1. I haven’t had much motivation for anything at all lately – uni, health or fitness. This needs to change.
2. Last night I went and saw Passenger in concert at the Hi-Fi bar, where we were even treated to a duet with Kate Miller Heidke and a marriage proposal! C and I went to the concert courtesy of my sister – she bought the tickets for my birthday back in February.
3. This coming Friday I will  be wearing a full length dress for the second time in just under 2 months…the same dress in fact. It’s my cousin’s wedding, and this time I will be sure to get photos of C and I that don’t include us being intoxicated. Something worthy of being published anyway.
4. Yesterday I went shopping with C to get some clothes for me during the winter period, and from memory it’s the first time that I’ve ever been clothes shopping with him to buy clothes for me (we’ve picked up stuff for him before). He earned himself about a thousand brownies, insisting on carrying the clothes I picked up, and also pointing out things that may look good on me, including some new sunnies. I actually didn’t drag him along at all, and he seemed to enjoy finding stuff that he thought would look good on me. I really truly have struck gold with this guy!
5. I’ve discovered that writing 10 things about what’s happened to me lately is a lot harder than I expected.
6. In the next few months I will be embarking on a new fitness regime that will include a few different boot camp groups with friends, and also even pole fitness! Yes, I’ve finally given in after being talked into it by friends, and I will be learning how to swing myself around a pole stripper style. I won’t, however, be doing this in a sexy way. I like to think of it as uncoordinated retard chic. Stay tuned for pictures of bruises.
7. I’m blogging when I should be finishing off a uni assignment, or vacuuming & mopping the house. I am clearly the best procrastinator on the planet.
8. I went to the roar grand final, and got incredibly emotional about the result. I LOVE the fact that we won, don’t get me wrong, but winning from a penalty was just cruel. I knew immediately that there was going to be a lot of controversy about whether it should have been a penalty or not. I became incredibly defensive about it, and I was going to write a blog post about the way people handled themselves about it, but I think it’s best to just let it be now. Either way, it was a bit eye opening about how ignorant and rude some people can be.
9. Our back deck at home is sinking. The real estate agent sent some workmen around the other day (we rent here) who discussed with us what work would need to be done. Basically, the fence would be pulled down, the deck pulled up, and a new massive concrete slab put in place before eventually retiling the deck. If that happens, the poor dogs are going to be cooped up in the front garden for a while, which will send them mental. I’d better prepare myself for a lot more exercise for them than usual as a result.
10. I’ve got two products that I’m reviewing at the moment, and they are pretty kick-ass. Some ingrown hair serum and deoderant. Did someone tell the blogging products company that I was embarking on some sort of hygienic make-over or something? I also scored a free eyelash tint the other day! Woo!

So that’s brought you pretty much up to date. Now just to get back into the habit of blogging regularly!

A friend and I (i'm on the left) at the grand final

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How about I just get to the nitty gritty and describe the methods.

1 – Set it as your mobile ringtone

You hear a new song on the radio and you L-O-V-E it. You have to hear it every day, and even several times in a row. Then you set it as your ringtone, and whenever you get a call you’re dancing away. Until you start getting too many calls or dodging phone calls, and you’re forced to listen to the song in its entirety because some idiot on the other end of the line hasn’t figured out they should hang up. You get sick of hearing the same chords, the same notes, and just wish it all away. Then you hear an awesome new song on the radio and the cycle repeats, but it’s already too late. You’ve ruined the first song. It’s forever linked in your mind with answering the phone.

2 – Hear it at a funeral

This is where the word “ruin” is wrong. It’s not ruined, it’s just that whenever you hear that song you’re forever going to think of that person and feel sad. The song “Lonely” by Akon will forever remind me of my friend’s mum, who had time to prepare for her passing (she had an incurable disease). She had asked her children to play this song at their funeral. It’s awful when a child outlives their mother, but at least they knew they were granting her wish. I couldn’t listen to this song for a long time after as I would immediately experience flashbacks to that day.

This morning I attended the send off of one of my friends after he was unfortunately involved in a violent car crash. Taken at 27, far too early. During the ceremony they played several songs, one while doing a particularly moving slideshow. As a result, in my mind he will be forever linked to the song “Forever Young” by Youth Group amd Sarah McLauchlan’s incredible song “Angel” (a nickname for my friend from his parents).

A long time ago I wrote a blog post with funeral requests for when I pass, inspired by the death of someone else I know. Now I’m re-thinking those selections, but only because of the link it will embed into the minds of anyone who attends my ceremony. I still want people to smile and dance and celebrate my life as opposed to cry and mourn, but whether those songs are the ones that I want people to remember me by, I don’t know.

Any other methods for how to ruin/alter a song? Any particular stories that spring to mind when you think of a specific song?

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I thought we would be running late since we only left the coast at 6pm and the concert started at 7.30. It takes about an hour to reach Brisbane, and normally on the way to the Entertainment Centre we would experience a 15 – 20min period of stoppage on the highway, caught in the midst of a traffic jam as everyone made their way to the concert. Amazingly, this wasn’t the case for Green Day, and we arrived at just after 7pm. We made our way inside, and settled down in the bar for some pre-show drinks. At 7.30 we took our seats.

With Mat, I know enough about him to know never to buy him general standing tickets. He hates being crowded, and being shoved by thousands of people is definitely not something he would desire. Seating is therefore perfect for him, and I was lucky enough to secure us amazing front row seats for Foo Fighters, the first (and until now, the only) concert he had ever been to. Thus he had high expectations for Green Day – front row seats just far back enough from the stage to be able to see everything. Originally I thought this was the case, but when we sat down to watch the support band, Jet, we discovered the stage was a LOT closer to our seats than we had anticipated. In fact, the stage was directly in front of us. To make it even worse, there were sound technicians on the side of the stage, blocking our view of the band. For Jet’s entire performance, I saw the lead singer maybe twice, when he jumped up, and when he walked out to the crowd a little bit. Needless to say, I was pretty devastated.

Can you see Jet? No, neither could we

After they finished, we were approached by a member of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre staff. He said the stage had been set up a lot further forward than anticipated, and they apologised for our lack of a view. They offered to reposition us in the stadium to different seats to have a view, but unfortunately the only seats available were at the back of the stadium on the floor. We would still be able to see over everyone’s heads, and therefore see the performance, but we wouldn’t be as close as our current seats. In the end, Mat and I decided to take him up on the offer, purely because if we stayed where we were we wouldn’t see anything at all. We sat in the new seats, then waited for Green Day to take the stage.

The new seats were further away, but at least we could see what was going on

When they eventually came out, they played their first song hard and with a lot of energy. They yelled the words Brisbane, and Australia a lot, each time getting a massive cheer from the crowd. Finally, in a down moment during the song, Billie Joe (lead singer) made his way to the side of the stage, pointed at the people sitting down in the stands, and yelled,

Stand the fuck up! This is a rock concert, not a fucking tea party! Get the fuck up!

That went down as one of my all time quotes for a concert. In that one simple statement he really set the tone for the night. I won’t go into details of songs; they played 2.5 hours worth of music. There’s just no way I could tell you each song they played and keep this blog post interesting. I can tell you they put 110% effort into every single thing they did. Every song they were dancing madly, and playing loudly. Billie Joe did a section where he performed covers of other songs, most notably, Highway to Hell by AC/DC. It felt almost unfair when he cut the song off early, and went into something else.

There were two standout items from that concert that I will take away with me forever. The special effects, and the audience partipation.

During the concert they had fireworks raining down on the stage. They had loud crackers that scared the shit out of us. They had cannons blasting out thousands and thousands of pieces of paper, each with the band’s name on it. They had flames firing up on each side of the drummer (I could feel the heat from the back of the room, I can’t imagine how he must’ve felt). Their background was city building stands which also transformed into background displays for their music. I’ve never seen flames and fireworks during a performance before, so this was pretty amazing for me.

The audience participation level was incredible. Past concerts I’ve seen a lead singer occasionally run into the crowd, but that was about it. Billie Joe really took it to new heights, and I can’t see any other band in the future ever surpassing it. He ran into the crowd and up into the stands, picked a kid from the crowd and brought him into the aisle. He then placed his guitar over the kids head (but still around his own shoulders, he was standing directly behind the kid) then proceeded to play the song using the kids hand to strum. After about 30 seconds or so, he took the guitar off again, hugged the kid then ran back to the stage. I believe that have been one of the best nights of that kid’s life – I know it would be for me if I was in his position.

But Billie Joe didn’t stop there. He also brought people up onto the stage. Two were just standing up singing along with him for a few seconds, but then “Welcome to Paradise” came on. After searching to see who knew the words, he got a woman on stage. He then handed her the mic, and invited her to sing the song while he just hung about in the background. Again, what an experience for that person. It would have definitely made her night. Her singing sucked, but she really worked the stage. She went and visited each of the band members, singing along with them for a bit, before getting flustered and forgetting part of a verse. She recovered, and finished that particular section. Billie Joe then thanked her, and looked for a guy this time. A man was brought up on stage, and same deal. He was handed the mic and left to his own devices. He rocked it HARD! He got the crowd jumping, and ran around the stage playing with the band members. At one point you could see Billie Joe laughing and cheering the guy on. At the end of the song, he took the mic back then made the guy stage dive at the end of the stage. Brilliant.

Even when Billie Joe wasn’t pulling people on stage, he wasn’t forgetting about the audience either. Between songs, they amped the crowd up by pointing to particular sections, asking them to yell. Or Billie Joe sung a tune, and made the audience replicate it. He really got us all involved, and didn’t let anyone sit down for the entire duration of the concert (if you tried, he would point at you and yell “get up” until you stood up). At the end of the night my legs were exhausted from dancing, and I knew I had to get up in 5 hours to catch a plane to Sydney, but I didn’t regret one minute of it.

It’s funny how at the end of each concert I’ve been to I always walk out thinking it was the best concert I’ve ever been to. But really, I can’t see anyone surpassing this (though my first big concert, Foo Fighters in 2005, will always hold a special place in my heart). Billie Joe was right. On Tuesday night, I went to a rock concert, and not a fucking tea party.

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Once again the work day passed in a blur, but I never really did much on my phone during work so this wasn’t a surprise. Jogging home was absolutely horrible though! At least at the gym I have a clock that I can easily look at to keep track of the time (I’m doing the Couch to 5k running program, and need to run/walk at specific intervals). With the c25k app I can just focus on running while voice prompts through the earphones tell me when it’s time to walk or run. Without the iphone, and without a treadmill, running home from the office was difficult at best. I wore my watch and put it on the stopwatch feature, put on my little Telstra mp3 player and set off. The very first interval where I had to change to running I was 30 seconds too late (I forgot to look at my watch). The rest of the run home I spent checking my watch every 30 seconds instead of focusing on my running technique. Very distracting, and I didn’t enjoy it at all.

This evening we went to a friends place for some poker and drinks. Angeline told me about how thrilled she was on getting the new iphone 3gs, and how she hasn’t stopped playing with it since. Props to her for being considerate though, since she didn’t take it out to show me (or torment me). Listening to the two of us discussing it finally convinced Paige that she wants one, and given that her phone contract runs out next month it’s perfect timing for her. She’ll be signing up for a new one as soon as she possibly can. Angeline congratulated me on being strong and giving myself a challenge, while Stu said I was just sadistic (he’s another iphone addict). We all then stirred Mat about not being able to go without poker for a week, which he just gave up and said he couldn’t do it (all this time he had been saying he could, but just “needed to find the right time”). I WIN!!

Purely because my friends are lovely and considerate, the night was a breeze. I was always occupied with poker so if I’d had my iphone I probably wouldn’t have used it anyway, and without their iphones laying around tempting me I had no problems at all. Once again I’m up for another challenge tomorrow though.

Tomorrow night we’re going to watch some friends play netball, another prime iphone opportunity. Normally while they’re playing I would multi-task watching the game while updating twitter. No twitter for me tonight! It feels like I’m disconnected when I go out on the town without tweeting, it’s a very strange sensation (I think it’s confirmed I’m a twitter addict).

I’m on the home straight now though! Only 3 days to go!

**Favourite moment for the day**

Not a “favourite” moment as such, but rather a “notable” one. Almost having a melt down over not having music while jogging!

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1. Learn to Surf: I haven’t started this one yet however it’s all planned. My friend Paige and I will be participating in the 2009 Ripcurl’s Girls Learn to Surf Day, where females all over Australia are given the opportunity to attend a surf school for the day to receive free surfing lessons. One of Mat’s workmates is also a surfboard maker and his wife is an artist, so he offered to make us both totally customised boards at a very cheap price. Awesome!

2. Run 2.4km in under 15mins: In progress. I’m following the Couch to 5k running training program, designed for non-runners to gradually increase their amount of running until they can confidently run for 30mins at a time (roughly 5km). If I can do that then I should be able to achieve 2.4km in under 15mins by the end of the year.

3. Enter in the Sydney City to Surf: Completed. I’ve entered, and the race is only 2 weeks and 2 days away! I’m extremely excited; I’ve managed to convince a friend, Julie, to fly to Sydney with me and Jo will also be flying from Darwin to meet us there. Mat will be joining us for the weekend, but while we spend time slogging it out on the bitumen he will be playing the cards at Star City Casino. Hard life isn’t it?

4. Go on a holiday (must include flights): Completed. We flew to America for 2 weeks, and had one hell of a holiday. One of my fondest memories ever, and I’m honoured to have shared it with the ones I love.

5. See a live concert: Completed. This year I saw P!nk play in one of the biggest concerts of the year (I’ve lost track of how many concerts she’s doing in Australia now; at last count it was something like 8 in each state but I’m sure it’s increased). I also got to see loads of live acts at the many festivals I worked at with RaveSafe earlier in the year including Kaiser Chiefs, Nine Inch Nails, Snow Patrol…too many to name. I was so lucky to have that opportunity, and depending on whether I’m in the police service next year I’d love to do it again. I’ve also got tickets to see Green Day perform in Brisbane at the end of this year, and I’m stoked that Mat will be joining me for this one.

6. Go skydiving: Not yet completed. This will be another one for the end of the year. However one of our friends is a pilot who actually flies the plane the skydivers jump out of, so again I’ve been given the opportunity to complete this task at a reduced cost. I’m looking forward to it though, should be fun!

7. Go on a tour: Completed via the segway tour with my family in Sausolito in America (one of the highlights of the US trip for me). The video of the tour can be seen in the Day 4 video of our holiday.

8. Photograph a sunrise/sunset: Not yet completed. I haven’t really given this one much of a priority as yet, but ideally I’d like to get down to Mooloolaba beach and take some photos of the sunrise. It’s extremely early in the morning for me though, so it’s probably more realistic that I’ll be photographing a sunset. I have my ideas on what I want, just need to get out there and get the shot now!

9. Have a girls cocktail night: Technically completed, although I want to complete it again. Jo and I got together and had a cocktail night when we were watching a socceroos match, but I’d love to get together with the girls and make it a big one at a hotel one night. We’ll see what happens.

10. See a live sporting match: Done and dusted. I’ve been to a few QLD Roar games (back when they were “QLD” Roar) including seeing the women’s side win the grand final for the 2008/09 season. I also went to an NRL match in Brisbane with Paige. I’m looking forward to seeing some more A-League matches again once the season resumes.

That’s it! 6/10 isn’t bad given it’s only just over the halfway mark. I’ll have to make sure I keep the others in mind though so I’m writing about another successful year!

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SoundWave 2009 was my first event working with RaveSafe. Basically they volunteer their time to make sure that everyone at the festival stays safe and have a good time. They offer a range of services, from spraying the crowd with water to keep them cool to offering water and a place to lie down for those who have overdone it. Ravesafe can also help with basic things, like navigation around the festival, where to find a schedule, and even sunscreen.

Their efforts tend to be controlled towards those who have taken drugs or consumed alcohol. Although there’s a police presence at the festival to try and prevent people enter the festival with illegal substances, realistically you can guarantee there will be hundreds (if not thousands) of festival-goers that have taken/drunken something. The best part about ravesafe is they are totally trust worthy – if they help someone who they know has taken illegal substances, they’re not going to run to the cops, they won’t phone the parents, and they won’t release a press statement (slight exaggeration there of course). To put it simply, RaveSafe are there to try and avoid people leaving the festival in ambulances. It’s this trust factor that I believe is in RaveSafe’s favour – people are more willing to go to them to help because they know they won’t go to jail.

For example, it’s becoming increasingly common for sniffer dogs to present at the entrance lines to the festival. To avoid detection, people are taking numerous pills, or drinking excessive amounts of alcohol before they enter. Their line of thought is “take it all now, don’t get caught, rave on inside”. Unfortunately they don’t factor the risk of overdosing into their plans. The people I work with at ravesafe have assured me it’s not uncommon to get very serious cases first thing in the morning. In fact, I’ve heard one story of a girl at Summer Field Dayze who had almost an entire bottle of vodka before lining up. She passed out while waiting to get in.

After working at one event I’m amazed by just how tiring it truly is. Here was how my day at Soundwave panned out:

• Arrived 1.5hrs before the gates open to set up the room – involves blowing up mattresses, laying sheets and pillows down, filling up water jugs with water, tables and chairs, setting up tables with sunscreen, schedules, ear plugs etc etc.
• Walked around the event to locate water points (to fill up spray bottles during the day, and also direct people on where they can get drinks from)
• Handed out our schedules for the day. We find out how many teams there are, and where we’ll be during the day. Basically we have teams split up with groups patrolling the stages with water sprayers. They’ll spray the crowd to cool them down, and look for any people in need of help. One group will be located at the RaveSafe HQ handing out free water. The bosses will always be in HQ looking after anyone in the chill out room so that way we know where to find them if we need them.
• Had a team discussion where we ask questions, get reminded of what to do/what not to do, and signs to look for
• Finally the gates opened, and people flooded in.
• We patrolled the grounds (and danced to the music of course) until our first break just after lunch.
• After a break, we take HQ duty for an hour.
• Back to patrolling the grounds until our second break for dinner.
• HQ duty, then patrolling. By now it’s dark so it’s not really necessary to take the water sprayers, but just generally keep a look out for people.
• Finally the festival winds up, and everyone goes home. Except for RaveSafe.
• Anyone left in the HQ that are drunk/drugged we try to find a way for them to go home.
• Clean up – pack up everything in HQ (usually involves soiled sheets from people during the day), put it all back on the ute, and go home.

By the end of the day, we’ll have been at the music festival for 14 – 15 hours. We’ve been on our feet the most of the day, and while we make it look easy, it sure as hell isn’t. The day after we’re usually extremely exhausted with very fatigued bodies.

So why do I do it? Firstly, a selfish reason. I plan on joining the Queensland Police Service, and need to prove my contribution to society in the form of volunteer work. RaveSafe is voluntary, hence why it works for me.  Secondly, I get free entry to the events, and provided everyone is generally well behaved we get to enjoy the music too. Thirdly….mmm, read the second point again.

I know it’s wishful thinking that people might be well behaved, but hey…it might happen! At least at Soundwave I got the chance to sit on the grass and listen to Nine Inch Nails in the cool air, and at the end of a long hard day in the sun, that makes it all seem worthwhile. I’ll be sure to post about my experiences at the future festivals I go to – no doubt there will be some interesting stories to tell!

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Santa has a change of attire when visiting Australia

Originally I twittered the question of whether there were any Aussie Christmas carols anyone knew of (two replies about Rolf Harris and his song “6 White Boomers” – itunes link), and after starting to do a little bit of research it was clear it would need a blog post. Hence I present to you, a comprehensive list of songs available in iTunes that’s truly representative of an Aussie Christmas! Even if some of them are slightly bogan’ish.

1. 6 White Boomers – Rolf Harris
2. Aussie Jingle Bells – Bucko & Champs (there’s actually tons of versions of this song on iTunes)
3. 12 Days of Aussie Christmas – Bucko & Champs
4. Album called Aussie Christmas with Bucko & Champs by Bucko & Champs
5. A Very Merry Aussie Christmas – Ticklish Allsorts
6. Australians let us Barbecue – Bucko & Champs (had to mention this one – to the tune of the anthem)
7. Album called True Blue Aussie Christmas by Dimmer Twins

And that’s enough for me tonight! I must say, I was quite surprised…I actually didn’t think there would be that much but I was pleasantly surprised. Not that it converted into purchases or anything. I just can’t work out whether it means that there’s more “novelty” albums out there that I expected, or I’m just not up to par on the Christmas albums!

Bonus link – an app in the App Store for Australian Slang, appropriately named “Aussie (Australian) Slang“

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It may just be due to my age (I’m only 24), I’m too young to really know anything about their previous presidents except for Clinton (and the only thing that sticks out to me about him was that he has a thing for cigars and head jobs). With President Bush, I’ve been subjected to a lot of music protesting against his actions. And again, it may only be due to my age, but I’ve only just realised how many overseas artists are willing to sing about their political views. The most notable that springs to mind is Bono and U2 – I even studied Sunday Bloody Sunday in high school! He doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind. And as time goes on, more mainstream artists (if you can call them that) are talking about politics as well e.g. P!nk, Green Day, Dixie Chicks?

Then I look closer to home, and wonder where all our outspoken artists are. Perhaps I don’t listen to enough Australian music, or pay enough attention to their lyrics. But the only songs I could think of was Paul Kelly’s “From Little Things, Big Things Grow” and Midnight Oil’s “Beds are Burning” (another I studied in high school). I’m positive John Butler Trio would have some political songs amongst their mix, John Butler is very outspoken on particular things (like the uranium mining).

(Side note – I was actually at Live Earth in Sydney when they sang this, and the song echoed around the stadium with everyone singing along…fantastic moment)

**update – for more information about the inspiration behind this song, check out this wikipedia article on the Gurindji strike**

I searched for Australian Political Music on Google, and instead found this – an article written in 2006 where Midnight Oil used their induction into the hall of fame to call for more protest songs. I also found another article of a history of Australian Music pushing the boundaries of politics and social acceptance, but it only goes to the year 2000.

I asked the question on Twitter, and immediately got the following suggestions (thanks Oli!!):

• Paul Kelly’s “From Little Things Big Things Grow” (previously mentioned)
• Powderfinger “Day you Come”
• Blue King Brown’s “Water”
• The Herd “King is Dead”

Perhaps I’m either ignorant to the lyrics of music, listening to the wrong radio stations, or just have my head buried in sand….OR is it possible that Australian political music is either not prominent or not getting the attention it deserves? Or are the songs not being written?

Not pointing any fingers at all, otherwise I’m fairly sure I’d be shot down in a second, and I don’t think there is a wrong or right about it. I’m just curious to see where it all is, whether it died in the 90′s or if Australian artists are more conservative about taking a stand. Or whether I’m just being ignorant (have I said that enough already??) I just wonder if we’re going to start hearing music about Kevin Rudd anytime soon.

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I actually didn’t have much to say in this post, just wanted everyone to know how excited I am to have got a new iPod. It’s great! I’ve used some tutorials on how to get my mp3 audiobooks into the correct audiobook area in iTunes, so I can sync my iPod correctly, and it’s become a ritual to listen to at least 1/2 an hour of a book before I fall asleep. Last night it was my saviour, when I managed only 2 hours sleep because my body wouldn’t shut down. In the interim, I listened and played with my new iPod.

Next I suppose I’ll venture into the portability of movies on my iPod, although not a huge movie buff I don’t see this being a major thing for me. Same with the photos – I love my photography but I have flickr to share that with people, and don’t really feel the need to carry them with me everywhere. I’ll probably start taking advantage of the games next, and use them when I’m hanging around somewhere and I’m bored. I think all the “additions” to the iPod other than music will come in handy when I’m travelling, whether it be in the car when Mat’s driving and I choose to ignore him by watching a movie, or when we travel overseas next year and have an extremely long stretch in an airplane ahead of me. Getting a new iPod was on the list of things I needed to before that trip, so it was a fantastic birthday present.

I think it’s safe to say that I’m morphing into a girly nerd, more on that girly stuff to come….

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This morning was the pre-sale, and I have the absolute pleasure in telling the whole world that I have two front row seats. That’s right, I’m sitting (what a lazy sod) and the lucky person who will be joining me is none other than my boyfriend Mat. But hang on, you would think he would be happy right? So far he has insisted he’s not coming, that he has no desire to go to a concert, and when I rang to announce the front row tickets I got a “is that all you rang me for??”

Doesn’t matter – nothing can ruin the mood I’m in. FRONT ROW!!! Why can’t it be April 29th already?

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