Sydney

March 19, 2015March 19, 2015 12 Comments

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “We Built This City.”

Sydney is a safe country, I would say relatively to anywhere in the world, and especially compared to my home. That is the biggest aspect most South Africans would agree on when arriving in Australia. It feels so safe! No looking over your shoulder at all times, and fearing for your life, because today might be the day you might be carjacked and raped and murdered (no joke).

There are no hawkers on the street. It took a while to get used to not seeing hawkers selling their wares at every intersection.

There are many beautiful advantages living in Sydney. There are plenty of parks. We can walk to about four or five different parks from where we live. In Johannesburg there were NO parks nearby to where we lived. There were only restaurants that may have a kids play area. But then you would have to eat something.

And it was and still is a big novelty to park my car on the street to catch the city bus. My car was stolen on a suburban Johannesburg street in 2000. I had left it to visit someone for an hour. In that time my car was gone. Now I leave it for the whole day on a suburban street and it is still there when I return.

We are able to walk to our children’s school. It is about a seven minute walk. I love being able to walk to the school. Except this year my son has started to leave earlier and walk by himself. It saddens me when I think of my children slipping out my fingers. My son’s goal is to be taller than his mother. He measures himself against me every day, hoping that this might be the day he might be taller than me. He reaches to about my eyes now. No, my boy, you still have a while to grow!

If I had to change anything about Sydney I would change house prices. Property in Sydney is exorbitantly high.

And I would add more public transport. Standing on a bus to the city and back is never any fun. But great that there is a bus to catch.

Sydney is a great place to live. I feel safe, and very privileged that my family and I can live here.

Sneak Preview!

March 17, 2015March 17, 2015Vonita 37 Comments

For those readers who may have been following my blog over the few months since September, you will know that I have been compiling a book that is my heart’s passion. The POD version is still a few weeks away, so as a Sneak Preview to my readers, I am offering the book in PDF format available from Gumroad, and listed under my Bookshelf Page.

Apologies to all our Friendship Tree poets, the editors have removed ALL referenced writing including the Friendship Tree. When I receive the EBook version in the next few days, I will be offering complimentary copies to the Friendship Tree poets and other previously referenced poets.

More about my book, it contains a few of my more popular posts, and a whole heap of exclusive writing, compiled to form a story of inspiration (based loosely on my life experiences). The design has been done by a dear friend of mine, the talented and beautiful Elizabeth Ferraris from Visible Ink design. We will be working on future collaborations together, including my second poetry book which is now underway.

If anyone would like to leave their thoughts on the content – I am welcoming comments on my Bookshelf page which can be found here: https://movingtowardsthelight.com/bookshelf/

Thank you so much!

Vonita.
❤

Share Your World – Week 11

March 17, 2015March 17, 2015Vonita 8 Comments

List 2 things you have to be happy about?
I can touch type. Touch-typing makes me really happy. Especially when I type poetry.

I am on still on sabbatical.

Do you prefer ketchup or mustard or mayonnaise?
Ketchup, except where I come from (southern hemisphere lovin’ gal), we call it “Tomato Sauce”.

If you were to paint a picture of your childhood, what colors would you use?
Blue. Because I always wore blue, and my sister wore red matching outfits when we were growing up. And I had blue eyes, the only one out of a brown-eyed family. For some reason (which I only realized once I had a daughter myself), is that my mother never dressed me in hand-me-downs. My sister and I were always dressed in matching outfits of different colours. I would love to speak to my mother about it now, but it never occurred to me while she was alive.

Do you prefer a bath or shower?
Bath at night, shower in the morning.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up
Last week I got lost in the bush and found my way home. That is always good.
I’m looking forward to a cricket match in the Cricket World Cup tomorrow night right here in Sydney—South Africa vs Sri Lanka. And guess what? I have tickets! (And for those of you who watch baseball, I ain’t never seen a game of baseball, except those shown in Hollywood movies!)

Pop trivia: the South African flag (land of my birth) is sixth from the right in the image below, and the Australian flag (adopted home) is fifth from the left.

Thank you for reading!

❤

Share Your World – 2015 Week #11

The Daily Prompt Alternative – First Job

March 12, 2015March 12, 2015Vonita 2 Comments

What impact did your first job have on you?
I started my first job on the 2 January 1996. I was placed in a business team, which was not the correct team for my skills. I had completed a technical degree, and would have been better placed in a technical position. My mother passed away suddenly in the April of that year. I decided to leave at the end of July, and joined a small software team as a developer coding in C.

What made the best job you’ve ever had better than the others?
Having a four-day job is wonderful. Apart from that, the team I joined after leaving IBM was really great. Good friends and work. It wasn’t to last though, the division was closed a year and a half later and we were all made redundant.

Did you have a job fall short of your expectations (or, how did you fall short of your employer’s expectations?)
Between March 2000 and September 2000 I joined a startup with colleagues from the company mentioned above. It was a disaster. Very stressful and working around the clock. I eventually left and went back to my job I left before joining the startup. Thank you to my manager who offered my role back to me. As an aside, I currently work for the same company now except in different countries. My husband (whom I hadn’t met as yet) had replaced me in the six months I was away, and I met him on my return 🙂

Thank you for reading!

Daily Prompt Alternative

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

Too Big To Fail

March 10, 2015Vonita 4 Comments

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/too-big-to-fail/

If I was guaranteed not to fail
I would become a professional poet
And write poetry for all my photography

I Can’t Even Deal

March 9, 2015March 9, 2015Vonita 13 Comments

A popular columnist in Sydney will write that “she can’t even deal”. Translation: something has happened that is so profound or obscure or unexpected that she can’t even acknowledge what has happened. As in, it is beyond belief, there are no words.

Well, this evening (my time in Sydney), I can say that “I can’t even deal”. Because I have sent correctly formatted (according to the spec received) Adobe inDesign files through to a publisher for publishing, and they have come back for sign off totally different to what I sent through. So all I can say to this is, I can’t even deal!

Which means, I have a low res PDF version of a book, all the files correctly formatted and designed to create the book, but I Still don’t have a book!

And as my late mother would say if she were here – it begs the question, how hard can it possibly be?

THANK YOU for reading!

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!

Circle of Five

March 2, 2015 2 Comments

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Circle of Five.”

If I had to be the average of five people I would choose:

My husband for his kindness
My daughter for her passion
My son for empathy beyond his years
My mother-in-law who has sadly passed away, whose company I enjoyed greatly, and who accepted me as a daughter
And myself for authenticity, because who else can be me, but me?
And that makes five!

Thank you for reading!