| And now we resume normal programming… | 11:08 pm, March 6th, 2012
Hi all! Long time no update – sorry for the lack of bloggage here. I went AWOL last month because I went on a short holiday to Europe with Cam! But we’re back now and I’m just getting back into the swing of things. I’ll post a little update on that later (promise!), but as of now…
I want to continue updating this site with more things. I have come to the realisation, however, that some things on this site might need to be rejigged a bit. Actually, a lot of it. Like my portfolio which requires a million clicks to get you where you want to go. As well as some of the downloads page, and… well… everything. I’m going to start working on a new layout and I already have an awesome background I want to use. It’s just a matter of finding time to design a new layout – and that’s the problem. Right now I’m pretty busy with work and errands here and there, all the while attempting to finish King’s Bounty (I haven’t even beaten the second boss yet) and Diablo II with Cam. I know, I know. THEY’RE JUST GAMES. But omg they’re pretty epic right now. I need some discipline.
I also want to start making use of my Etsy account this year. I don’t actually know what I’m going to sell yet but it’ll all be handmade I think. Well hand designed at least. It just involves so much planning and designing and reworking not to mention pricing and more planning. I think it’ll eat up a lot of my time. We’ll see how it goes though, it’s still early days and I have a few ideas floating in my head at the moment.
I’ve been meaning to attempt to learn how to use my tablet too but that hasn’t been going so well. I haven’t actually taken it out of the drawer since I failed so horribly last time. Er… yeah… we’ll see what happens once I clean my drawers out. I also need to sell some stuff on eBay. Sigh… So many things to do, so little time… C’est la vie.
| A few new websites… | 12:32 am, September 27th, 2011
So I’ve been pretty busy, with work and whatnot, but I’ve also been busy working on a few websites recently with Cam.
You can find all the summaries on a new page I made here on all the professional websites I’ve done so far.
So please go check them out and give us feedback on what you like/don’t like! It’s a pretty new thing for us to be working together on sites AND designing functionality and the layout on top of that so it would be much appreciated 
Also, my friend over at Alligator Press have agreed to print some of my postcards at a pretty low price if any of you are interested in a couple. Be sure to contact me if you’d like to order any and I’ll see what we can do!
(I can also custom design stuff, so if you have any ideas let me know)
In other non design related news, I baked a strawberry and chocolate cake today! To be honest, I didn’t think the recipe would make as much as it did….3 huge layers to be exact……not too sure if I’d make it again. I think it’s perfect for cake ball making though 
Or it could be the fact that its past midnight and I’m still stuck eating the slice of cake I just cut. 
| OMG NO POSTCARDS?! | 6:01 pm, July 13th, 2011
Yes I hear you – I’m officially behind in postcard making. It had to happen eventually right..? 
Anyway I’m really sorry – I’m kinda on another ‘holiday’. Will be back with a postcard from next week hopefully!! Also yes I know promised a huge update about my recent travels – it’s coming! I’ve just been so busy and tired at work lately…
| UPDATE!! | 11:25 am, June 22nd, 2011
Ok you may have noticed I haven’t posted in a while… This is due to me travelling in America!! FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! So please excuse me I haven’t had much time or energy to create a postcard recently… But I promise I will catch up when I return
In the meantime, suggest places for me to go! I have 4 more days left in NYC
| ‘Me’ | 12:00 am, February 25th, 2011
My self identity is often one in major crisis.
When I’m in Australia, people often ask me where I’m from.
When I’m in a random Asian country, people ask what nationality I am once they realize I speak Aussie english. I’ve been mistaken for Korean, Japanese, Hong Kong-ese… though lots of people do pick up that I am of Chinese descent.
And when people realise what “I am”, they make general assumptions about ME based on that simple fact.
For the record, I am Australian, and I consider myself Aussie. I’ve lived in Perth pretty much all my life, and the accent, the culture… it’s all pretty much there. Australia is a very multiracial country, and to be completely honest I think most people are just too laid back to care about politics and race and whatnot. Maybe its because Australia has been so multinational for so long, but in general I find that people are curious because they want to know more. Which is a good thing, I guess.
Sometimes, though, people judge me based solely on my origin and the language that I speak, and even though this is a rather touchy issue and can raise a lot of other things, it happens a lot. Everywhere. Amongst many people, from many different backgrounds. But surprisingly (or not!) it happens more so in Asian peoples (though I did know an ‘Aussie’ guy in primary/high school who claimed to “hate” me because I was “Asian”. Seriously. No joke. And the sad part is he probably still thinks that way today).
Do people realise they are doing it? Do they do it on purpose? I really don’t know. I think it would make for a very interesting anthropological/psychological study. Either way, when people do it, it just makes me feel really uncomfortable and definitely not in the mood to talk about Chinese world history, or Chinese politics, or Chinese expansion etc. etc. Do I look like I’m some sort of history/anthropology expert?
The only reason I’m writing this right now is because I had a pretty strange ‘conversation’ today with someone, and its been on my mind ever since.
Once he figured out I was an Aussie born Chinese, he began rambling on about “books [he's] read” about the Chinese expanding everywhere, about how the Chinese have pushed people out of jobs, homes, study and business (in particular, he talked about Malaysia, because I said that is where one of my parents came from). He didn’t explicitly say that this was a bad thing, but from the conversation we had with others who were around, based on these “books [he's] read” and ideals he has (I asked him the name and author of said books – he didn’t answer) he basically implied that ALL people of Chinese descent were rapidly spreading everywhere and ruining things for others. He then proceeded to give Australia as an example – stating that not Asians but Chinese people were overtaking the cities. He then said that he would much prefer to send his kids to local schools before travelling elsewhere – because then they would get a sense of their own country and all that jazz.
A lot of the time, when people start doing this, my mind does a GIANT eye roll – cue blank indifferent stare. And believe me, this happens more often than you’d think (I’m sure that if you’re in a similar position to me, you understand).
I’m freakin’ 21 years old. I had no choice over where I was born. I had no choice that I was raised in a Western society rather than an Asian one in which I would have learned to speak a bazillion languages. I had no choice about where I was brought up.
And so what happens next?
They start doing the good ol’ guilt trip – the questions: “Why the fuck don’t you speak Chinese, or know much about your history/culture? You should be ASHAMED. ABSOLUTELY. ASHAMED.”
Again, I don’t know if people do this on purpose, or if it’s just me feeling like that because… well… I don’t speak Chinese and yet I am of Chinese descent. Maybe it’s a little bit of both?
Yes, there are a lot of Asian people in Australia. There are a LOT of Asians in Melbourne and Brisbane, and I’m not saying it’s a fantastically good thing – I do believe that migration should be controlled. Also, I might seem slightly contradictory here, Asians from different parts of the world do act differently. For example, a lot of people might know this stereotype – Hong Kong people are rude. I guess them acting ‘rude’ is actually a part of their culture, but I know people from Hong Kong who are absolutely lovely.
But when people start busting out lines like “I read books on this this and this, therefore I am the all encompassing expert on the matter and whatever I say is fact” is when I begin to switch off and fake smile it. Today, I put on the best fake smile EVER and even shook this man’s hand and said, “It was really nice to meet you!” (though it was hard to push back the sarcastic undertone).
Sometimes, it is genuinely funny. I just don’t understand why people are so blatant and tactless about it all. Why can’t people see how awkward and difficult it is on my end?
In the end, does it even really matter?
It’s experiences like these which have made me the way I am today – I try to be as understanding as I can, and I try not to judge people based on stereotypes, prejudgement and misinformation.
I often feel like I’ll never belong on any one “side” – because I generally never am, and never will be. I can’t really call myself fully Australian and I can’t really call myself fully Chinese either. It’s always split down the middle, but in the end what does that even mean? Do I need to read up more on Chinese culture? Do I need to eat meat pies and watch the footy? Do I need to learn how to use chopsticks properly? Do I need to start speaking with an Asian accent? It’s either me being a minority speaking English, or me speaking English in a sea of people who look related to me but speak some random Asian language!
Sometimes, it just kinda sucks.
And sometimes, I wonder if people will ever come to an understanding with each other.
Yeah I know, wishful thinking!
| A Behemoth Update | 5:52 pm, February 20th, 2011
I’ve been making postcards but I have hardly blogged at ALL since… a few months ago now!! Since I have a bit of free time, I’ve decided to write a big update on what’s been happening in my life so far.
I’m actually sitting on my bed in a hotel room in Ulanbaataar now, eating chocolate and reflecting on what I’ve done these past few weeks.
I guess I’ll start with my friend’s wedding in Albany. Around 2 weeks ago, my friend Jasmin, who lives in Albany WA got married, and Cam and I were invited! It was only a few days before I found out that I would be going to Mongolia for work too, but I’ll get to that later. We drove down and went to all sorts of cool places, like Wagin, where we saw a giant ram sculpture:
…and Williams, where we ate awesome cake:
Albany is about 5 hours drive in the South west coast of Australia, and it was really fun driving down and seeing all the country towns and roads! Cam’s sisters also live in Albany, so we visited them for dinner and stayed at their place for a night. We also had quite a bit of free time, so we drove to Bluff Knoll:
and Albany’s wind farm:
…which was really cool!
We were staying at a really cool shared accomodation place in Denmark called the Cove, and since we got there early before everyone else, we decided to try row to a nearby island, which supposedly only took 5 minutes. We got nearly halfway and had to turn back though, because the tide was coming in really fast!
When everyone finally got to the Cove, it was pretty cool. There was a big swing in the middle, and a huge fireplace which made everything nice and cozy! We wrapped our present that night, and my friend Cindy made a cute little paper crane for us to decorate our huge present with:
The next day was the day of the wedding, and as Paul (Cam’s brother-in-law said): “Weddings are nice; lots of happy people.” Which was true! It was so nice to see everyone really excitied for our friends Jasmin and Chris, and looking sharp in their nice suits/dresses
After having lunch at an Albany cafe with Cam and our friends Cindy, Dan and Dorian, we headed to the wedding. The ceremony was so lovely and really memorable. It really was a beautiful ceremony.
The reception after was at the Observatory in Denmark, which has stunning views to the surrounding mountains and greenery. Cindy, Dan, Cam and I got there and immediately beeliend for the food, heh heh. But that was only because the photographer was busy in the function room, photographing the cake while we were all freezing our butts off in the windy weather!
There was a great photo point though, where everyone seemed to want to get a photo at:
As soon as we were allowed in, a great and enjoyable reception ensued, and a few too many glasses of wine were drunk!
It was lovely to reflect on our friendships though, and so good to be reunited with our Singapore exchange group (how Cindy, Jas and I met in the first place!).
The next morning, Jas and Chris hosted a breakfast which I thought was a nice touch to the end of the wedding! It was a great breakfast too, at the observatory restaurant again.
The next day we drove back, and we stopped at Kojanup for a coffee and wedding cake. We were very interested in the kids playgrounds, as you can see abovee!
And so after a very fun 4 days of shenanigans, it was the day after that I was to fly to Mongolia!
As I said before, I really only found out I was going to Mongolia around 2 weeks before the actual date. The only reason I am here now is because there is still a LOT to organise around our new office opening event, and the Coal Mongolia 2011 exhibition, which needs a lot more work, especially since we are platinum sponsosrs at the tradeshow.
Our new office is opening this Wednesday, and we are exhibiting at Coal Mongolia on Thursday and Friday, so I’ve been pretty busy every day just organising and planning event details – even the little things like buying office stationery and waste paper baskets (which are, apparently, very important).
Mongolia has been very interesting though, and an experience which I will not forget for a long time! I not only got my first experience with snow, I also got to see the Mongolian countryside on the weekend when I was off work, which was absolutely FANTASTIC:
The open roads are quite crazy, and apparently there are no rules when it comes to country driving! I also got to see an eagle the Mongolians use to hunt:
…and ride a camel, which was SO AWESOME:
Mongolians love their beef, and I am frankly quite sick of it already, after eating it every day. The food is actually quite nice here though – lots of russian inspired things. Their national dish is called khuushuur, which is like a fried Cornish pasty filled with beef and spices:
It’s tasty, but I think it would taste a lot better with vegetables!
The city itself (Ulanbaataar) is actually quite run down and a lot of things are unmaintained (like roads, for example). You can tell it is a developing country, but I think with time it could become a really wealthy and powerful country, especially with the number of mining operations moving in.
They use a lot of coal here for power, heating and cooking, which is why a lot of the times it is quite foggy. It is warming up though, and while it was -30ºC a few weeks ago, it is now only -7ºC to -10ºC during the day!! Snow is also melting, though I love the snow and wish there was more!
The mountains are really pretty though – if I were to come to Mongolia for holiday, it would definitely be for the scenery and perhaps the Gobi desert (in the summer time). The countryside is a lot more impressive than the city, that’s for sure!
They have a lot of imported goods too from many European countries like Germany, France and Italy. Many clothes are quite expensive, but the food here is quite cheap. They do love their juice over here, and you can actually find some good fresh fruit here too.
I leave Mongolia this Saturday, so I’m going to make as much of the time I have left here as I can. Mongolia’s been such a great experience, and it’s been so interesting learning about a new culture. Sure work’s been busy and incredibly stressful at times, but its also been really fun, which is what’s most important! I am really enjoying my job so far and am so happy I got this opportunity
So that’s what’s been happening in my life so far… hope you liked all the pictures!
| 38. Dandelion Spiral | 7:29 pm, February 7th, 2011
While I was away on holiday in Albany the past weekend, we went to the wind farm.
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