Guess who has two thumbs and too much awesome going on?

THIS GUY!

I’m going to Splendour! Woohoo! You’d think that as an event manager I’d have paid to attend a music festival before turning 23, but there you go! In return for the fortunate timing of birthdays in July and smashing results at uni so far this semester, my family have shouted me admission to the most kick-arse line up I’ve ever seen at my favourite venue.

I believe that my band, Shotgun Polly, has its first gig in a month or so. Despite discussing here, I actually do want to keep it on the down-low in fear of royally cocking up on stage in front of my peers. I probably won’t tell you when it is, even if it’s before I return to Facebook and Twitter for more sly promoting, unless I don’t fear your opinion should I screw up. It’s a gig for fun in my books anyway, and is one’s first gig since the good ol’ college talent show days at International House, so I’m not too worried (#denial?).

The first Brisbane Ukulele Festival is still in the works, yet the major, four-day event will now take place next year. Exciting stuff will still be happening this year in September, so keep your eyes peeled around West End and South Bank for that, and get in contact if you’d like to showcase, sponsor or be involved in other ways.

Also, I’m colouring my hair blue again (for real!) in a week or so once the dye is delivered. Have missed it so much since 2008.

That’s all! I had better get back to this psych essay now and stop using my website as LiveJournal circa 2006. Cheerio.

Sitting here in my woollen winter coat once more, I thought that I’d put out a quick snapshot of party theme ideas for the upcoming chilly months. Best you sit down with a sweet cup of tea and take these in:

Beatnik Party

Only the best party idea I’ve had yet! This is seriously my favourite theme of the original hipsters of the 1950s. Throw on some warm jazz and a cosy sweater, pour some liquor and yank out your creative side. You might even create a masterpiece to hang on your wall, or hear some impressionable poetry (as did happen at my last party; that guy blew me away!)

Christmas in July

Kinda corny, I know, but us southerners don’t get Christmas holidays like they do up north. Why not give it a go? Those decorations only get out once a year, and you could even play Secret Santa to include the gift-giving sentiments. Plus, if you need any more convincing, there’s EGGNOG!

Positive Party

This is another I want to run sometime soon. Happy moods only! Play the happiest of tunes, have colourful food and dress code; encourage compliments, and even have a sort of “swear jar” for anyone caught gossiping to add a penalty coin – you could later donate the contents to a local mental health charity or hospital. This theme would be more ideal for the absolute coldest months, or near the end of August to pull everyone out of any lingering SAD moods.

London High Tea

Get all fancy, Brit! I’m a massive T2 fan (oh, my GOSH, I could spend hours drooling on that website!), although you can find all sorts of scrumptious tea varieties in other stores around the country. Snuggle up with your favourite teapot, some sugar cubes, teaspoons and mittens. Might want to leave the croquet for the springtime, but cards or other board games would be great.

Or, if you’d like to try the other form of UK class, hit up a working class gig and go all Shameless on your mates with a bonfire in the back yard if it suits. The original though, not that US remake junk!

How do these sound? Do you have any creative themes for the seasons? It could just be the climate here in Australia, but I find winter ideas a little more difficult to think of. Half the fun is going all “trial and error” on your guests though!

So here we are! Just over a week into my holiday from a passion. Not too shabby at all!

I’ll admit it: the first night or two were horrible. On the Wednesday afternoon of The Great Quittage, I was stressed about a few other things and just wanted this to go right. Thursday morning I woke up and felt I were on holiday for the entire day. That evening I felt terribly lonely after having not conversed with anyone familiar for over 24 hours, and having had a brilliantly awesome, accomplished day in event project meetings, I wished to celebrate it somehow. Alas, I was home alone that night and instead, in my emotional state, took up smoking again (I was trying to quit for the third time since late last year), while hunched over a notepad and pen, disgusted at my handwriting and scrawny prose.

Since the first 24-48 hours I’ve not even really cared to go back, and only missed Twitter.

My passwords weren’t changed until about a week after the fact; they probably didn’t even need changing! The whole point of social media is that everyone pretty much knows what you’re doing at any one moment, so I would only be shooting myself in the foot if I were to sign in anywhere. Also, that would be lame.

I’ve taken to writing again and I’m looking at redoing this entire website. It totally blows and I’ve wanted to change the theme for years. I’m in talks with a pair of geeks about the design in exchange for knitted goods.

I’ve not started reading any books, nor have I played any music, driven or hit the gym.

I’m not watching any increased amounts of television or film as I’d expected, and I’ve revisited communication technologies called ‘email’ and ‘short messaging service’ much more than I have in the past few years.

The Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare and Twitter applications are gone from my iPhone, and I’ve even stopped absent-mindedly navigating my way to where they were, only to be confused when I reach my ‘to do list’ and other productivity programs. I’ve reinstalled the fairly unpopular Viber and WhatsApp, to perhaps contact friends in other ways than my beloved Twitter. Skype is no more frequent than usual.

I socialised a bit more offline though. My housemates discuss Twitter and it doesn’t even bother me! I’ve only once discussed with anyone about what’s happening around the world, and I’ve only been bored on the bus a few times in the earlier days. Luckily I have a pretty happening household at the moment, which saw half of this week taken up with moving an extra housemate into the mix.

I also nabbed a chance to grab the phone number of a uni contact I’d only been running into on the rare occasion since last semester. I still don’t have any money to go out and meet new people (it’s only been a little while!), but BTUB last week was pretty standard (read: awesome for the most part) and made up for that.

I have found that when my moods fall I cannot blurt out whatever I want to a relatively empty electronic room. Minor anxieties come and go without validation or challenges, and major concerns mostly receive adequate feedback and support. I am not sure if my personal reasons for bailing on social media will have left me by my return date, but at least I have done my best on this more difficult aspect. I have a feeling that on my return in July, I will cull my contacts significantly on all social media networks.

On the cash flow front, I unfortunately decided not to take an offered hotel food and bev job. The late nights meant I would have paid more in taxi fares than an hour’s work, and my to-be employer wanted many more hours from me than I was willing to put aside from uni. This latter reason is vital, as I have three major pieces of assessment due next week alone, and four/three essays/exams after that. Ack! Probably not the best time for me to prioritise my financial security over grades (if there ever will be!), although, I’m eyeing off a scholarship in hope of something alternate. Then again, I have spent more time studying (I think) and that is the major point of this experiment.

There you have it. A basic recap of how this is all going. Until next time, I feel compelled to say something… pip, pip!