HAPPY (belated) WORLD PENGUIN DAY!

hello, wonderfuls :)

yesterday, i discovered the most amazing thing. the 25th of April every year is WORLD PENGUIN DAY. whaaaat? how fantastic is that?

i decided to have a blog post dedicated to penguins... and then got caught up in assignments that had me gasping for air. and i didn't manage to post about penguins. and i am TERRIBLE because of this.

nevertheless, i thought that things such as blog posts dedicated to the awesomeness that is penguins are better late than never, so have a fun penguin trip with me on behalf of our ridiculously cool friends, the swimmin' birds...

how about these Emperor penguins chooning a seal?

or these newborn fuzzy African Penguins at the Toronto Zoo?

or (i don't know how real this guy is,  but anyway) a HEART baby?

"just wearin' my heart on my sleeve. or in this case, my chest. yep."

....ok, they're obviously the most adorable animals ever.

check out this awesome crossing sign in Oamaru, New Zealand:

i discovered this amazing story about maremma sheepdogs protecting a colony of fairy penguins off the coast of (i think) Australia... YOU SHOULD READ IT.

then, of course, there's this story, which you will struggle to believe. it sounds like something Leslie Knope would try to do... but it ACTUALLY HAPPENED. 5 years ago. whaaaaat?!

here are some photos of Sir Nils at the event of his knighthood:

TOO MUCH.

i have to share this video here again, even though i know it's been on here before... i just can't resist. prepare yourself for the ultimate cuteness!

indeed... it is too much for my heart to bear <3 p="">
and then, to top my penguin day off yesterday, i got sent this by my friend Darsha:

YES! what a perfect combination! :D

i have a surprise that i'm creating which involves penguins, but it requires some patience and secrecy until i've perfected it... so until then, GOODBYE (at least on the penguin front) from me and Squishy Darren :D

pleeeeeease stop by tomorrow - i have the funniest caturday post up my sleeve :D LOVE!

no-weekend-so-this-doesn't-really-have-a-theme-per-se caturday

hello there!

this weekend is CRAZY. i have SO much work. i am taking time off of work to write this eight-sentence blogpost!

this is how i feel:

 

 

BUT this is what i'm working towards:

 

 

...so ONWARDS!

 

kbye.



keeping tabs

so. i stayed up the entire night (went to bed at 6:10AM and got up an hour later) working on my design assignment. i was supposed to meet with my lecturer 20 minutes ago to show him what i've got so far; i really worked hard but (as is true with most aspects of life) it took a lot longer than i had anticipated to actually put into effect all of the changes i planned to make. this feels appropriate right now:

nevertheless, i'm quite proud of what i have so far; i had to sort out some admin that's been piling up this morning, and i'd just gotten all of that done and was about to tackle more of my design work and then head up and print it all so i could show my lecturer in hard copy. and. then.

the power cut.

i still have power on my laptop and the wireless network is still working; but all of my work - which is stored on the Journalism Department's system - is unavailable to me. i have nothing else to do... so why not blog, right? ;)

i thought a quick and interesting blog post could be about all the different tabs i have open in Safari right now. if you don't know me so well, i am a tabs fiend. i click on EVERYTHING that looks interesting/cute/absorbing and open it all in one single browser... it gets a bit ridiculous. with that in mind then, here are links to some of the web pages presently open on my beloved laptop:

1. Japanese teens stage Harry Potter Quidditch matches

...OH YES.





click through for even more awesome photos :)

2. Free Audiobook of Quitter by Jon Acuff

a link sent to me by my mama! ...and if you don't know who Jon Acuff is, he's AWESOME. he writes here and here, and is rather amusing.

3. Boston links
i have a LOT of links open about Boston right now.
i've been following regular updates here... just so that i feel like i'm in the loop with what's going on.
from there, i found this beautiful story, this great article called Boston Will Be Back (I Hope), Patton Oswalt's response to the attack and this incredible photograph:

finally, because heavy hearts make me tired, here's something to get a grin on your face:

4. A video of cute baby pandas playing on a slide!

SO... there you have it. a glimpse, or a safari (hahahahaa, i'm SO witty! ;) ) through the tabs open on my web browser as of this moment! now i shall dissolve into the absence of electricity around me... farewell. *fizzle*

typography caturday

helloooo, all!

i apologise profusely for my absence from the cyber-world - this week has been a nightmare. i am now, however, well rested after a long sleep (8 hours, yo!) and since it's caturday, i thought i'd combine my love of cats with my love of TYPOGRAPHY. this is also because typography has been one of the things consuming all of my time this week... but yes.

first, there is this delightful collection from Buzzfeed: 20 cats as fonts. yes.

are they not the greatest? :D

then, i also stumbled upon these cute little cats made up of words:

...and finally, how about a cat alphabet?! :D

that's all for today, folks... see you soon :)

postal caturday

the theme for this week is... POST! or if you're American, MAIL! :D

this is basically because since i've been home i've been showered with the coolest packages in the mail. two of them arrived before i did (two months early, in fact) - one was a stupendous prize i'd won from the lovely Emma Jane Nation, and the other was a beautiful assortment of gifts from my dear friend Hayley.

i then received a parcel that i ordered for a certain person's birthday - and it's perfect and i'm so excited to give it to them! ;) on exactly the same day though, a parcel slip appeared in our post box for a Hannah-package that i totally had NOT anticipated. it turned out to be a screener edition of Blue Like Jazz (the movie), sent by Christian Art Distributors, saying (and i quote), "The reason that this parcel is in your hands is that we believe this is a strong message; we believe you have a convincing voice and would appreciate your truthful opinion." HOW COOL?! i don't know how they found out about me or got my address (probably from the database of South Africans who donated money towards the funding of the Blue Like Jazz movie) but i still can't get over how cool it is that they sent it to ME! ha :)

so, with all of that in mind, prepare yourself for the combination of all that is cats and mail...

like BOOKS about post office cats! (these really exist. cool, right?)

...and cats in shipping boxes!

or how about cats that are excited to get the mail...

...and then cats that are REALLY excited to get the mail?!

...and finally, cats who are just plain excited to get YOU when you're excited to get the mail...

YEP.

happy Caturday, everybody! :D

challenge: a poem a day

i always feel a little disappointed with myself come November, thanks to one word: NaNoWriMo.

dunno what i'm talking about? well, November is officially known as National Novel Writing Month - or, in short, NaNoWriMo. the challenge goes out to aspiring writers from around the world to write an entire novel... in a month. and i always aim to take part... and i always fail.

it's sad, really.

and then my mom discovered that April is officially NaPoWriMo... that is, National Poem Writing Month. the challenge is for people from around the world to write a poem on every day of the month. um... hello. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

i'll be writing up a poem each day for the rest of April, so if you'd like to read 'em (and i'm warning you, they won't be masterpieces or anything) click here or on the button below here or on my side bar :)

on a side note, the name of my poem blog is Afrikaans for "laugh again" and comes from a short poem by Ingrid Jonker that is one of my absolute favourites - it goes like this:

Jou lag is 'n oopgebreekte granaat

Lag weer

dat ek kan hoor hoe lag die granate

since i only made the NaPoWriMo discovery (via my mom - thanks, Mama!) today, i've only written one poem so far (i'm writing my second after this blog post), so here's the day one poem:

how to begin?

like a new-born bud

tentatively

stretching out its fingers

finding word

by word?

or instead

jumping right in

dive-bombing the pool

of doubt

and just

writing page

after page

...after page?

either way, she knows

these words

will eventually be erased

in frustration

once they're read over

and thought to be lacking.

but perhaps not this time.

maybe the writer will instead

continue to

tip tap type

the thoughts that rush through her head

till

she pushes past caring

if a certain phrase conveys

just what she's feeling.

and when she reaches that stage

perhaps the metaphorical page

will take on a new meaning -- no longer

a platform for perfection but rather

a place for dreaming.

how freeing.