She's a cheap shopper AND dances to Spice Girls, my type of girl.

Today, one of my bestest friends is turning the big 2-0. Leaving her teenage years behind her and moving forward as an adult... ha!
I don't think there's a switch that you can flick and magically over night become mature, and heck, that's the fun of it all.

I love being with Nicole and acting like an utter fool, pretending we're about ten years younger than we actually are.

I love getting her drunk and walking to parties in thunder storms.

I love that she helps me with my make-up when I'm too drunk to do it.

I love being a kid with her. Watching Hocus Pocus and dancing to Spice Girls.

I love confusing people with her...

 

I DON'T love how good she is with graphics and computers.








But I do love the fun we have on her MAC.

           It's funny how one computer program...

Can entertain two girls for a whole day.

*I LOVE how we are the best bargain shoppers (despite the fact we won't pay $20 for uni pants ans the whinge about how we don't have them for the next year).

*I LOVE how she'll message me about the most random crap.

*I LOVE how we have the wierdest and wackiest inside jokes, and that people think we're idiots when we talk about it.

*I LOVE (and miss) playing basketball with her.

*I LOVE how she's going to look at this and think I did the worst job with photo and text placement.

*I LOVE how she is my best friend.

        HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY LOVERR GUTS. Don't grow up anytime soon.

And the winner is... Reality TV

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I el-oh-ve-ee reality TV. Especially when it causes controversy, and hasn't Australia's Next Top Model caused some controversy over it's time?
Remember Jodhi Meares' terrible live grand final performance, and then her utter no show? Good stuff.
Last night trumps it though.
If you haven't seen it, take a peek.




Sarah Murdoch blames whoever fed her the information; Foxtel blames Sarah Murdoch. Others say it was a sick publicity stunt. Who's right?
Really, who cares?
Look at all the publicity the show's getting. It's in every newspaper, on every morning show, in every news segment and on every blog (cough).
I think (eventual) runner-up Kelsey Martinovich took the news extremely well, and graciously. It's been revealed that Foxtel are compensating Kelsey with extra prizes, including a trip to New York. I feel for her, but I also feel for winner Amanda Ware. How the eff was she supposed to react in that sort of situation? And I'm sure her victory would have felt a little bitter sweet (at the time that is, by now I would suggest she's enjoying every moment of being the winner).

As always when something like this happens, social media when off it's nutter.
My favourite tweets on the situation come from Claire at @downtownnewtown who tweeted-
'Yo KESLEY Imma let you finish but AMANDA is the greatest TOP MODEL of all time. #ANTM'
and Brendan Maclean at @macleanbrendan who tweeted-
'In the end the real winner was a show that I wouldn't know existed had Murdoch read the correct name. #ANTM'

So what do you think? Honest mistake? Set-up? Do you even care?

When words fail

I'm a professional writing student. I want to be a journalist. I'm supposed to be good with words. But I honestly can't put yesterday into words and do it justice.

I was born into a Collingwood/Fitzroy family. It was my Dad's family that were (and still are) footy nuts. And although there was a bit of a divide in teams many years ago, when the Fitzroy Lions Football Club came to an end, it was one-eyed Magpies all the way.
I started going to the footy when I was nine, I've been a Collingwood member since I was ten. As cliche as it sounds, it's not just about the footy for my family. We're always together- My dad, brother, aunty, uncles and cousin. I wouldn't be able to tell you the number of times we've been to clinics, family days, parades and all that jazz.

Unfortunately we missed out on GF tickets, that is until a spare one managed to pop up on Friday night and my Dad wouldn't take it. He didn't take it because he gave it to me.
So what you say? Then you don't understand. It's more then a game to us, it's more then football. And my dad gave that up. For me.

Yesterday was amazing, there was only one thing missing. My family, and most importantly my dad. Here's to hoping we get tickets for next week.
There's one thing that's left etched in my mind from yesterday- one sound. The sound of nothing. The sound of shock, disappointment and dis-belief. The sound when that final siren went.

So when words fail, a picture can tell a thousand words.

ALL OF THESE IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT TO THE AFL.
I CLAIM NO COPYRIGHT TO THESE IMAGES.
IMAGES FROM http://www.aflphotos.com.au

Oh, hello annoying status update

Oh dear, I haven't posted in AGES. But I promise it's because I'm super busy, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact I'm a tad lazy. Promise.
So because most of the news lately has been taken up with election talk, and that stuff confuses me to the high heavens (that's going to come back and bite me in the arse when I try to become a journalist), I really have nothing relevant to write about.
Has that ever stopped me though? (The answer is no, in case you were wondering).

I've noticed way too many times lately the amount of people splashing their personal lives all over social networking sites. When I say social networking sites, I'm just giving Facebook and Twitter a fancy name. I have to admit though I'm a sucker for watching a good bitch fight over facey. That doesn't make it a good thing! I don't particularly feel like reading about a certain year 10 girl's disastrous love life, and I definitely don't want to know what that boy I used to work with does in the bathroom in his spare time.
I haven't seen anything really bad on my own news feed, and I myself never buy into doing all that sort of crap.
A) Because it's stupid.
B) Because it's plain humiliating for the person posting crap.
C) Because it's stupid.
D) Because I have family on Facebook... One of them being my mother.
Oh, and did I mention it's stupid?

Pretty bad stuff has come out of it too. There are always those devastating reports about teens harming themselves because of something that was said about them on Facebook. And some of the groups some kids come up with? Sickening.
There's a police trial (I think it's under way at the moment, if it's not though it will be soon) about a bunch of Ballarat teens/young adults who made a Facebook page about the 'sluts' of Ballarat. I don't remember the specifics of the page, only that it had a ridiculous amount of members, and they had a list, yes a list, of local girls who they didn't like. I was (un)fortunate enough to see the group before it was shut down and the stuff posted on the group wall was disgusting.
It's not just Facebook being used to slander, anyone hear the latest Justin Bieber Twitter scandal? Beiber posted a boys phone number on twitter as an act of revenge. The tweet was only up for about 5 minutes or so, but enough damage was done with the boy receiving thousands of calls and texts. Apparently news stations were trying to contact him, but couldn't because his voice mail was full. Poor bugger.

What sort of unnecessary things have you come across whilst social networking?

Where is the line drawn?

Does the name Laura Dekker ring a bell? If it doesn't, it will soon.
She is Dutch. She is fourteen. She plans to sail around the world solo.

Picture From http://bit.ly/bQDxoD

Sounds a bit familiar doesn't it?

I was a big big big Jessica Watson skeptic when the Australian announced she was about to embark on a solo sail around the world. I think she did an incredible job, and I was really impressed the way she handled herself, and she honestly seems like a fantastic young girl. I still don't agree she should have done it though. I still think she was to young.
A US teen also tried to sail around the world this year- and had to be rescued from the Indian Ocean.

I have no issue with these girls wanting to achieve something, setting their minds to a task and wanting to achieve it. What urks me is that all of these girls' families supported their decisions. There is support, and then there is stupidity. I'm sorry but these girls are just WAY TO YOUNG.
Dekker is FOURTEEN for crying out loud. It's just ridiculous.

At fourteen, all I wanted was to be allowed to go down the street with my friends after school. Or to go down to the shops by myself. Can't say I ever wanted to sail around the world by myself, but each to their own.
I think it's smart to have a dream, I think it's important to have a dream. But there are certain things that people need to remember- first thing that my head keeps screaming is safety.
If someone can explain to me how this is safe for a fourteen year old girl (let alone a twenty-one year old, or a forty year old) then I'll happily eat my words.

If I asked my parents if I could sail solo around the world, I'd get a laugh, a 'pull ya head in', and a 'sweetheart, you can do lot's of things. Just not this.' I love my parents.

I'm not the only one who feels this way, with this being taken to the Dutch courts. The Child Protection Council fighting against her decision (and losing... sigh). Read some more about it here.

I haven't led a 'sheltered life', my parents have always been fair and reasonable with me. And I honestly think that's why at nineteen I can call myself responsible and say I have a fairly good head on my shoulders (not to sound ridiculously stuck up or anything, which I think I seriously just failed at). So where is the line drawn? How can Dekker's parents honestly justify the decision to support their daughter on this?

Go back to school for a couple more years Dekker, then maybe look at the idea of sailing around the world solo. How about while your waiting you do normal fourteen year old stuff like stealing chocolate from the fridge and staying up past your bed time?

The worst sort of addiction. For bank accounts.

My bank account has been looking dangerously sad the last few months. And unfortunately, I have no one to blame but myself.
Actually I also blame my Aunty- because I get my spending habits and my ability to shop anytime, anywhere, from her.
I find that the problem is I buy things that I don't need and certainly don't have the money for.
I have weaknesses too, like any girl. I always need a new outfit when I go out (not generally a good thing when you happen to have five 21st's in two months), I can't go past a good bargain pair of shoes and finally cook books, whenever I go shopping (which is all the time) I treat myself to a cook book.
Treating myself for what you say? Good question, I wish I could answer it.

Until recently, I wouldn't call myself a shopping 'addict'. I'd call myself a chocoholic, a writerholic (I think I just made up a word), a procrasti-bakerholic (Ha, another one)but not a shopoholic.
Until I found myself shopping every single day of the week, and my bank screaming out in pain
So I'm taking some action of sorts- no shopping! For a week at least, that's a good start. And no buying things!
Except for food of course- I have some recipes calling my name.
Oh and except for the manicure I've already booked for next week.
Oh and except for the hotel room I'm paying for next Saturday.
Oh and except for the night out next week I'm going to have to pay for.
But apart from that, no spending.

See, I'm achieving some sort of happy medium, agreed?

The hardest bit is going to be not buying cook books! Angus and Robertson always have sales on awesome cook books! Hmph.
But I won't buy any... Until Callum wins MasterChef that is, because, well, I really want his cook book.

What sort of addictions do you guys have?

From bad, to worse, to plain awkward.

A few weeks back now, my email got hacked. Nothing major- from what I can tell it was just a virus, probably from a piece of spam I had accidently opened a few days prior. It was also my hotmail account, so (I thought…) it would have just sent it to a few friends- easy to email them again, apologize quickly and tell them not to open the previous email.
The thing about getting hacked is you never know it’s happened- unless you’re in the habit of checking through your sent items, or like me, you have a little guardian angel that sends you an email.

I was completely confused when I opened Annelise’s email and she first wrote-

‘Hahah, thanks but I think I'm all good for Viagra at the moment!.'

Um, what?

Further down she adds, ‘You were hacked?’

And it starts to make sense- horrible sense. I go to my sent items and what would you know? I’d apparently sent out two emails, about eight people receiving each one. I clicked on the first and it had been sent to a few friends, a few people from uni and my aunt. It was just a link, but I wasn’t going to be clicking on it anytime soon, like Annelise, I’m pretty right on the Viagra front.
So I wrote a quick apology, and sent it off, hoping most of them hadn’t checked their emails yet.
Annoying, frustrating and irritating, but not un-fixable.

Until, I checked the second email- And that’s where it gets awkward.

Again it was the same email, a link to a Viagra site. But the people this email was sent to were a little more amusing.
We have my grandparents, three high school teachers, three uni tutors and a website’s co-ordinator that I used to write articles for- at this point I want to go hang myself.

The issue isn’t that I was hacked- it happens to the best of us. The Viagra bit is pretty embarrassing, but again what can you do? The fact the email had no subject heading, and was just a link is annoying, but at least it wasn’t porn? No this isn’t the issue. But the email I received a few days later was definitely the issue.

Apparently the website co-ordinator (who I’m deliberately not naming, and deliberately not giving you a link to the site- because it’s just embarrassing for both of us) hadn’t checked my apology email and sent me this:

‘Hello Morgan,

Haven’t heard from you for a while but I trust all is well.

As you know, we’re a student site, so an article about Viagra isn’t something we’re looking for.

If you have any more ideas please email me again.

Regards….’

I nearly fell off my chair. I scanned my emails again hoping for another one from her saying ‘oh, just saw your other email!’

But no, nothing.

Awkward.

And damage control time- I replied with a lovely emailing, explaining the situation and explaining until I was blue in the face that I didn’t want to write about Viagra.

Note to all: Don’t open spam.