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Thank you
The Trip
Before I begin, I just want to say: Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome, Counting Crows was awesome!!!!!
This time next week, I shall be in the U.K. This is a reality which has not quite sunk in yet. These days I look around me and I see where I am, where I should be and where I want to be, but the past and the future get neglected. I wonder if I place too much weigh on certain decisions and not enough on others. Perhaps the pending adventure will reveal new insights. But I don't want to dwell on this topic now, because I only aim to give our itinerary now.
We leave on Friday afternoon and arrive on Saturday morning. My brother will pick us up from the airport and that day we'll probably spend in London on a blitz “absolute-very-best-of”. On Sunday, we'll go into the heart of Wales to where my brother's life in the U.K. started. The plan is then that we'll take a bus tour through the country from the Monday to the Thursday, although that tour hasn't been booked yet. There are some administrative decisions which have to be made by the tour company which we don't have any control over. If the tour is not going to pan out, we'll rent a car and do pretty much the same as the bus tour, but on our own and at our own pace. From Saturday the 25th of June to Monday the 7th of July, my brother will take us on a personal tour through most of western continental Europe: France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. From the 8th to the 11th we don't really have any concrete plans, but I am going to take off on my own for two days to explore London. I want to explore the city at my own pace and have some friends who I want to see. I know that some people argue that the point of going overseas isn't to go meet up with other people from your country, but I'll risk it. I am really looking forward to seeing them, as well as meet new and interesting people. Finally, on the 12th we set off for home again and arrive on the 13th.
I am going to try my best to update regularly on the trip.
This is going to be legendary! :-)
Yet Another Delayed Post
So, here I am, Friday evening, hammering away at a guilt post. And what a guilt post it is. I feel like this website has become a red-headed step-daughter of mine. But it does not help to dwell on the procrastinations of the past: one must look to the here and now; and the future. What I am going to do, however, is reflect on some Significant Events of late.
First thing is first. The eighth GeekDinner was like a sequel nobody expected to be better, but then pleasantly surprises. Because I am a week and a half late with reporting on this event, I shall refrain from commenting on the details and rather refer you to the reports of my fellow geeks. Again I met some interesting people, although the batch I was seated with specialized in hammering in the Small World Theory, which made for 180º of fascinating conversation. A special thanks to Mel's Village Kitchen in Rondebosch and Perdeberg wines for facilitating the core ingredients of this GeekDinner.
On Monday, at long flippen last, I finally shook-off the bonds of dail-up and entered the civilised phase of broadband. Granted, as far as DSL goes, it is as slow as it gets, but for the caveman the candle is just as good as the light bulb (better? nah, I'm not going to start arguing that). I'm not sure if being excited about fast internet is necessarily quintessentially geeky, but I have been told that my enthusiasm around this has been a bit over-board. Nevertheless, a new age has dawned, so drink and be merry! (Ironically, I am home in Bellville this weekend, so this post is still being written off-line as usual and will only see light of foreign HTTP request on Sunday or Monday.)
Last night, some friends and I went to see the Chris Rock No Apologies Tour. It is his first comedy tour of South Africa and first show here in Cape Town sold out very quickly, and the second show was very nearly full-packed as well. It was hilarious and I enjoyed it very much, but he did dwell a bit on American politics, as I feared he might have done. Of course he also tailors his jokes for the audience, which, one has to admit, might be a bit difficult in an environment as foreign as ours (to Americans). But I did enjoy it very much and have a lot of respect for him for actually coming out all the way to the extreme end of far-off continent.
Tuesday I'm going to see the Counting Crows live. Lacking foresight, my commentary is at this stage only limited to stating that it is going to be legendary!
Other news is that we are entering the critical planning phase of our overseas trip. The whole situation surrounding my father (I still have not been able to find that “lost post”, so forgive me for the fact that you as the reader will be in the dark as to this point) has soured things a bit. I suppose that there is a sense that this trip is going to involve a lot of sacrifice from everyone, although I know that it is important, now more than ever, to look on the bright side of everything and look forward to the trip. My psychiatrist brother has been a bit elusive of late and I wonder what is going on there, but I can't help to analyse the situation in the background as I know he does. I try not to see the world as he does - I contend that I am too young and ignorant to try and start enforcing other people's experience of life. Still, I don't think one (I) should polarise completely, especially not now.
I think I am going to dedicate another post to describing our travelling plans. At present I would say it is about 70% planned, with another 20% suspended and awaiting some decision-making.
Lost Words
I should have made a post a week or more ago. I wrote a long blog entry in which I poured my heart out. I was going through a difficult period and felt the time was right to say some things I had been promising to say for a long while. As usual, I wrote it off-line and stored it in an OpenOffice document until I got to a decent internet connection (I tried posting from home, but Blogger was having some issues, as usual). The problem is that, of late, I have become a little lazy and just saved the file on my desktop. Then... then I moved stuff around; copied, pasted and deleted and, before I knew I, I had lost that post. Literally lost: I don't know if I deleted it or copied it to some obscure place or what. Needless to say, I was less than impressed (with myself). If it was moved or deleted, I could have tried undeleting it from my ext3 filesystem, but I attempted that sojourn last year and still have nightmares about it. So, until further notice, that post is lost. If I find it, I'll happily put it up, but I am not going to rewrite it any time soon. For what its worth, my father is doing better, although he seems to be ill again.
So I was put off from posting for a while. I wanted to write about the so-called xenophobic attacks, but I've lost my mojo. Its bad – don't do it.
Finally after four months of waiting, my DSL has been set up. Starting Sunday (hopefully), I shall leave this primitive age of dial-up and graduate to ADSL. I'm counting the sleeps remaining :-)
Forcing myself to write isn't helping at the moment. Tomorrow night is another GeekDinner: perhaps I'll feel more chatty after that.
Number Two
April came and April went. The seasons are locked in an epic battle; fought to a stalemate.
Today was another day at work where Sam Self-Confidence, who lives on my right shoulder, told me I was redundant in the company. So I pretended to look busy in between actually looking for something to do. I managed to move my computer from “my” spot, as I was evicted on the basis that the person to whom that spot actually “belongs” is returning on Monday from maternity leave. I also wiped off some desks with a damp cloth and made some suggestions to mundane problems. Any day of work you can walk away from without feeling totally depressed was a Good Day™.
Each day, however, holds the promise of new knowledge. Mine came in the form of an SMS which told me that an old friend of mine was getting married today in a church which is five minutes' walk from where I work. I could quite literally hear the wedding bells. I had ignorantly believed that I would be invited, but c'est la vie. Shocked, initially, yes, but I can't be upset about something so beautiful. In all fairness, my friend's parents didn't really recognise me; his sister did, but forgot me name. So yes, I haven't seen them in a very long time. And I have never met the bride. Point is, I'm glad for them: he's a great guy and I'm glad for them. I pray that they will find happiness beyond any of their wildest imagination and that their lives together will be blessed, fruitful and long. At least I got to wish him and his family congratulations.
The thread that ties everything together is a another friend who was looking for a place to stay tonight. I haven't seen this friend in a long time, a good and dear friend, and my heart was aching for months. On Saturday he contacted me that he was in the country again and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Tonight it is my pleasure and honour to host him after the reception of our mutual friend. Nothing bad came of this day. But there was euphoria.
My Stalker
I now officially consider myself being stalked. A few weeks ago, I started receiving calls on my cellphone from a “Withheld” number. Whenever I answer these calls, the person on the other side immediately hangs up. At first it only happened once every couple of days, now it happens a couple of times a day. The called persists, whether I say something when I answer or not. Because the number is withheld, I am not sure whether I shall be able to trace it. This also means that I cannot block the number. I also simply can't ignore calls from “Withheld” either, as my brother's number is also “withheld”.
I you are reading this and you are my stalker, please grow up and face me like an adult, whatever your beef is with me.
GeekDinner 5/7
Yesterday I attended the seventh Cape Town GeekDinner, “Garrulous Grape”, which is also the fifth one I attended. Along with “Dangerous Drumstick” (the one at Summerville in Camps Bay), this was one of the GeekDinners which I enjoyed the most. The experience was largely dominated by good company, interesting new people and excellent food. I have to admit that I started feeling like a GeekDinner veteran when I elicited several “wows” from people when I told them that this was my fifth GeekDinner. I have never felt uncomfortable at a GeekDinner and it is not cliquey at all, but I suppose that, as with everything else, some are better than the rest. This one was definitely one of the better ones.
Our venue was Greens in Plattekloof. The food was... well, let me put it this way: I could not chew slow enough to absorb the magnificent taste of it all. Definitely thumbs up.
For a long time I have endeavoured to persuade some of my friends to join us at a GeekDinner, but the enthusiasm was always less than convincing. But, after this one, it appears that there is an entire group eager to get in on the event. The Stellenbosch posse seems to be swelling; soon we shall have a majority vote over the venues. ;-)
