kicking it old skool

I went over to Paddington yesterday, with my girlfriend and her folks. Met up with the other people they where touring with. Even had a braai! Overall it was a very very enjoyable evening, it was nice just kicking back and chatting to all the folks. They parked their “Wyvern Shipping Co” issue house boat in this area called “Little Venice” which reminded me a little of Canary Wharf mixed with a trailer park (on water, of course). The boat itself is tight (and I don’t mean that in the Ebonics kind of way!). Imagine a train cabin that’s been converted to include 3 living compartments, a kitchen, bathroom and the rest. But all the amenities are onboard and over all it seems like a really nice way to travel and tour though the UK.

Got this thing where I try and not eat junk for breakfast / lunch / dinner during the week. But on Friday’s, all bets are off! So for today’s deviation, I decided on McDonalds. I even had it as a “take-in”, surrounded by little screaming kids and random adolescents. At the moment, my body is definitely “not-loving-it”, contrary to the Micky-D Media message ™.

What was also quite fascinating is that at this particular branch they have a trip beam of light which, as soon as somebody walks through it, spews out random salutations like “I’m loving it!” (in kids voice, like a clip from the TV and radio ads) or “I Want a Milkshake!” (also in kids voice). In fact, they where all in kids voices!! Other variations where “there are more seats upstairs” and “supersize it” (I shit you not) and so on and so forth.

Does any of that scare you? I know I was bugging out, and not only because due to the sheer volume of folks walking in and out the door was tripping this thing often enough so that I got to hear the ENTIRE salvo of greetings at least 27 times. Talk about blatant corporate brainwashing, shit. Imagine having to work there? It reminds me of a court case a while back, when store workers sued Harrod’s over the same, mind numbing, happy clappy music being played over Christmas time (you know, all the classics: Jingle bells, old Frank Sinatra diddys, over and over and over again) and how it was causing them undue mental stress etc etc. (at least, I seem to recall the story, can’t find it anywhere on the net. I make shit up all the time, so maybe this is one of those cases. or maybe not…. or maybe….)

Anyhoo, such repetitive bombardment can’t be good for the psyche.

…I still have a craving for a milkshake though, no idea where that came from :)

Not sure what I’ll be getting up to this weekend. My girlfriend has already phoned me up asking the dreaded “so what are our plans this weekend?” Personally I feel like doing as little as possible, maybe even less. Probably watch some flicks or play a game or two. We shall see…

[G], out

I was always prepared

I got to see a different London today, one I’m sure countless other folk see but due to the fact that I never have to be up that early, I rarely catch a glimpse of it. I had to be at work early today for some rollout related monitoring etc, so I was standing at the bus stop at 05:45 already. The sun was out though, and I dunno, something about the crisp, cool air, the absolute quiet of the streets and the very chilled Café Del Mar 12 on the iPod blew my mind! As I said, just the eerie silence of the streets, the total lack of life and movement was quite unique. I happen to stay in quite a beautiful area to boot, so green trees mixed with century old buildings created quite a unique experience.

Just had another thought pop into my head: there is this one park I walk passed, on my way to the shops and fresh food market, where all the leaves from the nearby trees have clumped together by a fence. If it’s been raining at all during the day, you get that very sweet, forest floor smell as you pass by. It reminds me of when we went hiking in Tsitstikama about a year ago, all pseudo-rain forest and fresh.

Been having a lot of those lately, random thoughts popping in my head, all triggered by smell. Like on the Angel high street, as you approach the Body Shop, you get an almost sun-creamy smell, only slightly different. To me, it smells EXACLTLY what sunscreen smells like when you’re lying next to that Olympic size swimming pool back home in Ceres Dennebos; mingled with fresh grass and pine trees on a warm summer breeze.

Could be that my subconscious is letting me know that, even though I don’t think it, a part of me misses home. But what kind of person would I be if that wasn’t the case?

I saw no less than 12 highly-pregnant women on my way to and from work last week Thursday and Friday. Must be the season to pop one out. Gotta hand it to these chicks though, lugging all that bacon up and down into tube stations and onto busses can’t be easy. Imagine what their backs must feel like! They’ll put Amazon woman to shame, lemme tell ya…

Getting all patriotic over here, with the build up to the Soccer (oh, sorry, “Football”) world cup. Ugh. It’s quite annoying, seeing little England flags protruding out of every freaking car and all this nationalist pride is making me ill. I reckon it’s two-fold, as in I HATE soccer (screw you pommie, its called soccer!!!) and I could not be bothered in the least with their patriotic “Barmy Army” bullshit. This is definitely not one of those “When in Rome” moments.

Heh, there’s a guy that sits opposite me at work that looks like a spitting image of Jimmy Neutron (the older version)! Very cool actually, he looks straight out of a 1950’s Nuclear family poster. Just add pipe, newspaper and perfect live. (Where do I come up with this shit?!)

Ever notice how some shop fronts or houses, where people live side by side, are only half painted? Like the guy at number 10 repainted his house, but only his part of the property, split neatly down the middle, down to the millimetre, while number 11 still looks like a brush hasn’t touched it in 20 years? Why are humans so fucking stupid? Can’t you just walk over to the guy next door and agree on one colour, and then split the difference? It has to be done anyway every few years, may as well team up. The joke is that it’ll not only instil a bit of pride in your both properties but also increase your property value. Maybe I’m missing a point here, but it doesn’t seem like a big deal. Just a small reminder on how humans can’t even agree on the small things sometimes. No wonder everything is so fucked up.

“But hey, as long as we have Soccer, all will be well! What else is there to life?!”

What-the-fuck-ever…

Last but not least: Xmen 3 starts next week (I can’t hardly wait!). They have these MASSIVE posters at most of the bus stops. I have made arrangements to liberate a Wolverine one from its plexus-glass cage in some God-awful hour of the morning. Problem is, this town is one of the most heavily monitored cities on the planet!! So I may need to peruse other means. Damn, I WANT THAT POSTER!!

My girlfriend’s parents are over here, touring the town on one of these. Kinda cool, they can park off pretty much anywhere around London they want. They’re close to where we stay at the moment so we’ll probably go say hi tonight.

[G], out…

Here are some random pics I've been meaning to post... This is from the first, REAL braai in London (not the Kevlar Michael Jackson glove)






































And now, London's biggest wanna be:

I was thinking yesterday about how much I really enjoy what I do. I pretty much go home with a headache almost every day from cramming information into my head. But it’s really empowering knowing that you know your shit! Being out here, all alone (per se), you kind of wake up to the fact that what you know is the only thing that can sustain you. It’s the main source of your financial success and security. I know that it sounds like I’m stating the obvious, but put yourself in a position where you have no supporting structure except yourself to fall back on, and you’ll understand what I’m getting at.

It has given me a very seriuos kick in the ass to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can. Being a contractor right now fits in perfectly with that ideal, but it does have a few distinct advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, you get to learn and think on your feet, the job stays fresh, so there is no danger of stagnation (if the contracts are of the 2 to 3 month variety). The bad side is that you do spend quite a bit of time pondering your next contract and if you’ll find work again, so all the anxiety of finding a job and fear of failure etc creep up again. But as a plus on the latter, I’ve gained a lot more confidince in selling myself to a potential employer, something I have been very bad at.

It’s not been entirely my fault though. It’s just that most interviews are horribly constructed! I’ve had one where the IT Leads’ personal assistant (his fucking PA?!) asks me a list of questions over the phone, jots them down hand them over to the dba for review. Jaw dropping… What the fuck is that about? The problem with that is that there are some questions which could be quite ambigious and in some cases downright contrived, so at the very least I should have the right to ask for clarifiaction. An interview is a two way street.

I’m not so much worried about finding interviews to go to, it’s just the interview process that I have to be subjected to everytime (a fucking PA?!). I guess I should see it as a test, one that you have one shot at passing. But when said test is moderated by a technologicaly challanged ignoramus (wanted to slot “Ignoramus” in somewhere for ages), I can only throw my hands up and cry “fowl, I say FOWL!”

Oh, and then there’s Legacy (*blink* *change of subject* Dang, you missed it). Recently been musing about time (lack thereof) and how it’s zipping by. One of my bestest friends in the whole wide world asked his girlfriend to marry him last night. Three cheers to that! Of course, I have once again been asked to perform best man services; I’m getting really good at that shit. My brother is also getting married in October, so I have to give my travel plans a good think through. I can’t jet around the planet every 3 months for weddings (although, I probably could, but would I want to? Yes, I probably would).

Whatever though, I’m gonna try and make the best of the next few years, leading up to the 30-something stage of this journey.

(and little Johnny, if you’re reading this, I’m sure you’ve spent more than enough time on the computer and you should go outside and play!)

as my memory rests