I am pretty obsessed with Pinterest, and yes I have realised the irony of this considering my incredible dislike in its photo sharing foe Instagram, but that is beside the point. I love Pinterest and this morning I saw a quote on the site which said:


"the key to happiness is excitement for the future"


After rendering me speechless I realised, I have not been able to shake this inexplicable happiness from my life for months. Besides the typical post-travel blues after returning from my recent seven months abroad, I have had this thirst for life that I cannot shake. 


Excitement for the future. 


Maybe it is just because it is my birthday, so I am feeling a lot of love from some of the most amazing people I have ever met, or maybe it is just because I am quite possibly the happiest girl in the world, but I am so excited for a wonderful future and whatever lies ahead of me. 


I look at everything in life as a positive opportunity and never want to keep that to myself. I wrote at the time of starting this blog that I come in peace with the hope to foster some little words. 


As a now 22 year old, prospective graduate, equipped with travels of the past and dreams for the future, I cannot wait for the rest of my life. 

I hope everyone has the courage and bravery to make their dreams reality <3

Sydney!

What a beautiful city! Cannot wait to share it with my amazing partner <3


So far I have; 


Taronga Zoo
Bondi
Paddington
Darling Harbour
Opera House 


Any other Sydney must-do's? 

I really like Twitter. Like, a lot. A lot, a lot. I think it is amazing that I can follow some of the world’s greatest minds, powerful leaders and my favourite sports men and women.  I read somewhere that “Facebook makes you hate people you know and Twitter makes you love people you don’t” and I feel that completely sums up how I feel about both social media sites.

I also think it is completely unnecessary to say how I feel about most other social sites (cough/sneeze/scream/instagram) because that is obviously clear.

Anyway. Back to Twitter. I love it, cannot get enough of it. It makes me feel like I am actually friends with Obama and that I am actually part of the Brisbane Lions squad. I actually fear for when I meet Tom Rockliff and I will know absolutely way too much about his life and how I am going to try and ‘stay cool’ without screaming at him that I follow him on Twitter and I think Footy Fix is the best.

These feelings and the personalisation of relationships between players and fans is clearly why so many sports people are on Twitter. It is a marketers dream to create an emotional connection between their product and consumers and in the case of Twitter, a simple retweet, reply or mention has the ability to forge that emotional connection forever. I am completely guilty of it, I love it when a celeb or sports personality or ANYBODY for that matter talks to me on Twitter or initiates any form of interaction. We are human beings, and we like attention, at least I do anyway.

These emotional connections players are able to connect with their fans is the reason why most sports people are on Twitter, and for some reason I do not believe that the entire Brisbane Lions team approached their media department about joining the Twitter world. I am sure it is a strategic PR move and one that I believe has been growing with some success for the sports world.

With any successes come controversy or failures and these controversies have stirred social media policies across the nation, particularly for the AFL. Gary Ablett, captain of the Gold Coast Suns has become notorious for his off field commentary of both players and umpires. The following Tweet created quite a stir and as I was both watching the game and browsing Twitter, I was involved instantly and had to agree wholeheartedly with his comments.

GaryAblettJnr Gary Ablett Jnr

Crowley is a joke! Play the ball, not the man! That's why lingy was such a great player he ran both ways! #givejuddafreekick

9:20 PM Apr 27th

The controversy here is really if as a professional AFL player, indeed one of the games greats and captain, should be providing commentary or if it is deemed unethical. For a player like Gary Ablett who holds so much credibility and respect between both players, coaches, umpires and fans, his influence on public opinion is extremely great and therefore his comments on Twittercan impact on both the reputation of the game as well as his team. I do not believe in silencing him or anybody else on social networking sites however, players must understand their influence.

And let’s be honest, Crowley was being crap and NOBODY puts Judd in the corner!

It is no doubt that AFL clubs have cottoned on to the success Twitter can bring to connecting with their fan base and it has been a highly strategic move that the clubs have capitalised on. Not only does a retweet or connection foster an emotional connection between players and fans, but their interactions between other AFL players or public figures involves their fans as well.

Quade Cooper is by far the best example of using Twitter to connect with his fans, although at times he is presented with highly inappropriate messages, he deals with them non-provocatively and professionally.

A quick side note to some girls, tweeting Quade Cooper that you had a highly sexualised dream about him probably WON’T end in him falling in love with you or whatever else you intend from sending him that so probably leave those thoughts to your internal monologue and make his life less awkward.

A great example of his use of Twitter to connect with his fans was the recent death of his gold fish – hurt by the death of his fish and wanting to pay homage to its short life, he wore black tape on his arm as a tribute in his game that weekend. The next day talking about the match, somebody asked why Quade was wearing his arm band – not only could I tell the group why he was wearing it but I also told them WHY his fish was called Mofo and its type. I have never met Quade before but by simply following him on Twitter there is an immediate familiarity and the rest of the group of people were left impressed that I would know those intimate details about his life.

Twitter is a great PR tool for professional sportsmen and women, however, I am sure each club across the country has an extensive social media handbook given to players, and if not they are off their prawn. Social media, particularly Twitter, has the ability to create a crisis in less than 120 characters, and for AFL clubs whose reputations have been carefully and meticulously built up for over 100 years this is a great concern. Overall I think that players are doing an excellent job in using Twitter to create an online profile and show their personality to their dedicated fans.

Who do you follow on Twitter and how do they connect with you?

Some of my favourite sports Tweeters are;

-          @QuadeCooper

-         @Stakes14

-          @LauraFirebirds

-          @GaryAblettJnr

heard that.

It is that itching feeling you get when you are at the beginning of something new and exciting with the possibility to change your life forever. It is the feeling that, twelve months ago, was racing through my body at a million miles an hour. It is the feeling of fear, excitement and absolute trepidation moulded into one. It is the feeling that your heart is about to jump out of your chest and you absolutely cannot control it.

Twelve months ago today, I was preparing for what was then the adventure of my lifetime, six months of travel beginning as a solo traveller in New York before settling down for a semester of study at San Jose State University in California. It was the most amazing thing I have done in my life so far to date. But now, I feel there may be another.

It is not so much the act of travel that gets my heart racing; it is more so the feeling of independence and self-realisation that comes with the decision making behind travel. The feeling of adventure and yearning to discover, and it is a feeling I am beginning to know a little too well. I love the sense of achievement I feel when I tackle a challenge or overcome a hurdle, be it as simple as navigating myself from JFK to NYC and then onto Boston, MA all on forms of public transport. It is these things that excite me and are what I live for.

I have that feeling right now. Exactly as I write this. It is the feeling that the world is at your feet and you are about to take hold of it and never let it go. This time it is not that I am embarking on a new overseas adventure, but rather I am coming to the end of one at home. With only three subjects to go at university and the months flying by like they are going out of fashion, I feel that as this adventure that has been my university life is coming to an end, a whole new world of opportunity will begin.

While this is getting all too philosophical and I feel like I am Delta on the voice telling Rachel that she is a shooting star and to believe, I also think it is important for us as humans to embrace these moments and emotions. We need to recognise them so that we can look back on our achievements and recognise where we come from. I am blessed by amazing family, friends and enormous love in my life and as well as this opportunities that seem to come in abundance. These are not to be taken for granted and it is with these I love and am given the inspiration to “take hold of the world and never let it go”.

I love this feeling and I never want to let it go <3

And ps. How cute is this pic? Lets make someday, TODAY xo

Insta-cism?

I was recently at a friends birthday party and casually looked around the room in horror to see that every single one of my eighteen girlfriends was either taking a photo on their iPhone, checking each one of us in to “Best night eva” or thinking of a catchy caption to accommodate their latest Instagram upload.

As an exclusive application to the iPhone, I am going to try and defend my non-participation of Instagram to deep values and not wanting to participate in yet another social media tool, however the simple truth is that my HTC is not accommodating to the iPhone app. Admitting this truth, does not dismay from the horror I experienced when realising the self absorption of my group of friends.

As the night went on, we were gossiping and laughing and the flashes continued. I began thinking of why people feel the need to upload every aspect of their life onto the internet (and yes, I do appreciate the irony of this as I write this on a blog). The issue finally found its way into conversation and as I, perhaps condescendingly, declared “Instagram encourages narcissism, which is why I don’t want to support it”. I was confronted with what some would consider a lynch squad wanting to take down this horrible witch who spoke so badly about what they fondly call “Insta”.

Wikipedia (who is quickly becoming my best friend) defines narcissism in several ways; specific to the individual it describes traits of egoism, vanity, conceit and selfishness, while applied to a social group it denotes elitism. In psychology, ‘narcissism’ is used to describe both normal self-love and unhealthy self-absorption due to a disturbance in the sense of self.

Taking those definitions, I am not sure (or rather am hoping) that they do not apply to my group of girlfriends. Instagram does encourage a degree of vanity and conceit that I deem unacceptable and I am sure that without the technologies like Instagram, my friends would never feel compelled to document their lives on an iPhone app. My grievances could have stopped here but following this Saturday night of paparazzi that is, my Insta using friends, it followed me to breakfast the next morning.

Trying out a new local café with four girlfriends we were following the usual conventions of a Sunday morning breakfast. Who went home with who, who was wearing what, and which clubs sucked while others rocked. I was enjoying my company until our first round of coffees came. As the soy lattes and short macs came to the table, out came the iPhones and next thing I knew, my table was swarmed by paparazzi. Flashes popping left right and centre, and the words exclaimed from my friends mouth “Oh my god, I have to Insta this!”.

While I appreciate the concept of nurturing memories and seeing what your friends are up to, I just haven’t come to terms to doing it myself. I relish my Sunday morning breakfast dates with my girlfriends, filled with conversation, gossip and laughter and where iPhone use is strictly prohibited. When did it become okay to take pictures in restaurants with flashes and bore your company into ordering two more coffees while you are uploading a photo of your ‘perfect eggs benny’?

As an aspiring communications professional, I should be eating all of this new media right up. Facebook and Twitter have certainly already developed an ‘unhealthy self-absorption’ in me, that as the youngest of four girls, I really didn’t need. So perhaps my dislike of Instragram is purely a self-preservation technique before I become the complete definition of narcissist.

Please note: At the time of this post, Instagram remained exclusive to iPhone, now that Android are on board, it should be duly noted that I am yet to give in! 

#teamjoel

I have been less than active on my blog lately so I am going to try to give it a little revamp.

I need to confess my obsession with The Voice. Yes, I was one of the 2.5 million Australians watching the reality TV program last night and I feel that in my own intellectual defence, it needs to be known that this is the only reality TV I watch. And last night as I followed the Twitter feed and the various live blogs circulating on the show, I worked out why I loved it so much – it created such a positive movement in the Australian public that is so rarely seen today.

Every contestant seemed genuinely happy for each other that they had made it so far and although at times the ‘shooting star’ analogies and ‘I believed you’ moments made me want to flick the switch off the show, their positivity was heart-warming.

What The Voice did and what is incredibly remarkable, is ignite the Australian public to unite in a show and share optimism with each other through social networks. There were countless social commentators who were busy snapping remarks about the credibility of the show and one radio presenter even went as far as accusing The Voice as forcing previous contestants to “suck corporate cock”. Tom Ballard, the contestant you referred to is sixteen so please be thoughtful of the face that she has a mother and a father and who can blame a girl to choose a prime time television ad spot to showcase her amazing talent?

The negatives aside, I think The Voice was a generally up lifting show and as I said last night, between The Voice and the Olympics, this year really is Nine2012.