Back in the Game

So I woke up this morning, hopping out of bed like a Kangaroo because I had forgotten to do dad's typing the night before. I'll just throw in a sheepish grin there.
I spent the morning doing some typing, before remembering that today was the day I was going to receive the verdict from the assessors on whether or not I was going to be accepted back into my course.
Despite my positive attitude one blog ago, the thought only served as a mood damper.
I think all Fijians would know that feeling where during a rugby game ( yes, I'm resorting to rugby examples. Bite me) the team is winning and then suddenly, 10 seconds before the game is about to finish the opposing team manages to draw the points resulting in extra time.
Everyone's at the edge of their sits, are we going to win? Are we going to lose? What's the referee's name?

There's always that stray pessimism that sinks in and makes you think, "This is it. It's the end. We're going to lose."

That's the path my mentality chose to take and so I got my shovel out and begun to dig a hole. My calligraphy skills were non-existent, so my tomb stone read something like-

Then, I realized my flower looked like a handicapped butterfly, so I needed to start again. Except, I didn't have enough time, because I had classes to get to.
I arrived in school, weaving my way through the labyrinth of construction (Slight exaggeration) and marched towards the lion's office.

I got there, took a breather and then strolled in..like boss!

Not really.

He's such a morning, day, afternoon person...I don't think he's ever without he's perkiness.

After confirming twice that the writing I submitted to him was not edited, he agreed to accept me on the basis of my ability and my word that I was going to do my best.

The titanic relief engulfed me, I had to just get out of the office, sprint across the campus and sing "Joy to the world."

Except, I didn't do that because of two reasons; hearing aids would go scarce and probably face a price increase in Suva and I had to wait ten more months before singing that song or else my mental state would receive severe scrutiny from the public.

Instead, I looked a little bit more light on my feet as I headed out to my next destination. The day looked brighter, the air smelled cleaner and oh was that a bunny!!?

Oops, sorry no. Just a mongoose.

I paraded across the campus, went to the Radio Pasifik office and submitted my application to be a volunteer. We'll see how that goes.
Now I'm sitting below a merciless air conditioner in the great white north of the campus, called the ITS lab keeping the blood circulation in my hands going by typing up this blog.

I couldn't wait, I had to have this up. I'm back in the game and I can't wait to continue the semester after the tragic tumble I received in my first week.

It's funny how much your faith gets tested, and seeing as I got out of a situation I thought was hopeless; I guess I realized, I hadn't gotten out empty handed.

I learnt something. There's always hope as long as you have faith and as long as you persevere. In this case, I just won the first battle,  and that was, just getting in. The academic year is just starting and I hope nothing too terrible pops up in the near future.

Now to bear the next 2 hours of class, being taught how to turn a computer on while trying to survive the sudden bout of winter the air conditioner blessed me with  -_- How exciting!

One more lesson. Wear mittens when going to the ITS lab.

See you soon =)

When Life Gives you Lemons

Recently, I've been upset with Uni for dropping me from my course. To say I had been looking forward to starting this course, is the biggest understatement I could ever make. I want to do Journalism. I applied last year, and I got in last year.
Then suddenly, in the first week of the semester, "bloop".
Sorry guys, you've been dropped. Our bad. -_-

FIRST OF ALL, we didn't get a phone call or mail but a nice little bulletin post on the Uni website.
I knew that a few students were going to be dropped but I was pretty sure I was okay, I mean...I've been enrolled for almost a year now...

So, my first reaction, looked something like this-

See, I wasn't sure if I was seeing right. I switched the monitor off and then on and then off again...but there it was. Clearer than the blue of the sky in a cloudless day. I logged off and logged on. Nope, it really was there. Me. I've been dropped! By then, I looked something like this-

I couldn't believe it. My hopes! My dreams! Gone in a flash! Distraught, I did my best to calm down before e-mailing the lecturer to find out what had happened. I was calm, sensible and did my best to keep the e-mail formal but yet personal enough to show how disappointed I was.

  

After that, I hit twitter, facebook, msn and any other website I knew, trying to contact all the other poor victims of this wretched nightmare. That only got me more worked up, and then I looked like this-

 

I had my whole speech worked out in my head, because I knew that I'd end up having to approach the lecturer personally. It wasn't long before I received a short e-mail that basically repeated the insignificant looking bulletin board and something that resembled an apology. I wasn't angry than, just disheartened.
Next day, speech in mind and guns loaded (metaphorically of-course), I marched into the campus towards the office.
With every step my anger and my distraught grew, until I was literally quivering by the time I reached the office door. There it stood, beckoning me with an aura of authority to step up into the ring and fight a battle where I was inevitably going to be the lamb in a fight with the lion.
I grasped the door knob..turned it, prayed....
locked.

Pote.

Frustrated, I  walked around the campus aimlessly with drooping shoulders until I saw the lecturer himself walking towards his office. I followed him, barged in meekly, apologized and squeaked an introduction.
I was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

I was told to attend class with the rest of those accepted....and then managed to talk with him after the class.

They were basing my being dropped on my high school marks...two years ago.
I couldn't believe it, but sadly, that was the case.

Luckily, the lion was going to give me a chance.

He wanted to see my writing the next day.

A friend of mine, Jo, I mentioned her once in the blog, had been present. She too had been dropped. This was her reaction.

I have never met someone as brimming with optimism as she was. The girl had no cloud in her sky. All she did was smile, say that she had a good feeling about this and waltzed off.

She made me feel better, but because I hadn't eaten the day before (I had been too upset to eat), I got hungry.
Again she surprises me. She produces egg sandwiches, and we sat at a free table lunching away as if our career and future wasn't about to walk the plank.

I got home, fueled by Jo's encouragement and slept more peacefully than I had the day before.

I'm still not sure if I'll be accepted and there's a pretty good chance I won't be able to get back in. I'm upset about it of course, but what can I do?

 It occurred to me that this was what they meant by "when life hands you lemons...."

HAHA I'm joking!

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. If I am dropped from Journalism, than maybe there is something I'm meant to do first before pursuing it and if my love for writing tells me anything, it's that, I will get back. Somehow, even if it isn't now. I'll pursue law and maybe volunteer for community projects in my free time.

It's not the end of the world and definitely not the end of this dream.

Ash Wednesday- Second day of Uni

I've just gotten home, and I'm tired, sore, tired, sleepy, tired and just, really tired. I'm not saying I had a bad day, but even good days can take a lot from you. All I wish for right now is my blanket, my pillow and my bed. Unfortunately, life and fate are like college fraternity guys, playing those pranks on the unsuspecting newbies before shoving them into a series of hazing just to see how tough and how much worth they are.
Who else better to bring in for that job, than family? They have the power to make or break you...and man, am I near breaking point.

Therefore! I've turned to the soothing balm that blogger offers and will dutifully relay the lovely day to you.

Ashamed as I am to admit this, I had literally no idea it was Ash Wednesday today. I consider myself  a good Catholic, but obviously, not adequate enough to know our own Liturgical calendar. After finding out, of course, I made plans for mass except, I realized, the interview I had for a course assignment was at the same time. Well not exactly; mass was going to be from 9am-10am and I was to meet the girl in Uni at 10am. Since mass was obviously more important, I prayed the girl (let's call her Jo) could wait a few more minutes.

My dad usually drops the kids off at school by 7:30am, and because I was an early bird (actually, I didn't want to catch the bus) I ended up going along for the ride. The school was going to be leading the mass at the Cathedral; they're both basically situated side by side. It didn't occur to me how much time I had to kill till mass started *slaps forehead* and I hadn't any extra money to go look rich in McDonalds. So, I made myself look busy and walked around the church for a while. Not too long, when I knew that if I continued I'd start getting strange looks, I decided to walk to the bus stand. What was I going to do?  I had no idea. It was an adventure! Maybe I'd find 10 bucks on the ground so I could go look rich in McDonalds.

I went on my way through Suva, bumping into former primary teacher's of mine who seemed really please to see me (No, I was never teacher's pet) and a few little kids from my sisters' school who recognized me as so and so's big sister. I jay walked a few places when I made sure there wasn't any police around. As everyone in our beautiful island nation knows, the fee for jaywalking was about $40. The thing was, the lights took ages to turn green and it would stay green for approximately 5 seconds, you'd have to run across to make it. Then there were the awkward locations the crossings were situated where there's normally no traffic, and you're just standing there for ten minutes staring at the person across the road....and there's not a vehicle in sight.

The city was brimming with people, which was unusual for that time of the morning, but not unusual for Ash Wednesday, with all the Catholics hurrying to mass. I got to the bus stand and there was nothing to see but herds of high school students standing around like cow grazing in a meadow. Not moving. Just standing there and chewing.
I circled the bus stand, then made up my mind to buy something in case someone (as unlikely as it would sound) was keeping tabs on my aimless wandering, just to prove that I actually planned this all along. To walk past the dozens of shops in the city to buy juice at the bus stand....

On my way back to Church, I met a friend of mine who had left my Uni to go to med school. We caught up with each other before bidding goodbye, and I was back to my mass mission.

I made it to mass, I can't say what the sermon was about, the priest was reading off a piece of paper and mispronouncing words. I suspected someone else wrote his sermon.

 Apart from that, mass was lovely and I felt jovial after, ready to take on Uni.



I walked up to the bus stop, waited almost 15 minutes for the bus to arrive and I was off to Uni.

Another embarrassing moment, I didn't recognize the girl I was supposed to meet, despite sitting beside her for two hours, 48 hours ago. She waved her hand at me and all I could think was, "Goodness, could she be related to me? Was she someone from Student life? Was she an old friend? A neighbour?"
I wasn't fast enough to hide my confusion, but I recognized her accent as soon as she exclaimed, "OH COME ON!"
I grinned sheepishly and just said, "I'm not good with faces." I felt so bad. First, I ditched her for mass. I was late meeting her. Than, I forgot who she is! I was not making  a good impression of myself. I should have bought her coffee. Or peanuts. Or something.
Instead, I led her half way across Uni to the "white tables" and we got started with the assignment. She's forgiving like that.

I'd forgotten my watch at home, so I was completely dependent on her ( We're supposed to call her Jo, remember?) for time keeping. The thing was, I'd left Church at approximately 10am, and she informed me that it was 11.30am. How come it took an hour and a half to get to Uni, was a mystery. It should have taken only 15 minutes or max, 30 minutes. Where had the time gone?

I asked Jo if her time was correct and she replied, yes. Her time had been wrong earlier but a friend of hers corrected her. So her time was updated and correct.


We found out that coincidentally, we were also in the same class in another course.The class was at 2pm and so we made our way there at 1.45pm.

We reached the class, I opened the door and stepped in with Jo. The class was full and the lecturer stopped talking and turned to us quizzically.
"We're having class."

I asked if it was our course. And she goes, "Class is almost finished"

..............................................
In Fijian, the word that could adequately explain that moment would be, POTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 For the meaning of pote in Urban Dictionary, click here.

Right, so we head to the bathroom and than burst into giggles. Good lord, what everyone in that class, including the lecturer thought of us!

Just 10 seconds later, out of all people to burst into the ladies bathroom, it's the lecturer herself. She demanded where we had been all day, and I'm silently cursing Jo's time-keeping skills. I explained that we had class from 2pm-4pm, to which the lecturer looks confused.

"It's 12.30pm."

POTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jo continues to look confused, but I burst into raucous laughter, trying to suppress the urge to fall to the floor and roll around in laughter. The lecturer, who had been beginning to apply her lipstick had to stop halfway to join in, laughing at our crazy situation.

We hadn't been late to class. We'd been too early! We were almost two hours early. Thanks to Jo's time keeping skill! Or actually, whoever it had been earlier who'd said her time was wrong.

The lecturer, her application of make up forgotten, was leaning over the sink still laughing. All she managed to get through her laughter was,
"I...laugh laugh laughl...thought you were...laugh laugh...late!"

My face had turned tomato coloured and all I could think was, I'm never setting foot outside this bathroom.

The lecturer, seeing our embarrassment, tried to console us,
"Give them a couple of days, and they'll forget."

A COUPLE OF DAYS!

She even relayed a story to us about one of her most embarrassing moments in Uni, when she accidentally set off a fire extinguisher she'd been playing around with in one of the class rooms. The room looked like a snow blizzard had hit and of course, she hadn't had anywhere to hide.

That made us feel a little better, but we became seriously paranoid. Whenever someone laughed around us, we were convinced they'd been in that class we'd barged into earlier and they remembered us.

So embarrassing. Major Pote.

Luckily, we had our time corrected and made the class ON time.


It had gotten cold outside, and in the lab I sat directly under the air condition.
Why don't they ship me to Antarctica while they're at it??

I was tired and cold, which worsened the urge to sleep but luckily I was sitting right in front of the lecturer, inspiration enough not to sleep. She was a good lecturer too.

After class, I bought Jo and I peanuts, because we had had an interesting ordeal. We'll probably see each other on Friday, and until then we've got to work on our assignments and study for the quiz.


THAT was how my Ash Wednesday happened.

So HELLO to LENT!! May the next 40 days be fruitful and a spiritually inspirational one.

Uni Begins

5am in the morning, the birds were still rousing themselves from sleep and the Sun was just about to peek from the East horizon. Monday morning, the most intolerable morning for almost everyone, except for those rare optimists who seem to like giving themselves false hope. It was Monday! Enough said!
Except, it wasn't just ANY Monday...it was the beginning of a new semester of a new year of University Life. My first lecture of the day was going to be at 8am, and I was just brimming with enthusiasm.
5am sharp, I was out of bed singing one of those lardy da songs and breathing in the cold morning air. It was a moment of complete euphoria, and I had this crazy urge to share my joy and happiness with the world. I threw open the windows and a rainbow streamed across the sky in welcome. The birds sung a wonderful little hymn and a tiny blue rice bird flitted in and landed on my finger.
....
Okay, maybe it didn't happen like that. I woke up to my sisters squabbling over bathroom hogging and the smell of burnt sausages wafted from the kitchen. After a few minutes of vainly trying to get the arguing banshees to be quiet, I thought better of wasting my time and got up to part take in the bathroom hogging. The shower smacked some alertness into me and then the feeling of Euphoria hit. The enthusiasm about finally starting a journalism course, maybe meet new people and well, basically, just the thought of an escape from the house was enough fuel for the morning. I moved around with this hidden smile of pleasure (everyone else was having a bad morning, so any sign of happiness from me would have upset the balance of nature), rechecked my timetable, lecture time and location and everything I needed in my bag. I was all set!

I arrived about an hour early or maybe, an hour and a half early. I had a quick memory flashback of how it was on my first day of University last year, standing right where I was at the moment by the bus booth. The University had seemed to loom over me like one of those monsters out of Goosebumps (Goosebumps was scary!!) ready to devour my soul and replace me with a zombie changeling to return home to my unsuspecting family and steal my internet....The thought was so horrifying. My imagination only seemed to feed my pessimism, and I swear it seemed like as soon as I entered the Uni compound, every student turned to stare at me with a blank zombie look of people who'd just been replaced by changelings, and had their net stolen from them.
How I survived that first year is still a mystery.
Needless to say, they weren't able to turn me into one of them, and I remain a free soul wandering among zombies, fighting for their freedom and the redemption of that lost society.
Anyway, back to the present. The University didn't look as threatening or felt as overwhelming this time. It just looked like a recreational center people go to, to sit in posh constructed fales (samoan house. google it) and lounge around in parks for a nice round of talanoa (chatting) sessions. There were other insignificant buildings spread around in a random arrangement in between. It was this in-between recreation sessions where you're suppose to listen to someone else talk and memorize every word till they ask you again on paper at the end of the year. It's a very complicated zombifying experience. I actually enjoy them sometimes. That's probably not normal.

One thing was for certain. As soon as I walked in, there were zombie students perched along the verandah of one of the buildings just doing that blank stare they had done last year. Hmm. I thought I'd imagined it.
Somehow, my eyes and memory began to bugger up and sputter out into giving me the wrong room number and location. I kept circling the building a few times, until my common sense popped back in and I rechecked the location and room number to find that I was in the wrong place after all.
It took me a while to find the room, after stalking a few students who seemed to know where they were going and hearing the word "Journalism" erupt between the other gibberish they were spouting. I thought for a second they were taking me to my doom and this was all some conspiracy set up to zombify me.
I followed them to a building with narrow winding steps leading down into some sort of dark corridor, keeping an eye out for any alien invasion or someone looking to kidnap them self a free soul. 
As it turned out, our lecture theater was something....well...as described  by our lecturer, "a dungeon of folly". For me, it was right out of those thrillers where someone is kidnapped and thrown into this abandoned room, or cell of some sort with random pieces of wiring and electrical debris sticking out of the concrete. The lights didn't work and the windows were pieces of wood nailed into the gaps in the walls.
It was exciting!

Our lecturer was a Canadian man, maybe in his 40's or 50's, I couldn't tell. He was a good humoured man, and I began to wonder how someone like him could end up in this kidnapping cell. Poor guy. He was stuck here with the zombies and the rare few of us, free souls.
I could tell already, I'd enjoy his class but he was going to make us eat dirt and break sweat in this subtle form of training to pass the course.

He went through a brief...(well no, not brief, we probably know his life story by now), history of himself, before encouraging us to do so.
I was the one who disrupted the silence with a loud sneeze and the Professor was kind enough to say "Bless you", before explaining the Jewish belief that when someone sneezes, the devil could steal their soul unless there is a blessing at the same time.
I didn't even know him, but he bothered to save my soul. I was indebted to him forever.

He even knew my uncle! That's another story.

At the end of the lecture, we were given assignments to interview a fellow classmate and write up an article on them. I haven't started on that yet but I got the girl beside me to be my partner. She seemed nice. I was going to ask her where she lived, her e-mail, her address and how she felt growing up where ever she grew up in.
I can't wait!

That was how my first lecture unfolded and I'm enthused about the tutorial coming up on Friday. As for tomorrow, I've been condemned to a visit to the dentist to investigate the wisdom tooth that declared war on my jaw last week. That is a battle I'm definitely going to win and until then, I shall be holding back the quiver of glee at the prospect of another day at Uni.

The Week in one Post

Another week in Suva blessed with a cloudless sky and sunshine! Hello Yellow Orb! I've never loved you more.

 It's been a week since the Las Vegas Sevens, Valentine's Day and the death of Whitney Houston. An interesting week for everyone, I think, as well as with the Grammy following right after.






Now with the Rugby Weekend over, everyone's settled down to a less rowdy state to welcome St.Valentine's day. If anyone's wondering what happened with the Las Vegas rugby tournament, keep wondering....

Aha! I joke.

Fiji barreled out of the tournament in the Quarter Finals after Samoa's coconut tree proved more steadier than ours.

A shame really, but I thought Samoa definitely deserved that win. Fiji has been so inconsistent with their game and New Zealand is definitely the team to beat. Why??

Gordon Tietjens Source: nz.sports.yahoo.com

 

 

Could it be because of
<<<<<<this guy?
Fiji fans would know how much of a euphoria it is when the camera decides to film THIS man when NZ is losing. The man always has a frown on his face, and you can definitely look forward to the famous pinching of the bridge of his nose when thing's don't go his way.

<<<< Because of this??

 Hide yo wives, lock up yo daughters!! They're doing the haka out there!

Source: schoolchallenge.org

This???


Aaah, the patriotism. You gotta love it.








OR.......

 
Notice something interesting about him?
No?
Come on...try harder.
RIGHT!!
HE'S FIJIAN!!!!!
A Fijian player in the All Blacks team. I think this is a more subtle form of black-birding. Black Kiwi-ing AHA! Come on...that was FUNNY!



Anyway, after Fiji fell out of the game, flopping off the field like a couple of fish on dry land, Samoa moved on to the final to face off with New Zealand. So, it was the coconut tree versus the kiwi. That game turned out something like this...

A hearty Congratulations to Samoa! 

 


On to other news!!


Valentine's day hit next, I think you all know what I think about that. (Click here if you don't)

I'm not too interested in the Grammy, so I'm not going to bother blogging about it. I mean, after losing the beautiful Whitney Houston, Etta James and Michael Jackson, you realize, what's left of the music industry, is a circus act.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

source: Fashionstlyeme.com

 
On the other hand, we still have HOPE. Her name is, Adele and she's is probably one of the few means of redemption left for the world of music.












With that said, I think I've covered much of last week, I will bid thee all "adieu".

The Death of a Legend

I think we've all heard by now that the woman known as "The Voice", Whitney Houston, has passed today at the age of 48. At first I thought it was one of those "Miley Cyrus has died" sort of fake trends but sadly, sadly, sadly, Whitney Houston has indeed been called from Earth. It won't be long before R.I.P The Voice or R.I.P Whitney Houston trends world wide.

She was an inspiration to the world of music and definitely to her global plate of fans. She had her fair share of problems, sadly, with drug abuse especially. That doesn't change anything though, she will always be remembered and loved for gracing us all with the gift of her talent.  I dedicate this post, to the beautiful, talented, Whitney Houston.



We will miss you Whitney.

Rugby

The sun's out again and just in time too! It's another Rugby Weekend, and this week it's the Las Vegas 7s! 

I thought maybe it might not be a good idea to have a blog about rugby...but hey! I'm Fijian! We live and breath rugby! Our Nation has held the 7s world cup Twice! I wouldn't be a true Fijian if I didn't have any rugby-related items posted on here. So here I am, being patriotic, flying our flag, singing as much of our National Anthem as I can remember and blogging about Rugby.

Last week, Fiji managed to reach the finals in the Wellington Sevens and faced off with the All Blacks Team (New Zealand). Now even though they left us in their dust and smacked us hard with the taste of defeat, we should be grateful at least that the team reached the final. And even though now New Zealand is leading on the World Series Title Score Board, leaving Fiji trailing in second we should be thankful that we're not last...

I mean, hey...we didn't win. No hard feelings...

So this week, we have new hope! Maybe, we can actually win the tournament this time.
AND SO BEGINS THE SAME OLE RITUAL....

Usually the guys get together, the family even, around a bowl of grog with the television set atop a pedestal in all it's glory.

NO ONE is allowed to walk by the television (you'll be excused if you're made out of glass), the remote must be in arm's reach and if you think about changing the channel....do it with the knowledge that you WILL die.
If need be, they'll stick an insignificant nobody on the roof to hold the aerial in place, or maybe those small rabbit eared aerials out the window.
Everyone will have a pen and paper ready to write to the paper editors, their reviews on the game.

Right before the team plays:

x1: GO FIJI! WE CAN DO IT!
X2: Supporting Team Fiji! YEA YEAH WOOT!
X3: Bring home the cup boys!


During the game:


If the team makes a mistake-

X1: WTF WAS THAT REF!?
X2: COME ON!
X3: Whats Wrong with the Team!?


If the team scores-
X1: Woohoo yeah, Go Fiji!
X2: You've got it boys
X3: Finally!
X4: Never doubted you guys!

SCENARIO ONE



If the team wins:
X1: Yeah PROUD TO BE FIJIAN!
X2: Thats how it's done!
X3: Attaches flag to the side of the bus
X4: Honks the car horn while driving around the neighbourhood (Firefox has a red squiggly line on "neighbourhood". Boo! English Spelling all the way!)

SCENARIO TWO


If the team loses-
X1: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU..REF'S FAULT!!!
X2: W&^%*  THE *^&^**&* !!! &**^^***))__(&#^&%^&!!!
X3:Rips of flag from the side of the bus
X4: Shuts of tv and goes to bed

We're all hoping of course for scenario one; it's only fair, since we had scenario two last time.

What to keep your eyes out for during rugby:

The Fans:

The Streakers:

 The Pom pom girls:

 The Fights:

 THE EPIC SCORING: 

THE FIJI TEAM

Thus, is the Fijian Way. Rugby Fanatics. 



Anyhow, I do wish the Fiji Team all the best and to the fans, cheer your hearts out. 

 

Valentine's Day?

Me and my big mouth. So, just the day before I was yapping on and on about how the sun was out and that it would be a definite goodbye to the rains...I was wrong.

It rained just as it had been the past week, though, the sun did make it's appearances now and again. I didn't even have anything worthwhile to keep me busy indoors (I say that as if I go outdoors), seeing as I've already finished four seasons of Merlin!
A real bummer that they don't air that show here...not that I can tell you how I managed to watch the show...because then, I'd have to kill you .
Anyway, with Uni still on break and my days spent stalkin- uh, I mean, casually browsing through face book and twitter, I've now just realized that it's Feb! We all know what that means? The build up to St. Valentine's day.
St.Valentine, according to the legends, was a priest who secretly married couples during a time when the men had to stay unattached so that they could go to war. Or something like that... go google it.
 I've never understood why it's so big of a deal, I mean, if you love someone, you can't be waiting for that day in Feb to show her..or him. I understand buying roses and chocolates every day and night would probably bankrupt you and get boring, but jeez, get original with your proclamations of love! Do you HAVE to buy her roses? What about a hibiscus flower? Or some dandelions? Or tiger orchids! 
I remember back in primary school, we had to pick flowers for an experiment. The tiger orchid had a pee scent.... maybe you shouldn't get a tiger orchid after all?
Does it HAVE to be flowers? Why not something else from the natural environment that's beautiful?
"My love....I picked up this stone for you. I hope you'll like it."
If she/he really loves you, it's the thought that counts...just make sure it's a pretty stone.
As for chocolates...well, really, save yourself from having to go through the, "Do these jeans make my butt look big?" phase.
Buy her carrots. They're healthier.
What about diamonds? Meh. Everyone knows diamonds are just a series of 4 carbon atoms attached in a giant covalent structure (Chemistry anyone?)
If you can't give her diamonds, there's another form of carbon. Charcoal. Carve a ring out of it or something. Throw in a few stickers.
You didn't see the chick from Count of Monte Cristo complain when she was proposed to with a small string for a ring. See! That's true love!
So remember, everyone, don't lower love down to a materialistic value. Make this valentines a special one, you can't buy love, so just give it to someone deserving.

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Favourites: When the Chakram was my sharpener: I was probably about 7 when I was asked, what do you want to be when you grow up? See, at first I wanted to be Hercules but than...I remembe...

Sun Shining Again

It's been raining so much the past few weeks, the idea of heat and sunshine almost started becoming a foreign concept. ALMOST. Thankfully the sun came back out today and again we're reminded about how close to the equator we're living. I'm definitely enjoying the sun's warmth again, even if we're perspiring at a 100ltrs/hr. Who cares? Away with the socks, the jackets and the umbrellas, we're back to wearing the good ole naked wrap rounds we Fijians know as "sulus" and the nice ole pair of flip flops. Okay, so I'm lying really. Sulus and flip flops are worn by us all four seasons (though here we only have 2 seasons; cold and summer) but I had to store them away. After a little incident the other day, I managed to ski across the mud as if it were ice and performed some sort of gymnastic move with my audience of mechanics that happened to be there. Really guys, don't wear flip flops in rainy muddy weather if you still want to look human when you get home. That day I arrived home as the mud yeti...abominable mud girl anyone? Anyway, we're back to the humid hot days of Fiji and I'm relishing the feel of that feeling again. Cheers heaven! It was about time too.