tales from a fish bowl: a sizzling long summer

I haven't forgotten about my blog. Lots has happened since my last post. I"ll try and be brief with the updates this time... in no particular chronological order:

- My brother got married to Natalia on 24 January in Mosman Park, Sarah and I got to be their bridesmaids. It was a small family affair, and it was really lovely having some of my relatives fly over from Melbourne and Malaysia to attend, plus 3 of my brother's best mates from Sydney flew over too.
- Chinese New Year was quite a family affair too... some of our Melbourne cousins stayed for the celebrations... and we played lots of mahjong, poker and wii
- My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in February. Sarah, Moses, Nat, my gong gong and I got to celebrate it with them in Freo over dinner and ice cream.
- It's been a super hot summer this year with 2 sweltering heat waves which lasted one-week each
- I had my car broken into... smashed window, my digital camera, diary, house keys got nicked. Luckily the window repairs were done swiftly, however my camera and other belongings weren't so fortunate... I was very relieved when I found George aka Jorge was still in the car though (much to Karen's relief too)
- I am now the choir director for the youth worship team. It's a little daunting, but I've been feeling quite positive about the role, and have had lots of people support me which is always a good thing
- Not too sure what's happening with my job at the moment, the department is going through a functional review, leaving my team very unsure what we are supposed to be doing for the rest of the year
- I went to watch Kelly Clarkson with Tania... was totally blown away by her amazing voice and her down-to-earth-ness (is that even a word?). We got to see Sean Kingston perform as Kelly's supporting act... we had no idea that he was in town and were like 'who the heck is this guy?' haha
- The Perth Arts Festival had some great free events. I was able to check out 'Water Fools' a beautifully choreographed production on water which included a floating bed, people cycling through water and lots of fireworks; the art gallery's exhibitions... loved James Angus' fluro rhino; and the floating film at Hillarys that showed Totoro (sadly in English) and Le Kiosque, a quirky French brass band with some very funky jazz vibes. Some of us have also been getting into the Somerville Film Festival this year, enjoying the picnics and watching the movies on a giant outdoor screen beneath the giant norfolk pines.
- After my car got smashed, I started to take public transport more often (making good use of the new train line which took 2 years longer than originally anticipated). I'm actually really enjoying the journeys... I have discovered that there are many perks in taking PT... I get to listen to music and read a book, enjoy taking in the nature scenes such as rainbows, flowers and still rivers, plus get some exercise happening, instead of getting frustrated with the stop/start traffic... I'm saving petrol hence reducing my carbon footprint (haha what a buzz word these days) and it takes around the same time for me to get to work in the mornings. Simply brilliant!

I'll stop typing for now and just post some pics from this summer.