Only bad things happen quickly

Unless you’re in a movie called Final Destination, because then bad things come for you really slowly. You then panic and end up dying a very weird death.

For this blog post I’d like to focus on an American traditional holiday called Halloween. It’s today by the way – 31 October. There are many reasons why people believe the tradition of Halloween started. Apparently, in old folklore tradition the Festival of the Dead is linked to the Festival of Samhain. Samhain, which means summer’s end, falls on the most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Irish calendar as people used this time to stock up for the cold winter months ahead. There was a sense that in this time, the supernatural and physical worlds was the closest and magical things could happen at this time. To ward off these spirits, the Irish built huge, symbolically regenerative bonfires and invoked the help of the gods through animal and perhaps even human sacrifice.

Halloween is also thought to have been heavily influenced by the Christian holy days of All Saints' Day (also known as Hallowmas, All Hallows, Hallowtide) and All Souls' Day. Falling on November 1^st (My Birthday by the way) and 2nd respectively, collectively they were a time for honoring the Saints and praying for the recently departed who had yet to reach heaven.

South African have recently embraced this holiday, most probably because it’s been made so popular by American’s. I think South Africans have even more scary things to worry about than fake skeletons though. Maybe give some food instead of sweets away tonight.

It will be that much sweeter.

Some – er (summer) advice

1.       If you’re a girl and you’re worried about your figure for summer - exercise. But do NOT over-think this. Looking at yourself in the mirror all the time instead of enjoying yourself makes you look conceited and therefore unattractive.

2.       Stretch marks and other imperfections – Use some Bio-oil if you really are worried and self-conscious but RELAX, they make you look human. You would be photo shopped if you didn’t have them.

3.       Worried about the fact that you’re pale and need a tan? – DO NOT lay in the sun without protection all day, you will end up looking like the old lady who stole the puppies in 101 Dalmatians. Rather enjoy it when you can, with lots of sun block. You’ll thank me later when everyone else looks like they’ve eaten too many tomatoes and you’ve got a peachy tan.

4.       DO NOT work too much or spend your days thinking about work. This is advice for myself too. Your whole summer would’ve gone by and all you’ll have to show for it is a very chuffed boss, grey skin and a tired face. You also will not have any cool pictures to post on Facebook.

5.       Lastly, the most important thing to do this summer is enjoy yourself – At a braai, in your room, at the beach, a pool party, new years eve, etc….

Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid

This quotation by author, Basil King is about courage and going through with something even when you’re afraid. It also states that everything will work out in the end if you do this.

Whether it’s a new entrepreneurial venture, taking the leap forward to change your job, studying for your B-Tech or running for president! If you’re bold in all these cases, the quote says that everything will work out for you in the end. Is this statement true or is it just a glimmer of hope to people who don’t have any?

I think sometimes life throws rocks at you even when you’ve been bold, but you just have to try again and again and hope that life will eventually send mighty forces to have mercy on you and give you what you want. This obviously won’t happen with every situation and that’s why I think I have better advice.

When you’ve been bold and mighty forces still haven’t come to your aid, have a red bull and try again. Mighty forces are all good and well but if you don’t help yourself, nobody will.

That’s the cold hard facts once again, coming from little old me. J

GOOD OR BAD WORLD

As we know, the world can be a dark place. We’ve had wars, apartheid and wrongs in the past that would make a grown man cry.

We’re so much better now, aren’t we? Now we live in a place where people walk past a two year old girl lying in the road, badly hurt as she was run over by not one but two bakkies. A place where people torture, rape and eventually after 40 days, kill a 16 year old innocent girl. Where people kidnap and kill small children and bury animals alive. We’re so much better now?

The disgust and shame I feel as a person when I read some of the horrendous stories in the news is nothing compared to what the victims of these crimes feel. The purpose of this blog post is to remind us that there is good and bad in the world and that we should remain cautious.

Please help and try to do good where you can but always remember that the bad is sometimes waiting, lurking in the background waiting to be found by good people.

Remember that it’s a good and bad world we live in.

The last lecture

The past four years of my life have been spent studying at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and now it will finally draw to a close when I graduate. Mixed feelings come to the surface when I speak about this as I feel that I’ve enjoyed the past four years immensely yet there have been so many battles, academically and non-academically.

From last minute assignments being handed in, numerous nerve-racking presentations (even singing like I was Juanita du Plessis), to tests and thumb-sucked essays. This is the life of a student. Oh man I’ll miss it, I really will… but now it’s time to take on the “real world” by both pinky toes and hope that I can thumb-suck the success out of it! J

The past year has also been one heck of a train ride! PS. Working full time, studying and still trying to have a social life is so not for the faint-hearted. I’m physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted! But it was all worth it. I’ll have my B-Tech degree come next year March!!

So it’s been fun, so much fun but now I think I’m ready for full blown adulthood and a successful career in Public Relations Management. If not, I’ll just move to an island and sip on martini’s till I’m 80!

What makes you smile?

To ten reasons why you should be smiling:

1. Smiling Makes Us Attractive

2. Smiling Changes Our Mood

3. Smiling Is Contagious

4. Smiling Relieves Stress

5. Smiling Boosts Your Immune System

6. Smiling Lowers Your Blood Pressure

7. Smiling Releases Endorphins, Natural Pain Killers and Serotonin

8. Smiling Lifts the Face and Makes You Look Younger

9. Smiling Makes You Seem Successful

10. Smiling Helps You Stay Positive

What makes you smile? Is it driving into town and looking at the beautiful scenery of a rainbow over Table Mountain? Is it the little jokes your friends and family makes? Is it waking up every morning, knowing that you were granted another day? Is it a kiss or a hug or just a Hi from a passer-by?

We know that smiling makes for a happier person but what makes you smile? Who makes you smile? Whatever it is, make sure you do it more often and whoever it is that makes you smile, make sure you appreciate the person or people.

More important than what makes you smile is for you to make others smile. It could be a small gesture like remembering a birthday or telling a joke – It creates a smile that lights up a room.

So do yourself and others a favour today and SMILE!

Watch this space

This phrase usually means that there will very soon be an exciting change in a person’s current situation.  Hopefully for me this means that I’ll throw caution to the wind and get out of a certain situation that I no longer wish to be in.

I’ve never been much of a risk-taker and always think things through before I do or speak. I don’t want this to be the reason that I end up unhappy one day because I played it too safe. Watch this space – I’ll take the risk and won’t look back. Right now I’m in a comfort zone that will basically get me nowhere very slowly and I do so want and need to get somewhere and be someone.

What is your goals? What would you like your situation to be? Ask yourself this and then make it happen. This advice goes to myself as well as anyone that reads this blog.

Make your goals happen – Watch this space J

Talking about marriage - From someone who knows nothing about it

Coming from a home with a mother who never married after her first husband passed, i can only speak about what i've seen through family and friends marriages. Some married for love, which either eventually died in a romantic way or in very few cases these days their love blossomed even more. Some married because they felt they were forced to. Some married because the wedding would be a great little party and some married because that's what their relationship eventually lead to.

Maybe i'm a bit naive, okay a lot... but i believe that when you get married you do so with the intention of staying together forever. I'm still stuck in that Fairytale promise that says you'll live happily ever after and ride into the sunset. I'm not even going to try to be a marriage councillor, because clearly i know nothing about the subject but i do have my strong beliefs.

Some people have to end a marriage because its just that unbearable, but some give in too easily, especially the younger generation. I've spoken to a women just a few years older than me in the prime of her life, and she believes that it doesn't matter if you get married for the wrong reasons, because you could always get a divorce.

Is this what my generation's beliefs are? and where on Earth does it come from? Have we just become so selfish that we don't believe in life-long marriages anymore?

One thing that i can say about the subject that is on target, is that people loved way more a few years ago and just werent as selfish. To quote Black Eyed Peas, "Where is the Love?"

My favourite Cat in the Hat book is…

I’d be lying if I said that I remember all the books from the Cat in the Hat range but I do know a few quotes from the books and the movies.

 This is quoted from “Hot the Grinch stole Christmas” and my favourite story from the Cat in the hat range.

“Maybe Christmas,”
he thought, “doesn’t
come from a store.
Maybe Christmas…
perhaps…means a
little bit more!”

"The Grinch hated Christmas!
The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why.
No one quite knows the reason."

If you’ve read the book or watched the movie you would see that the Grinch stole Christmas because he was quite angry that nobody loved him. He looked different and everyone always made fun of him. When Christmas came, he had nobody to spend it with and the moral of the story basically is that we should all embrace people that are different and love them. That is after all what every person wants and needs.

Setting the skinny record straight

Just the other day a little argument erupted between myself and another person (you know who you are, I won’t mention names) about skinny girls.

This man, like so many other people had a strong belief that if a girl is just too skinny she must be sick. Now anorexia and bulimia is a whole other issue that we’ll tackle on another day. I want to talk about the judgmental behavior the world has about the average skinny girl, and whether you think this is just a load of bull or you don’t want to waste your time reading this, read it anyway. You might just make your skinny daughter, niece, sister or friend feel better about herself today.

A world wide change has occurred where the world is now starting to embrace girls with a little more meat on them. I say, Amen to that! It’s about time. But what about the skinny girls? Are they all just sick or do some mothers just pass a hereditary skinny jean on to their daughters? Think before you judge people.

A very recent example of this kind of judgment is when I went to visit someone and when I walked in the door this person looked at me, took my arm and said, “Oh, you just disappearing more and more? Why don’t you pick up some weight man.” Now that’s the kind of BS I’m talking about. This person had clearly picked up a few kilo’s which I obviously didn’t mention to the person. So to make the person feel better, they tackled my weight.

Here’s just a little tip. Stay out of other people’s jeans sizes. Whether they’re thin or not so thin, rather look at yourself in the mirror and ask if you love yourself, because surely if you did, other people’s weight wouldn’t bother you.

Thank you J

Why do I have conversations?

Firstly, let’s look at why humans interact and communicate. You might say it’s to get a message across but I’m talking about the deeper meaning. Why do we talk to each other?

Imagine being stuck in a desert. You have water, food, shelter and all your other basic needs yet there is nobody else to share it with. Nobody to talk to or care for. Nobody to share your jokes with or talk about your dreams to. Nobody for miles and miles. Enough to drive you crazy right? Most definitely!

I’m an only child so I might just last longer than the average person who had conversations with their siblings from a very early age, but eventually I’d probably go crazy like the rest of you.  I’d also start talking to a cactus hoping to get some response. It’s natural, it’s something we need, its conversations.

Besides the very boring existence we’d have if everyone ignored each other and nobody had conversations, I’m sure our teeth would rot and lips would stick together.

So if it wasn’t for conversations, we’d be weird creatures with no teeth, who try to speak to objects …and that is why I have conversations.

What do you value most?

In doing an assignment for a certain subject that is part of my Public Relations Management course, i presented a leader called Raymond Ackerman. Ackerman is the man behind the very successful supermarket chain, Pick n Pick.

What was interesting to note in my research of this leader, was that the most important thing to him is family. He values relationships more than money and says that his family is the reason for his success in business. They have supported him and he knows that it was the main thing that has lead him to his great success.

What do you value most? Is it money, your family and friends or do you go through each day not even valuing the breath you take each day?

Think about this and then evaluate what should be most important to you.

My bucket list: 100 things to do before i die

I've compiled a mini-list of things i'd like to do before i die.

1. Fly an airplane
2. Go bungee jumping or sky-diving or both on the same day!
3. Give back to 200 people who are less fortunate and put smiles on their faces
4. Present a TV show (Top Billing come and get me :-)
5. Visit Buckingham Palace and get treated like a princess for a day
6. Give an inspirational speech that gets put onto Youtube and recieve 1 billion hits
7. Spend a whole week on a secluded island with 5 of my favourite people, soaking up the sun
8. Harvest my own grapes to make my own wine that will be called "A piece of Heaven"
9. Visit the most beautiful and historic destinations of the world
10. Win the jackpot and spend it on people, animals and on preserving the environment

So some of my things-to-do are achievable and others not so much.

If i could do just two of the things on my '10 things to do before i die' list, i'd still be happy. The problem is that none of us know when our time to go is, so i'd better get cracking on these wishes.

In closing, please see the quote below and think about the things you'd like to do before you die, but don't ever be afraid of dying.

Some people are so afraid to die
that they never begin to live.

~ Henry Van Dyke ~