Twilight Parade

Twilight Chinese New Year Parade
On Sunday night, my friends and I went down to the city to watch the Twilight parade. The road was completely blocked off and my friend and I were unable to cross to the other side where our other friends were waiting for us. After walking for 30 minutes we finally managed to find a route that was accessible and we stood right next to the metal gate.









Overall, the parade was very disappointing with too many random Chinese/ Australian groups that were more often than not, completely unenthused to be participating in the parade. It was also very random that there were groups which included members that were pulling along their luggage. The best group was the pandas on unicycles since they were unexpected.

Calligraphy

I am in love with calligraphy; I think it is absolutely gorgeous. Many many years ago, my sister bought the starter pack for calligraphy from the newsagency and recently I discovered it in our stationery cupboard. A calligraphy dip pen is something I have always wanted to master and judging from my poor attempts earlier today, it is still something I need to improve on. The photo below illustrates my less than stellar attempt - blotting and writing in a manner that was not appropriate for the size of my nib. It is a quote from my favourite TV show and is hardly legible.



I do believe that I need a finer nib - which I shall purchase in due course- and an eye dropper for greater precision when putting in the ink.

Kayaking

This morning my friends and I went kayaking at Middle Harbour in double plastic kayaks. The weather was gorgeous and perfect for kayaking as it was warm and yet not hot due to the slight wind. I was paired with the girl who I first met at kayaking three years ago and who - embarrassingly- saved me as I had struggled to swim ashore due to my sand-bogged trainers. This time however, that did not happen as there was no one around to capsize our kayak. With the help of a local kayak-er, he gave us a map and told us to travel under the bridge and to a small hidden bay. In hindsight, it was a little ambitious as we were 3/4 of the way there and realised that we would not have gotten there and back within our 2 hour time slot. I didn't bring my camera for fear that I would have gotten it wet and hence I do not have photos of the gorgeous houses, staircases and overall scenic view that we saw. One of the best part was floating next to the pelicans; I never realised how beady their black eyes were.

Photos from NYE

Spelling your name out with a sparkler is a lot harder than I thought it would be and yet a lot of fun at the same time.


Earlier in the evening we had attended the fireworks at one of my local beaches. The following photos are not taken by me but by S.

2011 Diary

I am the sort of person who likes to document my life, whether that be in the form of photographs to writing in my journal as I feel it is important to have the opportunity in the not too distant future to remember all the little details. This year, I made my own diary/planner using the large squareed Moleskine notebook, jotting down all my daily to-do lists, to rewriting my favourite quotes or scrawling little notes to myself in the pages at the back. Looking back, it was evident which weeks were better than others; they were more colourful and filled with quotes whereas the busier weeks were simply filled with scrawled lists. Earlier today I purchased a diary for 2012 as I couldn't resist a 30% discount. However, having both diaries in my hands I am somewhat discontent with the purchase and though I wouldn't return it (I have already taken off the sticker from the cover) I am unsure if it is what I would like to use next year. That being said, having a 'proper' diary would mean that it is a lot neater than drawing it up myself. However, the convenience of always having spare paper was always a bonus.

University & Paddington Reservoir Garden

University

Bondi - Sculpture by the Sea 2011

Three years ago I visited the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition at Bondi Beach. I don't remember the sculptures and artworks I saw, though all I remember was that it was sweltering and it was a very foolish choice to be wearing black skinny jeans. In hindsight, I think it was the start of change, the first movement towards the path that I am now on. I was with people that I never truly spoke to again even after that one day and even now, my path has diverged from theirs.

Today, I went with my father to see the exhibition once again. Luckily I had picked the day where it was not only not that hot (it was said to be only 23 degress Celsius) and it was not raining.









There was this girl who was sitting at the edge of the cliff and I took a photo of her. I have always wanted to sit at the edge but alas I have a fear of heights and I would be scared that I would fall over. And yet, I think there would be something incredibly calming.

The highlight of the day would definitely have been see the pods of dolphins; there must have been over 30 swimming in the ocean!

Takumi + Beach

My friend J and I caught up for lunch; post examination period never feels as exciting as I imagine it to be during examination period though. We went to visit Takumi, the sushi train on Level 3 at Market City. At $3 a plate ($2.50 if you show your student card!) it is definitely on the cheaper end of the scale and I guess, for $2.50 you can't really be that picky. But I am.

I don't particularly eat Japanese and I have issues with slimy textures. Basically that means I don't like/ won't eat anything raw and mushrooms. The issue that I have with sushi train restaurants in general is that there is a tendency to have the same few plates and whilst you can order certain rolls from the menu, I feel as though it really retracts from the experience. The selection was sub-par and the place was so hot. I don't think the air conditioner was working where we were sitting.

The first thing my friend picked was this squid + rice sushi. I don't eat squid because a) it is slimy and b) it is chewy. Too chewy.. But I tried it because I didn't think it was that bad. It was so chewy that I couldn't handle it anymore and didn't want to swallow it whole so I ended up spitting it out in my napkin. Cool.





J ordered a handroll for me but got me the wrong tuna roll (I wanted the canned tuna type roll). As said previously, I don't like slimy textures and I really tried to eat the tuna but I just couldn't. I think a large part of it isn't really the texture per se, but more the idea; when I was eating it without looking, it was 'fine' but then once I thought about it I couldn't eat it anymore.



J had never tried soft shell crab before! Though it was so salty.




All in all, granted that we paid $25 for 10 dishes, price wise, it wasn't too bad. But I'm not sure if I would ever go back.

I had been hearing a lot about matcha and actually googled it earlier that morning. I normally have issues with red bean, but in the drink it was fairly nice since the drink itself wasn't very sweet.


We then visited 'Dollar King' (where everything is not $1) and I saw these adorable figurines.




Until this afternoon, I did not realise that I hadn't been to a beach in over 2 years despite living relatively close. The water was lovely and the wind was perfect in contrast to the sweltering sun. Though, I am sure I looked a little out of place with my business skirt and blouse, standing at the water's edge whilst everyone else was in board shorts and bikinis.