i love...

schoolies at Forster.

And boy do I miss it. Schoolies was honestly one of the best weeks of my life. The people I spent it with, the beautiful town of Forster where we stayed at and all the wonderful memories we made together. I'm going to miss our daily walk to the rock pool and spending our evenings together just having a great time. We really should do it again sometime. I shall make another post about schoolies because it was THAT awesome and will probably add some more photos too.

 our beloved rock pool

*j

raindrops & lightening

It's raining outside, how wonderful. The cool air and lightening in the distance. I can ever so slightly smell it over the smell of my dinner, which is making my mouth water. And the sounds of James Taylor in the background. How very peaceful and relaxing.

I also finally decided to change my desktop again today from the periodic table seeing as chem was last week and I don't really need to know that stuff anymore. I changed it once and then again just then but I don't know which one to use. So here are my options.

 

Both are by Raindrop Memory, the same lady who designed the icons I blogged about a little while back. You people, yes you, the people who manage to find time to read about my insignificant life, need to help me choose which I should have as my new desktop. Because if not I will be changing it back and forth  and rearranging the icons every hour or so.

Anyway I should get back to some of the formal stuff I am in charge of doing. That and eat some dinner.

Till I get bothered to blog again,

*j

Lomography

It's official. I will be the proud owner of a Lomo Diana Mini in less than 10 days! OMG I am SO excited!!

I told my brother to go and buy it off ebay for me half joking, and he actually bought it! But it's good. Got the camera and 2 rolls of film for about $75 with free postage! Now I just hope that I get it before schoolies so I can go and play around with it then so that I have the hang of how to work it for my film photography project come new year! Hopefully I will learn to use the film sparingly as Ben has told me. But GOSH I just can't wait!!

Well that shall be my awesome news for now. I swear I have gotten SO lazy in regards to posting.

Farewell,

*j

i have the need...

the need for speed. NOT. Haha as if

But I just thought that I needed to blog bout something. I swear blogging is how I procrastinate, hence the increase in blog entries over my pre and mid HSC. Now it's over I don't seem to be blogging as much. Even if I'm actually going out and having things to blog about. I don't feel like making a post. It's weird.

This weekend there will be NO studying. In fact I will be getting out! Jess' debut tomorrow where Minna, Gail, Dom, Dave and I will be performing Learn to Fly for her by the Foo Fighters. And on Sunday I will be off to NEWTOWN FESTIVAL. I'm excited and for good reason. Should be awesome!

Anyway  shall leave with a picture of my desk/wall in my room where I was studying chemistry last weekend. Note "industrial chemistry" written on the page in the bottom left. And the WICKED poster! Best musical ever! I wouldn't mind watching it again so if anyone wants to go watch it let me know. And I picked some daisies from outside and put them on my table.

*j

i love...

finishing my HSC!

That's right folks. I have officially finished my high school education. As of 12.30pm today I finished my chemistry exam, and I feel SO much better. Good bye stress, Hello freedom! Now I have to figure out what I'm doing for the rest of my four month holiday...

*j

Lucky

I found some four-leaf clovers whilst putting up the washing this morning. Okay let me rephrase, I saw clovers growing in the garden and spent a good 10 minutes squatting on the ground looking for four -leaf clovers, while the washing I was meant to be putting up was drying in the basket.

I found a total of five and because I'm strange I decided to scan and upload them in the hopes to share my lucky find. But of course I had to go into Photoshop and play around with it a bit. And after collective (I was going on  and off the computer for study and food) time of maybe 45 minutes (give or take about 10) I came up with this!

 

Well I do wish the rest of you who still have exams the best of luck for the HSC and for everyone for no reason at all, may you be lucky!

*j

recovery

Well thank you to all those who checked up on me yesterday during my emotional breakdown, partially reflected in my previous post. I went through what seemed like a whirlwind of emotions none of which I enjoyed very much. Glad to say that I am all better now with a little help from my friends *sings the Beatles song*.

It think it was a good experience (you must think I'm crazy, even more so than you might or might not already). But I seemed to learn a lot about myself. How to deal with feeling utterly depressed and all in all under the weather.

Well I should go study.

So long,
*j

P.S. Good luck to everyone doing the PE exam this afternoon! And I send good vibes to those currently sitting the ext. english exam!

SNAP!

There goes the last of my sanity. I have officially snapped with only a few days till my last exam. I have gotten to the point where I couldn't care less if I was finished or not. I seriously DON'T CARE! So pissed and annoyed right now and SO NOT IN THE MOOD FOR ANYTHING!!!!

Only one thing I can say now.

FUCK MY LIFE!

Yes I'm sure it's strange hearing (seeing? - who cares!) those words coming from me. Don't worry you aren't the only one. I should go back to studying stupid chemistry but I doubt I will get anything done. Heck I've written two sentences in the past 2.5 hours. I felt more productive studying ENGLISH!

I HATE THIS!

*j

ah procrastination...

*Hello*

*I am*

*Procrastinating*

*thumbs up*

Pictures courtesy of La PhotoCabine. It's a little French site, so it's all in French. But try it out. It's fun and easy to figure out (you only need to click 2 different things). All you need is your own webcam and it does the rest. You can also have the photos formatted differently. Found the link to it via + handmadelove +.

I should get back to study...

*j

the periodic table of ELEMENTS

Look what my new desktop wallpaper is! Just for you chemistry, because you're SO special. Found on Anneka Tran's blog. My desktop seems to like her stuff. But its a fairly cool periodic table might I add. Although it would be crap to have in the chemistry exam, there isn't all the info on it, just cool pictures.

That's all folks, just thought I would share. Might come back with something else to blog about later.

*j

five & one

That's five exams done and one more to go. How exciting. Although it seems like the HSC has come and (almost) gone so fast. Although having done five exams in the first week I suppose is pretty quick, so I guess this rushed feeling I'm having is explainable. And now I have just under a week to learn the WHOLE chemistry syllabus. I should have dropped it when I had the chance. But oh well, I might as well try my hardest for my last exam. And hey, maybe one of those units will end up counting, you never know.

Well today I had my HSC Music 1 Aural Skills exam. I love being in music. The people. The atmosphere. We always just end up sitting around on the grass talking, singing with guitars out. the boys playing around with a ball and in general just enjoying ourselves and each others company. We are always so relaxed even though its our HSC. The examiners even seemed laid back. They were all exhausted from the 2 unit exam earlier. The exam was fairly okay. I liked the last song. It was a jazzy version of the song "I want to be like you", for reference it's in Jungle Book.

Well I seem to be working backwards a lot these days. Earlier today, this morning before I left home I decided to bake some brownies for my beloved music class. I was meant to make them yesterday but never got around to it. I ended up with these cute, heart-shaped , bite-sized brownies all nicely wrapped and packaged for distribution to my music buddies, complete with little tag labels. [pictured below] 

Yes, I know I'm crazy for individually wrapping each of them and  having sewed paper packages. I kind of regretted doing so as I ended up leaving an hour after I was planning to. Luckily I prepared all my labels and cut all the paper yesterday, so all I had to do was sew them together. But it's all good. I liked how they turned out. I really just wanted to try out some packaging ideas I've seen around the place, on blogs which I can't remember. 

Everyone seemed to think I was crazy but thought the packaging was cool. And they liked the brownies so I think it was a job well done! Even though it was just a packet mix, but they don't need to know that. Only my special blog readers shall know the truth! Hahaha. Yay for Betty Crocker, these are the same brownies I was blogging about in the holidays. They are so yummy!

Anyway I shall stop there. [*edit: Side comment] My left leg feels funny.

Adieu,

*j

i love...

letters

(& emails).

And not I'm not talking about bills or the mail you get from BOS and UAC. Or spam from facebook or some chain email my friends. I'm talking about the long lost art of letter writing. That's hand written, envelopes and stamps (and the slightly more high tech version - email) otherwise known as snail mail. 

Getting letters in the mail, I find really quite exciting. I'm actually trying to get my best friend from when I used to live in Victoria (some twelve years ago!) to start exchanging letters again. Letters seem so personal and knowing that someone spent the time to take out the good old stationary set and write something for me is nice, makes me feel spacial. It's nice to stop and read a letter. I also enjoy writing them. Everything seems so fast paced these days. When writing a letter, you don't need to feel rushed, there is no one to interrupt what you are saying so you can completely express yourself.

And although they are no where near as good, emails are the next best thing. In our busy high tech lives, sometimes finding time get out a pen and stationary is little hard. So being in the age where computers and internet are practically a necessity, it's a lot easier to write and send emails. Not to mention you don't have to deal with paying for postage (because I am a cheap Asian), though I would gladly pay for a postage stamp - I even used to have a stamp collection. So email works well for me too. Especially now in the times of the HSC I don't have the time, rather I don't get out to be able to go to the post office and drop a letter off.

Although you can go one step better and send and receive packages. I like the old style packages, all brown paper and string. I've gotten packages of things that I've bought online but not from people. I would like to receive a package one day. It would be fun! It's like opening a Christmas present when it's not Christmas (unless it's a Christmas package).

Well anyway, does anyone know how much it is to post to the US?

Love,
*j

salt and pepper meet rubik

How awesome are these?! They are Rubik's Cruet Salt & Pepper Mill. I swear some people are so clever. First Mr Rubik then the people responsible for this piece of GENIUS. When I have my own place I want these! Actually I've seen plenty of really cool salt and pepper shaker sets. I should start a collection and set up a shelf to display them in the dinning room.

Anyway I found these at fredflare.com. I think I have shared some other things from this place before, I love a lot the stuff they have there. It's all so cool! Anyway here is what it has to say about these. Excerpt found here.

You’ll look like a genius with these two mock Rubik’s cube, salt & pepper mills on your kitchen table! The white top is for salt & the red top is for pepper, so you will never get ‘em mixed up. Both mills have adjustable ceramic grinders so you can choose fine or coarse. Easy to clean, plastic outer.

It's a shame that they don't ship internationally. I would buy a set of these, and a whole lot of other stuff too. I would buy them for my bother actually.

*j

favicon

Well I came across a tutorial for adding a favicon to my blog. A favicon being the little icon which appears next to the html of a site (bad explanation) but the little orange blogger icon that's next to the browser, that's a favicon. I have been having some troubles with getting mine up and working. But I think I have it now.

What do you people think?! I couldn't really think of what to make the icon so I just put "*j", which is just how I sign my posts. I might change it but to what? Give me suggestions if you think I should change it. Or just give me suggestions. If you want to try and get one for yourself the tutorial is here.

That's all,

<- my favicon

Diana

I'm posting too much today. It's because I'm bored. I'm not procrastinating for once! I gave myself the night of from study because I finished my week of HSC exam HELL. FOUR exams. THREE days. But it's ALL OVER! And... NO MORE ENGLISH EVER!!

Anyway on about Diana. Remember my post about my photography project? I mentioned my lack of a cool film camera. Well I have found the camera I want! Ta da!

Presenting the LOMO Diana Mini. Isn't it so awesome?! And the pictures it takes are heaps cool but the only way I can describe it is through pictures (then I wouldn't really be explaining it would I, using the photo as a substitute for my crappy explanation)

These photos give an old and weathered look without altering the image at all. That's just how the camera takes photos. It reminds me of the image quality found in old polaroids, which I also love. Like Ben said, they give of vibes of nostalgia. These photos have character.

The only thing with these cameras is that they are kind of expensive. Thankfully nothing compared to the price of an SLR camera. But to put it in perspective, I can buy a perfectly good digital camera for the same amount of money, and then I have to go buy film and pay for development. I should have a photography fund. A separate lot of savings just to spend on my camera, film and developing pictures. Sounds good, just need money now.

Anyway, I find this project really exciting. I can't wait to get started.

*j

i wouldn't mind

checking this out...

Anyone care to come with?

*j

i love...

in jokes

and the people I have in jokes with. There's pie eating elephants, theories and sexual unicorns. Burning sims, brown prawns and gold stars. Rocks and rain man. Easy Catholics, baby birds and spare space that's spacey and spare! They are all SWAM! Ah memories.. I love you guys!

love,

*j

Dealing with Dead Bugs

This is just my own take on communitychannel's latest video blog on "Dealing with dead bugs".

Well pretty much there has been a dead cockroach on the side of the living room for a few days now. Like in the video, I don't like cleaning up dead bugs especially when I didn't kill it! Because I would have left it. My sister would have been grossed out and my brother would be creeped out, probably call me just to show me that he saw a cockroach (that fool). So I assume that my mum killed it and let it there, I'm pretty sure.

I hate killing bugs like that. I tend to cringe at the crunch made when you squish their shells and am instantly disgusted at the thought of its gooey insides infecting the two surfaces it happens to be wedged between at the point of contact.

Anyway, I hope that you people don't have dead insects lying around your place.
*j

i love...

post-it notes.

Seriously, they are so fun. For notes, reminders and little drawings. All you do is peel one off and stick! I like having them around when I study (like what I should be doing NOW). I write the important stuff I need to do and reminders when my next break is. Sometimes I just draw on them and stick them all over the table and on the tissue box in front of me (because I'm STILL sick), yay for procrastination! Anyway here are some of the ones I have up at the moment. The ones in black are kind of old and for english. The one in blue highlighter I did yesterday.

Oh and I started my HSC exams today! English paper 1 is done and dusted! One down, five to go which includes THREE more this week!

Farewell my lovelies. ♥
*j

three hundred and sixty-five photographs

Well in my last post I mentioned getting a film camera and Ben's Polaroid Past project and I said that I was getting carried away with the prospects of my new idea to have a go at my own version of this photography project. So I cut it out and decided to post it here. This is what i wrote before...

I'm thinking of having a go at what Ben is doing with his Polariod Past project but instead of a blog and uploading images digitally, I will take the pictures, develop the film and just keep the photos in a box. And then at the end of a year I will look at all the photos and hopefully make a flip book out of them and entitle it "A year in the life of a jellyfish". Although I will make a few changes to how I do it and I won't start now. Mainly because I can't with the whole HSC thing starting tomorrow and my lack of camera but definitely after. I think I should start at new year. That would be cool or starting on my birthday would have been awesome but it's not till AGES.

And now I shall continue...

Well I think I am going to make some changes to Ben's original concept. I will still have one assigned photo per day although due to the different medium (digital photos vs. film) and some personal preferences I will make some changes. Here is how I will do this:

• START: New Years Day 2010.
• I can take as many photos as I want each day and then upon developing I will chose which photo I will keep for this project. Hopefully I will have the date on the photos because I doubt I will use up a whole roll of film in one day or remember how many shots I took or which photos are from which day.
• When I choose the picture I will write a title on the back in pencil
• The photo will then be placed in a box
• Once placed in the box the photo cannot be taken out nor am I allowed to flick through the photographs till the end of the project.
• FINISH: New Years Eve 2010
• Once the last photo is added I can then flick through three hundred and sixty-five photographs depicting a year in the life of a jellyfish.
• I WILL make a flip book out of this. Don't know how long after I finish but it will happen.

So those are my plans. But first things first. I need to get me a camera! And some film. I shall go looking for the PERFECT camera. After HSC but I have quite a bit of time still. And if all else fails I can still use our old film camera but that thing is a brick and I want my OWN camera. Hopefully find one that isn't a brick and isn't so ugly. Black plastic casing = YUCK.

Anyway I am very excited about this. Another thing post-HSC to look forward too! Wish me luck.

*j