As 2015 takes its first steps

I did one thing in 2014 that I have never done before: I resigned from my job.

There were many contributing factors that led to that decision, things like:

1. Consistent, constant over time with no payment for it
2. Working under immense pressure
3. Working on weekends and evenings became a regular occurrence
4. Always playing catch-up with my work, despite the long hours
5. Hitting the glass ceiling
6. The nature of the work
7. The tug and pull between corporate egos versus the work that actually needs to be done
8. Not doing my best writing because of tight time constraints

Now, with 2015 still taking it's first steps into a brave world, I have taken my first steps into a new job. It feels strange to be the 'newbie' again. It feels strange to befriend an entire new office. And it feels strange to be not-as-busy as I was in my old job.

And now that my weekends will not be occupied with work, I actually feel at a loss as to how to fill my time. Then again, I need to catch-up on my to-do list that has been getting longer and longer for the past year.

I also feel torn asunder from the year that was - emotionally and mentally. It feels like my job had dragged me under a tractor for kilometres on end. And that is not a very nice sensation at all!

I can only come to one conclusion: this is a year where I need to focus on myself. I need to use my time wisely to once again engage with activities that bring me joy: like writing, cooking, doing yoga, and giving expression to my creative side.

Cheers to 2015, and here's to me!

How scared are you?

Look at the calendar today...And you should realise it is Friday, the 13th. Cue spooks, ghouls and other creatures that haunt your nightmares and leave your spine frigid.  What scares you about today? Do tell!

Have a happy weekend everyone!

Whoop! Another Tim Burton movie!

I do so love the minds of movie maker Tim Burton and writer Neil Gaiman. Now, now, no need to judge. :)

I am thrilled to see another film release from Tim Burton. If you need a reminder, he did films like Alice in Wonderland, Edward Scissorhands and so on... The animation looks very much in the style of Corpse Bride, while it pays homage to the classic story of Frankenstein.

The story is about Viktor who looses his dog Sparky. But he manages to bring his beloved pet back to life again. And my word, I adore the quirky dark undertones.

Watch the trailer and lemme know what you think. If you cannot see it below, click on this link to take you to Yahoo movies.

Word cloud

I found this through Saaleha and I had to share it. Click on it to see the larger version.

I created this word cloud from words on my blog and it was much fun to do. Go to Tagxedo and do it yourself!

If I could shut my brain down for a bit, I would

Recently, I've been irritable, listless and needing some down time. Work wise, I have not really taken decent leave since April 2011 and you know what? I think I have reached the end of my tolerance threshold.

December was a crazy, and I mean an absolutely insane month, having taken on some responsibilities of a colleague who had resigned, plus having had new tasks added to that. Burnt-out and frustrated, that is what I am. I am also so annoyed by how companies everywhere are treating employees in this current economic climate - it is really not fair! It makes me want to punch many CEOs!

I have been fantasising about taking leave from my life, even if it is for a short while. Venture off to an adventure where I am anonymous and not accountable. Dangerous, I know. But what is a gal to do? S.O* and I are hoping to set a date for a wedding in March next year - the families will meet this Sunday to discuss it. Yeah, that is how my little ethnic community operates. Sigh. We want to get a house and make it into a home. I want to begin our life, under our roof and I cannot wait for that. Yet, me and marriage go together like wearing a bikini in a snow storm. I feel I am going against my very nature. (If you need to remember just how much I am against marriage, read this post.)

My dreams have also been vivid and downright odd. I've been waking up long before my alarm, recalling them perfectly, only to fall asleep and have the dreams fall through my memory. That makes me sad. I remember one dream could have been a great fictional story and now I cannot bloody remember it. I wish I could kick myself at times.

I have also been reading a lot less that what I usually do. This is not because I have a low supply of books. No, it is because I am too tired in the evenings! When I do read, I manage a few pages, before I realise I am not concentrating and the book is falling out of my hands. Another reason to kick myself!

This post perfectly reflects my state of mind: scattered, unfocused and downright grumpy.If you managed to read it till the end, a huge congratulations to you. Thanks for lending an eye to my venting session.

*S.O = Significant Other

Chocolate Monday: Week 2

Oh my word, this Monday is turning out to be annoying! Even though it is only 6:30am, the following has happened:

• The boom into my office parking lot did not open, after numerous attempts of inserting the access card. So I drove around the block again to speak to one of those attendants. "I will let my supervisor to meet you there," the idiot says. So I wait, and wait, and bloody wait some more. Eventually, I decided to park outside and walk up. Oh, I will have words with that parking office today! 
• The doors of the elevator refused to close. On the fifth attempt, they did though. The fifth attempt! 
• The milk in my cornflakes did not taste good at all. I had to spit it out and throw out my breakfast. I never really knew that Soy Milk can go bad...
• To top all of this off, I only got in about 4 hours sleep last night. I almost feel as if the universe is telling me that is is a day to stay under my duvet, where I can be safe from agitations. 

This Chocolate Monday oozes goodness. And I really need some of that to rub off onto me today. 

Chocolate Mondays have been created to banish Monday Blues, or at least lessen the sting of a new working week.  

A quote that grabbed me

I got this emailed to me today. It sorta sums up a lot about life, don't ya think?

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you CHOOSE."

- Dr Seuss -  

Just weird or epic fail?

M1 told me one of the most bizarre things I have heard in a while:
"Mr X bought for his home an ice cream making machine, can you believe it?! Should I worry? Not a toaster or coffee maker but an ice cream making machine! I got weird friends."
"Now he is all about how delicious they are...still don't get it why..."
"Like you wake up in the morning and say: right, let's get up and get that ice cream machine."

First of all: 

Is an ice cream making machine a necessity?

Second of all:

Is an ice cream making machine really necessary in a predominantly cold city like London? 

I got to admit, it does not make much sense in my mind. But who can resist a treat like ice cream! Anyway, you tell me your thoughts!

Merde! Damn! Hell! And every other profanity around!

There are times in your life when you really wish you could kick yourself. I have been having a few of those days. Reason being is that I am waking up before 5AM! I am not sure what the problem is, but I am not sleeping any earlier than usual so that certainly cannot account for the early rise into consciousness. And the worst part: I cannot fall back into slumber! So yeah, I have become my own worst enemy and even I cannot sort myself out. 

**whimpers and pleads to the Gods for help**

Do you believe?

I know it is nowhere near Christmas but this was much-too-darling NOT to share. I got it from here:
http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/



Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.



"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?


"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."



VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.



Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.



Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.



You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.



No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

On the 21st of August:

• A town was founded.  In 1760 the church of  "Our Lady of Candlemas of Mayagüez (Puerto Rico)" was formed, establishing the basis for the founding of the city.
• The British empire expanded. In 1770 James Cook claimed eastern Australia and named it New South Wales. 
• Freedom is fought for. In 1831 Nat Turner led a rebellion to free blacks from slavery in America.
• History is snatched! In 1911 the Mona Lisa is stolen by a Louvre employee! 
• Royalty celebrates! King Mohammed VI of Morocco has his birthday. Happy Birthday Your Majesty! 

Oh and this year I will also clock another year after my day of birth...and what a time to think, reflect, mope and perhaps even celebrate? Yes it is my party, and I can cry if I want to! **winks** 

Please note: above info sourced from Wikipedia 

Oh um, sigh....

A radio show helped me stroll down memory lane this morning. They played the theme songs to classics from them days: The Gummy Bears tune, the Duck Tales song, the Heman song and even the Knightrider theme! I am sure the guys sitting in the bakkie* in front of me, thought me a tad insane smiling the way I did!

But it reminded me of time that was much more simple, when you though being an adult was easy, when the hardest decision was whether to play with a doll or a teddy and which imaginary friend to invite over for the tea party. It made me wonder about life in general and whether there is sense in this madness... How do we know what our path is? Why don't we get answers to our questions? Should we be asking questions? Is it wrong to think the way you do? Why are some people such selfish, cruel beings? And is it okay to give up and curl under your duvet till you feel ready (enough) to face the world again? So many questions...all rhetorical...

Bakkie*: Afrikaans word for van or lorry.

Let them eat cake!

I like to scour around for treasures, my eyes constantly darting this way and that. It was a windy day and this little treasure found it's way into the S.O's driveway. Somehow it gave me a case of the very warm fuzzies. :)

'Tis true, magic is real!

A window on the University of Cape Town campus. It could be the gateway to another realm.

The buffet restaurant atop Table Mountain. Looks like a charming fairy cottage to me. 

The sky flushed with hues of lilac, orange and pink as the sun sets, with table mountain in the distance. The magicians of sky art no doubt hard at work here. 

I felt it, that sense of magic in Cape Town this Easter weekend. Yes, that flicker and spark of hope is ignited again. Yesssss!

All images copyright by Prixie

Just a lil sprinkle

Wishing everyone a bit of magic on this Easter weekend (and maybe a chocolate induced coma too).

'Tis Award Season!

Flying Stars awarded me the following badge:

**Thanks much!**  So to pass on the honour, I hereby grant the Rock Star Blogger Award to (in no particular order):

• Po
• Being Brazen and her book blog 
• Jo
• Mash 
• Manju
• Rah
• Saaleha
• Azra
• ChinkyMelGirl
• Killa
• The Artist and the Writer 

Your turn to pass it on! 

Help Haiti - yes you can!

Help them help Haiti! A fellow writer and soul mate (we call him Tramp) works at a South African organisation trying to do the following: 

A month after the earthquake and the island of Haiti is still short of supplies! South Africans are willing to help but don't know how. Thankfully, Masimanyane Women's Support Centre has come to the fore, giving us the chance to help resurrect the lives of Haitians.

Masimanyane is looking to collect items that contribute to the welfare of women and children who have been victims of rape and robbery in the last month. The organisation encourages each person to provide one item each. These include:

• Feminine supplies, combs, feminine wipes, panties, bras and clothes and other support (especially for pregnant women and new mothers).
• Personal/household supplies for birth delivery and after: (rubbing alcohol or disposable anti-germicidal substitutes; baby wipes, baby wraps, pampers, socks and caps and supplies for nursing mothers/newborn; (It is cold at nights so there is need to cover the feet and heads of the newborns).
• Clothing and under garments for women and young girls
• Bedding and blankets for babies and mothers.
• Urgent need for the morning after pill (rape of girls and young women is becoming a problem, as is common in the aftermath of most disasters).
• Any items that you think would be useful for women and girls.
• In general any supplies (such as toothpaste, tooth brushes, soaps, etc) that can be used for daily living for men, women, boys and girls are welcome. 

By getting your employees to contribute at least one item you will help better the lives of hundreds who are suffering. You may collect the items at your offices and Masimanyane will arrange to pick it up.
For more information please contact Yulinda Sharrock on 084 481 2195 or 043 743 9169.

More information is a click away:
Masimanyane Haiti Initiative

Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Had to share!

Happy 9.02.10 day! 

* Gulp * Makes me feel kinda old 

Some link love

Once upon a time, Being Brazen, a wonderful blogger from Cape Town decided to start a book club with a difference. We don't meet, we do not have to read the same books, we all do not reveal our true identities but it is just as satisfying as a conventional book club. Hmmm...somehow I know feel part of an underground super hero gangs, very Watchmen-esque. Closeted and open book lovers can find all the fantasy, action, thrillers and romance here: Being Brazen Books

My very first review for the club on Alice in Wonderland can be read now too!

And they all lived happily ever after, between the covers of books.

On Post Secret

These two secrets got my attention: 

Front 

Back