Thursday, November 08, 2012

Yes, No. No, Yes there re no posts! ReFab is consuming ALL of my time! For those of you who don't know:

I am in the middle of Market Feasibility research!
I made a film, I won a competition for Social Enterprise (like non profit) and here we are!

I am starting a Centre for Recycled Textiles!I made a 5 minute survey and will be giving away 2 MOVIE TICKETS! I would love to have your opinion and that of your friends! Please share with like minded people- Crafters, Artisans, Mums (Dads!), Hipsters, People who want to learn!Help the environment! Help people with disabilities! Take the survey!Help the environment! Help people with disabilities! Take the survey!

Please pass it on and feel free to post it on your facebook if you are so inclined!

Sunday, November 04, 2012

A Sunday for bike ridding!

Here is the intrepid crew who got up and were on bikes by 8:30am! Myself, Sarah, Dave and my Couch Surfing couple Martin and Schefkei (from German and Kosovo) rode from West Melbourne to Federation Square in the city where we met more cyclists and rode along the Yarra to Lentil as Anything for breakfast! Living in ones own city you often do not see I have never been to Lentils for breakfast nor have I ridden along the Yarra trail! It was beautiful! Wonderful food as a reward and great company.

After Lentils, we were off! To a local park for a HUGE Couchsurfing picnic where I got to catch up with many CS friends I have not seen since I was away. We had some snacks and chatted and then I rode home with Sarah and a NZ CSer to prepare for my UGLY Jumper Party!

We rode 25km in all! =) Love it! Love biking!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

The great file uploading fiasco.

Here Northwest of Philadelphia in the countryside, it's been one sunny day after another. You wake up toasting, hot already. The day has begun because princess is awaking late, around 10am, after having gone to bed late...quelle surprise! Each day is a succession of hot perfection- blue sky and sun, sweet dappled lighting and crisp green trees. Fat bumble bees hunting for nectar in delicate lilac coloured trumpets, their big fuzzy voluptuous behinds hanging out of the flower. Bugs and grasses singing with the Earth instead of a symphony of traffic, commuters and concrete. A pleasant and welcomed shock to the system. And in the evenings, fireflies floating and zipping through the cool dusk air. There is always one wild loon of a bug zipping around crazily while the rest buzz along and take it slow. 

We sat and watched the fireflies from a step a few nights ago. It was beautiful, like someone had laced a huge tree with tiny Christmas lights that move, on random mono colour pulse setting. The tiny lights contrasting on the dark silhouette of the trees. They make me happy and are great entertainment. We should consider introducing them in regions to boost morale. Introducing things...that always works splendidly right? What could go wrong?

And I can see it all. From the small double pane Dutch farmhouse window where I sit editing day after day. I am editing a video and have 1 hour of selected footage that I have painstaking collected and must delete down to 12 minutes!
'I say, 12 minutes...too short my good man, too shot! By Jove, you'll have to do away with a lot of good stuff'.
'Indeed Sir, quite right'.

But my servitude had come to and end! The video was uploading in the full glory of a great fiasco yesterday. Why such a great fiasco you ask? Well, because it's me and because of Murphy, you know, that guy and his Law. That's the funny things about deadlines, you work right up to them no matter what. By you I mean me of course! However, I do think the majority of the population works right up to a deadline. We need a goal, something to work to. Why we cannot trick ourselves into to thinking the deadline is a day sooner then it really is I'll never know. Oh wait, stop there, in my case the deadline really was 14 hours earlier. Hooray for global jet setting and time travel. And so, at 8pm on Monday night here I sent my video into the future, to 10am Tuesday morning. Neat huh? It would have been neat and relaxing, had it all went well, or smoothly or just went.

The great file uploading fiasco: With an unsatisfying short 2 hours to deadline, I exported the movie out of it's program, quickly and thank the Gods without hiccups. I then upload it to the equivalent of the digital devil- file sharing programs! *gasp* Why this is a slow, tedious and difficult process in this day and age, I'll never know but I am putting it on my list of things to complain about when I am one hundred and sixty year old and have no teeth. This is walking to school in the snow, uphills both ways...barefoot...naked.

Uploading, first to one site and then another, just in case something should go awry. Little did I know that awry was exactly what it had in mind! The first site was keen to calculate how long I would be on the edge of my seat for, waiting for transfer. The time counts up and down, down and up as it calculates your fate and you chew your nails waiting to see just how long it will take to upload. It counts up, 8 hours 'Oh, my life is over' and the down 1 hour 'Im going to live!' and then 1 hour and a half 'Dah! Cutting it close my friend'. It turns out, the timer comes from some other world where minutes are not 60 seconds because after 10 Earth minutes, the timer moves only 2. You wonder if the people who run these sites simply put the timer there to lure you into a false sense of security after having conducted market research on the number of their customers who throw their computer out of multi story windows while waiting in fruitless endlessness for completion.

 All the while I'm thinking 'Why is today not yesterday? Then it wouldn't be tomorrow already'...confused?....very.

And so the first file uploaded just before the deadline....and had a mental breakdown. Queue, the honorable and most distinguished second file! The second file uploaded around the deadline and did not like the cultural differences between America and Australia. It should check out China and have a melt down then. Ah ha! Was it not lucky that I started a third stealthy file then? huh? huh? Why so much repetition? The internet must be munching away on data purely because of duplication! So by my midnight, after 2 phone calls to tomorrow, 4 computers doing my bidding and 1 reluctant assistant, my video was uploaded, functioning or not, to 5 places and in 2 different file types! Success!?!

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Outside Philly

Update:

I am in Philly and it is lovely! I am working on my video for the competition. I am editing and longing to be outside in the perfect weather! I'm at Ian's parents place in the countryside-ish and it is beautiful! From where I am sitting I can see tress swaying in the breeze and dappled lighting. Tomorrow, Ian's friends are coming out to visit and we are going to have a bbq I guess. Next week we are going to explore Philly. Camping is planned after that and at the end of the month we are making our way towards California...not sure how we are getting there right now =) I have to go research what I am supposed to be putting in my script for my video! 

Photos soon!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Rockin' the suburbs or are they rocking' me?

Okay, two weeks on and I am getting a little worn down. Believe it or not, the euphoria of suburbia has subsided and I am now plotting my escape...or the demise of one (or many?) of my cute and oh so furry but high maintenance four legged 'friends'. I use the term 'friend' loosely as friends tend not to vomit on your table, keep you up at night scratching and barking at your door or crap in your kitchen. At least I refrain from doing those things to ensure my friends are the kind of high calibre people I want to hang with.

I have decided that ten animals, whether finned or furry is probably equivalent to 2 or more children. Parents, I am not sure you would agree but hear me out. Everytime you turn around someone wants something. If you feed everyone, all 10 mouths there's extra things, like helping with math homework and books before bed.

Old Cat likes water to be turned on for him to drink in the bath tub. He lets you know by letting out a deafening yodel, deafening is ironic as he is deaf and hence the decibels of yodel. Tiny Cat also likes water lapped dainty from the drain but rarely coordinates with Old Cat possibly due to his bad attitude so if you're in the bathroom chances are something is thirsty in there with you! And is letting you know about it. In the bathroom you will also undoubtedly have the company of Epileptic Dog who is man's best friend in a similar way to an inability to remove glitter after crafting. She follows you everywhere, yes even to the loo. She is constantly in the way when you go to the door to to open a cupboard and you just feel guilty when you get mad at her for it for she is just so damn happy, even when you step on her toes as she is right behind you, right behind you. Don't turn around! Garage Cat needs cuddling as he is looking for a home elsewhere. Perfect I'd say expect my Mother likes him. Nervous dog whines all the time, shakes in thunderstorms and requires lifting onto beds and couches in addition to comfort during storms. Rats need changing and exotic foods and handling if there is extra time.  

It's kinda like this:

'Hey, could you do my a favour get me some dog biscuits out of the cupboard? That'd be amazing and I'd love you for it! I would! I would!'
'Yeah, sure'

'Hey, could you do my a favour...etc'
'No problem'


'Hey, could you do my a favour...etc'
'Yep'


'Hey, could you do my a favour...etc'
'Uhuh'


'Hey, could you do my a favour...etc'
'Here ya go.'


'Hey, could you do my a favour...etc'
'Yeah, yeah, yeah...'


'Hey, could you do my a favour...etc'
'Seriously?'


'Hey, could you do my a favour...etc'
'GO GET THEM YOURSELF!'


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

I always like to be part of a project

...however big or small =)

I was contacted by a girl on Couch Surfing. This a present for her sister who is 'fond of foreign languages'. Her birthday is in June and she is from Pavlodar in Kazakhstan. What a wonderful world we live at times.





I will be added to the collection here

Monday, April 09, 2012

Friday, April 06, 2012

Welcome to Animania!

'I'm Rocking the suburbs...just like Michael Jackson did...'

See Mum, that painter is here =) he's nice.


Happy Happy Animals!

Goodnight! ahh!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Crafternoon, Sat March 24th with Recycled Fabric PILOT


Dear Friends,


I am super excited to invite you to my Pilot for my 'Sustainable
Textiles Social Enterprise' called ReFab It! What a mouthful! What IS
that you say? Read on good people!


WHO: You! Happy friends! Enthusiasts and Experts!


WHAT:
A crafternoon focusing on textiles! Come along to make things out of
recycled fabrics. I will supply materials and LUNCH! The venue has
sewing machines as well as odds and ends to aid us in creating
wonderful things out of reclaimed materials. The aim is to show what
we can create! Share skills and knowledge! The reason why this is a
pilot is that I am applying for funding to turn this into an
organization! Think CERES Bike Shed but for Fabric! YAY!


WHEN:
This Saturday, March 24th! Come anytime from 10am-6pm!


WHERE:
Loophole Community Centre, 670 High St in Thornbury


WHY:
for fun, for learning, for creativity, for the environment, for
networking with crafters, for community, for the pilot and beyond!


BRING:
-a sewing machine (and things that go with it like thread) if you have access
-unwanted fabrics/clothes (you or someone else can re-fab them!)
-a sewing/fabric project you are working on
-IDEAS (never fear, I have some too!)


Sign up to the event and please come if you RSVP as I will need to
know numbers for lunch!


Cara


DIRECTIONS:
-Tram 86 (leaves from Southern Cross, Bourke St Mall & Parliament) and
goes right up High St. Get off at Normanby/Clarendon St and it is a 2
min walk to Loophole.
-TRAINS: Loophole is between Croxton and Thornbury train stations on
the Epping Line. From there it is probably a 10-15min walk.


Loophole:
http://loopholecommunitycentre.org/
Tram 86:
http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/route/view/1881
Similar organizations, CERES:
http://www.thebikeshed.org.au/


MORE INFO:
Australia is a high producer of waste when compared to other developed
economies. It is currently estimated that un-recovered textile waste
accounts for approximately 4% of the content in our landfills- that's
a needless 4%! The waste generated and its negative effects on the
environment concern government, industry and the community. Recovering
textile waste is a multi-billion dollar global industry that performs
a vital social and environmental function.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

the world is an amazing place =)

'We've got to let go of this idea of an ideal world. The world is how you perceive it, it's ideal if you want it to be ideal. And they're in love, surely love is the ideal. And I want a bottle of champagne.'
-Simon Amstell