Yes Man No Woman

I had a NO week. 

In my line of work - being an executive assistant - it often falls to me to say "No" to people who are making proposals or asking for favours or wanting some of my manager's precious time. 

I had to say "No" a lot this week. 

Dear Sir, we unfortunately will not be advertising in your magazine at this time. 

Dear Madam, the decision has been made that we will not be participating in this trade exchange at this time. 

Dear Madam, we are unfortunately not in the position to sponsor a gift for your high tea. We do wish you all the best. 

Dear Sir, we will not be listing on your website this year. 

Dear Sir, after some consideration, we will not be utilising your services to increase our company's SEO.

Dear Madam, as we already have a service provider assisting us with this, we will not be taking you up on your proposal. 

No.

No.

NO. 

NO.

NO.

I was never really at good at saying "no" before,  but it's gotten to a point where I can pretty much turn someone down without feeling so terrible now. I guess it's just my job. Someone is doing their job, I'm doing my job, and it's sometimes my job to say that their job and my job are not going to be done together. In other words, "No."

But the best part of my job is when someone comes to me with a proposal or an idea so exciting, so innovative, so too-good-to-be-true awesome that I cannot wait to shove it under my manager's nose and say "Look, look, look what I found, isn't it friggin amazing!?! Can we do it, can we do it, can we, can we, can we???"... and those are the moments I live for at work, the moments that make all the No's worthwhile.... that moment that I can leap from from my chair, throw my hands in the air,  and cry out to the heavens "YES!!!!!"

Yup... I love my job. I luh-huuuuv my job. 

A Beautiful Day to Carry On...

I awoke today to a most beautiful day. A whirling wind was taking the edge off of the summer sun's sting, and it was one of those mornings where the sky is so blue, so very crystalline, that one's eyes have to adjust to its brilliance. In contrast, the garden is a rich emerald green, broken only by bursts of colourful flowers and glittering butterflies.

The extravagance of this morning's creation was enough to make my heart swell until it split open and spewed out gratitude and affection on whomever so chose to cross my path.

Shortly after awakening, I received a heartfelt and thoughtful message from a dear friend, simply wishing me a wonderful day.

My husband cracked a ridiculous joke over breakfast about something so mundane and hilarious, I laughed so hard that my stomach ached.

Half an hour later, I sat with my coffee, gazing out the window at all that is alive and that sky that is so blue... and I had the most uplifting thought.

Life is going to be just fine. Everything is going to be all right.

I realized then that this is what makes a beautiful day, such a beautiful day: This Moment. 

Last year was, for me and for so many people that I know, a tough, ruthless year. It was refreshing to wake up with such a sense of well-being, with such hope for the future. And it figures then, that today I have been enjoying the sounds of a recently acquired CD, by the band called "Fun.".

I thought I would share this with you, as we now Carry On into 2013, and encourage you: Life is going to be just fine. Relax. Breathe. Close your eyes. Experience this very moment. Then carry on.  -->(yes, click the pretty green writing for a song)

"...Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?... Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." ~Matthew 6 vs 27; 34


Carpe Diem Fellow Inhabitants of this beautiful planet, and a happy new year to you all.

Simply DistuRbED

I can't sleep. It's 11.30PM and I've been lying in bed for roughly an hour feeling disturbed.

You know what it's like, when you have something troubling you deeply, and you just can't quiet your loud mind. I would love to confide in you about the screaming thoughts within my mind, but instead I have decided the path of denial for now, and will be accounting my sleeplessness to one harrowing incident that occurred today.

It all began when I discovered on my way home that, by some grisly misfortune, an entire album of Simply Red had found its way onto my iPod. How could this be? Is this some kind of morbid joke? What kind of psycho would do a thing like this??

I was driving on the highway, and so concentrating on the road inevitably forced me into enduring more than 30 seconds of a song - I reiterate: circumstaces forced me to listen, I swear it...! And that's where the really disturbing part comes in... I couldn't bring myself to skip the song. I just..... couldn't.

Some kind of dark magic must be involved in all this, for I have spent my life believing that Simply Red is creepy. Something about that man just makes my skin crawl... and here I was in my car... captivated. I may have belted out a note or two when the spell cast really took hold of me.

Come now, listen to this...

"For Your Babies" - Simply Red

Gosh, what a sexy song, the kind to which one could gaze adoringly across a candlelit table into the eyes of the one whom you love... despite the fact that the song has a distinctly creepy title!

And this...

"The Air that I Breathe" - Simply Red

How can you not melt at how he caresses each note, literally making you believe that you are the air he breathes... And yet, is it just me, or is the the notion that "Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe, and to love you" is a bit obsessive and... stalkerish...? Ok, ok, in Simply Red's defence, it's not his song originally... but he does a darn good (stalkerish) delivery of it.
And ok, admittedly the actual music video is quite compelling, and not stalkerish at all.

Oh my. And now I have just admitted to listening to more than one song. *hangs head in shame*

This new-found discovery that I am not only able to tolerate Simply Red, but actually like him is most unsettling. I fear I am changing.

And so here I sit. Midnight now, dark rings under my bloodshot eyes, eating caramel straight from the tin.

I am so disturbed.

Let's Catch Up...

There are few things as frustrating as really wanting to sit down for a good blog session, but having neither time nor inspiration to do so. A fellow blogger would understand.

So let's have some coffee, and catch up. I've got my coffee, where's yours?

It's been a hectic few weeks since my last post in August. I think the problem is that there is just so much going on right now, that I haven't got the time to really sit and think about one particular thing. My mind seems to be in a permanent race with itself, and I'm not sure I'm winning.

That was "Bubble Girl". You may have seen her before - she's one of those internet sensations. In reality, she is really just running away from bubbles, but if you Google search "Bubble Girl", you will find her photo-shopped into all manner of scenes. My favourite is her running away from Prince Charles.

So, back to catching up.

 The last time we chatted, I was telling you about boxing, and how cool I've become now that I have new boxing gloves. I'm still boxing, a few times a week or as often as possible, but I think the cool-factor has most certainly worn off. I'm back to being a bit of a nerd. I know this because I managed to trip over nothing this week, and I also walked straight into a table, inspiring a snort of laughter from a friend. When cool people walk into things, people look away and graciously pretend it didn't happen. When nerds do it, the world stops to point and laugh. Yes... I'm back.

It's Spring in South Africa, which means that people are whopping out their braai's (barbeques, for my foreign readers) and getting ready for the Season we all love. People complain about South Africa. The crime. The government. Taxes. Fuel prices. Corruption. Potholes in the roads.

Gosh. Take a look around Fellow Inhabitants of this Planet! That's why I don't listen to the radio anymore - we get so caught up in the bitching and moaning, that we completely miss the beauty of our immediate lives. We reside in one of the most exquisite countries, with what is notoriously the most beautiful Summer weather. And you want to let a few cents on the fuel price ruin your day?

No, thank you! I'm going to LOVE this Spring, embrace it, smell it, sneeze at it, and then smell it again. I'm going to wear dresses, and skip through the flowers. Carefully. I'm going to skip through the flowers carefully. Or maybe I'll just walk. I'm likely to trip over a tulip if I skip.

Gah! My coffee's gone cold. How's yours?

People have been looking at me a bit weird this last week because I'm on a diet of sorts. Now if you know me, you know that I am already rather slender. But here's the thing: I don't want to lose weight. I actually want to gain weight.  I just want to lose a few centimetres around the places that matter - IE, my hips, bottom and thighs - but I'm exercising really hard to gain some muscle to make up for it.

So, I'm having my Herbalife shake for breakfast and for lunch - to lose the wobbly bits - but adding some protein to the shake so that my body is equipped to build up some lean muscles. Something like this...

I'll bet she has no wobbly bits.

Ha ha! I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. Now you'll have to Google search "Puppies" and "Bunnies" to try get that image out of your head. With all due respect to female body builders, who work exceptionally hard to get where they are.... I guess it's just not everyone's cup of tea. Or coffee. Even cold coffee. To her credit, she does have a beautiful face, and she'd be an amazing addition to The Avengers team.

In other news... I've been listening to Justin Timberlake lately. (What?! That is news! When have I ever liked R&B?!)

Well, this is the point in the coffee date where the coffee is gone, and conversation is awkwardly silent. You've not said a word, and quite honestly left all the hard work up to me.

*Smiles*
*Hugs*
We really must do this again sooner!
*Smiles again* Gosh, my cheeks are hurting.
No I'll call you, I promise! Do stay in touch!

Ok, bye!
*Smiles*

Bye!

Green Stuff and Grown-ups

  

I think I have officially grown up, as of today.

Strange things happen when you grow up. You stop colouring your hair outlandish colours, and you realize that goth punk is not suitable work attire. You stop mumbling and start speaking clearly.

Grown-up’s smile at people that they don’t even like, because that’s the civil thing to do.

Grown-up’s always announce their name when answering the phone, instead of just saying “Hello”, “Yo” or “’Sup”.

Grown-up’s cross their legs and sit up straight.

I’ve been showing signs of growing up for some time now. I’ve even shown symptoms of growing old.

But today, it finally happened. At the age of 27, I finally grew up.

You see, I have always had a desperate, deep-seated hatred of baby marrows. As a child, I even refused to learn the name of this repulsive vegetable, and only ever called it “green stuff”. It would literally make me gag at a dinner table, and my skin would crawl as I attempted to swallow it. In my mind, baby marrows were something that parents and grown-ups ate, for reasons unknown and unfathomable to me.

In fact, as a child I found it most fitting that my beloved, favourite book, Roald Dahl’s The Big Friendly Giant, had aptly captured a similarly despicable veggie in the form of the BFG’s most reviled food, the abhorrent “Snozzcumber”, which was shaped conspicuously like a marrow, and must have tasted much the same too. BFG had nothing else to eat, but Snozzcumbers, poor chap.

But today, I ate not only one, but a generous portion of mushy baby marrows, the loathsome “green stuff”… and enjoyed it. Savoured it. I think I even went “Mmmm!”.

A moment of silence for my childhood.

Yes.  I’m a grown-up now, for sure. 

You're so vain...

...You probably think this blog is about you...

Don't you?

Don't you?

Don't you!?

Interesting fact: For years, people mused about Carly Simon's "You're so Vain", trying to speculate who the song was about. In 2003, this information was 'auctioned off' to a bidder who paid $ 50 000 to know the name of who the song was written about, on condition that the name was never released publicly. Dick Ebersol, president of NBC sports, was this highest bidder, and was permitted only to release a very vague clue to the public, as to the song's subject. A clue that led nobody near the truth.

In 2010, 38 years after the release of the song, Carly Simon finally gave the clue that the public needed to crack the mystery once and for all. She claimed that played backwards, the track would contain a person's name... and so it was: the name "David" whispered, hidden for all to hear for nearly 4 decades. 

David Geffen was a record label boss who had apparently shown favour to Joni Mitchell at the time, inspiring an outburst of jealousy and resentment from Carly Simon, and ultimately fueling this timeless tune, which ironically has given Carly Simon her lasting fame.

Well now you know!

But Mostly Damon

A few months ago, I posted a blog about Gareth Cliff, which basically highlighted the fact that you either love the dude, or you really hate him... and sometimes you swing both ways, depending on the degree of arrogance and outspokenness he's acting out on air. 


Personally, despite the fact he can be a real jackass, I'm still currently on the side of loving Gareth Cliff. And even though the 5FM morning team cut the award-losing soap opera, Days of Our Mornings last year, which was a tragic loss to quality radio listening. 


So it's no surprise that a few weeks ago Gareth Cliff took arrogance to a new level by masterpiecing a song - yes, a musical song - called "I work with Idiots", dedicating it lovingly to his morning show team. This song has taken the 5FM audience by storm. The alarming thing is that as far as actual music goes, this song is quite pleasing to the ear. It's a chilled, electronic piece, with some rather pretty piano in the foreground. The lyrics, although limited, are well articulated and nicely spoken. I'm particularly fond of the line "But mostly Damon". 


Soon after the epic release of his track, Gareth followed suite with a ground-breaking music video. My only criticism is that the action-packed nature of the video did not co-exist well with the sensitivity of the actual song, but it is otherwise a star-performance by the whole team, and mention must be made of the special effects team's brilliance at work. 


Yes, this is most certainly a hit in the making, so without further adieu, I present to you....

I Work With Idiots - By Gareth Cliff <-- (Click)

Thabo, Leigh-Anne, Mabale, and Sias and Damon must be so touched. But mostly Damon.

The Thing About Being an Aunty

So it's not really "news", especially for those that know me personally, but I am about to become an Aunt. My beloved big brother and his beautiful wife will be welcoming their firstborn into this enormous world in just two short weeks. Or sooner, if baby has anything to say about it. What a silly comment, considering that newborns (unborns, especially) don't say much in the first place. Never mind, you know what I mean. 


In any case, I am about to become a very proud, glowing Aunt of a perfect little boy. Of course, I've had a good seven-or-so months to ponder this new phase of life, and am pleased to announce that not only am I going to glow and be proud, but I am also going to be the very best Aunt that this world has to offer. 


The thing about being an Aunt is that, much like the child's grandparents, you get to indulge the child without the drag of being a disciplinarian. The difference is that while Grandparents are utterly and endlessly lovable to their grandchildren, Aunties and Uncles are ultra-cool and super-awesome... up until the child reaches about twelve years old. At which point he discovers a mind of his own, and at which point he will begin to disown his family one by one. (Except the Grandparents, of course) 


And so, I've been working on my game plan, on how I'm going to be the best Aunt on the planet, and hopefully prolong my state of awesomeness by a few years perhaps. 


For example, Grandparents give their grandchildren cake and marshmallows and Smarties, which is all very well as far as good old-fashioned sugar highs go. However, I plan on giving him Dracula-teeth-sweets and sour worms. Not only that, but I will ensure that I, too, have some vampire-teeth of my very own, and together we will wreak havoc and terror on the world with our terrifying terribleness. 

I am also not only going to give him his favourite cookies, but we will actually make his favourite cookies, in my very own kitchen. I will ensure that by the end of the exercise, he is covered head to toe with flour and sugar, and giggling like a girl at the silliness of it all. 


I then plan on carrying this giggling sack of potatoes over my shoulder and tossing him into a warm bath filled with bubbles, rubber ducks, and action men, and letting him play until his hands and feet are pruned beyond recognition. We will make soap-bubbles the way my Nana used to make for me. Bath times will be... Epic. 


Judging by the sweets and cookies, you may think I'm going to fatten this child up good and proper, right? No, no, of course not. I'm also going to set him free in our garden. I'll be the Aunt that kicks off my shoes and runs with him. We won't run anywhere in particular, we'll just run and run, until the great, big imagination in that adorable little head of his comes up with some kind of game to be incorporated into our run. And we'll dig up worms, lots of them, into wriggling piles of fun and awfulness. 

And so it goes on... All I want to do is give this little boy as many reasons as possible to love living in this great big world. In light of all that parents do to nurture, protect and love their children, it's the very least that any Aunt can do. 


So, yes. It is possible that I will indeed be the best Aunt ever. Or come darn close in trying. 

a most random thought

I wonder if anyone has ever scrolled to the very bottom of this page to feed my fishies.

Is there still such a thing as good news?

So, I decided to get with the times this week, and read the news. You know, 'be informed'. Be 'in touch' with the world. 


One sunken cruise ship with multiple casualties, a few murders and rapes, thousands of school closures, and yet another absurd outburst from Julius Malema, and I've decided that I'm better off not informed. I have no doubt that the world is full of atrocities, but why remind myself of it... every... day...


So, I'll be sticking my head in the sand until such time as I get the urge to be informed again. On this note, should the end of the world be upon us, might I request that someone takes a moment to let me know? I also wouldn't mind being warned of a pending civil war. 


If you are feeling the same way, why don't you read some good news with me on SA Good News. I'm quite sure that if the apocalypse was under way, they'd find some way to break it to us gently. 

Rant of the Day: Spam

Spam. We all hate it right? And yet those cheesy chain-mails keep going around and around and around… I wonder why. I wonder how, if we all truly hate it the way we claim to do.  

The worst kind of spam-mails are the ones that carry with them the threat of bad luck until the day you die, and in fact bad luck even after you’re dead, and after your children have grown old and died, and then maybe some more bad luck after that, if you’re really unlucky… if you don’t forward the mail in question to at least a million people that you know are going to curse you profusely for flooding their inbox with heaps of bad luck. I’m not sure what bad luck is like for dead people, maybe their remains are consumed by a particularly nasty worm, but for all the chain mail I’ve deleted (after cursing the senders profusely), I’ve got a lot of it waiting for me in my grave.

I always wonder, why would you send that to me? If you really believed that this stupid mail was going to bring me, your friend, bad luck, why would you send it to me?? You’re not a friend, you back-stabber! First sign of impending doom, and you pass it on to me?! And you’re blind! And stupid! Only blind, stupid people believe in chain-mail-luck. Did something good happen to you 17 minutes after sending that mail to 17 people, like it promised you would happen? No?? Imagine that.

I might appreciate the kind of spam-mail that brings a laugh with it. Some tasteful humour. A funny image. Even an inspiring story. A well thought-out poem. But the moment I see those famous six words, “If you don’t pass this on…” I experience a reflex-action that jerks my computer mouse to the delete button, before I can even think about it any further.

What a waste of bandwidth. What a waste of my time. What a waste of nasty worms.

End of Personal Rant. *takes a bow*

A Glass Half-Full... Of Rain.

I like to think of myself as a 'glass half-full' kind of person. I may not always have this quality in every circumstance I face, but I do try to find the silver lining in life's storms.


Speaking of which, we had some gentle rains this afternoon, here in Johannesburg. I'm sure you no doubt will know, as a fellow inhabitant of this overly congested planet, that as soon as one single molecule of precipitation falls from the sky, a phenomemon begins to occur below. As this catastrophic droplet of H2O plummets toward the earth, the magnetic fields in the atmosphere twist and warp and mutate. And when the droplet makes it's fatal impact on the ground, the now-shuddering magnetic fields implode upon themselves, sucking in with them all cognitive brain capacity, all human hand-eye co-ordination, and all ability to reason and form constructive decisions. The shock-wave from this astronomical incident is also known to cause all existing thought processes to become scrambled, forcing the brain of said thought processes to restart entirely.


And this is why, when it rains, traffic comes to a grinding halt. People become stupid on a universal scale.


So, when I left work in the drizzling rain, I resigned myself to the fact that I would be facing some heavy traffic on the way home. Surprisingly enough, not only was traffic lighter than usual, but I found that there was something I could be grateful for in the rain; a silver lining, so to speak. 


For the first time this week, I was able to drive on the highway without a teenager in a GTi weaving around my car, or a rooster* in an Audi riding up my rear bumper flashing his lights. No blind old businessman in a Merc cutting me off because he had the lack of foresight to see the slow truck right in front of him.


Yes, the rain seems to make people safe. And civilized. Perhaps it is the trance-like state that follows the droplet-hitting-earth-apocalypse, but my highway experience this afternoon was just so..... Peaceful.
And for this, I was grateful. I am also grateful that something as mundane as traffic and weather has given me something to write about. 


There is always something to be grateful for. 


This whole experience made me think of a song, which is now stuck in my head. Funnily enough, this song is completely unrelated to the topic at hand, but I shall share it with you for two very good reasons: 


1. The song makes reference in the first verse to a "road, long and winding", and a "silver lining" that's "out there somewhere." Other than this verse, the song is totally random to whatever it is I'm trying to write about. Weather... Traffic... Gratitude... Who knows. (not me) 


2. Bryan Adams is really easy-on-the-eyes, for an older guy

Enjoy this lovely tune (yes, click on the pretty purple writing), and may your upcoming Friday be fraught with silver linings, civilized drivers, and if you're especially lucky, someone like Bryan Adams to look at. 




*rooster in Audi is the kind of driver that Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear refers to... but Mr. Clarkson is a little less complimentary with his choice of words. Use your imagination, it'll come to you. 

The Abyss... that is My Belly

I got up this morning...


Had a biscuit at 06h00, so that I could take my multivitamins and calcium supplements before going to work. 
Drove to work. 
Had a cup of decaffeinated coffee and a piece of home-made shortbread. 07h30.
Already not a very good start to my day. 
08h30, realized I was starving, and so had a quick breakfast bar and a naartjie... and another cup of coffee. 
09h00. Starving. 
10h00. Starving. 
11h30. Starving. 
12h00, had a beef sausage, mashed potato and and pile of peas for lunch. 
13h30, feeling a bit nibbly.
14h00, what the heck, had another breakfast bar... and a lollipop. 
16h00, famished damn-it. Handful of peanuts and raisins.
16h30, driving home... munching an apple. Hungry.
17h45. Home. Unbearably hungry. 
18h00. Chicken omelette for dinner.


It was just after dinner that I thought of a Garfield cartoon that I remember well, from when I was a child. My brother and I grew up on Jim Davis' Garfield comic strips and I still think that it is the only reading material that I can recall my brother laughing out loud at. Good times!


The particular comic in question is...

...Yep. That's what I feel like today. As though my stomach is an endless abyss into which all food in sight is in danger of being sucked. And I know, most of you who know me will hate me for staying fairly thin after a day like today. But for the record, I am usually far more conscientious of my culinary habits. Just not today.


Man, what a day. All that eating has me exhausted.

Hate-to-Lovers and Love-to-Haters

I know that my last blog promised that my next blog would be a LOT about kickboxing... but this is my blog, and I'll do what I want with it. 


And today I feel like pondering the people we love to hate, and the people we hate to love. We all know what I'm talking about... those people who inspire such intense emotion in us, that we can't help indulging in it, bathing ourselves in it, marinading our minds in delicious, often scandalous, thoughts... Yes, we all fall in love-to-hate, and hate-to-love, at some point in our lives. 


Some examples of those we love to hate could be...


Dictators and just plain evilness, such Robert Mugabe... Osama Bin Laden... Saddam Hussein...
Celebrities like Lindsay Lohan... Justin Bieber... Donald Trump (all because of that hair, and the fact that he's married to a near-immortal Supermodel)...
Politicians. (Full stop. Most politicians, no examples needed.)


Then you get the people we hate to love... the people that, in spite of ourselves, we cannot help liking...


Bands and musicians are my biggest hate-to-lovers... Take the BeeGees for example. I'm so very embarrassed to admit it, but I love them. And I hate that, but I can't help myself. 


Then there are people who are extraordinarily unique, in that they swing both ways... you love to hate them, and then you hate to love them... and then you love to hate them again, only to come to hate to love them in due course. These people are few and far between. 


One such person that I have this struggle with is a certain young radio DJ, Gareth Cliff. He's a household name in South Africa, and most of you reading this (in South Africa) will know him as SA Idols judge, or the award-winning DJ who holds the prime spot on 5FM's morning show.

My personal love-to-hate relationship with Gareth began in his first season as judge on SA Idols. I, along with many fellow South Africans I'm sure, found him rude, arrogant, repulsive, mean-spirited, cocky and just plain full of... er... it. Full of it, yes. 


It was then in 2009 that I started to grow weary of the radio station that I was listening to at the time, and I decided to give 5FM a try. The music was far better suited to my preference, and the presenters talked less rubbish, and so I decided to endure Gareth's annoyingness (for lack of a real word), for the sake of more enjoyable music.


It was one unfortunate morning, on my way to work, that Gareth and his team crossed the line. I had missed some part of the show, and caught the tale end of a sound clip of what sounded like a young boy describing his spiritual encounter with the Lord... Gareth and his team proceeded to mock this boy mercilessly, which I found quite unnecessary and offensive. This was the point at which I went from simply disliking Gareth Cliff to falling in love-to-hate with him. 


After that morning, I switched back to the arbitrary radio station that I had previously escaped, and so began a rather dull patch in my daily routine. After about 18 months of uninspired pop music and thoughtless nattering, I switched my radio over to 5FM in sheer desparation. It went quite well for some time until, after a few months, Gareth and his team dredged out that very same sound clip, the young boy with the spiritual experience. 


I could scarcely believe it - how could these DJ's be so juvenile as to resurrect this whole thing again, when it wasn't even funny in the first place? Seems that I wasn't only offended listener, as very soon after, a young gentleman called in and complained about the DJ's attitudes towards this sound clip, and their seeming intolerance of Christians. Gareth Cliff took a moment to explain to the caller (and to me) what the history was behind this 'religious' sound clip...


This 'young boy' was actually a woman, and she considered herself a prophet of sorts. People from her circles would turn to her for guidance, spiritual enlightenment... and among some other horrifically twisted ideas, this 'prophet' had told one of her friends to "look at the sun for a full minute, and you will see the face of Jesus". Her friend is now blind. Permanently blind.
 It was not an intolerance for Christians, or even religion, that inspired such hostility from the 5FM morning team, but rather an intolerance for... hypocrisy?... Lunacy...? Maybe just plain stupidity, I don't know, but it all made sense then.


Having forgiven the 5FM team of this little indiscretion, I've been listening to them ever since, and funnily enough, I've grown more fond of Gareth Cliff. He's still a cocky bugger, but in the last year, he's started to display certain characteristics that could perhaps be attributed to maturity. He's positive. He's down-to-earth. He discourages drinking ad driving. He openly ridicules Julius Malema. He supports charities. He does great voice-overs in the weekly Award-Losing soap opera, Days of Our Mornings. What's not to love? 


And let's not forget that he cried. SA Idols competitor, Dave van Vuuren (who later won the Idols contest), sang a song that reduced Gareth Cliff to tears, big ol' softie. And so I, along with many other South Africans, fell in hate-to-love with Gareth at that moment. 


So much so that I am even considering paying good money to purchase his book, which seems to be an autobiography, or a collection of random thoughts, I'm not entirely sure. However, what I am quite sure of is that at some point in the book, Gareth will undoubtedly have written something offensive, and I will likely come to love-to-hate him once more. Who knows.

But for now, Fellow Inhabitants of this Planet, today being Gareth Cliff's own "No Negativity Wednesday", here's to those we hate to love, and love to hate - they make our existence so much juicier!

Random Thoughts of The Old and Decrepit

Had another confusing day. No, it's not that anything unusual happened, just that I've been in a general state of confusion for some time now. Must be getting old, and I've been thinking far too much. 


When I was a child, I used think that adults were complicated and a bit loony. Now that I'm here, being complicated and more than a bit loony myself, I think I'm starting to understand why. My theory is that as you get older, you obviously collect more life experiences as you go, and like an overloaded computer, one's processor gradually slows down, and just generally wreaks havoc with one's internal hard-drive. 


Games played.
Broken hearts.
School learned.
Fights lost.
Friendships born.
Bungee jumps.
Books read and movies watched.
Saying goodbyes. 
Road-trips. 
Work stresses. 
Wedding vows and honeymoons.
Car crashes.
Romantic dinners.
Concerts attended.
Loved ones dying.
Braai's.
Battles won.
Shopping sprees.
Frienships lost.


There's a LOT to that goes into one life. 


So, that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. If I forget something important. If I say something stupid. If I bare my soul when I shouldn't. If I brush my teeth twice because I forgot about the first time. If I wear mismatched socks. If I indicate right, but turn left.


You see, you'll have to forgive me, because this is just the very beginning of me being old and decrepit. 


Of course, at age 27, I do have a long journey of oldness and decrepitness ahead of me, so I am fighting it off with simple pleasures. 
Had doughnuts and energy drinks with a friend today. 
Went to a car show with my husband yesterday.
Had a night out on the town last week.
Caught a bird and set it free. 
Zoned out with my iPod for a 5 minute break at work.


One of the best things that I've been doing lately to clear my head is boxing. Ah, there is nothing like boxing. When I got home this evening, I was feeling emotional, frustrated, and just stupid in general. Half an hour with a punching bag is like the 'proverbial restart' that seems to fix everything. 


I wonder what other people to do 'restart'. It's important you know, otherwise we'd all be very old and very decrepit far too young. 


Peace out to you all, fellow inhabitants of this planet, may you live long, learn from many mistakes, and have a doughnut-moment very soon, before you lose your marbles completely. 

Why Babies are Awesome

The other night I was searching for pictures for my latest blog, and after stumbling across some legendary images on google, I have concluded that babies are awesome. Simple. Non-negotiable fact.


Just for a bit of fun :-)

Pull a face at someone, play with your food, live without abandon, and have a great day!

Ramblings of the sick and bored

I just feel like writing something, but I have nothing in particular to say. So I'll write a little something about a few nothings, just to get the feeling off my chest. 


I am home with flu, but lying in my bed facing the window, so that I can see the garden outside. The grass has begun to turn green and already one of our bushes has burst into pink blossoms. I just love Spring!

I've already gone through a full box of tissues - in one day - and so, in the name of being economical, have moved onto a roll of loo paper. Have you ever wondered how they print the flowers and butterflies on loo paper? Is it actually ink? And what's with the people who print puppies on their loo rolls? If you really think about it, it's a bit strange.

I read a whole book this weekend, started it on Saturday morning, and finished it on Sunday night. It's called Nightshade, and it's about werewolves. Oh sorry, "Guardians".... but really, they're just werewolves. Ever since reading the Twilight saga, I have acquired a taste for 'supernatural' type novels, but have yet to find anything in this genre that is not somewhat juvenile. I enjoyed Nightshade, but it lacked a certain substance that Twilight possesses. I know that some fools who have only watched the Twilight movies would try to tell me that Twilight in itself is juvenile. But anyone who has read the books will know what I'm talking about. 


So, having gobbled up Nightshade in a weekend, I'm due to start on my next somewhat-juvenile supernatural novel, Beautiful Darkness, which is a sequel to a book I've already read, called Beautiful Creatures. If I start acting like a teenager, you should all know why. 

I baked bran muffins this weekend. :) Mm. 


I told someone today that they look like the singer Pink. Someone else then made a remark, insinuating that this is not really a compliment... What?! How can you say that??? Pink's personality may be a bit rough around the edges, but she is a beautiful lady. This is a picture of Pink that looks exactly like the person I was talking to...

Pretty right? 
Exactly.


Guess that's all I have to say right now. Best get some rest, so I can get back to the office tomorrow.

Peace out dudes.