What's with today, today?

"He asked her to marry him. She giggled, "okay!" Perhaps before realising that he was serious, or that he truly loves her" - BJE May's engagement story "Some people die, just dreaming of the outside world" - Cuban resident on imprisoned defectors, from Frankie "Love is made of differences and suffering and apartness, and of the struggle to overcome this apartness." - Anais Nin, 'The All-Seeing' from Under a Glass Bell The lampshade is torn it lets the light spill out pure and sharp. "You'll be right there beside me when I do it." "Don't do it for me" - Overheard, a couple in a dark alley "You've seen my show more times than I've performed it You may not think I'm splendid anymore" - Pat singing song by his friend Andre "We dream more, change our minds more often and are in love with the little possibilities available to us." "Do I identify with Gen Y? Yeah I do!...

Teaser Tuesday "Cities & Memory - 5. In Maurilia, the traveler is invited to visit the city and, at the same time, to examine some old postcards that show it as it used to be: the same identical square with a hen in the place of the bus station, a bandstand in the place of the overpass, two young ladies with white parasols in the place of the munitions factory." Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino, p. 30

It seems like I've been reading quite a lot of Young Adult books this year, which is not so usual for me lately... There's been some great books ('The Piper's Son' did not disappoint) and some not so great. One of the most intriguing was 'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins, a book which came with significant hype and some different expectations. One friend told me it was pover-rated, another thought it was the best thing ever. In this situation I tend to approach a book with caution, and start out looking for flaws. And there were flaws. But then again I think, is that really fair? Anyway, back to the book... 'The Hunger Games' is set in what appears to be a dystopian future USA, which is divided into a number of 'districts' all ruled by the 'Capitol'. Life in the outer districts is pretty bleak, with little food, hard work and rigid control. To top it off, each year the Capitol takes two children, a boy and a girl (called 'tr...

Having just had a few crazy weeks of assignment writing, conference preparation at work and general hectic-ness, I'm now ready to write another blog post! Woo!  I mentioned a while ago I was interested in writing a blog post about why I love Sydney, and Ronni recently posted a link to a blog project photographing the suburbs of Sydney, which inspired me to do something about it. Incidentally, that blog posted a link to the Dictionary of Sydney , which looks like an interesting place for information on all things related to Sydney. I can't cover all of Sydney in one blog post, I just can't. And my photos are no match for those in 52 suburbs . But here are some things I love: - Festivals in Summer! When the whole city comes into one space and the streets are full of people instead of cars and everything is free. - The coffee! It looks great, it tastes great... It means we have heaps and heaps of little cafes. Everyone I know who travels overseas misses i...