Going fishing...

Next week we go on a trip to Knysna, Oudtshoorn and a town called George. They are all scenic holiday towns situated up the Eastern Coast of South Africa along what is called "The Garden Route" a stretch of coastline of pristine natural beauty. Am going there for 5 days of work. Staying in grand hotels and doing pretty easy work. Will take photos. My colleague is going mad about this trip and his eyes light up when he's talking about the preparation he's making for this fishing trip. Its actually really scary how crazy he is about fishing.
Although I'm not averse to stopping at a few spots to test the waters, I think he's taking it a bit far, he's actually going to collect mud prawn for us Monday morning before we leave. We're going to have the fishing rods tied to the roofrack of this hired vehicle. nice. Anyways, am looking forward to this trip away and hope the weather is going to be great. Otherwise it will be quite difficult to work with electricity or to go fishing. Hope to be back Friday before evening. Maybe off to Durban, another coastal city the following week. I'll go by myself and fly so then no fishing :(
Its the weekend!!!

currently reading: The piano Tuner

Sameness

Have fallen into a lull of routine and repetition. Everyday seems the same now and I crave something different. Coupled by the fact that I feel I'm being underpaid my minds been working a little more in trying to figure out a way to deal with this. Have contemplated escaping back to China for these few months preceding February. It would be Beijing this time.
Next week am off to Knysna and Oudtshoorn for work, two famous South African holiday towns, Knysna for its coastal charm and beauty, it's oyster farm and for being SA's favourite holiday city. Oudtshoorn is famous for having ostrich farms. Am REALLY dreading the work though as it seems overwhelming. I'm envisioning counting street lights, 1000's of them as part of an energy saving project. 1...2...3...4...5...6....... ........ 1...2....3....4... oh gees, off to Beijing!
About being underpaid, I tell myself, i'm not here for the money etc, but I'm getting less exposure than I thought and the intermittent conversations regarding the state of the world leaves one feeling depressed and makes things seem more hopeless. Its VERY depressing looking at stats on how much emmissions are being created by this, by that, by everything basically. Heard about a new car yesterday that has solar panels on its roof which produce electricity to electrolyse water and for Hydrogen and Oxygen, the Hydrogen fuels the fuel cells which run the car producing more water which goes back to be electrolysed from the solar panels. it's still a prototype science car though.

I feel Mandela is going to die soon, will be interesting to see what happens when he does. Need to get out of this lull!!!

Back at UCT

Its good to be back at UCT, seeing many familiar faces along the way. Today in the space of 15 minutes, I bumped into 5 people I knew. One of them a girl I chatted to once or twice 5 years ago, but the little grin we exchanged made my day :P

Last night a bum wanted money for coffee. I thought that was strange. Why not ask for money for something more necessary. Its strange.

Today a woman called me to open an account with their bank, but her telephone manner was not the greatest, she would say "WHAT??" whenever I asked a question and she couldn't hear clearly... so bad.

Am enjoying the environment in which I'm working. Seems everybody likes information and there are articles of interest pinned up on communal notice boards on a daily basis discussing things like petrol prices, Kyoto, the world green economy, jokes and funny stories, biogas etc... its cool.

My colleague told me about his girlfriend who has another boyfriend. he asked what would I do? haha. What a playa (the girlfriend) anyways, he's told her she's stupid and that its over. Tough question, what do you do if you have a bf / gf with another gf / bf???

Too many birthdays in September... September - gestation period = festive season. In the space of 5 days I've become aware of 7+ people celebrating birthdays!!! Birthday in September = less presents.

baby think twice

To celebrate my brother and cousins 28th and 16th joint birthday last night we went to Stardust restaurant on Newlands opposite the presidents residence. All of the waitresses and waiters are performers and at a point in the evening perform a musical number. We only had time to stay for Bronwyn singing Celine Dions' 'Baby think twice', she sang brilliantly. Such a good voice, then she went back to clearing a table... the concept is cool though and the Moroccan-y food was tasty too. Although my dad and uncle were pretty convinced that the oxtail they ordered had segments of ostrich neck in there. They know a lot about meat so watch out for the oxtail, I would recommend the lamb and chick pea stew.

Had a good afternoon watching 蜡笔小新。 Started from episode 1 again as my Chinese is better now, so can get more of the funniness.

Rules of Game:

1) List 5 of your weirdest traits/habits; 2) ask 5 of your friends to do this

- throwing around cutlery like a juggler in the kitchen

- not breathing when going to a public washroom

- instead of changing a teabag, just adding another teabag, and another teabag. also adding fruit juice to tea = fruit tea.

- thinking of speaking chinese when i'm trying to speak afrikaans on the phone

- the buttons on the duvet cover need to be on my feet side and not by my head side on my bed.

* I call upon Akira, Tony, 001, Cindy, *EVE*

5 bad habits I've tried to correct since coming back from being in China too long

- pushing
- staring
- Being rude/ not leaving a tip for fuwuyuan
- hooting while driving
- spitting

still reading the god of small things, things are getting interesting.

into the grind - life must go on

am getting bogged down by report writing, can't handle it any more. *sigh* its difficult with no data!!

the weekend was good though, another trip to Clifton 4th beach which is trying to get its International Blue flag beach status. Crowded as usual.

Had interesting gig as MC at my uncles 25th wedding anniversary. Sense of humour a bit dry for an MC, need to work on that.

Am still getting through : The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy, I am determined to get through this book, the book that so many great minds were not able to endure. Just passed the middle now, and am finding it enjoyable. Definitely a reminder of how we as children perceive things, the small things!

Parcel from China FINALLY arrived with 100's of DVD's. Included is Jean Claude Van Damme's "WAKE OF DEATH" a wonderful tale of revenge and lost innocence set in CAPE TOWN and featuring our own Chinese community. Look out for Allen , the tall China basketball guy as a Gangsta, watch out for Uncle Ming as a Chinese asylum seeker. See Quinton Chong get demolished by JC VD. Watch as his older brother Winston also gets destroyed by a visibly aging Jean Claude! Because it wasn't released to the big screen I have a feeling most of us missed out on this classic.

House sitting for 3 weeks while uncle Les and aunt Val and Keri-Mei visit Australia for a wedding in Sydney, they'll be seeing friends in Melbourne too. This moves me 3-5 minutes closer to work, can sleep 5 minutes longer.

gonna start playing tennis next week for sure!

oops... is global warming a serious issue??

Some people believe that although global warming is happening, it may just be a natural occurance and isn't happening due to humankinds presence... I did some research today on the topic of global warming, of course not the first time. The fact that we are directly responsible for it is the premise on which i based the decision to study sustainable energy next year. Humans not the cause, then no reason to worry.

Theres an interesting discussion about the issue as well as reference to the Kyoto protocol found here, and an article analyzing the media and the role of 'careless science' in exaggerating the global warming phenomena, or at least man's role found here.

I'm going to ask the guy in the office across from me as I think he does climate modelling. It was his birthday today and he brought chocolate cake and muffins for all to enjoy at 11:00am. If there is no sustainable proof for climate change I don't know what I'm going to do :| So in a way I hope there is the link, of course it is much better if there is no link and climate change is just naturally happening...

Afroturf and Tiger Woods

What stood out most about this past weekend were two questionable jokes. Nowadays if we hear the words "black man" in a joke our minds are automatically programmed not to laugh, at least here in South Africa. Not so much because you'll get the s*** beaten out of you in the wrong are, but also it's not cool to be racist. Instead one would give a disapproving look or grunt toward the teller of the joke, but probably save it to retell in a safe environment. Jokes with "black man" are not supposed to be funny.

1. q: what do you call 400 black people buried up to their necks?
a: afroturf.
2. q: what do you call 400 whites chasing a black man?
a: the PGA

I wasn't sure if these were racist jokes as I hadn't heard any for such a long time. Afroturf seems quite a creative play on the the word 'astroturf' and we all love Tiger Woods and golf. However after some pondering I have decided that the above two jokes are racist because: a) 400 people of any race should not be buried up to their necks as this is cruel and they could die. b) a lynch mob should not be called the PGA, as lynch mobbing is not a sport and is terribly violent and barbaric. Therefore it was correct not to laugh, but to give the disapproving grunt as I did.
---
Coaching the junior mens basketball team is going well, there is some improvement noted, and they seems to be getting fitter. I was planning to join the practice, but after 2 minutes felt tired so just had to stand blowing the whistle for the last 1hr27 minutes. Next week need to do individual shooting and give them each 3minutes with full court run / shooting.
---
One of the new SACS teachers got introduced to me last week, by another teacher and I was introduced as someone who's in sustainable energy, and then he said: 'Oh, a tree hugger.' I thought that was a rather daft thing to say. What does sustainable energy have to do with tree hugging?
---
Lifes not fair, the sooner we accept this, the easier life will become. In fact life was never meant to be fair. - don't sweat the small stuff

boys will be old boys

Last night was SACS High School annual old boys' dinner and we had a table from the class of 1997. It was amazing to see everyone after 8 years and seeing how different people had aged differently. Interesting to see who had gotten fat, old, thin, bald, rich, eccentric and thinking back to how we all were as children. The dinner is always a good platform to see how well you're doing. I seem to be doing fine except I should have a house by now... but otherwise i'm keeping pace.
Interesting fact, SACS gets R80 000 a year from the government to run the school (USD13 000), it raises R10 000 000 from school fees which is what it needs to run the school. I feel sorry for the other schools that can't afford to run their schools as the government clearly isn't lending enough support. I'm just glad I'm an old boy and not a new boy.

currently reading: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff - Richard Carlson

Employed

Have got a new job and started last week Monday. Its going well and is pretty interesting. Its at the Energy Research Department in UCT which is where I'll do theri MSc in Sustainable Energy Engineering next year. This job is to measure and verify the effects of power saving projects that are being implemented in South Africa. Its right in line with my current interests so I'm REALLY happy I got this job.

Was in a workshop in Emporors Palace, Johannesburg last week, 3 days later the place was held up by ~12 men with AK-47's. HECTIC. Unfortunately theres a lot more bad news than good here in SA these days.

currently reading: The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy