Music Festivals

I went to the Big Day Out in Sydney on Saturday 23rd January, 2010. I had a bit of an idea of what to expect, but my experience of music festivals is from having attended Village Fair, which is Charles Sturt University's annual music festival. You can check out Village Fair here.

So it would be fair to say I'm not a professional festival go-er. I don't wear my midriff fluoro orange tank top with my cut-off denim shorts (so short the pockets are hanging out). I'm not okay with taking ecstacy tablets (like a couple was doing in front of me) as though they're tic-tacs while watching something as chilled as Lisa Mitchell. Definitely more comfortable with Village Fair than anything the scale of BDO.

I've always looked forward to Village Fair. Imagine all of your uni friends (and about one thousand other mutual friends) all in a big field with bands and DJ's playing from 4pm til midnight. I might add at this point that everyone spends their day prior to Village Fair drinking with friends. It usually kicks off around 10.30 am with a few quiet drinks and, by mid-afternoon, everyone is adequately smashed and most people are paddling in blow-up kids pools.

When the music starts, we all stagger over the field to Village Fair and watch music between three stages. In my first year we had headliners including Aston Shuffle, British India and Blue Juice. Last year - 2009 - the headlining acts were Bag Raiders, Purple Sneakers DJs, Kid Confucious and Van She.

Once the music has finished, everyone goes down into town and hangs out in the pubs - it's really chilled, lots of fun, and you are in some way connected to each and every person at Village Fair.

On the other hand, Big Day Out 2010 had 55,000 people attend on the day I went, with about 15 stages (or more), and a pretty incredible line-up. I really enjoyed seeing the following people/ bands play:

• Lisa Mitchell
• Blue Juice
• Eskimo Joe
• Temper Trap
• Hilltop Hoods
• Lily Allen
• Dizzee Rascall
• Powderfinger
• Muse
• Calvin Harris
• Groove Armada

My favourites were Temper Trap and Blue Juice. Since seeing Temper Trap and Blue Juice I have listened to their music on repeat ... but I am glad to say I still haven't tired of it. Temper Trap's Drum Song and Blue Juice's Head of the Hawk have to be heard to be understood! Although I might add, it was so much fun seeing Lily Allen - I am proud (well, actually, quite embarrassed) to say I know all the words to her songs.

Here are some photos from my time at Village Fair:





And here are some photos from Big Day Out:





If ever you get the opportunity to go to Village Fair, don't hesitate. It will be a day to remember!

Amsterdam

At the end of 2008 my family and I went traveling for six weeks around Europe. It was a holiday of a lifetime - something I will always remember. But why was it so special? Well for one, I know that, with me at 20 years old, my brother at 17 years old, and my sister at nine years old, there are only few holidays left for us to enjoy all together. Before we know it, we'll be overseas, working, simply don't want to go on family holidays anymore, or maybe Mum and Dad will limit their trips to taking Olivia only.

Regardless, I feel the need to share with you the main locations we visited:

• Amsterdam
• London
• Chamonix
• Aosta
• Geneva

One of my favourite places that we visited was Amsterdam. It is unlike any other place I've ever been to, full of a vibrant buzz and the people are just so friendly. I also have family in Amsterdam and it was great to get to visit them and to visit their houses.

While in Amsterdam, we went on a 20km bike ride out to the countryside, passing windmills and canals - such a special experience. We also traveled to Leidseplein - I loved it there - my brother and sister both went ice skating, and we sat next to people enjoying glasses of wine and chatting, all rugged up as it snowed prettily around us. The transport in Amsterdam was a cinch - easy to get around on trams and bicycles.

We did do the expected- by visiting the Red Light District - and I found it utterly fascinating. It wasn't as bad as I imagined it might be. Mind you, when we went it was only about 10.30pm (so there weren't too many drunkards around), and the girls didn't appear to be drugged out of their minds, as I thought they might be. In fact, many of them looked like they really took care of themselves and had nice outfits... still, the journalist in me wanted to find out how they'd made it into that industry? Did they enjoy it?

We visited Anne Frank's house, which I found very interesting and worthwhile, and it was fascinating to see how she and her family had lived during their time in hiding.

But if you want to know what I loved the most, it was easy for me to choose. I loved riding my bike past all the little houses, side-by-side with their curtains wide open. Families were sitting around pianos, kids were doing puzzles together, a woman was patting her dog, a man typed at his laptop - it was a very private insight into the lives of the average Amsterdam-ers. Because we rode our bikes on the ferries over into suburbia, we were able to access these suburban roads and therefore gained a great perspective on life in Amsterdam for the locals. The charming notion of revealing your inner life to others by keeping your house open to the outside is special and, certainly in my suburb in Sydney, does not happen. Everybody keeps their doors shut and their shutters closed - but not in Amsterdam.

Here are some photos from my time in Amsterdam.

Just a tea-ny bit obsessed.

I have an addiction. But don't worry, it's not serious. You see, it's been around for quite a while. Since 2737 BC, to be precise. My addiction is tea and like many addictions, I'm not too fussy about it's form - whether it's a warm bone china cup of English Breakfast tea with a dash of milk, a zingy peppermint tea, or a cooling tisane tea, i'll drink it.

I have a ritual when it comes to tea. I drink a cup of English breakfast (as described above) each morning before work. I'll then have coffee mid-morning, and after lunch I'll have a peppermint tea, which aids with digestion. Then, at about 3.30pm, I like to have a cup of tea with soy milk and a spoon of honey. And then, after dinner, another cup of peppermint tea. So yeah, no obsession to be found here.

My favourite place to shop for tea is a fantastic tea chain called T2. You can check out the website here. T2 is the ultimate shop for any tea lover. It has over 60 varieties of tea, some of my favourites being China Jasmine, Creme Brulee and Gorgeous Geisha, although I wouldn't profess to having tried all of them.

Another favourite tea-associated place I love to visit is the Observatory Hotel in the city. It's website can be checked out here if you're curious. I actually had my sixteenth birthday there and we were given the most amazing afternoon tea. Below is a look at the kind of high tea you can expect when you visit the Observatory Hotel. Oh, and be sure to check out the bathrooms... weird, perhaps? But they are so luxurious and well worth the visit.



Is there a tea I've missed out on? Enlighten me, please.

Microdermabrasion.

Microdermabrasion. No, I did not just swear at you in beauty language. Microdermabrasion is a procedure in which the dead outermost surface of the skin is partially or completely removed by light abrasion, to remove sun-damaged skin and to remove or lessen scars and dark spots on the skin. It can be used to treat different skin problems, including: scar reduction, skin ageing and acne - it rejuvenates the skin.

How does it work? Well basically, fine crystals are sprayed onto the skin and then suctioned off. It is used with a combination of therapeutic cleansers and masks. This has the benefit of sloughing off dead skin cells, closing the pores and stimulating collagen growth. The added benefit is that other than some slight redness there is no "down time" (http://www.austinclinic.com.au/).



Unfortunately I've suffered from acne and skin problems for quite some time - at least five years - and about three weeks ago, I was at my wit's end. I felt so ashamed to go out and have my spotty face shown in public. My confidence was really low - I found it hard to look people in the eye - and I knew I had to do something. Fast.

So I booked in to see a dermatologist, who advised me to start using new skin products - the ASAP brand. They are really expensive (it cost me about $165 to get all that I needed), but they are amazing. My skin improved substantially in a matter of a few days.

And then I tried out the Microdermabrasion last Friday. Imagine a cat's tongue licking your face - that's the only way I can describe the feeling of the Microderm procedure. It's somewhat uncomfortable, but certainly doesn't hurt and lasts half an hour in total. It is quite expensive - at $130 a pop - and leaves you looking red-faced for a day or so, but it is most definitely worth it. Having only had one procedure done so far, I cannot begin to explain how noticeable the improvements in my skin are. I probably won't need more than two at the beginning, and maybe one every six months after that, but if you think about it, it's about the same cost as a facial, but about a million times better (although it isn't as relaxing).

While it has cost me lots of moolah (and fortunately Mum and Dad have helped me substantially with the funding for it) the shift in my confidence levels is vast and my skin is continuing to ameliorate day by day. Wanting to become a journalist, and considering television journalism, having healthy skin is a must - so I see it as an investment in my future.

In an interview in The Age in 1997, TV anchor Chris Bath discussed the double standards regarding men's and women's appearance on television: "No chicks with curly hair. No fat chicks, for god's sake, no chicks with acne scars. But men. Ooh. Let's go for it. Let's have men with every bloody blemish under the sun." It is that pressure that has somewhat affected me and caused me concern in terms of my skin problems - but hopefully, all will be solved in the next few months as my skin continues to improve.

If you do have problematic skin, I'd certainly recommend seeing a dermatologist that performs Microdermabrasion... oh, and the ASAP products I have been using are also brilliant.

What are you reading at the moment?

Books are one of my favourite ways to spend time (apart from doing Body Attack classes, of course). If I have had a pretty social day, it can be nice to not have to talk to anyone and to be able to use my imagination by escaping into a good read.

Over the Christmas and New Year, people often get an hour or two to chill and read or snooze after a big lunch. Many people reach for a good book, often one that they've been given for Chrissie.

Here is a list of some of the books I have read recently and would recommend.


• Mama Mia: A Memoir of Mistakes, Magazines and Motherhood by Mia Freedman
This book was given to me for my birthday by one of my beautiful friends, Emiley.


• Never Say Die by Professor Chris O'Brien
Unfortunately Prof. O'Brien passed away this year, but it tells of his struggle against a brain tumour after working as a head and neck cancer surgeon for over 20 years.


• Committed: A Sceptic Makes Peace With Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert
This author wrote one of my fave titles Eat, Pray, Love so I was curious to see how this book compared to her best-seller. Fortunately I was not disappointed- Gilbert explores the institution of marriage all over the Western world and challenges our modern conceptions of what it means to wed.


• How To Break Your Own Heart by Maggie Alderson
I love love love Maggie Alderson’s weekly column in The Good Weekend and also found this book oozed her easy-to-read tone and was filled with likeable characters who were facing big changes in their lives.

Did you get a great book from Santa? What have you read recently - or maybe not so recently - that you'd recommend?

Body Attack.

Anyone who knows me relatively well will know that I am an exercise fanatic. If I don't do exercise I get grumpy. No really. I'm addicted. How can you possibly be addicted to exercise? It's called 'endorphins'. My most recent source of endorphins came this afternoon when I did my regular Body Attack class. This is a Les Mills class I do at Fitness First. According to Les Mills, "BODYATTACK™ is the sports-inspired cardio workout for building strength and stamina. This high-energy interval training class combines athletic aerobic movements with strength and stabilization exercises. Dynamic instructors and powerful music motivate everyone towards their fitness goals - from the weekend athlete to the hard-core competitor!"

The average calories burned in a Body Attack class is 700 - that allows for a pretty large hunk of chocolate cake afterwards.


The most recent Body Attack program has an awesome variety of music. This is the list of songs you'll sweat it out to:
1 Closer (Chris Crew)
2 Release Me (Agnes)
3 Gimme More (Mandy Brewer)
4 Rock It (Bhuvan Brothers)
5 Boom Boom Pow (Beat Factory)
6 Number 1 (Beat Bandits From Outer Space)
7 Put A Donk On It (Northern Accelerators)
8 Take Me To The Clouds Above (Global Nation)
9 Zombie (Andrew Spencer & The Vamprockers)
10 Wherever (Stafford Brothers vs. Hoxton Whores feat. Frank Stafford)
11 Goodbye (Jessica Friendly)
12 People Get Ready (Seal)

So I've painted the picture of what to expect in Body Attack, but I want to explore how exercise and endorphins work to create exercise fanatics, such as myself.

Endorphins are produced by the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus in your vertebrates when you do strenuous exercise, get excited, experience pain, consume spicy good, and orgasm. Interestingly, endorphins resemble opiates (i.e. heroin) in the way they produce analgesia and well-being. Feeling sore? Endorphins are also natural pain-relievers. Oh, and if you're a bit of a language freak like me, and take interest in learning the origins of words (known as etymology FYI), you might like to learn that endorphin consists of two parts: "endo", being from the word "endogenous" - from the body - and "orphin" a short form of morphine - meaning "a morphine-like substance originating from within the body" (Goldstein & Lowery).

So I might not have a boyfriend at the moment, but it's good to know that I can receive that same endorphin release from strenuous exercise as can be achieved by other means. Body Attack is definitely my favourite way to spend an hour winding down after a busy day at work... If you're looking for a fun and high-energy way to exercise, I thoroughly recommend it.

Chalet Girl.

For the past three years it has been my plan to do a ski season once I complete my university degree.

I've been skiing since I was 6 y/o and in 2008 I spent a bit over one week staying in a beautiful chalet in Chamonix.

I will graduate in November of this year and so I am now starting to research where I should stay and which chalets to apply to.
I have been recommended to stay in Meribel at the top luxury chalet company and it looks beautiful!

I recently discovered this blog and have been following it since. It's about an undercover chalet girl and her experiences working in a French ski resort.

According to a friend, who has been working in Meribel for the past six weeks "I would definitely reccomend meribel, i have a 3 valley pass so there is endless skiing in val thoren, courcheval - so nice. Great town, good pubs, main club called Dicks Tea Bar." There is also lots of skiing available once you've done your chores. My friend gave me a good understanding of what she does each day. "I serve breakfast, clean rooms, finish about 11 then go skiing until about 5ish, then serve dinner, tidy down then head home 10.30ish, to either go out or bed!!" It certainly seems like a life I could comfortably get used to.



Of course there will be many opportunities to meet new people - some of whom spend their lives waiting for the first flakes of snow to fall each season. Or else, they fly from Europe to Australia to do our ski season and then return back to Europe - so they never see Summer. In Australia, the surfers are known as "beach bums" but I wonder what the equivalent is for people who work in the resorts - "Ski Bunnies" perhaps? I don't know I'll be as hard core as them, but I know I can't wait for it!!!

Would you ever pose naked in the name of art?

I've just read this article by Louise Schwartzkoff in today's Sydney Morning Herald and I can't help but wonder whether I would in fact be gutsy enough to strip down in art's name.

I imagine it would be so liberating to lose your inhibitions and to feel comfortable enough in your own skin that you would allow perfect strangers to sketch you. Of course the context of artistic nude sketching makes it proverbially 'easier to swallow'. If, for argument's sake, I was paid money to let a few men look at me in the buff that i'd found on the street it would be bordering on sex work and they'd certainly be called pervs. But how is it that, in a room with a few easels and some pastels or charcoals, all is forgiven?



Maybe give me a few years - and about a billion gym sessions so that I'm ridiculously toned - and I think I'd be happy to be a nude model (for artistic purposes of course). Because, let's face it, if you're comfortable enough in your own skin to let others see you bare, without any of the trappings that come with modern society - clothing, make-up, coiffed hair and excessive jewellery - then that is liberation that money can't buy. That is confidence that only comes with feeling at ease in one's own skin.

Happy families.

I'm feeling pretty annoyed at the moment because i've had a sizable argument with my parents, as my mother put it, "you've created a tsunami through this house tonight." Exaggeration? It's quite possible. Given that my family has spent the past week going to the cricket, going to Jamberoo, visiting Canberra, going Ten-Pin Bowling etc while I've been working an 8-5pm job, it might seem reasonable that I feel some slight resentment towards them when they turn around and complain that they "haven't really had much of a holiday." But no more boring you with my private family bickering.

That's what happens when one moves from living in either share accommodation - or away from home in some other capacity - to being back at home. Whether it be because one can't afford to live elsewhere, they need to save up money, or Uni ends for the year and one is faced with the dilemma of how to spend their three month Uni break, living back at home is sometimes necessary, and can be nice. For the first two, maybe three days. Then the old niggling annoyances creep their way back into home life and you quickly lose your 'how good is living with the folks' amnesia.

Sure, there are perks. It can be nice eating a meal as a family, or going kayaking all together, as we did last weekend. It is even enjoyable chilling in front of the television together. That is, if everyone can agree on watching the same program.

I have found it challenging, particularly at the age of 20, to try and conform to the expectations my parents have of me whilst living in their house. More than once they've pulled the "We could make you pay rent here you know?"

Fortunately I have my own car, but other parents I know - and up until I owned a car, I was subjected to this as well - like to announce that "I can just confiscate my car from you right now, you know?" Great. This leaves many young people with absolutely no freedom at home, and similarly little ability to escape one's stifling home environment using public transport because, let's face it, travelling on the Northern Beaches' poorly organised public transport network is never that successful.

Perhaps I should enjoy what is left of living at home while it lasts, after all, in a few years' time (and hopefully after I finish university at the end of this year), I'll be able to travel, gain employment, move out for good, and look fondly back on the years I had growing up in my family house. But until then, I suppose it's a matter of putting up with the grievances of living in the parents' house, and bite my tongue as much as possible, in order to avoid creating ripples, or "tsunamis" as my Mum so subtly puts it.

Bear Grylls...

Confession time... I have a major crush on Bear Grylls. I think it's the whole 'rugged cave man' thing he has going on, or maybe it's just that, on an anthropological level, I know he would be able to keep me safe if I was stranded in a Mexican desert or caught on a glacier in the French Alps. But wow... anyone who willingly puts himself into the situations he does, and comes out of them without the slightest scratch is ridiculously attractive - so much determination.

He's also pretty nice to look at. Yes?



Oh, and did I mention he served in the United Kingdom Special Forces and as an SAS soldier?

Unfortunately he is married and has kids, so no real potential future husband material there, but that's not to say I don't love watching his TV program! So Bear, if (and of course I really hope this is not the case) it doesn't work out for you with your wife, i'd be willing to consider you.

Luk Chai.

Today my mum, sister and I all went to Taronga Zoo. We had such a great day - the animals were spectacular and the seal show was also a definite highlight. If you get the opportunity to look at Luk Chai, Australia's first elephant born in captivity, I would certainly recommend it. Luk Chai is now 288kg and he has made me more certain than ever that I really really really would love a tattoo of an elephant on my foot. Here are the photos from our day.

What a conundrum!

I went out for drinks with my friend Claire and her two sisters and had such a fun time in Manly. We started off at Shark Bar and had a drink - I ordered my Vodka, Lime, Soda and realised in the first gulp i'd been given something that resembled peach schnapps and soda (bleugh) so I quickly had that swapped by a bar tender, who proceeded to drink what I handed back to him. Unfortunately 28-year-old Mollie, who was with us on our night out, forgot to bring her ID, but despite her 28-years, she was not allowed in, and had to catch a bus back to Brookvale to get her ID before her night could properly commence.

Lucy, Claire and I then moved to the Steyne after a quick by-pass through Henry Afrikas (not so impressive). Second drinks issue - the bar tender refused to accept Lucy's money, because it had a slight tear in it - was quickly resolved after the bar tender had five girls ask to speak to the manager because the money was in fact still legal tender.

We were soon joined by a group of four Norwegian guys, one of which was really pretty hot. We began talking with them and I was soon pretty impressed by him. A 30-year-old Civil Engineer who speaks three languages (German, Norwegian and English), plays lots of sport (he surfs, wakeboards, skis, snowboards etc), and has travelled to all but one continent (with highlights being that he was invited into mud huts in Nigeria and partying at Carnivale in Rio De Janeiro). So I was really quite interested after i'd sussed all this out.

Anyhow, we left them and went and danced, and at 3ish in the morning, decided we needed a rest, so Claire and I went and sat back down at a table, we were still at the Steyne at this time. Claire and I started to look through the crowd, checking out which guys were hot and which were not. I began telling her how I still thought the Norwegian guy was my favourite when he came up to me and asked if there was "any room for a Norwegian" to sit next to me. Of course I shifted over, and we began chatting once again.

We talked for about half an hour. I soon discovered he was leaving two days later... so there was almost no chance for us to get to know each other after our night. He kept looking straight into my eyes and sat quite close to me, being genuinely sweet and not at all slimy. He spoke English very well, albeit slightly formally. The other girls then were ready to go, and after he gave me three bands to listen to after we discussed our favourite music, I left him at the table.

What I regret is that we didn't exchange numbers. He had tried sussing out whether I had a boyfriend, and told me he thought i would make a great journalist, because "how do I say this in English... you have a winning personality." For some unknown reason, at the time, I figured if it was meant to be, fate would intervene and we would meet again. Although, given he lives in Norway, I certainly have my doubts. To add further to my problem, we never properly ascertained what each other's names where... although we chatted so easily, it never occurred to us to really find out our names.

Claire said that, when we left, the Norwegian looked really disappointed... perhaps he was just trying to pick me up for a one-night-stand, but he didn't seem like that kind of guy. Not really sure what to do now. I knew, after I met him, that he was really special - I've practically never met anyone I have so quickly thought I would like to be with. But c'est la vie. If you know of a Norwegian 30-year-old Civil Engineer who has recently travelled to Australia and has stayed in Manly, please let me know - it might save fate from intervening.