It's March already...

Ok that heading should read "It's only March". This year is really dragging!

So yes I'm aware my last blog post was in November last year, I can waffle off a list of excuses, like being busy, disinterested, yadda yadda yadda. It doesn't really matter, it's my blog, I don't owe anybody any explanations for writing a post or not writing on it. (I feel better already for that little rant!)

How's everybody been? {waiting for a response, hearing crickets creaking, skeletons rattling}

Eye spy you okes.

Yeah I've been fine thanks, just busy! The running thing has been a major pre-occupation for quite some time now. If you plot my activity through intensity on a graph it will look like a mountain range, it goes through spurts of enthusiasm then goes quiet for a week or two, but for the most part it is happening and improving. I try to take part in every race possible, mostly it's been 10km road races and trail runs. I've even strated a Facebook page just about my running journey. Two weeks ago I did the Peninsula Half Marathon (21.1km for those who don't know the lingo), this coming Sunday I'm doing the Milkwood half near Kommetjie, then on the 26th it's Two Oceans, half, my fourth.

So it's on the rise. I'm going faster and further. Peninsula I did in 2h 16m, by far my fastest 21km. Oceans I'm hoping to pull off a sub 2-hour.

Then, the big stuff comes... I've registered to do the Cape Town Marathon (that's 42.2km) on the 18th September. This is huge for me since I still struggle somewhat to do a sub 1-hour 10km, mostly due to inconsistent training. So, after Oceans I'll be setting up a proper structured training schedule to build up properly for Cape Town, I want to do it right and be healthy and fit enough to do a decent time under 4 hours for my first marathon.

Thereafter, if all goes well, next year I'll do the Two Oceans Ultra (56km) and the Comrades, both of which I want to do at least twice!

That's the plan anyway...

Another plan I've come up with is to soon start making chili sauces, my own recipes, to bottle and sell. I've been doing quite a bit of research and the intent is to make a range of unique and awesome sauces, including the hottest sauce in town made with imported chilies on the Scoville scale of upwards of a million (as an indication, jalapenos are around 5000, Habanero's are around 100,000 on the Scoville scale). I'm talking fires-of-hell types like the Carolina Reaper, Bhut Jolokia, Naga Viper, Infinity, Scorpion, etc. I will also extract the capsaicin (the oily chemical that gives chilies their heat, the ghost pepper capsaicin is 16 million on Scoville, it's used to make military grade pepper spray) to intensify the heat, these will be the kinds of sauces where a few drops on your pasta will make you shit molten lava for a week.

But ja, work in progress, I'll start off simpler using what's locally available like Habanero's and build up my range and work it up to the good stuff.

Hello, it's me...

On the opposite end to intense sauces I've been working on personal changes, basically trying to calm down my intense personality, particularly in the public domain such as Facebook. Those of you (if anybody reads this... creek creek) who I'm friends with on Facebook, and have not yet un-followed me, which I know many have, will know that I can be quite controversial in my angry rants and intense opinions, along with the shocking articles I share. I've been very outspoken and graphic with my opinions regarding SA politics, trophy hunting, crime, etc, and my language gets a tad unnecessarily vulgar at times. This is really just me expressing my thoughts and feelings as I'm thinking and feeling them, it's not with the intention of upsetting or insulting anybody unless they're the topic of my post. Eg, I despise Jacob Zuma, and I'm completely outspoken (or was) about what I think of that waste of oxygen, and my opinions have cause much upset including my family disowning me and my wife and daughter for a few years for calling the man a {"bad word"}. What you see on Facebook is what I am, it's not fake or posed, it's honest. Unlike most people on Facebook who hide who they really are online. But what I've been realizing is that MOST people cannot handle me and my mind. It's probably from a lifetime of not knowing how to control my ADD (having not knowing I had it and always just believed I was just different), that I get so passionate and intense. Most people don't appreciate the hard-core opinions that go on in my head, this is evident by the complete lack of responses my serious postings get, but post something feel-good like puppies and that gets lots of awww's and likes. So clearly it's me that's the problem, not that everybody else is just boring or too shit scared to be seen to be associating with my views whether you agree in secret or not, the world (well my Facebook friends anyway) don't appreciate my views and find them inappropriate, despite the passionate strength to the way I feel about the subject. People just don't feel the same, or so it seems. So, I have been trying to tone down what and how I say things on Facebook, along with much less bad language, vulgarity, distasteful humour, etc

I'm still the same person, you'll just see it a lot less of my true freakazoid personality in the public domain. I turn 40 this year so maybe it's about time to grow up and learn to control the madness in my head and start conforming to normality and the expectations of an incredibly judgmental and hypocritical society.

Damn this chicken, cheese, chili & mayo toasted sandwich I made for lunch is incredibly delicious!

On other news, the band I was with is no more. The singer and bassist had a domestic disagreement so the singer decided to end the band. Personally I think it's quite ridiculous because we had a good thing going which was starting to show signs of going somewhere and I'm honestly quite resentful of how it ended, after 3 years of commitment and hard work to make some great tunes, albeit very few gigs to show for our efforts we stuck with it in the belief that the shows were coming. Then it was all just over, because two people couldn't live together anymore.

Anyway, the bassist, guitarist and myself on drums are going to start a new project once the bassist, who owns most of the sound equipment, has settled into a new place since he had to leave the band house where we played previously. The house where him and the singer lived together, not as a couple, just friends.

I'm sure that whatever we come up with will be awesome, we just need to find a new singer and maybe another guitarist or trumpeter or whatever. I just know that I am seriously missing the jamming, we need to get set up and going soon. Otherwise I'm going to join another established band soon. I really miss gigging!

Since my last post, we have also invested in an electric drum kit to play at home, the main reason being that my daughter Tammy is also learning the drums. She's going for drumming lessons at her school once a week, I help her practice in between at home. She's also doing singing lessons. She's picking up the drumming fairly quickly and she's learning drum notation (sheet music for drums) in her lessons. I taught myself to read drum notation years ago, it's quite cool to be brushing off those cobwebs and being able to help and teach Tammy. I'm really super proud of that kid!

She started at a new school this year, due to some issues we had with the last one. I'm still in half minds about whether it was the right thing to do or not, but I'm being positive and supportive, it's not been easy for her having to make new friends and learn a whole new environment. But it's a great little school with high academic and sports standards so I'm sure once Tammy has settled in she'll thrive.

Just me checking you out.

Another reason I have time to write this is the company I work for has blocked Facebook on the company network. I don't spend a lot of time on Facebook but I do use it quite often. My ability to concentrate on a task for long periods without losing focus is practically impossible, so Facebook is a useful momentary distraction, a brain break for a minute or two, then I can get back to the task at work with a renewed burst of concentration. Now that that familiar "brain break", so to speak, is gone I find I'm getting a bit anxious during those periods of distraction because the familiar focus point is now gone. It's not making me work more, it's just making me irritable and my mind is going off on different tangents with different ideas that have Google working hard.

Anyway, if my boss is reading this, it's not a problem, just something I'll get used to. Using my phone is an alternative, but it comes with added data costs, and I don't want to have to spend more money on mobile data.

Damn, this is yet another crazy long blog, my fingers are hammering away furiously on the keyboard trying to keep up with the stuff flowing from my crazy head.

So, about the Facebook thing, I forgot to mention that I do still post jokes and crude meme's, but they are now on a separate group where only those who are interest need go and look, and a handful of regulars even contribute to the funnies. There's some hilarious stuff, but you need an open-minded sense of humour to find some of the content funny. Check it out here, called Hijacked Meme's & LOL's

Anyway, lunch break is over, I need to get back to work. I'll finish this post this evening and link it on Facebook from home, where I have access to Facebook, albeit on a ridiculously pathetically miserable internet connection! With all the hype about constantly developing new internet connectivity and fibre, etc, and all I can get is a measly heavily throttled 2Mb Telkom line. Telkom won't upgrade the infrastructure (despite people in the next street having 40Mb capability) and who knows when the Fibre will reach my area, so for the foreseeable future I'm stuck in the dark ages of prehistoric bandwidth in my incredibly expensive house in a reasonably upmarket neighbourhood while the world around (including the newer low-income areas and townships nearby) gets rapidly upgraded connectivity. It grates my goose, but nothing to do except wait for technology in this backwards country to catch up.

Have a nice day folks!