How do you step from the top of a 100-foot pole?

This has to be the easiest question that I have ever been faced with, it’s very simple… simple as 1…2…3… Just look down and pick a spot that looks soft enough to cushion your fall so when your legs break you will lay in comfort while you scream at the top of your voice for help.

I think personally the question that should be asked is not how does one get down, but rather how the hell did you get up there in the first place? And why did you do it anyway? Are you on drugs? are you (up) HIGH? :).

Yet again if you have made it up that high then is it a bad thing? Why should one get down when one is at the top (of his game, or the world?). Why not stay up there, I’m sure the view is very nice and you will be the envy of all your peers who wish they could also climb the pole (of success). Sadly what goes up must come down (Thats gravity for you :D, thanks Sir Isaac Newton). So next time you find yourself on a 100-foot pole remember, its not how you get down, but how you got up the pole in the first place.

http://blogs.inlandsocal.com

 

 

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The #hash

http://theinternetwizardsblog.com

Before you get all excited, this is not a piece about the drug (although it has taken over my life like a junkie on crack). This time last year I had never even seen a tweet, and to be honest hated the idea of twitter (I will admit, I hated it without even knowing what it was about).

Late last year, I finally joined twitter after fighting the urge to conform to social norms and join the ranks of millions of tweeps. With the help of my friends I quickly got fast tracked through the twitterverse, following and being followed like a real social network stalkerJ, but there was still so much that I needed to learn. I thought I knew it all… I even recruited others to join like a cult of sorts. I was a social butterfly tweeting every chance I got retweeting everyone who said something worse retweeting. I had arrived and was here to stay.

Then like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of my life… a new year brought change and new challenges. I was back into the academic swing of things and with this came @marianpike and Media Studies 3. I was excited and raring to go… then as if the wind had been taken out of my sales; I was introduced to the cause of many sleepless nights… THE #HASH (#SMED). I thought my life was over when @marianpike said we had to tweet 2000 times by the end of the year, what madness how would this be done?

After 7 weeks of tweeting I’m proud to announce that I’m 890 tweets closer to my goal and thanks to @btechguy2012 have become an infamous tweep amongst my peers. The only downfall is that now I have become so addicted I even dream I’m being chased by hash tags and retweets, but all in all I’m enjoying every minute, so here is to twitter and #smed12 may we retweet  many more tweets together.

 

We are what we do

This is one of those topics where one is expected to set the tone of the blog post by saying something deep and profound that will bring an end to world hunger, such as… We are what we do, because what we do defines who we are. Sadly this is not one of thoseJ, as those of you who have read my other posts, will realise all you will get is a light read with a little splash of humour.

Hmmm right now I feel like I am what I ate… but that’s a topic for another day. As you may have noticed I’m buying time while I think of something to write about, just adding to my word count… wait I have it.

Everything we do in life is a conscious decision made by ourselves. “In life there are always two things involved” (Basket mouth, Nigerian comedian), either you do  something or you do not… any choice that you make is yours and yours only and only you can take ownership thereof, yes there are always consequences to our actions but at the end of the day only you can make them. So is it safe to assume that anything WE DO is an extension of us and our thought processes, thus adding credibility to the statement WE ARE WHAT WE DO, because what we do is what we think, feel and are!

http://www.lifegoggles.com

The Weather in Cape Town

After moving to Cape Town over a year ago, one interesting thing that I have noticed is that no matter the weather, girls fight the elements for the sake of fashion and looking good to attract attention.

Heat waves are the worst, as I don’t know where to look. There is a way of dressing accordingly without “letting it all hang out” so to speak. What has happened to our sense of decorum? For in the 21st century, less is definitely not more.

Winter is more laughable as with driving wind, you will still see young girls (even die hard “young” at heart women) dressed in summer clothing, with maybe a scarf and boots to let you know that its winter. You see them shivering, at times sniffling and coughing as well, and I ask myself: “WHY??”.

Back in the Eastern Cape, people adhered to the seasons and did so tastefully whilst watching their health. But oh well, “c’est la vie” as the French say. Or maybe I’m “old fashioned” or just a country boy. But whichever way you look at it, women in Cape Town are unique. That’s what makes this city what it is.

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We are afraid of the wrong things.

It was a dark and stormy night, in a far, far away land… (Wait wrong story :D). A long time ago when society was governed by a different set of rules and morals, yes I say morals you did not read incorrectly, they did once exist! This was a time when people knew what really mattered in life and how to prioritise. Sadly those days are long gone and we are now a lost generation, whose idea of what’s important is severely warped.

Our generation has become to fixated with superficial ideologies, which have caused us to worry more about what impression we give people and how we are viewed, by people how do not matter at all (I refer to them as back ground noise), they do not affect my life in anyway. God forbid you are caught wearing last years fashion trends… Perez Hilton might attack you in his next blog :).

• We are afraid to love, But worry about having our hearts broken instead (love unconditionally)
• We are afraid to be Human and make mistakes ( take the leap of faith)
• We are afraid to speak our minds and rather fade into the background (let your voice be heard)
• We are worried about who is wearing what to the Oscars instead of that poor street kid with no family to care for him (show some humanity)
• We are to worried about chasing paper and not worried about giving back to those who gave us the opportunity to shine ( give of yourself not your wallet)
• We are afraid to smile at that stranger on the bus for fear of being raped (smile more = wrinkles)

So please lets go back… way back… back in time (enter RNB music) and take the time to love, to have faith, to speak out, to be human and open our hearts and not our wallets.

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FISH FALLING FROM THE SKY

My first Reaction was… who ever thought this up must have been smoking their socks, how can fish fall from the sky! But then (after a good giggle) I consulted my good friend Mr Internet (Google) and discovered that there have been quite a few incidents of fishing freakishly falling from the sky:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254812/Hundreds-fish-fall-sky-remote-Australian-town-Lajamanu.html

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/01/13/12/fish-rains-down-agusan-del-sur-town

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After swallowing my words and sending a telepathic apology 🙂 I started to wonder could we find a simple answer in the bible for these strange events (is the world really going to end this year as the Mayans Predicted?) or could we find a more theoretical and logical answer from science? And before people starts thinking I’m bible bashing or disproving all the scientific theories… relax your body because I was just asking from a confused unbiased point of view.

Then like a bolt of lightning it hit me… who cares! Who cares why it’s raining fish, rather we should be asking why is it not pouring down with more fish all around the world? with all the adverse poverty and hunger crippling people, this could be a short term solution to a long term problem, I think I will get a few scientists together and we will not rest until we can make it rain fish at our command (natures answer to DHL) hmmm this could be a profitable business, the next time you hear from me I will be blogging from my penthouse over looking my private beach. Till then back to the drawing board.

The Journey Of 1000 Miles

Which enlightened sole uttered these words in the first place (Lao-tzu Chinese philosopher 531 BC – 604 BC)? Because clearly he was not from my neck of the woods because TIA (This Is Africa, more especially South Africa), and in South Africa we use Kilometres not Miles, so already this statement has no relevance as there are 1.6 kilometres in a mile. So his journey will always be longer than mine… for this famous quote to have more relevance in my life my “Journey of 1000 kilometres” begins with a single step.

http://www.mastersdistanceproject.com

How do I get there? How long will it take me to get there? well sadly for this trip unlike most trips we take in life I do not know for certain, all I know is that my destination is to finish the race called life, but funny enough people always go on about how life is not a destination but more a journey… so how can we take a trip that has no destination? So are our lives meaningless and without purpose? Because I don’t want to spend my life knowing there is no finish line, what am I working towards?

www.learning2livenow.com

I have an answer for those asking the same question; we are working towards finishing the race of a fulfilled life. What is a fulfilled life? it is a life where you are the architect of your dreams, where you have lived a life that you want to live, and not the life society has thrust upon you as the norm, since we are all different and unique we cannot live for the same tomorrow and must choose our own race to run but the finish should be the same for everyone. You only live once but if you live your life the way you wanted and are happy that you achieved your goals, then once is more than enough. And you are well on your way of finishing your race of 1000 kilometres. So have you taken that first step or are you still living without purpose?

http://www.pathconscious.com

 

The “Wana be” Generation

The “Wana be” Generation

At times I look at the world around me, especially my generation (younger age bracket than me) and realise that many are lost, trying to be something that they are not – and getting it wrong.

For instance, I took a trip to Century City last week Friday and in the taxi heading back, I came across two very attractive young ladies. They were so perfectly made up and dressed; they looked like they had just stepped off the pages of a local teen magazine.

And that’s where the illusion ended. For the entire 30 minute ride to town, I proceeded to watch them devour KFC streetwise two’s (mind you that’s all that they had gotten on their trip to Century City – no shopping bags etc. in sight). Not only did they chew with their mouths open (as if they were catching flies) and talk loudly the entire way, they ate as if starved for a month.

I watched them clean their chicken bones of any meat, THEN they began to chew the bones and either spit them out into their hands or swallow them. This clearly killed the image they had projected when I got into the taxi.

Like me, the other passengers just watched with jaws dropped, speechless to say the least – and all that came to mind was suburban appearance, but “ghetto” behaviour. One would have assumed there was a hidden camera somewhere – I tried to check. (haha!) And I am sure someone in the taxi had good enough material for a You Tube post.

Now my question is, why the contrast between their behaviour and outward appearance? It was a shame, but at least I now know that as a man, beware of judging a “lady” by the way she looks, her behaviour may differ. But I must say it was amusing in the sense that a few days earlier, we had discussed this topic in class, and how eating in public places is just not on especially by my fellow CPUT students… yes they got off the taxi at the Plaza and walked up towards campus. Next time I see them I will campus security on them for killing my fantasy before it even began.

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What colour is the wind?

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Trying to sit down and draft my blog post would seem easy enough… but every time I sat down to brainstorm, it ended up being a storm without much brain. I found myself breaking out into song like a teenage girl with her song book, singing her heart out while lying next to the tape recorder (this was a time before CD players) with her song book. Why you ask? Simple, every time I thought of the colour of the wind, my mind would be transported to my early childhood where I was mesmerised by a certain animated movie, that movie was called Pocahontas (yes I know what you’re thinking… and yes I watched it and I yes enjoyed it), the scene which I refer to in the movie is when Pocahontas breaks out into song and sings about the colours of the wind and if Captain Smith can paint with all the colours of the wind.

For those of you who still keep your song book and want the lyrics: http://artists.letssingit.com/pocahontas-lyrics-colors-of-the-wind-c4v35rq

Ok eyes on the prize (almost started singing again), finally I can sit down and draft this post. Sometime last week one of my class mates posted on twitter “Does the wind really have a colour” so I replied saying “yes it does have a colour, it’s whatever colour your imagination sees fit.”  Then I started thinking about it and I realised how sad it is that, in growing up we lose those core characteristics that eventually make us who we are (our imagination). I know if you asked any kid that question they would answer you straight away with that unwavering confidence…” yes, it has a colour it is (insert colour/s).” This is the moment as adults we laugh and call them cute and silly.

Are they being silly? Or just making use of the gift that we have all neglected in our adulthood, for fear of criticism by our peers for being immature and childish. It’s good to see that not all of us lose that inner child and make use of that talent (Dr Seuss) who still make use of phrases like “Green eggs and Ham”. God forbid I use my imagination and see the world as more than just a 1 dimensional sphere, and think out of the box… wait forget thinking out the box! Just throw the box away and be a kid again. Maybe that’s why there is so much animosity and hate in the world, our lives are filled with stats and figures and hating each other, we don’t take time to stop and smell the roses or paint with all the colours of the wind.

I know what colour the wind is do you?

Video available on http://www.youtube.com