Blog Challenge - Day 17 to 19 of 31 days of Blogging

Blog Challenge Link.

Post a photo of your handwriting
really? um... will get back to this one. 

If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?
flying. not a fan of walking or driving.

Go to a coffee shop. Order your favorite drink/snack, and write about whatever you feel like. (A life lately post, what makes you happy, what makes you sad etc.)
how about i just stay home and do this?

well i'm writing this at 12:10am 21.12.2013. 
last year, we were celebrating the end of the world on 21.12.2012. 
today i will be attending the love and light party. 
that's how my life has turned out.
yesterday was our team staff party and it was just awesome.
tomorrow i have "trance friends" at my house and it will be awesome.
i have family here and a new niece. 
i have health and happiness.
this is all i wanted.

xx

~anib

Blog Challenge - Day 14 to 16 of 31 days of Blogging

Blog Challenge Link.

14. What is the last book you read? What was it about? Do you recommend it?
I'm not very proud of it... but I dont really read anymore. I really cant remember the last book I read. 

15. Creative writing day: write a short fictional story that starts with the sentence “It was time. She had fought against it for too long…”
She needed a change. She wanted a change... now. But she was afraid. What if what she wanted was wrong? What would people say when they saw her? Would they accept her for daring to be different? Would she be able to look at herself in the mirror and smile again? She didnt know. And she didnt care. She had been careful and safe her whole life. She wanted this. She reached out to the hair dye... and took the leap. Blue hair!

16. A “day in the life” post.
Well today is a public holiday in South Africa so not much is happening. Yesterday was madiba's funeral which was sad and emotional. Tonight, my brother is arriving from Joburg with his wife and baby and I'm pretty excited to see my niece for the first time. I put the xmas tree up last night so now it's starting to feel a little like the holidays. So I guess I should go get some holiday shopping done today. Happy reconciliation day!

~anib

Blog Challenge - Day 10 to 13 of 31 days of Blogging

Blog Challenge Link.

10. Post your favorite movies that you never get sick of watching

The Wizard of Oz - life lessons every single time I watch this. "You had it all along, Dorothy."

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - super romantic to think that someone would never forget you. 

Bridesmaids - stupid funny. 

11. Write something someone told you about yourself that you will never forget (good or bad)
"You are awe-ful." as in awe-inspiring. heh. 

"You have nice child bearing hips." and yet he never wanted kids with me. 

"You're very brave."

12. What are your top 3 pet peeves?

stupidity.

arrogance.

rudeness.

13. What is the best (or your favorite) moment(s) in 2013

oooo... Afrikaburn and the magic around getting my ticket, getting there, being there, butterflies (!) and my life afterwards. Got retrenched (which was a huge blessing in disguise) on the day I got back and got two great jobs after that. Makes me a bit nervous about Afrikaburn 2014, to be honest, because it wont have the same magic. So I'm still undecided about going again. We shall see. 

~anib

Blog Challenge - Day 7 to 9 of 31 days of Blogging

Blog Challenge Link.

 7. If you could live in any time period, when would it be and why?
I think the hippy 60's. Most of that stuff is fashionable again and I think I'm a hippy at heart anyway. Would be cool to be part of an era that had a real effect on the world. Everything now feels derivative and plastic. 

8. Favorite photo you’ve taken (or top 3)
I love pics of nature and my friends and family. But here are a few other favourites.
Afrikaburn heart
Blouberg Table Mountain
Helsinki sunflower

9. Tell a story from your childhood.
Other than the Dolly and the Rockers trauma, I will say that as children we had a pretty active imagination and used our grandmother's garden as our fantasy world. We would often play farm farm, turning the garden into a working farm and going through all the seasons. We did everything from snuggling together when it snowed in winter to harvesting our crops in summer.We would also do our own broadcast of "Good Morning, South Africa", where we did our own interviews, news, weather and even aerobics.. with the dogs being our props. Quite an adventurous bunch we were (my cousins and my brother and I) but I remember every detail of the imaginary world we created. 

Blog Challenge - Day 4 to 6 of 31 days of Blogging

No time for fancy things... I'm already far behind so let's get through this.

Blog Challenge Link.

4. What is your favorite comfort food? Post the recipe!

oh honey... i dont cook... very well.

i prefer eating out at restaurants. comfort food would generally consist of junk food like kfc. 

otherwise if i am home and need a quick meal, i love toasted cheese sandwiches or  popcorn or "yellow stuff" (creamed corn) .

5. Post 10 songs you are loving right now

also a difficult one. currently my fave music is trance but dont really have a particularly favourite track. my music tastes range from fado to pop music. i love music. i'm just not sure that i have too many currently popular favourtes but these are running around my brain at the moment:

1. Karen Zoid,  Want as ek droom - Song that I discovered via my friend D. Makes me feel brave.
2. Pink, Just give me a reason - Because reasons.
3. Katy Perry, Roar - of course.
4. Jolene  - I really want to like Miley but I just cant anymore. Dolly is still the queen of this song but hat tip to Miley for this version. 
5. Hannah Hart, Cheese Pleasin Me - Because HANNAH HART 4 EVA
6. Avici, Wake me Up
7. The Dresden Dolls, Coin Operated Boy
8. Gaga, Applause
9. Wolfsheim - Ken Zuruck
10. BoyceAvenue - Use Somebody

More here.

6. Post a picture of your favorite outfit. Bonus points for details

um..... well i prefer wearing dresses in summer and most of them are bright and colourful. but this rainbow jersey is a bit of a fave and always cheers me up. so much so that i now wear it sparingly so as not to lose its magical powers. 

~ anib

Blog Challenge - Day 1 to 3 of 31 days of Blogging

I could write something personal and touching but I have a therapist for that. And I just dont want to talk about what I'm thinking or feeling these days. So... let's try this: A blog challenge for 31 days... that will not be updated daily. But we'll see how it goes.

Born in Woodstock. Grew up in Maitland. Schooled in Goodwood. Lived in Bellville, Parow, Plumstead, West Beach and now back to the 'wood.

Was top of the class in primary school and high school. Prefect and head girl type. Went to UCT. BCom(Acc). Failed final honours year but got first time pass in Board 1 and 2 and qualified as a CA(SA).

Had one boyfriend in high school (18) that I married when I was 23. He was 13 years older. Got divorced when I was 29 after a year of trial separation. Partly due to an online love interest (me and then him) but also had a miscarriage and related depression. I am still repaying his debt (our home loan). He has disappeared.

Quit my job at the time and was unemployed for almost 2 years. Took a massage class. And did pilates. Met a boy that was serious. And then met a few other boys that weren't.  Met a man that made me pay for everything including his bail money. Took him to Mozambique too. Paid for everything.

Met a trance acquaintance at ex-boy's wedding. Went to trance parties more often. Met lots of interesting people. Have a new family that loves me for me. Went to Afrikaburn!

Father died in May 2012. Went to Portugal that year to visit family and to Helsinki (to meet a man).

Have a new job now that interests and excites me.

I smile a lot more easily these days.

~249 words

1. dancing
2. making someone smile
3. toasted cheese sandwich
4. kissing
5. the colour pink
6. youtube
7. the wizard of oz
8. earbuds
9. laughing
10. lindt dark chocolate balls.

Hard one. Not a lot of pics that I like of me but trance parties have made me look good with bright happy pics of me all over the place. The truth is, I dont always feel super happy. But this pic from Origin 2013... I was pretty happy and relaxed. I made lots of new friends and had fun.Also... the happy hat made its début at this party.

Next update in a few days time. Have Vortex this weekend. :)

~anib

White paint

So I finally managed to finish painting our garage door. It's taken about a month because of the crappy weather in Cape Town. And procrastination. Maybe.

And memories of dad. Definitely.

There was an unspoken rule at our house: Mom ruled inside the house and Dad could do what he wanted in his garden and in his garage. After he died, the garage got dusty and the garden withered to nothing. In my little way, I'm trying to keep him alive by bringing his garden back to life and making the garage usable again. 

It's been an emotional rollercoaster.... but it's good.

Anyway, back to the garage escapade. I had no idea what I was doing but after a bit of googling, I just kinda got to it. I worked really hard on scraping off the old paint and washing it with sugar soap. When I was at the paint shop, I tried to not look like a lost lamb and didnt ask for help. So I picked up something that had a red door on it... expecting it to be red paint. Well, when I opened the paint, it was actually white. Urgh. 

I was getting upset with myself at how stupid I was but.... then I figured I must really be channelling my dad because he would've done the same thing. He didnt really plan things out carefully. He just kinda got an idea in his head and made the best of the situation. 

So, while I carried on painting the previously very red door a very glossy white... I smiled. To me, it felt like I was wiping a slate clean... making a new beginning.... bringing in light to a dark place. I could go on.. but the point is it turned out ok. Even with all the mistakes along the way, it turned out ok.

*blink*

It felt weird painting over his work. I was thinking about him doing exactly what I was doing at the time. 

In a strange way, I felt close to him. Maybe I really  was channelling him in some way... 

I guess it feels strange because I'd never felt those things before. 

Maybe.... maybe... I could still get to know him.

All I know is... I have a white wall.

And it will turn out ok.

~ anib