AS an unemployed school leaver with absolutely nothing to do and exhausted by a schoolies of endless shopping, I've spent the last week in front of the computer catching up on Ellen and Taylor Swift on youtube. And whilst they are ridiculously hilarous (especially the Zac and Taylor 'sing a duet' ep!!) I thought maybe it's time to take my parents' advice and 'enrich myself' in areas other than 'Haylor' and trashy celebrity gossip.
My solution: Watching the sharemarket.
And I cannot believe my seriously bad luck.
Right now, as I write, the one company I've invested in since yesterday, is plummeting. I know it's the sharemarket, it's unpredictable, it's volatile and I totally should have expected it. But when every other stock on my watchlist, which I've been researching and following for weeks, has risen by almost a dollar in a day.. what is my luck?!!!! So here's my dilemma. Yesterday, the day I had enough money to start buying shares, my watchlist-shares started sky rocketing, so I thought seeing as they're on a high, they'll probably fall again. But they must have escaped my curse..Instead I thought I'll look for another share with a reputable company that's dropped a bit and.. Goodness, it's fallen again! It's like watching money slip right through your fingers into some muddy gutter. And for a first time buyer this is not a promising sign!
And now that I've started ranting about my lack of luck, this brings me to a week or so ago, when Taylor Swift was in Australia to promote 'Red'. I was hanging out in the city and I'd just checked my Taylor Twitter feeds, she was presumably sleeping in her hotel, so I went to get lunch in the shopping centre. And guess who happened to walk outside the mall? And yes I missed it.
These shares just keep on sliding! What is this!!!!
But now that we've just past 12:12 pm on 12/12/2012, and I'm still typing and my heart is still beating and Ellen is airing on tv, I guess I'll just have to thank my lucky stars for now...
And hopefully my luck will turn in one week when ATARs come out! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!
Tuesday 11 December 2012
Tuesday 4 December 2012
Wall of Hearts
To those who inspire us, who love us, who care
To those who cherish the moments we share
This is a SHOUT OUT to Everyone
A Shout Out of Joy, of Hope, of Fun
Let our hearts sing
Let our feelings fly
Let our emotions sparkle
In the night sky
For we are less than a world apart
So share your love on the
WALL OF HEARTS
To see the virtual wall of hearts check out this link! Feel free to design as many hearts as you want, write a sweet message, tell your friends about it and send it in to allysway.with.berries@gmail.com and we'll post it up! For free!YAY! note: you can stay anonymous or write your name or initials
https://sites.google.com/site/thewallofhearts/
To those who cherish the moments we share
This is a SHOUT OUT to Everyone
A Shout Out of Joy, of Hope, of Fun
Let our hearts sing
Let our feelings fly
Let our emotions sparkle
In the night sky
For we are less than a world apart
So share your love on the
WALL OF HEARTS
To see the virtual wall of hearts check out this link! Feel free to design as many hearts as you want, write a sweet message, tell your friends about it and send it in to allysway.with.berries@gmail.com and we'll post it up! For free!YAY! note: you can stay anonymous or write your name or initials
https://sites.google.com/site/thewallofhearts/
Tuesday 20 November 2012
Allygator- biting at the world
One of those awkward moments for a lot of my friends doing Summer jobs in food stores right now is whether to accept lunch and pretzels and banana breads when our boss offers them to us and whether we're expected to pay especially when it's not at the end of the day. Is it ok to just eat it and say thanks? Or does it reflect badly on us and our work ethic?
I did a sort of trial/training session in a sandwich shop today and at the end of the hour the boss offered me a sandwich. They're pretty expensive these gourmet things and with some carrots and lettuce added they can cost over ten bucks. So I hesitated until he asked again if there was a sandwich I wanted to try. I thought for a moment and then obliged and picked the most boring chicken one on the menu. For me, I guess, I wasn't getting paid and I was starving, so considering that I'd been standing there all morning, I didn't think too much about accepting it. After all it's hardly a loss to them when you take into account that the other juniors handle more than ten times their minimum wage pay in one lunch session. Just think about the number of people in a shopping centre foodcourt at lunch! I mean, one sandwich is the equivalent to one hour's pay and there are far, far more sandwiches then employees.
Although I'm still wondering.
Was it the right thing to do? I mean, I haven't exactly got the job; I'm in the 'we'll call you if there's a shift'- so you haven't really got the job- stage and on asking some of the other girls who work there if they ever get offered lunch and whether they take it, they all reply that they turn down the offers. The girl who wrapped my sandwich wasn't even sure if she was supposed to charge me. Thankfully she didn't have to and my morning was somewhat worth it.
My friends though have had different experiences. One of them pays for her toasties every lunch but takes home unsold breads and cakes. Another refuses muffins so often her employer thinks she's on a diet and one of my other friends works in a Chinese Restaurant and gets a free plate of late lunch every time she works. Off the lunch specials menu of course.
So I don't really know anymore. Eat it, don't eat it, do a bit of both, what are we supposed to do? And when does the line between politeness and well, eating start to blur?
On a side note YAY for Samantha winning X Factor! Although admittedly not my favourite contestant going into the final twelve, she deserves it! Especially since she's been in the bottom almost every second week. That's pretty inspiring stuff. Funny though how The Collective came third mirroring 1D. Quite scary. Although I do love the show, announcing the final decision took way too long. I went to the toilet and came back and they still hadn't announced it!
I did a sort of trial/training session in a sandwich shop today and at the end of the hour the boss offered me a sandwich. They're pretty expensive these gourmet things and with some carrots and lettuce added they can cost over ten bucks. So I hesitated until he asked again if there was a sandwich I wanted to try. I thought for a moment and then obliged and picked the most boring chicken one on the menu. For me, I guess, I wasn't getting paid and I was starving, so considering that I'd been standing there all morning, I didn't think too much about accepting it. After all it's hardly a loss to them when you take into account that the other juniors handle more than ten times their minimum wage pay in one lunch session. Just think about the number of people in a shopping centre foodcourt at lunch! I mean, one sandwich is the equivalent to one hour's pay and there are far, far more sandwiches then employees.
Although I'm still wondering.
Was it the right thing to do? I mean, I haven't exactly got the job; I'm in the 'we'll call you if there's a shift'- so you haven't really got the job- stage and on asking some of the other girls who work there if they ever get offered lunch and whether they take it, they all reply that they turn down the offers. The girl who wrapped my sandwich wasn't even sure if she was supposed to charge me. Thankfully she didn't have to and my morning was somewhat worth it.
My friends though have had different experiences. One of them pays for her toasties every lunch but takes home unsold breads and cakes. Another refuses muffins so often her employer thinks she's on a diet and one of my other friends works in a Chinese Restaurant and gets a free plate of late lunch every time she works. Off the lunch specials menu of course.
So I don't really know anymore. Eat it, don't eat it, do a bit of both, what are we supposed to do? And when does the line between politeness and well, eating start to blur?
On a side note YAY for Samantha winning X Factor! Although admittedly not my favourite contestant going into the final twelve, she deserves it! Especially since she's been in the bottom almost every second week. That's pretty inspiring stuff. Funny though how The Collective came third mirroring 1D. Quite scary. Although I do love the show, announcing the final decision took way too long. I went to the toilet and came back and they still hadn't announced it!
Breaking Dawn Part 2 Review: 'Unconditionally and Irrevocably in Love' with it!
So mesmerising and beautiful we wished it would go on 'forever' and ever and
ever...
And yes, I'm 'Unconditionally and Irrevocably in Love' with Breaking Dawn Part 2!!
This film is by far my favourite of the series and the ending is incredible! We were screaming one moment, tearing up the next, sighing in the name of eternal love and of course, the best moment, the simultaneous groan of the entire cinema when the film cuts back to Alice's vision with Aro; a nice twist that made me feel so, so..I don't know! One of those- 'I woke up and it was all a dream' combined with 'Oh my gosh I can't believe I didn't see that coming'- moments... Embarrassing. Especially when I practically screamed 'What?! Carlisle doesn't die! That's not in the book!' Definintely not my day.
As someone who wasn't particularly hyped by Robert Pattinson's Sydney promo, I was definitely impressed. The highlight for me was the conclusion; how clever it was, the strong sense of finality and of course the happy ending. I mean, who doesn't like a perfect, fairytale, well vampire, ending?! The brief clips of Bella and Edward since Twilight when Bella opens up her mind were ridiculously adorable and cleverly inserted. It was like sweet nostalgia in a picturesque meadow; what my parents would dub filler material. Although I suspect they'd say that to the rest of the film. An impressive touch though was the interweaving of the last line to conclude. I was so impressed I ran out to borrow the book just to read the last line and the word 'forever.' It's magical almost. And it's so amazing how it's actually there; it's like there's a world in breaking dawn that's real! And no I don't believe in vampires. Yet. It's a touch that just brings the book to life that little bit more and gives it the appreciation it deserves. A touch that, just a thought, could possibly have worked for the last Harry Potter movie. So clever and so, so satisfying. Even when the credits started rolling no one moved an inch, marvelling at the ingenious pairing of excerpts with characters and actors.
Walking out of the movie we were in a trance. Mesmerised. So dazed and dazzled that we walked around the same level of Westfield twice and stood still at the escalator in pure silence for fifteen minutes, enchanted by the gorgeous actors and the idea of eternal love. People just sort of stared at us- first with intrigue, and then treaded around us like we had some sort of infection. Well I guess we had. Of sorts. Beware: it's pretty infectious. Maybe they thought we were doing one of those statue flash mobs. Of three people. Or like a stunner deal ad without the hands. Or perhaps we'd had a fallout and were meaningfully contemplating by staring off into different directions because we were at a crossroads in life (well a set of escalators) and we didn't know whether to go up or down...wistful posing like in soaps. Well now you know. We weren't, although there's some non metaphorical truth in the escalator bit. Eventually we regained our senses, went up the escalator and sat with juice and nuggets raving about how amazingly well the film wrapped up the series, how stylish the finishing touch was and how we were totally converted Twihards! Perhaps a little late. But better late than never!
The fight scene and the number of decapitated heads was considerably gruesome but surrounded by a cinema of screaming teen girls it was actually quite funny, especially the 'Ewwww's' and gasps and squeals of horror and disbelief at Carlisle's dangling head. 'No his beautiful head!!' one girl screamed and clasped the arm beside her. That arm was mine; I still have the nail marks to prove it. And I'm really not one to talk. I was horrified. It was disturbing and I'm not sure how I sleep these days.
It's fun, romantic, action packed and despite some scary vampire makeup and decapitated heads, it's definitely not a film to miss. After all how could you resist watching Taylor Lautner rip his shirt off?!! I'm glad he lives in the world I think I know!
And then it dawns on us: the Twilight saga has ended..'forever' : (
And yes, I'm 'Unconditionally and Irrevocably in Love' with Breaking Dawn Part 2!!
This film is by far my favourite of the series and the ending is incredible! We were screaming one moment, tearing up the next, sighing in the name of eternal love and of course, the best moment, the simultaneous groan of the entire cinema when the film cuts back to Alice's vision with Aro; a nice twist that made me feel so, so..I don't know! One of those- 'I woke up and it was all a dream' combined with 'Oh my gosh I can't believe I didn't see that coming'- moments... Embarrassing. Especially when I practically screamed 'What?! Carlisle doesn't die! That's not in the book!' Definintely not my day.
As someone who wasn't particularly hyped by Robert Pattinson's Sydney promo, I was definitely impressed. The highlight for me was the conclusion; how clever it was, the strong sense of finality and of course the happy ending. I mean, who doesn't like a perfect, fairytale, well vampire, ending?! The brief clips of Bella and Edward since Twilight when Bella opens up her mind were ridiculously adorable and cleverly inserted. It was like sweet nostalgia in a picturesque meadow; what my parents would dub filler material. Although I suspect they'd say that to the rest of the film. An impressive touch though was the interweaving of the last line to conclude. I was so impressed I ran out to borrow the book just to read the last line and the word 'forever.' It's magical almost. And it's so amazing how it's actually there; it's like there's a world in breaking dawn that's real! And no I don't believe in vampires. Yet. It's a touch that just brings the book to life that little bit more and gives it the appreciation it deserves. A touch that, just a thought, could possibly have worked for the last Harry Potter movie. So clever and so, so satisfying. Even when the credits started rolling no one moved an inch, marvelling at the ingenious pairing of excerpts with characters and actors.
Walking out of the movie we were in a trance. Mesmerised. So dazed and dazzled that we walked around the same level of Westfield twice and stood still at the escalator in pure silence for fifteen minutes, enchanted by the gorgeous actors and the idea of eternal love. People just sort of stared at us- first with intrigue, and then treaded around us like we had some sort of infection. Well I guess we had. Of sorts. Beware: it's pretty infectious. Maybe they thought we were doing one of those statue flash mobs. Of three people. Or like a stunner deal ad without the hands. Or perhaps we'd had a fallout and were meaningfully contemplating by staring off into different directions because we were at a crossroads in life (well a set of escalators) and we didn't know whether to go up or down...wistful posing like in soaps. Well now you know. We weren't, although there's some non metaphorical truth in the escalator bit. Eventually we regained our senses, went up the escalator and sat with juice and nuggets raving about how amazingly well the film wrapped up the series, how stylish the finishing touch was and how we were totally converted Twihards! Perhaps a little late. But better late than never!
The fight scene and the number of decapitated heads was considerably gruesome but surrounded by a cinema of screaming teen girls it was actually quite funny, especially the 'Ewwww's' and gasps and squeals of horror and disbelief at Carlisle's dangling head. 'No his beautiful head!!' one girl screamed and clasped the arm beside her. That arm was mine; I still have the nail marks to prove it. And I'm really not one to talk. I was horrified. It was disturbing and I'm not sure how I sleep these days.
It's fun, romantic, action packed and despite some scary vampire makeup and decapitated heads, it's definitely not a film to miss. After all how could you resist watching Taylor Lautner rip his shirt off?!! I'm glad he lives in the world I think I know!
And then it dawns on us: the Twilight saga has ended..'forever' : (
Thursday 15 November 2012
Lost on a rainy day?
It's raining so hard today. I woke up at 9am thinking it was evening and haven't seen a single ounce of light since.
On this dull and miserable day I've rescheduled my running plans to lose kilos of HSC weight and instead I've been thinking- it's a perfect opportunity to clear out my room! It must be a sign. So I got my gloves on and paper towel ready and started sorting through shoeboxes overflowing with decade old birthday cards and receipts and doll clothes..
And an hour later..
I still haven't finished clearing that box. In fact there has pretty much been no progress except a scrawny brown paper birthday tag with its print faintly reading 'happy birthday.' I threw that away with few sentimental qualms. But it's interesting, you see, mesmerising almost, cleaning becomes reading and soon being entranced by sweet words that no longer mean anything to me but are just so fascinating to read and remind me of people I've almost forgotten or I didn't even realise had ever given me a card.
What's particularly interesting are how different ages elicit similar messages e.g. at 13 all my cards seem to read in very pretty cursive glitter pens 'You're 13 now! You're an oldie like me!' or 'You're 16! Have the sweetest day; don't crash! or 'Have an amazing 18th! Can't believe you're an adult.' When I look at these now it's like really! Were we that old at 13! Sweet but so very original. Slightly disturbing though are the extraordinary number of cards that read 'thanks for being a great friend *cough*' and 'wow you're a year older and hopefully a year more mature!' Yes I get the hint thanks.
Sifting through cards here are my all time top five favourite birthday messages:
And now that its time for lunch my room looks virtually the same; sheets and textbooks sprawled on the floor, bookshelves teeming with filled dusty shoeboxes- accidental time capsules of my childhood-and a teen poster collage of Harry Potter and Twilight and Glee and High School Musical and Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl and Friends and S Club 7- all posters I have fervently collected from magazines- plastered on my wall.
Rearranging my room is a tough task; first there's little wall space to move furniture around- there's an inbuilt cupboard on one side, an almost floor to ceiling window on the adjacent side and the wall thats covered in posters. And then there's that strange feeling when all your furniture's been moved to a different place and its no longer 'normal'. I once moved my bed sideways by the window for a room change and the next day I had my family help me haul it back to its normal position facing the door, and its been that way since. Its the only way it can be. Or I won't fall asleep.
Cleaning my room however is an even tougher task, especially for a hoarder like me. To throw out a birthday card with a sweet message from kindergarten (even though it was probably dictated by their mum) is like throwing away my first necklace or my first basketball singlet or the phone I saved up for; perhaps not, that would be tragic. It's like throwing away a part of my past I will never find again no matter how hard I look. It's like throwing away a piece of my room.
So as you can see I've had a very productive morning and I'm afraid my bedroom clutter will have to live for another day!
On this dull and miserable day I've rescheduled my running plans to lose kilos of HSC weight and instead I've been thinking- it's a perfect opportunity to clear out my room! It must be a sign. So I got my gloves on and paper towel ready and started sorting through shoeboxes overflowing with decade old birthday cards and receipts and doll clothes..
And an hour later..
I still haven't finished clearing that box. In fact there has pretty much been no progress except a scrawny brown paper birthday tag with its print faintly reading 'happy birthday.' I threw that away with few sentimental qualms. But it's interesting, you see, mesmerising almost, cleaning becomes reading and soon being entranced by sweet words that no longer mean anything to me but are just so fascinating to read and remind me of people I've almost forgotten or I didn't even realise had ever given me a card.
What's particularly interesting are how different ages elicit similar messages e.g. at 13 all my cards seem to read in very pretty cursive glitter pens 'You're 13 now! You're an oldie like me!' or 'You're 16! Have the sweetest day; don't crash! or 'Have an amazing 18th! Can't believe you're an adult.' When I look at these now it's like really! Were we that old at 13! Sweet but so very original. Slightly disturbing though are the extraordinary number of cards that read 'thanks for being a great friend *cough*' and 'wow you're a year older and hopefully a year more mature!' Yes I get the hint thanks.
Sifting through cards here are my all time top five favourite birthday messages:
- You paint my world COLOURFUL (A self painted card)
- This day will be one to remember/ You're a teenager but I will still love ya
- Soon I'll reach your age but you'll never reach my height
- I sincerely hope that you have a very Happy B'day, honestly this is no joke
- You are 'wonderfully perfect' and a fantastically great person. Btw it's my birthday next week.
And now that its time for lunch my room looks virtually the same; sheets and textbooks sprawled on the floor, bookshelves teeming with filled dusty shoeboxes- accidental time capsules of my childhood-and a teen poster collage of Harry Potter and Twilight and Glee and High School Musical and Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl and Friends and S Club 7- all posters I have fervently collected from magazines- plastered on my wall.
Rearranging my room is a tough task; first there's little wall space to move furniture around- there's an inbuilt cupboard on one side, an almost floor to ceiling window on the adjacent side and the wall thats covered in posters. And then there's that strange feeling when all your furniture's been moved to a different place and its no longer 'normal'. I once moved my bed sideways by the window for a room change and the next day I had my family help me haul it back to its normal position facing the door, and its been that way since. Its the only way it can be. Or I won't fall asleep.
Cleaning my room however is an even tougher task, especially for a hoarder like me. To throw out a birthday card with a sweet message from kindergarten (even though it was probably dictated by their mum) is like throwing away my first necklace or my first basketball singlet or the phone I saved up for; perhaps not, that would be tragic. It's like throwing away a part of my past I will never find again no matter how hard I look. It's like throwing away a piece of my room.
So as you can see I've had a very productive morning and I'm afraid my bedroom clutter will have to live for another day!
Garden in My Bathroom
Yep that's right, it's a little garden in a toilet roll by the tap in my bathroom!! Remember the post where I said I was up at 4am picking flower bits out of my hair post Formal... Well here they are in the handy toilet roll where I left them! I just couldn't bear seeing these adorable little fresh flowers thrown out!
Wednesday 14 November 2012
Goodbye HSC and Hello World!
So what did I do after the HSC?
I went wild at Toys R Us and then did some serious shopping! Oh, then I started a blog : )
On the first few days I pretty much bought out everything I vaguely liked and was preferably on sale, scarves, glitter polish, coral shorts, shirts, singlets, notepads- it was like I was let loose and free; the overwhelming relief of finishing school exams and the excitement of indulging myself in a probably non deserved bout of retail therapy. By the end of the day sales assistants were just staring at the bags dangling off our arms and asking us why we were buying piles of woollen scarves, gloves and beanies in the middle of summer. 'Going overseas' was my friend's answer. Truth is we were bored, needed to splurge and they were cheap.
Crazy Crazy.. and heaps of fun! We went around different shopping centres in Sydney, ate at junk food places everyday, ran up and down aisles wearing Dora the Explorer and Darth Vader masks (thanksfully this was near Halloween so people may have thought we were somewhat sane). All we could think about was shopping, shopping, eating and well going crazy. And of course impulsive buying of on sale plastic rings and hats and quirky, obscure things like that.
And it makes it so much easier to understand how being unemployed and free of school can be so unbelievably fun.
So it took me about two weeks after my last exam to realise that we couldn't shop forever and eat out everyday. Yes we deserved a holiday but we were exhausted from shopping, our feet hurt and shopping centres are so ridiculously similar it was becoming monotonous. Besides, we had finally been responsible enough to budget our expenses, and soon realised we were running pretty dry.
So today I went for my first Christmas job interview and geez the questions have gotten tough!... Describe situations where you felt uncomfortable or where you felt like you showed integrity...questions that really make you start from a pretty blank place, and as confident and prepared as I felt before I walked in, it was pretty intimidating being asked things that you never really think about and don't exactly talk about in daily convsersation.
Anyway Christmas job hunting is by far more exhausting than formal dress hunting and that was quite a job in itself! It's hard enough to find a vacancy especially at this time of the year, let alone be picked for an interview with limited retail experience and even then get picked from the interview.
So good luck to anyone else trying and Hello World! I'm ready to roll, but maybe after a round of Christmas Shopping first!
I went wild at Toys R Us and then did some serious shopping! Oh, then I started a blog : )
On the first few days I pretty much bought out everything I vaguely liked and was preferably on sale, scarves, glitter polish, coral shorts, shirts, singlets, notepads- it was like I was let loose and free; the overwhelming relief of finishing school exams and the excitement of indulging myself in a probably non deserved bout of retail therapy. By the end of the day sales assistants were just staring at the bags dangling off our arms and asking us why we were buying piles of woollen scarves, gloves and beanies in the middle of summer. 'Going overseas' was my friend's answer. Truth is we were bored, needed to splurge and they were cheap.
Crazy Crazy.. and heaps of fun! We went around different shopping centres in Sydney, ate at junk food places everyday, ran up and down aisles wearing Dora the Explorer and Darth Vader masks (thanksfully this was near Halloween so people may have thought we were somewhat sane). All we could think about was shopping, shopping, eating and well going crazy. And of course impulsive buying of on sale plastic rings and hats and quirky, obscure things like that.
And it makes it so much easier to understand how being unemployed and free of school can be so unbelievably fun.
So it took me about two weeks after my last exam to realise that we couldn't shop forever and eat out everyday. Yes we deserved a holiday but we were exhausted from shopping, our feet hurt and shopping centres are so ridiculously similar it was becoming monotonous. Besides, we had finally been responsible enough to budget our expenses, and soon realised we were running pretty dry.
So today I went for my first Christmas job interview and geez the questions have gotten tough!... Describe situations where you felt uncomfortable or where you felt like you showed integrity...questions that really make you start from a pretty blank place, and as confident and prepared as I felt before I walked in, it was pretty intimidating being asked things that you never really think about and don't exactly talk about in daily convsersation.
Anyway Christmas job hunting is by far more exhausting than formal dress hunting and that was quite a job in itself! It's hard enough to find a vacancy especially at this time of the year, let alone be picked for an interview with limited retail experience and even then get picked from the interview.
So good luck to anyone else trying and Hello World! I'm ready to roll, but maybe after a round of Christmas Shopping first!
Tuesday 13 November 2012
Analogy of the Day
(I would make a pun on 'Analogy' but it would sound too much like Allygy)
Going to the Formal is like going to watch the fireworks; hours of waiting and hype for a glimpse of brilliant colour bursting, sparkling across a midnight canvas; and in a moment its all gone and its time to move on.
The day after Formal is like a hangover (or literally if you went to the afters); a hangover of high school, of glitz and glamour, of hype and anticipation, and of the life you led in the microcosm of a thing called school.
My Top Seven School Formal tips:
Going to the Formal is like going to watch the fireworks; hours of waiting and hype for a glimpse of brilliant colour bursting, sparkling across a midnight canvas; and in a moment its all gone and its time to move on.
The day after Formal is like a hangover (or literally if you went to the afters); a hangover of high school, of glitz and glamour, of hype and anticipation, and of the life you led in the microcosm of a thing called school.
My Top Seven School Formal tips:
- Bright Colours: Black and navy dresses may look amazing but to create lasting memories and stand out in photos go for bright colours e.g. Greens, Yellows and Reds
- Bring some flats! Four hours or more of walking and dancing and just standing in heels can hurt (a lot!), not to mention the humungous and impressive but extremely daunting staircases for thoes inexperienced in walking in heels. Be careful going barefoot in case of broken glass and well being stepped on.
- Take photos for others: If you need someone to take some full length photos of you and your friends offer to take some for others and they might just offer to take some for you or even with you!
- Set a Budget: It's one night so set a reasonable budget and try to be as creative and resourceful as possible with clothes, hair, makeup...If you're tight on a budget or just want to experiment choose an aspect to work with yourself e.g. your hair, or your dress- I did my own make up- it was fun!
- Long dresses: If you have a long dress that is starting to look like a train, my advice is to get it altered. Otherwise you'll spend most of your night trying to hold it up while dancing and walking, trying not to trip and being accidentally stepped on by others. So many people stepped on the ends of our full length dresses and almost tripped, and one of my friends had holes at the bottom of her dress from people trampling on it, which didn't help her future selling plans.
- Being on time: to capture every beat! Formal only happens once and whilst being late may get you that splendid moment of attention on entering, you'll have missed a tonne of fun and photo opportunities especially the outdoor ones that make great dps where everyone is still fresh faced and excited with great lighting; trust me on this one I was an hour late to my first formal and missed so many amazing group photos!
- Have a great night, smile and take plenty of photos, both silly and straight ones, (don't forget the straight faced ones or you'll end up with rows of ridiculous faces and poses that are too embarrassing to show your parents or relatives).
The Day after Formal: The Price of Beauty
It's strange how you can wake thinking last night was surreal; yet your dreams can feel..so real.
So it's the day after Formal. Currently sprawled over the floor are cotton buds, clumped mascara, photobooth strips and glitter gold stars. I woke up at ten and the first thing I thought was: must scroll through facebook! Clearly everyone had a crazy afters because there are about three albums up when there must have been over a hundred different cameras. Or Iphones. Literally! My head's dazed but surprisingly my feet don't hurt even though I wore heels all night! I thought about taking them off except there was a broken glass precuation and it gave me some much needed height.
Formal is definitely fun and amazing- the hype, the dresses, the cameras flashing; it's like our chance to be the celebrities most of us will never be. It easily makes the cut for one of the highlights of high school and probabaly one of the last of them (currently battling it out with my favourite camp where we went wild at Jamberoo with minimal supervision). And what's more ours was right after Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez split, a split that undoubtedly lifted millions of young spirits and hearts worldwide especially of those at Formal, dressing not just to impress ourselves, friends and maybe a date, but a Pop Prince! Realistic, I know, I know, I watch too many flicks. And on that note Formal definitely changes the way we will look at chick flicks forever. Will we still look forward to that amazing prom in Mean Girls, Twilight and every other Amanda Bynes movie? Did my Formal even live up to any of those proms however disastrous they were?
Probably not.
In four and a half hours it's hard to qualify whether the hundreds of dollars and weeks of thought and dress hunting spent on this one moment was worth it. I mean it's not the Oscars or the Emmys or the Arias or even like a local community club. It's more of a get together with friends and a grade three quarters of which we'll never see again. True make up can be used again, and shoes. As for dresses- most of us went for full length ones that were eventually trampled on by the end of the night either on the dancefloor or just because there are so many people someone will inevitably step on your dress.
And when does the price of beauty sink in? When you're up at 4am straggling flower bits and stems and leaves out of your hair and tugging out the billions of bobby pins hidden in a forest of crispy, frizzled hair set with hairspray. Oh, not to mention the one hundred dollars I spent getting my hair cut and styled. And let's face it, Justin or Harry or Zac or Taylor live halfway across the world and will probably never notice me, the average pleb, or make eye contact in a swarming crowd of screaming teens..So I slept on my hairspray filled hair and the braids and curls and woke up thinking my dreams were reality and wondering if the night before had actually existed.
And although I now realise looking through silly photobooth photos of heart poses and angel poses and cleopatra poses, that I look weird posing from the side and my make up was slightly ghostly, it was fun. Wondrous fun. Beautiful friends. Gorgeous dresses. Amazing view. A memorable evening with incredible memories.
It might not have lived up to the magical prom but it's a night I'll absomalutely never forget!
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