Christmas Gift

Warning: blatant appreciation post

I'm not a religious person but I LOVE Christmas. Actually I love birthdays and any other excuse to give people gifts. I'm not great at shopping for myself, I'm fairly fussy/specific in my taste to start with and having been a student for so many years on and off I got very good at distinguishing between need and want. So much so that these days even when I find something I like my brain kicks in with "yeah it's nice but do you really NEED it? How often are you really going to use it?" and my favourite one of all is comparing the price to my grocery bill "that's 3 weeks worth of groceries, that's a fair chunk of budget." All of this is terribly responsible but it does mean I rarely indulge in blatant consumerism.
This is where buying gifts for others comes in. Some people resent the "obligation" (see Sheldon's rant on gift giving in "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis" episode of The Big Bang Theory)

Actually it's awesome so I'm just gonna post the transcript riiiight here...

Sheldon: Oh, Penny. I know you think you’re being generous, but the foundation of gift-giving is reciprocity. You haven’t given me a gift, you’ve given me an obligation.

Howard: Don’t feel bad, Penny, it’s a classic rookie mistake. My first Hanukkah with Sheldon, he yelled at me for eight nights.

Penny: Now, honey, it’s okay.You don’t have to get me anything in return.

Sheldon: Of course I do. The essence of the custom is that I now have to go out and purchase for you a gift of commensurate value and representing the same perceived level of friendship as that represented by the gift you’ve given me. It’s no wonder suicide rates skyrocket this time of year.

Ok I'm done. Anywho I get more fun out of buying gifts for other people because I can't make the same excuses for other people as I can for myself so I can buy them awesome things that they may not need because hey, it's a gift!

One of my best girlfriends recently expressed the desire to find some nice artwork for her house so with this in mind I set about finding something for her, with Christmas as the excuse.

I'm a big fan of etsy so I started there and came across an artist named Liz Kapiloto.

You can find her etsy shop here - http://etsy.me/zdGhjY

She does beautiful work and exactly the right style for my friend so I picked (with great difficulty) one of the pictures and placed my order. I was super organised as it was the first week of December and shipping was estimated at 6-10 working days. Plenty of time. Even better I got a message from Liz the same day letting me know that my order was posted and on its way.
I went looking for a nice frame for the piece and then dutifully awaited my package.

I did all of my Christmas shopping online this year, having spent way too many years doing Christmas in retail I was not going anywhere near a shop, so I had numerous packages arriving during December. Sadly though my artwork purchase was not among them.
I emailed Liz and let her know that my package hadn't arrived and she organised for a replacement immediately (random trivia - the post office is open on Sundays in Israel, awesome right?!). Of course this meant that despite being over 3 weeks late, the original package turned up, followed closely by the replacement. Liz had insisted on sending the replacement free of charge and despite trying to reimburse her seeing as though I now had both, she refused to allow me to pay for the second one. Now THAT ladies and gentlemen is customer service!

I am now scoping out Liz's store for future purchases, having already gifted another print to my flatmate for her birthday. Her approach to custom service, even in a setting like etsy, has made me a devoted fan. Retail stores should really take note. For my part at least I shop online not for a better price but for convenience and believe it or not customer service. Go figure.

Oh and just I case you were wondering here's one of the framed prints. Sooo purdy!

Solar Eclipse and adventures in Cairns

So as promised in my previous (Happy 2013) post here is my Cairns post, albeit quite belated really.

This post is mainly going to be photos as I was purposely absent from social media during the week I was away as it was my only time off all year, which means I didn't record anything except pics.

My parents love Cairns so we went on a few family holidays when I was younger, however since moving out and pretending to be an adult I haven't had much of a chance to go up there even though I also LOVE the area. The one exception to this was an end of uni trip with a couple of girlfriends but it was years ago so when my mum told me she was planning a trip up to coincide with the eclipse I used it as an excuse to hang out with my parents, have a break and see this truly amazing spectacle.

Have a look at Cairns Eclipse 2012 for more information on the actual event, as well as some far more technical coverage than what I will be providing.

So we were amazingly organised because my mum is awesome and we had flights and accommodation booked months in advance so we got good rates despite the hoards that ended up descending on Cairns for the eclipse. Because of some dubious moral decisions by Jetstar (my rants are documented on Twitter but I can't be bothered going in to it now) mum and I had to go up earlier than we had booked and spent the entire day before the eclipse travelling to Cairns via Melbourne (yeah it made no sense to us either!) My dad actually had to come up the day of the eclipse and missed it despite all of our preparations, this being one of our major issues with the whole Jetstar debacle.

So after spending 12 hours travelling, we had an early night and got up nice and early (5am early - it's early for me ok, I'm a musician!) and walked down to the beach at Palm Cove and guess what... it was cloudy! Yep, after everything we weren't going to see a thing. We saw the sunrise and then it moved up into the cloud bank that was sitting across the horizon.

Our view of the sunrise, including significant cloud bank.

Luckily the beach wasn't too packed, although it was a huge influx compared to what Palm Cove is usually like, but most people had either stayed in Cairns city or gone further north to Port Douglas.

The mildly packed beach - it's relative, really.

So, the sun moved in to the cloud bank and we waited, with very little hope, until totallity. There were occasional glimpses so as the clouds moved north which meant that we did get to see bits and pieces of the eclipse but mostly we were resigned to the fact that it was going to be a bit of a bust. Just before totality we managed to catch a good few minutes which looked very spectacular and appropriately eclipsey (its a word - now) but then the clouds came back and we lost sight completely. Mum and I were moderately pleased that we'd seen something though and we'd settled in at a table across the road to drink our juice in comfort. Then, like a perfectly written script, just before totality the clouds moved again and there was the sun about to be covered completely and we managed to catch the whole thing.

The eclipse at totality. A terrible photo on my phone but it was all we had. 

The reality is indescribably better.

The sky went dark and there was the dark orb with a shining aura. It was a kind of overall light like nothing you see normally at any point in the day/night cycle.

Our very stylish eyewear to protect our sight.

It was quite simply one of the most impressive things I have seen in my entire life. Should you ever have the chance to see an eclipse it is definitely worth making the effort to do so.

The rest of the trip was spent doing the usual tropical activities, laying on the beach, drinking fruity drinks and sight seeing.

When we were paying $3 each in Sydney these were growing on the side of the road.

Then there is the other main activity of being on holidays - going out to dinner. Let the shameless indulgence ensue.

One of our regular places is a restaurant in Trinity Beach called L'Unico. My dad went to school with the owner (though different years) and we've been going there since our first trip to Cairns many years ago. This place is still as good as it was back then (if not better) and the view speaks for itself.

The view at L'Unico, Trinity Beach

Vegetarian is sadly not readily available in most restaurants in Cairns or the northern beaches. Given the location, seafood is the most popular menu choice in most places. Luckily one of the gems we discovered this time around saved me from a week of eating gnocchi with three cheese sauce. Beach Almond is in Palm Cove and it more than made up for the lack of vegetarian options anywhere else. It's  still technically a seafood restaurant but they make the effort to have a few options which is more than most places and their options are not half hearted. I had an indian inspired curry with all the trimmings and it was to die for.

The view at Beach Almond, Palm Cove

The last night we ate at Far Horizons which is in the Angsana resort. Beautiful views and more fruity drinks, plus the food is to die for and yes, vegetarian friendly options.

 While the eclipse was the highlight of the trip there was much holiday frivolity and it really did make up for the lack of holidays the rest of the year.

Oh, last thing. I discovered this awesome boutique that stocks Pin Up Girl Clothing at The Pier in Cairns. I always expect these shops to be located in kitchy little suburbs far away from the tropical beach culture that is Far North Queensland so I was pleasantly surprised and and showed my support by buying this gorgeous dress.

This was taken at Christmas but as I didn't put any pictures in that post I thought I'd share it here.

It's called Bella Forma so if you happen to be in Cairns swing by. They also stock a huge range of lingerie.

So that's it. I'm hoping to head back up there some time this year and will continue to pester my parents to retire up there but as far as I know there will not be another eclipse in Cairns during my lifetime, so I'm damn glad I caught it.

Anyone want to come to Africa with me for this one??

Everyday Sexism

So for the last little while I have been exploring the amazing world of Twitter. I'm always a bit wary of social media, purely because I'm not particularly narcissistic (despite what having a blog would suggest) and I always assume people really don't care what I'm eating or what time I go to bed, unless they're there with me in which case they know already right? Plus, and I know I don't need to elaborate, I don't trust most social media platforms ethical stance.

Suffice to say it took me a while to get in to Twitter but I am thoroughly enjoying it and have found lots of fascinating people to follow and interact with. Social media, like the rest of the world is filled with 2 general spheres, people you enjoy interacting with and people you don't. "Real life" really isn't any different except there are physical limitations on how many people can bombard you at once.

There are a lot of really great social issues that get discussed and shared via Twitter and this is one of the reasons I like it. However I tend to get overly, let's call it, passionate about a lot of things. It's great in a way because these are the issues that I write songs about, in fact they're the reasons I write songs at all. Because while there are so many socially and politically active bands (Anti-Flag and Strike Anywhere being at the top of my list) there is a vast scope of topics that they don't cover and I realised many years ago that the reason for this is that they're men. There are a great number of injustices that they just don't see because let's face it, they don't live them.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't expect them to tell my story. I'm telling it myself quite well. I was however excited to come across a Twitter account called @EverydaySexism who have a hash tag trending at the moment to share everyday sexual harassment and violence. The overwhelming thing for me about this is not that I'm surprised about what's coming out, as I've lived with a lot of the situations that are being raised, I'm excited about the fact that there are a lot of men getting behind this who are not only surprised by what happens every day to women but are actively trying to change it now that they know.

You may ask why it's important that men get involved in women's rights. The answer is sadly obvious, sexism is perpetrated by men. Not all men, but men none the less.

I'm not going to go in to all of my experiences with everyday sexism right now because I think this project covers it so well. If you're interested or you do want to share anything head to http://www.everydaysexism.com/ and check it out.

Happy 2013

Happy New Year.

In the spirit of new beginnings I have decided to attempt to write all the things that I have been meaning to write, rather than just making my flat mate listen to me rant (she's very patient).

The end of last year was very hectic. I took my only real holiday of the year in November and went to see the full solar eclipse in Cairns. It was quite spectacular but I will do a post on that soon.

My band also parted ways with our bass player which put a hold on all our shows but we managed to get some decent promo work done and even managed to get our single on a few stations and podcasts in the states which was mind blowing.

Of course then there was Christmas. My parents are between houses, they sold their house just before Christmas and get the keys to their new one on Monday so they've been hotel hopping for the last few weeks. Which is how we ended up at Peppers in Bowral for Christmas day. Opening presents near the tree in the lounge area led to conversations with the other people staying there. Which led to having to explain why I got bed sheets and a GPS as presents. Only slightly strange.

The highlight of the day however was definitely lunch. When booking Mum told them that I was vegetarian, to which they responded that there would be salad on the buffet and yes it would still be full price. So Mum told them I was Vegan and made them make me my own separately prepared meal, all of which I then had to eat because I didn't want them to feel unappreciated. They were working on Christmas for goodness sake. I've been there, it sucks. Though it was $160 per head so something other than salad wasn't really too much to ask.
Cue me struggling through 3 courses and Mum feeling bad for making such a fuss. Have to say it was totally worth it though because they did a spectacular job.

So after a short break I am now back at work and am thoroughly looking forward to this year. I'm not really in the habit of making New Years resolutions as I am constantly setting goals for myself throughout the year anyway but I did have some to start off with, one of which was kicking off my blog again with this post. The others, well you'll just have to wait and see!