back and.....FIRE!!!

So vac ended today (if you want to call what was really a glorified long weekend a vac).

Sad face.

But I had a really great time at home and also with the male counterpart in PE last weekend. Wow, feels weird to type again.

So I have this irrational fear of res burning down during vac and all my possessions (the ones I didn't take home with me) along with it. And today that almost became a reality.

As we were driving into town we saw a LOT of smoke coming from the mountain (also, glorified mound)behind our res.
Then we drive up the street and see that oh, hello, the fire is on the side of the mountain facing our res and Joe Slovo (our neighbours).
Lots of wind, lots of smoke, lots of flames.
The res filled up with smoke and then the fire alarm went off and people who were far too excited started yelling, "It's not a fire drill!! GET OUT!!!"
And we're like, really, do you think we don't know that seeing as how I can't see your face because of the smoke in this building. Seriously.

So eventually (after an hour and the fire brigade FINALLY making an appearance) they manage to get the fire out/under control and we are allowed back into res. Only now the entire place stinks like charred meat and dead, burnt grass and that black stuff is everywhere.
Welcome back guys. Here's a fire for you.

And now I have another song for you: Caroline - David Gray.
I seem to have this weird relationship with Mr Gray in that I go through a period where he is all I listen to and then I forget he even exists for months at a time. And then it starts all over again.
I can't find a legit music video for it but this one that I found is pretty cool. Got the little music bar things i Like to chase with my pen sometimes.

It's so cool how the combo of the electro-ness and the acoustic guitar work together.
Love it or hate it, you have to respect it.
And this term will prove miraculous if I make it out with my sanity. The amount of work I have - cringe.
Don't be expecting to hear too much from my side. :/ :(

Peace kids. :)

john mayer groupie for life!!

Not only is he visually stimulating for most (personally I don't think he's all that marvellous), but he has an AMAZING voice. Typing out an essay this morning and this song starts playing and I stop and listen for the full 5 minutes of his personal outpouring of emotions (which I think is really brave for anyone to do) and for the first time listened to all the words..and HAD to share them with someone.

Such a beautiful song!!

Had a nightmare that I couldn't get to Jarrod this weekend.. Zombies were involved. Speaking of, this week is Humans vs Zombies tag at Rhodes, but I will post more about that and my bizarre dreams when this murderous essay is done.

Peace :)

i love the smell of it...

It's Spring!! I love this season partly because of the fact that it's a happy medium. Being the winter child that I am, I can't do the depressing weather story for longer than is good for my mental health. Cuddling, fireplaces and reading can only continue for so long.
The the flowers come out - yay! - and then everything smells amazing and the sun shines softly and the world just looks like such a pretty place to be. You want to go outside barefoot and bush dive (Rhodents do this a lot - we kinda just dive straight into them [slightly inebriated, of course] and pray for the lack of thorns) and spend the day reading and tanning in the sun. We did this last week Monday. Kinda just took the day off and basked in all the glory of the majestic sunshine and became browner than before and went back to res a lot sleepier than before.. Was such a beautiful day!
Yesterday, our residence (which is soon to be named Rosa Parks house) had our Spring Day Fun Day. All the usual: apple bobbing, 3-legged races, sack races, egg spoon races, water-balloons by the ton and blind man's bluff. I was the one in our group who had to do the apple bobbing because I was the only one who hadn't just had their hair relaxed or had a weave. So I had to shove my face into a bowl of warm, still runny jelly and get the 3 apples in it, out and then run to my team mate who was waiting with a plate to receive my apples. Tons of fun, but my face didn't like it too much. Had such fun. Our entertainment rep who organised the day wanted to know why we must always be so politically correct, but in her rush, she instead asked us why we had to be so "politically ERECT". Entertainment rep indeed. :)

So this week is the last one of term and then we have a ridiculously short holiday of 10 or 11 days and then it's back to the grindstone - seriously!! I have 7 major things due in the first 3 weeks of being back as well as our Hall Ball and in order to complete one of those things I need to read a book. The 14th of October might not survive what I'm going to do once I hand in my last task. It really might not. And then it will be onto studying for exams like a mental person. Sheesh.... This is me, not thinking about it..

Just thought I'd share a song with you.. Think it's such a sexy song, however corny it may be, it still rocks. And I think Rob Thomas has definitely become nicer over age, like red wine or whatever it is.

It's quite old, but don't judge mkaay?? We all have random, old songs that we secretly dance in our underwear to.. At least I hope that we all do, otherwise I'm alone in the gyrating in your underwear phenomenon.

And let me also just point out how amazing Riverdance music is?? (can you tell that my media player is on shuffle?) Especially Reel Around the Sun, with the noise of the tap-dancers' feet in the background.

Ok, so I am going to allow myself a little bit of venting space here, forgive me. Telkom is the absolute worst service provider in the history of service providers!! Haven't been able to Skype my boyfriend since Friday afternoon which is terrible because we usually Skype twice a day and by the time the phone lines began working again today, I had started suffering from withdrawal symptoms!! Missed his face so much, but this weekend I will be back with him again and happier than a kid at Christmas.

For now though I must go and work my fingers off again and recover from this weekend..
Peace...

purple fever, hell week v1.0 and v2.0 and the beginning of the countdown

Well, what was possibly one of the biggest parties of the year is over and I flaked out early due to the evil of crackling.

THIS STUFF IS EVIL!! DO NOT EVER TOUCH IT!! NOT UNLESS YOU WANT TO FEEL LIKE YOU ARE DYING (which i hope none of you ever do)

Soooo, the biggest party I mentioned before?? Tri-varsity. Which is still a bit of an enigma to me because of the following story:

I have been drinking crackling all year. It's terrible but it does the job and its cheap. I've survived, especially when mixed with Sprite. Once I had heartburn for 2 days after a large dose of Uncle Crackles here, but that didn't stop me from deciding to share a bomb (1.5 litre) with my friend mixed with Sprite for pre-drinks the first night of tri-var. We had the little pre-party in my room (matchbox) and then went to a friends res to finish it up and head out. There I finished up my half of the poison and had a few gulps of my boyfriend's vanilla vodka and coke. Then we headed out. Got to Friars and I'm ready for all the party that tri-var can bring my way. And then Uncle Crackles decides to ruin it all and saying something stupid like "I'm coming up!! And I'm bringing the supper you just had with me!!"

So that was me and the boyfriend coming back up to res to get me into bed at.................10 FRIKKEN 30 ON THE FRIDAY NIGHT OF THE BIGGEST MOST CRAZY WEEKEND OF THE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And of course the next day I was man down until after lunch. Then the photos came out on Facebook and for once I was dreading them because I wasn't in any of them. I had completely failed and was so bummed that I had missed out on all the fun. The photos were so funny but I missed most of it.. The pre-party was great though. So the night ended up with my amazing boyfriend holding my hair back while I made best friends with Mr Shanks. Fail. And I failed his tri-var too although he keeps saying he came for me, not tri-var. Still feel like an ape. Trust my system to wait until tri-var to refuse poor old Uncle Crackles. That relationship has come to a bitter end and never will I ever have a crackling hangover again. Bad.life.choice. They aren't normal!! Recession wines and me are going to be good mates from now on.

me and the handsome man at pre-drinks (this is me sober and
still friends with uncle crackles)

Then the week after tri-var (last week) was Hell Week. With the profs making everything due for that week and the recovery time needed from the weekend, work piled up for everyone from all corners and threatened our very existence!!!......ok it wasn't THAT bad, but it wasn't pretty. It is now over but people are still drowning and my friend was telling me how she saw someone in the library who was only getting the readings she needed for her 10 page essay at 9:30 this morning and the deadline was at 10:00. Jaaaaaaa. Late for her.

I've only just managed to get the purple dye ff my chest which my boyfriend so lovingly dumped there for me :) Haven't seen the charming young man in a week now and I still have 3 weeks to go until I do. This will be the longest time that we haven't seen each other so I'm cringing at the though of that but we will get through it :) duh!

Oh, he wrote on my overalls for me. Little sign that says "Private Property" with his signature and little smiley face that he draws which looks like this: (marvel at my paint skills!!)

This was written on my bum in the middle between the 2 hand prints :P


Was so good to go home this past weekend though. Had a huge braai and ate tons of identifiable meat and potato bake (i make the best) and my mom's salad. No salad will ever beat that. 3 weeks until Jarrod, food, home and rest!! Can't wait :)

Peace :)

Substance..the gooey, icky type..

What matters to you?

How often do you ask yourself that?

How well do you answer that everytime you ask it?

If you're giving a list as long as your arm full of things then you could be really, really blessed and what not, or you're placing value on things that shouldn't be value laden.

Eek!! Why, oh, why, do I always get like this after saying goodbye to my boyfriend at yet another busstop, gate or next to an open door of a car that I am about to get into or walk away from? Wait, stupid question, huh?

Truth is, he matters a #$&%LOAD to me! He does, my family does, my friends do, my education does (which I am clinging onto for dear life at the moment). Memories matter to me because sometimes they are the only things that we have when all is said and done. Laughing matters.. But I think that comes standard with the above mentioned, especially with the crazy, amazing bunch I have been granted.

You know that moment when you realise how lucky you are to

1. be alive,
2. live (yes, they differ because this one is up to you to ensure),
3. have people in your life to be thankful for,
4. be in an amazing place (often self-determined),
5. and to realise that you are not, as you thought, in such a bad way?

Frikken glorious moment, isn't it?? I've lost count of how many times I've had that moment this year and I probably won't stop having it until I find a reason not to, which I hope will never happen (the guy told me he's here to stay, so..?..[hehe]). Everytime I've felt like caving and giving in this year and going home to my mommy and her amazing food and my glorious bed and and and....OK, now I miss home. Crap. Anyway, everytime I've done that, I've reminded myself of how lucky I am to be in a place like this one and have the people in my life that I do and what I can accomplish with what has been made available to me. The opportunities are FRIKKEN ENDLESS!! It's so exciting and if half the people around me here who moan about what's so wrong in their lives would open their eyes, smell the roses and see the silver lining, they would realise that too.

Ok, so I've harped on enough about this, but have been thinking about it for a while. On the Saturday before term started, my boyfriend's sister, Tam, had her wedding which was pretty much the most awesome one I've been too. Was small, really beautiful and Tam. of course, looked like a million bucks.
She loves the wholes '20's style and listens to people like Frank Sinetra and I can't recall who else. Oh, add Bowling for Soup to the mix. Yes, add it. Her dress was so pretty and I think outting up photos will do it a lot more justice.

Tam and her dad walking down the aisle

THE CAKE!!which was transported in
400 pieces from PE to East London

first dance...



Tam and her FRIKKEN CUTE brother :D



Tam and Cameron

Cocktails!!

Happiness is...

That's how we roll :)

Jarrod and his mom

The best for last..*sigh*

So yes, it was a great night! And come on, how handsome is the best man???? Riiiight?? ;)

On a sad note, I realise that I didn't mention that we had to put Monty down on my last day of being at home, literally, hours before I left :(. Was very sad, but we discovered that he had lymphatic cancer and the meds and the strain just got too much for hima dn the night before I left, he just looked like the life had been sucked right out of him and we could tell he was suffering and that it would be better that way. His body had swollen up randomly in places and he wouldn't stop shaking. So we sent him to doggy heaven. My mom has a quote on her Skype page that says "No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich". This is so true. Louis Sabim was a smart man..

Eek, must get going though.. Class tomorrow. And a test!! Blegh..

Peace :)

Week nombre uno..

So, we've been at it for a week now. At what, I'm not too sure. Some of us have been at Friars and the Rat and others at lectures and the library and all the goody-two-shoes shit that must be done at some point. It was an interesting week with a lots of ups and a few downs, but it really is good to be back. If you had told me this 2 weeks ago, I would've told you to stop BS'ing me.

So on Friday night we went to De Beers (our brother res) for pre-drinks and started playing "Never ever have I ever..." For anyone who has ever played that game you will know that you learn a LOT about the people in the room with you. For those unfortunate few of you who have never played it, you go around the room saying "Never ever have I ever..." and then you say something after that, whether or not you have done it before. For example, "Never ever have I ever been skinny dipping" and the people who have been skinny dipping before have to take a sip of their drink. PLAY THIS GAME. It can get you pretty drunk pretty fast if you've done a lot of arb stuff though.
Anyhow, it was probably the nicest pre-drinks this year as there were about 10 or more of us squeezed into a little res room (not as small as ours, but decently small). We got told to shut up a few times but it was a good night all round apart from some guy in Friars trying to punch me because I elbowed him in the gut after he trampled my toes and pushed me into someone. He swore at me, I swore at him and then he raised his hand, at which point I pushed him again and told him what an asshole he was and walked away. Needless to say he was very drunk.

Then on Saturday morning a few friends and I went down to the soccer field on campus to paint our overalls. We take plain white overalls and go nuts on them with purple paint and then wear them for inter varsity (this is the PC term as it is between 4 universities now, but we all still call it Tri-Var). They get very dirty and very purple. Lots of purple paint being thrown around at the tri-var parties and they can get pretty out of hand so do not hope to keep them clean. And washing them is a sin. End of story. Your overalls will be siff and gross but you will learn to accept this.
So we spent the better part of Saturday afternoon on a sunny patch of grass with a bunch of other people getting covered in paint and jazzing up our overalls. Mine aren't doe yet but I will endeavour to get a picture up when they are done (I don't have a camera which is what I mean by endeavour). My legs hate me now though as we had to stand over our overalls and bend down to paint as the grass was wet and muddy and rolling around on it wasn't the greatest of ideas. The muscles in my leg want to boycott my body right now from all the stretching and bending.

And then on Sunday, 2 of my friends and I went to a naked photoshoot called the "My Body, My Choice" photoshoot. The deal is that you get naked with a message either written on your body or on a placard that you can use to hide a few, uh, distinguishing features as well as portray your message. As long as you bare a decent proportion of your bod and your photo has a message, you're good. It was done in protest of the fact that women are often pushed into boxes by today's society with regards to their bodies and that certain men objectify women according to what they look like. It was real art in motion and some of the photos that were taken were really touching with the messages they portrayed. None of it was pornographic at all and was very appropriate.
The 3 of us got topless with our undies on and decided to write the message on our bodies. The first message was written on Ayanda's tummy saying, "More than just my boobs" and she was covering her chest with her hands. Stacy had "More than just my ass" on her back and had her back to the camera and was looking over her shoulder and I had "More than just my vag" on my tummy, covering my chest too and having my little shorts unbuttoned. All 3 of us have, at some point in our time here and even in high school, felt as if certain types of men have not seen who the real person inside is and just regarded us as a face with an ass, boobs or vag. So this had a heavy meaning for us and I think the way in which we did it was effective.
Very excited to see the photos in the exhibition!!

At the moment though I have to run and do some work.. Not feeling too productive though.. HAVE TO FIND A LIFT TO THE BOYFRIEND THIS WEEKEND!! Eeek!! Speaking of the boyfriend:

You sink into my skin
Ever deeper with every breath.
This convenient, connecting slumber
Joins you and me.
I dare not move
Lest I shatter the fragile
Structure of this moment,
The most delicate,
Most powerful.
Your familiar face
Blushes and curves,
Talking, whispering, a mere mutter
Of my name.
My slumber has become yours
As I struggle fruitlessly, unwillingly
To break from my addiction.
Your warmth penetrates my skin
Saturating me in
The most fragile, most powerful
Comforts of addiction.
              -by me

Shweet. Cool.

C'est la vie...

So i had a really good weekend at home. Nadine couldn't come in the end but I enjoyed it none the less. Had my mom with me the whole time and had the best cooking in the world, which made me the happiest person alive!

Got back on Sunday afternoon. Later that night at 11:30, our warden (Sandra) starts knocking on everyone's doors telling us that there is an emergency meeting in the common room. The hall warden (Dr Gambiza) is here and he wants to give us some news. Now you can imagine how peeved we all were at being woken up or having our studying interrupted at 11:30 on a Sunday night. What could be this important, really?? So we get to the common room and everyone is speculating as to why we were there. All the sub-wardens and Sandra had to stand there and listen to us speculate and laugh while they knew what was going on. The Dr arrived and told us he had bad news. I will never forget what he said. "One of us has been killed." He said "Anja" but nobody knew who that was because she never called herself that. When he said her surname we all knew it was the beautiful, sweet, amazing Ajaya (AJ). She stayed two doors down from me and everytime I walk out of my room now all I can see are flowers outside of her door.

She had gone to Port Alfred with her friends and had left as I arrived back from home. I walked in as she walked out and I still said goodbye to her and told her to have a great time and thought how brave she was to wear shorts 'cause it was still kinda cold. On the way back on Sunday night the bakkie they were in rolled because the driver tried to overtake on a road that should not even exist it's so bad. I get scared driving along that road in broad daylight with the most responsible of drivers. It's not a fun ride. And not a road anyone should be overtaking on. She didn't suffer though and although that sounds sick of me, it was one of the things that we were thinking about and were comforted to know that she didn't.

AJ never didn't have a smile on her face and I literally cannot recall seeing her face in a frown, ever. Not once in the short time that I knew her. You could be having the shittest day ever and just talking to her would cheer you up, even marginally, but generally exponentially. She was a ballroom dancer and did drama and had such amazing talent.

She was literally one of those people that could light up a room just by walking into it and smiling at everyone. When we heard the news we went to De Beers (our brother res) to break the news. It's amazing how amazing those guys are. We stood in their foyer talking for hours and we stood in a circle praying for AJ and her family. I remember thinking how lucky heaven was to have been given such a special angel that night.

I still can't believe she's gone, but everytime I walk out of my door I realise she is. Makes me want to tell all my loved ones how much I love them and cherish them and all the people I want to make peace with that I'm sorry or I don't care anymore if they're not sorry. I don't ever want to leave this earth with things unsaid.

This is gonna sound weird, but I've always had this thing, I don't know what to call it. A theory? That the shortest lives are the most brilliant. Everyone who I have known that has passed away far too soon have been amazing people that lived everyday until there was no more left in that day. Someone said to me on Sunday night, "The great die young" and it has some truth to it. It's as if all the greatness that could be achieved in an average lifetime has been squashed up and crammed into 20 years, making it even more great or awesome. If this isn't making any sense then I suppose it doesn't matter because it's making sense in my head.

We are having a candle vigil tonight for AJ at which there will be a book in which we can write a message about her, a memory, a poem, something for her family, anything we want and that book will go back home with her family, that way some part of her Rhodes family can go back with her and her family. And then tomorrow is her memorial service and we are going to release helium balloons into the sky with notes attached to them for AJ.

It's amazing how quickly the people in your res and dining hall become like your family. When I think about it, they literally do become that: your family away from home. I've only been here for half a year and I feel like that already. Wonder what the second years feel like by now.

Needless to say, I haven't been getting too much studying done, but I'm getting there. My first exam is English on Friday afternoon and then I have History on Saturday morning. Great stuff. Can't wait for Saturday afternoon!!! For some reason my hand is REALLY itchy so I'm going to stop typing now, but I shall be back soon.

And just in case anyone thought of forgetting: I love my boyfriend!!!!!!!!!

Home sweet home..

So I'm going home today!! Just for the weekend but I'm super excited nonetheless. I miss home like CRAZY and especially my mom. She's my bestest friend and my mommy all rolled into one. I know people think that you shouldn't be all buddy-buddy with your mom and you shouldn't exactly have your mom as your only friend but my mom is my most important friend for sure!!

Me and my mom on the night of my matric farewell

Anywho, home cooking, yay!! My mom is making beet stew for tonight!! My mouth is watering. Literally. The food we get here is really really below average and I've been sick twice from it. Actually if you count how long i was sick for it's like 5 times. Can not wait to have some real food for a change and not slop. Although some of the meals here are okay and we kinda look forward to them.

More great news, Nadine is coming tonight with her sister and another friend and we (the 4 of us) are sleeping in my room. Going to get interesting. Hehe. Haven't seen that child since like February and I think I might crush her when I see her! Going to be a goooood night :P.. Meh, this blogspot story really needs emoticons!!

Anyway I must go and pack and then pretend like I'm studying really hard!!
Oh, and today you must do the following people: listen to Adele's Somebody like you. Just do it. And then watch Pink's Perfect music video. 'Til the end. The end makes it just that special. I want that. And I think I have that. Or I at least have the promise of having that. Watch it on YouTube and make sure it's the legit version ie. the version uploaded by Pink's VEVO account. Kay? Got it? Good. Go.

Why so seriousssss??

Because I need to be serious now, God dammit!!

I took Monday off just because I felt like I couldn't study (which probably would've failed if I had tried) and then on Monday night I was as sick as a dog about to die so yesterday I still felt like shit and didn't get a thing done either. NOW, it is time to put my head down and start working.. No excuses whatsoever. Haha, feels like I'm preaching to myself. Which I kinda am. OK, I'll stop now.

Last night we sat down at supper (at which point I was feeling a lot better) and I couldn't eat my food. I had beans and a wrap thing which tasted like dog food and I didn't want to eat it after my Monday night experience. So I nibbled at it and then my friend Tiff asked me if I wanted to go to 2 for 1 pizza night at Pirates (I think I have mentioned this place before) so we went to eat REAL food for a change. I love pizza!! Saved my ass from starvation. And i got a Pirates pizza box. They're really cool. It's a plain white box with this on it:

just without the red piece. So it's just the skull and swords and the banner. And about the third or fourth time you look at it, you'll realise something about the skull's eye sockets. Hint?

Raise your hand if you got it!! Hehe, I only realised that after like 3 months of staring at it. >.< Supposed to be all observant and stuff. Meh.

I NEED TO GO AND STUDY!!

Swot week...can you feel it??...it is here! -sigh-

What a great weekend!! Had such a good time in PE with my boyfriend and now I have to find a way to cope for 4 weeks without seeing him.. Think I shall be asking my friend who hasn't seen her boyfriend since FEBRUARY!!!! for advice. I do not know how she hasn't gone off of her rocker yet.

I drank way too much Red Bull on Saturday because they were giving them away at Jarrod's university at the box car race they were having. Bouncing off the walls second to none. And now I have a whole week of no lectures, no tutorials, nothing to do except study. All this free time we get given and they want me to study??? Why, oh, why am I being tortured like this.. DC (the file sharing program) is calling my name!! Just want to watch movies and enjoy this free time.. Hehe. So it's going to be interesting to see how i cope with this. Pretty sure I'll be fine, but I don't really trust myself. Haha, isn't that comforting???

Rhodes students are absolute tops at finding new ways to procrastinate and not study. Seemingly normal chores and things become tools of procrastination. Such as:

• doing your washing - great way to get a tiny bit of time out of studying to do something you "HAVE" to do.
• lunch and dinner in the dining hall - you can stop studying at 12 on the pretense that you're hungry, go to the dining hall and sit there until 1:30 or 2 drinking tea and chatting and generally just procrastinating
• cleaning your room - something we used to hate doing as kids, we know find joy in doing, especially in these tiny rooms. Your excuse could go something like this, "I just can't study in a room that's messy or has an unvacuumed floor or that stinks. But now that it's clean, I'll be able to st... Good God, look at how messy those shelves are!! They need to be repacked. I can't work like this!!"
• smoking - for those who smoke, this is a GREAT tool. We can't smoke in our rooms or on the balcony so we have to sit on the lawn in front of the res if we want to smoke. This results in sitting chatting outside and having like 3 cigarettes before you start feeling really guilty and go back inside to study but instead you land up on
• FACEBOOK!! - worst.tool.of.procrastination.ever.

So now that I've procrastinated for the past half hour or so, I am going to go and study! But first I must shower. and do my washing.. Hmm and I'm hungry ;)

Rain. Cold. Sick.

I HATE BEING SICK!!

I'm a winter person and I love the cold but my tonsils are the size of golf balls and I feel like I'm swallowing shrapnel. Every time I need to swallow I tilt my head back and hope that going "Gggghhhuuuurrrrchhha" will magically make the spit go down. Sorry, that's gross, but I'm desperate and now I've got a headache. And I'm supposed to be going to PE to my boyfriend this weekend (if my lift pulls through) and I don't want to be sick!!!!

AAAAAAHHHH!! Thank god I have Sarika. My neighbour over the road (corridor). She is going to town today and is gonna buy me something for my throat :D!!! I love that kid right now. And now I have to go and mission around in this weather too with 2 large lumps in my throat. Joy.

Yesterday I decided to take a "personal afternoon" meaning I skipped 2 (unimportant) lectures and stayed in res after I had come up for lunch. I must've been in res for 15 minutes and the power goes out. While I'm trying to pee. So my plans to finish up on my tutorial work and then watch movies for the whole afternoon went to pot. I slept. From 14:30 until 17:30. The power came back on during that time abut then it went back off after ten minutes. So I woke up and we went to dinner and while we are sitting in the dining hall eating supper, the power goes out. Now one of 3 things can happen in a pitch dark dining hall full of students while it's PISSING with rain outside.

1. Everyone would start stealing food and condiments.
2. We would all just be so unimpressed by the afternoon's shenanigans that we would leave and order Steers.
3. People would start throwing food around.

If you guessed the second one, you'd be wrong. If you guessed only the first or the third you'd be wrong because they started doing both 1 and 3. I got a piece of potato bake flung into my face and about 5 peas to the head, my friend had chocolate mousse in his juice (yes, students were wasting the pudding that we get once a week that you would think is gold when we see it) and my other friend had a pea in his mousse. I would hate to have seen the hall when the lights came back on. All the butter would've been missing and there would be food EVERYWHERE!! So we got back to res and decided that there was nothing we could do there seeing as even the emergency lights weren't working. So 5 of us went out for drinks. As we left the power came on and off about 5 times alternating with the emergency lights. We went to the only bar in town with a generator and power and had a drink there. Being the only customers there that were sober and under 30, we decided to leave ASAP and went to the Rat and Parrot (another watering hole in town) and they had the whole candlelight effort going on. Was really nice and we had another drink there. The power eventually came back on and so we came home because we had work to do.

The second and third years were telling us stories about how they generally have so many power cuts in weather like this during exams that they sometimes end up sitting in the corridors studying under the emergency lights (if they are wowking) with blankets and stuff. Hard times hey.

All in all, yesterday was a complete write off of a day and I feel like donkey's balls right now. Going to finish tying my work and then crash again until lunch.

Wise words...

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.  - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Is it because I'm white???

I hate living in a country that will forever be obsessed with race. No matter where you go, people will say that they aren't racists but everything they do relates back to the racial ideologies that have been conditioned into us simply because we live in South Africa, even if we grew up in the post-democratic version of it.

We had a house meeting tonight with the Vice Chancellor of Rhodes because of our naming issue. I'm assuming you want the short story to this saga. So, in 2009 this residence was opened as New Residence 2 and the students have the privelege of suggesting a name for the res to the Naming Committee. The name the students back then came up with was Jean Sinclair (click on her name if you know nothing about her). She was basically against any form of oppression against a certain group of people ("non-whites" and women) during apartheid (click on that word if you live under a rock and don't know what that means). So, she rocked. But the naming committee rejected our name because they want more diversity in the names of buildings. Which is all good and well. So we had the VC telling us all this tonight. But we are still without a name.

Rhodes was one of those universities that only accepted white students during apartheid and is known for that. This is not the case anymore though and that reputation of "the white university" is slowly starting to fade. So most of the buildings names are named after white people who did good in the country and helped develop our country and lead us out of apartheid. But this is a "problem" because there aren't any black hero buildings. Except Chris Hani house and Nelson Mandela hall. No Indian or Coloured people who did good. No black people.

And I understand that we need more diversity in the naming of our buildings but it bugs me so much when you realise how much race actually matters to people. Race is not meant to exist. Your culture exists and that is what is meant to matter to you. It's like the crap that happened during apartheid is being cast on this generation to fix and I know that what happened back then was ridiculous and that it should never have been tolerated AT ALL. I am glad that I was not around during apartheid because I would've hated my counrty so so so much and would have tried to assassinate people or some such thing. It was a sick place to be. The thought that someone could believe that just because you had more pigments and maybe believed different things than you that they could be regarded as the scum of the earth.

I want to cry every time I think about it and I'm ashamed to be associated with the group of people who implemented this system. It is disgusting.

I hope I am alive to see the generation that is not concious of "race" and that a hero is a hero and the race of that hero doen't have to be considered. Black or white, Indian, coloured, Chinese or Spanish. Male or female.

Free Time...Whooot????

Got a bunch of free time on my hands and feeling guilty coz I'm not spending any of it on my blog.. Well, I should be spending it on studying, but hey. Really.

I will make time for this contraption in the very, VERY near future!! Promise.

Oh, watch No Strings Attached. SUCH a cute movie!! As if my advice isn't good enough, Ashton Kutcher stars in it. And he plays a romantic. Whoooot. Watch it.

Peace.

Ode to Monty

My puppy dawg is really not doing well :( -the one in the background in the picture to the left of the screen- and we might have to put him down :(. He has arthritis in his front leg shoulder joint and if the treatment doesn't start helping and soon, then he will have to go to doggy heaven.

We got him when I was in grade 1 or 2 and he was a champion dog that the breeders used to take to shows and they won prizes and stuff and when they discovered that he had a skew tooth, he couldn't compete anymore. So the breeders gave him away. They GAVE AWAY a 100% pedigree staffy because of a skew tooth. His name was monster then because he is sooooo hyper and full of buck and bounce, but we soon realised that he was a gentle giant, albeit a very clumsy, hyper one. So we started calling him Monsty instead. Inevitably this was shortened to Monty and Monty he has been ever since.

He has had biliary twice and he once ran face first into a roll of barbed wire. He was so hyper one day when my dad was walking them at the dam near our old house in Benoni, Johannesburg (for those geographically challenged individuals), that when my dad tried to call him back to heel, he just turned his head back, but carried on running. Anyway, he has a scar along his jaw now and I think it adds to his charm. Such a sweet pups with a scar on his snout. The amount of trauma he has survived is amazing! he is meant to live a loooong ass life!

He licks his lips when you pat him and his back leg flies around when you tickle his tummy. And he genuinely thinks that he's still a puppy. He jumps onto my mom's lap without a second thought about squashing her or something.

He's a goof. Just like Goofy, only worse. And we thought Roxy would be the first to have serious health issues because she's so chubby (I refuse to call her fat!). Seriously hope my little Monts machine gets better. :( and I'm not at home if he doesn't so I won't be able to say goodbye. Just like I wasn't there to say goodbye to my poor birdy!!

Funny story actually.

Lulu, our (late) budgie was a little bitch. No other way to describe her. She was sociable enough and would let you take her out of her cage, but she really thought she was a terradactyl or something! Never seen another bird with such attitude. We once put her on Monty's nose and he was so relaxed he just kinda looked up at her with the cutest squint eyes and she nipped him on his nose. He sneezed and shook his head and looked at us as if to say, "Haha, that was awkward" complete with the wagging tail. And Lulu stood there like "Yeah Bitch!!" *airpunch*

Anyway, now that you know how gentle Monty is and how vicious Lulu was; my dad would often take Lulu around on his shoulder as we all would, but he used to go outside with her to his workshop. One day, while I'm here in Grahamstown, my dad goes out to his workshop with her on his shoulder and for some reason she was spooked and flew off his shoulder which she often did, but her wing had been clipped so she never went far before crash landing (quite gracefully I must admit). Well, she crash landed with her claws in the base of Monty's tail. He turned around and bit at whatever was poking his arse. And so our vicious Lulu was decapitated by our gentle Monty. I cried when I heard and if I weren't trying not to be hysterical for my mom's sake, I would've blubbed!

The next day after I had made peace with the fact that Lulu was now flying up high somewhere now and not into a dog's tail, I laughed at the situation. It was all wrong. Lulu is the decapitating type! Not Monty! Ok, that sounds really bad, but Monty is so incredibly gentle and Lulu was just I-won't-take-your-shit-and-I-don't-care-if-you-clean-my-cage-and-give-me-food and had so much attitude.

You get the picture?? Was really sad though!! And now, we have Elvis. The prettiest budgie we've had so far.

And Elvis is as mild and meek as a lamb. ; )

Wet shoes

So I got caught in a torrential downpour.
Story of my life.
My shoes got soaked and thank god I had an umbrella with me.
Was bitching about wet shoes.
Then went to Journ class and we were talking about the impoverished people in the country.
My wet shoes aren't so bad.
I now have my feet warm and dry and encased in boots.
I am lucky.

Heeellooo............. O.o

So my amazing boyfriend reminded me that I have a blog!!
Hehe, what would I do without him, really?
Well, Its been a while and everything that I kept thinking, "I should put this on my blog" is no longer relevant to me or my life. Not much has happened since the holidays. I only got to spend 5 days at home and the other 5 days i spent in Port Elizabeth with the man of my life so I was still feeling a bit icky about missing home. Also, never let anybody have any kind of hold over your relationship unless they are directly involved. Don't do it. It is not worth all the stress. That is all.
The Easter break was awesome because with all the public holidays I managed to get 6 whole days off (ok, so i bunked 2) at home and got to spend some proper time with my family.

So, today I read my friends Facebook status and Nicky, if you ever read this, thanks dude ;).
It goes like this:

When you walk by a group of quote-unquote normal people you chuckle to yourself, patting yourself on the back as you scoff. It's the same superiority complex shared by the high school jocks who made your life a living hell, makes you a slave to the competitive capitalist dogma you spend every moment of your waking life BITCHING about!

Well that got my mind going. How true is this!! I am going to put myself into a group now for mere practical purposes, not because I am deeming myself part of this group. Us "different" people think we are so above the normal lot of people. How narrow-minded that is. We pity the people who picked on us in high school because we were just slightly different to what they were used to and thought that they have no right to think that they are above us and now that we are in a neutral environment where nobody cares what you do and how you do it, we think the exact same way as said jock did in high school; I am better than you and therefore have a reason to look down upon you. Isn't that what we tried to be rid of in high school? Isn't this the exact system we so gallantly fought against? I say why think yourself above anybody else? Why even bother with judging somebody on how they choose to live? Don't we have better things to do?

The world works because of the different people in it and it would just become a monotonous, dreary, malfunctioning blah of a planet if we worked that way. Thank God we don't!! Let them be gay, let them be Lesbian, let them walk barefoot in a kaftan to lectures, let them be "Like, OMG, I mean how could she even like...OMG I can't even explain it..OMG, like seriously", let them wear black and have a huge afro, let them wear shirts that promote one thing or demote another. Who gave you the right to say that they couldn't or that it's wrong that they do? Yes, you are entitled to your own opinion, but others are not entitled to the judgement they receive because of you opinion. Not on, bru.

Thanks for reminding of the existence of my blog babes.. (I think you are the only one reading this)

Sunshine and slang..

My room never sees the sun. I have a lovely view of a brick wall and the sun never sees my window. As much of a winter person as I am, rooms that are gloomy ALL the time make me gloomy too. I miss being able to lay on my bed in the warm rays of the sun. I'd give anything to switch to the opposite side of res. Would be amazing.

I'm not having a very happy day by the way, in case you haven't noticed. I decided to have a little snooze before lunch (I was bunking my journalism lecture - they are soooo boring!!). So about 30 minutes before I actually have to wake up, i had a repeat performance of yesterday. Someone decides to SCREAM, not just call loudly, but literally shout for her friend down my corridor. And when she doesn't get an answer, what do you think she does?? Yes, she does it again, and louder. The hairs on the back of my neck were sparking, I swear!! Sure, it's not quiet time, but flip, screaming is not inducive to happy people!! Hellloooooooo.. So anyway, that wasn't cool. Instant bad mood. I'm about to go and check my Psychology marks for my first test so that should be interesting. Very nervous!! First university test results.

I'm sick again. There was a bug trapped between my curtain and the window last night when i went to bed. So, I left my window open so that it could free itself anytime it felt like it. Pity it was cold outside and I breathed in cold air all night. Hate having the sniffles!! Had them for like 3 weeks and they finally went away and then that prehistoric insect looking bug thing went and messed things up. Joy.

Ok, what I do when i blog is I sometimes start a post and then have to run so i save it and come back to it later. Which is what I've done today, having to go to a history lecture and all. My mood has improved!! Very happy to announce this. An sms from my boyfriend and an 80% for my first test made me smile!! And of course my earphones plugged into my ears. Those helped. Serious fluctuation of emotions and moods today!! Think I have settled on this one though. Oh, and I solved the problem of no sunshine: I found my old necklace with a sun pendant. Wearing it = constant sunshine =)

So, the Grahamstown slang, as promised.

You have to be careful of your word choice here because there are a few words that mean more than what we are used to. Observe:

• Naps: not considered as the exercise i performed before lunch. Naps at Rhodes refer to something more uh, devious??..sinister??..i really don't want to say sexual although that's what it is. Ah!! Journalistic skill, come on. It's sexual. It means that you are going to some body's res to have a little booty call. We have afternoon naps, morning naps and then just plain anytime naps. I suppose it's a nice euphemism for "the nasty" isn't it??
• Lunge:Ah, to lunge. Not to jump quickly or move in a decisive manner, noooo. Nothing like that, although almost the same. Same same, just different ;). Ok, so, people say "I pulled in to kiss her/him/it!" We say "I lunged him/her/it!" Not necessarily a bad word, but you don't wanna be lunged by that tall creepy guy who tried to get with EVERYONE and succeeded with NO ONE at Friars on Saturday night. The guy you've been eyeing for weeks lunging you is, however, a very good thing!
• Mare: To drink. To party. To get sloshed. To kuier, pola, puza, celebrate. You understand. This happens on Cougar Mondays(will discuss this in a minute), Tipsy/2 for 1 Tuesdays, Wacky Wednesdays, Thirsty Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Ample opportunity to mare. Also,
• get mared: to get drunk.
  (good god we don't sound like we are a university with very high moral values in its students, do we??)
• Seal Clubbing: the act of hunting first years in order to have naps or lunge them. Mostly a male sport. We will get to the females now.
• Cougar Monday: House of Pirates (a local watering hole) has Cougar Mondays. Its the ladies night. And we (not me) take advantage of this. We are allowed to pick on those yummy school boys or (for the non-first year girls) those naive first years.
• BP run: missioning down to BP (petrol station/cafe) to stock up on neccessary items. Usually food.
• Mission: to go somewhere. To depart from something towards another thing. "Let's mission down the hill to Steers."

Right now though I have to mission to supper as my tummy is not happy with its current empty situation. I know I'll think of more slang as soon as i hit "Post" so expect another tutorial!!

Ciao =)

Well...

Hangovers suck.


I had an amazing night last night except for the fact that my FAVOURITE shoe in creation broke. Very very very bleak about that, but hey, they served me well while they still could. They're just soooo beautiful :'( ok ok suck it up!! I'll live..


Went to a res party last night and the free punch (funch) was absolutely disgusting. It tasted like cold Med-Lemon. They tried to warn us with a sign on the bucket that said, "Warning!! This is quantity over quality!!" We were warned, but do you think that stopped us?? Heck no! The result? Me sleeping til lunch waking up at regular intervals to gag and then eating only half my lunch even though I was starving. Coming back to res, Skyping for 20 minutes telling my boyfriend how absolutely shit i felt and how the only thing that would fix me would probably be a day long cuddle with him! Then i slept 'til 4.. xD!! I love being lazy! Feeling human again, but I will not be going out tonight due to a severe lack of funding.

So, about this boyfriend of mine.. He is probably the most amazing person to ever walk into my life..for once this doesn't sound like an exaggeration. His name is Jarrod (I would say his surname as I often catch myself doodling it next to my name, but I don't know how many of you will take a slight fancy to stalking him..hmmmmmm). We met at a party at the end of last year and from the moment he walked in, we could only stare at each other. Sitting on opposite sides of the table gazing at each other through the smoke, not knowing each other's names yet and not caring, just staring.

Now, you know that little butterfly thrill feeling you get in your tummy when someone you like/want/find attractive stares at you? Well, my butterflies were high on crack and I think they were drunk too. They might have been doing a rain dance along with that as well, but that's debatable. They were going bonkers and I'd never felt like that before.

Eventually the guys decided to go to the shop and I tagged along with my friend. Then he introduced himself to me. And gave me 3 rand. I didn't have enough money on me! >slightly embarrassed<

Him and me at the First Year picnic in the botanical gardens

Long story short? We taled the whole night and didn't stop chatting for anything. He didn't make the first move, but I'm heck glad that I did. He walked me home that night and I remember thinking how easy it felt. I had never been that forward in my life before but I wasn't about to let this amazing guy walk out without me. We took our time and only started dating at the end of January and I can honestly say that I haven't been happier. Nobody has ever (and will never) treat me the way he does. And I know he's going to read this so I love you sweety! I only have to wait 11 more days to see his handsome face. The days can't move fast enough. He lives an hour away from here and 2 hours away from my hometown, Somerset East, so I do see him often compared to what some of my friends are going through, but I still miss him like a res student misses non-rubberised meat and mince that doesn't make your tummy hate you. Ie.: ALOT!! (Did I mention how much i miss my mom's cooking??)

This all sounds so clichéd, but that's fine with me. If my happiness is a cliché, then so be it. He shall be my cliché and I shall be his and we shall be happily clichéd.

Just look at that face!!

Ok, so anyway. Now that I'm grinning like an idiot behind my computer screen, I've just realised that this is my last weekend in Grahamstown this term. It's weird how comfortable I've become. I thought I'd never get used to it. As great as it will be to go home and have all those comforts I don't have here, I will be happy to return. Like I said before, there is no place like this one. Hmm, just thinking that this perspective might have changed a bit after the holidays. Think I'm REALLY going to enjoy my holidays, the tiny 10 days that I do have.

I've so far resisted using too much Grahamstown slang/lingo, but its sooo difficult so I think I'm going to do a little tutorial on the G-town language in my next post.


Thought for the day: Do you love me because I'm beautiful or am I beautiful because you love me?


Think hard..





Sweet, chocolate freedom!!

MY FIRST HISTORY ESSAY IS BEHIND ME!!


Didn't think that history would suck this much. I loved it at school, but university is a completely different kettle of smelly fish! Definitely going to drop that subject the end of this semester or the next one.. What do I take in its place though?? Another thing to think about!! My brain is fried i tell you.
So much is different here though. Not a bad thing, but just a thing.
My high school which, unfortunately for me, is situated in a very Afrikaans town where you will suffer death-by-dirty-looks if you ever had to roam around barefoot, a fat peace sign painted onto your shirt, with your culturally diverse group of friends and a Black Label/cigarette in your hand. That ish is not done there. But I've done it and I don't care what the tannies and ooms thought. This is one of the reasons why I love Rhodes so much. Whoever you are is who you are free to be here.


During O-week, we had the race issue shoved down our throats and it struck me how we all say that we aren't racists or judgemental but I caught myself several times thinking or acting like the person I don't want to be. My friend Steph moved to America when she was very young and came back here to study. The area she lived in had none of this nonsense we go through and think of as normal. We were having a house discussion about it during O-week and she burst into tears and at that point I realised how behind our thought patterns are. Rhodes is slowly reversing my thought patterns and I can see it reversing other people's thought patterns too.


There's one problem with Rhodes though and that is that my best friend in this entire world is not here with me. She needs to be here. Nadine and I met in grade 9 and have been inseperable since, despite living half an hour away from each other. She now studies in PE and I miss her something vicious!
 

We've been through everything together and could probably write each others life stories. She's the ying to my yang and no guy could ever take her place (not even the amazing boyfriend that i have, will get to him later)!! She is my soul mate this one. The drunk times, the random times, the sad times, the crazy times, the hanging times, the chilled times and the totally frikken insane times. We have them all and we have them documented!!

passing out...

 One day we are going to be sitting on her stoep or my stoep when we are old and wrinkly and toatlly spent and talk about the AMAZING lives we've lead together because her and I belive something very strongly; that life is here for us to make the most of and flip we are going to do just that!!



why oh why is the vino always gone!!



...drunk on her 18th



Think I'm going to phone her later. Feeling rather heartsore now.