I Heart OK Go!

I love this song and the dance moves are hysterical!

"A Million Ways" by OK Go



Because one just isn't enough:

"Here It Goes Again" by OK Go

Wet or dry, it's all good fun

I don't know about you, but I like 'em both wet and dry, but wet is probably a little more fun.

(Another gem from the Chinatown Food Plaza)

Li's Mouth Magic

Every so often, I'm overcome by a rousing hunger that burns so deep within my belly that I'm left with no choice but to turn to Li whose mouth magic can satiate appetites of epic proportions.

(Li's Mouth Magic can be found in the Chinatown Food Plaza)

Well, judging by the above composition, it doesn't appear that I have a promising future in penning any titillating Harlequin novels. I'm not too disheartened by this relevation though; how interesting could it possibly be to write a book in which the most frequent word after "the" is "engorged" anyway?

Wine tasting at McLaren Vale

Penny's Hill Winery, August 6, 2006:
Wine tasting (i.e. chugging as much wine as humanly possible), entertaining company (i.e. loud, uninhibited drunks), and a gourmet meal (i.e. something other than ramen, crackers, and the standard poor grad student fare) -- courtesy of the Heinz Social Committee.

This activity should occur every Sunday.

Are you a Picasso or a Cézanne?

I just read an interesting article in the July issue of Wired magazine about an economist named David Galenson who has proposed an unified theory of creativity that groups creativity into two distinct forms -- "quick and dramatic" or "slow and quiet" -- which are expressed by two types of people.

The first character type - the "conceptual innovator" - is someone who does breakthrough work early in life. Conceptual innovators make "bold, dramatic leaps in their disciplines" and know exactly what they want and know when they've achieved it. Examples of such innovators include Edvard Munch, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, Wolfgang Mozart, and Orson Welles.

The second character type - the "experimental innovator" - is someone who labors and plods along through a lifetime of trial and error, and thus, peaks later in life. Experimentalists never know when their work is finished. Examples of this type of innovator include Mark Twain, Paul Cézanne, Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Seurat was 25 when he painted Sunday on La Grande Jatte. Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon at the tender age of 26. Makes you wonder what you've accomplished lately, doesn't it?

Call me ambitious, but if I can just learn to look to my right before I cross the street here in Australia and not get myself killed, that would be a pretty big accomplishment for me these days. For me, great achievement comes in baby steps.

So, What Kind of Genius Are You?

Side note: A great majority of creative geniuses described in the article are white males. Sylvia Plath and Maya Lin were the only women and person of color mentioned. What's up with that? Wired needs to get a clue that geeky white men are the not only people who read their magazine. For reals.

Whale watching at Victor Harbor

Last Sunday, a group of us went whale watching at Victor Harbor. It was the first time we left the confines of the Heinz school in weeks, and we couldn't have picked a more gorgeous day to go.

I picked out some photos and uploaded them on Flickr for your viewing pleasure.

My current desktop wallpaper:

Happy Birthday, Ella!

<-- This is my adorable munchkin of a niece. She turns four years old today. She has been watching Animal Kingdom's Australia DVD and knows more about kangaroos, koalas and other Aussie wildlife than the rest of us put together. And she's so excited about coming to visit. I can't wait!

What's a Coro Fellow?

The question I most dreaded while I was in the Coro program was--

So what do you do?
Me: (internal sigh) I'm doing a fellowship in public affairs.

Oh, at what school?
Me: I'm not in school.

So this is an internship?
Me: No, it's professional work experience. Coro is an experiential learning and leadership training program.

Do you get paid?
Me: Um... no.

Oh. And where are you again? Philly?
Me: No, I'm in Pittsburgh.

Oh. (awkward silence) So why Pittsburgh of all places?
Me: (What is this, Larry King Live?) Uh...cuz that's where the fellowship is?

Ha! Right! ... So how do you like Philly?
Me: Pittsburgh, Larry. I'm in Pittsburgh. And I like it fine. Thanks for asking.

[end]

So what did I actually *do* for nine months? A lot of things for one, but much of which I either don't want to explain or would rather forget. It was a very good learning experience, I wouldn't be in Australia if it weren't for Coro, yadda, yadda, yadda, but the truth of it is that it's exhausting to describe the program. Some people would just leave it alone at that, but for those who are dying to know more, I'll try to paint a picture of what it was like being a Coro Fellow.

First - if you ever see a large herd of 15 twenty-somethings dressed in business suits running after buses or roaming downtown with backpacks, computer cases, and notepads in hand, those are Coro Fellows. If you ever see a 1950s newsboy selling "Community Threads" magazines on a street corner, that's also a Coro Fellow. And if you see one Fellow, the other 14 are not far behind.

That person dropping off a yard sign by your front door a week before local elections? Coro Fellow. That young person shaking Mayor Bob O'Connor's hand and posing with Governor Ed Rendell for a photo op? Coro Fellow. The person on the phone asking for an interview with your executive director? Coro Fellow. That person wearing an "I heart Pgh" t-shirt whom you pay the cover charge to enter a club? Coro Fellow. Those people you swore you didn't invite to your fundraising party and are drinking your wine and eating your cheese? Take a guess. Coro Fellows. We were fuckin' everywhere.

We interviewed community leaders. Schmoozed with politicans. Worked on group and individual consulting projects. Planned events. Fundraised money for a trip to DC. We spent many consecutive hours in a windowless "board room" where we dissected, debated, disengaged, collaborated, and struggled to find meaning in what we did and learn from each other. We were given management tools and Coro-isms -- OARRs, DKDK, LDWpF, 4WH, WIGO, DiSC, Ryan's BITS. That wasn't enough for us so we created our own -- MVOU, PINO, ITO, WTFIGO.

And that was just group activities on Tuesday nights, Fridays, and weekends. I also had short-term individual placements during the week where I:

• Fit-tested some fire equipment at the City Emergency and Homeland Security Agency;
• Delivered yard signs and doorknocked for a judicial campaign;
• Created a marketing plan for Attack Theatre, a dance company;
• Developed a framework for a community dialogue event for the Sprout Fund;
• Conducted benchmarking research on sustainable tourism initiatives at the PA Environmental Council;
• Researched local, state, and federal biodiesel and renewable energy legislation for Steel City Biofuels.
  

And that was how I spent nine months of my life before grad school. (It's really not as glamorous as I may have somehow mistakenly made it seem.) Now can you see why I don't talk about Coro? No? I guess you just had to be there.

It's funny that when people here in Australia ask me what I did before coming to Heinz, I say I did a fellowship in public affairs in Pittsburgh, to which they just nod and move on. No one knows what a "fellowship in public affairs" actually means and no one cares. It's kind of nice.

Skype On The Go

Just a few days ago, Indhu and I were lauding the wonderful technology of Skype and we agreed that if we didn't have to be physically attached to our laptops to make calls, we'd be in VoIP chat heaven.

Well, lo and behold, I came across this while reading Wired magazine -- A Wi-Fi Netgear mobile phone that allows you to place Skype calls from any wireless network. The coverage areas are limited but the rates are much cheaper so you can save some $$$ on calls (that is, if you don't count the cost of the phone, which is currently selling at $250 retail).

My Acting Debut

Last Saturday, Indhu and I starred in a short film project in which we acted out a scene from American Beauty to help some CMU entertainment technology students with their assignment.

I was cast in the role of "Jane" who is an insecure, angsty, goth teen who is intrigued by "Ricky", her new next door neighbor. In the scene, I'm standing with "Angela" (played by Indhu) at school, smoking a cigarette, and looking moody when I'm approached by the creepy-sexy, enigmatic Ricky. I didn't get a chance to watch the scene before filming (it had been years since I saw the movie), so I had only my own unremarkable high school memories from which to draw inspiration for my character.

When I was told that Jane should appear uncomfortable and awkward, I thought, Wow, I don't even need to act! But dressing for the part was a whole other story. Since I happened to have left my entire goth wardrobe back in the States, I had to make do with what I had here in Australia. The end product was an outfit consisting of jeans, a purple Hillary Clinton t-shirt, and a brown track jacket. Yeah. Needless to say, I was more than a little misguided at understanding goth fashion.

I haven't received the film clip, so unfortunately, I can't share my Oscar worthy performance with you all, but I included the script for the scene we did. I had such a great time that now I'm thinking acting can be a fallback option just in case my career in public policy doesn't work out. (No, not really.)

Script from Asian, er, American Beauty:

ANGELA and JANE talk at school.

ANGELA: Cunt!
[to Jane] I am so sick of people taking their insecurities out on me.

JANE: Oh my god. That's the pervert who filmed me last night.

ANGELA: Him? Jane, no way! He's a total lunatic.

JANE: You know him?

ANGELA: Yeah. We were on the same lunch shift when I was in the ninth grade and he would always say the most random weird things. And then one day, he was just like gone. And then, Connie Corduello told me that his parents had to put him in a mental institution.

JANE: Why? What did he do?

ANGELA: What do you mean?

JANE: Well, they can't put you away just for saying weird things.

ANGELA: You total slut. You've got a crush on him!

JANE: What? Please.

ANGELA: You are defending him! You love him! You wanna have like 10,000 of his babies!

JANE: Shut up.

RICKY walks up to them.

RICKY: Hi. My name is Ricky. I just moved next door to you.

JANE: I know. I kinda remember this really creepy incident where you were filming me last night.

RICKY: I didn't mean to scare you. I just think you're interesting.

JANE: Thanks. But I really don't need to have some psycho obsessing about me right now.

RICKY: I'm not obsessing. I'm just curious.

JANE stares at RICKY who maintains eye contact until she uncomfortably looks away. RICKY leaves.

ANGELA: What a freak! And why does he dress like a Bible salesman?

JANE: He's like so confident. It can't be real.

ANGELA: I don't believe him. I mean, he didn't even like look at me once!

The Heart of Adelaide

I've been completely swept away into the sea of exams, papers, and homework assignments these last two weeks. But that doesn't mean I've forgotten about posting! In order to breathe some life back into this sad blog, I've included some more eye candy of Adelaide.

Victoria Square -- the center of the city:

More to come soon...

Emus and Wombats and 'Roos, Oh My!

After nearly a month of living here, I finally saw some Aussie wildlife. Not only did I see these animals with my very own eyes, I got to feed several kangaroos and pet a koala (a lovely one named Nola). Yesterday, a few of us took the day off from school work to explore Mount Lofty and Cleland Wildlife Park, about thirty minutes outside of the city. We didn't take much time at Mt Lofty; we spent ten minutes in the morning admiring the view and snapped a few photos before hopping back on the bus.

The rest of the day was spent at Cleland Wildlife Park roaming the park grounds and befriending the fauna. We encountered several emus, pelicans, koalas, wombats; numerous kangaroos, wallabies, birds, reptiles, bilbies and bettongs (rodents on steroids); and one Tasmanian devil and one dingo. Most of the aforementioned animals were allowed to roam free in their designated areas.

For $2 AUD you can buy a package of animal feed (small pellets that look like hamster food) to feed the kangaroos and wallabies. We tried to share our pellets with the emus as well but they didn't appreciate the gesture so much.

I was shocked by how tame the kangaroos were. Upon entering the park, a couple of them hopped over to us with expectant faces and even nuzzled at our hands. I had learned that kangaroos are capable of kicking the living shit out of you if threatened, so you could imagine the panic I felt when I saw that there were no barriers between the marsupials and us. My initial expectation of "feeding" was to throw the pellets over a fence and watch the pellet consumption from afar. I clearly had the wrong idea. Much to my surprise, the roos in the park were curious and friendly, and had no qualms about eating directly from your hand (see below).

(Above is my first encounter with a real live kangaroo. Notice my look of delight.)

(A hungry 'roo.)

(A 'roo close-up.)

For $12 AUD you can have your picture taken cuddling a fuzzy koala. You have to pay that amount to hold the koala even if you don't want your picture taken with one. I opted for the second best alternative, which was to stroke a koala's derriere (apparently, koalas don't like it if you touch them anywhere else on their body) and capture that precious moment with a self-supplied camera for free.

(That's Nola. You see my hand on her rump? That's the way she likes it.)

Koalas usually live up to 15 years and eat about 10 percent of their body weight in eculyptus leaves (between 1,000 and 1,500 leaves) a day.

I have a ton of photos from the park (videos too!). E-mail me if you'd like to see more.

Tasty Gnocchi Recipe

Last weekend, Indhu and I invited the other full-time students over to our place for a potluck. We spent the entire day cooking and cleaning and barely got everything ready before the guests arrived in the late afternoon. We made Vietnamese spring rolls and potato gnocchi from scratch. Both turned out really well.

Below is the gnocchi recipe we used from The Adelaide Review, May 19-June 1, 2006 issue.

Recipe for potato gnocchi with pumpkin, sage, pine nuts, and caramelized onions:

The gnocchi:

• 750g Bintje or Desiree (i.e. red) potatoes
• 150g plain flour, sifted
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 50g Parmesan, fresh and grated (plus additional to serve)
• Pinch of nutmeg (optional)

To serve:

• 500g butternut pumpkin diced and roasted
• 100g pine nuts, toasted
• Half a small bunch of sage leaves
• 2 brown onions, sliced
• A little parmesan
• Extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. To make the gnocchi, roast the potatoes in the oven set at 190C (375 Fahrenheit) for 50-60 minutes. [Alternative method -- microwave the potatoes to save time and energy]
2. Remove from oven, slice in half and scoop out the potato flesh and mash/grate them while they are still warm.
3. Add the flour, egg, parmesan, and seasoning, working together to form a smooth dough. Be careful not to overwork it or the gnocchi will be tough.
4. Place the dough onto a floured work bench and roll it into long ropes about 2.5 cm in diameter. Best to work with small chunks of dough.
5. Cut the gnocchi into pieces 2.5cm in length.
6. Cook the gnocchi in boiling lightly salted water until they float (approx. 5 minutes). The gnocchi should be cooked in the center and not gluey.
7. Cook them in batches, remove, and place in ice water to cool.
8. Drain thoroughly and toss lightly with some olive oil to prevent sticking.
9. Dice the pumpkin into 2-3cm square pieces, toss with olive oil and roast in 190C oven for 45-50 minutes. Make sure the pumpkin doesn't get too dark. Cover the pumpkin with aluminum foil if it starts to color.
10. Slice the onions and saute with olive oil until nicely caramelized.
11. Add the pumpkin, fresh sage, and black pepper. Then add the gnocchi.
12. Top off the whole thing with toasted pine nuts and grated parmesan.

Dish serves 4.

Bring out the beach chairs!

My current desktop wallpaper. Taken at Glenelg, about a 30-min tram ride from downtown Adelaide, the third day after my arrival:

I'm Upside Down!

The past year of my life has been a continuous flurry of activity. May, in particular, was a complete whirlwind. The minute I was handed my diploma for completing Coro FPPA on May 12, I ran out the door and high-tailed it to the airport to catch my flight to Boston for MillyFest. I played some Ultimate, caught up with some friends, admired the new Wang campus center, and then flew back to Pittsburgh to finish packing up for my move across oceans and continents.

Within two days I was back on the airplane, and after 22 hours of bad airplane food and sleeping sitting upright, I landed here. I was in Australia. A place where people drive on the left side of the road, the moon is upside down, and the water swishes counter-clockwise down the drain. I saw constellations in the sky that I had never seen before such as the Southern Cross. And the days are short now because it's winter - in May!

In the first few days, especially with the jet lag, I felt like I was living in the twilight zone, and that I was six years old again. Indhu and I would struggle to stay up past 8pm and we'd be awake at 5am. During those early morning hours, I'd lie in bed and wonder how the heck I got here. If a year ago today you had told me that I was going to move to Pittsburgh, I would have laughed in your face. And if six months ago you told me that I was going to move to Australia, I would have called you crazy. So now, anyone can tell me anything and I wouldn't know what to think except maybe, "Sure, why not?"

Anything can happen.

Why the Blog, Boo?

I thought I'd be the last person to start a blog. When blogs exploded on the internet, I didn't really see what the fuss was all about. I didn't want to put my opinions on public display (who knows who will read them?), and besides, I was pretty sure I wouldn't write anything interesting anyway. And reading other people's blogs? I scoffed at the idea. "I have better things to do with my time than to read about other people's lives!" I declared (to no one in particular).

Then a few friends started journaling online. And then I got cut off from FirstClass. Maybe I didn't realize how much I missed the FC resume, the precursor to the blog and admittedly, a fun procrastination activity, so I turned to blogs as a substitute. And some months ago, Lesley told me that the only way I could read the "private" entries in her online blog was by signing up for my own account. Intrigued, I created an account but didn't post any entries on my own page. I was in the middle of doing my fellowship at the time and I figured that even if I did post anything about my Coro experience, no one except the other Fellows would understand what I was talking about anyway.

Being in Coro was like living in a blackhole, and I easily fell out of touch. Every once in a while, however, I'd resurface from the depths of Pittsburgh and make a surprise appearance in people's e-mail boxes with a long, impersonal mass e-mail update on my whereabouts and doings. But you can only do that for so long before you start to feel guilty, and that's when I decided to blog. And really, it's just more convenient for me to post a tidbit every so often than to compose some lengthy, rambling letters with a beginning, middle, and end. And what better time to start than when I'm half way across the world?

I see a problem with this method of keeping people "in touch," however. Friends and family can know what I'm up to (assuming I post entries regularly), but how do I keep current with everyone else's lives if some don't blog? Additionally, blogging reduces actual communication between others and me, so I've decided that my blog won't include everything, especially the really juicy stuff. :) That means people would still need to get in touch for the whole "scoop" of my oh-so-exciting life. And for those who don't want to bother with my blog, I'll also continue to send e-mail updates every once in a while.

So I'm finally caught up with the 21st century (for now). I still think that no matter how much technology evolves, nothing can beat the feeling of being loved more than getting old fashioned snail mail and phone calls. However, given the fast pace of life these days, that might just be wishful thinking. So on that note, welcome to my blog!