Cross-legged

I think that my favourite place to sit, in the entire house, is on the kitchen bench.

Does that make me a rebel?

And this is why it’s good to be a girl (censored)

So last night I ventured into the city to see a preacher by the name of Mark Driscoll at the entertainment centre. It was pretty crazy – 10,000 people (sold out) there to see an itinerant preacher. Apparently that hasn’t happened since 1979 when Billy Graham was preaching there.

Anyway, it was an Awesome time hanging out with Jem & Lyndal, Crystal & Lachie and the other few randoms that showed up. We saw the preach (pretty good, except for all the part that wasn’t preaching, ie. the music, the other guy from Katoomba that was doing the promos and talking about God etc…. All so FREAKING pentecostal!!! I hate that shit!!!), then went out for a few beers afterwards. Us girls (me, Lyndal and Crystal… now a pretty tight gang) were feeling fairly giggly and lightheaded due to no food and a couple of beers, and so, after a trip past the 24hr McDonalds opposite the hotel, we decided that a bottle of bubbly and a venture to the upstairs pool/sauna was in order.

We chilled in the pool, talking in-depth girly stuff. It’s so nice to hang out with girls who just aren’t prudes.

Anyway, so Crystal felt like one more smoke after our shenanigans and giggles, so we headed down barefoot to the outside of the hotel, then noticed afore-mentioned 24hr McDonalds beckoning us from across the road. Despite our promises to the girls hubbies to not go outside the hotel, and to be back in the room by 3am, we ate our second rounds of burgers and were in bed by just after 4. Sleeping on the floor has done very good things for my back.

And now, I am on the train to work (late… Oops… there is just so much talking to be done the morning after!). I feel so rejuvenated in spirit though (as I always do after an adventure), hanging out with these girls, talking about crazy things. I know I spend a lot of time hanging out with boys, because as a rule I feel more accepted by them than girls, but this was really really FUN.
And this is why it’s good to be a girl.

The New Things

I haven’t updated in a bit, and there is a lot going on. All good news, which is a lovely change

I’m changing jobs. Not companies, but jobs.

As of the 1st of September I will no longer be store manager of Mount Druitt *cheers*

Instead I will be Retail Administration Manager (wanky title provided by my boss after I requested one) which basically means I will be doing all the back end admin (remittances, chasing commissions etc.) and sales support for the stores and managers (fixing system issues, providing advice, doing stocktakes and being a general know-it-all). I get my own office (next to a tattoo parlour and round the corner from a good bookstore! Woot!) and no uniform *big smiles for wearing whatever the hell I want* and I get to spend most days by myself pumping music while I work! I don’t have to work weekends (unless I happen to want weekdays off) and I get to pick what colour I want to paint my office (colour suggestions are appreciated).
I’m happy. Very happy. I can’t wait to start and get out of the hell-hole that is Mount Druitt.

In other news, uni is going well… When I do it. I was up til 4am last week doing a psychology assignment (in which I sounded incredibly intelligent) but I haven’t touched it since then. I need to though. Some hardcore studying this week for sure.

My heart hurts, but enough about that.

Jonni pierced another hole in my ear for me, so now I got 11 piercings just in my ears. Pretty cool. It sounds a bit trashy. But it’s not. Trust me. I’m all class.

Training tonight. That will be good. I haven’t gone in about a month. It will feel good to do some exercise after so long.

Parklife is coming up too! Thanks to Stacey (who bought me a ticket for my birthday) I get to see Goldfrapp (admittedly, I only started listening to her after I found out she was headlining, but I now have two albums and heart them both) and Peaches and a whole bunch of other wicked acts. PLUS, what could be better than dressing up kookily and hanging outside all day with friends and awesome music everywhere? Excitement!

MGMT (with my sister Sarah who has fantastic taste in music, and though I’ve never hear them I am assured that I will love it… plus we get to dress in mass fluro) and Alicia Keys (the lovely Kitty Cat has bought me a ticket) are also on the calender for later this year.

I also have two new sweeeeet pairs of glasses! $400 for the pink pair, got the $300 pair for free, and then got $150 back off MBF anyway, so $250 for $700 worth of specs! Yays

I need new clothes too, because my jeans and skirts are all too big, and I’m gaining a reputation for having the trademark Chris Georgiou bum crack always showing. That’s not cool. Neither is buying new clothes unfortunately… I’m quite partial to the ones I’ve got. And there is always the money issue. *sigh*

So that’s my news pretty much. What is going on in the world of others? Tell me all!!!

Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night

So last night, I DANCED IN THE SNOW.
I love the blue mountains.

And the title of this blog has nothing to do with the content. Just the song I have in my head.

Blog for a Sunday Morning

Written at approximately 9.50am before starting work

And today is a day when I am completely dissatisfied with who I am.

I should be thinner.
Up to date on current affairs, like the war between Georgia (which I only just found out was a country next to Russia, and not just a state of America) and Russia.
I’m just a dumb blonde sometimes.

I should be studying, not partying.
I should stop getting so hung up on boys.
I should work harder at work.
I should get to bed earlier.
I should be nicer, funnier.
I should stop messing with people’s hearts.
I should protect my own.

I should play my piano more, and write more songs.
And I should learn to sight-read.
I should try to find the heart of God.

I’m not being ridiculously self-deprecating here, please understand that.
This is simply an outlet for this morning’s frustration with myself.
It may just pass by lunchtime.

And a thank you to the friends that listen to me when I’m in moods like this, or help me talk out my problems when I need to.

Maggie
Tink
Stacey
Lariss
Gav
Jonni
Cam.

Thank you.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll be a better person.

knuckle down

It’s time to knuckle down.
Riley has arrived.
Another alter-ego.

She is sensible, level-headed.

She goes to work, works hard. Puts in extra hours if necessary, and doesn’t complain (though, she may drop hints at how much effort she puts in, just for some appreciation).

She goes home and does uni work until 10.30pm, when she promptly signs off for bed.

She wakes up within two alarms (and only snoozing for half an hour, because a girl needs a little indulgence, even if this girl has a bit of a stick up her ass).

She doesn’t party much on the weekends, because she needs ‘me’ time. Possibly a little too much of it. Mandy thinks she’s a recluse. Possibly she is hiding from something. But ‘I need to study’ is a good cover for avoiding the world.

She wears a watch. And sensible jewellery.

She’s 24, with a 15yr old shy schoolgirl heart.

She has a calender on her wall, and a diary in her bag.

She chews on her pen lids thoughtfully, and looks down through her glasses.

She needs to go to bed now, it’s 10.21pm.

one of the different children

So my brother got married on Saturday, in lovely cold Melbourne. It was beautiful, of course. I’m pretty sure it couldn’t have NOT been beautiful. Jeremy and Sally are so cute together it makes me sick. Well, not really. But almost. They are Mary-Poppins-Practically-Perfect-In-Every-Way.

I sound a little bitter. I’m not towards them, I adore them. But I guess, yeah, I am a little bitchy about the fact that my little bro managed to find the perfect partner and get married before I did.
Oh well. I’ll get over it.
Eventually.

I’m not going to describe the whole wedding, other than to say it was a picturesque and incredibly long day. Attached is a photo of the too-cute-for-words couple. I cried a lot, more than I have in years. I was so sad. Happy, but sad. Again, probably the lost feeling.

The beautiful couple

Dad made a really funny speech at the reception. Plenty of foot-in-mouth disease there, with numerous unintentional inappropriate remarks. I didn’t think that my father was capable of those.
Favourite inappropriate comment:
“We all know that a marriage isn’t easy. You come across issues, like which way the toilet lid sits after it’s been used, or how the toothpaste is squeezed, from the bottom or the top. From living with Jeremy, I know that he is a bottom-squeezer.”
*copious amounts of laughter*
“I’m obviously speaking to the wrong audience here tonight. After that reaction, I’m definitely not saying what kind of squeezer Sally is.”
And then we all lost it.
Hilarious stuff.

It was interesting though, my mum was saying that she ended up with four really different children. Of course, everybody laughed, because it sounded like we were all mental cases (which at least two of us are), but she’s like no, they are all very different, very different from other people, and different from each other. And here I was, thinking that by being different, I was the special one in the family.
I hate epiphanies sometimes.

I’m feeling very lost right now. I have a million thoughts in my head, and no idea how to process them. I need a hug. I need to be loved. I need to find a ’suitable boy’. I need to find myself. I need to love myself. I need to be happy with me, just me. I need so many things. And I just don’t know how to do all of this without going mental.

I don’t think I can write anymore. There is so much more I was going to say, but cyberspace is not always a safe place to store your heart.

goooooin’ to the chapel and i’m goooooonna get maaaaaaarried…

well not me.
my bro. jeremy.
and his gorgeous fiancee sally.

i’m supposed to be packing (cos i leave the house at 8am tomorrow morning and it’s already 11.11pm), but i haven’t updated in aaages, so therefore i am blogging.

work is stress. my stomach is almost permanently sore from said stress.

wedding will be fun (as will the great ocean road trip that me, cam and simon are taking afterwards).

i had an indian customer tell me he loved me and that i was his girlfriend. i’m like ‘dude, you know love is a really strong word right?’ and ‘no i’m not’ respectively.

i got all my uni stuff. cool.

i got some new clothes. also cool. it’s been a long time.

my mum sent me a beautiful scarf as a surprise in the mail. i adore my mum. we speak french. wrongly. on purpose. it’s great.

i hate work. did i mention that? also mt druitt. it’s the cesspool of the earth. i’m going to stop thinking about it now though.

i’m hungry. i feel like a cheese jaffle. alas, we have no jaffle-maker.
mental note: add that to the to-buy list.

i should be packing. or at least making a list of things to pack so i can freak out and pack it all in the morning. hmmm. that’s a plan.

i’m going to go and raid the fridge now.

Mandy – The Musical

So a while ago I made a Life Soundtrack for Riss. I was thinking that I should put down a few songs from that, and others that have been added since, that make up the soundtrack of my life.

These are songs that have gotten me through events, that represent times, that inspired me to dance through days, in no particular order.

Dizzy Deejays – Good Life
This was my wake up song, on the way to work on a Saturday morning at 5.30am. Blasting this in the car made me bubble inside with happiness and guaranteed a giggle every single time I played it. The most amazing happy song.

Bach – Air on a G String
When I was younger I used to put this song on at full volume after an argument with my Dad and cry out my sadness. It always left me feeling better. Drained, but better.

Zephyr – Destiny
The breakup from Marty song. I played this on repeat for three hours until I was able to make up my mind to follow through.

Chicane – No Ordinary Morning
The very happiest times with Marty, edged bittersweetly with intensely missing him.

Holiday in Spain – Counting Crows
Driving to work at Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast in my blue volvo Charlie back in 04/05, sunny hotness pouring through the windscreen in my first very own car. Days with Maggie, my bestie, my manager, my awesomeness.

How To Save A Life – The Fray
Driving to work at Pac Fair on the Gold Coast in my white Betty-Boop-Mobile volvo last year, banked up traffic in the heat of the Gold Coast Highway, to spend all day doing jack-all with my bestest friends who just happened to work with me. Good days.

I Can’t Be With You – The Cranberries
Cam moved to Melbourne. And broke my heart. But I mended it with superglue, so it’s okay now.

Don’t You Think It’s Time – Bob Evans
The reason I moved to the Blue Mountains.

Sigur Ros – Hoppipola
Unexpected kisses on the beach under a starry night with the waves lapping below and trees swaying above.

Rachel Yamagata – Be Be Your Love
Sitting on the beach at Brighton-Le-Sands, enjoying the sun and the freshness of the wind, burning my legs, reading Pollyanna, thinking the happiest thoughts and dreaming of a boy.

Emiliana Torrini – Nothing Brings Me Down
Driving home at 7am after an eventful New Year’s 2008.

Damien Rice – Accidental Babies
Lying in bed, imagining, dreaming, wanting, waiting, aspiring, wishing, floating, dozing.

Chicane – Autumn Tactics
Nights in the loungeroom with Riss, glowsticks, swaying, dancing, outside adventures, prettiness.

Tiga – You Gonna Want Me
Clubbing in Brisvegas with Amber, meeting random boys for adventures at Southbank, no sleep, Gloria Jeans at 4am, red sequined headscarves, dancing til our feet were dead and then dancing some more.

Dashboard Confessional – The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most
Lying on the lounge, watching Marty paint the wall purple.

Flunk – Play
Moving from the Gold Coast back to the Sunshine Coast. The real breakup song.

Anberlin – Foreign Language
Driving home from work, up the mountain, giving the best air drum performance in the world.

Anberlin – Adelaide
Driving home from camping with Maggie and Cam. Go Pony!!!

Bobby Darin – Beyond the Sea
Night adventures between 10pm – 3am with Cam. Mt Tambourine, Lamington National Park, random 4WD tracks in Eagle Heights, wherever. Pure funness.

Greenday – Minority
1999. The days of ICQ in the computer room.

Blue October feat. Imogen Heap – Congratulations
6hr conversations with Allie, lying in bed, falling asleep still talking on the headset, realising it’s 7am and time to go to work but wishing I still had 5 more hours to talk.

Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus
Gothed-up times with Maggie at her cousins house in Victoria Point. The first of the Stir-Fried Chocolate Cake nights.

U2 – The Saints Are Coming
Days at Crazy John’s. Playing at Tetris all day, chatting to Sam and Bailey, red rooster chips and post-mix coke, getting visits from random friends.

Does anybody have any of their own songs that remind them of times/places/people/things?
Nostalgia.

windy nights

and then there are nights like these where you feel that the world will not be at rights again until you are taken into someone’s arms and held close for a long, long time.