update

In my last post I neglected to mention that I’m not on anti-biotics anymore. None of you could even begin to fathom what a please this is for my. Last night was my last night of horrible sleeping. It was horrible because I kept waking up to eat something to get the awful taste out my mouth. It’s not entirely gone yet. There’s still a bit of a lingering but I kick that in the shins by downing a mouthful of coke.

 

bad spaller

“Hi everyone. My name is Jo-Anne and I spell badly.”

“Hi Jo-Anne.”

 

 

There really should be a support group for people who love the English language and spend hours making sure that sentences are grammatically correct and then spell like really bad. It’s like Zoolander who can’t turn left. I suppose it’s because I so readily rely on the wonderful Microsoft spell to bail me out every time so I don’t bother with spelling. It really is appalling.

 

It’s Wednesday. Half way through the week which is great. I’m starving at 10:21 in the morning cos I didn’t have breakfast and I’m braving the gym again tonight. One of the best things about gym is the brilliant hot shower that you can have afterwards.

 

My beloved’s birthday is fast approaching and I’m not sure what to get him. Any ideas? Pass them on.

 

I’m still drowning in relative sorrow over HP. I feel like it’s going to be that way for a long time. I do understand that they are not real people and all that blah blah blah. But it was a part of my life for really long time. I still remember checking out Prisoner of Azkaban from the library. I couldn’t afford to buy the books and the first two were out. I took Azkaban cos I needed to know all about Harry. I can recall the days of sitting at the computer reading order of the phoenix cos my mom would have chucked out the real thing. That was very adventurous, holding my hand on the alt and tab buttons just in case she came into the room at any moment. Surreptitious behaviour was my friend. There are still two movies to look forward to and I will do so.

 

There are rumblings that JK may do another book. I for one hope not. We laboured and waited and read and panicked over seven books because we were told that’s all there were. To be hit with news of an eight I think will be a bit of a betrayal. If I had known I would not have gone through all the nail biting drama to begin with.

 

 

 

 

Finally an honourable mention to Ayanda for her lovely comments.

 

 

 

Adventure

The word adventure no longer holds the same sense that it used to. Adventure used to mean treks into the tomb of the Tutankhamen or meandering across the great African Wilds, the Australian Outback or the maybe the American Wild West. Whatever adventure meant back then, it most certainly did involve the use of tents and cooking on an open fire and all kinds of things that us city slickers would never be able to do like washing at the nearest watering hole or (GOD FORBID) not taking a bath all together.

 

Adventure has a new meaning now. One that is more suitable to our urban lifestyles and our credit cards and everything else.

 

 

I’ve just has an adventure.

 

I dropped water all over myself and there began the crazy journey to get dry clothes. It’s all fun and games really till someone loses and eye.

 

 

In other news I am finally coming to terms with the events that occurred in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It’s been a two days at least since I finished the book and I’m coming to terms with it slowly. I think perhaps it was the drug induced state that kept me from feeling what I am now. I’m on fewer drugs now and it’s all starting to sink a bit too quickly.

 

It really is the end of an era. It’s like Buffy all over again.               

 

 

J.K. Rowling has made history with Harry Potter. She’s a brilliant writer. The manner in which she weaved everything together in this book is just amazing and mind blowing. She’s also shown herself to be an adult writer with this book. I for will not have any problems if she abandons writing for kids and writes for adults exclusively. Deathly Hallows is a dark but brilliant book.  

 

Fundamental Differences

There are fundamental differences between races and when you are involved in an interracial relationship you get to learn what they are.

 

This is what I have learned.

 

When you are sick, if you are Indian you get treated to some brilliant chicken curry with white rice and maybe some russom (sorry about the spelling, I have no idea how to spell it) if you’re lucky enough.

 

If you’re white, you get chicken noodle soup.

 

If you’re an Indian girl married to a white guy who has no idea how to make curry, you get Nando’s HOT.

 

 

 

Brilliant Monday

So I did it. I went to gym yesterday and was really disheartened by how little I managed to do. But I suppose it’s the first step that matters and all I have to do now is keep stepping. The La Lucia gym looks really good. They got all new equipment which was fun to use. I looked a bit idiotic just standing there staring at the screens but I got the hang of it and all went well afterwards.  I felt great. I felt energised and ready to take on the world.

It also seems like the Gym Muses decided to reward my efforts because when I got home I found two really nice surprises. The first was a bit of a shock really. It always is when you know you’re put something somewhere and then it isn’t there. But it was a lovely surprise and makes me life so much easier. The load on my shoulders has lightened considerably.  

The second surprise met a need that I could feel was growing. It had taken root and a tiny little bud was about to spring forth.

We are all aware of the age old debate. NIKE or ADIDAS? (For others this includes Reebok and/or Puma), well for me it was the Adidas vs. Nike. Then it’s the white or black debate. After much deliberation on Sunday I settled on white Nikes. But there was that little niggle that said I could also do with a pair of black cross trainers. You know  ... just is case. Imagine my surprise when I got home to find a pair of black Adidas. It’s great. I love it. My fashion sensibilities have been placated. White and Black trainers. Shoes that will suit whatever mood I’m in.

So I no longer have any excuses to skip out on gym. I’m taking the plunge and moving forward. My goal this week is to go to gym every day. Not really to ouch myself to the point of exhaustion but rather juts just actually get going.

 

 

It's official...

… the world has gone Harry Potter crazy. Just about everything is abuzz with news and thrills from the latest book and the movie. I must admit I’m also waiting with baited breath for the last book. I need to know once and for all what happens. Then I can continue with my life and not have to think about it ever again … well until the sixth movie that is.

 

The weekend was busy and nice. Friday got of to a good start. Got to leave work early and headed home and slept for a bit while waiting for my beloved to finish work. After picking him we headed to the video store for a DVD and then pizza. We then went home for a nice relaxing night on the couch. Then came Saturday and Saturday was awash with activity.

One of the more memorable things about Saturday was getting to see the ultrasound of my nephew. Technology is amazing. I got to see his heat beat and his tiny little feet. But to be honest, those ultrasound things make unborn babies look like little aliens, so not so cute when you put it like that. But in the end it was a really nice content moment. I’m pretty sure he’ll look all normal when he eventually pops out. I’ve never seen one of those ultra sound things before, so it was pretty cool to see my nephew that way before he was born.

After seeing my unborn nephew I headed home to get some sleep before getting dressed and heading of to Joe Cool’s. Let’s not even talk about the journey that ended with us winding up at Joe Cool’s. Just thinking about it tires me out. The last time I went there, it was this really awful dive and kept wondering what the hell I was doing there. This time I could appreciate the location and all it entailed. I had a great time.

I do know one thing though and I keep coming back to this all the time, I didn’t feel entirely comfortable there. At least not the way I feel comfortable at Burn or at Casablanca. It’s very difficult to explain and I always get apprehensive about even trying to explain it. I never really feel as I am really communicating what I’m actually feeling. Also I’m weary of explaining it because it does sometimes sounds like it comes down to a race thing and it’s really actually not.  I guess it has a lot to do with the type of people frequenting the different joints. They really are polar opposites.  I personally have always felt more accepted by the patrons of Burn and feel like I have more in common with them than the people at Joe Cools or at Casablanca. Being at Joe Cool’s I felt like I misread the invite and got my outfit wrong for the fashion parade. Again I think it comes down to perception and how we feel. Irrespective though, I had a great time. Good Friends can make the worst experiences seem better.

 

Sunday was nice and a little relaxing or it would have been if I had not been tired but functional. I went of to visit family, had some brilliant mutton breyani, got a great gift and had a nice chat. Went home and headed of to Gateway where I spent R700 on a pair of shoes. I realised that I should just do it (yeah I got a cute pair of Nike’s) after driving all the way to Reservoir Hills and forgetting to take my shoes. The gym has been calling to me and so to answer the call, I bit the bullet and bought the shoes. I will be the first to admit that I spend a lot of money on shoes. But do you have any idea how many different pairs of shoes could be bought with R700? So I despair in that regard but think my new Nike’s are pretty cool.

 

Today I am off to the gym after work. I need to get back on track with a lot of things if I want this year to be a lot more fruitful than the last one.  So the training begins now. I’ve also decided to take the next month off. I’m on hiatus at least until the next big party calls to me. This was not a decision made lightly nor was it an easy one to make but it was made for a number of very good reasons; the biggest one being the ever-mounting pile of ironing that needs to get done and the other things that I have been neglecting in favour of the very busy social life I’ve led for the last few months. Of course, the rule does not apply to invites by certain unnamed persons. (If are lucky enough to make the list, snaps for you) or to tentative plans already made.

 

I’m using this one month to try and make sure that I get back into the stage of my life where gym attendance was very mandatory or the week didn’t quite feel right. This is my biggest focus for the next month.

 

 

Wish me God Speed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

hunting wabbits

OKAY

 

So I’m back out there and I must admit … not enjoying it so much, the sending out of CV’s, the constant waiting for the phone to ring, the endless interviews. It all becomes too much at times really. The thing about jobs is that for most of them you need experience. Most times you don’t have that. It’s an interesting gamble. You need experience to get a job and you need a job to get experience. I suppose not many companies are willing to put in the grunt work so that you can then just fly off to a better pay check.

 

Well that’s life I suppose.

 

I do really hope that I am blessed with a new job really really soon. Something more suited to me.

I’m really tired and when you are tired it affects your perception (there’s that word again) of every little thing under the sun and yes it is under the sun because in theory you should be asleep during the hours of the dark.

 

Tired = bad mood.

perceptions ...

are an interesting thing. All through out history we learn that it was the perceptions of strong individuals that changed the way life happened for a few or for many. For example in England a long long time ago, a man on the street could be shipped off to uninhabited Australia for stealing some bread to feed his five starving children. The punishment clearly did not suit the crime but the perception of the strong was that the poor had no business taking anything that did not belong to them

 

In other words, I see things one way and you see them another. I have been coming face to face with that notion in my recent dealing with people which brings me back to a question I have asked in previous posts.

 

Who is right?

 

I’m tired and thinking of too much and going off on tangents.  I just need some sleep and little less complication.

 

In other news

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was as brilliant as I hoped. A few minor dis-appointments but that the way the cookie crumbles I suppose.

I am very excited as I write this. I just over six hours I’ll be settling down to watch the latest movie in the Harry Potter series. I’ve heard all the arguments and I know what everyone will possibly say. ‘Aren’t you a bit too old to care about stuff like this?’ I hope I’m never too old to get excited about trivial things. I hope I’m never too old to see the magic (excuse the pun) of using one’s imagination and I most defiantly hope that I never get too old to get together with a bunch of great friends and have fun.

ink blot

There are times in our lives when we need to sit down and actually take a good look at where we are. There are a number of debates raging around me at present and while in three years the consequences of these actions may not be all that memorable, the immediate future is at stake.

 

The balance of living and happiness is a delicate one. A very precarious balance. A step in the wrong direction and everything might go helter-skelter.

 

I had a wonderfully open discussion with my boss last Monday where I finally took a good look at myself in the mirror of self-reflection and realised I was very unhappy with my job and by extension unhappy with my life in general as it was.

That realisation made me feel very ungrateful for the wonderful life that I did lead outside my job. I have wonderful family and friends and a great social life. Why then should one aspect of my life so alter my perception of the way my world functions.

 

I feel that often we try to find the things to fill that gaping hole that exists within us. We try to rationalise that this or that may bring us some happiness and we won’t have to deal with the inkblot that just won’t go away.

 

I’ve looked my inkblot in the eye and told it I don’t like it. Now I’m working on removing it.

 

The best part is that it’s all out in the open. NO hiding.

 

DAMN! That feels good.

 

 

 

Since my university days I have enjoyed the BREAD AHEAD bakeries. Of course those days are long gone. But imagine my delight when a store opened up in Durban North.

Well that delight has just been flushed down the toilet along with the remainder of my mutton curry pie. As is evidenced by the attached photograph,
there was a piece of plastic in my pie.

I'm never going there again.

The Reality of the Truth of the Situation

Affirmative action, a very interesting concept.

 

In South Africa affirmative action is a very controversial topic … for most people anyway. There is no denying that the African and Indian people of South Africa have been much marginalised. Apartheid may not be very fresh in the memory of most people but we all do study history at some point and have all heard about some person or other pulling the ‘race card’ and if you’re South African you should be well acquainted with the whole ‘Rugby and Race debacle’. The numbers all need to add up.

 

When did it become about numbers? When did we stop taking notice of people as human beings with skills and talents and start thinking of them as numbers?

I agree with affirmative action. I do believe that the people who were marginalised deserve the chance to have their turn. I don’t think the balance has been restored.

I still do believe that thousand of Black men and women have not been given the chance to prove themselves and it does upset me when I get invites to facebook groups called ‘Abolish Affirmative Action in South Africa’

 

Why?

Why exactly should people who have endured many years of slave labour and all kinds of other tortures not be given the chance to excel?

 

Where are all the poor whites?

Where are all the white packers?

Where are all the white cleaners and janitors?

 

The balance needs to be restored. At dinner once somebody said ‘black people expect too much, they just want everything’

Well of course they want everything you bloody fool. Somebody once took everything away from them.

 

Let’s take a moment to remember that it was the blood sweat and tears of the African and Indian people that built our roads, built our bridges and paved our way in the economic international community. It may have been a white economy but it was African and Indian labour.

 

I don’t necessarily believe that the practical side of affirmative action is doing all that well in South Africa but I do believe in affirmative action as a concept.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why is Affirmative Action Necessary?

Affirmative action makes sure that qualified designated groups (black people, women and people with disabilities) have equal opportunities to get a job.

 

They must also be equally represented in all job categories and levels of the workplace.

Based on legislation in Section 15, of the Employment Equity Act

source

fallen angels

I remember many things about the time I was young. I suppose we all do. But the one memory that comes most often (and decidedly unbidden) is my standing on a chair in a black cloak and a painted face.  My ‘demons’ bowing before me in various capes or cloaks; whichever one suits your fancy. There is a picture of the event. One that I hope nobody ever sees ever again.

If any one would ask I would have to answer that this particular event was were my fascination for theatre and stage started. This was where the bug bit.

 

This was the first role that I played.  At first the poem was meant to be shared among all five female members of my group. For some reason (I have no idea why) it was then decided that I would actually do the entire poem. I would be the one who would stand up there and recite the entire thing from memory. I think I may have been around 8 years old. I’m not sure. At any rate the only thing I am certain of is that I could read and nobody though it was a problem for a 8 year old to memorise a page long poem and then recite it in front of a rather large audience that consisted of my parents, family and friends and all my friend’s parents and family.

 

I do remember having to sit for my make up and the decision to have me in different make-up than everybody else. You know so that the audience could tell I was the DEVIL.  

 

I have often remarked that there is something that I have in common with people like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Viggo Mortensen and Ben Affleck. At some point in our careers (however short-lived like mine) we’ve all played a fallen angel in varying degrees of course.

 

I found the poem again and re-read it. The unknown author had some good points. Sometimes I think that the more knowledge available to us, the less we actually really know.

 

 

The devil once said to his demons below,
"Our work is progressing entirely too slow.
The holiness people stand in our way
Since they do not believe in the show or the play.
They teach that the carnival, circus and dance,
The tavern and honky-tonk with game of chance,
Drinking and smoking, these things are all wrong;
The Christians don't mess with the ungodly throng.
They are quick to condemn everything that we do
To cause unbelievers to be not a few.
They claim that these things are all of the devil;
That Christian folks live on a much higher level.
Now fellows, their theology, while perfectly true
Is blocking the work we are trying to do.
We will have to get busy and figure a plan
That will change their standards as fast as we can.
Now I have a vision of just what we can do.
Harken, I'll tell this deception to you.
Then find ye a wise, but degenerate man
Whom I can use to help work out this plan.
There's nothing so real as the things that you see;
The eyes and the mind and the heart will agree.
So what can be better than an object to view?
I say, it will work and convince quite a few.
The home is the place for this sinful device;
The people deceived will think it quite nice.
The world will possess it, most Christians can't tell
That it is all of the devil and plotted in hell!
We'll sell them with pictures of the latest news;
While they're still looking, we'll advertise booze.
At first it will shock them; they'll seem in a daze;
But soon they'll be hardened and continue to gaze.
We'll give them some gospel that isn't too strong,
And a few sacred songs to string them along.
They'll take in the ads, with the latest of fashions,
Soon watching the shows that will stir evil passions.
Murder and love-making scenes they'll behold
Until their souls will be utterly cold.
The old family altar which once held such charm
Will soon lose its place without much alarm.
Praying in secret will also be lost
As they look at the screen, not counting the cost.
Compromise preachers, who don't take their stand
Will embrace this new vision and think it is grand.
They'll help fool the people and cause them to sin
By seeking this evil and taking it in.
Influence is great and this you can see;
Just look at my fall and you'll have to agree.
It won't take too long, my demons, to tell
That the vision of Satan will populate Hell!
Divorce will increase, sex crimes will abound;
Much innocent blood will be spilled on the ground.
The home will be damned in short order I say
When this vision of mine comes in to stay.
Get busy, my cohorts, and put this thing out;
We'll see if the church can continue to shout.
The holiness people who stand in our way
Will soon hush their crying against show and play.
We'll cover the earth with this devil vision.
Then we'll camouflage it with the name television.
The people will think they are getting a treat
Till the Antichrist comes and takes over his seat.
He'll rule the world while the viewers behold
The face of the beast, to whom they were sold.
We'll win through deception, this cannot fail;
Though some holiness preachers against it will rail."

 

muse

There are times when we are forced to be really brutally honest with ourselves. Sometimes that honesty can result in pain that you weren’t really to deal with but needed to and at other times it can be really quite cathartic. Sometimes it can be both.

 

Sometimes though it’s really necessary to take a step back and look at where you’re going and what how you are getting there. Drifting along does not always help matters. One should have a plan and work toward that plan.

 

Sometimes though you just need to batten down the hatches and brave the storm.