Tomorrow is Australia Day. "What are you doing for Australia Day?" everyone has been asking. At the supermarket, Australian flags abound and in the meat section, that annoying lamb man (I refuse to write his name) has his signs plastered everywhere about how Australian it is to eat Lamb on Australia day.
I love my country, and I appreciate the day of work but I don't agree with Australia Day. This is a day that commemorates the day that Australia was entered by the English who declared it empty, despite the people living here. Because of course, they did not count people of colour as people (the original survey only had flora and fauna).
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So what I am doing tomorrow is cleaning. I'm not having a party; are you kidding? Chinese New Year is next week! We're going shopping for supplies and then I'm tackling my room and my bathroom. I might even fit in a vacuum! Okay, maybe the vacuum will happen this weekend.
Chinese New Year will involve many people coming to our house, having to clean frantically after the ones on CNYE leave (I hope they realise that we're kicking them out at 11pm this year, no repeats of frantically vacuuming and mopping the house at 11:40pm like last year)
It involves special food, beautiful decorations, family, avoiding wearing the colour black. It also involves not cleaning on the first day (technically it's sweeping) as you don't want to sweep away all your good luck. Oranges, love letters, the white biscuits with the red eyes. The loud chatter of the crowd of friends, the music playing in the background.
CNY is a full sensory experience. It has always been one of my favourite holidays. I might not get a public holiday for it (although I usually take the day off work) but it means a lot to me.
Also! I hope to catch at least one Lion Dance. Last year one of my favourite restaurants Tak Chee had two wind their way through the close confines of the shop. So in addition to excellent food, we got entertainment! Yes!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Some Blogs I've Been Reading (When I'm Supposed To Be Writing)
I'm struggling with a post at the moment. Probably I'm going to have to wait a week before I look at it again. Who knows, it might not even get revised before I post it. I have however been reading a number of blogs and tumblrs.
The Hairpin: Awesomeness. A general interest blog with an emphasis on women and feminism. Also, hilarity. I exercised yesterday, followed by about four hours of laughing that gave me sore abs today. Just so you know :P
Reasoning with Vampires: One person's attempt to make the Twilight books more palatable :D Her comments are so funny. So are the comments of the people who wish to be offended by her endeavour.
Hoyden About Town: I spend a lot of time here. It's a good space in order to talk about stuff. The links that get posted every few days are also excellent, as they are often things that I find interesting, but would never find myself.
Muslims Wearing Things: Because some people say all Muslims totally dress the same. Actually no, this tumblr reminds people that not all Muslims dress alike.
And yeah, I blogstalk this woman, for no reason other than she is hilarious. Also, she has a very cute baby.
Oh! And Colour Me Katie which I purely visit for all the pretty Photos. It is the Blog of Katie Sokoler who is very interesting and is a freelance photographer (and actress and very creative person).
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Yesterday I saw a rather racist video from the 1994 Barbie Party where they went to "Australia", and there was an American with a terrible Australian accent wearing what most people probably think of as Steve Irwin clothes and an cork hat, and all the other actors were dancing in bikinis and boardshorts at the "beach". It was awful and painful, and I wish I hadn't watched it. But that was 1994. Supposedly people didn't know much about racism, because Australia (and all other countries that were once racist) lost all their racism years ago, with the abolishment of the very terrible policies. Also, all dancing beach bunnies were fair skinned wiht light hair.
The Hairpin: Awesomeness. A general interest blog with an emphasis on women and feminism. Also, hilarity. I exercised yesterday, followed by about four hours of laughing that gave me sore abs today. Just so you know :P
Reasoning with Vampires: One person's attempt to make the Twilight books more palatable :D Her comments are so funny. So are the comments of the people who wish to be offended by her endeavour.
Hoyden About Town: I spend a lot of time here. It's a good space in order to talk about stuff. The links that get posted every few days are also excellent, as they are often things that I find interesting, but would never find myself.
Muslims Wearing Things: Because some people say all Muslims totally dress the same. Actually no, this tumblr reminds people that not all Muslims dress alike.
And yeah, I blogstalk this woman, for no reason other than she is hilarious. Also, she has a very cute baby.
Oh! And Colour Me Katie which I purely visit for all the pretty Photos. It is the Blog of Katie Sokoler who is very interesting and is a freelance photographer (and actress and very creative person).
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Yesterday I saw a rather racist video from the 1994 Barbie Party where they went to "Australia", and there was an American with a terrible Australian accent wearing what most people probably think of as Steve Irwin clothes and an cork hat, and all the other actors were dancing in bikinis and boardshorts at the "beach". It was awful and painful, and I wish I hadn't watched it. But that was 1994. Supposedly people didn't know much about racism, because Australia (and all other countries that were once racist) lost all their racism years ago, with the abolishment of the very terrible policies. Also, all dancing beach bunnies were fair skinned wiht light hair.
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