What makes you smile?

The sun caressing my freckled nose. Warm, crunchy white sand squelching between my toes on the river bank of the majestic Elephant's River. The sight of my son as he comes through the terminal on his return from yet another long spell away from home. Random acts of kindness and the effect they have on the people being bestowed on.  Hot chocolate with a dollop of ice cream. A fire and accompanying glass of port to warm the cockles of my heart on a dreary winter's night. A good novel that I can escape in for a short while. My daughter's delightful laugh. The sound of Harry-the-Helicopter (aka my husband) taking off on yet another flight plan - it means he's alive and hasn't been felled by the ills that plague him. The look of pride on my family's faces when I walked up to the stage to receive my diploma in PR. Waking up to the promise of a brand new day. Bumping into what used to be a supposed 'hottie' who was just downright nasty and snubbed me way back when, looking rather bedraggled and anything but hot now (so I can be small-minded and smug too, get over it). The smell of one of my hubby's legendary steaks sizzling on a braai as it wafts through our home. Precious family time where all we do is just chillax and savour each other's company. Watching the mist rolling over the ocean from the deck at our special place in Betty's Bay. Catching the punch line to a particularly funny joke. My husband surprising me with a romantic gesture just when I was about to bemoan our flagging relationship.

Of all the forms of courage the ability to laugh is the most...

compelling! That would be the only way to complete that sentence.  I have found that laughter has offered so many elements to an otherwise ordinary life.  Where there has been strife, laughter has been the balm to let that dark, painful moment fade into obliteration. Where there has been joy, laughter has been the effervescent titillation to announce its pleasure. Where there has been celebration, laughter took up welcome residence. To prioritise laughter as an order of necessity in my life, has been the wisest and bravest choice taken. Without it my life would be somewhat meaningless.  Since I've been given this one shot at life, and don't treat it as a dress rehearsal, I am serious about ensuring laughter hogs the spotlight throughout my production. Paradoxical - serious about laughter? Maybe. But I remain true to the conviction that laughter is all essential to my very existence. To play on Shakespeare's "If music be the food of life", I will take literary liberty and say "If laughter be the food of life, play on."

How hard is it to follow instructions?

Easy you might think. But, if you anything like me who has the attention span of a gnat, then the basic concept of following instructions is anything but easy. My officially diagnosed ADHD may have some bearing here.  I really do have a problem with focusing my attention on any given thing for longer than a few seconds before my mind does its habitual orbit into cyberspace.  See, I'm already there - I rest my case completely.

I would be reading the first few words of an instruction and off I would go on a tangent with so much energy and vooma aimed at what I assume the task at hand should be. But boy, oh boy, do I get it wrong ever so often. So, short of popping a Ritalin pill a minute, I have come to train my overly active mind to still itself  for that fraction of a second, to breath deeply, to close my eyes and then open them slowly and then, only then take in the content before moving ahead. Works for me!

Andy Warhol said, "In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes."

I don't think Andy Warhol realised how prophetic that statement would be when first uttered back in the late sixties.  With the rising popularity of reality shows almost anybody and its dog seem to be hogging their 15 minutes of fame on the telly these days. The Kardashians - nobody knew who these people were until their reality show became an omnipresent feature of our lives.  A classic case of being famous for being famous.  And there are a shitload of similar shows that seem to have gripped the attention of people the world over.

Why would I be world famous? Though the choice may not be mine, I would like to believe that if I could be famous for a mere fifteen minutes then it would have to be for making a difference, small though it may be, but I truly do believe that I can. The wealth of spirit and kindness that I possess within, when espoused to my fellow beings may yet make the world of difference in their lives.  To be famous for that would be the proverbial cherry on top to living a life that matters.

A skill set called leadership.

Are leaders born or developed? This has always intrigued me as I believe that a bit of both applies.  Some people have natural leadership skills, and yet there are those who can be trained to develop leadership skills to the point where they could function as able leaders.  But great leaders, now that's something else. One site lists the following skills as being essential to being an outstanding leader:


Ten Basic Skills of Outstanding Leadership


• Integrity
• Vision/strategy
• Communication
• Relationships
• Persuasion
• Adaptability
• Teamwork
• Coaching and Development
• Decision-making
• Planning

And I would have to agree.  A great leader will encompass all of the above in his/her leadership skills base to be most effective when guiding a team or workforce towards predefined goals. A great leader not only embodies these skills but lives them and thereby is an active example of what good leadership is about. In my opinion the greatest leader I've encountered has to be former president Nelson Mandela.  I know it's become almost cliche to use our beloved Madiba as an example, but he stands head and shoulders about anyone else in this sense, and remains the one person I most strive to emulate.

"Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read" (Frank Zappa)

What utter shit! Sorry, but this one really got my goat up. What an arrogant, ridiculous statement. Any journalist worth his/her salt will succeed in gripping the interest of a reader through a well-written piece where all the journalism principles that apply would have been incorporated prior to the material going to print. By denigrating the efforts of rock journalism implies that rock journalists are lesser beings, and horror of horrors aim their work at people who are even lesser still.  Like journalists in any other realm, rock journalists have to know their onions for their efforts to be believable and well received by their rocker audience.  So the next time some idiot thinks they can castigate rock journalists willy-nilly, I say "to hell with them, rock journalism rocks the world of rockers - big time"!!!!

List your top 200 achievements.

Really?! Top 200 achievements - now this is going to prove challenging I thought as I stumbled onto this blog topic. Wouldn't it come across as being rather boastful? But then again, why not? We humans are so good at pointing out our myriads of faults and failings and seem to have very few qualms of doing so in even a public sense. In fact, the denigration of achievements rather than the celebration of such has become a national past time.  So, I am heartened to be able to document my top 200 (though it could be said that I don't think I will come even close to that figure since my life is ever-evolving and my path is set to clock up many more as I continue on my journey). But, for the sake of posterity here are some tidbits that rank high thus far.

1) Being wily enough to guide a certain egg cell towards a certain sperm that ensured the creation of wonderful me. My being born has meant the world is a better place. LOL
2) Marrying my soul mate and bestest (for my own purposes, not spelled incorrectly) friend
3) The birth of my own two wonderful children
3) Maintaining childhood friendships into my adult life
4) Not only successfully achieving the National Diploma in PR but doing so Cum Laude (even though I had to fight for that one due to an oversight at CPUT)
5) Letting my world understand that I matter
6) Making myself understand that I matter
7) Hosting big events successfully (putting these babies together is no mean feat)
8) Starting and developing a softball team
9) Playing softball at age 43 (you have no idea how big this one is, what with a much maligned body that stubbornly refuses to co-operate)
10) Having the stamina and the will to continue studying
11) Being made head girl at high school
12) Standing proud and not denying my child when said head girl badge was removed after it was discovered I was a teenage mom (up to now the finger still goes up when I think of that conversation with that pompous, judgmental principal and her staff who thought I was a bad example to my fellow school mates)
13) Getting my driver's licence (shame the poor driving instructor was a candidate for a heart transplant after the ordeal I put him through)
14) Receiving the Chairman's Award at the Vikings 2011 Softball Presentation
15) Receiving numerous other awards in the softball fraternity over the years
16) Being a member of the LOC for the Junior Softball World Cup scheduled for later this year
17) Getting to grips with social media to the point where I am now an active tweeple and blogmeister
18) Forming a word in on-line Scrabble with total points of 145
19) Setting the platform for a life filled with simple pleasures
20) My girls' network (they've seen me through many a dark patch and celebrated my joys and achievements with equal gusto)
21) Making my parents proud of me (sadly, they've passed on but knowing that I can tick off the above list is testimony to all they've instilled in me)