One Road, Three Perspectives (Part 1)

I've started walking a new (and ever so slightly quicker) way to work this past week, and one particular street has come to my attention on three occasions. The first, was on my way home after a MASSIVE storm. The storm was so massive, that I had to stay in the building an hour after my shift finished, waiting for umbrella appropriate weather. Of course, by the time most of it cleared, I didn't even need an umbrella. The walk was just beautiful! Everything was so different and wonderful. It reminded me of that feeling you get when you're pushing through something, and then it finally finishes. Like when someone stops tickling you, or you finish sneezing, or when you've had a really long, stressful day on your feet and you finally lay down to go to sleep; that feeling of relief and relaxation.

Have you ever noticed how people behave differently in the rain? They take more notice of their surroundings, because it all looks different. They're forced to stop and take a moment to breath. People are more chatty and excitable in storms. Strangers speak to each other, because they're sharing a common, out of the ordinary experience. Everyone's fascinated by lightning, and they watch it in awe. In a couple of houses I walked past, there were small groups of three or so people standing and sitting in their front doorways with a cup of tea or a cigarette, just silently looking at the after affects.



Anyway, the street. I walked down it like it was completely unfamiliar to me, it was just so beautiful. Because I was walking up hill, the water was flowing down the overflowing drains so fast, and it sounded like a real river. In contrast to the masses of still water gathering in people's driveways, it looked extraordinary. It took me so long to get home because I kept stopping to take photographs. They can't possibly be an accurate depiction though, without the scent, sound and movement of the water.

The photograph's are still inside my camera, so above is one of Nirrimi's, and below is Patrick Self's.



x

Walk Me Through the Clover.

As I was drinking my tea this morning, something very unexpected happened. In the room next door, my brother was watching a music show (the kind where they play music videos of Rihanna singing about rude boys, etc.), and I heard something kick ass. Kieran and I nodded knowingly to each other, it was clear that what we were hearing was worth remembering. Stonefield.



Influenced by the rawness of the 60s and 70s, these guys have something really special. And this bit I didn't believe- one of the members is only 12 years old! The sisters are all between 12 and 20, and are Australian of course. They won the Triple J Unearthed High competition this year, and shiver me timbers did they deserve it. This is the sweet clip that goes with their awesomeness:



x

Self Pitty is a State of Mind.

Last Sunday night, I was lucky enough to witness a wonderful concert. The Jezabels put on quite a show!! I wasn't too familiar with their music before the concert, I was accompanying my dear friend, who unfortunately got sick that day and couldn't come :( Of course, I was instead accompanied by another fantastic human being.

Not being a massive fan, I wasn't expecting amazingness. Don't get me wrong, I was definitely looking forward to a pleasant night of live Australian music (which has come to be, over the past couple of years, one of my most favourite, treasured things to exist), in the extremely hot but unquestionably charming venue, the zoo. I knew not what I was in for. This concert was devine.

At first, I was punched in the face by the powerful vocals of Miss Haley Mary. That woman has a voice box in her that could enchant the worst of Grinches of the music world. After the punch wounds began to heal, I started to notice the other talents that were casually sharing a stage with this voice. The drummer with the great shirt, who made rhythms so perfect for subtly dancing, that it seemed almost involuntary. The keys player and the guitarist, who sung sweet harmonies, while constantly filling the songs with perfectly placed chords. The four of them together had so much energy and momentum. Their enjoyment was contagious.





Not only were the band members extremely talented and passionate, but the music they were playing was sublime. It made me feel like I was in a quiet, homey coffee shop in a small cold town. I like being in quiet, homey coffee shops in small cold towns. It reminds me of road trips; driving through beautiful towns, thinking time, a break from normal life. There's a sense of serenity that comes with road trips, and somehow it was brought back to me through this music.



So if anyone ever says to you, "Hey, would you like to see The Jezabels?", I would recommend you answer them with a big fat "YES".

x

Withdrawals.

I really miss my uncut, super long hair. I know it's all healthy and shiny and whatever now, but that's not stopping me from doing everything in my power to find a quick hair growing potion or spell in order to bring it back to it's former glory. Its former glory of thinness and knots and mega length. Does anyone know one?

In other news, I'm really enjoying Julia Stone's solo album! It's pretty fantastic, and the album art is super cool, she did it herself! Check it out, even if you're not generally too much of a Julia fan, she really raises her level of greatness with this album. My favourite track is 'Catastrophe', but I can't find it anywhere on the Internet, my apologies. 'My Baby' is also quite cool, so have a listen. It's not one of my favourite from the album, but it's just so hard to find any of it online! I had to revert to MySpace music. Desperate times people..

x

Inspiration Explosion.

My mind has just been exploding with inspiration these past couple of days! I mean, it's pretty pointless stuff popping up in there (I may or may not have drawn a picture of a cat chasing a gnome), but entertaining none the less :)


I used this cat in the drawing. It's always sun baking when I walk past on my way home from the train. It kind of looks like it's running here, even though it's chilling.

I had this lovely patriotic moment yesterday afternoon! And no, I don't mean war-cry's and green and gold jersey's. I was standing by the sink, washing my hands of the first mango of the season (Kieran bought the mother of all mango's), and the most beautiful breeze was blowing through the window. I was listening to Josh Pyke singing about the sea with that strong Australian accent of his, and there was a Kookaburra on the clothes line. Summer started at that precise moment, I think.



The evening began with the surprise of a room filled with candles, watching my favourite movie with the Joseph and the Zooey AND eating my favourite ice cream with the cookies and the cream. Nick is actually the cat's pajamas and the bee's knees all in one.



And today, although this may not seem particularly exciting to some, I had the fantastic pleasure of spending quality time with a cup of tea and a fresh book. Scrubs even came on TV.

Between these times of pure loveliness, there has been much creating. And a little cleaning on the side, but even that isn't so bad with the company of Ben Folds and Belle and Sebastian. On that note, Ben Folds and Nick Hornby's current collaboration = genius. I had my doubts. Majorly. Being a dedicated Ben fan (especially when it comes to Ben Folds Five), I was a little concerned when I heard 'From Above' on the radio over and over. It seemed a little bit like some of Ben Folds stuff that lacks.. I don't know. Just, the majority of his music is so incredible, but some of it is a less incredible version of the good stuff. As in, it has the same kind of qualities, but it just doesn't have 'it'. Obviously that's impossible to avoid, I can't believe the number of different songs I've heard of his. He's a song writing machine. Anyway, I felt like this song was a bit like that. THEN, I heard 'Levi Johnson's Blues', which is just freaking great.

In the CD book thing, Nick Hornby has written a little about the stories behind the songs, which I definitely appreciate! And it's kind of cool all the collaborations that are involved. Like 'Things You Think' with Pomplamoose, Kate Miller-Heidke singin' in 'From Above', and this video with the blogger Charlie is so cool like for 'Saskia Hamilton', which Kate also sings in. All of these collaborations (and so many more great people that I'm not familiar with) bring so much freshness and fantasticness to his already fantabulous musical mind. I decided to embrace it. Needless to say there's been more dancing than cleaning. Also, it makes me want to make some sweet collaborations with people. I've had some pretty successful jam sessions with various talented friends over the year, definitely keen for more now that free time is among us.



That Ben Folds rant wasn't actually planned, so this post has kind of gone off topic a little, but hey, let's just go with it.

x

Hair.

We took a risk. We did something crazy. My best friend and I went to the hairdressers and got our hair dyed. We thought it would be best to get it done at the hairdressers, even if it cost a lot of money that doesn't exist in the bank account, as we didn't want it to look ridiculous and stuff it up from a box.


I asked for something a little like this:


And this is what my friend was going for:


If you saw us, there is zero chance of you noticing any change whatsoever.

That's right, we look exactly the same. A trillion dollars later, our hair is still the same colour. Now I am 100% positive that the lady actually put colour in our hair, I saw it with my own eyes! We selected a colour, and an hour later she washed it out, and reassured us that it would become more noticeable in a couple of days. Yeah, well, we both still have dark brown hair. In fact, mine is actually darker! You see, when she dyed it the brownyreddy colour (that I told her I thought was too dark), the natural highlights of my dark brown hair went away, resulting in this blackybrowny colour that lacks in niceness. Just what I wanted!

This could only have happened to us. As non-risk takers, we should have only expected that when we did try, it would result in a hilarious situation of no result. Most people, when getting their hair dyed, would walk out with a new hair colour. Jacinta and Nikki, walk out looking exactly the same. It's the way of the universe.

x

Wearing All of Your Clothes at the Same Time.

I keep writing really long posts and not posting them. It's quite time consuming. So because I'm not satisfied with any of these previous posts, I'm going to write a simple ramble about some music. I always like doing that :)

Alright, so ever since I've acquired it, I've been obsessed with Wincing the Night Away by The Shins. I realise it's not particularly new (released early 2007), I meant to buy it for ages, and boy was I glad when I did. It's actually all I listened to for months. I brought another album on the same day, which I'm sure is fantastic..

Although I was familiar with a few of their songs before seeing it, the movie Garden State really sold them to me in the end. Being a MASSIVE fan of both Zac Braff (who directed and stared in the movie) and Natalie Portman, I was bound to love it. I must admit, the story line did depress me a little, but something about the watered down chaos and bizarre turn of events appealed to me. The best thing about it, hands down, was the soundtrack. Although it's not from Wincing the Night Away, New Slang is one of my all time favourite Shins songs, and a significant song in the movie.





Back to the album. There's actually not one song on it that I don't love, definitely give it a listen :)



x