Still here

It's just been... manic, sad, hard...

I've been quite sick. I had terrible gastro. It started last week Tuesday morning. By Friday, I thought I was better, until I got on the bus for the Coldplay concert on Saturday and threw up again. Sorry to everyone who was on that bus with me. They all probably thought I was drunk. In actual fact, I think it was the smell of all the booze and smoke that set me off. Thankfully I am always well-prepared with wetwipes, tissues etc and I sorted it out very quickly. Still felt bad for everyone else though.

Anyway, my stomach is STILL sensitive. I wake up most mornings with cramps and get patches of nausea if I eat anything remotely creamy, rich or acidic. I've always loved Provitas. I think I'm over them though.

I've also now had this insane headache for three weeks. Not normal. The doc has given me muscle-relaxants. Not helping. I think it's stress and spending so many hours a day in front of the PC. I'm going to make a plan to have my eyes tested.

Coldplay. My favourite band in the world. They were amazing! Pity the sound in our cheap seats was absolutely pathetic. In fact, you could hear them better from outside the stadium than from where we were sitting. Still, I'm glad I got to see them live. It just reinforces for me how talented they are. Not only is Chris Martin a great vocalist, but if you take away the vocals, the music is still fantastic - the melodies, the rhythm... I love them.

Work has been crazy. That is all I will say on that score. Oh, except that today is International Plain Language Day. I wish some of my clients would se use plain language even just for one day instead of corporate poppycock, which seems to be their language of choice.

It's been sad. We had Jennifer's memorial service last Friday. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. It was heart-wrenching. One of my friends asked me what the point is of having a memorial for someone who wasn't even born yet. I had to choose my words carefully in answering her without getting upset. Jennifer may not have taken a breath in this world, but her parents knew her and loved her for nine months. Her dad spoke at the service about the three games he used to play with her while she was in her mom's tummy. We all sobbed.

What else is news?

We discovered that our fabulous new shower is leaking through the downstairs ceiling. Joy. We can't quite find the problem though. *Sigh* That means lots of tinkering and testing this weekend.

On a happier note, my garden is beautiful right now. I take a few minutes out to walk through it a couple of times a day. My irises and roses are in full bloom. They smell heavenly.

We saw The Help on Tuesday, just to get out of the house for a bit. It's a good movie, in my opinion. I laughed and cried and thought about it lots afterwards. It's not a particularly deep look at issues, but hopefully it gets people thinking about them. It was nice to see a good movie, after watching Friends with Benefits, which was possibly my least favourite movie all year.

My nicest bit of news is that we're off to a wedding in CT next weekend. I cannot wait. I really feel like I need to get away from Jhb for a bit. It's been a tough month so far and it's that time of the year when everyone is grumpy and tired. I'm looking forward to seeing two of my best friends, catching up with a few other friends I haven't seen in years and just being able to walk on the beach again. I still miss it.

Sorry, I know this post is disjointed, but there's lots I want to say and I don't have the energy right now to try to say it any better.

Stuff

• There are a lot of birthdays in September. All the New Years' babies... Flip. You're bankrupting me, people!
• We have a charity ball tonight. I can't wait. It's themed too. I love dressing up! Must remember to take my camera.
• It's a busy weekend. We also have a friend's 30th bday bash tomorrow (the third this month) and then our church small group is refurbishing a room at the children's home we support on Sunday. Plus it's the Singapore F1 Grand Prix.
• I am tired. It's been a crappy week. I had a client who misbehaved rather badly and it totally threw me. I tend to work with people who share the same ethics as me, so when I come across someone who doesn't seem to care about morals, it always shocks me. Thankfully it doesn't happen very often. And this person is now out of my life.
• Situations like the one I've just mentioned combined with a general feeling of being on the brink of burnout have made me question what I'm doing for a living. With the amount of crap I've put up with this week, I might as well have been a plumber. It definitely pays better. Thankfully there are good people out there too. I enjoy working with them and they appreciate my work, so I've been reminded that aside from the odd imbecile I'll encounter, I generally do like freelancing. I even love it sometimes. So it's ok if I have days of hating it once in a blue moon. It's normal.
• The things that are making me smile at the moment are spring-time weather and gardens; my cats (we've discovered how entertaining it is to let them chase BB-gun bullets around the house... hilarious); the weavers that have built their nests in my silver birches to house their little chicks; delicious light summery food and having TSC home this week when I was expecting him to be away at the mine.

What's up in your world?

Various updates

It's a rainy, dark day in Joburg and I feel like watching DVDs in bed. But TSC is writing his first exam right now and I must get work done. The problem is that my major, hectic, scare-the-living-daylights-out-of-me deadlines are all done at the moment, so all I have left is the admin and routine monthly work. There's just not the same sense of urgency, which is bad because that routine work is the stuff that pays most of the bills.

I can't believe how long that gastro carried on - it's now more than a week after I first came down with it and my stomach is still super sensitive. Last night was the most ambitious thing I've digested in days - spaghetti bolognaise. But it's stayed put, so things are looking up. Finally.

I've felt so washed out after Monday's massive deadline and this nasty bug that I haven't been very efficient over the last two days. I've managed to get some work done, but in between I've napped, made jewellery and generally hibernated. My big outing for the week was a trip to Montecasino to watch The Other Guys with TSC on Tuesday evening, just to get out for a bit.

Blergh. So many people we know loved it, but we both thought it was pointless and not at all funny. I stand by my opinion of Will Ferrell - I just don't understand why he's supposed to be funny. My type of comedy is sharp, witty or sarcastic. Physical comedy that's been done well can also be funny. But this absurd or over-the-top comedy that people seem to love... I don't get it. Ace Ventura, Zoolander and The Waterboy are some examples of "funny" movies that I just don't get.

I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go round, so I'll leave The Other Guys to those who enjoyed it and, if I need a laugh, rent myself a copy of Snatch, Toy Story 3 or even A Fish Called Wanda (which, oddly enough, is actually rather absurd and OTT, yet still funny).

Tonight is lesson four of five of my photography course and I am bleak that next week is the last one. It's such fun and I've been super impressed by my camera's capabilities, now that I know how to operate it a bit better ;-) I'm loving the fact that I can get better photos of my jewellery too. It's making my reconsider the option of starting up a little etsy shop.

I got my business cards yesterday. At long last! They are beautiful. And now I don't have to be embarrassed when I interview someone and they give me a business card and I have to say, "Um, sorry - I don't have mine yet." Woohoo! Now I just need to get my website sorted.

*Sigh* That's a bit of a mission because I want to use WordPress as a content management system (CMS) and set up a site on the domain I've registered that will look and function like a website and not a blog. But my designer has never worked in WP, and doesn't seem to understand what I mean. I may have to find another designer. Which would suck because it means more delays.

Anyway, off to make phonecalls *shudder*. My worst bit of any day. And then to catch up on some blog reading to balance out the chore I hate with something I love.

Various stuff

A selection of what is going on in my head...

• Looking forward to camera lesson two on Thurs, which should hopefully be less theoretical and more about taking pics! I'm now the (broke) owner of a new 2TB hard drive for my photos, a spare camera battery, a spare SD card, an SD card reader and a UV filter that fits my DSLR's lens.
• Having to organise people is a pain. TSC and I lead a small group for our church, which is awesome - such a nice bunch of people. Problem is, we've decided on a social for tomorrow night. Originally we were going to do go-karting, but it turns out that it's a bit pricey. I've given everyone a whole bunch of options and now I have a pretty much even split of people who want to do each option (except Adventure Golf. Seems we're all very much over that). The social is tomorrow night. What do I do? Sometimes democracy is annoying.
  
• I have a deadline on a big article for tomorrow. I should be writing it now, but my brain is fuzzy and I can't get it right. It's quite a complex subject, so I figured a little break while I blog might help - often if I go back to something I can't understand a bit later on, it all falls into place.
• It's so nice to be eating summer food. Last night, neither TSC nor I were keen for hot food, so we had ciabatta rolls with smoked chicken breast, avocado and sweet chili sauce. Not only was it super tasty, it requires no cooking and minimal washing up. Score!
• I need to invest in a fan for my study. It's a tiny room with big windows that get full sun most of the day, which is great in winter. In summer, however, it's like I'm in a little oven. Even my modem is unhappy with the heat. I've had to stand it on top of a glass to get enough air into the vents on the underside.
• It's nice to occasionally hang out with new people. We had a great braai on Saturday with two guys we've just met - one who has just moved to Joburg from Durban, and the other whom is only in SA for a month from the UK. There were a couple of other friends with us and we all watched the rugby and chatted for hours. They arrived at our place at 3pm and only left at 10.30pm. It was awesome.
• A friend of mine is a headhunter and she just sent me a list of funnies from the CVs people have sent to their recruitment agency. They are hilarious, especially seeing these are not some random ones off the internet, but have actually been collated by her company. I may have to post some this week.
  

Weekend lessons

The weekend was not as planned. But here's what I learnt:

• When booking a weekend away next time, it would be wise to check whether it's a mid-term break for schools or not. Holiday spots are busy during mid-term breaks.
• My GPS, Gloria, does not know everything. Sometimes she is a spiteful cow and makes us drive in circles.
• You can be all set up in your nice allocated campsite next to good people and thinking life is grand only to have it ruined by a car full of revolting, noisy, drunken, loud, epically foul-mouthed brats who pitch their tent next to yours and play rubbish music at full volume until 3am.
• Talking to such brats will only result in quiet for 30minutes after the conversation. Then, magically, they will forget everything you've said and continue as before.
• People who don't know how to behave in public should not be allowed out. Especially people who think it's ok to leave dirty diapers lying on the lawn next to the swimming pool when they leave.
• I am only a people person when I am surrounded by pleasant people. Otherwise, I am very intolerant.
• Rules without consequences are only good advice. And not likely to be followed by Joe Public.
• Moving your tent to the opposite end of camp, far away from all amenitites and other people, may secure you the peace and quiet you have been craving. Good red wine also helps.
• TSC and I can have fun together despite imperfect conditions.
• There are few things in the world as refreshing as ice cold, homemade gingerbeer from a farm stall.
• I can cook a mean red curry on a camp stove.
• I love my home. It is the first place since we've been married where TSC and I have had our own garden and not shared bedroom walls with someone else. It is very, very precious to me and I love heading home after being away, even just for two days.
• If I am writing and I am in "the zone", I do not like to be interrupted, even by my darling TSC. It is difficult to pick up where I left off after being distracted.
• I may write better poetry when I am miserable, but my fiction comes more easily when I'm happy. Go figure.
• It is important to set boundaries and to say 'no' to people. I will probably need to learn this lesson over and over again.

Monday randomness

I sometimes get a sneaking suspicion that Blogger's word verification displays are created by taking a dictionary of truly rude phases and scrambling them ever so slightly so they're still vaguely recognisable, but not so offensive. Seriously... the ones I get are always like two letters away from being plain disgraceful.

Randomness aside (not really), thanks for all the comments on the previous post about lurking. I found them fascinating. Just to clear things up: I do not dislike lurkers (how can I dislike you when I don't know who you are?) - it's just really awesome when people de-lurk because I discover someone new who cares enough to read this bizarre blog.

I think I started on this train of thought because I discovered the other day that my dad has been reading my posts occasionally (and lurking) over the past few weeks. This immediately made me want to check my spelling and grammar on every update. He's really interested by the whole concept of blogging and keeps asking me how things work. He asked about Twitter too. I explained as best as I could (not being a Tweeter myself). I think I shall have to take him into the back-end of Blogger to show him how things are done, because for someone who works with words all day long, I'm not very good at explaining things. But it's nice to be able to teach my dad something for a chnage, seeing I regard him as my walking encyclopaedia.

I realised again while my folks have been in Russia how much I adore them. It hasn't always been like that. We weren't particularly close when I was younger and used to have quite a stormy relationship. I've always been fiercely independent and I think I felt the need to prove that I could do things without them. But things started to change when they moved away and I went into boarding school for grade 11 and grade 12 (my choice). I began, albeit very slowly, to appreciate them more and be grateful for all they do for me, which is a helluva lot.

Since we've been living in Jozi, only half an hour's drive from them, I've come to relish spending more time with them and being closer as a family. I've really, really missed them while they've been away. And I love that we're finally in a great place in our relationship now that I'm "all grown up" (haha! whatever) and that we can do Sunday lunch together without tempers flaring or someone sulking (that was usually me as a teenager).

The fact that I started to understand what family is all about when I started boarding school (which I loved) has made me think that if I ever do spawn children, I would probably consider sending them to boarding school for the last few years of high school. Not from a young age (TSC was a boarder from age six, which I think is way too young), but just for grades 10 through to 12. Maybe.

I've had many discussions about this with friends who disagree with me (most of whom didn't go to boarding school). Now I don't believe that a parent should ever abdicate responsibility to a school for teaching children discipline, obedience and all that other good stuff, but I do think boarding school helped me to learn a few important lessons: that I wasn't the centre of the universe, that sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do (like washing your own sheets and shining your school shoes) and also to appreciate my family and the time I have with them. I also had to learn how to live with people I didn't particularly get on with and I made some incredible friends.

I have friends who feel the same way and other mates who went to boarding school and hated it. I think a lot depends on personality and all that jazz. But boarding schools are really common in South Africa and while any hypothetical kids I may one day birth are looking very unlikely at present, should they one day exist, as far as I can imagine now, boarding will definitely be an option.

Or maybe I'll read back on this in 20-odd years time and laugh at myself. Who knows ;-)

K, enough brain farting for a Monday morning. Need some muesli. Bye.

Assorted catch-up

Sorry for the little break in blogging transmission. I am just snowed under at the moment.

Thanks to those of you who asked about how Friday's meeting and the weekend went. The meeting seemed to go well, although the client is one of those who's not very good at the things that are supposed to happen after the meeting - sending me the necessary info, contact details etc, which is a bit frustrating.

The weekend was packed, but fun. On Friday night we went out to one of my best restaurants in Joburg with some neighbours we met at the AGM of the complex where we live. Ghazal's is a place that started out small and has become incredibly well known for their excellent Northern Indian cuisine and good service. You have to book to get a spot there on any night of the week. The restaurant has expanded a few times and now occupies practically half of the block of shops it's in. I'm sure world domination is next. And I wouldn't mind if it came with their curry ;-)

We so enjoyed getting to know the much-older couples we ate out with, Peter and Sandie (in their 60s) and Paddy and Vicki (in their 50s). We had some good red wine and the excellent food (TSC had the Lamb JaL Frezi and I had the Chicken Makhnie) and talked well into the evening. The six of us decided to make this a regular event, and TSC and I will host a braai (BBQ) for the next dinner so that he can show them "how to braai their meat properly". Hehehe...

Saturday was spent with the lovely Ruby, who got dragged to Pretoria with us, where we unexpectedly ran into two of my favourite people - Angel and Glug. It was nice to see them, even for a few minutes. After that, we took Ruby to the Irene Village Market, where we had brunch (homemade pies for TSC and I and a vetkoek for Rubyshoes) and oohed and ahhed over the lovely things on sale. Later we watched the rugby together with some red wine and TSC let Ruby and I play bloggers catch-up, which was fun.

On Sunday we were up early to get some work done before my folks arrived. TSC worked on his varsity stuff and I uploaded media coverage for the client whose data capturing I do. Fun fun. But then my parents and brother arrived (in their separate cars) and we had a great time together.

I had made a traditional Sunday lunch: roast leg of lamb, roast veggies (with my favourite chilli, lime and coriander salt), rice and gravy. We had blueberry cheesecake icecream for dessert, with fresh fruit salad and hot chocolate pudding. Yum! It all turned out very well.

My dad, TSC and I watched the F! Grand Prix together (great race for our McLaren team, although the weekend was marred by Massa's nasty accident) while my brother messed around with his car's brakes, which weren't working well. My mom had a catnap in the sunshine.

When we decided to take a walk around the complex, my brother said he was leaving to visit his girlfriend (not a walker, my brother). He got in the car and it started making a weird noise. I also pointed out that it was leaking something all over my driveway, which turned out to be brake fluid. Not good.

Deciding that it was not safe to drive the car, my folks took my brother in their car and left his car in our driveway. We rushed off to church to be there by 5.20pm to help one of our welcome teams that was short of people. We had to take the church trailer with us, which is currently being stored in our driveway as we have to transport the sound equipment to a few venues this week.

That meant that we had to stay for both services to pack up the sound stuff afterwards. We only got home at 10.30pm! So much for working on my freelance stuff after church. At least we got to have a quick cuppa between services with Kim and Brett, one of the nicest couples we've met in Joburg.

Monday was just as packed, but TSC and I had to take time out in the afternoon to get home and help my mom load my brother's car onto a rented car trailer to take it back to Pretoria to be fixed. We live in a cul de sace with a tiny turning circle at the end, so getting the massive trailer and bakkie (truck / utility vehicle) turned around was such a pain, nevermind that the trailer was a piece of crap and none of its parts worked properly (for example, the loop that you're supposed to thread the car straps through to secure it on the trailer was broken).

I worked till 11 on Mon night to catch up and then couldn't sleep becuase my mind was in work mode. Tuesday was just as hectic. And I have betwenn 20 and 30 people coming to my house tonight for a bring and braai life group social. Eeep!

I was planning a big ladies' thing for this Sat, but I actually decided not to contact anyone about it. I want Saturday to myself (TSC is away on church mens' camp) to breathe a bit.

Bits and bobs on books and politics

April, in South Africa, is a total write off in terms of work. We have two public holidays for the Easter weekend, then this year Wednesday 22 April was national election day. Then there's 27 April, which is Freedom Day, and 1 May, which is Workers Day (yes, next week is a three-day week here).

In other words, we've not had one full work week in April. Crazy! And cool in some ways... frustrating in others.

I would LOVE to be going away for the long weekend, or taking the three working days off for a mini holiday as my boss is done. Alas, money is always an issue and it's not going to happen. But, seeing winter has just hit Joburg with force, I will take comfort next to our fireplace (the first time we've had one of our own) and in a glass of good red wine with TSC. Nice...

In other news, I don't usually do book reviews on my blog, but I've just finished Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier. Have any of you read it? If so, how did you find it?

Summary: Raimund Gregorious - Mundus, as his students affectionately call him - is a predictable character. A bookish Latin professor, well-respected, perhaps a little boring. One stormy morning, he encounters a beautiful, distraught Portuguese woman in a red leather coat...Later that day Raimund will realise: that moment changed everything. All of a sudden, nothing in his life feels right. His restlessness is fuelled further when he happens to find a book by a little-known Portuguese writer, Amadeo de Prado. The appearance of the mysterious woman, and Prado's prescient words, all seem to tell him the same thing: that he must leave everything behind.And so, early the next morning, he packs a bag and boards the night train to Lisbon on a restless journey across Europe and deep within himself in the hope of discovering somewhere, someone, who makes him feel alive and connected to himself and the world once more. Night Train to Lisbon is a richly told novel of ideas which will haunt readers with its depth and artistic beauty.

I fought with this book from the first page. I started off thinking it was brilliant. Then I got irritated by the bad typesetting (the spaces between words get dropped increasingly frequently as the book goes on). For someone who habitually reads with a pencil in hand to correct spelling and grammar mistakes (I know you're probably laughing as you think about all the typos on this blog), it was infuriating.

I wonder if the translation is as good as the original German? I found that the book grabbed me in places so that I couldn't put it down. Then it lost me completely in others and I wondered what on earth it was all about.

Nearing the end of the book, I decided I liked it. A lot. But then it finished. I can't say it ended, because usually there's some marker to denote an ending, whether it's a happy or a sad one. This book just stopped. And then I asked whether it had been worth reading through that much bad typesetting. And I still can't give myself an answer.

In still other news (yes, I am attempting to catch up on all the things I've wanted to post about), I voted for the first time on Wednesday. I was at varsity during the last elections and wasn't able to register in my home town.

Voting was very much less exciting than one dreams as a small child. The reality is that we stood in a line for an hour and a half and marvelled at how open to corruption the system could be. But at least I have my purple-stained thumb to prove that I did my bit. Now we sit back and wait for the final count, for all the numbers matter.

We know what the results will be - ANC will rule. JZ will be president. And SA will enjoy some more political fun and games as the new prez tries to decide which of his wives should be first lady.