exciting update for the new year!

Happy New Year!

It's been a big year for us so far, and we're not even two weeks into 2018 yet.

Because...

Well, if I told you now, you'd immediately stop reading. So we'll tease it out a little.

In the middle of last year, Australia made some changes to their 457 Visa, which happens to be the visa we hold. I won't go into detail about the changes (Google it if you're really curious) but because our four-year visa expired in November 2017, we were faced with a big decision: apply for a new skilled work visa, or apply for Permanent Residency (PR - which is like a Green Card in the States). We chose the latter because it was our one and only opportunity to apply for PR, as the new skilled work visa(s) no longer allow for a path to PR or citizenship. We're still not sure about our future in Melbourne, but we'd like to keep our options open.

We made this decision back in June, and it was the beginning of September before we were able to submit all our paperwork to the immigration consultant. We were told that it could take anywhere from six to nine months before a decision would be reached. (Side note: a friend of mine waited a year and a half for her PR to come through, so our expectations were pretty low!)

Here's our personal experience as Americans applying for PR in Australia, as well as some of the challenges we faced:

It's expensive. 

We thought we did enough number-crunching before starting the application, but we were still very surprised at how much the whole thing cost. The application itself was an estimated $10,000, but on top of that were many other fees: a health exam ($1,000) and an unnecessary follow-up exam ($600+, more details about that later), FBI fingerprint checks ($50 per application and additional for expedited international postage), passport-sized photos... it added up to a lot. In comparison, another skilled work visa would have cost us under $500.

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.

The amount of paperwork wasn't surprising, but it was tedious. Maybe even more tedious than my grad school final assessment. The paperwork included scrounging up personal details about every family member (including half/step-relatives), listing every address we've lived at for the past ten years, and listing every international trip we've taken in the past ten years as well. Which for some, wouldn't be too complicated - but when you're from a blended family (like Ben) and have moved around and traveled a lot post-college (like me), be prepared to do some digging. (Facebook was actually quite useful in this situation, for once!)

The health assessment. Good grief.

Certain Australian visas (some, not all) require full health assessments to make Australia great again to make sure Australia is full of the most happy and healthy people. There are medical centres that exist just for this purpose, and while the one we visited was very fancy and clean (but a bit "dystopian" as a fellow expat friend of mine put it), WE HAD A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE AND I'M STILL MAD ABOUT IT.

The health exam includes blood and urine samples, a routine physical (FYI they have strict guidelines for pregnant and menstruating women - as in, they can't get a health exam, I kid you not!), and a fancy chest x-ray. Despite the awkwardness of wearing paper-thin gowns and waiting in a room full of other people in the same attire, everyone we encountered was very friendly.

Because Arden was under 2 years of age at the time, she thankfully didn't need her blood drawn. Her examination was very simple: weight, height and head circumference measurements. Which the doctor performed while Arden squirmed around, restless and upset due to the long waiting period. A second doctor gave me and Ben our physical assessments, then sat us down to discuss the results.

"Your daughter is short," she said. Which was of no surprise to us, as Arden has almost always been in the 10th percentile for most of her measurements - still normal (and especially with a short Asian parent).
"Yes, she is," we agreed.
"But she looks fine, and she seems to be developing really well. Is she saying words yet?"
"Arden, can you say words?" Ben asked Arden.
"...words..." said Arden with a smirk.

We all laughed. The doctor seemed pleased with our results.

A few days later, we got an e-mail from the health clinic that Arden had failed her assessment due to her height measurement, which had been reported as... in the 1.6th percentile? Something like that. A follow-up assessment with an infant specialist would be required before our PR application could continue. I was pretty certain that they had failed to measure Arden correctly and that re-measuring her would solve the problem, but the health clinic would not see us again as "the doctor's assessments are final". Which meant that we had to cough up $600 to see an infant specialist about an hour away from Melbourne. The good news was that we were initially quoted $900 for the follow-up assessment, but somehow got transferred to a cheaper doctor. So yay, we saved $300?

Arden and I visited the infant specialist, who immediately seemed apologetic about having to see her, as it was pretty clear that she didn't have any obvious physical developmental problems. Arden immediately sat in the corner and started playing with toys.

"Guitar!" my 20-month old daughter pointed at a photo of a violin.
"Actually, that's a violin," I corrected her.
"But that's pretty darn close!" the doctor chimed in, impressed and a bit confused about why we were in his office.

As expected, the doctor measured Arden (correctly, this time) and placed her in the 10th percentile, which meant that the initial measurement was very wrong and that we had totally wasted this doctor's time. Ugh.

Interestingly enough, the doctor made a few comments about the Permanent Residency process, explaining that if Arden actually did have a developmental problem, our PR application would probably be denied as we would be deemed a "burden on Australia's universal healthcare system"...

So. Should Ben and I have spoken up during our first assessment when the doctor commented on Arden's height? Should I have peered over her shoulder as she typed in Arden's information and questioned all the numbers like a crazy helicopter mother? Should I have insisted that the first doctor re-measure her lying horizontally (instead of standing vertically) because that's really how young children should be accurately measured? Who knows... but that's exactly what I'll be doing from now on for all of Arden's health assessments!

In total, we paid $1,000 for the initial exam (including $100 for a doctor to measure Arden incorrectly), and $600 to waste an infant specialist's time (and ours!) for the follow-up exam. If that's not money well spent, I don't know what is.

Oh, and when the infant specialist sent me Arden's correct assessment, all of her age-related information was totally wrong, so we had to have him correct it. Fun times!

It was 2017, but apparently we're still using fingerprinting technology from 1917.

U.S. citizens applying for Australian PR need to have their fingerprints taken for the FBI to declare that they aren't criminals. The standard way of doing this is to go to an approved fingerprinting place (usually a police station) to get all your fingerprints on a sheet of paper, and mail it to one of four American fingerprinting companies (there are more than four fingerprinting companies in the U.S., but Australia's immigration department apparently only trusts four...) where they send the prints to the FBI and get word on whether or not you're a fugitive. Simple enough.

Ben and I went to the Melbourne police station and had our prints taken (we brought Arden along, but she didn't have to have her prints taken for some weird reason). Two sets each, in case they weren't clear enough. We were also each given a cover letter explaining that these prints were "taken to the best of their ability". The officer said that the FBI could be "really picky" about the quality of the prints, and that sometimes they weren't able to read them, which would result in a rejected application. Which I found a bit... strange. But whatever. The officers were professional fingerprint-takers. How hard could this be?

We immediately mailed the fingerprint paperwork to an office in Ohio. A few weeks later, Ben got an e-mail that his prints had been received, checked and that he did not have an American criminal record. Because we had sent in our prints at the same time, we found it strange that mine hadn't been checked as well. After a few days, I made a long-distance call to Ohio, where I sat on hold for half an hour before talking to a helpful human. I was informed that my first set of prints was rejected due to "poor quality" and that they were in the process of checking my second set of prints. (Apparently Burt Macklin the FBI really is quite picky about fingerprint quality!) A few days later, I called the company again to follow-up on the second prints, and found out that they were also rejected. I would have to start all over again.

I was really bummed about my rejected fingerprints, as this was the last step (on our end) before we could actually submit our entire PR application. I poked around on some expat discussion boards about other peoples' experiences with the fingerprinting process, and discovered that many people have issues with this part of the application. Some people were able to get clear prints on the second try, but a few people had to send in multiple fingerprint applications (sometimes... five? ten?), failing every one of them. This was not what I wanted to hear.

Ink-on-paper fingerprints are really not reliable. Ink smudges easily, old people have disappearing fingerprints, and some people just have hard-to-read prints in general. Also, you have ten fingers, and if one of the prints is hard to read, they're all rejected. There are ways you can help the process (drinking lots of water, moisturising your fingertips, never playing a stringed instrument ever etc.) but ink-on-paper prints seem to be pretty fallible.

But hey, it was 2017, and fingerprints had been used to unlock pedestrian iPhones for a few years now - wasn't digital fingerprinting a thing? I looked it up, and indeed found many American companies that offered digital printing - a much more accurate process than ink-on-paper. For example, if one of the fingers didn't scan properly, the machine would immediately let you know, so you could re-do it and get a clean print. I mean, the things they think of these days! Straight out of a James Bond movie. Genius.

Oh, but here's the catch: in order to participate in digital fingerprinting (for any of the four Australian-approved fingerprinting companies), you need to go to one of their offices to have them scanned in-person. Because... I don't know - scanned fingerprints can't be transferred digitally, or they can be corrupted, or people can hack into systems easier, or I don't really know. But that's what I discovered, and I was flabbergasted. My choices were to either re-submit new sets of ink-on-paper fingerprints as many times as I needed (and at $50 per application and $40 per expedited international mail envelope and at least a few weeks of waiting for results, this was not a fun option), or somehow... visit one of the digital fingerprinting offices in the States to have my fingerprints done accurately in 5 minutes. Haha, right?

The latter option was actually possible. A week after I called the Ohio office to follow-up on my failed prints, Arden and I went to Michigan! The closest Australian-approved fingerprinting office was in Chicago, IL, which is about a three hour drive from my parents' house in Grand Rapids. Not super convenient, but it seemed like the best option for getting a quick and accurate result.

My dad drove me to Chicago on the third day of our visit (my mom was more than happy to watch Arden, of course! p.s. thanks parents), where... the first office we visited was actually closed (they're only open three days a week, which is not listed on their website, of course!). But thankfully, there was another office nearby, and there I was able to get my fingerprints taken accurately with the FBI's results e-mailed to me 24 hours later. Easy, boom, done.

If I hadn't visited the States when I did, who knows how long the fingerprinting process would have taken us, or how many 19th-century fingerprint forms I would have needed to submit? It could have been just one more application. Or, I could still be stuck on this step.

(Oh, and I should probably clarify - I do not have an American criminal record!)

The fun starts after you submit your application.

After we submitted our application, we were put on what they call a "bridging visa" - one that lets you stay in the country legally until your visa application is either approved or denied.

Fun facts about bridging visas: you can't leave the country on one. Unless you get a super-special bridging visa that can only be applied for three months prior to your intended travel (well, technically you can leave, but you might not be able to return to Australia). Which was a little stressful for us, as Ben's sister had recently gotten engaged (yay!!) and we weren't sure if we'd have our PR by the date of our late-April trip. But we bought our tickets anyway and planned on purchasing travel insurance in case.

Also you can't get a new mobile phone plan on a bridging visa, I discovered the hard way. Most phone plans here include the price of the phone in their monthly payments (it's like a rent-to-own kind of deal) and if you're not on a visa that's longer than the length of your phone plan (usually 2 years - and a bridging visa doesn't have a set amount of time), you have to buy a phone separately and do a month-to-month plan (aka it's pricey). They want to make sure people won't run off with unpaid phones, I guess. We went to three different companies to try and bypass the immigration status-check, but all three were consistent in requiring a visa status (after going through their happy lengthy sales pitches, of course). Just an FYI!

Some random thoughts:

Immigration and citizenship laws are... very strange.

We had to jump through a few silly hoops to get our PR, and we're from a very privileged country and situation. So I can't imagine what the process is like for people from less privileged conditions, or even for those who don't speak fluent English. The child health assessment mistake was pretty unacceptable, while the fingerprinting check (and the lack of a more... modern option) was very frustrating.

In my experience sharing our PR journey with friends and family, I've discovered that many people have misconceptions about requirements for visas and citizenship (for both the US and Australia, as well as other countries), and everyone has very different opinions about what's fair and what isn't. Choosing to belong to a new country is complicated, as is the ability to do so. It is what it is. That's all I'll say.


And oh, I almost forgot. If you've made it this far, congrats! The whole point of this blog post was to announce that...

we've just been granted our Permanent Residency!! And after only four months of waiting (including December, which is like half a month of workdays due to the holidays). That's pretty unheard of.

A huge thanks to everyone who helped us on our PR journey: family for the assistance with some of the paperwork details, friends for the support and encouragement, and fellow expats for sharing their stories and advice. Hopefully some of you found some of this interesting. Maybe even helpful, if you're hoping to apply for Australian PR yourselves.

"Now that you have PR, what's next?" you might ask.

I'll leave that for another blog post...

CK

gold coast.

Thanks to the amazing generosity of Candice’s mom, we were able to take a trip during my time off over the holidays while Arden spent a wonderful few days with her Ahma. My goal was originally for us to do an epic road trip through Tasmania, but I quickly realised that trying to find a place to stay in Tassie 2 months before the biggest travel time of the year isn’t the best idea. After mulling over a few other ideas, and considering we couldn’t leave the country as we were still waiting for our PR to come through, we decided to give the Gold Coast a try. Thankfully Gold Coast had plenty of accommodation still available, so we booked our place in the heart of Surfer’s Paradise. For those that have never been, picture one of those Florida touristy beach towns, like Panama City Beach, and then imagine that in Australia. From the theme parks to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum to the nightclubs, Surfer’s Paradise in Gold Coast reminded me a lot of my brief trips to Florida.

views from our hotel balcony.

We didn’t have the best weather during the trip, but it didn’t stop us from enjoying some quality beach time. The beaches are beautiful, white sand, warm water, good waves for surfing and designated areas for swimming with lifeguards on duty. I was impressed and a bit intimidated by the size of the waves and the strength of the ripcurl, especially during my second time out in the water, where I kept getting battered and decided it was best if I stayed out of the water so the lifeguards didn’t have to come and rescue me.

It was a real luxury to travel without Arden. We didn’t have to pack all of her stuff (which is twice as much as we need), we didn’t need to baby-proof our hotel room, we could relax in the evening without having a 2+ hour bedtime routine, we could sleep in as late as we wanted and most importantly, we could go out and take our sweet time enjoying delicious meals. My main agenda for the trip and to make the most of our toddler-free time, was to go out for nice meals and take our time enjoying them. Candice did a lot of research checking websites and reviews before we travelled, so we had a list of a bunch of great places to try. Overall the quality of the food we had was excellent, and some of the highlights included a fancy dinner of fresh seafood overlooking the ocean, fancy brunch at Paradox and the most amazing chili-cheese dog at Brooklyn Depot.

Candice also booked an excellent river cruise for us that departed right behind our hotel. We had perfect weather the morning of our cruise, great views of the city skyline, and an entertaining pre-recorded narrated tour, that the captain would constantly interrupt with lame jokes. It was a nice leisurely cruise and fun to see all the houses owned by famous people along the river – we even saw Jackie Chan’s house, which was pretty cool!

Chan's house is the one with the curvy roof!

After the cruise the weather was still really nice so we decided to go up the Q1 building to the SkyPoint Observation deck. The views from the top were fantastic, and we had a relaxing high tea to make the most of our trip. 

view from the SkyPoint observation deck.

For New Years Eve we had a mostly clear view of the fireworks from our hotel room, so watched both fireworks shows (an early show for families and the midnight show) from our balcony while enjoying some wine and dessert, and also ventured out for another fireworks show they had on the river at 10 PM (because, why not?). We also had fireworks in the form of an amazing lightning show our last night in Gold Coast, and Candice had to drag me away from the beach as I just wanted to sit and watch the lightning flashing over the water for hours.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I’m really glad we decided to go and enjoy a relaxing vacation on the Gold Coast. While the video footage and photos aren’t nearly as cute or fun without Arden, it was so nice to have a few days to ourselves for the first time since she was born. It also made me so excited for the days when Arden is old enough that she doesn’t need a nap, as not having to schedule our days around naps or bedtime was such a welcome relief.

Arden and her Ahma back in Melbourne, having some quality time. :)

BK

holidays. days of holi.

Confession: over the past few years, I've grown a bit cynical about celebrating holidays.

In today's hyper-aware, "woke" and vigilant society, we're all slowly learning that pretty much every major holiday, no matter how non-religious or non-offensive it appears to be, either has its roots in something controversial or has a history of oppressing other people. In the age of the internet, opinions and viewpoints that have long been masked or unheard, are now instrumental in bringing controversy and debate to light, for better or for worse. Certain holidays are now getting knocked off their pedestals in some form (i.e. Columbus Day in some U.S. cities, Australia Day in certain areas).

Take American/Western Christmas, which has always been controversial in some aspect because of its numerous origins, modern consumerism and general over-saturation in popular media.

I grew up in conservative Christian communities that, at the time of my childhood, rejected many of the "secular" aspects of Christmas - Santa, elves, reindeer, etc. Anything that wasn't related to the birth of Jesus was considered the "war on Christmas" (oh how times have changed! and also not really). Christmas trees somehow escaped the ire of this particular viewpoint, so I always had a tree growing up - but I didn't get a stocking until my adult years, when I joined Ben's not-quite-as-religious families.

The same community was also really really not a fan of Halloween. I remember being pulled out of school for Halloween-related activities (crafts, music, parties, costume parades - and for a girl who looooves cosplay, this was really sad!) - so I totally understand that all holidays are complicated. (Disclaimer: I had a very happy childhood! But every generation faces their own controversies, and in the end everyone tries their best - and that's what counts.) So I get why people are discouraged from celebrating events that don't align with their ethnic or cultural identity - whether in fear of conversion or cultural appropriation. People are protective of their world-views, and the world-views of their children.

In many ways, all holidays exclude everyone. Thanksgiving can be offensive to Native Americans and indigenous people around the world. Religious Christmas excludes people who don't identify as Christian, as does secular Christmas because of the title of the holiday and its religious associations. Even the so-called Hallmark holidays such as Mother's and Father's Day have become dark days to many people, due to parents passing away; the deaths or estrangement of children; abortions, miscarriages, fertility issues. Valentine's Day is painful for people in terrible breakups or abusive relationships. And Arbor Day... only time will tell with that one.

So, what's the point of celebrating or observing any of these holidays - days that mean pain for many, and remind others of oppression and historical tragedy?

I don't have any answers. But I do have a toddler now. And I feel like perhaps I need to set aside my cynicism and holiday hopelessness for a little bit. Maybe holidays just exist to give us reasons to look forward to things, to pass the time in a positive way. Most holidays - controversial roots aside - are about hope, tradition, family and most importantly - food. Lots and lots of unhealthy but delicious food.

This Christmas season has been kind of refreshing for me. For the past month, Arden has grown increasingly excited about anything Christmas-related - religious, secular, everywhere in-between. The lights, the banners, the songs. She has no idea what any of them actually represent, but she loves pointing out festive trees, nutcrackers, Santa, baby Jesus, gingerbread men, reindeer, Jingle Bells... all of it. As her parent, it's been such a joy to see her wide-eyed with wonder about these icons and decorations. We took her to her first candlelight church service this Christmas Eve, where she clutched our (battery-operated) candles and waved them around like ground control at an airport, swaying to the different carols. It was pretty magical.

With time, I'm sure Arden will get to know the political and religious nuances when it comes to the history of these holidays. But for now, I want her to have a childhood filled with excitement and celebration, and most importantly respect for many cultures, religions and backgrounds. We're lucky that Melbourne (and particularly our neighbourhood) is a pretty diverse place, one that celebrates and acknowledges a growing number of festivities and festivals throughout the year.

baby Jesus and "Snow White", according to Arden...

A few people from back home have given me some heat about my willingness to observe other cultural holidays that don't necessarily align with Western Christianity. Last year, after getting some criticism about observing the Hindu festival of lights, I reached out to a friend who had grown up in a conservative household and was now living in a southeast Asian country where all holidays are observed and celebrated. I asked her if she was ever given a hard time about her children going to a school where Muslim and Hindu and Christian holidays were celebrated joyfully and equally, and how she felt about holidays like Diwali.

"I love learning about the values in all religions," she replied. "A holiday that celebrates light overcoming darkness? I'll celebrate that!"

I couldn't agree more.

CK

spring 2017 updates.

Arden at her favourite toy store - the one with the animatronic dinosaur.

We had a really nice Spring season this year. Here are some boring updates.

twinsies.

Spring weather in Melbourne is always fun. After a few weeks of record heat in November, a weekend record rainstorm was predicted. There were warnings for residents to stay indoors, stores were putting sandbags in their entryways in anticipation, newspapers printed old photos of the last time a record rainstorm hit Melbourne (like something out of The Day After Tomorrow), and most shockingly of all - our maternal child and health centre cancelled playgroup! What resulted was a fairly significant rainfall on and off, but nothing out of the ordinary. There were places around Victoria that got flooded for sure, but Melbourne itself did not.

On the last day of the predicted "rainstorm of the century" we actually went (lawn) bowling for the first time with some friends. When my friend Ronelle initially invited us to go bowling, I'd pictured something much different (as in, what Australians call "ten pin bowling"), but this was also fun, and didn't involve renting a pair of hideous shoes.

Arden's a natural.

obligatory bowling selfie.

I turned 32, which was very fun. Arden turned two. Also, Thanksgiving came and went without fuss as it's not a celebrated holiday here (and that's how I like it! haha).

birthday brunch!

Arden is still thriving in her swimming and music classes. She gets very excited about going, and likes to "practice" the things she learns on her plush toys at home (helping them swim on their backs or jump into the pool). We recently had to switch locations and teachers for her music class, so she's been a bit shy this term, but she's getting very good at following directions in general, which is really fun to see. Her rhythm is really good, and she loves to "dance" (although usually she prefers being carried by one of us while WE dance, which is exhausting!).

Arden's face right before her "favourite part" of her favourite song (Jewel's "Sammy the Spider") comes on.

Arden recently had her first music "concert", where she (and I) got to "perform" a few actions to songs. She's pretty serious about it. We're very proud.

first blue ribbon!

performing "The Wheels on the Bus"

The Melbourne Maternal and Child Health teams threw a huge playgroup party for kids, which Arden loved. She even sat still long enough to get her face painted, which was pretty cute.

baby's first ink.

Fun fact: every November, Melbourne puts on the Night Noodle Markets - a 2+ week-long festival featuring dozens of Asian-themed food and drink stalls scattered over a picturesque site called Birrarung Marr. And every year we’ve lived here (not counting the first week we arrived in Melbourne), we've coincidentally hosted an American friend and taken them to this event (year one: my college friend Sara; year two: our Seattle friends Zach and Kyara; year three: Ben's cousin TJ).

This year, my college friend Lane was in town for work, and I all but dragged him and his friends to the noodle markets so we could continue our silly streak. Thankfully, they loved it! It's always great to see old friends in Melbourne. Who wants to visit the noodle markets (and us) next November? :)

thanks for hanging out, Lane!

Arden loves noodles.

And finally, this November marks our four-year anniversary of moving to Melbourne! It's still hard to believe how much has changed (and how much hasn't) in four years. We're still living in the same apartment and are still huge fans of the MCU; but we're also four years older, a few accomplishments wiser, and we've multiplied so now there's three of us. It's been a crazy journey, but wonderful just the same. We're grateful for our time here, and will hopefully keep having a great time no matter where we live in the future. :)

Mario and Super Mario.

CK

Also, have you guys seen this show yet? I did not think I'd be a fan, but I'm OBSESSED. Welcome back, Frank. 

video killed the photography addict (kind of).

Confession: I've never been a huge fan of video.

I grew up in the late 80's/early 90's, when videos and photos were... very different things. Photos were always portable, easy to look at and show off, and I liked the variety of presentation (frames, books, collages) and how you could reuse photos for various reincarnations. Videos were cumbersome and complicated - you needed a video cassette (and you had to be kind and rewind!), a working VCR, television, electricity, etc. If you didn't have any of those things, you couldn't watch the video. And back then, video editing was a lot more cumbersome.

But now, videos and photos are both widely viewed on the same platforms: smartphones, tablets, computers. Companies incorporate video into their advertising platforms - billboards and public transit ads are going digital, and social media has embraced video with very open arms. Video is everywhere, and the differences between videography and photography have greatly diminished.

(If you couldn't tell from previous blog posts, I'm now a huge fan of videography. You can visit me on YouTube or vimeo!)

It took a few events to sway me to the dark side of videography: the first was a video journalism class I took as part of my Master's degree, giving me the confidence to start using iMovie when I got a new macbook last year. Also, since Arden has almost always been carried for her naps (yes, still. STILL.), I sometimes watch YouTube videos while carrying her - travel videos, lifestyle vloggers, and mommy vloggers with small children. Video seems to capture kids' personalities much more intricately than photos, and I really wanted to film some of Arden's milestones and little baby quirks, since our modern technology so easily allows us to do so.

During last year's trip to the States, I decided to put my elementary videography skills to use by filming little bits and pieces of our vacation. I made two videos - one for our Washington trip and one for our Hawaii trip - and wrote original music for both of them (see below for my thoughts on music!). And while they're a bit mediocre in quality, I'm really quite proud of them. Since then, I've made four videos from our Australian travels, four more family reunion compilations, and two birthday videos for Arden.

Here are a few random observations I've made about videography:

~The Pros~

-You get the bigger picture. Photos, good photos, capture the peak of the moment - a smile, a frisbee caught in mid-air, a cuddle with a cute puppy. But videos capture the lead-ins and conclusions, the moment as a whole. They also give more context and personality.

-You can be more creative with video. There's a whole world of editing software out there (I use the very simple iMovie at the moment, but will be looking into other programs soon), and you can do a lot with videos. Slideshow-esque montages, vlogs, teaser trailers. This year for Arden's birthday, I got a little ambitious and decided to interview family members about what they like about her - and despite my lack of fancy equipment, it turned out as well as I could have hoped. It was challenging to put together (finding all that b-roll was pretty time-consuming, as well as adding subtitles), but it was one of my favourite projects.

-You get more artistic credit. Back when I was obsessed with mediocre photography and taking high-res photos of everything and nothing, I noticed that no matter how many hours I spent poring through photoshoots and editing and curating cds for family and friends... photographs are really easy for other people to take for granted and take credit for. And the lines are blurry with any form of photographic visual art (if you ask someone to take a group photo, does it become their artistic work? etc.). But with video, it's a lot harder for other people to take credit for your work. It's possible. But, not as casually as it is with photography. It's pretty obvious from my videos that I created them, and I like that.

~The Cons~

-Nobody will watch your videos! I'm kidding. Sort of. But not really. A few people will watch... the first few minutes. Most likely if they are in the video, although not always. Most definitely if they're your parents or something. Some people will "like" or "heart" your social media post without actually watching most of it (two of my friends recently announced a pregnancy at the end of a seven-minute long vacation video - I'm pretty sure most of their social media acquaintances still don't know they're expecting..!).

It's not (really) personal. It's just that a lot more effort is required to experience video, compared to photographs. The viewer needs a good chunk of time (just three minutes is eternity compared to the milliseconds it takes for the human brain to process a vacation selfie), some privacy or lack of distraction, headphones if they want to enjoy the sound in silence. That's just how it is. And even then, most people won't make it to the end. Time is precious. Sure, there are tips and tricks for getting people to watch your entire videos. But here's my one personal tip: if you want to make home vacation videos, make them for yourself - because you're probably the only person who will actually watch them, and more than once.

-Filming is harder than photographing. I think. I'm not a professional anything, but from my experience, it's easier to salvage a terrible photo than a terrible video.

-It takes a lot of effort to make a video. Especially if you're like me, and score your own films and are meticulous about where things line up with the music and chronology and tone and What Is The Overarching Theme?? and all that. My videos are far from perfect, but I have things I'm picky about, and I'll spend hours making sure my own preferences are catered to. Also, videos just take more of everything - time (to film, to edit, to view), and especially data. Just something to keep in mind!

-Very non-instant gratification. Technology is so advanced that people are accustomed to instant access for everything. I can't tell you how many times I've recently seen photos framed and displayed: of cell phone versions of professional photoshoots (weddings, baptisms, etc.). In this day and age, people do not want to wait for paid photographers to edit and curate photos - they want a photo on their iPhone, and they want it now. So, waiting for a curated video of vacation moments (at the very least a few days' worth of work) is like a lifetime compared to that.

-You still need technology to view videos. I will always treasure printed photos more than videos in the end. You know, just in case an electromagnetic pulse brings down every computer and communication system a la 2000's Dark Angel.

~A Word About Music~

When I started making videos, I had no intention whatsoever of writing my own pieces. In fact, I had always planned on using popular songs. So I was pretty bummed to learn that using copyrighted music is a risk for uploading onto video sites, and that it's a lot of work to do it correctly. Your video can be pulled off the internet thanks to copyright detection, and that's that. Even if you're not monetizing. As a songwriter, I am all for this! But... I wish there was a way to easily ask permission from the copyright holder, and pay a reasonable fee to use their song in your video. I really wanted to use Ingrid Michaelson's "Home" for last year's Washington video, and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have cared. But, to try to contact her and ask for her permission and then somehow contact YouTube with proof of said permission? Not worth it.

But, guess who writes music for free? Me!

A long time ago, I wanted to be a composer for films and videos. That was before I took Music Theory classes in college and did not flunk out, but came pretty darn close a few times (parallel fifths are absolute magic, I don't know what all the fuss is about). I'm obviously not scoring films for a living. So I do it for a hobby.

I've been writing and recording music (mostly pop songs) for almost a decade now, with nothing professionally released - which means I have a lot of older music at my disposal, and none of it will violate YouTube's copyright laws. Most of my video scores are original music created just for that video, but some are new versions of old pieces. Like an old song that had once been a heartfelt ode to an ex-boyfriend, a song that will never resurface in that original form, but a tune that I really kind of liked. And so I redid it as a folky instrumental thing, and it was very fitting for a recent video. And no one has to know about it! Except, I just told you. Oops. (But I won't tell you what video it is, ha!)

~Moving Forward~

With both photography and videography, it's always a challenge to try to be mindful of balancing personal enjoyment with capturing the moment, being present instead of being an artistic director. But I find that as I'm more comfortable with my artistic strengths, I'm better at choosing what moments to enjoy media-free, and which moments to try to film seriously. I film mostly with future-Arden in mind, hoping that she will enjoy seeing her Australian (and American) adventures set to cinematic scores. I also keep our families in mind - since they aren't able to personally witness much of Arden's childhood, videos seem like the next best thing.

I definitely want to continue making videos for our little Australian getaways, and for family reunions. Sometimes I wish I had discovered video editing earlier in my life, like when we took a cruise to New Zealand or spent a few months loitering around small towns in Victoria. But I'm glad I discovered my love of video during Arden's first year - those infant memories are a little more priceless than beautiful sunrises and international travels.

I am in the process of upgrading my equipment (my current camera is a Canon PowerShot ELPH 110 HS, which I got in 2012 and not for the purpose of video at all - but it gets the job done). I should probably use a different program than iMovie, which for some reason has no "save" button (and yes, I've lost entire videos before... this is not fun) nor the ability to work on multiple projects at once. And I should probably (eventually) find a job that lets me put my skills to use for an actual paycheck. Eventually.

To all my friends and family who have watched my videos and support my newest habit, thank you for the encouragement! And I hope you keep enjoying these little glimpses into our lives.

CK