LISTEN UP

So you lot. Yeah, you lot. Right so I don't actually know if I'm speaking to a damn person out there but that's not really the point. I'm writing a some sort of diary here right now (as of today, let's see how long this lasts) and the point is to be brutally honest with the world, a fair be of ranting and me scratching my head and being confused at all these intricacies of life.

Right so here in Australia we're in the last month of spring. The days are getting longer and it gets dark around 7:30, so that I don't feel like there's much of a night at all. The crickets have begun chirping and its the time when we all start thinking about ice-creams and milkshakes in the afternoon and wonder about whether we shall have a barbecue with friends on the weekend.

Right now, being a student, things are damn confusing. I feel proud when I don't punch someone in the face these days. If I'm lucky I get 8 and a half hours of sleep a night and I still almost fall asleep in french or modern history (the two most boring classes I do). Literally, my eyes were closing to the point when your only woken up by the sudden falling of your head as you fall asleep. People are less tolerable these days. Maybe that's connected with the lack of sleep. I've come to realize that I don't know a single person who's not a hypocrite, something immensely sad, or perhaps that's just being immensely human. (And yes, I am including myself in that statement). People aren't very good at getting things done. They say they 'should' and then, a week later they say 'oh I would do that if that hadn't happened...' They never really intended to do it. I can see i in most of my friends, they complain and groan and yawn but never do a thing to change what they grumble about. I'm not sure that that is logically - if we're going to the effort to complain about things then you'd think we'd do something to change it wouldn't we?

Anyway, the ocean is quite these days, and the wind has died down so you never even need to take a jumper to school. It's like the world's is breathing deeply, calming itself for a mindless party, or an incredible roar. You only need one blanket to sleep, and still you can happily stick a foot out from under it (unless, of course, you think there's a demon that's about to latch onto your ankle). If you wake up early in the morning (because sometimes your brain is cruel and does things like this to you) the sky is beginning to be light, touching itself with a blushing yellow. When you look out, the clouds in a pale violet, are drifting along the sky, soon to be joined by birds delighting in a new day. After all of this life being to goddamn beautiful, you'd think I could be stunningly happy and basically skip for joy. Truth be told, I'm very proud of myself I get through a day without punching someone. Gods forbid if the weather gets bad - murdering someone might yet be on the cards. 

Chatting: Size

Size is funny thing. And honestly, generally I think it shouldn't be commented on - that's the safest thing to do. However that exasperates me, because it's a fact of life that I'm skinnier than some people and wider than others. However, I'm still the stingy person who looks at an XX large and wonders why I have to pay the same price for about half the material, as I'm buying it in a small. Still, I can deal with it, and I think it's the best thing to do. Still, when I only have $10 left in my wallet, I wish it was otherwise.

So this year I've finally lost weight, and managed to keep it off. Hooray for me because I'm proud. But I'm annoyed because now my clothes don't fit me as well as they should, and I don't have the money to buy a new wardrobe. Ah. Life.

Today, as I complained about this, my mother told me "I  look quite thin these days." I think she meant it as a compliment. But I find it hard to take it as one. Having watched friends turn anorexic, and hugging girls who are so bony you worry about bulimia, I don't find that 'skinny' is a compliment anymore. I've found that size tortures most people, and I find that I generally really don't care at all about what size people are. In fact so long as your hair isn't oily, you're not putting on a kilogram in make-up and you look generally clean, I'm pretty happy with hanging out with you. 

Let's Do Things: Letters

Write something. Once a month, put a date down on a piece of paper, get a pen and write about what you see in the world. What you hate, and who makes you love things. What song you danced crazily last midnight. Write it down. And start with a name. Write to your brother. Or your dog. Or your grandmother. Write to an older version of you. Or a city. Or an idea. And write about what you imagine this person or thing to be doing. And be completely honest. If you feel like shit, write it down - it's a feeling, don't doubt it. Just once a month. Or once every three months. Or on New Years Eve. Or whenever you feel like it.

Just put on a great song, or listen to the silence and write about what that particular moment feels like. Do you feel big or small? Are you hopeful or can't you get anything right? Who would you want to kiss and who would want to kiss you? Who would you love to make a cup of  tea for? What do you wish people would do? And what do you want to be remembered for? Who would you like to punch and why won't you do that?

Write it all down. Just to get it out of you. And leave feeling like your words are empty and your soul is full. Smile as you finish and fold up your paper, seal it in an envelop and put it somewhere. Keep it, and  never throw it away. And so don't be scared anymore, because who you are is wrapped up in those pages. Those little things that you wrote. And the words you used to write them. 

Don't try and be anyone else, and there's nothing you should or shouldn't write. Write about how you masturbated or write about how good the ice-cream bucket you're slowly munching through is. Write it down because that happened. It happened. Nothing's going to make it un-happen. And don't think about what anyone else would write about in this situation, just write what you would write in this situation.

And if I could be bold and give you some advice, don't focus on how sad you feel, or how happy you feel. Write about the selection of emotions that you've felt through the week and why you felt them. Just pick up a pen, close down your computer and forget about the world. Just be you and that green paper. And the words you write. Let your thoughts live.

Music: Vance joy, Art of Sleeping, Florence and the Machine, Meg Mac, Andy Bull

Style: Liv Tyler

All photos from Weheartit

Alright, so I re-vamped the blog (I don't know if 're-vamped' is a word... looks like I'm "re-vamping" English as well), so I hope you guys like it a lot (or even just a little). Anyway so today we're on to style. (*cheers from imaginary crowd*).

So Liv Tyler. In case you don't know who she is, she's an actress. She played Arwen in The Lord of The Rings, (which you all should've seen - perhaps multiple times) and she's a pretty cool human which I thought I'd point out to you lot.

What I love about her style is that she doesn't just leave it at the clothes: it's her AND her face that make it all up, without putting all of the focus on one or the other. Plus she has amazing eyebrows (what else is there to need in life?).

She has this amazingly strong face, that's kind got of look that says "I'm-so-independant-why-the-hell-would-I-need-you?" and then puts that with a girly outfit, or something really sweet and it's kind of quirky, kind of amazing, and just adds so many more levels to her look.

She's obsessed with the miniskirt, sweet colours and clothes of simplicity that speak for themselves just enough but don't seem to be screaming at you or at attention. She's also got the casual "I-spent-less-than-half-an-hour-on-this-outfit" look nailed, without having to go all indie with teased hair and wearing a maxi skirt. But then she can also manage the full face smoky eyes killer make-up without looking at all uncomfortable.

She just seems wear everything with an ease and un-self-consciousness, without looking like it ever is trying too hard or wearing something that doesn't suit her personality at all.

And then her eyebrows, well I don't even know where to start. I don't know how she got such great eyebrows, maybe some people just get all the luck? Is there a way to steal their good luck? Because I am very willing to try.

Music: Imagine Dragons, Art of Sleeping, The Fray, Arctic Monkeys, Jaymes Young

FriLife: Motivation

What are you excited for?

Seriously, think about. 

What is it tomorrow that you can't wait for?

Or later this afternoon?

Or right after reading this?

What it is that puts your eyes on fire and your heart beating in your chest?

That brings you back to childhood, before you got so caught up in what you were told is life?

There are days and patches of time where you could be having the best time of your life, but you can't be bothered. You know the feeling. "I should do that, but I sort of just wanna sit here..." (or insert other lazy excuse). But you had no anticipation for doing it, on excitement, so you're not really letting yourself down much if you don't do it. So it's pretty easy just to do something mediocre instead. 

Or you just don't know what to do on days when you have all the time on the world. So you waste your day. Not a lazy day, but a day when you go to bed being annoyed at yourself for not doing something with your day.

So I'm saying get excited. Do something with your days. And anticipate the doing something. Don't let yourself down and get excited for your day tomorrow, as you have a shower or just before you go to bed. Hell, even get a dose of excitement whole you're brushing your teeth or on the toilet. Just. Do. It. And don't let yourself down. You were excited for these things, don't just give up on it.

And while you're thinking of what you're excited for don't believe that's there's nothing special waiting for you in your day tomorrow. You're living you're day tomorrow, you're leading your life. Of course it's going to be special. So come up with five things. I'm not kidding. Five. Five whole moments that you're excited for.

And that's all they have to be, a moment. It can be eating breakfast, then listening to music on the bus, getting home, watching a movie and going to bed. It can even be things you don't particularly want to do like going for a run or having to deal with the kind of scary librarian called Debra. Hell I've even had a job interview as one of the things I've been doing excited for.

Just tell yourself that you're excited for it and it makes things easier. You get things done. You're days feel fulfilled. You have more time. And you spend more time smiling. What's the harm?

FriLife: Friends

Now I write about friends a lot. Mainly because they're a big part of my life. Confusing. Wonderful. Fricken annoying. Generally just between "yay friends" and "ugh friends" is my opinion of them.

Truth be told, I do love my friends. I love them dearly. So I get annoyed at them. And that's exactly what everyone has to do (to stay sane).

If you can't get annoyed at your friends, you're not friends with the right people. If you feel annoyed at them all the time, you're also friends with the wrong people. And as a young girl, I wish someone had told me that. It would've saved me so much time.

If you don't believe me, think about the people you love. Parents, siblings? (Yes you might not feel like you love them at the moment but you probs do...) Some times you love them to pieces (generally when you feel all emotional and mushy and everything), and at other times you hate them so much you want to drive a truck over them.

That's like friends. You spend some great times with them, but you're not happy all the time, and neither are they; both of you get angry. Just don't take it out on them (unless for the 50th time it is definitely their fault), just say "not in the best mood right now mate," and put your music in and rock out (seriously the rocking out is the most essential part when you're up to it).

Learning how to be angry, and that it is OK to be angry is one of the hardest things I've ever had to learn, particularly because no one ever told me that feeling angry is OK. It's not OK if it's all the time, but on ever occasion it's just what you feel and that's fine.

There's no particular solution for when you are pissing some one off, as it's different for every friendship, but a useful phrase when you notice that you're pissing someone off is "oh sorry bro [or insert term you address them with], I'm pissing you off, I'll leave you alone now." Just coming straight at it is usually the best approach for any situation.

Music: St. Lucia, Peking Duk, Laidback Luke, NEW NAVY, Northeast Party House, Crooked Colours, Children Collide, Bluejuice, The Holidays, Andy Bull, The Trouble With Templeton, World's End Press, The Hics, ASTR, YesYou, Jaymes Young

A Rant: Jeans

A small rant here. I WANT A PAIR OF JEANS. OK thank you, I needed that. You've just helped me immensely. Now let me explain what I'm shouting for. Jeans. Jeans. They're just about my all time favourite fashion item, and I'm beginning to hate them. Because I cannot buy a decent pair.

When I say jeans, I want jeans. Actually denim. Not stretch denim. Denim. Proper and real. 
I, like everyone else liked the stretch denim. But now I walked into Topshop the other day, thinking "oh that's a cute pair of jeans" but they were really jeggings. Jeggings so tight that you can see the imprint of my underpants in them. Cute, but what am I meant to do about the fact that cute guy over there can now see that I was not bothered to wear a g-string? I do not feel like the world needs to have my legs so well defined, that they know all about my underpants.

And it's not just Topshop, every store seems to not stock denim anymore. Or has patterned denim. Or weird denim that I don't want to wear. What happened to a good old pair of black jeans?
Because the good thing about jeans was they would last you for ages, but now the stretch goes after six months and I have to go and buy myself another pair. Ugh. 

Thinking: Happy Events

And sometimes you have good days. When you expected very terrible days. We all expect terrible days. Don't lie, because we do. That's truth, it's certain. 

Let me tell you those good days are glorious.

Also glorious are the few hours dedicated to doing absolutely noting. And seeing how much of absolutely nothing one can fit into an hour.

Hot chocolates and tea. Or tea with biscuits. On a cold day of course. While wrapping your hands around a curvy mug having all the time in the world to watch the steam gently waft away. While you have music in the background and are learning more than "what's up" of someone you're falling in love with.

Also the sudden heart-stricken desire to be camping by a fire with a guitar placed under you arm and looking across into the lit eyes of the special people. Being cuddled at midnight. No fucked; cuddled. To look up at the stars and not know what it is you want, because your chase for wants is over, as they're all there in front of you. Or when you know things aren't going to be fine, and they weren't fine before, but for the moment you're in love with your life and you're happy with that. A happiness that comes from your heart. 

Those are the things that matter. And those are the things you want to share. Those are the events that you'll remember before your own name.

Why don't we have more of those moments? Because I believe those moments define our very souls., And I have had so few experiences of what can only be described as magic. And as such, I feel, I am undefined. 

Style: Mornings

Finding your own style is one of the hardest things when it comes to getting dressed in the morning. You have to figure out how you feel in the today, and whether or not you're going to need a jacket, and will you have to remove said jacket from possibility of heat and whether you're going to need to run at any point, what everyone else will vaguely be wearing and then there's always well you might run into your ex, or your arch-enemy (unless your ex and your arch enemy happen to be the same person, then you'll run into both).

Basically what you've got to do, is figure out what you're prepared to do in the mornings. This is the point really when people really decide on how much they love their sleep, because some people sacrifice about half an hour to straighten their hair, and I cannot possibly be prepared to do that. I would rather roll over and go back to sleep. But then I like eating breakfast, so I will sacrifice that amount of my sleep.

Then you can go from there, and throw together something from the floor-drobe (wardrobe on the floor, for those who need translation) or spend a while picking different shirts to go perfectly with that skirt.

Now there is a point to me writing all of this, I'm not just describing mornings for no reason at all. I think getting ready in the morning is incredibly important for the rest of the day. Basically it's like the rest of the day is a battle and you need a kick-ass weapon to wear to make you win. OK I don't know if that made sense.
But I know if I don't look how I want to look, I just won't have as good of a day. And that might sound superficial, but it's true that I feel better when I look better, and I don't really see anything wrong with that.

So what I'm saying as the moral of the story is that if you feel like it's going to be a hard day, or you're stressed out or just you're having a hard time, take a couple of extra moments to make sure you like what you see in the mirror. Tell yourself you look amazing, because let's face it you probably look gorgeous.

Chatting: Writing

Kind of obviously, I love to write. Otherwise, I kind of wouldn't have a blog. To be honest, I mainly write it for me as a sort of online diary thingo. And then keeping it so other people can read it  stops me from getting to soppy (always a good thing).

And I think lots of other people love to write. From love stories to opinions, people keep on writing. And I think a lot of people get scared because they don't think their writing is good enough. Or worthwhile. Or it's just generally something wrong.

Well, I disagree. It is good enough. It is. Because before that point those words had never been written before. And you invented those words, put together in that way. Because you were brave enough to write it down it won't be forgotten. Now it's there in the world. A thing other people can see; not just a thought that's  in your head. So I personally think that inventing something, something that is specifically yours and couldn't have been written by someone else, well I think that's worthwhile. And if you think that's good enough, I don't know what is. You're making art, straight  from your thoughts. To me, that's beautiful.

Style: Emma Watson

Emma Watson. She's glorious. She's amazing. She's dating royalty. She basically is royalty. And she's Hermione Granger. What more is there to say?

Well I mean there's her amazing style and then her HeforShe speech which was kind of fantastic, but mainly being Hermione is her biggest achievement. (You can tell an incredibly Harry Potter nerd is writing this right?)

Anyway Emma Watson's style is drool-worthy. I mean not much of it I could pull off but that doesn't stop me from gazing in awe. Basically I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves and we can all watch and be jealous.

I feel like her motto must be simple yet stylish, because she wears a lot of simple black and white. She also is one of the few people I have seen to be able to pull off a suit and look more elegant than most people ever do in their lives. 

She always manages and classy look, even with a bad-ass leather jacket or in leopard print stockings, like she is above. I do not know how she does it, but I like how she manages to look beautiful and sexy without having to wear a shirt that's 'meant to be' a dress.

Music: Vance Joy

If you haven't heard of Vance Joy, you've probably heard Riptide. If you haven't heard that then you must have been in the Antarctic counting buttons or something because it would be about that hard not  to have heard his song.

I shamelessly love Vance Joy. His music is amazing, it just is adorable, dance-able to without being over the top and just generally amazing sad-happy vibe which basically suits my every mood.

Now with most musicians I get tired when all their songs are merely love songs (The Script anyone?) but Vance Joy can write them forever (OK maybe not that long) and I will still adore them.

I've basically just been listening to his album all week, and I felt like I had to pay him some tribute, because seriously it is pure generous. I love the way he writes his lyrics and I'm always singing them for hours afterwards. 

Plus the guy's Australian and we sort of need everything we can to make the world remember us so I'm all for him. 

All photos via Weheartit

Music: Vance Joy, Family of the Year, Kyla La Grange, Banks, Emma Louise, 

Music: Music Saves

"There's music good music. Then there's music that reaches into your soul and calls you to action and makes you want to scream the lyrics from a rooftop and run around in circles and kiss people and spread kindness to the world and gives you this huge burst of energy and just makes you want to become a cool person ya feel" -teenvolcanoes (tumblr)

Some people think music is superficial. I do not agree. That's put mildly. 

I think music is one of the greatest inventions of all time.

You can look around and see all the people with headphones in, not talking, and I've always thought it's kind of sad. Like we're losing something. And we are. But today it occurred to me that all those people are being saved. Saved from boredom, or sadness or insanity, and it's their music that does that for them. Just saving them. And I thought that was something special.

And it doesn't really matter what musician is singing to us, but that musician is making a memory with us. And there's a connection in that, that you feel, but the artist doesn't. That's why we love musicians so much - because every song that they create has a little bit of themselves in it, and you carry that bit around, making memories with that song. In your own way you've made memories with that part of the artist. And that makes you feel connected, like we've got something in common.

So I've made memories with 5 Seconds of Summer and Ed Sheeran, and Ball Park Music and Thelma Plum, Coldplay and The Fray and Arctic Monkeys. They've done so many things with me, and those songs are more than what the artist made, more than the part of themselves that the artist put into that song. It's got a little bit of me in it to. And so it's more than both of us. All contained in 3 minutes. 

All photos via Weheartit

FriLife: What Matters

So I've never actually known if you guys guy two fucks about me trying to come out in the world. I've had no clue. But since I'm pretty much brutally honest here I feel like I should share. Or not that I should but I want to. Now it's 11:35 on a Saturday night and I'm chilling here in long socks, no bra and a flannelette. Don't even have music playing. It's just me and the night. And then the annoying bugs that keep flying in through the holes in the fly-screen on my window. Ugh bugs.

So I'm chilling here in the dark and just thinking. Classic of thoughts for about nine months now, after not to long I started wondering if I was gay or not. Ha, fun thoughts.

I decide it shouldn't matter.

It shouldn't matter to anyone at all.

Because to me it doesn't matter whether you're a guy or a girl (or anywhere in between). If you're gay or straight or anywhere else. It doesn't matter. I don't care whether you're parents are divorced or if you live with your mum or your dad or you grandmother's dog. I don't care whether you want to be a doctor or a musician. Or whatever your nationality is at all. I don't care if you hate your ears, or you hands. It doesn't matter. It shouldn't matter.

What does matter is who you are. And those things do make up who you are, but there are bigger things. Like whether you're going to be nice to me. And whether you're my friend or not. Because if you're my friend, it's going to take a whole lot more than changing any of those things to make any difference at all. Now I don't even think I'd look twice if one of my best girl friends tell me they want to grow a beard (but obviously no mustache) and devote their life to finding the perfect pair of overalls.

So I'm the person who gives the most fucks if I'm gay or not. Because it affects me most. (Or it should). And so it's me that I really have to come out to. And that's hard. It's fricken hard. Try not lying to yourself ever. It's hard.

But how do you even go about being gay? I have so many questions. How do I know if a girl is gay or not, because I'm fairly sure that I'm going to miss out on the introductory handshake. And then, ugh. I don't know what I'm confused about. Dating should be the same, but just, it's something I've never done before. And it's not something I have a whole lot of knowledge on how to approach.

I think as a kid I knew I was gay. Man, me as a child was very intelligent.

So moral of today guys: be honest with yourself as best you can because it is very useful in everything you do :D 

Motivation Stuff

Hey guys so for school right we have to have this motivational quotes book (yes I just about vomited when I heard about it too - don't worry I'm not about to force you to do this with me). Every week we're meant to come up with a motivation quote (your imagination can insert picture of me scrolling over many vomit worthy quotes) and it's meant to maximize our grades or something. I don't know, can't say I understand it but it's just what we have to do.

Basically I think it's sort of a good idea. Quotes make me vomit, so it's always going to make me into a bit of a disbeliever but I thinks recording a thought of the day, or just saying something you're proud of is useful kind of cool to look back over your year and remember all of the little things.

I've been doing this since the year started as my friend bought me an astro-diary thing (it tells you what your astrology prediction for the day is and it's actually quite funny. Earlier this month I was meant to fall passionately in love, let's just say that hasn't happened yet). Anyway so I've just written something that I be done every day (e.g. cooked..., studied, went for a run, wrote a song) kind of cool stuff that I genuinely love to do, but now that I get to write it down I feel guilty if I don't do it. And when I have those waste-y days, you know when you just wonder where it dwindled to, I can actually write down all of what I did (which happens to never be much). It just helps me to keep organised for a pretty unorganized person who hates being too organised. 

Anyway so basically just being able to write down thoughts every day, but only a sentence (seriously that's all there's room for) is pretty cool. If you give me more of a sentence of room I end up ranting and thinking way to deeply, it's too depressing to do every day you know?

Anyway that's my little update, watch out for the next post it's a style drooling Emma Watson (what a goddess right?). So if you want to join the shameless Emma Watson stalking make sure to drop round!

                                                                                           

I found this really adorable daily planner as I was looking at photos and I just thought it would be really funky (somehow my aunt is affecting me with her word choices... I'm worried...). Anyway so if you decide that your printer has an unlimited amount of ink and you've just cut down a tree, print a load out of these and be one of those organised people which you've always heard about but never met. (How do they not procrastinate??)

FriLife: Chill Day

Via Weheartit

Everyone needs a chill day. Everyone. Because there are always days when you spend the day wondering why you got out of bed, how far away Friday is or how many hours it is before you can go back to bed.

A friend of mine who gets really stressed out because of her anxiety, decided that this year she was going to allocate one afternoon every week to doing absolutely nothing (or just doing things she really wanted to do, like hours of internet). This sounded like a good idea to me, and I think being able to have a chill day or weekend is pretty important.

Things I love doing when trying to chill out:

1. There is something incredibly comforting about knee high socks for me, especially knitted ones.
2. Tea or hot chocolate, with a good book, movie, internet, writing or music
3. Shower (One of my favourite things in this universe).
4. Changing clothes. Seriously there's something good about changing into something new and cuddly and being able to feel a bit more new
5. Getting organised. Being un-organised always gives me this dirty feeling so make sure that you have a place that has a cool vibe and is clean (within reason).

Of course some people really love chilling out with their friends, but I always find that I still crave a good chill out sesh after that, so this is just what works for me.

But yay! Go for chilling out and all those other good things that come with it! Yay! *Attack of random happiness*

Thoughts On: Whiplash (Film)

OK so I just watched Whiplash. You know the one about the drummer (I'm currently watching all the Academy Award nominated movies for this year with my parents - yay for parent movie watching). 

Let me first say that I spent so much of this movie hugging a cushion and saying "oh my god Smudge, I can't even deal with this." (Smudge is my cat by the way). I think everyone else who has seen the movie is sitting there totally agreeing with me and then for everyone else, let's just say it's one of those movies which you are constantly on the edge of your seat for the entire movie (quite painful really).

So I feel as though I am not emotionally or mentally prepared to put my thought into words, so here is the lowdown.

First things is first;

WAS IT A GOOD MOVIE? Yes. I do believe it was. Although it'd be a while before I'd watch it again.

GENERAL FEELS THAT IT GAVE YOU? Tense-ness level was off the chart and it was just stressful to be watching it, but it was kind of a good thing for the movie. (Your emotions need to be prepared for the stress). It wasn't a movie that you watch when you just need an easy movie to watch and you want to be able to walk away with a good feeling and understanding everything that was in it - if you want that, don't watch this one tonight.

PARTICULAR THINGS LIKED? So I really liked the idea that the whole movie was based on, I thought that was really cool and I could kind of relate (but in a less 'I'll-play-drums-til-I-bleed' sort of way).

MOST IMPORTANT THOUGHTS? (by the way there might be spoilers - not sure how defining you are of a spoiler so don't try to murder me - you were warned)

1. Holy shit he can play drums (first thought of the movie)
2. The name of the movie was in the movie! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh (yay)
3. I want him to succeed even though it's kind of bad for him because he's so fricken self-destructive
4. Oh my god, (this was a frequent phrase said in this movie) he is bleeding all over EVERYTHING. Why does no one care why he is bleeding? No one?
5. How hard is blood to clean off a drum kit?
6. Don't ruin your drum kit, those things are expensive
7. This cannot be the end of the movie, please walk back onto the stage
8. How many drum sticks did they go through in this movie?
9. I picked the right instrument with piano - it is so much less painful

ENDING? (SPOILER ALERT!!)

OK so I'm fussy with my endings, but I thought this one ended as best they could, and I liked how the conductor guy never said (or we never know if he said) "good job" or anything.

By the way I thought that the conductor guy's character was really interesting. The fact that he was a really dis-likable character but I didn't completely hate him was really cool. I also liked that once he explained himself, I could see why he acted like such an asshole, because of what values he ranked as more important than others. Top marks to the conductor guy. (I can't actually remember his name - this is always a problem with me and movies, unless I've seen them 21 times *coughs Harry Potter, then Lord of  the Rings, almost The Hobbit.*)

Style Icon: Keira Knightley

So lately I've been raving about the future a lot. Don't worry, that isn't going to happen right now. Today isn't going to be that. Today we're talking Keira Knightley. Those of you who groan because you she's so pretty and you feel like you can't compare, or those of you who basically see her name in a movie title and watch it because you want to see her being so hot (it's not just me that thinks this, one of my completely straight friends said this the other day - it's all good you're not alone). We're stalking her style today.

Via Weheartit

For about the 3rd time I watched "Begin Again" the other day (yes this was with the friend who said she was extremely hot) and for the 3rd time I completely fell in love with her style. "Begin Again" is sort of a hipster movie (made for Toronto Film Festival) that is about musicians and music and it's a bit of a love story in there too - it's just not very corny. Seriously the songs she sings you will be singing for the rest of the day. And then wondering why you are talent-less for the rest of the week. But it's a good movie. Trust me.

Via Weheartit

 Anyway so in the movie her style is just so her character. She's all about the high-waisted (LOVE) pants paired with cropped or boxy tops (not in a slutty way) or the boyfriend jeans. It's something where her style is so simple and everything is clean, not trying to show off and it just looks amazing.

Via Weheartit

There's definitely a menswear inspired theme to her outfits, but it just is so brilliantly done. I could ramble for years. There's something about how carelessly feminine she looks paired with the male inspired look that just has me entranced.

Via Weheartit

Also a guitar is always a great accessory.

FriLife: Pressures & Happiness

I think we might as well change this to a SatLife rather than FriLife because I always seem to post on a Saturday. Anyway so I currently am being incredibly good with not procrastinating. If you're reading this now and applauding because you honestly don't know how to not procrastinate, I feel you. I don't really have the secret of how to not to procrastinate, it's just magically happening for me. (Yay for while it lasts!)

So I just went down to the local supermarket to hand in my resume I'm thinking about the future. And currently all the teachers at our school ever do is rabbit on about our HSC (those are the final exams we do in Australia and the mark you get basically decides your future, so no pressure or anything) so a the moment it's rather hard to get away from the thought of our future. 

How do I deal with this? Well between doing a sh*t load of study, saying that my band and I better make it because my future isn't going anywhere at all and contemplating what my parents would do if I dropped out of school, I generally try to run away from it. (Great plan, I know).

Now there is a point to writing this blog post. I'm not about to tell you that you should live one day at a time and #YOLO and everything. But seriously... (I'm kidding).

I'm saying that at the moment I have less time for friends, a whole lot more pressures (which I have no idea how to deal with) and a realization that for anyone's future, they kind of need money to do it. So all of  that's depressing. And not fun. And the general things that I try to avoid. Also I get very little sleep these days, so I can't concentrate to well anymore.

But through all of this I'm trying to keep happy (I feel like that's more important that ever) so I'm trying to do the things I really enjoy. I wanted to share this with you lot because I reckon there's going to be a point in your life (if there's only one point ever, then I think you're lucky) that you're stressed, or down or generally thinking bad things and I want you to be able to fall back on things that you love. Things that bring a smile to your face while doing them. And while having less time for what I love to do, I realized that I don't exactly entirely know what that is. I mean in surveys it says "interests" and about a third of a page to fill up and I'm sitting there thinking 'uh, well sleeping.*Writes this down.* I'm interested in surviving... um... Hey what am I actually interested in?'

So I want you to know what you love. And try to do it once a week. I don't care whether it's youtubers or sport. Make it something that you can do easily. And smile when you do it. Because seriously, you're going to need it.

All photos via Weheartit