Looking at the big picture over Southern Africa as things are going now, I believe that if white people are evicted or exterminated from Africa as many black people, ANC & EFF big-mouths, and other white-hating South African racists will have (as threatened on many internet forums, violent protests, politicians slurs, etc), most of Africa's big wildlife too will be exterminated within a decade!! This because all the big game sanctuaries are sanctioned and protected by white / Western idealism of nature conservation. Africans see animals as fair game for food or financial reward only. There is no idea of saving for the future, it's all about greed for gain here and now. This is how I honestly see the way that most Africans think. Not all, of course, but most. It's an immediate survival thing, not an ethical or logical thing. Wild animals, from buck & bunnies to the Big 5 will be extinct within a decade, if whites are removed from Africa! Within 50 years most of Africa will be a desert, a wasteland comprised of emaciated cattle and starving people governed by corrupt, dirty, self-empowering governments like the ANC and Mugabe's cronies. Wildlife and ecotourism will be a thing of the past, the only physical evidence being pictures and the dusty decapitated & preserved heads of animals on the walls of countless American trophy hunters.
With the exception of Botswana, that is the only African country which takes the conservation of wildlife seriously. Unless corruption destroys Botswana like it will the rest of Africa, that country will become the wealthiest country in Africa someday!
This is not fact, it's my own personal thoughts, it's NOT intended as racist, it is more a concern for Africa's wildlife, which I care a great deal more for than the humans which plague this great continent!
Wednesday, 16 March 2016
Tuesday, 15 March 2016
Diet. Again.
Howdy and welcome to the Daily Drumroll for another lunch-break-blog. Lunch today is extra smoothie from breakfast. When I make breakfast smoothies these days I always make extra to bring to work for tea or lunch. Today the smoothie is lunch. At tea time today I had a wonderful toasted tuna sandwich with lemon, salt & pepper, cheese and Bushmans Dynamite sauce. This sauce is by far the hottest chili sauce I know of locally available, everything else is tame in comparison, and I've tried many. This is part of my inspiration to create my own brand of hot sauce that will compete with the likes of the Dynamite and possibly be even hotter. Mine won't just be a blend of locally grown common red chilies & Habanero's, It will be like concentrated molten lava in little bottles that will only be suitable for the bravest chilli-heads.
Opinion poll: is it spelled "chili" or "chilli"? Different sources use either. I'm still deciding, though I might be myself and go for "chillee".
Oh, and I lied. I had two tuna sandwiches at tea time. They were sooo good!
My smoothie recipe, no secrets here for those interested, is my own version of a banana and peanut butter bomb, lots of both ingredients with double cream yoghurt (plain, unsweetened), milk, mixed berry juice, cinnamon, coconut oil, oats & Future Life cereal. Blended up it's a smooth creamy healthy glass of energy.
Bit of a disaster this morning though, my smoothie maker is busted, the base of the jug part is broken. I managed to tape it up quite firmly to make this mornings smoothie but it was an impractical and messy affair. This means no more smoothies until the next salary ship docks in my bank account, which is in 10 days time.
This kind of messes with my next mission, and the theme of this blog - a new phase of diet...
Yes I know you've all heard this from me before, how many times have I gone on the old diet and made a big noise about it like it's the biggest thing ever to happen, only for it to fade away after a month or three. But for me and my family it is a big deal because it's expensive and takes a lot of effort and perseverance, especially since it's never properly coordinated unless I'm making all the food, which gets tedious. If not the family goes off sideways and eats all kinds of other crap.
Our diets usually comprise of healthy breakfast smoothies. That will have to make way for Wheetbix for the next week & a bit. Otherwise the mission is to cut out the carbs and sugars, especially wheat, bread, rice, pasta, most potatoes, and bad saturated and trans fats. And of course cut out as much sugar as possible, which is almost impossible since most processed, bottled, manufactured foods and drinks contain sugars from all soft drinks to all condiments. We have to try to be as natural as possible and go for more fresh vegetables, some fruits (most fruits are full of sugar), proteins, lean meats, eggs, salads, fibre and a balance of good poly- and monounsaturated fats (eg. Avo, one of my favourite things!)
I do enjoy the healthy eating because it does make a difference to my weight, and the healthy eating makes me feel noticeably healthier, energized, stronger, etc. The downside is that it's expensive and preparing meals takes a lot longer. I tend to go through phases where I enjoy the cooking and getting creative with hearty healthy foods. It's just that right at the moment I'm not in a good space financially, I cannot afford all the good stuff which is disheartening and frustrating and demotivating.
This is one of the ways where mankind has gone wrong, we've made good healthy natural foods ridiculously expensive and out of reach to most of the human population, instead humanity is being force fed wheat & grain products, GMO's and generally unhealthy carbohydrate loaded foods. Like bread, it's cheap and widespread, but it contributes to mass gross obesity. Healthy foods are reserved for the wealthy!
All that being said, we've done this before and we'll do it again. Fortunately the wife has decided to join in on the diet so I'm not the lone salmon fighting against the current of junk food, I hope she's serious so we can make this happen so the whole family can eat right again. We'll just need to figure out ways of making it affordable and practical.
Despite all the running and exercise I get I still can't get rid of the belly because of all the carbs. If we can drop the carbs and sugars, that alone with the running and the kilo's will fall off quickly! I need that to happen if my running is going to improve!
One thing I'm not keen for though is salads for lunches again. I need to find practical ways of getting creative with lunches because after a while of eating salads I start hating them, in particular the leaves. I've eaten so much lettuce over the last few years it's a wonder I haven't grown long ears and fur on my feet. It's fairly quick to whip a salad together but man I hate the lettuce!
Another project I've been meaning to take on and just haven't gotten round to yet is planting a veg and herb garden. That could at least save a few bucks on food if I can get it growing and successfully cultivate some respectable harvests. But I'm a bit late now because we're about to go into winter, and I'm not much of a fan of gardening at the best of times. Still, it will happen sometime in the near future, albeit in phases.
Back to work...
Opinion poll: is it spelled "chili" or "chilli"? Different sources use either. I'm still deciding, though I might be myself and go for "chillee".
Oh, and I lied. I had two tuna sandwiches at tea time. They were sooo good!
My smoothie recipe, no secrets here for those interested, is my own version of a banana and peanut butter bomb, lots of both ingredients with double cream yoghurt (plain, unsweetened), milk, mixed berry juice, cinnamon, coconut oil, oats & Future Life cereal. Blended up it's a smooth creamy healthy glass of energy.
Bit of a disaster this morning though, my smoothie maker is busted, the base of the jug part is broken. I managed to tape it up quite firmly to make this mornings smoothie but it was an impractical and messy affair. This means no more smoothies until the next salary ship docks in my bank account, which is in 10 days time.
This kind of messes with my next mission, and the theme of this blog - a new phase of diet...
Yes I know you've all heard this from me before, how many times have I gone on the old diet and made a big noise about it like it's the biggest thing ever to happen, only for it to fade away after a month or three. But for me and my family it is a big deal because it's expensive and takes a lot of effort and perseverance, especially since it's never properly coordinated unless I'm making all the food, which gets tedious. If not the family goes off sideways and eats all kinds of other crap.
Our diets usually comprise of healthy breakfast smoothies. That will have to make way for Wheetbix for the next week & a bit. Otherwise the mission is to cut out the carbs and sugars, especially wheat, bread, rice, pasta, most potatoes, and bad saturated and trans fats. And of course cut out as much sugar as possible, which is almost impossible since most processed, bottled, manufactured foods and drinks contain sugars from all soft drinks to all condiments. We have to try to be as natural as possible and go for more fresh vegetables, some fruits (most fruits are full of sugar), proteins, lean meats, eggs, salads, fibre and a balance of good poly- and monounsaturated fats (eg. Avo, one of my favourite things!)
I do enjoy the healthy eating because it does make a difference to my weight, and the healthy eating makes me feel noticeably healthier, energized, stronger, etc. The downside is that it's expensive and preparing meals takes a lot longer. I tend to go through phases where I enjoy the cooking and getting creative with hearty healthy foods. It's just that right at the moment I'm not in a good space financially, I cannot afford all the good stuff which is disheartening and frustrating and demotivating.
This is one of the ways where mankind has gone wrong, we've made good healthy natural foods ridiculously expensive and out of reach to most of the human population, instead humanity is being force fed wheat & grain products, GMO's and generally unhealthy carbohydrate loaded foods. Like bread, it's cheap and widespread, but it contributes to mass gross obesity. Healthy foods are reserved for the wealthy!
All that being said, we've done this before and we'll do it again. Fortunately the wife has decided to join in on the diet so I'm not the lone salmon fighting against the current of junk food, I hope she's serious so we can make this happen so the whole family can eat right again. We'll just need to figure out ways of making it affordable and practical.
Despite all the running and exercise I get I still can't get rid of the belly because of all the carbs. If we can drop the carbs and sugars, that alone with the running and the kilo's will fall off quickly! I need that to happen if my running is going to improve!
One thing I'm not keen for though is salads for lunches again. I need to find practical ways of getting creative with lunches because after a while of eating salads I start hating them, in particular the leaves. I've eaten so much lettuce over the last few years it's a wonder I haven't grown long ears and fur on my feet. It's fairly quick to whip a salad together but man I hate the lettuce!
Another project I've been meaning to take on and just haven't gotten round to yet is planting a veg and herb garden. That could at least save a few bucks on food if I can get it growing and successfully cultivate some respectable harvests. But I'm a bit late now because we're about to go into winter, and I'm not much of a fan of gardening at the best of times. Still, it will happen sometime in the near future, albeit in phases.
Back to work...
Igniting burning ideas...
So I'm scheming and plotting out a fiery new plan. A small business idea with red-hot ambitions. For now I'll be keeping this scorcher in my head, we can't be burning bridges by giving away these blazing secrets for others to exploit and incinerate.
It's still a fairly fresh idea simmering in my head, but when it sparks off it will start with a flicker and hopefully conflagrate into an inferno of a business if this idea goes to plan.
The only hint I will give is this picture of a Carolina Reaper:
Behold - the new age of ringburn...
It's still a fairly fresh idea simmering in my head, but when it sparks off it will start with a flicker and hopefully conflagrate into an inferno of a business if this idea goes to plan.
The only hint I will give is this picture of a Carolina Reaper:
Behold - the new age of ringburn...
Monday, 14 March 2016
A quickie
I was just browsing through a couple of other random blogs. On the top of this blog screen is a menu bar with the link "next blog", this link takes you to random blogs by other people. It's quite interesting to see what different people from different places with different interests blog about. One thing I have realised is that my own blogs are incredibly long-winded. Long stories about nonsense. But that's just how I am - I type very fast as the thoughts flow from my head into my fingers. The blog I posted previously, the lunch waffle, was done in the half hour I have allocated as a lunch break. It's mostly nonsense because if comes out quick. I'll then proof read for spelling and grammar accuracy and add in a photo or two and bang - publish.
I doubt too many people read these blogs, I can see that by the view count in my blogs admin dashboard, but that's ok, I'm going through one of those storytelling phases where I feel I'm chatting to an invisible audience, whether there is one or not. No doubt, as it goes with me, this phase will fade again soon as my ever adventurous imagination takes me onto the next fascination and obsession that pops out of nowhere.
Hopefully I'll keep on with this blog because it's actually quite therapeutic. Like this one, I had no plans of writing any of what I'm banging out on my keyboard right now, it's just what's coming out.
It would be so awesome if my mind had some kind of bionic reader that could take my thoughts and digitally translate them into chapters and stories like this blog, I reckon I'd make quite an interesting read, albeit corny as the best of them!
The point of this post was about other people's blogs, I'm going to make an effort to browse through a couple as often as time allows, it's really fascinating to see the honest insights into people's lives, as they choose to share them online. There are very interesting people out there, especially Americans. They seem to be living such safe secure family lives in freedom, without all the dread and drama we have to put up with here in SA. Families playing in parks, kids playing out in the gardens, affordable access to all things cool. People look happy because they appear to be free, not imprisoned in their homes like we are. Look I love this country but the people here are fucked up, every day reading and hearing about the racist violence, crime, threats of white genocide etc, terrifies me. Racism here only works one way, and as a white person I'm on the wrong end of that stick. Reading about these safe happy lives in suburban America makes me kind of jealous. Life and economics there are not governed by race and corruption. Given the opportunity I'd pack up my family and move there in a flash and not come back to this corrupt hell hole. One of my my big personal magnets to this place is wild Africa, the bush, the wildlife, birds and awesome roughness of Africa. But pretty soon all of that will be gone (ironically partly to the money and guns of wealthy American hunters - a fact that disheartens me greatly, I don't mean to be a traitor to my beloved Africa and jump in bed with some of her killers), and all that will be left are billions of cruel murderous desperately hungry people hating us of European ancestry. All the time, entire families are bludgeoned to death in race crimes that go unnoticed and not acknowledged for what they are.There are few safe places here anymore. The cities are the worst, you have to watch your back all the time!
Unfortunately though, due to our personal circumstances we are stuck here, but when Tammy is old enough I will sell everything I have including my soul to ship her out of this country for a better safer life elsewhere in the civilised world. She deserves better than the constant threat of violence through crime.
Ok that little rant wasn't planned, but like everything I write it's from the heart and echoes my sentiments at the time.
But never mind, despite my fantasies, normal life and routine must go on. I need to go feed my family, then I'll relax and download the latest episodes of the currently airing TV series'.
I doubt too many people read these blogs, I can see that by the view count in my blogs admin dashboard, but that's ok, I'm going through one of those storytelling phases where I feel I'm chatting to an invisible audience, whether there is one or not. No doubt, as it goes with me, this phase will fade again soon as my ever adventurous imagination takes me onto the next fascination and obsession that pops out of nowhere.
Hopefully I'll keep on with this blog because it's actually quite therapeutic. Like this one, I had no plans of writing any of what I'm banging out on my keyboard right now, it's just what's coming out.
It would be so awesome if my mind had some kind of bionic reader that could take my thoughts and digitally translate them into chapters and stories like this blog, I reckon I'd make quite an interesting read, albeit corny as the best of them!
The point of this post was about other people's blogs, I'm going to make an effort to browse through a couple as often as time allows, it's really fascinating to see the honest insights into people's lives, as they choose to share them online. There are very interesting people out there, especially Americans. They seem to be living such safe secure family lives in freedom, without all the dread and drama we have to put up with here in SA. Families playing in parks, kids playing out in the gardens, affordable access to all things cool. People look happy because they appear to be free, not imprisoned in their homes like we are. Look I love this country but the people here are fucked up, every day reading and hearing about the racist violence, crime, threats of white genocide etc, terrifies me. Racism here only works one way, and as a white person I'm on the wrong end of that stick. Reading about these safe happy lives in suburban America makes me kind of jealous. Life and economics there are not governed by race and corruption. Given the opportunity I'd pack up my family and move there in a flash and not come back to this corrupt hell hole. One of my my big personal magnets to this place is wild Africa, the bush, the wildlife, birds and awesome roughness of Africa. But pretty soon all of that will be gone (ironically partly to the money and guns of wealthy American hunters - a fact that disheartens me greatly, I don't mean to be a traitor to my beloved Africa and jump in bed with some of her killers), and all that will be left are billions of cruel murderous desperately hungry people hating us of European ancestry. All the time, entire families are bludgeoned to death in race crimes that go unnoticed and not acknowledged for what they are.There are few safe places here anymore. The cities are the worst, you have to watch your back all the time!
Unfortunately though, due to our personal circumstances we are stuck here, but when Tammy is old enough I will sell everything I have including my soul to ship her out of this country for a better safer life elsewhere in the civilised world. She deserves better than the constant threat of violence through crime.
Ok that little rant wasn't planned, but like everything I write it's from the heart and echoes my sentiments at the time.
But never mind, despite my fantasies, normal life and routine must go on. I need to go feed my family, then I'll relax and download the latest episodes of the currently airing TV series'.
Monday Lunch Waffle
You can tell I start off these lunch time blogs with no clear topic in mind by the heading, which often includes what day of the week it is or what I'm doing at the time. But once I start writing it morphs into shape.
Like this one.
So yeah, it's another boring Monday at the office, Right now I'm munching on leftover braai from last night for lunch with a few potatoes nuked this morning, it's all rather quite delicious. One thing I'm really missing these days is avocado's. There are avo's around but firstly they're pathetic manky undersized excuses for avo's that cost a small fortune, I've seen them around at over R20 an avo, not all that uncommon at that sort of price, and sorry but even if I was wealthy I wouldn't pay that. It's just ridiculous. So that's one of the things I look forward to about winter is decent avo's again at reasonable prices. I also look forward to winter because the ants that terrorize us all summer bugger off for a few months, back to hell to spend the winter months spawning many more trillions of them little black demons and scheming up more annoying ways to get into everything in vast numbers all summer with the pure intention of making life in the home a constant hell! Oh, and flies, they disappear with the ants, no doubt to the same place!
My chicken drumstick is snapped in half. It's strange I know, but there's just something that creeps me out about that. I realise that chicken died so I could eat it, and for that I really do feel bad and I thank the chicken for it's ultimate sacrifice for my benefit, but the thought crosses my mind that perhaps it's leg was broken before it died through cruel mishandling by the farm workers. As an animal lover of all animals except ants and flies (I don't mind mosquitoes, they don't come near me) I abhor cruelty of any kind towards any living creature. I speak out strongly against trophy hunting and poaching and I subscribe to numerous Facebook forums that speak out against all that. But one conversation I don't get caught with is the one about "but you eat meat", etc. Yes I eat meat, I enjoy my meat, humans are omnivores by nature which means we kill food animals to eat and feed our families. Therefore the farming of domesticated livestock for the purposes of food and the sustainable hunting of food animals like common antelope I don't have an issue with, providing the animals are killed as quickly and humanely as possible with minimal suffering. So, I don't like the idea that my food had to suffer for me.
But, that chicken's other leg was in-tact and delicious!
On Saturday I took the family including mom-outlaw and brother-outlaw (Tammy's uncle) to Ratanga Junction theme park, we were there for almost 6 hours. (There's a few photo's below taken with my phone.) That's 6 hours in the sun, standing in queue's for rides that last for only a couple of seconds or minutes. The thought came to mind at some point that if aliens ever came to see what we get up to they would be rather dumbstruck as to what the "dominant" species on this planet puts themselves through for recreation. Waiting long periods in uncomfortable surroundings to get thrown around violently on a dangerous roller coaster for a few seconds in hindsight seems like a rather silly thing to do. Despite that I queued to go on the Cobra 3 times and the same for Monkey Falls, which is really just a boat that gets shunted around a water channel with a few splashes along the way.
Anyway, it was a good day out with the family and Tammy had an absolute ball! She is only just still too small to go on the Cobra and the big dipper thing. By the year end summer holidays she'll be able to go on those.
Tammy's sleepover didn't happen. Our friends cancelled on us. Which was fine, though I was rather peeved that we still invited them over for a braai on Sunday, part of the original plan, they promised to confirm later on Saturday and just never did. As far as I'm concerned that's just effing rude. Even a text message with apologies would suffice, but we kept our Sunday free for that and just to be left hanging without word is just not cool!
They are good friends though, him and I go way back, so we'll probably move past this. But for now I'm annoyed!
So this pesky day job thing, I best get back to it, lunch break is over.
And I didn't even mention anything about running in this post, except in this sentence! LOL.
Like this one.
So yeah, it's another boring Monday at the office, Right now I'm munching on leftover braai from last night for lunch with a few potatoes nuked this morning, it's all rather quite delicious. One thing I'm really missing these days is avocado's. There are avo's around but firstly they're pathetic manky undersized excuses for avo's that cost a small fortune, I've seen them around at over R20 an avo, not all that uncommon at that sort of price, and sorry but even if I was wealthy I wouldn't pay that. It's just ridiculous. So that's one of the things I look forward to about winter is decent avo's again at reasonable prices. I also look forward to winter because the ants that terrorize us all summer bugger off for a few months, back to hell to spend the winter months spawning many more trillions of them little black demons and scheming up more annoying ways to get into everything in vast numbers all summer with the pure intention of making life in the home a constant hell! Oh, and flies, they disappear with the ants, no doubt to the same place!
My chicken drumstick is snapped in half. It's strange I know, but there's just something that creeps me out about that. I realise that chicken died so I could eat it, and for that I really do feel bad and I thank the chicken for it's ultimate sacrifice for my benefit, but the thought crosses my mind that perhaps it's leg was broken before it died through cruel mishandling by the farm workers. As an animal lover of all animals except ants and flies (I don't mind mosquitoes, they don't come near me) I abhor cruelty of any kind towards any living creature. I speak out strongly against trophy hunting and poaching and I subscribe to numerous Facebook forums that speak out against all that. But one conversation I don't get caught with is the one about "but you eat meat", etc. Yes I eat meat, I enjoy my meat, humans are omnivores by nature which means we kill food animals to eat and feed our families. Therefore the farming of domesticated livestock for the purposes of food and the sustainable hunting of food animals like common antelope I don't have an issue with, providing the animals are killed as quickly and humanely as possible with minimal suffering. So, I don't like the idea that my food had to suffer for me.
But, that chicken's other leg was in-tact and delicious!
On Saturday I took the family including mom-outlaw and brother-outlaw (Tammy's uncle) to Ratanga Junction theme park, we were there for almost 6 hours. (There's a few photo's below taken with my phone.) That's 6 hours in the sun, standing in queue's for rides that last for only a couple of seconds or minutes. The thought came to mind at some point that if aliens ever came to see what we get up to they would be rather dumbstruck as to what the "dominant" species on this planet puts themselves through for recreation. Waiting long periods in uncomfortable surroundings to get thrown around violently on a dangerous roller coaster for a few seconds in hindsight seems like a rather silly thing to do. Despite that I queued to go on the Cobra 3 times and the same for Monkey Falls, which is really just a boat that gets shunted around a water channel with a few splashes along the way.Anyway, it was a good day out with the family and Tammy had an absolute ball! She is only just still too small to go on the Cobra and the big dipper thing. By the year end summer holidays she'll be able to go on those.
Tammy's sleepover didn't happen. Our friends cancelled on us. Which was fine, though I was rather peeved that we still invited them over for a braai on Sunday, part of the original plan, they promised to confirm later on Saturday and just never did. As far as I'm concerned that's just effing rude. Even a text message with apologies would suffice, but we kept our Sunday free for that and just to be left hanging without word is just not cool!
They are good friends though, him and I go way back, so we'll probably move past this. But for now I'm annoyed!
So this pesky day job thing, I best get back to it, lunch break is over.
And I didn't even mention anything about running in this post, except in this sentence! LOL.
 |
| Brother-in-law, Daughter, Wife & Mother-in-law |
Milkwood Half with Hammy cramps
So, yesterday I ran the Milkwood half marathon plus a bit extra, as my Polar GPS watch suggested it was 21.47km in total, effectively making it the longest distance I've ever run in one session in almost 40 years. My time 2 hours, 15 minutes & 51 seconds. My running mate Colin, AKA The Flash, finished 5 minutes ahead of me.At these organised road races everybody is split into categories by age. There are usually prizes for the top 3 per category. Until I turn 40 I'm in the Senior category (age 20 to 39) at road races, from the 19th May I move up to the Masters category, in other words the Old Toppies. I'll be racing the grandpa's! This upsets me immensely, I don't want to be old, even less so be one of the youngest in the old-age category and still get beaten by the geriatrics with 100 years of running experience!
We made the long journey out there in my stoopid little Atos, fortunately we had the good sense to start early (I was up at 4am on a Sunday morning, cursing myself at the time), we got there an hour early at 5.30am which was a good move because we managed to park quite close to the finish. Despite it still being dark and drizzling at the time we we were amped for the race, last big training before Two Oceans next Saturday.
It was another fantastic race in another of the Cape's stunning scenic locations along the Southern Peninsula between Kommetjie and Scarborough, starting and ending at the Soetwater resort in the middle. The run itself did feel longer than it was because despite the beautiful scenery it was the same all the way, particularly the stretch between Kommetjie and Scarborough, one loooong road with mountain on one side, sea on the other and a whole lot of road full of runners in front, so it did get a bit dull at times. I did though have my music again which was great for the most part, except the cable for the headphones became annoying, they kept getting caught up under my armpit and contributed to the bad chafe I get under the arms. I eventually took them off and did the last few kilometers with only the beat of my feet pounding the road as music, which was also nice at the time.Talking of chafe, the usual terror-chafe I get on my upper thighs just under the groin was non existent, thanks to a pair of sports technical underwear I bought on Saturday. These things were fantastic, they're comfortable and kept me dry and totally friction free. How I didn't know of these things before is just bizarre, although I should know that the cotton jocks I was wearing before would cause chafe, as cotton does! So that's one more chafe conquered, like plasters on the titties, another bit of vital running apparel. Now I just need to figure out a cure for the horrible under arm chafe, which has the double whammy of burning a second time after I shower and spray deodorant on having forgotten the chafe.That shit really burns like fire!
The interesting thing about this race is we didn't get medals at the end, instead we got saplings of indigenous trees, I think it's Wild Olive. I was a bit annoyed at this at first because I like the medals, I'm quite proud of my steadily growing collection in my bar at home. But the idea has "grown" on me, yesterday I planted my baby tree and I look forward to nurturing it as it grows up. My medal tree!
So the race was going well, I was pushing at a comfortable pace averaging around 6 minutes a kilometer, I hit the 10km mark at 59 minutes and carried on like that, until just before 15km my right hamstring said howzit and cramped up suddenly like never before. It was like a shooting pain down my leg. I had to stop and stretch and rub but then carried on. It was quite painful for a while but I ran through it, though my pace was down considerably, the last 6km was uncomfortable so I lost a fair bit of time.Despite the cramp and headphone hassles I still pulled off a personal best for a 21km, beating my previous time by only a minute, it's still an improvement. It was actually more than aminute because the race was longer than 21.1km by 370m.
I'm expecting Two Oceans to be a similar time. It's unlikely I'll finish much quicker than that because of all the people, I'll be one of 16,000 runners doing that one which is a hell of a lot of people on the road to navigate through, there are always rows of idiots moving slowly that the rest of us have to run around, at the big races they're like waves rolling along the road. Except these waves you can'r ride, though I'd like to run over them sometimes!
Colin my running buddy generally always finishes ahead of me, usually the 10km he comes in around 5 minutes before me, so had it not been for my cramp this time we'd probably have finished around the same time yesterday. At Two Oceans I'm seeded in group C, he's back in D starting 10 minutes after me, he reckons he'll catch me by halfway, I reckon I'll be waiting for him at the finish line. Hahaha.
On another note, this story of Facebook being blocked at work is really annoying. There's photo's on there from yesterday's event that I need to now email to myself from my phone to access on my PC to upload to this blog. On the plus side, I'll take out my frustration by writing to my blog more often, as is happening!
Happy Monday y'all, have an awesome week!
Friday, 11 March 2016
Waiting waiting waiting...
One of my pet hates in this life is waiting. I'm an inherently impatient human being with a restless personality, to have to hang around pointlessly and wait causes chemical friction in my brain that makes my blood boil and my hackles rise to the point that I'm in a bad mood for hours.
This is what's happening right now. I finished work at 3, wife won't be out before 3.45. So I have to sit in the hot car and wait. Were it not for my mobile phone to keep busy I would probably lose my nut and go mad! At least now I've got this newly discovered Blogger app to take my frustrations out on. The worry is through frustrating I might hammer a hole in my phone screen soon.
Usually when wife will be this late I'll go have a beer at the golf club down the road, but today I plan to go to gym when we get home, so beer is not an option. So this waiting is cutting into my weekend time and plans, the details of which are two posts back. This winds me up seriously because it's precious time lost, wasted, time I'll never get back from the limited time left steadily decreasing until death stops my finite clock.
I suppose I have to understand that she has to be late for work commitments, so it's just tuff shit for me, no point in getting upset and making a scene because then I become the asshole.
Tick tock...
You can see I'm not happy.
But so it goes in my world. Just shut up and suck it up.
Apologies, I know I said I'd try to be calmer and more tolerant and less agro. It's not always easy just sucking up thankless expectation and getting crap for being annoyed.
I hate waiting!!
Tick tock tick tock...
Blogger App
I've just discovered the Blogger app for my phone! This is great, now I can get all dramatic or talk rubbish on the go without upsetting people on Facebook.
Love it!
And upload mobile photos with long stories!
You best get the popcorn stocked up...
It's the weeeekend baby!!!!
Ha ha ha!
Yeah, so, about me, as usual, because this blog is all about Mr. Vain over here (you might have noticed by the previous post from yesterday with the 3 cheesy selfies taken within hours of each other.) I'm actually not vain at all, I'm a rather humble dude, for the most part, who's busy munching on a super healthy chicken mayo pie, it has a lot of pastry and not much chicken mayo filling. Que the heartburn in about half an hour. So yeah, besides humble and slightly vain, I'm aslo a dumbass because I know this shit is unhealthy and not all that wonderful but still I buy it because popping down to the local Bonjour garage shop the pies always look so much tastier than the bland salads, pasta's, sandwiches, etc at the deli counter. Must be the warm lighting used to sell more pies. And I've always had a soft spot for pies. In my younger years they got me through many a desperate bout of the munchies!
Well that went sideways!
About the weekend, my plans anyway (with supporting stories):
This evening I'll take Tammy for a swim at the gym. She took part in her first school gala yesterday and despite full marks for effort and enthusiasm she didn't win any awards, mainly because the school she came from last year had no swimming pool and the pool she started at this year does so the other kids in her grade have had a few years of swimming training ahead of her. Swimming lessons are expensive, so I've undertaken to get her doing laps in the gym pool at least once a week throughout winter so come next summer when swimming starts again at school she'll hopefully have caught up somewhat.
Thereafter I have some configuration changes I want to try on the electronic drum kit to make it a more realistic layout. It only has one crash and a ride cymbal, so I'm going to turn the middle tom into a ride cymbal (you can configure every pad to make one of 108 different percussion sounds) and set the ride to be a second crash. Also secure the kick and raise the hats a bit and get the snare at the sweet spot.
Boring drum talk. I love it!
Then I plan to work on my selection of hard rock and metal on my phone to listen to while running. That's my new thing - listening to music while I run. But my initial selection of tunes is not all ideal. For example, I love the band Cradle of Filth, it's serious death metal, but it doesn't really do it for me while running, throws me off with all of Danny's screaming. The more uptempo hard rock type stuff works better, and it helps to be at around 180bpm as that's around my running cadence so it motivates me to keep a good rhythm going while running. Also, a good rock tune that I know creates a bit of entertainment, when the build up in the song breaks I get excited and air-drum while I'm running. It gives me quite an adrenaline rush and a spurt of energy but I probably look like an idiot! I'm not bothered by that! Maybe one day I'll become legendary as the runner who drums while running! Haha
Tomorrow I need to go collect my race pack for Sunday's race at Sportsmans Warehouse, and I want to try find some non-cotton running underpants. I get terrible thigh and crotch chafe on long runs which burns like hell and I've realised it's from cotton jocks (I don't run commando! The bouncing is uncomfortable). I know that cotton and sweat doesn't work together, but dumbass here didn't click that part with jocks. Last week I bought a pair of tights which I ran a 10km in which helped, but with jocks, tights and my club running shorts made four layers (the shorts have a lining) which made for a small oven that slow roasted the family jewels. So, if the technical strapless underwear are affordable I'll try them with the shorts and use that for the long road runs and save the tights for trail runs.
Then the fun starts, we are joining a school outing to Ratanga junction. I'll probably go on the Cobra roller coaster again for the first time since my early twenties. Hopefully the old ticker holds strong and the stomach holds it's contents. Maybe I should sit at the back just in case!
Tomorrow night Tammy is having a sleepover at a friend. Something we've only done once before for non-grandparents. She's very excited, I'm a bit nervous. But I suppose as parents we all have to start letting go at some point, though I wish we didn't have to! I'd rather keep her close where I can protect her always! I'm sure she'll be fine, worrisome dad will be forgotten as soon as I'm out of sight.
On Sunday the friends she's staying with will come to our place for a braai and a few much deserved drinks. I say deserved because on Sunday morning, very early and far away I'm running the Milkwood Half Marathon out near Kommetjie. It's my second 21km for the year, a race I'm really looking forward to but also apprehensive about since I know my training lately has not been where it should be! Eating pies for lunch (and the eisbein I had last night) doesn't help much either! The race route is one of the most scenic around, so between the views, my music and lots of tight hot runners ass to motivate my pace I'm sure it will be a good run! Usually these races are awarded with a medal for finishing, this one apparently the first 2000 runners gets an indigenous tree to take home. So after pounding the road for 21.1km I still have to go home and do some gardening! Great!
That's my weekend, in a nutshell! I hope you all have an awesome one, I'll write another blog next week!
You see, this banishment of Facebook at work has had the positive effect of getting me writing a load of crap on my blog again for the duration of my lunch break, even though this overshoots my allocated 30 minute break, which Facebook never did. Once I start writing I have to finish or it will preoccupy my thoughts until I come back and finish, proof read and publish.
Waffling again...
Thursday, 10 March 2016
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}
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.
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.
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!
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. |
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... |
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. |
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!
Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Lazy ass!
So, I'm going through this dilemma at the moment which is rather frustrating, and confusing...
During the day while I sit at my desk at work, making like I'm working, I'm constantly thinking about running. It's kind of like an addiction of sorts; I think about it, I read running related articles on various running websites and Facebook pages, I check the online schedules for forthcoming road and trail running races, and when I find a nice race I book a spot. For the first three quarters of the day I wish I could just go out and run, and I look forward to going for a run.
But, by the end of the day, after a long tedious day of parking on my arse in front of my computer, I go home and that desire to run all day is gone. I no longer have the desire or inclination to go and run, or exercise. Like yesterday, all day I looked forward to going to the gym for a workout and a good run on the treadmill. By the time I got home I was knackered and hungry, and the prospect of staying home and relaxing with a few whiskeys just seemed more appealing, so I caved, sat in front of my computer and got merrily drunk on a few too many Vat 69's.
Compounding the problem is the fact that for over two weeks I've done zero exercise, because two weeks ago I got the flu and until now I'm still recovering with the sniffles and the odd cough. True to experience, when we don't exercise for a while we do get lazy and getting back into it just takes a whole load more effort. I did some sit-ups last week, my abs burned for 3 days afterwards!
The plan today, like yesterday, is to hit the gym this evening after work, and as I write this (in my lunch break), the idea of going for that workout and a run is exciting, but I know that by 5pm this afternoon that excitement will be dead, flat, gone, and another evening will be wasted and tomorrow another self-inflicted guilt trip will be hanging over my head, and possibly another hangover!
Oh, btw, Two Oceans entries open tomorrow for next years race! Two Oceans is like my annual goal, this next one I plan to pull off a sub 2 hour time for the 21.1km race, from a group C seeding. For this to happen I need to get out there and train hard, which means actually putting shoes on my feet and going running instead of sitting at home being lazy and packing on the blubber I fought so hard to lose in the last few months!
Maybe this is the psycho-therapy necessary to get that motivation in the right place - writing about it on my blog!
Anyway...
And no I'm not going to run during my lunch break, because I use the time to write my blog, and it's only a half hour break to get some grub down my gullet, and there are no showers here, but most importantly there's no way in hell I'm going to run around Epping! Too many dodgy characters around and I'd be smoking truck fumes all the way!
So lets hope this evening I'll have the "want" to got to the gym.
I'm not making excuses, but the other problem I still have is no decent running shoes. I've been running in my old New Balance shoes which are worn, old and uncomfortable. The Puma's I bought earlier this year are stuffed, completely unwearable. So this does also put me off because running in crap shoes does not instill confidence. It would be so much more encouraging if I could look forward to slipping my feet into a decent pair of comfortable shoes. So I think this year I'm going to bite the bullet and buy myself a new pair for Christmas. Then next year will be a good year for running!
Enough moaning about being poor, lunch break is over.
During the day while I sit at my desk at work, making like I'm working, I'm constantly thinking about running. It's kind of like an addiction of sorts; I think about it, I read running related articles on various running websites and Facebook pages, I check the online schedules for forthcoming road and trail running races, and when I find a nice race I book a spot. For the first three quarters of the day I wish I could just go out and run, and I look forward to going for a run.
But, by the end of the day, after a long tedious day of parking on my arse in front of my computer, I go home and that desire to run all day is gone. I no longer have the desire or inclination to go and run, or exercise. Like yesterday, all day I looked forward to going to the gym for a workout and a good run on the treadmill. By the time I got home I was knackered and hungry, and the prospect of staying home and relaxing with a few whiskeys just seemed more appealing, so I caved, sat in front of my computer and got merrily drunk on a few too many Vat 69's.
Compounding the problem is the fact that for over two weeks I've done zero exercise, because two weeks ago I got the flu and until now I'm still recovering with the sniffles and the odd cough. True to experience, when we don't exercise for a while we do get lazy and getting back into it just takes a whole load more effort. I did some sit-ups last week, my abs burned for 3 days afterwards!
The plan today, like yesterday, is to hit the gym this evening after work, and as I write this (in my lunch break), the idea of going for that workout and a run is exciting, but I know that by 5pm this afternoon that excitement will be dead, flat, gone, and another evening will be wasted and tomorrow another self-inflicted guilt trip will be hanging over my head, and possibly another hangover!
Oh, btw, Two Oceans entries open tomorrow for next years race! Two Oceans is like my annual goal, this next one I plan to pull off a sub 2 hour time for the 21.1km race, from a group C seeding. For this to happen I need to get out there and train hard, which means actually putting shoes on my feet and going running instead of sitting at home being lazy and packing on the blubber I fought so hard to lose in the last few months!
Maybe this is the psycho-therapy necessary to get that motivation in the right place - writing about it on my blog!
Anyway...
And no I'm not going to run during my lunch break, because I use the time to write my blog, and it's only a half hour break to get some grub down my gullet, and there are no showers here, but most importantly there's no way in hell I'm going to run around Epping! Too many dodgy characters around and I'd be smoking truck fumes all the way!
So lets hope this evening I'll have the "want" to got to the gym.
I'm not making excuses, but the other problem I still have is no decent running shoes. I've been running in my old New Balance shoes which are worn, old and uncomfortable. The Puma's I bought earlier this year are stuffed, completely unwearable. So this does also put me off because running in crap shoes does not instill confidence. It would be so much more encouraging if I could look forward to slipping my feet into a decent pair of comfortable shoes. So I think this year I'm going to bite the bullet and buy myself a new pair for Christmas. Then next year will be a good year for running!
Enough moaning about being poor, lunch break is over.
Monday, 9 November 2015
A lifestyle journey
This is one of those random "let's write a quick blog during lunch" moments. Lets see what comes out of it...
For starters, as many of my Facebook friends saw a few days ago, I've passed the 3 month milestone since quitting smoking, again. I realise these non-smoker timeline announcements don't quite have the same exciting impact as they did the first time I quit in November 2012, after being a relatively heavy smoker since the age of 18. That was a big occasion, one to be proud of and one I was very chaffed with myself over as was everybody who knew me. So it goes without saying that starting up again last year was probably the dumbest thing I've ever done. It started as just a puff at a party, then bummed a whole smoke on the sneak like a naughty schoolboy, before long I very guiltily (I recall that moment clearly) bought a packet of Styvesant Blue, and for a few months gradually built up the momentum and a solid addiction all the while doing it on the sly, too embarrassed to let my family find out. One of my lowest ever life moments was when my daughter Tammy caught me, her absolute disappointment broke my heart. But at the same time came as a relief that I no longer had to sneak around since most people now knew and I'd learned to smoke away the embarrassment. The addiction which had taken a solid grip on my brain was stronger than my shame. So I suppose when I quit again this time round I can accept that people probably take it less seriously. But the difference is I know what a ridiculously stupid thing it was to light up again, and this time I will stick to not smoking for life because I'm psychologically ready, fully aware that I don't need that poison in my system for any reason and the only excuse to ever smoke again will be pathetic, disconcerted weakness. I couldn't bear doing that to Tammy again! Besides, part of the motivation to quit this time round has been the running and fitness. My lungs simply cannot handle where I'm trying to take my body. I nearly barfed my lungs out on the track on that first trail run in August, was so out of breath I had to stop, wheezing and gasping fighting to get some oxygen back in my veins. That's when I realised I have a choice: to carry on smoking and getting fat from laziness and progressively unhealthy and ugly and probably die in the next few years in great discomfort and shameful misery, or quit that shit and get fit and healthy and handsome and enjoy a longer life looking decent and feeling strong, confident and alive.
Why we actually allow ourselves to get to that point where we realise we have to make that life or death choice is beyond comprehension. But that's what these addictions to these bad lifestyle choices do, they manipulate us gradually over time, weakening our resolve into believing that the unhealthy lifestyle (smoking, drinking, eating crap and doing no exercise) is easier, and as time goes on the prospect of getting fit and healthy seems more and more impossible and less likely (and we can all admit that the desire to get healthy, quit smoking, etc is always there harassing our conscience, but just not strong enough to kick our fat arses into action!) And yes, making that change, that lifestyle U-turn, from the point where I was 4 months ago, is a daunting task, a massively steep uphill, one that appears almost impossible. A decision that's too easy to postpone to "another day". But I realised that it's a choice that simply has to be made if I'm going to be around to see my daughter grow up. And yes, it is difficult, especially at the beginning, it takes a lot of effort to eat right, exercise often, while dealing with withdrawal from an awful drug addiction to nicotine, but it gets easier. The cravings for a smoke are completely gone, each run or workout gets easier and becomes more enjoyable, and eating the right stuff becomes normal. Eg. I'm now enjoying coffee without sugar, or any form of sweetener. Coffee with sugar is actually gross! I see sweeteners for coffee in the same light as nicotine patches/gums/etc as replacements for smoking. You're still feeding the addiction. It's like feeding an alcoholic vodka through intravenous drips to help quit "drinking". It's pointless! I avoid sugar as far as possible, no coke & other sodas, no sweets & cakes, condiments like chutney, etc. That alone makes a huge difference to weight loss and well being. The other half of the diet is to avoid carbs (bread, wheat, pasta, taters, rice, etc) as far as possible, while allowing these in small moderation as a treat and not a staple. But it is hard work preparing carb-less food, and rather expensive. Vegetables are stupidly expensive! No wonder we are a nation of fat slobs, people live on grain based food because it's cheap!
Anyway, the exercise thing has taken a back seat for the last two weeks since I came down with a bad dose of flu, I can feel the laziness setting in again; this evening I'll once more brave the chaos of the gym for a good cardio and strength workout. I'm excited to get back into the routine. On Saturday a bunch of us are doing the Winelads 10km race, I'm looking forward to that. The weight loss has flatlined for a while now, it's time to bend that curve back down again toward that target which is what I am now minus another 15kg.
So on other news, this last weekend was hectic busy, except Friday night, I took that easy in anticipation for a long Saturday... which started off at 5am as a marshal for the West Coast half marathon. My first time marshaling a race and have to say I quite enjoyed it. Every race we run is hosted by the local running club, and that club's members volunteer as the marshals, this keeps the cost of races to a minimum while the club earns a bit of valuable income. Since I run often these days I felt it only fair to do my share of marshaling.
I can see how often marshals are perceived to be on power trips, because one does have momentarily the power of directing and channeling a lot of people and the power to stop and control traffic. Which I did a lot of, though it wasn't an arrogant thing, I've seen marshals who do get big-headed and they tend to piss people off and make fools of themselves. I really enjoyed the vibe and the appreciation of thousands of runners in helping them enjoy a smoother run. I met some nice people, and saw a lot of cheeky bums in tight pants trotting past!
Thereafter I went home, made breakfast, got the car washed, then we hit the road for the familiar 4 hour road trip to Witsand for my dad's 60th birthday dinner. Albeit a short visit I really enjoyed it especially because my adorable little old Granny was there. I don't get to see her often, and for the first time ever we had 4 generations of the family together with my brother and I, our kids, dad and gran, which of course we had to get a photo of.
A rare moment indeed, and a precious one. Granny is getting on in life, it's unlikely this same photo will ever be re-created. Anyway, we had a great dinner, ate and drank merrily as we sent dad off into his 60's. These special family moments don't happen often enough!
On Sunday morning we hit the road back home early, at 6.30am, to make it in time for Tammy to perform in her drama pirate production, "Pirate Joe". It was the year end culmination of 2 terms of Drama as an extra mural with the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy. The show was super cute, I got lots of photo's which I don't have with me now, I'll post some of them up later, after gym. My little girl was a super star, even though her part was small, she did so well, once again I'm the proudest dad in town!
Then last night we ordered pizza as a treat for Tammy, and I was guilty of ingesting all those evil carbs, but it was a rare treat which we enjoyed. I washed it down with a few enjoyable stiff whiskeys to end off a hectic weekend.
You see, that's my next vice that I need to tackle - the drinking. Although for health reasons I generally only drink whiskey with water or soda, I know I drink far more than is good for me. My alcoholism is another addiction which still has a tight grip and I'm not sure how to tackle this one, as some of you may know this is something I've been battling alone for many years, a while back I even had a blog about it called Diary of a Dipsomaniac, but don't bother looking for it, I took that one down long time ago. It got rather embarrassingly personal as I wrote long posts while I was zonked, feeling sorry for myself and moaning about the woe's of my life. That's not the case now, I don't have pity parties, I know what the problem is, I just need to find a way to deal with it which will probably involve psychological preparation and a change of mindset like when I quit smoking. Except this will be a lot harder! Don't ask me why, it just will!
But that will come in due course, my last big hurdle of the road to fit & healthy longevity, providing I can avoid the proverbial bus on the way!
Have a nice day, I need to go earn some peanuts...
 |
| Enjoying a local craft beer yesterday at Obz Cafe while Tammy did dress rehearsal for her concert. |
Why we actually allow ourselves to get to that point where we realise we have to make that life or death choice is beyond comprehension. But that's what these addictions to these bad lifestyle choices do, they manipulate us gradually over time, weakening our resolve into believing that the unhealthy lifestyle (smoking, drinking, eating crap and doing no exercise) is easier, and as time goes on the prospect of getting fit and healthy seems more and more impossible and less likely (and we can all admit that the desire to get healthy, quit smoking, etc is always there harassing our conscience, but just not strong enough to kick our fat arses into action!) And yes, making that change, that lifestyle U-turn, from the point where I was 4 months ago, is a daunting task, a massively steep uphill, one that appears almost impossible. A decision that's too easy to postpone to "another day". But I realised that it's a choice that simply has to be made if I'm going to be around to see my daughter grow up. And yes, it is difficult, especially at the beginning, it takes a lot of effort to eat right, exercise often, while dealing with withdrawal from an awful drug addiction to nicotine, but it gets easier. The cravings for a smoke are completely gone, each run or workout gets easier and becomes more enjoyable, and eating the right stuff becomes normal. Eg. I'm now enjoying coffee without sugar, or any form of sweetener. Coffee with sugar is actually gross! I see sweeteners for coffee in the same light as nicotine patches/gums/etc as replacements for smoking. You're still feeding the addiction. It's like feeding an alcoholic vodka through intravenous drips to help quit "drinking". It's pointless! I avoid sugar as far as possible, no coke & other sodas, no sweets & cakes, condiments like chutney, etc. That alone makes a huge difference to weight loss and well being. The other half of the diet is to avoid carbs (bread, wheat, pasta, taters, rice, etc) as far as possible, while allowing these in small moderation as a treat and not a staple. But it is hard work preparing carb-less food, and rather expensive. Vegetables are stupidly expensive! No wonder we are a nation of fat slobs, people live on grain based food because it's cheap!
Anyway, the exercise thing has taken a back seat for the last two weeks since I came down with a bad dose of flu, I can feel the laziness setting in again; this evening I'll once more brave the chaos of the gym for a good cardio and strength workout. I'm excited to get back into the routine. On Saturday a bunch of us are doing the Winelads 10km race, I'm looking forward to that. The weight loss has flatlined for a while now, it's time to bend that curve back down again toward that target which is what I am now minus another 15kg.
So on other news, this last weekend was hectic busy, except Friday night, I took that easy in anticipation for a long Saturday... which started off at 5am as a marshal for the West Coast half marathon. My first time marshaling a race and have to say I quite enjoyed it. Every race we run is hosted by the local running club, and that club's members volunteer as the marshals, this keeps the cost of races to a minimum while the club earns a bit of valuable income. Since I run often these days I felt it only fair to do my share of marshaling.
I can see how often marshals are perceived to be on power trips, because one does have momentarily the power of directing and channeling a lot of people and the power to stop and control traffic. Which I did a lot of, though it wasn't an arrogant thing, I've seen marshals who do get big-headed and they tend to piss people off and make fools of themselves. I really enjoyed the vibe and the appreciation of thousands of runners in helping them enjoy a smoother run. I met some nice people, and saw a lot of cheeky bums in tight pants trotting past!
Thereafter I went home, made breakfast, got the car washed, then we hit the road for the familiar 4 hour road trip to Witsand for my dad's 60th birthday dinner. Albeit a short visit I really enjoyed it especially because my adorable little old Granny was there. I don't get to see her often, and for the first time ever we had 4 generations of the family together with my brother and I, our kids, dad and gran, which of course we had to get a photo of.
 |
| Me, my dad, granny (dad's mom), my brother Warryn, my daughter Tammy and Warryn's daughter Jess. |
On Sunday morning we hit the road back home early, at 6.30am, to make it in time for Tammy to perform in her drama pirate production, "Pirate Joe". It was the year end culmination of 2 terms of Drama as an extra mural with the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy. The show was super cute, I got lots of photo's which I don't have with me now, I'll post some of them up later, after gym. My little girl was a super star, even though her part was small, she did so well, once again I'm the proudest dad in town!
Then last night we ordered pizza as a treat for Tammy, and I was guilty of ingesting all those evil carbs, but it was a rare treat which we enjoyed. I washed it down with a few enjoyable stiff whiskeys to end off a hectic weekend.
You see, that's my next vice that I need to tackle - the drinking. Although for health reasons I generally only drink whiskey with water or soda, I know I drink far more than is good for me. My alcoholism is another addiction which still has a tight grip and I'm not sure how to tackle this one, as some of you may know this is something I've been battling alone for many years, a while back I even had a blog about it called Diary of a Dipsomaniac, but don't bother looking for it, I took that one down long time ago. It got rather embarrassingly personal as I wrote long posts while I was zonked, feeling sorry for myself and moaning about the woe's of my life. That's not the case now, I don't have pity parties, I know what the problem is, I just need to find a way to deal with it which will probably involve psychological preparation and a change of mindset like when I quit smoking. Except this will be a lot harder! Don't ask me why, it just will!
But that will come in due course, my last big hurdle of the road to fit & healthy longevity, providing I can avoid the proverbial bus on the way!
Have a nice day, I need to go earn some peanuts...
 |
| Granny, Tammy and me. |
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
Escape!
It's days like today that I would like nothing more than to jump in my Land Rover and disappear for a few days deep into the wilderness, alone with my camera and a few bare necessities. Out of range of cell phone reception or modern communication networks.
Days like today when the pressure of making the right decisions becomes too heavy a burden to bear, I wish I could just run away and escape the responsibility of making said decisions which either way are going to upset people I care about. I hate hurting people, yet somehow that just seems to come naturally with me! I land myself in the middle of situations which inevitable cause somebody else anguish or inconvenience.
This story about Christmas, and cancelling out the expensive aspects to it, is really becoming awkward and uncomfortable. I'm dreading explaining to my parents that we won't be attending their usual Christmas events because of financial limitations due to the cost of putting Tammy into a better school. I simply can't afford the cost of buying gifts and expensive meals and long distance travel this year, but somehow, without even having faced the music, I'm feeling horribly guilty and foolish, like I'm letting everybody down and causing major inconveniences and unpleasantness, which is not the intention!
And here we have the type of reasons why I hate Christmas! It's never a happy time to look forward to, it's a miserable, stressful, depressing time riddled with guilt trips! I've not done anything wrong! Why do I feel so bad? And sad!
One of these days I'd like to write a blog about something happy and positive...
Days like today when the pressure of making the right decisions becomes too heavy a burden to bear, I wish I could just run away and escape the responsibility of making said decisions which either way are going to upset people I care about. I hate hurting people, yet somehow that just seems to come naturally with me! I land myself in the middle of situations which inevitable cause somebody else anguish or inconvenience.
This story about Christmas, and cancelling out the expensive aspects to it, is really becoming awkward and uncomfortable. I'm dreading explaining to my parents that we won't be attending their usual Christmas events because of financial limitations due to the cost of putting Tammy into a better school. I simply can't afford the cost of buying gifts and expensive meals and long distance travel this year, but somehow, without even having faced the music, I'm feeling horribly guilty and foolish, like I'm letting everybody down and causing major inconveniences and unpleasantness, which is not the intention!
And here we have the type of reasons why I hate Christmas! It's never a happy time to look forward to, it's a miserable, stressful, depressing time riddled with guilt trips! I've not done anything wrong! Why do I feel so bad? And sad!
One of these days I'd like to write a blog about something happy and positive...
Christmas is Cancelled
Tammy will still get some nice gifts, the main one we already bought a while back, and we will make Christmas special for her, but we are pulling out of the family events and cancelling our travelling plans for the December holidays.
The reason being, we're moving Tammy to a different school in 2016, which I'll elaborate below. The move involves a large deposit (refundable when she leaves the school) which we were hoping to get help with from a family member who has unfortunately been unable to come to the party, meaning we've had to come up with R40k at short notice, which we've done through credit, but it means that for the foreseeable future we have zero disposable cash for anything other than bare necessities. This means no money for travelling and no money for Christmas gifts for anybody, even small ones.
This is a regrettable decision, one we are sad about, and one that will no doubt cause some shit in the family because it means we're dropping people and there are less presents to go under the collective tree. Believe me I'd love nothing more than to have no restrictions on the amount of money available to buy everybody wonderful gifts which they can be impressed with and love me more for, but unfortunately this decision is because we are striving to provide our only child with the best possible education and foundation for a good life, and at times like this means sacrifice and some inconvenience. Although saying that, it's not really a terrible thing for us. We'll be fine on our own, we'll have a pleasant little family Christmas at home and a nice quiet holiday. It'll be like we're still abroad, and we were quite happy back then. Though I don't expect everybody will be quite understanding of the situation, this is what it is and we'll do what we have to to make it work.
About the school; we are really sad to be leaving the CBC family. Tammy has been there since grade 00 through grade 0, R, 1 and 2. She's been happy, made lots of friends and her teachers have mostly been nothing short of incredible. We will miss the people at CBC and are grateful for them being instrumental in shaping Tammy into the awesome little girl she's developed into. But, the school has also started to fall by the wayside as far as management is concerned. Apart from having consistently appalling communication, the school seems to be having financial difficulties, the pressure of which is being passed onto the parents in the form of a 12% fee increase for 2016 which they cannot reasonably justify. The financial presentation offered to the parents last week was poor, inconclusive and indicative that the school is pulling the wool over our eyes. The school is a full NPO, meaning there are zero resources to fall back on and parent school fees are the only source of income. This is a big burden and a concern because if times get tighter there will be problems, and there are minimal funds for development like building a swimming pool or secure fencing between the kids and the drug dealers on the main road. Additional funds will need to come from our pockets too in the form of various fundraisers, should the school take on new projects.
The new school we're moving to, Elkanah House, is a highly spoken of school, one of the best in the Cape Town region, and although more expensive than CBC it has all the facilities like a pool, auditorium, great extra murals, etc on site. The teachers are world class, the school is small and well established, and is financially secure. It's generally a better school than CBC and we're fortunate to have bagged a spot for Tammy for grade 3. It's a big decision but one we've thought through and discussed extensively.
It just means we'll need to bite the bullet for a while until the deposit is paid off. We also need to buy new school uniforms, school bags, stationery, etc which also amounts to a lot of money which we need to come up with.
So hopefully this explains satisfactorily why we are cancelling Christmas this year - we had to choose between Christmas and Tammy's education. Sorry but it's a no brainer!
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
The Burden of Christmas
What have we done to Christmas?
It's no longer what it used to be, what it's meant to be, which in my mind is a happy time spent with our families celebrating the birthday of Christ as good Christians should. A day of fun, laughter, good food and drink and unwinding together after a long year of toiling at the grindstone with the usual cheesy Christmas music in the background.
Instead Christmas has become the obligatory period of annual commercialism, the stressful time of being expected to spend vast amounts of money we don't have on Christmas presents. A time for shitting over what to buy for who and how much we have to spend on each person. A time of enormous stress and pressure to impress people who should love each other unconditionally, irrespective of who spends the most on who!
Christmas has become a luxury for the rich and a financial burden for the poor!
I rate myself in the bracket of being relatively poor as far as disposable income is concerned, I do not have spare cash for lavish gifts for everybody that I'm obliged to supply gifts for, this time of year for me is nothing but unpleasant stress over the looming massive financial burden, and to be honest, since returning from our 8 years abroad, away from this burden, I have come to HATE Christmas more and more each year. It causes fights between my wife and I and I have the stressful worry of what the hell do I buy for the people on the list I'm obliged to buy for and how am I going to afford it! Why has it become about this? Personally, Christmas is depressing! And no doubt I'm an asshole for thinking that way, because people are selfish!
I'm sure many will disagree with this sentiment and come with all kinds of crap like being creative and keeping it cheap! Well I'm not creative like that, I do not know what to make or buy for people, I don't know what people want or need, and worrying about it only makes me angry and resent this whole commercial culture of Christmas even more. Inevitably the result is having to trudge through shopping malls looking for gifts, or even worse, getting dragged through shopping malls for hours on end by my wife. There is nothing I enjoy less than getting dragged around shopping malls. My dear wife can attest to the fact that simply entering a shopping mall makes me intensely grumpy, and having to do that shit in the chaotic weeks preceding Christmas is for me pure painful HELL!!!
Back in the days when we were still in London, Christmas obligations involved a few phone calls back home, thereafter we were free to hook up with friends and go out and enjoy the day without the obligatory financial burden of having to buy stuff for lots of people. A thoughtful gift shared between wife and I was sufficient, the time together enjoying the day was worth far more!
Don't get me wrong, I love my family and I do enjoy spending some time with them, but this sick culture of handing out costly gifts to each other, for which we are being judged on based on how much money we spent on each person, makes me depressed. I cannot spend as much as some people so inevitably end up feeling guilty or left out. Certain people end up with mountains of expensive gifts while others not so much, and one kid usually ends up with more presents to open than the other. It's all disproportionate, it's messy, and at the end of it we are left with large bags of expensive torn-up wrappings and piles of random stuff which inevitably ends up in storage or lying around the home. And of course the kids end up with a mountain of unappreciated toys they barely notice as they rip open one after another, most they will probably only play with once then dump in the bottomless pit of the toy box! It's a big goddamned waste!
That said, I actually don't mind the kids getting some nice gifts, that's how it should be - gifts for the kids, the adults should not be obliged to buy stuff for each other. I do appreciate the gifts I get, very much, but it's usually stuff I don't need or don't use. How many bottles of shower gel I've collected over the years I can't tell you, and I've never used shower gel!
So what now, how does one escape this expectation to spend money on expensive gifts without being offensive? I've tried making the suggestion before that we only get gifts for the kids and not adults, but those who can afford to buy for everybody also expect to receive lavish gifts to open in the frenzy of present opening, which for some of us happens two or three times as we go to different groups of family. So of course the obligation cannot be ignored! Each year my wife and I discuss going away over Christmas to avoid all this, but in reality it won't help because despite sucking up the cost of travelling we will still be obliged to supply gifts for the same people, whether we see them on Christmas or not, because they have bought stuff for us! And of course we'll be perceived to be rude for not attending family functions over Christmas, and we'll be guilted for denying Tammy the opportunity to open huge piles of presents.
I realise this will be seen as one of my more controversial rants which no doubt will be taken far more personally by some than is intended, but this is just the way I feel. I hate Christmas and the culture that Christmas has become about. It's actually a depressing time and I would rather skip it all and disappear out into the wilderness, away from the madness! I doubt my absence would even be noticed.
But, that joy of fast forwarding past it all is not to be. No doubt my wife and I will have numerous more fights over what to buy for who and who is paying for what, then I'll get dragged miserably through Canal Walk a few times spending what precious little money I don't have on menial gifts to wrap, before we head off to mom's place for the usual Christmas Eve gift opening fiasco and then to Witsand for more of the same, the rest of the time at both spent on cooking, eating enormous volumes of food, and cleaning up. Then before you look again it's over, and we're fat and broke with bags of arb stuff to find place for in our cluttered homes and a fresh new gutter of debt to fill up.
Happy f***ng Christmas everybody!
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
Stupid stupid everywhere!!!
I'm writing this blog, not out of well informed information and experience, but rather as a frustrated spectator, a furious member of society watching yet another disaster unfolding in my beloved country at the hands of a bunch of opportunistic, idiotic, violent thugs who are bringing the entire nations tertiary education institutions to a standstill through riots and hooliganism in the name of an otherwise just cause!
"phew, deep breath"!
Of course I'm talking about the protests escalating into riots at South Africa's universities.
I've been following the news, listening to interviews and reading the forums so I may not have all the facts but I have a decent idea of what's going on...
"phew, deep breath"!
Of course I'm talking about the protests escalating into riots at South Africa's universities.
I've been following the news, listening to interviews and reading the forums so I may not have all the facts but I have a decent idea of what's going on...
Tuesday, 20 October 2015
Rabbit food again!
Oh man I'm so over lettuce leaves, cucumber and baby/plum/cherry tomatoes! Seriously!
I'm enjoying doing the healthy thing and for the most part my lunch salads are great, especially when I've taken the time to cook up some spicy chicken and croutons for the week. But for the lettuce (etc) leaves especially - I'm done with that now! Any more and I'm going to spout rabbit ears, teeth like Naas Botha, and a pair of plump tomatoes dangling between my legs!
Solution: need to get more creative with lunches, while keeping it affordable, healthy and simple to slap together in the 10 minutes time allows for making lunches during the morning rush to get ready and off to work on time!
I'm enjoying doing the healthy thing and for the most part my lunch salads are great, especially when I've taken the time to cook up some spicy chicken and croutons for the week. But for the lettuce (etc) leaves especially - I'm done with that now! Any more and I'm going to spout rabbit ears, teeth like Naas Botha, and a pair of plump tomatoes dangling between my legs!
 |
| Today's salad - lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, feta, chopped olives, raisins, mixed seeds, tuna and lemon juice. |
Solution: need to get more creative with lunches, while keeping it affordable, healthy and simple to slap together in the 10 minutes time allows for making lunches during the morning rush to get ready and off to work on time!
Thursday, 8 October 2015
Pre-matric dance photo shoot
Last week I was hired (by my boss) to photograph a couple of youngsters before they headed off to their matric dance at my old school, Fairmont High in Durbanville.
There were two parts to the shoot. First stop was at Altydgedacht Wine Farm near Durbanville. I arrived to find my boss' son Mark and his date for the dance, Talia, busy with a photo shoot by a photographer hired by Talia's family, which I didn't expect. I kept my distance until they were done then I took over and did my shoot under some trees and in a spectacular field of flowers. This took about half an hour. Talia was a treat to shoot, very photogenic and beautiful girl.
Then, I took Mark and we headed down the road to the D'Aria wine estate, we left Talia behind at Altydgedacht waiting for her dad to collect her.
At D'Aria we hooked up with Mark's family, and his girlfriend all dolled up for some photo's. I then proceeded to photograph Mark and his girlfriend, then later with his family and some mates from school.
The whole setup was rather odd, but anyway, I wasn't hired to comment! I'm quite happy with the resulting images, below is a selection:
There were two parts to the shoot. First stop was at Altydgedacht Wine Farm near Durbanville. I arrived to find my boss' son Mark and his date for the dance, Talia, busy with a photo shoot by a photographer hired by Talia's family, which I didn't expect. I kept my distance until they were done then I took over and did my shoot under some trees and in a spectacular field of flowers. This took about half an hour. Talia was a treat to shoot, very photogenic and beautiful girl.
Then, I took Mark and we headed down the road to the D'Aria wine estate, we left Talia behind at Altydgedacht waiting for her dad to collect her.
At D'Aria we hooked up with Mark's family, and his girlfriend all dolled up for some photo's. I then proceeded to photograph Mark and his girlfriend, then later with his family and some mates from school.
The whole setup was rather odd, but anyway, I wasn't hired to comment! I'm quite happy with the resulting images, below is a selection:
Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Full-fat vs. fat-free - the controversy.
Ok I'm by no means an expert on this debate between whether low-fat/fat-free or full-fat foods are better for diet and weight loss! I've always believed that low fat or fat free products, particularly dairy, is beneficial in losing weight, in conjunction with cutting out fatty products like trimming fat off steak and chops (this I hate, the fat is the best part), and cutting out as many oils and oily foods as possible; along with carbs and sugars for which there's little dispute - carbs turn to sugars and sugars are poisonous to our bodies!
But after doing research lately and listening to many other opinions, brought on by the recent craze around the Banting and Paleo type diets I've been convinced that keeping the fat in the food, such as the fat on meat and full cream milk, yoghurt, etc is indeed not only healthy, but also beneficial in losing weight!
Now I'm not going to go into all the technicalities just yet because I'm still learning and gathering facts, which is hampered by the vastly conflicting views on the subject in publications by "experts" having studied the issue of fats from various perspectives, and whether they are good for us or not and by what degrees and breakdowns by types and food sources, etc. Eg,
But after doing research lately and listening to many other opinions, brought on by the recent craze around the Banting and Paleo type diets I've been convinced that keeping the fat in the food, such as the fat on meat and full cream milk, yoghurt, etc is indeed not only healthy, but also beneficial in losing weight!
Now I'm not going to go into all the technicalities just yet because I'm still learning and gathering facts, which is hampered by the vastly conflicting views on the subject in publications by "experts" having studied the issue of fats from various perspectives, and whether they are good for us or not and by what degrees and breakdowns by types and food sources, etc. Eg,
Monday, 21 September 2015
Sushi Ninja's scoffing Springbok biltong
By now it's common knowledge that the mighty two-time Rugby World Cup winners - the Springboks - were defeated in their opening 2015 RWC game by Japan, a team commonly perceived to be one of the minnows in world rugby. Well this underestimated little team of unknown ninjas caused the biggest upset in World Cup history and one of the biggest embarrassments in the history of the sport; particularly since the Springboks have been bragging about being the most experienced team in the tournament. This boast has also backfired since the iconic loss is now being partly attributed to the poor team selection of a bunch of geriatrics, great legends of their time who have apparently reached the end of their shelf life and should be allowing the fantastic fresh young talent available in this country the opportunity to prove their worth and show how they've learned from the invaluable experience of the old boys!
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