Hipster Youth Culture

I feel like such a borderline old person sometimes when I'm hypercritical of teenagers clothing- while I can accept and warm up to baseball/ raglan shirts, pink hair and sparkly make up I will never accept short-shorts in denim that allows the viewer to see the edges of someone's butt. That's just gross and sick- have some pride in yourself and don't bare your skin so much. Also in my humble and modest opinion you really shouldn't wear low-cut shirts in the daytime when your bits threaten to spill out over the edges. These opinions are all just based on what I think though and may not be for everyone but I think that when you dress too skimpy you can attract the wrong sort of attention and it's something you'd regret in the end.

Ah Winter, at least in this bitterly chilling month everyone is force to rug up for the good of their health whether they like it or not and dress modestly. For that reason, Winter is my favourite season as well as the fact I can layer clothing, snuggle into my bed sheets and sleep well and that none of my pets have died in Winter whereas it seems they have all died in Summer. There's a lot more creativity and though that does into an outfit for Winter where you can mismatch prints and have elaborate layers but in Summer, or at least for Australians you have to dress to be comfortable and I hate that sometimes.

Maybe it would be nice to abandon my individual sense of style and just become a true and fully-fledged hipster- buying short denim shirts and small black singlets as well as wearing leggings as pants with long white socks and cheap canvas shoes... YEAH RIGHT! I would disappoint my brother, myself as well as my hippy and pot-smoking Literature teacher if I abandoned my sense of self and style. Still, maybe lying next to a similarly dressed lover would be nice and having the frame tinted with odd colours from Instagram or even old 35mm film.

I'm much happier picking off vintage goodies online such as loose hanging denim shirts as well as denim jackets with alterations and long tennis socks to accentuate my long legs. At least hipsters get that much right and know how to show off their bodies in order to attract the opposite sex- not that I need that though, I'm happily tied down with the best ball and chain in the world.

Differences Between Me and Cool Kids

Since I'm pottering about the house and being anti-social, I'd like to put together some facts about myself and the distinguishing features of cool kids that will lead you, dear reader to come to the conclusion that this is the blog of the lamest person on Earth. For one thing, cool people either host or get invited to costume parties where there are drunken hook-ups and people acting without inhibition and I have never been invited to a costume party (or crashed one) and have never been drunk. I've barely been tipsy when I drink alcohol but that's because I don't really have the intention of making a fool of myself.

Cool people are often skinny and attractive, wear layers of make up to school and not a lot of clothing when they go outside. At the age of about fourteen and fifteen they wore leggings as pants with white socks they wear to school with cheap canvas shoes and mid drift shirts because they have a flat stomach and at the age of about sixteen or even younger they may engage in the activity known as belly button piercing. At the age of eight when I got my ears pierced my mother made me promise never to get any other piercings aside from my ears and since she's the kind of person to hold a grudge for years I am bound to keep my word.

Cool people often can perform amazing feats and tricks when using their mouths and tongues such as tying up long strings of lolly such as snakes into knows, blowing bubbles using bubble gum or chewing gum and are fantastic kissers due to their promiscuity and rebellion against a traditional romantic relationship. I had my first kiss at age sixteen, have only ever had one boyfriend (although to me he is pretty cool, the bees knees as it were) and cannot perform any cool tricks involving my mouth and food. There is the disappearing act in which I swallow, digest and process food but that's nothing too special really.

Through years of breeding with other cool people, a race of super cool people has been perfected in which they are immune to the painful blistering at the back of the heel caused by popular culture combat boots by Dr Martens. The last recorded appearance of my combat boots on my feet was the day was followed by an incredibly painful blister and a few days of limping hap-hazardly around the house.

Many cool people pursue university/ college education in which they will spend three years or so earning a white elephant degree such as an Arts degree or possibly going to art school and living vicariously through selling bad drawings and paintings.While some are educated in practical trades and more complex subjects, some remain to practice the photographic arts and have mastered the use of multiple exposure shoots as well as using fisheye distortion lenses.

Lots of cool people have dogs and or cats that they don't bother to discuss in everyday conversation and they also contribute very little to the quality of life of his/ her pet. There are people like me who have one or even both parents opposed to the possession of an animal fearing they are dirty and flea-ridden or who have had a multitude of rabbits or other small pets in their lifetime. People like me spend their time talking about what their pet rabbit chose to eat on that particular morning as well as ignoring all human life when meeting a four-legged friend at someone else's house.

 

Youth

It seems mankind is always doomed to long for something they can't exactly have; the young can't wait to grow up and the old miss their youthful days when their bodies were fit and spry. I'm a little all over the place myself, one day I'll feel completely content with my situation but I want the year to hurry up as well and take place. I'm excited for the possibility of meeting new people and studying somewhere different and new as well as seeking new places of employment, earning cash on the side and continuing to blog when I can. When I was stressed and maddened with worry for exam results I wished I was younger- back when I didn't have a care in the world and my parents would dress and take care of me. But it's nice to be partially independent of myself and my own affairs too without having to pay for my own Internet use yet. That's not something I eagerly anticipate.

I think it's a little strange though that soon my teenage years will be over and I'll be turning nineteen this year. Coming even sooner is my boyfriend's twentieth birthday. I already knew by the age of about fourteen that I would never have enough coordination to learn to skateboard for myself and that I was too big a dork to get a boyfriend who could teach me but it was always something I wanted. At my current age, I should be more focused on practicing driving and getting my hours up so I can finally get my probationary license.

I certainly won't miss the pain and misery associated with clumsy childish actions such as falling off of playgrounds, tripping over and painfully losing bits and pieces of my skin everywhere. Even when I'm not that badly cut though I still think it's fun or at least therapeutic to wear a band aid- more for the mental side and reassurance rather than any anti-sceptic care it may offer. I've never really been clumsy enough to slip and cut my skin while shaving my legs and for that I can be thankful for.

While the march of time has progressed, it seems that fashion has gently regressed and favours vintage touches such as Peter Pan collars, floral shift dresses as well as vibrantly coloured leggings. Mind you I'm not complaining- I openly embrace such fashion trends and the beaded collar look when combined with frilly socks or even Doc Martens. While there are plenty of treasures yet to be created and made, there are also things to lean from the past as well and second hand shops tend to have the more favourable price tag if you know where to hunt; if you catch my drift.

Another skill I failed to master was being able to blow bubbles using bubble gum which means I miss out on recreating dreamy and romantic feeling photographs such as this one. It would have been nice to maybe undertake in a self-portrait shot of plaits and a long flowing tartan skirt while wistfully blowing bubbles on a desk but I'll just have to wait for another idea to come across my mind- something that's actually doable for me. Unlike skateboarding, there's less of an age associated with blowing bubbles and I could try within the privacy of my own home but I'm sure there's a vital element I've simply overlooked. I usually get my kicks and fair share of tongue and mouth exercise from kissing these days anyway.

I have managed to make my own fair share of daisy chains- while the prime time for such a task was not in Primary school I did manage to waste away an hour or two making chains of small flowers while sitting on the school football oval at lunchtime, out on picnic dates with my girlfriends as well as using them as en affective prop and item for the attention of a camera's lens such as the image shown above. I never managed or had enough patience to make something as startlingly long and romantic as this daisy chain but I might. I always seem to get too itchy and sneeze while sitting on the grass to be able to last that long though.

I seem to be moving away from my old days of childhood and doing more adult things- last Saturday night I went out into the city to celebrate a work friend's 18th. My first drink bought at a beer garden/ pub/ club was at the hands of my boyfriend's brother; I really didn't see that one coming. They were only small girly drinks though, it's not as if I've managed to take whole swigs from bottles and I certainly don't like wine or champagne. I'm more into vodka stirred in with my Up & Go... alright I'm not entirely grown up yet.

Rock Out

It sounds cliche and overrated to want to dramatically alter your life and improve yourself at the start of the new year; you wouldn't change what you do month to month and the only thing that has really changed is the year not your life. But I still want to continue to improve myself and become a better person that what I was last year, while the sentiment is cheesy setting goals and executing them properly can help you to change. I realised that many people don't set smaller goals for themselves when writing out their New Year's Resolutions, they're usually wide sweeping statements such as "I'll lose weight" or "I'll be healthier". This is probably why the resolution is broken within a week. In fact my new 2012 diary has a page at the front in a neat little table with information such as New Year's Resolution and beside it: date broken. I don't want that to be me, my goals for 2012 are wide and varied and all very big and difficult but I know how I can achieve the first few.

While this post is a personal reflection of what I want the year to be it's full of beautiful people who have a rock edge to them because that's something I'm trying to aspire towards this year. With university just on the horizon doors will open and I'll get to meet a whole bunch of new and exciting people- I want to become a part of the social scene and really put myself out there. I will not be picked on; my transition from primary school to secondary school was the cornerstone and beginning of two years of depression for me. While I will not spend nearly as much time at university as the nine to three grind of secondary school rituals, it would be nice to get out there and meet more people. People with interests similar to my own, the book worms, the photographers and the lonely bloggers.

I'm unlikely to change anything radically with my hair so I will be avoiding shaving one side as well as wild colours, unless I finally get the guts to proclaim my hipster status to the world and dip dye my hair. I have an assortment of colours on my eBay watch list in shades of pink, red and purple waiting to be bought but I still have a phobia of peroxide. Besides, a cut and having my layers done again may be in order before anything radical is tried out in my bathroom. There's a lovely saloon next to my temporary place of work, I should schedule myself in for a trim before I start one last shift. Pretty cut, it doesn't look like they'll be keeping me on permanently so I applied for a bunch of places yesterday and also the local paper and flyer drop. I am very desperate at this stage.

There is no possible way for someone like me to become as beautiful as the model sitting here with wild pink coloured eyebrows, staggeringly beautiful dyed grey hair and perfectly executed eye liner to die for. Maybe I will never be able to make a career out of being a beautiful person but I'd certainly like to try my hand and make Secret Hipster into what it was supposed to be- a collection of day to day outfits posted by myself. Instead it's been covering brands and other people's work but instead of following the trends I'm keen to make them. That will involved cleaning my room, moving a desk and a bookcase as well as several square metres of dead teen magazines and dust to free up a plain white wall. I'm also tempted to get a rug in from Urban Outfitters to update my digs and include in the photographs. I have a reasonable camera and a tripod waiting the rest of my plan to fall into place.

I'm ashamed to say I have seventy sheets of Polaroid film waiting to be used, a Polaroid Mini Portrait camera waiting to be figured out and nothing to photograph. I need to meet people willing to pose in front of my lens- maybe I'll get up to some crazy shenanigans at university. While I will be in the boring Science faculty I'm sure there will be lots of Arts students floating about the place which I can innocently bump into and strike up a conversation with.

Coordinating outfits or becoming more eclectic and miss matching things more. It's one or the other- I'm sick of being stuck in this purgatorial half world where I am average in the way I dress and plain old boring. It's time to put my best foot forward and show everyone what I'm really like on the inside by dressing well on the outside.

I definitely will be investing more time as well as money in buying my favourite albums from great artists. I really must stop surviving on cheap free podcasts that while are great and touching do not properly showcase all the songs within a bands arsenal. My hit list includes The Grates, Kaiser Chiefs, Phoenix, Death Cab for Cutie and probably many others if I were to stroll down the aisles of Jb Hi-Fi with vouchers in hand. I just want to listen to interesting and new music again and properly rock out and feel in touch with the present- listening to stuff that's years old isn't helping my conversational skills.

I want to play more at night time and breach my comfort zone- I don't care if it is rather small at the moment and even saying hello to the delivery man is uncomfortable, something has got to give.

Last goal is to perfect my blogging style and finally mix in some of my own photography and outfits with brands I love- maybe wear a little more make-up day to day and mix up vintage pieces with new clothes. Go to markets more and find amazing clothing for cheap or raid second hand shops. Get a proper part-time job or pick up two more shifts of basketball refereeing. I have my work cut out for me but I want to rise to the challenge this year. Then smash each challenge into the ground and dance on its grave. Have a nice day everyone.