The South China Morning Post newspaper headlines on Thursday September 2nd 2010 were "Warning as city's credit card debt rises". It talks about HongKongers spending too much on credit, and having multiple credit cards and only paying back the minimum amount, despite the warnings from the GFC (global financial crisis).
This is an issue in Australia also, though we have mostly escaped the clutches of a recession caused by the GFC. I wonder if it's an issue in Shenzhen also. In the city - at least in the Futian District that I've been exploring, every city block seems to have an indoor, air-conditioned, multi-level shopping centre. I've been to one called Coco Park, where we had lunch at the foodhall on Friday, and Central Walk, where we had lunch on Thursday and where I caught the train to Civic Centre today. I must admit I did go to Starbucks there and have a coffee and raison toast for brunch, but the place was pretty crowded - at least more crowded than the streets outside. It makes sense - many Australians do this too - during summer the shopping centres are the place to go to escape the heat and sun outside. Escape the humidity here also, which is a killer.
some links on downsizing your life and house. I moved from a large 2 bedroom place to a 1 bedroom which is a start. it's not the same as having one suitcase + work backpack that I had whilst working overseas, but it's a step towards 'living smaller', though I do still have way too much "stuff".
trying out python - to make a little windows gui that builds xml files (hopefully - that's the plan anyway..)
I haven't used python before so not really sure if these are the correct steps
- downloaded python 2.6.5 - initially I downloaded 2.7 but then when I downloaded the windows extensions it said it wanted version 2.6 : python-2.6.5.msi (python-2.7.msi) -> C:\cdrive\_apps\python265
- downloaded python windows extensions : pywin32-214.win32-py2.6.exe
IDE
- downloaded Wing IDE 101 - a free windows ide
also tried these but got too lazy to set them all up when they didn't work first go as they were missing other things/versions :
If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong,
With chains upon my feet.
You know that ghost is me.
And I will never be set free
hipstamatic camperdown - walk home after guitar lesson today. another warmish winter's day which is great as I don't need my jacket any more. there's a new development going up nearby. they're pulling down some of the heritage listed council flats and putting up a new building for housing commission tenants. it's called the 'camperdown project' which is ironic as my friend who came to stay earlier in the year called the o'dea building "the projects" - he was referring to those in USA though. the remainder of the heritage buildings are staying. they're not pulling down the o'dea building, though some think they should. the hipstamatic filter makes it look nice - maybe they should have used this on the development proposal flyers. the old biscuit factory has been converted into (really nice, though rather expensive) apartments. had lunch at the wonderful Love#3 again - they had my favourite - eggs benedict - as the breakfast special. then later today I took another walk to the hidden garden - such great fresh fragrances as you walk along the paths, and the birds were very vocal again today
31/07/2010
[ still getting used to the framing on the iphone camera... ]
trying out a shared drawing with @ozmawbs using flockdraw
we must have spent an hour drawing, erasing, drawing. there were a few people drawing at once. one anonymous person. coming & going. a nice experiment in shared drawing http://flockdraw.com/27lgz
started making a list of Beijing (& some Shanghai & general China) digital media arts & sound art projects & links. I haven't seen any of these projects in person, but they all sound interesting. some may no longer be active..
maybe @oldspice guy is the first commonly known #ractor. wish there were more. could be great as private entertainment when you don't feel like reading/watching a movie [1]
maybe there's a videoblogging project in that. hire your own #diamondAge #ractor to act out a book/film for you online [2]
or maybe we're all racting in twitter for free, for others anyway
this afternoon I discovered a magic garden down the other end of the property. I'd driven past this but never seen the walking paths. the paths criss-cross through the back streets. they seem quite busy - I came across a few people whilst exploring. it's been raining for the past few days but had stopped about an hour earlier. the birds seemed overly happy - chirping and singing to the sky above. they seemed fresh and clean, like the cool fresh air after the rain. I recorded the soundwalk - this is one block back from the road, so I was surprised at how little traffic noise could be heard, except for the occasional car driving past.
This months program is a collection of five animations made by artist Gökhan Okur.
Working mainly as an illustrator, Okur experimented by adding time to his illustrations.
His animation Last train ride was featured in our first edition of the festival in 2006. We’re proud to welcome him back with the première of his latest work: "Off the phone".
last weekend I did a Spinning & Weaving class at Sydney Community College with Pat Davidson, and a yarn & fibre dyeing class in the Blue Mountains with Wooldancer. both were great - though I am now behind in answering uni philosophy class questions ;) this week I also came across Travis' actionweaver site via @spindexer. I made one of the card looms using his template on the site. I didn't use the backstrap though and because I'd folded the card - I'd only had photo paper available so it's not the most sturdy of looms - it became weaker. I've ordered one of his portable laser looms, so it should arrive over the next couple of weeks. photos of my first attempt :
whew, things are a little calmer now. I've popped back into facebook & twitter a couple of times and it seems ok. I've been busy with uni this week, and work. we've had to do a lot of reading. my inkjet printer hasn't been working well - the prints are blurry and mis-aligned, even after new (expensive!) inks and multiple realignment attempts. so I bought a laser printer for $99 and it's been working well - I wish I'd done this sooner. had I known how cheap they were these days I would have! the old printer is actually one of those multi-function devices so it's still working as a scanner.
I started a section for philosophy class in the collections part of my site. so I can keep notes etc. I started writing some freemind notes last night from one of the readings, and I watched a couple of videos also - the Carl Sagan's videos on pre-socratic philosophers
