Lalalian

meal in a glass

2010-01-10T23:59:00.001+10:00

meal in a glass
Originally uploaded by Lalalian.

10 january 2010

I am Uhura...

2009-05-16T18:11:00.002+10:00

Your results:
You are Uhura

Uhura		65%
Deanna Troi		60%
Geordi LaForge		55%
Beverly Crusher		50%
Mr. Scott		50%
Chekov		40%
James T. Kirk (Captain)		40%
Will Riker		40%
Worf		35%
Jean-Luc Picard		35%
Spock		34%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt)		30%
Data		21%
Mr. Sulu		15%
Leonard McCoy (Bones)		15%

You are a good communicator with a
pleasant soft-spoken voice.
Also a talented singer.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Test

25 Random things about me...

2009-02-02T19:24:00.001+10:00

I wondered when I'd get roped in to do this thingamie. Haa haa! Thanks Ana {:->

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

*******

1. I have a love/hate relationship with all these "get to know me" questionnaires. I want to let them go by sometimes, but I just can't... MUST...ANSWER...QUESTIONS...

2. Most people think I'm about 5-10 years younger than I actually am. Hooray for good genes!

3. For a long time I couldn't figure out why everyone was talking about Flight of the Conchords, but then I listened to "Business Time" and I was hooked.

4. I'm a pretty good singer (if I do say so myself...), but I generally don't like to sing in the shower and I've never EVER done karaoke.

5. In the event that hell froze over, it would mean that my karaoke boycott had ended and I would sing "Sweet Transvestite".

6. I came this close (squeezes thumb and forefinger together tightly) to singing for the former Premier, but something came up & he had to leave early... I have no idea what could have been more important than me singing "Summertime", but still he went... At least the gig paid well... hee hee!

7. The first time I used lit fire-poi, the chains got tangled and I wacked the back of my head with the little flaming ball of firesol and kevlar. This was quickly followed by the smell of burning hair... O_O

8. In high school, i used to do roller skating for sport. It was better than running around on a field chasing something. Plus, there were cute boys who might ask you to go in the couple's skate.

9. I've seen John Farnham in concert three times and Billy Joel one time.

10. John Safran is my celebrity crush.

11. Those last two random things make me look like a dork...

12. I'm actually a VERY shy person.

13. When I was in primary school my friend's parents ran an amature theatre company underneath their house, so I got to see heaps of cool Shakespeare plays in this cosy little place. It was great!

14. I have a scar in the arch of my right foot from the time I jumped on the tuning peg of a ukulele. I didn't mean to, but it just happened. The scar was extended to the shape of a wishbone a few years later when I fell off my windsurfer and landed on a shell... {:-(

15. I have a scar on my upper right thigh from the time I slipped when trying to climb a fence. A rusty nail happened to be sticking out and it ripped a massive gash. I think the tetanus shot I got IN THE WOUND was worse than the actual moment of wounding... T_T

16. I had a learner's permit when I was about 19 and for a time I owned a cute little Morris Minor, but I do not have a driver's licence.

17. When I went to the Sigur Ros concert, I wanted to cry because it was so beautiful.

18. My all time favourite installation at the Qld Art Gallery is Narcissus Garden

19. When we were kids, my brothers, cousins and I used to put shows on for our parents. The one I remember the best is when we did "Grease". Tragedy struck when my cousin was doing "Hopelessly Devoted to You". She had a cereal bowl filled with water to represent the fish pond that Sandy puts her letter into. Both of the dogs in the house got thirsty and drank out of it mid-song... haa haa!!!!

20. My favourite magazine is "Dumbo Feather: Pass It On".

21. I like taking photos of stuff. Some of them have been part of exhibitions and some have been included in international publications.

22. I've only ever lived in two houses and they're two streets away from each other.

23. If you ever want someone to go to the speedway or drag racing with you, ask me, I'd probably come... mmmmmm... racing fuel... {:->

24. I met my Scottish friend because I read about his mission (to visit all the places in the world with mullet in their name) in the Courier Mail. I sent him an email about a really bad mullet I'd seen stalking the streets of Brisbane (it was wet-look with a comb-over from the party side that covered the balding bit on the business side) and he wrote back. That was three and a half years ago and we're still chattering away. Hooray for the internet and people with crazy past-times!

25. A few years ago I took Capoeira classes for about three months. It was hard work and pretty fun, but I couldn't do handstands...

So there you go. More things than you ever wanted to know about me {:->

Be like water...

2008-03-28T21:11:00.002+10:00

"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend."

~Bruce Lee

Lately I've been really aware of the need to be flexible, pliable, teachable... to adjust to events and expectations around me while still being able to hold onto what I feel is true for me.

Trees and buildings that are rigid and stand firm against the elements are more prone to breakages, but trees that can sway in light breezes or gale-force winds and structures that compensate for extremes in temperature by allowing room for expansion/contraction have a greater chance of surviving in one piece over long periods of time or when things get hairy.

Potter Puppet Pals in "The Mysterious Ticking Noise"

2007-08-07T21:02:00.000+10:00

This vid is mildly disturbing, but hella funny.

WOW...

2007-08-04T15:30:00.000+10:00

... just WOW!!!

A little bit naughty, a little bit nice...

2007-06-29T18:00:00.000+10:00

You Are 78% Pure

You're pretty pure, and you have no plans on changing that.
You do have a devilish side though... and it will probably get the better of you.

The 100 Question Purity Test

It would be, it would be so nice...

2007-06-28T10:24:00.000+10:00

*sigh

For the next two weeks, I'll be a lady of leisure.

Bring in the buff dudes waving palm fronds and feed me some grapes.

On second thoughts... it's the middle of winter, so make that another blankie and some hot chockie with marshmallows {:->

Just wondering...

2007-06-12T16:08:00.000+10:00

Is it a bad thing that I have to set myself reminder messages that tell me to go to bed early?

Questions, questions...

2007-05-13T13:33:00.000+10:00

1. What time is it? 13:34

2. What is your name? Lara

3. What are you afraid of? Walking through the bush at night time.

4. What do you drive? All the boys wild... pffft... yeah right!! Actually, I don't have a licence.

5. Have you ever seen a ghost? No, but I've heard angels singing. Does that count?

6. Where were you born? Brisbane

7. Have you ever been to Alaska ? Nup

8. Ever used toilet paper decorating on trees? Nup

9. Croutons or Bacon bits? Bacon bits, but only if it's real bacon and not the crappy pretend stuff they dished up at Sizzler the last time I went a few years ago.

10. Favorite day of the week? Every day is pretty good.

11. Favorite restaurant? Today, I will say Sono Japanese restaurant in the city. It's really lovely.

12. Favorite Flower? It depends on my mood, but I generally go for the happy ones like gerberas or tulips.

13. Favourite sport to watch? I've never been a huge sport fan, but I don't mind a bit of soccer, speedway or motorbike racing every now and then.

14. Favorite drink? Kawfeeeeee!!!!

15. Favorite Ice cream? Honeyed Fig and Ginger from the New Zealand Ice Creamery at South Bank

16. Disney or Warner Brothers? Both

17. Favorite fast food restaurant? Nandos... mmm... chicken...

18. What color is your bedroom carpet? Brown

19. How many times you failed your driver's test: None. I had my learners once, but never went for my full licence.

20. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? It was a forward from my Dad with footage of some French sailer dudes on a huge ocean racing yacht.

21. What do you do most often when you are bored? I generally don't get bored. I do things before I reach that point.

22. Bedtime? 23:30. Really should be earlier...

23. Who will respond to this e-mail the quickest? I'm not sending it to anyone else.

24. Who is the person you sent this to that is least likely to respond? Like I said before, I'm not sending it on.

25. Who is the person that you are most curious to see their responses? Are your eyes painted on? Sheesh!!

26, Favorite TV shows? Dr Who, Spicks & Specks... There's more, but that's all you're getting for now.

27. Ford or Chevy? Meh... * shrug *

28.What are you listening to right now? Nothing. TV is on.

29. What is your favorite color? Depends on my mood, but maybe green.

30. How many tattoos do you have: None.

31. Do you have any pets? 1 cat, a possom that lives above my front door and a stack load of geckos.

32. Which came first the chicken or the egg? I dunno, but I could go a meal with either of them in it right now.

33. What would you like to accomplish before you die? Have an exhibition of my own pix in a super cool gallery.

34. What is your favorite bird? Magpies. I love hearing them sing. Lorikeet are pretty cool too, but only when they're muttering to themselves. The squarking bit is a bit much.

Well, there ya go...

2007-04-12T21:27:00.000+10:00

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird...
But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

Especially for you...

2007-02-14T15:06:00.001+10:00

Happy Valentine's Day

This guy is hardcore...

2007-02-05T23:00:00.000+10:00

I feel exhausted just watching him!

Summer S.M.A.D.D. 2007

2007-01-27T01:15:00.000+10:00

I spent last week working on Summer S.M.A.D.D. (Song, Music, Art, Drama & Dance) which is a performing and visual arts camp for high school kids.

I've been involved with this camp for more than 10 years and while it's a lot of work, there are always good things that come out of it.

This year was probably one of the more difficult camps I've done, mostly because I was asked to direct the art section at very short notice.

I'm generally with the singers, so it was quite a mind and skill shift and there were lots of different factors that meant it wasn't the easiest job which left me feeling incredibly stressed and inadequate for most of the time. Needless to say, I came home feeling utterly shattered.

In the end there were some interesting pieces to put into an exhibition as part of the concert on the final night. Parents and friends come along to see what their kids have been up to.

There were just over 100 kids and all of them were amazingly talented. Every item in the final concert was created during the week and came off so well that you'd think they had worked on it for months.

This video below is of an interpretive dance that was brought to life by using just about all of the disciplines on camp.

Monday afternoon a small group gathered to write lyrics. These were given to musicians on Tuesday so they could write the accompanying music. Wednesday the musos went to the recording studio where a CD was made to be given to the dancers on Thursday, so they could choreograph the dance. All of this was captured on video to create a documentary on the process. The final product blew me away.

On the other hand, this song probably didn't have as much rehearsal time put into it, but I have to say it brought me a great deal of joy (which you will more than likely hear throughout the vid) {:->

The site where we stayed is in the hinterland behind the Sunshine Coast. There is a beautiful lake and is surrounded by native trees and animals. It was so pleasant to wake up each morning and hear lorikeets and magpies singing to celebrate the begining of another day.

It was more startling than pleasant when I heard this guy one morning...

There were all sorts of fun activities throughout the week like:

Pirate Day

Visiting Nambour

Working with these cool people and...

Seeing amazing views like this on the way home

My 2007 Daily Photo Diary

2007-01-08T08:24:00.000+10:00

I discovered a new group on Flickr where people are encouraged to keep a photo diary for a year.

There are several different types of "a photo a day" groups, but this one appealed to me because it wasn't just self portraits, nor did it have a list of specific images to be included. This one is just to document each day with an image and possibly a few words.

I half thought about putting it up here as well, but it all seemed like too much fiddling about.

Here is the first picture...

If you would like to follow the thread, you can find it here.

I feel really bad

2006-12-29T18:56:00.000+10:00

This afternoon, I went out to the backyard to paint some boxes for the pinhole cameras I'm making. As I got to the bottom of the ramp, I discovered a dead baby Blue Tongue Lizard among the grass and fallen leaves.

I must have squashed it when I went to the clothes line this morning.

Crawly things are not generally my favourite, but you were pretty cute.

I'm so very sorry little lizard...

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-19T22:52:00.000+10:00

One of these days I'll actually get around to writing something again, but for now here is a little festive film to get you in the mood for next Monday...

Jellyfish is an r-tard...

2006-12-11T22:33:00.000+10:00

... but this is so freakin' funny!!!!

Entertaining Myself...

2006-12-07T23:05:00.001+10:00

Fur Baby Tribute
Originally uploaded by Lalalian.

It's amazing how much fun you can have with some tinsel, a lamp and a camera {:->

Freedom of Expression... Freedom of Living...

2006-11-15T21:57:00.000+10:00

Originally uploaded by HORIZON.

I have a friend through the Flickr photo sharing site.

His screen name is HORIZON. He lives in Iran, has a gentle heart and takes the most beautiful photographs.

Today he uploaded this photo and a simple note was left in the tags (see below) explaining that access to the Flickr site (I assume this is not the only one) by internet users has been blocked by the Iranian Government.

I
am
blocked
filterred
banned
can't
access
you
this
is
via
tehran
miss
all
friends

This evening I pray to God to thank him for the freedom I have as an Australian and also to ask that this same freedom will come to those in countries ruled by fear.

Let there be freedom in their hearts and minds even if they aren't allowed to express it.

To Look at Any Thing - John Moffitt

2006-11-15T18:59:00.000+10:00

To Look at Any Thing
by John Moffitt

To look at any thing,
If you would know that thing,
You must look at it long:
To look at this green and say,
“I have seen spring in these
Woods,” will not do - you must
Be the thing you see:
You must be the dark snakes of
Stems and ferny plumes of leaves,
You must enter in
To the small silences between
The leaves,
You must take your time
And touch the very peace
They issue from.

3x Super Robot Heartbreak

2006-11-02T22:05:00.000+10:00

This is Pete's other new vid...

Smoke and Mirrors

2006-10-28T08:51:00.000+10:00

My cool friend, Pete, made this for our other cool friends from Grand Atlantic.

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Sweaty men in feathery masks...

2006-10-16T11:08:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I spent most of the day working at the Queensland Multicultural Festival.

Actually, working could be too strong a word because the only work I really did all day was a 20min walk behind a samba school, some capoeira dudes, latin dancers and some Bolivian guys in HUGE feathered head dress for the "Road to Rio" Parade (I was making sure the crowd didn't get in the way). The rest of the time was spent wandering around checking out different performances and hanging out in the volunteer tent in case they needed someone to do something.

Man it was HOT!!!! I mean the festival was great, but the weather was stinkin'. Cloudless skies meant that the sun's searing rays were only hindered by the dust raised by thousands of pairs of feet as they tramped around the parklands. Surprisingly enough, I managed to make it through the day without my skin burning to a crisp like it usually does.

After my shift finished I headed up to the amphetheatre to get a good seat for Lior's set. The band before were called The Bird and just I have to say that they were freakin' A.W.E.S.O.M.E.!!

The whole place was pumping with the most sublime beats. If I wasn't so weary I would have been busting a move with the rest of the punters. Instead, I sat on the step and let my toes and head do the dancing for me.

Lior was pretty cool and worth the wait, but he changed guitars a little too often for my liking (pretty much every song). I found it really distracting, but otherwise his performance was great.

After a day of sensory overstimulation I was looked forward to getting home to try and get some sleep before Monday arrived, but before I headed towards the land of nod I went to do a quick check of emails and to see what had been happening in Flickrville during my absence.

To my horror, I discovered that the internet wasn't working!!!!!

Once I started to breath normally again and had gone through the rigmarol of off-ing and on-ing everything I possibly could, I remembered that weeks earlier I had received a letter from my provider asking for the new expiry date for the account I pay my bill from... The G-rated version of my next thought was "OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, THEY'VE CUT ME OFF!!!!".

The only thing to do was go to bed and try to sort it out in the morning.

After answering the multitude of voice prompts that stand between you and an actual person I proceeded to wait on hold for about 25mins.

Just when I thought I was about to go insane from the hideously cheery hold muzak, I finally I got through and proceded to try and explain the sad, sad story about no internet, letters and credit card expiry numbers in great detail without sounding like a total la-hooo-zer.

Halfway through my story the guy informs me that my internet has not been cut-off, but there had been a state-wide glitch that caused a temporary outage. PHEW!!!!!!!!!

You'll be pleased to know that I arrived home from work to find that my laptop was again full of electron goodness...

I must be due for a holiday

2006-10-05T21:10:00.000+10:00

All I could think about at work today was how tired I felt. I tried to remember the last time I had a holiday and thought about when I could possibly take the next one.

Most of my actual "holidays" are spent working with high school kids on performing and visual arts camps, but there have been some really nice weekend trips away with friends that have been lovely.

Here are my top 5 faves:

1. Traviston

A last minute decision to spend a weekend away with friends turned out to be one of the most wonderful times I've ever had.

My friend Helen was living in a place called Traveston (which is on the outskirts of Gympie) on a small farm property with cows and stuff.

There were no neighbours in hearing or viewing distance so we could crank the tunes and run amok. We ate like royalty and generally had a lovely time chatting and watching movies.

The most exciting part of the trip was when the boys discovered a small cupboard without a handle. Curiosity got the better of them and after a few attempts at jiggling the door, it opened to reveal a small box. In it was a crossbow with quite a few bolts. The rest of the time was spent in the back yard shooting trees and making up newspaper headlines for if there was an accident and someone (or a cow) got shot.

It was only two days, but I was so refreshed when I came home, that I felt as though I'd been away for two weeks.

2. Caloundra

My friend's folks have a luxurious penthouse in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.

Johnny and Helen had the run of it for this past New Year's Eve and invited a heap of people to come for dinner and view the fireworks display. Great food, funky music, fabulous company and just plain old good times.

3. Toowoomba

Each Easter the Australian Gospel Music Festival is held in Toowoomba. I've been to quite a few, but 2003 was probably my favourite one of all. I was camping in the makeshift "village" that adjoined the festival with a couple of friends.

A lot of my friends' bands were playing throughout the long weekend and there were heaps of others that put on a good show. I caught up with LOTS of people from all different areas of my life and generally had a lot of fun.

4. Rainbow Beach

A couple of years ago one of my chick friends broke her engagement really close to the wedding day. We had alread booked a house by the beach for her Hen's Weekend and decided to take her away anyway.

Good food, board games, trashy chick flicks, facials, manicures, walks on the beach and all that good old fashioned girly stuff.

5. Appin

Blackstump is a music and arts festival that is held on the outskirts of Sydney each September.

A couple of years ago my friend's fire spinning troupe was invited to perform and they asked me to come along and be their fuel and safety person (I was unofficially known as the "Kero Bitch").

It's about a 14-16 hr drive from where we live to the festival site and we pretty much drove straight through the night to get there with some stops along the way (one truck stop was particularly scary, but I had to pee so bad that I didn't care).

We had a 2 days of checking out cool music and doing 2 shows a night. It was awesome, but then we had to leave really early on the Sunday because the others were students and had to be back in Queensland to go to lectures on the Monday. I was totally wrecked when I got home, but it was freakin amazing.

* sigh *

Only a few more months until my next hols...

OK GO

2006-09-27T15:38:00.000+10:00

This is my absolute favourite videoclip at the moment.

I love that none of the following things are in it:

"wacky" camera work
CGI
pretentious musicians poncing around the screen
scantilly clad dancers draping themselves on the pretentious musicians

It's just plain old creativity being used to make something really fun with simple props and clever choreography.

Hooray for OK GO!!!

Crikey!

2006-09-25T20:47:00.000+10:00

I find it interesting, and perhaps a little confusing, that people would be so devistated by the loss of a public figure they have never met.

A few weeks ago, Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin was killed when a stingray barb pierced his heart. A tragic event in anyone's estimation and I was as shocked as anyone when I read it in the paper, but I had no idea it would bring such an outpouring as the emotional tidal wave that seems to have struck the earth.

I've spent the best part of the last week processing some of the 20,000+ condolence emails that were sent in relation to his passing. Of course there were plenty of Aussie and American ones, but I was more than a little surprised by some of the far flung places that people had been touched by Steve's enthusiasm for animals and the environment.

There were plenty of sappy (read: so over the top they nearly made me gag) messages that seemed like people felt they had to write something just to say they had.

Other people felt that they should offer to be there to talk to if the family need it and left their contact details. It's kind of nice I guess, but why would you write to or call a random stranger when your husband/son/father has just died?

We also had quite a few nasty ones that had me wondering why a person would even bother to do the Google search to find the website. I mean really. If these people stopped to consider how they would feel if someone wrote these things about one of their dead family members, I'm sure they would think twice about posting such dreadful things.

One message brought tears to my eyes on Friday. An Australian who had been living overseas for several months in a country where he was about the only English speaker. In his loneliness he found a connection to his home country through watching Steve's shows and the news had hit him fairly hard. The message was full of such raw emotion that I am in tears again as i think about him now.

I think my favourite ones were from kids. So honest in sharing how they felt about the situation and there were definately no flowery speeches composed in order to impress the reader. Just plain and simple stuff like "Dear Bindi and Bob, I'm sorry that your Dad got stinged by a stingray. I hope you feel better soon. He was a good crocodile hunter".

What is it that makes people form such deep connections to a celebrity (they have never met) that they feel as though one of their own family members has passed away. What will they fill this emptiness with when their "grief" subsides?

Well... here goes...

2006-09-24T21:31:00.000+10:00

I've always wanted to be a person who kept a diary, a journal or collection of random writings and many times over the years I've bought beautiful notebooks and vowed to write in it every day. Each time it would last for a while (a week or few or even some months), but now I just have a pile of beautiful books with a few used pages at the front.

Maybe it's because I didn't want to write down what was in my head (or heart) in case someone else read it and thought I was a fruitcake or maybe it's because I'm a slacko who starts things and doesn't always finish {:->

I can't promise that this will be updated regularly, but at least I have started on it and maybe (just maybe) if you come back another time there will be something new for you to read.

Time for bed...