Blogging under pressure...
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 31 August 2007 at 8/31/2007 08:15:00 am.
.......Where has the time gone??? This time last week we were playing hookey from work and packing up the camping gear to head out into the bush. Now it's friday again and I seem to have lost all memory of Monday - Thursday!!!
It's because we're up the walls at work. Seriously it's one of those all-hands-on-deck-or-get-your-ass-kicked-by-me weeks. Deadline. Today. Big one. Job finished yet? No. And to boot, the frickin Vice President demands a meeting on monday (or maybe not monday?? we won't know until the last minute and then it's drop-everything-for-Lt. General Vicey Prezzie ((soon to be Prezzie)) that involves a presentation by yours truly who really is NOT the person to be doing said presentation but DO I HAVE A CHOICE? Hell no. Nice one. Is the presentation ready? Hell no. Do I have to work on it over the weekend? Um, YES. BARF!!! BARFING MY ASS OFF!!!
Query: how does one address the current-VP/future P of BW? Who also happens to be the commander of the military forces? Lt. General future President Mr. Vice President K.???
Side note from The Happy Place: What with blogging all these useless little known random facts about Moi in the previous post the other day, I was thinking about more "random facts a la moi" whilst sitting on the toilet just after I posted that. One of which fills me with pure bliss. So let's make it 9, shall we??
Ahem:
"My idea of the most perfect lunch in the whole universe would be: Summer time. Outside on the patio (I'm imagining my little courtyard in that house I lived in in DC). Eating a BLT on whole grain toast made with turkey bacon, and Miracle Whip Lite (which I really never use for any other reason), after a hard run or workout (so as to "earn" the BLT), with an ice cold (emphasis on ICE COLD) Amstel Light*." Ah, heaven.
*Notwithstanding the fact that I haven't lived in a country where you can get an Amstel Light in appx 8 years. But still...
It's because we're up the walls at work. Seriously it's one of those all-hands-on-deck-or-get-your-ass-kicked-by-me weeks. Deadline. Today. Big one. Job finished yet? No. And to boot, the frickin Vice President demands a meeting on monday (or maybe not monday?? we won't know until the last minute and then it's drop-everything-for-Lt. General Vicey Prezzie ((soon to be Prezzie)) that involves a presentation by yours truly who really is NOT the person to be doing said presentation but DO I HAVE A CHOICE? Hell no. Nice one. Is the presentation ready? Hell no. Do I have to work on it over the weekend? Um, YES. BARF!!! BARFING MY ASS OFF!!!
Query: how does one address the current-VP/future P of BW? Who also happens to be the commander of the military forces? Lt. General future President Mr. Vice President K.???
Side note from The Happy Place: What with blogging all these useless little known random facts about Moi in the previous post the other day, I was thinking about more "random facts a la moi" whilst sitting on the toilet just after I posted that. One of which fills me with pure bliss. So let's make it 9, shall we??
Ahem:
"My idea of the most perfect lunch in the whole universe would be: Summer time. Outside on the patio (I'm imagining my little courtyard in that house I lived in in DC). Eating a BLT on whole grain toast made with turkey bacon, and Miracle Whip Lite (which I really never use for any other reason), after a hard run or workout (so as to "earn" the BLT), with an ice cold (emphasis on ICE COLD) Amstel Light*." Ah, heaven.
*Notwithstanding the fact that I haven't lived in a country where you can get an Amstel Light in appx 8 years. But still...
Mamakohl (aka Crazy) got me.
RULES - Post rules before giving the facts - Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves - People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules - At the end of the your blog you need to tag six people and list their names - Leave them a comment on their blog, telling them they have been tagged and not to forget to read your blog.
1. I have a yearless birthday calander hanging in my bathroom, right in front of the loo. It's a Dutch thing. Me = good birthday-rememberer.
2. I hardly ever say "dog". I refer to every dog as "pupper", "puppins", "puppy", or "wupper". Sometimes even "Lt. Col. Wuppington". That does indeed include ancient, and middle-aged "puppies".
3. I am apparently 1 of approximately 4 white chicks in the whole world who find several asian (i.e. the orient) guys attractive.
4. The piece of clothing that I would most like to liberate the women of this world from, would have to be the thong. Seriously. I say we burn them all. It's just not right. I loathe the thong with the passion of 20,000 virgins.
5. My favorite boy's name is Jesse, and my favorite girl's name is Julia or Jess.
6. Several of my best friends in the world don't know about this blog.
7. I have an uncanny 6th Sense of Female Character Perception. My "catty/insincere/shifty" radar is unbelievably highly tuned and works nearly flawlessly. Which is why I may not have 10 dozen female friends, but the ones I have are solid gold.
8. I am not fond of body hair on men. To the point of obsession.
I'M TELLING YOU, NO ONE READS THIS BLOG!! And those that do don't have one!! But for what it's worth, I'm tagging:
Adela
Adela's mom (HAHA!)
Ashley (I guess you can use your MySpace!)
Marc (you too)
Beth
Anyone else reading this right now who wants to!!
RULES - Post rules before giving the facts - Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves - People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules - At the end of the your blog you need to tag six people and list their names - Leave them a comment on their blog, telling them they have been tagged and not to forget to read your blog.
1. I have a yearless birthday calander hanging in my bathroom, right in front of the loo. It's a Dutch thing. Me = good birthday-rememberer.
2. I hardly ever say "dog". I refer to every dog as "pupper", "puppins", "puppy", or "wupper". Sometimes even "Lt. Col. Wuppington". That does indeed include ancient, and middle-aged "puppies".
3. I am apparently 1 of approximately 4 white chicks in the whole world who find several asian (i.e. the orient) guys attractive.
4. The piece of clothing that I would most like to liberate the women of this world from, would have to be the thong. Seriously. I say we burn them all. It's just not right. I loathe the thong with the passion of 20,000 virgins.
5. My favorite boy's name is Jesse, and my favorite girl's name is Julia or Jess.
6. Several of my best friends in the world don't know about this blog.
7. I have an uncanny 6th Sense of Female Character Perception. My "catty/insincere/shifty" radar is unbelievably highly tuned and works nearly flawlessly. Which is why I may not have 10 dozen female friends, but the ones I have are solid gold.
8. I am not fond of body hair on men. To the point of obsession.
I'M TELLING YOU, NO ONE READS THIS BLOG!! And those that do don't have one!! But for what it's worth, I'm tagging:
Adela
Adela's mom (HAHA!)
Ashley (I guess you can use your MySpace!)
Marc (you too)
Beth
Anyone else reading this right now who wants to!!
I've waited for Thursday all week!!!
1 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 23 August 2007 at 8/23/2007 08:23:00 am.
...and only because that means Friday is 1 day away!!!
We're off again out into the bush tomorrow for some camping and some breaking in of the new roof tent. That is if (hot) mechanic Ross actually gets it welded onto the top of the rig today. Fingers crossed, holding thumbs, all that stuff.
Well even if it doesn't get done that won't take anything away from the fun of food on a fire, some good red wine, and Alan's first venture out into the Kalahari. He's excited but for some reason I feel like I'm more excited than anyone. New tent! WOO HOO! Actually I know the Mr. is excited too but he's been so busy at work this week that he hasn't been longing for friday with the same madness that I have.
Speaking of busy at work and the Mr. . . . it's just so hard to WORK these days. Spring is in the air, the job I'm working on at present is laaaaaaaaaaaaaame and making me easily distracted. So I have to sit here and watch him slave away (because he's so good and so focused) while I procrastinate, allow myself to get side tracked, and dream of friday. Yes indeed, I have a major case of the guilts at the moment.
Otherwise work-related, A. is still waiting on his university qualifications to be accepted by the South African Board of Whatever, so that his immigration papers can go through and he can start up his job in Jozi. I think all this waiting is making him nervous and I can totally understand. I mean he's taken a big leap coming down here and everything, the stakes are high, and you just want everything to go smoothly and not get held up in the wide wide world of red tape. But I just hope he doesn't feel like he's being an imposition by living with us for the whole time. I mean, we're loving it! He's so low-maintenance, I love teaching him how to cook, I love immersing him in Africa, The Mr. has gotten his 7-day-a-week "guy nights" back and I've finally inherited a half-decent extra brother! I just want everyone to feel comfortable and relaxed, I mean we're the epitome of relaxed about it so there's no reason for anyone else to not feel the same. I do know one thing though (besides that "bitches they come they go/Saturday thru Sunday Monday/Monday through Sunday, yo."), and that is that the big A. is definitely by far and away the easiest house guest ever. And that's not saying that anyone else wasn't easy (ALL my friends make great house guests!) - it's just that he is for all practical purposes part of the furniture. Probably because he's a boy. And because in this house we have 2 bathrooms and a maid. But, he can live on nothing but bowls of muesli and pulls his weight in all aspects of cooking and cleaning and dog-management, etc. Plus he's up for playing PS2 whenever I want, and watching whatever shows we watch, etc. Not to mention the free athletic training. HAHA! It's great. Oh, and I really love teaching someone how to cook.
Annnnnnyway what else. Oh well, the mominator has recently sent me another email. In the midst of her rattling on and on about how my old high school friend L. was back in town and how just positively DELIGHTFUL she is, she also managed to squeeze in the sentence: "we'd like to hear about how things are going in Gaborone". So what do I do? Do I write her back? Like the period between March and August never existed? Would doing so encourage this bizarre practice of "I'm going to essentially disown you for a period of 4 months because I'm in pouting mode, and then when I feel like it I'm going to send you random sweetie-sweetie emails as if nothing ever happened, and expect you to follow suit???" Oh what to do, what to do.
Let me just close that last paragraph off with a positive note, my mantra for these quandaries which always manages to leave me just as happy and nonchalant about the whole thing as before these thoughts ever came into my head:
“Friends are relatives you make for yourself.” --Eustache Deschamps.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Finally? Well, with help from A. I finally managed to make it up the WHOLE HILL last night, RUNNING. Not walking. Both me and The Mr. ran the whole way. I'm still shocked. But he does that real coaching thing where he jogs along side you and says motivational crap to keep you going, even when Jell-O Leg Syndrome kicks in and your breathing is a painful anaerobic nightmare. I'd say the gradient of that track ranges between 50 and 60 degrees steep. That may not sound like much, but if you consider the fact that 90 deg is STRAIGHT UP, or if you make the shape of a 45 degree angle with your hand, then steepen it... you realize that steeper than that (60) is absolutely ruthless. Over a quarter of a mile of that? That's just obscene. But we did it! I felt so wrecked when we got to the top that we didn't even jog back down like normal, we just walked it. The Mr. was very proud of me and I was proud of him too. Alan is just too fit to even be proud of but dammit I couldn't have done it without his presence. I think I'm just one of those people who needs an extra push (i.e. the presence of an intimidating, encouraging, non-spouse) to do these things.
I'm making my world-famous wildebeest, impala, and oxtail stew this weekend out in the bush. That'll blow the boys' minds.
We're off again out into the bush tomorrow for some camping and some breaking in of the new roof tent. That is if (hot) mechanic Ross actually gets it welded onto the top of the rig today. Fingers crossed, holding thumbs, all that stuff.
Well even if it doesn't get done that won't take anything away from the fun of food on a fire, some good red wine, and Alan's first venture out into the Kalahari. He's excited but for some reason I feel like I'm more excited than anyone. New tent! WOO HOO! Actually I know the Mr. is excited too but he's been so busy at work this week that he hasn't been longing for friday with the same madness that I have.
Speaking of busy at work and the Mr. . . . it's just so hard to WORK these days. Spring is in the air, the job I'm working on at present is laaaaaaaaaaaaaame and making me easily distracted. So I have to sit here and watch him slave away (because he's so good and so focused) while I procrastinate, allow myself to get side tracked, and dream of friday. Yes indeed, I have a major case of the guilts at the moment.
Otherwise work-related, A. is still waiting on his university qualifications to be accepted by the South African Board of Whatever, so that his immigration papers can go through and he can start up his job in Jozi. I think all this waiting is making him nervous and I can totally understand. I mean he's taken a big leap coming down here and everything, the stakes are high, and you just want everything to go smoothly and not get held up in the wide wide world of red tape. But I just hope he doesn't feel like he's being an imposition by living with us for the whole time. I mean, we're loving it! He's so low-maintenance, I love teaching him how to cook, I love immersing him in Africa, The Mr. has gotten his 7-day-a-week "guy nights" back and I've finally inherited a half-decent extra brother! I just want everyone to feel comfortable and relaxed, I mean we're the epitome of relaxed about it so there's no reason for anyone else to not feel the same. I do know one thing though (besides that "bitches they come they go/Saturday thru Sunday Monday/Monday through Sunday, yo."), and that is that the big A. is definitely by far and away the easiest house guest ever. And that's not saying that anyone else wasn't easy (ALL my friends make great house guests!) - it's just that he is for all practical purposes part of the furniture. Probably because he's a boy. And because in this house we have 2 bathrooms and a maid. But, he can live on nothing but bowls of muesli and pulls his weight in all aspects of cooking and cleaning and dog-management, etc. Plus he's up for playing PS2 whenever I want, and watching whatever shows we watch, etc. Not to mention the free athletic training. HAHA! It's great. Oh, and I really love teaching someone how to cook.
Annnnnnyway what else. Oh well, the mominator has recently sent me another email. In the midst of her rattling on and on about how my old high school friend L. was back in town and how just positively DELIGHTFUL she is, she also managed to squeeze in the sentence: "we'd like to hear about how things are going in Gaborone". So what do I do? Do I write her back? Like the period between March and August never existed? Would doing so encourage this bizarre practice of "I'm going to essentially disown you for a period of 4 months because I'm in pouting mode, and then when I feel like it I'm going to send you random sweetie-sweetie emails as if nothing ever happened, and expect you to follow suit???" Oh what to do, what to do.
Let me just close that last paragraph off with a positive note, my mantra for these quandaries which always manages to leave me just as happy and nonchalant about the whole thing as before these thoughts ever came into my head:
“Friends are relatives you make for yourself.” --Eustache Deschamps.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Finally? Well, with help from A. I finally managed to make it up the WHOLE HILL last night, RUNNING. Not walking. Both me and The Mr. ran the whole way. I'm still shocked. But he does that real coaching thing where he jogs along side you and says motivational crap to keep you going, even when Jell-O Leg Syndrome kicks in and your breathing is a painful anaerobic nightmare. I'd say the gradient of that track ranges between 50 and 60 degrees steep. That may not sound like much, but if you consider the fact that 90 deg is STRAIGHT UP, or if you make the shape of a 45 degree angle with your hand, then steepen it... you realize that steeper than that (60) is absolutely ruthless. Over a quarter of a mile of that? That's just obscene. But we did it! I felt so wrecked when we got to the top that we didn't even jog back down like normal, we just walked it. The Mr. was very proud of me and I was proud of him too. Alan is just too fit to even be proud of but dammit I couldn't have done it without his presence. I think I'm just one of those people who needs an extra push (i.e. the presence of an intimidating, encouraging, non-spouse) to do these things.
I'm making my world-famous wildebeest, impala, and oxtail stew this weekend out in the bush. That'll blow the boys' minds.
I was filling out one of those silly MySpace surveys at break time, and one of the questions was about "biggest regret".
So now I'm feeling really old because I realize I've become one of those pretentious "ancient sage" (BARF!) types who now says things like "I don't regret anything because everything that didn't kill me has made me grow stronger" and blaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh. Yeah ok some pretentious clichés are actually quite accurate and true. But still even just THINKING them makes me feel old. Granny-like. For instance: When you're young, you regret all sorts of things that get you in trouble and get you grounded or make you embarrassed in front of your friends or.... whatever. You just regret a lot. You stab yourself in the face repeatedly and go: "oh my GAWWWD!! I'll give up all my telephone privileges for the next year if I can just PLEEEASE go back in time and NOT DO THAT!!!" Now as I'm older, I can think of a whole list of "worst things that ever happened to me", and I realize that if those things hadn't happened, I might not be who I am today. And yet another sign of age: I am pretty satisfied with where I am today.
HOW OLD IS THAT $%&!?!?!?!?
So I played this little game with myself for all of 45 seconds or whatever and thought about (some of) the worst things that I could possibly think of that happened or that I did, and lo and behold nearly all of them somehow turned out to be quality experiences for the "bigger picture" (again I say GAG!) in one way or another. Well ok, they were totally shit when they happened, but again - here I sit, happy with the experience under my belt and skeptical if I'd ever be the same person otherwise.
e.g.
Bad: Getting arrested and thrown in jail
Good: Learning not to drink & drive; learning what jail is like; learning what going to court is all about; experiencing what it's like to hold down 3 jobs at once during college in order to pay my fines and get out of said predicament WITHOUT telling or getting any help from mommy and daddy = priceless. (not to mention the practicality of being forced to drive *really* safely for 6 months ((probably the only 6 months I ever "drove safely")) so as not to get pulled over until I could move overseas and get an aussie drivers license since they took away my Missouri one, which was actually nearly expired and now I'm valid til 2017!!! brilliant!)
Bad: Cheating on all those guys
Good: Becoming worldly wise; learning the tricks of the trade and what "red flags" are in a relationship, first-hand; Figuring out that lying will always land you in the shit; Experiencing what it's like to be evil and learning how much it hurts people; Preventing me from ever becoming really emotionally committed to guys that were never going to be "the one" (even preventing a potential bad marriage, yikes!); Being able to really KNOW, 100%, when the right one came along; Learning the experience of getting busted; Experiencing karma in the flesh when it all came back to me and actually understanding it. = priceless.
Bad: Falling in love with CT, the guy who ripped my heart into a million pieces
Good: No surprises here, you just can not POSSIBLY go through life and consider yourself having lived it to the fullest without knowing what a broken heart feels like. Full stop. Not to mention it gave me the experience of becoming an expert snowmobiler, a fun holiday to the mountains, a cool whirlwind romance with a hot Italian, and knowledge of what it's like to date a cop (?!?!) Oh yes, and getting my shit back together and working through a good solid era of mourning, + coming out smarter because of it all = priceless.
Bad: All those lies and fights and crises with the parents
Good: Oh don't even get me started - not only can I spot a liar from 1000 billion miles away, if I ever become a parent I've got VOLUMES of guidence to work with from the "WHAT NOT TO DO" library.
I could go on and on for days... nearly drowning, nearly fatally crashing my car in Iowa when nobody knew where I was, skipping classes, dating whatever-low-quality boyfriend, substance abuse, all of it. I can somehow see where it all has taken me, in some way or another.
I guess this is the fine line that parents tread isn't it. Like "is my kid smart enough to learn from experiencing regrettable stuff, or will it royally mess him up/kill him?" "should we let him out in the big bad world to fuck up, or should we keep him locked up in the house just in case?" hmmm. I guess now I just have to be thankful that my upbringing made me smart enough to not get killed or mentally messed up one way or another.
Oh yeah so I had to succumb to the fact that the only "biggest regret" I could come up with (finally) was a 1-night-stand with some dickhead who was just really low quality and 100% meaningless to my life whatsoever. I could have totally done without that one. And I'm not saying that it was the 1-night-stand part that was totally worthless... it was just that it was with him, he was totally stupid and I knew better but I just didn't give a crap at the time. So there's something.
So now I'm feeling really old because I realize I've become one of those pretentious "ancient sage" (BARF!) types who now says things like "I don't regret anything because everything that didn't kill me has made me grow stronger" and blaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh. Yeah ok some pretentious clichés are actually quite accurate and true. But still even just THINKING them makes me feel old. Granny-like. For instance: When you're young, you regret all sorts of things that get you in trouble and get you grounded or make you embarrassed in front of your friends or.... whatever. You just regret a lot. You stab yourself in the face repeatedly and go: "oh my GAWWWD!! I'll give up all my telephone privileges for the next year if I can just PLEEEASE go back in time and NOT DO THAT!!!" Now as I'm older, I can think of a whole list of "worst things that ever happened to me", and I realize that if those things hadn't happened, I might not be who I am today. And yet another sign of age: I am pretty satisfied with where I am today.
HOW OLD IS THAT $%&!?!?!?!?
So I played this little game with myself for all of 45 seconds or whatever and thought about (some of) the worst things that I could possibly think of that happened or that I did, and lo and behold nearly all of them somehow turned out to be quality experiences for the "bigger picture" (again I say GAG!) in one way or another. Well ok, they were totally shit when they happened, but again - here I sit, happy with the experience under my belt and skeptical if I'd ever be the same person otherwise.
e.g.
Bad: Getting arrested and thrown in jail
Good: Learning not to drink & drive; learning what jail is like; learning what going to court is all about; experiencing what it's like to hold down 3 jobs at once during college in order to pay my fines and get out of said predicament WITHOUT telling or getting any help from mommy and daddy = priceless. (not to mention the practicality of being forced to drive *really* safely for 6 months ((probably the only 6 months I ever "drove safely")) so as not to get pulled over until I could move overseas and get an aussie drivers license since they took away my Missouri one, which was actually nearly expired and now I'm valid til 2017!!! brilliant!)
Bad: Cheating on all those guys
Good: Becoming worldly wise; learning the tricks of the trade and what "red flags" are in a relationship, first-hand; Figuring out that lying will always land you in the shit; Experiencing what it's like to be evil and learning how much it hurts people; Preventing me from ever becoming really emotionally committed to guys that were never going to be "the one" (even preventing a potential bad marriage, yikes!); Being able to really KNOW, 100%, when the right one came along; Learning the experience of getting busted; Experiencing karma in the flesh when it all came back to me and actually understanding it. = priceless.
Bad: Falling in love with CT, the guy who ripped my heart into a million pieces
Good: No surprises here, you just can not POSSIBLY go through life and consider yourself having lived it to the fullest without knowing what a broken heart feels like. Full stop. Not to mention it gave me the experience of becoming an expert snowmobiler, a fun holiday to the mountains, a cool whirlwind romance with a hot Italian, and knowledge of what it's like to date a cop (?!?!) Oh yes, and getting my shit back together and working through a good solid era of mourning, + coming out smarter because of it all = priceless.
Bad: All those lies and fights and crises with the parents
Good: Oh don't even get me started - not only can I spot a liar from 1000 billion miles away, if I ever become a parent I've got VOLUMES of guidence to work with from the "WHAT NOT TO DO" library.
I could go on and on for days... nearly drowning, nearly fatally crashing my car in Iowa when nobody knew where I was, skipping classes, dating whatever-low-quality boyfriend, substance abuse, all of it. I can somehow see where it all has taken me, in some way or another.
I guess this is the fine line that parents tread isn't it. Like "is my kid smart enough to learn from experiencing regrettable stuff, or will it royally mess him up/kill him?" "should we let him out in the big bad world to fuck up, or should we keep him locked up in the house just in case?" hmmm. I guess now I just have to be thankful that my upbringing made me smart enough to not get killed or mentally messed up one way or another.
Oh yeah so I had to succumb to the fact that the only "biggest regret" I could come up with (finally) was a 1-night-stand with some dickhead who was just really low quality and 100% meaningless to my life whatsoever. I could have totally done without that one. And I'm not saying that it was the 1-night-stand part that was totally worthless... it was just that it was with him, he was totally stupid and I knew better but I just didn't give a crap at the time. So there's something.
Posting Just to Post
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 14 August 2007 at 8/14/2007 01:16:00 pm.
This weekend was fun.
Friday sundowners were fun.
Saturday walk to Gabane was fun. I think the Mr. is writing about it right now on the other blog, actually.
Sunday hill climb was fun.
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE was double fun! ("Spider pig, Spider pig! Does whatever a spider pig does! can he swing from a web, no he cant, he's a pig. LOOk out, heres the spiderpig...")
Sunday afternoon while the Mr. was cooking dinner, me and A. took a bike ride down the road towards the dam, and while I was showing him the shoreline and we were walking the bikes along the water (b/c he just blew his tire), we stopped for a minute and were chatting about some cow or something and it was only a good 5 minutes or so later that I realized there was a big fat-ass crocodile less than 20metres away from us sitting on the bank that we were heading straight towards.
Well it was A's 1st croc, so that was cool... but what was not cool was that his bike was now un-ride-able and therefore we would not be riding out of there at top speed. Anyway no big deal, Big Bertha didn't look too interested in us, but dear sweet naive A. didn't really seem to grasp the concept that they will actually chase you and grab you and eat you, if they want to. Just like they did to our neighbours' dogs... poor things.
Why, WHY did no one ever tell me that "30 Rock" is the long-lost, actually FUNNY sitcom that I've been dreaming of and waiting in vain for, for the last (how long has Seinfeld been over?) however-many years!??!? Oh how I dearly love that show. And because no one tipped me off earlier, I've missed half a season already but nevermind. Just PLEASE People in Power, PLEASE don't pull this one off the air on me (like every other decent sitcom I've ever loved) I beg of you!
OK so the newest tale from freaksville, USA is that my bro finally forced his gf on the Mominator. It all went down this weekend at the Grandma's 80th b-day bash. Apparently everyone survived but not without awkwardness and tiny little digs and a dash of dysfunction. The bizarre tidbit that's got me bamboozled is this just in (via email) from the gf, to me:
"What's the deal with a possible surprise visit for Thanksgiving?? Your dad leaked that and I thought your mom was going to eat his head for lunch?"
Um, all I can say is that if my dad is suffering some sort of delusion that the Mr. and I would be spending ANY of our hard-earned money and well-deserved vacation days on some un-announced jetting off to hooterville for no good reason other than to eat turkey and scream at the top of our lungs, I'm afraid the poor man has finally succumbed to the rapidly-spreading, terminal case of Crazy that they must be passing around amongst themselves up there. What puzzles me most is the use of the word "surprise"!!!???
The weirdest thing after that, is that after no verbal contact with the Mominator since March (infamous "The Mother's Day Voicemail that Rocked the World" notwithstanding) all of a sudden there's this (mass) email (to everyone on the planet) that says they're going to Alaska in September. I'm sure everyone they know is thinking "wow! how nice that they're going to Alaska!" I, however, can read between the lines and know what this REALLY means. For example, my mother would rather DIE than go anywhere where birdwatching is involved. If there's not sunshine and preferably a beach and 5-star restaurants, home-girl dont play dat.
I imagine it went something like this:
Dad: "I'll never forgive you for sabotaging my visit to the kids in BW"
Mom: "If you let it go and never mention BW again, we can go to Alaska and watch birds on an iceberg or something"
Dad: "Done"
Mom: "never mention this conversation to anyone. From now on it's all about you and me and the Arctic circle. Capeesh?"
I'm nearly done with one of my well-thought-out posts.
Friday sundowners were fun.
Saturday walk to Gabane was fun. I think the Mr. is writing about it right now on the other blog, actually.
Sunday hill climb was fun.
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE was double fun! ("Spider pig, Spider pig! Does whatever a spider pig does! can he swing from a web, no he cant, he's a pig. LOOk out, heres the spiderpig...")
Sunday afternoon while the Mr. was cooking dinner, me and A. took a bike ride down the road towards the dam, and while I was showing him the shoreline and we were walking the bikes along the water (b/c he just blew his tire), we stopped for a minute and were chatting about some cow or something and it was only a good 5 minutes or so later that I realized there was a big fat-ass crocodile less than 20metres away from us sitting on the bank that we were heading straight towards.
Well it was A's 1st croc, so that was cool... but what was not cool was that his bike was now un-ride-able and therefore we would not be riding out of there at top speed. Anyway no big deal, Big Bertha didn't look too interested in us, but dear sweet naive A. didn't really seem to grasp the concept that they will actually chase you and grab you and eat you, if they want to. Just like they did to our neighbours' dogs... poor things.
Why, WHY did no one ever tell me that "30 Rock" is the long-lost, actually FUNNY sitcom that I've been dreaming of and waiting in vain for, for the last (how long has Seinfeld been over?) however-many years!??!? Oh how I dearly love that show. And because no one tipped me off earlier, I've missed half a season already but nevermind. Just PLEASE People in Power, PLEASE don't pull this one off the air on me (like every other decent sitcom I've ever loved) I beg of you!
OK so the newest tale from freaksville, USA is that my bro finally forced his gf on the Mominator. It all went down this weekend at the Grandma's 80th b-day bash. Apparently everyone survived but not without awkwardness and tiny little digs and a dash of dysfunction. The bizarre tidbit that's got me bamboozled is this just in (via email) from the gf, to me:
"What's the deal with a possible surprise visit for Thanksgiving?? Your dad leaked that and I thought your mom was going to eat his head for lunch?"
Um, all I can say is that if my dad is suffering some sort of delusion that the Mr. and I would be spending ANY of our hard-earned money and well-deserved vacation days on some un-announced jetting off to hooterville for no good reason other than to eat turkey and scream at the top of our lungs, I'm afraid the poor man has finally succumbed to the rapidly-spreading, terminal case of Crazy that they must be passing around amongst themselves up there. What puzzles me most is the use of the word "surprise"!!!???
The weirdest thing after that, is that after no verbal contact with the Mominator since March (infamous "The Mother's Day Voicemail that Rocked the World" notwithstanding) all of a sudden there's this (mass) email (to everyone on the planet) that says they're going to Alaska in September. I'm sure everyone they know is thinking "wow! how nice that they're going to Alaska!" I, however, can read between the lines and know what this REALLY means. For example, my mother would rather DIE than go anywhere where birdwatching is involved. If there's not sunshine and preferably a beach and 5-star restaurants, home-girl dont play dat.
I imagine it went something like this:
Dad: "I'll never forgive you for sabotaging my visit to the kids in BW"
Mom: "If you let it go and never mention BW again, we can go to Alaska and watch birds on an iceberg or something"
Dad: "Done"
Mom: "never mention this conversation to anyone. From now on it's all about you and me and the Arctic circle. Capeesh?"
I'm nearly done with one of my well-thought-out posts.
Happy Friday! WOO HOO! Dancin' Ladies!!
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 10 August 2007 at 8/10/2007 02:32:00 pm.
Nothing to see here... the big story is over on THE OTHER BLOG. I'm so exhausted from re-counting it over there that I just can't bring myself to do it again here. but at any rate, fast times on the ranch in Gabz-city!!!
The line-up for the weekend includes sundowners tonight after work with P. and a couple of her colleagues over yonder at the yacht club. Happy hour there means you get 2 drinks for the price of one. Again, HOW COOL IS IT to have a dry guy living with you for driving duties??? Our mate Jeremy will be providing the live music, meaning, basically Jeremy + his guitar. But still, it's live! I'm not complaining!
Tomorrow the 3 of us + P. and R. and a few other stragglers are walking from Gabs to Gabane, the village a few km from here. It's about a 2-3 hour walk. There we will proceed to go to the "Mountain Liquor Restaurant" and eat some steaks and listen to music, drink a couple of beers and get stared at by the locals. Back to town via taxi thereafter.
Sunday, as yet, looks like climbing the hill as per the last few sundays (and wednesdays too!) but this time Eric will probably join us. And some friend of his.
I'm being very good with my fitness regimen these days. No eating after 8:30pm, small portions, and a good workout at least 4 times this week. It's nearly shorts, swimsuit, and tank top season... not to mention with all the visitors we're expecting (and the heat!) the lazy-tendency time of year is fast approaching. This year I'm gonna be ready for it.
I made fish last night and it was soooooo good. It was a simple asian base of stirfried garlic, chili, onion and peppers, then the liquids were fish sauce, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, pineapple juice and coconut milk (in equal quantities - only about a few Tblspns of each). I threw some snow peas, pineapple chunks and carrot spears in there and then simmered the fish fillets in it all for about 3 minutes. It was dead easy, healthy, and tasted amazing. Haven't had red meat in a week. woo hoo for the fishy fishy! oh yes, and there was cous cous salad too.
the end
The line-up for the weekend includes sundowners tonight after work with P. and a couple of her colleagues over yonder at the yacht club. Happy hour there means you get 2 drinks for the price of one. Again, HOW COOL IS IT to have a dry guy living with you for driving duties??? Our mate Jeremy will be providing the live music, meaning, basically Jeremy + his guitar. But still, it's live! I'm not complaining!
Tomorrow the 3 of us + P. and R. and a few other stragglers are walking from Gabs to Gabane, the village a few km from here. It's about a 2-3 hour walk. There we will proceed to go to the "Mountain Liquor Restaurant" and eat some steaks and listen to music, drink a couple of beers and get stared at by the locals. Back to town via taxi thereafter.
Sunday, as yet, looks like climbing the hill as per the last few sundays (and wednesdays too!) but this time Eric will probably join us. And some friend of his.
I'm being very good with my fitness regimen these days. No eating after 8:30pm, small portions, and a good workout at least 4 times this week. It's nearly shorts, swimsuit, and tank top season... not to mention with all the visitors we're expecting (and the heat!) the lazy-tendency time of year is fast approaching. This year I'm gonna be ready for it.
I made fish last night and it was soooooo good. It was a simple asian base of stirfried garlic, chili, onion and peppers, then the liquids were fish sauce, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, pineapple juice and coconut milk (in equal quantities - only about a few Tblspns of each). I threw some snow peas, pineapple chunks and carrot spears in there and then simmered the fish fillets in it all for about 3 minutes. It was dead easy, healthy, and tasted amazing. Haven't had red meat in a week. woo hoo for the fishy fishy! oh yes, and there was cous cous salad too.
the end
The Mr. Still Lives
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 08 August 2007 at 8/08/2007 03:19:00 pm.
Right, so Pádraig sends me this email today:
I must email H. this eve. It feels like aaaagggggggeeeees since I have seen or heard from him. Even your blog hardly mentions him now that Alan is getting all your attention!!!
First I laughed, because that's his favorite joke in the world and it will always remind me of the boys back in Ireland, but then second, I thought: OK then, how about another priceless nugget relevant to the Mr., for today?
So this afternoon, his finger is bleeding... something about how he cut himself. He had been eating a doughnut at the time. Something about wiping sugar off his finger and... whatever. So he needs a bandage. I say "go over and get a bandage from Marcus". He does. He comes back and puts it on his finger.
I said: "I knew Marcus would have one. What did I say? I knew he would have one".
And then SOMEONE ELSE IN THE OFFICE goes:
"Did you tell him the part about you cutting your finger on a doughnut?"
Oh how we laughed!
The end.
I must email H. this eve. It feels like aaaagggggggeeeees since I have seen or heard from him. Even your blog hardly mentions him now that Alan is getting all your attention!!!
First I laughed, because that's his favorite joke in the world and it will always remind me of the boys back in Ireland, but then second, I thought: OK then, how about another priceless nugget relevant to the Mr., for today?
So this afternoon, his finger is bleeding... something about how he cut himself. He had been eating a doughnut at the time. Something about wiping sugar off his finger and... whatever. So he needs a bandage. I say "go over and get a bandage from Marcus". He does. He comes back and puts it on his finger.
I said: "I knew Marcus would have one. What did I say? I knew he would have one".
And then SOMEONE ELSE IN THE OFFICE goes:
"Did you tell him the part about you cutting your finger on a doughnut?"
Oh how we laughed!
The end.
Back in the saddle again
1 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 06 August 2007 at 8/06/2007 09:04:00 am.
:-O
Ewwwwwwww! I'm back at work!
While I do love my job, it aint a party when you have to wake up early and actually be somewhere, after a week of lazing around and having fun.
South Africa was great.
Joburg was fantastic, love hanging out with J. on his home turf.
Ma & Pa P. in Pretoria are great too.
Alan is here.
It's actually great fun having the extra boy around the house.
The week off went kind of like this:
Drive down to Jozi, stay with J. for a few nights (sushi, greek food, coffees, champagne, wine, walking, hanging, laughing; fun sleep over with him on his own bedroom floor, us in his bed, Alan in the guest room, a game of Trivial Persuit that *I WON*, etc), up to P'town, stay with the Ma&Pa for a couple nights, back down to Jozi, fetch Alan at the airport. Show Alan where his new office is, do the introduction to everybody that matters, quick whirlwind driving tour of his new city, etc. Two nights at J's place, then whisk the sweet little greenhorn off to the north to hit Pilanesberg for a stint of camping (his first time ever sleeping in a tent!?!?!?!?). He loved it. He saw 3 of the Big 5 in his first week here! (Lion, Elephant, Rhino)
Now we're all 3 back in Bots and he's learning all sorts of new stuff about this big thing called "Africa" and I think he's getting to love it as much as we do. It was his bday yesterday so we gave him cake and a present, climbed the hill (2 days in a row-- back on the road to fitness for me after a week of decadence!!!) and went for a little local game drive (saw Eland, Kudu, Bushbuck, Warthog, and a few other things he didnt get to tick off the list in SA last week) and went to dinner at our favorite italian joint. Man do I like having a non-drinker around. It's like perma-sober-chauffer! The Mr. and I both got to have a beer before dinner AND wine at the restaurant last night. Sweeeeeeet.
His first impressions of southern Africa (as I can figure)
- Likes our house & plot & especially our giant rig
- Likes Joburg & the soon-to-be-new office
- Thinks the girls are hot here (and in SA), well, hotter than Ireland anyway
- Likes the wide variety of N/A drinks available at all drinking establishments
- Likes the stars at night and sunshine by day
- In awe of value for money when it comes to meat
- Decided he likes camping
- Thinks Pádraig will REALLY like it here (we can't wait for February!)
His parents are really worried about him and I dont think they like the whole thing about him moving off to africa, but we make sure he sends them text messages and they rang him for his bday and even Ma P. sent them an email saying what a lovely son they have and how she will look after him and make sure he doesnt get carjacked or otherwise. HA!
And now it's like I got a brother and a husband and 3 male dogs in the house... eesh. Me and Reilly have seriously got an estrogen battle on our hands. Although as the brilliant SK has said in the past "I do like being the queen".
Tonight I'm taking the boy to my yoga class. I guaran-damn-tee you none of these girls have ever seen a Grade A pro sprinter up close like this before. Talk about calf-thigh-and-buttock envy... hahahaha!
And now for some pictures....
Oopsies on the champagne-front:
My beloved Ma P. hand-rearing an injured baby dove that was found on the brink of death in their garden:
My beloved big "brother" P. (Gavin - Ma & Pa P's oldest) and a delicious plate of seafood at Ocean Basket in Ptown. I lovvvvvvve him and it was actually observing his relationship with his wife K. back when I lived in Ptown all those years ago, that they became my so-called relationship "role model" which I've stuck to ever since meeting the Mr.
Those 2 have always been an inspiration to me.
Young Alan surveys Pretoria for the first time ever:
Bunking party@ J's place!
Young Alan goes camping for the first time ever:
The real definition of a "Zebra Crossing" (this allusion will not make any sense to any americans reading this blog and for that i apologize):
Pilanesberg was full of babies while we were there. (baby giraffe, baby rhino, baby baboons, baby antelopes, baby hippo, etc) Good timing for us! Here's 2 baby ellies amongst the butts, right next to our car. I call this one "Babies and the Butts":
And finally, I call this one "Young Alan hangs on the W's couch for the first time ever" (the same australian-purchased couch he would've hung on halfway across the globe in Ireland, only now it's in Botswana) :
Ewwwwwwww! I'm back at work!
While I do love my job, it aint a party when you have to wake up early and actually be somewhere, after a week of lazing around and having fun.
South Africa was great.
Joburg was fantastic, love hanging out with J. on his home turf.
Ma & Pa P. in Pretoria are great too.
Alan is here.
It's actually great fun having the extra boy around the house.
The week off went kind of like this:
Drive down to Jozi, stay with J. for a few nights (sushi, greek food, coffees, champagne, wine, walking, hanging, laughing; fun sleep over with him on his own bedroom floor, us in his bed, Alan in the guest room, a game of Trivial Persuit that *I WON*, etc), up to P'town, stay with the Ma&Pa for a couple nights, back down to Jozi, fetch Alan at the airport. Show Alan where his new office is, do the introduction to everybody that matters, quick whirlwind driving tour of his new city, etc. Two nights at J's place, then whisk the sweet little greenhorn off to the north to hit Pilanesberg for a stint of camping (his first time ever sleeping in a tent!?!?!?!?). He loved it. He saw 3 of the Big 5 in his first week here! (Lion, Elephant, Rhino)
Now we're all 3 back in Bots and he's learning all sorts of new stuff about this big thing called "Africa" and I think he's getting to love it as much as we do. It was his bday yesterday so we gave him cake and a present, climbed the hill (2 days in a row-- back on the road to fitness for me after a week of decadence!!!) and went for a little local game drive (saw Eland, Kudu, Bushbuck, Warthog, and a few other things he didnt get to tick off the list in SA last week) and went to dinner at our favorite italian joint. Man do I like having a non-drinker around. It's like perma-sober-chauffer! The Mr. and I both got to have a beer before dinner AND wine at the restaurant last night. Sweeeeeeet.
His first impressions of southern Africa (as I can figure)
- Likes our house & plot & especially our giant rig
- Likes Joburg & the soon-to-be-new office
- Thinks the girls are hot here (and in SA), well, hotter than Ireland anyway
- Likes the wide variety of N/A drinks available at all drinking establishments
- Likes the stars at night and sunshine by day
- In awe of value for money when it comes to meat
- Decided he likes camping
- Thinks Pádraig will REALLY like it here (we can't wait for February!)
His parents are really worried about him and I dont think they like the whole thing about him moving off to africa, but we make sure he sends them text messages and they rang him for his bday and even Ma P. sent them an email saying what a lovely son they have and how she will look after him and make sure he doesnt get carjacked or otherwise. HA!
And now it's like I got a brother and a husband and 3 male dogs in the house... eesh. Me and Reilly have seriously got an estrogen battle on our hands. Although as the brilliant SK has said in the past "I do like being the queen".
Tonight I'm taking the boy to my yoga class. I guaran-damn-tee you none of these girls have ever seen a Grade A pro sprinter up close like this before. Talk about calf-thigh-and-buttock envy... hahahaha!
And now for some pictures....
Oopsies on the champagne-front:
My beloved Ma P. hand-rearing an injured baby dove that was found on the brink of death in their garden:
My beloved big "brother" P. (Gavin - Ma & Pa P's oldest) and a delicious plate of seafood at Ocean Basket in Ptown. I lovvvvvvve him and it was actually observing his relationship with his wife K. back when I lived in Ptown all those years ago, that they became my so-called relationship "role model" which I've stuck to ever since meeting the Mr.
Those 2 have always been an inspiration to me.
Young Alan surveys Pretoria for the first time ever:
Bunking party@ J's place!
Young Alan goes camping for the first time ever:
The real definition of a "Zebra Crossing" (this allusion will not make any sense to any americans reading this blog and for that i apologize):
Pilanesberg was full of babies while we were there. (baby giraffe, baby rhino, baby baboons, baby antelopes, baby hippo, etc) Good timing for us! Here's 2 baby ellies amongst the butts, right next to our car. I call this one "Babies and the Butts":
And finally, I call this one "Young Alan hangs on the W's couch for the first time ever" (the same australian-purchased couch he would've hung on halfway across the globe in Ireland, only now it's in Botswana) :
