DO I DARE GO BACK? SYDNEY TAKE 2.

Do i dare? HA!
I scoff at the challenge. Is it a challenge if it's too easy though?!

Who wouldn't be up for a long weekend in Sydney especially after having so much fun last time- wine, dine & climb.

(see previous post re: Sydney)

With the long weekend fast approaching, dirt cheap flights delivered straight to my inbox & with nothing to lose & everything to gain...
I sent a couple of text message's &

I booked myself return flights.

Yes its 1 month away.

But i don't really care.

Wintertime in Melbourne is usually a bit on the quiet side & everyone seems to go into hibernation.

A weekend escape is just what the doctor ordered.
As it turns out, there's going to be a whole crew heading
to our northern neighbour.
Our mission?
Ruin Sydney :)
In all the right ways, ofcourse!

Why do i write a blog about this when clearly you don't care?
It's because i don't care about what you think :)
xox

DEGRAVES. that is all.

Having a rather cruisy work life *ahem, i work 4 days a week,

I took myself on a little excursion into the Big Smoke.

aka. Melbourne.

Did it the old fashioned way & caught a train in.

I often find myself wandering the streets & laneways- which there are an abundance of in this fine city.

And every single time, i don't even know how or why, i always seem to end up in one particular street.

Degraves Street.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degraves_Street,_Melbourne

I always feel a little bit awkward when i venture here.

It's the kind of street that is narrow, has cafes either side, restaurants, boutique little shops & just a lot of nooks & crannies.

Why do i feel awkward when it sounds so amazing you ask..

Well, i guess it's because people come here to be seen.

People come here to sip espresso's & lattes.

People come here to eat little cupcakes.

http://www.littlecupcakes.com.au/

Word on the street is its the place to be.

I totally don't get it. It's just little old Melbourne afterall.

Oh & the fact that the centre of the street is full of tables & chairs with the abovementioned sitting around them in their finest op shop cardigan that they paid $5 for & as you stride passed them it feels like you are on parade with hundreds of eyes following you.

Yeah, awkward.

Don't get me wrong.

It's a very hip little place to visit & visit you must if you've never been to Melbourne.

I personally, just don't like being watched.

Instantly my brain goes into overdrive...

*do i have food on my face?

*did i sit on something?

*is there something on my shirt?

I want to melt into the background and watch YOU.

And that right there darlings, is the unadulterated truth.

I wish to be the observer, not the observed.

Maybe you'll spot me hiding in a corner, sipping a steaming coffee while watching you.

Nothing sinister.. i promise :)

That is all. I'll see you next time, Degraves.

xox

'DO YOU WANT ME TO TAKE YOU TO HOSPITAL?'

...was the question i asked a friend of mine recently.

No, it's not something you ask every day.

But nonetheless, it got me thinking.

So here i am, yet again, sharing my rambling thoughts with you, my dear reader.

What is it about other people needing help or being in distress (ie: damsel in distress needing a car tyre changed on the side of the road) that we cant help but take notice of, take them under our wing & try to make it all better again & fix them?

What makes us turn all good Samaritan?

Human nature?

The way we were brought up? 

Scrap that. You're smart.

You can work that one out for yourself.

...just like you worked out that reading

this blog was a good choice :)

So here's the story:

It started as a lovely night filled with dress up partying, dancing to Snoop Dogg's 'Drop It Like Its Hot', some crazy photos, good catch up chats with friends & then a quick goodbye.

We were on our way home.

Just the 2 of us with a 1 hour drive.

(Before i go on, can i just say we saw the most amazing shooting star of all time- it was big, it was bright, it was long & it was directly in front of us. GORGEOUS!)

Back to it.

About 5 minutes down the road, my friend started complaining of having the most horrendous pain in his jaw.

Not nice. Not nice at all.

He is very talkative normally but not on this ride home.

You get a sense when things aren't quite right.

Clutching his jaw & me with a comforting hand resting

on his back, i said

'Do you want me to take you to hospital?'

'Yes please.'

The fact that it was about 2am didn't phase me whatsoever.

You go into automatic mode.

My friend was in need & i was there.

You would've done the same thing in my situation.

It's nothing big. A small, helpful act.

Sitting in the hospital corridor for about an hour, reading a trashy magazine, another comforting hand rubbing my friend's back while he held his face in his hands, reality sets in.

Helping out other people- whether they be friends, acquaintances or a stranger- is good.

It's true, there is definitely more happiness in giving than there is in receiving, i think its imbedded in all of us to help our fellowman. And so we should.

High Five to helping out our friends.

FYI- he was much appreciated & is all good now :)

xox

SO WHATS WITH THE WHOLE INDIE/HIPSTER THING THESE DAYS et'cetera.

I'm dead serious.

Since when did looking like a nerd/homeless person

become 'cool' as they say?

I must've missed that memo.

Nerds used to get beat up at school.

And homeless people are just plain dirty.

We want to be like them.... why?!

(while we're at is, who is 'they' as we all quote?

'they' say.. blahh blahh)

So many people are trying to be as individual as possible & in their attempts to do so, they only become like

everyone else around them.

Then theres the whole cool, but not cool thing.

People who are trying to be cool, by not being cool, in the hope that they will be cool.

Although, no true indie person would ever admit to this.

Have i lost you yet?

Its a circle, just keeps going round.

Bangs, fake reading glasses, cider, fixie bikes taking over the world, shirts buttoned all the way up, photos of ourselves with hands by our sides and zero expression, necklaces down to our belly buttons, shoes & no socks (how do you not get blisters i wonder) the list goes on..

 I promise you, dear reader, right here right now that i am not dissing this movement whatsoever.

I think I am more intriguied by it.

Where did it all come from..

Or am i just saying all of this because i am secretly trying to be cool by not trying at all?

Probably.
(But i'd never admit to that.)

PEOPLE WHO DRIVE EXPENSIVE CARS CAN BE NORMAL.

Driving to work this morning, stuck in traffic yet again, sipping a homemade mocha in a thermo' cup, listening to rubbish morning radio, I'm glancing around at the cars nearby and spot this one: Carrera S4.. somethin' somethin'

Instantly i figure the guy driving this has a well paying job, probably some hot girlfriend/wife to boot

..or perhaps he has both...

lives in some fancy brand new house overlooking the beach and has his own maid.

(that's probably a little extreme, but I'm sure it runs

true for some people out there)

Why do we instantly judge people by their appearances?

Maybe we want to 'work them out' the fastest way possible to gauge whether they are 'worthy' of our time & friendship..

Or is it because we want assurance that hey, maybe I'm better off than that guy in his slick shiny car and I'm not

actually in the dregs of society.

(this line of thought coming from someone *me* who has been awake for half an hour and not exactly functioning properly.. well, not yet.. give me 15 more minutes to wake up fully and I'll be fine)

Like this morning, you will see someone or something that you will immediately judge.

And then, as you cruise passed this particular person in traffic, you glance over to their car and you spot this

hanging from their rear vision mirror and it throws ALL of your theories out the door.  

Hey, shock horror!

At the end of the day, people who drive expensive cars are actually as normal as i am!

He's probably got a kid or two, a loving wife & they live in an old school weatherboard house near a playground.

Don't judge. It's so not worth it.

And more often than not, you'll be wrong.