Neil needs a new bike!

...Well, he probably doesn't, since at last count, I think he had about 10 different bikes, one for every occasion. But Neil wants a new bike and I think we should all help him with that.

He's entered a contest by very creatively making a wire sculpture of a bike out of wheel spokes. If'you've got a minute and/or you're in procrastination mode, why don't you go vote for his bike?

Do it!

Here's how:

First, visit the Easton Cycling Facebook page and click on "Like".

This lets you see the contest entries. Next visit Neil's entry and click "Like"


THANK YOU!

More aussie than canadian

A little background: beers and gambling=two of Australia's national pasttimes.

Gus and his bestie are making big plans to meet up after high school for a gap year in Europe. They're planning to check out all the castles (hmmm, yeah - I'm sure a couple of 18-yr old boys will be keen on checking out castles).

The other day he was telling me all about his plans for his gap year, and then he stopped mid-sentence, with a look of realization on his face.

Gus: You're going to have to fly with me on the plane, because I won't be able to go on my own.

Me: Sure you will, you'll be 18 by then.

Gus: Woh! 18! Does that mean I'll get to drink beer and play the lotto?!

Me: Yep

Gus: Maaaad.


...and then the topper. We were in the car the other day, driving to Gus' art lessons, and out of nowhere:

Gus: Is there such thing as snowsuits?

Vic and I: in our heads: WTF?!; out loud: Uh, yeah.

Gus: I mean, snowsuits for kids and for adults too?

Vic and I: We need to get you back to Canada, stat.

Ottawa in the winter

Neil was kind enough to attach this photo in one of his comments. And Michelle recently posted this picture on her blog. Really, Neil and Michelle? Are you trying to make us change our minds about coming back to Canada? Surely, you could have dug up a nice photo of people skiing, children making snowmen or some such idyllic image.

Internet people: Maybe now you're a bit more sympathetic to our plight?

Last weekend, Vic and I, drinking beer and eating chips on the balcony, in March. I will miss this, dearly.


In other news, Vic and I are looking into flights home for July. The thing that is slowing us down, is that we want to spend 2 weeks or so hanging at a beach on the way back. So far, our options are:

1. Vanuatu (South Pacific Island not too far from Sydney, but then we'd have to fly back to Sydney and home from there)
2. Island TBD off of Thailand (sorta on our way home, but perhaps a bit of a hassle to get to from Bangkok, which is where we'd land.... but cheap as chips once we get there)
3. Hawaii (definitely on our way home, but expensive to stay, and maybe too americanified?)

Thoughts, anyone?

Tuesday

Biked into school today, as per usual on Tuesdays. There were actually four other students in the postgrad room today. It's always fun when that happens (often times it'll be just me and maybe one other person), because it means we'll usually start the morning with a little goss about various injustices we're facing at the hands of the university administration (after all, we are students, raging is practically part of the job). Today, it was about this article that was in the Sydney Morning Herald. Libraries throwing out books! Shameful!

I had a hard time mentally sitting still all day, so I spent some time on a few different tasks througout the day. I know I won't get much sympathy after sharing my typical Friday in my last post, but sometimes it's just soooo hard to sit and focus and (try to) be productive and creative all day long. To that end, I picked up a used copy of Stephen King's On Writing this past weekend. I think it might be helpful in this last stretch of my thesis to learn from successful writers how they manage to do it, day after day. And you can say what you want about King, but he does manage to crank them out, and some have been quite brilliant (c'mon - who doesn't still have nightmares from The Shining?!). I was inspired by Sarah Wilson's post on procrastination, which refers to anti-procrastination strategies used by writers and academics. I may just have to follow her lead and invest in one of those internet blockers...we'll see.

I'm getting increasingly sappy about the thought of leaving Sydney in July. I find myself trying to memorize all of my favourite sights and smells. Here's a pic to save myself from having to memorize this one:

The view from our balcony in January.

TGIF!

It's Friday! Yay! I did my usual Friday routine: drop Gus off at school; go out for a quick run by the ocean; then drag my laptop outside to some schoolwork till it's time to pick Gus up (yes, I know...it's going to be a rude awakening when I head back to work full-time in the Fall).

I was nice and productive today, so I've decided to treat myself with a little online shopping this weekend. Nothing too crazy...I'm planning on ordering the lonely planet guide to Vanuatu from the book depository (books being stupidly expensive here in Australia). We're thinking of going to Vanuatu before we leave and I'm a "I've got to read the guidebook front-to-back before I go anywhere" kind of person. I'm also going to be ordering some flowers for my nonna, who turns 90 next week.

My home office.

It's hot

A new bikram (hot) yoga studio opened in our suburb. To lure people in, they're giving out 'all the classes you can do' in 10 days for $20 bucks. I jumped on it. For the past few years, I've been regularly doing 20-30 minute yoga sessions, thanks to the convenience of yogadownload.com, but I've been missing the benefits of a full-on full-length class. I paid my $20 on Saturday and I've done three 1.5hr classes so far. Right now everything hurts, but I'm absolutely loving these classes. Our suburb is known more for its big, tattooed surfers than for its new-age yoga folk and sure enough the classes include at least a few of these tattooed dudes. It's kind of funny to watch them try to twist themselves into pretzels. Finally, I am in my element (unlike at the beach where - like a dog with a bone - I've been trying to figure out how to surf on and off for the past few months...so far without much luck).