My BFF.

So I have this friend, right, she's one of my best friends. Only our best-friendship didn't come about like normal ones do. One day, at some group gathering or another she asked me if I would be her best friend. I said yes, of course, and we swapped numbers and have been best friends ever since. She's different to all my other best friends. She's so cute when she sends me random text messages basically detailing how awesome/beautiful/intelligent I am and they always make me smile and just feel good. I send random ones back of course just to make her smile but I dont think I could do it with anyone else but her even though I'm sure my friends would like to hear it. She does really sweet things for me that just brighten my day, I mean, she sent me a picture of Harry Styles with a piece of paper saying "I love you" because she knows how obsessed I am. This girl is amazing. I am so glad to have her in my life, glad that I can make her smile when she's not feeling so great, glad that she's happy to share her life with me.

She texts me to vent (bitch) about life and and the boyfriend and how school is sucking up her life and cutting into valuable boyfriend time (the boyfriend is one of my friends, hence how we met) and basically how she's afraid of how important her grades in year 12 are. I love that she trusts me with that stuff even though it adds to my life's constant reminders that no, Zoe, you don't have a boyfriend to fight and make up with and means that I'm vicariously doing year 12 for the second year running, which in addition to my own year 12 almost 2 years ago is kinda making me hate the whole institution of school (again).

Our best-friendship didn't start normally, we didn't start off slow, introducing each other and talking small talk for weeks until we graduated to phone numbers and life stories. We went from naught to 100 in 2.8 seconds. 

And I wouldn't have it any other way.
I love you, Best Friend♥.

The Internet.

The 'net is great, helps with homework, keeps us in touch, can pretty much tell you anything but it’s also the realm of a lot of hate, a lotta, lotta hate, like literal shit tons of hate (technical term).
Hate for bands, hate for celebs, hate for people who are connected with celebs, hate for people who like celebs, the list goes on.

I’ve noticed it most prominently with Justin Bieber, One Direction and in the Vampire Diaries fandom.

Justin Beiber was just a kid,he was like 16 and people halfway across the world were going out of their way to diss him. If you don’t like him, fine, don’t like him, whatever. Don’t fucking advertise your hate. He has feelings too.

One Direction are also kids and no one deserves the hate they’re getting, least of all post-pubescent-barely-adult guys in the spotlight but it’s more the hate their significant (or even not-so-significant in Harry Style’s case) female others in their lives are getting. Death threats, insults,“you’re-not-good-enough-for-Harry/Louis/Liam/Niall/Zayn”s. Seriously? Really? First of all, as if bagging the girls they hang out with (thus obviously like) is going to endear you to them. Secondly, like I said, they’re real people, they have feelings too. THINK before you speak/type/tweet. Didn’t your mother ever teach you, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ Third: GET A FUCKING LIFE. Love them, or not, they’re just living their lives, maybe you should try doing the same.

And another thing, ship-wars, really? THEY’RE REAL HUMAN BEINGS NOT FICTIONAL CHARACTERS. Just…chill out guys.

TVD…oh TVD, the hate in this fandom simply astounds me. I can’t even explain how horrible people here can be. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, if you disagree, cool. Agree to disagree and move on to find other likeminded people. Don’t hate and insult and abuse people who are different from you.

I am a big believer in “haters gonna hate” but I seriously wish there just wasn’t.

Feel free to voice your opinions guys, you are, of course, entitled to them, just try not to be a dick about it and respect everyone else’s opinions.

However, all I've said above is not to say that every single fan is a horrible conniving bitch, there are some genuinely nice people who just like [insert band/show/person here] and just want to be able to fangirl in peace. Those people are (generally) the majority, but as they say "the minority aren't stupid, they're just very loud."

On another note, the internet has also revealed that there are some serious creepers out there…and I mean to each their own but seriously? Some people are kinda twisted.

edit: I felt I should just mention that some things the internet brings are amazing, all you have to do is look at what's trending on twitter, the support for people/causes is amazing. While there is a lot of hate, when stuff like LLN (laughing like Niall, the irish guy from 1D who cracks up in every interview without fail) replaces LOL in Directioners' vocabularies...you can't help but smile.

The Importance of Being Earnest

I've been thinking a lot lately, about what's really important in my life, like what I seriously could not live without.

The obvious (obviously) comes to mind: my phone, my laptop, my car but they're all material things and I'm not superficial (really, I'm serious, I'm not).

I've decided that what is most important to me is my family, my friends and my pets and what I want to focus on here is said pets. They are very much something I could not live without, not so much my 3 goldfish (Jaws, Orcha and Sparkles) but my two dogs, Zak and Gypsie (and my not-yet existant, black kitty-cat Daisy, she's in my future and I know I will not be able to live without her) very much so.

The parentals are out at the moment, leaving me alone with the two dogs (and my fish) and they're just hanging out with me (the dogs not the goldfish). Gypsie's sporadically changing position on my bedroom floor and Zak is spreadeagled on my bed even then he barely takes up half a square foot, but the point is, I am not alone. I have Gyp sticking her big black nose in my lap every so often to make me giver her a pat and Zak trying to jump onto my lap as I'm trying to study.

I may call him stinky or a hairy nosed wombat and her big-bum or bitch-face but I am extremely grateful for my four legged friends, without whom I would be lonely and quite freaked out in this big, cold, dark house, all by my lonesome.

Possibly THE best photo of her I have ever taken.

Smile Gypsie-Rose Poppins!

Isn't he gorgeous?

Metric Colour Dreams

To follow the Zo I think i need to give an update on my music obsessions at the moment.

Although i unfortunately can't afford to splendour in the grass to see my Metric, i have just successfully bought tickets to see them at Billboards! So excited!! I hope they are great live, and im crossing my fingers that their new album will be just as amazing since thats what they most likely will be playing.....

And onto another amazing band...my amazing friend, the drummer of our band, has brought to my attention recently; City in Colour. She saw them live recently and she said she cried, which means that they must have been amazing. You could fall asleep just listening to that voice.... If you got serenaded by that voice, your pants would be coming off that night without a doubt.....

And to finish up, tonight i had band practice and we worked on my now favourite song. Sweet Dreams by The Eurythmics is the original, but if you look up Marilyn Manson's version and put the two into a blender, that is what we have somehow created....i have no clue if it works, but its fun and i love it!

Harry Edward Styles♥

I am a little bit ashamed to admit I have a total and utter crush on Harry Styles (and the other 4/5 of One Direction if I'm being honest).
The reason why I'm quite ashamed is because, God as if Bieber-fever wasn't enough, we now have the resurrection of the boyband (because the Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Human Nature, N'Sync etc. just weren't enough synchronised dancing and matching outfits for this world) as well and as a member of the post-teeny-bopper generation I should automatically not like and consider myself above the likes of Justin Bieber and the boys (or lads as they call themselves *swoon*) of One Direction.

However...they make me smile, plain and simple.
Their songs and videos (music videos, interviews, video diaries behind the scenes, etc) just make me happy, sometimes because I'm laughing at them and sometimes because I'm laughing with them but regardless, after watching/listening, there's a smile on my face.
As Sherly Crowe said (sung) "If it makes you haaaaaa-py, it can't be that baaaa-aaaaa-aaad" so I'm just going to settle in and enjoy the ride until 1D-mania blows over.

And, I mean, on a completely shallow note, when the kid (and he pretty much is a kid, he's just 3 months legal (trust me, I checked first)) looks like this:

And sounds like this (JUST WHEN HE'S TALKING! HE'S NOT EVEN SINGING! OMG!):

How can I not?

I love 1D.
And I'm not afraid to admit it.

Post-Easter Break Check List

I promised and ye (yee? I never know if that's supposed to have two Es or not) shall receive.

So it’s now 3 weeks after the Easter Break and I’m here to tell you I did, 4 of my 8 things. 

I didn’t wash Rosie, I didn’t start my essays (of course), I didn’t practice any basketball whatsoever and I didn’t see Battleship because I decided Eric just wasn’t worth it. 

I did however:

- Read Hunger Game - and LOVED it

- Saw Hunger Games - and was kinda 'meh' except for the 3 seconds Liam Hemsworth was on screen because let's face it, I'm quite shallow and he's quite hot.

- Do my readings (HW FTW!)

- See American Pie - that actually involved a cute little date with previously mentioned we-should've-been-twins cousin.

All in all, it wasn’t too bad. I did some other stuff instead, read some more books, hung out, slept.

I’ll just keep the other things on my list for next holidays I guess.

Metric

I dont think i have ever been so excited about an album release.....the last album (fantasies) by one of my favourite band metric was absolutely amazing. Today the first single was released, youth without youth, and it showed promise for their new album synthetica, to be released in june. If you haven't heard them, try listening to a few songs. I would recommend listening to help im alive (one of the most well known), blacksheep (played in scott pilgrim vs the world), or eclipse (all yours) (played in twilight....)
Actually i will recommend all three! Hopefully this album will take a seat of epicness next its predecessor, and albums of The black keys, kasabian, florence and the machine, and the wombats in my lists of favourite albums ever.

On a side note my mum got leggings that are meant to fit all sizes and have a fleece lining and asked me to try them on.....i havent taken them off yet! so warm and comfy!

My Mid-Semester 'Break' Checklist

The ever growing list of things I plan/want to do on my 8 day long break (in no particular order except the one I wrote them down in).

1. Wash my car - Rosie is in desperate need of a wash, she's got bug guts and dust all over her :(
2. Read Hunger Games - find out what all the rage is.
3. See Hunger Games - as above and coz that Hemsworth kid is hot.
4. Start essays X 4 - hopefully I'll be able to "get ahead".
5. Do my readings - as above
6. See the new American Pie - pretty self-explanatory really.
7. See Battleship - I hate Rhianna with a passion but it seems like it'll be a pretty good movie. And Alexander Skarsgard is in it (and so is one of the guys from the Covenant) so my epic Eric love cancels out my Rhianna hate.
8. Practice basketball - so my coach doesn't kill me, or worse give that disappointed look.

8 things, 8 days.
I'll let you know how it goes.

I picked it.

I so fucking picked it, from the day I met him I knew that kid was going to be fucking hot when he grew up.

I knew it.

That was over 7 years ago and while he has always been gorgeous, even when I met him when he was about 11 and all pre-pubescent, but only in the last couple of years has he really grown into himself. He's hot, there is no other way to say it, he is smoking hot.

I dont have deluded dreams of grandeur though and I kind of don't even want them. While he's gorgeous...he's not for me and I'm cool with that.

He deserves someone that's gonna look past the really cute smile, nice hair and footballer's body to the killer personality and brains that could rival Einstein's.

All I'm saying is I fucking picked it. I saw it from day one and most of my friends thought it was weird and are only now getting what I was on about, but I picked it.

Fate? Family?

So I just met for the first time (I think) my cousin (second? Third? [Insert number here] removed? Whatever, we’re Italian, everyone’s a cousin). And she sent me the link to her blog and I just…I love her. Her blog is just like all the things I like, random, inspirational quotes and images, lots of shirtless guys, Taylor Swift, Rainbows, the beach, the Eiffel Tower, cookies, Zac Efron and Channing Tatumn (both shirtless half the time), army pictures (they’re American but what of it?), dream catchers, flowers, slightly a little too much One Direction for my taste but whatever. 

I’ve only got one thing to say to her, you forgot Mitch Hewer, he is hot, he’s beautiful, he’s English. Get your Google on, or watch Season 1 and 2 of Skins UK (actually Google THEN watch Skins). I would recommend you watch Skins just for Mitch Hewer and not just because he’s absolutely gorgeous but because he is absolutely beautiful.

And she had a picture of a fucking husky puppy, I’m kind of wondering if we’re in the process of some life changing moment where we discover that we’re like some sort of long lost twin-cousins. I mean I get that we’re related, distantly, somehow, but we seem freakishly alike, and I mean, is that genetics? Am I genetically engineered to like certain things and she just happens to be genetically engineered to like the same things too? 

I don’t want to get ahead of myself (and perhaps this’ll be awks if she actually reads this…) but I seriously think there’s something going on here, some twist of fate brought her into my parent’s pet shop when I was working with her grandfather (my great-uncle) and now we’re gonna be BFFs, I can just feel it. Or at least I hope so… Seriously though, in my head we’re already having Gossip Girl marathons with a tub of ice cream and cookies. 

Anyway, check out her blog if for no other reason than it's pretty. 

http://oh-summer-dayze.tumblr.com/

Carmody

I want to use just a little bit of space to talk about one of my favourite series of books. Isabelle Carmody's Obernewtyn Chronicles will have to be one of the most breathtaking adventure novels i have ever read. I have to admit that it took a few attempts to get into it. The first time I read it I didn't like it very much. Although the book can be found in the young adults section with al the other adventure/fantasy novels, the language, and the tone of the novel is much removed from the teen flicks, that use the word 'like' in the wrong context, base themselves around a fantastical romance. Written from first person, you don't feel as though you are following the story of a young teeny bopper. I wasn't ready for that.
I have to thank my mother here for not realising that i wasn't captivated by my first read and gave me the following sequel to me as a christmas gift. Eventually one summer a few years later when i was bored i decided to read it. So i reread the first book again and got into the second and really enjoyed them. Summer finished and my final year of high school sat in front of me. It wasn't until a year later that i decided to return to the fantasy fiction world Carmody had created.
The books are based in a post apocalyptic land that managed to survive the apocalypse. The land is run by a council that out of fear, and desire for control, destroyed all technology. The world the main character Elspeth lives is practically medieval. There is a religious cult that holds power through fear, for anyone born abnormal or against the ways of the council are burned alive. That makes life for Elspeth difficult for she has many mind abilities. The storyline follows our protagonists' quest to find and destroy the machines that caused the apocalypse many years prior before the anonymous antagonists reaches them. Of course that isnt the whole story, for it hasnt even been completed yet. Like Harry Potter, it has many subplots that weave together to form such an enchanting story.
One of the best things i found about the books were that both times i had stopped reading them i had forgotten everything that had happened. It wasn't because they were boring, but because they were so intriguing and fully of detail that i just couldn't remember everything. It was like rereading Harry Potter (which is still one of my favourite series) after not thinking about it for a few years. I know that in a few years time after i finish the series i will be able to return to this series and enjoy it all over again.
The only thing i can really criticise about Carmody's work is the wait. I started reading another series of hers, the legendsong triology, which has a similar feel to the Obernewtyn chronicles, and equally as brilliant, and i found myself waiting for a third book that stil hasnt been released, even though the first was written in the 90's.
But it isnt a big complaint for i understand such great books take time, and with many novels on the go at once it is bound to take a while.
I could have just bored you out of reading the series, but i hope you give it a chance, for i know it will stay upon my bookshelf forever......

Circum-moral-navigation

Dear Moral Compass,

Next time, either kick in earlier or don't bother at all.

'kay? Thanks.

Zoe

Epic

So 'Epic' is my word, possibly to the point of using it too much and most definitely not correctly but I love it, i love what it means, how it sounds, how it can just encompass so much in one little word.

Eric is epic, Godric, Damon, Dean (the only real person I consider Epic), Chuck Bass is epic. Klaus, Darien/Tuxedo Mask, Captain Shang.

However, of all these characters (and one actual person) Godric is the epicest, or more importantly, the real life person who plays him Allan Hyde, is epic. He was 20 going on 2,000 when he played the ancient Godric.


Alexander Skarsgård does old and epic as Eric Northman quiete well, Joseph Morgan does Klaus amazingly too but no on can do epic like Allan Hyde as Godric.


I dont know if it's because he's half Danish-half English and I flat out love all things European, in particular English, so it's automatic or if it's because he's just...epic. Maybe it's because he was only 20 playing the oldest vampire I've ever seen (which is saying something considering how many vampire shows/movies I've seen) whereas Joseph Morgan and Alexander Skarsgård (Klaus and Eric respectively, both c. 1000 years old) were both at least 10 years older than Allan Hyde was which is an extra 10 years life experience let alone acting experience. 
Maybe it was because he was in contrast to Alexander Skarsgård who is 6ft10 when Allan Hyde is 5ft6 (practically my height) and Eric drop to his knees in front of Godric and there's just this humongous man, the most ruthless and oldest vampire we've seen yet on True Blood on his knees before this kid, because Godric seriously looks like a boy (and he is meant to be just 16) and you can just feel that this guy is formidable but chooses not to use his power (anymore) for evil.

It just astounds me that Allan Hyde can come onto this show and outdo everyone, outdo everything, ever.

Godric is Epic.

I have found that i have not blogged anything for a while. You think that i would have, after having an amazing trip to bali, an entertaining and slightly controversial christmas, a fun new years, camping and a couple of awkwardly hilarious gigs. And i am only choosing to write now when i am stuck at home bored, unable to find a job, waiting for uni to return.
Its during this time that i think about the mistakes i have made throughout the years.
There are those mistakes that you regret almost straight away, and there are those where the consequences happen much later and are harder to undo, and therefor harder to admit to making.
The one i have been thinking of lately was not getting a job while in highschool. At the time i was so preoccupied with my music and art that i hardly thought of it. A few of my friends had jobs, but many didn't. Its not like i never did anything. I played in a band and still do, but there isn't really any money in that, and i did babysitting for a year. I have experiences and skills, but they arent what people are looking for anymore. Why hire someone who has had no formal experience when they can pay someone who is underage for less? I am hindered by my second problem....i have no car, and therefor must use public transport. Which highlights the fact that i should have started learning to drive earlier.
I could blame it all on my mother and say its her fault for convincing me to focus on my studies, and made me nervous about learning to drive, and for her unwillingness to drive me anywhere now.
But it is my problem and my fault. I was lazy then so now i have to work harder to fix it now.
It is a lesson learnt. I dont need a job now, but i may need money in the future. I have started trying to get experience for the future. I want a job in science, so this year i am volunteering to teach science in schools. The more experience i gain, the more contacts i form, the easier it will be for me when i finish my degree.
 Some lessons i know i will never learn, such as starting my assignments before the night before its due. But this one i never forget.

I don't wear makeup.

It’s not because I think I’m so beautiful I don’t need it, because I doubt any woman does.

I am well aware that makeup does make me look prettier, it makes my blue eyes *pop*, it makes my skin look smoother, it makes my lips look fuller.

I don’t wear makeup partly because I’m lazy and I don’t think it’s worth the extra 15-20 minutes in the morning but mainly because I don’t believe I should have to alter my appearance to impress you.

I don’t believe that in order for a guy to ask me out or hit on me I need to have thick black eyelashes, shimmering eyelids, accented eyes, a flawless complexion and sparkling lips.

If you’re going to love me, I want you to love me for who I am not for who I make myself up as.

That’s not to say I never wear makeup because I do, on special occasions, my Deb, year 12 Formal, Valedictory, the occasional birthday party or nights out, a christening or confirmation.

I just think that a much better picture of who I am is trackies, a singlet, bright coloured socks and wet hair watching T.V. at home on a Saturday night than dressed to the nines, all made up and out at 1am on a Friday night.

Eventually I’ll find someone who appreciates that and he is the one I’ll dress up for, put in the effort for. 

One day.