I am thinking of leaving it all, I am thinking of leaving it all

Alright everyone. The day has come. You can be excited again. Wait with bated breath for every hilarious or inspiring post I will create, like you always have. I know it's been hard for these couple of months, but the new blog is here.

You can find it at http://www.anotherpatrickcollins.com/blog

It's still under work, so if you see weird links, or it's down when you check it, don't worry, I'm on top of it.

Thanks for checking.

In the end

Things didn't pan out and Right Angle Publishing couldn't sponsor my visa.

As this is a blog about my time in Australia and I am no longer in Australia, this blog will officially be retired and kept as a time capsule thingy-ma-bobber.

There will be a new one, which I will link from here, but until then, please visit my new website at http://www.anotherpatrickcollins.com.

I will be moving to NYC on July 12 and am still looking for work.

It's gonna take a lot of love, to get us through the night

You might notice, Pat In Australia is experiencing a bit of a comeback.

I am attributing this to the fact that I feel like I should be writing more, but don't have much other than my boring life to actually write about.

And before you say "Oh Pat, you should write a book" let's both just take a step back and think about what that books would include. In my head, about the only thing that I could write about is the relationship with my parents, my INCREDIBLY stupid years in college, lots and lots of sex...both good and bad but none of which is going to be terribly interesting and in most cases would be a reason why nearly all of my friends WOULDN'T read this book, and Australia.

I wouldn't want to read that. Would you? Nahhhhhh.

So that's where I'm at, a want to write more, an urge to be more prolific and express some creativity, but without an outlet. What do writers who aren't going to be novelists write about to...you know, write and be creative?

In other news, I had my first Dr. Pepper in 11 months today. Totally great. It's somewhat insane how my body reacts to food I haven't had in a long time. I start salivating excessively and basically become a cross between a little gross redheaded monster and an 11 year old on a sugar rush. But the Dr. Pepper was great, and I don't even really like Dr. Pepper that much. In the case there was also Mountain Dew Code Red...and I almost got one of those too, but you know, two soft drinks in one sitting would make me fat.

Updating the resume has been a trial; everything is in size 10 font. I need to get my machete attack up on this CV and get it back to something legible. Oh and in case you didn't click the link, what's up with machete's and Australians? Yeah, click it sucka.

Went to see The Scare Thursday, and once again, Too Many Creeps (a clubnight) totally failed. First it was Wendy James' horrible DJ set, and now it was by booking the band Madonna. Who sound like the identity crisis of a 15 year old boy. Somewhere between screams and breakdowns, Primus inspired bass solos (with a blind melon tee shirt), and a ska band without horns (but a micro Korg!) lies Madonna. And way too many people like this band. There were at least 5 people REALLY into it at the show. Way. Too. Many.

Anyways, The Scare were terrible, and I thought I gave them a good writeup so I felt extra used. The song on myspace is alright, but not even whiskey could save me after the others. I had to just smoke some meth and then go machete attack some kids down the street. Oh just kidding.

There are two promising parties coming up soon though... A Milli: The Party (of course a Lil Wayne, WEEZY F BABY theme) and Ferris Bueller's Gay Off. That gay night has a good sense of humor. Especially since they throw it at a place called Brown Alley. Ew.

Oh you should check out the latest post (it's pretty old) on Elizabeth Carey Smith's blog. She's the shit. She's married to a boy who's the shit. She used to be the senior designer for BUST. I have a lot of secret admiration for her, it might be creepy of me. But I totally agree with everything she says in the latest post.

http://dangerousgirlinsafetytown.blogspot.com/

I'm off to find some Mountain Dew. And chocolate. Being skinny is for the birds.

p.s. - I've found a new favourite Neil Young song, as the title indicates.

There was nothing in the world, that I ever wanted more, than to never feel the breaking apart

Something that most people know about me, is I'm extremely emotional when it comes to commercials. Here's the latest tearjerker.



Other than that, I'm watching Law and Order for the first time in months, and I'm so excited it's kind of ridiculous.

Note to invading aliens, avoid this town, like this town avoided us

So Right Angle gave me an employment contract like the day after my last post. I'm still not too fussed over it. I counteroffered, and they will get back to me soon I'm sure. Then I will have a better idea of what I'm doing with my life...but right now this is what is on the table.

Start website for self promotion.
I'm trying to get together some portfolio so I can start pitching for freelance work in the States. But I need to have it somewhere they can access it, so a website seems prudent. I need a logo, so if any of your graphic designers want to make me a quick logo for the price of a couple of beers, let's do it.

Be in Colorado, Missouri, Utah/Arizona, Illinois, and NY this summer.
Yes yes yes. 6 states. Colorado and Missouri in June, Chicago at the start of July, Utah/Arizona middle July, and NYC till August. I'm really excited for home. Really. And to see lovely faces.

See you then.

Facepaint party.

Jmarms sent me popcorn and customs didn't eat it themselves.

Maybe one day we can go back, when everything is slow

Woah. Bet you didn't see this update coming! Neither did I really, since I'm just sitting at work waiting for edits to come back so I can...do more work and thought "oh yeah, I need to update that sometime."

So the whole idea was this blog would update people in my life as to new things happening to me. The problem is...new things sorta stopped happening. I know, you don't care, you just want some content. Something to laugh at or oooooh at or aweeee to. Let's start with the last, awe at this. MY FACE.

That's the most up to date picture of me. I was in the office, where we apparently don't have heating. I don't get it, the indoors is as cold as the outdoors? That makes no sense, I thought that is the exact reason why humans developed buildings. If temperature isn't an issue, why don't we just all have a giant piece of wood over our heads to protect from rain? Eff you Melbourne insulation.

I've been working, pretty normal. I have a new contract with Beck's (the beer) and am doing album reviews on minimal and microhouse techno albums. As well as a 5 song mixtape. You can find them at this blog for the UBERSELEKTOR. hahahaha. Yes, I know.

In addition to that work, I'm doing some extra things for Hot Spots and Tourism Victoria. How about that? now I really am a tourist writing the tourism manuals now. Speaking of tourists, check out Penny and I hanging out at ACTION ZONE (CLICK IT). I was totally hanging out with a 7 year old up there.

Okay, I have more pictures on my camera that I haven't transferred yet, so I will put those in ANOTHER new post. Karaoke + other things.

Rightangle is working on getting me a visa, but I'm not really holding my breath anymore. Things looked real good and then I got a little bit of a slap in the face, so I'm not to fussed about it. If I get it, great. I have a job and like living in Australia...hopefully I'll get some great friends and not feel like such an outsider if I have a 4 year work visa. If I don't get it, great. I can come home and move to a place where I know I have friends that I miss dearly. I'm looking at you New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

And on a final note. See you in June. I'll be home on June 18th at 2:30pm. I expect to eat a lot of BBQ, mexican, steak, and ranch. Not together. Oh and New York and Chicago, see you in July. If you want to hang, let me know.

More to come soon! In the meantime, check what I've been up to AT WORK. It's funnier than this!

And I could dream of things you've never seen, Alli please

I am in love with this website. No no, not this one, THIS one. One of my friends Tait started or manages it or does something hefty for it. A website for junior creatives trying to make it in the industry? Yes! It really makes me sit in my bed while being completely unproductive and get motivated, if only motivated to put on clothes and maybe think about going outside. Junior is amazing.

After reading this article about Twitter/internet publishing...I have decided that this blog is definitely one of the lame ones that is not entertaining at all. Sorry losers, look like I fooled you! Have fun being bored while reading this! Oh and I might get an iPhone and start Tweeting updates instead!

I ventured out to zone 2 today. I have never been out there before, because I have basically been living the (close to) city life for 7 months straight. I went out to visit my friend Franc and her puppy Rocky, who is a beagle that can jump about 4.5 ft from the ground. It's very cartoon like, and he'll run around in a big circle and run straight for you and try to jump off of you. Jackie Chan style, only a human being instead of a brick wall. Oh and the dog can't flip, he just barrel rolls.

While in zone 2, there was an earthquake. I didn't feel it, but Franc did, so that's how I know.

MAKEOVER MARCH! Most of you know this, but I'm going to go on a shopping spree because I want a makeover. I feel like a slob in the band tees and jeans, that same lame outfit I've been wearing for years, so I'm going to class it up a bit. You just get ready, pretty soon I'm going to be model on lookbook.

There is a gay night in Melbourne called Fabrik and I am DJ'ing the next one. I got the best slot (12 to 1:30) and am going to have to impress. I told everyone I'll be wearing the short shorts, so I guess it won't be too hard! No really, what the fuck am I going to play?

Probably this new Juan Maclean that is like The Human League updated for 2010, this record is off the fucking chain.
Oh and Romeo by Basement Jaxx because I've gotten an unhealthy obsession with it again. I remember I had this and red alert on vinyl back when I was going to be a superstar DJ in high school. So amazing.
Other than that, who knows. Most likely just some of this disco mix that I whipped up. Check it outtttt! (click download unless you want to sign up to soundcloud)

In other music news, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is what all you assholes should've been freaking out about instead of the Vivian Girls. I am highly disappointed in the latter, but the former makes up for it by being nearly perfect.

I just want Kate Moss to hold me, When I break down on your Ducati

I haven't talked to my mother or father in quite a while. I need to get back to doing that. It's just so hard when my internet doesn't work because then skype doesn't work then my communications skills decline drastically. But hopefully that will be over, we just signed up for a better internet plan, and I think it will all be good. I might even have fast enough internet to look at porn, the cornerstone of the internet.

Joan got back from Vietnam in one piece and brought me a present (pictures at the end). It's pretty awesome and I like it's little perch over my bed.

Her trip was great and makes me very envious. I need to get my stuff together and get out of Melbourne for a bit. Sydney is the obvious and easy choice, plus I have a place to stay. I think I'll probably get up there in the next month.

My father bought me a camera for christmas, and being the snob that I am, I didn't like it that much. Mainly because if I have a camera that's sorta chunky and doesn't fit in my pocket...I'm not going to use all the time. Therefore...I traded it in and got a smaller one! It's pretty nice, and I'm excited to have a real camera again. Tell me what you want pictures of!

My friend Danae needed help with her art installation so on Friday, Joan and I went around with her to the gallery and hung tongues covered in glitter on a wall in the shape of a xylophone. It was interesting. You can find it on Facebook, I was tagged as a tongue.

I might have some exciting news coming up, but we will all just have to wait to hear back about it. I'm just excited, it might get my hands back into music again.



As I said, I got new bedroom stuff and rearranged things, check it out.

I'm Never In My Waking Life, Dreaming Is My All The Time

There has been so little going on that I don't even know what to post about!

I have just been existing. Nothing fancy, just going to work and coming home.

Kerensa was an original housemate who's bedroom set I was borrowing and she finally called for it back the other day. I thought it was going to be a really really annoying process to try and find new everything but I randomly met Carla, a friend of my friend Kirsten, and she is moving to Europe for good and had whole bedroom set to give away. How lucky am I? As Penny said when we got an entire corner booth on a Friday night (my birthday) at Double Happiness, "Patrick Collins, you are living a charmed life."

Sorta seems like it at times.

Anyways, the bedroom is awesome. Better than before, and if I could figure out how to flip my fucking webcam (which is installed upside down in my computer, good job Lenovo) I would take a picture. Soon. I even got a new doona, doona cover, and pillows. Yeahhh!

Birthday was good, drinks and dinner with good people, that was about it. But it turned out good. I think for my birthday present to myself (my father bought me shoes! Those Polo shoes I'm obsessed with! YEAH!) I think I'm going to buy something really boring, like a USB flash drive. I really wanted a mimobot because I'm a nerd, or one of these branch ones, but they are too expensive.

I think I'm going to pay the $45 to go see Rival Schools and Saves the Day. I have been wanting to see RS for 8 years. That's worth it I figure. Plus they only have like 1 album (and an EP) so they can't really screw up and play a whole bunch of horrible new stuff or something. Saves the Day on the other hand...

I slept about 3 hours last night because some horrible hippies were staying with us and invited all their friends over, and then proceeded to pull an all night rager outside my window. How considerate. I really don't get people some times and how they can be so disrespectful. I bet my mom would be proud to hear me say that. Everyone else I know is like "Yeah right Pat, you're a giant jerk too, jerkface."

Threethousand is throwing a benefit for the bushfires. Check it.

Last night was Carla's going away drinks, tonight is this private Wrangler party on the rooftop, tomorrow is the benefit. Now if only I had people I like to go with, why don't you all just move down here already?

In other news, I had my first fig. It was alright, but they weren't the best figs, so says my housemate. They were totally awesome though because they came from my fig tree in my back yard. Booyah.

Okay, I'm boring today, and everyday.

I'm going to Sydney soon. For sure.

On The Last Day Of Your Life, Don't Forget To Die

Just to ease your worried little minds.

This day wasn't as bad as the article makes it seem (headline: Worst Day in History), but it is the end of the world in Australia.

I'm sorta near these fires, in fact my mom and I drove through a couple of these places I think, but obviously, I will be fine.

The north is flooding like crazy, but that's the north, and it's full of people who say 'crikey!' anyways.

I'm safe and it actually rained and was cold enough for a cardigan today!

In other news:

I Don't Want To Wake Up, Knowing I Don't Have A Future

Let's see.

I saw Buraka Som Sistema, I saw Tim Fite, I saw Daedelus, and I saw Todd Terje.

Laneway festival is a disaster, and Melbourne needs a real city festival. People putting it on were really dumb and decided to put Girl Talk on the 2nd smallest stage and caused a riot. Gooooooood job dickheads.

Work is going really well and they might sponsor me for a Visa. Here we go...

Anyways, that's all I really have to update on. Oh and my list of pet peeves, which I have found out mostly happen in the bathroom. Let's start this.
#1 - WHO THE FUCK DOESN'T DRY THEIR FEET BEFORE LEAVING THE SHOWER. I don't know how many times I have walked into the bathroom and the entire floor is wet because someone just hopped out and thought they would mop the floor with their feet. Leave that to japanese babies.
#2 - HANG UP YOUR TOWEL. I used to flip my lid at Stacey for this. It's so easy to just hang it up and when you leave it in a damp pile in the floor, well that does whole lotta good for no one. The good news is that Stacey changed this habit when she lived with me, so luckily there is hope for the rest of you.
#3 - CLOSE YOUR MOUTH WITH THE TOOTHBRUSH. Really. Try it sometime, you CAN still move the thing across your teeth, promise. Why do I hate it so much? Because there is toothpaste all over every surface near the sink, and on the mirror, and all because you sit there with your mouth hangin' open so you can manuever and get all the angles right. Stop it.

Okay that was probably really boring to read, but I thought it was weird that all those things happen in the bathroom and all of them make me angry angry angrrrry.

Song of the week? The Shout Out Louds - Impossible (Possible Remake by Studio).

I miss not being mis-used, I miss it all, so I guess I lose

I just watched a little kid run down the stairs at the library, and run right into the glass door. He just said 'owie' and kept running. God kids are awesome. I miss you little niece and nephew.

Let's see...things that have happened...

I put out, the 4th issue I have been a part of with threethousand this week. It was pretty good. In fact Penny said it was the 4th BEST issue we've ever done. Something I think everyone should take a glance at though is these awesome bike helmets. So cool. It has been going really well, and I feel capable and like I'm not fucking it up too much. Yay.

I found a work visa I can get if I want to stay. It's a 4 year work visa for a specific company. I would have to get Rightangle Publishing to sponsor me, but that might not be that hard. I guess it's up to them whether or not I stay at this point. Well I could stay illegaly, but I've already told many of you that I'm coming back in June/July and should probably do that.

Hey! I'm coming back in June! My mom didn't even know this so...I thought I would put it on here. Tenative plans are to visit my Grandma in Missouri, spend some time with my momma, spend some time on Lake Powell with my father, and then be in NYC and Chicago for some amount of time...probably a couple weeks in NYC. If I'm coming back, then I'd jet back here to Oz, but if not...I will probably just settle into NYC. So yeah, look forward to a visit from me if you're in Colorado/NYC/Chicago. But if anyone wants to give me a job from any of those places, that'd be pretty sweet...ya know, if I'm staying. :)

I've been pretty obsessed with this song by Best Friends Forever, and the Wholphin DVDs that my neighbor loaned to me, and the tennis. I just watched a 5.5 HOUR match between Nadal and Verdasco last night. It was EPIC. Oh and this made me laugh so fucking hard.

I'm sort of hating Australia right now. It has been between 107 and 115 degrees for the last 4 days or something. It is insane. I can't handle this weather and it's supposed to happen again mid Feb. Greatttt.

My birthday is coming up, and it's going to be strange. I don't know who all is going to be around (Joan will be in Vietnam) and who all is going to...care really? I don't really mind, I'm not a big birthday person really, but I would like to just go out and get drunk and have a good time...who knows though.

I need a dancing partner. It's ridiculous, no one down here wants to go to the dj nights, the good ones OR the bad (mainstreamy) ones. I'm at a loss of what to do, because going by yourself and trying to dance with someone is...gross. But I need to dance. I neeeeed to.

Okay, there is not much else to this. I am just existing, andit's going well. The new job rules, and I'm just sorta biding my time to see what pans out. Hopefully some DJ gigs...hopefully.

And I have a new mix, but I can't upload it because it takes forever no matter what shitty internet connection I'm on so...I'm sorry.

Music stuff:
Conor got me into this band Souled American from Chicago, it's old but it's really good. I also have been enjoying some new stuff like Fly Girls! the new souljazz release of female MCs, Barzin's new album that's fantastic, M. Ward's newest, Mirah's leaked new record (A)spera, and the new Emmy The Great full length. I have also fallen back into some Silver Jews (so good), The Tallest Man On Earth (how did I miss this?), Jaymay (because I can listen to it without bawling now), and 4 new (to my collection) Kleenex Girl Wonder CDs that I found. I want to make Graham Smith's babies.

I have a lot to say abou the new Animal Collective, but mostly that you all should stop shitting yourselves over it because you look ignorant, like this is the first Animal Collective album you've ever heard.

Jesus get over it.

Love you!

I hate myself when I'm alone, It's just with you I feel okay

So yeah, Google analytics tells me you people have stopped coming to my blog. What a surprise! Down 7%? Well I guess that isn't bad when time spent publishing content is down about, 80%! Look at me go. I'm a solid investment.

Really things that have changed in my life since last time:
1) Started new job this week.
2) Started writing for the big newspaper down here, The Age.
3) Feeling lonely.

The new job is good. It's a bit stressful, but I guess since I didn't have any stress for the last, oh, 8 months...it's alright. I write a lot more, which will probably drain me of any wit that I normally have, so be warned...the blog is not a place for funny business. For that, you can go to http://www.threethousand.com.au/author/patrick-collins/.
But yeah, the job is good. We had a super stressful week because we lacked some content. We wrapped it up alright, and found a really cool shop with a cool rooftop that said we could use it for...anything. Cool. Rooftop party series here we come.
The worst part was not having all of our content by the deadline...but I guess having a week where a lot of shit went wrong was a good way to gauge what needed to be fixed to get us back on track and what I could do to help that. Which is mainly try to organize shit because we arn't that organized...and kill people when they miss their deadlines. Or at least maim them. I guess maiming would be better, preferably if it wasn't to their hands...so they could still write. But yes, $240/wk + any other work I get...I'm swimming in cash compared to before!

The other week Penny (my editor for those of you new to the story) told me she needed a CD to review because *gasp* she was writing a CD review for The Age instead of her normal art stuff. I gave her the Brian Eno & David Byrne one, I mean, who can't write about those two? She did really good and told me that the paper hadn't gotten all the submissions and that I should write one up. So I did, for Belle & Sebastian's BBC Sessions. Voila, they printed it, asked for another, and so this week I got 'CD of the week' in a half page spread. Looks good. Too bad none of you will see it, unless you ask my parents to have a look at the clippings I'm sending them (I promise, I will!)

Joan has started on her traveling spree...which means in the whole of Australia, there is no one that has known me over 6 months. The people who are closest to me have only known me for about 3. Weird. It makes me realize two things. 1) I don't really feel okay by myself, 2) no matter how many times you tell yourself 'oh friends take time' it is hard to believe. It'll happen, or it won't and I'll move back to the people who really matter. Whatever, it just makes now...sorta lonely.

My feet are like...peeling on the bottoms...near my toes. It's gross. I hope it's not like some zombie virus taking over my body from the lower extremeties up. Probably not.

I spent the day on the beach, reading, and hanging out. It was nice. Now I think I'm going to go out and sit in my hammock and listen to music. Ah the life of an Associate Editor.
Yeah.
Hah.