Spring is coming!

I can barely contain my excitement at this fact. The trees are pushing out green shoots, birds are nesting and the first blossoms have been spotted. This all means one thing: winter is on its way out. Hooray!

We were at church camp in the Magaliesburg this weekend past and it was flipping cold. Great fun, but too cold for my liking. I must admit though, that the food and rooms were better than I expected. Camp seems to have come a long way since my high school days.

I got to do an obstacle course, which I haven't done in years, so that way fun. I have new respect for the people on Ninja Warrior.

On Sunday we celebrated my gran's 80th birthday. Shame, it was actually on 20 June, but she was so sick and my folks were overseas, so we pretended it was yesterday. My uncle flew in from Kuwait to surprise her and my other uncle and his wife drove in from Middelburg and the usual fun and games ensued. I think poor TSC has finally learnt to cope with my family's below-the-belt sense of humour.

Other than that, life is crazy busy. I've had to turn down a few writing projects because ghostwriting this book seems to have eaten ALL my time. It's 10 chapters long and I've just completed the second chapter, but I feel like I have done nothing else since I started. In fact, I probably have done nothing else since I started. Must remember to do the work for my other clients!

I hate turning down work, because it means turning down good money and some interesting projects, but I am (slowly) learning to be realistic about what I can and can't do. I'm working late nights as is, so unless I want to kiss my marriage and social life goodbye, I have to learn to say 'no' sometimes.

I'm rambling, I know. But I have missed blogging so much. Almost as much as I've missed reading everyone else's blogs.

Anyway, back to the books for me. Chapter three beckons.

PS: I know I've been a bad blogger, but if you still love me and you feel like it, please consider nominating me for the SA blog awards by clicking on that widget in the sidebar. Thanks.

(very) brief update

In bullet format:

• I have been sick
• I am better now
• But I still sound like a drag queen
• Work is crazy - busy ghostwriting a book for a client on a crazy deadline
• Angel and Neel's wedding was DIVINE (and possibly the biggest blogging community event / Tweet-up in the country)
  
• Bloggers are always an interesting bunch to hang out with IRL
• We are (belatedly) celebrating my gran's 80th birthday with the family on Sunday
• We have had no water today
• Am craving a bath
• I'm very behind on blog-reading and will attempt to catch up soonest.

That is all.

Writing this from my bed

Don't be too jealous. I have confined myself to bed to try to get better before I really get sick. I have a horrid sore throat, throbbing headache and blocked ears, so it's lots of Med-Lemon for me, a scarf around my neck and an afternoon of trying not to let the laptop overheat on the bed covers while I work.

Seems to be working so far. Orange Strepsils (brand of throat lozenges) are awesome. So are lazy cats who keep me company and leftovers from last night's oxtail stew. Yum!

Less awesome is the fact that work needs to be done and I can't just spend the afternoon sleeping the sickness away.

It also feels a bit weird to be in bed without requiring a doctor's note for the boss. I almost feel guilty for not having permission to be sick ;-)

Realisation and a recipe

You know what I realised last night?

I don't get that heavy Sunday afternoon depression anymore because I don't have to face the PR job on the Monday morning. That's a very cool little piece of enlightenment for me.

It helps especially on weekends that have been really hectic and that just fly by, like this one. We had friends over for supper on Friday night, then another load of people to watch the (so-called) rugby on Saturday morning with a braai afterwards (which meant two sets of catering within the space of 24 hours). On Sunday we saw my folks for breakfast and then had a church meeting at lunch and then we were on duty at church from 5pm and did coffee with friends after that.

So much for a chilled first weekend without hosting World Cup guests!

When things are busy, it's funny how there are always precious little "ordinary" moments that stand out as highlights... sharing jokes with my parents, seeing everyone enjoying both puddings I made for Fri and Sat (chilled lemon cheesecake and chocolate marshmallow tart), watching a brilliant episode of Hustle with TSC and even realising that the lettuce from my garden tastes infinitely better than the lettuce from the supermarket (especially seeing all my lettuce-growing attempts before this have been dismal failures). I love little things like that.

Here's the recipe for the chocolate marshmallow tart. I think it originally came off the back of a Romany Creams box, but I lost the actual recipe years ago and now make up my version from memory...



Chocolate marshmallow goodness:

• 1 packet Romany Creams or similar biscuits
• 250 ml cream
• 1 packet marshmallows
• 75g melted butter
• 200g milk chocolate
  

Crush Romany Creams (I use a stick blender). Mix with melted butter and press into a tart tin to make crust. Melt the chocolate with the cream on medium heat. Stir until smooth. Add marshmallows and stir until they melt into the chocolate mixture. Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes. Pour chocolate mixture over crust. Refrigerate for a few hours until set. Decorate with grated chocolate or a light dusting of icing sugar with a sliced strawberry in the middle.

Yum!

Go away, winter

Sorry, DBAWIW, but this is indeed going to be a long weather ramble to the tune of "Jissis, it's cold!"

I'm so over this cold. At the moment I am sitting at my computer with my hot beanie thing on my lap with my cat sitting on top of it. This makes typing really difficult. Normally I would type for a bit, then warm my freezing fingers on the beanie and then type some more. Now it's become a delicate balancing act of trying to get my fingers to the beanie under the sleeping cat, who is starting to cut off blood supply to my legs. As Momcat wrote the other day, "I'm not just a glorified cat pillow!"

*Sigh*

I really am over the cold. I once wrote a post about things I like about winter, which was a concerted effort to find good things about the cold season. I read it this morning to remind myself of those things. But I am tired of winter now. Bring on spring!

I think the cold surprised a lot of our World Cup guests, who were expecting to find sunny South Africa nice and hot. In fact, one of our guests (from New York), said that her low point of her month in SA was the cold. New York may get far colder than Joburg, but The Big Apple is also far more prepared for that cold.

Ok, enough moaning. I am going to chuck the cat off my lap now and make myself a mug of tea to warm my hands.

Unimportant but interesting cultural lessons

It feels so good to be posting regularly again and getting all the nonsense in my head out onto the screen. *grin*

After all my "did you know" facts yesterday, I discovered something I didn't know, courtesy of our current guest, Ana.

Most Americans don't have electric kettles.

I had no idea! I don't know how I would survive without my kettle, especially during winter. For those of you who don't know what an electric kettle is... a pic or two:





Most South African households have an electric kettle in the kitchen. As we generally have electric stoves as opposed to gas ones, kettles heat up our water for tea or coffee more economically and much faster than boiling water on the stove. They are super useful things - aside from making tea, coffee, hot chocolate and Milo, I use mine to heat the water for pasta to boiling before I pour it into the pot on the stove, which makes it much quicker, or I boil the water for my hot water bottle, which I carry around the house with me in winter, seeing almost no South African home has central heating.

Anyway, I was just gobsmacked when Ana came to me and said, "I really like these tea water warmer things you have in South Africa. I'm thinking of taking one home with me."

Most Americans seem to have coffee percolators, and many of our guests have never seen a plunger / bodem before, which we use to make coffee. Pic:


I've learnt lots about our little cultural differences this World Cup. It's been good fun. For exmaple, I learnt that in Malaysia, it's common to add "La" at the end of a sentence as a space-filler. So you might stay, "Don't be like that, la."I think that's nearly as weird as the fact that we South Africans call traffic lights "robots" ;-)

Did you know?

Some random trivia from the huge files of nonsense in my brain...

• Tanzanite was originally called "blue Ziosite", but the name was changed to Tanzanite for the stone's origin on a recommendation from Tiffany's as it was felt that the word "Zoisite" was very close to the word "suicide".
• My name, Tamara, means palm tree in Hebrew.
• You have approximately 10 000 tastebuds on your tongue.
• The medical word for "man boobs" is gynecomastia.
• In Japan, sushi chefs spend their first year of training purely on hygiene.

So did you know that?

Catch up post

Hello all. Life is slowly starting to return to some semblance of normality, whatever that may be.

The World Cup, glorious as it was, is over. We only have one guest left - a lovely girl from New York, who is set to leave on Thursday. TSC is back at varsity. And I, after what feels like forever, am back at my computer, doing some admin catch up and actually writing a blog post.

Well, trying to, anyway. I started writing this about an hour ago, but I keep getting distracted by emails coming in and the cats trying to sleep on my laptop.

Anyway, here are a few photos from the past few weeks:


The waterfall at Rustenburg Kloof, where TSC and I hiked for a picnic lunch when we took the Mexicans to their Rustenburg game. Such a divine day - lunch with a view, tennis and then watching SA beat France.



A maribou stork trying to relieve TSC of his gingerbeer at the Rhino and Lion Park during our visit there with the Malaysians. This bird is really playful, but really ugly. When we arrived, it was trying to play with the spotted genets through the fence.



Lazy wild dogs having an afternoon nap at the Rhino and Lion Park. This was the closest we've seen them and the Malaysians were super excited.




The world literacy display at Maropeng, where we took the Mexicans. I must say, it was wasted on them - they didn't bother to stop and read anything. Everyone told us how brilliant Maropeng is, but I must admit, I wasn't particularly wowed.



A 6 month-old Nile crocodile at Croc City. What a waste of time that was. We took the Chinese Canadians there and after a promising start looking at and holding various reptiles inside, which was great fun and very informative, we were led on a tour that took less than 10minutes and then waited nearly an hour for our hot chocolate (which was cold) and an expensive crocodile sosatie from the restaurant. They also have an animal petting area with some bunnies in very poor shape (the only water source is a dirty plastic container sunk partway into the ground, filled with brown water and bits of hay). I suspect that weekends, when they feed the crocs, would be more interesting, but I won't take visitors there again.



The penalty shoot-out (the first of the World Cup) between Japan and Paraguay. It was an exciting match.

Sondela

Our bush getaway to Sondela was phenomenal. It's difficult to find the words to explain how much we enjoyed our time there. Squeals work best, I find.

We were at the magnificent Sondela Country House near Bela-Bela / Warmbaths for three magical nights. It's a five-star boutique hotel, but they had the most fantastic winter special on that meant it was more affordable than many three-star hotels.

In our few days there, I experienced many "firsts":

• First time milking a cow;
• Having butler service (something to get used to, actually - it's a bit weird having someone just waiting around to do what you ask. We weren't very good at it);
• Going on a proper night drive (where I got to hold the spotlight);
• Seeing a bushbaby in the wild, jumping from tree to tree;
• Having a three-course gourmet meal served in our hotel room;
• Going on a "game drive" on bicycles (awesome!);
• Seeing a crimson-breasted shrike in the wild;
• Playing tennis while nyala watched;
• Being asked whether I wanted a goose down, duck down or feather pillow (?! I told them to surprise me. Have no idea which one I got in the end, but it was really comfortable);
• Having our car washed before we checked out, just as part of what they do for guests.

The attention to detail and level of service were mind-blowing - filter coffee in the rooms as opposed to the mix-n-drink stuff, a heated towel rack in the bathroom, Charlotte Rhys toiletries...

It was so good to be guests rather than hosts for a little while. The place is brilliantly maintained, has a great variety of facilities and, best of all, it's only an hour and a half away and it's warm!

I will attempt to stop gushing now, so here are some pics...

Me, milking a very patient cow:



Our King-sized bed:





The tame kudu doe that wanders around the property:



Very inquisitive mongoose:



The chalets also look brilliant - very private, in the middle of the bush, with a hot spa pool, col swimming pool, tennis courts and entertainment area. In fact, even the campsite looked really nice - shady, quiet and small.

I think we'll have to go back and try each ;-)

Ok, the gushing is really over now, I promise.

One month down...

...Just one more set of guests to go.

But first a breather. We leave tomorrow for a little break before our last guests arrive on Thursday. CANNOT WAIT to chill and be a guest myself for a bit.

Just doing a bit of work now so I don't have to schlep it with me. I know - working on a Saturday night is lame. But not as lame as going for a mini-holiday and working straight through it.

Btw, anyone been to see a game live in 3D at the cinema? I'm keen to do that for one of the last matches, but wondering if it's worth it.

Have a good one folks. I plan to.

Culture collision

At the moment we have the only guests so far that I haven't clicked with staying with us. They are two Chinese Canadian guys - father and son. The dad only speaks Cantonese and doesn't understand a word of English, so the son translates. I found them really awkward when they arrived on Wed, and by Thursday I had decided that nothing we could possibly show them in South Africa would excite them in the least as they seemed set on being unimpressed. But after a home-style SA braai last night, complete with TSC's magic braai broodjies (toasted sarmies made on the fire), they have lightened up a lot and we even sat around the table after dessert (another SA favourite - malva pudding with custard) chatting about our different cultures.

While I work today, TSC has taken them to the Rosebank African Craft Market and then to a dim sum restaurant I found in Illovo (the dad was originally a dim sum chef in Hong Kong, before they moved to Canada, so I'm hoping this place doesn't disappoint). After that, we're heading to Croc World and then they're off to tonight's game at Soccer City.

They leave tomorrow night and then on Sunday TSC and I are off to a warmer part of the country for three days to recuperate before our next (and last) guests arrive for eight days.

I just realised today that tomorrow it will be a full month that we've been hosting visitors. Now I understand why I've been a bit tired!

Off to get some work in before we see the crocs. Have a great weekend and please shout for Ghana at the soccer!

Unexpected

It seems that we are going to the Japan vs Paraguay game in Pretoria this afternoon. Hope it's not too cold!

As requested...

A short summary of the visitors we've had so far:

• 2 x crazy, fun-loving, affable, not-very-concerned-about-time Mexicans
• 1 x chilled, sweet, un-British Brit who lives in Barcelona
• 2 x lovely, can't-drive-a-stick-shift-but-game-for-anything-else, thoughtful Americans from South Carolina
• 2 x self-sufficient, quiet, pleasant New Yorkers (originally from the Philippines)
• 2 x generous, curious Canadians (1 of whom was born in Romania and grew up in Spain)
• 2 x relaxed, easy-to-talk-to Aussies who have been travelling for three months
• 2 x young, friendly Malaysians (at the stadium as I type)

TSC and I are loving it, although it is rather exhausting to host all these people. We are looking forward to a break next week between guests and are considering finding a nice sunny spot to getaway for a day or two and be looked after by someone else.

Three guests to go and then we're done. I'm going to miss the buzz and meeting new people, but I am so keen for some sleep!

No time to write the post I want to...

...But here's something to make the Saffers smile ;-)

So out of the loop

I hate not blogging everyday. I feel like I'm on a hamster wheel at the moment though (are we human, or are we hamster?) with all that's going on.

At least we have a self-sufficient couple of guests staying with us at present, which means that yesterday we actually had a free day. They are New Yorkers, which may explain it. They have a rental car and we only see them briefly in the mornings before they disappear to explore Joburg or in the evenings before they go to bed.

I must say, it's a nice break from having guests who have totally underestimated the lack of public transport options in South Africa and need us to drive them everywhere. Shame, the last couple we had was also from the USA and they had a rental too. Problem was, they'd never driven a "stick shift" / manual car before, so it was pretty useless for them. They eventually handed it in early because trying to learn how to operate the gears at the same time as the clutch was just too much, especially seeing everything here is also on the opposite side of the vehicle and we drive on the other side of the road. Apparently renting an automatic is double the price though. They'd just assumed the car would be automatic and were REALLY surprised to find out that most of our cars here are manual.

Saw Toy Story 3 yesterday. LOVED IT. I was surprised by that. Sequels generally suck, but this was divine. I definitely recommend it.

Anyway, off to pick up the Mexicans from the Gautrain now, so must dash. Hope to be a better blogger this week!

Of vuvuzelas and V8s

What an awesome weekend!

Friday's opening soccer match of the World Cup between South Africa and Mexico had us all on the edge of our seats. The 1-1 draw was probably the best result for TSC and I, seeing we had two Mexicans staying with us ;-) At least relations were still friendly. I'd have loved our Bafana to win though, obviously.

Saturday turned out to be far more exciting than expected - we headed to the FIFA ticketing centre to see if we could still get tickets for any of the games, now that we have a better idea of what our guests are up to and when we will be free.

We managed to get Premier Tickets for the Nigeria / Argentina game at Ellis Park that afternoon. They cost a fortune, but we figured it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so we took the plunge and let our poor credit card take a beating.

In the afternoon, we travelled with our two Mexicans to the stadium, us wearing our SA kit (TSC insisted on wearing his Springbok jersey in support of the Boks, but he did let me paint our flag on his cheek) and them wearing their Mexican wrestling masks. While we drove we listened to the Afrikaans radio commentary of the Boks thrashing the French rugby team. The commentator was getting very excited when Gurtho Steenkamp charged down the field to score a try. The Mexicans obviously had no idea what was potting and asked us if Gurtho Steenkamp was some sort of rude phrase. We said yes, in a manner of speaking. If you're French, it is ;-)

It took us ages to get to the Park and Walk facilities at Athlone Boys' School. We walked almost 2km to the stadium, which I thought was great fun - families came out into the street to blow vuvuzelas and cheer on the groups walking to Ellis Park and enterprising locals tried to sell flags, vuvuzelas and other paraphernalia.

At the stadium, I stopped to paint South African flags on the cheeks of some Japanese visitors before we made our way to our box / suite. When we got there we discovered that we had no seats. Either FIFA oversold the seats available, or people had climbed into our box from the one adjacent, but there was nowhere for us to sit.

We were furious, having paid a huge sum for the tickets. Thankfully, there were two seats available in the box next to ours, which was filled with Nigerian fans. A kind Nigerian gentleman named Andrew let us sit next to him. When he invited us into their box at half-time for a drink and snacks, we realised (on seeing the bodyguards) that we were in the Nigerian presidential box!

Thank you, Andrew, whomever you may be. You saved our game.

It was another nail-biting game. We blew our vuvuzela until we were light-headed and cheered Nigeria on. Unfortunately, the hooligans from Argentina tried to hang one of their banners in front of our seats, but the police came along and took it down, putting an end to the fight (which was about to get physical) between the Nigerians and the Argentinians.

The game, as I'm sure most of you know, ended 1-0 to the Argentinian side.

We said goodbye to the Nigerians we'd met, after stopping to help them take photos of the group, met up with the Mexicans, walked back to the school, sat for 30min trying to get out of the parking field and headed to Nandos for supper.

Apparently our cricket team also performed well against the Windies, but aside from watching the game live, my favourite part of the weekend was last night's Grand Prix, which was epic. Not a single boring lap and my boys from McLaren came in first and second (and in the order I prefer). We watched with our Italian neighbours at our place, having taken the Mexicans to the airport for their two-day Cape Town joint.

What a cool weekend. Hope yours was good too!

Today...

...I am so proud to be a South African.

This country has its problems, but boy has it delivered this time. Viva Bafana Bafana!!!

Midnight again

I seem to be up at this hour a whole lot over the past two weeks, whether because I've been on a crazy deadline for a massive (and by that I do mean insanely huge) freelance project or because I've been out at Montecasino with my two eternally energetic Mexican World Cup guests (as was the case tonight - in fact they are still there, at the Black Jack tables).

WOW. It's been insane.

And yet I'm so happy right now. Perhaps it's because that deadline for the massive freelance project is gone and the work is done, or perhaps it's because my guests have not burnt down my house, but turned out to be extremely cool people instead. Or perhaps it's because I've had a couple of glasses of red wine, or because my cat is sleeping next to me on the bed. Or because World Cup Fever has hit. Or because my head has gone loopy from all the vuvuzelas blown in my ears.

Who knows?

But whatever the case, I am exhausted and yet excited. And I am sorry I haven't read your blogs this past while, but I promise you that I have not even had time to learn the Diski or file the annoying hang nail on my right hand.

I will try to be better next week, when the Mexicans have gone off to Cape Town for a bit. Until then, I will dream of visiting Mexico in the brief periods its locals give me to sleep.

And think of the extra line to the song we've given them... Waka waka eh eh... gaan kak in die mielies ;-)

Feel free to translate in the comments sections for the readers abroad, all you saffers.

Oh, and have a happy first game today. Go BAFANA!!!

Self-employed

Today I got up as usual, showered and got dressed for work. The difference was that when it came time to leave for the office, I pulled on my slippers, put in a load of washing and sat down behind my laptop at the dining room table (where the sun shines in through the window).

Yes, this self employment thing has its benefits. Aside from the sound of the washing machine and the builders somewhere in the complex, all is quiet. No incessant phone ringing. No annoying music playing (that always drove me mad at the office). I had done more by 9am this morning than I would normally have accomplished by lunch time at the office.

Of course, it also has its pitfalls. Like yesterday, when TSC was at home trying to study for his geology exam and the once-a-week cleaner and gardener we employ were also here. Between the vacuum cleaner, lawn mower and constant questions (What does argillaceous mean? Where's the tile cleaner? Can I cut this branch off?) I got nothing done. It was infuriating.

I'm guessing that Tuesdays will be my client meeting and outings days in future.

The cats can't quite decided whether me working from home is a good thing or not. On the one hand (paw) they know that I am now at their beck and call all day long. But on the other, they can't get up to mischief without me knowing about it either.

There's two sides to every coin, hey ;-)

Amazing people rock my world

I am so blessed to have awesome people in my life. My family and friends are the best I could ask for and my husband is my personal Prince Charming. But I realised today that even some of the "peripheral" characters in my life are incredible.

See, I'm doing a workshop on personal branding and marketing next week and as an exercise before the event, we've been asked to contact 10 people we work with in some form or another (colleagues, mentors, managers, associates from places where we volunteer) and ask them for honest opinions on how they perceive us.

I sent out my email this morning and the responses I've had from people have been really touching, especially seeing I hardly know some of these people in a personal capacity. The fact they are willing to take time out of their hectic schedules to help me with this exercise is really sweet, but the fact that they are saying lovely things just makes me want to cry. I'm so grateful for the relationships I have in this world, both in my personal life and in my work capacity.

And it makes me realise how much impact a good compliment can make on someone. So I challenge you to find 10 people you come into contact with regularly and pay each of them an honest, agenda-free compliment over the next few days. You'll not only make them smile, you'll improve your relationship with them too.

Have a fab Friday.

New and improved (please to ignore the oxymoron)

I have FINALLY updated my blogroll (thanks for the prompt, Cam). Not a simple process. It meant finally moving my feeds across to Google Feed Reader and weeding out all the blogs that are dormant, defunct or not on my reading list anymore to ensure that my subscriptions are all up to date. I think it's fine now. But if you think you should be on that list and you're not, please mail me at doodlesofajourno at gmail dot com because my brain is like a sieve and I can't promise that I've remembered everyone.

Let me say though, that if you have not updated your blog in months or years, if your blog is now private and you haven't invited me to read it or if I haven't stopped by your blog in more than six months, you won't be on the list. Sorry, folks. But as Run DMC said, "It's like that, that's just the way it is."

In other news, our church small group decided to go for a salsa lesson as a social last night at Marrakesh Lounge. It was good fun. You pay R50 for a beginners' lesson of an hour and then you can hang around, have drinks, watch the intermediate group and practise later on in the eve. We unfortunately couldn't stay much longer than our class as TSC had studying to do, but we had a great time and even ran into a few people we knew. The beginners' classes are great for singles or couples as you rotate partners and get to meet a bunch of people. There must have been about 40 of us there. If it weren't on a Wednesday evening when we have our small group we'd probably go more often.

Off to follow up with some difficult-to-pin-down interviewees for a big freelance project now. Seriously, some people think the world revolves around them. *sigh* Patience is required.

Lacking in logic

Is it just me, or is common sense a thing of the past?

Take, for example, the local car dealership situated within walking distance of my house. One would imagine that when constructing such a development, it would be wise to consider how the cars that will be sold are going to arrive at the dealership. But no, the clever people who built it made sure that the entrance is impossible to access for the car delivery vehicles. See, those long trucks can't turn too well, so putting two turning circles in the narrow entrance to your dealership is not a good idea.

What now happens is that the trucks have to offload the vehicles in the middle of the road that goes through the suburb and then drive each car separately the rest of the way into the dealership development. This causes nightmares for the other cars trying to use the road while the trucks are offloading.

What's worse is that once the trucks have offloaded, they can't turn around. So they have to drive down the rest of the road, which ends in a cul de sac outside the development where we live and then do a 60-point turn to get to face the opposite direction so that they can get back onto the main road. If you live in the development where I do, it is common to be kept waiting at the main gate for ages while you wait for the poor truck driver to complete this mammoth manouevre.

Like so...

Lacking in logic.

In another prime example of the inability to think rationally, there's the client who told me I can't use the term "SA is currently soccer mad" in a press release because it has negative connotations and people might think that I'm insinuating that South Africans have become mentally insane.

Deficient in common sense.

And, of course, there's the client who insisted on having a media release translated into Afrikaans before the English version had been amended and approved, meaning that every time she makes changes on the English one, the Afrikaans one has to be changed again too.

Short on reason.

Of course, I can't forget the estate agents who don't call before they bring a prospective new tenant to see the house we're using as Red Tree offices and then get annoyed when there's nobody here to let them in.

Without sound judgment.

*sigh*

I know I'm not alone in my frustrations. Someone else feels my pain - check out this obituary for Common Sense.

Da-dalalala, da... dalalala...

We're leaving together, but it's still farewell, and maybe we'll come back, to earth, who can tell?

...

It's the final countdown...

Less than a week left at Red Tree! Less than two weeks until our first World Cup guests start to arrive! Less than three weeks until the opening match!

All the exclamation marks are making me panic!!!

Exciting / scary / awesome / stressful / brilliant / freaky stuff, people. Especially on a tame Tuesday morning.

I wish Mondays were less regular

Weekends are so cool, even when nothing particularly exciting happens, which was the case over this one. Unless you're a rugby fan, which I'm not really.

The only real drama this weekend was that our cat, Marble, managed to injure his front left paw on Friday. My poor baby - I was so worried about him and convinced he'd fractured it. But once I got TSC to hold him still and had a good look at it, it turned out that it was just a small (but sore) gash on one of his foot pads. You'd never have guessed by the fuss he was making, hopping along on three legs and meowing piteously. He had managed to get it dirty, so we cleaned the wound, applied some soothing antiseptic cream the vet gave us last time one of the kitties had a little injury (why do they make this stuff lumo orange, I'd like to know?), and bandaged the leg.

After that Marble truly did feel sorry for himself and meowed as loudly as he could while hopping about and trying to shake the dressing off. TSc and I were convinced our neighbours were going to report us to the SPCA with the sounds coming from our house.

Marble took about an hour to get the bandage loose, but at least the cream had a chance to work a bit. Plus he was so exhausted from all his protesting that he just settled down in the sun and rested the paw.

Today he's walking almost normally again. I'm almost sure he exaggerates the limp when he realises someone's watching ;-)

We spent most of the weekend (aside for supper club on Fri) working and repainting some of the pine boxes I've been given from Red Tree's offices. One would think that would be an easy job. Not if you're married to uber-perfectionist TSC!

They had to be sanded on each side (that's eight sides per box), have the (miniscule) cracks filled with wood filler, be resanded, get coated with universal undercoat and then be painted with two coats of enamel paint. And I couldn't just slap the paint on either. I had to "cut in" neatly in the inside corners and then coat each side with a small paint roller.

We're not done yet. We've only done the first coat. Still, they do look gorgeous. And they were free. So the DIY was definitely worth the effort. I'll take photos once they're done.

Love 'em links

A few places you might find me procrastinating on the internets...

The Cupcake Lady. Just looking at Angel's gorgeous cupcakes make me happy. And hungry. And Shayne's Yummy Mummy treats are just as tempting!

The new Pick 'n Pay website. I had NO idea that PnP offered travel packages! Plus you can coordinate all your recipes online (great for people like me who tend to lose things written on paper) and even draw up a shopping list that you can then view on your phone while you're instore.

Photoshop Disasters. The name says it all. Originally introduced to me by Phillygirl, this is now a regular hangout of mine. Makes you feel a bit better about yourself when you can see even Kimora is subject to body swaps to be magazine cover friendly.

The Secret Beauty Blogger. She works for a beuty mag, where she has to say nice things about the products, but she spills the real deal on her blog. Plus, if you are fashion and beauty clueless like me, SBB has the answers you need.

Three sites that Helen has introduced me to (not sure if I love her or hate her for these):
Sleep Talkin' Man (the insanely amusing nocturnal ramblings of an Englishman), Autocomplete Me (the bizarre crap people plug into Google search) and The Impossible Quiz (yes, it is pretty damn impossible).

Rotten Tomatoes. I'm actually quite compulsive about this site. I have to, have to, have to check out movie ratings here before I book to see a new film. I even access this site from my phone to check ratings while I'm browsing in the DVD rental shop. It has, I must admit, spared me from many soppy romcoms, action-less action flicks and pointless political thrillers.

And if I'm not on these sites when I'm online, chances are I'm on your blog.

Have a fab weekend, all.

How can it be Thursday?!?!

This week has been insane. I won't bore you with the details, but here are the highs and lows Paula style)...

LOWS:

• Spending the whole day at one of the PR clients yesterday for no apparent reason. What a waste of time!
• Finding out that someone has reversed into the front passenger side of my car and buckled the whole panel above the wheel arch. They of course, did not bother to leave a note. I hate that I will now to pay an excess and have it fixed when it wasn't my fault.
• Realising that I will have to confront Red Tree and Orange Coffee about the arrangement with me going forward.
• Not having enough time to blog, read blogs or comment :(
• Not having a free night of the week.
• Going to Santini's for the first time on Friday to sokkie and there not being enough space to stand on the dance floor, let alone actually dance.

HIGHS:

• Reading through all your supportive comments on my stressed out post last week.
• Getting loads of house stuff done on Saturday that will help get everything ready before the world cup folks arrive.
• Painting murals at Kitty Haven on Sunday and spending quality time with the new kittens (there are about 120 of them, so if you know someone who is looking to adopt...).
• Getting a special mention on Cam's blog when he wrote his 500th post.
• Realising that there's nothing I can do about the whole government project thingey until they actually come up with a brief and put it to me in writing, which has stopped me stressing about it until the ball is in my court again.
• Having awesome sushi at Best of Asia on Tuesday (their buy two, get one free night).
• Lighting a fire for life group last night and having quality chats with our group in the nice warm lounge with hot chocolate.

What's up with you guys?

In a Flap on a Friday

Long post ahead, more because I need to get all this stuff out of my head than because I want you to read it. But feel free to leave your point of view for me - it helps to have someone see this from the outside.

Feeling unsettled today. There are many reasons for this:

The massive freelance project I've taken on doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I've asked the editor what comes next (he's supposed to be supplying me with some guidelines and contacts), but he's not been very helpful and I'm petrified that the deadline will arrive and I won't have been able to complete the 10 000 words of copy that I'm supposed to hand in!

I had a meeting this morning scheduled for me by my boss at Red Tree with the ad company it is merging with, let's call them Orange Coffee (in the great tradition of random agency names). She seems to have given the folk at Orange Coffee the impression that I'll be available to them as part of my agreement with her to continue writing for Red Tree clients for the two months after I leave the company on a contractor basis to assist her with the transition.

This is not my plan at all! I don't want to take on any further PR or advertising work. I want to stop doing it. To give you an idea of why... one freelance feature story for a publication I often work with pays me more than my monthly salary at Red Tree. Surely I should be pursuing the work that I enjoy and that pays decently rather than the work I dislike that doesn't pay?

Then, the man I met with at Orange Coffee proceeded to take me to a meeting with the advertising wing of one of the local publishing houses and introduce me as the copywriter on a major project they want to undertake with government, which they would pay me for as a separate fee. This meeting made me very uncomfortable. There are also many reasons for this:

• I have not signed any agreements with Orange Coffee, but will now feel guilty if I say no to this project as they've already introduced me to the client and "sold" me and my skills to the company. I know that it's silly to feel bad about something like that and will do my best not to, but I know myself.
• I don't like working with government. In my experience, they have big ideas but move incredibly slowly, are often unreliable (in terms of deadlines and payment) and I've burned my fingers with projects for them before. Orange Coffee assures me, however, that I would be paid by the agency, not the client, and that boundaries would be set in place to ensure that no work gets done without government supplying the necessary funds, information etc. Not sure I fully believe this.
• This project would mean a year-long committment to produce four sets of content at three-month periods (ie. one project per quarter). I would need to travel around the country to visit local government branches to collect the info and would probably have to give up at least two weeks of the month every third month to work on this project solidly. Now, I can't predict what will happen in a year's period. And I have other committments to keep in mind. I have monthly retainer clients whose newsletters or web copy needs to be written at a certain time during the month. I oversee a deacon team at church with TSC and lead a weekly small group. It would also tie my hands in terms of taking on new freelance clients in case the deadlines fall during those two-week periods when I would be travelling or unavailable. Furthermore, I'm not keen to tie myself to an unknown quantity for a year. But there's apparently no chance of doing the first project of the four and then making a decision - this is a package deal.
• Once again, this would essentially be PR work thinly disguised as journalism. It's not the direction I want to head in. I want to write feature stories, not ad or PR copy. I've done that and I don't enjoy it.

On the other hand, this project would pay incredibly well. As in, one of the four sets of content would probably make me more than I've earned in a year of freelancing to date. And, although I'm not about the money, I do have to consider the wisdom of turning down such a big sum that would give us more financial security while TSC is studying and would give me more freedom in the jobs I choose to tackle going forward. All the same, this doesn't sit well with me at the moment. I think lots of prayer is needed and some advice from people on the outside. So hit me with your best shot.

Off to think about how I can put together a contract for the next two months that protects me from abuse from both Red Tree and Orange Coffee.

Have a good weekend.

Southern Sun Montecasino competition

The new, swanky 4-star Southern Sun Montecasino opened on 24 April and they're now running a competition to get some attention for the hotel from bloggers. You can win a weekend at the hotel as the prize and all you have to do is post the questions below and your answers and then email the link to sheenag at aquaonline dot com before 14 May (tomorrow). Best get on it!

So here goes:

1. What is the opening rate special? R1050 per room per night (B&B for two people sharing)
2. Where has the latest Southern Sun opened? Montecasino, Fourways, Johannesburg
3. Who is the General Manager of the hotel? Robert Jasper
4. How many rooms are there in the new hotel? 194
5. When is their room service available, how many hours a day? 24 hours a day. Pretty cool.
   Which item would you most like to order off the Punchinello’s menu? Hmmm.... the Lamb Manti: Turkish Lamb pastry envelopes on a Tomato Ragout with a Yogurt and Paprika burnt Butter. Yum!

Yesterday, today and tomorrow

Yesterday:

• I got meet Damaria IRL for the first time. She very kindly agreed to give up a big chunk of her afternoon to chat through some of the things I'm going to have to deal with as a fulltime freelancer. What an awesome, knowledgeable lady! And so willing to share her experiences and the lessons she's learned.
• TSC spent the whole day studying for his first exam. He was so desperate to get out of the house that he came along with me when I met Damaria and he sat on the other side of the coffee shop with his books and an Americano coffee. His brain was fried after doing a squillion hydraulics calculations, so we decided to see a movie last night to give him time to unwind.
• We saw Iron Man 2. I was expecting to be disappointed because sequels usually suck big time. But I actually really enjoyed it. Yes, the plot is totally ridiculous (c'mon, people - it's based on a comic book, not a biography) and it probably doesn't do justice to the original Marvel characters (I'm not a comic book fan, so I wouldn't know). But the explosions are big, the CGI is impressive, there are nice touches of humour and there's even a Grand Prix scene. I was sold. If you haven't seen it yet and are still planning to do so, make sure you stay till the end of the credits. There's a (very) short Easter Egg scene that links the film to the next big Marvel adventures with Thor and The Avengers.

Today:

• I woke up this morning to find that I had managed to get rid of the mouthguard I was supposed to be sleeping with sometime during the night. I must have spat it out in my sleep. Even my subconscious objects to wearing the thing.
• I arrived at the office to find an email from one of the PR clients wanting to know how the writing is going on a piece I haven't been briefed on. The deadline for this piece is apparently Friday.
• The freelance client I am supposed to be meeting this afternoon has not responded to my emails requesting confirmation and address details. Why is everyone seemingly incapable of adult communication?!

Tomorrow:

• Is the only day of this week without meetings scheduled. I plan to enjoy that.
• I was supposed to have a cupcake order due, but it has been cancelled. I am relieved. I would have had to fit in the baking between meetings and church small group this evening, which would have been a mission.
• The day before Friday. Yay!

Assorted catch-up again

I'm feeling a bit out of it today. The headache has now been with me constantly for more than a month. I've stopped noticing it so much, except when it's particularly bad, which it was this weekend. The muscle relaxants my doc gave me helped diddly squat (ie. not at all) and so yesterday I finally got me some sleeping pills. I took one last night and although it didn't seem to help, I'm now feeling zonked. Delayed reaction?

My mom also told me to try sleeping with a mouthguard, which apparently stops you clenching your teeth in your sleep, which in turn stops stressing your neck muscles that cause the tension headache.

I duly went and purchased one, which TSC finds hilarious because I think mouthguards are the most unattractive thing in the world. It took me an hour and a half to fall asleep with that thing in my mouth. And then I woke up with it hurting me at about 2am, so I took it off. I possibly should have been less of a cheapskate and bought one of the more expensive options that looked a bit softer, but I'll give it another go tonight and see if I get used to the piece of plastic in my face. Ugh.

Other than beign dazed and confused, I'm doing fine. I think. Had a great weekend - we had a bunch of people over for a potjie and red wine tasting on Sat, which went really well. We asked everyone to bring two bottles of the same red wine. We opened the first bottle of each (after I'd wrapped them in masking tape and written just a number on each so people couldn't see the labels) and used those for a blind tasting. We then voted for our favourite number before unveling the wines. The winning wine, which we all thought was a nice aged shiraz, ended up being a cheap but glorious wine that none of us had ever heard of before (Gôiya). The wine TSC and I had picked came second (a blend called Cederburger).

We then ate lunch (TSC's DIVINE lamb potjie - yum!) and afterwards played the crazy-Santa gift-swap game with the second bottle of each wine so that each person went home with a different bottle to the one they'd bought. It was so much fun and we'll definitely do it again.

Mothers' Day was also awesome, despite a touch Grand Prix for my team (Lewis Hamilton's tyre delaminated on the second-last lap). We went to Capeesh with the parentals and it was a lovely time (although my pasta wasn't great the chocolate mousse cake made up for everything). My mom, who has the flu, seemed to ilke her presents, which is good seeing I chose the one from TSC and I and then told my dad and brother what to get her when they each phoned me from the mall on Saturday ;-)

Off for coffee with Damaria now. Chat to y'all tomorrow.

7 facts on a Friday

Well, they're not really facts.


But seeing Ruby and Louisa gave me this award (thank you, my friends), I'm supposed to tell you seven interesting things about me and pass this along to seven people. But you get to hear about me in almost every blog post here, so I'm just giving you all the information I would've posted today anyway in seven bullet points.

• Yesterday I got a surprise phone call from the awesome Damaria. I'd emailed her asking for any advice on transitioning to self-employment as this is something she's done successfully. She gave me a ring and we're going to hook up for coffee next week. Will be so nice to meet her after reading her blog for so long.
• I saw The Men Who Stare at Goats last night with TSC. It was ok. There were some hilarious laugh-out-loud moments, but there was lots of randomness and mediocrity too. I'm glad we saw it, even if the story doesn't really go anywhere. I'd give it 6.5 out of 10.

• While we were at movies at Montecasino, I ran into a girl who was at highschool with me. In fact, we were both in the boarding establishment for grades 11 and 12, so we saw loads of each other. I haven't seen her since. And seeing we went to school in Durban, which is about 600km away from Johannesburg, it's quite a coincidence to run into her at movies on a Thursday night in my neighbourhood after eight years. She's now a doctor, doing her internship. She couldn't believe that I've got married (probably because last she saw me, I was convinced I'd never get hitched). We swapped phone numbers and will hopefully make a plan to catch up soon.
• TSC and I are hosting a red wine and potjie lunch tomorrow for a couple of people we haven't seen in too long. I can't wait! This winter weather is perfect for a potjie.
• I managed to get half of my mom's mother's day present yesterday. Seeing she and my dad have taken to occasionally lurking here, I can't mention what it is.
• I heard a new term this week: vajazzling. I find it a bit freaky actually.
• I am going to suck up my OCD just this once and end on seven points and not a nice, proper even number. Rules are rules.

Although rules are made to be broken, aren't they? I'm not going to nominate seven people to pass this along to because a) so many of the bloggers I would nominate have done this already and b) I don't want anyone to feel obliged to do this meme. But know that if I read your blog, I rate you as a Beautiful Blogger (substitute a suitable adjective for all the men bloggers). So please go ahead and do this meme if you like.

And have a good weekend.

Lanyards

Right. Cam, Po... take your pick. What colour and which type of attachment at the bottom?

In other news, today has been one of those days that starts off slow and then snowballs into craziness. Clients who think they can send you a meeting request on the day of the meeting without any explanation as to why they want a meeting... they suck. So do clients who consistently leave it until the day before they need something before letting you know. And clients who pay late.

Thankfully the sun is shining today, which has had a positive influence on my mood. Also, I just had leftovers from last night (curried chicken pancakes) for lunch, so I'm now feeling warm and sleepy and not particularly in the mood to fight with anyone. Or throttle them with a lanyard.

Due to lack of time and inspiration...

...This post has been substituted with a meme.

Out of these 99 things, I've bolded the ones I've done. What about you?

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to DisneyWorld
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bunjee jumped Does bridge swinging count?
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own veggies
19. Seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre We visited the Louvre on a Monday. It's closed on Mondays.
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillowfight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not sick
24. Made a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Ran a marathon
27. Went skinny dipping
28. Rode in a gondola in Venice
29. Witnessed total eclipse
30. Seen a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run Does a home run in Rounders count? Have never played actual baseball.
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace/ home of your ancestors Some of them.
35. Seen an Amish country
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa Duh.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Taken a ride in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower
50. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
51. Kissed in the rain
52. Played in the mud
53. Gone to a drive-in theater
54. Been in a movie
55. Visited the Great Wall of China
56. Started a business
57. Taken a martial arts class Does kata-box count? Probably not ;-)
58. Visited Russia
59. Worked at a soup kitchen
60. Sold Girl Scout cookies
61. Gone whale watching
62. Gotten flowers for no reason
63. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma I can't.
64. Gone sky diving
65. Visited Nazi concentration camp
66. Bounced a check
67. Flown in a helicopter
68. Saved a childhood toy
69. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
70. Eaten caviar
71. Pieced a quilt
72. Stood in Times Square
73. Toured the Everglades
74. Been fired from a job
75. Seen the changing of the guards in London
76. Broken a bone
77. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
78. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
79. Published a book Hopefully soon!
80. Visited the Vatican
81. Bought a brand new car
82. Visited Jerusalem
83. Had your picture in the paper
84. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
85. Visited the White House
86. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
87. Had chickenpox
88. Saved someone’s life
89. Sat on a jury
90. Met someone famous
91. Joined a book club
92. Got a tattoo
93. Had a baby
94. Seen the Alamo in person
95. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
96. Been involved in a law suit
97. Owned a cell phone
98. Been stung by a bee
99. Swam in the Black Sea

I think I have 40. Not bad, I guess. There are some I never plan on doing. Like selling girl scout cookies.

Limbo

My office is looking empty. Now that the company is merging with another and I'm leaving, lots of packing up has to be done.

So far we've sold lots of the furniture and chucked out lots of random stuff that's been carted around from office to office over the years (we have about 250 lanyards lying around. Weird). My paperwork has all been sorted out and personal items taken home. Now it's just me sitting on my pilates ball at my desk with my PC, phone and my red stapler.

It all somehow feels surreal, like it's happening to someone else. But then again, it's too busy for me to actually sit down and think about it (nevermind blog about it properly), so it's just a case of moving forward everyday until the new reality sets in.

Did that make any sense?

As long as I have my stapler, I'll be fine.

Greetings, Blogland

It's been years since I've gone so long between posts, but I promise you it wasn't intentional. Communication has proved difficult in the last week or so thanks to various factors, such as the fact that my phone started giving me issues and wouldn't let me send or recieve SMS, the work internet was down due to a Telkom problem and I'd used up my ADSL cap at home and the Telkom online recharge facility was not working. Have I ever mentioned how much Telkom frustrates me?

So I would like to use this post to say the following:

• Happy belated 30th birthday to Phillygirl. Sorry it's a week late. I promise that I thought of you on 26 April all day. Hope the year ahead is super awesome in every way.
• Sorry to anyone who has emailed / SMSed me and not received a reply yet. I am working my way through the backlog and hope to get there soon.
• Where the Wild Things Are is one of the weirdest movies I have seen. Ever.
• Packing up a company takes more work than I would have believed. And more boxes.
• Throwing things out / donating old stuff / recycling is cathartic.
• May scares me. There is so much I need to get done this month that I just want to crwal under my winter duvet and keen. It's less than a month till my World Cup visitors arrive. Eep!
• This freezing cold weather is making me grumpy.
• I have no idea what to get my mom for Mothers' Day.
• I am tempted to click "mark as read" on the hundreds of items in my feed reader.
• I managed to get to 10 bullet points. Yay! 10 points for me.

Announcement

Today lots changed in my little world:

I came back to work after being so sick.

My boss broke the news that our company is merging with another agency.

I resigned.

That last one has been coming awhile. I was planning on doing it next week. Certainly not today. But things happen for a reason, hey.

My freelancing is at the point where I have to take it fulltime. I can't fit it into a half day anymore. And now, with my company being part of a big ad agency, I know this is the right time. I've worked in an agency before and didn't enjoy it. I don't want to be back where I started out. Freelancing is my dream.

So, as of 1 June, I will be living the dream.

Hell of a way to start the weekend.

Have a good one. I have to go lie down now.

Status: alive, if not kicking

Hello internet people. Sorry for the absence. I was knocked flat by a most revolting case of gastroenteritis and have been living on meds and dry toast for the past few days. But I'm back now. Just so you know. And I'll be back in the office tomorrow, which is probably a good thing. Cabin fever sucks.

That is all for now.

Decisions...

I'll go for both, I guess.

I had my first good night of sleep in about three weeks last night and my headache has dialed down a notch in severity. In my mind this proves my theory that the headache is sleep (or lack thereof) related. So, methinks it's time to pick up some sleeping pills a little stronger than my usual herbal thingy mabobs and spend some quality time with my pillow. the very idea thrills me.

It's the weekend, baby. Have a good one. I plan to.

Try this trick and spin it, yeah...

And you'll ask yourself, where is my mind?

Seriously. It's gone. My mind, that is. Or was. Or whatever.

Last night I dreamt that I poisoned myself. Not a suicide dream - there was actually some purpose or reason that I had to poison myself, Romeo and Juliet style. Can't remember why, but it all made sense in the dream. Then, in another dream, I was in a play about pirates and policemen. My bit was to storm on stage wearing an eye patch, bang my tin mug on the table and storm off again. I was awesome. You would have cheered and clapped for me.

So, Pixies, where is my mind?

Not on this blog yesterday, obviously, or there would've been a 14 April 2010 post here. There's not. And this is because I could not think in a straight line (or even a curved line. Or dotted line), simply because I had not had enough sleep.

This was not because of bizarre dreams (although there were some), but because I knew I had to get up early to be dressed and ready to leave for a business networking breakfast that started at 7am. When I know I have to get up early, my brain wakes me up every 10 minutes just to make sure that I don't oversleep. Which I didn't. In fact, I just plain didn't sleep, nevermind oversleep.

But, I am back today, lucky you, in all my magic randonmess to tell you about my crazy poisoning dreams and leave you with these interesting thoughts from the inimitable Edward Monkton:

Jumping on the bandwagon

Ok, so it's more like wearily waving at the bandwagon as it rumbles on by, but who cares?

As the headache is still hanging around, my inspiration is non-existent and everyone else is doing it (probably the real reason), today I'm going to do a question post(Brazen, Po, Sleepyjane and Cam style). Sucker for peer pressure, hey?

Anyway... I am going to ask some questions and you can answer in the comments section. Or not. That's fine too. I just won't love you as much. Kidding! Maybe.

Here goes...

1. What's the last dream you remember? I dreamt that two of my clients had a meeting and got into a cat fight. It was SO funny.
2. Favourite take-out? Probably Nandos, of the fast food type places. Otherwise Ghazal's. Yum!
3. Song stuck in your head? Jack Parow's "Cooler as ekke". I blame Cam. The music video is so funny!
4. Person you'd most like to smack in the head? Toss up between Malema and one of my clients, let's call him Oblivious.
5. Language you most wish you could speak? Mandarin Chinese. It would be useful and also sound hilarious coming out my mouth ;-)
6. Favourite feature on yourself? Probably my hair, when it behaves itself. It's a nice colour.

YOUR TURN!

Weekend catch-up

Hello fabulous people.

It's day 14 of the headache. This is getting ridiculous. I think I may have to actually visit some sort of medical professional now. I can't keep pretending it will go away.

Other than the aching head, things are good. TSC and I had fun at the chocolate-making course this weekend. Pics below. I'm so glad I have a man that's secure enough in his masculinity to come along to women-dominated events like this. But he's as much of a chocoholic as I am, so that may also have had something to do with it.


TSC having (messy) fun painting the moulds with melted chocolate to make filled choccies

Adding the finishing touches to chocolate-dipped Pistachio Turkish Delight. Yum!

The results...

We also had two dinners with two different sets of friends, which was great fun, saw my mom and gran for Saturday lunch before my gran headed back to Mpumalanga, shopped for my grand-dad's 84th birthday present and saw my mom again for lunch on Sun to hand over the presents so she can take them down to Natal next weekend. I even got some work done somewhere in between and TSC watched some rugby.

It was a good and busy weekend although it felt too short. The public holidays in April leave us a bit spoilt and the two-day weekend seemed inadequate, especially for TSC who headed back to varsity today with a barrage of tests and exams lying ahead.

But after that he gets six weeks of holiday, so I must admit that my sympathy levels are not the highest ;-)

Have a good one.

"Still?!"

One of the best lines from Slumdog Millionaire.

But I am referring here to my headache, which started last Monday and has continued without pause. And it's still here. So you'll have to excuse me if I don't continue this post. Have to find some painkillers.

Have a fab weekend, everyone. Try to behave yourselves.

Random Thursday thoughts

Joburg is having an identity crisis. It seems to think (or the weather does at least) that it's Cape Town at the moment with four seasons in a day.

Watched 2012 last night. What a waste of time. Blegh. Take every action scene you'd ever expect in an end-of-the-world movie, string them together, make sure you shoot four of each scene, interchanged with touching parent/child close-ups, and you have 2012. I love John Cusack, but what was he thinking?!

It's already Thursday. That's a good thing because tomorrow's Friday, but a bad thing because there was so much more I was supposed to get done this week! Life is so crazy busy at the moment. I'm struggling to keep up with my morning job, freelance load, Makro nonsense and my writing course, which is nearly at its end. *sad face* I've really enjoyed it, but I wish I'd had more time to spend on it. At least I've made some good contacts. We're planning to start a writers group after the course so that we can keep motivation up.

This Saturday, TSC and I are going to do a chocolate-making workshop. I did some years ago and it was good fun, so I'm looking forward to it. Makes for an interesting date ;-)

I have not much else to say. Here's a baffling link for you. If anyone can tell me how this works, I will be forever grateful!

Cinephile: (n) person with a passionate interest in cinema

I am now on day nine of a continuous headache. That can't be normal. Anyway, seeing the head is not working so well, here's a post that doesn't require too much brainpower. More one-line movie reviews!

Below are some movies that I think are worth watching that many people I know haven't seen or even heard of. Because I studied film, I am supposed to like all the "classics" like Pulp Fiction, Blue Velvet, The Godfather and Requiem for a Dream. I don't like any of those films. That doesn't mean I can't appreciate what they stand for, all they achieved and so on. It just means that given the choice between one of those flicks and the ones below, I'd pick the non-classics any day.

Cellular This movie never made it to the big screen in Suoth Africa, despite being a great skop, skiet en donder (Afrikaans for kick, shoot and beat up[rude]) flick that consists mainly of great car chases, hold-ups and kidnapping scenes.

Les Triplettes de Belleville This crazy French animation doesn't use many words so subtitles won't be necessary as you are taken on a mad adventure by a squint granny and her fat dog to rescue her cyclist grandson from gangsters in Belleville (which looks suspiciously like New York City).

Memento (This movie has (rightfully) gained an audience in recent years and is now more widely available, so see it if you get the chnace) A remarkable mind-job of a film that showcases the power of editing and Christopher Nolan's talent as a director (I'm betting it was this film that put him i line to direct the latest Batman movies), Memento stars the impressive Guy Pearce as a man suffering from short-term memory loss who uses notes and tattoos to remind himself of the facts in his quest to find his wife's murderer.

Danny Deckchair This loopy Australian film about a man (the awesome Rhys Ifans) who flies away when he ties too many balloons to his deckchair is a great feel-good movie that will lift your mood and make you giggle.

And here are some slightly better known movies that I would make everyone watch if I could, because they are fabulous:

Gattaca Set in the not-too-distant future, this stylish movie explores the idea of prejudice against "imperfect" people who haven't been genetically engineered with beautiful performances by Ethan Hawke, Jude Law and Uma Thurman.

Twelve Monkeys Mind-bending quirky sci-fi movie starring Bruce Willis (and Brad Pitt at his best playing a total nutjob) that actually addresses time travel properly, unlike most other attempts.

LA Confidential The great cast (Kevin Spacey, Russel Crowe, Guy Pearce, Danny DeVito, Kim Basinger and James Cromwell) made this smart script work and the tale of love, murder and betrayal set in 1950s Los Angeles is a pleasure to watch.

The Usual Suspects With Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne and a truly clever plot, this movie about a gang formed in a police line-up couldn't go wrong.

Snatch The ultimate Guy Ritchie movie (better than Lock, Stock; Rock 'n Rolla or any of his other movies), this film is the perfct mix of action, humour, lunacy and amazing editing skills.

Contact I have a penchant for sci-fi movies that aren't full of aliens and really make you think, like this beautifully made Jodie Foster / Matthew McConaughey flick.

Short Circuit Sweet 1980s movie about a robot that is electrocuted and develops a mind (and personality) of its own... "Number 5 is alive!"

Casablanca (This is a classic and yet many of my friends won't watch it because it's in black and white. Silly!) Dramatic and enduring love tale set in Morocco that has inspired scenes in movies ranging from Star Wars to When Harry Met Sally (Google it if you don't believe me).

Waking Ned Hilarious movie about two old men who convince their entire town to play along with an outrageous plan when a friend dies holding the winning lottery ticket.

The Station Agent Sweet and simple movie following three new and very different friends (one of whom is a dwarf) as they get to know each other and walk the local train tracks.

And, just for kicks, has anyone seen this movie? Because it did my head in and I would love to swap notes:

eXistenZ Bizarre (!!!) movie starring Jude Law and Jennifer Jason Leigh as two gamers who hop from game world to game world followed by a shaggy dog and a gun made out of chicken bones.

Your thoughts?

Tuesday thoughts

• It feels like a Monday.
• I forgot that I have a big meeting this afternoon in Alrode South. I better get out my map book (haha... whatever. Thank goodness for Gloria, my GPS).
• Easter eggs get better every year. This year my mom managed to find ones with orange creme centres, my favourites.
• I don't get the fuss about Alice in Wonderland. How to Tame Your Dragon, on the other hand, now that's a fab movie.
• The weekend was good. I got to see some awesome people (Angel, Glugs, Phillygirl and Louisa) and meet a new addition to the crew (beautiful little Nicola, Louisa's baby girl).
• My family are awesome, albeit loony. See exhibit A (my brother) below.

• My pics of my chocolate-making ventures were not brilliant (see exhibit B below)

• The Pantry-Cleaning Moth Apocolypse Mission yesterday was draining. We still have to put the shelves back up and pack everything back in. Joy.
• 4-day weekends are the best thing ever.
• I still feel the urge to have an even number of bullet points.
  
  
  

Happy April Fool's Day

May the pranks that are played on you not be too nasty. Anyone have any they'd like to share?

If not, read up on some of the world's best here. My favourite is the 1957 BBC Panorama piece on Switzerland's little-known spaghetti harvest!

I took pics of the chocolates we made last night and even remembered the camera cable for a change. But I forgot the camera at home. Chop.

Will post them later.

I leave you with this comic, from Toothpaste for Dinner, which could do well as a Windhoek ad: