Share Your World – Week 10

March 12, 2015March 12, 2015Vonita 4 Comments

When you lose electricity in a storm, do you light the candles or turn on the flashlight? How many of each do you own?
I light all the candles I can find. I love candles. My son will fetch a flashlight. I don’t own any flashlights. But my children and husband own a few between them.

You are given $5,000 and the chance to exchange it for one of two envelopes. One envelope contains $50,000 and one contains $500. Do you make the trade? Why or why not?
At the moment I am not working. So could use $5000 more than $500, so would probably say thank you for the $5000. When I am working and have cash to spare, I would risk the $5000 for $50000. And would then book a family holiday to the US 🙂

What’s your first memory?
Playing with my sister, and my dad returning (or leaving) for an army camp.

What do you do if you can’t sleep at night? Do you count sheep, toss and turn, or get up and try to do something?
This happens every night if I go to bed before 11:30pm. I wake up between 2 and 3am and make tea. I read the Daily Prompt and then sleep on it till the morning.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
I’m grateful that my BFF and I found our way out the bush this morning (I call it a forest, but apparently it is called the bush). I have shared a photo from this morning. We can walk there from my home. We got lost and took three hours to get back. Exercise done!

I am looking forward to practicing pilates in the coming week. Very (very) glad for extra time on my hands.

Thank you for reading!

And for all your wonderful encouragement 🙂

Share Your World – 2015 Week #10

Good and Bad

March 7, 2015March 8, 2015 17 Comments

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “I Have Confidence in Me.”

There are a few things I am good at. I was good at mathematics at school. I loved it. I completed two years of math major at university, and received a degree in Computational & Applied Math. I love helping my children with their math homework. I love the numbers and patterns. I am a pattern type of person.

I am good at Application Development. But I am not confident. There is always something that has the power to trip me up. I have struggled with a few things when trying to integrate different systems. My husband can solve any problem. If you give my husband a problem he will solve it. I do not have that level of confidence. And it causes me a lot of stress and insecurity. I never considered myself a right-brained person. But perhaps I am, and that is why I stuggle so much with feelings of confidence. Currently I am on a sabbatical from work until the end of April. To have more time with my children, and to finish my book (it’s finished, hence my increased postings!)

I was terrible at languages at school. My language grades were always the lowest. With math the answer would be right or wrong. With literature I would have to guess what the poet meant when the poem was written. I hated having to decipher hidden meanings. Not my style. So I try and write simply. I lost all my confidence on a One-day poetry workshop. The more I learn about writing the less it makes me want to write. So decided in September I would write purely to comfort myself and to make myself happy. And am willing to share what I write. No more pressure than that.

Thank you for reading!

Birthday

March 1, 2015March 1, 2015 11 Comments

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Plead the Fifth.”

What question do I hate to be asked?

When is my birthday?

Because I have two.
The day on which I was born (25th April)
And the day on which all my paperwork is recorded (24th April)

I celebrate on the 24th *because that’s what all my documentation says*

But as my mother would remind me every year, she gave birth to me and it happened on the 25th.

Confused, much?

Breakfast in Bed

February 28, 2015February 28, 2015 13 Comments

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Me Time.”

Every Saturday morning I read in bed. It is my time to read. I used to read a South African magazine called YOU (on my iPad because I can’t buy them in Sydney).

But now I read the Daily Prompt writers. With limited time I am not always able to read the other Daily Prompters, and my WordPress reader is filled with poetry. So Saturday morning is now reserved for Daily Prompt.

My very kind husband makes me tea when I wake up. My father used to bring me tea in bed every morning when I was a child. And when I married, my husband started doing the same. And then a short while later he makes Cappucino coffee for both of us. I am spoilt!

Thank you for reading!

P.S I am on AEST, so am already on Sunday morning

Passion

February 20, 2015February 21, 2015Vonita 9 Comments

I have spent some time with my Year 4 teacher. Year 4 was my fourth year of school. It is the year I turned 10. My teacher is visiting Sydney with her best friend, who is the mother of a South African friend of mine. Her best friend is also a teacher, and taught my sister. I am reminded of how small this world is. It is surreal to spend time with someone from my life thirty years ago. And once one gets past the exterior change, the mannerisms of that person are still the same. The essence of one does not change.

I had a passing thought. Remember 1984? Oh. Yes, I remember sitting in the classroom. I remember my teacher reading us The Enchanted Wood. I had already read it a few times myself. I liked my teacher then. And I like her now.

And then I remember 1984. That was the year I wished to die. That was the year I experienced anger and wrath. And I felt fear. My life changed that year. And my fear would stay with me. It would influence my choice of husband. The way I live my life.

My daughter is nine today. It is her birthday. I do not believe she has ever felt fear. She is confident and passionate and sure of herself. I grew up hiding and scared and reserved. It is only through writing that I have found that I am as passionate as my daughter is. When I get past the fear and reserve that I carry as part of me, there is passion.

500 Posts

February 19, 2015Vonita 31 Comments

Thank you for supporting my writing
From the very first post when my blog was not yet
Passion through Poetry, but merely a place for me
To move towards the light, to now, where I have
Written about life, and love, and peace, and all
Those thoughts that fill my mind every day

Thank you!

When all around is calm
And all you know is night
Feel the hope within
And move towards the light

When sadness overwhelms
And you have lost your sight
A few gentle steps
Moving towards the light

Memory Lane

February 10, 2015February 10, 2015 Leave a comment

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “The Transporter.”

I couldn’t choose between
Who’s the Boss and Three’s Company,
Family Ties or Charles in Charge
So found them all
(Throw in some banana yoghurt and
Milk in glass bottles)

And for a real trip down memory lane
Guess who is in town?
My Year 4 teacher (when I was ten)
Am seeing her tomorrow-
Thirty years later!

Review: Kingsman: The Secret Service

February 10, 2015February 10, 2015 4 Comments

So this is what I did today, and here is a review matching my own thoughts (without having to rewrite it myself, bonus) 🙂

Widow's Lure

I’ve paid to see this movie twice already so I should have a pretty clear idea of my reaction to it.

Before I begin this review, I’d just like to point out that last night and last Saturday night, I did the exact same thing: ate two lots of spring rolls and chocolate cake at Sushi Bay, and then watched Kingsman: The Secret Service, in that very order. The only difference is last night I was by myself. It wasn’t even out of choice either. Can you say bizarro?

Enough about my stellar social life… Kingsman: The Secret Service is a new British film starring Colin Firth, Samuel Jackson, Michael Caine and Taron Frotherton… oh I mean Egerton. The film puts Egerton in the role of Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (because we all know someone with the nickname Eggsy), a young charming-yet-aggressive Brit who is thrust into a world of…

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Wind up his back

February 8, 2015February 8, 2015Vonita Leave a comment

Reaching Meadow Lane is authored by a friend of mine in Johannesburg. Amazing the situations others go through without saying a word about it at the time. Fascinating reading, and I had no idea of her experiences when we were in close contact. (Apart from being too caught up in my own experiences at the time).

Life Since You

How it was ever possible? No matter which cinema in the whole of South Africa; no matter which movie was booked, the Mad Man would choose and book the only broken chair! How is that ever conceivable? Yet, as a honorable husband, he would deem it necessary that we swap chairs because you have to make your wife sit on a broken chair during the duration of a movie. To this day, I recall only one occasion in which the chair was genuinely broken. Just as we would move multiple times in a restaurant while having coffee, we too, would move multiple times in a cinema to find the best position on a functioning chair. Adding this complexity, the Mad Man would insist that the wind, coming from somewhere, would be traveling up his back and making him cold. Why is it then that I could never feel this wind?…