Seasonal snapshots.

Christmas at Chadstone.

There's something about this time of year. 

Maybe it's the constant consumerism being shovelled down my throat.

Maybe it's the gingerbread frappuccino.

Maybe it's the fact that things are changing, and it's all very exciting and scary.

Christmas at Starbucks City Square.

Work is keeping me busy as Christmas draws nearer. I'm starting to look forward to Christmas traditions; watching I'll Be Home For Christmas with my younger sister (it's such a terrible film but it somehow became our tradition), my stepdad's mashed potato, the obvious lamb roast inclusion for Christmas lunch,  leftovers for Christmas dinner, and cats pouncing on wrapping paper/hiding in bags and boxes.

I'm starting to pack up my apartment here in Melbourne. So much accumulates over the year, and hey, it's time to move again. I'm a things and stuff kind of person. I guess I'm a teenage gypsy. Hey, maybe I should just have a caravan to put my things and stuff in. Of course, a car would be helpful to move around.

I've been looking around at clothes and equipment I'll need for Swedish living. Gulp.

I've delved into Elbow's lengthy discography a little more, and I'm pacing myself slowly. Cast of Thousands has a renewed optimism that somehow works with their already seemingly melancholic style. I'm incredulous about the fact that this time last year I was carefully delving through Muse's lengthy discography sequentially; they've ended up being one of my staple bands. Time seems to just fly.

Elbow's Asleep in the Back seems to have become a staple album for me at the moment. Songs like 'Powder Blue' tell of a yearning that I feel like I've felt recently. That piano, that guitar...I'm especially obsessed with that glass smash in the last few seconds of that track. Despite my lack of knowledge of the technicalities and how it works, music has always evoked powerful emotional responses for me, both of joy and melancholy. It's calmed me down and roused me. It's motivating and discouraging.

I hope you're not being trampled by Christmas/consumerism enthusiasts. I forget that there's a distinction between them nowadays so it's just easier not to try remembering it.

...have I mentioned how cynic I've become?