hello from sigh city [part thirty-four and a half]

hello again

here i am all sigh city but before i get to that let me tell you about my week so far. you will be so proud of me, i have been doing random social things i would not usually do. on monday my flatmate, katie, invited me to her friend's bbq. i was not really feeling it that day [the day after r's confusing knee squeezing] but i said yes, i mean, meeting new people can only be a good thing. we were on the bus and ten minutes before our stop, i ask k if she minds if i go home. she is not impressed and urges me to continue the journey with promises of fun. ok. we get there and there are interesting people, delicious home-made food, marshmallows, a trampoline, and a hula hoop. what can i say? despite my grumps, i had a good time.

i cannot remember what i did on tuesday but i am sure it was fun. oh yes, rebecca came over and we made dinner together. wednesday night was my second date with ben. we went to a talk on the velvet underground with ritchie unterberger, went for a drink, had vietnamese for dinner, went for a walk, then he waited at the bus stop with me where we held hands and made-out for a bit. i suspect he has written a modern gentleman's guide to impressing young ladies.

tonight i was going to meet r because he asked to see me, my birthday present has finally arrived in the post. my friend, chris, calls and asks if i want to see soko with him, he has a spare ticket. remember her? she is petite, french, plays the ukulele, had a song called i'll kill her [that she hates now and never plays]? what to do? i always choose r over anything else but i like soko too. i choose soko. can you believe it? but hold the applause. technically i am not free to see r until monday but i caved and cleared tomorrow night's fun and games [it is the v & a museum's annual village fete] to see him.

beneath all my bravado, i still like him despite the hopeless situation. sigh city.

love
o

hello from london [part thirty-four]

hello friends

boys, meh.

one, r is sending me the most confused messages, it is really annoying and i do not want to talk to him for a few days. we braved the rain on thursday night to see bat for lashes. at the bar i hear "olivia! olivia!" who is that? it is luke of romance was born fame. it was such a pleasant surprise to see anna and luke and at a bat for lashes show of all places. caught in the rain, we all race to the nearest tesco [chain supermarket] and fashion ourselves knock-off martin margiela jackets with garbage bags.

london is where it is all happening, kids.

r and i are stuck with two choices, have a huffy time under buckets of rain or shrug it off and enjoy ourselves. we chose the later. bat for lashes played an amazing show, she sounds even better [if possible] than on the album. she wore a paneled bodysuit with fringed arms which she made effective use of. everyone in the crowd at one point or another wanted to have her babies. r and i held hands during one of her songs and when we rushed through the onslaught of rain to the tube station, it was hand in hand. why? i had dinner with him and two other friends on sunday night and he squeezed my knees under the table, trapping them between his, making eyes all the while. tease! he is a recent homeowner and hosting a painting party in two weeks time and he asked me if i will accompany him to the paint shop to choose colours. how domestic! you know when you like someone and you think their every action and word uttered is dripping with hidden meaning and complicated messages of undying love? you will be pleased to know i am not falling for that old chestnut and keeping ice cool about things. but we just had a fight [on facebook chat!] and now i am so over him.

is this a bit too intimate? you all joined the honourary girlfriends club a long time ago.

so, umm, two, i am dating a boy i met a few months back. are you all rolling your eyes and having a chuckle? can someone draw up a legal document stating men will leave me alone for the next few months? this boy, ben, is thirty [a good start, more man than boy], tall, skinny, and nerdy in a bookish manner. he is not east london cool like rodrigo, more utterly charming in a young english gentleman by the seaside way. it is too early to know anything, we are going on our second date tomorrow to a talk on the velvet underground. if i can tell anything, it is this thing with ben will simmer for a long time and that is what i want. maybe it is a case of once bitten, twice shy?

do you want to hear some proper news?

three, mark likes to randomly congratulate me for the money i make from the online store and our most recent sample sale. we had a studio meeting today where he got huffy about the lack of progress on his online bric-a-brac store [i am supposed to be working on that] but at the end of the meeting he throws in a “you are doing a phenomenal job!” yes ok thanks. at the end of the day i ventured over to his office to ask him something but i sort of hid behind a clothing rail to gauge whether or not he was busy. he looks up, sees me hiding but looking at him, laughs and calls me a weirdo. i believe we bonded in that moment.

four, e k are in a position to open a pop-up store and guess who mark asked to run it. uh-huh. can you imagine? my own pet project. i am so excited. ever since working at poepke, i have always wanted to run a store. i can see it already: a narrow but long space, print-heavy interior, wooden shelves merchandised with knitwear and knic knacs galore, the rails a colour explosion, print curtains in the change rooms. die.

some general news?

five, poor english people do not know what summer is. they are deprived! no wonder so many britons overstay their visas in sydney. it is supposed to be summer right now but the weather is overcast, rainy, and windy. the sun can only manage low twenties. why?

six, you are familiar with peter jensen? he had a sample sale last week. i went and promptly parted with money for a long stripey button-down top and mustard yellow mac. it is sample sale season here, ching ching!

seven, maybe i do not work for a trends forecast company or anything like that but word on my street is this: roll-your-own-vietnamese-rice-paper-rolls and playing backgammon are hot right now. you heard it here first, you will probably read about it in i-D magazine next month.

eight, i miss you.

love
o

hello from london [part thirty-three]

hello friends

thank you to everyone who saw me or wanted to see me but could not. i really appreciate your time and love. right now i feel far away from the people i care about. you know since jonathon has left and now that rebecca is preparing to move to berlin, i only have one very good friend left in london? of course i have a handful of new friends but there is nothing like a friendship built on years of tears, sweat, and good times. rodrigo and i broke up today. i almost want to come home so i do not feel alone. i had a big cry with one of my flatmates. i feel like such a girl getting upset over something that only lasted four months and when i spoke about it with catherine [my flatmate] i was clumsily spilling cliches all over our kitchen floor. you know what this ride has been like, you know how excited i have been meeting someone so eerily my doppelganger. he is doing the classic boy thing and does not want a relationship. how can i work with that? i am so proud of myself i did not bargain for more time.

i could write more but i will save you the awkwardness. double sigh, major cry.

love
o

hello from sydney [part four of four]

hello [again].

one of my favourite moments of the trip happened on thursday night. you know chris morris? he is friends with lily and tadzio, he is a photographer. he kindly shot my final year project [from tafe days] for my portfolio. in return, chris asked for a felt face badge of a man with beard and specs. not that old chestnut! just a little aside, i love that expression. i did not know it until i got to london. rodrigo says it with a wink. like everyone else who asks for a face badge, i thought chris was subtly asking for one of himself so i use his face as my point of reference. almost a year on and i am finishing his face badge in sydney. i show the work-in-progress to lily and she laughs. why? is it hideous? lils informs me chris talked about giving it to his ex-girlfriend. oh. oops. it is too late to change it now though i feel a bit weird stitching "you better look out for love" on the back of the badge like i have with all the faces that have come before. at dinner with lily, tadzio, chris and doris at tapenade [where dave works], i give chris his badge wrapped in tissue paper. he peels back the sticky tape, the badge is face down. he turns it over.

"oh. it is me!"

yes it is. the surprise! the recognition! i felt fulfilled.

love

o

ps this is all i had drafted last night, i still have friday 26 june and saturday 27 june [my last day in sydney] to go but i feel i cannot write more right now. the next hello from london should explain why.

hello from sydney [part three of four]

hello friends

at the airport [last saturday] doris was totally ribbing me, insisting i was going home. she made me realise london is not my true home, i just live there. sydney is where my family and everyone i love are. it took a while, but i know it now.

ready for a recount of my last week in sydney?

a few stray rays on sun broke through on sunday morning so lils, tadz, and i pile into the car and try for rozelle markets again. we came away empty-handed but no matter, tadzio dug deep and proud to produce this nugget of comedy gold.

i met up with mira and ameli [my mad cortes bosses] and their girls at their house. i used to baby-sit milla and lola from when they were 1. milla would give me a hard time and howl at the sight of me, the idea of her parents leaving upset her. it was such a revelation when she tells me "i like your t-shirt with the horses". why, thank you! i love it when kids talk. patiently waiting for my young cousins to start conversations has been worth it. i cannot remember anything funny they have said but i like it they can tell me what they are thinking.

come evening time, doris and i head to hurstville to have dinner at our parents' with our uncles, aunts, and cousins.

do not be fooled, my cousins are only pretending to be camera-shy.


here they are showing their faces.


who is the cutest cousin of them all? that is right, the baby!


i feel for her parents. how are they going to say "no" to this face?

on monday i see samson and delilah on my own. whatever it was i thought i was bracing myself for did not compare to what i got. does that make sense? you should see it. 

do you know who these women are? you should be ashamed of yourselves! they are part of team poepke. i met up with millie, grace, and a bicycle-riding amelia on tuesday afternoon for tea and cake at yellow in potts point. after, we visited juliet and her baby, beatrix. i am sure everyone has heard this story already but it still makes me melt a little just thinking about it. in juliet's living room sit a pair of bongos and beatrix is hitting them with her hand and laughing. i am saying something to her and, mid-sentence, she takes my hand and places it on a bongo. i hit it and she laughs. die! it is so silly but for a second there, her acknowledgement of my existence made me so happy. 

the late afternoon sees me back at my parents' rummaging through my boxes of clothes [i am so over wearing the same wardrobe for the last ten months] and i take up my mother's offer of new underwear. why are undies so expensive now? we head to k-mart in hurstville westfield to stock up on some bonds and i think the three pack is cheaper than buying singles but it is not really. i can feel myself internalising a tantrum again but then i remember who is buying them and everything is ok. sometimes i cannot believe i am twenty-eight. 

for dinner, lily, mayor of dumpling town, makes [from scratch] steamed vegetarian dumplings with chilli soy dipping sauce and stir-fried vegetables. 

witness the magic for yourselves.

my uncle, who is a dentist, cleans my teeth on wednesday morning. i open wide, he does nothing. 

"what is wrong?" 

his silence sounds expensive. 

"there is nothing to clean", he sighs. 

there is a lesson in there, kids. yes, you can make friends with salad and vegetarians have cleaner teeth. 

later, i meet caryl for lunch and we head to chinatown to a new noodle bar. halfway through slurping my hot and sour noodle soup with tofu, dave calls saying he has locked himself out of doris' apartment. he wants to meet me to get the spare set of keys i am holding. when he meets us, dave is noticeably uncomfortable and a little bit sheepish. ok, nothing too strange, i mean, locking oneself out of a flat can be very annoying. when i see doris later that day, she asks me if dave was weird. i nod. she laughs and explains he was in his pyjamas and had not had a cigarette yet that morning. he looked the same to me! 

while caryl and i window shop our way to dinnertime, this sign gives us the giggles.

my cousin and her new groom host a dinner for my parents, doris, and i at a seafood restaurant where we eat ourselves silly. this giant lobster was the main attraction.

love

o

hello from sydney [part two of four]

you again! why, hello!

ready for friday and saturday?

my father accompanied me to my eye exam on friday morning and he bought me a new pair of specs. the shop assistant explained the category of glasses, like this section here is men's, this is unisex, women's, for older people, designer and so on. i choose a big semi-transparent grey plastic pair from the old people's section [only $70]. she frowns at me "are you sure?" she asks. "yes!" i say. she points to a black geek pair, i am not convinced. i really like these grandma ones. i pick them up on wednesday.

after running a few errands for my mother in hurstville and rummaging through the vinnie's there, i head back east to start on some office props for doris' birthday party. she asked me to make a photocopier out of cardboard, not flat but 3d. while i am at it, i make a cardboard typewriter for myself. i must say it was one well-dressed event, the people and the apartment. d stole a giant stapler and shredded paper from her work. she decked out the flat [her friend's, they share the same birthday] with a tea trolley overflowing with coffee mugs and biscuits and instant chicken noodle soup. platters of sushi and financial magazines fed the body and the mind. she had business review weekly's rich 200 issue and encouraged us to see if we could find ourselves in it. the women rocked corporate chic with power blazers, high-waisted pleated trousers, and lace-up oxford heels. some wore a blouse, some did not depending on whether they were busting for a promotion. the men wore suits. adrian dressed as patrick bateman complete with blood-splattered rain poncho. hot. the night dissolved into further hilarity when we settled down to watch one of d's gifts, butts of envy. sigh.


chief executive officers, doris and sophie, on an important conference call.


stacked tea trolley and cardboard water cooler, a happy office makes.


these numbers are not going to crunch themselves!


patrick, is that you?

saturday was washed out so a trip to rozelle markets was sadly ditched. instead, lils, tadz, and i went to the fish markets, bought fish and ate an early lunch.


my gracious hosts, lily and tadzio.


am i the only pleb who does not know this is off a sonic youth album?

i pick up a last-minute shift at poepke [with juliet, catch-up city!] before heading to viola's apartment for a roll-your-own-sushi-roll/ boardgames night with the girls.


viola with a plate of omega-3 goodness.

ok that is all i have for now.

love
o

hello from sydney [part one of four]

hello friends

i am in sydney, i have been here a week. how are we going to do this? it might take a while.

my parents picked me up from the airport last sunday night. i was a bit disappointed my mother did not greet me with tears on her lashes. for someone who always manages to slip in a "i do not understand why you are in london. when are you coming home?" in every phone call, she was very composed. i did feel a little guilty when i spied my father dab dab at his eyes. we went to dinner with doris at chat thai in chinatown. you know, it is easy to find cheap bad food and expensive good food in london, but cheap good food is a diamond in the rough. i miss sydney for its culinary delights, thai and japanese on every corner. one can eat out twice a week here and not break the bank. the upside to being food poor in london is that it forces one to be a creative cook. back at d's apartment, dave comes over and we watch the 1984 hit, splash. remember? daryl hannah is a mermaid and tom hanks falls for her. i forgot what it is like to watch a film with doris. five minutes in and the questions start.

monday late lunchtime sees yvette, dave, d, and i scoffing vegie rolls, pizzas and tarts down bourke street bakery way. i can already tell this sydney trip will be my own personal food safari. i am staying with lily and tadzio for the rest of my trip and lily kicks off with a delicious vegetable broth. i am not sure what it is called but it has greens in it. so good!


doris, at the surry hills vinnie's, stocks up on party supplies for her office party themed birthday do.


dave does his bit to boost the economy.

tuesday i venture into the city before my lunch date with caryl. maybe just maybe i was a bit awestruck by kinokuniya [london is a bit chain store crazy so it is easy enough to find borders but a design book wonderland is harder to come by]. my knees melted at the sight of an a5 sized book featuring japanese wood prints categorised into seasons, isetatsu collection. then i made the mistake of peeking into incu and my knees melted, again! i have never been a fan of lover but there is this black sleeveless number with a white double collar, generously draped top, cinched in waist, and pencil skirt. die! it is sort of a tuxedo dress, sort of sexy novice nun. if you want to see it, take me out.

arm in arm, caryl and i head towards this vietnamese eatery we used to lunch at when i still worked in sydney. it is not there anymore, replaced by a new vietnamese eatery. an old man standing out the front waves us in, a good sign. i end my food tour for the day at dinner with andy at the chinese dumpling and noodle place in potts point. again, yum!

do you know jonathon has left london and is returning to sydney by way of san francisco and los angeles? sigh. you are lucky to have him back. before he left, rodrigo, kt [r's friend, my new flatmate], and i made him a goodbye film based on actual events. i showed it to andy, he watched it about five times rolling on the floor laughing. i thought he was going to die.

wednesday i had lunch with dominik at the korean cafe on the side of the metro theatre, afternoon tea with doris and my mother at the tea room, and dinner at din tai fung with the girls. when i warned rodrigo i might come back roly poly, he drily suggested a gym membership.


afternoon tea with my mother and doris, before


and after.


dinner at din tai fung with brides-to-be, viola and cass.


i sat next to caryl and staedtler at dinner. the dumplings and noodles fueled my fight against their wave upon wave of love energy.

i worked my first of four shifts at poepke on thursday. do you know what has been such a comfort about being back in sydney? its familiarity. of course this can be a curse and that is why i needed to stretch my legs in london but it is good to know i can come back and sydney will still be her usual charming, laid-back self. the life here is so good. it is certainly easier to be poor here than it is in london. back at poepke, i slipped into my old shopgirl self. spacing the hangers evenly, straightening the shelves, folding and refolding tshirts on the bassike concession stand [i say that lovingly], attending to customers, and having a dance in front of the mirror when no one is looking. i tried on a pair of dries van noten heels and a bernhard willhelm jacket. die!

love
o