A fine selction of quotes...;-)

Into each life some rain must fall - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Google Quotes)

There is a theory which states that if anybody ever discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened – Douglas Adams (Wikipedia Quotes)

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable - -Dwight D. Eisenhower (Quotationspage.com)

I will persist until I succeed. I was not delivered unto this world in defeat, not does failure course through my veins – Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)

We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves – Eric Hoffer (Adam)

An opinion poll and the weeks drama...

Well this was quite a busy week – mostly busy with birthday parties for Freddy! Happy birthday Freddy and thanks for all the festivities I had a great time, sorry I couldn’t make the third and final? one that happened today…At the first party we had cocktails and fantastic Greek food at the restaurant next to Kitchen Bar in the Design Quarter followed by more mocktails (no alcohol cocktails that all oddly tend to have roses worked into them) at said Kitchen Bar. All very nice… and then last night more partying at the Grill Shop at Rock Cottage where the food was great, as was the company, but the service not exactly what we’ve come to expect from them and they basically booted us out fairly early. Under no circumstances have a cocktail there called an Indian Summer! It’s nasty and smells a bit like Acetone. However…if you do order it by accident because it looks yummy on the menu then just take three looooong sips and it starts tasting a lot better. ;-) Freddy I hope you had a good time – I know I did! And I had a good giggle at Freddy’s friend Angus who was entertaining us with tales of a group of people who have moved into tree overlooking his garden and how he plans to get them evicted or even the tree felled because they infringe on his privacy and cause a fire hazard when they make fires up there.

Okay, you must be wondering what poll I’m referring to? Well this week I joined my brother and his friends at the Barnyard Theatre for a fund raiser show and on our way there I saw this: (A police trailer with its wheel clamped)

So this is what I want to know…do you think there wheel is clamped because:

a) The police – the enforcers of law and order – parked in the wrong spot? Or...

b) The police – super crime fighters – are afraid that someone will steal there trailer if they don’t disable it?

Unfortunately I have not the faintest idea how to make a poll that you can vote on with the click of your mouse – so I’d really appreciate it if you could include your vote in your comment. Thanks! (You are of course also welcome to come up with other suggestions about why this happened).

Other than that there are major developments at our house since my parents are having a swimming pool installed at the moment. The whole place is full of earth and at the moment we have to keep the dogs at the back so that they don’t either disturb or attempt to assist the contractors digging. The contractors have of course also come with their own share of drama but in general they’re getting on with it. We had a slight hiccup on Monday because my dad asked me to open up for them when they come and to make sure that the gate stays open so that they can move the soil out to the sidewalk. So I did as instructed – however: They were due there at 8:30 and only rocked up at about 9:15, at which time they informed me that they needed to go and collect their tools first (who?! I ask you goes to a site without their tools?) And they would be back in 10 minutes. They said they were leaving one guy to guard the gate so I left it open and continued with my normal day-to-day activities. At 11:00 my brother came home and asked me if I was aware that there was no workers there and that the security gate was wide open. I told him that there should be at least one guy but we looked and couldn’t find him anywhere. The workers and their tools arrived back at about 13:15 at which time my brother gave them a lecture that I doubt they will ever be able to forget and subsequently found out that their car broke down and the guy who was left guarding the gate was interrogated by the police about what he was doing there and decided to make a run for it. Mmmm…you have to wonder about that?

In the meantime Nala had a very eventful week as well. She was taken for a shave because it’s soooo hot here at the moment. Poor baby! She looks a bit ridiculous but at least she’s cooler…here is a before and after shot for your entertainment.

We also had to take her to the vet because she’s been having problems with her one back leg and she picked a fight with Diablo which earned her a bite that needed stitching up. We’ve noticed that she doesn’t lift her back legs properly when she runs so she’s always bashing a foot against the steps and we just wanted it checked out. Once she was shaven however it became clear that there was something very wrong with her one leg since she never puts any weight on it. So it came about that our pooch had to stay at the vet’s for two nights and had some knee surgery this week to correct a birth defect which caused her knee to dislocate. The patient is already looking a lot better and steadier on her feet – but she has to stay indoors until the stitches come out in 10 days time which is causing Diablo a lot of heartache and Tigger a lot of frustration. Nala and Diablo are sweet at night though because they call to each other almost continuously. My brother slept on the floor next to her the first night to keep her company and last night she flatly refused to be go into the room we prepared for her and instead roamed around in the house, politely waking my mom up every time she felt like going outside.

Other than that I can just say that this has been an extremely hot week and talking with some friends we all agree that this is one of the hottest summers we’ve seen in Johannesburg. During the day it’s often up to 25 degrees INSIDE the house and at midnight you could easily have that exact same temperature outside. It’s a wind still and stifling kind of heat. I live under my ceiling fan or rushing from shade to shade. Wish we could have a nice big and serious thunder storm to cool everything down a bit. Funny to think that on the other side of the world John and Vera both played in the snow this week!

Good luck with the week ahead…sympathy to all the singles for Wednesday when no one can switch on the radio or the TV or go out in public without being bombarded by Valentine’s Day propaganda. And of course in the same breath – I wish all the couples Valentine’s day filled with love and laughter and a happy ever-after. I hope that will find inventive ways of showing the people that you care about exactly how much you appreciate them – I’ve been busy doing something special for John too but I can’t say too much now since it’s a big surprise and I don’t want to give it away!

Hope that this will be a great week for everyone!

Weekly Quotes!

I’d take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day – Douglas Adams: The Salmon of Doubt (Thanks Wikipedia Quotes)

I wanna hang a map of the world inmy house. Then I’m gonna put pins into all the locations that I’ve traveled to. But first I’m gonna travel to the top two corners of the map so it won’t fall down – Mitch Hedberg (Thanks Quotationspage.com) – just kidding ;-)

Henceforth I will recognize and identify the mystery of moods in all mankind, and in me. >From this moment I am prepared to control whatever personality awakes in me each day. I will master my moods through positive action and when I master my moods I will control my destiny – Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it – Terry Pratchett (Thanks Wikipedia Quotes)

Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity – Albert Camus (Thanks Quotationspage.com)

Adventures of bug-boy and intro to hellopeter.com ...

There is this brilliant website called Hellopeter.com where you can lodge complaints about service or even compliment someone if you feel that you got exceptionally good service from them. The owner of the site is Peter Cheales who wrote a book about service called either I was your customer or I used to be your customer…I forgot which. Anyway you get the idea. I know a while ago they tried to make it more international than South African but I’m not sure how successful that was – but it’s pretty good for SA. You have to register if you want to make comments but it is free. The companies who respond pay something for this feedback service I believe although it is entirely possible to make comments about companies even if they aren’t registered there. I like this because it’s nice to have a place to moan (it’s not just a female thing I assure you…many men also use this site) and also if you are considering moving to a new bank or taking out a contract for some service you can use this to see what some other customers experienced there before you jump from the pan into the fire, so to say.

This week I had the opportunity to complain about Vodacom …at length…Unfortunately I only get more or less 120 words to do it in so I had to trim down my scathing remark to about half its original size. The bones of it can be seen on the link below if you’re interested and if they actually take the time to respond their response should appear there too in a day or so. The original title also didn’t quite fit. It was meant to say “slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through Peanut Butter” and now it just says stampeding through p? Well close enough for me…

http://www.hellopeter.com/the_comment.asp?recid=60999

Other events this week – I saw Freddy during the week for a nice skinder (gossip). I missed that! Thanks Freddy. And on Friday I took Wanette out to dinner because I missed the big birthday bash and after that I went to the club with Simone’. It was so weird...I almost never go there and the one day that I do I run into so many friends. We saw Werner and his entourage...and Tammy and Ryan together with theirs too...it must have been the full moon that caused it? ;-)

And also I don’t mind sharing with you that a praying-mantis (Hottentotsgot in Afrikaans) has started hanging out in my one bonsai tree this week. It has been four days running now that it’s been there, and I am tickled pink because it’s supposed to be very lucky to have one around. (Guess who’s buying a lotto ticket? whooooohoooo!). My brother feels sad for the little fellow and told me not to get too attached because he thinks it’s male one and a female will surely be round any day now to chomp its head. (They are well known for the fact that the girl-mantis bites the boy-mantis’ head off during mating), and won’t you know it?! Today when I was watering my trees and herb garden there she was…the wanna-be-killer herself is approaching from the herb garden directly below where my gogga (bug) has been hanging out in the tree for this whole week. I managed to take some photos of both for you to see… You might wonder if I’m going to interfere, and save bug-boy’s life? And the answer is sadly “No”. If he wants to survive he’ll have to keep it in his pants or outsmart her like any other wild mantis. Good luck bug-boy! I hope to still see you sitting in my tree next week.

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Saturday morning after a late night Friday I zipped through to Jacky’s place for an enormous cooked breakfast with her and some of her other pals. It looks like they want to do it once a month or so. I like the idea…and the breakfast was very tasty. Here’s a pic of Jacky getting ready to cook the bacon and scramble Ben’s eggs… (The recipe apparently originated from her boyfriend Ben…it’s not his actual eggs…hahahaha relax!)

Anyway, I hope that you all will have a great adventure filled week ahead! I will be spending my time mostly studying of course, and investigating the prospect of earning bucks by filling in web surveys or writing trashy novels for cash? Also after a chat to my cousin Melanie I am contemplating doing 5 sit-ups for every e-mail I send…I am going to have abs of steel that’s all I can say! Please spare a thought for the life of bug-boy too if you have some time…

Quotes for this week...

Holding onto anger is like grasping onto a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else. You are the one who gets burned. – Gotama Buddha (Thanks Erno!)

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. – Napoleon Bonaparte (Thanks Adam!)

Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. I will persist until I succeed. – Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle (Thanks Quotationspage.com!)

All Opinions are not equal. Some are a great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others – Douglas Adams: The Salmon of Doubt (Thanks Wikipedia Quotes!)

Wrapping Up January and this week...

Wanette had her birthday this week. Whoohoo! Congratulations again buddee! And I popped over on Wednesday after gym (yes…I’m still going) to give her her present and to wish her well. I didn’t have to sing (poor Wanette’s ears) as I did it earlier on the phone. She was out with her parents earlier for dinner but look in her other birthday suit (white linen I think…hahahahahah!).

This week was a lot more easy-going and I have to say that I felt more and more subdued the closer we got to Friday and my grandfather’s funeral. The funeral was held in Thabazimbi on a lovely sunny (34’C) day. It was of course a very emotional day especially seeing my grandmother’s grief. It was a long and sad day. My mom went through on the Thursday already to help out and spend some time with my gran so she asked me and my brother to drive her car back for her on Friday (my mom hates driving herself anywhere!). These are some pictures of the beautiful sunset that we saw on our way back…there was a storm brewing and initially the clouds looked like big purple bruises before the sun set them alight with shades of pink and gold. It was a good end to the day I think.

Saturday I spent with my old boarding school roommate Tania (a.k.a. Lofty) and her husband Hennie at their house in Pretoria for a prawn cook-out and some much needed girly talk. We have all been so busy that I haven’t managed to see them since their wedding middle of last year. This is a picture of Tania and another of her friends cleaning the prawns (I was supplying the moral support and wine). During the course of the day some of the conversation led to Tania and Monica who are both trying to get pregnant…I don’t know if it’s just my age group or what but it’s a conversation that I seem to be listening to a lot these days no

matter where I go. It feels like half the people I know are trying to have babies at the moment and almost all of them are having difficulties it seems. I sometimes wonder if this is a problem in general or if I just have a skewed impression because I know so many people who are having problems conceiving at the moment? Don’t get me wrong – I can get as broody as the next girl, but at the moment I just know a lot more about myths, gyenies, hormone treatments and sperm counts than I actually ever wanted to know. I think the husband may have felt a bit over-exposed talking about this because they took a two hour impromptu road trip to go and look for a cat that’s been missing for almost two weeks already. It a sensitive situation…luckily we did talk about plenty of other things too and had loads of fun playing rummy cup and 30 seconds! The girls ruled…of course.

Monthly update on resolutions:

One… Laugh…Love…Live

Difficult to give specific examples on this one but I feel that I did manage to do this quite well this month.

Two…Walk as often as possible…look at the sky ofte

n…enjoy the simple things…plan less and experience more…breathe deeply

I have walked a lot in the last month but I feel that I can still bump that up a notch or two so it’s on my to-do-more-seriously list for February. I looked at the sky often (and took photos mostly – what can I say I think the sky is beautiful), I enjoyed the simple things…I planned almost nothing and experienced loooads and I breathed deeply. So except for the walking I think this one is also under control.

Three…Study hard…be passionate in my thirst for knowledge again.

Although I have made some progress here I also feel this one needs more attention in the next month

Four…Listen

My ears are practically burning from all the listening I’ve done – this one is well and truly checked for January.

Five…Do enough yoga to master the four-legged-table position.

Yes…uhm…well. I have done no yoga whatsoever I have to admit. I actually considered trying to catch up before compiling this summary but I figured you can’t rush these things and I would probably just end up hurting myself and ruling it out for February too that way. Well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. On the to-do-more-seriously list too for this month.

Six…try new things…be unafraid

I’m trying to think if there was any occasions where I could live this one out and all I can come up with is that I was tricked into stating my resolutions in my broken (extremely broken…borderline sacrilege really) French on Les Malin, and instead of turning tail and chickening out I did it. Okay the group’s gone almost entirely silent so I may have shocked them all into silence with exactly how incomprehensible I was – but still I tried. Another occasion that comes to mind is when we were down at the coast when I went walking on my own despite numerous warnings about how dangerous it is. I feel it was a calculated risk? Nothing happened and I did try and avoid very isolated stretches on the beach and even though I never encountered anything more threatening that the tiniest line of bluebottles I felt a moment of pure panic just before I trotted out along the sea on m

y own…but I still did it. Yay! Here’s to not being afraid of your own shadow or crime statistics in SA. I should probably try and keep a more complete record of this one because I specifically remember turning down any new experiences so far? So far so good…

Seven…Host an awesome theme party…make time for old and new friends.

The first party of this is still to be done, but the second part is well and truly checked. For my next trick I will attempt to balance better between this resolution and number three.

Well, that’s my wrap up for this week and this month! I hope everyone is having as much fun with 2007 as I am? Have a great week!