Verbal Diarrhoea

I won! I won! Woohoo! I won!

So yeah, a couple of weeks ago the lovely Brazen wrote a piece for A Cape Town Blog. She asked all her readers if any of them were interested in winning a scuba diving course for themselves and a friend. My initial reaction upon reading that was, “Who would I have to bribe to win? And will this cost me a kidney?”

So I entered. And then I made all my friends enter AND I made them promise to take me along if they won. And yes, even though I entered the competition, I didn’t tell any of you about it, coz let’s face it, momma didn’t raise no idiot and I certainly didn’t need the competition.

Anyway, I’ve yet to decide on a date but I am super psyched. (Can you tell? Can you?) I can’t wait to experience all that SCUBA DIVING has to offer. It’s going to be fun.

Also huge thanks to Tony Lindeque of Learntodivetoday for sponsoring the competition. Oh, and I’d like to thank my mother for bringing me into this world. I couldn’t have done it without you, mom.

Sit down, sit down on the prow to wave back
There might not be another stop further on the line
Look out, look out at each town that glides by
And there’s another crowd to drown in crying eyes

Lost Coastlines – Okkervil River

Not entirely sure where in Costa Rica this photograph was taken.

Can you imagine surfing in warm water? Can you imagine getting into without a wetsuit?

Blue Frog

The following photographs stolen from Lonely Planet’s website. Thanks to Dizzy* for sending me the link.

*

On Saturday, 25th of September 2010, Fahiema, Cougar and I will be going shark cage diving. Woohoo! There will be pictures, there will be stories and there will be lots of freaking out.

Thanks to Cougar for making this happen.

I realize now that writing my number with the words “For a good time call Sid”, in an attempt to get a boyfriend, was not the brightest idea. In fact it ranks right up there with the incidence of 1997, where I ground up laxatives into a can of coke and offered it to a classmate. High school: where your parents are under the misguided impressed that you’re just learning about academically relevant topics.

Anyway, yesterday I found the following text message on my phone: “Hi. I came across yr number on my phn bt iv no clue who u r.”

Now most people would have provided the interrogator with a simple explanation of who they are. I of course am not most people. As Michelle Branch so wisely sung, “I’m a little left of centre, I’m a little out of tune, Some say I’m paranormal, So I just bend their spoon, Who wants to be ordinary.” So I took the question and decided to use it to reflect on who I really am? Would I describe myself by the work I do? Is my job really a good reflection of who I am? Yeah, sure I spend 8 hours of my day here, but can I really say that I am my job? Do I state that I’m a surfer with a possible coffee addiction? Do I tell him about all my hopes and dreams?  

Ten minutes later, I decided I was a Meredith Brooks’ song and quoted the lyrics Bitch. Thirty minutes later and he came back with a similar reply (I’m guessing he didn’t recognize the “angry woman” anthem).

Anyway, here’s part of his reply, “Can’t remember who u r but can sense that you have gd karma. Stay as u r.”

And that ladies and gentlemen, was the highlight of my day.       

*

Anyway, my bucket list is over at Brazen’s. You should check it out.

My friend Dizzy*, who until recently has never left South Africa’s shores, was recently posted to Dubai on a reconnaissance mission. Dizzy* who was raised to believe in Jesus Christ, was sent to a predominately Muslim country during the month of Ramadaan. Read: The poor girl is forbidden to eat or drink anything in public from sunrise to sunset, in a country where the average temperature is 40 degree Celsius.

According to her recent gchat status she hasn’t eaten solid food in over a week. And by solid food she means bacon.

Of course, Dizzy* is a trooper and wouldn’t allow something as trivial as dietary restrictions halt her from having fun and she sent us a number of superb pictures.

Picture of pretty lamp taken by Dizzy*.

Anyway, before the girl left she had a going away dinner. At the little soiree one of the topics of conversation was sexual harassment, of course.

L: So the gay guy decided to offer his “services” to the straight guy.

Dizzy*: Who in their right mind sends nude pictures of themselves to the IT guy?

Me: Wait. What? You didn’t mention any nude pictures. You just said he offered his “services”.

Dizzy*: Of course there were nude pictures!

L: Erm, no. There weren’t any nude pictures.

Dizzy*: Hmmm, I wonder why I just assumed there were nude pictures?

Me: Because that’s how you offer your “services” …

The self confessed music aficionado: Yeah, I also assumed there were nude pictures. I mean how else are you to offer your “services”? Do you use a different font? Is Comic Sans flirtier than Arial? Do you use a size 12 font instead of 11?

The Cougar: It’s all in the dot dot dot …

Busy. Always …

Quote from the movie, “Invention of Lying”.

Jennifer: No. But I enjoy the end result of the job which is money. And the hours are pretty good for the amount of money I make, which I spend on things I like, such as clothes, hiking, drinking – even though I know it’s bad for me. (PAUSE) But I’d rather just get all the money and not work for the results.

This is the quote that popped into my head as I thought of travel destinations. Right now the list of cities/countries that I’d like to explore has grown exponentially.

The original desire to explore one city/country in each continent BEFORE revisiting a continent has waned. I guess I’d always assumed that I’d only ever have money to travel to five destinations and that I’d better make those good choices. But with two promotions in as many years, there is no pressing need. There’s suddenly this belief that there’ll always be time … there’ll always be money.

(Of course there’s also the fear that I’ll spend so much time vacillating over a destination that I’ll never travel).

After seeing this picture I’m currently in love with Amsterdam. More pictures of awesome European destinations available HERE.

*You can find the script for the Invention of Lying here. And yes, occasionally I read the sections of TV/movie scripts even AFTER I’ve already watched the movie.  Sometimes the dialogue is just too good not to indulge.

The following story told by Dizzy*

Where you at??? I just have to share this with you. It’s too funny, and gross, not to.

So I haven’t had coffee in a while, right? I mean a really good, not-self-labour cappuccino (and with all the references to the good Italian cappuccinos in Eat, Love Pray, I’ve been a-craving) so I head on over to our local eatery in the business park here, meet up with Adrian for a lovely cuppa and catchup. And the coffee is soo good. Totally worth it and I get to the bottom of the cup and notice this odd cube-like thing the size of a 10 cent sweet at the bottom of my cup. I stop smaking my lips and start poking the bugger. And it has this firm, spongy consistency and Adrian takes is out of the cup and starts poking it, both of us trying to figure out what the hell it is while I try not to gag.

So then he cuts it in two and it has this weird off white, almost beige, stringy centre.

So I head on over to the counter and tell the two ladies, “Excuse me, but I found this, this THING in my coffee cup”. And they start poking it as well and then the one picks it up with her fingers, squashes it and says, “Oh, it’s a piece of chicken!”

And I’m like, “Ewww what?”

And cover my mouth as I feel myself grilling*!

And she responds saying, “What? Don’t you eat meat??”

WTF??! Clearly missing the point entirely!!

* Editor – Yeah, I’m not entirely sure what “grilling” means either.

I only want sympathy
in the form of you
crawling into bed with me
Dance, dance – Fall out Boy (Lindberg Palace Remix)

A few days ago I was telling Juan how much I enjoy listening to the song above. Everytime I hear it I can’t help but start dancing and it’s not sexy dancing. “When I hear this song I don’t dance like I’m trying to entice a guy. This is happy dancing – dancing that will earn me more than a few weird stares and giggles.”

Juan: So what? Do you normally dance to entice a guy?

Me: Nooooo … But the men sure are enticed!

*

At the moment I’m totally enjoying Gold Motel’s Stealing the Moonlight. The song makes me yearn for summer and short little dresses. (It’s raining right now. I can’t say I’m surprised. It is winter IN Cape Town. In Cape Town, in Winter, rain is all you can expect for days on. It’s so depressing.)  

I started sending you a note
Oh how I hope that you’re happy
I hear you’re somewhere in the sand
and how I wish I was an ocean

Ocean – The Format

(I just discovered this song and can’t stop listening to it. It’s just so quirky and fun. Love it!) Lighthouse at Mouille Point. I found this sculpture while I was walking around Seapoint. The sculture was created by Marieke Prinsloo and you can find a whole range of them along Seapoint promenade. For more information regarding these works of art checkout www.walkingtheroad.com The ocean  Fire dancer at LaMed in Campsbay.

Yesterday I went to bed at around 5:30 and didn’t wake up until 6:45 this morning. That’s more than 12 hours sleep. Hell, I didn’t even get to eat supper. I got home, ate a handful of Cheerios and then went to bed.

Anyway, by now you’ve probably all heard that Paris Hilton was arrested for allegedly smoking pot in Port Elizabeth. Not to left an opportunity to mock a celebrity go by, Nandos came up with THIS brilliant ad:

And in other awesome things I’ve discovered:

• THIS blog allows readers to freely download mixed tapes created by the blogger himself and his friend, Liz. Some of the songs on offer are Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks, Cap Cod Kwassa Kwassa by Vampire Weekend and Lasso by Phoenix.
• And then there’s Peter Callesen, a Danish contemporary artists. Peter has this amazing talent of turning boring, flat pieces of A4 paper into stunning 3D installations. Here’s an example of some of his work.

This is called “In the Shadow of an Orchid”, 2005.

Found anything interesting on the web lately?