Done and Dusted

Another year of study done and dusted, but this year it’s different.

I have two assignments and one presentation left, and then I will be done with my five year course in Public Relations Management.  I have my PR Diploma = check, now I will have my Degree = check – or I hope so!! 

It feels like a dream.  I will have my Degree, so the world is my oyster (or what’s that saying again?!)  I feel relieved, satisfied, happy and just flabbergasted that I actually did it!!

In these past few years I learned a lot, lost a lot, met many new people and also said some goodbyes.  I never thought I will be able to complete my studies, as everything felt like a huge mountain to crawl over, but after you give that assignment in or wrote that test, I realised it wasn’t that bad.  Could I have done more and wasted less time, ofcourse I could have, but hey … being the ordinary student who does just enough to pass is also part of the experience!  J

What’s next you might ask?  Well, I will be off doing a Photography course next year.  It will be a part-time, 10-week course at a Photography School in Cape Town.  I am extremely excited, as I have wanted to do this for a while now.  Before you know it, I will be using this blog for my photography blog instead!! 

It was fun, but now I am done.  Here is a little something to keep you inspired:

You Can Be Whatever
You Want To Be!

There is inside you
all of the potential
to be whatever you want to be,
all of the energy
to do whatever you want to do.

Imagine yourself as you would like to be,
doing what you want to do,
and each day, take one step
towards your dream.

And though at times it may seem too
difficult to continue,
hold on to your dream.

One morning you will awake to find
that you are the person you dreamed of,
doing what you wanted to do,
simply because you had the courage
to believe in your potential
and to hold on to your dream.

~ Donna Levine ~

The last lecture

The last lecture.  What a thought? 

This can be taken literally and figuratively.  Literally I am having my last lecture in Media Studies for BTech Public Relations Management tomorrow night.  I can’t believe it!  I enjoyed the class this year and especially my lecturer’s funny sense of humour.  I am going to miss the Media Lab with its Apple Computers and the uber cold air-conditioning.  It was fun while it lasted, but now it is time to move on.  I don’t know what to expect, I mean we are going to class to give a presentation and give in an assignment, but other than that, I don’t have a clue on what to expect.

Figuratively I feel that the last lecture would be the lessons you can give others before you pass along to the better life.  This is the last message you can give your spouse, children, grand children, great grand children, friends and other family members.

The last lecture.  What a thought?

It’s time …

It’s time.  Time for what?

I believe you reach a stage in your life where you find yourself yearning for something.  Whether it be personal or professional.  Each of us are different so we will be ready and wanting different things in different stages of our lives.  Too some being complacent is just enough, while others (me included) need more. 

Professionally I became irritated with my situation and made it clear.  Too my surprise it all worked out well.  It is time for me get out of my comfort zone and really focus on what I want from life.  I know I can be an AWESOME PR Practitioner, but I need to find what I am good at, find my niche.  For others this might be an easy exercise, but too me it means putting myself out there.  (Breath in)  I am ready for it.

Personally I am ready to settle down.  I was the hopeless romantic in school who wanted to get married ASAP, but to my surprise found it difficult to get use to the idea after I matriculated.  These past few weeks, I catch myself thinking about it … A LOT.  When did this change?!  There are still a few hurdles to get through, but hopefully everything will work out in the following two years – that’s my plan.

So, yes, it IS time … time to get serious.

Watch this space

What will my future look like? 

Isn’t this a question a lot of us ask ourselves?  What will we do next?  Where will we be in five years time?  Will we be happy?  Will we be successful?  Will we have job security?  Will we have a family?  And SO much more.

I believe that my future holds many more amazing and wonderful things.  I believe that I will make a success of anything I take on, because I can and will make use of the opportunities given to me.  Sometimes it feels as though it will take forever to get to where I aim to be, but I believe enough in myself to become the best I can be.  I am not sure where I will go or what I will do, but I am sure that it will be a great journey.

Watch this space, because it’s going to be heck of a ride ...

Travelling

I always wanted to travel, although I am SUPER scared of aeroplanes, but travel this little Afrikaans girl will do.

I have a list of places I really want to go to.  These places include Ireland, Scotland, Paris, New York, India, Australia, Mauritius, England, Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, a game lodge in South Africa, Sun City, Durban and a few more.  It’s quite a few places and I will ideally like to go before I am thirty with kids!!

The only negative I have from the idea of travelling to all these wonderful places is the expenses!!  It is SO expensive to travel in South Africa, not even to mention abroad!!  I decided that I will have to close my eyes and DO this.  I am only young once you know. 

The advice given to me was travel off a credit card.  Use your credit card ONLY to travel.  I though about the idea and it sounds like a plan.  Save up as much as I can beforehand and the rest – credit card!!  Hopefully this is a good plan …

So many places, so little time!  Wish me luck …

My favourite Cat in the Hat book is (???); because …

The title is exactly my favourite Cat in the Hat book.  I say this because I haven’t read the Cat in the Hat series.

Why?  The first reason is that I come from an Afrikaans household.  I grew up with other books to read – mostly Afrikaans.  I guess the Cat in the Hat didn’t fit into my upbringing.  I never even thought of reading it after I entered High School or University.  Come to think of it, I never read any Dr. Zeus book yet.  Maybe I should make a point of that.

I did watch the movie featuring Dakota Fanning and Mike Myers.  It gave me quite a laugh.  I did catch the lessons at the end of the film.  I wonder if all the books have a certain lessons. 

The second reason would be that it never intrigued me to read the book.  I heard about it, but never felt the urge should read it. 

Maybe I should go to the trouble and read the book.  Maybe there are some life lessons which I can take out of it.

Time goes by too quickly

If there is one thing I realised it is that time goes by too quickly.

Have you ever woken up to find that you missed a day somewhere?  Does a weekend feel like a day?  Does the one week flow into the other, flow into a month, flow into the end of ANOTHER year?  This is exactly what it feels like to me …

When I was in school, I thought ending up in matric would take FOREVER!!  Little did I know that once you reached grade 10, you are just about done and life is staring you in the face with a boxing glove.  (I’m only kidding about the boxing glove!)  After matric, I thought I had three long years of studying left, but before I know it I was doing my internship and got offered a job.  After my diploma I though I had another two long years of studying left for my Degree and “BOOM”, I’m almost done!

What happened to the time?!  Where did it go?

This made me realise that I must stop saying “next week” or “tomorrow”.  Life just passes by too quickly and before we know it our time will be done and another will realise the importance of time to late.

Live and Laugh.  Do as much as you can and make every experience worth it!!

Why I have conversation …

In my opinion a conversation is the exchange of information between two or more people. 

I believe we need conversations in order to survive.  Without conversations we will be left to our own accord.  We won’t get to know new people, ask for basic needs and live a fulfilling life.  To have all of this you need conversations.

I have conversations to:

-       Gain fresh ideas.  New people are interesting and have their own ways in which they view the world.

-       Better understand people and the world. 
-       Enrich my mind. 
-       Get to know new people.
-       Build relationships.
-       Voicing my opinion.

This is just a few reasons why I make the effort to have conversations.  In the end, it is to my own advantage.

Airports

I was waiting for my friend and colleague at the Cape Town International Airport this morning.  She was arriving from a visit to Johannesburg.

It is quite interesting to watch all of the people.  I find myself wondering what their story is, why they are at the airport and who they are waiting for.  Some are picking up delegates for a function, others are waiting for loved ones and so the list goes on.  So many different people in one place.

A shopping mall is busy, but quietens down.  At an airport it is quite a different story.  I always experience a certain buzz of excitement. 

Sitting there watching all these different people with their different stories, I am honoured to be part of the diversity.  If all the people looked the same, acted the same and was there for the sae reason, how boring live would be.  Diversity is key to our existence and I am glad to be part of it.

Know that I think of it, I wonder how many people wondered about my story?

My Bucket List

A bucket list is a list of the things you want to do before you die.

WOW, how long will my list be?  I think mine might be a tad too long!  There are quite a few things I would like to do before the day I die.  How to get there?  Well lots of patients, lots of moola and lots of guts!  We need to embrace the things we truly want to do, whether it is to prove yourself or to showcase what you have to give!

My bucket list will start as follows:

-       Getting married

-       Travel
-       Start my own company
-       Aspiring Photographer
-       Skydive
-       Visiting a Game Lodge
-       Doing the Orange River rapids
-       Hiking the Fish River Canyon
-       Having kids (if I can choose, two)

And so my list can go on and on.

I am sure that if I put my mind to it, I will be able to tick off ALL the items on my Bucket-List!

I wanna be a Millionaire

Bruno Mars has this song, “I wanna be a millionaire, SO freaken bad … “.  That pretty much sums it up for me.

I mean, how much fun would that be?  You can do anything, be anything and have fun ALL the time!!  No responsibilities, as you are looked after – or rather minimal responsibilities.  You have many people at the tips of your fingers, you can take risks and opportunities with a much easier heart.  You can experience great things, as you have the capital to do so.

But is it really the greatest life, being a millionaire?  How will you know if people really like you for you and not your money?  Being a millionaire, you might get the urge to have more.  Losing money in bad business decisions might ruin you financially.  You might become a target of fraudsters.  There are so many downsides as well.

I guess the best thing of being a millionaire is the road you took to get there.  All the lessons learned.  It can become quite an enlightening experience.

But if only I could be a millionaire …

My big fat BIG dream

Everyone has a dream.  A dream can be described as a series of images, ideas, emotions and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind.

I thought about my own big fat BIG dream.  I came to the conclusion that I had quite a few and it changed quite radically over the years.  I was the type of high school girl who dreamed about true love and I was lucky enough to find that quite early in my life.  Soon I started dreaming about finishing matric and have a beautiful, fantastic and great white wedding.  After the wedding a house in a suburb surrounded by a little white fence, with kids soon to follow, three to be precise.  It was a happy and fulfilling life in my dream.

So, I finished matric and entered this “world” outside my little bubble.  An amazing world with many possibilities.  I could be ANYTHING!!  Okay, not anything, but almost anything.  I decided on studying Public Relations and I am still quite happy with my decision.  Soon I began to realize that I was still so very young and although my dreams from school are still at the back of my head there is SO much I still wanted to do.  I dream of having a professional career, traveling the world, living comfortably, seeing new things, experience new things, live life to the fullest, give my everything and never look back. 

I still dream of my beautiful, fantastic and great white wedding, with a house in a suburb surrounded by a little white fence and kids soon to follow.  I decided to postpone that a little for my other big fat BIG dreams, maybe another two years.  Luckily I still have the love of my life who will make all that possible.