Leafing · Through · Trees

I think my subject line is actually a blend of a music lyric (I've been listening to the Vampire Diaries Soundtrack-- I have to admit, I've been enjoying my reintroduction to some of the current pop music as well as indie groups used in that show.)

I'm not really sure why I'm posting at the moment (oh, I think part of me knows why, but let's pretend I don't know *laughing*) For now, we'll just say it's because I need to write, which is true!

I still have a few Australia posts left to write, hopefully I can get to them by this week, and keep them short! (Yes, I'm laughing deliriously too). Ever since coming back home, I've been working like crazy on the house-- moving furniture out of it, moving furniture throughout 6 rooms, and sorting stuff like crazy while trying to get to the garage. I've dismantled bed frames, moved them while dancing across the jungle paths of stuff shoved, placed, crammed, and stacked temporarily all over the house as I rearrange it all. Also, vacuum about 6 years worth of dust in some areas. It needed doing . . . *laughing*

Oh god, trying to catch up with all the paper work too . . . cards to renew, bills to pay, website issues to solve, accounts to close down . . . quite a few days of waiting on the phone or in government office buildings await me. Joyous days . . .

I've been trying to catch up with my tv series too . . . there are so many good ones (Smallville is killing me with how good it is right now . . . but that's because I'm such a girl *grinning*) I'm almost up to speed with the Mentalist (just brilliant, absolutely brilliant), half way with star gate universe, on par with Glee, long way to go with Vampire Diaries, just started Supernatural catch-up attempt, and so on and so forth (plus, I still have to watch the newest doctor who!). My god, there are so many good series going on this year, but my brain (shockingly!) has dropped watching some of them out of sheer necessity to have time to do other things. Otherwise, I probably would be watching Being Erica, Criminal Minds, Bones, Lie to Me, Merlin, and (yet again) so on and so forth. As it stands, I am randomly watching Fringe, V, and only very recently, got introduced to the show Mad Men, which looks very promising (but I'd have to start at the beginning).

On top of that, I have these movie marathons I really want to do-- like, the best of the animated films I have (even I have surprised how many of them I've accumulated). It's weird when it comes to animation-- I have this strong impulse to show it to people because-- just because they're cartoons, doesn't mean that they're made for kids. And sometimes, the stories can be handled by kids, but are brilliant for adults to watch too. *sigh* I think I'm probably biased though. Plus, the artwork in some of the animated feature films is just phenomenal.

Then there's the usual suspects-- I want to watch Veronica Mars again, a Batman Movie marathon (starting from Tim Burton and up), a Comedy Movie Marathon (ie. Galaxy Quest, Wild Hogs, Father's Day etc etc) . . . my god, it's no wonder my brain is like "Enough tv right now! I don't want to be sitting for any more hours!" Probably during the christmas time I'll attempt to watch all of the Harry Potter Films and the Batman Films I have . . . for some reason they put me in a christmassy mood.

So we'll see what happens.

Oh! There's one more thing-- I remembered another thing I wanted to put on that "Resolution List" number 8? 9?

#) Master playing Moonlight Sonata on the Piano, along with Flight of the Bumblebee. (Moonlight sonata is about 75% there, Flight of the Bumblebee will probably take me a dedicated year to build up the finger muscles along with getting the tempo) Let's just say right now as it stands "Flight of the Bumblebee" sounds more like "Flight of the Drunken and Dozy Bumblebee" when I play it *laughing*

Done for now, need to go to bed because I keep ending up falling asleep at 1am :P

As I've struggled with the mountain list of things to do and catch up on upon returning, grocery shopping was high up on the list. Today as I walked around the grocery store staring at grapes, I toted around my shoulder bag that had my kangaroo sign with "Next 25km" and AUSTRALIA splashed across it in big yellow letters plastered on a black fabric. Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder, and a lovely smiling lady said to me, "Love your bag!" while pointing to her own. Well I'll be damned, she also had one, with a lot more Aussie and 'Roo signs on it, but yellow on black, same size. What are the odds?!

Last, I've had a list of New Year Resolutions start to form in my head for the past few weeks (overactive brain, I don't know) or maybe a more whimsical "Dammit do this!" list. I've felt the need to write it down for a while now, and I know it will have more items add to it as I come to New Years, or whenever really. Don't ask me, it's like a combination of reminders and seriously, get-through-this-stuff-or-box-it sort of impulse.

1) Read all of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series books, just for the hell of it.

2) Read one complete shelving unit of books balanced precariously above my bed. (Probably averages out to about 35 books or so)

3) Buy no more dvds until I've watch all of the ones I've bought already which I haven't yet seen. (If I watched a new movie every night, my next two and a half months are now booked solid. If I add on top of that list dvd TV series and anime, my next eight months or 1 year are booked.)

4) Save money (this makes # 3 a really good strategy at saving!)

5) Priority dvds and reading novels goes to lent items from friends-- those first before anything else.

6) Load the damn game "Fables" onto your computer which you've bought and had sitting in front of your computer table for over a year now! If you're not going to return it, then open the package and play it you moron!

7) Watch Smallville from Season 4 onwards to current season 9. (Already happening)

Then there's a whole ton of other requests, but they're more usual run of the mill thoughts circling my mind daily-- get in shape, eat better, cook more meals (pre-plan that is), start writing your novel, work on art work, work on 3-D animation, fix your website, update your website, cry about your website, say "to hell with the virtual realm!" and apologize afterward to your website, figure out the key to replicating your geno code so you can clone enough copies of yourself to be able to accomplish this all in a reasonable amount of time, make money, start horseback riding again, DOCTOR WHOOOOOOO, buy christmas cards you dolt!, and offer your first born to the mailman so they'll make it in time (he doesn't have to know that your first born is a bogus deal *heh heh heh~ ahem*).

Aside from that, I have three more posts (roughly I think, key words for me are-- bird breakfast, Kurunda, baggage, bird tree, billowing curtain-- these are more memory keys than anything else) about Aussie land to write, and if the last one was any indication on the length, then, well, you've been warned. (Or maybe I'm just warning myself *rolling my eyes*)

Off to bed people, I have a ton of furniture and garage to clean out tomorrow! (I don't get it, in Australia I'm up every morning at 5:30am, asleep by 8pm. . . here, I can barely drag myself out at 9am, and I'm wide awake at 12am. What gives?! Is it lack of sunlight?)

The first thing that hit me upon my arrival to Australia's Queensland state was the heat . . . and the sun. After dealing with a summer in Canada that had been dismal and grey, I had anticipated the jump from one cool temperature extreme to a hot extreme, but never had really thought about the brightness of the sun . . . or how welcoming it would feel to be under it's light.

However, just standing there meant those rays were starting to get a tad bit too welcoming for my hardly sun-kissed skin. I adjusted the strap on my over-the-shoulder knapsack bag, well aware of the icy cool wetness of the condensing waterbottle buried in that very bag, pressing slightly against my upper thigh. I switched to my sunglasses, and started forward from the hotel.

After reaching Port Douglas from an hour drive north of Cairns Airport, (pronounced as "Cans" much to my amusement) I pretty much had crashed at 4pm Australian time and hadn't woken up until about 5am the next day. This wasn't unexpected, as I had hardly slept a wink on the trans-pacific 18 hour flight from San Francisco-- and it wasn't excitement keeping me awake, but from the inability to sleep while sitting vertically upright. Every time my exhaustion leaden eyelids had dropped close during the flight, the freefalling of my head thanks to gravity and relaxed neck muscles had the jolting effect of waking me back up in some adrenaline filled "protect the head," sort of way. By the time I reached Cairns I had been awake for about 30 hours, for the flight had left San Fran at night.

But my weariness didn't concern me that morning-- I knew I would have jetlag and thought it better to just do what I could as long as my body would let me. And that included today going for a 6 mile hike to not only explore this fascinating area I had landed in with my Mother and her companion, but to also hike to the grocery store to pick up some food supplies I was unable to transport through the airline services and customs regulations of Australia.

The heat was humid, rolling off your shoulders like a wet blanket. Many times I pushed my sunglasses back up on my nose . . . the sweat coming off of me was like a waterfall, as I was not acclimatized at all. But I didn't care, for I was walking through a managed tropical rainforest suburbia, and every plant I saw, sound I heard, and fresh perfume-like fragrances I smelt, were all new to me. My wide amazed eyes and tilted corner grin marked me as a tourist more so than any english accent ever could at that moment.

Instead of hearing crickets as I walked a comfortable pace alongside the road, the sounds of at least a dozen or more tropical birds filled the airwaves around me. Some were beautiful songs, others were screeching calls, and some were so unique that I thought at one point that a telephone must be at the top of the palm tree, because it sure sounded like it was ringing. The plants were full of sounds too-- leaves rustling, fern branches falling, palms swaying in the wind, and the gentle tapping of hardened vines curled against the tree trunks and crisscrossing through the air. As I listened to the rhythmic pattern of my sandals hitting the ground and crunching through some of the leaves, grasses, and gravel, an old elementary school song floated back up through my memory, and I found myself singing.

Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree
Merry Merry King is He
Laugh Kookaburra, Laugh Kookaburra,
Gay your life must be.
Ha Ha Ha.

I later found out from one of the locals that Kookaburras did in fact exist in the area, but at the time, I realized I never really knew where the Kookaburras were from, nor what continent. Oddly enough my brain supplied me with a picture of a Kookaburra as well as their call, but the memory was so old that I didn't know if I had recalled the correct bird, and had no idea where I had seen a picture or heard the sound of a Kookaburra before. I was suspect of my memory's image of it, but let the matter drop as I was drawn into repeating the childhood song over and over again. I lowered my voice to a hum when I came across pedestrians, nodded and smiled to the amount "G'day!" I received, and I stepped aside to let a bicycle pass by me as I hadn't yet adjusted to walking on the proper side of the sidewalk (Australia drives on the other side of the road to Canada, and you'd be amazed how those traffic flow patterns are also kept on sidewalks for both countries.) I pursed my lips to start the tune again, when a sound in the leaves very close to my feet made the sound die in my throat, and my walk freeze on the spot.

This was not the first time I had heard the sound-- low, to the ground, something moving in the leaves. However, it was the first time it had been so close to me, and my toes were tingling in anticipation-- fight, or flight? Throughout my walk my ears had constantly picked up many strange sounds as well as swaying leaves and branches, causing my eyes to dart quickly to where my ears perceived the sound had come from. Every sound my ear caught was something I was mentally cataloging as I walked along, familiarizing myself with the diverse tropical environment around me. At times I could swear I had caught movement from the corner of my eye, causing my eyes to lock on that spot, but I could never tell if I had just caught the aftermath sound of a humid breeze moving the plant leaves around.

The ground leaves suddenly rustled again, countering the direction of the dropping breeze's dance across the flora. With warnings of crocodiles and poisonous snakes running a 100 meter dash through my mind, I slowly turned my head to chance a look at the ground. I barely moved the rest of my body, keeping my breath slow and shallow.

There! My eyes locked on the movement like a sniper's scope singling out a target-- I couldn't see any creature but I knew it was under that very leaf that had moved. Barely breathing, I slowly leaned forward to see if I could startle it out . . . the leaf was very small, so I knew it couldn't be a croc.

Suddenly, in a burst of movement, a brown stripe darted out from under the leaf, and then froze a few centimeters forward. What a comical pair we were-- both of us frozen in awkward poses, staring at each other in wary acknowledgment. My eyes finally were able to focus on the animal-- a lizard! Tiny and able to fit in the palm of my hand, the "skank" as the locals called them around there, was very well camouflaged and tended to be heard more than seen. It resembled a gecko a little bit, but moved very fast and ate a ton of insects. I had an amusing time trying to catch one on camera, and got lucky to have one freeze on a side walk while my camera was handy at the end of the day.

With my breath whooshing out in a rush, I suddenly laughed at myself for my ridiculous wariness over a creature so small-- the sound startling the skank back into hiding.

I continued on my walk, passing by a cemetery where a headstone caught my eye-- Williams Thomas-- treacherously murdered and missed very much by his brother, 188-? I had never seen a headstone advertise a murder victim, but I did a double take at the year of death. This man was around the founding time of Port Douglas, as I later read from a historical write up for the port. His wife and brother were convicted as guilty back in the day-- the trial reaching a media sensation as his wife was the first woman hung in a murder conviction in Australia-- but recent research suggested that his wife was most likely innocent. As I stared at the weathered white headstone with the black iron trim framing the stone and lettering, I wondered what the dead would have to say about the Port now-- a tourist attraction-- so changed from the gold mining town it originally started out as and held so many families of different cultures.

I reached the grocery store in good time, following the road and cutting across three round-abouts. The cost of food shocked me though, as well as the fare-- for being in the tropics, I expected all of these exotic fruits, and found things I would be able to buy back at home. Lettuce, tomatoes, apples, cucumber. Throughout the trip my mind reflected with quite a bit of amusement how very British all of this felt, aside from one encounter with a gentleman who hailed from the aboriginal tribe local in that area. The conversations I had with him, however, will have to wait for another day.

With shock I looked at mangoes-- $2.50 each, the price I'd pay at home, after they'd been shipped hundreds if not thousands of miles to my winter flattened part of Canada. And I had to do a double take, for not only were the mangoes local to Australia, but there was a mango tree in the parking lot heavy with fruit. It just didn't make sense to me.

As I headed back, there was one part of the trail I was a bit more cautious in-- it ran parallel with the road but went into more wild forest ran flush against and over a creek. At the time I didn't know that the area had both salt water AND fresh water crocodiles, but I was cautious of any water I had to walk near by that point. I knew that crocodiles were camouflaged very well in water and even out on the banks, and looking into the tangled chaos of vines, shrubs, mud, water, and blurred green palms and ferns, I understood that if I saw a croc close up, it would probably be too late.

But in the shelter of that one patch of tropical treats, my ears suddenly picked up a screeching sound much louder than any of the birds I had heard so far. I craned my neck back, squinted to block out the stunning rays of sun light that managed to burst through the treetops, and my brain immediately went "Oh!"

Hundreds of black shadows hung in the branches, wings tightly folded against their bodies, their little forms spread across the branches so compactly the tree's limbs were bent from the weight, and the noise, oh the noise! Vocal little things amplified by their multitude, I realized I was staring up at hundreds of bats. In fact, I seemed to be standing right in the middle of a whole colony of them, gathered in this little forest patch.

So I whipped out my camera, snapped a couple of shots, and then continued to walk through the small grove of forest they had made their home base. I learnt later that they were fruit bats, and that they loved mangoes. One had to be careful when eating the "wild" mangoes that fell from the trees-- you had to make sure that a bat hadn't gotten to it first. The bats transmitted a virus that wasn't particularly pleasant for humans, which made me wonder if that had any reflection on the mango prices I had seen in the grocery store.

The returning trip back to the hotel wasn't as eventful as going, but I did end up hauling (after some debate) a solid coconut husk back with me. I saw it laying on the grass, and thought "What the hell, I'll ask the hotel owner if he has a hatchet." I later found out that I couldn't eat it, as the coconut husk (the outer shell over the brown hard shell of the coconut) was brown meaning it was close to sprouting. I had heard liquid in it, but the hotel owner informed me with quite a bit of amusement shining through in his eyes (what, was I the only visitor to ever ask for a hatchet at a front desk?! ;), that the green husks were the edible coconuts, and that people had cut their hands trying to open the brown ones. The brown husks meant it was past its eating stage, and was going to soon start growing. With a thanks and a grin, I sat that brown coconut at the foot of my bed for the rest of the week, unable to eat the thing that was the size of a soccer ball, but still too amused by the fact I had hauled an inedible coconut around with me for a couple of miles to let it go while I was there. I put it in the tropical forest before I left for home, hoping that it would sprout into a tree.

All the walking and inadvertent useless coconut hauling had come at a price though, and that was my feet. Not really thinking about it, the sandals I wore weren't really designed for long distance hikes, and as a result from the heat and sweat pooling off of my feet, I developed blisters right on the balls of my poor feet. Balancing was very difficult after that, as I ended up shifting all of my weight to the outside of my feet, putting my ankles under a lot different strain. Luckily I had brought quite a few band aids in anticipation of this problem, and was able to bandage the balls of my feet up to have some manageable walking time. They took about a week to heal, but from then on I wore my running shoes.

The funny thing was, throughout the whole day though, the Kookaburra song was running rampantly through my mind. By this point I had found out that Kookaburras did in fact exist in the area, and I was just humming with excited energy, dancing (hobbling) around with so much glee upon hearing the kingfishers did live there. From that point on, I was obsessed with seeing one, and if I couldn't see one, at least hear one with their monkey-like call. The sun was going down at that point around 6pm, so I knew I wouldn't have a chance to see one anymore by that day, and tomorrow we were going to drive out of Port Douglas to visit another village, so I knew it might be a few days before I could attempt a Kookaburra-watching exploration of Port Douglas again.

The next day, when we were returning back at dusk from our outing in the car, I had my head against the window of the car, somewhat sluggish after battling motion sickness from the twisty mountain roads. I had taken quite a few anti-nausea pills to try and battle it, but the fatigue, heat, lack of food, and sharp turns were not making the driving part of my trip enjoyable. Finally, toward the end of the drive my eyes locked onto the town limits sign signaling we were almost back at the hotel. The sign was a blessed relief for my mind, and soon "no more movement" salvation for my stomach that just wanted to be out of the car and have the ground firmly under my feet again. But for a moment, that was all forgotten as my mouth broke out into a grin, then broad smile.

"Welcome to Port Douglas," the sign read. And sitting on top of it, as plain as you could see, was a Kookaburra.

Ugggh, I seem to have survived the last 48 hours in a haze of plane induced traveling-- I've developed two modes-- eating ravenously, and sleeping like the dead. I've gone across three time zones, half-slept in the most awkward positions with my luggage up to my knees, and gone from 30C weather to 20C weather now down to 1C weather.

But I'm home now, thank god *laughing* Aussie land was great, and I will write more when I feel like my stomach, head, and body have finally realigned after splitting themselves across so many time zones.

Thank god for that, I hit deadline, the project is done. I'm happy, the client's happy, and the production manager is happy. What a great experience . . . but crazy on time! *laughing* I have to get up in about 5 minutes and start making dinner . . . and then I have to give my brain a few hours before it sinks in that I'm leaving for San Fransisco and Australia in two days time. Wha~? *&^%!

*grinning*

It'll be a challenge . . . I can't have any checked-in baggage thanks to the way my mum booked our flights (I get to go on four different planes . . . I'm sure the thrill of flying will be dead after the second plane.) We depart from Buffalo, land in Philadelphia, switch planes, then San Fran. Two days later San Fran to Auckland New Zealand (about a 14 hour flight . . . whoo who? X-X ), then switch, then Cairns. After that it's hop into a car, and drive to Port Douglas, north of Cairns.

I'd like to point out that I didn't pick this travel itinerary, I'm being carried along by the travel whims of my mother when it comes to plane planning. My brain is dubious of how I'm going to handle it all, and my stomach . . . oh god, I'm going to have to drug it up to stop motion sickness.

But enough of the flight dread . . . and more on the trip itself. We're looking at the beach, the Coral Reef, a train ride up through to the tropical forest section, and a possible tree top bridge walk (sounds cool). I am seriously tempted to try and find a didgeridoo, but probably wouldn't be able to afford to ship it back *laughing*

I've also contacted a stables close to where we're staying, and I'm hoping I can get a trail ride in . . . some of the stables go on the beach, and others through the tropical forest. Cantering through the tropics-- absolute heaven to me! Here's hoping.

Okay, got to get going on food now though-- maybe I'll have time to post before I leave on Wed, but if not, G'day mate!

(Did I mention the majority of clothes I'm taking are only dresses? Crazy, I know (well, aside from riding pants) *laughing*)

Here's another place holder for me:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/lzoggw

Four days of 12-13 hours work days to get to this point. Man am I tired. Still have two more days to go for it though, and I keep reminding myself, I am getting paid! Whoo- whoo . . . zzzzz . . .

*laughing*

(On the bright side, I think this has really helped sharpen my skills in maya to help with my own projects. But I can't even begin to drag my brain out of the soupy haze it's in right now to think about that stuff . . . need sleep...)

Urgggh, I just calculated that I've spent around 31 hours sitting in this chair for the (I just totally walked away from the computer to get some hot water, and kept writing this post in my head. Wow, that was weird *laughing*) past three days-- I've finally hit the point where my brain's like "Okay, I've had enough now." Thankfully I've got the major animation clip locked down and finalized, ready for lighting and rendering. I'm currently trying to get the last smaller and less complicated animation bit done for today, but I admit I'm exhausted. My cold is moving to round two, from nose to throat irritation now, and I figure it keeps hitting me harder when I've had less sleep. (How's 6 hours sound for you? I need at least 8)

So I've decided I'm taking tomorrow off from the project-- that would be great if it actually was a break, but I've got 10 other things I have to do because of leaving for Aussie land. I'm meeting someone to see if I can figure out what's going on with my website (oh the headaches there), dropping stuff off, picking stuff up, and doing a lot of driving. I would have done them this week, except this contract caught me off guard. Saturday is more tightly packed than a ball of knotted and tangled christmas tree lights.

The irony is, the only day I can relax is when I head to catch the plane. Who ever heard of catching flights while hauling luggage and catching mini-naps in airports as "relaxing?"

*phhht* ;)

I seriously deserve to have a Smallville marathon after this. . . if my schedule would co-operate!

Enter in the crazy cravings . . . I'm surprised it took me as long as three 12 hour work days sitting in front of the computer for the hunger surge to take over. The list is as follows:

Miso Soup
Cheese on Toast
Nacho chips
Hot Chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate

Hmmm, they seem to all be instantly made foods too . . . who'd thought it on a deadline *laughing*
Now, let us give time for me to lament the shortcomings of the leftover mashed potatoes which tried so hard to substitute as a lunch food, but ran only half the marathon. You will be missed . . . as I sip on my hot chocolate (more like drown in it!! *laughing*)

(Yes, I know this is a weird post, but you get your head into the technical mechanics of the maya world and see how you fair when you come up for air . . . *grinning*)

Back to work . . . *siiiiip*

Gaaaaah!!! You know, when I pause like this from the Maya frenzy, I kind of sit back and survey what's going on around me and I have to admit, I find it really amusing. I mean, here I am, watching this scarf fly through the air for the umpteenth time through a playblast render looped, fairly happy with it but knowing it's missing something, while in the meantime I'm shoveling back leftovers from last night's dinner (mashed potatoes! Whooo-who! Starch! *grinning*) like a ravenous rhino, only to have my brain startled out of my focused stupor to realize my head is shaking from something. This is the point when my mind kind of focuses outwards-- yes, still breathing *thank god*, heart's going a little fast but okay *whew*, I'm not choking [yet], and I've received confirmation that I still have toes that have mastered the seven techniques of seductive wriggling [?!]. So what's causing the movement? I don't sense the house collapsing around me from an earthquake, the tree is pretty still outside the window so there's no wind or a swarm of squirrels running rampant all over it in a fight for tree dominance, and let's face it, it would take a while for a wave of water to reach me. So what's causing the jiggling motion jarring my head? And then it hits me, as my ears finally tune into the sound around me.

My hips are moving on the seat, dancing away to the belly dance soundtrack that's playing away. Try mastering that in a sitting position, while shoving back mashed potatoes like it's the 1st of July!!

This is just as much as a placeholder for me than anything else, but here's a rough draft of two days worth of work. I think I amazed myself considering the short time span . . . but I still have four more days, and so much left to do!

(The 3-D Animated Baseball Menu Intro [QuickTime])

http://www.sendspace.com/file/rrj5ct

Now, god, I need sleep. This cold of mine is draining me, and I'll have so much tv to catch up on in a few weeks time *laughing*