Best PhotoBombs Evar!

I'm a HUGE fan of photobombing... ...got these emailed to me and I thought I'd share them with you becoz they certainly cheered my day up.

Yip, that's Ryan Seacrest

 

and my personal favourite!

 

I Collect Gingers

Megan and myself are ginger #97 and #98 of Anthea Pokroy's I Collect Gingers art exhibition. 

Anthea has been photographing gingers since 2010 and now, two and a half years and 500+ gingers later, the red-headed Johannesburg-based artist and photographer will be presenting her debut solo exhibition at Speke Photographic / CIRCA on Jellicoe in Rosebank, Johannesburg tonight.

Pokroy explains, “It was only after my first photography session with seven ‘gingers’ that I began exploring the innate sense of community and collective experience that emerged from the otherness of the ‘gingers’ ”. Through her photographs Pokroy begins to construct a narrative, history/future and system of classification around this self-identified ‘race’. Pokroy uses this minority (2% of the world population) and mythical (historically considered witches and demons) group of red-headed people to highlight the obscurities of racial classification and discrimination which remain prevalent in South Africa. In a context that has historically been obsessed and oppressed by skin colour, Pokroy suggests an ironic alternative to genetic and pigment-based racial profiling. She begins to imagine what a ginger utopia might look like and what its implications would be.

Pokroy has documented gingers from all over South Africa, as well as internationally when she attended the Redhead Day in the Netherlands where thousands of gingers from all over the world congregated. ‘I collect gingers’, has received a plausible amount of interest in the media, including 5fm, 702 Talk Radio, The Star, Wanted Magazine, and Fair Lady amongst others. The artwork also has an impressive local and international social media following.
  
The exhibition opens on 17 January 2013 at CIRCA on Jellicoe. 

The show will run until 2 March 2013.

A To Z Blog Challenge

Last year's A to Z Blogging Challenge was a turning point for me in blogging. 

It sucked every creative juice from my being and for the rest of my blogging year my posts were utter shite!  I could never bounce back from it, but this year it's going to be different.  Oh Yeah!  I'm going to fucking rock this shit.

Although I'm not blogging everyday anymore, I will make an acception in April 2013. 

My post are already in the planning stages, I have a vague idea of what route I want to go,  I'm planning my posts, prepping ideas and have started to brainstorm thoughts for my A to Z Challenge Video.  As I finish a post, I will schedule it.  The key of this year's challenge is organisation so I don't drive myself insane, like I did last year.

Last year, I was also too late to enter the A to Z Video Challenge, but I made one anyway.   Have a lookie. 



This year will have a completely different theme and feel, and I hope you beautiful Plonkers will enjoy.

Follow A to Z Challenge on Twitter for all the latest news @AprilA2Z and more importantly go sign up (as soon as the link becomes available).

Heart yer faces off, Plonkers!

And the Tears Continue...

Day Two of Grade 1 for my "wee yun" and she made it clear she did NOT want to go back to school because "they made her do homework on the FIRST day!". 

Oh the degradation!  How dare they make her colour in a picture for homework on her first day!

After Day 1, I guess she figured in her head that "big school" was not for her, because this morning she declared that she doesn't want to go back.

We got to school and she was very quiet and withdrawn.  It look an eternity for the bell to eventually ring and by then her lip was quivering and she was clutching my leg!  I tried to be brave for her, but I could see she was not happy at all.  I tried to keep things light - she was having none of it.  She was going to cry!

I thought to myself "Oh Kaylin, please don't cry or you're gonna make me bubble too".  My eyes were already leaking.

Kaylin clearly is not a mind-reader, because with my silent request, she burst into tears as we walked into her classroom.  The fact that all the kids at her table were asking why she was crying, did not help either. 

My heart broke into piece then and there.

I wanted to just pick her teeny weeny wee body up, walk out of there and just cuddle with her all day....

That's what my heart told me.

My head told me to be strong, for Kaylin's sake, kiss her goodbye, tell her that I love her and that I'd see her after school.

I managed to make it around the corner from her class, then I burst into tears.

Thank Fuck I had my mirror sunglasses on that I could hide behind.

I phoned my Best Friend - my Hubby - and sobbed into the phone.

I cried all the way to work.  Another bare-faced and blotchy face worn to work.  They'll have to get used to it for a while, until my wee lassies settles at school.

I'm taking it one day at  a time.

I spoke to her today about MY first day at school (I remember it clearly like it was yesterday).  I told her how scared I was because I didn't know anyone, I didn't know what to expect.  It turned out that my teacher didn't like gingers and took an instant dislike to me. 

I told Kaylin that I battled to make friends at first and to fit it.  It brought back so many emotions and I started to cry again.  I really didn't want her to see me being so emotional, but it seemed to strike something with her because immediately she gave me a hug and she asked me "you were little once too, hey Mum?". 

I suppose she thinks that, as an adult, we have everything under control  Our kids need to be reminded that we were little once too, that went through most of the things they go through at one stage or another.  Kaylin saw the emotion in my face and said "How did you make friends?". 

I told her the story of a wee lassie who sat next to me in Grade 1, who asked me why I cried so much.  I remember telling her that I was scared and that I didn't know anyone.

Jennifer asked me if I wanted to play.  She reach out, took my hand and we did just that. 

Simple as that.

It wasn't that simple for me.

After sharing my story, Kaylin said that she'd be brave and go to school the next day.  She said that she'll put her arm around Michael and ask him if  wants to play with her.

I'm still not sure that showing my emotions was the right thing.

I just know that I dont' have all the answers.

Hopefully with time, things will get better and she'll eventually find her space and comfort zone in Grade 1.  It will just take time.

In the meantime, my heart will break each day for her, because I remember so clearly how scarey it all was and what it felt like.

Grade 1 Class of 2013

So my wee lassies went back to school today and I return to work.

Urgh, the dreaded computer screen!

Megan checked into to Grade 4 and Kaylin starts Grade 1.

Big Day for me. Emotional Day...

I managed to keep my composure until I got to the car, then I got all emotional and sobbed all the way to work. She's so little and it's Mum's last time she'll do this!

So, I have no make-up left on my face, and I look a right sight walking into work this morning after being at home for three weeks.

Kaylin was well-prepared. All her bags packed and ready to learn to read. She looks so adorable in her school uniform, although its miles too big. She figured she looked so grown up and beautiful and indeed she does. My baby is so grown up. Here's a few shots of them "Back to School"

Kaylin in her Class

At home this morning, all smiles and excited

her tiny size 8 school shoes

Striking a Grown-up pose

Megan and Kaylin at school

The Frustration Aggression Hypothesis

When I’m frustrated, I get forceful and assertive, then I say things I regret and I’m riddled with guilt and I cry.

It’s frustrating when you live so far from your family. You feel helpless when something goes wrong or there is a crisis and you can’t be there.

My parents live 700km away, by choice, and recently both my parents have been very ill. My mum has acute osteoporosis and has had back surgery as well as emphysema. My dad has recently been diagnosed with emphysema and possible liver disease. They are still awaiting the final blood tests.

I know they shield me from a lot of their illness details and they can do so because I’m so far away. When I phone, they constantly say “I’m fine. Don’t worry” but I get frustrated and I do worry.   They're isolated and only have each other to rely on.

 They also don’t seem to question their doctors or their medical aid about what they’re entitled to or what their real benefits are. I only want the best care for them and I feel they’re not getting it.

I wish I could be there for them in some way. My hands feel totally tied. Not only do my parents have their ill-health to worry about, but their pride gets the best of them. They won’t ask for help, they will never ask for assistance, be it money or an extra person to be there when they can’t care for one another.

Just feeling discouraged and frustrated and wanted to share....

“To conquer frustration, one must remain intensely focused on the outcome, not the obstacles.”

Tale of Tails....Holy Crap on a Cracker!

The bloke born with a tail!

Oram has refused any operation to remove his tail and because of it he is an object of devotion to many, who believe him to be an incarnation of Hanuman.

Having a human tail might have brought Oram thousands of devotes but it hasn’t helped him in one area – the desire to get married and become a father and have children. ”Almost 20 women have turned down marriage proposals. They see me and agree to a match. But as soon as I turn around, they see my tail and leave. But I have decided I will marry the woman who accepts me and my tail. Or else, I’ll remain a bachelor like Hanuman,” he said.

And YOU thought I was fucking daft?!?




You think that's fucking weird?  This cracker is a repulsive gag fest.

This bloke, Sanju Bhagat’s had felt self-conscious his whole life about his big belly. His stomach was once so swollen he looked nine months pregnant and could barely breathe.

But one night in June 1999, living in the city of Nagpur, India, Bhagat’s problem erupted into something much larger than cosmetic worry. An ambulance rushed the 36-year-old farmer to the hospital. Doctors thought he might have a giant tumor, so they decided to operate and remove the source of the bulge in his belly.  Mehta said that he can usually spot a tumor just after he begins an operation. But while operating on Bhagat, Mehta saw something he had never encountered. As he cut deeper into Bhagat’s stomach, gallons of fluid spilled out - and then something extraordinary happened. “First, one limb came out, then another limb came out. Then some part of genitalia, then some part of hair, some limbs, jaws, limbs, hair.”

At first glance, it may look as if Bhagat had given birth.

Actually, Mehta had removed the mutated body of Bhagat’s twin brother from his stomach.

Get yer brown paper bag and all together now.... BARF!