Monday, May 16, 2011

Gypsy & The Cat rocked the Palace Theatre last Friday Night!

Last Friday night, I went to see local electro-pop band, Gypsy & The Cat play at the Palace Theatre in Melbourne to a sell out crowd!

It was such a great night, so I decided to write a gig review on the evening. It is featured on an online magazine, 'Upstart', for emerging journalists! 

It is titled, 'Gypsy & The Cat - Gig Review'...
Here is the link:



Just to entice you, here is an excerpt of what you will expect to see and so much more:

Majestic, mystical and simply magical. These are the words that I would use to describe local band, Gypsy & The Cat.
On Friday night, at the Palace Theatre in Melbourne, I stood shoulder to shoulder among many other fans in anticipation of seeing the band perform. Everybody was there for one reason, to witness and experience the enormous musical talent displayed by the duo.
In 2008, former Melbourne DJ’s, Xavier Bacash and Lionel Towers formed Gypsy & The Cat. Their electro-pop songs possess a ‘gypsy’ feel, as bands such as Fleetwood Mac and the Bee Gees – who also fall under a similar genre – have influenced their musical arrangements. Since their first release, ‘Time To Wander’, Gypsy & The Cat have not only created a following in Australia, but also in the UK — their first live performance was held in London just a year ago...
Want to see more??


Head to: http://www.upstart.net.au/2011/05/17/gypsy-the-cat-gig-review/ to view the whole article!! :D

I would love to hear what you think!

Feel free to email me at promenadewithme@hotmail.com

For more info surrounding the amazing electro-pop band, Gypsy & The Cat, head to their website: 


Thanks!

Gianna :)


Monday, May 2, 2011

Engineering a brighter future!

I recently caught up with Nathan Lania, a young accomplished Australian engineer who has been in the engineering business for over a decade, working on multi-billion dollar projects over in the Middle East. Putting his own personal career episodes to paper, Nathan has just launched his first fictional book called ‘Edward the Engineer & Co’. Based on a young aspiring engineer named Edward, Nathan is hoping to inspire primary school students to think of a possible future in engineering, through creative story telling.

Nathan also shared his own personal experiences with me, his future aspirations, as well as sharing some awesome advice for young upcoming engineers.  


1. You just recently published a novel about a young aspiring engineer, written specifically to target school students. Can you tell us a little about what ‘Edward the Engineer and Co.’ is all about?

‘Edward the Engineer & Co.’ is a fictional book, which revolves around Edward, a young civil engineer, working for Engiecom, an engineering firm. Upon reading the text, you’ll find some nail-biting stuff. For example, in one of the first stories, ‘Edward builds a road’, there is a twist at the end, which is filled with excitement and danger as Edward is put to the test! I’m not going to say anymore, as I don’t want to spoil the ending!

The story was developed over a period of about two and half years and is written for primary school students, aged between 8 and 12 years.

2. Was it always a dream of yours to write a book? If so, can you explain what prompted this dream of yours?

I was once told by a wise man, “Everyone has a book in them”. I book’s concept came to me one day, so I just started to write it on a swing in my backyard. My co-author, who happens to be my darling wife, assisted me to write the text as I came from a technical background. And Vanessa, my wife, incorporated a new direction and style of writing that would better suit the kids.

Although I was influenced from my family to be an engineer, as a couple of my family members were engineers themselves, so they encouraged me to follow their footsteps. I have been a qualified engineer for more than a decade now.

At the same time, I have always really wanted to educate kids, but I just didn’t have time to do it until the last few years. I think you could say it’s a way for me to give back to the community.

Australia in particular are short on engineers. So I thought to myself, the best thing to do is to somehow incorporate my profession and my dream to teach into one compact package. Hence, I decided to write this book so I could get young children to start thinking about engineering early on. You know, a lot of kids say that they want to be a fireman, or a teacher when they grow up, but you never really hear them say they want to be an engineer, because they do not understand what it entails. So I’m hoping that this book will encourage children to maybe consider one day a career in engineering.

3. What recommendations can you make for youth desiring to work in the field of engineering, to help kick start their career?

With kids of today, their generally technology savvy and the same goes with engineering. You need to be up to speed. Technology is advancing quite quickly, with a whole lot of new software programs being launched. You really don’t want to be left behind.

You also need to get a good grasp of design principles from the early on set. If you have the drive and passion and are willing to achieve high results in the science subjects at high school, it’ll put you in good stead.

From here, I recommend you to get work experience. A couple of weeks during work experience week in year 10 isn’t going isn’t enough. If you could get a permanent placement at an engineering firm, even as a volunteer, will help you to get ahead.

When you head to university, try your very best to achieve high results. This will set good foundations for your future.

There are so many engineering disciplines, it’s easy to get messed up and lost. If you can, get someone within the industry to coach you, so they can guide you along the right engineering path to your career goals.

Once you’re working in the industry, earlier on in your career, if you are offered a position overseas, take it. International experience will open up your eyes and open up your options.

4. You recently moved back to Melbourne with your wife Vanessa and baby girl, Nikita. What was it like living in Dubai for two years, especially because it is so vastly different to Australian way of life?

I have always had a passion to work overseas and a lot of other engineers do. Australian engineers are moving to the UK and now to the Middle East because they what the experience working on large complex projects, working with large firms.

Making a life choice to move to the Middle East was a big sacrifice, as my wife Vanessa had to leave her job behind to back me up and support me. We went there with an open mind and when we got there, it definitely was a cultural shock.

Nathan with his wife, Vanessa
Although, when we got to know the place, we were happy to be there. I was working on one of the largest projects in the world at the time, working with highly skilled and motivated individuals. I had the opportunity to work with people from different cultures and life stories. I felt like I was making a difference.

On a more personal note, it was very hard to leave our extended family behind. Some people don’t deal with change well, but we supported each other and we always kept in contact with our family and friends. Though we missed them, we were working in very different conditions, and although it was difficult at times, we supported each other.

Having said this, throughout the two year period family and friends visit us. We had a great time with them as our family didn’t know anything about Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or the UAE (United Arabic Emirates), so we were like their tour guides. Vanessa and I heavily relied on Skype to keep in contact with our loved ones Down Under.

Vanessa fell pregnant with our first child, Nikita, while we were over in Dubai. And I think having nobody there was a little difficult as I had to fully support Vanessa throughout the pregnancy. It was so good to have some family there when our baby girl, Nikita was born.

Now, one day, when Nikita is old enough to understand what her mummy and daddy were doing living in Dubai, maybe for her sweet 16, we could go back there for a holiday. I think it would be so good for her to see where she was born.

Nathan with his daughter, Nikita
5. Some would say that you have achieved so much at such a young age. Where can you see yourself in the not too distant future?

In the not too distant future, I would like to be one of the most influential people in the world of engineering.

I subscribe to a monthly magazine called, ‘The Institute of Engineers’ which is part of an organisation called Engineers Australia.

To say that I have worked on one of the largest infrastructural projects in the world, one of the largest consultancies in the world and now through this book, being able to inspire young engineers of the future, makes me feel so content.

The day that a young engineer comes up to me and says, “I read your book at a young age and that’s what inspired me to be an engineer”, would be one of the best days of my life, because that means I made a difference.

I would like to work as a director or CEO of an international engineering firm and I also wish to be part of the educational side of engineering too. That could encompass a position at a university or even an opportunity to work at a school part time. This is something I would like to explore.

6. What process did you take in order to publish your book?

I wrote everything first by hand. I then wrote it on word and then read it out to my wife Vanessa. I discussed it with her to gather her thoughts. After a bit of tweaking here and there, we explored a few publishers. In the end, we chose SID HARTA publisher in Melbourne. We had seen their work and so we went there with our manuscript and presented it to them. This is going back two and half years ago. They gave us great feedback and so when we went overseas, we edited the book and then we started looking for illustrators.

All the characters have different roles in the book. Edward is a young inspiring civil engineer. The other characters are Lizzie who is an environmental engineer; Sally is a hydraulic engineer; Bernard geotechnical engineer, Kevin is an electrical engineer; Vincent is an architect in the firm; Tom is project manager and Emma who is Bernard’s granddaughter. She floats in and out of the book and she is undertaking a work experience placement there.

There is going to be a series of books as there are other disciplines of engineering that I will later introduce further on in the series of Edward the Engineer & Co

Upcoming books:

Edward Travels to the Middle East to Build a City in the Desert

Kevin Lights Up the City Carnival

Sally Designs a Water Adventure Park

Bernie Designs a Football Stadium



I would love to hear from you!

Send me your promenade to:



Thanks,


Gianna :)