Tis the Season!!!

It's SUMMER Down Under and FUN, FUN, FUN is hotting up!!!

Mainly...it seems like the time of year where lots is happening and also people are more free to visit...

so yes already concocting ideas in my head of all the fun things I want to do...

actually to be honest my place is quite a neat little sanctuary...no wonder people get so excited if they can stay over...cos it is a pretty "holiday-feel" in these parts, far far from the stress of work and city frustrations.

So anyway I think the next 2 days I will bother to go construct my little Christmas tree since otherwise my welcoming foyer just has a big vacancy...

I haven't put a tree up for years...how fun! :D

Music, art, film, good friends, good food...*contented sigh*, this summer I get to indulge all of my favourite things so much :)

Stranger things have happened...LOL

I was sitting on my couch having a lazy leisurely afternoon working through the most recent season of MAD MEN when I heard these terrible bloodcurdling screams of torment..."what on earth?" I thought...

so I peeked through the shutters outside and saw three ducks physically fighting!! Two were jumping on and (what looked to me) pecking another half to death on it's neck! "oh no!" was my immediate thought and I went off to find a broom to help rescue the victim...

But when I came back...I saw one chase the other one out under the fence...DUH so naive...lol welcome to Duck Mating Season...IN MY GARDEN!

So anyway, as a total sucker for ducks I decided to treat the newlyweds...and gave them a water bath and some corn crackers...I think they think my place is some kind of five star resort now...Anyway it was pretty fun to play with them...

After their little "play" both of them were shaking and sitting...I'm not sure whether I should expect to find little duck eggs somewhere in my garden or not.

Anyway, it was a totally unexpected afternoon and quite interesting- I felt a little like David Attenborough, lol.

And then there were...three :-p

So I went to check up on my favourite duck family this arvo...

it was terribly disconcerting to see the family of 10 just 2 days ago had diminished to 5(!!)...I saw 2 parents, 3 chicks and 2 chick corpses :-p

What have I learnt? Ducks aren't exactly the best parents...especially the fathers- they just kinda sit off by themselves and the mother can't cope with so many all by herself! Just another case where the animal world reflects human life...don't have too many babies or you can't give them decent quality of care!

I knew I should have just shovelled up all 8 ducklings and stuck them in a safe box until they were big enough to not be kookaburra meat! :-..(

Magical Walk Around The Block

This is why I love living in nature...I walked around my street - it went something like this...

I walked to the water and spied a daddy and mummy duck and EIGHT ducklings- strangely as soon as I came they were really curious&bold and came right to my feet with one duckling even nibbling my toe! (That's a first, lol)

And then I walked out on the pier and saw a big fish jump right out of the water!

And then lots of pet guard dogs barked at me from behind fences.

And I stopped to pick lavender.

And admire people's nice gardens.

As I was almost home with the refreshing oxygen dense breeze blowing through my head a swoop of peach faced galahs came over me.

It's pretty cool living in nature :)

Next time I should document a walk around the block in pictures!!!

Sydney: Making peace with "The Big Smoke"

Okay so you've all heard how I detest cities in general particularly the one I'm most familiar with...

But I have to say I'm starting to make peace with it...it's all about perspective...seen 4 really good friends the past fortnight and so the city has become synonymus with lazing at the beach, catching up with good friends and STUFFING FACE with much better food than can be seen the in my not so bumpkin but still bumpkin town ^^. Ouch my belly seriously hurts from STREEETCH...lemme see...did a big organic beef burger and fries, a double gelato, an apple, a grass jelly premium pearl milk tea with taro pearls and plenty of water.

Enjoyed no cost beauty therapy...experiments with exfoliation of "chicken skin" with sand and surf with my b'day twin since we both suffer the problem. It was funny perving on all the beautiful (and not so beautiful bods on the beach-actually more this) LOL, it's okay to be completely open and honest admitting to shallowness and superficiality when you're amongst old good friends that are your serious doppelgangers...it's pretty funny actually cos we agree about everything...it's like all the fun and convenience of a real twin without having someone to cramp your space or steal your look! LOL

Happy Days...now I just need to wait for the next season of foreign visitations!

CHoP goEs the PoNytail!!!

Awwww.

It's amazing how much can change with a haircut...In terms of age timeline I've been all over the joint the past few years in terms of maturity of haircut but for a good year or so it's been the ponytail just cos I have been so busy and isolated to get them!

In any case today the tail got lost and by default I think I aged at least about 5 years...wow. Now it's more like a mature and sophisticated chic bob....I can't quite say I like it. But the response was starkly obvious. People from higher socioeconomic classes and people that are sycophantic to them eg salespeople treated me better. People from lower socioeconomic classes eg train station attendants treated me much less nicely and were almost dicky seething resentment on purpose!

I have mixed feelings re losing the tail and looking older. I guess for me a part clings to the messy girly ponytail cos it represents youth, innocence(idealism), liberated freedom and free spiritedness, daydreaminess and just a hint of asian cutesyness...the bob represents more...the reserved euro, responsibility especially to behaving more an adult, lol and more groundedness and practical realism. Blergh I never was quite able to merge my two most dominant styles/personalities into a workable simultaneous boho-chic like perhaps a Kate Moss or Stella McCartney might have been able to pull off...

And I am sad that now cowgirl hats do not suit, lol. Anyway I guess that is just testimony to a struggle in integrating all my many layers- that's what you get with complex people! LOL- everyday is a different look, persona lol depending on mood, function, dress sense etc...

But anyway it was really nice to get to have lunch with a good busy career gal friend especially sharing the frustrations over the disadvantages smart successful independent women get heaped with in this country...

And as always, SOOOOOO glad to return to "The Sanctuary"...being too long in the city just makes me shrink a little with it's low&icky vibration...

ZHEN WANTS A FARMER?!

lol apparently this is a TV show my friends would tune into. That not being encouragement enough, lucky for me and the TV companies I have so few friends still left in this country :p that it doesn't warrant decent ratings. If I was extroverted and liked attention and didn't care for privacy I probably would go on though...how else do wannabe cowgirl farmgirl city slickers meet all those cool people that FARM and live on FARMS?? :P

I'm just curious though...cos they say your friends and family know you best...and HO this primarily is directed at you...if you were to choose me a farmer which one would you pick?!

I'm still trying to acquire an appropriate countrygirl hat btw ;) - tis proving very hard to obtain now that I am not in rural farm country...hopefully I get it by the time my farmer friend comes to town! I think it will be pretty funny walking through the city with a bonafide farmer and wearing cowboy hats...and didn't I say I hate attention? lol....actually, there is a big difference between blatant subversion and pure attention-seeking. Obviously I love Sydney city and it's Sydney-esque inhabitants too much... :-p

Western Medicine is failing us and bugs are getting the better of us :P

Just my thought as it seems almost all the cityslickers I know (who have never been sickly people) seem to be getting ill with that this and the other...

I had a good friend who I haven't literally spoken to in over a YEAR actually call me after sending text messages (the like of which I had never seen from her before) ending in...Help!

Yes it seems that the superbugs are getting the better of us as we step further and further away from our natural selves and the way man was supposed to interact with his environment and each other causing a whole scourge-epidemic of health and other problems never before seen at these kinds of levels...while man disrespects the planet and even his own body like he does the world will continue to spiral in a downward fashion...

Disclaimer...western medicine is commendable on certain aspects eg surgery/emergency medical intervention and equipment mediated diagnosis, medical science gene/cell based therapies, however on the whole they are totally helpless to be able to treat a wide range of health problems seeing as their salve seems to revolve around that zillion dollar pharmaceutical industry which while it may alleviate that pain over there it will create a new pain and disease process somewhere else! And while they fail to recognise the body is a HOLISTIC interactional dynamic of a living thing their medicine will closely resemble a dummy covered in bandaid plasters!

So yeah on the whole isolated and remote country bumpkins should feel pretty damn blessed to enjoy relatively better health cos of their healthy living environs and healthier lifestyle practices! cheers bumpkins! :D

Just be You.

I don't know why there is such a need to define all the time with me...maybe it is my INTJ which loves all the labelling and neat categorization and compartmentalization think...SHELDON from Big Bang! :D

Anyway my city slicker friends call me country bumpkin but then I know REAL country bumpkins that like talking about cows all day ;) (That ain't me...LOL)

Also even my music taste...lately I've been indulging my taste for the electro sound listening to the unique experimental style of one of my music heroes MARTIN DOSH and the electropop of CUT COPY....hardly country bumpkin fare, more like the teenybopsters of any major metro city!!

So yeah I need to learn how to accept being neither full black nor white and just live with the speckled egg of white black and grey that is ALL me as well as the yellow-white banana thing I have happening, lol...innate complexity is a good thing...just cos most people don't seem to have this...it's okay to be a super minority...would be nice to live in a country and culture where more INs existed though...and to be understood by a majority rather than a very teeny tiny rare spark of genius, lol...

Okay so I need 27 acres...

That is how much land you need in order to not be able to see any neighbours apparently!!! 11 HECTARES. Yikes.

Sheesh what a huge ask to get a bit of quiet and privacy...I wouldn't even know how to maintain that much land...

But in the meantime I guess I need to start entering lotto, lol...

What Kind of Smurf Are You?

I've been thinking about smurfs lately. If I was a smurf I think I am blend of Jokey, Sleepy, Artist and Brainy.Lately though I think I felt more like a mix of SMURFETTE, Jokey, Sleepy, Artist and Brainy...

Yikes.

Apart from that I also resonate with Bashful gnome and Schroeder from Peanuts. How about you?

Today my folks rolled into town. I swear whenever my folks roll in most of the street knows! Cos they can HEAR...it's kinda like that feeling I get with two noisy kids making a racket and I feel tired! When they come it's like they bring all the hustle bustle chaotic mayhem of inner city dense population living with them and when they leave it is like quiet as a cemetary restful-peaceful...I need to make more noise obviously!!! Nah I like the Quiet peace...very conducive to Zz-ing! :D

Surreal Sunday

It's been a really tiring couple of weeks. So I was so grateful today to just take a lazy Sunday...cos literally I was too tired to prioritise anything more chore-ish(despite having the best intentions to...sheesh takes a while to lose that city- slicker- deadlines -are -biting- you- on-the -butt mentality!)

So anyway...it's been a bit surreal this afternoon and the past day or so...I remember thinking yesterday that the last few months/year have been so extraordinary that they would warrant not just a very interesting novella but a full blown novel! And that maybe I could/should write one...

Oh well perfect surrounds to be a writer I realise...living in a nature reserve is such a paradise- there are so many exotic looking birds which I have no idea what the names of are...my favourite of course is a kooky-quirky looking one that has taupe wings a black top of head a bright yellow beak, a slightly disproportionate body and a white breast. I think it dives for fish but I couldn't be sure. (If anyone can identify likely candidates based on that description I would be grateful...)

People are also so friendly...with my ingrained city slicker conditioning it still takes me rather aback when people all around offer friendly greetings as you walk by...the good thing is they aren't pushy and in your face about it (especially when my response is timid and restrained at best)!...Although I have to admit a very athletic and friendly dog did bound over a 1 metre high fence to stick it's head up at me in greeting appearing out of nowehere which just left me speechless and in shock for quite a protracted few seconds!

It also occurred to me that if I had a very rich friend, the easiest and quickest way to viisit me would be by aquaplane...I don't think you'd have to prebook a landing or anything...but yeah that thought was pretty surreal!

Apart from that an amusing excerpt of conversation yesterday:

somewhat random stranger: "you're such an interesting person, I could talk to you for hours!"
me: "yeah I get that alot...."

"...I have to have SOMETHING going for me!!!"

*chuckles all round*

Brantdner? Yes Please!

My mum was pretty hip and fashionable in her time. (Yeah well so would I be if I personally had my clothes designed by me and made by a tailor!) LOL but no seriously...my mum's coolest thing in her later years has been to get me into watching INSPECTOR REX.

My German friend keeps telling me everytime I whinge of living in an uncivilised cultural vacuum to
"Come Live in Germany!"

My latest response was along the lines of "Find & send over a Brandtner then we'll see". LOL!

I also looooove the Rex dog(s) in that particular series!!

So anyway since I made my Please Santa, Send me a German post, lo and behold in my daily business I actually found a bonafide one so I've enjoyed the non brain dead chats! Not only that but a Bonafide Dutch too- what a relief from the locals(except my neighbour-my neighbour is cooool)! I looooove REAL Europeans, conversations with Europeans keep me sane cos they remind me that humans yield from my same galaxy...having said that I'm still optimistically hoping to find a cool local apart from my neighbour...

Apart from the excitement of having had two REAL & Australian based Europeans to talk to, I'm completely bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6am in the morning and felt awake all night-Yikes! I guess that's what you get when you consume 7 X 63% dark chocolate covered Macadamias right before bed...Practitioners don't always practise what they advise patients....shhhhh!

Manners

Having spent the last few months with foreigners and increasingly intense exposure to much older generations, it's a serious culture shock to be exposed to the local youth...how lacking in manners...What uncivilised DEROS...Sheesh!

A bit of respect, courtesy and consideration, properly formed words and sentences without the use of swearing wouldn't go astray...who knew I'd become so prim and proper in my old age...but SERIOUSLY...standards could definitely be lifted!!!

Interactions with local youth and I think...geez didn't your mother bring you up any better? What do they TEACH you in school these days? LOL am I starting to sound like an out of date Grandma yet? LOL well I don't get that nickname for nothing! ;)

Culture and refinement here are non-existent, but hey, I like the kookaburras...-so pudgy and fluffy and cheeky, very very cute :) sorry too lazy to take a pic to post. There's a couple that sit and watch the world go by on my neighbour's laundry line. I enjoy sneak peeking at them through the chink in the curtain in my window :)

Call me Superficial...

But I can't help admiring how GOOD country people LOOK! WOW. My sneaking suspicions have been confirmed...for guys think Miranda Kerr...for gals...I'm not sure which famous person but I can assure you they look GOOD! Must be all that clean fresh air, easy going happy vibes and lack of stress!

Only thing is all the available ones are typically 19yo...lol maybe I'll have to do a Demi Moore later down the track...hehehehe...finally those "young asian genes" will be good for something! LOL!

I'm totally settled into *Holiday Mode* now...sheesh it takes a good 10 days for tight assed city slickers to totally unwind...

Wash Me Clean

So it’s 420am and the sun hasn’t even broken yet. I duck out to the loo and spy the miner? In an adjacent room in his orange suit and hard hat has left for work already. I’m in rural Australia…Loving it up, lapping it up!!! In summary, I AM SO CUT OUT TO BE A COUNTRY BUMPKIN ^^ ^^ ^^!

But I digress… the reason for this post: I had a very “revelatory”? conversation with a good mate last night probably one I could have used a long time ago…I had so much guilt I couldn’t sleep. I felt almost like I was confessing to a priest…anyway hopefully like the title of the KD Lang song and how it seems to work for Catholics I’ve been cleansed…and can go back to sleep!

On a somewhat related note I have been thinking about baptism…the jury is out but wow, talk about the ultimate “cleansing”. When I got this leaf necklace for my 30^th it signified the birth of a new era of living by faith…but maybe I need a ritual cleansing too…if anyone has had one( an adult voluntary baptism), would be interested to know if you think it’s worthwhile…Later bloggies!

P.S Oh boy has obtaining a workable net connection in the country been somewhat of a challenge!!! So yes apologies for not being around in the blogosphere to read all your interesting blogs…When I miss the net I miss all my blogger peeps!!!

*HO your candy is in the mail- don’t usually like to spoil surprises but figured I owe you…no doubt you’ve been STARVING without your daily dose of Zhen…hehe ;)

*JJ I’d send you candy too but I don’t think it’d be good for your blood sugar levels- and besides you have your harem ;) BTW it's only cos of your msg I bothered to post...I miss you or our "understanding" too!! Anyway gotta run!!

*how time flies*! 11.1.08, 13.1.08 – la clique: TF♥

Having One's Ego Stroked ;)

...I swear, I must have been A MAN in all my past lives ;)

Anyhow I had a great relaaaaxiing weekend away and it was great cos I was so unwound I actually was a whole lot more productive and got reasonable amount study done with utmost ease :)

Anyhow back to elucidate on the title of this post...3 boosts to the ego this weekend :)

A woman quite a bit older than me called me...WISE ;)

My friend in NY said my photos are just like what you can see in MOMA(Museum Of Modern Art) okay maybe not for picture quality :p but maybe for subject matter or angle?

I was walking with a latino when he hears some passersby speaking espanol...a very random encounter and conversation ensues...one of the two HOT latina chicks said to the dude "your friend is pretty", which coming from a sober, HOT supermodel-esque latina FEMALE...wow that carries...weight...in my opinion, hehe ;) and the coolest part was cos they spoke slow relative to other South Americans, I actually could "entiendo" quite a bit...which was so cool and a pleasant surprise cos it's been SO LONG since I've engaged in anything espanol...

anyway I'm now off to go watch a load of DVDs and enjoy the rest of this relaaaxing weekend...ciao! :D

Lessons Learnt: Part 2...

No surprising revelation here...Z is a sucker for artists!

The other day my brain just completely went AWOL and Stranger Danger Rule 101 which you get taught in Kindergarten... well it just didn't even kick in...until the very last possible moment...so I got suckered into some random stranger's car who I only just met (well to be fair he was a painter and a carver of stone and wood and shared my Bohemian interests ;) so you can see why I was so caught off guard...)

Anyhow when the car pulled out of the driveway and I saw the road which was in the middle of nowhere leading to what seemed like nowhere which recalled the 5 mens very worried faces that farewelled me it kicked in what a not very clever situation I was in so I got out (and am very thankful that I did in hindsight).

I think I was being overly open-minded and idealistic/think the best of people and I tend to resonate with the underdog so probably didn't exercise enough discretion...everyone else was thoroughly convinced that this artist, like most artists was a little...mad...okay, a raving lunatic...I guess I am also very sympathetic to weirdos...

Anyway glad that my Dumb Assness was caught in the nick of time...will be more cautious in the future...

Lessons Learnt: Part 1...

So. I'm back in relative civilisation again after spending the last week in some remote backwater where it was at least a 10 minute drive at 80-100km/hr to the nearest food store...no I didn't appreciate that or the fact that food items were so limited in range and so incredibly and atrociously expensive!

ANYWAY. It's been an interesting time for me and I've learnt a lot about myself (as well as the perils of being overly impulsive) and also recognising things I've always known (ie. I have an insatiable capacity to be incredibly lazy)

Things I have really enjoyed: meeting people from all over the world (current fascination is Sweden) and having people to play games with (ping pong, darts, table football, chess, cards... (is SPADES the best game ever or what?!), giving TCM consultations and one treatment- damn I wish I brought more needles...also became impromptu ESL teacher and life counsellor...LOL

So anyway sleep cycle completely screwed- the standard routine was sleep all day and stay awake all night...very easy cos it only gets dark really really late!! But actually cos it was so bright I couldn't sleep anyway so I am incredibly panda eyed and sleep deprived...

p.s I'm noticing I get told to "Be a Good Girl" alot even by people who only just met me...I wonder if I scream *mischief* with my vibes or something?! ;)

A Return to Civilisation...

I find it ironic that the last time I used that title was on my return to the city...Now my thoughts have flipped 180...in "civilisation" I'm referring to my old regional town...I finally went back for the first time in 10 months!

And wow, what a welcome it gave :-D On the way up, I couldn't help but feel sheer inspiration and awe at the beauty and majesty of the natural scenery, even though I'd seen it countless times before.

The weather was perfect, and as I sat contentedly on the waterfront breathing very-much-not-taken-for-granted-clean-air eating fish and chips, a Pelican flapped right down near me to visit close enough so I felt the water spray off its wings. Not only that but my favourite Husband and Wife Duck who used to accompany me on the trail home at dusk also dropped in to visit! I Love Ducks :)

When I was sitting there waiting to leave a Rainbow appeared!

Unfortunately, when I was leaving the city, it was horribly overcast and raining so at the last moment I removed Horace from my bag so sorry no pics :(

Although mentally I knew and remembered people up there to be Niiiiice, it was still quite a shock to actually experience the genuine warmth and friendliness of the locals! I felt a bit strange though to be confronted with such a different world and realised definitely after being in the city for awhile now I'd become more reserved, inhuman and standoffish again. I was taken by surprise when cars actually stopped for me at the zebra crossings, there was actually SPACE and nobody was puffing a ciggy in the vicinity let alone my face!

Being a bit of a hippie town, I managed to stock up on 10(!) more crystals which I haven't seen here in the city...the more interesting ones being Apatite,Coral and Peacock Ore(iridescent rainbow)...sorry too lazy to pic them!

The one I was most drawn to immediately out of the comprehensive collection was definitely the apatite-the colour was just so pretty!

I think if I'm going to be stuck in the city for another 2 years minimum I really need to go up more frequently to save my sanity- it's such a positive vibe and so reenergising and relaxing :-)