I'm not usually a soppy person, I avoid anything remotely romantic and I'm not too fond about people gushing about their other halves. For once I'm going to be completely unlike myself and say that my biggest reason to smile at the moment is James, also known as the boyfriend. After my really crappy exam on Friday, he told me he'd get something for dinner afterwards. I was expecting pizza or a Steers burger. This is what I got instead.

He'd set up a candlelit dinner in his res room (never mind the no candles in res rule) complete with red roses and wine and beef lasagne (my favourite) and cupcakes from Haricots. I was quite overwhelmed, as I really was expecting something like pizza and a chilled night. Then again, James never fails to surprise me. It was the perfect way to celebrate not only the end of my exam, but also six months of us dating. Not a long time, but definitely the most happiness that could possibly be packed in such a short time, and definitely worth celebrating.

World Cat Day

Today is World Cat Day. Yes, there is an entire day for the world to celebrate cats, as if they needed an excuse to be worshipped! I may be a little cat obsessed and on my way to becoming a crazy cat lady, I realise this. 

On Sunday, after talking about how much we really didn't feel like working, a friend and I decided on a spontaneous trip to the Grahamstown SPCA to visit the cats. Until then, I’d forgotten just how much happiness stroking a cat could bring. These are some of the gorgeous fluffballs that we met. 

Photos of the cats are credited to the Instagram skills of Tristam Riordan

I used to have three cats at home until we learnt that my sister was allergic to most animals and so the cats had to go. I still wish we could have given the sister away instead but the SPCA wouldn't take her. 

This is my sister, Annelisa, with one of the cats, named... well... I called her something different every day. Not that she ever responded to my calls unless food was involved.

As I no longer have a pet at home or at university because I live in res, I've been thinking about ways to help animals even when I don't own one. Here's what I have so far:

1) Volunteer to walk the dogs regularly at your local SPCA, or if you have limited time, then visit when you can and play with the animals. They will show you more love than your own mother ever will. True story. 

2) Every time you do your grocery shopping, add a tin of dog/cat food to your trolley to donate.

3) Support the Animal Anti-Cruelty League. They work in areas where poverty and ignorance lead to animal cruelty, not by prosecuting people but by advising and educating them. They give talks on animal cruelty and also provide mobile animal clinics in townships. 

I've supported them this year by buying their personalised diary, which is not only very pretty but also packed with useful advice and tips. Inside there are basic first aid instructions, energy saving information, pet care advice, cooking and baking info, and even recession fighting tips to save money. Not that I know how to cook or save energy or money but hey, with this diary I'm a step closer to getting there. 

4) Encourage people to adopt pets from the SPCA instead of buying them. 

5) Support local groups that care for feral cats. If you're a Rhodes student like me, that would be the Grahamstown Feral Cat Project that traps, neuters or spays and then releases feral cats. For more info, click here. 

6) Got an old blanket or two? Donate it to the SPCA or an animal shelter.

7) As for fireworks, if you're near animals, just don't.

On a lighter note...

The Anti-Bucket List

While procrastinating, I like to write lists; shopping lists, to do lists, hot guys at uni lists, DIY idea lists, bucket lists... See, even this sentence turned into a list!

I think that a bucket list is the biggest deal though. It’s like saying ‘I cannot possibly die without doing this first’ and so it can range from the extremely batshit crazy like swimming with sharks to the more heartfelt  like helping starving kids in Africa. Ok that last bit was a joke, who actually says that?

Don’t say Americans.  

My problem with writing a bucket list is that I make it so unrealistic that I never do anything. Run a marathon? Ha! I can’t even walk across the road without being out of breath. I’m also impatient.  If I want to do something, I want to have a plan and I want to do it now. I studied French for six years and would like to be able to go to France and put it to good use, but writing that down and not being able to do that any time soon is discouraging.

So my solution to my bucket list dilemma? Don’t have one! Instead, I’m going to list things I’d like to do/achieve specifically in the next six months or so. It’s purposeful, immediate and more of a reality than an idea. And then after that time has passed, I’ll make a new list for more things I want to do. I also won’t call it a bucket list because if I’m going to kick the bucket it better not be in the next six months.

So here it is, my anti-bucket list of things I’d like to do (so far). I’ve already started planning for some and as for the others, I'll get there.

1. Read Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting 

2. Register myself as an organ donor. Not that I think anyone wants my liver but I’m sure the rest is useable.

3. Go bungee jumping.

4. Wear a bikini to the beach (and in doing so, get over my body issues)

5. Travel out of South Africa

6. Go on a road trip: I’ve done this many times before but one cannot go on too many road trips. If you watch a lot of movies you will know that the solution to everything is to go on a road trip where romance will occur, unforgettable experiences will be had, and eternal bonds of friendship will be formed.

7. Do something good for someone in the Grahamstown community outside Rhodes.

8. Go to a music festival

9. Cook an entire meal for someone special: This someone will obviously be my mother and I’ll make her curry and prove I'm a good Indian daughter. Also, here's what I would look like as a good Indian daughter.

10. Learn how to make decent coffee: A beginner’s barista course is offered by The Factory Cafe in Durban, but comes at a price of R4500. So I’ll start hinting to my mother after I cook that curry.

11. Have my writing published

12. Get fit: note, I did not say lose loads of weight and look like a stick.

13. Learn how to drive

14. Watch the sunrise at the Monument in Grahamstown

15. Camp outdoors

Any other ideas of doable things to do? 

Prison Break-fast

The Provost a year ago

A year ago, I did a photo essay on some interesting buildings on the Rhodes University campus and one of my favourites was the Old Provost, a prison that remained from Grahamstown's military days. Well a week ago that prison re-opened as a coffee shop! How's that for an out-of-the-ordinary culinary experience?

I popped in to The Provost Cafe last week after oversleeping and missing breakfast (which happens more often than it should) for a quick coffee but ended up staying for one of their savoury muffins. What a good life choice! It was a simple spinach, feta and pepperdew muffin but it was absolutely amazing. The filter coffee that I ordered, however, tasted pretty average. A friend of mine grabbed a cappuccino a few days later and said that it was really good, so I suggest you pay them a visit and decide for yourself because I am certainly no coffee expert.

The menu appears to be rather limited: just muffins, croissants and giant cookies but what is there is freshly made and wholesome. I do hope more food is added on soon though so I can say I know what prison food tastes like.

The Provost is on the outskirts of campus where it is much quieter, making it a great place to catch up on reading or meetings. I'm also pretty excited about using a landmark in such a way that tourists can do more than just have a look at the outside of the place. As you eat you are surrounded by the old jail rooms, which is possibly the strangest place I've ever had a meal at. Strange, but pretty darn awesome of course.

For more info on The Provost Cafe, this right here is their Facebook page. And if you don't already know that the Old Provost is a Panopticon (Panopti-whaaaat?) then do click here and be knowledged by the mighty wikipedia.

Happy coffee drinking!

Doors of the prison cells are now open for visitors to have a look around.

The view from inside the cells is now a much more pleasant sight.

Sugar packet wisdom

Sometimes you find what you need in the oddest places.

A while ago a friend told me that I'm the kind of person who, when everyone is going left, I'll be going right and taking my own random route. Since then, I've been thinking about this, wondering whether I really do the opposite of everyone else (I didn't even realise) and whether I should try to be more normal, whatever that is. 

At the end of last year, I applied for a job to be a sub-warden in my residence at Rhodes and I was worried that I had to be more responsible, more serious, more stern, make less dodgy jokes, wear smart pants to the interview, and most importantly, be less ditzy and blonde (not sure how that's even possible). This was just one out of MANY times when I felt like to be "right" and succeed I had to be something I'm not.

And then, while taking a 15 hour bus trip from Durban to Grahamstown, I got a complimentary cup of coffee with some life changing sugar. This is what the packaging said.

I took that as a sign (from the bus driver? Huletts? God?) and decided to just be my not very serious self, say whatever is on my mind and embrace the fact that I will always be a little bit of a silly girl. I even wore a short skirt to the interview because let's face it, I look strange in formal black pants and a shirt and all that jazz. 

The result? I got the job. 

The moral? Be you. Be different. Be strange. Be a success.