“There was a time when I thought life was over and out, When you went away from me
My dying heart made it hard to breathe, Would sit in my room, Because I didn't want to have to go out, And see you walking by, One look and I'd break right down and cry
Now you say that you've made a big mistake, Never meant to take your love away
But you can save your tired apologies, 'Cause it may seem hard to believe
But
I'm doin' just fine, Getting along very well, Without you in my life
I don't need you in my life, I'm doin' just fine, Time made me stronger
You're no longer on my mind.” Boyz II Men (for u T, just incase u forgot bro J)
Woo hoo another addition to the ‘weekly’ list, lovely miss Emily, welcome, please feel free to comment or read some of the older articles. www.mondaymail.blogspot.com
So up until just now I had nothing to write about but just had a discussion a discussion I had last weekend and the weekend before.
If Jacob Zuma takes over I am going cos this place will go to the dogs. Very similar to the same discussion I heard about 13 or so years ago when the ANC came into power. “I am leaving this place, its going to the dogs” and to the dogs its gone, we have Vodafone spending plenty pounds here, Barclays doing the same, the Chinese have entered the game as well, we have the privilege of hosting the worlds greatest showpiece in 2010. the economy is bustling evidenced with buildings popping up everywhere. Judging from the past weekends Sunday Times plenty a new millionaire has been ‘born’, lots of people my age are cruising around in flashy cars living in big pimping houses(one day when I am big I will be like them). Many people living in rural areas have access to basic amenities like running water, electricity, ablution facilities…to them the government has done some good. On the other hand there will be those living in townships who will feel that they have been failed because their circumstances are very similar to the way they were. Crime is another thing that has failed the people.
Now I am not saying I support Mr Zuma, but I am saying lets see what happens, who says he will be the next president? Who says it will be the worst decision ever? I don’t think many of us foreign born black South Africans are ‘safe’ if he comes into power, but then again who says I am right. Yes he has a corruption charge hanging over his head, as well as a charge of rape, of which he was acquitted. My question is if the case was as airtight and as plausible as the media would like us to believe would he not have been served his charge papers already. The rape case is another clearly flawed attempt to discredit and marginalize the man. Prior to all these allegations we were all quite happy to have him as a deputy president, bar Umshiniwam Umshiniwam, a huge smoke screen is created to discredit the man with a lot of help from the media and we are all weary and I am not saying our caution and uneasiness is unfounded, but I am asking is it not all part of a campaign to let him lose face?
He has the backing of 5 provinces, the youth league, the trade unions and the Woman’s league…that’s an overwhelming majority. All of whom have been exposed to the same propaganda that we have been, dam nit the man was accused of rape and the Women’s league still nominated him. Are they all stupid? Are we wiser than they?
The other side of the coin, so say Zuma comes into power. He actually focuses on providing free healthcare and schooling to the masses. Minimum wages are increased, basic conditions of employment are enhanced. Say he focuses his whole tenure on lifting the not so well to do out of the doldrums, will that be so bad? I guess provided the ability of the ‘better off’ is not inhibited.
Fears of this being another Zimbabwe, well I had a conversation with some seemingly knowledgeable people a few weekends ago. The situation here is far from the situation in Zim. In Zim people live for their farm land its not the case here, think about it, how many people do you know of that want to go and live on a farm, everyone is migrating to the city, cos they heard there is s ex in the city…oh so lame! I speak from a very ignorant position, but I don’t think the land issue is as great as it was in Zim and secondly I do believe that the powers that be have handled it well.
My largest concern with Mr Zuma is that if he is voted in his will be a populist vote and what tends to happen with such leaders (even if they are not elected into power), is they tend to believe that they know best for the people and are helping the people and as a result hang on to power indefinitely creating a dictatorship (of sorts)…Castro, Gaddafi, Mussolini, Hitler, Idi Amin…u get the gist.
But wait there’s more what becomes of all the work that has been done in trying to contain the spread of HIV and AIDS in this country, if what his trial revealed is anything to go by? [And by the way my understanding is that plenty is being done about HIV/AIDS in this country, more money has been thrown at it than in many other countries, but the complexity with this country is vaster than imagined, the dissolution of the sense of community that defines many Africans thanks to the practices of the past is so much deeper. In more traditional African cultures there are elders that the youth look up to one way or another, and once again I could be mistaken because the only form of African upbringing I have been exposed to is that taught by my dear parents and family friends, but then again I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to great education to help enhance the basic manners and treatment of others in my community that I was brought up knowing. The lack of this figurehead of sorts and the ‘dehumanization’ of many of these people that were supposed to perform the role of elders, flows onto the crime situation and general behaviour of certain factions of the community, but that’s a story for another time]. But then again I am no psychologist, but it makes sense in my head J
In closing though, just as Cyril R was favoured by the last of this country’s figureheads, the Great Nelson Mandela to take over when he left office (and we know what happened there) there is a huge possibility that JZ may well not take over. But that being said, so JZ takes over, you tell me what good, everyone with some intellectual capacity packing their bags and leaving going to do for this country we all so love? I say we stay and keep fighting the good fight, I strongly believe that everyone of us can make a damn difference. You know what I find so concerning is the fact that I a foreign South African, who supports the All Blacks, who is also routinely stopped by the police (the most recent being yesterday afternoon and boy did those fu ckers hear it from me, they couldn’t wait for me to get into my car and drive off!! It pleased me!) has to write and try and convince many a proudly Springbok supporting South African that this is as good as it gets, its not perfect, but if we spend half the energy we have bad mouthing and creating a negative self fulfilling prophecy and channel it into fighting a good fight, even if it came to naught at least we can say ey we tried!!
Anyway that’s me for the week
Birthdays
01 Emily
02 Servon M
03 Scott G
04 Garth A
07 Tana
Maximum respect to the masses and if I don’t get to e-speak to you guys before the end of the year, be good and be safe, happy XMAS, Eid, Hannukah etc.
Y
‘Que sera sera’
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
“Listen…I woke up this morning, And heard the TV saying something, About disaster in the world, It made me wonder where I’m going, There’s so much darkness in the world, But I see beauty left in you girl, And what you give me lets me know that I’ll be alright” Justin Timberlake, I so hope that song gets stuck in ur heads for as long as its been in mine for and it doesn’t want to leave me!
I sit here and smile quietly to myself. The Boks are world champions. Everyone is proudly South African, flags are waving, Bok stickers and flags displayed on cars, the country is one again. Watching the news yesterday morning and seeing the masses at the airport, irrespective of what one was wearing, the size of their noses, the colour of their skin u name it, all there shouting with one voice. Absolutely lovely to see.
But vark it people, I don’t buy it. What happens in the next week or two post the euphoria. Are we back to normal? Do all of the expats living in the UK, OZ, New Zealand or wherever else, who are all now talking about our country our this our that, do they go back to their prior country bashing ways. Saying THOSE people are screwing up THE country. 2010, what a joke, its going to be a flop, crime has become so bad in this country ever since the ANC took over. Corruption…and the list goes on.
So prior to Saturday what were we? Unproudly South African? I have to come clean, as most people know I am not a big Bok supporter and that has nothing to do with not supporting the country, its purely for rugby reasons, and for those that do know me, you’ll know that I struggle to follow blindly… and before anyone starts with the but why, cos you live in the country, well so then I guess you good folk living in the UK etc should start supporting England etc.
It frustrates me that one day, week, month whatever we can all just get along and be cool with life inspite of itself and then the next day for 4 years everything is going to the dogs. I sit here and I think about all my mates and other people I know who have left these shores and making the UK’s or Australia’s economy tick over nicely, what a difference they could make to our hospitals, banks, transport system whatever, if they came back and instead of biatching and moaning about what is so wrong about this place we started correcting what we see to be wrong some way…somehow. I am not an ostrich with my head in the sand, this country has some huge problems bubbling under, education to me is the key, because in my mind and with respect, there are some major idiots in some pretty high up places. The schooling system is still fraught with many a challenge, but there are so many well qualified teachers offshore. Yes I know government doesn’t pay well, but what is stopping you all from coming back and starting your own schools? Healthcare another problem doctors are running away and heading overseas to put drips in people and take blood, wasting their damn hard work, get back here start a practice. Crime is pretty nasty, the police cant cope, what is stopping those of us with the relevant training and connections from starting a community policing outfit? This is definitely the land of opportunity, there is money here, Standard Bank has got PLENTY you only have to look at the amount of damn dust on our cars to see how much cash is being tossed around at the moment. You say there are no jobs, then create jobs.
You keep telling a child they are an idiot when they do something wrong and trust me and idiot they will become, correct solution show them the right way!! All of us home and away if we truly love our country like we have been professing to over the last few weeks, why don’t we channel that energy and positive spirit into making it the country we want to live in.
Enter the questions or statements of really Yaw, what can we do. I know he is not on the same level as we are, but Nelson Mandela was an ordinary guy raised in a little village in the Transkei, he was one man, part of an organization, but one man nonetheless who went to jail for asking why he had to be a slave in his land, he was set free lost most of his life in a jail cell, yet he came out bitter or not, he came out and did his best to unify this nation…well at least try. This one man I know jumped on a bicycle (cos he is a tad mad) and cycled to Tanzania, then climbed a mountain, with the hope of raising some money for orphaned and vulnerable children. He is not trying to save all the orphaned and vulnerable children of this country, but even if its 5…15…30…that’s 5…15…30 less potential muggers, rapists, hijackers etc. and they get given an opportunity to have a life.
We can’t just always be fair weather friends, our country is going through a pretty terrible phase at the moment, I mean who the hell kills Lucky Dube? We need a lot of healing and a whole lot less persecution. We won’t heal by paying lip service. Jake White may well get the good ol axe, good thing bad thing, I have my views, but I will keep them to myself and unleash them on my rugby newsletter , but that doesn’t mean we should start pointing fingers and fueling the fires of negativity!
Maybe it’s the Piscean in me…living in the fairytale land that my mate Tebs so beautifully sang about many a year ago Maybe…
Anyway birthdays
23rd Pearl
24th Philip
26th Adrian H
27th Chief M
One love and maximum respect!
Y
Que sera sera
PS I’d love some comments on this one maybe I missed the point somewhere in my thinking. Either mail me or www.mondaymail.blogspot.com
I sit here and smile quietly to myself. The Boks are world champions. Everyone is proudly South African, flags are waving, Bok stickers and flags displayed on cars, the country is one again. Watching the news yesterday morning and seeing the masses at the airport, irrespective of what one was wearing, the size of their noses, the colour of their skin u name it, all there shouting with one voice. Absolutely lovely to see.
But vark it people, I don’t buy it. What happens in the next week or two post the euphoria. Are we back to normal? Do all of the expats living in the UK, OZ, New Zealand or wherever else, who are all now talking about our country our this our that, do they go back to their prior country bashing ways. Saying THOSE people are screwing up THE country. 2010, what a joke, its going to be a flop, crime has become so bad in this country ever since the ANC took over. Corruption…and the list goes on.
So prior to Saturday what were we? Unproudly South African? I have to come clean, as most people know I am not a big Bok supporter and that has nothing to do with not supporting the country, its purely for rugby reasons, and for those that do know me, you’ll know that I struggle to follow blindly… and before anyone starts with the but why, cos you live in the country, well so then I guess you good folk living in the UK etc should start supporting England etc.
It frustrates me that one day, week, month whatever we can all just get along and be cool with life inspite of itself and then the next day for 4 years everything is going to the dogs. I sit here and I think about all my mates and other people I know who have left these shores and making the UK’s or Australia’s economy tick over nicely, what a difference they could make to our hospitals, banks, transport system whatever, if they came back and instead of biatching and moaning about what is so wrong about this place we started correcting what we see to be wrong some way…somehow. I am not an ostrich with my head in the sand, this country has some huge problems bubbling under, education to me is the key, because in my mind and with respect, there are some major idiots in some pretty high up places. The schooling system is still fraught with many a challenge, but there are so many well qualified teachers offshore. Yes I know government doesn’t pay well, but what is stopping you all from coming back and starting your own schools? Healthcare another problem doctors are running away and heading overseas to put drips in people and take blood, wasting their damn hard work, get back here start a practice. Crime is pretty nasty, the police cant cope, what is stopping those of us with the relevant training and connections from starting a community policing outfit? This is definitely the land of opportunity, there is money here, Standard Bank has got PLENTY you only have to look at the amount of damn dust on our cars to see how much cash is being tossed around at the moment. You say there are no jobs, then create jobs.
You keep telling a child they are an idiot when they do something wrong and trust me and idiot they will become, correct solution show them the right way!! All of us home and away if we truly love our country like we have been professing to over the last few weeks, why don’t we channel that energy and positive spirit into making it the country we want to live in.
Enter the questions or statements of really Yaw, what can we do. I know he is not on the same level as we are, but Nelson Mandela was an ordinary guy raised in a little village in the Transkei, he was one man, part of an organization, but one man nonetheless who went to jail for asking why he had to be a slave in his land, he was set free lost most of his life in a jail cell, yet he came out bitter or not, he came out and did his best to unify this nation…well at least try. This one man I know jumped on a bicycle (cos he is a tad mad) and cycled to Tanzania, then climbed a mountain, with the hope of raising some money for orphaned and vulnerable children. He is not trying to save all the orphaned and vulnerable children of this country, but even if its 5…15…30…that’s 5…15…30 less potential muggers, rapists, hijackers etc. and they get given an opportunity to have a life.
We can’t just always be fair weather friends, our country is going through a pretty terrible phase at the moment, I mean who the hell kills Lucky Dube? We need a lot of healing and a whole lot less persecution. We won’t heal by paying lip service. Jake White may well get the good ol axe, good thing bad thing, I have my views, but I will keep them to myself and unleash them on my rugby newsletter , but that doesn’t mean we should start pointing fingers and fueling the fires of negativity!
Maybe it’s the Piscean in me…living in the fairytale land that my mate Tebs so beautifully sang about many a year ago Maybe…
Anyway birthdays
23rd Pearl
24th Philip
26th Adrian H
27th Chief M
One love and maximum respect!
Y
Que sera sera
PS I’d love some comments on this one maybe I missed the point somewhere in my thinking. Either mail me or www.mondaymail.blogspot.com
Friday, October 12, 2007
Thursday, October 04, 2007
“Nobody said it was easy, Oh its such a shame for us to part, Nobody said it was easy, No one ever said that it would be this hard, Oh take me back to the start
I was just guessing at numbers and figures, Pulling your puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress, Do not speak as loud as my heart
Tell me you love me, come back and haunt me, Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing our tails, Coming back as we are” Coldplay
Yet another addition to the mailing list. Teboho, welcome bro. If you have any suggestions or comments please mail me or go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com. We hope you enjoy your time with us.
I woke up early this morning with a great intention of going to gym, but the rain she was falling hard, and I took it as a sign to stay in bed and start my weekly email instead. Don’t u feel loved, huh?
NE waaaay, what’s news? Other than getting caned 8-2 at pool last nite, I can’t really complain much. Other than that I’ve never been better and if I have, well I can’t rememberJ. Oh wait I lie, I have ISSUES, no man, its not the ex AGAINNNNN, much love for her still, which is no secret J, but thanks to my shrink we are almost there, and they say money can’t buy you happiness?! I am thinking of leaving therapy now so ladies CALL ME or tell ur friends to call me I need healing…yes yes yes I got jokes! Tsk tsk
Ok so as I said I got ISSSSSUESS!! We don’t have too much time so I will just mention one or two of them. Guys I am sooo scared, this weekend my team (the All Blacks) come up against the French in the quarters and if they are successful they come up against either the Aussies or the English (preferably the English) then against the beefy Boks! Eish I don’t know…
Okay, on a more serious note though, for those of us who don’t live in SA, there is a story floating about that the PSL (Premier Soccer League) bosses organized a fat commission payment for arranging a sponsorship deal and TV rights for the PSL. Well done to them for being smart enough to see a gap here, but there are bigger fundamentals that I disagree with. The amounts that are being banded around are R200mil worth of commissions between 5 of them. The PSL clubs don’t pay their players too well unless I am mistaken. They provide the entertainment that keeps the masses interested, filling up the stadiums, glued in front of their TV sets. I believe the players and the game will be better served if the proposed bonuses are paid to the players as tournament bonuses etc. or to upgrade training facilities at certain clubs, or set up academies to show the strikers how to shoot J or whatever! The Iron Duke and co have made plenty cash and are making soo much more.
Next issue for the week…. I am really bothered by the amount of beggars on the roads at the moment. I don’t think there is one intersection that I pass where there isn’t at least one blind person, a woman with a kid, a person with an alleged deformity (and I say this with caution) etc. Clearly they keep coming back because there is a market for them at these intersections. Yesterday my bro and I noticed how many people actually give money to the beggars. That’s all good and well but are we, who give money actually making a difference or making the situation worse? I am all for helping out the less fortunate, but is this the right method? Last I heard there are roughly 4.5mil taxpayers in this country. Lets say 1% of them follow the practice of giving money to beggars every day and donate R1. That would be R45 000 a day. Over a 22 day a month period that would all add up to R990 000 A MONTH! I am sure there is something very constructive, in the vein of job creation, building houses, something sustainable that can be dome with that kind of ammo! I suppose its all good and well to talk about these things, but action now there’s something that would make a difference! Any ideas?
That’s me for another week. I hope u all have a great weekend. If you are in Jozi and need your car washed please come to QBar on William Nicol road on Saturday between 8-12 where a whole bunch of us, guys and gals will be washing cars to raise some funds for charity. The charity in this instance will be the Lonely Road Foundation. A charity set up to help orphaned and vulnerable children
Birthdays…
4th Liam
That’s all I have, if I have not got your birthday this week oops but hope you had/have a great day.
Before I go, I heard this clip a while ago and again earlier today honestly brought a tear to my eye…hope your firewalls doesn’t block it. It’s a perfect example of not judging a book by its cover! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oxTy7KIAaA, its absolutely beautiful!
Ey, head up, chest out, whatever it is, honestly it will pass!! Oh and before I forget, and I nearly did, I am not in therapy although many people think I should consider it.
Big love and maximum respect
Y
‘que sera sera’
I was just guessing at numbers and figures, Pulling your puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress, Do not speak as loud as my heart
Tell me you love me, come back and haunt me, Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing our tails, Coming back as we are” Coldplay
Yet another addition to the mailing list. Teboho, welcome bro. If you have any suggestions or comments please mail me or go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com. We hope you enjoy your time with us.
I woke up early this morning with a great intention of going to gym, but the rain she was falling hard, and I took it as a sign to stay in bed and start my weekly email instead. Don’t u feel loved, huh?
NE waaaay, what’s news? Other than getting caned 8-2 at pool last nite, I can’t really complain much. Other than that I’ve never been better and if I have, well I can’t rememberJ. Oh wait I lie, I have ISSUES, no man, its not the ex AGAINNNNN, much love for her still, which is no secret J, but thanks to my shrink we are almost there, and they say money can’t buy you happiness?! I am thinking of leaving therapy now so ladies CALL ME or tell ur friends to call me I need healing…yes yes yes I got jokes! Tsk tsk
Ok so as I said I got ISSSSSUESS!! We don’t have too much time so I will just mention one or two of them. Guys I am sooo scared, this weekend my team (the All Blacks) come up against the French in the quarters and if they are successful they come up against either the Aussies or the English (preferably the English) then against the beefy Boks! Eish I don’t know…
Okay, on a more serious note though, for those of us who don’t live in SA, there is a story floating about that the PSL (Premier Soccer League) bosses organized a fat commission payment for arranging a sponsorship deal and TV rights for the PSL. Well done to them for being smart enough to see a gap here, but there are bigger fundamentals that I disagree with. The amounts that are being banded around are R200mil worth of commissions between 5 of them. The PSL clubs don’t pay their players too well unless I am mistaken. They provide the entertainment that keeps the masses interested, filling up the stadiums, glued in front of their TV sets. I believe the players and the game will be better served if the proposed bonuses are paid to the players as tournament bonuses etc. or to upgrade training facilities at certain clubs, or set up academies to show the strikers how to shoot J or whatever! The Iron Duke and co have made plenty cash and are making soo much more.
Next issue for the week…. I am really bothered by the amount of beggars on the roads at the moment. I don’t think there is one intersection that I pass where there isn’t at least one blind person, a woman with a kid, a person with an alleged deformity (and I say this with caution) etc. Clearly they keep coming back because there is a market for them at these intersections. Yesterday my bro and I noticed how many people actually give money to the beggars. That’s all good and well but are we, who give money actually making a difference or making the situation worse? I am all for helping out the less fortunate, but is this the right method? Last I heard there are roughly 4.5mil taxpayers in this country. Lets say 1% of them follow the practice of giving money to beggars every day and donate R1. That would be R45 000 a day. Over a 22 day a month period that would all add up to R990 000 A MONTH! I am sure there is something very constructive, in the vein of job creation, building houses, something sustainable that can be dome with that kind of ammo! I suppose its all good and well to talk about these things, but action now there’s something that would make a difference! Any ideas?
That’s me for another week. I hope u all have a great weekend. If you are in Jozi and need your car washed please come to QBar on William Nicol road on Saturday between 8-12 where a whole bunch of us, guys and gals will be washing cars to raise some funds for charity. The charity in this instance will be the Lonely Road Foundation. A charity set up to help orphaned and vulnerable children
Birthdays…
4th Liam
That’s all I have, if I have not got your birthday this week oops but hope you had/have a great day.
Before I go, I heard this clip a while ago and again earlier today honestly brought a tear to my eye…hope your firewalls doesn’t block it. It’s a perfect example of not judging a book by its cover! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oxTy7KIAaA, its absolutely beautiful!
Ey, head up, chest out, whatever it is, honestly it will pass!! Oh and before I forget, and I nearly did, I am not in therapy although many people think I should consider it.
Big love and maximum respect
Y
‘que sera sera’
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Wa wa wee wa! What’s good boys and girls? Write to meeeeee!
Fat welcome to Miss Sylvia, I hope you enjoy this weekly email. Any comments or suggestions please mail me or go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com
Last week I forgot to mention 2 very important celebrations. Happy New Year to my Jewish peeps and Ramadan Mubarak to my Muslim peeps!
Its absolutely ridiculous, well not really, but something as natural as a change in season can cause such an insane change in peoples attitudes. On Sunday I was with some mates and I was wondering what to write about this week and a friend of mine said write about rejuvenation – “the phenomenon of vitality and freshness being restored”
At first I was like what the fork?? And I am still like what the fork, but rejuvenation is all around us, sun rears its head everyone is happy, festive, it’s all about good times. Gyms are ‘fuller’, everyone has a smile on their faces, flowing and floral dresses are being flaunted…makes me want to break out in song…oh happy day...oh happy day…
I am feeling very frisky this week, started off with a fast on Monday, very refreshing, clear mind, resolve, halitosis. J To be honest though, the best part of the day was breaking my fast in the evening. Not because I had food to eat, but because I could break fast. I chose to go hungry, unlike many others who have no choice, its their lot in life…It’s their reality! I gave huge thanks for my little existence that I live I tell u!
This weeks email although I am feeling frisky is full of beef. Financial institutions! Financial institutions give me grief. Just like many of you, I struggle to see the justification behind banks charging me to deposit money into my account (other than because they can). I earn 1 or 2 % or whatever nominal interest rate I receive on this money and they lend the money out at anywhere from 7% to sometimes in excess of 21%. So basically I am paying you, to use my money, to make money. My money is cheaper than borrowing from the reserve bank, who I think charge around 10% (bankers please correct me if I am wrong with any of my thinking) That just doesn’t seem right to me. Yes the cost of handling cash has increased, because of cash in transit heists hiring people etc. but come on there has to be some cost of business that the banks should bear other than hiring all the clever people?? Then when it comes to lending to companies, financial institutions want to take next to zero risk but then charge prime or prime plus something silly…if you are fortunate enough to get any money. If there is no risk, shouldn’t the financial institutions be charging at the risk free rate?? But wait there’s more. Isn’t it funny that when you have money everything is given to you? The financial institutions will throw money at you for no security even if you don’t need it…here’s a R100mil facility, just tell us when you want to activate it. Mr x comes with a proper business case, a list of 10 million and one conditions precedents (hoops you must jump through before we think we may want to chat to you).
Financial institutions charge bank charges for either using an ATM or going into the banks, but internet banking is much cheaper, so who are the guys that stand in the queues? It’s not the well to do, it’s the poor dudes without ama-ADSL or 3G card. Then it comes to borrowing. Poor dude comes to borrow money, s/he gets asked what collateral (in cash or cash equivalent) do you have for this money, now if I had the money would I be borrowing?? But hey I guess it’s a hard knock life. I am sure the rest of you living over the seas have no clue what we go through here, but wait there’s more…
Then we have the mobile phone network operators. They are making money hand over fist, every time I dial your number and you pick up all they hear is chi-ching and I say EISH…that’s R2 odd gone right there just for getting connected, then the have the guile to drop my calls which then means I have to call again another R2. Their excuse the load on the networks is too much. Bra, build more towers!! I am sure most of the hardware has been repaid and all the money they are currently making from all our calls texts etc. is laughing all the way to the bank…along with them. I was really hoping that Virgin would come and shake up this cartel environment that we are subjected to but alas.
But the coup de gras of all is this story. I have a mate. Such a top dude in all honesty. I only met him this year but you know when you know that a person has a good soul, so anyway. The any he was looking down so I asked hey boss whats going on. He just shook his head and he told me this story which even though personal I have his permission to share with you because I think its totally insane. A couple of weeks ago his girlfriend started acting a tad funny, so he did some investigation and found out that she has started seeing another guy about twice her age, with 4 kids (the eldest being 18. He and his girlfriend have been together for almost 4 yrs now. Granted I have hardly been around them together but the little time that I spent with them was like wow this happy stuff does really exist, I mean the bra used to give her a couple of grand to buy clothes, help her with her college work etc. He was a proper boyfriend. Because he digs this lass he said its cool, you have cheated on me you are only 22, we all make mistakes lets try and work through this. So things were slowly working themselves out till earlier this week, she calls him over, and he runs to her side, they are chatting for a couple of hours when all of a sudden she waves at something and he notices a ring on her wedding finger. Shocked is an understatement, I mean this girl is his girlfriend of close on 4 years. So he asks her what is that? She answers, oh didn’t I tell you? I am engaged…so callous, like whatever to you dude…what do you do and I’m getting married tomorrow…TO A 43 YEAR OLD GUY WITH 4 KIDS I MET A LITTLE OVER A MONTH AGO!! What the F***??! Granted this is only one side of the story but he is not the type of guy that would fabricate such stories
To this minute whilst I sit here writing this email I scratch my head and wonder what am I missing because that does not seem like the behavior of a fully compos mentis person. Ey but what can u do…live and learn.
On a more positive note. On Monday I received a call from a mate of mine, just randomly to say hi what a pleasure!! Then yesterday I received an SMS from this mate of mine and all it said was “just hi, and I hope you are having a super day”. It’s so random but the smile on my face…priceless, for everything else there’s mastercard J
Birthdays
16th Al
18th Thuli, Chetan
21st Cute Nat
Maximum respect and happy heritage day to us South Africans, try and get to know your fellow citizens, what drives them and what makes them who they are, that way you can respect what they represent.
Y
Que sera sera
Fat welcome to Miss Sylvia, I hope you enjoy this weekly email. Any comments or suggestions please mail me or go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com
Last week I forgot to mention 2 very important celebrations. Happy New Year to my Jewish peeps and Ramadan Mubarak to my Muslim peeps!
Its absolutely ridiculous, well not really, but something as natural as a change in season can cause such an insane change in peoples attitudes. On Sunday I was with some mates and I was wondering what to write about this week and a friend of mine said write about rejuvenation – “the phenomenon of vitality and freshness being restored”
At first I was like what the fork?? And I am still like what the fork, but rejuvenation is all around us, sun rears its head everyone is happy, festive, it’s all about good times. Gyms are ‘fuller’, everyone has a smile on their faces, flowing and floral dresses are being flaunted…makes me want to break out in song…oh happy day...oh happy day…
I am feeling very frisky this week, started off with a fast on Monday, very refreshing, clear mind, resolve, halitosis. J To be honest though, the best part of the day was breaking my fast in the evening. Not because I had food to eat, but because I could break fast. I chose to go hungry, unlike many others who have no choice, its their lot in life…It’s their reality! I gave huge thanks for my little existence that I live I tell u!
This weeks email although I am feeling frisky is full of beef. Financial institutions! Financial institutions give me grief. Just like many of you, I struggle to see the justification behind banks charging me to deposit money into my account (other than because they can). I earn 1 or 2 % or whatever nominal interest rate I receive on this money and they lend the money out at anywhere from 7% to sometimes in excess of 21%. So basically I am paying you, to use my money, to make money. My money is cheaper than borrowing from the reserve bank, who I think charge around 10% (bankers please correct me if I am wrong with any of my thinking) That just doesn’t seem right to me. Yes the cost of handling cash has increased, because of cash in transit heists hiring people etc. but come on there has to be some cost of business that the banks should bear other than hiring all the clever people?? Then when it comes to lending to companies, financial institutions want to take next to zero risk but then charge prime or prime plus something silly…if you are fortunate enough to get any money. If there is no risk, shouldn’t the financial institutions be charging at the risk free rate?? But wait there’s more. Isn’t it funny that when you have money everything is given to you? The financial institutions will throw money at you for no security even if you don’t need it…here’s a R100mil facility, just tell us when you want to activate it. Mr x comes with a proper business case, a list of 10 million and one conditions precedents (hoops you must jump through before we think we may want to chat to you).
Financial institutions charge bank charges for either using an ATM or going into the banks, but internet banking is much cheaper, so who are the guys that stand in the queues? It’s not the well to do, it’s the poor dudes without ama-ADSL or 3G card. Then it comes to borrowing. Poor dude comes to borrow money, s/he gets asked what collateral (in cash or cash equivalent) do you have for this money, now if I had the money would I be borrowing?? But hey I guess it’s a hard knock life. I am sure the rest of you living over the seas have no clue what we go through here, but wait there’s more…
Then we have the mobile phone network operators. They are making money hand over fist, every time I dial your number and you pick up all they hear is chi-ching and I say EISH…that’s R2 odd gone right there just for getting connected, then the have the guile to drop my calls which then means I have to call again another R2. Their excuse the load on the networks is too much. Bra, build more towers!! I am sure most of the hardware has been repaid and all the money they are currently making from all our calls texts etc. is laughing all the way to the bank…along with them. I was really hoping that Virgin would come and shake up this cartel environment that we are subjected to but alas.
But the coup de gras of all is this story. I have a mate. Such a top dude in all honesty. I only met him this year but you know when you know that a person has a good soul, so anyway. The any he was looking down so I asked hey boss whats going on. He just shook his head and he told me this story which even though personal I have his permission to share with you because I think its totally insane. A couple of weeks ago his girlfriend started acting a tad funny, so he did some investigation and found out that she has started seeing another guy about twice her age, with 4 kids (the eldest being 18. He and his girlfriend have been together for almost 4 yrs now. Granted I have hardly been around them together but the little time that I spent with them was like wow this happy stuff does really exist, I mean the bra used to give her a couple of grand to buy clothes, help her with her college work etc. He was a proper boyfriend. Because he digs this lass he said its cool, you have cheated on me you are only 22, we all make mistakes lets try and work through this. So things were slowly working themselves out till earlier this week, she calls him over, and he runs to her side, they are chatting for a couple of hours when all of a sudden she waves at something and he notices a ring on her wedding finger. Shocked is an understatement, I mean this girl is his girlfriend of close on 4 years. So he asks her what is that? She answers, oh didn’t I tell you? I am engaged…so callous, like whatever to you dude…what do you do and I’m getting married tomorrow…TO A 43 YEAR OLD GUY WITH 4 KIDS I MET A LITTLE OVER A MONTH AGO!! What the F***??! Granted this is only one side of the story but he is not the type of guy that would fabricate such stories
To this minute whilst I sit here writing this email I scratch my head and wonder what am I missing because that does not seem like the behavior of a fully compos mentis person. Ey but what can u do…live and learn.
On a more positive note. On Monday I received a call from a mate of mine, just randomly to say hi what a pleasure!! Then yesterday I received an SMS from this mate of mine and all it said was “just hi, and I hope you are having a super day”. It’s so random but the smile on my face…priceless, for everything else there’s mastercard J
Birthdays
16th Al
18th Thuli, Chetan
21st Cute Nat
Maximum respect and happy heritage day to us South Africans, try and get to know your fellow citizens, what drives them and what makes them who they are, that way you can respect what they represent.
Y
Que sera sera
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Another beautiful day in Africa comes to an end, well kinda beautiful if you don’t mind the irritated sinus and itchy eyes J. To my Muslim peeps, big love for this holy month of Ramadan which starts tomorrow, hope you all stay strong and keep a pure mind and heart over the period and beyond.
Another addition to the mailing list, Philip and Mimi welcome to our little community of life love and everything else hope u enjoy your time with us. To read any of the older blogs or to comment on a blog posted, please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or alternatively drop me an email with all your comments and suggestions.
So anyway I’ve been holding out on you guys, and with good reason it so appears. This year work wise has been an absolute ripper in many ways, I have been challenged, tempted, successful, failed…but ey all in a few months work. The last 2 weeks have been pretty hectic…well up until a few hrs ago J. In the last 2 weeks or so I managed to get 3 deals in, thank blessings for that cos one of those was a pretty decent 7 digit deal…I felt like we had won the Zama Zama…win today...everyday. Happy times, but true to the form of all big corporates, they expected us to make miracles happen overnight. Mind you we had pitched to them in May, if I am not mistaken. They loved our idea, but they signed at the end of August expecting to go live a week before the end of September. They know very well that our lead times are roughly 6 weeks, but do they care…errr NO! Anyway last week was plenty stress! We worked tirelessly and pulled some rabbits out of hats, granted not all the rabbits were the ones that they were after, but damnit they were pretty fantastic rabbits, given the time they had given us…one week instead of our usual 4 odd weeks. So we submitted the list to them the client came back on Monday chuffed, we breathed a sigh of relief, patted ourselves on the back for a job well done. Then last nite she calls us and says, boys…hold the fone. Bra, I nearly stripped my mo er!! After all that work, stress etc. But anyway, I built a bridge and got over it…ey that’s life…its not entirely dead I hope, but its just not going to happen when we wanted it to.
Speaking of building a bridge, and seeing how much some of you have a bit of a chuckle at my random life. Here’s one for you. So last week I’m out having a ripper with my mates, went to some Smirnoff event, free food, booze, good company…great recipe for a good nite ey. We move from there to Rosebank meet the boys and the girls have a chuckle or plenty. Then along comes the ex. But wait things were different, I don’t know whether I was no longer Superman or she was no longer Kryptonite…guess it was a bit of both, cos I got tired of being superman and underwent training to become Jason Bourne, so whether she was Kryptonite or not, it didn’t matter…Jason Bourne has no weaknesses J I was well chuffed and chuffed I should be damnit its been almost a year. So with a bounce in my step and a smirk on my face, but keeping very cool ala Jason Bourne I carried on with life…till Monday…
We became facebook friends on Monday, only to find that she is becoming friends with all my mates, most of whom she has hardly spoken to whilst we were together and most probably hasn’t even breathed a word to post us…yes its silly, but I felt exactly how grated cheese feels…grated. It really bugged me for some bizarre reason…yes fair enuff I am mates with some of her mates 3 to be exact 2 of whom invited me to be their friends and the other well that was all meeeeee. But its funny how it all works, how when u feel that its all good, something TOOOOOTAAALLLLYYY random such as this happens to make sure u remember its not all good. But anyway, as I mentioned before, I have a huge supply of cement this year so once again I built a bridge and I’m getting over it J
K so today is Thursday now, I am chuckling quietly to myself… I had a meeting and from that meeting I had to stop off at the gym to fetch my skipping rope that I had left there yesterday. On my way into the precinct I decided to put the power of positive thinking to the test and I had no idea what whole situation would be like, but all I knew is that I didn’t want to mission for parking so from the time I decided I should go and fetch my rope till the time I got to the gym all I was saying to myself was there will be parking right outside the door…something that is hardly the case, cos the precinct is insanely busy with all the offices, restaurants and shops etc. but nothing was going to sway me from my thinking. So I get close to the gym and there is not a spot of parking anywhere. As I approach the front door I see the pleasant white light at the rear of a car shining bright…indicating he is reversing to exit, I shake my head and smile, think I may even have let out a giggle. And where was this parking? I couldn’t have asked for a parking more outside the door even if I paid for it! I know I know, I am the most random guy ever, but ey thats me J
Here’s more randomness, the 12th September other than being the 30th anniversary of Steve Biko’s death, was a WednesdayJ, but we move on swiftly, the 7th September was the 10th year anniversary of the death of Mobutu Sese Seko, the president of Zaire (once again called the Democratic Republic of Congo) who was best known for the leopard skin hat he used to wear.
Mobutu born Joseph Desire Mobutu, in a town called Lisala, studied in Belgium and joined the Belgian army at the age of 19. In the 50’s he returned to Belgian Congo, whilst they were in the long process of gaining independence. He worked as a journalist and joined the Congolese National Movement of Patrice Lumumba. In 1960, Belgian Congo gained independence and was known as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lumumba was the prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu the president. Mobutu Lumumba’s private secretary and later his chief of staff.. Lumumba fell into disfavour with the west following his allegiance to the Soviet Union (he and the president were conflicted which resulted in turmoil). In 1960, Mobutu, through a coup, removed Lumumba from office and placed him under house arrest. Full control of the country was given back to Kasavubut. Lumumba was later murdered.
Mobutu aligned himself closely to western intelligence such as the CIA. The intelligence agencies used Mobutu’s ‘country’ as a springboard to launch operations into other ‘rogue’ countries such as Angola. Mobutu led another coup 2 yrs later in 1965. This resulted in him becoming president in 1970 when he ran unopposed in the elections through his recently established party the popular movement of the revolution.
The theme of Mobutu’s 30 reign was the ‘return to African authenticity”. The first step was to change the country’s name to Zaire (apparently the old name for the Congo River) in 1971. The next move was to change his name to Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa za Banga (meaning the ‘all powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win will go from conquest to conquest leaving fire in his wake’). After that he banned Christian names and European dress. In 1973 he did a Mugabe (kind of) and his government seized about 2000 European owned businesses which he gave to his inner circle. These businesses failed…as expected. Next on his agenda was to squash tribalism and any dissent or uprising of any form against his regime. A proper dictator he became. On the one hand he was preaching national unity on the other he was stealing from the hand that feeds the nation.
Political exploitation and corruption was his middle name (if you can fit in any more words into that name of his). Many have been heard referring to his regime as a kleptocracy. So grave was his theft and squandering and mismanagement and whatever other term u want to call it, but it was reported that in the 80’s his personal wealth was in excess of $4bn, that would be US dollars not Zim (currently ofcourse). That’s hectic. I heard reports that at the time of his death or prior to it, his personal wealth could settle his country’s debt. But anyway I guess his time would come. In the late 80’s to early 90’s the whole ‘cold war’ between the West and the Soviet Union became less of an issue and as a result the West had no need for Mobutu.
All of a sudden they could see the human right abuses and the corruption and in 1990 they ceased all aid to his country. He managed to sidestep and tap dance his way to 7 yrs of further rule till the rebellion, led by Laurent Kabilla that started in the east, grew so huge that in March 1997 he relinquished power and fled to Morocco where he died on the 7th September 1997.
I guess I will never know nor understand, but I can still ask! What the hell makes a person do such things. DRC is a wealthy country, timber, natural minerals (diamonds, gold and oil too I think) but they are plunged into poverty instead of harnessing the potential power of the region you rather focus on your pockets. $4bn just for you, and now you are dead and then…?? Oh well!!
Birthdays
10th Tumi Morule, Sefa
13th Inge and Maud
14th Will Mapham and Kyle
15th Goochie
Congrats to Jonty on his wedding the other day, looked beautiful boss! Secondly, T-bang, bro congrats on cycling almost 6000 km on your own and climbing up a mountain also 5000 meters above sea level, it shows that if you put your mind to it, even the unthinkable is possible. MAXIMUM RESPECT!!
That’s me for another week, but I thought I’d give you all a heads up. All things going according to plan, we will be launching another business in the next few days, hugely exciting times. I can’t really say more but I hope you guys are like me and when someone tells u half stories like I just did, the anticipation leaves you NUMB J
Maximum respect
Y
“que sera sera”
Another addition to the mailing list, Philip and Mimi welcome to our little community of life love and everything else hope u enjoy your time with us. To read any of the older blogs or to comment on a blog posted, please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or alternatively drop me an email with all your comments and suggestions.
So anyway I’ve been holding out on you guys, and with good reason it so appears. This year work wise has been an absolute ripper in many ways, I have been challenged, tempted, successful, failed…but ey all in a few months work. The last 2 weeks have been pretty hectic…well up until a few hrs ago J. In the last 2 weeks or so I managed to get 3 deals in, thank blessings for that cos one of those was a pretty decent 7 digit deal…I felt like we had won the Zama Zama…win today...everyday. Happy times, but true to the form of all big corporates, they expected us to make miracles happen overnight. Mind you we had pitched to them in May, if I am not mistaken. They loved our idea, but they signed at the end of August expecting to go live a week before the end of September. They know very well that our lead times are roughly 6 weeks, but do they care…errr NO! Anyway last week was plenty stress! We worked tirelessly and pulled some rabbits out of hats, granted not all the rabbits were the ones that they were after, but damnit they were pretty fantastic rabbits, given the time they had given us…one week instead of our usual 4 odd weeks. So we submitted the list to them the client came back on Monday chuffed, we breathed a sigh of relief, patted ourselves on the back for a job well done. Then last nite she calls us and says, boys…hold the fone. Bra, I nearly stripped my mo er!! After all that work, stress etc. But anyway, I built a bridge and got over it…ey that’s life…its not entirely dead I hope, but its just not going to happen when we wanted it to.
Speaking of building a bridge, and seeing how much some of you have a bit of a chuckle at my random life. Here’s one for you. So last week I’m out having a ripper with my mates, went to some Smirnoff event, free food, booze, good company…great recipe for a good nite ey. We move from there to Rosebank meet the boys and the girls have a chuckle or plenty. Then along comes the ex. But wait things were different, I don’t know whether I was no longer Superman or she was no longer Kryptonite…guess it was a bit of both, cos I got tired of being superman and underwent training to become Jason Bourne, so whether she was Kryptonite or not, it didn’t matter…Jason Bourne has no weaknesses J I was well chuffed and chuffed I should be damnit its been almost a year. So with a bounce in my step and a smirk on my face, but keeping very cool ala Jason Bourne I carried on with life…till Monday…
We became facebook friends on Monday, only to find that she is becoming friends with all my mates, most of whom she has hardly spoken to whilst we were together and most probably hasn’t even breathed a word to post us…yes its silly, but I felt exactly how grated cheese feels…grated. It really bugged me for some bizarre reason…yes fair enuff I am mates with some of her mates 3 to be exact 2 of whom invited me to be their friends and the other well that was all meeeeee. But its funny how it all works, how when u feel that its all good, something TOOOOOTAAALLLLYYY random such as this happens to make sure u remember its not all good. But anyway, as I mentioned before, I have a huge supply of cement this year so once again I built a bridge and I’m getting over it J
K so today is Thursday now, I am chuckling quietly to myself… I had a meeting and from that meeting I had to stop off at the gym to fetch my skipping rope that I had left there yesterday. On my way into the precinct I decided to put the power of positive thinking to the test and I had no idea what whole situation would be like, but all I knew is that I didn’t want to mission for parking so from the time I decided I should go and fetch my rope till the time I got to the gym all I was saying to myself was there will be parking right outside the door…something that is hardly the case, cos the precinct is insanely busy with all the offices, restaurants and shops etc. but nothing was going to sway me from my thinking. So I get close to the gym and there is not a spot of parking anywhere. As I approach the front door I see the pleasant white light at the rear of a car shining bright…indicating he is reversing to exit, I shake my head and smile, think I may even have let out a giggle. And where was this parking? I couldn’t have asked for a parking more outside the door even if I paid for it! I know I know, I am the most random guy ever, but ey thats me J
Here’s more randomness, the 12th September other than being the 30th anniversary of Steve Biko’s death, was a WednesdayJ, but we move on swiftly, the 7th September was the 10th year anniversary of the death of Mobutu Sese Seko, the president of Zaire (once again called the Democratic Republic of Congo) who was best known for the leopard skin hat he used to wear.
Mobutu born Joseph Desire Mobutu, in a town called Lisala, studied in Belgium and joined the Belgian army at the age of 19. In the 50’s he returned to Belgian Congo, whilst they were in the long process of gaining independence. He worked as a journalist and joined the Congolese National Movement of Patrice Lumumba. In 1960, Belgian Congo gained independence and was known as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lumumba was the prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu the president. Mobutu Lumumba’s private secretary and later his chief of staff.. Lumumba fell into disfavour with the west following his allegiance to the Soviet Union (he and the president were conflicted which resulted in turmoil). In 1960, Mobutu, through a coup, removed Lumumba from office and placed him under house arrest. Full control of the country was given back to Kasavubut. Lumumba was later murdered.
Mobutu aligned himself closely to western intelligence such as the CIA. The intelligence agencies used Mobutu’s ‘country’ as a springboard to launch operations into other ‘rogue’ countries such as Angola. Mobutu led another coup 2 yrs later in 1965. This resulted in him becoming president in 1970 when he ran unopposed in the elections through his recently established party the popular movement of the revolution.
The theme of Mobutu’s 30 reign was the ‘return to African authenticity”. The first step was to change the country’s name to Zaire (apparently the old name for the Congo River) in 1971. The next move was to change his name to Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa za Banga (meaning the ‘all powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win will go from conquest to conquest leaving fire in his wake’). After that he banned Christian names and European dress. In 1973 he did a Mugabe (kind of) and his government seized about 2000 European owned businesses which he gave to his inner circle. These businesses failed…as expected. Next on his agenda was to squash tribalism and any dissent or uprising of any form against his regime. A proper dictator he became. On the one hand he was preaching national unity on the other he was stealing from the hand that feeds the nation.
Political exploitation and corruption was his middle name (if you can fit in any more words into that name of his). Many have been heard referring to his regime as a kleptocracy. So grave was his theft and squandering and mismanagement and whatever other term u want to call it, but it was reported that in the 80’s his personal wealth was in excess of $4bn, that would be US dollars not Zim (currently ofcourse). That’s hectic. I heard reports that at the time of his death or prior to it, his personal wealth could settle his country’s debt. But anyway I guess his time would come. In the late 80’s to early 90’s the whole ‘cold war’ between the West and the Soviet Union became less of an issue and as a result the West had no need for Mobutu.
All of a sudden they could see the human right abuses and the corruption and in 1990 they ceased all aid to his country. He managed to sidestep and tap dance his way to 7 yrs of further rule till the rebellion, led by Laurent Kabilla that started in the east, grew so huge that in March 1997 he relinquished power and fled to Morocco where he died on the 7th September 1997.
I guess I will never know nor understand, but I can still ask! What the hell makes a person do such things. DRC is a wealthy country, timber, natural minerals (diamonds, gold and oil too I think) but they are plunged into poverty instead of harnessing the potential power of the region you rather focus on your pockets. $4bn just for you, and now you are dead and then…?? Oh well!!
Birthdays
10th Tumi Morule, Sefa
13th Inge and Maud
14th Will Mapham and Kyle
15th Goochie
Congrats to Jonty on his wedding the other day, looked beautiful boss! Secondly, T-bang, bro congrats on cycling almost 6000 km on your own and climbing up a mountain also 5000 meters above sea level, it shows that if you put your mind to it, even the unthinkable is possible. MAXIMUM RESPECT!!
That’s me for another week, but I thought I’d give you all a heads up. All things going according to plan, we will be launching another business in the next few days, hugely exciting times. I can’t really say more but I hope you guys are like me and when someone tells u half stories like I just did, the anticipation leaves you NUMB J
Maximum respect
Y
“que sera sera”
Friday, September 07, 2007
“Where do we go, who knows? But each day gets better; I just can’t let her go, oh no
Each kiss gets sweeter; I just can’t leave her, no
I’ll write a song; I thought about it for far too long; But I’ve never had someone to sing about; Until I met her, now each day gets better; Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody else understands me like she; Now that I know what true love means
I just hope she stays with me” John Legend
2 new additions, Nomi and Sharon, welcome to our little world. Old ones and comments on www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or just mail me back. Hoep you enjoy your time with us J
Spring is upon us in full force here in Jozi, I know u Cape Tonians are still struggling a bit with the rain but it too shall pass J. How is this for wack! Have u ever had that feeling when you just seem to be in a Zone and not too much really phases you? You kind of take the emotion out of a lot of things and when misfortune happens, you just shrug your shoulders and sigh and realize ey that’s life? I’ll be honest (and I may be jinxing it, but ey its been a great run thus far) but 2007 has been a year when I have been stuck in a huge moment, but a beautiful one at that. I know I am reflecting in the year that’s been faaaar too early, but ey I believe in giving thanks and praise when due. I just feel like I am in the zone and u know u are my guys and girls so I had to share it with you. Who knows tomorrow may be different but ey at least I had today J. Work, life, love (hmmm!) just general….And hell I have lived a charmed life! For as long as I’ve known I have had plenty misfortune, but even more blessings, and I say this all the time, but my friends and familia are testament to that. Our family is most probably the most functional disfunctional unit around but it works so well. My mates what a bunch of Licorice allsorts. I have crazy guys waking up one morning and deciding to cycle to Tanzania from Joburg, then climbing Kili I have others that drag me…kicking and screaming I might add to places of performing arts such as the Lounge and Mavericks. Then there are others who involve me in their business dealings, those who I kick around on the squash and tennis courts J. Those that I turn to when I need help! U tell me what more can any person ask? Maximum respect to you all.
Between last Monday and this Tuesday, I got pulled over 4 times for no apparent reason. The first just searched me and let me be on my way. Second, there were about 6 of them the pull me over speak shit to me, then ask me to buy them cooldrink, the 3rd was the most annoying this random chicken pulls me over, I am on the phone, legally I might add. She decides no she wants to just jump into my car, search the cubby holes etc. at this point I terminate her call and ask her what the deal is, she says nothing. Then she says she wants my water cos she is thirsty, I look at her like…let me not say this is an adult show. Anyway she is done lurking and wasting my time, then I ask her out of sheer frustration, why the hell have I been stopped 3 times in the last week she responds go and ask your government, no I mean my government, your government is Nigeria, I think to myself u stupid uneducated, ignorant F**K, but instead of taking action and setting the idiot straight (because the last time I decided to question an ignoramus cop, I ended up in the back of a van, struggling for air…and who says u cant teach an old dog new tricks), I looked at her, shook my head and drove off, thinking to myself …that’s it, just thinking to myself.
Guys and girls I think I am either very in tune with the universe of late or something is up. Last week Monday I think it was, something told me I was going to bump into certain young lady whom I had not seen her in yonks. What sparked this? Well in our last engagement, she had shown some concern for my mother. My momsie has been struggling with her knee for yonks now and was due a knee replacement op, which she finally had the courage to have last week. But the whole day there was something telling me I was going to see her. So anyway I made it through the whole day, had a meeting in Midrand, which ended at around 9pm. On my way back I decided to give this friend of mine I hadn’t spoken to in some time a call, she told me she and her sister were having dinner at a restaurant on my way home. So I decide to swing by and say whats up. Guess who’s at the restaurant?? How random is that. But wait there’s more.
Episode 2: The last few days, I had been a tad edgy about this outstanding traffic fine I had, it was only R200, but I thought the fine was bogus and I was contesting it. They told me I had to write a letter and fax it to a number. Well the number wasn’t working and after days of trying I finally got hold of a correct number. Once I sent my letter thru, for a few months I struggled to get hold of anyone to talk to. I resorted to asking ‘a guy’ who knows a dude at the prosecutors office to help a brother out. So a couple of days ago I got on the blower to see if he had heard anything yet, cos I was getting anxious (it might have had something to do with getting stopped 3 times prior). Anyway…no joy. On Tuesday I woke up and something told me I am going to get stopped in a roadblock, but I am like whatever, its life. The day before I had taken my car in for a bit of a tune up, but as luck would have it they messed up something else. So I decide to take a trip there, but on my way there I say this is a detour, something don’t feel right, true as bob, 5 min into my trip I come across a traffic back up. A little voice tells me Yaw, it’s a road block, I could easily have avoided but I decide no lets go and face the music, I have all my supporting documents with me, there will be a reasonable person there who I can explain my case to and get this thing sorted once and for all…eeehh first mistake. Someone reasonable!! There was a camera set up that reads ur number plate and if there is a fine outstanding on ur name it alerts the cops to pull you over. There was no alert on my car, but they pulled me over anyway…why do they hate me cos I am beautiful? Anyway, to cut a long story short, I met with another nincompoop, unfortunately no prosecutor on the spot, they charged me R500 and an hour of my life, instead of the initial R200 cos the fine was late blah blah. I still feel like contesting it, but its just too much effort.
But ey a shrug, a sigh, a smile…that’s life
Episode 3: The coup de grace came yesterday. I was sitting on a bicycle at gym, just then a thought of a guy that knew but hadn’t seen in a little while crossed my mind, u’d be surprised some of the random thoughts that float thru your mind when you have 20min of pain to endure. It kept me busy for honestly 2/3 min and I was getting irritated, just then a black car drives past and the number plate was Alex D, the guys name was Alex, its like weird!! I was like…wow!
Anyway class without any further adieu, this weeks lecture will be about hurricanes. There has been a lot of hurricane activity off the South American coast of late, with Hurricane Dean (I think) and Felix recently. Personally I have been wondering what makes a category 5 hurricane and why it loses strength when it makes landfall etc. so I decided to do some research.
A hurricane as we all know is a huge ‘tropical storm’ that can reach speeds of around 320km/hr and cover an area of 720km…that’s hectic. They are normally formed over the ocean at ocean temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius and warmer. The wind needs to be blowing and the air needs to cool rapidly the higher you go. There is a force called the Coriolis Force (“Once air has been set in motion by the pressure gradient force, it undergoes an apparent deflection from its path, as seen by an observer on the earth. This apparent deflection is called the "Coriolis force" and is a result of the earth's rotation.”) that is required to spin the hurricane. This force is most prominent between 5 – 15 degrees latitude north and south of the equator. They gather energy from the warm ocean water and their intensity is fuelled by the evaporated seawater. The more the sea water evaporation and the winds the greater the speeds hence the categories. The storm spins counter clockwise around the eye…kinda looks like a spinning top. The most dangerous part of a hurricane is something known as a storm surge. This is a mass of water that gets pushed up into the centre of the storm because of the winds. When this storm makes it to land it causes crazy flooding as well as mad waves before it makes it to land.
Stages of a hurricane:
Tropical wave (low pressure moving westwards) – tropical disturbance (organized thunderstorms, maintains its strength for 24hrs) – tropical cyclone (generic term for organized low pressure developed over sub/tropical waters)– tropical depression (organized area of low pressure with sustained winds of 62km/hr or less) – tropical storm (tropical cyclone with max sustained wind speeds ranging from 63km/hr – 117km/hr) – hurricane (tropical cyclone with max sustained wind speeds ranging in excess of 117km/hr
The categories of hurricanes is defined by wind speeds and pressure and storm surges, but I will abbreviate it and just give u the wind speed definitions.
Category 1: 119-153km/hr; category 2:154-177km/hr; category 3:178-209; category 4: 210-249; category 5: >249
Atlantic hurricanes are generally found between Early June and the end of November. In the Eastern Pacific hurricane season is from mid May till the end of November. So what is the difference between a hurricane, cyclone and a typhoon? Absolutely nothing other than where they occur. If the storm happens in the Atlantic, gulf of Mexico or the eastern pacific, its called a hurricane. If it occurs in the western pacific its called a typhoon if it occurs in the Indian ocean, the Bay of Bengal and Australia, its called a cyclone.
Just a bit of FYI, the names of hurricanes are conjured up by the World Meteorological Organisation who have about 6 different lists of names that they rotate every year. Up until 1979 only female names were used. If a hurricane does hectic damage, its name is retired and a new name replaces it.
Birthdays
3rd John C
5th Smangi
8th Simon C
To all the ladies, eish sorry ne, please understand. Rugby World Cup and twenty 20…NICE, this is the life!
To my brothers and sisters from my other mother, Holy month of Ramadaan starts next Thursday yes, u can sure count me in for a day of discipline with you all. If someone could send me the times relevant to Jozi then I could pick a day
Maximum respect and “que sera sera” because it will indeed be so!
Huge love
Y
Each kiss gets sweeter; I just can’t leave her, no
I’ll write a song; I thought about it for far too long; But I’ve never had someone to sing about; Until I met her, now each day gets better; Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody else understands me like she; Now that I know what true love means
I just hope she stays with me” John Legend
2 new additions, Nomi and Sharon, welcome to our little world. Old ones and comments on www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or just mail me back. Hoep you enjoy your time with us J
Spring is upon us in full force here in Jozi, I know u Cape Tonians are still struggling a bit with the rain but it too shall pass J. How is this for wack! Have u ever had that feeling when you just seem to be in a Zone and not too much really phases you? You kind of take the emotion out of a lot of things and when misfortune happens, you just shrug your shoulders and sigh and realize ey that’s life? I’ll be honest (and I may be jinxing it, but ey its been a great run thus far) but 2007 has been a year when I have been stuck in a huge moment, but a beautiful one at that. I know I am reflecting in the year that’s been faaaar too early, but ey I believe in giving thanks and praise when due. I just feel like I am in the zone and u know u are my guys and girls so I had to share it with you. Who knows tomorrow may be different but ey at least I had today J. Work, life, love (hmmm!) just general….And hell I have lived a charmed life! For as long as I’ve known I have had plenty misfortune, but even more blessings, and I say this all the time, but my friends and familia are testament to that. Our family is most probably the most functional disfunctional unit around but it works so well. My mates what a bunch of Licorice allsorts. I have crazy guys waking up one morning and deciding to cycle to Tanzania from Joburg, then climbing Kili I have others that drag me…kicking and screaming I might add to places of performing arts such as the Lounge and Mavericks. Then there are others who involve me in their business dealings, those who I kick around on the squash and tennis courts J. Those that I turn to when I need help! U tell me what more can any person ask? Maximum respect to you all.
Between last Monday and this Tuesday, I got pulled over 4 times for no apparent reason. The first just searched me and let me be on my way. Second, there were about 6 of them the pull me over speak shit to me, then ask me to buy them cooldrink, the 3rd was the most annoying this random chicken pulls me over, I am on the phone, legally I might add. She decides no she wants to just jump into my car, search the cubby holes etc. at this point I terminate her call and ask her what the deal is, she says nothing. Then she says she wants my water cos she is thirsty, I look at her like…let me not say this is an adult show. Anyway she is done lurking and wasting my time, then I ask her out of sheer frustration, why the hell have I been stopped 3 times in the last week she responds go and ask your government, no I mean my government, your government is Nigeria, I think to myself u stupid uneducated, ignorant F**K, but instead of taking action and setting the idiot straight (because the last time I decided to question an ignoramus cop, I ended up in the back of a van, struggling for air…and who says u cant teach an old dog new tricks), I looked at her, shook my head and drove off, thinking to myself …that’s it, just thinking to myself.
Guys and girls I think I am either very in tune with the universe of late or something is up. Last week Monday I think it was, something told me I was going to bump into certain young lady whom I had not seen her in yonks. What sparked this? Well in our last engagement, she had shown some concern for my mother. My momsie has been struggling with her knee for yonks now and was due a knee replacement op, which she finally had the courage to have last week. But the whole day there was something telling me I was going to see her. So anyway I made it through the whole day, had a meeting in Midrand, which ended at around 9pm. On my way back I decided to give this friend of mine I hadn’t spoken to in some time a call, she told me she and her sister were having dinner at a restaurant on my way home. So I decide to swing by and say whats up. Guess who’s at the restaurant?? How random is that. But wait there’s more.
Episode 2: The last few days, I had been a tad edgy about this outstanding traffic fine I had, it was only R200, but I thought the fine was bogus and I was contesting it. They told me I had to write a letter and fax it to a number. Well the number wasn’t working and after days of trying I finally got hold of a correct number. Once I sent my letter thru, for a few months I struggled to get hold of anyone to talk to. I resorted to asking ‘a guy’ who knows a dude at the prosecutors office to help a brother out. So a couple of days ago I got on the blower to see if he had heard anything yet, cos I was getting anxious (it might have had something to do with getting stopped 3 times prior). Anyway…no joy. On Tuesday I woke up and something told me I am going to get stopped in a roadblock, but I am like whatever, its life. The day before I had taken my car in for a bit of a tune up, but as luck would have it they messed up something else. So I decide to take a trip there, but on my way there I say this is a detour, something don’t feel right, true as bob, 5 min into my trip I come across a traffic back up. A little voice tells me Yaw, it’s a road block, I could easily have avoided but I decide no lets go and face the music, I have all my supporting documents with me, there will be a reasonable person there who I can explain my case to and get this thing sorted once and for all…eeehh first mistake. Someone reasonable!! There was a camera set up that reads ur number plate and if there is a fine outstanding on ur name it alerts the cops to pull you over. There was no alert on my car, but they pulled me over anyway…why do they hate me cos I am beautiful? Anyway, to cut a long story short, I met with another nincompoop, unfortunately no prosecutor on the spot, they charged me R500 and an hour of my life, instead of the initial R200 cos the fine was late blah blah. I still feel like contesting it, but its just too much effort.
But ey a shrug, a sigh, a smile…that’s life
Episode 3: The coup de grace came yesterday. I was sitting on a bicycle at gym, just then a thought of a guy that knew but hadn’t seen in a little while crossed my mind, u’d be surprised some of the random thoughts that float thru your mind when you have 20min of pain to endure. It kept me busy for honestly 2/3 min and I was getting irritated, just then a black car drives past and the number plate was Alex D, the guys name was Alex, its like weird!! I was like…wow!
Anyway class without any further adieu, this weeks lecture will be about hurricanes. There has been a lot of hurricane activity off the South American coast of late, with Hurricane Dean (I think) and Felix recently. Personally I have been wondering what makes a category 5 hurricane and why it loses strength when it makes landfall etc. so I decided to do some research.
A hurricane as we all know is a huge ‘tropical storm’ that can reach speeds of around 320km/hr and cover an area of 720km…that’s hectic. They are normally formed over the ocean at ocean temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius and warmer. The wind needs to be blowing and the air needs to cool rapidly the higher you go. There is a force called the Coriolis Force (“Once air has been set in motion by the pressure gradient force, it undergoes an apparent deflection from its path, as seen by an observer on the earth. This apparent deflection is called the "Coriolis force" and is a result of the earth's rotation.”) that is required to spin the hurricane. This force is most prominent between 5 – 15 degrees latitude north and south of the equator. They gather energy from the warm ocean water and their intensity is fuelled by the evaporated seawater. The more the sea water evaporation and the winds the greater the speeds hence the categories. The storm spins counter clockwise around the eye…kinda looks like a spinning top. The most dangerous part of a hurricane is something known as a storm surge. This is a mass of water that gets pushed up into the centre of the storm because of the winds. When this storm makes it to land it causes crazy flooding as well as mad waves before it makes it to land.
Stages of a hurricane:
Tropical wave (low pressure moving westwards) – tropical disturbance (organized thunderstorms, maintains its strength for 24hrs) – tropical cyclone (generic term for organized low pressure developed over sub/tropical waters)– tropical depression (organized area of low pressure with sustained winds of 62km/hr or less) – tropical storm (tropical cyclone with max sustained wind speeds ranging from 63km/hr – 117km/hr) – hurricane (tropical cyclone with max sustained wind speeds ranging in excess of 117km/hr
The categories of hurricanes is defined by wind speeds and pressure and storm surges, but I will abbreviate it and just give u the wind speed definitions.
Category 1: 119-153km/hr; category 2:154-177km/hr; category 3:178-209; category 4: 210-249; category 5: >249
Atlantic hurricanes are generally found between Early June and the end of November. In the Eastern Pacific hurricane season is from mid May till the end of November. So what is the difference between a hurricane, cyclone and a typhoon? Absolutely nothing other than where they occur. If the storm happens in the Atlantic, gulf of Mexico or the eastern pacific, its called a hurricane. If it occurs in the western pacific its called a typhoon if it occurs in the Indian ocean, the Bay of Bengal and Australia, its called a cyclone.
Just a bit of FYI, the names of hurricanes are conjured up by the World Meteorological Organisation who have about 6 different lists of names that they rotate every year. Up until 1979 only female names were used. If a hurricane does hectic damage, its name is retired and a new name replaces it.
Birthdays
3rd John C
5th Smangi
8th Simon C
To all the ladies, eish sorry ne, please understand. Rugby World Cup and twenty 20…NICE, this is the life!
To my brothers and sisters from my other mother, Holy month of Ramadaan starts next Thursday yes, u can sure count me in for a day of discipline with you all. If someone could send me the times relevant to Jozi then I could pick a day
Maximum respect and “que sera sera” because it will indeed be so!
Huge love
Y
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
“There will be mountains that I will have to climb; And there will be battles that I will have to fight; But victory or defeat, it's up to me to decide; But how can I expect to win If I never try.
I just can't give up now; I've come too far from where I started from; Nobody told me the road would be easy; and I don't believe he brought me this far to leave me” – Mary Mary
As he lies in his bed chuckling at some of the hopeless contestants on Idols SA, well brave…but hopeless, filled with guilt because he missed last weeks email, with his cap in his hand he screams from the top of his lungs….”I say what’s up my N****S”
Top of the morning to you all, as I am sure you have realized I am running very thin on material for my weekly emails…and he chuckles even more cos some lass is squealing “its not right but its ok”…and she sucks…anyhow, thanks to Teboho for helping me with suggestions, very deep and interesting. If you guys have any suggestions please do drop me a line
I was watching Carte Blanche yesterday and I got very disturbed. Now you guys know there are very few people more positive about this country than I, but sheesh some of the lawlessness that the Carte Blanche team reported has me very disturbed. There was a story done on gangsters who steal cars, spin cars on the roads illegally, steal policemens guns and no one even blinks an eyelid. But let the deputy minister of health catch a flight to Spain to find out about AIDS vaccines and boy will we make her pay. In principle its all good and well, guys that squander cash or spend unauthorized money should be brought to book. Guys and girls, lets be honest if that were the case we wouldn’t really have that many people working in the government at the moment, would we. I am not part of the inner workings of the government, but from what is reported, it’s a huge pity to see one of the ‘good guys’ being victimized as she is being and in my mind useless ones such as the current health minister run around as if the are queens of the castle, ooh I feel like breaking out into song…must be the reason why I’m queen of my castle…
Anyway, we shall overcome!!
So last week I had a great idea for an email. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the United States of Africa etc. I thought to myself, how much about this continent do I know, I mean like the basics, for example all the countries or at least most of them, what their capital cities are and who their leaders or presidents are. To be honest my honest answer was not a helluva lot. I decided that last weeks email was going to be an educational one, lets call it know your continent .
Below is a little spreadsheet I put together, with the capitals, the population size of the capital cities and who the leaders are. Study them well because there will be a quiz next week (please if I have my facts wrong please do correct me)
Capital City Citizens Country President/leader
Algiers (Alger, El Djazâir, Al Jaza'ir) 1,600,000 Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Luanda 470,000 Angola Jose E dos Santos
Porto-Novo (constit) 185,000 Benin Yayi Boni
Cotonou (seat of gvnt)
Gaborone 140,000 Botswana Festus Mogae
Ouagadougou 650,000 Burkina Faso Blaise Compaore
Bujumbura 240,000 Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza
Yaoundé 660,000 Cameroon Paul Biya
Praia 62,000 Cape Verde Pedro Pires
Bangui Bangui 480,000 Central Africa Francois Bozize
N'Djamena (Ndjamena) 190,000 Chad Idriss Deby
Moroni (Môrônî (Arab) 19,000 Comoros Ahmed Abdallah M. Sambi
Brazzaville 620,000 Congo (Brazzaville) Dennis Sassou Nguesso
Kinshasa 2,800,000 Congo (Kinshasa) Joseph Kabila
Yamoussoukro 110,000 Côte d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo
Djibouti (City) (Djiboûtî) 62,000 Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh
Cairo (El Qahirah) 6,800,000 Egypt Hosni Mubarak
Malabo (formerly Santa Isabel city state) 35,000 Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Asmara (Asmera) 360,000 Eritrea Isaias Afewerki
Addis Ababa (Addis Abeba) 2,400,000 Ethiopia Girma Wolde-Giorgis
Libreville 57,000 Gabon El Hadj Omar Bongo
Banjul 52,000 Gambia Yahya AJJ Jammeh
Accra 600,000 Ghana John Agyekum Kufuor
Conakry 770,000 Guinea Yansana Conte
Bissau 120,000 Guinea-Bissau Joao Bernardo Vieira
Nairobi 1,200,000 Kenya Mwai Kibaki
Maseru 14,000 Lesotho King Letsie III
Monrovia 430,000 Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Tripoli (Tarabulus) 570,000 Libya Muammar al-Gaddafi
Antananarivo 370,000 Madagascar Marc Ravolmanana
Lilongwe 250,000 Malawi Bingu wa Mutharika
Bamako 700,000 Mali Amadou Toumani Toure
Nouakchott (Nuwaskshut, Noûâkchot (mr)) 135,000 Mauritania Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi
Port Louis 145,000 Mauritius Anerood Jugnauth
Rabat (Ar Ribat, Er Ribât (ma)) 1,230,000 Morocco King Mohammed VI
Maputo 900,000 Mozambique Armando Guebuza
Windhoek 148,000 Namibia Hifikepunye Pohamba
Niamey 250,000 Niger Tandja Mamadou
Abuja 300,000 Nigeria Umaru Yar'Adua
Kigali 118,000 Rwanda Paul Kagame
Dakar 165,000 Senegal Abdoulaye Wade
Victoria 25,000 Seychelles James Michel
Freetown 48,000 Sierra Leone Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
Mogadishu 260,000 Somalia Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
Pretoria (Adm.) 1,600,000 South Africa Thabo Mbeki
Cape Town (Kaapstad) (legislative)
Bloemfontein (Judicial)
Khartoum (Al Khartum, Al Khurtum (sd) 930,000 Sudan Omar Hassan al Bashir
Mbabane (adm.) 41,000 Swaziland King Mswati III
Lobamba (legislative)
Dar es Salaam 1,100,000 Tanzania Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete
Lomé 160,000 Togo Faure Gnassingbe
Tunis (Toûnis, Tunus (tn)) 620,000 Tunisia Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
Kampala 330,000 Uganda Yoweri Museveni
La 'Youn (El Aaiun, Al 'Ayun) 256,200 Western Sahara Part of Spain
Lusaka 1,000,000 Zambia Levy Mwanawasa
Harare (formerly Salisbury) 1,200,000 Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe
Don’t ever say I don’t teach u guys stuff .
Birthdays for the week
20th Jo Maree
22nd Smut and Rushda
25th Grant D
26th Charl and Gareth
“If you really do put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.” – Anonymous
That’s me for last week, I will definitely try and write something a whole lot more deep for this weeks email.
Big love and maximum respect!
Y
“Que sera sera”
I just can't give up now; I've come too far from where I started from; Nobody told me the road would be easy; and I don't believe he brought me this far to leave me” – Mary Mary
As he lies in his bed chuckling at some of the hopeless contestants on Idols SA, well brave…but hopeless, filled with guilt because he missed last weeks email, with his cap in his hand he screams from the top of his lungs….”I say what’s up my N****S”
Top of the morning to you all, as I am sure you have realized I am running very thin on material for my weekly emails…and he chuckles even more cos some lass is squealing “its not right but its ok”…and she sucks…anyhow, thanks to Teboho for helping me with suggestions, very deep and interesting. If you guys have any suggestions please do drop me a line
I was watching Carte Blanche yesterday and I got very disturbed. Now you guys know there are very few people more positive about this country than I, but sheesh some of the lawlessness that the Carte Blanche team reported has me very disturbed. There was a story done on gangsters who steal cars, spin cars on the roads illegally, steal policemens guns and no one even blinks an eyelid. But let the deputy minister of health catch a flight to Spain to find out about AIDS vaccines and boy will we make her pay. In principle its all good and well, guys that squander cash or spend unauthorized money should be brought to book. Guys and girls, lets be honest if that were the case we wouldn’t really have that many people working in the government at the moment, would we. I am not part of the inner workings of the government, but from what is reported, it’s a huge pity to see one of the ‘good guys’ being victimized as she is being and in my mind useless ones such as the current health minister run around as if the are queens of the castle, ooh I feel like breaking out into song…must be the reason why I’m queen of my castle…
Anyway, we shall overcome!!
So last week I had a great idea for an email. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the United States of Africa etc. I thought to myself, how much about this continent do I know, I mean like the basics, for example all the countries or at least most of them, what their capital cities are and who their leaders or presidents are. To be honest my honest answer was not a helluva lot. I decided that last weeks email was going to be an educational one, lets call it know your continent .
Below is a little spreadsheet I put together, with the capitals, the population size of the capital cities and who the leaders are. Study them well because there will be a quiz next week (please if I have my facts wrong please do correct me)
Capital City Citizens Country President/leader
Algiers (Alger, El Djazâir, Al Jaza'ir) 1,600,000 Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Luanda 470,000 Angola Jose E dos Santos
Porto-Novo (constit) 185,000 Benin Yayi Boni
Cotonou (seat of gvnt)
Gaborone 140,000 Botswana Festus Mogae
Ouagadougou 650,000 Burkina Faso Blaise Compaore
Bujumbura 240,000 Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza
Yaoundé 660,000 Cameroon Paul Biya
Praia 62,000 Cape Verde Pedro Pires
Bangui Bangui 480,000 Central Africa Francois Bozize
N'Djamena (Ndjamena) 190,000 Chad Idriss Deby
Moroni (Môrônî (Arab) 19,000 Comoros Ahmed Abdallah M. Sambi
Brazzaville 620,000 Congo (Brazzaville) Dennis Sassou Nguesso
Kinshasa 2,800,000 Congo (Kinshasa) Joseph Kabila
Yamoussoukro 110,000 Côte d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo
Djibouti (City) (Djiboûtî) 62,000 Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh
Cairo (El Qahirah) 6,800,000 Egypt Hosni Mubarak
Malabo (formerly Santa Isabel city state) 35,000 Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Asmara (Asmera) 360,000 Eritrea Isaias Afewerki
Addis Ababa (Addis Abeba) 2,400,000 Ethiopia Girma Wolde-Giorgis
Libreville 57,000 Gabon El Hadj Omar Bongo
Banjul 52,000 Gambia Yahya AJJ Jammeh
Accra 600,000 Ghana John Agyekum Kufuor
Conakry 770,000 Guinea Yansana Conte
Bissau 120,000 Guinea-Bissau Joao Bernardo Vieira
Nairobi 1,200,000 Kenya Mwai Kibaki
Maseru 14,000 Lesotho King Letsie III
Monrovia 430,000 Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Tripoli (Tarabulus) 570,000 Libya Muammar al-Gaddafi
Antananarivo 370,000 Madagascar Marc Ravolmanana
Lilongwe 250,000 Malawi Bingu wa Mutharika
Bamako 700,000 Mali Amadou Toumani Toure
Nouakchott (Nuwaskshut, Noûâkchot (mr)) 135,000 Mauritania Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi
Port Louis 145,000 Mauritius Anerood Jugnauth
Rabat (Ar Ribat, Er Ribât (ma)) 1,230,000 Morocco King Mohammed VI
Maputo 900,000 Mozambique Armando Guebuza
Windhoek 148,000 Namibia Hifikepunye Pohamba
Niamey 250,000 Niger Tandja Mamadou
Abuja 300,000 Nigeria Umaru Yar'Adua
Kigali 118,000 Rwanda Paul Kagame
Dakar 165,000 Senegal Abdoulaye Wade
Victoria 25,000 Seychelles James Michel
Freetown 48,000 Sierra Leone Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
Mogadishu 260,000 Somalia Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
Pretoria (Adm.) 1,600,000 South Africa Thabo Mbeki
Cape Town (Kaapstad) (legislative)
Bloemfontein (Judicial)
Khartoum (Al Khartum, Al Khurtum (sd) 930,000 Sudan Omar Hassan al Bashir
Mbabane (adm.) 41,000 Swaziland King Mswati III
Lobamba (legislative)
Dar es Salaam 1,100,000 Tanzania Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete
Lomé 160,000 Togo Faure Gnassingbe
Tunis (Toûnis, Tunus (tn)) 620,000 Tunisia Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
Kampala 330,000 Uganda Yoweri Museveni
La 'Youn (El Aaiun, Al 'Ayun) 256,200 Western Sahara Part of Spain
Lusaka 1,000,000 Zambia Levy Mwanawasa
Harare (formerly Salisbury) 1,200,000 Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe
Don’t ever say I don’t teach u guys stuff .
Birthdays for the week
20th Jo Maree
22nd Smut and Rushda
25th Grant D
26th Charl and Gareth
“If you really do put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.” – Anonymous
That’s me for last week, I will definitely try and write something a whole lot more deep for this weeks email.
Big love and maximum respect!
Y
“Que sera sera”
Friday, August 17, 2007
Only a few days to go and my life resumes again. Roll on France 2007, roll on! For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about I am talking about the rugby world cup.
Whats up gangsters?? Another lovely day in Jozi comes to a close and the weekend is upon us! I must apologise for my no show last week.
iYo! I think I am in love …for maybe the third/4th/5th/… time this year! Did I tell you guys about the first 2? For some reason I don’t think so. Ok so I’m in love with a stripper…ok not quite, but speaking of strippers, I was in Cape Town last week and I have this married friend who doesn’t get out much, so we had planned to get a whole bunch of boys together and just go take in some art and have a few drinks after work on a Friday. They had Whilst at this ‘gallery’ my mate and I were in awe, ok what do we call my mate, I don’t want to unnecessarily drag anyone through the mud with me so I will give him a ‘common’ name, lets call him Simon… So Simon and I were in awe there was this young lass who was working the room…except us ofcourse. We were there for say an hour maybe 2 and in this time, she easily took over 20 people for a private showing of her dancing art. The time we went could never have been busy by any means. They charge roughly R150 for 2 songs R150x20 for an hour of work…that’s insane, and she was good at what she did so guys were stuck in there for 3 or 4 songs, that’s some good cash!
I digress…So let me tell you about these ladies. The first one, absolute belter in all respects, shy yet cocky, smart and blazing hot, but its one of those things that would just have been a problem, chaos, anarchy, fireworks, blood, love, retribution, vendetta, betrayal, it would have been messy,, that’s the beauty with age, when u realize something is going to be a problem, u just back down and bow out gracefully, girl no 2, she my friends, was the real deal, lovely lass, smart, and also blazing hot, cos I’m fickle like that. But guess what, she became my friend. Current girl, now there is the business right there. Same qualities as the first 2, think I have the same Modus Operandi…she is super styling! But eh to steal some text from facebook “its complicated” story of my life.
Do u guys know what all these 3 girls have in common? None of them knew/know that I was keen. (the last one for example no one knows who she is but me) Sooo wack! I need help…But wait Vaughan, wait, one day, I promise I will grow up!! J
So why did I write this for u all to read about my uselessness, well as I lie here I can think of no plausible reason, it was a thought running through my mind earlier today when I was wondering why I have been smiling a lot lately…moving swiftly along like the South Easter in Cape Town…
Oh no wait, I heard some funky drum n base on the bhudda bar CD Vol II, CD 2 song 9, wow, good ol days of F UCT, Rhythym Divine and Reality…just for those who wanted to do some exercise and take a jog down memory lane…ok now we can move along…
Speaking of complications. I think without fail every single week for the last year or so, there has been one headline that seems to have bought a permanent slot on the news, and that’s the ‘Conflict in Darfur’. Its such a big thing that that it has all of the worlds organizations holding meeting after meeting to try and find an end to the conflict. But what is this conflict all about? Yes many have lost their lives as a direct cause of the fighting or indirectly because of disease and starvation, many have been displaced from their homes, its been seen by many as genocide, ethnic cleansing, but what do the reports say? I will attempt to summarise some of the things that I have read…
Darfur is a region found in the North of Sudan. Sudan, for those of us who don’t know is the largest country in Africa. It shares a border with Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, Uganda, DRC and Kenya to the south, CAR, Chad and Libya to the west and Egypt to the North. The population size is roughly 28million speaking over 400 different languages. The religious backgrounds of the inhabitants are Muslim, Animist (people who believe in a natural objects, natural phenomena and the universe itself possess souls) and Christian.
It is reported that the country as a whole has been in conflict since 1956. What has been at the centre of this conflict, one might ask? It’s been a long time coming I guess. Some of the inhabitants of this country feel aggrieved. They feel victimized. They have feel they have suffered years and years of economic and political marginalization. They feel the government in oil and water rich Khartoum, aren’t providing them with much if any assistance at all. The current conflict is between the Arab Muslim government (the National Islamic Front) and a militia, the Janjaweed, (a group many see as funded and mobilized by the government) and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement (which is mainly Zurq (black)).
The recent conflict is said to have started on the 26th Feb 2003 when the SPLM attacked government targets. Their reasoning behind the attacks was that the government was ignoring their area of the country and oppressing them. ‘Them’ being black Africans. So I guess it’s now become more of a religious battle because the SPLM and the JEM are predominantly black Africans, and the government and the Janjaweed are predominantly muslim.
The Arab and Arabic speaking nomads are generally found in the north and south of the region. The central part is inhabited by Africans. For those that don’t know, parts of Sudan if not all of Sudan is as dry as Savanah, but u cant drink it, ok I rephrase, its as dry as that attempted funny. Water is a huuuuuge problem in that vast country. Finding habitable arable land comes at a premium. With the droughts of recent times, many more inhabitants of the northern parts have been forced into the central part of the region and that’s leading to a lot of conflict. Their issue is that Khartoum earns quite a bit in terms of oil revenue, but the only people that benefit from this revenue are the friends of the government - which is the southern part of Darfur as well as Khartoum and its surrounding areas. The inhabitants of the centre felt a tad hard done by. As a result they took up arms against government targets. These attacks were met with great vengeance and furious anger. There are reports of murder, rape and pillaging (to strip ruthlessly of money or goods by open violence).
Many a ceasefire has been agreed and many violated. It is reported that as many as 200 000 people have died either directly or indirectly as a result of starvation or illness as a result of this conflict. Over 200 000 people have been reported to have ventured into neighboring Chad, similar to Zimbabweans coming to SA. For a long time the Sudanese government opposed the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops in the region. As a result the AU mobilized a team. The area they needed to cover is large and as we know, resources are few and their mandate very limited…so they weren’t being as effective as they could be. International pressure is mounting and as a result they have softened their stance abit and are allowing UN and AU forces to run the peacekeeping efforts.
So bottom line current conflict was sparked by the lack of water and food but it was fuelled by decades of alleged marginalization.
If the email is all over the show…oops, there were plenty takes and pauses whilst I compiling this one.
Birthdays
7th Lionel Mac
12th Caroline B, Angela J
13th Sharpie
14th Degs
18th Lerato M
19th Cheryl and Rob Lee
“He used to say if I am not for myself, who will be for me. And if I am only for myself, what am I?” Hillel
Another week almost to a close u all be good now u hear!
Maximum respect and beeg love,
Y
‘que sera sera’ and not ‘kwe sarah sarah’ darkies!!
Whats up gangsters?? Another lovely day in Jozi comes to a close and the weekend is upon us! I must apologise for my no show last week.
iYo! I think I am in love …for maybe the third/4th/5th/… time this year! Did I tell you guys about the first 2? For some reason I don’t think so. Ok so I’m in love with a stripper…ok not quite, but speaking of strippers, I was in Cape Town last week and I have this married friend who doesn’t get out much, so we had planned to get a whole bunch of boys together and just go take in some art and have a few drinks after work on a Friday. They had Whilst at this ‘gallery’ my mate and I were in awe, ok what do we call my mate, I don’t want to unnecessarily drag anyone through the mud with me so I will give him a ‘common’ name, lets call him Simon… So Simon and I were in awe there was this young lass who was working the room…except us ofcourse. We were there for say an hour maybe 2 and in this time, she easily took over 20 people for a private showing of her dancing art. The time we went could never have been busy by any means. They charge roughly R150 for 2 songs R150x20 for an hour of work…that’s insane, and she was good at what she did so guys were stuck in there for 3 or 4 songs, that’s some good cash!
I digress…So let me tell you about these ladies. The first one, absolute belter in all respects, shy yet cocky, smart and blazing hot, but its one of those things that would just have been a problem, chaos, anarchy, fireworks, blood, love, retribution, vendetta, betrayal, it would have been messy,, that’s the beauty with age, when u realize something is going to be a problem, u just back down and bow out gracefully, girl no 2, she my friends, was the real deal, lovely lass, smart, and also blazing hot, cos I’m fickle like that. But guess what, she became my friend. Current girl, now there is the business right there. Same qualities as the first 2, think I have the same Modus Operandi…she is super styling! But eh to steal some text from facebook “its complicated” story of my life.
Do u guys know what all these 3 girls have in common? None of them knew/know that I was keen. (the last one for example no one knows who she is but me) Sooo wack! I need help…But wait Vaughan, wait, one day, I promise I will grow up!! J
So why did I write this for u all to read about my uselessness, well as I lie here I can think of no plausible reason, it was a thought running through my mind earlier today when I was wondering why I have been smiling a lot lately…moving swiftly along like the South Easter in Cape Town…
Oh no wait, I heard some funky drum n base on the bhudda bar CD Vol II, CD 2 song 9, wow, good ol days of F UCT, Rhythym Divine and Reality…just for those who wanted to do some exercise and take a jog down memory lane…ok now we can move along…
Speaking of complications. I think without fail every single week for the last year or so, there has been one headline that seems to have bought a permanent slot on the news, and that’s the ‘Conflict in Darfur’. Its such a big thing that that it has all of the worlds organizations holding meeting after meeting to try and find an end to the conflict. But what is this conflict all about? Yes many have lost their lives as a direct cause of the fighting or indirectly because of disease and starvation, many have been displaced from their homes, its been seen by many as genocide, ethnic cleansing, but what do the reports say? I will attempt to summarise some of the things that I have read…
Darfur is a region found in the North of Sudan. Sudan, for those of us who don’t know is the largest country in Africa. It shares a border with Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, Uganda, DRC and Kenya to the south, CAR, Chad and Libya to the west and Egypt to the North. The population size is roughly 28million speaking over 400 different languages. The religious backgrounds of the inhabitants are Muslim, Animist (people who believe in a natural objects, natural phenomena and the universe itself possess souls) and Christian.
It is reported that the country as a whole has been in conflict since 1956. What has been at the centre of this conflict, one might ask? It’s been a long time coming I guess. Some of the inhabitants of this country feel aggrieved. They feel victimized. They have feel they have suffered years and years of economic and political marginalization. They feel the government in oil and water rich Khartoum, aren’t providing them with much if any assistance at all. The current conflict is between the Arab Muslim government (the National Islamic Front) and a militia, the Janjaweed, (a group many see as funded and mobilized by the government) and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement (which is mainly Zurq (black)).
The recent conflict is said to have started on the 26th Feb 2003 when the SPLM attacked government targets. Their reasoning behind the attacks was that the government was ignoring their area of the country and oppressing them. ‘Them’ being black Africans. So I guess it’s now become more of a religious battle because the SPLM and the JEM are predominantly black Africans, and the government and the Janjaweed are predominantly muslim.
The Arab and Arabic speaking nomads are generally found in the north and south of the region. The central part is inhabited by Africans. For those that don’t know, parts of Sudan if not all of Sudan is as dry as Savanah, but u cant drink it, ok I rephrase, its as dry as that attempted funny. Water is a huuuuuge problem in that vast country. Finding habitable arable land comes at a premium. With the droughts of recent times, many more inhabitants of the northern parts have been forced into the central part of the region and that’s leading to a lot of conflict. Their issue is that Khartoum earns quite a bit in terms of oil revenue, but the only people that benefit from this revenue are the friends of the government - which is the southern part of Darfur as well as Khartoum and its surrounding areas. The inhabitants of the centre felt a tad hard done by. As a result they took up arms against government targets. These attacks were met with great vengeance and furious anger. There are reports of murder, rape and pillaging (to strip ruthlessly of money or goods by open violence).
Many a ceasefire has been agreed and many violated. It is reported that as many as 200 000 people have died either directly or indirectly as a result of starvation or illness as a result of this conflict. Over 200 000 people have been reported to have ventured into neighboring Chad, similar to Zimbabweans coming to SA. For a long time the Sudanese government opposed the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops in the region. As a result the AU mobilized a team. The area they needed to cover is large and as we know, resources are few and their mandate very limited…so they weren’t being as effective as they could be. International pressure is mounting and as a result they have softened their stance abit and are allowing UN and AU forces to run the peacekeeping efforts.
So bottom line current conflict was sparked by the lack of water and food but it was fuelled by decades of alleged marginalization.
If the email is all over the show…oops, there were plenty takes and pauses whilst I compiling this one.
Birthdays
7th Lionel Mac
12th Caroline B, Angela J
13th Sharpie
14th Degs
18th Lerato M
19th Cheryl and Rob Lee
“He used to say if I am not for myself, who will be for me. And if I am only for myself, what am I?” Hillel
Another week almost to a close u all be good now u hear!
Maximum respect and beeg love,
Y
‘que sera sera’ and not ‘kwe sarah sarah’ darkies!!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
“Confusion that never stops, The closing walls and ticking clocks, gonna, Come back and take you home, I could not stop that you now know, singing.
Come out Come out upon my seas, the Cursed missed opportunities, Am I a part of the cure? Or am I part of the disease, singing…” – Clocks Coldplay
If you know the song you are probably singing along with it right now and if you don’t I hope you are like what the f***!! Cos that’s what I am saying! These words make absolutely no sense to me whatsoever, but I cant lie I love the song, hence y I am humming it at midnite!!
Anyway…I said what’s up my brethren. Another God given week plods along and I ask you are you where you want to be or are you at least putting in motion the plans to get there?? Or are you just plodding along like your week?? It’s definitely a question we need to ask ourselves every so often. All I will do is plant the seed you decide whether or not its worth your while to let it germinate or let it slide…your choice, just as long as you always remember that the life you live is a product of your choices!!
Another addition to the list, miss Matshego, heeeyyy and welcome. Any comments or suggestions please either mail me or go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com
I feel like a proper chop! I said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s a full time job being black. Let me tell you a story that fills me with so much shame. I am just as wack as some of the stereotypes I preach against!! So yesterday, I am at the office, its well after 5 pm. I am sitting with the ladies we share office space with. All of a sudden without even a knock the door bursts open and in walks this young black man, followed by another with another lurking in the passage. The young man says nothing and just waltz’s over to the desk of one of the ladies, but with such confidence it could easily have been mistaken for hostility. After a bit of a miniature thought process effort, I sprung to my feet grabbed the bra by his arm and led me towards the door before he could do anything…do what exactly Yaw??!!
The poor guy was just a young man wondering whether we accepted CV’s for internships. My first thought was….DANGER. I could come up with a whole lot of excuses for my behaviour, there were a couple of guys wandering aimlessly around the building a few weeks ago…it’s a function of the current state of our society, blah blah fish paste, but I think it’s absolutely inexcusable!! Secondly, if I had taken the time to assess the situation properly, I would have seen that the other person who had come in with the guy was the security guard for our building, dressed in casual clothing. Eish!! I guess now I have zero reason to complain when the cops stop me and harass me cos they think I am an illegal immigrant!!
Anyway onto this weeks email. This weekend I managed to get my hands on the DVD the Secret (thanks Deen). I know there are a lot of people that think it’s the ‘antichrist’ but I don’t know to be honest. It’s at the least very thought provoking. I would suggest you watch it and take from it what you will. My belief is very simple. God can’t do everything for you, you have to learn to help yourself too and in a way this book/DVD, helps you get your head in a space where you can help yourself. I will steer clear of making this a religious debate, but I would suggest you read the book or watch the DVD and see if and how you can apply it to your life. The DVD doesn’t tell you anything particularly earth shattering, what it does do thou is reminds you of the really simple things which we all know and sometimes even do, but we just need to be reminded of it. But wait there’s more, what it does is it puts all these thoughts and activities into a structured format. Positive mind = positive life.
I definitely would recommend that you go and read the book or watch the DVD, particularly if you are in no man’s land in your thoughts and your life, even if you aren’t you will def learn a thing or two!
I tell you I couldn’t have watched it at a better time. Monday could possibly have turned out to be the biggest nightmare day in a loooong time for me, but with a coke and a smile and a bounce in my step I managed to get through it relatively unscathed, lets just say it involved dealing with public servants at the City of Joburg…but that in itself is a chapter altogether.
Anyway this week I don’t have a lot to say to you all and instead of waffling, I will just end off here and say hope you had a slamming week thus far and enjoy the rest of your week.
Birthdays
29th Sheya
30th Claudia, Will Lee, Eddie Marav
Maximum respect
Y
‘Que sera sera’
Come out Come out upon my seas, the Cursed missed opportunities, Am I a part of the cure? Or am I part of the disease, singing…” – Clocks Coldplay
If you know the song you are probably singing along with it right now and if you don’t I hope you are like what the f***!! Cos that’s what I am saying! These words make absolutely no sense to me whatsoever, but I cant lie I love the song, hence y I am humming it at midnite!!
Anyway…I said what’s up my brethren. Another God given week plods along and I ask you are you where you want to be or are you at least putting in motion the plans to get there?? Or are you just plodding along like your week?? It’s definitely a question we need to ask ourselves every so often. All I will do is plant the seed you decide whether or not its worth your while to let it germinate or let it slide…your choice, just as long as you always remember that the life you live is a product of your choices!!
Another addition to the list, miss Matshego, heeeyyy and welcome. Any comments or suggestions please either mail me or go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com
I feel like a proper chop! I said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s a full time job being black. Let me tell you a story that fills me with so much shame. I am just as wack as some of the stereotypes I preach against!! So yesterday, I am at the office, its well after 5 pm. I am sitting with the ladies we share office space with. All of a sudden without even a knock the door bursts open and in walks this young black man, followed by another with another lurking in the passage. The young man says nothing and just waltz’s over to the desk of one of the ladies, but with such confidence it could easily have been mistaken for hostility. After a bit of a miniature thought process effort, I sprung to my feet grabbed the bra by his arm and led me towards the door before he could do anything…do what exactly Yaw??!!
The poor guy was just a young man wondering whether we accepted CV’s for internships. My first thought was….DANGER. I could come up with a whole lot of excuses for my behaviour, there were a couple of guys wandering aimlessly around the building a few weeks ago…it’s a function of the current state of our society, blah blah fish paste, but I think it’s absolutely inexcusable!! Secondly, if I had taken the time to assess the situation properly, I would have seen that the other person who had come in with the guy was the security guard for our building, dressed in casual clothing. Eish!! I guess now I have zero reason to complain when the cops stop me and harass me cos they think I am an illegal immigrant!!
Anyway onto this weeks email. This weekend I managed to get my hands on the DVD the Secret (thanks Deen). I know there are a lot of people that think it’s the ‘antichrist’ but I don’t know to be honest. It’s at the least very thought provoking. I would suggest you watch it and take from it what you will. My belief is very simple. God can’t do everything for you, you have to learn to help yourself too and in a way this book/DVD, helps you get your head in a space where you can help yourself. I will steer clear of making this a religious debate, but I would suggest you read the book or watch the DVD and see if and how you can apply it to your life. The DVD doesn’t tell you anything particularly earth shattering, what it does do thou is reminds you of the really simple things which we all know and sometimes even do, but we just need to be reminded of it. But wait there’s more, what it does is it puts all these thoughts and activities into a structured format. Positive mind = positive life.
I definitely would recommend that you go and read the book or watch the DVD, particularly if you are in no man’s land in your thoughts and your life, even if you aren’t you will def learn a thing or two!
I tell you I couldn’t have watched it at a better time. Monday could possibly have turned out to be the biggest nightmare day in a loooong time for me, but with a coke and a smile and a bounce in my step I managed to get through it relatively unscathed, lets just say it involved dealing with public servants at the City of Joburg…but that in itself is a chapter altogether.
Anyway this week I don’t have a lot to say to you all and instead of waffling, I will just end off here and say hope you had a slamming week thus far and enjoy the rest of your week.
Birthdays
29th Sheya
30th Claudia, Will Lee, Eddie Marav
Maximum respect
Y
‘Que sera sera’
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
“I ain't got no money, I ain't got no car to take you on a date, I can't even buy you flowers, But together we could be the perfect soulmates, Talk to me girl” – Timberland (the way I are)
Absolutely no relevance to this weeks email, I guess its just my new song, I’m humming along to. Trust all is well with you all.
iYo, I nearly died…talk about a maaajor exaggeration! But it must have been a scary situation for my mate and our other mate’s bro. So on Friday a friend of mine invites me to tag along to the screening of this new Thabo Mbeki documentary that’s causing a bit of a stir. I duly accept the invitation. The screening was only to start at 8 in Newtown, so we decided to hook up for a drink in Sandton. It was time to leave and my mate tells me we have to go and pick up another mate before we go. I was having a ripper time, nothing exciting, just bouncing all over the place speaking a truck load of shaite to some mates here and there. So I decided to opt out of the screening and wait for it on SABC.
On Saturday I see a missed call from him so I call him back and he tells me, bra, let me tell you about my Friday evening. So I am all excited thinking go on…, so he tells me his story. After I left you, I went to pick up our other mate, I pressed the door bell. Whilst waiting in the driveway I saw her brothers VR6 in the driveway, but shoo something just don’t seem right here. I saw a couple of guys around him and thought something is definitely not right here, so I decided to reverse, next thing I see a guy running towards me, he jumps onto the wall and asks me to stop the car and take out the keys. Ordinarily I wouldn’t, but having a big gun waved in your face changes things a little bit. Fortunately these guys were pretty professional and they went about their way took my mate’s brother’s car and sped off. Fortunately the car was recovered abandoned in 20 min. It could all have gone pear shaped... but fortunately it didn’t.
Then yesterday, I hear a friend of mine’s elderly dad got hijacked yesterday and he was unfortunately roughed up a little bit. Fortunately he is alright, in a bit of shock but alright. This shaite is getting closer hey. Anyway a few years ago I was fortunate enough to attend and advanced driving course as well as an anti hijack course and just thought I should share some of the things that we were taught there…that I can recall.
1) Prevention is definitely the best cure, always be aware when you drive into your driveway, don’t go into the driveway and press the remote, because you can easily be blocked off (car behind you, gate infront of you). Instead stay on the road press the remote button, always looking around you once the gate is opened and you feel safe do you proceed
2) Try and take different routes home
3) DON’T TRY AND BE A HERO, more often than not these hijackers are just as nervous as you are
4) If you are ever in the unfortunate situation of being in a hijacking, co-operate.
5) Don’t look the hijacker in the eye, because they will firstly feel that u r threatening and secondly they will think that you want to identify them
6) Try as best as you can to remain calm
7) DON’T MOVE SUDDENLY…EVER
8) Always show your hands in front of you
9) Ask before you remove your seatbelt and do it slowly. I think they said you should use your right hand to slowly reach over to unclip your seatbelt always staying calm and looking infront of you
10)Hands always in front of you
11)Always ask before you move
12)Should it happen that you have a child with you in the car, demand in a non threatening way that you want to take your child, more often than not they will let you take him/her, because apparently cases involving children receive higher priority.
13)If you have a gun in close proximity, forget about it, its so much quicker to pull a trigger than to reach over pull it out, take off the safety, get it loaded and then shoot…forget about it!
14)At the end of the day it’s only a car, its not worth your life!
I hope I managed to capture most of the important points. It’s so sad where we’ve come to but I guess call me an eternal optimist…we shall overcome! If any of you have been to a similar course and have anything to add or have noticed that some of my points may be incorrect, please drop me a line
In the meantime, just be aware!
Birthdays
22nd Michelle
24th Vusi, Francis
26th Gina, Karabo T
27th Mike R, Courtney, Sayeda
28th Tshepo, Tanya Annor
“The power you need exists in the noble blood in your veins”
Maximum respect and be safe
Y
“que sera sera”
Absolutely no relevance to this weeks email, I guess its just my new song, I’m humming along to. Trust all is well with you all.
iYo, I nearly died…talk about a maaajor exaggeration! But it must have been a scary situation for my mate and our other mate’s bro. So on Friday a friend of mine invites me to tag along to the screening of this new Thabo Mbeki documentary that’s causing a bit of a stir. I duly accept the invitation. The screening was only to start at 8 in Newtown, so we decided to hook up for a drink in Sandton. It was time to leave and my mate tells me we have to go and pick up another mate before we go. I was having a ripper time, nothing exciting, just bouncing all over the place speaking a truck load of shaite to some mates here and there. So I decided to opt out of the screening and wait for it on SABC.
On Saturday I see a missed call from him so I call him back and he tells me, bra, let me tell you about my Friday evening. So I am all excited thinking go on…, so he tells me his story. After I left you, I went to pick up our other mate, I pressed the door bell. Whilst waiting in the driveway I saw her brothers VR6 in the driveway, but shoo something just don’t seem right here. I saw a couple of guys around him and thought something is definitely not right here, so I decided to reverse, next thing I see a guy running towards me, he jumps onto the wall and asks me to stop the car and take out the keys. Ordinarily I wouldn’t, but having a big gun waved in your face changes things a little bit. Fortunately these guys were pretty professional and they went about their way took my mate’s brother’s car and sped off. Fortunately the car was recovered abandoned in 20 min. It could all have gone pear shaped... but fortunately it didn’t.
Then yesterday, I hear a friend of mine’s elderly dad got hijacked yesterday and he was unfortunately roughed up a little bit. Fortunately he is alright, in a bit of shock but alright. This shaite is getting closer hey. Anyway a few years ago I was fortunate enough to attend and advanced driving course as well as an anti hijack course and just thought I should share some of the things that we were taught there…that I can recall.
1) Prevention is definitely the best cure, always be aware when you drive into your driveway, don’t go into the driveway and press the remote, because you can easily be blocked off (car behind you, gate infront of you). Instead stay on the road press the remote button, always looking around you once the gate is opened and you feel safe do you proceed
2) Try and take different routes home
3) DON’T TRY AND BE A HERO, more often than not these hijackers are just as nervous as you are
4) If you are ever in the unfortunate situation of being in a hijacking, co-operate.
5) Don’t look the hijacker in the eye, because they will firstly feel that u r threatening and secondly they will think that you want to identify them
6) Try as best as you can to remain calm
7) DON’T MOVE SUDDENLY…EVER
8) Always show your hands in front of you
9) Ask before you remove your seatbelt and do it slowly. I think they said you should use your right hand to slowly reach over to unclip your seatbelt always staying calm and looking infront of you
10)Hands always in front of you
11)Always ask before you move
12)Should it happen that you have a child with you in the car, demand in a non threatening way that you want to take your child, more often than not they will let you take him/her, because apparently cases involving children receive higher priority.
13)If you have a gun in close proximity, forget about it, its so much quicker to pull a trigger than to reach over pull it out, take off the safety, get it loaded and then shoot…forget about it!
14)At the end of the day it’s only a car, its not worth your life!
I hope I managed to capture most of the important points. It’s so sad where we’ve come to but I guess call me an eternal optimist…we shall overcome! If any of you have been to a similar course and have anything to add or have noticed that some of my points may be incorrect, please drop me a line
In the meantime, just be aware!
Birthdays
22nd Michelle
24th Vusi, Francis
26th Gina, Karabo T
27th Mike R, Courtney, Sayeda
28th Tshepo, Tanya Annor
“The power you need exists in the noble blood in your veins”
Maximum respect and be safe
Y
“que sera sera”
Friday, July 20, 2007
The week started off pretty well, previous week in Cape Town with the Cape Town office peeps (its nice having a full office), such a chilled weekend in Knysna, beautiful place that, hanging with the bro, the boys, Kirsten and co. Had some pretty ripper meetings this week, the Cape Town operation signed some pretty massive deals (nice work Deeno and Adi), I signed some pretty arb ones (hey but I complain not, I take any and everything I can get), started gym again properly, so all in all one of my more productive weeks in such a long time and to top it all off a bra is still having fun…even though I have lost my game! It’s a sad thing when you lose your game ( I can hear Eve saying, Yaw you have to have game first before u can lose it) and to her I say whateverrrrrrr, but its all a challenge, and all I say ‘cracking my neck from side to side’, and licking my lips is “bring it!” And Dakes (aka ‘Sabotager’) thanks for pointing it out repeatedly over the weekend, Enough of that boys talk! I can’t actually tell u how forward I am looking to 8.30 tomorrow morning and those that really know me will know why. It’s a sad existence when that’s the only thing concrete planned for my weekend, but fork it excites me!
Enough rambling, new additions to the list 3 very lovely young ladies…Thandi, Carlin and Nats, welcome to you 2 hope you enjoy your stay with us. If you want to read any of the older blogs or want to leave a comment go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or drop me an email with ur comments or if you have any suggestions.
I started ‘reading’ Rich Dad Poor Dad, yesterday very interesting book thus far and it makes soo much sense too, I say ‘reading’ because I got it on audio book from Tyrone…u know blacks and reading! No I’m not racist, some of my best friends are Black! But to try and break the stereotype, I am properly reading another book called “The way of the superior man” pretty darn good book, thanks Tumi, a lot of the content is definitely things I have heard before but its always good to hear them again. I strongly recommend them if you haven’t gotten to them yet. How freaky is this? A few weeks ago I mentioned the book the Secret in one of my emails, now I cant even drop a dart in peace without hearing about the Secret. Definitely next on the read list…oh wait its available on DVD…baby steps, but hey I am using all of my senses. Hearing, reading and now viewing…in the words of Isreal…Lekka man!
Ok guys I must come clean, I am such a fraud, I really am. For example a few months ago I said lets get some clothes together and give it to the needy. I received a few (emphasis on few) emails stating interest and so I asked them to drop of the clothes at my house cos poor little snow white cant carry much. Did I follow up…mmm niet! Its been bugging me for a while and I thought I’d come clean. Follow through, she’s a problem, it must have to do with my commitment issues, which I am working on…therapy is great, ok so i’m also a liar, I’m not really going to therapy.
Next thing on the agenda is something that has been cropping up a lot lately and that’s the fact that we are killing this world of ours. Some say that the scientist are trying to scare us blah blah. But we can all see that something she is not right! Droughts over most of the continent, so many natural disasters, melting ice caps, something is definitely amiss! I went to the live earth concert 2 weekends ago and the lady took my carbon footprint reading. Carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels; in the case of an individual or household, as part of their daily lives; or a product or commodity in reaching market for example the engine size of the car you drive, how far you drive, flights you take a year, what your electricity bill is etc. Mine was above average but not unmanageable. There were a few things that they said we should do to try and curb the rot and they are (courtesy of http://www.carbonfootprint.com/Minimise_cfp.html):
Here's a list of simple things you can do immediately, which will start to reduce your contribution to global warming. The items in this list will cost you no money at all and will in fact save you money.
Sign up to a green energy supplier, who will supply electricity from renewable sources (e.g. wind and hydroelectric power) - this will reduce your carbon footprint contribution from electricity to zero
Turn it off when not in use (lights, television, DVD player, Hi Fi, computer etc. etc. ...)
Turn down the central heating slightly (try just 1 to 2 degrees C)
Turn down the water heating setting (just 2 degrees will make a significant saving)
Check the central heating timer setting - remember there is no point heating the house after you have left for work
Fill your dish washer and washing machine with a full load - this will save you water, electricity, and washing powder
Fill the kettle with only as much water as you need
Unplug your mobile phone as soon as it has finished charging
Defrost your fridge/freezer regularly
Do your weekly shopping in a single trip
Hang out the washing to dry rather than tumble drying it
Go for a run rather than drive to the gym
The following is a list of items that may take an initial investment, but should pay for themselves over the course of 1-4 years through savings on your energy bills.
Fit energy saving light bulbs
Install thermostatic valves on your radiators
Insulate your hot water tank, your loft and your walls
35% of heat generated in the house is lost through the walls. Installing cavity wall installation to a medium size house could reduce your heating bills
By installing 180mm thick loft insulation you could stop about 25% of your heating escaping through the roof
Recycle your grey water
Replace your old fridge / freezer (if it is over 15 years old), with a new one with energy efficiency rating of "A"
Replace your old boiler with a new energy efficient condensing boiler
Travel less and travel more carbon footprint friendly.
Car share to work, or for the kids school run
Use the bus or a train rather than your car
Don't use domestic flights (e.g. from London to Edinburgh), use a train or a coach.
Take the ferry or channel tunnel instead of flying to France
See if your employer will allow you to work from home one day a week
Next time you replace your car - check out diesel engines. With one of these you can even make your own Biodiesel fuel. Find out more about Biodiesel.
When on holiday - hire a bicycle to explore locally rather than a car
When staying in a hotel turn the lights and air-conditioning off when you leave your hotel room
Ask for you room towels to be washed every other day, rather than every day
As well as your primary carbon footprint, there is also a secondary footprint that you cause through your buying habits. If you buy foods out of season at the super market, then these will have either been flown or shipped in from far away - all adding to your carbon footprint.
Reduce your consumption of meat
Don't buy bottled water if your tap water is safe to drink (especially if it has been shipped from far away)
Buy local fruit and vegetables, or even try growing your own
Don't buy fresh fruit and vegetables which are out of season, they may have been flown in
Try to buy products made closer to home (look out and avoid items that are made in the distant lands such as China and India)
Buy organic produce
Don't buy over packaged products
Recycle as much as possible
Think carefully about the type of activities you do in your spare time. Do any of these cause an increase in carbon emissions? e.g. Saunas, Health clubs, restaurants and pubs, go-karting etc. etc...
Some of these things are very hectic, it may mean not having much of a life, but there are a lot of these things that we all can do which is pretty easy, like switching off the damn lights when there is no one in the room!!
Birthdays
15th Garth and Naeem
For me this is another week that is about to end, I hope it was an inspiring and challenging week for you all. But before I sign off, something VERRRRY random, today’s date is 20072007
Maximum respect
Y
Que sera sera
Enough rambling, new additions to the list 3 very lovely young ladies…Thandi, Carlin and Nats, welcome to you 2 hope you enjoy your stay with us. If you want to read any of the older blogs or want to leave a comment go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or drop me an email with ur comments or if you have any suggestions.
I started ‘reading’ Rich Dad Poor Dad, yesterday very interesting book thus far and it makes soo much sense too, I say ‘reading’ because I got it on audio book from Tyrone…u know blacks and reading! No I’m not racist, some of my best friends are Black! But to try and break the stereotype, I am properly reading another book called “The way of the superior man” pretty darn good book, thanks Tumi, a lot of the content is definitely things I have heard before but its always good to hear them again. I strongly recommend them if you haven’t gotten to them yet. How freaky is this? A few weeks ago I mentioned the book the Secret in one of my emails, now I cant even drop a dart in peace without hearing about the Secret. Definitely next on the read list…oh wait its available on DVD…baby steps, but hey I am using all of my senses. Hearing, reading and now viewing…in the words of Isreal…Lekka man!
Ok guys I must come clean, I am such a fraud, I really am. For example a few months ago I said lets get some clothes together and give it to the needy. I received a few (emphasis on few) emails stating interest and so I asked them to drop of the clothes at my house cos poor little snow white cant carry much. Did I follow up…mmm niet! Its been bugging me for a while and I thought I’d come clean. Follow through, she’s a problem, it must have to do with my commitment issues, which I am working on…therapy is great, ok so i’m also a liar, I’m not really going to therapy.
Next thing on the agenda is something that has been cropping up a lot lately and that’s the fact that we are killing this world of ours. Some say that the scientist are trying to scare us blah blah. But we can all see that something she is not right! Droughts over most of the continent, so many natural disasters, melting ice caps, something is definitely amiss! I went to the live earth concert 2 weekends ago and the lady took my carbon footprint reading. Carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels; in the case of an individual or household, as part of their daily lives; or a product or commodity in reaching market for example the engine size of the car you drive, how far you drive, flights you take a year, what your electricity bill is etc. Mine was above average but not unmanageable. There were a few things that they said we should do to try and curb the rot and they are (courtesy of http://www.carbonfootprint.com/Minimise_cfp.html):
Here's a list of simple things you can do immediately, which will start to reduce your contribution to global warming. The items in this list will cost you no money at all and will in fact save you money.
Sign up to a green energy supplier, who will supply electricity from renewable sources (e.g. wind and hydroelectric power) - this will reduce your carbon footprint contribution from electricity to zero
Turn it off when not in use (lights, television, DVD player, Hi Fi, computer etc. etc. ...)
Turn down the central heating slightly (try just 1 to 2 degrees C)
Turn down the water heating setting (just 2 degrees will make a significant saving)
Check the central heating timer setting - remember there is no point heating the house after you have left for work
Fill your dish washer and washing machine with a full load - this will save you water, electricity, and washing powder
Fill the kettle with only as much water as you need
Unplug your mobile phone as soon as it has finished charging
Defrost your fridge/freezer regularly
Do your weekly shopping in a single trip
Hang out the washing to dry rather than tumble drying it
Go for a run rather than drive to the gym
The following is a list of items that may take an initial investment, but should pay for themselves over the course of 1-4 years through savings on your energy bills.
Fit energy saving light bulbs
Install thermostatic valves on your radiators
Insulate your hot water tank, your loft and your walls
35% of heat generated in the house is lost through the walls. Installing cavity wall installation to a medium size house could reduce your heating bills
By installing 180mm thick loft insulation you could stop about 25% of your heating escaping through the roof
Recycle your grey water
Replace your old fridge / freezer (if it is over 15 years old), with a new one with energy efficiency rating of "A"
Replace your old boiler with a new energy efficient condensing boiler
Travel less and travel more carbon footprint friendly.
Car share to work, or for the kids school run
Use the bus or a train rather than your car
Don't use domestic flights (e.g. from London to Edinburgh), use a train or a coach.
Take the ferry or channel tunnel instead of flying to France
See if your employer will allow you to work from home one day a week
Next time you replace your car - check out diesel engines. With one of these you can even make your own Biodiesel fuel. Find out more about Biodiesel.
When on holiday - hire a bicycle to explore locally rather than a car
When staying in a hotel turn the lights and air-conditioning off when you leave your hotel room
Ask for you room towels to be washed every other day, rather than every day
As well as your primary carbon footprint, there is also a secondary footprint that you cause through your buying habits. If you buy foods out of season at the super market, then these will have either been flown or shipped in from far away - all adding to your carbon footprint.
Reduce your consumption of meat
Don't buy bottled water if your tap water is safe to drink (especially if it has been shipped from far away)
Buy local fruit and vegetables, or even try growing your own
Don't buy fresh fruit and vegetables which are out of season, they may have been flown in
Try to buy products made closer to home (look out and avoid items that are made in the distant lands such as China and India)
Buy organic produce
Don't buy over packaged products
Recycle as much as possible
Think carefully about the type of activities you do in your spare time. Do any of these cause an increase in carbon emissions? e.g. Saunas, Health clubs, restaurants and pubs, go-karting etc. etc...
Some of these things are very hectic, it may mean not having much of a life, but there are a lot of these things that we all can do which is pretty easy, like switching off the damn lights when there is no one in the room!!
Birthdays
15th Garth and Naeem
For me this is another week that is about to end, I hope it was an inspiring and challenging week for you all. But before I sign off, something VERRRRY random, today’s date is 20072007
Maximum respect
Y
Que sera sera
Friday, June 29, 2007
An absolutely splendid week thus far, but as with most things it could change at anytime, but ey that’s life. So why has this week been so splendid. Well absolutely no reason at all, it’s been just another week full of ups and downs like any other. But the thing is..its been another week! J
Some very freaky things have happened to me this week. I was going thru my phone earlier this week and I saw a name Zweli, and I was like sheesh I wonder what became of this bro? And true as Bob Mugabe, who drops me a line today, yip u guessed it. Last week I was thinking about this girl that was in my class in standard 4, haven’t heard or seen her since and that’s many moons ago. This morning I get a message from her on facebook, now that’s madness. But wait there’s more, on Tuesday my mate Sasha invites me over for Tuesday nite dinner, thanks Sash u r a saint, good food, good times good people. I meet this girl there and guess what, her name is Thashnee, I grinned, her birthday is exactly the same day as Miss Govender’s, she had just come out of a relationship with a black guy about 7 mths or so ago I laughed…hard, anyway we are having dinner tonight I will let u know how it goes. I TOTALLY JOKE about the dinner, she needs to work much harder…u know how we do?! J
Speaking of Tuesday, it was one of my more interesting days in a while. Sash organized a dinner with all sorts of people there and it was an absolute ripper having discussions around the dinner table, the discussions covered a whole lot of things such as rugby and why the World Cup is the pinnacle of all tournaments. My opinion is that the cup is huge, but its one game that can make or break u. I’d rather win every single game every time I step onto the field or the track, than use the excuse ‘I am building for the world cup’ for my poor performance (even though I am sure every team or sports person treasures the Olympic gold and world cup more than most others), but that’s a conversation for another time. The conversation floated around and then it ended up on the fact that a lot of us ‘youngsters’ are so jaded, girls don’t trust guys cos guys lie and are full of kaa ak and girls will get hurt, guys saying that girls are getting skanky blah blah.
But before I carry on, welcome to Robyn, Michelle, Marc and Mel. If you don’t want to be on this list permanently, please holler and I will remove you. If you want to read any of the older ones or have any comments, please visit www.mondaymail.blogspot.com
Oh wait another ripper reason why this week has been such a wikkid one thus far is on tues eve, when I got home it was snowing and I drew my curtains and stared out the window like a dufus and started typing this week’s email, it wasn’t that well structured so re-jigged it J, and then there was the announcement that they found oil in Ghana, ordinarily it would be a great thing but not in this case…enter all the bad elements. I fear the worst, but once again I am quietly optimistic…that’s my new expression now, I am smiling on the inside, but poker face on the outside.
This email I guess is a bit more of the same and the reason for this is that more and more of my peers are falling into the same thought pattern. I can’t get hurt, I can’t fail, I can’t lose, I don’t want to put myself out there. Sheesh live a little people! Failure, loss, hurt…all words that are defined, which means they have been experienced by others before you and will be experienced by many more after you…that’s life. Just as u may have been hurt, you will hurt, just as you have won, you can lose, just as you have passed/succeeded, you can fail…that’s life! Its not a pleasant feeling by any means, but it teaches you so much. It’s in times of adversity that you learn the most about you, people, life.
But Yaw, I don’t like to lose, fail or get hurt, well then don’t take chances, don’t live, get into a cage and just exist. The word living is a verb, which requires action (thanks Mike ;-)). To truly live you have to push the boundaries a bit, step out of your comfort zone a little, take a few risks (not risks like shagging without a dome, cos that’s just plain stupid). You have to put yourself out there. Yes there is a huge chance that you will fail, lose or get hurt, but THAT’S LIFE! I was having a chat with a friend of mine the other day and this topic came up and he told me of a time in his college years maaaaaaaaaany years ago (sorry Mike I had to sneak that in) where he and his girlfriend at the time helped out at an old age home. They got to conversing with the old folks and the topic of if you could go back and do it over again what would be different and the gist of the responses was generally the same, spent more time with my young ones instead of at the office etc, taken more chances instead of doing more of the same… I would have lived a little more.
A big problem a lot of us have is we aren’t exactly happy with who we are, and that’s the beginning of a lot of our issues. We seek approval from others and I know I have said this many times before, but the observation never ceases. I don’t have the most brilliant life ever, but I wouldn’t want to live anyone else’s life…ok Maybe Dan Carter’s or Lewis Hamiltons, Tiger Woods, 50 cent, Brad Pitt, damnit why couldn’t I have been them. Wait cos you are you Yaw! You will never be Dan Carter, the sooner you realize that the happier you will be with your own life. You have been given your own personality, use it! I am me damnit and I am going to be the best me I can be! Do I believe all this ‘shaite’ I am spewing forth? Dam n right I do, what are the alternatives, always wishing for another life? Different circumstances? Nah boss, work with the hand you have been dealt, it’s the best correction only hand you have currently, if you don’t like it, don’t just sit in the corner and look for pity, hell no, get off ur a ss and start putting steps into place to get u where u want to be…note I said where u want to be not where other people want u to be!
I was watching e-tv news the other day and there was a guy who is the co-author of a book called the secret. The book is apparently about how your thoughts define your life. I am very inclined to believe that to a degree. I really believe that if you think it you live it and its really that simple. The sooner you realize your worth or ability the sooner you will attract/find those that share your thoughts about how much you are worth. The sooner you will achieve your full potential. It also helps you realize who the energy thieves in your life are. If someone is adding no real value to your life, they just make you feel horrible as a human being, It really is that simple!
It all starts with your mind. Think the life you want to live. And live it, don’t watch it happen!
Birthdays
24th Gretchen
26th Kemi
27th Sean Rule/Tebs the stud
29th Simone Ledger
That’s me out for another week
Maximum respect as always
Yaw
‘que sera sera’
Some very freaky things have happened to me this week. I was going thru my phone earlier this week and I saw a name Zweli, and I was like sheesh I wonder what became of this bro? And true as Bob Mugabe, who drops me a line today, yip u guessed it. Last week I was thinking about this girl that was in my class in standard 4, haven’t heard or seen her since and that’s many moons ago. This morning I get a message from her on facebook, now that’s madness. But wait there’s more, on Tuesday my mate Sasha invites me over for Tuesday nite dinner, thanks Sash u r a saint, good food, good times good people. I meet this girl there and guess what, her name is Thashnee, I grinned, her birthday is exactly the same day as Miss Govender’s, she had just come out of a relationship with a black guy about 7 mths or so ago I laughed…hard, anyway we are having dinner tonight I will let u know how it goes. I TOTALLY JOKE about the dinner, she needs to work much harder…u know how we do?! J
Speaking of Tuesday, it was one of my more interesting days in a while. Sash organized a dinner with all sorts of people there and it was an absolute ripper having discussions around the dinner table, the discussions covered a whole lot of things such as rugby and why the World Cup is the pinnacle of all tournaments. My opinion is that the cup is huge, but its one game that can make or break u. I’d rather win every single game every time I step onto the field or the track, than use the excuse ‘I am building for the world cup’ for my poor performance (even though I am sure every team or sports person treasures the Olympic gold and world cup more than most others), but that’s a conversation for another time. The conversation floated around and then it ended up on the fact that a lot of us ‘youngsters’ are so jaded, girls don’t trust guys cos guys lie and are full of kaa ak and girls will get hurt, guys saying that girls are getting skanky blah blah.
But before I carry on, welcome to Robyn, Michelle, Marc and Mel. If you don’t want to be on this list permanently, please holler and I will remove you. If you want to read any of the older ones or have any comments, please visit www.mondaymail.blogspot.com
Oh wait another ripper reason why this week has been such a wikkid one thus far is on tues eve, when I got home it was snowing and I drew my curtains and stared out the window like a dufus and started typing this week’s email, it wasn’t that well structured so re-jigged it J, and then there was the announcement that they found oil in Ghana, ordinarily it would be a great thing but not in this case…enter all the bad elements. I fear the worst, but once again I am quietly optimistic…that’s my new expression now, I am smiling on the inside, but poker face on the outside.
This email I guess is a bit more of the same and the reason for this is that more and more of my peers are falling into the same thought pattern. I can’t get hurt, I can’t fail, I can’t lose, I don’t want to put myself out there. Sheesh live a little people! Failure, loss, hurt…all words that are defined, which means they have been experienced by others before you and will be experienced by many more after you…that’s life. Just as u may have been hurt, you will hurt, just as you have won, you can lose, just as you have passed/succeeded, you can fail…that’s life! Its not a pleasant feeling by any means, but it teaches you so much. It’s in times of adversity that you learn the most about you, people, life.
But Yaw, I don’t like to lose, fail or get hurt, well then don’t take chances, don’t live, get into a cage and just exist. The word living is a verb, which requires action (thanks Mike ;-)). To truly live you have to push the boundaries a bit, step out of your comfort zone a little, take a few risks (not risks like shagging without a dome, cos that’s just plain stupid). You have to put yourself out there. Yes there is a huge chance that you will fail, lose or get hurt, but THAT’S LIFE! I was having a chat with a friend of mine the other day and this topic came up and he told me of a time in his college years maaaaaaaaaany years ago (sorry Mike I had to sneak that in) where he and his girlfriend at the time helped out at an old age home. They got to conversing with the old folks and the topic of if you could go back and do it over again what would be different and the gist of the responses was generally the same, spent more time with my young ones instead of at the office etc, taken more chances instead of doing more of the same… I would have lived a little more.
A big problem a lot of us have is we aren’t exactly happy with who we are, and that’s the beginning of a lot of our issues. We seek approval from others and I know I have said this many times before, but the observation never ceases. I don’t have the most brilliant life ever, but I wouldn’t want to live anyone else’s life…ok Maybe Dan Carter’s or Lewis Hamiltons, Tiger Woods, 50 cent, Brad Pitt, damnit why couldn’t I have been them. Wait cos you are you Yaw! You will never be Dan Carter, the sooner you realize that the happier you will be with your own life. You have been given your own personality, use it! I am me damnit and I am going to be the best me I can be! Do I believe all this ‘shaite’ I am spewing forth? Dam n right I do, what are the alternatives, always wishing for another life? Different circumstances? Nah boss, work with the hand you have been dealt, it’s the best correction only hand you have currently, if you don’t like it, don’t just sit in the corner and look for pity, hell no, get off ur a ss and start putting steps into place to get u where u want to be…note I said where u want to be not where other people want u to be!
I was watching e-tv news the other day and there was a guy who is the co-author of a book called the secret. The book is apparently about how your thoughts define your life. I am very inclined to believe that to a degree. I really believe that if you think it you live it and its really that simple. The sooner you realize your worth or ability the sooner you will attract/find those that share your thoughts about how much you are worth. The sooner you will achieve your full potential. It also helps you realize who the energy thieves in your life are. If someone is adding no real value to your life, they just make you feel horrible as a human being, It really is that simple!
It all starts with your mind. Think the life you want to live. And live it, don’t watch it happen!
Birthdays
24th Gretchen
26th Kemi
27th Sean Rule/Tebs the stud
29th Simone Ledger
That’s me out for another week
Maximum respect as always
Yaw
‘que sera sera’
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Keep smiling, keep shining; Knowing you can always count on me, for sure That's what friends are for; For good times and bad times; I'll be on your side forever more – Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Stevie Wonder (I think)
WOW!! That’s the word that came to the fore of my mind earlier today when I was in my own little space for the day. Why WOW, well I guess I couldn’t really find a word that could best describe how damn blessed I am to know the people that I know and that includes all of you guys!! What the bleep is he on about? Well indulge me for a moment shall you…
Before I proceed, a few welcomes, some unsolicited, but alas…Sophie, Sean, Adrian, Candace, Tebo and Pranushka, welcome to this our weekly community. Any comments on how to make this a better place, or if you don’t want to be on it any longer, please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or mail me.
Random sms’, phone calls, emails, instant message, a message on Facebook (I’d add visits but I’d be lying J and I try and not lie) just to say ‘hi’. I got one of the sweetest ones a month or so ago saying thanks for helping out, where I didn’t actually think I was doing anything out of the ordinary, a call from a friend in despair just wanting to chat looking for advice, an email from a friend telling me that she wants to hook me up with a friend, an invitation to your wedding, telling me you are so chuffed just cos u saw me, guys more than willing to help out if my shoulder or knee is killing me[speaking of which if any of you guys are looking for a darn good Chiropractor or a Homeopath in Cape town, get hold of Dr De Coning and Dr Snyman respectively at a practice called Just Health on 021 7123594) they are damn good at what they do because they sort you out and then some!]….What else can I say other than WOW!! Some people ask me so where do I find the time to write these emails? Its 22h42 on a Monday nite, I have just got home from a rather long day, but all I can think of is writing this email, because firstly I have sh*t to say and secondly, even that one email I get back that says thanks, that was what I needed today is well worth it for me. We put a price on many things in our lives, but there are so many things in this life that are so easy to do yet priceless and can make a huge difference to the lives of many. In this day and age where we are so caught up in our little worlds, we tend to forget about the little things that truly make a difference.
Thanks!! Why am I writing all this well just to remind all of us hardcore people out there that it doesn’t take a hell of a lot to make a difference in someone’s life and let’s do our best to remember the little things. A simple ‘hi’ to a random stranger in the street, a smile even if you are having the cr*pest day (so what if they don’t respond, that’s not your problem), please…thank you…, no matter what you think, you really aren’t all that, you aren’t better than the petrol attendant, maybe more fortunate, but you aren’t any better…simple things which we tend to forget…those are the things that make societies a pleasant place. Let’s bring them back. It’s not all about you, and if it is I don’t think it should be!! I remember growing up, sorry was the hardest word I ever had to say, it really was I am not too sure why, but I used to get upset when I was told to apologise for my wrongs I am not sure if it was because I didn’t think I could ever be wrong or if I upset someone else, from where I sit now, I think it was definitely the former. Nowadays every other word is sorry, the meaning is gone and that’s utter boll*cks!
Anyway…I profess to be an open book. I bear my life for all to read etc. But during the course of the previous week I realized that this isn’t entirely true. I don’t really let you guys in on some deep matters of the heart. So here goes.
On Thursday evening that man they call Karabo D, came through for us, he organised some tickets to an Elle/Nokia launch party. So off went the boys, Tumi, Karabo, Lebo, Al, my brother Nana and myself. Just hanging with those guys regardless of where you are, you are bound to have a ripper. The night started off in good fashion, we got shuttled to the party, great company, booze and food…what more can a person ask for? Like all good things, this event too came to an end and the boys were pretty fired up so we decided to visit a local Thursday night spot.
We got there and it was a ripper, my A game was in very close proximity, it hardly strayed the whole night J (that’s my story and I am sticking to it), well we’ll call it the B-game cos the A-game has results J… I felt like an interior designer, I was working the room. The force within was strong (note all from my point of view). Invincible, Super confident…an absolute ripper and then just randomly it felt like the had just walked into the room, for those that don’t know about the Haitian, lets try the feeling when superman is exposed to Kryptonite, Rocky looking for Adrian after Apollo Creed socked it to him…a man was weak. Enter the ex. Exit focus…game. That wasn’t the worst of it. I soon saw that she was there with another dude…EISH, but wait there’s more, so I am standing in close proximity and they start tucking into each other, HMMM. EISH! It stung. It was pretty nasty, I cannot tell a lie. But I didn’t leave, I didn’t cry, cos I was scared Gareth Cliff would find out and laugh at me on radio, instead I moved myself to the other side of the room and tried to pick up where I left off before she came, but no hope, my game made like Nelly Furtado’s song, ‘I’m like a bird’ and flew far away. No ones fault, all my doing!
Oh well…I stayed on though and just carried on chatting to the boys. I look up and guess what I see? The ‘Ex and him show’ had ‘followed me’ to the other side of the room. Now whether she did it intentionally is totally irrelevant. It happened! Deal with it.
Anyway 4 am came by and work was on the next day, the time had come to stroll on home a tad later, well because it was getting late J so I go to my car only to find some dumb prick taking a wee on my car, his excuse he thought it was his car, I just let it be afterall it was dirty and needed a wash the next day, but my word did I want to unleash!! So I drove home like a raging lunatic…very stoopid, but I was checking to see if they did a good job with the car ;-).
Truth be told, as shaite as that experience was, trust you me it was just what the doctor ordered! (and that ‘s not me trying to be hardcore, cos you all know me…) She did absolutely nothing wrong, we have been off for about 7 months now. What do I expect that she is hanging around waiting for me? That’s just dof. She is more than entitled to show affection to anyone at anytime and I must just deal. Not something you want to see, but definitely something you want to see, and the fact that he was pretty random also put a bit of a smile on my dial! Tsk tsk…Even though I don’t know y tho? It was indeed moment of truth I tell you. Sucker punch was thrown lost my bearings for a bit, but the canvass was far away. It was the final chapter that needed to be written. IT IS DONE!!
Anyway to this weeks email. I am a pretty HUUUGE supporter of the current government, but some things really concern me and I will highlight some of these to you. Thank goodness for opposition! As much as I sympathise with the striking workers in this country, I feel that they and their leadership have lost the plot. I was listening to the news and I heard that the ‘leader’ of COSATU threatening that the protest will turn violent. What kind of bulls**t leadership is that. Who are you going to be violent against? Random people who want to go to work and earn a living? I can never profess to know the difficulty a lot of these striking workers face from day to day, but to turn to threaten to turn to violence or to prevent those that actually want to go to work, that I can never understand. Especially if you hear that there are rumours of parliament moving for a 57% increase in the president’s salary. I did a quick calculation. A 12% increase on a salary of say R50k a year works out to R6k. If I am not mistaken the policy of the strike is no work no pay. They have been striking for 12 days now and as a result they have lost say R1.7k. If they do infact receive their 12% increase it will effectively work out to 8% odd which I think isn’t far off the last offer tabled. In my opinion, this strike isn’t about the people, its all about Mr Vavi flexing some muscle and trying to show that he can bring the country to its knees. Now please tell me how that mentality is constructive in any way? They are very closely aligned with presidential hopeful Jacob Zuma…the future looks great…NOT!
Then there is my personal bugbear. Those 2010 stadiums! Now I am just a plain joe off the street, but if I and many more that I speak to can see that these stadiums are the biggest waste of resources ever, why cant the decision makers see the same? Fair enough there has been a lot of job creation, but I am sure that these amounts could have gone a long way in creating sustainable jobs. What happens after 2010? Well let me tell you what happens. These people are out of jobs. A couple of billion have been spent on stadiums that will hardly ever be reused. These self same people that were employed will still not have much of a home, running water, anti-retrovirals, sanitation, electricity, you see where I am going with this. If you want to build new stadiums, fair enough but build multipurpose venues, that will cater for all the sporting codes. In Cape Town, Newlands is in such a shaite location, yes there is a lot of history etc. blah blah, things change, that’s life! Build the new stadium in Greenpoint, sell off Newlands and develop some styling apartments, recoup some of your costs of development. I was in Durban the other day and I say the venue for the new stadium, its but a stones throw away from the current ABSA stadium, would it not have been a hell of a lot cheaper to have expanded the existing stadium? Lets not even mention the other stadiums in the outskirts. I went to the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg last year, beautiful stadium, but it was not even half full for a full test match! now you tell me whats the use of sinking so much cash into these items, wait I’ll tell you…TENDERS! But that’s so f**ked up! The same old people win these tenders, instead of actually focusing on community development projects, we are helping the top dogs of this world but houses at Arabella and helicopters whilst for the poorest of the poor the status quo remains…and then we ask what about the crime?
Then there is that damn eNatis system. How the hell do the powers that be allow the system to go live if it wasn’t correctly tested. R480mil for what? It’s a great concept, very long overdue, but what about correct implementation. Any self respecting project manager would know all about testing, running the systems in parallel, I mean really? Once again TENDERS!!
Let me not even get into the inquest around the chief of police Jackie Selebi!
Jake White the national rugby coach has asked for an audience with the state president, the state president has duly accepted. Next thing, SARFU wants to write a letter to Jake to prohibit him from seeing the president. I am baffled. The reasons are because he is stepping over their heads! Power it can be a very messy thing if it’s in the wrong hands!
I am concerned!
Anyway I gotsta roll, just some more random thoughts I thought I’d share with you. Hope you all have a blissful week.
Birthdays
11th That man with the big smile the call Meaty
12th Carl, Mark E and Samantha
13th Fifi, Liyanda
That’s me for another week, maximum respect. The week is but a fetus, have an absolute ripper my dear friends! Please do visit www.thelonelyroad.org, there are only 15 more days before Tbang faces his lonely road.
Y
“que sera sera”
WOW!! That’s the word that came to the fore of my mind earlier today when I was in my own little space for the day. Why WOW, well I guess I couldn’t really find a word that could best describe how damn blessed I am to know the people that I know and that includes all of you guys!! What the bleep is he on about? Well indulge me for a moment shall you…
Before I proceed, a few welcomes, some unsolicited, but alas…Sophie, Sean, Adrian, Candace, Tebo and Pranushka, welcome to this our weekly community. Any comments on how to make this a better place, or if you don’t want to be on it any longer, please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or mail me.
Random sms’, phone calls, emails, instant message, a message on Facebook (I’d add visits but I’d be lying J and I try and not lie) just to say ‘hi’. I got one of the sweetest ones a month or so ago saying thanks for helping out, where I didn’t actually think I was doing anything out of the ordinary, a call from a friend in despair just wanting to chat looking for advice, an email from a friend telling me that she wants to hook me up with a friend, an invitation to your wedding, telling me you are so chuffed just cos u saw me, guys more than willing to help out if my shoulder or knee is killing me[speaking of which if any of you guys are looking for a darn good Chiropractor or a Homeopath in Cape town, get hold of Dr De Coning and Dr Snyman respectively at a practice called Just Health on 021 7123594) they are damn good at what they do because they sort you out and then some!]….What else can I say other than WOW!! Some people ask me so where do I find the time to write these emails? Its 22h42 on a Monday nite, I have just got home from a rather long day, but all I can think of is writing this email, because firstly I have sh*t to say and secondly, even that one email I get back that says thanks, that was what I needed today is well worth it for me. We put a price on many things in our lives, but there are so many things in this life that are so easy to do yet priceless and can make a huge difference to the lives of many. In this day and age where we are so caught up in our little worlds, we tend to forget about the little things that truly make a difference.
Thanks!! Why am I writing all this well just to remind all of us hardcore people out there that it doesn’t take a hell of a lot to make a difference in someone’s life and let’s do our best to remember the little things. A simple ‘hi’ to a random stranger in the street, a smile even if you are having the cr*pest day (so what if they don’t respond, that’s not your problem), please…thank you…, no matter what you think, you really aren’t all that, you aren’t better than the petrol attendant, maybe more fortunate, but you aren’t any better…simple things which we tend to forget…those are the things that make societies a pleasant place. Let’s bring them back. It’s not all about you, and if it is I don’t think it should be!! I remember growing up, sorry was the hardest word I ever had to say, it really was I am not too sure why, but I used to get upset when I was told to apologise for my wrongs I am not sure if it was because I didn’t think I could ever be wrong or if I upset someone else, from where I sit now, I think it was definitely the former. Nowadays every other word is sorry, the meaning is gone and that’s utter boll*cks!
Anyway…I profess to be an open book. I bear my life for all to read etc. But during the course of the previous week I realized that this isn’t entirely true. I don’t really let you guys in on some deep matters of the heart. So here goes.
On Thursday evening that man they call Karabo D, came through for us, he organised some tickets to an Elle/Nokia launch party. So off went the boys, Tumi, Karabo, Lebo, Al, my brother Nana and myself. Just hanging with those guys regardless of where you are, you are bound to have a ripper. The night started off in good fashion, we got shuttled to the party, great company, booze and food…what more can a person ask for? Like all good things, this event too came to an end and the boys were pretty fired up so we decided to visit a local Thursday night spot.
We got there and it was a ripper, my A game was in very close proximity, it hardly strayed the whole night J (that’s my story and I am sticking to it), well we’ll call it the B-game cos the A-game has results J… I felt like an interior designer, I was working the room. The force within was strong (note all from my point of view). Invincible, Super confident…an absolute ripper and then just randomly it felt like the had just walked into the room, for those that don’t know about the Haitian, lets try the feeling when superman is exposed to Kryptonite, Rocky looking for Adrian after Apollo Creed socked it to him…a man was weak. Enter the ex. Exit focus…game. That wasn’t the worst of it. I soon saw that she was there with another dude…EISH, but wait there’s more, so I am standing in close proximity and they start tucking into each other, HMMM. EISH! It stung. It was pretty nasty, I cannot tell a lie. But I didn’t leave, I didn’t cry, cos I was scared Gareth Cliff would find out and laugh at me on radio, instead I moved myself to the other side of the room and tried to pick up where I left off before she came, but no hope, my game made like Nelly Furtado’s song, ‘I’m like a bird’ and flew far away. No ones fault, all my doing!
Oh well…I stayed on though and just carried on chatting to the boys. I look up and guess what I see? The ‘Ex and him show’ had ‘followed me’ to the other side of the room. Now whether she did it intentionally is totally irrelevant. It happened! Deal with it.
Anyway 4 am came by and work was on the next day, the time had come to stroll on home a tad later, well because it was getting late J so I go to my car only to find some dumb prick taking a wee on my car, his excuse he thought it was his car, I just let it be afterall it was dirty and needed a wash the next day, but my word did I want to unleash!! So I drove home like a raging lunatic…very stoopid, but I was checking to see if they did a good job with the car ;-).
Truth be told, as shaite as that experience was, trust you me it was just what the doctor ordered! (and that ‘s not me trying to be hardcore, cos you all know me…) She did absolutely nothing wrong, we have been off for about 7 months now. What do I expect that she is hanging around waiting for me? That’s just dof. She is more than entitled to show affection to anyone at anytime and I must just deal. Not something you want to see, but definitely something you want to see, and the fact that he was pretty random also put a bit of a smile on my dial! Tsk tsk…Even though I don’t know y tho? It was indeed moment of truth I tell you. Sucker punch was thrown lost my bearings for a bit, but the canvass was far away. It was the final chapter that needed to be written. IT IS DONE!!
Anyway to this weeks email. I am a pretty HUUUGE supporter of the current government, but some things really concern me and I will highlight some of these to you. Thank goodness for opposition! As much as I sympathise with the striking workers in this country, I feel that they and their leadership have lost the plot. I was listening to the news and I heard that the ‘leader’ of COSATU threatening that the protest will turn violent. What kind of bulls**t leadership is that. Who are you going to be violent against? Random people who want to go to work and earn a living? I can never profess to know the difficulty a lot of these striking workers face from day to day, but to turn to threaten to turn to violence or to prevent those that actually want to go to work, that I can never understand. Especially if you hear that there are rumours of parliament moving for a 57% increase in the president’s salary. I did a quick calculation. A 12% increase on a salary of say R50k a year works out to R6k. If I am not mistaken the policy of the strike is no work no pay. They have been striking for 12 days now and as a result they have lost say R1.7k. If they do infact receive their 12% increase it will effectively work out to 8% odd which I think isn’t far off the last offer tabled. In my opinion, this strike isn’t about the people, its all about Mr Vavi flexing some muscle and trying to show that he can bring the country to its knees. Now please tell me how that mentality is constructive in any way? They are very closely aligned with presidential hopeful Jacob Zuma…the future looks great…NOT!
Then there is my personal bugbear. Those 2010 stadiums! Now I am just a plain joe off the street, but if I and many more that I speak to can see that these stadiums are the biggest waste of resources ever, why cant the decision makers see the same? Fair enough there has been a lot of job creation, but I am sure that these amounts could have gone a long way in creating sustainable jobs. What happens after 2010? Well let me tell you what happens. These people are out of jobs. A couple of billion have been spent on stadiums that will hardly ever be reused. These self same people that were employed will still not have much of a home, running water, anti-retrovirals, sanitation, electricity, you see where I am going with this. If you want to build new stadiums, fair enough but build multipurpose venues, that will cater for all the sporting codes. In Cape Town, Newlands is in such a shaite location, yes there is a lot of history etc. blah blah, things change, that’s life! Build the new stadium in Greenpoint, sell off Newlands and develop some styling apartments, recoup some of your costs of development. I was in Durban the other day and I say the venue for the new stadium, its but a stones throw away from the current ABSA stadium, would it not have been a hell of a lot cheaper to have expanded the existing stadium? Lets not even mention the other stadiums in the outskirts. I went to the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg last year, beautiful stadium, but it was not even half full for a full test match! now you tell me whats the use of sinking so much cash into these items, wait I’ll tell you…TENDERS! But that’s so f**ked up! The same old people win these tenders, instead of actually focusing on community development projects, we are helping the top dogs of this world but houses at Arabella and helicopters whilst for the poorest of the poor the status quo remains…and then we ask what about the crime?
Then there is that damn eNatis system. How the hell do the powers that be allow the system to go live if it wasn’t correctly tested. R480mil for what? It’s a great concept, very long overdue, but what about correct implementation. Any self respecting project manager would know all about testing, running the systems in parallel, I mean really? Once again TENDERS!!
Let me not even get into the inquest around the chief of police Jackie Selebi!
Jake White the national rugby coach has asked for an audience with the state president, the state president has duly accepted. Next thing, SARFU wants to write a letter to Jake to prohibit him from seeing the president. I am baffled. The reasons are because he is stepping over their heads! Power it can be a very messy thing if it’s in the wrong hands!
I am concerned!
Anyway I gotsta roll, just some more random thoughts I thought I’d share with you. Hope you all have a blissful week.
Birthdays
11th That man with the big smile the call Meaty
12th Carl, Mark E and Samantha
13th Fifi, Liyanda
That’s me for another week, maximum respect. The week is but a fetus, have an absolute ripper my dear friends! Please do visit www.thelonelyroad.org, there are only 15 more days before Tbang faces his lonely road.
Y
“que sera sera”
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Shoo wee, another cool evening in Jozi I tell u! Trust you all had a good weekend and the week has started off, if nothing at all at least eventfully.
Mine started off deep in thought, yes that’s right I think at times even though some of my actions and words may indicate otherwise ;-). I sometimes sit… or stand… actually or even lie down and think, sheesh the world is pretty unfair don’t u think? Many of us don’t think much about it, but we must just be grateful for our lot in life. The not so well to do in this world just keep getting it! What is he on about, some might ask, well let me try and clarify.
This morning like most mornings, I woke up pretty early, contemplated gym, but decided no thanks it’s cold and I have a bit of a cold so I’ll go later in the evening (that didn’t happen neither cos it’s cold, no wait, cos I am LAZY!!) so I stayed in bed, watched Morning Live. At round about 7 am I heard our front door rattling, it was the helper Tembi. She doesn’t stay that close to us. I asked her what time she leaves home to get here, she said at about 5.30 am (yes I know some people that live in Pretoria and work in Joburg have to do the same, but that’s more a lifestyle choice)…and she has 2 kids one goes to school and the other goes to the nanny! She has to catch a couple of taxis/bus depending, if she catches a bus the walk isn’t that bad, but if not its another 10-15min before she gets to the house. What makes it worse is that she can be caught in the cross fire from warring taxi operators.
Some nights when I am driving home from work/gym late in the evening, I see old ladies carrying what seem like heavy bags walking in the bitter cold/pouring rain/sweltering heat. But you see her day is not done. After coming to our homes, cleaning up after us, feeding us and our children she must head home and her day begins. She may be a mother or a gogo (granny) she gets home and has to look after some hungry peeps. And how much do they earn? Not a helluva lot, so how can they make ends meet, well I guess like most people that need financing, they will go to a bank..eeehhhh wrong. Why because more than likely they are not credit worthy and as a result may not be granted a loan or if the loan is granted, interest rates are charged at rates commensurate to their risk profile. Enter micro lenders, who can charge some crazy interest rates, I am not sure what the regulation is currently, but I think it could be as much as 20-30% a month
{Intermission}A couple of weeks ago, on one of my rare visits to a bank branch, I stood there and started thinking. What else can I do, have you seen those queues? J Go into a bank and who is most likely to be there? The not so well to do! Why? Well, hmm who can barely afford to put food on the table? Yip, you guessed it, yet they still have to pay cash deposit fees, which is a phenomenon I have struggled to understand. You are using my money to make more money and I must pay you to use it? Hmm….
{Back to the mother/gogo}Ok so she’s gone home now, Oh darn no running water…so off she missions to go and find some water so she can cook, wash herself and the kids and some clothes. Hmm, no electricity, how am I going to cook, I guess I have to make an open fire. Fire’s done, food is cooked, showee this fire is nice, its keeping the kids warm, I’m so tired…zzzz (off to sleep we drift), something falls into the fire, oh goodness, shack catches alight, so too the next, and the next and the next and the…u get where I am going with this. In the end a couple of people killed in a shack fire, plenty left without a roof, its June in Cape Town…rain drops keep falling on my head…
Blue collared workers definitely drive the economy. As I write this I feel I may have written about this before, but anyway…
So where was I, blue collared workers…these people are in the mine stopes, digging out this yellow thing that makes the world around them go round…not theirs though. The risk their lives and die, we say oh well…rest their souls. Brett Kebble dies, rest his soul and there is a huge enquiry as to who killed him and why, a couple of miners die, is anyone accountable, are there investigations carried out? I am sure there are, but do we hear about them hell no, who were they anyway?
Civil servants ask for a pay rise they get shot down. I am not saying that I support the strike action, but I kind of understand where they are coming from. They don’t make that much money and 6% on their salaries I guess is not really that much. Eskom, a government parastatal wants to increase its tarrifs by 18% and I am almost certain that this will happen. Will this not fuel inflation? Damn right it will. Teachers, nurses etc want 6%, eish sorree bra, but we are targeting inflation to be between 3-6%. People like me will sit in front of my TV and start shouting, “demand a 12% increase, tell me what you have done to deserve a 12% increase? Crime is still ridiculously high, the level of matric pass rates isn’t all that hot? The standard of teaching isn’t that hot either.” But then should the respective ministers not be called to order? Should the ministers not be held accountable for their departments not meeting the targets? What kind of increases do these ministers get? I guess they get their 6% as well, but I guess 6% on their salaries is a whole lot more than 6% on the blue collared workers salaries!
So my job doesn’t pay too well, I have a couple of kids that I am struggling to feed, the world is just a nasty place at this time in my life, so what do I do? Yip, lets hit the bottle store. Please Mr Black Label, take me to my happy place! Yip I know what you are thinking? So whose fault is it that this person has so many children? Well did they have the opportunity to go to school?
Then there are some gifted/lucky people that are getting paid millions to kick a ball around, drive a car around a circuit. They get paid even more to wear a watch, a t-shirt, a pair of sneakers. Even though they can afford it they get everything for free, cars, clothes, entrance into exclusive places.
It’s a hard knock life! The ‘sad’ thing I guess is these are just thoughts for me, and for others it’s their lives!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you are reading this message, it means you are on a pretty decent wicket in terms of life, so whatever your BIG issue is currently in your life just remember it could be much worse, be grateful for all you have and who you have.
On that happy note J let me be off to la la land, wishing you all a ripper of a week! Oh wait before I go, the most maximum of respect to all the guys and girls that spent their Saturday morning building houses for the less fortunate in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity. I’d like to come along next time so if someone could tell me before 2am on the Saturday morning it would be great ;-).
Birthdays
6th Helen
9th Rudi and Ivan
Maximum respect!
Y
Que sera sera
Mine started off deep in thought, yes that’s right I think at times even though some of my actions and words may indicate otherwise ;-). I sometimes sit… or stand… actually or even lie down and think, sheesh the world is pretty unfair don’t u think? Many of us don’t think much about it, but we must just be grateful for our lot in life. The not so well to do in this world just keep getting it! What is he on about, some might ask, well let me try and clarify.
This morning like most mornings, I woke up pretty early, contemplated gym, but decided no thanks it’s cold and I have a bit of a cold so I’ll go later in the evening (that didn’t happen neither cos it’s cold, no wait, cos I am LAZY!!) so I stayed in bed, watched Morning Live. At round about 7 am I heard our front door rattling, it was the helper Tembi. She doesn’t stay that close to us. I asked her what time she leaves home to get here, she said at about 5.30 am (yes I know some people that live in Pretoria and work in Joburg have to do the same, but that’s more a lifestyle choice)…and she has 2 kids one goes to school and the other goes to the nanny! She has to catch a couple of taxis/bus depending, if she catches a bus the walk isn’t that bad, but if not its another 10-15min before she gets to the house. What makes it worse is that she can be caught in the cross fire from warring taxi operators.
Some nights when I am driving home from work/gym late in the evening, I see old ladies carrying what seem like heavy bags walking in the bitter cold/pouring rain/sweltering heat. But you see her day is not done. After coming to our homes, cleaning up after us, feeding us and our children she must head home and her day begins. She may be a mother or a gogo (granny) she gets home and has to look after some hungry peeps. And how much do they earn? Not a helluva lot, so how can they make ends meet, well I guess like most people that need financing, they will go to a bank..eeehhhh wrong. Why because more than likely they are not credit worthy and as a result may not be granted a loan or if the loan is granted, interest rates are charged at rates commensurate to their risk profile. Enter micro lenders, who can charge some crazy interest rates, I am not sure what the regulation is currently, but I think it could be as much as 20-30% a month
{Intermission}A couple of weeks ago, on one of my rare visits to a bank branch, I stood there and started thinking. What else can I do, have you seen those queues? J Go into a bank and who is most likely to be there? The not so well to do! Why? Well, hmm who can barely afford to put food on the table? Yip, you guessed it, yet they still have to pay cash deposit fees, which is a phenomenon I have struggled to understand. You are using my money to make more money and I must pay you to use it? Hmm….
{Back to the mother/gogo}Ok so she’s gone home now, Oh darn no running water…so off she missions to go and find some water so she can cook, wash herself and the kids and some clothes. Hmm, no electricity, how am I going to cook, I guess I have to make an open fire. Fire’s done, food is cooked, showee this fire is nice, its keeping the kids warm, I’m so tired…zzzz (off to sleep we drift), something falls into the fire, oh goodness, shack catches alight, so too the next, and the next and the next and the…u get where I am going with this. In the end a couple of people killed in a shack fire, plenty left without a roof, its June in Cape Town…rain drops keep falling on my head…
Blue collared workers definitely drive the economy. As I write this I feel I may have written about this before, but anyway…
So where was I, blue collared workers…these people are in the mine stopes, digging out this yellow thing that makes the world around them go round…not theirs though. The risk their lives and die, we say oh well…rest their souls. Brett Kebble dies, rest his soul and there is a huge enquiry as to who killed him and why, a couple of miners die, is anyone accountable, are there investigations carried out? I am sure there are, but do we hear about them hell no, who were they anyway?
Civil servants ask for a pay rise they get shot down. I am not saying that I support the strike action, but I kind of understand where they are coming from. They don’t make that much money and 6% on their salaries I guess is not really that much. Eskom, a government parastatal wants to increase its tarrifs by 18% and I am almost certain that this will happen. Will this not fuel inflation? Damn right it will. Teachers, nurses etc want 6%, eish sorree bra, but we are targeting inflation to be between 3-6%. People like me will sit in front of my TV and start shouting, “demand a 12% increase, tell me what you have done to deserve a 12% increase? Crime is still ridiculously high, the level of matric pass rates isn’t all that hot? The standard of teaching isn’t that hot either.” But then should the respective ministers not be called to order? Should the ministers not be held accountable for their departments not meeting the targets? What kind of increases do these ministers get? I guess they get their 6% as well, but I guess 6% on their salaries is a whole lot more than 6% on the blue collared workers salaries!
So my job doesn’t pay too well, I have a couple of kids that I am struggling to feed, the world is just a nasty place at this time in my life, so what do I do? Yip, lets hit the bottle store. Please Mr Black Label, take me to my happy place! Yip I know what you are thinking? So whose fault is it that this person has so many children? Well did they have the opportunity to go to school?
Then there are some gifted/lucky people that are getting paid millions to kick a ball around, drive a car around a circuit. They get paid even more to wear a watch, a t-shirt, a pair of sneakers. Even though they can afford it they get everything for free, cars, clothes, entrance into exclusive places.
It’s a hard knock life! The ‘sad’ thing I guess is these are just thoughts for me, and for others it’s their lives!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you are reading this message, it means you are on a pretty decent wicket in terms of life, so whatever your BIG issue is currently in your life just remember it could be much worse, be grateful for all you have and who you have.
On that happy note J let me be off to la la land, wishing you all a ripper of a week! Oh wait before I go, the most maximum of respect to all the guys and girls that spent their Saturday morning building houses for the less fortunate in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity. I’d like to come along next time so if someone could tell me before 2am on the Saturday morning it would be great ;-).
Birthdays
6th Helen
9th Rudi and Ivan
Maximum respect!
Y
Que sera sera
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