Monthly Archives: November 2010

Friday daze


New Westfield Centrepoint.

I had 2 bad night sleeps in a row, way too much beer and smokes and the car show absolutely killed my legs (strange!) somehow I managed to (just) keep on rolling. Yesterday we planned to hit the beach but it was a crap day so Jess, Byron, Christina and I hit the city to check out the new Westfield Centrepoint.

Parts of the centre reminded me of some big Asian malls, maybe Hong Kong and Singapore. My mum ran a fashion business in Centrepoint for many years so as kids my sister and I practically grew up in the heart of the city. I didn’t at all recognise any of the old Centrepoint though, they’ve really gone all out on the new centre. It’s still dark like the old but each store front has it’s own concept (unlike the old centre having generic shop designs on the outside), some of the shop designs are pretty rad too.


New fixie shop at the Galleries Victoria.


Later that afternoon Christina and I hit the refurbished Strawberry Hills Hotel. I was feeling pretty tired until they served me this cool bottle of Asahi. Made in Japan unlike the made in Thailand Asahi everyone else seems to be stocking. Makes me so happy.


We then hit Jazushi, a small Japanese fusion restaurant in Surry Hills. We’ve walked past before and wondered if it was any good, turns out the food was awesome, we’ll definitely be back for more. We were there for Michael’s B’day, Michael and his partner Kerri run fashion label Amar. Really nice people and they’ve got some really interesting friends which made for a great night.

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Need for Speed Hot Pursuit On Tour


Up early, wash cars. Byza drove all the way from QLD to represent!


Tiffany coloured Volks, some punk stole his gold grenade valve caps at a servo on the way to Sydney, luckily I had these purples ones off my BMX!


Filling up as a full tank of fuel was an OH&S requirement.


1.30PM. All house lights on, no music, killer cars and conversations with car owners. The perfect meet!!!


So many people I spoke to said Fonzy’s Celica was their fave car at the show.


Hard S14.


& I.


The Lock promo girls!


Pakula!


Papz: I’ve come to clean ze pool!

Yesterday Suga and I both had our cars displayed at the Need for Speed Hot Pursuit On Tour event at the Entertainment Quarter. The cars on show were selected by Charles (very much the reason why we were up for it!) and later that night Big Boi from OUTKAST was performing at the Hordern Pavillion.

Setting the cars up early was awesome. once we were done we grabbed a few beers and some lunch, when we came back the bright white lights were off, disco lights were on and music was pumping. The show had started but to me it had ended. The music was so loud I couldn’t talk to anyone and the lighting was so dark I couldn’t take photos any more!

Having a car in a car show makes for a very very long day (with getting there early to set up and staying till show close to get your car out). Great car show though. Charles did well with choosing a great mix of cars and it was awesome catching up with the old crew as well as finally meeting some long standing JDMST members I hadn’t yet met face to face. The Big Boi concert in the opposite hall wasn’t my cup of tea but hey, people were into it and he seemed super into it too.

Many many more photos are up here: http://forum.jdmstyletuning.com/showthread.php?29945-NSW-NOV-EOMM-Need-for-Speed-Hot-Pursuit-On-Tour

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VWGolf.net.au Pizza Night


Nath gave Christina and I this poster which he had a UK based illustrator design for us. The generosity of the VWG members never ceases to surprise me.


The meat came out quick and fast (!), maybe the fact that the big boss was sitting on our table had something to do with it?!


Group shot.


Lots of laughs as usual!

We had our monthly VWG “Pizza Night” at Churrasco in Coogee this month, a Brazilian style BBQ restaurant owned and run by one of our forum members. Byron had driven down from QLD for this weekend’s Need For Speed event, we’d been hanging out talking shit and drinking beers all day so loads of meat and good company turned out to be a great way to end the day.

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ADA Cube Garden Mini L

I sold Mr. Mantis Shrimp 2 weeks ago (he made for a very boring pet as he never came out of his cave) and I’ve torn down the tank to get ready for a planted C02 set-up (what I should have done all along).


Gearing up!


Working with this kinda gear always scares the shit out of me.


Laying down the ADA fertilisers.


9kg’s worth of ADA aquasoil.


150W metal halide.


It’s way too blue (marine tank light) so I’ll have to change the bulb out for something more natural (yellow).

Also got delivery of most of Tony’s gear for his Namatjira inspired tank. You can view the updates here.

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Cleaner Wrasse


Yesterday I bought a fish I’ve always wanted.

He adds a lot of difference to the tank in the way he swims (love how he glides through the water). He’s not gotten close to cleaning the long standing tank mates. Blue Tang is now king of the tank and last night he was giving the new guy some attitude, so too my flame angel but today they’re all getting along a lot better.

I’ve been worried about keeping one of these fish as I’ve read that they often starve once there’s no more parasites to clean off other fishes. I’ve also read that they tend to harass other fishes once there’s no more parasites left to eat too (due to starving and desperately seeking more food). I had 3 to choose from in the shop (a small shop in Bondi Junction) and I chose the most colourful one as well as the most aggressive (he seemed very insanely happy to greet me up against the glass).

This morning I fed a little flake and he’s eating it at the surface. I just tried a block of mysid and he’s gobbling that up too (phew!). I also just did a water change and he bit my arm! Looks like he’ll be just fine :)

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Modern Pet Shop is live!


W00t! We’re live!

Some say you should never work with family, but with all 4 of us being animal lovers and graphic designers we couldn’t resist! It’s been hard work but our online designer pet accessories shop is finally live so please check it out and spread the word to all your animal loving friends, we’d really appreciate it!

Visit: http://modernpetshop.com

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Modern Pet goes live tomorrow morning!


Modern Pet business cards.


Cards, swing tags for all the products in our shop, stickers and bags too.

It’s been a hard road but our online pet accessories shop (family business between Christina and I + Jamie and Richie) launches tomorrow! We’re relieved, excited, nervous and anxious! More new tomorrow :)

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Big girl now


Mia’s a big girl now (well…almost!).


Her adult teeth are poking through!

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Aquarium update

The salty tank is settling in nicely. Water parameters are pretty stable and I should now be able to get away with just testing the water chemistry once a month (in case I need to make tweaks to my dosing computer).

I bought a couple of small clams (I love clams!) and a purple monti from an online store called Coral Crazy. His online shop looks clean and it was so easy to use (refreshing!). Turns out Andrew (the owner) lives local to me so he even dropped off my order himself and gave me a couple of free frags too. Top guy, super passionate and clearly in it for the love not the money (he’s a sparky by trade). I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying more goodies from him in future!!!

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Albert Namatjira inspired Australian aquarium landscape


An original watercolor by Albert Namatjira, painted around 1954.

Albert Namatjira (28 July 1902 – 8 August 1959) is perhaps Australia’s best known Aboriginal painter, with his work forming one of the foundations of contemporary Indigenous Australian art.

Christina’s Dad Tony let me at his old tank in 2007. Christina and I managed to turn it from a dark scary algae breeding box into this lovely tank. It’s been doing great but he’s ready to go the next level and I’ve been enlisted to help!

Tony’s goal is to create a tank visually inspired by Albert Namatjira’s Australian landscape paintings. A lot of his work features a tree as a focal point in the foreground (usually far left or right) and blue mountain scapes in the distance. Re-creating the depth of his paintings will be a great challenge.

I say “I” a lot but this really is a team effort. Christina and Tony are in the boat with me and they’re both very much going to be sharing the driving.

A few weeks ago we ordered a 4x2x2 tank from the same guy that has been building tanks since my Dad was around and in business (Adrian from Ingleburn) and it was delivered last Saturday. Same 4ft width as his current tank (it’ll be sitting in the same place), taller but a lot deeper. The extra depth will really help us with trying to achieve the depth found in Namatjira’s paintings.


4x2x2 eurobraced (no glass panel on top to block the light) and super clear starphire glass all round. Like a bathtub. It looks so much bigger than his old tank (because it is!). The depth makes all the difference.


That same Saturday we went rock shopping at Bonsai Environment in Vineyard. Amazing shop with the most ridiculously inspiring bonsai garden, no photos allowed though, such a shame!


The rocks were about $40/rock so we bought a few. We might end up needing less, or more, we’re not sure!

More updates as they come!

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