*~A tribute to fallen products~*

"'Coz nothing tastes like Fresca!" This is slogan that will never leave my mind. Years ago, Fresca exitted our market and to be honest, I still have no idea why. All I know is if I could get my hands on a can of Fresca right now, I would! I used to love it! So many products come and go and we often don't hear the cause of their discontinuance... It's kind of frustrating, because just as they bring something onto the market and you start loving it, they remove it. Why why why?! Anyway, so here are some more products I miss... Vanilla Coke (McDonald's used to sell it, that's where I was first introduced to it), Fanta Strawberry, Holy Moly's (yummy chocolate coated rings - I think it was a Cadbury's product), and then lastly, when we were kids, they used to sell these small packets of 'fizzy-like' sweeties. They were about the size of a skittle, but flat. You could buy mixed-flavoured packets (fruity) or one-flavour packets. My favourite was the cream soda flavour... I have no idea what these sweeties were called but I sure crave them a lot and wish they'd bring them back onto the market :( Maybe one day! I'll make it a goal to find the name and try bring them back onto our shelves :)

*~The statute of limitations has expired on most of our childhood trauma~*

This is an extract from the book, "Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now" by Gordon Livingston and Elizabeth Edwards.
I found the following text from "The statute of limitations has expired on most of our childhood trauma":
"The stories of our lives, far from being fixed narratives, are under constant revision. The slender threads of causality are rewoven and reinterpreted as we attempt to explain to ourselves and others how we become the people we are. As I listen to these tales of the past, I am impressed by the ways in which people connect the things they experienced as children to who they are today. So what do we owe our personal histories? Certainly we are shaped by them and must learn from them if we are to avoid the repetitious mistakes that make us feel trapped in a long0running drama of our own authorship."

So what I can interpret from this text is mainly that our pasts shape our futures When we are children, we experience life and all its new challenges. We then learn to deal with these from the way we were brought up. This develops our way of reaction to life. Our parents teach us right from wrong and from their advice and guidance, we are able to make our own choices in life and this helps shape our morals and values. We take these morals and values with us for the rest of our lives and these help us to not make the wrong choices and life decisions. No matter the situation, our past will always play a role in helping us shape our future. I am a firm believer in this!

*~Excitement brewing~*

In less than 5 days Kings of Leon (KOL) will be gracing Cape Town stadium with their awesome presence and I CAN'T WAIT!! After moving their performance date months along, October 26th is almost here... I am and have always been a huge fan of KOL and after all the piles of work we've been knee-deep in, I think we can have a well-deserved evening of awesomeness with KOL with no guilt :) To get us all ready for the show, here are some interesting facts about the band...

1. Only by the Night was the second biggest selling album in Australia in 2008 – so much so that total CD sales actually increased compared with 2007

2. The band all actually use their middle names: the members are correctly named Anthony Caleb Followill, Michael Jared Followill, Ivan Nathan Followill and Cameron Matthew Followill.

3. All of their album titles have five syllables. The band claim that the first three (Youth and Young Manhood, Aha Shake Heartbreak and Because of the Times) were coincidence, but they've superstitiously kept it going with Only by the Night.

4. That's not the only superstition they have: before they go on stage they all sing the gospel song 'Just a Little Talk with Jesus': "Now when you feel a little prayer wheel turning/And you know a little fire is burning /You will find a little talk with Jesus makes it right."

5. In the season two finale of The Mighty Boosh ('The Nightmare of Milky Joe'), the only object that Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) brings with him in case of shipwreck is a copy of Aha Shake Heartbreak. His justification is that "It's a blinding album; better than their first one. And they came up with it really quickly."
6. Caleb has claimed that 'Sex on Fire' took the longest time to write. "I kind of wrote it when I was drunk. I didn't want it to be too cliché and too corny. I knew the hook so I wrote one song about two people that hated the sight of each other but the sex was so good that they couldn't stay away. And then I wrote one that was just way too explicit. I just kind of tried to find a happy medium there somewhere."
7. Nathan and Caleb started out singing country music and playing at rodeos around Nashville before the band switched to rock'n'roll

8. They have many high-profile fans: Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Kelly Jones of Stereophonics are some who have sung the band's praises, with Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse praising the band's production ethic on Aha Shake Heartbreak: "I understand there was very little overdubbing on that record. Even the vocals were live. It hurts me how psyched that makes me."

9. They're sick to death of answering questions about their father, their being home schooled or forbidden to listen to secular music when they were growing up. "After a while you feel like you're a story and you're not being recognised for what you're actually out there sacrificing everything for."

10. They've already decided what their final album will be called The Altar Call. It'll break their five-syllable-title rule; but then, if it's to be their last, they won't need the luck anymore.

To those of you going, enjoy! It's going to be a night to remember! :)

KOL - Closer, one of my favourite songs! (Performed live in Germany)

*~Only bad things happen quickly~*

It's so scary how quickly car accidents happen, without any warning... When I first started driving, my mom would constantly warn me to be aware of everything around me and how when you drive, you are driving for the other person as well... You have to constantly focus and once you lose concentration, even if it is for a split second, anything can happen. You need to think about the person driving in front, behind, next to you as well as looking far ahead to cars and people away from you. It's quite amazing that we don't see more accidents happening. Sure, accidents happen every day, but in relation to the huge population, it's not that much. In a split second of losing concentration, you may wonder off the side of the road, drive into the back of some one else, or even hit something and flip the car. Accidents are scary things and they often cause extreme injury or death. They are definitely regarded as really bad things and certainly happen very quickly.

*~What are the chances?!~*

So in order for you to fully understand the craziness of this occurrence, you really need to watch the clip below... Last weekend a trail cycle race took place at the Albert Falls Dam Nature Reserve where Evan van der Spuy was hit by a Red Hartebeest. van der Spuy is the South African Youth Cross-Country Cup Series champion and part of Team Jeep. During the race, his teammate, Travis Walker was cycling behind him with a GoPro handlebar-mounted camera and captured the entire event.

Here are some questions that they asked van der Spuy:
What was the first thought that went through your mind when the buck hit you?
"I didn't have any thoughts, I was knocked unconscious.... When I woke up I couldn't remember what had happened"
Looking at the footage, it seems like you sped up once you pointed at it - why didn't you stop?
"Often buck run in front of you when you are doing trail rides. One buck had already run past me and I could see the other on my right. I didn't realize how fast it was running at me and that we would end up colliding."
Did you see the buck coming straight at you? What was your first reaction?
"I saw it when it was about a meter or two away and started to brake, but at that point there was nothing I could do."
Has this experience changed your views on trail riding? Will you be more cautious when riding in the bush?
"There is nothing I could've done to prepare for it. So it hasn't changed my views on trail riding. I will be back on my bike in a couple of weeks."
 Looking back on it, what are the first thoughts to come to your mind?  
"I'm overwhelmed! When I got to school this morning I didn't realize there would be that much hype around it."

ONLY in Africa folks! ;)

*~Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid~*

I would say this is a pretty bold statement ;) Cheesy I know... But on a serious note, we all live different lives. Some of us are bold and daring or better known as risk takers. Others prefer to constantly be kept in their comfort zones and never wonder to a risky side. We are all different. I know that I like to be a bit bold and daring from time to time. It tends to keep me sane, and make sure that I am still living life. If I constantly stay in my comfort zone and never take risks, I feel useless to myself and the rest of the world. Being bold, daring and risky definitely brings mighty forces your way. Once you have taken a risk and successfully accomplished it, a sense of power and pride occurs... Some people need to feel this, others are happy with their quiet, secluded way of life. Each to his own I always say...

*~Something exciting~*

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned one of the many amazing things on my wish list - the Le Creuset product range... As I have also told you before I absolutely love baking, so while paging through the latest "Sarie Kos" (Sarie Food) magazine, I came across a competition combining two of my favourites... Le Creuset is giving away a variety of their brand new tea collection sets to the lucky winners of their baking competition. I couldn't resist and decided then and there that I would be taking part in the competition. I have to bake and photograph 3 tea-time treats on a 3-tier cake stand with the recipes and send it in by the 25th of November 2011. After all this stress from varsity in the past couple of weeks and weeks to come, I have something other than my holiday to look forward to. I can't wait to decide on my theme and get going with this task. Hopefully I am one of the lucky winners, but if not, at least I did something that I enjoyed :) So now I can't wait for the last hand-in of the assignments and exams... Let's see how it goes! (I'll let you know :) )

Pretty in pink!!! :)

*~The last lecture~*

Our last lecture has unfortunately not yet been and gone. We still have a couple left and then an exam or two before we draw this year to an end. I am very excited, but at the same time find it sad that I will not be seeing the same faces everyday (well, except for Fridays ;) ), because our class was in fact pretty awesome! :) It has been a good year, however I am excited for it to come to an end as I will be obtaining my Degree in Public Relations and be entering the big wide scary working world next year... It has indeed been a good year. We had some cool lecturers and at the same time some "sucky" ones too, but overall I can say that I learnt a lot, gained new friends and enjoyed my one year at CPUT. It was a good year to look back on...