School & education related.

She’s always lookin’ at me

January 18, 2010

**Edit: It’s 3am in the morning and I’m not bothered to write a new entry, but the good news is I’ve changed the theme and I have a random image rotation on the head banner; so you can refresh to see almost 30 odd pictures! I may or may not delete/add some more later**

This is such an image-heavy post that I’m not even sure where to begin recalling my past week of events! But I’m counting on the theory of chronology to help me out here:

We left for Raglan on Tuesday, but I’d stayed up to some ridiculous hour on Monday night – well into the early morning – and it was raining all night, with general terrible weather. Thankfully the rain had cleared up a bit by Tuesday morning, and more so when we headed South-West towards Raglan, the first 3 photos are from the beach on the Tuesday:

Everything asides from the crap weather that returned on Wednesday, and my ever-worsening cold was great: the campsite was awesome and it was set up so you could park right next to your tent (instead of the sort with a separate carpark); we were lucky enough to get a spot right next to all the vital facilities like toilet, shower, bbq, etc. On the second day due to my cold and our lack of wetsuits, Charlotte and I opted to stay out of the choppy waves down at the surf beach, but my sister and her friend Caryn dived straight in with some rented boards that were $35 for 3.5 hours. We were all so tired from either surfing or going on an huuge walk down the beach (it’s a very, very long beach, we found out) that we all collapsed and went to sleep halfway through our poker game that night. I haven’t had the chance to get the photos off Charlotte’s camera yet, but she has the other half of photos, which include the huge sand dune that we decided to scale whilst the youngsters surfed. Soft sand is very, very difficult to climb – but the leaps down felt amazing!

The photo on the right is of the Bridal Veil Falls, which we visited on our drive back to Auckland. I believe the sign said it was a 55m drop – and evidently we didn’t feel like taking the half an hour walk down… and back uuuuup.

Upon arrival home, Liv and I cleaned all the sand out of our bags and flopped down on the couch for some much needed rest – I shot the Peaches gig that night too, except I haven’t yet had a chance to sort those photos yet.

The very next day I awoke to my paranoia of forgetting something important as I was leaving to attend Auckland’s Big Day Out. Usually I would’ve packed light – sunnies, money, ticket and phone in pocket, but this year I was photographing for Cheese On Toast (who had offered and gotten me my first fancy-looking media pass that had my name pre-printed and all!). Here are some shots of acts that I’m sure most people will recognise, the rest are up at CoT! (Hopefully I’ll put some up soon as well… although such publication is a bit iffy…)

To be honest, I’d always thought Muse was good, but I had been quite indifferent and definitely didn’t constitute myself as a fan. But that changed after photographing them – I was completely blown away. It was just so EPIC, intense and insane.

Ironically, this is my favourite Muse photo:

Lily Allen:

Sophia Burns of The Veils – she’s stunning, it was a mission to get her face though, with the shoe-gazing bassing stance:

Ladyhawke & what I found beyond the media room beneath the stadium stands – the stadium changing rooms had been converted to the bag check area, and all the rooms and bathroom walls were lined with numbers and bags against the wall in numerical number; here’s a photo of the main corridor:

Jet:

Joshua Third from The Horrors – once again, trying to get his face was such a mission, but I eventually got quite a few, here’s two I like of him:

At the end of the night my sister got a shot of me in my bright orange photo vest. I never wore it apart from when I was in the pit because the fabric was quite rough, and plus it got pretty hot. Although, the one time I’d left it on whilst trying to find my wallet in the shade, soooooo many people stopped to ask me for directions for things… obviously they couldn’t read the “PHOTO 19” on the back of my vest and assumed I was an event guide – who were in florescent yellow vests scattered throughout the stadium. There were so many of them I couldn’t figure out why anyone ever thought to tap on the shoulder of the girl who was evidently having trouble juggling 2 heavy cameras with 3 lenses digging in her bag! Following that, I had to work both days of the weekend and my shoulders were completely rubbed, raw and soooo sore. But it was definitely quite an experience – front row punters were all jealous, and they all had some misconception that I want to take a photo of everyone of them… haha.

Completely irrelevantly, today my mother bought me a belated graduation gift. It’s a turquoise Thomas Sabo bracelet, and thoroughly appropriate for the occasion, as we were barely just discussing how she hadn’t quite yet found something I could keep close to me all the time. When I spotted the bracelet it immediately reminded me of mum because she has a custom silver cuff with the same stone embedded in the centre of it from Japan when she was about my age – and I’ve been borrowing it for about the past six months. Ahh I’m so in love with this, it adds some sparkle to my silver and monotone jewellery, yay!

2010

January 4, 2010

The first real concept of “2010” was embedded in my head by a b-side song of the same name by the Mint Chicks on their limited edition white vinyl, which was complimentary with tickets to their farewell tour in 2007. Having just said that, I actually had to ask a friend to confirm which year it was because I simply cannot believe how fast time has flown. Then, I was 16, wishing to be 18, glamorously gig-hopping… and now I am theoretically where I had wanted to be.

I wish I could start this new chapter (and decade, as many like to speak of lately), with exciting, self-assured plans for the year to come, and effectively the future… but in all honesty, I just feel lost as hell. Why? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that in a negative, pessimistic kind of way – in fact I’m feeling very ambitious and hopeful for the future – but having just finished 7th form and effectively my last year of pretend-childhood, it seems that all of a sudden I ought to start taking myself and the things I do slightly more seriously. Currently, I am sitting on (almost literally… it’s in an envelope, in a folder under my seat) my acceptance letter the Jazz Performance major from university, and the attached form that I need to send back to formally accept my place; but I don’t know why I haven’t mailed it after an entire month of having received it. On one hand, sure, it was December, I had graduated only the day before the date on the letter; then it was work, Christmas chaos, followed by new years… and I could make excuses and say that I really hadn’t had the time, but really, I just hadn’t wanted to make it seem so realistic yet. Ultimately, when I sign, date, and mail the letter, it will have sealed my 5 years’ of deliberating my fate – I will be rejecting law school for jazz school. I’m excited and over the moon, yet shaking with fear over what that might entail. I’ve had so many lectures from people that “know better”, and I’d said to the last person (a family friend), “look, I’m sorry to be rude, but I haven’t made this decision overnight – I’ve thought and thought about it for five years, and I’ve heard what you’ve just said about a million times and I’ve taken it into consideration. More than taken it into consideration. Trust me. It’s Christmas, please leave it alone”… and needless to say the got the message; last I heard, he’d later said to my mother “well I can’t imagine she’d get as bored as she would in law school, I suppose”. Ha!

In irrelevant matters, I was going to make a post about a pair of $20 light denim shorts that I’d scored on Boxing Day; and ultimately chopped them up and diy’d some distress into it because I thought light denim just shouldn’t look primp and perfect… but I didn’t want to start off 2010 with some story about my afternoon with 2 knives and a piece of cardboard whilst on msn at the same time… so…

Beach tomorrow! It will be good. I will have photos. Aaaaand, watch this space, kids, I’m shooting Big Day Out!

A perfect circle

December 4, 2009

Tuesday 1st December, 2009: First day of the last month of my final year.

For months and months I’d been anticipating December 1st. No, for once it wasn’t for the birthday bash of my best mate, but rather, for my 7th form sign out day – my last day in uniform, ever – followed by Graduation Dinner. Not only did this signify the end of all college exams and last minute cramming for the year, but it also brought an end to five, often long and tedious years spent at Macleans College. Surprisingly, well, actually in all brutal honesty, I know myself better than this so it wasn’t really surprising to have found myself spending the day in numb frustration. I was sad to be leaving, but only because I’ve been so used to the comfort zone and safety bubbles that I’d built up around me at school: the daily routine of classes and socialising that I had become accustomed to and can execute in zombie mode all day, everyday, all year. But it’s for that same reason (and many, many more) that I have been more than ready for leave for over the past couple of years. I’ve been tired of the same surroundings, the same (many not-so-likeable) people, the uptight school rules, the chore of upholding my “prefect status” and trying to be some kind of role model to juniors who mostly don’t care. Speaking of surroundings though, I will admit that, whilst I often took the picturesque sea-view from school for granted at times, and often cursed it as the reason the billowing wind during winter was so brutally lethal, I don’t think I could have attended a school with a better setting. Most people don’t get to sit perched on a hill in the middle of a reserve, in one of the most expensive neighbourhoods everyday!

On that note, I think I’ll end my sentimental train of thoughts, I don’t think that I will fully deal with the change until it actually hits me once university starts next year. I have a lot of regrets… no wait, that’s probably not the best word, but in the sense that, people are right when they say things like “in ten years time it’s not the things you did that you will regret, but the things you didn’t do”, or something along the lines of… I can’t remember the exact, more eloquent phrasing! Anyway, there are definitely things that I wish that I’d done, or had done differently, but I guess that would ultimately have made me a completely different person, and I’m not too sure how well that would work out, haha.

Here are some photos from each setting on the big night:

Colin was generous enough to offer the services of his spare lounge for our pre-grad. Not surprisingly, everyone’s looking pretty glum. I think most people with either extremely hyper (definitely not us lot), or were feeling pretty out of it, tired, and generally just wanted to get through the evening unscathed by any huge pangs of “OMG SENTIMENT!”

This picture shows Sinead hijacking the background of me and Freddy… A bit of organisation later we were on the ferry into the city. It seemed the most social option, so we didn’t have to split into cars, beg parents for rides, etc, and at $4.40 it wasn’t so bad… until we got off the ferry and decided not to split a 10minute taxi fare, instead deciding to make the 4-block uphill trek on foot. Now usually I’m not one to complain about walking, but when the only black heels you own are about 4 inches high and also have a platform, my feet didn’t like me so much that day. Plus it was hot and humid, and showing up sweaty was really, really unattractive.

I must say, the good at Grad Dinner was a thouuuusand times better than that at the ball. And the dessert too, for that matter. I actually ate both slices of cheesecake! Though, as you can see here, I left my cardigan on for much of the evening. My Topshop dress is lovely, but I hadn’t really wanted to wear it to Grad since it’s very low cut at the back (as well as the front, for that matter, forcing me to break my arm-folding habit for the evening) and I didn’t really feel like it was that most appropriate.

And last, the true highlight of the evening = getting tipsy down at O’Hagan’s on the viaduct. Thankfully I have a lovely mother with a distrust of taxis, so offered to pick me up at any hour, drunk or sober. Me and three friends decided that mum’s transport offer was a huge ask already, and her having to wake up at 6.30am was just brutal, so we didn’t stay out too late and got home at 2am. Needless to say, I crashed without sparing a thought of taking a shower that night.

So slag it all, bitter’s in fashion

November 25, 2009

By this time next week, I will officially no longer be a high school student! Next Tuesday is the 7th formers sign out day where we all go into school in our uniforms for one last time, return textbooks and get our yearbooks and leavers’ jerseys. To be honest, after five long, often tedious years, I’d often thought this day could not come fast enough. but right now… I’m kind of sitting at home wishing I could put it off for longer. That same night will be our Graduation Dinner, and as of right now I still haven’t sorted anything to wear. I don’t want to be too vain, but surely, who wouldn’t want to look good in front of people you’ve spent the past five years with, regardless of, and actually, most especially if you don’t like most of them very much? Haha.

At the moment I’m trying to feel out a draft plan of how I’m going to spend my 3-month long summer. So far I have flights to Taiwan/Japan booked for Jan 26th-Feb 26th, so that should be a really good trip right before uni starts in March. Apparently I will be working something like Sunday-Wednesdays at my part-time job in a cafe so that should provide me the funding for gigs/shopping/transport/booze/Christmas presents over the holiday period. Speaking of which, I saw the most amazing earrings today, so I already have an inkling of what I might get mum for Christmas. As for everyone else… especially my Dad? I might have to just wing it. What does one get a geeky, middle-aged man for Christmas?! I still owe Dad a (very very very) late birthday present too. Yikes.

In slightly irrelevant matters, I really need to dig in and shed my winter fat – what with all the pills messing with my weight as well for the past few months – I need to look good in the Volcom bikini that I found today! I haven’t bought it yet, but I’m convinced that’s what I will be spending my summer in; I should say hello again to my neglected friend, the gym!

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