#8. I went to a local festival this weekend and I felt sick and it was raining and I was really grumpy for a lot of it

[howtobeamagicalgirl]

1. Did you know that pms can cause flu-like symptoms, like fatigue and body aches? Isn't that interesting? I thought that was interesting

2. I brought my toolbox to work to fix my tree cube

$500 dollar tree cube that has been wobbling despite being reportedly sturdy. Anyway, the toolbox was a hit as always, but I DID forget to go through and remove obvious hazards (box cutter) (box cutter blades) (big ass scissors) before bringing it to my classroom, but luckily none of the kids grabbed those. One kid did find a bottle cap to an alcoholic beverage in there though. Oops.

3. I need to buy groceries and I can do it so easy I don't even have to go in the store I have 80-99% of a pickup order already set up and ready to schedule but I don't wanna.

4. My fiancee has to work late every night this week :( but on Saturday we're driving up to see les mis with our friends :)

5. Body hurts

[mmakehappy]

2017

1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before? i’ll try to do this chronologically again: so at the beginning of january one of my best friends left to study abroad in rome which was sad and i missed her a lot. i saw rory scovel do stand up. i took an animation class which was fun for the first few weeks until i failed it lmao. actually my classes from jan to march did not go so well tbh but whatever i made it through. my sister came to visit me the weekend before st paddys day which was super fun and then we saw panic which was soooooooo fuckin rad i love them still wow! i went home for spring break and visited a local winery w my dad which was a lot of fun and then a week later uhhh me and @carrot-gallery became gfs!!! and my whole frickin life changed bc i love her so much wow!! but then a week after that i turned 22 and spent my birthday alone! which i tried to pretend didnt make me sad but by the end of the day i was very sad about it and thats when my sweet gf called me to sing happy birthday and i sobbed on my couch and ill never forget that!!! so okay then spring quarter classes started and i was a part of depaul’s visiting artist series which was super cool... i met a lot of new awesome people (both at depaul and the industry ppl that were our guests!) and made some great friends in that class! i was a house manager and camera op which was super fun. i went to a screening of my fave professor’s short film which was also rad. i saw a ghost story at the chicago critics film festival, which was amazing. i saw idiocracy in 35mm and then mike judge did a q&a! the very next day i was house manager for depaul’s student film festival at the music box! i saw chris gethard do a live recording of beautiful/anonymous and then also do some standup, that was awesome. i saw day wave live!!! amazing! i spent an entire dystopian day dealing with megabus. that was hell! i sat at an outdoor amphitheater and even tho i couldnt really see him i got to listen to seu jorge sing david bowie covers and life was magical for a few hours. my sisters came up to visit me and we saw aladdin the musical and had our minds blown, it was soooo fun! i went to the chicago pride parade for the very first time but i went by myself and at one point i was sitting on the curb just crying! not a high point but still memorable. i won a ticket to an advanced screening of the big sick where kumail & emily were there to do a q&a after the movie.... had a fuckin blast OBVIOUSLY and then saw the movie 9 other times in various theatres. i also made it into a commercial FOR the movie i just loved it that much lmao! i moved into a new (and my current) apartment! lorde released melodrama and fucking murdered me in my own home. otherwise i had a pretty uneventful but anxiety filled summer bc of financial aid stuff so that really sucked. i saw good time w taylor and the safdie brothers were there to do a q&a and they were such interesting guys i could listen to them talk for hours honestly. my mom and sisters came up to visit me and we took our mom to her very first cubs game which was sooo so much fun and they won that day too!! it was awesome and we had a great time :) watched the eclipse (or tried to anyway!!) fall quarter classes started and i honestly kicked ass at them, i got on the deans list (i almost typed honor roll lmao i mean its basically the same) i hung out with ari again which was cool!! we went to the aquarium! me and taylor saw beach fossils which was honestly the most buckwild concert ive ever been to i think, it was good shit. i got jobs at AMC (which i have since quit lmao) and starbucks and left my job at the paint place which was bittersweet! me and taylor saw mbmbam live!!! so fun!! and we watched trolls that night and goofed on it so hard!! i went home for thanksgiving and found out my big sister is gonna have a baby this year!! :D i saw mike birbiglia do stand up! which was soooo incredible of course (except i felt bad bc my mom was supposed to come w me but she couldnt go! so i brought taylor lol) UMMMMM MY DAM GIRLFRIEND CAME TO CHICAGO TO VISIT ME AND STAYED FOR A WHOLE DANG WEEK AND IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER SHE MAKES ME SO HAPPY WE HAD SO MUCH FUN AND I MISS HAVING HER RIGHT NEXT TO ME EVERY SINGLE GOSH DANG DAY <3 ;_____; and that was my year!!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? last year i said id like to read at least one book each month and watch at least 100 movies - i did neither! im keeping the movie resolution though bc cmon 100 movies should be EASY for a film major wtf am i doing!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? no but it will happen in 2018!��

4. Did anyone close to you die? not a person but we had to put down my sweet doggo, flash :(

5. What countries did you visit? still none :/

6. What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017? More confidence that I actually deserve to be in college and that I can do this shit and I’m awesome <– that was my answer from last year and the year before but yeah. same. also money.

7. What dates from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? ummm march 25 when me and gf became gfs and also dec 17 when she came to visit :)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? putting myself out there by doing VAS/Premiere, getting on the deans list for the first time since freshman year and then also getting a new job

9. What was your biggest failure? this summer i didnt do shit besides wallow and cry and it sucked!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? nope

11. What was the best thing you bought? every movie ticket and the bras i bought for natalie ;-)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? natalie’s because she’s amazing and works so hard!!!! and she can always cheer me up and im so in love w her

13. Whose behavior made you appalled? mine bc i could never just get my shit together and do my homework when i was supposed to :) < thats from last year but lmfao same!

14. Where did most of your money go? RENT, movie/event tix, food, in that order

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? THE BIG SICK, the new season of sv, p much all of the events that i listed in the first question lol

16. What song will always remind you of 2017? umm honestly probably any song from melodrama

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? I’m a. happier, b. probably thinner? or maybe the same idk, and c. definitely DEFINITELY poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? read and write and watch movies and write and read about movies

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Spending money and also being bitter about everything for no reason <– last year and the year before that AGAIN and also same!

20. How did you spend Christmas? working at AMC which i hated every second of :)

21. Did you fall in love in 2016? yes with my amazing girlfriend @carrot-gallery

22. What was your favorite TV program? silicon valley, AMERICAN VANDAL, the good place, great british bake off

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? nah just politicians who like. actively want me to die lol

24. What was the best book you read? bitch,

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? mitski like why the fuck did i sleep on her..... tbh thats about it bc i still listen to the same music i did 10 years ago

26. What did you want and get? I wanted a steadier/better paying job and i have it!

27. What did you want and not get? idk i wanted to be financially stable on my own and i still dont have that

28. What was your favorite film of this year? ugh i hate this question! ok in no order: THE BIG SICK, GOOD TIME, A GHOST STORY, GET OUT, THE FLORIDA PROJECT

29. What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying? uhhh having my sweet girlfriend by my side each and every day 

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017? sometimes chic, always sweaty

31. What kept you sane? Sydney, my best friend in the entire world. (This was my answer from last year and the year before that and the year before that AND THE YEAR BEFORE THAT but it still holds true) also everyone in the sv discord chat still AND natalie of course of course

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? kumail nanjiani duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, taika waititi, and martin starr always and probably more but i legit cant think of anyone rn lol

33. What political issue stirred you the most? yikes all of it. all of the issues (this was from last year but same lmao)

34. Who did you miss? i miss my dogs and my family and my girlfriend 35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017. You can set goals for yourself and talk about it all you want but it’s nothing until you actually start working towards it and doing something about it. <– answer from last year and the year before that and the year before that, still true!! imma keep that. also idk just like, there are good days and super bad days and ive survived all of them so its just a reminder to myself that ill be okay.

36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. These days will all seem better in time Waiting on that hindsight

[klainelynch]

2017 in review

I always say that I’m going to post a “how my year was” at the end of the year, but I have an awful memory so I never remember what happened in each month. This year, I tried to post about each month as it finished- the good and the bad. Under a cut because of course it got long, and I never seem to post about my real life, so this may be boring if you don’t actually know me.

January

Got a snow day after having students for just one day

Accidentially read a book in one night (Perfect) because of aforementioned snow day/borrowing it electronically from the library/not knowing how many pages there were (not that many since it’s YA)

Got two more snow/ice days because my county has mountains in it and we’re in the South, so we’re not prepared for winter

Saw Hidden Figures and cried about how good humanity can be when we actually allow and encourage all people to be their best (black women!!!! they did that!!!!!!!)

Helped my students navigate our county’s program of going one-to-one with Chromebooks (there were many good things, such as getting my kids to play freerice for extra credit; there were many bad things, such as a quiz getting screwed up because I shuffled the questions but had asked my co-teacher to help me by reading the quiz [as she normally does] to a half dozen students...who all had a different order of questions...).

Went to a conference for new teachers and while a lot of the information was repetitive, there were a few things I got from it (such as 6.5 professional development hours aw yis).

Got to see lots of family I don’t usually see on this weekend!

Started reading The Diary of Anne Frank with my students because this country allowed fascism to be A Thing™ and I’m going to resist however I can.

Got two (!!!!!!) days off at the end of January for sick days (apparently other students in the county? not us but we benefitted!!!!)

February

Finally had an entire 5-day week of school

Then got another two days off for sickness (8th grade was doing our part by asking ENTIRE classes “Hey! Anyone feel sick? Anyone want to go get their temp checked???”)

Went to an open house at a local mosque, and y’all, I live in The South™ but their parking lot filled up a good 15 minutes before the event even started and there was an overflow room and so much support for this community during the Muslim Ban and it just filled my heart with joy

Got a haircut (it was literally down to my butt y’all!!!!) and now it’s right below my shoulders

Had pedal extensions installed in my car because I’m 4′9 and would have literally died if the airbags went off.

March

Got my professional teaching license! I’m no longer an apprentice! I don’t have to have 4 observations a year!!! Only 2! And while I’m REALLY good at playing the observation game (and am MUCH better at this than the testing game), it will be nice to not think about it so much.

My mom came to stay for a few days because it was her and my sister’s spring break.

During that week, I had a LONG 4 day week, which included staying at my school until 7:30 for a town hall meeting/carnival/extravaganza. F U N.

My spring break was purposefully low-key. I rested a lot, read books, caught up on Netflix, shopped at Old Navy, and went to the local art museum for the first time (I’ve only been in this city for 8 years...)

April

I found that I actually enjoy teaching how to write an essay. The 5 paragraph essay, while it has many faults, is a really good place for beginning writers (which 8th graders are) to begin. I had a student tell me that she liked how I made each sentence have a specific purpose because she was able to plug in her evidence and thoughts more easily- this honestly made my whole day.

That being said, I HATE teaching essays when students are absent. Trying to get them caught up and keep everyone else on track is SO MUCH WORK. Especially when the absent students don’t come to me during my plan to make up their work...

For two whole days, my last period class was not allowed to use erasers because some people (two boys, as it turned out) were shredding and throwing them at each other.

I turned 26

The Welcome to Night Vale Live Show FINALLY TRAVELED TO TENNESSEE AND Y’ALL CECIL (REAL CECIL NOT THE CHARACTER) IS FROM KNOXVILLE!!!! The weather singer was super fun (she played Rocky Top and we ate that shit up like biscuits and gravy with no shame whatsoever) and the show itself was just so much fun even though I went alone. It was almost an hour of normal segments with the plot of the glow cloud, but they also brought in Steve Carlsburg and Tamika Flynn (I diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiied when she walked on stage because I majorly crush on that actress whoops) and watching those actors interact on stage was so much fun.

May

End of the school year is always chaotic and better left forgotten tbh

We took the 8th graders to the local theme park, and it was really good (though my expectations were super low because last year’s trip SUCKED). The weather looked like it might rain, but it was nice all day, the kids were pretty good, and the rides were fun.

There were some really sad community deaths around this time :(

The teacher who normally MCs the 8th grade commencement is now an administrator, so while we still had him open the ceremony, I gave out several of the awards, and I don’t think I did a bad job (two of the other teachers hate public speaking and the last one was new to the team this year, so I was really the only choice).

June

Worked my church’s festival, which is always fun. The crowds are never what they ought to be (due to a combination of rain threats and poor marketing), so a lot of people missed out on some really great food and music.

Great music included a new band- Southern Avenue- that I got to see again later in the year.

I had to miss the third day of the festival because of a friend’s baby shower. I knew a few people (besides the couple), but they left early; luckily, the people throwing it were a lot of fun. We played games (don’t get caught saying “baby”; pin the sperm on the egg; etc) and decorated diapers/onesies/bibs for the baby). The next day, we went to church (IN A MOTHERFUCKING MONSOON) and for Mexican food.

Started my reread of Harry Potter (it had been about 5 years since I’d last read the series). I cried in almost every book, and not always at sad parts. I’ve become very protective of Harry as I’ve gotten older.

My younger brother found an NES, which was the console I grew up with and my parents gave away years ago. They really loved to play on it, so this was a wedding anniversary present for them. The Legend of Zelda is the shit.

July

I finally got a new phone (I’d had mine about 3 years, and it died in May) and I know it’s fun for iphone users to shit on Android users, but I really do love the camera quality on my Samsung.

Rachel came to visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We drank wine and went to the zoo and got real bbq and the best donuts in the world

Had a Treat Yo Self Day which included:

WAFFLE HOUSE

BITCH!!!! B I T C H

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU CAN GET AT THE WAFFLE HOUSE

DO

YOU

KNOW

COUNTRY HASHBROWNS!!!!!

aka

biscuits and gravy minus the biscuits plus the hashbrowns

I just had regular biscuits and gravy BUT ALLI HAD THE GLORY

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

McKay’s

I bought Pokemon yellow because I never played/watched it as a kid, and while at my house for the summer, I found the old black & white gameboy an older cousin gave me, so naturally I had to do it.

Pokemon Go

yes still

You know what once I was back in town I went to my favorite library almost every day for an hour or two and read while opening Pokemon Go every few minutes so there

Went with some of my best friends to visit another one of our best friends who lives in the middle of fucking nowhere and had adventures including, but not limited to: getting pizza because we were too weak to change out the gas’s grill, waiting 5ever for food at dinner, and watching the entire Flowers in the Attic series.

August

School started back up, and at the kick-off for all the teachers, I won $500 in a drawing of all the people who hadn’t used a sick day last year!!!!!

And I didn’t even realize that I’d won $200 at the previous school board meeting in the same type drawing!!!!

New class started off with 85 students. It was a DREAM to be able to focus on individuals and not just herd cats.

I actually felt more confident in the classroom with my early units (poetry & our whole class novel).

September

Still felt confident in the classroom!

I got my testing scores back from the previous year (this shit takes 5ever and it’s dumb) and did better in about the only way I could have, so that was good to see.

I had about 10 county people in my classroom (principals, academic coaches, etc) to see a certain style of teaching ELA that the county is working on. It’s basically making sure that teachers keep students engaged in complex text (which is what I do almost every day anyway) and I had been to two of these trainings already, so I knew what sort of lesson worked. Well...they LOVED it!!! The kids were in small groups and did SO GOOD discussing evidence/answering questions (they all got candy afterwards) and I got some good feedback about how I talk to my students. Then that same day the superintendent came in my room (one of several rooms he visited while doing his yearly observation on the principal). That visit was super unannounced, but still fine.

The academic coach got rid of my classroom’s desks and found tables and chairs instead!!!! My classroom is tiny and weird shaped, so this works SO MUCH BETTER.

I help coach volleyball (aka I keep the books) and the girls won district (beating out a team with a redneck grandma in the stands who literally came up to our girls and yelled at them for cheering on their own damn team in the previous game). They didn’t do so well at sectionals, but that’s ok.

October

Holy shit I won another $200 in that drawing!!! And this time my parents let me buy them plane tickets so we could see family over Christmas.

LESLIE ODOM JR CAME TO MY CITY AND HE PERFORMED BEAUTIFUL MUSIC AND I WAS THERE AND I DIED

Got to see a lot of family at my cousin’s ‘wedding party’ (he got married last year in Europe since he met his now wife over there, and wanted to have a family party here). I learned that my uncle and his son dance exactly the same at the same level of alcohol.

November

I should have known something was up when my first 9 weeks went so well. Apparently my county is in the bottom tier for the state, and now everyone is freaking out (never mind that the data to support this was mONTHS LATE AND BASED ON STANDARDIZED TESTS WHICH WERE A CLUSTERFUCK TO BEGIN WITH) so there was a lot of school stress during this time.

Nice things though- got to see friends when their baby was baptized and went home for Thanksgiving, where my dad came into the Catholic Church.

I organized most of the 8th grade field trip for the semester- going to see “A Christmas Carol” put on by my old college’s theatre. I was stressed the entire time because if something went wrong it would be on ME, but it was absolutely wonderful and I cried which honestly surprised me. We went to the local mall for our lunch and it was good to see the kids just relax. It was a great field trip and several people including the principal thanked me for my hard work which felt great after a hard month.

December

School was nothing but survival mode per usual.

Hosted the Christmas party for my friend group at church and it was a lot of fun.

The actual break was fast- we flew to Texas with one of my mom’s sisters and her family to visit their brother and his family. I hadn’t been to Texas since high school, so it was fun to explore and eat good food.

My final count for books was 93 (67 new and 26 reread) (I’m trying to finish an audiobook I’m borrowing from the library but I still have 80 minutes left and literally 4 hours to finish it so we’ll see!!!).

[aboutagirlnissajournal-blog]

So much for EDC Orlando

i’ve been dating this guy for about 6 months now and everything seems to be going okay. Were taking it at a slow pace which i don’t mind, because that gives us time to get to know each other.

Well something happened that actually really hurt me, and now maybe i’m overrating about it like i often do in situations..but this feeling doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

I recently went to my first EDC LV with him and a group of his friends. So when we all came back to our normal lives away from the amazing weekend we had in Vegas him and his friends were tying to figure out which their next festival should be. If it should be a local one or EDC Orlando. Me being completely new and not knowing them for a long time i didn’t want to invite myself to something i wasn’t welcomed to going.

I know that sounds pretty ridiculous but i didn’t want to intrude on their plans by somehow sneaking my way in if they didn’t really want me to go. 

And also deep down i wanted the guy i was dating to express that he wanted me to go. 

So it was between a local festival in our state or EDC Orlando. When ever we would all be hanging out they would talk about which one would it be cooler to go to comparing who’s going to be playing etc. I would just sit there and listen quietly.

Well one day it was just me and him and i thought maybe i should just slightly mentioned how it would be cool to go. He was on his phone on Airbnb looking at houses him and his friends can rent if they were to go and to see how much it would cost etc. So i asked him “if you do does that mean i’m invited if not it’s cool” he said “yeah you can go it’ll be cheaper for the food and house” i then told him “i feel like it’s only right because i went to EDC LV and i might as well complete the EDC experience by going to EDC Orlando” Which wasn’t a lie because i do feel that way. i added on to say “just let me know asap so i can start a payment plan for edc orlando before the prices go up”. Because at this time EDC Orlando was at tier 2. He seemed happy by me showing interests and he told me he would for sure let me know.

That was about a month ago and i started noticing a week ago he was tagging his friends in EDC Orlando Facebook posts saying how they have to go because of the sick lineup. Which made me confused because he made it seem like nothing was for sure, but i try not to overlook into the situation. Well again i saw him tag his friends in a EDC Orlando post and decided to send him a text.

By this time EDC Orlando had just moved to tier 3 and i rather pay tier 3 then tier 4. Try and save myself some money.

Me: Are you going to EDC Orlando? so i can know whether or not to star a payment plan

Him: yeah i’m going, friend 1 and friend 2 are going..but if friend 2 is going most likely that means his gf is to..but you could totally ride with us if she dose not go

Him: or you can catch a plane and meet us there

Me: ok nvm then

Him: i really hope friend 2 gf dose not go though

You see..when he said that it dug in deep. I felt like i was just another one of his friends then the girl he’s dating. I know it may sound ridiculous but it made me feel unappreciated. i’m also angry.

*controlling angry*

because you see..the funny hilarious thing about it is that friend 2 gf is currently 5 months pregnant and EDC Orlando is in November..so she’ll be 8 months pregnant almost about to pop a tiny human being!!!

I had to find out on Facebook that they were going instead of him telling me like he said he was, and the whole situation with friend 2 gf going that there’s not enough room for me. That hurts or maybe i’m just a real idiot to think that i was ever apart of their group.

Before me and him started dating i was in a emotional abusive relationship, i was stressed out of my mind with school, and working a job that honestly didn’t value me no matter how many years i had put in. I just needed something in my life to change. So i told myself after Spring semester of 2017 i’m going to take fall off and enjoy my life. Do anything that makes me happy, go to concerts i always wanted go to, go drinking with friends, try out a fitness class. ANYTHING to make me want to start living again. I know that sounds sad and probably pathetic, but i really at that point in my life wanted to stop living. The only thing that kept me waking up everyday was honestly my dog. 

I wanted to stop living then i met him. I had always known him, but i started seeing him romantically and realized how hilarious he was and how effortless it was for him to make me laugh.

I even thought that maybe God put him in my path/way to show me a reason as to why i should keep on living, as odd as that sounds. 

He showed me a different side of the world that i never in my life thought i would ever see. Going to Vegas with him was incredible life changing experience being typical tourist in unknown place and going to my first EDC . i just wanted to experience that again with the person who had showed me it. 

But i was a fool to think for a second that i was ever apart of their group/squad i shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.

[timtamtalestakestwo]

Diving into December

Following our last post, we both had a couple of busy weeks of work- I had a very busy set of nightshifts which were fairly horrible. Had, from what I can gather, a record number of medical admissions overnight on the first night and was just flat out admitting for the whole 12 hours- thankfully the ED was full of snacks to help me on my way as I didn’t have any time to leave all night.

The weekend was action packed – we headed down to Swansea to dive under the bridge. I had chosen to do a refresher dive as it had been almost 2 years since I’d last been underwater – it was reassuring to build confidence again with some skills in the local pool and then head in for a relatively shallow dive which Tom tagged along for. The visibility wasn’t great being low tide but we saw an octopus, lots of rays and enormous fish! 

It was also a busy weekend for my choir with Advent Carols – a slightly special event for me as 4 years ago, that was the final thing I did with the choir before I flew back to England at the end of my exchange, so brought back lots of emotional and precious memories and was nice to not have to think about leaving them any time soon this time round!

Advent carols 4 years ago below!

Tom headed up to sweaty Queensland on the Monday with his boss to do some exhaust temperature testing on a train – a flight from Newcastle to Brisbane, another flight to Mackay and then a drive to Nebo- all of that to *just about* be in another state- we would have crossed about 6 countries had that been back home! It was, as expected, significantly hotter up there (in the 40s!), and by the sounds of it, very challenging to be labouring under the strong sun for more than an hour at a time especially when it involved being dressed from head to toe in bright orange PPE! The testing went pretty smoothly and thankfully the week became less labour intensive compared to day one!

The house felt very quiet that week so I tried to keep busy, going round for dinner with my friends over here from Poole and buying and decorating a Christmas tree in an attempt to make us feel more festive! Not quite the same without the smell of pine needles and mulled wine wafting through the room but with some Christmas carols playing in the background we are just about adjusting and now have lots of presents under it to look forward to opening!

A sunny weekend called for a trip to the Hunt and Gather Markets by the beach with some friends, and a celebratory birthday Sunday lunch/picnic for the twins’ (The Two Veronicas as my family refer to lovely Emilie and Veronica!) on the bank of Lake Macquarie at Toronto. 

That night we had the dive club Christmas cruise on Lake Macquarie which was a beautiful evening- we ended up getting to know a couple from Liverpool who came travelling here for 3 months…and 4.5 years later they’re still here! No idea how that can happen…no idea…(I have every idea.)

We had Tom’s work Christmas do last week at The Grain Store – a 7 course menu with a beer paired with each course! With neither of us being big beer-drinkers as such, I think we managed about 2 out of courtesy before politely declining. The food was fantastic though and a great comedy act in the middle who had us all crying laughing! It was also really lovely to meet some of Tom’s colleagues who’d I’d heard lots about!

I did my Nitrox diving theory exam the following morning which I passed despite feeling slightly furry-brained. Also got taught how to calibrate and measure the nitrox mix in a cylinder and how to work out the operating depth depending on the percentage mix!

We had yet another party that night which was my choir Christmas party- thankfully a fairly low-key BBQ affair but lovely to catch up with friends and Tom to meet a few more of the crowd! He became the hero of the evening after eventually completing one of those tricky metal puzzle things (where you have to disconnect various pieces which don’t appear to be disconnectable despite hours of pulling and prodding) which no-one had ever completed before. We made a swift exit before he was asked to put it back together again!

We had a very early wake-up call the following morning at 04.30 to drive down to Terrigal on the Central Coast to be ready to dive HMAS Adelaide at 06.30 with some people from the club! It had almost been called off due to the large swell – it’s a 15 minute boat ride out to the wreck which was VERY lumpy. All was ok whilst the boat was motoring with the wind in our face, but once the boat moored up at the buoy above the wreck it felt fairly hairy, and having to get all the kit on whilst trying not to be sick wasn’t the most pleasant of things. We knew the feeling would go as soon as we got under so we threw ourselves overboard and once we were 5 metres or so down it was calm and clear! We descended down the line and arrived at one of the helicopter decks. The visibility was fantastic at about 15 metres! HMAS Adelaide is 138 metres long by about 15 metres wide and was used during the Gulf War, and in East Timor, before it was sunk in 2011 to form an artificial reef where it now lies in 32 metres of water. It was amazing to swim through the bridge with all the phones and controls still there. There was plenty of sea-life to see as well as all the ins-and-outs of the ship! It soon came time for us to ascend back up the line nice and slowly. We hit about 8 metres and paused for a little bit – the swell was starting to become apparent at this shallower depth and I started to get the seasickness giddiness…I started swimming further up with the swell worsening the shallower I got and could feel myself retching. As my head emerged above the water, my regulator came out and the contents of my stomach very quickly became food for the fish. I felt slightly bad as I was aware Tom was not far below me and was therefore probably getting a face of it..but then he soon emerged and did exactly the same thing!! The first diving vomit for both of us! We went back to shore for the surface interval and with our stomachs feeling slightly delicate decided we might just take it easy and do an easy shore dive for the second one rather than heading back out into the swell! Apart from the latter part, it was a fantastic dive and we’d love to go back again (perhaps when it’s slightly less lumpy!).

(Not us as we failed to get any footage, but just so you can see!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PinUz48DXJw 

A very inquisitive pelican thinking Tom was about to feed it fish is about to be severely disappointed...

We’re both in our final week of work before a week off over Christmas for me (and a lot more than a week off for Tom. I’m not bitter at all.) Then only a few more weeks before Tom’s parents arrive which we are both really looking forward to!!!

We are looking forward to experiencing our first sweaty Christmas and hope to we can speak to you all back home at some point to share part of the day together!

Merry Christmas to you all! We miss you all very much and sending all our love across the oceans!

PS. Quick plant update. We now have 4 sunflowers (although some pesty caterpillar appears to be eating the leaves!), a micro pineapple, some mini peppers and some tomato plants yet to bear any fruit...

[hellosocialchameleons]

People Doing Cool Stuff – Perth Happenings | Pieta Sharpe

I’m lucky enough to meet a lot of inspirational business people who are doing cool stuff!

You’ve probably heard of Perth Happenings. You either follow their Instagram, or have looked for stuff to do on their site – maybe even advertised your event there! But do you know the lovely face behind the brand?

Let’s get to know Pieta Sharpe a bit better, and in the process we’ll find out how Perth Happenings was born!

Tell us a bit about yourself and Perth Happenings!

I’m Pieta, 37 year old solo Mum of two sensational young men. I’m passionate about community building, people in general and creating a beautiful life for my family and those around me. I have spent way too much money at uni, am on the board of my old high school and I’m an ambassador for Youth Focus which I am so proud of.

Perth Happenings was created when we saw a gap in the ‘market’ per se. There are so many large scale event websites and social media that don’t really create a space or give any air time to smaller, local community events.

When building Perth Happenings we felt it was important to develop community pages to create that point of difference.

So we have 8 – North, south, east, west, central, freo, hills and out of town. You can head to that local community page and see events in the area, local blogs, local businesses and really get a feel for what is in your community or conversely try a NEW community.

Perth is very spread out and we tend to stay in our comfort zones and not travel out of our space. Having community pages means that if you feel like a weekend in the Hills and you live in Freo you can check it out and plan ahead.

We offer free online listings to almost any event in Perth and will often select random community events to provide free promotion and upgrades to. We also offer 50% off silver and gold packages to Not for Profit and local community organisations.

We will never be focussed on the large scale events and the multinational organisations and that means we won’t attract the bigger bucks but that is a-ok for us. Our audience are supportive of our dream of building an online community to keep the people of Perth engaged with each other and we showcase many events that others really don’t!

We have a TV show in the pipeline too so keep your eyes out for that!

  Tell us about your journey, how did you get to this point?

I have a background in psychology, education and community services alongside currently completing my Master of Marketing and Innovation. All of my education is based on people – learning about them, engaging with them – I just love people.

Motivating and inspiring them and just helping us to be the best humans in the best society that we possibly can!

I feel Perth Happenings has allowed me to develop a platform to make a difference and I am looking forward to developing that.

  What music/song have you got on high rotation right now?

I went to Falls Festival as a reviewer (terrible aspect of my business!) and I absolutely fell in love with Glass Animals and fell back in love with Peking Duck.

The two songs I don’t seem to be sick of are Life Itself (Glass Animals) and Let you down (Peking Duck).

I think I play them seven to ten times a day.

  How do you stay motivated?

This may sound cliché but knowing my 13 and 10 year old sons are watching and learning from me at all times keeps me motivated. I want to show them you can achieve any dream you can think up be it in business, health or fitness either with a partner or be ok on your own.

    I regularly go to F45 sessions and hope the dream of doing burpees and unassisted pullups is a reality soon too!

  What/who inspires you?

Besides my boys, my group of friends inspires me every day. They are just some of the most amazing people you could meet.

Additionally, knowing that as an ambassador for Youth Focus, I may inspire and motivate a young person one day – that keeps me focussed on the prize.

If I can use my story to help others believe in themselves then there is no greater reason to do what I do.

  How do you deal with impostor syndrome?

It’s a funny one this imposter syndrome theory.

I think with regards to Perth Happenings I don’t really have it. I have worked super hard to strategize and get to where we are. I have put in lots of love and time and am proud of my achievements. I think often we see those who say – yep I deserve this and I AM awesome as being conceited, so I wonder if we all actually do it because we feel we should or because we’re afraid of the ramifications of praising ourselves.

  What’s your favorite place/way to relax?

I love the beach.  I adore just sitting there or walking and collecting shells.

I also enjoy music – listening, dancing, singing very badly, and yoga, F45 – plus I love just talking and engaging with my boys. It is simple but true.

  If you hadn’t started your business what do you think you’d be doing right now?

Still working in Not for Profit organisations wondering how I can make more of a difference and be a little frustrated.

  What’s been your most successful Social Media platform for your business? Do you think you’d be in the same place if it wasn’t for Social Media?

We are an online business so digital marketing strategy and social media are paramount for us. One important component of building the business has been that I have been very true to my audience.

Starting Perth Happenings our growth was slow because community isn’t as sexy as big bands and fancy restaurants. However once we got the momentum we’ve had a steady climb.

Constant reviewing and making changes has resulted in lowering our bounce rate of our website by providing more blogs and other events on the pages.

I altered our strategy in October and have seen a 72% increase in website traffic to date since November which I am of course VERY proud of.

I researched into my secondary market (24-34 year old women) and looked at what we could offer on our Facebook that would attract them and encourage engagement.

Knowing your audience is key!

  Have you hit any huge problems that made you re-think your whole career? How did you get around it? What was your approach to solving the issue?

I rethought my whole career when working with underprivileged children and realising how under resourced and often poorly funded not for profit community groups are.

I couldn’t handle working with these kids and seeing that really what they, and their families needed was community engagement and feeling they were a part of something. Bigger picture, I am hoping to provide an online community as a conduit to that feeling real life connection.

Fingers crossed!

  What is the hardest thing about your work?

Relationship building. We have struggled to get the local councils on board with what we are trying to do which is frustrating and challenging considering they are the perfect partner for collaboration.

Finding the right people with the same vision is harder that I anticipated from a corporate level.

Otherwise it would be all the movie premieres and concerts I get to go to… tough!

How do you manage it all with such a busy schedule?

That is something I am working on!

I am focusing this year on quality. I want quality relationships with businesses and people I can trust and WANT to work with. I say yes to much too much and need to reign that in.

  What’s next for you?

The Perth Happenings Youtube channel development and the Perth Happenings TV show.

Both coming soon to a screen near you!

  How do we find and follow your cool story?

Facebook

Website

Instagram

  So now you now more about the brains behind Perth Happenings!

I hope you’re enjoying this series of People Doing Cool Stuff, I’ve got loads more fun peeps to introduce you to, so make sure you stay tuned!

The post People Doing Cool Stuff – Perth Happenings | Pieta Sharpe appeared first on Carma The Social Chameleon.

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