Random tangent (blog)
Ameel Khan's personal blog. This is a blog about life, technology, photography, typography, the internet, science, feminism, books, film, music, and whatever other random stuff I come across or happen to be interested in today.
Kicking of our anniversary week with brunch at our local café. Of the seventeen years Nadia and I have been married this last one has been the strangest, but also the best.
Selfie of a man and a women in front of a tall wooden fence. The two are wearing almost identical straw hats and are smiling at the camera.
That feeling when you’re in the same field as you parent (in this case, literally) and you have to lean farther and farther away to get out from under their shadow!
Photo of two trees growing in a field behind a residential property. The younger tree is growing too close to the older one, so it has had to bend its trunk and extend its branches sideways to get the best direct access to sunlight. The end branches of the younger tree have bent so far away that they are literally touching the ground several metres away from the root of the older tree.
Most of the time she’s happy to sleep in her dog bed (visible above my head). But when she wants to be close to me while I’m at my desk, Maggie will pass out right behind my chair. Her shoulder is literally leaning on one of the chair’s casters!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Selfie of a man sitting in an office chair looking up at the camera with an amused and resigned expression. On the carpet directly behind the chair that the man is sitting on is a dog sleeping blissfully on her side. There is also an empty fuzzy dog bed visible in the background of the photo, not too far from the dog’s rear legs.
Wednesday sunset behind the massive gum tree in front of our house.
Photo of the sun setting behind a massive gum tree in a residential neighbourhood. The sky is bright blue and filled with broken, puffy clouds illuminated with golden yellow light from the setting sun.
The blackbird that keeps trying to steal Nadia’s cherry tomatoes can only get at the fruit lower down on the plant so the tomatoes in the upper branches are coming alone nicely!
Close-up photo of a tomato plant branch laden with cherry tomatoes at various stages of ripeness.
Close-up photo of a backyard cherry tomato plant with three bright red cherry tomatoes on it, along with a couple of smaller, greener ones.
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.
Finally watched the fantastic Brazen Hussies documentary at Cinema Nova yesterday! If you haven’t watched this already, I highly recommend that you do.
I love hearing all the stories and reflecting on the parallels between this movement and the women’s movement in Pakistan in the 1970s and 80s and I grew up in. #SameSameButDifferent
Photo of the inside of a cinema, with empty seats in the foreground of the photo and the large cinema screen in the background. The text on the screen says: “Welcome back to Cinema Nova!”
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.
Don’t miss the great conjunction, they said.
Jupiter and Saturn will be the closest together in the sky since 1623, they said.
Just look west after sunset, they said.
Meanwhile, in Melbourne…
Photo of a sky completely filled with grey, fluffy clouds above residential roofs.
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.
This is personal website of Nadia Niaz and Ameel Zia Khan. Here we document our lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia