new year's eve

The year which I had dreaded for so long is almost over and yet I am so blasé. Can you believe it? My mum is snoring in my bed and I am wearing an old shirt waiting for Gab's mum to pick me up. We aren't going out to get drunk and hug strangers, we are having a sleepover. After waiting for so long to be 18 and finished with highschool, I am languid rather than explosive. My shirt is pink which reminds me of how I wanted to dye my hair that colour. But it had only been exciting when my school forbidded me to do so. Even just after graduation I had been eager, but due to the complications of a ball I had been invited to and not wanting to give my partner a conniption, I decided to wait a little longer. But now I'm just wondering "why pink?". It seems like everything I had deemed "fun" is just a sequence of events which don't mean anything anymore. It's a form of pessimism I suppose.

But gah, why am I being so gloomy? This is a year worth celebrating after all! Surviving 365 days in a row is always a miracle in itself (just ask any actuarist). And this year was a leap year too(!) so give yourself a pat on the back and pop a bottle of champagne.

See you in 2009 and I hope we'll both be smiling. Cheers!

wack

Today I finally got around to seeing The Wackness. I think my weakness is officially movies set in the 90s. The cheesier the better. Eventhough most of my summer of '94 was spent in my grandma's flat in China eating grapes and watching cartoons (a far cry from dealing pot on the streets of New York), the movie still felt overwhelmingly nostalgic. After I got over the initial shock of seeing Josh Peck act badass, I was truly impressed by his performance. He really had the squinty eyed, mouth hanging open expression down-pat, which was just perfect for his dorky pseudo-gangster character Shapiro. If it hadn't been for how endearing his smile was, the naive and vulnerable side of his character would not have seemed believable. Although the ending was not sugar sweet for poor Shapiro, it was an optimistic one. I left the cinema in a good mood and with All the Young Dudes stuck in my head. Can't complain about that

Oh, I also left with half of my popcorn and coke still in my hands. It seemed unfair to throw out perfectly fine food - especially considering I hadn't had breakfast nor lunch - so I walked around for a while looking quite displaced. Trust me on this one though, eat all your popcorn before you leave the cinema, it just doesn't taste as good when you're out in the daylight.

And before I forget - I have a tendency to forget to say what I meant to say when I begin a blog post - hope you all had a Merry friggin Christmas and are pumped for 2009. I know I am.






I almost bought a pair of 2009 shaped sunglasses to prove it.

first roll

I picked up my first roll of film shot with the Nikon FM2 on Thursday, but have been too lazy to post them. It's also incredibly frustrating the way blogger compresses the images, so if you, like me, appreciate fine aesthetics and have a few moments to spare, please click on the images to enlarge them for optimum pixel quality.


I've been a little multiple-exposure-happy. This was taken last Saturday during a lunch break from Christmas shopping with my parents. I introduced them to my favourite pho place, but alas mum stubbornly opposes pho and refused to eat.


Probably my favourite shot from the roll - or at least the only shot which I gave some thought into in terms of composition.


Tuesday I had dinner with my friends to celebrate my birthday.


It's strange being old enough to be offered a wine list by the waitress.


It sometimes annoys me to see double-exposed photos which would have looked better if I hadn't taken the second shot.


I've been wondering if the pinkness of these photos are due to colour correction by the camera lab, or if it's just what happens when 400iso film is used in low lighting. Does anyone know?


I feel as though this photo should be in a brochure for some kind of country lodge. I can already see subtitle to this article "Experience Local Cuisine!".


You can see Jayne's new fish-eye camera in the background. It took us 20min to load that first roll of film.


My amazing birthday cake consisting of layers of chocolate mousse. It almost gave me a cardiac arrest, but definitely worth it.


Funny face hehe.


I never thought Kim's mohawk would ever grow out. I can'tbelieve her hair is the same length as Alana's now! My mum has been trying to convince me to grow out my own hair - put an end to my gender confused appearance as she would say.


Maddy bought me the Postsecret book. Haven't had time to go through all of them yet. Word of advice though, do not read the secrets out loud on public transport.


No comment.


Cosy corner.


The restaurant was tucked away in this obscure lane, but the interior was cute.


Surreal.


Outside there was this massive chandelier which looked as though it was wedged between the walls of the alley. More Surrealism. I was compelled to double expose it with Maddy's face, but once again that was a somewhat redundant decision.

Later we were going to see The Wackness, but we were 10minutes late because we had been taking sticker photos at one of those Japanese photobooths...They wouldn't let us in to the cinema, so it was coffee instead.

This week has been very dull for the most part. I started making a dress with Alana, thought about what I want to do in Uni next year, explored the internet to find the fastest way to watch Criminal Minds online (youtube is the best, though megavideo a close second), ate grapes and searching for a good recipe to Swedish princess cake.



Is it not the most darling dessert you have ever seen? And it sounds good too - layers of sponge, rum, custard, jam, whipped cream aplenty and smothered in green marzipan! Anyone willing to tackle this culinary challenge with me? Better yet, any Swedes out there who have an excellent princess cake recipe to share?

happy but scary

I woke up this morning angry because it was already 11am. I've been feeling so tired lately, and not just because I go to bed late.

But an hour later the delivery man was at my door with my new camera! It took me way too long to figure out how to remove the polaroid back and put on a normal one, and then another 30 minutes of frustration over a film advance lever which I thought was stuck but wasn't. I'm happy, because Mr. ebay seller didn't rip me off with a broken camera. I can't wait to load some film and go crazy =)

In the meantime, I'm freaking out again. I have a very intimidating Cambridge interview in about 4 hours. I'm going to make a complete fool of myself, especially since it's an over the phone interview, and I hate talking into phones. I'm going to prepare some notes to prompt me incase I forget how to speak English.

too much gossip girl, not enough chuck bass

I thought I'd be immune to it but I totally am not; Chuck Bass even gives Gaspard Ulliel a run for his money.

summer

In this past month, I have: swam in the ocean, worn sunnies, ridden a bike, licked an icy-pole, picniced in the park, grazed my knees, gotten a tan (albeit a very light one), worn a swimsuit, gotten sand in my shoes, slept until noon, bought new dresses and wasted two rolls of film in the process. I have officially welcomed summer. Below are perhaps the most random photos ever, but I held my breath for a good half hour to upload these (COMPUTER DID NOT CRASH!) so here goes.


Chocolate fondue back when the weather was still reasonable.


At the orthodontist. Those are probably boxes of teeth moulds or something equally sinister.


Waiting at the tramstop.



Walking up to roof top.



The Swanston St roof top. They show movies here at night, it was Casablanca a few weeks ago. I had really wanted to go...maybe next time.



They also serve food and drinks amongst other things.

It's a nice hang out spot in summer when the sun is out.

Jayne is all blurry.

There are also some quaint little shops in the levels below.

Pretty light inside Mag Nation, another nice place to hang out, especially when it's raining.

After a week of gallivanting in the city, some friends and I went to Alana's beach house in Sandy Point. The weather was mediocre for the first few days though, so we had a Criminal Minds marathon and rocked out on Guitar Hero.

Eventually Gabby and I escaped to the beach one late afternoon.

We collected some shells. Jayne at first thought I had a fish in my hand (left) hehe

I liked how dreamy this one came out.

We started using our hands to scoop out shells from under the water. Really enthusiastic considering the shells weren't even that appealing...

The water was very cold at first, but it's strange, after a while your nerves get used to it, and it feels almost warm.

We drew Dr. Reid (from Criminal Minds) in the sand. It was huuuuge. But I only took a photo of it on my digital camera. I can't remember what she wrote in the sand in this picture. "Hi ___ " ?

The next day the sun came out! Alana donned her intimidating aviators.

Everything is so ridiculously blue.

The water was still cold though :(

The start of the next roll. Angry light leak.

The beach again.

The wind was strong that day (as demonstrated by the billowing beach towel to the right of the pictures).

Gabby and I need a boyfriend so we stop doing weird things like this. Though she is in Paris at the moment, so maybe she's gotten lucky since I last talked to her...

Under the blazing sun, we all looked so white! The wind was blowing the sand into our faces though, so we escaped to the observation deck to tan in peace.

Maddy looking upset as we wait for fish and chips.

Mmmm....

Gabby and mine room. It was a creepy little room with two single beds and artificial wood panels on the walls. If you looked closely, you would see that some panels had the same wood pattern as others.

Michelle's feet and my feet.

Yue was reading a book called "Freakonomics". It was full of random facts like corruption within sumo wrestling communities and the real meaning behind the words of real estate agents. Enlightening.

Toes.

Alana guzzling down a chocolate milkshake.

We were in the middle of no where. There was one general store and one cafe.

We saw a lot of echidnas. They were very shy though, and always buried their pointy little faces when we approached them.

Back in Melbourne, we had a picnic on Maddy's birthday. There was some sort of community event in the park.

You can't really see it, but there are two people on the left of this picture dressed in old-fashioned clothes. It's a pity they're in the shade.

A strange lady offered us cupcakes. I took one and ate it and am still alive.

I braided Alana's hair. It was that kind of a day.

Hi Maddy :)

The grass is strangely green.

Lasy Friday it was boiling hot. Maddy, Alana and I lazed under the shade of a big tree in the park and ate ice-cream and drank cold drinks.

This looks so weird. I was only trying to push out the icypole from the cup so I could eat it...

Satisfying.

Another weird one taken by Maddy. I was asking Alana if my tongue had gone red from the icypole.

It was nice to lie down and look up at the branches and the sky. We later found a caterpilla which must have fallen from the tree!

And finally, one last one of Maddy.

These have all been taken with the Olympus Trip and Fuji Superior 400 film. I can't wait to receive my Nikon FM2 so I can take more photos! I hope it arrives by my birthday. Anyway, thanks for looking through another very long entry. I am still ecstatic that my computer hasn't died yet!