So , gelofte dag is op die 16de van Desember en wat doen ek toe op daardie dag? Ek ry Vanrhynsdorp toe om vir Oom Pierre te gaan begrawe, nie juis hoe my vankansie dag wou spandeer het nie, nog minder hoe ek die jaar wou afeindid :( Ek is nou klaar met 2011 en die laaste week van werk moet nou net verby kom.

Ek bid dat Mala veilig sal afry en dat al my familie net sal veilig wees die jaar. gewoonlik freak ek nie sommer uit oor Pa en Jan wat die heeltyd op die pad is nie, maar die jaar voel asof enigiets kan gebeur en ek is net super uitge'freak' en angstig en sal nie ophou wees nie.

Ma en Pa is besig om tuin te werk en dti kalmeer hulle weer, ek skryf liewer en kry dinge en bekommernisse van my bors af.

Die tyd het my gewys hoe belangrik verhoudings is, maar ek sukkel om met my familie te konnekteer, ek het feitlik niks te se nie. Ek en Ma het gister saam terug gery van vanrhynsdorp af en ma het net geluister na wat ek se en niks gese nie, het ook seker dit op myself gebring, want ek stry altyd met haar as sy haar opinie lig - kan haar dan nie blameer as sy nie met my wil praat nie. Ek moet maar wag vir Molsie. Probeer vir Lauren in die hande kry om te praat, maar sy is tjoep stil na sy gister ge-sms het en gese het sy sal bel (kriek, kriek).

(SUG) Dink ek moet maar met die hond gaan stap.

Not a Merry Christmas to all

This week has been a trying and difficult one. A long-time friend of mine just phoned me, Hannelize. Her dad has been sick for a long time now and tonight he passed away. I know it is selfish to have hoped he would say alive for longer, but he was so ill. I know he's in a better place tonight and will breath with ease. He will be safe and warm and Home.

Oom Pankie will be missed, he was a difficult man, but he was honest, upright and genuine.

I pray for my friend and her family.

That a tragedy reminds me to love me family and friends is sad, but at least I still have time and I am grateful for that.

This week as well Oom Pierre fell ill again from cancer and this was another big shock of the week. I feel helpless and I pray and hope and pray, Please God be with them and hold them in your arms, for that is the only place we will find comfort. A friend posted on FB today that Love isn't something God does, it's who He is. I pray for his love to wash over and comfort both these families for they are both in my heart and dear to me. I am powerless, but I can still pray and be there for them and that is enough.

I know we celebrate this time of year the birth of Christ, and so to loose loved ones now is bad, maybe even worse, I have been blessed to be spared this. This year when I say Merry Christmas it comes from a place where I know some won't be have quite the same Christmas ever again.

Love the people you are with, the people you know and tell them often that you love them, that all most of us want to hear anyway, is that we are loved.

Oom Pierre, Oom Pankie, you are and were and always will be loved.

Idealic day at the sea

Yesterday was one of those days where everything was just ok. I am was workign at a wine show in Gordons Bay, right in the marina. Now Gordons Bay is notorious for being one of the windiest places on our Western Cape coast, but yesterday there wasn't even a breeze. Some would argue that this was a bad thiing because yesterday was a scorsher of a day, witht he temperatures going over 30 degrees. Everyone was out on the beaches, taking their "winter-velletjies" out for a spin in the sun and I bet some people are regretting it today.

After the show I went to Skapie's afterwards and we ended up going to the Strand and walking on the beach, just enjoying the last heat of the day and the watching the sun set on a perfect day. No wind and the beach was still busy at 8 in the evening and the everybody was just taking in that last little bit, it felt like the first day of summer.

Red Velvet Delight

I am not the best baker you will ever find in your life, then again, I am also not the worst. When I particularly like a certain food/dish I get remarkable good at it. I think it is the prospect have having that wonderful mouthful and then just pure joy. So tomorrow I am having my housewarming and as a gift to myself and hopefully to my friends tomorrow I made some red velvet cupcakes for desert. The housewarming is not going to be a big affair, we are just having hot dogs and beer and I hope a good time. But I do so wanted red velvet cupcakes and I can't make them all for myself, that would defeat the purpose of going to the gym and having my spinning instructor try and kill me. Seriously, I thought I was gonna pass out today. Anyway, so the only time I can make these little red delights is when I can hand them out.

I've never made them before, so obviously I had to try one ... form each batch that comes out of the oven to make sure I will not be poisoning my guest tomorrow. THEY ARE SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD! I am quite chuffed, they cam out really well. Not all shaped like in the book, but then again the Lord made icing to cover up those misshapen cupcakes ;)

Along the Hermanus promenade

So today me and a friend went walking along the Hermanus Promenade, something I haven't done yet - shame on me - I know. Well today was a good to day to do that, because as we were just getting to the Old Harbour we saw the most beautiful thing. A baby Southern Right whale and its mother, right in the harbour. It was magical. The little one was breaching and having a good old time. Me and my friend ran down to get as close to the water as possible to witness this wonderful creature so at home in our waters. To see the largest mammal on earth splashing around in the Atlantic - there is just that sense of God in it all and you feel and hope(most of all) that things can be right in the world again.

The 'yellow-line-drivers'

There is this courtesy that has come to life on South African roads that has been pissing me off the last few years. In this age of getting everything at the drop of a hat or the snap of your fingers, it has now spilled over onto our roads. It used to be that you can drive and pass a car if the opportunity arose and you could be on your merry way. Now, this is no longer just that easy.

In South Africa we have the emergency lane, or as locally know amongst the Afrikaans speaking people "die geel-lyn" (the yellow line). It started as a courtesy that if you were stuck behind a truck or slow moving vehicle that they would pull into the yellow line and you could pass them without veering into the oncoming lane. This was quick and easy over-taking and took away the stress of facing possible collisions.

Now, the problem comes in, when is it save to turn into the yellow line to let a faster car pass you and when is it save to pass a car in the yellow line. The traffic rules are there, but who in this country has ever followed the rules?

So here I am driving at the legal limit and it is a bendy road and then a car comes from behind and sits on my tail - expecting me to turn into the yellow line. Firstly - the other car is speeding, secondly - it is dangerous for me to turn into the yellow line if i can't see what's up ahead and thirdly - i don't have to turn into the yellow line, it's a courtesy, not a rule/law.

Here is another scenario: I am driving behind a slower moving truck. There are other cars behind me and the truck then pulls into the yellow line - but it is on a winding road and the driver of the truck cannot around the bends. The woman behind me in her Mercedes was cursing and flipping me off to pass the truck, but I refused - you cannot make me risk my life! It isn't save to pass that truck. What if there is a person walking in the yellow line - the truck has to veer back into the driving lane and then i have to swerve into oncoming traffic. Will the lady in her Mercedes be happy then?

When did it become other peoples' right to dictate the way i want to drive? Sure i could have pulled into the yellow line like the truck and let the Mercedes pass, but it wasn't save to be driving in the yellow line to start with. the truck shouldn't have been driving there.

The saddest thing , or more accurately, the most infuriating thing for me is - when there is an open stretch of road and then the car behind me still waits for me to turn into the yellow line, so they can pass, even though there is not a car in the coming lane. AAARRGGG!! These people, that are so dependent on the yellow-line courtesy, that their asses fall off as soon as they are on a piece of road where it isn't - these people I call: The 'Yellow-line-drivers'.

Grow some balls and pass me like a real driver.

Why don't you text me back?

You know sometimes I get so upset. I would send a text to a friend and then just not hear back from them - how rude!! Right?! Wrong - it serves me right, because I do the exact same thing, so why do I get so upset, it's just coming back to me what I do to them.
Every time this happens, I feel like they might not like me anymore or would rather ignore me than talk to me. Then I look at the reason I don't text back sometimes for days ; it is in fact not that I don't want to talk to them or hate them, it's pure laziness. I am a bloody lazy friend - no wonder I can count them on my ten fingers and then still have a few left over. I suck as a friend.
But this laziness, is this the reason my friends don't text back?

Then another thing; are we as a society becoming so lazy that we would rather text than phone one another and have real conversations? If I really wanted to talk to my friends, shouldn't I just pick up the phone and dial their number?
This scares me, we are falling into a digital world, an electronic funk and social networking is taking over being social - the bar discussions, the kitchen chatter, the debates around the braai. We are losing the ability to talk to people standing right in front of us, we would rather look at our computer and cellphone screens than strike up a random conversation.

i think my 'why don't you text me back?' question has been answered. JUST PHONE A FRIEND!

Ranting and Ranting

I wish to rant a little.

Yesterday on the news the police commissioner Bheki Cele was suspended, this in itself is great news. But the good news isn't all that good, because while on his suspension he will be receiving all his benefits, his FULL salary pending the outcome of the investigation on the lease fiasco, which cost the state millions. NOW after he has wasted and embezzled money from us, the tax payer, Zuma just suspends him and Cele still gets paid. The majority of the country is probably happy with this, but what they fail to realize is that we are now paying for Cele to sit on his ass and take a holiday - can you say CORRUPTION!!!! Fuck! Cele should have been suspended, his benefits he could keep and maybe only a 1/4 of his salary or nothing at all. He is not feeling the punishment, he is feeling the holiday. THIS MAKES ME FURIOUS. Just the other day it was in the news that some magistrates had been suspended on full pay for between a year and four years and their cases were still not resolved. What the hell are they then doing, I'll tell you what. They are kicking back and getting fat while our taxes go straight into their pocket. AAAHHHHH!!! this is INSANE!! WTF!

I'll have to stop writing before I get reported. Thank you for letting me rant a little.

Have you ever had friends that just were so awesome that it seems like they just ... i don't know, get or have everything? I know it sounds petty, but let me be a little petty right now and then I can snap back out of it. Every time you see them, they have these fantastical stories of things that have happened to them - this new guy or guys and they can't make up their minds about and one of them is actually somebody that you admire. I laugh along, but I am really sad about it too. I guess I am just jealous that she is getting all sorts of attention and here I am, 4:30am, writing my petty problems onto the Internet, because I had a bad dream. Usually I have the job satisfaction to comfort me, but not today. My own procrastination is making my life hell and I wish I could just be better, but maybe I need this little bit of drama in my life to have any drama at all?
Petty, but I just had an epiphany!