un/grateful

just a little pre-show warning: this blog post may not only be just really boring and full of drivel, but also rather gloomy. i'm sorry to be so down on a day when i should be really happy... it's just that this is my first Thanksgiving away from home. which really shouldn't be such a big deal, since i live in South Africa - which means we don't get the days off, and cooking all that food while juggling normal life is a schlep, so my family (which celebrates because my mom is American, in case you're wondering) usually has a smaller, condensed sort of celebration in lieu of a big, bold, extravagant affair.

but it's a celebration nonetheless.

it's just... weird not being home for Thanksgiving. and i'm incredibly homesick as it is - my heart's crying out to be back at home among its green hills. i have two more exams in the next two days and i'm struggling like anything to put my head down and study (which i REALLY need to do, trust me!) when all my mind can think about is getting on a plane on Sunday afternoon and flying back to where i belong.

and yet...

i'm not ungrateful. i've had a really decent day - studying through the morning, having my breath stolen by Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg, joking around with friends at lunch, an incredibly good exam {which, by the way, i had anticipated being really really awful... so its pleasantness was such a blessing}, shopping at Pick'n'Pay and seeing half of Rhodes doing the same (only in this town will you walk into the supermarket and see not only half of the people you just wrote an exam with, but the lecturer for whom you wrote the exam, as well as your faculty's Dean... all doing their grocery shopping. beautiful.), a Snickers bar, Flyleaf, a lift up the hill with Bronnie and Jarrod, dinner and peaches, Chris and baseball and turkey drawings, Kelsey and studying and Cadbury Wholenut chocolate, and long conversations about the things that frustrate and move us about America...

i had a really good day.

and i do love this town an incredible amount; i won't deny that a large part of my heart has come to live here and i'm sure will stay here when i go back to my original home in two days. yes, Grahamstown - this infinitely special little borough - has managed to worm its way into my heart and become a home for me.

i'm just indescribably worn out. and starting to panic about my exam tomorrow. and missing my mom and dad and cat. i guess it's just that time of the year.

i'm going to sleep now, so that i can wake up early in the morning and study my tail off for my first Xhosa exam, which i'm scheduled to write in the afternoon.

but if you're reading this (and i'm really sorry if you are, it's a terribly mopey and rambling blog post)...  
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

i hope you are all safe and warm and happy and loved.

it's a kind of magic

i'm having a rather large amount of fun this afternoon. look:

:)

it may not always be so

it may not always be so;and i say

that if your lips,which i have loved,should touch

another's,and your dear strong fingers clutch

his heart,as mine in time not far away;

if on another's face your sweet hair lay

in such a silence as i know,or such

great writhing words as,uttering overmuch,

stand helplessly before the spirit at bay;

if this should be,i say if this should be-

you of my heart,send me a little word;

that i may go unto him,and take his hands,

saying,Accept all happiness from me.

Then shall i turn my face,and hear one bird

sing terribly afar in the lost lands.

(sweet edward estlin cummings, you are like a dream.)

even you must have a crush on you.

hello there, attractive-looking people.

they = The Life of Riley, Grahamstown's favourite band of all time.

they = incredibly talented and funny and stuff.

they = moving to Cape Town.

sad face.

i met Terri - Miss Vocalist - at another musical gig in the town of G... one of those rare times, you know. granted, it was Van Coke Cartel and Zebra & Giraffe, so the vibe was a little less, um, acoustic. with a little more moshing. first thought that passed through my head upon meeting Terri? jeez, this woman is lovely. and at that stage, i didn't even know she was famous and suchlike! which made her loveliness even more incredible when i look back on that night. ha. so nice to little pleb Hannah!

Nick - the guitarist-slash-glockenspielist - has already moved to Cape Town, so i only officially met him on Saturday night (more about that coming up). and since i knew he was famous beforehand, i was Little Miss Shy. aaaaack. but he seems to be rather nice, too :)

for some reason, Terri seems to like the band i'm in... i think it's mostly cause she and le Justin are homies from Welkom days ;) in any case, Terri is leaving Grahamstown at the end of the year and so Nick came down for One Final Show in our little var-city. and this took place on Saturday evening. and since Terri has decided that The Bad Hands are cool, we got to open for them.

um. i responded like the pineapple.

yes! really. aaaah. talk about being nervous. because, hello, these people are brilliant at life, and at what they do. and they make Justin, Clarke and me look like little children messing around on stage. especially me. yikes.

nevertheless, the gig happened. and we played, and *hem hem* we weren't amazing, i won't lie. we were average ;) the sound wasn't on our side for a bit of the time, and i messed up cause it.was.a.new.venue.aaah.why.so.many.eyes.on.meeee, and not as many people laughed at our unplanned, offbeat jokes as usually do. but we had fun, and we laughed, and we felt mighty honoured to be playing before The Life of Riley.

then Dani Bowler played some of her swaggalicious music while i dined on Simba chips and Coca-Cola (yes, i'm healthy - go away.) and then it was finally time for THE LIFE OF RILEY. yaaaah.

firstly, before i talk about how epic they were - and they were, don't you worry - can we mourn the fact that this was my very first Life of Riley gig of all time? they only played one other gig this year, and i heard about it after the fact. (on the night, but after they'd played. unhappy Hannah was unhappy.) and, you know, this being my first year of varsity and all, i kind-of wasn't around for all their gigs prior to this year. sigh. i cannot believe i missed out on so many shows of goodness. but i will look on the bright side and be grateful that i was at THIS show! yeah. so grateful. so so grateful.

because, like i mentioned, they were fantabulous. i did some crazy fan-girl dancing, was right up in front, squealed like a 14-year-old and sang along as loud as i could when i remembered the lyrics to their songs. with lyrics like,

"even you must have a crush on you

cause you know all the things to say and all the right things to do..."

...well, singing along is rather dreamy. i also managed to grab the piece of paper on which was scrawled the lyrics to their New Song when Terri was done singing along to 'em, and so Cats' Eyes (which is what i deem it should be called) now has a position of pride on my cupboard door.

and then, as their last encore (as if life couldn't get any better) they played a cover of Mario's "Let Me Love You". yes, you know the one. the one we all used to jam to in our primary school uniforms. i don't even lie - i remember it well. i'd borrowed the CD from a friend who lived out of town, and i used to bring it to school. another friend would bring her CD Walkman (those things were tight back in the day, yo) and we'd jam to Mario during breaks. (the CD eventually got stolen from my bag, in case you were wondering. fond memories much?) and i'm gonna post the music video here just for kicks... because these moves used to be smooth. and i think that's hilarious.

regardless, The Life of Riley covered this song as their encore to their encore to their encore. (count the encores... THREE.) and i swear, i was 12 years old again. woah now. waaaaay better than the original? you betcha! as if the rest of the set didn't already have me weeping with delight, i was inconsolably happy after that last last song. and if that all sounds remarkably oxymoronic, it probably is, and we're going to move on now.

Dearest Life of Riley... i believe you are rather remarkable. i believe i will sorely miss your presence in beloved Grahamstown. i believe i will have to travel to Cape Town in order to get a fix of LOR-ness. if there's one thing that i still cannot believe, it's that our silly little band opened for you.

i love y'all.

and that is the truth.

let's be happy!

admittedly, i haven't had a great fourth term.

my res nearly caught fire on my first day back; my rugby team lost the final of the Currie Cup. work didn't ever end. i experienced my first break-up... um, i'm not dating again for a WHILE, thankyouverymuch. (i still love the boy, by the way... but let's save that story for another day, shall we?) we lost Matty and that most certainly hurt.

to top it all off, my final exams start on Monday and i feel like a complete blob - studying just does not agree with me.

but i don't feel like being glum - i really don't! so i'm cranking up the Taylor Swift/Owl City playlist on my laptop and i'm going to talk about all the GOOD things that happened this term - all the things that made me grin like mad :)

how about CHURCH? hi, Frontiers. thank you for being a home to me. i officially joined children's ministry this term, working with the littlies (3-5 year-olds) and i LOVE LOVE LOVE it :) we had a huge, fabulous launch of our new kid's ministry programme, which is called JOG (which stands for Jesus Our God) and i got to be a part of a little skit we put together... aaah, good times :) i feel so blessed to be a part of this family, where the love of God is evident, abundant, overflowing. tomorrow i officially become a member... so unbelievably happy :)

a scene from our skit. epic.

what else has been amazing about this term? well, my band. we're called The Bad Hands and we're pretty awesome, if i say so myself ;) this term has been great in terms of gigs - we played as a part of an acoustic competition and were narrowly beaten in the finals by the beautiful Miss Dani Bowler, and we also played a gig called Singing For Soup, a cool fundraiser type thing. we've been in the paper, we were interviewed on the radio... we've basically had a blast. Justin, Clarke and Mike [our manager] are true homies, and The Bad Hands has definitely been a highlight of this term :) (that sentence sounds so grammatically incorrect... ugh.)

YAYBADHANDS! :)

it's also been a birthday term! my sister Sindi celebrated her 21st late last month, and so we had an incredible picnic to celebrate the fantasticness that is her... i have no photos of that to share with you yet, but trust that it was fun of large proportions :)
then, 2 of my 3 best friends here at varsity had their birthdays - Sarah Bear turned 19 (!), so we had a little bit of fun time...

me, Pam and Sarah

Duncan and Robyn like the music...?

erm...

our side of the table won at coolness. and yes, that's my laptop open in front of me... do NOT judge. (me, Darsha and Duncan)

yep, that was a really great night :)

then Miss Pammy turned 21, so we had to go big! it involved stickers, pink, lunatic faces and crazy fun. observe:

me and the princess at breakfast Part 1

and Part 2...

...and Part 3 :)

Pam and her cake

Tshego, Pam, Janine the Pink Unicorn and Robyn

Robyn, Duncan, moi and Sarah

Sean, Sarah and Pam

Andrew and Tshego... um, yes, ANDREW WAS DANCING! it is a good thing to behold :)

so... all in all, another awesome night out. and that concludes the birthday section of this blog post ;) [stay tuned for Robyn's birthday, though - it's in less than 2 weeks! WOOT :)]

kay, i'm sure there was other cool stuff that happened this term, i really am sure, but i've forgotten all of it - so DON'T JUDGE... ;) there's another especially cool thing that happened just recently, but i'll post about it after i've written this crappy paper on Monday. because it warrants its own blog post, it is really THAT COOL :) mmkay? mmkay.

now i'm going to pretend to study for another hour till i have band practice and then - HEY PRESTO! - another gig which promises to be all kinds of beautiful :) stay lovely, everyone - and STAY TUNED!