Wednesday, October 27, 2010

I'm sorry you have to hurt

This writer guy, he says that it's easy.
 You just sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.
But what if you're running out of veins?

Sometimes people suck. Not all the time. For the most part I think people try to be good people and love, and give, and hope and dream without hurting others. But sometimes they don't.
Sometimes poeple hurt other people. Sometimes they take words or actions and sharpen them, grinding them down to a glistening, glinting, angry point that slides straight through your heart, leaving the splintering wood of the handle to callus and corrupt the place where you once dared to hope there was love in the world. Sometimes they create excruciating, unnessary pain and confusion. Sometimes they do this without even realising it.
Sometimes - and we are all at fault in this to some degree - sometimes people take something they've learnt, or know or simply believe, and hold it so much higher than anything else. Sometimes it gets in the way of their view of everything else possible, or plausible, or real. When everything else is shrouded by this overarching 'thing' they hold so impossibly high, there's no hope at all for them to care a thought for the damage they might do by whispering a half-formed thought filled with ignorance and spite. And that's when their poisonous barb jabs deep thorn into the soft skin of some other someone, who's done and knows nothing of the so-called crime they've commited.
Sometimes, in believing too hard or protecting too strongly, people become exactly that evil which they are trying to guard against.
And then what?
Someone else suffers the consequences of their blind accusations and angry assumptions. 
And for what? 
So they can feel self-righteous in the belief that they've been stronger through the storm than the petty mortals surrounding them.

Sometimes my strength of faith in people is shattered by blind negligence, and the inevitable destruction it spreads because of the thoughtless actions of a person (or persons).
Sometimes I think faith in the good of others is something akin to trusting in my ability to write. Both require the decanting of some deeper part of you without knowing for sure what will be received in return. Both require the alltogether stupid belief that what you are giving is perfect enough to be not just accepted, but respected. Both risk utter destruction from the very moment of conception.  
So how many times do you tap another vein of faith and love for one's fellow man before you run dry? And how sullied or weakened is that love from all the times before?

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Whole lotta love


Driving back from a whirlwind trip home to drop my father off tonight, I plugged in my ipod and scrolled through, searching for someting I hadn't listened to in a while. Lo and behold, I stumbled across the Dawson's Creek soundtrack (I know, that show...but the music was good). It was a toss-up between that and the hilarity of bopping along to a Kylie/Madonna mix, which I just didn't think was safe given the rain and fog.
So I pressed play and rediscovered this song by Sixpence None the Richer. I loved this song. I still love this song. It's sweet without being mushy. And it's love at it's simplest - kiss me and the world explodes with music and song, just like in a Disney movie.
I also kinda love what Leigh Nash is wearing in the songclip. That sweet and girly dress with the punky boots! And her voice is just lovely.
Hmm...Seems there's a lotta love going on in this post.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Oh dear...

I filled out a survey a few months ago because I was offered, in exchange, a set of very pretty coffee mugs and a free wine tasting.
Said coffee mugs arrived this afternoon, as did the free wine tasting - along with an incredibly attractive, unbelievably sweet French salesman. I knew straight away I was in trouble. We sat at the rather dirty (how embarrassing) kitchen table, and he told me all about the wines and their regions. I tasted whites, roses, reds, ports. He compared me to his new wife (dammit!), informing me he knew exactly what I'd like and praising my wine knowledge and good taste. He promised to be my "personal wine guide - you deal wiz just me, no ozer persons from our office".
I swooned.
And swooned some more.
And then, suddenly, I was purchasing 400 (FOUR HUNDRED!) dollars worth of French and German wines. I was handing over my credit card and smiling - laughing even - as I signed away my savings, which were to be bond on a new place. We laughed at the shitty hours his job keeps and all the wine he gets to taste, and he sypmathised with my desperate assignmenting.
Then he packed up his wines and shook my hand. And, with one last shot of his beautiful smile and a bumbling apology for his "not so very good English", I was left feeling utterly broke and desperate to place another order at the same time.
And all because of a bloody survey and some free coffee mugs! 

Thursday, October 14, 2010

What a dream boot

I should be doing assignments. But why do assignments when I can waste hours discovering beautiful things I can't afford, only to spend Sunday night seconds from meltdown because my assignment isn't finished and it's 3am? Am I making any sense? No? Hmm...
Oh, the things I've discovered this evening! Have you heard of Poetrie? Everybody needs to. I discovered Poetrie through one of my very favourite crafty blogs, Grosgrain, and am thoroughly in love. Don't get me wrong, at first glance some of the prices seemed a bit high, but as I scrolled I discovered some perfectly perfect bargains, like this:
The Wildflower Dress $US24.99
And these:

Sun Baked Shortie Boot $US59.99


Sadly, they only ship to the US and Canada. Here's hoping one day that changes.
Someone who does ship to Australia (probably because she is Australian) is Pipduck. Who's that, you ask. Well it's actually two whos to be exact: florist Pip Graham, and Helen Duckman a lawyer (!) got together to create a line of stylish, waterproof shoes for the Aussie girl with wet feet. Thus, Pipduck was born. And thank the Lord it was! I've been dreaming about Hunter Wellies ever since I caught sight of them in a House and Garden magazine three years ago. Dreaming of them, but never venturing to buy because they are quite the pricey gumboot. And then tonight I found Pipduck, not much cheaper than Hunter I'll admit, but a girl can never have too many dreams, right? Besides, I think these ones from Pipduck quite easily replace my Hunter love:

Noisette Tweed Boot $AU159.00
Oh, how I love them! And they'd be so handy right now with the constant weeks of rain we've been having. But then maybe that's just me making excuses to buy them....     

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

When all is broken


"Let me be your wings

Leave behind the world you know

For another world of wondrous things"
 This beautiful picture (and words) is via ilovedoodle which I found through my amazing friend Miss V. It's specially for my beautiful Wabi who has a cracked heart and a broken wing.
Please don't despair - I know it hurts, and hearts are the hardest to repair - but I'm here, and my wings are good any time you need to fly.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Sni sna snappy

So I'm going to start by sharing the fact that I just typed "darlingbotty" instead of "darlingdotty". I certainly have a lot of both of those things, but I think dots are much more adorable than excessive bottoms. Another thing I have a lot of at the moment is photos to share. A few weeks back I made a New Spring Resolution - which is something akin to New Year's resolutions. Anyway, my resolution was to take more photos, to document my life more, so that the amazing camera I keep whinging about wanting will actually be worthwhile and - more importantly - used.
The first of those photo sessions was the super fun crate men I posted about yesterday. The second of these relates less to modern art and more to old-fashioned creation. While I was 'holidaying' in Toowoomba a few weeks ago I tagged along with Darling Mother to an exhibition of wedding dresses through the ages, held in an old church and the adjoining hall. We started in  the church browsing photographs and letter of past weddings held in the beutiful old building.
I'd been to this church once before - for Christmas Eve Mass last year - and had fallen in love with the incredible wood carving throughout. From the moment I pulled up to the church my mouth tweaked in a tiny smirk. With an exterior this beautiful, I knew the inside would be something special. Walking through those heavy wooden doors the forst thing you see is this:

Isn't it amazing! This is the lectern the minister uses when not in the pulpit. Directly behind the pulpit is a petite pipe organ with delicately carved wooden doors:

The size of that thing is decieving - the sound that emerges from those baby pipes would rival that of any I've heard from this little one's larger cousins. Oh and speaking of old-school instruments of beauty, the first thing I photographed in the hall:

When I was a kid I remember watching Betsy's Wedding and falling in love with her dapper style. I can't find a picture (probably because it's a b-grade 90s movie) but I'm sure she wore boots similar to these and it inspired me to dream of a winter wedding with beauitful white boots. Oh and speaking of inspiration, this pretty scalloped and decorated bodice is just divine:
Especially when you think that it was most likely all done by hand...or veeerrry carefully on one of these:

Isn't she pretty? This was one of my favourite photos of the day. Not because it's very good (it's pretty really bad, if I'm being honest), but because old sewing machines are just delightful.
And so ends photo entry number two. Hopefully as the entries continue so my photography skills will improve. Although it seems there may be further levels of crapness to deal with on my way to greatness, i guess you gotta start somewhere right? 

Monday, October 4, 2010

Crate invasion!

While wandering absent-mindedly from the city the other day I was admiring the incredible lushness of the grass around Brisbane. It's amazing! Australia has been stuck in drought for such a long time I'd almost forgotten how green grass could be, and so I stopped to take it in and admire the scenery as I crossed the bridge from the city to home. Standing there, I gazed out over the river before turning my view to QPAC (Queensland Performing Arts Centre) and suddenly my serenity was invaded with utter fear. There was a daylight invasion there in front of me!
The terrifying Gargantuan Blockhead Gang (GBG) were invading QPAC while tourists stood and watched! My old journalistic skills kicked in and I pulled out my camera to get some snaps of the action just in case the ABC hadn't been informed yet:

They were everywhere! on the roof, climbing the walls, even taunting passers-by with their big square heads:

And all the while going about it with not a worry of being caught - I even saw a policeman walk past and smiled at this guy!

 I yelled out to him to call for backup but he just shook his head and walked away. I  had to think he must be a ditry cop, why else would he let these guys get away so easily? There wasn't even a story about it on the news that night. I hate to think what society's coming to when the GBG can pull of such a crate invasion in broad daylight!