I stumbled upon a blog last night while blog-surfing the interweb, and I don't exaggerate when I say that it was a good 15 minutes read!
I usually try to keep my average blog post to a 5 minute read, so as not to completely bore the reader; but 15 minutes?!
Sounds a bit excessive, to me at least.
So I left the following comment :
"Awesome post. Some day I intend reading it."
This was the response I got:
"Hahaha. Thank you kind Sir. I love your blog too."
See. The potential for short and sweet is within us all.
On Wednesday of this week I was pulled over by a traffic cop for speaking on my mobile while driving.
Guilty as charged. It's about the only traffic offence I commit on a regular basis.
Ever since Sabreen was born, that insane need for speed I once found so thrilling has slowed down to a more respectable legal-driving speed.
So there we were on the corner of Catherine and Grayston, discussing the spot-fine.
I usually pay the recommended R50 admission-of-guilt spot-fine which bypasses Government coffers and goes straight toward the subsidising of a greasy chicken and pap lunch.
On this day, the copper in his rather fatty composure, pointed his equally fatty finger at the Coke and Bar-One chocolate on the seat next to me.
I guess he was too lazy to take the spot-fine and drive his lazy ass to the chicken outlet.
How lazy do you have to be that you would take another man's lunch instead of the standard issue bribe?
What is this country coming to? Shocking I tell you, truly shocking!
Right then.
It's Saturday morning and i'm off to meet a client.
Even though I promised myself never to work on weekends.
Some day I shall heed my own advice.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Road Trip
I want to do an adventurous road-trip again.
There was a time when I would do a road-trip at least once a year.
Cape St Francis; the Grahamstown Arts Festival was a religious road-trip we did every year for almost 5 years until we saw literally every show on the circuit at least twice; Cape Town (though this didn't qualify so much as a road-trip as it did a right-of-passage into manhood); and then the road-trip to end all road-trips which we did two years ago.
Road-Trip 2008.
My truly dear friend Sabeen from Dubai arrived heavily pregnant and with her beautiful daughter Fiza in tow; the missus and I with two-year old Sabreen, and the sister-in-law with her hubby and their two-year old.Of course along the way we picked up random people and dropped them off in even more random places.
That was the trip I realised that adults with kids cant do road-trips like they did back in their teens.
The teen road-trips never included pee-breaks every hour on the hour; a Big Mac and Coke were suitable balanced meals which could last an entire trip ; Run DMC and LL Cool J were the perfect road-trip music choices; and most importantly we never needed to know where we were going to stay when we arrived, mostly because we never really knew where we were going to arrive at when we left!
Nope. I couldn't imagine a trip like that now, not with the missus and Sabreen riding shotgun.
We'd need to pack morning outfits, dinner outfits, beach attire, make-up, shoes, toys, and every household item short of a microwave before we even knew where we were heading!
We're doing a cruise in November of this year, and the missus is going to the Maldives in December on her annual girly holiday, so i'm thinking a guys road-trip before the year is over could do the trick
There was a time when I would do a road-trip at least once a year.
Cape St Francis; the Grahamstown Arts Festival was a religious road-trip we did every year for almost 5 years until we saw literally every show on the circuit at least twice; Cape Town (though this didn't qualify so much as a road-trip as it did a right-of-passage into manhood); and then the road-trip to end all road-trips which we did two years ago.
Road-Trip 2008.
My truly dear friend Sabeen from Dubai arrived heavily pregnant and with her beautiful daughter Fiza in tow; the missus and I with two-year old Sabreen, and the sister-in-law with her hubby and their two-year old.Of course along the way we picked up random people and dropped them off in even more random places.
That was the trip I realised that adults with kids cant do road-trips like they did back in their teens.
The teen road-trips never included pee-breaks every hour on the hour; a Big Mac and Coke were suitable balanced meals which could last an entire trip ; Run DMC and LL Cool J were the perfect road-trip music choices; and most importantly we never needed to know where we were going to stay when we arrived, mostly because we never really knew where we were going to arrive at when we left!
Nope. I couldn't imagine a trip like that now, not with the missus and Sabreen riding shotgun.
We'd need to pack morning outfits, dinner outfits, beach attire, make-up, shoes, toys, and every household item short of a microwave before we even knew where we were heading!
We're doing a cruise in November of this year, and the missus is going to the Maldives in December on her annual girly holiday, so i'm thinking a guys road-trip before the year is over could do the trick
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Editors Appeal To ANC Over Tribunal
An article like the one below concerns me. As mentioned in an earlier blog post, i'm really not one for politics. My personal viewpoint is that all the current political leadership are simply there to fill their own coffers and pursue their selfish gluttonous desires without any interest for the taxpayer.
I have yet to meet a politician that gives a rat's arse about the common man.
So when the ruling party wants to reign in the media for fear that all their corrupt and under-handed dealings are being exposed faster than they can sign dodgy tender deals, it bothers me. A lot!
I have yet to meet a politician that gives a rat's arse about the common man.
So when the ruling party wants to reign in the media for fear that all their corrupt and under-handed dealings are being exposed faster than they can sign dodgy tender deals, it bothers me. A lot!
Johannesburg - Editors of major newspapers in South Africa have launched a campaign to fight what they called attempts to curtail freedom of expression and the free flow of information.
In a declaration published in a Sunday newspaper, 36 print editors said they were "deeply concerned" about proposed new legislation and a media tribunal.
"We vigorously oppose the restrictive clauses in the Protection of Information Bill and the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal (MAT)."
In the declaration, called The Auckland Park declaration, they appealed to the government and the ruling ANC "to abide by the founding principles of our democracy and to abandon these proposed measures".
They said freedom of expression and access to information were the "lifeblood" of the South African democracy and that the media was "at the very heart of the struggle for freedom".
This comes as the ANC prepare to meet with the media on Tuesday in Sandton to discuss, amongst others, the tribunal.
According to a resolution taken at the ANC's 52nd National Congress in 2007 in Polokwane, the establishment of a Media Appeals Tribunal should be investigated.
The resolution endorsed "that such investigation be directed at examining the principle of a MAT and the associated modalities for implementation".
"Conference notes that the creation of a MAT would strengthen, complement and support the current self-regulatory institutions (Press Ombudsman/Press Council) in the public interest."
- SAPA
Glory Glory Man United
Right then folks.
The English Premier League season is upon us, and the game which signifies the start of the season, The Community Shield has just been won by Manchester United.
In my totally unbiased reporting of the season ahead, I decided to introduce the Most Successful Football Team in the world to those less well informed.
You'll be seeing lot's more of this team.
You'll be hearing a lot more of the chant "Glory Glory Man United".
In other news, that other English team who haven't won a Premier League title in over 20 years and who many may fondly remember as being called Liverpool, are in the process of being bought over by the Chinese.
Now repeat after me... "You'll Never Wok Alone"
Mark Steel's Take On The War
I find it easier to accept and digest political news from satirical websites and bloggers than I do from mainstream media.
Watch this video to see why everything you've ever heard, seen or read about the war in Afghanistan via the newspapers and television channels is nothing short of bollocks.
I'll upload a list of some of my favourite "News" websites soon.
Rest assured it doesn't include CNN, The BBC, SkyNews or the leader of hogwash journalism, that comedy show I like to call Fox News.
Watch this video to see why everything you've ever heard, seen or read about the war in Afghanistan via the newspapers and television channels is nothing short of bollocks.
I'll upload a list of some of my favourite "News" websites soon.
Rest assured it doesn't include CNN, The BBC, SkyNews or the leader of hogwash journalism, that comedy show I like to call Fox News.
The Worst Fishing Expert Ever
As a guy who loves fishing and was once an avid fisherman before the lure of golf reeled me in (Did you see what I just did there? Wow! I amaze myself sometimes!).... anyways, enjoy this video of fishing bloopers.
The Morning After
I've been contemplating writing about something which has bothered me for a few weeks now, but I kept putting it off unsure if I really wanted it out in the public domain.
Ultimately I suppose the blog can be cathartic and a good a place as any to unclutter one's mind.
Some people, and I know one in particular, even have a mystery blog wherein they write to their hearts content, comfortable and satisfied in the knowledge that nobody reading it could ever associate it with anybody in particular. Strange, but true. In a way, it's almost like calling those psychic hotlines. You never know who you're confiding in, and they never know who's on the other end.
Such a perfect symbiosis.
For some.
Anyways, I've skirted this issue which has perturbed me in a previous blog I wrote, about friendship.
As with all friendships, if they're not cemented with loyalty, trust and honour, they're almost worthless.
I thought I had that kind of friendship. I really did.The cemented kind.
Then the loyalty, the trust and the honour were tested. Unfortunately the friend I thought I had, came up short and failed. So I made a decision and decided to close that chapter and be thankful for all the great time's we shared and the bond we had.
I guess my ability to walk away from people and situations is so instinctive that it sometimes takes over before I even realise that it's happened.
So it was that we haven't spoken for about two months already.
I guess when you've had a friend who was as close to you as any brother ever could be, and you get let down by him, you really only have two choices going forward.
Either you forgive and forget and move on.
Or you contemplate the true value of the friendship and walk away.
In business, as in life, I always walk away if the trust has been broken.
Yes yes, I can hear you saying "But surely you can rebuild the trust."
I suppose you can. Life was never meant to be easy, but where I can I choose the simpler option.
Last night I went out for supper with the missus and some friends, and as fate would have it I saw him walking toward us. I always wondered what would happen when the day arrived, as I always knew it would.
I think there was a part of me that hoped it would be civil.
That we would be able to stop and say hello.
That we would be able to chat as two friends who know each other, since we no longer could as two brothers who were inseparable.
It turns out I was wrong.
It's a sad way to end a friendship, and i'm still not sure how I feel about it.
There's no arrogance or pride or self-righteousness lurking about, just the misty fog of the remnants of what was.
It's the morning after and the new dawn brings the hope of new friendships, and the ever-present possibility of being disappointed again.
The only constant is change.
Ultimately I suppose the blog can be cathartic and a good a place as any to unclutter one's mind.
Some people, and I know one in particular, even have a mystery blog wherein they write to their hearts content, comfortable and satisfied in the knowledge that nobody reading it could ever associate it with anybody in particular. Strange, but true. In a way, it's almost like calling those psychic hotlines. You never know who you're confiding in, and they never know who's on the other end.
Such a perfect symbiosis.
For some.
Anyways, I've skirted this issue which has perturbed me in a previous blog I wrote, about friendship.
As with all friendships, if they're not cemented with loyalty, trust and honour, they're almost worthless.
I thought I had that kind of friendship. I really did.The cemented kind.
Then the loyalty, the trust and the honour were tested. Unfortunately the friend I thought I had, came up short and failed. So I made a decision and decided to close that chapter and be thankful for all the great time's we shared and the bond we had.
I guess my ability to walk away from people and situations is so instinctive that it sometimes takes over before I even realise that it's happened.
So it was that we haven't spoken for about two months already.
I guess when you've had a friend who was as close to you as any brother ever could be, and you get let down by him, you really only have two choices going forward.
Either you forgive and forget and move on.
Or you contemplate the true value of the friendship and walk away.
In business, as in life, I always walk away if the trust has been broken.
Yes yes, I can hear you saying "But surely you can rebuild the trust."
I suppose you can. Life was never meant to be easy, but where I can I choose the simpler option.
Last night I went out for supper with the missus and some friends, and as fate would have it I saw him walking toward us. I always wondered what would happen when the day arrived, as I always knew it would.
I think there was a part of me that hoped it would be civil.
That we would be able to stop and say hello.
That we would be able to chat as two friends who know each other, since we no longer could as two brothers who were inseparable.
It turns out I was wrong.
It's a sad way to end a friendship, and i'm still not sure how I feel about it.
There's no arrogance or pride or self-righteousness lurking about, just the misty fog of the remnants of what was.
It's the morning after and the new dawn brings the hope of new friendships, and the ever-present possibility of being disappointed again.
The only constant is change.
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