Reaching The Ceiling

I’ve had a very busy week/end...

It was exciting and fun but exhausting.

I was so out of fumes that when I got invited to the Nicky Romero gig at Shimmy Beach on Saturday, I declined it, never mind that I also had plans to attend the Magents SA Menswear Week after party.

Again, crazy hey? How much fun would I have had just chilling, dancing and enjoying the cool exclusivity and access that my job affords me?

BUT, I was autopiloting because I hadn't been sleeping properly, I have been stressing about working on graphics for my work’s anti-racism campaign while still doing my usual day-to-day work routine, and covering SA Menswear Week
.

Granted the last bit, I brought on myself because I wanted to do the show again this year and also as a gay man, I love staring and talking to hot guys.

He was in the local production of Rocky Horror. His name is Shaun Chad Smit.

SA Menswear Week was a fish-out-of-water experience for me the last time, the second time around, it was the same except that I felt more comfortable in my odd-man-out role which made me enjoy the experience all the more.

I went to university with the lovely gentleman. Find him: @Brat_M_

It was a lot of fun just experiencing everything that goes into a fashion week and the crazy outfits you see, the amazing designers you witness, and the models you fall in lust with. 

Boy did I fall in lust. Haha.

Eden Classens

My only regret from the experience was that I wasn’t brave enough to ask the number of the guy I was attracted to, regardless of whether he was team homo or not, asking him would have hurt no one...but I didn’t because well duh, he was a model and I’m a awkward, guy who gets shy and flustered.

It was a miracle in and of itself that I was able to get selfies with the hot boys.

My job is fun, I get to meet cool people and do cool things that I typically wouldn’t like interview Jean de Villiers and Nicky Romero, meet F.W de Klerk, the J&B Met and the colour run. It is all experiences that I am grateful for but sometimes it can be exhausting.

I think the most important thing I learned this week was to know my limit.

I am glad that while I got to have invites and experience all these things, I know when I have reached my limit and that is a big thing for me. I would like to think that I work hard, sometimes it doesn’t feel that way, but I do try my best. 

Knowing when I have reached my ceiling is important thing for me to realise because everything I work on at that point is just without love and I am just running on autopilot – there is no desire to do my best, only to get it done.

Don’ run on autopilot, it’s important to take care of yourself. I don’t always take care of myself, but I am learning. 

You only have one you, so try not ruining yourself.

Theo. Over and Out.

What I love about this picture was that I started pulling some crazy eyes, and he played along....

PS – To the super hot Eden Classens, you are so sweet and seem like a cool guy, I know you’re probably like super busy, dating other models, but if you ever want to go for coffee  with a shy-ish awkward guy who will make you laugh (I at least have that going for me) and then hit me up.

Temporary Model...

Recently I spent my time filming and recording interviews at SA Menswear Week, where there were hot models for days - that post is forthcoming btw.

It was pretty awesome being in that environment and getting to see what all goes into a fashion show.

However, I got to experience a role reversal when I finally got around to doing my own photo shoot with my awesome friend Chelsea Tobias.

I had been nagging for months to finally get my turn in front of the camera and after my nagging she let me get my way.

So without further ado:

Needless to say that I am of course really happy about how the pictures turned out.

She made me look like a bajillion times hotter than what I actually am so props to her for achieving the impossible.

Not to toot my own horn but I did feel very natural in front of the camera, and while I could claim that it’s just my natural quality.

I do think it’s because I have often had to be on the opposite side of the camera pleading with people to let me film them (for work purposes) and it can be really difficult when people are less than willing.

If someone is not comfortable in front of the camera, it is awfully easy to pick that up. 

Nonetheless, it was tonnes of fun. Everyone should do a photo shoot at least once...

Theo. Over and Out.

Edit: Thank you to Chelsea Tobias for giving me permission to use her photos.

If you want to find her stuff then here is the link: www.wanderlovestudio.weebly.com

Also know that she is busy studying a commerce degree so she may not have the time but if you ever want her to shoot for you then just ask. I am sure she won’t mind...much.

March In Review: A Whole New World

I have always believed that you experience certain phases for a time and then you move on to the next big thing.

Life happens in such a way that you have primary school, then high school (if you don’t drop out) followed by university (if you can afford it) and finally you start working.

I have started the work phase of my life, and it’s been an interesting time for me.

Previously I’ve been asked if I ever miss school/varsity now that I’m working and honestly I don’t – but only because of being the type of person I am.

I make the best of my time in the certain phases of my life then when the time comes to move on, I do.

I was never saddened to matriculate because I did the numerous school plays, was a prefect and enjoyed all the high school moments (the highs and lows). With university, I was so happy when I graduated because it was a huge achievement for me.

I wouldn’t have mind doing Honours sure, but the finances weren’t there so I had to move on from UCT and if I’m being honest, I am glad that I did.

If you had asked me this in February then my answer would have been very different because unemployment fatigue was setting in, but now however, I love where I am at.

Where may that be you ask?

Being a responsible and working adult for the first time in my life.

In one of my previous posts – Being the Poor Friend – I explained why I had never had a job before. Now since I’ve had time to settle in at work and learn what being a working adult means, I realised that I am glad I never worked before because I wouldn’t have handled the responsibility well.

With everything happening in my life previously, I would’ve had a breakdown.

It took for me learn about myself and then endure the hardships of figuring out I’m not straight (with all of that baggage) for me to finally be where I am today.

I was a very gentle kid growing up who would cry for everything, so life needed to toughen me up. Sure I still have some way to go but I happy with my progress, I’m not as fragile as what I once was.

Anyway, back to the point of this – working.

Work is really hard guys, and sooo exhausting... but mostly it’s really rewarding.

When I got the news that I was accepted into the internship programme at Independent Media, my whole attitude towards it was that I want to learn as much as I can. If the 6 months of my internship comes and they happen to let me go, I know that I will have received everything out of the experience that I wanted.

I know this already because the first month of work has already taught me so much.

I won’t lie, I’m a little worried that things at work will go pear shaped but that is because I’m neurotic. Oddly enough it is not the big dramas that freak me out, rather the small little things that trip me up.

I feel like I’m not smart enough or hard working enough but I know that that is just my self-doubt talking.

I need to remind myself to stay calm and get out of my own way.

This past month has been filled with lots of laughs, getting to meet and interview new people and having some of the best experiences in my life so far:

-          Working on the 16^th Cape Town International Jazz Festival was amazing and getting to spend some time with kickass people.

-          The late nights where literally the only thing keeping you going was the energy of those around you.

-          Learning about the media industry and that there are long painstaking hours that go into producing a newspaper has been eye opening.

-          How to write articles, because they aren’t the same thing as essays.

-          Operating new equipment and what works best for different mediums.

-          The hot photographers that you see and on occasion want to do the dirty with. (That one blonde haired beauty from EWN though!!! I would marry him.)

-          The really cool people I get to work with in my team who are starting to feel like a second family.

Mojo so strong, you'll fall under our spell.

All of the above have been really invaluable experiences so far and I have loved it.

Sure there have been a few low points but that comes with everything in life – sometimes you’re up and sometimes you’re down. You just have to keep rolling with the punches.

I have no clue where this journey I’m currently on will take me but I’m eager to find out.

Can I also just say that I’m damn proud of myself  of surviving through March because finances were tight and my phone was fucking out so I had no contact with my friends compared to what I usually do. I didn’t have them to keep me motivated all the time. I really really missed them, but I also know that I can count of myself too...

I made myself a list of goals in January that I needed to achieve before the end of this year and I will share them with you now (don’t judge):

1.       Employment

2.       Bank Account (one that lasted and that doesn’t get closed because of no money being put into it)

3.       Drivers Licence

4.       Passport

Those are 4 goals, two of which I have already crossed off.

They seem very silly to me now but when I wrote that at the start of this year, they meant something. The reason why there were only four was because I thought it would take me forever to cross off the first one.

I seriously doubted that I would achieve them.

The next thing on my list is my driver’s licence which I’m daunted by (read: shit scared and pissing my pants) but before the end of this year I will accomplish it.

2015 has surprised me in many ways, and I look forward to what else it has in store for me.

Who knows maybe I may finally get to say that I’ve finally been on an airplane before the end of it? Or even find myself a fiancée? 

Theo. Over and Out. 

PS – I’m half joking about the fiancée thing; I am very much want to be about letting love happen naturally (well as naturally as what my personality will allow). For now I am focusing on myself and work at the moment, but I can only keep the hopeless romantic in me within his cage for 80% of the time. 

The Jazz Fest - POWER TO MOJO

So not even a month into my work experience, and the Mojo team (mobile journalists) were assigned the task of covering a huge event – The Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

It all started with the arrival of strangers from Durban and Joburg in our tinny little room, who would go on to be really awesome people who I learned a lot from and shared one of the most exciting experiences of my life with.

There was the fun times at the hotel (man that buffet breakfast was life)

Then there was the work of covering the events...

 

My awkward dancing at Beatenberg...(Don't judge)

My favourite performance (though I am biased because I'm a fan)

Then the fun times of just messing around together...

All kidding aside there were a plethora of moments when we were working really hard. If you want to see exactly how hard we worked, then visit our website www.mojojazz.iol.co.za or our twitter @mojoIOL.

All the blood sweat and tears that went into accomplishing everything we did was worth it because it was really a huge learning experience that forced a group of strangers to work together and, in my opinion, we crossed the finish line better for it.

 Power to Mojo.

Theo. Over and Out.