Loooooong Weekend.

It’s Monday, the last day of the Easter long weekend, and I’m blogging… why? Because I have done nothing productive all weekend and now there are grad apps to be submitted and assignments to be written of course!

Friday – Recovered from symptoms of excessive partying due to work drinks (which somehow ended up at the roundhouse…). The weather was too good not to take advantage of in one way or another – so I packed my photography swag and fashionista girlfriend and headed to Bundeena to take photos for her latest blog post.

The low light and wind + heels made getting a sharp photo difficult but I was happy with the end results:

 

I need to suss out using the flash in these kind of situations, even bouncing it off a reflector was way too harsh. Natural light ftw.

Saturday we headed into the city to check out the recently refurbished Museum of Contemporary Art. I though the architecture of the new annex building was great… but the art was largely uninspiring to me. I used to love this place as a teenager, maybe my taste has matured, or maybe I’m consuming too much media through the internet and my attention span is shot to bits. I’m thinking the latter. We ate at Opera Kitchen, which was disappointing and overpriced, save for the Miss Chu dumplings.

I’ve recently become hooked on Instagram which was just released for Android… Kat no longer can scowl at me for stealing her phone to use it! What I once thought was gimmicky now really appeals to me as a casual, fun social network. Some photos (including the dumpling pic above):

Want this!

Brekky at Cafe Naked, Gymea, 10/10!

2012 Melbourne Grand Prix.

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to make it out to Albert Park in Melbourne to watch the start of the 2012 Formula 1 Season, thanks to a conveniently timed work trip. I also caught up with some old friends and made some new ones, and sampled some of Melbourne’s best bars, cuisine, and weather – a really great dew days (despite the heavy workload!)

My photos from the event:

Representing the 944's!

Got Press?

Is that standard equipment?!

On the Sunday night I headed to Lygon Street for some late night Italian fare and was greeted by the sight of my favourite car of all time – the Ferrari F40. Imagine my disbelief when a second F40 rocked up and parked behind the first! Absolutely surreal. It was a shame I only had my phone to capture the moment.

New Toy – Canon 70-200 2.8L

Yesterday my parents returned from their three week sojourn through Asia. I rather missed them this time – usually the empty house is a welcome proposition, but after house sitting a place in Balmain for most of January & February I needed some company! I especially missed the casual advice from Dad – I’ve been making some big (& tough!) decisions lately and like bouncing my ideas off him. He is the rational voice which is missing from my inner monologue. But we’ll chalk it down as another lesson in independence.

They brought me home a belated 21st present in the form of a Canon 70-200 2.8L lens. Couldn’t wipe the smile off my face when I de-boxed my first ‘professional’ L glass.

Initial impressions are great – amazing build quality, images are sharp, autofocus is quick… really looking forward to testing it out at the track soon. I immediately whacked a Speedhunters sticker that Dale got me on the Lens hood – for e-reps yo. Might even trick people into thinking I’m a ‘hunter myself ;).

They also brought back this bag – it’s huge and is perfect for my kit at it’s current size.

Fits the 70-200 easily, which is handy.

Speaking of my digital kit, it currently sits at:

• Canon Rebel T1i body
• Canon 50mm 1.4
• Canon 10-22 3.5-4.5
• Canon 70-200 2.8L
• Canon Speedlite 403ex ii

Yep, bit of a Canon fanboy!

WTAC weekend

Last weekend was a big one… two 21st’s, a date, and let’s not forget Superlap.

A great event (considering it cost me nothing to get in) with some amazing machinery. To be honest the $45 they were charging everyone else seemed very steep considering that the non-race entertainment was limited to a show n’ shine and a drift event that only ran at night (after most people left… why not run a session during the day?).

Some photos:

Cyber takes fastest lap @ 1.28.851 (insane!)

And it still looks fairly tame when it comes to aero compared to other cars, is the secret the underbody?

Possibly my favourite car of the day.

And I'm sure it's easy to see why!

Oh, hello there!

Makes me really want to work on my driving and get it to a level where I could be competitive at this caliber of event. Unfortunately that won’t be in the 944. Maybe an FD though…

Also took a very pretty girl to see Wil Anderson’s live show at the Comedy Store in Entertainment Quarter, which is a great little venue. I really recommend the show, but as Wil himself professes, his stage persona is very far from his television persona! He is better on stage!

Distractions…

Well, some time has certainly passed since I last posted! I’ve travelled to both Japan and America and am almost at the end of the first semester of Uni. The last few months have been tough, battling with a mystery illness and (resulting?) demotivation etc. The end of my studies are also fast approaching which brings me to a real crossroads!! What to do with myself next year?! It’s scary seeing half my friends suddenly swapping long hair and hoodies for a business haircut and matching suit as soon as they land a grad job! Reassuring though is that most of my closest friends are in the same boat as me… namely HMAS NoFuckingIdea.

I’m feeling much better as of yesterday re motivation etc, have cleaned the desk and set up my new Macbook properly to get some work done. Amazing how a clear workspace can help clear the mind! I was using a calendar productivity encouragement thingo (http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com/2010/02/calendar-win-rapid-course-correction.html) (found through tofugu.com) for most of March to fair success, so have restarted that as of yesterday. Give it a look if you are looking for a simple way to encourage good habits!!

Have been working on/tracking the 944 a bit recently, which has been going great. Installed front coilovers last weekend, so low and awesome. Printed off the 14 + pages of instructions re installing new torsion bars in the rear and decided it would be worth getting a quote from my mechanic. I have a lot of uni work on at the moment and can’t really afford writing off a week just to install rear suspension. You can follow my build thread here.

Highlights of 2011 so far…

My Japan trip!! Best month of my life!!! GAH I love this place wayyyy too much. I may be back there in the near future… but you will have to wait and see.

Find some other photos on my Flickr –>

The US trip, had a good time but in no rush to go back.

Vegas Baby!!

That’s it for now – back to study.

P.S. get some of this into your system – Minimix by Cosmonaut Grechko. Sublime.