Epiphany? Sorta. Lil gold man got in my mind-grapes

Did I spell that right? Epiphany. Ever look at something so long you freak yourself out?
Anyways;

Do you think society is a dream killer?

I watched the Oscars today (side note, I cried. A lot. Natalie Portman wins! Cry. Natalie Portman's little pregnant belly! Cry. Clip of Toy Story 3, weep uncontrollably whilst yelling NOT THE FIRE!). It occured to me that society may pretend to encourage public dream followin', but underneath that thin little silver layer is a blueprint of the pyramid of dream fulfillment. Not everyone can win the lottery (don't believe it? Bruce Almighty baby). Not everyone can be an actress, a singer, a rock star. God forbid. Who would clean the hotels and serve a deliciously greasy yiros at 4am?

So a few people get to be deliriously happy and a lot of people don't?

Eh?! That sounds pretty shit. But here's the kicker of all the crap - the people that have achieved their hearts deepest desires did something about them. People with unfulfilled dreams sit at home shelling peanuts, waiting for someone to knock on the door offering them the dream opportunity.

When I started truly thinking about it, I realised it's laziness or fear of failure. If you need a haircut you don't sit yourself on the porch hoping a kind scissored stranger will soon arrive. You get out there! Or, if you're the quirky type, buy some scissors of your own! I'll get off the scissor metaphor before it gets out of hand, but the point of this story is that though I've never been the kind to think that a career is the be all and end all, I am having this awful niggling feeling that if I don't get up off my butt and do something that works towards doing something that I love, I'm going to be in big trouble.

Operation dream salvagery.

Dreams? A little voluminous but mostly stemming from writing and publishing: to myself be, well, not written but published! Ice-cream taste tester also up there.

Action? I'll start out small - I'mma spruce up my blog. Finish the unfinished posts, mend the holes, patch up that crack! I'm getting a little Sound of Music but hell, I'm building up to my new goal - a post a day. I'll trial this for a week since I have a feeling that shared internet access with a 16 year old monster'll be tricky.
Let's do this O-girl!

Please note: I have a pretty bad memory so I'm going to need a little help reminding myself of this, hence this public pep-talk post.

If anyone is reading this, firstly, sweet Bluebeard's leg are you ok? Google a hobby ... or a good blog hahaha but seriously, don't do that. Secondly, what's your dream? Join the dream bandwagon, help a sister out in the inspiration stakes!

In closing, I leave you with a quote I was spoon-fed in my senior year of highschool but is only today truly getting me right in the guts:

"Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius and power and magic in it."

- Goethe

                       
I coulda sworn this was followed by:
'Begin it! Begin it now!!'

(Mebbe it's just me :)

Today's message: Grab the sun? It's only our life source - have a play.

Inspired Ophelia out dudes!

Hi. I'm Sara, and I wish Harry Potter was real.

I'm fresh home from the cinema - face fully dry of tears for the first time in a few hours - and all I could think on the way home was, I am in love with that world.

I have this terribly passionate way of falling wholly in love with something and completely losing sight of everything else. I love losing myself into my favourite book. There are a few, but Harry is an old friend. He's a lifelong friend to me, and I await the release of part two of the Deathly Hallows with bated breath.

I want it now!

Bloody hell Harry, it was good.

.

If only...

Firstly, I apologise for having left at least two of my blogs in limbo - to be continued is such a wonderful cop-out - but dammit, I'm a poor student working two jobs, suffering from an extreme case of laziness with a bookshelf full of never-been-reads!

I'm currently reading my first non-Sevenwaters piece of Juliet Marillier's - The Dark Mirror, and I cannot really understand why it's taken me so long. I first discovered Marillier's writing in my local library as a thirteen year old. I was drawn to Daughter of the Forest because of its gorgeous cover. Ladies and gents, it blew my mind. It was beautiful, complex, and contained one of the most wonderful love stories in my reading history. It remains to this day one of my most favourite of all favourite books. It's position in my bookcase is considered before all others, like the Queen or a dear elderly relative.

And yet, I have had a friend's copy of The Dark Mirror since I left highschool. That's three years - oh GOSH I'm a terrible person. Don't worry! I'm returning it the minute I finish it with a thousand dollars in late fees. Maybe I'll get my Martha on and bake something to (minus the scariness). That was a joke. Please don't kill me Martha. I adore you; I baked your giant skillet cookie and it was a-mazing.

But back to my original germ of a thought. Why has it taken me so long? Why have I still not finished Gone with the wind? Perfume? The Constant Gardener? I've never read any Austen! I adored what I've read of George Orwell (Down and Out In Paris and London), but haven't made time to read more.

I guess what I'm saying is, dear Universe: I would like a job in which I write every now and then - being a published author could be nice - and then divide the rest of my time between reading glorious books at all hours of the day, baking giant delicious things in skillets, and idolising Liz Lemon while watching hundreds upon hundreds of wonderful episodes of 30 Rock.

Can't wait!
Here's a picture of the wonderful skillet cookie. Make it with kids - so easy, so delicious and such a novelty!

Until next time I leave the couch to post,

Lazy Ophelia

Wed me Regina?

Let me begin this review/blatantly biassed ode to the lovely Regina Spektor with the story of my purchasing tickets to her Adelaide show. Flipping through Adelaide's very own Rip It Up on my lunch break, I mentally listed my live music bucket list: The Strokes, The Vines, The Wombats; and last but certainly not least, Regina Spektor.

And with this wish having barely completed its imprint on my psyche, I flipped to a delicious full-page ad of Regina's tour dates in Australia. I have never been as happy in that building as I was then, (the day they asked me to build a paper mache` Mr Potato Head is a close second). I was so excited that the next day I rushed out to buy my ticket without asking anyone else if they'd like to join me.

And so on April 23rd 2010 I sat alone at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, wearing an enormous smile in a section separate from my friends.

Reader. If she ever comes to your town - RUN to the nearest ticket outlet without consulting your friends, because Miss Spektor delivers the best live music performance I've had the honour of experiencing.

I laughed. I cried. My ear to ear smile was only ever swapped for painfully exquisite gasps of utter awe (these stemming from what I suspect is a severe case of affection).

to be continued!

One Fine Day

Amazing book? Check

Perfect weather? Check

Adorable/hairy companion? Check

Splendid :)

[Said amazing book is Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier, second in her successful Sevenwaters trilogy. Another love story? You bet yo sweet bippy. Stay tuned - once my friend & I finally give up on this uni nonsense watch out for the Sevenwaters puppet show tour soon to be gripping the nation]

Ophelia's Complaint of the Day

Pineapple.

Get the heck off my pizza and into a cocktail.

Numbabet & Knuckledusters

7

The amount of bobby pins I could hear mingling in my purse. Upon investigation I discovered they had mutinied against me (obviously from the years of stress of trying to hold back my heavy hair), formed a hole in the lining of my wonderful bag, and tried to head into an early retirment. As punishment I will now ponytail my waist-length hair with nothing BUT bobby pins; haHA!

4

The amount of people I have taken the pleasure in convincing to read The Bronze Horseman by the lovely Paullina Simons. If you love love, READ. THIS. BOOK. I mean... if you want to. Act on your own impulses. It's a relatively free country. Unless you perhaps live in the Soviet during WWII ... like a certain protagonist I adore... OH JUST READ IT!

[Dear Reader, aka myself, I assume there will be much more on The Bronze Horseman in future posts. A full review. A blow-by-blow description of all three novels. Basically, transcripts of the passionate/only conversations my friends and I share these days]

14,876,390,000,060,000

The amount in dollars that I will need to fund my newly discovered Matina Amanita habit. That implies I have bought something. Reader, I apologise. Wishful thinking on my behalf. Pictured is a Matina Amanita ring from her Globetrotter line. Oh, and did I mention it too is inspired by Russia?

Another - possibly the worst, certainly the most life-threatening - societal issue of the 21st Century

What is WRONG with people? Not all people, certainly, but a good big ol percentage of society are just plain ... bad.

See dear reader (aka imaginary friend), I work in a movie theater. *Pause for pitiful sigh*. One of the few places left in this wonderous planet of ours (aside from rainforests and public restrooms. and public transport. and nightclubs), that people feel the right to vilify beyond normal standards of vilification. I apologise if (when) I exaggerate; everytime I blink images of popcorn-carpeted cinemas and ticket stub confetti bombard me. People are just awful, and I just can't decide who's worst.

1. You've got your standard group of school kids. There's about a million of em, each clutching to the box of popcorn some doll in the candybar just sold to them (remind me to elaborate later on the painful task of upselling), that happens to be bigger than their torso. Afterward, the cinema resembles what a savoury snack bomb site might look like. Hansel and Gretel, eat your heart out - and miss your mouth every second time - cos popcorn trails are quite obviously the shiz, right behind Ben 10 and Dora the Explorer. Maybe they're the latest in personal security. All I know is that school holidays at the movies are one of the greatest tools for abstinence.

Blogalism or tablogs? Journalogs or blogloids? The weblog phenomenon

An article that I read recently (on a blog, incidentally!), discussed the link between blogging and journalism. The first sentence gave me such a sense of understanding, of clarity about the linked worlds of blogging and journalism: "To ask 'Is blogging journalism', is to mistake form for content". After reading this, and becoming a blogger myself, I realised that it is indeed wrong to pidgeon-hole all blogs as the self-indulgent diary entries of cyber-megalomaniacs. They are one of many media platforms and should instead, be judged according to their content.

A blog (the abbreviation of weblog), is a type of mini-website. It can be defined as "a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links". However, this definition is rather generic. Two contrasting examples of blogs that both might fit under this definition are a journalistic research-based blog and a personal entertainment or specialty-based blog.

It was in the 1990s and early 2000s that weblogs were made accessible to people unable to use HTML codes. It is this accessibility that has made blogs so popular today, and yet also contributes to the detriment of their reputablility. On one hand, they are a fantastic channel for media that wouldn't otherwise get past an editor or censorship protocols. On the other hand, anyone can make a blog; and they can say and omit whatever they choose to in that blog. These authors are free to be anonymous, and aren't forced to abide by ethical rules (apart from minor censorship guidelines). Unfortunately, it is hard to trust people to do the right thing. Indeed, who am I to say what the right thing is? I could be anyone; a random person of any age, gender or race who chose the name Ophelia on a lark. Everything that I say could be completely tainted by bias. It could also potentially be completely false!

This modern blogging phenomenon makes it extremely difficult to judge them according to a generic format, as one often can with a newspaper or academic journal. As I mentioned earlier, each blog must be judged according to its individual content. Yet with the thousands, in fact probably millions, of blogs floating unchecked out there in the world wide web - who has the time to check them all?

Ophelia in the blogosphere

This post is probably always going to be in progress. It's main purpose is to serve as a place for me to take note of my experience with this weblog - my triumphs, and any not-so-triumphant hiccups along the way - that will hopefully save another blogger out there a minute or two of head-scratching.

- A design issue I've had with this blog has been synchronising my fonts! After much (Ado About Nothing - can't help but think of Shakespeare!), thinking someone asked me if I had been copying and pasting the posts/articles with different fonts from Microsoft Word. I had. Problem solvered!

- I have fixed it now (somehow), but for a few hours the font in the first paragraph of my Big Brother post decided it wanted to stay extremely and irritatingly tiny, no matter how many times I tried to change it.

- The process of editing blogs can feel a little tedious. Perhaps I'm doing it the long and hard way (it wouldn't be the first time), but I have to click on about four different links to go back to a post from my blog to be able to edit it.

- I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing I can do to change the font colour of the text at the bottom of the opinion poll, or about the lack of spacing between some of my pictures and its post headline.

- The more I attempt to polish and format my blog, the more design issues I seem to face. Paragraph breaks are one example; things seem to be fine until I change something which appears to set something else off. It is slightly irritating, yet I am accepting it along with the freedom of the blogging territory. No one thing is completely without fault!

- Apart from these minor issues, I quite enjoy blogging. It's rather liberating to create something that is entirely under your control; that you can edit and fine-tune and change dramatcially if you choose. Creating and using a pseudonym gives me a sense of freedom to express my personal opinions without the harsh protocols that may come with different publications, such as print.