Houses Of The Holy

2011 means that I’ve been in Melbourne for 9 years…whoa, 9 years..that’s actually quite a long time.

How long do you have to live in a city before you can call yourself a native of that place? I remember in an episode of “Sex and the City”, Carrie asked the same question – I think she said you can start calling yourself a New Yorker after living in NY for 10 years – does that rule apply for Melbourne as well?

Should one person find a city they like and live there forever? Should one stay for a few years and then leave? Do you ever feel bored of where you are? If you are bored, when do you leave…if fact, how do you leave a place that you’ve invested so many years in?

I tell my friends that I’m bored of Melbourne but at the same time I can’t leave it. Not just because of financial/ logistic issues (yes, yes, I know I have a lot of books/ shoes/ bags – but honestly, if I wanted to I can sell them all!) but because Melbourne and I…we have a relationship going on here. Sure there are days when I hate Melbourne – the sunny days with bitterly cold wind, the 40+ degrees summer and hot sweaty nights, the icy cold wind, the public transport..and some days I just find myself giddy as a school girl (I was never a giddy school girl..not that I can remember) when it comes to Melbourne – stepping on an extremely crunchy leaf, singing in the rain, the way the Yarra River looks in the morning, the coffee culture, the arts centre, the bookshops, the small laneways, the people. Like any relationship, you have your ups and downs but one day you wake up and wonder, do I really want all this?

And I’ve woken up with that thought many many times.

Dear Melbourne, leaving you would be extremely difficult. Unless there’s a damn good reason to do so (love? money? family?) I might not be able to say goodbye..just yet…but I’m sure one day I will find the courage to pack up my bags and just go – and not regret it.

A small obscure cafe, a latte and today’s paper – the best way to spend a morning in Melbourne (on a non-working day of course )

For the meantime, Melbourne is home .

B

p/s: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIMMY PAGE!!!!!!! I still think you’re a gorgeous gorgeous man!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxo

Carouselambra

Some days can be the most perfect Melbourne day.

You wake up in the morning and find the day to be gloomy and cold (in summer!) but hey, it’s Melbourne..no biggie.. get into the city really early to have brekkie at a hidden shop in one of the small alleyways in the CBD  to have gorgeous fresh toast with homemade jam and lovely coffee..lovely chat with friend and reading the news.

After brekkie, head off to the fav bookshop in front of the place:

Then heading off towards the middle of town,

look at a few things -with the weather still being shitty temperamental and grab coffee on the go in a hole-in-the-wall cafe with strangers sitting around a table drinking lattes and espressos..

decor of the place

Then spending the afternoon in a bookshop drinking tangerine (Tangerine, Tangerine, Living reflection from a dream;
I was her love she was my queen, And now a thousand years between!!*)+grapefruit iced tea while reading Burroughs..

I reckon you can’t go wrong if you spend a day off like this..in Melbourne

*I can’t help adding some Led Zep there..hahaha

adventures during easter

at long last!!!! i’m back in the blogging scene. to my beautiful friends (musician & fellow med stud), here it is, a massive flood of ‘things-that-happened-lately’…here goes…

 the past 3 weeks has been my easter break. its been amazing. it was a time for reflection, reading, reading, and more reading…..and travelling! a couple of friends and i went to the isle of skye, which is up north of scotland. my first tour-group travel…never did i foresee such fun!!! bubbly americans (i just love ‘em), a teacher from poland, friends from south africa, a french couple (un cafe, anyone?), china dudes, and an insaaaane tour guide, these all made up for an unforgettable getaway to the scottish highlands.

there was this time when our tour guide, Doug, stopped the bus next to a red phonebooth, in the middle of nowhere, and was like, “Okay, I wanna see how many people can fit into this phonebooth. The last record was 11, lets see how many we can fit this time!” And then he looked at my friend and I. “You two are DEFINITELY going in.” we had 12 in there…..I was absolutely squished! absolutely mental and hilarious!!! so yeah, we did it!

And he made us climb this mountain, and wow, i actually sun-bathed. really, i did. we chilled at the top and when it was time to leave, Doug challenged us to a highland charge….so there we were (he wanted to film us, so he was down below) all motivated and at the word ‘go’, we went for it! we charged downhill, yes, we literally could not stop even if we wanted to. it was keep-on-running or trip-and-fall.

oh, and i saw, guess who? hamish the highland cow!! it is the cutest, nearly-blond creature ever! he was like peaking through the well-combed hair over his eyes, enjoying the attention.

seriously, it was one wacky trip. the kinda trip we remember with a smile on our faces and itch to tell the world. travelling is the bomb. the travelling bug hasn’t left me yet, though. i wanna go down under one day. i really do.

so back to the real world. third year finals are like in a month and a half. bariah, i cant believe you’re like in 5th year!!! wow, my sincerest salute to you gurl! as for now, life is rosy, spring just brings such hope…:)

 i’ve been reading voraciously lately. life of pi by yann martel is good. the kite runner is absolutely a page turner. works by terry pratchet are engaging. oh, and zadie smith’s white teeth…i’m still half way through. its a little lengthy but writing style is good. i’ve tried newer writers like ali smith, dbc pierre who wrote vernon god little, but i somehow can’t seem to ‘get’ their work. i dont feel this wholesomeness like reading little women, or black beauty, or wuthering heights (remember, we were made to read them in tcs?). i tried the curious incident of the dog in the night time, but i couldn’t finish it, i just couldn’t!

but u know, the more i read, the more i realise i have yet to read thousands of other great titles out there. oh, and amazon.co.uk, not a good idea when credit card balance is on the rocks….it’s a tempting, sinister place, i tell u.

well, then, i’m trying to savour the last free weekend i have. i’m gonna make me-self a cup of tea. so, till the day i go to australia, here’s a virtual hug from edinburgh!

 long live our blog!!!!

Pictures Galore

Inspired by Tracy‘s perseverance in writing her travel blog, I’ve put up some of my past travel pics. It’s nothing much but I’m going through a writer’s block (though if you ask some of my friends, they might say I’m going through a mental block) and what better way to update a blog by putting up pictures??

Click the picture above for more!

‘A period of creative silence’

That’s just this musician’s fancy way of saying I bloody need a break from all that music! but in a nicer, more politically correct way, of course. And yes, I do have my own Travel Log with my day by day account on my recent travels and / or adventures. Just to tempt you, here’s a shot that I took with my trusty Canon PowerShot A400 to show you where I got myself back from.

Picture taken by The Musician - Maori Bay, New Zealand 2006

 

The Musician