Saturday, May 28, 2011

The Week That Was....

Birthday Coffee Love

What can I say?  It's been a great week!  It's study week. No lectures.  No tutorials. AND I had a birthday - perfect timing you might say!  

The week started with an 'appointment' with a good friend, who had scheduled me in as one of her patients, in order for us to meet at 9.30am for a coffee.  This was followed by an evening of hi-jinx and hilarity; dinner with friends, which ultimately.ended in my birthday cake being cut with a pair of scissors.  That's right. Scissors. Funny stuff.   

I also managed to squeeze in two films during the week, an Indian film, Peepli Live, which made me yearn for India, and was featured in the Sydney Travelling Film Festival, which had very conveniently travelled up to Byron Bay's Dendy cinema, and also Alejandro Gonzalez's Buitiful.  Two completely different, but fantastic films, each dealing with very real and disturbing subject matter. If you're planning to see the latter, I'd recommend having a copy of Austin Powers or Zoolander on hand for when the credits roll.  Trust me.

...but onto more pressing matters, I have exams next week, one of which I have to learn the entire unit because I failed to attend lectures beyond week four on account of the fact that it was possibly much more interesting for me to stay home and watch my wheatgrass grow - not a word of a lie... I even captured it on camera - see below.

And so, like any other normal person, rather than focus on the impending exams, I thought I would put together a list of the things that I have discovered, and things I couldn't be without this week.

Here goes...

10. Coconut Oil

I’m not sure if it’s due to the change in the weather, my diet or any other environmental factors, but my skin has been drier than usual recently, so I have been moisturizing with coconut oil – No chemicals, no fragrances, just 100% cold pressed coconut oil – the kind that I usually reserve for cooking.  It has a myriad of uses, and after living in India for 6 months, I discovered the reason why the women there have such thick, healthy, shiny hair. 

It's all about the Indian head massage and coconut oil.  Pure bliss.


9. KEXP live streaming

Ordinarily, living in a regional area can mean that you have limited access to many things that folk in the city may take for granted.  One of those things is quality, independent, public radio. 

Fortunately, we’re not completely deprived and off the radar; we do get ABC’s Radio National and Triple J, but sometimes ya just need something not so high brow, and not so high school, but something a little more urban, something with a bit more of an edge.  Suffice to say, I could not possibly have made it through this week without the internet, or specifically, without Seattle’s KEXP.org.  I have championed this station for quite sometime now, and it continues to deliver. 

Other close contenders are Melbourne’s RRR and PBS, but it’s the Seattle sound that I always come back to.  And thank god, because I also discovered a great band called Slow Skate.  If you’re into low-fi musical noir, mellow guitars and vocals reminiscent of Mazzy Star crossed with the Cowboy Junkies, all with a vintage feel – you should definitely check them out!


8. My Ipod

Despite the fact that I have been living with ipod fatigue now for over 12 months, I still could never be without it.  As much as I love the radio, you can’t stream the internet in your car, and living in the country requires several playlists to make those long commutes to the ocean and back all the more bearable. 


I also received a new album this week which I have already added to my itunes library, and should also help alleviate some of the symptoms of fatigue.  Caro Emerald’s Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor.  She’s a Dutch jazz singer, and apparently this album beat Michael Jackson’s Thriller for the longest time spent at number one in the Dutch Top 100 – 29 Weeks!  Go Caro!


Just need to save some pennies and get Slow Skate on there too!

7. Trainers

Evidence of all those hearty, stodgy winter meals is beginning to show.  Need to jog further and faster than ever before at the moment! 

Sigh. 

At least it is keeping me fit!

6. Notebook

Just like Hemmingway, I always carry my Moleskine around with me! 

With a memory like mine, I am constantly referring to things I have written down, and writing down ideas and things that I need to remember.

5. Ginko Biloba

With looming exams, and again, with a memory like mine, I am popping 3 of these babies a day in order to improve my memory. 

The literature in the packet assures me that my concentration will improve, which it has, and that my memory will sharpen – Not sure about that, but I guess the evidence will be in my exam results.

4. Big Love (Season Four)

I have been waiting with bated breath for the release of this DVD for over a year now.  The video store down the road, for some reason has on a 3 day loan – that’s some 9 episodes to be viewed within 3 days! 

So far, I’ve watched the first 3 episodes – I can’t bring myself to rush this one, as I know that when it’s over, I’m to have at least another year to wait for the fifth series.  Damn, it’s good though.

3. Chia Seeds

I have rediscovered my love for chia seeds this week. 

In my efforts to shed those extra kgs from hearty, stodgy food and my current inert lifestyle – sedentary at the laptop, I have started back on these babies for breakfast and in smoothies. 

My wheatgrass
Yum!

2. Juicer

I could never be without my juicer.  Some people start their day with a coffee, I start mine with a juice, usually green from the garden produce and my lovely little trays of wheatgrass.

1. Swimming with the Fish

Beautiful Wategos
I love the fact that this week, I have started four days with a jog in the morning sun, along the sparkling sand, followed by a swim with the fish, in the crystal, clear, blue ocean.  It’s the end of May, the water’s chilly, but it is still so beautiful and clear and such a nice reminder that when you are in the ocean, and in nature generally – nothing else really seems to matter 



What got you through this week?

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