Wheeeew finally completed… its becoming harder and harder to find time to write this mail! But alas, the commitment continues. Welcome to 2 new additions Lourie and Farad. Hope u enjoy your time with us, if you have any comments you would like to pass please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or drop me a mail, if you want to be removed please let me know as well and your wish my command shall be!

April over enter May… Hope u all are very schweet. I my dear friends, am super styling. I am in Jozi till the 8th May, worked this week, PE tomorrow then back to Jozi for a weeks leave. Getting here wasn’t all that pleasant though. We had one of the worst plane rides I think I have experienced ever, I honestly thought it was tickets. Our plan dropped a couple of feet, swung left and right, its wings were flapping like the wings of a bird, we were literally being thrown around like a rag doll. People were losing their food, others were nervously shaking demanding to get off the plane once we diverted to Durban, it was insane. I tell u God heard from a lot of people who had forgotten about him on Sunday nite. We couldn’t land in Jozi cos there was a fierce hail and thunder storm, I tell u we were so close, landing gear was out, the lights were getting closer, but sorry for us we had to circle around for a bit and we were losing gas so we had to head to Durbs to refuel and we came back. An adventure I tell u. But its funny how when u think its the end u start thinking about whats important or things u haven’t done etc.

Funny enough though I wasn’t really thinking much about what I will miss about this earth other than things like how will my mother be, shaite have my sister and her mate who were on an earlier flight landed, oh crap, I am supposed to have met a mate at 9:30 and I cant tell them I am running late…another thing I thought about is that I am getting on with life, and its time for me to take my life to the next level. That’s right I am now very open to relationships, I will be absolutely crap at it after being on my ‘own’ for 28 years and 7 months or so, but I think it is time. I am not out looking at all but I will not be fightin or looking for arb excuses no more. I am currently ‘hanging’ (private joke) with a lass at the moment, lovely lass she is, plenty of issues, mostly on my side but watch this space shall we. I like sharing with my mates all my laundry is out there, lets see anyone try and black mail me one day ;-) I’ll be like whateverrrrrr!!!

Anyway onto this weeks email, this weekend was the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Pesach, Passover, which stems from the Hebrew word Peh-Samech-Chet which means to pass through, pass over, to exempt or to spare (in reference to the time when God passed over all the houses of Jewish people when he spared their first borns when he was killing those of the Egyptians in one of the 10 plagues He sent down to convince Pharaoh to release the Jewish slaves, the others being Blood, Frogs, Lice, Beasts, Cattle Disease, Boils, Hail, Locusts and Darkness). It is also referred to as Chag he-Aviv (the spring festival), Chag ha Matzoth and Z’man Cherutenu (the time of our freedom).

Pesach is one of the most commonly observed Jewish holidays. It falls on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan and lasts for 7 days (8 days outside Isreal). It is the first of 3 major festivals with both historical and agricultural significance (the other 2 are Shavu’ot and Sukkot, both of which I am clueless on). Agriculturally it symbolizes the beginning of the harvest in Isreal and Historically it represents the exodus from Egypt after plenty moons of slavery. I don’t know if any of u remember the story of Pharaoh freeing the Jewish people and them being led out by Moses I think and God parting the Red Sea and once everyone (Jews) were safely across he closed it again resulting in many Egyptian Soldiers drowning etc.

The festival is observed by the removal of Chametz (anything from the major grains, that is not cooked within 18min after coming into contact with water such as wheat, rye, barley, Oats and Spelt…how they came to 18 min beats me but neway). From what I read is that it commemorates the haste with which the Jews had to flea from Egypt and as a result they did not have time to let the bread that they were baking rise. It is symbolic of removing the arrogance and the pride from the souls of people. During Pesach Jews may not own, consume or even feed chametz to their pets or cattle. Even utensils used to cook chametz must be removed from households or sold to a non-Jew, but once the holiday ends u can repurchase their stuff. Its not a joke this getting rid of chametz, u have to scrub fridges, clean cupboards, cover all surfaces that come in contact with food with foil, use a toothpick to clean out the corners of your stove u name it. Jews will still eat bread during this period, but its made simply from flour and its called Matzah

The day before Pesach is the Fast of the first born, a minor fast for all first born males, to commemorate the fact that all first born Jewish males were spared during the final plague.

On the first day of Pesach a special family meal filled with ritual is prepared called a seder (meaning order because there is a specific set of information around this meal that have to be discussed in a specific order). On the first and last day (first and last 2 days in Isreal) no work whatsoever is permitted, but u can work on the intermediate days which are the intermediate days of Sukkot (joyful festival).

If u didn’t know, now u know….

Birthdays
I will have to be honest, I left my diary book in my desk and I don’t have any birthdays on my phone for this week and next week. The only birthdays I remember are:
2nd May Dannielle
5th May Nana Sao and Peace

If its(was) your birthday during this week or next hope u have a blast, an hope ur birthday and the year that follows till the next is all u make it.

Maximum respect to the masses as always and if there is anything that we could learn together, its in the words of William Shakespeare, from Hamlet…”this above all, to thine ownself be true!

Hope u all enjoy your long weekend, I assume workers day is a worldwide holiday, if not well sorry for u!
Lata

Y

Top of the morning from a pleasantly wet Cape Town. Going to work this week has been insanely tough. A couple of evenings this week the sweet sound of rain drops falling on my roof have sent me to la-la land, only to wake up to the same sounds, thinking do I have to?? Cant I just lie here and watch telly?

What makes you happy? This was a question asked to me by a young lady called Thashnee earlier this week. To many it’s a simple question but for some reason I had no answer to that question. It wasn’t a question that I had spent a lot of time pondering over…I was stumped. That reaction had me slightly perplexed (eish a grand word ne?). It had me thinking I was a bit odd, I set about to ask a few of my friends that same question, fortunately for me their reaction was very similar to mine, so at least I realized that I was not that abnormal. Anyway throughout the week I have been thinking about it and a lot of the things that make me happy have to do with other people, friends…family…things like I dig going to visit my aunt and uncle who tried to have a kid like forever and about 5 yrs ago they were blessed with this young stud, spoilt as all hell, but seeing the 3 of them honestly brings a smile to my face even though my aunt thinks I may be gay cos she has never seen me with a girl since they saw June and I together at church many moons ago. I could name a couple of other little things that I thought of but some may think its confirmation of my aunts thoughts. What makes u happy? Does it matter to know these sort of thing? On second thought I actually don’t know why I am telling u guys this other than the fact that I found it quite profound and u guys know how much I like sharing my life with you guys ;-).

Moving onto what I was gonna discuss this week. THE POPE… what is it about this man that has hundreds of thousands of people flocking to the Vatican to pay their last respects? What is it about this man that has hundreds of thousands of people all over the world shedding a tear as a result of his death? What is it about this man that has all the top news stations in the world covering his death and the selection of his successor for hours…days…Who is this person who’s funeral can result in the president of the USA and the president of Iran gathering in one room and no bombs go off? Who’s funeral can actually result in the Prince of Wales postponing his wedding?

Yip that’s right its that man called the pope. And for those of us who don’t know a new pope has been elected. The other Cardinals have voted the German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the supreme pontiff, the servant of the servants of God, the vicar of Christ, the successor of Peter, bishop of Rome, patriach of the West…these are some of the titles by which the pope has been referred in days gone by.

So who is the pope? Why the big who hah about the next pope and the black smoke and the white smoke? To start off with the word pope is the English version of the Italian Papa meaning father, which is very apt because the pope is the spiritual father of the Roman Catholic family. Popes take this term father very seriously hence why being a pope is a life sentence…a position they hold to their death and logically this makes sense, their thinking is a father of a family cant just sommer lay down that burden because he is tired of carrying it.

To be a pope u have to be an intellectual, a politician, a pastor, media superstar (as has been demonstrated by the late pope, even in death) and a fortune 500 CEO. The pope has to oversee what is seen by many as the oldest diplomatic core on earth…the Catholic Church.

Prior to 20 September 1870, the pope was the political leader, a monarch who ruled over the middle third of ItalyHe has to mediate conflicts, protect the interests of the church all over the world in particular in turbulent/strife-riddled areas. The pope has to manage personnel such as his cardinals. He has to manage the financial resources of an enormous multinational religious organization. The pope is expected to make decisions; if he isn’t too decisive he is seen as not giving a hoot, if he is excessively decisive is accused of meddling. If he shies from publicity he is said to be weak if he commands it he is seen as an egomaniac.

The pope rules over a religion whose members are in excess of 1 billion. If I am not mistaken the US president, who is seen by many as the most powerful person in the world doesn’t have that many ‘subjects’. The pope has the burden of all the demands placed on world leaders such as presidents and the UN secretary general and on top of that being the pope he has to be immaculately holy. Presidents will be allowed to get away with cigar episodes but the pope….hell no!!

The pope is priest, a man sent forth to prepare all Catholics for communion with God in the afterlife. A man sent to provide spiritual guidance, preach the word of God. In the eyes of Catholics he is Gods right hand man, holiness and divinity personified. The joy, the sorrow, the progress, the all of the Catholic faith is a burden that is borne by him till his end!

Birthdays

21st Thashnee
24th Tasneem

Much joy and glee on these ur birthdays, may the year ahead bring u all u wish for and be all u make it!!

Other than that big love and maximum respect to the masses

Y

I'll buy you diamond rings my friend, if it makes you feel alright I'll give you anything my friend, if it makes you feel alright I'll give you all I've got to give, if you say you love me too I don't care too much for money,cause money can't buy me love...... Buy me love (oh no)

Greetings my chomi’s.

Beautiful day in the Cape once again after the welcome rains of Sunday. Human beings, when it doesn’t rain we cry when it rains we cry, will we ever be happy?!

Before I go on, there are 2 additions to the mail, my pal Al and this major po es I work with called Simon. Guys welcome to the mailing list, for comments and remarks either respond to this email or go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com I hope you enjoy your time with us, if not well oh well…

Last year sometime I wrote about synchronicity, and something like that happened today. U know I currently struggle to find topics to write about, maybe its cos I don’t really have that much time to research these topics at the moment, but neway. Last week I was in Jozi and I went to visit my friend Thabang on Saturday, whilst there we got engaged in a conversation. His girlfriend Lephoi brought up a topic which I think was pretty interesting. Now this morning, whilst getting ready for work, I logged onto Yfm and guess what they were talking about…yip u guessed it the same topic, if that isn’t a sign, well I have no clue what is!!

So what was this topic of conversation, u might be wondering…or not, well I’ll tell u anyway. U know now ladies are earning big cheese, and if you look at the BEE scorecard sisters will be making more ching soon, and I say big up to the sisters. The topic of discussion was the impact a woman who earns more than her man has on their relationship.

I would really like to hear your views on this one. My view is pretty simple. No issue. But that may well be because I am not in that situation. But as I sit here, the thought of me earning a couple of hundred sheets a year and my partner earning double that brings a smile to my face. Cos now instead of having a combined income of X we now have 3X (assuming she wasn’t working). Hell, all I see is a fat pad in Camps Bay or Sandhurst, holidays in the South of France, and if she says she is paying even better, I then have my money to be a boy with…Cayenne, PSII (maybe III at that time), Games room kitted out to the max.

The thinking is that as males we are brought up to believe that we must be the MAN, the provider, etc. But I honestly think that is putting huge pressure on us to live up to it and we start chasing the cheese and end up losing focus, now if I have a woman who is keen to be the Man, she wants to run the show, I think its all good, after all whats the diff anyway, its either me or her. But then u will be useless as a man, friends you are who u think u are, so if u think u are useless, then so u r! Guys we are always on the tip that we don’t know if women are with us for our cheese, well now u have a girl that u want to be with and she is with u even though she earns more than u, boy u on a good wicket!

The world aint what it used to be, we have guys using exfoliating cream and toners, going to masseurs, having a massage and u want to act all macho, bra’s please, it’s a new world order, we believe we are all equal, racism is a no no, so y not sexism?

Forgive me if I am just highlighting the upside of this situation, cos I honestly cant see a downside…help me out here.
Some women don’t think they will go out with a man who earns less than them. Some guys say they cant get together with a woman who earns more than them..I don’t understand that. Look at the upside, more ching in the combined income, but then she will boss me around and ask me to go and shop and cook and … u not getting me, upside…more ching…full time helper…to shop…to cook. But then she will be buying the house, and everything….upside…more of ur ching in the bank to be stooped with, buy a boat…a motor bike whatever. If in the end the relationship strains, lets not hope its because of the cash issue, well then u walk away and start again with another, cos clearly it wasn’t meant to be…
PROBLEMS ARE ONLY PROBLEMS IF WE MAKE THEM PROBLEMS!!!
I just don’t see a downside, I have much more to write but its late, have an early morning tomorrow, so I must be on my way. I am very keen to hear your take on this…more fire to the women, I need me a suga mommy, hurry up and make some big cash lass!!

Birthdays
13th Debbie…happy birthday sunshine, if its anyone elses birthday this week hope u had a great day

I am out maximum respect!
Y