This is Wee Frankie

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Yesterday he decided he could fly, without any of his flight feathers. So we made hime a little nest out of an ice cream container and grass and stuff. We put him in it. He decided to test his luck again. 

Birds are stupid.

So, now that you're 18 and an adult in Australia what exactly can you do? That's what I spent trying to figure out with a friend of mine on my 18th birthday. What things can you do at 18 that you can’t at any time - at all - before that date? Well here's the list:

Drinking Alcohol: Hmm not so much a new thing. I’ve been a little boozehound since 3. I "liberated" a glass of my mother’s whiskey and coke when she wasn’t looking. Of course I didn’t know about the whiskey content.  I’ve never been blind stinking drunk, but I have been tipsy, very happy and possibly a little drunk.

Buying Alcohol: Also not a new 18 plus thing.  Yr 10, when my parents were overseas my brother and I went out to a work farewell party(for his work). What a kind brother wouldn’t leave his little sister all alone, instead he made me catch a train (a millennium one that jammed it’s voice on “the next station is Glenfield” Just after my mp3 died) and walk to this restaurant somewhere in Sydney. In winter. At night. I went to get our drinks (an coke and orange juice) what I got was a coke and a vodka and orange. No ID check or anything…

Driving:  What are you stupid? (by the by the only reason this is on here is because of Bert’s Family Feud. Apparently you can’t drive till your 18…) 16 (don’t quote me) is when you can get your L’s by 16 and six months you can technically get your P’s. You can drive at 16 and drive on your own at 16, so the only thing to do with driving that you cant do till your over 18 is have a full licence…

Tattoos: No victory’s yet. You can get them at 16 if you manage to talk your parents into it. So tattoos of your own violation are available at 18 yrs and over.

Piercing: I’m pretty sure you can get them done to yourself at 16 without parental permission (if any age regulation even applies). Hell, all you need is a pointy bit of metal and alcohol rub.

Knives: 16’s the age to start stabbing.

Spray paint: Finally! We have a winner! Yes, apparently it’s fine to carry steak knives around when your 16, but a can of spray-paint? Oh no, that’s much too dangerous. I think someone in the government has a brain problem. It seems to be missing.

Porn: Are you kidding? In today’s society porn is everywhere. In almost every movie there is some sort of nudity and sex. And don’t try saying “but what about Disney…” because they’re not exempt. Anyone have an original copy of The Little Mermaid? Right in the middle of the castle is a lovely tower shaped like a penis. Disney now airbrushes it out of all The Little Mermaid covers, but they forgot to redesign some of the castle toys. Not to mention the naked lady in the background of The Rescuers.

18+ Movies:  Apocalypse Now. I watched that at school. I studied that in year 11 – at 16. There’s also Battle Royal, and Battle Royal Two. All of these are ‘R’ rated in Australia. Not to mention the ones that ore ‘M’ in Australia and ‘R’ in other countries.

Pub’s and Clubs: Seriously not a problem. I’ve been to a couple of Whine Wine Bars/Bars/Pubs with my sister. No ID check there.

Sex: 16’s the age for guys and girls. 16’s the age for girls and girls. So if I wanted to have sex I could’ve done it already. The only problem I’d have is if I was a guy interested in guys – they have to wait till they’re 18.

Marriage: 16 if your parents agree to it, 18 otherwise.

Medical Procedures: The voluntary stuff like breast implants and plastic surgery I’m pretty sure you need to be 18 do book yourself in. But I think (if you get permission from your parents) you can get it done younger so that’s off the over 18 list.

The Law: I can now be tried as an adult.

Gambling: Now that I’m 18 I can waste money on the pokies, lottery, casino, and scratchies. Joy.

Banking: I can now apply for a mortgage and credit card.

Voting: oh joy! (Please note the sarcasm)

In other words, Now that I’m 18 I can get a credit card; use it to buy spray paint; vandalise a wall; get caught; be tried as an adult and go to jail. At which point I wont be able to vote till I’m out of jail…

Now that sounds like FUN!

So yeah, I know it is late but meh, I wanted to write it… the list isn’t really birth-tacular is it?

Money – Mostly cos most of these things need me to be there to pick them…

Shoes – I need black shoes that I can wear everyday to uni and stuff. At the moment I’m stuck either wearing joggers or red shoes that give me blisters >_<

Clothes – Desperately. In high school I had my uniform to wear 5 days a week. I had enough clothes for weekends and am not a shopaholic like most girls (well not for clothes anyway). So then uni starts. I have three pairs of pants (one of which has possibly one thing to match) so it drops down to two. I need pants, I need shirts and I want a black psycho jacket.

Makeup – Black eyeliner that doesn’t run. That’s about it, maybe some non-clumpy mascara and some good nail polishes.

Fabric – Black canvas and lining. I’m making a bag cos the fashionable ones just aren’t me…

Dictionary – I need a Japanese/English dictionary for uni.

Book voucher – Quite frankly there are too many books I want to name them all.

Black fabric dye – My black hat is fading and I’m got this nice pair of white lace gloves that would look great black…

French vanilla ski delight yoghurt – I’m craving and we don’t have any at home. >_<

Black silk ribbon – 3 or so metres of the good quality stuff. My corset lacing is like a shoelace so I’m thinking of some nice pretty ribbon for it…

Somewhere I can wear my corset -  Cos you know hanging out at home, going to the shops for milk and really hot summer days aren’t good for corsets…

Uni is cool. I expected it to be a lot more work, like high school, but I have so much time that isn’t classes.

I've gone on the library tour! I went a little overboard with borrowing. I borrowed two books, then a third and a textbook and another book and when I borrowed the first two I already had a book (or two) to read. So yeah, just a little overboard.

I've got a guy called Lindsay in half my classes. We're doing all the same subjects. Either he's stalking me or I'm stalking him. I haven't quite figured that out ^_^  He has really nice hair! It's down to the small of his back and black and really silky looking. I'm impressed! I have a hard time with my hair and it's short. I'm also jealous. Curse people with non-fuzzy hair! Cures them I say!

Aus and the World is interesting. It goes right back to the first immigrations and up to Iraq, so it also covers the 1800 White Aus and stuff, but it's also heaps more, like Vietnam, and ...stuff...  like the sea-slug trade, and Aus’ first (temporary) European settlement. One of the surviving guys in charge was a psycho killer. He and his lackeys killed 120 crewmembers. Everyday Life is really cool! Like society and culture but better! Also M. and V cultures is good too. My tutor is an artist so yeah. And Japanese is also good!

I walked into the wrong classroom last Tuesday! My Aus and the World tutorial goes for 1.5 hrs and straight after it ends is my Jap tutorial. Only thing is, due to it being the first day, my Aus and the World tutorial finished half an hour early but as the room had no clock (and no air con - twas a killer) I didn't know this so I rushed all the way to my next room, seen the door closed and thought "Oh crap! I'm late!" and went right into the wrong class. I’m not a noob as all XD

Hmm what else??? All the people I seem to meet are older or/and have kids. I mean everyone. I've met a couple of people straight out of school. And that's (one of) last week’s funny story.

I missed my bus as I read the timetable wrong so my dad drove me to the station. At the train station I got on the next train that came (still in “I think I’m", late mode). It said 'city via airport' and thus I thought it would go to East Hills. Wrong! It went straight past till Padstow.  Once it passed East Hills I started hyperventilating. I was absolutely sure there was a ticket inspector just in the next carriage making his/her way towards me.

As soon as we stopped (yea before the dorrs opened :]) I jumped off and ran up to the ticket window (thankfully they didn't have those ticket machines) and bought a ticket back to East Hills before running back down (didn’t want to miss the next trail) only to realise I didn't know when the next train was coming, so up and down I went again. I am one well-trained yoyo!

Well, the train started slowing down for east hills and me and another girl were there at the train door when the train stopped ready to run for our bus (which we could see). The doors didn’t open, mostly because there was no station there. We started walking (running) towards the front of the train thinking the driver had misjudged distance and stopped too early. No East Hills. Just in the middle of empty ground. We hyperventilated. The train had broken down, we’d missed our bus and we’re late to our classes.  Suddenly it started again and when we got to East Hills we could see the bus still there, but about to go so we ran down the stairs and thank God! It was still there. (We have since learned that the bus loiters at East Hills station.) So we got to uni on time after all!    

And my uni cafeteria has a big flat screen TV. Oh! I almost forgot. On Mondays (or is it Tuesdays?) a couple of stalls set up shop in the main building. We have markets ... well two stalls. There's also a Womyn's room (with apparent DVD player) and the cafeteria with feral looking food. YUM!

So yeah, orientation week wasn’t that good… just a couple of dodgy stalls. On Tuesday this week, however, we had a DJ and Karaoke set up in the Caf (bad music – we ran from it). Outside was what looked like a jumping castle but was some stupid throwing/aiming game, and all these groups (queer collective, political parties, tours, other groups, religious groups, a radio station) and they also started playing bad music so we ran to the library where we were able to escape the bad bad music.

Eh, not paticularly. I just wanted to show off my new userpic. So who thinks I'm sad?

The larger version of this pic makes me laugh.

Oh yeah. These are my sister's hair pictures.

sarah 1

sarah 2

sarah 3

Dear lord. It is beautiful. I’ve just finished looking at my course outline for everyday life. Tears came to my eyes as I read. Not tears of sadness, or despair over how challenging it will be, but tears of joy. It looks so beautiful. It’s exactly the type of thing I want to study ant UNI. It is the type of subjects I research on my own steam. A whole week on youth culture another week on identity. Also there is gender and consumer culture. The assignment is observing and analysing an everyday ritual. Taking a scene at the pub, Christmas, a date. Taking anything at all – it’s only limited by imagination – and going over it with a fine-toothed comb. Discovering patterns, how the ritual formalises the relationships and interactions of life. It’s just so perfect.

On a slightly grosser note, you know how you smell your favourite food when your hunger and your mouth starts getting ready to eat? Saliva starts to run and your whole body gears up to engage in the meal? That’s what is happening to me. It’s almost scary that I’m looking this forward to a class. Who am I kidding? It is scary.

When I take a breath to calm down it’s like I’m tasting the most exquisite chocolate, European chocolate that costs $3.00 a piece – at least. Chocolate that is so refined it makes you weak at the knees and the idea of a second piece is just too much to contemplate. And I’m going to be studying this for the next six months.

Goodness! I sound like such an emo! I’m such a sad case. I’ve fallen in love with a course outline. Well I suppose there are worse things to fall in love with…

My sister is gonna shave her hair off!! On wednesday!! She's gonna look sooo weird O-o but it's for a good cause. A friend of hers has cancer and needs an operation... it's to raise money.

I'll have to get photos!

So you've all seen the tags little small minded people stick everywhere that's just not spray-paint art? The tags that are spread over the real street art and just spoil someone's hours and hours of work that they've been paid for, or on someone's fence, or house, or over bus timetables, on telegraph poles and in one case I seen over the speed limit sign. (Hello? we NEED to see that sign! How stupid can they get?) Sure it's their "tag" to say "I was 'ere" in their own little unique way, but to anyone they haven't shown it to it's just illegible scribbles that ruin the view and make them look like a sad straw-grabbing attention-whores... and we don't even know who they are. Sure, it annoys you - if you even really register it anymore because it is just EVERYWHERE. It blends into the brick because no matter how many times people clean it off it always comes back.  kinda like that liquid terminator... hmmm maybe if we coat everything in super heated steel...?

Anywhoo, back to my pansy-distracted-not-quite-rant ( I swear I was really worked up about this on the train) So anyway someone has finally committed sacrilege. I mean the tagging is bad enough, but this time someone went too far! They tagged a tree. A TREE!   WTF?!   NO! 

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

Don't tag trees.! It's just wrong. If you *must* tag things (ie: if you have some way out weird and wacky compulsive disease that means you must tag things in order to keep you heart beating) then by all means tag a freeway lane in peak hour, or your bedroom walls, or your letterbox, or even your cat, but not a tree. 

There were perfectly tag-able walls, telegraph poles and trains just across the road. Why did that person feel the need to tag a poor innocent gum tree?