About…

I never know what to write in “About” pages. I’d much rather you just stick around and find out for yourself who and what I am, but it’s occurred to me that some people at least would like to know is waffling on like this before they decide to keep reading or move on.

Now all I have to decide what could be relevant to your decision making. Some of the tips out there claim that you should say enough to establish yourself as an expert in your field (I’m assuming that this is the field that you’re blogging about that they’re referring to), but since my field is mostly personal it could hardly be of any use to you to know that I have been living my life 29 years now, could it?

So I’ll start off with some basic stuff and if you find that you want to know anything else, just make a comment on this page and I’ll try my best to answer your question.

My name is Louisa (you’ve probably already guessed as much). Louisa means famous warrior maiden, and my parents couldn’t have given me a more suitable name if they knew me before they named me. I was a problem child, but the worst of that seems to be over now. I love trying out new things, but I find it hard finishing them. I get caught up in rituals and habits and it gets extremely confining (OCD), so every now and then I like chuck it all out and to start with a clean slate and disappoint everyone’s expectations (it’s part of my routine as well).

My close family consists of my parents and my younger brother, and we’re all very close. I have an ENORMOUS extended family so if I say something about my cousin you can be pretty sure that it’s not always the same one.

At the moment I am studying law through UNISA, but up until fairly recently I worked in a factory as a logistics manager and before that as a procurement manager and before that as a planner and customer liaison. Can’t say that I miss all the corporate politics & BS, but negotiations with suppliers and interaction with fellow workers is something that I do miss. And of course peak hour traffic because I miss playing chicken with taxis and singing along to music in my car. Every job I’ve had has started out with me temping as a data-capturer.

I am divorced…have been for a couple of years now. I celebrate Independence Day every year on the 8^th of February. In general I try to find the positive thing when disaster strikes (even when it’s of my own doing), and privatising really gave me a chance to get to know myself. I lost the majority of my support network at that stage (my friends) and have since taken great care to have lots of little circles instead of one big one. That’s why I socialise with amazingly diverse people that have absolutely nothing in common with each other (except me). I can get along with almost anyone, with the exception of people who are unstable…I avoid them religiously.

I have claustrophobia, I am terrified of spiders, and I’m skittish round new roads (which is funny because I love to travel). Also I don’t like Pretoria…I don’t eat food that burns, or drink stuff that start with “S”. And I dislike pink, especially pink stuff with ruffles. I detest carnations…they smell like death.

I love sunrise and in general just looking at the sky or being surrounded by plants. I have bonsai (some I have grown from seed). I love animals and I have the cutest cat in the world (also most photographed because I stick a photo of her onto the blog weekly). I enjoy ice skating (even though I can’t stop only stay upright)and walking, but I never run (except for spiders). When I’m sad or angry I write poems, and I read – A LOT.

Why do I blog? Someone introduced me to it and I got hooked. I love the idea that you can have a little corner to yourself where you can write whatever you want. I suppose I mostly talk about stuff that is of no real concern in the big picture, but which is very relevant to my life at the moment (my world has gotten a lot smaller since I started studying) and I get a kick out of knowing that people from all over the world are reading it, and coming back to read more. So maybe they’re not that interested in the stuff that I talk about – but they like the way I say it? I get to connect with people that I would never ever meet in my normal day-to-day life. I find it both extremely personal and public at the same time, and I enjoy walking that line in between.

I think that about covers it. If there’s anything I left out that you want to know about, tell me and I’ll see what I can do?

Louisa