Every man for himself

Even before I moved I knew that living with vegetarians would be different. But I feel I have been grossly mislead as to what vegetarians actually eat. Except for the mushrooms in the mac & cheese of the first night here I have yet to lay eyes on a single vegetable.

It seems the staple diet of my two vegetarians consists mainly of toast and cookies, and it’s every man for himself instead of the typical family dinners that I am used to.

Okay…I guess I can live with that. Just needs some getting used to.

Now, make no mistake - I am not a vegetarian…not by any stretch of imagination. But I have undertaken that for the most part I’ll eat whatever they are eating and have meat when we go out for dinner or when I have other meat eater guests visiting. This seems to suit everyone just fine.

However, I can’t live on toast and cookies. And since I have no idea how to cook vegetarian it seems the time has come for investing in just such a cookbook. This is the one I selected:

Amazon gave it a really good review and from the description it seems like average food that you won’t need a list of ingredients as long as your arm to make, and which will hopefully taste good, be healthy and filling and contain no meat.

Wish me luck…this might be the acquisition of my very first new skill: I will learn to cook vegetarian.

* We are apparently doing the big dinner (and vegetables) tonight it seems - I’m really looking forward to it! This does not however deter me from my mission at all.

Stuff!

I’ve been a bit slow on the posting this week and I would like to like to apologise but I’m not going to - because it’s all due to exams! And if I’m going to apologise for that then I may as well wait till the end and do it once at the end.

Anyhoo, plenty of little things have been happening that I have not been able to tell, so let’s play catch-up now?

Surely, one of the most shocking was the disappearance of MonoTone! Yes, you heard right…the cursed desk in the corner has claimed yet another victim. She was last seen (in yellow) a week ago. Since her vanishing plenty of scandals have managed to crawl out of the cupboard in her wake.

• The first being that on the second day missing we decided to pull a record of all her phone calls (I don’t think she knew we could do this) to try and find out what happened to her or to get a contact number of her daughter or sister so that we could ask them if something happened to her perhaps. Instead, what we found was that in her last week she phoned 3 employment agencies and the last time she actively phoned clients to collect money was about three weeks ago. 
• Me and Simma then launched a full-on investigation to see what she had been up to while working there and also discovered that she had f-ed up the cash book almost beyond recognition.
• Some money also appears to be missing in cash payments made by clients that was never banked or recorded (and the substantial advance she took on her salary this month of course).
• The company e-mail account that was using was meticulously cleaned out - but some guy (potential employer) had e-mailed her a map after she was last seen…so I suppose we could always go looking for her if we really wanted to.
• She had told us that she owned a car but was afraid of driving and her son-in-law sent a driver to bring her to work and back every day. Imagine our surprise when a gentleman from Rose’s Taxis pitched up for the R2000 that she apparently owes him for transport.
• Also, a police inspector dropped by - but would not say in connection with what. He phoned while Simma watched and mysteriously the phone got answered. I doubt if we will see her again - better she disappear now than in 6 months from now when Simma really started relying on her and spent months training her.

The next thing I can tell you about is that Truffle is in the states on some business for a month. In general the office is a quiet and productive place now, except that he has taken to texting us all at 4 in the morning when he wants to chat or feels that he has something important to announce from over there. I don’t really care because I sleep through it - but some of the other people walk in looking not so very impressed after such an announcement. I have been toying with waiting 6 hours before replying so that he could experience a message at more or less the same time he sends them. It’s a distinct possibility I tell you - don’t think I won’t! I’ll see how the spirit moves me when he next decides to make a early morning international announcement.

Wednesday (also exam day) was Wench’s Birthday! Happy Birthday Wench! Even though you were subjected to loads of WoW babbling by Dead I hope that you still enjoyed your evening and your day and that the year ahead holds only good things for you.

In between all the normal day-to-day crisis and adventures I have also managed to spend some good quality time with previously neglected friends (that more or less includes everyone I know…sorry guys!). Good quality time usually in the form of dinners and lunches, and my latest thing is to take photos of happy couples cooking together. It’s just so cute!

Here’s one with Tannie Ria and Oom Phillip over the weekend.And another of Esmerelda and Marco making pancakes last night after the big storm. I am really very impressed with the pancake flipping techniques that I got to observe. The food and the company was fantastic (as always - you guys ROCK!).

Oh, and I don’t know if I mentioned this or not - but my mother is in a magazine! Page 24 of the November Longevity magazine in connection with the gastic bypass surgery she had last year in October. I still do not support this type of surgery, but I do support my mother and the fact that it was her decision to make.

And lastly (for now) I am just about finished reading Bridget Jones’ Diary which I got from Freddy. It is much funnier than the movie. I sit and read it while answering the phones in the afternoon and sometimes I’m laughing so much that people come to investigate if I’ve finally lost it. Very funny!

Pepper-spray and other things that will set fire to you

Something out of the ordinary happened this morning at work…well, I really hope it’s out of the ordinary. First off, I arrived at work almost on time instead of an hour early as usual. The reasons for this was both the fantastic rain and chaos laden traffic as well as my reluctance to subject myself to the early morning muttering of my esteemed colleague, the one and only Monotone (in red today).

I should have cottoned on to potential disaster when I arrived at said place of employment and found numerous co-workers sunning themselves outside like a tribe of meerkats, but still blissfully ignorant I strolled to the office to collect my mug. A girl’s got to have her coffee fix before she can be expected to face the normal day-to-day BS.

Let’s just say that I simply could not make myself go in there! You see, we have this magnificent alarm system in the accounts department that unleashes bright orange pepper-spray upon anyone foolish enough to enter without disarming the alarm. This is a magnificent idea - too bad that only staff and no potential criminals have been affected to date. The alarm, for some reason was not armed when MonoTone arrived at 07:00 and failing to notice the absence of a little green indicator light she then promptly armed it before walking into a face full of orange hell and gassing the entire workshop in the process too. Fantastic!

It was close to 09:00 before anyone could comfortably breathe inside again - some of us (that would be me) had to sit through an hour of it since I had the dubious pleasure of opening the switchboard this morning at 08:00. Our customers still expect us to be there even when everyone in reality sits outside on mobile phones where they can still breathe (except me - the switchboard is fairly static - I tried moving it closer to the door…no joy).

Now, normally I would be “slightly” pissed off if something like this happened. You might keep in mind that I have had trouble breathing for the last three weeks due to some freakish flu, and spending an hour in pepper-spray hell was the last thing that I really wanted for today. However…I’m not upset at all. Poor MonoTone got hit right in the eye, had the fright of her life and resembled a half drowned cat by the time I first saw her - so she really suffered enough for one day. And…the pepper-spray has somehow made me breathe easier (weird…I know), and there are even signs that my voice might be coming back. It’s a miracle! Whoohooo!

Disclaimer: I do not recommend it as a alternative to any traditional medical intervention. Individual results may vary… Do NOT try this at home! All I’m saying is that it somehow helped me, and that I am thrilled at the possibility of soon talking in my own voice again instead of trying to communicate with clicks and whistles. It is going to be awesome!

Other than that I have been really inspired to read over the last few days. And at the moment I am getting stuck into Richard Branson - Screw it, Let’s do it (again). It reminds me a lot of the first book: Losing my Virginity. Still, I love it. And I am feeling mighty inspired at the moment. (On fire really!)

What I really like is that he stresses how important it is to have fun doing what you do. He says, “I once said that I only need one breakfast, one lunch and one dinner a day, and I still live by those words. I never went into business just to make money - but I found that if I have fun, the money will come…. If something stops being fun, I ask myself why? If I can’t fix it, I stop doing it.” How profound is that? Love it. Other bits that I liked had to do with the seizing of opportunities and catching the rabbit, instead of waiting for it. You get the general idea…Just Do It! Take some chances and have fun too - what’s not to like?

Late night chuckles with Koos

Quiet night at home because of the damn flu again. And who really feels like studying on a Friday night…not me, I know that much (although come the 1st of October “feels like” will have no place in my vocabulary anymore…please take a second to note how close the 1ste of October really is at the moment. Denial: such a pleasant state of bliss).

I had some time to kill so I started ripping more of my CDs back onto my laptop. It’s been almost two months since Lazarus (my old hard drive) kicked it and I still have stuff not yet back as they were. It’s not like it’s a matter of life and death, I can take my time if I feel like it (see how that “feel like” comes back into play again).

This kept me fully entertained for about 10 minutes…what could I do while the laptop does all the really hard work? Mmmm…I could read the library books that are 13 weeks overdue already. No! Better not. I might get caught up in it and have to keep them longer (by now I’m pretty sure I won’t be allowed to renew them). Enter the stack of books to read who belong to people and institutions who do not charge overdue fees per week.

10 pages of Stephen King and already I can tell this is not my kind of book. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett? I like it…but I’ve read it already. Next. What’s this? Hehehe…the autobiography of Koos Kombuis that Esmeralda and Marco gave me to read…Mwahahahaha! This guy is a riot, honestly I am laughing ass off. It’s brilliant! (No, I’m not kidding - it’s really funny). Wish this was my book - I’d be underlining and marking all over. I have to buy this…

Towel day!

Today (25 May) is Towel Day, in honour of the late Douglas Adams who brought us masterpieces in writing like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (a Trilogy in 5 parts) and The meaning of Liff. The day I found out he has passed away I cried… (No, I’m not kidding – I’m sensitive, what can I say?).

The funny thing about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is that there so many different versions around. It was initially written for radio in 1978, then published as a book in 1979 but not the same version as the one written for radio. Then followed about three years of re-recording and re-writing in various formats for different countries followed by a screenplay in 1982 which was completely inconsistent with anything that happened before that, another book added in 1984 and a computer game written about it in 1985. And all of it based on an idea that came to him while he was lying drunk in a field in Innsbruck, Austria in 1971 holding a copy of Hitch Hiker’s Guide to Europe because Europe on Five Dollars a Day was out of his price range, and he borrowed (or stole) the book from a friend anyway. (I think I should start writing down any flashes of inspiration I have when I go on benders - you never know, I could come up with something profound?).

Lastly there is also a travesty of a movie that was made recently– which is a piece of the foulest sacrilege known to man kind and will never be discussed here again.

I’ve personally read about three different variations of this book, and ended up owning the one I liked the least (go figure). In my defence I’d just like to point out that that is how I became aware of the various different versions in the first place! The first one I read had quite a lot to say about the nature and necessity of fish paste sandwiches at formal occasions – and the version I have on my bookshelf hardly mentions it at all. I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense to you, but the man was a genius!

Douglas Adams had a passion, an obsession even, to combine comedy and science fiction and this can clearly be seen in any of the versions of the book that you come across. I am very glad that I got to experience that passion through reading some of his work and I am only sorry that he passed away before he could write even more. So I will cart around my towel proudly on this Towel Day in honour of Douglas Adams specifically, and in general to all people who are passionate about what they do.

I’ll leave you with some of my favourite Douglas Adams quotes:

1)He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it

2) The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.

3) He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher… or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.

4) If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.

5) Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the drug store, but that’s just peanuts to space.

Clicking on the picture will take you to DeviantART where you can learn more about the art and the artist (Repent by Mark-S).