12 Feb, 14:34.

Mom has always, without fail, asserted to me the importance of hard work – good things come to those who deserve them, she always says! I now believe her, but I bet you won’t believe what I am about to tell you.

I, Zinzi Zwane, just had a call from a well-known media company! How good is that – a media student called by a media company? That only happens once in a blue moon – and only to those who deserve it.

But you haven’t heard the good news I have to tell you just yet; they, i.e. the company, are offering me a scholarship. They will pay for my tuition fees, my registration, and my books – and most unfortunately they won’t pay for my accommodation! So it means I am still stuck in the same roof with the same pathetic rules mom has been forcing down my throat!

Aargh boring! But as she always says, “You should never look a gift horse in the mouth. Appreciate whatever little that you have because somewhere out there is someone envying what you have.”

I think it is just another diplomatic way of hers to tell me not to be a ‘spoilt-brat’ coz I can’t afford to be one anymore. Anyways this scholarship “thingy” is actually great – even if it means I won’t be throwing parties in my own apartment!

In a way it removes the financial burdens from my mom’s tiny shoulders and at the same time it guarantees me a job after graduating. It’s more like killing two birds with one stone, don’t you think?

Mom won’t have to be pushing me to the edge asking me to study any more coz I know what’s at stake if I fail! And for a change I actually achieved something without anybody’s help – just worked my butt off trying not to disappoint my mom and in the end I get to benefit – no tuition stress for mom means more pocket money for me. Life is really a double-edged sword, isn’t it?

Now I feel like the world is really my oyster. I can actually do everything I put my mind to. But in the meantime, I haven’t told Mom yet! What am I waiting for? Well, I just don’t know how to break the good news; I mean everything about me has always been bad. Zinzi the black sheep of the Zwanes, always in the wrong!

This New Year (is it still new, though?) seems to be promising many good things; Mom has been writing, Sim is doing fine at school (as expected from a smartass like him!). On the other hand me and Sebastian are in our all-time greatest.

I just love him with every muscle in me. What more could a girl ask for – except if she wants to justify the notion that girls don’t know what they want? Zee knows what she wants – and that’s nothing more than happiness! I am happy with every aspect of my life now!

ZZ xxx