Hello, my name is Sandy. I'm an artist in Perth, Western Australia.

Just hangin’ with Ray Martin. Yeah.

Ray with the men.

And some pictures of food, in case you like food more than Ray Martin:

Photos were from the Redkite Corporate Quiz in Perth last Friday.

Permalink. Posted 25 September, 2010. Tagged: events, food.

While shopping for a Pan Am flight bag (travel bag, explorer bag, whatever you call it), I found it really hard to well… find stuff. Product specs were easy to find, but there wasn’t enough information to give me an idea of what to expect after spending my hard-earned money on this online shopping adventure. So here’s my review, complete with detailed pictures.

I got the Pan Am Mini Explorer bag in blue, featuring a white classic Pan American round logo – you can also get it in white with blue. It’s 10.5″ wide and about a Moleskine tall – about the size of a head, this is the step down from the Original Explorer bag. I consider this to be handbag sized; the Original is 18″ wide, starting to get into small luggage bag territory. You can get an even smaller one, the Tiny Explorer, but I’m not sure what the dimensions are for that. I got my bag from TeeNYTee.com, a US-based fashion & accessories online store run by a girl from Japan.

The outer shell is made from PVC, inner lining is cotton-polyester. It’s made in China, but doesn’t feel cheap or tacky – but then, I’m only about a month into owning it. We’ll have to see how it handles wear and tear.

No pockets, but very roomy inside. Zippers are metal, feel smooth and sturdy – I don’t get the sense that it’s about to break or get caught on a delicate piece of clothing.

Metal stud feet on the bottom prevent wear damage on the base of bag, but make an annoying sound on table tops.

This is a chunky bag, however it doesn’t feel cumbersome. Whoever designed this pretty much nailed the balance between comfort and attractiveness. Very tempted to shell out for the big version to use while travelling.

I give it a 4 out of 5.

Permalink. Posted 21 September, 2010. Tagged: fashion, shopping.

1. Went to the new Hippo Creek in Subiaco on Sunday. I’m totally satisfied with my dining experience – I got to eat snail and crocodile and the tenderest fillet steak I’ve ever had! The food is pretty pricey, so I studied up on meat cuts beforehand. I usually like my meat quite rare but turns out it’s better to get fillet steak cooked medium rare, saving the bloody-ness for rump and t-bone instead. Fine then.

2. My new bag arrived! It’s pretty chunky, bigger than I thought and completely pocket-less. Boo, not the most convenient, but it’s quite charming. Will post a detailed review of it later.

3. Toothpaste worked fine on my horrible, painful underground pimple. It stung at first, and continued to sting for about half an hour. I woke up the next morning with a nodule less angry and tender. It doesn’t hurt anymore. The skin over the previously sore spot dried up and flaked away the following evening, and now there’s just a tiny bump like the one on my cheek.

4. I’ve had the Ubuntu Netbook website open for the last 2 nights, thinking of installing it on the old netbook we have lying around. But this venture sits just outside my comfort zone. I’m scared I’ll be opening a can of frustrating, confusing worms. Somewhere in the back of my mind, Excitement and Apprehension dance a passionate tango.

5. Civilisation 5 comes out soon. Just in time for the upcoming LAN. I am so very, very pleased. :)

6. There is no number six. Sorry.

Permalink. Posted 15 September, 2010. Tagged: fashion, food, games, nerd stuff, underground pimple.

I feel ugly today. And no amount of nice people saying nice things about looking nice will change this because I have a monster underground zit hanging out of my nose like a booger. It’s not about looking ugly; it’s about feeling ugly. Bad skin days come with all sorts of yucky feelings that accompany health or hormone fluctuations. I don’t know what it is this week, but it has certainly taught me a lot in a short period of time:

Underground pimples are called ‘nodules’ or ‘cystic acne’. It’s a deep, chunky version of a papule – a solid elevation of skin with no visible fluid (thanks, Wiki), as opposed to a ‘pustule’ where you can see fluid (pus). Nodules hurt, they’re gross and you can’t pop them. You kind of just have to wait for them to go away. Causes vary from person to person, but nodules usually come from grubby skin, grubby diet or changes in hormone levels.

There’s a lot of advice online for how to get rid of underground pimples, ranging from home remedies to chemical skin peeling and all sorts of treatment. I’m not sure what works and what doesn’t; many of the remedies sound unfamiliar and effortly.

The last painful underground bump I had was on my cheek. I massaged it with tea tree oil everyday and exfoliated in the shower; eventually, it shrunk and hardened and is slowly fading away. Probably not so effective, if you want to leave no trace of a zit at the end. For this one, I’m trying toothpaste. All I can smell at the moment is mint Pronamel and I feel like a bit of a turd, sitting here with white paste under my nose.

Fingers crossed that this just does it, but in case not, I have a few more tricks I’m willing to try:

• Blasting with a hairdryer. Apparently it helps yucky stuff come to the surface. (thanks, Bec!)
• Honey and cinnamon. I have reservations about this one; could it really be this simple?
• Turmeric, though I don’t know if I’m game to risk turmeric going up my nose.
• Finally, lancing with a hot pin if I get really desperate.

Friends and workmates have been nice enough to not ask about it. Perhaps I will draw a face on it tomorrow and we can have conversations about the nu wave of tech house electro pop fusion.

More skin stuff:

• Types of acne – lumpy ones, bumpy ones, etc.
• cysticacne.net – search engine optimised site all about zits
• 5 remedies from ubeautyportal – the baking soda/sea salt one sounds orright
• Strawberrynet skincare – cos I’m thinking of getting some discount skincare to feel clean and pretty (free shipping, yay!)

Permalink. Posted 9 September, 2010. Tagged: beauty, cool links, home remedies, pimples, skincare, underground pimple.

Dear Australian Government,

Congratulations on sorting your shit out today. May the next four years be fruitful and awesome. I know there are no guarantees, and election promises can sometimes get sidetracked by practicality and the system, but here are a couple of things I reckon would be super cool if you could make happen at some point:

Make the NBN really freakin’ sweet. The more countries there are adopting a sick-as infrastructure, the more likely it is that other countries with crappier infrastructure will try to follow suit. I would love it if one day, my cousins and grandma in a less internet-advanced part of the world could have a good enough connection to play games and videochat with me. On a note closer to home, I’d really like to travel around Australia when I’m older, and not have to worry about being stranded if I need to look something up online.

Promise to never do anything stupid like an internet filter. We’re far enough away from the rest of the world as it is. You know that guy in the news who got done for having ‘artistic’ photos of underaged girls? An internet filter wouldn’t have stopped him. Plus, a filter would totally expose us to abuse and oppression – maybe you have good intentions now, but do you really want to create a risk for our future? If you believe in the wisdom of philosophers and the big names in psychology, you’ll already know that people do deviant and perverted things because they are unhappy and twisted, or they don’t know how to make themselves proper happy. Invest those filter dollars in education, mental health and rehabilitation instead. Teach a man to fish and you’ll never have to mess around with his internet.

Legalising gay marriage would be pretty awesome. Two of my friends are gay and I would be very happy for them if they could get married in Australia. Maybe I’m naive, saying we should nix the girl-boy thinking, but I like to think that love counts more. Love, and getting to live a happy life in a country that calls itself progressive & forward-thinking. Speaking of forward thinking, it would be cool if you worked on the climate change thing some more. It makes sense for us not to shit where we sleep, considering the next best place to sleep is a 5 hour flight away.

My wishlist is actually a bit longer, but I’m sure you’ve got enough to do already. Good luck and may the Greens and Independents help you towards making this nation a rippa place to live.

Yours faithfully,
Sandy.

Ps. I don’t know much about politics or issues or grown-up stuff like that. I just know what I think would be kinda cool, so sorry, AusGov, if this letter is a bit simple. I still mean it from the heart.

• Julia Gillard PM: Independents back labor (news.com.au)
• The Australian Greens (party website)
• National Broadband Network (website for the thing they are doing)

Permalink. Posted 7 September, 2010. Tagged: ausvotes.

My handbag died the other day. It was actually more of a satchel than a handbag – one of those diagonally slung travel bags; hardy, comfortable. As a substitute, I’ve been using a baby pink eco-friendly shopping bag from a clothing store in Beijing. It sucks a little bit. I spend minutes rifling around for things that I used to be able to just reach in for. I’ve had to turn the car around a few times to go back for things I forgot. It always confused me when women made a big deal over handbags, but I’m beginning to understand…

The “wallet, phone, keys” combination is at the heart of day-to-day freedom, but even the healthiest beating heart needs a strong, sturdy chest if it’s to be of any use.

Enter the humble handbag. It’s the assistant that keeps your shit together, the escort that stops the bulge in your pants, the item of expandable holding that might even give you +1 agility and +2 charm. Picking a replacement receptacle was no easy task; you need the right balance of size, shape, weight, practicality and beauty.

Size most definitely counts here. A bag too big is cumbersome like a rude guest at a dinner party, but a bag too small won’t hold the extra essentials needed for a full day out. I don’t like transferring things from bag to bag, so a ‘one size fits all’ purchase is my only option. Which means having to find the right shape and weight too. Nothing too bulky to tuck under the arm, no straps so thin they cut into my arm when the bag is full.

On practicality, pockets are a blessing. I would very much like to not rummage around for a lost 2-dollar coin please. And as for beauty, my new bag must certainly be beautiful. But what does ‘beautiful’ mean?

When I was a kid, I obsessed over pretty things. For no real reason. I didn’t really like Barbie, but I loved collecting her clothes. I kept My Little Ponies long after I got over them because they made me think of all the starry-eyed friendship, love, peace, goodwill and courage of the animated series. Such innocent ideals captured in over-priced, mass-produced plastic toys. It’s about the symbolism, for me. A crappy toy is only beautiful when it represents a good feeling. A person’s face is only beautiful when they have good character underneath. And so on.

I chose the Pan Am Mini Explorer because of its simplicity and because the other Pan Am bags were way too big. Lucky me, I found a shop that ships to Australia for a fair price – it’s teeNYtee.com in case anyone’s interested. No, this isn’t an ad for Pan Am or teeNYtee; I just wanted to share this first-world shopping adventure.

Since you tolerated this whole self-indulgent blog entry, here are some wicked things to check out:

• Awesome bear rug made from an old tabriz carpet
• Satisfy the cat – clever video on user-centered design
• Around and Around – some photographer guy’s really lovely portfolio
• Lufthansa Virtual Pilot – cute geography flash game; land the plane at its destination
• Emotional validation – how to not accidentally be a jerk (I’m not so good at this)
• quitelovely.net – QL has a new home on posterous; it’s way tidier now

Permalink. Posted 6 September, 2010. Tagged: beauty, cool links, fashion, thinking too much.