A Hanging Mystery

While riding on the bus to and from uni I have always been aware of the three pairs of shoes that hang on the streets powerlines within about a 20 metre radius of each other.

Every time I pass them they make me wonder. Why are they there? Who is now missing there shoes? Who threw them? Why did they throw them? Did they do it for fun? Are they just a little insane? Or was there a reason behind them taking a pair of shoes, knotting the laces together, and flinging them to the power lines above?



I once read in Frankie magazine - one of my favourites - that people sometimes do it to signify and mourn when someone has died. I found this rather intruiging. Or another reason was to express one's loss of virginity. Ohhh and the plot thickens. The shoes could also be a marker for the house of a drug dealer. This did make me wonder. Maybe this is the reason behind the sets of shoes I see every day when I travel to uni! I must admit that the thoughts of these mysterious shoes, why they came to be there, and the idea of uncovering a drug dealer in the midst of St Lucia are some colourful fantasies that keeps me quite occupied for my bus trips. Every time I see those shoes.

I am determined to look into the crazy world of shoe tossing even more. Like so many other odd little fads in our society it just caught on. But why? And does it even matter? Ahhh just another mystery in our crazy world.

The Beautiful Bay of Byron

Last week I went to Byron for a couple of days of fun, drinking and camping with my lovely lady friends. Why we decided to conduct this little adventure in the middle of winter, I have no idea. So we went to Byron and it was as glorious as ever. The beach, the people, the shops, the food, the music, the whole atmosphere all just combine to create one of my favourite places in the world. I love it there.

Now that I am eighteen I can add the pub and club scene to the list of happiness that is Byron Bay. The first pub we went to whilst there was the Beach Hotel.. I am pretty sure it was called that anyway. Probably the main pub at Byron right on the beach with live music. My friends and I were very keen to groove to the chilled beats but noone else seemed to be dancing. But that has never stopped us before! We all boogied into the middle of the dance floor and, although first looking a tad silly to some of the more sober patrons, inspired others to join in. Before too long the dance floor was full and after quietly feeling very accomplished at our abilities to spread joy, we moved out into the street to continue our night and found a pair of buskers at the street corner whose music naturally inspired us to dance in front of them like loonatics. Ahh Byron can do crazy things to you :)

Not only is the atmosphere at night great, but in the day there are so many beautiful experiences and sights to enjoy. The beaches for one are sublime. Maybe not so inviting this time in the cold of a NSW winter, but in summer I could not think of a better place to be. We did go to the beach once while we were there this time. We got all ready with our togs on, lathered in sunscreen - with the sky looking cloudless and the sun shining we thought it would be quite warm. We walked to the beach from our campsite, First Sun - which was conveniently right next to both the main beach and main shopping street - to find the beach scattered with normal people all rugged up wearing shoes, pants and jackets. Once again we looked a bit crazy. Nevertheless we were not disheartened by the strange looks we recieved and proceeded to lie in our bikinis on the beach and soak up some much needed sun. Even in the chilly winter breeze, I have got to say that lying on a beach in Byron is much funner than sitting at home on the couch watching tv, which I am currently doing.

The view of the beach from the campsite was quite stunning.

Well I am back home now in lame ol' Brisbane after leaving the lovely little town and am wishing I was there again. We plan to return to Byron when one doesn't seem insane for lying half naked on the sand. Ahhhh, I can't wait for summer.

Epic Failure

I could feel the dropplets of sweat dripping down my back. My heart racing a hundred miles an hour. This was it... the moment I have been waiting for. Practicing all this time for. The moment I have been dreading...

So i start to reverse backwards... and BAM, BAM... BAM! I didn't just hit the gutter once. Oh no. Not even twice. Through three different attempts at reverse parking I hit that damn gutter three effing times.

So as you can assume, I failed the my driving test.

There is something you should know about me and that is the fact that at times I am a complete nervous wreck. I get nervous when I have to speak in front of the class. I know that is understandable when you are doing a speech or presentation. Alot of people get nervous. But I am talking about litterally just answering a simple question. For some strange reason I get all cought up, my heart races, my palms get all sweaty and eventually, in as normal a voice I can muster, I answer the damn question. For some reason the thought of speaking in front of 20 or so people in a class room with all the attention just on myself scares the absolute shit out of me.

Now imaging this magnitue of nervousness times about a thousand. This is how I was feeling when it came to doing my reverse park. Damn the reverse park! Who in their right mind invented such a travesty?

Although it is my fault entirely that I drove dispicably, I do slightly have my nerves to blame for the ultimate crapness of my driving. So my mission, not just for this week but for my life in general, has, is and will always be: to control my nerves. I have attempted to do so on various occasions, even throwing myself into the deep end by performing song and guitar numbers at my old schools talent quest and at the local pub. I just can't seem to get past it.

Hopefully I can!

My Welcome to Myself

Thanks to my dear friend, Esther, I have just been introduced to the crazy new world of blogging. Me and the blogging world are now only aquaintances, however I hope that in the future we will be just as good friends as Esther and I. Although it is most probable that noone will acctually ever venture to read this blog I am determined to make it anyway to further establish my nonexistant skills as a writer.. or as my Uni lecturer would say, to increase my media production.

I have just started my first year of uni at UQ studying the art of Journalism. The first week hump has past and now onto the second. Things are starting to become a bit more familiar but the huge campus is still a little blurry when travelling from lecture to lecture. I do rather look forward to when it all becomes familiar, but untill then I will continue to be a bit of a tourist with my super cool map held right up to my eyes. Lets just hope I acctually remember to look where I am going, or the slippery shoes I have been wearing may just let me plunge to my death.

Oh and in other news, I am determined to make friends in my tutorials this week if it is the last thing that I do. That is this weeks official mission, along with not spending money by bringing a dorky packed lunch with a freezer pack. :)