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Speak to a complete stranger

So this week I decide to take on a task that pushed my levels of social anxiety to a new high. I’ve never been great at the whole talking to people thing. I’d like to say that I’m an introvert but technically then you have to enjoy spending time with yourself and even I’ll admit that I’m not the greatest person to be around.

Anyway, lets get to the story of how this went. I decided to try this task at an art gallery as this is when I feel the most surrounded by strangers. Some how though, the universe was actually on my side that day as after about two or three minutes of awkwardly chatting to my selected stranger, I found out that he also goes to the Open Window Institute.

His name was Neil and if I can remember correctly I think he was in third year. ( I did end up drinking a bit after the exhibition so apologies in advance for the fuzzy memories.) We complained for a few minutes about the workload and what not but then we actually got into quite a serious discussion.

I asked him about double majoring and subject choices and what I got back were actually some of the most solid, straight-forward and helpful pieces of advice.

 I won’t bore you with all the long parts of the story but what I can definitely say is that even though this was one of the tasks I feared the most, it has definitely been the most helpful one in terms of helping with university career so far.

[170099-blog]

Spend time with a very young child.

Last week Saturday I had the privilege of being invited to Sophia’s fifth birthday party. Sophia is my youngest cousin and I’d like to say that we get on pretty well together but unfortunately we don’t get to spend much time together. 

The first half of Sophia’s self titled ‘day time ballerina disco’ themed party was actually reasonably formal. I arrived and was handed a cup of warm coffee by my Gran who then instructed me to go and socialize amongst the parents. And so there I sat for a good hour or so, discussing the economy, weather, politics and what not. I don’t I’d ever felt so out of place.

Two hours into the party I saw my gap and ran inside to go and chat amongst the five year olds. I managed to find my cousin, mid way through a sugar rush, who luckily agreed to have a discussion with me so long as I danced with her first. After a dance and a two minute break for me to catch my breath and got to business. I had completely forgotten how quickly children could speak. Within no more than 10 minutes she had already explained how school was going, what she was building in Minecraft, her review of the new Angry Birds movie, how good her brother is at lego and why she prefers fruit over vegetables.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to say much but I feel as if what Sophia had to say was definitely at least ten times more important than anything I could bring up. Overall I’d say the party was a success, it really got me back in touch with my inner-child which was something I’d almost completely forgotten how to do. I can’t wait for it to happen again next year.

[170099-blog]

Make a mistake.

As much as I would like to pretend that losing my bank card was a mistake that I made on purpose, I have to admit that it has been one of my most epic ‘stuff ups’ of 2017 yet. So here it is, my attempt at telling the story of the mess I am currently stuck in.

Stage 1: The Search

I know for a fact that I went out and got slightly too intoxicated this weekend; however, I am also at least 50% sure that I used my card on Sunday morning. This left me in a difficult position on where to look for my newly lost card. I frantically went through all of my washing, basically flipped my room inside out and phoned almost every bar within a 20Km radius before I finally accepted the truth about my card.

Stage 2:  Acceptance

After asking everyone I’d been  in touch with over the past few days if they had seen anything, I decided to sit down and just swear at life for a while (I like to think of this as a form of alternative meditation). I had never lost something with such a high value before and so I was completely lost on what to do next. All I knew was that I would have to do something I was completely unfamiliar and uncomfortable with, be an adult. 

Stage 3: Going to the bank

This probably sounds strange and most likely a bit stupid but I have to admit there is something really intimidating about going to the bank alone for the first time. I made sure to get there early to skip the queues but that definitely didn’t help with the fact that I felt as if I was being judged from every angle. I seriously started to worry that bank tellers could smell fear. Finally though after what felt like years of sitting and filling out forms (My word I must sound like a waste of a human being right now) I was allowed to go off on my way and was given the promise my card would be ready in about a week.

Stage 4: The happy ending

Around 10 days later I received an SMS saying that my new bank card was ready. I went to go collect it as quickly as possible and to my surprise it was even better than the last one ( My card has a chip now which is supposedly very adult-like). Although it wasn’t one of my best experiences I definitely learnt that I have to take better care of my stuff and also that I need to make better decisions when I’m out drinking. Overall, losing my bank card is definitely not a mistake that I would like to make again.

[170099-blog]

Visit an art gallery.

Sixteen Hundred Exhibition Opening EveningNo End Contemporary Art Space Attending art exhibitions is not a foreign concept to me, I tend to spend a lot of my own free time visiting galleries (and surprisingly a lot of the time it isn’t just for the free wine); however, I felt that this experience was different from many of my others as for once it felt that the act of being there was a greater inspiration to me than any of the artworks. To elaborate on why I feel this way about this specific exhibition I will have to explain the reason I was there, so without any further procrastinating, here it is. One lonely, cold morning in Centurion, I sat in traffic with knots in my stomach as I literally inched closer and closer to my first University level practical drawing exam. Drawing has always been something I've thrived at but unfortunately so has anxiety. I arrived at the exam already shaking. I have had some negative feedback in the past few ninths on my drawing and stupidly i’ve let it get to my head. I’ve started believing that the work I did in high-school was the peak of my drawing ability and that it’s only going downhill from there. Around half-way through the exam, I had barely even made it half way through the drawing, my lecturer called me up so that she could have a look at my visual diary and give me an estimated mark for the module. Much to my surprise she was impressed with the progress in my work and then, to shock my system even more, she invited me personally to the opening evening of am exhibition at her very own gallery. The artworks at the exhibition were absolutely amazing, I was even introduced to a few of the artists (One of whom was named Jake Singer, who I am somehow not related to even though we share almost exactly the same name). It was breathtakingly fantastic; however, the artworks were definitely not what stood out most most to me. You see, I struggled my way through high-school, I’ve always had a passion for the arts but unfortunately the same didn’t apply to my academics. I was constantly questioned and put into the shadows, I was hardly ever recognized or appreciated for my creative work. It put me into a very vicious tornado of negativity towards my own work and left me with a huge sense of self-doubt and disappointment. Even if it wasn’t the reason I was invited to the gallery, something about being the only first year student who attended the evening made me feel as if my potential was finally being noticed. The amount of inspiration and hope I received from that one persons recognition is more than any work of art or gallery could give me and it’s really driven me to build myself up as an artist and push myself to my creative limits as much as possible into the future. So if that lecturer ever somehow reads this, I just want to say that it may have felt like nothing to you but it was really a life changing experience for me and I don’t know how to possibly begin to say thank you enough for it. 

[170099-blog]

Write down 100 Questions.

The Serious, The Not so Serious and The Downright Weird.

My goal and motivation for choosing this task out of all the choices for our Creative Development blog was to try and go against the norm of options my fellow students have been taking so far in order to complete their Creative Passports. So, without any further time-wasting, here is my attempt at writing down 100 questions:

Unusual conversation starters:

What would you do for a million dollars?

Does pineapple belong on pizza?

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

When was the last time you were pulled over by a cop?

What is your first memory?

How did you get into my house !?

Have you accepted about our lord and savior the Flying Spaghetti Monster into your life?

Fill in the blanks: I wouldn't last _________ minutes without ____________ .

What are you the proudest of?

Would the 8 year old you be happy with the type of person you are today?

Standard conversation starters:

11) Where did you grow up?

12) What do you do for a living?

13) So, the weather recently hey?

14) What school did you go to?

15) Any plans for the weekend?

16) Nice shoes, where’d you get them?

17) Are you religious at all?

18) What do you do for fun?

19) Do you have any siblings?

20) Are you a cat or a dog person?

Questions based on ‘favorites’:

21) Do you have a favorite number?

22) What is your favorite movie and why?

23) What is your favorite type of music?

24) Do you have a favorite type of food?

25) What is your favorite time of year?

26) Where is your favorite place to curl up with a good book and relax?

27) Who is your favorite Power Ranger?

28) Which one of these questions so far has been your favorite to answer?

29) What is your favorite sport?

30) What is your favorite TV show?(If it isn’t Breaking Bad you should reconsider your life choices.)

*Note to self, I’m already struggling with coming up with interesting questions, I was hoping that I would at least make it to 50 without having to put up a fight.

Questions to ask yourself every morning:

31) What am I going to have for breakfast?

32) Wait, did I forget my keys again?

33) What am I going to do today?

34) Can I leave my alarm clock on snooze for another few minutes?

35) Do I have everything I need for today?

36) Are you sure?

37) One coffee or two?

38) What do I need to do to get through the rest of the week?

39) Who do I want to be today?

40) What would Samuel L. Jackson do?

Questions to ask yourself every evening:

41) What was the last thing I did that had any meaning?

42) What is it that I strive for most?

42) What is the purpose of my life?

44) Am I setting realistic goals for myself or am I shooting too high for my abilities?

45) Should I care what people think about me?

46) Where is my life going?

47) What does my presence mean to other people?

48) Am I happy?

49) What could I be doing better right now?

50) Am I really the person I say I am?

Stupid Questions:

51) Is the S or the C silent in the word ‘Scent’?

52) Is anyone actually reading all of this nonsense?

53) Why is it called a building if it’s already built?

54) Who put the alphabet in alphabetical order?

55) Aren’t bathtubs just basically reverse boats?

56) What would happen if Pinocchio said,” My nose will now grow.”?

57) If you’re waiting for the waiter at a restaurant aren’t you technically the waiter?

58) If there was a word misspelled in the dictionary, how would we know?

59) Do you think that sand is called sand because it is between the sea and the land?

60) If you crash your car on purpose, is it still an accident?

Questions I wish I could answer:

61) How do you do taxes?

62) How do you write a CV?

63) How do you vote?

64) How do you give a good apology?

65) How do people manage time efficiently?

66) What is the best way to deal with grief?

67) How can you respectfully question an authority figure?

68) How does the internet work?

69) How do you reach out to help someone in need?

70) How do you network professionally?

Questions for the universe:

71) What makes us human?

72) Are we alone?

73) How did life begin?

74) How will life end?

75) What is the universe made out of?

76) Is time travel ever going to be possible?

77) Why do we dream?

78) What is consciousness?

79) Why does time exist?

80) What makes the future so unknowable?

Food based questions:

81) What is your favorite type of flavor? (Sweet, spicy, sour etc.)

82) Do you have any food allergies?

83) Are you a vegetarian/ vegan? Why?

84) Do you have a go-to fast food chain?

85) On a scale from one to ten, how high would you rate garlic bread?

86) How often do you cook

87) Tacos or burritos?

88) Can you eat the same thing over and over again without getting bored of it?

89) What would you normally choose, a chicken burger, a beef burger or a veggie burger?

90) Do you like Mexican food?

The final 10 questions:

91) How have you made it this far?

92) Seriously, why are you still reading this?

93) Do you think that this was as hard to read as it was to write?

94) Would you ever re-read this list?

95) Would you ever use any of these questions as conversation starters?

96) Do you feel any bit more creative after reading all of these?

97) Did you enjoy it at all?

98) Did you realize that there were two number 42 questions?

99) Did you know, the blue whale, weighing in at 170 tons, is way bigger than any dinosaur ever was and probably the largest known animal to have ever existed?

100) Do you have any questions?

[170099-blog]

Go to a music festival. Stay sober.

Rock on The Lawns with The Pixies

Being sober at music festivals is most definitely not a familiar notion to me, in fact, the whole concept of being stone cold sober for over twelve hours whilst surrounded by 16000 strangers in an area completely unknown to myself is somewhat a terrifying one.

Phase 1: The Arrival

As I arrived at the festival I felt as if I were the physical form of enthusiasm. My mind was clear of the dooming social anxiety that was yet to come and I was ready to face the music. Unfortunately my enthusiasm and overall self belief were short lived as I quickly realized that the only shaded areas and seats throughout the entire festival grounds were those located in the beer garden. To make things worse I was shortly joined by a group of 30 year olds who were tripping on shrooms and determined to ‘drink to infinity’.

Phase 2: Killing Time

I was tasked with the issue of wasting my own sober time. Arguably one of my greatest achievements of the day was managing to kill an hour by waiting in line to buy an extremely overpriced t-shirt. I then managed to kill the rest of the painful daylight hours by babysitting a few of the overwhelmed hallucinogenic drug users who I previously mentioned.

Phase 3: The Hour of Doom

This part of the festival was hands down the hardest hour of work I have done for Creative Development so far. CrashCarBurn and aKING had finished their sets and I was as sober as a judge. We had made it to the front of the crowds only to realize that Prime Circle had just taken the stage. I can still feel the heartbreak that I felt on the day as I stood there listening to the band who is widely considered the worst thing to happen to the Rock and Roll music industry since the death of Kurt Cobain. If there were one moment in my life that I truly wished that I could forget it would be the hours of 7:00PM - 8:00PM on Saturday the 18th of March 2017 during which the band Prime Circle played their set at the Rock on the Lawns music festival at Carnival City.

Phase 4: The Redemption

Much to my delight and every single other festival goers despise, the caterers had run out of booze just in time for the main act. I did some research and it turns out that over 150 000 alcoholic beverages were consumed at the festival that evening and not even one was touched by me. As it turns out, all the stress and worries I had regarding staying sober were completely washed away the second the Pixies blessed the stage. They were absolutely, breathtakingly amazing. I don’t know how to put into words just how good their music was, my entire existence felt as if it had been shifted into a separate universe as I listened to them play. As a student I feel that I often rely on beer to have a good time; however, the Pixies completely changed my past perceptions of just how mind blowing and fantastic some things can be even without any alcohol rushing through your veins. It truly was one of the greatest festivals I have ever been to and I am sure it is one that I will never be able to forget.