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...

a lesson in lending

It is time for another life lesson me thinks,

So, Lesson [n+1]: when you lend something to a friend, the time it takes for the article to be returned is an indication of how important it was to them

Friend in this borrowing/lending context is used only as a loose reference to a person with whom you are acquainted. {grrr wicked horrible people that never bring stuff back! it is like you are dead to me!}

And so the story to explain this lesson goes like this. You purchase say a new CD. Your friend borrows the CD to listen to it. If it is returned promptly, like the next time you see each other Or else the person mentions that they will give it back every time you see them until it is returned, THEN it means that the CD (in this example) means a lot to them, they really enjoyed it and they wished that it belonged to them.
However, if you don't see the CD for months and months and there is absolutely no mention from your friend that they still have it, then it means that either they care so little that they haven't even listened to it or have no regard for the CD in any way.

This may seem entirely logical or not but the basic theory is that the more they wish the item belonged to them, the more likely it is that it will be returned. (the exception of course is having scaly stealing friends)
This theory applies just as well to books, clothes and usually even money. (Altho lending and borrowing money amongst friends is a whole other school of life skills)

What I have observed is that when your friend makes use of what you have lent them, if they appreciate and covet the item, it is foremost in their minds and they find it very easy to remember that it belongs to you and it must be returned. Conversely if they have no regard for the item or even no regard for you, they dont think about what you have lent them and never remember to return it.

So the lesson out of this is when you discover something cool - be careful of lending it out to your friends because if they don't like it, they will never return it and you will now be minus an item that you really like. Not Cool!
Similarly, don't lend money to arbitrary work colleagues who don't know your name because they will forget to return it to you and because you are not very well acquainted, you will struggle to find the polite way of saying "Pay up you stingy Rogue! I lent you lunch money!"

Yes I am in the midst of a bad experience - The only icing on the cake is that the person who owes me stuff can't look me in the eye... I think she remembers! Suffer in guilt! You owe me money! And you owe me my shopping bag!

The problem is that if someone asks to borrow something - you feel like a tight lipped school teacher saying "Please make sure you give it back!" <wag fingers> I'm going to have to go practice my self-righteous face soon...

Thinking about it, I guess you could apply the same lesson to lending time and feelings as well...