HOLIDAYS!

I have not blogged in a while so i thought i would share some storied of my adventures over the past week or so.

I finished my coursework for my masters on Saturday the 13th. I handed in my social justice project a few days before that and had my take home exam on friday the 12th. It was a looooong 24 hours and probably the worst exam i have ever done- it was long, stressful, tiring and just overall bad! I have 4 hours of sleep, 3 red bulls and a lot of coffee! But it is over and I wait until Dec 10th to get my results.

I celebrated my freedom by sleeping for 12 hours- yes, I am old and i no longer party! It was a beautiful, wonderful, peaceful sleep and the best 12 hours i had had in a while! I also drank some wine with Jacqui which made me happy too :-D

I had one week on Cape Town before i left for Durban and wanted to make the most of it. I spent this week enjoying 2 for 1 burgers at spur on Monday (yum yum), watching a movie at half price movies on Tuesday (Life as we know it- depressing but happy movie), going to the soccer on Wednesday (mucho exciting), having some girlie time on Thursday and ending my week with a lovely trip to Hermanus filled with good food, wine and whales!!

A wonderful week to end the year in Cape Town. Now I am back in hot and humid Durban in my little, now purple, room. I have left my 'less than perfect' red car (which i still love) in Cape Town and returned to a 'even more less than perfect' grey car here. As i arrived in Durban, my mom informed me that she locked the keys in the car and we needed to break into the car so we could drive home from the airport. Luckily this type of thing happens all the time in my family, and the back window can easily be removed. So out the window came, we retrieved the keys and got in the car. My mom then informed my that the spark plug or cylinder was out and the car was a little 'stuttery'. So we had a very, well bumpy, drive back to home. We made it- thank goodness! And had some popcorn for supper.

Since my eventful arrival I have done pretty much nothing. I managed to locate a charger for my laptop which had broken, so i was back to action with le computer in hand. I learnt that my harddrive could not be fixed and had to be wiped in order to work again, so i lost all my hard collected movies- this made me sad! I have moved a desk into my little purple room so that i can work on my thesis, and i have watched some mindless tv.

Tomorrow i shall visit the hairdresser- Whoop Whoop! And on Friday I will go to the doctor for a check-up. Tomorrow night i also have thanksgiving dinner which is being cooked by my dad's American students, which shall be exciting and taste good! And this weekend i plan on seeing the new Harry Potter.

Between that, i fill my time thinking about my thesis and planning on working on it but then sms Rachel and go out and eat cake and drink coffee. perhaps next week I will do more....

That is my exciting masters holiday life in a nutshell!
Enjoyable and stressfree- just the way i like it! :-D

this is amazing!

http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/

This is the best website! I laughed and laughed!

exam stress

So, exam time is here. Some of you may be thinking- "But why...you are a masters student! Surely Masters students no longer have exams. When does that hell end?!?"

But, yes, I have exams. The Law School at UCT dictates EVERYONE must write exams; all courses must have an exam. Some courses are sneaky and get around it but most just make us suffer.

I suppose it is not too bad since i have progressed to the 'take-home exams', where you have 24hours to write the paper. Much better but still...exams!

So during exams it makes me laugh because never has my room been this clean, my dishes done every day, the gym been frequented so much...I will do anything and everything to avoid studying! And i think i am not the only one...

Right now i should be studying but instead I have watched about 20 episodes of Sex and the City and am blogging away. I put it down to the fact that it is too freaking hot to study! BAAA! Exams in winter...much better!

Anyway, I think this picture I found while googling exam stress (yes...i know...why not study...i don't know!) sums up everything about exams!

SO for all of you procrastinating and reading my blog, at least it is only for 2 more weeks!

ahhh...one again my people make me proud!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/opinion/29krugman.html?src=me&ref=general

Bring on November 2nd and lets see what the monkeys do...

Mr Elephant

http://www.garfield.com/comics/vault.html?yr=2010&addr=100829


This is my relationship with my stuffed toy, Mr Elephant. Mr Elephant has been around for AGES! I love Mr Elephant and always will :-)

p.s. I am sorry this is a lame blog and that i have not blogged in a long time. Nothing exciting has happened that has inspired me. But hopefully that will change....

time

I find time one of the funniest concept around. Sometimes it goes fast and other times it crawls by. When you want it to go fast it does not, and when you want it to go slow it does not. It can go speeding along for one person and at a snails pace for another even though it is the same time. The same time functions in different time zone and even in different cities. Everyone looks at the same time and uses the same time. Time really dictates everything. Imagine a time when you were not rushing to beat the clock; not scheduling meetings every hour and not trying to cram everything in. Time...it is a strange concept.

I feel like time has been a major theme this week. It has been a horrible week for me for different reasons and i wish it would go faster and be over. I feel like i have the same 7 days, 24 hours a day, as i have any other week, but now i have empty time and space to fill and it is hard. I have the same amount of classes, reading, assignments as ever...but there rest of the time seems to drag. The nights are longer and i really wish the time would fly by then, but you know that they say 'when you stare at the clock, it will never move fast'.

Time...it is everywhere and part of everything and it can be good and bad. It is a weird concept.

These are my thoughts...that is all :-)

Wall Street

On Saturday night, as most couples do, I went to the movies with Amandla and because he does not like movies and I did not have the deep desire to see anything in particular, he got to choose and we watched 'Wall Street'. This is a sequel to a earlier movie called 'Wall Street' with some people in it and it was a big hit and had a lot of catch phrases (i have not seen it).

Anyway, this movie is about the financial crash of 2008 which rocked the ship we all sail on, especially those with American family roots. I am not a ecos student; i do understand it and have never really had the desire to correct this. I have a basic understanding of some concepts, and i have a basic understanding of the financial crash. This movie explains it how it happened- built up over time, people knew it was coming, and then finally the massive implications it had (not for the everyday people, but for the big shots).

However, this is not what struck me about the movie. What struck me was 'the game'. When one big shot banker was asked "what his number was? The number that he could earn and that would be him saying enough and retire" he replied "more!" and that is the truth. The financial world is a huge game- trading, selling, exchanging, betraying...it is all a game. It is not about the money..those guys have so much money they could buy a country. It is about the game. One screws over another, who gets revenge, who gets screwed etc etc etc. It is a cut-throat world where people (there are a select few women who make it) eat eachother for breakfast.

Also, this movie showed me that greed really does make the world go round. Why do people want more; they are greedy. Why are bigger building being built; fastest cars being made; gigantic houses be sold...people want bigger and better...it is greed. It is quite realist in nature (i am tutoring firs year politics)...people are greedy, self-interested and live in a state of anarchy which allows them to do anything they want, moral not applicable.

Now, it is not the only world like this. All industries are cut-throat. As a friend once said to me, "if you aren't a shark, you aren't going to make it". And it is true; you need to be strong and know what you want. But, this movie showed me you also need some strand of morals, whether it be a parent, partner or just a special project, that keeps you grounded and prevents you from going crazy from the greed and the game.

All this said, the game is fun sometimes (especially if you are winning), and buying big fancy stuff is nice (when you have money). I would not make it in the financial world, but i would like to reap some benefits of it ;-)

Anyway, go watch the movie...it is very cool and has taught me many life lessons.
Now, i am going to go back to my love affair with 'Modern Family'

Farewell young friends...

p.s. i have lost all the marbles in my head...