Seriously...who is this kid?

This is for G. Even though it's your least favorite HW family member, you'll love this.

Something about Vandaveer

I really like this video. Maybe it's the drumming on a shopping cart. I just like it.

Vandaveer - Woolgathering / Roman Candle - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

LA BLOGO...

i love THIS WEBSITE.




i can't get over this video.

Fleet Foxes - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.
and i really love this one, too.

#73.1 - A HAWK AND A HACKSAW - Part 1
by lablogotheque

What will transportation be like in 80 years?????

I came upon this video by Honda, and it is really interesting. What will we drive in 80 years? How will we get around?




I remember watching this video about the first electric car...

Apartment Therapy

I don't know how many of you have hear of or seen this website, but it is AMAZING. I mean, it is amazing for those of you who can actually decorate their own place, being that there is a place to decorate. Being quite poor at the moment, I don't have that luxury (read: living with my dad). One day, though, I will be able to have my own place to call home, and maybe even be featured on this website.




There are just so many ideas of how to decorate and beautify your place.




This is just one of the many wonderful ideas...







Here's another.

Apple Products

i agree with Donald Miller,




why don't i have any jumping photos on facebook?




read his blog here. seriously do it. it's funny and true and not funny all at the same time.

Slumdog...Cairo Reminiscing

Tonight I saw Slumdog Millionaire




I can honestly say it is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. The reason I say this isn't necessarily because of the story, the acting, the cinematography (even though all that was pretty darn good), it's because of what it reminded me of.




POVERTY




I know it's kind of a weird reason to like a movie. For the reminder of the bottomless, drowning poverty that seems to be everywhere. It reminded me of Cairo. Of 2006 when I spent three months in a city I knew absolutely nothing about save for some old stone buildings nearby. I knew nothing of the garbage collecting communities that littered the outskirts of the city centre. Nothing of the island in the nile, basically a stone's throw from the shores of Cairo city, which didn't even have a hospital on it.




I didn't know anything about the massive amounts of people there who love soccer and mobile phones, are obessed with airbrushed photos and honking horns for any and every reason imaginable. Or that everything, including your skin would have a layer of brown dirt/dust/pollution on it at the end of the day. Or that there are 9 communities in Cairo who collect and sort garbage, who have no infrastructure, who are Christian. I knew nothing of the huge shopping malls filled with Egyptian teens attempting to free themselves from whatever they feel is holding them back, or what being in a Muslim country during Ramadan would be like, or being a blonde, american woman in a Muslim country during Ramadan.

From egypt

No, I didn't know any of this. I still don't really know much about Cairo. I do know that there are some amazingly loving and hospitable people there. Some amazing doctors and volunteers trying to bring some relief to the more than 2 million Sudanese refugees living in the city. Young children begging for less than a cent. For a smile. A high five. Recognition. Love.




So no, despite what they may say about Slumdog Millionaire, it's not "the feel good movie of the century" or whatever. Yes, it is encouraging, but it is also devastating. Bombay to Mumbai. The slums to the sky risers. Cairo.

From egypt

(photo from BH's collection)




I haven't been to India. It's in the top 10 things to do list. Maybe even top 5. But I have been to Cairo, and I have seen wealth blanketing poverty, maybe just for the wealthy themselves, but covering it and coexisting with it at the same time. I have also seen poverty laughing in wealth's face. Smiling. Laughing. Loving.

From egypt

Watching this movie made me realize why I wanted to be a nurse in the first place...to contribute to something...to learn from those many are to busy to learn from...to laugh with those in the dirt. With those who laugh despite everything else around them saying they shouldn't. That they can't. But they do, they sure do.

From egypt

beached whales

we've been seeing these stickers on cars lately saying "beached as bro" and were really confused about what it meant. that is until we went to noosa this weekend and malakai explained it all with this video

soccer and hailstorms

TWO THINGS.





one: i was starting to feel old and slow, so i joined the summer soccer league here. it is 6 a side. i am pretty sure the whole of byron shire is playing on a team. it's fun, but i am unfit. i also haven't played soccer since high school. this basically means that i can only juggle for like two seconds before dropping the ball. perfect.




two: i have never been so frightened for the safety of my car and small children like i was today. hail the size of golf balls were denting cars and breaking rooftops. i was outside, stuck in a partially covered gazebo/awning type thing when the hail started to come down. it was the loudest, most amazing thing i've ever seen. it was so crazy to have beautiful sunny weather turn to icy hailstorm weather.

From Last Import

this is the nursing home i am doing my prac at in suffolk park during the storm.

From Last Import

american things...

it is quite interesting trying to follow what's happening in america (debates, financial woes, palin interviews) from australia. basically garrett and i try to watch videos, read articles and read papers trying to understand what's really happening. 


mostly, though, i have been trying to learn through a comedic eye...

Caring and spring things...

so i started a new job a couple weeks ago. nursing-ish type job. actually my official title is Care Staff Employee. i'm a glorified babysitter/housemom for 75-96 year-olds. i work at a place called Feros Village in byron bay. it's actually really a great way to solidify the things i am learning in nursing school such as why people take anginine. why we should put on lotion all day everyday. have you ever seen an old school 96 year-old sunbaker's skin? you'd wear lotion/sunscreen everyday if you have. 

but really, i sort of love the oldies. they have wild personalities (many due to various levels of dementia). and even wilder shades of blue hair. amazing really. 

sadly, though, i had my first experience with death as a "nurse". i even had to take vitals to see if any life was left. a paramedic ended up coming to confirm our ideas that no, the 93 year old was gone. freedom. release. pain and sadness for some. 

on a happier note, spring is finally here (after a seemingly long long long winter...i may die in santa cruz this winter). warm breezes. snakes. snakes and more snakes. bugs. really strong northerly winds. and the expectation of summer. camping. uni finishing. and putting away my 4/3...yes i've been wearing a 4/3 in byron. crazy i know. 

anyway, it is weird to be feeling spring things and smelling spring smells in september, but i say bring it on. sunshine and flowers...

From Blogger Pictures

Splendour video clips

i figured it out...

splendour in the grass

splendour was this past weekend. it's a music festival in byron bay. 

i have never seen so many drunk 18 year olds wearing wayfarers in my life. 

despite the crowds, the cold, the long walk to the field from garrett's, it was really a lovely festival. 

highlights:

delta spirit

band of horses

the polyphonic spree

cold war kids would have been a highlight if it wasn't so crowded that garrett and i actually left to watch band of horses because we couldn't even enjoy watching them. too many annoying drunk youths. 

sigur ros. seriously, go seem them if you haven't already. they were amazing. 

other surprisingly notable acts/moments/things:

wolfmother

vampire weekend

nimbin chai tent

guzman y gomez burritos

byron bay organic donuts (as always)

drinking at the beachie with adam in between festival time. 

randomly running into people we know in the midst of the 20,000 others we didn't know.

watching people (like ellie) scramble to collect cans on the ground to recycle them and get free drink tickets. brilliant idea splendour. brilliant. 

now i'm back at uni. tired, but really pleased with the weekend. 

...i tried to upload a couple videos and post them on youtube so i can put them on here, but i haven't quite been able to convert them. i'll figure it out and post them later...

skidney

so a couple weeks ago garrett and i went for a short vacation to sydney. it was freezing. fun. and a really good taste of city life. being in byron for too long creates this weird longing for tall buildings and concrete (weird, i know). anyway, it was good. we saw things. ate things. experienced things. 

we saw the opera house (of course)

we met garrett's step-brother down there. he is classic. great hair...

we also drank a lot of coffee. 

this was a cool fair trade coffee shop in glebe.

sydney was good, but now i really want to see melbourne. there were pockets of goodness in sydney, but apparently melbourne is full of op shop/coffee shop galore. 

random acts of farming...

both garrett and my housemate, bec, are studying permaculture here in byron bay. 

here's a couple videos. one is a diploma school project...permablitz...the other is a project of garrett's. 

bec is the one being interviewed in the beginning...

i really miss this boy...

and his mom and dad

he's finally big enough to wear the pirate towel thing...

and he's wearing the byron bay kombe shirt.

cowboys and injuns???

so we went to brisbane a week or so ago for a friend's birthday party. it happened to be a fancy dress party. cowboys and indians. how appropriate?

i have come to realize that australia is quite politically incorrect, actually. coon cheese. jap pumpkins. redskin candy. gyp rock. i'm sure there are more. 

anyway, here are some shots...

it was hannah's birthday. she was pocahontas.

then we walked around. 

this was our friend, carlee's, house. it's lovely.

it was really nice to go to the city and get out of small byron for a bit.

next week i start my practical. this means i spend a week wiping oldies

bums and feeding them.

should be interesting. 

8 hr days at a nursing home and not getting paid. livin' the 

good life.

on a high note i bought two things this week that make me 

really happy.

1. black ballet crocs (which i never thought i would own)

2. redback work boots.

oh and i bought tickets to splendour in the grass (i am soooooo excited to see sigur ros)

polyvore

thanks to raya i am now obsessed with this website.  go to it yourself. it is really fun. i love all these things...

haven't i read this before?

i'm reading to kill a mockingbird that my lovely friend, ellie, lent me, but as i read each page, i seem to know what's going to happen. i don't even remember what the book is really about, or what will happen later in the book, but as each scene develops, it seems really familiar. so have i read it before? maybe. 

anyway, i really like this line.

there are some kind of men who - who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one...

and i still complain...

this is where i live. it's beautiful. but it rains. a lot. 

and i mean flooding. monsoon. there are some days 

that look like this, though. it may be crowded. it may 

be dangerously crowded actually but i love it.

byron bay

it's my home for the next three years. my school is 

only 30-60 minutes inland through amazing green 

pastures. farms. villages. i would hate driving over to 

san jose every day for school, but i really don't mind

this drive (at night it is horrible, though).

school's going well. i'm still getting used to the 

different grading scales and all the other random 

things that are so different than any other school 

setting i've been in. i've met some great people. my 

roommies included in this. i live with three other girls, 

although we haven't really had many days when it is 

only the four of us in our house. we seem to have guests 

at all times, which is great, but a bit tiring. but please, 

if anyone wants to come, please do, and we'll have some 

good times. i live with a girl from san diego who is getting 

her equivalent of a teaching credential at southern cross 

university (where i go). she even lived in santa cruz for a 

bit, too. small world. another girl is from adelaide in south 

australia and she isin the same program that garrett is doing 

(permaculture, farming stuff). the other girl is from cairns, 

which is up near the great barrier reef. she went to this school 

called SAE which is some kind of sound and engineering place.

these are the people actually paying for the house we live in. 

here are some fun people who've been here lately.

besides all the lovely people that come to visit, playing

in the surf, buying lots of chips (french fried), and drinking

lots of ginger beer, i do go to school.

it's good. not too much work, but enough. i work six nights 

a week at a vietnamese/western food restaurant, so i don't 

have much time to hang out. enough time to get some surf in, 

though.

here's a pic of our boards (garrett's, mine, and rachael's).

so basically byron is great. it's been beautiful the last few 

days, although really crowded (it's a long weekend) i am 

really enjoying the sunshine as we slowly approach winter. 

i have felt a bit overwhelmed lately, a bit stressed, but am 

starting to figure it out. i'm poor, i'm busy, but i am having 

a good time. that is really what matters.