| penguins hanging by the door |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|09:03 pm] |
delightful things version july08
:: the shrieks of my mother as she calls 'mahjong' :: curry for breakfast :: condensation on the kitchen window :: brightly coloured scarves :: early winter light :: plush penguins stacked high to the ceiling :: baking on cold evenings :: walking into town with davyd :: sunday morning breakfast out :: painting in my pyjamas :: new cook books :: markets :: playing with language :: roti canai :: my tweed frock coat :: movies with friends :: heavy rain, pounding on the roof :: oranges :: the possibility of hail :: almost time for strawberries :: birthday presents in the post :: knee-high toe socks ::
你呢？ |
|
|
| not for the sake of fighting |
[Jul. 21st, 2008|06:20 pm] |
"But that's the good thing about you," K said recently. "You can choose your Chinese side or your Australian side."
And I didn't say, "are you using 'Australian' to mean 'Anglo'?" I can't remember what I said, but I didn't say that, and things that I hate include but are not limited to: that I have become so complicit in this game of privilege and institutionalisation.
Since the debacle of last week (leading to the bannination of someone for being a dickhead and a racist apologist), I have been so fired up and angry, but also more aware than usual of my own privilege and the privilege of others. I am almost always aware of white privilege and, as someone who has been known to pass (as many things that I am not), sometimes it's painfully clear to me how I play that to my own advantage.
I tend not to talk about this stuff because I find it really difficult to articulate, for all that I like talking and I enjoy writing. But not talking means silence, and silence is often a tool of acceptance, and I can't let myself be like that anymore, that's not really who I am. And I'm not just talking about racism, either.
So if I get angry at you, I'm not sorry. I don't want to be complicit in playground equipment that you can't get to if you're on wheels, preventing parents in wheelchairs from reaching their kids. I don't want to just accept when people tell stories that start, this Asian girl or that Aboriginal boy, but begin a boy when they're talking about someone who is Anglo, singling out the difference and othering us through language. I don't want to sit silently by as people talk in stereotypes because they're funny, gay people are promiscuous and fat people are lazy and when you say these things somebody believes you, and when you say these things you draw a line between you and the people you're picking out, and we have different backgrounds and histories but we're people and it's terrible, regardless of your intentions.
My anger is real. And so is the bigotry and discrimination in this country, overt or not, and talking about it doesn't create it, talking about it makes the problem visible, and we do not have to give the benefit of the doubt that everyone is actually totally nice. It's easy to point at someone who thinks all Chinese are stealing the jobs or whatever and say, "that person is racist!" but it's harder to point to someone who is being nice, because it's often the nicest people who are so well meaning and don't notice that their own prejudices are totally messing us up.
A STORY:
Friday, on the bus:
*man visually of African descent stands and gives his seat to a middle-aged lady*
Anglo lady next to me: Oh, isn't that lovely. (in an approving tone)
Anglo lady opposite her: Well, he's not Australian.
Anglo lady next to me: Give him twelve months.
This is a well-meaning conversation: isn't he lovely? He's giving up his seat!
But it IS STILL RACIST, this assumption that different ethnicity = different nationality, and it does us all a disservice, and it still makes me angry. And I bet they thought they were being nice, too. And how did that guy feel, hearing that? All he did was stand up whilst black, and to those women that means he's not Australian.
Further reading:
|
|
|
| that are meant to burn |
[Jul. 11th, 2008|08:58 pm] |
This week's been pretty terrible in terms of my photography. I've been using Toy Camera (Ixus 55) all week, which is not as good as using the 450D, but I was waiting for the bus and just had to try for this shot, this evidence that it is freezing cold. Littering Man (my usual morning companion at the bus stop) gave me the funniest looks, but you don't get anywhere if you don't take risks (and put up with judgements by strangers), so. |
|
|
| things that are racist |
[Jul. 9th, 2008|06:44 pm] |
the Western Suburbs Weekly, July 7, page 8
I don't care how trashy a local rag is, this sort of racist, offensive shit masquerading as 'hilarious social commentary' is completely unacceptable.
Worse is that of the four people I was with, only one of them understood why I got so angry.
(I wrote my very first angry letter to the paper) |
|
|
| bellyflop on a pizza |
[Jul. 6th, 2008|05:14 pm] |
When I was little, of course I saw the Peter Combe clips on the ABC and of course I knew all the words to 'Toffee Apple,' but I never had the opportunity to go to a show. It's funny, then, that in the last twelve months I've been to two of them, and they've both been awesome. Claire was a little skeptical when we first went, but by the end of it she remembered all the words and had to run off to by an album or two.
And now I am 26.
full set |
|
|
| but it's not the time |
[Jun. 29th, 2008|11:10 am] |
In 1997, Anwar Ibrahim was the deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, and very likely to succeed Mhd Mahatir after the latter's retirement. In 1998, after some conflicts within the party, Ibrahim was accused of the crime of sodomy and corruption, was sacked from his position and jailed. In 2004 he was cleared of the charges, but unable to hold political office again until 2008. In the intervening years, it has been widely accepted that the charges were politically motivated, and earlier this year his political party made enough of a sweep of the national elections that Ibrahim is now the leader of the opposition in Malaysia, and there have been calls for the current PM to resign, evidence of his failure as leader.
Police in Malaysia are currently, as in just this week, investigating Ibrahim on renewed allegations of sodomy.
Leaving aside my feelings on sodomy as a crime (ie, it shouldn't be), the fact that an identical accusation has been leveled at him is so politically stupid, either for him as a politician (if he was actually cracking on to aides) or for his political opponents (for trying the same thing again), that words cannot express my feelings right now. Of course any sexual assault charge (as some papers are touting it) is serious, but given the history of the situation and the current political situation in Malaysia, I'm feeling some (more than usual) prejudice against UMNO right now.
Links: BBC; The Star; Al Jazeera English. |
|
|
| slide in the park across the street |
[Jun. 25th, 2008|09:51 pm] |
The last visit to the apartment in Crawley was a bit of a downer: it's devoid of all penguins and cleaner than I can recall it being, the carpet damp from the carpet cleaning yesterday. Today I returned the keys and that was it, after six years I'm no longer a resident of Crawley.
We are now living more than 200 metres away from Broadway Fair, I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm okay with it, living back on the Eastern side of Perth. I'm that much closer to my parents (and their favourite restaurants) and we have a whole other area of food places to explore! Recommendations welcome.
Of course, the flip side of that is it now takes between 15 - 30 minutes to walk to the restaurants of Northbridge: this is very dangerous and A+++.
Davyd blogged yesterday when the internerds were restored, he has more words here. I don't know why people torture themselves with dial up, every day before late last night was terrible, everything was so slow.
The kitchen is somewhat operational, I managed to cook dinner and dishes were washed, and I'm not sick of stairs in the house yet. We can't find the tea towels, though, and that's going to get really annoying any minute now.
Housewarming eventually, after we finish unpacking and I get over this cold. |
|
|
| if i couldn't keep the carpets clean |
[Jun. 18th, 2008|09:15 pm] |
Settlement occured today, and so now we are the proud owners of a mortgage.
Sometimes I have these moments of doubt, that I'm getting older and there's no chance to do all the things I still want to do. I especially feel like this when ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) peace_bloom posts photos of some of my favourite people (herself included) having a blast on the other side of the country (this doesn't mean she should stop doing this, though. in fact she should do this more).
Before our eviction letter arrived, Davyd and I were talking about spending some time living in Melbourne, and vaguely considering living in Malaysia or Singapore for a bit. This would delight me, living close to (some others of) my loved ones. I love Perth, and no matter where we go we'll probably move back, but I don't intend for us to spend our whole lives living here.
In 2006 I was offered a position in Canberra, which I obviously turned down. I haven't regretted it, not for a second, because although there are some delightful people living in Canberra it is Canberra, and I don't think I would have enjoyed that job in the end, not really.
I worry though, sometimes, that of all these things I want to achieve, of all these things I want to do, I'm not going to do them. And I know that everyone feels this way, that everyone has these doubts, so they're nothing special and I should just ignore them, and just get on with it.
And whenever I start worrying about this, I think about my mum, who has done so many things since she was about the age I am now. She changed careers in her late forties and is now incredibly successful; she left her own country and her own family to move to Australia and start a new one; since moving to Australia she has learnt to speak Japanese fluently, and Indonesian (though as a Malaysian, this last one is a bit of a cheat, really); and she's really, really happy, and she has no regrets at all.
And when I start worrying about not achieving things, I think that my mum is really awesome, and when I grow up, I want to be awesome, too. And then I think about the things that I've achieved, planned or not (which this year: plan a Really Big Party; go to Melbourne; take Davyd to meet my family in Malaysia and Singapore; start learning German; change careers so I get paid doing stuff I enjoy; buy a property), and that I'm pretty awesome now, actually.
So that's my coping strategy.
I hope that whatever yours is, it works just as well. |
|
|
| all the trouble that you give me |
[Jun. 17th, 2008|07:57 pm] |
We're due to settle tomorrow, but the truth of the matter is, we were supposed to settle yesterday, too, so we'll see. Apparently ANZ can no longer remember how to fill out forms.
I am excited about colours, and textures, and hanging pictures on our walls and having a courtyard. I am obsessed with wall decals, and we visited IKEA last week in anticipation of new shelves and things. So I've been looking at things, inspiration for our awesome new house.
mosaic by me, pictures by others
:: disco bathroom :: bathroom display :: biblioteque zelli bookcase :: table + chairs :: dinosaur terrarium :: fishies on the walls by e-glue :: tango :: a hallway :: space invaders :: purple lantern and other things :: kitchen kitsch :: les invasions ephemeres :: courtyard :: brightly coloured laundry :: hanging out :: sofa bunk bed :: |
|
|
| things we want to get rid of #4 |
[Jun. 15th, 2008|12:50 pm] |
free to a home
NOT PICTURED:
A queen-size mattress, quite thin.
A 240 Watt Kambrook electric heater. claimed
some wire CD racks.
PICTURED
miscellaneous containers (the bottom one in that pile is a trifle/jelly container)
popcorn maker (only used a half dozen times) (mostly by theducks) claimed
a juicer claimed |
|
|
| indiana jones and the temple of doom |
[Jun. 12th, 2008|07:44 pm] |
How did he get his shirt back? Davyd asked. That's a very good question, I replied. Other good questions: why is this movie so racist? Why is that woman so annoying? How did they manage to get so many bad actors in just one film? Why can't George Lucas write women?
This movie is so awful. |
|
|
| and i am not a force to be reckoned with |
[Jun. 11th, 2008|10:05 pm] |
first step in the new world order
I've been feeling a little bit lost lately. I handed in my final assignments for this semester three weeks back, and yes I still have German classes but that's dead easy, and I still have Chinese classes but that's just once a week, so.
I got the results back for those assessments, and I'll probably scrape by with HDs which is better than just missing out, but it means my CWA will drop a couple of points and really, it's my own fault for getting married in the middle of semester because I forgot I was still a student.
Studying and learning is this huge part of my life, but I forget that it's supposed to define me. I do two units at uni and I'm studying two languages but I'm not a student, I can't tick that box. I work full time but at two different jobs and I feel like I can't define myself as either of those, either.
The thing about definitions and labels is that they're often mutually exclusive, and so often problematic.
I don't like using labels, but I am guilty of them all the same. I hate being required to pick a title, I don't want to be 'Mrs' and I never liked being 'Miss' and sometimes I think about getting my PhD just so I can be 'Dr.' I shouldn't tick 'Asian' but I can't tick 'Caucasian' so I have to tick 'Other.' Sometimes people write my occupation as 'admin,' sometimes it's 'local government' and often it's just left blank.
I dislike being defined by other people's words, by other people's views of the world, though I know that I define others by my interactions with them. And it is in this way that I know that I am guilty of labeling people. |
|
|
| where all the mountains have a face |
[Jun. 8th, 2008|07:32 pm] |
this week:
♠ This week I've been reading The Year In Pictures, which is more interesting to me than the usual photo blogs with their photos. The Year in Pictures is the blog of a gallery owner in New York, and what fascinates me most is that his blog is often about photography, but often it is also about the installation of art. It is the installation of art and photographs that I am most looking forward to in our upcoming move; its distribution is just as important as the message it conveys.
♠ I recently discovered unclutterer, and read the back catalogue. Whilst I find many of the posts condescending, and think that often the theory is that everything else is sacrificed in the name of uncluttering, a lot of the advice given is useful, or at least worth thinking about.
♠ I often struggle to write to topic outside of uni, and as such I am a terrible and infrequent poster at Carnivals, but I do love reading them, they're usually really interesting and often quite thought provoking. This week two blog Carnivals went live: POC in Sci-Fi Carnival #10 (POC Representation in YA Fiction); and The Inaugural Down Under Feminists Carnival.
♠ An awesome fashion shoot: Made in Asia.
♠ There are so many blogs about the place that give advice, the positivity blog and dumblittleman and sometimes, I wonder how they can be such experts on everything! It does lead me to wonder that they're just making it up as they go along, which is okay so long as it works but how many people reading these blogs think these bloggers know what they're talking about? Just something I think about. Anyway, I am not going to write a post about how you can be organised and fantastic etc, but I am going to link these three posts (written by others) that I found interesting and potentially relevant to people I know. I'm not going to summarise them because I think they're fairly self-explanatory from their titles: How to Keep a Bad Job from Affecting your Home Life; Saying Farewell to a Hobby; 13 Things to Avoid When Changing Habits.
♠ An article in the Sun: 'Man banned from jet for Transformers T-Shirt.' From the BBC (more reliable than The Sun, obviously): 'Woman lived hidden in Japan flat,' A woman has been arrested in Japan for sneaking into a man's house and living in his wardrobe without him knowing.
♠ I don't know if this is awesome, but it certainly looks awesome, you all know my obsession for languages: Learn 35+ Languages for Free in iTunes. |
|
|
| 无论你我可曾相识 |
[Jun. 6th, 2008|10:36 pm] |
I tend to post little things, selfish things, things about being happy and living your life and I'm not saying they're wrong, I'm just saying they are centred on the self. Sometimes I post about slightly bigger things, mostly Chinese-Malaysian issues, but that's it, I don't really comment on the news and things, not really.
I was passing by K's journal, and we don't talk much anymore, but she's been living in Beijing for a bit and she was a little surprised, she said, and a little not, by how full on the coverage has been in China of the earthquake, and how non-existent it's been when she's popped on LJ. After September Eleven, and even after stuff like strikethrough there was such an outpouring of words on blogs, and compared to that it's been nothing, and she's right. I can't be as eloquent as those who have come before, I appear to have lost the words, but I thought I would share this with you, this image that has stuck in my head for weeks.
( image from a local school )
Via lauredhel I found these comics by Coco Wang, illustrating some pieces of the earthquake, and I was skeptical going in but I cannot emphasise how amazing they are (and how I was weeping by about the third comic): earthquake comics.
And maybe this and this, and did you know that the first soldiers to enter Wenchuan County (at the epicentre) walked 90 kilometres in 21 hours to get there? Other soldiers entered stricken areas by parachuting in.
And Sharon Stone said that the earthquake was karma, which, WHAT?
So there's that. |
|
|
| draw a shadow across the light |
[Jun. 5th, 2008|10:04 am] |
Yesterday I read this post on unclutterer, about preparing for tomorrow's work day today. It passed me by and I thought no more about it, because whilst printing out tomorrow's agendas and leaving them where they could be seen was a fine enough idea, it's hardly practical. For the most part, we assume that people will bring their agendas with them, emailed two days previously. And the rest of it is kind of impractical, at least for me.
This morning I woke up, stumbled down the stairs, and halfway down the street I stumbled back home again, too nauseous to contemplate making it all the way to work. I called in, trying to remember what meetings I had scheduled for today, and for one brief moment I wished that I had a paper diary that my boss could open to find today's meetings. Instead, my beautifully scheduled Outlook calendar has all that information, unaccessible by any colleague in my department, and I had to say things like, "I have a meeting with an architect" and "call X, he'll probably know who it is."
Of course, I don't really long for a paper diary at work. But sometimes, I can see where that level of preparedness would be useful. |
|
|
| things we want to get rid of #3 |
[Jun. 3rd, 2008|08:56 pm] |
ALL ITEMS TAKEN
Davyd says this is a boring post, which it is, but this is mostly because he'd rather I spent this time and energy blogging at vegan about town, or baking things. For a penguin who doesn't care about food, Davyd sure does like it when I talk about food.
THINGS WE DON'T WANT, PART THE THIRD (free to a home):
in this box, non-toxic finger paints, glow in the dark crayons (full box), NAIL ART (oh how I used to love you), a pack of oil pastels, plain crayons, several sets of various colours of glitter. claimed
flowery material, cotton maybe 100x60ish centimetres claimed
a breadmaker claimed
undetermined length of blue fur material claimed
NOT PICTURED: a box of miscellaneous coloured pencils claimed |
|
|
| it's going nowhere on the mantlepiece |
[May. 27th, 2008|10:09 pm] |
This is my "to read" pile, though it is not a pile and it is sort of a lie.
- Growing Up in Trengganu is so familiar and yet so not, Trengganu being a state of Malaysia and yet so distinct, so different from Penang. I picked this up in Penang when, on a whim, I visited a Borders there. The layout of Borders is exactly the same, but the books and things one finds are so different, for logistic and obvious reasons.
- What the Chinese Don't Eat is the book that makes my "to read" pile a lie: I have already finished it, but for the last two pages, which I wanted to write a blog post about. Food is such an important part of my life: it is how I show my love and how I calm myself down; it is how I reward myself and what I do to enjoy the world, and I want to talk about how the book reflects that. If you ever have a chance, read Xinran's novel The Good Women of China, a book whose last three pages never fail to make me cry with its documentation of the women of China.
- I have read The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. I have read it over and over and over, and Penguin just released a new translation and I both covet and fear it.
- I was browsing in Elisabeth's Books one day, and picked Love and Vertigo up because it's about a Chinese-Singaporean/Malaysian who lives in Australia, who returns to Singapore for her mother's wake.
- Tris sent me The Flower Drum Song about a year ago, and I read the first two chapters and got waylaid by life, and despite my best intentions have yet to finish it.
- Blue Dragon is the third in a trilogy by Kylie Chan; I reviewed the first book here. Unfortunately I've been suffering from my usual trilogy malaise - I read the first two books, and run out of steam by the third. Many a trilogy has languished on my shelves in such a fashion.
- Dirty Looks, a series of media essays that I really should return to Stephen, but there's a chapter on Asian fetish in Western cinema that I keep meaning to read.
- Inherit the Earth is allegedly cyberpunk; it was shilled to me by hipikat's step-dad, so we'll see.
- Cinderella's Sisters is about the history of foot-binding: it's so beautiful and so interesting, and I really have no excuse.
- Food Politics. I am so interested in where my food comes from, and the who and the why, and you should be too, but that is another rant for another day.
And instead of reading these books, I bought a new one on the weekend, and have been reading that instead. Which is just me all over.
How is everyone else's to be read pile doing? |
|
|
| sunday lunchtime link |
[May. 25th, 2008|12:19 pm] |
This page has been cheering me up all week, I highly recommend it:
OM NOM NOM NOM |
|
|
| and blows it out into the mist |
[May. 24th, 2008|04:47 pm] |
I was recently asked to link to my foodie blog from here so it was easy to find, so consider this linkage. If you're looking for my foodie blog, you can find it linked in the header here in my lj. Of course, easier still would be to bookmark it now, or if you are on lj you can add the syndication feed to your flist.
I'm really enjoying writing in the blog; it's sort of forcing me to be creative in my cooking and sometimes, in order to review things, it forces me to actually stick to the recipe, which is interesting. And it's fun thinking of restaurants to visit, too. And I hope that maybe people will get something out of it - it can be a struggle to be a vegan in Perth some days, especially when those days are shortly after I've just returned from somewhere like Melbourne or Malaysia, and the scarcity becomes even more obvious. |
|
|
| things we want to get rid of #1 |
[May. 23rd, 2008|10:14 pm] |
this is the first in a series of posts. in the lead up to our imminent move, we're slowly going through cupboards and things, working out what we don't want to take with us. if anyone wants anything, let me know, otherwise it'll go to the sammies or something. i'm just listing the stuff that i think maybe someone on my flist might be interested in.
all of these books i have owned since i was a kid. don't judge me.
- 3 books of fairy tales: favourite fairy tales (illustrated); nursery rhymes and fairy tales (occasionally illustrated); my book of favourite fairy stories (illustrated)
- raggedy ann and raggedy andy's number fun (a colouring book)
- the exploding egg - unlock the secrets of SCIENCE in your own home
other stuff
- bottle of red food colouring (yeah, I don't know)
- an old blender (works, may die at any moment)
|
|
|
