i want to be in hawaii

Today I got a ukulele from Michelle. Mum and I spent ages trying to tune it, and now I can sort of play Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on it. This has been the most musical that I've been since getting a guitar about two years ago, and the only song that I could play well on that was Green Sleeves. So go figure my musicality...I'm not being humble when I say that I'm tone deaf. There, now you all know my weakness.


(I like photos of Braddah Iz and his uke. It's almost like an optical illusion - does the "guitar" appear small because the man is a giant, or does the man appear to be a giant because he holds a small ukulele...?)

And I will stop pondering that now because I just found the ukulele chords to "Oops I Did it Again"....bye.

miscellaneous cool things which i like

My head has been quite empty lately. No profound thoughts nor random whimsies. Just staying up late watching TV shows and movies online, getting up at noon and then wasting away the afternoons with mum watching Chinese dramas. I should probably find some way of stimulating my brain before it sublimates through my ears.

One good thing about spending this much time on the wondrous internet is that I've come upon quite a few little jems. Take these youtube videos par example:

Amazing teslar coils:

The real Electric Feel(hehe). I'm not sure if those sparks are dangerous, nor the physics behind all this, but if it's possible, I am definitely opening a club with lighting and music powered by tesla coils when I grow up.

Fembot:

I always thought there was something wrong about the development of such life-like robots. I mean, all that research is really just fueled by sexual perversion isn't it?

Bat for Lashes - "What's a Girl to Do?"

I don't know why I like this video so much. I guess because of the random creepiness and seamless execution. Reminds me of Donnie Darko come to think of it.

Human Art

...in slew of my recent rediscovery of the joys of Monkey King. Sometimes I really think the Japanese have different brains to the rest of us.

Just a small taste of what I've been up to on youtube. Seeing as I haven't left the house in two days, I have been up to a lot on youtube...

Friday though, I did leave the house to have brunch with friends. Yui gave me a belated birthday present. Guess what it is.




...if you guessed "an axolotl soft toy?" you would be right! Isn't it amazing? To reinforce my previous point, this toy was made in Japan. Yui and mine axolotl obsession have been somewhat of an ongoing joke. She even took me to a pet shop on Tuesday so that I could see a live one. I was not disappointed.

I also saw this bag at a boutique which I often frequent(but have never bought anything from). It's a reversible black leather tote from See by Chloe's new line of handbags.




I wouldn't go as far as to call it "beautiful" or "amazing", but it's really just the bag I'm looking for. It's big enough to be used for uni, but not so big that it's cumbersome. And the fact that it's reversible caters perfectly for my self-diagnosed bi-polar tendencies. It's great! It's perfect! Except for it's price($450 even on sale). Damn.

Luckily, I'm going to Hong Kong and then China in a few days. Chances are I will find something quite similar for a much lower price. Who knows...

Oh, and one last thing which made me fall off my chair.



Trust me, you'll want to read the story behind this one.

long hair and learner's permit

Here are some shots from a roll I developed a while ago. Christmas Eve to New Year's Day I think.


Hana chillin' on rooftop.


No photos plz.


Grimacing pussy cat, or something.


Cool chair.


Mum driving home on Christmas Eve.


Gabby eating noodles.


Jayne's poor focusing. I am holding up a weird sushi I wrapped myself.


Oliver at Gabby's watching weird music videos on new year's day.


Michelle on the grass. Her stretcher is looking both badass and cute.

Didn't like most of that roll, so I'm hoping to take some better ones on the next roll. Now that I have new glasses, I might be able to take photos which are actually in focus. Also, I am feeling like a change. I think I want long hair again, so I might buy a wig. I want to look like one of those Asian girls with long wavy hair and huge doe eyes, and then surprise everyone when I open my mouth and talk like a nihilistic cynic. It would be funny. And also, I really need to get my learner's permit. It's weird being 18 with no ID. Sort of defeats the purpose of it all, really.

sleeping pills

I got my results today. Not too shabby (enough to get me into the course I want) but nothing to show off either. I was expecting to do worse, and had thus been having elaborate discussions of suicide with Gabby. My idea was that if I were to kill myself, the one thing I'd make sure of is that I would die. Guns seemed like a good idea, orginially, but it's too much blood really. Wouldn't allow for a proper funeral with an open casket. And Bernie's dad, who's a pediatrician, has had a few instances of boys who have come in with half a face blown off due to a poorly executed suicide. And where would I even get a gun anyway? So in my opinion, it's probably safer to just take 10 bottles of sleeping pills. But then there's the issue of being found before you properly die, and then being rushed to the hospital to get your stomach pumped. The only way to stay safe would be to take a train out to the middle of nowhere without telling anyone, and take the pills in peace. I would want someone to find me though, so before I leave on my suicide mission, I would write a blog post explaining where I am and why I have killed myself. And the entry would be scheduled to be posted after I have well and truly died. It would be spooky for all those who read it, and possibly even cause a bit of a media sensation. I felt a little freaked out by my own morbidity and enthusiasm when I had described all this in detail to Gabby last night.

But don't worry, I'm not telling you all about my fantasy suicide because I am depressed. On the contrary, I am quite content right now. I'm just having a bit of a "what now?" type day and have nothing particularly interesting to share.

I did get new glasses though. They are tortoise shell but look like plain black in these photos. I wish they would stop slipping off my nose.

holy shit it's 2009?!

This is how I spent New Year's Eve. The last moment's of 2008 was a group of us crowded around Gabby's new macbook having too much fun with photobooth. The first moments of 2009 was spent infront of the TV with Gabby yelling at Oliver for not pouring the champagne fast enough to make the countdown, and Eddie complaining that the Melbourne fireworks were "pov". We were then all rickroll'd by some music channel.

I sincerely hope the rest of you haven't began the year as complete dorks.

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!