Bits and pieces

Books make me happy

2012-01-26T19:54:00.004+02:00

I don't think I've gushed about my love with the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson on the blog, but I know twitter got an earful, or would that be eyeful? Either way I wrote a review about it for Nevermet Press, please go read it. I plan on writing a few more reviews for them on recent reads, so there might be a post or two about books coming up.

:)

Five for Tuesday

2012-01-17T16:32:00.001+02:00

1. The Hunger Games trilogy is as good as the hype said it'd be. I'm firmly on team Peeta.
2. I finally got pushed by shifu in kung fu. The push is to check for a strong stance and back hand.
3. I didn't maintain over the festive season, but am back on track. The plan has been amended to fewer carbs and more protein - it's to check if the carbs could be behind the tiredness.
4. Brandon Sanderson has joined my list of authors where whatever they write, I'll read.
5. My last day of being 26 will end with dinner and rpging with friends :-).

The challenge

2012-01-11T17:27:00.002+02:00

So far it's going well and it looks like I could be winning :). I was introduced to Fitocracy by a friend, and I find it fun. It's well worth checking out, you get points for completing exercise, not to forget levels and achievements :). So far the cardio dvd's have been going well, they're pretty tough, and I hope that by the end of the challenge I can finish one of the routines without too much huffing and puffing. On the plus side kung fu is starting again tonight :D Cross your fingers that I keep up for most of the class.

:)

Word Wednesday

2012-01-11T17:22:00.002+02:00

Glandaceous

acorn coloured
expanded by Hertnon to: the yellowish-brown colour of a ripe acorn

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Challenge day 2

2012-01-04T20:57:00.001+02:00

Sadly having a dinner guest over, last night meant no exercise. Today though, I made good use of one of the three Women's Health exercise dvds I've acquired with the magazine. The plan is to alternate between the discs on non kung fu days. Added bonus, Jerall will be doing the cardio exercises with me :-) Here's hoping I stick to the plan and win.

It's on

2012-01-03T16:28:00.001+02:00

Today my manager and I were chatting about how hard we find getting into, and sticking to, a regular exercise routine. What initially was a "we'll each remind the other" conversation, turned into a bit of a competition. So from today till the 31st we'll be competing to see who manages to do some form of exercise regularly.

We're not looking at weight or centimeters lost, it's all about getting regular exercise. To make sure that neither of us brushes it off we decided that the loser will buy the winner a smoothie. It should be fun, and I'll win :-).

Five for Thursday

2011-11-17T13:51:00.001+02:00

1. While cleaning out a document filled corner of the flat on Sunday I came across some old letters Jerall and I had written each other. It brought back some happy memories. Everyone should go take a look at old letters :-)

2. I'm enjoying my trip to work in the morning it allows me to see the mountain, and the sea.

3. Having a woolies right next to where you work is bad for your budget.

4. There are just some people I can't work with. Does anyone else have that problem?

5. I got a fantastic from shifu last night :-D.

The weekend that was

2011-11-15T13:49:00.001+02:00

One of the great things about living in the same town as most of our friends again is that most of the time there'll be someone up for just made plans. On Friday we had one of those moments, which lead to some amazing food and good conversation. Dynasty in Sea Point has yummy duck fyi :-). Saturday after work we just arbed around. Sunday had monster slaying and some great food too :-)

How was your weekend?

Bits and pieces

2011-11-08T12:25:00.001+02:00

Slowly getting back into the swing of regular blogging :-) On Friday I had two round one interviews, I think they both went well. I think the bookstore job helped me have a slightly calmer energy, I didn't have the frantic "I've got to nail this" vibe around me. Hopefully it pays off, but I'll only know if it did in two to three weeks. The jobs are two very different ones, but both include growth into skills that I don't have so that's a plus. I'll keep you posted with what happens.

I had the entire weekend off, it was awesome just getting to sleep late with out it being a waste of the few hours I had till my shift started. On Saturday we went to the aquarium, a fun playing tourist in your town thing to do. Sunday we gamed, making it a good weekend :-) How was yours?

Are you ok?

2011-11-03T23:43:00.001+02:00

Please read this , On not being Ok, ask the question, and pass it on.

Still around

2011-11-02T23:31:00.003+02:00

Lately it seems that every time I post it has an apology in it about the lack of posting, which this one will have too 0_o I just don't seem to have the time to write, and schedule as many posts as I'd like. Time gets taken up with work [6 day work weeks :-/], job hunting, kung fu, reading and just relaxing.

News:

The physio exercises are paying off, no more tears when mobilisation and tissue work is being done :)
I have an interview on Friday for something not quite in my line of work, but better than the bookstore.
I also have the process started on another possible job.
The eating plan is kicking ass, I'm averaging about 500g loss a week :D

Other than that there's been lots of reading and watching of Bones going on. Now just to find number two and three in the In Death series and I'll have read all of them - there are 33 books in the series, Nora Roberts is one prolific writer. Although it does make the wait for books in others series I read, much easier.

How have you been?

Thoughts

2011-10-18T10:01:00.001+02:00

It's the strangest thing, well for me, it just seems much easier doing a lot of the things I do online from my phone. It makes no sense given how small the phone screen is in comparison to that of my pc. Does anyone else feel like that? Yes, it's another post coming to you via my phone ;-).

A few weeks ago someone on twitter had started a conversation about how it made no sense that someone would spend money on looking good, but took taxis instead of owning a car. That was a dumb thing to say, and it highlighted the privileged position those who agreed with it were coming from. That conversation came to mind when I was reading up on the Occupy movement. It seems to me, that those who started it came from positions that should have afforded them advantages and privileges, but now they don't have it.

Not having it has opened their eyes to the lack of privileges/advantages others have had, and now in order for them to regain their position things have to change. It seems to me, that if those who were once privileged hadn't lost that position there wouldn't be a sense of urgency behind it; nor legitimacy. If it wasn't for people with degrees highlighting their struggles in getting a job/keeping their homes things would have been dismissed as the complaints of the poor and uneducated.It sadness me that something that has been a reality to so many for so long has only now become an issue for all.

What are your thoughts on this? Have I made sense or just rambled on?

A quick post

2011-10-13T14:29:00.001+02:00

I've found myself in the "I want to blog, but about what" boat again. I figure though the only way to get a post out is just to write one. This one comes to you from my last ten minutes of lunch.

Despite not posting myself, I have mostly kept up with reading others post, so apologies for not commenting. Things are going well enough: dry needling hurts, but works; the eating plan from the nutritionist is mostly easy to stick too. Over all I find myself mostly content, just directionless. I think the bookstore job is not helping in the find what I want to do stakes, but some money is better then none. Although I could do without the working 6 days a week on a casual rate.

Anyhow time to go. Hope you're having a good day :-)

Word Wednesday

2011-10-12T08:00:00.000+02:00

Foudroyant

striking as with lightning
sudden and overwhelming in effect
stunning
dazzling
disease beginning in a sudden and severe form

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Word Wednesday

2011-10-05T08:00:00.000+02:00

Fortuity

fortuitous character, fortuitousness
accident, chance
accidental occurrence
the state or quality of being fortuitous
an instance of great luck or good fortune

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Catching up

2011-09-28T22:13:00.003+02:00

I guess you can tell that for the past while I've had posts scheduled, and then the scheduled ones ran out. I'll get back into scheduling ahead sometime soonish - maybe next week while Jerall is in Joburg.

I started physio this week, and will be going weekly for the next month or so. After which it'll go to every second week and hopefully not too long after that once a month. Physio came about because I realised I hit the three month mark in constant lower back pain. The pain is due to my back doing all the work, I don't use my core or glutes or hamstrings; and some vertebrae don't do what they should. So the focus right now is on me getting individual muscle control going - which involves hard daily exercises and, sitting and standing correctly.

Right now the pain seems to have amped up, which the physio warned me would happen. To say it sucks is an understatement. She was amazed I'd made it as long as I did with the pain; seems I'm more stubborn than I realised. She wants me to consider dry needling for the next session; when she did the soft tissue work the pain was so bad I started crying. It seems that dry needling will help with that. So please share your experiences with dry needling - if you have any - in the comments.

I finally saw a nutritionist. My gynae said no carbs would be the way to go to deal with the pcos; so I figured seeing a professional would help with that. Ok, so some of what she said I should be doing I knew that I should've been doing, but the explanation of why had it making sense beyond the "it's bad for you" reasoning. She also clarified the sugar/carb pcos thing in such a way that just knowing what the things I should avoid do to my body, will make it easier to avoid them.

I don't think it'll be easy at all, but the scary things that'll happen if I don't get the lifestyle change right should help me get it right most of the time. There's also my goal of losing ten more kilos, and more importantly wanting to get off the metformin, to help keep things going ok. And if none of that works I'll just remember that having a milkshake is the same as eating nine slices of buttered, white bread 0_o

Besides the above I don't have much news. Oh, I do. I got a good in kung fu :) Did I miss any news, how have you been?

Word Wednesday

2011-09-28T08:00:00.000+02:00

Elozable

amenable to flattery

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Word Wednesday

2011-09-21T08:00:00.000+02:00

Drachenfutter

a peace offering from guilty husbands for wives

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Word Wednesday

2011-09-14T08:00:00.000+02:00

Dolorifuge

something that banishes or mitigates grief

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Day 22-Favorite series

2011-09-09T08:00:00.000+02:00

I can't pick one, as mentioned in yesterday's post I love series. My favourites include:

The Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan,
The books featuring Moist from the Discworld books,
The In Death series by J.D. Robb,
The Southern Vampire series aka the Sooekie Stackhouse books

Those four series top the list, because they're the ones I struggle the most with to not buy as soon as there's a new one 0_o

Do you have the same problem? What are your favourites?

Day 21-A guilty pleasure book

2011-09-08T08:00:00.001+02:00

A romance novel by Nora Roberts. Anyone of them, but especially those part of a series about one the families she writes about. I love series, yes, it's because I get attached to the characters and reading about what happens next is always fun.

Do you read series for the same reason? What is your guilty pleasure read?

Day 20-A book you would recommend to an ignorant/racist/closed minded person

2011-09-07T08:30:00.000+02:00

I can't think of something offhand, even if I could it wouldn't make a difference unless the person reading the book is open to seeing things differently. Mostly though I think reading in itself is enough to start getting people to see things from a new perspective.

Word Wednesday

2011-09-07T08:00:00.000+02:00

Divagate

to wander about
to stray

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Speak Out With Your Geek Out

2011-09-06T09:00:00.001+02:00

Last week a lot of folks got up in arms about a horrible piece written by someone about a geeky guy. The piece was intended to be a so called warning about the pitfalls about meeting someone from a dating site, it was just geek rage bait. The women who wrote the piece, wrote for a pay per click site, so she did something easy to make some extra money :-/

One of the better responses has been from Monica Valentinelli. Her idea is great, be geek and proud :) Just remember that it's not just for gaming/comics/movies, but for things that people don't automatically put together with geek like food, photography, fashion or sports. The main thing is to share what you're passionate about. So consider taking part.

SPEAK OUT WITH YOUR GEEK OUT

Sometime during the week of Monday, September 12th to Friday, September 16th post about what geeky hobby you love. Then, tell us why we should try it, too. Leave your fears (and edition wars) at the door. Forget about your latest rant. Tap into that well of positive energy and share in the excitement of all things geek.

Let us invite those who would stereotype us to sit at our table and share our interests.

Day 19- A book that changed your mind about a particular subject (non-fiction)

2011-09-06T08:00:00.001+02:00

Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi. She writes about her struggle with eating disorders - anorexia and bulimia. I knew/thought that eating disorders had to do with exercising control over something when there wasn't anything you could do about something else, but I also thought that a large part of it was about receiving attention. Society is very focused on bodies, particularly that of women. Think about how often compliments are about how you look, or how much weight you've lost.

Reading this book didn't dismiss my thoughts on eating disorders out of hand, but it did help me see that although there was a part of it about receiving attention, and exercise control for de Rossi - and others too, I imagine - it seemed to be more about esteem and living up to expectations. It also showed me that any well meaning word/conversation could be turned into an insult. In one of the chapters she mentions that a friend said she looked good, like a normal women in an underwear scene on Ally McBeal, that normal women comment was instantly taken to mean fat.

I don't think that I'll ever really understand being driven to look a certain way that you starve yourself for it, but I do know that I've got to check my language and stop complimenting other women on their looks.

Five for Monday

2011-09-05T15:39:00.005+02:00

My first weekend at the store went well. Those that I worked with were friendly, and nice, now just to see if everyone else is like that.
I've started playing Mass Effect. I recently finished one and started two. It's fun, and the story and characters are great. Although the love-love elements are driving me batty. In the first one it took forever for Shepard and Kaidan to get together, and then at the start of 2 she dies. Things happen and she's not dead, but do you think Kaidan comes looking for her? He didn't :-/ Instead when they meet again he's upset that she didn't contact him for two years, and I'm all "Hello, two year coma". To say I'm involved and playing the character is an understatement. I'm going to have to do a second play through on both games, making different choices and a new love-love interest. The worst part is that three is only out in March 2012, gah. It's going to be a long wait.
Dinner and board games with friends is fun.
My pudding recipe version 1 has had some tweaks, but they went down well with the others. I'm going to call version 1 done, now just to reach the same point with version 2.
I'm loving the 71% chocolate range from Cocoa Fair, especially the chilli one.

The Five for... idea comes from this lady.

Day 18- A book you can’t find on shelves anymore that you love

2011-09-05T08:00:00.000+02:00

My Darling Villain by Lynne Reid Banks. I think I found it at a charity sale, I loved this book and had reread it, easily at least ten times. I think I was ten or eleven when I read it, it had all these exciting teenage things in it: wining fights with your parents, exotic and brave friends, and of course the boy ;) It did also spark a brief interest in architecture, the protagonists best friend lived in a triple story, and her family had fireplaces and the chimney running throughout the centre of the home, and I just wanted to figure out how that would really work. Then we moved and it was lost, never to be found again. I've never really stopped looking for it at stores or sales; especially charity book sales, they always have older books. One day I'll find it.

Day 17- Book turned movie and completely desecrated

2011-09-04T08:00:00.000+02:00

This one will probably get a lot of disagreement as well, but it's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. There was a lot left out that would have had the later scenes of the movie make much more sense. What really placed this movie under the heading of "got it all wrong" is that before the movie was released Rowling was quoted all over the place as saying things were down just as it happened in the book. Lies, lies and more lies. Ok, I did just watch the first movie after having read the first three books in the series, so it was all still fresh in my mind, and very easy to pick up everything that was wrong.

Am I the only person who felt this way about the first movie?

Day 16- Favorite book turned movie

2011-09-03T08:00:00.001+02:00

I think a lot of people will disagree with this one, but it's Bridget Jones's Diary. Ok, I must admit that it's hard for me to dislike anything related to Collin Firth - Fielding created the character of Mark Darcy after watching the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries in which he played Mr Darcy. Although the book doesn't rate as one of my favourites, the movie was well done. It's one of the few book turned movie that there are no claims by anyone involved as being true to the novel, and the changes made in the movie to the novel worked well for the medium. I chose this novel/movie combination because it's one of the few times I enjoyed both the movie and the book.

Day 15- Favorite book dealing with foreign culture

2011-09-02T08:00:00.000+02:00

The Woman Warrior, it's a memoir[ish]. Kingston recounts folk tales, and family tales, told to her by her mother. First the version as told by her mother, and then Kingston's own take/interpretation thereof. I think you learn a lot about different cultures based on their folk tales, this work is made better for the revised versions of tales by Kingston, and her discussion about what they mean for her. Another one from one of the feminism modules I took ;)

Day 14- Book that should be on hs/college required reading list

2011-09-01T08:00:00.000+02:00

This one is a bit of a tough one, a few of the books I can think of are already on high school or college lists. I do believe that creating readers needs to start from primary school and get continued on throughout high school. Schools should encourage and broaden readers experiences. This could be by not enforcing an essay on something recently read, rather bring something not associated with school reading to your students attention. The reading lists offered at school/varsity can often take the fun out of reading, even for those who love reading, and create an impression - especially at varsity- that lit not always enjoyable. It is also important to have the fact that they are reading something matter, not what they read. *gets off the soapbox*

Schools/colleges should include comics, manga and graphic novels on reading lists, and they should have the students decide on which ones to read - from a list put together by the educator. High school kids should read, To Kill A Mockingbird and Mort.

Five for Wednesday

2011-08-31T18:34:00.002+02:00

In case you missed it, I have a part time job :) I had training yesterday, and it went well enough. Now just not to spend the money I'll earn on books 0_o
It is one of the best things to see extended family again - well not really extended, more like my other immediate family, my aunt, uncle and cousins I lived with during my high school years. It is also a great thing to just be around more people who love me for me, even if they don't get all of my quirks. The easy affection and hugs = awesome :)
The Hope Street Market is fun, and has very tasty food.
I've got to get my license sorted, to stop having tales about my taxi adventures - a post for another time.
I'm having fun at kung fu :) It's still hard, but it's getting to be fun. And I even got a good from shifu :D

Did I miss any of your updates? Fill me in please.

The Five for... idea comes from this lady.

Day 13- Favorite childhood book

2011-08-31T17:49:00.003+02:00

I can't really think of one. Even though I started reading from a young age, it only became something I loved and wanted to do with almost all of my free time once I started going to school and hit my second or third one. The characters in books where always around, I didn't need to try and become friends with them. Just because I can't think of one from my childhood, it doesn't mean that there isn't a children's book I love - and keep on stopping myself from buying for some unknown reason. It's Guess How Much I Love You, I just love the big one and little one interactions.

Image from here.

Word Wednesday

2011-08-31T08:00:00.000+02:00

Desipience

folly
foolish trifling
silliness
relaxed dallying in enjoyment of foolish trifles

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Day 12- A book so emotionally draining you couldn’t complete it or had to set aside for a bit

2011-08-30T08:00:00.002+02:00

There are two books for this one, A Child Called It and My Sister's Keeper. The first is because, child abuse is horrid and the descriptions would have me wincing and thinking of the pain - my imagination was a big negative while reading that novel :-/

The second one was because I got so upset at the mother's behaviour. Yes, she wanted to help her sick child, but it was at the cost of her other children. Anna was just this spare parts factory, and Jesse was the healthy kid they didn't need parts from, so they could ignore him. Honestly, I thought the mom's behaviour was child abuse, her kids didn't get the emotional support they needed from her, not even Kate. Her sole focus was beating a disease, not dealing with the people that made up her family. Yes, I'm not a parent so I don't know what it's like having a sick child and wanting to do all you can for your child, but I do know that no parent should ever only focus on the one child when they have other children that need them too.

I don't see myself ever getting to a point where I can understand and not get angry at the - yes, fictional - behaviour of the mom in My Sister's Keeper. That, for me, is a sign of a great story and writing. Is there a novel where the characters get under your skin?

Day 11- The book that made you fall in love with reading

2011-08-29T08:00:00.003+02:00

I can't think of one in particular, but I think the books by Judy Blume and Paula Danziger can be credited with having me love reading. Both of those authors works helped me empathise with people and what they were going through. They were both also good at injecting humour into their work. To this day, I still love those books that have me laughing out loud :)

Day 10- The first novel you remember reading

2011-08-28T08:00:00.002+02:00

The only thing that comes to mind is Nancy Drew. I'm not sure which one, but I remember devouring them quickly. I kept on taking out as many books as the school library would let me, and begging the librarian to let me take out more. After that I moved onto The Hardy Boys, because at some stage I read one where Nancy worked with them.

What was the first book you remember reading?

Day 09- A book you’ve read more than once

2011-08-27T08:30:00.002+02:00

I suppose naming my favourites from day one is taking the easy way out, right? ;) I'm going to name a few, a classic, something from my childhood and something recent-ish. Classic, Little Women and Good Wives I keep on trying to find something redeeming in Amy, and hoping that Beth doesn't die :-/ From my childhood Anne of Green Gables, I read the entire series, but. it was the first one that I reread :) Recently it's The Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan.

Day 08- An unpopular book you believe should be a best-seller

2011-08-27T08:00:00.002+02:00

I can't think of an answer for this one. What I read doesn't always appeal to everyone I know, but I've found that there's always at least one or two people who I can chat to about a book. Given that this isn't really an answer I'll post day nine today as well.

Thank the flying spaghetti monster

2011-08-26T19:11:00.002+02:00

News, I have a part time job. It's at a bookstore, it's four shifts a week, but it's something. Boy, do I need this something. There is something about being rejected over, and over, and over that just seems to kill you slowly, and painfully for everyone to watch. It turned me into this person, that would get angry just chatting with friends over gchat. So I'd then avoid that for a few days, and get more upset, stupid cycle that. It'd even make me not feel like reading, or have an ugly cry over something stupid like my character in the play by post not being special enough. And try talking to someone about how useless you feel for not finding a job, and you'd get platitudes like "I wish I could look for a new job" or "You're lucky, you don't need to settle for something." Lucky, yes, I'm seriously lucky that I can't find a job and feel guilty when buying something I need because my husband had to pay for it, yes lucky that.

So yip, thank the flying spaghetti monster I have a job.

Friday Fun

2011-08-26T12:45:00.003+02:00

Today's post is the lazy option, two videos from College Humor :0 The first is a parody of a Bruno Mars song, and the other pokes fun at A Game of Thrones.

Happy Friday :)

Day 07- A book that’s hard to read

2011-08-26T08:00:00.002+02:00

This one is tough, but I'm taking the easy way out. I'm going hard to read in that I needed to reread paragraphs to be sure I really understood what the author was saying. So my answer is Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity by Judith Butler. Judith Butler was my go to theorist during my third year, honours and my brief bout with a masters. Yes, it took work to be sure I was on the right track with understanding her work, but nothing changed the way I saw gender as much as her work. I suppose you can tell that gender and identity were the focus points of my academic career ;)

If you want to read this, I suggest pick a chapter, and a section from that chapter and go from there. It's hard going, but worth it. :)

Day 06- A book that makes you cry

2011-08-25T08:00:00.000+02:00

There are a lot of books I've read that have made me cry, but none have stayed with me as much as A Child Called It. I can sort of cope with the dregs of humanity in fiction, but when it's true...it just kills me to be the same species as some people. This book is not for the faint hearted, how Dave was treated, and what was done to him is not an easy read at all. It was reading this novel that convinced me to not go into social work; I knew I wouldn't cope with seeing that story over and over and not snap or beat the crap out of someone.

What book has made you cry?

Day 05- A non-fiction book that you actually enjoyed

2011-08-24T08:30:00.001+02:00

Maus. I guess you can tell that I don't read a lot of nonfiction. I had to go digging around my books to see if we owned any nonfiction that wasn't either a cook book or related to either of our studies. Anyway do yourself a favour and read Maus. I think it's awesome, and it makes history more than what we got taught and read in textbooks.

Word Wednesday

2011-08-24T08:00:00.001+02:00

Delitescent

lying hid
latent
concealed
obfuscated

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Day 04- A book that reminds you of home

2011-08-23T08:00:00.001+02:00

Home to me is my aunt and uncle's home, and there are two books that remind me of it. Well not any two specifically, but more like anything by Danielle Steel, and any Asterix and Obelix books.

Now is the right time

2011-08-22T11:45:00.001+02:00

Pinterest has some great things on it.

Day 03-A book that completely surprised you

2011-08-22T11:37:00.002+02:00

This is where I admit to reading romance novels, although you should have figured it out by my reading Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb ;) The novel that surprised me was Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn. Not only does it have those awww moments, but it is one of the funniest things I've read. The puns, the insults, the witty remarks...it makes my romantic comedy heart all kinds of happy :)

Friday Fun: Dominion

2011-08-19T09:00:00.004+02:00

Today's post is about one of my favourite board games, Dominion. Dominion is a card game, where you compete against those you're playing with to get the most victory points. What makes the game great, is the fact that although there are some cards that remain the same in each game - the cards representing money and the victory point cards - all the other cards change from game to game. It means that you need to adapt your strategy every time you play because each game is different.

The game consists of treasure cards, victory point cards, curses and action cards. Action cards, do many things including give you extra actions, the chance to draw more cards, gain additional buys or even extra money. Each player starts with 7 coppers - 7 treasure cards - and three victory points - represented by three 1 point estate cards - in their deck, and using those cards to purchase other cards on their turn. The other cards I refer to are the action cards, 10 piles are randomly selected from a possible 25. Those are the cards you'd buy to build your deck and eventually win.

In your turn, you do the following in order: play action cards - if you have any - and resolve the text of that card. You buy cards from the communal pool of cards - limited by the number of buys you have and naturally the money you have too; then place all cards played, those in your hand and those you bought into your discard pile, and draw five cards from your deck.

All this talk abut the mechanics can get a bit boring, but it's the theme that helps make the game awesome, not to forget the great expansions :) You're a monarch, trying to expand your kingdom, sadly other monarchs have the same idea and you need to beat them to being the best and biggest ;) The game is great for 2 - 4 players, and some of the expansions make it work for 6 as well. It works as a family game, provided everyone can read and if you take out some of the meaner action cards.

Image from here.

Day 02-Least favorite book

2011-08-19T08:00:00.000+02:00

It's not that this book is terrible, it just didn't grab me and the circumstances around why I read it just left a general negative impression of it. My least favourite is Down Second Avenue by Es'kia Mphahlele. I only read this because I had to teach it to my first year tut classes . It was my job to get them open to reading different things, and explore the facets in this novel that had lead to it being chosen for the Fact and Fiction stream, and it just didn't take. I think part of the problem was that it was set during Apartheid and my kids were just done with learning about it. Those classes were hard to get through.

What's your least favourite, and was it the book or the circumstances that put it on the least list?

Day 01-Your favourite book

2011-08-18T15:25:00.003+02:00

This one is mostly hard, there's no easy about picking out a favourite anything. I have a lot of favourites, but I'll be nice and limit myself to just naming two. The first is Pride and Prejudice, I think I was somewhere between 11 and 12 when I read it for the first time. I wanted to be just as cutting to others as Elizabeth, and I hated and loved Mr Darcy with as much energy as one can at that age. Mostly it stays with me as a favourite because it's about how we love those that seem wrong for us, but end up being right for us. :)

My second favourite is Wide Sargasso Sea, it's a favourite because it was one of the first novels I read that really brought home the way women were/are othered. It also showed me that I wasn't the only one who thought that the way Bertha was dealt with in Jane Eyre was wrong on so many levels.

What are your favourites?

30 day book challenge

2011-08-18T15:15:00.011+02:00

I found this challenge on Syllable and Megan's blogs. It should be fun :)

Day 01-Your favorite bookDay 02-Least favorite book
Day 03-A book that completely surprised you (bad/good)
Day 04- A book that reminds you of home
Day 05- A non-fiction book that you actually enjoyed
Day 06- A book that makes you cry
Day 07- A book that’s hard to read
Day 08- An unpopular book you believe should be a best-seller
Day 09- A book you’ve read more than once
Day 10- The first novel you remember reading
Day 11- The book that made you fall in love with reading
Day 12- A book so emotionally draining you couldn’t complete it or had to set aside for a bit
Day 13- Favorite childhood book
Day 14- Book that should be on hs/college required reading list
Day 15- Favorite book dealing with foreign culture
Day 16- Favorite book turned movie
Day 17- Book turned movie and completely desecrated
Day 18- A book you can’t find on shelves anymore that you love
Day 19- A book that changed your mind about a particular subject (non-fiction)
Day 20-A book you would recommend to an ignorant/racist/closed minded person
Day 21-A guilty pleasure book
Day 22-Favorite series
Day 23- Favorite romance novel
Day 24 – A book you later found out the author lied about
Day 25-Favorite autobiographical/biographical book
Day 26-A Book you wish would be written
Day 27- A book you would write if you had all the resources
Day 28- A book you wish you never read
Day 29- An author that you completely avoid/hate wont read
Day 30 – An author that you will read whatever they put out

Word Wednesday

2011-08-17T08:00:00.001+02:00

Cynosure

the northern constellation Ursa Minor, which contains in its tail the Pole-star; also applied to the Pole-star itself
something that serves for guidance or direction; a guiding star
something that attracts attention by its brilliancy or beauty; a centre of attraction, interest or admiration

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Five for Monday

2011-08-15T14:45:00.003+02:00

I got a good from shifu during Wednesday's kung fu class :)
Jade Regent is lots of fun. I enjoyed the relationship aspects, and it's interesting that the NPCs are more important than the PCs.
I don't need to take my travel meds for trips to Stellenbosch :D Granted it helps that we got there during the morning and left in the evening, so the trip there and back wasn't on top of each other.
I have to either drink more coffee more often or just only use it when I need a caffeine kick. I had some coffee Friday evening and could only fall asleep after 03h00 :-/ Then I had to have more coffee on Saturday because I had just over four hours sleep; which in turn kept me up late and made the early Sunday morning rough :-/ Basically it's drink more coffee more often so my system gets used to it, or only have coffee every now and then 0_o
An entire weekend of gaming makes for a very happy me :)

How was your weekend?

The Five for... idea comes from this lady.

Friday Fun

2011-08-12T15:26:00.003+02:00

While trying to think of something to blog about I realised two things. One, I work better with set themes for days, and two I don't really blog about gaming. At first I left gaming blogging for tenletter, but I've been lax on that front as well. It also seems silly to not blog about gaming here, giving that I spend a lot of time gaming - it wasn't as good a weekend as it could have been if there was no gaming; or rather "What no gaming this weekend? :(" So from now on Friday's will be talk about gaming day, covering all the forms I take part in and any fun off shots of gaming and geek culture.

For the first Friday Fun post I'm giving a shout out to Nevermet Press, and the Stories in the Ether project. Check it out if you write fantasy/scifi/steam punk short stories.

Word Wednesday

2011-08-10T08:00:00.002+02:00

Curglaff

the shock felt in bathing, when one first plunges into the cold water

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Word Wednesday

2011-08-03T08:00:00.002+02:00

Cryptoscopophilia

desire to see behaviour of others in privacy of their home, not necessarily sexual
an urge to look through the windows of the homes you pass

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Today

2011-07-29T11:33:00.004+02:00

I saw this on Pinterest and just thought it's amazing and something that we should strive to do. After all you never know what a difference it'll make to someones day.

Original image from here

Grumpy pants

2011-07-27T20:26:00.002+02:00

I've been a bit of a grumpy pants lately, and a lot today. I got so miserable that it turned into a big cry when Jerall got home :-/ It's the same stuff: lack of job, lack of my own money which turns into guilt when even buying something I need like shoes, pcos and not having my license. The pcos stuff is horrid; I have a months worth of prescribed meds left so I need to.find a doctor here, and it's stupid expensive just to see one, not including the scan that'll likely happen. So all of that got me grumpy to such a point that just having someone gchat with me got me all annoyed.

Added to that kung fu on Monday was frustrating, I couldn't seem to get anything right and my back hurt the entire class. It all just made me one into one big miserable ball. Fortunately the cry and a good class this evening helped a lot, and so does writing this post :-) Exercise ftw.

Word Wednesday

2011-07-27T12:54:00.002+02:00

Concupiscible

worthy of being desired
vehemently desirous

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Five for Friday

2011-07-22T13:08:00.003+02:00

Before I get into the points just a reminder that the idea comes from this lady.

Saturday past, I bought a pair of size 34 pants :) Sure they were stretch, but the point is that the bigger size was massive. I think a woo hoo is in order, so woo hoo :)
Sevruga's winter special is amazing, and a very good deal.
We're going to Gaansbaai tomorrow, it should be fun :)
I'm looking forward to the I Love Coffee Festival next week. It should make finding a good local roaster much easier for us.
Should I link back to KA every time I use the Five for... idea? Is twice enough to make it clear that I'm not trying to claim it as my own? I find it tricky because I don't want to be accused of trying to appropriate the idea, but it does hurt the flow of the post to always have the disclaimer at the top. I'm afraid if I move the disclaimer to the bottom, that someone might just see the title and go "Hey, you stole it" without bothering to read the entire post and see that I acknowledge where it came from :-/ Any thoughts on what might work?

My first kung fu class

2011-07-21T16:00:00.003+02:00

Last night I went to my first, ever, kung fu class. I was really nervous about it for most of the day yesterday, and it didn't help that Jerall thought my being nervous was funny. I'm not even that sure what possessed me to agree to go in the first place, exercise and I aren't the best of friends.

The first part of the class went well enough, it was stretching, but some of the stretches were familiar from my brief fling with pilates. There were some stretches that I couldn't do like the instructor, but I kept up and did a bit better at that than Jerall ;) Then we got onto technique, and it wasn't really tough, but not easy either. Of course the boy did really well in that part, he got "Well done" a few times for the instructor. It seems that slow controlled movement sequences aren't for me, yet, not to mention the balance and kicking - I'm going to blame the stretches for my weak, not fully extended kicks. The class ended with knuckle push-ups :-/ I could barely do three normal ones, I'm hoping that next week I can do four in both classes.

It was a small class, there were only six of us there, and I was the only girl. Which of course added to my frustration with my slow going, it took a few times for me to get some of the moves. That said, I'll go back, partly because I want to get fit, but mostly because of my competitive nature; I also want to get a "Well done" or two from the instructor like Jerall and our friend J :0

Five for Friday

2011-07-15T14:22:00.003+02:00

The idea of Five for Friday comes from Kayla Aimee's blog. Hers is funny, mine not so much - but it is a much better title for a random post than random ;)

I've been sick this week. And it's my sister's fault. I told her not to come visit when she was sick, but she did anyway. Fortunately I didn't pass it on to anyone that was at our flat warming on Saturday.
Saturday was fun. I finally have people who enjoy playing Lips :)
So it seems that despite being me, I'm a bit reserved. Strange I know, but a friend of about a year and a half now, has never heard me swear till Saturday. Admittedly, it might have something to do with the four glasses of wine, but I didn't really think I was that reserved, or rather self censoring. It's a bit odd.
I'm starting to worry abut what summer will be like in our flat. We've had/ are having great weather this past week and a bit; as a result the flat is warm enough for shorts and t-shirts, and have the fan on 0_o
We have a Five for Friday today, cos I figured it's something easy to use for a new post, and I do keep on meaning to post more often - it just doesn't happen. I digress, I'll be using the Five for ... concept more on a Monday. I like documenting the weekends that were fun, and I stopped doing that because someone told me it was a bit vapid. Yay, for me I got to the point of just not caring. The blog is for me, and whoever decides to read it, and given that I don't have a journal this is where I sort of journal.

A bonus point. Any ideas on the best way to sign off from a post? It seems rude to me to not have some form of signing off. Should it be a catch phrase or just a smiley?

Geek cred +1

2011-07-08T18:04:00.003+02:00

There should be some sort of geeky merit badge system. If there was then I'd be getting a new one today ;) I finally watched Firefly. The funny thing though is that I did watch Serenity, just not the series that came before it. All in all, it is a fun show and seems to have some great fans. Check out The Browncoat Anthem, via The Mary Sue.

On being competitive

2011-07-04T16:47:00.005+02:00

A friend had a boardgames and cake day for her birthday yesterday. It was fun and the cake was yummy :) There is a boardgame that I don't enjoy playing, and I have lost all 13 games that I have played. After the 13th game - I know, why do I keep on playing it when I don't like it? Well my friends and husband like it, and sometimes you do things for others to be happy - the discussion turned to definitions of losing. My friends say I didn't lose, I beat two other people. Me: losing is not wining and winning is coming in first.It didn't go down well. They then told me that I'm very competitive - a big revelation to me.

I know that I can be competitive, but they made it sound like I'm a rage quitter. I just happen to like winning, but knowing that I'm unlikely to win doesn't stop me from playing games. I game because it's fun, and something I can do with friends. If I happen to win, it adds to my fun, and yes, it does make losing the rest of the time easy to deal with.

Is being competitive that bad?

New look

2011-07-01T15:24:00.002+02:00

I've changed the template I was using. This one seems a little more relaxed. I even got rid of my trusty Dita picture. What do you think? Is there anything I should add or remove? Thoughts please :)

Odds and ends

2011-06-30T21:30:00.001+02:00

I'm giving the blogger app on my phone a whirl. I'm hoping it'll get me posting more often, as it'll essentially be like tweeting then, easy. There's not much going on besides unpacking and the seemingly never ending job search. Well there is this horrible back pain I've had since last Monday. I put it down to the long trip, but now I'm not that sure o_O *whine over*

I hope this posts, and that I restrain myself and check that it did tomorrow. Hope you had/are having a good day and that the rest of it goes well.

We're here

2011-06-28T11:57:00.003+02:00

So we've been in Cape Town since Wednesday evening, but our furniture only arrived on Friday. The trip was very long, but we did get to see my cousin and other people along the way. The unpacking is going pretty well, and come this weekend it should all be done. Now we just need to find a bookshelf that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Once everything is neat and tidy I might just put a photo or two of the flat up.

We're really close to Old Biscuit Mill, it has Frankies :D, and some other nice stuff. Although on the whole things tend to be over priced and very hipster :-/ We're on the fifth floor and get a lot of sun, so there've been no winter laundry problems yet, nor have we had to buy a heater :) It's great being back where most of our people are.

On a not so great note: a friend's brother was in a horrible car accident. He's in a coma, with a 20% chance of survival. Please pray/send good thoughts for him and their family. It sucks not being able to do anything, but I figure this could help.

Hello Cape Town

2011-06-22T09:00:00.000+02:00

Image from here

Bye bye Durban

2011-06-20T09:00:00.000+02:00

Image from here

Things I'll miss about Durban [Part 3]

2011-06-17T09:00:00.000+02:00

Ok, so people aren't things, but hey this one can pass because it fits into a series. I won't name names because not everyone has a blog, or tweets, or is comfortable with me just putting their name out there. The people that this post applies to know who they are, or you can ask if you're not sure ;)

What I will say is, that it's not been easy being here, but some people have made it much better than it was in those first few horrible months. Let's face it, not everyone is ok with meeting and gaming or just hanging out with strangers. And I know I talk a lot when nervous [ok not just when nervous :p] so it's great that people were willing to give us more than the initial meet, oh and to put up with all the Durban sucks talk ;) I'm going to miss you guys; the gaming and hanging out too, but mostly just you peeps.

Thank goodness for twitter, e-mail and phones. See you in October when we're back in Dirtbin ;) for a wedding. And don't be a stranger, you know you want to come to Cape Town :)

Things I'll miss about Durban [Part 2]

2011-06-16T09:00:00.000+02:00

Ah the places, warning most of them are food related :)

Market, I love the space, the food, the coffee.
Colombo Coffee, need I say more?
Corner Cafe, great food and coffee ;)
The Midlands, it's pretty. And of course you get to stop at tons of great places when on the meander, most of which have awesome food and Frankies.
Shongweni Market, really it's about the food.
Essenwood Market, for me it's about the pancakes.
Mysterys, awesome take away curry place, that's in a wooden furniture store :0
And last, but certainly not least, P & R's home. We've played many games there, and had a great TPK too :)

Things I'll miss about Durban [Part 1]

2011-06-15T15:17:00.003+02:00

Besides the upcoming move, I don't have much blog fodder. So this post, well series of posts, is me using the move as blog fodder ;) Don't worry it won't be long. There'll be this post, an introduction, tomorrow will be places and Friday people.

To start it off, something I'll miss about Durban that doesn't fit in with tomorrow or Friday's post. The winter weather, I'm going to miss being able to wear shorts and t-shirt in the middle of winter. That and laughing at those Durbanites who'll stop and ask me if I'm getting cold when walking around in said t-shirt and shorts.

April 2011

2011-06-10T08:00:00.003+02:00

For our second wedding anniversary we had a photo shoot with Nielen. Yip, the same person who took our wedding photos ;) We weren't sure if it would happen as it was pouring that morning. Fortunately it cleared up a bit during the afternoon, and Kirstenbosch was as gorgeous as always. Nielen blogs here, tweets as nielenb and is on Facebook.

An update

2011-06-09T15:17:00.002+02:00

I've been a bad blogger, but sometimes you just don't want to write. So I don't.

We're moving in eleven days :) The new place is awesome, has a great view and as an added bonus a great landlady.
I'm not bothered with packing, because the movers will do it. The best add on service ever :)
While in Cape Town looking at flats, I collected our photos from our shoot with Nielen. They deserve their own post. I'll schedule one for tomorrow.
I love O'Ways, and will try to convince people to join their tea club with me.
I'm opting for the write them a letter option to deal with the father and mother. It's easier, and it means I don't need to see them, at all. I'm not sure when I will write them their respective letters and when they'll get it, but I think the decision is enough to help me put an end to that matter. Yes, we will be living in the same city, but I don't see why avoiding them in CT will be any different to here.
On Tuesday I went to a friend's work thing. She's involved in HIV/AIDS research and things related thereto. I was just struck by how jaded the people were, and how they've lost the ability to look at things outside of their position of privilege. A few of them were talking about one of the sessions at the conference and how they were sick of the word orphan, but it was nice that that particular session had them not go over the edge. I understand, it's hard dealing with the hard stuff all of the time, but to be tired of orphan, really?
On a lighter note, I think I'm going to have trouble with the CT winter weather, but it's a problem I'll be glad to have :)

How have you been doing?
:)

Word Wednesday

2011-05-25T14:11:00.002+02:00

This one is for those interested in design.

Concinnity

some kind of skillful and harmonious adaption or fitting together of parts
studied elegance, applied to rhetoric, literary style, artistic style and music

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

It's official

2011-05-23T13:05:00.004+02:00

We're moving :) Yip, we're moving back to Cape Town, and soon. Jerall is starting his new job in the last week of June, so there's a lot to get done. Finding movers, a flat and someone to take over the rest of our lease here. Not to forget, what seems to be my never ending job hunt. All in all it doesn't matter because, we're moving! :D

Word Wednesday

2011-05-18T08:00:00.001+02:00

Today's word has a meaning that finds itself best applied to art and a style thereof.

Chiaroscuro

its literal meaning is light-dark, and can be applied to a wide range of things
as a pictorial style, it's a representation in terms if light and shade without regards for or use of colours in the objects depicted; specifically: drawing or painting in black and white
describes the method, or treatment, used to create the art refered to above

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Catching up

2011-05-17T13:26:00.004+02:00

A photo from our Cape Town trip; a sunny day at Kirstenbosch.

I've been lax on the blogging front again, but post holiday sickness means that you just want to take it easy. The trip to Cape Town was awesome, saw most of the people we wanted to see, gamed like crazy and just generally had a good time :)

Some things we discovered on the trip: Asara, amazing and a return is needed. It is a gorgeous place, just outside of Stellenbosch. Ice Cream Ninjas lived up to it's hype :) And we can't get long haired dogs. We briefly house sat for the sil, and my sinus' went crazy :-/

Aside from being sick, after the trip we got Dragon Age II. I think it's much better than the first one, and well worth it. We also finally got our copy of The Wise Man's Fear, but I've not started reading it yet, because of the gaming 0_o

News wise, things seem to be on track for us to move back to Cape Town within the next few months :) My extended family has grown by another cousin, Dana. I'll try to get the family to call her Scully, but sadly her mom has no idea who that is :-/ Oh, and even though we were on holiday I still managed to lose a kg :) Only 10 more to go :)

How was your long weekends?

Ps. Don't forget to vote tomorrow.

02/05

2011-05-02T08:00:00.000+02:00

Happy birthday love.

Gaming to change the world

2011-04-28T08:00:00.000+02:00

I've started getting back into TED talks, and came across a really great one by Jane McGonigal. She says that gaming can change the world. So check out the talk and go game ;)

Word Wednesday

2011-04-27T08:00:00.000+02:00

This word will ring a bell with all the Brits ;)

Chavish

a chattering or prattling noise of many persons speaking together
a noise made by a flock of birds
in the UK a young person of a type characterized by brash and loutish behaviour and the wearing of designer styled clothes; usually with the connotations of a low social status

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

25/04/09

2011-04-25T08:00:00.003+02:00

Away

2011-04-21T08:00:00.000+02:00

As this post goes live we'll be on a flight to Cape Town, so things will be a little quiet here. That said there are a few posts scheduled. Enjoy your Easter, and the many many public holidays coming up :)

Image from here.

Word Wednesday

2011-04-20T08:00:00.000+02:00

This week we have a veiled insult.

Charientism

a figure of speech wherein a taunting expression is softened by a jest
an insult veiled in grace
that species of an irony, which couches a disagreeable sense under agreeable expressions

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

My bucket list

2011-04-18T12:57:00.007+02:00

Lately I've noticed that quite a few people have a bucket list page on their blogs, and today being one of those days where I have no blog fodder I'll share mine with you.

In no particular order:

Get fit and healthy. I'll have achieved this by reaching my goal weight, completing a 20km big walk in a reasonable time, doing the same big walk the year after and finishing it with an improved time.
Own a home.
Go on a food tour of France, Spain and Italy.
Visit Japan, Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
See more of the world.
Learn Japanese.
Have a library/study like Henry Higgans has in the film version of My Fair Lady.
Keep a pot plant alive longer than six months.
Attend cooking school and learn lots about different styles of cooking.
Make dim sum, poa/boa and chur su.
Become a mom.
Get a puppy, and teach her/him tricks :)
Brave my fear of heights, and bunge jump.
Brave my fear of thunder storms by watching one on a veranda.
Complete my Terry Pratchett collection, meet him and have him autograph my copy of Mort.
Complete my collection and read all of the Detective Eve books by J.D. Robb aka Nora Roberts, and meet her and have her sign a copy of one of her novels.
Own a first edition copy of Pride and Prejudice.
Meet Neil Gaiman and have him autograph my copy of The Wake - book 10 of The Sandman Series.
Own first edition copies of as many of my favourite books as I can get my hands on.
Complete my Disney movie collection.
See The Fray perform live.
Attend Spiel.
Attend TED, not one of the TEDx, they'd be fun to go to, but TED is where it's at for me ;)

This is my list at the moment, but I think it'll grow. Do you have one?

Image from here.

Grrrr

2011-04-15T12:59:00.007+02:00

We don't have a tv, so I don't watch the news, I read it. I read it on The Daily Maverick, News 24 and some other sites, as links are shared by folks on twitter and in chats. Had I not been following some people I would have missed finding out about Ficksburg. It kills me that in today's society we're more interested in fraking dumb National Cleavage Day, rather than the fact that a man got killed by cops for protesting against poor service delivery. What makes it worse is that those cops are not even suspended. The person they shot, was not even wearing a t-shirt. How fraking dangerous is an angry man with only his fists as weapons against men with guns? I have never wanted to leave SA more than I do know. There is clearly something wrong with us that the superficial shit is more important than someones death.

To make this day even more shitty, a friends mom passed away last night. I hate feeling so powerless to change anything. There's nothing I can do about our shitty government, and corrupt cops and nothing I can do to fix it all for my friend.

Rediscovering poetry

2011-04-14T21:43:00.003+02:00

I've been catching up on TED talks, and came across one by Sarah Kay. In her talk she performs two of her poems. The first one, If I should have a daughter, just grabs you. Her spoken word poetry has me rediscovering a love for poetry that was destroyed by the first semester of English 278. Watch the talk, and fall in love with poetry again :)

Hmmm

2011-04-14T16:01:00.006+02:00

Last night I had dinner with a friend, and some friends of hers. After which we went bowling, at which I suck, but it was still fun :) JR's friends are these really awesome ladies, all well established professionals, with a lot going for them. What I found odd though, was when we briefly chatted about politics they said that there was no viable opposition party in the country for them to vote for, so they'd vote ANC. That comment slayed me, because I've always thought that anyone with any education would vote DA. I told them about this site, and how I figured that if someone who was waiting for a house had to see this they'd surely change their vote. To which the answer was they wouldn't, it's not how things are done, and for them and lots of others, the ANC is the only option. The reason why it's the only option; because it's tradition and they have loyalty.

Am I the only person astounded by this?

Ps. The other four ladies were, 2 doctors, a counseling psychologist, and a businesswomen. Not to mention that they were all in the late 30s to late 40s. And yes, they're Zulu.

Word Wednesday

2011-04-13T12:17:00.002+02:00

This week we have an adjective.

Caliginous

misty
dim
murky
obscure
dark

The noun is caliginosity or caliginousness, and the adverb is caliginously.

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

An easy post

2011-04-12T13:18:00.004+02:00

A lighthearted topic for today, a meme found at Acidicice's.

Age – 26

Bed size – Queen

Chore you hate – Washing the dishes. In our house if you cooked then you don't wash the dishes, guess who cooks ;)

Dogs – None, but we do want to get one, just need a place with a garden.

Essential start to your day – When Jerall is here a hug, when he's not here my good morning sms.

Favourite colour – Blue.

Gold or silver – White gold.

Height – I'm a shorty a 1.62m.

Instruments that you can play – Do the tambourine and triangle count?

Kids – 0

Live – Durban

Nicknames – Cas, I don't like it, but only those I've known for years can really get away with it, and love by my love.

Overnight hospital stays – One, I was in a car accident - well a bakkie hit me.

Pet peeve – Only one? I'm going to list some: whiny people, liars, queue jumpers, people who write in library books and those on power trips.

Quote from a movie – "These are not the droids you are looking for" - Star Wars Episode IV. I only really remember it because it tends to come up often.

Righty or lefty – Lefty, but I do a lot of things as if I was a righty. I learn best when shown how to do things, and given that those who teach me stuff tend to be rightys I end up doing things like a righty.

Siblings – Lots, brother and sister, stepbrother and sister, cousins with who I lived with giving me 2 more sisters, and well 2 female and male cousins that I grew up with, them being my mother's twin sisters kids.

Time you wake up – It depends, if Jerall is how I go sleep at a reasonable time so am awake between 7 and 9am on weekdays and weekends between 8 and 10am. If he's not here I freak myself out and stay up till anything after 2am so then wake up between 10 and 11am

Underwear – The comfy pretty kind.

Vegetables you dislike – Aubergines and choi are gross.

What makes you run late – Even when in a rush I do all that I need to do to feel ready to face the world.

X-rays – Once of my back following the accident, I also had a cat scan/mri whichever one of those they use to look at your head.

Yummy food you make – I'm really good at making pasta dishes, stews and a dessert that my family calls booba [spelling]. According to Jerall and the times he has seconds I'd say all my food is tasty ;)

Zoo favourite animal – Don't have one. I'm not a fan of zoos.

The thing is...

2011-04-11T13:00:00.004+02:00

Much as I wish things were simple and easy to deal with they're not. I don't think I can forgive him, nor do I want to. Somehow though it's hard to shake the thought that I should forgive him, and by not doing so I'm being a terrible person. Yet, to paraphrase a friend, why do we forgive the horrible/unforgivable just because someone is sick. And shouldn't he be sorting out his stuff?

My sister, and some friends look at this as a time for me to sort out my issues. However, as two friends pointed out, why go there if it's not going to do me any good? The same goes for sorting things out with my mother, is it really going to do me any good talking to her? All of that aside life carries on, and things go back to normal; aside from moments of sadness. Sadness which the reasonable, rational side of me just doesn't understand why or the need thereof. So I've now termed it sadness for my brother and sister, well more for my brother.

Moving onto more pleasant things, the weekend was a mostly good one, aside from what has now become the usual stomach problems for me :-/ And the return of the Saturday sore throat, which I will try to put an end to before Cape Town. Nine days till Cape Town :)

How was your weekend? How are your plans for the break due to public holidays going?

Making sense of things

2011-04-08T12:07:00.006+02:00

So my sister told me a little while ago that my father has cancer. I italicised father because I have 4 fathers: biological, the man who is my brother and sister's father and my adopted one, my stepfather, and an uncle. My uncle and aunt, and cousins were the folks I lived with during high school, who gave me stability and a sense of what a family should really be like. My father -biological parent of siblings - is the same man who beat the crap out of my mother during their marriage. One of the reasons I'm on the outs with her, is that a lot of my memories involving me, holding my brother and sister under the blankets trying to cover their ears so they didn't hear him and her fight and him beat her up, all the while thinking that I need to do something. No 8/9 year old should ever go through that, sadly to many of us do. She finally left him when I was about 11. So you can see lots of issues with both of them.

Added to those issues, is that my immediate family has know for months. They even kept it from my sister when she was writing her matric exams last year. My sister says he's doing ok, and that I should sort my issues out - a lot of wisdom for a month away from 19 :0. I just don't know what to do. I've not been talking to my mother tell I'm ready to deal with our issues, and now this. It's just thrown me so badly. My brother and sister are doing fine, aside from their issues - gah we're a messed up lot, but really what do you do in this situation?

Some people might find it inappropriate to put all this out there for anyone to see, but who cares. If I'm not ashamed about it, then why should it bother you?

Getting back on track

2011-04-07T15:16:00.004+02:00

So the getting fit and healthy track has slowed down a bit. Fortunately I've not put back on what I did lose :) I have recently gotten back on track, and it's come from a surprising source, a food journal. Thanks to my new phone, I've added My Fitness Pal, an app that helps me keep track of what I eat and, the number of calories I should consume to lose weight with my mostly sedentary lifestyle. I've only been doing this since Sunday, but it's made a big difference. Not in being more aware of what I eat, I've been doing that for awhile now, but more that it's really gotten me to see the relationship between balancing what I eat and exercise. The only downside is that if you're prone to getting a little obsessive about stuff, the app can get dangerous. I've already decided that once I reach my goal weight it's gone.

For right now though, it's a great tool that I'd encourage anyone to try out. If you don't have a phone that's supported, then start a food journal. Just remember to be honest :)

Image from here.

Word Wednesday

2011-04-06T12:18:00.002+02:00

This week's word is a synonym.

Bleezed

a little flustered
the state of one on whom intoxicating liquor begins to operate
drunk

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

Blog challenge - Wishes

2011-04-05T13:08:00.007+02:00

Sally-Jane had this post as a challenge to get people to think about and share their wishes for their funerals. It is a tricky subject, and one which I tend to shy away from, but then I thought why not. It's just another aspect of the "things you should do when you grow up" list. So here is mine:

For the ceremony, only those who want to/can speak should do so. There is no person x must speak business to happen. That said Jerall, you know about my poem.
Play music that reminds you of me, and throw in some of my favourites too. Please no hymns, for those moments rather play the quieter songs from the Macross Frontier ost, I'm sure a few of you know which ones I mean.
Jerall knows this already, but a reminder is in order - don't bury me, cremation please.
Ashes are to be scattered somewhere with a great view, where I'd be happy to just sit and chat, or read. That spot in Hermanus when we'd raid P's dad's place to go whale watching comes to mind as an example.
After the service everyone should have a group lunch/dinner and eat only the tasty stuff, have some sushi for me :)

That's it, I think I covered the most important parts. What would you do?

Ramblings

2011-04-04T09:46:00.004+02:00

I got a new phone this weekend, the Galaxy S. I'm having fun with my new toy, figuring out tricks and yes, playing Angry Birds. After ages of reading about people playing it, I had to give it a whirl and it's been lots of fun, with the bonus of getting me a little more used to using a touch screen all the time.
There are two more weeks, including this one, of Jerall doing the Jhb thing for work :-/ Sometimes I think I miss the decent sleep more than I do him, but then I think about how empty the flat is without him; it just gives me the sads. It's weird that the flat feels empty during the day, even though it is when I'm normally alone here, but it could just be me being a silly.
In 17 days time we're going to Cape Town :D
The interview went well. Sadly, although HR told me they only do one, the manager - a great person, and someone I'd love to have as my boss - said that she is doing another round of interviews. I'll know on Thursday or Friday if I made the shortlist, so please keep all fingers crossed that I did. This is the first time in awhile, that there has been a job that I really, really wanted. Not to mention that the manager is great, when I asked about growth she said if there isn't a position for someone to grow into that she creates an opportunity for more growth. In fact the position I'm up for became vacant because of a growth opportunity created for someone else. So all kinds of awesome if I get the job.
I've been awake since 05:15 and I feel as if the day should be over soon :-/ I have no idea how people do this day in and day out, it's all kinds of crazy.
The weekend was a good one, we had fun playing Mage, saw some other friends and took it easy. The only down side is that lately the metformin has been kicking my ass. I had 2 cookies, 2, and it just went bad. Really I could deal with the pain and nausea if you know, I eat bags of cookies and chocolates and sweets everyday, but I don't. It's just getting a bit much for me, so much so that I'm inclined to ask Dr Useless if I wouldn't just be better off not taking it. I'm sure that it doesn't work for every women with pcos, and there has to be something else. *Whine over*
How are you doing?

Image from here.

Around the world food challenge

2011-03-31T16:06:00.004+02:00

Image from the blogger and blog post I'll be telling you about.

Polkadotcupcake has a great food challenge on her blog. Once a month you'll make a meal from one of the 15 cities visited by Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 days. The cities, and countries are:

Dover, England
Paris, France
Brindisi, Italy
Suez, Egypt
Bombay, India
Allahabad, India
Calcutta, India
Singapore, Singapore
Hong Kong, China
Yokohama. Japan
San Francisco, America
Omaha, America
New York, America
Liverpool, England
London, England

It's a great challenge, and it'll get you making something new now and then. I'm sure I'm not the only person who doesn't try all the new recipes she comes across all the time. This way you won't be the only person trying something new.

Check out the post and sign up there as well.

Word Wednesday

2011-03-30T10:50:00.004+02:00

This week's word is a regional word from Newfoundland, Canada.

Ballicatter

ice formed by the action in winter of spray and waves along the shoreline, making a fringe or band on the landward side.
a narrow band of ice formed in winter in the salt water along the foreshore or 'landwash'.
a floating ice-pan.
frozen moisture around the nose and mouth.
a ridge of ice formed along a shoreline by waves and freezing spray.

*Hertnon, S. 2008. From afterwit to zemblanity. Auckland:New Holland Publishers

An update

2011-03-29T11:42:00.005+02:00

We had a pretty good gaming session on Saturday, sadly my curry turned out to be too hot for 2 of the guys :-/ Added to that my crumble wasn't according to me good enough, it just means I'll make my extra chocolatey pudding for next time.
Jerall's time in Jhb was extended to include next week. He is also back on that project and will have to go up to Jhb more often :(
I think my body has started to dislike the weekend as this Saturday past was the second Saturday in a row where I woke up with a sore throat :-/
The sore throat turned into more of a general sickness on Sunday, and I'm still bleh today :-/ I dislike being sick, it brings out my over emotional and clingy side - two things I really hate.
The tests my doctor ran seem to be fine. I say seem to because when I called her the pap smear was normal and she said that there is nothing dramatic about the other tests. Who says nothing dramatic for tests? What does that even mean? Added to that the lower dosage she put me on is not available, and the pharmacist says hasn't been for awhile. The pharmacist says that my complaints from being on the meds is probably because the meds can give you IBS, something I think my doctor should have mentioned. Needless to say the hunt is on for a new doctor, but I might not need one in Durban.
I might not need a doctor in Durban because things are looking very promising on the job front :)
Yesterday I received a phone call from a company that I sent an application to, and they want me to interview for the job I applied for as well as another one that the manager believes I can do :0 Somehow they missed the part of my cover letter where I state that I'm in Durban, but want to move back to Cape Town. After a little back and forth and me reassuring them that I want to and will move for a job things were all systems go. Except for one little thing, the other position is a three month contract :-/ Fortunately Jerall is awesome and he said to go for it :)
This mornings phone call was even better. The position - the one they actually want me for - is now a permanent post, and I'm in for their final, and only, round of interviews. So please cross all fingers that I nail the interview.
Time for some more research on the company and the job they want me to do :)