One Week

With the first week of the new year behind us already, there is only one week left of our holiday and I wish I could make time stand still for a few weeks until I'm ready to pack up & go home.

This holiday is our first ever, both as a couple and a family. Sure, we've had a day or two away here and there, or maybe even a week or two, but on every single one of those, one of us was working. This time, we actually went on *holiday* for the first time in 10 years and I have savoured every blissful second of it!

Getting away from the everyday grind for a bit has opened my eyes to a few things about our life at home and I hope to make a few changes when we get back. For example, I had no idea how cluttered our life at home has been for the last few years! We have so much *stuff* stashed all over the place at home, most of which we almost never use, if at all. I think we need to have a serious look at de-cluging our space and simplifying a bit. Here on holiday, we still have to cook and clean and do laundry - and we don't even have the luxury of our fabulous dishwasher. But somehow, it's just so much smoother. This may very well be because we're not also dealing with work stress and deadlines and the like, but we're still running around after 4 busy kids all day, every day. Trust me, that takes some stamina!

Otherwise, it has been wonderful to be able to just breathe a bit. Yes, the kids keep us running from morning 'til night, but I have so enjoyed watching them play on the beach and in the waves. I have loved our family meals around the table, TV turned off and just the six of us spending time together.

We've taken them to see some of the sights in the area, such as the budget permits; We saw the Outeniqua Transport Museum in George, where I thought Jack would die of sheer happiness, surrounded by all those gorgeous old steam engines. We've visited the Dias Maritime Museum in Mossel Bay, with the Post tree and the replica of Bartholomeu Dias' ship. We've visited a number of the different beaches between George and Mossel Bay, eating ice creams, building cars out of sand for the boys to sit in...

We rung in the new year at our local beach, watching the fireworks going up over Mossel Bay, sipping a glass of wine and sending off a sky lantern, which we watched as it carried our wishes for 2012 off into the air over the ocean.

And now we're going to wring every ounce of pleasure there is to be had out of our last week here, before heading back home to tackle the rest of the year. May you all enjoy a happy one!

Here's the Thing

(No, not *that* thing, dammit - get your mind outta the gutter!) What I mean is that, like it or not, with or without qualifications and in spite of myself, writing is what I do. From the snappy one-liners that never actually leave my head or the blog posts I don't get around to putting down to that stupid damned book that's scattered all over the various notebooks and diaries and scraps of paper that have shifted and moved along with the rest of my life over the years, words are my "thing".

I've tried to ignore it, shut it out, give it up for a bad joke - gods know, I've even sabotaged myself when the opportunities afforded me in good faith have started to look as though they might actually develop into something like a career...

And still, when the chips are down and there's nothing else to hide behind, I write. Because when I don't write, I hate myself more than I hate myself when I'm only writing the "SFW" version of the truth as I know it.

So, basically, what I'm getting at is that the blog stays.

I'm Reviewing the Situation

And so far, I have yet to come to any kind of satisfactory conclusion. It's been some time since I've had private (meaning, of the sort that would not result in my ever having to account for the use thereof) internet access, and for this reason my blog has suffered.

To be totally honest, though, I've been so busy with my work and family during this time that I can't say I've been devastated by the lack of blogging time or resources.

Still, I'm not ready to say goodbye yet, so I've got to figure things out so that I can work around the logistics. Maybe this will mean scheduling a specific time every week or month or whatever, in which to blog.

Or maybe it'll just mean that I rock up here every few months and spew a little excuse for having been scarce. This is the joy of owning the blog - I can do with it whatever I like.

Or I might just quit the whole thing cold turkey.

We shall see...

Competitions and #Winning

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a sucker for a competition and I spend a significant amount of time entering various competitions - and I've been lucky a few times, too.

I've won various things over the years, ranging from edible treats and entertainment tickets/vouchers to small (and not so small) cash prizes. I love winning stuff and I'm one of those idealistic fools who dream of hitting the mother load in a lottery one day.

In the meantime, I enter pretty much everything else, too, with one golden rule attached. My rule is that entry must be free or, if you have to pay, then it has to be only a nomimal amount (maximum R10). If I'm spending any more than that, then it has to be because I was going to spend the money on that product anyway, and it just happens to have a competition attached. (I do allow myself to switch from my regular brand if a competing brand is running a special offer/competition, though.) As I see it, you can't really call it winning if you've spent more entering to win the prize than what the prize is worth in the first place.

Anyway, the point to this random post is basically that this, too, is a competition entry, as well as being sort of a public service announcement for those of you who have not yet discovered the awesomeness that is WinStuff Competitions. If that's you, then you need to get over there pronto and start entering all those awesome competitions - and if you win big, don't forget who put you onto the site in the first place, m'kay? :P

Good luck!

Calling All Coffee Lovers!

A friend of mine wants to start up a little online business selling premium coffees and I offered to help her with her market research by posting this survey on my blog.

If you're a coffee lover, please take the time to complete this survey by posting your answers to the questions below in the comments section. If you would like to help spread the word, please consider posting the survey on your own blog and posting the link in my comments section, so that I can track the responses...

COFFEE LOVER'S SURVEY

Coffee and Brands:
1. What comes to mind when you smell a freshly made cup of coffee?
2. How should a good cup of coffee look?
3. How should a good cup of coffee smell?
4. How should a good cup of coffee taste?
5. What do you like most about coffee?
6. Is there anything you dislike about coffee?
7. What comes to mind when you think of freshly ground coffee?
8. What form of coffee do you like best?
a)Single espresso
b)Double espresso
c)Americano
d)Cappuccino
e)Latte
f)Filter
g)Pod machine coffee
h)Insant
9. Do you drink flavoured coffees?
10. Which flavours?
11. What do you think of South American coffees?
12. What do you think of African coffees?
13. What do you think of Asian coffees?
14. What comes to mind when you hear the word organic?
15. Do you know anything about organic coffee?
16. Would you prefer organic coffee?
17. Do you use freshly ground coffee at home?
18. Do you use freshly ground coffee at work?
19. How many cups do you drink a day?
20. Why do/don't you drink coffee?
21. What is your favourite brand?
22. Why?
23. How does it taste?
24. What is your least favourite brand of coffee?
25. Why?

Coffee accessories:
26. Do you have your own coffee machine at home?
27. If yes, what kind?
28. When did you buy it?
29. Do you descale (clean) your machine yourself or do you send it away for cleaning?
30. How often do you get your machine serviced?
31. Where do you send your machine to get it serviced?
32. Do you have a coffee grinder at home?
33. Is there a coffee machine at work?
34. If yes, do you know what kind it is?
35. Do you froth your own milk for cappuccinos?
36. What do you use for this?
37. How do you store your ground coffee?

Purchasing habits:
38. Where do you normally buy your coffee?
39. Why do you buy there?
40. How often do you buy coffee?
41. In what quanitities do you buy your coffee?
a)250 g
b)500g
c)1 kg
42. Do you buy your coffee ready ground or do you buy whole beans?
43. What types of websites do you enjoy visiting?
44. What about these sites keeps you coming back?
45. Have you made purchases online before?
46. What types of items have you bought online if any?
47. What do you like about buying things online?
48. What don't you like about buying things online?
49. Would you purchase online provided it was through a safe and reputable payment portal?
50. If you could have freshly roasted and ground coffee delivered to your door regularly if it meant ordering it online, would you?
51. Would you be interested in testing and providing feedback on blends and coffees of various global origins? Please supply your email address if you wish to be contacted in this regard.

Thank you for your time - your input is very much appreciated!

Flashback to 1992

19 Years ago today, at roughly 14:00, I stood in a manky little pastel green prefab office in a small, godforsaken hellhole of a town as the headmaster of the reform school I was at delivered the news of my father's death to me.

At the end of that year, the powers that were deemed it appropriate that I be released into my mother's care and resume my school career and further development within the normal channels. At the end of that year, I left that school without a backward glance. It was what it was and had been what it had been and it was over.


I could tell you all sorts of stories about my time in the care of the Transvaal Education Department. There were a great many practices in the system that I think would make any parent's hair stand on end to hear of. And yes, it was hard. My nonconformist nature never sat well with the authoritarian System or its clinical approach to my utterly unclinical view of life, my many shades of grey. (I wonder what they would think, those people, if they were to see me now...)
But it was also easy. The regimented life. Wake up, roll call - subjects identified by number. I was number 58. 5 minutes to dress, roll call. 5 minutes to make up your room. Roll call. March down stairs, single file, stand in line for breakfast. Those stiff, scratchy, royal blue tunic style dresses and government issue nylon panties.

When my father first drove me to that place, less than a year before he died, I cannot describe how profoundly imposing the sight was that first greeted me as we turned in at the gate and drove up to the main building.

And when I went back there last year, I could not believe how different it looked and yet, how very much the same.

This was the first view I ever had of that place, and also the last:



Wherever my father is now, I wish him peace.

Some Notes...

...On being an absentee blogger

Because we all know that, around here, that's pretty much the status quo. There's not much to say besides that, in spite of myself, I continue to censor myself. And maybe that's not the worst thing in the world in terms of keeping the various (sometimes fragile) peace/s.

...On being a soccer mom

Yep. That day has dawned. I always kind of figured that I'd somehow dream up some way of evading this particular aspect of motherhood. My lack of social graces when it comes to mommy groups is a particularly strong motivator in this particular regard. If it didn't mean risking driving drunk and placing my child/ren at risk, I imagine I'd develop a sudden interest in hip flasks.
That said, I'm very impressed with my Michael, who is showing a fair amount of talent. And as much as I am loathe to stand around next to the field & make nice with the other moms, I will be there to support my boy as often as I can.

...On being a worker bee

Yeah, maybe not so much. I resigned from my job yesterday, for a number of reasons - none of which I am at liberty to go into in any depth at this point. Let's just say that dynamics have shifted and priorities and allegiances changed. As always, though, it's never as simple as that being that. There are, of course, developments and you can count on there being more to be said on this later.

...On being the bad guy

While much of the shit that's been and will be going down on the work front is exciting and promising, there have been a number of dampening factors, too, not least of which is the collateral damage. Today, I learned what it feels like to be the centrifugal cog in a machine that just rumbles ahead, crushing anything and everything (and anyone!) in its path.
I will never be placed in that position again.

...On being around

Believe it or not, I am around. I'm reading blogs (and commenting, too, albeit rarely) and checking in on Twitter and generally visiting all of my usual haunts on the interwebs. But I'm also laying low. Sometimes because duty demands it. Sometimes because I just feel like it. And sometimes because I have nothing to say.
I guess I have a tendency to withdraw a bit when things get rough. (Don't we all?) And I guess that, as long as I'm not saying it out loud, I can keep pretending that this hasn't been going on for much longer than I care to admit.
I used to think the image of a pair of wolves circling one another, sizing each other up for the fight, was terribly romantic. But that black dog and I have been circling and circling for so long now, that all I feel is disoriented and drained.

Still, I am here. And if the black dog is going to win, then it sure as fuck ain't gonna be because I chickened out of the challenge.