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Interview with Radaza

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.

Posted in My Advice, Uncategorized | View Comments

Allow me to get political for just a minute

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

Finders Keepers Markets

June 27th, 2010

This weekend I went and saw the Finders Keepers markets at the Old Museum (my favourite building in Brisbane as a matter of fact) for the first time. Admittedly I mainly only went because my good friend Lara was one of the organisers but was pleasantly surprised by how good these markets were! They’re indie markets for up and coming designers and artists and feature lots of unique arts, crafts, jewelry, clothing and music from all over Australia.

I went with my mum and a couple of friends, who ended up leaving mum and I to wander the markets as we found ourselves spending a good half an hour at most of the stalls. Unfortunately neither of us had money on the Saturday (I had too many bills this week and mum left her purse at home!) so we returned on Sunday to do some spending. I had a migraine like nothing else but was desperate for a few pieces I saw so braved the nausea and throbbing head pains and spent the early afternoon getting some amazing jewelry and brooches.

(Pink Girl brooch by Lauren Carney, Alice in Wonderland brooches by Tree Party Design, Skull brooch by White Square & my FAVOURITE, the owl with mice corpses in his tummy necklace by Made by White)

There’s also music but it’s all cutesy indie pop rock which I am really not a fan of, so I didn’t check out any bands (not that my migraine would have allowed for it anyway) as well as food and drink stalls. Unfortunately the cupcakes weren’t very nice so hopefully he next markets in November will have a proper cupcake stall *nudge nudge* though that was my only complaint about the whole thing, which was as a whole very excellent indeed.

So you won’t be able to go to these markets any time soon since the next ones in Brisbane won’t be on again til November. But that’s good in a way because I may actually be able to save money and buy a lot more next time! They’re also in Sydney so if you’re from down that way, I insist you check them out!

This is how I look with a killer migraine, by the way. Please note the nasty bed hair (which I only just got cut on Friday as a matter of fact). I am wearing my new lucite Eiffel Tower necklace by Tree Party Design.

Posted in Fashion and makeup, My Life | View Comments

Ruby Teaches: Japanese Fashion – Gyaru

June 16th, 2010

(Image from hautekeikk.com)

Ever since I spent a week in Tokyo in September last year I have been kind of obsessed with this fashion style followed by young Japanese women called Gyaru. To be honest I’m not even sure if that’s the proper name for the style as the look is also referred to as Kogyaru or Kogal though it tends to apply more to the girls who wear Japanese school uniforms all the time. Then there’s also Ganguro which is also suitable except in this trend they go overboard with the tanning until their faces are almost black and then use white makeup which can look really creepy (example). For now I am going to go with Gyaru because it seems to be the most accurate term to describe this style, please correct me if I’m using the wrong term or if there’s another one I don’t know about. Please note I am no expert in this style and this is all based on personal observations and research on the internet. Please let me know if I’ve made any mistakes and I’m keen to learn as much as possible about this wonderful fashion!

The gyaru fashion in Japan is all about looking “Western”. The girls take the basic elements of western fashion and make them their own. One of the main aspects is the hair and makeup as this is what transforms a regular Japanese girl into a gyaru girl. They usually lighten their hair to a nice golden brown or dark strawberry blonde colour and add lots of extensions to make it long and thick. They tease the back to make it super thick and usually curl the ends so their hair looks luxurious and wavy. As for makeup the main focus is on the eyes, to make them as big and bright as possible. They usually wear contacts that alter the colour of their eyes and make the iris much, much bigger. They also wear fake lashes or at the very least, special lash lengthening mascara that makes their eyelashes much thicker and longer than normal mascara does (such as Fiberwig). Combined with clever use of eyeshadow and eyeliner their eyes appear HUGE and very Western. I saw one girl in Tokyo who drew the bottom line of her eyeliner go a good 5mm below her actual eyeline to create the effect of big, round eyes. From a distance it was convincing but up close it was really bizarre!

I found this video the other day that has two girls demonstrating how they do their makeup to go from “ugly” to “beautiful”. You can really see how much of a difference it makes here because they show them only half made-up before they finish off their makeup:

(This is the second half of the clip)

Their fashion can vary, though typically they wear the latest fashions from shopping centers like Shibuya 109 (which is seriously the greatest shopping center of all times, ever! Unless you’re not into young female fashion, of course…). It’s typically short skirts, platformed heels, cute tops or jumpers with chunky belts and designer bags and jewelry. The style can range from cute to sexy or in-your-face colourful and funky and I’ve also witnessed a goth sorta take on the look too.

One of my favourite features of a gyaru girl are their accessories, especially their nails! They’re usually the ones with the insane nail art that prevents them from being able to use their fingers properly. I witnessed a few girls trying to text with these crazy long nails with massive jewels on them and just about died with jealousy. I’ve had Japanese nail art done before and while it was pretty crazy by Australian standards, it was pretty tame compared to some of what you see on hardcore gyaru girls. Another awesome accessory they have are their phone charms. Seriously, I don’t know how they put up with so many small stuffed toys on their phones, which are already a LOT bigger than what we’re used to I should also point out. When their phones aren’t in use, which admittedly isn’t very often, they leave the charms hanging out of their back pockets or handbags as fashion accessories. It’s so totally over the top, cute and cool.

It seems that most sources online regard the style as being for young, silly girls who have disposable incomes and are obsessed with fashion and consumerism but I don’t think that’s the case any more (bare in mind most of these sources also said gyaru doesn’t really exist any more when it very clearly does and kept likening it to the “Valley Girls” of the USA). It really is just a fashion trend that is followed by so many girls from all walks of life. To me it’s just a fashion style that’s trying to copy a Western style of fashion that doesn’t actually exist and has in itself become really unique and absolutely gorgeous. Apparently it takes hours for the really full-on gyaru girls to get ready each day, as this article explains (though it’s a good article I think a lot of the info is a bit off as I’m not sure if they’re actually trying to look like “living dolls” as such). I take a good hour to get ready each day so the mind boggles at the thought of taking up to five hours in the morning to get ready, but hey, no pain no gain, right?!

The thing that actually fascinates me the most though is that a lot of non-Asian girls, in particular white girls from Europe and the USA are now adopting the style. The thought of white girls trying to look like Japanese girls who are trying to look white is hilarious! But they do a pretty good job at it in most cases, my current favourite is Cupcake Couture who is a 19 year old blonde girl from Finland who absolutely defines “gyaru” despite being the “wrong” race. Amazing! I am very willing to admit I could NOT be bothered maintaining this look, so I am happy to just appreciate it from afar and give kudos to those girls who live the gyaru way of life.

Posted in Fashion and makeup, Teaches of Ruby | View Comments

Music on My Mind – Part 3

June 14th, 2010

For today’s Music on My Mind I am not going to go through the songs I’ve had in my head lately as such. The other day I asked people on my Facebook to tell me their favourite RnB songs from the 90s, which is pretty much the best era for RnB in my opinion, and as a result I rediscovered some of my all time favourites. I often wish RnB and hip hop would revert back to the carefree days of the early 90s where it was all about good times and having fun and being in love and going to house parties. I really miss those feel good tunes, I really can’t think of any from the last 10 years from urban music. I’m sure there’s plenty but since none come to mind it seems they’re probably few and far between.

So I thought I’d share some of my favourite feel-good RnB tunes that you’ll either remember fondly or fall in love with for the first time:

I am a big fan of Will Smith in general and I don’t think I know anyone who doesn’t like at least one of his songs from when he was the Fresh Prince. This one’s especially good. I always wanted to go to these sorts of carefree parties where you just lounge around in your bikini and dance all sensual-like for the boyz.

Ohhh I was so obsessed with this song when I was… well I guess I was about 13 when it came out. I taped it off Red (what is now called Channel V in Australia) and would watch it on repeat so I could learn all of the words.

OK so I defy anyone to say they don’t love this song. It’s the ultimate laid back RnB song about going to house parties and having fun. Gosh I wish this happened more in my life!

Aaahhh Kid n Play! I only really got into them in the last couple of years when my boyfriend got me to watch House Party. I’d always wanted to see it as a kid because I saw TLC were in the 3rd movie but mum thought they were a bit too mature for me and my sister so we never got to rent those videos. Now I am obsessed! And almost know all the steps to the Funky Charleston from the first House Party.

Speaking of TLC, they were my all time favourite as a teenager in the mid-late 90s. It wasn’t til a few years later that I discovered how awesome they were in the early 90s! Check that crazy fashion!!! I love it so much I once got my workmates to dress up as old-school TLC at work.

OK so I was never really into Boyz II Men because I was never into RnB ballads which I assumed was all they did (I did appreciated them more when I realised it was them singing in “Hey Lover” by LL Cool J which is one of my all time favourite songs). This one is so much fun and guaranteed to make me dance every time I hear it. I also just noticed as I re-watched this now, that Another Bad Creation is in the clip! Awww.

Yet another girl group! They had it goin’ on back then! This time it’s SWV who were awesome, in fact I listen to their album a lot even to this day. This is my favourite of their songs, though the “Human Nature Mix” featuring Michael Jackson is also pretty unreal.

I didn’t discover this song or Tony! Toni! Toné til a few years ago and loved this some immediately (I do vaguely remember it from when I was younger, shame I wasn’t more attentive back then). I very much admire the fact they play their own instruments.

I hope you guys didn’t think I’d forget about Michael Jackson!?! This is in my Top 10 o All Time Favourites. I waited up late to see the premier of this back when it wad first released. I may even have the tape I recorded it on somewhere still. I used to practice that dance so often! I loved this whole album, very New Jack Swing which was quite different for MJ. This epic clip doesn’t really match any of the others, but you can’t beat the lyrics for good times.

And last in today’s list is one of the greatest RnB feel good songs ever! This is such a classic and I always feel sad that Bobby Brown went down the path he (and Whitney) did. Such an awesome singer and check out that dancing. Oh yeah, goooood times!

Please tell me your favourites! I don’t even care if they fit the “feel good” theme I was rollin’ with today, I just want to know what you loved from that era so I can (re)discover some classics!

Posted in I love Links, Music Love, Teaches of Ruby | View Comments

Curious Questions!

June 10th, 2010

GUESS WHAT? I finally got with the times (about 10 years too late) and got a webcam. And by “got a webcam” I mean “nicked the one my boyfriend owns and never uses from his room while he was out”! Mwahaha! I have ALWAYS wanted one but always chickened out of it, like I was being too vain or vulgar for wanting to project my face to the world on the internet at any time I felt like. Sometimes I am weird like that. By the way, that face up there is how I look about 90% of the time when I am on the internet. Except my hair isn’t usually up, you can thank tonight’s exercise for that. So now that I have a webcam, I now also have ROBO.TO!!! Check mine out: robo.to/rockfotze

Anyway, the main reason or today’s blog is that I decided to bring it back the good old days of LJ where we all used to do little memes and share them around. I saw this one at Monster Girl Writes and liked the questions so decided I’d join the fun!

1. Would you ever get cosmetic surgery? If not, why not? If yes, what would you want done?
Yes. I don’t believe in cosmetic surgery for the sake of it (I’m looking at YOU Heidi Montag) but if you’re really unhappy with one of your features and have the funds to fix it, then I don’t see the problem. Make sure you’re doing it or the right reasons though, not just because some assholr guy will like you better if your nose was smaller and your boobs were bigger. Personally I’d get lipo like THAT if I had $10,000.

2. What is “your drink”?
I don’t know if I have one! I enjoy a range of drinks depending on where I am and the occasion. I tend to go for vodka lime soda’s the most though I am very partial to cider.

3. What are your five fashion essentials?
Mascara, an excellent bra, a cute tutu or amazing dress, bright shoes and perfect hair.

4. Do you have any tattoos? What are they? If not, do you want some? What would you like to get?
Yes, I have many. On last count I have 13 and I will probably get more in the future though I have slowed right down and am pretty content with how many I have at the moment. They range from the grisly (skeletons/skulls, zombies etc) to the girly (pansies on my feet) and the downright geeky (TWO Harry Potter tattoos so far).

5. What is something most people don’t know about you?
There is a lot people don’t know about me. I am quite secretive about most things and have a lot of issues without opening up when it comes to my honest, inner-most feelings. I am also totally paranoid about hurting peoples feelings or making people worry unnecessarily so I usually keep anything that might cause hurt/concern to myself to avoid and bad feelings. It’s terrible, I know, but I’m working on it constantly and am getting much better. Oh and I am crazy shy! I know I don’t look like I would be, and I tend to come off as bold and abrupt to most people but I am painfully shy. Another thing I am constantly working on!

Please feel free to share your answers in the comments!

Posted in Body and Soul, My Life, Random Thoughts | View Comments

Stop Being So Damn PC

June 9th, 2010

I have a bit of a gripe with various people on the internet at the moment. “Oh what is it this time, Cara?” I hear you moan, and so I will tell you! Various bloggers have been having a bit of a whinge (by which I mean, are getting all of their underpants in massive knots over) some Frock Watch thing over at MamaMia.com.au which boggles my mind. I don’t really have much to do with that site except maybe having a quick squiz at it now and then whenever some shit storm is brewing because someone didn’t like something Mia Freedman wrote and so it wound up on some crap current affairs program or there was a bit of a hubbub on twitter about it. But this took my interest because of how passionate these girls were getting. Turns out it’s a case of people considering her commenting on the fashion of celebrities at various events to be WRONG and against her strong Body Image ethos. She doesn’t comment on any of the fashions as far as I can tell, but as people comment on them and can be kind of nasty sometimes, it’s apparently hurtful and turns women against each. Um, what?

I would love to live in a world where we can all appreciate one another for how we look and the different choices we make. But I am also a realist and know that unless we all get full frontal lobotomies or turn into those old fashioned depictions of the future where we all wear the same space-age outfits and look kind of the same, that ain’t going to happen. It goes against human nature not to comment on other people, be it in a negative or positive way. Expecting women to look at celebrities who are wearing dresses that cost as much as our cars and jewels that cost more than our houses and not have something to say is preposterous. If we don’t like what they’re wearing, we have every right to say so if we want to. It’s not very nice, and we all should learn to stop being so damn critical all the time, but it’s what most people do and it generally doesn’t hurt anyone because most of us whisper such comments to a friend, have a chuckle and move on with our lives.

Mia Freedman strives for women of realistic body shapes to be seen in magazines and on TV. She’s not campaigning for a world where anyone can wear whatever they want without someone out there not liking it. Give her a fucking break. We live in a world where terrible things happen everyday. There are entire countries and religions that force women to live like slaves to their husbands and wear clothing that ensure they do not look desirable to any other man. We live in a world where LGBT people aren’t allowed the most basic right of marriage and are often persecuted and in severe cases, killed for having the “wrong” sexuality. And yet here we have people getting so mad about something so trivial. Yes, someone making a snide remark about how they don’t like what some celebrity wore to an awards show is trivial and meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Because a) There are far more important thing to worry about in the world and b) The celeb’s don’t give a shit what we lowly common folk think, and even if they did I am sure they can dry their tears with their big wads of cash and buy a few Cartier diamonds to cheer themselves up!

When we live in a world where there’s no discrimination about race, gender, religion or sexuality then we can all go crazy and stop people from having opinions about what other women wear. If indeed that’s what you really want.

Posted in Body and Soul, Fashion and makeup, Pissed Off, Random Thoughts, Rants | View Comments

What’s Goin’ On

June 7th, 2010

I am a strong believer in not writing unless I have something worthwhile to say, hence why I have been a bit quiet round here lately! But I also believe sometimes it’s a good idea to blog about random things and not just about one subject each and every time. Which is why I am writing right now! I figured I’d keep ya’ll updated on what’s occupying me so that you k now I’ve not just ditched my blog and moved on to other things.

OMG look who is dressed corporate! That’s right, me! After getting so many excellent comments on my last post, I figured I’d suck it up and get some good corporate pieces to start myself off and see how I went. Even more shocking, I got both the short and skirt at Cue! On Friday after work while killing time before an appointment I accidentally discovered they were having a sale and found this gorgeous pencil skirt and shirt or over half price. Of course, being the spend thrift I usually am, this was still pretty pricey for what I’d planned to spend but damn they’re so nice! The skirt is lovely and fits so well and doesn’t give me the dreaded fat-office-chair-arse! It has a cute ruffle at the back but I’m afraid I am not yet brave enough to go posting pictures of my butt on the internet (sorry guys!). This picture doesn’t do the outfit justice as I was tired after a long Monday at work, plus I have a cold and am pretty run down. But I got lots of positive comments at work, my team leader was so delighted when she saw me walk into work! So it was definitely worth it. Now to brave the dreaded work pants which I also managed to buy this weekend (though as it turns out I’ve gone down a pants size so I was actually kind of excited about the pants in the end).

As I mentioned, I have gone and gotten myself another cold. I was still suffering from the one I got months ago and then BAM along comes another one! The fact I forget to wear jackets all the time probably played a significant part in this so I have no one to blame but myself. As such I spent the weekend at my mum’s place to chill out and avoid the temptation of going out (which was hard as a close friend was having a farewell do on Saturday night). As such I learned a new skill: SEWING! Yep, I’ve moved on from scrapbooking to sewing! I’ve always wanted my own sewing machine so I can remodel all my old, daggy clothes and I have sewn one or two minor things in my life, but this weekend I spent an afternoon learning how to sew a jungle-themed cushion! Oh yes! It’s not yet finished but I was pretty proud of my efforts and may well show off the finished product whenever I get around to it! And to prove it really happened:

AMAZING!

We are getting right into the organisation of the Brisbane Zombie Walk for 2010. Right now we are looking or sponsors to help us make sure the walk actually happens! We’re getting together business proposals and all sorts of crazy stuff I never thought I’d find myself doing in the name of zombies! So far the walk is set to take place on Sunday 24th October, though there is a slim chance that could change. I’ve just designed a logo for the walk (sneak peak here) and am now going to start redesigning the website which is very daunting but also pretty exciting. We’ll soon have the option where people can register, and for those extra nice people, donate money at the same time.
We’re actually looking for volunteers for helping out with this years walk, if you or someone you know is interested PLEASE let me know by emailing zombie@brisbanezombiewalk.com as we need all the help we can get!

Posted in My Life, Weekly Wrap, What I Wore, Zombie Walk | View Comments

Do I Look Like I Know How To Dress Corporate?

June 1st, 2010

I found myself in a bit of a dilemma yesterday at work. When I first started the job back in February I’d wondered if anyone was going to say anything to me, but after three months I figured it was all good, which as it turns out, wasn’t the case at all. I was asked by my team leader to start wearing work clothes that fitted the company dress code as some people higher up had asked her to talk to me about how I dress. As it turns out my zany, off-beat style which I’ve toned down to suit a semi-corporate environment wasn’t quite right. I was pretty mad at first (still am, actually) because while I understand my style of dressing isn’t what you’d see listed in the regular company dress standards, I felt I was doing a bloody good job of looking nice while remaining an individual. Serves me right or making assumptions, I guess.

My manager asked me if I could just wear some regular work pants instead of my usual skirt/legging combo. I was appalled and honestly told her “I don’t wear pants” because I don’t! I used to wear jeans a lot and even use to wear black work pants all the time, but that was years ago and I’m strictly a cute skirt/dress with leggings kinda girl nowadays. I told her I’d do what I could but what I wore to work was all I really had and so the deadline of “tomorrow” (I know, right) wasn’t going to work because I wouldn’t be able to get anything “business-like” until pay day. I think she was surprised that I simply do not have normal, boring, work clothes like everyone else. I’ve worked in fairly casual places for a few years now and since this is a call center, I thought my funky twist on business wear would be more than adequate! Anyone who’s ever worked in a call center like the ones I’ve worked in probably get why I’m feeling so hard done by about this. Call centers are just always so much more relaxed clothing-wise than most office environments, because our jobs typically suck a whole lot more than typical office jobs.

So, this leaves me with a dilemma. I’ve obviously got to get some more corporate attire unless I want upper management hating my guts forever (I already noticed some evil eyes today because I literally just had to wear what I normally wear due to running late and not having any other options). So this is where I need YOUR advice, guys! I’m not a corporate sorta girl and I don’t want to look like a total business jerk with a big butt in crappy business pants. What brands are available that aren’t too expensive, look good and will prevent me from getting into any more trouble? Any shops in Brisbane that you can recommend that suit a girl with an arse like Kim Kardashian (who lacks the millions of dollars to make it look amazingly sexy). How can I take some dreadful work pants and make it look a little bit funky? How can I do this without selling my soul???

For the record, this is basically the sort of thing I wear to work every day:

That is, a black button down shirt, usually with the sleeves rolled up a bit, a black tutu-style skirt over plain leggings with my satin, 3/4 sleeved blazer, some plain lats and maybe some cute clips in my hair or a nice brooch. I believe it’s the skirts and leggings that aren’t working or me, hence the suggestion of work pants, as I cannot see how my shirt/jacket combination can be wrong in any way.

So please give me any suggestions and if you work in a corporate business environment, how do you ensure you don’t to look like a frumpy old dag or a slutty secretary (seriously, it seems to go one way or the other and nowhere in between, as far as I’m concerned) and maintain some sanity???

(Please note any suggestions involving “Get a new job” are duly noted in advance and my options are already being explored)

Posted in Fashion and makeup, My Life, Pissed Off | View Comments

Bitches Be Crazy

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