Normal

The cats are somewhat particular about the canned cat food they usually like. Specifically, they like "gravy lovers" flavors that have chunks of meat, as opposed to the more blended flavors. I've narrowed it down to three regular kinds I regularly get, the seafood lovers, beef feast in gravy, and chicken fillet in gravy. 

I find myself occasionally trying to sneak in another random flavor every other week or so. I don't know what I imagine is going to happen when serve them this different food. Trial and error has already led me to the three flavors they love consistently. Best case scenario: maybe we'll discover a new food they'll love and then there will be four kinds I can buy, as if that would be an achievement. 

The cats' lack of desire for variety clearly bothers me more than it bothers them. I would hate to eat one of three things for almost every meal for the rest of my life. They would be perfectly happy with that, plus a table scrap of chicken or a tortilla chip every once in a while. 

So why do I find the need to buy the occasional different can of food? Why do I impose my human idea of being a "foodie" on them when there will never be any notable result? I don't have some witty answer for this, I really have no idea. I suppose it's not much weirder than the fact that I talk to the cats on a regular basis too. Pet ownership really makes some strange behaviors seem acceptable and normal... maybe to just the pet owner, though. 

Happy Australia Day!

For Australia Day, we saw some of the harbour festivities from Kirribilli (on the opposite side of the harbour from the opera house). Mainly the festivities involved live music from a floating stage, and boats, fighter jets, and helicopters doing synchronized movements. 

After that we scooted over to Little Manly Beach, where we swam and hungout with some frisbee friends. It was a fun, careless holiday out in the sun.

Hateful 8, The Grounds, etc.

I keep seeing photos off all the snow from everyone back on the East Coast of the states. While I normally love snow, I'm quite happy that it doesn't affect my daily life right now. Hopefully most of the mess will be cleaned up before we visit; particularly the roads.

This weekend we saw Hateful 8 in 70mm. It kept us watching the whole time, except the moments we had to turn away because they were too gross/painful to watch. It was certainly not my favorite Tarantino movie. While the Kill Bills, Django Unchained, and Inglorious Basterds had satisfying moments where characters attained well-deserved revenge, Hateful 8 didn't seem to have much meaning beyond not knowing which characters are lying at first, and then some over-the-top violence. While I'd watch some of Tarantino's other films again, I see no reason to watch this one again.

Today we went to explore Sydney Park, a park we have passed by several times, but never entered. It had a nice (but artificial) wetlands, lots of dogs running around, and lots of birds. The unusual thing about this park is the cycling centre. They teach classes about bike maintenance and have a cycling area just for kids that has its own little paths painted to look like roads, with real working traffic lights. 

After walking around we went to The Grounds of Alexandria for the first time. I had seen it in passing and never had the chance to stop in until now. It's hard to explain what it is. According to the website this is what it is:

Located in a former industrial precinct from the 1920s, The Grounds of Alexandria is a landmark coffee roastery, café and sustainable garden known for its abundance of fresh produce and hands-on experiences.

It's really more like 4 or 5 cafes in one location. It's not like an "eatery" in that the food is locally sourced and high quality, and the seating is a pretty garden. The food was delicious and I definitely want to go back and try more stuff. They even have some resident animals you can visit when you're not stuffing indulging in their decadent pastries, including a big pig named Kevin Bacon. 

Right next door there was this amazing deli/groumet food store called Salt Meats Cheese. They had this delicious assortment of olives, handmade pastas, etc. All this fancy stuff, and then there was an American shelf that had Cap'n Crunch and Cheez-Its on it. 

We finished off the weekend with some frisbee in the sunshine. Going back to the snow, when we haven't seen snow in over two years, is going to be a shock to our systems.

Fingers Crossed

I'm trying my best to ignore all this snow talk. Unless it's a dud, it's going to affect my travel plans travelling home and while in DC. This is what we get for planning a trip home during the winter, no matter how short. I love snow, but it it could just wait until I arrive or after I leave, that would be optimal. 

I'll be transferring in Texas, so at least if I get stranded I can eat a giant steak or something. 

Show and Tell Part 2

More of my "masterpieces"...

Slide the City and Supball

This weekend has been full of summer activities. Saturday morning we biked over to Centennial Park for Slide the City. We had fun sliding down the giant slip and slide on our cheap tubes, plowing into strangers and also having strangers slam into us. It is not for the faint of heart. It was fun, but it would have been overpriced if I hadn't randomly won free passes from a radio station. Afterwards we did a short ride around the park, ran into some frisbee friends, and paid a visit to the local powerful owl couple.

Next it was off to Coogee Beach for our friend, John's going-away picnic. The weather was gorgeous, although a little chilly and windy. We played a few points of beach ultimate and mac line (another frisbee-based game), and ate too much cheese and crackers (or just the right amount) while chatting the hours away. We finished the night off with delicious pizza at La Spiaggia.

Sunday, despite an initial iffy forecast, was sunny and warm. We played some sloppy supball for the first time at Manly with some friends. It was a ton of fun and exhausting. Every one of us scored at least one point, had some good defensive moves, and made fools of ourselves falling off our boards. I like to think we gave the people sitting the beach some good entertainment. We followed it up with a yummy lunch and some brews at 4 Pines, where we had been before, and enjoyed just as much the second time. 

In-between all those activities, Michael managed to slip in a few hours of birding, and he is now at frisbee practice. I don't know where he gets all his surplus energy; I'm looking forward to a nap and a mostly quiet rest of the day. 

Happy weekend, everybody!

Twinsters

Based on a recommendation by a friend of mine, I recently watched Twinsters, which happens to be streaming on Netflix. I kind of loved it. I enjoy documentaries generally, but this one was fun to watch because it was very heartwarming (compared to many documentaries out there that are about negative and very serious topics). It can be serious at times, since the main people are going through lots of emotions, but the overall feel is very positive and sweet. 

Premise: This really happened; a young actress is contacted by someone on via internet who looks exactly like her. I'll leave it at that, so as not to spoil anything. 

Check it out, if you feel so inclined! I love that Sam's first reaction was to start recording everything, even before she probably knew what was going to happen or what she was going to do with the footage. It's interesting to think how I (or you) would react if the same thing happened to me (or you).

This is ground control to Major Tom

Apart from referencing a few of his songs in the past, I don't claim to be the a huge David Bowie fan, although I am a fan. Hearing of his passing, as I'm sure many are, I'm thinking about the contributions he's made to music, film, fashion, and art. 

Probably like most people my age, my first memory of seeing David Bowie was in Labyrinth. He was unique pop culture icon who was extremely talented and took chances with everything he did. I think "Space Oddity" is one of the most beautiful and unique songs ever written. 

David Bowie was so badass that when he knew he was dying, he filmed the music video for "Lazarus", pretty much alluding to his own death. It's not my favorite song or video by him, but you gotta admit he was fierce and acted fearless in the face of death. 

Despite the grief for his loss, I am happy to see my facebook feed blow up with posts that very much celebrate the joy he brought to the world:

RIP David Bowie, thank you for producing beautiful art your whole life!

Do You Realize?

After several days of rain in a row earlier in the week, the sun has come out and we have had beautiful weather this weekend. We started off with beach ultimate pickup on Bondi with some friends.

Michael is back at Palm Beach for the weekend, hanging out with some friends and waterskiing.

I chose to hang back in Sydney and meet up with some frisbee friends to see the Flaming Lips play in the Domain for free as part of the Sydney Festival. I had seen the Flaming Lips play about 10 years ago, and seeing them again was another enjoyable experience compete with giant dancing inflatable animals and psychedelic lights.

New Years Photo Dump

Michael managed to get some spectacular photos from the Sydney Harbour fireworks on New Years. Here are the favorites...

Show and Tell

In the last year or two, coloring books for grown ups have become a hot trend. They reduce stress and are a nice way to pass the time, especially if you're waiting for a flight or something, which I have done a lot in the past two years. I think it's great that these are popular right now, and my only issue with them is that some of the ones I've seen are overpriced. I see no reason to spend more than $10 on one, and if you are, you're paying too much. Here are a few of the pictures I've colored in the last few months...

When we first moved to Sydney (before these books were popular), I found myself with some time to kill when we were moving into our new apartment. The internet wasn't hooked up yet, we didn't have  a TV or any appliances, and I had to wait for long windows of time for delivery and phone company people to show up. I got myself a kids' coloring book to stay occupied. Here are a few of the ones I colored at that time...

Here's to a creative 2016!

Ringing in 2016

We spent part of our New Years Eve snorkelling with some friends at nearby Gordons Bay. The water was pretty choppy, but we managed to see a few blue groupers. Then we had a decent late lunch at the Clovelly Hotel.

We were lucky enough to find a last minute spot  to watch the fireworks (last minute being 6pm) at Duff Reserve, quite close to where we live. The best locations fill up even earlier, but this spot is less known and a little bit farther, still having a very good view. There were police at the entrance to the small park that only let in about a hundred people and then start turning people away, so it's one of the most intimate public spots to watch the fireworks (compared to spots in the botanic gardens area that allow in about 1,600 people. Even though the park was considered full, we had plenty of space to move around, play boardgames, and picnic while we waited, and we never had to wait in line for the bathroom. There was no alcohol allowed into the park, although I'm sure a few people snuck it in. It was mostly families in the park, some with young kids, as we watched the party cruises glide by with their loud music. I'm glad we did something free instead of paying hundreds of dollars for the same view. It was the most pleasant fireworks experience I have ever had.

For a short time there were two stunt pilots doing tricks to entertain the crowds; one even did a corkscrew maneuver under and around the Harbour Bridge. It got less exciting after he went under the bridge several times, and dove straight down at the water only to pull up at the last second a few times, but it was still really awesome and kind of nerve-racking to watch.

Then there were the fireworks themselves - spectacular! Sydney does an early 9 o'clock smaller show for people with kids, who want to see something and then go home. Then, the real show is at midnight. In addition to the five boats setting off a synchronized show, the bridge itself was lined with fireworks - at one point it looked like a sparkler waterfall. 

It only took us 15 minutes to get home afterwards, which must be some kind of record. 

We continued our "tradition" of never doing the same thing twice on New Years Eve. I wonder what 2016 has in store for us - cheers!