and may the procrastination [not] continue...

Hello and welcome to my epic evening of procrastination! I have an essay due at 9am on Wednesday morning, have prac all day tomorrow, and really didn't want to pull an all-nighter tomorrow night. Oh yeah, and I'm not even near half way :P. But still, I'm procrastinating.

Right now I'm thinking about all the fun things I want to do when I finish uni and prac for the year.

I want to..
-cook lots of fun stuff. Like homemade pasta. and real corn tortillas (for enchiladas!). and cookies. and curry.
-make a pretty bag for my friend. and a dress from one of our million and one roadside pick-up clothes patterns.
-finish my embroidery!!!!!!!!!!!
-eat more mulberries.
-go to the beach.
-make a kite.
-hang out & catch up with people when I'm _not_ exhausted and half asleep!
-play one of those musical instruments I'd like to be trying to learn...
-sleep in.
-tidy my room (I don't actually want to do that, I just feel like I should).

Gosh I'm ambitious. But it's nice to dream at least...



Okok, back to the study. byeee

How to make star lanterns!

A friend of ours made star lanterns for a party recently, and inspired us to do the same!

 I hadn't actually seen the lanterns, but had a photo which gave enough of an idea! So we went to the hardware shop and got some lengths of dowel (these were 2400 by 6mm I think).
For the big lantern I cut them into 1m lengths (10 pieces). Taped 5 together into a flat star, then the other 5 into another. Taped the flat stars together. Then, with han and skye on board, taped some struts in the middle to bend the star into 3D. That was the tricky bit!

Then I made some flour & water glue, and we used old patterns (for making clothes with) to cover the stars.

Han pasting away..

We ran out of time to organise proper lighting, so cut a hole and sat them on lampstands! Voila!

Time to party :)

The African at the Bus Stop

On Saturday night I met an African man at the bus stop (or he introduced himself to me, rather).
He was only a little annoyed to hear he'd missed his bus, and soon launched into conversation, asking what I studied and why, and what Social Work had to do with being sociable, and that I should go and be sociable with his family because they needed help learning english! At first I thought he was drunk (speaking slowly and stumbling a little, leaning towards me.. but soon I figured he was just African, and ESL).

I was more than a little skeptical of him at first (what girl is not skeptical of a guy that randomly comes up and starts talking to her. at a bus stop. at night. ?). But he said he had a family, so that was a good start. He went on to say that his family had just come over to Australia from a refugee camp in Africa and been reunited with him - it was more than 10 years since they'd been able to live together! They were Congolese refugees, and he had been living and working in Kenya while trying to get visas for Australia.. and that's just how long it takes. He'd been here for about a year before they were able to follow him.

He told me that it was all written up in an 11-page story in the Newcastle Herald, which I could search for online. He also told me that as well as studying he was working for some group called Alliance for Peace and they are making a trip over to Africa (maybe Kenya?) in January to help communities over there and that I should go with them and help.

He gave me his number and email and told me I should look up the article online and depending on what I thought, to comment on it or email him.. and maybe I would decide to come and visit his family.

Finally he asked me what struck me most about my conversation with him. I was a bit taken aback, but had to admit that the first thing that came to mind was that he didn't ask for my number! And next, thinking about what he and his family had gone through to get here..
He offered his impressions of me, and then he was off!

I still wasn't quite sure what to make of it all, until just now when I pulled out the bus ticket with his details on and looked up the article:

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/news/news-features/out-of-africa-in-to-newcastle/2271776.aspx?storypage=0

My gosh, it's such a beautiful story I nearly cried.
You should read it.

Maybe I will go and 'be sociable' with them after all..

Buy Nothing New Month. Day 1: Fail.

There's been an event floating around facebook lately publicising Buy Nothing New Month. A month (October) in which, as you will have already gathered, you're not meant to buy anything new (apart from food, and really really essential things). You can buy secondhand stuff. You can beg borrow barter or steal (maybe not the last), but just not. anything. new.

It's all about "taking October to reassess what we really need, think about where the stuff we buy comes from (finite resources), where it goes (landfill), and what our alternatives are." [http://www.buynothingnew.com.au/]

And I thought - sure, that shouldn't be hard. I don't buy much stuff new anyway. And then a few days later I thought "I really must buy some sunnies before the month starts, because I haven't had a functioning pair for ages.." Wait a second. Maybe I do buy more stuff than I think!

Then today was the confirmation. I nearly forgot October began today, but my dear sister reminded me so I'd have no excuse.
First mistake:
Accompanying my mother on her trip to Spotlight.
Second:
Bringing my wallet.
Third:
Well, I ummed and ahhed and dithered and argued with myself...... and finally cracked.

I attempted to rationalise it, as they're all for stuff for other people.. but it's still a fail.

I have decided to begin the month tomorrow. And I am determined to do better than I did today!! I think it'll be really good just to see how many times I do want to buy things, and be a bit more resourceful in how I react to that.

Wish me luck.

p.s. I also feel this is a good opportunity to take up dumpster diving again :)

Crafty Tuesday

 Well, I always meant to post about Crafty Tuesday, so here are some pics I dug up.

I often used to go round to my friend Jodi's place, who is a mad keen sewer, and has an open house on a Tuesday for whoever wants to come do art/craft/hangout. [You should check out her blog! http://tickleandhide.blogspot.com/]
I can't go anymore because I'm on placement, but it was always a fun time - regardless of the level of productivity!

On this particular occasion Baby stole the show a little bit, as you may have noticed..

Here is my embroidery lying neglected:

The lovely Jo with one of her little dresses:

Backyard looking so mellow in the sunlight..

of Quidditch & Kites

Yesterday was a pretty cool day. I got to hang out with three different groups of people that I don't usually, and it was great. 
First was the Kite Party 350, organised by a friend and her climate change club. We were joining in with groups all over the world, simultaneously having some fun in the sun & raising awareness about climate-y stuff. I borrowed two kites from a friend, and after nearly an hour untangling them, had some awesome flying fun. One of them required a bit of resourcefulness to get going (a stick for a new spine), and behaved like a particularly swoopy magpie the whole time, but that just added to the excitement. It was cool meeting some of Em's AYCC friends.
Someone did take photos, but I don't have any, so you'll have to accept this one of another Kite Party:

Emily also baked cupcakes. yum :)


Then I ran off to play Quidditch. We had lots of fun racing about in a couple of muckaround games. Less competitive didn't equal less injuries, however, as I still gathered a few scratches, a lump on the head, and a bludger to the face. My neck also made an interesting crunching sound when one of my own teammates sailed into me (he was aiming for the guy I was blocking :P) - but it seems to be ok today.


Then we just hung out and talked about Quidditch and the obvious fact that the only quantity in which to purchase bacon is "shitloads", and where all of the closest maccas are - all interspersed with lashings of pop culture references (most of which I'm sure went straight over my head) and sydney accents. Happy days.


Then it was off to help the Miskos move house. I was rather late by now (yes I did say I got caught up playing Quidditch - how fun that it's actually true!!) but at 4pm they were still eating lunch so the timing wasn't so bad, really ;).
So we packed and moved and swept and unpacked - all with the entertaining presences of the lovely Pip and many tall young men with booming voices. 
[Jo: "What appears to be me helping my parents move is in actual fact me obtaining a new desk, bookshelf, guitar, books, jigsaw puzzles, bed, keyboard and piano accordion"].


Most of them kept going into the night but I made my escape in the downpour around 10.

Good work guys!!


ps. Photo update:

The Tale of the Travelling Cake

Last night I made a cake. It looked like this:

(well, one piece of it did).

I took it to lunch with these girlies, to celebrate Ailie's Birthday.

However being only four of us, there was still a sizeable amount left.

So we picnicked on it outside the art gallery later:

But there was still this much left:

 So I sent it home with this lovely lady after we'd hung out:

 to share with her family.

But wait, there's more!! Literally.

I'd actually baked another little cake with the extra mix, so finally we had fun housie cake times:

Which brings us to: The End. 

(Of the Cake at least.)

:)