May 29
system being so stupid
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Hong Kong SAR China
seen from Spain
seen from Singapore
seen from Malaysia
seen from Kuwait
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from China
seen from T1
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from Singapore
seen from Netherlands
seen from China
seen from United States
system being so stupid
Tom Boyyy
Today was a chill day, so I thought it would be a lakka day to don my boyfriends clothes, and go back to my childhood self. When I was very little I was dressed and like a doll, my shoes had to match my hat and every part of outfit made me look like something out of a Naartjie catalogue.
So when I got to the age when I was able to choose my own clothes I went straight to the boys section at surf shops. I’m quite embarrassed of pictures of me ages 9-12. I look like a boy, a big fat boy. I wore T-shirts that went down to above my knees, and boardshorts about 10 sizes to big for me. I was always with the boys, climbing trees and fucking shit up.
Anyway, it made me feel very uncomfortable to be so unfeminine when I was around my boyfriend, because I enjoy playing the role of the feminine girlfriend and I enjoy looking good and sexy for him. He found it very funny, as he has seen the pictures of me from the past and always says how he wished he’d known me then
Food Diary days 6 -10
I will appreciate my food everyday from this day on. Pretty tired of consuming oats every morning and keeping track of every meal.
Full Spectrum
I found this pearl of wisdom in an article by a woman named Varyanne Sikh, on a site for OSISA, The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, written in 2014. It covers the subject of fashion and feminism, which I think is an important topic. If one considers oneself a feminist but also enjoys the concept of fashion, is one not aligning ones beliefs correctly since fashion has been the source of objectification of women since the dawn of time. Etc. Etc.
But this article is honestly almost comic in it’s descriptions of the perceptions of women with regards to their fashion choices. It describes women who wear mini-skirts and high heels to work as having a reputation of giving sexual favours to achieve their success, as well as mothers who make ‘provocative’ clothing choices as being ostracised. See below:
“Role identity – the core of our identities – lies in the categorisation of the self as an occupant of a particular social position and adopting the meanings and expectations that are associated with the given role and its performance (Stets & Burke, 2000). Although different people may have different meanings and different expectations for the same role identity, we can explore some of the more universally accepted role meanings and expectations for women. Women play roles such as mothers, wives, students and professionals. Role identities are only ever expressed in relation to the society or to other identities. There are fashion choices that are considered appropriate and inappropriate for mothers in the society – respectability and modesty are generally guiding principles for fashion among mothers and wives but there is leniency towards younger women who are allowed to make bolder and more provocative fashion choices for which they are not judged. Such younger women are simply called eccentric personalities. A mother who makes a young girl’s fashion choices is frowned upon in society, gossiped about and ostracised in some cases.
Occupational attributes are also affected by what women choose to wear. These attributes include honesty, professionalism, efficiency, reliability, intelligence and competency (Kwon, 1994). In work places, successful women who wear mini-skirts and high heels generally have a negative reputation and the notion is usually that they gave sexual favours to achieve their success. On the other hand, women at work who wear clothes that are considered decent are associated with positive values and attributes, such as being hard working, focused, honest and trustworthy. With knowledge of social norms and the culture of the society they live in, women’s role identities tend to lean more toward the socially acceptable values even if they are in conflict with their social or personal identities.”
So it has been interesting to investigate the many opinions and stances that exist with regards to feminism and role classification in society. There is a full spectrum of thoughts and beliefs out there.
Day 10
It’s the last day of the intervention and I couldn’t be happier. I had to wake up quite early this morning as I have lectures from 9 - 5 on Wednesdays. I had oats for breakfast (again) but didn’t eat everything as I wasn’t feeling so well. I put on my leggings and sweatshirt and nikes for the last time and made my way to Vega for my creative development lecture.
I started feeling worse so I decided to go home after creative development. I spent the afternoon lying in bed catching up on films I have to watch for critical studies. I watched Transamerica which is relevant to both critical studies and creative development as it deals with a transgender woman and her journey of self discovery. I had a cream cheese sandwich and banana for lunch as I still wasn’t feeling very well.
I had to go back to Vega at 3:30 for a prize giving and ‘fresh cream’ presentation from the CBC lecturers. At this point all I wanted to do was go home and curl up in bed but I had to wait until 4:30 to leave Vega.
When I got home I remembered we were running low on food so we drove to Spar to do some grocery shopping. I knew that this intervention is over and that I didn’t have to buy healthy things but I’ve decided I want to carry on with this healthy lifestyle so I put lots of fruit and veggies in the trolley. I won’t lie, I did spend about 10 minutes in the sweets aisle trying to decide which chocolate to end my intervention with. My boyfriend made the decision for me and put about 5 different slabs of chocolate in the trolley. Don’t worry, I won’t be eating all of them. When I got home I had a half a sweet chili chicken wrap.
I am so happy that this intervention is (almost) over. This is definitely the toughest creative development project I have done in my two years at Vega. With this project I couldn’t just decide to take a break from it and carry on working on it another time, I had to work on this project uninterrupted for 10 days without a break. I can officially say that I have been a health freak for 10 days and have not consumed any sugar, refined carbohydrates, processed foods and red meat for 10 whole days. This must be some kind of record for me.
The first few days, especially with the detox were extremely difficult for me. I was lacking energy and was constantly hungry and had mood swings. I also had sugar withdrawal symptoms and was tempted by absolutely everything which made being around people and going grocery shopping very hard! Things got easier after the 4th day when I was allowed to eat dairy and chicken/fish again. I was eating proper, healthy meals again which gave me the energy to exercise properly and really enjoy my yoga practices. I have gone through a physical and mental transformation and have lost 3,7 kg in 10 days. My BMI was 21.6 on day 1 and now on day 10 it is 20.3. Even though I am feeling a bit sick today I have noticed that being healthy has made me feel a lot better and happier.
Even though every day I wanted the intervention to just end, looking back I’m really happy that we had to do it as I have learned so much about nutrition and the benefits of having a healthy lifestyle. I’m just proud that I didn’t give up or cheat during the intervention and am happy that this intervention had a positive outcome.
Day 9
I quite like Tuesdays even though I have an annoying 4 hour gap in between my only 2 lectures of the day. I got to sleep in and woke up at 8. I had enough time to squeeze in some morning yoga. I love doing yoga in the morning because it wakes me up properly and gives me enough energy to start my day. I had plain oats and pineapple and kiwi for breakfast. I put on my gym clothes and left for my critical studies lecture. Everyone was talking about how happy and relieved they are that the intervention is almost over and I couldn’t agree more.
After my crit lecture I decided to go to Gateway as I had to return something and wanted to look around a bit. I found myself going to the active wear section in every store that I went to. I know this intervention is almost over but I couldn’t help but look at all the pretty leggings and tops and nikes, but then I had to remind myself that I’m a student and can’t afford to spend over 500 bucks on a pair of leggings that will probably end up in the back of my closet anyway. I left Gateway empty handed and went home.
I made myself some mashed avo on rye bread for lunch again. I spent the afternoon doing some work and then went back to Vega at 3 for my creative development lecture. Andrew Swanepoel guest lectured us on performance art and how to plan and do your performance properly which was very interesting. He also showed us some of his own performances which took him over a year to plan. We’ve only had a few weeks to plan our interventions which is nothing compared to what Andrew does but I do know that it takes a lot of dedication and willpower to pull off a successful performance.
I quickly popped in to Spar on the way home to buy some fruit and yogurt. The manager approached me and asked me if I wanted some free milkshakes that were nearing their sell by date. He had already put them in my basket before I even had the chance to decline so I was forced to take them home with me. I’m not even tempted to drink them though as they’ve probably gone off already.
When I got home I decided to just have a banana and a hard boiled egg for dinner. I’m really enjoying being able to relax more as I don’t have any more projects or tests to worry about. Working on my blog and intervention every night has become a part of my routine and it’s not really something that I mind doing anymore. Having a blog is really helping me to stay motivated and on track. I have started following a number of different blogs dedicated to health, yoga, fitness and other things that inspire me. Tomorrow is the last day that I will have to play the role of a health freak and I am going to try make the most of it.
Current look from not bathing until the end of my creative assignment
Day 8
Today has been the first Monday in a while that I didn’t have to wake up early to write a test or meet up at a friend’s house to work on a project before my 2:30 pm lecture. I can’t remember the last time that I was able to sleep in and have have a relaxed Monday morning. I got out of bed at 9 and decided to have a kiwi and scrambled eggs for breakfast with a cup of hot lemon water.
I like breakfast more than any other meal time because it’s so easy and quick to make something healthy. I’ve really started to enjoy having simple things like oats with some berries for breakfast or even just some plain cut up fruit with a bit of yogurt. I don’t really miss my unhealthy breakfast cereals at all.
I also did some yoga to help me wake up and feel refreshed. I know this project is supposed to make me feel uncomfortable but something that did make me feel uncomfortable a few days ago is now making me feel really good! I am probably the stiffest and inflexible person ever, but after 8 days of stretching and doing yoga I can almost touch my toes! I wore this top for some Monday motivation:
I made some mashed avo on rye bread for lunch. I went to Vega at 2:30 for my channel planning lecture. Last week Monday the class was quite restless as it was day 1 of the intervention and everyone was quite curious and chatty. When I walked into class it was very clear that this intervention has taken its toll on a lot of people. Everyone looked tired and I’m sure we’re all counting down the hours until we can return back to our normal selves on Thursday morning.
Dinner was quite tricky as it is my boyfriend’s step dad’s birthday and we had chicken lasagne for dinner. I couldn’t be rude and refuse my boyfriend’s mom’s home made lasagne that she had slaved over for hours so I had no other choice but to have a small portion. I’m just lucky that it was chicken and not beef lasagne. I did however have to say no thank you when I was offered a piece of home made carrot cake. I tried to convince myself that carrots are a vegetable and that vegetables are good for you so technically carrot cake is healthy, but the better half of me didn’t buy it so I went home without even tasting the cake.
So there are only 2 more days to go and I can’t believe how fast this intervention is going by. I can really say that I am learning a lot from this experience and that I am transforming. Before the intervention started I thought to myself ‘‘it’s only 10 days, it’s not going to affect me that much’‘ but I was wrong. I am learning so much about myself and the food that I am putting in my body. I have always known that sugar and junk food are very bad for you, but I was always in denial and didn’t want to change my ways. This project has forced me to research the effects of sugar and other bad foods and my knowledge of nutrients and healthy foods has also expanded. I won’t lie though, I am looking forward to having a bar of chocolate and drinking something other than water once this intervention has ended.