Life, Work and Everything Else

'tis winter indeed...

2010-05-28T23:34:00.000+02:00

the winter evening settles down, with smell of steaks in passage ways...

winter has hit us finally and unfortunately. it reminds me of the PRELUDES (TS Eliot). well, the winter that is the season, and the winter that my life has reached. quite interesting, saddening, dull, cold, etc. the only good part about winter is that in not so long a time we will be in spring...

adios. i miss blogging.

somewhere out there...

2009-09-14T19:02:00.000+02:00

It's been a while since I've done this. Feels kinda strange... In fact, I don't think I can do it anymore. I wouldn't know where to begin. A lot has happened since the last time.

Anyway, I shall let by gones be by gones and start off on a clean slate. Although clean slates are relative...

-S

i am bitter! i am bitter! i am bitter!

2008-12-01T16:26:00.002+02:00

well, at least i think i am. many reasons. but they all essentially boil down to one root cause: women. we love them so much, however, they are too damn cruel. some of them without realising. but cruel all the same. we men can also....

ag fuck it. i am bitter! and i'm sticking to it...

-S.

i love song...

2008-08-20T23:49:00.003+02:00

here be the Waters of March. purely deep. i purely love.

A stick, a stone, it's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump, it's a little alone
It's a sliver of glass, it is life, it's the sun
It is night, it is death, it's a trap, it's a gun
The oak when it blooms, a fox in the brush
A knot in the wood, the song of a thrush
The wood of the wind, a cliff, a fall
A scratch, a lump, it is nothing at all
It's the wind blowing free, it's the end of the slope
It's a beam it's a void, it's a hunch, it's a hope
And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the end of the strain
It's the joy in your heart
The foot, the ground, the flesh and the bone
The beat of the road, a slingshot's stone
A fish, a flash, a silvery glow
A fight, a bet the range of a bow
The bed of the well, the end of the line
The dismay in the face, it's a loss, it's a find
A spear, a spike, a point, a nail
A drip, a drop, the end of the tale
A truckload of bricks in the soft morning light
The sound of a shot in the dead of the night
A mile, a must, a thrust, a bump,
It's a girl, it's a rhyme, it's a cold, it's the mumps
The plan of the house, the body in bed
And the car that got stuck, it's the mud, it's the mud
A float, a drift, a flight, a wing
A hawk, a quail, the promise of spring
And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life, it's the joy in your heart
A stick, a stone, it's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump, it's a little alone
A snake, a stick, it is John, it is Joe
It's a thorn in your hand and a cut in your toe
A point, a grain, a bee, a bite
A blink, a buzzard, a sudden stroke of night
A pin, a needle, a sting a pain
A snail, a riddle, a wasp, a stain
A pass in the mountains, a horse and a mule
In the distance the shelves rode three shadows of blue
And the river talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life in your heart
A stick, a stone, the end of the road
The rest of a stump, a lonesome road
A sliver of glass, a life, the sun
A knife, a death, the end of the run
And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the end of all strain, it's the joy in your heart

-S.

i hate you!

2008-07-11T09:57:00.003+02:00

this is a short poem i have composed. it's called "i hate you"

i hate you
i love the fact that i hate you
the fact that i love that i hate you liberates me
you are what i hate

i hate the way you treat me
i hate the way you talk to me
i hate everything about 123
i hate the way you always leave me dry!

if this be an error, and upon me proven
then, Virgin Mobile, i will still hate you, even the day after tomorrow!

-S.

this one is a dedication to you...

2008-07-01T12:42:00.002+02:00

you're here, i'm pleased
i really dig your company
your style, your smile, your peace mentality
Lord have mercy on me
i was blind, but now i see...

yesterday i took a long walk with you, i cannot say that it was around the block, although it was after dark. i liked it. it was cold. i did not care. i appreciate it. you are one of the best people i know. i tell you this all the time. sometimes you don't believe me. sometime you do just a little bit. still, you rock! my world!

-S.

the key is within...

2008-06-25T20:59:00.002+02:00

kajdf akjdfka lkoeiwr qeuer mdnf k er odkjsa fle oerkjd kloe! dksjakf odhgnjb ppekjs wiusdfkj we kja ere? lskjro eald ghwpqa ldsdfljwp... niht ksjdfn oaiehr nlksdor lkjaow s ldkweo rlskd wesp lkdf? kjdfeo? adkjfe!!! ksdjfeoi, kdfk. e dksf er adf dfd k sdf klkjre lkd kloeik lo!

-S.

i don't really like Lira but...

2008-06-09T11:58:00.003+02:00

I just wanna feel good everyday
I wanna wear smile upon my face
I wanna feel the joys of the day
I wanna feel alight in every moment
Said I won't wast time on feeling blue
I won't waste time on things I cannot change
I'm gonna live this day as best as I can
Doing everything that feels right

Singing la la la lala la

I wanna hear the laughter of a child
I wanna feel the hug from a loving friend
I wanna hear "I love you" every now and then
I wanna show somebody that I care
Cause feeling good is a choice that we all make
Just like a smile is a small effort you make
I love to feel the nudeness of a brand new day
Happy to be alight today

Singing la la la lala la

-S.

the land of the Queen

2008-05-26T17:03:00.005+02:00

London is beautiful. well, what i have seen so far. i am loving it. it's great that i brought my CV along. i do not have a camera because up until now i have not seen the use for it. but i'll be sure to capture most of the moments i come across... using my mobile... inbetween work. here is one picture it thought to be great:

this be the famous St. Paul's Cathedral, in case it was not recognisable. i will see if there is more i can upload.

-S.

a sequence of uneasy events...

2008-05-05T21:44:00.004+02:00

lately, it has become difficult to keep up with the blogging. not just the blogging. life. work. and everything else. i find it difficult to have fun. you know, like i used to. i find it difficult, in fact - annoying, to believe that i am still an ordinary person. i find it difficult to even drink. i tried alles. wine. beer. vodka. brandy. whiskey. fuck, none of them seem to go down well. not like they used to. i hate traffic. i hate coming back from work tired. i hate waking up early in the morning. i, i, i hate the fact that general life has become so [un]characteristically challenging. what is life? a journey? to where? fuck it! lemme sleep.

i am not angry. i am just finding it difficult.

-S.

[no title]

2008-03-31T22:40:00.000+02:00

"Everytime I see you I squeeeeze you like you my teddy bear baby"

-S.

+vity

2008-01-17T08:40:00.000+02:00

it's been two months. well, almost. the 26th of December has been a long time away -- that's an aside. oh, and i didn't know what to post on this post until i started it. and then it hit me:

Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky
You know how I feel
Reeds driftin' on by
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

enough said.

-S.

house on a move...

2007-11-19T07:06:00.000+02:00

well, what more can i say. this past weekend i was away, just for a day - ok, for half a day. here is what i captured while i was on the move. really interesting stuff i tell you:

and there is more...

an interesting price to whoever to correctly guess this location. ayeye!!!

TIA.

-S.

ambulance for sale...?

2007-11-06T08:51:00.000+02:00

it so happened that on Sunday i was driving around the western part of Pretoria, you know, looking for something that might spark a business opportunity. i was really unsuspecting when i came across this scenario which i captured to share:

i dunno what your take from your point of view is, but it seemed to me that since i was standing at a car dealer, where most of the vehicles had price tags (like the two of the three in the picture), with no sign of a workshop whatsoever, i can only conclude that the ambulance in the picture was not there to be repaired, but rather, to be sold. who holds the top job in our health system again? yah, her. she should see this picture!

somewhere out there, there ought to be a police van for sale. yes?

-S.

if i were at least 50% of ANC...

2007-11-02T09:22:00.000+02:00

...i would vote against our president of the state taking on i term yesithathu in office. let there be change. let some one else assume responsibility. let's speak about something else rather than the usual segregatory camps that are apparent (or not). let it be whomever but the current top man. male. female. it don't matter. i wish i could be louder than this.

MUCH LOUDER!

-S.

i am not gay, but...

2007-10-15T09:43:00.000+02:00

today i came across this gentleman who just blew me away. i met him in the lift. youngish. he carried himself professionally as we conversed about nothing while the lift was travelling from floor 22 to LG. his cologne was distinctive. and his choice of fabric was delicate, yet strong. i felt funny after that encounter. i was like "huh?!?" if i were a girl, i'm almost certain that i would have made that lift stop. and squeeze him in the corner for a bit of bump bump bump... just for about 2.7 minutes*. he he he!

-S.

* i dunno how this time relates the a male's or female's orgasm.

this facebook thing...

2007-10-15T09:31:00.000+02:00

is truly a waste of [my] time. i cannot figure out the system. i dunno, i just feel so disoriented when i have logged in, i cannot find my wall, my funwall, sometimes my friends, the people that i have requested to add to my list of friends, the list goes on. so, right now i am saying "screw it! i ain't gonna spend more time on the system. yah!"

on the other hand, i hear that the facebook south african network is so deep that some of the political parties (read: the ANC and its friends) has it in their strategy to campaign for the next election even on facebook. tight, i wanna see JZ's profile. and his funwall. he he he!!!

-S.

i love you, but you are arguably the most challenging thing that has ever happened to me...

2007-09-29T10:49:00.000+02:00

i feel like a girl.

i have exposed myself wholly and now i feel so bare and vulnerable and ... and i am finding myself in this stupid emotional rollercoaster and ... and i know that my feelings towards her are at their meanest depth but fuck, why has things turned out this way vele? why am i so unstable? why am i feeling like this? why am i even asking these questions? why? why? fuckin' why? sometimes i wish that i could just erase all the bits and patches in my memory that lead me into feeling this way. sometimes i wish that my DNA could have been encoded somewhat differently. sometimes i just wish that i cared less than i actually do. sometimes i wish that i was not this jealous. am i jealous or do i just care too much? either way, fuck it!

i hate me when me is like this.

-S.

me, i do not fall asleep...

2007-09-18T11:07:00.000+02:00

social networking and general Web browsing is addictive. unlike some people who fall asleep while trying to get their way around the Internet, i struggle to let go of the damn laptop, put it on hibernate and dos (sleep). i find myself doing so many things (arb things at that) and forgetting to do others, which sometimes i remember to do when i wake up to go drink water in the middle of my sleep. then i would continue where i left off. such crap.

this was one of those random posts. all hail to randomness...

-S.

"you're an idiot sometimes you know that?"

2007-08-17T11:12:00.000+02:00

---
id·i·ot [id-ee-uht] –noun
1. an utterly foolish or senseless person.
2. Psychology. a person of the lowest order in a former classification of mental retardation, having a mental age
---

call me an idiot, but not to my face. and make sure that i do not find out. period. for if i do, shit, i will not be happy about it. probably forever. as it stands, i remember all the people (2) that have, in my lifetime, called me (either to my face, or i found out) some variation of idiot. it really, truly hurts. especially since i cannot, in both instances, substantiate they calling me what they called me. and worse of all, recovery is never really 100%. with me at least. sometimes i hate the fact that i can dwell on certain issues forever. perhaps i should work on that. but i can't see me working through being called idiot. i don't know how to... i can forgive yes, but forgetting is a long shot.

-idiot.

kunzima emhlabeni

2007-08-17T11:03:00.000+02:00

empeleni, isihloko salombhalo asixhumani nesizathu sokuthi ngibhale lesis'qeshana. sekunesikhathi nokho ngagcina ukubhala indatshana ngolimi lwasekhaya, uma ngikhumbula kahle, sekuphele iminyaka cishe emihlanu yonke, kanti futhi kuyabonakala ukuthi ngisho noma ngisakwazi ukuhlanganisa umusho ophelele ngolwasekhaya, uhlanganiseka ngobukhulu ubunzima. engabe iyozala nkomoni ezizukulwaneni eziyolandela thina uma sekuza emkhakheni wezamasiko nobuntu? ngike ngezwa abanye abafokazi bedingida lona loludaba lwamasiko nezilimi, besho bethi nabo abacabangi ukuthi emuva kweminyaka engamashumi amabili kusukela manje, izilimi zethu ziyobe zisamsulwa kuhle kwasemandulo.

ngale kwalokho, kubalulekile bakwethu ukuthi sizame ngazo zonke izindlela ukungakhohlwa imvelaphi yethu ngoba phela yithi thina sizukulwane samanje esinomthelela owedlulele ekutheni izizukulwane eziyosilandela zibe nolwazi kanye nentshisakalo yokwazi kabanzi ngemvelaphi yabo.

okwamanje, ngiyema lapha.

-S.

dear Souper Sandwich...

2007-08-02T11:19:00.000+02:00

it's been a while since you and me met. i long for that reunion. you were the best thing in my life for so long in the past. you had figured me out. not many people are good with that. some tried taking your place. the weird stuff at McHarry's, the Chinese delicacies and even the wors rolls and chicken burgers along Jammie stairs tried to pull a fast one on you. but no, you were too strong for them. without even trying. i liked it a lot sticky. with extra cheese. even with my eyes closed. you totally rocked! i'm sure you still do. how i miss you. how i long for you. one day. one day you and i will be reunited.

-S.

1 round of sex = ? km

2007-07-23T11:50:00.000+02:00

yah, it is now a known secret that i have started "jogging" with the aim of shedding some of those unwanted kilos and look slimmer, just as my mother would want me to look. she says that it ain't kosher being way above your bmi especially in ones workplace because one is then perceived to be lazy, blah blah...

that ain't the point of this post however. jogging ain't fun. for now at least. so after my first few runs, i began thinking..., if one were to replace jogging with sex, how many rounds of sex would make a kilometer of jogging? maybe some being has already done this research and put the results out there, but i was just too lazy to look.

it could really be interesting... i'm thinking "honey, today i want to hit 4 kilometers!" or Doctor: it is imperative that you jog at least 2 kilometers a day, to help with that cholesterol problem..."

so, 1 round of sex = ? kilometers?

-S.

[aside] i have been trying to control my eating habits. especially eating after 7 in the evening. ;)

wish that you were mine

2007-07-16T09:59:00.000+02:00

for a long time now, i have been listening to The Manhattans' last album (methinks) --- "The Manhattans Live in South Africa." it totally rocks! that's the kind of music people, including George W. and bra Bob, should be listening to. from month to month, i have had a favourite song. this time around, wish that you were mine takes the trophy! awesome stuff! here be the lyrics:

--
Baby, could we have the same table we had yesterday

Woo, ooh, ooh, ooh

Here we are again
Sipping our drinks just like friends
I wonder if they see the sparkle in your eyes
I wonder if they know that I'm not your guy, mmm, hmm

I wonder if they see
That you don't belong tome
Wish that you could be mine
Mine, all mine, mmm…mmm…

It'll be hard for him to understand
I am his friend and he is your man
I wonder what my lady would say
If she knew I met you everyday, mmm, hmm

Sooner or later
Don't you know they're gonna find out and they'll hate us
Oh, I wish that you could be mine
Mine, all mine, mmm…

It's 2 a.m., the place is gonna close
The bartender looks as though he knows
Everybody's, everybody's made it home
Here we sit again all alone, mmm, hmm

I've got to get up at 8
Don't you know I've got to explain why I'm so late, mmm…
I wish I didn't have to go home
Whoa…oh…whoa…oh…oh…go home

I wish that you were mine, baby
Oh, I'd give you the world
And every little thing your heart desires
--

-S.

take your sms and shove it!

2007-07-16T09:53:00.000+02:00

yah, i am sick and tired of them people that send text messages that require a response. first of all, i am not a sms fan. texting is just too tedious and expensive (on my mobile package, i pay R0.75 per text the whole day). i prefer calling.

so, if you know me and you are thinking of asking for something from me, call me. if you send an sms, forget you will ever get an answer. even if you are special. why must i pay for something that YOU want? that is how i feel and i am not sorry for the way i feel.

-S.

...the bag

2007-07-12T01:24:00.000+02:00

sorry, there is nothing inside the bag. nothing. nada. so, what do i put inside? wait, why would i want to put something inside?

anyway, yah. i have been searching for a questionnaire. a particular questionnaire. in this bag. it's not there. obviously because the bag is empty. so can someone out there put something in this empty bag of mine? i dunno, a clue of sort? oh right, the questionnaire! is there a questionnaire that one can utilise as a deterministic method to establish whether a relationship* is (should be) over? you know, those strongly agree - agree - strongly disagree type of questionnaires?

i'm still on course. i'm out.

-S.

* a friend is looking for this btw...

pick me! pick me!

2007-07-09T03:19:00.000+02:00

i have not updated this in a while. and it seems that each time i put something here, it starts with more or less the same line. this must really stop. currently i am on course, a refresher course really, which teaches me about stuff that i ought to have learned in varsity. nice stuff. a real breather from the work environment. [i write this post during class! sshhhh!]

i got an interesting call today. this lady was, long ago, involved with getting me some study funds from the company which i now work for. since grade 10 if i correctly recall. she has now asked if it is possible that i become a 'helper' of some of the students which are in high school through a similar program to that i underwent. these students are from a not so advantaged background and are struggling away on various aspects of their daily lives at some predominantly white 'model c' (is this term still used?) school somewhere in Bedfordview. now these aspects range from social issues to academic issues and all the inbetweens. i am looking forward to this challenge. i hope i can find a way to somehow help them through. i know from experience that it is not nice to be in an environment where you seem to not 'fit-in'. i thank her for giving me this opportunity.

right, lemme get back to the course...

-S.

the cat, the bag and the bit in-between

2007-06-18T08:12:00.000+02:00

i have been dormant, yet again, for over a month. *sigh*. that is rather disturbing. too disturbing in fact. i blame it on the corporate Internet policies that are just too, too tight to allow us some time of our own. ok fine, it’s their time, but can’t it be stolen for just a few hours (this should really be minutes) in a day?

anyway, why did i start this post? it certainly has nothing to do with a cat. or a bag. maybe the in-between perhaps. but i doubt it. maybe liking cats. hmmm…? while on the subject of cats, big ups to the two cats that spring to mind. (Dr) Al, finishing a pea eish (usually called a PhD) ain’t a joke yho! i hope all goes well with the external examination process and everything else that will lead to you wearing that red number! ok, red gown. you are cat number one. cat number two. the way this one has guts, he probably has less lives than the nine that he originally began with. he has travelled the world (and its seven seas perhaps) over and over and is now on a special mission to enrol on one of the top-notch business schools in the universe. mind you, it’s not just as simple as filling in an application form and viola, you are in. you have to believe. spend (time, money and much more). oh, you must also have the courage as well as all the other nitty-gritties that go along with it. dude, keep on rocking yeah! most people, me especially, are inspired. by the both of ya’ll.

now, moving along to white socks. i will not say much on that topic. a picture says a thousand words.

Phathu, i took this way before your post. i thought it looked dodge. thanks for confirming that it does.

and finally, congratulations to the new additions on my “Other Blogs” section. it be a great privilege for me to have you in my blog (and vice versa. or is it just vice versa?).

aha, so this post eventually turned out to be about cats after all. and the in-betweens. where’s the bag? where the hell is the darn bag !?!

-S.

CAPM [an introduction]

2007-04-24T11:38:00.000+02:00

to all of you out there, i just thought i should let you know that i have registered to sit the GMAT test. i will not reveal the date. sorry. me no tell. the next obstacle is now the CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management). this credential is offered by the PMI (Project Management Institute) and it's a trimmed down version of the PMP (Project Management Professional) offered by the same institute. these credentials are highly regarded in various management arenas internationally, thus the reason why i am jumping onto this bandwagon. enough marketing for the PMI.

in the next couple of months, i shall share with you the ups and downs as i will be preparing for this exam. i have started preparations but they are not 100% in motion. i have drawn inspiration from two or three individuals within my ranks who have either obtained the CAPM credential or are almost there. thanks guys, ya'll rock! i shall keep picking your brains for a couple of months to come.

avenues such as PMStudy, PMCampus and PMHub i have already started exploring. if you know of any other useful resources out there, feel free to inform me. plus, you are also welcome to wish me luck and give support (cash, food, time, kind, all are welcome) for the next few months.

-S.

GMAT and other tales

2007-04-24T11:17:00.000+02:00

no, it is not getting my ass tormented, although some may argue that it comes pretty close. so me and Phathu started studying for this thing at more or less the same time. he wrote it. i did not. simply put, i was not ready for the test. numerous reasons. i gave myself until the end of April to write it. the end of April is thus upon me. am i ready to write you ask? yes. i have studied enough to be able to write it . the only glitch here is that i have not booked to sit the test. again, numerous reasons. one of these reasons is probably being scared. what if i write it and i am not happy with the score at the end? i could write again yes, but i only want to write it once and once only. i don't want multiple attempts appearing on my record. tales...

but because i am not a quitter, i will brave myself and book for this darn test. i just need a sign, even a faint one, telling me that its okay to go ahead and try it (i hope my ancestors are reading this).

otherwise, second half.

-S.

who reads your blog?

2007-03-20T11:32:00.000+02:00

i have a fair idea of where my blog is being read from, but as to who exactly reads it, remains a mystery. a whole lot of "what ifs" start trickling in. for instance, what if it's being read by other parties which i never thought would read it? but then again, so what? after all, i am expressing myself. so, if you are out there and you have read (or will read) something directed (or not) at you or at something or someone you know, and you are not liking it, as Bender would say it, "bite my shiny, metal ass!"

-S.

Helen Zille continues to impress me

2007-03-05T13:10:00.000+02:00

yes. i think of her not just as a woman leader, but also as a leader who has high morale, whose daily life is guided and founded upon solid and ethical principles and as a leader who is not reserved to speak her mind out. whatever the situation. in short, she strikes me as a strong leader with a high degree of transparency and as one of a few politicians with a reasonable view of where the country should be heading.

why so much praise you ask? maybe it's because she shows some support to some of my views (this was not so long ago). in a recent news article, she has stood up against attempts to rename Cape Town International Airport. furthermore, she has had guts to question and challenge some of the actions and views emanating from the ruling party, and for that i applaud her.

this country needs more leaders like her so that there is at least some healthy political competition to ensure that the views expressed at a political level are not as one-sided as they have been in the past.

-S.

it is in the eyes of the beholder

2007-02-14T11:59:00.000+02:00

the Western society at large is celebrating, errr, love on this day. well me, i believe that i am just a simple black man who really never understood the whole notion behind Valentine's day. it's the day dedicated to express your love to the ones you love you say? i say to hell with that! you can do it on any other day. in fact, everyday, one is presented with countless opportunities to say to the ones closest to one: "hey, i really appreciate having you in my life!" or "hey, i really miss you in my life!" or even "hey, although i do not tell you everyday, or i do not express it as much as you would like, i really do love you!" simple. really simple!

i was listening to the radio this morning about the trends in the market during and around V's day. the likes of Foschini and Edcon and similar really benefit around this time of the year. people purchasing cards, thongs, g-strings and whatever else for their loved ones. roses selling for a staggering (or should i say whopping) R50 a rose or something that ridiculous. eish!

ooh well, maybe i am adopting this mind set simply because i am broke. yah, it could be that.

-S.

acronym

2007-02-08T14:32:00.000+02:00

sitting, bored, i decided to venture on a mission to find out how acronym is doing in being an acronym. i found about 22 meanings which acronym is an acronym for and i have listed some of them below:

Abbreviated Coded Rendition Of Name Yielding Meaning
A Completely Random Order Never Yields Meaning
American Committee Really Out To Numb Your Mind
A Crazy Reminder Of Names You Misplaced

yes, that's 4 of the many meanings.

-S.

nostalgia

2007-02-06T13:22:00.000+02:00

as cryptic as i would like to keep this post, there are some things that are just too obvious from a mile away. there are many reasons why i have this rather nostalgic edge. so many. i think it is for the first time i'm thinking: "do i miss my childhood?" and the truth is that i do. i miss it. although i have a very blury memory of my childhood days, i still believe that i miss it. that way at least, i am comforted. my grandfather (my mother's daddy) was a cool dude. i think. although there were a lot of things that he did which were uncool, i nonetherless still think he was cool. i think he would be really pleased about the progress i have made in my life. he left me too soon methinks. {begin of side-track} my other grandfather (my daddy's daddy obviously) is some version of a dick. ok, maybe not dick, but he is rather reserved. too reserved for my liking. i do not want to have a formal conversation with him. i wanna speak to him as though i was speaking to, errr, my grandfather? is that too much to ask for? i am especially irritated because i feel he does this only to me and none of my other cousins. but what the heck! {end of side-track}

i miss primary school. i was king! everyone knew me. not vice versa unfortunately. i miss high school. high school rocked! i think i was not much of a king there, but everyone still knew me. but not vice versa too. happy times. cool memories.

i miss my aunt (my mother's sister). we never really spoke much me and her but she was a cool person. i think she had the qualities of my grandfather. wherever she's at, i know she is watching over her son. i like my cousin. i hope he grows up to become a strong man. i see potential in him.

varsity? i miss it too. all the relationships that were built up over the 6 years i was there. i'm sure they are solid enough to last me a lifetime.

most importantly though, i miss yesterday. i miss it because it was a lot simpler that today. i miss it even more at a realisation that all my yesterdays will be a lot simpler than my tomorrows.

yes, i miss my childhood.

-S.

a hunger buster

2007-01-23T14:46:00.000+02:00

i was hungry.
i walked out of the office.
i found it.
i ate it.
i became full.
life is good.
but, where do they prepare it?

it has almost been two months since my last post. there are things that i really want to post here since the festive season, it's just that i haven't had the time to do so. weak. i will though. i will. in the nearest of the futures. althought that alone is very relative. but soon. me promises.

i have always had my suspicions when it comes to the stuff (okay, cooked mealies) that is sold around the streets of Pretoria. my main concern was: where do they cook it? i had my theories, but they were finally proven on Sunday. i was driving past Marabastad (some of you might Google this, he he he) and there they were...! theories put to rest. i shall illustrate thus:

yes, a pretty tasty meal indeed. even i cannot produce such tastiness. i've tried. more than once.

oh, i forgot to include the backgound.

enough said.

-S.

we hate AIDS!

2006-12-01T14:00:00.000+02:00

here is my contribution to the fight against aids:

yeah.

a fiver on life:

1. know your status.
2. protect yourself and those you love.
3. educate the uneducated about HIV.
4. live a pos+ life.
5. always sing [the greatest love of all]* out loud.

-S.

* the greatest love of all - [whitney houston]

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be
Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone to fulfill my needs
A lonely place to be
So I learned to depend on me

[Chorus:]
I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be

[Chorus]

And if by chance, that special place
That you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
Find your strength in love

about the sea 'n all

2006-11-07T15:28:00.000+02:00

today i learned that the only sea that is below sea level is the dead sea. no wonder it's dead. while on that subject, i decided to find other trivial facts about the sea. for instance: the sea is the salt waters that cover the greater part of the earth's surface. interesting.

oh, another interesting find, although this was a long time ago, was this following list of the [seven seas]*:

1. Caspian Sea
2. Black Sea
3. Adriatic Sea
4. Red Sea
5. Aegean Sea
6. Mediterranean Sea
7. Persian Gulf
8. Arabian Sea
9. Indian Ocean

there are other permutations of the above. there are other seas. like the one mentioned in the opening sentence of this post. oh, and the Atlantic Ocean as well. and the Pacific. the South Pacific and the North Pacific. and so on...

-S.

* this is also the title of a song done by Babyface, Echo & the Bunnymen, William Pint & Felicia Dale, Marcome and others. Queen did 'seven seas of rhye' while the Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark did 'sailing on the seven seas'

flymango.com or not

2006-11-02T13:11:00.000+02:00

this low cost airline's booking system was activated at midnight to tuesday [31.10.2006]. unfortunately, i have no idea what it looks like because since then, the site either has been hogged or it has dismally crashed. shame! to me sepacially. i was hoping to score a cheap-cheap return flight to the mother city at the end of november. alas.

apparently: "The demand has been unprecedented. By 2am there were already thousands of tickets sold, with bookings all the way through to May next year." [iol]

my, and perhaps other people's, concern is: if something that is at grass-root level as the website crashes, what about the main airline itself?

-S.

when evil lurks...

2006-10-25T14:33:00.000+02:00

on a lighter note, i got this from this dude and i was quite happy to see how evil i have become.

You Are 36% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

try it out and see how much of a bad person you have become...

-S.

when i grow up, i wanna coach bafana bafana

2006-08-30T09:19:00.000+02:00

i mean, why not.

i think that our football association that is safa has, once again, got it all wrong. the main question that is on any sensible person's mind is: "is he really worth it?" Carlos Alberto Parreira that is. why is safa so interested in him? what is it that has given him such an advantage over all the other coaches that were inline for the job? so what if he was, at some point, successful with the world's best football team? success is not contagious unfortunately. but at R1.8m a month, i'm sure he can arrange it.

what bothers me the most is that safa now seems fairly desperate to get him on board that they are willing to do whatever he requests (basically, kiss his ass). i'm sure, if he can say that he cannot come through for the country in January and can make it only in March, safa would probably buy it. and give him a further 2oo blocks while at it. personally, i do not think that he can make it. he has failed* in Africa before (although that was early in his career and has probably picked up experience since then), but i have this urging feeling that he will fall flat on his face. safa will buy him out of his contract (they are good at it by the way) and will be embarrassed completely.

our country should wake up and realise that sports and politics were never meant to co-exist. never. the majority of sport in this country, rugby and soccer being the front-runners, has suffered immensely as a result of political interventions.

-S.

* this, of course, being a very relative term.

i'd rather die...

2006-08-15T13:47:00.001+02:00

[caution] this material is delivered from my brain as is [aka brain dump]. at a later stage i may look at it and utter: 'who hacked my blog!?' but for now, here goes.

i hate this country. i hate South Africa and all the powers that be. i hate the president and i hate all the ministers. i hate the deputy ministers and i hate the provincial MECs. i hate the parliament and i hate Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. she is the health minister right? yah. i hate her.

...it all began when i was watching SABC news yesterday [monday, 14.8.2006]. they showed a hospital in Brits. somewhere in the North West. who is the North West premier? yah, i hate him too! to cut the story short, i was displeased. or was i enraged? f#ck it. it's all relative. 2147,59. that's how much tax i will be paying at the end of this month. in rands. where will all that money, together with that you'll be paying, go to? i can tell you now that it will not go towards the sorry-excuse that is the money received by nurses that work for government hospitals nowadays. they get paid peanuts and they are expected to work like idiots trying to save lives. where are the resources that should be there in our government hossies? f#ck! people have their mothers and sisters taking care of them. sick people. in hospitals. what the hell is that? they bring their own blankets. some share beds. others sleep on the floor. geez. what is this?

what i saw in the news yesterday was alarmingly shocking. it moved me. maybe the is something that the government people are doing about our health system as a whole. maybe. but whatever it is, i ain't seen jack! and in my books, they've done f#ck'all. they all look like, in fact they are, power hungry individuals that care not a single bit about the country that they are apparently incharge of. they know that if they get heart attacks (most likely since they are all overfed and fat), they have a bed and a gazillion nurses waiting for them in a posh room at sunninghill private hospital or at sandton clinic. probably at a loyal tax-payer's expense.

yah, they rather take the tax-payers' money and rename airports. and towns. and pay for the trvelgate scam trial...

yah.

i love my country.

-S.

tales of a frozen car...

2006-08-02T09:17:00.000+02:00

my German automobile finally gave in and froze overnight while i was sleeping peacefully (i'ld like to think). it took sometime for it to eventually freeze, unlike all the other cars that also park in the vicinity -- their every morning hobby is to annoy their owners who then have to grab a hose pipe or a bucket to break their car's frozen bubble with a sprinkle of eish two owe. every morning. the temperature this morning was disturbingly low (i blame the cold front and probably the war in the Middle East). in the conversation that we (my auto and i) had en route to work, my auto told me that the temparature outside was about 1 degree and that the water that cleans the windshield and the headlamps was frozen. pity. i was just feeling sorry for the individuals that i was passing along the way waiting for some or other means of transportation. while i was enjoying the 27 degrees of warmth ngaphakathi.

-S.

perplexed. yes, i am...

2006-07-24T11:58:00.000+02:00

i cannot say much. simply because i do not know what to think of this. good idea? bad idea? all i can say is that it left me quite, uhmmm, perplexed. blown away. astonished. with a tiny pinch of confusion. maybe someday, i'll have something to say about this.

- Crime Expo SA [main site]
- Crime Expo SA [letters]

-S.

my name is now Hendrik

2006-07-13T09:31:00.000+02:00

well, why not? i figured, since our government [or has it now become the government's government and not ours anymore?] is on this (re)naming spree, why not i rename myself as well? just for the fun of it. i mean, if i rename myself, i will not go through daunting procedures to bring the rest of my life into speed with its master's new igama. it will take only a couple of visits to the police station to get an affidavit. a couple more to the home affairs department to get a new ID book and a passport. and then another handful of visits to the traffic department for my drivers licence to catch up with my new identity. then i will need to update my policies, bank details, etc. with my spanky new name. hopefully in about half a year i will be a totally new me.

now tell me this: six* months just to fix my things as an individual; how long will it take to work through the logistics of changing a name of something as monolithic as, say, an airport? or perhaps a town? a province? bloody hell, a whole country? i'm cool having to drive down to KZN. however, it might be a different story all together if in the future i drive down to KwaZulu? maybe catch a plane from OR Tambo International to Rolihlahla International down in Cape Town? or will it be then known as just eKapa?

_the_ government should just take the money and channel it to needing sectors like our education system, health system, transport system and others, instead of tangling themselves with financial burdens of trying to correct 'the imbalances of the past.' isn't the lack of education in this country more of an imbalance of the past than the name 'Johannesburg International Airport?' there is nothing wrong with honouring the champions of the Struggle, in fact i support it. but i feel that somewhere somehow, a line should be drawn.

-S.

* probably too over-estimated, but better that than under-estimating.

gimme a chance...

2006-07-06T12:40:00.000+02:00

fine, i think the topic of me being bored at work has been exhausted. so, what's new? eish these days i stumble upon opportunities of doing much more things with my time than in previous months. in the last month or so, i have been to the province where the sun supposedly rises (mpumalanga), many times. i have been to the cape (western province). have been home (kwazulu-natal) and i have been to the free-state. yeah! this coming weekend i shall embark on a trip to klerksdorp (north west), so yah, my hands are full like that! with the price of petrol having risen, it's gonna cost a lot more to drive around to all these places. oh, and i'm planning on going to hartees for a picnic sometime soon. and to mozambique in spring.

right, now to the topic of this blog. i need to do some course. i was thinking along the lines of management development programme (mdp) or similar courses, obviously on a part-time basis. but my only obstacle is that most of these institutions are either i) somewhat expensive for my liking (uct's equivalent course is R50K) or ii) need me to be at least 25 years old or be in a management position for some time --- not junior management, or both (like tuks' and unisa's mdp amongst others). so, if you are sitting there and you know of a reputable institution that i can attend to satisfy my urge, lemme know. i wanna do something with my time. after all, in about a year or so, i will be a rocking manager wherever i'll be at, plus, i should start thinking about how to make money as we build and shape our nation towards the greatest spectacle in football history (aka 2010 soccer world cup south africa [here is more of 2010]), so i may as well use this time to acquire some skills that might be applicable then.

these institutions must just gimme a chance! i mean, for crying in a plastic dish, i'm not trying to do an mba or anything! well not yet at least.

-S.

old habits never die...

2006-06-29T11:29:00.000+02:00

i remember arriving late at a computer science lecture once. i think it was the networks module of third year if my memory serves me correctly. 15 minutes late i think i was. this time around, the lecturer decided to ask for a reason for my lateness. an impromtu response was: "public transport." (oh, just to add: i was staying in res --- kopano, and between res and LT302, there was no public transport involved) that got me off the hook. at least that time at least.

now, this "flexible hours" thing is really killing me. i feel no urge to wake up in the morning. today i got to work at about 09H30 (Jay is still the winner at arriving at work late though. or is it also flexible hours for you Jay?) didn't even feel guilty. no one asked me questions. nada. so yah. one day when i start real work for a real company, i suspect this will all come back to haunt me. because it's true; old habits really never die, they probably go dormant for a long while. or even better: lapho okwake kwama khona amanzi, oyophinde ame futhi.

with that, i say kill your old habits (except possibly for sleep...)

-S.

when time hogs...

2006-06-27T15:53:00.000+02:00

yes, time does hog. i knock off at about 16H00 daily, regardless of the time that i came in (no one is looking, so i may as well take advantage of that tiny little fact). so, i have been yawning and falling asleep infront of this notebook thing for the past 2 or so hours (this was written a little after 15H50), so i decided to use the remaining 10 minutes on something constructive. the next thing i know it will be time for me to leave. yippee. honestly though, i fall asleep and feel forever tired not because i lack something to do but because there is a wee degree of interest in things that i should be doing*. so there you go. today Brazil plays Ghana, or is it vice versa? whichever way, my bet was a 1-1 draw (with Brazil winning 5-4 on penalties), so that is something that i am looking forward to this afternoon. that and spending quality time with a woman...

-S.

* in short, i hate my job (but then again, who doesn't?)

tshwane metro police 3 - 0 ciaa

2006-06-21T15:27:00.000+02:00

that's the running score. three traffic tickets since february. two tickets in two days (yesterday and today). what could be worse?

yesterday's ticket was just too weak. i currently do not have a parking spot at work, so i park on the street. if i arrive early enough, i get really good parking a few steps from the entrance to work. if late, i battle (to both find parking and walk the long distance from car to desk). now, i think these were new recruits trying to impress their bosses by issuing out a ridiculous amount of tickets in one day, but they were issuing tickets to all the cars that were parked on the street. ALL the cars. i was parked in a clearly demarcated area, where there was no meter that needed to be payed. nothinng. just an innocent parking bay on the side of the street. eish, when i arrived, there was the ticket in the windshield; stipulating that i was parked at a bus stop. riiiiight. i will query that. i do not have R200 to give the municipality as a pressie.

today. i had a bank appointment at 12H30. no seat belt. R200. initially, it was R400, but through negotiations, i managed to have it halved. i did not have cash. otherwise i would have bribed the hell out of that officer dude. he wanted me to. i told him that i did not have cash on me (next time i should be more prepared). he was an Afrikaner fellow, attempting a version of seTshwana so that i could see that he and i were thinking alike. i'm sure R20 would have done the trick.

so there. two fines in as many days. i hope i do not make it a hat trick.

-S.

so foul and fair the Cape i have not seen

2006-06-20T14:00:00.000+02:00

June 16 was important. but more so was June 15. the day i was admitted to the degree of Master of Science (Computer Science) at the University of Cape Town.

...it all started in February 2004. the MSc began. i had no idea as to who my supervisor would be nor had i even thought of a topic. all i knew was that i had more than enough funding + i did not want to go and work*. so, to cut 2 years short, i found a master (Hussein Suleman - nice fellow), i found a course (Flexible Packaging Methodologies for Rapid Deployment of Customisable Digital Libraries) and i got the degree. [oh, i had a very Wanda-ful girlfriend# throughout the 2 years. always there for support and all, and for that i will forever be greatful to her, wherever life takes her]

it was good to be in the mother city again. i really miss it. the atmosphere is completely different to what Gauteng has to offer. obviously. met some friends. had fun. the most fun i had was hunting for an outfit. did V&A waterfront, Canal Walk, Cavendish Square (all more than once).

the ceremony was splendind, save for it being somewhat longer that initially anticipated. the most disappointing part about the whole graduation thing was that there was no RAG wine for sale after the ceremony. a BIG down.

stayed up all night after grad, with the company of Johny Black (Johny Walker - black label) until my flight on Friday morning at 7. no, i did not miss it.

yah, there goes my summary.

-S.

* work is something that shouldn't be done unless it's absolutely necessary. note the recursive nature of this definition.

# a girlfriend is _something_ that must just be there, not be trusted and always provide for you (pardon my oblong definition, but that's how i felt at the time of writting this log)

...the return baba...

2006-06-13T11:19:00.000+02:00

yes, i have returned. i now have access to all the sites that i previously did not have access to here at work. i guess there is a lot of 'catching up' stories that i must still scribble. the joys of life. i have been sad. i have been happy. and i guess i have been everything inbetween...

so yah. watch this space. lots more is yet to come. but for now, adios...

-S.

Simpler is Better than Faster...

2005-10-10T17:49:00.000+02:00

so there i was, going to deposit an insane amount of coins at a standard bank branch at eMpangeni a week or so ago --- pity one cannot do this sort of transaction over the wire (or is it air these days?) anyway, it was interesting to see the distinctions that the bank has progressed into. there are normal tellers as you would expect, and then there is a 'coins deposit' teller (which does a deposit of coins --- even if it's five cents, and the rest of the money) note that other normal tellers do not take coins at all, they simply refer you to this particular teller. and then there is a business side. it states 'business transactions by prior arrangement' --- imagine how many people are prepared enough to do this sort of arrangement before hand. oh, and there is a 'blue bags only' teller --- these are the bags that you dump everything inside and hope that the counter will do correct calculations.

so, where do all these distinctions leave illiterate people? consider this scenario: an average illiterate person (not sure what that is exactly) will walk into the bank to deposit some cash (R27,25) for his nephew at, say, 10h07, yeah? will stand in a queue to 'enquires/imibuzo' until met by a service person at 10h21. the person will then be told to go and furnish a deposit slip and stand in a separate queue. at 10h33 the person will be done filling in the darn slip and will be in a queue until a teller meets him at 10h51. this teller will take one look at this man's deposit slip and do some random scribblings on the slip, telling him that the slip has been incorrectly filled in. after struggling to correct the slip, the man falls in the queue again at 11h01. meets a different teller at 11h09 who tells him that he needs to go to the 'coins deposit' and gestures the location of the 'coins deposit' teller with her hand. doing exactly that, the man is relieved at seeing that there is only one person at the coins deposits, but his excitement is short lived upon realising that the only person in that queue holds coins to the sum of about R5000, yet to be counted. at 11h32, the man finally makes it to the teller who then tells him that the coins that he is here to deposit are not sorted and the man must therefore do the sorting and stand the queue again.

the man finally completes his banking at 12h04. now, if there was a tiny flavour of simplicity in this whole scenario, the man would have been out of the bank and smiling 20 mins after he walked in. trust me, these scenarios DO exist.

AIM meetings are a waste of time...

2005-09-23T18:38:00.000+02:00

AIM [Advanced Information Management] is a research laboratory that i am currently part of. it is 1 of 3 (soon to be four) research laboratories in the Computer Science Department, at the University of Cape Town. every wednesday, there is a meeting which all the members of the research group attend (or are supposed to attend). more often than not, we usually do a round-robin, each introducing ourselves, our research as well as our supervisors (of course, for the benefit of all the attendees that are setting foot for the first time in the AIM meeting or for visitors --- yes, we usually have those) . a crucial element of the meeting though is that each of us, still in a round-robin manner, need to report back on what it is that we have been doing since that last AIM meeting (the previous wednesday) --- this is where most people fabricate their doings, trying to save face.

now coming to my point, in all that i have said above about the AIM meetings, is there an obvious redundancy? (besides the AIM meeting as a whole?) there is only one reason i attend these meetings: the group is headed by my supervisor and he is always there meaning that it is only logical that i too be there, for if i am not there, he will ask me "why were you not in the AIM meeting?" during our meeting which coincidentally falls directly after an AIM meeting.

maybe it's all the anger of doing one thing for two years (a MSc degree) coming out, i'm not sure, but i do know that AIM meetings are weak!

uSathadeyi

2005-09-20T11:09:00.000+02:00

it was an interesting Saturday morning, [17.9.2005]. at about 09H23 (mind you that at this time, i usually am still asleep suffering the repercussions of the preceding Friday), i received a call on my mobile from TMR whom i had promised that i will be joining a group of rather mundane male creatures with a primary intent to attempt to kick a spherical object (somewhat resembling a soccer ball), poorly simulating what is commonly known as 'playing soccer'. well, off i drove. the destination was a cricket-turned-soccer field opposite my former place of dwelling during the early years of me at UCT, a.k.a. Kopano. i arrived first and as i was thinking that i was late and it was all over, the majority of the gang pulled off.

after kicking the darn spherical object around for a while, we concurred that we should maybe separate into two teams and play this soccer thing, and because there were a handful of us (six to be precise), we settled for a ‘small poles’ game in a 75 square meter piece of land. whether what we afterwards called first half went by in a flash or i simply passed out after the first minute, i am not sure. what i am sure of though is that a few mysterious gentlemen (was it three of them?) arrived in a mysteriously looking black (eclipse-black) automobile, all dressed up in an irrelevant genre considering the occasion we were so eagerly gathered there for.

after these gentlemen assured us that they were indeed hither for the same cause as we were, we decided to begin what we then termed ‘second half’ in a space more elaborate than the former piece of land. this second half saw a team of five vs four (of which i was part of the four). the rest of the happenings of this half are much rather left untold, although i can quote someone describing something mimicking a “A MAN-SIZE RUGBY BALL ROLL DOWN A FLIGHT OF STAIRS”, i'm not quite sure what that was…

‘third half’ was a breeze, it was about 20 minutes long, with an avalanche of goals and perchance one-sided.

all in all, Saturday was good. i think it was a beginning of something good. as someone has already stressed this point, summer is before us and we need to welcome it without the blubber that has accumulated over the winter period and beer drinking sessions.

Jacob Zuma (Jay Zee) Joins NADECO

2005-09-15T12:10:00.000+02:00

former president of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, has, at the eve of the culmination of the floor crossing window which opened on 1.9.2005 and for 15 days since, joined the infant of the political movements in South Africa, NADECO (National Democratic Convention). Jiyane, former IFP chairperson, founder and president of this two-month old was quoted saying "NADECO is no more based on three pillars, but three pillars and Jay Zee and his [Jay Zee] actions could not have come at any other revolutionary time than the present in the politics of South Africa." the president of the Republic, Thabo Mbeki, was not available for comment as he is away trying to solve the problems of poverty in the African continent with the president of the United States and the British prime minister, however, presidential spokes person said that "this [Jay Zee's crossing over] will take a lot of stress off the president's shoulders which will enable him [Mbeki] to take more calculated decisions about the future of this country."

...welcome!

2005-09-15T12:02:00.000+02:00

finally i have decided to start with this blogging thing. i am not yet sure what it will be blogging about, hence the somewhat general topic [Life, Work and Everything Else (Lwee pronounced loo-wei) --- it is so cool to acronymise everything by the way]. yah, sometimes i will comment about the weather and sometimes about being broke. sometimes about the politics of my country and about the stuff i heard on the radio. so, brace yourselves, whoever you may be.