About time for a change

Hi friends, 

It's been a nice two years or thereabouts here at Wunderbar Cried The Bird. But I feel as if I have outgrown this space; looking back at my old entries makes me laugh and cringe simultaneously. With each passing year I grow more into myself and I'd like my little corner in the virtual world to change with me, especially since 2012 holds so much promise.

I will now be blogging here.
Over the next few entries at Where is your heart?, I will be posting some old photos I took just so I can house them all under the same roof.
Please drop by and follow me there if you like.

With much love and gratefulness,
Cheryl Julia

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. 

- Anatole France

Roasted Vegetables and Linguine

I recently realized that spending five months in Australia means I have to fix my own meals. Even when I was staying in the school hostel, I didn't ever cook since the thought of using the communal kitchen made me lose my appetite anyway; I would eat cereal/muesli bars for breakfast and dinner, or get a sandwich from Subway or just skip dinner altogether. But I am sharing an apartment with two others in Brisbane so cooking should be a more pleasant affair. Anyway, I decided I 'd better learn how to cook quick so Josh and I will be fixing meals at home to practise until I leave.

A few days ago, we fixed roasted vegetables, which I kind of free-styled, and linguine with lemon, garlic and thyme modified from Nigella's recipe here. For the roasted vegetables, I diced a zucchini and three capsicums of varying colors, and mixed this in with half a cup of olive oil, italian herbs, pepper, salt and the juice of a lemon. I preheated the oven to 245 degrees celsius and then roasted the vegetables for 25 minutes, stirring it every now and then. 

It Girl: Carey Mulligan

littlewounds@tumblr

stronglook@tumblr

heythatacademy@tumblr

elinoreeg@tumblr

Signed, "That genial wit and good egg, Woody"

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Recently, I have developed a taste for biographies and one of the biographies on my ever-expanding 'To-Read' list is Diane Keaton's Then Again, which is hardly a surprise considering my admiration for Woody Allen.

I can't imagine working with him on one movie but Keaton acted in so many! And she married him, that lucky thing. Sure, he is neurotic but he is also so incredibly clever and funny; I could sit and listen to him all day.

Anyway, English Muse very sweetly recreated some of Woody Allen's letters to Diane Keaton, that Keaton includes in her autobiography. I would trade my left ankle for him to write me a letter.

English Muse

Write me a letter, someone.

I dreamed you a sin and a lie

Guess shirt, ASOS shorts, ASOS cardigan (not pictured)

Wild Horses - The Rolling Stones

Faith has been broken, tears must be cried. Let's do some living after love dies. Wild horses couldn't drag me away. Wild, wild horses, we'll ride them some day.

***

#01 One of my best friends decided to surprise us by popping back to SG for the month although he wasn't due back till June next year. It's pretty great since we figured last June would be the last time we would all hang out together. Bala and I caught New Year's Eve while waiting for Bea to finish her shift. It's been a long while since I paid to watch a movie and New Year's Eve was horrid. It was one of those movies where actors are haphazardly thrown together to create a stunning cast list; too many scenes of people I don't care for and too few of awesome actors like Robert De Niro. Dinner was fish, rice and chips with way too much lemon butter. Also, scary meerkat adventures.

#02 Took Janette Turner Hospital's Orpheus Lost out; so far, it feels really clumsily put together. I think anything after the likes of Kundera, Nabokov and Banville just feels inadequate.

#03 Right, and I also chopped off my fringe since the last outfit post. But of course, it refuses to behave.

Tremble for yourself, my man

Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons

Weep for yourself, my man, you'll never be what is in your heart. Weep little lion man, you're not as brave as you were at the start.

***

Post-exam days are filled with reading, watching Dexter, eating nuts and wearing unbearably warm knits. Not very enthralling things to blog about, I'm afraid.

The Greatest Speech Ever Made: Charlie Chaplin

"The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate;

has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in:

machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.

Our knowledge has made us cynical,

our cleverness hard and unkind.

We think too much and feel too little:

More than machinery we need humanity;

More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.

Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost." 

- Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator