Random tangent (blog)
Ameel Khan's personal blog. This is a blog about life, technology, the internet, science, skepticism, feminism, books, film, music, and whatever other random stuff I come across or happen to be interested in today.
Happy Maggie-versary to me and Nadia! Maggie has now been part of our family for four years.
She was anxious and reactive when we got her. Now she’s curious, chilled-out, cuddly, and happy. She’s come a long way in four years.
A red dog on a leash is sniffing around in some grass next to a parked car.
My new favourite t-shirt to wear to a desi get-together :)
Selfie of a man wearing a black t-shirt with white text on it that says: I was told there would be biryani.
Nadia’s first (baby) tomato harvest is here! (Update to this post from earlier in the month.)
She would’ve had a bigger bunch to show off but the neighbourhood possums ate the tomatoes that were ready to pick yesterday. (Ah well.)
Close-up photo of a hand holding four baby tomatoes.
That 'COVID normal' train life in Melbourne.
Selfie of a man wearing a hat, eyeglasses, and a large face mask. The man is seated on a train that’s stopped at a train station. There is a long instructional sticker on the inside of the train window that says: Keep your distance where you can.
Is this not the most appropriate t-shirt to wear to your office Christmas party? :)
Selfie of a man standing next to a road on a sunny day. The man is wearing a grey t-shirt that shows a tall, distinctly shaped office building – illustrated in a style that makes it look like a Christmas tree, complete with a start on top. The text printed below this building illustration says: Nakatomi Corporation Christmas Party 1988.
Do you have a favourite tree on the street that you live?
We moved to the suburb of Newport, VIC last month and I've narrowed my list down to four…
This first one is a big broccoli. Well proportioned, nicely filled out, and colourful. But basically just broccoli. And I love it.
Photo of a paperbark tree on a residential street. The tree is shaped like a single branch of broccoli.
The second one is spade-shaped broccoli. It is massive, with a good solid trunk, and is arguably majestic.
Photo of a tall paperbark tree on a residential street. The tree is shaped like the spade playing card symbol.
Number three is a big boy. Both tall and wide, it provides plenty of shade and sounds lovely in the wind. This is a tree you'd want to hug.
Photo of a gum tree on a residential street. The tree is massive.
Number four is a spindly specimen. A tree from a lighter weight class than the others, if you will. But it has a strong zig-zaggy aesthetic that I find pleasing.
Photo of a tree on a residential street. The tree has distinct, zig-zag layers of branches.
I’m sure almost no one else is interested in what my favourite local tree is (currently leaning towards #3 btw). But, hey, if you can’t talk about this stuff on your own blog, then what even is your blog for? :)
I love my new glasses! Props to the sales rep from The Eye Lab Melbourne who picked this retro square style from Lacoste out for me and got me to try something less rectangular :)
Close-up selfie of a man wearing a pair of rounded square eyeglasses. The man is bald and has a salt-and-pepper beard.
I do still like my old frames; they just worked better when I had a wider face.
Close-up selfie of a man wearing a pair of wide rectangular eyeglasses. The man is bald and has a salt-and-pepper beard.
Dramatic skies on a Sunday evening in Melbourne, Australia.
Photo of a partly cloudy sky at sunset. The colours of the clouds range from white and grey to bright yellow and golden. The light blue of the sky peeks out from between the gaps in the puffy, many-layered clouds.
Wearing sunglasses and a rain parka, I was prepared for both rain and shine when I walked Maggie this morning. (Melbourne’s weather is more unpredictable than usual this time of year.)
Selfie of a man in a baseball cap, large sunglasses, and a rain parka walking a dog along a residential street.
I’m glad I was prepared. Because here we are, 20 minutes after that first photo, sheltering under a large tree during a blustery rain shower!
Selfie of a man in a baseball cap, large sunglasses, and a rain parka with its hood pulled over the man’s head. The man is walking a dog on a leash.
And ten minutes after that we were being toasted by the bright sunshine again.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Selfie of a man in a baseball cap, large sunglasses, and a rain parka as he walks a dog along a residential street. There is bright sunshine on the pair.
Don’t get me wrong though: I love Melbourne and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. You just have to be prepared for all that this city has to throw at you :)
Thinking tomato-ey thoughts and planning her plant potting process is Nadia.
A woman, with her back to the photographer, is standing in front of several medium and large sized potted plants in a residential garden. One of her hands is on her hips, the other is holding a large plastic watering can.
The joys of working from home: Monday lunch-break rock buns :)
A plate piled with about a dozen baked rock buns. These look like small, biscuit-textured buns with dried fruit in them.
Mmm. Rock buns. Both delicious and super easy to make. Highly recommended.
(These ones are also gluten free and contain currants, raisins, and cranberries.)
Close up photo of a plate of rock buns. You can see their half-cake, half-bun texture and you can recognise dried fruits like raisins, currants, and cranberries baked into them.
What better way to return to the cinemas in post-lockdown Melbourne than by watching TENET at IMAX Melbourne in the original 1570 film version?! That was so worth it.
Selfie of a man standing in front of the IMAX cinema building in Melbourne, Australia.
I must watch that film again soon too. TENET is one of those juicy, complex, adult science fiction storylines that genuinely warrants a re-watch (plus a Blu-ray purchase).
There’s so much happening both story- and film-making wise throughout that you don’t want to miss anything. Overall a superb filmmaking achievement!
Guess who’s the power lifter in the family?
A woman smiles at the camera as she shows off her arms, on which the muscle definition is very clear. She is wearing a sleeveless tank top and has her arms raised by her side as she flexes her biceps.
Sometimes, after a couple of hours neck deep in Excel and Tableau, it’s best to go crash on the sofa for a bit. (One of the perks and joys of working from home!)
A man is lying on a sofa with his eyes closed. The blanket he is covered in has the Microsoft Windows ‘blue screen of death’ printed on it. This used to be the screen that appeared when a computer running the Windows operating system crashed. (Windows 10 onwards we have a different blue screen of death.)
A hopefully look and a little tail wag. I call this Maggie’s “expecto treatonum” pose :)
And, yes, Nadia was in the process of giving Maggie a treat. So everything worked out for the best.
A red dog is standing inside a house. She is intensely focused on someone off-camera: ears pricked, ready to bound forward. The dog’s tail is a little blurry in the photo, since it’s mid-mini-wag.
Head scritches requested…
A red dog has put her face between the legs of the photographer, who is wearing shorts and is sitting in a chair on an outdoor deck. The dog is looking up at the photographer expectantly.
Head scritches received.
A red dog, who in the previous photo had put her face between the legs of the photographer (who himself is sitting in a chair on an outdoor deck) is now having her head scratched by the photographer.
Australian cattle dogs gonna Australian cattle dog.
In this case that means Maggie will happily doze in the searing hot sun on a bright, 33-degree afternoon in Melbourne.
A red dog, of Australian cattle dog breed, lies on her side on the grass of a residential lawn on a bright, sunny day.
She’ll do that for just fifteen minutes though.
Once she's soaked up enough heat she'll rub her back on the grass, shake herself off, and head back inside.
A red dog is upside-down, legs in the air, on the grass of a residential backyard. This photo of the dog has caught her in the middle of rubbing its back on the grass.
Stage three is a cool down.
A red dog lies on her side on a cool floor inside a house.
All in all, an afternoon well spent.
Ah, that's the spot. Head scritches are the best.
A dog rests its chin on the leg of a seated man. The man is scratching the dog’s head and the dog, with its eyes half closes, looks calm and relaxed.
Friday afternoon and it's time for blueberry tea.
Selfie of a man standing in a residential garden on a sunny, partly cloudy day holding a large clear glass mug that contains a reddit coloured liquid. The mug looks like a beaker used by chemists in the laboratory.
Last week we moved house. If that sounds like a stressful thing to do during a global pandemic, let you tell you: it is. But, we made it. And we’re now all settled in the suburb of Newport – about a fifteen minute drive from where we used to live in Kingsville.
One of the best things about our new place is the large garden at the back. Maggie took a couple of days to settle in and thoroughly mark her new territory, but even on moving day she found herself a nice spot to roll in.
A red heeler dog rolls around on her back in a patch of grass in a residential lawn. In the background you can see a garden shed and a swing.
Which she was immensely pleased about.
A red dog lies comfortably on her side in a residential lawn. In the background you can see part of a garden shed and a fence.
I guess dogs donna dog, and Maggie is making the most of it :)
This is personal website of Nadia Niaz and Ameel Zia Khan. Here we document our lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia