keennesslife

[keennesslife]

Do something on a rooftop somewhere.

On the 12th November I celebrated an ending on a rooftop. As mentioned in my previous post I will use the concept of ‘CELEBRATE’ in this task!

I just finished with my last exam and went straight to my boyfriend’s house to celebrate my first year that has come to an end. We grabbed beers and made our way to the roof, to watch the aeroplanes in the sky above us. (btw. this is possible because he lives next to an aiport).

I just sat there and looked at the aircrafts taking off en flying up higher into the sky. Such a wonderful thought passed my mind: We as human beings are like pilots, our ambition to become pilots starts with a dream, then we get ‘training’ to become a pilot - this is the part we as humans experience, learn, and grow throughout life. Then one day you start your aeroplane and you take off, with the knowledge you gained throughout your life - this is the part you get to live your dreams. And lastly you fly higher up into the sky even though there may be turbulance along the way - this is the part where you realise your the sky has no limits and you can chase all your dreams, no matter how far up they are or how many setbacks you have to go through. You know you got this! I want to encourage you and myself as well to be a dream chaser, and to remember this thought about being the pilot of your life!

Thus ‘CHASER’ will be the concept which I will take throughout my life.

Thanks for following my story! I hope my blog has inspired you to get out there and get adventurous!  

Keep chasing your dreams till next time

The Keenness Human

[keennesslife]

Do something intentionally boring.

On the 2nd to the 4th of November I did something intentionally boring, I studied. As mentioned in my previous post I will use the concept of ‘REPEAT’ in this task!

So basically what I did for a whole frieeeken weekend was study Interaction Design and Visual Discourse on REPEAAAT. Yay. Super frieken intentionally boring I’d say. The whole time I day dreamt of watching series, going for walks, doing yoga, dance the day away, but rather I was glued to my chair for 3 days, obliged to study for my upcoming tests!

On sunday I realised, while day dreaming again, that I don’t CELEBRATE the small accomplishments in my life enough! It is so nesseccary to reward and tell yourself, “Well done, your a star, look how far you’ve come!”. You should celebrate by rewarding yourself with all those little things you always day dream about doing!

Thus ‘CELEBRATE’ will be the concept which I will bring into my next adventure.

Keep celebrating life till next time

The Keenness Human

learning material to bore you

[keennesslife]

Listen to new music album.

On the 10th of October, I listened to a new music album, which I would not normally listen to 5 times.  As mentioned in my previous post I will use the concept of ‘INSPIRE’ in this task!

I decided to go in positive to extract some kind of inspiration from the album I listened to. I am an acoustic, alternative, chill type of music listener. So I went for the extreme and listened to Metal music. I listened Asking Alexandria’s Asking Alexandria album, I know, why think of a new album name just use your band’s name.

So this was super intense and frustrating. My heart raised its’ beats per minute extremely. I felt super overwhelmed with anxiety and stress, just for listening to this genre of music. This experience showed me that I stay in my comfort zone to often. It inspired me, even through the intense feeling it gave me, to step out of my comfort zone more to endure and get used to things ive never tried out!

After I while my heart got used to this type of vibe the music gave me. And I started to relax and listen to the words, playing on repeat, over and over. We don’t even realize the impact music can have on us, as it drills words repeating into our minds and hearts. It becomes us.

Repetition is something not to take lightly in life, what you say, do, hear or believe over and over each day in your life, will determine your outcome in life, as you become the things you repeat.Thus ‘REPEAT’ will be the concept which I will bring into my next adventure.

Keep playing songs on repeat till next time

The Keenness Human

[keennesslife]

Go for a walk in the city CBD.

On the 29th of September, I visited the Joburg CBD at Arts on Main in Moboneng precinct. As mentioned in my previous post I will use the concept of ‘GROW’ in this task!

I visited Arts on Main with the purpose of growing my experience and understanding of Joburg locals. I walked down the street for the first time just observing the locals and bypassers from a distance, not really connecting only viewing an overview of the people around me. Local shops and vendors all around, friendly smiles greeting future customers, tourists talking in some foreign language, coffee shops buzzing with chatter, local musicians trying to get their music out there and heared of and skaters pulling cool stunts. It was a magical little street. I was surrounded with art and creators, and I felt an immense urge to connect on a deeper level with the local.

This can be somewhat intimidating but so worth it! I started talking with Dragger Dee, he runs his own business here on the street, making leather products, and in his spare time he’s a rapper. I asked him if I could shoot a photo of him for documenting purposes (attached is his portrait). 

Then I met Dos Santos, a local musician, drumming the most beautiful rhythms. He created a vibe in this street which I’ve never felt before! (his photo also attached) I met a ton of other human beings, each one contributing to my own personal growing experience!

The human beings her are so true to who they are, each with their own story. Meeting these people, learning & growing from their stories, was one of the greatest things I have ever experienced. They planted seeds of inspiration into my soul. I am inspired to become a hundred percent myself & discovering exactly who that is, to life to be myself fully for the rest of my life.

Inspiration is essential for us to be eager to learn & experience & discover who we are.Thus ‘INSPIRE’ will be the concept which I will bring into my next adventure.

Keep the inspiring till next time

The Keenness Human

meet Dragger Dee

meet Dos Santos

[keennesslife]

Read a book on the recommended reading list.

On the 24th of August, I visited our OWI library to read a book on the recommended reading list of Creative Development. As mentioned in my previous post I will use the concept of ‘REAL’ in this task!

Because the concept for this task is realness, I decided to go read a physical book, something most of our Millennials are not used to in this day and age, since everything can be digitalised.

There is something different about holding a book in your hands, smelling the book, feelings the pages, seeing the little marks of years’ use, that gives this book its personality. There’s something soo real about the feeling it gives you.

Anyways, I decided to read Twyla Tharp’s ‘The creative habit’. Such an inspiring book - I would recommend any creative to read this! She discusses our creative DNA in one chapter and how we should discover it, to utilize it in our creative works. It includes to observe the details of everything around us in our daily lives. Also how we view the world around us in different ‘focal lengths’.

I little quoted piece from her book, which really stood out for me: “The better you know yourself, the more you will know when you are playing to your strengths and when you are sticking your neck out. Venturing out of your comfort zone may be dangerous, yet you do it anyway because your ability to GROW is directly proportional to an ability to entertain the uncomfortable”

Growing is such an important part of becoming the greatest you, you can be.Thus ‘grow’ will be the concept which I will bring into my next adventure.

Keep the growing till next time

The Keenness Human

[keennesslife]

Watch the oldest film you can find.

On the 19th of August I snuggled up in my bed, and logged into Netflix. As mentioned in my previous post I will use the concept of ‘BORING’ in this task!

I have always had a perception that old movies are immensely BOOOOORING. That’s exactly why I chose this task. So I filtered Netflix to show me the movies in order of years. So I had to scroooooooooll to the bottom of all the movies on Netflix, because it is ordered from latest to oldest. Did I mention how boring this was?!

At last I found the oldest movie on Netflix. Unsurprisingly it was a movie about the second world war. I told you old movies are boring! So made it through 10 minutes of utter boredness, then I couldn’t handle it anymore! I then searched for the oldest movie that’s not about war, I found “Touch of Evil”. It is a Black & White film about a narcotics detective on his honeymoon that locks horns with a shady sheriff as he investigates the explosion of a car crossing the US - Mexico border.

This was actually not as bad as I thought it would be. What interested me was the ‘REALNESS’ of each stunt or explosion they did. Nothing was fake or ‘edited’. This was quite impressve. Thus ‘realness’ will be the concept which I will bring into my next adventure.

Keep the being authentic till next time

The Keenness Human

[keennesslife]

Write down a 100 questions.

On the 15th of August I decided to sit down, THINK & write a hundred questions about life. As mentioned in my previous post I will use the concept of ‘THINK’ in this task!

This task was a bit different to all my previous ones, as it was internal, within myself - it involved a lot of thinking.

When you think about it, life is a heck of a series of complicated unanswered questions. Like we never know what the answer to some of life’s toughest questions are until we endure & learn them through the action of real life experiences & failures. For example: How can I be happy? There is no ‘correct’ answer, and it differs from person to person. It is each of us’s own responsibility to try and test and try again, until we find our unique recipe to be truly happy within ourselves.

And then there’s also those questions which we will never know the answer to. For example: Do dogs have their own language? Like heck bru, unless you’re a dog, you will never know.

well here’s my list, if it get’s BORING just read the last question...

100 questions about your life

1.      Why am I lazy?

2.      Why do we dream?

3.      Why do we procrastinate?

4.      Why does time go by so fast?

5.       Why do we waste time on unimportant matters?

6.       Why do we constantly rush everywhere?

7.       Why do we worry about things we can do nothing about?

8.      Why do we waste effort on people who treats us badly?

9.      Why do we even love people who treat us poorly?

10.    Why are some people poor?

11.     Why are some people rich?

12.    Why do some people think money can bring you   happiness?

13.       How do we find true happiness?

14.       How can we make everyone around us happy?

15.        Why do we even care about making everyone happy?

16.        Why don’t we focus on ourselves?

17.        Why are some of us self-absorbed?

18.       Why are some of us selfless?

19.       Why do most poor people help poorer people and rich people help the richer?

20.      Why do we owe money?

21.       Why do banks make us poorer?

22.     If you have friends and family are you not the richest you will ever be?

23.     Why do good people die, and bad people get to live?

24.     Where would you go if you died right now?

25.      Would you be happy with the life you lived?

26.      Would you do anything differently?

27.      Would you chase money or relationships?

28.     Do you have a lot of shallow relationships, or few deep ones?

29.     Which do you prefer?

30.      Are you happy with who you are?

31.       Are you good to people?

32.     Do you care for anyone?

33.     What would you do if someone you cared about has one week left?

34.     Would you be with them 24/7?

35.      Would you make their dreams come true?

36.      Why do we always think we have lots of time to chase our dreams?

37.      Why do we choose work above them?

38.     Why do we have jobs we don’t like?

39.     Why do you spend more time at work than with the people you love?

40.      Does your work love you?

41.       Would your work be able to replace you if you die?

42.     Could your family replace you if you die?

43.     Why not spend every minute of your life after these questions to live life to the fullest?

44.     If not now, then when?

45.      What is holding you back?

46.      Is it yourself?

47.      Is it someone else?

48.     Is it something else?

49.     Are you truly free?

50.       If yes, why not show others how to become so free?

51.        If no, do you know why?

52.      Why do we act in certain ways?

53.      In certain times?

54.      Why do the things people did to you in the past, determine the way we act in response to certain things today?

55.       Is it because of mental connections for past experiences?

56.       Or is it because of emotional hurt?

57.       Why do people do things to other without thinking what hurt they may cause?

58.      Why do people say nasty stuff to others?

59.      What medium is the most used for bullying?

60.       Why do they usually then get away with it?

61.        Who should do something about it?

62.      And what should be done?

63.      Why do our society accept people to hurt?

64.      And reject the most loving people because they are ‘different’?

65.       Why is being different frowned upon?

66.       What does it even mean to be different?

67.      Is there a criteria to be a certain type of human?

68.      Who set this criteria?

69.      Why do we accept this criteria?

70.       Does it not imprison us?

71.        Why should we all be the same?

72.      Could we not set a new trend?

73.      Why can’t we just be a hundred percent ourselves?

74.      And how can we not be set apart by others’ critique?

75.       How can we find ourselves again?

76.      How to we identify who we are?

77.      How do we establish our identity?

78.      How do you explain your identity to someone?

79.      Can it be put into words?

80.      Should it be put into words?

81.       Don’t we put ourselves in a cage if we express our identities?

82.     Should they not be left alone to flourish and express themselves?

83.     Why do humans express themselves differently?

84.     Is it because of culture differences?

85.      Is it because of religion differences?

86.      Is it because of geographical differences?

87.      Is it because of language differences?

88.     In what language do you dream?

89.     Do we even dream in a language?

90.      Or is it just visuals?

91.       How do you remember memories?

92.     Do you remember the smells?

93.     Or do you remember the sounds?

94.     Or do you remember the emotions?

95.      Do we forget memories?

96.      Why do we forget memories?

97.      How can be remember memories for longer?

98.     How can we make our lives, a sequence of unforgettable memories?

99.      Do you want your memories to be filled with things or experiences?

100.    Would you please read question 43 of this list again?

You may find it BORING to read my list, but I will urge you to write your own, because you might definitely learn a thing or two about the questions your mind keeps asking, I know I did. Thus ‘boring’ will be the concept which I will bring into my next adventure.

Keep the boredness at bay till next time

The Keenness Human

[keennesslife]

Attend a Theatre

On the 10th of August I went to the State Theatre in Pretoria to watch my sister’s dance show. As mentioned in my previous post I will use the concept of ‘FLAVOUR’ in this task!

On arrival I was instantly brought into the reality of the flavours life brings! In this very instance life threw some bittery flavours onto me: at the entrance to the parking lot, I had to drive on the right hand side of the road, because they just decided they want it that way. Like what-the-frieeeken-heck?! Yep, taste this lovely south african flavours of not following rules! 

---Watch out there’s cars coming from the front; please reverse and drive into the righttttt lane; we hope you feel welcome at the South African State Theatre!---

Well, well, well. Bitteriness was not enough for today, life decided. So at the boom gate, where you have to press the button - which by the way always shockssss me!!!!! - to get your parking ticket. Life spitted a heck load of salt into my purse! (so if you do not know this by now, i speak in my own created metaphors, and this one means that ‘my-money=water’ and ‘the-parking-ticket-price= salt’. and this salt literally drained all the water) Why should a student pay R50 for parking if they cannot even afford a beer?!

Anyway. Poor Lee-Anne needs some hot flavours to spice things up, life decided! Without knowing life’s decisions, I made my bittery, salty ass to the elevator just to be informed that the elevator does not go all the way to the top of the theatre where my seat is at. Sooooooo I had to take the staaaaaaaaaairs. (jo bro- count the damn ‘a’s in the word before the bracket, and then add 2 zeros at the end, and you’ll know the amount of stairs this ass had to climb).

Hot Lee-Anne reached the top. I took my seat, just in time for the show to start. For the rest of the evening life sprinkled sweet dust over my soul. And for this I was sincerely grateful. As I sat and watched my sister and her friends dancing the night away, I couldn’t help but THINK about a million other things at once. Thus ‘think’ will be the concept which I will bring into my next adventure.

Keep thinking about life till next time

The Keenness Human

[keennesslife]

Eat something culturally new.

On the 2nd of June me and my adventure-pal a.k.a. my boyfriend, drove to Joburg. Our plan was to visit the Wits Planetarium, but you know sometimes life diverges you onto different trails than you intended for yourself. As mentioned in my previous post, I will use the concept ‘DIVERSITIES’ in this task.

As we arrived at the Wits Planetarium the fresh air and the ‘hush’ of the winds filled us. I was quite excited to see the Planetarium for the first time. As we walked through the gate and the main doors, loud screaming and chattering of children’s voices muffled us. With disorientated looks we quickly asked the nearest staff member if this is a kids show. She affirmed and we ran! I am just kidding we walked rapidly out of there like ‘adults’ would. Because its normal for students to be afraid of kids, ya know.

So I quickly did what is known as the act most frequently done by Millennials, if you don’t know what this act is called, you’re most likely living either under a rock in the Kalahari or in an off the grid forest. But don’t freak out- i’ll tell you - it is called ‘googling’. Google presented me with probably the best answer it has ever given me: “The Neigbourgoods Market”. Just like that the our road diverged from Planetarium to Market.

Once we arrived at the location we drove around the CBD in search for parking that’s not parallel. “Bingo” we found a parking garage and stepped outside. On our walk towards the market I felt a gray feeling of cold, unsafe-ish, littered surroundings wrap me up. But when we got to the Market, my feelings switched directions. Warm fuzzy feelings crept up into my spine, the buzzing of people around me filled my ears and I could just smell the different cultural aromas hanging in the air. Every stall conveyed a DIVERSITY their culture. With food and drink choices surrounding me, I had a hard choice deciding on what to buy. I opted for the one stall which really stood out for me, I think it was the three Mozambicans’ friendliness that grabbed my attention instantly. I bought their traditional food which had a very unique taste and I enjoyed it immensely. (Even though I am not a vegan, this dish was, and I found it very refreshing). My boyfriend chose Indian samosas which burned like fire - ask me. So I had to rapidly buy me a glass of Chenin Blanc, proudly South African wine. 

This culturally new dish enhanced my mind with all the interesting FLAVOURS it possessed. I will forever remember the friendly Mozambicans and their ‘flavourable’ dish. Thus ‘flavour’ will be the concept which I will bring through to my next adventure.

Keep tasting flavours till next time

The Keenness Human

the Mozambicans

[keennesslife]

Make a sculpture.

On the 27th of May I started my sculpting process. As mentioned in my previous post, I will use the concept ‘GONE’ in this task.

So for this project I dug quite deep in my research to find an emotional and influential meaning with which my sculpture will be influenced. As I have been constantly fascinated by the human mind, I opted to further my research in that direction. 

After weeks of consideration, I finalized my concept. I decided on making a sculpture which will exhibit a person’s life who has the Alzheimer's disease. I want to represent how their inside ‘being’ changes. Who they were, what they accomplished, all the lessons they learned, all the memories of loved ones and all their dreams that dies while they still live. Everything inside them, get’s taken away in an instant, GONE forever.

After trial and error I choose to represent this heavy topic by creating an outer “structure” of a face. Which would be empty inside, except for some water and dried rose petals. The water as well as the rose petals will be spraying out of the “structure” representing the way of which a person with Alzheimer’s inside being vanishes and escapes them. More specifically the water represents the sickness which attacks the person quickly and makes everything inside them fade away. The rose petals represents everything they are, their identity, all their memories and dreams, which will because of the water flowing out, also leave the being.

As I have been busy sculpting this sculpture, my mind drifted away in the thought that anyone regardless of our DIVERSITIES are human beings. That means each one of us are vulnerable to diseases like Alzheimer’s and we should only be thankful and accept these facts by offering a hand and respect to others with or without Alzheimer’s. Thus ‘diversities’ will be the concept which I will bring through to my next adventure.

Keep valuing differences till next time

The Keenness Human

the final product

[keennesslife]

Cook something intimidating.

As the sun rose on Sunday morning the 20th of May, I fastened my apron and opened my newest edition to the recipe-book-family. As stated in my previous post, I will use the concept of ATTEMPTING something in this task

Now I have always wondered how the heck to make those delicious “Churro’s” people always sell at festivals and sport events. With that muse scratching my deeper brain, I only realized I had a need for ATTEMPTING to make Churro’s, until I stumbled across a Churro’s recipe.

One by one I collected all the ingredients I needed for the Churro’s and the chocolate-fudge sauce for dipping. First the old pantry goods castor sugar, cinnamon, cake flour, self-raising wheat flour, salt, oil, syrup, brown sugar and dark chocolate. Then to the refrigerator I marched for butter and cream .

I started this attempt, fully unaware of the challenges it will bring. I mixed all the goods together for the Churro’s and warmed the oil on the stove with everything running just a little too smoothly... Once I tried to get the dough into the plastic bag, with a star shaped cut out at the front, things went haywire. I mean how difficult can it be to squeeze dough out of a star shaped cut-out in a plastic bag? We’ll let me inform you: So the first bag went “KA-BAM” because of the hard squeezing actions I performed on it. So then this dough had to be scraped off of this lovely plastic bag that led me down. And can I just tell you what a great difficulty it is to remove sticking dough from plastic with fingers full of dough. Oh lovely, so I had to restart this whole process... Just when I was about to press the dough out again, the 2nd bag went: “PUFFF” as the air inside the bag came rushing out because of yet another hole in the bag. To put it very nicely, I was pissed at plastic bag manufacturers.

At least my sisters heard my frustrations in the Kitchen and came to the rescue. Needless to say we had some more struggles, so I am just fast-forwarding  now to get some good news into this post. I got my Churro’s after three hours (Just like that the time went GONE with the wind), they were surprisingly delicious considering their making process. Here is how it turned out: 

And just like that GONE was all the Churro’s in a few minutes of feasting. Thus ‘gone’ will be the concept which I will bring through to my next adventure.

Keep disappearing till next time

The Keenness Human

[keennesslife]

Plant Something & Maintain it.

On the 17th of May, I decided on planting a ‘Little Garden’ from the goodies they give you when buying at Checkers. 

As I have mentioned in the previous post, the concept of ‘WATER’ will be applicable to this task. At first the idea of planting My Little Garden sounded good, you know, how hard can it be to plant something when you get all the ingredients to do it? But on second thought I heard my mom saying “My love, you have lots of talents, but gardening ain’t one of them! Whenever you have received a plant or flowers, you literally completely forgot about them, and I had to save them from dying of water deprivation.”

So with those words engraved in my mind and even though my Life’s CV describes me as a not so green fingers girl, I decided to go against it and try it anyway! Because I ultimately believe in Van Gogh’s words: ”What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” So I went off to ATTEMPT the impossible.

I hired my handsome boyfriend to assist me in my attempt to plant something. Guided by every move, I opened the little package and read through the instructions which sounded very easy. First I had to put the soil pod in a little container and add about 50ml of water to it. With my green fingers I accidentally poured 80ml into the container. Whoops. So then I had to use another soil pod to compensate for the water. Secondly I had to mix the soil and water with my very green fingers resulting in muddy hands! That went surprisingly well, golden star for me! Thirdly I had to fill the pot with soil and place the seeds in between. Easy, peasy lemon squeasy. I repeated this another three times, progressing and bettering myself on every try, to add a total of 4 plants to my Little Garden.

What a way to refresh, relax & rejuvenate surrounded by seeds, water and muddy fingers. Want to know a secret I learned? You have to get a little dirty & actually ATTEMPT something to enjoy life & learn from the experience, else you’ll never succeed. Thus ‘attempt’ will be the concept which I will bring through to my next adventure.

Keep trying till next time

The Keenness Human

[keennesslife]

Asking someone on a date.

On the evening of the 20th of March, I asked my boyfriend on a date, with a note in one hand & a black label in the other. Of course he said yes, I mean my face are way too cute to be rejected - just joking - we’ll maybe not, but at least he thinks so.

Anyway... So the next day we went on our date. As I have mentioned in the previous post, the concept of ‘CULTURAL FOOD’ will be used throughout this task. So I planned a night out to the Hazelwood Food Market, fully unaware of the rainstorm ahead of us. I drove us there, without him knowing where ‘there’ was. How I love surprising people!

At last we arrived and his smile broaden meters wide. We walked through the entrance & had a look around at all the different cultural food-stalls. All the smells spicy, sweet & sour, filled our noses. We decided on a fruity freezo for starters, it is super healthy & absolutely delicious! (Vegans- you should definitely try this! No added sugars or milk). We sat down at a table and looked up into the sky which was quickly darkening with heavy clouds. So yep, I started panicking because I mean this is an outside date! So we decided to get going & grab some delicious food. I opted for a beetroot schwarma (yep it was PIIIINK!), with lots of fresh ingredients & some chicken. He decided on a Siberian burger. Just as we were about to take our seats it started raining. We looked around and saw a little restaurant just next to the market called Filos. So we went inside & sat down, ordered wine & a milkshake, & enjoyed our FOOD from different CULTURES. It was absolutely delicious, filled with foreign aromas & spices, my taste buds couldn’t help but dance on my tongue.

Our date carried on packed with little stories & laughs about situations, adventures & daily matter. The more we chatted the harder it rained. It was quite beautiful seeing the rain pouring down & our hearts spilling love out. We decided to head home. As the rain was pouring down heavily, I decided to take off my shoes as the WATER outside was about ankle deep.

What a night filled with cultural food, love & WATER! Thus ‘water’ will be the concept which I will bring through to my next adventure

Keep pouring till next time

The Keenness Human

[keennesslife]

Going to a music festival & stay super sober.

On 18 March I made my way to Dozi’s Back To The Roots near Harties for my 3rd mini-adventure with a couple of friends. As I have mentioned in my previous post, I brought the concept of ‘MUSIC’ into this task. So the first thought that came to mind when thinking about a task involving music was exactly this, a music festival, like duh!

As we stood in line at the entrance, the buzzing of the mass people inside laughing & chatting filled my ears. How great the sound of human beings enjoying themselves.

We made our way to our table & as I was about to take my seat a huge splash of water fell on my head. Now girls only you will understand the fun when water from above ruins your newly blow-waved hair. Trying not to be upset by this watery escapade, I scooted over to the next table. We ordered drinks & chatted for a while. Every now and again I found myself staring at strangers around me, imagining what their lives are like, strange I know, but so damn intriguing.

The first artist made his way up the stage and all eyes were on him. With the first stroke on his guitar, all of our hearts were captivated by the music of this talented man. His voice portrayed stories of a language of its own. Causing everyone to disembark on their current thoughts & doings, to just sit & take this sound all in. After a few minutes everyone relaxed and soon began babbling on about their lives with their family & friends.

We ordered a couple of drinks (don’t worry I really stayed super sober) & scanned through the menu, which was filled with one culture’s food only, known as the ‘Afrikaner Boerekos’. Always yummy! I soon began wondering about tasting another culture’s food. I mean food is the one thing all of us have in common, no matter which culture. Maybe we will get one step closer to respecting other cultures by tasting their CULTURAL FOOD?

Thus ‘cultural food’ will be the concept which I will carry through to my next adventure!

Keep tasting peeps, till next time

The Keenness Human

[keennesslife]

Climbing a tree.

On Saturday the 10th of March, I embarked on my second mini-adventure. As I have mentioned in my previous post, I brought through the concept of ‘OBSERVE’ into this task.

Steadily I climbed my way up the tree with an almost nostalgic feeling creeping up inside my chest. Thinking back to my childhood, the memories of climbing trees caresses my heart.

Finally on top of a strong branch I took my seat. Minutes passed by as I sat and observed this breathtaking landscape. I breathed every inch into my lungs & listened to the sound of birds singing, the swoosh of the wind blowing the long grass and the tree branches and the sound of my breath echoing contentment. While drifting of into a daydream of pure satisfaction, I realized how important it is to sometimes stop with everything you are doing in life, the busy race-rat, & to just open your ears to whatever MUSIC life plays to you. As for me, life played the music of nature in my ears today. What tune are you busy missing?

Thus ‘music’ will be the concept which I will carry through to the next task!

Keep listening to the days music till next time

The Keenness Human

[keennesslife]

Attending an art exhibition.

On Sunday afternoon, the 4th of March 2018, I embarked on my ‘keenness’ journey towards life. The definition of keenness is: “the quality of being eager or enthusiastic; eagerness” - for those wondering. I am a keenness human, on a mission to explore life & the possibilities it brings.

My first trip was to the National Art Museum of South Africa in Pretoria. At first sight my hopes dropped into my shoes as the park surrounding this NATIONAL Art Museum of South Africa was covered in so much litter. Did I mention it is our NATIONAL Art Museum??!! How disappointing would it be for a tourist visiting our country to see this place? They’ll take the first flight out of here! Come on citizens, “listen carefully” (In a Zuma voice), dustbins are the containers for litter. USE THEM!

Anyway…

I locked my car three times, as if it would help to keep the car more locked than it already was. I thought by myself, how did we get here? What I mean by ‘here’ - if you can’t read between the lines or if you live in some place far away from S.A. - is that how and when did we became so paranoid and afraid of everything and everyone around us?

… but lets not get too negative. My main goal with this blog is to start looking at the world from a different angle and maybe take a few humans on this trip with me. Lets start changing our focus and view the world in a more positive manner.

So lets go back to the National Art Museum…

I changed my focus and looked straight at the building ahead of me, with a few seeds of hope still brewing in my heart, that this trip will change my outlook on life. First I posed for a photo and then I quickly made my way through the entrance. To my relieve a friendly man greeted me and gave me a few instructions. Immediately I felt more welcome than outside.

As I strolled eagerly through the private gallery, I was blown away by the artworks created by human beings. I then came across a very unique approach to portraiture. The collection was called “Me, Myself & I” and all of the pieces were portraits of ONE person created by different artists, each expressing the same person in very different ways. This was daunting at first, but later I realized that each artist sees not only one person, but the whole world on their own way and from a different angle. Breathtaking, I know! [Images of this collection and the whole story behind the collection are attached]

Next stop was the gallery where some of the greatest and most valuable pieces of all time were show cast. This was eye-opening and I soon began to deeply OBSERVE each piece on their own way. Trying to see the world from the artist’s eye is definitely not easy, but so worth your while!

I satisfactorily made my way back to the entrance with a glowing mind. Inspired and intrigued by the amazing abilities of these world-famous artists’ pieces. Finally I realized how some things in life, can only be learned by OBSERVING!

Thus ‘observing’ will be the concept I will bring through to my next task!

What an experience this was! Definitely something to remember & take with me on the journey ahead.

Keep observing till next time

The Keenness Human

images for the eager