Hi, all. I know it's been a while but I'm still here, just been a bit busy!

* I've just spent a week in Perth, visiting family, including my father whom I haven't seen for two and a half years. It was a very mixed trip, mostly on the negative side. I'm very glad to be home, it felt like I was away for a year. Perth is a very, er... laid back city.

* SMASH was a very unexpected success. We sold 14 copies of the storybook I wrote, and 4 copies of the anthology. We met some great people and had a fantastic time!

* There's been a lot going on personally. I must admit I've been in a very dark mood for weeks due to a friendship breaking up under very hurtful circumstances, and I haven't been as social as I should have been. I would dearly love to see my friends, but I'm still having a hard time dealing with this, and I have an awful, unjustified paranoia that my friends don't want to see me. I know this isn't true, but it still plays on my mind.

* Chris and I might start working on a few projects together, which I'm looking forward to.

* Chris and some of our friends are graduating university next month, which is very exciting considering they finished in November! But I'm very proud of all of them <3

* The househunt is still on, slowly but surely.

* I've just been working on guitar playing, script writing, plus my music articles.


I have been reading LJ and I apologise for not commenting as much as I should. I hope you're all well and happy and I have been thinking of you.

Shamelessly stolen:

YOU'RE ON MY FRIENDS LIST, I want to know 28 things about you. I don't care if we've never talked, never really clicked, or if we already know everything about each other. I really don't. You are obviously on my flist, so let me know with whom I'm friends!



1. Your Middle Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Movie:
5. Favorite Song or Album:
6. Favorite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of LJ?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favorite memory of us?
14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarky) - what are they?
17. Can we get together and make a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favorite subject at school?
22. Describe your accent
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together? (If you have no idea, just say something crazy, it'll entertain me!)
28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?

Hello :)

Yes, I'm still here. Not a lot has changed - work is same old, my girls are finally home (woo!). Everything's been non-stop lately, which is probably why I'm down with a terrible cold. Chris has been great - he still came in last night, walking home through torrential rain to come see my snotty, whiny self. Now he's cheering me up by texting Brian Blessed quotes (if you love Brian Blessed, go onto youtube and search for him hosting Have I Got News For You, the uncut version. Hilarious). Smuff has been gorgeous - he's been having major cuddles with me.

Winter Magic festival is tomorrow, so I'm desperately hoping to feel a bit better. There is some improvement today so there's hope. I'll be staying up in the mountains this time with my in-laws, which is mega awesome. They have an amazing house which backs onto bushland and is filled to the brim with all sorts of animals including cats, chickens, guinea pigs and a tortoise. I love being up in the mountains, it's gorgeous. We'll be spending the morning there Sunday and then coming back down at our leisure. And then next Saturday is Supanova, which I'll be attending for giggles and photo ops, plus Karl Urban. Mmmm.

I have so much music to catch up on - in recent weeks I have acquired Sonic Youth's The Eternal, Kram's Mixtape, Frank Zappa's Sheik Yerbouti and Apostrophe, Scissor Sisters' first album, and Chili Pepper's Stadium Arcadium (once I convert it to MP3). I also need to re-listen to a few albums - where did all this music come from, and how am I going to get through it!

I'm also attending SMASH for the first time this year, which is a show for local manga and anime, primarily focusing on artists. I don't really have an interest in this area, but a lot of artist friends will be attending, and I'm acting as a helper for Violent Pacifist this year. At least I have an awesome costume - I've just bought a corset, woo! It's a fuschia-magenta colour with a black lace overlay. Let's hope we sell well this year! We might also be selling some music, the first recordings of my band... we'll have to see.

I haven't eaten much lately, but I have an intense craving for waffles with strawberries, cream and syrup for breakfast. If only. Will just have to have porridge, I guess.

So, I'm off to sleep, shower, eat and stuff myself with cold and flu tablets. Here's hoping!

Hello, all.

So, been busy lately. Went to see Dylan a couple of weekends ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The weekend after was Wayne Brady, which was interesting because it was filmed for a DVD! You won't see me because I was way up the back, which was good. He was very funny, and one parody of U Can't Touch This had me crying. But it seems he's turned into a Serious Recording Artist so we got treated to a half-hour set of his new CD, which wasn't terrible but yeah, I must admit I wasn't intensely interested. His backing dancers were great, though. If you see the DVD, watch it; it was very, very funny.

Saw Star Trek on Saturday. Oh my god, fantastic. Am kinda a Zach Quinto fangirl; he was brilliant. Everyone was. I highly, highly recommend it, to newbies and Trekkies alike. I must admit, I've been into Trek from a very early age, but I'm a Next Gen baby, and I've never really watched the original series, nor saw any of the films, but I really enjoyed it. Leonard Nimoy FTW.

Apart from that, not much. Work is the same old same old moron-wrangling. Just trying to catch up with everything I need to do - it's so hard to cram everything into weekends, you know? No update on househunting. Chris has finally finished the huge project he was working on - no more staying at work and working through the night without any sleep. The launch party was on Wednesday and it sounds like it went brilliantly, and he and his workmates got a ton of well-deserved recognition. Sadly, I couldn't be there as it was in Canberra. We've been hanging out and trying to get all our art projects sorted. There's a lot coming up, which I'm really excited about. I'll keep you updated.

My Ili-chan and Kye have now finished work and are in New York City. I'm very very jealous and very very pleased for them. I can't wait to see them again. I hope this experience has done them a lot of good, and they enjoy the break and sightseeing. They'll be home on June 1. Not long!

The Writers' Festival Zine Fair is on Sunday, which should be interesting. I'm hoping to get some shopping done, too. I've just been paid plus I still have to spend most of the vouchers I got for my birthday. Saturday, I'm not sure. I'm hoping it's house inspections! I'm getting a bit sick of the search.

Need the Baby Snakes soundtrack. Could use some Broken Hearts Are For Assholes - 'Nice balls, Felix!'. Great film. But I am enjoying my hugeass noise-cancelling headphones - I can't believe how much better everything sounds, especially bass. I could get used to this.

Hello, all.

I had a fantastic birthday weekend. It started Friday night, when Chris took me out to dinner. He turned up in a suit and I almost died! Had a really nice dinner at an upmarket Italian restaurant, and I bought a new shirt and coat for the occasion. Work got me a big card, and two of the girls bought me a dozen cupcakes from Cupcakes on Pitt!
Saturday morning was very quiet - we slept in, and I got some nice presents. I got vouchers from Mum and Sis for JB Hifi, Dusk, Made on Earth, Lush and Kikki K. Chris got me some books, and I got a little bit of money from some other family. Saturday night, Chris and I headed down to Luna Park to go see Eagles of Death Metal! We found some friends there, which was awesome, and had a great time.
The venue was great, except it was all-standing, but hey. The first support act was The Protectors, who were hilariously bad, and the second was Kram, who was absolutely fantastic. Then, the big moment. Boots Electric and the Hollywood Boys! It was an amazing, amazing gig. Jesse was so sweet and he's got some gorgeous hair going. It was a really great mix of all three albums, plus some covers - Stuck in the Middle, Beat on the Brat, Brown Sugar. And the best part is that the drummer was Joey, who's the QOTSA drummer, I wasn't expecting him to come along! Luna Park is absolutely gorgeous at night and I'd love to go down there for a night to go on all the rides :D
Sunday we headed to Chris' and met up with my friends. I got some fun stuff - a mug, a teddy bear that can be drawn on, some more cupcakes, some Tim Tams, a tin of really nice tea, and some money from my in-laws. We hung out and had fun and played Spicks and Specks, and the last guests left at 9.30! It was hectic and tiring but a lot of fun. The only downside is that we missed out on the public holiday.

The weather has turned ridiculously cold very quickly. I'm going to work in a coat and hat now, plus I've pulled out the wool quilt and long pyjamas and socks. Chris is really sick and I think all three of us are getting colds, which is major suck. Any remedies? I think getting it is inevitable; I just need to get over it fairly quickly and painlessly.

Househunting is blah, but I'm still optimistic. I really want to get it done.

I've been thinking that I really want to build a library of books: art, architecture, history, geography, photography, music. I'm going to spend a leisurely evening in Dymocks making a wishlist.

But yeah. 23. Sounds weird still.

Not much happening. Sunday we're off to DWCA, and then Sunday night is Dylan Moran! I'm very excited - I realised it's been over 3 years since we first saw him, which was really awesome. This was Chris' early birthday present to me, can't wait!

I was going to have some guitar practice tonight but it's too cold, my fingers can't move!

Go With The Flow, by Queens of the Stone Age. Simple.



Sadly, (or not) at home today. After a huge Easter break, busy work, and a mishap involving my head vs pointy cupboards, I'm not feeling too hot. It's beautiful and sunny, so of course I'm going to stay indoors and sleep and faff about. There's a show on tonight that I really wanted to go see but I'm not feeling up to it. Poo.

Easter was very busy - full of noise, laughter, chocolate, yellow baths, torrential rains and handball. I hope the Easter Bunny was kind to you, because he was to me. Apart from that, not a lot happening. I had to buy some winter boots for work, and fix some trousers this weekend. I need to sleep - been feeling a bit low, worrying about stuff and so I haven't been sleeping properly. Househunting has stalled, not that it ever really got underway in the first place. I might see if I can get Chris to help me.

Hopefully, with some luck and strong painkillers, Chris and I will be meeting up with some arty friends of his to hang out and draw, which sounds very fun, plus someone did say something about yum cha, which is pretty awesome because I haven't had yum cha before. Yay. Then hopefully it may be a quiet one Sunday, but that's optimistic of me, I'm sure I'll get one of those last-minute calls XD

And now, here are the photos I promised you:

( My Converse Collection )

( My guitar )

So, yes. Sleep. Sounds good.

Hmm. Everyone who knows me knows that I really don't like my name. I've thought about changing it for years but I've no idea what I would change it to, because all the alternatives I've come up with have been quite silly. So I guess I'm stuck with it. But I do know that when I was born the other options for names were Justine (ew) or Dayna (which I really like, actually). If I were a boy I would have been Dane.


Happy Easter! Hope you all have a fantastic break. Work has been insane this week due to multiple system issues, and yesterday I was feeling massively ill because a few days ago I had the first shot of the HPV vaccine course, and I always tend to react to vaccines. My arm's sore as hell too - the doctor told me that the vaccine itself stung a bit, and he wasn't kidding! One of the girls gave me a tiny weeny little egg. I ate it against better judgement and was almost sick.
The weather is beautiful and sunny today so I will be taking photos and hopefully uploading them here. Tomorrow I'll be hanging out with Chris and a friend of ours, just taking it easy. Sunday/Monday will probably be family celebrations.
We had our Easter last night, because we'd already bought all the things and well, we're not that strict about it. Mum got me some little eggs and liquorice, yay! Sis bought me one of the Lush Easter Eggs, the yellow one - it's got a Honey Bee ballistic shell, and a Ma Bar bubble bar (chocolate) and Honey I Washed the Kids soap inside. Can't wait to try it out XD
Today is going to be spent blissfully chilling out. I need to finish re-reading Watchmen, then listen to some albums I've been meaning to catch up on (in Pink Floyd I'm currently up to Meddle, and then Led Zeppelin I). I might also get a little guitar practice in, I've been terribly neglectful lately. I've just finished reading Zombie CSU, which is a fantastic book, and then after all that I can finally finish re-reading A Short History of Nearly Everything. I don't read as much as I should so I'm rediscovering that. When I move out I'll have a 40 min train ride to work so I'm sure I can do lots of reading in that time. And the good news is I have a fantastic library I can borrow from.

Things are so exciting, there's so much on! Hope the Easter Bunny is kind to all of you, and you all have a nice rest and enjoy.

I've never had many holidays in my life, so the ones I have had are pretty special. The two that stick most in my memory are the trip to New York when I was 15, and my trip to Cardiff with Chris last year.
New York was a real formative experience for me, and my one lasting memory was that I was amazing happy and carefree. New York is a wonderful place, and I loved exploring it and feeling the cold of my first Northern Hemisphere Christmas. I changed, and it was in a good way. And I wasn't that happy again for years.
Cardiff was fantastic. Okay, it was January, freezing cold, and I got sick on day two on a four-day trip, but I loved being there. It was great to be back where my father grew up, and to see the things he saw as a boy. And it was exciting to watch Chris' reaction, as he'd wanted to visit Cardiff for quite a while. And also, this was our first time really being alone together as a couple, and it was special (well, except for the being sick part).

So, yes, I've been quiet lately. Work has been taking up a lot of my time. The househunting is going extremely slowly. However, I will use the Easter weekend wisely and take lots of photos. I'll also do a little guitar practice and wait eagerly for the Easter Bunny. Hope you all have nice holidays :)

Autumn! Autumn/Winter is easily my favourite time of year, especially in Sydney. The trees turn, and there's a crispness in the air that I adore. Plus I get to rug up, which I love doing. There's something nice about walking home at dusk and watching the fruit bats in their thousands flying out to feed. Plus, autumn = my birthday :D That threw me out big time last year!

Work is very busy and stressful, pah, so I'm having a relaxing weekend. I spent most of today sleeping, it was great! Not much to report in my neck of the woods, sadly. Hope you're all well <3

I do believe in true love, although I don't think everyone experiences true love in the same degree. Some people may have several loves, some only one, and some may not experience it to the same level as 'true' love. It's different for everyone.
I don't believe in love at first sight. Sometimes there can be something, like lust or chemistry, a huge connection, that spark, but not love. Love does have to come over time.

It's a glorious Saturday morning and I'm in my comfy bed for the first time in a few weeks, with a little sleep-in. When I'm at Chris' I get woken at 7am Saturday and usually don't get back to sleep, and this will continue to happen every week once we get a place. I slept in till 8.30 and had room to move (his bed is very small). It was nice. But I miss him.

I'm really excited for the next few weeks - stuff is always on! There's a few friends' birthdays, tomorrow is the Irish festival. There's a gallery of punk photography opening soon, plus we've got a few shows to go to. Chris is going to see Zappa Plays Zappa in a few weeks, which he is adorably excited about. Then we have three shows in three weeks! On my birthday, which is a Saturday, we're going to see Eagles of Death Metal (SQUEE!), whom I missed last time they were here. And it's on my birthday, how perfect is that? The next Saturday Chris and I are off to see Dylan Moran, and then the Saturday after that we plus my sister are off to see Wayne Brady! Things are totally awesome, and it shouldn't be long until we're in a good place financially to go for the house as well.

The only bee in my bonnet is that apparently May/June is the busiest period of the year at my work, so things will start to get a bit hectic very soon. I'm sure we'll get through it, though. And down the track there's more to come. June, Ili and Kye will be home, and maybe Em too (<3), there's the Winter Magic Festival (love!), and the weekend before is Supanova, which I might go to. In September there's an arts festival in Newcastle over a weekend which I'm really looking forward to checking out.

Last week, all of us went to see Watchmen. It was a really, really, fantastic film. Book fans won't be (too) disappointed, but then again it's just whatever floats your boat. If I might offer a slight heresy, I enjoyed the movie a little more than the book. The casting was excellent, and some panels from the book were mirrored absolutely perfectly, and the dialogue was largely lifted from the book as well. Although I do wonder how well the movie is understood if you haven't read the book: there's a lot of depth in the book that can't be quite covered, and there's loads of visual references to backstory and things like that that don't actually get featured in the movie. I have a feeling it might be a little confusing to people who haven't read it first. And lastly, Bubastis <3

And I also have a lovely new toy: an 8GB Sony Walkman. It's red and really awesome. I highly recommend it. Chris loaned me a bunch of CDs to burn, plus I finally finished burning my mammoth Pink Floyd set. It's amazing how much you can fit into 8GB!

So, this weekend is designed primarily for rest, and for catching up. My room is in desperate need of a good clean and sort, which I will do today. Thankfully I'm already sort of ready for moving; my things just need to go back into boxes again. I haven't accumulated a lot of stuff again, plus I'm sure I can do even more trimming. I did a huge clothes/accessories trim which saw me get rid of two garbage bags' worth. Wow.

Next weekend I'm hoping to go out on a nice dinner with Chris. We have loads to celebrate - me being home, us in general, the house, our band. The band is in embryonic stages at the moment, as is my guitar playing. As yet we have no rhythm section, but we're getting there. We might record stuff soon. Chris is fantastic at improv. We're called Sonic Kitten.

And my mum bought us our first housewarming present - a funky ice cream scoop and some spoons. Brilliant.

Goddamn.

I wish I could have taken my 16-year-old self and shaken the fuck out of her, telling her not to be so stupid. I wish I could have told her so many things. I wish I could have told her that everything would be all right. I wish I could have told her that there are so many people who love her, and that there are so many beautiful people out there, and that her soulmate will be one of them. I wish I could have told her not to put up with the treatment that she faced on a daily basis, and not to forgive so easily. I wish I could have told her that she was worth so much more than all those around her wanted to believe. I wish I could given her a voice when she needed it most, to seek help when everything crashed around her.

I was so stupid. So, so stupid. Because I believed I was worthless and had to endure people who mistreated me as there was no one else who would be interested. I didn't want to intrude on people whom I needed but were in difficult situations themselves, even when I was completely dead inside and I broke down. If you go back to the beginning of this, you'll see her. Everything was dark and scary, and I was alone.

I have done so much growing up in the past seven (!) years that this journal has been operating. Everything has changed so much, it's really quite unbelievable. And the weirdest thing is, some of you have been here since the very beginning <3

I'm just grateful I muddled through the mess my life was, and knocked it into decent shape. I'm currently househunting for an apartment to share with my boyfriend, and I honestly could not be happier. Life, as it stands, is pretty good. And I know for now, especially some more than ever, that if I hadn't met you guys, things would have been very very different. And I'm very grateful.

After five hours' work, eight increasingly irate phone calls to Optus, and one tiny but vital setting change to the router:

We now have broadband. Woo.

Hey all.

Hope you all had spectacular weeks.

Mine was nice. The weather has finally cooled and brought rain. It's perfect staying-in-and-watching-telly weather, which is unfortunate for me because I have to go to work! Yesterday it was ridiculous - the aircon broke and it was horribly hot and humid. I had a massive headache and was feeling nauseated all day - I'd worn a half-sleeved jumper and long socks because normally it's freezing! Thankfully it was fine today.

Chris and I went on a daytrip up into the mountains, because our sister-in-law is a sculptor and had some works included in an exhibition. It was a great exhibition, except it was see-your-breath cold and pouring rain, and I was slightly underprepared. But that's okay - I went to a cupcake shop and had the most glorious tiramisu cupcake along with the best chai latte I've ever had. It was the best thing ever. Though they were soaked with rain and mist, it was still beautiful up there. I love being up in the mountains, I find it very calming and peaceful. I'd always thought about retiring up there, but not being able to drive (which you need) and the threat of fire kind of puts me off. We'll see. I'd like to go up again when it's sunny and take some photos.
We went shopping Sunday and I actually managed to find trousers that fit! I just need some more jeans. I fucking hate clothes shopping. Thankfully Chris had infinite patience as I ranted and raved my way through the entire shopping centre. And he bought me the most gorgeous bunch of red roses. I love roses, and I've never received flowers (from anyone who meant it, of course) from anyone outside of my family. He also got me as an early anniversary present a very big CD boxset - Oh By The Way, which is the complete works of Pink Floyd, all in original vinyl-style covers with heaps of posters and inserts which are absolutely brilliant.

We celebrated our second anniversary as a couple today, though sadly I won't see him till Thursday. It's a pretty amazing thing, and I feel very lucky. He's fantastic and I adore him.

Apparently my guitar playing is coming along a treat. I know, I've been very slack with pictures of the lovely Jocasta, as she is called. I bought a new pick and strap on the weekend, the strap is gorgeous. I can pretty much play Go With The Flow, which thrills me endlessly as that is probably my favourite song in existence. I still have issues with speed and changing chords cleanly, but hopefully that'll get better.

I need to clean my room. Sadly these days I can't find the energy. It sucks, especially as I don't have much room for stuff. I shall have to do another cleanout.

Well, it's cool, and Crookshanks and I are chilling on my bed. My broadband is finally coming on Friday, and I am massively excited. I think this is gonna be a pretty good week.