Just Let Them Eat Cake

The variation is “Mrs Aysen, you have a lovely daughter.”

Late night backtoback bedtime stories with Raisa (The One That Wont Go Away. I love her for it though because our backs vibrate when we lie in bed and laugh) resulted in the absolute conviction that this is possibly one of the nicest things a boy can say to a girl. Well if her surname is McBride. Or Aysen. Otherwise it might just be a little bit awkward. We could just be a bit silly though. I think we need to ask Nobi. (The Voice of Reason.) It is my birthday on Monday, which means that hopefully ALL of my friends will unite and play together because… Its picnic time!!! More importantly, it means that these two losers will hang out with me at the same time, which can be dangerous. But it can also be pretty and full of giggles. Unless I lug my hipflask along. Then it’ll just be plain ol’ dangerous. I cant wait. A weekend of indulgence. By that I mean cupcakes. And maybe balloons. More to follow.

#843 Getting out of the car after a really long trip (And clicking your back)

#840 Popping Bubble Wrap

#839 Really good candy with your bill at a restaurant (Jelly Beans are kinda nice. Maybe I just like the little bowl they come in though.)

#838 The smell of freshly cut grass

#837 Pushing those little buttons on the soft drink cup lid

#836 When you push the button for the elevator and it’s already there

#834 Building an amazing couch cushion fort

#833 Pouring a drink where the bubbles go right to the top but not over

#832 Finally having your ears pop back to normal long after a flight or swim

#831 When someone names their kid after you

#830 Salt

#829 Smiling and thinking of good friends who are gone

#828 Remembering what movie that guy is from

#826 When you didn’t play the lottery and your numbers didn’t come up

#824 Finding the TV remote after looking forever

1. I found out today that my thesis has been passed and I did pretttttty well too. I wish I could say that it was all blood, sweat and tears but I’m helluva lazy, I fell all over myself writing it a month before it was due. Wow I dont believe my luck, totally a case of God’s grace. And my dad’s coffee. And of course everybody’s support. Its great to know that my studying is over unless I wanna carry on, which I probably will do. I’m nerdy like that. For now it feels pretty darn good to be 22 with a Masters degree. Bragging done.
2. I’m a bit nervous about this Thailand Cambodia fighting. One of my best friends in Thailand right now. As if worrying about tsunamis wasnt enough.
3. I went on a DOPE trip to the Drakensberg on Monday. We got horribly lost and it was magical. Full story and beautiful pics to follow. The joys of photographer friends are limitless.
4. Talking about Limitless, I’m going to watch it tonight. I looove the movies. And it looks pretty good too.
5. I actually cant even concentrate. This thesis story is way too exciting. Plus, its my birthday in a coupla days, the celebrations are gonna be dangerous. Even if I’m celebrating by myself.

#863 The Perfect Egg Crack

#862 The Laugh Echo

#861 Not getting a hangover when you were expecting to get one

#860 When the vending machine gives you two things instead of one

#859 Playing with a baby and not having to change its diaper

#858 The other side of the pillow

#856 The Perfect Chicken Wing Partner

#855 When you cut off your disgusting big toenail

#854 Crying

#853 When your microwave pops microwave popcorn perfectly

#852 The smell of the coffee aisle in the grocery store

#850 Absolute perfect silence

#849 The foetal position

#848 Old folks who sit on their porch and wave at you when you walk by

#847 Old, classic board games

There’s something about this photography that makes me shiver and smile at the same time. Its so still. I like.

A coupla people have been asking me what’s cracking with “Limelyt” being on everybody’s lips or popping up all over the place, usually with a hashtag in front. You know this twitter generation. Or rather this wannabe twitter generation. Mosta the people I know who use hashtags dont even use twitter. #stopbeinglame. Ugh I felt lame just typing that. Anyways, basically, Damian Hare, more popularly known as DJ Damian H, after numerous residencies all around the Joburg club scene as well as a stint at the Soul Candi Institute of Music where he studied and worked, has decided to give turn tables a break and is trying his hand at something new. He has recently founded Limelyt.com, an Entertainment/Lifestyle website covering all areas of entertainmment, music, movies, events, concerts etc etc, and apart from sick DJing skills, has proven himself to be a very adept blogger stalker too. He tracked me down and forced me to blog for his website, threatening to pull off my toenails if I declined. Okay I joke. I’d probably try to pull of HIS toenails if he didnt let me on board after describing what its all about. Limelyt looks like a pretty neat new venture, the team are all rather cool and Damian is a lovely guy. Plus the prospect of being paid to party then write about it is actually just ridiculously too good to be true. So far, I’ve covered two events, the Vodacom Unlimited Music Festival and the Sama 17 Nominee Party. The website hasnt gone live yet, stay posted for more info or else just check out the Limelyt Facebook profile in the interim. While you wait though, below is the piece I wrote about the Sama party.

“For about a week before the Annual MTN South African Music Awards Nominees party held last Wednesday, Damian (Limelyt founder) and Taariq (Goku to most. The photographer with The Hair. Note the capitals. That hair needs RESPECT) were super excited and even managed to get me excited too. Traditionally, the party is supposed to be the most exclusive official party in the music industry, with all the top releasing artists of 2010 present to witness their names being announced, with the hope of being part of the continent’s largest musical award show. Now, the South African Music Awards have been held at the Sun City Superbowl, in the North West province, for the last 16 years. This year however, they decided to move it to Johannesburg. The actual event will be held from 20 to 21 May at “the premium glitzy venues” La Toscana and Beira Alta Restaurant in Montecasino. So naturally, these venues played host to the annual star-studded industry party that has traditionally kicked off the SAMA celebrations. I was a bit confused about the change of venue but the enthusiasm of my cohorts was infectious so I got all dressed up. Okay not dressed up UP, but I mean I put make-up and heels on like a real girl, so I was expecting a nice night yknow? Omg was I disappointed.

We got to Montecasino, and I was feeling positive. The boys were being extra gentlemanly, walking slowly for me nstuff (I’m sure all the girls can identify. The cobblestones at Montecasino are actually a safety hazard. I can’t even count the number of near-death experiences I’ve had while making the Walk of Shame from Vacca to the parking lot. It is actually impossible to make it home safely if you don’t have a boy within arm’s reach to save you. Just in case.) Anyways, we get there and WHAM! A badass queue of like a gazillion people. Recording industry people, a sprinkling of music stars, a whole lotta groupies, executives, media names. Everyone was queuing, irrespective of access passes and accreditation (which we had. Don’t worry, promise we weren’t gatecrashing.) Which meant I spent over an hour on those sneakily evil cobblestones. Understandably, I was pretty grumpy. But! I am an eternal optimist so I kept missioning with Damian (Goku at this point was taking photos of people that he thought were famous. Which means a whole lottttttta pics of all the babes posing in front of the yellow MTN screen.) The two venues, La Toscana (a bar/club with a stage) and Beira Alta Restaurant, are next to each other, with people either mingling in the club area or sitting down to a buffet meal at the restaurant. You can guess where we went first. And so ensued the highlight of the night. The food was really good, maybe it was because we were starving and were planning on getting something to eat the minute the event was done. Everyone knows surprise food is the best food.) So Damian and I plopped ourselves down at one of the tables facing the mini stage in the restaurant and went to TOWN on that buffet. But at this point we still thought that everyone was chilling and the event would start soon enough in the main club area. Three minutes later, Jen Su (from 5fm I think? I just know her for that irritating American drawl) pranced onto the stage looking like Robocop Asian Barbie. Seriously. She was wearing like a leather and PVC miniskirt with studs and thigh high boots, wow I don’t know, she was on some other futuristic tip. Anyways so she walks on the stage and welcomes everyone and goes “Ladiiies and Gentlemeeeeeen, we’re about to announce the nominees for the 2010 Sama awards” then disappears so we were like huh?! Next thing all the TV screens set up around the restaurant start displaying a list of names according to the categories, with a big booming voice reading them out from hidden speakers. And that was it. Yup, that was the highlight of the whole evening. Super duper pap. After that, Louise Carver performed with Zulu Boy (who I think is actually reeeeally talented. Especially when strumming his guitar) and there were a couple of other performances in the other area, like Jozi and Voodoo Chile but after that very very lame announcement we were just like “haaai this is rubbish.” There were a couple of stewards walking around handing out posters displaying the full list of nominees but the only people really interested in these seemed to be the Afrikaans musicians and their families, but maybe this is because they made up the majority of the crowd in the restaurant area. Naturally I got a poster too, just to see, and below is a list of the popular categories and who was nominated in them, but the night had taken a serious downturn and we left soon after. (Go here to see the whole list. It was actually waaaay too long for this lil blog.)

Apparently the events group handling the Samas, Red Flag design and marketing, is new to the event and is actually a teeny tiny company of like 6 people. This totally showed in the way the event was managed. It was poorly organized, the queuing chaos was a disaster, and just everything about the whole night felt slapdash, last minute and incredibly average. Not special at all. All in all, a very disappointing night. Let’s just hope they manage to up their game before the actual Sama awards roll around but all I’m saying is don’t hold your breath or anything.”