hi i moved to leeds

I had the apartment to myself for 2 days. It was nice, a little quiet. The fridge made weird noises at midnight so I was freaked out by that. Overall, it's been okay.

I spent my time watching Freaks and Geeks and buying linen. And toilet paper. That shit is fucking expensive.

Sometimes I sit near the window and look at the skyline. There's a hospital across from me, I hear ambulances quite often.

It's a nice view from up here.

writing in bullring

The title is not a metaphor. I am literally writing this at the bullring shopping centre in Birmingham. There is very little need for me to actually shop as I am currently living out of my suitcase. It is hard enough to move from place to place with my luggage, but the financial and physical cost of further accumulation of more material goods far exceeds the benefit.

I am shamelessly at Pret with a coffee, which enables me to sit on my ass for as long as possible while using the centre wi-fi. And with nothing to do while I upload a YouTube video for my mum to watch, I am here, updating my blog after months of inactivity. Not that I think many people will read this, I haven't exactly informed many people the existence of this blog. But nevertheless, it is quite refreshing to have some sort of digital outlet of my feelings rather than writing it down on paper, as I've been doing a lot these past 3 weeks.

Solo-travelling is really fucking hard sometimes. Of course there's the romanticised view of spontaneity, hopping from one city to the other and having experiences you might not have in your home town. The stuff in between all that is tough. Imagine lugging your suitcases and bags over uneven footpaths, getting the wheels stuck on every crack while trying to navigate a new city with Google Maps barley working on your phone, pointing you in the wrong direction. Or being woken up your room mates in the early morning, either coming home from a night of partying or getting ready for the day, both of which can be obnoxiously loud. And being constantly cautious of your valuables. Some of my room mates have been lovely, but there's no way in hell I would keep my luggage and bags unlocked even for a minute.

Being alone is a blessing and a curse. There are obvious safety issues with this. Some of my hostels have been in very safe locations, others, not so much. So there's a reluctance to go out too late at night, because really, being alone at night in a city you're not familiar with is no fun. Loneliness itself is also another issue, it can be rather quiet and despite social media, sometimes you just need a friend to be physically beside you. I admire people who can sustain long distance relationships, because even being away from friends and family is hard for me, let alone a significant other.

Solo travelling has its benefits, nevertheless. As you're by yourself, you have the obvious freedom of doing what you want, when you want. One current example, is me spending my morning in Birmingham typing this out and doing nothing at all. You don't have the pressure of making the most of your day as possible. You can relax and do things at your own pace, not having to worry about other people with you. Feel like a full-on day visiting as many attractions as possible? Or a chilled out day doing absolutely nothing at all. That is completely up to you.

So here I am, living in a hostel in England, at a cafe, updating my blog and my YouTube channel with a MacBook in a cafe, drinking coffee. There's Alt-J blasting in the distance, I'm wearing a denim jacket. God when did I become such a cliche? I was also living above a bar at one point.

The video's only 59% uploaded. Fucking hell, it's been almost an hour. I think I'm stuck here for eternity.

Falls Festival Roundup

I spent the end 2013 and the beginning of 2014 at the Falls Festival at Marion Bay, Tasmania. Besides the obnoxious festival go-ers, the environmentally friendly no-flush toilet holes, the cold weather and the couple who kept having sex on the side of our tent every night (despite our neighboring campers flashing their car headlights at them), it was okay. If you don't mind drinking all day, buying overpriced fried food and not showering for four days.

Hot Dub Time Machine
The atmosphere was good and he remixed a large range of songs. Mr Brightside really went off. It was a good start to Falls.

Chase City
I didn't know them before coming to Falls. Returning to Sydney, I listened to some of their recorded stuff and I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of them, but I really enjoyed their performance. If they ever have a gig in Sydney in the near future, I would definitely go check them out again.

The Preatures
Not a fan of their music. However, the lead singer had great stage chemistry with the other band members and they had a very energetic performance.

Tom Odell
I listened to a lot of his music prior to Falls. His performance was very emotional, which was pretty impressive. He sounded like he was going to burst into tears during some of his songs. He was quite sweet and has a nice talking voice.

The Paper Kites, The Rubens, Flight Facilities
Their performances were pretty unmemorable to me. I was probably just pretty fucking tired.

London Grammar
Hannah Reid is a goddess. She looks and sings beautifully and she received many marriage proposals throughout their set. The music was mesmerizing and I would 100% see them again.

Solange
I only listened to her music during the car ride to Tasmania prior to the festival, but other than that, I did not have much of an idea of what to expect, but she totally blew me away. She got literally everyone dancing and she was so lovely. She sounded like million soulful angels who decided to descend to Earth at the same time. Her energy was really refreshing.

The Cat Empire
Also pretty amazing. The instruments, the crowd, it was hypnotic. 5000% would see them again.

Vampire Weekend
Thank goodness they played all the songs I loved during the first half of their set, because I was microsleeping in the second half. Not that it was their fault in any way, I was just burnt out from all that acts from the morning to late at night. Never stopped dancing though.

We decided to take it easy on the last day of the festival, in order to have enough energy for the night leading up to the new year. Which was fine, because I did not mind missing out on a lot of the acts.

Chet Faker
I love his music, but his voice sounds so lovely and smooth in real life. My favourite song of the set was Cigarettes and Chocolate.

The War on Drugs
They were alright. The lead singer is pretty pedantic, stopping every so often to complain about how his guitar sounded or something. Maybe it was due to the tech people, I really don't know/care.

Crystal Fighters
My favourite act of the festival. They were so energetic and I found I wasn't waiting for the songs I liked, because literally every song was perfect. Even if you did not know some of their songs, you would still have a great time seeing them. They were a real pleasure to watch perform and they blew me away.

MGMT
Why did they play their new stuff? Regardless, Time to Pretend, Electric Feel and Kids really went off.

The Wombats
They brought in the new year with a bang. Wonderful, as expected. They had a small problem with one of their guitars and during the time they were fixing it, I think Ezra told the crowd a really rubbish joke.

Overall, the festival was alright. Marion Bay looks lovely this time of year.