Sunday, November 22, 2009

Utter confusion reigns

I wrote an entry a while ago, On etiquette. In it, I described the worst type of unreliable character one could ever hope to meet... Well, my 'friendship' with said character (lets call him... Ernest, shall we...?) has sort of continued since then. I am sure of neither his intentions, nor his feelings with regard to me, and thus, felt the need to blog about it.

Since the etiquette post, I saw Ernest at an event that I invited him to, my birthday party, my field work (vegetation sampling), and then he invited me to help him with an adventure activity. Since then, I have invited him to help me with trapping, along with several others (I need quite a bit of help!), and he invited me to go to church. Oh and to help on a weekend camp...

Firstly, vegetation sampling with him (and my mom) was really good, if a little slower than I'm used to. I enjoyed his company, and it made for an interesting morning. That day, he asked if I would like to help him with his adventure activity thing, a few days later. I agreed, because it would be fun, and also because I haven't really taken the day off completely for a very long time. That day, I discovered he was quite a passionate christian. No problemo, except for the fact that I'm not exactly the epitome of one... In fact, if you met me, you probably would not guess my religious affiliation... This was all good and well, until it came up that I had glandular fever (aka "kissing disease").

[I think this is highly unfair name - common colds and flu are spread in exactly the same way, but they are not called 'kissing illness"...]

And despite the fact that I didn't get it from kissing anyone, I was proclaimed to be a "promiscuous kisser"... YES! UNFAIR! (I was imagining may flocks of turtles in my mind right then...)

Anyway, I sent out an email with regard to my trapping this coming week, and, it took Ernest till today to let me know in all definiteness! When I texted him yesterday afternoon, with a friendly message, he said that he was going for a ride with his sister. And replied to me at 1am! Seriously, WTF? Then, today (I mean, this afternoon), he says that he cant come trapping, because of his hectic week, with his sister leaving and all, and then proceeded to ask me if I wanted to go to church with him. So I agreed, and left it at that. I was on my way back from the south, when he phoned me... And it turned out he could make church tonight, but wanted to clarify that he maybe could come trapping on Tuesday? He then proceeded to confirm about Tuesday, and ask me if I would help him on a camp coming up...

I am so super confused about this oke! He has offered a few times to watch mouse videos (of all things) with me, can be super-attentive when I'm with him, but then doesn't contact me? Or does he actually like me? What on earth?

Helen, please please please don't say "I told you so"!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Of teaspoons and soapboxes

I have had quite a few things on my mind this past week. Amongst other things, I am getting my first laptop (YAY!), my parents and grandparents had a holiday, a Halloween dress-up is coming, nothing is happening with my project (a bad thing). So, instead, I have been thinking about the ills of the world. And teaspoons.

A while ago in one of our lab meetings, we discussed an awesome paper that was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) about disappearing teaspoons. The authors did a neat little study on teaspoons in tearooms. They had a few interesting findings, one of which really surprised me: The rate of disappearance of higher quality spoons was not significantly higher than that of lower quality spoons... Anyway, what I have gotten around to thinking about, is that there must be some kind of teaspoon heaven (also mentioned in the paper, as a possibly place to go for unlimited spoons). Seriously. Teaspoons must be going somewhere, and surely the would have reached a saturation point by now, if teaspoons are still being manufactured! So: Is there a teaspoon heaven?

And now for the second: The soapbox. I live in South Africa, almost a new country. We have recently become a democracy, and our past is shrouded in racism. One would think, in the normal progression of things that people who have previously been oppressed would get a sense of entitlement, and this is generally the case. Fair enough. But it appears not to be limited to one race. Everyone (ok ok, a lot of people) has this attitude!

If everyone has the same sense of entitlement, the same attitude of "I'll take everything you can give me and more", where does this leave us? Less than what we started with. If no-one can be accommodating, and maybe even giving (instead of taking), the world (or SA), or even my university community might be a happier place?

One example I have thought about is littering. I've posted on the subject before, and now might have some insight into why people do it. Its rather complicated, but with my theory of entitlement, might just make sense. Maybe people litter because if someone else has to pick up their rubbish, they will be higher up in the proverbial food chain than the cleaner. So, although I don't throw down my sweet wrappers, pens and other general rubbish, I have made a resolution:

To pick up just a few pieces of litter a day.

It wont be much, and I'm not going to make much of a difference, but still. Its something. How else do you challenge and change the attitudes and mindsets of those around you?

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

On etiquette!

First thoughts: what a weird looking word. Second thoughts: What a loaded word...

I had a dinner party over the weekend, because I had my house all to myself, and also because even though I enjoy hosting events like these, I hadn't had one in about a year. So I emailed out invites with two weeks to go to my chosen date-of-party, to see who would be keen... I had most of my responses that week, and subsequently sent out a follow up email with important details (such as my house address) to those who had said they were coming. With two days to go to the dinner, a few people still hadn't replied!

Bad etiquette #1: Not RSVP-ing. Or RSVP-ing after the set date. This is generally for catering purposes (usually important if you would like to get fed). It really doesn't bother me if parties aren't your thing! Rather just tell me if you will be coming or not - I don't really give a hoot for your reasons! So I managed to get answers put of most of the people, after cornering them, and looking angry.

So I made food happily (I like cooking), one more guest was added to the guest list (which was fine, she had a legit excuse to change her RSVP), and I got more and more rushed as the day of the dinner wore on.

Good etiquette #1: Helping the hostess. Well, in my books anyway! This comes into the fact that I was running late, and being a bad hostess. All of the people who arrived early chipped in with help, and made my life just that little bit easier. (Even though I continued to be a bad hostess later on that evening when I had to finish making the pudding...)

The guests were asked to arrive at 7pm. Most of the had arrived by 7.20pm. By 7.45, one guest had not made his appearance. So I sms'ed him, asking if he was on his way...

REALLY Bad etiquette #2: RSVP-ing positively, then not pitching. With a really bad excuse. He was at a concert, which had been delayed due to rain. So instead of letting me know early, he waited for ME to contact HIM to tell me that he probably wouldn't be coming through. Like, Seriously??

All in all, the dinner was fun.

Good etiquette #2: Generally being sociable. It makes life so much easier if you are the hostess!

My guests excused my disorganisation, and some even wanted to help me clean up afterwards! I learnt a new good etiquette rule too:

Good etiquette #3: Bringing the host/hostess a gift (doesn't have to be anything big!), to thank them for the party. It really made me feel hugely appreciated, so thanks to those guests that did!

This brings me to my last note on etiquette:

Bad etiquette #3: Not RSVP-ing 'till after the event. Or not RSVP-ing at all! Seriously. How hard it is to type out a few words on an email?

I suppose you can't be too uptight about people not having the perfect etiquette, but I don't think it's ok to be downright rude to the person who invited you... Thoughts?

Monday, October 12, 2009

Diving weekend, and The Perfume Lab!

After a seemingly crazy week last week (which ended up being absolutely marvellous), I had a weekend to match. It was marvellous, of course!

I'm doing my 2*(or advanced) diving course, and this weekend was the weekend to catch up on dives, do some of the specific dives that I need to qualify, and generally relax. I have returned home failing on the last - I have such sore tummy muscles! (Diving must be good for me then)... Overall it was a really good weekend, the diving was good, even though Miracle waters was rather murky. We managed to find the helicopter though :)

A big part of my day today was the event of The Perfume Lab. Luke and I were models for the lab, in which students had to say whether perfume was male or female. The trick was that there was a third perfume, unisex! Because the students couldn't know the gender of the model, they had to be blindfolded. The second part of it was that both Luke and I had to shave our arms, to match each other. This was the cause of much hilarity for the visitors to our lab... and interestingly enough, I was less keen than Luke to shave my arms (I've never done it before, ok!)... The lab itself was funny - it hard not to giggle when students guess the gender of the perfume completely wrong, or they knock over the beaker of water or do anything else which in any other situation would not be regarded as funny...

The only thing now is that, although I have scrubbed my arms about 6 times, I can still smell all three perfumes (the unisex smells like a granny-smell)... and as such, its a little confusing for my poor ole nose!

Here's to not smelling confused!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

It's spring!


Every year I used to anxiously wait for Spring to arrive. I would watch the trees for buds, and wander around the garden, inspecting the plants for any signs of growth. When Spring finally sprung, I would revel in the beauty of the flowers, the warmth, the lengthening days and the smell of flowers that would permeate our garden and our home. Even last year, I took spent some time in my garden, looking at the blooms.

This year was somehow different. I feel like I have missed spring! It is almost like I woke up last week to find a beautiful garden already full of flowers, and it feels like summer... And I'm left standing, and wondering "Where'd it go"? In all honesty, I was probably too busy a) with my project and b) being depressed that I just never noticed! Sad times.

I got home early this afternoon, and while I did spend most of it collapsed on my bed, reading (and finishing) Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (absolutely brilliant!), I did spend about 45 mins before and after sunset (incidentally my favourite time of day) in the garden. It really was lovely! Here are some pictures that I took a few years ago, of some of the flowers in my garden.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

My new favourite word ...

... is "snaffle"!

It's an informal verb, and means "to illicitly take for oneself". I have a very food-orientated Labrador, and this word describes his actions very clearly...

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

A hectic week, and fabulous weekend...

* Names have been changed to preserve any remaining dignity of the people concerned

Due to Heritage day last week, I had to cram a 5 day week into 3 days (the public holiday was on a Thursday, and I was going away). So I frantically tried to achieve all my goals for the week, I burned and watched many DVDs of mouse behaviour, freaked out completely a few times when some of them wouldn't work, shopped and tried to pack. I also went out, had a good dose of vitamin C, and finally packed properly. This time I managed to get about 4 hours of sleep before Jenny came to pick me up the next morning...

The drive was... interesting... We sang along to pretty much every song that played, had random discussions, and came up with a few key saying that would stick for the rest of the trip. there were:
  • Long live Champ Leia
  • Johnny Clegg is The Man
  • Mary* is like a posh old zombie goat, living on an island, without a pet rabbit.
Other sayings that popped up during the hike included:
  • Henry's* insect cream is The Man.
  • Damn those Mexicans!!
We stayed in a place that had some incredibly amazing rock formations on Thursday and Saturday nights. We were not the only people staying in the camp: a group that came from Bloemfontein and Pretoria were staying in the same place, and doing the same hike as us. We managed to creep them out completely by going for random walks around the kitchen area, in single file and in complete silence... After deciding not to freak them out any more, we retired to the lookout point with some whisky coffee, and watched the clouds and lightning (it wasn't raining).

The next day turned out to be heavily overcast, and thus, we all overslept. We had a big cook-up breakfast, and left after distributing and re-distributing weight between packs. Jen and I are officially not girl pants. We also discovered that my trail-mix is amazing: at every stop, it came out and everyone had a good few handfuls. I have to admit, I was carrying half, and I made sure that everyone had some... The walk that day was absolutely amazing, as we walked into gullies, past waterfalls and up streams. The only part that I didn't like was the ladders - for some reason I felt like I was about to tip over head-first...

After a very long hike, some awesome food (who knew cherry tomatoes would taste so good?), we reached our over-night stop. The Bloem-Pta group had arrived before us, but kindly left two rooms open for us. I cooked an amazing risotto meal, which was even enjoyed by the sceptics among us... After a crazy night, consisting of red wine, whisky hot chocolate and coffee, howling at the moon, and card games, I managed to catch an early night.

The following morning, we woke up to a bright and sunny day. It was Hot. Very Hot. We explored the bobbejaan's (baboon's) hotel, had lunch and a long swim. I felt super-exhausted at the end of the day, and faded relatively rapidly in the night. Apparently, I missed some goings-on...

The following morning proved to be equally hot, and while we waited for Bob*, Jen and I practiced our rock-jumping, photo-taking techniques. Apparently, I suck at this. Something to do with not lifting my feet high enough or something...

I will post photos on the blog soon. I just haven't had the energy to download any yet!!!

22/10/2009: It has taken me forever to download these pictures, but here are some of the Rooikrans camp. Pretty, hey?

Friday, September 18, 2009

10 things about me!

Helen nominated me for the "10 random things about me" award. While I think this is rather hard to do, I will try my best!!

  1. I've tried most activities. While this excludes smoking weed or taking drugs, I have attempted to play the saxophone, hockey, tennis, cycling, gym, rock climbing, diving, rock music, indie music, computer games, programming, gardening...
  2. I secretly like teasing people.
  3. At any given moment, I tend to have more male friends than female friends
  4. When I was younger, my biggest dream was to be an air hostess. I was thwarted by the fact that I kept getting taller, and my mom said that air hostesses were always short. Bugger!
  5. I tend to make light of my achievements, and highlight my failures. This seems to be more common in other people than i would have thought, but after an enlightening lab meeting today, where we discussed the reasons for this, it seems that we forget the good things more easily, since achieving them will then give us a bigger high than bad things (I think this is how is works...?).
  6. Although I am good at identifying plants, I really am not all that good. And I think I am getting worse with age and lack of practice :)
  7. Strangely enough, I am a big fan of hugs. Bear hugs are my best. Grabbing the ass-type hugs, however, are not.
  8. I really would like to explore my continent (Africa).
  9. Something that I discovered about myself recently (apologies to all friends): I whine.
  10. I'm stronger than I think I am, but sometimes, am a lot weaker than I should be...
So: Jen, Terri and Candice, you are up next!

Monday, September 14, 2009

The "Get Wrecked special"/ "Waffles underwater club" weekend

Seven of us went down to Durban this past weekend to dive wrecks, the uShaka aquarium, have a cabaret dinner, and generally have some good times :) First things: all of us got some kind of simile or metaphor attached to them (except me, of course). So:
  • Paolo is like... an old man with a metal detector, a chicken, and a Raggie in a cave, waiting to pounce.
  • Anthea is like... a turtle warmer.
  • Chris is like... a deceptive little squirrel.
  • Shona is like... a carbonated bubble in a can of coke, waiting to rise, and a Raggie in a cave, waiting to pounce.
  • Alex is like... a ticking time-bomb.
  • Doug is like... a Camembert cheese or a magnum ice cream - a little rough and hard on the outside, but nice on the inside
On Friday, the first group of us went for their aquarium dive while the rest of us unpacked and recovered from various rough nights out. We the went for lunch, and decided that the other half of us didn't feel like doing the aquarium dive. SO we went for waffles instead (The first waffles expedition). Later that night, after walking on the beach and cursing out lack of a brown paper bag in which to hold an OBS bottle, and discovering that Paolo has some innate chicken tendencies, we went for waffles. Again (The second waffles expedition).

Our first dive (the Fontaneau) on Saturday was really really horrible. The viz was terrible, I felt like I kept losing my buddies (I was diving in a buddy trio). I did, however see a cool purple fish, some goldies and a whole lot of muck. And potentially a sunken ship.

The conditions were so bad in the afternoon, that our second dive was cancelled, and converted to another aquarium dive. We dived in the lagoon and got to swim around and look at all the pretty fish, while I was fighting with buoyancy issues (bubbles kept filling my up in my hoodie, and as a result I kept popping to the surface). It was fun though, and I really enjoyed it. And then we went for the third waffle expedition, while my headache was expanding to elephantine proportions. I had to eat, or the painkillers may have eaten through the lining of my stomach and left me as a not-so-happy-camper.

This brings me to the cabaret dinner. The girls (well, mainly me) decided (and I coerced the others) to dress up for the occasion. So, in a very short space of time, we got dressed up to the nines, complete with dodgy encounters with people who have no concept of personal space in the bathroom (communal showers are NOT my favourite), doing hair and discovering that Shona's GHD was broken, makeup and heels. All this in pretty much an hour, and we were only about 10 mins late! The dinner was really good, and the singing was only marred by the fact that we all faded into various states of comatose-ness. Anthea and Alex were the first to leave, while the rest of us left at the end.

Sundays' dives were completely amazing. We had really good conditions, and saw a lot on the ship (this time, T-Barge). Among other things, I saw lionfish, scorpionfish, boxies, brindle bass, a hermit crab, a really big moray, some goldies and a whole big cloud of bait fish. Lovely :) We did our second aquarium dive after that, which was also really good. The rays were interesting, with one trying to nibble on Shona's hoses and shoulders... Needless to say she got a massive fright...

We had planned to have lunch and leave, so we ordered lunch and then I indulged in some retail therapy with Anthea while we waited for our food. And then it was time to be off back to good old JHB. Seriously. What a good holiday. I now have more than a few "free snorkels" for anyone going to Durbs in the near future, a whole stack of memories, and some cool new friends. Thanks guys!!!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

On the down swing

So my last few post have been rather depressed, and that is probably because I have been. It has been a difficult time especially in my masters, and, although things are not currently (as of this afternoon) going wrong, they aren't exactly going right either. I know that because of the current spate of going-wrongness, I am inclined to see the glass as half empty, but hopefully after a break to clear my mind (this weekend), I will be better, brighter and back to normal.

Helen posted a post card that I think is absolutely inspired. She found it here, along with more of this guy's work, which I think is really good. Anyway, back to the post card (Sorry for stealing a potential blog post topic, Helen!). I read it yesterday and nearly burst into tears. Possibility girl describes me so well that it is scary. The only part that doesn't totally fit is the basking in adulation of my potential.

So: which way to go? Will I ever reach my potential? What do I have the potential to be? Another post card from the same guy asks some hard questions:

My answer at this point: I really don't know.

So, For now, in order to be less stressed, I will make lists. Lists of things to do, things that might go wrong (so I can have two zillion back up plans for when they do), things that make me happy, things that I like and things that I want to do.

That will do for starters!

(Note - I'm not fighting anymore, I'm just too tired to do that anymore)

Sunday, September 6, 2009

New resolution

Things seem to be going badly for me in all sectors of my life. I can't just give up - that just isn't me.

I heard this song on the radio the other day, and thought that it fits me pretty well (especially now). I know the lyrics are about dating, but the chorus is the important bit. Its by Aaliyah - the song is entitled "Try again". Just so I can come back and read the lyrics often, here they are (only the first two verses - the rest either doesn't apply or is a repeat of the chorus).
What would you do?
To get to me
What would you say?
To have your way
Would you give up?
Or try again
If I hesitated
To let you in
Now would you be yourself
Or play your role
Tell all the boys
I keep you low
If I saw no
Would you turn away?
Or play me off
Or would you stay, oh, oh

And if at first you don"t succeed
Then dust yourself off and try again
You can dust it off and try again, try again
Cause if at first you don"t succeed
You can dust it off and try again
Dust yourself off and try again, try again (and again)


In case you would like to hear the song, it is here.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Its not just Fridays, its Thursdays too!

Why is it that when a whole bunch of maybe-not-so-cool events happen in a short space of time, I pretty much self-destruct? And its not like the good stuff isn't happening either - yesterday I reached the half-way point in my vegetation sampling (yay!).

So: 6 out of 10 DVDs that I have burnt for my experiment over the past week have, for some reason, failed. This wouldn't be so much of a disaster, if:
  1. I hadn't deleted one of the sessions off a hard drive. It would have to be me, right?
  2. The DVD machines that I use didn't take 5hrs-and-50mins to record one DVD.
  3. The hard drives that are in the said DVD machines had a ton more space on them.
  4. I didn't have to buy other DVDs - one machine flat out refuses to even consider recording onto the DVDs that I currently have.
  5. It may not even be the DVDs! I used some better quality DVDs to start off with, and 2/5 of them didn't work either. So the machines may be at fault.
  6. I know that I will probably be waking up at arbitrary hours to change DVDs during the night, just so I can get the recording done.
  7. My neck hurts. Probably because of tension. Bring on the blinding headache, yes please!!

That being said, it is even a mission to do the recording. I have to record three days, solid. The DVD machines only allow me to record for 12 hours. The DVDs can only handle 5hrs50mins. So in between stressing about whether the DVDs have actually worked, I have to divide tracks and combine others, all of which takes a ridiculous amount of time. I haven't finished all my recording, and this setback means that, even if I use the two machines that do have some space on them to record over the weekend, I will still be behind on my schedule.

So I did what any self respecting person would do last night: I went for a good, hard run. The only problem was that after about 800m, my asthma kicked in. Fun times. I did complete 2km's, but seriously. My legs don't even feel tired, and it didn't even feel like a stress buster of a run.

Seriously.

The world is out to get me. I wonder what will go wrong today?

And as a completely arbitrary aside, a guy who I met about 3 month ago (and subsequently haven't had any contact with) asked me out yesterday. Weird. I really don't know how to respond (I haven't yet), and this too is causing me some consternation.

Monday, August 31, 2009

SCORE! I didn't die!

One of my aims that I put up on Friday was "to not die". At least until next week.

The reason that I suspected that I might die was that I was going rock climbing for the first time. I'm a co-ord. I generally forget my left and my right, and most times don't know how to co-ordinate movements when using both arms and legs... The good news: I didn't suck as badly as I thought I would. More good news: I really enjoyed it! The bad news: I have random bruises in random places (for example: I bruised the palm of my hand).

Sunday: I was helping out at the Wanderers race (incidentally, a huge success), and was put down to help at the Bokomo tent.... On Saturday night, I was seriously regretting offering to help. But I had offered, and thus, I would go. So off I went at 6am. I nearly killed myself laughing - I spent the first hour making fruit look pretty, building banana towers and putting out milk... Then came telling people that they didn't have to buy breakfast - they could help themselves! I think it was a bit of an advert for Pronutro - they pretty much had Pronutro, rusks, milk (to have with the pronutro) and fruit. My duties were then to help keep the tent tidy (ie, put out more milk, throw away bowls etc.). There was this crazy old guy who scared me a little (he was a runner) - when he saw the tent he had a wise crack about Bokomo: " Dis bokmis en Omo". Then he tried to chat me up afterwards when he saw I was helping at the tent. Crazy. Yuck. And: How can people eat half an hour before a race?? I felt so queasy just thinking about it...

After the race started, we packed up the breakfast tent, I had a long chat with a person who used to go to run/walk for life with. She has downs syndrome, and quite often would forget my name, who my family was (all of us were regulars there and knew her rather well). I saw, her, said Hi, and she responded by saying "Hi, megan"! How cool??? I was so impressed - she remembered my brother and parents too. I think that was the best part about the race. The only thing was that she wanted to chat about her brothers and their wives and what they did, and I needed to go and see if the race organisers needed any more help.

It turned out they did, and I spent the rest of the morning (till about 10.30 when they ran out) pouring coke (they ran out of water too) into small paper cups. I don't do coke at the best of times, and having to open so many bottles gave me blisters over blisters. Eventually I was handing the bottles to runners, asking them to open the bottles, and then continuing pouring.

I left after we ran out of coke - I wasn't going to deal with angry runners, and went home to an ethics application. Fun times.

Later on Sunday night, I went to church for the first time in a very long time (see here for why). It was so cool. I didn't need to be anyone. It was basically me and God having a moment during the worship, which was totally cool. No-one around me bothered me; for some reason, the worship didn't seem pretentious, and I found myself being more honest with God than I have been (also in a very long time). So I will go back, and then see how it goes - if I fit, I will stay. If I don't, I won't. But it is a very big step for me. Yay!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

In the spirit of TMI Thursday

Warning: Do not eat while reading this! Or read this after eating! Or eat after reading this!

Last night, as I was preparing my supper-for-one (which, incidentally was a toasted egg, salami and cheese sandwich), the cats that I am cat sitting were eating their food. I flipped my egg, and one of the cats started vomiting. Right there, in the kitchen. Almost in the food bowl, and half in the water bowl. So of course I can't continue making my sandwich with the vomit about 30cm away from me. So I start to clean it up, which involves many trips outside, trying not to think about it, smell it or even see it...

Only to discover that the cat has chucked again. This time in the passage. And my sandwich was still sitting, waiting to be toasted. But I toiled away, cleaning up the vomit. Then I switched the snackwich maker back on, and put my sandwich in. The egg broke while I was doing this. Why does oozy egg always make me feel queasy? Anyway. I had to leave to door open to get rid of the smell of vomit and it made the house rather cold, but by the time my sandwich was toasted, it had gone and the floor was dry.

The thing that made me pathetically grateful: The fact that the other cat didn't sympathetically vomit while I was eating...

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Sunshine and happiness

This is a sunset, but hey, it still involves the sun. And its pretty!

But I actually wanted to talk about sunrise and the merits of getting up early. Lately, I have been sleeping in at every opportunity I get - the joys of working hard and stress, I suppose. But today, in an effort to beat traffic from the place I'm housesitting at, I got up super super early and left the house about 45 mins before the sun rose. As I got into my (albeit cold) car, the horizon was just light enough to see. Although there was still traffic, it flowed fast, and barely made any impact on my travel time. It was just so nice to be out (well, in my car out) with the sun coming up. It was super pretty.

The thing I like the most: I don't feel Å°ber grumpy! I know I will crash sometime this afternoon (hopefully not too early), but I feel rather uplifted right now. Which really helps, since this morning, I have to TA a lab...

Now here's something to be happy about: Its my last TA duty for the year!!!! YAY!

Monday, August 24, 2009

On religion

I've been wanting to write about this subject for quite some time now, but never got around to it. I have a lot to say, and not too much time, so I figured that I would start, then carry on when I have it on my mind next.

I'm a Christian. I used to go to church regularly, I even went to cell group, and was a youth leader at one point. I've organised a youth camp, a prayer weekend and been involved in numerous other activities. I was very happy at my church, until the cell group that I was involved in disintegrated. I still would go to church, but things were changing there, and I was also changing - I suppose you could say that I was broadening my horizons. For the first time, a significant proportion of my friends were not regular church-goers (if christian at all), and it really opened my eyes as to what a lot of other people as Christians.

In my honours year, I got busy with the huge amount of work that had to be done. I started getting hugely frustrated with the people at church - many of them seemed to only associate with other Christians, and seemed to look down on those who were not. Apart from that, I stopped enjoying the service that I regularly went to: The worship was getting more and more showy and pretentious, and I was hating it more every time I went.

So I simply stopped going. Now every time I see people from that particular church, I feel terribly judged! Maybe I'm just being oversensitive, but I really do feel that way.

So: The point of the post is this: Just because I'm not currently attending a church, doesn't make me a "heathen". I may not be growing in Christ, but I still believe in God, and Jesus, and the fact that I'm saved through his grace. That hasn't changed, even though I haven't attended a church regularly for over a year.

Another thing: I do actually want to look for another church, but I know that I can't commit to attending every week. The fact that it is rather hard to walk in to a place where you hardly know anyone makes a huge difference to me too - more stress is not what I need right now, and that is another off-putting factor at the moment!

Also, at times I rather like my angry music - it helps me get through the marking/data entry/ other mundane tasks. I also drink alcohol (I have a particular fondness for good red wine). But I don't think that this makes me a bad person... Or maybe I'm wrong! But somehow, I don't think so... Anyway, time to end this rant.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Tough as old boots but maybe easier to swallow...

So, Friday was a bad day, to put it mildly. Since writing about stuff helps me to let go, here goes.

I half wonder about my ability to be a scientist, and all that happened on Friday (see here) made that self-doubt ten times worse. I wonder if I will have the ability and staying power to finish this degree, and if I do, I wonder about my suitability as a PhD candidate (I still don't know what I will do after I finish my master's). If I go out and work, what will I do? Will I be able to do it?

Yes, yes, One Bad Day has done all of this to me. I'm not used to doubting myself, especially when it comes to things that generally, I'm pretty good at. Maybe it is the whole lab-work thing (I know that I can do field work, although I'm not sure how I would cope if I had to do field-work like Helen's*). Maybe it was just a whole combination of stressful things that, combined, made me just plain miserable (come on, who loses their temper at a machine?).

The one thing that I know, and that I'm proud of: I will stick with this project, even through horrible Friday moments, I will finish it, and be proud of the work that I've done. This is me, and even if I cry about my project many times, I will do it.

Yes. That sounds horribly like one of those "team talk" moments from the movies, where one guy (or girl) will stand up and give a moving speach to his/her team members, and they go out and win. I may not win, but at least I will try. My hardest.

*Helen is my hero - 3 months in the field, with only lizards to talk to? That really takes guts.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Its just not my day...

In fact, this week has been just plain awful. Today, however, is the worst. Nothing is going smoothly, and it is a battle just to get simple things done. For instance, one of the dvd recorder machines that I'm using was working perfectly well. Suddenly, it switched itself to black and white mode. I fought with the stupid F%&*#@$ thing for approximately half an hour. then gave up, only to find that, 15 minutes later, it was working fine again. Then a mouse escaped. Then a lamp blew up. So I couldn't even do 4 recordings!

And I'm housesitting, so everything seems worse. Luckily I have dinner...

Thursday, August 20, 2009

YOU! yes... you.... STOP LITTERING!

*begin rant*

Don't you hate it when people just drop a piece of paper or wrapper and walk off? Ok, maybe sometimes it is unintentional, but a lot of the time, people will just drop their rubbish, even if they walked past a dustbin 30sec ago. WHY??? Why is it so hard to carry your rubbish with you until you get to a dustbin? Do people think that the unsightly wrappers, bottles, pens and plastic that they are discarding degrades? Or do they expect someone else to pick it up?

Especially in the younger generation (wow, I feel old right now), there seems to be a prevailing attitude of entitlement. For example: "It is my right to eat/drink/go on Mxit in class". They also have the right to be there, in the class, so you cant kick them out. But aren't these people taking away the rights of others by doing these things? In the same way, because people litter, more people have to do the horrible job of picking up the mess made by others. Is this fair? (yes, its a rhetorical question).

Down with self-centeredness! I think that if more people looked at the world around them and realised how it affects them anyway, they might start to care a little more. Maybe if they cared more, they would change their behaviour.

*end rant*

Sunday, August 16, 2009

And in other news

I heard the most arbitrary item on the news the other day. It went something along the lines of " And in an effort to alleviate the crime in the area, one block of flats bought 30kg* of butter to smear on their drainpipes." I get the feeling that this was somewhere in China. Why is it that it is entirely possible that this actually happened??

I wonder if it worked...

* I don't recall the exact amount, but it was a lot. And I'm sure the number had a 3 in it, somewhere...

Thursday, August 13, 2009

No Reservations

I consider myself to be rather reserved. That is, until I get to know people, but even then... Anyway, last week I discovered that when I am under a lot of pressure, I talk. A lot. For example, in the last two weeks I have practically told my life story to about 5 people (including a petrol pump attendant!). I'm pretty sure I freaked the poor guy out, and left him there wondering if he should call a psychologist, either for himself or me. Yes - last week was that bad!

However, I took a good look at myself, and realised that I have come a long way in terms of being more open with people about myself. Which is a good thing - how can anyone get to know you if you don't ever let them in?

So, in a way, this post is a bit self-congratulatory. Well done to me! I've grown up a bit!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Crazy, crazy week

I haven't posted for some time, because of the above-mentioned craziness. I have had the 'flu for the past week and a half, which made my already busy schedule hecticer (real word...). For the record, I'm still sick, although I am getting better now (albeit slowly).

Last week I:
  • Tutored twice, and prepared for these two tuts.
  • Went to one tutor's meeting
  • Was a teaching assistant for one lab (on ferns)
  • Went to a tedious TA pre-lab for the above lab
  • Marked practical reports from the previous week
  • Sampled vegetation for my project
  • Changed bedding for 10 of my animals
  • Entered data for half of my July vegetation sampling
  • Went to see the doctor (not seeing that particular one again - EVER)
  • Voted on my diving-clubs' new committee
  • Did (and re-did, and re-did again) a presentation for my proposal meeting
  • Had the proposal meeting
And all this while sick... I would feel proud of myself, if I wasn't feeling so awfully tired! I do feel quite proud of myself for one thing not on the list: I was nominated to be secretary for the diving club, and I elected not to stand for the position - I would rather not over-extend myself in the next year...

So, that's the story from the week. I hope next week will be better but, I need to
  • Correct my proposal
  • Enter the other half of July's veg data
  • Clean the rest of my cages
  • Try and contact GDACE (again!)
  • Post letters
  • Mark prac reports
  • TA a lab, and attend the pre-lab meeting
  • Go to the monthly tuesday dinner
  • Go to movies with the girls on wed
  • Maintain the illusion of sanity....

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

NOOOOO!

I just had a horrifying realisation: The number of posts of the scary student answers blog (which I also contribute to), has exceeded the number of posts on this one.

Actually, it's not all that bad. I'm just being a drama queen, which may possibly be allowed on this occasion (I'm sick with flu).

Saturday, August 1, 2009

My! Grandma! What big teeth you have!

Or, in my case it was My! Grandma! What a big nose you have, and what a big noise it makes...

Im not being nasty, just being honest, and blunt (as usual). It was my grandmother's birthday yesterday, and since my grandfather is still in hospital, we decided that rather than her staying by herself for her birthday (it was her 80th, after all), we would fetch her and bring her to our house to spend the night, and we would make her a nice dinner. Since I was sick, my brother kindly offered to give up his bed for her.

I was concerned that my gran would get my flu, and pass it on to my grandfather, which would not be at all good. So I wore one of those surgical masks the whole evening, only taking it off to eat my supper. And felt like a complete idiot, walking around with this silly thing on my face, which kept sliding up (yes! Up!), into my eyes. I guess my face just isn't big enough for one of those...

Anyway. It kind of defeated the whole object when I was tucked up in bed, about to go to sleep, and obviously with the mask off, when my gran pottered in, and proceeded to have an extended good night conversation with me at close quarters... Nobody can say that I didn't do my best!

Later on that night, I woke up to go to the bathroom, and heard a very strange noise. It sounded like someone was shaking their feather duvet vigorously. After a few minutes, I was sure that it couldn't be the case - why would anyone keep on shaking their duvet for so long? Then I realised that it was coming from my brother's room. And that it wasn't a duvet shake, but rather, a very loud snore... So loud, in fact, that I could almost feel the walls vibrating slightly.

I wasn't sure if I would get back to sleep, now that I was fully awake and listening for it. Luckily tiredness won, and I fell asleep fairly quickly. Question: How is it possible for such a diminutive person to make such a big noise??

Thursday, July 30, 2009

A Day of Disasters

A day from hell...

So yesterday was mine, and it was so so not pleasant... It started off with a nasty encounter with Mr S*. The previous day I was meant to get equipment from him, but when I went to his office to try and collect it, he wasn't there. Eventually when I did find him, he told me it was too late, and thus, I would have to come back in the morning, at 8. This was not ideal for me, since I was due to TA (be a teaching assistant for a first year subject), at around 8.30. But it could be done. So, I went in to varsity early, so that I could get some work done, before getting the equipment. I sent myself an alarm, so that I wouldn't forget to go - with my foggy memory these days its very handy to have reminders on my phone!

So, off I went to see if Mr S was in his office. When I saw his light on, I tried to phone him, to find out if there was a different place that I needed to get the equipment from... He answered and promptly told me that he only worked from 8am, and it was 5 minutes to the hour, and I should come back later. I felt like a bit of a twit when I realised that my phone is fast... So I duly went back down to my lab, and 15 minutes later, went back to his office, only to find that he wasn't there. By now, I was more than a little grumpy. He did show up about 5 minutes later, carrying my equipment (well, most of it-he only gave me one tape measure). And then, he proceeded to berate me for not collecting my equipment the day before!!!!!!

So, after finally getting my equipment, I realised that it was time to TA, and dashed out of my lab in a tearing hurry. Only to become aware of the fact that I hadn't brought my register, the pracs that I needed to give back to the students, and of course, my keys... So I couldn't get back into my lab without someone who had their keys. And, of course, no-one was there!

Admittedly, the lab went well. Probably because I warned my students to be nice to me, else I may just burst into tears (I was also exceedingly tired). The lab went well... until one of the lecturers of the course walked in, saw some students leaving 15 minutes early, and decided to check that they had finished absolutely everything. Needless to say, they hadn't, so she pretty much locked the lab door, and demanded to see the work of everyone who was left. I don't mind it when my students go home to do their labelling, and answering of questions – I think they hand in better quality work than if they randomly scribble a few hasty answers and labels. So I had to wait with my students until the lecturer left... a good 15 minutes. Grumble.

When I got back to my lab, the lab mates were there to open up for me, luckily. So I bolted down some cake, cut a mountain of markers to mark my sites, and left in a hurry, to pick up Jenny, who was nice enough to volunteer to help me... (Thanks Jen!)

In the middle of marking out the first site, I started getting an itch in my throat. After the second site, it was decidedly sore. At the third site I started telling Jenny that I thought I was getting sick. After the fourth site, I knew I was getting sick. We only managed to mark out the four sites... We didn't even do any measuring! (which gives an indication of how long it takes to mark out a site, particularly when you keep on walking for the wrong spot, and need to go back and re-mark...)

I got back home, and collapsed... My nose was running, my throat was killing me and I had a headache from (Insert suitable name here). What a lousy day... And to top it all off, guess what we had for dinner...? Thats right. ROAST CHICKEN!

Good news: my car went so well... She did amazingly, and didn't break down... YAY! She even did some off-roading... Go, car, go!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

...something smells like roast chicken...

So, although I was really looking forward to my physio appointment on Monday, afterwards I realised that there is a serious downside to it.

The Massage Oil

I don't know what it has in it, and surprisingly, I don't care. The thing that I do care about is that fact that it makes me smell like roast chicken.
That's right, I feel like a walking roast chicken for a day, until I have had a very good shower and washed all the massage oil off. It must be the slight hint of rosemary that I get a whiff of every time I turn my neck (its my neck and shoulders that the physio works on). So I don't think I will be able to eat a roast chicken for a while now... Sorry lab-mates...

Other news: I'm now driving my own car again. It is slightly dodgy. And I have had a few brushes with extreme danger. Well, only about two. Actually three in total. The last time (when I thought it had finally been fixed), the alternator belt snapped. In all honesty, I snapped on my way in to varsity, and I had forgotten about it till I was about to leave, which was in the dark. So I called my dad, and he was on his way to come and give my a tow, and then sent a message to Helen, one of my lab mates, just to let her know that I was still stuck at varsity (because someone else should also know that I was stuck - it would be irresponsible not to!). She then phoned me to ask where I was and if I had a security guard with me, and then to thoroughly berate me for not having one with me... In the end (there was no security guard), she drove down and for my dad with me. Thanks Helen! So in the end, my life was not placed in any grave danger. But it could have been. And I managed to drive my car back under my own steam. And it now has a new alternator belt.

I just hope nothing else goes wrong with it!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Peaches and posture

On the weekend, I decided to go scuba diving. In my ignorance, I thought it was just a fun trip to Miracle waters in the Magaliesberg, with no real training (I'm also currently doing my 2* diving course). However, our official diving weekend was cancelled, so I just thought I was going to do some dives to within 18m.

It wasn't and we didn't. A fun weekend, and dive within 18m, I mean. Instead, an instructor came along, and those of us who were there did some of our qualifying 2* dives! It was great. I learnt about nitrogen narcosis, and managed to recognise it, while Jenny, my dive buddy didn't... She is convinced that she was totally fine, but yet couldn't manage to tie a simple knot underwater...

Anyway, the downside to the trip was that after my second dive, I started getting a huge headache, as well as an incredibly sore neck, somewhat reminiscent of my sodwana neck and headache troubles. Those were sorted out by a physio on that trip, so on Saturday night, while I was in absolute agony, I resolved to get my neck troubles treated.

So off I went to the physio this morning. It helped that she is a diver too, and thus I didn't have to explain as much as would otherwise have been the case. She poked my neck and shoulders a bit, then massaged my neck (mental note: tie hair up tightly, else massage oil gets onto it - yuck). She then proceeded to give me some stretches and posture tips. One of which is to imagine you are holding a peach between your neck and chin. You can't hold it too tightly, or you will squash the peach, and you cant let it go, or you will drop it. I have officially been dropping imaginary peaches all day now, and it is really starting to frustrate me! Any tips to try and remember posture??? Anyone??? HELP!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Live life as hard as you can.

Because you might die tomorrow.

I was reminded about mortality yesterday when I went to visit my grandfather, who is in hospital. I don't really want to discuss the details, so I will just focus on the effect that it had on me.

I wound up thinking about the baggage that we carry around with us, both emotionally, and physically. Now, we can't take any of the physical stuff with us when we die. If we accumulate a mass of it and fail to dispose of it, we leave it behind to other people (generally loved ones), who then have to find some way of disposing of it. Is that not just a little selfish? I believe that collecting stuff is habit forming, and I know that I am a prime example of a person who tends to store a lot of stuff. So now, I have resolved to keep a sharp check on the stuff that I hang on to.

The second part of this is emotional baggage. Why is it that some people have this amazing ability to cling on to events and hurts that happened many many years ago? I personally know that this leads to the person becoming bitter (I think I was a bitter person, until I let go of those things). It makes me incredibly sad when I see bitterness, lies and unhappiness - all a result of "stuff", which hasn't been dealt with.

My concluding thoughts were that I should try and live life "as hard as you can". The saying comes from a paddling team I was once on. Our name was "Co-captain Soekie and the Hard As You Cans". We certainly did. So here's to trying as hard as I can.

Olifants backpacking trail, part 1

Pre-blog disclaimer: This is an extremely long post, and shall be split into one entry per post... Names have been changed to preserve anonymity!

This is an account of the amazing holiday I have just come back from. I went to the Kruger park on a new-ish trail that they have opened up, where you have to carry your own backpacks, food, tents, etc. For the record, there are other, much more luxurious and less strenuous options out there, principally the wilderness trails (where you sleep at a base camp, and don't carry anything). I was invited on the trail by a friend who I do scuba diving with, and ended up on the trip only really knowing one person (which was fun in itself)...

Day 1 - Not on the hike. Yet.
I woke up numerous times last night, wondering whether it is time to get up. Eventually I switched on my phone, only to discover that I needed to be dropped off half an hour later than planned - 5am instead of 4.30, and my dad had to be up also, so he could drop me off... So I still got up at about 4 am. It was as black as pitch, drizzly, and thoroughly unpleasant. I got dropped off on time, but, due to traffic (at that time of morning!?!), and horrible roads with chunks of concrete lying randomly in the middle of the road (scary!), we were slightly late in getting to the airport. Not very late, only about 10 minutes, but still late enough for the others to be phoning to find out where we were!

And then we drove, and drove some more, and more. And then the sun rose (into our eyes), and eventually, after what seemed like an eternity to my thoroughly unhappy stomach (in reality, about 8am), we got to Belfast, and had breakfast at the Wimpy there. I wouldn't recommend mine again - it was a Dagwood, but not so lekker - the bottom layer was a burger type thing, with a lot of yuck sauce, which actually seemed like they had tried to make a hamburger with semi-wilted lettuce, and two slices of toast. It just didn't do it for me. At all. The top layer, however, was pretty good (bacon and egg). Overall though, the meal was disappointing. After that, we got back into our cars, and drove through Dullstroom, Lydenburg (very pretty), then went down Long Tom pass (also very pretty, but very chilly and windy also).



The temperature in Kruger was a summery 31 degrees C! A stark contrast to the frigid morning we had left behind.... We got to Letaba camp in the nick of time just before the camp gates closed, and proceeded to set up camp. I then got my food parcel which I needed to carry, and had a few minor heart attacks about the weight of my backpack, and then started throwing stuff out of my backpack. Including my beanie, which I regretted later on......At this stage I was in a bit of a panic, about what items the rangers were going to throw out of my pack, and thus managed to donate a box of milk to another member of our party... And spent the night creeping into and crawling out of my sleeping bag (did I mention it was really really hot, but not warm enough to not sleep in my warm sleeping bag).

Here ends Day 1.

Olifants backpacking trail, part 2

Day 2: Journey to drop off, and first days' walk.

The following morning, I woke up at an insane hour (it was still dark), as we had to be at Olifants camp (40 odd Km away) by 7.30 am. At this stage, I was feeling substantially anxious - about the people, the difficulty of the hike, and the weight of my pack... I had decided to take both my fleece and the windproof outer shell (I get cold easily), although the outer shell is heavy-ish. So I was wondering if this was a silly choice to make (cold vs heavy). The knot in my stomach got tighter, as I realised that I would be carrying the groups' coffee, and thus, I would be called upon to dig the stuff out of my pack at regular intervals throughout the day. And to make it worse, it wasn't the most amazing coffee either (a blend of chicory and coffee, but mostly chicory - so in actual fact, it wasn't real coffee at all....).

The drive to the next camp (Olifants) was, in short, EventFul. We saw lion (on two separate occasions, the second was a lioness with a cub(!)), two hyena (sauntering down the road, with a short pause while one decided whether to nibble on the tyres of the car in front of us or not), giraffe, elephants (I think), and well as some interesting raptors (we couldnt stop, or we would be late for our hike set off).

We put our (admittedly heavy) backpacks in the trailer, and set off into the sunrise... We saw some cool elephants (don't you just love the baby in the last one?)


After a brief stop for each of the groups of elephants, we drove on. The degree of urgency in the guides was such that we didn't even stop for an awesome sighting of a honey-badger... Admittedly, it did take us approximately 3 hours to get to our drop-off point (an hour and a half south of Phalaborwa gate), and we did want to get waking ASAP. The drive was so cold that all of us wound up huddled in the random blankets that I found randomly scattered at my feet. During the drive, my anxiety increased quietly. I had made a resolution the previous night, to surround myself in a happy bubble, where I could retreat if someone or something was bothering me, and during that journey, I could feel my resolve tightening, as my anxiety threatened to make me thoroughly miserable!

After a briefing from our guides (turned out that I was the only member of the party that had actually been walking in the KNP before), we set off in single file, in silence. Well, silence is a relative term. We were most certainly not talking, but at times I felt that we made as much noise as a large herd of noisy buffalo... After about 20 minutes walking, the lead guide (Dave*) stopped us and started explaining about the changes in vegetation that we would see as we walked. I'm interested in trees and things like that, and because of my training in ecology, I asked about the scientific names of the trees he was pointing out. From then on, when we stopped at a common, distinctive, or just plain interesting tree, he would briefly tell the others the english name, some cool facts, and then drill me on the latin... It sounds really strange, but I think that this learning really helped me keep my happy bubble intact!

After 2 hours, we stopped for lunch. The place where we stopped was our first real view of the river. During lunch, the back-up guide (Leah*) and I had a rather arbitrary conversation, where both of us thought we knew the other from somewhere... Neither of us managed to figure it out though, so maybe both of us were dilusional!

Some time after lunch, we stumbled across our first real danger: a lone buffalo bull. This one was resting in the shade and coolth (the day had really warmed up by then), in one of the small tributary beds that we were about to cross. At a signal from our guides, we sprinted as a group up the bank. Luckily for everyone concerned, the guides had noted this danger early enough that the buffalo could get up the opposite bank, and away from us... That same day, (we must have been walking quietly!), we walked up to a large fig tree, and as we did so, a monkey literally fell out of it. Onto its backside. All of us packed out laughing as the rather startled creature scuttled off into the bush. Apart from this, the most memorable sighting was a flock of brown-headed parrots (I hadn't seen any of these birds before).

Before we knew it, we had reached our stopping point for the day, on the banks of the Olifants, about 5 meters from the waters edge, and within 100m of a raft of Hippos (yes, a raft is the collective noun for hippos!), and with a small crocodile a little downstream from the hippos. We all had a swim (apart from Leah), which was rather.... bracing.... but a welcome refreshment, and almost a requirement after the days' walk.
We had supper as the sun set, then lit a fire by the waters' edge, and drank coffee laced with some OBS (Old Brown Sherry for those who don't know!). A rather curious hippo wandered up to take a look at our fire, and gave us a fright as it stood up, and turned out to be... large... After Dave shone a spotlight on it, the hippo decided that it would rather not be in the limelight, and slowly backed away and disappeared. Soon after this episode, we all went to bed. Rodger* and I were the only members of the group (apart from the guides) who were sleeping in single tents, and thus decided to buddy up when cleaning teeth (watching each other's backs), and in case the other needed the loo during the night (not that there was a loo, but, you know what I mean!), the one would watch out for the other.

That night was the coldest I have experienced in a long, long time. I had decided to take my (albeit heavy) down sleeping bag, so my body was warm, but my head froze. I seriously regretted leaving my beanie behind, and sometime during the night, I discovered that I could make a pretty good turban out of my fleece. Unfortunately for me, not soon enough, because I woke up with serious sinus blockages, which I managed to clear the following morning (luckily for me, someone had brought along some sinus medication!).

Here ends day 1. The real day 1, not the fake day one.

Olifants backpacking trail, part 3

Day 3: A looooong day, with amazing scenery and an exciting river crossing, as well as "toilets"....

At the beginning of the hike, Dave had given us an auger (to drill holes in the soil to go to the loo in), a spade, and the first aid kit. These items had to be divided up by the group to carry, since we would all be using them (except the spade, which was used for clearing the fire evidence every morning). Dave had a very interesting way of pronouncing "auger". It came out more like "Ogre", but the r was rolled a bit. Eventually, the ogre was renamed "Shrek", and the spade, "Fiona", and when someone disappeared with the ogre, and someone wanted to know where they were, they would be told that the person was having a deep conversation with Shrek...But that all came later. That morning, I woke up, and had to go. Now, for those of you who know anything about hiking and the bush, everyone seems to know when you have "gone", (or it seems like it), especially at the start, when people are uncomfortable about that sort of thing. So, imagine how insecure I felt when I was the first member of our group to "go"... After that, I think the girls in our group (there were only three of us amongst five guys) were champions at communing with Shrek. Way better than the guys. In fact, it was almost as if the girls were having a competition to see who could use it the most.... You get the picture!

Anyway, after I had broken the ice about communing with Shrek, and a hurried cup of not-quite-coffee, we set off. After about 2 hours walk, we stopped for breakfast, and another cup of not-quite-coffee. At this point all of us were getting to be quite pro about getting and purifying water, although we still went down to the waters' edge in pairs, and kept a wary eye on suspicious ripples. Also at about this stage, I discovered that hippo-poo flavoured water isn't actually so tasty, and started flavouring my water with game.(The view from our breakfast spot)

Shortly after we started walking again, we discovered that we would be crossing the river... Suddenly Dave told us to take off our hiking boots, tie them to our backpacks, and then gave us strict instructions on crossing the river. Our first crossing was over sharp stones (I cut my toe), to a sandbank in the middle of the river. Just beyond the sandbank, a crocodile was lurking with its head just poking out of the water, and further upstream there was another raft of hippos... I was more anxious about the second crossing, since there was now the added factor of the croc, and after an astounding amount of blood came out of my toe (from a tiny tiny cut), I was being irrationally paranoid about crocs coming to eat me..... There was some comic relief during the crossing, however. This time we were walking on sand, although there was the occasional boulder which we side-stepped. One of these boulders managed to leap sideways into the path of Barry*, who then toppled over backwards... Dave, who was at the head of the group spun round and prepared to shoot the 'crocodile'. It was only when he saw Leah killing herself laughing at the rear of the group that he relaxed, and we continued our march from sandbank to sandbank, across the river.

Our lunch spot for the day was the most picturesque spot, by some rapids. Everyone had a swim (apart from me - I was cold). Lunch was followed by a nap for most of the group, while Dave and I had an in-depth chat about life in the bush, knowledge, trees and careers.After lunch, we walked up to a place where a ranger had built a hide-away for himself. It was one of the most beautiful spots to have a get away. It would probably be insanely hot during the summer (it was hot, and we were there in the middle of winter), but a really gorgeous place. The best part was that it was so hidden that a person directly across the river probably would never guess about its existence, unless they knew exactly what they were looking for!

We set up camp under common cluster figs (Ficus sycomorus), overlooking the river and with a hill behind us. At first, all of the members felt unsure about our proposed camp site, as it seemed to be in the direct path of any animals walking along the river, but as Dave pointed out to Leah, there was an 'animal highway' a few meters behind the bushes. This was another beautiful spot, and we sat on rocks in the river (it was still very very early) and sipped OBS until we got cold. All of us then sat on some rocks overlooking the river, and chatted about inane subjects. Sunset was truly amazing, and I really started to enjoy the night sounds - scops owls, pearl-spotted owls, barred owls and frogs were all in full chorus!
I feel I must mention that supper was something of an adventure. We had over-spiced soya mince (my fault! I've had bad experiences with tasteless soya mince), and crunchy pasta... The added crunch factor in the pasta was included when the lid came off the pot while it was being drained... We didn't have extra pasta, so we scooped it back into the pot, gave it several rinses, tried to get all the grass and leaves out. But I guess Delilah* and I didn't do enough of a good job - every mouthful of salty, crunchy pasta wore down out teeth a few micrometers... Needless to say, it was a meal filled with giggles, as someone would take a mouthful and inadvertently chew right down, followed by some crunching noises and a "Bugger! I've bitten right down! Again!" type of exclamation from the relevant person.

The previous two nights I had heard people snoring, but had been either far away enough for it not to bother me, or been too tired to care, but that night was totally different... It wasn't in a rhythm, or very even, so those among us who were light sleepers got very little sleep. During the night, amidst snores (yes, there were three snorers), we heard lion (not very far away) and hyena.... Thrilling!

End of day 2 (on the hike)!

Olifants backpacking trail, part 4

Day 4: Tracking lions, and getting up close and personal with elephants and hippos.

The excitement following morning started when Leah showed me a lion print. As I was on my way to find a nice, private spot... Needless to say, I finished up pretty quickly! The prints were really fresh, and were probably made by the lion we had heard during the night. Imagine how safe we felt - with nothing but some thin tent material and a bush between us and lions that "had probably tasted human flesh before"....

We decided to try and see if we could get up close to the lions, since the spoor was very fresh. So we missioned off, walking at a pace close to one that can be described in the likes of a "death march". I found it rather funny when Fred* skrikked spiderwise^ when we disturbed a francolin, and spent a good few minutes giggling behind him. He wasn't so impressed that I found it funny.....

The wind was against us, and the lions kept increasing their pace, but since we were travelling in the same direction, we kept at it. At round about mid-morning, we saw a large herd of elephants crossing the river, to our side. We needed to give them some space, so we wouldn't accidentally walk directly into the middle of the herd. Evidentally, we didn't give them enough time, because about half an hour later, we very nearly did walk into the middle of the herd. We had a few anxious moments when one of the ellies could see us and hear us, but couldn't smell us, which made her rather nervous. She decided to retreat into a clump of thick bush (Natal gwarrie), which gave us space to move on.Lunch was a rather picturesque spot, under mangosteen trees. I had an in-depth chat with Leah about careers and trail-guiding, and then proceeded to take photos and have a nap. After lunch, we started looking for places to cross the river. Dave was still quizzing me on tree names. And I was only starting to get them.... Then we had more excitement: We ran into two hippo, which were having an afternoon nap. Hippos are the most unpredictable animals, but when they decide to charge, there is no stopping them, apart from killing the animal. The only warning we had of the hippos was the chattering of oxpeckers. Most of us didn't realise that we had run into hippos, until we saw them vaguely disappearing. About 5 minutes later, the rangers had us running behind another bush, as one of the hippos, instead of running for the water, ran further inland... This was more scary, since we would then be walking between the hippo and its preferred refuge, thus almost inviting ourselves to be charged at (not that we actually had a choice!). We got past it safely (phew!), and then had to find a campsite...

We eventually did, and I had a quick swim. In fact, I got unto the water, splashed myself a few times, and hurriedly got out. We hadn't chosen the safest place to camp, but then, we didn't have a choice in that either. There were no protective rocks for us to collect water and wash dishes from, and as it got toward dusk, there were strange ripples and swirls around the place where we were doing such activities. A massive barbel (catfish) managed to give us all a fright when it appeared at the feet of Fred...

Supper was a much less crunchy affair, and I managed to get rid of all the dried fruit and pasta sauce I was carrying, as well as all the booze I was carrying (Which made me very very happy). My hips had gotten bruised from my pack, so I was decidedly happy to get rid of all that weight.

That night was not without its own excitement: A leopard coughed when Fred was communing with the Ogre, the river presented its own mystery, and we were camped on almost a plain, with no bushes behind our tents to afford us any protection. Added to that, we had decided to try and finish all of the alcohol... Leah, Roger and I were both amused and alarmed by the antics of Sue and Bill (a couple, in case you were wondering), who had decided that they both needed the loo at bed-time. The three of us were warming our hands before going to bed, when we saw what looked like a mini-disco happening around one of the trees. Leah suggested that they were doing yoga with the tree, but I think they were just trying to start their own dance party...

That night, the snoring continued, much to Roger, Leah and my consternation. We had tried to pitch out tents as far away from the snorers as possible, but before we had even closed our eyes, it started. A comment from Roger sent Leah and I into fits of giggles for a while, and when that died down, we managed to get some sleep.


*I'm still changing names for this 'series'.
^Skrikked spiderwise is a somewhat unique term that my mom uses to describe the movement when someone gets such a massive fright that they jump sideways with both legs.

Olifants backpacking trail, part 5

Day 5: The River Crossing, beer, and civilisation.

Early the next morning, we got up and I discovered how cold the night had been: enough to put a decent layer of frost on my tent. We were now actively searching for a place to cross the river, as we needed to be on the opposite side of the river to meet our lift back to civilisation. None of us were overly pleased with that prospect, and tried to delay the inevitable trip as much as possible.

We eventually found a suitable site, and hand-in-hand with Roger, we crossed the murky river as quickly as possible. This time, the crossing was definitely deeper, and we wasted no time in the crossing. This time, there were no rocks for me to injure myself on, but Barry burst his massive blister, which then needed doctoring because sand had gotten into the wound...

After what seemed like another death march, we virtually walked into the vehicle which was going to deliver us back to civilisation. I felt so disappointed that the amazing-ness had ended, and as a result was a bit withdrawn and almost sulky. The one thing that made it better was a cooler box full of BEER and cokes and water and fruit juice....

Our time on the trail had ended, but we still had to get back to Olifants camp, and from there to what seemed like dodgy accommodation (doesn't the name Mufasa just make you think of a rather dingy, sixties porno house?). On the way, we had some cool sightings, think massive elephant in musth, a lion feeding, and a jackal trying to get some food. We eventually got to our lodgings for the night, amidst trepidation from all of us, and found that all of out fears were unfounded.... We had some really really good food at the Buffalo Pub and Grill (I chose the spinach penne - I was craving green stuff), along with more beer, then went back to our lodgings, and proceeded to finish up more alcohol, which lead to a lot of WTMI...

The next day we spent trying as hard as possible to prolong our trip. But in the end, we had to leave, and head back to the smoggy area which I call home.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

On plagiarism

I decided to do a search for "Olifants Backpacking trail", interested to see what it turned up, and who else had written about this amazing experience. I was startled at first, then annoyed to discover that some idiot plagiarized the last entry by changing words, adding a few, and passing it off as their own work. Their final blog post is most definitely not how I would have portrayed my trip. And a lot of it doesnt even make sense!

So, just a warning: it could happen to you! And to that idiot who stole my work: you really are an idiot. Most of it is incomprehensible!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

A name for our cactus!

Please, please please suggest a name for our lab cactus here!

There are prizes to be won too, including a digital hug from all of us in the lab, as well as (wait for it...) a custom made badge for you to put on your blog. As well as other stuff.

There is a photo of our darling cactus, to make it a little easier, and we will put up a poll at the end of it.

Thank you!!!!!

Introvert/Extrovert quiz!

A quick post, and short quiz! I promise I haven't given up writing about my Kruger trip....

You Are 40% Extrovert, 60% Introvert
You're a bit outgoing, a bit reserved
Like most people, you enjoy being social
But you also value the time you have alone
You have struck a good balance!


The link is here, if you want to do it!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

More about socks

The previous post started out as a desire to write about socks, and expanded... well... into the most arbitrary thing I have ever written. In the most arbitrary fashion. However, I realised that I missed out the most important thing about socks: They are awesome.

Socks are awesome because:
They keep feet warm and toasty in weather like this (cold and unfriendly weather for feet).
They come in the most amazing array of colours (I am a HUGE fan of my maroon socks).
They tend to stop blisters, and make shoes way way more comfortable.
They go to sock heaven.

The last point brings me to an advert that was on TV a few years ago, which basically showed a sock which was trying to find its way to (what I think was) sock heaven - a random collection of socks, on a beach having sock fun... I just love the idea. And its a good way to stop hunting for an elusive, missing sock!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Socks

Apart from cake, socks are one of the things that make the world go round. In my earnest opinion, one should not wear shoes without socks, and thus they are indispensable items (unless, of course, one lives at the beach). However, socks can be worn without shoes. This phenomenon is known as "the Slipper Sock", and is generally manufactured to be thicker than normal socks, as well as having rubberised sections (albeit small and generally in patterns). These rubberised sections help one to keep one's grip while walking, thus ensuring proper contact with the floor, and ultimately, no slipping.

Socks can be obtained in many diverse and interesting colours, as well as in various thicknesses and textures. The proportion of cotton, nylon, wool and even mohair will determine the heat capacity as well as the comfort of the sock. For example, it is inadvisable for one to wear socks made purely with nylon, since the synthetic nature of the fabric generally causes one's foot area to emit a foul-smelling odour after a few hours in them. Length of sock is another important factor: knee-high socks tend to keep one's calves warm, but also have an annoying inclination to slip down, thus negating the warmth factor of these socks, unless one is prepared to be constantly pulling them up. The normal length of sock generally comes up about 10 - 15cm past the ankle, are the commonest length of sock, and are used for anything from working socks to sports socks. Many sports people nowadays use a third length of sock: the anklet. The appeal of these socks is that they tend not to give one a "sock tan" - or at least the leg is tanned lower than would otherwise be the case if one wore normal length socks. The anklet is usually more comfortable than normal socks if one is doing mildly strenuous activities, such as running or cycling. There are variants between these three lengths of sock, but I have endeavoured to cover fully the merits of the main types only.

Socks become curious objects when one wonders about missing socks. A recurring question appears to be that of a theological nature: "where do socks go when they die?", which can only be answered if one becomes a sock, which then dies. To my knowledge, no-one has achieved this feat thus far, and so human kind will continue to speculate on the existence of a "sock heaven". However, sock death is not as common as one would think. Many cases of "the missing sock" have been opened and solved by the sleuths that run households. Many of these cases can be put down to socks not being paired correctly by their colour, material or length. Where the owners have many pairs of similar socks, this becomes an increasingly common occurrence until the owner either buys several sets of identical socks, or diverges his collection into wildly different colours and lengths.

Here ends my narrative on the wonders of the sock.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Eat, Pray, Love


I started reading the novel the other day. Within the first few pages, I was completely wrapped up in the story. I somehow managed to empathise with the writer, even though her life and even social circumstances are almost the complete antithesis of mine. A third of the book is devoted to her time in Italy, where she allows herself pleasure - not sexual, but rather she allows herself to do what she wants (mostly eating good food and learning Italian). A theme that seems to be running through this section really resonates with me - learning to take pleasure in nothing. Which means not even seeking entertainment, just... nothing. I am finding this increasingly difficult to do now days, probably because I cram my head full of to-do lists, appointments and worries. No time for, well, me! I personally haven't thought about what I would like to do for quite some time now, and I think this should be more of a priority for me.

I haven't finished the book yet (far, far from it), but from what it looks like so far, I will really enjoy it!