RUBY VELOUR

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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:

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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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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What was January 2010

Monday, February 1st, 2010

I thought I’d do something a little bit different and write about what’s kinda happening in my life right now, particularly since January is now over and I made such a huge fuss about having New Years resolutions this year and stuff.

I started a new eating plan with my friend Sarah, as arranged by our personal trainer (who I don’t actually go to any more but that’s irrelevant). It’s meant to be a temporary kick-start sort of thing to get your metabolism racing and cleanse you out but I actually really enjoy it and will stick to it for a while, I think. It’s all about low fat, low carb and high protein. No red meats so only fish and chicken and tonnes of vegies. It’s also been forcing me to have proper breakfasts (ie. three egg whites with spinach leaves) which has done me wonders. I always knew breakfast was good for you but I always just has a yoghurt when I got to work, which was never enough for me clearly, because now I feel awesome and have so much energy every morning! So combined with lots of regular exercise I am losing weight quickly and healthily!
It’s taken us most of January but we’re 99% we have somewhere to move. We’ve had some major issues with our landlord giving us bad references which has caused us nothing but grief, but we managed to smooth it over and we’ve been told we pretty much have the unit we really wanted. It’s not only bigger, brighter and nicer to look at, it’s CHEAPER and just across the road from where we live now! Can you say FUCK YEAH??? So excited. Just hope there’s nothing that can go wrong because like I said, we’re only 99% sure we have it…
January was always going to be a fairly quiet month (well as quiet as they ever really get for me, anyway) because February is going to be HUGE. This week I am getting myself prepared for my 10 Year high school reunion on Saturday night. I’d been looking forward to it til about last week and I feel more dread as the days count down. I do have an amazing dress and will doll up so hopefully people will not bother to ask about my career or any of that boring, serious adult stuff and instead focus on how HAWT I got. After the reunion I am spending every weekend at a music festival. Feb 13th is Good Vibrations in Sydney, Feb 20th is Soundwave and the 27th is Future Music (both in Brisbane). Told ya I was going to every festival I could afford and has artists I wanna see! I am going to be friggen exhausted in March!
So my spending habits have not improved for 2010 thus far. I did pretty well there for a while but I am a shopaholic and I’ll never change. I think I’ve bought about five new dresses so far and two pairs of shoes. I did clear out a LOT of stuff to give to my friends and the op-shop’s though so it’s not like I am really adding anything to my collection ;)

So far January has been a bit average, but that’s only because of how massive February is going to be. God knows I can only handle so much excitement! Fingers crossed everything works out well for me in all of the above, eh?

ruby_sig

(both in Brisbane).

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Bring it on Twenty-Ten!

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

New Years Day with my Holga

Well 2010 is here and I wave goodbye to 2009 and wish it well and hope the door doesn’t hit its arse on the way out. So far I have spent the whole of 2010 being drunk/hungover/sleeping which I feel is a decent start, really. My resolutions aren’t doing incredibly well so but it’s only been two days, give me a break! I did make a more concerted effort to take lots of photos though I daresay I will regret that since I used up a roll of film on my Holga which I probably shouldn’t have. Ah well the memories will be priceless (I hope). I also ate pizza AND McDonald’s already which I rarely do anyway but then again I was fairly drunk each time this happened so I will excuse myself temporarily. I also didn’t win the lotto either which I had some major plans or – $30 million would have helped me out in many amazing ways. But aside from being a fatty boom-ba and not a millionaire this year is going well so far. I have high hopes for 2010 and will make the most of this year and will look back on it and think “Yep, I did real good”. I had some nasty things happen to me last year (says the girl who was overseas three times in ‘09) but I will turn them around and use them to my advantage! You just wait!

In the meantime I am off to make the most of my Sunday by chilling out, sleeping in nice and late and making plans for the year ahead!

ruby_sig

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Ruby Velour overhaul

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Photobombin' laidback Luke earlier this year ;D

I have been thinking about my blog lately and how I do not write here as much as I’d like. It’s not as if I don’t have a lot to say (because I do) but because I’m never quite sure what I should be writing and whether or not I sound stupid, boring or irrelevant. So there have been many times where I have started to write then scrapped it, thinking I need to write some lavish big entry that’s all clever and thought-provoking and going to be linked-to by everyone on the internet.

Well as I was reading Obnoxious Owl today (a newly discovered and instantly loved blog by a loud and proud Saffa-Aussie) I realised I was doing it all wrong. Almost nothing of what I say in real life is thought provoking, in fact most of it involves angry ranting, fist shaking, witty commentary and general nonsense. So why is that not translating here? WELL MATIES THAT IS GOING TO CHANGE! I am going to write here more often, daily if possible, and it will be a mixture of what I have already been doing combined with more angry rants, witty observations, more silly commentary and general hilarity that I like to fill my regular, daily life with anyway!

Starting NOW! It’s a new year soon and so I ought to make some resolutions. Well I don’t have to and actually never have before but I feel the need to this year because this was NOT my year at all and 2010 sounds like a damn fine to start resolvin’ some shit.

Be honest, up-front and communicate a LOT more.
I am notoriously bad at this. I bottle things up until I get some serious rage happening and blow up at the wrong people. I had a huge explosion last night about something that had been building up for many months, if I’d nipped it in the bud like a sensible person then I would have saved myself a lot of grief and as for last night, a lot of tears. I also need to stop with my lying and be honest – mostly with myself. Lies are like poison and I’ve been poisoning myself an those closest to me for a long time now. It’s gotta stop!

Get healthy, get fit and lose weight.
Oh yes, that ol’ chestnut. This year I got really fit and a hell of a lot healthier. Unfortunately that does not automatically mean weight loss. I wish I could come to terms with my body shape/size but I can’t so I want to shed a few kilo’s in 2010 and maybe even go down a dress size. I won’t do the starvation diet thing like in 2008 where I did lose a lot of weight (god I got hot) because clearly it didn’t last. It’s all about hard work and changing your lifestyle and I will achieve this in 2010!

Get a fantastic new job.
In 2010 I plan to get a new job where I will be happy. This will mean either something along the lines of my previous job but with a better work environment and more potential for development and career advancement, as well as a snazzy job title (I found a few ad’s for jobs that fit this criteria and am super excited) or else a job that pays well, treats their staff excellently and keeps me sane. A job that fits all of the above would ROCK MY WORLD!

Stop abusing my credit card.
Holy shit I am the WORST at this. I’ll stop using it for ages then BAM I start again and lose all control. In 2010 I vow not to use it unless in dire circumstances. I will not keep it in my purse and will keep it locked away for absolute emergencies only. I will also pay it off as quickly as possible too so that I will have one less debt hanging over my head.

Spend less, save more.
I have ended the year with a spectacular amount of spending but I need to cut down. I know I will never, ever stop my excessive shopping but I can curb them and make compromises. No new shoes unless I am willing to get rid of a pair I have at home. Likewise with clothing. I need to use that money and save it up because I wnat to travel next year – Japan again and maybe the USA/Canada if I am lucky!

Take more photos.
I don’t know why or when this happened but I’ve stopped taking photos and it’s so sad! I used to be the queen of excessive photos and now I barely take any and rarely find myself cropping up in anyone elses either. This is ridiculous! I need as much photo evidence of my good looks and youthful vigor as possible while I still got it! I also have my new pink Holga camera too, so I have NO excuses any more!

Go to as many festivals and gigs as possible.
I know this directly goes against my plan to spend less/save more but I missed out on alot of festivals and gig this year and I refuse to do so in 2010 because I LOVE them! I’ve already planned to go to Lily Allen/Calvin Harris/Dizzee Rascal, Good Vibrations (in Sydney), Soundwave, Future Music, Lady Gaga and that’s just in January to March!

Until next year, ya’ll!

Chillin' at Blah Blah Blah festival last weekend

ruby_sig

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The first step is admitting you have a problem

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

I am a shopaholic. I am completely addicted to it and imagine it’ll be my demise eventually. I love the feeling of buying something new. Usually something I don’t need like a new dress or pair of shoes In fact it’s almost always a new dress or pair of shoes). Unfortunately for me I don’t tend to suffer from buyers remorse either, so whenever I buy something I technically couldn’t afford or don’t need or if I buy something for me when I should be buying something for someone else, I don’t get that feeling of regret afterwards that most people suffer which prevents them from doing this too often. Abd pangs of buyers remorse I do feel is usually fixed by buying something else.

Christmas time is the worst because I can control myself when not in shopping environments (ie. I don’t feel the urge to go to the shops to buy a new dress when at home, it only happens when I am at the shops and the dress is in front of me) but as I am now thrusting myself in these environments constantly, I find myself buying random things that I really do not need and not buying presents for others! It’s ridiculous! I guess I am also lucky that I am usually a spend-thrift shopper and rarely buy anything that isn’t on sale. I am also a pro at finding amazing bargains and saving a lot o money on an item that could have cost me a fortune. Though this tends to encourage me to just buy more stuff which kind of negates my good work at finding bargains in the first place :/

A lot of the time I find myself using going shopping as a means of “retail therapy” when I am sad or angry or otherwise feeling upset in some way. Even as I am wandering around the shops looking for something to waste my money on, I wonder to myself if this is going to help me, because it’s obviously not going to stop or fix whatever is making me sad/angry and so is there any point to this exercise? But the buzz I get when I buy something nice that was completely unplanned (and almost always totally unnecessary) casts those doubts aside and I feel great for a few hours.

Apparently it’s a real problem too, though I don’t think I am quite as bad as how they’re describing t on the Wikipedia page (though I am prepared to admit as an addict I may not be aware if the extent of my problem). I was never a spoiled kid so I never got a toy to shut me up during a tantrum or to make me feel better because my parents weren’t there for me growing up. I do know my mum used retail therapy to cheer herself up, so my only guess is that I learned this from her from an early age and started applying it to myself when I was old enough to buy my own things. I’m not blaming mum for it, after all there are many worse ways to cope with stress (ie. drinking, drugs, violence etc) but I really wish I knew how to defeat this!

Does anyone else suffer from Oniomania or do you now someone who does? Do you have ways to overcome your addiction to shopping or do you have ways to cope with it? I’d love to be able to go to a shopping center and walk past a sale rack and not hover around it for 20 minutes, trying to talk myself out of buying a dress that’s really cute and 50% of when I should be saving my money or am running horribly late.

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I want TWO presents, you guys!

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

bdayxmas

I am a December baby. It sucks. Not only is it generally a bad month to be born in, the date of my birthday is especially crap. December 23rd. It’s two days before Christmas and usually the last day people have to finish off all of their Christmas shopping and the last day before OMG CHRISTMAS TIME fever really sets in, if it hasn’t all ready. No one wants to celebrate a birthday with such a huge holiday coming up so inevitably most people tend to forget all about my birthday. For years I used to celebrate my birthday a week or two before the 23rd to make it easier or all, but I’d always get the “It’s not really your birthday today” remarks when I’d expect preferential treatment so I’d wait til my actual birthday and then get “We already celebrated your birthday, also it’s pretty much Christmas now and we’re too busy”.

I am not trying to guilt ya’ll about my birthday and its unfortunate timing, but rather wanted to give a shout out to all of those people out there with birthdays close to Christmas (unless they’re from December 27th onwards as you reap the benefits of Boxing day sales so you’re lucky and I hate you). It ain’t easy spending a whole year without presents and then getting them all at once, even if people do make a big deal about not combining them (though truth be told, if that means getting a super-big present instead of two smaller, less-than-thrilling presents then I don’t mind at all!) and it ain’t easy having your birthday forgotten because some long-haired religious dude from 2000 years ago may or may not have been born on the 25th.

ruby_sig

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Major Lifestyle Changes

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

carawork

I am sorry about not posting much for a while. I am in the middle of a few different posts but simply haven’t had time to finish them off. As it turns out I now do have time, as I just had one of the most eventful weeks of my life (not in a good way) and I currently find myself unemployed. It’s a long storry which I don’t want to go over so I am just going to leave it at that. Ooooh mysterious ;)

So while I look for a new job and sort various aaspects of my life out, I will make sure to post much more often! I always have a lot to say and now I don’t havee ay excuse not to say it!

ruby_sig

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Busy bee!

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

MX-003

I am busy to say the very least! People don’t really get how much work goes behind the Brisbane Zombie Walk so when I say tell them “Sorry, I’m too busy this week, I have zombie walk stuff to deal with” they seem to think I am just copping out. Honestly, this is a BIG deal and it’s taking up a huge amount of my time. It’s not just a case of saying “This is where and when it starts and finishes” and then just turning up and having fun. There is so much to deal with, from organising the permits to have the walk happen at all, getting Public Liability Insurance (god this was a huge deal), getting advertising, getting donations for the Brain Foundation (our chosen charity), dealing with our local city council, getting the after-party sorted, advertising, dealing with dozens of emails everyday, doing interviews for various media outlets etc etc. Meanwhile we hadn’t even thought about our costumes for the walk, which we’ve only just managed to finalise now (a few days before the walk, which is obviously nerve-wrecking).

The walk is this Sunday so if you’re in or from near Brisbane PLEASE come along because a lot of my blood, sweat and tears have gone into the walk this year and I want it to be a HUGE success. Besides, what else could be happening in Brisbane on a Sunday worth checking out over the Brisbane Zombie Walk???

ruby_sig

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Random Thoughts – Being Nice, Boys & Girls & Healthiness

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

I often have huge big, meaningful thoughts about important matters that I feel I should share but rarely get to. Usually this happens while I am doing boring things like showering, putting on makeup, cleaning the house or buying groceries so I don’t have anyone to talk to them about (and my poor goldfish memory causes me to forget about them when I see friends, but my excellent long-term memory remembers them many days later). Well, I guess that’s why I have a blog!

Being nice gets you everywhere. This should be common sense but a lot of people think that being nice just means you get screwed over and so it’s the arseholes who get everything their way. This can be true in some cases, after all it is the nasty customer who kicks up a stink who gets free stuff while the nice one who doesn’t say a word gets nothing at all. But it’s not always true, not by a long shot. I find that being polite and super nice where appropriate gets you a very long way. I’m always trying to be as nice as possible when dealing with strangers (when not overwhelmed with shyness, of course) and I’m always getting loveliness in return and in some cases I have received free stuff! I’ve had cranky people cheer up after being nice to them, and I’ve been cheered up myself when feeling moody by other cheerful people. And there’s nothing better than the feeling of knowing you were super nice to someone and possibly made their day brighter as a result!
“Guys and girls can’t be friends” is such a broad statement and many people can attest to the fact this is not always true. I’d like to see it changed to “Guys can’t be friends with girls”. OK so that’s pretty broad too but I find this is the case most of the time. Girls have no problems being friend with guys, rarely do they become friendly with guys to get closer to them with the hopes of going out with or sleeping with them nor do they find themselves wanting to shag their guy-friends after being friends with them for a while. In my experience guys struggle with this. It’s as though they can’t physically have a friendship with a girl without ending up wanting to shag them at some stage, often from the get go (though I am told the exception is when the girl is ugly though I bet that’s not always true). I have had this happen to me many times – I am friends with a guy and I think all is swell and totally platonic but then I get a rude shock when it is revealed they have some sort of crush on me. And all I ever did was be a nice person to them! I’ve even had it happen with guys who I am a total bitch to! It’s a great shame because I enjoy having guys as friends. There’s nit much you can do though, one of my dearest friends was very straightforward when we first met in telling me he liked me, so I honestly told him I wasn’t interested in anything more than a friendship and so we became close friends and we’ve never looked back! If you find out a male friend likes you more than as a friend, be honest and upfront. Don’t “give it a go” to spare his feelings because you’ll probably end up losing a good friendship as a result when you break up later on down the track.
Being healthy is EXPENSIVE & HARD! I’ve always been a yo-yo dieter which we all know is BAD so now I am on a general health kick which means healthy eating, lots of exercise and not beating myself up if ever I have a binge or decide to skip the gym one evening. It doesn’t mean I am shedding lots of weight quickly, but I am now really fit and feeling healthier than I ever have in my life. Hopefully the weight will fall off in its own time, but as long as I am healthy then I’m happy enough. But god it’s hard! No wonder people are so fat these days. After a week in Japan I noticed just how fat Australians are – when we get fat we get FAT! And no wonder! Fatty foods are cheap, convenient and more appealing. Healthy foods cost much more, they’re harder to find because half of what you think is healthy ain’t healthy at all, it’s slow and sure as hell don’t smell as good as pizza or KFC! I get so angry when non-fat people say comments about fat people needing to “just stop eating crap” because it’s not at all that easy! If I could get drive through salad (that’s not that nasty shit Macca’s tries to call a salad) that was the same price as a burger meal and tasted really good and was really good for you and not full of nasty, fatty surprises then man, we’d all be a lot slimmer! I spend at least twice more on groceries than my housemates simply because I eat healthy. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE!

OK that’s all my random thoughts for today. I am sure there will be many more to come!

ruby_sig

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