Influence from others

It’s amazing how the people around you such as family and those you choose to be a part of your life such as friends have an effect on the kind of person you are. Growing up I unknowingly (which I’m well aware of now) adopted certain characteristics at home, and during the days spent at school. Be it a way of speaking to others, style of walking, how I think and plenty of others. Not quite sure where I got my (sometimes) awkward body language and hand gestures; but in any case.

I love how diverse the family is, and the buffet of influences they show through their actions and how they live out their lives. My mother is such a strong woman, and I’m not only grateful for her life but the unwavering love and dedication she has towards the Lord. I pray to reach such a level in my spiritual life one day. Through thick and thin she has been there and carried the burden of the entire family.

I’m jealous of the strength and independence my sister has, and the way she fabulously carries herself. She can also be such a character; nothing is more enjoyable then her random shot bursts of childishness. I think mine can be quite weird, so I try to keep them at a minimum when I’m around people, though I don’t think I’m doing a good job at that. And I like how my nephew reminds me about maintaining the child at heart. The way I look up to both my brothers: nothing pleases me more than being able to be on the same wavelength as them. I’ve always thought that they were so cool, and I still do to this day. So there are some things I like to plagiarize from them.

The friends I’ve had the pleasure of making throughout the years from primary until varsity are such a blessing to me. And what makes it better is that it’s a diverse group of people: different races, backgrounds, upbringing and beliefs make it all the more interesting. Example, I never knew “Pardon me?” was the preferred term for “Huh?” and spoons are primarily reserved for eating soup. I still use that “Huh?” and eat all meals with a spoon, but I do conform when I feel it’s necessary to do so.

The different things these people do and pursuit really inspires me. I’m blessed to have friends that have a big heart for family and friends, who are into extreme sports like surfing, who are pushing music careers by getting involved, who share the same love for computers as I do, interested in careers in science and commerce, who are practically like family, travel the world making a difference in children’s lives, hard-working and dedicated, seeking God’s heart and many more.

I don’t mention usually mention such things, but Lord knows I couldn’t ask for a better group of friends. Well…maybe I could lol.

"I'm ashamed of Jesus because I want you to like me; to think I'm smart, or sophisticated or whatever. It's like Jesus is the geek in the cafeteria, sitting by himself. And I'm the guy pretending his not my friend."

At first, I had no intention of watching this movie called Blue Like Jazz, not even the slightest. With such a title, it conjured up a few images in my mind which had nothing to do with the actual plot of the film. However, since I had requested a summary of The Help on IMDB and it came up on the “People who liked this also liked…” section, I figured I would give it a shot.

The film revolves around Don (Marshall Allman), a soon to be first year student at a Texas liberal arts college where his sole purpose is to rid of his Christian upbringing. The title character is surrounded by a semi-fulfilled, single parented, lifestyle to a stereotypical, break-out teen kind of lifestyle he decides to lead in his first year at college.

The film makes use of an abbreviation which is used at the said college, namely: “SCCR”. Setting, Conflict, Climate, Resolution, which the film pronounces as ‘’sucker’’. This forms part of the story arc, until the final ‘’Resolution’’ stage is reached. Steve Taylor uses this, along with satire of evangelism and awkward humour which distinguishes it from what you’d expect from a typical Christian film.

An emphasis seems to be placed not on Don’s newly found disbelief, but in exposing how his faith has seemed to have failed him in his life. This burdensome feeling is apparent throughout, until the closing moments of the end.

 This movie is interesting and Taylor’s delivery of the themes related to the Christian subject are sincere.

EA Sports. It's in the game.

Ahh video games, technology that has definitely made my life more enjoyable. I've been playing video games since I was like six, and I'd very much like to document what's currently on my mind concerning them. I believe the very first type of game I played was that one that came in like key-chain kind of apparatus. It came in your basic racing or brick breaker game. Then came along the TV game (have no idea what the proper term for it is).

The TV game - enjoyed so many classics on this little device. Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, Megaman, Double Dragon, Street Fighter, Excite Bike, Chip 'n Dale...yoh I could go on for days with this. And you could never go wrong with a cartridge - just a couple of blows underneath and into the TV game, and you were pretty  much sorted. There was no need for analog sticks, RT, LT etc. All you needed was the D-pad, your basic A-B button combination and you could pretty much tackle any game with that.

The Playstation (Particularly PSOne in my case) - now this system brought about huge differences and improvements to it. Like I mentioned earlier, it had analog sticks. The games I remember playing on this system didn't require the use of such sticks, and I was pretty happy about that, until I got the game Ape Escape. For some reason this game appealed to me - A LOT. I'd seen it in the first and last playstation magazine my parents bought me (which I had gotten thanks to some heavy crying). The analog sticks felt super awkward at first, but grew on me eventually. Of course Ape Escape was preceded by some greats such as Jonah Lomu rugby, X-men vs. Street Fighter, the FIFAs of the 90's and also followed by your Crash Bandicoots, Metal Gear Solids and many more. This is also the stage I learnt an interesting technique to play non-original games on the system, which involved a match stick and good timing. Might I add: if you didn't have a chip in your PS, late!!!

The Xbox 360s, PS3s, Wiis - this brought about some amazing games with deeper story lines, spectacular 3D graphics, more realistic AI and the media additions are pretty cool as well. The game I've playing a lot when I head home for holiday is FIFA. Honestly, you can never go wrong with a sports game. Especially when you're playing against others. Still need to get more games on this sytem, but this stuff can be pricey. Oh well....guess I'll wait for those specials during christmas time.

The PC - timeless. We've hardly ever had to spent money on acquiring games for this. Only requirement is basically ensuring that your PC is compatible with the minimum requirements, and going above this for nice-and-smooth playability. This is where I was introduced to gameboy games, Pokemon being the first one I played. Later on came other emulators to play the games I had always thought about and wanted to play so bad.

Awwww yeah, video games have done such wonders for my life.

There is only one goal

I tend to find the process of setting goals to be quite a drag. When you are young you are told to 'dream big', 'the sky is the limit' and that 'if you aim for the moon and miss, at least you will be among the stars'. That's all good and well, but at this age I feel that having ambitions means that they should be logical, reasonable and practical in order to work towards.

I'm not exactly a risk taker when it comes things, including my faith. I prefer playing things safe and go about my life according to that. This means I'm comfortable, although there's so much more that I want to do.

I'm still deciding if it's better to be happy where you are, or want to achieve more. Apparently there's a fine line between being content and striving for more, and that there's another one between being content and satisfied. Don't think I've found either one yet lol.

This also got me thinking about friends/family concerning their desires and supporting them. If someone shares their dreams with you and they seem a bit farfetched to you, do you support that person or tell them the truth about what they hope to achieve? Aspirations provide that motivation and drive needed to go for what you want, and when they're shot down it's not cool. But then again failing to realise them sorta places you in the same boat as the alternative ending.

All these thoughts stemmed from a t-shirt I was wearing. ''There is only one goal - The next one''.
I realise that I shouldn't get too comfortable with where I am right now, that I should be ''on to the next one''. Whether a dream may seem too ridiculous to fulfill or not is up to me to decide, and shouldn't that to be decided by anyone else.

No strife with Fragrance of Life

Today I had the privilege of enjoying the afternoon/evening with Fragrance of Life, and take a peak into each person's life through chilling with them.

So, at the beginning we opened in prayer, and moved onto a general introduction session. You know...what's your name, where you from, something interesting about yourself, your vision for the group and a testimony. I was flabbergasted with what people had to say concerning their testimonies...not in a bad way of course. Powerful recollections proclaiming what God had done for them; it moved me.

When it was my time, I made sure I kept my statement nice and brief. Although I had plenty to say, my speech became a little impaired as angst began to set in, and my mind was like let's get this over with quick lol. But my testimony was my family. I'm so thankful for each and every one of them, even though I don't state it or display it much. People who know me realise that displaying affection in words or actions aint' my thing.................yet.

Time was also spent hitting 30 Seconds. Ahhhh, that game always kills me! You may know your general knowledge, but once it comes down to figuring out clues stated by a team member within that 30 second time frame, your brain decides to rebel against you and your speech goes haywire. But once you begin getting answers right, you look like a total boss.

All in all it was a good time, and a great opportunity to get to know them more.

Who is in control of the storm??

I was checking out a Joel Osteen message the other day where he was talking about how God takes control during situations in one's life, and there are a few things I took note of. Firstly, there's a mindset I've always had when it came to Christianity: that our lives should be all good and stress free without any worries, trials and tribulations. Until I realised that having faith doesn't exempt one from troubles. But one thing's for sure: you can always take your troubles before God and allow Him to sort them out.

Generally when there are situations at hand, I try to control as much of them as possible and pray for an outcome that I picture in my mind. You know how your parents used to tell you to clean your room or something, and you'd do it, but they'd get angry at you because you didn't do it the way they pictured you doing it in their minds? Yeah, I tend to hit that.

And it's so easy to get negative when things seem like they aren't turning out because they aren't working according to our timetables.

One thing I learned from that message was that 'sometimes we need to relinquish control and stop forcing results, and allow God to steer the storm to where He wants us to go'. I need to fully understand that God is in control of the storm, and that nothing is happening without His permission.

You know how Jeremiah 29:11 (go on and check it out, you know you want to) puts one of God's many intentions and promises for us? That's the scripture I enjoy latching onto when times get rough. Although there may be a rough patch in my life or in the family at present, I know the desirable outcome that God has intended for me, and I try not to forget that.

So, bottom line: ''Put your trust in the Lord your God, who is with you always. He will never leave you, nor will he forsake you.''

''Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do... Maybe it's the same with people. If you lose your purpose... it's like you're broken.''

Simple yet profound words which I believe are still resonating within me.

Tonight I had the opportunity to go with a friend to watch the movie Hugo. I didn't know much about it, hadn't even seen a trailer if I remember correctly. But since I knew that Martin Scorsese was the director, I felt confident that this movie would be boss.....and I like to think it was. It's possible I'm being influenced due to the number of nominations/awards it received, but nevertheless, that is not the point.

The movie is pretty much an adventure about a boy whose ambition to uncover a mystery left behind by his late father ultimately leads to him finding happiness by being accepted into a home and removing the loneliness forced upon him due to his father's unforeseen death.

The time and setting in which the movie plays out and the beautiful, glittering scenes coupled by the intersection of the childlike fantasy really did it for me. The storyline of the movie is simple, while carrying a great message with it. The tone of the film was a bit melancholy, but done brilliantly. Even the shift of the plot where it begins by chronicling the attempts of Hugo trying to fix his automaton left behind by his father, to the overwhelming bitterness felt by Papa George and bringing the two together near the end of the film was pimping.

All in all I enjoyed the film. Not a fan of such a genre per se, but I do appreciate it when it's done properly. And the quote mentioned in the title of this blog....I think it was a key phrase to the plot of the film. A statement that one could relate to as well.

I'll be looking out for the next adventure/fantasy that Scorsese might roll out. He did it this time. Well, doesn't he always regardless of the genre?

Childhood movies

Ahhhh yes, how lovely it is reminiscing about childhood days. There was this day I had a physics tutorial/practical (for the practical part, they made us finish off the reports we didn't complete the previous week. Lucky you may say, but we were totally over it. They were just opening unnecessary wounds) and we gots the talking about tv shows, including those from the past.

Later that day I began thinking about some of the movies I use to watch when I was younger. If I remember correctly, back in the days we use to hire at Videoland (in Nahoon for those who know) as a family. We always hit that 5 movies 5 days for R20 special. Since there were 6 of us, we each got to choose a movie basically, the exception being my moms. My father would always go with Chinese movies....ALWAYS! Not that I'm hating on them, don't get me wrong, bu that was his thing. My sister went for those gay movies (no offense). You know: Spice Girls movie, Coyote Ugly, Bring it On, Bring it On Again lol. I think my two brothers maintained a nice mixture between actions and dramas. And ofcourse, I went for cartoons....ALWAYS. No exceptions on my end at all. I always digged the movies my brothers chose, and I have a top 3 list of those movies which I consider 'moved me'.

1. Titanic
Even though I probably didn't know what was going on except some white people drowning, some guy stealing some other guy's girl and  that scene were I was like 'Ahhh Rose, you totally could have made room for him'.
For some reason it hit home with me. Not quite sure that expression makes sense in this context, but it did non the less.

2. Man of Honour
Yes, movies about oppression, injustices and prejudices always got the blood pumping. Cuba Gooding Jr. did it for me in this movie, and ofcourse you can't go wrong with Robert deNiro being a co-star as well. Nothing more thrilling than seeing a black man overcoming while being kept down by the man.

3. Beautiful Mind
I could watch this movie for days! Russell Crowe killed it. One of the first movies I made sure to get when I got here in Cape Town last year. Watching it now totally made more sense than watching it back then, but I never forgot it.

If you haven't gotten the underlying message from the above, it's that I love movies. And series.

''The Only place where poverty should be is in museums''

I saw this quote written on my older brother's t-shirt as he visited us during the December holidays. At first I was like what is this guy Yunus on about, until I gave it a little extra thought and research.

He believes in a world that is poverty free, in which the only place you can see this poverty is in the museums. Where school children would see it as something of the past, and how much misery and hardships it brought about to humans.

Although the world is working towards eradicating such a problem, it seems like it's taking quite some time. I sometimes think it's something that is impossible to deal with.

But humanity was able to thwart the efforts of colonialism, remove the shackles of slavery and end the injustices of apartheid. All three are something of the past - things you find in a museum. If that's the case for the above mentioned, then there's hope to free the millions living in poverty today.

New to this

Figured I'd try my hand at this whole blogging thing. What to blog about: not sure, why did I even create this blogspot: no idea. I suppose I'll jot down random things as time goes by, maybe even use this space to vent and share other emotions. Otherwise, let's do this.