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New music is such a wonderful thing. I think music is my biggest weakness. I just can't help myself. And iTunes Music Store is responsible for a lot of impulse buying. I would be a far richer girl if iTunes Music Store didn't exist. Financially at least ... but emotionally, undoubtedly less so. I very rarely regret music 
purchases. They lead to instant enjoyment, and then provide long term enjoyment for the days, weeks and months to come. Certainly a wonderful thing.
I love that I can browse the store, find something I like the sound of, and own it instantly. No need to get in the car and go to the shops, or wait for it to be delivered, or shop around trying to find the cheapest price. Enjoyment is instantaneous. I have no need for the physical CD or booklet ... I'd never use or look at it anyway. Music goes straight on to my computer and from there on to my iPod, and these two sources meet all my musical needs. I listen at home via the computer, I listen on the go via my iPod, and I listen in the car via my iPod and iTrip. All needs met.
Oooh, and speaking of listening in the car ... how fabulous is that!? I LOVE driving alone with the windows up and music cranked up so high I'm potentially damaging my ears. I sing along for all I'm 
worth, without any consideration to how ridiculous or awful I may sound. It's such a brilliant release. I've been travelling to and from prac with my supervising teacher for the last few weeks, and we don't even have the radio on. It's almost unsettling.
I think I was getting close to forgetting how much I love listening to music in the car. It's usually a big part of my day. I spend a good one and a half to two hours a day in my car most days of the week. It's my time off ... time when I can't be studying, can't be working, can't be catching up on other jobs ... I have to drive. That is all I'm doing. Driving, and listening to music. Or sometimes podcasts. But more often than not, music.
There is nothing like music to improve a mood too. To settle nerves, to relax, to cheer up, to dwell, to 
celebrate, to dance, to forget dramas, to reminisce, to dream, to think, to remember, to switch off, to wake up, to consider life ... music is such a wonderful thing. And new music ... even better!
I've just purchased the new Jason Mraz album "We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things." ... loving it already! Which is no surprise, as I'm hopelessly addicted to the last two of his albums that I purchased. I can't recommend him highly enough ... love his style so much. Bring on an Aussie tour!!
I also bought Pete Murray's latest ... still a fan, ever since seeing in London back in 2004. And of course, I'm loving Gabriella Cilmi's album ... fabulous to see her doing so well! Funny seeing her all grown up though ... I still remember her as the little girl on stage at the Good Friday Appeal six years ago. Always knew she'd make it though. She's definitely got the voice.
I'm so in love with my gorgeous new MacBook! It's just beautiful. So pretty and stylish! And so little ... so light and portable. And the battery lasts beautifully. And the cute little case I got for it is so handy and small. I love carrying it around with me.
I'm finding my way around it far more quickly than I anticipated too. I knew Macs were user-friendly, so I shouldn't really be surprised. It's just so easy though ... I love it!! Things just work. No hassles. No dramas. Just simple fun.
One of my highlights so far ... a fabulous little widget that finds and displays the lyrics of the song currently playing in iTunes. It's soooo handy! One keystroke, and there on my screen are the lyrics to the song I'm currently listening to. I love it!!
And speaking of music ... I have a new addiction! Jason Mraz ... love him! His music is incredibly addictive. I bought his most recent live album a week or so ago, and have been playing it almost non-stop since. Tonight, I bought another album ... Mr A-Z. So far, loving it easily as much as expected. Looking forward to the new album. New music is such fun!
Hmm, and it's supposed to be inspiring me to continue studying, but instead seems to be distracting me far too easily. Oops! A Saturday night in really must be used productively in order to justify not being out having fun. I better get back to it.
I love when something unexpectedly exceeds my expectations. Tonight was a perfect example. Tonight, I saw Lior perform at the Tivoli. Really, my expectations should have been far higher than they were. I was looking forward to it, but I've had a hectic and exhausting week, and my head just wasn't in the right place. I went along without any real anticipation or excitement. Which was entirely unwarranted.
I've seen Lior perform before ... at a tiny little venue in London a little over a year ago. The audience was, primarily, Aussie ... despite being on the other side of the world from his hometown of Sydney. And it was a fabulous show - he's a brilliant artist to see live. This alone should have built my expectations higher than they were.
Another clue ... the venue is potentially my all time favourite venue. The Tivoli is such a brilliant place to see a show. It's small, and intimate, but big enough to have a decent crowd, and the feel is always pretty special. It's a nice venue. Artists always comment on how much they love playing there. I've never seen a bad show there, and I've been to my fair share. So again, this should have built my expectations.
But strangely, they just weren't that high. I was the sole instigator in getting tickets. None of the friends I asked even knew who he was, and the one who wanted to come decided purely on my recommendation. So I guess I was a little worried that she might not appreciate his style as much as I do.
I have also spent the last week or so listening only to his most recent album, and I think perhaps I prefer his previous album a little more. I'd forgotten how much I love some of those older songs. So my expectations were being built on songs that I haven't developed the same appreciation for (... yet - I still love the new ones, I just don't know them as well).
In a interesting turn of fate, the friend I was planning to go with had to pull out at the last minute on account of some rather evil work commitments, and luckily I was able to find another friend at short notice who came along in her place. The replacement has been a long-time Lior fan, which immediately improved my excitement and anticipation.
We also found a rather lovely spot upstairs from where we had a perfect view of the stage, and I quickly began to realise how much higher my expectations should have been. Plus, the unadvertised support act was the brilliant Abby Dobson ... such a nice surprise!
The concert was, in one word, brilliant. It was a noticeably larger event than the London concert. There were more musicians on stage to begin with, and far more impressive sound and lighting especially. The audience was obviously much larger as well, and in a good way. It wasn't as intimate as in London, but it was nice.
Katie Noonan joined him on stage to sing the beautiful duet I'll Forget You ... rather a lovely surprise! And she did it so beautifully. Then a disturbing amount of shouting by a girl right by the stage resulted in an unplanned and unrehearsed performance of Gypsy Girl ... one of my favourites.
Quite simply, it was a fabulous night ... kindly exceeding my expectations by quite a way. The band was incredible ... the drummer especially caught our attention. The string quartet added a great new element that wasn't there in London. And the stories and introductions were entertaining and amusing. I just wish it could have gone longer, and that I'd spent more time looking forward to it ... after all, half the fun is in the build up to something fun. An opportunity wasted. Shame.
One of my favourite Christmas traditions is watching the Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve. It doesn't matter what else is happening ... the Carols are always on in the background. And Christmas just doesn't feel like Christmas without the Carols. That was one of the things I missed most when spending Christmas overseas. It's such an Aussie tradition. I guess we have the climate for it, so it makes sense. You'd hardly fill Hyde Park with Londoners on Christmas Eve and have them singing along to Christmas carols ... they'd all freeze. It's a shame though ... it's a beautiful tradition.
Without meaning to enter the time old Sydney v Melbourne debate, I have to say that the Sydney Carols just don't compare to the Melbourne ones. I watched the Carols in the Domain on Saturday night as well, and started to question my love of these events. The Sydney attempt just seems so commercial! It's all about who they can get on stage, who pays for it to happen and what it will mean for their ratings. It felt fake, and didn't at all have the same Christmas spirit. The Melbourne ones are about the tradition, they're for the audience, they're about singing and celebrating together. Performers are chosen based on their singing ability, and not how familiar or popular they are. Instead of the commercial feel, it's about giving. There's no mention of sponsors - just a few "supporters" - and it's about raising money for charity.
I nearly went out tonight, and I'm so glad I didn't. Christmas Eve needs to be spent watching - or at least listening to - the Carols by Candlelight. Perfect prelude to the celebrations tomorrow. Only way to beat it would be to be sitting in the audience in Melbourne! One year I'll make it. Merry Christmas everyone! Smile lots and have a lovely day.
I just ordered the complete box set of Teachers!! Series 1 to 4 ... four entire series of the fabulously entertaining British comedy. I love it! So much!! And it was only £37 including postage to Australia! For four series! Hurrah! I can't wait!! How long does postage from Amazon.co.uk to Australia take? Hopefully not too long.
Meanwhile, today I went to Borders. Always dangerous. Very rarely can I go into a Borders store without coming home with something. Today, despite my rather dire need to save money, I picked up a CD and two DVDs. On sale though!! The latest Powderfinger album for $15, Harry Potter 4 for $15 (reduced from $44!!) and The Holiday for $18 (which I'm yet to see, although have been told many times that I'll love it). I think I did well!
Hurrah for random CD and DVD purchases! Such a fabulous distraction from studying.
So worth the price of the ticket! Eskimo Joe at the Tivoli, kicking off their national tour.
To add to the night's enjoyment ... Eskimo Joe were preceded by 45 minutes of Little Birdy! Equally worthy of the ticket price, and nothing but pure entertainment as well. Two great Aussie bands in one brilliant night. Can't help but love that!
We were on tsunami alert this morning! How random is that!? I completely missed it until after the event too ... I missed Sunrise this morning, so didn't catch any news. I didn't find out until my mum got back from the bank this morning, and informed me the bank wasn't open ... the NAB stayed closed for half the morning on account of the alert. The whole east coast of Australia was apparently on alert, following the earthquake near the Solomon Islands.
Such a random alert ... I don't remember ever being on tsunami alert before. I'm more than familiar with severe storm warnings, or cyclone alert, or heavy winds, or hail ... but tsunami alert - that's a new one for me. Even more bizarre as we've just been doing training at SES on Working in an Emergency Operations Centre - and our hypothetical event that we're using as a training exercise is a tsunami hitting our local area. Freakish!
Meanwhile, I spent the weekend at Relay for Life ... and came home completely wrecked. Staying up the entire night was not a good plan. I potentially slept a little along the way ... but considering I spent the night sitting in a camp chair, continually waking up to check what was going on around me, it wasn't exactly good sleep. I came home yesterday with a headache and a wee bit of sunburn, and proceeded to sleep all afternoon. Then most of today. I skipped uni today ... which hardly ever happens, so clearly I needed it.
I also made the decision sometime during the night to take leave from my Ranger Guide unit. Various complications have been making it far more difficult and far less enjoyable than it should be. Plus it has been taking up far too much time, so my uni work has suffered horribly. I was going to resign completely, but the Leaders up the line have convinced me to take a few months off while they try to sort out the dramas ... then I can reassess my decision. It's nice they suggested the leave option - they've made me feel a little more valued than I had been.
So Relay was my last event with the older girls for a while. Sad, but it had to happen ... so also a relief. And despite the stress involved on my part, the event was at least a good one to finish with! The girls all seemed to enjoy themselves, and it was great to have some along from other districts. Fabulous cause too ... we haven't finished collecting all the money yet, but we've well exceeded the required $1000/team in fundraising. All up for the event they've raised around $80,000 so far, so we expect they'll surpass the $100,000 mark by the time all monies are deposited ... rather exciting!
Guides is hardly going to disappear from my schedule either. I'm already helping out with Brownies again, and loving it. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy working with the younger girls! I've also put my hand up to help out with the Gumnuts - the little ones ... 5 and 6 year olds - hopefully we'll have a new unit starting in a month or two. Less responsibility in both places though ... just helping out, not organising. Other Leaders will look after the responsibility side of it. :)
Feeling good! Priorities are back where they should be ... on uni. Guides is back to being fun again, minus the stress and frustration. And I have new music to listen to ... always a good thing! Where would we be without music? Loving Corinne Bailey Rae currently. And I have tickets to Eskimo Joe, which arrived today with news that Little Birdy are support ... love it!