Maxine Tham

Blog Relaunch

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:12:00 +1000

I’ve decided to relaunch my blog. It’s been a long time coming, so why waste another day, month or year? Instead of boring you with the details in the format of a viciously long text post, I’m gonna do what I do best - talk with pictures! Let’s get started.

I’ll be honest, life can get pretty busy. The simple fact is I got busy and neglected my blog. I wanted to start back up again because I have missed it dearly and wanted to share what I’ve been doing. As someone who works in online and digital marketing space, I wanted to re-establish that online work/life balance again. I’ve gone back to Tweeting more, using Instagram, and getting more active online. Admittedly it’s not the easiest thing to maintain considering I work in it everyday, but it’s a challenge that I think would be worthwhile both professionally and personally. Here are a few things that I have updated and improved on…

1. OPTED FOR A BRAND NEW LAYOUT

This layout is much like the one I had previously with some minor modifications. Moving on to a 2 column format, I have designed new buttons and have created space in which I can show you my sponsors and affiliates. The body however, I wanted to keep the same as possible. I love whitespace, and as you can see, I love it quite literally. I’ve kept everything very clean and minimal, giving an emphasis to the aesthetics and simplicity of my posts.

2. UPDATED MY FOCUS

Gone are the days where I posted about everything from marketing, fashion, art, interesting online reads, to my life in general. It was reasonable when I was posting around 3 to 4 times a week but with a career that is really on the move, it’s just not manageable.

I wanted to simplify and just focus on me and my work as a whole. I’ve taken the focus off of having specific segments and have a more general “me and marketing” focus. I will be aiming to post either once a week or once a fortnight.

And that’s it for now! Let me know what you think about the new layout and such in the comments below.

The Front Lines: Blog Relaunch Coming Soon

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:03:00 +1000

As you can see, I’ve been busy with redesigning my blog with a (mostly) new format and most importantly… new buttons! Here’s a sneak peek:

What do you guys think so far?

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #22

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:18:21 +1000

I keep saying that I will get back into posting regularly (maybe 3 to 4 times a week is a little excessive) but I haven’t had the time to (maybe I should start doing 1 to 2 times a week instead?).

Anyway, life has been crazy (nothing new). I do however, have a little story to tell. Recently, my dad has been working with closely with Versace to develop high end luxury apartments. A couple of weeks ago, my mother received a package. It was a very light giant box that was sent as a gift from Versace.

What was in the box you ask? See for yourself!

Isn’t it wonderful? My mum was so excited to receive it and a giant thank you goes out to Versace. What’s more is this bag has been modeled by January Jones for Spring 2011.

Maybe if I’m lucky mum will let me borrow her bag :P

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #21

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 22:45:00 +1000

It’s good to be slowly getting back into blogging. As I’ve stated in my previous posts, I’ve been snowed under with work and all other spare time I have had I have been using it to relax. I have been relaxing by watching television, watching movies, eating and shopping! I haven’t been doing anything too riveting but I thought that I would show you with some of the stuff I have purchased this week.

I bought new perfume called Wish by Chopard. It is a parfum that has a very rich vanilla, caramel and sandalwood smell that is overlaid with a light sent of fruit and florals. And of course, being a sucker for packaging I was in love with the bottle as soon as I saw it.

I have started getting sick of lugging around a monstrous hard drive so I decided to buy a tiny 1TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive. It is so nice and light and weighs about one tenth of my other hard drives.

Here are some additional purchases that I couldn’t resist but take photos of. He bought an adjustable mouse that is aesthetically mind boggling.

This is mechanical keyboard that has no markings on the keys. It is fantastic to use (if you can touch type that is).

It’s good to be getting back into blogging. Hopefully I will have some swoon worthy posts for you soon!

BOOKMARKED #17

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 21:59:00 +1000

This week has been a little bit of a breakfast eat fest. I visited a few cafés in the Brisbane and Fortitude Valley area. Below is a photo of the Eggs Benedict with salmon from Campos.

So on the topic food, I decided to post a few food blogs that really enjoy.

Whenever I go to a restaurant or café I can’t help but notice and admire the menus (if they are well designed that is). Art of the Menu is a fantastic blog that looks at the design of restaurant menus.

If you are looking for blogs that comprise of food, fashion and lifestyle you should check out Luxirare and The Blonde Salad.

Biorequiem (amongst many others) is one of the blogs that has strongly visually inspired my blog. She has a fantastic food segment called Mmmf. Her photography is nothing short of amazing.

To localise this post a little bit I thought you would be interested in A Table For Two. It is an Australian blog that is fantastically designed and provides reviews, recipes, photography and much more.

And last but not least is a blog by Kaman and friends! Kaman has been a long time friend of mine and one of our main common interests is food. This year, she started a food blog called Takes Two Gluttons. It typically looks at affordable food, recipes and other food related news.

That’s all for now. Happy eating!

THE FRONT LINES #4: KL FAIR IN STOP MOTION

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:22:22 +1000

As you all know, I haven’t been frequently posting due to various work commitments. So, you may be seeing a fair few The Front Lines posts over the next few weeks because I want to give you a glimpse of the things I have been working on that has kept me away from my precious blog.

A few weeks back, I helped my best friend KL on a competition entry to win a free registration to the ALIA 5th New Librarian Symposium. The theme of the entry was metamorphosis, librarianship and how the symposium could help someone become a librarian.

KL had already had a rough idea in mind but because we were working to a strict deadline, I thought that it would be a fantastic idea to make stop motion video. Basically, I took the photos and altered their sizes and she edited it together. Here is what we came up with…

The video isn’t too bad considering we did it in a only few hours. I do however, think that some music would have improved it significantly. Overall, the video did capture her relationship with the library and her metamorphosis as library user to librarian. Although KL didn’t win, the competition board was so impressed by her entry that they want to promote it as part of the symposium. Yay for team work! Yay for free publicity.

I’d love to hear what you think. What do you think of the entry?

THE FRONT LINES #3: HONEY BIRDETTE'S SAUCY SNAPS

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:05:27 +1000

So you may have all been wondering where I have disappeared to. Well, I have been keeping busy by working at my full-time job as well as working on some campaigns on the side.

Continuing along the same lines as the Saucy Shorts competition Honey Birdette held last year, I worked closely with the directors of Honey Birdette to formulate another competition called Saucy Snaps. Like Saucy Shorts, Saucy Snaps was designed to allow artists to engage with the Honey Birdette brand. Instead of having a more film focus, Saucy Snaps was seeking to engage photographer, models, makeup artists and stylists.

The competition ran for three months and the brief was to:

Shoot something that conveyed the Honey Birdette brand
Find the perfect setting and create the perfect mood
Have Honey Birdette assist in providing an outfit that was suitable for the shoot

We had over twenty-five entrants which we then shortlisted to ten finalists. Although there were many amazing entries, here are a few of my favourites:

RACHEL AUST

This one was my favourite entry featuring the divine Amelie Lulu. She is a local Brisbane burlesque dancer who is simply stunning.

CLARISSA BONES

I loved that this model had a tattoo sleeve. It really gave the photographs a different edge.

OLIVER KUO

And of course, how could I not love the winner! Oliver won hearts of the Honey Birdette staff as well as the votes. With over 1,000 votes, his entry won by a landslide.

NOTE: To see the other finalists, visit the the Honey Birdette voting page or the official Honey Birdette Tumblr blog.

Not only did we want artists to engage with the Honey Birdette brand but we also wanted customers and their networks to tell us which snap was their favourite. With this we encouraged both online and offline word-of-mouth and social sharing.

Considering the limited time and resources, I think that overall this competition was a success. What do you guys think?

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #20: THE FUELING OF A CAFFEINE ADDICT

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 10:13:00 +1000

I am still on my blogging hiatus but I thought that I should show you a little something that has been keeping me going for these past few weeks.

That’s right, COFFEE (CAWFEE)! I thought I had rid myself of coffee fueled days when I had finished university but that is clearly not the case. Now I have money to actually buy (more) coffee since I’m not a poor uni student anymore.

You should also know that I generally have my cawfee with malk…

Don’t worry I’ve also been mixing it up buy drinking delicious loose leaf tea (from my favourite local tea store, The Tea Centre) and energy drinks.

That is all for now. *Eye twitches while I sip on coffee*

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #19

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 22:37:00 +1000

I’m not going to lie, this week has been a busy week. Me not posting at all this week is a pretty good indication of how busy I’ve been. This week worked (both at my full-time job and for my dad), saw The Dandy Warhols with a colleague, went to a Mexican themed 21st birthday party, watched a few movies and caught up on some TV shows. Here are my thoughts on this week’s events:

The Dandy Warhols - They were amazing! I would definitely see them again. The rest of the evening was filled with burger eating, hipster walking/strutting, silly girls doing an assortment of bizarre things.
Mexican 21st birthday party - A fun evening that involved a Mexican food, Tequila, felt mustaches, handmade ponchos and a Justin Bieber cardboard cutout.

I also went shopping and bought a new pair of Melissa shoes. I think this is my seventh pair?

I believe that I will be going on a brief blogging hiatus until I can get all of the work that I currently on my plate done. Ciao!

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #18

Sun, 29 May 2011 21:57:00 +1000

As promised here is a photo of my desk at work. My shelf features a mirror tile, an antler (yes a real one) and a Wolverine bobble head. My desk features the letters I bought from Typo, a pen holder and three different brands of spearmint mint tins (I have been trying to start a collection). There’s not really much to my desk. I have tired to inject it with a bit of personality while keeping it minimal and clean.

The colleague who sits next to me like to add commentary to my decorations. He has added a speech bubble fashioned out of a Post-it note that says “Charlie bit me!!!” (in reference to this video). He also printed the word “MAD” onto a piece of paper and stuck it to the bottom of this shelf (as if I haven’t heard that one before!). I sometimes also find that my letters get rearranged when I step away from my desk…

BOOKMARKED #16: NOT COOL URBAN OUTFITTERS, NOT COOL.

Sat, 28 May 2011 13:44:00 +1000

Usually I don’t reblog posts but today I thought I would mix it up a bit and reblog some of the news I have been keeping up with this week.

Urban Outfitters have had a history of copying artists and designers. Over the last few days, the internet has exploded with a new Urban Outfitters story. This story can be seen below:

imakeshinythings:

One of my lovely customers sent me a message today with this link.

And here is my United/World of Love line:

My heart sank a little bit. The World/United States of Love line that I created is one of the reasons that I was able to quit my full-time job. They even stole the item name as well as some of my copy.

I’m very disappointed in Urban Outfitters. I know they have stolen designs from plenty of other artists. I understand that they are a business, but it’s not cool to completely rip off an independent designer’s work.

I’ll no longer be shopping at any of their stores [they also own Free People & Anthropologie], and I’m going to do my best from here on out to support independent designers & artists.

Please feel free to pass this link on. I really appreciate all the support & love I’ve received today.

xo,
Stevie

It is a little bit tragic that Urban Outfitters have done this. And it is interesting to see that they have removed these copied products from their webstore. Although this story is gut-wrenching, the positive things that have come out of this debacle is the amount of publicity given to fantastic independent artists/designers like Stevie K. It has given them the opportunity to be heard and recognised. I sincerely wish Stevie all the best and hope that one day she makes an i heart Australia or i heart Queensland.

THE FRONT LINES #2: MELISSA BEDTIME STORIES

Wed, 25 May 2011 22:30:00 +1000

As you may know, I am kind of in love with Melissa shoes. Melissa are a company that produces unique, fashionable and environmentally sustainable shoes and communicate this with amazing advertising/marketing campaigns.

One of my favourite campaigns was their Melissa Bedtime Stories campaign from 2007. I was (and still am) in love with the visual aesthetics of this campaign. I really like how it maintains that fairytale feel while creating a very distinct modern edge. I found it interesting how this campaign explored the “wild side” our favourite childhood fairytales. I love how it has contemporised Little Red, Rapunzel, Snow White and Cinderella by sexualising their personas and providing very provocative connotations within the creative.

Beside the creative aesthetics, an interesting point about this campaign was the product names and how they correlated with the creative. For example, If you look at the image of Repunzel below, the shoes being advertised are called Fetish and the creative features bondage. Because of this, I think that Melissa was a very clever with their overall integration strategy.

Now enough about what I think, what do you think of this campaign?

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #17

Sun, 22 May 2011 23:33:00 +1000

This week I went shopping, to a burlesque/store event at Honey Birdette and to a couple birthday parties.

While I was out shopping I managed to buy 3 giant letters from Typo. There were so many things I could have spelled but I decided to go conservative and just stick with my name. I think that I will use these letters to decorate my desk at work.

I thought that these giant letters would go well on my white work desk and my Eco Cup (pictured below), mirror, deer antler and Wolverine bobble head doll. Next week I will definitely have photos of my desk at work up.

One of the parties I went to was Tash’s birthday party. It was at a Japanese restaurant called Sono. The place was well furnished and had good atmospherics.

That night, I met and talked to some great people. We had very ‘interesting’ conversations and shared lots of laughs. As the evening unfolded, we had all ordered our food and had acknowledged that our food would not all come at the same time. So of course me being the luckiest person in the world, managed to get my food 15 to 20 minutes after the second last person to get their food (I was lucky last!). By the time my unagi kabayaki had arrived, my rice was cold (I got them to reheat it/get me new rice of course). This made me sad. The food however, was very tasty and well cooked.

For dessert I ordered a flaming Mt Fuji. Jonesy had the same dessert (the photos below are courtesy of Jonesy) and he described it fairly accurately. He said that it is, “A rather amazing dessert, with a sponge base topped with a scoop of sesame ice-cream then covered in meringue. On top of that, flaming liquor is poured on top to create a fiery effect.” Yes, the flaming dessert was delicious. I also managed to grab a bite of Bec’s cherry blossom mousse, that too was delicious. It was fluffy and light and had a light cherry flavour. I guess that’s why they are called cherry blossoms.

Overall this week has been a good week. Now for some sleep! I have work in the morning.

BOOKMARKED #15

Sat, 21 May 2011 23:54:00 +1000

Once again, to be 100% honest I haven’t read anything this week other than emails, my own copywriting, ramblings on Twitter and the so-called apocalypse. All of these are really not worth me posting in this Bookmarked post so I will tell you about my plans to awesome plans to read more comics! I really want to make time to read more comics and graphic novels. I have just gotten a new phone (hence the picture above) and am looking for a good comic book reader for it. Do you have any recommendations? Also, while I already have a nice list of comics and graphic novels to read are there any you feel are a ‘must read’?

INTERROGATE ME #3: ADVICE FOR NEW UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Tue, 17 May 2011 22:05:00 +1000

I HAVE JUST STARTED MY DEGREE IN BUSINESS AND I AM MAJORING IN MARKETING AND ADVERTISING. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE A STUDENT WHO IS ABOUT TO PURSUE THEIR STUDIES/CAREER?

Ahhh advice. I could list a billion things that you SHOULD do, but if I did, this post would be far too long (and probably be endless). So based on my experience, I am only going to give you five key points. But before I ramble on about university, I want you to look at the image above. It was taken from a video (it was a screen shot, hence the poor quality) of me for the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) School of Business website in 2009. Yes my hair was very pink. I really love how they matched the typography with my hair (the writing actually said ‘real experience’ or something of the sort).

Now, back to answering your question. Here is some of my advice for new university students:

1. ACTUALLY GO TO CLASS

If you are going to university you should probably try to go to all of your classes. Although I learned a lot in lectures, tutorials help you gain a better understanding of theories. In my experience, I have found tutorials to be more stimulating as you engage in more discussions and learn how to apply theories. It is also an excellent place to ask questions.

2. ENJOY IT

I am a strong believer that you should enjoy life. So take the time to enjoy the university experience, make friends and don’t give up on hobbies because things have gotten “too” busy.

Another thing is, you will have all of these holidays that you wouldn’t normally have if you were in the work force (I feel like should have said ‘real world’ - it’s my university’s tag line) so make the most of it! Go travel the world, do internships or party it up! It’s all up to you what you do with your time.

3. FIND PEOPLE YOU CAN WORK WELL WITH

I cannot emphasize how important it is to find people who you work well with. If your course is anything like mine, you WILL have group assignments. I have had both positive and negitive experiences. Some of my negitive experiences have included people writing 750 word intorductions for 1500 word reports and dealing with people who don’t answer phone calls or emails. I have also dealt with people who simply can’t structure paragraphs or sentences and people who are just plain lazy jerks.

From those experiences I have learnt the importance of providing a report structure that is blunt and easy to read. I have also learnt that it is important to set team deadlines at least a week before assignment is to be submitted. You will also benefit yourself and your group by staying on top of things and making sure that you know what the assignment is about.

Overall the positive experiences I have had when it comes to group assignments that you can allocate tasks to people. Seriously, there re only so many times you can read your own assignment/section without gouging your eyes out, so get someone else in your group to read it. For me, I did a lot of the planning and finalising (I was good at making assignments presentable). Another positive is that you get to learn more about what sort of person you are (e.g. leader, follower etc.) and more about people, their behaviour and motivation. As a result you will develop strong communication and interpersonal skills and motivational techniques. These will be skills that you will have for life.

I should probably mention that you can make really good friends. This is directed to you Marnie, Steph and Tash! I guess it couldn’t hurt to mention you too, Michael and Alex (all of you other friends, I haven’t actually done group work with you so I’m not mentioning you in this.)

4. GET WORK EXPERIENCE

While you are in university it is a good idea to start getting experience in the industry/s you want to be in. Getting work experience is also a good way to suss out if what you are studying is something you want to be working in in the future. A good example is when I worked in agency. Although I learned a lot and really enjoyed being in a really creative environment, I’m not entirely sure I’d ever go back.

5. DEVELOP NETWORKS

Developing networks are really important because you never know when you might need help or advice from somebody. Throughout my university studies I have developed networks with my lecturers, tutors and peers. It is important to build these networks as they can share their experiences, knowledge and different outlooks/views with you. They can also share their networks with you.

I’m sure that I am missing something crucial here. So I’m turning this onto you. I would love to hear about your university experiences. Did you have an amazing experience? Have you had to work/deal with awful lecturers, tutors and/or peers?

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #16

Mon, 16 May 2011 22:49:00 +1000

It has been yet another crazy week. This week however, was different from most weeks. This week, the Eurovision semi finals and finals were televised on SBS!

To celebrate the finals of Eurovision, KL Fair and I decided the throw a party.The basic dress code? Sequins, leather and metallics! Or you know, whatever European country you wanted to dress like. I managed to wear sequins and leather while KL dressed as Greece. Anyway, here is how the evening unfolded…

I bought some supplies and drove to KL’s place. One of the things on the menu was cobb loaf dip. As you can see I bought two cobb loaves. KL and I toiled away in the kitchen, did our makeup and the like until people started to filter in. People were filtering in and out all night.

I could have taken out the red eye but I decided against it. Seriously KL looks so much more evil (I believe on the night I described her as ‘demonic’).

I know that this is a blurry photo but KL’s face was just too amusing for me not to post it.

Big teeth, sleepy eyes and ARM.

There were some signature dance moves that night. There was Spain with their crazy ‘hello’ arm waving. Then there was Serbia and their excited shimmy. And of course, our favourite move was Germany’s Lena’s (last year’s winner) awkward ‘come hither’ gesture. Below is KL and I replicating that very gesture.

Lots of crazy things happened that night…

I believe Serbia were on when I took this photo.

Death stared by a 17 year old (Lynette) and ogled by Tina Belcher from Bob’s Burgers (Felise, please don’t kill me for saying that).

KL suddenly turned into Sweden!

And the night came to a close with a lovely photo of KL and I.

Overall twas a fun evening. All of you who bailed last minute missed out on some awesome company, delicious food, crazy dancing/impersonating and lots of laughter.

BOOKMARKED #14

Sat, 14 May 2011 15:59:00 +1000

Between juggling work and a social life I haven’t gotten the chance to read a great deal this week. What I have been doing however, is keeping up to date with the latest Eurovision news. Why? Because I love Eurovision!

The amount of time and effort that goes into Eurovision is amazing. It has such a rich history with fantastic (or fantastically bad) songs, sets, dancers and COSTUMES! After the lovely Lena won last year, this year’s competition is being hosted in Düsseldorf, Germany.

If you are curious and want to learn more about Eurovision, I strongly advise that you check out the website. There, you will learn the history of Eurovision, photos, videos and music. This is the one event that I am 100% guilty of live tweeting, so I completely understand if you unfollow me or ignore my tweets.

For the finals I will be spending it at KL Fair’s house partying Eurovision style in sequins, leather and metallics. Hopefully I won’t be too wrecked for work the next day!

SKETCHY BUSINESS #6

Wed, 11 May 2011 23:57:00 +1000

Today I want to formally introduce you to my Alien Asian. Throughout school, my art teachers really pushed the theme of ‘identity’. Because of this, I developed a character that I felt accurately depicted me and my identity. I have been drawing this Alien Asian for quite some time now.

The inspiration for this character comes from my cultural heritage, national identity, personal individualism and a variety of other things (the list is endless). If you have been reading my blog you will notice that I am of Asian decent and was born and raised in Australia.

Being an Asian in Australia in itself is just cause for creating a character like the Alien Asian. I came up with title/term Alien Asian because I thought it was a clever play on words (alienation). The Alien Asian is an outsider. She doesn’t fit into Asian culture because she isn’t 100% immersed in it (she, like me, can’t even fluently speak any of the languages). She doesn’t completely fit into Anglo-Saxon Australian culture because she is of a different colour. Nevertheless, she finds ways to fit in while she prides her self on remaining a strong individual.

And now for a few anecdotal tales of me growing up. Growing up in a predominantly Caucasian neighbourhood with Caucasian family friends, I genuinely thought I was Caucasian. According to my mother, at the age of two I realised that I was not the same as other kids and I cried for hours. In saying this, growing up my parents placed really a strong emphasis on individuality. While they were (and still are) protective they believed that I should be my own person and taught me to think for myself and not conform to all of the norms of society. This played a major role in the development of the Alien Asian.

I could probably ramble on about the Alien Asian and my life for hours but I won’t. When I’m a famous artist you will all be able to the full story in my autobiography. Haha.

THE FRONT LINES #1: MAXINE THAM 2011 CORPORATE IDENTITY

Tue, 10 May 2011 22:07:00 +1000

Thank you all for the fantastic feedback you have given me. Because of your feedback, I have decided an extra segment called The Front Lines.

The Front Lines is a segment where I will specifically look at branding and marketing. I will primarily focus on niche/unique/boutique branding (but I will occasionally look and major rebranding) and marketing campaigns that interest me.

But before I get into looking at other brands and their marketing, I wanted to feature my personal branding and corporate identity. As you can see below, my corporate identity varies slightly from my blog (I may do a comparison post at some point). My primary logo is simply my name stylised in a square. It is simple and clean with a modern edge.

In addition to my square logo, I have included a cat with antlers as part of my corporate imagery (it was something that I added once I had designed my blog). A lot of people have asked me about the significance of this cat. My reply is simple: cats are(or can be) feminine, sensual, assertive, dominant, self-sufficient and independent. I wanted to strengthen a few of these traits by adding antlers.

The colour scheme that I have selected is primarily black and white with hints of magenta. Black and white was the obvious choice for me as they are classic and timeless. I added a splash of magenta because it is a strong colour that contrasts well with black and white. Although my favourite colour is green, I find that printers and monitors can display the colour vastly different from what is intended.

The business card, letterheads and email signatures are all pretty self explanatory. I essentially wanted to create something that was simple but striking.

NOTE: The phone numbers displayed are false.

What do you think of my corporate identity? Is there something in particular that you like or hate?

I hope you enjoyed this first installment of The Front Lines. Let me know what you think by leaving me a comment or sending me an email.

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #15

Sun, 08 May 2011 22:15:00 +1000

This week I have been settling down at my new desk at work (photos of my desktop decorations shall be featured in next week’s General Curiosities). I also got my boat license, personal water craft (jet ski) license and Certificate II in Outdoor Recreation.

In short, my dad and I spent our entire Sunday at South Port Yacht Club with getting our licenses. Basically, we had to do 64 multiple choice questions and a practical test for our boat licenses and 31 multiple choice questions and a practical test for our jet ski licenses.

For those of you who are wondering why I wanted to get my boat license, the answer is quite simple. Growing up I have been exposed to boating and fishing (and in a recent trip to Bali, jet skiing) and have always thought it would be handy to get a boat license. Although I appear to be a very indoors orientated person, I actually really enjoy the outdoors (especially when water is involved).

Out on the boat looking back towards the mainland.

Dad managed to get a photo of me intensely concentrating on beaching and reversing the boat.

Now, to buy a boat (or a jet ski)…