Sunday, September 28, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
A letter to my younger self
(370 words)
By: Nyeleti Machovani
Dear Michelle
The grapevine has it that you have been reminiscing about the good days of olden times. Get your head out of the sand! How are you old friend? It has been a while! I guess life doesn’t stop for memories. It makes them along the way with progression. Rhodes is a blast ‘Chelle, but I will attest- first year is a shocker! Fill in your application and join me in this crazy world.. This is not high school and bonding with your books is a relationship you can’t break off from. Exams are around the corner; denial will not get us anywhere. I think the fact that I’ve stopped running from this reality shows an inch of maturity. Its funny how we would day dream under that marula tree, imagining a ‘top billing’ life and how one truly starts living in university. Oh, life certainly happens; amidst the drinking and partying. Bask in your new found impending freedom, but let me remind you ‘Chelle that degree will not say: Honours in clubbing. Trust me. Varsity and studying- I know, I mentioned the dreaded word. Yes...say it with me...“studying”, the two exist in symbiosis. Don’t say I never warned you.
We had good times didn’t we? Life was so carefree! I can’t stop smiling when I think back to the shenanigans we would get up to. But we were dreamers’ u and I. I still remember how my dad’s hair would turn grey every time he saw the phone bill. The hours spent talking about corporate ladders and power suites driven by imported power steering German sedans. It all starts somewhere. That dream. But it should not end there. Mrs Leigh always said girls don’t sweat. They glow. So never stop dreaming, but remember to glow your way to success. It begins with initiating a long term relationship with your pen, textbook and neon highlighter.
That pot of gold at the end of the rainbow has our names on it. The path is carved and the journey awaits you. Prepare while others are day dreaming and study while others are sleeping. I’ll see you at the end of that indigo coloured rainbow stripe and we’ll soar together to an indigo sky.
Love, your good old friend
(370 words)
By: Nyeleti Machovani
Dear Michelle
The grapevine has it that you have been reminiscing about the good days of olden times. Get your head out of the sand! How are you old friend? It has been a while! I guess life doesn’t stop for memories. It makes them along the way with progression. Rhodes is a blast ‘Chelle, but I will attest- first year is a shocker! Fill in your application and join me in this crazy world.. This is not high school and bonding with your books is a relationship you can’t break off from. Exams are around the corner; denial will not get us anywhere. I think the fact that I’ve stopped running from this reality shows an inch of maturity. Its funny how we would day dream under that marula tree, imagining a ‘top billing’ life and how one truly starts living in university. Oh, life certainly happens; amidst the drinking and partying. Bask in your new found impending freedom, but let me remind you ‘Chelle that degree will not say: Honours in clubbing. Trust me. Varsity and studying- I know, I mentioned the dreaded word. Yes...say it with me...“studying”, the two exist in symbiosis. Don’t say I never warned you.
We had good times didn’t we? Life was so carefree! I can’t stop smiling when I think back to the shenanigans we would get up to. But we were dreamers’ u and I. I still remember how my dad’s hair would turn grey every time he saw the phone bill. The hours spent talking about corporate ladders and power suites driven by imported power steering German sedans. It all starts somewhere. That dream. But it should not end there. Mrs Leigh always said girls don’t sweat. They glow. So never stop dreaming, but remember to glow your way to success. It begins with initiating a long term relationship with your pen, textbook and neon highlighter.
That pot of gold at the end of the rainbow has our names on it. The path is carved and the journey awaits you. Prepare while others are day dreaming and study while others are sleeping. I’ll see you at the end of that indigo coloured rainbow stripe and we’ll soar together to an indigo sky.
Love, your good old friend
Dearest Cim, if you only knew then what you know now...
Dearest Cim
I know how excited you must be for the year ahead and yes, I know your little secret about the reason behind choosing Rhodes; I think your dad does as well. There are three main things I would like to call your attention to and if you are able to heed my advice on these three topics, I think you will find first year less of a battle ground and more of an “opportunity to grow”. By the way, nice line for the parentals although, yet again, I hardly believe that dad is that gullible… I think he might suspect that “opportunity to grow” translates perfectly to “I heart Christopher forever”.
Firstly and most importantly, I know you love Chris. Eventually he will know as well, but it is imperative that you maintain a sense of the relationship from a more logical and mature perspective or it will become the main repetitive volcanic eruption throughout the year. It is going to be a bumpy ride but ride the wave, you may find that after various “Oh my soul, life is no longer worth living” moments, you will actually live through it and actually learn something. Stick it out and think before you tantrum, as you may learn in anger management later on this year, you don’t throw the tantrum, it throws you. Chris is just a bit on the slow side, eventually he will realise, as will you. Keep calm and stay focused on the things that matter, like your own happiness, not everyone else’s.
Secondly, just say no. Cimone, you can be such an idiot sometimes. Don’t disappoint yourself by getting involved with stupid things you know you should stay away from. You might think that you are a party veteran, trust me, you will discover a whole new extreme within yourself which will push you to the breaking point physically. It is really not worth it. Neither are the numerous car accidents you will have when you “thought you were okay to drive” but then you weren’t. Be mature for once in your life and realise that after all these years, dad, yet again was right. There truly is no happy medium for you. Well now would be the time to find one or you might just discover that sharing a beer with a homeless man on the side walk is really not as far out of your league as you might have previously thought. So to sum it up, everything in moderation except for drugs of course which really will mess you around – keep that defiant head of yours, it really will come in handy this year.
Finally and ironically this encapsulates the above two issues. A simple question to help explain; what do you get when you take a severely agro Cimone and add an idiot boyfriend and about two six packs? Yeah, I thought so. Both of the above, Christopher and alcohol abuse will lead to your ultimate break down. It really is not as serious as you think it is.
As usual, you will probably spend the year being as high-strung as ever. I would like to suggest yoga? Be happy, it is not half bad. Get up every morning and attempt a lecture or two, if not do the things that make you happy like midnight flower stealing sprees with friends. It really does work out in the end.
Love from a much more high-strung and maybe slightly more mature
Cimone
I know how excited you must be for the year ahead and yes, I know your little secret about the reason behind choosing Rhodes; I think your dad does as well. There are three main things I would like to call your attention to and if you are able to heed my advice on these three topics, I think you will find first year less of a battle ground and more of an “opportunity to grow”. By the way, nice line for the parentals although, yet again, I hardly believe that dad is that gullible… I think he might suspect that “opportunity to grow” translates perfectly to “I heart Christopher forever”.
Firstly and most importantly, I know you love Chris. Eventually he will know as well, but it is imperative that you maintain a sense of the relationship from a more logical and mature perspective or it will become the main repetitive volcanic eruption throughout the year. It is going to be a bumpy ride but ride the wave, you may find that after various “Oh my soul, life is no longer worth living” moments, you will actually live through it and actually learn something. Stick it out and think before you tantrum, as you may learn in anger management later on this year, you don’t throw the tantrum, it throws you. Chris is just a bit on the slow side, eventually he will realise, as will you. Keep calm and stay focused on the things that matter, like your own happiness, not everyone else’s.
Secondly, just say no. Cimone, you can be such an idiot sometimes. Don’t disappoint yourself by getting involved with stupid things you know you should stay away from. You might think that you are a party veteran, trust me, you will discover a whole new extreme within yourself which will push you to the breaking point physically. It is really not worth it. Neither are the numerous car accidents you will have when you “thought you were okay to drive” but then you weren’t. Be mature for once in your life and realise that after all these years, dad, yet again was right. There truly is no happy medium for you. Well now would be the time to find one or you might just discover that sharing a beer with a homeless man on the side walk is really not as far out of your league as you might have previously thought. So to sum it up, everything in moderation except for drugs of course which really will mess you around – keep that defiant head of yours, it really will come in handy this year.
Finally and ironically this encapsulates the above two issues. A simple question to help explain; what do you get when you take a severely agro Cimone and add an idiot boyfriend and about two six packs? Yeah, I thought so. Both of the above, Christopher and alcohol abuse will lead to your ultimate break down. It really is not as serious as you think it is.
As usual, you will probably spend the year being as high-strung as ever. I would like to suggest yoga? Be happy, it is not half bad. Get up every morning and attempt a lecture or two, if not do the things that make you happy like midnight flower stealing sprees with friends. It really does work out in the end.
Love from a much more high-strung and maybe slightly more mature
Cimone
"If you want it, come and get it, for crying out loud"
A letter to my younger, more naive, self.
Dearest Plakkie
Fitting all that I would like to tell you in one letter would be like squeezing on a pair of your “thin jeans” when you were 10. Impossible.
It is nearly the beginning of a prospective new adventure. Prepare yourself for sensory overloads, all nighters, copious amounts of coffee, junk food, life changing conversations and an initial acute awareness of yourself and your surroundings, which will give way to that rollercoaster we call life, and more personally, your unique first year experience.
All your trepidation about the “small town bubble” factor of growing up in Grahamstown and coming to Rhodes is appeased by the fact, (albeit Grahamstownian advocators) cliché that the experience is refreshingly different. No longer feel claustrophobic.
If the occasional mild cabin fever sets in, take yourself back to the train ride, David Gray’s “Babylon” streaming through your Ipod, afternoon sun on your face and blue sky above you. The epiphanic moment when striving to become a journalist became part of your being. You’ll feel a lot better.
You won’t steal your parents’ car to go clubbing at EQ and get caught. Your drunkenness won’t leave RAFSOC in the red. No fun, you think? On the contrary my friend.
If first year is like a circus, your forte is that of juggler extraordinaire. Time, there never seems to be enough. Know when to catch the ball, and to next throw it in the air, balancing work and play.
The key to becoming a master juggler, and a successful one at that, is if you can look back and say “I pulled that off – really well”.
One day you will learn how to work hard and party smart – all without severe negative consequence (mild hangovers excluded, the remedy for which is Cream Soda – a gift from the gods). Until then, revel in the fact that you’re young, passionate and driven – chin up, head on your shoulders. Now, fly.
Good karma heading your way.
All my love,
Moi
Fitting all that I would like to tell you in one letter would be like squeezing on a pair of your “thin jeans” when you were 10. Impossible.
It is nearly the beginning of a prospective new adventure. Prepare yourself for sensory overloads, all nighters, copious amounts of coffee, junk food, life changing conversations and an initial acute awareness of yourself and your surroundings, which will give way to that rollercoaster we call life, and more personally, your unique first year experience.
All your trepidation about the “small town bubble” factor of growing up in Grahamstown and coming to Rhodes is appeased by the fact, (albeit Grahamstownian advocators) cliché that the experience is refreshingly different. No longer feel claustrophobic.
If the occasional mild cabin fever sets in, take yourself back to the train ride, David Gray’s “Babylon” streaming through your Ipod, afternoon sun on your face and blue sky above you. The epiphanic moment when striving to become a journalist became part of your being. You’ll feel a lot better.
You won’t steal your parents’ car to go clubbing at EQ and get caught. Your drunkenness won’t leave RAFSOC in the red. No fun, you think? On the contrary my friend.
If first year is like a circus, your forte is that of juggler extraordinaire. Time, there never seems to be enough. Know when to catch the ball, and to next throw it in the air, balancing work and play.
The key to becoming a master juggler, and a successful one at that, is if you can look back and say “I pulled that off – really well”.
One day you will learn how to work hard and party smart – all without severe negative consequence (mild hangovers excluded, the remedy for which is Cream Soda – a gift from the gods). Until then, revel in the fact that you’re young, passionate and driven – chin up, head on your shoulders. Now, fly.
Good karma heading your way.
All my love,
Moi
P.S. Check out David Gray's video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDh1x38osHs
Thursday, September 25, 2008
A letter to my younger self
My dear other half
It has been a really rough couple of years hey! You’ve had to deal with your parents’ mistrust and their over protectiveness. Oh, and you know you can’t forget the time that your innocence got snatched away from you…
Now that you are in Matric, I need to warn you about certain university encounters. You won’t find this kind of information in the university information booklets. You have just started partying and drinking, but I can tell you now that parting in Grahamstown really sucks!
There is one major aspect that I know you would really want me to advise you on: Overwhelming Change.
Obviously you know that you need to grow as an individual and that change needs to happen but, it’s extremely overwhelming at Rhodes! Ok fine, it’s like Louis Trichardt but damn girl… it’s only one campus and the people here are just so… weird. The workload is hectic and then they give you tut work on top of all the assignments. Oh and the best part is that they make tut work essential for your DP purposes, which allows you to write exams, how ridiculous! The Grahamstown environment can be perfect if you will really focus on studying but knowing you, you’ll want to explore instead.
So now you’re wondering what to do huh?
Well… Firstly you need to breathe! Secondly, you need to prepare yourself for hard work. It’s really hard to get grounded and to find yourself at Rhodes but you know what sweetie, you are a strong, beautiful young woman with an amazing personality and I know that you’ll overcome all the challenges. Oh and by the way, you don’t need a guy in Grahamstown because you are happy with Mulalo!
Best of luck with your Matric exams, I know you’ll pull through!
From your loving and caring other half
It has been a really rough couple of years hey! You’ve had to deal with your parents’ mistrust and their over protectiveness. Oh, and you know you can’t forget the time that your innocence got snatched away from you…
Now that you are in Matric, I need to warn you about certain university encounters. You won’t find this kind of information in the university information booklets. You have just started partying and drinking, but I can tell you now that parting in Grahamstown really sucks!
There is one major aspect that I know you would really want me to advise you on: Overwhelming Change.
Obviously you know that you need to grow as an individual and that change needs to happen but, it’s extremely overwhelming at Rhodes! Ok fine, it’s like Louis Trichardt but damn girl… it’s only one campus and the people here are just so… weird. The workload is hectic and then they give you tut work on top of all the assignments. Oh and the best part is that they make tut work essential for your DP purposes, which allows you to write exams, how ridiculous! The Grahamstown environment can be perfect if you will really focus on studying but knowing you, you’ll want to explore instead.
So now you’re wondering what to do huh?
Well… Firstly you need to breathe! Secondly, you need to prepare yourself for hard work. It’s really hard to get grounded and to find yourself at Rhodes but you know what sweetie, you are a strong, beautiful young woman with an amazing personality and I know that you’ll overcome all the challenges. Oh and by the way, you don’t need a guy in Grahamstown because you are happy with Mulalo!
Best of luck with your Matric exams, I know you’ll pull through!
From your loving and caring other half
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