Rowan Spazzoli

A big part of our friend vacations is playing computer games. These include classic titles such as Starcraft, Left 4 Dead, Age of Empires, God of War and Counter Strike. It’s a tradition that started in our teenage years, with LANs, and has continued during our getaways.

Part of what makes it so entertaining is that you’re transported to another world for a little while. You’ll be a survivor in a zombie apocalypse and, alongside your friends, you must fight to escape the hoards. Or you’re an alien race building a big military base in an effort to defeat other civilisations.

Whatever the game is, it allows us to escape reality, and interact with one another in the virtual world. And once we finish a game, we’ll talk about the battles as if they actually took place.

We play computer games far less than we used to. But it’s still a great way to unwind and to connect with friends

Image is of the loading screen of Counter Strike, one of our favourite games

Blog:  273/365

Song of the day: Highway to the danger zone

Our group of school friends are really close, and the five of us try to go on away together once a year, usually in August. We’ve been to Durban, Sedgefield (multiple times), Cape Town and Wilderness. And for our current holiday we’re in Verlorenkloof, in Mpumalanga.

The holidays we go on involve a glorious amount of chilling. We bring our computers, a playstation, a bunch of movies and a substantial volume of food. And the entire holiday is spent relaxing, eating, napping and playing computer games.

It’s the perfect way to rest in the middle of the year. To zone out and reset.

It’s a tradition that I hope continues well into our old age 🙂

P.s. blog posts are likely to be delayed over the next few days due to vacation and lack of internet 🙂

Image was taken on our holiday in Clarens in 2014

Blog:  272/365

Song of the day: Numb/Encore – Linkin Park and Jay Z

Today I chatted to two uber drivers from Zim about the election. In both discussions, the corruption and looting in Zim came up. And the fact that many politicians (including those in South African and around the world) have amassed ridiculous amounts of money.

But this isn’t limited to politicians. The outgoing CEO of PPC was paid R17 million. The CEO of Checkers got a R100 million bonus last year. And then there’s the likes of Jeff Bezos, who’s $100billion fortune is bigger than the GDP of 80 different countries including Kenya and Sri Lanka.

And this raised the question for me…. When will it be enough?

Do these people really need that much money?

Don’t get me wrong, money is important. But there comes a point where you have a completely unnecessary amount. For me, I need the following:

• A place to live
• Access to transport
• Ability to afford my consumables of choice (food, drinks etc)
• Some clothes
• A holiday once a year
• Enough to support whatever family I might have

And after that… there’s only so much I can buy. I cannot fathom how one would feel it necessary to amass billions of rands in wealth.

The inequality in our world is getting larger. And maybe it’s time that the rich start becoming a little more enlightened.

Image was taken in Capri in 2015. The boat pictured there is in the top 10 most expensive yachts in the world. It’s called the “Rising Sun” and is worth around $200 million

Blog: 270/365

Song of the day: Muse - Follow me

My aunt Jacs left this comment on my last post:

I have learned that all of my experiences and decisions have brought me to this point – I am grateful for all of them . I don’t judge them as good or bad they just are and I am lucky to have had all of them. Wonderful that you are exploring this.

I really enjoy this perspective on past experiences. It changes the basic reflection from “What if?” to “thank goodness that”.

Each step along the path brought you to this moment. And if you are enjoying this moment then you can be grateful for them. And if you aren’t enjoying where you are in this morning, maybe you can try take a few more steps in another direction 🙂

Image was taken on Lions head in 2014

Blog: 269/365

Song of the day: Mr Jones - Counting Crows

After months of therapy and introspection, I’ve begun to realize how many of my past decisions and actions weren’t a reflection of who I am or what I want from life. I made certain decisions based on family influences, peer pressure or skewed perceptions of the world. And many of my decisions were made out of fear.

Some examples of these include:

• Studying accounting and finance, despite despising the subjects deeply
• Continuing on to a post graduate in accounting
• Not changing to a PPE when I knew I would enjoy it more
• Being scared to explore and experiment in high school
• Not trusting my instinct enough in my personal life

There are many more examples of this. Times when my decisions weren’t really mine

But I’ve also been learning how to be gentle with that past version of me. Apart from not being able to change anything now, I also didn’t have access to the same thinking and perspective as I do now.

I’ve also since started to steer myself in a direction that suits me better. I get to take on projects I enjoy and do work that I love.

Regret can be painful. But it’s easier to deal with when you forgive your past self

P.s. was too tired to post this yesterday, so it's a little late :)

Image was taken at blockhouse in February 2011 with Mike and John 🙂

Blog: 268/365

Song of the day: Muse- Something human

A lot of what I learnt when I was younger about being successful involved following a specific track. Get good marks, progress through the grades, get in to university, get your degree.

Learning this isn’t bad. It gives us a path that allows us to develop without having to make significant life decisions.

I didn’t need to decide whether to progress from junior school to high school. It was the path to be followed.

But after university (and maybe a set of articles/internships), between the ages of 23 and 26 things start feeling a little different. We start losing the tracks underneath us, and they’re replaced with seemingly endless paths.

These involve all sorts of decisions, from friendships to careers, romantic interests to living arrangements.

And those of us who succeeded on the tracks suddenly get very scared.

What is the right option? Which is the correct track to follow? Am 

The answer to these questions is that there is none. We’ve reached the end of the tracks. We are no longer in the same train as everyone else. As much as you might try to find a path, your efforts will be futile.

You’re off the tracks now. It’s time to take charge, explore and decide.

Image was taken at a tube station in London in 2015 🙂

Blog: 267/365

Song of the day: Gryffin & Illenium - Feel Good ft Daya

I have a habit of wanting to take on us much as possible when working in a group setting. This ranges from work projects to planning holidays with friends to the teaching team at UCT.

It’s often intended as a noble and/or kind thing, as i want to help my team as much as possible. And it might be helpful. But taking on too much can have some negative implications, such as:

• Not giving people in the team the opportunity to learn
• Over promising and under delivering
• Stifling conversation between team members
• Leaving other team members with nothing to do
• Getting burn out from the additional stress/work

One of the best remedies for this is to trust your team. Especially if you have reason to believe they’ll do a good job. Let them take on what they’re able to handle, and be there should they need help.

Taking on all the work might feel safer, but trusting the team is ultimately more productive.

Image was taking while waiting for my Uber from town to home 🙂

Blog: 266/365

Song of the day: Just for a moment – Gryffin