Let's play cards!

I can't stop thinking about how my friends, instead of going out clubbing, drinking, doing drugs, hooking up and having sex with randoms, are cool with just going to someone's house and playing cards, for HOURS, completely sober.
That's not to say we don't ever go out and drink, we do, it's just evenly balanced with nights of cards.

We're quite happy to take turns hosting either spur-of-the-moment or planned-in-advance card nights and spend hours playing games we already know or learning new ones.

Maybe it's old fashioned, something grandparents do and not young people-ish but I love it.

Tolkein

It's been so long since I've read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings that I'd complete forgotten how different Tolkein's style of writing is.
I've been reading modern novels so long I forgot the style that used to be prevalent back when books were the main source of entertainment.
Tolkein's style is so completely different from anything I can remember reading before yet still fundamentally the same.
It does remind me of Thomas Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge though, they have the same split-narrative style where the story teller is half just telling the story and half talking directly to you, the reader.
At first it's a big confronting, no one really writes like that anymore and I think if anyone even did now it wouldn't be taken well. But then, like anything, you get used to it, this dialogue between long-dead author and reader makes the whole experience a little more intimate, a little more real, the story a little more real. Tolkien talks to you like you know these places they travel through, like you know about the existences of Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, Wizards and accept it as fact.

Dear, dear Harry, we've reached the end again

I have read Harry Potter so many times I've lost count, I distinctly remember getting to the end of the Order of the Phoenix, flipping over and starting again straight away. No matter how many times I read each of them, or in what order, nothing compares to the indescribable feeling I get when I finish the Deathly Hallow. Despite the perfect ending ("all was well") I am always inexplicably sad. 7 long books and a substantial chunk of my life so far, and of my childhood always, is finished again and while I come back to Harry again and again I can't help but remember the excitement I felt when I picked this book up for the first time on its release date in 2007, nor the sense of finality when I reached that last page for the first time and knew Harry Potter was over forever.

As the wonderful woman, J.K. Rowling said: "Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home" and she was right. Whether I be 10, 19, 25, 53, 67, 84 or any ages beyond or between Harry Potter will always be my default when I'm looking for amazing characters and intricate plot.
Harry Potter will never be a great work of literature, it has sporadic (mostly spoken by Albus Dumbeldore) moments of exquisite phrasing but it's the characters and the world J.K. created that keep you coming back.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, thank you J.K. Rowling, from the bottom of my heart, for sharing this world with us.

I'm a Winter

Part of me longs to live in a place where you take your jacket off when you go inside and put it back on when you go outside. While the rational part of my brain goes "Zo, the novelty would wear off REAL fast" and "You LOVE Australia, you know you're never going to leave!" the irrational side goes "EUROPEAN FASHION!! ENGLAND!! (because I know the only other place i'd live would be Europe and, most likely, somewhere the UK)" and, as we all know, the irrational side is a lot louder. Probably helps that it's waving a multitude of hot British and Irish personalities with their sexy-as-all-hell accents in front of my face (because, you know, my brain has arms).

Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that in the winter months even Australia can get that cold so maybe what I mean is that part of me longs for the lifestyle where "light layers" isn't the way to go, where thick jackets and coats are necessary to keep you warm when you're wearing nice, but thin, clothing underneath. A lifestyle that, for a short time at least during the Australian winter, I hope to one day achieve.

It also may just be a case of "grass is always greener" (though I like my grass a good heat and drought faded yellow thank you very much) and my ever present xenophilia.

I think, I have to admit that though I always say I can't decide between Summer and Winter which is my favourite season, that it's got to be Winter. Despite the sun and the outdoors of the Summer months, I love scarves and hats and beanies and coats and boots and hot chocolate (which always tastes better when it's cold) and sitting inside and watching the rain.

NEWS HEADLINE: ZOE IS AMAZING

I went to Zoe's the other night. We stayed up late watching game of thrones, eating ice cream, talking and drinking sour monkey. We ate party pies and sausage rolls for lunch. Then a couple of nights later she came over and we cooked tacos, finished game of thrones and headed off to the drive ins to see ruby sparks. She gave me shuttlecocks that light up so now we can play badminton in the dark! If that is not a thoughtful gift than what is? She doesn't get angry with me for talking through movies and she will even join in. We have similar interests. We enjoy reading, watching perhaps slightly trashy TV, and gossiping. Zoe is a fun person to spend time with and I enjoy spending time with her. Next week she has organised a girls night and I'm so psyched! One of the best things about Zoe is that she meets you halfway. I don't feel I have to put in a whole lot of effort because it just works. Zoe is a-mazing!

I just think you should check this out...

http://fozmeadows.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/why-ya-sex-scenes-matter/

Above is a link to a blog/article that I was introduced to via the wonderful 'happy-place' that is Tumblr.

Essentially (if you don't want to read the whole, admittedly long-winded, thing) it says that society, pop-culture, etc promotes a male-dominant image of sex for young teenage girls (and boys for that matter) who are just starting to explore the whole "sex thing." An image where it's "okay" if she says no and he doesn't listen. 
It says that Young Adult novels that involve sex scenes and the topic of sex in general are good because they're teaching young girls (as their target demographic) about how you should be treated, about contraception, about their own sexuality and bodies rather than the fucking we see on screen and in porn. 
And YA novels are teaching this to young girls in a positive and accepted way in that it's not prohibited. They're not like "dirty magazines" you have to hide or sex scenes on TV you have to change the channel on incase your parents walk in, it's in books you can read anywhere and it's acceptable which makes the themes and lessons it teaches acceptable and good and positive which they should be.

This blog post just kind of struck me a little because it got me thinking, YA books are how we learnt about sex, sure we did sex-ed and biology but these books are where we learnt how it feels or how it should feel and yes, I think that for the most part it's too much sunshine, daisies and fireworks but it's far better than the alternative society has produced.

I went to Hannah’s gig at the Pakenham Hotel last night and it was really awesome, as always, the girls are amazing however, I couldn’t stay until the end because I had to get up early for work in the morning.

I left at about midnight, said goodbye to the friends and Hannah that were left and walked out to my car.

I’m not sure if this is the biggest insult to feminism since arranged marriage or just plain common sense but I couldn’t help notice none of my 3 guy friends offered to walk me out. I’m 99% sure that, had they been there, I have several male friends who wouldn’t have taken no for an answer and I have to admit, it would’ve made me feel better.

I know that it’s the 21st century and we’re all like “I am woman, hear me roar” and while I'm pretty sure that I'd be able to kick up enough of a fuss that [insert assailant here] would consider me too much work to bother with  we were in Pakenham on a Friday night after all and it was past midnight and dark at the pub and you just never know. On my way in just after 9, my friend and I had already seen a couple of guys getting sent off by security, which didn’t promote the best image for the good old Paky Hotel.

Obviously I made it to my car and home perfectly fine and I’m not hating on my mates for not being perfect gentleman or anything I just kind of wish they had been.

If Jill Meagher’s murder has taught us anything it’s that the world isn’t as safe as we think it is and unfortunately precautions need to be taken.

Friend of a friend

So there's this guy I know, he's my best friend's best friend. They've been friends far longer than my best friend and I have and they have the kind of friendship where no matter how far apart they get or how long they go without seeing each other they will always be best friends. I get that. I have a best friend like that. It comes with being friends from a very young age and it's great.

Anyway, this guy, I met him 6 or 7 years ago now and he's one of those guys where from the minute you lay eyes on them you're like "yep, you're gonna be hot when you're older." You just know. And he is, he was cute when he was 14 and now that he's 19 he's gorgeous. This isn't going to be one of those things where I'm going to gush about how in love with him I am though (that's a different friend of a friend), I'm just saying I'm glad I know him. Up until a few weeks ago I hadn't seen him in probably 2 or 3 years and even then only sporadically. You grow and change a lot from 16 to 19 (he's a babe now, did I mention that?) and he's always been fun I just kind of forgot how much fun he was and how much I liked being around him.

I don't think I've explained this sufficiently at all and I'm also not entirely sure what the point of this was, I've just been thinking about him, in particular, out of all my friends a bit lately, no doubt cause I've seen him 3 or 4 times in the past month.
Essentially, he's fun and I'm glad I know him and get to see him.

It's All Too Real Now

For, I think, the first time in my life I'm in a situation where someone I know and care for (well two someones) is in a potentially life threatening situation.

Two of my friends are currently in Fiji, doors and windows barricaded as best they can and locked in a bathroom as Cyclone Evan bears down on them.

One of them I just saw a week ago, all bubbly and excited to go meet the other. I just hope I get to see them both again, relieved and glad to be home.

A part of me can't comprehend that anything might happen to them or that two of the girls I've known for half my life, won't come home again. Yet, another part of me knows all too well the havoc that is wreaked by our world's natural disasters.

Katrina. Sandy. Cyclones. Hurricanes. Tornados. Earthquakes. Tsunamis. Volcanos. Bush fires.




Good luck girls, stay safe
xx

#AppreciationPost

(Yes I know this is not Twitter but it's my blog so I'll hashtag whatever the hell I damn want to hashtag.)

I just wanted to take a minute to say I like Hannah. I really, really do, she's lovely. I am pro-Hannah.
She's nice, she's funny, she's intelligent, she's amazingly talented, she's gorgeous, she's more than a teaspoon's worth of a crazy, she's interesting, quite fascinating really, she's a whiz on country names and she plays piano/keyboard like a god(dess).

I love that all of my friends are studying/interested in different things to me because when I ask "how does photosynthesis work?" someone can tell me. It's also fun when you can joke about "how many engineering students does it take to fix a frypan?" (The answer is two apparently, by the way, and it only takes one engineering student's mother to break it in the first place).

Anyway, back to Han, she's awesome. She's dating my best friend and has been for ages and I think he couldn't do better if he searched the entire universe (twice over). They're really cute together too. She helps balance out his 'serious-about-his-study-to-the-point-of-insanity' and he helps balance out her kookiness. Being so close to the both of them, I know that neither of them are perfect on their own, but  I think they get pretty close when they're together.

This ended up far more garbled than I'd intended but I guess the gist has gotten across I like Hannah. She's fun.
I'm glad she's my friend and better blog-half.

Beautiful Disaster

I just started reading this book, title above, author not worth mentioning. Another reminder i shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and maybe I should pay attention to the back of the book. I skimmed through the blurb thinking I was just going to read a cute little romance/drama. Now I'm wondering why I picked it up in the first place. The characters don't make sense. The main character is a bitch/plain/boring. The logic of it is twisted. She doesn't seem that fantastically amazing (which they keep saying she is, so I'm guessing that she may be attractive, a lil hard to tell when all you know is that she is short with glasses and brown hair) that she can get away with leading two guys on, and have them not get angry at her but at each other for it...
Anyway what to expect when I finally look at the back of the book to see "Up the with Twilight" and "A great antidote to my Shades of Grey withdrawal symptoms." One says "makes you wish books could come true." Well I hope this one doesn't. It is a disaster, but not a beautiful one.

Update

At the moment everything is going great. Nearly finished xmas shopping, got some gigs lined up, an epic xmas with family soon to be had, plans to see friends, a bit of money in the bank, a bf who I probably don't deserve, a vibrant pair of new sneakers, books to read, and the thing that bugs me the most is that I need to clean my room (mostly to keep my mother off my back, partially because it is summer and mess makes me feel sticky) and clean out the bathroom cupboard that I'm to scared to open. Why is it, that in a world where everything is relatively perfect, we still want more? When do you start to want less? What do you become when you stop wanting? Why am I asking these questions? I need to get to bed.

Moments

Do you ever have that moment when you read something or watch something or even listen to something and it just hits you so hard that after you've finished you just...can't. You don't know what to do next because it was so amazing and beautiful and heart wrenching that...how can you just forget about it?
You can't, you just file it away in the back of your mind and one day you'll go back and do it all over again and relive that happy-pain because it was so totally worth it.
Yep. Just had that.
I'm going to bed now.

Family Moment

I love my family, I really do, they're big and they're loud and they're just the tiniest bit nuts and I can't really stand them for extended periods of time because we're so completely different but I do love to see them and, over the years of family gatherings for everything I've grown accustomed to seeing them on a regular basis so I do start to miss them when I haven't seen them in a while.

At the latest family thing I shared a tiny little something with my cousin and I'm sure he didn't even register that it was anything at all but it made me smile.

3 of us were standing in the laundry, the originals from before the 3rd got 4 billion little siblings. The 1st was eating off a plate gathered together by Nonna before he went to work, a little bit of everything. One of the everything was a sausage roll, he offered it to us other two and we immediately both called dibs. The 3rd was quicker and scooped it up and took a bite. Then he handed the other half to me.

All it takes is one shared sausage roll, and I don't mean one of the normal sized ones, I mean one of the party pie ones, where you get like half a bite each, if you're lucky.

My cousins and I are insanely different, I'm studious and a bookworm, the good kid, they're, well...not. But that one little piece of sausage roll reminded me we're still family.

Bathing is best.

Tonight, I'm having a raspberry-vanilla scented bubble bath while eating chocolate and reading a book by candlelight.
My night is infinitely better than yours.