Polokwane is becoming a rainbow # The Color Run

I love it when Polokwane participates in global initiatives  and this weekend we are getting our share of  The Color Run! The Color is  the happiest 5km on the planet.  It promotes healthiness ,happiness and individuality .  The Color Run also raises funds for local charities.

Date: 15 August 2015
Time: 09:00 for 10:00
Venue: Mitchell House Prep

Tickets are available at the Mitchell House Theatre  7 to 10 pm  today and tomorrow (Friday).

Visit  the website :  thecolorrun.co.za
#thecolorun


LET'S BE HAPPY!

Chronicles of a formerly slim girl ( Oh,great now I am a monkey at the zoo)

The gym is a giant zoo.

So, I went and joined the gym and got myself a trainer in a bid  to restore  this  body.  I have accepted that  I can't do it on my own so I have employed the service of one Danny from BodyLife gym in my neighbourhood.  I really  wish someone had given me some orientation or at least a briefing of what happens when you walk into this place.  I didn't know what was coming. I was never ready. Nothing in my life had ever prepared me for this.  

The first ordeal is called the assessment.  Oh, Mary mother of God!Why? Why me? There  I was in nothing but black sweats and  black socks looking like a classic before picture and there was Danny , looking like an advert for Nike, with only 6% body fat.  He stood there with what looked to me like an industrial scale, a tape measure and some gadget to measure body fat.  Oh the agony...Why didn't anybody warn me about these weapons of  esteem destruction?

Height: 1.6m

Weight: 90kg

Abdomen: 107 cm

Verdict: Obese

I want to run.  (But remember I don't know how to  and that is how I got here  hahahaha) I want  run and eat. I  need comfort.  I need warm homemade fried chicken with creamy mash and some apple cider .  I need comfort.  I need a bed , with an electric blanket and fluffy pillows.  I need comfort.  I want to chew and swallow until my  heart no longer feels hollow. 

But instead I stay. I stay and I face myself.   I acquaint myself with the eliptical and the treadmill, the kettle bells and the free weights.  I am  self -conscious  and  I feel exposed.  Oh the awkwardness of it all!  Danny is positive and encouraging.  Everybody is starring at me, cringing at my uncoordinated attempts to get this body going. The huffing, the puffing, the sweat, the screams the signs...great, now I am a monkey at the zoo!

Fake it till you make it!

All geared up and ready to go. I showed up...

Chronicles of a formerly slim girl (I wear black because...)

I have been dressed in black  for the past four weeks. Yes, only black. It really is quite easy as the general rule is : wear any color you like as long as its black.  You'd be surprised at how colourful  black is .  I have black black, blue black, charcoal black, metallic black ,matte black...its like a friggin rainbow.    The greatest  thing about wearing black  is that no one notices what you are wearing because they only notice the colour.The textures, design and fit go out the window.  Until of course...they ask you what is wrong. Thus far very few  buy my story when I tell them how happy a color black is.   They want  more... Sigh

Four weeks ago I went to Woolworths to  get a few warm things for this season.  After picking up a few items I went into the fitting room to try them on.   This was a big mistake and the single worst thing I have done to myself this year.  In the unforgiving fluorescent lights and wall to wall mirrors of the department store fitting room I saw myself.  There was no where to run and no where to hide. I had to look and  I saw myself.

There it was this grotesque figure , a curios shade of yellow, bumpy , flabby, heavy...fat!

This was the truth. Starring at me.  I couldn't run and  I couldn't hide. I had to see.

I know and accept that at 32 I will not have the body I had at 22.  I know and accept that I am beautiful. I know and accept that I love myself. I  know and  accept that  I have not  taken good care of myself in the last five years. I know and accept that I have had  meals to  drown my feelings.  I know and accept that I saw it happening and I looked away.  I know and accept that I am fat.  I  know  and accept that I am frustrated.  I know and accept that I must do something about it.

I have a personal trainer now and a living will to  bring sexy back!

Its no fun looking in the mirror and not recognizing yourself.  I wear black because I am fat.  It  gives me the illusion of hiding.  I feel safe here.  And tears don't leave stains on a black sleeve...

Hiding behind several shades of black

It is never too late to have a happy childhood...

I grew up in a township.  My childhood was just as  good or perhaps even a little more privileged  than others.  But growing up in the Apartheid construct that was Mankweng Township or Turfloop as it it affectionately known to the locals ,  I had very little public amenities to play around with.  See in the eyes of the Apartheid system, a black child was never to be stimulated.  I had a swing, but it was made my my dad, who spent several days with a welding machine in a bid to bring joy to my world.  The government on the other hand saw it fit that my friends and I should play in the dusty streets  and use use bricks as cars and rocks as dolls.  It's okay I suppose as it fueled our imaginations. We have good memories.

Two weeks ago I went to Turfloop where my parents still live and visited the Post-Apartheid library run by the Polokwane Municipality.  I walked through the all the sections ( there really aren't that many) but what captured my attention was the children's section and what  I found was  there. I found 'The wonderful world of Pooh'. Oh how I would have loved this as a child.  But still at the tender age of 32, it was the only book I took out. And  what I found inside the book , which was obviously donated, was an inscription that said, To Laura, Happy Birthday, From Steve, 1977.  I wonder what Laura's childhood was like...

ay,bee,zee

A B C
I cant see
D E
Where you be
F G
Oh gee
H I J
Thought we could roll a ...
K L M
mmmm
N O P Q
You left me with question
 R S T
You sped like
U V W X Y
Where are you
Z?

Imagine

I was never a Beatles fan until my cousin Tshegofatso showed me how awesome they were/are.  Once I listened to them and read their story I realized they were the embodiment of popular music and popular culture.  I love The Beatles  but this song by John Lennon , which he did on his own, is the universal anthem that just might be the code for world peace.

I dedicate this blog to Ledi and her wonderful husband Nate Bell. Thank you for all the great times . Imagine. I miss you guys.

Think about this:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Winter doing the Gypsey

Winter
is here
I am alone
I hear the wind.
I feel feel the cold.
Frozen toes.
Sleepless night .
He has a message
I see you he says
I have many things
To say to you
But because
I can
Envelop you
Over power you
I will not say them today
I will tease you
Make you yearn for me
Search
Wonder
Long for me
Because
I can envelop you
Over power you
I am winter
Live with me...

Dear Winter:  sometimes I need a warm hug without conditions