The Truth About Emo

If there is one thing I loathe with the power of a dying sun, it's the term 'Emo'. I mean, what is it? It's not even a THING! Emo is a bunch of teenagers trying to make themselves feel special in the way they express how Awful and Terrible it is to be a teenager. Guess what? That's not a new thing.

Everyone who has ever had to grow up (ie EVERYONE) is aware that it sucks to be a teenager. 

And by the way, cutting yourself to show how emotional and angst ridden you are isn't Emo, either. It's not even a part of being a teenager, it's just dumb. As a way to make yourself feel better, it's self-defeating and self-destructive. Don't do it! If you REALLY feel that badly about life and/or yourself, talk to someone and get some help. Please!

Emo isn't a style. All it ever was, was a confused mix of hipster and goth with the only distinctive thing about it being a bad hair cut. And guess what? Making like you're trying to hide from the world behind your hair? Not new, really really not new.

There is no Emo music genre. The bands that got labelled that way mostly just had the dual misfortune of being popular during the supposed 'Emo period' and being popular with the teenagers who were trying to show how Deeply Upset™ they were. Also, here's food for thought. Emo is supposedly short for Emotional but if you're listening to or creating music that doesn't have any emotion basis to it, then you're doing it really wrong. And you kind of don't need to label it.

All Emo is, is an empty made up label that doesn't mean anything to anyone and that even the creators of it refuse to admit to anymore. Emo is a joke. Emotions are real, being upset as a teenager is real (not new, but real), music is real, finding your own sense of style rather than following the crowd...is real. The rest is just empty boxes that nothing actually fits into and sad attempts at marketing.

Need help? PLEASE click!
(Links below are Australian organizations but there are groups like these anywhere so please get help if you need it)

www.beyondblue.org.au

www.headspace.org.au

au.reachout.com

www.lifeline.org.au

I Fear For The Future!

Okay, maybe the title is a TAD dramatic but you'll understand what I mean in a minute.

I just got through flipping through the latest Shop Til You Drop magazine that I picked up with the groceries this evening.  Now, it's not a high fashion magazine but it's usually a good one to look through to get a run down of current trends, places to look for neat bits and pieces, how to put certain outfits together and sometimes a different point of view on the fashion industry.  It's an overall okay mag for someone with a limited amount of time.

So, I decided to give the current one a quick flip through, to see what catches my eye in case I want a new outfit for the upcoming Christmas parties, or just because, and was horrified by what I found.  Yes, horrified, terrified and wanting to stick my head under a pillow and forget...pretend it was all a bad dream.

I weep for anyone trying to buy clothes for the next season, for those that decide they love the new trends and hop on board this particular fashion train because it's really nothing but the worst kind of TRAIN WRECK.  The styles are pulling up some of the WORST trends of the 80's and combining them with the most ludicrous colors and stylings.  The only people who MIGHT (and that is a big maybe) be able to pull these looks off are stick thin Glamazons with more money than Gates and who probably belong on the catwalks themselves.

I mean, seriously?  Poofy but structured Tulip skirts (which we all know were really a bubble skirt in it's past life) and floppy wannabe blazers with scalloped edges?  The ruffle trend could be fun if done right but most of the dresses I saw had strategically places ruffles intended to draw the eye to the parts of the body most normally built females would really prefer to pretend don't exist.  And high waisted short shorts?  Did somebody forget that shorts aren't the most flattering garements to begin with?  Pulling the waist up to your bra strap and cutting the legs off at your groin REALLY isn't going to help any. *headdesk*

I have a funny feeling I'm going to be relying on my in-closet staples spread out with very selective online purchases from places where sanity still reigns and combining that with garments coming from my very own sewing machine.  You know, ones that fit and flatter me rather than make me look like a balloon float that got lost on it's way to the Macy's Parade. *rolls eyes*

Oh yes, and then there is the final thing.  You know how 'they' like to say Green is the new Black and all that crud?  The color of the season, for both garments and  makeup...is orange.  Ranging from peach to pumpkin, it's the trendy color.  And it makes my want to vomit.  One of the hardest colors to match to most people, it's also just plain hideous under normal circumstances unless you're going to a Halloween party.  Does that sound a bit too narky? I know I really hate the color, personally, but come on!  It's ORANGE!  McDonald's uses orange in everything they make because it's supposedly the most psychologically neutral color and one that spans all socio-economic groups.  It does that because everyone agrees it's a gross color!!

Alright, rant over.  I'm going to go through my fabric and pattern stashes and decide what I'M going to be wearing for the next 6 months because I get the feeling that I really won't be buying anything new anytime soon.

X-posting to LJ

My Sanity Is Slipping

Day Two without my precious internet...and yet I still manage to blog!

*bangs head repeatedly on desk*

Optus sent out ANOTHER tech to have a look at things. Needless to say, according to them, there is nothing wrong on their end of things. So, of course, it must be on our end and the inside cables which they don't have anything to do with. *sigh* Tomorrow, an external phone contractor will be coming to check inside. I'm hoping he finds that there is nothing wrong inside either because then I get to go back to Optus and vent a little frustration at them.

Again, thank goodness for free wifi at McDonald's. You think if I plus them enough, maybe they'll pay to have my net fixed? :)

I just hope it all gets resolved soon because I don't want to gain weight eating at McDonald's all the time and I really don't want to miss out on some of my net stuff, cause the wifi isn't really up to handling certain websites.

Oh well. *sigh*

Maybe I should hurry and get my new skates sharpened so I have something to amuse myself because I'm already running out of stuff to clean at home.

Optus Rant

*sigh* I am currently sitting in McDonald's (Maccas to Aussies) and using their free wifi internet in order to be able to check messages and get my daily intake of netty goodness. The reason for this little outing? Optus.

Normally, I have not had much bad to say about the illustrious phone company. From all I have heard, they are far better than Telstra in most things and we've been pretty happy with them. However, last Saturday I picked up the phone to find it had no dial tone. No buzz, no static...nothing. At first thinking it might just be a temporary fault, as does happen, we waited to see if it would come back on. No such luck. Called the fault in to be told that it looked like something had caused our phone line to literally be disconnected. WTF? We haven't changed providers or done anything to our phone of late so we were baffled.

They said they would get a technician to look at it, booked us in for Tuesday morning (no Monday???) and wished us a nice day. Fortunately, the internet seemed to be unaffected so we happily kept ourselves amussed, secure in the fact that Optus would fix everything and we had cells if we really needed to call someone.

This morning, the tech came (never saw him as it was an 'external' booking only) and then got a message saying the phone should be all fixed. No such luck. Messaged them back, they booked another tech for tomorrow morning and voila, more waiting. Only, now I go to get onto my computer and the internet? NO...LONGER...WORKS! Call into the fault line and am pretty much told there is nothing they can do until the phone line itself is fixed. *headdesk*

Um, hello? The phone that was meant to be already fixed? By the tech who did SOMETHING to now knock out our net? *sigh*

Amazing how only a couple hours without reliable internet makes me a little crazy. *twitch*

I'm hoping that all will be fixed tomorrow. In the mean time, I may actually get some cleaning done without the distraction of the computer. Go figure!

Oh, and I have now had my new cell phone for a whole day. I am really starting to get the hang of all the features, have gotten almost everything set up to my liking and have yet to find a fault with it. For most people, the main issue is the lack of external volume control but I see how they have worked it for the different settings and aplications, so it's all good. Lots of texting has already been done thanks to the so-easy-to-use Qwerty pad. So far, so good. Shall keep you posted! *laugh*