Just got out of a brainstorm workshop. Felt a bit awkward being apparently the most introverted, least adjusted, at the table. I hope we’re not graded on external displays of participation; insta-fail, me. Much of my contribution was listening and processing, which I’m told can be misinterpreted as reticence in extrovert company.

I wonder if other people feel the same uncertainty after times I’ve been the one who’s had the most to say. I don’t know what the phrase is for when sometimes you have stuff done to you, sometimes you do stuff to other people, but if I say “swings and roundabouts” maybe someone will get mad and tell me the right one, so -

Swings and roundabouts.

Off home now to pat the cats and play some Avernum.

It rained a lot in Perth last night. So much that everything in my backyard is wet – and my backyard is completely under cover. How exciting – zero garden maintenance required today! I’m a bit annoyed at the native plants that belong to this property – I have no idea what they’re called and thus no idea how to look up how to take care of them. Does anyone know the name of those spiky plants that sometimes make tall stems with white-purple-yellow flowers? :X

My beans and wheat have sprouted and are growing like mad. It will be nice to one day live a bit like L from 500m2 and eat a huge variety of fresh organic veggies all the time at a fraction of the grocery cost. Not really possible because I’m living on a fraction of the space she has, with most of the usable areas taken up by ugly decorative rental plants. Still, I think our little garden of potted crops is doing all right. We’ve only been able to harvest garnish amounts, but one day – ONE DAY – we’ll make a meal.

Have I mentioned lately how impressed I am with Camera 360 Ultimate? I first tried it last year when the interface was clunky and the photos came out a bit meh. They’ve since updated a couple of times and everything works so well now. The photos come out sharper and more intense, and the controls are no longer confusing and cheap-looking. Me likey. All it needs is a tiny speed improvement (or I need a better phone) and it would replace my use of all other camera apps. :]

Finally, the neighbours’ cats have been visiting us a lot. There’s no address on their tags, so I can’t tell how neighbourly we are, but these two come round all the time to drink water from our pond. I’m glad we only used algae killer once – it’s all home-made and organic algae removal now, for reasons such as this. Mona and Dora’s cat biscuits left over now go to a little dish outside instead of being thrown out. It feels a bit weird feeding someone else’s cats, but it’s good not to waste food, and I’d like to think we contribute to this pair being less inclined to go hunting.

I’m thinking of getting a bird feeder for our garden, so our inside cats have something to look at, and these two outdoor cats can sit and watch instead of getting in fights or disturbing birds in the nearby parks. If anyone out there knows of any good low-mess bird feeders or inexpensive bird houses, please let me know. :)

Macca organised a FedEx Day for everyone at work. It’s where staff get a day to complete personal projects on company time – the catch being that it has to be delivered by the next day. For my project, I went to the Cat Haven to set up a live kitten video feed. Cos work is stressful and I always miss my cats. Nothing’s nicer than having a cat nap next to you while you get stuff done.

Lucky for me, my workplace does lots of video feed stuff, and one of my good mates works in the team that does the setup. So we spent a couple hours before lunch getting the cat run ready and duct taping things to other things. And now we have a video. :)

KittyCam in the iiNet Freezone

Available during daylight hours, Perth time. Kittens go to bed before Fatcat. :)

KittyCam is only gonna be up for a couple days – it’s all coming down after the FedEx Day presentations tomorrow. I’m hoping the company will see how much people love having a kittycam around and sponsor something more permanent. These guys are so cute, and it feels so good to hear people in the office giggling at kitten stuff.

My wish for KittyCam was to have something nice for people in stressful jobs – it borrows from the Japanese approach of integrating nice, cute things into the everyday to help combat the anxiety of working life. It’s also a big boost for the Cat Haven, who take care of abandoned kittens and cats that need rehoming – else do the heartbreaking task if no homes are found. Anyway, on a more cheerful note – cats are awesome. Watch them, adopt them, live a happier life. :)

I’m at work right now, bout to head over to the Cat Haven and set up a webcam. So excited! We’ll get to watch live cats on video on the office telly. This is all part of our FedEx day – some staff extracurricular event that I’ll write more about later. Stay tuned for updates on how things are going.

I’ll be tweeting from @sandysandy and with the hashtag #kittycam.

A simple recipe for making ginger beer. To illustrate how simple, we made it at work yesterday using stuff from Woolies. You’ll need a 2L container, a mixing bowl and access to hot water.

Ingredients are brown sugar (500g), powdered ginger, tartaric acid, cream of tartar, lemon juice, lime juice and bread yeast. Erm, we were really rough with our estimates, so not sure if we’ve done the right proportions of everything. I spose if you like your brew a certain way, you’ll want to experiment anyway. So here’s what we did for ours.

Half a teaspoon of the tartaric acid, quarter a teaspoon of the cream of tartar, four teaspoons of powdered ginger. Then the 500g of brown sugar, which conveniently comes in 500g bags!

Add a teaspoon each of lime and lemon juices, then about 1.75L of hot water. Give it a good stir, then leave for a couple hours to cool. It doesn’t have to get cold – cooling is more so you don’t kill the yeast when you eventually add that in.

Once the mix reaches a slightly less than warm temperature, stir in 1 teaspoon of yeast, and chuck the lot into your airtight jug. We got a jug with a valve, so we could easily let air out if it built up too much. The yeast metabolises the sugars and turns this sweet brown stuff into sweet ginger beery stuff, producing carbon dioxide in the process, which carbonates the drink.

We’ve left the valve open over the public holiday in case the yeast got crazy while we weren’t there. Tomorrow, we close the valve and leave it all sealed until Friday afternoon to let the drink go fizzy. Stay tuned for a future post on how it tastes. :)

Officeworks have a tiny blackboard table and two stool set for $39 at the moment. It’s a clearance item, so stores won’t be getting new stock in. My local store was all out and I picked up the display set for $30. Lucky!

It’s now the centrepiece for my redecorated study room. I got a desk lamp as well, so I can finish my cross stitch and other bits in between LoL games. You’d think an lcd monitor with about:blank in the browser would be bright enough, but it really isn’t. This makes me very skeptical when Sash tells me she thinks she got sunburn from her computer screen.

Pictured here is Dora on the table, with shelf in the background and a daybed for cats nearby. Ahhh… My study is finally done. ^___^

Konnichiwa~ Pictures from our Japan trip are now in my flickr.

I’ve been home a week now and it feels great. Except for the cold that followed me. I’ve been coughing like an old smoker ever since. :( Eating plenty of chilli, vitamin C, adzuki beans and other warming foods to boost my immune system. Warm Perth weather is helping. Not getting to sleep in everyday isn’t. :P

The trip has left me feeling a bit weird. Being surrounded by very dolled up Japanese girls, very tidy surrounds and the contrast between neon busy and eerily zen patches is quite surreal. Made me think of things I really love about my life, and things I’d like to change. Still refreshed from being away, I finally dismantled the daybed in my study, which I’ve been putting off since last October.

But you know how it is. The first few days after coming home are vital, because once you settle back into your routine, some of your intentions get lost in the everyday. We tend to make our lives comfortable – why wouldn’t you? – and it’s hard to want to change something when we’re comfortable. Luckily, we have a rent inspection next week, so we’ve spent today significantly uncomfortable, getting the place cleaned up.

After that, I intend to get my garden ready for winter, buy a picture frame for the lovely Yebisu coasters we saved from the beer museum, cull my wardrobe and buy Diablo 3. :)

Can’t sleep. Excited about flying home. Japan has been fun. Today, we went round doing epic shopping, visited a cat café, ate one last ramen and packed. Will flickr up photos of stuff when I’m home and settled.

Things I shall miss: Onigiri anytime, late night shopping and arcades, the many many outfits of Japanese fashion, street drinking, cheap drinking, easy public transport, premium customer service, cat-themed everything, HEATED TOILET SEATS, special toilet features, no touch handwash taps, super hot bath, cute paper and cute socks and cute knick-knacks everywhere, Tokyu Hands department store.

Things I shan’t miss: Severe lack of bins, nose sniffing all the time, storepeople shouting while we walk past, oppressive rainfall.

I’d love to come back again with a big group of friends. There were many things I didn’t get to do – Nara deer park, Imperial Palace, Cat Island, eating black eggs, eating strange meats, pachinko. Next time; there shall be a next time.

Thank you for following me on my holiday. Getting to blog it knowing you would read it made me feel like something meaningful to me could be meaningful to someone else, which in this case, was a nice feeling. :)

The sakura aren’t quite in full bloom, but many trees in Kyoto are already covered with flowers. This against the remaining Edo architecture can make the simple turning of a street corner feel like a leap back in time to the world depicted by movies and history books. But then you see the vending machines not far away and feel thankful for the conveniences of modern times, like heated toilet seats. Truth be told, that is what I’ll miss most about Japan.

It is grey and rainy and windy today, and I am sick :( I got over the sore throat is had in Melbourne only to let the chill get me at the shinkansen station. I’ve had three freakin HOT Japanese baths since getting here and it’s only helped a little. Hot tea and buns for me tonight.

We’ve eaten many lovely things in Kyoto. Yesterday, we bought fishcakes on a stick from a vendor in Arashiyama, while on our way to the monkey park and bamboo forest. Then we went to a little place called Daikichi, recommended by Lonely Planet, for yakitori.

This is chicken stomach and chicken heart yakitori. So tasty, best texture.

Many other tasty things. Soup with tofu, grilled rice, chicken and cheese, teriyaki donburi. So good. I love Japanese cheese.

A can of Slat, of course. Aloe sake mixer, I imagine. Tastes like icecream soda.

Niaal’s can of Dragonball. Read the review on his blog.

I found them!! Ever since watching that. Japan episode of Top Gear, I’ve wanted to try the little crunchy crabs that Jeremy Clarkson got for a driving snack. Happy to report they’re quite tasty and moreish if you’re into flavours such as ikan bilis and dried cuttlefish. Don’t think I can bring any home, but I’m satisfied now.

We just got into Kyoto today. Shinkansen ride was really smooth, I slept almost all the way using my new butt cushion as back support. Very comfy. Can’t wait to be the most comfortable person in economy class on the flight home.

My butt cushion, also known as the ‘Bagel Cushion’, meant for hip support, lumbar support or as a headrest as desired. It’s not exactly the same as the ‘Beauty Shaping Butt Cushion’ at the Japan Trend Shop website, but it was a quarter of the price and folds in half for portability. :D

Just enjoyed some takoyaki, made fresh at a cornershop a block from where we’re staying. There’s an udon place nearby too, a curry house, a ¥100 shop, a couple of general stores, a botanical garden and a tourist bus that does the rounds of the city. So far, I like Kyoto best. It’s quieter, cleaner, less crowded, pretty. I look forward to drinking Suntory and playing Oh! Edo Towns this evening.