Thean Hou Temple, Morning Newly-wed couples flow upstairs from the registry to pose before the temple’s calm and colour. From the car...

Thean Hou Temple, Morning

Newly-wed couples flow upstairs from the registry to pose before the temple’s calm and colour.

From the car park, parents shepherd their sleepy children altar-ward to pray.

In a corner, The Goddess of Mercy tips water from her urn on the out-stretched palms of her faithful.

Spot the lizard…

Spot the lizard…

I love this guy’s video essays about photography. They feel warm, wise and encouraging of all types of creativity. Great stuff....

I love this guy’s video essays about photography. They feel warm, wise and encouraging of all types of creativity. Great stuff. youtu.be/bxzi_aCQo…

When I was in Siem Reap recently, I had this amazing vegan hamburger and chips. So tasty and so giant haha. Seriously in my top 10 burgers...

When I was in Siem Reap recently, I had this amazing vegan hamburger and chips. So tasty and so giant haha. Seriously in my top 10 burgers ever. Before I left I thanked the lady who made it, then she said to me “I want to say something to you! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you!” And then she did the Cambodian style thank you bow 🙏. For some reason I can’t stop thinking about it. Maybe it’s the combination of a slight culture shock moment, the wholesomeness and and the politeness.

Somehow the airport coffee in Melbourne is better than any Italian style coffee in Singapore.

Somehow the airport coffee in Melbourne is better than any Italian style coffee in Singapore.

Nice article from the verge about how the internet still has a chance to not be a complete commercial hellscape. I agree that we need a...

Nice article from the verge about how the internet still has a chance to not be a complete commercial hellscape. I agree that we need a protocol to unbundle the big platforms into a thousand small ones linked via that protocol. And we have the Fediverse and ActivityPub already. Not perfect, but I’ll take it.

Don’t Play Near Black Holes - Some blackholes are stubborn :)

Don’t Play Near Black Holes - Some blackholes are stubborn :)

Finished reading: The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera 📚 A boy gets his shadow cut off by his mother when he very young,...

Finished reading: The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera 📚

A boy gets his shadow cut off by his mother when he very young, which makes him apt to float into the sky and (maybe?) immune to fire. His mother also trains him to assassinate his father, which he is not keen on. He moves away to start a better life into an ancient city with magical doors, but his mother’s schemes are not so easily cast aside.

The prose often pendulums into a dreamy, magical realism style then back into a more visceral dark fantasy.

Fantastic read. Recommended.

slippery

The way to do what you want
is to do what you don’t want
just a little longer*

*how long? TBA

The way to finally rest
is to work damn hard
just a little longer*

*how long? TBA

Solve seven kinds of poverty
by embracing an eighth
just a little longer*

*how long? TBA

Overcast Gardens

Overcast Gardens

My first time trying some longer exposures. I can see there is a learning curve :). 1m20s with a ND1000 filter vs 1.6s with exposure...

My first time trying some longer exposures. I can see there is a learning curve :). 1m20s with a ND1000 filter vs 1.6s with exposure compensation set to -5ev.

The sun punches through the tropical haze across the Johore Straights

The sun punches through the tropical haze across the Johore Straights

Temple at night. Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Temple at night. Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Yes, I am surrounded by Singaporeans and Malaysians. Yes, I - an Australian - have used ‘lah’ in a sentence everyday this week. What am...

Yes, I am surrounded by Singaporeans and Malaysians. Yes, I - an Australian - have used ‘lah’ in a sentence everyday this week. What am I becoming? Siao ah!😛 (learning their way of speaking is just damn shiok lah! I’m wanting to advance to meh and lor next.)

What I love about Emacs and Lisp for my own computer projects is that it’s a peaceful back water. Sure, it needs a lick of paint but you...

What I love about Emacs and Lisp for my own computer projects is that it’s a peaceful back water. Sure, it needs a lick of paint but you can still do everything they are doing in the big city and the property developers haven’t found an angle yet.

Singapore Botanical Gardens may well be one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. More to come from that place.

Singapore Botanical Gardens may well be one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. More to come from that place.

Red Junglefowl presented without comment.

Red Junglefowl presented without comment.

Sky tweezers / war memorial obelisk

Sky tweezers / war memorial obelisk

In the midst of lines and crossed purposes, the buildings struggle to remember they are buildings. They dissolve into their parts - windows,...

In the midst of lines and crossed purposes, the buildings struggle to remember they are buildings. They dissolve into their parts - windows, eaves, paths - then further - lines, colours, points - then only light.

I feel like the only redeeming part of lawn care is being able to use a tool called a “whipper snipper” and yet the world won’t let go...

I feel like the only redeeming part of lawn care is being able to use a tool called a “whipper snipper” and yet the world won’t let go of “line trimmer” or “string trimmer”. Yuck.

Many problems need massive effort to fix. Others we can solve if we just stop. learn about farm animals in Aus Look for the best examples of...

Many problems need massive effort to fix. Others we can solve if we just stop.

learn about farm animals in Aus

Look for the best examples of each side of the argument. A bit of googling will show compassion and fact are on the same side.

🌱

Finding a Sense of Place

When I left my childhood town, I didn’t make a new home. The city I moved to, and the many houses I lived in through the years, held people who became my friends and adopted family, but my connection to the place was like an explorer on an outward mission. The new city was nice, but surely I was bound for somewhere else. If you asked my where ‘my home’ was, I’d have had to think twice or I would name where I grew up.

After a few decades of things that didn’t happen, and as the pandemic rolled in, I put that aside. It has been an unexpected relief and a lowering of boundaries. Now saying ‘I am home’ feels like a blurring of the edges of me. The noises, the strangers, the friends, the streets - ever young and shifting and all cupped in the the ancient hands of the surrounding mountains. All these things feel like a source of comfort and energy as I imagine them.

I might say ‘this is my home’, but it feels like I belong to it. I know that the mountains easily cradle the city, so surely they can hold my troubles too.

In the future I might move on, but I won’t make the mistake of not making that place home.

e-motions Are they precisely made and rolling Down the conveyor belt into me Are they calculated cause and effect or Wild shapes spotted in...

e-motions Are they precisely made and rolling Down the conveyor belt into me Are they calculated cause and effect or Wild shapes spotted in curly clouds Are they shifting past like symphonies or Piercing and stuck, tinnitus in silence.

Finished reading: The Shattered Goddess by Darrell Schweitzer 📚 I’ve read this book many times. I love Schweitzer’s take on...

Finished reading: The Shattered Goddess by Darrell Schweitzer 📚

I’ve read this book many times. I love Schweitzer’s take on dark fantasy. It is grim, but beautiful.

Spotted some dragons, while out and about!

Spotted some dragons, while out and about!