Work n Playing

A jake ring that Oscar made for me, a My Little Pony hat I made for myself, and a vaguely Avril Lavigne-esque work outfit. Maybe I should have worn my Radiohead shirt? Har har

I really am very lucky that a) I love jewelry and b) my boyfriend is good at making jewelry.

The news of my life is as follows:

I am now the manager of Dejavu bar. My boss quit, and so I am doing his job. So far that has been both very stressful, and easy. Stressful because the idea of me managing anything seems insane, and easy because I already knew how to do most of the jobs, and so far the rest of them haven't been that hard. I'm worried that  it means I won't be able to get away from work as much, but having more $$ makes things easier.

My band just finished our first residency. It was rad! All the shows bar the second one went really well. The second one was fine but it was a quiet night, and we always play better when there are people dancing. The third show was a sci-fi spectacular, and I wish I had more photos. The last one we just played really, really fast. The Lounge were super awesome to us, and we loved playing there. I highly recommend trying to get a gig there if you're a band in Melbourne. They treat their bands really well.

This is the only photo I have of the sci-fi gig, credit goes to Georgie P:

Good Beer Week

More like Get Out Of My Face Week. It's been an intense six days. I got back from Perth last Sunday, and I've been working every day since then. Today I'm going to do absolutely shit all. It's already amazing.

Beer. I love it, other people love it too. There are many different kinds of beer people. Some good, some bad. Because I work at a craft beer bar, it's not unusual for the customers to be knowledgeable about beer. Which is why it's weird that during GBW our bar has been full of people who *think* they know about beer, and are very smug about that fact. It's like dude, beer exists all the other weeks too. And we drink it all the other weeks. This is just your special week to shine.

Anyway thank god that's over. Beer nerds are great. Beer snobs are not.

I've got a bunch of photos and I'm not sure which ones to post first. I guess I'll do the premier of my other vans -

Fresh!!! Or so I like to think. This photo was taken in Perth in my parents' backyard.

I played a few new board games there and a lot of a certain new computer game, but I think I'll save all that for a games post.

If you go my work you'll see the new tip jar art that my boyfriend Oscar drew.

Aaaand I think I'll end this post with Millie. It's too sad that I only see my dogs like twice a year, so when I do I take a million photos of them. Stay tuned for more updates from my exciting life! SO EXCITING!

I'm a cat

We had a belated staff Xmas party last weekend. I was pretty happy with my outfit but there was no one home to help me take photos so these are all that are left. You can't really see but I wore shimmering white eyeshadow and teal mascara, made me feel like an ice queen. I was having a lot of anxiety about the party and didn't really want to go, but it ended up pretty fun.

I have wanted to look a lot like these two lately:

Just because, I don't know. They're badass and look like they hate everyone. I'm having a lot of trouble with dealing with criticism recently. Some people have thick skins and are able to deal with whatever happens in a logical way, but I'm not one of those people. I'm talking about work, mainly. It seems like an instinctual reaction to get really upset if someone is shouting at me. Even if I think the reason isn't valid and they're just being a dick or whatever, I find it hard not to feel upset. You know?

A note to bosses, managers, chefs, or anyone who has any kind of authority over anyone else in a workplace environment: It isn't good for your business to make your employees feel like shit. If they ask questions, you should answer them. The worst bosses I've had are the ones who make you feel like an idiot for asking a question. Really, questions are good things, because it means the person is double checking what they're doing. If you make someone feel like they can't ask questions, it will end up with them making more mistakes, because if they're unsure about something they'll just guess. I mean really, even if you think the answer is obvious, why not just answer it anyway? It wastes a lot more time if you shout at the person instead of a simple yes/no or whatever.

Like I just think some people have massive insecurities, and that's why they love having jobs where they can order people around and power trip over them.

*cough* no one in particular.*cough* chefs *cough*

/end rant

Day Off

It's nice to have a day off. I haven't been wearing anything worth photographing recently because I've been working most days, and when I haven't I've just sat around, wallowing in relaxation. I really appreciated Meagan of Latterstyle doing a photo series on work clothes. Even though both my works are pretty relaxed about clothing rules, when you're working in hospitality there's no way you can wear anything nice. I dress for practicality and choose the things which I don't mind getting covered in beer. And of course, I never wear heels. Which is why it was nice to break them out today, even if the boyf thinks they're ugly. I'm pretty sure I was prompted to buy them because of the ones Mary Kate's wearing in this picture.

Which are probably like Celine or something but whatevs.

Porridge

Photos taken by Oscar Casley

Today I had porridge at Breakfast Thieves, in Collingwood. It was the best porridge I've ever had, I think. And I'm quite the porridge eater. I wore these clothes today because I really hate the fact that my work makes me wear all black, and so I need to colour it up on my days off. Fritz was being a silly cat man and so he was included.

That thing I don't want to think about anymore

The thing that's on my mind constantly right now, which I guess nobody really wants to have to dwell on but which we all have to at some point. I'm sick of talking about it, and I think everyone around me is sick of me talking about it, but when something is affecting you so much it's kind of inevitable.

I was recently employed into a job I hate. Literally everyone goes through this at some point in their lives; some people never get past the stage of hate-jobs and have them forever. This is a future I'm struggling to get away from, kicking and screaming while it pulls me under with its giant, sticky tentacles. A hospitality job which pays minimum wage, and requires maximum effort. A job where your boss stares over your shoulder the whole time, shouts at you if you make a mistake, and doesn't respect how many hours you've requested or which days. Or pay you for your trial.

I keep seeing this Einstein quote, which is just so relevant at all times: "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

I just feel like a fish right now, ok? So many people are told they have to do these jobs, and they aren't good at them, but they are good at other things. I mean, I know my skills. They just aren't skills that are applicable in cafes. Or, to be honest, probably a lot of other meaningless jobs. Then again, I should be grateful for what I can get, right?

I'm turning twenty-four this year. It depresses me beyond measure that I am stuck doing this pointless shit, reading on blogs about people with glamorous lives and wondering desperately how they managed to get to that stage. People younger than me. How many people feel like this? When I read interviews where people talk about how they got their jobs, it inevitably ends with, "Oh, it just kind of happened." There is no guidebook for the socially inept or the people with less than exceptional looks. Not at all to discredit the hard work they've done, but there is an element of luck that I feel is disproportionate with everything else.

And then, after that stage, comes the disgust with my own constant complaining. So where is the end to this void? I feel like it's an abyss I've already slipped too far in to, and i need to escape but there's no clear way. Write a book? I am in the first stages, but books are not a way to make money. I can do it for the love of it, but I need to pay rent at the same time. And I can't go on in these jobs which suck my time and energy, and give back almost nothing in return.

On to less depressing things.

I went to the art gallery opening/gig for Celeste Potter and Ben Ely of Ouch My Face on Saturday. Ever since seeing them in a warehouse party a couple of years ago, I was an instant fan. Celeste has the most punk attitude I've ever seen, which is thankfully backed up by awesome music. Her paintings were of monsters and things made of slime, and she painted them in her own blood. Hardcore. Ben's paintings were a great mixture of humour and bright colours and weirdness, which I believe is the same attitude of his more famous band, Regurgitator. Supporting Ouch My Face were Bat Piss, who get better and better each time I see them, and Dead, who are always amazing. I fangirled out and bought a tshirt, badge and patch from them so I can look awesome all the time. Here is a picture of me wearing the tshirt, and also these amazing boots I just bought from the Salvos today. They were only twenty bucks and I am supremely happy with them. Fritz the cat decided he'd like to lounge casually in the photo.

Tights: American Apparel, Smiley face shoelaces: ebay