I've given it a name because I don't know quite what to call it. I've thought about this for a long time because it came up a lot when I was in Cambodia. An acquaintance posted up a picture on Facebook that she took on her travels with a woman in what looks like a headscarf over a long black gown (I've looked up the terminology and can't quite ( Read more... )

I haven't posted here for quite a while so I feel like I need to write something just to show that I'm still lurking here ( Read more... )

So I'm going to do it. Start a non-personal blog that is more about ideas and stuff I like than how I feel. LJ is still my personal ramblings/rantings home, but this new one will be a place for me to put up cool ideas, interesting links, stuff I'm doing, and maybe, if it gets better, my art work. I discovered an old tumblr blog and instead of ( Read more... )

I've recently become addicted to ABC I-view (for those not in the know, the ABC is Australia's public broadcaster, more her http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Broadcasting_Corporation nd Iview is where you can catch up on episodes online), watching all sorts of fascinating things from cooking shows (some with a political bent, some just purely ( Read more... )

Chatting to a friend and then reading this blog post about being with an objectively aesthetically pleasing partner. Not just a guy that YOU find hot, but that has the kinds of looks that quite a few others would too... I get it because in my heart of hearts, I think I'm like that too. Not that I haven't been interested in guys who aren't quite ( Read more... )

The nights have been hot, so instead of squirming around not sleeping, I'm doing this (from dolorosa_121. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before ( Read more... )

Daily Life posted an article on the expat life and it sparked a little gurgle of desire to blog about this same topic, but from my much more limited experience. I've lived overseas three times, the longest stint was my exchange in Milan (six months). So I've never quite gotten to that point where you're supposed to start feeling what it's really ( Read more... )

While I love this blog (and this is in no way a criticism of the blog itself), a recent post on the Emirates fancy pants lounge had me thinking. Of how the world is set up so unfairly and so badly. Of how the super rich can afford such luxuries while people dig through rubbish dumps for one (probably terrible) meal a day. Of how the wastage from ( Read more... )

I'll blog more instead. I'm not sure that I'm suited to the dedicated hard slog of writing a novel. Having had an aborted attempt at Nanowrimo (50000 unedited words in 30 days), I will be much more respectful to authors, even the crap ones. It's hard work to form a cohesive story that interests you enough to keep going, keep plugging at it. I think ( Read more... )

I've been describing this year as one in which I'm sorting out my existential crisis. At some point last year, the world stopped making any sense whatsoever and I felt like I was free-falling through my life. What do you do when everything around you no longer makes sense? Well, if you're me, you go off and do a yoga retreat in Bali, then have soul ( Read more... )