Talking to my brother

My brother is insane. To be fair: (a) he's well aware of the fact, and (b) so are we all. One advantage of getting up early and logging in to my computer is every now and then he's still awake (on the other side of the world) and will message or Skype me. And then we talk for an hour about random stuff. Pretty much like this: his first blog and his other blog.

The browser seems to think I'm typing in hindi all of a sudden. I'm not sure how this will come out, so if it's hindi characters - Namaste!

In other news, my scarf is coming along very well. Celia gave me a lesson on how to start a new ball and also how to perl/purl (however you spell it - the knitting one, not the coding one). I'm not doing any purl for my scarf though, I'm sticking with the garter stitch.

Melbourne trip

We went to Melbourne over Easter, to catch up with friends and family. Had a fantastic time. We stayed with Kavitha, who showed us around the city like a true sport. It was really good to catch up with her; she seems to be really enjoying Melbourne, and is very much at home there. I think it's really funny that she's settled in Auburn (for those not in the know, she used to live in Auburn in Sydney), though about the only thing the two suburbs have in common is their name.

On the Sunday we went to mass at Father Bob's church, which was quite an education in how... differently... a priest can run a service. It was pretty challenging, but very educational, especially spiritually. Some of the messages have taken a day or two to sink in. I think B2 mainly enjoyed the, er, performance. Still, it was really nice to have him there. Tips to cross-religious couples out there: take some time to share with your partner about their faith, even if you don't share their faith. It's worth it.

After the mass, we went for a quick stroll around South Melbourne markets, and then headed on down to the Mornington Peninsula to catch up with my cousin Fiona. I hadn't seen her in over two years (since our wedding day, to be precise), so it was really good to catch up with her and finally meet her partner Jim, who exceeded the reports I'd heard of what a lovely, friendly guy he is. I was having such a great time I forgot to take any photos that day, and even more surprising, so did B2.

Yes. I got to take photos over the weekend. Most of them even all by myself without someone looking over my shoulder telling me how to frame it :P. I haven't done much photography in the last few years, so I really enjoyed it. My bent is playing with the framing and focus of the shot. Some of the results are here. This is one of my favourites:

And so is this, even though it's been incredibly over-done:

And for work peeps, here's one of Jones Bay Wharf looking over-shadowed by the city (B2's got a funky version of it he touched up):

There was a shop along the way to Auburn station called Marco fabrics...even the style of the place reminded me of someone I know...

I also had a bit of fun with images from the emergency procedures card on the plane. Guys, do pay attention to the pre-flight safety instructions, and read the card like they tell you to. In the right frame of mind, it can be very amusing. Plus then you'll be all fresh on what to do "in the unlikely event of an emergency".