Who You Calling Crazy?

  

These days I am getting plenty of popping and rolling eyes when people engage in a conversation with me. They look at me with this mad look on their face and then they ask me one of the following questions: (Now make sure you put the emphasis on the italics!)

  • Are you crazy?
  • Are you feeling ok?
  • Are you mad?

The best is when people tell me there is something wrong with me!

That last one usually makes me laugh out aloud. But this all is becoming a pretty standard conversation since I went “live” with my plans to the big wide-world. I laugh when someone asks me that. Me crazy? Haha, no, are you?

So I thought I would dedicate today’s blog to getting some clarity on the crazy situation and break it down into bite size pieces:

Google has this to say on crazy:

  1. cra·zy/ˈkrāzē/
Adjective:
Mentally deranged, esp. as manifested in a wild or aggressive way: “Stella went crazy and assaulted a visitor”.
 
Noun:
A mentally deranged person.
 
Synonyms: adjective.  mad – insane – demented – daft – lunatic – nuttynoun.  lunatic

 Nope, definitely not me!

 Google has this to say on mad:

  1. mad/mad/
Adjective:
  1. Mentally ill; insane: “he felt as if he were going mad”.
  2. (of a person, conduct, or an idea) Extremely foolish or ill-advised: “he had some mad idea”.
Synonyms: crazy – insane – lunatic – demented – wild – rabid

Nope, that’s not me either! Now if I was planning on summiting Everest I might consider myself slightly foolish, but only slightly!

Google has this to say on insane:

  1. in·sane/inˈsān/
Adjective:
  1. In a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill.
  2. (of an action or quality) Characterized or caused by madness.

Nope, I think I am a pretty well-rounded young lady.  I think I behave pretty well in public (remember my dear friends for every blackmail photo you have of me, I have two of you!) and I do quite well at socially interacting “outside” of Facebook and the likes! So that comfortably rules out insane.

Now www.thefreedictionary.com has this to say about crazy and yay, finally, I actually agree with some of this craziness!

 cra·zy (kr z )

adj. cra·zi·er, cra·zi·est

  • 1. Affected with madness; insane.
  • 2. Informal Departing from proportion or moderation, especially:
  • a. Possessed by enthusiasm or excitement: The crowd at the game went crazy.
  • b. Immoderately fond; infatuated: was crazy about boys.
  • c. Intensely involved or preoccupied: is crazy about cars and racing.
  • d. Foolish or impractical; senseless: a crazy scheme for making quick money.

Well I’m definitely crazy about boys and I am crazy excited and enthusiastic about climbing this mountain! If you have witnessed me buying another item on my “list of things to buy” you would know, I practically jump up and down when I find another pair of thermal -18 degree hiking socks to add to my growing pile of things to pack! Yes, I can almost see you all shaking your heads!  If I could leave today I would. In fact, my climbing partner reminded me on a quick coffee get together we had yesterday after work that we were originally meant to be climbing Kili right now. The reason why we are not currently on Kilimanjaro is because a very dear friend of ours decided it was time to get married on 31 March 2012 and so we decided to postpone our trip and this weekend we will be enjoying wedding celebrations up the East Coast.  Never mind, the mountain is not going anywhere and Ursie, we wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world, not even for Kilimanjaro!

As I’m writing this, one of my colleagues walks past my office and he stops to say “Just remember when you gooi (throw) up that mountain it’s going to make you….” (He points to his head), I wait for the standard crazy mad link. “It’s going to make your blood in your head boil.” I laugh. Well that’s a new way of putting crazy! Now you see what I mean for how this is becoming the norm for every conversation people have with me. I think I need to start carrying a mirror with me for moments like this when the question pops up. As the person asks me I am going to hold that mirror up to them so they can see what they look like as they roll their eyes and make their eyeballs pop out of their head.  It is quite a skill actually, yet they think I am the crazy one?!

Okay to give you all the benefit of the doubt, in truth, maybe when my car rolled f-i-v-e times 3 ½ years ago I knocked my head a bit hard. After all, I did have some memory loss for about six months afterwards so my poor brain did take a bit of a beating as I tumbled inside my car like a washing machine on spin cycle… but I still went on to finish my degree (no brain damage there) AND it was on my bucket list long before that ever happened.  No, if anything that just made me hungrier for life…

 Maybe I should talk to my mom and find out if she ever dropped me on my head as a baby? I don’t think she would have done that somehow, well not on purpose anyway. I bet though, it could have been my brother. Now there’s a real possibility.  We used to beat each other up something terrible as kids. Punching and kicking each other. Maybe this is all his fault (pointing finger towards that island he lives on in the middle of the Indian Ocean).

All I know is that I want to live my life to the fullest and I want to squeeze every little bit of juice out of life. My friend, who is getting married this weekend, loves sucking the marrow out of bones. I don’t get her when she does that to be honest because it is just gross (awful) but I guess I want to do the same with life, I want to suck out all the marrow life has to offer.  I want to do everything that makes my heart race a little faster and I guess if all of this certifies me as crazy, well then so be it, call me crazy!

Crazy for life!

Crazy for adventure!

Crazy for doing something I’ve never done before!

Therefore, having looked at all of the above, I can conclude and confirm, I am 100% of sane body AND mind.

Next time you call me crazy, I’m just going to laugh as usual, lean back in my chair and say “I’m crazy excited!” and laugh even harder as I watch you roll your eyes! Look who’s the crazy one now?!  

Pic: Certificate of Insanity

Sucking the marrow.

One shot at life.

And I ain’t getting any younger.

Living MY best life.

She Is Known By Many Names

 

She is known by many names, but to me it’s mom…!

Today is my mom’s birthday and this blog post is dedicated to her. A few days ago I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. This can sometimes be a painful exercise as often the answer is “I don’t know, I will have to think about it.” Although having said that, my mom is usually pretty easy to buy for. We don’t go big on birthdays but it is always nice to give a little something. My dad now on the other hand, whose birthday is a few days away too, is a whole different story!

But this time I was surprised, my mom’s reply to my question was, “Well I’ve actually thought about it and I have a list of three things I would like for my birthday.”

Goody I thought! This was going to be easy this year.  She went on to tell me:

# 1.         Donate the money I would have spent on her gift to the charity I am raising funds for in memory of Emma (SA Cystic Fibrosis Trust).

# 2.         Put the money into my savings account for my Africa trip.

# 3.         Split the money giving half in memory of Emma and half towards your Africa trip.

No guess which one I chose!

Tonight, I’m going to go and cook her dinner and because I know she loves flowers, I’ll be bringing a bouquet especially for her.

Happy birthday mom and thank you for your kindness & generosity!  I know you were as fond of Emma as I was.

 

For Mom

 

“I don’t need money

And I’m not in trouble, again

Just wanted you to know

You’ve more than my mom,

You’re my friend

Thanks for the unconditional love;

You’ve never failed to treat me

Like your angel from above.

Thanks for constantly pulling my butt

from the fire;

You never accepted poor effort

So I always aimed higher

You say this is a mother’s job,

But you never got a check.

Not even Bill Gates’ bank account

Could cancel such a debt.”

 

~ By Natasha Neimi

 

Without you mom, I know I would be lost.  Thank you for the gift you gave today!

Have a beautiful and very blessed birthday!!

Much love always

Xx

 

A note to everyone

With all your help, I have managed to raise R2 293,41 for those living with Cystic Fibrosis so far!! Wow, thank you!!

If you too would like to donate money towards the charity I am raising funds for, please click on the link below ~ Donations of any size are gratefully accepted!

All money donated goes directly to The South African Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

http://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/profile/Lara-Hinrichsen

If you would like more information on The South African Cystic Fibrosis Trust please click on my menu bar at the top of this page.