My Inspiring/Awesome/Educational/Humourous Weekend

There are moments in life where you look back and think, I really felt like I had an impact, made a contribution, did something that matters. My weekend is probably one of those times in my (albeit short) lifetime. Afterwards, your head spins from all the conversations you had, all the new experiences replaying in your mind so that when you come home, back to reality, you end up feeling rather distorted, like you’re in limbo. This might just be because I’m back in little ole Perth which is worlds away from Sydney but then again who knows?

What did I actually do on my weekend in Sydney?

This needs some explaining…I got involved in a project run by Inspire to help create a website called Act Now to help young people act on issues that affect them. Which can range from the huge (refugees, illegal whaling, deforestation, the hole in the ozone layer, racism) to the smaller but no less important (recycling, complaining about a late bus service) But it’s more than just that. It’s about inspiring, motivating, giving youth tools to help them act, seeing how easy it is to act, learning from other people’s actions, giving support, seeing that one person can make a difference. It’s also about patience and knowing that getting involved and passionate in an issue doesn’t equate to “microwave world peace”. (I borrowed that phrase.)

Some of the things I did included:
- writing a letter in an hour to the Shadow Minister for Immigration about mandatory detention
- listening to how Inspire developed, how the website Reach Out started and also learning more about how non-profit organizations worked
- listened to Greens Senator Kerry Nettle about politics, actions, getting your voice across
- made a calico bag with fabric paint with a quote from Gandhi – “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”
- made a collage about images that I was passionate about
- got involved in teamwork solving problems like how have clear objectives about acting on an issue, how to organise a forum on mandatory detention, how to be prepared and convey your ideas and action plan in a formal meeting with a politician/mayor/reporter/community leader
- understanding how an issue affects the wide community (pyramid of decision makers, to influential people, to opinion leaders, to the people)
- did wacky group exercises with the threat of having to eat dried crabs if we sucked…
- contributed to marketing ideas, slogans/messages and how to act on the smaller scale promo ideas
- helped construct the toolkit on what young people need in order to act (eg. Info about local councils, government, volunteering, fundraising, staging a protest)
- watched a short doco about two interns that helped passengers complain about a late bus service
- committed myself to creating content for the site


That’s all that I remember at the moment. I stayed in a hostel, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it could’ve been until one of my roomies suggested that it was possible that they don’t change the bed-sheets…Although I do think that having three showers and three toilets per bathroom per floor is a little rough.

One of the major things that made my weekend so enjoyable was the great people that I met. By the end of the weekend we had an assortment of “in jokes” and fun times to look back on.

For example:
- the fisting and the shocker, I feel as though my innocence has been corrupted
- the shop known as Australian Special – direct to the public, anyone for sheep’s placenta?
- Too many stories that involved TMI!
- Asking the American interns questions that were quite obviously Australian eg. “Do you ever visit the Amish?” “Have you ever been to Disneyworld?”
- Getting cramps and inadvertently playing footsies in a cushion room at a Lebanese restaurant
- The various hunger complaints and people fading away right before lunch time
- Eating “Italian” food and going to an “Irish” pub where drink prices go up after 10.30pm but no one smokes inside.
- Walking down to the Rocks on Sat night, witnessing beefed up pimp cars and cat fights and dressed up and dressed down Sydney-siders, in the rain only to find that the bar we were going to was at full capacity and then trekking back to another bar where more drinking and dancing was to be had (but perhaps also more sleazy guys)
- Complaining about the squeaky beds in the hostel
- And many other things that probably don’t belong on the Internet


And I got to see my bro on Sunday and we spent some time together, shopping in the city and also going to Bondi Junction before I got shipped off the airport where I bought Krispy Kreme doughnuts (after listening to the Victorian ppl going on about KK) and ate McDonalds.

I feel really wired and I’ve had one and a half doughnuts this morning...but I still feel INSPIRED!

I’m so carrying my calico bag to uni today...

Tash


*PICS TO COME*

Thumbsucker Review

Thumbsucker is one of those movies where you really feel empathy for the lead character. Justin Cobb (played by Lou Taylor Pucci) is a 17 year old with a thumb sucking problem, in order to rid himself of his addiction he actually substitutes one addiction for another from Ritalin to pot. But his only real problem is that Cobb is just so painfully adolescent. There are moments where you can’t blame him for needing a release for all the emotional baggage that he has. Whether its being humiliated in front of his love interest Rebecca in debating class or hooking up with her only to find out that she only wanted to ‘experiment’ with a guy that wouldn’t hurt her. Ouch.

Keanu Reeves plays his hippie orthodontist, Perry, who dishes out advice for Cobb. Best line:
Cobb: Aren’t you just an orthodontist?
Perry: I’d like to think of myself as much more than that.

The movie is so subtle in its symbolism and the idiosyncracies of its characters. For example Keanu transforms from hippie ortho with pictures of wolves in his examination room to clean cut, suit-wearing, ortho with a white walled exam room who smokes after looking at Cobb’s teeth.

The relationship between Cobb and his parents are strained at best, especially with his father. The one image which stands out is when Cobb goes to talk to his father and walks down the hall in his house to knock on the closed door of his parents’ bedroom. It’s almost as if he’s knocking on the door of the principal’s office. The distance between him and his father is palpable.

The other image which stands out has to do with Benjamin Bratt’s reforming celebrity drug addict character - Matt Shram. It’s too gruesome to repeat. But Audrey, Cobb's mother, who is a nurse saves Shram and at the same time allows Cobb to see his mother in a whole new light.

I really liked Thumbsucker since it was such a raw movie. It was hard to distinguish Vince D'Oforio from Law and Order away from his character Michael Cobb though, he doesn’t really strike me as a father figure. But I really liked Tilda Swinton’s performance as a mother and nurse. She kind of looks like Lou Taylor Pucci. The setting is also simplistic, a family living in a house with bad 70s décor. No glamour there. It's just so bleedingly normal.

The thing with Thumbsucker is that people’s problems are always bubbling away at the surface and sometimes they explode. But everyone needs an outlet to vent or release the emotional surge below. And it’s perfectly normal. Even if it is thumbsucking.

And no one ever really "gets it".

Last quote:

Dr. Perry Lyman: I stopped trying to be anything. I accepted myself and all of my human disorder. You might wanna do the same.


T

21sts and my best dressed Oscar list...

I’ve been to a lot of 21st parties in the past four to five weeks and they all seem to follow a certain pattern. Some are the standard speech-before-cake soirees, some turn into high school reunions and others just seem like another excuse to get drunk or ‘trolleyed’ – a new term which I have recently acquired.

I’m beginning to think that there should be some sort of a handbook or a guide to 21st parties, both for the birthday girl/guy and guests. The first rule should be no matter how trolleyed you are (or how trolleyed you pretend to be) never bombard other people, especially people you haven’t seen since high school, with much too intimate details about your personal life.

For example, going up to a group of people who innocently ask why you’ve got two drinks in your hand is NOT an invitation to hear all about your love life. Person A, who will remain unnamed, recently did exactly that when talking to my friends and I.

“This other drink is for my girlfriend, we’ve been together two weeks. TWO WEEKS! It’s fantastic you know it’s so much easier than my last relationship which lasted a year and a half. Boy she was a bitch. A HUGE ONE! I mean I know it was ages since we broke up but man compared to my last relationship, B is just so amazing.” ‘A’ sips on some milky cocktail concoction.

Cue is-this-guy-drunk looks to friends. Also cue attempts not to laugh.

The second rule is that no matter how bad the party is, or how bad you think it is, you can’t leave until the cake is cut and speeches are made. This equates to my rule of one hour minimum, two hour maximum. Of course you can stay longer depending on how much your feet hurt, how much fun your having, how good the company is.

The third rule is that it’s polite to at least pretend to recognise people you ought to know. You can save the man he/she’s put on a lot of/lost a lot of weight for the car ride home. This also means that if person ‘A’ says to you, “You went to high school with us didn’t you?” and asks for your name you have to provide your real name and not a fake one.

Rule no. four, if your parents have to make a speech it has to be embarrassing. This one is a bit of a given but just in case they need prompting.

Fifth rule, whatever drink you can’t finish can be passed onto the birthday guy/gal. They are meant to be ‘trolleyed’ at the end of the night. Even if you can hardly tell.

Finally the last rule is to not take it too seriously, if you have low expectations you can never be disappointed. This goes for the birthdayer and the guests. The 21st is just another party after all. No matter how built on a pedestal it appears to be and how you’re meant to be an adult entering the real world with a key to your future, it’s just another year older. Just because you're physically older it doesn't always mean that you're an adult mentally or emotionally. I'm stuck in a body of a 15-year-old and I feel like I'm 30. But that's just me.

I’ll keep all of this in mind when I turn 21 in approximately eight months time. And no one stays longer at my ‘do’ than two hours. I should mention that I have one more 21st to go and I'm looking forward to it. Why not?

Lastly to prove that I’m not all that cynical here is a picture of the best dressed ‘couple’ at the Oscars. Mr Reeves and Ms Bullock, my my my. They’re not really a couple they just presented together but let the rumours fly.



Doesn’t Keanu clean up well?



Also Jessica Alba looked great, I would love to own a dress like that.



But why did she change into a suit for the Vanity Fair party? The mind boggles.



Oh and Heath didn't win. But you already knew that.

T