Viva Voce

On Thursday the 17th of November 2017, I asked and followed the advice of a friend. I was trying to finish off an assignment and started stressing about it.  I felt that my assignment was done to the best of my ability but still felt the need to make it perfect. I have always had high standards for myself and due to that I have become a perfectionist. My perfectionism always leads me to breaking point and at times, makes me incapable of finishing tasks (especially during the last stretch). I asked one of my friends for some advice on whether I should continue to work on my assignment or hand it in. She then asked me if I was pleased with my work and I said I was but felt the need to go back and refine certain aspects of the work. She came to the conclusion that I should hand in my assignment rather than dwelling on the little things. After handing in my assignment, I felt relieved and had a weight lifted off my shoulders.  I think this experience could encourage me t...

On Thursday the 2nd of November, I spent the whole day bored, and to add cause to effect, my electricity went off too. Usually a day being bored in my books would be a day spent watching Youtube, which necessarily isn't bordem because I am still entertaining myself. With the power off, I forced to be REALLY BORED. I attempted to entertain myself with reading a book but eventually I grew tiresome of that. Surprisnly after my bored day, the next day I was extremely anxious to work that I covered a lot of my assignments. Weirdly enough, I think this bored (day of procrastination) filled gave me energy for the next day. I don't know if it was because my brain was super relaxed the day before or if I was just super anxious that I got my work done. Either way, this activity could encourage me to take a break more often as it could push me to work even harder in the future.

On Sunday the 5th of November, I decided to create a time capsule of my high school memorabilia and photos. I am a very nostalgic being and thus creating a time capsule put my heart in a very happy place. I read through all my memorabilia and it brought me to tears. This experience allowed me to reflect on how I've changed and where I was a year ago. After going through the items, I instantly became thankful for all the people and where I am in my life. I began to recognise how privelged I am to have a loving family and to be studying and venturing into my biggest dream - filmmaking. This activity shall encourage me to always reflect on my past and how I feel in my life. P.S. Unfortunately I am not allowed to bury my time capsule in the ground as my complex management doesn't allow it so I put all my memorabilia in a Flora contain and hid in a cupboard that I never open.

On Wednesday the 8th of November, I sat in a tree in my complex. The tree I choose to climb was against a wall with an electric fence (which was a little risky). The experience was odd at first, as I felt that I was going to break the tree but after a while I got comfortable and enjoyed it. Sitting in the tree gave me some time to reflect on my day and the week (which I never do). This experience will encourage me (in my creative process) to set aside some time to reflect on both my work and my state of being.

On the 29th of October 2017 I tried meditating everyday for a week. Since I'm an early bird I decided to incorporate the meditation in my morning routine. At first it was hard to set aside 10 minutes as my mornings are usually busy with me getting ready for class and the first morning I woke up feeling anxious (due to a nightmare I had had the night before).  However, on the third day, I started getting into meditating a lot easier and began to feel more relaxed throughout the day. By the end of the week I felt like the meditation had made a slight difference in my days and I hope to continue meditating in the morning because of this. This activity shall encourage to take time out my mornings and week to calm myself and reflect on my day as I start it.

On the 25th of September 2017, I planted a tomato. I've always wanted to start my own herb/vegetable garden but I believed that I possessed a black thumb. Plants always have a way of killing themselves around me so I knew this would become a challenge for me. The experience surprised me as I found out that I actually can take care of something besides myself. Surprisingly, I remembered to water the plant every second day and it continues to grow on my little balcony. This experience helped me learn that I shouldn't doubt my capabilities.

During the course of the week 2nd of October to 6 of October I met a 2nd year student named Koketso (Kookie), on the Open Window Campus. She was a very kind young women and told me that she was triple majoring in Photography, 3D and Communication Design. The experience was eye opening as I got to know a fellow student on campus that I have similarities with. Strangely enough, I felt an artist bond between us and hope to see her around more. This experience encouraged me to know more people on campus as I might be surprised to find many people that I could form strong bonds with and inspire me.

On the 26th of September 2017, I cooked something I would find intimidating - Eggs Benedict using a Gordon Ramsey recipe. As a first year university student,  I  live on McDonalds BigMacs and Debonairs pizza so this task encouraged me to finally put my kitchen to good use. To make the stakes even higher,  I decided that the eggs benedict would be supper for both me and boyfriend that night. My first attempt of putting the eggs in the swirling pot of water was a fail the yolk broke and I had to start again. The second eggs came out a bit better and thus a felt encouraged to carry on with the recipe. I've only tasted eggs benedict in my life and it was over 5 years ago so I anticipated since the recipe was hard, the outcome of my cooking had to taste amazing. I was SO WRONG as it ended up tasting revolting. This task taught me that as a creative, I should constantly try to do/make things that I may find intimidating as I could learn something new about myself or the...

On the 25th of September 2017, I watched a film I had no interest in seeing - Kingsman: The Secret Service (Vaughn 2015). I don’t enjoy spy/action films, as violence doesn’t entertain me. I have also found that most action films lack character and plot development thus, when I started to watch the film I had a feeling that I was about to waste two hours of my life. As I continued to watch the film and get into the story, I slowly began to let go of my rigid mindset and started to enjoy the films wittiness. By the end of the film, I was surprised that I had enjoyed it and at how the film managed to change my attitude in the span of two hours. I think this activity will encourage me to not judge a film but it's poster as well as to not go into tasks/projects with a specific mindset or with a lack of interest as I might be surprised by the outcome.

On the 3rd of September 2017, I received a massage from my boyfriend (Lonestar). Lonestar offered to give me massage to help put my mind at ease before dreaded week 9. This experience was extremely uncomfortable at first as my shoulders are generally stiff but eventually became therapeutic and relaxing as I allowed myself to forget about the work I have for a slit second. This experience helped me take some time out my work for relaxation and thus will benefit my creative process by encouraging me to give myself a break when working for long periods of time. Side note: Excuse the messy hair, it's a side effect of week 9 stress.

On Tuesday the 29th of August 2017, I watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Hand 1937). It's embarrassing to say that as an animation student, I have never watched the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs film. When I was younger I read the book, as I've grown older I've watched the remakes (Maleficent) and even know a couple of conspiracy theories that surround the story but have NEVER WATCHED THE FILM. I took out the time (procrastinated a bit during my week 8) to watch the film for the first time. The experience was intriguing as initially,  I felt stressed and guilty watching the film as I knew I should be working instead, however that changed as got more engrossed by the film. By the end of the film I felt more at ease and actually ended up getting into my work easily without stress clouding my judgement. This experience will benefit my creative process by encouraging me to not work while I'm stressed/worried but rather do an activity to put my mind ...

On the 15th of August 2017, I set out to learn more about the students and people at Open Window through replicating the Humans of New York Instagram photographer Brandon Stanton. I was helped by my friend Samantha to be my trusty photographer for this task. "I'm struggling the most with my love life. Boys are liars. Every guy I meet has a girlfriend and lies about it. I have been cheated on. I didn't love him, love is a big word that I don't really use much. I'm still good friends with him right now and I'm good friends with most of my exes. I forgive easily. " (Centurion, South Africa) "The biggest thing I'm struggling with is dedication to studies. I tend to put a  lot of other things first. My relationship is always going to come first for me. No matter what, she is always coming first. I'm also struggling to stay fit because of the lack of time, working, studying and maintaining a healthy relationship is difficult. B...

On the 3rd of August 2017, I had an informal interview with Dr. Stavros Halvatzis (an expert). Dr. Halvatzis has a PhD in Narrative studies and has published 4 books. Dr. Halvatzis has t aught screenwriting and digital media in Australia and is currently a screenwriting lecturer at Open Window Institute. As a child I had always wanted to meet Jacqueline Wilson (an English author who wrote the Tracy Beaker books). I used to write tons of fan mail to her and had dreams of sitting down causally for a cup of tea with her. Even thinking about my love for her books now gives me nostalgia. I feel so privileged to have sat down with Dr. Halvatzis and to learn more about how his passion for writing and reading that started at a young age, and even more privileged to know that he is my lecturer. I can honestly say that this experience reconnected me to my past and reaffirmed my love for reading and writing that I have lost over the years.   ...

The task I did was write out 100 questions. 1. Who am I? 2. What am I doing here? 3. Why do I do the things I do? 4. Why do I think the way I do? 5. Why do you look at me differently? 6. Who are you? 7. Why are you judging me? 8. Why do I jump to conclusions? 9. Where do I want to go? 10. Where am I right now? 11. Where was I? 12. Who are you to me? 13. Who do you want me to be? 14. Who do you see me as? 15. Who do you see me with? 16. Why do you think I associate myself with me? 17. Who are they to me? 18. Why are they drawn to me? 19. What about them draws them to me? 20. Who do they see me as? 21. Why do I talk to them? 22. Why do I talk to myself? 23. Why do I talk? 24.How can I get to the places I dream of? 25. How do I have dreams? 26. Why do we dream? 27. Why do we hide our dreams from one another? 28. Why do I choose to tell my dreams to certain people? 29. Why do I choose to hide my dreams from certain people? 30. Wh...