A day of creative endeavours

The discovery of this beauty in the garage began a creative day of film and digital photography (as well as a bit of sketching…nothing good enough to post here).

Petri 2.8 Color Corrected. In a genuine leather case, lined with red velvet. The case also has a cover to protect the lens (not photographed). My grandad’s old camera from the late 50′s / early 60′s – mum brought it back from her trip to Sydney to see grandad! Can you believe my mother was going to “throw it out” because she didn’t know what we’d do with it?? My sis and I found some film, figured out how to put  it in, and started snapping away! I documented the process with my parents Canon, and then got carried away taking photos of the wonders of nature found in our very own backyard.

Hopefully this gorgeous old camera is still working and we won’t be disappointed by blank film after we take all 24 shots (it’s harder to plan photos that you can’t see on a digital lcd display and take another if it doesn’t turn out!) and get the film processed

Worth the wait?

Just as I thought I had narrowed my search for a camera down to two potentials, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 and the Canon Powershot G10, (and I had almost 95% decided on the latter), Canon announces the release of the G11!

How can they do this to me? Why??! I have to wait until OCTOBER!?!? I’ve been dying to buy a camera for so long now!!!!!!!!!!11111oneoneone

Reading the specs though, I have a feeling this one is going to be worth the wait.

Letters in old books

I love the dusty smell of old books. I love the feel of the pages, and I especially love worn leather-bound books.

Check out these photos taken of lettering in old books by ebensorkin on Flickr.

It’s an outrage

US$140 for a font?? Oh sorry, TWO fonts (regular and italic….) Seriously????

Will I ever learn?

I am in a long-distance relationship (LDR for short?) with my boyfriend, Timothy. Since we have been together, we have lived in separate states of Australia. Originally, he was in Melbourne and I in Brisbane. When he was looking for a new job at the end of last year I was (not so secretly) hoping he would get a job closer to me. Due to several reasons, this didn’t happen. In fact, he now works in Western Australia.

This isn’t as bad as it sounds, as he works on site as an engineer for 28 days straight (no weekends – no public holidays – often 12 hour days!) and then is flown back to his ‘home’ for 9 days off. Graciously he nominated Brisbane as his ‘home’ location, and thus, since he has worked in this job neither of us have had to pay for flights to see each other!

Four weeks is a long time.

A very long time.

In order to stay sane, I need to know when I’m seeing him next. I thought this would be simple: count 28 days from when he leaves, then mark (in a very bright colour surrounded by various colours of highlighter) the next 9 days in my calendar: “TIM IN BRISBANE!”

My calendar is now a mess. And if you’ve picked up the fact that I have an obsessive stationary… well, obsession – having a messy diary or calendar makes me twitch. The problem with this “28 days on 9 days off” roster is that it has rarely been “28 days on 9 days off”. The reason I’m writing this post is that I’m struggling through the middle of a fifth week apart. We were meant to reach the light at the end of the tunnel yesterday – according to my calendar!!

I mark the dates in pen because the worst thing is not knowing when I’ll see him next, but I know deep down that the dates inevitably change… then why do I do it? When will I ever learn?

Can you kern in space?

Like stationary and book covers, fonts are in my top 5 of favourite things. I’ve always felt a niggling urge to create my own font, and while I am still a long way from doing so, I have joined FontStruct in order to hone my skills a little bit, and maybe give me a bit of motivation to start FontStructing! Meanwhile, I downloaded this absolutely delicious font, Sessions:

Aren’t the colours also wonderful? I don’t have the typography-lingo to be able to describe what I like about this font. I can say that I am rather impressed by the dot of the i placed between itself and the r!

“On earth you kern with the best of them. But how well do your skills hold up in a fraction of earth’s gravity? Check the gauges, fire the boosters, and do your best to give 80-point type a 3-point landing.”

I couldn’t even get the K to land properly, after several attempts.

A very confused coffee shop

I was complaining about the fact that nothing interesting happens in my life that is worth blogging about! However, lunch at “Coffee Secret” (I think??) at Raby Bay the other day has provided the material for this post

So was it Coffee Secret….. or Secret Coffee?

Oh well. We sat down, ordered our meals and drinks, and waited.

Tim ordered a flat white. It came out bitter and not so ‘flat’… so we asked for a jug of hot milk to top it up. That much froth just isn’t acceptable by anyone’s standards! We also asked for some water. (In hindsight, I knew we should have been a touch more specific with that request).

Aimee ordered beer battered chips with aioli.

Please note, this photo was taken just after the meal was placed on the table (actually the waiter put the plate down in front of me without even checking who ordered it). Notice the lovely scrapings of aioli in the milk jug there? Classy, I know. We asked for water once more. Aimee also asked for more aioli.

The waiter came back out with Tim’s hot milk and Aimee’s extra aioli. We still aren’t sure what they thought we were going to do with a mug of hot milk and enough aioli to feed an entire nation. By this stage our stomachs were cramped with laughter… Tim tried to pour the milk out of the thick-rimmed mug into his coffee with little success and I was taking happy snaps to make sure this day secured a place in our memories forever. Slightly desperate now, as the chips were a bit salty, we asked the waiter could he please bring us some glasses of water!

I nearly peed my pants when the waiter brought out a stack of PAPER coffee cups and placed the stack in the middle of the table. I guess the water is self-serve then. Cheers!

The moral of the story is: we’re never going back to Secret Coffee / Coffee Secret ever again and we advise everyone else to avoid the place too!

Sushi Train

Sushi train! Choo choo!

Mmmm, yummy

Steph and I

Finished!

Delayed

Sitting on the train this morning on my way into uni (incidentally my LAST DAY EVER AT UNI), the train stops in between Cannon Hill and Murarrie.

Announcement over the PA system:

“We apologise for the delay. A car is stuck under the level crossing at Murarrie station.”

Really?? Can someone be so worried they’ll be late for work/school/uni that they would try to drive over a railway track when the gates are closing? Or perhaps it was someone who had a death wish… either way, it made them later for work and they certainly didn’t die… mission unsuccessful in my opinion.

(PS: This blog entry is dedicated to Laura)

Book cover fetish

There are some amazing book cover designs out there, and I have only recently discovered a few sites that showcase them online. This first one is from the Book Cover Archive (fitting name) by Rodrigo Corral. I think I was attracted by both the simple shapes and colours, but on closer inspection I was amazed at how the shapes relate to the content of the book itself: the intersection of life and design.

Another site I stumbled across is Faceout Books, where I came across this gorgeous cover designed by Helen Crawford. I just love the typefaces (custom designed of course) she uses.