Look out world!

Hello,

My name is Carly and I've decided to start a Blogspot blog. I've had a few blogs over the years, including a Myspace one which I may transfer entries from when I feel motivated enough to do so.

This blog will be a way to keep up my writing. It may be frivolous, irrelevant, full of varied topics, serious, funny and sad. There may be photos.

A little about me:

I live in Melbourne, Australia, but grew up in country New South Wales, Australia. I prefer Melbourne.

I work full time for the government as an events planner/communicator/executive assistant/tea lady/provider of workplace fun. I like my job. A lot.

I also study part time. I'm doing a Master of Communication. It's very interesting and I'm always keen to learn more in each subject. Right now I have two subjects to do. My interest areas are literary journalism, and new media. I recently did an essay on how new media helps people with chornic illnesses to communicate, form communities and develop identities. Maybe I'll expand on that for my thesis.

The other (serious) activity that takes up my time is mentoring for a program for young people with chronic illnesses, run by the Children's Hospital. I love this more than you could imagine. It is so rewarding to help these young people develop confidence, friendships, lifeskills and leadership skills. And in doing so, I've developed confidence, friendship, lifeskills and leadership skills. You can find out more about this fantastic program on the Chronic Illness Peer Support (ChIPS) website.

You may ask how I got involved with ChIPS. I have a chronic illness. Maybe a disability, but I prefer not to call it that. My illness is called ichthyosis form erythroderma. It means scaly red skin. It's not just a bit of eczema on the back of my knee. It can make me very unwell, very sore, sometimes a bit miserable. There are social and medical challenges associated with it. But I am not dying from it, and I generally have a positive attitude about it. I will be likely to talk about throughout this blog.

I also like, probably in the following order:

• listening to music and seeing bands
• shopping, clothes and accessories
• cooking and eating
• cheese
• writing
• the TV shows Rush, Love My Way, Secret Life of Us, Felicity
• media - quality journalism, websites, blogs, social media
• making things - like jewellery, books, papercrafts

Right now it's about 40 degrees. My skin doesn't cope well with the heat. So I'm going to watch the news and then head off to the shopping centre for some icecream, free airconditioning and hopefully-not-too-expensive purchases.

Talk to you soon.

Carly :)