Update!

Hey guys! How are you doing?

I'm very excited. On Saturday I'm going to start helping one of my friends in her Korean restaurant / backpackers lodge!!
I want to gain some experience in the tourism industry, because I really want to become a Travel Agent when I finish with school (which is scary close to happening!), so that will definitely help.

I'm so excited!!!!

This month I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo so I won't be posting the next chapter of the Blog Story, but I still need some suggestions for what should happen next before I can continue. So....


I'm doing a re-write on the novel I started for the July Camp NaNoWriMo last year.

I used Kindle publishing to create a cool cover for my novel

I managed to complete my goal (10,000 words), then I wrote about five thousand more words, then I went to South Africa and sort of forgot about it. Then when started writing again a few weeks ago I realized I'm basically doing a new, improved story line and decided I need to re-write the whole thing. So yeah,that's what I'm doing this month.
I started early (yes I was a little excited) my word count is over 4000 words now, but I'll be gone for a few days and I don't know if I will be able to write then so....

Are any of my lovely readers doing Camp NaNoWriMo?

Well, I need to get back to doing other stuff... This was just a quick update.
Enjoy the rest of your day!

~DFTBA

Living life without sugar

 Hey guys!

 So back in January Gavin, also known as Sontard from the Shaytards, celebrated going a year without sugar. (To those of you who have no idea who I'm talking about; they are a family on YouTube)

 No cake.
 No sweets.
 No fizzy drinks.
 A completely sugarless year.

 To that I say. "You amaze me!"

 Sontard is a ten year old boy, one doesn't see such behavior at that age. Right?

 Anywho... Sontard inspired me to try this sugar free thing, but I knew there was no way I could make it a full year so I decided I'll do it for one month. February was out of the question, because I planned on eating chocolate on Valentine's Day, so I settled on March.

 When I told my mom about my plan she liked it too, and then we decided the whole family had to do it. And then a family friend, Matt, decided he'll join in as well.

Tell them Boromir

 Who would have thought it would be this hard? There are these little things that just frustrates me. For example, I want to make a sandwich. I decide on peanut butter and jam, then I realize I can't because jam has sugar in it. Then I realize I don't really eat non sugar things on my bread, (I hate Marmite and I'm not overly fond of cheese spread, and that's basically all other options I have) at least not easy spreads. And then of cause every time we visit someone we cannot accept their snacks because it is sugary snacks.

I don't really have this ravishing need for sugar, but I miss it. I suppose it is because eating sugar is such a habit to me.

But as that song says "I WILL SURVIVE!"*I hope*

Anyway, I'm using the sugar free month as my excuse for not posting the next chapter of the blog story. I'm an author. We needs our sugars to write the books, precious, we must have it....

But seriously it will hopefully be out by Sunday.

I'll leave you now to sulk about my sugarless life...

~DFTBA

Move the tree!!!!

Hi guys!
How has your day been so far?

 I'm turning eighteen in a few months then I can apply for my driver's license. I can hardly wait! I can't really say my parents are all that excited but I sure am.

Yesterday my dad called me outside. He pulled the car out just a little bit, got out and told me to get in the drivers seat. I think my face must have turned grey. Our car is a Ford Ranger (affectionately called Aragon by the family. I think you know why. Right?)

It is a big car.

My dad explained to me what all the pedals are and what they do. Aragon is a automatic so I didn't have to worry about changing gears just yet. (Phew)
Then it happened. The explaining was over. My dad told me to release the brakes and guide the car down the hill on which it stood. I carefully released, then SLAMMED on the brakes again. I told my dad I couldn't do it.

You see; we have this tree planted next to the house. A big tree, not just some bush. And it was right there in front of me, a few meters away. I was convinced I was going to drive right into it and total the car, probably injuring my dad in the process.

I asked my dad to drive the car to the bottom of the hill and I would go the rest of the way. He refused and coaxed me all the way to the bottom of the small hill. I managed to do so without anyone getting hurt.

Then he told me to press down on the petrol a little tiny bit so that I could park the car on the grass for its bath. That was pretty easy.

Just like that the lesson was over. I shakily climbed out and handed the keys back to my dad.

Later I found my dad and mom laughing hysterically at something. I asked them what the big joke was. And my dad said.

"Megan, do you realize that earlier in the car you asked me to move the tree?"

I had no idea I said so.




I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your day!

~DFTBA

There's this new store in town, it looks somewhat out of place.

Hellooooooo!!!

Ok. I haven't watched the Day of the Doctor yet. But I have it so I'll watch it soon. Probably by the end of the week.

What I'm really writing this post for is..... Mzuzu has a new grocery store!!!!
SHOPRITE opened last Friday and we got to go today. Wow. That was quite an experience. I thought there would be less people after the weekend openings, but alas that wasn't to be. (Not that I really mind.)
 Anyways. It is very pretty inside. There are fruit aisles and meat aisles and sweet aisles and.... everything really. I am really impressed. There are even some Christmas trees with lights. It was very pretty.
Oh yes! I took some photos.


The entrance

The dairy aisle...  

Apples!!! (Also notice the large numbers on the price tags.)
(And my dad's back)

My sister and her best friend Sasha.   

 Also go check out their new blog....   

These little guys are waiting patiently for me to devour them.

For any Afrikaans speaking people who might be reading this...

I think it looks rather fancy. I really liked seeing the 'familiar' stuff again. Some days you just feel like you need a piece of South Africa, now we have it. :D


Well, I guess that's all for now.

~DFTBA

50th Anniversary Madness

Hello internet!

I am so excited!!!!!

Jelly baby?

I can't wait to see the Day of the Doctor!

So I watched the Night of the Doctor the other day...*Spoiler alert*
My first reaction after watching it was "What? What! Wait WHAT!!!!?!? Yay! Its Paul McGann!"
My first prediction for John Hurt's doctor was that he was, in fact, the older version of eight. After all we never saw how eight died/regenerated. But now all that has changed!
I have mixed feelings about the whole war doctor thing. I like that he is a separate character, and he seems like he has quite a story to tell, but I don't like it that he is the actual 9th doctor.  It messes up so many things.
Why would there be so many 11 jokes for 11 if he is actually 12. Also, that means that Peter Capaldi will be the 13th doctor. Isn't there some limit to their regenerations? (Eh, I guess that's Steven Moffet's problem.)

I can't wait to see David Tenant again!

What are your thoughts on these things?


I plan to do a review after I saw it. So I guess that's all for now.

Where's Rose?

~DFTBA

I'm back!!!!!!!!!!

Hello there beautiful internet people!
I have returned from my super long trip to South Africa! I've actually been back a week now, but for some reason the internet didn't want me to update my blog, silly thing.

I had a wonderful time. All the wishes I made before I went came true. I even found some A&W root beer!

 

The convention was very fun. My poem got eighth place!!

The speakers were very good. Each night they got someone new to speak. They had fantastic music and the air was always filled with excitement.

I also met plenty new people. We were given 'passports' when we arrived, these were little booklets you needed to have around your neck at all times (except when sleeping!) and there was a section where you could ask people to sign it. The first time someone asked me to sign their passports my first thought was "You must have me confused with someone else." But luckily I watched what other people were doing and refrained from making a fool of myself.

I'll be posting my events after this post.

The Rally tent

We also got to go to my cousin's wedding.

He is in the army in England, so we didn't get to see him for the past six years. I'm very proud of him. His new wife is also a very nice lady. We also got most of the Nel clan together so I saw my other cousins as well. Fun times, fun times...


Oh, and I coloured my hair!!

Before......

 And after!!!

What do you think???

School started again on Monday. It went for a loop while we were away. Who knew late nights visiting with friends could be so exhausting. *I'm so sarcastic*


Well, I plan to write more soon...

~DFTBA

My McDonalds misadventure

 Hey guys!
 I've been really busy with school the past few weeks, and that is why I haven't done a post in weeks. :O

 So last year in September my family and I had the pleasure of going to Canada! We went for a month, and I have to say it was the greatest holiday we ever had!
I thought I'll share with you one of my many adventures (and probably the funniest one) I had while I was there.

 In South Africa, where I'm from, we don't have a Walmart. Rather we have stores like Pick 'n Pay, SPAR, and WoolWorths. Walmart have left it mark on South Africa though, because it bought stores such as Macro and Game, and they sell some of their no name brand products. So it wasn't as though I didn't know anything about this amazing shop.

 This one day, the people we were staying with, wanted us to visit their 'medium' Walmart. They'd already taken us to the 'small' one, and I had thought it was big. I was very pleasantly surprised.

 When we got there My family and Auntie Joann were dropped off. I went along with Uncle Paul to the house of a girl I had met at the church. Uncle Paul was going to sing with the girl at church the Sunday so they needed to practice. I just wanted to watch. About an hour later we went back to the Walmart. I then proceeded to cruise the rest of the store with my family.

 The thing about my family is we can cruise through a grocery store for the longest time. We are far too amazed at all the new products that comes out in the time we are in Malawi. I think the store employees think we must be crazy.

 But anyway, back to the story.

When we were checking out my mom gave me some money and told me to get something to drink at the McDonald's.

When I got to the ordering counter I asked for a COKE. I do not know whether she wasn't really listening to me, or maybe didn't understand what I was saying due to my accent, because I could not understand why she said, what she said after that.

"Would you like apple or caramel?"

I think my face must looked somewhat like this:

I stood there just staring at her, and I think she got pretty impatient. I remembered seeing something about apple on my way in, but I thought it had been apple juice, so I just assumed I must have read it incorrectly.

I stood there thinking there is no way apple Coke can be good, and then I remembered reading on the Coke can once that one of the ingredients is caramel, so I assumed the caramel Coke must be 'normal' Coke so I asked for the caramel.

Imagine my surprise when she handed me a small pie.

I said thank you, took the package she was holding out to me, and walked back to my parents as fast as I could and told them what happened. After they laughed they said I can go back and get myself a drink too.

Turns out they had gotten caramel pies too, only they had specifically asked for it.

When I returned to the McDonald's counter the girl asked for my order. I VERY loudly and VERY clearly asked for a ROOT BEER. I decided she couldn't miss hear that.

She didn't and I finally walked off with my drink.


I later decided she must have heard CAKE when I said COKE, and assumed I meant pie.
It makes sense now, but it sure didn't at the time.


So yeah, that's my McDonald's misadventure.


In other news, my family and I will be going to South Africa in a few weeks. I am sooooooo excited.

I have to attend a school convention thing. I am very cautiously excited about that.
It is a five day thing for which I needed to enter in three things. I decided on Poetry and Short Story. I'll post these on here after they have been marked.

The other thing I'm entering in is Checkers, because I wasn't aware you needed three things until Wednesday. Whoever is playing against me can rest assured, because I'm not very good at it.

I'm also doing Camp nanowrimo. My goal is only 10,000 words because I'm too busy for anything else.


Well, that's all I have for now.
Bye!

Thirsty

Britain's Got Talent series 7 review

Hey There!

Warning!!!! if you still have to watch the series final and you don't want to know who won go away NOW!!



So the past few weeks mine family and I have been watching Britain's Got Talent series seven. Then after we watched the series final today I decided I will do an overall review of the entire series. So here goes.....

There has been a huge amount of talent featured in this series of bgt! I was very impressed by all the amazing acts there was to see (namely Attraction shadow theater.)

The best act of the entire series!!

Unfortunately there was some rather un-tasteful acts too. (namely the chair exercises lady and the seventy-one year old lady)

Then there was an insane amount of acts that left you thinking "Why didn't someone tell them they're just going to embarrass themselves?"

Poor girls, I was so embarrassed for them.

 

But overall I found this show very VERY entertaining.



The Judges


David Walliams- I found him rather inappropriate throughout the series. He was very irritating when he got so touchy with Simon. Although I think he's my least favorite judge, he was very funny when he refused to press his buzzer in some acts.

Isn't he wearing a lovely bathrobe?

I also laughed way to hard when I realized he plays this guy in Doctor Who.

Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden- I don't have any problem with these girls. They're sort of just there, enjoying themselves and maybe giving the occasional bit of advice here and there. They also seem to like wearing interesting dresses.

Isn't she pretty?

She's adorable

 Then of cause there's Simon Cowell- If you don't know who he is you haven't watched talent TV. I agreed with practically all of the things he said. This guy really knows talent when he sees it. If only he would get a different haircut.

Poor guy... He got egged in the final.

 The Presenters-

Who doesn't just love Ant & Dec? Seriously these guys are great!

They are the real stars of the show

Dec looks like he he could be Pippin's brother. 

In fact they pretty much are Merry and Pippin.

 The Auditions-

As I said earlier there was tons of talent...

This man was brilliant

I wish these guys went through to the final

Phillip Green is the human version of our dog Fudge

She was so shy

The Semi finals-

As I was watching the acts in the semi's I found myself saying "This act should go to the finals. No! this one! Wait this one!"
The competition was very high.

I think my least favorite acts were the obvious.

Seriously?

She tried a bit too hard to be a pop star

Then there's this guy..... you love him and you hate him at the same time.

Maarty Broekman!!!

THE FINAL

The final was very good!

It was hard to pick a favorite act. But in the end I was very pleased that Attraction won. They were actually the reason we started watching in the first place 

It's amazing what they can do with their bodies

I didn't like Asanda's performance. She has an AMAZING voice but her diva-ness really turns me off.

All in all I would give this series 7 out of 10 stars.



On another note...

My friend Clair left for America today. :'( I am very heartbroken about that.



Well this post is far too long. I'm surprised you've read so far.

I tend to be busier than I should be

Hello there!

Well.... I've been somewhat busy the past few weeks. My family and I moved a few days ago, and I had to help my dad move furniture about because my mom had fallen off stairs and tore some ligaments in her foot (she's okay now).

 I really, really, really like the house we are living in now....

Isn't it pretty?

So...A bit less than two months ago we decided we need to move.
After we had decided this, my mom was worrying where we'll find some beds for my sister and I (we were lending some from the house we were living in). A week later we had too many beds!

One of our friends told us we can take over their house. Literary. They are living in Canada and they don't think they'll be back full time in Malawi again, so they told us we can use what we want of theirs, and do with the rest what we think suitable... :O

I also got to re decorate my new room!

 Ze entrance

 Mah Bed

 The view outside my window

 Little trinkets I stuck on my wall

 As you may have noticed, I have a butterfly theme in my room

 This is Kitty (Galore). She's very lovable, but don't let her fluff fool you. She Will Bite! Don't say I didn't warn you....

 Smoky admiring her new dwelling place

We also have a real Piano now! :)

So yeah! I just thought I'll share these with you.

Enjoy your weekend!! ;D