Photos taken: December 08, 2022 (12/8/2022, 11:08:04 AM)
Published: December 24, 2022
It was the middle of summer here in Australia, and the vibrant Sydney CBD had lots of dramas to offer. However, it’s not much fun enjoying it all alone – all by yourself and hence to celebrate all these dramas to the fullest, you would surely love someone to come along “…and what better person to stand with than my best friend? …”
Well, if you would like me to tell a story of one of my very best friends and how we met then let’s dive in.
Although during this time of the year the weather is usually hot, this year it was different; the simmering hot summer breeze was rather mild. And with this warm cozy comforting weather today I was probably in the most vibrant place – Circular Quay. I have been visiting this place quite frequently these days. When I started this project here in Australia in full swing earlier this year, I used to visit Westfield (Sydney CBD) a lot. A shopping mall has many good things to offer; wonderful aroma of different delicacies, cheap takeaway food, colorful dresses, and of course some free sprays of the most expensive perfumes to name a few. However, since most people are very busy up there at Westfield, there is always a chance of having no one joining the project mainly due to lack of time – life is supper busy in and around a superstore.
One of the most interesting aspects of living in Sydney is obviously its liveliness; specially during these summer ☀️ months. The sky rocketing expenses surely does contribute to its hyper-active life – this hustle and bustle – this daily grind. But is it the same all throughout Australia? Well, I haven’t been fortunate enough to travel around the country so far although the thought itself is quite fascinating. Few months back, however, I met someone from Sunshine Coast. “Life is very relaxed” as she puts it to describe the coastal life. Sydney on the other hand, is very, very different. It’s busy, it’s full of dramas and its full of life. And this liveliness drew her in. Now, back to my best friend whom I am going to introduce, and here she is – Chloe – full of energy, full of tattoos, a very welcoming demeaner, some gorgeous eyes and a wonderful smile on her face.
I just have a look around… I kinda wanna move here…
As a whether… I love the weather. It’s sunny and it’s bright all the time… you got long days…
So much life here…
Exactly
Adelaide is always rainy…
And it’s pretty much like this street… (the street adjacent to MCA (George St) we were walking along at Rocks) that’s our whole city…
Ohh really?… It’s too small…
Very small
But it means like you can go out and stuff like everyone’s on the front know…
You meet everyone… that’s how we know each other… literally all live in one area…
But isn’t it kinda boring that you see the same people over and over again?
Yeah exactly
I am a bit bored of it…
She is here from Adelaide. And this time our chance encounter took place at the museum of contemporary Art near the Rocks. Although we met by chance and we knew nothing about each other, she was very friendly during our interaction and to her credit of course, this friendly vibe and her cooperation made it yet another wonderful session. As we met, I immediately got interested about her tattoos and asked a bunch of questions about it; the buddha, angel, and of course about the butterfly. It reminded me of another encounter I had few months back. For some reason, tattoos come handy to start a conversation and get going even with complete random strangers.
You look like a fashion model or something.
Have you done modeling before?
I feel very awkward right now. I don’t know what to do.
This one is cool.
What’s your tattoo?
You got a nice tattoo.
Yeah… I have a few.
You got a few?
All of them have meanings.
This is for good luck (‘fat’ buddha is often related to good luck**)
This is my butterfly 🦋 baby
This one is my angel
This one is my buddha baby… good luck
This one is like stream of thoughts. Like the conscious stream of thoughts.
The stream of thought!?
Do you read a lot?
Read?
Yeah
I do a little bit
I am reading 📚 a book 📖 about witchcraft atm
Witchcraft!! (I was totally surprised)
I don’t know if you wanna believe in it. But it’s kinda interesting.
**The Laughing Buddha, or the Fat Buddha, was a Zen monk called Budai who lived in China around the 10th century, meaning about 1600 years after the historical Buddha.
Budai was a bold man with a big tummy, a big smile, large ears, wearing a simple robe, prayer beads, and a large sack. The fat Buddhist monk was known as a good-hearted, happy, and content man of humorous personality, jolly nature, and eccentric lifestyle.
What came next, however – was rather surprising.
Do you like to watch movies?
Umm… never I have time… aeii
Do you?
What you do with your time then?
I work a lot…
You work a lot?? Surprised 😮
A lot
I am a restaurant manager…
Okay…
Yeah… Or I am like a… Technically… I am a growth mindset… I share profit with my restaurant… But it’s hardwork… I can’t lie… It is hard and it leaves me with almost no time to myself…
Always working so it’s been nice to come here …I don’t have to worry about work…
Yeah…
You need some time to just chill and relax
Yeah… just to remember who you are… you know… come back to love yourself…
If you are just all working, you become a machine…
You become a robot…
Exactly…
You lose your mental faculty…
Yeah… it will be like changes your DNA as well like you literally become a different person…
This area like Circular Quay is so… so vibrant
Yeah… I love that…
Like… It’s so many people
A hardworking manager interested into art and with lots of tattoos along with her friendly vibe even with complete strangers – well, that seems like a lot of drama already. But what I found most interesting out of this was an article that I came about few days back.
Although Sydney is full of dramas, it has, however, gotten a bad rep over the last couple of years for its loneliness epidemic. Few days back I am across an article about Sydney being a very lonely place specially for travelers, and migrants – the new comers – willing to make new friends. The article suggests how difficult it would be to get into a circle that already exists and “Not a single person will talk to you”. Consequently, it can be true that in many cases people will be reluctant to talk to strangers or be less lenient to get into a friendship with them even after going through the initial hesitancy. Yet, I came across many locals who were very welcoming in my approaches; could be purely due to my shining streak of my luck, I guess. Furthermore, you might already know about how photography and luck go hand in hand. I should point out however, that Sydney being a lonely place is so prevalent in the media nowadays and in fact, I wrote about it in a different article recently as well. Hence, ironic as it may sound, with all its liveliness Sydney, however, can still sometimes be a very isolated place for many. Although the dreaded COVID lockdown is over for many months now, in the middle of this biggest crowd, you might still find yourself lonely and isolated, solitary and confined here in this big city of Sydney.
Do you guys have to work with your targets?… targets like sales targets?…
Yeah… we do
We got textile target like waste…stock target… labour allowances…
Yeah… I can imagine like… it must be because… I think waste is a big one…
That’s our biggest one atm…yeah, it’s crazy…
And just for the environment like…
It’s target (i.e., target of the big retailers) should care about it… but Hungry Jacks never really … like we always just wasted stuff… and us… like companies this year they came and really cracked down… which I think is a good move… but it’s hard because not one (company) is been doing it for the last ten years… so now we all have to start doing it… but that’s okay…
With the many environmental issues currently going on, it’s hard not to look deeply into this and as responsible citizens I believe we all have a very important part to play along to keep this world waste free, green, and habitable.
Since she was wearing a hat and had a very colorful attire, I made a casual observation. You look like a fashion model like literally
And listening to my showering praise she started giggling.
Now…
Seriously…
You should try about doing some fashion or something…
(More giggling)
I did applied for fashion school in Brisbane…
Then what did they say?…
They accepted me but I was just too scared…
(More giggling).
When I was browsing through the images in the playback of my camera, I saw a few that caught my eye straight away. I said:
I show you a picture…
And as I shown her the picture on the tiny little display of my camera she remarked:
It makes me so surprised how I look…
Well, although I didn’t mention back then, some of the images were indeed surprisingly cute. I totally loved her eyes and how it stands out in all those pictures. As I told her the same, she boldly proclaimed:
I made it myself…
So, how long does it take? …
Twenty minutes… (See the video above)
And finally, it was time to talk about secrets.
So, you look like your mum? … like mostly?…
I think so… yeah… that’s what everyone says… I think I look like my dad but …
People say that you look like your mom…
Yeah…
Highly worth speaking it…
Do you like your mom … or you like your dad?
I love ❤️ 😍 💖 ❣️ 💕 💘 my mom 👩 love my dad 👨
Definitely closer with my mom…
You share a lot of secrets…
Yeah… we are like best friends…
What secret do you have??
Wouldn’t be a secret…
Tell me… tell me your secrets…
It wouldn’t be a secret if I tell you…
Wouldn’t be a secret???
At that point we both started laughing rather hard.
We gonna tell the rest of the world 🌎 😌
You gonna have to tell…
Yeah… I am gonna shout out your secrets everyone…
You gotta tell me your secrets and then you can get mine…
I got lot of them…
Really…
I got lots of secrets…
I think we all do… don’t we?…
Yeah…
As you grow you get more and more secrets… under your belt…
Friendship – a term that is used in many contexts, interpreted in many different ways, referred to by almost everyone – is rather an attachment to another individual in its simplistic meaning. Whatever its implications may be, its value, however, is immense. Although valuable, from my own experience, I tend to believe that true friendship, on the other hand, is very rare, very scarce and its perhaps because we have changing needs and those needs often conflict. One of the key elements of this friendship or any relationship is having memorable moments; moments that are fun and exciting and thrilling. Although it was chance encounter it still led to something exciting, something thrilling, and something that is so unforgettable that even after years of friendship such memories could still be missing.
Friendship to me is a journey – journey filled with thrill and fun. And I hope someday Sydney with all its dramas will be the heaven for making friends and celebrate friendship for people from all over the world.
