Even if nobody else sings along…
Make your own kinda music, sing your own special song
03 Tuesday Jul 2018
Posted in Family and Friends, My Adventures
Category Archives: Family and Friends
Our family portrait
20 Sunday May 2018
Posted in Family and Friends, General
Bad Moms
13 Sunday May 2018
Posted in Family and Friends, Funny, General, My Adventures
So during the week in passing conversation with my minions, we were joking about just what a bad mom I am. My youngest minion reminded me of the day that she had an open wound and I didn’t have Dettol (antiseptic) to clean it – so I used tequila to disinfect her wound.
Admittedly I pulled a couple of weird stunts like, that so every now and then my minions ‘pretend moan’ to each other about me – but I somehow get the idea that they secretly love having a ‘Bad Mom’.
Their dad is a whole lot more uptight and so when they are with me, they joke about how the roles should be reversed …since I am the ‘mom’ after-all. I have heard them telling their friends in a fake looking for sympathy kind of way about stuff I have done, have not done or have put them through.
These include:
- Me regularly threatening to sell them on eBay
- Having a planned ‘bunk school’ day with them as a reward for studying for their exams … Bribery is the key to successful parenting
- I taught them how to gamble by teaching them to play klawerjas – a trick taking card game. We would play poker chips if they ran out of pocket money, but they better than what I am – so I’m the one always running out of money
- Me forgetting it was my daughter’s sports day and went hiking up Lion’s Head. Just a few meters from summit my son sent me a picture of her crossing the finish line 🤦🏾♀️
- We went on a family trip to Knysna and I took them with me into a pub. (The context being the whole family went to the pub for a meal – but still they love telling their friends “Mom took us to the pub”)
- Every now and then I feed them two minute noodles for dinner (note: only when I know that my own mother isn’t coming to visit – because then I would be in trouble!). I personally skip dinner in lieu of work from time to time, and then I tell them to help themselves to two minute noodles if they can find any. They moan about it – but I know they secretly love it…. much rather prefer two minute noodles to veggies
- I got them up early one Sunday morning to take them to an artsy film at an indi cinema. As we were walking to the cinema my daughter was incessantly moaning about being forced to wake up so early. So my son says to her “Sister, be grateful that our mom is a bad mom – things could be worse, you could have been woken up early on a Sunday to go to church”
So I am a bad mom. I might be the worst mom. I send them to school with creased clothes and unbrushed hair – but I make sure their homework is done. In fact always I do homework and school projects with them.
I don’t care what my kids look like. I do care very much that I teach them how to love and look after themselves.
When I decided to have kids, it wasn’t the plan to raise them as a single mom, but plans change, and that’s just how life worked out for us. And you know what, that’s perfectly fine. My house is a frequently in a mess and my wallet is regularly empty, but my heart….. yes my heart is over the top brimming FULL.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the good moms and also to all my fellow bad moms out there 🌻🌹❤️
The girl with the bow and arrow
11 Sunday Mar 2018
Posted in Family and Friends, General, My Adventures
No this is not evidence of S&M or an abusive boyfriend! I’m rather chuffed about my purple bruising because it is in fact evidence of my long awaited archery lesson! This happens when you accidentally smack your bow arm with the string of the bow as you discharge the arrow. A novice mistake….. because I am a novice! #PayingMySchoolFees 🏹 🏹🏹🏹
I have bruises on both arms because about halfway through my lesson I learnt that my left eye is my dominant eye. So I should hold the bow with my right arm and discharge the arrow with my left arm – hence I switched my bow arm and ended up having bruises on both arms 🤦🏾♀️. No matter, it was so worth it.
I wish I had my own bow with arrows that I could practice every day! Fun cubed for sure. My dream is to be that chic with a bow and a quiver of arrows on my back or side – and while I’m dreaming I might as well add a unicorn to the dream so I can shoot my arrows on the go…. 🦄 😁
Seriously though, it was more than cool. It’s an expensive sport to get started with though. Approximately 10K to just get set up. One day when I have extra cash, I believe I’ll definitely do it. For now it’s time to start saving. A great huge big Thanks to Luther and Sharon at Bowtime in Brackenfell. I definitely will go back to practice again.
Still revelling from an epic experience, Mel and I invited ourselves over to Berty’s house for a braai, and then later the evening he persuaded us to pop in at his Local, where a fundraiser was happening to pay for one of his friend’s charity entry to the Two Oceans Marathon. To end off a rather cool day I won a raffle prize at the fundraiser event 🤸🏾♂️👏🏾🌈 -A bottle of black vodka…. never knew the product existed before. So it’s been a pretty cool weekend.
But for now it’s back to work…. gots to earn some cash…. to buy my own bow and arrow! Catch ya later alligator
The misadventures of Accused Number 1, Number 2 and Number 3…
03 Saturday Feb 2018
Posted in Family and Friends, Funny, General, My Adventures
So I had the coolest experience at the Cape Town High Court. I found myself at the High Court because one of my BFFs was admitted to the bar as an attorney!!! Whoop whoop 🙌🏾👏🏾💃🏾🎉🎊🤸🏾♀️🏆 Well freaking done Melissa Suzanne Baker!
She graciously allowed me to share that very happy, somewhat emotional and extremely proud experience with her… but not in a stock standard way, as is typical Bronwyn.
So the morning started with breakfast around the corner from High Court and about an hour before the admission procedure, the group of us (Mel, family and friends) pickled off to the High Court building to witness the admission. The High Court building consists of several courtrooms.
To our surprise (maybe not) Courtroom 1, where Mel was to be admitted was packed to capacity – so besides Mel, we couldn’t all go in. After standing outside for a bit Roberto, another friend and I decided since we can’t see the admission and we were at High Court, we might as well do a bit of exploring…
Packed balcony outside the courtroom. No way to get in….what to do, what to do.?.. AH HA, Let’s find the divorce court!
Picture taken from foyer with view of balcony outside Courtroom 1
The building itself was like a maze to us, as we pretty much peered into every room, nook and cranny that we could, looking for a courtroom where something intriguing was happening.
Roberto and I figured that finding the divorce court in High Court would probably be cool thing, because at least you know if you meet someone there, you definitely know they’re single! And you don’t have to pay an online dating service for those introductions 🤓. We so smart! So off we missioned to find the divorce court.
Wonder what’s behind this door?
Stairs to holding cells?
And so we accidentally meandered into Judge’s chambers and small rooms that looked like meeting rooms, until we finally found a courtroom where it looked like something interesting was taking place. Not knowing where we were or what exactly we were doing we sat down in some benches. There were attorneys and other people around us. They first looked amused at the sight of us but then they pretty much ignored us. After a few minutes we peered around and discovered a short staircase right behind our seats leading from what we could only assume were the holding cells at the court! There we sat, Accused number 1, 2 and 3…
For 30 seconds we pondered going downstairs to check it out, but then we remembered our gangster-speak wasn’t actually that good, and we weren’t quite sure what we’d say to Aggies and Ougat if we met up with them down there. So we abandoned that idea and decided to go in search of the divorce court again. Instead, we found the civil courtroom and watched a few interesting matters then decided was time to go again.
We thought about perhaps trying to find another courtroom but it worked out that our timing was perfect because as we got to the foyer area again we met up with the rest of our party who actually made it into the courtroom with Melissa. And there too was Melissa, our friend… the newly admitted attorney. And so of course it was time to head outside for photos.
Not too shabby for a Friday morning adventure me thinks 😊. But now tis time for my minion weekend for this year.
The value of ‘presence’
21 Sunday Jan 2018
Posted in Family and Friends, General, My Adventures
And so this above is the only picture I have of an amazing weekend spent with some new and extremely interesting friends on the West Coast.
The weekend was different for a couple of reasons. For starters it was a meat free, and mostly preservative free weekend… kind of. In total we were 10 people, of which 3 were vegetarian, 2 pescetarian, and 3 others weren’t vegan, vegetarian or pescetarian, but did not eat anything with preservatives or added sugar. That made the weekend menu very interesting. We all helped with the cooking, and I’m thrilled to share that we had the most delicious predominantly plant based meals that were tremendous fun to prepare.
The other difference was it was really chilled in strange way, considering we don’t know each other that well. I guess I expected some anxiety since I didn’t know them well, but to my surprise, everyone was super relaxed and friendly (happy?). I think it’s because everyone that was there, was self assured and just confident in their own skin. Silly things to illustrate my point…. after an amazing dinner and socialising on both nights, everyone went to bed by about 11pm. Despite there being loads of alcohol (and vegetarian food) available, overindulging just wasn’t something that appealed much to anyone. Over the weekend I went for two longish runs and my friends did various things including cycling, kite-surfing, sculpting (one posed and one sculpted), a few of us read a bit, listened to music, had stimulating conversation while we prepared food and at times we just all chilled on the beach. And during the entire weekend no one bothered to watch tv.
The culmination of this translated into the most significant difference, the outstanding feature about this weekend….To me is feels that everyone there was present. And that was seriously cool.
It truly was different to any other weekend I’ve been on before. We didn’t take pictures. No one bothered to ask anyone else to take selfies with them. No one posted on FB or Insta or anywhere else that I know of. It’s not because the weekend wasn’t fun – it’s because we were all fully engaged in the weekend. On Saturday I realised that there wasn’t a single person that seemed to be preoccupied with their smart phones. Smart phones all lay on a pile on one of the tables while we sat outside sharing pita and talking about that various activities that everyone got up to that day.
Every time I caught myself thinking about the past, or the future (besides a few very practical things that needed my attention), I gently acknowledged and then dismissed those thoughts. I don’t know for sure, but I surely am inclined to believe that this thing, this new experience to me, aka living in the present is the source of true contentment and happiness.
Anyway who knows….. but lets try this Bronwyn why not!
Fees must not fall
14 Sunday Jan 2018
Posted in Family and Friends, General, Opinion Post, Purely Academic
So yes, I am being incredibly brave, and the truth is I am not at all scared of my own opinion. Opinions are dynamic evolving things and for now this is mine.
Over lunch yesterday, my best friends and I had a great conversation and engaging debate, which got me thinking about the content of this blog post. Who knows how it started, talk about cheese and beer drifted into a conversation on societal inequalities, and an opinion was expressed that education is the key to change (this I agree with) however a continuation of this sentiment is that education should be free (and this… I most vehemently disagree with).
Nothing can ever be free. Not even love. Everything in life costs something. The love from even your mother comes at a cost to her. If it did not, it would not be so powerful. Anything and everything that is worthwhile in life comes at some sort of sacrifice. So hold on …..wait, before I become too philosophical, let’s backtrack because I think my friend/s meant in the more practical sense. The example of Sweden was offered as a model for free education. Very practical yes….. and IMNSHO, very ridiculous yes! It is outright insane to compare South Africa with Sweden. Sweden is a very socialist country, because they can afford to be socialist. As in literally (they have the money) to afford to be socialist. Their basic human rights are taken care of – in South Africa ours are not. Without that, any plight to educate will be futile.
Education is more than studying from a few books, writing a few research papers, getting a degree or three or seven. It is not the cognitive abilities of our society that will fix our problems, it is our metacognitive abilities that will do this. Our thinking about our thinking. The foundation for our metacognitive abilities is only fertilized through socialisation. You can be smart, but a sociopath at the same time. And those fuckers are absolutely no good to society.
It is at grassroots that we must foster development. The past is in the past. Yes I was not popular with my friends for saying that, but I will stick to my guns.
We have what we have. Now – the present. No actions now will undo what was done. There is always the option for vengeance (….yes peoples that what it is – call it whatever else you want to now, but know that it is vengeful to 20 years ex post facto lash out now for something that was not addressed). AND vengeance stagnates growth #Fact. Again IMNSHO, there is no difference in looking at this from a personal point of view. Let’s say I had an abusive husband…. treated me like dirt, emotionally disempowered me, the shit beat me to pulp regularly and verbally lambasted me for years…you get the story. We got divorced – and we each got our settlement. A settlement we agreed upon. Some years later I am unhappy because my life still isn’t going according to the ideal I thought it would – so now I want to go back and take more of what I feel is rightfully mine. It’s driven by emotion…. and yes THAT is vengeful. While there would be some comfort to be gained from vengeance – it’s comfort that is short-lived and short-sighted.
Education is the key, but redressing the more basic problems in society is needed before an attempt at educating the nation will be successful. Academic degrees won’t make us a better or more caring society – and that’s actually what we really need. Not more educated people, more caring people! We need to address those needs first. Higher education (HE) is a luxury, when security, health care and basic education is so severely restricted as it is in our country. One has to actually respect the ingenious way certain politicians use the thought, the notion of HE as a carrot, which they dangle in front of the masses, getting them to believe that is the solution. It’s really clever.
A note of education…. UCT and MIT have a comprehensive selection of MOOCs which are freely available. Surprise, surprise….there are cost free options to educate oneself! However perhaps because current “paid for” university education seems more “prestigious” … the politicians would have us believe that it is key. Sadly MOOCs cannot be fully utilised without basic needs such as a safe learning environment. Besides that, the throughput in general is not good…. Why?, again IMNSHO because it is free – so the quality of what is offered is not on par with a paid for face to face course. It takes time, energy and resources to develop and offer educational content that is worthwhile – Anything that is free, is not worth as much as something that has come at some sort of sacrifice. Why should education be different to food? It would sound outrageous and ridiculous if people demanded free food from the government, wouldn’t it? Why doesn’t it sound ridiculous when people demand absolutely free education? Or does it……
Anyway, I could go on and on and on, but enough of this already. Time to get on with my jobs – coincidentally, one of them is being an open education practitioner (For example I use YouTube to make educational resources available for free for any/all students who need help with stats) …. so I have nothing else to prove. My views on educating people, and facilitating public access to educational resources is clear. But as a whole, South African society – we are not ready for Fees to Fall.
I am an addict
12 Friday Jan 2018
Posted in Family and Friends, General, My Adventures
I shouldn’t have ignored the warning sign. But I did. I didn’t know better.
I’m addicted to tobacco – cigarette smoking specifically. My plan is to never smoke another fag again in my life. But just like alcoholics stay alcoholics for the rest of their lives – despite never touching an alcoholic drink again, someone like me will be a smoker for the rest of my life, ….I just won’t, never want to smoke again.
Started at age 14, because I wanted to be cool. Stopped briefly each time I was pregnant and breastfeeding – But I knew each time, when I stopped breastfeeding I’d restart the habit. A Long Time Ago I realized how bad smoking is for me. Because of that, I distinctly recall three occasions when I quit briefly. After each of those occasions, something very significant and traumatic happened in my life (e.g. getting divorced) and I relapsed. For some addicts, ‘that thing’ that you’re addicted to, whether it be smoking, drugs, alcohol or even sex/pornography represents a comfort mechanism. After the initial trigger that started the habit, your brain begins to associate your habit with ‘reward…. relaxation…. and ultimately comfort’ and then you’re addicted.
The fourth and longest time that I quit smoking for was from 2014 till 2017. I firmly believed that it was for good that time, plus I had the best reason and motivation ever to quit cold turkey – a cancer scare!
So when I experienced an insatiable craving that physically debilitated me in late December 2016 and early January last year, that should have been a big red glaring blaring blinking sign for me! A malfunction was in the process of happening…
Tonight on someone else’s blog I read the most eloquent explanation for this. John Cheese (I kid you not….. that’s truly the guy’s name! tough break uh) is a recovering addict too and explains how his body felt like it was screaming in pain. Your body tells you that you need this now. Your body convinces you, but it’s actually not your body – it’s your brain. John clarifies “it’s the broken cog in the brain — the mechanism that makes an addict“. There’s a pretty awesome TED talk I found that put ‘addiction‘ into perspective for me : https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_addiction_is_wrong/discussion?language=en
Post 2017’s introspection and self discovery, knowing myself the way I do now, if it happened now, I would have recognized that sign (the insane craving) signified that I was in very serious trouble with some aspect/s in my life. And I was…. before the trouble even properly surfaced in my life, I started feeling its presence. It was something I wasn’t equipped to deal with.
Because I didn’t consider myself an addict at the time, I did not recognize what actually was truly the most beautiful warning sign. I humbly and sincerely am in awe of how amazing our human intuition is, if only we would listen to it. So I relapsed again.
Anyway, I battled during last year – smoking on and off, feeling guilty, quitting, then feeling sad/lonely/scared and restarting when things felt overwhelming again. Like a yo-yo on steroids. Until I decided to just flipping quit quitting darn it! I’ll spare details and get to the bottom line. For the first time ever in my life I currently feel absolutely no pressure from anywhere and anyone (including myself) to quit smoking.
Thus I’ve decided it’s time to quit. Cold turkey again. Not for money, and not because I have pre-cancer again, not for my family or for other health reasons, and certainly not for any person either. I was completely off-guard today when the thought entered my brain. In-between the thought of “what’s for dinner” and “when must my car must go in for a service?”, I had the most random thought…. “the time is right to quit smoking“.
So I am Bronwyn and I am addicted to smoking. I am an addict. I’ll never escape the consequences of my addiction if I don’t admit that.
So Yes I am, but I’m a nonconformist too so I will just not smoke. And after my withdrawal symptom period is over, if I feel that craving again as strong as it was at the beginning of last year, then I’ll see it for exactly what it actually is next time. This time I’ll face the whatever fear or issue that ‘craving’ is drawing my attention to. And I’ll deal with the real problem next time.
Beautiful life
04 Thursday Jan 2018
Posted in Family and Friends, General, My Adventures
In retrospect
30 Saturday Dec 2017
Posted in Family and Friends, General, My Adventures
Goodbye 2017. Thank you for the happy times, special memories with friends and family but thank you for the challenges too. I am not sad to see you go, but I am very grateful that I am not the same person I was when I met you.
Most of all, thank you coercing me to get to know myself better, your most valuable lesson for me…
I shall not forget.
So Hello and Welcome 2018, Let’s be friends
To my other friends, have a fun but safe NYE everyone…
See you all in 2018
Bronwyn Swartz 