What achievements? and bringing back an old pastime..

For the last few Januarys I have looked back on the previous years and listed my achievements. I like that I can see how my goals change, and how I've grown over the years. 

In 2007, my favourite achievement was successfully sneaking into The Vines concert with my sister's passport. It was a big achievement, since we did fly down to Brisbane assuming I'd be able to get in. In 2008, College Dux was the cherry on top for a year that took me from a school skipping D student (well, I did get A's in art) to an A-for-every-finger high achiever. Nothing could top being known as the 'dark horse', partly because I just liked the idea of being a horse. With such a attitude altering, personality moulding, goal blossoming year -  2009 just seemed a bit uneventful. Sure, I still did very well at uni, but it wasn't the same as sky rocketing to the top from nothing, it was expected. So for 2009, I'd have to say my greatest achievement was moving out of home, and doing well despite being in a new city, at a new school, with new people and a new house.

2010 will be the year of  fitting in skills and hobbies. Will and I really pride ourselves on being two of the only people our age that have hobbies. Not video games, or drinking with friends, but fun, skill building entertainment. I am really hoping that this years visual arts subjects will bring back the artist in me (the crafter is too tame, at times). 

I've been seeing some beautiful 'visual journals' online, apparently its an art genre of its own, and I didn't even know it. I was just using up junk and venting creativity. Here is some pictures of my journals during year 10, 11. None for year 12, I was too busy being in love, and proving people wrong..

I think this year will have a visual journal. It's so nice to read back on the things I wrote..

It just got personal..

I know this is a craft and art blog, but I've had it with bills. I want to talk about student life for today, or more correctly .. how gas and electricity screws your savings. 

Unless I just sit around and read books all day.. there is nothing else we can do to minimize our electricity bill. One hundred and seventy five dollars a quarter is FAR too much for two students to pay, its about $20.00 a week on gas and electricity. My beef with this is a lot of each of those bills goes to the 'maintenance fee', they charge you to keep it. But I bet if it was broken, we (or the landlord) would still have to pay to fix it. 

And what's this about charging more in order to 'build more infrastructure' for handling peak hour energy consumption. If the government really cared about saving the environment, they would put rules in place (like they do during droughts). Instead, they just charge more, and only people like us feel it. If your making $2500 a fortnight, chances are that 1. you are able to reduce your bill more because that money likely leads to more appliances, and 2. the bill wouldn't hit you as much.

Grrrrrrr.