The Halloween Party

It makes me happy that people had fun at our party. Part of me was a little bit afraid that after all that planning and sacrificing of assignment time, our party would suck, people would be bored and we would be left with heaps of debt. In the end, we didn't get all the money back but it's okay cause Nancy and I are willing to split the cost.

I really liked all the costumes! (Bobina, if you're reading this, my sister and parents thought your costume was the best.) I wanted to nominate so many people for the best costume categories but it wasn't possible and people were getting rowdy anyway (which was to be expected).

So highlights for me were:

• The dance floor. If we ever do this again, I think I've got some lights we could use for inside
• Giving people toffee apples and seeing them smile
• Watching people eat a 'spoonful' of vegemite
• People using our decorations in their photos! It seemed like no one really appreciated the decorations but seeing them appear in photos is enough for me. Thanks again Juliana for your bat-mobile. (Geddit??)
• People using the projector - I seriously thought no one was going to bother with it

Lowlights:

• Washing vomit off the front porch and steps. Fun fun fun fun. Why couldn't you have aimed a metre to the left?
• Not eating any of the food Tian made. Except for half a wand. Actually during the whole night, I ate: 1 slice of pizza, half a cupcake and half a wand.
• Waiting for people to leave up until 1:30pm. Actually I didn't really mind doing this but I was just really tired.
• Clean up duty. Although it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be tbh.
• Not being able to get a group photo... with all 70+ of our guests. Okay that probably would've been impossible anyway.

Anyway, we should totes make this a yearly thing... and get more people on the team to help out as well.

Awkward Cynthia Strikes Again

Thursday and Friday did weird things to my self-esteem. On Thursday, I was told by my tutor in PR that she and the lecturer wanted to use my essay as an exemplar response for next semester. I felt happy because that was my first real academic achievement in university that went beyond just getting a good grade for an assignment. I didn't realise but I've missed feeling appreciated for doing good academically. The lack of recognition you get for doing anything at university kind of killed my drive to produce good quality work (it spat on and decimated it to be honest). Whereas in high school, teachers acted like I shat rainbows whenever I handed in a decent essay to encourage me to keep up the work ethic. I miss high school. Wait no, I just miss being fawned upon.

On Friday, my self esteem died a slow and painful death. Basically, I'd applied to become one of those helpers on orientation day at university. I'd gotten past the first stage (which was sending them your responses as to why you wanted to get in) and was now at the second - a group interview.

Basically I suck at interviews, have no natural charisma and everything that comes out of my mouth sounds fake and contrived. I bombed it epically. It was one hour of internal cringing at myself and admiration for all the other interviewees at being able to talk so confidently about themselves. Go Cynthia! Your awkwardness has once again prevailed.

Um yeah, so that was fun.

Uni aside, I didn't have that bad a week - mostly because of all the Halloween planning I got to do. I am so excited for this party - you don't even understand. It's probably a bad thing though. I've hyped it up so much in my mind but the reality will probably suck. And then Nancy and I will just spend the night in a corner drinking and pegging eyeball chocolates at people who walk past.

I also realised that on the Friday night before the Halloween party, I'm going to be at uni for one of my club/society parties. That's one less day of preparation I'm going to get. And seeing as how I'm a bit of a last minute person, I will probably regret that so much on Saturday.

Anyhow, here's another picture of how much stuff we bought on Thursday night. I wasn't kidding or joking when I uploaded it onto Facebook. People need to pay us back. Or we will be short a few hundred dollars.

 

Yes we even bought a broomstick. Problem?

The Quest for the Lace Up Belt

Do you know how much trouble and humiliation I endured to get this belt? Well let me tell you about it.

I was at the city today, catching up with some journalism friends who I hadn't seen in a while. And since I was at the city, I decided to do a bit of Halloween costume shopping. My best bet was probably Paddy's Market and sure enough, I came across quite a significant number of stalls selling lace up belts. The only problem? *whispers* They were all slutty costume stalls.

Do you know which ones I'm talking about? I'm sure you do. They're the stalls which sell the 'sexy schoolgirl' and 'medieval pub wench' costumes. There are also some really weird, uncomfortable-looking, lingerie pieces just boldly hanging at the front all like, "Hey, look at me, I'm a red stringy, bedazzled thong-thing".

Okay, I probably sound like such a prude right now. But seriously. The moment you walk into these shops, you get judged. There were people walking past just leering at the shoppers inside. Also, when the lady was testing the fit of the belt on me, a couple of prepubescent teen boys walked in and started pointing and laughing at all the costumes. Yeah, it was fun...

Anyway, I did end up getting the belt at a cheaper price than I would've gotten in a retail store (I bargained for it) so I  suppose it was worth it. And if anyone's still looking for costumes, try Paddy' market. Just be prepared to endure some humiliation if you really want to get the good stuff...

Praise the Lorde!

Today made me happy. Not jump for joy, kiss a baby happy but the type of happiness that comes from knowing that you're healthy, you've got friends and your future may be a bit fuzzy now but hey, it could be worse. I can't even begin to express how much better this semester is. I feel so much more in control of my life and I don't spend every second day cursing journalism to the fiery depths of hell. Oh journalism. If you were a person, you would be Tony Abbott. That's what I think.

Part of my happiness also comes from my walk around the city. After 10 months of procrastination, my friend from PR and I finally ate a proper lunch at a restaurant (instead of just popping over to Market City for sushi and Easyway). It was pretty chill and I could pretend for a moment that I wasn't at uni. We both knew the correct thing to do would've been walk back to the library and work on our essays but when we got back outside, the weather was so good and the city was just....there, there for us to explore.

We ended up walking all the way down to Darling Harbour and just watching seagulls annoy the hell out of people. Sometimes I forget that UTS is in the heart of the city. Usually, my university life consists of taking the train to Central, going to the lectures/class and taking the train home. It can feel so insular at times. But it doesn't have to be y'know? I can walk down to Darling Harbour if I want. I can visit Chinatown if I feel like it. I could even check out the shops on George Street if I didn't have to curl up I the library to study. I realised that today. I don't know why it took me so long to realise that I have freedom.

Anyway, we sat at Darling Harbour for a while before heading back for class. We did try to take some photos but that just made me think about why people take photos in the first place. I get that some people want to preserve a moment or capture a specific place or time but I also think that a lot of people feel obligated to take photos just so they have something to show for it. We're no longer satisfied with just living in the moment or keeping a memory for ourselves. We want gratification from other people, whether it's via social media or whatever else. We want likes and acknowledgement and basically, humans are just a big bunch of attention whores. Just kidding, I didn't really mean that last part.

This is the most random thing but while we were walking back, I thought I saw someone I knew. At least I think it was him. I can't be too sure because I haven't seen this guy in like, a year and a half. But you know what? I almost didn't recognise him because he looked so different. He had like, a billion piercings, a Mohawk and unless I was mistaken, serious ink on his harm. Oh and he wore drug dealer clothes. I sound so judgy but you didn't see this guy okay? I don't know - it was strange.

(Source)

So about Lorde. I have to be honest. I didn't like Royals at first. I do like indie but the song just didn't do anything for me. I listened to Tennis Court as well, which was good but not great. And then a few weeks ago, I heard The Love Club. And that was brilliant. It made me go back and appreciate her other songs all the more. I also stumbled across Lorde's tumblr and well, she's basically just your average 16 year old (albeit a 16 year old who's wise beyond her years).

Have you guys seen this article? I read it and as a Lorde fan, it made me so mad. If you're too lazy to click on it, that's okay. The headline is "Lorde Stands By Her Disses To Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez".

I don't even know where to begin but I'll try. Basically Lorde was quoted as making some statements about these artists to certain media outlets. They weren't mean comments, just observations about the artists and their music and to be honest, I think they were just side comments. However, this reporter has jumped on them and blown it all out of proportion. I hate inaccurate journalism. (Actually I hate all journalism but that's beside the point). You can tell that the writer of this article is 1) American 2) a big fan of the dissed artists and 3) knows NOTHING about Lorde.

Lorde first dissed Justin, 19, on July 18 to MTV News when she said, ”I feel like the influences that are there in the industry for people my age, like Justin Bieber or whatever, are just maybe not a very real depiction of what it’s like to be a young person.” Many Beliebers weren’t happy with that statement!

Girllllll, you don't know what you're writing about. First of all, nothing in that statement can be taken as a purposely vengeful, mean-spirited comment towards Justin Bieber. Second of all, the fact that you just used "dissed" and an exclamation mark at the end of your sentence is proof enough that you need to go back to journalism school. I only did one semester of it and even I know that. And thirdly, LORDE HAS A POINT YOU IDIOT. Justin Bieber does not write music that captures what it's like to be a young person. He writes about love. And getting babes. And nothing else. Whereas Lorde writes 'we count our dollars on the train to the party'. True facts guys. I was broke-as as a teen. Plus, I'm sure Lorde is aware that Beebz is a poser and a dickhead. But she hasn't commented on that. If I was her, I wouldn't have as much self-control.

She then dissed his ex-girlfriend, Selena, 21, during a Sept. 28 radio interview, when she said she didn’t approve of her song “Come and Get It.” “I’m a feminist, and the theme of her song is, ‘When you’re ready come and get it from me.’ I’m sick of women being portrayed this way.” Ouch!

Again with the 'dissed' and the exclamation mark! Did you even study, yo. And Lorde speaks her words of wisdom once again. SELENA GOMEZ'S SONG ISN'T EXACTLY EMPOWERING IS IT?? I mean it's catchy, but there isn't anything of substance to it besides her wanting to get it on with a dude, amirite?

As for Taylor, 23, Lorde quipped that she was “too flawless and unattainable,” in the Oct. issue of New Zealand’s Metro magazine. 

I'm going to ignore the fact that you just used the word 'quipped'. As to the rest of the quote, um yeah, I am pretty sure Taylor Swift is the embodiment of 'too flawless and unattainable'. The girl's hair is perfect 24/7. Plus, this is what Lorde wrote on her tumblr:

i think she actually uses her other imperfections in an incredibly powerful and relatable way. taylor swift has a very unique vision, which i admire. i think somewhere along the line also there was a misquote where people got the impression i thought writing about love was shameful. i don’t! i just haven’t found a way of doing it which is powerful and innovative, which is why i don’t.

It pisses me off so much that the people who read these articles don't know who Lorde is, what music she makes and therefore jump to conclusions about the artist based on some shitty article they just read. I mean, just look at the comments on the article:

I hate u, and u are never going to make friends in the music biz if u don’t stop, no one is perfect cause ur song isn’t good anyways, every star has a different taste in music so I think u should apologize cause threating people want get u anywhere

If that doesn't make you want to vomit in your mouth, I don't know what will.

Finally, Lorde watches Studio Ghibli movies, Breaking Bad and she loves Beyoncé. THEREFORE YOUR ARGUMENT IS VOID BECAUSE CLEARLY, SHE IS THE EPITOME OF PERFECTION. ALL PRAISE THE LORDE!