Three things I want to remember as a freelancer

One: Not perfect is alright.

It’s hard being the slightly OCD person that I am. I’ve found myself coining in too many hours trying “fix a thing” just because I “kind of” didn’t like it. Just recently I spent something like 5 hours trying to find the right shade of green that was contrasty enough of web and legible in print.

The client was happy with whatever I first picked, but not me. Which brings me to the next point:

Two: It’s not all about “me”.

I suppose one of the pitfalls I’ve found is that now the client can fit around my schedule, what I feel like doing, when I feel like doing it and  how I want to do it. Sometimes you just need to procrastinate less and do it for the client because they’ll appreciate it… then you can:

Three: Appreciate yourself more.

Treat yo’self. Good, bad, big, small. I’ve been taking breaks now and again just to enjoy the moment.

Eat lots of ice cream.

Small wins

Another month gone, *poof* just like that out of a rabbit trap.

I’ve finally got my head around setting up as a freelancer and it’s a green light and I’m loving it and counting every small win as a mini milestone.

Working at my own pace is such a fresh breath of life – my stress levels are probably more in check and I’m chewing exactly what I can handle. There’s times in the morning I just wake up and just feel really thankful for the ugly that has happened and that I have this opportunity to step on the pedal and work independently.

The ‘shame room’ is coming along very nicely as well, I’ve got half the things I want nested away in boxes, so hopefully there’s be some time for crafts and letter writing.

Did I mention I got a desk too?

It’s a stand sit one in effort to correct my terrible posture. It’s been really good so far for my back, but the persistent shoulder ache is back so I’ve relented to sitting on the desk like a normal study desk, hah!

We were pretty lucky to have got a very nice screen at a local buy, swap sell as well. The screen we had initially ordered is on back order till gosh-knows-when,  so this baby is keeping me company till then. I think I may have fallen in love with this one so who knows…

Another small win to celebrate – I’ve been taking more pictures at more food escapades and feeling like I’m improving at it even though the pictures sometimes all look the same, they feel different now. Perhaps it’s the new lens filter I got. I can’t believe I’ve been using a shoddy one for this long.

Sometimes I surprise myself with a ridiculously nice set of shots and I just sit there, grinning like an idiot. The usual zoom lens is proving to be quite a mammoth to cart around on a daily basis, so perhaps it’s time for an overhaul.

Till the next magic trick guys.

Surprising the parents

Last month J said “oi, won’t it be nice if you randomly came to Singapore to surprise the parents?” 

Lucyk for me the tickets were pretty cheap and I locked it in for a 6 day trip. 

Needless to say it was a food fuelled trip 😁

Day 1 

Jetstar + 6am = not very impressed me. I’m not an early riser, and having to leave at 3am for the airport is the worst time ever. You can’t sleep and you can barely keep awake. The flight itself was pretty OK. On and off deep sleeping isn’t ideal, but I kept waking up excited to get to Singapore.

As you can see… I started day 1 with a fair bit of foods :p

Day 2

I spent the day with Jess for a food adventure. We started off at a couple of breakfast spots which both turned out to be closed. I wasn’t too fussed but Jess was pretty sad because one of the spots had the yummiest green curry pie. 

We were hungry and hot, and Jess decided that we should head to a little coffee place that she frequents… Boy it did not let us down!

What started to be just coffees and toast doubled to Nasi Lemak and curry puffs. We were totally stuffed by then. Not sure if you can see the coffee, but it’s got butter in it. It sounds like a weird combination, but it tastes bloody delicious. The beans are roasted the all the old school way, carmelised with sugar and butter which results in a creamy, almost like a hot mocha toffee ice cream flavour in a cup. The extra slice of butter doesn’t make you feel sick – somehow it just makes it so much smoother on your tongue. I wish I had a cup now!

The Nasi Lemak was pretty spesh too – the rice is steamed in a bamboo tray and the flavour is subtle and no coconut over powering flavours. I usually prefer potato curry puffs, but the sardine ones from this store was ridiculous. Jess loved them so much she bought a bunch for the folks at our next stop:

Sakari has been a place I’ve been meaning to visit with Jess since she found this little gem of a place. It’s located in the outskirts of town, quiet and quaint. You’ll know if it’s a great Japanese restaurant if there’s heaps of Japanese patrons there. We had a couple of sushi pieces – barachirashi (sashimi bowl), Aburi Engawa (torched flounder fin), toro nato with yam (fermented beans) and a chop chop roll – all which were divinely delicious and delicate. At this point I felt like my insides was going to be apart of the movie Alien special feature.

We had to walk around to make some space for desserts (gulp!). There was an opportunistic antique store and the uncle there was most excited to see us. He had this awesome tower of a cabinet that turned out to be a mechanical player that plays metal discs that I wanted to take home with me. Jess was enamoured with a military hand wound vinyl player. WE did spot a couple of typewriters! One was a Royal Arrow in pretty good shape, but it was buried quite far in a shelf that I didn’t want to trouble the uncle for.

We stopped by a hipsterish bookstore that had a Olympia SM9 in their cafe section. 

Our dessert place turned out to be the delightful French-Singapore fusion place Mad about Sucre. I’ve seen so many Instagram posts about them and it made me a little giddy that I was finally there! We got a couple of entreatments with fragrant tea pairings. I was almost falling asleep on the comfy armchairs whilst munching on the desserts, ha!

We walked around town for a bit and then I had to run to meet my brother for dinner then wait at home for my parents to arrive.

My parents decided to take their own sweet time to get home, but the surprise went really well and my mum screamed when she saw me :D

The next few days became a mush of foods, family and friends. 

It wasn’t long before I had to get back on a plane. I’m not sure to say it was a fortunate/unfortunate thing but my flight got botched by a couple of passengers and then the crew ran out of hours so the flight had to be rescheduled for the next day. By then it was closer to 2am and lucky for me my mum was still awake and I got to sleep in a bed and have another last meal in Singapore.

I’ve been crack-a-lacking with work since I got home, so it’s been really good!

Thanks for reading guys :)

Burnt

It’s been a rather interesting month, I haven’t been too open about it but the short story is that I’ve lost my job of three years. Unfortunate circumstances, but ah wells.

Quick shout out to my friends that knew of the situation and have been there for me, there isn’t anything I can do or say to convey how appreciative I am!

On the up side some other doors have opened and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the time off to recenter and manage things at home.

The typewriters are out of storage and the art room is an absolute mess, but it is all there. The ‘Shame Room’ is the next on my list of things to tackle, and it should be good. My home is almost complete. 

This extra time has been really good  – the other day I went cycling around the suburb playing Pokemon… It was an oddly cloudy day for the dry Darwin season so it was a easy cycle around. Later that day I decided to take advantage of the opportune weather and cycle three suburbs down to a new shopping centre and do some leaflet dropping and maybe some lunch. My tire was a little flat, but I didn’t think it was too bad.

Google Maps said it’ll take me 20 minutes to cycle there, but it LIED. 

Most of the ride was uphill and I had to stop pretty frequently to drop the pamphlets. Made it to the shops after two hours and was waaaay too tired to eat. I walked around the shops for a bit and got the bike pumped up. By then I waslike a zombie, and made it home eventually. I did get lost on the way home.

Needless to say I’m pretty sunburnt. 😂

Productive Saturday

It’s rare that I experience such a Saturday where things get done.

Woke up at 6:30 as it was my turn to walk my girl.

I have been testing a new mesh chest piece for her because she just spazzes out and lunges. She has been really good so far but she does walk a little slower the usual. Still really stubborn with her persistent sniffing though.

After the walk we got to the front door and I notice Ori’s gaze locked on to something. It was black thing across the street, perhaps a cat. I shoved Ori into the yard and walk across to see if the animal needs help. Turns out to be this lost cutie patootie:

HE IS THE TINIEST THING EVER.

He let me carry him like a baby into our spare room and was very eager for any pets. The little peanut kept flopping belly up and just leaning his very teeny body against my legs. I may or may not have 30 photos of the little guy on my phone.

We dropped him off the vets and later on in the week we found out he had been dropped off at the pound. I hope his owners got him back…

After that I went to a cafe opening. It was really official with *two* ribbon cuttings and got some nice snaps. The cafe was OK, interesting location but the iced coffee I had was terrible.

Upside: I got smoothered by the cutest pink puppy for a whole 5 minutes :)

Later that afternoon we went to collect this mammoth of a shelving unit.

We had to help the sellers shift the unit up and down a truck they had borrowed, which was really nice of them. (They also had two uber friendly dachshunds.)

It is a custom made unit from a home salon, made by boilermaker of a husband, perfect display shelf for my typers. *Finally* something typewriter related! A small part of the machines now reside in the living room, I’ll get you an updated picture once I have them all up ;)

To round off the day I got around to organising some of my art supplies in the newly appointed ‘Art Room’. I am hoping to return to more hands on crafty goodness later in the year, it has been awhile.

Uh, as you can see.. It’s more dog filled than productive, but it’s nice to finally have the house things coming together. :)

Now that was last Saturday. Unfortunately I can not say I have had the same experience this weekend – it has been a shade of poo and full of Netflix TV series… I think I finished almost two seasons of a new show.