FAVOURITE THINGS

I GOT MY BOOK TITLE!

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:36:06 +1000

So yesterday, in the wee hours of 11:45pm (damn you, working world), inspiration struck. At despite the fact that I’m a lazy ass and it took 99% of my physical strength to reach my phone, I feebly managed to type out…

MY BOOK TITLE.

AND THE CORRESPONDING SUB-TITLES FOR 5 CHAPTERS.

Boom.

I don’t know if this is the correct way to write a book - top-down? - and if I’ll see this through to fruition (though I’m extremely optimistic), but just taking that first step felt like a million bucks.

Thank you to those couple of awesome people for those kind, reassuring, and supportive words following yesterday’s post.

The Paralyzing Fear of Real-Life

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:43:53 +1000

In a world of 100-dollar haircuts, Friday night drinks, and the ability to give my dog all the toys she wants, it’s easy to lose sight of what your original end-goal is. It’s even worse when Cosmo reminds you every month of that ever-changing, must-have item of the season… and I’m sure they’re not using the term loosely.

Many a time, I’ve written/thought about the growing pain in my life of not currently doing what I originally set out to.

Blame the hedonistic nature of a university student and/or the ability to justify why a fourth-year in psychology isn’t worth my time (read: bitter) and/or the skill to always look on the bright side of life , but here I am, almost three years later, a marketer in an awesome company filled with great people and countless opportunities to travel, filled by a void (irony fully intended) of a dream unfulfilled.

On the one hand, I’m voicelessly screaming at the sheer idea of a dream; a goal; a damn structure that I’ve hopelessly fallen out of line of. Is it the pain of my generation that we paint a picture of what we hope to achieve and consequently believe that anything outside of these lines is considered failure? And it’s not nice believing you’ve fucked up - I can tell you that much.

Seems the generation that precede us thematically tell me that life is what you make it, a ‘go with the flow’ attitude if you will, which is a damn pain because I’m quite sure it’s the group before theirs that told me I needed to envision what my life would be like at 30 and stick to it, i.e. this is what all your decisions will be based on, so choose carefully. Oh, and let’s not forget the group of people that tell you to live by your own accord; that it’s not what others tell you that counts, but what you believe in. Well, fuck you because I need structure in my life, damn it.

So here it is; a plethora of advice and options and belief systems, and just like with almost everything else in life, you stick to one until you think you’ll be better rewarded elsewhere, and off you go… until one day, you look back and kill yourself with shoulda, coulda, wouldas.

I want to be a writer.

I want to be a psychotherapist.

I also want to stick on this path I’ve stumbled upon, because anything else will leave me with a pay cut, a demotion, and the nerve-wracking insecurity of not being able to pay my next phone bill with money I might not have because of this damn economy.

These people who feed you with the idea of a dream don’t actually stop to tell you how scary that dream is, especially if somewhere along the road usually taken to pay student loans and mortgages, you then decide that the view on the beaten path might have been better. And the people who tell you that mid-level management is the ambition to have, well, they don’t tell you that unless you grew up wanting the security to retire at 40 (assuming you do really well and don’t kill yourself physically on the way, as those guys in Finance usually do), you’ll be bored to shits and that sucks, considering 70% of your waking time is spent in the workplace.

If you’ve made it this far, I thank you. And I promise there’s a point to be made.

You hear about the stories of successful people, who more often than not, have a tidbit to tell you about a time in their lives when they gave up everything to pursue what they felt was their purpose in life. This ends with them saying that it was the best decision they’ve ever made, that the hardships were well worth it, and that the key is to remain unwavering even when all you can do is survive on ramen and fresh air for a year.

Now that’s all fine and dandy, but right now, you’re only sounding like someone from a previous generation, telling me things about the end goal without actually telling me what it was really like (painting a presumptuous picture aside) trying to get there. This fear is paralyzing, but nothing will get me moving quite like the truth.

I am scared, and as is usually the case, I picture the worst case scenario where I’m concerned: homelessness and taunts about how stupid I was to have given up a comfortable life for an impossible dream.

And loan sharks. Even if I never borrowed money illegally. You never know.

In addition to telling me it will be okay, tell me how you dealt with this. Because I’m sure there was a point where you would have gone through it too, and I need the real kind of inspiration.

@smatraw taking a stab at today’s Mt Everest.

Sun, 12 May 2013 17:54:30 +1000

@smatraw taking a stab at today’s Mt Everest.

One of the best things there is to do: vegetating after a...

Sun, 12 May 2013 17:52:25 +1000

One of the best things there is to do: vegetating after a li’l bit of wall-climbing. 😴

Mandatory photo of mum and me. ❤

Sun, 12 May 2013 16:24:50 +1000

Mandatory photo of mum and me. ❤

This woman right here is my hero.

Sun, 12 May 2013 16:02:48 +1000

This woman right here is my hero.

Franki likes to think she’s a cat, and sits on the top of...

Sat, 11 May 2013 18:30:37 +1000

Franki likes to think she’s a cat, and sits on the top of couches. Little does she know she’s not as nimble at 12kgs.

thepeoplesrecord: The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious”...

Sat, 11 May 2013 13:02:52 +1000

thepeoplesrecord:

The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious” Black poor person
May 7, 2013

Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue three Cleveland women presumed dead after going missing a decade ago, has become an instant Internet meme. It’s hardly surprising—the interviews he gave yesterday provide plenty of fodder for a viral video, including memorable soundbites (“I was eatin’ my McDonald’s”) and lots of enthusiastic gestures. But as Miles Klee and Connor Simpson have noted, Ramsey’s heroism is quickly being overshadowed by the public’s desire to laugh at and autotune his story, and that’s a shame. Ramsey has become the latest in a fairly recent trend of “hilarious” black neighbors, unwitting Internet celebrities whose appeal seems rooted in a “colorful” style that is always immediately recognizable as poor or working-class.

Before Ramsey, there was Antoine Dodson, who saved his younger sister from an intruder, only to wind up famous for his flamboyant recounting of the story to a reporter. Since Dodson’s rise to fame, there have been others: Sweet Brown, a woman who barely escaped her apartment complex during a fire last year, and Michelle Clarke, who couldn’t fathom the hailstorm that rained down in her hometown of Houston, and in turn became “the next Sweet Brown.”

Granted, the buzzworthy tactic of reporters interviewing the most loquacious witnesses to a crime or other event is nothing new, and YouTube has countless examples of people of all ethnicities saying ridiculous things. One woman, for instance, saw fit to casually mention her breasts while discussing a local accident, while another man described a car crash with theatrical flair. Earlier this year, a “hatchet-wielding hitchhiker” named Kai matched Dodson’s fame with his astonishing account of rescuing a woman from a racist attacker. But none of those people have been subjected to quite the same level of derisive memeification as Brown, Clark, and now, perhaps, Ramsey—the inescapable echoes of “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife!” and “Kabooyaw,” the tens of millions of YouTube hits and cameos in other viral videos, even commercials.

It’s difficult to watch these videos and not sense that their popularity has something to do with a persistent, if unconscious, desire to see black people perform. Even before the genuinely heroic Ramsey came along, some viewers had expressed concern that the laughter directed at people like Sweet Brown plays into the most basic stereotyping of blacks as simple-minded ramblers living in the “ghetto,” socially out of step with the rest of educated America. Black or white, seeing Clark and Dodson merely as funny instances of random poor people talking nonsense is disrespectful at best. And shushing away the question of race seems like wishful thinking.

Ramsey is particularly striking in this regard, since, for a moment at least, he put the issue of race front and center himself. Describing the rescue of Amanda Berry and her fellow captives, he says, “I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway!”

The candid statement seems to catch the reporter off guard; he ends the interview shortly afterward. And it’s notable that among the many memorable things Ramsey said on camera, this one has gotten less meme-attention than most. Those who are simply having fun with the footage of Ramsey might pause for a second to actually listen to the man. He clearly knows a thing or two about the way racism prevents us from seeing each other as people.

Source

Now that you know this is a thing, please stop sharing these memes. Poor Black people speaking candidly about various serious incidents isn’t a hilarious joke.

crystalsavestheday: acceber74: alcoholicgifts: sashayed: Fin...

Mon, 06 May 2013 10:07:01 +1000

crystalsavestheday:

acceber74:

alcoholicgifts:

sashayed:

Finnick Odair Capitol Portrait (x)

Commmmme onnnnnn, Hunger Games. Look. I have tried to be patient. I know I got some Claflin girls up on my dash, y’all must have your reasons. But are you kidding me with this right now, Hunger Games. Are you? Because I know you are not suggesting with a straight face that everybody in the known world of Panem is like, “yes, I will pay a hundred thousand apocadollars for a piratical slide down this gefilte fish dick.” I KNOW YOU ARE NOT TRYING TO BRING THAT WEAK SHIT TO ME, WHEN WE COULDA HAD

ALL OF THIS.

Nope. No. Look, I can be all about the post-nuclear-apocalypse world where children fight to death by order of the dictatorial central government but it is TAKING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF A LITTLE TOO FAR to argue that whatever is goin on up there was preferable casting to THIS.

HONESTLY

WHAT EVEN IS A “CLAFLIN”

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING

I’M VERY UPSET

UGH, GO TO YOUR ROOM, HUNGER GAMES. GO TO YOUR ROOM AND THINK ABOUT HOW YOU GOOFED.

THINK LONG AND HARD, YA DUMB GODDAMNED ANIMALS.

#I Reject Your Finnick And Substitute My Own

Lawd, I’m so here for Jesse Williams.

generic white male syndrome is what hollywood is about

WHY CAST SOMEONE APPROPRIATE WHEN EVERYONE CAN B WHITE?!

#notevengoingtoseethismovieletsbereal

I don’t know Hunger Games enough. Simply reposting for Jesse Williams.

Jesse Williams.

Third GIF just gave me an eye-gasm.

Jesseeeeeeeeeee.

Franki’s having the laziest of lazy days.

Sun, 05 May 2013 18:54:17 +1000

Franki’s having the laziest of lazy days.

Lobbed it off!

Sun, 05 May 2013 17:17:48 +1000

Lobbed it off!

Herrrcut

Sun, 05 May 2013 17:16:37 +1000

Herrrcut

On a Date Night in chilly Melbourne with @leroyhendroff

Sat, 04 May 2013 23:57:37 +1000

On a Date Night in chilly Melbourne with @leroyhendroff

crystalsavestheday: this is how I live my life Disagreeing...

Wed, 01 May 2013 19:43:34 +1000

crystalsavestheday:

this is how I live my life

Disagreeing with this a little.

In my 20s, I’m learning to think less for myself and more for the people around me.

I prefer spending time at home with my partner and my dog, because every day that I don’t, I feel like I’ll regret it when the time comes that I can’t.

I have a fantastic job that encourages travel, but I hate being away from home, and I hate how that feels because the expectation is that I should love exploring new places. It never mentions doing it alone. Because yeah, if you’re saving up to build your own business/early retirement, traveling feels like a remote possibility.

Home for another 4 nights. Waddap Perth.

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:09:47 +1000

Home for another 4 nights. Waddap Perth.

Big ups to Harrik’s out-of-this-world ikan bakar!

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 23:01:16 +1000

Big ups to Harrik’s out-of-this-world ikan bakar!

Starbucks, both old and new. ❤

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:59:48 +1000

Starbucks, both old and new. ❤

At Harrik and Jen’s gorgeous place for @chocpol’s...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:58:15 +1000

At Harrik and Jen’s gorgeous place for @chocpol’s farewell!

"We can’t jump off bridges anymore because our iPhones will get ruined. We can’t take skinny dips in..."

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:35:23 +1000

“We can’t jump off bridges anymore because our iPhones will get ruined. We can’t take skinny dips in the ocean, because there’s no service on the beach and adventures aren’t real unless they’re on Instagram. Technology has doomed the spontaneity of adventure and we’re helping destroy it every time we Google, check-in, and hashtag.”

- Jeremy Glass, We Can’t Get Lost Anymore (via her0inchic)

#oops

(via lucasjason)

eeep

(via crystalsavestheday)

"There’s nothing interesting about looking perfect – you lose...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:25:01 +1000

"There’s nothing interesting about looking perfect – you lose the point. You want what you’re wearing to say something about you, about who you are." -Emma Watson