YOUR SHOT 2013

I've been in love with music and performance ever since I was old enough to dance/bop up and down to 'Doop' by Doop in my nappy. So it's no surprise that I jumped at the chance to shoot myself to DJ stardom. Early this year I took the private DJ lesson that my best friend got me for my 18th birthday at DJ Warehouse in Leichhardt.  After the lesson my instructor showed me a flyer about a competition for amateurs called 'Your Shot'. In May this Year I attended the competition with a close friend of mine who is a musical genius and aspiring DJ. 

It was on a Saturday Morning so I had to take the day off work to go to GreenWood Hotel in North Sydney. I woke up at 6am to pick up my mate and get on a train by 7 to beat the massive queue. We ended up getting there earlier than most people. Only three people were there before us and the Your Shot crew hadn't even started setting up yet. We walked around the shopping centre and listened to some music to pass some time before the 11am start.

Even though we were amongst the first five to arrive, we didn't know where the line was going to start. Everyone was just sitting in the beer garden. So when the security guard told everyone where to form a line it was chaos. People started running to get a prime spot. Phones were dropped and there was panic! Luckily I wasn't standing too far from where the line was and we ended up being 33rd and 34th in line. Something like that.

As we walked in we were handed a form to fill out. Listing our music interests, availabilities for training and performance and asking a couple of other normal details. We also had to attach a picture of ourselves. We waited for our numbers to be called to the interview room where we would have an extremely brief (5 minute) interview. The interviewers are made up of past contestants (like Dara AKA Tigerlily) and DJs. We would be notified by the night if we had made it to the top 72 in NSW. 

Neither of us got the call but that was a relief for me because if I made it, I would have had to call in sick to work the next day to attend orientation.

It was a fun experience and I would definitely like to try it out again next year! The prizes are amazing.

Thanks for reading! 

DIBS

An update on uni life

Hello everybody! It has been a while since my last blog because I have been super busy! Aren't we all though? I wanted to give you an update on how life at Macquarie is for me.

I can't believe the first semester of uni is almost over. As I write this, I only have one exam to go. The first two were surprisingly easy (or so I think. Let's wait 'til I get the marks back). The one coming up in a couple days is going to be the hardest. 2 hours for three long response questions. I am normally really good at this sort of thing but I haven't been paying as much attention to this subject as it has been the least interesting for me when I thought it would be my favourite. It is Human Resource Management. The subject I wanted to major in. Yes it has only been one semester and I could have just had a bad unit or lecturer or whatever, but I really don't feel interested anymore. 

So far outside of class, I have attended one Uni Bar party, a few Sydney Uni parties (and actually made more friends there than I have at my own uni) participated in the FirstSTEP mentoring program for business students, went to the careers fair, gone to see a uni soccer game, participated in a drum performance, participated in a casual drum circle and attended a resume writing class of which I have included a photo of.

The one good thing about that class is that I made a friend. I hang out in the 'Queer Space' in between classes at uni and one day early in the semester before a lecture I saw a girl with the same textbook as me. I asked her if she was going to the lecture that was on in ten minutes and she said yes. We walked there together and sat next to each other and it became a routine (until we were both bored out of our brains and skipped the last few lectures [which is terrible and I never thought I would be the kind of person to skip lectures - especially in my first semester but I just lost interest]). We had a group assignment for the tutorial class and joined together with another guy.  We had two assessments to do together. A debate and an essay. We were a good team because our marks were at the upper end of the scale in our class.

I have been seeing the careers adviser as of about a month ago and just had my third session with her today. She is much more helpful than my high school careers adviser ever was. I can't wait to do the homework she sets for me every week so I can get closer to finding a career path that makes sense. I was feeling extremely stressed and anxious before my first appointment because I couldn't stop thinking of all the money and time I was wasting doing a course that isn't right for me. I actually booked an appointment with the counsellor because I just needed to vent about the hard time I was having at uni. I hated going to campus because I wasn't enjoying anything. 

After class when I would go and get something to eat and sit up in the queer space to try and socialise, I would just eat and observe everyone's conversations. Due to the fact that I have two jobs and live a fair way away from campus I don't spend much time there. I go to class, have a meal or snack and go. Everyone around me spent most of their week on campus and was making close bonds with everyone. Or they were in their second or third year and had groups of friends formed already. I felt like an intruder. I still do around some people. Things are starting to get a little better. A couple people always make the effort to talk to me even when they are already in a conversation when they see me. I am in the music society and after joining a drum circle, one of the members invited me to his place for the next time he has a jam session. That made my day. He barely knows me and he showed so much kindness and warmth.

My Croatian class is full of people that I get along with. It is a very interactive class every week so we have gotten to know each other very well. I love them all so much and they make my day every time I see them. After the final exam we all went to Max Brenner and had a delicious reward together. We sat and talked for a couple hours. It was lovely. After one of the girls I was studying with said she was craving schnitzel, the Cro in me kicked in and invited the whole class over for dinner. I had planned to make schnitzel later in the week anyway so it was perfect. A few people were available and made the journey to my little town house in the western suburbs to eat on a Thursday night. It was a great night and I felt like I was in an episode of 'Come Dine With Me', just without any negative comments!

So that's a lot of information to take in and I have even more stories to tell. However there are many more blogs to write so stay tuned to keep updated! Thank you for reading.

- Dibs

Wear it PURPLE

If you ever read one of my blogs, I urge you to make it this. It is about an organisation that is doing great things for rainbow youth around Australia and the world.

Wear it purple (http://wearitpurple.org) is all about telling young people that they have the right to be proud of who they are. On their website it says "Wear it Purple exists in order to support sexuality and gender diverse (rainbow) young people at risk. Run by students, we aim to stop the ignorance, bullying and suicides." They are based in NSW however they are gaining popularity around the country and a number of people around the world have started to notice the group.

Wear It Purple came to existence in late 2010 as a tragic circumstance made it clear that things needed to change for LGBTIQ kids. In late September an 18 year old male in New Jersey took his life due to being 'outed' as being gay by his roommate who video streamed footage of his sexual encounter with another man on the internet without his knowledge. After this incident was highly reported on, numerous other stories of teenagers taking their lives due to bullying and homophobia were brought to light. Ellen Degeneres then made a public statement on her talk show about the incidents: 

"Something must be done. This month alone, there has been a shocking number of news stories about teens who have been teased and bullied and then committed suicide; like 13-year-old Seth Walsh in Tehachapi, California; Asher Brown, 13, of Cypress, Texas; and 15-year-old Billy Lucas in Greensberg, Indiana. This needs to be a wake-up call to everyone: teenage bullying and teasing is an epidemic in this country, and the death rate is climbing." 

Katherine Hudson and Scott Williams came up with an idea: for one day, they would encourage people everywhere to “wear it purple” in order to raise awareness about homophobic bullying and youth suicide. They wished for WIP to be a world-wide student led movement that annually expresses support and awareness to potentially save thousands of lives and change countless minds. 

The Wear It Purple Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/wearitpurple) is always posting inspirational photos and quotes that bring hope to all who follow the page's activity. However the biggest activity of the organisation is Wear It Purple Day where everyone in schools, workplaces and the community are encouraged to wear purple for a day to show their support for students all over the world. Wear It Purple has also had a stall at Fair Day (which I volunteered my time at this year) which is helping build its reputation. This year we sold t-shirts and water bottles, had a lolly guessing competition, handed out flyers about WIP and made a few new friends. They have also been able to secure a place in the annual Sydney Mardi Gras parade for the last three years. I have marched with them all three times and loved every single moment of it! Better than Christmas! 

From now on, Wear it Purple day will be the last Friday in August so this year - AUGUST 30! You can pop it in your diary for years to come.

Get your school, uni workplace and friends involved and let everyone know how proud you are to be who you are and WEAR IT PURPLE!

 Get planning your WEAR IT PURPLE DAY for 2013! 

By DIBS

Miss Extra-Curricular

So I have always been one to put my hand up and participate in anything and everything that was thrown at me. If it's exciting, if it's for a good cause, if I'm learning or helping someone out I like to be involved. A quick summary of my extracurricular activities include; public speaking, dirt bike riding from the age of about four, karate when I was about 6 years old, netball from ages 8-10, tap dancing for a couple years after, baseball, debating, drama (TV, Film & Theatre) classes for three or four years, football (soccer) for most of my high school years, musical theatre, music (I play a couple instruments well and try to play many more [I even have a trumpet that I have always wanted to perfect but never stuck with it]), being on the Student Rep Council and probably a few more things.

Being a part of all of these little communities and social groups led me to many great events. From hosting my drama school's annual 'Silver Screen Awards' to shaving my head and helping organise other fundraisers as part of the SRC to performing with my band (that was formed at school) at the grand final of the Mounties 'Battle of the Bands' competition. I have performed at Fairfield City Council's annual youth festival 'Bring it On!' as well as volunteered there helping out the NSW Family Planning stall which was taking photo's for the This is Oz campaign (http://www.thisisoz.com.au/). By performing a pantomime titled 'Jungle Jack and Jill' I was able to entertain audiences at the Cancer Council's Relay for Life, McHappy Day and the Teddy Bear's Picnic. I do these things because they are fun, rewarding, a great way to socialise and build experience and valuable communication and performance skills. 

The extracurricular activity that has brought me the most joy is being a big part of the CAPA faculty at high school. I still miss my drama class to this day. The students and my amazing teacher Pat. I miss the music rooms, the fancy instruments I got to use and just collaborating with so many talented and creative minds. Drama took me to participate in the annual Manly festival. My class was lucky enough to make massive lanterns shaped as saxophones and double basses. We got to march with them down to the beach in the parade. For my major group project I became very close with the two other girls I was working with. We performed in assembly in front of hundreds of students. None of the drama students wanted to perform in the senior assembly and they chose to perform to the year 7's and 8's & 9's. On the day, the M.C. announced that it was time for our performance and the moment came for us to walk into a packed school stadium. As we took our positions we were all hoping not to embarrass ourselves. After the first couple of lines the audience reacted better than we could have hoped for. The moment of joy and relief when they understood our performance and laughed and clapped was a moment I will never forget. I love performing. The rush. The adrenaline. The way I can evoke so many emotions from the people watching. 
Being actively involved in music at school brought me so much happiness. The teacher that made my high school experience so much more enriched is Teresa. She believes in so many young musicians and encourages everyone to perform, no matter what their skill level is. As a result of having this lovely woman around, I participated in numerous little gigs at school, numerous assemblies and in the annual music night at our local club. I was placed in a myriad of ensembles and worked my way up to the 'elite ensemble'. From this group we formed 'G62' (named after the classroom we spent the majority of our time practicing in during our spare time and even during school holidays). Being in G62 brought so many opportunities. From band competitions to recording our original songs in a studio and being interviewed on Hope 103.2. I also got to sing the song I wrote at the grand final of the Battle of the Bands. I assisted the woodwind ensemble, the vocal ensemble and other groups in their performances because I was the go-to drummer and I loved it! 

I take advantage of everything that is offered to me. Before university started, I participated in activities for 'future students' like 'Macquarie in a Day' and open day. During the first week of uni holidays I attended a careers workshop that focussed on resume writing. I take as much information in as I can when it is offered to me... as long as it doesn't involve reading journal articles because they are boring 99.9% of the time. I'm supposed to be doing my first assignment that is due first day back at the moment but I am writing this because I love the Pinnacle Foundation and I love the blogs! 
In summary my drama teacher left our class with some advice on our last day. She told us to participate in life. To be proactive and be involved in as many things as we can. To take life easy and to do what makes us happy. Everyone started crying. She was so right. Thank you Pat D.W. 

By DIBS

Daniela the what?

I think I'll use this post to introduce myself properly. My name is Daniela Ivana Barisic Sprem. You can call me DIBS. I have recently turned 18, currently study full time at Macquarie University and work two jobs. I have a big Croatian family and a dog named Medo (teddy bear). I have a passion for music and play a few instruments; my favourite being the drums. I love animals from rats to lizards to lions and cats. I have a very hard time listing my interests and hobbies because there are so many.

I also ride dirt bikes and want to get my road bike license when I get enough money. I love the film/TV/entertainment industry and did drama in high school and outside of school. I love playing soccer and riding my push bike for hours on end. The giant list of interests up there is why I am having a hard time at uni and thinking of where I am going in life. It was hard enough finding a uni course to settle on, and even though I am doing a double degree, I still want to try more courses. So I have made it through 5 weeks of university and I am not liking it as much as people said I would. I don't know if I am just doing the wrong course or if further education isn't my thing. I dropped a math unit already because I don't like the idea of paying for something I don't want to do. I am also terrible at it. 

I love working because i get paid for work AND I learn new skills at the same time. As we all do, I have my dream jobs and my realistic dream jobs. I thought I wanted to be a HR manager but now I think I want to work with animals. Whether it be training guide/assistance dogs or working at the RSPCA or Animal Welfare League. 
If I could have the job I wanted most, no matter how crazy, 

I would be a talk show host. I would love to be the Australian Ellen or the new Rove McManus. That could be me interviewing PINK! 

I love talking, making people feel better and sharing knowledge. 
Other occupational phases I've gone through are DJ, motivational speaker, comedian, club owner, police officer, camp counsellor, music therapist, teacher, uni lecturer, psychologist, musician and the list goes on. 
They say my generation is likely to go through 21 different jobs and 7 career path changes before settling on one. I am aware that many people have the same problem as me and some people like constantly changing things up... I guess I am just in a hurry to find what I am good at and to start making money. 

For now I am Daniela the student. Daniela the Pinnacle Scholar. Daniela the sister, daughter, cousin, friend and loved one - which makes me one lucky kid.

By Daniela Ivana Barisic Sprem

The Next Chapter

Last weekend I attended the Pinnacle Foundation's first ever Scholar Induction. I got up at the crack of dawn to get on a train from the south west to Circular Quay and it turned out that I was amongst many deserving scholars who came from much further than me. As I participated in a myriad of activities in the Museum of Contemporary Art, I gradually got to know each of the scholars. At lunch we went out on groups of five and I went with one local and three interstate scholars. Everyone was extremely friendly and eager to get to know each other - which made me very frustrated that i was losing my voice because I wanted to talk to everyone.

The day wasn't only about socialising; it was full of some very wise speakers who shared their wisdom, inspiring stories and gave us useful advice. We learnt about or had a refresher course on goal setting and stress management. The best part of having these talks was having group conversations and learning from mentors and other scholars. By the end of the day, I think everyone felt a little more at ease about continuing with their education. Wether it be high school, TAFE, undergraduate or post graduate-study, we were all well equipped to take on the next exciting chapter in our lives.

Going out to dinner that night was a nice ending to the evening. We were all very relaxed and comfortable by that point so the conversations were flowing. After ordering dessert there was a sad feeling that came over me knowing that I might not see some of these amazing students again. Thank goodness for technology though because I can at least keep in touch with them on that level. We said our goodbyes at the entrance of the restaurant as everyone dispersed into different directions; into Taxis, back to hotels, back to the airport, back home.
The entire day made me feel so special and incredibly lucky. I am a part of the Pinnacle family and I will look back on this time in my life very fondly. 

As I write this, I realise I have just completed my first week of studying at Macquarie University. I started my first year with a lot less stress because of the support I have received from the Pinnacle Foundation. I look forward to doing my best and making my friends, family, mentor and tutors proud. 

By Daniela Ivana Barisic Sprem