so hot, so wrong...
* My sudden chocolate revival
* Nip/Tuck
* Celine Dion
* Strong wasabi peanuts
* Consistent good hair days (yes, I hate me too, hehe)
* Anti-diet success
* Heatwaves
* Sleeping in said heatwaves
* Fat free dairy products
* Getting my groove back
Nuff said. C’est la vie and all that jazz.
… but will have to endure anyway.
Ryan Reynolds one would taste better...
Sorry, it’s one of those days and I have been letting off a stream of swear words after a muchus frustrating time trying to settle a traffic fine (that I might add, I did not cause – being the nice ex girlfriend I am however, I opted not to send the speeding ticket to the ex and was planning to just pay it myself).
A few things I have to mention at this stage:
1. Apparently the traffic department randomly cancel fines, and having not been able to find it on www.payfine.co.za or even on Absa, I am going to assume (with baited breath) that mine has vanished.
2. The only thing about this long day of meetings, staff photos and too much to think about was the aircon in the office. And the coffee, and possibly the peppermint tea.
3. This heat makes me grumpy, and my patience just doesn’t stretch all that far. Minor laptop rage, internet banking lags and anything that doesn’t come right instantly is enough to make me annoyed.
4. A lot of people hate Jeannie D, guys included. I’ve always thought she was quite hot (as far as one straight woman can think another straight chick is hot), and kinda cool… guess not. I do think she sucks for having a perfect job though.
5. I’m turning into a mean girl (ok maybe just a naughty one). And I kinda like it too, you can still be a good person without being *too* nice. Besides, as I approach the cougar years I think a little bit of attitude goes a long way, I plan to kick ass and take numbers!
Just a few more sleeps until the weekend… who knows what can happen in that time. Things are getting more and more surreal by the day, quite an interesting month March is being so far.
Anyone ready for Friday yet?!
P.S. I am still loving this Rihanna song. And this one too.
City Pig: a regular in my hood
After reading Brazen’s account of the maggots, I was inspired to do a round up of all the disgusting, weird, bizare and just plain wtf things I’ve seen around this city in the few years I’ve been living in these ghettos. Some are disturbing, others are amusing, some are even quite cool. Sadly, I don’t always have a camera present (this will chance when I get my Blackberry next month, yay) so I lack photos to back up the weird sightings. Nevertheless, as anyone who lives in the city can attest, you see some weird shiz around here.
So in no particular order, here are some of the things seen around the city…
* City Pig who escapes from the Military Road farm
* Goats from the farm on the abandoned lots on Upper Buitengragt
* Giant squashed rats in the road
* Giant dead blue rats in the road
* Bald, tattooed men with breast implants and piercings at Lola’s
* Car bumpers sellotaped to lamp posts
* Palm trees with no leaves or anything aside from trunks
* Police horses on a daily basis
* Firetrucks on a weekly basis
* Cars crashed into palm trees on Buitenkant
* The Egg Man on Greenmarket Square
* The roaming Ethiopian around Loop
* Dead (shot/stabbed) guy on Upper Buitengragt
* Bergie-in-a-box aka Sophie on Upper Buitengragt
* The elusive and infamous Bo Kaap ice cream truck
* The not-so-elusive and infamous drive by snoek bakkie
* Tiny puzzle pieces scattered across New Church
* Hot topless tourist guys weekly on Buitengragt/New Church
* Film crew turning the old Mountain View Cafe on Long into a Parisian flower shop
* The Bo Kaap street kid drumming band
Here’s the thing about the city, while not all may share my love for the messed up dodginess and grime, for me, the weirdness goes hand in hand with the energy, diversity and the constant noise – from firetrucks in my road, to the streetkids making a racket outside, and the cacophony of Long Street at night… it’s both comforting and inspiring all at once.
It may be a different city and a different vibe, but Empire State of Mind sums it up quite well really. The lights will make you feel brand new indeedio.
In other news, this city is cooking to the depths of hell as we enter the millionth day of this heatwave in Cape Town. Surreal stuff.
think pink
Another long and hot day, with the only highlights being wasabi peanuts and power broccoli and pomegranate juice (thanks Chantal, awesome stuff!) and I’m finding it hard to think properly tonight. Which sucks, because I have a fair bit of work to get through. That said, I am finding comfort in beautiful pink things that make me smile…
hair bobbles
sweets for my sweets
strawberry cream
lucky waving cat
pink pooch
pink chirps
retro pink
And last but not least…
we do drink pink drinks
Oh and I learned a new French phrase… c’est chouette. It’s a handy alternative to ‘cool beans’ which I think I killed until it was dead. If you say it fast it almost sounds like ’shweet’. I have had Rihanna’s Russian Roulette stuck in my head all day, and then they were playing it in the Spar. This sense of surreal suffocation and wistfulness is strange… wish I could get up early enough to run in the morning to clear my head.
Too hot, too hot… sigh.
P.S. I want one of these gorgeous teddy bear things. Tres chouette!
moon rising
It’s been a funny day. Yesterday’s cat rescue mission didn’t quite go to plan – turns out my sister and her housemate are rather attached to Sonic, and maybe they are right about being put in a flat again being bad for him. I don’t know, I could see their point, but I was still a bit sad.
This heat is epic, everything takes on a hazy atmosphere and nothing seems quite real. Yesterday was still pretty awesome, if you count venturing into heatwaves as fun. I got some good pictures anyway, and got to try dragon fruit and see the kittens.
Chenin blanc, Flake, happy thoughts… all helping to restore my zen to a point. I think what I really need is a decent Friday with Patron and mayhem and stuff. It’s just too hot.
Sigh.
If I had a band, I would probably go for the trip hop, alternative new wave vibe. Like Nouvelle Vague, but with break-beats, scratching and a morbid Portishead twang. I would wear slinky dresses, with my hair all 20’s and lots of dark eye makeup. I’d have a bassist and a guitarist, a drummer, a DJ and maybe a sax player. We would be awesome, yet cheesy and people wouldn’t know whether to love us, or hate us.
We would play all the good stuff, like Johnny Winter, Dusty Springfield, Foreigner, Velvet Underground, Patsy Cline, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, The Cure, Nina Simone, Led Zeppelin, Gavin Rossdale, Carly Simon, Stevie Nicks and Bruce Springsteen. I would sing and sway and play my harmonica during the bluesy bits, and I would look melancholic and untouchable and vixenish.
We would play at obscure venues, possibly even Zula or at hotel bars in the early hours. We would be mysterious, yet never quite famous and people may even remember us sometimes. It would be fabulous and ridiculous, and whatever you wanted it to be.
It would be the type of band our parents would never understand, and it would be just as we once hoped it would be. All that and a bag of chips, actually.
Cool but not ayoba?
The copy team decided to do our occasional lunch mission today, and after a hugely awesome experience at Hudson’s Burger Joint on Kloof last year sometime, we decided to go the gourmet burger route. As it turns out, we should have maybe gone to Cactus, which was not only much closer but also could have saved us from the rather not ayoba service we got to enjoy.
Having booked our table for six an hour or so before 1pm, we arrived a minute or two after to find our table outside not ready. This was quickly fixed and soon we could order cold drinks. Despite running low on ice (hey, we’re having a heatwave after all) things were all good. Then we placed our orders. One girl doesn’t do carbs at lunch, so she requested her burger without buns. Another girl has a chili allergy, so she requested hers without chili. Also, while previously Hudson’s used to include a choice or side salad or chips, they have now changed this so that the side order is separate and charged as such. I only knew this from scrutinizing the menu – four of the six of us assumed it was included, and only believed me that it wasn’t when the bill came.
When the food arrived, not only was the anti-carb girl’s bun on the burger, but the girl with the chili allergy discovered that her burger had chili on it. Her burger was taken away and replaced. Her allergy luckily wasn’t severe, and she noticed the chili after taking the onion rings off the top, but if she had not noticed and had a severe allergy, this may not have been such a happy ending.
At bill time we had the usual phaffing and frantic working out of prices – individual prices aren’t listed, which makes it a bit more of a mission, and being a team of copywriters maths isn’t out strong point, obviaas. Nevertheless, we managed to get it all sorted, or so we thought. Shortly after returning to the office, the guy who’d made the booking got a call from the manager, telling us the included tip was R20 short. I have not idea how this happened, it may well have been from us being useless at working stuff out but we had covered the bill. Having not exactly had even average service, we also had to point out to the manager that things had been a bit swak right from the moment we arrived. He was very cool about it, even apologised and told us not to worry.
The thing is, Hudson’s is cool, there is no doubt about that. They play awesome old skool rock, the decor is great, the vibe is cool and it’s on Kloof Street. The manager is really great too, friendly and always on the ball and the burgers are pretty good too. But when service is below standard, that makes all the cool things suddenly not cool enough. With FIFA just a few months away, restaurants are going to have to up their game considerably because tourists are not going to put up with shit like this.
Overall, while Hudson’s is not a bad place through and through, I just don’t know if I’m all that keen to go back again after this lunch fail. Having done a bit of research online later this afternoon, service issues are not a new thing there either.
My verdict? Royale has been around for longer and it’s a sure bet. Neighbourhood also do a good veggie burger, and while the burgers are pretty good at Hudson’s, that alone just isn’t enough to keep people coming back if you can’t back it up with good service.
I think that James Taylor has one of the most beautiful voices of our time, and his songs are straight from the heart, goosebumps and lump in throat kind of stuff. On this strangely melancholic and tired Sunday morning, Fire and Rain seemed fitting.
Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can’t remember who to send it toI’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you againWon’t you look down upon me, Jesus
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve just got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other wayOh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you againBeen walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it’ll turn your head around
Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the groundOh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you, baby, one more time again, nowThought I’d see you one more time again
There’s just a few things coming my way this time around, now
Thought I’d see you, thought I’d see you fire and rain, now
P.S. The Carolina in My Mind version with the Dixie Chicks is also pretty damn spectacular. This man is just so talented, phew.
Caution: Tsunami Ahead
As Haiti still struggles to pick up the pieces, news of yet another massive earthquake hit the interwebs yesterday. This time it was Chile, and the consequences of this 8.8 scale earthquake were far reaching enough for panicked coastal regions within the Pacific to issue major Tsunami warnings.
Chile Earthquake Radius
Mass evacuations in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Antarctica, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Pitcairn, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, French Polynesia, Mexico, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Kermadec Island, Niue, New Zealand, Tonga, American Samoa, Jarvis Island, Wallis-Futuna, Tokelau, Fiji, Australia, Palmyra Island, Pojnston Island, Marshall Island, Midway Island, Wake Island, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Howland-Baker, New Caledonia, Solomon Island, Nauru, Kosrae, Papua New Guinea, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Marcus Island, Indonesia, North Marianas, Guam, Yap, Belau, Philippines and Chinese Taipei… all which have now been cancelled, yet the world is still on edge.
“There was no assessment of any damage in any county, which is quite remarkable,” said Gov. Linda Lingle, who said witnesses had reported seeing “dramatic surges going on in the ocean.”
Coastal Japan however is estimated to be a danger spot, and thousands have now been evacuating their homes. Russia too is not safe, with coastal regions around here being affected. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for the Pacific coast of Tohoku, the Pacific coast of Hokkaido, the Japan sea coast of Amori Prefecture, Kanto, Izu/Ogasawara Islands, Tokai, the Pacific coast of Kinki/Shikoku, Okayama Prefecture, the Ariake Sea and Yatsushiro Sea, the eastern part of Kyushu and Kagoshima Prefecture.
Haiti Earthquake
Two major earthquakes in about two months is pretty hectic if you ask me, and mass hysteria and panic aside, sometimes you do start to wonder if the doomsday people have been right all along. What if the whole climate change concern really is going to affect our lives in this day and age? Is it really our doing, or is climate change and/or polar shifting simply something that has been happening since the beginning of time? There are many theories about 2012 and catastrophic events set to take place during this time – I haven’t seen the movie, but there are some very interesting articles on this theory.
Growing up as a bit of a hippy child, doomsday was something I knew about from an early age. I seriously used to believe that tidal waves and asteroids were just one of those things to accept, like fate or karma or something along those lines. Cause and effect meant little to me of course, being on the young side but now I am starting to wonder. Either someone up there is getting a bit annoyed, or we really are managing to implode the planet after all… or perhaps this is just a natural cycle.
When I was at the aquarium we had a talk from someone who made the Living Dead exhibition models, and she talked about various stages including major asteroids that hit during dinosaur eras that sent acid rain and put the world into darkness for months. Up until that talk, I had little interest – I’d begun to question the tidal wave theory when 2000 passed without event. A lot of what she said made sense though, especially the part about human interference having less impact than we like to think.
So now what, do we start repenting for our sins as a planet, or do we move away from the coast and head for the hills? Or do we wait and see what happens next?
Or (and here’s a big thought) do we just focus on doing what we’ve always been doing, but maybe a little more greener, and a lot more compassionate and respectfully?
Well it’s something like eleventy million degrees out there, and despite feeling like something the cat dragged in, I have managed to get all my work done and still go out for coffee. What I took for a bad hangover on Friday saw me going home to my death bed before lunchtime, and considering that I still feel lousy, I guess I either have a bug or my ear issues are to blame.
Whatever the case, with a bit of Robert Smith, some vitamin water and my trusty fan, I’m feeling a little bit ok. Nothing beats The Cure when you’re in a funny mood… cheerfully morbid, uplifting alternative – I don’t know how they do it, but it always makes things feel good again.
A few thoughts…
1. Insomnia is a bitch. I woke up somewhere before 4am this morning, tried and failed to get back to sleep, got up to phaff around online, slept for a half hour, woke up again, finally got a few hours sleep. And I feel shattered and uneasy, sucks!
2. While I’m in rant mode, it also annoys me that I am not feeling on top of my game right now. Ears or whatever, it’s a sad day when you can’t enjoy a bit of Long Street mayhem without wanting to die the next day. And I’m not sure I want to risk a repeat performance this weekend, not if I’m doing this cat mission tomorrow. But who knows, I may change my mind later. Ack.
3. Do you know how hard it is to find ghd hair products in the City Bowl? Lank hard as it turns out, apparently Partners in Gardens Centre has, but it’s too much of a mission to get there today so I have to wait to get the thermal protector spray I need.
4. Being the clutz I am, somehow I manage to wack my ankle on the back of my slops when I walk. A little scab was bad enough, today on my way home from coffee on Kloof Street I knocked off the scab and had to walk up my hill bleeding, with grocery bags in each hand and weird looks from neighbours.
5. In case I haven’t mentioned it enough, tomorrow I will most likely (barring any changes of plan) be fetching my prodigal emo cat from P-berg. This is very exciting indeed, I’ve gotten cat food and cat litter, and can’t wait to not only retrieve Sonic but also to see the new kittens and enjoy some P-berg chillax!
I feel wistful and weird today. In a strange state of limbo, a nap is quite possibly in order. And some peppermint rooibos and wasabi peanuts perhaps, hmm.
