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!

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.

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!

More motorbike grumbles...

I have to gripe about motorbikes. Well, not motorbikes per say, but more about their drivers. Last week I was moaning about motorbikes and traffic circles, and now, I feel that I need to vent about motorbikes some more...

Don't you just hate it when a motorbike comes zooming past you, but the only way that you know that they are somewhere in your vicinity is by the sudden roar, followed by a fast moving speck that soon disappears from view? Well, that happened to me at the end of last week, while I was almost about to turn. Even though I did have my indicator on, the dude still wanted to overtake me! Scary to think that if I had chosen to turn a moment earlier, there would have been a major accident... So That is my gripe with motorbikes (or rather their owners) that are just too powerful, and their riders that are too windgat (for want of a better word - its a South Africanism). Why should people want to go that fast on a suburban road? Thrills? Frustration? Get to work faster? Or is it just to scare people like me, so much so that you arrive at varsity white and shaking??

Second gripe is pretty much a universal gripe about all users of the road: Use of indicators. On a motorbike, one would think that it is especially important to do so, but instead, they just go where they please without giving anyone prior warning.... *muttermuttermutter*

Despite my comments, I realise that they tend to apply only to a small sector of the motorbike-using population, and that there are lots of safe and unfrustrated motorbike riders around. Its just that small number who ruin everyone else's reputation!

And now, Windows plays in its little box...

After hating windows for ages, I finally got Ubuntu on my varsity computer. The only reason why I kept using Windows is because everyone else uses Word and Excell (Microsoft office), and I have found that changing between OpenOffice docs (the open source version of Word) and Word docs requires much formatting, and the OpenOffice version of Excell sucks (especially the graphing functions...). So I kept using Windows at varsity and Ubuntu at home. My dad and brother put the Ubuntu (ver 9.04 or something) on one of the desktops at home, and I was loving it... The only problem that remained was my Win Office problem.

Then, somehow my brother found out about virtual box, where (or at least I think this is what happens - I'm not exactly a computer nerd) there is a program that creates a virtual machine in which windows runs. So now, I have Windows playing in its little box when I want to run Word, and then the awesomeness of Ubuntu the rest of the time. Now I need to find out how to get Word to see Ubuntu - I'm not entirely sure why it cant, since the rest of Windows can... But I'm loving the rest of Ubuntu!!

Traffic grumbles......

This morning, while I was on my way in to varsity, I almost had my second (ever) accident. This time, it was most definitely not my fault, and most likely stems from the fact that a lot of people do not know how to use traffic circles...
So I was in the process of turning at a traffic circle, and I had almost completed my turn, when a motorbike came zooming up to the circle, and turned into the same bit of road where I was going... I could have wiped the guy out, but managed to completely halt my vehicle to allow him to go in front of me... What makes me grumpy is that I couldn'e even hoot at the guy - my dad's hooter is useless! But it didnt happen, although I hope he got a big fright, and realises that a) Traffic circles mean that you need to slow down, b) If there is someone in the intersection before you, you need to wait before you go, and c) cars are generally bigger than you, and thus can potentially wipe you out.

*grumblegrumblegrumble*

A fit of sulks. Grrrr.

Or a hissy fit. Well, whatever it was, today has been the most awful day I have had in a very very very long time. I can explain part of it, but the rest welllllll must have been due to the compounded-ness... Let me explain. I think it all stems from the fact that I have not had a good night's sleep for a very very long time - every night I wake up twice or three times drenched in sweat. So I will throw my duvet off to get a bit cooler, and 30 mins later, I will be freezing, and wake up again to find my duvet. Now, for a person who doesn't cope badly with broken sleep, this might be ok. I'm just not one of those people. I do very very badly when I get too little sleep. Like very badly. So I started off the day in a bad way, and things just did not go well for me, and by that I mean, that I didn't get my way.

Yes. I know. Very 5-year-old-ish. I know. I am very much older than that and should be able (by now) to snap out of it! But I haven't had a good night sleep in such a long time...........

So Things just got worse and worse (well in my head they did), and I got grumpier and grumpier, and, with hindsight, I should have left varsity much much much sooner. But I felt bad, cos I only got started with my work in the afternoon, so I felt that I should stay later to compensate. Bad bad move. In the end, I was so tired when I was driving home, that I accidentally drove into the guy in front of me (incidentally, my first accident). But I honestly thought he had moved off, so I was edging forward to see if the was was clear for me. Turns out he hadn't moved. So I bumped into him. And I then just sat in the car wondering what to do (I mean, honestly). When I actually got my act together and switched on my headlights to see the damage, it turns out there was none... Like, nothing. And the guy was so nice, I couldn't have asked for a nicer person to bump into - but still. It was the cherry on the top for my very bad day, and I *almost* burst into tears on the way home. Which would have been a very very bad idea, because I probably would have had an accident (ha ha ha ha ha ha).

Another big contributing factor to my bad day was that my varsity computer got a new hard drive installed. Don't get me wrong - I love the fast-nesss at which it is working now, but I cant do anything on it (I don't have admin privileges anymore), and as such, it pretty much feels like its not my computer to modify and make my own, which just sucks. Its almost as if I've just been shoved back into the general computer lab with generic computers and generic programs which can't be modified to suit my needs, well, because it is generic.

I'm probably not making a whole lot of sense, but I needed (a lot of needs today) to get this off my chest. Which is part of what my blog is for. And right now, I'm going to go to bed. And then, tomorrow, I'm going to get up and make a cake, because cakes make the world go round. The end.