"the moon comes out every night, to remind us that everyday has the potential for beauty"- the perfect man.

Sitting at the pub with some friends on Friday night looking around, i saw this old man in shorts pulled up too high, a knitted jumper that his wife had obviously made him, long socks with sandals,and a schooner in hand, the thing that amused me the most about this elderly man, other than his cliche old man attire was the fact that poking out from just under his shorts line and on his hands where the remnants of a life gone bye, the faded pigment of tattoo ink. It got me thinking about how the things we do whilst we're young impact our lives when we're older, and i can admit, permanent things like tattoos and piercings do physically change your appearance but they don't actually change who you are, and most of the time there are experiences or meaning behind those additions that create memories, much like the youth of today's 'childish actions', that may lead to success or failure in any situation.
I look around at my friends and well, we all have piercings, and or tattoos, we belong to a generation of 'bingedrinkers and designer drugs', but realistically each generation has there own form of alcohol and drug abuse, its just it keeps progressing to become worse with each new generation as the rules get tighter, each generation has their own identity, however when you really look at it, the point in my life that i have now reached so did my parents at some stage, that point where the world opened up and there were so many possibilities to be explored, and so many parental restraints to hold them back, I'm not just talking about being told 'NO', I'm talking about that disappointed look or tone of voice, the lectures and the post action speeches, that somewhere in amongst all the action specific details comes things like, 'you should have known better' or 'I was young once too' and 'im just trying to help you'. I realise that my parents in particular, are still learning the ropes of parent hood, because they've never been parents before me, and i realise that they don't want to do the things their parents did, or they don't want me to make certain mistakes, but they were young too and i know that they wanted to make their own mistakes and memories, and they wanted to live their lives and at some point their parents stopped them, or , even worse they were disappointed in them. So when i look at it, this whole parent, child growing up situation is a vicious cycle that starts with your birth and progresses from there on until the birth of your own child.
I am willing to accept that what my parents did was in the past, and a fair while ago, and what i am doing now is the present and currently relevant, however i refuse to acknowledge the suggestion that i am to young to know what i am doing, because i am well aware of the consequences of my actions, i know that if i go swimming at the beach at dusk i have the potential to get eaten my a shark, but i also know that if i can stand and see my feet and there are still surfers out i should be relatively safe, i am aware that tattoos are permanent and some people don't like them, but more and more people are accepting them and in my opinion they are also a form of art and personal expression.
My point is, that at some point in both parent and child life there has to be an acceptance of singular identity for all involved. My other point is that i am grateful for the way my parents have raised me, they've made me the person i am today, tattoos, piercings, childish habits an all. I especially thank my mum, for giving me strength and determination, and for showing me that there is so much to be explored. So now that i have finished school, i start my whole new adventure with my own identity.

Begining of a wish list.

I want leather shorts! the kind with the scalloped bottom that cute feminine look but they're still grungy because they're leather.... or pleather, cause i don't think i can afford leather. I want them to wear with my old, if not slightly worn Guns'n'Roses shirt and my Rolling stones shirt, and maybe I'll get myself a Nirvana shirt, just because rock bands are cool and they remind me of my dad.... Corney i know, but i love my dad.
I would also like to add that my mother may say that it is a bad idea to own a pair of leather/pleather shorts, but this does not worry my, a girls gotta make her own mistakes.

image from: http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=leather+shorts+with+scalloped+bottom&hl=en&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=6tghyEJi9cB9sM:&imgrefurl=http://theretailtherapydiaries.blogspot.com/2011/06/snappy-scallops.html&docid=S0Nt0J5myKpxXM&w=224&h=320&ei=UEBvTpLFAeP-mAW0qsGbCg&zoom=1&biw=1366&bih=531&iact=rc&dur=93&page=1&tbnh=126&tbnw=98&start=0&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0&tx=53&ty=59

'Why is a Raven Like a Writting Desk?'- The Mad Hatter

So my highschool life is comming to an end, and with that so is the year in wich i aimed to blog lots and find myself, unfortunatly i failed, so i guess my mothers sayying 'fail to plan, plan to fail' really did hold true. I still dont quite know how to explain all the different relationship statuses on facebook, or what those three words i love you really mean, and i cant really fathom why the world is as screwed as it is, but i do know it has something to do with humanity, i dont know why a raven is like a writing desk, or what makes a grey area grey. But i've come to realise that i will never know these things, Life holds so many riddles and mysteries, and i like it that way, i'm 18 i dont want to know what love is, and without the world the way it is there would be no stories, no history.
In this last two weeks of my schooling life i intend to make it the most memorable i can, because after that i enter the grey area between school and university, and then i venture on to university and a whole new life.
so watch this space for photos of M.U.D, graduation, parties, the beach and much much more tom foolerie. Also I have some posts comming up about what it means to be and 'Aussie', more then likely with vidio footage and some additional others that will keep me sane for the comming months.

“A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.”-Thomas S. Szasz

I would just like to say that i have the most amazing family out!
Well this week is my last week of being seventeen, and although i have already celebrated my 18th with my Dad and his side of the family. it was a nice little family function that included two of my closest and longest lasting friends.
A lot of people associate being 18 with adulthood, i guess that's because legally you are an adult, at the point of me being 18 to my dads family i was given two pieces of advice:

NEVER mix port and lemonade

and

Harden up your backbone, you will be an amazing woman if you stop letting the world walk all over you, you're too kind.

The first piece of advice isn't going to make any sense unless i try it, but I'm not game because that sounds like a nasty combination , the second piece makes complete sense, i think. Sometimes i wish i was braver and could say no, but i don't like conflict all that much. But really if i don't start to use my voice I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do the things i want to do, because someone or something will hold me back.

I want to be able to go to university and study journalism, as soon as I'm finished my degree I'm going to travel the world, and blog about all the things i see and do, i want to look at art for hours on end, take photographs of amazing places and people. I want to be able to say I'm 25 and blogging my way around the world, i also want to have an amazing collection of shoes, one pair of which must be Jimmy Choo's by the time I'm 30.

So in this last week of being Seventeen I'm going to get what i want, smash my exams, hopefully rid myself of this cold and party with my friends and family.

Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering. ~Pooh's Little Instruction Book, inspired by A.A. Milne

So the HSC is drawing closer, the pressures on and everyone is stressing. Stress isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes it does get too much. Alot of my friends are starting to break down around me and have conflict with each other and their family's, which when you think about it those people are there to help you... not to get there heads bitten off.
These here are some of the things i have learnt over my life and through talking with some other wise cookies at school.
If you don't like confrontation or it just doesn't go well for you, write a letter explaining your side of the situation, how you feel about it, and how you feel it should be resolved. This takes the face to face part out of it, so there is no worry of loosing your cool, or getting into an argument. It also avoids unnecessary things being said.

Stress makes your body tense and slips you into a rut, physical activity releases endorphins, the bodies happy drugs, and helps to release that tension, if you don't like the concept of exercise, or just don't want to be seen in public, pump some of your favourite tunes in your room and dance round like a total spastic. I promise you will feel a million bucks afterwards, even if someone does walk in, you'll have a good laugh.

Self esteem taken a knock? Grab your favourite outfit and your girls and go have fun. If you feel comfortable and confident, you'll look confident, and confidence = beauty.

Anger is the easiest emotion to physically release, it is also the easiest emotion to turn too, so turn that angst into anger and let it out on something constructive, like a wardrobe clean out or a boxing bag, not your little brother. have something that you like to do that you can easily go to to release that anger, without breaking anything or anyone.

And last but not least, talk to your mum, chances are she knows how you feel, and nobody know how to make things right like a mum does.

“Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.”-Kevin Arnold

Well dare i say it, but winter has FINALLY set in. The frosty mornings, fog when i breath, flannelet PJ's (in a leopard print pattern) the only Bright colours i can see are on my nails and the pinks and oranges in the sun setts. I quite like winter, things are quiet, and there's nothing better than drinking a hot chocolate on the lounge, or making s'mores by the fire with your bestest ladies in the company of your partners, yes life is quite good in the winter, there's an excuse to snuggle.

So far my winter has been amazing, picnics, tea parties, bonfires and all. This would have to be my favourite time of year, in case you couldn't tell, and no it's not because my birthday is in winter. Its because everything becomes naked in a way, its not glammed up by the summer sun, and its not blossoming in spring, its naked from the autumn and is in the process of being cleansed and renewed by the cold winters storms, and occasional snow, well where i used to live anyway.

My first purchase for winter was a blue polka dot leotard, not my smartest idea since it was a bet, that i lost, however i think its cute, and quirky and reminds me of my ladies and a really funny shopping trip we shared, and that's what really counts, the memories.

Random thoughts no.3

As i write this i am sitting on a train listening to my ipod, taking photos of the world as i pass it by. I've lost count of the times I've done this trip, back and forth between families and towns. Sittingg on the same train, watching the same scenery whizzing past me, the same tracks and stops, but it's always different, the weather is different, the people are different, even the tonal quality of the voice over is different, that eerie voice that reverberates off the walls of the carriage listing the stations in perfect order, eliminating one each time we stop. People get on and off, ever changing never constant, a new face, a new set of eyes that watch you as you make your journey from point A to B.
I sometimes wonder what people think of me as i sit in my seat or at the station, listening to music, typing away on my ipod or taking photos out the window, i wonder if people wonder what i think about them whilst they make their journey on the train?
I like to watch people on the train, observing them as they observe me, a Gothic girl in a long vintage skirt sits in the corner reading 'Pride and Predudice' , the elderly couple across the isle share a snack, he is constantly brushing his hair into a comb over and she re-applies her lipstick what seems to be after every second bite.
The funny thing about people on trains is everybody watches each other, but never really acknowledge the fact that they are being watched, it's like an unspoken rule and once you notice that you are watching one another you either exchange polite nods and an awkward smile or uneasy glance and divert your gaze to the outside world.
At one point during the trip there is always that one loud person that shouts at the person on the other end of the phone, every ones attention is then drawn instantly to them, listening to the one sided conversation, wondering what the person on the other end is saying or how they are reacting. Once the conversation has ended everyone goes back to what they were staring at before, shrugging off any notion that they had in fact consciously watched a complete stranger, and ignoring the fact that, that complete stranger was very rude.

People always tend to form opinion's of others on trains, and they wonder where they they are going, what they will do there and who they will do it with, yet we never seem to care who they really are.
Trains are a very eerie place to be, although its not as if you are alone, especially when the carriage is filled, there is always company, all be it inconstant, there is always someone watching you, noticing your every move and expression, its just plain creepy, but its curiosity, a natural reflex that we all have.

"Good nature will always supply the absence of beauty; but beauty cannot supply the absence of good nature."- Joseph Addison

Dear readers
I haven't posted all that much lately, and for that I'm sorry.
I have had so many things to post about and lots of time in which to post, I just haven't been able to find the words to write about any of it.
So without further a due this is what I have been up too lately, in its photographic glory.
TUESDAY 5th APRIL: Went to Sydney with school for a photography excursion to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibition at the Museum of contemporary art ( For anyone who loves an interesting portrait photography I highly recommend you see it http://www.mca.com.au/default.asp?page_id=10&content_id=7400  ) and  play photographers scavenger hunt.(one of my favouite games)

Task 13: Create an interesting perspective of the Harbour bridge (So i took the photograph out of the Bus window whilst on the bridge)
THURSDAY 7th APRIL: Baked a Giant Rainbow White Chocolate Cupcake for my Art and Photography partner in crime Anthonyy, as he is moving away *extreme sad face*. I have to say not much went right with this cake, although the inside was amazingly colourful and moist, the outside was crispy and burnt and parts of the cake fell off, but all was good because I was able to glue it back together with icing.

The kitchen was well and truly Rainbow-erfied, luckily I was able to clean up most of the mess before Mother Duck got home.

My cake baking/decorating skills kind of suck, however I refuse to be beaten by baked goods so I will get better at it, even if it kills me!
SATURDAY 9th APRIL: Photo shoot at the beach with two of my amazing friends Soni and Kase, these girls may not be the most socially accepted beauties, they are however still beautiful girls and we were definitely fortunate enough to have great weather. We were also joined by Spinx, who has now become one of my many partners in crime. Our crime is swimming, stealing each others towels and dunking one another until Soni tells us that its home time, which was kinda sad because I really didn't want that day to end.

And this is a basic summary of the things I did last week.

This week has been relatively un-eventful, and photo-less I must say. I have spent some time with a few amazing people, become closer to a boy that I like a great deal, we even went on sort of a date...... to watch a kiddie movie 'HOP' by far the best movie about the Easter bunny EVER! and I am becoming even more nervous and excited about my up coming work experience with a photographer (Hello next week).

"Keep Calm and Carry On"

I thought I'd share this incredibly awesome site I found, I love it, so I thought you might too.
http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/
The keep calm-o-matic is an image generator that generates your version of the British 'Keep calm and carry on' poster. You can personalise your image by changing colours, fonts and wording. personally like mine.
Everybody should make their own and exhibit here. Cant wait to see the end product. Have fun.

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it’s about learning how to dance in the rain."- Unknown

It seems to me that lately i have been chasing rainbows, quite literally. Not in the sense that i am trying to achieve the impossible, although i do try and achieve the impossible quite often, and in doing so have proven that the impossible doesn't exist. Because really, when you think about it, anything is possible.
The rainbows i have been chasing are colourful and wonderful in all respects and they're not just the ones in the sky, my rainbows can be a a thought, an idea a dream or a wish, my rainbows are now my aspirations and everything i want to achieve in this world.
My rainbows are also some photographs i took with mother duck out the front of our house after a storm.





"Rainbows aren't the impossible, seeing is believing, and if i can see a rainbow i can achieve the impossible."-myself.

Body Shapes Renamed

This by far has to be the most amazing and positive thing a corporation had dreamed up, in regards to women's body shape.
I like the idea that instead of being a fruit we are named after some of the greatest and most celebrated artists.

Defiantly worth looking into.

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." -- Henry Miller

Once again today Mother Duck, Bubba and I embarked on another photographic adventure, accompanied by sister dearest for the first time.
For this weeks adventure we headed out towards Paterson (our favourite place) and continued on through Vacy and Gresford, across the Allyn River a few times, down a dirt road, past a fence with shoes, through a dairy farm across the river again to end up in an amazing place called Ladies Well.
Now back to the shoes, this fence is covered in shoes for at least 100 metres maybe more; it’s kind of like a time line of shoes, in all styles, colours, sizes and ages. It has to be one of the coolest things I have ever seen, part of today’s drive was my determination to find this fence, take a photo of it and show everyone, seeing the fence also told us we were headed in the right direction, because part of the directions I received to get to Ladies Well was that I had to pass the fence with the shoes.

Not only was the shoe fence amazing, so was the rest of the country side, it’s so lush and green, the water in the river was crystal clear, there was wild life and farm animals everywhere and the air was so fresh, it was so obvious that civilisation has respect for that beautiful land.
When we had finally made it to Ladies Well i was gobsmacked, it was like a River in an enchanted forest, photos do it no justice.

The key to an amazing photography excursion has to be great company, good road trip songs, amazing scenery and directions with quirky little details.

“Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.”-William James

There are so many things I wish I could say to some people, and there are others I do not wish to speak to at times because silence says a lot more than what words can, for example ‘I dislike you very much at the moment’ or ‘I’m so sorry’, sometimes things are said in silence just by the vibes given off from our bodies.
It’s the moments where silence can’t speak for me that I am afraid of, I’m not afraid of what the person or people will think, I’m afraid of the reaction, whether they run in the opposite direction or they rip my head off just for something I’ve said.
It’s these moments that keep me lying awake at night wondering what might have happened if I had of said that one sentence that could change everything.
Things I wish I could say too people:
- Hold me, and please don’t let go
- I miss you
- Just let it go
- I really don’t want to be just friends
- I wish you’d just stop and listen to what you’re saying Sadly I don’t have the guts too really say any of these things to anyone, because I’m not that person, physically I would rather just watch people be happy with themselves and say what they want. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I am unhappy, quite the opposite, I’m happy when everyone else is happy, I can’t stand conflict, and most of the things that I wish I could say will start conflict. Therefore it is easier too just kick back and watch things unfold, sometimes its pretty interesting too.

YUCK

through out my schooling years i have attended two High Schools, a Primary school and an Infants school, and at all of them the walls of the sick bay are always painted a light shade of blue, the chairs are plastic deck chair looking things, with nasty green seet covers that are so lumpy you question how old they are, and it always smells of bandaids and dodgy disinfectant. WHY?
Is there some standard of sick bay that says "this room must scream sick children and abnormal vomit", I'm sorry but the whole colour scheme and atmosphere reminds me of vomit, this may be due to the exaduration in cartoons, vomit being green and lumpy, hello  sick bay chairs. You would have thought the rule 'blue and green should never be seen unless theres something in between' would apply, but no the interior designer of school sick bays missed the memo.
I want a nice neutral colour scheme how about white? nice light airy and it doesnt scream vomit.

The last swimming carnival

well my schooling years are flying by, and this year i only have 9 months left, so it makes sense that id make the most of it. I would like to introduce you to the latest female house captain of the Hungerford Hornets..ME!!
I am the least sporty person you could meet, so it makes no sense that I, of all people, would make sports captain, however based on high-school politics, it's a popularity contest, and that's how i got house captain (I'm not even popular, but i was the only year 12 that put my hand up).

This years swimming carnival was the last one i will ever attend, it was also the first one I've attended since about year 9. Sports carnivals seem to bring out school and team spirit in everyone, that's what i like about them, everyone gets excited and competitive, its just a great day out and i forgot that when i moved schools.

Here are some photos of the day and some of the outfits.

“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.”-Unknown.

I haven't posted much lately , because i haven't felt all that inspired, and that makes me sad. But after this weekend i have found my inspiration to write again and post more, I want to be a Photojournalist, and I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel,I can do work experience with a Photojournalist with a newspaper in Bathurst, which is exciting because it will allow me to actually experience the industry and sort of give me an advantage when it comes to possibly getting a cadet ship or job in the industry.  So that's one thing I'm excited about writing for, the other is my new crazy project that involves my friends, an inflatable pool and random locations around the hunter.

Truth be told, the recipe for an amazing afternoon, in the summer sun, is six people in a kiddie paddle pool.

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” - Maria Robinson

Since this is a blog about the things i like and do etc. etc i thought id share with you the things that inspire me or i just plain adore : )

Quotes. about anything and everything i love too google quotes, some are quite insightful and others are just plain funny, some i don't get till the next day:
My favorite web site for quotes is: http://thinkexist.com/quotations
I get lots of my quotes off this.

Tattoos. Much too my mothers disdain, i adore tattoos, but not ugly meaning less ones or stupid ones of cartoon characters and naked women, the tattoos i like are the artistic ones that are on ones body for a purpose, too show something that is meaningful too them as a person.

They can be symbolic of a system of belief's, or of something that has impacted on ones life.

Black and White photography. I really like how black and white photography captures light, shade, line and texture in its most pure form. It reminds me that even the most complicated things can still be simple and beautiful.

Piercings. Much the same as tattoos i don't think mum would agree but i still like them. They're an age old practice of symbolism and although i don't know the symbolic meaning of may piercings, i like how they look different on everyone and there are some many ways a piercing can be done .

image from: http://vainstyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/piercings.jpg

Camera's. Simply because they capture the moment, and preserve memories.

 Black nail polish. I like my fake nails tipped black because it makes me feel less prim and proper, because that just doesn't suit me. And i just love black nails because they add edge too any outfit.

image from :http://www.ggcs2.com/wp-content/gallery/nail-art-gallery/black-nails.jpg

Rainy days. There's something very soothing and invigoration about the smell of rain and the way rain just cleanses the land, like natures taking a shower. I really like showers too. Plus where there's rain there's puddles and who doesn't love those.

image from: http://whisty.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/jumping-in-puddles.jpg?w=500&h=333

Toaster Waffles. My new favourite breakfast food. They are simply amazing with caramel topping and banana. They also go alright with nutella. And only 30 seconds too cook whats not too love : )

Image from:http://www.housingenergyadvisor.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/toaster-waffles.jpg

 

There are so many more things i like but i think it will have too wait, no use exposing everything.

Random thoughts no.2

image from: www.fotomatic.nl

Love is a stupidly defined emotion, simply because older people always say that you don't know what it is while you're young, so does that mean that whilst I'm still classified as/believe i am young, i don't know what love is. However we are also told while we're young that we will always love our family.. E.g " I know you had a fight, but you guys are sisters you will always love each other".
See this is why I'm confused, we are forever being told that we don't know what love is, but we will always love our family. So theoretically, we can love someone and not even notice. yes?
See now that makes no sense too me what so ever, but then again it doesn't need too make sense too be logical, like physics, i don't get it but apparently it works.

So here is my theory of love (so far):
it makes you happy
it makes you sad
you frequently fight with the other half
you frequently defend the other half
you share an unspoken bond (of some description)
there is always food of some variety involved at some point
common interests (yes they are important)
late nights ( doing anything and nothing)

Basically i just wrote down the relationship i have with my sister, if i could share all this with a boy i would be happy, really happy in fact.
True love is exclusive too those that are family, or close too it.

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” - Aaron Siskind

I have an obsession with black and white photography, i even have a wall in my room with black and white photos on it and one day i will fill it and start on a bigger wall : )

These are just some of my black and white photos, some are recent and some are old.

I love how black and white photography captures lines through shade and light, without the distraction of colour. I think it captures so much more.

Just some photographs of the places I go

Yesterday Mother duck, Bubba, the littlest brother and myself went for a drive out too Paterson and Morpeth, just too take photos and have a picnic for dinner.


These are just some of my photos, i took almost 200 ( i have a habit of taking photos of random things)

I hope you like them : )