#ceiridwen

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In which Ceiridwen relates a little too much with Muppets: Item 35

Sometimes the universe aligns and Avenue Q, which you’ve been wanting to see for years, is on in Sydney while you’re there for the weekend anyway, and your parents agree to buy you a ticket for your birthday. And then you get to go and sit in a dark theatre for a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon and giggle at the Muppets singing about porn and racism and the fact that BAs are freaking useless degrees, all the while thinking “This speaks to me on a personal level. Should I be worried by that?” (I ended up opting for no).

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up. Fine holiday fun.

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Thilo and Ceiridwen make friends with each other while at a Farmers Market (Items 17 and 33) 

Since Ceiridwen was making the trek to Sydney for Yellowcard, she decided to make a weekend of the whole thing, and therefore had some spare time while she was there. So she sent Thilo a message suggesting that if she was free, they could actually meet up IRL and have coffee or something. Coffee or something turned into the Eveleigh Farmers Markets (Thilo’s suggestion), where they have fantastic crepes (no photo evidence. Too delicious to think about that sort of thing), fresh juice (pictured here: orange and passionfruit and hot apple and ginger) and brownies that will put you in a chocolate coma (also pictured here), among other things (like tea. Which Ceiridwen definitely didn’t spend nearly $100 on. And organic dog treats. Which she also definitely didn’t buy, because that would obviously make her a crazy dog lady).

Much fun was had, much food was eaten, and there are some actual photos of the markets floating around, but uploading requires effort, so they’re coming soonish.

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Ceiridwen does item 19: go to a concert.

Last night, I saw Yellowcard. I am not sure I have a voice today. Totally. Worth it.

Things I learnt last night:

The lead singer of Mayday Parade, who were the support, is better live than recorded.

I know the first two lines and nothing more of a LOT of Mayday Parade songs.

There are a lot of underage Yellowcard fans, and it makes me feel really old.

There are also a lot of people whose parents let them go to concerts on school nights, and I very much judge said parents (post script: it has since occurred to me that it was school holidays, so I probably don’t judge them any longer).

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Ceiridwen is an idiot who did this 2 weeks ago and managed to post to her tumblr, not the group one (the item previously known as 12: learn to meditate)

This was something I added to the list because I’ve been meaning to do it for a while, and this would give me motivation to do it. I am just about incapable of single-tasking (that’s the opposite of multitasking, right?) and I am constantly getting part way through a sentence and losing my train of thought because I’ve got too many others happening at the same time, because my mind is just insanely busy, and I very strongly relate to the dog from UP. Which has some benefits, but is mostly a giant pain in the ass. I always find the relaxation part of yoga, which I quite enjoy, to be really difficult because they’re all like “Clear your mind…focus on your breathing…” and I either end up going “Breathe in…and out…and in…and out… and…holy fuck, I’ve over-thought this, and now I can’t actually remember how to breathe. This is BAD. HOW DO I BREATHE AGAIN???” or “What am I having for dinner tonight? I could have pasta, but I had that last ni - oh, wait, I’m supposed to be clearing my mind….right…mind cleared… … …I can’t believe that Jason Segel and Michelle Williams broke up. They were so cute together and I was just so happy for them! DAMMIT. THAT IS NOT CLEAR, MIND!” (this genuinely happened to me during a yoga class not long after they broke up. That is both how terrible at clearing my mind I am, and also how over-invested one of my housemates and I were in a relationship that involved two people that neither of us knew).

Anyway. Meditation. It’s good for stopping stuff like that. I was terrible at it. I used Smiling Mind (based entirely on the name, but it later turned out to actually have a pretty good reputation) to try and learn how to do it properly. I can now proudly say I am no longer shit at it, but I am still pretty damn average. I’ve now managed to master the art of concentrating on my breathing without forgetting how to do it, and I can stay focussed on not being focussed for several minutes before my mind starts to wander and/or I get antsy and fidgety.

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Kari and Ceiridwen send postcards with varying degrees of success (item 28)

Postcards were definitely placed in the mail from Atlanta. And have apparently arrived in at least two of the three locations.

I also definitely was not asked for my mailing address while half-asleep for postcard purposes. Sadly, I have to check out of the hotel before AusPost/USPS managed to cooperate.

But I believe Thilo does have a nice stash of postcards now ;-)

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Ceiridwen discovers Matt Skiba and the Sekrets, loses her tiny mind (AKA Ceiridwen does item 20: find a new song, album or band)

This was an accidental find. I was listening to the most recent episode of Hi My Name is Mark, and there was mention of a new song (above) from Matt Skiba’s side project. Said side project turns out to involves Hunter Burgan. Alkaline Trio (Matt Skiba’s band. Please know that the first time Kari saw me wearing my Alkaline Trio shirt, she asked me if they were a pretty basic band. This still makes me giggle every time I put it on) and AFI (Hunter Burgan’s band) are two of my favourite bands, so this was super exciting. And then I heard the song and realised that they’re pretty much Alkaline Trio with more synth and I lost my shit and downloaded all the music as soon as I got home from walking the dog. Babylon, which is their first album, makes writing a 5 page lesson plan (which no one does, lecturers. ESPECIALLY not with referencing) considerably less painful.