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Interview with Radaza

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

As you’re well aware by now, music is hugely important and very prominent in my life. And much of it is thanks to my most favourite person in the world, DJ and producer Radaza. He’s predominantly been a house DJ since 2006 but started producing breakbeat and drum & bass in 2009. He got signed to the prominent UK breakbeat label Subtek earlier this tear and his first EP “Enforcer” was released in June. I’ve been privy to listening to all of his tracks from conception, seeing as how we’re also housemates, and I can assure you he’s a damn hard worker and is a constant inspiration to me. As such I thought I’d ask him a few questions:

When did you know you wanted to dedicate your life to music?

Music has always played a major part in my life especially growing up in the Philippines for it is an integral part of their culture.  There really wasn’t a special moment where I suddenly decided I was going to dedicate my life to it. My life was already influenced and dictated by music so it was just a natural progression.

What inspires you to make music?

Music itself inspires me. To be able to create something from scratch and have people connect to it is a great feeling.  It’s also a great creative outlet.

When you’re a famous producer, will you still DJ? Why/Why not?

The two goes hand in hand so you will definitely still see me DJing for years to come. With all the digital downloading going on these days, producing doesn’t really pay the bills unless you have a ‘gem’ that skyrockets you to the mainstream. The music you make is a great way to be known and to share your sound with others. This in turn will create gigs, shows, tours and this is where artists nowadays make their money

What was the first tape/CD you ever bought?

First tape was Michael Jackson’s Thriller. I saved up my allowance for that and played it to the death. I played it so much that the cassette player would always chew it up but I always had my trusty pencil to untangle it.

First CD was Boyz II Men’s Cooley High Harmony and I played that to death as well. Now it’s all scratched up and skips a lot but I still have this CD at home.

What was the song that changed the way you thought about music?

Michael Jackson definitely changed the way I saw music. Music was always something you hear but with MJ , he made you see and feel music through his movements. He was a genius.

If you had never started making music, what career would you have chosen?

A Fisherman.

Three people who inspire you?

Michael Jordan, Batman and Wil E. Coyote (for his pro-activeness and no surrender attitude)

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

On an island fishing all day, with my trained monkey slaves fanning we with banana leaves and picking me coconuts and fruits for lunch.

If you had just one superpower, what would it be? Would you use it for good or would you be a super villain?

I would love to have wolverines healing powers. I’m clumsy and tend to hurt myself a lot so that would definitely come in handy.

Would I use it for good or evil. Well it’s really a fine line between hero and villain. Villains are just misunderstood heroes who feel that the ways things are now (government, healthcare, society etc etc) just isn’t working. They are actually very proactive in their beliefs and always have a scheme or plan to set things to what they believe is right.

Vampires or Zombies? Why?

It’s a tie. Vampires for their sexiness and Zombies for their goofiness.

What is your current obsession?

I don’t obsess about anything but I do love watching True Blood and Ghosthunters.

Someone gives you $2 million with no conditions. What do you spend it on?

Training monkeys to be my slaves.

You can download his new EP “Enforcer” from Beatport, Traxsource, Amazon, Play.com and of course iTunes.

You can also check out the rest of his tracks at Soundcloud.

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Allow me to get political for just a minute

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

(Image from here)

As all Aussies now know, we have a new Prime Minister. The first female PM our country has ever had after being our first ever female deputy PM. She wasn’t democratically elected and was made PM after Kevin Rudd was kicked out for not doing a good enough job, according to some factions within the Labour party. This has been met with both applause and outrage because one one hand it’s pretty neat that we do have a female PM finally, but also kind of shit how she got the job.

Look, I don’t know dick about politics. It’s not an interest of mine and there’s always so much going on that I just couldn’t keep up, even if I wanted to. I’m basically the kind of person who believes most politicians are all the same and doubt there’d ever be one who I’d be proud to call my Prime Minister (except maybe Obama but that’s because I have this dream that when the world is taken over by aliens he’d kick major arse and save the day and then latter hang out and shoot a few hoops while listening to Montell Jordan). I’ve done a little bit of reading up since all this went down and also spoken to people who know a bit more about how the politics of Australia works and so while I get it to an extent, I’m an amateur at best.

My only whinge is that people need to sit back and let her do her thing before getting all hyped up. Yes she’s a woman and that’s cool, but she’s from the same party as Rudd (who I never, ever trusted, might I add) and so I’m not going to agree with about 60% of the things she’ll say and do because I’m not a Labour supporter and their policies aren’t things I necessarily approve of (when I actually get what’s going on, of course). It’s also kind of neat that she’s openly atheist and refuses to pretend she believes in any faith to win over the Christian voters. But her being an unmarried, childless woman as well as an atheist doesn’t mean she’ll be some kick arse new feminist PM. I’m a female who’s unmarried and childless and is also very openly atheist but I sure as hell couldn’t run a country! I can barely get my shit together and get to work on time every morning! On the same token, she may have taken over the position of PM in a nasty sort of way (I seriously never did trust Rudd but man I felt for the poor guy when he stood down, he’s just lost the biggest job in Australia remember, that shit gotta hurt!) she may end up being a good leader who we decide to keep at the next election. Only time will tell and so people need to shut up, stop hypothesising and let the damn woman do her job for a little while before we start jumping for joy or complaining bitterly.

And just one last thing, YES she has red hair. My god, why is this such a big deal? I fucking hate it how people have such a big thing against red heads. That shit is whack and almost like racism in my opinion! Red hair doesn’t affect your personality and I am sure as hell will not be what makes Julia Gillard a good or bad Prime Minister. Get the fuck over it people, this ain’t primary school any more!

Anyway, that’s enough politics for this blog for one year.! I promise not to do this again any time soon!

Posted in My Advice, Random Thoughts, Rants | View Comments

Bitches Be Crazy

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

I got a link to an article called “Best Friends for Never” by my best friend today which, as I first started reading it, made me angry. I got my female-thang on instantly and was all “Oh NO he didn’t” but then I actually thought about it, stopped being such a girl and had a laugh and realised it was all pretty much true. I hate to admit it, but girls are such bitches! No matter how nice we are or how hard we try not to, we all love to bitch and gossip and there’s nothing we can do to stop ourselves from doing it. I try not to bitch too much, though as a female I still do it and will reluctantly admit it’s kind of fun to do.

I am absolutely hopeless at being a bitch. I may come off as one with my ranty blog posts and sarcastic tweets, but I am generally a really nice person in real life. I’m the kind of person who will stay friends with someone who may not be all that nice to me, just because I don’t want to hurt their feelings by ending the friendship. Problem with that though, is that I am a girl and so leaving those sorts of people around in my life result in the need to bitch. And since I am such a social networking whore, naturally things get out of hand and very recently I ended up bitching about a friend on twitter with another friend, which the person in question later discovered. Needless to say I had some explaining to do, which has now resulted in me losing a friend. This outcome was actually something I wanted but because I had to be a typical female, I’ve hurt someones feelings in a public forum and made myself look like a right cow.

So my advice to all girls is this: Learn not to bitch. I know how unfeasible that sounds given how it’s apparently ingrained in all of us (boys too!), but we need to get out of this trap where we deal with our problems with other people by bitching about them behind their back! We all need to face up to what’s bothering us, particularly when it comes to the company we keep and start being upfront and honest instead of sneaky and nasty. I can think of about 1000 things I’d rather do than tell a friend they piss me off and I don’t want to spend any time in their company any more, but in the long run you’re better off getting it out there and saying it to their face so you can clear your conscience and not look like a total twat when they find out the smack you’ve been talking behind their back.

I made a dumb mistake by venting online instead of getting the balls to confront my friend, something I’ve been dying to do for ages but just never found the confidence to say it. Once I’d been found out, I told them what I’d been meaning to say to them all along and while I know their feelings are hurt and they now hate my guts, I had to do it in order to stop the vicious cycle. Otherwise, had I lied and apologised for being mean and patched things up, things would have just stayed the same and I’d keep bitching behind their back and being friendly to their face before eventually slipping up once again. I’ve caused some hurt in the short-term but in the long-term I’ve made both our lives much better.

Think of someone who you like to bitch about all the time. Do you need them in your life? Or could you it them down and work things out? Bitching causes small issues to become massive dramas because you work yourself up and your friend/s encourage you by listening and participating until the little thing that annoyed you in the first place has become somethings you’d be likely to see on Days Of Our Lives. Confront the issue without the bitching and get rid of the problem ASAP. Negativity is unhealthy and the less you have in your life, the better you will feel.

Posted in Body and Soul, My Advice, My Life | View Comments

Get Moving!

Monday, May 17th, 2010

There’s nothing much boring than a person who’s all gung-ho about health and fitness and works out five days a week and actually uses their gym membership on top of exercising at home or going for jogs after work. I say this as one of those people. I used to always sling off at fitness freaks, mutter about how they need to go get a life and think about how much I was looking forward to sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating dinner later that evening while they recovered from an exhausting workout and ate a salad. And then I started exercising to lose weight, realised exercise actually made you feel really, really good and kind of got into it at some stage.

The difference between me and most of the people I see at the gym or when I got for a run is that I don’t get all “fitness jerk” about it. You know the kind of person I mean, they’re obsessed with exercise and make you feel bad because you don’t think about working out every minute of the day. They strut around the gym like they’re gods gift to whatever and flirt with the opposite sex by flexing their enormous muscles or showing off their perky butts by doing squats in the middle of the weights area. God I hate them!

You can love exercise and not be one of those creeps and I highly recommend it. You don’t have to do it for weight loss (though that’s obviously the main reason why people exercise at all) because the other benefits are boundless. Just by adding regular exercise to your weekly routine will improve your health and well being dramatically. I’m not talking about going for a slow half hour walk once a week either, I mean a proper work out where you sweat a lot and hurt at least a little bit the next day. You don’t have to sign up at the gym or get a personal trainer to do this, though I find have a gym membership motivates me since I refuse to waste money so make myself go as often as possible in order to make the membership fee worth it. If you can afford it though, a PT is great to get the ball rolling on your fitness and also teaches you how to exercise the areas you want to target (and then you can just keep it up by yourself). You really just need motivation and and someone to do it with, as nothing kills motivation to exercise faster than having to do it on your own all the time.

If you’re new to the world of frequent exercise I have a few tips to get you started (don’t I always?!):

  • Get decent exercise gear, especially proper shoes to prevent leg and back pain/injury. Wear stuff that’s comfortable and breathable. For the ladies, you MUST get a decent sports bra. I went without one for years and then when I finally bought myself one I was SHOCKED by how much better I can exercise when my boobs aren’t bouncing around everywhere.
  • Mix it up. Doing the same exercise/s day after day will bore you to death and will probably cause you to give up really quickly. Instead of the treadmill, go for a walk or run outside, it’s better for your body and you get to see the great outdoors for an hour or so, as opposed to someone’s sweaty back. Take classes, gyms have heaps and they’re free when you are a member! Classes keep you far more motivated than if you just tried to do the same level or exercise by yourself on the gym floor. Also work out a simple routine and build it up, don’t go to every gym class in a week, exhaust yourself and have to take another week to recover before you go back (if you even decide to go back).
  • Start a sport. Nothing makes exercise more fun than team sport! It doesn’t have to be something traditional like soccer, after all pole dancing is now considered a sport and is a fantastic (and sexy) form of exercise. Martial arts gives you a cool skill (ie. kicking arse) while also being great exercise and can teach you a lot about self control and anger management. I personally started boxing a few months ago and my fitness is insane now, on top of my gaining strength and losing fat. I go to Brisbane Boxing in West End which I highly recommend if you’re in Brisbane and want to hurt like a bitch the day (sometimes days) after you go.
  • If you hurt really badly the day (or days) after an intense workout, don’t give up, keep it up and get your body used to the pain. I know that sounds terrible, but it’s all about building up a resistance to the pain and making your muscles stronger (see the wiki article about DOMS for more info). The pain is worth it, I promise!

So I realise I sound like a massive exercise-fanatic-douchebag after writing this BUT regardless, I think people need to get moving more often, if not to lose weight then to get healthy and make yourself live longer and stop being such a lazy jerk. Nothing grinds my goat more than people who whinge about feeling fat when I know they probably haven’t done any half decent exercise since PE in high school. It’s gonna hurt at first and you’ll feel like a massive wanker when you first put on your fancy new gym gear and sprain a muscle in front of fitter, healthier and better looking people than you, but the end will make it ALLLL worth it. Trust me. You can thank me later when you get kick someone’s arse in a race or you have to rescue a damsel in distress or next summer when you fit in your old bikini or favourite dress.


Pretty sure I need this fancy boxing get up ;)

Posted in Body and Soul, My Advice, Teaches of Ruby | View Comments

The Best Cocktail Party of all Times!

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

I hate to boast but when my housemates and I host a party, we do a damn good job. We don’t have many of them and usually reserve them for special occasions, and this one was no exception. We moved into this unit a couple of months ago after spending too much time in the unit from hell where we had thrown some excellent parties (such as “Superheroes on a Budget” and “Doomed Romance” as some of our themed ones) so we knew we could throw a killer housewarming in a unit where it was more spacious and far more classy. To suit our stylish new place, we decided not to choose a theme as such except a general sort of New York style (as the unit is very new York-ish) and encouraged everyone to dress up in the best cocktail wear and bring a bottle of alcohol of our choosing. We got a friend who is a professional cocktail mixologist to make cocktails for us for the first four hours of the night in order to avoid the nasty mess that inevitably comes when everyone at a party decides to mix their own drinks, particularly as the night wears on and people have consumed too many of their own crappy cocktails. We also had a magic show on during the night, incorporating a beatboxer. That’s right, a beatboxer. Our friends Pete and Jonny have an act called The Majik Box where Peter performs his amazing street magic and Jonny beatboxes like you wouldn’t even believe. On top of that a few of our party guests were some of the best DJs in Brisbane who all spun a few tunes for us all to enjoy as the night went on.

I can honestly say this is the best cocktail party  have ever experienced and am proud that I was one of the people involved in making it happen! It took a decent amount of money and planning to get it to work, but the effort was truly worth it when we had all of the guests tell us how great a night they had for days afterwards. In an effort to spread the love, I thought I’d share a few tips so that you can throw an amazing cocktail party which you too will be able to gloat about or years to come!

  • Tell people what alcohol to bring. If you do not do this, people will just bring the standard range of drinks like vodka and rum, which are very important, but it’d be a very dull cocktail party if all you could make were vodka lime sodas. Make sure to get a few people to bring the basic ones like vodka though, because they will be used the most and  if they run out then you will have a tough time coming up with drinks that utilise lychee liqueur and blue Curaçao. On that note though, give the more obscure liqueurs to good, reliable friend who you’re sure will turn up and have a reserve list of drinks for the people who decide to come last minute.
  • Get someone to make drinks for you! Unless you’re a bartender who knows how to make a mean cocktail and don’t mind being behind the “bar” making drinks for all your friends (and let’s face it, who would want that) then get someone to make the drinks for you. If it’s a friend, pay them for their time as opposed to promising them free drinks all night long, because they’re bound to get drunk and no one likes a drunk bar tender (though a few drinks wouldn’t hurt, of course).
  • Get some good cocktail glasses! We got some stylish ones from Target (most of them were even on sale!) and also borrowed some others from friends. You’d be amazed how much better a cocktail looks (and tastes) when served in a beautiful glass. Accept the fact some of them will get broken, so don’t lash out on some Royal Doulton crystal glassware when that $60 champagne flute glass may wind up in sixty pieces on the floor.
  • Provide some food. This is pretty basic but people seem to overlook it so often. Don’t just go for some chips either, get some nice cheeses and dips and make sure you present them nicely. If you have the time/energy/money do something a little bit fancy or, as we did, something to suit the theme/event, such as our mini hot dogs which complimented with the New York theme. The bonus of having decent food at your cocktail party is that it will help slow down how quickly people get drunk. While we all know the sole intention of everyone there is to get wasted, helping slow that down so people can enjoy their night for longer is appreciated by all.
  • Nominate a host. This sounds totally boring but will help ensure the success of the party. In this case, I was that person (sort of self nominated actually) which meant I was always keeping an eye out for spillages, collecting empty glasses and washing them so that the bar tender could concentrate on making drinks, serving food, taking photos, letting people into the building etc. It’s not glamorous but at the same time it’s so necessary. That’s not to say I didn’t have a lot to drink, dance a lot nor enjoy myself profusely. It just meant someone was always keeping an eye on things and making sure nothing got out of control. It’s also sometimes better to be that person instead of accidentally letting the clumsy person or the busy-body take charge. At least you know how you want things run and won’t have to try and sort out their mess later.
  • Make your place party-safe! Hide anything breakable, move furniture near walls to allow lingering/dancing space and designate a specific wet-area for the making of drinks. Also make sure you have a designated smoking area. People will want to smoke so you might as well make it convenient or them to do so, no matter how much you might hate it. Otherwise you might find people smoking in the bathrooms or just anywhere they damn well please.
  • Lastly, once your bartender is done for the night, don’t let it become a mad free-for-all to the booze where everyone makes whatever they want and generally makes a huge mess and wastes all the leftover alcohol. Get a couple of trusted people (this is where you, as the host, will probably be the best person for the job) behind the “bar” making drinks. They don’t have to know what they’re doing or even be any good at it, you just need to restore some order. My sister and I did most of the mixing after our bartender left, and while we weren’t that good at making drinks and definitely not very fast, we had control and managed to ensure the alcohol lasted for a lot longer than it might have otherwise.

If you do have a cocktail party and use any of my tips, let me know how it went! I’d love to think someone else could have a party as fantastic as ours was (though having a beatboxing magic show might be a hard act to beat *wink*).

Check out the other photos I took on the night (on my Holga camera, hence the changing qualities of each photo) on my flickr.

Posted in My Advice, My Life, Teaches of Ruby | View Comments

How to dye your hair

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

I have had pink in my hair since I was 14 years old. My mum was scared I was going to dye my whole head blue because it had been a fleeting fancy of mine, so she got me pink streaks done at the front of my hair professionally. I never would have dyed my whole head blue as I was a total wuss as a kid and never defied my mum, so I won out big time! The same thing happened when she got my nose pierced or my 16th birthday as she was scared I was going to get my eyebrow done. Imagine a blue-haired teen with a eyebrow ring – ugh, so not me. Glad mum had her doubts about my wussiness and let me get these two things done tastefully.

Anyway, because of this I like to think myself quite knowledgeable about dying hair in non-natural, vibrant colours. Even before I got the pink streaks for the first time, I used to use this stuff called Magic Silver Rose which made my hair a vivid pinky-purple colour (it was a toner old ladies used as a rinse, bit like the ol’ blue rinse, but when used concentrated it was BRIGHT as fuck). As such I am a total pink-hair-snob and shudder when I see people walking around with bad dye jobs. Doesn’t matter what colour, badly done and poorly maintained colour looks nasty, though I am especially passionate when it comes to PINK.

That is why I thought I’d share my tips on dying hair vivid colours like pink so that if you’re thinking about getting your hair did BRIGHT then you won’t make the same fatal mistakes so many others have made! My advice needs to be triplicated for those who has all of their hair dyed a bold colour (or colours) as I can get away with a lot more as I have my pink strategically placed so regrowth takes quite a while to show.

  • Get it done properly. Either go to a hairdresser to get your hair light enough for bright colours to show or at least make sure the person helping you out knows what they’re doing. I let some friends who had NO idea what they were doing bleach my hair once which almost killed it. Luckily this was the under-part of my hair so the damage was hard to see. Having someone stuff up when they’re doing your whole head will only result in tears!
  • Pick your dyes carefully! The dyes you buy at the grocery store are OK for natural colours but if you’re going got a bright red or a plummy sort of colour, you might want to look elsewhere. These dyes are designed to go over your natural hair colour and will look nasty if done over bleached blonde hair. I must admit though, store-bought black is permanent as hell and extremely good value. For unnatural, bright colours pick the brand based on how bright and permanent you want the colour to be. In Australia we really only have Fudge Paintbox which is super bright but not at all permanent (therefore ideal if you plan to change the colour regularly). The most permanent of all bright dyes I’ve found as Special Effects, which is hard to come by in Australia, though very common in the USA. SFX is therefore the best value, as a bottle of the stuff lasts ages as you don’t need to retouch the colour nearly as often as Fudge. In between Fudge and SFX are brands like Manic Panic and LaRiche Directions. Directions is a little bit more permanent than Fudge but comes in big tubs that last ages so it’s really good value. Manic Panic comes in the same sort o tubs and is even more long-lasting than Fudge and Directions so also great value. It’s an American brand though can be found in Australia easily enough (likewise with Directions, though it’s from the UK).
  • DO YOUR REGROWTH! There’s nothing worse than seeing someone with a bright coloured hair with a big, nasty strip of dark regrowth ruining it. On that note KEEP YOUR COLOUR BRIGHT! You want to rock the bright coloured hair? Then keep it looking good but getting rid off regrowth and keeping the colour even and the colour you want it to be. Nothing I hate more than seeing girls with half-faded pink hair with an inch of regrowth. Not got the time to maintain the colour? THEN DON’T HAVE IT! I know some people have their days/weeks where they let their hair fade out and look crap (god knows I have) but I tend to only ever see people during this stage, and rarely see them with the colour looking awesome. It ain’t hard so don’t slack off!
  • Pick a colour that goes with the colours you wear. I cringe when I see people with pink hair wearing red (and vice versa). If you’re going to dye your hair a certain colour then make sure it’s not going to clash with half your wardrobe.
  • Care for your hair! Now you have bright colored hair, you need to treat it better than how you’d treat your natural hair colour. Using shampoos that are made specifically or coloured hair are a good start. Avoiding going under the water in the pool or at the beach is another big one as chlorine and salt water can strip colour out. Washing your hair less may have to be another option because you’ll find your colour feeds really quickly if you wash it everyday vs every other day. And most importantly, particularly or those who’ve had to bleach their hair to get the bright colour, treat your hair to a special conditioning treatment after bleaching. I’m lucky because I have pink and black hair because the conditioner I get with the store-bought black dye is AMAZING.

I actually remembered to take a few photos while my mum did my hair last weekend. Yep, my mum. She is a pro at dying my hair which means I know it gets done well AND it’s free (I dye hair in return). It usually takes the better part of a full day to complete but she does a top-notch job each time so well worth it. Click the pics or full-sized images and descriptions.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4a

Step 4b
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! I’m always happy to help out with tips for keeping bright, unnatural hair colours looking good! Another great reference guide is this one by Gala Darling. Just remember though, everyone is different and practice makes perfect. What may work or me might not work for you so experiment and keep trying til you get it right!

ruby_sig

Posted in Body and Soul, Fashion and makeup, My Advice, Teaches of Ruby | View Comments

Being bored in Brisbane is NOT an option!

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

There’s not much that ticks me off more than people who constantly harp on about being bored or having nothing to do. I used to go crazy when people said it to me when I lived in London (seriously, if you cannot find something to do on any day of the week in London you’re either the most boring person alive or the most exciting, because clearly you must have done everything already). Living in Brisbane is, of course, not quite as thrilling as life tends to be in London, but that doesn’t mean you can ever say “there’s nothing to do today” because there always is.

Take my weekend for instance. It was action-packed, fun-filled and exhaustingly amazing. On Friday night I took advantage of the free entertainment being provided by Brisbane City Council and went to the Silent Disco in King George Square. If you’ve never been to a Silent Disco before then you are missing out! They’re becoming popular at music festivals and will probably be really popular after people got a free taste of one like we did in the City. As the name suggests, it’s a disco where it’s totally quiet, no music but lots of people dancing? You see, you get a headset on entry which has two channels tuned into the two DJs playing at the time which you can switch between at your leisure. That was you’re able to dance away while anyone without a headset has no idea what you’re listening to! It’s a heap of fun and while it takes a bit of getting used to at first, you totally get into it within no time at all. We ended up dancing non-stop for almost two hours – quite a feat considering no alcohol was involved and we were surrounded by 17 year old kids (and I foolishly wore heels)!

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If that wasn’t enough for ya, I then spent my weekend at Supanova! For the unenlightened, Supanova is a pop culture convention held in Brisbane (and other cities in Australia) every year. It’s basically a chance for all nerds and nerds-at-heart to get together, many in costume, and buy comic books, anime, maga, DVDs and other stuff they couldn’t really buy anywhere else (well, without traveling all over the place, anyway) on top of meeting actors from cult TV shows and films, artists, authors etc. Personally I love the damn thing and go every year and spend literally hundreds of dollars on comics, figurines and various other cute crap I couldn’t get anywhere else. I also enjoy checking out all of the costumes – some people go to so much effort for ellaborate costumes of characters I’ve never even heard of, cartoon classics and anything in between. This year was my first time dressing up – I actually just went as a slutty Hogwarts student which resulted in a lot of good feedback and lots of pictures being taken (mainly from geeky boys who have a thing for Hermione, I’m sure).  Next year we are all planning to do a big group dress up theme (maybe two for the two days the convention runs) which is something I have been eager to do since I first went. Bring on the geekiness, baby!

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So, as I said, there’s never an excuse to be bored in Brisbane because there’s always something to do, even if you’re the biggest dork in town. If ever you feel that pesky boredom monster creeping in, check out what’s going on (I recommend Our Brisbane’s What’s On guide or utilising your social networking pages for suggestions, Twitter works wonders for me!). There’s always something going on to suit your budget, even if your budget doesn’t exist at all (ie. you’re broke).So stop your bitching and go get out there, fools!

ruby_sig

Posted in My Advice, My Life, Nerds and Geeks, Teaches of Ruby | View Comments

Pet Hates – Money

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

pet hates

I hate money! OK so that’s a damn bold-faced lie but I do hate what money does to people and how people act around it. It drives me insane how peoples lives can revolve around their pay cheques and how no one else seems bothered by this sort of mentality. I consider it a really unhealthy attitude to have towards money and personally never let anyone but those nearest and dearest to me know if I am running low on funds and am eagerly anticipating my next pay (and then again, only on the rare occasion would I say anything about it to them at all). I honestly do believe your financial situation directly relates to your relationship with money, so that if you find yourself always thinking about your next pay then you’ll always find yourself broke the day before and desperate for the money to land in your bank account so you can go buy some dinner. I also believe this sort of attitude means you place far too much importance (I don’t think that’s the word I’m looking for but it’ll do) on money so that when you do get paid you go all kinds of crazy and end up over-spending which means you’re going to wind up broke right before your next pay once again. And so continues the cycle.

Look, we all have those weeks where all out money disappeared on bills and god knows what. But we don’t have them every week (no one could possibly have a bill every single week that wipes out all their pay unless they have some sort of shitty, low paying  job or a bunch of kids). Get real and start prioritising you slack motherfucker. No one forced you go go piss away half your pay on the weekend after pay day, not did they encourage you to still go out the next weekend even though you know you can’t really afford it. Taking your lunch to work was daggy as hell when we were all kids but no one gives a shit as adults so stop spending crazy amount of money a day on lunches when it costs you dick all to prepare your lunch the night before and take it to work with you. Stop being a snob and walk to work or catch the damn bus, driving your car or catching a cab is an expensive alternative when you know you’re going to be lucky to have two $1 coins to rub together in a weeks time.

I know I talk about being a spendaholic but I rarely find myself broke or even with less than about $100  in my bank by the time my fortnightly pay rolls around. I have NO idea how I do it, since I tend to spend money on a lot of frivolous things all the time, but I guess it comes down to prioritising and being sensible with my money. I’ll never buy something, no matter how badly I want it, if I know it could mean being broke for a day or two as a result. If I have a big bill due I will compromise by spending the weekend in and spending as little as possible. It works pretty well for me, and while I find myself sitting here broke and bored at home due to an unexpected and very large electricity bill coming our way this week, I know this is an uncommon occurrence and will make sure the electricity bill is never left til last minute ever again!

Whenever people I know (and there’s a lot of them who fall into this category, I ain’t targeting no one in particular) bitch and moan about how broke they are, I find it hard not to shake them and maybe even give them a few slaps around the head because I know they pissed most of their money away instead of being responsible and saving their money for once in their damn lives. PLUS some of these people earn MORE than me too, which makes me even angrier, especially consider I know how much more debt I have than them as well.

In summary, people need to learn some responsibility and how to damn well respect money. It’s evil as hell but it’s a necessary part of life that we all have to deal with. Unless you’re a bum student or have the worst job in the word that pays dick all, you have NO excuse to wind up broke every damn week/fortnight. And if you choose to live the sort of life where partying hard and throwing your money way on useless luxuries is your thang, keep your fat trap shut about how broke you are the day before pay day because it’s fucking pathetic.

ruby_sig

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Things That Pissed Me Off Today (Part 2)

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

leprechaun

I am one of the lucky few who doesn’t suffer from PMS, though apparently I was unlucky today (damn St Patrick’s Day for lying to me!) and had it bad. Hence why we have another “Things That Pissed Me Off Today”!

  1. That Time Of The Month. It sucks balls and all men should be eternally grateful that they do not have to go through with it. I really am pretty lucky where I don’t get PMS or cramps (except for today when I randomly got both) though I do get nasty migraines and bloat up like a water-logged corpse. I also hate how all girls, as much as they hate their periods, breathe a sigh of relief when we do get our periods because hallelujah we’re not pregnant! It’s awful and totally unfair and justifies us to be mean as hell to all males at that time of the month without repercussion!
  2. Grocery shopping. OK so sometimes I really enjoy it but not when I am in a foul mood. It’s incredibly hard to try and buy practical things that will last you til your next shopping trip when you feeling like stabbing someone in the eye. You also find you’re absent-minded so that when you get home you forgot to buy some of the main things that drove you to go shopping in the first place. Also, the stuff you want is NEVER on sale when you’re in a bad mood and need to go shopping. INFURIATING!
  3. The cow who made my lunch half the size it was last week. See, there’s a Farmers market right in the middle of the City every Wednesday and I discovered one stall that sells the most delicious (and totally bizarre) food – avocado and mushroom floats. I got one last week and almost died from food-lust so went back today and got about half as much as I did last week. Sure, I could have complained, but I am not the complaining type so I ate it (and admittedly, enjoyed the hell out of it) and then sulked a lot and ate lots of St Patty’s Day themed lollies to make up for it. Needless to see it wasn’t a great combination :S
  4. People being to cool to dress in theme for festive days. I was appalled by how many people I saw walking around the City who made no effort to wear green for St Patrick’s Day today. Oh come on, it’s St Patrick’s Day, get over yourself and have some fun and get into the spirit of things like the dag you really are. I refuse to believe anyone when they say they have no green in their wardrobes whatsoever. Green is so common, and when its bright it looks fucking awesome, so everyone’s got something green tucked away somewhere, you damn liars! On the other hand I thoroughly enjoyed noticing what levels of green people wore today, some of it was over the top and in-your-face, some of it was sneaky and subtle :)
  5. And now for the big one! The thing that pissed me off in particular today, as it has for pretty much ever, are over-opinionated arseholes. I am so sick of how so many people I know find it necessary to inflict their opinions on the rest of the world and be damned if you don’t agree. I consider myself a great person to be friends with because I don’t really give a damn if you don’t like all of the same things as me or want to do all of the things I enjoy doing. And yet all I ever see around me are people who have to open their fat traps about every damn thing like it’s their god given right to bad mouth anything they don’t like or agree with. Ya know what? No one gives a flying fuck! I don’t mind it when friends have a bit of a rant about something (god knows I love doing it myself, clearly) but when it’s constant and gets to the point where its like they have nothing good to say about anything (unless its one of the rare things that they happen to like), I could seriously start punching fists through skulls. Look here, if you’re the kind of person who has to be like that, learn some goddamn tact and shut your mouth for once. You don’t like that band or style of music I like? Hooray for you, but I don’t want to hear about how much you hate it and why it suck and have you be all in my face about it. You don’t like the things I happen to enjoy doing? Then don’t do those things and get the hell over it! Far out, it’s like it’s become fashionable to become a self-righteous fuck these days and it’s really gotten to me, as you can probably tell. There’s nothing wrong with keeping opinions to yourself, or at least saving them for the people who you know will agree with you. It ain’t your job to tell everyone how you think it is because a) you’re wrong, b) no one cares and c) it’s not funny or clever and it actually hurts/angers people. Next time, think about who you’re about to bitch and moan to and decide if it’s worth looking like an arsehole, because chances are that’s how you’re going to come across. And all for the sake of your over-inflated fucking ego.

OK well now I feel a bit better! Nothing like a bit of a whinge to get the chip off your shoulder, eh? Bare in mind, with that last one, I am referring to a broad range of people in my life, so if you’re reading this and think it’s about you, it is. But not just you, so suck it up and take my advice for once in your damn life and accept the fact you come across as an arsehole when you tell me the stuff I do, the things I like and the people I hang out with are all shit. That’s right, I’m talkin’ to YOU!

ruby_sig

Which night? ri or Sat? Standing or seated?

Posted in My Advice, Pissed Off, Rants | View Comments

Rule your High School Reunion

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

I just had my 10 year High School reunion this past Saturday night and I’m happy to say it went pretty well. I’d been looking forward to it for ages, since I am invariably a much more exciting and glamorous person since I graduated in 2000. But then as the date drew closer I got more and more nervous for no real reason that I could pin point. Maybe it was the fact I lost the job that made me sound super cool and so didn’t have that to boost my ego. Maybe the fact the one friend I kept in contact with since high school couldn’t make it which meant I was going to have to fly solo. Maybe it was just the fact I was going to have to spend a few hours with people I barely know and try and prove that I’m not that daggy tomboy they all remember (that is, if they even remembered me at all).

To prepare myself for the night I got myself a stunning new dress (an amazing pink party dress by Wayne Cooper) with nails to match, some sexy black patent leather heels, a spray tan, followed my eating plan strictly to ensure the maximum amount of weight dropped and also got my hair professionally styled to ensure it looked its best. Looking back at it all, it may have been a bit much, but I needed all the self confidence I could get – I’m such a shy girl and I just needed to look perfect so that I’d have that little extra boost to get me through the night. I was also COVERED in bruises from moving house all day Friday (13 fucking hours worth, what a drag) and most of Saturday so I needed to deflect the attention from the swollen black and blue marks all over my pathetic, weak body.

Despite initial nerves and a little bit of awkward “standing by myself wondering who I should go say hi to now”, I loosened up and had a good time (though I’m sure all of those vodka lime soda’s helped a helluva lot). I spent the first hour or so thinking I wasn’t looking that special because no one said anything, but then as everyone else loosened up, I got lots of amazing compliments which made me feel like a million dollars. Seriously, this was a huge concern of mine, so I was glad I did end up looking great and impresing people with how much I’ve changed. Plus it proved everyone was a nervous and restrained as I was, we all just needed a few drinks to get going.

For anyone who will be having a reunion sometime soon, I have a few tidbits of advice to make it work for you:

  1. Look as fabulous as you possibly can. Don’t be half arsed about anything whatsoever. Most of these people don’t know you beyond how you looked at the age of 17 so make sure to WOW them by looking like the best possible you.
  2. Get over the fact you were unpopular, nerdy, got bullied, had no friends, don’t speak to your high school friends any more, hated that “cool” girl who was mean to you that one time etc. It’s been 10 years for godsake, we’ve all changed and if they’re at the reunion then chances are they’ve grown up and have moved on also.
  3. Know what you wnat to say. Don’t lie, but feel free to only tell people what you want them to know. If your job sucks, don’t bitch about it because that’s boring. Just tell them what you do for a living and then move on to what you are passionate about or your plans to get a certain job in a better field. You have every right to be as vague as possible. Outright lying though will probably cause more problems for you, especially if you get caught out!
  4. If you find out you were a total shit at school (as I did) then apologise to the person and then make light of it and show that you’ve grown up and are a much cooler person now. In my case I was part of an obnoxious group of weirdo’s so we were able to laugh about it heartilly, you might have to work a bit harder if you were mean old bully but it’ll be worth it.
  5. If you’re flying solo, do not fret because a lot of other people will be too. This actually gives you a great chance to talk to those people who you never/rarely spoke to at school and maybe find some new friends. I pesonally don’t think taking your partner is a wise move, you’ll spend most of the time worrying about them being bored and won’t enjoy yourself as much.
  6. If you’re not sure about going for whatever reason – stop being a pussy and just go. What’s the worst that could happen, really? I was shocked that a lot of my friends hadn’t turned up, knowing most of them didn’t have any excuse not to be there. It makes you look like a jerk, so just go and have fun already!

ruby_sig

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