Sydney trip - stopping to observe and appreciate

Although my trip to Sydney was for work (apart from Friday when I had the day off), I felt so relaxed. I spent the time taking things in. Slowing down. Stopping to observe and appreciate.

I didn't watch TV. My internet was limited to the iPhone. It was nice.

I read a book. I can't recall the last time I've read a book! Over a year ago. I was engrossed in Jodi Picoult's House Rules on the plane there and back, and in the hotel room on both nights. Like most of Jodi's books, it was formulaic, but I enjoyed the depth of research she has done to create the characters and the plot.

Sydney's weather was cold to people who lived there, but balmy and warm to a Melburnian like me. Its 16 degrees didn't have the ice of Melbourne's 16 degrees.

I will blog about food in a separate entry. It was that good!

I picked up some really great messages from the conference I attended. I considered the way I want to further make a difference in the disability community. And reflected on my own achievements, and the goals I want to make in the future.

One of the lines spoken at the conference was 'will it be your condition or decision that will change your life?' I think about this a lot, even before I went to the conference. I believe life is about who you are and what you do in the world, and if you have a difficult card dealt to you, make the decision to live well and make a difference, rather than wallowing.

I met some inspiring people that I am excited about keeping in touch with.

Here is what I stopped to see. I took note of the beautiful architecture and the history. I thought of the British settlers building these magnificent buildings from 1788.

The next bit is image heavy. I took a lot of photos. Taking the photos really allowed me to look at minute details.

Good morning Sydney! Oh your possibilities. You're more beautiful than I once gave you credit for.



Late night walk down Macquarie Street. It was lovely.




Amazing light projections on Macquarie Street buildings for the Vivid Sydney celebrations. There was a story on each main building in the street. My photos don't do it justice. So spectacular. Thank you taxi driver for pointing this out to me.



The Sydney Harbour Bridge at different times of the day and from different angles.



A gorgeous shop in Paddington. I wanted to take more photos of the terrace shops, but I was torn between shopping and taking photos like a tourist. I chose a little shopping.

The view from the plane as I left Sydney. I love how I can see the sea and the land and the clouds.




Here are some photos of the beautiful sunset as I flew in to Melbourne through the clouds. I really enjoy looking at the texture of clouds and the colours within. I imagine being cushioned in them.






As I wrote on my Facebook status at the airport, Oh Sydney! You've tired me out! Balmy weather. Shopping strips. Work function. Looking forward to walking into the arms of my Melbourne soon.

Rest in peace Toby dog

It's strange, things have not registered yet. My parents have told me that my beautiful dog (pet by distance) Toby died tonight. I feel empty but not emotional. I feel like I should be feeling more.

Toby died suddenly. They are not sure why he died, but pining because of Jazzy's death in March may have had something to do with it. As much as Jazzy annoyed him through being boisterous, they loved each other so much.

Toby would turn 10 on 9 December, the day after my birthday. When we got him, my friend Lucy was down to stay and I was at work. Lucy went with my parents to pick him up. He was such a naughty puppy! I remember one day when he was a baby, I came home from uni feeling a bit hung over after a big night out, let him out of his run, and I went to nap. He pulled all the washing off the line and was proudly sitting in the sheets. I couldn't be mad at him because he was so cute.

Another funny thing was although he is a water dog, he is such a fraidy cat around water. He will go around a soaker hose instead of stepping over it because he did't want to get wet!

I had a nice play with Toby at Easter. He was lost without Jazz but he relished the one on one attention. He carefully chose his toys in toy bucket. He was very particular. He knew he wanted his pink squeaker. Not the frisbee, not the treat ball, just his squeaker. We played squeaker for ages on the lawn. He was bounding and snuggling like he did when he was a baby.

He was also getting bones daily. Not just for special treats like when Jazzy was alive. Daily! All his Christmases came at once.

I was really proud when he started taking treats directly from my hand. He was always so wary of people feeding him. I tried to sneak him extra because Jazzy would always steal his. Once, Mum fed them their worm tablets and Toby was too slow in taking it so Jazz ate his!

Mum said he caught two rabbits these past few days. I said to her this morning he would have been glad not to have had to share them with Jazz. Jazz would walk around with a rabbit head for days, and rub it against your legs - yuck! I hope Toby enjoyed his last two rabbits.

Even though Toby and Jazz are my pets by distance, I love them like they lived with me. Mum and Dad, and me when I lived at home, gave the dogs the best life a dog can have. They loved it at home, and gave us so much love and joy.

I can't remember when we didn't have a dog. We've had one or more almost constantly since 1990, minus five months between Meg's death in 2000 and getting Toby in 2001. Having a pet is like having a child. They idolise you - and there's not even that period in their life when you're embarrassing to them like with a teenager. They love you forever, and need you for all of their life. I am amazed about the love shown by them when they look into your eyes. And how perceptive they are - they know what you're saying, and they'll always listen. I feel for my parents now because they've lost another child.

We called Toby 'Toto' - like on the Wizard of Oz. The name 'Toto' probably didn't suit him because he was a big dog, not at all dainty. But I think Toto will be sniffing out bones (or 'boe-boes' as we called them) along the yellow brick road forever - probably trying to guard his bones from Jazz!

Rest in peace Toby, I love you.

Edit - Lucy has reminded me - he would get so excited he would do a wee! I also remember a friend came to visit and Toby was so excited he jumped through the fly screen, tearing it off the door frame!

Here we are now. Entertain us. - Asian Snack Challenge finale

My friend greeted me after tonight's uni class. 'Beer, Mate', he said.

'Wife Cake', I replied, and nodded.

'Hot Kid', we said in unison. And laughed and laughed.

Tonight was nostalgic. It was my final ever class of my Master of Communication degree (before I embark on my thesis). Which also means the final structured and scheduled Asian Snack Challenge.

We walked from class convincing university lecturers and students alike that the Asian Snack Challenge was something to behold. We went into the ins and outs of the names of the snacks, and the concept of the Challenge, bragging just how big it's become.

I actually had a tear in my eye, reflecting on just how great it's been. It was a tear of laughter though. We laughed and laughed about the one liners of Kickapoo Joy Juice, Beer Mate, Get that Sausage, Pocky, Mushroom Jerk (not to be confused with my ex boyfriend), Instant Poo. Oh the memories.

Here are some more things that will be etched in our memory forever.

We wondered if Oatmeal Deluxe is a tautology? Oatmeal is a pretty simple food, yeah?

This is a prawn. From a bag of Prawn Salad. No, we didn't think it was lettuce and prawns with lemon dressing either.

Here is the Justin Bieber of the Asian potato chips.

I wonder what the other 98% is??

So I googled lactic acid. 'Lactic acid is formed from glucose, and used by working muscles for energy. Now it is thought that muscle cells convert glucose or glycogen to lactic acid. Then lactic acid is absorbed converted to a fuel by mitochondria in muscle cells'. Mmmm these snacks sound delicious.

If EVERYONE says 'Good Good Eat' it must be tasty! Mass endorsement.Talk about peer pressure.

Oh Powerful Candy.

It's like the Superman of candy. I picture a lemon wearing a cape, saving the apples from going brown.

Pocket Rocket. Not to be mistaken for me on most days.

This product contains 0.00% Alcohol. I better have a breath test just in case.


Snack Challengers were coming out of the woodwork. It was as though they were in on our game. Clearly word has got around.

We used Asian Snack Challenge like it was a verb.

'Do you Asian Snack Challenge?' I asked others in the grocer tonight.

We met David. He is a fellow Snack Challenger that we happened to stumble across in the biscuit/dried fruit/sweet-savoury aisle.

Here he is posing with some bourbon chocolate.

Note the man on the box looks like an alcoholic. Actualy, the photo makes me look drunk,


I talked to David about how often he Challenges the Asian Snack.

'Once a week', he said.

Same.

I showed him the Beer Mate and the Instant Poo. He enjoyed seeing these things.

David recommended we try some drinks titled 'Whatever' and 'Something Else'. I love these names. Sadly there were not in stock. I will have to seek them out. Import them perhaps.

A lady in the grocer also recommended Kickapoo Joy Juice. We told her we'd tried it last week. I think she told us abut the Joy Juice because she heard how much fun we were having looking and laughing at the candy hot dogs.


Cutest candy ever. Gummy shaped hot dogs. If I had a doll house...

We were distracted by the other Snack Challengers in the grocer. Our decisions were hasty. Hell, I could barely make a decision. I wandered around aimlessly with a pouch of pineapple vinegar for so long we missed the train.


Here is our haul. Fellow commuters realised the importance of the Challenge as they vacated the seat for us to use for photographs.


My friend's first selection was Hand Brand peanuts.

Microscopic peanuts. Microscopic but tasty.

'Big flavour, little nut', I said. We laughed and laughed.

And as he reached the bottom of the bag, the nuts kept on getting smaller.

He also bought Crunky, which tasted like cardboard.
I'll take his word for it. I actually thought that Crunky was cranky chocolate. I'd be cranky too if I tasted like cardboard.

My friend drank Deep Master drink. Serving suggestion: to be drunk before conversation.

He said it tasted shallower than the drink he imagined. 'To be honest, it could be a lot deeper' he said.

And our conversation was certainly not deep once he drank Deep Master.

If anything, our conversation was shallow. We reverted to talking about how the line 'do you Snack Challenge often?' is the new pick up line. And some may say that by met getting a fellow Snack Challenger's email address tonight is half way to getting a phone number.

My friend paid me the ultimate compliment. On choosing some pineapple cakes for me, he noted they contained high class oil.

'High class oil for a high class chick' he said. (The high class chick refers to me.) Awww shucks. What a compliment. Being paired up with oil contained in a pineapple cake. Classy.

FYI the pineapple cake was not nice. It was dry and crumbly and had a wedge of dried pineapple in the middle. My friend thought the middle tasted and felt like bubblegum. He wasn't sure whether he should swallow or blow bubbles.

Here it is, half eaten, alone on a seat. I rejected it good.


I also had Chocolate Collan. Or 'chocolate colon' as I said. I couldn't open my colon. 'What's wrong with my colon?' I asked.

They were wafer rolls with creamy chocolate centres.

They were so so. Then again, I don't really enjoy chocolate.

The pinnacle of the Asian Snack Challenge tonight was to be the bevvy. Only because of the name.

Taste Nirvana.


Its cap said 'happiness in a bottle'.
Tastes like teen spirit, alright.

I felt like I was finally going to be at one with Kurt Cobain through drinking this young coconut juice with real shavings of coconut in it. I imagined it was going to be like Penny Royal Tea.

Doesn't this picture of me and Taste Nirvana just scream 'here we are now. Entertain us'?

But as soon as a popped the cap (or rather, my friend did as I'm hopeless with opening packaging), the young coconut juice smelt like crème caramel baby food.

The line from Heart Shaped Box really applied to this shitty bevvy situation. 'Hey! Wait! I got a real complaint'.

It was then I remembered two things: I did not like coconut juice last time I drank it. And caramel is a food on my most hated list. The smell made me queasy. I didn't think caramel had the power to do that, because I never eat it. Note to self: YOU ARE A FOOL FOR CHOOSING THIS DRINK BASED ON CONNOTATIONS OF KURT COBAIN ALONE!

This picture of Kurt Cobain is exactly how I felt after the sip of the Taste Nirvana coconut juice.


I felt Kurt Cobain let me down. It was not the Kurt I imagined. Courtney Love tampered with him or something.

Yuck. (I still love you Kurt.)

And that my friends is the final Asian Snack Challenge for now. I hope to do sporadic ones someday soon. In the meantime, look out for something big and exciting that the Asian Snack Challenge is destined for in the not too distant future.

It has been a blast. I have enjoyed the laughs and creating the commentary. Thanks for playing along.

Tastes like fish food!
There's so much do do in this random food venture!
Laughing cookies
Get that Sausage!
A little bit of Japanish
I wanna take a ride on your biscuit stick!
Kickapoo Joy Juice

Music I've been missing - Motorace, Five Star Laundry

Tonight before I started packing for my mid-week trip to Sydney (I'm so excited!!) I thought about more music I've been missing. I wanted something good to pack to, given I am the world's worst packer.

I repeat. The world's worst packer. I go somewhere for three days and I am equipped for a month of all seasons. And I hardly wear any of it when I get there. I need to do a short course in packing. I actually have an article about how to pack minimally by Janice Breen Burns stuck to my fridge. It's right below a letter from a senior manager in my organisation telling me what a great employee I am. This letter reminds me how I've succeeded. The article reminds me I am a failure in some things.

I digress.

The music I've been missing was Motorace. Their Five Star Laundry CD was perfect for packing. Grunty, rocky, indie, loud, Australian and great lyrics.

I bought this CD in 2001. I guess it was one of the first indie sounding CDs I owned. I felt cool because I was listening to something 'alternative'.

Motorace were also one of the first bands I'd seen play at a pub. Maybe even the first. In 2000, I saw The Whitlams, Stella One Eleven, Motorace and the Screaming Jets at The Termo (RIP - it's since burnt down) in Albury. Good times. After the Motorace gig, I learnt the effects of drinking and late nights and smoky environments. I remember presenting a Human Resources assignment to the class the day after Motorace, and I'd lost my voice.

Their song Death Defy was the theme song to The Secret Life of Us, an Australian TV show set in St Kilda starring Claudia Karvan, Deb Mailman, Joel Edgerton and Samuel Johnson. I love love love this show. When I moved to Melbourne I hoped I'd live in a Secret Life of Us type arrangement. Sadly, this did not happen. But my claim to fame is I once kissed a guy who lived in the house where they filmed the rooftop scenes for The Secret Life of Us.

Here is some of the fabulous Secret Life of Us.



And you can hear Death Defy in this mashup of my two favourite shows - Rush and Secret Life of US! Evan (Secret Life) narrates the scene to Rush! (Warning - it is graphic)



My favourite song from Five Star Laundry is American Shoes. But I cannot locate a video.

So here is the title track, which I also like.



I love their sound. Apparently there is a live Motorace DVD which I must purchase. They have since disbanded. They were a great band.

I am really enjoying finding the music I've been missing.

Music I've been missing - Lo-Tel, Teenager of the Year

Every morning my alarm goes off at 5.54 am. My alarm is my stereo which is tuned to Nova. Not all music Nova plays is to my taste. But sometimes they play gems (gems according to me, anyway!).

They have sadly increased the amount of ads played, but perhaps to compensate, there are less of right-this-minute songs and more songs that I haven't heard in a while. I like it.

Yesterday morning I heard this one.

Teenager of the Year by Lo-Tel.



Teenager of the Year was featured on the soundtrack to the book-turned-movie Looking for Alibrandi (by Melina Marchetta). I loved this movie. I remember watching it at the cinema in my first year of university and could relate to a lot of things the characters went through. I was always amazed that Pia Miranda was 26 or something when she played an 18 year old. I preferred Kick Gurry's character to Matthew Newton's.

So I dug out the brilliant Looking for Alibrandi soundtrack and had Teenager of the Year on replay. I also relished songs by Killing Heidi, Spiderbait, Hamish Cowan and one of my favourite bands ever, Stella one Eleven.

It's nice to be reminded of music you've been missing.

I find with my iPod I listen to the same artists over and over - I don't explore new bands as much, and I don't rifle through my extensive CD collection for treasured songs.

I think I am going to start a new blog 'segment' exploring the music I've been missing. I have a few artists in my mind to revisit.

What music have you been missing?