Gap Year

I know that I have told most of you that I am immigrating on December 28, 2009, however I have had much time to think about it and I have changed my mind. I have decided to take a “gap year” and focus on moving to Israel and working, traveling and just finding out who I am and what I want in life.

I am planning on packing one suitcase and just going where the road takes me. I want to know what it is like to support myself. I am 23 and have never supported myself, cooked for myself, cleaned for myself or even lived by myself. I think I have been sheltered my whole life and it is time I grow up and take on responsibilities.

So I am looking forward to what the future holds and hoping that through my travels I will be able to find some direction in life and find out what I want to do, where I want to live and who I want to be. Without these fundamentals I will never really know who I am and so I am hoping that next year will give me guidance and allow me to discover who I really am.

This Is It

So the other night I went to go see Michael Jackson’s This Is It! I am not sure how many of you know but I am honestly the biggest Michael Jackson fan. I have many of his CD’s, most of his lyrics typed out, interviews with MJ, his concerts and of course those of you who have been to my house have seen my huge Michael Jackson drawing above my bed.

Ever since the King of Pop passed away on June 25, 2009 I have been unable to watch my videos of him, but on Tuesday night I went to go watch This Is It. Michael Jackson, at age 50, moves and dancers better than he did at age 25.

I think that this concert was going to be his best ever. He redid his Thriller video, it looks amazing. What I loved about the movie was that MJ was so real in it. I mean I have watched many interviews both with him and about him but when you see him rehearsing and how gentle and polite he is with his staff, team and dancers you get to see and know the real MJ.

As I always say, MJ in my heart forever!

Watch this space

So as newly qualified public relations practitioners I guess we are all watching each others' spaces to find out where we all going to land up! I mean I can’t believe that four years ago we all embarked on this journey that we thought would take forever and looking back its just gone! We are done! I still can’t believe it! I guess time flies when you are having fun!

I don’t know where the future will take me or where I will land up! I have decided to take a “gap year” and once again go to Israel! I am not going to pack up my life, but rather just take a small bag and see where the road takes me! I am hoping ill learn and grow so much and develop and mature as a young public relations practitioner.

So I am hoping to keep in touch with all you fabulous B-Techs and I look forward to seeing where the road takes you and where you land up. I will be watching all your spaces. Just remember that this is our time to make an impact on the world and make our footprint! Good luck to you all!

Conventional is a good fallback position

Whilst trying to understand what the word conventional means I decided to look at synonyms on Microsoft Word and this is what it gave me: conservative, conformist, straight, square, predictable, unadventurous and usual.

Conventional is a good fallback position because it is what we are use to. This reminds of the saying “if you reach for the moon and miss at least you will fall in the stars” and I guess that conventional is our stars.

Some of us are afraid of trying new things, especially me! When I go to a restaurant nine out of ten times ill order the same item off the menu. Why? Because I am afraid of trying new things, I know I like the meal I order, I know what to expect and I know how much it costs. This is just another example of why conventional is a good fallback position.

Another example of this that relates to my life is me wanting to immigrate and everyone telling me that if it doesn’t work out I can always come back to South Africa, once again South Africa being my conventional fallback position!

But I guess in life we sometimes have to be safe rather than sorry, but, it does not mean that we shouldn’t always aim for the moon or take that big step in life!

Our last few days of university!

I can’t believe my studies at Cape Peninsula University of Technology are coming to an end. It is so weird to think that four years ago I set out on this journey, I don’t think I ever envisaged that this day would come! Yes I have dreamed about it, prayed about it and a lot of the time cursed my way through it, but now that it has arrived and it is time to say goodbye to the building, the lecturers and most of all my friends, I have mixed emotions.

I guess that ever since our orientation in January 2006, CPUT has been my way of life. Each day I wake up, go to university and then come home, do my homework and I know what the next day will bring. Now that classes are ending and there are just a few outstanding assignments I think I am starting to panic! But on the other hand I am really excited for Israel and I have butterflies in my stomach!

I really am going to miss all the ups and downs, the blood, sweat and tears, the strikes, petrol bombs, the security guards, the terrible lecturers, the fun days in the sun and most of all the friendships I have made!

“Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you only have one idea”

Desperate times call for desperate measures! When people only have one idea, they have to make it work and will therefore go to the most extreme to make sure it succeeds. This I guess is when ideas get freaky and people become frantic!
Once my brother and I were walking on top of glass bottles and he wasn’t walking fast enough so I decided to push him and when I did he jumped up and then landed on the glass bottles and cut his foot in three, literally. There was blood everywhere, I guess that was a bad idea.

Last year I was driving back from Paarl, it had been raining for two weeks straight. I was on the N1 heading back to Cape Town when I braked, skidded and then aqua planed about 100m on the highway, I guess it was a bad idea to break on a wet road!
I guess we have all had crazy ideas that may have seemed right at that exact second, however looking back at it now there have been many times when I have only had one idea and without thinking about it I automatically did it and there were repercussions such as a written off car and a foot that needed many stitches!

Au Pairing!

So this week I am au pairing, but not only lifting and doing homework with the children, I am sleeping over, cooking and getting the children ready for school! I have house sat before and walked and fed dogs, but this is on a totally different level! I feel like a mommy!

I have so many responsibilities. I have to make sure each child wakes up on time, eats their breakfast, drinks their tea, brushes their hair and teeth and makes it to school on time. Today started off rough! It was wet and rainy and the traffic was mad! One of the kids missed her first class. Tonight is going to be the biggest challenge of all, I have to cook dinner for three vegetarian girls..HELP I don’t even know how to cook. What do vegetarians eat anyways? This is going to be interesting!

So now I need to go do homework and prepare for dinner, then I need to take the girls to Pick ‘n Pay to buy bandannas for the Sun Flower Foundation. I just finished watching the Sweet Life of Zack and Cody and Sponge Bob Square Pants! Oh the joys of the Disney Channel!!!

Andy Warhol said, “In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes” – You can’t choose the 15 minutes but why would you be world fam

Why would I be world famous? Well I think I would have my 15 minutes of fame for something meaningful, unlike starting a new trend like carrying a dog in my had bag, going to jail for a few weeks or even creating a sex video and distributing it over the internet. I think my 15 minutes of fame would stem from something worth 15 minutes!

As mentioned in the heading, one cannot choose their 15 minutes of fame, but if I could, my 15 minutes of fame would be succeeding in freeing Gilad Shalit. Gilad Shalit is an Israeli solider who was kidnapped, over three years ago, and is currently being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Freeing Gilad would bring eternal happiness to his family as well as the state of Israel. I think that if people could choose their 15 minutes of fame they would choose something meaningful. We don’t need another super model, radio dj or even an actress, what we need is more Nobel Peace Prize winners, cures for deadly diseases and to stop genocides all over the world.

So as Andy Warhol says “In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes”, make sure yours counts and try and be an individual that can impact other people’s lives positively.

"Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read” (Frank Zappa) – Comment

Haha I actually think that that is funny on a very superficial level! It is cave man like! I like the analogy given, but I don’t really understand the non literal meaning on Rock journalism. I don't even know what rock journalism is or if it even exists! I tried to google it and all I got was something about music and some guy or band that is known as Rock Journalists.

I think the description given by Zappa is funny, yet so unoriginal! I mean he basically literally thought of a rock, combined some cavemen and then stole some ideas from "The gods must be crazy" movie! (I actually still have that movie and watched it a few weeks ago!)

I don't even know what Rock journalism is and I still cannot find it anywhere on the internet. Does anyone know what it is? If you do please let me know, I would really appreciate it! I seriously don’t think it is from my generation, and if it is, I guess I need to become more culturally aware of things because like I said, I have never heard of Rock journalism before, or this Zappa guy either!

My Christmas vocab sucks!

Today in class Marian was talking about her daughter, Carrie and how she has a very little vocabulary about cars. I all of a suddenly realised that I have very little, or no vocabulary about Christmas!

I am Jewish and have therefore never experienced or celebrated Christmas. Once when I was 5 I was an angel in a Christmas play and had to sing silent night! I am not even sure if I know the real story behind Christmas and Jesus's birth, or if I only know the version told to pre school children.

I always hear in movies people saying "kiss under the mistleto" and people talk about the three wise men, I think James Blunt even sings a song with those words in them, but to me they have no meaning or understanding!

When I was younger I always wanted to celebrate Christmas so I could get presents. I wanted to wake up in the morning and go and find tons of presents under the decorated Christmas tree!

It was kind of hard for me when I was younger not to tell my friends that Father Christmas doesn't really exist and that it was their parents that gave them the presents, drank the milk and ate half the cookies left for him!

But I still think Christmas is cool and I love wishing my friends a happy merry merry Christmas and I have even received some Christmas presents before!!!!

What motivates me

I guess in different stages of my life, different things have motivated
me, but I guess my biggest motivation at the moment is knowing that I
am leaving really soon and therefore have so much to do! I can't waste
anytime. When I have something to do I do it straight away as I feel
that my time in South Africa is really limited. For sure I will be
back for holidays and family events, but it will never really be the
same!

Another big motivation in my life is that in eight weeks or maybe even
less I will be finished with university! I think back to this same
feeling when I was in matric and writing finals and how exited and
scared I was about finishing school and going traveling over seas for
the year, but that was my motivation to finish school!

Last semester I was really nervous for my results as this year has
been particularly difficult for me, I can feel the change in the level
of work. I honestly thought I was going to fail the first semester and
in my head I was dropping out! But then I got really good results and
I am now motivated to continue working hard for the rest of this year
and I am looking forward to graduating, please G-d next year!

Personal autonomy – how far does it extend?

That is a good question! How much should a person feel that they are self governed? I mean surely we have the law and constitution for a reason? But what about freedom of speech and self determination?
I personally think that every person should have some personal autonomy. I think it is extremely important to be able to stand up for your beliefs and to be able to express them as and when you please.

It is also very important to be independent and to learn to rely on oneself. The question of how far does personal autonomy extend should be queried for each individual as we are all so different and unique. Some people push the personal autonomy boundaries all the time, while others on the other hand lack personal autonomy as well as self confidence and the ability to stand up to and fight for what they believe in.

I think that everyone needs to have some personal autonomy, after all we are the ones governing ourselves, however we need to not be too overbearing in our ways so that we do not exhaust others around us or show a negative trait in our personalities so that people might feel inferior towards you.

I just got retrenched! :(

I never thought that I would ever be asked to leave a job. I kind of always thought that I would be the person giving my employer the termination of agreement letter, not the other way around! So today, for the first time in my life, I have been told, that my employer can no longer afford me due to the current recession that most businesses are finding themselves in today!

This totally sucks as in just over a month’s time, it would have been my one year anniversary at this company. I feel like I have played a role in helping this organisation meet their goals and objectives and am very sad to be leaving, however as they say in Hebrew “Gum Zu L’Tova” everything for the best.

I think I am going to have more time to concentrate on university work and really focus a lot of my attention on tutoring. It is so weird to think that in two weeks time I will actually be able to sleep late, but I know I am going to get so bored!

I hope my last two weeks of work are going to be fun and exiting. It can be really interesting working for a magician!

Immigrating...so much stress!

Immigrating is so hard, but I'm not even talking about the paper work! I don't think people understand. How do you pack up your life into 60kg? It isn’t just clothes but bedding, books, jewelry and even child hood photos. It is so hard to choose what is necessary and what isn’t.

I keep asking myself the same question every time I buy a new item of clothing, do you really need this and how are you going to pack it? This past week I have been linen shopping, you would think I would be able to find something easily, but I shopped in Johannesburg and Cape Town and a week later I only found what I was looking for, now I’m exhausted! How am I ever going to do this?

I’m so nervous to immigrate, however I know it is really what I want in my heart, I guess I just have to get through the next few months, the hardest part is yet to come, me being able to get onto the plane and then having to learn a new language and eventually settling in! But I know that is where my future lies and where I want to start and develop my future career. Here is to hoping that 2010 will be a great year for everyone!

Bunch of Animals” is one comment on the CPUT strike on campus. What is yours?

I think the strike that happened on CPUT’s campus was totally unnecessary and uncalled for. Every single time these students want something, whether it be Dstv, microwaves, shopping vouchers or not wanting an increase in registration fees, they do whatever they want to whoever they want as they know there are never any repercussions.

I am personally sick and tired of coming to campus to be told that there is no class. I am also sick of being scared to come to campus because students are rioting and bashing down doors. I think their behaviour was animalistic. Just because they can’t accept something or because they disagree with something does not give them the right to flood the building or leave petrol bombs on campus that could clearly harm other learners.

The fact that they were caught on camera steeling from the cafeteria, which has nothing to do with CPUT increasing their registration fees, shows just how animalistic they are. I think it is disgusting that there were absolutely no repercussions for the students who were involved and especially the Student Representative Council, if these people are representing the students as a whole, then I am extremely embarrassed to be called a CPUT student.

10 most unexpected consequences of being online

It’s too much of a distraction, Facebook, msn, Twitter, Gmail chat.
Someone can stalk you, I bet we all have stalker stories to tell!
You Tube = instant fame!
People can become famous or infamous with sex tapes on line!
It is easy to pick up plagiarism
Freedom of speech, there are no laws as far as blogs are concerned!
You can become ordained in 30 seconds… I saw that on One Tree Hill
You can download movies and series before they air in your country, don’t look at me!
You can play scrabble on line, depending how bored you are
You can become an instant millionaire just by playing a simple game of poker

Everyday is a good day!

Everyday we wake up and have the power to determine how our day is going to be. We can choose to wake up on the right side of the bed and make the most out of the day ahead, regardless of the weather, appointments scheduled for the day or the deadlines we have to meet.

Each day brings another opportunity for us to right the wrong in our lives and turn each day into not only a good day but a great day. So often it is easy to wake up and think and feel the worst and dread getting out of our warm beds and facing reality, but we never know what the day will bring, who we will meet and whose life we may make an impression on.

Everyday is a good day to touch, feel and taste new experiences, each day we grow, not only physically but emotionally, each day we learn more about ourselves and our friends, everyday is a good day.

Everyday is a good day to meet new people, listen to a new song, buy a new outfit, eat a new seasonal fruit, paint our toe nails a new colour and even hear a new joke. Life is simply too short not to maximise every opportunity we have, to have a good day!

Our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses

The first thing I thought of when I read this was Spiderman. Ben Parker, Peter Parker, aka Spiderman’s uncle says to him “with great power comes great responsibility” Spiderman’s greatest strength if not maintained and used in a positive way could turn out to be his greatest weakness.

So often it is seen that when people have a certain amount of power they don’t always use it in the most positive way.

My greatest strength is that I am very honest, yet it is also my greatest weakness. Now you might be thinking how on earth can someone be too honest, but the truth is it has got me into trouble plenty of times, I have no poker face so if someone asks me what my thoughts and opinions are on something I tell them the truth.

Another of my greatest strengths and weaknesses is my ability to continuously speak my mind. I am often told I call a spade a shovel and that I have no tact. Even though I know being honest is the best way, I need to know when to bite my tongue and when not to because what I say can often be hurtful and mean without me even realising.

Feelings follow behaviour

How true are these words? Lately I have been so concerned with the amount of university work we have to do that I feel so stressed and I am taking it out on all my friends and family.

My feelings are following my behaviour because my anxiousness is represented in my behaviour. It is almost like a vicious cycle where my behaviour dictates to my feelings and my feelings to my behaviour.

But on the other hand, this could be a great feeling. If I am doing something I love, like sitting with my friends and just chilling I will be so relaxed and calm and this will reflect on my feelings which would be happy, motivated and inspired to do almost anything I set my mind on.

Another example of my feelings following my behaviour is when I do something that feels right or good, for example when I volunteer for certain non-profit organisations or give charity, they say that giving is better than receiving and this is so true. I feel as if I am on top of the world, that I can conquer anything and everything.

So I think that maybe in the mornings when I wake up I should determine the kind of behaviour or mood that I am in and if I am not in a good mood I should change to a good one as that will set my positive feelings and tone for the rest of the day!

It is better to practice a little than talk a lot!

Actions speak louder than words! If you always talking, then when do you ever get a chance to put all that talk into practice. People who always talk and never do anything are actually hypocrites. How can they say they do all these things when they never put their talk into action?

People who always talk yet never do irritate me, in fact they twick my melon! (as once mentioned in the movie Son in Law). I personally feel that people who talk yet never act are condescending towards others as they make themselves sound so great and perfect yet they are liars and frauds.

I don’t care whether people practice or don’t practice anything in life, but if they don’t ever put their big talk into actions and are forever telling people how to do certain things then that isn’t just or fair.

People who talk a lot and never get anything done have the need to “show off” or “prove themselves” for some pathetic reason. I don’t think people actually care what people say, I think it is what they do that people really remember.

So to all you big talkers out there lets see some action, practice what you preach!