I swear I had every intension of writing this week but it just kind of got away from me, so here I sit on a lovely peaceful Sunday again playing catch-up and not knowing quite where to begin.

I think I’ll start with the 7 things tag and get that taken care of? Rox tagged me to the 7 interesting things about me post. So here goes:

1. I am an eternal optimist. There I said it… Even when things go really really bad I usually find something to laugh at or make a joke about, and inherently I do believe that everything will not only be fine, but will in fact turn out great.
2. With a few exceptions I don’t trust people who don’t eat bacon. (How can you not like bacon?!). I realise and respect that some people give it up based of religion and maybe due to a moral obligation they feel - but on my scales that tips the balance not-in-your-favour and you then have to actually do something pretty special to make me believe that you can be trusted.
3. Not sure if you know this, but when you feel threatened it’s natural that your adrenaline kicks in and you experience stress and get in touch with your fight or flight instinct? Well, mine is always set on fight. So if we ever go somewhere together and someone tries to rob us or high-jack us you needn’t waste time wondering what my reaction will be. I’ll come out swinging or die trying - be prepared, I know I am.
4. I absolutely detest carnations. They remind me of death and funerals. Any other flower is okay by me. An ex once sent me a bouquet of spring flowers that consisted mostly of carnations and even though I couldn’t get myself to just trash them I refused to water them. The nicest “flowers” I ever got, or the most memorable anyway, was once when someone dedicated a palm tree to me that was planted in the mall where we went to see a movie (potted palm closest to Mr. Price and Boardmans in Northgate I still consider to be mine) and the other time was when someone bought a bunch of tiger-lilies for me, took one out and gave it to me and trashed the rest just to make sure that that one was special (to the shock and disbelief of the flower seller - who went to go rescue the others and resell them possibly?).
5. I’m pretty tall - 1.78m. And I’ve been this tall since I was I was 11. In that year I grew 18cm and from thereon I only grew sideways. People always used to think I was older than I really was - and I never got asked for ID anywhere (until I was 28 where it happened for the first time and I couldn’t actually believe it!). When I was about 8 I got mistaken for 12, when I was 16 I got mistaken for 26, and now that I’m knocking on the door of 30 the general feeling is that I look about 25. I’m quite happy with how this is playing out, maybe I’ll be like my gran who hardly even has any grey hair and she’s in her 70s already! That would be awesome.
6. I don’t like watching scary movies - at all. I just don’t do it, even when people tell me that it’s not that scary I still refuse.
7. When I spend some time in the sun my hair goes red(ish), and I have a temper to match. I have about a teaspoon of Scottish blood in my bloodline (mostly German, Dutch and teeny bit of French and Scottish from what I can puzzle together), but sometimes I just kind of think of myself as a closet redhead. You’ll know (or should reasonably suspect) that I am about to unleash all kinds of trouble on you when I start asking questions staring with words like “So, do you mean to say…?”. That means that I am just clarifying issues before I let rip. Be afraid…be very afraid. :-p

I think I may have overdone this tag a bit - anyhoo, there you go: 7 things. I’m not tagging anyone, if you haven’t played them please tag yourself!

Now, about the rest of this week. It’s been crap. Or let me rephrase that perhaps - some parts of it has been particularly unpleasant. The end of it was rather nice though. The UK people who run the company that I work for are making me understand the appeal of the Anglo-Boer-War to be honest, at least we have Sparrow in our corner still or who knows what would have become of us by now. The mood in general has been quite gloomy and negative, and I haven’t exactly been helping matters (for which I apologised to Sparrow because he is trying his best to keep the ship afloat and he doesn’t deserve that). He’s the best boss ever and I swear that when I hit two 7 deal weeks in a row I am taking that man out for the piss-up to end all piss-ups.

Anyway, enough shop talk - there will be plenty to tell about that in the next week or two if I have to wager a guess. I would however like to tell you about the 1 to 20 game, if I may.

The 1 to 20 game is a concept that was first explained to us in our training course to illustrate that there is a process to be followed while doing this job and that you have to start it off right and not miss one single step if you want to win. The game works as follows: There are two players (generally the one teaching - the master, and the poor fool who is being taught and who doesn’t know the rules), the teacher gives the student a chance to start (at 1) and both players get the chance to count in sequence using either one number or two numbers till they get to 20. The aim is to be the one to say 20, that means you win.

You can try this at home if you like but there is only one way to win and that is to start by saying 1, 2…the other player then gets to say 3 or 3, 4. The next important number to hit is 5, so if they said 3, 4 then you say 5, if they said 3 then you say 4, 5. The next one is 8. Then 11, 15, 17 and ultimately 20. It’s a process and you have to hit all the right numbers to get to the prize. You have to know where you’re going to get there.

Why am I telling you this now? Well, Friday night I went dancing with some friends at Guru lounge in Durbanville. I had an absolute blast and only got home Saturday morning just before 3:00am! There was a very good-looking young man who appeared to be hunting me. Good fun. I may have let him catch me too if he had hit all the right numbers, but he missed a few steps of his 1 to 20 game. Tsk-tsk…it’s too bad, because he really is a very good dancer - it would have been fun. He had a deliciously naughty streak and suggested all kinds of things that really appealed to me, but on top of missing a few important steps he also had a nasty B-word habit and I had to resist the urge to draw a big letter B on his forehead at some points of the evening *shrug* oh well… (when I say that I resisted the urge, you may read that to mean that I was looking for a pen already when my friend stopped me distracted me with a shooter).

Going home was a completely different adventure altogether. I was being followed by a red Uno with four drunk hooligans in it and since I live at the end of a cul de sac street I wasn’t going to lead them to my home and hope for the best when we got there, nu-uh! I drove past the police station instead and luckily they decided that they didn’t want to follow me that badly after all.

Other than that my weekend’s been filled with loads of “glamorous” stuff like laundry, washing dishes and taking long well-deserved naps. And getting my head ready for what promises to be an action packed week ahead.

I’m either going to have to write more often or learn to condense my thoughts a bit - this ramble is enormous!

• There are no mistakes in life, only lessons. There is no such thing as a negative experience, only opportunities to grow, learn and advance along the road of self-mastery. From struggle comes strength. Even pain can be a wonderful teacher. - Robin S. Sharma (The monk who sold his Ferrari)
• The price of greatness is responsibility over each of your thoughts - Winston Churchill
• The happiest people are rarely the richest, or most beautiful, or even the most talented…Their eyes are turned outward; they are aware, compassionate. They have the capacity to love. - Jane Canfield
• Hate is an acid that corrodes its container. - Tonya Baker
• If men speak ill of you, live so that no one will believe them. - Anonymous

What a week. (Please excuse my lack of photographic evidence - I’m too lazy to download my phone right now).

The BigBoss showed a bit more of his true colours this past week. It’s kind of weird knowing that you’re being played and somehow being completely unable to do anything about it. It’s a feeling I hate - and I’m having none of that…ever again.

On Tuesday he saw a gap to make an example of me on a matter that I was quite clearly already worked up about and he just moved in for the kill. Very nicely done - smooth and effortless and very public. For the rest of the week I took to wearing a strip of camo round my wrist to remind me that I am a fighter and no one (and I mean NO ONE) gets to bully me like that without my say so.

I was going to call it my “Talisman” -> An object that is thought to have magic powers and to bring good luck. But I think I’ll go with just “Band” -> A thin flat strip or circle of any material that is put around things for example to hold them together or to strengthen them. Yip, that sounds about right…look I know it’s silly but wearing that little strip of camo was just what I needed last week to keep my head in the game.

Last week we also had a little recruitment drive for more members of staff here in our CT branch, and even though we didn’t find any suitable candidates I think there was a very clear message being sent from our selection of possibilities to anyone who might be paying attention. Incidentally we recruited more than 90 hopefuls without even placing an add or anything! All I will say further on this matter is that some of the large and well known companies in SA should be ashamed of what they pay their staff. Do you know that there are people working in CT earning R1600 per month to work from 09:00 to 19:00 five days a week?! Unbelievable…now if only they could pass an mini-IQ test we would have rescued some of them by now.

The good news is: We made it. Sparrow has returned and we saw him and Mrs. Sparrow on Friday when the BigBoss took everyone out for a farewell dinner. It’s unbelievably good to have him back.

We had massive celebrations on Friday - hard to say if it was for the BigBoss’ farewell or for the welcome back of Sparrow. The two themes just merged in one major merry-making chaos. I believe there was more of the same on Saturday, but I opted out so that I could spend some time with my cousin and catch up on some laundry during one of the first sunshine days in the last month.

On Sunday I went to see my aunt Ellen in Durbanville. We went out for Chinese for lunch (which I think possibly made me violently ill today since I’m just not used to it anymore), and later the afternoon we attended an auction for Persian carpets, paintings and antique furniture. My aunt bought a lovely rug for probably a third of it’s market value - from what I could see the other people there got a bit screwed. When I saw a rather dull looking painting being sold for R50 000, I told my aunt to be very very quiet and don’t even breathe hard or who knows what we’ll end up going home with! Yikes…it was interesting but not really my thing.

Last night Alexander and Chere’ returned home after their month away in KZN. It’s fantastic having them back! I can’t believe how much I’ve missed them. Xander bought us some solar molar contraption that apparently gives of some sort of pulse that will chase the little tunnel rats away for a 75 square meter area. Nice! Beats stuffing moth balls and garlic down every hole that appears to try and chase them away.

It’s really been a rough month for me, and it’s only the 14th now (Oh yeah, happy Bastille Day to all the frenchies), I didn’t even realise how much I depended on Sparrow at work and Xander at home before they both vanished for a month. I am absolutely exhausted. It’s really good to have them all back where they belong.

Expect more regular updates again soon…with pictures of course!

• There is no such thing as objective reality or “the real world”. There are no absolutes. The face of your greatest enemy might be the face of my finest friend. An event that appears to be a tragedy to one might reveal the seeds of unlimited opportunity to another. What really separates people who are habitually upbeat and optimistic from those who are consistently miserable is how the circumstances of life are interpreted and processed. - Robin S. Sharma (The monk who sold his Ferrari)
• Why drown in a saucer when there’s a whole ocean out there? - Piet Smit
• Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years; people grow old only by deserting their ideals. - Samuel Ullman
• You don’t have to blow out the other fellow’s light to let your own shine. - Bernard M. Baruch
• Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly. - Plutarch

• Worry drains the mind of much of its power and, sooner or later, it injures the soul. - Robin S. Sharma (The monk who sold his Ferrari)
• The operation of instinct is far more sure and simple than that of reason. - Edward Gibbon
• Don’t wait for the storm to pass, instead learn to dance in the rain. Adopt an attitude of gratitude. - ET @ 5G’s Daily Quotes
• Love is a fire. But whether it’s going to warm your heart or burn down your house, you can never tell. - Joan Crawford
• Being an optimist after you’ve got everything you want doesn’t count. - Frank McKinney Hubbard

It’s been really nice to have my cousin live here with us for the last few weeks. Every night when I come home Ricardo and I chat and chat and chat and chat and chat. He’s a good boy. This week his girlfriend came to visit for a few days and she’s a very sweet kid too.

Thursday night we decided to attempt the making of a curry and rice, something to put some fire in our bellies amidst all this non-stop rain. We didn’t have a recipe, so we just followed the one on the box of the curry powder, took out all the stuff we don’t like eating, and added random shit from the food cupboard that we thought would be nice - and voila! it was magnificent. We probably wouldn’t be able to make the exact same thing ever again, but it went down really well.

Back at the office we saw the results of our first recruitment drive, which actually went very well all things considered. And in between all the chaos the BigBoss dropped the B-word mid conversation…rules are rules…he had to go out drinking like that on Friday, tsk-tsk!

My one colleague, ATM, resigned this week. He’s been there right from the beginning just like me, the place won’t be the same without him there to entertain us with his bitchy one-liners and dark humour. *sigh* From the original 12 only 4 of us are left. I wonder who will go next?

Saturday Troep let me know that we were having the PSD braai at our house. You may vaguely recall me talking about Seekamp before? Well that is the S of PSD, the full name being Post Seekamp Depression. I am well aware that I did not attent the S, so how can I have PSD? Must be a delayed reaction from a previous year then? Anyway, it was a great party. JacoStein and BloemfonteinBoy rocked up with an enormous Koedoe fillet to braai and plenty of leftover drinks from a previous occasion and we partied like rock stars. So much so that poor Troep doesn’t remember anything that happened after 21:00 (or any hats for that matter), luckily he was in good hands plus I captured everything on film so that we could bring him up to speed on recent events the next morning. The main PSD event was of course held in JHB, but I think the CT one was probably more fun than that one.

Sunday, the day of rest. Mmmm, I didn’t mind the rain at all today cause I got to spend most of it in bed. Oh yeah, except I am having a really hard time getting my laundry done and dry in this duck weather. Everything is now draped over chairs and hanging on doorknobs all over the house to get it dry. I was going to go out for lunch this afternoon but my colleague who invited me phoned and cancelled this morning…so I had no commitments, no real burning desire to have any either. Just peace and blissful quiet.

Okay, don’t panic…this is not exactly the case. I just wrote a little fluffy poem because of the rising petrol prices, food prices…heck all the rising prices and so on. It’s been a rough month end because of my lack of deals in the previous month and I’m not the only one whose taking strain at the moment so I thought you might enjoy this too? My dad had to help me out a bit for which I am both extremely grateful and extremely embarrassed all at the same time.

Expect a big ramble post soon!

Bet that got your attention?

Well the thing I’m talking about is mowing the blasted lawn, of course! I haven’t had to mow a lawn in yeeeeeeeears, and it’s just as much “fun” as I remember it to be. I should have bought some beer before I got started.

How did this happen to me? Well, both the strapping young lads I live with are temporarily out of town and the owners of this fine house want the agent to put it on show tomorrow. Add to that the fact that it’s been raining like a tribute to Noah’s ark round here lately (sorry, maybe this is a bit dramatic but I still haven’t adjusted completely to a winter rainfall climate). The end result is a very green lush and lively lawn…in need of a trim…in desperate need actually.

So I moseyd over to my neighbour, Sandy, to borrow her lawnmower only to find that it’s being borrowed by our other neighbour Howard up the road. So we walked over to go get it, ended up chatting a bit and at least three of my other neighbours who drove by offered to leave their gates open in case I felt like mowing some more lawns after I was done with ours - no one wanted to trade me for a week’s worth of ironing, so I got off easy I guess?

Mowing the lawn was exhausting to say the least. Also it started raining (of course) while I was busy with it - and since I’m kind of running out of time there was no chickening out till it stopped. I’m am happy to report that even though I was attacked by hairy f-ing ugly caterpillars, waiting in ambush in one of our trees to drop down on unsuspecting gardeners, and I almost snapped my ankle falling into a mole tunnel on the front lawn, I was not in fact electrocuted. Whoohooo!

Now let me tell you about the bloody mole. The industrious little tunnel rat has been building an elaborate system of tunnels and molehills all over the side walk and most of the front garden. I don’t really care that much about it, or I didn’t anyway until I almost dropped down the hole mowing the lawn, and I started caring even more when I spent almost an hour trying to flatten the condos he’s been building all over with a piece of wood, since I don’t own a shovel! I think the time has come for the little beast to move on to greener pastures - like my neighbours garden for instance? Sandy says that to get rid of a mole you just have to shove some moth balls into the hole…imagine that?! I’m putting that on my shopping list for sure next week.

I ran out of enthusiasm for lawn mowing halfway through the last bit - the “gently” curved sidewalk. Screw that…not doing it. The agent can gnaw the rest of it off with his bare teeth for all I care. I’m stiff and sore all over and all I have energy for today is some serious couch potato-ing tonight.

• Never overlook the power of simplicity. - Robin S. Sharma (The monk who sold his Ferrari)
• Most people live - whether physically, intellectually or morally - in a very restricted circle of their potential being. We all have reservoirs of life to draw upon of which we do not dream. - William James
• Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time. - Mark Twain
• No one is more profoundly sad than he who laughs too much. - Jean Paul Richter
• Whatever else is or is not true, this one thing is certain - man is not what he was meant to be. - Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Friday night saw me zipping through to the airport (again) to go pick up my dear friend Denise. Shortly after I got news of my great-gran’s death Denise was “lucky” enough to get a call from me, and my tone of voice upset her so much that she decided to swoop in for a visit to see if I’m okay. That’s really sweet isn’t it? Also it was the first night ever that she and her hubby have spent apart since they got married and I really appreciate the fact that she did that for me.

We didn’t do the tourist thing at all, we just spent hours and days talking, chatting, catching up and up to our ears in deep conversations about everything and then some. It was just what I needed…

Denise has the metabolism of a speed train! I have never seen someone so tiny pack away that much food and still have space for more. Also she’s been craving pudding lately, so at least one of our meals consisted of a Woolies baked pudding drowned in custard. Not really health food by any stretch of imagination but it was lovely. I’m not really used to this kind of eating so my tummy was not so happy with all the new weird and wonderful things I was sending down the hatch, but a change is as good as a holiday right?

Some of our conversations were along the lines of my job and how I’m coping down here. It’s not always easy. I think I have the hang of it, more or less, but it’s one of those occupations where your head has to be in the right place or you get nothing done. Just to illustrate my point: during the 6 weeks that I was busy with exam and in and amongst my various family and other crisises I didn’t do any deals at all - and I’m definitely feeling it with just the basic this month. Denise gave me some really handy pointers which have little to do with techniques and more to do with heart and soul. She has a twin theory about what I need to do to get my job back on track. The first thing is that I must give my tenth to someone who needs it, it doesn’t have to be the church but it’s probably easier to do that because they do get to a lot more people than I could on my own. The second thing is to be very specific when I pray for something. Up to now when it’s been a bit rough and I didn’t know what my next move should be I’ve just been asking God to show me what comes next, and that is exactly what I’ve been getting. Instead she recommends a constant stream of little prayers throughout the day thanking and asking for whatever specific blessing I need or just received. I’m very excited about this and am already implementing it.

I shared my inspiration with a few of my colleagues and I know at least one person feels the same as I do. We’ve decided that on Friday we’ll be making our first deposit to the Durbanville Chidren’s Home - which happens to be run by the local church anyway, and they seem to have the need that’s for sure. As for the constant stream of little prayers there every person will have to follow their own heart…however I would like to point out that it’s now Tuesday and I’ve already done three deals for this week! Which is equal to some of my best weeks before.

Other than catching up and talking about some seriously deep and meaningful stuff, Denise also got roped into helping with the painting of the burglar bars. Alexander wanted it up for my safety before he left for business in KZN for the next month and that meant that we all had to hustle to get it done. We had a team of friends in the garage painting their hearts out and helping us to get it done in time. Let’s just say that we shouldn’t quit our day jobs just yet… however this has given my house mate some inspiration for a little side line business when he comes back from his trip. While we were painting at least three cars stopped with people wanting to know if he could do some for them too. So he’s thinking of doing just that when he comes back and I promised to help him set up a web site to showcase his work. (I’m guessing that I’m going to learn aaaaall about domain registrations and what not soon-ish).

• I’m really glad that Denise came to visit me
• I’m really ecstatic about the three deals I’ve been blessed with so far this week
• I am enormously grateful that the burglar proofing is painted and fitted and that I have housemates and friends down here that are so concerned about my safety that they would spend their weekend helping us get it done