About Me

Previously “The Fashionate Traveller“, I’ve actually been blogging since 2003 when I started on Live Journal. A lot of things I blogged about in TFT I’ll continue to write about – but after a break of a few years I wanted a fresh start – and an easier url for people to remember!!

Travel
A confirmed traveller from way back,  I started going to India more than 20 years ago, and have since seen a lot more of Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, as well as the UK and Ireland, Fiji,  New Zealand and lots of Australia.

America
In 2013 I went to North America for the first time, and fell in love with New York! I also visited LA, Toronto (and Hawaii on the way home). In 2014 I went to the US twice! In addition to LA and New York, I discovered San Fran with it’s fab food. 2015 saw another trip stateside, with me discovering Portland for the first time. After a break of 2 years, I went back to LA, Portland and New York this year…and am hoping to hit South America in 2018.

Japan
8 years ago I first visited Japan and became besotted, and used to travel there twice a year to keep up with the culture, fashion (especially gothic), music, clubs and friends. The visit count now stands at 12, so I won’t itemise 😉

Alternative Fashion
Always a lover of alternative music, I became more active in the gothic and alternative scene in Sydney from 2003, and fell completely in love with alternative and gothic clothing – the corsets, platform shoes and boots, creative make-up and hair. I started dressing up a lot for clubs and began to be noticed for my fashion sense. This led to me becoming Fashion Director of Australian dark alternative magazine Fiend for several years, styling shoots and writing the fashion articles.

My previous blog, and earlier posts on this one, shared my findings whilst on my lookout for exciting but wearable alternative fashion. I shared my fave alternative designers and stores, inspirations from couture, my own take on style in my outfit posts, as well as club and street fashion.

Music & Nightlife
My other love is music, live gigs and clubs – I go out a lot! I share the exciting events I know about (and hopefully am attending), whether here in Australia, or overseas. I especially like to see what the goth, punk, psychobilly or other indie scenes are like in other parts of the world.

Arts & Entertainment
For the past few years I’ve been getting back to two of my first loves: performing and writing. I wrote, performed in and produced a musical for the Sydney Fringe Festival. I have taken two Cabaret workshops, a week long one in Adelaide, and a two week one led by Queenie Van Zandt, in Sydney. I’ve also appeared in a few cabarets, some with the workshops, but also with the Short + Sweet Cabaret festival earlier this year. Last year I did the Sydney Short + Sweet festival (a comedy), acted in a short film – and made my own first short film! Which brings us to…

Writing
I’ve come full-circle with my first love, writing. As mentioned above, I began writing for performance again in 2103, and in 2016 did an Advanced Diploma in Screenwriting for Series TV at the Australian Film, TV & Radio School (AFTRS). I’ve also continued to obsessively watch TV and film (and streamed shows including web series),and written a bunch of scripts. In September last year I went to Cambodia to film my first short, “The Morning After”…and it’s still in post-production now…but expect it to be finished in September!  

This year, I’ve done semester 1 of AFTRS’ new Script Editing and Production course, and am currently grappling with Udacity’s Digital Marketing Nanodegree (as promoting/marketing your artistic endeavours is something that must be in the wheelhouse of every indie creator).

All of this has taken me a little away from writing here, but I am planning to rectify that (as of mid-August 17). I am planning a year off my full-time job next year to concentrate on writing…and hopefully not only promoting the short film, but getting more projects off the ground. Stay tuned….