Musings of A Journo Apprentice: Racism: Alive and well

Musings of A Journo Apprentice: Racism: Alive and well: We're not strangers to the concept of racism here in Fiji. We always strive for diversity and peace in our multicultural society but rac...

Keep up-to-date on book to film adaptations

It's a pity that cobwebs and dust are starting to collect around this blog but I can't help that I've been too busy with university. I can barely keep my e-portfolio updated, much less my student blog, with everything that's been going on. My online novel, Warrior Vula, hasn't progressed past Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 is sitting as a half-written blog draft.
Recently though, my Goodreads activity has started to pick up and I'm contemplating starting up a book-news blog or vlog on youtube. I know, my plate is piled higher than Mount Everest, but it's something that's had my interest for a while (two days).
As it is, I don't have much time on my hands to be keeping a project like this alive but I'm still pondering on how I can make it work. I've started up a Goodreads group called Goodreads Imagination where I'm starting up this project for fellow book nerds like myself.
The group keeps fans and members up to date with film adaptations of novels, especially best-sellers.
I might change Random Writings into a book review blog or book news blog.
Still not sure.
Maybe start up a vlog?

Well, these are all just projects I've lined up. Stay tuned in case I do make a return to the blogging world.

They're Out There...Everywhere

It was a chilly day and many had piled on warm clothing to combat the shivering whispers of the wind. Not many students loitered the corridors considering how early and cold the morning was. I was making my way down some steps towards the newsroom, having just been browsing the supermarket vainly for something affordable to buy. Noodles was available but a taunting thought from high school reminded me of the words of a girl, "It'll dry up your uterus if you have too much." Tin fish too, I passed because I hadn't with me a knife or can opener. Snacks would have only made me thirsty and I had enough problems as it was to worry about. There was nothing except some fruits that I did not bother with.
Sorry, I've gone a bit off topic.
Anyway, I was returning to the newsroom both hungry and meters away from poverty. There was a girl not far off who I noticed had stopped mid-stride, making me pause a bit in confusion. Then I noticed her eyes go wide as if a ghost had suddenly appeared before her. She clutched her chest and I panicked, wondering if I was witnessing a heart-attack. Was it a seizure? A panic attack?
I wasn't sure and I was so hopelessly lacking in any first-aid training that I hesitated, moving only one step ahead. My mind raced through every possible scenario that this was a dire emergency and despite my lack of training, I was going to save this girl.
I heard her loud gasp and the way she began to shake in what I would have guessed was a bout of fits or definitely a seizure. This was it. I had to do something.
Her gaze was focused somewhere behind me and she let out a shrill squeal that I familiarized with a rodent's mating call. It pierced the quiet of the morning and I knew, by now the campus would know someone was having a seizure. Help should be on it's way. The security nearby should have heard by now. Her shrill scream rose in volume and it was suddenly joined by another that I quickly glanced around worried that a group of male rodents in heat were responding.
No. I was wrong.
It was another girl standing behind me who was suffering the same symptoms as girl number one. With horror, I realized this thing might be contagious. A virus!
How then, did it jump me?
I saw her move, so quickly that I stumbled trying to get out of her way. After all that time denying The Walking Dead, I was witness to the surreal experience of running into zombies.
They ran towards each other, arms out-stretched and I briefly noted how much they would resemble airplanes if they'd gone with a more guttural pitch.
Then they threw their arms around each other while simultaneously jumping to which I concluded was a result of how cold the weather was.
They had reached each other, safe, unharmed and now with a higher body temperature than a few seconds ago. Why were they still screaming?
I was aware then, that I was still standing there gawking at them. Awkwardly, I moved to the newsroom, hoping they wouldn't notice me and keeping my distance.
I didn't have to worry.
They saw nothing else but each other. Out of breath from the rodent mating call and aeroplane run.
Then one of spoke.
"Mann, nish nish ga nomu profile pic, lewa."
I bolted into the safety of the newsroom, my mind reeling from what I just heard.
I was safe. Away from those zombies. Away from their guttural slaughter of the indigenous language.
I knew then, what I had to do. I was on a mission...
I have to find out what plagued them before it spreads.....I have to make people aware.
They're out there...in the dark.

Note: Not meant to be offensive to anyone. Just craving a bit of need for blogging.

My New Blog

www.journolocks.blogspot.com

Guys please pop by, like and comment!!!!!!

Random Writings will always be my baby but I've got to start up a blog that is "professional" and talks about the serious stuff I've otherwise avoided here

The Car Horn

The image below depicts a car horn.

I do not own this image.

Car horns play a major part of the daily life in the city. The loud blaring sound emitted by these devices dominate the environment; mainly around the Suva bus stand.

95% of motorists who use them are a-holes while the other 5% accounts for the use of motor horns to signal trouble and for traffic purposes.

According to the Conball University, the word "horn" was derived from the colloquial English term "horny" where studies have shown that the car horn is culturally used as a mating call when an attractive member of the opposite sex appears by the road side. This is optionally followed by either a howl or whistle by the horn user.

The horn has proven to be the most unsuccessful courting ritual existent among all other human cultures of the world. This can be attributed to the suddenness of the loud beep that the car-horn admits or the pervy shit-eating-grin held by the horn user.

In other cultures, the car-horn is a means of time-travel. The car-horn is called upon when the horn user is late to his/her destination. It is also used in traffic-jams to magically transport horn users to their destination faster.

These two uses listed above purport to the 95% of horn users.

5% of horn users use the horn as a means of warning to other motorists in case of a traffic violation or road incidents.

Welcome to Adulthood, they say.

I turned 21!! Oh man, where did all the years go???

The best thing about celebrating your birthday in the 21st century is Facebook. I mean, how great is it when your primary school friends, high school friends, aunt, uncle, sister’s father’s 2nd wife’s niece’s uncle, teacher and barber all remember your birthday!! Not only do you get great heart warming wall posts with “ “ and “xxxxxxxxxxx” “<3” all thrown in at the end of the messages, you get people coming up to you in person to say happy birthday. It’s that ONE day you feel special because you have 142 notifications and 32 messages pending on your facebook account that are all wishing you well.

So, I got a lot of well-wishers today, hand-shakes and smiles. It was a nice feeling.

What am I supposed to do now that I’m 21? I saw that a lot of people suggested that I “party-hard” and “go crazy.” Technically, I was legal enough to party hard for about 3 years now..and go crazy? I’m Fijian. Aren’t we all crazy?

Not only were both suggestions null and void, it’s Tuesday. The middle of the week. Tuesday isn’t the day to party. I mean..just listen to it’s name. Tuesday??? It sounds like a day you go pick corn or count the grains of sand on a beach. It doesn’t ring with the same sound as Friday or Saturday do. It’s just…Tuesday. I mean, even Wednesday is hump day and Monday is the plague of humanity. Sunday is lazy day. Tuesday? Tuesday just isn’t the day you’d want your birthday to fall on, no offense to Tuesday.

I celebrated on Monday and will do so officially this coming weekend. Again, no offense to Tuesday.

Now, I bragged about this on Facebook and Twitter so I thought I’d brag about it here too; my birthday was also the day the new Fiji Airways Airbus 330 was to make flight around the whole nation to debut the new design of Fiji Airways, still currently known as Air Pacific. I’m sure secretly, the pilot was my friend on Facebook and thought he’d pay tribute to me but I really was impressed with the amount of dust this event clogged into the air (metaphorically). Talk about entering the world of the big 2-1 with a bang.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to actually catch sight of the plane since I was sitting in class but I was lucky enough to hear it…which totally counts in my book. Imagine me, sitting in class staring avidly at the lecturer like the good student that I am when the sound of an approaching aeroplane flying close overhead suddenly roars to life. My head turned like a sun-flower following the sun across the sky and my eyes wandered away towards the window.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. I wasn’t excited because a plane was flying overhead at a height that would scream “hijacking!”. I saw a lot of facebook posts proclaiming, “it’s just a plane.”

 I was excited because this plane had one of our most revered cultural piece portrayed against the wings and tail. Personally, I would think those cultural masi designs are too much of a treasure to be branded across an aeroplane. It has so much worth and so much meaning packed within that carries the essence and the root of our Indigenous people and their heritage. It should NEVER be used for corporate/business purposes, but that is the situation here and because the aeroplane carries that special inscription, it’s significance rises 10 scale. That’s our cultural identity being cruised through the clouds and I was going to pay the tribute it deserved. The opening and reception was reasonable. This IS not just a plane and I hope Fiji Airways is ready to deliver a hell of a lot more than Air Pacific ever did.

Sorry about that rant, let me just put away my flag and pause the National anthem.

As I was saying, I was pretty enthused at the idea of the Airbus making it’s rounds on my birthday. At least something exciting was happening on Tuesday. It didn’t mean too much for me though because I’m still pretty confused about reaching this milestone. Exactly what does this mean for me?

Someone told me it was adulthood. What’s adulthood? The moment you overcome puberty? The moment you hit 18? The moment you’re given the key at 21?

I was going to mention cartoons but who was I kidding. Cartoons are for everyone.

What does being 21 mean? It just means, you’re one year older than 20. Adulthood isn’t part of the age contract sadly. It’s actually the phase of mind you have to work towards, where you should be more proficient at making judgment of right and wrong and handling your responsibilities 10 times better than when you had less experience at life. The age 21 is just a standard year where you could have acquired enough experiences to grow out of immaturity.

What the bloody hell did I just say?

Anyway, I think I feel a bit more mature than I did the day before…..

JK

I feel like, the years are moving faster than I can run. I’m struggling to hold on to that essence of youth. It’s already my second day into the age 21 and I haven’t done anything spectacular except sit on my arse and typing out this ridiculously inspirational example of a great work of art that’s my blog post.

One of these days, I might have to post about things that’s actually an issue for our society and uni….but until then, I’m going to entertain you with my pointless self-bantering session. I just haven’t hit that part of adulthood where I’m ready to pull a few hits that have impact.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

It’s 2013 already!!!!!! Cannn youuu believe it?!!?!

I haven’t updated my blog in too long and honestly; I don’t have a good reason why either.

Anyway, I’ll update as soon as I relieve myself of this lazy-ness virus.

Just wanted to say a very Happy New Year to everyone out there.

Time to get with the good ole traditions of New Year. Fire Works!!

It’s the highlight of every year, the magic count down to New Year and the colorful displays of fireworks. The neighbourhood turns into a war-zone and the tourists start to scurry, thinking there’s an invasion but NO! No invasion! Just fire-works!! Roman candles, whistlers and those that don’t make pretty colours but only big BANGS!!!! It’s pretty much illegal for personal use in most countries but no fear! This is Fiji!! Fire up those rockets like there’s no tomorrow!

Also please note: That it is New Year’s day. I heard some kid screaming Happy Diwali the other day….

Note: I do not own this image

The other tradition: the drums!! Now you don’t need one of those fancy chinese drums or a thousand-dollar-drums they sell in music stores. Grab anything solid (preferably an inanimate object)  and start beating it with whatever make-shift drum sticks you can find. A pair of coke bottles will do-that is, the plastic ones of course.

Roll out a drummer boy tune or an old traditional hit song or even “I LIKE THE WAYYY YOU MOOOOVEE”….just  a suggestion.

It would be wise to choose a not-so-ungodly-hour to start making noise or else you might get stoned by the neighbours.

Note: I do not own this image

The bane of New Year’s when you’re at the receiving end. Splashing water on people!

Now, please refrain from leaving your home after you’ve showered because there’s a high chance, you’d be getting another bath.

I suggest drafting an escape blueprint on how you will be getting from your house to the mode of transport without being spotted by the enemy.

Be very suspicious when you spot a tap and a bucket in near proximity.

Lastly, the most important component.

FOOD.

Either they did this for Christmas or they did this for New Year. The “LOVO”. In English, “Earth-oven”- where you roast your food in a pit with hot stones.

CHICKEN, PORK, PALUSAMI, TARO, CASSAVA…..

I should stop before I faint.

 

That concludes my New Year’s post. I hope every has a great 2013.