A sketch by any other name...

And so it ends

2008-02-07T17:50:00.000+02:00

I will no longer be posting to this blog.

If you are close to me you have been invited to the new one.

Bye Bye
SS

The weekend that was and my extreme dislike of the South African economy

2008-01-21T08:40:00.000+02:00

I had such an amazing weekend.

Friday I spent time with a friend (colleague?) that lives in central cape town. Had a pretty cool evening with good food and great conversation. He had a friend of his visiting (what a stunner) but in typical female fashion she decided to leave early, after we cooked for her. Women. :)

Saturday morning was rock climbing, my arms are still sore. It was very cool. My friend Marko is a total legend on the rock wall. Climbs like a monkey :P
And Kevin (one of my fellow software engineers) came with. What a soldier, he actually conquered quite a few fears on the wall :)

Straight from rock climbing I went shopping, and cooked for my sister and a few friends. Lunch was so fun. Great food (if i do say so myself :P) and stunning company. They made me play the gee-tar. After rock climbing. Not easy.

All in all..fun :)

On a different note...
I have been thinking recently that I need to get out of debt. I'm young. I should be enjoying life, not endlessly stressing about bond repayments and the rising price of fuel.
So I checked with my bank yesterday regarding what is owing on my apartment. And what the penalty would be for settling the bond early..
I've owned this apartment for a year now and invested something in the region of R60 000 into the renovation of it.
There is a saying that goes 'as safe as houses'. I am beginning to realize that in the current climate of the South African economy the saying doesn't quite work anymore...unless you're a rich businessman buying for cash.

Basically the interest hikes and the subsequent fall in the property market have made it impossible for young people to own homes. I'm 25, and for my age I'm earning a very good salary. And yet I find I want to sell so as to get my head back above water.

Heres the kicker. If I sell now, I'll make a loss. The market has slumped, so the amount buyers would be willing to pay for my apartment will be just over the current bond value. After paying the real-estate agents commission I will be in exactly the same financial state I am in now. Perhaps with slightly more disposable income, but minus one Huge asset.

So all in all if you aren't immensely rich, the current legislation, meant to curb over-spending and promote a more cash driven society, will mean that you cannot own a home, and will be bled dry if you do.

This is Africa.

Cannonball

2008-01-14T15:29:00.000+02:00

there’s still a little bit of your taste....in my mouth
there’s still a little bit of you laced....with my doubt
it’s still a little hard to say....what's going on

there’s still a little bit of your ghost....your witness
there’s still a little bit of your face....i haven't kissed
you step a little closer each day
that I can´t say what´s going on

stones taught me to fly
love, it taught me to lie
life, it taught me to die
so it's not hard to fall
when you float like a cannonball

there’s still a little bit of your song....in my ear
there’s still a little bit of your words....i long to hear
you step a little closer to me
so close that I can´t see what´s going on

stones taught me to fly
love taught me to lie
life taught me to die
so its not hard to fall
when you float like a cannon..

stones taught me to fly
love taught me to cry
so come on courage, teach me to be shy
'cos its not hard to fall,

and I don't want to scare her
its not hard to fall
and i don't want to lose
its not hard to grow
when you know that you just don't know

Dedicated to the most beautiful person I know.

The meme from the Shield

2008-01-11T09:15:00.000+02:00

Ok I got tagged by Terra :) Here goes:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/

The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result.

Name of my band : De facto corporation
Title : Are born, Not made
My cover

Right, so to tag people...
I tag: Leigh-Anne, Aunty, Serendipity and Prometheus

The flat...

2008-01-10T08:42:00.000+02:00

Im thinking of selling.

Lack of sleep,coffee, apathy and web-design

2008-01-07T10:44:00.000+02:00

I seem to be craving sleep alot lately. This weekend i went home for a nap...and ended up sleeping for 9 hours. 9!

So coffee is the order of the day.

On other news I seem to have gotten over The girl next door. I saw her on Sunday, and there was nothing..not even the slight butterflies that had become normal when speaking to her. There was just this cold calculated thought about the fact that she would be a fun night, and that she had an amazing body. I think collateral damage is sometimes a good thing.

And I have started designing web sites. I hope this will become a career opportunity. I think its ok to work for a company but the real financial independance comes with your own business. We shall see where it takes me.

You can go your own way...

2008-01-03T07:48:00.000+02:00

I haven't been perfectly open with you guys. Well I suppose thats normal,all of us hide parts of our lives..but this one has been a pretty big part. So I figure its best to get it out there..for my own sake. Especially since it is now over..

Considering that all of my angst on this blog has generally been focussed around females, i suppose you wont be surprised when this one is also about a female...but I am gonna try and not be all angsty here.

Which is actually quite easy considering who Im writing about.

Let me say this, shes Amazing. A long time ago I had a post about my overuse of that word. But there is no other way to describe her. She is so beautiful, with the most piercing green eyes. This body that u just want to get out of its layer of clothing and the most endearing personality.

Basically she was perfect. Well almost perfect....there were a few things...like the fact that she has a family..

Now before all feminists go 'typical male bastard' on me, I'm gonna say that she had kids when she was young, so her eldest is old enough to know very well that i should be her friend and not her mothers boyfriend.

And yeah I would like to have a family of my own one day too. I'm sure thats not Such a selfish thought...I'm sure its pretty normal isn't it?

So yeah, we saw each other...it was amazing..she completely rocked my world, and probably broke all the springs in my bed.
And the relationship was mutual, we both knew that it was totally dead end.

Only it seems that the mind and heart are two completely different animals. And about a month ago i started noticing a few strange thoughts creeping into my mind...like how I couldn't stand the thought of anyone else touching her..how much i missed her during the week, and how I wanted her holding me more than i wanted the sex. Scary.

Heh. Watch this blog get a 17 rating.

And i was going to talk to her about it. I really was. Only she did what I have come to expect from girls everywhere. The uni-lateral 'its better for both of us, but hey i didn't feel the need to discuss it with you' decision.

So basically she broke it off for 'both our sakes'. And shes right. Completely. But it would have been so f*cking nice to be included in the discussion. You know to actually maybe have thought that I was a part of the process.

And I never got to say goodbye to her. And it is burning a hole in my chest like you wouldn't believe.

Okay enough of that....

I met up with an amazing blogger yesterday. I think the meet was mutually beneficial :) I needed to get out and meet a Hot girl, she needed to get out and make someone jealous. Win win.

Leigh Anne was such amazing company, with the most mischievous smile you have ever seen. And She can hold a conversation!! Swoon!!

If the above paragraph doesn't capture it I'm gonna spell it out to you. The girl is Hawt. She makes a standard smile into a weapon of Mass destruction. You can almost feel your neurons fry when you see those dimples.

So Leigh m'girl, if you ever want to do that second date... ;)

And then a bit more of that...

So on the way home, and on a complete feel good, post amazing dinner with great company and cute giggles, trip..I get an sms.

From a friend I got to know through Facebook.
She's lovely. Intelligent. Funny. Great to talk to.
And she wants to never speak to me again.

WTF!

The issue is that she's 16 and 9 years is quite an age gap.
But we were in-fact just friends. Are people of different ages not meant to be friends.

So let me ask, what is it with you females and your idiotic belief that a decision you make in a vacuum is 'for the best'? Ever heard of discussion? Ever heard of compromise? Or is the 'best for both of us' actually the 'best for me..deal with it'. Fair enough it can be put down to the irrational behavior of a 16 yo girl, but fuckit
I am tired of women using age / hormones / feelings as an excuse for completely fucking us over. fuck.

You want to know why guys become total assholes? Its because we are tired of being treated like we don't exist. Try getting a visit at midnight from a person you're supposedly going out with...the night before u fly away from a visit with her...telling you that she has to end it because its for the best...and you might just understand why that guy you're crazy about just doesn't seem to give a damn about you outside of the bedroom.

..India..

2007-11-27T09:25:00.000+02:00

Hey all :)

I have been back in the country for a while now, but for some reason I couldn't seem to get the India experience onto screen...the words didn't seem to do it justice.

Anyway, this is my lame attempt at explaining all that happened while in the sub-continent.

We flew from Cape town to Jo'burg on the 24th October..and before we even took off we missed our connection in Doha (the plane took off 2 hours later than it was meant to). This meant that while we were busy getting on board, our travel agent was busy trying to rectify the problem. She did get us another flight but this was 24 hours later, which meant a 24 hour stop in Doha.

Luckily though the airline covered the cost of accommodation and transit visas in Doha, so we ended up having a completely pampered time. And we even managed to catch up on some much needed sleep :)

We got to India (a day later) and very tired. But all in all happy. The customs process was relatively painless, and we got to the international arrivals area Very sleepy.

After waiting about an hour and a half we realised there was a problem..

Basically what had happened was the airline had first routed us via mumbai, and then changed it to a direct flight. This meant that we arrived at International arrivals instead of domestic arrivals...

Normally this isnt a problem except that the two are 20 minutes drive from each other.

Anyway to cut a long story short we high tailed to domestic arrivals, met up with our lift, got to our accomodation and slept for the next 8 hours :)

Right so thats how we got there :) Next installment will be on the country itself :)

Pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/silversabre/

Inspiration

2007-10-23T16:48:00.000+02:00

Bye guys :) Catch you all after India.

Bye Bye :)

2007-10-22T15:11:00.001+02:00

hey all :)

I'm off to India on Wednesday. So I don't think I will be able to update this blog for the next two weeks or so (not much new there huh :) )

Wish me luck :)

Love you guys lots
SS

Prison Break

2007-10-15T17:34:00.000+02:00

On Friday I got a number 1 haircut.

I have Never had my hair this short before lol :) Its pretty much non existent :) But I like it, its a completely different look..and strangely gals seem to like it ALOT.

Now why didn't anyone tell me this ages ago??

My Nett Worth...

2007-10-12T17:21:00.000+02:00

$4575.00

100% Free Personals from JustSayHi

Hehe, come in with nothing, leave with nothing :) At least my friends will be able to have a night out :P

Awkwardness

2007-10-11T09:37:00.000+02:00

There is no other way to describe last night.

There is a (very) young girl in my home group, and she normally is Extremely quiet. Recently though she has been snappish / cattish to the point of getting me actually angry (which is quite a feat).

This child sits next to me, and starts the conversation with 'I don't like you..in fact I hate you, you are just so..I dunno, you just Annoy me!'

To which my response was 'thats fine..if thats the way you feel, sit somewhere else'

Anyway this continued for the whole evening, until the very end of the evening when she did the whole 'Why don't you have a girlfriend thing..' (*silent screaming*)

Followed by the 'God told me you are meant to marry me..' (My response being, 'I'm sorry child, but he hasn't told me anything like that..') etc etc.

So all in all it was awkward.

The problem is not that whole situation though. The problem is that she told me sometime in the whole monologue that she was being raped by her foster father. Now thats something I can't just take lightly and keep to myself.

So I will need to raise the situation with our home group leader.

Knowing him he will take it up with the church, who will probably take it up with the family, and if there is any truth in it it will (I hope) come out.

Which will of course mean that this child's whole world could be completely destroyed, very fast.

And it has me so worried, cos I just don't know Which is the lesser evil??

Turned down :( sigh.

2007-10-08T13:21:00.000+02:00

The offer to purchase was turned down by the seller.

So I have upped it. We shall see how things go.

Signed

2007-10-04T11:21:00.000+02:00

I signed the offer to purchase on the apartment in Hout Bay yesterday. :)

On other news I am going to be working at midnight tonight. How crap is that.

SS

The things that have been

2007-10-03T10:50:00.000+02:00

Hey guys :)

I am not going to promise that this is a monumental return. Or anything remotely resembling monumental. This is purely an update to let you guys know whats been going on in this here life of mine. Well at least the important goings on :)

!!India!!
Two Sundays ago I was doing the sound for my church. Happy in the little sound booth. Safe from the possible attention of the Pastor (he has the habit of singling people out. Its lovely :) ). When he suddenly starts talking about the Leadership training time in India. Now he had told me about it before, and he did mention he thought I should go, but it was always just a passing thing. So on that sunday when he mentioned it, imagine my surprise when he said: 'Ok so It has been on my heart for a long time that Silver goes to the India LTT...I think its a God thing...so who wants to go with Silver??'

So to cut a long story short I am off to India. On the 24th of October. Eeeeee!!! :)

!!Hout Bay!!
There is a beautiful little town nestled in a valley about 20min from Cape town. Its gorgeous, picturesque, and I have spent Alot of time there of late. So much so that I find myself driving back at the worst possible times. Its a long windy drive and its really tiring at 12 at night. So I am putting an offer in for an apartment there. Wish me luck..I really hope it works out :)

Hmm, besides that all is well, still going strong with the gee tar, still pretending to rock climb every now and then.

SS

..The ring..

2007-10-01T10:06:00.000+02:00

So Peas m'dear....In the words of the indelible Mark Knoffler: 'You and me babe...How about it? '
:P

Peas on toast. seriously.

2007-09-26T10:01:00.000+02:00

This blog it seems has died. I am sorry to all my reader (no that is not a spelling/grammar mistake). But I just don't seem to be able to blog and concentrate on everything else these days. Hopefully the inspiration will return soon.

In my absence though do yourself a Huge favor and check out:
http://mushypeasontoast.blogspot.com/

It is literary brilliance. If I ever meet the author I will most probably propose to her. I would propose even if it was a him. Its just that good.

Backson. Busy. Backson

Cast your votes Now!!

2007-08-24T17:35:00.000+02:00

Please have a look at the following, and vote for the amazing Red!

http://www.webaddict.co.za/2007/08/24/my-perfect-city-challenge-entry-redsaid/

Thanks :)
SS

Casta Alma part one

2007-08-08T09:47:00.000+02:00

This is a trackback to the post about my night when we painted the Baxter theatre Red ;)

Casta Alma is the name of a Cape Town band, playing a fusion of flamenco jazz.

Their band consists of two percussionists, two guitarists and a (very beautiful) lady playing the flute.

The music is absolutely stunning!! The rhythm is flawless, and is enough to get the whitest guy to dance (sorry, had to put that in there :P )

They have this interesting instrument called a peruvian box (or something like that) that creates the coolest percussive sounds. Ive never seen anything like it. It looks like a normal speaker box...but the sound it creates is just wow...

....gonna have to end this here...more tomorrow...

SS

Song-bird..

2007-08-07T10:19:00.000+02:00

I am gonna be trying out on backup vocals tonight...something i wanted to try for a while now...

Wish me luck

...Freshly Drowned...

2007-08-06T08:39:00.000+02:00

The concept of baptism is probably the least understood of all the biblical principles.

It is, as it is popularly viewed, a step of obedience in which the person who has chosen makes a public statement declaring his choice. But it actually is Way beyond that.

Baptism boils down almost to the core of Christianity, the story going a bit like this:

In the beginning God created a man (and Adam was his Name oh)..now this man, whose name meant literally 'first man', was the representative of all of mankind to God. And to cut a long story short, he Blew it. He sinned against God, and in so doing he not only introduced Sin into the world, but also separated us completely from God.

The problem is that his judgment caused all those of his lineage to be equally punished. The proof being that all men die, something which according to the Bible was not meant to happen.

So here we are, separated from the One that created us, destined to live life out in complete Sin and to die...for something committed by our first ancestor.

But God, being Merciful, decided to allow his creation a second chance..a second representative. This man came down, spread the word of God, and then took on All of the worlds sins, and died for the whole of humanity. In doing this his suffering was not due to the wounds inflicted on him, it was rather the enormity of all that sin resting on his shoulders, and for the first time being separated from God, as the rest of humanity was.

So the sins of the world are forgiven, and mankind has a second representative. But God gives us freedom, and we can choose to accept, or we can choose to reject.

In acceptance (and this is where baptism comes in) what you are actually saying is not 'Christ died on a cross for me'...you are actually saying is 'I was there on the cross with him. I died. So that now I may live with God'.

The baptism is the physical enactment of this belief / choice, you Go under, you Die, and you are born again, under Christ, instead of under Adam.

Problem with the Bible is that you get to accept or you get to reject it. You do not have the option of negotiating it.

I was baptized last Sunday, and I have to say it was the Most Amazing experience of my life.

Dis-chord

2007-08-03T13:17:00.000+02:00

I have been playing alot of guitar of late.

everything from Mellencamp to Metallica. And it is really nice to get back into the groove of things...but something happened about two weeks ago that really was amazing.

I have begun to play guitar for Home Group (a gathering of people from church, a small group service so to speak) on Wednesdays (no this isn't what is amazing). So one of the musicians at church heard that I was playing, and out of the blue asked if I would like to get together and Jam...he happens to be the musician that I have been Dying to get lessons from...so I was Seriously taken aback...in the words of a good friend: 'You're moving in the Spirit now m'boy...hold on tight'.

So on Saturday was the first session, it was AMAZING. We started without even touching the guitars, just played Loads of rhythm on the jembes (traditional drums) and tamborines...was awesome.

And when we did pick up the guitars I learned more in half an hour than i did in the whole of the last year. wow.

He invited me to Band practice on tuesday. Which was So difficult!! I never thought playing with people would be so challenging!

But it does stretch me, so it is a good thing :) And by the next lesson / jam I should be Leagues better than I am now :)

SS

...The Girl next Door...

2007-08-02T14:55:00.000+02:00

I was very undecided regarding what I should write about today.

I somehow feel that the concert I mentioned in the last entry really needed a bit more substance...but I think it is important for me to get this particular subject down on paper (screen?) so that I can look at it and sorta rationalize it for myself.

Normally I am very comfortable in the company of the fairer sex (by comfortable I mean my mind remains alert and able to construct basic sentences (Hi..Im Silver, your name is? )... perform basic mathematic calculations (hmmm, 34...C!) and navigate basic obstacles successfully (such as walls and tables). These skills are Very important if one is to perform successfully the art of 'impressing'. Lacking these skills turns the 'impressing' into something akin to 'surviving'...which in general never gets you very popular with the ladies.

Now I normally can do all this...until she came along..

(...oh, for those that are wondering, she really doesn't live next door...)

I have never met anyone (and I have met my fair share of models, business woman and soccer-moms) that has managed to get me completely tongue tied..completely and absolutely at a (complete) loss for words. I HATE it!

She walks past me and my mind turns into a mass of static..its like the re-run of a Very Old WW2 epic... crrrrk...Mayda...crrrrk...shhhh....going down, need...sssshh...immediate eva...crrrrrrrrk...

And to top it all off Shes Taken (whhhyyyy *quiet sobs*)

So I thought to myself, this state of affairs is just Not on, I mean it just wont fly.
The quickest thing that turns me off a girl is if she has No personality whatsoever. When holding a meaningful conversation is impossible as it always breaks down into the amazing shoes she bought On Sale last Tuesday...or the awful things a friend of a friend said about the boyfriend of a friends sister...
I figured that I would speak to her, she would turn out being unbearably shallow, and the balance of the world would return to wonderful normality.

She is LOVELY! I mean shes intelligent, funny, So great to talk to....

and So unbearably beautiful....

So I am now stuck in this really strange state of mind...I know that this is gonna get me hurt...but I really don't want the feeling to stop...

And whats even more strange is that I know she isn't perfect, I can tell that she isn't the most beautiful...and she isn't necessarily the girl with the strongest character...but there is something about her...and I just can't get enough of it.

The Red, The weekend and The girl next door. (also an update of GreatNess)

2007-08-01T13:53:00.000+02:00

Well helllo there everyBody!!

It has been a very long time (hence the greatness of this update) and I have been really busy, but alot has happened in the interim :)

I have met the Red !!! :)

I dont know if you guys remember but there was a certain lady that I had this overwhelming feeling that I had to meet. She has this amazing blog, has such a stunning writing style, and you can almost feel the depth of her personality in her writing..

Well her writing, as stunning as it is, does not come close to describing the person...she is bubbly, funny, great to be around, and has an appreciation of the arts like no one i have met before..

We watched the show 'Pure Soul' at the Baxter theater, and I have to say that it was absolutely stunning!! Great music, and great company, what more could a guy ask for :)

It was so strange though, the being 'compelled' to meet her seems to almost have a definite purpose...which i wont elaborate here (no, it isn't what you are thinking :) )...and as much as the meeting has been very special for me, I am hoping that there is something that she has gained from it too, and will continue to gain from this new friendship :)

More soon...
SS

ps. I realised i completely left out the girl next door...hehe...well more on her tomorrow...

To spot a whale

2007-06-19T09:36:00.000+02:00

My dad is in Cape Town for a holiday at the moment, and he has always wanted to go and see Hermanus, which is a seaside town an hour and a bit away from Cape Town famous for whale watching.

The drive is lovely, through the beautiful (if slightly dangerous) Sir Lowrys Pass.

We got there at around 3, and spent a few hours walking the (little) town. It was really peaceful, and the weather was fantastic.

And over the calm was the sound of the rugby game, coming from the local cubana :P Hehe South Africa won apparently :)

Oh and we saw a whale. It was pretty far out and wasnt doing anything too dramatic, but it was still a wonderful experience.

Pic here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/silversabre/568838733/

Memories

2007-06-11T09:56:00.000+02:00

When you're dreaming with a broken heart...

In my second year of university, In September, I woke up in the middle of the night..with this unbelievable image in my mind..of this girl from high school, dressed all in white, sitting on the bed next to me..

The waking up is the hardest part...You roll out of bed and onto your knees, and for a moment you can hardly breathe..

It was so real, i could feel the warmth of her next to me, the motion of the bed as she got up, and the light from the window as she walked away..

Wondering was she really here..is she standing in my room...

And getting up, looking for her, and not finding her there...was more painful than having to let go of her in the first place..

No she's not...cos she's gone..gone..gone..gone...Gone

Damn John Mayer..I would prefer not to have remembered this.

Held up so high on such a breakable thread...

2007-06-06T10:25:00.000+02:00

Ok..in all fairness the thread can hold something like 2 tonnes...

On Saturday after french classes I went indoor rock climbing with my cousin and her boyfriend :) was an absolute blast! And i decided to go all out and actually join the place, and buy the kit. So i now own a climbing harness, climbing shoes, a belay device, and a carabina. Wheee :)

Climbing remains the one sport I am constantly drawn to. There is something about conquering a wall that is just amazing...but I have to say that when I climbed on saturday there was no concern for marked routes...im way too out-of-practice for that..and even though i just climbed the easiest route i could find, I still felt soo dead afterwards..Damn am i unfit.

Climbed again yesterday...oh my poor forearms!! We did a bit of bouldering as well..its pityful how little time i can actually stay up on the wall..before my arms feel like lead.
On the plus side Aveshan (my cousins boyfriend) got his belay licence yesterday :) which is cool :)

The belay test is pretty strict, you need to know how to check yourself and your partner to make sure their harness is on fine. You dont want to be 30m in the air and realise that your harness is on wrong...
You need to take in slack rope fast, always be prepared for your climber to fall. And in the test the climber takes an 'unexpected' fall. Just to be sure. Of course I was the climber and that unexpected fall thing is damned difficult to do.

Its pretty strange though..no matter how many times I climb I always find myself questioning my harness half way up the wall..did i put it on right... are my straps doubled back ...is my figure 8 knot correct..whats that tearing sound...

In general the tearing sound is the velcro being pulled apart. This is not a reason to be concerned. The velcro is just there to hold the harness in place while you tie it on, it has no weight bearing function. But damn is that sound scary!

And when you're up at 30m or so from the comfort of the ground you always find yourself asking..if I fall from here.....will i DIE? I mean medically speaking, will i be like DEAD...
and then you look down and realise..if I do fall, I hope Im Dead, cos if Im not...

Anyway enough of the macabre stuff :) I absolutely am loving this sport...so if you're in Cape Town, I hope I see you on the wall ;)

The beauty of Cape Town

2007-05-29T13:43:00.001+02:00

DSC04251
Originally uploaded by SilverSabre

This was taken on the road above Llundudno, cape town.

This was taken on my way back from the harbour area of Hout Bay, where we wanted to do some work to help one of our church members set up her 'bungalow'..which is actually not much more than a box..what us in south africa would call a shack..(only we thought it was a bungalow when we were going there)

What we needed to do was put up the door, and glass for the windows. But there were a few issues that prevented us from actually doing anything.

Her boyfriend (and the father of her baby) is a tik (chrystal-meth) addict. And he is as far as I can tell at the stage where he will sell anything (read door and windows) for his next fix.

So we decided we would rather organise his rehab, and while he is getting that we will start work on the bungalow, which will take alot of work to get to what I would consider a livable condition (although I suppose thats a matter of perception).

The strange thing though is that the area this is in, altho poverty stricken and very slum-like, is nestled in the mountain above the harbour. It has the most Beautiful view of the Hout bay harbour I have ever seen. And from this vantage point you can clearly see the elite cape victorian homes just across the way. Its such a strange duality of beauty and suffering, wealth and poverty.

Weep...for those that truly suffer...

2007-05-28T10:20:00.000+02:00

About a year and a bit ago I was busy reading up on stuff about iraq, and the conditions the people there found themselves in during the war.

There was this one blog that really gripped me..I read it from start to finish..

I can still remember the post she wrote about true terror. She had walked to the other room just as a bomb exploded nearby, causing the front window of her house to shatter inwards and fling shards of glass deep into the couch she had been sitting on...I had to re read that many times..each time i did i kept getting this picture of absolute helplessness and fear, and I couldnt shake the feeling of the awesome futility of war.

Today I found her blog again..and it hit me just as hard..two years on and things are still the same..things are still as painful..they are still just holding on.

I want you all to go read her blog, it is a testament of what I consider is really going on in that country. It is so easy to turn our eyes away and pretend that the world we live in is unscarred and is not suffering.

The last post on her blog was 26th of April this year, which is over a month ago..and it speaks of her and her family going through the difficult decision on whether or not to leave.

Right now my heart is bleeding..and I dont actually know how to verbalise the feeling of utter injustice of a family having to leave everything simply because some elitist idiot who happened to be commanding the most powerful miltary in the world got it into his idiot brain that vengence would justify the death and suffering of millions...and further to that it is bleeding for her safety..I pray that she will be ok, and that this will not become another Anne Frank story, read by millions after the fact..

I pray she will be ok.

FaceBook

2007-05-25T11:29:00.000+02:00

You guys have to check this out.

And when u join ADD ME (mahendran.govender@gmail.com)! !

www.facebook.com

Cmon do it! Do it now!

SS

Riders in the sky

2007-05-21T13:11:00.000+02:00

If any of you have watched the Ghost Rider movie you would've heard this very cool piece of music, played when the the two riders are off to deliver the contract of san whatsisplace.

Its by the shadows, who wrote some of the best guitar music ever played, and it is absolutely brilliant.

The reason Im writing about it is that on Friday I plugged my guitar into my home theatre system, and have been rocking ever since..yesterday I learnt to play apache :D

Im not sure if this post will only be appealing to Master Prometheus and myself, but there is just something about playing a fender that is just surreal. Every note on it rings absolutely true, and the jumbo frets pick up the slightest lightest touch on the strings. I cant wait till im good enough to make that guitar sing.

Playing apache was a great learning experience. The bend on the notes is really hard to do on an acoustic, but on the fender it was like liquid. the strings dont seem to push back, and you can actually hear when you've bent to the right amount. It was one of the most rewarding practice sessions Ive had on guitar.

Cant wait to get stuck in again today :D

SS

Things that annoy me...

2007-05-16T12:30:00.000+02:00

Got this mail today:

THIS IS WELL WORTH READING READ TILL THE END, ESPECIALLY THE INDIAN
WOMEN.

White women's opinion of Indian women & an Indian brother's
response.
Please take a moment and read this. Pretty Deep! Thumbs up to this
Indian man.
Enjoy.

It seems that an article was written to Sister 2 Sister magazine by
A Caucasian woman who requested a response from Indian men. I'm so
glad she got what she asked for (and more)!!! She wrote:

Dear Jamie

I'm sorry but I would like to challenge some of your Indian male readers.
I am a White female who is engaged to a Indian male-good-looking,educated and loving. I just don't understand a lot of Indian female's attitudes about our relationship. My man decided he wanted me because the pickings amongst Indian women were slim to none. As he said they were either too fat, too loud, too mean, too argumentative, too
needy, too materialistic or carrying too much excess baggage.

Before I became engaged, whenever I went out I was constantly Approached by Indian men, willing to wine and dine me and give me the world. If Indian women are so up in arms about us being with their men, why don't they look at themselves and make some changes. I am tired of the dirty looks I get and snide remarks when we're out in
public. I would like to hear from some Indian men about why we are so appealing and coveted by them.

Bryant Gumbel left his wife of 26 years for one of us. Charles
Barkley, Scottie Pippen, the model Tyson Beckford, Montell Williams,
Quincy Jones, James Earl Jones, Harry Belafonte, Sydney Poitier,
Kofi Anan, Cuba Gooding Jr., Don Cornelius, Berry Gordy, Billy Blanks, Wesley Snipes...

I could go on and on. But, right now, I'm a little angry and that is
Why I wrote this so hurriedly. Don't be mad with us, White women,Because so many of your men want us. Get your acts together and learn from us And we may lead you to treat your men better. If I'm wrong, Indian men,

Let me know.

Thanx-Disgusted White Girl, Somewhere in VA!!!!

RESPONSE

Dear Jamie:

I would like to respond to the letter written by A Disgusted White
Girl. Let me start by saying that I am a 28-year old Indian man. I
Graduated from one of the most prestigious universities in Atlanta ,
Georgia With a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Management. I
have a good job at A major corporation and have recently purchased a house. So, I Consider myself to be among the ranks of successful Indian men.

I will not use my precious time to slander white people. I just want to set the record straight of why Indian men date white women. Back in the day, one of the biggest reasons why Indian men dated white women was
because they were considered easy. The Indian girls in my neighborhood were raised in strict homes. They were very strict about when they lost their virginity and who they lost it to. Because of our impatience to wait, brothers would look for someone who would give it up easy without too much hassle. So, they turned to the white girls.

Nowadays, in my opinion, a lot of brothers date white women because they are docile and easy to control. A lot of Indian men, because of insecurities, fears, and overall weaknesses, have become intimidated by the strength of our
Indian women. We are afraid that our woman will be more successful than us, make more money than us, drive nicer cars and own bigger houses.

Because of this fear, many Indian men look for a more docile woman. Someone We can control.
I have talked to numerous Indian men and they continuously comment on how easy it is to control and walk over their white women. I just want to set the record straight.

I want A Disgusted White Girl to know that not all successful Indian men date white women. Brothers like Ahmad Rashad, Denzel Washington, Michael Jordan, Morris Chestnut, Will Smith, Blair Underwood, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Chris Rock all married strong black/Indian
women And, to flip the script, there are numerous white men, in and out of the spot light, who openly or secretly desire Indian women over white women.Ted Danson, Robert DeNiro, and David Bowie to name a few.

I just don't Want a "Disgusted White girl" to be misinformed, Stop thinking that Because you are white that you are some type of goddess. Remember, when Indian Egyptian Queens like Hatsepshut and Nitorcris were ruling
Dynasties and armies of men in Egypt, you were over in the caves of Europe eating raw meat and beating each other over the head with clubs. Read your history!

It was the Indian woman that taught you how to cook and season your
food.

It was the Indian woman that taught you how to raise your children.

It was Indian women who were breast feeding and raising your babies during slavery.

It is the Indian woman that had to endure watching their fathers, husbands, and children beaten, killed, and thrown in jail.

INDIAN women were born with two strikes against them: being Indian and being a woman. And, through all this, Still They Rise! It is because of the Indian women's strength, elegance, power, love and beauty
that I could never date anyone except my Indian Queen. It is not just the outer beauty that captivates and draws me to them.

It is not the fact that they come in all shapes, sizes, colors and shades that I love them. Their inner beauty is what I find most appealing about Indian women. Their strong spirit, loving and nurturing souls, their integrity, their ability to overcome great obstacles, their willingness to stand for what they believe in, and their determination to succeed and reach their highest potential while enduring great pain and suffering is why I have fallen in love with Indian women.

I honestly believe that your anger is geared more toward jealousy And envy more so than snotty looks. If this were not so, then why do you continuously go to tanning salons to darken your skin? If you are so proud to be white, then why don't you just be happy with your pale skin?

Why do you continue to inject your lips, hips, and breasts with
unnatural and dangerous substances so you can look fuller and more
voluptuous?

I think that your anger is really a result of you wanting to have What
the Indian woman has...

BOTTOM LINE: If I were looking for a docile woman, someone I can Walk
over and control, I would give you a call. But, unfortunately, I
am looking for a Virtuous Woman. Someone that can be a good wife and mother to my children. Someone who can be my best friend and understands my struggles. I am looking for a soul mate. I am looking for a sister and; unfortunately, you do not and CANNOT fit the bill.

No offense taken, none given.
Signed, Indian Royalty

Wow!! Please pass this on to all the INDIAN QUEENS ....and INDIAN KINGS
Be proud of your women... ..... Appreciate their
greatness.......!!!!

I mean for crying out loud!! Im indian but I certainly hope I dont need the self justification of circulating this kind of email just to make myself feel special.

My response:

Interesting read, but a load of bull.

Indian women are no longer virtuous or any of those wonderful words we use to describe what an 'ideal' woman should be. University taught me that all women are the same, and some indian girls are definately worse than their white counterparts in this regard.

In general I think we need to realise that no matter our upbringing or supposed culture, people are the same. We react the same way, and when it comes to the points noted below there is definately No difference any longer between people of any race.

If anything if i wanted a woman I could control I would probably go for a 'good' indian girl. The social structure places far more emphasis on what a man says and tends to disregard a womans views / needs. Which is why we have this misconception of indian woman as being 'virtuous'. They arent virtuous they are just too scared to do Anything lest the society around them labels them cheap or easy..which is a label you could earn simply by smiling in the wrong guys direction in some cases.

These mails only promote the racial card, so as much as they are eloquent they have no value except to make us move a step backward each time. If you want to be proud of something thats fine, be proud you're female. Be proud that you have achieved equality with your male counterparts and that you can work, learn and interact with them on exactly the same level.

Be proud also that you are no longer looked down upon because of your skin colour. Be proud that the world as a whole is trying to move away from all of that and is trying to acknowledge that people of all races are in fact equal.

Be proud, but not because you feel you are 'superior' to anyone. Being proud for that reason will just be a self deception.

The renovations :)

2007-05-11T10:14:00.000+02:00

Hi Guys

I have uploaded some pics of the painting and stuff to my eSnips account :)

Have a look, and let me know what you guys think :) (Really, I would love to get some comments on this one)

SS

Book Meme (stolen from Anusha)

2007-05-10T12:38:00.000+02:00

Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read
** Italicize the ones you want to read
*Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.*

If you are reading this, tag, you’re it!

**If there are any books on this list that I didn't italicize and you think I should read, let me know in comments! Also, what other books do you think belong on this list and why?

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) - currently reading
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo) abridged version
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Those that were left behind:
1. The Dark is Rising series (Susan Cooper)
2. The colour of magic (Terry Pratchett)
3. The James Bond series (Ian Fleming)
4. Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)
5. Sherlocke Holmes series (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

**Note if a book is both Bold and Italics it means I have read and want to read again :)

painting...and confusion..

2007-05-08T11:54:00.000+02:00

Hey all

I finished the bedroom yesterday. The suede looks really great. I will post photos once I move everything back in and have it nice and clean :)

Can't wait to sleep on a proper bed again!!

On other news life continues to baffle me :) Was in church on sunday, and there is this girl there that I swear has the wierdest effect on me..she walks in and all my standard thought processes go out the window...Im never normally at a loss for words!

Anyway she was there on sunday and i was trying my hardest to concentrate on the sermon and not gawk in her direction, when the lady next to me started talking...the lady next to me is a friend of a friend, late 30's, lovely in a sorta crazy barbie doll kinda way...I like her company but im not attracted to her...
It took me all of 5 minutes to realise she was hitting on me...

Her first line was "We should do coffee sometime"
Me: sure we can all go to Primi after church next week if ya like?
Her: "Yaa..I mean just us.."
Me: "...ok"
Her: "You're like 22 huh.."
Me: "24 actually :) "
Her: "Lord, guess how old I am?"
Me: "27?...."
Her: "My word u're like my best friend from now :)..Im 36"
Me: "No way..you don't look it" (She really doesnt)

..Lights go out cos they have a video on..
She: "Im not leaning towards you cos Im hitting on you, its just to see the screen..."
Me: "hehe that didnt even cross my mind.."
She: "Dont think Im taking advantage of the low light or anything :) "
Me: "..."

And all this time I have this angelic other gal in my field of vision who I just cant get up the nerve to go talk to! Arrrgh!! Whyyy!! *sob*

So all in all life continues to be interesting. I suppose this is a good thing, it would be boring if I wasnt in this constant state of confusion :)

Hope all you guys are well, especially you Maria, take it easy with all them said guys! Sometimes what we need most is time away from all of them.
And Anusha, I hope your heart has healed slightly (**HUG**) it will get better..and if you really need a distraction you can always come have a holiday in sunny cape town (although its freezing now) I have a newly painted flat! See Im proper marriage material :P

SS

Ps. check out this painting Im doing for my passage wall and let me know what you guys think :)

A 13 spanner...

2007-04-30T14:33:00.000+02:00

I want to finish my painting of my flat. I want to finish my painting of my flat so much that last weekend I moved my entire bedroom into the lounge, put down the drop sheets and started working.

This arrangement would normally be perfect, it takes a day to do one large wall, so it woulda taken me just over two to finish the bedroom (the one wall is taken up by cupboards and the other by window so they don't count really) Weekend and a bit of today and I would be moving stuff back in happily. Buut of course the world doesn't work like that.

After finishing the large walls undercoat i moved on to the wall behind my bed. This wall is a little bit special, Ive painted on a Japanese Symbol meaning 'Serenity' above where my bed will be. Its on the crete-stone which has been sealed, so it looks like its on parchment. very very cool :)

Once that was done it was already like 8pm, so i wrapped up and called it a night. The next morning a friend of mine and I did the lighting for the lounge (the lights are down lighters on a track, very pretty, i shall post pics soon). By the time that was done it was already like 5pm, and I was feeling really tired so i hit the pillows at around 7, no painting done.

The next morning, I woke up, and felt like a train had hit me during the night. Said train had then reversed and hit me again a few times. Now i have church on Sunday, and it is a 15min drive to church...with a pounding head and runny nose and general body soreness..this normally pleasant 15min drive was not a happy one. To make matters worse the whole way to church i couldn't help but notice that the battery light in my car was not going off...

The Battery light is not something you play with. Fuel lights you can get away with for a few kilometers. But the battery light basically implies one of two things:

The battery is dead and therefore not charging
The alternator is not charging the battery

either of these mean that you will not have charge in a little bit and your car will cut off, or on your next trip simply not start.

Anyway so after church i picked up my heater (its freezing here in cape town) from my sisters place. Got into my car and lo it didn't start. Didn't even turn. sigh. on a Sunday. sigh.

Luckily my mechanic lives opposite my sisters place so i called him out, he got me a replacement battery out his car (hows that for service :) ) and my car is now with him getting the alternator fixed.

So after this whole day from hell, I got home, crawled onto the couch, and fell asleep.

Today I feel just as sick as i did yesterday, have a huge headache, and I want to go home and sleep :(

So all in all this weekend i managed to finish about 25% of what i wanted to. My room is nowhere near finished, and until it is I'm stuck sleeping in the lounge. My couches are super comfy but there are times when nothing compares to a bed. sigh.

The Lounge Wall

2007-04-24T16:14:00.000+02:00

Hey everyone :)

Photobucket continues to give me a tummy ache, so heres the links to 2 pics of what my lounge wall looks like now that its painted :)

http://www.esnips.com/doc/4a65d193-a490-49fd-9d2e-566cf2c09c2f/Lounge-Wall1

http://www.esnips.com/doc/2eb2abd5-93f0-4730-b93a-14e5774f4492/Lounge-Wall2

Hope you guys like :D

SS

Missing Header

2007-04-24T09:14:00.000+02:00

It has come to my attention that the header image for this site is, well, missing...

If any of you have seen the poor dear anywhere on the net please let me know..I would love to get her back.

If any of you can see her on this blog let me know as well, as she might be hiding within my proxy settings :)

SS

FENDER BENDER

2007-04-23T11:48:00.000+02:00

I didnt tell you guys this, but earlier this year my flat was broken into. Basically it was cleaned out, Everything worth anything was taken.

Including my babies.

Both my Satin Black Cort acoustic, and my Fender Stratocaster where taken. I think I could probably have bared with them taking all my furniture (which they didnt take) if they had just left those two alone. sigh.

Anyway, I am very happy to tell you guys that Insurance covered everything. And yesterday I got a new Fender :)

It is new shiny and every bit as pretty as Kaedee (the name means maple leaf and melodious sequence of notes in two different languages, and since she had a maple fretboard it kinda fit)...It is exactly the same finish as she was, so I shall call this one Kaedee2..

Only difference is they dont make the exact model as Kaedee anymore, they make a beefed version...so I actually ended up with a better guitar (not that any guitar would better Kaedee, but you get the idea :) )

It took this long to get the guiatr cos there were None in the country..they had to ship it in from the states (mwahahahahahahahahhahaha),..i feel like royalty :)

hehe, cant wait to finish painting so i can put up the guitar hooks and have my babies displayed.

SS

Working with leather...

2007-04-23T10:15:00.000+02:00

It turns out that suede paint is not the most forgiving to apply.

I followed the instuctions for the first coat to the letter. Brush all inaccessible spots (spots a roller wont go) first, then roll the rest. Buuut for some reason the paint does not blend!! the bits u brush first remain so obviously different that I can only hope the second coat will mask them.
I basically now have an amber wall, with an odd deeper amber border...sigh

The second coat goes on tonight. It must be done with a brush, in complately random x-type brush strokes. Its a brush so it will be a mission. And the random thing is gonna drive me insane. Buut I hope the result will be worth it :)

Wish me luck.

SS

I want to go home

2007-04-18T10:41:00.000+02:00

and sleep

Suede !!

2007-04-10T10:53:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I went paint shopping (it was a public holiday here in South Africa) for the walls of my flat :)

Now before I went I had already decided on basic colours for the rooms. A pleasant forresty green for the bedroom and tan / earth tones for the lounge. But there was one thing that I really really wanted but didnt think I could get in the green...

SUEDE PAINT!!! You know, the kind that looks like brushed, soft leather :) all touchable and snuggly :) I didnt think I could get it in the colours i wanted..so I had resigned myself to the fact that the bedroom at least would have to be in matt or velvet type paint...nice, but Not Suede :(

So yesterday I got up early, and drove around to all the paint places I know...and then it hit me...it was a public holiday here in South Africa...so None of them were open. Not one.sigh..

In a last ditch completely silly attempt to get done the one task I had decided on for the day, I took a drive past Builders Warehouse. To those that are familiar with Cape Town, Builders Warehouse is the new Dela Reys.. To those unfamiliar, Builders Warehouse is the uber-store of hardware. You can get anything there from decor lighting to plants for your garden, and waterfeatures to plant those plants around. It is big, it is beautiful, and it is in general waay outa my price range.

It was also open.

So I went in and lo, there was this FANTASTIC green, called African Jade, in the Dulux Suede range. weeeee :) It rocks, its this calm forresty green, and when im done the whole room will look all textured and soft :) yay!!

The lounge is going to have the large wall done in amber suede, which is this bright golden colour :).The rest of the walls will just have the existing cretestone finish sealed. I like the look of the cretestone, its really smooth and this mottled creamish brown...very earthy...so all in all it should end up Stunning :)

I shall keep u posted :)

I cant wait to get started :)

The FESTIVAL

2007-04-05T09:50:00.000+02:00

I was very very tempted to title this post 'Return of the Hoff..' but I fought very strongly against that urge :)

The Jazz festival was amazing! It had this stunning atmosphere and more talent than I have ever seen packed together in one location.
4 stages, loads of local and international talent, and this amazing crowd :) I think the atmosphere (you know, that certain something about the feel of a concert...that buzz) is as important as the quality of the music. And the buzz was very very evident.

The experimental Jazz section really blew me away. They had this guy on guitar that was UNBELIEVABLE!! He made the damn thing sound like a trumpet. I mean wtf!!! It was awesome.

And then I watched Tucan Tucan, which is a totally different style of music. Very up beat and almost carnival in nature, they definately got the crowd jumping :) And the one singer was soo pretty!! :D

Gino Vinelli sang at the very end of the evening. Heheheheheh...the man can sing, but damned if hes not off the set of Knight Rider. Sprayed on jeans and big hair and these wierd macho dance moves :D haha, was a great end to a great evening :)

-edit: I tried to upload the pics, but photobucket is being a bit of a beach. . .I will try and get them to you guys ;)

The Spirit, The Journey and the Cape town Jazz Festival

2007-03-29T10:35:00.000+02:00

Allo Every One :)

It has been a very long time, and I suppose I don't have much of an excuse, except that I just didn't seem to have the motivation to blog..(cue gasps here)...

But after constant prompting from the great Prometheus (who is an amazing person to chat to by the way, as engaging as Oprah and as witty as Seinfeld) I have decided to make my dramatic return...

*Enter stage left* Allo Every One !!! *Trip* Who the hell put that chair there!...

Anyway where was i? Oh yes..The Spirit..

Now this will freak out most people who know me, and probably all 5 of you guys, but I have been having the most amazing few weeks..

About 10 weeks ago one of my friends asked me to join her for this seminar..and being me I had no issue, i mean it sounded fun albeit slightly religious, but that never phases me: I normally just phase out the bits that are too unbalanced and move on from there...

So there was this preacher doing his thing about foundation stones...and how to build up your faith you need a solid foundation etc etc..and there i was phasing stuff out...When I got this really weird feeling...and whats even stranger is that it had absolutely nothing to do with anything he was saying...

Now even stranger was that it was a very clear specific feeling that I was meant to be there and I was meant to come for the next one and if I knew what was good for me I had better change everything I was doing wrong even though I thought they were OK...and I had better start making those changes now...

Hmmm...cue a very freaked out sabre for a few moments...

Anyway the next day I proceeded to do the very things that I had this strong feeling i needed to stop..

The next week at the next session I cant even remember what the guy said..I just kept getting this strong feeling of 'Son don't make me smack u...sort yourself out...'...so for the first time in my life i prayed about it...something along the lines of 'OK...you don't want me to do that..then i need you to remove it...' And would u believe the very next day all avenues to maintain that status-quo closed...was quite an eye opener..

And I've been praying ever since. . .which is completely new to me, but I have to say there are definitely results. I can honestly say every prayer has been answered.

So that was my last few weeks..and i suppose it is part of the reason Ive been so quiet. This particular journey is definitely one of the most fulfilling ones.. and it is a positive thing.. but it has left me in some areas with more questions than I have ever had before. One of them is this strong sense that extreme dogmatism is a bad thing...but if that is the case what is the path we are supposed to walk? I mean i continuously get the feeling that I should not convert into a religion...and that all men are equal and that dividing ourselves into little boxes based on what we think gods name is and what we're allowed to eat is not the way we should be doing things. As I'm typing this i am covered in this immense feeling that the world is missing something. That we are not meant to be divided or to divide. And that by using religion as a dividing factor we are in fact going against our creator...but where does that leave us? What is the true path?

SO to cut a long story short (or at least shorter than it could be) i have had an interesting few weeks, and I have a strong feeling I will have an interesting few more...and that brings us to the current day..

Today i did something i would never normally have done.. I bought two tickets to the cape town jazz fest.. and I have no one to actually go with..
This is not like the usual Virgo sabre at all, in fact it is a complete 180 degree flip, a mirror image so to speak..
The only reason i did this odd unthinkable unplanned thing is that the whole of last week i have had this strong feeling that I should take a specific blogger to the festival. I haven't ever met her, I don't even know what she looks like. I do know she writes the most amazing posts, but she might as well be a computer for all I know. And as far as I know she lives Hours away from the mother city.

So low and behold here I sit with two tickets to an event I am dying to see myself, and I have still to hear from the Lil redhead..hmm...odd odd state of affairs :)

Will the mystery redhead make it to the festival, will the festival be as awesome as the critics state, do i have a mild case of dementia...all this and more in the next exciting episode ;)

THE INVITATION

2007-02-26T15:45:00.000+02:00

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living

I want to know what you ache for,
And if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,
For your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow,
If you have been opened by life's betrayals or
Have shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own;

If you can dance with wilderness and let ecstasy fill you
To the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful,
Be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself,
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.

I want to know if you can see beauty
Even when it is not pretty every day,
And if you can source your life from God's presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine,
And still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,
Weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you are, how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the Fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself,
And if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

ORIAH MOUNTAIN DREAMER, Native American Elder

French Classes :)

2007-01-30T11:45:00.000+02:00

So myself and Master J have started French classes :)

Its like the coolest thing ever :D so far i can say je m'appelle Mahen....which means my name is Mahen..

et vous? ('And u?')

We spent the first lesson going through words that are used in both french and english, and going through some of the textbook. Was very cool :)

Our lecturer is this 20 something lady that looks straight out of Amelie, and to make matters worse she learnt to speak english in Ireland...so she is french and she has an Irish accent when she speaks english...enough to give any hot blooded male goose bumps.

So the next 6 months my saturday mornings are going to be spent making a complete ass of myself trying to associate words with genders and changing all my t's with z's...
You madame have ze most amazin smile i have ever seen in ma whole live.... etc etc

Anyway, Hello again to everyone!

Sho: I was away for three weeks :) and to be honest I didnt want to come back to work :)

SS

IM BACK!!!

2007-01-24T15:57:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone!!

I had such an awesome time on this holiday, I have to say I live in an absolutely Beautiful country!

This was on one of our roadtrips...

This is the view from the front balcony of the chalet we stayed at at Hazelmere Dam...so beautiful...although the heat during the day was Insane!!

On another Roadtrip:

This is at the Howick Falls:

My Fwends!!

They came all the way from Durban to Pmb to see me :) and they were on holiday from cape town so its quite a big thing :) these two ROCK!!

And finally, the new putty tat in Natal :) she is soo adorable!!!

We havent decided on her name, any ideas guys?

More news later :)
SS

Tag Im it :) v2.0

2006-12-19T13:38:00.000+02:00

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain {I love the Drakensburg!!}
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone.
08. Said “I love you” and meant it.
09. Hugged a tree.
10. Bungee jumped.
11. Visited Paris.
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise.
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope {if im ever in india we can do this together yeah Julia :) }
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight {sooo much fun}
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse of the moon.
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day {i love the British accent ;) }
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country {she was French, in South Africa, and she was beautiful :) }
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip {i do this at least twice a month :) }
48. Gone rock climbing {I love rock climbing!!}
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke {my friends have a video to prove it}
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain {in the mountains!}
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class {I did Karate for 10 years}
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo - {but i have designed one for a friend of mine}
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date {One of the only two I fell in love with..broke my heart that girl did}
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback {whats a flasback?}
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol {although i want to do archery}
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse {again, in the mountains :) I love the mountains}
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours. {Sickness}
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating {fish}
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Well thats the meme...its actually fun :) Thanks Julia.

I tag:
Myhearthurts..
Prometheus...
and Vixen :)

Tag Im it :)

2006-12-18T10:40:00.000+02:00

Hi all :) and thanks to Prometheus for the tag ;)

The meme works like this:

Grab the nearest book, turn to page 123, skip 5 sentences and write down the next 5...

heres mine:

Excellent.
We have already a clue.
There can be no doubt that the
probability−−the strong probability−−is that the writer was on board of a
ship.

The meme requires that u write down the author and title...but i think i'll do the same as master Prometheus...this is a (rather elementary) challenge, without the use of search engines figure out the author and title of the book.

Oh and Prometheus, the book you quoted was hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

SS

Swimming!!

2006-12-15T10:28:00.000+02:00

I cant remember if i mentioned this here before, but I have this Stoooopid Extreme fear of deep water...

You might not think its stupid, but the thing is I can swim, perhaps not at Olympic level, but I can actually swim properly. And i can drop below the surface and swim underwater...although getting to the bottom is sometimes a challenge :D

But the minute i stop swimming and am stationary i FREAK if my feet cant touch bottom...maybe i need to learn to float properly? I dunno....but Im now working on it :D

So two weekends ago myself and a few friends of mine went out to the baths... the place is absolutely amazing! I mean there is this stunning pool, and it is HOT! :) like a bath hot. wow...and its about as deep as my chin...so its just within my comfort zone..
Anyway Master J convinced me to attempt the completely submerged swimming thing, as in 5cm from the bottom :) never did get that right, but it did help me get comfortable in the water again, which is very cool :)

Anyway I am now on a mission to become a fish :) Master J is officially a shark, he moves through water like its his native element :) very cool to watch, i pity the poor gals that see that man in a pool.

Watch this space, soon i shall be a kite surfer or something :P

SS

The UPDATE of GREAT-ness

2006-12-13T12:24:00.000+02:00

HELLO!!!!!!!

I are alive and kicking!! and i think i owe everyone a BEEEG apology!!
Sorry guys, i know i owe this blog a bit more dedication than I have given it ;(

Okay heres whats been goin on in my life:

The Flat
This has pretty much been taking up all my time, but on the positive side i now officially live in the place i bought :D heee
There are so many small things that need to be done, but it is soo cool living in a place i own :)

Anyway on Saturday i put the bathroom door back on, apparently this is important for when u have visitors...

The Car
As you guys know my car was broken into a few weeks ago. And they cleaned it out. Well good news is that the insurance has approved the payout..so i have gone and replaced my sound system (i was going insane without it!) Buut the money has not yet been released into my account. I swear between banks and insurance companies im going to go insane soon.

The Women
Right now my female regime is just insane...I dunno whats happened to me (see last post) but i just dont care anymore. Ive tried to give a damn, but i dont...its so odd...and writing about it is even more strange...cos i know it should bother me but it doesnt. Right now i am looking at women as absolute objects, whats strange is they seem to fall for the not giving a damn attitude every time..its odd..hmm, maybe im not such a nice guy after all :S

The Guitar
I am starting guitar lessons next year.
Hooray :)

The Holiday
I am leaving on the 25th!! (yes i know its christmas :) ) for the Drakensburg!! I will only be back on the 12th of Jan :D oh the Joy! :)

Annyways :) Its great to be back, and for the record, i missed u guys too :D

SS

The Heart of the matter

2006-11-16T10:38:00.000+02:00

Don Henley - Heart of the matter

I got the call today that I didn't wanna hear
But I knew that it would come...
An old true friend of ours was talkin' on the phone
She said you found someone
And I thought of all the bad luck,
All the struggles we went through
How I lost me
and you lost you
What are these voices
outside love's open door
Make us throw off our contentment
And beg for something more?

I'm learning to live
without you now
But I miss you sometimes
The more I know,
the less I understand
All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning again
I've been tryin' to get down
to the Heart of the Matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about
forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if,
even if
you don't love me anymore

Oh These times are so uncertain
There's a yearning undefined
...People filled with rage
We all need a little tenderness
How can love survive
in such a graceless age
The trust and self-assurance that can lead to happiness
They're the very things we kill, I guess
Pride and competition cannot fill these empty arms
And the work I put between us,
You know it Doesn't keep me warm

I'm learning to live without you now
But I miss you, Baby
The more I know,
the less I understand
All the things I thought I figured out,
I have to learn again
I've been tryin' to get down
to the Heart of the Matter
But everything changes
And my friends seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness,
forgiveness
Even if,
even if you don't love me anymore

There are people in your life who've come and gone
They let you down and hurt your pride
Better put it all behind you babe
cos life goes on
You keep carrin' that anger, it'll eat you up inside

I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if

you don't love me

I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter
Because the flesh will get weak
And the ashes will scatter
So I'm thinkin' about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

...

I absolutely love this song.

Guitar TAB for this is here.

Break In!!

2006-11-08T14:18:00.000+02:00

My car was broken into last night at 3 in the morning.

My car is parked every night under cover in my buildings basement car park. Behind electric doors.

Nothing was broken..they just forced the passenger door lock...

And then Neatly Uninstalled the Deck and Rear speakers...

I say uninstalled cos they had time to neatly unscrew the speakers...and neatly unplug the wires..and neatly tuck the wires back.

They opened (and closed) the cubby and took my Oakleys, and my Ray Bans...

They took the Jacket my dad bought me in grade 12.

All in all the cost of the goods is close on R6000...

But Im soo much more angry at the thought of someone, anyone, prying around my car, my property...

Sigh, and today, driving home, I wont be able to listen to Metallica.

Peace

2006-11-07T08:55:00.000+02:00

There is one armor that the world of men and women, as a world, has never yet put on. The churches have long bungled with its fastenings, but the world has gone unfended, and few have been those in whose hands the mystical sword of the spirit has shone with daily use. This armor, waiting to be worn, is the armor of brotherhood and sacrifice, the world of unselfishness, a conquering sword, with the power, where used, to unite the world in love. And there are none who may not put it on.
~M.A. DeWolfe Howe

Thats from Irenes Blog...I think thats brilliant.

Moving...

2006-11-06T16:22:00.000+02:00

My move is scheduled for wednesday...

All my blankets and stuff will be packed tomorrow...And Wednesday morning the MOVERS arrive...bright and early at 7am...oh the Joy...

Its an interesting state to be in, moving..sort of a forced paradigm shift. I find that the place we live in sometimes becomes a statement about our personalities..I dont know if its that way everywhere...but I live right now in Sea Point, which reeks of Trendy little coffee shops, and beach joggers..very cool, very young , possibly a little gay, but all in all extremely hip..

Im moving to Woodstock..A little closer to the mountain and further from the sea..very mellow, with little pubs all over..and very old buildings...but also slightly run down and in need of attention in places..

So beyond the whole 'home-owner' status..will my entire outlook now shift to fit the mellow, settled, not so hip environment that I am moving to? I wonder...

Nine Wierd Things About ME...

2006-10-27T10:24:00.000+02:00

1. I am obsessed with Aircraft, I actually got into the Airforce, but I had already started at University doing IT...Im still not sure if the decision was the right one..

2. Guitar was something I wanted to do since primary school, I got one in Gr 5, but the first time I picked it up it cut all my fingers trying to play a chord...I didnt pick it up again for 6 years..

I took it with me to University in second year and started teaching myself, Oh all the lost years of guitar playing! Makes me weep!

3. I hate avocado but I love guacomole..

I cant stand pumpkin but I like butternut soup

4. I was reading by preschool (4.5 yrs) and my preschool teacher was so mad at my dad cos she couldnt deal with a preschooler correcting her when she read to us :P

5. I have never been religious, I would sit in temple when i was very young wondering who the hell i was supposed to be talking to...now I see religion in a different light, and altho i do see the spiritual nature of the world I still cannot deal with people telling me things like 'all is in gods hands'..do u really think 'he' has time for little old me, if 'he' cant even sort out all the wars and famine and general sadness in the rest of the world.

6. I am the same weight now (at 24) that I was in highschool (at 18).

7. In highschool I had hair that could easily have reached my chin, but I brushed it behind my ears and did all sorts of things to hide it..now my hair is thinning and i wish I had just let it grow back then :)

8. The only type of music I dont listen to is RnB and Rap..because both are crap. RnB because everything is a carbon copy of something else and Rap for the same reason. Also in general both these genres rely almost solely on electronic generated backtracks, I have no respect when no traditional instrument have been used (which is why even though I dont like RnB I have a great respect for the likes of George Benson et al).

9. I cant close my eyes when I kiss someone I have serious feelings for...Apparently my love is not blind...

Tag 9...
I tag:
Prometheus! (Cos his comment to my last post was literary brilliance),
Anusha (Cos Engineers Rock)
Alejandra (If I ever have a daughter can I use ur name? Its soo purtyful)
Aunty (Cos ur posts make me think, and ur pretty (I found the pic ;) ))
Shadow (Cos ur blog has been idle for too long :) )
Emma (Welcome TAG :) hehe)
Rory! (Cmon dude, SAY something :P)
Jaco (Your Blog is stone cold dead for way too long)
MyHeartHurts (Cos ur my Monica Belucci :P)

Thanks Liza!

Angels are everywhere...

2006-10-24T12:35:00.000+02:00

I work for a company called Cornastone, and one of the big drives in the company is Community Support. Where the company attempts to uplift the community around it.

In Cape Town our focus is on a specific school, called Good Hope Seminary Junior School :)

Basically this school was in serious financial issues when they called on us, and they were seriously understaffed as well.

What Cornastone did was 1. Sponsor a post at the school and 2. Help set up a modern computer centre. It may seem odd in countries that are better off, but a proper computer lab is very rare in Junior (Primary) schools in South Africa.

This is the school:

It has amoungst the most stunning views in Cape Town, as it is nestled just below the slopes of table mountain.

After cornastone got involved the principal (a lady I think should be nominated for woman of the year) saw a possible way to improve her school, and started approaching big corporate companies to help sponsor what she calls 'Projects'. Each project covers an area of schooling that is key in Primary School development (literacy, numeracy, science and technology). Afterwards the Companies that sponsored the Projects became the schools 'Angels of Good Hope' :)

The nett result of this is that the school is now beginning to Shine, in fact if I ever have children this would be the type of environment I would want them to learn in.

This is an example of what the classrooms where like before the Projects.

And this is what has been achieved:

Thats the science classroom. Pretty Stunning hey!

The school is still busy with many Projects, and I am so excited to see what it will be like when it is all over.

To all people out there who think they can make a difference and who want to help in any way, please drop me a comment with ur details :) Enigmatic Oddessey, I think this one will appeal to u yeah?

On a totally different note, I had to say goodbye to an angel a few nights ago.. Well I didnt really have to, but I thought it was the best thing to do. She is one of the most amazing people people I know, and last year she came to visit. She is so stunning, gorgeous, funny, great to be around, and one of only two people Im totally comfortable with. She also just wanted to be friends (This is a recurring pattern :P).

Anyway recently she told me about this amazing guy in her life, which is really great for her, but I found I just couldnt do the friendship thing, cos I would be lying to both her and me. Its strange how that works, I didnt mind being friends with her at all, but now that she has (officially) paired up with someone it all just feels so wrong. Maybe Im a bad person/friend. I dunno.

Anyway I told her I would need to walk away for a bit, not be in contact until I could be a proper friend to her. She didnt take that too well. I dont think it was the wrong decision, but it does suck being told that you were never really a friend because friendship with expectation is not friendship..I dont think I was really waiting for anything, ok maybe a little, but that isnt such a bad thing is it? Also apparently I 'dont really know her' because I am infatuated with a facade...I know her since Grade 10..so that was pretty sucky too.

Anywho long and short of it is she thinks im a total bastard/asshole/etc who was never really a friend to her. Which is sad. Cos I still think shes lovely. Oh well.

NoOne is Home

2006-10-19T12:25:00.000+02:00

Got ur number on my wall,
But I aint gonna make that call...

So far I have made 30 phone calls today..It might be more, its definately not less..

To my builders..
To some people at a company whos application we are taking over..
To friends back home..
To..

And NO ONE has picked up, not one of them!

At first it was annoying, now Its just depressing.

Im gonna go listen to KT Tunstall now.

Yet Another MEME :) thanks Shoshana!

2006-10-18T10:17:00.000+02:00

1. 5 things I would do if I were a millionaire...
...By Millionairre Im assuming a couple million, cos 1 aint gonna cut it...
1. Buy my dream house in the foothills of the mountains with a lake in front of it and meadows all around..
2. Buy my Maseratti, and my jeep wrangler 4.0
3. Invest enough that I have a big enough income to support the house, cars and lifestyle
4. Use at least a million to set up my harem in the basement
5. Stock said harem
(This is actually all nonsense...all the things I really want I cant get using any amount of money)

2. 5 bad habits
What bad habits!!!

1. Procrastination - yeah I do it, and I hate it
2. I constantly put myself down, and the thing is I truly believe it
3. Not standing up for myself
4. Im very virgo in certain things, everything must be perfect or Im not satisfied.
5. Not exercising!!

3. 5 things I hate doing.
Only 5?

1. Shaving!
2. Documentation!
3. Dirty Dishes
4. Having to deal with kids when they're in their bratty annoying teen phase
5. dealing with banks and idiots, wait its the same thing

4. 5 things I would never do.

1. Go deep sea diving ( I have an inexplicable fear of deep water)
2. Mess around with any gal one of my friends is head over heels for, ive had that done to me, it hurts
3. Become a religious / cultural fanatic
4. Judge anyone because of where they come from, the colour of their skin, what language they speak, I dont believe that cultures should be hallowed to such an extent that we force people to remain apart.
5. Stop dreaming :)

5. 5 Things you regret
1. Going to Bloemfontein earlier this year
2. Not telling my high school crush how i felt
3. Not having learnt french the 6 months I had a chance to
4. Not taking my guitar as seriously as i should
5. Not getting into the shape I want to be in. I have this insane metabolism, I dont put on weight, but it doesnt mean I shouldnt be fit. I can feel that Im not and it bugs me.

6. 5 favorite toys or things.

1. My guitars, they are a place of serenity amid the madness
2. My Art, I love looking at a piece knowing that every line was put there by me.
3. My glass chess set, A gem tree and this chrystal that are on my lounge table, all three were given to me by the most amazing person. She is proof to me that angels walk amoung us.
4. My Pc. It rocks.
5. My leather jacket. it has become a second skin. Its the most comfortable material I have ever worn.

7. 5 people I choose to do this.
Hmm...
1. Prometheus
2. Alejandra (is that not the most beautiful name ever!!)
3. Anusha
4. Aunty
5. Everyone else that reads this and hasnt already done it :p

Another MEME...thanks Aunty for this one :)

2006-10-13T15:39:00.000+02:00

Heh...I have tagged myself..Mwahahahahahahah!!!

1. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up?

Georgie Bush

2.You can flip a switch that will wipe any band or musical artist out of existence. Which one will it be?

Paris Hilton

3.Who would you really like to just punch in the face?

All Religious / Political / Cultaral fanatics

4.What is your favorite cheese?

Tussers :)

5.You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your immediate disposal. What kind will you make?

Chicken Wasabi (Thats chicken mayo with a bit of wasabi sauce) with cream cheese, lettuce and cucumber

6.You have the opportunity to sleep with the movie celebrity of your choice. We are talking no-strings-attached sex and it can only happen once. Who is the lucky celebrity of your choice?

Kiera Knightley...altho i would probably fall in love and be totally heart broken when she was gone in the morning...so Im gonna go with Monica Belucci...cos g'damn is that Gal Sexy!!

7.You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who do you pick?

Katie Melua (sorry Aunty :) ) I saw her in concert...and I swear i didnt look at my date the whole evening...Katie is just soo feminine..and her accent..wow..

8. Now that you've slept with two different people in a row, you seem to be having an excellent day because you just came across a hundred-dollar bill on the sidewalk. Holy shit, a hundred bucks! How are you gonna spend it?

Hmm..Well after that day im definately gonna have to restock my supply cabinet...off to the local Adult shop we go...

9.You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?

Venice

10.Upon arrival to the aforementioned location, you get off the plane and discover another hundred-dollar bill. Shit! Now that you are in the new location, what are you gonna do?
hmm one hundred dollars...in Venice..

A ride in a gondola, a trip to the Museum, and all the art galleries, and dinner at one of those little piaza restaurants..

11.An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. It is...?

Johnny Walker..Green Label

12.Rufus appears out of nowhere with a time-traveling phone booth. You can go anytime in the PAST. What time are you traveling to and what are you going to do when you get there?

There was this girl in high school (yes I know, typical me :) ). Calling her a girl is unfair, she was amazing. I never went out with her. I've never kissed her. She was just a friend, more like a best friend. But there was this one time that she just turned to me and said 'I love you'..like it was the most natural thing in the world to say..I knew she only meant it as a friend, but I would give anything to feel that again..
Ive had girls say that since, but Its never felt that intense..
I would go back to that exact second, No Idea what I would do, but definately thats the time I would go back to.

13.You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place?

No tops allowed..in any form.. :P
Second Rule: The Societies Main aim is to procreate..mwahahahahahahahaha...geez Im becoming an English Lord...hehe

14.You have been given the opportunity to create the half-hour TV show of your own design. What is it called and what's the premise?

hmm
Name: Thoughts about nothing..
Premise: Our protagonist - a 20 something professional dissillusioned type person..sets out to prove that nothing means anything anymore, except sex, money and fast cars...oh and jack and lime..cos nothing is possible without uncle jacks blessing..

15.What is your favorite curse word?
Bastard!!

16.One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren't really doing anything, they're just standing around your bed. What do you do?

Hmm...what kinda Mummies..cos if they're MILFs...

17.Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don't worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely.So what's the item?

My Cort Acoustic Guitar, it was the first thing I ever really bought for myself..and it symbolises alot besides that..also without it I couldn play the blues..which I would have to do if my house burned down
I got the blues..
I got the blues..
I got the 'My Ice cream just fell down and there isnt any left in the cone' Blues..

18.The Angel of Death has descended upon you. Fortunately, the Angel of Death is pretty cool and in a good mood, and it offers you a half-hour to do whatever you want before you bite it. Whatcha gonna do in that half-hour?

See Question six..Monica Belluci..mmmmmmmm

19.You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what's even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What's it gonna be?
Psychic like Professor X...to be able to make anyone think or feel anything I want..mwahahaha..

20.You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?
Hmm..5 years ago, My birthday party..making out in some side street with an angel :)

21.You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?

This year...April I think...was it May...I would erase the time I went to Bloemfontein. Cos that Angel hurt like hell.

22.You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit... you can move to anywhere else in the world! Bitchin'! What country are you going to live in now?

Braaaaziil...la la la la la la la laaaa...:D

23.This question still counts, even for those of you who are under age. Check it out. You have been eternally banned from every single bar in the world except for ONE. Which one is it gonna be?
Zula Bar - Long street Cape Town..live music and hot foreign people :D

24.Hopefully you didn't mention this in the super-powers question.... If you did, then we'll just expand on that. Check it out... Suddenly, you have gained the ability to FLOAT!!! Whose house are you going to float to first, and be like "Dude, check it out... I can FLOAT!"?

Did u read the HitchHikers guide to the Galaxy? I would float to Kieras Knighleys place, cos I think shed make a brilliant Fenchurch...to me anyway..

25.The constant absorption of magical moonbeams mixed with the radioactive vegetables you consumed earlier has given you the ability to resurrect the dead famous-person of your choice. So which celebrity will you bring back to life?

Hmm..Marylyn Monroe..I want her to sing me happy birthday..mm :p

26.The Celestial Gates of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn't think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person, etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back?

Ghandi - cos Damn does the world need him NOW

27.What's your theme song?

3 doors down - here without you;
Counting crows - Round here; and
Metallica - Until it Sleeps

Right I tag:
Lizza (think of this as a welcoming tag :) ), Ale, MyHeartHurts and Shoshana :)

Have a great weekend all.
SS

Things that are broken v2.something

2006-10-12T09:35:00.001+02:00

Hi

Heres the latest on the flat:

GRANITE:
Sigh this was a mission, the builders sub-contracted the granite to another person/company. Who then proceeded to screw them over. They Eventually got the Guy and the HUGE block of granite into the flat and the kitchen counters are now fitted...they are adorable, they are gorgeous...I will be preparing meals on solid ROCK!! Mwahahahahahaha!!!

FLOORS:
The laminate flooring will go in tomorrow:

It should look Something like that^^

The Bathroom sink is in, as is the shower doors and the shower head, and the kitchen sink should be going in today.

exciting times..Im Broke!

SS

SilverSabres post of Amazingness...v2.0

2006-10-10T10:06:00.000+02:00

Hi Everyone :)

A long time ago I did a post on stuff I thought was Amazing...

Well heres take two of my thoughts on Amazingness :) :

Guitar Babes!!

Fast Cars!!

Rock Climbing!!

Katanas!!

SU27 and 35...

Doing a Cobra!!

Keira...swoon..

Kisses..

In the Rain:)

Right, Ive decided to Make this a MEME...7-8 things that You think are amazing...In Picture Form :)

I tag: Anusha, Alejandra, Aunty, Prometheus, MyHeartHurts

Tagged again :)

2006-10-06T11:33:00.000+02:00

1) What is the best thing about my workplace?
The coffee is great and the people I work with (the development team) are absolutely Brilliant!!

2) What do I hate about my workplace?
I work in a goal / deadline driven environment, However there are times when things are reshuffled / prioritised and it is difficult to Jump from one Project to the next and then back again. Also it seems with all the Jumping there is time lost somewhere, and deadlines begin to get really hard to meet...

I have this beautiful garden outside the window my desk is at...and it kills me that Im inside and all this beauty is so close but I cannot go out and enjoy it..

3) What small irritants at my workplace really annoys me?
We interface with one of our clients through a virtual network..It has a 15 sec lag on it on bad days...thats like 'click' wait fifteen seconds, click....

4) Describe the actions/quirks of the weirdest person I work with (can be a co-worker, employer, or a vendor if you are self employed):
I work with a ver diverse bunch of people...
Our technical lead never gets flustered...at anything...totally mellow
One of the other Software Engineers here swears in a make believe language whenever something doesnt work :) thats pretty cool :)

5) What is one thing that I would change at my workplace to make life a helluva lot better?
I would make it that i work from home over a uber-high speed connection :)

6) Pick five songs that I'd like played at my funeral......
1. Counting Crows - Mr Jones...cos i want to be someone who believes
2. Josh Groban - You raise me up...for my folks
3. Blessed Union of Soul - I believe...because love is the answer
4. Bryan Adams - Heaven :)
5. Eagles - Learn to be Still ... my message to the world :)

Thanks for the TAG MyHeartHurts :)

I shall now Tag...
Anusha and Aunty Helpful Dictator

...Graffiti...

2006-10-03T08:30:00.000+02:00

This is from FoxxFyrres Blog, basically the challenge is to graffiti up a wall about ur blog...so heres Mine:

I was tagged by Anusha...So Terra Shield, this one is dedicated to you.

The roar of the Gryphon...

2006-09-26T15:25:00.000+02:00

I despise war. I cant stand the thought of people killing each other for any reason.

However I do seem to love the technology that we have created around war...

For the last week people in Cape Town have been really privelaged, as the African Aerospace and Defence show has been held in Ysterplaat Airforce base, which is about 5km from the city centre.

Here are some pics:

This is the SAAB Gripen..South Africa has bought it as our new fighter wing, to take over from the (rather antiquated) Cheetahs..

Its a really beautiful aircraft, and its pretty show stopping as well...
The test pilot did a high speed fly-by, and was well out of sight in around 5 seconds...wow..

This is the RooiValk..the Apaches only serious competitor and one Hell of an attack chopper, This machine can go almost inverted and still maintain control..

The RooiValk display was all Bangs and huge explosions and really amazing flying...

Prometheus, me thinks you will enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed the show.

Meme 2

2006-09-26T08:51:00.000+02:00

This is from Prometheus's blog (Im a lazy blogger what can i say:) ):

1. The last movie you saw in a theater, and current-release movie you still want to see.

Saw: RV - Robin Williams, was loads of fun :)
Going to see - None...no movie out there seems to grab my attention :/

2. The last movie you rented/purchased for home viewing.
The last Samurai...because the concept of honor is lost in our modern society...

3. A movie that made you laugh out loud.
Love Actually, Wedding Crashers

4. A movie that made you cry.
Love Actually,
X Men 3 - What the hell were they thinking?? EVERYTHING was wrong in that movie, and the plot holes where big enough to swallow colossus and juggernaught and have some space left over for the rather lame magneto.

Finding Neverland

5. A movie that was a darling of the critics but you didn't think lived up to the hype.
Titanic.

6. A movie that you thought was better than the critics.
:S cant think of any...

7. Favourite animated movie.
TITAN AE...
Treasure Planet,
Atlantis 1

8. Favourite Disney Villain.
Scar - Lion King (Cos hes soo sneaky, and it was the first time i saw a movie where one of the heros gets murdered :'( )

Jafar - Alladin - he was just too cool :P

9. Favourite movie musical.
Oi...Musical?? :S

10. Favourite movies of all time (up to 5..who are they kidding?? :P)in no particular order.

Top Gun
Lord of the Rings
Love Actually
About a Boy
Four weddings and a funeral
Before Sunrise / Before Sunset
Star Wars
Xmen 1 and 2
Bollywood Hollywood
Everything you want
Finding Neverland

Right EVERYONE is tagged...go Blogging :P

A post for My Family of Bloggers

2006-09-20T11:18:00.000+02:00

Prometheus had a post like this up a while back, being a god we expect him to be first, we must simply follow his lead as best we can..

To all the amazing people that I have had the honour of meeting through this Blog, you guys absolutely rock!

AuntyHelpfulDictator: You have to be one of the most insightful people whos words I have had the pleasure of reading..your students are lucky to have you, and I am lucky to have you in my links

Aisya: your Art is amazing and ur writing skills equally so :) (although my browser doesnt like ur new blog template...sigh)

AletheGoodSoul: I cannot believe you are 17. Yours is one of those blogs that constantly gets me thinking. And your take on current situations is amoungst the best Ive read. Ok maybe that means we have similar opinions, and maybe that makes me biased, but I still think U Rockz! :)

Anusha: (sorry I cant get myself to call u Ms Shield :P) I cant remember how I came across your blog, it coulda been the next blog button, it coulda been bestest blog...hmm...but I do remember that it totally grabbed me, I even started going through archives, Im quite sure I wouldve finished them if my boss hadnt walked in..Your writing is so captivating, and Im still so tickled by Images of me fighting for the turtles :) hehe..TurtlePower!!

Anisah: Yours was the first blog I looked at through 'Bestest Blog', and u are the reason I am the South African Blog for 'A world of Bloggers'...your amazing literary style had me reading, and ur stunning personality has kept me coming back..and dont worry, once I have all these builders out of my flat ur portrait will be my top priority :)

MyHeartHurts: The world is a hard place for people as caring as you are :) But I know you will find your happiness, and hey U arent alone :)

Prometheus: Thou art a God, We bow down before thee. Thank you for including me in the August fellowship, and thank you for keeping me entertained and on my toes, the world needs more minds as sharp as yours :)

Shoshana: Your family is an example to me that good things do come to good people :) You're an inspiration.

All you guys have made the last month and a half absolutely brilliant :) Thanks...

Meme..

2006-09-19T13:50:00.000+02:00

this is from Anushas Blog...I figure why not :p

1) How long have you been blogging?
6 Months :)

2) Why do readers read your blog?
Cos I rock...no cos they are nice people and they feel sorry for me in all my geekiness :P

3) What was the last search phrase someone used to get on your sit?
I have no idea...how do you check that?

4) Which of your entries unjustly gets too little attention?
Hehe. Ive made a few friends in the last two months that seem to just keep coming back for more :) Dunno why, but hey its great to have them around :) So definately not complaining

5)Your favourite current blog?
hehe, hmm, right now Anushas, Anisahs, Aunty Helpful Dictator, Prometheus, Alethegoodsoul, MyHeartHurts, Irish Woman in Toronto, Shoshana and Aisya (in no particular order) all get a daily look...they're all brilliant, I am aiming to be as entertaining one day when i grow up

6)Which blog did you read most recently?
Anushas

7) Which feed do you subscribe to?
News 24.com

8) What bloggers are you tagging with this meme and why?
Everybody who reads this (although you probably already read it on Anushas Blog :P)

3 AM ....16 September 2006

2006-09-18T09:41:00.000+02:00

She says its cold outside and she hands me my raincoat
Shes always worried about things like that

I cant sleep...Its 11pm on a friday night and I cant sleep...it'll be my birthday in an hour...is that why I feel so down?

She says its all gonna end and it might as well be my fault

11-30 I cant stop thinkin that everything is slipping away from me..

And she only sleeps when its raining
And she screams and her voice it strains

00-00..hehe I was born today 24 years ago...Its raining outside...
00-10..Thanks for the call master J, made my night :)
00-15...i cant sleep...

02-00..Thank u for calling...although now I cant get you out of my mind, Im so tired of feeling like this...Im so tired of missing you..

03-00..... . . . . . . . . . .
She says baby
Its 3am I must be lonely
When she says baby
Well I cant help but be scared of it all sometimes
Says the rains gonna wash away I believe it

It just hit me...today 5 years ago was the first time i ever kissed you...No wonder it feels like something is missing...

There was a time in my life
When I opened my eyes and there you were
You were more then a dream
I could reach out and touch you girl
That was long ago
There are somethings that I guess I'll never know
When you love someone you got to learn to let them go

Dammit why cant I get these songs out of my mind????

04-00....
Ive been tryin to get down
...
To the heart of the matter
....
But my will gets weak
.....
And my thoughts seem to scatter
....
But I think its about
....
Forgiveness

...

Forgiveness
..
...
..

Even If
.
Even if

you dont love me anymore

IT Geeks

2006-09-15T16:55:00.000+02:00

Two IT guys were chatting in a pub after work.

"Guess what, mate?" says the first IT guy, "yesterday, I met this gorgeous blonde girl in a bar."

"What did you do?" says the other IT guy.

"Well, I invited her over to my place, we had a couple of drinks, we got into the mood and then she suddenly asked me to take all her clothes off."

"You're kidding me!" says the second IT guy.

"I took her miniskirt off, and then I lifted her and put her on my desk next to my new laptop."

"Really? You got a new laptop?"
....

The Search for Peace..

2006-09-13T08:55:00.001+02:00

Recently quite a few blogs have called out for the need for us to become a united planet. To put aside our differences and embrace peace instead of conflict...

It got me thinking, of a time not so long ago when oppression was the order of the day. And the ways that people overcame that.

My hometown (Pietermaritzburg in Natal) has a statue in the city centre that celebrates a man who was able to look opposition in the face, not back down to it, but also not lay a finger on those that would harm him.

The Concept of Satyagraha is one that I think should be force fed to all of our leaders. You know those courses in University you just Had to do, even if you were the top student, like 'Basic Computer Literacy 101'..someone should sit them down and drill it into them until its all they think about all the time..

Ghandi was not great because his ideas were great, he was great because he lead by example, he suffered when his people suffered and he moved an entire kingdom without lifting a fist.

If I as the leader of the people have a problem with you, because, oh, you are stealing oil from my homeland, I can definately make my voice heard by sending someone to bomb your buildings, or better still to fly a plane into them, but how about simply boycotting your refineries? You have to get labour from somewhere right, without the labour you dont have a refinery..

I could just sit in front of ur access road and refuse to move which would stop your trucks from entering or leaving, I could do any number of these things, but unfortunately todays leaders dont seem to believe that such action is attention grabbing enough..

I think we can achieve world peace. We just need to ensure that the people we choose to lead us firmly have peace as their first priority.

And we, as the pieces that make up this wonderful group we call humanity, must ensure that on a very personal level, we do not allow ourselves to hate, to judge, to belittle any other human being.

Love is a wonderful concept, but I think it is the most difficult emotion to allow yourself to feel. Simply because love by its very nature is selfless. When you love you are completely outwardly focussed, and you couldnt care less about yourself anymore. If we can find a way to love one another world peace will be already achieved.

Things that are broken v2.4

2006-09-08T15:15:00.000+02:00

The cupboard doors are now almost all on:

The handles are just lurvely:

And the bathroom tiling is now at 95%, just the grouting left to do:

Things that are broken v2.3

2006-09-06T15:25:00.000+02:00

The kitchen cabinets are fitted:

The pic below shows the space for the stove on the right:

The space in the centre with the loose boards in it is for the washing machine (when i get one):

The picture below shows the space for the fridge on the left and the wall mounted cupboards:

Doors have not yet been fitted...its a slow process this renovation business :)

Stand Up comedy

2006-09-06T09:22:00.000+02:00

She stood me up last night...well she didnt call when she said she would so we didnt end up meeting up...

So I deleted her number...time to move on I think.

My Throat hurts...

2006-09-05T13:14:00.000+02:00

I think too many late nights are not good for your immune system..

right now my throat hurts, im all woozy and my head is a little on the light side :(

Buuut you guys deserve an update:
This entire weekend was pretty crap (no offense Shawn, u rock dude) cos she gave the lot of us the cold shoulder and told us we wouldnt be seeing her.

So we did wat any normal ppl would do, we went out without her, had a semi blast (altho I dont think I was the best company). And on Sunday night she calls with the typical girl 'How could you guys Just forget about me!' line.

I hate that nonsense.

Anyway, we were chatting on Mxit...(umm thats a gprs based chat application) on Sunday night and she kept saying 'you're too sweet, you deserve a beautiful sexy sweet girl, not a b**ch like me'...what on earth are u supposed to say to that? :S

Now I dunno if Im reading it right, but whenever I hear someone say that 'u're too good for me', my brain automatically translates it to 'sorry, but you arent good enough'...I mean they wouldnt even be in a position to say that if the other person hadnt made it clear that they want to be with them...

Dammit why is the whole human mating dance so freeeking complex!!

Anywhere I roam...

2006-09-01T11:42:00.000+02:00

Recently I have had this overwhelming urge to just drop everything and see where the road takes me...

Larry Mulvehill

Dominic Balsazak

A post for the nice guys...a relatively old take on a very old theme

2006-08-30T09:46:00.000+02:00

Its like a mantra amoung guys that nice girls (or girls in general (Read Women for all the feminists)) do Not Ever go for nice guys. Ever.

This little fact has been a point of serious distress for most nice guys.

And you know what, nice guys do always come out last. I have observed this. I have been the bad boy and immediately got places. I have been the bad guy with money and Immediately got places..really fast. I have been the total asshole and had girls fall so hard so fast I couldnt even recall when I actually started trying to be with them. And all this because the girls I really (read REALLY) cared about shattered my concept of love into a million little jagged shards (yes ladies, guys have feelings, we do also fall in love, we do also have our hearts broken, stop hogging the limelight).

But I realized something. I Dont want someone to fall because of a facade. I Dont want them to want me because Im being the dangerous bad boy who doesnt give a damn about anything...including them.

What I want is for them to actually want the real me. I want to be wanted for holding open doors and giving a damn when they tell me about their issues. I want them to want me because I do Genuinely care, because I will not hurt them, because the fact that I am interested means I am not merely attracted to them physically (altho that is part of it) but also because I enjoy their company.

Recently I met a group of ladies (well two actually), and they absolutely are the sweetest creatures. And one of them has completely bowled me over..to those that have been following this blogs latest saga, this girl is the first in at least 7 months that has managed to get my mind off my last break up...which is a pretty hectic feat.. Thing is she responds to me being a bad boy, but closes up when im being the nice guy (ie. Me)..I dunno if she fears commitment (Nice guys arent after flings right) or if she just needs to be made to feel sexy...its so odd she responds when i do the seriously flirtatious raunchy stuff..but if i am totally the opposite, eg. 'You are so beautiful', she either doesnt respond or throws it back as me 'just saying that'..and not in a shy cute way but in a 'I really dont believe you' way.

So do I do the bad boy thing safe in the knowledge that it will work, or do i be myself and tell her that i want her to like me for me or not at all....

I'll have to have a few drinks while i decide..

Things that are broken v2.2

2006-08-25T10:11:00.000+02:00

The tiling is almost done in the bathroom:

Shower Walls

Walls:

Those tiles Look so absolutely stunning on the wall, even better than they did in the showroom :D..

Oh and the toilet has been fitted in too :p

Floor:

The floor tiles are 'Autumn' slate, which is not the 'Silver Gray' slate I wanted (curses) but there was no stock of the silver :( Oh well, it doesnt look too bad i guess.

It will look alot better once it is grouted, cleaned and deep sealed (I hope).

Aisya Shurfa

2006-08-24T08:54:00.000+02:00

Have you ever clicked on a link and been totally blown away?

Its been happening less and less lately, but this one really got me.

There is such a huge amount of talent in these drawings! But I shall let you guys be the judges.

Ive been reading her sister Anisahs blog for a while now. It seems brilliance runs in that family.

Oh and she plays Guitar!!

Things that are broken v2.1

2006-08-21T13:21:00.000+02:00

Hi

The saga of my renovations continue :)

The bathroom wall tiles:

The dark tiles are going on the shower walls, the light tiles everywhere else.

The bathroom floor tiles are gonna be slate:

The bathroom basin:

The Art of War..

2006-08-18T10:18:00.000+02:00

Because Sometimes we forget that War has a very human face:

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter...

2006-08-16T12:33:00.000+02:00

I was reading a new blog today by a 17 yr old girl from Tijuana..and I have to say she got me thinking...

for a long time I have steered far away from topics that border on Politics, or topics that might be considered controversial. Religion and War are amoung these topics. But she made me realize that sometimes when things really matter, when things are really wrong, and when the voice of the masses is overshadowed by the greed or stupidity of those in power it is time that people spoke up.

If everybody spoke up there is sure to be a change, no?

It has always amazed me that War and Religion seem to be so inextricably intertwined. But when you think about it nothing sparks emotion like Religion..to challenge a persons religion is almost like challenging the core of their being, and challenges like that almost always end up with deep offense and retaliation.

It took me a long time to realize that my view on religion is not exactly what my parents would have hoped for. Im not staunch by any measure. But I do believe that I am a good person, and I definately have serious morals when it comes to specific subjects. The thing that bothers me most about religion is that it creates rifts between people, it makes people (no matter how open minded) closed to people in other religions.

My take on religion is:
1. If your religion condemns those who do not believe in it to everlasting hell : Your religion is WRONG.
2. If your religion preaches that you are not allowed to love / fall in love with someone outside that religion your religion is WRONG.
3. If your religion disempowers women, your religion is WRONG. (It can be argued that it is the community around the religion that cause this, but if you want to remove a deep set social norm it is often impossible without removing the framework on which that norm is based)

(The above is probably going to get me flamed. Oh well.)

I believe that all true religions preach good. The overriding messages of Love and Compassion are prevelant throughout them all. But when religion or the followers of a religion use it to create divisions within society, that to me is inexcusable.

John Lennon was a brilliant man. He envisioned a world of peace, where the dividing forces of religion, countries and possessions are no longer present and the whole of humanity is one big family. I often wonder why this is not the case right now. We can move between continents in the space of a day and I can reach the entire world while Im sitting behind my pc. Why should we not become a united world where things like race and religion no longer make any difference.

War is such a sad concept.

The whole idea of killing people because they Believe something different to us (the Crusades), because they live in a specific place (current Jew / Muslim conflict or Kashmir in India)or even worse for monetary gain (yes Mr Bush I am talking to you) is to me a reason for us as humans to feel very ashamed. It has been so long that we have been living on this rock and we have still not managed to stop all the bloodshed.

I dont think I could possibly say it better than Ale did on her blog, but it is infantile to fight over things like that. Who cares if someone drew a picture of your prophet in a compromising position, it doesnt shake your faith does it? Who cares if he doesnt respect your religion, thats his choice, its your choice to follow it. Nothing is a just enough cause to go to war.

I hope that one day soon we will truly be able to say we live in a United World, that the word Mankind will take on a greater significance than the petty dividing titles given by our country of birth, our religion and where our ancestors came from.

I hope that the survivors of the current wars will find it in their hearts to forgive those responsible.

I hope that our leaders will have the wisdom to steer away from any course of action where anyone is harmed.

In the future I hope that people will not feel the need to hurt others simply to make their point heard (Dear Mr Bin Laden, you are a dickhead).

I hope that humanity as a whole will realize that we are all equal.

If we do manage to get past all of these problems, well the
stars are the limit. But if we do not, well Humanity will end its days on this world, and the universe will never know that on one slightly wet planet, for a relatively short amount of time, Life happened.

Things that are broken v2.0

2006-08-15T09:51:00.000+02:00

Hi :)

This is what the flat looks like right now, after the builders have removed Everything from the kitchen and Bathroom:

The Shower area:

The Kitchen:

And these are some of the bits that are going into the flat:
Basin Tap:

Shower Mixer:

Shower Rose:

Kitchen Mixer:

Kitchen cupboards (wood):

High Pressure Geyser:

Photobucket is givin me an issue uploading pics, so pls excuse me if they are cut off :(

But anyway thats whats been happening so far, I shall keep you guys posted :)

Things that are Broken...

2006-08-14T18:16:00.000+02:00

It seems as if this blog is heading away from the wonderful warm comfortzone topic of art that it used to be based on, and is now pointed straight in the direction of my personal life...which is a little scary, but hey lets go with it..

I have noticed that for things to get better, sometimes they need to be broken totally. Like my last relationship, which I thought was all I could ever want, but ended up being a lie. Sad, but thats life, you pick yourself up and learn from the experience. Whatever doesnt kill you makes you stronger right..

Well I just bought an apartment. And I dunno, maybe Im stuck up, but I have no idea what the former owner was thinking! I mean if he wanted to he could have made the place pretty amazing!

Anyway this is the story of my adventures so far in the world of renovations:
1. They are expensive!!

So far the cost of the renovations for the kitchen and bathroom is in the region of R25000...and thats just for materials..theres another 20 to be paid once the job is done..sigh I am going to be soo broke !!

2. There is a mindboggling amount of choices out there for the renovation enthusiast, from taps to Basins to Shower doors to Tiles to..

3. Banks are full of crap!!

4. Despite all of the above I am beginning to realize that renovating is very
addictive

Renovations have started on the flat. and so far Everything that was there has been ripped out, from cupboards to sinks...everything is out..hehe it was so much fun walking through the place the other day, it was like a warzone after the cleanup crew..

Pics to follow shortly

Shaken...not stirred...

2006-08-11T12:12:00.000+02:00

You scored as James Bond, Agent 007. James Bond is MI6's best agent, a suave, sophisticated super spy with charm, cunning, and a license's to kill. He doesn't care about rules or regulations and somewhat amoral. He does care about saving humanity though, as well as the beautiful women who fill his world. Bond has expensive tastes, a wide knowledge of many subjects, and his usually armed with a clever gadget and an appropriate one-liner.

James Bond, Agent 007

83%

Batman, the Dark Knight

75%

The Amazing Spider-Man

71%

Captain Jack Sparrow

67%

Lara Croft

58%

Neo, the "One"

58%

El Zorro

54%

William Wallace

54%

The Terminator

46%

Maximus

46%

Indiana Jones

46%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

Hehehe ...The Names Bond, James Bond...

I know I had a heart...v2.0

2006-08-08T09:02:00.000+02:00

Dear 'Anonymous'

Thank you so much for dropping by my blog, and leaving that heart felt message.

You still havent realized that I am ok with you being with someone else, Im happy that you have finally found someone you are totally in love with.

But you know what, I was there when you needed me, Infact if you called now and said you needed a shoulder I would still be there for you again. No strings attached, as it always was. What really hurts is that all of that does not seem to mean anything to you, as if it never happened.

You're such a special person, and you deserve to be happy. I just hope that your new found love does not have the same attitude as you, and will not 'Upgrade' once a new model with better 'features' comes around.

Stop trying to be so profound. I didnt hold you back, even on a subconcious level. I was the only one telliing you that you were capable of spreading your wings when everyone else was chaining you to the nest.

Fly free, fly far, fly as fast as your wings will carry you. There are no boundries to the things you can achieve.

And you will excuse me now as I fly away from you.

ROAD TRIP!!

2006-08-07T10:54:00.000+02:00

Hey there :)

This weekend was a pretty eventful one, first up on Friday night Shawn called and told me that he had free entrance to Theatre on the Bays production of 'Jesus Christ SuperStar' for those of u that have not seen it GO!! It rocks!!

So Friday night was a late night :)

Saturday Morning myself and Shawn went shopping fot taps / sinks / shower heads / etc for the flat I just bought. It was hilarious, the salesman thought we were a couple :P hehehehehehehehehe...Shawn didnt think that was too funny though :P

And then we picked Yusuf (whattup Boss :) ) up and drove to Ceres to see the Snow...buuut when we got there it was bright sunshine and not a snowflake to be seen :) So being the manly men that we are we decided to drive through to Sutherland and have a look there.

We did what any normal human being would do...we followed the signs..the only signs mind you to Sutherland pointed to the R354...and after about 20km that turned out to be a dirt road :D hehehe what fun, 190 km on dirt track with Potholes and ditches and turtles and the odd acacia :) There was one point when we had to cross this stream and my car was about calf deep in water :) I reckoned I was a pretty mean driver at that point :)

Until of course we came to the next water feature in the road :D HAHA :) Water up to the Bonnet!! I mean this was a serious river. So I pushed the Revs to 4000 and just went for it :) About half way through the car started drifting slightly as the water caught it, but then the tyres bit again and we pulled through :) What a rush that was :D

So we arrived in Sutherland at about 2 pm, only to find that the whole of cape town was there! I mean there was not a place there that was not fully booked. Soo we called around to see if there was any place we could possibly crash at for the night.
We got the number of the Royal Milner Hotel in Majiesfontein and just called as a last resort, they ended up having three rooms available and we drove through, arrived at about 5 pm.

The hotel is amazing! It was a former rest stop for the King and Queen of England when they toured SA, and all the old Victorian charm of the hotel has been restored :) Im talking Victorian Beds with old chandeliers, Oak floors and ceilings, and all the trappings of English Grandeaur that you would expect to see in a movie depicting royalty.

Majiesfontein is one of the cutest towns I have ever seen, the Main road cant be more than 500m long. It has old Caltex petrol pumps on the main road and the rest of the town is a living museum.

We had supper at the Hotel, Karoo Lamb. It is probably the most pretentious experience I have ever had...everything about that Hotel reeks of upperclass attitude :)

Anyway we had a great night, watched two 16yo girls (what Im a guy ok) dancing on the Bar :) what fun, Shawn awed everyone with his Guitar Prowess, and the Barman played some Elton John on the Piano :D

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and then had a look at the train station. There was this amazing old train that was parked there. its operated by a company called Rovos Rail, and the finish of the train is unbelievable. Again old victorian with all the fittings and finishes gleaming. Anyway we climbed up the stairs of the train to have a look, and suddenly a rather shrill voice behind me shouted "Get Off the Train". Looking around there was this little old lady with the most angry expression and two balled fists looking up the stairs like she was going to have a mild haemmorage if we did not get off and stop polluting her beloved breathing space.

So we get off this train but this woman is still fuming, so we (By we I mean Shawn - there I mentioned u, u happy now :P hehehe) do the logical thing and apologise, but she still is furious, asking 'who did we think we were and would we like it if she walked into our rooms and didnt we respect others privacy' etc etc.
So I assumed that she owned the damned train, and being me I decided to be very formal with her. Asked where and how a person books that train and what the name of the company was. Turns out the old cow was just a passenger, and was just angry that we thought we could just climb on the same train as her...but the whole formal attitude and the way we were speaking to her seemed to totally go against her preconceptions of us, and she actually gave us a sweet little smile when we bid her goodbye. Bitch.

However that little incident was not nearly enough to quell the overall relaxed and fun nature of the trip.

All in all it was a great experience, we got back to Cape town thoroughly exhausted, but totally relaxed from the time away from the Big City. It was so cool that we did not plan it and ended up having an absolute blast, definately going to be doing this more often.

I know I had a heart....

2006-08-02T08:46:00.000+02:00

This ones for you..

Because no matter how many times I think about it I gave you full access to my world and you walked away anyway..

Because you can actually tell me that when you meet new people and experience new things the concept of 'Best' changes...did I really mean that little to you?

Because I trusted you and now I am unable to trust anyone.

This ones for you.

Where did it end up?

"I know I had a heart, but I think I left it inside of the coffee can
On the kitchen counter.
I put it there, among the roasted, gritty grounds of the coffee bean
Because it seemed to be a comfortable place to rest it.
It seemed as if coating my heart with those burnt shards
Might somehow be more appropriate today.
It's no wonder that the coffee tasted strange."

"I know I had a heart, but I think I left it inside of the toolbox
In the garage.
I put it there, among the wrenches, screwdrivers and other tools
Because that seemed like a good place to store it for a while.
It seemed as if shoving it into a drawer with cold metal
Might somehow be more appropriate today.
It's no wonder I found it coated with blackened grease."

"I know I had a heart, but I think I left it in the tub
At the back of the bathroom.
I put it there, inside the deeply recessed depression
Because it seemed like a good place to get it clean again.
It seemed as if I washed off the rime of little secrets
Might somehow be more appropriate today.
I'm not sure if it will ever come clean."

"I know I had a heart, but I think I left it inside of the mailbox
Down at the end of the drive.
I put it there, among the perfumed letters, bills and parcels
Because it seemed like a good place to get it out.
It seemed as if I sent it out to foreign places
Might somehow be more appropriate today.
I'm not sure if it's ever going to come back."

Poem by Bodhi

I Must get into your Pants!!

2006-07-31T14:49:00.000+02:00

Hehe check this out:

Greed:	High
Gluttony:	High
Wrath:	Low
Sloth:	High
Envy:	Low
Lust:	Very High
Pride:	Medium

Discover Your Sins - Click Here

Your sin has been measured. You have committed many sins, but Lust is the mortal sin that has done you in.

How cool is that :P

Kap de Guten Hoffnung

2006-07-28T12:39:00.000+02:00

Last weekend I took a drive to Cape Point, and then saw Cape of Good Hope.

For those of you that have not seen it, it is amoung the most beautiful places you can go to, the sea just stretches forever.

I've been there before but this time was pretty special. See a week ago myself and Shawn (my crazy buddy and the best guitarist I know) met this German dude (Steven) at the Buena Vista Social club. It turned out he was on holiday in South Africa while his sister (Roxanne Borski) was shooting a movie here. It also turns out that he is one of the most fun people I have ever met, and Saturday was his second last day in South Africa.

His sister is very sweet as well, shes 14, and if you watched around the world in 80 days (with Jackie Chan), she was the little girl that said 'Its the Queen!!' hehehehe :)
But for an actress she is one of the most down to earth people Ive met, she doesnt ever act as if she is better than anyone else, which I thought was amazing. She made me pasta!! Wow!! I can now truly say I had dinner with a famous actress :)

They say that friends come and go, except for a precious few to which we must hold on. This is definately a friendship I will be holding on to. And dont worry Steve, next time we will definately find you a nice South African girl :)

Anyways I took photos, enjoy :)

The LightHouse:

Stevey Boy:

View from the lighthouse:

And finally: The Cape Of Good Hope

ALSO: I am now the South African representative on The Blog: A World of Blogs!! Wooot!!
South Africa rocks!! :)

She walks in beauty...

2006-07-16T15:37:00.000+02:00

..like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes...

......

I have finally scanned the portrait I did of Goddess Selene in..
Her name is so fitting..Sigh..She is so Beautiful...

The Portrait:

The Original Pic:

Whoever hired me is in real trouble...

2006-07-05T08:31:00.000+02:00

Your IQ Is 115

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average

Your Verbal Intelligence is Exceptional

Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional

Your General Knowledge is Above Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

That sux...cos im a programmer :S

GODFATHER!!

2006-06-23T08:50:00.000+02:00

Hi

I just bought the Godfather Pc game. Being a geek, buying a game is a big thing, I cant remember the last time i actually *bought* software..hehe

Anyway this game is totally brilliant, the detail on the cityscapes and characters is really great, so I thought I would post some of the art here :)

Enjoy

Detail on the clothing is really well done..

The Art for the cityscapes...

And of course the man himself...the detail on the characters is unbelievable

Ode to a goddess

2006-06-21T08:44:00.000+02:00

Hi :)

Well it has been quite a while, and a load has happened in the meantime...
Anyway, right now Im busy working on two pieces:

The first is a flight of stairs :P
...which I have lost the pic of... I will post it tomorrow

The second is a drawing Im pretty excited about, you all remember Goddess Selene right? Well if you dont here is another piece by her:

she is such an awe inspiring artist! Anyway I am extremely honoured to be drawing a portrait of her, I really dont think I have the skill to do her justice, but hey Im excited anyway :) Check out her blog as well, link is under Links :)

Watch this space :D

2006-04-28T15:47:00.000+02:00

Hi

The three of you must have been really perplexed by my very long siesta, but I do have a very good reason..its here somewhere...umm...ok...moving right along.

This is the last piece of art I did for a certain Shinigami i know.

Let me know what you guys think :) The pics are pretty bad, but you get the idea :)

Hair ... and Folds

2006-04-07T10:32:00.000+02:00

No Im not referring to a 1970s movie..Im referring to the drawing of hair :P
Ive always enjoyed it, and I tend to spend more time on that than any other part of a drawing..

Heres a pic I did as a study of hair, and of folds in fabric:

It was meant to be Hugh Jackman...somehow it didnt work out that way :)
This pic also illustrates my Huge issues with proportion :)

Proportions...how I loathe thee...

2006-04-03T19:20:00.000+02:00

The one thing I can never seem to get right (I have a long of these actually, but this is probably the biggest...when it comes to art that is...when it comes to life I have real issues :P) is proportion...sometimes it just all fits brilliantly, but the vast majority of the time I have to really work to get a picture to look right...there are times Ive even gone and used a ruler to perfectly match the ratio of the subject material...and even then it doesnt seem right!

This is an example of where its all gone very wrong :(

Amazingness...

2006-03-31T10:24:00.000+02:00

I was amazed recently by ~~an allegation~~ a comment from a Friend of mine...
Apparently, I use the word Amazing alot...Hmm, this is something that has evidently slipped my notice. The comment was made based on this very blog, Isnt that Amazing?! I mean I dont use the word amazing that much here do I? do I??

So in my state of utter perplexidness I went and counted the number of times I used the word...
7 times...seven isnt that much is it?? IS IT?? I mean really..you'd think seven was a totally reasonable number...
And its over 14 posts...so I average half an amazing a post..thats Perfectly normal is it not??

ok maybe i do use the word a bit excessively..Buuut in my usual 'there is always a positive side to things' I have decided to take this amazing lesson of self discovery and turn it into something..well..amazing

Introducing SilverSabres thoughts on Amazingness:
There are a few things in the world I find amazing, for one the wind through the grass in the Drakensburg..to me thats just heaven..

The second...hmm...well Im going to have to choose Guitar, theres something about playing a Guitar that just calms me more than anything else...especially if happens to be my Fender
If it was this though I probably would never let it go:

And then there is ART..my first love..heres another piece by Volcana...What can I say, isnt it just amazing!!? :

Lartist...

2006-03-29T10:43:00.000+02:00

I dont know about you, but I love caricatures...from a purely artistic point of view they are actually very difficult to do. I have Never managed to get one right, I just cant figure out what features to emphasize while still keeping the picture recognisable.

Anyway say hello to Lar deSouza, probably the best caricature artist Ive seen.
He can be found Here :) Also under Links :)