The Good Weekend

Well… good news point no. 1. This morning when I woke up and stared at the bathroom scale there were 2 things going through my mind… please don’t let it have gone up… and please don’t let it have stayed the same either. Not that I feel accountable to anyone other than myself on this issue, but I know now much effort I put in last week (and although I could definitely have been better, compared to my previous eating habits I was an angel). So very tentatively I got on the scale, looked down, got off and let out an almighty WOOP. DOWN 2 kg’s… YEAH. It is so incredibly motivating to actually see the results of your efforts, and this was just the best start to a week. Now to keep up the good work.

Good news point no. 2. No, I haven’t yet bought myself a scanner, however I have temporarily re-housed my brother’s one. This then made for endless amusement this weekend. I have been delving into my various boxes of photos and am slowly (very slowly… it is a VERY SLOW SCANNER) getting them digitized. I then also got myself a Flickr account (see funky little java thingy on the right hand side of page) and have been loading my pictures. However, in 2 short days I have reached my monthly bandwidth limit… luckily the month is over today, so from tomorrow I should be able to start uploading again. This will also give me time to scan the second pile in. At this rate I will be at it till Christmas, but I am having lots of fun in the process.

Good news point no. 3. For a few months now I have been um’ing and ah’ing over trading in my 8 year old Hyundai. The question has been, what am I going to get… should I go new or second hand, should I stay with comfy little 4 door sedan or upgrade to the likes of a Scenic. I am very happy with my little Accent and was ecstatic to hear this recently that they are coming back to SA. This morning my little jalopy is going in for a full valet and on the weekend I am taking the new Accent for a test drive and getting a valuation on my existing one for a trade in. If all goes well, I will be driving around in a brand spanking new car within the next few weeks… my first NEW car... no more second hands for me :)

And the best for last… Good news point no. 4. LIVE are coming back to SA for the third time in a series of concerts on their ‘Songs from Black Mountain’ tour. I was OVER THE MOON when I saw the ad on TV this weekend and immediately got on to computicket to find out the details. The tickets have not yet gone on sale, but as soon as they do you can bet I’ll be first in line.

Fun Friday

Someone really should have put more thought into these.... enjoy, and have a GREAT weekend.

Step 1: Admit you have a problem

OKAY, OKAY, I give… My name is M and I am a CHOCOHOLIC. I will openly admit that I am addicted to chocolate, in the true sense of the work “addict”. Smooth, creamy, milk chocolate to dark bitter-sweet Albany to chocolate on bread, in milk, with a little chili over fillet…Ohhhhhhhh.

Yesterday was the first day since… I don’t know when… I made it through the day without any chocolate, and this is no small feat. Normally, if I manage to keep myself away from the spaza shop downstairs in the building for an afternoon chocolate run (which on average includes 2 or 3 choc’s), I find myself in the throws of cravings in the evening at home, and heaven forbid there actually isn’t any in the house (which is unlikely as I would have eaten it already) then I start to raid the cupboards. Milo, Nesquick, chocolate spread… anything that will give me that satisfaction. This might also be a key factor to the constant weight gain.

Why is it that the things that are the worst for you, taste the best?

BUT Last night I managed, with much willpower, to beat those cravings into submission and stayed away. This is truly a momentous occasion for me, a turning point, the first step on the road to recovery :) I just had a revelation… all I did was swap my addiction to cigarettes… with chocolate. I guess there are worse things to be addicted to.

Pic of the Week

These pic's were taken when my daughter was about 9 months old. We had just moved into our new home and were out exploring the garden together. I cannot believe how quickly time goes by... she is now 7 (going on 14), and thinks she knows everything, but she will always be my angle. I do miss these times though :)

Even back then you could see she wanted to be dancer... she has also always loved being in front of the camera.

Wacky Weekend (in no particular order)

My Saturday evening was spent at Hanover Street at Grand West to see Scarlet Box, Evolver and Prime Circle live… WOW, Amazing, Incredible. I have been a Prime Circle fan for a while now, having first seen them perform when they were the opening act for Live, then again at the Coca-Cola Collab Massive Mix (a.k.a. METALLICA) concert in Cape Town. They are definitely one of S.A.’s foremost Rock bands. They never fail to entertain the crowds, and Saturday was no exception. It was also the first time that I have had the opportunity to see Evolver perform live and boy was it worth it. Their re-make of ‘play that funky music WHIITEE BOOOYYYY’ was awesome. Most people will recognize their hit ‘Let’s get naked’ if they hear it. I will definitely be looking out to see when they are performing in Cape Town again. All in all an INCREDIBLE evening.

This was without a doubt the highlight of my weekend, and seeing as the kids were with dad it didn’t matter that I crawled into bed at 2AM because I could sleep as late as I wanted anyway, which turned out to be 10:30AM. I then had to get up and try to get myself into a reasonable state before fetching the kids and heading off to a friends braai… the invite said ‘come rain, or snow’ we will be braai-ing… and would you know it, we had both. Well snow on the out-of-town mountains, but being true South Africa Manna they stood in the rain and continued with (what Katt has now coined) the meat-tanning session.

Here follow the 2 low points of my weekend…

No.1 – an ever more jealous ex-husband. Yes I said ex, why he thinks he has any right to be jealous is beyond me. And I am not even seeing anyone yet. I don’t know what has got into this man (and I use that term very loosely) lately. I am obviously sending out signals that I am (and have) moved on because he is using every available opportunity to question me about my whereabouts. What gives him the right to ask me questions about where I am going and whom I am going with? And to top it all off, he actually has the audacity to phone me on Saturday morning to check if I am alone, and not even subtly, he blatantly came out and asked me (WHAT THE F&*K). It is truly beyond me.

No. 2 – an impending wardrobe malfunction… well maybe not wardrobe. A couple of years ago I lost 20kg’s (it was needed after giving birth to my second child) and in the process I weeded out all the old clothes that I vowed I would never need again. In the meantime I also decided to give up smoking and have subsequently put at least half of that weight back on. I am now stuck with a wardrobe FULL of clothes that don’t fit me… AARRRGGGGG. I am determined not to go out and buy a whole new set of clothes as I WILL loose this weight (I will, I will, I will, I will). What I have decided is to give me the motivation I would report back here once a week on the progress…. That way I will have you lot on my case if it goes in the wrong direction (that is of course assuming that any of you actually give a shit about this – but at least I will have it on my conscience that it is out there in the land of the public blog for any and all to view). So on the right of the page (below my weekly glittery/blinky thing) will be a record of my progress. It will be set to 0kg’s and 0cm’s today and each Monday morning I will increment it by the amount of weight or centimeters lost in the last week (i.e. positive number means x kg’s lost) Let’s hope this works, if next week you see that it has disappeared completely you will know that it has all gone pear-shaped (literally)

Fun Friday

Complements of Katt... and I hereby summarily TAG everyone who reads this... I will be checking up on you...

1. What is your full name now? Now that would be telling… sorry, but I am keeping my anonymity for now :)
2. What colour pants are you wearing now? Black
3. What are you listening to right now? AFI – Miss Murder (when I started this – now it is Metallica – Nothing Else Matters)
4. What was the last thing you ate? Chicken rooti – breakfast of kings and queens
5. Do you wish on stars? Absolutely
6. If you were a crayon what colour would you be? Purple (read whatever you want into that one)
7. How is the weather right now? Perfect Winter Day
8. Who's the last person you spoke to on the phone? Hhmmmm – let’s get with the times… last SMS to yummy-D
9. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Still getting to know her… but so far YES
10. How old are you today? 28 years young
11. Favorite drink? Mojito – and in the absence thereof, dry white wine (the cause of many a hangover)
12. Favorite sport? Watch=Most Anything, Takepart=Scuba Diving
13. Hair colour? Changes… at the moment Auburn
14. Siblings? A ‘baby’ brother… soon to be 27 years young
15. Favorite food? Sushi and Thai Food
16. What was the last movie you watched? At the cinema Superman Returns
17. Favorite day of the year? Don't have one
18. What was your favorite toy as a child? Honestly don’t remember, probably of the stuffed variety
19. Summer or winter? Winter
20. Hugs or kisses? BOTH!
21. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate… did I say Chocolate
22. Do you want your friends to email you back? Yes, please – or Blog It.
23. Who is most likely to respond? ??
24. Who is least likely to respond? ??
25. Living arrangements? MY OWN HOUSE (kind of – but that is a LONG story)
26. When was the last time you cried? Very nearly this week... otherwise a few months back
27. What is under your bed? Bags, boxes, stuff without anywhere else to go
28. Who is the friend you have known the longest? Carol (since high school)
29. What did you do last night? Out with friends (no alcohol this time)
30. Favorite smell? Fresh baked bread, fresh brewed coffee – oh and Jasmine in the morning outside my kitchen door
31. Favorite TV show? Many… CSI, Desperate Housewives, most crime drama’s
32. Happy in life? Depends on when you ask me…
33. What are you afraid of? Very little… well a little queasy with heights, and petrified of rejection (working on that though)
34. Plain, buttered or salted popcorn? Lightly salted
35. Favorite car? Jaguar XK8 – one day when I am all growed up
36. Favorite Flower? Yellow Roses, Sunflowers
37. Number of keys on your key ring? Which key ring… I have 3 of them
38. How many years at your current job? 1 year end of this month… previous job 5.5 years
39. Favorite day of the week? Saturday, don’t have to get up early and no work tomorrow
40. What did you do on your last birthday? Went to Dunes on Hout Bay beachfront with friends for sunset drinks
41. How many cities have you lived in? 1 – Cape Town born and breed
42. Do you make friends easily? Acquaintances, yes. Friends... no.

The morning after the night before...

enough said




Never NEVER again.... at least till next time :)

AARRGGGGGGHHHHHH

It’s amazing how one bad meeting, one stupid person, one idiotic comment can turn a person’s mood and start that ever quickening downward spiral into oblivion. That is exactly what happened to me yesterday.

It was going to be an average day, not too much work, not too little… just enough to keep me occupied for the day. And at the end of this perfectly average day I had a teleconference. So at 4PM I packed my bags, knowing that I had to leave straight after the meeting to be on time to fetch the munchkins from school, and walked into the meeting from HELL with dick-brain and fuck-face. Thank god these 2 wastes of space disguised as human beings are half way around the world or I might just have done something that would normally guarantee a person a stint in jail, but that of course assumes that the organism that is injured did in fact have self-awareness beyond that of an ANT to start with (no one goes to jail for stomping on an ant do they).

At this point I would normally detail the last 3 months of argument and banter with these idiots trying to convince them that we are right and they are wrong that led up to this infamous meeting, but I won’t (and if you knew any better you would be thanking me right now). Just trust me when I say that this was not the first meeting of its kind and is unlikely to be the last. But then again, if I was earning $180 per hour I might also be doing everything in my power to make this issue drag out as long as possible and milk it for all it’s worth, but what the fuck do we know… we ARE only the African Sweatshop after all.

Awesome Awesome BLOG THINGS

Through my blog trawling today I found many sites (yes some of you even) that have glittery images. This led me to glitter-graphics. The only problem now is what to show here... there is far tooo much to chose from, so what I will do now is change it on a weekly (or so) basis. Anyway, glittery thing no.1 can be found on the right (under the world map).

A healthy dose of rejection….

Over the last 2 weeks or so, after I took the ‘brave’ step out onto the e-dating circuit, I have been given a good lesson in humility and treated to many forms of rejection. Not that either was unfamiliar to me to start off with. Humility and humbleness have always been sown into the fabric of my being, I find it very difficult to ‘sell’ myself as I always, in everything I do, underestimate myself (or so I have been told by friends a colleagues alike). This is something I have been working on for the last year or two and have definitely taken giant leaps forward. I fill out all the forms describing myself as honestly as I can, fill out more forms describing the type of person I am looking for and then off we go on the merry hunt. One of the things this ‘site’ does is match up you criteria and descriptions with others to find the ‘perfect match’.

So, after perusing my matches I picked a few that really stood out for me and sent off those ever-dubious first contact messages. So far I have sent out 7 of these with the following outcomes…
3 - made idle chitchat for a few messages and then just stopped
2 - one or two messages followed with the statement “thanks for contacting but I need to carry on looking for that someone special” – oh but this did wonders for the self esteem
2 - simply ignored me completely (now, what is up THAT)

Then I realized that there are 4 types of people on this site (at least that I have encountered so far)

1. Too May Any – These are the ones that are completely vague about what they are looking for marking every single characteristic from location to age to current relationship status as ‘any’ resulting in a 100% match with the entire population. They are mostly harmless, but as far as I am concerned a complete waste of time and space.
2. Specifically Ignorant – This is a very interesting group. They are almost overly specific about their requirements, however when they actually meet one, they somehow come to the conclusion that that person is in fact NOT what they are looking for. Basically, they don’t really know what they want, but have this image of the perfect person (that doesn’t actually exist) and are in the never-ending pursuit thereof.
3. Honest creeps – These are oddly enough the most harmless of the lot as they are the easiest to spot. They are complete honest about the fact they are either swingers, married and looking for a little something on the side, or downright sexaholics.
4. Innocent Friendlies – These are the ones that are actually prepared to communicate with you and get to know you a little bit, however they lack that certain spark (for me at least). They generally initiate communication. Generally very mild mannered and gentle people. This might be where my problem is… I am notoriously attracted to ‘bad-boys’ and smooth-talkers.

All this is truly NO GOOD for an already battered and bruised self-confidence. But then again, maybe all that is just the pessimist in me talking :) So for now I shall continue in my pursuit of the ‘perfect person’, or at least one that thinks I might be, remembering that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger (only maiming you in the process).

Pic of the week

A waterborne home complete with pot-plants. Again, this is from Copenhagen in one of the many canals around Christianshavn. This must be quite a way to live. Being completely mobile, home and all, gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'lock-up-and-go'.

Getting Feet Wet

I have taken a little leap of faith (and those who know me will know why I say it that way). Recently I have posted an “ad” on a dating site. Actually I first created it last year sometime but very quickly got disillusioned by the whole affair after discovering that a lot of people really are not all they make out to be (particularly behind the safety of a computer screen), and subsequently hid my profile just to get away from the constant barrage of e-mails and contacts from married 67 year old men from Piketburg. Since then I have started to fine tune my instincts about people and decided to reactivate my profile and take out a 3 month subscription (you cannot actually communicate with anyone if you don’t have a subscription) and get my feet wet, test the waters and see what is out there one last time.

So far so good.

It has been a few weeks and I have made contact with a few people who, at this early stage in the game, seem to be really decent men. However it is early days yet and the pessimist in me says that it is bound to go wrong at some point… but I am learning to silence that little voice (by force when necessary). For right now I am getting to know a few people that I would otherwise never have met, and for what that is, it is great. If anything more happens, terrific, but that is a LONG WAY OFF yet.

One thing that I have noticed is the amount of divorced people out there. Maybe it is just me noticing these things more nowadays (like Michelle and her landies), but at least every second profile that I read the person has put down divorced as their current status. Which gets me thinking… what is the difference between divorced and single other than a state of mind (I have mine listed as divorced as well). Now there is something I can mull over for the day.

And before any of you ask… NO I will not tell you where or what the profile name is. I will keep you posted on progress :)

Someone to hold

I have realised lately that my life is far too predictable and is becoming rather boring. I have also realised that I need to expand my group of friends. Even though I do have a few very close friends and others that are getting there I am stuck in the situation that our lives have moved on to the point that no matter how close we are I have ended up with NO-ONE that I can just call up when I have a free weekend and go out to movies/dinner/drinks etc. They are all either married with families of their own or live 20km's away.

So, here I am on a Sat evening by myself. Kids with their dad for the weekend.

Most people would jump at the opportunity to have some 'quiet time' by themselves and just veg, but there is only so much veging I can do. I know I know I am the only one who can change this, and no one is forcing me to stay in. I can take my camera and go for a drive, or go to movies by myself, or go for a walk on the beach. There are 101 things that a person can do by themselves quite happily. BUT I AM CRAVING COMPANY.

I am at the point that I can say with 100% certainty that I am over 'him' and ready to move on, not that I am looking for someone to spend the rest of my life with, I am just looking for someone to share today with, someone to talk to, adult conversation, adult company. I crave companionship.

The thing I miss most about being in a relationship is the physical closeness. Having someone to hold, to hug, to cuddle, to kiss. I am a very physical person and the lack of it is literally driving me crazy.

Why all the interest???

Thanks a mil to [R] from iScatterlings for the tag that he has created for me. Oh and [R] don't worry about the 'ly'... I am sure that everyone here will agree that 'Insane Single' is a perfectly apt way to describe me :)

And the latest update from my country count... I can now add Venezuela, Namibia, Morocco, Japan, Hong Kong and Germany to my list. Although I am very interested by the fact that Singapore seems to have dropped off the chart. hhmmmmm. Switzerland... keep it up, you are steadily climbing up this list... Hoop Schwiiz!

Pic of the Week

Also from trip to Copenhagen. Was out walking one evening and found this boy using one of the many statues/works of art in the city as his personal jungle gym. This giant anchor is at the top of Nyhavn street district. This is the 'tourist centre' of the city. Beautiful but expensive. Anyone would do very well walking 5 minutes into the centre of town and discovering some of the quaint local hangouts.




This was most amusing. During our stay in the city we discovered many of these glass boxes dotted around the city. Each one had a different colour and theme. I am not 100% sure but I think they has something to do with exhibiting various solutions that people had come up with regarding improving daily living.


Copenhagen truly is a beautiful city. Then again we were there in October with surprisingly good weather. I would love to go back in winter and see the snow and lights and giant outdoor icerink that is created around one of the circular grass relaxation spaces.