A traveller’s journey is never ending. It will take you to places never heard of before, unimaginable to think of and yet there you stand engulfed in all its beauty and passion.
Nepal opened its arms to me for a very small time and embraced my never-ending search to marvel in this countries offering.
Most people who have the internet will know about Haiti. My Eyes read over countless lines of stories of mayhem, disaster and sadness. Being 5000 miles away sitting in my comfortable chair at work its hard to imagine what it must be like sweeping the rubble for a hope or a whisper of Family members, friends , teachers and neighbors all leveled by the massive earthquake. I cant even imagine what it must be like being there or worse waiting to hear from abroad news of loved ones survival or not.
Can you believe it 2010. I feel this might be a milestone year for many of us. It certainly will be a big tester for South Africa as the world waits in great anticipation for footballs greatest stage to come alive in the streets of the “dark continent.
Many of you this week will be rejoining the workforce after a nice little break. Assuming clients, projects and employers ease you into the 9 to 5 I thought you might have a moment to check out this video.
It’s of a young, beautiful Ukrainian girl named Kseniya Simonova who has a brilliant talent, creating art in the sand. The young woman was the latest “Ukraine has got talent” winner and boy does she have talent. In this video she depicts a story of how World War II affected the people of Ukraine. I thought this might be a good way to put forward some inspiration for 2010 in a way that is not lame. Take what you will from this and if you take nothing from it then just enjoy the beauty of her work.
Amazingly after watching this video I did a bit of research and found out that the Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in just over one in four of the population being killed, with 11 million recorded deaths out of a population of 42 million. And here we sit in a recession complaining about not having enough money to buy our Grand Cherokees and Louis Vitton bags.
Here at The Blind View we are also preparing for a big year ahead with some exciting changes and additions but more to come about all that a little later.
The 7th of December was not only my birthday and remembrance to the day Japan woke the sleeping giant (Pearl Harbour) but it was also the beginning of what will hopefully make as big of a difference to the world as the other two events.
The climate change conference commenced in Copenhagen this week with all eyes on Copenhagen and what this conference would bring. Some people see this as an all talk event where people address the fact that there is a climate problem but no one does anything about it because well it costs too much money and we are all driven by returns, which we could never tangibly conceive by trying to save or help climate change.
Denmark and the UN are looking to prove the critics wrong and are making a real effort in not only outlining the issues but also putting in place real action points for the future.
As the conference goes on we will outline some interesting things that spark our attention. For the moment check out this website to find out more about how the conference is going.
As the bus drew closer to what sounded like an overcrowded beehive my heart started beating against my chest harder than ever before. The noise got louder and louder and my eyes were almost shattered by the bright colours. Next stop, over the newly kitted bus rapid system, Orlando Stadium. The commuters roared with excitement
It was time.
Last Saturday was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I had the honour of the seeing the 3rd biggest football derby in the world at the lions den of both support groups. This would be the biggest sporting event I have ever been too. It had been 20 years since the Derby last took place in Soweto and the anticipation was mind blowing Orlando Pirates versus Kaizer Chiefs at the home of Soccer, Orlando Stadium. It would be the 150th meeting between these two teams and it couldn’t get much better than that.
The history of this event is such an interesting one few could get away from the wonderful rivalry and respect both these teams have for each other. Kaizer chiefs known as the golden boys actually grew out of Orlando Pirates. In 1970 a very talented pirate’s player named Kaizer Motaung was unhappy as to how the club was being managed and so took six other disgruntled Pirates players and a few boys from the streets and started what is now the biggest club in SA, Kaizer Chiefs.
I was slightly nervous to leave the bus as I realised how crazy this was going to be 46000 fans lining the grand stands with pure passion for the game and their respective clubs and me. 40 minutes before game time and already the stadium was packed to the rafters.
You couldn’t even hear yourself think there was so much noise from songs, to Vuvuzelas to sirens powered by car batteries it was all happening. This was South African passion and atmosphere at its best.
With 214 days to go until Africa’s first world cup I felt very comfortable that it was going to be a success. There was not one incident, the police presence was brilliant, the fans were well behaved and the transport into and out of the stadium was first world. The only thing we need now is a striker in South African football
On the back of the Pastors good word I read an interesting article online today stating that the Asterix comic had its 50th Anniversary Interestingly enough Asterix as a kid went miles over my head all that speak of magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo” – a great order of the ages is born was a little to European for these African eyes.
For those of you like me who don’t know the main setting for the series is an unnamed coastal village in Armorica, a province of Gaul (modern France), in the year 50 BC. Julius Caesar has conquered nearly all of Gaul for the Roman Empire, however the little Armorican village has held out because the villagers can gain temporary superhuman strength by drinking a magic potion brewed by the local village druid, Getafix. The main protagonist, and hero of the village, is Asterix, who is usually entrusted with the most important affairs of the village, because of his shrewdness. He is aided in his adventures by his rather fat unintelligent friend Obelix, who has permanent superhuman strength, as he fell into the cauldron of the potion as a baby. Obelix is usually accompanied by Dogmatix, his little dog.
Reading the many articles documenting Asterixs 50th birthday celebration did give me that idea that I might have missed something and what’s more a lot of the wars and tyrants trying to destroy the village were symbols of modern day happenings. Don’t you just love that?
When you find a piece of fiction, which symbolises a piece of history. Tolken is another prime example of this or so I wish to believe. His trilogy got my mind boggling as to the symbols from modern life he was trying to represent.
Funny enough in an interview done over 20 years ago writer René Goscinny and the illustrator Albert Uderzo cautioned people reading to far into the underlying meanings of the comics. I think this was there way of not being beaten up by any half brain Italian patriot.
Asterix has some interesting statistics
• As of 2009 33 comic books of Asterix have been released • Its been translated into 100 different languages • It has had 11 feature films made about it • It has sold over 325 million copies • Obelix made an appearance as one of several imaginary characters in the South Park episode Imaginationland III.
It’s a phenomenon that will live on forever. The question I have is am I the only one who lives in his twenties and can admit not to reading a full Asterix?
"The Cell phone number is not available on this network, please be advised that you will be charged double the normal call for hearing this message Enjoy your day”
Have you ever had one of those moments where you are just fed up with a service provider? It happened to me a month ago I was so sick and tired of my cell phone provider that I called in and told them to take a small walk down an very long path. One month later unexpectedly my phone gets cut and that’s it.
Never have I felt so lost as in that moment after it happened. Images flying out of new titles for horror films entered my head like, “The last call and connection lost (5 friends lose contact for more than 5 minutes one by one they get pieced off by the silence that surrounds them”, “Freddie prince junior and the Jonas brothers star in the crappest horror ever made coming soon to a DVD store near you”.
The next thought was how many people were trying to call me all the time. I devised an algorithm in excel that showed me the sum of people trying to call me per hour and after many formulas with words like if,count,ave and Vlookup I came to the conclusion that I had just made a spreadsheet that counted the days of the week and also that no one was calling me. It was the first time in a while I felt truly alone. You see the cell phone has become more than a telecommunication tool it has become a friend.
Walking into the office don’t want to talk to anyone? Look straight at your cell phone and keep walking. Want to get out of a boring training session on HR processes and how to access your salary slip online? Stuff it, fake the call and you are out of there. Best of all, if you want to chill in a bar by yourself and not look like a loser while waiting for your mates that always come late, yep that’s it, pretend to be doing something really crazy on your phone.
I had lost my friend and now in all those awkward situations I just had to man up and get the next best thing, something that looked like a phone and could be believable.
As the days went on life got simpler, plans weren’t made last minute, in fact they weren’t made at all. No one was desperately trying to get hold of me because they simply couldn’t. And then it happened: I realised this stuff up with contracts is actually a blessing in disguise! I was addicted and this was getting me out, cold turkey.
How many of you are truly addicted to your phone? Most of you probably answered no to that question and that is okay, keep denying it. Let me ask another question: Do you keep your phone on silent at the movies instead of switching it off? Do you leave the room for a second and upon your returning, the first thing you do is check your phone to see if there was a message? Do you constantly take your phone out of your pocket without even thinking to look at it even though you have your phone on vibrate and know no one has texted or called? Still think you are not addicted? Think again.
I want you to do the impossible: put your phone in a draw for one day and just try to live without it, for one day, that’s all, and see how it goes. I am sure it’s going to give you feelings of anxiety, maybe even scratching tendencies. Best thing to do is tie yourself to the bed and hold on, its going to be a long night.
The last few days have amazed me. I am a strange looking, strangely personalitied person. I accept this and feel that even after these peculiarities I am still averagely liked. This week it all turned on its head. Someone gave me something to make me different from everyone else. No it wasn’t Aids that means I would of actually have to have partaken in something fun like sex or drugs and lord knows he has a different plan for me than that.
I got Swine Flu, yes the H1N1 sickness came to South Africa and just as the Dark Continent thought it had finally got something right by missing this one out. Coach of the flu team called up Africa and so we participated.
I tell you it’s been an interesting week. When you tell people you have the virus its almost like admitting guilt. Remember the first time you told a white lie to your parents and they caught you out, in my case I rode the dog like it was my own tiger and nearly broke the poor hounds back, how ashamed you felt well this was it. People didn’t want to speak to me worrying the virus might spread through the phone.
I was accused of passing it on to other people as if I had some sort of power to bestow on some but miss others. For the first time I think I truly, understand why people hide information like this and worse from each other.
Yesterday Peggy my second mother almost brought in a Sangoma to take away the bad spirits that the swine flu brings into the house. For her efforts of speaking with me too long I bestowed on her the curse of Swine flu. Seven days and seven nights you will be alone. Sounds like a fairytale except this happy ending comes at a cost Peggy finds her prince charming who gives Peggy the kiss of life and so sacrifices himself to the same misery until he kisses a cow and dies from mad bowline disease, the cow strangely enough lived by had a bad cough for a month.
People’s ways around unknown things is a strange phenomenon. One only has to look at our shining Athlete Caster Semenya, the women boy, to see this. Semenya like me has been outcasted by the worlds stage for not really knowing what she/he is. There are boobs but there is a beard as well so we question and take two steps back. The only positive besides the gold medal that Semenya has is a new support group from the ever-growing transvestite’s community in South Africa and boy do they have clout.
H1N1 kills less people than actual flu but people still come to work when they have flu, doesn’t that piss you off working in an open plan office and peter no good need a brain and a free coffee comes to work and spreads all his flu germs around the room. Thanks pete you prick. No one stares him down and beats him with a small stick, he could kill you you know.
Back to bed with some nice tea and a great cold. Curse that person who gave me this notorious disease
A couple of years ago the internet was being questioned as a mere tool for bringing hardcore goat porn to underprivileged kids
,
Broadway even conjured up a song which went “the internet is for porn porn,”
Those days have come and gone. The Internet highway has turned into an entire galaxy. One might be thinking I am stating the obvious but let me try to explain. I have just recently opened my life up to the internet beyond goat porn and I feel that as much as the internet information flow is growing my own knowledge is growing too.
The question is how have you used the internet today? I am not talking about checking your Facebook, then your work email ( in that order) and then some random news site which inevitably leads you to the dare to date me section to see the hot girl who apparently loves interesting conversation, good values and doesn’t mind if you look like Wayne Rooney without the fortune and the fame. I am talking how have you really used the Internet?
The other day I did an exercise whereby if I had any questions or needed to know something I would www it and take it from there.
I got up and feeling jovial with my new task went about exploring an eating option again I didn’t want to go for the obvious http://www.dineout.co.za/ to find the best breakfast place, we already know where that is (Fournos Rosebank ask for Pretty tell her I sent you and you wont go wrong). Some bread sounds like a good start and so it began. Google how to make bread not only gives you exact recommendations but it also gives you a Youtube link to see it in action, its almost as fun as watching delayed golf.
4 hours later I had effectively made my bread and done a gym session at the same time. I clicked on how to get a gym workout while making bread and voila, tricepts, bicepts and chest done for the day, believe me it works.
Next mission what to do for the rest of the day. Well I have always wanted to be like bob the builder but unfortunately my skills are limited to changing a plug out so the next task would be to build a lamp from scratch. No worries the internet practically makes the lamp for me. Alas the only thing the internet cannot do is keep your interest in a certain topic so in my garage I have a half baked lamp and printed instructions on where to go from there if I ever need them.
The next part of the day was great, friends had invited me to a wine tasting event in the middle of the sticks. Two problems the sticks is a very very long way away and I have no idea about wine. Right it was back to the laptop and low and behold I became the oenophile in two minutes , http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Rules-of-Wine-Tasting&id=787810 . As for the sticks problem solved by google maps.
At this point It must be stipulated that I am not a computer geek far from it. Just the other day I executed my first booking online for an air ticket, no more waiting in long queues and paying exorbitant travel agent fees. In this modern day the tools and lingo I am using is the most basic form of what’s out there. It will soon become a must to understand concepts like blogging, html coding and the likes.
The day ended with me uploading absolutely every photo I had onto Facebook even the out of focus ones and then tagging everyone I knew plus others that I didn’t and then updating my profile to saying Andrew is hungry, note this wasn’t done but can people please not tell me about the fact that they are hungry and need a bath over Facebook I DON’T CARE.
The only thing I hadn’t done was listen to a political leader speak about a very prominent issue but if I did want to do that, http://www.ted.com/ and bobs really your uncle there it is.
So the next time you find yourself at work with nothing to do, which I would say is probably why you are on this Blog, or just have a few outstanding questions pop the browser on and see where it takes you.
