Just after I decided to reconnect with LJ, my computer gets a virus!
It's disease-free now but the virus left its mark. It ate up our internet usage so we've only got off-peak time left, or rather during the hours of 11pm-12am I can use the internet without being charged an absolutely breathtakingly horrendous fee.

So what's new:

I've completed all my exams and I'm now just relaxing.
I haven't yet asked for more hours at work and I still don't know if I will.
I leave for schoolies on Saturday and get to spend a week in a completely inebriated state in the sun with some awesome people.
In regards to universities, I've been rejected from UWS, UNSW and Monash already (Ouch!) but I didn't want to go there anyway. JCU have asked me for an interview (>20 hours away!) but I sorted everything out so I could get up there with great ease and this morning I got a phone call from the school because they want to change my interview time so that I can go to Presentation Night. I understand but I wish they'd leave well enough alone. The letter from JCU said: I regret that changes to this time are not possible. Bolded and underlined. Now I'm worried my school's going to ruin this for me, I don't want to give up my interview, JCU might be my last option, but UNCLE still hasn't given me any indication of anything. UNCLE is where I really want to go, but I'd take JCU if that's all I got. I'm probably stressing over nothing, but it's my future the school is playing with. GAH.

Phew. Right, got all that out.

So far, the self-healing process is going more or less swimmingly.

I've done pretty much nothing constructive for 4 days so as to simply bathe in the glory of nothing I have nothing whatsoever pressing to do. At all. Not one little thing.
As well as this I've gone on a run (or half run half walk, I'm working on the full run) every morning bar this one as it's rainy and miserable outside. I've kept my diet on the straight and narrow, not that I usually find this a challenge but it's another thing to add to my list.

The only downside to my whole week has been that I started back at work last night after a three week study break. I also have to work tonight. I'm still tossing up whether or not I should offer to work more days. I certainly can work more especially now I have nothing else better to do (except have a social life, and of course the upcoming Drama exam I'm choosing to ignore), but do I want to? That was probably a stupid question. The very fact that I posed the question insinuates that I do not want to work. But should I? I need the money for schoolies (less than a month away!) and for NZ (less than 2 months away!) and for the entirety of next year at Uni. But I hate work.

All of this has left me thinking about why it is that people hate their jobs. It seems to me most people do or at the very least people have some negative feelings about it. Most people complain about having to go and celebrate the coming of the weekend like they are POWs held captive for months in horrendous conditions without any of the basic necessities for living.
Are we just really, really lazy? Or is it simply that work, all work, is awful? Surely not. I've decided that it's simply because it's an obligation. Human beings hate being obliged to do things. We like to make up our own minds about what we do with our time and be in control of our own destiny.
I think that if I didn't have to go to work I'd probably still go a few times a week anyway, I'd probably go more than I do now. I only work Friday and Saturday nights, the busy ones and the ones that most deprive me of a social life, but because they're an obligation I don't want to. If I could simply decide when and for how long I worked I'd feel much more positive about going because I'd know it was my choice and I that I was doing this to help out my boss, to get out of the house, to make myself useful and naturally, for the money. perhaps if I just had to spend a certain amount of time at work per week and I could choose exactly when I did that. A few hours here and there, I could do that.
Of course, no boss in the world would dream of letting their staff come and go as they wished; they need to be sure someone's there to work and they probably wouldn't trust their workers would put in a decent effort and turn up. If they did they probably wouldn't be there when the heat was on and would choose to turn up when their presence wasn't really needed.

I think I'll put off making my decision re: work for a little while. If I think too much about it I'll end up either obligating myself to do way more than I want to, or I'll quit to early, feel terrible and have no money.

I am aware that it has been the better part of a year since I've been on livejournal.
The thought provokes a little pang of guilt deep down in my stomach as I feel I've been very neglectful of both my LJ buddies and my own spiritual needs (ie. mindless relaxation and therapeutic journal writing). So for that I'm sorry.
I am most of the way through my HSC exams; seven down, one to go. Considering my last exam is Drama and it isn't until the 12th of November I'm taking some time out to relax, heal and reconnect with my self. This includes livejournal, which I want to ingrain back into my daily life.
I'm planning on doing an overhaul of my whole page and its function as I'm overhauling my own life.

I'm back again, and glad to be able to catch up on a severe bout of sleep deprivation.
While I was in Sydney I got to sleep at roughly 12 most nights and my body jerked awake at 5:30 every morning, one morning it was 4:20!! It's also nice to be back home where I don't have to think about every outfit I put on. I'm sitting here in trackies and a tee and I'm so comfy, the rest of the week I had to try to combine fashion with practicality, and that required thought.
Despite the lack of sleep and one particularly aggravating person, the trip was brilliant. It was probably my most enjoyed school excursion. I'll share some details:

Firstly, I firmly believe my Drama class to be made up of the funniest people in my entire grade; I was constantly laughing and smiling from day 1. They're just the most entertaining bunch I know, full of bubbles and ready for action, and I just adore them. (Yes well, you know, save for that one annoyance.)

We had some really great things planned, such as viewing OnStage which was amazing, seeing the Buddy Holly musical which was a lot of fun (his music rocks!), and the workshop at STC (I wasn't expecting to enjoy it near as much as I did). Our trip to the gap and to Doyle's restaurant was very rewarding (the meal was enormous and so very satisfying, and the gap is a spectacular site). I adored our walks around Sydney and random trips into places, some which turned out brilliantly (Ken Duncan's gallery eg.) and some not so well (Museum of Contemporary Art, ahh... WTF?). We had our 15 minutes (closer to seconds) of fame when we appeared as crazed, waving people on Sunrise on Wednesday. And we shopped, boy did we shop! Our more spontaneous and random adventures were always the best though. Escapades on the cityrail trains, for details of which see below, games to fill in time on the country link services, random 5:30am walks through less crowded city streets, and a spontaneous dinner at a marvelous grill at Darling Harbour, all provided memories to cherish :)

Best fun in a cityrail train: A bunch of the girls got hair extensions in Paddy's Markets and the next day we went for our workshop and tour at STC. Megan took hers out (they were clip on not braid in) and needed to store it in my bag. So on the train I flopped some of the hair out of my bag. At first no one reacted so I turned away, looked as casual as I could and left it in a prime-viewing position. Cambo, behind me pretended to freak out, backing away when I moved closer, and slowly people around him began to notice. I missed the entire thing but apparently one guy did a huge double take and other people looked like they were ready to call the cops. Some of the other guys came down when our stop was coming up and joined in, taking photos of it and whispering to each other. My one regret is that I missed it all!

It was a brilliant trip :) Glad to be home though, glad to be away from the city!

Gooood afternoon :)

It's been a long time coming but I'm back after one hell of a relaxing Chrissy holiday break. I mostly stuck around home, I worked, went to the coast for 10 days, and relaxed a lot. I feel great, really rejuvinated and ready to get stuck back into life. And LJ!

Not a lot of news, except I got 5 baby teeth extracted (cos they were't going anywhere on their own) and now I'm semi gappy and totally unimpressed. During the extractions, as a result of a long root on one of the teeth my sinus cavity was perforated and I wasn't able to blow my nose for 2 weeks. I'm in the clear now. They're on the sides so no one can really see, except one you can see clearly from one side.

Christmas was lovely, saw heaps of family, hung out with friends at the races the next day, got all dressed up and had fun. Went to a cocktail party for NYE, very fun. How'd the silly season treat everyone else? Fun and frivolity all 'round I hope!

I'm off the Sydney on a Drama Excursion for Mon-Fri this week, but I hope to catch up on some precious LJ-ing after that :)

*Love to all*
I'd love to hear from you all, so please, if you would, drop me a comment.
Oh and uhh a belated welcome to 2009 :)

So my English teachers forced me and my friends to enter this stupid Public Speaking comp. Completely unenthused about the whole thing I recycled a speech from Year 10, and desperately not wanting to win I delivered it today terribly - without making it obvious I was trying to lose.
My voice was flat and bland, I hid behind the lecturn and didn't gesticulate, I went too fast, I stumbled over words and my hair hung in my face - My recipe for how not to succeed in Public Speaking
And I goddam won the arsehole.
I'm so pissed. Now I have to go a bullshit Rotary dinner on Thursday and enter the next round of the comp. I don't have time in my life to dedicate to a PS Comp I didn't even want to effing enter.
What a load of shite. If I win the next round I'll goddam cry... on stage when they announce it.
This is crap.

Just a teeny weeny icons post.

14 Stock
7 Stock Banners

Teaser:


( Gonna start a revolution from my bed )

I'm the worst LJ friend ever!

As well as Facebook friend. Don't even get me started on Myspace.
If anyone had tried to tell the me of yesteryear that right now, in 2008, I'd not only be spending the majority of my time technology-free (ie. TV, internet, computer), but actually not even realising just how it's slipped out of my life, I'd have shot you down with an uncontrollable bout of seismic laughter.

But in all honesty I don't miss the hours I'd spend on the internet, or absorbing myself in Television serial plotlines. When I say I don't miss it, I don't mean that I, in any way, regret the fun I've had with technology, and that I'd rather avoid it all together, what I mean is, I barely notice its absence in my life.
I still enjoy blogging, chatting to people, sharing photos and files, watching a good relationship build on-screen, trying to crack a make-believe mystery and wasting a bit of otherwise tediously drawn-out time with some technology.

And of course, I do miss you. There's a great deal of people that I can't really communicate with other than by using the internet, and I miss them greatly.
But like everything I suppose, moderation and good planning is the key and controlling those things should allow me to still kepe in touch with the people I've been neglecting.

I hope I can waste some more time with you soon.
*Hugs and kisses*
'Til then!

I want to try and open up my life a bit more.
By which I mean actually start writing in this journal, talk about myself, what I'm up to, my concerns, my victories, my thoughts, anything!

I just feel like for so much of this year I've been closed up, too stressed and busy that I haven't opened up, relaxed and breathed.

I want to enjoy life again, like I was enjoying it before this year started. I know I'll always be fairly busy, but I need to set aside time for me to enjoy my life. Make graphics, read, de-stress, and open up.

I'm one week into my school holidays right now, which means there's one measly week left to go. I'm enjoying having nothing pressing to do (except I'm working a lot) and I've read a book and have started another. I've been walking a bit each day, and I want to start doing more exercise shortly. I desperatly want to make graphics but I'm stuck for ideas, pictures and screen caps. It'll come soon I hope.

So what's new in your world? Tell me anything, I'm ready to listen again.

Tomorrow I hope to ctah up with LJ entries, walk, maybe do pilates, read and do some maths homework so I feel a little accomplished.

I have stuffs for you!

Icons:
(01 - 02) Elijah Wood
(03 - 33) PS I Love You Promotional Pictures
(34 - 48) Stock

Also, below cut is a random icon texture set.


Teasers:


( I'm not paralysed but I seem to be struck by you )

Wow. Okay it's been ages. I've been flat out like a lizard drinking lately! No time for such idle pleasures as lj, unfortunately.

I got a job at Yim Thai and they want me to 4 nights a week, which, being a year 11 student who has to travel in to town, has sporting commitments, SRC commitments, is doing 14 units incl. two extension subjects AND is about to do their preliminary exit exams, is practically an impossibility! Eager to please, however, I have been working my rear off for them, and I'm yet to receive any pay for it.

Every second I'm not working at Thai, I'm doing school work or something else I've committed too. I haven't been sleeping too well either, probably due to stress.

Like is CRAMMED.

I have made an icon set though, and collaborated a set of fairly random textures. I hope to get them up really soon for you.

I want to make more as soon as I cut down on my work hours and finish exams.

So... icon requests are open for all! As well as texture set requests.
Got something you wanna see? Request it! Feel free to send pics as well, but please make them High Quality!

The final of my icon posts featuring old icons.

This one is:
26 Law and Order: SVU
45 Van Helsing
4 Australia banners
1 Blue Heelers banner


I’ve never used SVU caps before and I struggled to find great quality ones. The Van Helsing ones were weirdly stretched from being non-widescreen or whatever so, they look a little funny.

Thanks for all the con-crit I’ve been receiving; I can’t wait to try to implement it as much as possible in my future icons.

One more thing, I’m thinking about making more stock icons, but can’t think of a theme. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Any other requests/suggestions for TV shows, movies, or other are also most definitely welcome.


Teaser:


( The forests will echo with laughter )

Some of my RH caps were a bit dodgy so there’s a bit of pixilation and other nasties, plus these are some of the oldest of the icons. The stock are much newer.

42 Robin Hood
7 Stock: Random



( Do )

Hello all. The next set is here.

I was a little disappointed in the response to my last post. Let’s just say it certainly wasn’t “electric,” but I really appreciate the comments I did get.
I know everyone’s busy, but if you see something in my icons that doesn’t look good, or something that really does, I’d love to know. So I can improve and hopefully make icons that do get an electric response. So if you can, really flesh out my strengths and weaknesses.
Also, I’d love to know of other places I can post these icons so I can get a wider range of feedback.

In this set:
31 Prison Break
35 Stock: Roadtrips

Teaser:


( “I )

Here's the first of the icon sets.

This one is:
20 Lost
79 LoTR

Now, a few points worth remembering:
>> Some of these were made MONTHS ago
>> This was during a difficult "getting back into the hang of photoshop" time
>> I've never made icons with a lot these subjects before
>> Some of them I've never even watched before, like Lost

Here's a few teasers selected at random cos I can't be bothered opening photobucket.


( Fly away on my zephyr...fly away )

Please comment and credit.
Con-crit is most welcome, in fact PLEASE give me plenty if you can.
Mostly, enjoy them!

Today was one pretty awesome day.

I had two hours of Extension Maths and then an English University Comp which was pretty easy, so I didn't have much class. Which was brilliant, no explanation needed.

Also, I got my P's today! Finally! I couldn't get them before because one of my brake lights wasn't connected... grr... but it's all good now, and I went today and passed and now I'm officially off that horrid bus FOREVER. Yep, pretty much thrilled.

I've also got several icon set that I'll be posting over the next few days/weeks. There's lots of them, but some of them are from months and months ago, and I made them was I was trying to get the hang of photoshopping again, so there's some... let's say "interesting" ones.

Anyway, yep. That's about all.
*Grins*

I've had a bit of an exciting day.

Today was SRC Executive Positions interview day. There are various positions wthin the Exec and for hem to determine which of us gets what they need to have a panel and sit you down and you tell them all about yourself in an attempt to persuade them that you're them man/woman for the particular job you'd like.

My interview went relatively well but I came out of it feeling a little unsure and pretty neutral about the whole event. I certainly didn't feel as though I'd blown them sky high with my qualities and plans for the SRC in 2008/2009 but I didn't feel as though they were regretting having me as an SRC Executive member either.

However, I must have done something right because I landed President! The other Presidential positions are all filled by some of my closest friends and I'm excited as anything for the year ahead of us. Of course, the whole Exec is a pretty awesome bunch and I believe we'll work wonderfully together.

President. My god it sounds so dramatic.
But I'm pretty much over the moon about it.

I also had an Ancient History test today and I was a little worried because I was at State Drama Camp the week they learned most of the things we were being tested on, however I feel I did relatively well. I got my Drama Assignment back and was equal first with Jordy and Nick (our new male President!). I didn't think they mark was incredible (it was 23/30) but in comparision I guess I did great!

I also scored a lift home with Kelso which meant I was warm, had great conversation, got home earlier and didn't have to deal with the bus-people. Just a few more weeks and there'll be no more bussing for me (that's IF I get my P's).

All in all, not a bad day *Winks*

One problem is I got my new mp3 player (my birthday present) and I've started to put my songs on it and now I have just 2gb of memory left! It was only an 8gb one, because the range in Retravision was poor as, Mum didn't want to spend that much and I'm not an Apple fan so I didn't want an iPod. It has expandable memory though, so I think I'll get a few MicroDisks and put movies and photos and stuff on them. *Grins*

I turn 17 tomorrow. I hate birthdays but... Yay for the ability to get my P's and now I'm just one year off Pubbing!!!

New Textures for you.
I know I have an icon post that's supposed to be happening, but I'm having a problem locating caps and just general photoshopping. I'm out of the habit, and the fact that I can't find half decent caps that are available to me as a dial-up user isn't helping much.

Nevertheless I have achieved this:

( Download Link )

New layout from blockades You like? I'm still deciding.

I was hoping this week to have spent a lot more time photoshop-ing and LJ-ing but I haven't been able to create anything I really love in PS and I haven't had much half decent to blog about.
Nevertheless, I'm here now, on the computer sthill trying to comprehend just how fast the first week of the hols has flown by. I miss it already. Only a week left to go now and I'll be over as quickly as the first, of that I'm sure.
The week has been filled with desperate attempts to keep warm, cleaning (my room was just plain disgusting, I was throwing things out from 4 years ago), not an overly excessive amount of eating (which is both pleasing and surprising), barely any exercise (which is incredibly disappointing) and very little socialising (which is terrible and brilliant at the same time, but I think what I really need is to just be with myself, getting my life back on stable tracks).
I booked my P's in today, I could only get it for 11:45 on the 31st, a week after my birthday but that's the earliest. I also have a lesson with the driving school to make sure I'm going to be ready to take it. Dad and I have lots of drives planned too. I'm so ready for freedom, just let me have it now!
I'm going to keep trying with PS, I want to get back into the flow. I did make some textures though so I'll post them up when WinZip will work for me. I hope they're useful, I was just mucking about hoping to find where my skills got to.

I hope to keep you more updated in the future. I miss you guys.