geek.crochet.nintendo

I'm back on the crochet bandwagon in a big way. Street art sidetracked me, but now I think I can embrace both, and other creative endeavours.
So what to make? I really like the idea of making 'stuff' and toys, and the best part about crochet is you can just kind of make it up as you go along. So with a creative flourish, I made an original Gameboy

And continuing with the Nintendo theme, I made a Triforce from the Legend of Zelda videogame series. This was the first time I'd attempted triangles, and they turned out perfectly on the first go!

And what next? I think a Pokeball would be pretty cool...

The Day That Was - June 15th, 2011

I woke up this morning at 8, and turned on the heater in my room. It was a cold morning, and I got out of bed and had a bread roll, a bowl of rice bubbles and soy milk, and a cup of tea for breakfast: 7/10. I listed to Elephant (fantastic album) and Anti-Tiger over breakfast, before hoping on my bike and cycling to the library. I did internet things on their free wifi and browsed the dvds. Around 11:30, I walked down Victoria Mall. It's currently home to the Coburg Carnivale, which is a really nice cultural community event. I bought a cup of veggie soup for $1.50 (yum: 8/10), and walked down Sydney Rd to find the act of the day - King Marong and Safara. They were an African drumming duo, and it was great to hear and watch them - they were infectiously happy and rhythmic: 10/10. I drank my soup and wandered around Coburg Market. I bought some nuts and fruit, and confirmed that I really love the suburb. It's amazingly multi-cultural, and I really like walking down the street hearing all manner of middle eastern and  Mediterranean languages. 10/10.
I cycled home and had a peanut butter sandwich. I checked my map book and headed off to Oak Park station. It's the site of an art installation which is causing some outrage in the community. It consists of orange plastic fencing. All objections I've read have been frustratingly stupid: 'it's not art' - yes, it is; 'it's just plastic fencing' - in the same way a painting's just paint?; 'they should've spent that money on roads' - $10,000 is a small fraction of roading costs. And it goes on like this. The sculpture was okay - parts had been cut out to make pictures of birds, leaves, teapots etc: 8/10.
On the return ride home, I went to Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park, which is massive. I walked around, and it was a beautiful Autumn afternoon: 10/10. I picked up some abandoned plastic flowers and decorated barren graves. I found the site of John Batman's internment. And factoid of the day - I learnt that the Cemeteries and Crematoria Regulations 2005 deems it an offence to play sport in a cemetery. Though as I left I saw a father and son kicking a football.
Back at home, I sat on the porch in the sun and finished reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It was great, highly recommended: 9/10. I then cycled to the library to return the book, and bought some baking ingredients at the supermarket. I was angry at how busy the roads were: 2/10. Back home, I made some broccoli and chickpea pasta (9/10), and my flatmate Paul and I watched a few episodes of Scrubs. We then biked down to the Drum Hotel to watch the State of Origin rugby league. We had a few beers, and it was a really good game. Plus, NSW ('my team', I guess) won: 8/10.
We headed home after the game, and I started to read 'The Deep End' issue of Granta. A pretty good day: 8/10

Things I don't like

I can imagine that if you don't know me in real life, I might seem to be some kind of unshakeably happy/enthusiastic person, who is always glowing sunshine. Well, I am happy a lot of the time. And the main idea of this blog is nice stuff, so I don't tend to share things I don't like, or that get me down. But I'm a real person too, dammit! So just to even things up, here is a list of some things I don't like:

Walking through car parks
Burlesque culture
Horse racing
Rhys Darby
Seagulls
Steam punk
Roller derby
Cycling near unleashed dogs (unpredictable!)
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Motivation

Working at RDU was great: I got to speak on the radio, play my favourite music, and interview some awesome people. I kept a list of those people I interviewed. It includes some big names like Florence Welch, as well as local musicians I really admire, like David Kilgour from The Clean, and Grayson Gilmour.
About a year ago, I asked a girl out. I kind of knew her, and decided I'd take the chance. I saw her in a computer lab at uni, and had 'People I've interviewed.doc' open. I felt really nervous, and was close to not asking when I thought, 'you've talked to all these people, you can talk to her.'
She was flattered, but said no - she had a boyfriend. Oh well. My point is that in your life you no doubt have problems or challenges, but you've also had experiences. You can use the experiences to help with your challenges.

My room, redux

Here are a few more extra bits of my room

This is a bedside table made out a largeish box and some corrugated cardboard. There's also an old biscuit box on the right for my wallet, watch, miscellany

I made some bunting from an old copy of Beat. A while ago I asked Fran, 'why does bunting make me feel so happy?' Neither of us were sure why

This is a... progress indicator? I had the notion when reading Yes Man that 'we determine how enjoyable our lives are', and this aims to reflect that. There's a peg that can be moved between the two arrow heads. How was my day? Can I improve on it?

         < dull -------- awesome >

Wish 8, 9, 10

These are the last three wishes that I didn't or couldn't grant.

'100 dollars Claudia 8 377xxxx'
This is cute. She even wrote the 3 back to front on her phone number. I thought about calling her or her parents and working something out, but I didn't really have that kind of money to play with. Ambitious girl.

'Get laid TONIGHT! Mutant Mars'
Gee, not too sure about this one. Perhaps I could get laid, and claim it for you by proxy? Sorry Mutant.

'Homeless man in tent, Hagley South. Needy by way of earthquake and psychologically unfit for work on regular basis. Would appreciate a large moden pack. Money? Not as important. P/T under table work? Could do, just not every day. $10p/h. Have licences 1, 2, 4. Can you help?'
Damn. This one was the worst. Not enough details to help what seems like a very genuine problem. Heartbreaking.

So that's Wish Box. Mixed results, but I hope it inspired or amused you. Stay tuned for a similar project - I'm very excited about it!

Weighting

The other day I was walking through a mall, and a guy selling gym memberships spoke to me. 'Gee, you're pretty slim mate. Do you work out, or just have a crazy metabolism?' I thought about it, and agreed it was probably the latter. The same day, I heard some school kids say 'wow, that guy's skinny'. I smiled.
I guess I am pretty skinny. Perhaps outrageously so. (You can have a perv at the time I was an underwear model. Or see me in lycra). And I've always been like this.
When I tell people I'm vegan, there's often a click; that explains it. But I had no weight change after switching. In fact, I've generally not changed weight since I was 13. It's sat in the 51-55kg range that whole time.
Most of the time, I have no idea how skinny I must appear. I have pretty high self esteem (and I'll say it now - I love my body. Love it. Wouldn't want to change a thing), and I sometimes feel like the opposite of this. Still, it can be hard being a skinny guy. It can be challenging to find clothes that fit. People assume you're weak. And there's a certain stigma that might be analogous to being very large - but being stick thin goes against most 'big, manly' stereotypes. Luckily for me, there are girls who like skinny guys. And in the indie/arts scene, there aren't many beefcakes.
I had a 23kg baggage allowance when I flew to Melbourne. It made me think about what I wanted to bring, and... how much does a jersey weigh? That kind of extended to me. 50-odd kg isn't much. How much does my hand weigh? How irreducible is my liver?

My room

Here are some photos of my room. They were taken on my laptop's webcam, apologies.
 



This is me on my bed

This is my newest take on cardboard box storage. Boxes are labelled in case I (or a guest) has troubling recognising socks











This is my new bike. It's yet to be named (but I get the feeling it's a boy. Suggestions?)

Public transport

I caught the train to Hawthorne today. I'm taking part in a clinical trial that looks at the effects of multivitamin use on mood. I get paid, and get free vitamins, so any changes are likely to be positive.
I caught the the train home at 5pm. It was obviously very crowded, but I felt in a good mood. I was reading. A guy nearby ate a mandarin. It matched his orange hi-vis. The lady next to me was also reading: Marian Keyes' Last Chance Saloon. "'You should wear your red dress', Thomas coaxed." I thought that it's nice to be living inside your head, reading, but looking out at the sunset, I felt like I'd much rather be living out there, amongst everything.
I looked around the train. Everyone looked content. Everyone looked so beautifully human, and I felt good for all of them. In the seat opposite me, there was an 8-bit explosion of music, as a girl started playing Pokemon on her phone. I smiled, and she laughed: not stifled, embarrassed laughter, but 'I can't believe that just happened to me on a crowded train' laughter. Near the door, a really blokey looking guy was on the phone, sorting out a deal. "Look, it's fine. Na, just get me some Neutrogena Face Wipes, and some of that Nivea Face Cream. Yeah, from Safeway. Cool."
The book I was reading was Submarine by Joe Dunthorne. I'd just read about how life doesn't race by, but it's 'a series of moments, like now now now now now now now.' The train ride felt like one of those nows.