I have no idea why I am still at work

So I am a sucker for punishment and I decided to not take any leave in December aside from what was compulsory. I figured that there was so much work due to take place in January 2010 that I should be getting ready and getting all my admin straight.

Sadly it turned out to be one giant exercise in unproductivity. It turns out that as well as I am usually able to work between 4pm and 6 pm during normal work weeks when everything quiets down, I find it extremely hard to work in a deserted office(as in 4 people in a room for 20)

So now at 11am on the day before Christmas whenthe office is closing at 12pm I pause to wonder why I am still in my chair... every one else has left in my division. I sorted my papers, I did my filing, I prepared a to do list for January, I watered the pot plants.

so all is really left to do is to pack up my laptop bag and have to courage to walk past those still left in the office and bid them all the best for the festive season!

I mean if HR says the office closes at 12pm does that really really really mean I have to walk out the door only at the strike of 12pm?

Anyway.... All the best wishes for the festive season to all my friends. I shall duly blog about my non-Travels in staying in Jozi for the entire time. woooo lucky me!

Things that slightly unnerve me...

Some things just make my imagination of worst possible scenarios run wild.

- being overtaken on the way home by a sirens-blaring police car and seeing it turn into your road. or a fire engine, or an ambulance

- seeing three senior management guys rush past you into the boardroom for a sudden meeting and cue: slam door as you walk past.

- when the guy you secretly had a crush on makes a special effort to tell you specifically about his new girlfriend.

- watching videos late at night and listening through your headphones and not being sure if the voices you hear are the soundtrack or from your garden

- when the cat jumps on your bed in the middle of the night and walks around cautiously (burglar!)
- arriving home on the late side and still getting home before your parents.

- being stared at. (no further explanation required - stop that okay? I Said Stop That!)

- funny coloured spots in your protein (red in egg, white in beef, green in chicken, black in sausage)

- seeing a stranger walk away as you approach your desk

- Similarly, seeing your parent walking out of your bedroom

- when you mislay your "very angry diary"

- reading your bank statement before your remember the what the big-spend of the month was

- dozing off when you shouldn't and realising that not 20 seconds have passed but 15 minutes.

- when you look for your car in your usual parking bay - when you have parked elsewhere

- seeing a police car in traffic and not being able to remember if you were speeding when you drove past him

- cars stopped on the side of the road when travelling late at night (road block!)

- being followed along your route home by cars with tinted windows

- speeding and realising the person following is keeping pace

- seeing mould on your bread/cheese halfway through eating the sandwich

- when you don't hear from someone in weeks and you wonder if they are dead... (it is
concerning when you wonder if they are dead and the idea is more curious than sad)

Aaaaanyway enough creepy wild imagination ideas - One hand of fingers countdown to Christmas! (except poor poodle-bait George - shake head)

Fax machine blogging

Need I explain the fax machine again? (the paper shredder still taunts me "feed me Frankie Feed Me!")

This time the message being sent out is 10 pages long - I am hiding from my desk phone that is no doubt ringing with worried contractors!

Whack! My to do list is (momentarily) shortened .... Until I check my email again that is...

I was going to blog about Mr Thursday but the words aren't ready...

So instead I will make fun of some friends and family members (you know who you are)

Tell me please how it is that the movie marketing got so good that grown ass men want to watch Twilight?

And it's not like they try make excuses like "Oh I got the tickets for free" or "My 16 year old sister forced to to go with her" or "I saved a basket of puppies and happened to sit down to see that they were all still alive on a chair that happened to be in the same movie theatre as Twilight" or "The Mob made me do it" or at least "The fighting is cool"

lame lame lame lame lame. make time for a pink drink and High School Musical lads.

Okay so I will admit that the movie might be good and geared towards all ages but it gets worse....

What possesses a girl to get her boyfriend to READ books like Twilight? WHY? Another guy was reading a book called The Princess- it had flowers on the cover!

Harry Potter may be in the same sectiuon of the book store but at least that's written for a male and female audience. Twilight is a teenage paperback lover story. What's next? Barbara Cartland??? Mills and Boon Buy 3 books get 7 more free?

I shake my head. I really do. Call me a Condescending Snob. I don't care. It gets filed away with buying a pink shirt for your boyfriend.

Let men be manly men. Let them make weird noises and be smelly and hairy. it is the natural order of life... (Unless they want to be un-manly men - then I say whatever I am not here to judge.)

Some one please please enlighten me? Why do guys want to be entertained by teenage girl oriented media? (NOT media of teenage girls - I am gonna tell you on Oprah!!)

Go ask exclusive books - they'll point you to the books written for people who have a drivers licence and can vote and drink beer and stuff. and then Take their advice.

I got an award!

So despite having had this blog for many many months, I haven't really explored the niches of having a blog (hence the same font-ness and general absence of photos.) My lovely cousin on the other hand, while also having a talent for putting things across just right, is far more active in the blogosphere and has tagged me for an award -

I am supposed to post six random things about me. So after some thinking here goes...

1. I sing in the car when I am nervous - I sang Singing in the Rain when going to meet Mr Thursday for the first time and Nkosi Sikelele when I drove to the Doors in the pouring rain by myself.... at the very TOP of my voice!

2. Despite my frequent travelling, airports make me sad, melancholy and sad. And while on that matter, Mr X was in town to visit this past two weeks and yesterday marked the first time he's flown back with out me crying at the airport. woo-pee-dee-dooo

3. I can't stand the taste of tomato sauce, never have, never will.

4. When I was young I wanted to grow up to become an opera singer. No ballet dancer or princess or doctor or marine biologist - Opera was my dream.

5. The only school subject I ever failed was P.E. - in the swimming term - I did a face-plant dive into the pool in front of the entire class - oh the shame...

6. I am sitting with over R1000 worth of Lindt chocolate at my house right now... must resist a nibble... I love my friend the Lindt Fairy! I shall take some to work and bribe people into being nice to me :D

Thanks Helen that was fun! However I don't have six blogging friends to tag :(

Frankies Travels - Gaborone Airport

I am only blogging now cuz I am bored... Doot dee doot The fan is moving but there is no cold air to be channelled towards this weary traveller. Lemme tell you what I learnt today...

Double cab bakkies and cars of that general variety will always have extremely friggin uncomfortable passenger seats - the second row I mean. The height of the seat (too low) and the leg room (too little) and the arm rests make for a ride in the very armpit of comfort.

Foreign contractors will complain about a rough ride off road until they work out how much other foreigners pay to do the exact same thing for leisure.

Donkeys and cows meet tragic ends when they walk into the national roads (much to the delight of the locals - they were smoking the meat on the side of the road!) but never ever ever have I seen a road-kill goat.

Squirrels can run like the blazes when they hear a car coming - like a tiny furry streak of lightning. (I saw a squashed hedgehog tho :C I was very very sad for it having it's short life snuffed out)

Swedish people are peeeeee-dantic about saving paper. (blush - mean old men)

It's expensive to check your email from outside the border and expensive to recieve text messages but it's so worth it to know that someone misses you :D

Yaay for December time - bring on the iced pink drinks and the swimming pool - and the sunscreen. Sunscreen smell always makes me think of the beach and holidays - it's a happy smell, a memory of younger more carefree days ...sigh :)

Frankie's Travels - on the long road back home

So we travelled to Selebi Phikwe yesterday and stayed over at the Syringa Lodge. Lesson : Franchise in SA with decent food does not mean Franchise with identical name has identically nice food. I ordered a chicken snitzel at Spur - yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck! My colleagues think I am a fussy fuss pot for only eating half the portion.

It was hot and humid and so much so that I stood in the shower with the cold tap on full throttle and then tossed and turned the night away. Aaah a business trip to the Tropics my friends! (I saw we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn)

Today we drove 60km off road. The first 20 were pretty smooth. The second 20 was pretty stoney. The final twenty was driving in a straight line only in a seven dimensional reference frame. I had my arm around my belly to hold my intestines from being jiggled into knots!

But at least I saw some squirrels and a little bokkie and a hornbill and some guinea fowl. It was kinda amusing watching the Chief and Principal engineers getting medival on the bos with a bush saw!

My scrambled eggs and tinned pears breakfast has long since been absorbed into my blood stream.... Hungry Frank :C I hope the aeroplane food is nice...

Frankie's Travels - Back to Site

So I find myself again on the road to Palapye. I dragged my sorry sad self out of bed at 3am this morning - this is exactly 24 hours after the time that I flopped into bed after a post-wedding visit to The Doors.

Coffee = Happy Juice

After all my complain complain complain complaining - I managed to get my pocket money from the bank And! And! And an apology for wasting my time. And then we arrived at the airport expecting to get a Yaris and the travel agent had managed to get us a 4x4 for our off road excursion! (I was intruiged to see what would have happened with a little car - the off road route has a ditch deeper than the height of a Yaris - we woulda got a lift along the route me thinks)

The rental car has dents and scratches, a rip in the seat and a windscreen that is cracked in at least three places - ooooh but the aircon is making for awesome frost inside the vehicle!

I have the both ears of both the substations and lines specialists for the next three hours - I wish I had prepared questions to ask while they have no escape! I could get soooo much paperwork out the way this morning if it wasn't too bumpy in the car to write! Perhaps in the driving break I shall ply them with muffins and apples and unanswered bid clarifications!

Amendment: this is a Late post -Network issues. It's too hot and humid to sleep or make a more current post.

two snippy emails short of a full scale temper tantrum

Warning: Not a suitable post for those with a low tolerance for bitching and whining

I am quite classically not in a Good Mood. In fact I am boiling over with uncontained rage inside. Why oh why oh why can't I just one have a business trip that the organisation goes smoothly.

We're flying out at the very crack of dawn on Monday. so Ill have to get up at 3am to get to the airport on time.

I had to cancel my last Brownie meeting of the year for this trip.

The travel agent first couldn't book a car - we need an offroad vehicle - we're driving straight lines through the bos. Then they found a vehicle but had to have a credit card. Then they lost the vehicle and we're likely to be getting a Yaris.... A yaris containing three people and their luggage - Chaaaaaarming.

I need to have money with me so that we can eat and sleep while we're in Botswana. So I drive through in the hot hot day to Sandton to the Bank where we arranged the foreign exchange money.
"Oh sorry we haven't got stock of Pula yet today"
"Please sign here anyway I promise Ill call you before 4pm to collect"
So I drove all the way back to the office - skipped my lunch break so that I could be out in the car again in a few hours to collect my pocket money.

At 2pm the Administrator lady phoned and the response was: "Can you come collect tomorrow?"

NO!!! My brother is getting MARRIED! Tomorrow is NOT a working day! I have better things to do! Like have photos. and make pretty. and go to the church ... and stuff.

So the plan is to go to the Bank of Doom 30 minutes earlier than when they said they would be ready and huff and puff and maybe Ill get my pocket money in time to get home and throw on some make up and a pretty dress.

I didn't even get a call from the teller I dealt with (who is right now in my mind the worst human in existance) to apologise!

Both of the specialists on my project have been out of the office for the past three days - so I have to deal with a deluge of snippy emails from contractors all by myself.
"Where is teh picture on page 34?"
"Turn to page 33, then turn one more page, see the picture there? that is the picture on page 34."
"Oooooooh I see the picture now"

I am extremely low on sugar and not in a good mood - I pity the fool who comes to speak to me next. I sulk at my cubicle and plot and my early exit from here. ... and possibly arson.

On top of that! has anyone else noticed that the internet is REALLY slow lately? As in I use internet on three different service providers at various times of the day this week and all of them are so slow that pictures never load before the webpages time out! Who leeched all my internets?!

Mr DQ-UK hasn't emailed much lately - I don't know what I did wrong... Mr Thursday has been even quieter - I really don't know what I did wrong... And half my friends are ignoring me and my polite invites to be sociable - and the ones that do respond are busy.

I sent some one else a sincere very nicely worded apology - no response there either - not even some verbal abuse that tehy acknowledge that I was in the wrong.

At least the Highveld thunderstorm building outside matches my mood.

More Waiting-for-the-Fax-machine blogging

(Good suggestions aside - electrical devices working at 11kV or lower hold very little interest for me.)

Secret is that as long as I lurk at the fax machine, I can't be found at my desk and given more new tasks to do. Before you shake your head at me for being a slacker, My daily to do list is almost organic - it grows on a daily basis fed by the sunshine heating my (drowsy) cubicle and the water from the coffee spills. (I like my metaphor - I patiently wait for the biologists to taunt me)

So it's nice to see the pleasant summer sun return to Jozi. I seem to have picked up the habit of working until sunset and then driving home and forgetting if I had a bad day because the scenery is so pretty.

Which is a very pleasant idea until I realise that in order to maintain this picture-worth-1000-words habit I have to start working progressively later and later everyday as summer progresses.
The picture is one such picture snapped out the window next to my desk.

There is another chap who works late and he often catches me leaning out of my window like a loony trying to snap a sunset shot during his cigarette break. "Silly female woman" (shakes head)

Irrational Paranoia

This evening something in my head is not right. I can't concentrate and my mind keeps wandering off. I am unfit for human interaction. So I decided to type about it until I feel better.

Two people seem to be at the centre of all this mindlessness. First Mr-X (Thanks Fred for the nick) is in town. And I have decided that I am looking forward to seeing him and catching up. Last night I was at my work end of year function and at the same time Mr-X and some of our mutual friends were out for drinks. Half way through the evening I got a message along the lines of "Oh, by the way we're all at the pub having drinks, feel free to join us" - this from Mr-X himself. They actually finished around the same time as I left my party so I did not get around to seeing them but some how I feel betrayed. It's irrational but I feel offended at only being invited as an afterthought. I think my friends knew I was busy but it's still nice to be invited along and being able to express your disappointment in turning down the invitation.

I never said these feelings were rational...

And now I am completely paranoid that my friends including Mr-X are meeting up behind my back. Not that I am entitled or anything. See, on Sundays I am usually busy. There is a mid-day family luncheon and then church - which we go to early for band practice. My friends have a habit of organising drinks on Sunday afternoons and meeting 30 minutes before i have to be in Church. Why they have to choose the same time of the afternoon everytime is kind of hurtful too because they know I can't make it. To the extent that I feel that I often get left off the invitation list anyway.

Hence the paranoia.

The second person is a new Mr-Thursday. The previous Mr-Thursday is The Be-Kittened Physicist. So... I met a new guy over drinks on Thursday.... which became more drinks after the first pubclosed... which became a late night movie after the second drinks... which became meeting at The Doors on Friday night.... which became more drinks at The Doors.... which became Listening-To-Your-Awesome-Music-In-Your-Car since I escorted you to your car anyway (No dirty minds guys - I am a nice girl) .... which became "hello" and "how is your day?" and "what you up to" messages... which became "I want to see you again" messages.

Which has lead me to promise to meet him for dinner tomorrow right after the Brownies campfire... Eau de Stinky Smoke Smell... charming... maybe I will appeal to the inner caveman.

So what I am getting at is that this guy is kinda sorta maybe possibly growing on me :)

I suspect he's looking for something serious and I don't really know what I have to offer at present. I am afraid that I may still be completely incompetent at the romantic relationship thing. I am scared we're looking for different things out of the relationship and he'll be too sweet to complain. I am scared of committing to a new relationship and tying myself down - not that the loneliness was completely pleasant.

And yet where is the harm in something short and sweet and kind on the ego. Well, actually, he hasn't officially asked me to be his special something yet (Not even some surreptitious hand holding)... He's big on chivalry it seems. (see escort to the car reference) so I'll patiently wait for him to decide to have his moment.

And so in the mix of all this I don't know how empty to keep my calendar in case Mr-X calls or Mr-Thursday-Friday-soon-to-be-Monday calls. I fear having to turn an invitation down with one of them for the other (can you say A-W-K-W-A-R-D). I am not even sure who I most want to see this week. (a week which happens to be insanely busy - Thanks Boet for getting married right in time for my paranoia attack) And Mr-X is leaving before i get back from my Monday-Tuesday business trip next week.

And so round and round I go. Mr-X, impatient friends, Mr Thursday, The wedding, Mr-X, Mr Thursday, Mr X, Mr Thursday, can I trust my friends, Mr Thursday, Mr-X, Mr Thursday...

Back at the fax machine...

At present with the work I do, I have 31 people that I have to correspond with on a daily or more often basis. Some of them I have email addresses for so it's as simple as *copy *paste *click *send! Some I only have fax numbers for. And as most of them reside across the border... The little man running around the fax machine with my messages in his hand has a very long way to run (Thanks Dad for that little childhood metaphor) and hence each fax takes a while to deliver. So I spend a fair amount of time standing in the printer and fax room at work.

Next to the fax machine is a paper shredder. A little box shaped device with sharp blades and warning labels showing pictures of ties and necklaces and hair with crosses over them that makes a glorious whirling chomping noise.(I guess the tie shredder is a separate device?) Oh how I long to feed it and watch paper be so neatly and completely destroyed. I sneak around the office stealling unwanted postage and then skip downstairs to slip the junk mail through the little slot and BBZZZZZ! The desire for destruction is satisfied...

Did I mention it is boring waiting for faxes to send?

The contact emails are also source for much speculation. Firstly all the replies are addressed to "Sir" or "Mr Barker". Such Sexism! (they going to get a big surprise at the site meeting! I can't wait!)

Secondly some of these people have very obscure email addresses. I find hard to believe da_remarkable_moses@yahoo.com is a big player in business circles....

This of course coming from the girl who addresses emails from Suzy Sunshine - but at least not on a professional level... Well mostly not...

Ooooh Well this is awkward...

So I have three super busy weekends coming up. All culminating with my brother's wedding (yaaaaaaaay!) Secretly I am more excited for seeing all the family than the actual event (which has been a cause of full on all raging stress for some parties involved for the past few months) Seeing the Family.... Like Christmas with more speeches and less presents for everyone.

My three weekend busy-ness also includes serving tea and eats to old peeps, stalking a nice boy to Doors, a seminar and a breakfast which I will most likely have to miss due to time constraints :(

This all happens to co-incide with a visit back home to SA from a certain Dubai-dwelling person. Might fit in a cuppa with him along the way.

And honestly I don't know how to feel about it... Am I excited because we have preserved some level of friendship? Am I afraid because I don't know if I have closure? Am I looking forward to the oppurtuinity to find closure? Am I excited to show off my awesome life?

I guess only time will tell....

Frankie's Travels - Jiggle jiggle jiggle

So we traversed our line route. We started off on a nice sandy grassy dirt road.... And then turned off onto a much more rough road (first passing through a river bed -Vertical down then Vertical Up!) The way we followed from slightly narrower by over grown bushes to driving over/around/under/through Thorn Trees! I think the guys who came with us are going to send us a big fat bill to repaint their cars! Of course the driving surface was no better - strewn with stones, boulders and ditches...with patches of soft sand... Nice sink-y soft sand. So after the first tense moment trying to navigate across the first soft patch in our heavy 4x4 vehicles, we started drive straight through the bos to avoid the next few soft looking patches ^ss-scc-ccr-aaaaaaa-ttttt-ch!

Oh did I mention we were doing some of this at 60km/hr?

We finished earlier than expected (surprise!) we shook hands, wished everyone well and parted. (French people are like SO funny :D )

After lunch of a very spicey Lemon and Herb Chicken Pita, I convinced the colleague that I would rather leave for Jozi tonight than beg borrow and plead for accomodation in Gaborone. So with some good luck at the airport... I should be sleeping in my own cosy (non-P500 per night) bed tonight!

On the road from Palapye to Gaborone in the meanwhile trying to drown out someone else's idea of good music with Yellowcard and Hammerfall...

Frankies Travels -Business Trip Day 3 Offroad!!

I almost missed breakfast again!! But not :). I have never liked scarmbled eggs but lately I seem to be noticing it disappearing off my plate into my mouth - Sshh don't tell my mum!

We're driving out of the town Selebi-Phikwe almost back to the thrilling 400/220kV substation to pick up the proposed line route to follow. I saw the towers and thought "Oh wow the towers are painted brown to blend with the landscape. How considerate!" When in actual fact I should have been thinking "Holey Moley the rust on these towers is bad!!"

I hear there is a copper mine down the way that uses Sulphiric Acid in the refining process. Can you say acid rain? In the Botswana wilderness nogal!

Here we go Day 3 Off road!! - I hope I can trust in the skills of the driver :/

Frankie's Travels - Day 2

I managed to survive without breakfast (aside from inhaling a mashed Jungle Oats bar I found at the bottom of my bag at about 12) all the way through to a very late 3pm lunch! (Spur makes crap chicken mayo toasties)

So after negotiating the Gaborone rush minute, we drove 240-ish km to Palapye. I saw lots of trees sand goats and donkeys. The animals look extremely fluffy and cuddle-able at 160km/hr!

We turned off the A1 and found our way through the Blink-and-you-might-miss-it town and got on with another meeting with some bigjobs (some from france and india) and some very cool calm exchanging of business cards. (left mine behind in my desk drawer :/ not cool)

Then we shot across the road to the opposite side of the A1 to visit the power station. We signed in and drove around the fence to inspect the switchyard and the clusters of steel lattice and wood post towers hanging their strings of conductor around the place. The Power Station itself was Enormous!! With very tall candy stripe chimneys.

Then we drove another 150 km to the other end of the project. The green scrubby bush changed into sand and wooden stick-ish thorn trees. We followed the power lines to a 400/220kV substation. I climbed out the car to the hot red sandy dirt road to the chorus of cicada beetles and the buzz of the 400kV equipment. Highlight of my Trip!! I say!

I mean I love nature and the outdoors and aside from the heat, the area was really pretty in a dry african way. Clear blue skies, fine dry red sand, brown thorn bushes with white thorns and the occasional hairy wiry donkey. :)

Then I find the High Voltage switchyards extremely impressive. The tall lattice steel, The enormous insulators for clearances, the glass string insulators that look too heavy to stay hanging from the gantries 20m off the ground.

Anyway enough engineer-nerd talk for now....

We found time to drive around the area when we were done for the day and I managed to snap some pretty pictures of the bush and the sunset and a really tall impressive anthill. Top prize tomorrow will be a picture of a happy hairy wiry donkey as we drive off road along the line route. Thrilling!!!

Frankie's Travels - Day 1 complete onto Day 2

So we arrived in Gaborone on a thrilling bumpy flight. We took off a little late too. The plane taxied the entire runway and then I think the pilot said "there is this funny flashing light here - we're going to get some one to take a look at it"... But I am sure what he actually said was a lot more professional .... Right?...

Anyway, Gaborone may look small and peaceful and spaced out but the traffic is a NIGHTMARE!!! Imagine a highway with big traffic circles every few km's... Bad Traffic!

Anyway we booked in at our coushy hotel - I used my cunning engineers intuition to drop my bags off in my room (swipe the card in every possible orientation until the cleaning lady helps you :D ) and we zipped off (or first geared for 30 min) to our meeting.

After all the horrendous traffic, we decided to go to the hotel restuarant and half a bottle of SavBlanc and a three course buffet - I was ready to rest my weary travellers head.

Anyway we stayed in an awesome classy hotel - palm trees, free shampoo and pretty white towels included! And a kettle and free coffee in my room Awesome!

Slept like I was dead... Woke up, got packed, drank my free coffee and hurried downstairs.

I happened to misunderstand my accompanying colleague and I missed breakfast. So our intrepid traveller is now embarking on a 3 and a bit hour journey on a cup of strong coffee and sheer beginners enthusiasm! - I am going to probably want to die soon.:.. Until I see the switchyards of course!!

Frankies Travels - Botswana Business Trip

So I have done this several times already but it's about time I add Botswana to my travelogue....

So this time I am jet-setting off there for 3 or 4 days (I am disturbed that even I don't know anymore when I am coming back... I think it's Thursday evening - alert the police If I am still missing this time next week)

So we're popping over for a progress meeting this afternoon - there are high hopes of pinning a senior bigjob down to sign some paperwork so we can finally issue some invoices to them. Yaaaay Invoicing! (frankies to do list grows faster than she can cross stuff off of it some weeks)

Then tomorrow we're driving to the next meeting and visiting a power station and substation. Weather report points to the warm side of mid-30's day time temps. But the sheer awesomeness of 220kV and 400kV switchgear will surely drive all yucky I'm all hot sticky sweaty thoughts from my head. Double Pole Centre Break Isolators!!! Ceramic Post Insulators!! CT's!!! VT's!!! CVT's!!! Surge Arrestors!!

Moving along.... On the next day we'll be doing some offroad driving along the line route - Bring your own 4x4 and wheel preessure pump Style!!!

Secretly I am way way excited for this - under my cool reserved proffessional of course.

Will have to try take pictures like a crazzy snappy happy person - all for the good of the business right? :D

Somehow it doesn't feel right

Friday night, and again I am at home doing a whole lot of nothing. I actually have no real desire to see my friends and then at the same time I hate staying home on a Friday night. Tonight particularly because I know I will very likely be at home AGAIN tomorrow night too.

I have decided to refuse to participate in anything to do with Halloween. Neither Halloween party nor Anti-Halloween party. I don't really see the point.

I know Halloween represents a pagan tradition but I feel that the only people taking Halloween religiously seriously are wannabees. and anyone wanting to perform some ancient rite of hocus pocus... probably has other days that fit much better into their calendar.

Also, we're moving from Spring into Summer time on this side of the equator not Autumn into Winter. Spring and Summer are times of new growth and life (and rain!)

This has just become another meaningless tradition to adopt from the United States. Will we all start celebrating Thanksgiving or 4th of July in a year or two? they're both about as signnificant to South Africa.

I only notice that Halloween is around because the shops take a brief break from the 2 month run up to Christmas to change all the store decor to Black and orange.

Speaking of Christmas, I could go to the same level of comparison that the Festive season has become so much about themed shop and office decor and so little about the history that to the religiously uninformed, Halloween and Christmas bear a lot of similarities.

A colour scheme:

Halloween - Orange and Black

Christmas - Red green and white

A plant

Halloween pumpkin

Christmas pine tree

Odd characters

Halloween witches, bats and vampires

Christmas elves, reindeer and that big jolly man

Generosity

Halloween trick or treat

Christmas presents, dinner

But! But! But! There is more to Christmas than some overworked tradition. Christmas without the traditional over used symbols (I even saw Christmas decorations in Dubai- an Arab state! - However not a Nativity scene in sight!)

So I say Nay! I say nay to halloween. To the parties and the dress up and the run of scary movies on TV. I say nay to the people holding counter-revolutionary parties of light against Halloween. I say nay to the repeatitve jingle music returning to our shops and stores by Monday. I say nay to tinsel and fake snow and reindeer.

I wish I could keep The memory of Christs birth as a deeply religious celebration instead of something over sold, over-commercialised and glossed up and marketed as Halloween. I wish I didn't have to be reminded of the Festive season every minute of the day from 25 October to 25 December.

Banish the ridiculous traditions! And give Christmas back to the Christians.

And with that - I am left with the only option - to stay home tomorrow night and support neither Halloween party - nor- Anti-Halloween Party. Halloween is dead to me.

Secrets of attention span expansion and productivity

I have had to learn/explore/discover and self-teach how to make myself get 8 productive hours out of the hours between 8am and 6pm on 5 days of the week.

I have learnt that reading a lengthy document with technical discussions and formulas and results will cause me to do the Office Chair Sleeping Beauty under the following conditions:
1. If the office behind me is unoccupied (the guy is away a lot)
2. If it is overcast weather outside and all the windows are closed.
3. If I have just eaten lunch in the sunshine.
4. If the document contains a lot of explanations before arriving at the information I need.
5. If I am really struggling to understand what I am reading.

And so we must devise some ways around it. So a can of cold cola helps to sip when the attention span drifts, sitting up in the most uncomfortable position possible (i.e. not reclining in my cool springy back office chair) and flinging the window open to the chilly overcast weather. (and irritating wind that makes my papers go flap flap flap flap flap!!!)

Other secrets are leaving my Internet and facebook capable cellphone in my handbag. Leaving to-do reminders in outlook to give me little tasks to work on everyday (today is research more training, tomorrow is update forecasts, Friday is update project schedules)

If nothing else I try reorder my desk and the papers turning(hopefully) to coal there and playing with my pot plant.

The final back up attention span/productivity saver is Origami. I often have to print papers out for reference and invariably print the wrong thing on occasion (like pressing print all 100 pages instead of the current page and then sprinting to the printer to cause a paper jam to stop the waste of paper!) Anyway I started with lilies, then swans, then dragons the sparrows and are now using my idle time to make butterfly rings.

The only problem is that my supervisor can take one look at my desk and see how bored I have been of late. The lilies now adorn my desk pot plant...



Future plans for improvement:
to spend less time correcting all my "teh"'s to "the"
to try not be blogging mid afternoon at work...

Back I go to the long educational word documents!

a snatched moment of typing - The Musician

So I went out for another dinner with a new guy last night... except this time it was slightly different....

I had not exchanged much information with the gent before agreeing to meet for a drink (drink which became dinner) We had not even officially exchanged first names - Scandalous!! (I found his out with some light weight Internet searching - I am becoming a google-whizz!)

And the dinner event was precluded by some unsettling news. ThatIDon'tWantToTalkAboutHere. Unsettling news that make me want to turtle and hide and think deeply about my feelings and stuff.

So given the effect of the news, I was tense and tired and I decided to throw away the cocky-flirtatious-charming tactics and decided to simply be amenable to an nice evening.

An evening starting with the designated meet-up restaurant being closed on a Monday night! It's nice to keep things unexpected and interesting.

We didn't hit it off like a house on fire but we talked about interesting things, had a laugh or two.

I was secretly pleased he seemed as tongue-tied as me.

Nice-on-the-eyes is always a bonus too.

He is very musically capable (see earlier post about being serenaded with RHCP)

So... I am just going to say this straight out loud. ...in a very uncomplicated way, I would REALLY REALLY REALLY like to see this guy again.

There I said it!

I am petrified that my fidgeting and the occasional bouts of thoughtful silence may have been construed as boredom.

I am afraid that I did not make as good impression.

I am worried he thinks I am too young and immature.

But that may be all self-esteem speaking so the rational-Frank plans to be practical and proactive instead. (When I am finished being a turtle of course)


How do men feel about being actively pursued by a woman?

Coming Clean...

So I joined a dating website a little while ago. Partly out of curiosity, partly out of boredom on a quiet Saturday evening at home and partly for the novelty of taking a personality quiz and getting a tactless answer.

What landed up happening was I got some conflicting answers as to what my personality was and a barrage of messages from all the lonely/equally curious/equally bored singles in the Johannesburg region and surrounds (Does Meyerton count?)

And so spurred on by curiosity(my excuse for now) I replied to the interesting sounding people and ignored the ones that my inner academic snob disdained. (i lik cars wat do u do?), and against my mothers-style of common sense... I am still there.

And it has been overall a more or less positive experience. Barring of course the Capetonian who invited me to fulfill his wild dreams and a religious fanatic....

I met two of the guys I met on the site and only after some very careful vetting of who they are (They both landed up being friends of friends so I could verify some level of non-serial-killerness) One was a business man discussed earlier on the site. (not the use of "was) The other is a fine strapping young man ("nice") of a scientific persuasion ("double nice!") who has two kittens ("BONUS!!! ting ting ting ting ting!!!") Anyway, That story isn't text ready for here yet

I have been corresponding with a few others and one in particular was telling me how he has only had one girlfriend and that he hates his job. So I said the typical "Aaah shames" and "Chin up soldier". Then we got discussing that he wants to study and I imparted some wisdom picked up over the years.

Anyway while I am going on and on and on like a life skills coach about choosing a career and choosing what to study, I realise I have made a mistake in thinking this chap was younger than me and only a few years out of school. In fact, he's 30 years old... So, potentially unemployed, still living with his parents, willing to let me be bossy, and oh! oh! oh! he asked me if I play Call of Chtulhu (ummm... RPG?) all at 30 years old....

My horrible shallow fickle heart is waving a placard... I am a mean judgmental person... but I'll say the long term prospects here are probably limited...

...a...w...k...w...a...r...d....

Good bye October

As cliched as this may sound, I can't believe it is already the end of October. I officially saw my first tv advert with bells and red santa hats and the summer storms have started.

On an aside, I must say that storms make me really crazy-happy. It's something about the power and orchestra of the strong wind and the tree branches dancing wildly and the thunder and the lightning. And then those first big fat rain drops that fall on my windscreen and make a sound like "pop... ... pop ... pop ... pop pop.... pop... Pop pop pop!" For me it makes me feel small and at the same time I admire the great enormous strength behind created nature.

Anyway back to October! It just seems like so much has happened this year. I was expecting a lot of it but it's still like looking back and seeing a long section of uphill and going "No way! I just did all that?"

And I think what I regret is that I have been so busy having everything happen that I haven't gotten to do a lot of things I meant to do. There were some people I met for a short amount of time at the start of the year and I really wanted to drop them a line to say hello. But forgetting them for 10 months might be a bit of a long time lapse to account for. I regret that I have been to quick with the things happening and not fully immersed myself in the change itself. Somedays still I am staggering along. Other days I admire the view. I think it would help if I stopped loosing my to do lists before they're completed!

On a good news note, I FINALLY started drawing again. Not particularly well or anything exciting drawn, but I finally started! Next challenge is to stay started and continue. Techniques next!

I told you so!

I had a kinda stressful day today. Basic low down is that I found a problem in April and I alerted teh relevant authorities and did a whack of research into looking at the problem and evaluating the exact extent of it.

Now finally 6 months down the line the relevant authorities have woken up that something needs to be done and are panicing about it.

i think I should take up a new job in forensic paper work. As in looking at all teh paper work done by all the people that left before you started and figure out what they were thinking when they did these seemingly silly things.

In truth I think If I met the culprit and I knew what he looked like, I would quite like to walk up to him and give him a good kick in the shins. I think it is really irresponsible to leave a project halfway through especially when the thread of the project is coming loose because you didn't do a proper job managing things.

I think a solid kick in the shins with a hard toed boot would be quite satisfying. The kind of kick that leaves a dent for a few hours and a big blue bruise for a few weeks.

Savage yes. but I am annoyed, sorting this mess out is wasting my time!

Unproductivity - Brains like Frozen Syrup

I decided to not start a habit of early mornings. Yesterdays 10 hour day was exhausting. I managed to tick of a whole handful of little things off my to-do list this morning. And then proceeded to have a virtually brain dead afternoon. Hence the blog posting/redecorating.

I had a 100 and something long page document open to read and i just couldn't focus to read it - I think I should analyse when my best time of the day for concentrating on reading is and assign it to then. It certainly isn't straight after lunch.

I am also trying to break some habits

1. No more coffee at work - Coffee-Breath is tres-gross.
2. I am going to try more often to arrive at work before 8am - which means getting up before 7am - which means trying to get to bed before midnight - should be interesting.
3. I am going to try stop checking Facebook 15 times a day (it's like the attention span filler) No body cares - It's like tres-lame to update your status too often anyway
4. I am going to stop using the word tres - it's like so tres-teen-american
(tres - very in french FYI okay?)
5 . I am going to stop thinking about needing to start dating again - I really don't want to and my self-esteem says "No Thank You!" Why bother - my heart isn't in it anyway.

I have a planning meeting this evening for the training we will present this weekend about the trip to Germany. I would give anything to get out the house... and the lady meeting me doesn't want to go out for coffee... sigh... another evening at home again.

Red eye morning

So I managed to get myself to work today BEFORE 7am! I usually breeze in around 8:30am most days. If you do the maths, Yes I got up before my alarm clock and skipped yucky porridge and zoomed off to work (which even if I leave 90 minutes earlier, is still a nightmare)

Anyway what inspired getting up with the sparrows (or at least the same time as the rest of the family) and arriving before everyone else in my department is that I wanted to discuss something through with one of the senior chaps and he said, "Okay, I can make time for you between 7:30 and 9:30 because I will be in a meeting after that" And so to maintain the tactical advantage, I decided to arrive before him. 35 minutes! High Five Frankie!

It doesn't necessarily mean ill be leaving 90 minutes early to go home however... I have a lot to do and I left early on Monday... So Ill catch up the time today so this is going to be one loooong ass day...

whoops!

Sorry previous post is MONOLITHIC! this is a short one to balance it out! :D

(saying just about the same amount of usefulness!)

sorry who? Is that all?

This question seems to be popping up a lot and I find myself giving lame answers or creatively avoiding teh question or else leaving a blank awkward silence. The question being...

"So, Tell me about yourself." and "Where do you see your future going?" or some variety along those lines. I got asked in a job interview, I got asked by my work supervisor, I got asked in my progress reports, I got asked by a new friend, I got asked on a Meeting-for-Coffee-to-establish-romantic-intent. (Lame answer being what made me think no wonder failed that one!)

These are HUGE questions that get asked in a tiny number of words. And I find it really difficult to give a succinct answer. And so now I am going to give it a bash.

There are two main reasons i find this so difficult at this stage of my life.

1. I started working this year - I have had to change my life goals from Graduating from Varsity to Having a Career and being responsible. (students are not responsible by definition... goes without saying.)

and around the same time...
2. I emerged from being in a almost 6 year long relationship into being single. (another case of a few words summarising something complex and huge)

now the first reason makes a big difference because my goal-horizon has broadened by a nice paycheck and having to plan/dream 6months, 3 years, 10 years and further into the future. And trying to figure out where i want my pretty red stamped paper from Wits is going to take me in 10 years quite honestly blows my mind! I am almost afraid to dream that far into the future, because in 10 years I could organise to achieve my wildest dreams. and thinking about the amount of hard (but ultimately rewarding) work lies between you and big fat meaty success is scary. Yes, I am afraid that I really could become That Person... (can't verbalise the dream yet...)

my short term plans extend to "I am going to go along with this for a little while and see where it takes me and if it's any fun..." - which doesn't sound very impressive to a supervisor person...

Now the second reason needs some explaining. I started dating this guy about 9 months after i started university. so his presence pretty much is a central figure to my entire student period of my life. So I grow up and develop and change in 6 years... and suddenly he isn't here anymore and i have no idea who this 24 year old girl is anymore. I haven't had to sell my personality in 6 whole years! and acting like I am 18 isn't going to cut it...

Now this isn't a case of an identity crisis or a case of being a bland boring person. I just haven't got the words to tell to say who I am.

Ihere are some factors that have fundamentally had an effect on who I am.

1. My family - I am number 4 out of 5 children in a very close family. This defines my behaviour in that I have a irrational need to define my individuality from the rest of my family. This does also explain my stupid need for attention in some cases.

... Although I do believe that on a fundamental level all people need attention and need to feel that they are worth paying attention to.

2. Engineering - There are many reasons why I chose my degree but the 6 years of the degree meant 6 years of studying with a lot of people of the masculine persuasion. I find that some days I think in a male manner. (I do not have a sexual identity agenda here) Although somedays I am emotionally multitasking as mush as the next woman.

3. Jesus - without getting too deeply into my personal testimony, I have attended church from an early age and this had a big difference to how I approach problems, stress and good fortune. I participate in a thrilling bible study these days and i relish pulling apart what I believe and why i believe it and whether I got things right or not.

This much I do know so far..

I am no prettier, not cleverer, no richer, no poorer, no sadder and have had no more suffering than most people but I do think I am an interesting person. I think I am more interesting than a lot of other people my age. I think I will be an even more interesting person in 5 to 10 years time. and it is one of my life goals, to get off the wide common path and onto the narrow different path.

I waver between feeling deeply lonely and relishing my aloneness at one or anther just about everyday.

Along with that I find that some of my friends and a lot of other people Just Don't Get Me. And then surprisingly I meet other people who are so alike to me that they are treasured in a special place in my heart forever.

I love to be lazy but being bored irks me intensely (there's my word :D) Watching the flowers grow in the sunshine is interesting. The words flowing out of your mouth is so boring i can't wait to get away from you like a bad smell.

... It seems i have a little more Frankie-searching to do...

Grrrr! Warning! High levels of unpleasant emotions!

I am not in a good mood. In fact I am angry. I had an incident this morning that irked me (irked is my word of the month. Irk... Irked... Irking... I-iiii-iirr-rrk!)
And I have stayed pissed off about it ever since. I tried walking away and having a quiet moment to compose myself. I tried eating a sweet to have something to grind my teeth against. I have tried going for a lunch time walk to clear my head. And now I am trying to stay busy at my desk until I stop feeling angry... or the work day finishes.

I am angry because I was supposed to have a meeting this morning and I prepared for it. Actually I was prepared for it 4 weeks in a row and it didn't happen. Today it was postponed and then cancelled.

I am angry because I have issues to discuss and when I approach the necessary persons, they talk to me about my project and then walk off before I can make my input.

I am angry because I am made to feel like what I need to say is not important. I only lurk outside your office to be in your glorious presence.

I am angry because I need to speak to someone who has gone home already.

I am angry because I am being blamed for something that was mostly out of my hands anyway.

I am angry because I have no idea what level of responsibility I am supposed to have. Am I being overdependant by needing to raise queries, or am I being irresponsible by not raising queries.

I am angry because I asked for something on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and I should ask for it today - I haven't got what I need yet.

I am angry because I got an earful for not doing something. I sent an email in June requesting an audience to do this thing. I can't force you to read your emails.

I am angry that I organise to speak to people at an event we will both be at... and then they don't go to the event, but never bother to tell me they won't make it.

I am angry that no one listens to me. I told you there may be a problem with this last week. Why are you presenting it to me as a new problem today?

I am angry that I purposely avoided my friends for three weeks and no one noticed I was missing.

I should try get more sleep this weekend - 4 hours a night is doing me no good.

A-W-K-W-A-R-D!!!

I had my annual (make that 9 and a half month) review at work today where i had to evaluate my performance so far this year. I was extremely honest about how I feel I have been doing and overall afterwards I felt proud of how far I have developed and learnt this year. I had to resist being offended when the senior person looked at a criteria that I had rated myself low on an he agreed with me. but overall I found it encouraging (aside from the cringing embarrassment of having to talk about the points where I am under-performing) I can aim towards setting out a clear strategy around overcoming my weaknesses. (Time Management and Verbal Communication - no surprises there - "sorry I can't hear you")

Anyway - onto other matters... Some Frankie-isms of late.

1. I know now that some people only added me as a FaceBook friend so that you would never have to speak to me ever again, it's Genius, Wish I had thought of it first.

2. There is no short term regret as walking outside and seeing the boring grey streaks that follow a brilliant sunset.

3. Some days I feel as if all persons between the age of 10 and 21 should be sedated and put into The Matrix for being just plain annoying, thinking they are cute when they are not and making me feel old and ugly. (except my not so little brother... he's okay... For now)

4. Sometimes even though your head says there is nothing wrong and that everything is all okay and it was all a stupid idea anyway and it meant nothing in the first place and it wasn't personal at all.... your heart still controls your tear ducts.

5. Sometimes it's better to be mean and indifferent to a perfectly nice person than be attentive and caring and lead to giving the wrong impression. "Stop being confusingly nice to me, you very pleasant man! You don't have feelings for me!"

More online Comics and stuff...

I am kinda sorta addicted to some online comics. (I have read the entire archive of questionablecontent.net... we'll get around to blogging about that one day)

So I usually browse Andre Jordan's offerings (a beautiful revolution) when I am sad.... Here are some true, but not so sad ones...






And then I found a very romantic comic called Bellen! (Ben&Ellen!) and although this is not true to my life right now... it made me feel whimsical and starry eyed again...





I am still coughing sick (or not still... I got better this past week and got sick again on the weekend...) and then I have an enormous list of things to do by the end of this week and no one wanted to talk to me today, electronically or manually.... So I don't really want to talk about me today. Tomorrow will be better I hope.

An RHCP love song

It seems it is not an original idea but I get all starry eyed and dreamy when I hear a certain Red Hot Chili Peppers song... I think it makes a perfect declaration of love and I wait by my window every night for Prince Charming to arrive and serenade me with it. I have a weakness for musical guys (not that I have much musical ability to offer back)... it's even on my top10 list of Nice-To-Have features of my perfect man. :) I girl can hope at least! I think it is about the ability to create something beautiful.

Of course the tall mysterious deep thinking artistic type must feature in most girls fantasies at one time or another right? I had (lets just refer this as to past tense for now) a gloriously awkward tongue-tied-and-blushing crush on a boy in my class at one time, long hair, part of a band, tall and rugged (read:probably scruffy) He played bass guitar and was (most likely) not really interested in me and most likely unsuitable... oh but I was starry eyed over him, trying hard not to stare, trying hard not to be overjoyed when he deigned to attend class. He wasn't single (and for the record neither was I...) but in a purely paperback-novel, impractical sense I was deeply, miserably besotted... like a teenager.

Moving along... if I can't find a man to dedicate this song to me, I will find a man who eventually I will want to sing it to... I will learn to play it and sing it to my husband on our wedding day (another not original idea, I know)

I have a scary deep singing voice anyway... terribly sexy I know,

Hard to Concentrate

Hustle Bustle
And so much muscle
Our cells about to separate
Now I find it hard to concentrate
And temporary, this cash and carry
I’m stepping up to indicate
The time has come to deviate and

All I want is for you to be happy
And take this moment to make you my family
And finally you have found something perfect
And finally you have found…

Death defying, this mess I’m buying
It’s raining down with love and hate
Now I find it hard to motivate
And estuary is blessed but scary
Our hearts about to palpitate
And I’m not about to hesitate

And want to treasure the rest of your days here
And give you pleasure in so many ways, dear
And finally you have found something perfect
And finally you have found…
Here we go.

Do you want me to show up for duty?
And serve this woman and honor her beauty?
And finally you have found something perfect
And finally you have found... yourself
With me...
Will you... agree... to take this man... into your world..
And now... we are as one...

My lone ranger,
The heat exchanger
Is living in this figure 8
Now I’ll do my best to recreate.
And Sweet precision.
And soft collision
Our hearts about to palpitate
Now I find it hard to separate.

And all I want is for you to be happy
And take this woman and make you my family
And finally you have found someone perfect
And finally you have found

All I want is for you to be happy
And take this woman and make you my family
And finally you have found someone perfect
And finally you have found…
Yourself.


...sigh... to find myself...

Frankie's Non-Travels - End of Camp

Some how looking after 40-something young things is more tiring than just about anything else in my recent memory.
I am EXHAUSTED!!! I am shattered My muscles are stiff My neck is sore My nose is running My head is pounding and I think I may border a Horrendous Sense of Humour Failure if something goes wrong this evening.

But all in all I actually had a pretty great weekend! It was great to have so many of my own little Brownies there with me on camp and It was a pretty chilled weekend (aside from the sheer forces required to direct the traffic of 40-ish girls to eat shower play listen and sleep!

(I actually snuck off for a quick kip myself mid-morning and one of the naughty girls took a picture of me!)

I have a big week ahead with some deadlines looming So Ill have sleep when I am dead but at least the busy-ness keeps me feeling alive and out of mischief!

Aside: Mr-Let's-Go-For-A-Coffee/Date hasn't called or messaged (Ihave been checking) - I wonder if it is too early to write him off as a once off pleasant evening experience. No Explanantion required from him...

Frankie's Non-Travels Day 2

The day started with the rustle of sleeping bags at about 6am this morning as the girls gradually moved from sleeping state to Energetic state.

They all got a cup of tea and were turned outside to frolic on the grass and boss each other around...

After cereal sausages and scrambled egg breakfast (again some ate a whisper, some were still hungry after thirds!) we went for a walk in the park... Then climbing in trees... Then games.... Then lunch.... Then litter pick-up... Then more climbing trees... then chair games... Then dinner.... Then a campfire... Then Collapse!!!

Sadly two girls got hurt in the course of the day - Hurt enough to warrant bandages and savlon... And BOTH from my Brownie Pack!!! I am afraid the parents will think me irresponsible...

Amusing Incidents of the Day:
1. All the Pink Zoo Biscuits were taken before any other colour at Tea Time.
2. The girls want to give me a camp name - Flamingo
3. They have endless appetite for mash potato (like over 4 kg's) but no appetite for veggies!
4. Every girl has their own version of a new verse for the Kookaburra song! Most not dinner-table appropriate!

Frankie's Non-Travel - Brownie Camp

So I got involved in the running of a camp for Brownies this weekend. 48 young girls all between the ages of 6 and 11 years all weekend!

Now I am pretty sure that each girl individually is quite polite and pleasant and easy to look after. But when they are all together, the average niceness and politeness goes way way down!

Oh and the Noise! The Noise I tell you! I bet that it can be proven that chaotic noise induces feelings of exhaustion in adults!

Jugs of water "landed" on the floor...
Some ate a teaspoon of food and were full and Some wouldn't stop eating. (Massive appetite always for Peaches and Custard of course...)
How to GIRLS manage to miss the toilet bowl???

But aside my complaints, I think I might just have a good time this weekend, The laughter of 48 happy girls may be noisy but it is joyful. And I get to be childish as well and get in on their fun. And of course through their eyes I am infinitly All-Knowing and Awesome.

I do love the adoration...

The lonely chair

Picture credit to a beautiful revolution again - the full chair story is here.

So I went out last night... on a date... a first date, The official first date in over 6 years. I am not sure if it could be classified as a date - perhaps more of a meeting over coffee to establish future romantic potential...

And it was nice. We had some laughs, we made some compliments, we made soem cheeky remarks, and we wished each otehr a safe drive home.

Now this whole thing didnt really come about with much active effort on my part. I am still really enjoying being single and I really don't want the maintainance of a serious relationship so I can afford to be a little fussy... really fussy in fact.

Ill be honest I can usually think of any guy I know and come up with a list of 5 reasons why we would be not compatible... with all due respect to my male friends. (to set things straight, I adore my male friends, they are really good guys, I just am pretty sure that some of them don't have romantic potential)

moving right along... Obviously in the course of the first date we exchanged pleasantaries and brief synopsies of our lives (Weird co-incidence - this man is like only 6 hours older than me! - I met my "twin"!!) And we discussed where we are in our lives and so on and so on and so on. What I realsied in hindsight is that I may have high standards and be fussy but I don't necessarily always have the same to offer back.

I am not sure if I have enough hobbies to be interesting, I insist on a well read person, but my bookself, while being full, doesn't really have a lot of variety. I want to date a well educated person with opinions but when put on the spot - I was some what at a loss for an intelligent vein of conversation to start.

I do realise that some of this may be due to nervousness or my low self-esteem is talking. But the entire event from start to finish has been incredibly good for my ego - I felt charming and pretty and witty for the entire evening. And if we're not compatible, and he never calls me again, I won't be that upset... It was an evening well spent...

PS there is also a strong arguement as to whether I am ready to "get out there" again - but I tried, Ill try again some other time ... and next time perhaps try reduce the number of references to That Man...

How I feel today

this picture and some amusing and depressing and quirky others found Here. Thanks Cousin :)

Report due tomorrow is not going well...oh dear... Oh %$#@&! ...

Funny people from "Ho-ome"

So I have this new (well not so new anymore) friend in the UK (Surrey to be exact). He works for the same company as me except in one of the UK offices. And in the spirit of young curiosity we have been emailing each other on a fairly regular basis and getting to know each other and our backgrounds and what we do and don't have in common. I can make the following amusing observations.

1. Poms at times can be extremely pommy - Proud of The Empire and the Spice Girls and fond of tea and Rain.

2. He was amazed to hear that I don't see a lot of rain for half of the year. Like dry ground for the whole of winter.

3. They have much nicer working hours in the UK. like he arrives at work after me (including accounting for the time zone differences) and leaves work before me.

4. He had no idea we live in different time zones - and just assumed I make it to work everyday at the crack of dawn.

5. He has asked me on several occasions about the crime in Johannesburg and is shocked at how blase I am about it.

6. He uses funny phrases that I have no idea what the meaning of them are.

7. He uses the word "posh"

8. Never heard of the term "a Thumb suck"

9. Fascinated by the multicultural dynamic of our country (he said God save the Queen and I said Which one? Queen of the Swazi? Queen/s of th Zulu? Queen of the Royal Bafokeng? Queen of Lesotho?)

And other amusing things. I must say the conversations we have been having over email are really really interesting to me - like really getting to know someone with a different background. Fascinating!

Frankies Travels - Final Day Aaaaah :(

And on the last day - we relaxed... Drove through some city centre and saw some marathon runners (some ladies in blue uniforms stoppd us running them over...) Then we cruised through Clifton to Camps Bay for a massive magnificient breakfast (wish I had taken a picture) Eggs/Bacon/Sausage/Tomato/Hash Browns/Toast/Grilled Mushrooms... Sunday Morning Happy-Food.

Then we went to go and enjoy the beach (for the last time in a while for me) I went to go dip my toes in the water (as usual managed to get my pant wet)

A Zimbabwean came to ply his wares and perhaps due to his effort we purchased a painting of a giraffe. I should snap a photo of it to show off - It has become another item of my collection of travel items for my new home (when ever it is that I manage to have a new home...) I am just not sure of the best way to mount it. I would want to preserve the fabric from aging so I was thinking of "laminating" it in glass with the unhemmed edges giving it a raw look ... but the glass will make it monstrously heavy to hang... hmmm... Ill have to give it a think.

Then we made our way back so I could finish packing and enjoy the sunshine (just about the only sun we saw all weekend) at least the mountains popped out from the clouds in farewell.

The airport was INSANELY busy and by flight was ultra full but at least I sat next to a pretty friendly Indian gent. Can't say the same for the drive home. I discover I am a bit of a hazard on the roads... Thank goodness for the more experienced drivers that were driving near by... And as much as I hate the drive to and from the airport... I should be driving it myself more often so that I can do it without having to Make my Peace with God along the way...

The End! :) ... until next time at least...

Frankie's Travels - On the Third Day

.... I remembered what rainy weather was. we have just come through
the dry dry Joburg winter so I haven't seen a lot of rain lately
(except for those 3 weeks in Germany...)

So on Saturday we woke up to a cloudy sky - the shy mountain was
almost completely hidden. We decided to make our way across to Cape
Point. So after a very scenic drive to and through and beyond
Simonstown (again) we paid our International Tourists Hiked entry fee
to the Nature Reserve. I decided that first prize would be seeing
Zebra and Ultra first prize would be to see Whales too. With the
gentle swish of the windscreen wipers we admired the alternate views
of the opposite coasts and made our way through to Cape of Good Hope -
snapping pictures of the view along the way. Like any intrepid
traveller we decided to brave the wind and the cold and climb up the
hiking trail at C of GH....

And OH BOY!! The wind was strong! It was all fun and adventurous on
the way up having my hair whipped around and trying to negotiate the
next step... (my co-tourist had his hoodie up and tied down - he
looked like a ninja!) And then!!... I got sand blown into my eye and
suddenly I was not having fun any more. So we turned around and slip
slide stumbled our way back down with one eye shut and the other half
covered for protection and made it back to the car for some precious
eyedrops. And happy Frankie returned. :)

Then we drove up and round and along to Cape Point where we tackled
the walk up to the lighthouse and were appalled to find out how unfit
we were. Ill say We found plenty of excuses to stop and admire the
incredible view...

It is amazing how clean the beaches look at the bottom of the cliffs -
like very clean and untouched. By now it was more than a drip drip of
rain and closer to a windy horizontal drizzle...

Let me say that I saw more foreign tourists at Cape Point than I saw
at OR Tambo international airport on Wednesday. We played a game of
guess the nationality by the accent - Lots of Brits, Aussies and
Chinese Tourists.

We made our way down again and paid for an overpriced lunch sarmmie
and moved on to seeing the last few sights of the park through the now
rapid swish swish of the windscreen wipers.

Saw Da Gama and (oooh can't remember the other spanish name...
Something also with a D - an old guy with a poofy hat) ... Diaz!
Crosses and some penguins and very big seagulls And then we decided to
leave and go on to drier more indoor sights.

So we looked up the Iziko museum and swished across there! Pleasant
surprise was that entrance was free for Heritage Day week... Score :)
And so we wandered around in the warm dry museum and saw life size
skeletons of enormous sea living creatures and a lot of taxidermied
animals (including a very very cute baby quagga - The Baby Quagga) The
dinosaur exhibit was interesting but I had my own personal views
raising big flags at the back of my head... just because the museum
can make a beautiful display of the artifacts, doesn't mean that I
believe the surrounding science is true... but Ill let these views
stew a while longer and make a proper blog post on it.

We made an exit from the museum when it was getting close to closing
time and drove through a slightly less wet Cape Town back to the place
of residence.

For dinner we went to a L-A-R-N-Y French restaurant. We enjoyed fine
conversation, a fine Shiraz and I had Beef Medallions in red wine,
onion and cocoa sauce. the cocoa was a brilliant ingredient and really
added to the flavour. then we made our way through ice-cream, meringue
and chocolate mousse for afters.... and proceeded to go home to digest
and sleep.

I saw a beautiful jersey dress through the window of a closed shop and
it can to call me to go and buy it in my dreams. Pity the shop was
closed in Sundays, - Frilly woolen jersey dress- I long for you (but
probably not your price tag!)

Frankies Travels Cape Town Day 2

... Written with some head scratching at the end of day 3...

Sooooo... On Friday we went off to Ratanga Junction. True we were among the oldest people in the queue but at least we weren't spending our parentally supplied pocket money on the entrance fee so there!

So of the rides were wild and some were pretty exhilarating and some were slow (boat and train rides) and bizarrely the longest queue was for the Bumper Cars (???? What's so exciting about that) Some of the kiddies rides looked like enough fun to be popular adult rides. We had a good time enjoying the rush of adrenalin and we got plenty of exercise walking from end to end to end of the park. My only real complaint was that the music was really bad - like taking an average of all the popular music on the radio and playing it at Full Volume ... Let me also say that renditions of the Single Ladies dance is so so so so last season ans old and going out of fashion - it's been done and dusted and youtubed and it's just about ready to be translated into Afrikaans and added to Sokkie Treffers 2009 to be blasted out at every caravan park New Years party along the Natal Coast! Give the song a break already!

Aaanywaay... After the childish exuberance of the theme park (couldn't figure the theme tho...) we decided to swap over to the adult solemnity of wine farm visits and wine tasting. First at Durbanville hills we sampled some of their best (which was a good way of learning which names go with which flavours: Sav Blanc - white, Cab Sav - Red, Merlot - Red fruity) I now can't decide if I prefer Shiraz or Pinotage but my education in vino is by no means coming to an end... (H: when you finish laughing at me... I welcome your guidance :P )

Then we decided we had time for one more wine farm so we drove along the road with all the wine farms and randomly turned off at the second next suitable wine farm. (for the sake of the story - D'Aria) There a super friendly lady behind the counter let us have a taste of their finest... I was amazed that the white wine with hints of asparagus Really did have a taste of asparagus! And the wine with a hint of green pepper really did too - didnt like it very much tho. Anyway I purchased a very tasty Merlot-Savigion Blanc blend called Blush And a very pleasantly light and fruity Merlot.

The novelty factor of the wines was that the labels were also in Braille! Extra points for originality!

Then we made our way home through the sights of town and District 6. After many several sip sip sippys of wine my gracious host decided to haul my fuzzy slightly inebriated unfit ass halfway up Lions Head and back my pounding head was soon replaced with the foul cursing of my buns-and-thighs. But at least the view on the drive and walk up and down was so totally worth it! Except that the clouds closed in and it all began to feel eerily like a computer game with a lazy scene designer...

and then I made dinner which was complimented by some of our newly acquired wine. High Five to my Domestication! I even washed dishes!

And after a DMC (look it up - I hope I got the TLA correct... or just ask...) we passed on to the exhausted happy dream-like state...

Frankies Travels - Cape Town

So I landed safe and sound in the famous Mother City and after negotiating an exit from the Parking Lot we (being myself and my host)made our way across to the foot of Devils Peak to stay for the next 4 days.

I got a tour of the sights of the area which was to admire the view down onto the city (sparkly yellow and white), how close the burning mountain became burning complex (very close) then to admire the hulking great view of The Mountain (invisible due to clouds).

Yesterday we went and looked at some natural sights of the area. First a visit to the Sea - Camps Bay (altho too cold to take off shoes let alone swim) Then Hout Bay area which became a search for the Hout Bay Embassy (snooty exclusive bunch...) which resulted in a stop for a delicious Lindt Cappucino and a magnificient slice of Lemon Meringue Pie.

We gave up on the embassy and decided to go across to Simonstown. The trip across had me marvelling at the over-mountain bos and sights and once in Simonstown, we went to Boulders beach to see (smell) the penguins. We decided to walk the wooden path before paying entrance and we got so many sights of the pink eyebrowed little black birds that we decided we didnt need to pay entrance at all!

We then decided to drive back into Simonstown and walk the historic Mile - and stopped off for a very generous hake and chips along the way!

We took the scenic route home and after all the walking and eating we settled for baked veggies and a classic movie and were asleep by 10:30pm!

Felt like an old lady by the end of it but it was all together a pretty darned great first day!

Frankies Travels - Cape Town

So after flying every month this year (except February) I am finally flying without needing a passport! I haven't been to Cape Town in more than 5 years and I am pretty darned excited. Firstly I am flying down by myself - this is like a spontaneous holiday all for me... Well as spontaneous as you can be when the flights were just about sold out a month before... Secondly I haven't been to the beach in quite a fair while so being at the sea (with or with out swimming weather) is something to look forward to for this born and breed Vaalie. Thirdly I am seeing a good friend who, despite the fact I see him VERY rarely, I could consider him amongst my long standing friends. Fourthly I just got that awesome monthly email saying my bank account just grew by a salary So I can be a lot less budget conscious this weekend. And finally (five reasons is enough) I have 4 work free days ahead and Ill be flying for at least 4 hours of it.

Let the Frankies (domestic) Travels Commence!

Reason 6 - Window Seat :D

A rant for Wednesday

I read the news every morning mostly with the possibly misguided idea that Google news clips will help me expand my understanding of current affairs. And this is what has caught my eye of late:

1. Patrick Swayze's greatest achievements seem to be the movies Dirty Dancing and Ghost and... wait for it... wait for it... having been married to only one woman for his entire adult life. Extremely Rare for Hollywood it seems.

2. The Wits students are rioting... again... about the fee increase... again.
And so the ANCYL will be voted out of the Wits SRC again when all the outraged students go and vote in the SRC elections. When will the students learn that the University SRC is inversely as effective as the number of political party representatives it has.
What dumbfounds me is that the complaint is about the annual fee increase. Which is how Wits affords stuff like equipment and lecturers (I am aware they have funding from people like the government too) And yet as part of their frenzy of showing everyone that they are really not in a good mood about the fees.... they break stuff! It is almost as genius as burning the train because it is late... Now when is the train going to arrive?
Last pearl of wisdom I wish I could bestow on the student rioters is that everyone would join in the song and dance for a good excuse to bunk lectures for a worthy cause because we honestly feel for you and your lack of funding. EXCEPT you are too busy intimidating us and throwing rocks at our cars!! Yeah we really feel for you now... Stupid Rioters.

3. I have a suspicion that some of the recent breach of manners that everyone seems to suffer lately is due to never having learnt to accept loosing honorably. As a Brownie Guider one of the life lessons we teach is that sometimes we let one team win and another team loose in games. None of this "Oh we didn't keep score so everyone is a winner Yaay!" If as a child, one learns that sometimes people beat you because they were simply better than you that time, I am pretty sure we'll have a lot less Storming on to stages, Storming off of Tennis courts and Storming of to the gender testing labs and then to the tabloids. I am sorry, sometimes you don't win. Time to be an adult about it.

that's all for today me thinks. Happy Hump Day - in honour of our Andy :)

Dear Friends, The bar has been raised

I received a postcard from a friend today. and it was sent to me from Switzerland. Which was a very nice gesture from a friend who lives in the UK. but! but! Not only did I receive a postcard but the aforementioned postcard had not one, not two but Three fluffy sheep on it! The bar of Ways to Impress Frances has now officially been raised.

Young hopeful Mr-Frances-Barker's across the world cry out "Curse you Frances'-Friend-who-sends-Postcards! I may be able to beat a postcard from a foreign country but a postcard with the added awesomeness of not one, not two but Three fluffy sheep! Never! My intentions are ruined! Dashed upon the rocks!"

Ha ha ha! A girl's gotta dream at least. I hereby attach a photo of the delightful piece of communication. not quite as great as the real thing but I think you get the general threefold fluffy idea.





Today has been a good day :) It's great being easily amused.

The Man in Uniform is looking at you.

So this picture was snapped with my replacement camera - I am still very snap happy with the macro function. But then who can resist a man in uniform?

I should be getting my new phone tomorrow (Finally) and again I am in great anticipation of having a marvellous gadget of my own. and as these things invariably work out, my father who has to accompany me will be not as passionate to trek across to Bedfordview to fetch it with me! "Hurry Up! Da-aa-ad!"

I am glad that teh Postal Service has suspended their strike. I am eagerly awaiting a postcard from the UK. the sender keeps asking me if it has arrived yet. As if 3 weeks is a long time for a letter via postage to arrive.... strange.

Midweek - Otherwise known as Hump Day

Wednesday is Hump Day as it is the day we change from the uphill into the week to the downhill to the weekend. Nothing more sinister or dirty...

I am at a bit of a loose wend at work these days where all the exciting work is finished for the moment and all the boring tasks are left. The things that are just too far outside of my expertise to enjoy teaching myself. And at the same time I am waiting for the go ahead on some documents that I can start some exciting activities.

I should probably go ask for some more work to do except last time i did that I got saddled with a Civil Works Spec to write. How many bricks? How much cement? How deep a hole? Thrilling indeed!

I thought I had lost my reading glasses and I have been giving myself monsterous headaches all week working with out them. They were in my laptop bag the entire time... O-L-D-A-G-E awaits!

I think Johannesburg is a very beautiful city. it's my home so I am entitled to some partiality. Since it has so many crests and hills, in the evenings you drive along the road and are greeted with a panorama of glittering yellow and white and red and green lights. Kinda sight to me home sick when I fly in late from Gaborone. Or driving home even later from that Club in Edenvale :)

The polluted and dry air makes for spectacular sunsets too. Especially in winter. The best bit is that I usually land up driving home around sunset. It always puts me in a good mood even after a long hard (or long boring) day. I was going to upload a sunset picture but I seem to be having a problem... oh well Ill have to look out the window instead.

Friday ... finally!

This week has been so beautifully sunny and warm that I have been really looking forward to the weekend so that I can be outside to enjoy it. but in my usual style I think I will enjoy it best with a good book in a sunny spot.

My brother surprised me today in a really good way. I had bought the new Regina Spektor CD a little while ago and he saw I had it and asked to copy it. Except he asked the moment the brand new CD box was opened so I said NO! because I was feeling selfish and I hadn't even given the disk a proper listen yet.

Anyway, I suspected my brother might decide to scale the disk and copy it while I was out so in a fit of spite I hid it in my laptop bag away from him... the very same laptop bag that was stolen the very next night!

So I was complaining to my brother that it was my fault for being so selfish and hiding the CD that it landed up being stolen.. and he posted a replacement CD to me.

That is the nicest thing to happen to me all week!

Yaay for big brothers!

No comprendo

I don't understand why the taxi's go on a go-slow or go on strike as a protest because they do not approve of the new Bus Rapid Transport. Surely by not providing their services they are encouraging commuters to use the BRT and therefore discover it really is better and cheaper than using a taxi? Would it not be a better tactical solution to flood the streets with taxi's and on top of that provide good service and therefore make the commuters feel as if there is no need to try out the BRT?

I don't understand how i got a missed call from an obscure +44207... number and on top of that, when I google the exact number there are at least 20 other people across the world who have received mysterious missed calls from EXACTLY the same number. Sounds like some one has let their little baby play with their phone too often. I googled numbers similar and got no results so it isn't a serialised number thing.

I don't understand why insurance companies have to make it so difficult to replace your stolen goods. I was legitimately burgled!! My replacement camera has to be fetched from an obscure shop on the far side of Fourways and my father has to accompany me to supposedly jump through hoops to qualify for the equipment. My replacement cellphone has been ordered through Cell C Benmore. No "we'll let you choose a shop close by to you" I suspect the Big Job at the insurance company is got a bit of favouritism going... or else if there is lots of insurance related paperwork - some anti-favouritism going. The trouble is that due to my experience with cellphone shops I am afraid that if I am not in the shop waiting at the exact moment that the mobile device arrives, it will get sold to the next highest bidder/whining client.

I don't understand Chinese culture... but it's still completely fascinating. Latest great read: Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart - Read it and you'll see why I am intrigued....

if woman(heartbeat) == true then woman = worried(anything)

women will conform to who they are and it doesnt mateer about teh circumstances, they will worry about things. For example right now I am worried about:

- That I don't have a bag to pack into because I am going to Gaborone for two nights.
- That I don't know what to pack for my two days of training in Gaborone
- That I am going on training to Gaborone and I might not make the most of the oppurtuinity (like fall asleep in the discussions or something lame)
- That I haven't booked leave for the single day I will off of work next month because my super is away
- That the 800 page document I just printed is wrong and Ill have to print it again
- That the 800 page document will not reach the required person on time
- That the 800 page document will reach the required preson but will be missing some vital detail
- That I will forget to rip the 800 page document to CD tomorrow
- That Ill have an accident on the way home because my brakes have started making a funny noise
- That I haven't washed my car in a while and that the adorning ancient bird poop is making my bonnet rust
- The fact that I am starving and that I will be served a horrible dinner
- That I signed my life away to Liberty life this morning and i might have done the wrong thing
- That I was supposed to organise a camp this weekend taht I havent done and I havent told any of the participants yet
- That insurance won't replace my cellphone with a new E63
- That Ill never manage to grow long hair again
- That Ill get swine flu while travelling to Botswana and back
- That I already have swine flu
- That Ill forget to fill up with petrol before the price goes up.

And so the list goes on and on and on. We havent even started with my deeper more midddle term and long term worries....

I wonder a guy would worry about?

- When he is going to eat?
- If he is going bald?
- Whether his lunch tomorrow will be better than his work colleague's lunch...

....ummm....

[Fred: I anticipate a response before the end of the week....]

You have no idea how great your life looks from my perspective

I have had a few low days of late (b ut bear with me a little longer here). It's probably a cyclical/hormonal/weather/seasonal thing but what really really irks me is that I keep meeting people who seem to have their lives so nicely together. The worst bit is that they are really nice people so I can't even dislike them for it.

I'm the moments when just as I’m feeling that my life is just the bees knees and I'm feeling really really proud about a part of it, someone comes along who is outshining me in that area and it simply naws away at my little piece of happiness. It may even be some throw back from 5 years of an all girls school and the effect of some competitive friends. For example:

I have a great job - You got head hunted
I get paid very decently - You get paid more
I thought I was becoming well travelled - You started travelling long before me
I thought I was adventurous - You went and had more adventures than me
I have some pretty cool friends - You have a husband and cooler friends
I thought I was clever - You're damn cleverererer (never know when to stop the 'er's)
I have a degree - You're half way through your second one
I finished varsity - They were disappointed when you left
I chatted up a guy when we were out together - He asked for your number and forgot my name
I bought my first car - Your parents picked one out for you for your birthday
I got some nice clothes together - You dressed fabulous on my ugly-day

And it's all silly petty jealousy because really my life isn’t that terrible - it's nice - just not as nice as everyone else’s looks sometimes. The envy and coveting really doesn’t take me anywhere - It’s unproductive really. It's not even the inspiring kind of envy where I am challenged to work harder.

So I have made a resolution - here's me trying to be mature - that I must be friends with these kinds of people. Because somewhere deep down I have a hope that if I am their friend then I could be proud of what they have done instead of filled with unhappy envy. Happy for you instead of letting your casual unintentionally bitterness-causing remarks eat away at my own happiness. I gain nothing really from envying nice people anyway - I can't even dislike you because you probably deserve the nice life you have. And maybe just maybe someone else looks at my life and wishes it were theirs...