Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance toward the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point. ~ Harold B. Melchart

Sunny Saturday

It wasn't a terribly exciting day today. I hauled out my leather and decided to finally make the cover for my teaching folder. I love leather. The thread I am using is, I think, older than I am. It's just always been there in Ouma's thread box. Countless times as a child, I'd sort the threads, tucking away loose strands and neatening the box. This spool of thread was always there and yet, it's as good as new. I don't know why it was originally bought. Ouma spoke of working leather as a young girl, but I never saw her using leather.

My Firefox wants to update to version 5. Poor Tat is having so many problems with it, so I'm a little leery. Another programme needed to update and, sure as little green apples grow on trees, it now has its own toolbar wanting to be installed. Oh no you don't. I was just thinking that if every programme's toolbar was allowed, I'd end up with no visible browser!

Supper tonight was pizza... the best pizza I've made in ages. Totally worth it and way better than the bought pizza, except for one minor issue... I had to make it. I love having food made for me!

I tried browsing Multiply earlier today, but eventually gave up. Instead, Tat and I went 'window shopping'. Don't you just love technology? We shopped for trainers. Wow... the variety out there?! Actually, I found an interesting video on buying trainers that talks about your arch and how people with different shaped arches run or walk. You can see it here.

As I typed the title to this blog, I remembered it was sunny today, which reminded me that I hung out washing, which reminded me that the washing is still out there... Oh dear. It's after midnight... a bit late to stumble around by torch light taking down jeans. Oh and the neighbour again has undies on the roof, this time in a bowl! I found the photo I took last time though *grins*

Many of our fears are tissue paper thin and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them ~ Brendan Francis

Fardling fiddlesticks!!

I have just gotten off the phone with Paypal. Did you know Paypal has extended its reach to other countries, Brazil included? That should be good news, right? Ha! My Paypal account is an old, US based, one that I set up to be able to receive payments from my US and Canadian clients. Now that Paypal has opened up in Brazil, I can no longer do my banking in English!! Argh!

Thankfully, some soul out there in 0800-world heard the desperation in my voice and transferred me to Paypal USA where I got to speak to two super-friendly, helpful customer services folks. Apparently no one can choose their language on Paypal any more. In the end, I'm frustrated with Paypal, but the manic edge was taken off my mood.

While I was on hold (did you know that toll-free numbers have no urgency to talk to you?), I surfed the news.... nice, read-worthy articles today:

Dog and man unites (tissue warning!)

And South Africa's very own Sardine Run!

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The great HRM (just for you, Marianne) was outside sanding down timber he found to make some herb boxes for upstairs. If we can find enough, Romany may even get himself a kennel built.

Otherwise, it's all in all been a quiet sort of day in which I did much of what I didn't plan to and nothing of what I did plan. Funny how it works that way.

The man who was father to me

Father's day just idled by and I found myself in a time of remembering...


Jim was my grandfather, a step-grandfather, at that, but he was father to me. I wanted to blog all he was, but I remembered I did it before: My hero  I read through that blog and found myself unexpectedly emotional. I loved him. He gave so much and asked so little in return. His was the calming voice when everyone was upset over the latest family ruckus. He wasn't cuddly or huggy or anything. He was just there... and strong... dependable.

So I hung out my Glook. Just because.

This past week, I was wearing my coin. I still remember the day I picked it up. I was about 5 or 6, I think. Jim and I were walking down Rink Street. I don't remember where we were going. I saw the coin and picked it up. "What's that you have there? A lucky penny?" He told me I couldn't spend it, but that it was special anyway. I clutched my 10 pence all the way home. There, Jim drilled a hole in the coin and put a chain on it. The chain was miles too long for the little girl, but perfect for the woman I am now. It's strong, dependable, no-frills, just as he was... and made with love.

Fiddle faddle

A blog of random nothingness...

On Sunday, we considered calling Ghostbusters. The neighbour was sounding a bit like a banshee. She was clearly unhappy with the men in her life (two adult sons and a husband).

A colleague in Germany wrote a brilliant blog on the work I (ok, we) do: What is TEFL?

It looks like I'm losing my little girl (student) because of a time clash. It breaks my heart. I'm fond of her, just not fond of her father. At all. On many levels.

I suggested yesterday that Jurgis writes and publishes a book called "The World's Worst Puns". It's sure to be a best-seller. Gems like: "You're a plant. You stalk people on Facebook, then you leaf." I almost cried, except that crying, wailing and gnashing of teeth in a Metro is undignified. I restricted myself to groaning and rolling my eyes.

They apparently cut our water on Sunday. We were blissfully unaware of it thanks to the roof-top cistern, except... We turned our taps on yesterday morning to brown sludge. Thanks Water Dept. It made for a day of fun drinking, showering, etc. Our water today is down to a weak tea colour. Our filters are totally blocked. Not a happy camper here. If you want to see what our water system here involves, I've written about it before here.

Oh! Before I forget! I wanted to tell you about a new site I found called Quietube. You put the button on your bookmarks toolbar and when you're viewing a Youtube or Vimeo video, you can click on Quietube and watch the video without some of the rather awful comments or so-called 'related' videos that often aren't related at all. If you want to send a link to a video to someone, but don't want the ghastly comments to show, Quietube solves that problem. Nice! Here is an example I was watching this morning.

Oi Vey!

A photo from Monday... I was waiting a few minutes before going in to my student when this guy pulled up at the lights. Biker dude crossed with junk hauler. He had a wagon attached to his bike that he had piled high with the type of scrap the cart guys usually haul around. Not an everyday sight, I can assure you.


Apologies for the poor quality of the photo. It was a rush job.

Sunday - a day of random daftness...

The neighbours have a basket of underwear on their roof. I don't want to know why. Actually, I do. What on earth..... ?! I can take a photo. No... no... definitely not. You'll have to use your imagination.

The youngsters at Tat's centre have gotten it into their heads to inhale helium. And here I thought teenagers were clever. No... wait... they're not teenagers! They're adults!!! The future's in dire trouble.

A student wants his demo class... on a Sunday Afternoon??!! Ugh! Who named it a weekEND anyway?

Neighbours are trying to have a conversation with their dog - a big random-breed dog - barking incessantly between them... at us and the bbq'ing undies-on-the-roof neighbours. How can anyone have a conversation like that?

The bbq'ing neighbours are just winding up for what, I think, will be a long night of raucous yelling. Have you ever heard a tree full of wild parrots squawking? It sounds like that... without the pleasantness associated with bird calls.

Calling all inventors!

Not my socks! My pile is bigger and all boring colours, which makes sorting harder.

I will pay good money for a sock-folding machine. Really!

Translation needed, please

Personally, I can't stand Shakespeare. I spent a large part of my high school years avoiding him like a plague. Only lately have I become amused, not by the plays, but by the way Shakespeare messed with the language.



Tatiana sent me this little snippet this morning:

You think reading Shakespeare is hard? Imagine the poor people in a couple of hundred years time, who will be reading " So, like, I was like maaate I'm gonna shank yuu so ard bruv! and den Tairone was like "you havin' a bubble," and I was like "No mate, are you thick doe! but Shanesse was like OMG doe, Actual LOL innit! because she got a text from Brandon who said that Christa was like, on the chunder train after downing a whole bottle of Voddy and Strongy B......."

I defy you to translate that to normal, understandable English (without the help of someone under the age of 18).

I'm late!

Which reminds me of a little anecdote from the past...

I tried working, very briefly, in direct sales. Let's just say, I'm definitely not a salesperson. The area I was assigned for the day was Indian. Durban has a very large Indian community. The calls were based on requests prospective clients put in at the shopping centre. I knocked and the lady of the house opened. "Could I speak to Mr X, please?" "No, sorry. He's late." I said I didn't mind and that he'd requested the visit and perhaps I could start the quote while I waited for him. "No, no. You don't understand. He's late!" Yes, I understood that he was late. Did she think he'd be very long before getting home? She got very flustered, threw up her hands and exclaimed, "He's dead!" I was rather nonplussed by the revelation. Late? Dead? Ah yes! I got it!

I woke up at 6:30am, considering my alarm (buried deep in my handbag) was set for an hour earlier. That left me half an hour to get my sleepy butt out the door. The sky was heavy with clouds. I left saying that I needed to take an umbrella. Guess who left without an umbrella. I arrived at the Metro a little more than damp. On my way home, I bought an umbrella. My last umbrella is in tatters. I miss it, a bright lime green. It was a cheerful umbrella. The new one is a rather boring, sombre beige, but it works. Needless to say, because I was now armed, not a drop of rain fell on the way home. As I walked in at home, the rain started again.

The weather has been freaky. Yesterday, the entire state of São Paulo was without electricity due to a cyclone in the south somewhere. Jurgis mentioned where, but my head was elsewhere. We were lucky in that it wasn't off for too long here. Some people are still without power. Over 100 trees were felled by the winds here in the city. That laundry I'd left out? It was tied in knots on the lines. T-shirts don't do well in knots.

I leave for my next student in half an hour. It's raining. I do categorically not want to go out in this. I love the rain, but a 1 mile trek with trucks whizzing by and spraying slush? Nah.

Girl in rain

I discovered this sweet image by Pentelka on Deviantart. It fits.

*shiver* I suppose getting changed would be a good thing. The heavens opened in a sheet of driving rain as I stepped off the bus. It was almost as though someone up there waited... "Oh look! She's getting off now. Quick! Get the buckets!" And guess who had no umbrella. Why should I? We haven't seen a drop of rain for weeks. Did I mention my wash lines were full of freshly laundered, almost-dry washing? And the cat litter was outside getting some sun?

Tonight I have to prepare some grammar sheets. I am so not in the mood. But... we have a pot of chicken soup waiting to be heated, so all is well. I'm having some serious schedule conflicts. Everyone wants classes at their time, which is totally understandable and wouldn't be a problem if everyone's preference could be spread out. I need a clone. I have been introduced to another South African girl who's teaching and wants to branch out as a private teacher. I need to meet her still. I hope she's worth her salt as a teacher, so I can pass some work her way. Time will tell. The first problem there is finding time to meet her. Between her schedule and mine, a miracle is needed.

Off to get that soup now...

Student cancelled. I'm giving myself a fly-by hour on Multiply. Let's see how quickly I can get through the blogs. Good speed-reading practice =Þ

Wolwedans

An old school friend posted a photo of me in high school... pigtails 'n all. This sent me down memory lane, so I dug up an old blog, "Did you know...?"  I was reading the blog and comments when Jurgis spotted the Chappies bubble gum in the picture, which led, in turn, to many more memories - funny how that works.

Hm.... I can smell the Chappies now. I believe they now have all sorts of flavours, but, to me, there's only one Chappies flavour. Of course, eating bubble gum, be it Chappies or Wacky Wicks, was absolutely verboten, which, of course, meant we ate them whenever humanly possible.

The conversation drifted aimlessly among childhood memories... Dagwoods, the corner café where I'd stock up on Chappies, TV programmes like Knersus and Haas Das se Nuuskas. Knersus was a particularly dumb programme, but leaves me wanting to name my next dog Knersus just for fun. He was a pterodactyl whose sole aim in life was to catch a bunny for supper. He shared luckless plotting with his 3 pairs of false teeth.


Of course, no meander down memory lane would be complete without spending an afternoon or evening in front of the radio, listening to Springbok Radio, with a comforting cup of coffee. I used to keep my ears open for the illicitly-enjoyed "Wolwedans in die Skemer" - 'Wolf dance at dusk'. I definitely was not meant to be listening and, to this day, I don't know why I compulsively listened, as I avoid thrillers like the plague. It was a series about an axe murderer. I was a kid. What was I thinking? Jurgis would listen to Squad Cars, a series about real crimes solved by the South African police, jam packed with action and screeching tyres - typical boy fare. Actually, I did listen to a snippet online and found myself disappointed that the show wasn't complete. I think I should have listened to Squad Cars instead of Wolwedans back then. I don't know... I think it was the compelling voices and acting. It's one thing acting on television, but voice acting takes special talent. To be able to allow the listener to picture the emotions and actions just with sound is incredible.

I found a very rare clip of Wolwedans in die Skemer online. This is just a snippet.

......

......

Voodoo

My apologies to the squeamish for this photo. It's a good thing we don't have scratch 'n sniff technology. Trust me, it smelt a lot worse than it looks!


For about a week, wherever I walked, there were macumba 'artefacts' lying around - candles in one place, random chickens in another, but none to rival my one walk. Every second block had an entire row of chickens. Is that desperate macumba?

No, it wasn't the prolific macumba that influenced my disappearance... though you never know, right? I got very busy. My weeks were taken up with teaching - with brief stops at home to change clothes or pick up materials, dinner at 9pm and falling into bed. Saturday afternoons were filled with laundry and housekeeping and Sunday found me under a pile of papers preparing for the next week. I think I lost myself somewhere in there.

I've been pretty under the weather, topped, this weekend, by a cold - kindly contributed by the sniffing cashier, I'm sure. I threatened to disinfect my bank card when I got home and forgot. I should sue them for Vit. C tablets... or her. Her... uh... nasal hygiene left a lot to be desired.

I really, really want to write again, but I tend to write 3 lines before my mind wanders and the pen lies idle. I have at least 6 draft posts here that will probably never see the light of day. Their impetus is quite gone.

So, in short, beyond tripping over chicken remains in the road, a very bad diet of snatched snacks at odd hours, blearily looking at my over-full mailbox in the evenings, I have nothing to report. Life, as it is, is continuing at a steady (and, today, noisy) pace. The sun is shining and the neighbours are vying with each other to see who can play the worst music the loudest. Their attempts at barbecues aren't very successful either. I strongly suspect that I'm going to work smelling of wood-smoke this week. I suppose I should take that laundry down before it's totally cured...

So so tired today.... weekend starts in 27 hours. Do I start counting down?

Whenever I turn around

... there is one more thing to do, one more call to make, one more lesson to prepare. Work. Live. Repeat.


Wonder who was the recipient of this particular 'magic'.
'Macumba' is still fairly widely practiced here.
Yes, I have been busy, probably no busier than some of you, but somehow, I just haven't managed to get on top of it. It's good though. Busy keeps me from thinking too much. I have a dozen blogs started in my little notebook. Wonder if I'll ever get them written up. Of course, they're all out of date now, except for those with their feet firmly planted in the distant past.


March Madness and April Foolishness spread to the classroom with one little girl being determined to drive me crazy. I was very proud of her, though, when she showed her dad up with a simple word like 'silly'. She was proud to demonstrate what it meant. Um... not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but still.


Her sister now sits in on all classes. It's either that or a wailing to end all wailing is started. It wouldn't be so bad if she weren't hell-bent on getting to the keyboard. She's a special kid with hydroencephalitis and major health issues, but she's made huge strides this year. She knows the word 'laptop' (go figure) and sit and she tries to say my name. Kudos to her. Most adults can't get it right.

I now teach from 7am (that's not the time I leave home, but the time I start) to 8pm every day except Friday. Saturday, I finish at lunch time, thankfully. Then I play catch up here at home. Sunday is just a heap of papers and lesson plans. I'm prepared for most of the classes. When I feel busy, I just think of my one 'new' student. She's not really new. She's a returning student. She's changing jobs, getting married and finishing her MBA all in the next couple of weeks. Insane! Oh and that's besides putting in many hours on an intensive English course.

It's our anniversary on Tuesday. 25 years. That's a long time, let me tell you. I need another medal. We won't be doing anything. I won't be home for that. I may treat us to a pizza for supper. It'll be nice not to have to cook for a change.


The scene that greets me (sometimes) at the metro station
on my way to my final student in the evening.
It rained today... rained quite hard with the usual flooding in some areas and widespread hail. We weren't really affected. I'm tired. Roll on the Easter long weekend. I think I'll vow not to budge out of my chair or bed for the entire weekend. Now there's a plan. Nah. I'll find something to do, like play catch up.

Stars

Friends

stars in our night time

plotting a path

when we can't see the way


* * * * *

Video - Catch a falling star* * * * *

Photograph by Tatiana Lasevicius

PC grief

The baby has been cleaned, wiped, fed, burped.... and I'm up and running... kinda. I still have to sort through the mass confusion that is my data to find vital files. In my panic, I baked up vital and irrelevant files all over the show. Then there's the job of finding out which files were duplicated and which are damaged.

On that subject, if you're ever curious about how much duplicated junk you have on your pc, DoubleKiller is a brilliant little (free) programme. You don't install it, but it searches your drive or folder and tells you what's duplicated. It's very accurate. I've used it many times. You check the duplicates and the programme deletes them for you.

I have found bunches of data, just not the most recent data... y'know... the important stuff. Yup... it goes like that.

While waiting for various tedious processes to be completed on my pc today, we took the dog, kicking and screaming to be washed. Ok, not quite screaming, but you'd swear he was off to the torture chamber. He got a decent brush too and feels sooo soft now and smells like a poof. Of course, our little bathroom had to be washed afterward. Man, that dog spread more hair than he has on him!

So yes, I'm back. I'm going to be spending most of Sunday preparing for the week. I now work most evenings too. Fun indeed! I have to figure out my schedule all over again - my calendar file has gone to the land of nod or someplace like that, along with most of my current student records. I'm going to try to pop around to blogs though. I may not be able to comment as much as I'd like though... but I'll try. In the meantime, it's Good to be Back!! =)

Y'see.... it's like this

Kippy started a whole trend here with her pc. I'll blame her. I mean, it can't be my fault, can it?

In short, my woes started when my data drive died. I managed to recover some data, but most of the data appears to be damaged. Less than 24 hours later, my C drive started getting blue screens every few minutes, often not even completing the boot up before going into another blue screen cycle. We're now formatting and reloading my Windows to hopefully resolve the problem.

*huge sigh*

I need to be up and running soon. I have Skype students coming up, one of whom is new and needs to be convinced that Skype is the best thing since sliced cheese. It won't be easy to convince her if my pc is down... kinda.

This whole deal is driving me quietly insane. My schedule has been turned upside down this week and I have none of my resources on hand or my calendar or my students' details. I've been trying to get everything in snatches. There's still a lot to be said for paper. My problem has been coming up with lessons.... it's all on my data drive!

Anyway, I just thought I'd leave a note here to tell you all why I'm missing. Hopefully I'll be back soon. Don't have too much fun without me ; ) Ok, that was lame!

That'll teach me!

Kippy, is it too late to apologise profusely for making fun of your Apple????

My data drive died this morning. All my information on my new students is gone. I can't print lessons or timesheets. Damn! Damn! Damn! (pardon the French) Jurgis plugged our external backup drive in and now the pc won't boot up at all. I'm on his dinky little pc just letting the world (at least the world I now have contact with) know.  I need to get life back in that pc SOON. Tuesday morning starts the Skype classes.

I learned something about myself today.... I do well in a crisis. I'm the one who says, "Ok, let's all calm down and think this through." But... hand me a piddly crisis like a cut on the finger or burnt toast and I freak. Yep... that makes me weird.

Ok, back to my ironing... and washing floors... and dusting... while Jurgis tries to work miracles on my pc