Lead me not into temptation…

You all know how the rest of this sentiment goes:

I’ve been feeling really icky lately. My head aches every day, my eyes are constantly tired – all in all, I’m just not feeling well, especially post-op (and the laparoscopy was nearly 6 months ago already).

Now that it is Spring, I want to ‘detox’ my system by taking better care of myself. On the whole I make pretty healthy food, but eating too much pasta and bread and things loaded with sugar (like cookies) isn’t good for you. I’ve noticed lately that eating to blocks of chocolate is fine, yet eating a whole Bar One or Tempo, say (not that they are that large, but still),  makes me feel slightly nauseous and increases the already-not-so-happy headache vibe I’ve got going for me every day.

I feel like I’ve been eating too much lately, and not fitting into your new clothes (not more than a month old) is highly depressing.

So for the last few days, as an iron boost, I have been bringing raisins to work. I drink a lot of water (I always do, so that’s a good habit). I’ve decreased my intake of carbohydrates, and I am again on a pretty great multivitamin – a Sportron product called Ultragard Forté.

And come the weekend, we’ll be going on an outing to buy ‘friendly’ foodies for my well-being, including fruits and veggies.

The only unfortunate thing is that our refrigerator seems to hate me.

No matter how much I turn up the temperature, i.e. how warm I make it, it still manages to freeze everything. Even food placed in containers gather ice on the inside. Mushrooms become as hard as rocks… not to mention the tomatoes, as well, which then become super-mushy once they defrost. On Sunday the whole thing decided to defrost, then re-freeze, start to defrost again, and then while I was cleaning everything up and hacking chunks of ice out of the d*mn freezer, what happens? It decides to freeze again *sigh* Just can’t win, can I?

i need one of these for the kitchen cupboards as well...

It’s time to follow a ‘diet’ (please not: not GO on a diet) that suits my situation. The foods they suggest endometriosis suffers should and shouldn’t eat is scarily similar to things I believe aren’t very good for my system right now. Besides, what’s so bad about wanting to live healthily? It’s not like I’m going to suddenly cut out everything that is supposedly ‘bad’ for you. Anything can be fine to eat, as long as it’s done in moderation. Oh, and exercise – time for crunches and pushes again…

So for my mum’s birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, my birthday, and any other special occasion between now and my wedding on the 7^th of May, please – don’t lead me into temptation.

It’s hard enough to ‘fight off’ when you can do the leading there yourself.

Bad calories… duz not (shud not) wantz…

Happy Christmas… no, Merry Halloween… wait —

I’m not so sure which one it is anymore!

It’s pretty much the ‘season’ where things are a bit mixed up when you go to grocery stores or shopping centres. At the end of (even mid–) September/ beginning of October, many stores already started packing out Christmas chocolates and decorations and trees and all things ho-ho-happy.

Bring pumpkins, dancing – dangling – skeletons and warty witches’ noses into the mix, and the result brings about a pretty bizarre display window or aisle .

It’s Happy Halloween and Merry Christmas, and a bubble-bubble-toil-and-trouble cauldron full of tinsel entwined messiness. A morphing of two ‘holidays’ that in no way whatsoever (not really, I believe) relate to one another.

So what’s a girl to do?

For a few years now, my mum has treated the ‘kiddies’ in her Grade 7 class to goodie bags with treats for Halloween – just as a joke. It’s a way for her to put a smile on their faces and ‘indulge’ them (and herself) at least a bit since we here in South Africa don’t go about tricking or treating or costumed or whatever on the night when ghosties and ghoulies run amuck on their horned feetsies.

Puts me in the mood to watch that Garfield Halloween special… and I’ll admit, I still remember many of the words to the various songs.

I remember during my first year at university, I actually dressed up as a cat and went to write my History exam that way. I’ve told you about this, right? Yes, I believe so… in any case, I always smile to myself, knowing that even though we fall out of the ‘sphere’ of Halloween and all its accompaniments (i.e. that we don’t, for a fact, celebrate it), stores are making a killing. Ah, consumerism, you ol’ beauty! People help line the various stores’ pockets by literally buying into this so-called holiday, dressing up and holding Halloween parties (in a lot of cases, when it comes to non-kiddies, to drink and be merry).

And then, right on the heels of that, we’ll be back to singing our carols and pretending to be all good-natured and gosh-darned hoooly – holy, for those who prefer the un-drawn out version – because we’re rejoicing in the miracle of the birth of a saviour. Oh, we have to be good and only be nice and giving this one time of year, to spend spend spend and empty our pockets… but we’re filling our hearts with joy… right? Right?!

Ah, cynicism, there you are again. Or are you Scrooge? Probably doesn’t matter, either way.

It’s such a shame that holidays are so highly overrated. You’d think that people would learn by now that, although giving and receiving gifts is great, not to mention having big feast-like meals but once a year, this is only symbolic. Why can’t we care anytime of the year? Why can’t we make an effort to invite people over for meals to show that we care and are thankful to know them? Why don’t we give small gifts at any time of the year?

Maybe I should stick my head in the trick-or-treat bag I don’t have yet and hide my face until this whole hullabaloo is over.

‘Bah humbug’, anyone?

I’ve always preferred the mint ones…

(What would happen if we brought Chanukah into the mix…? Someone call SOUTH PARK!!)

Feeling Nostalgic

It’s that time of year again.

Well… not really… but it’s always a good opening line, so why not use it?

I miss Stellenbosch. Not that I’m unhappy with where I currently find myself. I couldn’t have asked for a better ‘job’ (read: internship, although ‘employer’ – OUP – is more accurate), and I am treated so well and praised so highly, I’m afraid that if I pinch myself, it’ll all be gone – *poof* – just like that.

But still I miss it. I miss getting up early on a Sunday morning and walking down deserted, quiet Victoria Street, watching the rustle of the leaves no matter what the season, and that sense of eerie calm that only seems to exist on a Sunday.

I miss listening to the hundreds of birds chirping as you walk from the residence past Wilgenhof’s tennis courts and across Victoria Street on your way to class. The occasional squirrel, sometimes even in the tree right outside my 4^th year res room window. English seminars and creative writing classes. Cups of coffee and big splashy rain puddles. Post-essay/ assignment relief, feeling sleepy while reading articles for our theory class, and being way ahead with research and deadlines.

Yes, back then, I still drank coffee.

It’s been almost 11 months since my last cuppa.

All this comes back to me every time we go to pick my sister up from or drop her off at her (no longer ‘my’, not really) residence. It’s absolutely scary to think that a year has passed since I was last there for my own academic purposes rather than that of my first year sister. She started with her final exams yesterday, and by the 17^th of November, she will have finished with the first year of her four year course.

My little sister, through her first year of university.

It’s almost hard to believe…

Perhaps that’s why I feel slightly nostalgic – not for my student days, so much, although I wouldn’t mind to have had the luxury of doing my Masters, but just the beauty and rhythm and vibrancy and much-ness of Stellenbosch.

Two of the girls I studied with have already gotten married. A third one is set to tie the knot this coming Saturday. After that, I’m next. Four of us got engaged last year, and I’m wondering how the rest of the group are doing. Some are doing their Masters, others are pursuing different courses (academic or no), and one is even overseas, studying at the esteemed York after being accepted there.

And me? I’m working at a publishing house where people (over-)value my work, even if it took me 8 months of sitting at home doing nothing to get here…

Yet once, just once more, I’d like to walk across the Rooi Plein with my hazelnut coffee and huge cookie from DCM, listening to the birds chirp and watching the squirrels gambolling (yes, I am now attributing the action to squirrels instead of kittens, but it’s close enough) as I smell the sweet leaf-scattered air of my once-upon-a-not-so-long-ago campus.

That’s not too much to ask… is it?