Cherry Bomb aka Reddy

Those who’ve been following my blog for a while might recognise the above photo. It was my Project 365 photo from February 1st last year, the day I got my car. So much has happened between now and then with regards to my car and yet it feels like I only got it a few months ago. Some people reckon it still has its new car smell.

In the past 12 months my car’s driven at least 20,000 km and has been serviced three times (the routine 1,000 km, 10,000 km and 20,000 km check-ups). It hasn’t yet driven to the beach or to the mountains, but it’s been pretty much all over Sydney, from the city to Penrith, up and down the Great Western Highway and the M4, and it took me to my very first concert. I also had my first car accident which resulted in my car having to be taken away for repairs for two weeks while I drove a Falcon. During these two weeks I managed to get a parking ticket at uni. I forgot to retrieve my parking sticker so I placed the invoice on my dashboard which is only allowed for 10 days after purchasing the sticker. Luckily there was no payment code on the ticket, so I guess I couldn’t really pay it off. But sshhh, don’t tell anyone!

Anyway, I guess I should celebrate my car’s birthday somehow. Car’s don’t like cake, do they?

Welp, back to cleaning my room I go.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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So anyway, I skimmed down the Emperor penguin article page just looking at photos, hoping there would be a photo of a human next to an Emperor penguin. And I found one! The penguin wasn’t an adult, though, but a baby penguin is the next best thing.

Can you believe your eyes! That’s just a baby! That’s Mumble from Happy Feet! That’s one huuuge bird!

Further up the page from this photo was evidence that there are Emperor penguins in captivity! I always thought (I don’t know why) that there weren’t any! And now I know that there are some in Melbourne Aquarium. Melbourne! Now I have another reason to go there besides Michael Paynter.

UPDATE: Further research has revealed to me that there might not actually be any Emperor penguins at Melbourne Aquarium at the moment. On their website they only mention King and Gentoo penguins. King and Emperor penguins look similar. Maybe the person who uploaded the photo captioned “Emperor Penguin swimming in the Melbourne Aquarium” on Wikipedia was misinformed. Either way, I’d love to do this Penguin Passport tour.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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Today was that day.

I have never, ever been so excited to see an email in my inbox. “NKOTBSB is Coming to Australia!” the subject line read. So I opened the email and instead of reading the email word by word as I normally would, I scrolled down for what I was waiting for…

Melbourne…

Adelaide…

Brisbane…

SYDNEY!

OMG OMG OMG.

I don’t even know if I’ll be going or whether I’ll be able to (since I don’t know yet what uni’s gonna be like next year), but I definitely want to! And even if I do, I’m most likely gonna get crap seats. PLUS, it’s not even the BSB that I like. I YouTubed a NKOTBSB song once, and I hated it. It sounded like autotune was the dominant instrument.

I hope that each group does a couple of their own songs. If I get to see BSB perform live, that’ll totally make my night.

Oh, and if I get to see Nick Carter in person.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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Apparently, the Easter Island heads are not just heads, but are in fact part of a whole body of a statue!

via OMG Facts

 
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Going to this tonight with some friends. Soooooo excited to see Ken Davis!

 
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US President Barack Obama has entertained his Australian hosts by trying his hand at the local lingo at an official dinner.

Mr Obama described speaking to American troops in Afghanistan who were mystified as to why their Australian counterparts were always talking about cheese.

It transpired the Aussies were just greeting them with “Cheers”.

LQTM*

The rest of the article can be read here: US-Australia alliance in top nick: Obama

* Definition of LQTM

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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Fun. (Sarcasm not intended.)

One of my subjects for uni is called Sound Synthesis and the Sound Environment. As our lecturer explained it on the first day, synthesis is the thesis + the anti-thesis of, in this case, how sound behaves, and the synthesis of sound is about putting sounds together. Basically, this subject is about composing music via electronic means. No, we’re not creating techno music. Actually, this semester, our assessments were about recording “found” sounds — everyday sounds as you would hear them in the real world — and creating compositions using software available at university (ProTools, Mbox, Absynth, etc.) so that our compositions consist of “found” sounds and “abstract”/”effected” sounds — not at all like how it sounds in the real world. The result is not techno, electronic dance music, electro-pop or other similar genres of music, as I said before (though the methods of composing music may be similar), but instead you get music like:

• Etude aux sons animes (1958), Pierre Schaeffer
• Bells and Brakes (1997), Shaun Rigney (an Australian composer)
• I am sitting in a room (1969), Alvin Lucier

Yes, all of the above are classified as “music”. If you don’t think that’s music, then you need to open your mind more. John Cage, famous worldwide for his “silent piece”, 4’33″ (a pianist sits at a piano for four minutes and thirty-three seconds without playing a single key), and known for beginning the electronic music genre, once wrote:

I believe that the use of noise to make music will continue and increase until we reach a music produced through the aid of electrical instruments which will make available for musical purpose any and all sounds that can be heard.

In the same text (The Future of Music: Credo, published in his book Silence), he also writes:

If this word “music” is sacred and reserved for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century instruments, we can substitute a more meaningful term: organisation of sound.

This “music” is the kind of thing I have to listen to for hours so that when they play a two-minute excerpt in my exam, I can distinguish whether the excerpt comes from the beginning, middle or end of the entire piece (I am sitting in a room lasts for 17 minutes). I’m still getting the hang of this music — I still wouldn’t choose to listen to electronically composed music over, say, the Backstreet Boys (I love them) — but it has definitely given me a wider appreciation for this (these) genre(s) of music.

As a musician, I’m also learning to appreciate my sense of hearing more. Once, in a group conversation, a friend asked whether we’d prefer to be deaf or to be blind, to not be able to hear or to not be able to see. Without a moment of hesitation I answered that I’d rather be blind. Personally, I think it would be more of a struggle to learn sign language and have everyone around me learn (some) sign language to be able to communicate with me, rather than learning how to walk with a cane or a guide dog. I think it would be more difficult to put up with the fact that I could no longer hear; whereas, if I lost my sight, I could fumble around and my sense of touch would be heightened.

We also briefly studied this guy, R. Murray Schafer, who introduced to the world the “soundscape”. “A soundscape is any collection of sounds, almost like a painting is a collection of visual attractions.” We watched a video that featured him talking about sounds and soundscapes in our second SSSE lecture. The video blew me away — I was wowing like I was hearing a really good preaching — and I guess this is where my appreciation of my sense of hearing was birthed.

Listen by David New – NFB

I suggest you watch the video. I think you’ll also learn to appreciate sounds and noise as they are instead of immediately reaching for the iPod when you’re on the train, or closing your window when the car that pulls up next to yours at the stoplight is blasting music that drowns out your own (though, I admit, I still wind up my windows).

I think I’ve spent too much of my time with my head in books.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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“Things generally work out for the best for those who make the best out of the way things work out.”

“Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.”

“One joy scatters a thousand griefs.”

“The crime is not to avoid failure. The crime is not to give triumph a chance.”

“Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.”

“Life life to the fullest for the future is scarce.” – Nick Carter, in his “thank yous” in the Backstreet Boy album Millenium

“Victory is what happens when ten thousand hours of preparation meet with one moment of opportunity.”

“Don’t write a check with your mouth that your body can’t cash.”¹

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for ‘kiss’ (nashaq) is derived from the primary root word meaning ‘to kindle’. I don’t want to open the matchbox. “Why pre-heat the oven when you can’t cook the roast?” ²

Then on one of these index cards I wrote the lyrics to a Planetshakers song called Out of Me³, which became my ‘anthem’ at the time ’cause I was a really quiet person (there’s more to it than just being quiet, but I’m not gonna go into my life story right now).

I’ve been quiet for way too long
It’s time to make a sound
It’s time to let it all out
In my heart is a rising song
A song of victory
Of all You’ve done for me

What can I say?
You blow me away

Throwing off restraint I praise You recklessly
‘Cause I want the world to see
I want the world to see Your glory
Fill me up so much that You bust out of me
‘Cause I want the world to see
I want the world to see Your glory

I guess this song could still be my ‘anthem’ now. I’m not as loud as I know I could be. I still think there’s a lot that God could draw out of me that He could use for his glory, so that the world could see His glory.

 
¹ Possibly from one of Joshua Harris’ first two books, I Kissed Dating Goodbye or Boy Meets Girl.
² Also possibly from one of Joshua Harris’ first two books.
³ Here’s a YouTube link to the song if you wanna hear it. It’s pretty cool.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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I discovered that Mulan’s talking voice is a Chinese woman named Ming-Na Wen. I wondered if she had starred in anything else that I would recognise her from, so I scrolled down the page a little to the section that shows the movies or TV shows that she was most “known for”. I made a discovery that blew my mind. Check out the image below and tell me what you see.

A section of Ming-Na's IMDb page @ October 22 2011. Click to see larger in another window.

How is that even possible?! That she was able to star in a movie that was released 7 years before she even came into existence?!

This mind-boggling discovery was on my mind for the rest of the day until I made another startling discovery just then: As the World Turns is actually a TV series (not a movie, as I immediately assumed) that ran from 1956 until 2010.

How silly of me, jumping to conclusions and all. My common sense has gone right out the window.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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For the most part of the year, I’ve been focussing on studying and getting my assessments done well before the due date. Any success? I guess so. I’ve succeeded in starting them more than a week or so before the due date, but finishing them the night before (or morning of) is a habit proving difficult to break. (If any writers of the webcomics I read are reading my blog and have noticed that I haven’t commented on your comics lately, now you know why.)

About a month ago I decided I was going to go for runs around my neighbourhood every second day. Surprisingly, I lasted about a week and a half, which is a week and a half longer than I’ve ever been able to keep up. I was quite proud of myself. I keep telling myself that I’m going to try and start again. But then I also tell myself that I’ve got a lot more assessments to work on and I need to make a study timetable of sorts so I can plan my time accordingly and set aside a particular time slot of every day to exercise. But the procrastinator that I am doesn’t want to make the timetables, physical or mental. Nor does the procrastinator in me want to put on my runners and run around for 15 minutes, and find myself gasping for breath. Oh well. We’ll see how I go.

Three weeks ago I turned 22. Hooray for me. I wasn’t particularly excited to celebrate my birthday, compared to the last 21 years, but I guess I’ve finally reached that age in my life specifically where my birthday is just another day. Not that I wasn’t looking forward to being spoilt (oh gosh, that doesn’t make me sound like a brat at all, does it), but I wasn’t announcing to everyone, “Hey, you know what’s next Monday? You should get me a present and a cake,” like I tend to usually do.

My birthday celebrations ended up being week-long. Among my friends at church, we have an unwritten law that states that everyone’s birthday lasts for a week, and not for 24 hours. I have never experienced the 7-day birthday to the extent that I did this year. I guess it’s because I have a party planned nearly every year, so everyone saves the celebrating for the allotted 4-6 hours.

My birthday was on a Monday, so on the Sunday before, a few of my close girlfriends took me to the beach. I was dressed to be able to sit on the ground, as I was instructed, but had I known I was going to the beach, I would’ve brought swimmers and a towel! We had dinner a beachside Italian restaurant and then went to the closest Max Brenner restaurant about 10-20 minutes drive away. On Monday I had classes from 9 AM to 2 PM. I was half expecting my uni friends to remember, but then I realised that not everyone takes note of their friends birthdays like I do, so they probably didn’t remember, especially since I don’t put my birthday on Facebook. (Plus, I had deactivated my Facebook account at the time.) I had dinner with my family at Pancakes on the Rocks (service was surprisingly quick), and then we watched the newly released Johnny English movie. We got to watch the movie on the eXtreme Screen and we had the whole theatre to ourselves. My dad joked on his Facebook status and to people that he hired out the whole cinema just for my birthday. On the Wednesday, one of my girlfriends that was with me on Sunday took me to a local hill to watch the sunset, then we had $6 steak at the local pub (or “tavern”, haha), and then we enjoyed chatting over a “ho cho” (hot chocolate) at GJ’s. On Friday was another of my friend’s birthdays, so we celebrated both of ours (hers particularly) with Japanese food and a lot of cake. I could not breathe by the end of the night. I still have some cheesecake leftover.

On the Saturday, another one of my friends organised a dinner for me at a local Italian restaurant. The original plan was to go to a Japanese karaoke restaurant in the city that we love, but we discovered that not only is it busier on the weekend, but it’s also pricier. While I was driving to the restaurant, I got into a car accident. I wasn’t hurt, though I was thrown forward a little from the impact, but the main damage only occurred on my car. I had stopped at a roundabout to let another car turn right (for those overseas readers, I live in Australia where we drive on the left side of the road), and the car behind me, a Camry, was apparently slowing down too fast. The driver said he swerved to avoid hitting me full on (my dad said had he done so, my car would have been written off), but his left headlight managed to hit my back right wheel. So my car got a huuuge dent in it and it was no longer drivable.

Whenever I see painful, bloody things happen to people on medical shows, I think How painful or How gross, but when stuff like that happens to me, it doesn’t even faze me. So I always thought that when I had a car accident, I’d be like Oh, I just had an accident or I’d have some attitude like that, but actually, I was pretty shaken up. I was physically shaking all the way up to the restaurant from the shock, (I had called a friend to come pick me and my brother up) and until the food we ordered came to our table, I was still shakey. Long story short, the night with my friends (though not as many turned up as I was expecting) sort of helped me ease back into a normal-ish mindset. Midway through dinner, I wasn’t even bothered by the accident anymore.

My mum works for the insurance company that we’re insured with, so the next day, I already had a rental car. (Gotta know people on the inside.) They had said the smallest available car they had was an Outlander, but after we had signed the papers and everything, they gave us keys to a Falcon. Nice.

I got my Yaris back on Monday and yesterday when I drove it again for the first time, compared to the Falcon, it felt TINY. I used to drive a Camry, but the change from my Camry to the Yaris was nothing compared to the change from the Falcon. Every time I turned the wheel, I felt like the whole car was gonna tip over.

It’s almost 11:30 PM and I wanted to publish this post before midnight, so I’ll give you one more story.

Today I went to the Apple store to get my Mighty Mouse checked out because my scroll button doesn’t work properly. My mouse still works fine; it just doesn’t scroll. Anyway, the “Apple Genius” checked the warranty on my mouse and it turned out my warranty had expired, which meant repairs would cost approximately $115. My mouse cost $99 when I got it, and it doesn’t exist anymore. The wired version costs $55, and the new wireless Magic Mouse costs $75. As the “Apple Genius” showed me the prices of the other mice available, he heartily laughed at the enormous difference in price while he told me I was better off buying a new mouse. It was a funny and ironic situation, but his laugh told me that it was the most hilarious thing he had ever heard.

That’s enough stories for now. I hope I haven’t bored you. Let me leave you with this hilarious Left-Handed Toons comic that I came across today:

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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via joey alison sayers

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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I'm disappointed Sean Connery doesn't type in his accent. I'd always imagined his keyboard looked like this http://t.co/jHOIERP—
October Jones (@OctoberJones) June 21, 2011

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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Should he have replied “I *donut* think so!” instead? These are the kinds of the questions that haunt you until your dying days. -Alex

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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Hands up if you’ve heard of Formspring!? (I’ve mentioned Formspring on this blog before). I’m not really sure how to explain Formspring without making it sound like a waste of time, so here’s a paragraph from their About page:

Formspring encourages people to find out more about each other in a simple and fun way. It starts by directly asking people original questions in anticipation of their entertaining or revealing responses. Responses can range from straightforward to surprising and can lead to understanding something more about the people you know or find interesting. Whether you are curious to know more about a college you are applying to, the movies your friend likes, or the stories of someone you respect, on Formspring, you can have fun, share insights, and relate to one another in a new way.

I find it mostly fun, but I’ve come across a few weirdos.

Facebook asks you “What’s on your mind?” Twitter asks you “What’s happening?” (It used to ask “What are you doing?”) But since the purpose of Formspring is for other people to ask you questions, they instead order you to “Ask me anything”. So when I joined Formspring, I decided to take this quite literally and began asking people whatever popped into my head. At one point, I decided to ask a bunch of people that I was following a really vague question, just to see what kind of clever responses I could get. This is what they said:

Do you like stuff?

I then disappeared from Formspring for a while and when I came back, one particular question stuck to my mind one day, so I decided to go on a quest to find the answer to:

Batman or Superman, and why?

So I surfed Formspring and asked a bunch of different people this question. I asked people I knew, acquaintances, online friends, online “celebrities” and random people whose pages I came across in my hunt for an answer. I first asked this question in February; now, 4 months and forty plus responses later, here are my results:

Batman or Superman, and why?

Eventually, I decided I wanted to ask an even more random question and came up with:

Do you like to wear shoes?

After months of questioning and reading responses, I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of people on Formspring just don’t get the concept of the site. It’s not a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter. It’s a completely new and different concept that doesn’t even require you to have a friendship with the people you connect with. I guess that’s the fun of it; not having any obligation to anyone and just enjoying being random.

If you want to see all the answers mentioned above, I’ve created a page for them all: Formspring

So if you want to join the fun, you can create an account on Formspring and throw some questions at me! Or if you don’t want to create an account, you can head on over to my page and ask questions anonymously. And please, ask me anything¹.

[UPDATE 12.06.2011] I discovered that some of the links didn’t even go anywhere (my bad), but I guess no one tried any of them. Don’t worry, I’ve fixed them now. [/UPDATE]

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

——————–

 
¹ I’ll only answer fun and creative questions. Rude and stupid questions will be ignored and deleted.^2
2 Definitions of “fun”, “creative”, “rude” and “stupid” are subjective.

 
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Click here to see January.
See all of the “chapters” from 2011 here.

Previously in Two Thousand and Eleven…

We sold the only one of our family cars that I was allowed to drive, and I was left CAR-LESS.

Dun dun DUUUNNNNNNN

 
And now, in Two Thousand and Eleven…

 
February 1st — I spent the day (sort of) moping because I had places to go and things to do, but I didn’t have a car to get to those places. I was gonna catch public transport but realised how expensive it would be for me without a concession card. So I had to resort to asking a friend for a lift. Then my mum came home early from work, saying she had to “pick up something”, and I assumed my dad would come home at the time my parents usually get home — an hour and a half later. I went and sat back on the couch in front of the TV. Moments later, the doorbell rings. My dad was …home? And my sister and I saw another car in the driveway. We refused to let our dad in the house until he answered our question: Is the car ours? YES! My sister and I were literally jumping and screaming with joy. Apparently on the Saturday before when they were out buying a new vacuum cleaner, they also bought the car. It’s a brand new 4-door Toyota Yaris. I love that it has a USB connection for iPods (which I use every time I drive), a CD player (which I have yet to use), and like a million compartments (some of them, I will probably never use). The main thing I dislike about it is the speedometer — it’s digital. I’m still getting used to it, but I’d prefer to have a speedometer with a needle ’cause it’s easier to read when I’m driving.

The last week of January and the first week of February were the HOTTEST weeks of this summer. It was so hot that my family didn’t bother leaving the air-conditioned living room on Australia Day. It was so hot that loaves of bread in the pantry that we had just bought a day or two before were growing mould. And it was so hot that huge electric fans had to be set up in unit 6 at church while my connect was setting up for Raise that Friday. They’re about 1.5m in diameter and when they’re switched on, even on the lowest setting, the wind they create might as well be from a storm brewing outside.

My connect group’s task for AOF this month was to create an activity, with Christian as our point person. Her idea was to transform unit 6 into a maze that would require you to crawl through the passages in the (almost) dark. It was really fun to make, and though you can’t see it well in the picture, it was pretty challenging to complete. Well, the half that we made challenging on purpose, but no one went that way! We intentionally made it so that one path was more difficult but the “correct” way, and the other path was easier but the “wrong” way.

On the 5th one of my good friends from my senior years at school got married! I’ve never met her now-husband before, and they only got engaged last year, but it was really exciting to see one of my school friends get married. She’s not the first from our grade, but a wedding is still a pretty big event in anyone’s life. The ceremony was different to what I’m used to, but then every wedding ceremony I’ve ever been to has incorporated Filipino traditions into it. So, congratulations to Steve and Liz! May your marriage be lifelong and forever strong (woah, that rhymed!).

I completed one of the ‘firsts’ that I mentioned in my introductory blog post for this Project — I attended my first concert! And what better way to kick off my concert-going than by seeing Michael Bublé!

Michael Buble concert ticket

My friend Jasmine bought three tickets for us and a friend all the way back in June 2010, so we’ve been waiting for this concert for eight months. Zaion, a sister of a mutual friend from high school, joined us for the concert and the three of us travelled to Acer Arena at Olympic Park in style in my new Toyota Yaris Naturally 7 opened for Michael, performing in a style they call “vocal play”, which is similar to a capella, but instead of singing without instruments, they become the instruments themselves. (Watch this video of them performing Wall of Sound, an original song that they performed fabulously that night.) Then Michael himself was pretty spectacular. To hear his recordings is one thing; to see him perform live and engage with the crowd, to see his band faithfully and flawlessly accompany him song after song, and to see Michael genuinely enjoy entertaining an enormous crowd was another. Whenever he took a break from singing to talk, he was so down to earth and so friggin’ hilarious! He even imitates the Aussie accent so well, you’d think that the whole Canadian thing was a facade.

My cousin got married on the 19th. This was the first wedding of which I also attended the reception, and I had a blast. They got married at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Sydney, had photos with all the guests on the stairs of the Sydney Opera House (“Monumental Stairs”), and then we all headed to the back part of the Opera House where a huge marquee was set up for the reception dinner. Quoting what I wrote in my 365 Days notebook: “The food was amazingly delicious!”

February birthdays

James “Chunky” turned 21, but actually celebrated his birthday on the last weekend of January since his birthday is at the beginning of the month. We celebrated Dot’s 22nd birthday at connect but she came to connect really tired, so both times that we brought her cake and her present to her, she was asleep. LOL. Dennis, one of our awesome Raise leaders, who celebrates his birthday on the same day as Dot, turned 21, and we threw him a huge gangsta-themed surprise party. Another one of our awesome Raise leaders, Ate Shelah, turned 25, and we also surprised her but with a Hawaiian-themed party. (There was one more surprise party thrown for Robi on the same day as my cousin’s wedding. Surprise parties are starting to become common in GFRESH circles.)

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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See all of the “chapters” from 2011 here.

January has ended and I realised that I have not yet written a blog post this year. So I decided that even though my Project 365 isn’t meant for the public, I’d like to share some of the highlights of the past month.

For the past several years, my family has spent New Years Eve at the house of our Senior Pastor and his family. So I decided that Photo #1 would be of the TV while the fireworks were going off at Sydney Harbour. I didn’t know that you needed to take a photo to open the film cartridge on a polaroid camera, so I sat there watching the TV waiting for the best moment to take a photo. When I found the perfect moment, I pressed the shutter button, and gasped as I realised that the “photo” coming out of the camera wasn’t even a photo. I positioned myself for the next good scene of fireworks, only to find that the fireworks had ended. So now that my film cartridge was opened, I had to settle for a photo of myself with sparklers.

The whole first week of January, from Sunday afternoon to Friday afternoon, was spent preparing for the launch of Generation FRESH, the youth ministry/movement that I’m proud to be a part of. We launched the theme for the year – Propel -, which is about sending us out to the mission field by getting off the boat that we are currently on. Most of the preparation documented in my photos for these several days involved decorating the church to resemble the inside of a ship. We had a propeller (placed inside the ‘ship’, so that people would be able to see it), an anchor, inflatable lifeboats and even a steering wheel. The helicopter was added because it requires a propeller to fly.

My connect group was placed in charge of setup for the first Area Of Focus (AOF) night of the year. Our point person, Ate Cathy, decided we would create a map of the world, with tracks leading to and from each continent to symbolise our being sent out to other nations on missions. I had the privilege of making the continent of Africa. I didn’t copy the coastlines accurately, but only drew the rough shape, and as I was cutting it out I felt ashamed that my continent had curved coastlines because everyone else’s continents would have jagged ones. But in the end, Africa turned out to have the most jagged coastlines, compared to the other continents.

The plan was to have our world map as accurate as possible, with continents joining where they needed to. But because we had different people working on each continent, Asia turned out unusually large, and South America, small. So we had to split the continents from each other.

Cat delivered an amazing teaching about 2011 being the time to [get out and] move. “The time of focusing in-house has come to an end.” She told us to not be satisfied or content with our current position, but to move and make our mark.

On the 20th I received a letter that I had been anticipating for about a month and a half. It was a letter from the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) notifying me of any offers for university. And behold, I got one! And in the course that I wanted, too. So for the next 3 years (and hopefully, no more than that), I’ll be studying a Bachelor of Music so that I can one day begin a career as a music teacher. The photo, however, has nothing to do with my studying, except that after the mail came around 2PM, I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening accepting my offer, enrolling in my classes and deciding what kind of timetable I wanted.

Jomee, Kuya Don and I went to Mt Druitt Hoyts to watch Tangled. We enjoyed it so much and we even shed tears (some more than others ). This was also my first time to go to Mt Druitt Hoyts in a long time. The last time I went there was probably 5 or 6 years ago, yet it’s the closest movie theatre to my house.

We said goodbye to the car that our family has owned for as long as I can remember. It’s a ’93 or ’94 Toyota Camry, affectionately known as Whitey. (We also own a gold 2004 Toyota Camry Sportivo, which my parents named Goldie, or Tivo for short (pronounced “Ti-bo” because of my parents’ Filipino accent.)) We’ve had it for so long that I don’t have any recollection of our car before it, except that it was a Mitsubishi Sigma. So, when my dad got home from work yesterday, he cleaned the car, inside and out, so that the person buying the car from us would have a clean vehicle. I’ve been driving this car for the past 2 years, which is long for me since I’ve only been driving for 2 years.

January birthdays

We celebrated the 24th birthday of our Raise overseer, Cat, with a big Raise hangout at Ate Cathy and Ate Joy’s house. We went to Freshwater Beach to celebrate the 20th birthday of Denise, also one of my fellow connect girls. And James “Chunky”, who is actually a February celebrant, had a big BBQ at Bicentennial Park to celebrate his turning 21. (There were actually a lot more birthdays this month, but unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to celebrate with all of them.)

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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I just am not sure that bees have really thought this thing through. Someone should sit some bees down for a talk and tell them that there’s a better way.

-Alex

via Buttersafe

 
_{Click on the image to enlarge.}

 
- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

A conversation with Jane led us both to decide to take part in Project 365 in 2011, both with polaroids and with notebooks made specifically for 365 journal entries. Now 2010 is coming to a close, and I’m anticipating the photo I’ll take on January 1st, 2011 to kick off my Project 365. My photos will document a year of firsts, challenges and milestones both in my life and in the lives of the people that make up my world.

FIRSTS.  There are a ton of things I wanna do next year that I’ve never done before. One of those things is to watch a movie in a cinema on my own. Another is to drive to the beach (I’ve never done it, mostly because my parents don’t think my car would make it). Another is to drive to the city. Another is to see a proper Australian sunset (I live on the east side of the country to the east of some mountains). One ‘first’ that I’m looking forward to is my first concert – Michael Bublé.

CHALLENGES.  I’m supposed to find out for sure on January 20th, but next year I’m going back to university. The challenge will be to get back into learn-and-study mode, as well as to make a genuine effort to make friends (I was such a loner at school last year). I’m sure there are a lot more challenges that’ll come my way next year, but they’re not the kind that you can really predict.

MILESTONES.  Apart from finally beginning the course that I’ve been wanting to do for a few years now, my baby brother will be turning 20, and my baby sister will be turning 18 AND graduating from high school. Can you say ‘old’* any other way… (I’m only turning 22 next year.)

I have two important tools that I’ll be bringing pretty much everywhere to document my 2011:

INSTAX MINI 7.	365 DAYS NOTEBOOK.

(I didn’t intend for both my camera and notebook to be white. It just so happens that I thought the white version of both products were prettier than the coloured ones.)

I’ve always wanted an actual polaroid camera, but thought they were out of my lifetime until the Fujifilm Instax mini 7 featured in one of the Fully Sick Rapper’s videos (and I think the specific video is no longer on YouTube). Anyway, I asked FSR what the model was (he called it a space camera in the video), I hunted it down online, eventually ordered one on eBay on December 15th and received it last Monday!

kikki.K is one of the coolest stationery stores around, so when I saw the 365 Days notebook, I just had to have one for myself. But what was I going to use it for? At last, I finally had a reason to buy one of these books! The images on the kikki.K site only showcase the book in red and black, but they should have white ones instore.

The new year is going to be fun; I can feel it in my bones. This project is going to give me something to remember it’s memorable and not-so-memorable events by. One day when I feel like life isn’t worth living and I feel like dropping everything and giving up (God forbid), I can flip through my notebook and the stories will teach me to:

- “Keep moving foward.” – Walt Disney

One thing I learned today about eagles is how they deal with storms.

When storms come, all the other birds fly away. But not the eagle. When he sees a storm coming from afar, he will fly to a mountaintop and face the storm head on. And when the storm reaches him, he’ll allow the wind to carry his wings so that he can soar above the storm.

Isaiah 40  ²⁸ Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. ²⁹ He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. ³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; ³¹ but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.

Mount Moriah was where Abraham sacrificed Isaac, or was gonna sacrifice Isaac. Mount Zion is the location of the temple of God. Mount Sinai is where Moses removed his sandals because of God’s power and presence. Mount Ebal is where Joshua built an altar. Mount Carmel is where Elijah met the prophets of Baal. Jesus was transfigured on a mountain, Jesus prayed and preached from mountains, and it was on Mount Calvary that he died for the sins of the world.

What do mountains mean? Mountains mean that we have a high call.

Dr. Rob Carman

Another thing I learnt from Dr Rob is that the eagle has only one natural enemy — the snake. The devil came to man in the form of a snake, to which Jesus refers to as the serpent, and the devil is the only natural enemy that man has. It is against him that we fight our battles. But we aren’t fighting alone. Isaiah 40:31 says that if we hope in the Lord, he will renew our strength. Like the eagle, we can soar above the storms that we encounter in life, but we cannot rise above if we rely on our own ability to flap our wings. We need to rely on something else, something that gives us the necessary push to overcome what we face.

With 2011 – the year of ‘uncomfortable’ – very quickly drawing near, I am nervously anticipating the challenges that the year will bring. I can already sense that it’s going to be a hard year. But I know that out of those tests, evaluations, hardships, setbacks, disappointments and worries will come a reward that can match none on this earth. I have a higher calling and there is no reason that I could possibly come up with that would be a good enough excuse for me to quit.

Bring it on, 2011.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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- William Shedd

“You may look good in your fish tank
                but God wants you to impact the ocean.”

- T.D. Jakes

 
My connect girls and I have a theory that the theme for GFRESH in 2011 is something along the lines of being uncomfortable and going out of your comfort zone. And we think it’s already beginning.

 
- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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The news quoted Will Ferrell saying he thinks he has a lot in common with his Megamind character. Yeah, they both have big heads.—
Danica M. Sevilla (@danineteen) November 30, 2010

Will Ferrell actually thinks what he has in common with his character is their physique. Yeah. Right. Last couple of times I checked* he was a little plump around his mid-section.

Cop: Okay, who called 911?

Man: That’s me.

Cop: Woah! Are you Iraqi?

Man: No, I’m Sikh.

Cop: Oh, well I hope you’re feeling better.

Man: Oh, I feel fine.

Just some hilarious dialogue from the My Name Is Earl episode that I caught a glimpse of on TV tonight.

 
- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
* I didn’t actually check check, but I saw a couple of movies that he’s starred in in the past few years, and boy was he PLUMP.

 
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All rise.
Case number seven-seven-seven-five-two.
Defendant KJ-52 versus the Son of God in Murder One.
How do you plead?

Guilty as charged.

Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Then go ahead.

I solemnly swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth now,
so help me God.
What I testify and what I’m speaking of is an
eyewitness account of an experience of a kind of love.
I confess now to what I was.
I was guilty of making the very Son of God now shed His blood
and I was guilty of the reason now why He was hung
and I’m guilty for every evil thing that I have done.

I’m guilty.
God forgive me, I’m guilty!
I don’t deserve to live, I’m guilty!
Take me away, I’m guilty.
I’m guilty!

Case number seven-seven-seven-five-two.
KJ-52 versus the Son of God in Murder One.
The court has found you guilty as charged.
However, after further review of the case,
the prosecution has dropped the charges.
You’re free to go.

 
I’m Guilty by KJ-52

 
- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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Here’s some more dino-wisdom: Knowledge « Baring my heart.

 
- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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I remember watching a BBC production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in primary school, and I remember it mimicking the book really closely. To my knowledge, they did more than just the one movie, so I went on a Google-hunt to find out whether it was available for sale anywhere so that I could buy it.

Here it is:

 
I’d really like to buy the 3-disc set, but further research showed me that it was a series made for TV from only 4 of the 7 books (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair). Disappointment. Though, story-wise, they’d be closer to the books than what Hollywood would ever be. I’d kinda like to watch the BBC’s 1989 adaptation of Prince Caspian and compare it to the 2008 adaptation by Disney and Walden Media.

Browsing through the Google search results unveiled my eyes to a terrifying truth: the current movie series will cover only FIVE books! This article was written before the first movie came out (5 years ago), so the 5-movie thing may not be true anymore. But to make a popular movie series out of a series of 7 books and cut out 2 of them would do the Chronicles an injustice!

Anyway, I’d like to end with I don’t want to buy the 3-disc set. According to Wikipedia;

The series was originally aired with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe consisting of 6 episodes (1988), Prince Caspian with 2 episodes (1989), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader with 4 episodes (1989) and The Silver Chair with 6 episodes (1990).

…

The four miniseries were later edited into three feature-length films (combining “Prince Caspian” and “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”) and released on DVD.

Why on earth would you condense Prince Caspian to TWO episodes?! And Voyage of the Dawn Treader to FOUR? Reading those books take just as long to read as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Silver Chair. What. Just what.

My inner Narnia geek is annoyed.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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For as long as I can remember, I’ve been in love with the Chronicles of Narnia.

I first read the first book C.S. Lewis wrote from the series–The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe–in primary school, but sometime during high school, I decided I wanted to read the remaining 6 books. I managed to borrow and read all except the seventh book–The Last Battle–from my high school library, and I remember my mum randomly buying books 5 and 6 (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The SIlver Chair) for me.

In Year 11, we studied imaginary journeys for English (if I can remember correctly), and I used Voyage of the Dawn Treader as one of my texts for my portfolio. I don’t know why, but I went shopping for a new Chronicles of Narnia book around the time I was making my portfolio. It may just have been that I wanted to buy the other 5 books so I could finally read them again, but in the process, I found a large book that combined the seven. The cover boasted of the recently released movie adaption of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (which features a very handsome Peter Pevensie). (When Prince Caspian the movie came out, this book was re-released with a new cover that featured Prince Caspian (played by the handsome Ben Barnes) instead of the White Witch.)

When I got home the night I watched Prince Caspian, I went online straight away to check when the next movie was to be released. I took note that it was announced on imdb to be coming out in December 2010, but I guess I forgot ’cause when I went to the movies tonight, I was shocked and excited by all the movie posters for Dawn Treader! On the way to our theater, there was a massive poster with Lucy, Edmund and some seemingly random kid. I loudly scoffed, “Who’s he?” and pondered for a moment who the new character in the book was, then I realised, Eustace!

Here’s a photo of him:

Eustace in the 2010 film, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader"

It really bothered me that Eustace was portrayed by C.S. Lewis as being a grubby, bratty kid, and the actor playing him looked clean and proper. I only hope the kid acts like the Eustace that C.S. Lewis portrays, even if he looks nothing like what I envisioned.

Ate Cathy and Ashley were witnesses to my squeal of delight when we walked into our theater for Life As We Know It and the trailer for Dawn Treader was playing. As soon as I got a clear view of the screen, I just stood there, so as not to take my eyes of the screen. Ate Cathy and Ashley just stood behind me as I watched on. I wanted to turn around and tell them to go find a seat, but that required me to look away. They were standing too far behind me for me to just say it loudly enough above the surround sound.

**Note: Lucy’s actor is obviously older and looks really pretty. For some reason, the White Witch makes an appearance [to Edmund, in particular] at the Island Where Dreams Come True aka Dark Island. From what I saw in the trailer, the sea of lilies looks beautifully dull. I expected it to be brighter since they’re closer to the sun. Pfft. Hollywood. **

Voyage of the Dawn Treader is released on December 9. I’m thinking this movie is a good one for me to finally watch a movie on my own in a theater. But if anybody wants to tag along and accompany me, you’re more than welcome to endure my day of geekiness.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) – IMDb

[UPDATE 16.11.2010] I made a mistake! The movie actually comes out on December 2. I swear I saw the trailer at Hoyts say the 9th, but Borders emails tell me the 2nd, so I checked the Hoyts website and it says 2nd. A week earlier, woo! [/UPDATE]

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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It is without momentum in our life that we deteriorate. God made us to have forward motion even if it is small. Big things proceed from little causes and small hinges swing big doors. Avoid at all cost the voice that says, “You can do it tomorrow”.

- Rob Carman

Found this on Nikki’s tumblr

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
Follow @danineteen

I originally found this in the Smosh Pit.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
Follow @danineteen

The human body needs to consume food on a regular basis in order to sustain itself. Likewise, the spirit of a human being needs to consume spiritual food. And just as a person (for the most part) chooses what food they put in their mouth, we also have a choice as to what we decide to feed our spirit with.

So today for lunch, I decided to hang out with God. It’s something I don’t do as often as I should, but when I do, he spoils me with amazing revelations of his Word, and it makes me wonder why I lose motivation to read my Bible regularly.

For lunch, I read Romans 4-6. I was reading through the three chapters trying to make sense of what Paul was telling the Roman church. Everything was sinking in, but I didn’t feel as if I was coming away from it with mind-blowing revelations.

Each of the five sections that the three chapters were split into repetitively talked about faith and righteousness and life and death, and I admit, I started to get a little bored half way through chapter 5. So bored that I decided I was gonna stop taking notes and just read. Then I’d come to another section that seemed to tackle the topics from a different angle, and I’d get something new out of it, but then I’d get bored again ’cause it sounded so monotonous!

That was until I read the last verse in chapter 6, which is the verse that features in the above video:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Suddenly, the first part of lunch made sense!

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. (Romans 4:4-5)

When someone receives a wage, it’s what they deserve for something they have done during a set period of time. “Wage” or “wages” is a term mostly used to describe the pay an employee receives based on an hourly rate. It is income that rightfully belongs to them as a result of the work they have done.

A gift is given not because the receiver necessarily deserves it, but because the giver wishes to show favour or to honour an occasion. It is a bonus “given voluntarily without payment in return”. (I especially like this ‘commentary’ under the financial definition for ‘gift’ – If you receive a gift, you aren’t required to report it as income.)

As sinners, we deserve death. It is our wage for sinning and an obligation as a result of the law (Romans 4:15 – “…law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.”). When a man works, his wages are what he deserves for working and they are not a gift. But God’s gift to us is eternal life through Christ Jesus.

Not one of us deserve it because rightfully we deserve death as a result of sinning (Romans 3:23 …For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. ; Romans 5:12 …Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…). But our faith in God means that under His grace, we can receive the gift of life.

If the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” (Romans 5:15)

This gift isn’t just for one person; it is for anyone who chooses to accept it.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

THE MOVIE BLEW MY MIND AWAY. It was the kind of movie that made me want to shout at the people on the screen. It was the kind of movie that only started to make sense halfway through. It was the kind of movie that I thought everyone would hate while I loved it, but instead, everyone — including me — loved it. It’s one of those movies that I want to watch again in the cinemas, but in 3D!

When I watched it, the whole theater reacted exactly like this.

This part of the movie was one of the best!

Arthur (Levitt): Quick, kiss me.
*kiss*
Ariadne (Page): …They’re still looking at us.
Arthus (Levitt): *shrugs* It was worth a shot.

I discovered all of these images thanks to @jomzee and her tumblr.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

Update 24.11.2010

Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure if keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.

– C.S. Lewis

Dedicated to Jasmine.

- “Keep moving forward.”

- -

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.15am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Poster

Hi

I opened the screen door yesterday and my cat got out and has been missing since then so I was wondering if you are not to busy you could make a poster for me. It has to be A4 and I will photocopy it and put it around my suburb this afternoon.

This is the only photo of her I have she answers to the name Missy and is black and white and about 8 months old. missing on Harper street and my phone number.

Thanks Shan.

 
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.26am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

That is shocking news. Luckily I was sitting down when I read your email and not half way up a ladder or tree. How are you holding up? I am surprised you managed to attend work at all what with thinking about Missy out there cold, frightened and alone… possibly lying on the side of the road, her back legs squashed by a vehicle, calling out “Shannon, where are you?” Although I have two clients expecting completed work this afternoon, I will, of course, drop everything and do whatever it takes to facilitate the speedy return of Missy.

Regards, David.

 
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.37am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Poster

yeah ok thanks. I know you dont like cats but I am really worried about mine. I have to leave at 1pm today.

 
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.17am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

I never said I don’t like cats. Once, having been invited to a party, I went clothes shopping beforehand and bought a pair of expensive G-Star boots. They were two sizes too small but I wanted them so badly I figured I could just wear them without socks and cut my toenails very short. As the party was only a few blocks from my place, I decided to walk. After the first block, I lost all feeling in my feet. Arriving at the party, I stumbled into a guy named Steven, spilling Malibu & coke onto his white Wham ‘Choose Life’ t-shirt, and he punched me. An hour or so after the incident, Steven sat down in a chair already occupied by a cat. The surprised cat clawed and snarled causing Steven to leap out of the chair, slip on a rug and strike his forehead onto the corner of a speaker; resulting in a two inch open gash. In its shock, the cat also defecated, leaving Steven with a wet brown stain down the back of his beige cargo pants. I liked that cat.

Attached poster as requested.

Regards, David.

 
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.24am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah thats not what I was looking for at all. it looks like a movie and how come the photo of Missy is so small?

 
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.28am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

It’s a design thing. The cat is lost in the negative space.

Regards, David.

 
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.33am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Thats just stupid. Can you do it properly please? I am extremely emotional over this and was up all night in tears. you seem to think it is funny. Can you make the photo bigger please and fix the text and do it in colour please. Thanks.

 
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.46am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

Having worked with designers for a few years now, I would have assumed you understood, despite our vague suggestions otherwise, we do not welcome constructive criticism. I don’t come downstairs and tell you how to send text messages, log onto Facebook and look out of the window. I am willing to overlook this faux pas due to you no doubt being preoccupied with thoughts of Missy attempting to make her way home across busy intersections or being trapped in a drain as it slowly fills with water. I spent three days down a well once but that was just for fun.

I have amended and attached the poster as per your instructions.

Regards, David.

 
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.59am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

This is worse than the other one. can you make it so it shows the whole photo of Missy and delete the stupid text that says missing missy off it? I just want it to say lost.

 
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.14am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

 
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.21am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah can you do the poster or not? I just want a photo and the word lost and the telephone number and when and where she was lost and her name. Not like a movie poster or anything stupid. I have to leave early today. If it was your cat I would help you. Thanks.

 
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.32am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Awww

Dear Shannon,

I don’t have a cat. I once agreed to look after a friend’s cat for a week but after he dropped it off at my apartment and explained the concept of kitty litter, I kept the cat in a closed cardboard box in the shed and forgot about it. If I wanted to feed something and clean faeces, I wouldn’t have put my mother in that home after her stroke. A week later, when my friend came to collect his cat, I pretended that I was not home and mailed the box to him. Apparently I failed to put enough stamps on the package and he had to collect it from the post office and pay eighteen dollars. He still goes on about that sometimes, people need to learn to let go.

I have attached the amended version of your poster as per your detailed instructions.

Regards, David.

 
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.47am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Awww

Thats not my cat. where did you get that picture from? That cat is orange. I gave you a photo of my cat.

 
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.58am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Awww

I know, but that one is cute. As Missy has quite possibly met any one of several violent ends, it is possible you might get a better cat out of this. If anybody calls and says “I haven’t seen your orange cat but I did find a black and white one with its hind legs run over by a car, do you want it?” you can politely decline and save yourself a costly veterinarian bill.

I knew someone who had a basset hound that had its hind legs removed after an accident and it had to walk around with one of those little buggies with wheels. If it had been my dog I would have asked for all its legs to be removed and replaced with wheels and had a remote control installed. I could charge neighbourhood kids for rides and enter it in races. If I did the same with a horse I could drive it to work. I would call it Steven.

Regards, David.

 
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.07pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Please just use the photo I gave you.

 
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.22pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.34pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

I didnt say there was a reward. I dont have $2000 dollars. What did you even put that there for? Apart from that it is perfect can you please remove the reward bit. Thanks Shan.

 
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.42pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

 
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.51pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Can you just please take the reward bit off altogether? I have to leave in ten minutes and I still have to make photocopies of it.

 
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.56pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

 
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 1.03pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Fine. That will have to do.

- -

Tsk. Didn’t even say “Thank you.”

I love that through all of this, he still acted like a professional.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

From the Smosh pit

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

A country path appears to morph into fabric in this piece. (www.alltelleringet.com)

A man irons his clothes – while wearing them at the same time. (www.alltelleringet.com)

A waterside painting gushes liquid over a surprised art lover. (www.alltelleringet.com)

Roadworks suddenly become a giant game of noughts and crosses. (www.alltelleringet.com)

A clumsy man’s hands smash into pieces – while the vase survives. (www.alltelleringet.com)

Another man’s face crumples like a pillow after taking a punch. (www.alltelleringet.com)

 
When I first came across these photos on ninemsn, their style looked so familiar, and I was sure I had seen something similar or exactly the same on deviantART. So when I rediscovered the link in my Chrome bookmarks today, I decided to search through my favourites on dA to find the deviation that resembled the photos in the ninemsn gallery.

Several pages of favourites later, I found it:

Vertical turn

 
Turns out they’re all by the same artist. The world wide web doesn’t seem so wide now.

The guy who shoots and digitally manipulates these photos is a Swedish artist named Erik Johansson. If you decide to have a look through his dA gallery, also have a read of the description below each individual photo. The stories behind some of those artworks are interesting. For example, Vertical turn is “made out of 3 different photos taken from 3 different heights”. Heaven Express is made from photos taken six months apart. Planet Sweden, which you should definitely go have a look at, is made up of 24 panoramic images.

Here are a few others from his gallery that I especially like:

Fishy island

Melting point

Reflective cubes

Kaffeslump

anlagd oversvamning

Work on the sea

Hands-on

 
There’s plenty more on his site that aren’t on dA. Go have a look.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

- -

* If I bookmark something in Chrome, it means I enjoyed what I saw, and it’s actually worth having a look at again. If I bookmark it in any other web browser, I intend to have a look at it later, but I usually don’t. Not that any of that matters to anyone.

 
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I just found out that this is actually a T-shirt design, so now I totally want it.

 
- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
[UPDATE 25.11.2010] The original posts that I got the images from have since been deleted. [/UPDATE]

As absurd as these thoughts may sound, EQComics writer, Dan Long, actually makes a very good point. But I guess I’ve got nothing to be concerned about ’cause I don’t live in the States.

Here’s an older xkcd comic that I particularly like. It’s a humourous take on the stranded-on-a-desert-island cliché.

Just a little Smoshy goodness.

 
So, I think three things will be enough for now. Five points goes to the person who can guess how I came up with my title (too easy).

I may be posting daily or almost daily for the next couple of weeks just because a lot of behind-the-scenes type of stuff has been going on. Excitement!

 
- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
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Hate is a strong word,
but love is tossed around like nothing.

I came across this in my Facebook news feed (ugh, that thing is cluttered and annoying). It was one of those things that’s on an external page that people can “like” from within Facebook, and those people probably don’t have a clue that their information may be visible to random strangers on that webpage because of the weird Facebook privacy policies (which, I think have been changed again).

Anyway, some of the things that appear in my news feed are eye-catching. This was one of them.

Also, here’s the link to the thing that you can “like”, if you like that sorta thing.

LikeMyThought.com

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
Follow @danineteen

“Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
Follow @danineteen

Please click on the image to see the original in full size.

Moon: What about your Americans?

Yeap. That’s what the moon was gonna say. #iloveyouguysreally

 
“Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
Follow @danineteen

What a badass dinosaur. No dino could be any more badass than this guy.

[UPDATE 16.11.2011] The image is supposed to animate. If it doesn’t move, please click on it to go to the original site and view it there. Totally worth it. [/UPDATE]

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
Follow @danineteen

“Our finest foods are trash that didn’t get thrown away.”

I can’t believe I never thought of it like that before.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

 
Follow @danineteen

From lol comics. A new webcomic to add to my extensive list.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

I find this unbelievably nerdy. Yet at the same time, I’m in awe at the fact that it works like a real printer, and it’s not just hundreds of Lego blocks attached to each other with something resembling a paper tray on which the “Hello world” paper can sit.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

One slightly exciting thing that has happened, though, is that two weeks ago, today, I got my green P’s!

No, not those peas.

Not those, either. But at least, the little guys look like they’re celebrating with me!

By “green P’s”, I mean that I got my Provisional P2 license. Unless you live in New South Wales, that probably won’t mean anything to you. As far as I know, NSW is the only state or territory (in Australia) that has two levels of provisional licensing. Apparently, the NSW state government thinks its own young (or less experienced) drivers are more irresponsible than the same-aged drivers in the rest of the country.

Known as the "Graduated Licensing Scheme". Taken from my now invalid and incorrect log book. (Click to see it slightly larger)

These were the rules when I got my my Learner’s in 2006, eight months after I was old enough to get them (I was lazy, and also my first attempt a month or so earlier had proved unsuccessful). I held that license for nearly 3 years and passed the DART in January 2009, just 4 months before my license was due to expire (procrastination is so my thing).

I was aware that I only needed to be on my red P’s for 12 months and thought that my license was valid for 24. So when I still hadn’t got around to booking my HPT in February of this year, I decided that I wasn’t in any rush to get it. About a month ago, a bank teller observed that my license was going to expire sometime soon and mentioned that I should get it renewed. When I looked at the expiration date, it said July of this year, not January of next.

*Gasps!*

So, I booked my test (you don’t have to, but you never know if the RTA is gonna be busy when you get there), completed it in 15 minutes (half the proposed time) and passed with flying colours! The HPT was friggin’ easy, I tell ya. You can’t go wrong unless you decide not to use common sense.

Some advice for anyone wanting to take the HPT any time in the future: In a real life situation, you have a 180° view. When you’re looking at an image on a computer, you don’t.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

via ellediva.tumblr.com

Yum-may

Phewwwww, what a lame intro, Danica. Only aliens talk like that, and it hasn’t been that long since your last visit, since you posted last week. Duh.

Anyway, I’ve been up to the usual, ordinary, day-to-day stuff. Bein’ a couch potato and the like. Sleeping in, stayin’ up late. You know the drill. Here are some stories;

You may have read my previous post about my churro-making fail where I blabbed about how I made churros with an icing pump which resulted in my churros looking like French fries. If not, then go read that first because it’s sort of an intro to the story I’m going to share now.

Tonight, I decided to make churros with my brand new piping bag. And with cimmanin (I didn’t have any cinnamon when I made my French churros)! Of course, I used the same recipe as before. I didn’t wanna risk ending up with too many leftovers, so this time, I only doubled the recipe for my family.

It was a million times easier to push the dough out of the piping bag rather than the icing pump. I guess it was because the piping bag was made of a much more flexible material than that of the pump. I got a little too excited squeezing out the first five or so churros that they ended up being quite long. And there were some that I burnt on one side because I had forgotten that they had been frying in the pan for a while already. No matter. I’m happy with the result and they were pretty darn delicious.

I forgot about buying some chocolate to melt for dipping the churros in, but we had a bottle of Hershey’s chocolate syrup in the pantry. I wanted the dipping chocolate to at least be a little warm, so I microwaved some in a bowl for 10 seconds, and voila!

Also, I didn’t realise how much people didn’t like cinnamon! My dad and sister both complained that there was too much cinnamon, so they both added more sugar to their churros.

Hmph.

Hah well.

That’s the end of that story.

Here’s another story. I haven’t told many people this because it’s not something that I wanted to loudly proclaim to the whole world, but since it’s made a big difference in my life lately, I decided to tell you, my loyal readers (and occasional guests). I’ve already posted this story in my journal on my deviantART account, so most of this was copied and pasted from there, since it is my life story. So if you read it there, you don’t really need to read the rest of this post;

Most people would know that I was studying and in my second year at uni(versity), and some of the clever ones would’ve been able to name what exactly I was studying.

However, throughout the duration of (what I had completed of) this course, I came to realise that I didn’t want to be a Financial Mathematician, nor did I want to be a businesswoman cooped up in a cubicle or office from 9 to 5 every weekday (I never liked the idea of being a businesswoman cooped up in a cubicle or office from 9 to 5 every weekday to begin with). I thought long and hard about the different career paths leading from my course, and I just couldn’t see myself retiring from any of those careers many years from now.

At the moment, I don’t have a job, and thank God that other than my parents and Centrelink (who tell me I’m not eligible for any government help), I have some sort of income — from teaching young children piano (by the way, I’m open to teaching people over 11 years old, as well). I started doing this in January 2009 and at present, I have five students. I charge only $15 per one hour lesson (other teachers may charge $20 for a half hour lesson), which earns me a mere 75 bucks a week, which is pretty good income for someone who doesn’t have to pay bills or tax. Also, it’s better pay than if I was getting paid the starting rate at some fast food chain (no, I’ll never resort to a job at Maccas).

So anyway, teaching kids how to play piano brought back the passion for teaching that I had when I was in Year 12; applying for uni and putting Primary Education at three different universities as my top 3 course preferences; grabbing every pamphlet, brochure and prospectus available on the different teaching courses available; wanting to impart something to the next generation via the classroom.

After graduating from high school in September 2007, I didn’t get the marks I needed to get into primary school teaching at uni. So I went to TAFE (not sure what the international equivalent of that would be; maybe like USA’s community college?) and studied Business Management for a year (don’t ask why; it’s complicated). I used the marks/qualifications from BusMgmt to get into uni, and started a Bachelor of Business & Commerce, majoring in Financial Mathematics (I only chose to major in that instead of Accounting or some other crap ’cause I LOVED Maths in high school).

Since starting that course in February 2009, I’ve pretty much hated it. When I got my marks after the first semester I was blown away by how crap I did and immediately decided that I wanted to become a music teacher. I tossed the idea around for too long, and before I knew it, I was half way through my second semester of Financial Maths. Ugh.

Long story short, I put off dropping out of uni too long, and the day I submitted the form to “resign from my course” was what UWS calls the “census date”, which is basically the deadline if you wanna drop a subject or two, pick up a subject or two, or drop out of the course entirely — after having begun my 3rd semester of uni (they have a census date during the 5th week of every semester).

So I dropped out 3 or 4 weeks ago now, and since then, I’ve mostly been a couch potato with the occasional I-better-get-up-and-do-something-or-I’ll-be-potato-shaped-soon attitude. I’m still looking for a proper job ’cause I eventually want to pay for gas for my parents’ car, which I drive occasionally, and I eventually want to buy my own brand new car, and you know, things like that. I also want to buy my own keyboard or very portable digital piano that I can bring to church and church camps (like how the guitarists/bassists have maybe multiple guitars and a case full of effects pedals *ahem ahem my dad and brother and Gen*, and the drummers have spare cymbals and spare drums and spare drum skins and spare drum sticks).

Anyway, I’ll be looking into the different unis and colleges and comparing their Bachelor of Music programs to see what I prefer. I mean, I already have my heart set on a particular campus, but it’d be nice to get in the field sooner, y’know what I mean?

So. Churros and droppin’ out of school. What a year it’s been for me, eh?

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

via ellediva.tumblr.com

The other week, my friends and I hung out to celebrate a friend’s birthday. We ate at some churros place at Blacktown near the station, and Abi, my best friend since Kindy, mentioned that she actually knew how to make churros. I had always thought churros were made with some special machinery or some special skill so I was sorta like Woah.

Later, we all went back to the birthday boy’s place to eat a proper dinner of Nando’s (with rice (kanin FTW, aw yeah)). We were chillin’ out and came to the conclusion that since we were all sorta not doing anything the next day, we should hang out again, and we decided to hang at Abi’s place.

Late-ish the next morning, I rocked up to Abi’s house and we were like I haven’t eaten breakfast yet, Let’s cook something, Let’s make churros, Ok! Abi grabbed all the ingredients, told me how much to put of what in the pot and mix it, then she stuffed it all in a piping bag (made out of leftover curtains) and squeezed out the gunk. Then I fried them.

Is that it?!

Abi even melted some chocolate for dipping. SO DAMN YUMMY. Before I left, I grabbed the recipe off her so I could make some at home, since it was so easy anyway.

Ingredients:

1 cup water

2 ½ tbsp white sugar

½ tbsp salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup flour

½ cup white sugar & cinnamon

Method:

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, sugar, salt, oil. Bring to boil.

Stir in flour until it forms a ball.

Heat oil for frying in deep fryer, 190°F (approx. 87°C)

Pipe strips of dough into oil. Fry till golden. Drain on paper foils^*.

Roll in sugar & cinnamon

And now, here’s the story of my attempt;

On Good Friday we had an afternoon service at church, which left the whole of Friday evening FREE. Our family had no plans but to go home and eat dinner, so I decided it would be the perfect time to make churros.

We didn’t have a piping bag, but we did have an icing pump, much like (exactly like) this one. I figured an icing pump and a piping bag were sorta similar, but I was doubting how effective the pump would be for “piping” out the dough. I knew the dough would be tough, or that it would get tough eventually, or that it might stick to the inside of the pump, and I didn’t want the pump to get clogged up with churro dough.

We used it anyway, and I didn’t realise that the nozzle was narrow, so my churros ended up looking like French fries! (You may have seen my tweets about them.)

When Abi and I made the churros, we doubled the recipe (or tripled?) to feed three people (me + her + Aaron), and we ended up with enough churros to fill us and take home (Abi didn’t have any takeaway containers, though ). So it only seemed fitting to triple the recipe to feed a greedier-than-usual-when-they-are-offered-tasty-treats family of five. But when my churros ended up as crispy little twigs instead of a long, doughy sticks of cinnamon, we ended up with leftovers that lasted the weekend, even with all the greediness.

I went shopping with the family on Tuesday and we bought a piping bag and a WIDE nozzle for it so I can make sausage-sized churros. I was gonna make some yesterday, but then didn’t feel like it. When I get around to it (hopefully soon, so I can use my brand new piping bag), I’ll let you know.

Read more of my cooking adventures here or find “Katigoris” in the sidebar and select the Recipes category.

- “Keep moving forward.” – Walt Disney

- -

^* I think they mean “paper or foil”? I dunno.

Updated 24.11.2010

via claudinechloe.tumblr.com

LOL 8D

 
[UPDATE 08.06.2010] Claudine changed her tumblr username recently, so all the posts I got from her tumblr will have the original username (claudinechloe) on the post, but I’ve fixed the link to contain her new username (ilikeeeeee). [/UPDATE]

[UPDATE 24.11.2010] The original post no longer exists on account of the tumblr account no longer exists. [/UPDATE]