Oh Nohs.

Before you decide to read this post, I must warn you that I am in an extremely foul mood at the moment. And I am capped, so half the things I wanted to include in this post won't be there. Meaning, this post is going to be one extremely crappy post. You have been warned, read on if you must...

What I have achieved over the past two weeks:

• I bought like twenty rings off Ebay to add to my ring collection. I was going to take a picture, but as I mentioned above, I'm capped.
  
• I used a lot of money. On rings and shoes and winter clothing. But I must admit, it was not entirely a waste. In fact, I'd say that the money was rather well spent
• I DIYed a lot of things. I cut two pairs of jeans into shorts, and printed a shirt (I'll take a picture of them in two weeks, when I'm uncapped, and once exams are over). After the exams, I also plan to create my own version of an Alexander Wang sweater dress (I would normally provide a picture example, but for obvious reasons, I cannot. How about I describe it to you and you use your wonderful imagination to visualise it. It's like a giant giant sweater that sort of hangs off your shoulders and ends halfway down your thigh. It is metallic silver and there are random holes in the sweater, with pieces of black mesh behind the holes. If you can't visualise it, just try to imagine the epitome of bad-assedness. Or you can try google it- Alexander Wang metallic sweater dress.)
  
• I did not study. I don't think this can be classified as an achievement. More like an anti-achievement. A dis-achievement.
  
• But! I did practice maths. Oh yes I did. Oh hell I did. I practiced maths every single day for like a week, and redid every single exercise completed throughout the year so far.
• But! I realised I was going to fail despite this. I did the Maths past papers today, and realised how stupid I still was, depite the whole practice-maths regime. So now I am super depressed- I basically wasted a whole week studying something I'm going to fail, when I could've used the time to study something else.
  
• After watching Gossip Girl and America's Next Top Model excessively on the internet, I have managed to cap my internet, with still 15 days to go until I uncap.
• I have decided to chop off all my hair. Not ALL, but enough so that IT CAN STOP STICKING DOWN MY NECK ALL THE TIME. I do not think I am capable of communicating the annoyance I have experienced in regards to my hair, without exploding. It's like, someone constantly breathing down the back of your neck 24/7. I've always wanted loooong wavy hair, but I don't think I'd live through the process of growing it to that length. Whenever my hair gets about shoulder length, I just want to pull all my hair off my skull. It sticks down my collar, it tickles my face and gets in the way of everything, it sticks to my lips when I have Vaseline on, it decreases my comfort when I'm trying to lie on my pillow, it takes ages to dry, and it wastes 20 minutes of my life every morning, as I attempt to tame it.
• I'm continuing the above dotpoint here. It started getting too long. Anyway, continuing with hair-rant: YES. I hate the length of my hair at the moment, so as soon as the exams are done, I'm going to get it all chopped off then I can be all carefree and sleep in for an extra 20 minutes in the morning. And think of all the shampoo I'm saving!! I am excited. I think I have told some of you to stop me with all your might, if I ever decide to chop off all my hair again. But my mind is made. I CANNOT BE STOPPED. End hair rant.

In fact, end blog post. I should be studying. Yes, definitely ending blog post right now.

The World through One Eye

I have no idea why I am not panicked about exams yet. I mean, the most panic I’ve felt this past week was last night, and that was in no way related to study at all (more on this next time). I really hope the panic will hit me soon, because I’m really not liking what I’m spending my time doing instead.

I woke up on Tuesday with my left eye smaller, more swollen and pinker than the other. Apparently I had conjunctivitis in one eye, and to my horror the optometrist said I was not to wear my contacts.

Glasses, he said. GLASSES. But because I hate my glasses so much, and being the idiot that I am, I chose to wear my contacts in one eye and walk around with half a blurred vision.

The world seems so much more surreal with everything a blur. All the colours seem to blend in so well with everything around them, almost like some work of art. I’d do this more often if you know, I WASN’T GOING TO BUMP INTO A TREE ANY SECOND.

So yes, instead of studying, I spent my week with one eye:

Scribbling on T-shirts:

Looking up mirrors and trying to model some 'Matrix' film poster:

Sleeping with the books that were meant to be studied:

Sitting around eating raw vegetables thanks to the lack of variety in menus:

Walking around in new heels for a whole day = blisters (I can't believe I even have a picture for this):

P.S. Theresa and I are planning to start a street style blog with a group of friends sometime in the near future. If you know us personally and would like to contribute, contact us!

Dressing for School Camp

Dressing for camp, or for outdoors in general, is difficult. You have to take into account: the mud, the rain, possibly losing items, having to climb, run, jump and swing. Indeed, dressing for camp, and dressing well, don't come hand in hand.

And it's not like you can find inspiration for wonderful outdoors-worthy outfits easily. The girls on Gossip Girl don't have to run through a forest in pitch black, while avoiding teachers. No, they attend masquerade balls and go shopping. The women on jakandjil.com don't have to climb up cactus poles or swing from a piece of rope over a forest of tall native plants; they edit magazines, get photographed and attend shows.

But once again, earmuffed.com can help you! I have mentally compiled a list of requirements for camp outfits:

• bring minimal items of clothing: so you dont have to lug around a horrendously large suitcase
• no skirts: unless you're willing to flash your undies to at least thirty people who are on stable ground, while you are dangling in the air from a piece of rope
• no fancy shoes: strictly flat-soled, well closed, strong shoes only
• casual outfits: you don't want to appear overdressed for camp. So that cashmere cardigan might not be the best idea
• minimal accessories: I won't rule out accessories completely, in case your neck looks like a blank canvas or something
• warm clothing: it will be in the middle of winter. You don't want to freeze
• minimal layers: to minimise the number of items you bring (point 1), and so your many layers of cardigan do not get tangled while you're climbing up something
• wear something summery underneath, and somethiing wintery ontop: so you can throw on the wintery thing if its cold, or just wear the summery thing if its warm
• do not come underdressed: this is especially important. Think of camp as a tiny window that will open for three consecutive days. The window allows people to view you as a someone with a personality, as opposed to a just another student in school uniform. Make the most of it, and represent yourself properly.

I have created five different outfits to help inspire possible outfits for camp:


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I really should stop procrastinating now. I have exams to study for! Every morning, I wake up in cold sweat after a horrific dream about the Maths exam, or some other exam-related nightmare. I think its a sign that I should start studying. Like. Right now.

P.S. For those of you under the impression that in my last post, my clothes arsenal meant my camp suitcase, and that I bought the clothes merely for camp, you are wrong! I realise as I reread my post that I may have implied this, but I assure you I am not a shopaholic who spends $500 for camp. Clothes arsenal = my wardrobe, and the clothes were for winter- not camp. Camp was just an excuse to make myself feel better about spending so much in one go. I hope that settles everything.

My Stress Pill

I know I said that I was going to do something “remotely” study-related everyday, but hey, I bet no one believed me. And I guess you all had every right to because frankly, I didn’t.

I did spend some time telling myself that Dude, This Is Your Preliminary Half Yearlies. That’s Right, pre-lim-in-ary. Start Studying Before It’s Too Late. I’d like to think that I actually go sick of my own self-nagging and started studying after a while, but Twitter knows that I only started making notes last night- pretty well into the night too, actually. I know, I suck.

So anyway. What have I been doing besides talking to myself like a lunatic?

On Tuesday, as you should know from Theresa’s post below, we hit the shops! I am incredibly happy with my purchases, especially since I am so broke at the moment. (Not that I’m ever not broke, I am still broke now and I was well, a little less broke than I am now, four days ago I guess.) Purchases:

Jay Jays shirt dress $15

Jay Jays skirt $15

Jay Jays tartan vest $30

Vivianna patent heels $20

Dotti high-waisted shorts $10

Cotton On shorts $2

That is right, those shorts were $2. And I'll admit I only bought them because they costed less than my lunch. I plan to wear them to run. I know I've been telling everyone that I plan to start running for two years or so and I still have yet to start, but I'm treating this as motivation. I have something to run in now! Running is so convenient now! That's right, that is how I roll.


Wednesday, a friend and I went to The University of Sydney for their ‘Degree in a Day’ program. I have found my dream uni. That place is so damn pretty, and everything there seems so... relaxing. Never mind the fact that this is the first uni I've ever been to, never mind that I haven't even given myself a chance to see other unis, I am going to Usyd.

We took the pharmacy course and made a cream. There is something extremely satisfying in watching a solution thicken into a creamy well, cream.

Isn't that label awesome? Makes it seem almost... authentic.

I'll admit, I don't have any clue what the purpose of an aqueous cream is, so I've been passing it off as magical anti-aging cream.

Alongside the two whole pizzas and six 600ml bottles of water the two of us managed to consume (gotta make the most of free food), we received:

My infamous stress pill.

I've been telling people of my "stress pill" lately (you know, stress ball, stress pill), and now they're all under the perspective that I have stress-management issues (can't blame them, I guess) and need to take medication to relieve myself or something. But I assure you readers, my stress pill is all I need. I will not be shooting anyone just yet.

Stocking Up My Clothes-Arsenal

Camp and winter are both nearing fast, so I decided it was time to stock up on my clothes-arsenal. I plan to write a post on dressing for camp in the coming month. But basically, my plan for camp: buy dark clothing to minimise mud stains. And my plan for winter was: stock up the wardrobe, start with basics and essentials, build all outfits around these basics. And also get stuff I've been wanting for a long long time.

So yes, today, Jenny, Van & I lugged ourselves around DFO in search for various ridiculous demands, from a specifically v-necked, blue pin-striped, dominantly white, stretch singlet (my demand), to a pair of cheap acid wash jeans that can be stabbed and slashed with a blunt knife (Van's demand).

Okiedokies, my purchases:


Siren heels for $30 (they used to be $150 or something) from Wanted Shoes Co. I love the sides:




Pierre Fontaine patent pumps, $30 for 2 pairs, previously $70 per pair. They're so versatile.





Left: Jay Jays tartan shirt-dress, $30.You can probably tell that I'm really into the whole tartan boyfriend's-shirt look at the moment.
Right: Jay Jays plaid shirt, $15.


Left:Cotton On plaid shirt-dress, $10.
Right: Jay Jays grey stonewashed skinny jeans $40. I am attempting to buy skinny jeans in every wearable colour possible, so I can just wear them under anything all winter long.


5 basics from Barkin, 3 short sleeved tops for $20, 2 long sleeved tops for $25. I went absolutely crazy and bought shirts in every cut available: v-necks, scooped neck, etc etc. I have been meaning to get a heap of basics in black and white for ages. Now I can wear them under everything all winter long, with the skinny jeans.


Left: Ally faux-leather bomber jacket, $60. Really happy with this purchase. It fits crazily well.
Right: Ally, fake Sass&Bide rats for $20! TWENTY DOLLARS!!!!! Remember when I mentioned the Sass & Bide Rats leggings on my birthday-wishlist post? Yeah I finally found a cheaper alternative. I am saving around $200 here.



Supre backless longsleeved leotard, $20. The back is amazing:




Left: Supre black satin slip dress $18- yet again, another basic to wear under anything.
Right: Supre black boat-necked dress $30. I'm crazy about the boat-neck cut at the moment. I am stocking up heavily.


SES hooded black anorak, $30. I don't know about you, but I'm completely in love with this jacket. You can wear it with anything and it'd look amazing. I had to further demonstrate the awesomeness of the jacket by putting it on myself, in case I haven't managed to communicate the awesomeness of the jacket thusfar.

And for those of you who follow me on twitter- you'd know that my parentsly decided to randomly and spontaneously surprise me with a little puppy right? And this is really unlike them, since they are neither random, nor spontaneous. But yes, I came home from work, and there was a tiny little puppy inside a cardboard box on our kitchen floor. My sister and I agreed on naming him Yoshi. Yep, after the dinosaur in Super Mario:

Failing Left Right and Centre

I am going to emo talk my way through this post and YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

School holiday. I don’t feel it yet. It feels like any normal Saturday morning at the moment; I don’t feel anything. I’m sure it won’t be long before I start overeating and turn into more of a blob though.

Something I found very strange was the number of holiday wishes I received on the last day of term. Have I simply been living in a hole and deemed not worthy of being wished a happy school holiday these past four years, or is everyone suddenly acting like a school holiday is a two year trip off the planet?

I don’t mean to say it’s a bad thing: it’s really nice, but imagine walking down a corridor, and you know how you only have 2 split seconds to greet the person you walk past? Yeah, well imagine trying to fit the three words “Enjoy your holidays” in the usual smile-and-wave. No, not very effective. I think at one point I stopped, turned around and replied with even more words “Holidays? Oh holidays. Yeah, you too!” at which point the person was already either too far for further exchange of words or couldn't hear me. Awkward much?

Anyway, I spent hours hardcore studying for the maths exam I totally bombed yesterday. The books/notes are still scattered on desk and I did so bad I don’t even have the willpower to clean up the mess I created. And I’m not even exaggerating when I say it was that bad. I simply blanked out during the test. What’s even more depressing is that I could do the questions perfectly fine once I got home. And it went perfectly fine for everyone else too- during the exam that is, not afterwards when they’re cursing themselves at home. Sucks to be me.

I plan to do at least one thing remotely related to study everyday this holiday. I’m already doubting my ability to stick to that, but hey, that’s why I’m posting it here for the world to see. Ya’ll should try it. Tell someone you’re going to do something. Make sure they don’t care, and voila it’s done. I should tell someone I’m going to pass my exam next time.

Study hard and have fun this holidays, everyone. (It's supposed to be possible to be able to do both. You work it out.)

I Brightened Somebody's Day

You all remember when we got Sophie a cat two weeks ago right? And we named it Shroom, snuck into her house while she was studying, hid under a table, and waited for her to come down and discover it? Yeah, well it seems like crazy, extravagant birthday surprises are a trend amongst my friends now.

This time, it was Jenny Nguyen's birthday, and we decided to surprise her by filming her ex-boss wishing her a flirtacious happy birthday. (Note: he is 33 years old, and fobby. Oh, and she used to have a slight crush on him.)

Add: another half the grade wishing her happy birthday, days of stress, laggy video-editting programs, a portable DVD player at school with a dodgy remote control, minus a lot of sleep and a lot of time, multiplied with a lot of panic = a sort-of-failed surprise that she loved.

At least, she said she loved it. But she's a terrible liar, so I'm pretty sure she did love it. Anyways, photos:

And for those of you who did not get the chance to watch the video playing live today:

(Note: please disregard my apparent seriousness and lack of enthusiasm in this video; it was precisely 5:42am and my 12th attempt to record myself saying something coherent and somewhat logical. I should be praised for managing to stay vertical in those circumstances.)



P.S. I shut down my old Tumblr a few months ago (for those of you who have not noticed), then started missing it like crazy, so started a new one: sansparole.tumblr.com

P.P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNY NGUYEN :)

P.P.P.S. This is a random Easter bunny I saw on the street today. It waved at me and made me laugh. So I decided to take a picture of it and share it with you guys:

Make My Day

I haven’t been in the best of moods these past days, and was probably going to regurgitate my horrible life here and go off on a tangent about other depressing things today. But fortunately for you dear readers, the Internet has saved you (and me too, I guess).

I went on Facebook last night, to accept friend requests, among other reasons, and decided to roam around and survey what I had missed out on in the past months I hadn’t logged into that place.

I had heard of numerous people expressing their discoveries in the Facebook Honesty Box recently, but I had never bothered to actually check my one. Probably because I felt there’d be nothing interesting there waiting for me.

But voila, I logged on to be greeted with a shower of beautiful compliments dedicated to me. Moreover, I had received reply comments from others I had previously sent comments to, expressing their thanks.

So, I went ahead and left comments for a bunch of other people, and I hope it makes their day, like how the comments I received made mine.