We were probably standing about five-ish metres from the stage (about the same place I saw Muse from at the BDO, Q, if you're reading) and could see everything... They started off with Young Modern Station, and it was all so good...

From Young Modern Station (I called Age) they went into Low, which had everyone singing along. Then they played a couple of songs from Frogstomp, whose names I can't remember, and then Without You, and Insomnia and Mind Reader and Tuna in the Brine! Oh, I was so happy that they played Tuna in the Brine. It's such a brilliant song. (I called Q.) They had Paul Mac doing some of the orchestral stuff through his keyboard I guess (he was actually there the whole time) and another guy on piano. It sounded magnificent.

They also played Those Thieving Birds (Part 1)/Strange Behavior/Those Thieving Birds (Part 2.) And if you're not familiar with the song, that'll probably sound like a pretentious wank. It's not. (I called Jes.)Ah, so beautiful. Before they started, Daniel said 'We've only played this live like, twice in our lives... So here we go.' Gorgeous. Insert happy sigh here. They also played Reflections of a Sound, which was equally lovely.

What else? The Greatest View, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Luv Your Life, Waiting all Day, Straight Lines... Eeeee! So good! They also cut out the chorus to Freak, which of course had everyone screaming along. As if anyone under 30 doesn't know the chorus to Freak...

And Daniel talked quite a bit through the show, which was lovely. He kept saying 'Thank you, thank you all very much for coming...' And we sang happy birthday to Chris. Daniel was dressed in a red vest, with brown pants and a white scarf around his head. He looked a bit like a sexy pirate, especially as he kept doing this funny little swagger. Oh, he was so cute. I just wanted to pinch his cheeks. (The ones on his face, thank you very much...) And it was such a polite crowd. No smashing people to pieces in the mosh, no-one pushing and shoving at the cloak room after the show... Very good vibe.

The encore was If You Keep Losing Sleep (I called Jes again) and Lever. Mmmm. Lever. Ah! Was so good! The sound in the Metro was surprisingly brilliant, and every song made me squeesplode a little bit more... In the end they played for almost two hours!

Silverchair rocked. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Bounce!

After two or three days of feeling absolutely horrible (and with a mystery illness that really didn't make sense) I've bounced back in a major way. Bounce! It probably has quite a bit to do with a number of things:

- Seeing people! James and Eck cheered me up after I met them in the city. We organised to hang out on Friday night, and I offered a ticket to Spidey to James. He squeed like mad, it was adorable. Which leads into...

- Spidey on Thurs! Cue getting really excited! Ant and James are both pumped, which rocks, because going to see a movie with people who are dying to see it somehow just makes it better. It's going to be awesome to hang out with them both for a while, and Spidey! Eeee! There are posters everywhere. I'm so so so excited. Must take a deep breath.

- Surprise Silverchair ticket! Oh my god, how much better can it get? Basically, the deal was that I responded with an 'I love that song!' when a uni friend of mine started singing All Across the World. She turned around and said 'I'm going tomorrow night and I have a spare ticket. Want to come?' OF COURSE I DO. Eeee! Eeeee again! I seriously wish I could bring everyone with me, because I'd love to have the concert experience with everyone, but I'll have to be satisfied with calling madly throughout the show instead. Yay! Yay! YAY!

- I went to Centrelink and they weren't absolute bastards! I almost fell off my chair when I got a perfectly lovely person putting my form through. They do exist after all!

- Panadol and it's little friend the anti-inflammatory! Seriously, I felt one million percent better after dosing myself up real good. I don't know about you, but after suffering disgustingly bad headaches for three days (it was like daggers in my temples when I stood up...) relief is like Christmas. No idea why Panadol wasn't working when I was sick on the weekend. And yes, I did drink water. Lots and lots of water. And I took zinc, just in case.

- Homework done! Or the parts that I needed to get other things done, at least! Progress which means I don't need an extension! Hurrah!

Yep, things are actually working out marvellously well. I might just go over here, have a sing to Silverchair and do a little dance. If you don't mind.