Back from the dead! ( and other interesting things)

Its so nice to know my absence hasn't gone unnoticed... Even if its just my imaginary friend pointing out that I haven't posted in a while. Does that even count as being reminded really? Wow. My sub-conscience is reminding me to post... But Shreeya posting is me posting... So do I really need reminding? Or am I going crazy, posting to myself about posting :/

Anyway, enough with the mind games! This post has been lying half-finished for about 3 weeks or so... I started it once my computer actually let me onto Blogger and vented my frustrations... Then varsity got in the way and I forgot about going back and spell/grammar checking a final time so I could post it. And yes, I'm the pedantic one who will obsess over bad grammar... Which is slightly ironic considering the amount of typos and grammatical errors I make regardless!

So here's my long awaited 2nd post (since Jeremy's one has been disregarded as being partly my creation. Even though I was instrumental in its making! Long story that, but one which might be told sometime in the future)

P.S (can you put a 'P.S' into a post if its not at the end of a post? Ah well, poetic licence is invoked here!)
You readers (both of you) should know that today is my brother's birthday (Yaaaaay :D), and the guilt I felt at having neglected you for so long has made me blog tonight despite the fact that I spend the last two days helping chauffeur 12 year old boys and am currently running on empty!

Regardless, I hope that you enjoy the post!
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Technology has decided to abandon me in the past few weeks... My Blackberry's been on the blink, my internet wont let me listen to any of the awesome playlists on  8tracks  (you should check it out, there are playlists for any mood you're in... And some of them are even good! Once you get past the mass of popular music... Unless you're into that kind of music... Which would mean this has become quite awkward :/ ) Moving on :D

Music! The amazing, foot-tapping, head-bopping, hip-swaying beats which make our lives livable... In my opinion that is. This love of music is one of the reasons I think Shreeya is my imaginary friend. There's no way someone other than myself could be into so many of the same artists I'm into.. Its quite weird actually!

But don't worry, we're not really here to discuss this.

Music has become quite mediocre... Or rather, radio has. They play the same 10 songs on an endless loop, and expect you to keep listening day after day. Now the only awesome music happens really late at night, when hardly anyone is listening. Sad really. But hey, that's what the internet is for!

And speaking of awesome music, Linkin Park has finally decided to grace our lovely country with their presence and guess who has tickets for one of their shows???
We do! Albeit the concert is taking place during finals... Its Linkin Park, and who could miss that? (and anyway, studying for the last exam is always a problem... Right?)

Their "Live in Texas" cs was actually one of the first cds I bought with my own money. Its nice to know that I'll finally be seeing one of the bands  whose songs were endlessly blasted through my cd player, much to the annoyance of my parents (and probably neighbours too!) Woohoo, so amped for it :D

We will definitely keep you updated on that front.
But for now, I'm signing off (hopefully not for too long this time!)

This is Neelam from FWMIF and I'm back from the dead! :P

So I feel like I'm suppressing my conscience. Surely its not healthy to dominate your imaginary friend...waaaaaiiiit...is my conscience telling me that its bad to suppress my conscience...weird.
Does that mean I'm actually not suppressing Neelam? But that she's controlling me?

Well whatever, the point I'm trying (but obviously failing) to make is that Neelam is quiet...eerily quiet...
She has posted ONE post. ONE!! (Jeremy's post does not count)
Now I feel like I'm the one with verbal diarrhoea (I spelt it right on the first go!! yay!) when she is the one who can't keep quiet - especially when she talks aloud in my mind.

Wait a minute...She's doing it on purpose - its always your conscience that tells you to shut up.
And Whoah. She just made me realise that.
And that.

This conscience business is weird. (Neelam, I'm not calling you weird. Just the business of you :) )

This is Shreeya from FWMIF pleading the imaginary one to return.

PS This can't be called FWMIF if you're not here to fight with, Neelam.

BFFs - Belgium's Fluffy Fruits

Well, so this is the awkward re-friend post. You know, the one where you attempt to catch-up with old friends after a year of silence. Yeaaah, Neelam and I are very sorry - varsity is all-consuming. Please don't make this awkward, it hasn't been too long, and we haven't forgotten you! (its just easier blogging as if I'm writing to someone, I've realised. Even though no one may be reading this.)

So, varsity in first year involves making new friends, playing cards, never going to the library and spending all your free time doing NOTHING. Then you barely pass and in second year, you get a wake-up call. You realise that you need to actually study ALL THE TIME.

So when you leave the lecture room you make your way straight to the library. You find yourself almost glad that you have so much free time, so that you can study. You're no longer sad when its only Tuesday and for some reason you think its Friday - you're relieved that you still have 3 extra days where you can study in your week. Eventually, public holidays become joyous occasions because you finally have time to finish those 3 Stats exercises you're behind in.


During these confusing, betraying thought processes, you somehow lose your friends along the way. The ones who don't do the same course as you become distant and eventually you don't talk to them at all.

So this year, I've had plenty "Hey long lost friend! How has your life been since last year??" conversations. Some being just too painful to continue with and you have to end it by saying "Who knew things would get so awkward?" (I have to add that was my friend's fault! I made the effort to start up that conversation)

Then other times, it starts off awkwardly, with you wondering if he was always that tall or whether her hair was always that short, and then you're able to talk as if you've never been separated. Remembering the good ol' days, laughing at inside jokes, complaining about how no one gets those jokes anymore and wishing you could spend more time together again! (Ok, now I'm talking about my school friend. Miss you Ally! :( )

Well, I guess that even when life becomes so hectic, it doesn't take 2 minutes to catch up with those people who used to take up so much of your time. (Yup, I just became deep and emotional, shoot me)

Going to catch-up with my friends now, err bye :D
This is shreeya in FWMIF

The Untold Story

One of our dear friends from varsity, Jeremy, caught wind of our blogging escapades and decided to contribute. 

(Note: He’s fiercely competitive with everyone… So he might be starting a ‘better', 'cooler’ blog soon. We’ll keep you posted about that!)

But for now, here is his blog post, brought to you by us because I’m a tad lazy to figure out how the guest blogger thing works at the moment!

Enjoy!

P.S I've had this post for a few weeks... Blogger decided not to let me log on.. I guess it likes keeping you readers in suspense :P But here it is now! Hope you enjoy it!

The Untold Story

How I met Neelam, Shreeya and Chantel.

I can't really remember how I met Neelam, Shreeya and Chantel. One day it just dawned on me that these splendid young ladies happened to be sitting behind me. Yes. That’s right. I like it in front… You can hear the lectures more clearly and there are fewer students in front of you to distract you. Anyways that’s drifting a little off point. So here’s the story (or something I imagined) of how I met Neelam, Shreeya and Chantel.

“You won’t beat me” I yelled to my friend Despina as we raced towards Math. Before I continue, you should probably know that I’m super competitive and Des happens to be a genius and I compete with her at just about everything (Aaaand usually lose, unless the competition has to do with physical strength…). I can’t remember who won that race but those details are irrelevant anyway. Just know that there’s a possibility that it was me.

So after entering the lecture venue Des decided to go have a chat with some girls that I didn’t know (I still don’t know them because they weren’t Neelam, Shreeya or Chantel). I made my way to our usual spot and then a voiced boomed from the entrance “Not even death can save you from me”.

Our heads shot towards the sound. An ominous haze crept up from nowhere. It was the demon himself, Manfred. Half man, half Fred, half mathematician (150% pure evil). We all knew we were doomed. Basic anal(ysis) was about to begin. “SILENCE!” he yelled into a class that was already still. “Now class, eets naat polite tu taalk vile de lecturer E’s lecturing” he said in his sadistic voice. “Everything I know is a lie” yelled Des. She could no longer control her emotions. This was the very same demon responsible for destroying her home country, Greece and now here he was, basically telling her to “shhh” when she wasn’t even talking. I caught him giving her a death stared followed by what appeared to be a growl (she became confused). “Vell, eef yoo like noise dat much den how about I poot on de alarms AND BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT”. He typed something into his lecturer panel and ran out. The doors and windows shut behind him. (Ohhh he was mad).

“Warning high pitched alarm of death activated” said a robotic sounding female voice. I knew I would die here if I didn’t do something quickly, something smart and something Asian. “DES I NEED A PIECE OF PAPER” I yelled. “No I only have four pieces left” she rebelled, “I need them to take notes for the lecture”. She was clearly still confused by her encounter with Manfred. “Des there won’t be any more lectures if you don’t give me paper NOW!” I screamed frantically. “But paper…” she said, still unable to make out the urgency of the situation. “I’m sorry Des but I have to do this for your own good and for the good of the class”. I raised my pimp hand and gave her a smack to the back of her head (She fainted and was concussed… I don’t usually hit women but when I do I hit on them well). I stole her paper and folded a little origami box as fast as my little Chinese fingers could fold. I took a pen from somewhere, drew a smiley face on the box and ran towards the alarm sensor. I jumped on the lecture tables and used them to get high enough so that my hands could hang onto the window sill. I shimmed across and placed the box over the sensor. “No Living units detected. Alarm of death and doom and stuff deactivated” said the robotic female voice. “Yoh, Asian tendencies” yelled a mysterious voice. The day was saved. I was a hero, but one thing a hero must always do is remain modest and so I chose not to tell the class my name, instead I took a quote from Kung Fu Panda. “There is no charge for awesomeness” I said and they looked at me like I was a derp.

Next thing that happened was vector space man (Mr X, who’s name I don’t know because he never introduced himself) walks in and starts lecturing “In N dimensional vector space…” and soon enough everyone fell asleep. When the class woke up everything went back to normal. People forgot about the previous lecture, they forgot about Manfred trying to kill us. The story of the box remained as a dream like illusion too crazy to mention to anyone else. But you were there… you just don’t remember it. The events from that day were too traumatic for anyone to remember. The thing is I bet you don’t remember what you learnt in basic analysis very well and that’s because you choose to block out bad memories.

So anyways the story of how I met Neelam, Shreeya and Chantel? Well I’ve titled this piece “The Untold Story”. If I told you the story I’d have to change the title so the untold story will remain untold.

My family and other animals

(My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrel is an AWESOME book, just saying)

I don't know if its too soon to introduce you to my family...I know, its a big step. Oh, don't worry about thaaaat, I know they'll love you! My mum will stuff food down your throat, and my dad will talk to you about everything under the sun...and my brother, well you won't see him, he's studying in his cave.
Nah shame, I'm being too harsh, its just that he stresses a lot about these things. And since he's doing his honours, I guess he needs to study and all of that. You see, we're both studying the same thing. He's just two years ahead of me - which to some people (not me) makes me the luckiest girl alive!, and to others (me) not so much. I mean, yes, I'm lucky I have his notes and guidance etc etc, but looking at the amount of work and effort he has to put in, its a little off-putting. Who needs a science degree anyway, housewives are probably the happiest people alive!
Probably.

Anyway, my family loves to travel - in a last-minute kind of way. The kind of way where we go all the way to Kashmir and starting hunting for a hotel to stay in. Of course, at the time, it was super fun. Trying to find accommodation for 9 people, I mean. Now, I realise how disturbing it is. You can't just travel halfway across the world with nowhere to stay!!! What if everywhere was booked?? Would we have to sleep in the van (that smelled of coconut hair oil) with the driver? I never realised how eccentric the adult members of my family are.

Of course they never listen to the children because they are always right. Ha! Sometimes, in small matters, its not too bothering, but when you're hiking up Table Mountain and all my cousins and my brother and I are explaining that we're walking on the wrong path to my parents, uncles and aunts, its a different story. Especially if that small deviation took us about 2 hours to get back on the path. While trying to lug up jackets and roll up your long sleeves because "Its going to be cold! You will FREEZE in what you're wearing now!" Fun times with the family.

Even though my family is a little crazy - yes, I have the odd cousin who cuts off her eyebrows by mistake - I really couldn't have asked for a better one! My mum is the most hardworking, loving, AMAZING person on the earth; my dad, the most funny -both intentionally and unintentionally and my brother, well, he's one of the coolest and most irritating! Ag I love you guys! :D

Okay, okay, no need to get emotional, mum.

My name is Shreeya and this is FWMIF, yo.

[PS I wrote this ages ago...just forgot to post it, sorry!]

The Dreaded First Post

The dreaded first post. Yep. Shreeya and I actually called “nigs” (like calling dibbs on the last can of coke or on the front seat for a really long road trip) on who would not write the first post... I won :D

So although this isn’t technically the ‘first post’ it is my dreaded first post.

It’s kind of weird talking to the internet masses right? You never really know how many people are reading or judging.

But hey, it is our blog and thou can judge it how thou wouldst!

So,story of how our blog idea began.

*Cue title music*

Once upon a time, Shreeya and I decided a blog would be a cool thing to do because you know, as science undergrads we have so much free time on our hands and we like to keep ourselves busy.

Ok who am I kidding, we hardly have time to spare, but we do have a lot to say... or so we thought.

We started bouncing ideas around, Bucket list-type blog, foodie blog, fashion blog, photography blog.

There were just so many options to choose from... and we chose none. Why specialize right?

So this is a freestyle blog.

Music, what’s happening in the lives of BSc students at Wits, food pics – ok maybe not those... They weird me out. Why would you take pictures of food if you’re not going to add in a recipe or a cool comment about the food/place you bought or ordered it from? – scientific discoveries (which would make good talking points if you’re ever in a room full of intellectuals or if you just want to sound smart in front of your friends), cool cafés – which we decided we needed to visit more of and maybe even a concert or two.

Basically any daily happenings/interesting things which happen in the lives of two South African undergrad science students at Wits.

[Awkward silence while I think of what to write next]

*scrolls down page on what makes a good blog*

Ah yes, interesting events of the week.

Well it’s more of an observation rather than an interesting event.

You notice the weirdest things when other people occupy your living quarters and turn things upside down.

Case and point being: my aunt and cousins occupied our house for about a week and let me tell you, although I love them dearly, I was glad to see them go! Mean I know, but the joy in typing this from the privacy of my own room is indescribable.

Yes, I said it. I don’t enjoy sharing my living quarters! It messes up the delicate balance which is my life.

For a start, having guests staying in your house means you constantly have to be vigilant of their needs. Sleeping patterns, eating times, even what to watch on tv is suddenly a huge affair where before it was a set thing.

My mom perpetually runs around the house like a headless chicken, forever fussing over every small thing: what to cook at meal times, what to do, where to go. Balance disturbed.

Although, there is plus side to it. I got to spend some good quality time with my cousins, catch-up on all the news since I last saw them and let’s not forget laughing at our mothers who argue about who doesn’t do things right. Classic comedy without having to do a single thing!

Well, that's my first, totally random blog post, stay tuned for more awesomeness/free-style blogging soon :)

This is FightsWithMyImaginaryFriend and I’m Neelam (the real one).
Let the blogging begin!

So...um...this is awkward

I never realized  that blogging is so awkward. Or maybe that's just me? Other people don't seem to have this issue. There must be a Blogging font that I haven't installed yet. Or it must be that I'm not double-jointed. Damn me for being so awkward.

Wait, what? I mean, I am not awkward!! Its just that weird things happen to me. Like having my foot tangle itself in my Jasmine-pants which caused me to fall down the stairs with my keyboard under my arm, in my own home, while some visitors were following me to the car. I was real smooth about it. This was about two days ago and I still have a graze on my back and a bruise on my ego. But I'll be okay, don't worry. 

Anyway, so my imaginary friend (Neelam) and I decided to start a blog, but we were a bit confused as to what to write about...she, obviously, is not good at anything - except for being an awesome friend (kidding, she plays the piano and can blow bubbles that float in the air with her spit)...I can't cook awesome food, draw or make crafty things - which is all that anyone blogs about. So we were stuck. Then we said "Stuff it, we'll write about whatever the heck we want to!!" (at exactly the same time)

Being the awkward person that I am, talking to people can be a bit disastrous...I shake in fear now that I'm talking to no one in particular...

So I have been given the big responsibility of doing the FIRST POST [cue: dramatic music] (Neelam "nigs"ed first). How does one's first post in a blog go? Is it like the first day of school where everyone introduces themselves and describes their holiday in 5 words? (Hi, I'm Shreeya, um blog-inspiring, music-filled, a-lot-of-time-wasting, waking-up-late, no-varsity :D) Or is it a "Welcome to my world!!" type post??

From what we researched (we are so serious about this) people just started randomly and pretend as if they've been doing it forever. Aaawwwwkwwwwaard.
So following that criteria, I'm sure this is good enough, right?... Well, except for the part where I make it clear that I have no idea what I'm doing. Whatever, it shall have to do!

Damn, I never thought about how these things are meant to end...err, "have a good night!"? "Adios Amigos!"? "Peace dawg!"? "Ciao!"? "That's all folks!"-for now..."I'll be back!"?(you know you were thinking it too)
(Note to self: find out how to end a blog)
PS. I don't understand why people announce their "note to self"s. Its stupid, don't do it people!

Oh! And - My name is Shreeya and this is Fights With My Imaginary Friend!