Monthly Archive for April, 2010

Lacost(e)

Published on April 30, 2010 in Nostalgia, Pop Culture and Teaching. 11 Comments

I think I got reverse snobbed at the shops today. However it is often my experience that I will be treated snottily by:

1) Wait-people at pretentious restaurants

2) Shop assistants in pretentious retail stores

Perhaps someone is telling me I shouldn’t shop in such wank-holes. I don’t get it because I am a perfect customer. I shop only to spend money, I am smiling, polite, efficient and know what I want. Yet I will walk into one of these stores only to get the up and down.

Today I went to a department store called Myer. I went in particularly to buy a Country Road (Aussie clothing brand) tote bag. We used to have these when I was in high-school and I was feeling nostalgic and thought it would be great to be my new ‘teacher bag’ to carry all my lesson plans, rolls, books, white-board markers etc in. So I bought it, wound up nattily with a piece of calico. When I unwrapped it to use it then and there in the shop I realised that it wasn’t the glorified medium sized bag of my youth but a huge I’m-heading-off-for-a-dirty-weekend sized bag of adulthood. I lined up at the counter to return it but after waiting a while for the lovely older gentleman shop assistant to one-finger peck through a transaction I decided to head over to the hand-bag section and see I could find something Paris-Hilton-Puppy-sized that might do.

When I discovered the bag that I thought would keep my in good stead for the next few teaching (or god forbid nappy) years I took it to the counter and explained to the lady that I would like return the canvas one and get this one instead.

‘It is three times more expensive’ she exclaimed, looking over her glasses at me.

I couldn’t tell if she was judging me or warning me, while I stuttered through ‘Well – it’ll last me a while!’

And so will my Tag watch and Gucci bag. Instead of being snotty and seeing through me to my feral public high school core she instead looked through and saw my try-hard, want want want blackened little heart.

Grumpy Young Lady? GUILTY Young lady more like it.

O My Brothers

Published on April 28, 2010 in Books n Stuff and Pop Culture. 8 Comments

I read and watched A Clockwork Orange over the weekend. (The one before I read The Road – masochistic much?) 

Just in case you don’t know they story – it is about a boy called Alex who, with his gang of friends, runs riot at night, full of drugs, raping women and beating innocent citizens up. When he is caught he is sent to prison. He behaves like a model prisoner and becomes a volunteer for an experiment in rehabilitation. Alex is cured of his violent tendencies but he is then unable to defend himself against his enemies. After a suicide attempt the procedure is reversed. Will Alex go back to his old ways? (I won’t spoil the end but the movie and book end differently.)

 I incensed a few people on Facebook when I suggested the film could do with a re-imagining. I understand that it is a classic but what I am saying is, unfortunately, society has come to a place whereby the film portrayal is actually a little tame. 

Is me saying this making me part of culture the that is desensitized to ‘ultra-violence’? I think that if my students (who are indeed too young) saw the film they would find it laughable and outdated. Another version would be more powerfully served by remaining more faithful to the book – especially having Alex at least LOOK like a 15 year old. That is what made the book so damn scary.  

Controversial as my idea is – it is coming from a place, not meant to disparage Kubrick’s vision but to better show Burgess’.

7 Things About Grumpy

Published on April 18, 2010 in Beloved, Nostalgia, Over-sharers Anonymous and Queen Me. 8 Comments
  1. I have a freak hair on my neck. Too fine to be a head hair, too long to be body hair. A freak hair.
  2. I had my first ‘boyfriend’ when I was 11. I refused to kiss him. When I met up with him 5 years later he teased me about it, saying he felt all rejected. I was mortified as I still was yet to have my first kiss.
  3. My dad built our first house. To this day I dream of winning the lottery, buying it and doing it up.
  4. When I was 12 I was a jealous little cow and I cringe when I think of how badly I behaved towards the two girls who are my oldest and bestest friends (It was real mature stuff in the vein of ‘You’re stealing my best friend’)
  5. I am dying, and I mean DYING to put mascara on Beloved. I also wouldn’t mind to give his eyebrows a wee pluck. You know, just to give ‘em a little bit of shape and open up his face. I can’t understand why he won’t let me.
  6. I love my dad, however I have learned only quite recently that has a bit of the passive-aggressive in him. Maybe that is where I get it from.
  7. My sister does the BEST donkey impression. We nearly ran off the road the first time she did it. I believe it was on a road trip to Augusta. However we all overdid the ‘Do Donkey’ bit and she gets upset when we mention it. EVER.

And the reason for this list?

A little while back, 2 lovely bloggers Stephie and Stinky Paw gave me an award. Once I received this award I was to pass it on to bloggers that I felt were deserving, as well as telling you 7 things about myself that you might not know. 

This all happened before I put some whopping pics on my blog and turned the RSS feed on. Bad move, as I was out of bandwidth for the rest of the month.

I won’t pass the award on because I am lazy and technologically inept but if you are a reader of this here blog, feel free to pinch this idea and tell us 7 things about you :) …and don’t forget to let me know that you have done it. Cause I am nosey like that.

I Want Some Chocolate Now Please

Published on April 15, 2010 in Beloved, Cranky/Dopey Bitch, Pop Culture and Queen Me. 10 Comments

It is something so trivial, yet it actually freaked me out a bit. I was saying that I wanted a bit of a new look and today I decided to try it out, whilst meeting husband in the city for lunch. I remember that The Sartorialist says that the hardest thing about trying a new thing is not money or finding the clothes but worrying what people you know will think. EXACTLY. With that in mind however, I told myself that they only person I was gonna bump into that I knew was Beloved and if HE laughed at me he’d get an elbow to the nads.

I wore: my new white and silver sparkly Doc Martens, dark pink tights, a black tulip shaped skirt, a black and white scoop necked top with these funky/odd puffy sleeves and a black, cropped 3/4 sleeves jacket. All in all a funky but not off the planet outfit…but definitely out of my comfort zone.

Husband grinned broadly when he saw me, taking my new look out for a test run. I felt okay, a bit different. At least not boring and if anything I looked neat and clean.

I got two reactions to today’s foray into fashion. One was someone yelling out across the pedestrian mall that they loved my shoes. I was pleased with that. The second was not so pleasing. I was walking to the train station on my way home when I heard this dialogue behind me - I am thinking Neanderthal boy, mid – late teens with girl, who will hopefully move on to better and brighter things:

Boy: ‘They look like fucked up Doc Martens.’

Girl: ‘What?’

Boy: ‘Those shoes. They are liked Doc Martens. But fucked up.’

Me in my head: They are Doc Martens numbnuts.

Girl: ‘They ARE Doc Martens.’

Boy: ‘But they are fucked up.’

Girl: ‘No. They aren’t’

Of course the whole time this guy was doing this weird let’s-impress-a-girl-by-being-obnoxious-about-the-person-in-front-of-me’s-footwear I was gobsmackingly angry. Like dude I’m walking here! God forbid I was actually really offending your sensibilities by being anything other than mind numbingly white-bread.

Far out.

I know, and here I am like the white-bread chick that I am, bitching that some a-hole didn’t like my SHOES. What a sad state of affairs this is.

Good thing school hols are nearly over and I can get back to being abused by teenagers on a daily basis. I have gotten soft in 2 weeks off.

100 Word Post: Nefarious

Published on April 13, 2010 in 100 Word Posts and Guest Blogger. 4 Comments

‘Name a word.’ I told MoFoKa.

‘nEfarious.’ she replied  ‘For some reason lately it is the word I think of when I have to think of a word.’

‘Fantastic word!’ I thought.

‘Alright what we are gonna do,’ I devised ‘is do ‘duelling’ 100 word posts about that word.’

‘Riiiiight’ MoFoKa seemed dubious.

‘It won’t be duelling really, more just comparing.’ I conceded. ‘A collaboration.’

‘Oh. I shoulda picked an easier word’ said MoFoKa after our second cup of tea.

‘Um’ I thought about a change but rejected it ‘Nah. It’s good – it was spontaneous.’

‘Shit. Okay.’ My thoughts exactly.

Summer of 88

Published on April 6, 2010 in 100 Word Posts, Nostalgia and Pop Culture. 7 Comments

Mr London Street writes ‘100 Words’  posts and I find them wonderfully written and fascinating. So unsure of the copyright issues, I thought I would give one a go. I hope Mr Street doesn’t mind!

In Australia’s bicentennial year, giving the Atari a break, I slung my pink retro -styled single cassette player over my shoulder to listen to my ‘Hits of Summer’ tape outside.  The sky was a bleak, scorching blue and I was alone but for the scritching of plaguing locusts, resting in the sparse crinkly, brown grass.

With that particular scent of black denim I listened to Dancing on the Ceiling, Missionary Man, Pretty Flamingo, Every Time You Walk in the Room – a new learning of the world.

Music for awakening, rather than cute boys who were all teeth.

Doc Martens

Published on April 2, 2010 in Pop Culture, Queen Me and Teaching. 11 Comments

I saw a pic of Aya T Kenai on The Sartorialist website in a pair of floral Doc Martens and I fell in love. A couple of weekends ago at Nursey Chick’s b’day party I teamed my 13 year old brown 8-holes with a black fishnets, a black cotton dress and a denim jacket.  I was so pleased with the look that I am currently in my pjs trying to wear in a pair of white 8 hole Doc Martens with a a silver/glittery floral pattern.  I am planning on wearing these with coloured tights, a black or grey tulip shaped skirt, a bright knitted top and a cropped denim jacket…amongst other things.

I was so excited when this pair arrived that as soon as I had crammed them on my feet, done a little prancy-dance around the house (scaring the dog and husband) I jumped on-line and ordered a black floral pair. Here in Australia you will pay about $230 for a pair but I can order a pair from the US (shipping including) for $180. And they only took 9 days to arrive.

I am by no means ‘fashionable’. Some friends and colleagues think that I have a ’style’  but I am dubious. Buying bits and pieces of what is ‘in’, and also fits my arse/hips, barely constitutes style. At 32 I think it is time that I actually try to do something that is a little bit cool, a little bit timeless and a lot of me.

ps: At school yesterday I wore some of my new purchases – a black tulip skirt with a black lace top with a champagne underlining. A kid asked me ‘Miss, why are you dressed like Shakespeare?’ I am happy to report that I was not the only one in the room who gave him the ‘WTF?’ stare.