Monday, November 19: If you had to get locked in some place (book store, amusement park, etc) overnight alone, where would you choose to be locked in?

Book shop. The odds are that the bookshop has somewhere comfortable to sit or curl up. There’s a chance they’ll have a coffee shop for drinks and snacks but if they don’t, who cares? Endless books. You’d have to pry me out screaming. After I totally presented the manager with a list of books they really should have had in weeks ago, and I am not amused.

If it were Kinokuniya in Sydney, oh man. Not only books, but endless art supplies? It would be heavenly. It would have to be ‘locked in over a weekend’, because I would be the happiest person in the world if I were stuck in there.

So, we went to Sydney today for my Portfolio Review at Sydney Uni. We being my sister (she graduated from Sydney Uni this year!), my father (Driving Monkey extraordinaire) and me (partial degree princess). We left after 7 a.m, and Mia and I slept the entire way down. We are hardcore party people. We made it to Sydney for breakfast at the best coffee bar in the city, Workshop Expresso. I, of course, don’t drink coffee. But Workshop iced chocolate? Like liquid crack. Seriously, I can’t think of a drink more addictive.

Then we headed off to Sydney University. Wow, that school is gorgeous. It’s basically in the buildings of an old mental asylum (which would be awesome… if I hadn’t been watching American Horror Story. Okay, I’m just kidding ), and is gorgeous. Old sandstone buildings, beautiful green grounds. Or rather, on my University Comparison Scale – I – This place sucks, it’s like a prison and you need hiking boots to get around vs. 10 – There are hotels that aren’t this fancy, and I can safely wear heels, or go barefoot!, Sydney Uni ranked a charming 8.

I managed to wrangle a Review with one of Mia’s favourite lecturers, S, who was awesome and super enthusiastic. Some of the advice he gave me was a little different than Mum’s friend T gave me, so I’m combining all the ideas. The best thing is that the updated guidelines say any A2 sized works – or bigger – can be photographed, so I don’t have to lug a giant artwork to Sydney.

I also got a look at some parts of the end-of-year show, and some work was incredible. An artist named Sarfa (i’m not sure that’s the spelling) has drawn the most incredible lifelike portraits. Another one of my sister’s friends did these two amazing portraits of a character from Homestuck, and another girl – Bridget – did a series of stylised images that were screenprinted – using up to seven colours. For anyone not familiar with screen-printing, it’s very precise work, with no room for error. As well as the printmedia works, I saw this incredible glass work, with glass ‘bubbles’ littered all over the floor. It was incredible.

After the uni, we went into the city, and Mia and I hit David Jones. They had an awesome Ted Baker display. in an old-fashioned sweets cart, and I am totally in love with Ted Baker’s Tishaa laptop case. I can’t seem to find one online, so hopefully when I get my new laptop, they’ll still have some left. We checked out the shoe department – it sucks – and the Christmas department.

Where I totally inquired about the price of Valencia. Who is Valencia, you ask? Valencia is a Christmas cow that stands about knee-high. Hand-painted and airbrushed with golden hooves and horns, the first year she was there, she was apart of half-a-dozen other animals, all worth several thousand dollars. They all sold, except Valencia. Valencia has been there for roughly six years, now, being stuffed into a corner and covered with lights and/or tinsel. She’s been seriously damaged and, as of today, one of her ears is missing. I adore Valencia, so I asked how much they want for her. They no longer have her on the books, so they’ll be calling me. I really hope they give me a reasonable price, because she’s awesome and I’d enjoy trying to fix her up.

My father took us to the sushi train for lunch, which was delicious and amazing and awesome – tempura prawns, sashimi, scallop and veggie roll, eel… I could go on I just love Japanese food. We hit Kinokuniya afterwards, and then Gorman, where I tried on the most amazing, awesome, wicked pair of wedges that must be mine. I have no idea how, but I need them. They were so comfy and amazing-looking. They come in pink and silver, and I don’t know which colour I want!

We left after that, since it is a two hour trip home. Hopefully when we go back down next week for my formal interview, oh dear god, we can hit the Wii U demo store, Gorman and Kinokuniya again… I’m a simple girl at heart It was a good and fairly casual day. Except now I’ve fallen behind on NanoWrimo. I’ll have to catch up tomorrow!

So, I had a meeting with one of my mother’s friends today. T is an HSC art teacher, which means that she helps students, every year, to compile their portfolios for university, and she was nice enough to look over mine for me.

I was so, so worried that she’d flip through my books and tell me that I needed to pull some new stuff out of nowhere in the next five days – still life works (which I loathe, they are so boring) and such. But T was so nice – she gave me some amazing advice and suggestions, plus helped me identify the sort of works I should be presenting. I’m only allowed to present ten, but I’ve found a way to arrange my examples to put the most and best possible examples forward.

They will be a total bitch to transport on the train, though.

I’ve also got a plan. If the worst happens and I don’t get into either university, the Tafe has some amazing graphic design and art courses that many high school teachers recommend for high school students wanting to go into visual arts degree, as a way to be taught the skills, as well as getting university credit. So, I’d spend next year at Tafe, working, writing my novel and maybe trying to get a small business of hand drawn cards going.

And I was sticky-beaking at the Sydney Uni website, and they have some amazing stuff going on. It’s actually kind of exciting, honestly. There are clubs for every possible thing – Disney-fans, costume-fans, two clubs for cocktail afficianados – plus two magazines, a campus one and a yearly-literature magazine. I definitely want to get involved, if I get in.

And on Saturday, I’m going to Sydney to the Open Day and portfolio review (and maybe, just possibly, duck into Gorman to try on some shoes I can’t afford this week 

At least now I’m feeling a little more confident about my chances of getting in based on my portfolio. My formal interview is one week today. I can totally do this.

(And 29, 365 words. Bamf.)

I have this weird thing, where I have invisible barriers that keep me safe from things that are happening.

i know, it sounds crazy. But just listen. It’s like, my major barrier before Real Life kicks in (getting into Uni, moving to Sydney by myself et al) is Christmas. And Christmas is still effectively ages away, huffah! Plus, I have tons of little ones leading up to Christmas. So magically, by the time I’m faced with Real Life, I’ll be ready for it and everything will have fallen into place. I know that’s complete garbage, but it’s how I work.

My birthday was a barrier to my Day of Reckoning – my Interview and Portfolio Presentation at one of the universities I’ve applied at. Oh dear god, Yikes. i have to pick out ten pieces of my artwork and present them to a panel of lecturers – who will be MY lecturers if I get in next year – and convince them that I am someone they should let in.

My interview day is November 23. And all I can think is how much I have to do. I have buckets of art I need to go through and decide whether or not to include, I want to do some new stuff, I have to get my damn scanner working (HP Multifunctions suck, fyi. Brand new and the scanner refuses to connect to the computer), and I really want to get two copies professionally bound at the local print store. I also need to work out what I’m wearing, even though I think I have a pretty good idea (a skirt my mother made me with fabric from Liberty, a pink gap top, pink Bloch ballet flats and my newest bright pink handbag I still need to work out what to do/wear with my hair and jewellery. My sister, who is about to graduate from this university, said that the panel are reasonably conservative, so I’m trying to look nice but memorable.)

Plus, there’s a Portfolio Preparation day on next Saturday that I am hoping to go up for, if I can come up with the money (train tickets, lunch et al), plus I have to work out how much stuff to lug up on the train. I’m seriously considering one display folder and my mother’s iPad with the rest, otherwise it will be too bulky and awkward to carry around all day.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen a lot of my art pop up lately. I’ll start posting some here as well, just to motivate me. Plus, I have NanoWrimo to work on (500 more words until 20k, and then I can go and play my newest Sims expansion!), take photographs of our newest family member who is so gosh darn cute that it’s more of a chore not to take photos, keep training, keep blogging, keep cleaning and find a job… whilst trying so, so hard to get into University again.

Oh god, I am so screwed.

NaBloPoMo November 8: If you could have any job (and instantly have the training and qualifications to do it), which job would you want?

Oh wow. That is a truly great question, and one that I’ve asked myself a lot since I finished high school. I’ve known that I want to write books since I was two (my mum LOVES that story). But in the last few years, I really considered a lot of things – art teacher, English teacher, magazine writer, art gallery owner, vet specialising in rabbits… the list is quite long.

 But it’s a toss up between fashion designer and ball-jointed resin doll maker. Both for the essentially the same reason – the ability to be creative, to create entire worlds and to know exactly and precisely what to do to get the desired effect. I know I’ll always be a writer, but having that sort of career would allow to explore the worlds that I created.

Doll making has intrigued me ever since I discovered people making their own Asian Ball Jointed Dolls, and the work at Enchanted Doll. The possibilities are amazing.

I’d do a lot of fantasy dolls and unique versions of historical and fairy tale characters, as well as characters from different culture and fashion movements; I’d devote a lot of time to recreating pop culture characters… it would be amazing.

Why can’t I do this? Because there’s no way to learn how to make these dolls. It’s not something that you can take a class in at Tafe

(My other dream career is shoe making. It would be glorious – bright leathers as soft as fabric, heels with satin ribbons around the ankle, flats modelled after pointe shoes.. oh, the dream!)