Eminem is coming to SA!

Eminem's tour to SA was announced and I forgot how to breathe for a bit while my brain processed what my eyes were reading.

I know I may sometimes come across as a tea-drinking, Mumford and Sons-listening kinda girl and I don't even like the city of Johannesburg all that much but come 1 March, I will be there, getting all emotional while he sings pretty much all the songs that got me through growing up (because life wasn't pretty and boy bands bopping were just not going to cut it).

Here's some old school Eminem to get you keen. It's still my life anthem/motivational track/mood booster.

Now listen to Taylor Swift sing it and puke. 

And if your friend jumps off a bridge, do you also jump?

3... 2... 1... bungee!

The moment those words were said and I jumped off the Bloukrans Bridge was possibly the scariest moment in my life.

I decided this year to go bungee jumping as it was one of those things people always say has to be on your bucket list. After much planning, I finally went the day after my 21st birthday. That wasn’t the best idea because the night of my birthday I went out and had a considerable amount to drink (as one does when one celebrates a birthday at Rhodes). The morning of the jump, I felt sick. No prizes for guessing why. We set off at 6am and after having no sleep at all I felt like death. I wasn’t at all scared of jumping off Bloukrans, despite the fact that it is the largest bridge in Africa and the highest commercial bridge bungee in the world. My biggest fear was that while soaring through the air I would rather spectacularly throw up (yes, you really needed to imagine that).

We arrived an hour early and were given the option to jump immediately. What the hell, I thought, we may as well. To get to the middle of the bridge to jump, we had to walk the length of half the bridge on a walkway that allowed you to see below. At this point I started feeling dizzy and had to keep telling myself to not look down. But I never listen to anything, not even myself, and so I continuously looked down as I walked and proceeded to scare the shit out of myself.

After what felt like the longest, most torturous walk, we reached the middle of the bridge where we were briefed on the jump. Out of the group of six, I was the second person to jump. Despite the huge smile on my face, I was at this point rather nervous. While being strapped to the harness I asked a million questions, all of which were rather embarrassingly caught on video. “Are you sure this is safe? Can this rope be broken? What happens if the part tied around my ankle slips off?” Of course I knew this wouldn’t be allowed if it wasn’t safe, but I had watched many videos of failed bungee jumps beforehand to get the excitement flowing and now they were coming back to me.

Finally, I was taken to the edge of the bridge to jump and I finally got a glimpse of the view down. Holy mother of beans, it was the scariest sight. I kept saying no, I can't do this, but at that point it was too late to back out.

Before I knew it they had counted down and I jumped. For the first few seconds I completely let go and screamed. With my long black hair trailing behind me and my screams echoing in the distance, I must have resembled a banshee.

I cannot describe the thrill and the complete ecstasy of that jump. I felt incredibly free. It was so good to let go and know that despite the fear and the appearance of danger I was still safe. And the best part of it all? I didn’t throw up.

"Fear is temporary. Regret is forever"

Most moments with Darsha are crazy but this has to be the best of them all.

Adventures at Addo

Yesterday I got the chance to play tourist in my own country when Kel, Ange, Cath and I went on a mini road-trip to Addo, an elephant park just outside the town that I live in. We planned a day of no studying, no work, no distractions; just friends, food, fun times and the beautiful outdoors.

Kelina, Angela, Carissa, Catherine: forget duck faces, here are our roaring lion faces!

We spent the day driving around ticking animals off our check list as we spotted them. One of the biggest misconceptions about South Africa is that lions and elephants roam around freely and that we keep them as pets. This is obviously far from reality and so it was exciting for me to have these animals so close. I particularly enjoyed being about 2m away from this elephant's bum as we drove past.

On numerous occasions, Kel would point to something excitedly and we would all crane our necks to see what it was. Much laughter ensued as every spotting of Kel's turned out to be a false alarm as she spotted a log, a stone, some bricks, a heap of sand and a leaf. Time for new glasses perhaps?

At this point, Kel is most likely pointing at a tree which she thinks is a giraffe.

No sightings of lions and leopards unfortunately, but lots of elephants, zebras, warthogs, kudu, dung beetles (and LOTS of dung), mongoose, a Blue Crane (our national bird), ostriches, and a few other birds and animals. At times it felt like we were viewing a typical scene from a movie set in Africa, especially with the zebras running around and the warthogs hanging around a waterhole. There were many lone elephants walking around, but seeing an entire herd walking together was quite a magical moment.

We stopped at a few picnic spots throughout the park to take in the amazing views of the place. My love for the beauty of SA was reaffirmed, as well as the knowledge that I have some pretty damn awesome friends!

The Rise of the Insanity League: not your normal funny

I’m always keen for comedy, especially if it’s of the South African kind. After watching Trevor Noah’s The Daywalker and Crazy Normal , I was really looking forward to his third show, even though I had already heard most of the jokes from friends constantly retelling them (why do people do that?!).

When I finally got round to watching the DVD, well... I was disappointed. The show began with a not-very-funny song about Indians and all I could think was no, not again, not another show based on racial stereotypes. I think it’s great that South Africans are able to laugh at jokes like these, especially considering our history, but does this have to be the main part of every comedy performance? As I write this I know a lot of people will think I’m simply getting offended or that I lack any sense of humour. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not at all offended by jokes about race, I’m just wondering if that’s all that current and future comedians will have to offer.

Because of this, it makes me quite happy to stumble upon a comedic performance that promises something other than the usual. The Rise of the Insanity League is a comedy sketch currently touring SA, and I was lucky enough to be at the Durban premiere last week. I already had high expectations from the comedians: I’d seen Aaron McIlroy perform outstandingly on many occasions, Ben Voss and his alter-ego Beauty Ramapelepele are always hilarious, and John Van De Ruit has of course written, Spud, one of the few books that can make me cry from laughing. Put these three fine men together, call them the Insanity League and I know I was set for a funny night.

The show had each of them playing various roles, male and female, young and old, human and animal. They did not play excessively with racial stereotypes, they did not resort to crude jokes or situations, and despite all of that, they were genuinely funny – how unbelievably rare!

The Insanity League aims to not just entertain but rid the world of the plague of ‘Normans’, their name for people who are completely normal. Kudos to the three for promoting utter insanity and in doing so, reviving my faith in South African comedy.

PS. I was very excited to see that the merchandise on sale after the show was locally made, with the t-shirts being designed by The Holmes Brothers.