I am a practical thinker.

The Murdoch free thinkers quiz is designed to help prospective students decide what they want to study. So as a second year student taking the test I was a little worried. The result may be completely different to my choice of study; it may even make me rethink my original study choice. There are four possible results you can end up with; practical, compassionate, visionary or creative. When you have completed the test a percentage is given per possible result. This is what my result looked like:

Practical - 38%
Compassionate - 28%
Visionary - 25%
Creative - 9%

I was happy with the above results, apart from the fact that practical people can be a little boring... and considering I'm only 9% creative that's a little worrying. I'm glad I'm a little bit compassionate as well. It may not dominate my life but putting others first is a natural part of how I think. I think it's also pretty funny that only 13% separates my dreamer side from my practical side. So maybe I'm well balanced? Either way I'm happy with these results and I feel like I'm on the right track with my studies.

After you've received your results Murdoch will suggest courses which coincide with your personality traits. For my results Murdoch listed:
Organising or Clerical
Helping or Advising
Practical or Mechanical
Before I discuss why my course fits into these categories and how Murdoch has summed me up perfectly I want to talk a little bit about what the word practical means to me.

One of the reasons I love studying at Murdoch is because our courses are quite hands on. I'm not one of those people that can read a book and then learn something. I don't learn through theory, I need to be shown things. I remember when I was first learning how to drive and my mum was trying to teach me the basics to driving a car. She would say don't do this, don't do that, and all I would say is "Why not?" and she would just reply with "I don't know, just because!" It wasn't until my dad showed me the mechanics of the car and how it worked that I actually grasped the concept of driving. These situations tend to happen to me a lot. I can't just be told what to do, I need to know why. There has to be a reason otherwise why would I do it? My results at uni prove that I am indeed a practical thinker. I tend to excel in courses where I can show what I can do rather than just write about it.

This is one of the reasons why I'm studying media. In media I get to experience the world from a practical perspective as opposed to learning about everything through theory. There is a balance between theory and practice, and I really love that. I also believe that my bachelor of media can be classified as an organisational and clerical course.

At first glance it doesn't seem like a course that will teach you organisation, but it has definitely taught me how to be organised. If the unit is practical, then deadlines become more important. There are no extension dates on practical work; it needs to be done on time. So in terms of being organised, I have definitely learnt how to manage my time. I also chose this course because I want to be an events coordinator, which I would say is a very organisational and clerical career. You need to be organised when organising events otherwise things get out of control. I'm also a little bit obsessed with stationery and have dreamed of having an office job. I wouldn't want to be stuck in an office all day, but to have my own office and a home for all my stationery would make me a very happy person.

P.S
Seeing as this is the last blog assignment and that we are indeed in a competition I would like to wish everyone the best of luck!

A taste of things to come.

The final product will be posted tomorrow!! Stay tuned =D

The festivals of 2010.

West Coast Blues 'n' Roots Festival 2010 here I come!

Next years festivals are sending me broke. I have my Southbound ticket. This year was my first Southbound experience and I would have done ANYTHING and I mean anything to see The Kooks live. I ended up at the front of the crowd right in front of Luke Pritchard, it could not have been a better experience. Despite not having a favourite band on the line-up this year (excpet for Jamie T playing on the Friday night for campers only, and i'm not camping =[ ) I still bought my ticket the day they went on sale. Southbound is just one experience you can not deny yourself. If you have not been to Southbound, you're seriously missing out. It's the closest thing WA has to Glastonbury, and we all know how good that festival is!

I also have my Big Day Out ticket. There are three big reasons as to why I'm heading to the BDO next year for the first time. 1. Muse 2. Lily Allen and 3. Powderfinger. Three of my top bands on one line-up, I could not go past it! Although I've been told the crowd is kind of rough I'm willing to endure bruises and sore muscles, after all injury's do become a part of the festival experience.

Last on my current festival line-up is the West Coast Blues and Roots festival. Two words - Crowded House. I love them! It may have something to do with me being part Australian and part New Zealander, but I just think their music is magical. Not to mention the way a crowd lights up when they hear their classic songs. After I hear "Better Be Home Soon" live I will be able to die happily. Other awesome bands joining Crowded House are The John Butler Trio, Jimmy Barnes, Newton Faulkner, Angus & Julia Stone, and Lisa Mitchell.

Hopefully I'll somehow end up with a ticket to Laneway Festival as well. Florence and the Machine, The Middle East and Mumford & Sons, you can't go wrong!

Paul Cashmere burns Rebekah Devlin

If you've been living under a rock you may not have heard the media lashing out at Britney Spears and her latest world tour. Last Friday night Britney Spears' Circus Tour kicked off its Australian leg in Perth. After one show the media had attatched it's self to the fact the Britney Spears was lip synching. Politicians even came out demanding that all performers should claim that they are going to be lip synching in their shows. But was Britney Spears lyp synching really that much of a shock? If you asked Perez Hilton he would say what else were you expecting and why do you care?, its BRITNEY SPEARS! John Mayer also defended the singer through twitter (http://twitter.com/johncmayer) claiming "If you're shocked that Britney was lip-syncing at her concert and want your money back, life may continue to be hard for you."

John Mayer was responding to the media 'circus' created by Rebekah Devlin's claims that fans had stormed out on Britneys concert. Here are a couple of the stories for you to ponder over if you haven't already seen them.
Article 1
Article 2
They seem completely based on fact. She has asked several punters for the points of views and clearly has severl quotes. The point is, however, that there is no mention of any part of the show going well. What kind of fair account of events is this? All we are reading is how bad the show was, how horrible it was that Britney mimed, and oh my god help us she didn't talk after two songs!! Lets all go home and slit our wrists shall we?

I saw Britney's show on Saturday, and it was fantastic! And that is a completely non-bias point of view. I'm no die hard Britney fan, I only own her first album and her first greatest hits release. After I turned 15 I stopped listening to pop music and only attended concerts with bands performing live. So for me this was a whole new experience and boy did Britney deliver. The show was literally a cricus. Britney would undergo costume changes, and the set would change regularly throughout the show. Every time this happened circus perfromers would come out and put on show. The concert was non-stop entertainment from start to finish.

Paul Cashmere highlights the flaws in Rebekah Devlin's cheap stabs at Britney's concert in Perth. Everything he says I could not agree with more. You must must MUST read this article. He makes it clear that he isn't a Britney fan but still enjoyed the show. He also suggests other news headlines that Devlin may have picked up if she wasn't so fixated on creating a storm of negative media.
Check it out here:
Paul Cashmere review

Assignment #4 - My Passion.

This latest blog assignment is asking us to define what we're passionate about and how it fits into our dream job.
So, talking about your passion should be easy right? Well no, first you need to know what you're passionate about and I have so much going on in my little head that I can't figure out what I love most. So I've sat here for about two hours now umming and arring over what I'm passionate about. I started asking myself, what is it that I can't go a day without? This bought me to the events of this weekend in which I felt very passionate about a certain subject expressing both passionate anger and passionate love. Yes, it was Britney Spears.
Oh I know it sounds really lame when I put it like that but I do admire Britney. She holds a place in my childhood that will exists forever, so yes I think Britney Spears is the shit. Any who, the bigger picture to this story is my true passion. Music!
As I've experienced over the weekend I can become quite passionate about the subject. I was very angry when people we dissing Ms. Spears because she was lip synching. Well haters, on Saturday night she did sing and she sounded brilliant so screw you! I think I should push on now... see told you I was passionate!
Anyway, it made me realise that I care about music, and I care when people don't understand music. When I hear a brilliant band and go "Omg this band is sooo good, like seriously the bass is off the hook!" and my friends don't understand I spend the next hour or so trying to demonstrate why the song is epic.
So in the past couple of weeks I've kind of set an example for myself when it comes to making videos or taking photos... but this week I was just toooooooo busy. Instead I've created a little montage demonstrating my passion

So there you have it! That’s my passion. Now to turn it into a job... Well... that task is actually going to be easier than I thought. I went to university to study a degree that would help me on my path to becoming an events manager. But the thing is I don't just want to be any events manager, sure I've taken up a double major in public relations so I can organise events for company's... but seriously I don't want to be stuck organising staff Christmas parties for the rest of my life. No no no I want to organise music events.
I've been doing it on a local level for a couple of years now and in that time I have met the man who actually has my dream job. You may or may not have heard of Paul Sloan, he is the creator of Rock-It and has achieved many things that I am envious of. I will never forget the time we put together a show in Mandurah for his band The Sunshine Brothers to rehearse for their upcoming tour because Paul was going to be going on tour with Death Cab for Cutie so was unable to rehearse for a few weeks. Honestly, isn't that the coolest excuse in the world to miss out on band practice! "Oh you know... I'm touring with Death Cab" Holy Crap! Ever since that day I've wanted his job.

So in summary....
Passion: Music
Job: Events coordinator, tour manager, promoter, oh and while we're still dreaming how about my own record label? Cool? K Thanks. =]

P.S
Voting lines are still open! And there isn't even a number to call, just a picture to click. Isn't that great?!

Freedom!

What a year... I will not deny that University was hard this year. I actually did better this year than i did last year though, maybe I like the hard work? Who knows, all I can say is that right now I am so releived that I have no assignments left.
This last week has been so full on, I have never been so stressed in my life. One unit, for unknown reasons other than I think its a really crappy idea, had me hand in 50% of the unit on Friday. 50%!!!! On top of that pressure, I had 3 tests spread over Monday and Tuesday. One of these tests was for a unit that I won't name here because I probably couldn't contain my dislike for it. In this unit over a 14 week semester I learnt nothing. Nothing!! I put it down to a terrible text book and a hard to understand tutor. Anyway I spent 4 days learning 14 weeks of concepts, if i fail that test I just might cry.
If you've read my previous blogs you might know that I am quite the procrastinator and a majority of lasts weeks stress was my own fault. My public relations unit required me to keep a journal throughout the semester documenting lectures, tutorials, sample materials, readings, writing exercises, reflections, and a conclusion per week. Yeah... and guess what? I didn't do it! So by the time I reached week 13 I had only completed 6 weeks. Completely my fault and I deeply regretted it on Friday.
So I get home Friday afternoon and I sigh releif. But alas! I'm not finished JUST yet. No no, and its not exams that I have to do! I'm one of the lucky ones, and its not because I study media!! Which is actually hard at times, as I have experienced this year. No no... I have two assignments left to write for this blog. And no I'm not complaining about it, I want to do it. But I must agree with another blogger on this one (who you can check out here: http://disgracefullytara.blogspot.com/2009/11/its-easy-to-lose-ability-to-dream-while.html) that by the end of 14 weeks of writing within strict guidelines and about theories I'm only going to forget after uni anyway, we lose sight of why we are actually studying. So by tomorrow I need to remember why I went to uni, what I'm passionate about, and how that fits my dream job. Awesome! An assignment that requires me to day dream, I think I might actually enjoy this. =]