The background of me starting a blog dates back to when I was 12 years old. I always finished my homework on time and had plenty of time to spare, so I decided to surf the web and research random things on Wikipedia a lot. My sister introduced me to Wikipedia, and since then, I started researching the personal lives of celebrities (Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, etc.), famous inventors, TV shows (Olivia, Lazy Town, etc.), along with the history of the suburbs among the city I reside in.
One night, I came across the Wikipedia page for "Stanmore, New South Wales." It is a suburb I used to live nearby when I was very little, and I had memories of my Dad driving the whole family to the city via the congested Parramatta Road, a long highway which stretches all the way from Haymarket over to - you guessed it - Parramatta. I know that it no longer shows it, but during that time, under the category "Commercial area and transport," showed mentioning of the Olympia Milk Bar. I initially thought to myself, that's crazy... A milk bar? But why's that so significant? I decided to do further researching about the milk bar online, and discovered via a now-defunct music forum called "inthemix" that both locals and visitors said that the milk bar has been operating since the 1960s by the same owner and not much has changed, in terms of the fittings, for decades.
I resumed to the Wikipedia page, and noticed that I could find more information about the milk bar in Vanessa Berry's book "Strawberry Hills Forever." I was so bummed at the fact that I had no idea how to obtain the book, because my computer literacy skills were not advanced back then and I didn't know that online shopping was even a thing. Years later, as I started high school, I rediscovered Vanessa and realised that she had a blog called Mirror Sydney online. I became so obsessed with her work and her posts, to the extent that I couldn't stop revisiting her blog on and on. She has been the biggest inspiration for what I enjoy doing, and I can't thank her enough, even up till this day.
I have always been a quiet kid and I expressed myself through art and journalling. My teachers and parents saw potential in my creative abilities, and encouraged me to thrive on these strengths, yet since then, I've developed a lifelong love and passion in arts.
My favourite blogs, always and forever, include:
Mirror Sydney
Website URL: mirrorsydney.wordpress.com
Instagram: @vanessaberryworld
Vanessa Berry is a lecturer who teaches creative writing at the University of Sydney. She has been writing zines since 1996 and still continues to do so, which she sells on Etsy. Her notable zines are I am a Camera, and Disposable Camera. She is the author of Strawberry Hills Forever, Ninety9, Mirror Sydney: An Atlas of Reflections, and Gentle and Fierce. She travels a lot across Sydney, observing and documenting abandoned and ageing buildings and businesses that people tend to normally ignore their presence. She also has a fondness of writing about quirky anachronisms that she finds along the way.
Past/Lives of the Near Future
Website URL: pastlivesofthenearfuture.com
Instagram: @pastlivesofthenearfuture
Michael Wayne explores hidden signs, alleys, suburban shopping arcades and overlooked buildings and sites all across Sydney, which have been long forgotten by the community. He is here to unravel the mysteries regarding to what remains left of them, and give you flashbacks, via either personal experiences or research, about what they were like back during their glory days. For some, it will bring back a burst of memories, and for the others, like me, it brings me fascination.
Ash Fry
Instagram: @lord_fry
Etsy: etsy.me/2AuN8KP
Ash Fry is also one of my favourite bloggers, and I stumbled across his Instagram account when I was studying in uni. I can't help but be interested in his work, since it made me stop and realise that the style of infrastructure I passed by frequently when I was a young girl, are becoming a dying breed due to the emergence of gentrification becoming commonplace. Ash photographs of houses and buildings everywhere he travels across the country, especially fibro houses and art deco buildings which hold stories and connections to the previous century. Check out his Etsy store!
Give me some suggestions of blogs I should check out! XX
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