Kay

What does it mean when a restaurant has "Homemade Lasagna" on the menu?

In today’s episode of My Thoughts, Deluxe Edition lol
          
          About 5 or 6 years ago, the company I worked for sent us on one of those two-week corporate Project Management courses. Week one was a full conference, week two a project, then 'graduation'. Our facilitator, his name was Mike Ivey (what a babe!).
          
          He taught us a concept I’ve carried with me ever since: Tuscany. He used Andrea Bocelli’s story of how he’s travelled the world performing, but always returns to Tuscany, his hometown. Not just to honor his roots, but because of how it feels to be home. He’s never even seen the crowd, but the feeling of home grounds him every time he performs there. And he feels he can take over the world after that calming and grounding experience.
          
          Mike used this as a project management analogy: Find your Tuscany in the middle of chaos. Your centre. Your reset button. For some, it’s making and drinking tea in silence. For others, a walk, a prayer, a moment of stillness. In our industry of constant go-go-go, if you don’t carve out that Tuscany time, you will lose your mind.
          
          I loved the concept so much I made it part of my life and now everyone around me knows when I say “I’m in Tuscany,” it means I’m resetting. Coz one thing about me? I will teach my people my things.
          
          Anyway, all of that to say this. I was daydreaming trying to imagine the Between Hearts Zatima wedding. My mind keeps drifting to Italy because of the How Could We wedding. Then I wondered if I’d ever visit Italy myself. And then the thought hit me: Imagine actually being in Tuscany and someone calls me asking where I am and I say “I’m in Tuscany” and they think I’m resetting, but I’m literally in Tuscany.
          
          I would SCREAM!
          
          Side note: Reminds me of that one time my fave said "When I'm sittin' with Anna, I'm really sittin' with Anna. Ain't a metaphor punchline, I'm really sittin' with Anna!" Please, I love her.

Good news on the GBV front, with cautious hope coz politics.
          
          The President has officially declared GBV a “national crisis” at the G20, stating that government will use “every means at its disposal” to end the violence devastating women and children in South Africa. In addition, the National Disaster Management Centre has now classified GBV and femicide as a national disaster under the Disaster Management Act. (I have words for the NDMC but you know what? Nvm)
          This classification requires all levels of government to intensify prevention efforts, survivor support services and long-term GBV interventions.
          
          Still not a “state of emergency” but you know what? Anyway, no special emergency powers are being used. Instead, existing structures are meant to be strengthened, scaled, and properly coordinated.
          
          Now… since this is not our first rodeo, we will have to wait and see whether this translates into real, consistent, and sustained action because declarations mean nothing without budgets, implementation, and accountability. 
          
          Okay, I’m going to take a nap. Today drained me. Let's try again tomorrow. Goodnight. 

Today, we come together across the country in a unified stand against Gender-Based Violence (GBV). It's a national call to action because the crisis we face is real, urgent, and ripping families apart every single day.
          
          We come together in mourning for the women whose lives were taken too soon, for the children whose voices were silenced, and for the families forced to grieve unimaginable loss. We carry their names, their memories, and their stories with us.
          
          Using publicly reported national crime and research statistics, here’s what the situation looks like (broken down per hour so we can grasp the severity of what we’re fighting):
          
          Rape
          10,191 rapes were reported between July - September 2024 (a 92-day period). That’s an average of 110 rapes per day, meaning 4 to 5 women or girls raped every hour.
          And remember: it’s estimated that about 75% of rape cases go unreported.
          
          5,578 women were killed between March 2023 - March 2024.
          That’s 15 women murdered every day which means at least one woman killed every 2 hours.
          
          1,656 children were killed in that same year.
          That’s 4 to 5 children murdered every day, making it a child killed roughly every 5 hours.
          
          Between July - September 2024, 1,944 children were assaulted with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. That’s 21 children assaulted every day and a child violently assaulted every 1 to 2 hours.
          
          These are not just numbers. These are lives taken, families shattered and futures stolen. This is why we say GBV is a national crisis.
          
          What You Can Do in Your Small Corner:
          Support survivors - Donate, volunteer, and amplify organisations doing frontline work.
          Hold the perpetrators accountable - Including your friends, partners and family members. Speak about it, make space for survivors to speak on it. Silence protects abusers.
          
          We need lasting systems rooted in prevention, justice, and healing. The time is now.
          
          May the women and children we’ve lost rest in power. May their memory fuel our fight.

Hey y'all, corporate strikes again. I’m going away for work for a bit, so no new writing for now. Between Hearts is still sitting in my drafts, I just need to proofread, and I’ll publish it as soon as I get a moment.
          
          I'm coming back fully next week and it’ ll be my bestie’s birthday, then Hub’s birthday in the first week of December so it’s about to be a busy little season over here. I’ll properly see you all around the second week of December.
          
          If I can sneak in a chapter here and there, I definitely will and it will be for Loving Me because that's fresh in my mind.
          
          Okay byeeee.

Also, I discovered today that I have a crush on someone. Is that cheating?

I'm bothered.
          
          I’ve been sitting with a thought I can’t fully articulate yet, but there’s something about the pipeline from “married to a toxic man” to “Dr. Umar supporter” that doesn’t sit right with me. 
          
          This deserves to be studied because if you listen closely to the gospel preached in those spaces, it's the “attack on the Black family through feminism,” “feminism is destroying Black homes,” “the system is targeting Black men”. It's weaponized in such a way that it’s not actually creating consciousness but a mental prison for Black women.
          
          It’s a narrative that manipulates women into tolerating disrespect and outright abuse because leaving would be “letting the system win.” It reframes self-preservation as betrayal. And somehow, the woman ends up carrying the weight of “saving the Black family” while the man remains unchecked.
          
          So when I see a married woman aligning deeply with that rhetoric, it doesn’t read as empowerment to me. It reads like someone being psychologically cornered into staying in abuse.
          
          I can’t fully package this thought yet, but something about that pipeline bothers me deeply. I have one person I know, she got married, husband cheated, she never left, and now she speaks Dr. Umar. This bothers me.

Hey friend just saying hi  
          Are we getting an update  on loving me back to me

We need more!!!!!!!!! Loving me back to me has me on the edge of my seat...

On today’s episode of Another Satisfying Cultural Moment
          
          So I have a work friend who speaks Sepedi, and I speak Sesotho, right? This morning we’re on a call, and I say to her, “Yoh ke lapile hore, and it’s only 9AM” (I’m so hungry and it’s only 9am).
          
          She replies, “Le nna tlhe, ke robetse late mabane” (Me too, I slept very late last night).
          
          Now, what does her sleeping late have to do with my hunger, you might ask?
          
          Well, in her language, “lapile” means tired, but in mine, it means hungry.
          
          So I explain, “No, I mean ke batla dijo” (No, I mean I want food).
          She goes, “Oooh, o tshwerwe ke tlala?” (Oooh, you mean you’re hungry?)
          I say, “Yes.”
          Then she says, “Then just say o tshwerwe ke tlala, o rile o lapile.” (Then just say you're hungry, you said you're tired)
          
          But to me, it registers as 'then just say you're hungry, you said you're hungry'
          
          And I’m like, “Because ke lapile.” (because I'm hungry)
          
          She's like, “Bruh… are you hungry or tired?”
          
          At this point I’m crying laughing because I’ve been saying “I’m hungry” this entire time, so what do you want from meeeee??? Lol
          
          But yeah, we both knew what was up. We just dragged it in the name of procrastination.