Trust me, I'm a Bratt

Morrows the day, morrow's the day, tomorrow is Christmas Day

2009-12-24T10:35:41Z

Happy Christmas everyone! And Happy Christmas Day for tomorrow!

I love Christmas. Always have. I'm so childish about the entire thing. Decorations, lights, family, presents, surprises, food, drinks, making rum balls! It's all so damn fun! And even though I am currently the most poor I have ever been, I'm still loving it.

Carols are one of the best parts of Christmas. Is the tradition that I love! People who wouldn't normally sing join in at carol services because it's what's done and because they know the carols from previous years. When else do total strangers gather in one place to sing songs? It's awesome! Plus, I got paid for one of my gigs this month, so I'm slightly biased.

I have also been indulging in a Christmas Eve bottle of champagne, so I'm extra happy at the moment. It's all good. Love you all! Heh right now I am reminding myself of the second Bridget Jones book, which is way better than the movie. You should read it if you ever get the chance. It's incredibly trashy, but has some hilarious lines.

It seems like everybody I care about has been going through hell recently and it's been kind of hard to get into the Christmas spirit, but I guess that's why we go to church and drink wine, yes?

No, but seriously, I don't know if any of you have read about the WAYO tragedy, but it has involved a lot of my friends and affected many people I know and care about. Then there have been deaths affecting other people I love. It really makes you appreciate what you've got.

Hmm I should probably go for a walk and sober up before going to sing midnight mass, but that's ages away. My parents are coming! Yay! And of course we get to celebrate this Christmas with the most beautiful and lovely Shelly and also The Clarke, so it's gonna be awesome.

I know I have been kind of absent this year and not a very good friend, but I had quite a shitty year. It has definitely improved in the last four months though and it will continue to be good next year, so I'll be here and happy and there for anybody clueless enough to believe that I could possibly be of any help to them is welcome to call on my counseling services :)

So I am off to have a very enjoyable Christmas with the most incredible people in the world and then to talk to the other most incredible people in the world on the phone and the internet. Special mentions go to my fabulous family, who have shown me unconditional love and support over the past few years and my friends who love me even though I am completely crazy. I honestly wouldn't be here without you all.

All my love to you beautiful people!

I want that little chick! I want that middle chick! Hey man, save one chick for me!

2009-11-14T12:53:13Z

HIIIII!!!! This is the last post in which I shall mention that freakin meme. I am clearly not cut out to commit to anything. This is possibly why I completely fail at NaNoWryMo. Why does November have to be such a busy month?

My life has been kind of shit this year, but I am finally feeling almost normal again. *dances* So, just a few of the happy things that have occurred during the last few months:

Neil Gaiman replied to my message ON HIS BLOG!!!
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/07/doing-gloomy-bear-and-other-noises.html

I had several email communications with Wally de Backer regarding my beautiful sister's Birthday present. Alas it did not eventuate because my brilliant Basics ran out of money and couldn't release their new album on vinyl. Sigh.

Completely overshadowing this, jdx_random spontaneously went on tour with them recently. I mention this because I don't think I have ever been quite so jealous, ecstatic and excited at once. Also because I am hoping if I keep pestering he will tell us more/write about his adventures!

BMC was incredible as usual. Only I failed at restoring the magic and for that I apologise.

The Winthrop Singers have been selected to sing in Beijing next August, which means we have many fundraising concerts and then a trip to China!!! Wee! In the short term we shall be embarking on a closer-to-home adventure next week, which I am looking forward to.

And the most exciting thing of all...I HAVE AN ACTUAL PAID GIG IN DECEMBER!!! Many concerts as usual. One of them paid? That's a first!

I have discovered the wonder of facebook. It has taken over my life. It's lovely to be back in LJ land now though.

ROFL! The cat just tried to jump through a closed window. He is looking disgruntled, which is a new look for him. Better go and give him a hug.

Such a happy time part 5

2009-06-29T04:05:11Z

Apparently I thought it would be cool if I promised to finish this meme by the end of June. It has just occurred to me, however, that there is only one day of June left and I still have three days of happiness to write about. So, I shall be traveling to a parallel universe this afternoon where their time moves at three times the speed of our time just so I can deliver on my promise and not be branded a liar by the livejournal community. If I don't make it back, will someone please feed my dog and don't touch my hat collection. If I can't wear them no-one will.

Today is happy because I am at home. At the real home where my parents live and where the farm is, with its home-grown garlic and animals and olive trees. I am currently in bed with a piping hot cup of real tea, a Swanee dog curled up beside me on her travel mat, the household poodle sprawled on the end of the bed and my pin-up board, containing a scattering of things that are important to me from the past ten years or so, directly opposite. It's kind of the most lovely place to be, especially because it's bucketing down outside and we really need the rain at the moment.

Today is extra happy because the parents have recently upgraded to wireless internet, so for the first time I can have internet on my laptop at home while lieing in my bed or sitting on the trampoline or on the edge of the spa. Note how I said on the edge of the spa, not in the spa because when you put technology in water it stops working. That is an important message. To celebrate I have some links for anybody interested in adorable, slightly weird things to laugh at, which were sent to me by the beautiful resonant9. Thank you for making me laugh and for looking after me and for putting up with my tasteless jokes. You're fucking incredible, woman.

Without further ado I give you the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre taking on Life on Mars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEdRzveAeCw

Torchwood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGGTfuM1RGM

And Doctor Who vs Daleks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqFf_XmD4X8

Apologies for the long links, but I am technologically like for teh lose.*

And I accidentally just wrote for teh loose. Real crafty, pooface.

*A personal failing that is rubbed in my face again and again when I do things like write this whole entry and then press a button by accident that takes me straight to the google search page and gives me a five minute freakout that I've lost the whole entry. Gaaah! But then I found it again. Yaaaaay!

Such a happy time parts 2-4

2009-06-05T03:41:33Z

Apparently I am very bad at memes. Heh. Well this one never said anything about posting for eight consecutive days, so I'm going to take that excuse and run with it. My other excuse is that I've been having a pretty rough time lately and putting my amazing family through hell and I couldn't see any value in writing a post that said "Today was good because Ennin hung my washing out for me." That just wouldn't be fun for anybody involved, now, would it? Although having my washing hung out for me was very nice. Thank you Ennin!

I have also decided not to tag people any more. Mostly because everybody I know is busy either with exams or other stressful things at the moment and in my view memes should be for the bored rather than the stressed.

Sunday was a very happy day because I was bored and procrastinating and I ended up sitting on Arcy's bed for about an hour blowing bubbles at the household animals. Swanee The Dog tried to eat them, then looked confused and eventually went to sleep. Hendrix The Cat ran away in a haughty and disgruntled manner and hid under the desk. When I started blowing bubbles under the desk he left the room.

That evening the parents made a surprise visit and cooked us curry. We drank champagne and then I decided to go home with them for a few days. Definitely a happy day.

Tuesday was happy because I was at home. I also had the most wonderful bath before dinner, with relaxing oils and candles and a glass of champagne. Hmm, I like that champagne is becoming a theme in this blog.

Thursday was quite a bad day until the evening, when I was being left in the house all by myself. My family realised this was not a good move and made an emergency phone call to my Grandmother, who called me saying "I'm all alone and there's nothing good on television, so you'd better come around and keep me company." I did. She made me a cup of tea and read to me. And she has a much better heating system than we do, which is to say, she actually has a heating system.

OK, so I am up to four out of eight happiness blogs. I vow to finish this meme before the end of June. Probably.

Such a happy time

2009-04-26T13:50:46Z

Roll up roll up for The Bratt's first meme! Tagged by brattier_brat, that saucy minx.

1. Post about something that made you happy today
2. Repeat for 8 days
3. Tag 8 people to do the same

My first victim is arcanthus, partly because I know he won't do it (although now I'm kind of hoping that he will do it just to contradict me) and partly because he has no idea how much of a comfort it is just to have him around and I am far to inarticulate to tell him. So I shall tag him instead.

Today was lovely and lazy and pyjamatastic! Usually I spend Sundays putting off the work I should be preparing for Monday while a horrible bubble of guilt expands inside my stomach, but tomorrow is the ANZAC Day public holiday, so I was able to put off the procrastination and spend my Sunday lounging around, making the playlist for my Birthday party, watching television* and talking to my dog.* The highlight of the day was cooking pikelets at 4pm, still in my pyjamas. This is why there should be a long weekend every weekend.

*The other reason I picked arcanthus is because he provided an episode of QI with Emma Thompson in it. An Emma Thompson who wasn't afraid to share embarrassing stories from when she and Stephen Fry were young and at Footlights together. Awesome awesome awesome!

*I really did intend to post about six weeks ago and inform livejournal that I now have a puppy. She's a blonde labrador called Swanee (pronounced Swanny) and I promise to upload a picture soon.

I always take my medicine

2009-03-01T14:40:52Z

This is why I shouldn't be let into public places and allowed to speak to people ever under any circumstances no matter how harmless I may appear on the outside. IT WILL NEVER END WELL FOR ANYBODY INVOLVED. Especially me. I am actually incapable of speaking like a normal person. Small talk, you say?Everybody can do small talk! You just ask about the weather and hobbies and jobs/study or whatever and nobody gets hurt. Nope! Can't do it. Absolutely impossible. I am a freak and cannot even pretend to be normal. I have tried acting normal and not letting any of my real self through, but sure enough, as soon as I open my mouth my foot is already halfway through it, which is quite impressive when you know how big my feet are.

Every summer a Shakespeare play is put on in Kings Park. It's a lovely tradition and I often attend in an effort to appear cultured and intelligent. This year my family bought tickets and turned up one Friday evening with a picnic and champagne, preparing to sit back and enjoy A Midsummer Nights Dream. The only problem was that when we arrived there were no actors or crew to be seen, and many audience members were either leaving or moving to far ends of the park to have their dinner.

Turns out there had been bushfires in the vicinity earlier that day and FESA had cancelled the performance at the last minute. As we were deciding our plan of action a man approached us.

Man: Hello, I assume you've heard the news that the performance has been cancelled.
Dad: Oh that's a terrible shame.
Man: Yes, I think so. I'm the director.
Me: Oh no!
Man: ...
Me: No no no, I meant Oh No that the performance has been cancelled, not Oh No that you're the director.
Man: This is not a good start to our friendship.

Shakespeare wasn't performed that night. We were, however, allowed to sit around in the same area and eat and drink for hours. I have a theory that someone high up in FESA had a bad experience with a Shakespeare play in High School and was finally getting his own back, but maybe that's reading too much into it.

Fortunately we were able to go back a few weeks later and see the actual performance, rather than just stare at the empty stage as the sun went down. It was brilliant. Very funny. I hope the new director sticks around and builds his Shakespeare WA company.

A more recent example of why I shouldn't talk to people ever under any circumstances occured several nights ago. I'm in this choir called the Winthrop Singers and we sing an Evensong every week at my old college. Afterwards we have dinner there, which is always good fun. I was sitting with a tenor and a Bass last week and we were discussing the most recent episode of House.

Bass: Yeah, and House and Cuddy's baby had this hilarious bonding moment.
Me: Oh yes, Cuddy has a baby now! How did she get it?
Tenor and Bass: (laugh at me a lot)
Tenor: Well, Bratt, when a mummy and a daddy love each other very much...
Me: Argh!

If you're bored enough to have watched any of season five House you would know that Cuddy had tried every possible method of having a baby. Every possible method, that is, except just plain, boring old sex. I guess when you're a fictional doctor on telivision you have to do things a little differently.

A little later that evening:

Tenor: So where's The Psychotic Soprano tonight?
Bass: She's gone to the Comedy Club to watch a friend do stand up.
Alto: What actually happens at The Comedy Club?
Bass: People stand up and make many bad jokes in rapid succession and everybody laughs. It's much like having dinner with The Bratt.
Tenor: Except that we're sitting down, of course.

So there you have it. It is highly likely that the next time you see me in a public place I will have masking tape over my mouth, or my feet will be nailed to the ground. Whichever is more convenient at the time.

Good luck and don't dare give up. Give it a little bit of vitriol

2009-01-13T03:46:19Z

A belated Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to everyone! I hope you all spent the holiday eating too much, drinking too much and singing far too loud. I achieved two out of three. My whole Christmas season was fairly quiet, but also most enjoyable. My totally wonderful family surprised me with a Stream for Christmas, which I absolutely love. I saw in the new year drinking champagne with my parents, my friend Blue and her father. We had a barbecue at this herritage listed property called Aggie's Cottage and then sat by Aggie's Lake, which is actually incredibly beautiful and is almost a perfect circle if you view it from above, as the sun set and the ducks came out.

2009 has been incredibly fun already. Southbound was awesome! Like totally completely awesome!!! The whole atmosphere of a festival is just so chilled and then there are the many many fantastic bands to watch. It's like heaven on a stick, with quirky stalls to boot. A man working at a hat stall told me my hat, which was mine and did not come from his stall, was cool, which made me very happy. Yes, I am just that vain. And my new favourite T-shirt says "Who Is Jimmy Recard?" on it! So cool!

Then there were the bands. I was impressed with pretty much everyone I saw. People I saw for the first time and highly recommend seeing live are TZU, Bliss n Eso, Draft, Soko, Mystery Jets, Architecture in Helsinki, Lykke Li and Sharon Jones. The last two I had never even heard of before and man did they make an impression. Sharon Jones must be one of the most charismatic performers I have ever seen. I had intended to leave her set a little early and catch some of The Kooks, but I actually couldn't walk away. People I had seen before and are still rockin' are Blue King Brown, The Cat Empire, Bluejuice and, of course, The Grates. Patience rocked so hard that she did her ankle and then posted lovely pictures of her bruised and swollen foot on their blog. Fortunately she waited until the final song to get all injured, so the set was still amazing and then she got carried offstage, which is quite a theatrical ending. Oh, and we sang Happy Birthday to Natalie from Blue King Brown and she said thankyou!

On the way home we stopped at the beach and then went to the Sammo Bar in Bunbury for lunch. That is where I tasted the best chocolate milkshake I have ever had. It was totally amazing! It was like drinking cold, liquid chocolate. how do they do that? Hmm, no maybe I don't want to know. It might ruin the taste somehow. Perhaps the mystery adds to the flavour. It's probably listed as one of the ingredients!

Since then iI've just been lazing around in Perth, eating things, drinking things and generally not doing any exercise and the thought of going to the gym scares me far more than is reasonably acceptable, so I rang a guy in an exercise shop to ask about the cost of hiring a treadmill.

Sporty Bloke: OK, well to figure out which treadmill will suit you I need to know your height.
Me: I'm five foot ten-ish.
Sporty Bloke: And your weight?
Me: Oh um I have no idea. Probably about a hundred and seventy four kilos.
Sporty Bloke: um...
Me: Oh crap! I've just give you my height in kilos! Hang on no no no no I'm not that fat!
Sporty Bloke: Ok that's good because we might have had trouble getting you onto a treadmill if you were.

So now I'm too scared to go into the shop to look at exercise equipment in case that bloke is there and recognises me as the total dick from the phone call, and that coupled with financial reasons is making the whole gym prospect look more inviting. I just get ridiculously intimidated by fit people. Why can't they leave me alone so i can have the whole gym to myself, huh? I think I'll make that my New Years resolution, partly because it'll mean I have to do it and partly because I haven't made any others.

I shall leave you with an ethical delemma I am facing at the moment. The Fratellis are coming to Perth again in March (yay!) and are only playing at Rock It (boo!). The Fratellis are incredible live, but I absolutely cannot go to Rock It. I have too much self respect and it will be full of twelve-year-olds using The Fratellis' set to get to the front for Kings of Leon, because there's only one stage and they all have terrible taste in music. Bah! Bah bah bah bah bah bah bah baaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!! Stupid children and their stupid concert and stupid Scotsmen for not doing a sideshow!

Wake up wake up, it's T-shirt weather

2008-11-30T04:20:35Z

The dreaded E words are over! This is wonderful! Except for the part where I've started having dreams in which I find out I've failed all of my units, but even they are preferable to being stuck in the exam period. They finished last Friday, so to celebrate I went to Faure's Requium, performed by WASO with Sara Macliver and Teddy Tahoo Roads as soloists. It was amazing! I mean, it's no secret that Sara is actually one of my idols, but Teddy! Oh Teddy! That voice! Wow!

The next day I moved out of college forever. I moved in with Ennin and Arcy. Well, I say moved in. I actually dumped all of my stuff in their spare room, which is now my room, but I don't have any furniture aside from a bed at the moment, so it's all in crates scattered around the floor, which I keep tripping over in the middle of the night and the middle of the day for that matter. I love living with my siblings. I also love having this like house thing. I mean, you can wonder into the kitchen in the morning in your pyjamas and make toast. I've been doing this a lot, making toast. We're talking truck-loads of toast here. I think I'm going to die of carbohydrate poisoning or something, but the novalty is still there so I can't stop. It's a viscious cycle.

Then there was the Vroom Summer Escape Festival at UWA. It was quite good considering it's the first time it's ever happened. Reasonably well organised. Not brilliantly advertised, but I think that will be easier next year seeing as the first one went without too many hitches. The bands were great. Highlights for me were The Panda Band because they're just beautiful and Red Gezebel because I'd never seen them before and they were gorgeous. My new love is Bluejuice. I'd never seen them live before either and they were absolutely awesome onstage! Their front man impressed me by ripping off his shirt and jumping up onto the speaker stack before they even played their third song. There was this girl in front of me in jeans and a stripey shirt who didn't stop bouncing for the whole set. She looked like she was having the time of her life and it occurred to me that this must be what I look like to other people at gigs. It was oddly trippy.

I spent most of last week down south on a choir trip. We arrived in Albany in our minibus looking out the windows and goggling like tourists.

Alto: Ooh, The Great Southern TAFE!
Us: Ooh, ahh.
Bass: Hey, look at those people drinking and smoking out the front of The Great Southern TAFE.
Everybody else in bus: *whips out cameras*

The trip was most enjoyable. We stayed with billets. Myself and another second soprano were staying with a lovely old couple in their picturesque house with windows that looked out over the harbour and a beautiful dog called Ebany. We gave them a copy of our CD when we arrived as a sort of pre-thanks-for-having-us present. "What a nice idea," I thought. "The perfect present," I thought. "Couldn't possibly offend anyone with that present," I thought.

Other second sop: What are those birds I can hear outside?
Couple: What birds?
Other Second Sop: The ones making all that racket. I don't recognise their calls.
Couple: Ah yes. Actually we're both quite deaf and have no idea what you're talking about.
Me: Well, this is awkward.

We put on two concerts in Albany and did workshops at the Albany and Denmark High Schools. I was slightly dreading the workshops because I haven't set foot in a High School since I left one and it's not something I wanted to do any time this century. It was really cool though! The kids actually seemed to enjoy themselves and then we were ushered into the Staff Room for morning tea. Instead of being yelled at to "Get out of the Staff Room you insolent little turds!" as I had kind of expected, we were instructed to "Tuck into the food before all the staff get it." It was fantastic!

I don't think I've mentioned this on here before, but I am quite a neurotic person sometimes. Most of my friends just roll their eyes or ignore me. Sometimes threats of violence are used, or threats of chucking me out of the house if I don't stop making weird noises in the kitchen. There is one person in the world, however, who makes me look totally normal. She's a first soprano in this choir and she is completely psychotic.

Psychotic sop: Bratt, my bum hurts because I just sat on an umbrella.
Me: I beg your pardon?
Psychotic Sop: I just jumped off this bench and kind of landed on an umbrella and it went up my arse.
Me: ROFL
Psychotic Sop: I hope I can still have children.

So Albany was fun and now I'm back in Perth resting and relaxing and preparing for Bloc Party tonight. Weeeeee!!!

Oh, I read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman while I was supposed to be studying for my Italian exam. It's one of the most beautiful books I've read in a long time. I'm not going to attempt to summarise or review it because, quite frankly, nobody deserves to read that, but I highly recommend it.

Happy Bloc Party Day!

If you take me home, come on take me home

2008-11-16T02:03:08Z

Dear Internet,
Why do you hate me so? I'm a nice person, really! I know I don't always understand you, but when you get mad and start throwing little angry error signs at me it just hurts. And let's not get started on the way you sometimes just shut windows all by yourself. I was using those! I had them open for a reason! If I didn't want them any more I would have closed them myself.

And then there are the days when you just won't even aknowledge my presence. They're the worst. No, there shall be no MSN or email today! Why? Because you've done something wrong! But baby, I was just trying to help! No, you've brought this upon yourself! NOOO INTERNET FOR YOU!!!

You just shut me out and I have no idea what you're thinking. I know relationships are supposed to have their rocky times, but all you do is take take take and laugh at me. Make a fucking effort once in a while, please!

So like not yours, you Turd!
Angry Bratt

In other news, MY INTERNET HATES MEEEEE!!

In other other news, exams are still going and they're mostly going badly and they don't finish until next Friday. Waaaaaah!! And they've decided I'm not getting a puppy until next February. And year twelve was shit. Just putting it out there because Triple J's Hack programme was doing a special on people leaving school this year and how they got through year twelve and it makes me sad remembering how I was feeling then because I was really depressed in year twelve, only I didn't realise it at the time and I thought it was all my fault and I just couldn't cope with the stress that everyone else seemed to be coping with. It was a really bad year and the knowledge that I wasted such an important time of my life feeling sad disappoints me.

But it's all good because mid last year I came to my senses and got help and now I feel fantastic! And I just ate chocolate for breakfast and I have so so so much live music to look forward to in the next few months and this time next week I will be living in an actual house with more betterer internet that doesn't hate me. Weeee!

Well, with internet that doesn't appear to hate me yet. We'll see how it's going in a few weeks, shall we?

Ida Maria is coming to Australia in December and she's not coming to Perth! Cow! But completely awesome cow who I hope will come back and come to Perth some time soon. Please? If anyone in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane is up for dancing like a maniac to some rockin' music, please go and see her and tell me EVERYTHING!!!

And just recapping our top story, MY INTERNET FUCKING HATES MEEEE AND IT IS SOO NOT FAIR!!!

Our mountains are very pointy. Our prairies are not

2008-11-05T05:33:46Z

Do you know what really shits me? Slow walking people. They really bloody annoy me. Do you know what shits me even more than slow walking people? Groups of slow walking people, who insist on taking up the whole path so you can't pass them and are forced to follow at a snail's pace. Then you feel rude because you can't help but overhear their conversation.

But do you know what shits me even more than that? You don't? Well you're about to find out! It's when those slow-walking, path taking up bitches get in my way when it's raining and I don't have an umbrella. They toddle along all nice and warm and dry under their umbrella, thinking how wonderful their little world is while I am forced to stand under whatever shelter presents itself until they eventually reach the next sheltered area, so that I can then sprint to shelter instead of crawling along in the fucking pouring rain and getting even more wet than is absolutely necessary.

And I wind up looking like some fucking retarded wonnabee ninja, whose ridiculousness is added to by the fact that I am now completely bloody saturated.

Up your nose with a fucking rubber hose, bitches!

PS. Sorry for swearing so much. It's disgusting behaviour, I know, but I got seriously drowned while trying to walk about thirty metres in the rain because of these people. Come on! Have some sympathy!

PPS. Do you know what else shits me? When livejournal posts my entry while I'm still writing it. Biach hateful computer!

I just read a headline that said "Barack Obama to be America's Next President."

Yayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayay!!!! America came through!! That man is so cool!!!

My one and only advice

2008-11-02T04:07:49Z

Went walking by the river with Ennin yesterday because it was sunny and warm and T-shirt weather!

Please excuse me a moment. I appear to have broken into song. Ahem.

So we went walking for ages and I got my first sunburn for the season, which makes it feel like summer, and we were discussing the Little Red gig at the Curtin Uni end-of-semester show the night before that we both failed to get to. Sad, but they'll come back. They're always coming back! Anyway, that led onto more music discussions.

Ennin: I'd sell an organ to see Jason Mraz live again.
Me: Really? Which organ?
Ennin: Oh, not one of mine, obviously.

University has officially ended. There is a week of study and then two weeks of exams and then I'm freeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Exams are slightly worrying me though, so there will probably be more small, pointless, self-indulgent posts like this coming from me during the next three weeks. Apologies in advance.

Huge hugs and lots of luck to everybody else who has exams at the moment. They'll be over soon!

PS. Has anybody else noticed that when you go through all the LJ current mood descriptions there are themes with each letter? Like, all the words starting with d are devious and discontent and all the words starting with e are energetic and excited and stuff? Maybe you haven't because you have a life or something, but what evs dude.

PPS. If those fucking Red Bull Air Show planes don't shut up some time soon I am actually going to shoot one of them down, ala Snoopy and Red Baron.

Every time I looked inside you I saw honesty

2008-10-26T09:18:02Z

Last night I saw The Grates play live for the first time ever. They have been my favourite band in the world for about two years and I've never before seen one of their gigs.

It was totally, completely, utterly, amazingly, fantastically worth the wait!!!

Their set was great (please excuse the terrible pun. Not intentional...or was it?) It's not like they have many songs they could have played that aren't ampy or fun, but they played every song I was hoping they would and the crowd was bloody loving them and the band was having fun and they sounded so so good! Patience's pitching and breath control has improved no end! And she did ribbon twirling, which is one of her signature moves. There were no sock puppets, but I guess you need a break from some things.

It occurred to me what a fine front man (or front woman, if you prefer) Patience really is. As a band they are incredibly enthusiastic and energetic, but Patience just takes it to a whole new level. She doesn't actually stop jumping, ribbon twirling and dancing around with her microphone. There is no possible way you can stand there and watch her. You have to jump around too. I guess what I'm trying to say is that her energy is contageous and that's what makes her such a good performer.

And at one point the crowd was chanting "Alana! Alana!" which made me happy, because Alana is gorgeous! John is awesome too, but I'm pretty sure he knows it. I must make note of John's adorable guitaring in Sukkafish. The Vasco Era were supporting and they covered Sukkafish in their set, which was oddly cute.

They played Science Is Golden very early on and some stupid bitch behind me ruined it because I trod on her foot and she decided that meant she had to yell at me. Wrong, you stupid cow! People get their feet trodden on all the fucking time. If you can't handle it then what the fuck are you doing up the front of a Grates gig! And also you just ruined my favourite song! Fucker!

The night went up from there though. Dramatically so. Now I'm on an incredible high and am counting down the days to Southbound, where guess who will be playing! And am also trying to talk myself out of buying a Big Day Out ticket because seeing them three times in three months may be considered overkill.

Maybe not.

Right, blog Grates gushing session over. For now.

A friend and her boyfriend came along last night. Boyfriend got very drunk. He is the most hilarious drunk person I've encountered in a while. Singing at the bar staff in order to attract their attention and at passing taxis in the hope that this will make them stop. Was stressing my friend out because apparently he couldn't stand still and kept just wondering off and introducing himself to strangers. Very sociable that one. We were actually waiting for a taxi for over an hour, so the entertainment was most welcome.

I was crying with laughter when I first read this blog. It was written by Wally, who is the drummer for The Basics and who is also Gotye in his spare time, when The Basics were touring overseas last year. As Ennin commented, "I like them so much more now that I know they've groped each other during the night."
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=26391570&blogID=316719375

Right, now I've just landed on the doorstep of my siblings demanding that they let me borrow their internet because mine is broken, and Ennin said "Yes, dear" and then brought me tea and home-made mud cake. And now she has brought me a beer, so I should really go and be sociable and stop being such a Bratt.

On my feet I wear two shoes for dancing

2008-10-20T10:14:12Z

I love dancing. When music I love comes on I can't help myself. Even if the music is only in my head I just have to start bopping along to it. The trouble is that I have never been any good at dancing. I'm what you might call a dag, an embarrassment or a spaz. I don't move sexily or gracefully or unselfconsciously. I can't even do the I'm Not Particularly Coordinated But I Am Pretty Damn Cool moves. I move rhythmically, by jumping up and down on the spot and grinning like a thing that grins a lot for no particular reason, except that I have a reason, which is usually that I'm ridiculously happy.

Until recently I hadn't thought about how it must look to other people. I am easily intimidated by people in everyday social situations, but when I'm out with good friends and good music I don't care about anyone else. Last Thursday, however, I was at the Triple J Robbie Bucks Party with resonant9 and Draft was DJing. You may know Draft as the guy who sings the J R Jimmy Ricard song and that other song he's just put out that isn't quite as catchy as Jimmy but that's still pretty cool. Anyway, he is a bloody good DJ in my opinion, so I got happy and began to "dance."

Me: Bounce bounce bounce grin grin grin
Bloke Who Neither Of Us Knew: Taps Ennin on the shoulder.
Strange Dude: Your sister is fucking funny, hey!

Actually I'm kind of pleased with that. I like making people laugh and I can't dance any other way, so it sort of makes sense.

The party was fun. Absolutely packed and full of people with good taste in music. Triple J for teh win!

Thursday was actually a bizarre day. In the morning there were lectures, in the afternoon there was champagne drinking in Ennin's hammock and in the evening there was a Wil Anderson gig and a radio party. Wil was hilarious, which is normal, but also a little bit heart breaking, which was kind of unexpected. Oh darling, but awesome bizarre day!

Saturday was the most unproductive day I've had in a long time, but Saturday night...oh Saturday night, how I needed you and loved you and will never forget you! There was The Basics gig in a little venue in Northbridge. I love the Basics. They are beautiful and musical and bouncy and happy and sing pretty man harmonies and have lyrics that don't generally mean anything.

So Ennin and I and a couple of mates who had never heard of The Basics rocked up to find the venue about half full. We were right in front of the stage about a metre away from them and it was so cool! Their support acts were cute, but Basics Basics Basics! They're such mates, pulling the shit out of each other on stage in a total We've Known Each Other Forever way.

Um, so they were bloody awesome, in case you didn't get that, and they were playing in North Freo the next night and there was no way I was letting them play at a venue I could possibly get to and was assured of entrance to and with tickets of only ten dollars without me there. So Ennin and I put on our fangirl shoes and went a-fangirling.

It was so totally worth it. We were right up the front again and they were fantastic again and even more chatty and played a Clash cover even though they had to run away and catch a plane very soon. While we were waiting for a cab outside they were packing up their gear and loading it into a van nearby. Did I mention they set up their own stuff and have no crew? Well they do. Then Chris, their basist and kind of main singer walks past.

Me: You rock!
Kris: Thanks, and thanks for coming last night as well.
Me: Oh shit. You noticed that?
Kris: Yeah, in these small venues we can see everyone.
Me: Ah, and their ridiculous dancing, I'll bet.
Kris: yep.

He was really nice and chatted to us for a few minutes and wanted to know our names (he shook my hand, which I have decided means I'm going to be a vertuoso basist right away) and apologised for having to run off to the airport. They're all such top blokes! This is going to make me happy for months I think.

Also happy making was Sunday. My choir was singing at this Government House open day thing. It was excellent because we only had to sing for half an hour and then we were free to wonder around the grounds barefoot, roll down the grassy hills in our concert blacks, watch ballroom dancing, pet pets at the petting zoo and er go on the bouncy castle. Man bouncy castles are cool!

You can see she's a beautiful girl

2008-10-16T00:26:27Z

Today is the shared Birthday of two wonderful people. Happy Birthday to resonant9 and sherrymuffin I hope you both have a terrific day because you deserve it!

Have an awesome night, Shelly! I hope arcanthus hasn't been reeping too much havoc over there :P

And Ennin, I was thinking we should do something for you this evening. How does going to see Wil Anderson and then crashing a Triple J party sound to you?

Today's for you. They laid it out for you.

2008-09-30T12:56:04Z

The new Vampire Weekend song Ottoman is beautiful! It makes me melt! Oh Esra! You can listen to it here: http://www.imeem.com/pitchforkmedia/music/dH3FQDS1/vampire_weekend_ottoman/

It was recorded as part of the soundtrack to Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which doesn't come out until February next year. You can watch a traylor here. Judge for yourself. http://stereogum.com/archives/video/nick-norahs-infinite-playlist-offers-a-devendra-ba_014661.html

Oh God, why am I so inarticulate? If I had my words lisence, I would rant briefly on the way they've managed to combine the charm of Vampire Weekend's first album with a Beatles/Bowie-esque falsetto melody that makes me want to cry.

Turn the white snow red as strawberries in summer time

2008-09-24T07:31:31Z

Today is warm and smells like summer. It's beautiful! My summer holidays are shaping up to be absolutely fantastic and I'm so excited!

At the end of November The Winthrop Singers, which is a choir I'm in, is touring down south. Based on what happened at last year's trip to New Norcia, I can safely say I'm in for a good time. When I get back I will, if all goes according to plan, begin training with my very own puppy. That will keep me out of trouble until Christmas, and then straight after New Year I'm going to Southbound. I am extremely excited about Southbound! It's going to be my first festival!

Oh, and speaking of The Winthrop Singers, we recorded a CD while up in New Norcia, featuring a lot of music by Eslava, who was a Spanish Monk up there in the mid nineteenth century. It's really pretty and sadly not very well known, so if anybody would like to hear some of his work just let me know and I'll try and send you a track. We're launching the CD on Thursday, which should be fun!

I went to the shops this morning to buy tea bags, sugar, milk, meusli bars, toothpaste and Mi Goreng...you know, the essentials. It occurred to me, while carrying my basket to the check out, that I must look like such a uni student buying this stuff. I reconsidered and decided that no, if anything is going to scream UNI STUDENT to passers by, it's going to be the jeans, joggers and book bag.

Which got me onto thinking about how much I love my course and being a uni student. It's awesome! You're expected to be opinionated, enthusiastic, naive political activists. You're also expected to push your own boundaries, fuck up and grow into more of a person. So far, university is the only environment I've been in where making your own mistakes in order to mature and gain experience is actually encouraged. There should be more of that. I think it's the best way to learn and how can you be expected to understand anything fully unless you can learn to think about things yourself, form your own opinion and stand by it.

My point is that I love being a Music student and I love summer and I get very excited at the prospect of live music. Just thinking about all of these things makes me smile. What makes you happy in your life at the moment? Or what is planned for the near future that makes you happy just thinking about? I love finding out what makes other people happy. Go on, indulge me!

The weekend is the weekend and it's sunny in the park

2008-08-23T05:59:25Z

Nothing in the world beats cold, left-over pizza for breakfast. Accompanied by a cup of tea, of course. Or possibly four cups of tea. It just trumps every other type of breakfast out there! You wake up thinking, "I'm hungry. What is there to eat?" And then you remember there is pizza in your fridge and it makes the whole day better!

I just had cold pizza for breakfast, in case you couldn't tell. It was Broadway pizza too, which is the most deliscious pizza I've had in a long time. Then I had this sudden urge to tell lots of people about how good it was, so I am!

My Tuesday this week was really crap and boring, rather than really crap and amusing, which is why it didn't get it's own Livejournal entry. I really really dislike Tuesdays! I bet you when I'm a hundred and twenty six I'll fall over and break my leg on a Tuesday. Then I'll be stuck in hospital for about ten years while my leg heals. I'll get really bored and probably start eating the bed clothes. It won't end well for the hospital staff either.

I had a great Wednesday night with the fabulous Big Sister, though, which made lots of things better. And on Thursday night I had ice-cream and Nutella for dessert for the second time in my life, which is so incredibly deliscious. I highly recommend it. Tom added Nutella to his hot Milo, which he recommends, but I haven't tried that one yet, so am not at liberty to comment.

Now I'm going for a very long walk by the river because I need to work off some of that deliscious food. Plus, it's warm and sunny outside and it's cold and dark inside and I know where I'd rather be.

Go Shorty, it's your Birthday!

2008-08-16T06:09:16Z

Today is my wonderful Big Brother's Birthday. He's ridiculously tall, hairy, intelligent, hilarious and has this freakish ability to make computers (or any technology, for that matter) do whatever he wants. This talent is not shared by anyone else in the family and if it weren't for him we would probably all still be communicating via snail mail. Boy am I glad he's around :D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARCY!!!

Have a great day!

PS. Daytime is the bit when the sun's up.

Get over it

2008-08-12T00:53:25Z

A friend of mine gave me some excellent advice last year. It can be applied to practically any situation life may care to throw at you, so I think you should hear it too.

She said, "When things are getting tough, stop, have a little cry, then get over it and move on."

Pure genius, I reckon!

And this Wombats video had me loling like there was no tomorrow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDPu_px2Mi8&feature=related

I might ride a great dane to your funeral

2008-08-03T13:11:17Z

Um, that's actually a quote from a song on the new Grates album, which is called Teeth Lost, Hearts Won. I bought it this afternoon and am currently listening to it for the second time straight through. First impressions: It's awesome!

A Sydney music reviewer described it as less red cordial and more red wine, which is an excellent way of putting it, in my opinion.

The Wombats were absolutely beautiful live! They were hyper and happy and humerous. Dude, check out my alliteration! But yeah, they were adorable and excited and started running around the stage because apparently just playing their instruments and singing wasn't enough for them.

Murph, the lead singer, is making a cameo on Neighbours in a few weeks as Harold Bishop's son and I think he's excited.

Murph: OK, can you guys do this thing for me? Can you all shout "Harold Bishop" on the count of three?
Crowd: Um ok, whatever floats your ...hang on, you're the lead Wombat. HAROLD BISHOP!!!
Murph: Hee hee I've got to stop doing that. It's like having tourettes.

Two beautiful Brit gigs in three days. I'm going to be smiling and bouncing for many months. Until the Grates come in October, at least.

Oh and I saw this really cool hot pink T-shirt in Target today. It says "Sorry my dog ate your number" on the front. I want to buy it and wear it when I get my dog!

Happy Wombats Day!

2008-08-02T02:55:25Z

This is for my concerned big brother. Just in case you thought I was becoming less of a fangirl :P

The Fratellis were absolutely fucking awesome live! It was the most fun, rockin' gig I've been to! Every time they started a song the crowd would go "WEEEE WE LOVE THIS SONG!!!" and then jump around and it was just really really cool! And we were right down the front and everybody was so amped and the band were having a good time and it doesn't get much better than that.

LOLZ of the evening were when I was dancing with Ennin to Black and Blue Eyes and this bloke in front of us turned to his friend and said, "Dude, why are there girls here?" WTF? But pretty bloody funny.

And there was this group of drunken yobbos who were singing the Flathead chorus all night in a "Do this song now" kind of way, but they were still singing it after it'd been sung and after the band had done their encor and left and all their stuff was being packed away.

Then lots of cars were driving around outside blaring Fratellis music at the cool Northbridge air. Yipee!

And we saw this mini bus pull into the security patrolled back entrance of the Capitol and we thought it might be picking up the Fratellis and I thought "If I was a Fratelli and I had a mini bus, I'd call it the Fratmobiel!"

In summary, ZOMG FRATELLIS WERE ROCKIN MY SOCKS OFF!!!

How much is that doggy in the beanbag?

2008-07-30T10:27:53Z

This is what happens when I'm at home and bored. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I wrote this after our family dog/poodle/multese terrier/rabbit/ferret/cat/lamb/thing performed it’s I’ve Just Smelled Something Really Cool ritual, which involves it running about the house, sniffing at door cracks, breathing heavily and making noises that are a cross between a whimper of excitement and a growl. It does this on a daily basis. When we let it out, it runs around the yard barking in a way that would send fear into the hearts of mice, if those mice hadn’t actually seen our dog, which is less than a foot tall, white, fluffy, extremely cute and tubby because it spends most of every day curled up in its beanbag, which used to be our beanbag.

It’s a Dog’s Life

After nineteen years of very secret research I have come to the conclusion that the average family dog is a versatile creature. So often these furry friends are criticized for their lack of intelligence, their constant wish for food and exercise and their smell. My data analysis proves these assumptions are horribly wrong. Here I shall summarise the three main duties that the family dog performs loyally and without fuss,

First and foremost, Dog must be friendly. Master or Mistress (whoever feeds Dog) will leave children alone in a room with Dog and expect to come back in two minutes and find happy, smiling, utterly fulfilled children patting their beloved pet. Master will not be happy with Dog if the children have been bitten, growled at or run away from. Not even if they totally deserved it. Also, children must not be crying upon Master’s reappearance. Dog must be patient and tolerant.

Secondly, instinct dictates that a dog must be the member of a pack. The dog must find themselves a position in the hierarchical order of their pack, even if the rest of the pack are a completely different species. I did tell you dogs are versatile creatures. However, they have to be discrete because if Dog decides its position in the pack is above the youngest child and Master notices, it will not end well for Dog. Dog must be diplomatic and seem to realize its position as lowest member of the pack when Master is present.

Last, but definitely most important, comes Dog’s role as protector of the family. Dog must appear brave, courageous, fearless and willing to sacrifice everything for its pack whenever its people may be in trouble. It must demonstrate its hate of intruders on a daily basis by challenging the only intruders who come to Dog’s house every day, like the postman, who Dog secretly knows is harmless. For some reason, Master is angered by Dog’s display of bravery and reprimands it. This greatly confuses Dog, as Master couldn’t possibly know that the postman doesn’t intend to attack the family, but Dog is persistent and determined that Master should feel protected.

I must stress that these are only brief summaries of three of the duties the average household dog performs every day, unnoticed and unthanked. There are many many more, such as the not chewing on shoes thing. Small humans are allowed to put whatever they like in their mouths. It’s aesthetically pleasing. But for some reason, when dog has a good chew on something, (a nice pair of shoes, say. They’re a good size for chewing and they’re often kind of squishy) Master gets angry. Why? Has Master tried chewing on his own shoes? It’s therapeutic. It might help him loosen up a bit. Weeing in the house (What? Humans get to go whenever they like. Sometimes you just can’t help it.) and sleeping on Master’s pillow are also bad and Secret Agent Dog must be stealthy and calculative if they wish to rebel and have several hours of satisfaction before they are discovered and punished.

In short, Dog must be patient, diplomatic, secretive, watchful, telepathic and opportunistic in order to maintain harmony in the household. Why do all this, you may ask, if you know the family will never praise you for your efforts? There is one thought that gets Dog through the hard times. This is the knowledge that the family would be nothing without it. Chaos would rule and nobody would get their daily exercise if Dog wasn’t there and needing to be walked. Also, if Master is happy they are much more likely to give Dog generous helpings of dinner.

In conclusion, THERE IS ONLY 1 SLEEP TIL FRATELLIS DAY AND THREE SLEEPS TIL WOMBATS DAY!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!

Wednesdays DJs came in sideways

2008-07-28T14:53:52Z

There are three sleeps to Fratellis Day and five sleeps to Wombats Day. resonant9 and I have decided that Wombats Day should be a public holiday, seeing as how wombats are native to Australia and everything. But I was just talking to my friend Kat, who pointed out that Wombats Day is a Saturday and that it would be much more beneficial to everybody involved if Wombats Day was celebrated as a public holiday the Friday, so that one could go to the Fratellis gig on Thursday, go out afterwards, cancel all exams on the Friday and use it to recuperate from the awesomeness of the Fratellis and to prepare ones self for the incredible Wombats gig.

Comprende?

Hmm, exams. I have three this week. I've regressed into a gibbering, neurotic, psycho, scary mess of excitement, nervousness and stress. Having to pack all my stuff at home and move back to college in the middle of cramming didn't help either. The poor long suffering Big Sister came home for the weekend.

Big Sister: Bratt, can I borrow a hair lackie?
Me: GET OUT OF MY BEDROOM! IT'S NOT SAFE!
Big Sister: I beg your pardon?
Me: It's not safe in here! If you come any closer I might pack you!

I pity my family sometimes.

Alright laddies, I'm off to bed to dream about Brit Rockers. Goodnight!

Teeth Lost, Hearts Won

2008-07-21T13:47:49Z

Need I say more?

OK, I'll give you a clue. It's the title of the second album of a Brisbane band that comes out on August 2nd.

They are also my favourite band in the whole world who have just announced a National tour in October. I'm ecstatic!

Speaking of wonderful music, I went to see The Herd last night. They were very very cool and their support act, The Last Connection, were absolutely gorgeous and I hope they go places because they are awesome!

The new chick The Herd have acquired is really cool. She has this amazing voice that is just beautiful and harsh and dark enough to be perfect for hip hop music. And she talks just like she sings. I love it!

BMC was wonderful and I had an extremely enjoyable week! I miss everybody, including those people who Caity and I are going to throw out the window, the window, the second story window. With a heave and a ho and a great big throw we'll throw them out the window!

Well you have to do something in part rehearsals, and I can't think of much that's more fun at nine in the morning than planning sudden, violent attacks on unsuspecting, but nonetheless completely deserving, victims.

Relax, we consulted our carma guidance counsellor/accompanist about the repercussions of our actions, and she was totally cool with it. So we'll be fine.

Our flight to BMC went without a hitch, which is good, given the current QANTAS situation. The flight back, however, was slightly more stressful, for me anyway.

Flight Attendant: Sorry about this half an hour delay. We're just having a bit of trouble starting our fourth engine.
Me: Hahaha, you're joking. Planes don't have trouble starting their engines, they just go like magic all the time.
Flight Attendant: So we're going to jump start it.
Me: Ha?
Flight Attendant: It shouldn't be long before we're taking off.
Me: You're not joking, are you?
Flight Attendant: Now we're opening the doors to let an engineer on board to talk to the captain.
Me: To say what? You'll make it to Perth as long as you don't press this button?
Flight Attendant: OK, we'll be taking off now.
Me: (Curls up onto foetal position and wimpers for most of the flight)

Needless to say, we made it back with no trouble. I dislike planes when I'm in them and they're many thousands of feet above the ground.

I have been residing at my country residence since BMC, which I also like to call home. It's beautiful there at the moment. We've had lots of rain, so everything is green and happy And we have sheep, which makes the place smell like a real farm. They go maah a lot. It's comforting.

Living at home is great. I love my parents and the way they pamper me. Several days ago my father spent about an hour having an impromptu music debate with me when he was supposed to be picking oranges for our neighbours. Debates over music are common in our household, but they usually take place at night, when it's too dark to be doing farm work and everybody involved has had a chance to down a glass of wine.

Speaking of wine, I drank a bottle of it with my parents while watching a documentary on liver damage. I felt dirty all over and the wine tasted good.

Oh, and this made me laugh hysterically, but the key is probably the inflection, so retelling it this way might not work too well.

Dad: (glancing through a newspaper, spies a heading about global warming)
Dad: Ah yes, global warming. It's been getting a bit nippy.
Me: Sorry?
Dad: It's too cold. Global warming: I'm all for it.

I return home tomorrow morning and shall be without internet until next week. Then, mwahaha, there shall be no stopping me!

If you were a shape, what shape would you be?

2008-06-26T12:49:57Z

There is a mystery mattress in my college room. I left it locked for about three hours this morning. When I cam back there was a mattress leaning against the wall, next to my wardrobe. I keep forgetting it's there and then getting a shock whenever I renotice it. On one hand I'm a little bit creeped out, because it's just appeared there, but on the other hand it's a mattress. It's not exactly threatening.

Although, there was that bit in the Tomorrow When The War Began series, by John Marsden, when Ellie sewed herself into a mattress to escape a prisoner of war camp. Perhaps I should go and look for fugitives.

Maybe I have a roommate I don't know about, like that bloke in China, who had the woman living in his cupboard for months and only noticed when food went missing. I'd check for that, except I don't have any food. Only tea bags, milk and sugar. It's not like you need anything else to survive, right?

Although a tea pot would be nicer.

Maybe my mystery fugitive roommate could read my livejournal while I'm out tomorrow and buy a teapot. You can't just live in a mattress in my bedroom unasked and not contribute anything, you know, sunshine.

Unless, of course, you're just a mattress, in which case I can't expect you to bring me a teapot and call you sunshine and keep myself out of the nut house at the same time.

Oh life beyond exams is so complicated. However will I manage.

I know! I'll go to the Blue Mountains, where it will be freezing cold and I'll probably die of hypothermia, but where there will be awesome people and port, so I'm told.

What an excellent idea Bratt. You are so smart!