Domain name drama

Hey everyone!  First of all, lots of new poetry & some discussion over at my writing blog, check it out!

What else have I been up to lately?

- Performed my first solo with the Southern Gospel Choir in the release concert for our second album, High On A Mountain! (available now at Koorong bookstores & from the Conservatorium of Music! Makes a great Christmas present!)
- Performed with the Southern Gospel Choir at the ABC Giving Tree Concert.
- Modelled in the Fringe Festival Fashion Show.
- Met up with the previous Conservatorium student rep to get some tips & info on how to survive my first semester as Con Rep!
- Trying to get a band together.
- Lots of writing at Chado.
- Saw the Dalai Lama at the DEC.
- Had a very successful 3rd Clothes Swap – 50 people came through and 10 garbage bags of clothes were donated to charity.
- Got a bunch of my photos printed & framed to be sold!
- Working at Sheepskin & Opal World.

Got my uni results – achieved a Distinction in voice and a High Distinction in gospel choir.

My main endeavour over the last week has been trying to get my proper website started.  It’s been alternately really exciting and fun, or incredibly frustrating & difficult.  The latter part relates mostly to trying to secure a domain name.

“Pizazz” is a moniker which I have been using for a long time, and I intend to register it as a business name.  Unfortunately it’s not easy to get as a domain name:
pizazz.com is for sale, but for over $2500 US
pizazz.com.au has nothing on it, but is owned by a company who don’t want to sell
pizazz.me is the same story
pizazz.org is for sale, but for $5000
pizazz.org.au I can’t have because I’m not a non-profit organisation
pizazz.id.au  I can’t have (even though .id.au is specifically intended for individuals’ sites!) because apparently the domain name has to reflect your actual name.

I went through the unnecessary stress of registering pizazz.org.au and then pizazz.id.au (and paying for them) and being rejected both times.  It’s been very frustrating and disheartening, not being able to get ANY sort of pizazz.ANYTHING.

I’ve considered pizazz-art, but I keep getting the feedback that in that context “pizazz” reads too much like “pizza”.  I’m currently looking into redirecting services like .co.nr – however they state in their rules that they do not link to sites that contain “Adult Content” – they are yet to reply to my enquiry as to whether that includes artistic nude photography.

If anyone has any other suggestions as to my domain name, I’d welcome them!

More updates soon.  In the meantime there’s always my Twitter!

Bec

Long time no post!

Wow. So yeah, it’s been over a month since last time I wrote. I’ll try to keep it to-the-point!

News on the Southern Gospel Choir, getting into the Conservatorium of Music, and how the Young Jazz Player’s Competition went, over at my music blog!

Well, that’s about it really. I didn’t have as much news as I thought I had. Other than that, I’ve been doing some photography again with a DSLR I borrowed… editing photos I’ve had piled up for months… making some music in GarageBand… started learning how to use Dreamweaver to make websites… and thinking about my own proper website, got a few ideas.

Anyway, til next time

Bec

Theory is not as boring as I expected.

On Sunday I began my lessons in music theory with tutor Ashton Maggs, in preparation for my Conservatorium entry test. Read more at my music blog by clicking here.

Last night I finished a critique for Drama, today being the final due date for them, and got it done, which was incredibly satisfying because now I have no more written work left for school! It is such a wonderful feeling of freedom. I have so little left now before I’m off completely for holidays, and all that I have left is fairly easy and enjoyable.

Updated to do list:
-Theory lessons (plus homework) twice a week until my theory test for the Conservatorium.
-External music performance exam next Monday.
-Singing with Claire in her external performance exam next Tuesday.
-Conservatorium audition, then theory test
-Southern Gospel Choir rehearsals & final concert

And that’s it! I am very much looking forward to a break after such a busy year. However I won’t just be sitting around playing video games the whole time. I’m looking forward to getting a bunch of stories, poetry & philosophy writing done, doing some musical collaborations with a drummer friend of mine, perhaps doing some modelling for some friends of mine who do photography. And most of all, finally getting together with those who have offered to model for me, and attempting some of the ideas for photos I’ve had written down for a while.

Something else I am looking forward to is spending some time with my friend Paul George of Digital Graffiti: http://www.digitalgraffiti.com.au He’s offered to teach me how to properly use Adobe Photoshop and other graphics programs, which would be handy, and could even possibly lead to some kind of employment. We’ll see. He also said that I can borrow his digital SLR camera if I need to, which is good.

So yes, the holidays are shaping up to be productive and fun. I might even see if I can get a waitressing job or somesuch.

One more interesting thing before I go, I found this site and that of my friend Justin Smith linked to from this page:  http://www.tas.gov.au/tasmaniaonline/Nav/Topic.asp?Topic=Personal%20sites
There’s even a small summary that someone has obviously taken the time to write.  I was delighted that someone would do that, and that my blog was deemed interesting or informative enough to be of use in that stockpile.

Looking forward to the warmer weather!

Bec