Fair Liberator

Munchkin Land

2007-08-03T17:15:00.001+03:00

My journ group, Bloomers Productions, is in the process of producing a
24-minute documentary about Kuyasa School for Special Needs Children.
The school has about 127 kids with various special needs, including
autism, multiple sclerosis, and down syndrome, among others. We've
spent the past two days out at the school, and its been incredible!!
The kids are so precious, wow. It was very sweet, yesterday two little
boys ran and tackle-hugged us, hehe. Today, there were about 6 or 7
kids that came up to hug Sarah, Thami and myself, and the boys were
fighting over who got to hold my hand. I had one child holding each
hand and another girl hugging me as we were walking along, and another
little boy came up, smacked one of the kids who was holding my hand,
and then he took my hand and kept walking!! Shocking, but quite cute.
As we were leaving about 5 or 6 of these little ones accosted
me...they all latched onto me at once, shouting "goodbye!! goodbye!!"
and I had so many kids hugging me at once, that I couldn't walk!!
Thami and Sarah had gone ahead, not noticing, and they had to come
back and find me, haha. It was so sweet. I said to Sarah "I think my
uterus just skipped a beat". Sweet babies...my heart just melts over
them!! :)

We also had a bit of an adventure when Thabisa, a girl with down
syndrome, tried to show us where she lived - she's one of the kids
we're focusing on for the doccie, so we needed to go meet her mum. We
were walking along, following Thabisa, and after we'd walked 2 or 3
kilometres I started to feel concerned about distance. Thabisa wasn't
helpful - not only was the down syndrome a problem, but Thami's Xhosa
is rusty so there was also a language barrier, and no matter which
direction we pointed, asking "this way?", Thabisa would nod her head
to say yes. Finally I phoned the lovely Wends to pick us up and take
us back to my car, and Thabisa managed to guide us to her house. I've
been to the township several times before, but this was only my second
time in a home there, and it breaks my heart to see the way people
live. It was small, dirty, cold, and the stench of paraffin was
overwhelming. I don't know how they keep from freezing to death on
these cold winter nights. Our government is shocking and needs to do
something about this!!

We had a few funny moments on our stroll through the township,
however. While walking down one dirt road alley between rows of
makeshift houses, someone shouted something in Xhosa. Thami
translated: "It's white people, come look!!" haha. Another woman
looked me up and down and said something in Xhosa - Thami laughed and
told us she'd said "eish, aren't these women cold?" haha

I went to a braai last night to bid farewell to my beloved 'brother',
Dean. We've been friends since my first year at Rhodes...we've had
loads of fun together, and on many occasions he has taken VERY good
care of me and been a great, protective big brother. I shall miss you
muchly, my dear friend, and I can't wait to see what awesome things
you accomplish with your life. :)

I think Cheron and I have some mischief to get up to, somewhere...cheerios. :)

Solitude

2007-07-13T10:51:00.000+03:00

How happy he, who free from care
The rage of courts, and noise of towns;
Contented breaths his native air,
In his own grounds.

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.

Blest! who can unconcern'dly find
Hours, days, and years slide swift away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,

Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mix'd; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please,
With meditation.

Thus let me live, unheard, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me dye;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lye.

- Alexander Pope

Gravity

2007-07-08T18:54:00.001+03:00

Festival is over, and I am SO glad. I feel completely and totally drained, on every level...I am physically, spiritually, and emotionally exhausted.

Now, I have a holiday. In theory, anyway. I'm moving into Wendy's house on Tuesday, and I'll be there for nearly three weeks, housesitting while she's in Manila at World Conference (lucky bug). I'm really looking forward to living by myself for a bit. :) It will be peaceful.

When John Mayer has said it first, and said it best, there's no reason for anyone to say more...

Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bring me down

I'll never know what makes this man
With all the love that his heart can stand
Dream of ways to throw it all away

Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bring me down

Twice as much ain't twice as good
And can't sustain like one-half could
It's wanting more that's gonna send me to my knees

Gravity, stay the hell away from me
Gravity has taken better men than me
Now how can that be?

Just keep me where the light is
Keep me where the light is

Whatnow?

2007-07-01T00:36:00.000+03:00

Graeme and Rich are weird. They think Isabel Jones is sexy.

If this is the standard, no wonder so many attractive women in the world are single!!

CUE-TV has begun, and so has the work. We're doing a daily Breakfast Show to cover all the Festival Happenings, and our work is being broadcast online and on SABC Africa. Paul made me Day Editor and Director of the show. I'm doing a lot of Producer stuff, liasing with bosses and stuff. It's a lot of work, and stressful, but I'm REALLY glad that I don't have to traipse around town with a camera on my shoulder. I have to be at work at 5AM every morning, because the show runs from 7-9, but I get off after my 14h30 meeting so it's not too terrible. The film crews have to be here until like 2AM...I'd rather get up early and know when my day ends, than to stay up late.

My lovely friend Thrishni is here!! Trishi and I got up to MUCH mischief when we worked at Children's Summit together, and I love her muchly. We've been having lots of fun the past few days. She presents a current affairs show on Lotus FM, a KZN-based SABC radio station.

She is a lovely friend, this one...one of those friends-for-life sort of people. We've been out to dinner twice, went to see Shrek3 (unimpressive), rented loads of DVDs, and roamed the Village Green (the Festival flea market) for a couple hours. Next? Who knows. :)

My mommy and daddy are coming on Thursday. yay. :) Haven't seen them since January. Hi guys.

You know, my brain is on an entirely other level right now. I'm so sick...I've got a cold that I just can't kick, and my voice is doing this weird pseudo-Sophia-Loren, I've-been-smoking-for-20-years act. Don't you like my sexy new voice? Very phlegmy, darling.

As you can see, my thoughts are quite random. Perhaps I should quit while I'm behind. It's time for me to go pretend like I actually know what I'm doing.

Sophia

My Ruby Slippers

2007-06-18T09:05:00.000+03:00

These would be my new red shoes. I bought them on sale while I was in East London (and soon thereafter arrived at the mildly disturbing realisation that all my East London purchases were red - red shoes, a red beaded necklace, and bright red streaks in my hair, pics of which are to follow). I've been searching for the perfect pair of red shoes for quite some time (over a year), and when I put these on, I knew I'd found the right ones. I'm not one to buy anything with snakeskin, or animal print (except ostrich skin leather handbags!!), but I really liked these shoes and somehow I thought the snakeskin pattern worked. at 8.5cm (3.3 inches), they are definitely the highest "high heels" I own and, after wearing them to church yesterday, a few people have dubbed them my "Devil Wears Prada Power Heels" - no complaints from me!! I just needed a pair of red shoes...I'm a funky sort of person, and I enjoy expressing my personality through my clothes, and in that sense a pair of really stunning red shoes was a notable absence in my wardrobe. So I'm quite pleased with my new purchase. :) Surprisingly enough, they're actually quite comfortable..I have a couple pairs of pointy-toed heels and I normally find them a bit squishy, but I wore these shoes all day yesterday, even kept them on when I drove 2 hours from East London to Grahamstown, and my feet weren't at all sore by the end of the evening. Happiness and joy. :)

The weekend in East London was...hectic. I went for a women's conference, called Radiance. It was, emotionally speaking, a very taxing weekend, but very good and, in a lot of ways, encouraging. Props to His People East London for organising it. :)

And of course, it's always nice to go to Port Elizabeth or East London, because I get to eat Asian food!! (of which Grahamstown is pitifully deprived) You must know what a happy duck I'll be when I'm living in Edinburgh, what with a Chinese, Thai, and/or Indian restaurant on every corner. Yipee!! :)

I'm enjoying being on holiday. I needed the Jenny Time more desperately than I'd realised. It's nice to just be alone with myself, and with God. To have a break from the world for a while. I'm dreading Festival next week - it's going to be such madness. :(

That's all from me for the moment. Love and cuddles. :)

The JennyBean

The Randomness of Me

2007-06-12T20:09:00.001+03:00

The Randomness of Me

Well, it's nearly over, this nightmare called academia. The exam wasn't so bad, the 4 hours flew by, because I was typing so furiously!! The minimum word count was 3000, and I wrote around 4600, and none of it was waffling. It went well...at least I think it did. I'm quite sure I'll pass...I'll be extremely surprised if I didn't, anyway, because I worked very hard and knew all of the theory, and I think I wrote a good essay. Not really up to me, though. Ahhh, all I want for the course is a pass, even if it's only 2 or 3 points above the fail mark - I don't need to excell in this instance, just survive long enough to take my diploma and run as far away from this place as possible!!

And now? Well, now comes the fun bit. The lazy bit. The bit where I can do whatever I want, because I don't have to work. :) I rented three movies yesterday - American History X (I LOVE that movie!!), Head Over Heels (we all need a silly comedic chick-flick every now and then), and something I've been wanting to see for a while - Saturday Night Fever. It wasn't what I expected it to be, had a few too many touches of A Clockwork Orange for my taste, but as per usual John Travolta is amazing. Here's a little-known fact about the JennyBean: she harbours a secret love for disco. :) I wish I could dance like that!! :)

Today I rented a few more: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, The Lake House (the Sandra-Bullock fest was not intentional), Equilibrium, and The Guardian. There's method to my movie-renting madness, by the way...there's a weekday special at my DVD place where you can get three older titles for the price of two, and I also had a free movie waiting for me (one free movie in every ten).

First on my list was a bubble bath!! I don't have a tub at my house - VERY sad about that thing - so I asked my friend if I could come to her house and have a soak with half a bottle of bubble-bath and an avocado face mask and a book and everything. :) Twas a very happy thing for me, and a much needed de-stress.

Yes, that's right, I read!! I won't be glued to the TV for my entire holiday. Besides, I looked through the ENTIRE DVD shop today, and I've either seen everything, or don't want to, so these four movies I just rented will be the last for a while. I haven't been able to read for pleasure since the end of 2003!!, and I've got a list of stack of books waiting for me. On the menu for this particular holiday are Sula (by Toni Morrison), To Kill A Mockingbird (by Harper Lee), and Watership Down, if I can find a copy. I've read Mockingbird before, but years ago and even though I loved it, I don't think I understood all the political implications.

Inspired by Ralph's current G-chat status, I feel the urge to give you guys a quick vocabulary lesson in common phrases used by my beloved spiritual family at His People Grahamstown:

1. cost - like [outdated] Americans would say "shucks" - for example, "oh cost, I burned the toast" - "cost, I'm late". I blame Ella and Neels for this one. ;)
2. sho - an expression of awe where no proper word will do - "sho, my brother, that's amazing!!" Think of it like "whew". :)
3. hectic - not hectic as in "I have a hectic schedule". Hectic means...oh wow, how to explain...hectic is like when something is REALLY exciting, or REALLY awful, or just REALLY...something. :)
4. powerful - This phrase owes all its glory to John Walters, I think. I suppose its similar in definition to "hectic". Imagine someone has just told you a hectic story...at the end, you'll say solemnly, "powerful", an shake your head meaningfully. hehe
5. do that thing! - you've just shared a particularly idealistic story, and someone says "do that thing!" or...I don't know. It's a way of saying "go for it".

I am, indeed, guilty of using all of these, and others (I'm sure Kevin could add a few). Like when Ella (my former housemate) wants you to make her a cup of tea, and she sees that you've just made some for yourself, and she'll look at the tea and look at you with a gleam in her eye and say "is that tea?" hehe ;) I love you, EllaBella!!

I was thinking of something the other day that I want to put on my blog, so here it is: a tribute to all my brothers. My spiritual ones, I mean. It's so wonderful to have a group of guy-friends who know how to treat women with respect, and who do it fearlessly in a world that tells them to do otherwise. It's great to have guys like that who treat you like you're special, and make you feel loved and beautiful and appreciated, but feel secure in the knowledge that it's brotherly love, and that they're not trying to get a pay-off from it. Thank you, guys, for being truly Godly men who appreciate Godly women, instead of getting caught up in this world's definition of what men and women are supposed to behave like. You are few, and you are mighty, and you are muchly loved. What would I do without you? What would any of us do without you? So here's a HUGE thank-you, a show of respect, for my brothers: Goldie, Danie, Neels, Flanners, Dean J, Doug, Dylan, Euan, Fifi, Frans, all the James and Johns!!, Joy, Kevin, Lester, Tendai, Gareth, Marc, Ralph, Ryan (both Brear and Rainer!!), Sean, Shungu, Steve, Theo, Tony, and all the others I'm sure I've forgotten to list here. :)

And with that, I bid you farewell, a DVD awaits. :)

Madame JennyBean

Last Exam Ever

2007-06-10T18:20:00.001+03:00

Tomorrow morning, I will write my last exam ever. It's a four hour, open book essay question exam, to be written in the Africa Media Matrix computer lab. The AMM is the Rhodes University School of Journalism, also known as my second home...

I'm VERY stressed about this exam. I've been working very hard, every day for the past 11 days, and I feel like I know the theory. But I'm scared I'm going to get there and the question is just going to blow me out of the water and I won't know how to answer it. I've got a LOT riding on this exam, I really need to do well. And I'm terrified. BLAH!!

I just need to get through the next 20 hours of my life. Just 20 hours. Then I can check out for a while. Sleep, read something OTHER than academic discourse, rent a stack of movies and just veg out for a couple days because I've bloody well earned it.

I only have to deal with my life for 20 more hours...I can do this, I can do this...

Lost

2007-06-09T20:23:00.001+03:00

I've figured it out!! I've figured out what's happening on Lost!!

Well, you know how these people - the survivors - have been stranded, and they are stuck on this mesmerising (yes, the European spelling, NOT the bloody American one!!) island, and they just don't know what's going on. Then there are these people - the Others - who seem to run the island, and they know EXACTLY what's going on, but they refuse to tell any of the survivors, and it's infuriating...

Well, guess what people, it's all metaphysical, intertextual, bla bla bla. In actual fact, WE are the "survivors", and the people who write the show are the "Others", and they know what's going on (at least I hope they do or we're in for a very weak ending) but they refuse to give us any satisfaction whatsoever!! No closure, no information, nada!! They just keep on doing more confusing things, and watching us get in more and more of a twist because we can't figure out what's going on, but we're stuck because we just can't stop watching!!

Lost - the show I love to hate.

I hope the people who write this thing know what's going on, because they are building up SO much suspense that it's going to be pretty flipping hard to give us a big enough payoff so that the ending isn't a complete letdown. At least Heroes had the decency to wrap things up at the end of the season.

Blah!!...

3x5

2007-06-04T21:43:00.001+03:00

I'm writing you to catch you up on places I've been
You held this letter probably got excited,
But there's nothing else inside it

Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it
When I'm in the mood
To lose my way
With words

Today skies are painted colours of a cowboy's cliche
And strange how clouds that look like mountains
In the sky are next to mountains anyway

Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it
When I'm in the mood
To lose my way but let me say

You should have seen that sunrise
With your own eyes
It brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
No more 3x5's

Guess you had to be there
Guess you had to be with me
Today I finally overcame
Tryin' to fit the world inside a picture frame
Maybe I will tell you all about it
When I'm in the mood
To lose my way but let me say

You should have seen that sunrise
With your own eyes
It brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
No more 3x5's
Just no more 3x5's

* * * * * * * *

I was listening to this song today. It's one of my favourites by John Mayer (although, let's face it, I love everything he sings). But I think I have a soft spot for this particular song, because I've got a 'history' with it, so to speak.

When I was first driving to Rhodes University, in February 2004, headed to orientation week and a completely scary, unknown world, John Mayer was in the car with me the whole way there. It was near the end of the 6 hour trip, and 3x5 was playing, and it just so happened that we were in the most beautiful part of the drive..the outskirts of Grahamstown, with rolling hills and gorgeous landscapes, and everything was the most indescribable shade of green. And that was exactly it - everything was indescribable in its beauty, and it fit perfectly with the message of 3x5: you can't capture real beauty in a picture frame. I remember this one part where John has a piano solo during the song, and the music kind of swells, and it coincided with the exact moment I drove around a bend on the mountain road, and as I came round that bend I could see this huge expanse of beautiful mountains, carrying on for as far as my eyes could see. The music fit the moment so well, it felt orchestrated. I felt so lucky that I was going to be living in such a beautiful place, that I had found this university nestled between sweeping mountains and the Indian Ocean. Twas a great moment. :)

I've been thinking about when I first came to Rhodes. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into, and I was completely unprepared. It's weird, I didn't feel nervous about leaving home until the night before I actually did...suddenly I realised, whoa this phase is over baby, from tomorrow you don't live here anymore!! "You can't come home again"...it's SO true. Home is great, it's nice to see family and eat decent food again, but really it's never the same again, is it?

But you know something, I don't think that's only the case with leaving your childhood home. I think the concept of "home" is actually a very fluid one. Now, 4 years later, Grahamstown is my home. As much of a home as my childhood home was, with as close a family. But I'm leaving it soon, and I can never come back again. It will never be the same. Something will be missing, and I'll never be able to put my finger on it. I'll be going to Edinburgh, and that will become my new home. Then I'll leave that place, and move on to another home, and Edinburgh will be one more home I'll never be able to return to. It's weird, like you can go home and hang out with old friends in the same old coffee shops, and its all so familiar, but at the same time its so violently not-the-same, and you wonder if you've stepped into a parallel universe.

Maybe it's because we weren't meant to get too comfortable on Earth, in this life. :)

Do I have any regrets, from my time here? A few. Maybe a lot, I'm not really sure. I'm sad about the way a few of my friendships have turned out. I'm sad I didn't stay in res another year - but generally, that regret is fleeting. :) Ahhh, you know what I'm really sad about? I never got to share this home of mine with anyone from my "other life"...none of my friends from Lesotho, or the states. I wish I could have had that...for Todd to come for a weekend, or Kevin, or Jill. Marc. Tiffany. Rachel. Anyone, really...I just would have liked to see my lives converge at some stage, for my older friends to meet my newer ones. But alas!! Twas not on the cards.

Just cast away, I'm lost at sea, I'm alone, no one here but me...rescue me before I fall...I'll send an SOS to the world...I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle...

John Mayer makes me peaceful.

Peace out. :)

JennyBean

I Am A Beautiful And Unique Snowflake

2007-05-22T10:46:00.001+03:00

Take that, Tyler Durden.

Actually, the point of my title is not another shameless plug for Edward Norton (well, maybe just a little bit)...but to inform you of the latest news in JennyLand: IT'S SNOWING IN GRAHAMSTOWN!!

Or it was, anyway...yesterday it snowed. It didn't stick obviously, we ARE in Africa after all, but it snowed nonetheless. Sarah said her car's outside temp thermometer (I want a smart car!!) said it was around 3C outside. I have no idea what that is in Fahrenheit, but it can't be warm. This weather makes me excited for Scotland. :)

I have the flu so I spent most of yesterday in my nice warm bed, listening to the rain in the afternoon, then watching the snow in the evening, and dosing myself with cough syrup and Vitamin drinks. I need my mommy. :(

Val McLelland came to visit our church this weekend. She is a prophetess based in Johannesburg. She last visited us in 2005. It's great to see her minister to people, God's work in her life is truly phenomenal, and its so exciting to see His hand so tangibly working in people's lives. Exciting stuff!!

The countdown continues!! 5 months 11 days until I'm finished with varsity forever. I can almost taste the sweetness that comes from a LACK of academia. ;)

The Zimbabwe doccie went well. Bloomers was the first group to finish at 18h30 on Saturday, once again proving that we aren't weaker for being the only all-girl group. A national news magazine show, Carte Blanche, is interested in broadcasting our piece, so we're sending it in to them and we'll see if it happens or not, they have to see it first. It's all quite exciting though. :)

I'm afraid my fingers are starting to freeze so the typing must end, and I must go get ready for the day.

I'm turning 22 one week from today. eep!! Now I really have to be a grown-up, hehe.

Cheerios, kiddies.

12 out of 18

2007-05-17T07:01:00.000+03:00

There are a handful of people in the world whose taste I trust implicitly. For instance, if Justin says I'll like I certain band, I'll listen to it, because he's usually right. When Kevin says I'll like some song or movie, I'll go out and find it, because so far, he's never let me down.

It is in this spirit that I sought out the Primal Fear DVD last night, after Kevin gave me an irresistable recommendation during a discussion about Edward Norton. I wasn't disappointed...indeed, I've yet to be disappointed by any of Norton's work. He's amazing!! If you've yet to see Primal Fear, what are you waiting for? Don't sit there reading my blog, go!! Go to Blockbuster and rent it!!

I looked up Norton's filmography at IMDB and was surprised to find that I've actually seen 12 out of his 18 feature films. Maybe its a subliminal thing, hehe. But really, he's never let me down, such an amazing artist. But moving on...

I've been wrapped up in my documentary for the past several weeks. Bloomers Productions has been producing a short piece about the intimidation of Zimbabwean students at Rhodes University. Basically, the intimidation of anyone Zimbabwean who speaks out against Robert Mugabe. It's been quite a ride, finishing off this piece, and now comes the crunch time where we're rushing to get everything edited and packaged by Monday. eep!!

So here I sit, in my tiny editing suite, which I'm beginning to view as a jail cell with broadband...it's about 6x8 with no windows or aircon. Heaven help us. 5 months until I'm free of this sick institution called tertiary education.

Can you tell I don't actually have anything of value to say?

Oh wait, yes I do.

GO WATCH PRIMAL FEAR, you nana.

Springfield

2007-05-03T09:00:00.000+03:00

Sometimes I miss Springfield.

I look at pictures from James River, and I chat to old friends and family members who live there. I remember certain fun things, like crazy stuff that happened at KHS, or joyriding with Jamie, or loitering around Super WalMart. Fast Asian Food and bad country music on the radio. My grandparents nearby, my cousins too. The same youth pastor I've known since I was 11.

It seems so easy, but I know its not. I know I couldn't live there again. The same Springfield isn't there anymore. America holds nothing for me, least of all Springfield.

Nostalgic for something that doesn't really exist. Maybe I just want to get out of here.

Starting Over

2007-04-30T11:02:00.000+03:00

Look at your face, it doesn’t shine the way it used to
Look at your eyes, they don’t sparkle anymore
Look what you’ve done, you’ve ruined it for everyone
Who told you that you had to lose your innocence

(I can begin)
I, I’m starting over
(Again)
I, I’m starting over

Now tell me how, I get back to my childhood
I used to think it was so naive, I was so naive

Look what I’ve done
I’ve ruined it for everyone
I should have held on harder to my innocence

It’s never too late
It’s never too late for starting over

Reclaim your innocence, start over
Reclaim your innocence, reclaim your innocence
Start over, start over

Look at your face, it doesn’t shine the way it used to

- Audio Adrenaline

Brilliant News

2007-04-15T05:25:00.000+02:00

I have fantastic, ohsovery exciting news!!

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy DID get married!!

One is never quite sure until right at the end of the book, I feel. :)

Ta...

Dr. Phil

2007-04-11T07:06:00.000+02:00

I have a theory about Dr. Phil...

I think people watch Dr. Phil so that they can get their voyeuristic fix of other people's problems (and laugh, because people get themselves into such stupid messes), without the pitfall of having to watch the embarassing white trash one finds on such shows as Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake.

Its no different. Dr. Phil just has a cleaner look and a classier host. :)

hahaha...

My Happy Feet

2007-04-11T07:01:00.000+02:00

My two housemates have gone away for the Easter holiday, leaving me with the house to myself for 4 days and nights, and I am THRIVING. I've decided these are a few of my favourite perks about living alone:

I can sing in the shower. Loudly.

I can leave the bathroom door open while I shower, so I can hear the music from my bedroom.

I can sleep in my underwear.

Heck, I can walk around the house in my underwear!! Fix breakfast!! Make a cup of tea!!

I can take possession of the lounge for an impromptu DVD viewing anytime I please, and watch whatever channel I want.

I can play any music I want, as loud as I like!!

I'm the only one using the crockery and cutlery, so if the dishes pile up in the sink, there's nobody to blame but me!!

I can walk around the house with a swamp-thing-green beauty mask smeared across my face, and nobody looks at me funny.

I can dance in the kitchen while I cook, because of course I can clearly hear the great music blasting from my room upstairs. And because nobody is watching, I'm the best dancer in the world. :)

I can paint my toenails anywhere I want without ppl watching me.

I can watch TV at 3AM when I can't sleep, and I'm not waking anyone else up.

I can wear my pajamas and bathrobe all day if I like.

I'm the Queen of my castle. :)

So far, Queendom suits me just fine. :) I love my digsmates, but I do miss living alone (I was by myself in this house for about 5 weeks before anyone else moved in). Maybe I can live alone when I go to Edinburgh.

I got back from Johannesburg a week ago yesterday, and what a relief it was. It was the week from hell. Don't get me wrong, it was a good experience - I learned a lot, made some good contacts, and some great friends (hi Thrishni!!), but it was such a long and painful week. Unbelievably disorganised, arrgh!! It was a good reminder of why I don't want to go into the mainstream media. I would die, working for national networks. *sigh* shake it off...

Oh something else great from Johannesburg: I went to Bruma Lake and bought a gorgeous black leather trenchcoat (see pic) for ridiculously cheap. Mwahahahaha. Animal rights activists, this is your cue...

So now I'm on holiday. Week one is coming to a close, and I have one more week. You know what that means!! 2 more months until I'm free of Media Studies FOREVER!! 5 months until TV is over!! And 7 MONTHS until I graduate from university!! Can you believe it? I can't. I never thought I'd survive four years at ANY tertiary institution, let alone one of such high quality as Rhodes University.

Here's another shocker...in just over 7 weeks, I'm turning 22. I'm trying to think of some fabulous way to celebrate...its my last birthday in Grahamstown, I've had a great party every year thus far, and I want to go out in style. Ideas, anyone? :)

I had a few friends over on Thursday and we rented Happy Feet. How FABULOUS is that movie!?!? Greatness!! I thrived, it was so great. I even watched it again this morning while I ate breakfast. :) I think I want the soundtrack. Boogiewonderland, baby!!

Those are all the pearls of *cough* wisdom that I have to offer for the moment. Back to doing nothing of any particular value. :)

The Dancing Queen

5th World Summit

2007-03-27T11:50:00.000+02:00

Allo allo kiddies. I'm still in Johannesburg..."why are you in Joburg?" you say? Well, let me tell you why...

Last Wednesday, during our morning Journ meeting, I was chosen to attend the 5th World Summit on Media and Children, previously held in Brazil, London, Australia, etc. I was to be put on the Highway Africa News Agency payroll, and they flew me up to JHB with a small contingent of journos, put me up in a hotel, provided me with a daily stipend for food, etc. My job? To film a short documentary-style piece about the conference, and to assist in ICASA-sponsored training to educate schoolchildren about print, television, and radio journalism. My carry-on luggage? A camera, tripod, sound equipment, a miniMac, flat plasma computer screen, keyboard and mouse.

I arrived early Thursday morning and we began work on Friday, which is when I found out that I was solely responsible for the 15 kids that wanted to learn about TV, because nobody thought to hire more than one TV journalist, while there are about 6 print writers. GLORY.

So I've basically been running around Sandton like a mad thing for the past almost-week, trying to keep my head on straight. I'm making great contacts though, ones that might be rather useful once I get to Scotland, so that's always a good thing. I'm REALLY looking forward to returning to Grahamstown on Thursday, though...I miss it muchly. :)

It's also been nice to catch up with friends in JHB who I haven't seen in a while, as I hardly ever get up to JHB. Then of course there are friends who say they want to see me but conveniently never call or sms while I'm here...but it shows you who your real friends are, I suppose.

I must make way for other desperate journalists who want to use the computers. Cheerios, munchkins...

"We represent the lollipop kid..."

Gravity

2007-03-14T01:26:00.000+02:00

Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bring me down

Oh I'll never know what makes this man
With all the love that his heart can stand
Dream of ways to throw it all away

Oh Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bring me down

Oh twice as much aint twice as good
And can't sustain like a one half could
It's wanting more
That's gonna send me to my knees

Oh gravity, stay the hell away from me
And gravity has taken better men than me (Now how can that be?)

Just keep me where the light is
Just keep me where the light is
Keep you all where the light is
Just keep us where the light is
Ohh.. where the light is

New Pics

2007-03-11T01:46:00.000+02:00

I'm so tired.

I posted new photos on my Flickr site, the link is at the top of my link list on the right-hand side of the screen. They are photos taken on the Mac in my edit suite...PhotoBooth + special effects + a group of overworked and underslept Television grad students = really weird pictures. Enjoy. Or be afraid. Whatever.

All my energy at the moment is going into keeping my head above water, so this post must end now.

Must sleep...

PS: I watched Dude, Where's My Car? last night. That is officially the most stupid movie ever made. Americans are weird.

New Deep

2007-03-10T03:35:00.000+02:00

I’m so alive, I’m so enlightened
I can barely survive a night in my mind
I’ve got a plan
I’m gonna find out just how boring I am
And have a good time

Cause ever since I tried
Trying not to find
Every little meaning in my life
It’s been fine, I’ve been cool
With my new golden rule

Numb is the new deep
Done with the old me
And talk is the same cheap it’s been

I’m a new man
I wear a new cologne and
You wouldn’t know me if your eyes were closed
I know what you’ll say,
“This won’t last longer than the rest of the day”
But you’re wrong this time, you’re wrong

Numb is the new deep
Done with the old me
I’m over the analyzing tonight

Stop trying to figure it out
Deep will only bring you down
You know, I used to be the back porch poet with a book of rhymes
Always open knowing all the time I’m probably
Never gonna find the perfect rhyme
For “heavier things”

- John Mayer

More Revelations...

2007-03-06T08:41:00.000+02:00

We were talking about something in church recently, and I thought I'd share...don't we love when I share? :)

We can't fall into the trap of religion, this is true. Being a Christian isn't about being religious, it's about having a relationship with God. Religion is all about rules, regulations, legalism, and a healthy dose of guilt...a relationship with God is about living a life that pleases God, because we love Him so much and realise that He is passionately in love with us.

However, so many Christians try to do it on their own. They don't feel that church is an integral part of their faith, so they profess to be Christians, but they prefer to sleep in on Sundays and they rarely, if ever, attend church.

This isn't the Christianity that Jesus Christ modelled for us. Yes its true, being a Christian in and of itself is between you and God, and other people can't make you a Christian...that's all about believing that Jesus is the Son of God, accepting that He died for you, and choosing to live a different lifestyle as a response to the sacrifices Jesus made for you. So the born again part is between you and God.

But if you want to grow as a Christian - which we HAVE been called to do - you can't do it by yourself. God never asked you to. We need discipleship and spiritual family. We need to be surrounded by people who have been Christians for longer than us, be under their mentorship so that we can learn and grow - Jesus modelled this through His relationship with His disciples. We are trained, and then we train the next generation, and so on...this is how the Kingdom is won. If we don't grow as Christians, our faith will become stagnant and eventually fizzle out. We MUST keep pressing in, we MUST keep growing, we can't ever give up because for as long as we live, we will NEVER know all their is to learn about God, so there is always more to learn and He is eager to reveal Himself to us!!

So we need discipleship. And we also need spiritual family. We need to get plugged into a church, serve the church, attend services to worship corporately and be fed by the sermon the minister delivers. Look at the examples of the major apostles in the New Testament. They weren't alone. They were part of churches. I once heard someone refer to church in the following way: "You don't attend church every week to remain a Christian. You go to church every week to get your marching orders." How will you know what God is doing in His church if you aren't attending regularly?

You guys, it's SO important to attend church regularly. If you would rather stay in bed on Sunday, aren't you saying that sleep is more important to you than God? That would be a violation of the "no gods before me" law...an idol is anything that becomes more important to us than God, be it sleep, money, music, romantic relationships, etc, and all idols are a big no-no for Christians.

Ask yourself, why don't I go to church? What are your motives for skipping that very important thing? It doesn't benefit the church for you to attend, it benefits YOU. Consider.

Onwards...

So I'm still recovering from my week of filming and editing. I slept until 10h30 on Saturday...SO unusual for me, and very inconvenient as I had loads of work to do. I had a social evening on Saturday night for the girls from my cell group. We had pizza and watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. :) This week I'm on studio crew for the magazine show we're broadcasting on Thursday. It should be streaming online, so I'll try organise the link for you guys so you can watch it if you like.

Its my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary on Thursday, how cool is that? Happy anniversary, ouma and oupa!! :) I love you guys. :)

One more thing before I sign off and get to work: my cousin Todd is officially the coolest guy I know. I'm so proud of him and excited for the amazing things that God is doing in his life. I can't say on this blog what he's up to, its TopSecret stuff, but lets just say he's blazing forth new paths and he's really pushing forward the Kingdom of God into the darker regions of the earth. Go Todd!! :)

My yoke awaits me, back to work...

PS: I changed my Current Music and Current Books info on the right. The Fratellis and Paulo Nutili are two fab Scottish artists I've discovered through the beloved Sarah Safa Sherry, and I've been thriving :) Mind Siege is a great book about worldview restoration, here's Barnes and Noble's blurb: "Two basic sources of reasoning determine the thoughts, ideas, beliefs, values, aims, morals, lifestyles, and activities of mankind—the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God. According to Tim LaHaye and David Noebel, life is mainly about the battle for your mind: whether you will live by man's wisdom, from the likes of Marx, Darwin, Freud, and Nietzsche, or God's wisdom and those who shared it, such as Moses, the prophets, Christ, and the apostles. Your choice will affect the way you live now and ultimately where you will spend eternity."

Blooming Marvelous, Darling

2007-03-02T01:44:00.000+02:00

I've spent the past week carrying movie cameras around town, and spending 15 hours a day in the edit suite, with 2-minute noodle and microwave popcorn for sustenance.

This is the result:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWJ72DnE1GQ

Courtesy of Bloomers Productions.

Enjoy. :)

Stand

2007-02-22T10:04:00.000+02:00

Here I am still waiting
For how long I don’t know
It’s a long way back from where I’ve been
But there’s no where else to go

So I’ll stand
With my face to the wind
And my back to the world
I’ll follow you
And I’ll go where you tell me to go
No I won’t be afraid
No I won’t be afraid

I feel your wind is moving
I’m not sure where its going
But I’ll let it carry me away
Cause I’m not staying in this place

And I won’t turn around…

- Kendall Payne

Wheel

2007-02-22T08:24:00.000+02:00

People have the right to fly
And will when it gets compromised
Their hearts say "Move along"
Their minds say "Gotcha heart,
Let's move it along"

And airports see it all the time
Where someone's last goodbye
Blends in with someone's sigh
Cause someone's coming home
In hand a single rose

And that's the way this wheel keeps working now
That's the way this wheel keeps working now
And I won't be the last, no I won't be the last,
To love her

You can't build a house of leaves
And live like it's an evergreen
It's just a season thing
It's just this thing that seasons do

And that's the way this wheel keeps working now
That's the way this wheel keeps working now
And you won't be the first, no you won't be the first
To love me

You can find me, if you ever want again
I'll be around the bend, I'll be around the bend
I'll be around, I'll be around

And if you never stop when you wave goodbye
You just might find if you give it time
You will wave hello again
You just might wave hello again

And that's the way this wheel keeps working now
That's the way this wheel keeps working now

You can't love too much, one part of it...

I believe that my life's gonna see the love I give return to me
I believe that my life's gonna see the love I give return to me
I believe that my life's gonna see the love I give return to me

- John Mayer

* * * * * * * *

My heart is in a weird place right now...

have you seen me lately?

2007-02-18T10:31:00.000+02:00

I’m listening to Coldplay right now…I love it so much it makes my heart ache. Do they qualify as artistic geniuses, do you think? Alongside, John Mayer, of course. Ahhh if only that man were Christian so I could marry him. :) (ja, like that's the reason I can't marry John Mayer)...

OK…I’m bracing myself, because I owe you guys one very serious update. Sorry I’ve been so lazy lately. I’ve had so much to say, but have felt so exhausted at the thought of actually sitting down and typing up a blog.

So I’m postgrad now. I met lots of first year students while I was doing O-week mission, and the typical reaction when I said I was in fourth year Journ, was shock and awe. It’s so weird to think that I’ve finished my BA. I don’t feel like I’ve worked enough to earn that, and now I’m doing an honours degree to boot? I never used to think I’d make it through university…my tolerance level for academia is too low. I find academics so pompous and proud, and it seems like they use knowledge as a weapon and a status symbol, instead of a privilege and an enriching experience. But I’ve made it through three years and I have 8 and a half VERY busy months left of my university career, and I have to say, for the most part, I’ve enjoyed myself here at Rhodes. :)

My time, for first semester at least, will be split between a theory course in Discourse Theory, and a practical course in Television Production. Second semester will be split between TV Prod (I’ll be making a 24-minute group documentary and a 12-minute individual documentary) and an Intensive Course (one year of another specialisation, like Design or New Media or Photography, crammed into the space of 2 months). I’m less than thrilled about the theory course, but I’m comforted by the assurance that it’s the last I’ll have to delve so deep into such rubbish. It’s all this post-modern stuff about race and representation, and how discourses are formed. I’m reading Foucault and Derrida and all those other pompous French philosophers. I suppose if you are a post-modernist you might enjoy it more than I am, but I don’t believe in multiplicity of truths, so the genius of it all is somewhat lost on me. TV has been interesting so far, I’ve been put into a crew with Sarah and Thabi and we’re calling ourselves Bloomers Productions. None of us are really sure why, we just liked the name. :) We’re filming a chase sequence this week to get back into the habit of filming and editing. There are only 13 of us in my TV class, so its very chilled, we can drink coffee and joke around during seminars. Oh that’s something else!!, used to be I’d have lectures for 45 minutes, and the occasional double lecture, but now I’ve got near-daily seminars from 9am-1pm, and all day Thursday!! Interesting stuff, but draining too…

O-week mission was good. For those of you who don’t know, during orientation week on Rhodes University campus, a large group of us from my church, His People, walk around campus, meeting first years, inviting them to church and telling them about God. I was so sick all week but I went out every day anyway, I had such a revelation of how these people are on the brink of life or death, and they can hate me if they want to but they need to know who God is and have a chance to have a relationship with Him. 52 people (I think) gave their lives to God between Monday and Friday, and on Sunday alone 50 more people were saved. It was a beautiful thing. :) I met some amazing people during O-week, and I’m really grateful for the experience. It stretched me a lot, physically (cos I was sick), emotionally (cos some people really get aggro with you for trying to tell them about Christianity), and spiritually (because I’ve never had to preach the Gospel like that and I really had to put my faith out there to reach people).

I’ve started a cell group this year. We had our first meeting on Thursday, and I had four girls attend. All seem keen to return next week, and there were two other girls who wanted to come but couldn’t make it (one was sick, one had a meeting), and another girl talked to me at church tonight and she wants to come this week. It’s exciting. :) The girls are really great and I’m looking forward to hanging out with them. We are mainly doing foundational stuff, because most of them are quite new Christians, but because my heart is so much for women’s ministry, I really want to also focus on what it means to be a Godly woman in today’s context. I’m also working in a new ministry group at church now, James handed over the Display Ministry to me, which means I’m in charge of everything-data-projector (ie: lyrics for worship songs, video announcements, PowerPoint sermon notes, etc) and organising teams to run the projector on a rotation.

I feel like this year is a season of responsibility. At the end of this year, I’ll begin to pursue the ministry God has called me to in Scotland, and I think God is going to be using this year to teach me about handling responsibility in a Biblical way. It’s intimidating, but mostly exciting. :)

God gave Euan a great revelation in the prayer meeting on Friday night, and I wanted to tell you guys about it. God gave Euan a picture…you know how when armies attack a fortress, they have a battering ram they use to break down the gates? Well, that’s how worship is. Worship is the battering ram that helps us break down the doors so we can enter into God’s presence. But the other thing about battering rams is that they don’t work if only one guy is using it…everyone gathers round and helps to power this battering ram. That is a representation of corporate worship. We’re a spiritual family, a unit, and we need to worship God in unity if we want to break through to new levels in the spirit. We aren’t lone soldiers…Christians are an army, a team, a body with many parts and a variety of purposes. We sing for an audience of One, but that doesn’t mean we are the only one performing. Think about that. :)

I found housemates, by the way. In the downstairs room is Rowen. He is a Christian guy, from Port Alfred. He works here in Grahamstown and he was commuting to work everyday so he wanted to find a place to live during the week. He is a car salesman at Toyota so he brings home all these sweet cars like the new RAV4, cos he gets to drive the demo cars home at night. In the other upstairs room, next to mine, is Zuze. She is from Kwa-Zulu Natal, and we were in Atherstone together in our first year. She came to my yoga class, haha. Anyways, the living arrangement seems to be working out well so far. We are all older and just want to get on with our work and do what we have to do, so we’re a rather quiet bunch, which I LOVE. We’re also all loners, we tend to keep to ourselves, but when we do hang out we get along well, which is great. It’s nice to have three independent people in one house, because it means I don’t always have people wanting to hang out with me, I can just have my privacy when I need it, which is often.

Alright, if I want to be in bed before midnight, I’d better go. I forgot about a page I need to write about Foucault, for my theory seminar tomorrow morning. I’ll try not to wait so long before blogging again. :) Behave thyselves, munchkins.

Aslan

2007-02-18T03:30:00.000+02:00

Don’t stop your crying on my account
A frightening lion, no doubt
He’s not safe no, he’s not safe
Are you tempted now to run away?
The King above all kings is coming down

But he won’t say the words you wish that he would
Oh he don’t do the deeds you know that he could
He won’t think the thoughts you think that he should
But He is good, He is good.

I know you’re thirsty the water is free
But I should warn you- it’ costs everything
Well, he’s not fair no, he’s not fair
When he fixes what’s beyond repair
And graces everyone that don’t deserve

But he won’t say the words you wish that he would
Oh he don’t do the deeds you know that he could
He won’t think the thoughts you think that he should
But He is good, He is good.

No-one knows him whom eyes never seen
No, I don’t know him but he knows me
He knows me. He knows me.

Lay down your layers, shed off your skin
But without his incision you can’t enter in
He cuts deep, yeah he cuts deep
When the risk is great and the talk is cheap
But never leaves a wounded one behind

But he won’t say the words you wish that he would
Oh he don’t do the deeds you know that he could
He won’t think the thoughts you think that he should
But He is good, He is good.

* * * * * * * *

I have much to say, but I can't bring myself to begin typing. :(

In Repair

2007-02-10T09:31:00.000+02:00

Too many shadows in my room
Too many hours in this midnight
Too many corners in my mind
So much to do to set my heart right
Oh it's taking so long
I could be wrong, I could be ready
Oh but if I take my heart's advice
I should assume it's still unsteady
I am in repair, I am in repair

Stood on the corner for a while
To wait for the wind to blow down on me
Hoping it takes with it my old ways
And brings some brand new look upon me
Oh it's taking so long
I could be wrong, I could be ready
Oh but if I take my heart's advice
I should assume it's still unsteady
I am in repair, I am in repair

And now I'm walking in a park
All of the birds they dance below me
Maybe when things turn green again
It will be good to say you know me

Oh it's taking so long
I could be wrong, I could be ready
Oh but if I take my heart's advice
I should assume it's still unready
Oh I'm never really ready, I'm never really ready
I'm in repair, I'm not together but I'm getting there
I'm in repair, I'm not together but I'm getting there

- John Mayer

How Neighbourly

2007-01-19T10:03:00.000+02:00

This hasn't been the easiest week of my life.

I've been trying to find people to move in with. I've found some now, but it was a rough process. People were calling me at all hours, asking about the empty rooms, and I gave everyone the same speech - telling them, as politely as possible, that if they moved into my house there was going to be no heavy drinking, no drugs, no smoking, no parties, and no sleep-over boyfriends. A lot of people didn't take that very well and wanted to know what was wrong with me...I mean of course, I'm a Rhodes student, so shouldn't I dedicate vast amounts of time to drunken revelry?

I finally found two people to move in. Rowen, a Christian guy from the next town, is moving into the downstairs bedroom. He works in Grahamstown and has been commuting everyday from this other town, so he wanted to find a place in Grahamstown to live during the week. A girl named Zuze is moving into the other upstairs bedroom; we get along quite well and we were in the same dorm in our first year, so I'm hoping this will be a good thing. She is coming over tomorrow night for a girls night so we can hang out a bit.

Rowen is nice and it's a relief to have a housemate, but its also kind of weird...I've been living alone in this house since the beginning of December, and I realised I actually really liked living alone. I can do what I want, I can choose when I want to be around people and when I want to be alone, I can cook what I want when I want to eat it, and I can play my music loudly or watch movies whenever I please. So I'm trying to get used to living with people again.

I really like my neighbours. The house I live in is part of a complex; there are 12 units, most of which are 1-bedroom or 2-bedroom, and my house is the only 3-bedroom. So there are lots of other people around and it's got quite a kief community feel. God really blessed me last night with that community...I was having a bit of a rough evening with lots going on in my head, so I decided to go for a drive to clear my head. When I came back home, Rowen said "Nikki from number 5 was just here looking for you". I was very confused but figured it had something to do with the wireless internet I've been organising for the complex. So I went to Flat 5 and knocked on Nikki's door, and she invited me in just to chat and have a cup of tea and hang out a bit. I had met her very briefly in December but had almost completely forgotten about her, yet she remembered my name and came looking for me just so we could chat. It turns out she's also a Christian. I really needed that, I'd been feeling a bit lonely. eep!!

So not much else is going on around here. I've just been chilling, watching Friends on my computer. I'm quite bored actually, and getting a bit antsy, but I've got some stuff I have to do this coming week so hopefully that will interrupt the boredom for a while.

I've got The Bear Necessities stuck in my head...

Cheerios.

Curly Sue

2007-01-12T09:21:00.000+02:00

I realised last night that my hair is getting really long!! Check it out:

August 2006

January 2007

It also appears that my hair is naturally curly/wavy...it wasn't like that before. yeah baby!!

That's my awesome new bedroom in the background of the January 2007 picture, by the way...I'll put up photos from the new house soon.

I'm not having a very good week. I got back to Grahamstown on Tuesday, and that was great, but on Wednesday morning I found out that the two girls I'm moving in with, decided not to return to university after all. So now I'm stuck trying to find two people to fill their rooms, which means I'm stuck living with people I don't know, and that is NOT a pleasant prospect. :(

Anyone want to move in with me? :)

Kenya Photos

2007-01-10T08:28:00.000+02:00

Hey everyone, go to my Flickr! page and check out my photos from Kenya. :)

I'm back in Grahamstown and it feels SO good to be home!! eep!!

Moi

2007-01-08T12:22:00.000+02:00

*TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey*
Name:	Jenny Lynn P........
Birthday:	May 29, 1985
Birthplace:	Los Angeles, California, USA
Current Location:	Grahamstown, South Africa
Eye Color:	Green/Hazel
Hair Color:	Dark brown
Height:	5"7
Right Handed or Left Handed:	Right handed
Your Heritage:	Dutch and German
The Shoes You Wore Today:	white sandals
Your Weakness:	popcorn
Your Fears:	being home alone at night (burglars!! eep!!), sharks (the day I watched Jaws was the same day I switched from baths to showers, hehe)
Your Perfect Pizza:	bacon, green pepper and onion
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:	finish my degree and get a job
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger:	probably hehe
Thoughts First Waking Up:	"nooooooo!! I want to go back to sleep!!"
Your Best Physical Feature:	Ummm. I don't know. Eyes maybe? I've been told my lips but that freaks me out a little...
Your Bedtime:	Whenever I'm tired, whether its 7PM or 3AM.
Your Most Missed Memory:	I'm not sure. I miss things for a while, but I get over it after a bit.
Pepsi or Coke:	Neither.
MacDonalds or Burger King:	Really neither, but if forced I'd choose McDonalds.
Single or Group Dates:	Both can be fun.
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:	Lipton PEACE ice tea
Chocolate or Vanilla:	depends what I'm eating. If its ice cream, its vanilla.
Cappuccino or Coffee:	Depends on my mood
Do you Smoke:	No
Do you Swear:	No
Do you Sing:	Only when nobody else is listening :)
Do you Shower Daily:	Usually
Have you Been in Love:	Don't think so
Do you want to go to College:	I'm already there
Do you want to get Married:	Yes
Do you belive in yourself:	Sometimes
Do you get Motion Sickness:	Yes
Do you think you are attractive:	Sometimes. On the occasional good day. hehe

Are you a Health Freak:	Not particularly
Do you get along with your Parents:	Most of the time
Do you like Thunderstorms:	Yes, especially African ones
Do you play an Instrument:	Yes, piano and guitar
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol:	No
In the past month have you Smoked:	No
In the past month have you been on Drugs:	No
In the past month have you gone on a Date:	Ummm I don't know how to answer this question
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:	Yep, just got back from one ten minutes ago
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos:	I've eaten a small bag of mini-oreos, does that count? :)
In the past month have you eaten Sushi:	No
In the past month have you been on Stage:	Yes, unfortunately...
In the past month have you been Dumped:	No
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping:	No
In the past month have you Stolen Anything:	No
Ever been Drunk:	No
Ever been called a Tease:	Not to my face
Ever been Beaten up:	No
Ever Shoplifted:	Not that I can remember
How do you want to Die:	In my sleep
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:	A journalist, a wife, a mom
What country would you most like to Visit:	I'd love to go to Israel
*In a Boy/Girl..*
Favourite Eye Color:	I don't mind too terribly much, but I am partial to green eyes
Favourite Hair Color:	It doesn't matter
Short or Long Hair:	Short
Height:	Taller than me, hehe
Weight:	Doesn't really matter
Best Clothing Style:	I don't care about a particular clothing style, but I like guys who take some effort in how they look...not that they dress up, but they mustn't be sloppy either
Number of Drugs I have taken:	Prescription or otherwise?
Number of CDs I own:	100+
Number of Piercings:	5 (2 in each ear, and my navel)
Number of Tattoos:	0
Number of things in my Past I Regret:	Far, far too many...
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

Kenya

2007-01-07T20:53:00.000+02:00

I've just had the most amazing week in Kenya. :)

I flew to Nairobi on December 30, and we moved into a resort called The Windsor. It was amazing, this big Victorian place that looked like a royal palace, with VERY luxurious rooms. I was in paradise. :) We celebrated the arrival of 2007 to the tune of a beautiful fireworks display over the Windsor's lake.

On New Years Day, we moved to decidedly less comfortable accomodation, at a conference centre outside of Nairobi. I had my first meeting with the MKs I would be taking care of, five fantastic kids named Mary, Lydia, Brailynn, Luke, and Daniel. I love those kids, they are so great. Our tribe name was The Lightning Tigers, and my chief name was Chief Sher Khan. They wanted to name me Chief Big Earrings but I said we needed to find a second choice, hehe. I won't go into everything that happened at the retreat, because it would mostly be boring for you, but suffice to say that I had a great time helping to take care of 30 elementary-aged MKs, and I caught up with old friends and made some really great new ones. :) Many late nights were spent the way that African MKs usually spend their nights at retreats: playing card games or spoons. I was quite sad to leave on Friday morning.

Friday was great, though. I went shopping at a Masai market in Nairobi and got some AWESOME stuff for dirt cheap. I ate the most amazing curry I have ever had in my life (I could have died happy right then), and I got to pet a live, adult cheetah!! There are three cheetahs at this animal park that have lived there since they were 2 weeks old, and they are so used to people that you can go inside and pet them and take pictures. So there I was, sitting next to this wild cat that could have killed me with one swipe of its paw, yet it was purring happily as I pet it. So great. :)

Watch this space; I'm in Pretoria at the moment, but I'll be flying back to Grahamstown on Tuesday and I'll post pictures from Kenya when I get home. Yay!! :)

And now, I shall leave you with an MK song, beloved by my kids, which will likely be stuck in my head for the next several months:

When I was a wee wee tot

They took me off my wee wee cot

They put me on my wee wee pot

To see if I could wee or not

Wee wee wee wee wee...

When they saw that I could not

They took me off my wee wee pot

They put me on my wee wee cot

And then I gave it all I got

Wee wee wee wee wee...

A Family Christmas

2006-12-25T20:50:00.000+02:00

Santa has been good to me this year. I got all 7 books of The Chronicles of Narnia, a Jamie Oliver cookbook, the new John Mayer and Kendall Payne CDs (respectively, of course), a handbag, goodies from The Body Shop, and a DVD player. The best bit of all, however, was when my beloved cousin Todd and my beautiful aunt Glenda came to visit for 3 days!!

Todd and I were VERY bored indeed, so we went to Ladybrand one morning for breakfast and to catch up...that's where the above photo was taken. We hadn't seen each other since January 2004, so it was great to hang out a bit and hear about his travels in Pakistan.

There was, however, a not-so-silver lining when, on the final night of their stay, we had a burglary. Someone crawled in through a window while we were all sleeping, crept into the lounge where Todd was sleeping on the couch, and stole his cellphone, camera, and some (but not all!?) of the money out of his wallet. Twas a very strange burglary indeed, and they didn't take anything else, though they had easy access to three laptop computers and an iPod without even disturbing anyone. Here's to fewer burglaries in 2007 - I've had at least 4 this year and I'm quite tired of it.

We had a very rainy sort of Christmas, which was disappointing as we usually spend Christmas Eve and Day by the pool (how great to be an African). But all in all I'd say its been a nice Christmas this year...I wish my sister and nephews could have been here though!!

Merry Christmas!!

2006: A Year In Review

2006-12-24T14:17:00.000+02:00

Events that changed my life:
1. Going to Scotland
2. My 21st birthday soirée
3. Working at Vuleka! in Durban
4. Having surgery
5. Realising that Mac does, in fact, kick PC butt
6. First semester in general

Things and people that/who made me infinitely happy:
1. My digsmates: Danie, Ella, Kath and Neels
2. My new digsmates: Elzita and Vene
3. Fiona, an amazing woman of God with a heart of gold and patience that would put most of the human race to shame
4. Being back in the TV studio and editing room again
5. Edinburgh, in general
6. Losing 10kg :)
7. The Trading Store

Occurrences that made me cry/vomit/have a hissy:
1. First semester in general
2. Friends moving away
3. Giving away Moccha
4. Gaining back a few of those kg :(
5. Stellenbosch

Stuff that sucked:
1. Potchefstroom
2. Having a laporoscopy and hysteroscopy
3. Children of Men
4. Stellenbosch
5. First semester
6. The hype surrounding George Bush
7. Coming thisclose to having pneumonia

Things that rocked my world:
1. Coldplay, John Mayer, Queen, and The Pixies
2. Facebook
3. Television 3
4. Writing my final English Literature exam ever, and knowing I was finally free of the Rhodes English Dept and its resident euro-snobbery!!
5. Getting accepted to Television 4
6. My new iPod Video :)
7. Getting all 10 seasons of Friends and holing up in my room to watch them

Repeat-worthy things for 2007:
1. Another year of growing in God
2. Going back to Scotland
3. Dinner parties with lovely friends
4. Random road trips to the beach

Mistakes I have learned from:
1. When God moves you or those you love, don't fight it, because it will always be the best thing for everyone.
2. I need to take more time to myself or I'll get burned out
3. Having petrol to put in my car at the end of the day is infinitely preferable to buying that embroidered skirt at Woolworths, even though the skirt does look better on me than the petrol.

Surgery

2006-12-15T16:53:00.000+02:00

This has been a very interesting few weeks.

I've moved into my new house, which is GREAT, I'm loving it so much. Its so refreshing to be in new surroundings.

I had a laporoscopy and a hysteroscopy on Tuesday Dec 12. Those are surgical procedures to look at the inside and outside of my uterus with a camera. I also had a DNC and a medicinal implant was put in my uterus, called a Mirena. The doctor found signs of early endometriosis, as well as peculiarities with my uterus lining and fallopian tubes, and there was an infection in my uterus as well. It was all quite draining, with lots of blood and lots of pills, but the doctor says I'll be fine and I can still have kids.

Something great happened on Monday. Lovely Fiona took me to PE for my surgery, and on Monday evening we were walking on the beach. I've had a lot on my mind, with regards to the surgery and other things, so I decided to sit on the beach for a while and pray while Fi kept walking. Someone had made a huge heart in the sand, so I sat down next to it. While I was sitting there, looking at the ocean, I realised the word "YOU" was written in the sand in front of me. I turned around to see who loves whom, and behind me was written "JESUS". Far too great: someone had written JESUS LOVES YOU in the sand, and I just happened to sit down right next to it to pray, without even noticing. I really needed the encouragement.

I have so much more I could write but I actually think I'll wrap it up here, I'm still quite ill and if I sit up for too long I get light-headed.

Much love to you all.

This is disturbing in like 11 different ways

2006-11-22T13:58:00.000+02:00

No good can come of Artificial Intelligence...no good!!

John Mayer is THE BEST. No contest. So I was browsing his website, looking for some music to listen to while I'm working in the labs, and I see on his blog that he's tried out this new Face Recognition thing on MyHeritage.com

His results? Frighteningly accurate. (go see them on his blog and you'll understand what I mean by the frightening part)

My results? just plain frightening!!

So apparently I bear a resemblance to Mandy Moore - BLECH!! - and Lindsey Lohan - ALSO BLECH!! - and I have distinctly Asian features. How very disturbing. Kate Winslet came up in all my results; not sure I really look like her. Or any of these beautiful women, for that matter. And why is it that even strangers in the shop tell me I remind them of Drew Barrymore, but she didn't come up on my results at all? Ah-ha!!, proof that MyHeritage.com is full of rubbish.

But hey, try it out yourself. :)

Wow, I have a lot to catch up on!! I last blogged right after my first exam. I got mixed up, by the way; I didn't have four exams left, I had three left. Apparently I really am blonde underneath all this hair dye...

After my last post, I went off to Port Alfred for a week with Jenna. We stayed in her flat on the beach, and spent 6 lovely days baking in the sun and vastly increasing our chances for skin cancer. I came back with a great tan though. :)

Vimbayi gave me all 10 seasons of Friends, so you know how much studying I'VE been doing lately!! I wonder what the withdrawal pains will feel like when I finally run out? I'm halfway through Season 9 already. I'm beginning to forget what that voice in my head sounded like before it was Ross, Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Chandler and Joey all fighting for the microphone in the little theatre that is my brain...

So I have one exam left, next Wednesday. I'm not too worried about it; it's a very major exam, but I feel confident and prepared. Then, on Wednesday evening, I'll be moving into my new house!! I'm so excited about this, you have no idea. I love the people I live with, and I love the house I live in, but it's time for a change. I need to move on. I get antsy when I'm in one place for too long...

Speaking of staying in one place too long...I'm bored with this blog post. I'll blog later!! :)

One down, Four to go

2006-11-06T11:22:00.000+02:00

I just finished writing my first exam, for TV. I type my exams, and in the middle of it, the electricity went out!! VERY annoying. So I just chilled for a while until it came back on (45 minutes later) and then I finished.

Now off I go to make a ton of chicken curry, and then I'm off to Port Alfred for a week, to stay in a flat on the beach. YEAH BABY!!

Cheerios, enjoy your week while I lay on the beach and get a tan. mwahahahaha...

mumble mumble

2006-10-27T12:51:00.000+02:00

I don't have too much to say, I just feel a certain obligation to blog.

I've finally finished my lectures. Third year is nearly over...so strange. In a month, I'll have written all my exams, and I will have officially finished my undergrad degree. Next year I'll be postgrad, how bizarre!! EEP!!

I'm feeling old again. That weird sense that you're old enough to be graduating from university, get a job, get married (I've had wedding overload this year, so many of my friends getting married)...yet I don't really feel old enough, deep down. When my cousin, Jason, got married, he was 21 years old, and I - in a fit of 11-year-old overconfidence and naivete - decided that 21 was the perfect age to get married, and promptly started counting down to 21 - the year I'd get married and get a job.

JA RIGHT!! I'm 21 now, plus 6 months, and the romantic prospects are few...ok non-existent. I'm not complaining, though. It's not that I'm stressed about it, because actually I'm not; God has told me about my husband, I know he's out there somewhere and I'm just chilling and going about my Father's work while I wait for him. It's more that it just feels strange that I'm actually old enough to get married. Bizarre.

I've been reading Rock Joyner's The Final Quest. It's AMAZING!! Unbe-jolly-lievable. Fan-bloody-tastic. And all that jazz... (oh dear I have a sudden impulse to watch Chicago). If you are looking to have your eyes opened to the realities of the spiritual world, read this book!! It's so hectic, and rather convicting as well.

So I installed this snazzy new layout yesterday and I lost my links in the process, so if you want to be linked or if I forgot to put your link back, let me know and I'll fix it.

Farewell, kiddies...

TV Junkie

2006-10-24T10:56:00.000+02:00

So it appears that I have been accepted to do Journ 4 next year, specialising in Television. I'll be producing my own documentary, amongst other things.

Another year in Grahamstown!! Exciting. :)

Edinburgh

2006-10-21T21:06:00.000+02:00

I want to go back to Edinburgh!!

Edinburgh was the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life...physically as well as spiritually (meaning, not only was it aesthetically stunning, but I had amazing experiences with God while I was there, too).

I miss it FAR too much. I think I will really end up there at some not-too-distant stage in my life...maybe permanently??

the quick brown fox jumper over lazy dog

Sorry, that weird thing was from Shungu...see his link ==> over there ==>

Must go, I'm meant to be working.

mwah!!

Check me out

2006-10-19T16:45:00.000+02:00

Hey lookie here, I can blog straight from Gmail!!

Zipadeedooda...

Let's Try Again

2006-10-19T12:49:00.000+02:00

Hi lovelies. :)

So, this is my newest experiment: a BlogSpot. I just couldn’t deal with my website anymore. I’m so busy, and everytime I looked at my website I just felt tired; all the updating and reskinning and blablabloodybla. Couldn’t take it anymore!!

I can’t promise that this blog will be updated as often as it should, but I AM going to give it a good and proper effort, so we’ll see if it comes right this time around…

Where to begin? An update on my year, perhaps?

Let’s begin with studies. In English, I’ve been studying Renaissance Literature (ie: Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, and Milton’s Paradise Lost), Shakespeare, and 18th Century Poets (Johnson, Pope). I’ve enjoyed it (mostly), but I’m very glad that this is my last year of English…I can’t wait to read the books I want to read!! Television 3 has kept me ridiculously busy. I’ve made a slew of commercials and news inserts, as well as a 12-minute reality documentary. I’ve applied for Television 4 next year, but we’ll see if I get through or not. I spent 3 weeks in Durban in July, working at Vuleka! Productions, a small production house. I really enjoyed my time there, I might even apply for a permanent position after I graduate. My heart is still set on Scotland, though, and I hope to eventually end up there; I’m exploring job opportunities in Edinburgh.

Health? My diabetes has been in much better control this year, but I’ve still had several health issues. I came close to burnout at the end of first term, and I had to take time off work and cut back on my commitments. I also seem to have broken my foot at some stage; I have what’s called an angulated fracture in my right foot, and I’ve been seeing an orthopaedic specialist regularly, trying to sort that out. I also just recovered from a nasty bout of bronchitis/near-pneumonia. If you can avoid getting pneumonia, I would recommend it; I’ve never been that sick in my life, I couldn’t even get out of bed some days.

Travel? I’ll be spending a week or two in Kenya in January, to work at a missionary retreat. I’ll be taking care of kids. I’m looking forward to it; I’ve wanted to go to Kenya for some time now. :) Next Christmas, I’ll be coming to the states for a few weeks with my parents. I’m looking forward to seeing my old friends in Springfield!! Yay!! :)

Digs has been good this year. I’ve enjoyed my time with Ella, Kath, Danie, and Neels, and its hard to believe we only have six weeks more together. (for that matter, it’s hard to believe I only have six weeks left as an undergrad!!) Next year, I’ll be living with Vene and Elzita, two girls from Namibia. It will be nice to live in a house of girls for once. We’re the “Racially Reconciled Digs”, you might be able to see why if you look at this photo…from left to right its Vene, Elzita, and I. I’m really looking forward to living with these lovely ladies, they are truly great Women of God and I love them muchly.

There are new photos on my old website gallery (http://shrekkie.rucus.net/gallery), if you haven’t seen them already, but from now on I will only be posting new photos on Flickr; see the link over there ==>

I feel I must now go rejoin the real world. Farewell, kiddies...