A Year of Scanning

Not quite a year, but I’ve had my scanner (an Epson V500) for a few months now, and have mostly scanned my old negs now. The best frames were uploaded to Flickr, and here are a few of my favourites.

And finally, happy new year! Hope you all have a good one with whatever you’re doing. I’ll update this in the next two days with a review of 2008 and what I hope to achieve in 2009.

43. The Life, The Universe and Everything – Douglas Adams

This looks like it’ll be the last book of 2008, but that’s not to say I haven’t tried! I have 3 or 4 other books on the go, but none of them will be finished now that I’ve started on the beer!

This was another book from the trilogy (of five) which was, like the others, enjoyable. The story was a continuation of the others, as expected, and the characters were all the same. I liked that the main characters from the other stories were separated though, and the stories were not all linked until the very end.

There isn’t much more to say on this, but I enjoyed it. However, I’ll take a break before I read the other two, as I have too many other books on the go! Sense and Sensibility, a Robert Capa book, Engineer of the Human Soul (which I don’t think I’l finish) and probably a few more. On top of that, I have countless others that Ive bought and not read, as well the library.

I’ve enjoyed this year, as I’ve made a conscious effort to read more. Instead of wasting time on forums, I’ve taken half an hour and read a bit more of the latest book. I reckon I slowed down in July when I started my new job, as I no longer had the tram journey to read. I probably won’t do as many entries next year, perhaps only if a book is particularly good.

Vicdeaf Photos

‘Tis the season to be social

The approach to Christmas has never been a particularly exciting time for me. Through the last few years of high school it was usually a time for revision for the January exams (yep, revision through the holidays..), last year I was simply wondering whether I would have work during the Christmas period and into the new year. Also, having never attended a work Christmas party, this year held a certain special appeal of actually belonging within a company and being included, rather than being paid for services via an agency (I mean temping, you dirty bunch!)

So, the past few weeks have been quite busy with birthdays and Christmas parties, as well the usual social outings. Our admin area went for a Christmas meal at Taco Bill in the city a few weeks ago, that was quite good. Being a big fan of Mexicali Rose in Richmond, I was worried to be let-down by the frozen margaritas and food but despite the food being rather small in size and slow in coming, it was actually very enjoyable. The decor is very cheesy, with multiple piñatas hanging from the ceiling, but the open, screening windows were wonderful after a few drinks and the need for air!

The second Christmas party for work was for the entire pathology department, which ended up with about 50 people attending. It was at a Greek restaurant in the city, called Kri Kri. Over the last few weeks, excitement had mounted over the calamari, dolmades and octupus that would hopefully be served – and they were, along with around 10 other dishes which by the end, were only being picked at! The food was hardly vegetarian friendly, and included booze was poor in quality but I was happy with the food served and generally had an enjoyable night photographing the merriment.

On Friday, it was also Kat’s birthday, which is ever hard to celebrate in the run-up to Christmas with everybody so busy, but we all managed to find time to spare last Friday to go to Mexicali Rose. Unfortunately, as I was getting ready, there was a phone call from them stating that there was a problem – it had been raining all day, and they’d had an electricity surge and doubted they’d be open. After a minor panic and several more phone calls/SMS’, we decided some would meet at our place, some would meet at Mexicali Rose and we would find somewhere once we got there. Friday nights in Richmond and 11 people to dine, how hard could it be? Hunger led us to the nearest place to where we met, a small cafe/restaurant called Red Lemon, which seemed to have a Polish background. It was a small place, but they were more than happy to cater for a large group at short notice, and most of us chose the Polish pierogi which they apparently specialise in. I’ve had them before in Vancouver, and remember enjoying them, so I followed suit and had them again. I can only compliment the place – the food was delicious, great choice of drinks and brilliant service. Good things can come from bad luck!

Another new experience was the Melbourne Silvermine Christmas party at a lawn bowls club. A small group of us met at a nearby pub for a few drinks before we headed over for the BBQ, camera comparisons and finally lawn bowls. The entire afternoon and evening was enjoyable, although I don’t think lawn bowls are my calling! Rude grumpy men provided some entertainment when our bad bowling wasn’t enough, and cheap jugs provided the rest. Thankfully, after 3 days of almost non-stop rain, the sun came out long enough to dry the turf and let us sit outside.

As well as of this, I’ve had work and general socialising, so it’s been a pretty busy few weeks! With no rest in sight either – working through Christmas and New Year, and seeing people on Christmas Day, a ‘family’ meal on Boxing Day (Trav, Kat and myself), New Year’s eve to be confirmed and friends visiting from other cities. Sleep is getting harder and harder to come by, but it’s all good fun, and hopefully I’ll get a rest in the early New Year.

I’ll update this soon with a year review and plans for 2009 (cheesalicious, but I’d like to make a record) – but I’m excited as I’ve just booked flights to and from New Zealand for a week in early March! Flying into Wellington and out of Christchurch, so I’ll get to both islands. Anyway, further updates to come.

42. The Madman’s Tale – John Katzenbach

I had read this book before, perhaps 2 or so years ago, but I’d forgotten how it ended, so I decided to read it again not long ago.

The story is based around a man who was in a mental institution but now lives alone, who has what we suppose to be is schizophrenia. Invited to a memorial for the community, including residents of the institution, he begins to remember events that passed while he stayed he there – a murder. The events pass in a fast-paced style and with increasing interest in the relationship between the detective, Francis and Peter. Disappointing to me, nothing comes from it and instead there is only attention to the murder-mystery which the story is based around.

As I said, I could not remember how it ended, and although the story was good, the ending disappointed me – as I feel it probably did last time. It is, as many murder-mysteries are, anti-climatic. The build-up does not amount to much, and I felt let down. Despite this, the story itself is actually very good and I will probably read it again in a couple more years when I can’t remember how it ends.

41. The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe – Douglas Adams

After having read ‘Hitchhikers..’ several times, I found the book of four of them (excluding ‘Mostly Harmless’) in the famous $5 book shop. Reading them in order is quite good, although they’ve started to blend quite easily together.

Although not all about the restaurant at the end of the universe, it’s an enjoyable and as the others, very easy to read story. I’m not sure there’s too much more to say. I liked it.

40. Tales of Beedle the Bard – J. K. Rowling

And here I thought that my year would end without having read anything by J. K. Rowling. Thankfully that wasn’t so, and this book was released at the beginning of this month – and although not a Harry Potter book, included some characters, stories told in the last book, and many similar themes.

A delightfully simple book of children’s fairytales, all wizarding themed, with notes from Dumbledore following each, quite often referring to previous Harry Potter books. They have some similar themes to ‘true’ fairytales, but are written shorter, simpler and with words like ‘muggle’ frequently mentioned.

It’s also made me want to re-read all seven Harry Potter books again. And perhaps watch the movies and complain about them.

Vicdeaf Christmas Rally

This Sunday just past dawned bright and early for the annual Vicdeaf Christmas Rally. As my housemate works for them, she kindly volunteered both Travis and me for the day’s events down in Chelsea.

Living with Kat, it’s hard not to learn little bits of Auslan (Australian sign language) from her using it constantly. The basics of thank you, food, I want/don’t want, where, what etc. have been quickly picked up by us, as well some of the, let’s say, slang terms! However, when it came to attending this event, we needed a little more than that. As I was photographing for most of the day, I found the most useful sign was ‘I can’t sign’. It was used several times when people asked where my photos were going, or one of the staff tried to tell me that Santa was coming – and was always received kindly – at least I had made an effort to learn that! Of course, the sign for thank you also came in handy frequently.

This is was my first experience, that I can remember, with deaf people. I’ve seen people signing in public before, but to actually approach them, take a photo (for Vicdeaf) and have a short chat, was something new. Don’t get me wrong, Kat has told us all about the culture associated with being hard of hearing – people get straight to the point, they are more visual to pay attention if anyone is signing and in some cases, are much closer physically.

There were two people in particular I noted that were closer than most – they were both deaf and blind. The tshirts they wore stated ‘Hear by touch, speak by sign’ – and that is exactly what they did. To hear, they followed the other person’s hands with their own, to ‘feel’ what they are signing. It was simply fascinating to watch, something so simple as communication becomes very involved when you have two senses damaged or lost.

The other main thing that I had noted and discussed with Kat throughout the day was children. Deaf children with deaf parents or hearing parents, or hearing children with deaf parents – it seems overwhelming for someone like me who has had little first-hand experience with deaf people. If a hearing parent has a deaf child, there is a sudden need for the parent to be able to communicate with the child. Likewise, if a deaf parent has a hearing child, there is a need to communicate. Both cases can leave a child lacking in communication skills if they don’t have it provided for them. Thankfully, many charities are set up to help in these cases, and cochlear implants can often help in the first case. However, the interesting subject of a ‘deaf implant’ came up yesterday. If a deaf parent has a hearing child, they may have little ability to communicate with the child vocally, and as such, the child’s speech can be impaired. However, if the child could be brought up as deaf, then the parent would be much better prepared.

On the one hand, you would be taking a sense away from the child, which in principal seems wrong. However, the parents would feel ill-prepared to bring up a hearing child in an almost separate culture to their own. It would enable them to do what they do best, what they know. Also, as I’m sure many people can attest to, it is completely possible for deaf people to lead a full and happy life – so would it really be ‘depriving’ the child of something?

All in all it was a great day. I genuinely enjoyed myself, got some great photos and feel I learnt a lot. Photos to come!