recent reads || june

I HAVEN'T WRITTEN ONE OF THESE TYPES OF POSTS SINCE FEBRUARY?! WHAAA

Oh well... let's get cracking! You know the drill- I read some books and ramble on about them, you take my rubbish advice and move on. LET'S GO!

Lord of the Flies by William Golding ★★★★☆
Judy's already chatted about this one, seeing as we both studied it at school, so I won't go on about it because I've had enough of hearing the words 'savage' and 'evil' and 'deserted island' for a long time. I'll just leave you with an interesting story- we had to write an essay analysing something to do with the novel (forgot the topic). Instead of analysing the story, I started analysing life itself, and therefore got a bad mark for being "too philosophical" (scribbled the English teacher in the margin)!!! D:

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka ★★★☆☆
This is a story of a man turning into a 'vermin' (the translation is puzzled over whether that means insect or something else, as the German original says “ungeheueres Ungeziefer,” which literally means 'unclean animal not suitable for sacrifice.' :O. I took it to mean cockroach). The teacher however offered her own opinion on the story, where she suggested the man was actually so fed up with his life that he had gone insane and believed he was a cockroach while the whole world watched him thinking "what in the world is this guy doing" so now my mind is frazzled and I think I need to read this story again.

Infographic Guide to Literature by Cassell Illustrated ★★★☆☆
This was a pretty cool book with lots of interesting facts and statistics. Possibly the only way to make me look at statistics is through cute pictures and colourful graphs xD

Alaska by Sue Saliba ★★☆☆☆
I don't really remember the story too well of this one, mainly because I read through it pretty quickly and didn't take in much, but I do remember that the story line was slightly weak, and the lack of a single capital letter in the story made me slightly disgruntled, even though I guess it was meant for a poetic or lyrical effect... oh well. Wasn't a big fan, but the cover was pretty :P

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan ★★★★★
WHY DIDN'T I READ THIS SERIES EARLIER?! (okay wait, I can answer that one in one word: laziness xD). I know I'm a little old to be reading this series, but nevertheless it was awesome! It was a little hard to adjust to life without Percabeth and Grover, but I quite like the new people. One of the new main characters Leo has to be my favourite :D

Othello by William Shakespeare ★★★★☆
The storyline for this was weird. I'll wait til we analyse this at school before I formulate a proper opinion.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare ★★★★☆
My English teacher took the liberty to analyse every single line in this play.... don't even dare to mention 'ambition' to me, because I'll whack you with my failed essay on it. No I haven't actually gotten the essay back yet. Yes I am a fortune teller and can predict that I failed.

Dolci di Love by Sarah-Kate Lynch ★★★☆☆
Quite a nice read! It was refreshing to read about the beautiful Italy, but the characters in the story seemed a little weak.

Anne of Green Gables (#1 to #4) by L.M. Montgomery ★★★★★
The first book of this is now one of my all time favourite books! I first read it when I was younger and even after a few years I still love the vivid descriptions, quirky Anne and the beautiful town of Avonlea as much as I did before. The only thing I find strange about these books is that the series is dreadfully long o.O The first book whizzes through Anne's childhood so quickly, but the rest of the books are awfully slow, especially for impatient me! Oh well :)

Wonder by R.J. Palacio ★★★★☆
I loved this book! The main character, August, was born with a facial disorder which often leaves strangers shocked and disgusted by his appearance. As he enters school for the very first time, he meets some wonderful and not so wonderful people, and grows so much as a person WAAAH IT'S SO HEARTWARMING :D

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
As this is a current read, I haven't really got much to say, other than that I am tied in opinion. I can see why loads of people hate this book, but I can see why lots of others love it too...

What a long post! What have you been reading lately? Got any recommendations for me? :D

See y'all later!

Lena xx

(less than) 48 questions tag!

HELLOOOO THERE INTERWEBS!

Today we've teamed up to present to you this tag so you can get to know us more. We've both answered the questions, and hopefully you will too :D Oh, and this post is titled 'less than 48 questions' because we, ah, didn't answer all of them, so yeah... have fun reading!

Key:

L - Lena

J - Judy

1. What time did you get up this morning?

L: Around 10-11 am. I'm definitely not a morning person.

J: Probably around 10am… (I’m catching up on sleep shhh)

2. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?  

L: Big Hero 6 with Judy and it was AMAZING 

J: Big Hero 6 with Lena and yep, it was amazing. (Cinema sound effects, yes please.)

3. What is your favourite TV show?

L: GLEE! 

J: The only TV show I regularly watch is Better Homes and Gardens… and the occasional X Factor or SYTYCD...

4. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? 

L: Hmm… I like a whole range of places. I can’t exactly pinpoint where, but definitely some place with a mix of both city and nature. Or Hogwarts. That works too.

J: I don't have a clue at all. There are so many places in the world yet to explore, so before I decide on where I want to live, I would like to visit the place first :)

5. What did you have for breakfast? 

L: I attempted at making a microwave chocolate mug cake, but I put too much cinnamon and sugar so it was more of an overly-sweet-mushy-cinnamon cake…

J: I had cake with pink frosting and sprinkles and a cup of milk tea. *yay*

6. What is your favourite food?

L: Strawberries, or anything sweet. 

J: I like most types of foods, but probably the fries from Mcdonald's or watermelon. Once I start, I don't stop. 

7. Foods you dislike?

L: Bittermelon, carrots, garlic, ginger and shellfish.

J: Beetroot and probably Chinese food gone cold *shivers*

8. Favourite place to eat?  

L: Japanese food places (udon and sushi), or just Asian food places in general. Or froyo shops, if that counts.

J: Cute cafés or just anywhere tbh.

9. Favourite dressing? 

L: Mayonnaise.

J: Like, for salad? Plain salad's good enough for me. 

10. What are your favourite clothes?  

L: Comfy

J: Casual.

L: Same.

11. Where would you visit if you had the chance?  

L: Probably anywhere outside of my own city. I’d love to go around Europe or America, or even just around my own country.

J: ALL AROUND THE WORLD! 

12. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? 

L: Full! Empty just doesn’t make sense in my head… bleurgh my brain hurts thinking about it.

J: I don’t really care tbh. But if I had to choose, then it'll be 1/2 full.

13. Favourite time of day?  

L: Sunset, because it’s just so beautiful :D

J: I like the time around noon (late morning to early afternoon). It makes me happy when the sun's up and about. 

14. Where were you born? 

L and J: In Sydney, Australia. We ride kangaroos to school everyday.

15. What is your favourite sport to watch? 

L: Don't watch it. Actually, now that I think of it, does Dance Moms count? I mean, it's dancing...most of it... xD

J: I don’t watch sport, but if I had to choose, probably tennis or gymnastics.

16. Favourite baby/kids products? 

L: Erm, not exactly sure what this question means, but I guess Lego???

J: Eh?

17. People watcher? 

L: Yes! Random story, but I love playing Sims and sometimes I daydream and watch people walking past me, and just imagine creating them as a sim, and what their life stories would be like. Weird, but oddly fun and inspirational.

J: Yes, I observe from afar. Nah, I'm just kidding. But when I'm super bored I often unconsciously stare and people probably mistaken me for staring at them.

18. Are you a morning or night person? 

L: NIGHT. I'm often in a grumpy mood in the morning.

J: Night person. I can never be fully awake in the morning, and living an hour away from school doesn't help. T_T

19. Do you have any pets?

L: Nope. Wish I had one though, preferably a pug puppy.., because THEY’RE JUST TOO CUTE! *wistful thinking* 

J: I used to have a guinea pig named Guinea and a few generations of goldfish!
L: Wait... generations?! YOU HAD BABY GOLDFISH?!?!?

20. What did you want to be when you were little? 

L: Around the age of 7 I had my heart set on becoming an author and an illustrator. Then I wanted to be a teacher. Now I have no idea.

J: A vet. But I get squeamish around blood and operations so… (If we're watching documentaries in science about bodily organs I stare at my pencil case and wait till the scene passes.)

21. What is your favourite memory?  

L: I have a bunch of happy memories from when I lived near Canberra, Australia. The lifestyle there was quite different to where I live now, and was very relaxed and fun filled.

J: Can't think of an exact one right now ^_^"

22. Are you a cat or dog person

L: Can I say both?!

J: I lean more towards dogs, but both are adorable!

23. Are you married?

L: I would say to my cat, but I don't have one. *forever alone* UPDATE: I HAVE ONE NOW but he's my baby so that wouldn't work out.

J: Non.

24. Always wear your seat belt?  

L: Yes, unless I'm in China and in a taxi. Half of those things don’t even have seatbelts.

J: Yep. Except in China where there are none ^.

25. Been in a car accident?

L: Apart from the odd car scraping, nope.

J: No and hopefully never will be.

26. Any pet peeves?

L: When people copy my work at school, or when people make assumptions about me. For some reason, I find that happening to me a lot. Oh, and the process of commenting on blogs. Captcha, entering URL's and all that is so annoying T_T

J: People who blame anything but themselves for their failure, when people lick their fingers and loud chewers - please close your mouth and chew quietly... 

27. Favourite pizza toppings?

L: I'm pretty much fine with anything, as long as it isn't a) too spicy b) too many vegetables c) has plenty of tomato and/or barbecue sauce.

J: I'm loving Margherita pizza right now!

28. Favourite flower?

L: Once upon a time, I would have said frangipani, but now I reckon I like all of them. Or at least anything that's colourful.

J: When I was a kid, I used to be obsessed with water lilies/lotuses and hydrangea, but I love them all the same now! (◡‿◡✿)

29. Favourite ice cream?

L: Ooh this is hard… strawberry, cookies and cream, or honeycomb. 

J: I think I've only tried a few kinds of ice cream flavours, so probably cookies and cream or matcha (green tea)!

30. Favourite fast food restaurant?

L: KFC. Or Maccas. But KFC… I dunno :3 Or Chinese takeaway if that counts. xD

J: Mcdonalds... 

31. From whom did you get your last email?

L: *goes and checks* From Facebook. But if you’re talking not from an automated machine, it would either be my dad or a second cousin (who I really need to reply to, now that I think of it!)

J: My last email was from Pinterest... and I deleted it hehe.

32. Do anything spontaneous lately?

L: I made pancakes yesterday by myself, for the very first time!

J: Nope. I live a very boring life. 

33. Like your job?

L: I guess so, I mean, it’s non existent.

J: I kind of wish I had one, but I don't. So yeah... I guess...

34. Broccoli?

L: Sure.

J: Yep. I don’t understand why people hate it ._.

35. What was your favourite vacation?

L: Staying in Germany for a month in the summer (their winter) of 2013-14.

J: The only place I go on vacation to is China… so… that time I went to China?

36. Last person you went out to dinner with? 

L: Probably some family friend from a couple weeks ago in Hong Kong.

J: I mostly eat dinner at home but probably with my family… some time ago...

37. What are you listening to right now?

L: The beautiful melody of the breeze flowing, and the annoying tappity tap of my keyboard through my right ear, and Elastic Heart by Sia in the other ear.

J: Ed Sheeran's album, Multiply. Too good. 

38. What is your favourite colour?

L: Purple, or anything pastel.

J: Orange. Yaaaayyyyy!

39. How many tattoos do you have?

L: Zilch.

J: Ten. Just kidding.

L: She's not.

40. Coffee drinker?

L: Nah. The only two times I've had a proper coffee drink (both at Starbucks) I've gotten a massive headache afterwards. I'm more of a tea person.

J: Not yet, but I have tried a crème brulee and it tasted great! I do like coffee flavoured things like biscuits too.

L: Judy's my coffee biscuit rubbish bin.
J: Hey!

WE TAG Y'ALL TO ALSO DO THIS TAG. YES, YOU! THE OWNER OF THE TWO EYEBALLS THAT ARE READING THIS. But mind you, we took a few questions out that neither of us could answer :) Let us know in the comments if when you do it as well, and we'll check it out!

Where we got the tag from (has all the 48 questions): http://doingitwritenow.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/blog-tag-48-questions/

Talk to you all soon,

Judy and Lena :D

VIVID Sydney 2k15

I'm such a sucker for anything colourful and bright.

Aloha everyone!

Every year Sydney has this super cool light festival where creators make the most mesmerising and pretty displays! Here are some shots I got of it when I went to visit.

Martin Place full of people.

The displays in Martin Place weren't the most impressive, but they had a lot of market style food stands!

Was about to walk into this bit but turns out it was an 18+ alcohol zone thing... 

I started laughing when I saw these, mainly because they reminded me a lot of those fried potato twisty kebab things.

Found this little dead end by accident... but those bird cages look amazing!

Walking towards Circular Quay.

Didn't go inside because of the long line, but loved this display :D

Part of the Museum Contemporary Art Lightshow. I love the effect of the light on the ground- looks like water :O

Still inside the MCA. When little kids and adults alike try and make the coolest shadow puppets they can.

Why hello there little kid, thanks for posing for the photograph!

The one thing that annoys me about the MCA is the lack of artist statements/captions on some of their displays... I honestly do not understand half the things in here.

Wish you could see these paintings up close! They were of surreal worlds and fantasies.

This kind of looks like she's pointing her rude finger.

If you trek to the top of the MCA to the fancy bar area, there's a rather uninterrupted view of the harbour. Especially handy to skip the crowds at Vivid.

Piggy :D

Loved how magical this little building looked, and the eclipse animation beside it was also awesome!

I don't normally add filters to my photos, but doesn't this photo remind you a little of a posh little bustling English town centre? Just me? Okay then :P

This epic projection was under a bridge, with a David Attenborough voice over on top of the clips of animals. The only time it's publicly acceptable to sleep and stare at the underside of a bridge.

Found this creepy little staircase on the way to that stretch opposite from Luna Park.

Underneath the world's largest clothes hanger. Oh and hi Luna Park (in the bottom left), you'll forever creep me out and leave me puzzled over who's idea was it to put a giant terrifying face as the entrance of a theme park.

Because real trees are too mainstream.

There was a board at some point with tips on how to take cool photos with a DSLR. One of them was to use long exposure and play with the zoom at the same time. LOVED THE RESULTS!

And yet another blurry photo of the Opera House. I feel like this year most of the lights on the thing had black backgrounds, which wasn't great for cool photos as you couldn't tell what the building was.

Another one of the zoom lense shots. 

My favourite bit of the Opera House sequence... these cute little squid!!!

Advertising at it's finest.

The MCA's display was epic. Sat, watched and attempted to film the whole sequence twice.

Customs House in Circular Quay had one of the best displays... I felt like I was watching a movie because along with amazing animation, there were dramatic sound effects too xD

And in case you want to see some of the displays in action, here's a video!

So how are you today? :) Anything exciting happening where you are? I have a bunch of tests this week, but then we're let off on Winter holidays which is SUPER EXCITING! I'm planning on being very productive and trying lots of new things this holidays :D

See y'all later!

Lena xx