All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages
- Shakespeare
When I was little I had the idea that everybody's lives were plays that God had scripted before we were born or that the universe was just one big movie in which everybody that had ever lived or was ever going to live were characters. There are many characters in my life, some feature more than others and in turn I play a part in their lives however big or small. It is difficult talking about them on this blog because I write anonymously and I owe it to them to protect their privacy as well, especially since some of these characters are children. Therefore I have created aliases for them and before I continue with this blog I should probably introduce you to them all so you will know who I am talking about. Some of them are pretty simple like:
Mom- she's my Mom
Dad- he's my Dad
Sister- she is my younger sister
Go figure. I have a feeling somewhere on this blog I have mentioned my mothers name and she may have commented on some blogs as my mother with her real name but I have decided not to use her name in anyway from now on. Here the list of characters in my life:
Little B- those who have been reading my blog for a long time know that Little B is my second cousin and my Goddaughter. She is now eight years old.
Miss Muffet- this is Little B's youngest sister she is five years old and also my Goddaughter. She and Little B are extremely close.
Brown Eyed Girl- This is Little B's oldest sister. She will be fourteen in a few weeks
Mel- She is the mother of Little B, Miss Muffet and Brown Eyed Girl and my first cousin. My parents fostered her until she was about sixteen. She and I were very close growing up.
Karen- She is my best friend and lives in America. This girl saved my life and I miss her more than anything.
Big Sis- She sixteen years older than me and is my half sister from my Dad's second marriage. She and I were estranged for many years but now maintain a very distant relationship. I have been meaning to write a post about her for the longest time since I saw her for the first time in nine years last year.
Big Bro- He is thirteen years older than me and also from my Dad's second marriage. Big Bro was my hero growing up and is quite a character. Unfortunately he is very distant but he and I generally get on well whenever he decides to pop up in my life.
Surfer Girl- I had to decide between that and Skater Girl since she is both a surfer and a skateboarder but in the end went with the former because Skater Girl reminds me to much of Avril Lavgine. Ugh. Surfer Girl is the daughter of my mother's best friend of 40 years. She and I grew up literally as sisters. She is several years younger than me but is one of my best friends despite the fact that we have nothing in common and can bug the hell out of one another.
The Cat- A pretty tortoise shell cat that the previous owner also left and is currently residing in the dilapidated pool house. I am in the process of trying to make friends with her but given my track record with pets in recent years maybe she'd be better off in the pool house :/
F- Yep I wish I could add three more little letters after that first one, that way I will be able to describe how I feel about her. I will use this blog to work through a lot of issues that I have as the result of F and her minions in the past
Probably more characters will be added and taken off this list as time goes on. Let the show begin!.
I follow many blogs. Some are informational, some are funny, some fascinating, some are downright controversial...I like those the best :) As a result I come across many amazing and unbelievable stories. I am so thankful that I live in a world where technology allows me discover things about people and the world that I might have not known had I lived in another time.
Once in a while I come across a story so incredible that I spend days thinking about it. I have been spending a tranquil day at my sister's flat with her, my Mom and her house mate. During the course of the afternoon, my sister read us a post from a blog written by a twenty- six year old South African girl who has just been re-diagnosed with leukaemia for the third time. It doesn't take a smart person to figure out signs of battling this disease for a third time are not good. What makes this story all the more tragic is that she is the last surviving child of her parents. Her brother went missing a few years ago and her sister died during operation.
I admire this girl- her name is Lucille- not just for her bravery but because of her honesty. Having been a victim of a rather serious physical illness myself I remember the enormous pressure I felt to always be optimistic. To never show I was in pain or afraid because I feared hurting the people I loved. Lucille is full of hope, Lucille is brave and a beautiful person. But she knows that things are not okay, she is afraid and angry that life has dealt her and family this brutal card. She uses her blog write all of these feelings down and to express her love for her loved ones. She is not afraid to talk about what everyone is trying not talk about: the inevitable. There is a good chance she will die.
I encourage to read the blog of this beautiful girl, who's wisdom, bravery and honesty amaze. We all have problems both big and small, but once in a while I believe that we all need to be reminded to be thankful for what we've got and it is not the end of the world. I am including a post that was written straight from her heart to a friend she meet on Twitter.
Once upon a time in land far, far away..
Okay no, this is the tale of a story that happened, is happening right under
my nose every single day.
I used to think that friendship starts with a smile…
Reaching for the same
crayon…
Being on the same sports team…
Listening to the same
music…
Lifting as heavy as the other guy…
But this friendship started in an odd way, by a follow:
I followed right back, of course, he’s a CT Runner… ((again, 2 of my
favourite things))
We never said anything to each other, other than a few
random retweets and “Good Luck”‘s and of course I read every tweet of his about
his running journeys in the beautiful city of Cape Town. It wasn’t until
December last year when we both expressed our absolute dislike of broadcast
messages on bbm and how that guarantees a straight delete that I decided that I
could sure as pie get along with someone like that… This is the beginning, after
the beginning of this tale…
Matty,
It was right before Christmas 2011, while out at an end of year function
where you were drinking too much, uhm, let’s call it awesome juice… and your
typing absolutely sucked (keeping it real), but even though it looked something
like this “candrjoja ojdjroejodkj kdj” I still made out every word and answered
you like it was no big deal. I’m an expert in slurred typing :/ lol. It got to
a point where you could see you made no sense, and you quoted me this:
“Me Tarzan, You Jane”
and that was it – that moment right there, that was
the moment this friendship began.
I just remember us getting along really great,
talking about running and awesome things like the beach and Cape Town and I
thought you were absolutely great, and weird and a little bit insane – but you
laughed at my lame jokes and that has been absolutely priceless to me.
Me Tarzan, You Jane
You were even goofy, yep said it, enough to watch Tarzan “with” me, although
we’re 1405,3 km’s apart – made my soul happy that you’d do something so silly
for me.
On Thursday, 19 January I was rediagnosed with
Leukemia.
On that day I felt like my entire world fell apart, that everything
I was trying to achieve and build up to was never going to happen.
Matt, you
were one of the first people who I told the news to – which is insane, because I
have obvious trouble dealing with real things. I would much rather make jokes
and be lighthearted than admit I’m falling apart, but with you it was okay to
have this severe experience of being human…
I remember the first words you said to me after I
gave you the news was this: “It’s ok Lu, it’s ok” and then you sent me
the link to this song
The words in this song that struck me the most was
It’s okay. It’s
okay. It’s okay.Seasons are
changingAnd waves are
crashingAnd stars are falling all for
usDays grow longer and nights grow
shorterI can show you I’ll be the
one
I will never let you fall (let you fall)
I’ll
stand up with you forever
I’ll be there for you through it all (through it
all)
Even if saving you sends me to heaven
Matty, you haven’t let me fall. Not once. No
matter how tough treatment got, no matter what news I shared with you, you
always responded with the same “It’s ok Lu, it’s ok”. Somehow we have
this insane connection – I remember a few days after treatment started, as I was
having one of my just past 1am nausea attacks, without saying anything to you ~
you sent me a message telling me that everything will be okay. Ha! Coincidence?
Maybe. But this wasn’t the only time it happened, it has happened throughout.
When the rest of the world was telling me to get up, be strong and fight, you
told me that it was okay to be weak for a bit.
Never leaves my side
Matty, today was one of those hard days – one of those not so strong days.
Today I felt my body start to give in, piece by piece. Gosh a few times during
the night I wished, hoped to just be rid of the feeling. I’m ashamed to say, I
wanted it all to be over. I was ready to let go of life, but I kept strong, I
held on, because “It’s ok Lu, it’s ok”. Earlier when I woke up and
read your messages, I got these flashbacks from the day we met… I never told
you, but hugging you for the first time wasn’t weird or awkward at all – it felt
like hugging an old friend again. You made me laugh and smile and even that
night when I wasn’t feeling well you told me “It’s ok Lu, it’s ok” and
you took my hand and just held me. Magical moments, memories that keep me
strong. You went running for us tonight Matt, for your legs and my heart and
you took me beautiful pictures of the scenery of my, our Cape Town. I’m good
with words, but the feelings spilling over my cheeks as the tears leave my eyes
is the best way to describe how I feel about this gesture. It felt like I was
right there with you, only in my mind we’re running that route but sweating
heavily and smiling, not crying.
There are no guarantees in life, but Matty, you’ve made me see that it
doesn’t matter how many times my stupid pride tries to push you away – you’ll
stay.
Thank you for being a shoulder I can soak with my tears, thank you for
fighting away my fears. Thank you for making me smile, no matter how much life
gets me down. Thank you for making me live this magical friendship fairy tale
every day!!
Sometimes a hero isn’t the person who will run into burning buildings or
shield you from danger – sometimes a hero is the person who will stand beside
you, hold your hand and whisper quietly“It’s ok Lu, it’s ok” . Matty,
you’re my hero.
If I can’t hold on long enough to be your friend always, I need to say to
you: It’s okay Matty, it’s okay… You know…
Borrowing the catch- phrase of Professor Farnsworth from Futurama, I have some good news. I went to hospital to have a check up for my BIH at the neurology department. They looked at history of intercranial pressure taken at each lumbar puncture/ spinal tap I have had and saw that it has slowly been decreasing over the last 2 and a half years. I also have not been getting many headaches lately and they say the headaches I have been getting are tension headaches. Based on my history and how I have been doing the last six months, they believe the BIH has resolved itself and that I am well enough to go off my medication. This is VERY good news because the medication I was on for BIH had some horrible side effects and I was pretty sure it was interacting with my antidepressants. The only way to see if the BIH is gone is to take me off the meds. SO no more painful pins and needles in my hands and feet, no more fatigue, no more nausea and no more having to pee 75 times a day!. Yipeee!!! Let's just hold thumbs and hope that it is gone.
And my second bit of good news is that I have a job interview on Friday for a PA/ Junior Journalist position at a Christian magazine. I didn't deliberately apply for a job at a Christian magazine, it just came up. I had to send in samples of my writing. One of the samples was "10 Unusual degrees" from this blog. Obviously I changed it and spruced it up a little.I had to do the Myers- Briggs Personality test and answer all these questions about my commitment to Christianity etc before even getting invited to the interview. I have studied the Myer- Briggs closely during the course of my degree so I know how it works and could easily have cheated on it. But since I want to work for a company that I actually fit into, I didn't. I was a surprised and a little offended with the questions about Christianity since I see that as very personal but answered them as honestly as I could ( I didn't go as far as to tell them I was an atheist for several years). Because of the answers I gave, I really didn't expect a call back.
As I haven't gotten the job yet and I will have to answer some tough questions in the interview (I don't have a SA drivers license/ what exactly have I being doing the last four years) I not exactly celebrating. But I got an interview so at least that is some achievement for now. I will be nervous on Friday, it's the first job interview I have had since living in America and I am facing a lot of competition. I need to convince them that I can both study and work full time. I am also dreading any personal questions they may ask. I have had to borrow money from my sister to buy clothes as I just don't have anything that is suitable. I feel a lot of pressure to succeed for my family.
Please pray for me if that is your inclination, otherwise you can just wish me luck!!.
As hard as my degree is I choose it because of it's exclusivity. Very few people will have a degree like mine. Doesn't change the fact that it can be as boring as hell at times or really tricky. When I was at school I really looked forward to university because it meant that finally, I could study something that I wanted to. But in the end common sense told me that Drama and Film Studies was not the most practical choice to put bread on the table. And unfortunately I wasn't blessed with the brains it that would require me to study Psychics or Astronomy. But despite all this, being unique is something that I have always tried to go by in my studies and soon I will have to make a decision on what to study further once I have my degree. I had this on my mind one day while I was trying to avoid studying for my Integrated Organisational Communication exam ( having written the exam, I STILL have no idea what that's about). I googled the ten most unusual degrees. The results I got really surprised me....
Are you a fan of The Beatles?. I mean, are you really, really a fan of The Beatles?. Enough to spend a year of your life studying everything about them?. This degree examines the impact The Beatles had on music, society, fashion...everything and it's offered by a university that is based in none other than their hometown, Liverpool, England. Beware though and I know this from experience...a way for you to stop becoming a fan of something is to study it academically. You might just land up hating The Beatles once you are done.
Egyptology (BA)
Remember the nerd in Stargate?. Well he was an Egyptologist. There are several universities around the world that offer this degree and you can also do a Masters and even a PhD in it. I will confess that back when I still wanted to be an actress, a singer and an astronaut this is something that I wanted to do because I was fascinated ( and still am ) by ancient Egypt. As fascinating as this degree may be...exactly what you would do with it- besides telling people all about ancient Egypt and maybe write a book- I'm not sure. It mostly goes hand-in-hand with Archeology and I would think that you would have to make some great big discovery to be noticed and for it to start paying off. Right now I think more attention should be given to what is happening in present day Egypt than to what happened in it's past.
BFA, MA, MFA Puppetry
The University of Connecticut is the only university in the world that offers a Masters in...making puppets. Having seen the photographs of the students work I will say they are absolutely stunning. I don't think a degree is required to be a master puppeteer- some of the best puppets I have ever seen were made by South Africa's poorest who pretty much taught themselves how to make puppets. In fact South Africa are rather famous for their puppet shows, some of which have gone on world tours. Still, I think that this could be a hard business to break into and having had an actual academic education in something so unusual could say that you have perfected your craft and will put you a cut above the rest.
B.A. in Enigmatology
This degree is so unique that only one person in the world has it!. Will Shortz always had a passion for puzzles and somehow convinced Indiana University to let him design his own curriculum and he graduated in 1974. Today he is the the puzzle editor for The New York Times. Shortz is said to have been able to solve any type puzzle or code given to him, in record time too. I attempted one of this guy's crossword puzzles on a flight from New York to San Francisco a few years ago- I'm not exactly a master code cracker but I have solved a good puzzle here and there. Two hours into the flight and after bugging the passengers on either side of me and a couple of air hostesses I was stumped and had to give up. So it seems that this unusual degree is paying off. My question is why hasn't anyone else done it?.
Degree in Anime and MangaOkay, I had to do a double take when I saw this one....you can get a degree in Japanese cartoons and comic books consisting of characters with overcompensating eyes, annoying straight hair and BIG boobies (that magically don't jiggle)?. Then again I shouldn't be very surprised since it does play a big part in Japan's culture and is an obsession of emos and nerds worldwide- I'm one of them by the way. I have loved both anime and manga since I was small but because it is just animation and not live action, you will be amazed at what they can get away with- let's just say that I didn't know people could have sex in cartoons. Some of the stuff is downright disturbing. Mostly it is very interesting and a lot of fun with some really good story lines. But trying to keep a straight face in front of a potential employer when he says "You have a degree in what!?" might be a little tricky.
Thanatology. The study of death. That's right DEATH. But despite the morbid undertone there is actually a lot of practicality in this degree and there is a huge demand for it. Graduates work with people facing terminal illness and the bereaved as well and generally educating people about death. I have a lot of admiration for people like that but I can't imagine dedicating my whole life to dying and using death to earn a living. I guess it might make the very moment of one's own death kinda like an anti- climax- "I'm dying!...now what did I learn in Thantology 101again?"
MSc in Parapsychology
Staying with death, this degree examines life after death and psychic abilities. It's mostly aimed at graduate students of psychology and sociology. And it's offered online. After having a look at the outline of this course I don't know if could ever get a peaceful nights sleep while studying this. I can't imagine writing an exam on
Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis Research or Studies of Evidence for Survival of Bodily Death. What do you do for a living with something like this? "There's a ghost!....now what was it that we learnt in Apparition class again?".
Complementary Healthcare (Aromatherapy)BA/BA (Hons)
Trying to get anyone to take you seriously when you tell them that you are doing a degree in Aromatherapy and making your parents pay university level fees on top of that may be a little difficult. With this degree you will learn how to blend essential oils for your clients well-being while studying the benefits and philosophies of complementary healthcare. You could also learn all of this during a six month course at a fraction of the price but then again I guess it is all about leading the pack in a tough market.
BFA in Instrumental Performance- Bagpipes
I guess you could see this as a major in any other "normal" instrument like piano or violin...but still bagpipes?... AND it is offered by a university in the U.S. Having looked at their website Carneige Mellon University looks like a really cool, eclectic sort of place to study. I am not ashamed to say that I actually like the sound of bagpipes (might have something to do with my Scottish ancestry). But there us still the lingering question of how a degree such as this will bring home the bacon.
BSc (Hons) Surf Science and Technology
Surfs up dude. Now you can like, totally get a degree in surfing. Ha-ha, ha-ha. No you can't do it in Australia or Miami or Hawaii...you can like, do it in sunny England. At a place called Plymouth. Ply....mouth. They say it's a "A globally unique qualification"...no sh*t. This degree will offer "Practical beach sessions focusing on scientific method"...say what?, just grab your board and go!. Amongst their alumni a couple of dudes/ dudettes went on to become an "accountant" and a "solicitor"...how in God's name did that happen!?. I grew up around surfers and I know that there is definitely a very unique and dynamic culture that surrounds surfing (and I am not naive enough to believe that nobody surfs in England). But this is ridiculous. When you are dragging your butt off the beach to go and study the science of your surf board....you may just be missing the perfect wave.
Do you have a degree? Are you, like me still in the process of getting a degree. What are you studying?. Is/ was it worth it?
