Shoots of Life

Hey hey. Go have a look at my photo blog if you like photography. Wait, now that I say this I suddenly feel very vain. Oh well go check out my stuff. Basically it's all strategy so that I have more to write on the application form for JMS 3. What? Time is money. And the sooner I start the better.


This years portfolio was about as empty as a Rhodents bottle of Crackling. It was an exercise in 'ego demolishment'. While standing waiting for the over worked Jac Lab printers to spew my work out I snuck a few sneaky peaks at the others JMS 2 applications which were dribbling out. They were thick and full of extra articles and interesting work. Damn mine only had a silly certificate and an article I did for my vac work (although it was front page- beat that).


This whole porfolio business is really ridiculous. It should be based on marks and thats it. It is an act of cruel bias. One question they ask... are you differently abled... why does this matter? Its your brain that counts nothing else. This is an academic institution not a sports ground. Yes I sound mean but honestly, if they can put that on their form then can someone put that their mom died this year? It is exactly the same thing! In fact mom dying seems worse to me. It's just something that suck out its fat bruised thumb at me. No biggie. I don't know about you but I would rather know that I got in to JMS 2 because I will do the best job and have the skills to do it and not just because I have a dud leg.

But back to the main cause of my post... go have a look at my pics. Leave comments, constructive crits, anything really.

Loving and leaving, Mooks

Goodguy
Khayisa Matika

Trevor Kana grew up in Limpopo. Where he lives with both parents, he only has only one sister. Trevor loves eating, so it is no surprise that he wants to go grab a bite before we begin. He is pretty convinced that he’s ordinary, which is true but that’s what make’s him even more interesting.
He had to endure going to an Afrikaans school which he claims was hell but made up for it in the last three years. He is open about the fact that he really does not know where he is going in life but you can from the look in his eyes that this excites him. This boy does not fit in any where and he is cool with.
He has not done anything great because it is about the little things for me. That’s why he does volunteering work. Every Monday he goes to a centre where he plays with kids. His thinking process is what motivated the article. He has no hope for world peace because he believes that humans neglect the small things, such as simply greeting the person you passing by or even respecting your own parents. Perhaps hypocritically he still wants to save it. Before he dies he wants to do something big, something that will benefit many people and not just him.
Call it an auction but here is a guy who is a gentleman but is being overlooked. His wealth is not measured by material things, he took a semester on biology and whenever he refers to humans you can see it com through, as he went on to explain how miniature we are as humans in relations to life systems.
He had to overcome some difficulties such as starting to believe in himself which he only began doing recently. He really is just a drop in the ocean, but the sea does not seem as huge anymore. He had a rough first year, hung around the wrong crowd. He had to cut out a few people in his life but he still here.
“Walking around campus I only see a bunch of rich arrogant kids who know nothing about life” , from a boy who loves living the simple life and too conscious about the people around starving It’s a fair comment. Perhaps we all are sinking just no one is calling for help.

The Great Journey

Naive Fool,

Do you remember the day you decided to come to Rhodes and start studying to become a Politician and/or Journalist? Can you remember the feeling of elation and trepidation you got when you thought of being “free” from the bonds of parents and school, and finally making it in the world? The life you thought would be easier and more care-free is in reality the one that would push you to the brink of insanity.
Let me tell you, with all the wisdom acquired in hind-sight, you are in for a trial that will shake the very foundations of your life. You will be uprooted from the comfort of your family, pulled out from the midst of your friends, booted to the other side of the country and buried under a mountain of work that makes your matric seem like the easiest task in your life.
Shame, poor you, you still have to toil away and break through the metaphorical igneous rock that is education, whereas I have made it half-way through. Common sense would dictate that it will be all for the “greater good”, but common is not me, personally (and I know you will feel the same way, eventually) I think that there are other ways of viewing the world that make life a lot more interesting. That would put us in quite a paradoxical situation, because if common sense would have you go to Rhodes and study to become a proactive, sane member of society, and I, having done that, seem to be neither proactive or sane after having followed the “commonsense” route, would inadvertently make the norm insanity and otherwise not governed by commonsense, which seems quite contradictory to me.
I think this proves the theory that no matter how one might change the past, the future will always have the same outcome. Thus, my younger, innocent, naive, foolish self, enjoy your sanity while you still can because your destiny to become a ruler of the planet is inevitable. I know you will get this. It’s just some food for thought.

Till we speak again…
Your loving, insane future self.

Mature Adult? No Thanks!

Spring 2008

To the girl who never knew,

You have been on my mind a lot over the past few weeks. I’m generally not the type to worry, but lately you seem to be...secluded ...I know that you are busy at university but that is no reason to desert me. I feel as if you have been blasted into another realm – too far from the Land of Lauren.You have always been one to take your life seriously (especially your academic work) but you also always live by the motto – “Mature adult? No thanks!”. Do you remember the day we came home covered in a burning rash because we had been rolling down the grass banks by the river on the farm? Mom told us, in one of those “bad day at work” tones, to grow up and go do the laundry. We did the laundry but only after playing hide and seek in it for a while. I cannot believe that was only a year ago. How embarrassing I hear you say. Stop it! This year has taken something out of you and I want you to put it back!

I haven’t forgotten everything that you have gone through this year which might have made you a bit cautious in life. I’ve walked the thorns with you, remember? Mom still worries that you followed Stefan to Rhodes. She is probably right but that’s not what troubles me. You have lost the childlike freedom from your inhibitions. Now you worry about paying for next year’s fees and whether or not you are doing the right course and about what you are going to do when you are big. You have stopped imagining your endless possibilities like a child and instead have begun to focus on life’s mundane woes. Be careful.

I am warning you because the same thing happened to me. While my friends were out licking ice-cream off their noses I usually chose to stay back and work. This made me miserable. All work and no play, makes Jack a dull (and highly strung) boy. Without noticing it I got caught up in the responsible life and neglected the part that was telling me to slow down and stop stressing about the little things. I was disjointed and w as like a time bomb waiting to explode. I had let the intensity of university get to me.

Whether its love, hate, disappointment or success it’s all part of our life cycle but when we let it dictate our lives it becomes dangerous. When you arrive at university throw yourself into every opening that you can find. Be a child. Explore unknown territories, climb over jungle gyms of challenges and see how high your swing will go. Investigate everything you find and learn from your findings. It is the only way.

Take this warning my dear friend. I do not want you to be the girl who never knew that university would make her grow up too fast.

Eternal hugs, kisses and loving cautions.

Lauren

Some Good Advice From Foamy

Why is it that we always have to be ripped off by government? Why do we allow them to take our taxes and give it to these freshly graduated "experts" to run stupid experiments to tell us the obvious? Now I know you are probably going to say that it is due to the fact that all politicians have less creativity than amoeba on Saturn, and that may be true in most cases, but to be honest, the politicians who are actually martians in disguise are quite intelligent and diabolical. However, I found the perfect character, one of my closest friends actually who can provide even more insight into the matter... Everyone, wave your appendages in salute to FOAMY!

Zombies run the journ department!

Due to current radiation levels on campus, frequent siting of zombies at the Media Matrix has been reported.
The mastermind behind all this is non other than... well I'm not really at liberty to say, but I can tell you that it is a man. However, this seemingly happy man was kidnapped by aliens ten years ago and now is running their separate agenda to slowly put a vending machine in each common room.
Fellow Students, Unite against the terror that is filling our common rooms! First the common rooms,then the dining halls... it is madness!