Adelaide-based creative filled with thoughts, pretty things and adventure! :)
(Temporary) Post Mortem
I’ve had to withdraw from TAFE. My health reached the point where I now have a diazepam prescription to cope with the really bad days. It’s for the best; the diazepam makes me so drowsy I become an OHSW liability (industrial sewing machines and whatnot).
I’ll be spending the next few months taking the time to get a bit more healthy. I’ve started to see a psychotherapist, and as much as I hate how I end up by the end of the sessions, they are helping - A LOT.
I haven’t quit sewing or designing though… currently working on a My Little Pony club/rave outfit that I think will go into multiple extremes - slutty, what the f***, promiscuous and childish. I also need to get around to sewing some petticoats for my lolita wardrobe and start working on my reconstructed-deconstructionist dress I’ve been planning for a while.
Pretty much says it all.
My mental health has deteriorated significantly since I last posted here. I knew the course was going to be hard work, but the workload is INSANE. 30 hour+ weeks, and if you miss a day, you’re screwed.
I’ve missed four. Three of those days have been due to anxiety. My GP has suggested I start taking valium. I’m booked in to get a mental health care plan sorted next week. Take from this what you will.
(via kittenpox)
by Lloyd Simmonds
*jawdrop*
I can’t help but want to make a dress to go with this.
(via makeupbeauty)
The dramas of enrolling at TAFE SA.
Paperwork finally came - it turns out my phone’s been playing up, and my boyfriend doesn’t check his voicemail. So I open the envelope after trekking an hour home from the friend’s I was staying at, and how they work their enrolments and module selection is nothing like what I expected…
Neither is enrolment. TAFE SA uses the most convoluted, confusing and just plain user-unfriendly online enrolment system EVER. For starters, there’s no way that I found of bringing up a timetable so you can see what’s on when. I don’t have any objections to creating my own timetables (I do that anyway); but when there’s no timetable system at all? Not cool.
The system also doesn’t tell you if there’s any clashes. Upon creating my timetable, I found three. If it turns out I’m meant to enrol into those classes, I’m so screwed. Fortunately, I’ve set up a backup timetable that resolves my clashes (not ideally, because I still have to attend classes on a Friday, but it will do).
I’ve received three invoices in my TAFE e-mail inbox within a matter of days. Course fees don’t have to be paid until the 17th of February, so I’ve got a little bit of time to get my head around it. Materials and kits, however, need to be paid before I start class on the 30th.
My enrolment list tells me about $190. My invoices over three days built up to about $1800… Approximately $600 of that is supposed to be materials and kits. You can understand why I’m confused, especially considering I need to pay for materials before the 30th. $200, I can do. $600, not so much.
There will be polite abusive phonecalls tomorrow morning, before I go to an appointment in the afternoon to get funding sorted out with my case manager.
Oh, this isn’t the best part, believe me.
In my enrolment list, there’s a module called Work in the Textiles Clothing and Footwear Industry. I’m currently not enrolled in that. Why? BECAUSE IT DOESN’T EVEN SHOW UP IN THE SEMESTER 1 CLASS LIST.
And people wonder why I’m stressed right now.
A wedding dress being made with Christmas spirit at the ELIE SAAB atelier.
This is out of character for my Tumblr, but I wanted to post this to give people an idea of the sort of clothing I dream of being skilled enough to make one day…
(via queenofblending)
Domain name down, hatception and waiting…
So my domain doesn’t like being redirected to Tumblr.. Probably because I also have the hosting package on there. Looks like I’ll just have to import my Tumblr feed onto a webpage.. More work. Great. </sarcasm>
I finally managed to get my timetable sorted out yesterday. It’s only taken two days, some exploration of TAFE SA’s website, pouring over training.gov.au timetables, some raging and lots of planning. Now here’s hoping I don’t have to scrap it all when I know what’s going on…
Speaking of what’s going on, I still haven’t heard anything from TAFE. Sure, I get that SATAC have been running behind this year for whatever reason, and it does take a little while for these things to come through, but classes start on the 31st. My timetable is geared so I get bullshit core modules (OHS) out the way, as well as a piss-easy elective that day. I CAN’T ENROL UNTIL TAFE SENDS ME PAPERWORK! That, and I’d like to be able to head up to Sydney to see my other half before classes start…
Now I’m just really shitty with TAFE. Yes, I understand that it’s perfectly reasonable for TAFE not to send me any course information after I did my SATAC application last year, as I did apply late. But surely I should have received something by now pertaining to enrolment! This will be fun to explain to my case manager on Monday… “Well, yes, I did receive an offer. I accepted through SATAC. I even received an e-mail confirming this. But as to paperwork you guys need to see for me to receive funding, well… about that…”
On the upside, I have started designing and planning. One of my friends, upon hearing I got accepted into fashion design, asked me to design him a “GIANT hat”. I think I’ve come up with a solution: HATCEPTION.
Concept: a larger than average top hat, properly made, that’s covered in top hats. Which are covered in top hats. And so on and so forth. Technically, millinery is a completely different qualification, but it looks like fun. And it really can’t be that hard… Can it?
I have a very nervous disposition when it comes to study. By “nervous disposition”, I mean my anxiety plays up big time. Over the years, I’ve found that the easiest way for me to cope with these things is to make plans.
Right now, the only thing I can really plan for are the electives I’m going to choose for my Diploma. Until I know when I have to go in to sort out my enrolment and fees, as well as when classes start, I can’t really do anything else. Slightly annoying, because I’d like to return to Sydney for a little while when my boyfriend goes home, but I suppose I can’t really complain - I knew what I was getting into this year.
I’ve spent the last couple of days on the couch with a netbook trying to work out what’s going to be more beneficial to me. Do I plan for the worst case scenario and pick electives that will help in landing a normal job, or do I go “BOLLOCKS!” to what’s meant to be done and just sew what I want, then sell on Etsy and at various markets and conventions around the country?
To top it all off, with Mum going back into sewing children’s clothing as a business like she did when I was a child, something tells me I should skill up in electives that would land me a normal job anyway, but instead use them to help Mum out.
For once, I’m actually confused by all my options. I should probably speak to someone in the faculty for some subject counselling. However, I can’t do that until I receive my paperwork from TAFE, and I’m not going to be comfortable until I know what I’m doing, and that won’t happen until I get paperwork…
Don’t you just love a catch-22 situation?
tumblrbot asked: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?
My boyfriend? Trololololololololololololol! (At this point in time, he’s asleep in an almost-foetal position, snoring and thus, dead to the world. I know this to be so because I threw a kitten at him and he didn’t flinch. :D)
In all seriousness though, my favourite inanimate object would have to be my Cabbage Patch doll, Sydney Joy. I’ve had her since I was seven or eight. She’s been with me everywhere (including an operating table!), had the most awesome makeover (ranga braids, anyone?) and just plain been there for me when there’s been no-one else to hug me when I’m sad.
I really need to work out how to give her a wash though without ruining her anymore, though… One day I’ll remember to Google this. *nods*
Welcome - it’s a first post!
(Edited 18th Jan. 2011 @ 1:10pm to reflect the fact that I fail at setting up redirects to my domain.)
Hi everyone, and this is my first official post on my site. It uses Tumblr for the back end, as I like Tumblr’s feel “professional” Tumblr account!
I’m an almost 22 year old multi-disciplined creative based in Adelaide, about to start studying for a Diploma of Applied Fashion Design and Technology at TAFE SA’s Currie Street campus. I’ve also studied previously at The University of Adelaide (music technology) and the Adelaide Centre for the Arts (professional writing). In addition, I am a self-taught web designer, though I still need a lot of work to call myself particularly skilled.
My goals for my site Tumblr are to develop a solid portfolio in various creative areas, share with people wonderful and pretty things, and to force myself to write on a regular basis.
Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you’ll keep coming back!
