Today: I tried to read Gallop's the Daughter's seduction.... sigh, its an examination of feminism and psychoanalysis and its exhausting. I honestly do not understand how Freud and Lacan got so many people to buy into psychoanalysis, I read passages to Greg today and he alternated between laughing hysterically, looking disgusted at how sexist it was, and being genuinely perplexed as to how I could be studying such crap! mmmm. Well that essays due on Monday, definitely not going to be a good one. I then decided to screw Freud (excuse the pun) and escape to the food and wine show which was pure deliciousness. After trying every free sample of chutneys, pestos, olive thingys, sundried tomato yumminess, chocolate amazingness, cupcakes, and feeling like a major fatty, but a very happy one, I drifted over to the Muskadel tasting section, after which life seemed to get a little better :P I then came home, tried to attempt good old freud once more, again gave up and watched rubbish on tv. Tmrw I think I must drag myself to the library and study all day until kirst's or this essay will be a disaster! I then managed to knock over my beautiful new pet tulip called lola, and got extremely emotional, Im very attached to her, she had such lovely red flowers which all broke off. Well all except one which Greg, seeing how upset I was, lovingly tried to sellotape back onto the stem. I'm sorry Lola, I shall try to bring you back to life :( I really shouldn't have plants, I have the worst track record- I've killed a million cactuses!

Right, its been a while since my last post so lets keep the catch up short and sweet :)

1. Peter and Hedley are both being very positive and helpful about my thesis so I feel like I'm on the right track and I'm learning a lot!

2. Panchos with the girls for Stam and Kez's birthdays- lovely catching up, need to see everyone again soon, been too long!

3. Wilderness weekend with greg :) Lovely lovely :) The first day we went for a walk, went for supper, then watched series, day two involved greg cooking me breakfast (um microwaved cheese on toast- not something I recommend :P) a 9km hike to a waterfall, which I really enjoyed- I love hiking, and the walk was so beautiful, a trip into Knysna which was a fail cos everything was shut, and then an epic braai for supper yum! Was great spending time with my boy

4. Been bonding with my honours class which is nice, we all get along pretty well :) Went to the pub together on the last day of class and planning an epic end of semester braai

5. Claire's birthday- cocktails at banana jam :)

6. Courtney's birthday... um Mcdonalds parking lot and Tom's stolen jug.

7. Cuddling with ruffi, he jumps up on my bed and pushes me to the side, lies on top of all my work and starts to snore very obnoxiously. I love that dog to pieces :)

Saw Plush with Greg- they were really good, and Greg was so happy he got to see them :P Thanks Kimmi :)

8. Essays. ugh.

9. Gramp's 86th birthday- very special x

10. Andrew's epic birthday last night! was awesome, went for supper at the hussar, then on to Tiger- all got pretty drunk and had a great time dancing like idiots :) Drunk Andrew ftw :)

Right thats it, back to work, or a nap maybe.

First meeting with Peter today :) went really well, he seems really enthusiastic about my idea and he liked my opening description but was helpful with his criticism as well. I'm so excited about my thesis now :)

What is astonishing is not that we remember but the fact that we forget.

http://meanderingmindlessness.blogspot.com/

The last two weeks have been lovely, just been relaxing and catching up a bit, had very little work so its been amazing :) I cant even think of what I've been up to really. Hedley agreed to be my co- supervisor and signed my form... breaking the news to Peter tomorrow hmmm. Hopefully he will be ok with it, I didnt really have a choice! I have come up with a research topic:

I want to write about a girl who loses her grandmother, and so decides to go back to Zimbabwe to revisit her grandparent’s farm, although this has been taken over by war veterans. In my story there will be flashbacks to an earlier time, when the farm was being created by the girl’s grandparents: how they acquired the land from the African chief who ruled over it, how they set about cultivating it, and building upon it- making each brick themselves on the farm, their experience with the local community etc. The girl, Leah, will arrive in Zimbabwe totally unsure of what she will experience there. On reaching the farm, in the company of her uncle, she will meet the people who ‘stole’ the farm- Mugabe’s war veterans. Initially she is bitter and angry, and terrified of the men now living on the farm. However, as she spends more time there, although some of the men are quite aggressive towards her, she befriends some of the women and children, and one of the younger men, Simon, who feels trapped by his ancestry and heritage, in a situation he despises. Through them, she will be able to find forgiveness, and also the closure and peace she is looking for. They will recover for her some of the relics of her childhood from her grandparent’s house, and she will realise that these objects, although meaningful, don’t have the value she thought she would find in them, it was the love and peace her family experienced at the farm that gave her such joy. In the time she spends there, she falls in love with the young war veteran, Simon, which makes her uncle extremely angry. To cut it short, ultimately she ends up leaving the farm with Simon, and they go to another part of Zimbabwe and buy new land, and they start again, just like her grandparents did, building something out of nothing.

Um this is just a rough idea, it may and most probably will change. I started writing it today and spent the morning crying- so think it might just be too personal. Well we'll see.

I feel happy this morning, looking out my window I can see pink butterfly kisses swaying in the breeze, and my monster (ruffi) chasing the ducks... better go rescue them :P