food associations

I have a strange fascination with the word "sauerkraut". I like how it's spelt in a foreign way, but is in fact pronounced phonetically (unless I'm pronouncing it wrong). Sadly, I can't say I've ever tried it, but I like to imagine it as a large loaf of German sourdough bread eaten with liver paté and gherkins. The fact that it's actually fermented cabbage and has nothing to do with bread diminishes a lot of its appeal for me. There is a 90% possibility that I'm just craving some carbs right now.

at last

This single roll of film has been in my camera since new year's day, but let that not be an indication of fine, well-calculated photography. In fact, they're possibly worse than usual. My affinity for documenting everything has dwindled somewhat in the last few months, and I rarely take my camera with me these days. This (portion of a) roll is a testament to my ailing hobby :(

During my month spent in China in January-February, this was the ONLY photo I took on film. And it's a somewhat abstract looking one at that. 

My cousin looking quite octogenarian in his reading glasses, dressing gown and Sunday paper.


Maddy wearing my floppy hat which I bought for $10 at a market - it's brand new!

I told her to ignore my camera, but it made her nervous, so I told her to give me a big grin instead. Art is not worth making a friend uncomfortable.

Token double exposure.


Surrealism at its best.

Normally, I hate photos of roadkill. But the way this pigeon had been severed was mesmerising. One part of its body is almost completely intact and plump. (sorry if this picture has offended you)

I was Maddy's first non-family passenger since she got her license. Our first roadtrip was to the market and it lasted 7min there and back.

"Maddy, my light meter wont fucking work. Urgh, it keeps telling me that the shutter speed should be set at 1/100 but that's definitely wrong. Oh fuck it, I'll just take this anyway" Well, I don't know what happened, but the camera was right. (The light meter returned back to normal after this, and the next shot was taken at 1/1000 but appears no different - wtf?)

These hairclips were MAJOR when we were 10.

A LAN party. It smelt bad. 


Walking home next to the cemetery. 

Stone stuck in sole. 

Another person's cat who kept returning to Maddy's house no matter how many times they tried to return it. A persistent cat, but it got what it want - it's now an odd addition to Maddy's two existing Burmese. 

"I wonder if there'a frame left - oh, yep"

I get a free roll of film every time I develop a roll. I don't know what to photograph...

sunny

Every time I say the word "sunny" I cringe a little on the inside. But I think other's generally get a good "hehe" from it. So I do my best to keep them happy, since I'm such a selfless person and all. 

PS: I dropped off a roll of film at the photolab today, but I got distracted by thinking about what I wanted to eat for dinner, and forgot to pick them up. I wont forget again tomorrow, and then there will hopefully be something to post about. Rejoice!

a new application for olfactory senses

Sometimes I wish I could eat with my nose. Take these shrimp crackers for example: smell delicious and shrimpy, but taste bland. A lost in translation between my senses perhaps, but essentially a lie to my taste-buds. Alas, easily avoidable if I could just gobble them up through my nose.

allison harvard

America's Next Top Model Cycle 12 is good. Alarmingly good. Mostly because of Allison Harvard (a former 4chan starlet. 'Nuff said?)

miracle on 4th aisle

I saw a little Korean girl yesterday wearing a cream skivvy, a tartan pinafore, grey tights and black mary-janes. For a few seconds, it felt like an Asian white Christmas had landed squat in the middle of Safeway tinned foods aisle. 

deja vu

My biology lecturer told the exact same anecdote, except from the perspective of the father.

(But, no, he isn't Natalie Portman's father. Unfortunately.)

where it all began

your what?

Through my uni account, I often get emails from people who have lost iphones/USB's/etc. However, just then I read this in an email with subject "Missing Black Tube":

If anyone come across my bazooka, anywhere in the building, please contact
me on my mobile, XXXXXXXXX or by replying to this email.

I will assume that a bazooka can be many other things other than what I had in mind....

no energy for philosophy

Yesterday on the corner of Faraday and Lygon, I saw the resident bum. He is a man of maybe 60-75 (it's very difficult to tell with bums), and was spotted in his usual reclining position, dosing off and with an upturned bucket hat at his feet. There was something else I noticed on yesterday's occasion - a battered copy of "Sophie's World" in his lap. At this moment I felt a great kindredness with the chap. 

Though it shames me to say this, I am only too familiar with the soporific effects of that book, having tried numerous times in my early teens to read it, and giving up around the mid-way point on each occasion. I imagine this will be the case even when I too am 60-75 (and very likely also reclining on some street corner with a bucket hat at my feet).

injustice

All these boys (except for maybe the one wearing sunglasses) have the hair of my dreams: thick, long and brown, with a slight wave. It's unnatural to be envious of a boy's hair, let alone a posse of them, but alas I am very green indeed. 

picture from dropsnap.jp

trams

The woman on the tram is 40 at first glance, but only 35 on review. There are many women like her on trams in the early morning, always with over-plucked eyebrows and an outfit with undiscernible origins and trend. This woman is sitting across from me and she is wearing too much makeup on her thin tanned face and her head looks a little too small for what I imagine to be a tall lean body when standing. Her eyes are darting intently across the back cover of a free weekly magazine as she rapidly chews on the gum in her mouth. She opens to the middle of the magazine and I see what she had been reading - a catalogue of a closing down sale for one of those dank home-ware shops. At this point I notice that she has headphones in, which would explain the small rhythmic jiggles in her shoulders. It doesn't take her long to flip through the few pages and she returns to studying the back cover. I resume scrutinising the jiggle in her shoulders which are becoming more vigorous. 

Apparently bored, the woman finally puts down the magazine with a sigh. She procures a pair of flashy sunglasses from the small black handbag in her lap, aviators with an ornate floral design along the side, and puts them on roughly. She fidgets with the magazine and begins to roll it up tightly. A new song can be heard playing from her headphones. This one has a strong bass, most likely a 90s dance track, and the woman begins to wiggle her entire body in her seat. I, and the others nearby, are all very aware of this. Completely consumed by the beat of the music and the false sense of privacy which sunglasses can provide, the woman begins to tap her palm with the rolled up magazine in time to the song. The sound of her tapping grows louder as she becomes bolder in her wiggling. I exchange knowing looks of disparagement with the man sitting across the aisle.

 The tram slows down as it pulls to a stop and the woman stands up with a spring in her feet. Her black pants are a little too short for her long legs so she gives them a slight tug which smoothes out a crease. She strides quickly to the door of the tram, and with a cheerful leap exits the stifling carriage, completely oblivious of the sour looks on the faces of the remaining passengers. A few heads turn to watch the woman walk away, but as the tram gains momentum, we each go back to studying our fingernails, reading the paper or looking out the window. There is a lingering silence as we all wait in anticipation for the next person to cause a stir. I give a small cough to break the suspense, but I don't have my sunglasses with me, so I withdraw any intention of being the next act. 

mini fiona apple

A decidedly unabashed confession: 

Hi, my name is Sunni and I am a fan of Isabelle McNally (in all her shapely eyebrows and green barbour jacket glory). I'm still not sure why she's (semi-)famous, but it really doesn't matter when she's that pretty to look at. 

I like how unspectacular she tries to look in these photos by the Selby. 

after 6 years of deliberation...

I finally got myself a pair of Docs. That is the smile of a smitten 12 year old. 

note to self

In future, do not attempt April Fools unless certain the victim is sharp enough to understand it was a prank, but dull enough to not outsmart the prankster.