off went a quarter of the year in a blur, and it's been, in a word, crazy. so, general recap (a photo edition may come tomorrow, but i'm just TOO tired to upload them all now. ha!)
JANUARY
a phenomenal New Year, an 80s party with my favourite Andrea, a surprise birthday party from my incredible family, a plane trip back to SA, a whirlwind visit with Huw and ME, seeing Chris again for the first time in 7 weeks (oh yes), Judy and Martin's incredible wedding in Limpopo, a week of tea tasting and book reading and general greatness in Johannesburg with Chris, homecoming, celebrating my 21st, laughing at a ridiculously funny German, school with my mom, gardening...
FEBRUARY
a return to Grahamstown, sitting next to my Cathy on the plane, moving into my one-man flat, designing editions of The Oppidan Press with the best editorial team in the world, starting up Design 4 lectures, adoring my class of 10 and my superb lecturer, pondering a haircut, taking a glorious trip to Port Alfred with Chris and his mom, going mad trying to organise everything for Inkwenkwezi, taking a trip to PE with Darsha to watch the test cricket and partake in some much-needed retail therapy, travelling to Cape Town with said incredible classmates and lecturer for the 2014 Design Indaba, singing along to songs in the kombi, feeling ridiculously inspired by so many the presenters at the Indaba, spending ALL the money at the Design Indaba Expo, spending an afternoon of cheesecake and muffinness with my lovely Hayley, having a blast out on the town with Tiff and the Travelling Tourettes Zoo...
MARCH
meals on the patio at Tiff's house, hiking up a mountain with Hayley and friends - and singing Disney songs all the way down, driving back to Grahamstown, buying a baby cactus at Nanaga and naming her Eleanor Jean, suffering from PDID (Post Design Indaba Depression) and more generally PCTD (Post Cape Town Depression), tutoring a bunch of great second-year Journies, signing up ALL the volunteers for Inkwenkwezi, doing ALL the Inkwenkwezi things, finishing ALL the Design 4 assignments, spending Human Rights Day on the beach with Natalie, Darsha and Prinnesca, watching copious amounts of sports and MasterChef Australia (the best MasterChef), 'adopting' a cute wandering cat and nicknaming him Clouseau (because he's fond of investigation), designing the Jazz section of the National Arts Festival programme (earning me the nickname "Jazz Han"), surprising the most lovely Lucy for her birthday and having an excellent night with her and my other dear friends, sleeping in the Design labs, and, on the final day of March, travelling with Darsha to PE to fetch my wonderful mom from the airport for her week of fun with me :D
kind-of busy, maybe. maybe.
so far April's been great, too - even from the first day! i kicked off today with a session at the new CrossFit Grahamstown box - foundations sessions are running for the next two weeks and i'm already hooked after a single session! after that early rising, i came home and Mama and i relaxed with some breakfast, some popcorn and some Sherlock (YES). i had a design lecture followed by Oppi Press distribution, and then a superb mac and cheese lunch prepared by and eaten with the lovely Mama. we wandered around town a little and then got some coffee/hot chocolate from the Fine Coffee plekkie under the arch, and then wandered around campus before i rushed off to tutor my 2nd years. i wanted to prank them but knew i wouldn't keep a straight face... oh well ;) after i finished up tutoring them, i made my way down to Lucy's (since today is her actual birthday) for some tea and sausage rolls which she'd purchased especially for me! then home for more glorious momma food - this time warthog steak, rice and veggies - with Mom and Chris. Sarah came over for a quick session on our Media Studies essay due for the end of the week (ugh) and then i rejoined Chris and Mom, who was teaching Chris how to play cribbage (fundamental in our family, you see). oh, and i pulled a sneaky April Fools prank a little while ago on Facebook that has just made me want to cut my hair. (yeah, if you saw the photo, my hair is still a good 5cm longer than it appears to be... but i wasn't really being that dishonest, because chopping those 5cm off is figuring high in my list of priorities at the moment ;) and now i am sitting here, after that rambling recap, and i'm preparing myself to write a poem.
why a poem, you ask? oh, friends! it is NAPOWRIMO, which (obviously) stands for NAtional POetry WRIting MOnth! a poem a day is the task, and i intend to attack it with gusto ;) the people in charge are so lovely and organised that they even put up prompts each day to get the creative juices flowing if you can't access your own inspiration! brilliance, i say.
today's prompt is to visit Reb Livingstone's Bibliomancy Oracle and write a poem based on the quotation the oracle provides. the oracle gave me this quote:
Get up, stand up, thumb some folly
Without which there’s no wisdom, you have to
Trust that, you have to take a chance.
Without which there’s no wisdom, you have to
Trust that, you have to take a chance.
*
from “After Illness” by Alicia Suskin Ostriker
what a superb quote to start off my poetry-writing month! not only does it apply perfectly to the act of crafting a poem for me (letting go of the need for perfection, writing hard and clear rather than agonising over each word, learning as you go along - which is pretty much what i wrote about on my first poetry day last year) but the issues of trust and taking chances have been so real to me lately - living alone, Design 4, starting up CrossFit (i'm not an exercise person, so this is a big deal), thinking about what next year might bring once i have my degree and i'm let loose on the world... it's a goodie, with lots to write about. naturally, i was stuck for a while, but then i what-the-hecked out of a silly little poem, which you can read below :)
i have a secret to share with you:
here's a clue.
life deserves living.
in a world bogged down with
hungergreedseparationpainviolencediseasedeathetc
songs of joy deserve singing;
bells deserve ringing;
hope deserves flinging.
wisdom comes from experiments, so
imperfect poems deserve writing;
candles deserve lighting;
self-doubt deserves smiting.
relax if you're not 'perfect' yet -
you're a mess, yes, but a beautiful mess.
and let me tell you:
there's so much to learn from
no-faking trouble-making risk-taking.
so, here's my advice:
gulp down a glass of confidence;
kick up the dust and live a little!
fail, fall, and do it again.
sure, there's some pain -
but believe me, one day your
failures will help you
fly.
yep - there's my secret, my tips to do.
and that's right, dear self -
i'm talking
to you.
aaaaand now i shall sleep so i can wake up in time for CrossFit in the morning! <3 p="">
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