Where the word things are

This entry is a grab-bag of excellent things! To begin with, I have amazing arty things that a gorgeously awesome fanperson named Jessica has made. Jessica wrote to me and said 'hey, I make wee sculpture people and I want to do some Wolf House ones, k?' And I wrote back and said 'jklsajfklsajdla'. And then today these pictures were in my inbox:

( AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH )

And she deserves a million zillion words of gratitude and praise and love but all I can really manage is AAAAAAAAAAH because OH MY GOD SO FUCKING COOL. I am overwhelmed with glee and joy. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH AAAAAAAH.

In other news: so, MyChem are playing the Big Day Out. Clearly this is a conspiracy by the universe, because I've long maintained that I have two dealbreaker/bulletproof bands which I will attend regardless of circumstances: Hole and MCR.

Hole are playing the Soundwave Festival early next year, and as already mentioned MCR are Big Day Outing.

I loathe Australian summer music festivals, especially the Big Day Out. I went to Bamboozle Left in the USA in 2008, and it was so completely different in vibe and quality of management and everything that you'd only believe me if you experienced the difference yourself. Australian summer festivals are hot and violent and nasty and gross. I haven't been to the Big Day Out in more than ten years. I don't just dislike it -- I genuinely feel repulsed at the idea of giving those organisers my money for a ticket.

But. MCR. I've been across the world multiple times for those losers, and I can't suck it up for a festival? And Hole are the band that made me into me -- I gotta go to see them, right? It'll have been thirteen years since I was last in CLove's presence. Passing that up would be tragic.

But on the other hand uuuuugh festivals ugh.

Speaking of, I went to a festival today! But it was indoors and not hot and therefore actually pretty enjoyable. I hi-fived Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley, and was newly reminded that Spencer Smith and Brendon Urie are the prettiest and most polite and friendly dudes in the whole wide world.

I didn't take anything nice to get signed (look, I'm massively depressed and barely functioning as a human right now; the bands should be grateful I remembered to wear pants, so I think I can be given a pass on forgetting to bring cd covers) so here is my ticket with scribbles on it.

( scribbles! )

Here are some more crappy phone pictures of my day!

( Bands bands bands bands woo! )

BREAKING NEWS: I really like live music kind of a whole lot. Ugh bands, you have my heart forever, bandom is stuck with me as a member of it for eternity I'm afraid.

And since I'm cleaning out recent pictures on my phone, here are some snaps of the costumes from Mad Men that I took the other day when I saw the exhibition at Chadstone. My focus was on Peggy's outfits because I adore her best forever and ever, with a couple of snaps of Joan's fabulous pencil-pendant thrown in as well.

( Pretty clothes! )

Soundwave Revolution have screwed up my order and sent me four tickets (and charged my credit card for four tickets) to the Melbourne date, rather than the two I asked for.

I know from previous experience that trying to track down a phone number for anyone involved with the festival is an exercise in absurdity, so I imagine that attempting to get a refund would be double-double absurd with a side helping of absurd. Therefore, I'm going to take the path of least resistance and simply try to sell the spare tickets myself.

The show date is Friday the 30th of September, and the tickets are $166.00 each and there are two available. Which means you're already saving the $5.50 processing fee and whatever postage charges would've come along with buying them from Ticketek, plus you'll have an excuse to meet up and hang out with my fabulous self.

Plus, like, there are a bunch of amazing bands appearing, like HOLE and PANIC AT THE DISCO and THURSDAY and THE USED and the Damned Things and Van Halen and Alice Cooper and seriously, Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith and Geoff Rickly and Bert McCracken and Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley all in the same place, which is the same place that Courtney Love will be, everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.

If you get a ticket and you're coming from out of town, there's crash-space at my flat, too, though I'm just warning that you may be required to sleep under the watchful gaze of my Social Network poster.

Some photos from yesterdaaaaaaay. I love my friends and I love this city and I love that dumb band and ugh.

( Read more... )

Survivalism
by Mary
Rating: General
Summary: Saverin is usually third or fourth on the S.C.A.R.E.C.R.O.W lists that Korse himself is often first or second place on.

( keep running )

Erinna and I were planning to stop off in Denver on our way to Chicago this April, on account of the fact that I feel my life requires a second interlude involving a 28-foot mural of a snow-dusted alpine forest.

Alas, Erinna is now unable to make the Denver leg of the journey, which leaves me uncertain as to whether or not I should make the detour myself or just skip it and head straight to Chicagoooo. As with all important decisions, I felt it was important I ask the internet's opinion before going any further.

Would anybody like Erinna's ticket to the MCR show in Denver on April 9th? You can have it for freesies, since it would otherwise not be used, and if you're not local I'm happy to discuss the possibility of sharing the snow-dusted alpine forest.

I probably won't go to Denver if I'll be on my own the whole time, but if someone wants to line-sit and generally be foolish along with me I may well do the mature and responsible thing and make the trip. The tickets are 'will call', which means only I'm able to pick them up, because otherwise I'd be able to offer them up to interested parties without the catch of having to hang out with me.

Sooo... takers?

edit: I may well have a possible taker! Woo! Hooray for enabling riduclousness! edit again: Ticket gone! Yay internet! Looks like I'm going to Denver, ahahaha.

Birthday picnic was wonderful fun, though now I am sunburnt. I adore my family, my friends are wonderful, and I'm having a mood where I just generally appreciate all the fantastic things in my life and feel capable of conquering all the non-fantastic bits without too much trouble. Yay for good days!

Also, I read a fabulous story this evening: The Other Boy by Lenore. Remember that time Adam Lambert tweeted that if he could be on any television show, he'd want to be a singer in Fangtasia on True Blood? Yeah. It's a great story on numerous levels and I'm sure I'm going to re-read it numerous times.

Pre-ordering Panic!'s new album yesterday has put me in a bouncy mood, fannishly. It's neat to be excited about bands! I like it!

Also it has put me in a massive 'I really love Alex and Tim in Wolf House a lot a lot a lot' mood, which probably means I have to relinquish any right I have to the weird crankiness I feel whenever somebody talks about WH as if it was fic with the names changed. Can't have it both ways, Mary.

(Relatedly, I probably need to stop being a precious princess who gets butthurt every time a reviewer/commenter/friend says "with book 3, the series really hits its stride". I get flinchy when I hear this because my brain basically translates it to "you will never be able to properly write anything except vampire hobbits so just give up trying to do other things". Yes, really.)

But! Yes. I love Alexander and Timothy a lot. I'm not sure if writers are supposed to say this or not, but to be perfectly honest I love all of Wolf House a lot. It's not perfect, but I feel like I got really close to telling the story I wanted to tell, to create the characters I wanted to create. To write the book I wish had existed when I was fourteen, basically. I'm proud of what I did.

(Relatedly, WH recently hit the filesharing rounds, and I speak for myself and only for myself when I say that I'm totally okay with this. Other writers have other feelings about piracy, and I haven't considered the subject enough or read widely enough to be sure of how I feel on the situation in general, but for my part and with regard to my own work, I totally don't mind. In fact, have at it. Consider it the mathom for my birthday this coming weekend. If you like the book, consider buying a copy or putting some money in my tip jar! Woo! Vampires! Punk rock! Queer teens! Kittens!)

Oh! Speaking of my birthday, current plan: Show up at the Nelson Place park in Williamstown at one p.m on Sunday. I am planning to drag a picnic rug and some cushions and some nibblies and wine, and we can all sit around and buy food from the cafes across the street and watch amusing dogs run around and stuff. Presents are not required. Bring food and drink instead! My phone number's 0406 459 964.

You'd never guess from this entry that I am practically passing out with stress from New Job Responsibilities and Threat Of Impending Massive Storms Right On Top Of My Baby Sibling's Heads Seriously What The Fuck Queensland Is This Fucking Ragnarok Or Some Shit I Mean Come On. Push all the bad feelings down into a tight little ball and wear a smiiiile! Marge Simpson taught me well.

I've been up in Brisbane for the past week, and for all of that week my mood has been wonderful, optimistic and organized and bright and jaunty. I had a wonderful Christmas hanging out with my family and have watched far too much awful awful reality television with my mother (Tabatha's Salon Takeover is the best of the lot).

That's why being down today was actually kind of good, in a lousy way. Because it was a reminder that I can be having an amazing-bordering-on-surreal holiday (more on that in a second), not have work to worry about, be surrounded by people who love me, feel positive about the future and myself... and still have all the dark, shitty, self-destructive thoughts creep up and punch me in the face, still spend half the day sleeping fitfully, still feel like a collection of broken pieces that don't fit into a whole.

It's a good reminder, because I was getting into that 'I'm on a new dosage and I have made lots of resolutions and now life is going to be easy and happy and awesome!' mindset, and while positivity isn't a bad thing, it would have been a bad thing for me to continue ticking along without a reminder that along with that chipper-ness I have to find a sense of compassion towards myself, to find a way to feel optimistic whilst still being realistic about the fact that my mental illness exists. It doesn't magically go away because I'm on better medicine or because I have some time away from my job, but that doesn't mean it has to rule my life either, so long as I accept that the bad days will come sometimes and I just have to live through them.

ANYWAY. The actual reason I sat down to write this post is because yesterday afternoon something amazing happened. I was going to meet Gracie at the Starbucks in the Queen Street Mall, and I got there a few minutes before her so I went inside to look around -- it was pouring rain outside, but it was the heavy warm Brisbane summer rain, so I'd been walking through it and getting wet and laughing quietly to myself about it, rather than worrying about getting out the umbrella in my bag.

So I step into Starbucks, looking like a drowned rat well overdue for a haircut and smelling like an overweight Melbourne girl who's been in the Brisbane summer humidity all day. And queued up waiting for his coffee is Darren Hayes.

Either you know my history as a Savage Garden fan or you don't, but the short version is: they always have been and always will be THE BAND, by which all other obsessions I will ever have will be judged.

I looked like a mess, and not an especially hot one (though a smelling-like-sweat one, sure), but my brain had checked out right around the second I'd gone 'oh, Darren Hayes' to myself at the sight of him.

(The following conversation looks incredibly awkward written out, but it was actually just kind of happy natural waiting-in-sbux small talk in tone.)

Mary: I'm sorry, I know you must get this all the time, but I just wanted to say I've been a fan for years and I follow you on twitter and I wanted to come say thank you.

Darren: [I... have no actual idea what words he used here. But the general vibe was 'that's cool, thanks] What's your name?

He held out his hand for me to shake at this point. I always forget to have a good handshake during the meetings where I actually care what the other person thinks of me.

Mary: I'm Mary, hi.

Darren: Hi Mary. You out getting some shopping done today?

Mary: Meeting a friend, actually. I moved to Melbourne a few years ago, so I don't see everyone up here that often.

Darren: Yeah, I'm here visiting my family. We're doing some post-Christmas shopping.

Mary: Hitting the sales?

Darren: Yeah, though I don't know what's up with this weather, it's pretty crazy.

Mary: Yeah, we don't get rain like this down in Melbourne. Look, I don't want to take up any more of your time, but I just had to come over. Your music pretty much saved my life when I was a teenager. I just wanted to say thank you.

Darren: Thanks so much for saying that.

Mary: I always used to dream of meeting Darren Hayes in the Queen Street Mall when I was a teenager.

Darren: Oh, that's so sweet! Thank you.


And then I left the Starbucks at went to sit at some undercover tables near the McDonalds to wait for Gracie. A little while later Darren and his family walked past, and I smiled at him and he smiled back.

There was so much I could have said, and things I kick myself now for forgetting (you didn't think to get a photo, Mary? Or get him to write out lyrics for a tattoo? Or even, I don't know, not talk about your Mary-Sue daydreams while they're coming true fourteen years later?), but in the end I said the most important part -- I told him thank you. I'm glad I got to do that.

Theopteryx is doing a Killjoys art meme, for everyone to design themselves and their rayguns for the world of Danger Days. Since I've pretty much got my 'character', Sharpest Rose, worked out already, and also because my drawing skills are shameful, I just did the raygun part of the meme.

My raygun's name is Junior.

( Pow pow pow )

Has anyone yet written a crossover between the I'm Not Okay video and Dalton Academy from Glee? And if not, why not?