my worst things in the whole wide world..

After the curious turn of events in Jozi with the weather last week and Raz who made headlines after he sung the SA national anthem  like a vamp drunk off boxed Mai Tai (lol if there's such) at SA's rugby game with England last week, i felt a little low. Tuesday morning i got to work and snapped at everyone who crossed my path. I'm the only female in the office at my second job and usually this has its perks, though on Tuesday i just wanted the guys to disappear. Watching the rain outside that day and pullin my cardigan closer to my body because it was freezing, i got to thinking about my worst things in the whole wide world. here they are, in no particular order.

1. Heartbreak, and the long journey back to getting a 'you' back that works.

2. Crap weather, which inspired this article.

3.Loosing friends, that annoying realisation that things will never go back to how they where. Missing the laughs shared.

4. Chilled red wine, come on now.

5. The little visit from aunt flo and the likelihood of crying over anything. (eg NOT being on facebook! LOL)

6.Crap food when i'm starving.

7. Death, 9 years on i still miss my dad and dream of him.

8. Discovering well into my number two that there's no toilet paper on the roll!

9. Days when i feel sorry for myself.

10. meeting someone i used to date with a fine thang packed in his arm and looking so fucking happy.

11. Bad days when all my clothes are at the laundry (thus the frumpy shirt fished out from the back of the closet) my hair needs doing, my nails are chipped and i have no lipgloss on. I always meet the one person i haven't seen in ages and they always look FRESH!!

12. Dirty toe nails peeping out of peep toe heels, underarm hair long enough to make snoop jealous and women who smell like builders on the job.

13. Feeling lonely, even when surronded by people.

14. Illusive love and getting caught up. Come on how many frogs do a gal gotta kiss....

15. mariyah carey's rendition of..... "I want to know what love is" on a bad day
16. Standing in queues, especially bank ones

Cool Politics Rocks! (And hers trully discovered the 'new' Newtown at it!)

Move over Africa, I had the pleasure of attending my first cool politics discussion on the Holy  War in Palestine last Wednesday night. After an hour long documentary film, I'll be the first to admit i found myself holding back tears. (Okay i had to because I recently started using fabuloush mascara, its so to die for! the last thing i needed was eyes caked in the stuff!) Suddenly i had a new set of words floating around in my head.

Hamas?

Zionists?

Occupation?

Israeli Activists?

What led to the Jew and Arab conflict way back when it begun in the 1800's?

Why Palestine?

Why the creation of the Gaza strip?

Was this a political battle? Religious? Both?

I did get one thing though, as usual America has acted as the uncle who took his nephew Israel to school, saw him through university, though molested him all the while. It's the usual case of a higher power empowers one people to milk their resources out of them. There's always some sort of uprising when the people who are getting the raw side of the deal suddenly realise it. Thousands of dead civilians later, some kind of peace accord is signed (usually not the first of its kind) spear headed of course by the United Nations. These attempts do little or nothing to stop human right injustices. Meanwhile living in Palestine today seems hellish. A huge prison of sorts with checkpoints on every other corner, no access to proper medical care, families living in absolute filth and poverty. Okay so whats new right? The greater part of Africa lives that way. Wrong. The greater part of Africa do not live under military rule. Added to all of the above, the Palestinians have to  live with the constant presence of Israeli soldiers carrying rifles and are at liberty to harass at will. Watching young soldiers so determined on their mission makes me think of the youth malitia in Zimbabwe. So determined in the wrong mission.

Okay before i get ahead of myself, to simply generalize all the problems in Palestine on the Israeli's isn't being totally fair. This story to me sounds like it has at least three sides to it. It's hardly a case of Jews occupying the majority and fertile land in Palestine and oppressing at will. The dynamics are thoroughly interwoven in religion and the result of what happens when that thin line between love and hate reveals itself. I'll definately be reading more on Palestine, i figure there's nothing worse than being ignorant on issues that affect people who laugh, eat, cry and want to be happy just as i do. Wednesday night was nothing short of insightful.

SO... I discovered a new space i can chill at on a Wednesday night where young multi cultural people come together and discuss political issues. Great music, add a boudouir type setting decked with cushions and bean bags. A place to just kick back and talk. Next Wednesday (25th Nov 09) we are discussing 'A United Africa?' Sounds great i've already started reading on the subject and I'm loving it. Do join us if u're in Jozi. The venue is at a jazz club called House of Ntsako, 101 High Street, Brixton (five minutes drive away from the Newton Precinct ) at 18.30. Lets be the empowered young people with a hunger to learn and change the world, in the little way we can. Plus (and this is the best part I think) because there's a bar and dj, we all get to party, albeit on a Wednesday night, afterward. WHOOP! WHOOP! (for more info go to coolpolitics.org.za) 

peel me like a grape

http://www.dianakrall.com/ (watch the boy from Ipanema)
i've officially become a Diana Krall fan! She had me at "the boy from Ipanema." We all have the one person who we fall shamelessly for and don't have a clue why. Okay we do, but it makes no sense.The one person we would gladly let peel us like a grape. When you put your heart on the line and say "this is me take me as i am" you sort of cross your fingers and hope they will. Love is a dangerous game, as Michael Buble says... life on reflection is all about love. We're either in love, dreaming about love, recovering from it, wishing for it or reflecting on it.
On that note i'm sorry to the guy who i clung onto as if for dear life, that can't have felt too cool.
I'm sorry to the guy who came into my life when i was in a bad space, i didn't have to be so heartless.
I'm sorry to the guy who loved me and i could never for the life of me understand why.
I'm sorry to the guy whose house i turned up at drunk out of my skull and caused a scene... (cringe)

My name is shukie
(Hie Shukie...chorus)
I'm not perfect, i have bad days. I shout, i act irrationally sometimes. Though i wish you'd peel me like a grape!

my favourite things in the whole wide world...YAY!!

its 28 degrees in jozi and from the window at work, i can see the cyclists taking part in this years Momentum 94.7 challenge. Everyone here is hung over from last nights book launch... but being the die hard fun people we are, we just popped open a bottle of white wine (to ease into the day,you understand!)I've been on this whole 'welcoming the festive season tip',everyone around me thinks i'm taking something. I'm simply high on life. I decided since my plans to go home for a while didn't work out... i'm throwing a 'what u still doin in Jozi' party when my flatmate and her brood leave for the Eastern Cape. An old skool party, no Chris Brown or the dreadlocked one with the tatoo's on his face then! A chill session, good company and good music. That's one of my favourite things in the whole wide world, listening to good music wit gud company. Mmm... favourite things, today seems like the perfect day to ramble on about them.(Outside the ladies look gorgeous, its the perfect day to go to the park)
So here they is (thanks Timberland for making it cool to butcher the language) In no order at all of course..

1. Rolling over to the cool side of the bed and feeling a light breeze on my skin.
2. The perfect cup of coffee.
3.Canary Wharf in East London,UK. Its beauty is simply soul inspired.
4.Sunset on the couches at Moyo's in Durban with a blanket and watching the Indian Ocean.
5. Dancing to jazz at Katy's jazz club in Rosebank.
6.Walking down Bond Street in Central London
7.The smell in the air before it rains
8.A sunset cruise on the Zambezi (add sundowners..YAY!)
9.Heels fresh out of the box
10.Hanging out in Newtown with the culturally rich people who are inspiring and fun.
11. Switching off my phone and disappearing off the surface of the earth for a while.
12. Club hopping in Leeds
13.Staying at home with a few good books in my pyjamas
14. Waking up at my grandmothers farm in Choma, Zambia and contemplating in those first few seconds where that life ends and my other one begins.
15.Singing, however terribly, in the street.
16. Buying a new CD (even in the wonderful age of itunes)
17. Snow on the ground
18. BEING SHUKIE

missing things i never had...

most days now,
I find myself longing,
Yearning for things i must have had,
then lost,
only i know, deep inside,
I never actually acquired them,
I miss you always,
though you were never mine,
I miss our children,
Although we never actually had any,
I miss our quaint home,
With its paintings and view of the sea,

I miss waking up next to you,
Although i have no idea what that should be like,
I miss listening to jazz with you,
while you cook horrid pasta
which i pretend is the best thing ever,
while laughing at your moderately funny jokes,

I miss our walks on the beach at dask,
Our celebrating our birthdays with chilled champaign & strawberries
Travelling to distant places on our anniversaries,
where noone knows our names,
I miss watching reruns on tv with you
While you make me watch all your favourite programmes,
I miss taking long showers with you,
Soaking in a tub filled with rose petals,

I miss painting with you,
Plastering a bright yellow smile on your face with my brush,
And watch you turn into a kid again,
I miss our talks at the fire,
Over mugs of hot chocolate with mashmallows,
I miss being overly deep,
Deep for no reason,

I miss seeing how cute you look when you're mad,
Watching you nose wrinkle up in frustration,
Before you smile your ridiculously yummy smile,
Refreshing like a burst of fresh air,

Many nights with you on my mind,
i miss you,
Though of course, i don't know who you are...

2010 World Cup... how we love to harpeth on it so!

World Cup 2010... that's like talking about the weather when you have nothing else to say to someone. Everyone has an opinion on it. I've been living in SA for about 3 yrs now and even in the earlier days got the feeling that this thing wud get larger than life. I was right! Some predicted it would all come crushing down for SA politically after the World Cup. Others predicted it would just be the beginning (And we all sort of knew SA wud have a rapist as president by now!) Most predicted millions would be swindled out of civilians in the name of govt tenders, the so called stadiums needed, the Ria Via buses (gag!) and the Gautrain (uhh!!) Anyway less than a year to go and we are all waiting and watching i suppose.

I vowed i'd take my first born son to one of the games, while another friend vowed she'd open a catering business in time for the food rush! Another friend said he'd become a pimp and run Jozi's sleaziest brothel! Wishful thinking i suppose on all our parts. I still don't have any children (nor plan to in the foreseable future) My one friend got over the catering thing...her recent craze... handbag retail (u shud hear her trying to get me to buy blatantly fake Guess!) and my other friend is discouraged at the number of thriving brothels there are (we're talking Mexican chicks! lol) I will say though that the prospect of 2010 has had some positive impact in jhb, more so in the CBD. In Newtown all the paths have been paved with brick, in the dodgy street i live in, the council has gone through the painstaking task (one they should have embarked on in 94'really) of installing street lamps and collecting the rubbish at least twice a week. The CBD is looking better than it has in years, almost like ur friends mom who goes on a diet or whatever and morphes into this sexy dish that's sizzlin. I like!

A lot of my collegues and friends already have tickets to some of the games, apparently most of them are sold out already! That's a positive thing i think. It means while evryone else is at the World Cup i'll be at home catching up on all the movies i've missed or painting my toe nails green. I'm sure i'll end up at a game or two none the less. While everyone is doing the whole 'ayobaness' thing, i'll be doing it with them. Screaming my lungs out and just harping on about being a part of the world cup!

wonderful world

It's the manuscript, the main reason i started reading on West Africa, more so Nigeria. I wanted to write a story that was acurate, though i will admit it's hard to write on something one initially has no clue about. How could i write a story on the Biafran or Ogoniland issue when a few months ago it was foreign to me? Sure the soothing jazz vocals of Ella Fitzgerald in the background as i research on something that's new and exciting makes me feel like Jackie Collins should on a good day, though learning a mindful about anything is still hectic.I wanted to learn however, thus begun my quest to know more. Over the past few months i've read enough West African novels and reports to last a lifetime and my friends think i've lost it. When i do say i'm going to Cameroon, they roll they eyes and think i'm barmy. When i meet with Kwame (my friend from Benin) to watch him ccok up a West African storm (an aquired taste, i believe)the same friends think i'm selling out... I just smile and take in everything i can. (great friends i have don't you think!)
It's just as a southern African i've always had preconceived ideas about our West African brothers and sisters. Previously once anyone opened their mouth and the signature accent flowed out, i'd instantly switch off. I'm not proud of the admission though it goes to show how honestly closed minded i was.
On the other hand, i've just discovered all the 'Indian' looking people who live in Forsdburg ain't all Muslim nor from India. I recently became friends with a guy from Jordon and discovered the only thing he has in common with al the other 'Indian' looking people around him is the fact he speaks Arabic. He actually doesn't celebrate divali nor does he chew on the red chewy stuff though he does do juma. Amazing how we usually judge people based on the stereotypes we claim we don't habour in our minds. Meanwhile i've been reading a lot of Chris Abani and listening to Ghananian music... it is a wonderful world out there, if you give it a chance!