A few of my favorite things;

This composition includes images of my favorite things; catwoman, coffee, city living and music. An array of Photoshop techniques were used; mostly magic wand to cut out each graphic, hue and saturation to continue the colour theme through the artwork, opacity to create layers of depth and silhouettes.

Life as a Wog

Words cannot describe how frustratingly bizarre it is to be a wog. One minute my family are enjoying our nightly buffet of food, next thing I know there's screaming and yelling, finger biting and weird hand gestures only Italians can decipher. The old traditions, the warped sense of family obligation, the rules and restrictions, I just can't understand them, I feel as if there just control mechanisms. I reject them so much that I go as far to say I am not Italian because I don't want to be classified in the same 'group' as these illogical people. I don't want the big wog wedding where you invite 200 people (half of them you have never seen before), I don't want to have to be married to move out of the house and I certainly don't want to be interrupted mid-conversation and ordered to remove the dishes after a big family dinner.

The one thing I find totally unforgivable is that the women are always expected to do the domestic tasks...this is the fucking 21st century and quite frankly I've had enough of this backwards thinking. I am so tired of being asked to detach myself from a conversation to clean up after everyone while my brother and dad sit there drinking a beer. The daughters are asked to do everything while the sons are being treated like kings. I say get the fuck up and help.  I am no better or no worse than you so we should be treated equally. I would never marry anyone who expected this of me and if I had a son I would teach him to get up and help his sister or girlfriend clean the dishes, cook dinner and clean the house.


Another thing that I cannot stand is the exaggerated in-family gossip. A bunch of vecchi (old people) talking about how this person isn't married yet or how that person should be ashamed because their great grandmother cheated on her husband...like honest to god who cares? But you can't say anything to them because that would be disrespecting you're elders. And we go around and around in circles until one person has had enough and an in-family brawl occurs. The evil eye comes out, more Italian profanities, curses etc until someone grows some balls, holds up the white flag in surrender and the storm calms. Call me confrontational, call me rude but I refuse to respect anyone young or old who enjoys talking about me behind my back.

What was once a nationality i was proud of being apart of, is now the reason why I am angry and frustrated all the time. This close-minded thinking is what hinders me from achieving my full potential in life and I assume many others. Sometimes you have to march to your own beat and its very difficult to do that when you're a wog. 

Midnight Munchies; Coffee Mug Cake

So it's midnight and I start craving cake so much so that I begin to squirm in my chair. But the thought of getting the heavy duty mixer out and preheating the oven is enough to deter me from even the most dire of sugar cravings. I realized an alternative way of baking a cake is to not bake it at all but zap it in the microwave, don't get me wrong the thought of zapping a cake mix in the microwave made me extremely nervous but as you can see from my picture it turned out better than expected. I found this little gem on the net and tweaked it to my own taste.

Ingredients

1 large coffee mug
4 tablespoons plain flour (do not use self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash of vanilla
chocolate syrup (optional)
whipped topping (optional)

How to make it

Add dry ingredients to mug, & mix well .
Add egg & mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add chocolate chips (if using), vanilla, mix again.
Set mug in the microwave & cook for 2½ to 3 min at 1,000 watts.
Cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Some report that 2½ minutes works best. It depends upon your microwave. So, watch carefully to not over do it!
Remove from microwave.
Allow cake to cool a little, then tip out onto a plate, if desired.
Drizzle with chocolate syrup and top with whipped topping and cherries, if desired!
This can serve 2 if you care to share!

Sarah's Tips:
-definetly use choc chips or chocolate syrup because without it your left with just an ordinary sponge cake.
-don't go over 3 minutes
- try to use a mug with a big base as the heat will be evenly distributed, I used one with a skinny base and found that the bottom was burning and top was moist.

recipe sourced from http://www.grouprecipes.com/72684/microwave-cake-in-a-coffee-mug.html

Advanced Diploma of Building Design; End of an Era

Early 2010, I had commenced my first year of the Advanced Diploma of Building Design (Architectural) at RMIT University. I walked into my first class bright and shiny, full of self-worth and completely naive of what was to come. My first teacher walked in, with a carnivorous smile he asked "so, who actually believes they're going to go into Architecture after this?" Me, being the ever-so cautious one kept my arm firmly by my side and watched as 99% of the classes hand dart upwards. He began to laugh as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. I was fully aware of what the Architecture world was like, much like the Art world, full of pretentious snobs that prefer to converse and discuss the theory of design than actually design anything that was able to be built. A long time ago I had decided that I did not want to be apart of this "refined" world, my place was in back drop, drafting and managing these "innovative designs". I had come to think of Architects as little kids with  over-sized crayons doodling pictures and builders being the grumpy parents telling them "NO! It cannot be done!". As my first year progressed, I grew more respect for my teacher, after-all he was a expert in the industry and he seemed very enthusiastic to teach us the theory of design, hoping to inspire the inner artist. But slowly, slowly as the first semester came to an end a dramatic decrease of students occurred, the workload proved to be too much for some and I thought back to the first time I met my teacher and I understood the reason for his unsettling smile.

My 2nd Year in this course proved to do more harm than good as a serious lack of direction from teachers dramatically effected my academic record and self-confidence. I had a DUO of incompetent teachers; one that was highly moody, self involved and definitely part of the snobbery of the Architecture world, the other a prejudist old fool that was a borderline bully and infamous for a bad teaching record but somehow has managed to dodge a bullet year after year. The mere thought of 2011 makes my blood boil as it reminds me of the total disregard many teachers have towards their students, an overally blazae attitude that can only be explained by a lack of interest, communication and a whole lot of complacency. However, in the end I had myself to blame because I allowed my work to suffer which resulted in a huge blow in confidence when approaching design. All in all the year was not a complete waste of time as my drafting skills earned me distinctions and the belief in myself wasn't totally annihilated.

The last 6 months of this course have been a complete blur, learning revit whilst simultaneously trying to design a project, that's both aesthetically pleasing and structurally sound has proven challenging to say the least. Again, teachers lacked communication with their students but mostly with each other. There was definetly evidence of an ego struggle between the two buddying architects. But as frustrating as this was, I believe each of them truly tried to assist as much as possible with every student. And for that these two teachers have my respect.

This course is a good stepping stone for people who need hands on training in this industry, however, it's not an excellent course as I feel some teachers need to be shown the door. RMIT needs to get organized and instead of knuckling down on its students should inspect its employed teaching staff. Often you find yourself in the dark, questioning whether or not to continue but in the end you can only do the best you can.