tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32240407368875541102024-03-06T02:08:35.993+11:00Journey of DawnMy treasure box of memories, holding fragments of my past.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-28492332161977503072014-11-16T19:15:00.002+11:002021-05-22T14:34:19.130+10:00Braised Pork Belly - 卤肉饭Original recipe in Chinese is linked <a href="http://home.meishichina.com/recipe-194927.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Ingredients: see original recipe for photo (you can use the photo to estimate how much you need)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>1 big piece of pork belly (~250g)</li>
<li>4 Chinese mushroom (冬菇 - soaked to rehydrate it beforehand, you don't really need this)</li>
<li>1/2 and onion</li>
<li>1/2 a garlic</li>
<li>2 bok choy</li>
<li>1 egg (I use 2 because I like egg)</li>
<li>rice</li>
</ul>
Seasoning:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>1 tablespoon cooking wine</li>
<li>5 pieces of rock sugar (or just a few pinches of sugar)</li>
<li>2 tablespoon soy sauce</li>
<li>1/2 teaspoon five spices powder (essential for flavour!)</li>
<li>oil</li>
</ul>
<a name='more'></a>You can adjust all ingredients and seasoning according to taste or substitute or leave out things as needed.<br />
<br />
There's 3 parts to the recipe: the braised pork (takes around an hour and a half), the rice (takes as long as your rice cooker takes) and the bok choy (takes maybe around 5 mins).<br />
<ol>
<li>Hard boil the egg.</li>
<li>Rinse the pork belly, and cut into 1 cm strips.</li>
<li>Chop the Chinese mushroom and onion into small cubes, and finely chop the garlic.</li>
<li>Add a small amount of oil to a hot pan, put in the pork belly strips and stir fry until there is some golden colour on the surface and some of the oil inside the pork belly has been cooked out.</li>
<li>Add onion, garlic and Chinese mushroom and stir until the smell of the onion and garlic come out (does not take very long).</li>
<li>Add cooking wine, soy sauce, five spices powder, sugar and stir.</li>
<li>Add in a suitable amount of water (I added enough to cover the pork belly and partially submerge the egg that will be added in the next step, I also add in boiled water, but that may not be necessary). </li>
<li>After the water has boiled, turn down the heat, add in hard boiled egg (without shell) and simmer for about 90 mins (here I often only cooked for around 1 hour, just check that the pork belly is soft and has good flavour and it'll be fine. I also turn the egg once in a while to get an even coating of sauce and stir the pork belly).</li>
<li>Before the braised pork belly is done, cook the rice, try and time it so that it's done around when the pork belly will be done)</li>
<li>Just before the braised pork belly is done, boil water in another pan, add a few drops and oil and cook the bok choy.</li>
<li>Put rice into a bowl, put pork belly, sauce, egg and boy choy on top and enjoy!</li>
</ol>
No photos here, go to the original recipe linked in the first line if you want photos.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-87114417399253855992012-07-16T20:38:00.000+10:002012-07-16T21:15:58.806+10:00What the Tour Guide said about Vaucluse HouseWhat follows will be a word dump of everything I remember of what the tour guide said and what I thought was interesting. This is more for my benefit than anyone else's, this is so interesting to me and I don't want to forget it. I wished I'd done something like this after I went to the Sydney Jewsish Museum in year 8 or 9.<br />
<br />
I consulted the site of the Historical Houses Trust and Wikipedia during the writing of this to jog my memory and to get the upstairs rooms right, the upstairs area of the house is fairly twisty and confusing and I'm no good with building a mental picture of it when it's not really regular. When I quote the guide, that's from my memory, and it is fallible. The information I've got here may not be absolutely factual depending on my memory and the accuracy of what the guide told me.<br />
<br />
Don't read this if you're not interested in the customs and houses of rich early colonial families. You have been warned.<br />
<b></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b><i>Location</i></b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
Vaucluse House is in a fairly isolated location, reflecting the social position of the Wentworths. While Wentworth himself was rich and influential, his wife Sarah nee Nox had been living with him for two year before marriage and in that time bore him two children (they had ten in total - three sons and seven daughters). The pre-martial living arrangement (and the children, of course) made Sarah something of a social outcast in the colony, so their children also had little opportunity to socialise with other children (especially important for finding potential suitors for their seven daughter)<br />
<br />
<b><i>Dining Room</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b><br />
The room where I caught up with the tour guide is the dining room. At that time, dining rooms were thought to be masculine rooms, so the colour scheme is dark, there are no draps, which are seen to be feminine, it's all dark wood and gold inlays and there's a huge fireplace. The china plates were from China (with the unmistakably Chinese red and pink patterns you see on even on Chinese bowls today), in other words, very valuable in that era (this will come up several times throughout the tour, Chinese items were very popular and very costly at that time), the chairs had embossed Spanish leather upholstery and the cutlery had ivory handles (Guide: the poor elephants for their ivory).<br />
<br />
Women would "withdraw" from the dining room after the meal to the drawing room, while the men stayed in the dining room to talk and have cigars. The tour guide said that people often asked why the drawing room was called that "Did they draw in it?", but no, it's because women would with<i>draw</i> into it after the meal. They had to, the guide explained to us that at that time, women had to wear stays and corsets, which made them physically very weak. He said this: "We think that what the Chinese did to their young ladies were cruel, with binding their feet, you know, but the English used to make girls wear stays when they were six, to keep their waists thin. All the women were squeezed into these tiny corsets, and if they took it off they wouldn't be able to sit up, because they never developed muscles there. No wonder they were so prone to fainting spells, and needing smelling salts, this is what all the swooning was about. Remember that they would have had many many layers on, they couldn't even go to the toilet after they were dressed up because their clothing would be in the way. The petticoat liberated women down to six (not sure about this number) layers, mind you, us blokes would have also had about four layers on, and you can imagine with Australia being much hotter than England."<br />
<br />
Before we left the room he showed us a little handle next to the fireplace, and when he swung it down, a bell rang. It could be heard in the servants' wing and was used to signal the servants. The guide told us that every room downstair (not sure if he said downstairs) had a bell like that, and they all sounded different so the servants would know which room they were needed in, but they all sounded the same to him.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>Drawing Room</i></b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
The drawing room was next, this is where the women came to gossip and chat after meals and it really was fairly obviously more feminine. There's draps and the colours are light and cream and gold and there's cushions and lovely ornaments. The drawing room is actually the original room of the original stone cottage. Vaucluse House was originally a stone cottage built by a fairly dodgy knight (Guide: the government didn't really know what to do with him, so they basically told him, there's a plot of land over <i>there</i>, why don't you take that and stay out of the way), and he named the house after some old poet. <span style="background-color: white;">Wentworth bought the stone cottage from the dodgy knight </span><span style="background-color: white;">and then expanded it, first the downstairs rooms, the servant wings and then upstairs. He opened a false door to show us the original stone wall of the cottage, and he said (more or less, I can't remember his exact words now): "But of course he didn't put that in to show off the original stone walls, the people of that time were very particular about symmetry. Everything had to be symmetrical. If you look at this room almost everything is symmetrical, the windows, the layout, and this fake door is put in to be </span><span style="background-color: white;">symmetrical</span><span style="background-color: white;"> to that door *pointing to the door we just came through*. It's like, yin and yang." Notice the Chinese reference again?</span><br />
<br />
"Notice how opulent the room is? This was meant as a room for the daughters to meet potential suitors, it had to be, put it this way, he had seven daughters to marry off, this is his way of showing he's rich. And he was one of the richest man on the colony. The wallpapers are reproductions, but the fresc (I don't know how it's spelt, I think it's pronounced "frisk" but it's the floral wallpaper border) are the original. They were drawn here in Australia, then sent back to England to be painted, then sent back to Australia to be applied (I don't exactly remember this bit, just that they were began in Australia, sent to England to do be continued and got sent back again, might be designed here, drawn in England and painted here, the point being that Wentworth went through some trouble to get these done, sent them to England and back). The carpet has lined edges (the carpet's edges had a raised woven edge that wrapped around it), this is a reproduction, but the original was done this way too, it means that the carpet was woven specifically for this room and made to fit the dimensions of the room." And it's such a lovely room, it had tall glass windows that allowed the sun to come in and had a view of the pleasure gardens, the wallpapers were beautiful and the furnitures are exquisite. I saw a lovely chess set there, with white and red pieces.<br />
<br />
<b><i>The Little Tea Room</i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">This little tea room is where one of the daughters comes to enjoy her tea. By examining the joinery of the room, they were able to determine that this room is probably the first expansion of the house. It had a little wooden locked stand/box where tea leaves were stored, and it the daughter always had the key with her. This is because tea was very expensive at that time, it literally had to go around the world twice before it came to Australia, and while servants don't drink tea (guide: they were perfectly happy with their rum), they knew they know the price of tea on the black market. The tea stand has department so the daughter can mix her own tea blends. There's a portrait of the daughter hanging on the wall above the fireplace (it looks strange because the neck is too long - guide: you can see the artist took some liberty with her neck) but I really can't remember her name. I was trying to read the calligraphy on paper on the table in the room, but the guide told me they were just props (yeah, the paper's not yellow enough for it to be real) and that he probably wrote some of that.</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><i>The Mystery Room</i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">It's a rectangular room that can open up into the veranda and the historians don't really know what it's for. One theory comes back to their obsession with symmetry, as there is another room on the opposite side of the house that's the same shape and size, called the strangers' room (now used by the Historic Houses Trust as an administrative office). They were used to house travellers who were riding by (guide: though who would be riding by here I don't know, it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere). They had their own bathrooms but had no access to the main house, which makes sense. This is the only room in Vaucluse House that the Historic Houses Trust rents out. It can be used as a luncheon room and used for other functions (guide: though I have seen some brides duck in here to touch up before their big entrance).</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><i>Stairs</i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The guide pointed out the base of the stairs are barred by a white gate, which is used to keep the dogs from going upstairs (and they had really big dogs then). On top of all the stairs are also gates, this time to keep the children from going downstairs. So "no dogs upstairs and no children downstairs". If the children were ever taken downstairs, it was to show them off to guests, they would be dressed in lovely clothing, sent down to play the piano, do a little recital and taken upstairs again.</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><i>The Second Room</i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Upstairs, finally: this is a fairly big room where the family would have spent most of their time when there are no guests. The downstairs rooms were opulent, but they weren't child safe. The upstairs rooms were, and w</span><span style="background-color: white;">hen there were no guests the whole downstairs area was closed up, the family just used the upstairs area.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> The family would have stayed in this room a lot, they would have had their meal here too (guide: notice that it's a fair way from the kitchen, but that's not their problem, the servants have to cook it and bring it up here to them).</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><i>Master Bedroom</i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">This is where the fun part (for me) was. The bed they slept on was so piled with three layers of mattresses: the bottom most filled with hay, the one above that with horse hair, and the topmost one stuffed with down feathers. Every day after the family has woken up, the servants would have to take the whole thing apart, air it out, and put it back together again. This is a measure used to ensure some degree of hygiene and to get rid of beg bugs. (guide: this is where a nursery rhyme we now have came from, "don't let the beg bugs bite", and I suppose this is why there was the story with the princess and the pea) The bed, when made, was so high off the ground that there was a little wooden movable three step device that lets them get onto the bed. But, the steps double as something else. If you open the top of the steps, it's actually a chamber pot, where the second step is the actual bowl the waste goes into and the top step is where wool is stored, to be used as toilet paper. (guide: in light of this the saying "got out of the wrong side of the bed" makes more sense, if after a full night where you did your business, you stepped out of the wrong side of bed, you know what you would step into) The bed is also a lot shorter than the bed we're used to, and the part close to the headboard is raised, sort of like a shallow sofa. This is because while modern people sleep lying down flat, the people of that time slept almost sitting up. This is why they had so many things like night gowns and night caps, they were there to make sure their upper body stayed warm. The reason for sleeping that way is because people of that time often had respiratory problems due to the use of coal and things like that, so they had to sleep upright to help them breathe.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The room (and the whole upstairs area in general) is very practical and austere compared to the opulence of the ground floor, the floor is not carpeted, but it instead paved with wood, there are no gold inlays etc. This is because upstairs is the family's personal area, no guest would have been able to see it, there was no need to show off to anyone. Another reason that the floor is wood instead of carpet is because the couple's bath would have been taken up to their room on the first floor, water taken up here by the servants and then the whole set up taken back down again when the bath is done (there was no plumbing upstairs). It would have gotten the floor wet, and that would be hard to clean up if it was carpeted. </span><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><i>Fiztwilliam's Room in the Hall</i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">This house has some wasted spaces due to its nature of being expanded from one room. This is a prime example: this is originally a corridor that went nowhere (not the only one in the house, I saw another, no as long, more like an alcove, where they put a tall cupboard in). But it was sectioned off using a large wardrobe that had a door in the middle. The wardrobe didn't even reach to the ceiling. This is where the younger son slept when he came home (he's usually living at his school - Sydney Grammar, if I rememeber right). One of the strange things about it is that the doors and drawers of the cupboard were on the outside, so Fiztwilliam wouldn't have been able to reach it from inside his "room". The guide explained that this is because the servants had to lay out his clothing for him, and then dress him. If no servants helped him dress he would sit naked in bed. This is not because he was spoilt, but because at that time no one could dress themselves. Elastic were not invented yet, underwear were literally tied onto you with string, sleeves and other pieces of the complicated clothing they wore then were pieced together using metal clasps. So the servants had to dress each other and then the servants would dress the masters.</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><i>Children's Room</i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">This is on the second floor, and acts as a nursery for the four young children. The guide told us that to the green in the wallpapers in this room, the people back then had to put arsenic in it. He said that it's pretty incomprehensible to him that to get that green, they would put arsenic on the nursery wallpaper and hope the children don't lick it.</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><i>Miss Wentworth's Room</i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The older Wentworth daughters lived here, and it's a fairly typical teenage girl room for its time. Guide: notice that the chamberpot is just sitting there in the middle of the room. If you think about it, they had so many other restrictions on their behaviour at that time compared to the modern teenage girls, who wold bare their midriffs or wear skinny jeans. The Wentworth daughters wouldn't have thought of doing any of that, but they had their toilet facilities sitting in the middle of their room, and if you ask a teenage girl now none of them would consent to doing something like that. It just shows how taboos and thoughts change, and how it can sort of flip.</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white;"><i>Sarah's Landing</i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">This is just a little landing on top of the stairs with a lovely view of the bay (before the council planted the huge trees). There's a couch and a table and there's a nice breeze coming in through the window, and apparently Sarah, Wentworth's wife, would often spend time here when there's free time. (guide: if it's a nice day, you might find one of the guides here...studying...)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
Around 2700 words. I could have written two After the Bomb creative with that many words :( I still only have one up my sleeve.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-9915013171838617192012-07-11T00:57:00.001+10:002012-07-11T00:58:59.532+10:00Watson Bay, Vaucluse House, Double Bay ice creamWe had another one of those almost obligatory holiday family outing last Friday (6th July), and it's not the Fish Markets this time! Mum was really prepared this time, she had this old tourist book that the government prints, you know the ones that you get at the airport? She looked through one of those and she had been talking about all these locations for ages before this.<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">First stop: Watson Bay. Mum wanted to see The Gap, which is these two stone cliffs that you can go on and look out at sea. </span><span style="background-color: white;">According to her convicts used to go and stand on those, and looking out at the ocean, it would really hit them that it's next to impossible to escape, so (you guessed it) they would commit suicide by jumping into the ocean. </span><span style="background-color: white;">Apparently it still is a prime spot for people looking to commit suicide, because there's a couple of signs telling you there's hope and there's help, and there's a telephone booth with two buttons: one for emergency services, one for Lifeline.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3BoW1wgrbxmBpBS1y2060jTonCJxGgip7eNFaJuWdjnOh1K-Oo30sB3DwIEQSG2Aw1iJ0tdZTXw1B0qEW3swxon0RHuMMBKRgdJlhpaJ7-IS43ATEqj5_fg1MqnZklLyC1Nj0BTbKiQA/s1600/DSC01446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3BoW1wgrbxmBpBS1y2060jTonCJxGgip7eNFaJuWdjnOh1K-Oo30sB3DwIEQSG2Aw1iJ0tdZTXw1B0qEW3swxon0RHuMMBKRgdJlhpaJ7-IS43ATEqj5_fg1MqnZklLyC1Nj0BTbKiQA/s640/DSC01446.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">It really is a beautiful place and my descriptions does it no justice at all.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZL241HXt_1YiZDpw6TphksfpZkETuPd_5xMUoqSz3dokjzs048hsM3cl0O5PLDCD1fPlunKdWcDBcddTUEoOWcrovJpXtTwAQ01xGurWZNBLU7d-ths4Fagh9HVoN87CegHQ7irx3yFA/s1600/DSC01448.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZL241HXt_1YiZDpw6TphksfpZkETuPd_5xMUoqSz3dokjzs048hsM3cl0O5PLDCD1fPlunKdWcDBcddTUEoOWcrovJpXtTwAQ01xGurWZNBLU7d-ths4Fagh9HVoN87CegHQ7irx3yFA/s640/DSC01448.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmr265mEQc157eT200ueGXrwFti13QGj4qKdWik71PdMa9CYKwnuiVHvyixNJ4ZjJlDLYSx1IJNyjW6f1KNSujX0wriEqBcdcAV6yHGGBxOBsO2efWFsZ-Fybx9uuGUlpYYZW631I_4yw/s1600/DSC01451.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmr265mEQc157eT200ueGXrwFti13QGj4qKdWik71PdMa9CYKwnuiVHvyixNJ4ZjJlDLYSx1IJNyjW6f1KNSujX0wriEqBcdcAV6yHGGBxOBsO2efWFsZ-Fybx9uuGUlpYYZW631I_4yw/s640/DSC01451.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpW9zLfPPI15cqzD0aVd0ppZ2dUGMtkjlVBM2iT8D8AXz3Z458P81ymqdB8OH2puWZFS4-XekUsfVjftJu3V0K6BKfW43BVzZluZ1y-CBT8IajYdymv63GdQy-NEVSHK3fwAfoWliAavE/s1600/DSC01453.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpW9zLfPPI15cqzD0aVd0ppZ2dUGMtkjlVBM2iT8D8AXz3Z458P81ymqdB8OH2puWZFS4-XekUsfVjftJu3V0K6BKfW43BVzZluZ1y-CBT8IajYdymv63GdQy-NEVSHK3fwAfoWliAavE/s640/DSC01453.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim8bz9aexEotkFSr1UwvxKEpipvTrB5zs1W3qVlQQ7o5MSuhWyS2TTTTgV2E4PwUu0qXDOiOachmy10wgQnouq2UYpz1tyUOKIvpCn1aAOsWSX6df15Fq3NPOTzVf2Q8aLj2al5-jTYvI/s1600/DSC01474.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim8bz9aexEotkFSr1UwvxKEpipvTrB5zs1W3qVlQQ7o5MSuhWyS2TTTTgV2E4PwUu0qXDOiOachmy10wgQnouq2UYpz1tyUOKIvpCn1aAOsWSX6df15Fq3NPOTzVf2Q8aLj2al5-jTYvI/s640/DSC01474.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how we got up to the platform on the cliff</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilfXmq96o6uy5eOLwsAX2Q6ElpaLZLbBYqqjIKfUwB6KrQnb2k6pGTGwZUzMA_C5Ld8oyeK1Jr5lvpmcO1SiCbM_szJiCIPJtxJHMoMv1kESjPif0hf6UdF2__zS2KJvfp4Br40YmJwiA/s1600/DSC01479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilfXmq96o6uy5eOLwsAX2Q6ElpaLZLbBYqqjIKfUwB6KrQnb2k6pGTGwZUzMA_C5Ld8oyeK1Jr5lvpmcO1SiCbM_szJiCIPJtxJHMoMv1kESjPif0hf6UdF2__zS2KJvfp4Br40YmJwiA/s640/DSC01479.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">I thought that was cute </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ZNBaYRFlpdijKtIprz6mrzxc4IjVDsTA-yp-aJVettYmwBgRso8CaB6UXtVbaun_S8nKltOT49j5ph2rJ9iq_arUnYW8KC3sKwYlyaMAKvDv7XOzojqhCpNCZbFF6-ZgeTjibr1w8_o/s1600/DSC01500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ZNBaYRFlpdijKtIprz6mrzxc4IjVDsTA-yp-aJVettYmwBgRso8CaB6UXtVbaun_S8nKltOT49j5ph2rJ9iq_arUnYW8KC3sKwYlyaMAKvDv7XOzojqhCpNCZbFF6-ZgeTjibr1w8_o/s640/DSC01500.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkx3cLeiWggZfODM_u6ucfHFyX59x_5JkhsZrr9PMFMk3HEGgtAhWwl4Q1bo7QEkoeEkiUluNkvWSizxjmezwkln6Q9EIJwGJhThwnfiTMnhuZwgBxIgjahZwKwZ3ar1i2qp1NMuFucAc/s1600/DSC01506.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkx3cLeiWggZfODM_u6ucfHFyX59x_5JkhsZrr9PMFMk3HEGgtAhWwl4Q1bo7QEkoeEkiUluNkvWSizxjmezwkln6Q9EIJwGJhThwnfiTMnhuZwgBxIgjahZwKwZ3ar1i2qp1NMuFucAc/s640/DSC01506.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A panoramic view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;">I'm very partial to the sight and sound of crashing waves, it's just breathtaking for mel and that was definitely there at The Gap.</span><br />
<br />
The beach is across from The Gap, less than a kilometre away. I wanted to eat some seafood there, but there was a line and Mum and Grandma told me not to :( I found this on the beach though.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPZz0k9Kt37i3mjFR7ioZeocxxht0-k13cUwpO1bp-8X8nMfQauEqyRNxhIv8mm5l8LIsOyaF0zd-Hx8NDcO9T2xopazTBasgyN2-jtqinZV32FDBNAsuUByNZX14JKrgpgJATeDBC9RI/s1600/DSC01511.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPZz0k9Kt37i3mjFR7ioZeocxxht0-k13cUwpO1bp-8X8nMfQauEqyRNxhIv8mm5l8LIsOyaF0zd-Hx8NDcO9T2xopazTBasgyN2-jtqinZV32FDBNAsuUByNZX14JKrgpgJATeDBC9RI/s640/DSC01511.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwiPGxa1vLkH0OpYedXyToQ8m2WYP1lPMXKTPDjuA72M9tT6w6wuyb6jlHuKKNL564uLJiTbtPBccUzyUbpYvzYd1oEqoJa0TndrDo_Zmg4T_MRWE2KtGGMJQmAtfot2tiD74fH5RxWdg/s1600/DSC01512.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwiPGxa1vLkH0OpYedXyToQ8m2WYP1lPMXKTPDjuA72M9tT6w6wuyb6jlHuKKNL564uLJiTbtPBccUzyUbpYvzYd1oEqoJa0TndrDo_Zmg4T_MRWE2KtGGMJQmAtfot2tiD74fH5RxWdg/s640/DSC01512.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fairly typical Australian beach/bay</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="http://www.hht.net.au/museums/vaucluse_house/">Vaucluse House</a> is where Wentworth and his family lived in the early days of Australia in the early 1800's. Wentworth is fairly well known as "one of our early colonial statesmen". This is my favourite location of the whole day. I really like visiting old places that have a history and story to them, and I especially like listening to the stories behind the house. Luckily, I caught up with a tour guide a little into the house, and I was able to hear most of what he had to say. Unfortunately, I did miss his explanations about the servant wing and everything before that. It would have been very interesting, but I am glad that I could hear about the main part of the house which the family lived in, the visit would have meant so much less without hearing the tour guide talk about it. I learnt so much about the customs and sentiments of upper Australian society at that time (well, they were practically English).<br />
<br />
There's so much that I couldn't have learnt from the Internet because I wouldn't have known to look for it (one of the failings of the Internet is that you have to know what to look for, it's hard to get to the unknown unkowns: the things you don't know you don't know). I didn't get many pictures because I was following the tour guide, but it was so worth it. I want to write down everything I remember from what the guide said, but I'll do that in a separate post.<br />
<br />
Vaucluse House is brilliant, and if you're even remotely interested in the history and customs of early Australian settlers or Victorian era-ish English customs, definitely find time to go have a look. Make sure you do follow a tour guide though, it makes a huge difference.<br />
<br />
What photos I did manage to take:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtxKCchmTCNKfaf6kQZ42EDUI27rDwL_Z7vJO56kw8Mqok8O8X4NpV0XVsBSPX7yTq4G9mDFdjyqLqMsO_S8qmL3hrPmNsbcmnzktfp9lLS5qsNG_9gC1plceoTsfXhPDHUEdAsinMjo/s1600/DSC01514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtxKCchmTCNKfaf6kQZ42EDUI27rDwL_Z7vJO56kw8Mqok8O8X4NpV0XVsBSPX7yTq4G9mDFdjyqLqMsO_S8qmL3hrPmNsbcmnzktfp9lLS5qsNG_9gC1plceoTsfXhPDHUEdAsinMjo/s640/DSC01514.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carriage way<span style="background-color: white;"> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisNIcsNR7jQvs9ATEo11Sh1DnbcrgX9g-fReIp-ZmXyrYuO1tnGlDcZ1yRPcxrSMeGYXCC-5BtR283M3-C4sPafi2LOc6cfEewaAERxR_AqFBAKVFbl6NY1Ra5V_Ac2P1HWIYa4r8Zic8/s1600/DSC01525.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisNIcsNR7jQvs9ATEo11Sh1DnbcrgX9g-fReIp-ZmXyrYuO1tnGlDcZ1yRPcxrSMeGYXCC-5BtR283M3-C4sPafi2LOc6cfEewaAERxR_AqFBAKVFbl6NY1Ra5V_Ac2P1HWIYa4r8Zic8/s640/DSC01525.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebR0EhkrO2neRslhAifS3wDEBl6rBlRRofYTJZx1Z7aLFN1nMwTsmlPxpp9D1SvcbGAhfWvUVieTxEO3UBhoAQ-Pp81fPazFbPKkTuonctWjcTgOX4tPW6_rdlAe1rx0Dl7tg4iD35F8/s1600/DSC01555.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebR0EhkrO2neRslhAifS3wDEBl6rBlRRofYTJZx1Z7aLFN1nMwTsmlPxpp9D1SvcbGAhfWvUVieTxEO3UBhoAQ-Pp81fPazFbPKkTuonctWjcTgOX4tPW6_rdlAe1rx0Dl7tg4iD35F8/s640/DSC01555.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Servants' wing or something: that stove was actually burning wood<span style="background-color: white;"> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7G9FBdSSuvgbEnVeDnyrwIuMugi9-9nQmu_1JwCTEgdBupSf1qLLyU5rWtcBklh8hCULKWaJYdrURAsKdzpezVkrZL9Z-gASSVv7xdUMhZSwUuyAKIbtunNaeVhNuuLrScfdcFR1m15A/s1600/DSC01559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7G9FBdSSuvgbEnVeDnyrwIuMugi9-9nQmu_1JwCTEgdBupSf1qLLyU5rWtcBklh8hCULKWaJYdrURAsKdzpezVkrZL9Z-gASSVv7xdUMhZSwUuyAKIbtunNaeVhNuuLrScfdcFR1m15A/s640/DSC01559.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frontal view of Vaucluse House, the inside looks much better</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Double Bay ice cream is next on the agenda, and it's not called double bay ice cream, it's actually <a href="http://www.frenchriviera.com.au/">French Riviera Ice Cream</a>, but if you google "Double Bay ice cream", this is the first entry. I think it was famous for being Double Bay ice cream, and then moved to the city, then moved back to Double Bay, but at a new location. My friends and I wanted to go to French Riviera Ice Cream after exams were finished, but the sign said that they had moved back to Double Bay. I went to that ice cream shop before it moved to the city and I hadn't been in Australia for long. I remembered it being really cold and I was eating this huge bowl of ice cream while wearing bulky clothing to try and keep warm.<br />
<br />
The experience was, well, underwhelming would be the word. I remembered it being a lot better. It had been in a bigger shop front in a very nice and secluded neighbourhood, and now it's in a little side alley that I wouldn't have been able to find if I hadn't asked a local. I wanted waffles or crêpes, but the machine was broken, so that was that. I chose one that gave me a choice of 6 flavours of ice cream with chocolate sauce, crushed nuts, banana and whipped cream all in a nice glass bowl. The ice cream wasn't bad, but it was just, you know, ice cream, nothing spectacular. It had something to do with atmosphere as well, the adults that were there with me were not very into it at all, I think it might be a lot better if I went with friends.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRTMEJzxv78zmcM72wywjHbNg_sxXe_pW_JFk1lybGSB83k2XhkDSYDey98sH8-Wd6PF8h2rl3QYFqf7DaGlqritg5bfh6SJpXV36RS192K6zdJmNecP6KCwBWNLMfZWI20nIP_t5o-Vo/s1600/DSC01563.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRTMEJzxv78zmcM72wywjHbNg_sxXe_pW_JFk1lybGSB83k2XhkDSYDey98sH8-Wd6PF8h2rl3QYFqf7DaGlqritg5bfh6SJpXV36RS192K6zdJmNecP6KCwBWNLMfZWI20nIP_t5o-Vo/s640/DSC01563.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The family friend who took my Mum and I there the first time was an illegal immigrant that got deported back to Malaysia, and a year (or two) ago he died there. I didn't really think about that when I was there, Mum might of, and I don't even know if Grandma knows he took us there before (she probably does). Not sure what I think or feel about that.<br />
<br />
Last thing on the itinerary for the day was crabs at a Chinese restaurant at Flemington, inside a pub. Pretty good day on the whole, and a lot of fun.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIMpATzRSRQiFUzKPuxb8-A4Eoy6zGT9c5MMePh3YRlxoeTEl-LnXwvrwUSa-X8SandKsinYjqQo1tSpm8KfP-AVtJHlea9nWTXV_JHd9YzZEwggqF5tpkYfkhYw6K3tu4d3JpnBoirBI/s1600/DSC01566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIMpATzRSRQiFUzKPuxb8-A4Eoy6zGT9c5MMePh3YRlxoeTEl-LnXwvrwUSa-X8SandKsinYjqQo1tSpm8KfP-AVtJHlea9nWTXV_JHd9YzZEwggqF5tpkYfkhYw6K3tu4d3JpnBoirBI/s640/DSC01566.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fairly ordinary restaurant, notice that again, the colour scheme does not step beyond the usual Chinese restaurant palette of brown, black, red, white</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-40015514345008595742012-07-10T22:43:00.001+10:002012-07-10T22:43:46.109+10:00Stumbled on a new radio stationI've just recently (by which I mean the day before yesterday) thought of using an Internet radio app with my iPod amplifiers to replace my actual, old and broken as anything radio. I like the smaller radio stations rather than the large commercial ones because there's literally no ads or segments other than music except the occasional reminder of the name of the station you're listening to.<br />
<br />
Right now I'm listening to Light Digital, Melbourne's digital Christian station. Which, obviously, plays Christina themed songs. It's what I think is called religious pop or Christian pop or something, it's like regular pop songs, but they all have lyrics about Christianity. I really really like them. The melodies all fall squarely inside my most comfortable and familiar and most loved sort of music listening area (is there a word for this? they really fit my music tastes?) I like them much better than what most of the other stations are playing, I don't like rapping or really loud music with little to no melody. The music Light Digital is playing just sound really comfortable for me. Listening to radio is always hit and miss, but in the past hour I've only heard one song that I didn't care for (it got a bit too rock and roll with repetitive melody). That's pretty good for me, usually I don't really like one in three songs.<br />
<br />
Some of the lyrics of the songs that the guys sing sounds like they're singing about relationships before you find out in the next verse that it's about Jesus. This says something about contemporary love songs with all their hyperbolic cliches like "eternal love" and everything. At least with the Christian songs they actually mean <i>eternal </i>love.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-33835956352749886092012-06-09T23:27:00.000+10:002012-06-09T23:27:22.468+10:00Trivia learnt in Chemistry tutoringLearnt some fun trivia in Chemistry tutoring today:<br />
<br />
People in poorer countries didn't jump on Coke as much as people in richer countries because they were taught to not drink anything that's not colourless. Coke, being brown, must have seemed a little suspicious. So they drink a lot of sprite and lemonade instead.<br />
<br />
The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland was a parody of people who suffered from mercury poisoning from the mercury used to soften beaver furs used to make felt hats, which made people go sort of loopy.<br />
<br />
That's all folks, I will try to go to sleep now.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-11114273848927339472012-06-08T19:37:00.000+10:002012-06-08T19:37:16.346+10:00Exam was not as stressful as I thought<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWiEckBkatzcohrTtpETFPbZnUlhHeDHBn8JnxgzPyp8jSj-08yjU4oo_ig3SbodHhpBYK-NXyH2c2iBJgNTk4Zoxc3vHyQW0T5XgTr3Kw25_T96QljBYD5BefLEeOs3Oq1SUqljmlfC0/s1600/Colourful+head+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWiEckBkatzcohrTtpETFPbZnUlhHeDHBn8JnxgzPyp8jSj-08yjU4oo_ig3SbodHhpBYK-NXyH2c2iBJgNTk4Zoxc3vHyQW0T5XgTr3Kw25_T96QljBYD5BefLEeOs3Oq1SUqljmlfC0/s320/Colourful+head+cropped.jpg" width="259" /></a></div>
This is what I did with my time on the train. Very rough, it started with swirly patterns and turned into this. I love the thing on Sketchbook Express on the iPad where you can turn and resize the layer with two fingers.<br />
<br />
This exam period wasn't as stressful as I expected, maybe because Chemistry and Physics were both pracs, and now I'm hoping I didn't jinx it. One more exam left, and three days (really only two, but) to study for it. I'll be doing all the past papers for maths extension 1. Then I'll be doing an essay and two assignments for English, fun!Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-69333767515862782822012-04-19T09:58:00.000+10:002012-04-19T10:18:20.993+10:00Footsteps in the sand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHjf2_LpLgYz8ukZva51e1zzkwNzI0zRAYVlfpUH8D8ewPqHfJz3wuPPehRwPbffvwN81LmzL0nirMB_f-U2TDTBW4QY8wdV_AYRmjvwdTPyydZ_xpMTo-f6lEV4vXPAuUjVWytSTVhg/s1600/Footsteps+in+the+sand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHjf2_LpLgYz8ukZva51e1zzkwNzI0zRAYVlfpUH8D8ewPqHfJz3wuPPehRwPbffvwN81LmzL0nirMB_f-U2TDTBW4QY8wdV_AYRmjvwdTPyydZ_xpMTo-f6lEV4vXPAuUjVWytSTVhg/s640/Footsteps+in+the+sand.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
The "I" who stares back at me from further along the road of my life, what do you see? What mistakes will I make? These footsteps in the sand you leave behind, should I fit my shoes into them, or step out a new path?Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-14476208807529739212012-04-18T02:02:00.001+10:002012-04-18T02:02:58.764+10:00PottermoreThings I like about Pottermore:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The art is lovely</li>
<li>Attention to detail in the art and animation is fantastic: the car wiper starts when the mouse passes over it, cat tails swing, candles blow out and light when clicked on, the sausage sizzles when clicked on. Really good. My favourite is the scene inside Hogwarts Express: the animation shows the carriage bouncing on the tracks! (but it made the fans on my laptop go crazy)</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGvLb_WwrHfsiRuwZPmaAa2QbSX_1kwRSbSzW7kPU_w4cnBvRD76uhu6CrXQ8_SqQRqLeQ8XHjpb2mHplsaf2-0lY0yumjIyuTMJAuOiurrdmS1MZoYvQRfjgBlMv4D1MK7WVygH1TN2E/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-04-18+at+12.25.11+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGvLb_WwrHfsiRuwZPmaAa2QbSX_1kwRSbSzW7kPU_w4cnBvRD76uhu6CrXQ8_SqQRqLeQ8XHjpb2mHplsaf2-0lY0yumjIyuTMJAuOiurrdmS1MZoYvQRfjgBlMv4D1MK7WVygH1TN2E/s640/Screen+Shot+2012-04-18+at+12.25.11+AM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>The two layer idea is very clever. Allows for a lot more exploring and story telling, such as in the 4th chapter (I think) in the moment with flying letters where going into the second layer shows you the door nailed shut.</li>
<li>The eyes in the wand selection questions is so pretty~~</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5o8J9jw7snEPVVKIAhyphenhyphenNWoBCq-AZjESCfJtc8r6wMslXIPtiHfTX1uvNP7j4mfgGlo99hfKlWMM809oIqurXSg9Jb7tF_RQPFBcN7Nq8oPbkR874FekQbOo1IYYBsJQRxz0BD5gJo7g/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-04-18+at+12.09.06+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5o8J9jw7snEPVVKIAhyphenhyphenNWoBCq-AZjESCfJtc8r6wMslXIPtiHfTX1uvNP7j4mfgGlo99hfKlWMM809oIqurXSg9Jb7tF_RQPFBcN7Nq8oPbkR874FekQbOo1IYYBsJQRxz0BD5gJo7g/s640/Screen+Shot+2012-04-18+at+12.09.06+AM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>The wand selection quiz is much much better than the random ones you find on the internet and it's much better than I expected. I got Ash with Dragon core, 12 and a half inches, unyielding. I like it!</li>
<li>Ditto for the Sorting Hat. Good questions and really well drawn cards. I got sorted into Ravenclaw! I'm with you Helena! I don't really get the Wizard's Duel game though *shrugs* I'll figure it out. I realised after going back and forth a few times that the questions I got were different very time I went back. I got back the question I first had after the third refresh. That's fairly impressive.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Things that annoy me about Pottermore:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>No real choice of usernames: they give you a list that you can choose from, and there wasn't even a convient refresh button that I could see. And the names sound like they came from a magic themed name generator (you know the ones where you can tell they have a list of words that fit the theme and they choose two at random and put it together? That's exactly what the Pottermore naming system looks like to me) with some ridiculously large number attached to the end. The choices are fairly ... I'll just say not as good as I had hoped (there are gems like MahoganyMidnight, UnicornWil, RoseWild etc.) Those could not have sounded more "My Immortal" style bad fanfic Mary Sue to the extreme if they tried. The lack of choice actually put me off enough that I abandoned the registration at that screen. It was only when Helena said that she'd add me that I went back and continued it and actually got an account. So it's all thanks to Helena, first for reminding me that the website existed so I went on it and encouraging me (though she hadn't realised it) to actually sign on. The option to give your friends a nickname is good because it helps me not lose track of my real life friends in that page.</li>
<li>So much clicking around blindly hoping it triggers <i>something</i>, incredibly annoying</li>
<li>Opening an account in Gringotts: how was I supposed to know that I'm supposed to dragged the key into the lock when all the controls before then was triggered solely by clicking and using the arrow keys?</li>
<li>Our pet will be our avatar? Again, very limited choice, no option to upload our own avatar.</li>
<li>Potions is glitchy and fairly hard to control, problems I ran into: you can not see the wand at first glance, or the second, or the third. It's a pale line that's easily mistaken with the other pale lines on the table (the porcupine spikes) and it almost completely obscured by the bags of ingredients. The mortar is hard to use, and I keep picking up the crushed ingredients instead. Turns out you have to click on the pestel (the bat shaped thing) to crush, missing and clicking on the mortar will only pick up the ingredients. The thing is, the pestel bounces, so it moves every time I click on it.</li>
<li>Not a lot of interaction possible between users, no chat, only comments and games.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Looking back, the complaints I have about the lack of choice can go both ways. It's annoying to have no control, but at the same time I understand that by not letting users have so much choice they can give a far more uniform and controlled experience. I can imagine all manners of weird and may-be-inappropriate usernames (I think the original purpose of that was to keep young children anonymous? Presumably they may be young enough to think that their real names are a good idea). It will be pretty cool to see all the avatars as strictly Harry Potter themed, which I'm sure wouldn't have been the case if user uploaded avatars were allowed. In the end it comes down to <i>young children may use this</i> and all else falls to second place behind ensuring their online safety.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Looking at the house points, I was thinking, wouldn't the house with the most students be at an unfair advantage? From that I extrapolated to the book, wouldn't that be the same for the real Hogwarts (for a given value of "real")</div>
<div>
<br /></div>Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-82383642005609480452012-04-14T15:02:00.000+10:002012-04-14T15:02:11.188+10:00Holiday to do list<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtfsXuJxhIFGLObj9SWUzsH_8P9Bj-ZdK1Ni8-zkLQ4HW37vHIrcI-yAKiCy2nEeISIU5z_24ND4aF19jX4hssmeSGZzbcAOwJgChUOhF8hBegRNsjEnXfsNAaDqw4YaIynQikfsDrQ-k/s1600/Holiday+to+do+list.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtfsXuJxhIFGLObj9SWUzsH_8P9Bj-ZdK1Ni8-zkLQ4HW37vHIrcI-yAKiCy2nEeISIU5z_24ND4aF19jX4hssmeSGZzbcAOwJgChUOhF8hBegRNsjEnXfsNAaDqw4YaIynQikfsDrQ-k/s640/Holiday+to+do+list.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-9411232277458161642012-04-13T13:42:00.002+10:002012-04-13T13:45:22.469+10:00So this is from a few days ago<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5E6XCAdr0LgCOpADlv-LKsWAfTBXGQ-P_qHVWqHNTnK4gC4yYiG3vA_zLVXVx-g4T8o7sTb5x4owEOUG8NQoP8S2xoGyv1yJBQhOqKVGySUFQ-uiWPYyL0U5P1zagl50m0FktCJn8XqQ/s1600/mum+being+mean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5E6XCAdr0LgCOpADlv-LKsWAfTBXGQ-P_qHVWqHNTnK4gC4yYiG3vA_zLVXVx-g4T8o7sTb5x4owEOUG8NQoP8S2xoGyv1yJBQhOqKVGySUFQ-uiWPYyL0U5P1zagl50m0FktCJn8XqQ/s640/mum+being+mean.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I think her weird mood's blown over now, because she's all friendly and nice to me :)<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The proportions are all weird :( But I love the watercolour brush in Paper.</span>Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-29599899659710133242012-04-12T19:18:00.000+10:002012-04-12T19:18:15.511+10:00Mum I'm really not a mind reader<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7MhZ7tA6g11muQicZSJti7gbstiscBiju2fZBtAXv04QKOneFJhbBFq3eLEcgNGfXrlWdL1o_oMutGk6cSGON6pPNzWSsv8Rg85RleZsWH1Wt-uU4bj12yft52iGqvLnTauH19txtkQ/s1600/mum+sulking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7MhZ7tA6g11muQicZSJti7gbstiscBiju2fZBtAXv04QKOneFJhbBFq3eLEcgNGfXrlWdL1o_oMutGk6cSGON6pPNzWSsv8Rg85RleZsWH1Wt-uU4bj12yft52iGqvLnTauH19txtkQ/s640/mum+sulking.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-8913929358538985042012-04-09T09:32:00.001+10:002012-04-09T09:38:04.671+10:00Drawing on iPadSo at first I did these really rough sketches in an app called Paper, which is really nice but is definitely not for detailed work:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYRJ0qyIylkImB_nWRi61g_N5l0AEdWvoV_CXVxblUXbE-EaC-lz4rC_gg8N-EjPJBW1tTPhlKeN2sjoWXl27R4HgYrRLa2DP2JDwUra98d326SiXTM40UmobpcO864sBeGHtJWMwertQ/s1600/Quick+Sketch.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYRJ0qyIylkImB_nWRi61g_N5l0AEdWvoV_CXVxblUXbE-EaC-lz4rC_gg8N-EjPJBW1tTPhlKeN2sjoWXl27R4HgYrRLa2DP2JDwUra98d326SiXTM40UmobpcO864sBeGHtJWMwertQ/s640/Quick+Sketch.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO24YGf-WxjM9tI2QuTjJ1splN2dGwnp25KFl8q7oMxX9pxiu-DYvkI9aFM_NrWKfD2CuO1HWrcwkFQKfUAS48SHTexqbG8D4LP5GT2CzgQNV19X5Ijg_FRBi-1MrwOLXlqTK9F9-GR-E/s1600/Thank+you.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO24YGf-WxjM9tI2QuTjJ1splN2dGwnp25KFl8q7oMxX9pxiu-DYvkI9aFM_NrWKfD2CuO1HWrcwkFQKfUAS48SHTexqbG8D4LP5GT2CzgQNV19X5Ijg_FRBi-1MrwOLXlqTK9F9-GR-E/s640/Thank+you.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
And then I think after Cinda posted up her pro cloud drawing, I went into Sketchbook Express (which I hadn't explored in depth before) and started drawing with my stylus, and finished drawing one character in two nights while sitting on my bed while everyone else is asleep.<br />
<br />
Note that this is not my character, it a simplified version of a character in the manga "Are you Alice?". I used <a href="http://mangafox.me/manga/are_you_alice/v02/c007/30.html">this page</a> as reference. This is pretty much my first time drawing manga characters, so I reckon I should go with copying for a while and figure out my style on the way. I'm still working on (and practising like mad) to draw eyes like that without looking at the reference.<br />
<br />
Here's what came out of it:<br />
<br />
The lineart took 2 and a half hours - that's the first night<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjmCz11ddBPbacSD9pZjUWtoqb2nc3KY7JdTEjxaiwHnXV_9YXgfgrMK_3oWAPra5fdV3ECh_87hgejLYzfvz4VCrxwUUSwZB1-Oeskboks8V-ulXiRTZZPxE5jnDIc1ix4IteV4vhfk8/s1600/Manga+Character+Sketch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjmCz11ddBPbacSD9pZjUWtoqb2nc3KY7JdTEjxaiwHnXV_9YXgfgrMK_3oWAPra5fdV3ECh_87hgejLYzfvz4VCrxwUUSwZB1-Oeskboks8V-ulXiRTZZPxE5jnDIc1ix4IteV4vhfk8/s640/Manga+Character+Sketch.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Then the colouring took 4 and a half hours (last night):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlVqmk6uvBACODy-DrZ4aKyr03V2nt6ta1bfj7KZovbFKUFSOSjSnvcHDG4fInfA0Jbrfe2LcSp_VL6R9YymDWUSGnc2_dkXBqyKYpYTi5_tBa7KOurhREpQxDrRHxvUa3nIByVuBJboM/s1600/Coloured+character+cleaned.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlVqmk6uvBACODy-DrZ4aKyr03V2nt6ta1bfj7KZovbFKUFSOSjSnvcHDG4fInfA0Jbrfe2LcSp_VL6R9YymDWUSGnc2_dkXBqyKYpYTi5_tBa7KOurhREpQxDrRHxvUa3nIByVuBJboM/s640/Coloured+character+cleaned.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Before I cleaned up the mess, it looked like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi39ANde7rsUQxqm4R387asc3ZV7qC_4rlFwGuTaG9IxiADu19APJaoOdUchQpHxYZpwaTKW0usv6_Hmfzm0XAxxWh3i6DbDZn-xEH_bN5XBVZCuRCa-vR7JgENT55NbniJI9_YWVCo70/s1600/Coloured+character+not+cleaned.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi39ANde7rsUQxqm4R387asc3ZV7qC_4rlFwGuTaG9IxiADu19APJaoOdUchQpHxYZpwaTKW0usv6_Hmfzm0XAxxWh3i6DbDZn-xEH_bN5XBVZCuRCa-vR7JgENT55NbniJI9_YWVCo70/s640/Coloured+character+not+cleaned.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Those are the colours (the colour picker function is so awesome) and the opacities and size brushes I used. Turns out, you can manage pretty well without the blend tool if you use very low opacity and five different shades of colour. I was also working with only 3 layers, so I had one layer of lineart on top, and then merge the other two layers before going on to another. I imagine that might not work so well for more complicated drawings.<br />
<br />
The pupil of her eyes make her look either dead of stoned (maybe some lighter blue on the edges?) and I think I should have done more blending and shadows on the face (it looks too flat), but it's done!<br />
<br />
Now I have to work out what to do for the background.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-4703545984965593442012-04-08T10:12:00.000+10:002012-04-08T10:12:05.941+10:00Photoshop CS6 betaHelena and Cinda, this may be relevant to your interests. I don't know if you guys know about it (or want to download it, or even able to install it :( ), but the beta version of Photoshop CS6 is available for download free. From what I've gleaned from <a href="http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2012/03/review-photoshop-cs6-beta/">other places</a>, "<span id="goog_1157538170"></span>the beta will eventually expire, though at the moment there doesn’t seem to be a set date for that to happen<span id="goog_1157538171"></span>". So it's free and it's new, and if you can use it you might want to download and try it (I don't know what your situation is). Just be aware that it is a beta product and it can still be buggy.<br />
<br />
Download Photoshop CS6 beta from <a href="http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/photoshopcs6.html">here</a>.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-57031519281939477712012-04-07T20:25:00.000+10:002012-04-07T20:25:04.284+10:00The Fiftieth GateFor English Advanced, I have to read <i>The Fiftieth Gate</i>. It's a book by Mark Raphael Baker and explores his parents' history as Jews that survived the World War. I'm not even half way through it yet (just started yesterday). There are so many gems in the book, sentences and passages that resonate. Some parts outright made me break into goosebumps.<br />
<br />
This is a passage that actually made me cry:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
They come waving their waving their flags, a contingent of Israeli students bearing the blue and white colours of a prayer shawl, at whose centre lay a Star of David. They observed the boulders from a distance, but do not lose themselves within the maze. They have no single thing to find here, just the whole cursed site. They stand as a group, establishing a new focal point against Warsaw, a unified entity at a distance from the dispersed villages. A girl stepped forward with a flute, and plays for the students who accompany her melody in mournful voices. She plays 'Hatikvah', the Israeli national anthem: 'The Hope'. Then another student stands outside the circle and recites a Hebrew verse: </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>here in this carload<br />i am eve<br />with abel my son<br />if you see my other son<br />cain son of man<br />tell him that i</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I recognise the poem from Dan Pagis, a Rumanian-born survivor who emigrated to Israel. '<i>Written in Pencil in the Sealed Railway-Car</i>', it is called.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="text-align: center;">The student completed his recital, and then another voice speaks the same words, each time stopping before the sentence is completed. 'Tell him that i ...' Another plea, then another, until every member of the group proclaims the unfinished message.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When I returned to our hotel in Warsaw, I recited the poem for my parents.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My mother says the train must have arrived.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My father says: 'When I was taken away from my mother she said nothing.'</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I wanted to break the silence for him, to force him to look back for his mother, Hinda.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He is crying; I look away.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>here in this carload<br />i am Hinda<br />tell him that i </i></blockquote>
The poem is on the net <a href="http://www.poetryinternational.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=18706">here</a>.<br />
<br />
He establishes an eerie sort of mood and atmosphere that brings together the past and present, the personal and the factual. There's a strong sense of memory, like old books and ancient records and faded photographs.<br />
<br />
What it comes down to is that he has a writing style that I personally like, and the subject matter has always been of interest to me. For a compulsory English course book, it could certainly be a lot worse.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-38084558913687149032012-03-31T21:47:00.000+11:002012-03-31T21:47:43.626+11:00iPad! The drawing apps are really good :)My new iPad's arrived! I would have liked to put up some pictures, but Mum took it from me, and I only just realised when I wanted to take a picture just now. I think she likes it more than me. She's been watching Chinese movies on it using this Chinese app that streams movies and tv series. She's really in love with it, sometimes I want to do something on it and it's just gone from my table because she took it form my desk in a really ninja way.<br />
<br />
I'm using SketchBook Express and some other sketching app with a stylus, and it's been really good. It's not really up to the standards of Helena and Cinda and such, but I think I'm using bolder lines on the iPad than I do on paper. I might put some screenshots up. Maybe.<br />
<br />
I'll be having a fairly busy holiday, I have to write a Hamlet essay even though we haven't even finished reading it as of now, my year book page has to be done (and what do people put on those anyway?) and I'll be having two maths tutoring lessons per week again. Let's all work hard!Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-71234956246552614502012-03-21T21:07:00.004+11:002012-03-21T21:07:41.961+11:00I'm very influenced by my family's opinionI'm very influenced by my family's opinion, which I suppose is as it should be. I told them my Maths results (2 unit and Extension 1), they were pretty happy with it because my 3 unit mark had a noticeable improvement on my last one. Same for Physics, and I only lost 3 marks. So I'm sort of living in a little bubble of happiness/contentment right now. I didn't even feel this way when I first got the results!<br />
<br />
Note: getting a good tutor is important, they can really help you get better marks.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-50950727902348209162012-03-17T09:34:00.000+11:002012-03-17T09:34:25.915+11:00Pre-order takes so looooongThe smart cover is here, for the iPad itself I'd have to wait til the 11th of April. <span style="font-size: large;">☹</span>Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-25734336847371130712012-02-06T19:57:00.001+11:002012-02-06T22:19:20.978+11:00I got new iconsMy pretty monster icons, let me show you them:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNkdVRW4-BzP8NKayPu1TIj0DH7XdrDoyUX-MEMb1nK_G23dw_5C3jl6o20ByLpzDsy8K1Vvo_qR-mJZ8-JkbtzUo9lXbTausDDHjVs91tAPCYYZcq5aKEL3yowo5-W929-qw2UZw-A4M/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-02-06+at+6.38.46+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNkdVRW4-BzP8NKayPu1TIj0DH7XdrDoyUX-MEMb1nK_G23dw_5C3jl6o20ByLpzDsy8K1Vvo_qR-mJZ8-JkbtzUo9lXbTausDDHjVs91tAPCYYZcq5aKEL3yowo5-W929-qw2UZw-A4M/s640/Screen+Shot+2012-02-06+at+6.38.46+PM.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Okay, so it was a huge waste of time to change them, but they look nicer now, and if I enjoy looking at them I might work harder, or something... *kills self*<br />
<br />
There are so many different lovely icons out there, I've already collected 383 MB worth of them, this set, Artcore, is by far my favourite. I just found out I can change my icons on Saturday and I went mad with it. I have two apps that makes changing icons a breeze.<br />
<br />
This is why I love downloading apps and things to tweek my computer with, it's like shopping, except you don't have to pay for anything but your internet connection if you dig.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-83102655325115134302012-01-30T23:23:00.000+11:002012-01-30T23:23:48.736+11:00First Day BackWasn't as bad as I thought. Lots of people dropped English Extension 1 though. My Chemistry teacher was telling us "If you have <i>13</i>, or <i>12 </i>units, do the sane things and drop some of them" but not Chemistry, drop something else.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">⚛★⚖♕☁☕☸∞♪♩♫♬⚙♀❀✎✽☼❂</span><span style="font-size: large;">☥</span><span style="font-size: large;">☯♦♣♠♥☮✻⚔❅❦❇☘</span><span style="font-size: large;">✉</span><span style="font-size: large;">❄☃❆☂☀☎✡✈✼♏</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
So, I'm doing After the Bomb in English Extension 1, which is about the period of the Cold War and how the atomic bomb changed people's ways of thinking.<br />
<br />
I was googling about "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" because it's a movie I wanted to watch if I have time (I knew about it because Benedict Cumberbatch is in it, you know, the actor that plays Sherlock Holmes in BBC's modern adaption?). I thought I might be able to use it for my English Ext 1 because Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was about the British intelligence services and their agents and they people who controlled them some time in the Cold War period.<br />
<br />
The book that the movie was adapted from (also called Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) sounded interesting and the author had some experience in the British intelligence system, which is what the book and movie was about, spies and betrayal and such (not very James Bond, but sounds a lot less glamourous and lot more realistic and gritty).<br />
<br />
But clicking through links on the wiki, as you do, I found that the author of the book, John le Carré, is the author of one of the subscribed texts for by Extension course, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold! They're even set in the same universe! I was pretty unenthusiastic about that book before, but now I really can't wait to read it. I don't have the time now though, I'm reading Great Gatsby for English Advanced, and I'm finding that I really do like it, to my surprise. The language and techniques is very good.<br />
<br />
p.s. The sentence structures of this whole post is too long and too clumsy and I'm sticking too many clauses together. But it's just a quick post and it's late and I just wrote this because I couldn't get to sleep yet, and I'm not going to go back and edit and rewrite like I usually do in my other posts.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-27206569761192179862012-01-23T21:25:00.002+11:002012-01-23T21:25:43.831+11:00Nan Tien TempleThis being the first day after Chinese New Year, Mum said we're going to Nan Tien Temple to pray for health, prosperity and help in my studies. I think a lot of Chinese people in Oz has been there before, I think (but am not absolutely sure) that it's the largest of its kind in the Southern hemisphere.<br />
<br />
I watched the Chinese New Years gala last night live from start to finish (which means I slept at 3:30 in the morning). Naturally I slept in, and we actually got there at around 1:00 in the afternoon. It was a road trip of a little more than an hour (according to google maps) and there was a stretch of highway 33 km long. The trip itself was actually quite relaxing, and I listened to my iPod all the way.<br />
<br />
I like going to temples, especially temples in Australia, it's always quite peaceful. If you went in China or Hong Kong, it'll be packed and there'll be whole crowds of people squeezing around every body around and holding lit incense over their heads and it'll be so so noisy. But it's quieter in Australia.<br />
<br />
Everything was outrageously expensive, a pack of 15 sticks of incense is $10, having a year-long incense lit for you is $60 for one person and $100 for the whole family. My Grandma already lit them for me in China already, so I didn't need to do it here.<br />
<br />
When we came back we went to Bankstown RSL for the all you can eat buffet. All the food was nice and I definitely over-ate. I'm still not feeling very comfortable.<br />
<br />
So, photos! (photography not allowed inside the temple halls themselves)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqq2dN6z319T0XBGMnPhEflHo6_IL1DA92SNhVGqDmSK5jpZ4YgQTqZOc1xMAuf25_BggwZfoUQIx-U5nRTkxiA9iYtKzhOS-b1aUYLvdkd06LKqa2FU8p5-AodI_9Z4YozNX6B3zddeA/s1600/DSC01275.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqq2dN6z319T0XBGMnPhEflHo6_IL1DA92SNhVGqDmSK5jpZ4YgQTqZOc1xMAuf25_BggwZfoUQIx-U5nRTkxiA9iYtKzhOS-b1aUYLvdkd06LKqa2FU8p5-AodI_9Z4YozNX6B3zddeA/s640/DSC01275.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
This statue was in the car park</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HW5aOOjbLjGoj0Ba7DmPPmblJePKDhey3y5jLRZ3gKpBnvzueAsLnRzYDoXELVHFVW9pE-WhTDkBNHM4spbpvVBAFnNj4CM1JkaP3blK96g_2SzPLt0Y7A7iLDsV5EU7BMI_XZX9Wh0/s1600/DSC01280.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HW5aOOjbLjGoj0Ba7DmPPmblJePKDhey3y5jLRZ3gKpBnvzueAsLnRzYDoXELVHFVW9pE-WhTDkBNHM4spbpvVBAFnNj4CM1JkaP3blK96g_2SzPLt0Y7A7iLDsV5EU7BMI_XZX9Wh0/s640/DSC01280.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaUOGaBltGsiBk-ToHDEZuS1TAXfdn0VNApO1eR4CUJJkC3Au8_mHaylJvQ8eaYjWwYJgpFrcUoYjOihCI0FTjJKVz1_VTfU27i8FayNPlbHsoDmPSbyJpT2tOWji1vaJJRCEtGXfhWyg/s1600/DSC01284.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaUOGaBltGsiBk-ToHDEZuS1TAXfdn0VNApO1eR4CUJJkC3Au8_mHaylJvQ8eaYjWwYJgpFrcUoYjOihCI0FTjJKVz1_VTfU27i8FayNPlbHsoDmPSbyJpT2tOWji1vaJJRCEtGXfhWyg/s640/DSC01284.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Entrance temple </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ZaM3RQaWVwx6CtNg_LbxK23RRUwlxftVYw_K5MxYGMJh_II0oreb9WbfVqtr4OM-k1GoZFB84gEVNQBPShYFO4eiurgEChgccoJWxPDZqerc-5Njn3N4oCgqXp_K2XjSFtb3tQ4nCM8/s1600/DSC01285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ZaM3RQaWVwx6CtNg_LbxK23RRUwlxftVYw_K5MxYGMJh_II0oreb9WbfVqtr4OM-k1GoZFB84gEVNQBPShYFO4eiurgEChgccoJWxPDZqerc-5Njn3N4oCgqXp_K2XjSFtb3tQ4nCM8/s640/DSC01285.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBAiVj3mtM2mWQkRt-nYsjw4mGwu-e_CfdcS_J7Zl0crYSiEtnKQCBO7r7TKANJOjc82VlY6NaWzNJ6GOhDct01RAZykn4E-2khyo58rIBtHPPzmL58XtF0YfjytXn2GWdCVa7YYXs5E/s1600/DSC01288.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBAiVj3mtM2mWQkRt-nYsjw4mGwu-e_CfdcS_J7Zl0crYSiEtnKQCBO7r7TKANJOjc82VlY6NaWzNJ6GOhDct01RAZykn4E-2khyo58rIBtHPPzmL58XtF0YfjytXn2GWdCVa7YYXs5E/s640/DSC01288.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I like this angle (is this low shot or high shot?)</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW62AWkTmGvLXpOHUsYBM1hzMjc8STzpytNFcIisEotQ9dGFzMUpmD1EAKu2XgBOwiwM5BdMc2K0ee7zCslInrK1eW7LfCEz2uEA9k761SbAHvFm3AxzsSREfg6lIw0LUBjaumMljGQZE/s1600/DSC01290.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW62AWkTmGvLXpOHUsYBM1hzMjc8STzpytNFcIisEotQ9dGFzMUpmD1EAKu2XgBOwiwM5BdMc2K0ee7zCslInrK1eW7LfCEz2uEA9k761SbAHvFm3AxzsSREfg6lIw0LUBjaumMljGQZE/s640/DSC01290.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You can pay to have your name or your family's name under these lanterns, which brings good luck etc. </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia0cucWvIx6LoNbWvoCg-uvrgHFvFSMJbHW_NOgt6498Zht5K3VftT44QQR6J5TwAoad05HO7idM_2EqeyiWmNu7wx4B0qfC5rGkZueBP3QOS0vxZ_FoGr4aoIHNFi4McrZzZUidNE_bE/s1600/DSC01299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia0cucWvIx6LoNbWvoCg-uvrgHFvFSMJbHW_NOgt6498Zht5K3VftT44QQR6J5TwAoad05HO7idM_2EqeyiWmNu7wx4B0qfC5rGkZueBP3QOS0vxZ_FoGr4aoIHNFi4McrZzZUidNE_bE/s640/DSC01299.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Those red ribbons are for good studying with old style Chinese coins as weights at the bottom and you throw it onto the tree.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpILRUoogd6XXpBtlyzMx9tD4Kv8z4z1C4pZ2ESm9Y3pPVLeeCMd6K2H0UoVSypwUW1jKgZNffxdq9iOhW5Ij6RpsnU6f1LAAwR9GmGIBE2Gtwvy5_hpeOCFmxQaVnMxDSB-XKxLPWXg/s1600/DSC01301.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpILRUoogd6XXpBtlyzMx9tD4Kv8z4z1C4pZ2ESm9Y3pPVLeeCMd6K2H0UoVSypwUW1jKgZNffxdq9iOhW5Ij6RpsnU6f1LAAwR9GmGIBE2Gtwvy5_hpeOCFmxQaVnMxDSB-XKxLPWXg/s640/DSC01301.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyhEuYlr2a54nqcLf_UjIm9JdrlSP2j6Fn7b4XLiqaETjLTbtKz9zKoYEyKmzFWTcWq0OWUGSVfI21k412x13IsB4ymt1jmQNL4RPIhGy_DAneTkhModTvdE5ijnGJcO0QjxgUiTCip2A/s1600/DSC01305.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyhEuYlr2a54nqcLf_UjIm9JdrlSP2j6Fn7b4XLiqaETjLTbtKz9zKoYEyKmzFWTcWq0OWUGSVfI21k412x13IsB4ymt1jmQNL4RPIhGy_DAneTkhModTvdE5ijnGJcO0QjxgUiTCip2A/s640/DSC01305.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I really like the smell of incense, is that strange? </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkivxxzKJuMPQQoVNv4eshIwVk_tyodcCs5PqpzEeRyupxIhGjFxgWmgEIoImG8w9NRLJveBt_kRAyVsKsEssRjI95M9_ihfMi82ectgiCnAb3ebNVUA4ZObG4EnPQFbnvFN3P4aJmV4/s1600/DSC01306.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJkivxxzKJuMPQQoVNv4eshIwVk_tyodcCs5PqpzEeRyupxIhGjFxgWmgEIoImG8w9NRLJveBt_kRAyVsKsEssRjI95M9_ihfMi82ectgiCnAb3ebNVUA4ZObG4EnPQFbnvFN3P4aJmV4/s640/DSC01306.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I like this quote. </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjarV2IAyMpcHB3aCOiW7tr9qjN3nl3YlG30PIJcky2gAswS_AMsIN37yTV9C4jBhOC_CbddmnbBAG1jWFUzQz5jrUHp4A7HFXq3or73i152_l92bOYRgu4Iuol0uB9SI1KyBQ5z2KxsH8/s1600/DSC01320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjarV2IAyMpcHB3aCOiW7tr9qjN3nl3YlG30PIJcky2gAswS_AMsIN37yTV9C4jBhOC_CbddmnbBAG1jWFUzQz5jrUHp4A7HFXq3or73i152_l92bOYRgu4Iuol0uB9SI1KyBQ5z2KxsH8/s640/DSC01320.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A bell that sends gratitude back to your parents. I rang this (3 times) </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFVd3v7v5X39bFvmGtPjOcBeOfZ3T7_Rh5sGblrtYJR1XRg43TcK_zIDLRtiYCrHmtdhlis7ekSdyK5BKslUGC6AingxnLYf2dfvLRPQOpYMNOdNqApBGWZFd8Lle4NNsFB6uwBfTyNX0/s1600/DSC01330.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFVd3v7v5X39bFvmGtPjOcBeOfZ3T7_Rh5sGblrtYJR1XRg43TcK_zIDLRtiYCrHmtdhlis7ekSdyK5BKslUGC6AingxnLYf2dfvLRPQOpYMNOdNqApBGWZFd8Lle4NNsFB6uwBfTyNX0/s640/DSC01330.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Words on the bell </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUG8zNBThz88RoC-KbItvAAveLKshBiXOYZ4pDlYw1IsS69TkGxaOVSXlWn0WRd7WX2xa5fDp-sVFakXhBa2kw8a5j0qMCm9P96cgxjaSNOLqtayA4jx4lTsnIFM7i03UNC-f_WdKkPQ/s1600/DSC01333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUG8zNBThz88RoC-KbItvAAveLKshBiXOYZ4pDlYw1IsS69TkGxaOVSXlWn0WRd7WX2xa5fDp-sVFakXhBa2kw8a5j0qMCm9P96cgxjaSNOLqtayA4jx4lTsnIFM7i03UNC-f_WdKkPQ/s640/DSC01333.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Apparently ashes are kept in this tower, so it's best not to go in and disturb their peace</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMI6zpYS_TbWIJyxUub7DopjJWbLNoppyMIivj_JGSz5M77iZWhT49Sxou2p_dFMzVWFh8W9UjU0O8NLpWYb3CxSRuH03gj4PISIgNzVzsgoetho_xnlPsGTAnrd8X0eufzMgYOXyK3io/s1600/DSC01361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMI6zpYS_TbWIJyxUub7DopjJWbLNoppyMIivj_JGSz5M77iZWhT49Sxou2p_dFMzVWFh8W9UjU0O8NLpWYb3CxSRuH03gj4PISIgNzVzsgoetho_xnlPsGTAnrd8X0eufzMgYOXyK3io/s640/DSC01361.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Reading! This is my sort of god/saint I don't know what you call it in English </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSVMpkgBEkK3Uu5-GHbzm2gVDMLMykb8mv1SD6DbnoIek9OroWyL8-1YE8CWf1LVeNcx1SYjfgwqJddko8AinImPCM3MN0ezNmO5Bgh_IzneAcgbHB461IPvZK6FWuvKL39JFoDt9OASw/s1600/DSC01362.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSVMpkgBEkK3Uu5-GHbzm2gVDMLMykb8mv1SD6DbnoIek9OroWyL8-1YE8CWf1LVeNcx1SYjfgwqJddko8AinImPCM3MN0ezNmO5Bgh_IzneAcgbHB461IPvZK6FWuvKL39JFoDt9OASw/s640/DSC01362.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Lotus pond</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoc9VLVnwYSUHn6rdgdBTmvNIJV1_PEVXxkcK9nIvGPziUifJFmecc6l40eBQQ29WGC8ztPdfShDZasbVSvjOtjyMccNYl-QeDsJD7bGUcmNA8OOSTpYdGzmZqVuaDZgCDUO2fnXCjDRM/s1600/DSC01363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoc9VLVnwYSUHn6rdgdBTmvNIJV1_PEVXxkcK9nIvGPziUifJFmecc6l40eBQQ29WGC8ztPdfShDZasbVSvjOtjyMccNYl-QeDsJD7bGUcmNA8OOSTpYdGzmZqVuaDZgCDUO2fnXCjDRM/s640/DSC01363.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I can't resist taking shots of flowers, I really can't. I took so many </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXHqaVM59XA5slgyEwW10qMbca8EXEt9zAducCApkHLxOQjEuiUTl0F4QRaCuj9pD5iWJp1kbuzE2swx7Y6gZE-7aS7VQNo7CHlZxzaB4PMksBmft62xykzanqHODlytgelR3x81SmQAI/s1600/DSC01364.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXHqaVM59XA5slgyEwW10qMbca8EXEt9zAducCApkHLxOQjEuiUTl0F4QRaCuj9pD5iWJp1kbuzE2swx7Y6gZE-7aS7VQNo7CHlZxzaB4PMksBmft62xykzanqHODlytgelR3x81SmQAI/s640/DSC01364.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
These fish are huge, I think some of them are the length of my forearm. They must cost a fortune.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5gDgzTnPOs0JXb0CQ7OdIVdOIeAspqNIMHhu6bIvADIaW1EicihwUkPNc1D7yv8t_NXCZtMo9dWHhpxma95eRZWFjhalo7MYZxdMLO5_m5oF3oxwxMnvILzWiBYb6NUr4NPAR8LwqZGM/s1600/DSC01386.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5gDgzTnPOs0JXb0CQ7OdIVdOIeAspqNIMHhu6bIvADIaW1EicihwUkPNc1D7yv8t_NXCZtMo9dWHhpxma95eRZWFjhalo7MYZxdMLO5_m5oF3oxwxMnvILzWiBYb6NUr4NPAR8LwqZGM/s640/DSC01386.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNi0RGY1Z9abNOuTpFIy1CrOIvRR8OGb4ODSpRExpDyCVKhmkqJtRlOn2u7nh_KcZZlENL73r7NEySorxiSYv1iOM7f3F34zk9x7xTetDO7eZSU9ZmnUIFDQo9h-PpeJ51wxNsP5ubBpI/s1600/DSC01390.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNi0RGY1Z9abNOuTpFIy1CrOIvRR8OGb4ODSpRExpDyCVKhmkqJtRlOn2u7nh_KcZZlENL73r7NEySorxiSYv1iOM7f3F34zk9x7xTetDO7eZSU9ZmnUIFDQo9h-PpeJ51wxNsP5ubBpI/s640/DSC01390.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-86295786300161054602012-01-15T21:33:00.002+11:002012-01-15T21:33:54.504+11:00is this what twitter is like? was that a black cat? will i get bad luck even if i don't know if it was a black cat or not? do you believe in that superstition? what are these really short posts doing here? why are there so many questions? how long can a blog title be? can you tell how hard I'm procrastinating?A cat crossed my path just then, in the after-sunset light, it looked black. Hm...<br />
<br />
(is this what twitter is like? Inane observations of mundane life that has next to zero significance limited to 140 characters? The first sentence in this post has 67 characters, I counted. I might add something like #wasthatablackcat Sigh, can you tell how hard I'm procrastinating?)Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-30244232656507848912012-01-15T20:28:00.001+11:002012-01-15T20:28:36.735+11:00Apricot and almond cream cheese on toastYou know what tastes really good? Apricot and almond cream cheese on toast. You know what made me feel slightly sick after eating it? Apricot and almond cream cheese on toast. And I only had less than half a piece, the rest was shared by Mum and Grandma.<br />
<br />
But it is yummy, I'm really partial to cheese anyway, and cheese with apricot and almond in it is even better. It's sweet-ish and the almonds are crunchy and the cheese tastes very nicely cheesy.<br />
<br />
Now I want dip. My maths teacher bought it to school for the end of the term party, spinach and cheese flavour and capsicum flavour. Mmmm. I think eating too much of that will also make me feel sick. I'm going to buy them and eat them with crackers. Or I might try the healthy option of dipping them with vegetables (I've never tried eating raw celery, or do they cook the celery they use for the dip? It seems to me for a lot of western foods vegetable foods are eaten raw).<br />
<br />
Which reminds me that I really want a good salad dressing. A thick and creamy one, not the vinegary ones. And that honey mustard in my Subway the other day was quite nice, and I might want to buy some of that because Grandma likes it.<br />
<br />
And I'm still a little queasy from the apricot and almond cream cheese. I'm going for a walk. See ya.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-21614731688256209822012-01-15T18:58:00.001+11:002012-01-15T18:58:35.168+11:00New years resolution? What are those?So this is something I came across in my wandering of the world wide web: "New Years Resolutions: I do not make them. Setting myself up for failure is NOT something I enjoy so much that I'll actively seek it."<br />
<br />
And that applies to me so much. It's only January and I'm failing so miserably at all of them that I want to cry. What's worse is that that's still not enough to make me motivated enough to try and change anything at all.<br />
<br />
I really want to delete that post... I feel like my own failure is staring me in the face and laughing.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-80557322851786177032012-01-13T17:44:00.000+11:002012-01-13T17:44:10.094+11:00What's your opinion?I just tweaked the appearance of my blog a bit yesterday (fonts and colours, mostly). How does everything look?<span id="goog_1608917657"></span><span id="goog_1608917658"></span><br />
<br />
There's just some things I need a second opinion on.<br />
<br />
1) Is the size of my sidebar and the main post column ok? I want it to be able to fit the x-large pictures.<br />
<br />
2) Are the colours of the links on my sidebar too hard to see? I'm especially side-eyeing the more reddish purple.Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224040736887554110.post-73709036941340937792012-01-12T09:00:00.000+11:002012-01-12T09:00:05.789+11:00100th Post!This is the 100th post on this blog - my first blog in my whole entire life.<br />
<br />
It's been a little more than a year since I first started blogging at the request (and plodding) of Helena and Cinda (to whom I am eternally grateful to for introducing me to this wonderful medium). It's quite a coincidence that when I began this blog I also began my life away from Hurlstone. I didn't even realise that until I went back and looked at some of my earliest posts. Reading through my old posts throughout this year I feel like I've changed, but also like I haven't really grown up at all.<br />
<br />
There's a passage in the Bible that goes something like this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.</blockquote>
I'm not ready to put away my childish things, I'm not ready to grow up and come away from my family's protective wings, I'm not ready to make my own way in the world. But if I never try I'll never be ready, and one day, there will be no one to shelter me from the big bad world out there. But it's not time yet, and I still have a little while to be childish and safe and not have to worry about anything more serious than my school results, and so, let's celebrate my 100th post on this blog!<br />
<br />
Dance! Dance! Dance!
<br />
<pre style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Droid Sans Mono', 'Lucida Console', 'Andale Mono', 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;"> %%%%%%
%%% ++
%C 0>0
; _~
_______/ /_
| __) \_/ \ _///__
_| / \/ ) ) \/,--
_\\\__/ ) **/ \ |
/__/-/ \/
/ |
/ /\
\ \
/_/\__*__\
\ | \
\ |\ )
\ )/ /
/ | /
|/|/
S S
/x|x\
|, \. b'ger</pre>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">I'm also trying out blogger's scheduling function, fingers crossed it'll work.</span>Marshmellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12024004499864977860noreply@blogger.com4