I should arrested for my emotional stance, only before you I go humble

Welcome to Interneteria, my new weekly feature here at the Middles - in which I will share my favourite and most inspiring flavours of the World Wide Web. I have a nommy gelato-themed logo in preparation for future Interneteria posts, but for now, let's take our first taste of what I've found this week...

@ How To Get An Entry-Level Job In The Creative Industries. This one's been circulated quite a bit since it was posted last week (and with reason), so apologies if you're seeing it again!

@ Super-cute fruit-shaped sticky notes, by Japanese (of course) design company D-Bros. Scroll down to see the bulk buy option - shipped to you in a crate!

@ Springfield Punx - pop-culture characters illustrated, Simpsons-style. Props to Blue, for knowing what a Simpsons fanatic I am and pointing me towards this awesome blog.

@ Type Casting: The Skinny Glutton. This is something that always irritated me when watching Will And Grace, so I'm glad that I'm not the only one who noticed!

@ Speed Of Line At Supermarket, by GraphJam.

@ Two opinions on the tragedy of Michael Jackson: Bob Rossney and Germaine Greer.

@ A Paper Craft Castle On the Ocean. Another amazing pretty from the Land of the Rising Sun.

@ When I was young, I went to work with my Dad...

@ Because I'm such a sad Twitter addict: WWII Anti-Twitter Propaganda Posters.

@ If You Could Not Fail, by Sarah Von. Sarah is also attempting to do 30 new things before she turns thirty this year, which is also a very inspiring read.

@ Bunnies In 30 Seconds: Harry Potter, Films 1 Through 5. I dare you - dare you - to watch any of these Bunnies re-enactments and not be entertained!

I had a dream and you were in it, the blue in your eyes was infinite

And so I return from the sun-washed stone shores of wonderful Italia, to a Sydney winter already in full (read: wet) throttle. Needless to say, I had an amazing holiday, and I have a lovely selection of travel stories that I'll be sharing with you soon. I finally fulfilled one of my life dreams with this trip - but with only my own brain for company for almost six weeks straight, I found the time surprisingly soul-searchy too. A lot of what I've been aspiring for for my life, what I have been blogging about for roughly a year now, was confirmed whilst I was travelling; and now that I'm home I'm truly ready to put all those energies into practice, pursuing that elusive and emancipating lifestyle of complete creativity.

Apologies for not blogging sooner since I came back, but I certainly haven't returned to the dreariness of a former routine. Amongst the readjustments one must make after such a huge holiday, I was given notice on my apartment whilst I was still away, so I have less than thirty days to secure myself a new home. Another three weeks will be spent living out of a suitcase. I've also started searching for a new and more inspiring (or maybe just less time-consuming) job.

Despite the sudden stresses, I am looking forward to the future. I can feel an electricity coming, sparking spectacularly just off of the horizon. Things seem to be taking a turn for the better, for the creative. I will embrace whatever is next for me wholeheartedly. And I will try my darndest to blog it all as it occurs!

Is it the right word, is it the tapestry, the majesty?

In search of my mother’s garden, I found my own.
– Alice Walker

Someone said we're wack, why would they say that? I don't think we're wack, who said we're wack?

So, as surely anticipated by my previous post, I will be off the blog for about six weeks, as I take some adventurin' time in Paris and Italy. Apologies for not having the next thrilling installment of Here's Looking At Me up for y'all to subsist on whilst I'm away - I did my bestest to finish it, but the last two weeks have been somewhat cuckoo-bananas with personal stuff, and writing hasn't been my highest priority. But I promise that I will throw myself back into the story on my return!

Whilst travelling, I will be journalling the old-school way - with pen and paper - and (trying to) taking a neccessary break from excessive Internetness, so please don't expect any exciting tales of croissants and countryside and cute Italians sweeping me onto their Vespas until I'm back in Sydney.

Ciao!

Being alone can be quite romantic, like Jacques Cousteau underneath the Atlantic

This time in a week, I will be in Europe. Paris, to be precise - then travelling down to Italy for five weeks of wonderful exploring, from boot-hole to heel.

I've spent the last four months in Serious Research mode. I've been labouring over Lonely Planets and any travel website that is Googleable. I've been reading my phrasebooks so much that I started to think in Tourist Italian ("Quando parte il prossimo traghetto per Procida, per favore? Mi dispiace, non parlo Italiano."). I've already packed away some items that I still have use for at home. It's five days 'til I fly out, and I am so ridiculously ready for this trip.

I should be super-excited.

But instead, I'm scared shitless.

Perhaps it is a slow-burning combination of over-planning and other's fears for me (everybody over the age of forty who has heard that I am going away alone have reacted the same Negative Nelly way: "Ooh, you're brave. How will you survive?! Are you sure about going on your own? Do you have any friends or family over there you can catch up with if/when something bad occurs?"), but I am stressing the hell out. I've been having these fervent fits of cowardly sensibility, on and off, as this last week loomed ever closer:

What the eff was I thinking? Why am I doing this again? HOW WILL I SURVIVE?! I'm not going to be able to handle backpacking. How am I going to be able to communicate with anyone for six weeks when I can barely speak here? I've done a lot of crazy shit in my little life, but this will be the biggest thing yet. Am I trying for too much this time? Am I being too cavalier about travelling on my lonesome and so far away from home, assuming I won't be assaulted or kidnapped or caught up in a terrorist attack? OMGWTF. Why am I putting my poor mother through all this worry? It would so much easier, for everybody, if I just stayed in Sydney and ate some chocolate.

But then I remember:

I have spent the last year and a half doing stuff that is easy. Safe and solid and comfortable. But it's also been soul-suckingly, creativity-crushingly boring. I need this trip.

I need the challenge of something really opposite to my current routine; to feel all shook up with inspiration again - I've always thrived best in adventures that were totally out of the ordinary. I need to face nothing that I want to. I need to throw myself head-first off into the frightening unknowable, and see if I can land all on my own. I need the scintillation of such adversity.

I haven't had a real holiday - from both job and lifestyle - since moving into the city over two years ago, fer Chrissakes! I just need to take some sound time out, all to myself, to rest, refresh and reassess. Re-create.

After all, why bum around my apartment when there is chocolate in Italy too...

There's no afterlife, just remembered light

E-mail sent to Brett De Vine, editor of MX Sydney:

Dear Mr De Vine (and whomever else at MX this may concern),

My name is Rachel. I'm 22, live in Darlinghurst, and I have a proposal for an article for your fantastic paper, MX.

I would like MX to seriously consider this idea as it has been largely inspired by the paper - particularly my favourite section, Here's Looking At You on the Letters page. At about the time these letters declaring their attraction to strangers starting being printed in MX, I (like most folk) started looking out for a description of myself from a secret admirer. I know that if I ever saw one that I knew was me, I would hunt down the letter-writer and go out on a date with him.

See, the thing is - and I'm sure you're well aware of this - Sydney has a severe storage of decent men. I've tried dating the conventional method, but I'll be frank with you: I keep getting screwed over. I'm interested in being in a relationship with someone, but I'm very sick of that dating scene. I've come to conclusion that if I'm going to find somebody worthy of dating me in this great city of ours, I have to start thinking outside of the box. I claim to be a creative personality - it's time I started being one.

Which brings me to my proposal: I wish to advertise myself as availible for a date and potential relationship in MX. What I want to do is set up a sort of speed dating situation on a train commute home (except that because the trains are being run by City Rail, it wouldn't be "speed dating" so much as it would be "slow, unreliable, overpriced dating") in which any interested men can feel free to meet me, talk with me, and see if we click. I'm still working out the logistics of my crazy plan, but I'm thinking of doing this over a few days on different train lines so that I can meet an interesting cross-section of what Sydney potentially has to offer. And who knows? If this experiment goes well, I'd be very glad to help you organise another like it.

I lay myself at your mercy, Mr De Vine and MX staff. Please let me know if this is an article that you would be interested in. You can contact me either through this e-mail address or on [my mobile number].

Thanking you for your time,

Rachel.

To be continued! The start of this ongoing story is here.

There's a fine, fine line between what you wanted and what you got

Walk toward the edge,” he said.

“We're afraid,” they said.
“Walk towards the edge,” he said.
“We're afraid,” they said.
“Walk towards the edge,” he said.

They walked towards the edge,
He pushed them


… and they flew.

– Guillaume Appollinaire

People make mistakes holding to their own, thinking they're alone

Morning all! Instead of a TiLT this week, I'm going to procrastionate on posting this taggy from Monster Girl. Enjoy! Grr! Argh!

. . .

These are the rules:

One. Respond and rework - post your answers to these questions on your blog, but replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own;
Two. Tag five other untagged people.

What is your current obsession? Twitter, my new mp3 player (bought secondhand from eBay for a steal), and my trip - which is now only one month and one day away, squee!

What are you wearing right now? You've caught me on a rare pants-at-work wearing day:

Red/turquoise/navy/purple plaid shirt;
Grey cardigan with purple Rolls Royce brooch pinned to it;
Black skinny-leg pants;
B&w Mary-Jane-style sneakers (breaking in for excess wear in Europe);
Purple costume ring.

Why is today special? Because it tingles with many day-before delights - it's the day before the end of the working week, the day before my date with Blue, the day before my last morning shift for a whole week.

Today is also awesome because I accomplised a blog-goal in the morning (finally finishing and posting a unpublished blog from February), and seeing one less Draft in my Blogger makes me feel all productive-like!

What’s for dinner? No idea! I have some broccolini in the fridge that really needs to be eaten, but nothing else. Perhaps I'll cook up some crumbed fish from the freezer to go with it.

What was the last thing you bought? The aforementioned black skinnies. They are by FCUK, and I found them at my local op-shop for only seven dollahs. This purchase affirms that I am an indie hack.

What is on your bedside table? When it's not covered in miscellaneous crap, you can find the following:

Ikea glass lamp;
Mobile phone (as my alarm);
Small wooden painted box (with a purple unicorn on it! But not as vomit-inducingly twee as that sounds, I swear);
Water glass;
Work ID;
Notepad and pen, in case I am suddenly inspired whilst all cozied.

What’s your style? Colour, colour, colour. As much as possible. An ingenue of Broadway bohemia from the Sixties who adores accessories. And did I mention colour?

What is your most challenging goal right now? Convincing my mother that I am a confident, capable and self-aware adult - who can completely take care of herself and sensibly make her own decisions of what she wants to do with her life.

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where do you want it to be? Sydney. At this point of my life, I can't imagine coming home to any other city.

What would you like to have in your hands right now? A Haigh's Vanilla Fudge Bar. Nom nom nom.

What would you like to get rid of? My soulless job. (Lolz for repetition!)

What was the last book you read? I just finished The Genius And The Goddess, by Aldous Huxley. It was a little self-indulgent when digressing into philosophies on life and death, but interesting when actually paying attention to the plot.

What languages can you speak? What languages do you want to be able to speak? I speak English (obviously) and moderate LOLcat/Netnerd. I'd love to be fluent in French and Japanese.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A writer, a singer, a lover, and an all-round artisan of life.

What's one thing you're looking forward to? Italy baby!!1

What was your first (not current!) all-time favourite album? Sixpence None The Richer's self-titled. Listening to it was the first time I was moved by music.

Favourite memory of the last week? The crazy city-wide blackout on Monday! What a fun two hours that was!

When it happened I was in a crowded medical centre, which turned almost immediately into a madhouse (as all the patient files were on computer and their generator only had fifteen minutes of juice). But it bonded a lot of personalities that normally wouldn't interact - old lady and drugged-up Cross-dweller, for example - and as I was only there for a pathology appointment (peeing into a cup doesn't require any power, huzzah!), I amused myself by people-watching.

Afterwards, I stopped by Blue's work, where he couldn't serve customers without electricity either. So he took an hour-long break to make and hang out with me. It was lovely and chillaxing, especially so because we hadn't planned to meet up that day at all.

The slightly apocolyptic atmosphere of those two hours was great to observe as well - it was sunset and gigantic stormclouds were billowing in the greying sky, people were wandering about the streets in ominous curiousity, and all you could hear were helicopters and emergency sirens. All the zombie talk on Twitter was appropriate.

The news reports blasted on about public anger about being inconvienced and uninformed when the blackout occured, but I quite enjoyed the experience!

And I tag in return: whoever else wants to do it!