One day i went to drop off some of my ex-boxes, and discovered the Reservoir Tip computer recycling facility. Masses of old rubbishy broken machines, and one smashed up MacBook Pro!!

i thought maybe Tim could use the parts so i surreptitiously grabbed it and drove off. Sure enough, later on that night we took it to pieces, and found the hard drive and the battery were still in working order.

Working enough to find out that somebody had left all their data on the drive. So Tim gets all the data off and then does the decent thing, contacting this person and asking if they need the backup.

Turns out this person, whose identity shall remain secret, had taken the laptop to the shop. The mechanics had said, “Can’t do anything love, it’s broken. Can’t get your data off, but don’t worry we’ll make sure noone else does either.”

What kind of computer shop doesn’t know how to get the information off a working hard drive??

The moral of this story? Don’t trust a computer shop with your data.

And don’t sit on your macbook pro.

It was katie’s birthday, so i spent the whole day making cupcakes with margot. Seriously fun, if slightly nerve-wracking. Turns out mum is the genius when it comes to getting the mixture in the patty pans. She learned from her Aunty Phyl .. back in the day.

And look, here’s the cake backstage at Handsome Steve’s.

Yes i know Katie really wanted a profiterole mountain made out of mini-magnums, but i just couldn’t work out how that would be as much fun.

So tough luck kt you’re stuck with a mountain of cupcakes.

Some serious research before-hand led me to find out that there are dedicated cupcake bloggers out there. That’s right, people who blog about cupcakes and nothing else. take a look at the vietnamese coffee cupcake recipe.

Daryl the lovely minister at Northcote’s heathen / community church, has pulled together a bunch of performers for a big event in support of bushfire sufferers.

• 3-8pm this Sunday 1st March at
• Northcote Uniting in High St.
• Heidi’s choir Expressive Women
• Kavisha Mazella
• Rod Quantock as MC.

$10/15 money goes to uniting church Victorian bushfire appeal.

Daryl says: “Please come and have a great time with us in solidarity with those who have not only lost so much but now contemplate a long physical and emotional rebuilding process.”

(Some moments of reflection involved.)

PS: i caught Heidi’s choir, and they were really good. Heidi sang solo and she was fab. Then Zeena and i fled the choir scene, over to Wesley Anne where “The Tiger and Me” were playing. They Were Good. Alt-Country-ish.

plus: get your Flyer here: Northcote-Concert-Flyer(pdf)

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photo credit: alana jonez

Thinking back to my time in Vietnam, one of the best things about travelling is the people you meet along the way ..

• Like the Vietnaustralian guy from Sydney who had had “such a boring time” returning home for his sister’s wedding;
• or the Parisien woman returning to her native Cambodia for the first time since 1974, to share christmas with her Son who’s moved to Sydney;
• the German art student who’s half Vietnamese, and studying in Saigon .. to get a better feel for her father’s culture;
• the UK couple, an entrepreneur and his partner, who sold up to go travelling, and flee the UK economy because it has changed shape .. into something more pear-like;
• a Dutch woman who takes a couple of 8-week-long travelling holidays every year.

And that’s not even counting the flocks of wonderful people in Phnom Penh, lovely exPats and aid workers, volunteers, NGO people, teachers and masterful communications officers!

Really it’s all about the people isn’t it

so tell me .. who did you meet in an exotic location?

photo credit: shapeshift

Nathan has been camping out here at the Barkly St .. not only has he been an angel to live with, and inducted me into the world of Nintendo Wii, but also shared crazy stories like the Zombie Street Sign Hacker of Texas .. and this video he made with his hilarious friends.

i recommend you watch it.

Who ate the cheese?

Somewhere, there must be a link to more videos like this .. yes, here: Justin Juswah has a youTube channel.

Oh thank heavens i’m back home. G Love and Special Sauce is on the stereo, Sam’s getting fish n chips from the new place on Sydney Road .. and the massive heat wave faded away just before i arrived. Tim and Nathan are here, with beer.

Life is perfect.

Sometimes you can have enough of a foreign place and living out of a backpack. Phnom Penh is beautiful in its way, but the poverty gets to me (not as much as it affects the locals obviously), my comfort zones are stretched, the heat and dust wears me down. i needed the comfort of home.

mmmm .. off to Victoria St to get me some frozen lychees.

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photo credit: roboppy

Nearly finished Deadwood and Life on Mars, so i was definitely in need of a new DVD obsession. Fortunately the strange futuristic evolutionary tales of “Heroes” were filling the gap nicely.

Similar to the genetically-modified characters of Dark Angel, the mutants of X-men, and also the returned “altered” people in the world of the 4400. This one concerns people who are developing new skills and talents .. the next step in human evolution. In the future, everyone will be Superman, Spidergirl .. Catwoman; able to use their own special powers for good .. or evil.

If i could have a superpower, i would definitely be able to fly. Save so much hassle at airports, and cut down on carbon footprint too.

Or maybe radiate peace and love from my heart into the world around me, so that people around me experience balance and a deep sense of personal safety. That would be cool.

Give me comment please:
What would your superhuman power be?

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PS: when i came to Phnom Penh, all i really wanted to see was the rest of Season One. Fortunately Katie discovered the series and shared my fascination. We got through the whole 23 episodes in 3 days!! How outrageously self-indulgent.

Just a few loose threads in the plot at the end of it all ..

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photo credit: TCM Hitchhiker
photo credit: Randy Son Of Robert

Shanny and Phil turn up in a tuk tuk, to take me to the Russian and Central Markets. Peter is their regular driver who takes them all around town from their base in the Lake District. He’s a friendly man and a good driver.

Along the way, his tuk tuk starts to make cranky noises but after a while it’s okay. Using bits of English and sign, he tells us it’s an oil problem, but he’ll fix it later. He waits at each market while we shop.

My favourite part of the market is the area where women sit cross legged on the counter chopping meat with giant cleavers. The meats hang raw and bloody in the muggy shade. No refrigeration.

oh, there’s the deep fried spiders too.

You always get the best noodle soup at the market, no doubt!!

What a fun day. i love it !!

This was meant to be an island paradise getaway. A heavenly new year, with friends on the beach. After the mild dramas of travelling by bus to Sihanoukville (Lauli and her buddies went the day before; Jem and her friends found their pre-booked tickets had been sold, i was worried about having to charter a boat on my own) .. we were all looking forward to a chilled-out party on the beach.

There was bbq action, dance music, stories and balancing on a swing over the sand.

Lovely.

Bang.

A loud silence, then some shouts and that awful feeling of not knowing what’s happened. Followed by the sickening feeling of discovering what has happened.

Someone’s let a very big firecracker off in his own face.

Shanny’s seen the whole thing close up and looks like she’s about to pass out. “He’s blown his face off! Have you seen Phil?”

i still feel a bit sick and shocked from the events of the evening. This was about 11pm local time. Celebrations were clearly off the agenda. People milled around wondering how to help. Several people did help, giving first aid, painkillers, calling the mainland, deciding whether to call for a boat or pray for an airlift direct to Bangkok.

16 hours later, Yuma made it to Bangkok. But the reports aren’t good.

Still on life support. Not yet stable.

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Prayers welcome .. angelic support appreciated.