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’

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”

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

“ …there comes a time in a man’s life where he must decide whether he wants a life of happiness or a life of purpose or meaning…he cant have both. They follow 2 very different paths. To be truly happy a man must live absolutely in the present with no thought of what has gone before and no thoughts of what lies ahead but in a life of meaning a man is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future…” Mr Linderman in Heroes episode 18

And who says you cant learn anything from TV? But how deep and how true is that little quote?

Anyway, 3 new additions to the mailing list, Melani, Kirsty and Graham. Any comments please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com. Should you have any suggestions on something to write about please do drop me a line.

Thanks to all 2 of you (Thabang and Wendy) who responded last week regarding the old clothes etc. I was looking of places to take these clothes to and on Monday I was driving and I tuned into yFm and guess what I heard? They are running a campaign under the banner Y cares and they are…yes you guessed it they are rounding up old clothes for the less fortunate and you can either donate individually or in a group. So what I am thinking is that we gather as much as we can and I don’t mind dropping it off with some assistance ofcourse.

Following on to my opening paragraph…living a life of meaning/purpose. A couple of weeks ago I forwarded a story from a friend of mine Thabang Skwambane who is setting off on his journey at the end of this month. This story appeared on page 11 of the Star newspaper on Wednesday. I have a scanned copy if you were unable to read it.What Thabang is doing is he is getting on a bicycle on the 27th June 2007 and cycling from Johannesburg to Tanzania, through 2 game reserves if I am not mistaken, Botswana, Zambia, Zim, Malawi. And because this is not enough of a challenge. When he gets to Tanzania, he and a possie are going to climb mount Kilimanjaro. Why is he doing such a crazeeeeee thing?

Thabang left the world of finance a couple of years ago to start a wellness management company called Kaelo. Kaelo focuses on total wellness but it was initially set up to tackle aids awareness, education, treatment and put to bed some of the stigmas attached to the disease. I think it was last year when on one of his visits to his mothers clan, the Dikgale clan in Polokwane when he encountered something that would set him on his way. The clan has about 1500 orphans, not necessarily aids orphans, but orphans and vulnerable children nonetheless. And it’s for these children that he rides (sounds like the opening line for a movie/tv show). Just one of the challenges this community faces…the majority of these orphans and vulnerable children don’t have an identity number, what does this mean? Well it means that they are not recognized as citizens of this country. For kids with parents this is generally a non issue, but if you are an orphan it’s a big issue because you are not registered with child welfare, and thus you are not entitled to any grants. Mobilising home affairs and the community to sort this problem out is proving quite a task without the correct structures in these communities. For these structures to be put in place requires funding. Further to this, a large number of these children are housed in an abandoned church (I think), where they eat sleep etc, on the hard cold floor. It’s hectic. Its projects like these that the lonely road plans on addressing or starting.

The aim of the foundation is not to purely be a source of funding for communities such as these, but rather to provide the initial capital to set up the structures which will make these projects self sufficient. Please visit www.thelonelyroad.org and if there is anything that either you or your organization can do to help this cause drop them a line.

Thabang is just an ordinary guy…no really he is very ordinary ;-) but what he is trying to achieve, well that’s hugely extraordinary! All the best bro and Godspeed. And Gracey! u are a Saint for your work, time, alles, cos we all know that this would be nowhere without you…no offence T, the foundation and T are very blessed to have u!

T, I would definitely have offered to come with you on your trip, but I am allergic to lions, so for the safety of all concerned I think I will sit this one out after all if a small little ol bee caused me to write off my car, I’d hate to find out what a lion would do J.

‘it does indeed take a village to raise a child’ now imagine what u can do if u put your mind to it, even you can make a difference!

Birthdays
27th Monica
28th Candice
29th Delia, Lauren W, Nyame K
31st AC, Cous Nana Yaa, Loretta, Rachel S
2nd Mame Ekua

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation"

Because our character is what we really are, while our reputation is merely what others think we are. - John Wooden –

That’s me for another week.

Maximum respect

Y

‘Que sera sera’