My trip to the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians was excellent. I learned so much – like regardless of how long I practice yoga, I will probably never be as good at “child’s pose in a tree” as a koala.
Yoga master koala.
Continue reading ‘Sitting Koala, Boxing Kangaroo’
Remember how I saw the dust devil back in July of last year? It was my first day of road tripping, I was dehydrated and terrified of having my car overheat in the Mojave desert, and then a dust devil pops up at a gas station in Arizona.
Dust Devil in Barstow, CA
Well, apparently they happen on other planets, too.
Many years ago, after the advent of internet when the only connection we had was dial up, my friend’s neighbourhood won the internet lottery. They were lucky to be chosen to receive a wonderful new thing called a “cable” to connect them to the wonderful tubes that make up the internet. It connected them to the internet faster than we had ever seen. My dad was quite envious of this new, fast connection – although not like the evil step sisters in the fairy tales. He spoke about it constantly. My friend and I named it “cable modem syndrome”. It manifested as a zombie-like trance “CAAAAABLE MOOOOOOODEEEEEM. CAAAAABLE MOOOOOOODEEEEEM.”
I was still young at the time, so I didn’t mind the dial up. It’s now 15 years later, and I understand. After living with only internet on my phone for two months, I’m happy to say I’ve moved beyond the dial up internet of 1991, beyond the what-ever-we-had-after-that of 1997, and into the 21st century.
No more punch cards for me - I'm living in the now. 21st century, here I come! (census.gov)
Ladies and gentlemen, I HAVE INTERNET!!!!
When I arrived in Australia a few months ago, the footy season was coming to a close. I arrived just in time to see the semi-final and the final rounds. My team, the Hawthorn Hawks, was ousted in the first game I watched, but, as a perennial Red Sox fan in the 90′s, I know “there’s always next year”. Footy is short for “Australian Rules Football”. It’s an interesting mix of soccer, American football, and rugby, with a little basketball thrown in (they have to dribble the ball up the field). It is a fast paced, exciting game. Hopefully I’ll get to see a few of the games next winter.
Footy is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), which was built for the 1956 Olympics. It holds about 100,000 people. During the winter it is used by the many footy teams in the Melbourne area. During the summer, it is used for cricket. Cricket is not at all like footy.
MCG - a timeless stadium (especially when photographed in black and white)
Happy New Year! It was fun being among the first people in the world to celebrate the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012. 2011 started out pretty terribly for me in January, bottomed out in April, and then has been on the rise ever since. A year ago, I had just gotten back from Egypt and I assumed I’d be in Santa Barbara for at least 4 more years, I was stuck working for a terrible advisor, I wasn’t sure when my next adventure would be, and I had no idea that 2011 would be any different than 2010. It was.
Thank you to family and friends (old and new) who made this year so memorable.
A friend posted this quote on his facebook wall today. I can’t think of anything more appropriate.
“In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.” – Camus
And I’d like to echo the rest of his wish: ‘Happy 2012, everybody. May we all find our invincible summers.’
Genevieve
Fireworks on the Yarra.
This post was supposed to be about zombies. My officemate and I went to the zombie shuffle and had a great time. I took a ton of photos that I wanted to share, but then my camera battery ran out of charge. Apparently, my charger is plugged into the wall over 10,000 miles away. Not helpful. I ordered a new charger two weeks ago, but it still hasn’t come. Maybe by Christmas I’ll be able to show my Halloween pictures… Until then, let’s talk about penguins.
I like penguins. I loved visiting them at the New England Aquarium when I was a kid (and last summer), watching feeding time, seeing them fly through the water. I loved the March of the Penguins when I first saw it in 2005 and have watched it several times since. I’ve even watched a few episodes of David Attenborough’s Frozen Planet, mostly for the penguins. Basically, penguins are awesome. So a few weeks ago when a friend emailed to ask if I wanted to go down to the beach to see the penguins, I spent about a second thinking before saying yes.
My first penguin friend!
I showed my mother House Hunters International (on HGTV) this summer for the first time. I’m glad she liked it, but we agreed that it was much better to watch other people look for a home than to do it ourselves. Having said that, she is number one on my list of people I would bring on a house hunting trip in France.
James Cook's house wasn't for rent.
