On a less dramatic note...

... I want to try and change my template monthly, or... if not monthly then around the holidays. So this month it's Valentines.

For those lucky enough to be spending it with their loved ones, I envy you... Mine will be doing what he does best... working in CT.

I'm still working on this one, so you'll have to excuse the odd patches of strange colours...

What a whopper…

I know this is really weird, coming from me that is, but my life is really sorted right now. I have a good job that I’m enjoying, I have a great set of friends, and I have a wonderful boyfriend… sounds too good to be true right? Well, it is… my mom just dropped a bomb on me. She wants to immigrate to Australia, actually no, that’s not entirely true… she wants US to immigrate to Australia. I actually think I’m going to cry. I can’t move to Australia, is she nuts? I have a life here… am about to get engaged… am finally, after three weeks, settling into my job… why the heck would I want to move overseas now? Yes, sure… I would like to move at some point in the future, but not now! Maybe in 3 or 4 years, sure, but not now! The thing is also that my mom didn’t come up with this on her own… her boyfriend is in the middle of it… The boyfriend that hates me… The boyfriend that I actually do not get on with and have absolutely no intention of moving in with. I really don’t need this in my life right now…

A small pity party... very small

A friend of mine called me the other day to tell me she is four months pregnant, and I'm so happy and excited for her. Having a baby is undoubtably the best blessing one could ever have on their life. I'm so happy for her, and more than a little jealous.

And while the world goes to hell in a handbasket...

...I watch Starz Bunnies

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness...

The heading is a Chinese proverb my boss found, and one that is oh so appropriate...

I said I wasn’t going to complain about this; however my concern at the growing electricity shortage in my home land, South Africa, is beginning to niggle at the dark corners of my mind… s’quse the punny.

We have been experiencing Load Shedding… a term which all South African’s are now well familiar with. In case you’re wondering the definition for Load Shedding is:

Removal of pre-selected customer demand from a power system, as a result of the occurrence of an abnormal condition, in a effort to maintain the integrity of the system and minimize overall customer outages.

In other words, they’ve been cutting our electricity off during certain hours of the day and night for a couple hours at a time. Certain areas have had their electricity cut for many hours a day; however the end result is thus… South African’s are pissed off.

At the moment Eskom (our electricity supplier) and the Government are playing the blame game. Eskom says that they asked the Government to assist them with finding a solution to the electricity shortage years ago; the Government says it’s not up to them, its Eskom’s fault.

Ok, but let’s forget “who’s fault it is” for the moment. What are they going to do about the lack of coal, therefore the lack of energy produced that we all desperately need? The lack of electricity has cost this country millions; actually it’s probably more along the lines of hundreds of millions. Not to mention the fact that the Rand is taking a knock due to concerned foreign investors. Who wants to invest in a country that is supposedly a first world country that runs out of electricity? What happens when the Soccer World Cup rolls around in 2010? Is it going to be lights out for the thousands of tourists that arrive in South Africa?

What I find truly amazing is that we actually got to this point. I am shocked that we have actually gotten to a point where we have to go through something like this.

Ok, so my question is… what happens if it doesn’t get better? What happens if 2.5 hours of load shedding turns into 5 hours… or 15 hours… what happens if it turns into a week? No electricity for a week?

Hand me that candle dear sir, mine appears to be going out.

Happy Birthday Lego!

Lego; those crazy little clip-together-bricks that we all know and love have been going for 50 years! I am sure that at one point in all of our lives we owned our own Lego, and have spent many hours on the floor building anything from little houses to giant castles.

Happy Birthday Lego!

The Bucket List

This one isn’t one for the whole family. It is very much an adult drama… adult being in that it’s about grown-ups, no sex involved…

Normally this wouldn’t be the kind of movie that I would go and watch, however, Richard wanted to see it, and seeing as it was his holiday, who was I to say no? I wasn’t disappointed.

This is an incredibly sad and courageous story about two strangers who have a common disease… cancer. Those who know me will know that this is a subject that tugs at my heart strings. My grandmother died of cancer in 2005, so I really had to push myself to go watch this movie.

The two men, Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) are told that they both only have 6 months to live. Carter decides to write himself a “Bucket List”… It’s a list of all the things he’d like to do before he “kicks the bucket.” Edward Cole, a multi-billionaire decides that they should add to the list and actually do all the things that they wanted to do before they died. And so, with the help of Edwards assistant, Thomas… who is actually Matthew (Sean Hayes – Jack on Will & Grace) they travel the world in search of their goals.

The ending is incredibly sad, so much so that both Richard and I were bawling our eyes out, but it’s worth watching. It’s a beautifully sad movie, but it also instils a little bit of hope in you… hope that two strangers can become best friends… that no matter how hard life becomes, there will always be some sort of silver lining to get you through.

This movie gets a 10/10 from me.

Visit The Bucket List website

Arthur and the Invisibles

Choc full of adventure, exquisitely beautiful and wonderfully heart-warming, Arthur and the Invisibles is a must for children of all ages. The movie takes you on a journey with Arthur, an 11 year old boy who grew up reading his grandfather’s stories of the strange land… Africa… (Yeah, I had a giggle at that one too) and of the Minimoys, beautiful little people who live in, or rather under Arthur’s garden. Arthur’s adventure begins when he tries to find the lost rubies his grandfather bought back from Africa in order to pay for his grandparent’s land, before a greedy developer snatches it away from them, and ends… well I’m not going to tell you that now am I.

This is a definite “must own on DVD”

Visit the website at: Arthur and the Invisibles

My week with Richard…

…was a lot of fun. It’s just a pity that it’s over. It’s the first time that he’s spent a full week in Durban, in fact it’s the first time we’ve spend a full week together, and although there were a couple “downs” the majority of the week was really encouraging. My mom also took some time off last week to take Richard out. They went and played Adventure Golf (aka Putt-Putt) together at the Pavilion.

It was also a week of firsts for Richard, the biggest being seeing 300 at IMAX. I didn’t realise that he hadn’t seen a movie on an IMAX screen before; otherwise I would have suggested a proper IMAX movie such as Shackleton, Arctic Adventure or The Human Body. We also went ten pin bowling, also a first and on Sunday we had cheese fondue, another first.

We had a mini Christmas for Richard last week Saturday because he had missed his due to work. In the morning we opened presents! I bought him Final Fantasy XII and he got me the Official Strategy for the game. He also got me a fantastic double CD and DVD set called Rock Til You Drop Volume 2. It’s fantastic. My mom bought him The Departed DVD and he in turn bought her Licence to Wed. That movie is hilarious, even though I’m not really one for romantic comedies. It was good to see him open presents and to be apart of something that is essentially family thing.

It was a good week, and saying goodbye was even harder than the last time. It seems to get harder each time. On Sunday the 27th Richard reminded me that it was our 6 month anniversary. SIX MONTHS! Can you believe we’ve been going out that long?

Anyways, enough waffling from me.

*sigh* … I miss my man.

The pics are: Richard playing "adventure golf", Richard trying to catch me as I escape from the camera and Richard wearing reindeer ears during "Christmas" dinner.

Heath Ledger 1979 - 2008

I know that there have been thousands of posts written already, and many words have been spoken over this event, but… I’m adding a few more. I’m adding to the heart-felt wishes that went out to his family, adding to the tears that were shed, adding to the surprised gasp that fell upon the world as Heath Ledger’s death was announced.

I am… heartbroken.

Heath Ledger was undoubtedly my favourite male actor, surpassing even the “good-looking” factor of Brad Pitt. I loved his movies, loved the characters that he played… loved that he immersed himself in his roles so that each one was as unique as the next. I can only think how blessed the people that knew him must have been, to be able to spend time with a person that, even through the tarred and shattered glasses of the media, appeared to be kind and gentle.

My heart goes out to his family and to his daughter who will never really know the father that clearly loved her. I feel like the world broke a little today… like, in a single moment, a shadow passed over the earth, leaving us cold and confused. I pray that he is safe in the arms of the Lord.

A New Beginning

I started my new job today. I can’t actually believe that those words came out of my head… “started my new job.” Whoever thought it would actually happen?

Day one was a success, or at least I thought so. My new working environment is very chilled compared to what I’m used to, however it has the potential to become very hectic, very quickly.

Another wonderful thing about my new job is that it is 32.5kms to work instead of 50kms. How absolutely wonderful is that? So I’m travelling 65kms per day instead of 100kms per day. Driving to work and back is like blinking and you’re there. It’s so strange, and so very, very marvellous.

So I had a good day, which is very exciting to me. Let’s hope that my days continue to be good.

x

Anime Channel

I’m not one for watching much television; however I’m really enjoying the Anime Channel on DSTV. Two of my favourites are Eureka Seven and Solty Rei.

Channel 111

Hmmm...

I'm worried about Richard. I got an sms from him telling me he's in casualties in the hospital. I sent him an sms and tried calling him, and then tried smsing him again, however due to the bad signal in hospitals nothing seems to have gone through.

I hate this, hate that we're so far apart. It kills me that he's in Cape Town and I'm here. I hope he's ok :'(

Untitled

Summer rains. They wash away the dirt and disease that settles on the earth. They bring new life to the world, my world.

When I was little my dad used to read me stories about a place called Home, it rained there too, but not like it rains here. Their rain was soft and pure, and if you cupped your hands as the drops fell into them you could drink the fresh, sweet liquid.

Busy, Busy 2008

I’ve just had a look at my diary and I'm happy to say I have 5 weddings booked for this year already. I'm a wedding photographer and although 5 weddings might not seem like much, it actually is a fair amount so early in the year. The majority of my 2007 bookings only started coming in from February 2007. In short, I’m excited about going into the year with 5 weddings already booked. I’ve also just sent off another quote, which I’m hoping I get as I’ve got these new block mount albums that I want to sell. They’re really beautiful and so easy to put together. I save an absolute fortune on them in time and printing costs, so hold fingers that I sell many of them.

If you’d like to have a look at what I’m going on about, you can click here to go to my website and view the block mount albums.

Gadgets for Christmas

I have wanted a Sony PS3 since I first saw an article for them in the NAG magazine. It’s the next generation console, taking over from the PS2, which I am already a proud owner of. I’m actually a bit of a Playstation fangirl, however another new console that hit the market caught my eye and the “need to have” sensation I had for the PS3 was swept under the rug. Enter Nintendo Wii. At this point you’re probably thinking, huh? Am I right? The Wii, although a next generation console doesn’t have the same graphic capabilities that the PS3 has, or at least, not that I can see, however the games are just so cute that I fell in love with it. I was lucky enough to get one from my mom for Christmas. Bear in mind, I am an only child and as such do tend to get rather nice Christmas and birthday presents. There are really only two things wrong with the console that I can see and that is that the games are really expensive at the moment and also that there are only limited games available in stores. This is, however, the norm for new consoles so I’ll just stick around and play My Sims and Wii Sports until either a new game comes out that I absolutely must have or the price of the games drops.

The other little gadget I got for Christmas was a new phone. My poor old phone was dieing a horrible death, so my mom renewed my contract for me and picked up a new phone in the process. It’s a nice little compact phone, light and easy to use. I’m not one of these people that use their phone to organise their lives. To me a phone is used for sms’ing and phoning, that’s it.

Well, that’s me for now.

x

Digital Photo Frame

I picked up a parcel from the post office yesterday. The parcel was a 40cm x 40cm box and inside was the digital photo frame my grandfather had told me he was sending. I’ve wanted one of these for a while, so when he called to tell me he got one with his cellphone contract and was sending it to me I was ecstatic.

The entire frame is around an A5 size, with the actual picture size being your standard 4” x 6” (jumbo print). It works well, and after an initial tweak to the brightness the images aren’t badly displayed. I would have liked it to have had a contrast setting as I feel the contrast on the images is a bit sharp, however, it’s still lovely.

Thank you grandpa :)

The strangeness of music videos…

Sometimes, I’m very confused. Fallout Boy has become one of my favourite bands, and so I thought I’d catch a couple of their music vids on YouTube. Strange… Very strange. I still think they rock, but yeah… strange…

Enchanted

This is a movie for your little princess. It is the ultimate in cute. The movie is a combination of Cinderella and Snow White, with a live version twist. Enchanted is a beautiful story about a beautiful blonde girl, with a heart song, and the ability to speak to animals, who gets engaged and on her way to her wedding gets pushed down a well by none other than the evil step mother who is of course a witch, and lands up in the real world… all in one day. She changes the lives of two people, a father and his daughter, with her constant kindness and hope, and realises that her Prince Charming isn’t quite the prince she was expecting. This is a beautiful movie for children of all ages. However, in the true nature of fairy tales, they all lived happily ever after.

I loved this movie. It was sweet, encouraging and a definite must see.

The Golden Compass

There is only one word to describe The Golden Compass; exquisite. The movie, based on the first of the books in the “His Dark Materials” series written by Philip Pullman. In the first book we meet Lyra Belacqua, an 11 year old orphan, growing up, thanks to her uncle’s influence, in Jordan College in Oxford. Her world is much like ours, however you soon realise that there are differences. Each person has their own daemon, which are like a visible, animal form of a person’s soul, better known as a familiar. Lyra’s journey takes her to lands of ice and snow where she must rescue her friends; children that have disappeared from their homes, with the help of a few extraordinary characters. It is a heart warming story of true friendship and one that I will definitely own on DVD.

The Controversy

It seems, yet again, the Catholic Church is up in arms. Friends of mine have received both emails and sms’s instructing them not to go see the movie because “two children kill God.” I will be honest and say that I have not read the books, however at no point during the movie did the two children kill God. I am a Christian, but I honestly believe that sometimes Christians get themselves all worked up over nothing. Perhaps it’s because I didn’t grow up in a Christian home, and joined the ranks of practicing Wicca’s for a while that I am able to recognise real evil when I see it. Perhaps it’s also because I grew up reading fantasy books, living in worlds far away from my own that I am able to tell the difference between fantasy and reality, and as such don’t get worked up over these things. I believe that if you watch the movie for the sake of watching a beautiful, visually stunning movie and just enjoying it for what it is… mindless entertainment for a couple of hours, then you will never feel the need to get all upset about it. If you are worried about your children seeing it be a responsible parent, either simply don’t watch it or be intelligent about it and sit down and explain to them that it is just a story and it’s not real. Do something which most parents have forgotten how to do… communicate with your child. That said; I wouldn’t take a small child to watch the movie. It does have a fair amount of violence in it, however no blood and gore. I would say that the movie is suitable for children who are 11 years old or older.

Please… to those people, who live with their heads in the sand, please open your eyes to the world around you. Yes, it is full of bad things, but it’s also full of wonderful things like fantasy books and strange worlds that need to be explored through the eyes of children. If we don’t allow our children the chance to fly on broomsticks, sail on a pirate ship, dig for treasure on the moon or fly through different gateways to other worlds we don’t allow them to dream or become creative and all of that is a part of growing up. We let their imaginations die. Please, let children be children.