Kaboom. 2006 didn't start with a flash bang mama jamma but it's been going smooth. I've gone through my trough stage and things have been looking up. Work has been a lot more fun and most of it is spent talking about the up and coming music festival, the BIG DAY OUT! One of my friends, Mel, is coming along and so all we ever talk about is what we are going to wear. I'm also going with my best buddies Sarah and Dennison. What a great crowd!

Last week I caught up with Mark and Sarah at Q&A (Queer and ALTERNATIVE) which was so much fun. The music was fantastic and crowd was just hot. Initially I had no idea what the A stood for in Q&A. I knew the Q was for Queer and so I thought it was just an ordinary gay (predominantly male) club night so I dressed for the occasion. I got to A Bar Called Barry and there was a huge line and a lot of punks with red mowhawks and I was confused! Was I at the right place? I found Sarah and Izzy and therefore apparently so! Alternative! That can be so me! The music was so fantastic: Nirvana's Lithium, Chemical Brothers' Hey Boy Hey Girl, Scissor Sisters' Filthy/Gorgeous as well as a funky ass remix of Laura, a mad remix of Placebo's English Summer Rain, Pixies' Debaser, Talking Head's Psycho Killer, Rogue Traders' Voodoo Child, Madonna's Hung Up, Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People, etc, etc. Such a cool mix. I went nuts. I'm so ugly, that's okay 'cause so are you. Yeaa-eahhh! Next time, I'm dressing Alternative because I'm unfortunately not Queer. I got this cool dress from Dangerfield - very casual, black with yellow hems and a yellow lightning bolt thru the side. Ziggy-ness!

Right now I'm staying over at my grandmother's/aunts/cousin's place on what I call 'sewing camp'. Yeah, I'm learning to sew my own clothes rather than destroy and tweak cheap ready-mades. Today I went to Lincraft in Knox to look through some patterns. I thought I'd start with a proper pattern before I jump into making my own patterns just so I know how they work. I bought a Vogue halter top pattern which has 5 different styles to it ($25), and fabric. It took me a while to understand how patterns worked and especially all the sewing terms (omg, I'm such a novice). What the hell is undersewing? I think I got it but I can't be too sure. I bought a whole lot of coloured fabric and felt to 'add' to the plain halter that I am making. I'm so friggin' fed up of the friggin' sewing machine. It hates me. I've got half a top made and I just want to scream. I'm getting there, I'm getting there. Just taking me a while. I've never touched a sewing machine ever before in my life! My grandmother laughs at my rigid and uneven sewing and says something in chinese that it looks more like waves in the ocean. It does. Maybe it was better for me to buy cheap sweat shop factory made ready-mades :P And so begins my long journey to clothes making. I can design really well but my skills fail me. Just like my painting skills - up on the conceptual skills, low on actual painting skills. Thus is my life.

I'm so excited about the Big Day Out! Franz Ferdinand! White Stripes! Iggy! The Grates! Mars Volta! The Presets! So much more! I haven't decided on my outfit yet but it sure involves a lot of colour, fishnets and crazy hair. Straight after the BDO I have to go and catch a flight to Thailand... yes, on the same night! I'll be rocking up to Thailand in fishnets - they'll probably mistake me for one of their trannies and whisk me off to the red light district. Eek. Maybe I'll just get changed at the airport to save myself from dirty caucasian touristy 40 year old men.

xx