Because I have other things to do

I'm going to voluteer to be tagged by Penni. So answers to the follwing questions:

1. Four of my favourite jobs
2. Four of my favourite local places
3. Four of my favourite foods
4. Four of my favourite international places
5. Four names of people I am tagging

Favourite jobs

• Teaching/tutoring, particularly the creative writing tutoring I got to do this semester. I love that moment when you see the light flick on in a student's eyes. 


• Editing - I spent five years as a technical editor at an energy and environment consultancy firm and can't say I didn't enjoy it. It helped that people were willing to let me resort to violence on occasion. I also learnt how easy it is to collapse into hysterical giggles when you're five hours from an 8am deadline.


• Content writing, when you're working with sensible people who actually give you the information you need to do your job. The opposite has also happened and that can turn it into a nightmare.


• Cat sitting. Getting paid to take care of a cuddly, purry cat? Yes please. Poop-scooping is not fun though and is probably why I remain very firmly a dog person, but it was nice to get to know a cat properly.

Favourite local places

• It's pretty big, but Sydney Road pretty much from Brunswick Road to Bell Street. I don't know how many times I've walked from Coburg to Parkville and back, but it serves up something new each time.  


• Coburg Lake Reserve for picnics or for days when you want to lie out in the sun and read a book next to a lake.


• The CBD for me. Although it doesn't have nearly as much of a vibe as other cities, it combines some of their speed with a sense of safety I find almost odd at times. Great for when you want to dance your ass off too.


• Ashi and Nuz's apartment. It's the comfiest, coziest, homiest place I know in Melbourne.

Favourite food

• Croissants and baguettes fresh out of the oven. Also bagels. Also fresh naan. I am an Atkins aficionado's worst nightmare.


• Chop suey, which I used to hate until a few years ago.


• Pakistani food of pretty much any description. It is quite possibly the most delicious kind of food on the planet. And no, it is not the same as what you get in Indian restaurants. The spices are different, as are the cuts and kinds of meat. So there.


• The burgers at Munchies' in Islamabad.

 Favourite international places

• Kathmandu, Nepal. The approach is one of the most spectacular in the world (if you can still look out the window once you realize what you're looking at is rock, not cloud). The place is small but extremely friendly and, with the right company, is full simply fantastic.


• Still in Nepal, the Annapurna Circuit. I only did part of it, which meant ten days of trekking and camping including a stopover in the village of Ghorepani and a dip in the Tatopani hot springs, as well as dodging rock falls and goats and one very nasty mountain buffalo.


• New York City. It is the most amazing, electric, alive place I have ever been. Living 28 stories above the East River didn't hurt either. I still squeal when I see 'my' building in shots of NYC in movies. (Look left of the UN building. That building that looks like a stack of cigars? That's it.)


• Hunza in Pakistan, nestled in the Karakorams. Where the Himalayas give the impression of softness, the Karakorams are naked rock. Terrifying and beautiful. In fact, here are some pictures of our trip there in 2006.

Four people I'm tagging

Let me take a leaf from Penni's book here and say, consider yourselves tagged.