Observation Thirteen:

The church’s familiarity was still intact to her, feeling the sensation of the holy water from the tip of her fingers, the dark entry hall covered with a dirtied, red carpet and the solemn sounds coming from the loudspeakers. It was Good Friday. It was the Catholic’s obligation to mourn over the death of Jesus Christ. Despite that, it was like any other day. The sun still shined, the birds still chirped and everyone still continued on with their daily lives. Following a religion is a peculiar experience – it would be extreme to say that it was a false and blinded belief, but to be obligated to be sad over a saint that had died millions of years ago, having never met them at the same time. It is an odd tradition but nonetheless, fuels the faith of religion.

Observation Fourteen:

In order to play an instrument, one must be musically inclined or at least know how to follow the rhythm and create a beat. This drummer was so hyper-aware of the ordering of each and every instrument that he was effortlessly in sync with the rest of the band. There were moments in between where he would pause, waiting for the right moment to get right back in. Even the subtlest of actions, such as not letting the cymbals echo for too long, the egg shaker in sync with certain songs. He did not seem to mind not getting the attention, still putting as much effort as he could into the performance.

Observation Eleven:

Scrolling through old messages always give you a pang of nostalgia. It could be the good kind of sentiment or the type where you painfully yearn for that old relationship. To think that you once had such a close relationship with this person to the point where you get to the point of borderline intimacy. It wasn’t even physical intimacy but the type of friendship where you could express what you’re genuinely feeling. He had been broken and as a friend, the concern was apparent. These messages give you an indication of what it was like at the time, hence the sudden rush of nostalgia running through you. You can almost feel it in your chest and in your gut – especially in your gut.

Observation Twelve:

Who goes to Degraves Street? Any self-proclaimed Melburnian would barely step foot into this area full of tourist traps and is certainly crowded with tourists. However, a street that is embedded so deep into the Melbourne coffee culture was unfamiliar to a Melburnian such as myself. The plentiful amount of people waiting for their coffee, the baristas going from one coffee order to the next, it was a display of how Melbourne wanted to present itself to the world. A cafe that was the size of a bathroom stood by amidst all of this chaos – it almost seemed as if it were on a different country, hidden from all the bustle of Degraves Street. A lively barista greets each customer that walks into this tiny little space, presenting the menu that was disguised as a children’s book. How clever.

Observation Nine:

The realisation of blood dripping down my ears were apparent when I had finally looked at the mirror. I felt the warm sensation on my ear but ignored it because of the preconceived notions that it was part of the pain. It was of an unusually bright, blood orange colour that was starting to dry up. Easily washed away with a damp cotton bud, the colour transferred onto the wet cotton and seemed to look more like actual blood than it did on my own skin.

Observation Ten:

Thrift stores have a distinct smell to them – maybe it was the smell of the cleaning agent used to sanitise the clothes. Maybe it was the smell of old clothes. Either way, the smell didn’t seem to be overwhelming nor did it bother anyone within the vicinity. It was also an unusual thrift store because it was in the style of the warehouse – high ceilings, cemented walls, the type of location where the smell wouldn’t stick.

Observation Seven:

Speaking to someone online versus seeing them in real life is a concept that is baffling to many individuals such as myself. My plans to meet up with a friend I rarely see but speak to online happened on a Wednesday afternoon. Brunch was the chosen mode of activity at a local cafe. There were no expectations of how it would be like when we met up, but once I saw her, it felt completely different as to how I would usually interact with her. Because we seldom see each other, there was no sense of familiarity as you would have with an old friend but also, it is a completely different type of interaction even though we’ve spoken on multiple occasions online. There is just that explainable awareness of one another, especially because you witness everything is in real time and in the flesh.

Observation Eight:

I’ve known this person for a considerable amount of time but I’ve never had the opportunity to visit their home. On Friday night, I took part in making it one of the most memorable nights for this person. We all hid in the corner awaiting her presence, a cake in my brother’s hand with two lit candles shaped ‘two’ and ‘five’. She didn’t seemed too surprised because she was a person of a few words, let alone actually showing her emotions. I could tell she was pleasantly surprised to the point where she was crying tears of joy. She briefly said “thank you so much and thank you for coming”, gave a few a hugs around and went in her room to freshen up, ready to enjoy the rest of her night.

Observation Five:

On this humid Friday evening, a wide array of people descend down the escalator as they all prepare to do their usual Friday festivities. Their choice of clothing dictated what it was they were going to do that evening, with some men dressed in comfortable, neat and casual clothing whilst most of the women were dressed to the nines. Some were thrilled to be in a weekend state of mind whilst a few others kept to themselves, immersed in their own world through the music in their headphones.

Observation Six: 

Her accent was of a Malaysian or Singaporean origin, with her mannerisms fueling her pronunciation of certain words. Her cultural identity was clearly visible, making the flow of conversation new and different. She also had a strong under bite, forcing you to focus on her mouth a little bit more than you needed to. Asian languages tended to be of tonal nature and this reflected on her ability to speak English – there was nothing wrong with it, it is just that that style of conversation wasn’t necessarily the Australian exchange but it was a nice, refreshing twist to it.

Observation Three: 

The weekend is always an eventful time of the week as everyone starts to wind down from all the stresses of the past few days. Social media is a good way to document all the good and bad decisions that we make in these two days. A little peculiarity that I noticed during the weekend was an image of myself, captured through the lens of a mobile phone. What made this interesting was that this was coming from a different perspective, meaning that I have never seen this side of myself before.

Looking at yourself move in a certain way, analysing your own mannerisms and hearing yourself talk was what striked me – we all see different versions of ourselves, whether it’s through a mirror or a camera.

On top of that, the conditions of the environment is what really alters your physical appearance and your behaviour – the lighting at the time was of a yellowish hue, making my skin appear more olive than it already is. I was unusually loud as well, considering my state of mind was altered due to a few glasses of alcohol.

Because of my slight intoxication, seeing myself through social media served a purpose as it helped to guide my memory of a hazy weekend.

Observation Four:

A friend of mine were discussing the implications of violating the Victorian road laws and luckily enough, we were privileged to miss out on potential fines.

Fate seemed to favour its timing of torment because once I arrived home, there was a letter waiting for me. What was unusual about this was that I never receive any letters unless I needed to do my annual check up with the dentist, or make an appointment with my optometrist.

This blank, clinical-looking piece of envelope, my name and address through the small window did not seem to hold any implications over me. Once I opened it without restraint, this was a form that I would have to dwell on over the next couple of weeks.

Through this fine, it forced me to recap how I was driving at the time and to think of it, I was following the road rules so I saw no reason to be receiving this hefty amount charged against me. In the unforeseeable future, this would encourage my driving behaviour, but in the meantime, this infringement notice needs to be dealt with.

Observation One:

This whole ordeal wasn’t so much an actual observation but rather, an event that forced me to observe what was physically happening to my body.

As I was opening the gates to leave my house, my foot was standing in an unfortunate position, leaving the back of my foot to be acutely scraped off. I wouldn’t go to the extent of saying it was painful but it was definitely an uncomfortable situation, especially since I was already running late to work.

I had no choice but to soldier through the deep cut and drive to work without any complaints. I did the occasional check of my injured foot but other than that, I had to keep my eyes on the road.

As I looked at the affected area, I noticed how deep in colour my blood was. After all, it is seldom for us as humans to see the internal part of ourselves, let alone the colour of our blood. The blood was of a deep dark red, similar in colour to a bottled red wine but still visibly red.

The way the blood coagulated in that one part of my foot was interesting – I was expecting it to drip down and stain my socks, however, it played in my favour and left no mess.

Observation Two:

Running late to work, there were little facets throughout the day that may have crossed my mind. However, there was this particular peculiarity that caught my attention. It was an overview of the security cameras that have apparently been around for a while. I never knew that we had access to view them and thought that it was purely for the security room to see.

Nonetheless, I, as a Customer Service Officer had the whole view of Melbourne Olympic Park. This included Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and even as minute as the elevator lifts. Surely there was some sort of security breach because with a job description like mine, I held too much power and responsibility to be looking at the whole operations of the park.

At the same time, it was also there for our own safety. So in reality, I didn’t hold too much power because I was simply just looking at the happenings of the whole area. What could I really do with security footage other than to watch it?