Poem Day : Solitaire (and a long ramble about a not-so-long weekend)

I think you would be hard pressed finding someone who gives less of a shit about sport than I do. However I have noticed that my carelessness is especially prevalent towards sports that involve a ball, like cricket, rugby, football/soccer, netbal, golf, with the possible exception of hockey - but I think it’s because of the violence and the stick?. Still I can’t really say I like to watch it, but it was fun to play when I was still in school.

I like watching syncronised swimming (in a I’ll watch it if it happens to be on while I’m chilling in front of the TV kind of way), I really can’t believe that they don’t drown?! Have you seen how long they hold their breaths?! One day someone is going to drown while I’m watching and then I’m going to be really sorry that I said that.

Why am I mentioning this? Well, for someone who doesn’t watch sports involving balls football has become surprisingly important in my world. EVERYONE at my work are avid fans of some or another football team…I have seen a grown man almost cry because his team has a useless player called Reina (I am worried that I seem to be able to remember this name). That man is Sparrow, and his team is Liverpool, which have now seen their ass. Sparrow was not a happy camper - and when Sparrow has a crap day, we all do.

Luckily he seemed to snap out of it fairly fast and by Friday he was himself again. Now, you might remember that I am now in my 44 days of No Booze for exams, and that Sparrow promised to join me for those 44 days of no drinking. On Friday I get a strange call from the Sparrow - it went a bit like this: Sparrow, “Weazel (that’s what he likes to call us), can I have a beer if I don’t drink it?”. Me, ” What would you do with it Sparrow? Are you planning on holding it all night long and just staring at it - because that is kind of sad you know?”. Sparrow, “Not exactly. What if I poured it into a bowl and ate it with a spoon? That wouldn’t be drinking, it would be eating…what do you think?”. Me, “Mwahahahaha! No.”. Sparrow, “You suck.”. Peeeeeeeeeeeep…

Tomorrow will be day 5 of 44 for me. I wonder if he’s made it through the long weekend or not. I think he did…good Sparrow.

This has been a weird weekend for me. Saturday I went to Sandra’s baby shower thingy in Plattekloof. It was held at the house of this other friend of hers, and let me just say that this must be one of the biggest houses I have ever seen. It has doors big enough to drive a truck through, fountains all over and a private parking lot! It is not very often that you go visit someone who has a circular driveway and their own private parking lot…well it’s not something I do very often anyway. This is the view from the back garden.

If I had known it was going to be such a castle I might have dressed up a tiny bit, but as it were I am sick to death of wearing black and being perched on high heels all day long, so I just popped in wearing jeans, a T-Shirt and some comfy flip flops. The hostess didn’t really seem to take to me, but I got on just fine with most of the other people there and it was great seeing Sandra and her mom again. She’s having a baby boy, due early August. If he’s anything like his mom she’s going to need to keep her wits about her to stay one step ahead of the little rascal.

Saturday afternoon I drove all over through vineyards and what-not to find some home made jam. That’s what I’ve been craving on my sandwiches all week long. Fig jam to be precise. Sometimes I surprise myself too… I’m still trying to get over the fact that I’m packing myself a lunch now everyday, never mind the fact that I’m craving home made jam of all things. I found some :-D, I got some fig jam, and some black cherry jam, and I can’t wait to try them out this week.

When I got home Alexander was busy pottering around in the garage with the steel he bought for the burglar proofing, and even Troep joined in for about five minutes before raiding the fridge again, and then he scrambled back to wherever he goes when he’s not here.

Sunday morning…I woke up at 6:30 with an uncontrollable urge to go to church. Seriously - the one morning that I can just roll over and sleep some more I wake up at 6:30?! Unbelievable. I found my local church a mere 4 blocks away from home. It’s quite tiny and cosey - I like it. There is a good chance that I’ll become a regular. The one preacher guy has an awesome voice…I could listen to this guy talk all day long. The other one is a woman, with a not so soothing voice…although she is a fairly decent singer I have to admit.

Back at home I made myself the mother of all roast chicken sandwiches for lunch (It was magnificent! I actually can’t believe that I didn’t take a picture). I found this funny looking bread rolls at the market that are made from yellow corn flour and are covered in roasted pumpkin seeds. On that I had slices of fresh tomato, baby spinach, mozzarella cheese and of course the roast chicken! Glass of milk with that and watching some Disney movies on TV had me happily snoozing on the couch in no time at all.

I studied some since I had the house all to myself for most of the day. When Alexander and Chere’ came back tonight we made pancakes and watched a Quentin Tarantino movie called Death Proof. It was dark and twisted enough to keep me awake, but after that my house-mates put on some DVD about sports cars and I was happily snoozing on the couch again. A perfect lazy Sunday if you ask me…the best part of all is that tomorrow is a public holiday for me (at last - whoohooo!).

I know I didn’t write or post a poem last week, it was a bit chaotic and I didn’t get round to it. This week I managed, but it’s a bit somber I guess. Blame watching Tantentino movies if you must, but truthfully it’s something that’s been on my mind a lot even before that.

Tomorrow, I’m going having breakfast with Sherry and shoe shopping for new winter boots for work. And then of course studying, studying…and more studying. My first exam is on Friday. It’s going to be brilliant!

I want a cigarette so bad I can almost taste it…

You can see all that without even looking?

Do you know what really pisses me off? When I take my car somewhere for a service of for a new exhaust or tires or whatever and just because I’m a woman they try to rip me off. Or maybe it’s not even that – maybe I just look ignorant? Okay, so I’ll admit: I don’t understand the intricate details of what makes my car go, but it’s not exactly rocket science figuring out when someone is trying to rob you.

Once I took my car in for two new tires and the salesman actually tried to convince me that I had five slow punctures and needed to replace them all. The alleged punctures were located such peculiar places (even the spare which had never been used) that they could not apparently be fixed and obviously very dangerous and life threatening. Uh-huh – sure…slowest slow punctures ever detected. And who knows how, since those tires never actually lost any pressure. Sorry, no sale sonny – in fact give my damn car back so I can go buy the two I was going to get here somewhere else! @-hole…

Yesterday something similar happened. My car is overdue for a service, but the only place I trust is waaaaay out in Midrand, and I really don’t want to go all the way out there and back for a service again (even though they are magnificent and honest). So Simone’ showed me where she took her car for its brakes. There’s a very cute mechanic. But I don’t think I’ll be taking my car there. Without even looking at the car he can already tell that it needs a cam belt replaced. Really? You don’t even have to look at it to see that? I wonder if he can squint through his one eye and tell me how the antifreeze level is too – from 100m like he did with the cam belt. That must be a very handy party trick! Wonder if his X-ray vision only works on cars?

Back to searching for someone I can trust…

On a completely unrelated topic: I saw the new Harry Potter yesterday. Whooohooo! I went with my brother, Tammy and Christo. I’m not going to give away any of the story (even though I can’t believe there are actually people who haven’t read the book?!), but it’s definitely worth while to go and see it. The last book is due out any day now too – I usually wait for the big rush to settle before I go and pick up a copy, but I know a couple of people who do the whole sleep/party thing before the store for the release and then go home to quickly read the entire book before anyone can spoil it for them. I’m pretty sure Freddy will go queue too this year. Last year he pre-ordered from Kalahari and they delivered his book a week late – he was LIVID! They were very sorry, but it didn’t make them go any faster, sad to say.

I hope this week is treating you well so far? Almost halfway now…just hang in there!

What a laaaaazy weekend

After a blue-ish week an easy-going and above all else lazy weekend was definitely in order. I had a list of things to do and to sort out and people to see probably about two pages long, and I did…almost nothing. Bliss!

I don’t even feel guilty (much). If I had to give you a list of all the stuff and people I neglected this weekend I might feel a lot guiltier, so we won’t go there. Things I did manage to get round to was seeing Die Harderestderest (Die Hard 4.0). I laughed my @ss off and walked out feeling like I wanted to punch someone on the nose. Good fun. The movie was also a shameless plug for Nokia, but I’m pretty sure mine can’t do all the stuff that they were doing with theirs – either that or I need to have a re-look at my manual.

Saturday I had McBreakfast with Freddy – a good chance to catch up on all the latest news and giggles. After that I had my car washed (yeah…expect snow or at the very least some heavy rainfall). I thought about going to the library and the text book place for about 5 serious minutes before I decided screw it – I’m going to have a nap instead! Perhaps I should have set an alarm?

Today, I think I may just scrape together enough enthusiasm and energy to go visit my crazy friend Stefan. He’s what we would call in Afrikaans a “swerwer”, loosely translatable to drifter I think. He says he never wants to own more than what he can fit into his car, that way he won’t ever get tied down. Always an adventure wherever he goes. I would never have jumped out of a plane if he didn’t come up with the idea. If ever you feel like sky diving I can highly recommend the Defence Force Parachute Club in PTA. They have very thorough training, and also the a most excellent bar on site that sells at cost price and has plenty of men in uniform wandering around to look at (they also don’t mind dancing on tables and there are some very friendly people who will teach you some extremely funny and filthy drinking songs). Stefan recently came back from a couple of month working in the desert somewhere…measuring stuff and talking to camels. I can’t wait to hear what’s on his agenda next.

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend and that you find yourself recharged and inspired enough to grab this week by the…well, you decide for yourself what you want to hang onto! (But hang on tight – ready or not, here it comes)

Weekend wrapped up

I don’t know who I though I was kidding when I started planning a quiet weekend… silly me! Despite keeping fairly bust I have not been able to get my mind out of the gutter yet. It seems that everywhere I go there is something to remind me (not to difficult – one track mind at times is a biatch), or conversation just wanders off in that direction. Still keeping busy, I have not given up on this plan of action yet.

Friday night I joined Freddy, Adam and the one who insists on not being on the internet for a movie at Monte Casino. We saw Fantastic 4 (II). Company was great as always, but I was not really blown away by the movie. (Note to self: base test of car sound makes the whole back seat vibrate - very bad for resolve!).

After that I popped in quickly at the club to see the tail end of the 1st Project show and ran into my brother, Christo, Dylan and Ryan. (Note to self: Bare chested drummers on stage is very bad for resolve).

What is 1st Project? Have a look at this clip of YouTube.

Saturday squash with Annelie, followed by a braai at Ryan & Tammy’s, and then a visit to Simone’ and the kids, only coming back late today. (Note to self: Do not talk to anyone…conversations will head south when you least expect it!).

I received some sad news too. Tania (a.k.a. Lofty)’s step-brother of not even 19 yet passed away from a heart attack on Saturday. There are too many babies dying. I don’t really know what to say to her…no one saw this coming at all. He was a seemingly healthy young man with no obvious bad habits who was with his father chatting round a camp fire when his time suddenly ran out. Rest in peace Keagan, you will be missed.

 

Post mortem my very lazy weekend…

I got to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 over the weekend. Initially I was a bit skeptical, because when I walked out of the second movie I felt cheated! The 2^nd movie felt like an extended trailer – all about setting the scene for the third. However, I was not disappointed this time round. I went with my brother Riaan, Ryan, Tammy and Caryn. It was awesome! Ryan packed a flask of rum, so we really got into the whole spirit of things. I also want a sword and a funky hat! I find the character of Captain Jack Sparrow irresistible. He’s filthy, you want to take him home and give him a good scrubbing. But he’s so free! And he moves funny, when all hell breaks loose and the ship is being blown to toothpicks by cannon fire he looks like he’s dancing up the stairs completely unconcerned. *sigh* I could totally stalk him. Really, if you haven’t seen it make a plan. It’s a good movie, with or without rum.

Saturday morning I got up really early for a McDonalds breakfast with Freddy and vast amounts of McCoffee. It was great having a chance to chat and catch up on gossip. I think we may have annoyed a few other customers because we both have new phones so it was Go-Go-Gadget time of course! I would have felt guilty of their screaming brats didn’t run up and down the passages causing chaos and raising the general noise level enough to give my temporary husky voice a good work out trying to be heard over the din (I think I’ve been reading too much. I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever used that word in a sentence – but I kind of like it, it might become a habit).

After that I dropped in at Are’ and Lee’s house for more (you guessed it) coffee…all the while sticking to the new half a spoon less sugar guidelines that my doctor advised. Initially I really did miss that half a spoon, but this new way is slowly starting to grow on me…very slowly. I got to spend some time observing the latest addition to their happy family: their daughter (2). Sweet kid, you guys are going to have a grand adventure raising that young lady. I fear their other child has not prepared them well for what’s to come. He’s a sweet well-mannered and even-tempered boy…she is…well she is going to give them a run for their money that’s for sure.

Sunday, was a real take it easy day for me (this weekend actually seemed to embrace that theme to be honest). *Esmerelda* and *Marco* picked me up for a picnic at the botanical gardens. Good fun, except that the waterfall was closed down for some construction. We lounged around eating Woolies snack food and home grown tomatoes from their garden while eagles circled overhead. The botanical gardens was hit pretty hard with the recent cold weather, and is not looking at it’s best with all the frost burnt vegetation – but as Jacky’s mom points out: it’s the coldest weather that the garden has seen in over 20 years. Survival of the fittest – plants that made it through this will probably be able to handle almost anything?

AAAaaah what a lovely weekend: great friends, good times, lots of taking it easy. *sigh* Hard to believe it’s time to face the books again from tomorrow.

Hope you all have a kick-@ss week ahead!