Ticked off another bucket list item today… BOOM!

If you’re been following my blogs you’d know that this is the year I turn 40, and I started celebrating it when I turned39, by starting a bucket list project.  The aim is to accomplish one thing off my bucket list every month.  I’m slightly behind with that plan… I didn’t realise how much time it would take.

LOL! But today, I can happily say that I’ve done one more thing!!

I jumped off a building!

To be slightly more precise, I did the power swing at the Orlando Towers in Soweto

And what’s more, I did it with most of my family and that made it even more special!  When I told my parents a few days ago that I was planning it, my mom said that she’d like to do it too.  Then Elaine, my sister, said that she and her boyfriend, Bryan had been planning a trip there for a while… so in the end we decided to make it a family affair

Let me just say that it was terrifying being up there and waiting for my turn.  Bryan went first, and bungee jumped… then my mom and then my sister did the swing before it was my turn.

I almost… almost… chickened out. I was actually more worried about hitting the cables underneath than the jump… I think.  Anyway, I can’t describe what it felt like waiting… and then listening to the countdown which all the guys were out of sync with! And then when I finally jumped… I was so worried about going head-first.  Yes, head first, because they warned us before going up that you have to step off feet first and if you go head first you can hurt yourself on the rope thingy.

And then when I did jump from the platform which was 100m above the ground… and was free falling for the 40m… my breath was completely blown away and I didn’t even scream… until I felt the slack in the swing. And then it was fun!

Anyway, you’re here for the photos  The ones of the tower were taken by me.  Some of the photos from the ground were taken by Lance, some by my dad, and some by my mom… and the ones from the top of the tower were taken by one of the Orlando Tower guys (that R100 for photos was money well spent)

We were all numbered and tagged before we got harnesses and were shuttled into the lift

Then it was Bryan’s turn to bungee first…

And then it was my mom’s turn to swing

I have no idea what we were talking about here…

And then at last it was my turn…

And that was that…

I’m glad I did it… but not sure I would do it again.

I must say this though… it was one hell of a way to start a new year 2012 will be rocking if it carries on in this vein!!

I’m sure my mom will be posting photos of herself on her blog, so pop on over there to check…

I had the most amazing day today.  I got to take photos of some extraordinary and very energetic and inspiring people today as they met and travelled around Johannesburg and Soweto.  3 Virgin Media Pioneer entrepreneurs from the UK came to South Africa this morning and met up with 3 South African entrepreneurs associated with the Branson Centre in Braamfontein.

The Virgin Media Pioneers are Ashley-Rae Tapping (creator of Loud Culture clothing which was launched this year and already has a celebrity following), Amman Ahmed (creator of a7records and his labels include EasySleepMusic, RelaxingRecords and Relaxmydog)  and Jade Carlisle (founder of Global Moguls who focusses on promoting and developing emerging artists across various genres between the UK and SA).  The Branson Centre entrepreneurs are Lesego Malatsi (Mzansi Designers, and he’s just come back from showing his clothes at London Fashion Week), Freda Sebolai (who designs beaded jewellery) and Maakaplan Mchunu (creator of Ouleik Records and Soweto Internet Radio)

They were joined by people from Virgin Media, as well as a Times journalist, and presenters from Pioneer TV and SBTV.

Everyone met up at the Branson Centre in Braamfontein and told a bit of their stories…

… before we headed off to Lesego Malatsi’s studios in downtown JHB.

By then we were running late, which was a huge pity so we didn’t have time to stop at the Walter Sisulu Square in Soweto, and instead we went straight to Sakhumzi on Vilakazi Street in Soweto where we had lunch.  I think the noise in place was a huge shock to the visitors who only arrived this morning… LOL!! It was loud and very very festive in there!

We then did a tour of the Mandela house.  I’ve actually never been there before, and it was so very interesting!!  Hardly any of the South Africans on the trip had actually been there before, and we all commented about how much we enjoyed it.  The memorabilia in the house is just amazing, and the stories told by the tour guides about the bullets and walls and how the house had changed was interesting.  I did however leave feeling that it was too clean… by this I mean that the structure of the house is there, but everything else around it has been upgraded, and it’s a pity as I felt they’d stripped the character and the story out of it.

And then we went to Maponya Mall to visit Lesego’s shop

And tomorrow is even more exciting… I’ll be taking photos at the Branson Centre again, where Richard Branson is speaking to entrepreneurs and launching his new book, Screw Business As Usual,  in South Africa… and then there’s a gala dinner that I’m also attending.

If you want to follow the day on Twitter, the hashtag is #sbau (Screw Business As Usual)… and I’ll be posting there and on Instagram as I go along.  I’ll be tweeting as much as I can between taking photos

Phenyo is 3 weeks old, and her Mom, Palesa and Dad, Oshima are just so so in love with this little person.  I just loved the way that dad was looking at his little girl during the shoot.

Because Phenyo and Palesa are staying with Palesa’s mom for the first few weeks as per custom, I travelled to Soweto for their shoot today.  It was a long shoot too… Phenyo made us work really hard, but I’m happy with the results… and I hope that their friends who arrived during the shoot to meet the little girl actually managed to see some of her when I left late this afternoon

I have put a few of the photos on my Facebook Fan page too

As soon as the tickets opened for the Tri-Nations rugby match between South Africa and New Zealand, we booked!! Lance and I went with my parents and joined the 94013 rugby fans that thronged to Soccer City aka FNB Stadium outside Soweto to watch the match this evening.

What an awesome experience!! After quite a bit of deliberation, my dad and Lance decided that, instead of parking close to the stadium and walking, we should catch the Rea-Vaya buses from Wits.  And what a win that was!! It was so painless, and quick to get in and out of the stadium.  The match finished at 7, and we got home at 8:30! I didn’t think that was bad at all!

We got stopped by a guy painting faces on the way in… I liked how differently he painted everyone’s flags

It was the first time my mom had been to watch the Springboks play.

This cool marimba band was entertaining the crowds on the way in

As you can see, our seats were RIGHT at the very top of the stadium.  I really needed a bigger zoom, but I made do

This is my favourite photo… while the anthem was being sung, and a massive flag was being passed across the crowds

There are a few more photos on my Facebook page

I took these photos on the way to the D Hani creche last week.  We had to go down a few km’s of dirt road passing recycling centres, scrap yards and an old mine dump to get there and we passed 2 guys burning a tyre on the side of the road so we stopped.

My two colleagues soon got the gist of the types of photos I wanted to take, so they were quite keen to ask these guys if I could take a photo of them.  We thought they were burning the tyre to keep warm at the time, because it was freezing that day.

But, that wasn’t the case, they were burning the tyre to get the steel rim on the inside of it so they could sell it for scrap!  The fact that they were getting warm in the process was a bonus.

It’s such a big pity it started raining after we left the school, or else I would have loved to have walked around the area taking more photos.  I’ll have to make another trip there.

PS.  I got an email from the lady that does fund raising for school today to tell me that Nthabiseng sold the clothes that we donated last week, and raised R600 which is being used to replace the broken windows! How cool !