Thinking of my mom today, who loves the snow as much as I love the sunshine...
Today we headed downtown to take advantage of the fact that, on Sundays, you can use your Opal (public transport debit) card and pay only $2.50 to ride anywhere all day. We also took advantage of some free attractions and packed snacks and bottled water, so our grande total for the day was $5! Woot! Our first stop was Rozelle Markets, where we uncovered a veritable treasure trove of crap... Among these treasures, however, we did find a few very cool pieces of (what I would consider) art, like this carved wooden mask from Japan and a seriously sweet large fabric print of Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" framed in reclaimed wood... After the markets, we wandered around Circular Quay a bit to catch some didgeridoo music by aboriginal performers and take in the sights before heading to the Museum of Contemporary Art... There were some interesting pieces, like this chandelier that collected humidity in the room and froze it, and check out that last shot of the merchild sculpture on the terrace in front of the view of the Harbour Bridge ...very cool stuff... But there were also some items (many of which I did not bother to snap a pic) that I would place much further down the crap<-->art continuum than what we encountered at the markets. Take, for example, this piece where the artist carved the items in the cardboard boxes out of yellow soap and stacked them around a photograph of her (mostly) naked father draped in a cloth she wove out of shredded Coca-Cola cans (note: the original work was not censored...you're welcome.) I have to question why the creepy doll from the market is in a garage sale junk heap and this Spiderman + creepy man doll face has been on display in the museum for at least 2 years (I remember these two from my visit a couple summers ago...hard face to forget. And dat booty...) The question of why I found the beautiful Hokusai print amongst the junk at the market and this superhero vs. hairy-mannequin-thigh-with-a-face staring contest depiction at the museum continues to both amuse and perplex me, but there was one piece in particular that spoke to me while pondering my observations... -Jamison Lorraine*Please Note: The Pickle has expressed that he is not on board with my use of the word "crap" in this post, as he did, in fact, find beauty in both the marketplace wares and the museum "art" <--he is also not OK with my use of quotes around the word "art". For the record, however, he was ready to bounce well before I was from the museum. ...just sayin'.
Haaaaaaaaaaaappy Neeeew Yeeeeeeear!!! We headed downtown to Circular Quay (that's pronounced circular key, FYI) last night for the most ridiculously awesome spectacle of fireworks imaginable! We'd semi-planned (Pickle is the planner and I'm the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type) to get up and head downtown early, buuuuuut we were both pretty sleepy...me after a crazy long flight from DAY > ORD > LAX > SYD and Pickle after a staying up late and then getting up early in preparation for my arrival. So, we Googled some tips and tried to determine the latest we could get downtown and still be able to catch the show from a decent spot. Everything we read said things started to fill up near "early afternoon" which wasn't particularly helpful, so The Pickle developed a timeline for us to get there by noon....then 2...we finally left around 3 and made it downtown via the train around 5pm (which I consider a success story). As it turns out, it was great timing, as we scored a fantastic vantage point of the Harbour Bridge with room to place our sheet (so we could sit...thank goodness!). It wasn't long after we'd plopped down that they announced the area was full and closed, soooooooo...total win. We recorded a little intro to our NYE festivities as well for everyone at home in the States... There were actually 2 fireworks displays, one at 9pm and the grande spectacle at midnight. Here's a little taste of the 9pm show...not gonna lie, we recorded it in case we couldn't make it to midnight:
went to the promenade in yoga pants because my luggage hadn't yet arrived). #noshame We persevered, however, and we were SO glad we stayed for midnight...it. was. awesome. These pics don't really do it justice, but they're ours so, here ya go... The Pickle captured just some of the fiery fantasticality that was the Harbour Bridge in this clip... It was an exciting start to what should be an even more exciting year! 'Hope yours is the same <3 -Jamison LorraineAfter surviving primarily on cereal and sandwiches for the previous two months, The Pickle suggested that if we go halfsies on our grocery bills, "we" could make some decent meals "together". So, we persisted through a strong bout of indecisiveness and formulated a grocery list (we have to be selective because we've only got a mini-fridge with no real freezer to speak of...like if by my mentioning it you pictured any space large enough for a gerbil to live in, you're over-shooting) We stuck to our list fairly well, aside from subbing out some chicken mushroom thing I'd made up with ingredients for chicken tikka masala, basmati rice, and naan and adding a giant wok to our trolley. We ate lunch at the shops (and by shops, I mean monstrous mall, but that's the American thing to say), and by the time we got home, I was too exhausted to cook dinner. We'd gone to bed around 4am the morning after NYE and I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, like a squirrel on speed at 7am. Unfortunately, I fell victim to jet lag, and poor Pickle had another meal of cereal :(
Living here so far is a lot like camping...except we have a luxury air mattress and a TV screen the size of a small computer monitor. It'll be a glorious day when our household goods arrive and we can move into a more permanent situation (one that hopefully includes Air Con!), but in the meantime, there is some fun in the challenges, and I'd say I'm a happy camper :) -Jamison Lorraine |
AuthorsJamison Lorraine Archives
November 2016
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