Poem Day : No Words

Not every day is a great one, right?

Right.

Well, the week started off very nice over the weekend (I like to think of it as the week beginning really), when after the normal Friday night festivities at work we also had a braai at one of my colleague’s houses on Saturday.

Not everyone could make it, but most people made a plan to drop by at least for a short while and the mood was FESTIVE! It was also great not seeing everyone in the normal black and white get-ups (the only colours we are supposed to be wearing at work)…Yeah for jeans! It’s hard to believe that for the majority of the last 10 years I was working in jeans and T-shirts and now I hardly ever get to wear it at all.

Eep! I haven’t come up with nick names for anyone at work yet…I’ll just have to refer to them by initial till it comes to me, or until they pick one for themselves? The party was at E & B’s house - great people! You’ll be hard pressed to find a sweeter and more loving couple anywhere, and they have a son who is just as sweet as they are. It just makes you happy to spend time with a little family like them, because you can feel their love for each other in everything they say and do.

I had arranged to sleep over on the couch on Saturday night because I didn’t want to be driving back home late or after a few drinks, and another couple there also ended up spending the night. I’d call them S & I, but this initials thing is going to get confusing real fast. I think I will call S Moegperd instead. Moegperd, loosely translated from Afrikaans means tired horse. Hehehe…I’ll call him that, not because he is one (cause he’s not, he’s actually a really nice guy) but because he likes to call other people that. Right, so Moegperd and his girlfriend slept there too and Sunday B and Moegperd worked on Moegperd’s “Orange Ferrari” all day long while the rest of us gave them moral support from the shade. Car servicing is definitely a spectator sport in my opinion.

Then the week started off with a bang. Six newbies joined us on the phones on Monday and the boss (which I shall call Sparrow) gave a very moving and inspirational speech (as he always does in the mornings) and told us where our focus should be for this coming week. Last week we focused on numbers, this week we focused on building trust and on the quality, subsequently the numbers dropped so dramatically that I believe the focus for next week may very well be balance (between quality and quantity of course).

I’m still having fun doing the work (and no, I’m still not saying what that is), and I love getting to chat to all kinds of strange and wonderful people every day. On Monday a customer actually asked me if I was married because he decided I was one of the nicest people he’s ever spoken to over the phone and he’s looking for a wife…imagine that…(must not get out much, poor dear).

Yesterday was a truly crap day. Right from the start of it. On my way to work I spotted a significant traffic problem on highway going the other way, and when I got to the office we heard that a truck had lost control and fallen off right on top of another road crushing two cars below with people in it. Sparrow said that when he drove past there you could hear the people screaming from under the container. *shudder* As far as I know none of them made it except for the truck driver. What a way to go…imagine your last moments spent screaming in agony and panic trapped beneath a truck, and the pressure of that truck being the only thing keeping you alive enough to scream. I have claustrophobia, and I believe that must be one of the worst ways to die imaginable.

Work yesterday was also not so cool. Sparrow was very unhappy about the lack of balance between quantity and quality. And when Sparrow is unhappy, then everyone is unhappy. I really hope that today will be better.

When I got home yesterday the house was already in full swing party mode because Troep had his birthday party there. I met some nice people, and had great chats with the other two house mates too, but at midnight I had to bow out and go to bed so that I could be fresh, well rested and enthusiastic for work today. I do not wish to piss Sparrow off further when he’s already having a crap week.

You have to be a bit tolerant when you live with other people, right. And birthdays carry with them a special kind of exemption. More or less 20 people partied here last night…through the night…I hardly slept, and even the bit of sleep that I got was to the beat of some trance music (Troep’s favourite). I can’t say that I like it - it’s a special kind of torture to make me listen to music without words, and to listen to it THROUGH the night is not really something that I want to do on a regular basis. Luckily he only has a birthday once a year.

And this morning someone walked in on me while I was having a bath…I am not a happy puppy right now. Not at all.

As promised to KnotKeats, new poem today. Very new in fact. Written to the beat of trance music while I was meant to be sleeping. Hope you all have a kick-ass day.

Music: Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces

Look what I got my hands on! Hehehe…thanks Brother.

If you like Seether in general (which I do) then this is definitely worth a listen. In particular “Fake it” and “FMLYHM” (which stand F*%$! Me Like You Hate Me - hahaha - talk about obscure abbreviations!) really jump out at you when you listen to this album.

There is also a track called “Fallen” on the album, which is kind of funny since the cover art kind of reminds you of this picture below of an album with the same name (noticeably there is no heart in that little cavity under the cloak above). Must be part of the mud slinging after the very public break-up of lead singer Shaun Morgan and Amy Lee of Evanescence a while back, although according to Wikipedia that has been officially denied. Uhuh…sure whatever.

Here’s a link to the Video of “Fake it” on YouTube…enjoy!

That’s it…now I sleep

I finished writing my last of THREE exams for this week this morning. I am so tired I can hardly remember my own name. Three is just too much!

Since I wrote early today and had the rest of the day off I thought it might be a good time to go wander through the local mall while everyone else is at work. I didn’t really need anything or looking for anything, just walk and look. Probably not the best thing to do when you’re as tired as I am. I actually can’t say what I saw…just wandered round like a zombie when suddenly I was snapped out of my trance by someone calling my name (turns out I’m not quite as tired as that after all - I still remember it! ).

I was being called by my friends Henning and Tanja and their two kids who were just sitting down to lunch, so I joined them. What a nice surprise… We discussed their imminent immigration to Australia at the end of the year, and everything that entails. The funny thing is that I know for a fact I’m attending a farewell bash for them on the 24th of November, but due to some misunderstanding and scheduling conflicts they will not actually be attending that party themselves. Odd…So now we’re having another one for them on the 14th of December. I will try and mentally prepare myself for this - the inevitable playing of the song about leaving on a jet plane and the enjoyment of many many bottles of collectable wine since they are only allowed to take 12 bottles with them?!

Also, I now have another open invitation to visit Australia. I’m adding this to my list of people I need to go visit it far off locations…since so many friends have already done the refugee from crime and affirmative action thing I have a very, very long list. I suppose now would be a good time to start playing the Lotto again? You people in Dubai can forget about it! Even if I win the Lotto I’m not coming there. I’m boycotting the place - I know they don’t feel it but it doesn’t matter. I know I’m doing it and that’s enough.

…

Where was I? Right…wrote another Criminal Procedure subject this morning. It was okay. Not brilliant. Not shocking. Just okay. I think I may be too exhausted to appreciate the finer details of the exam. It was a 27 page work of art where they thought they were being funny by instructing you clearly (but rather cunningly hidden at the same time amongst the other instructions that nobody ever reads) to skip various parts of the exam. Clever devils aren’t they? So glad I took the time to read that bit…very similar concept to reading before you sign stuff. You should see me get to work on unraveling a “standard contract”. That is the kind of crap I love to do.

Okay, I see I’m rambling now since I managed to jump from a criminal procedure exam to a standard contract unraveling in one paragraph and it still makes sense (to me at least).

Here is my exam song for today (wouldn’t you just know it - I found another version of it on YouTube with the Final Fantasy theme - hehehe) …now, I’m going to bed. Night night!

*Clicking on the image will take you to DeviantART where you can learn more about the art and the artist

Three down, three to go…

I wrote Civil Procedure (again) this morning. Whoohooo! I sense a cleansing ritual by fire looming - this text book should burn beautifully. And I will be dancing and singing round it as it does.

The secret to completing this module from what I can see (and we’ll have to wait for the results to see if I’m right) is to more or less ignore the study guide which will just cause you panic attacks and lead you in circles. Read the textbook, and absolutely memorise the tutorial letters which contain the assignments and exams. It also helps if you don’t necessarily expect things to make sense, or that there should only be one relevant rule, or that something can’t be covered by two conflicting rules at the same time…then you’ll be just peachy.

Anyhoo, I did not think of a Disney song today, or even one from a musical at all. I was still stuck in bloody traffic trying to think of one when I heard this (see below) one and it kind of got stuck.

Hey, I’m not complaining…if it works, it works. Scoured YouTube to find a copy to stick in here (oh my precious but tiny cap please be forgiving) and I was just wondering if anyone knows why almost every damn song has a Final Fantasy video? What’s up with that?!

Well, here it is…when I heard it in my head this is not quite what I imagined though - just so you know.

*Clicking on the image will take you to DeviantART where you can learn more about the art and the artist

Sing It!

Whoohooo! I made it…well I made it through the day at least.

This afternoon I wrote The Law of Damages, and just before I went in to write I had such a little panic attack that I was pretty sure this would be one of those “well this is a day I can never get back”-posts.

Very surprising to me, it actually went okay. I’m not saying it went brilliantly (I never do), but at least I knew what they were on about and I had enough stuff to keep me busy writing for an hour and half. This is a very good sign. We are not counting chickens before they hatch mind you (or in Law of Damages terminology: we are not calculating patrimonial interest losses on hypothetical future contingencies), but definitely a good sign.

I attribute this in part to all the good wishes I received from everyone and in part to a handy tip Freddy gave me a couple of years ago about panic attacks and exams. He recommend that you pick a song and kind of “play it” in your head like background music while you write.

Initially I was very hesitant, what if I bumped the tenuous hold I had on the subject matter and instead replaced it with the silly lyrics of my song for the day - but - it worked! On the day that he told me about this I was still in the throws of some pretty vicious side effects of Zyban and of course having cigarette withdrawal symptoms on top of everything else and the only song I could think of was Bear Necessities from the Jungle Book (sad I know). Although “listening” to that while seeing the invigilator’s ass bob up and down on his patrols is also kind of funny (I can never look at that man again without wanting to call him Ballooooo!).

I’ve come a long way I think…on the 9th of November it will be two years since I stopped smoking and now instead of jungle book I at least had a grown up song for my exam panic attack. You get some funny looks when you bounce around on your chair to this tune while writing exam, and it’s clear that you are just barely restraining yourself from busting forth in actual song. (The song is meant to be silly and light hearted by the way!)

Here’s my exam song for today - next one I’m writing is on the 5th of November.