Hand me my time machine

Apparently my life now was an event 8 years in the making. And here's the proof.

An email from my cousin arrived today, containing an email attachment of something that I had sent to her in 2002. She sent it as a reminder of what I set out to achieve as a spritely university student, probably bored out of my brains from studying and just daydreaming.

I thought I was going to finish university that year (I didn't), I thought I was going to be single forever (I wasn't), and in true Rani style, I wasn't too eager to join the commercial world, and get my foot in the door, but thought I would test the waters anyway. (Little chance of getting a graduate position if you didn't even know that Logistics management was a profession - Sheesh, how dumb can you get!).

Presenting you with excerpts from an email written by a 20 year old Rani;



From: Rani
To: Family members overseas
Sent: Wed, 26 June, 2002 2:18:02 PM
Subject: Hello hello!



Howdy (family),

i hope you are all well....and that you are all safe and happy....

well, i am in the midst of the dreaded exam season, and i have a few more exams to sit...
it has been a bit hard juggling working and studying, but i hope that in the end everything will turn out okay...it's been a tough year so far in all repects....

for those of you who i have just started writing to, i have been a busy little bee in the last six months or so.

... my birthday last week...I went to the Radisson Playford hotel for a 4 course dinner with my friends, and we went out dancing after that. It was a nice evening, however, a little strange to think that i am already 20 years old!! Oh no!! Does that mean that i have to be responsible now? In ten years i will be 30 years old........where has my youth gone? Hah hah hah.

Apart from that i have been busy trying to figure out what i will do next year...applying for graduate jobs around the nation, but i have been unsuccessful so far....i have applied to work for southcorp wines ( the biggest wine company in australia) but i don't think i will a position as it requires a degree in logistics management and i didn't even know there was such a thing. Also i have applied to a publishing firm in melbourne, and Vodafone mobile network, and various other places. I am not too fussed about getting a job next year so soon now because i still have six months to go in my degree....

....Unfortunately i would love to come Bali later this year to meet up with some of you, but can not. I would like to go back to indonesia next year though. I was thinking about going to Indo -> England -> Germany -> Netherlands-> and then America next year from June onwards and then doing some work in America on a graduate j1 visa. But you know, i have to pass my exams first off before i can do anything.

Righty-o, i should go now and study some more. So long and farewell....take care and email me soon all of you!!!


Lots of Love,
Rani Bunny

A Lomo Diary, reel 3 - An animator and his wanderer (Sverre Frederikson's studio)

Click on image for larger view

Double Exposure: The wooden set and the camera - Svrrmajson stop-motion studio, Amsterdam

The craft and cutting table - Svrrmajson stop-motion studio, Amsterdam

Lights, camera, stop-motion! - Svrrmajson stop-motion studio, Amsterdam

Double Exposure: Storyboards and Wanderer close up carving - Sverrmajson Stop-motion studio, Amsterdam

The craft and cutting table - Svrrmajson stop-motion studio, Amsterdam

The Wanderer from 4 perspectives - Svrrmajson stop-motion studio, Amsterdam

A Lomo Diary, Reel 2 - Amsterdam in May (A contrast study in beauty and filth)

Click on image for larger view

Acension Day (Public Holiday) - Korte Leidsedwarstraat, Amsterdam, facing North

The impact of the Cleaners strike - Korte Leidsedwarstraat, Amsterdam

It's all organic - Overtoom, Amsterdam




Spiegelgracht, Amsterdam




Spiegelgracht, Amsterdam




Canal bridge flower boxes - Spiegelgracht, Amsterdam




These flowers get the best view every day - Spiegelgracht, Amsterdam

A Lomo Diary, Reel 1 - Amsterdam's first Underground Boeren Markt

Click on image for larger view

Arrival - Underground Boeren Markt, Amsterdam

Chinese newspapers and Oolong tea - Underground Boeren Markt, Amsterdam

The tea stall - Underground Boeren Markt, Amsterdam

Friands? - Underground Boeren Markt, Amsterdam

For ten euros, a hen is all yours - Underground Boeren Markt, Amsterdam

Beautifully styled food, brought from Hoorn - Underground Boeren Markt, Amsterdam

Cute tea cosies - Underground Boeren Markt, Amsterdam

The final edit of Sverre's music video - Tim Knol "When I am King"

Tim Knol - When I Am King from SubmarineChannel on Vimeo.

You can quote me on this

"It only takes one leap of faith to change everything, forever."

You can leap a thousand times or just once, either with doubt, or with certainty. No matter what motivates your decision to jump, you end up doing it because despite whether the odds are against you or in your favour, you inherently have the faith - in yourself, and in what the universe has given you - that you are just doing what what needs to be done. And somewhere within you, there lies the certainty that you will survive, no matter where you land.

The reason it's Y O U R name up in lights

"Don't give the crowd what they want.

If they knew what they wanted,

they'd be on stage.

Not you."

- www.iwrotethisforyou.me

The creative momentum continues

My friend Sverre has spent 6 weeks in studio seclusion, working on still motion animation of a music video for an up and coming dutch artist, Tim Knol.

Last Thursday was (another) public holiday, and I went to visit him at the studio, to congratulate him and check out what he's been up to.

His studio was littered with tiny little wooden men and horses, and amongst it all, a makeshift timber village set with a camera infront of it, dominated the area. I brought my Lomo camera with me, and will publish some photos of his studio when I get them developed.

I got to see the end product, and it was mind blowing. I watched the music video about 4-5 times, because it was just so phenomenal to be in the artist's studio, with the animation artist, watching the end product of his endless toiling.

One of his friends made a short "behind the scenes" clip which features Sverre hard at work. Watch below. When the music video comes out, I hope you get an idea of why Sverre has gone into hibernation for a few weeks, to sleep.

Making Of Tim Knol's "When I Am King" music video from SubmarineChannel on Vimeo.

Creativity breeds creativity

" Bye Bye Ego - Hello Soul"

- Selwyn

I was truly in my element this weekend.

After a splendid Friday night staying in and watching the hit musical TV show "Glee" on my computer for most part of the night, I woke up on Saturday morning, singing show tunes.

Every episode of "Glee" is a 42 minute dose of of pure pixelated, high definition ecstacy, sending my absurd dramatic side into overdrive, making me want to leap on couches, and spiral into a never ending delusional state, momentarily living the 'high school' musical dream.

It's witty script, intricate storyline with plenty of depth, fantastic characters and surprising choices of songs to emphasise the story lines make my day, including songs from the corny feel good 80's, and the "wow, i totally forgot about that song" 90's classics from Bel Biv Devoe and Color me Bad, to current hits(a little overdone with the overly produced and synthesised singing, but I'm willing to overlook it.)

I am also totally in love with Mr Schuester.

After a quick hit of some "Glee" in the morning on Saturday, I went and had breakfast with Leon in a cafe called "Latei" on a street called Zeedijk, home to Amsterdam's China town. We arrived to a Buddhist temple procession proceeding down the street, complete with Lion Dancers and, drummers.

Dang,I didn't bring my camera. Another missed Kodak moment. It has become apparent that my camera must be brought with me on all ocassions over the summer, as a lot more happens at this time of the year. A quick breakfast, and then Leon and I went to the World Press Photo Exhibition, a comprehensive gallery showing of the best of photojournalism from around the globe, held in Oude Kerk, a church in the redlight district.

Held in the church annually in Amsterdam, this travelling exhibition is also sponsored by my office annually. The first part of the exhibition was exceptionally confronting but particularly gripping, with images taken at various conflicts happening around the globe. Images that stood out for me include the scene where a politician was gunned down and his dead body sliced up with a machete by militants, and also the image of a dead girl's head poking out of rubble from an Earthquake. In fact, there wasn't a single photo that didn't make make an impression on me, and it made me particularly aware of the fact that I don't pay enough attention to what's going on in the world.

Thankfully, lighter images of human interest, and even joy, were further along in the exhibition.
The church that hosts the exhibition itself was pretty old, dating back from the 13th-14th century, and is beautiful, with tall (3o metre high?) stained glass windows depicting the creation of Amsterdam from the Roman ages. A serene location for a sobering exhibition.

On Sunday, Pia and I went out to search for the first Underground Farmer's markets of Amsterdam. You can read more her version of our day here, in her blog, complete with photos.

I met Pia at her houseboat, and we had a quick cup of tea before checking the twitter page of the Food trend analyst, Marjan Ippel, (who has become my latest source of inspiration), where all the clues were for the location of this cool event.

We cycled downtown, where we found the location with relative ease, in the spare room of Selwyn's studio, a contemporary Italian/Dutch Artist (Hello, source of inspiration number 2 for the day! Love his work!) . I had the smarts to take my Lomo camera with me to this time, and we were absoutely thrilled with what greeted us as we landed on the second story of this building.

We walked through a buzzing hive of stalls; a morrocan high tea corner , a meat producer's corner complete with little hens and a rooster that was getting antsy, a gentlemen selling home made pies, a Korean stall selling some uber spicy chilli oil and kim chi, an asian tea corner (shout out to my sister who would have loved the green tea tira misu - and no, i didn't try it, you know I am not a fan of green tea derived foodstuffs), cupcakes stall, hand made truffles, a lady selling nettle leaves and other wild leaves and flowers to include in salads etc, an American cupcake stall , and a stall that I pretty much had to walk away from upon landing right right infront of it - a used cook book stall. From her private collection, this stallholder was selling HUNDREDs of dutch and english cookbooks, and these were just the ones she wasn't interested in.

We tried to sample at least one thing from every stall, and ended up very full and very happy as we left. (Lomo photos to come.)

We moved on to the American Book Centre, a trendy english language book centre in the middle of the city, where we measured the front windows for Pia's book display, and then we went to Staalstraat, a little street tucked away between the Red Light District and Waterlooplein, to one of Pia's favourite delicatessans to pick up some brownies and almond cookies for some afternoon tea back on the boat.

I was totally spoilt for inspiration this weekend. What will I do with all this inspiration?

Something is forming, but I am not sure what. Ideas are bubbling in this little cauldron of possibilities in my head, and that's all I want to say for now.

For whom the (school) bell tolls

Time Out Amsterdam magazine is running a cultural journalism class and I'm enrolled!

Starts next Tuesday night! Taught by Nina Siegal, the editor at the magazine, it's 6 weeks of classes on reviews, feature writing, reporting styles, and interviewing techniques, with assignments every week.

Watch this space.

Kudos to me

Tuesday 11th May, 19:03pm

I find myself at the beginning of a 15-20 minute cycling journey on Laura's mountain bike, in 6 degree weather, with the wind blowing a gale, and fat, blobby rain hammering my whole body, as I try to get from my house in the West to a restaurant in the North.

I have been advised that it has no sign, no buses get there, nor trams, and it is is only distinguishable by it's admirable architecture, as it is built on stilts over the River Ij.

I am wearing a little black dress, stockings and high heels, a scarf and my paddington bear coat.

I am also, running very late for this four course dinner with a bunch of strangers, that was supposed to commence at 7pm.

If I'm not giving it everything I've got to put myself out there in this city and make it work, I don't know what you would call this.

Next week's Underground ... (Insert appropriate word here)

Underground...dance event?

Underground ... rave?

Underground swingers party?

Nope, nope, nope.

Next Sunday, I am going to Amsterdam's first Underground ....Farmer's market.

Yup.

I need to follow the clues on twitter to work out where it's going to be held and then I'll be making my way there with basket and a pocketful of euros and my camera, to experience the edgy, unknown, secret world of ... the farmer.

Amsterdam, you just keep blowing my socks off.

Saturday Inspiration

A lot of "once in a lifetime" opportunities have been thrown at me since I have been living in Amsterdam, and I feel very fortunate to have experienced so much.

It seems like I always got everything I needed, even though they were not always things I wanted. The universe works in quirky ways.

Some people that I met here 9 months ago have been overwhelmingly hospitable, and have been kind in offering me their worldly take on things, advice, shoulders to cry on, ears to listen to random stories and to help work things out, invitations to interesting events, and even sanctuaries to live in. Most of all, I have been mostly grateful to have some really genuine, lovely people in my life here, who didn't know me from a bar of soap but have opened up their hearts and lives to me, and let me in.

Other people that I met here over the 9 months I've been here, have faded as quickly as they appeared in my life, and no doubt, for good reason. I am actually very okay with this, as deep down, I knew that they were not going to stick around for very long.

Fortunately for me, my friend Pia falls into the former category. She is talented, kind, inspiring, and ultimately, very very giving.

She has continued to give to me in ways that she can (including offering to take me on styling shoots, and giving me the experience of a lifetime by asking me to housesit her houseboat while she was back in Australia for Christmas.)

She has now asked me to help her with the book launch of her second book; "Amsterdam: Made by Hand", and on Saturday, we cycled along the canals and I kept her company as she distributed book launch invitations to the artisans, store owners, and designers that feature in her book.

As expected, I had a great time with her, and not even the damp weather could bring me down. We peddled around, weaving around canals, canal bridges and little laneways, chatting as we cycled, stopping by markets to peer at vintage Christian Dior spectacle frames, plump ripe eggplants, and sundried tomato and feta muffins, then hopping back on our bikes to glide by churches with steeples that glistened against the dark clouds, I felt overwhelmingly consumed with a sense that I was experiencing something that money just can not buy. Even the Amsterdam grey and chill seemed to be quite fitting for what was one of my best days in Amsterdam yet.

Pia took me to no less than 10 stores that feature in her book and I met all the owners and designers personally, and standing in their stores, talking to them about their work and their reactions to viewing the advance copy of Pia's book, felt amazing.

It was Amsterdam from a whole other perspective, and it made me see what I had been blind to for so long, and made me realise and learn so much.

This city has a million treasures that I have yet to discover, more faces and more importantly, more fascinating stories behind faces that I still need to get to know, and I need to get out more on the weekends, and just wander, because I have been given the opportunity to LIVE in a city and get underneath it's skin, when some people can only have the chance to experience this jewel of the world for a day or two and see a few streets and a few bars.

I need to stop living life with my "sleep-eat-work-drink-exist" mode on and switch the button to "Wake up, breathe in the air, and LIVE".

Secondly, meeting all these talented furniture restorers, jewellers, designers, craftspeople, milliners, ceramic curators inbedded a stronger will to be more creative, and be braver in pursuing what I want to do in life. Some of them were humble, eccentric, quiet, confident, outgoing, but they all had one thing in common: they are passionate contributors to making this city what it is - A world class creative city. And all because they had a dream, believed in it, and have become part of this city's creative landscape. Most of them are not just contributors, but in themselves, are fixtures in the city's creative landscape.

We finished the day with pancakes in the nine canal district. (Banana, chilli, bacon pancakes!)

Pia had no reason talk to me, let alone trust me, or even meet me when a mutual friend set us up for an introduction from London, and she has given me one of the best things you can give another person: inspiration, and it is one of the most precious gifts of all when you're making your way without a compass, or stuck in a cycle of monotony.

Pia has also asked me to help her make some window displays to be featured in bookstores around Amsterdam, and I can't wait to get my hands dirty and help her out.

Her blog, called "Enhance the everyday", is pretty phenomenal, just like her, and I know it's corny, but the private tour I had with her on Saturday afternoon made me see that I can enhance every one of my days.

Check out some press she's been getting for her new book here.

Isn't this the way the bubonic plague started?

Amsterdam Garbage collecters are on strike. Again.

It's ridiculous, the streets are filthy, and it's really starting to grate me. I pay taxes (Boy, do I pay taxes. Most expats that are on secondment here get something called the 30% tax ruling, and because I am a local hire, I don't get it. But because I am a foreigner, I don't get local pay advantages either, like 8% holiday bonus - an additional 8% on top of your annual wage, paid in one lump sum, in June every year, to spend on holidays, or whatever. I am getting majorly shafted.) Anyway, as I said, I pay taxes. I want clean streets.

It's probably why my bike has a flat at the moment, from running over some glass or something sharp.

It was like when Centraal Station cleaners went on strike and it got to the point where the tiles on the floor of the station were just black and sticky, and the recorded message that looped every half hour was more a droning announcement for the masses,rather than a message of apology. As if they couldn't work out that a cleaners strike was in place, from the eyesore and the stench around them.

As a result of all this hard lying around (hard rubbish is a weekly event!!!).My flatmate and I spontaneously decided to go for a little reconnaissance around the neighborhood, looking to see what the dutch masses were disposing of, and if it could be of any use to us at home.

"This is well pikey behaviour, innit?" he mused, as we were sifting through some wood lying on the street and looking at some old beer crates. He's a keen gardener, and has we have an urban garden patch at our house, on our window sills, and on his balcony. We were looking for some wood planks so he could build plant boxes for his new seedlings. He's currently growing some capsicum, tomatoes, strawberries, potatoes, beans, figs, olives, rosemary, and loads of other stuff all around our apartment, and he's grown most of them from seeds off the cutting board from vegies and things he's bought from the supermarket.

He was looking for some wood to make growing boxes out of, and I was just going for moral support.

I water the plants when he's away, and I really like doing it, and watching them grow. Having the vegetables around the apartment makes me feel a bit more zen, and more in tune with nature, and I almost feel more nurturing. Since I have only lived in apartments since I got to Europe, it has occurred to me more often that I often feel out of balance with nature, since I have no yard to get out to, and at best, balconies to get fresh air. I don't even leave the office to buy lunch, I just walk to to the next floor to the cafeteria which is so stifling.

I guess that's why Europeans love getting out to the parks so much - enjoy the sunshine, and feel the grass, and take in the fresh air.

I fear I'm becoming a Hippy.

Random Weekend trophies

I didn't really see my flatmate all weekend since he spent the whole time at his girlfriend's place, and last night he came home with:

- An axe
- An ice cream scoop
- A bicycle lock
- A spanner

All impulse purchases while he was waiting for his girlfriend somewhere.

Did you hear the one about the Dutch and the Belgians?

I went out with my flatmate and his girlfriend, and another one of his friend's on Friday night.

I thought it was quite appropriate really since the weather was just so splendid. For the last week, Mother Nature just spontaneously decided to forgo any more continuous bouts of sunshine, and just went back to being.....well, normal actually. As always, continuous precipitation makes for such great atmosphere, so it was a great night for a few beverages. Yep, there's nothing I love more than getting out and about on a drizzly, damp night. Walking, cycling. It's a joy. It makes for an even better start to the weekend.

We met at his girlfriend's house, in the East.

Totally different side of town. Sometimes I can't believe how different the areas in Amsterdam are. Such a small city but so diverse. A couple of well known bars out there (Studio K is one we stopped past but it was sort of dead, so we moved on to Hotel Arena.), but I never really spent much time there, even though I lived a short stone's throw from there previously.

After a few drinks, we thought we would check out the night scene in the East side. It made me remember why I don't go clubbing.

I went to, nee, I PAID entry to attend a...(wait for it)...(cringe)....90's night. A European nineties night at that. I feel like I should divulge how much the entry fee was, but I feel doing so would actually make you choke in laughter, and that wouldn't be fair. What was I thinking? .... No, really. What, may I ask you, was I thinking?!

You know the songs;

"Sing Alleluia."
"Boom shake shake shake the room."
"Angels"

...

Then... the Euro dance trash onslaught. Sweet Lord, What was I thinking?

You know what was also great? Being so small to Dutch people, that when you get an over enthusiastic bunch of giant dutch dudes dancing (read: jumping around and sort of moving their arms simultaneously) right next to you, they don't even see you. And you get knocked about a bit. Love that.

But it wasn't all bad. I love a bit of people watching and it was good to get to know my flatmate and meet people in his life.

However, the pinnacle of the night was when I overheard this little slice of cultural insight out in the courtyard:

Dutch chick:.. so you know the thing about the Dutch and the Belgians, right?
Dude of unknown origin, but not European, I think: No, no, tell me!
Dutch chick: Well, Dutch people joke that Belgians are dumb, and the Belgians joke that the Dutch are tight with money.
Dude: really?
Dutch chick:Yes, because the Belgians speak dutch with a sort of farmer's accent, and the Dutch are the inspiration for that saying "Going dutch" to split the bill.

I love a good little friendly competition between neighbouring countries.

Bike Flat #2

I am pissed off. I just spent money about one month ago getting that bike fixed.
I need to learn how to fix a flat tyre.

Remembrance Day and Apeldoorn syndrome

Since I can't read dutch that well (and admittedly, don't go out of my way to peer at news headlines) or understand the "heel snel" newsreaders on tv ( admittedly, I don't go out of my way to watch the daily 8pm news here either... yes, 8pm news.) I usually have no idea what's going on in The Netherlands.

A double edged sword really. Ignorance really can be bliss.

So, imagine my surprise when I walked into the office yesterday and my colleague told me that there was a big drama on Tuesday night, in Dam square ( the main central square) infront of the war memorial monument, during the ceremony where the Royal family commemorate the Dutch war heros.

"There was a ceremony on Tuesday night? How can I live in this city and not know these things?"

Thinking, thinking, thinking....

Where was I? Oh yes, on the tram home past Dam square wondering why there was a lot of security surrounding it. Duh.

May 4th is the Dutch remembrance day, and May 5th is Liberation day.

On the Tuesday night before Liberation day, the dutch do their 2 minutes silence (double the respect the Australians give their war heroes?) and Queen Beatrix lays a wreath in Dam Square.

During the 2 minutes silence, a "drunken tramp" (using the Media's words) started screaming because he couldn't find his bike (?!) , startling the crowd, making someone drop a suitcase, and making a crowd fence barrier fall, which the crowd confused with the sound of gunshots and consequently causing a mass stampede of chaos. Another version claims the drunk man was talking on his phone and when someone told him to shut up, he started screaming, and the suitcase fell, and someone called out "Bomb, Bomb!"

Since the public asassination of Theo van Gogh, the film maker and Vincent's grandson, and also since there was an attempted attack on the Dutch Royal family at last year's Queen's day celebrations in the town of Appeldorn, there has been an underlying air of hypersensitivity at public events here, it seems.

The instinct to panic at large scale public events where the Royal family are present has been deemed as "Appeldorn syndrome".

Watch the events that unfolded below. And I had no idea that this all happened. Until 48 hours later.

Cut-astrophe

I went to the hair dresser last night to get the back of my hair fixed.

I loved the cut Laura gave me but it needed a little tidy. I walked out with a completely different cut, and i feel like a model from a pantene shampoo commercial. The new cut is way too 'pretty', and overly styled and it just ain't me. I cringe everytime I look in the mirror - I have no idea who the girl is looking back at me, but she just looks awkward, and annoyed.

The question is, do I look at fixing it at another salon, or getting Laura to look at it again or wait til it grows out a bit? Deep questions I know, but we all have to ask ourselves the things that matter sometimes.

Do you know this girl??

I feel like I am just getting to know her.

Why did she take so long to appear¿

Liberation day, the only public holiday I've ever heard of that occurs everyy 5 years... and it's been years since my hair was this short.

Liberation Day

Liberated from my old hair

Public holidays make for creative days....

It starts with me... and you....

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

Rhyming for Queen B