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a penguin of very little brain
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| penguins hanging by the door |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|09:03 pm] |
delightful things version july08
:: the shrieks of my mother as she calls 'mahjong' :: curry for breakfast :: condensation on the kitchen window :: brightly coloured scarves :: early winter light :: plush penguins stacked high to the ceiling :: baking on cold evenings :: walking into town with davyd :: sunday morning breakfast out :: painting in my pyjamas :: new cook books :: markets :: playing with language :: roti canai :: my tweed frock coat :: movies with friends :: heavy rain, pounding on the roof :: oranges :: the possibility of hail :: almost time for strawberries :: birthday presents in the post :: knee-high toe socks ::
你呢？ |
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| sometimes i feel my heart will overflow |
[Jan. 16th, 2008|08:33 pm] |
The more down I get, the more I tend to obsess over bright colours. I have always focussed on bright colours as a way to cheer myself up. Dressing in bright colours, or painting with brightly coloured paints are my favourite ways, but also cooking with brightly coloured vegetables and reading photoblogs filled with bright photos are tried and true methods.
I'm not particularly sad today, but there are some that I know who are, so I wanted to link to this: 5 simple ways to brighten your day and 10 surefire ways to kill your crabby mood, for whatever mileage you might get.
six things to cheer me up:
&clubs add colour. This might mean I pick up my paints and paint something new, or it might mean putting on a bright blue top, or buying a bright purple hat or orange socks, or it might mean buying a passionfruit callipo (they're yellow and super tasty). Sometimes at work, adding colour to my day is as simple as going outside for five minutes.
&clubs dance. Wobbling about in my chair or doing a stupid dance when waiting for someone to get off the phone gets me heaps of weird looks at work, but it never fails to make me laugh. Dancing as I walk down the stairs is tricky, and dancing in the living room is easiest. Proper dancing with a partner, swinging about the room to a jive, is my favourite dance-to-cheer, it's fast and exhilarating - and it looks impressive, and that helps, too.
&clubs sing. The only condition on this one is that it can't be sad songs. They have to be loud and happy, like '1. 2. 3. 4.' by Feist and 'Let's Replace the Cityscapes' by The Triangles. To this end I have a short, quick playlist, that is constantly changing and only has about fifteen songs on it but never fails to make me sing and cheerful.
&clubs exercise. There are things about endorphins, and I'm sure there are psychological things like knowing you're helping yourself to lose weight or get fit or whatever, but when I get out of the pool or finally pack up my bow that ache in my shoulders or my legs or wherever is so satisfying, and even if I start in a bad mood I always finish in a satisfied mood. Even if it's as simple as going for a walk! In fact, the sun is just setting, it's a perfect time right now!
&clubs look for beauty. On google, or on flickr, just type in a word and look at the beautiful pictures. My current favourites are Someday, Sliding Penguins, and Penguins @ Milan.
&clubs dining with friends. Sharing a meal with friends, either one that I have cooked, or one that someone else has cooked, is a delight. It is about gossiping with friends, about sharing and delighting in the company of people you adore, people you have chosen to invite into your life.
If you have foolproof ways of cheering yourself up, please do not hesitate to share them. I am very interested in that sort of thing. |
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| something that wasn't really there when i looked out the window |
[Jan. 4th, 2008|06:55 pm] |
This has not exactly been a good week, so I would like to make a list of this week's awesome things.
&spades hats
&spades the shape of these languages i speak
&spades the epiphany toilet
&spades the weekend
&spades the beach
&spades fairy bread
&spades lasagna
&spades nudie juices
&spades red things
&spades awesome stockings
&spades my zipper earrings
&spades scrubs
&spades getting the offer for my masters
&spades starcross
&spades 我的头发
&spades this version of cabaret by louis armstrong
&spades nampak/tengok
&spades taking the train down the new line
(&spades BONUS: the sausage dogs I met last week)
Please feel free to share your awesome things with me
&clubs&hearts&diams
AN ASIDE: Cameron's going away party is tomorrow at Animal House. Does anyone want to go to the beach beforehand? (about 17:00ish) |
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| leave on a high note |
[Dec. 31st, 2007|02:34 pm] |
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) vegetus posted a list of things she is looking forward to in 2008, and asked others to do the same.
things i am looking forward to in 2008:
- going to melbourne again
- the year of the rat
- changing careers (to save the world)
- throwing a really big party (i will be wearing a red dress, and davyd will be wearing a suit)
- playing more mahjong
- seeing feist
- going to more concerts/more bands in general
- dancing on travelators to 'my moon my man' with pieces
- cooking a lot
- g publishing lots of things
- dancing with davyd a lot
- lots of bright colours
- taking a whole lot of photos
i'm totally not doing that meme everyone else is doing, but: the song that will probably always remind me of 2007:
harder, better, faster, stronger - daft punk
rtr is playing my favourite feist song right now! |
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| everything gets turned around |
[Nov. 3rd, 2007|08:44 pm] |
So the other day I made a post of images I found inspiring or awesome, prompted as I was by dalekboy's posts of a similar nature. I was intrigued by which pictures people chose to comment on, and which ones inspired similar reactions; similarly I was intrigued by my own reaction (and the reactions of others) to the images which dalekboy has been posting.
Continuing in that vein, consider this a survey more than anything else:
In the comments to this post, please post at least one image you find inspiring or awesome.
I included this one in my post the other day, but there are so many things I find amazing about it that it was easy to pick it again.
 |
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| and all the things you do with it |
[Oct. 19th, 2007|08:01 pm] |
things i am looking forward to, with the onset of the warmer weather (when it decides to stay, instead of this now it's summer, now it's winter thing):
&hearts light summer dresses
&hearts repurposed formal skirts. at my year 12 formal, most girls wore those long, satiny skirts with the triangle top made of shimmery material. i own several of those skirts now, shining as they trail along the floor, and i love the idea that i wear them with thongs (flip flops) and tshirt down to the shops or on picnics and i love the way they trail on the ground through the dirt and the way i feel kind of decadent, knowing i'm ruining the skirt for which some poor girl's dad paid $100 bucks, whilst i paid $10 at the local op-shop.
&hearts impromptu picnics with my friends. i love picnicking on the matilda bay foreshore as a sudden sort of thing; walking to kings' park through the wildflowers and watching the surprising fountains at the women's memorial; looking out over the city and the river in the bright, beautiful sunshine.
&hearts visits to the beach. my favourite in this city is cottesloe, its shaggy grass and its beautiful sands and the queue for the OBH, but i love trigg, too, with its stronger surf.
&hearts barbeques, sitting outdoors under the patio, eating cold foods and drinking cold drinks.
&hearts being able to get up in the morning, sun bright, not shivering as I climb out of the pool.
&hearts icecream from the junction icecreamery
What are you looking forward to? |
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| gently whispering a song |
[Sep. 19th, 2007|07:21 am] |
I went swimming this morning. I suppose I'm now one of those disgusting people who gets up early before work to go do sport, but I feel so good.
I love the endorphins, and the sun rising over the pool was awesometacular.
Flist, it is Wednesday, tell me one thing making you feel better about today. |
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| nowhere left to go but down |
[Sep. 9th, 2007|09:03 am] |
I was thinking of the things that I do to bring me comfort when I'm feeling down, and the list comprises of: cooking; eating delicious food; purchasing bright coloured things; dancing.
Having just had my wisdom teeth out, I've spent the week in a bit of a miserable daze, a little numb and aching and completely, utterly unable to eat anything other than soup. As such, all the pleasure has gone out of eating, and out of cooking, too. Looking like a chipmunk I was reluctant to leave the house, and buying things to cheer me up is a terrible habit, anyway.
So I've been doing a lot of dorky dancing around my house. I have a soundtrack on my iPod, it is called: happiness is, and it features the following slightly embarrassing but totally cheering songs:
- 1 2 3 4 - Feist
- Red Rubber Ball - The Seekers
- What's Up? - 4 Non Blondes
- Dixie Wailing - Fraggles
- Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me - TISM
- Everything You've Done Wrong - Sloan
- If God is a DJ - Pink
- Greg! The Stop Sign! - TISM
- Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off - Hawksley Workman
- Pull Shapes - The Pipettes
On Friday, I finally left the house for longer than the fifteen minutes it takes to get to IGA and back. I was feeling so dreadful I resolved that, irresponsible as it was, I was going to buy myself a present from town. I had this plan to go to JBs to buy something to watch, perhaps Notting Hill or the movie Davyd doesn't want me to buy, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
Instead, I purchased Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and Vegan With a Vengeance, dropping $70 on cook books on the spot because I was so shocked to see these books on the shelves of a Perth bookstore. I was so excited by my purchase that I completely forgot to go to JBs, I headed straight home so I could rummage through them and this is perhaps the most cheering combination of all, exciting new cook books and dorky music and a rainy afternoon at home, getting to cook.
What brings you comfort? |
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| could not wait |
[Aug. 15th, 2007|10:30 pm] |
delightful things: my chinese lecturer's insistence that we only do our homework if it's raining; the earrings that i am wearing, a gift from my auntie; cupcakes; falafel; hello kitty; friends who come to the rescue; the Court of the Air, a book by Stephen Hunt.
of the day’s annoyances, these: that the girl i sit next to at work thinks that cooking blogs are only written by housewives and student chefs; that it is so cold; that my jumper is covered in fluff; that the muffins i made are not so tasty after two days; that my keyboard is so dirty; that Stardust is not out until September; the "nu rave" look. |
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| tell me that you love me more |
[Jul. 23rd, 2007|09:57 pm] |
a list of delightful things:
&hearts home-made dahl
&hearts this constant, heavy rain when i'm tucked up in my house
&hearts the hello kitty umbrella being used by a girl who hopped on the 24
&hearts 80's power ballads
&hearts 90's aussie pub rock
&hearts 1 2 3 4 by feist
&hearts the new powderfinger album
&hearts 3191, a year of mornings
&hearts penguins
what is delighting you right now? |
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| an ode to perth |
[Jul. 22nd, 2007|07:53 pm] |
oh perth
with your handful of really tall buildings
and your constant construction
when it's late
every person that i pass speaks words i do not recognise
at night, i could film a vampire movie on your streets
and it would be awesome |
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| seven am |
[Jun. 9th, 2007|09:40 pm] |
towards the polly pipe, and the sun slowly rising over the construction at the school there was slow and beautiful; out the other side, i could see the clouds reflected in the river and if i'd had my camera on me i'd have stopped the car in the emergency lane, 80kph or no.
the fog hovering over belmont racetrack was thick; the sun reflecting through the trees and the fog down horrie miller drive was nothing if not ghostly gums, and it was stunning.
i waited at the airport perhaps five minutes; i know how long it takes for flights to land, and how long it takes to clear customs.
i forgot to pay for the ticket.
*
i drove 130km between 06:00 and 08:30 in a round circle from my house back to my house. meimei tells me that auntie has a new car; in two years she's driven 600km. |
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| swallowed like daylight into morning |
[Apr. 29th, 2007|07:57 pm] |
Thousands of Japanese have been swindled in a scam in which they were sold Australian and British sheep and told they were poodles. (fake) Article here.
I am really enjoying reading Gala Darling. Her blog is delightful. Examples of her lovely posts: style tips; on diamonds; things to do instead of refreshing your lj friends; and what does your clothing say about you? And seriously, I am really enjoying her blog.
I know a lot of people friended me after SwanCon, so I thought I would mention that I have two other journals aside from this one (because I like to compartmentalise): yiduiqie, where I talk about dorking around Perth, shops, restaurants, and my art and photos; and outofthekitchen, where I (and occasionally Claira) post about food.
binka_boo is doing this thing where she lists her positives every day. I don't necessarily feel the need to do that every day, but I think it's a great idea, so I'm going to list mine for this weekend so far:
- gallivanting through town on Friday night, dinner and Paradiso and coffee at Dome
- Sydney Swans 17.7 (109) def. Melbourne 8.12 (60)
- apparently we made peace_bloom smile unexpectedly
- Scrubs
- a beautiful Saturday to be out and about
- archery, though I shot terribly
- late night walk home
- waking to rain
- leisurely breakfast out with friends
- a new penguin found at the swap meet
- the spinach and feta triangles we made for dinner
Feel free to do the same! In fact, I encourage it.
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| as we sun our winter bellies |
[Apr. 29th, 2007|04:13 pm] |
It's been kind of a weird day, really rainy and cold but then the sun came out and it's been a beautiful day, and I've been thinking about the dreary days ahead, when it's always cloudy, and the little things that make me feel better. And I'm not ashamed to admit that sometimes the things I own cheer me, so I thought I'd go the visual route first, the things that I can carry with me.
Accessories that I love (going in to Winter):
giant tote bags
I love shoulder bags that fit my entire life into them (my laptop, a hat, lip gloss, diary, purse, phone, keys, ipod, camera, chinese homework, four colour pen, drink bottle). My very favourite is the big red netted shoulder bag that was made for me by Tristoffer's mum. Made for me, so one of a kind, and perfectly sized. It's red and orange and netted, and i absolutely adore it.
scarves
With the weather getting cold and windy, a good scarf is essential. My current favourite is a red, green, brown and orange striped one purchased from Jay Jays two winters ago. It's knitted but not too itchy, and long enough that looped three times around my neck it's still similar to the one worn by the fourth Doctor Who. The variety of colours shouldn't work together, but they do, and as a result works with almost every outfit I can put together.
lapel pins
I have an extensive collection of antique and newer lapel pins. In Summer they swap between my bags, but in Winter I use them as a flash of contrasting colour on the lapels of my giant winter coats. I pick them up from all over the place, op shops and fairs and the front desks of specialty stores.
hair ties
It's windy, and I have long hair. I'm usually happy with an elastic from a Coles ten pack, but for a contrast I tie a little girl hair band around it, Hello Kitty or little stars or something. These I usually buy en masse when visiting the rellies in Malaysia.
a flashy umbrella
A fashion statement, and it keeps me dry. Consider kiddy umbrellas, perfect for one person and always comes in awesome colours (I have two). |
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| take you all around |
[Mar. 11th, 2007|02:28 pm] |
I would like a post of right now happy things, please.
I shall start:
watching trashy dance movies with a wonderful, fun person; this beautiful 29C day; davyd on the couch, cuddling a penguin; For The Beauty Of The Earth; the chinese new year decorations sprinkled through the apartment (though perhaps it is time for them to come down); the avocado, tomato and cheese sandwich i had for lunch; going to the zoo next week.
What are your happy things today?
Previous happy things can be found here. |
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| life is a dancefloor |
[Oct. 21st, 2006|09:41 am] |
Seriously, I don't care what the BOM has to say. Today's going to be stunning.
Go have a picnic or go for a swim or just go for a walk. Just promise me you'll leave the house. And I want you to make a note of it here!
I: am about to go to archery. |
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| the gods could not care less |
[Aug. 29th, 2006|07:42 pm] |
It's a little like spring outside. Walking down the street at dusk with damp hair, thongs on my feet and a light jumper, just a little breeze on the wind. At the supermarket I waited for the doors to open to let me out, and when it did I felt a little jolt of shock that the air outside wasn't oppressive with heat.
It's warm, but I'm waiting for it to get warmer, and the twinge of spring made me happy.
Also making me happy today: my vibrantly coloured dinner in a vibrantly coloured bowl. |
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| the tone of your voice was a warning |
[Aug. 22nd, 2006|07:58 pm] |
Inspired by my darling shaalwyd, I would like my darling friends (or anyone else - because one's joy should not be restricted to those one is familiar with, it should be shared with all) to share with me their right now happy thing, so this post becomes a list of happy things.
A happy thing: I am eating strawberries with ice cream and a double chocolate muffin from a batch that I baked yesterday. |
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