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!

...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!

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!

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.

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!

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!