Ahora, ¿a dónde me dirijo?

Ya casi termino el bachillerato. Voy a extrañar muchísimo a mis amigos y el hecho de que voy a tener un motivo pragmático para salir de la cama en las mañanas. Después del 4 de noviembre, terminaré mis exámenes finales y estaré completamente libre, iniciando mi vida adulta tal cual y como los dioses mandan (y por dioses me refiero a mis padres).

Creo que el haber decidido terminar el bachillerato acá en Sydney ha cambiado completamente mi vida. No sólo estoy terminando mis estudios para progresar a la universidad, pero también estoy cambiando internamente. El yo de México ya no existe, ahora el yo presente es una combinación híbrida de la cultura mexicana y norteamericana con el ser libre australiano. Es extraño para mí pensar en cómo yo sería si no me hubiese venido acá. ¿Qué habría sido de mí?

Les dejo a ustedes con este pensamiento mío, muy muy mío…

Sé que con el pasar silencioso de un momento se pueden construir miles de memorias.

Sé que con el presente se puede jugar a la ruleta rusa con el destino; que aquello puede ser peligroso, uno nunca sabe qué podría pasar.

Pero creo que en cualquier preciso momento del ahora, todos somos capaces de cambiar quiénes somos y el camino que nos queda por delante en la vida.

Y quiero esforzarme en el presente para que en el futuro pueda decir “aquellos días fueron estupendos”.

 

Hasta pronto.

Dial-up is my death

Our family has gone beyond our bandwidth download limit… and we are back to good old 90’s internet surfing style.

I am actually amazed by how slow it takes to even load a page. At max. 30kbits/sec, any website that is filled with ads and flash banners are a killer to the loading time, it just takes ages to load. And images take a long time too.

Because I use Facebook quite a lot, even loading a page there is just disturbingly slow. Luckily there is a Lite version of the site, so I can still use Facebook with almost the same flexibility as the normal version. Of course, it does not load as fast so there is still some waiting time, albeit shorter.

But I’m still here, still blogging and all. And I should get cracking now with some chem.

On things ahead, photos, photos, photos

All right, I’m halfway through the HSC, 3 down, 3 to go. It’s going to be a very active weekend prior to those last tests, I’m really going to put my full effort into this. It is the last one, and as the last one I want to strike the jackpot at full blast and succeed. Two of those tests range in difficulty from hard to extremely hard, but are clearly doable. The other one is not as hard, rather moderate. I just hope everything that I do in the following days really takes effect and makes a difference.

I have not been to the city in quite a long time. I miss taking a train from my lovely Chatswood to Wynyard or Town Hall, for whatever reason. I know that there are heaps of complaints towards the city’s train transport system, and although not totally perfect, I think it is rather fair and good. I’m happy as long as it takes me back to my destination, that’s all that matters. I’m from overseas, so I can stand a bit of vandalism on the walls and windows or odd commuters next to me.

After the HSC is over, I would like to have other city-photoshoots. I’ve got better gear than ever to take pictures. I have a good camera, some filters, a cool camera bag and a decent tripod. Oh and some nice 35mm Ricoh SLR cameras. :3

Although I have already explored the city, there are some areas I have yet to discover. For example, I have never been really deep into the Botanical Gardens… I have always wondered if that SEX + DEATH sign near a glass-pyramid that comes up on Google Maps really exists. Weird stuff.

And just recently I’ve been playing around with Google Earth, trying to find new routes to explore and photoshoot opportunities. After browsing through the internet for interesting places in Sydney, I’ve expanded my possibilities for new adventures.. so to say. Sydney is such a beautiful city, and it seems to me that large companies and corporations are in some way trying to lead the city to total boredom. Why not allow more displays of art in Sydney, just like Melbourne? Why not let shops and other stores keep their doors open for nightly shopping sprees on a Tuesday afternoon, or any other weekday, just like every other country outside Australia? (I mean, seriously, why close everything at 5 when there are still people standing right outside your store, and have money in their wallets??) And why do people complain so much about the government spending taxpayer’s money on an unusual Sunday morning outing on the bridge for some lucky folks? I reckon it’s something that needed to happen, spring here can be so boring, specially if you have the HSC on. Ok, enough complaining.

I have this project in mind that I have thought about doing since a long time ago. I have always been interested in Sydney’s history, how it came about and thrived to become the modern metropolis it is today. And what really caught my attention is the fact that Sydney used to have a broad, huge tram (or light rail) system. It was the biggest in Australia, and most certainly the most complex in the world. But the advent of the motor vehicle and the prospects of everyone having one gave trams a bad image, that they were unreliable and prone to causing accidents with motor vehicles. Eventually the system was scrapped in the early 1960’s, and until the late 1990’s, Sydney remained tramless. Currently, there is only one tram line, run by a private company, serving part of the Inner West to Central Station. I have always admired trams. So I decided to have a massive photoshoot project throughout the whole tramline.

Basically it will be this:

Starting from Central Station, I grab a tram towards Haymarket (I know, I could have just walked over there but hey I want the experience). I’ve gone through there before and I know where I can get some cool shots of the trams passing by the Convention Center (yes, I will spell it that way). After that I will take a tram to the John St Square stop, walk around, take pictures and grab the tram again. Repeat for Rozelle Bay and Lilyfield stops. After all of that, return back to Central. I have some specific ideas of where to go in this trip, but I’m too sleepy to type them all down :P

Can I get any suggestions from you Sydney readers as to what cool places I could find in this area, particularly to the places close to the tramline? I’d like to expand my photographic repertoire (does that word even relate to photographic media?)

As a concluding note, I’m starting to use Windows Live Writer to blog!

I want this!!!!

A new album from Bibio!!! Yeeeah!

Chávez aparece haciendo el air-guitar ante la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas... simplemente fenomenal.

Chequen esto!!!!

Back to study!!! ENOUGH DISTRACTIONS!

Newtown in the Rain

Una de mis favoritas.


La tomé cerca de la estación de Newtown, una tarde lluviosa. Alguien había dejado su bicicleta anclada en el pavimento. Luego el sol apareció entre las nubes, y saqué mi cámara para fotografiar este momento.

The HSC

He entrado a una de mis etapas de mi vida más importantes y estresantes.
El HSC, el Certificado de Educación Preparatoria en español, es una serie de exámenes que culminan con la educación preparatoria con el propósito de preparar al estudiante para la universidad. Éstos sólo se realizan en el estado de New South Wales (Nueva Gales del Sur)y próximamente en el Australian Capital Territory (Territorio Australiano Capitalino). Son exámenes muy importantes, porque pueden hasta definir el futuro de uno. Hay muchos que se esfuerzan muchísimo en estos exámenes porque quieren estudiar algún curso universitario que tiene mucha demanda ya sea por parte de la industria o por la cantidad de estudiantes que quieren cursar aquellos cursos. Éstas carreras universitarias son por ejemplo Derecho, Diseño de Modas, Arquitectura, Política, Filosofía, etcétera.

Espero que todo me vaya bien, estoy algo ansioso y aterrado por estos exámenes. Son muy difíciles... pero siento que me irá bien como para estudiar la carrera universitaria que me gustaría estudiar en la Universidad de Nueva Gales del Sur.

Y como dice Luis, ¡A la Conquista!

New camera... and new musical discovery

Bueno?

Hola.
It's been quite a while.

Ciertamente. Algo nuevo que contarnos?

Sure. I got a new camera. My dad's leaving behind his camera collection, which is mostly composed of film SLR's and some lenses. Some of them are from the 90's, others from the early 80's. And there is this other camera he bought at a garage sell, a Leica IIIc camera from the early WW2 years. How incredible!!


I was actually surprised to see it, because I know how rare those things are nowadays, even though Leica still produces digital cameras with a similar body build. They are however not the same thing. Cameras back then were fully manual and involved a different method when taking photographs.


About that, I have absolutely no idea where on the camera I can tell whether my aperture-shutter settings are correct. Plus, loading the film is like hell, it's really hard ><

But I have yet to take pictures with it, it's going to be quite a unique experience. Just recently I have taken film photography up once again, I kind of find sending films to develop and seeing their outcomes a quite nostalgic thing to do. Quite nice. I have tried with disposable cameras, which are quite fun to use, but people make strange looks at you, going "what the f@ck? is that a camera? how poor are you?" and I'm like "no, it's a disposable camera and no i'm not poor, it's a photography project", "ah, a project, i see" and they quiet down and look away, as if nothing had happened. No, that really doesn't happen, I just get strange looks when people hear the camera ticking as I slide the film everytime I take a picture.

Some examples of my disposable camera shots...




And just recently, I came across this really unique music act based in Seattle WA called The Sight Below. TSB's main focus is on ambient music, more specifically shoegaze (a particular way of making music through the manipulation of sounds from an electric guitar).
There are quite a lot of bands like that, but TSB is different. Say, a song of his may start with slow streams of guitar-made sounds that extend into space, they may have a particular melody or be composed of drones or noises. But then, gradually, a techno beat ascends from the shoegaze haze, sometimes accompanied by a minor percussion or a sound effect. The techno beat keeps the whole songs in one piece, rather than just being mindless repetitions of the same tune with minimalistic tendencies. The songs then seem to have a trance-like taste, say they may have a similar effect as very good soulful trance songs have; of course without the same rush and blast. TSB's work is quite reminiscent of other similar shoegaze movements, although I am yet to confirm that as I keep discovering the underground techno-ambient scene.

Check The Sight Below at his Myspace:http://www.myspace.com/thesightbelow or at Ghostly International Label:http://ghostly.com/artists/the-sight-below. His first album, a digital release, is free so have a taste of his work. Additionally, buy some of his albums, they are quite unique works of music.

As an example of one of TSB's songs, which is one of my faves, here is a video:

Countdown

Ok, only two weeks from the beginning of my HSC tests, and I frickin' need to start practicing papers!! Uuugh, i cannot find the inspiration nor the drive to do this.
But I will!! I know I will, I don't know when though.

I guess this is all up to me then.
I'm just afraid of the stuff that is ahead of me.
Ok, it's just going to be a few weeks, then it will all finish.

Let's do this.

And then I'll be back, it's been a while since I last posted here.
Good night internet.

Knee it...

The day with its cares and perplexities is ended
and night is now upon us.
The night should be a time of peace and tranquility,
a time to relax and be calm.

We have need of a soothing story to banish the disturbing thoughts of the day,
to set at rest our troubled minds and put at ease our ruffled spirits.

And what sort of story shall we hear?
Aaahhh, it will be a familiar story.
A story that is so very, very old and yet it is so new.
It is the old, old story of love.

Two lovers sat on a park bench
with their bodies touching each other,
holding hands in the moonlight.

There was silence between them,
so profound was their love for each other,
they needed no words to express it.

And so they sat in silence on a park bench
with their bodies touching,
holding hands in the moonlight.

Finally, she spoke.
'Do you love me, John?', she asked.
'I love you, darling.' he replied,
'I love you more than tounge can tell.
You are the light of my life,
my sun, moon and stars.
You are my everything.
Without you I have no reason for being.'

Again there was silence as the two lovers
sat on a park bench,
their bodies touching,
holding hands in the moonlight.

Once more, she spoke:
'How much do you love me, John?', she asked.
He answered, 'How much do I love you?
Count the stars in the sky,
measure the waters of the oceans with a teaspoon,
number the grains of sand on the seashore.
Impossible you say?'
'Yes and it is just as impossible for me to say how much I love you.'
'My love for you is higher than the heavens,
deeper than Hades,
and broader than the Earth.
It has no limits, no bounds.
Everything must have an ending except my love for you.'

There was more of silence as the two lovers
sat on a park bench,
with their bodies touching,
holding hands in the moonlight.

Once more, her voice was heard.
'Kiss me, John', she implored.
And leaning over he pressed his lips warmly to hers in fervent osculation.



Samuel M. Johnson, "Lovers on a Park Bench"

Verizon needs a good biotchslap

Hi peoplez.
I would like to share to you this video I found on the highly humorous, procrastination-forming, and time-killing blog Fail Blog.
As you can tell, the blog is just about fail, win and owned moments recorded and distributed on the internets.

Right here I'll share with you one of those moments where a facepalm is just an essential necessity in order to survive the sheer amount of dumbness that is uncovered in this video. Enjoy.



Just as a point off topic, I have been enjoying with great pleasure Questionable Content, a webcomic of a group of friends and lovers in America. Thanks to Questionable Content and other things from the internet, I approach this term's exams with increasing fear. Time's ticking, gotta work my guts out. So help me God.

Until later, peace out.

Changing template

Hopefully, with a different template, the pictures will appear in full width.
It's just a matter of finding the appropriate template.
To search I go!

Rider Spoke: Part 2 :P

This is another set of shots of my second go at Rider Spoke, which was much better than the first one. Bike riding in the city during the rain is such a crazy experience.
I wish they could come back again, and make that documentary/video thing about the experience!! I wonder if any of my recordings would ever make it on the video... I'll be so surprised if it came true. For the moment, all I can do is wait, and lubricate my bike chain.













Taken with a PSP Camera and my normal camera.. yep it was worth damaging my PSP in the rain..
But biking over a very smooth surface created this form of mirror image, that I could see myself riding, and the buildings were upside down, and the sky.. I have to go bike riding in the city once in a while.

Hasta pronto!

Sobre mis pensamientos.. esta noche de lunes de verano

Now, probably an unusual thing from myself, but I'd like to begin with some prose.


Arriving among the dew and rainbows of an odd winter morning,
stretching my arms, pulling a box of old material memories,
I came upon this horizon with a new blank page ready to fill in
with the names of faces and places.

The pen slowly etched a city of companions at my reach,
streets of joy, boulevards of energy,
alleys of pain, lanes of sorrow.
Then, dotted by the shadows of robust and tall standing structures,
I begin to breathe the city air.




Being a half-american, half-mexican, in a country as virtuous, active and enchanting this one, has been a tough test for my very essence. Back in the days in the city of flowers, where I grew up in, I had no idea what life was. I had a secluded childhood and teenagehood, away from the subcultures and experiences that I had only heard of from under the keyboard, behind the screen. My own life was just 'live and let live', and for a while it was good. But it carved some marks in my personality which are causing a lot of friction with my plans for the future. It's time I dropped that uneccessary load and fight.


Notwithstanding, THIS IS LIFE.
Never been so happy in my life, I guess. Despite the blinding and burning sun, and those days where I though I had reached a dead end, I think (I'd rather say I feel, but that would become just too subjective...) that I have never learned so much about myself and that I seriously belong here.

Now, it might just be a simple coincidence that the street in which I lived in back in Mexico is Eucalyptus Drive and that the pre-school institution that I used to go to was called El Canguro (The Kangaroo)... some are just surprised how "Australia's calling" became true.

Soundtrack: Death Cab for Cutie, Erik Satie, Jumbo

Towards Valentine's

First post, yeah.


Valentine's has never actually been an event in the year that I have always looked forwards to. Ever since I was young (I'm not that old anyway), I clearly remember the pressure that everyone exerted into each other to express their feelings of love and compassion to other people. And whenever I was targeted, I would always lose.

However, this year it's different. Even though it is still the consumerist, money-spending-oriented day it is and has always been, this time I just see it as a day to give. And it is just that simple action, to give, that has really made me feel, probably for the first time, better and more positive about that day. Fourteenths of February are no longer days of social pressure.

Back at school, not too long ago, I was selling items for St. Valentine's, writing peoples' names down and that overused phrase the whole time. It was busy as hell, with teenagers taking the place of every observable space in front of me. To make it worse, I had only slept about 5 hours the night before, so my listening and writing skills were in someway impaired. But then this year 7 kid appeared out of nowhere behind me and hugged me. My state of exhaustion did not allow me to react to the kid, who was already running away as I took a quick glance at him. Never seen that kid before, must be new.

I wonder if he stole anything and hugged me to distract me





Last week I checked out an artistic experiment/experience in the CBD, namely at The Rocks. The Museum of Contemporary Arts (MCA) is hosting a project called Rider Spoke, made by the British art label/company Blast Theory.



The museum provides you a bike and a Nokia internet gadget and lets you lose on the city. You can go anywhere you want (can). The gadget then starts to "talk" to you, giving you instructions on how to play the game. The concept behind Rider Spoke is that bikers make recordings of their answers to the questions from the gadget in hiding places in the city. They can later hear other people's responses as they go through the city streets and alleyways. The questions given are quite personal, yet reflect the entire purpose of the game: build connections with other people in a wireless environment in the city. It is weird at first, but it becomes a rather inspiring and relaxing activity. Sydney CBD is such a good place to go bike riding. It's a shame that bike lanes abruptly finish everywhere you go.

I remember listening to a woman who promised (you promise to do something, anything, at the end of the session) to be less fearful in her life. I listened to another lady saying that she has a friend overseas that she talks to all the time about her daily doings and things (that made me contemplate about my own friends and networks as I approached the QVB..), and how strong their bonding is despite the great distance between them. It is warming to listen to other people about their own lives. This game has its confessional side as well, you are exposing more about your inner self to total strangers in the middle of a city. You remain anonymous, but nevertheless at least someone heard about your feelings, your thoughts.



You finish the session with such a feeling of relief and peace. Plus, you have just done about an hour of exercise!



For now,
happy St. Valentine's day

Take it easy

Initiating

My name is Newoz.
A mexican-american living in Sydney, Australia.
Finishing the last year of High School, on the way to the wide blue yonder of the world, I intend to share with you the things that I see in my life through photography and prose.

I love music, despite my state as a failed musician.
I love art, I will share some interesting finds.
I love life, so I will share those ideas that create that spark that keeps me moving.

I believe that in interconnecting with others one is able to find a sense to life and discover life itself. In the harmony of my images, in the depth of my text, I believe I can figure out a meaning to the new life I am leading in this part of the world.

The pictures included are all my own, unless stated.