わたしの国の首都 My Country's Capital City.

オーストラリアの首都を間違う人が多いです。今、最大の都市はシドニーなので、シドニーが首都だと思うのです。でも、オーストラリアの首都はキャンベラという市です。

実はキャンベラ市はちょっと小さいです。国ができたころ、シドニーとメルボルンが一番大きい都市でした。両都市の市民が首都にしたかったのです。選べなかったので、二つの市の間に新しい町を造って、首都キャンベラができました。

There are many people who get Australia's capital wrong. Now the biggest city is Sydney, so they think Sydney is the capital. But the capital of Australia is a city called Canberra.

Actually, Canberra is kind of small. Around the time Australia became a country, Sydney and Melbourne were the two biggest cities. The people of both cities wanted to become the capital. They couldn't decide, so they made a new town in-between the two cities, and the capital city of Canberra was established.

A Meme Promotion

Recently, back in my hometown of Hobart, there was a little something called the "Hobart YSA Convention" - an event designed to bring together lots of Young Single Adults within my church to makes friends, have fun, and - let's be honest - find that special someone.  Tassie is a really great place that I truly love, but the fact is that if you want to marry a Mormon, the selection is pretty small.  There are many people actually who do strike it lucky, but for the rest of us it helps to meet people from other parts of Australia too.  This convention was mainly for all of Tassie and Victoria, but also YSA from any part of Australia were welcome to attend.

Now, a little something about Tasmania...is that it's one of Australia's best kept secrets.  The mainland seem to think there's nothing worth going to see, and usually don't.  Those who actually go to Tasmania discover how beautiful and great it is, and that the people are pretty awesome.  Except for those people who come here expecting an exact replica of their big-city lifestyle.  They leave disappointed.

Anyway, I was pretty excited about this concept of having an event to bring fresh, new YSA down to Tas.  I wasn't going to be in attendance, but I really wanted to help out the next generation, so I decided to contribute my steadily improving meme-creation skills to help promote the event to the mainlanders.  

Here are the promotion memes I came up with, along with tagline comment, which were posted on the event page and various YSA group pages to spread the word.

Just Do It - register for Hobart YSA Convention.  You know you want to.

I didn't know how to super-impose at that time, so I hand drew the (completely plagiarised) Nike symbol.  This meme was to appeal to a spontaneous nature.

Grumpy Cat doesn't buy your lame excuses.  Register...now!

People always come up with really lame excuses as to why they can't to go conventions or other activities.  Grumpy Cat ain't fooled.

Accept the challenge and register for Hobart YSA convention

I know some people were doubting whether they would actually have a good time in Tasmania, at a convention significantly smaller than most YSA conventions.  This meme was for those who always accept a dare.

The rumours are true!  Register now for the Hobart YSA Convention

This was to promote the event in general.  After all, Tassie hosting such a big event is kind of a rare thing, and some people may not have believed the rumours.  Besides, that look of surprise on the koala's face gets me every time - priceless!

Come to Hobart YSA Convention.  It's going to be...interesting!

I had to learn how to superimpose for this one, because the original image has a bottle of beer, and we Mormons don't drink beer, or promote it.  So I looked up how to put an image of Tasmania's delicious Cascade Apple Isle Juice over it - and found it surprisingly easy!  Oh the fun I am going to have, now that I know this skill ;)

This was to assure everyone that had their doubts, that convention was going to be a lot of fun.

Don't let this happen to you!

This was sent out as registrations were about to close, to prompt people to get those registrations in to secure their spot at the convention.

I have no idea whether or not these memes helped increase numbers, but I certainly had a lot of fun making them.  I enjoyed the challenge of creating memes which were theme specific, but which still held true to each meme style.  

It's also made me realise there are many other 'theme-specific' areas for which I could create memes - for example, living in Japan.  So I am hoping to get my meme-creation on again soon! 

 Life needs a few simple pleasures...meme creation is one of mine.

The Haircut Update

As you may remember, I recently publicly declared that I would be taking the plunge and getting my hair cut soon here in Japan, for the first time.  The main reason for the haircut was because my fringe done in Australia this year had already grown out and I felt my hair looked a bit drab with these random outgrown layers.  I thought it could do with a healthy trim too.

My first attempt at this was unsuccessful due to the chosen hairdresser being closed when I showed up (oops).  I was planning to reattempt soon.  However, just a few days later a huge heat wave struck (aka the true summer).  At 35 degrees with high humidity, I suddenly remembered just how much one sweats during the Tokyo summer.  Many Japanese people actually carry around towels, for the express purpose of wiping the sweat off their face and body.  I soon realised that even if I did get a lovely fringe cut, it would just end up stuck to my forehead in random sweat-induced patterns, resulting in me looking like some kind of drowned rat (The Japanese don't seem to have this problem, due to their robust, thick hair holding it's shape much better in these conditions.  I have very thin hair and am not so lucky).

As I have since realised that for the next couple of months I am better off sporting a variety of up-dos to keep the hair off my face and neck (much easier to do without a fringe or layers), the haircut has been postponed until AFTER summer.   

And so instead I am having fun researching new hair ideas (for example, see below) and the sweat is annoying me much less than it did last summer.  Of course, the beautiful cooler weather we've had lately has certainly helped that too! :)

So, ladies and gentlemen, that is The Update.