memoirs of a kangaroo in the sun.

When I was younger,I was always one of the children who just shriveled and died whenever there was a long exchange of not-so-nice words. Because of having been brought up in a rather conservative family(to put it nicely), I never really had a come-back ready whenever the neighborhood bully/ cool kids threw a rather mean word(s) my way. It always bothered me and I'd stand rooted in one spot, still at a loss for words but shaking with anger because somewhere deep down, I believed I had to be better than that. I would then lay awake in my bed later than night thinking up of all the possible come-backs I could have used, but in the end dismissing them all as not good enough. At around 3:00am, it would finally come to me: the perfect come-back. I'd barely be able to sleep and all day the next day, I would wait for the cool kid to try and pull another fast one on me. Talk about too little too late; I would never get the chance to use my perfect come-back because he/she would have al...

As you grow up, everything about you becomes more defined and clear cut. It’s no longer easy to be undecided, in the gray or to switch from one side to another. Every move you make seems to have consequences ten times its size.  I’m not talking about turning sweet sixteen or finally being able to legally take alcohol or have a driver’s license. The kind of growth I’m talking about is less of an event and more of a realization, epiphany you could say.  It’s the kind of growth where you finally see the world for what it was, not the movie you imagined it to be. You finally realize that your parents might have had a point and maybe you should have considered their opinions more regularly. You realize that most of the time, you’ve got to take care of you because no one is willing to drop all they are doing to come and bail you out of a rut anymore. Mostly you realize that life is unfair, it’s not a straight path where if you follow steps A, B and C then you will definitely...

I had never really taken the time to wonder why there is so much hype about women. It was just one of those facts that I was indifferent about. I mean I liked it,I appreciate the appreciation, but I just wasn't interested enough to ponder further on an issue such as that. The various songs about women, the various holidays, it was like the wind to me; its a mystery where it comes from and where its going but you're not curious enough to find out more. Women's day was just a public holiday I was grateful for because I did not have to go to work. Honestly speaking, for a long time, I thought it was a stroke of bad luck that I am a woman, a disadvantage of sorts. We are supposedly the emotional ones, we are the ones supposed to step aside and put others before self, and no matter what they tell you, there is still a heck load of gender based discrimination going on everywhere. Being a woman in a working environment where men still do not categorize your ideas and in...

It was all because we had moved once again, my family and me. After some significant ups and downs, with more downs if we are being completely honest, we finally settled in an amazing place where we could all be together at peace. While looking for a place to eat one day, a friend of mine suggested a recently opened restaurant called Raves that was about a five minutes drive from my house. I was not disappointed at all. Not only was it very very close to my house, it was just my kind of place. Warm and homely, with dimmed yellow lights, soft music, great location, not too many of the people I know and it had really good food. I didn't know it then when my friend suggested that I try the mocca milkshake that a tradition had just started.  Not only did Raves become my go to place, the mocca milk shake became my drink. Before long, I was having all my first dates with the various pursuers at Raves. Then, all the waiters were asking if I wanted ‘the usual’, and ...

How long until that thing that looks shiny from afar becomes a dull dump pile of clay in your hands? Once, when you didn't have it yet,it was all you could think about. Day and night, you plotted and planned how to acquire this very valuable piece. You jumped through hoops and bent over backward for just a chance to bask in its glory. Then, on that fateful day, the stars smiled down upon you. Finally,it was yours... Yes, it was all bliss at first. all your hopes and dreams had come true. it was everything you had ever thought it was and so much more, and this was the best time of your life. And then not so much anymore. Suddenly,you noticed the leaks and cracks. You noticed that the surface wasn't as smooth and as even as you thought it was. The colors weren't as bright and glittery as they seemed before and the hinges were rusty and creaky. I guess the question is; how long does it take for the shiny and smooth to become cracked and dirty?Will you still want it af...

First off, let me start by saying I’m not a worrier. It’s my best and worst trait. Not worrying means I keep a straight face when the traffic officers stop us for overtaking and I don’t have my license with me, but then it also means I kept that same straight face when I came home with an E on my report card for chemistry. Needless to say, my “lack of concern” was not taken kindly by my parents. It also helps that the Bible has 365 “worry not’s” altogether, one for each day. So when I googled ‘causes of insomnia’, I was quite perturbed when each of the 376,590 results showed worry as one of the causes. Then came the self assessment, trying to see if indeed there were things in my life that people in general tend to worry about and the answer was a big fat no; my life is great and I have many many blessings to be thankful for. It took me a while to realize that the sneaky bastard had indeed found a crevice to crawl through into my life and once inside, went on to get c...

'Its funny how we always know its all in our heads and have to work our minds out of it. . .' I guess I just wanted to be perfect. I wanted to be the perfect person, the perfect friend, perfect sister, daughter, girlfriend, wife, mother, and most recently perfect aunt. Whenever people said that it's too hard, that it's almost impossible to balance this with that and still have time for the other, I thought they just weren't trying hard enough. I would be the one that went the extra mile. I would put more effort until I got there. No matter what. I would do it. Things don't always go the way we plan. Case in point; Wednesday of the week that's just ended; I decided to take my nephews and niece for a movie. It would be fun, we would laugh and eat popcorn and high five each other and I'd be the best aunt ever. The perfect aunt. In   preparation to be the perfect mother. I had it all planned out, every little detail, from the movie to the food to the ga...