2011 in retrospect

the highlights:

1. Studying in Melbourne
2. Traveling to Sydney
3. My nephew Dylan
4. Graduated with High Distinctions
5. Seeing Lykke Li live in concert
6. Bali weekend with the girls
7. Working for an international NGO

all that glitters is gold

270711*

it was a normal, almost mundane day. i got up, showered, had brunch at proud mary. i got a flat white with potato hash. i walked down the streets of collingwood. i sat down on the tram en route to the city. i went to GPO and entered alphaville. i came out and walked to little lonsdale. i entered 1000£ bend and had some tea to soothe my mild flu. i chatted with some friends and laughed and made plans. i had a late dinner at menya and ordered gyutandon with extra teriyaki sauce.

the only thing that was different was the fact that it was my last day in melbourne.

sydney sights

circular quay // luna park // opera house // harbour bridge // darling harbour

sssydney

and so i went back to where it all began. where i breathed into life and woke up to smell camellias. where i first saw shining light and it was the opera house. where i first felt the sensation of sand on my skin at bondi beach. where, such first visions cannot be intricately described because of the memory lapse of the earlier period of my life.

and so i thought i could go regain my childhood memory. i was suppose to become one with the city. suppose to follow the dynamic of their rapid pace and movement. suppose to see the glitter in the stillness of the harbour. suppose to feel that city sounds like bus honks and sirens and bells were as proficient to me as my own heartbeat.

but such a familiar place felt so foreign to me.

wheelie

autumn falls

between queens st and lt londsdale

i am lost and now i’m found

smith street’s lost + found market clearly sums up my love and hate relationship with vintage clothing shopping. i love that its vintage, i hate that its overpriced and dusty and clearly causes the tickle in my throat and nose.

ius cosmopoliticum

“Being a citizen of the world could be a kind of exile… from the comfort of local truths, from the warm, nestling feeling of patriotism, from the absorbing drama of pride in oneself and one’s own”
-Nussbaum (1996: 15) in Kendall, G., Woodward, I. & Skrbis, Z (2009) “The Sociology of Cosmopolitanism: Globalization, Identity, Culture and Government”.

wild horses

churchill island animal ranch