break time

In between all of this chaos, hanse and kenny offered their couch to crash on. yumika and her friend, mayoka (i'm sure i've got the spelling wrong). yumika over from italy - studying operatic singing of sorts, both japanese girls, and kenny and me, two south african durban homeboys (something like that). we dropped hanse off at work, who just got a promotion, and went to richmond for breakfast and a walk along the river thames.

1 year

Flip, can't believe that's it's been one whole year since i posted any, well, posts. Not sure why. Just caught up in LIFE, I guess. LIFE gets in the way of things. There are always more important things than posting on blogger. Just had a really quiet trip to SA. hardly told anyone I was gonna be there, just a quick trip for my mum's 50th birthday, which was a surprise (for her). Back now a couple of weeks from balmy conditions to snow and literally freezing temperatures on day of arrival. Nice.

Anyway resigned from my full time job just about a month ago for the joys and pleasures of freelance. It's a different ballgame over here, the agencies can be good to support you, but there's so much competition, and so many talented people it can be quite tough.

A fish out of water. Gave up home, gave up car. Living temporarity in a house in Southfields, south west London, just a couple of stops away from Wimbledon. Tadhg's and my stuff stored temporarily in Wimbledon while he's in Ireland. How's it feel to be unemployed in the 2nd most expensive city in the world? Scary, that's how it feels. Just been looking for a place to stay, been trekking around London, walking what seemed like miles from tube stops looking for a place to stay. Eventually found a lovely place in Southfields, locally known as Saffafields, becos honestly, there must be more South Africans and Kiwis than British in this neck of the woods. You'd swear I'm in Musgrave.

Anyway seeing an agent tomorrow. Sink or swim, who knows.

2 days

I'm all packed. Didn't leave the house yesterday except to by a Yebo Africa calling card. Funny how the Indian people at the shop pronounce 'Yebo'. Yeeeeebo.

Heading into central London today to get bits and pieces done.

Michael Jackson just got into London yesterday. Been checking out a forum of fans speculating where he is today. Eventually figured it's fruitless and a waste of time trying to stalk him outside his hotel with all the screaming fans. He needs his privacy too.

Had two cups of tea and it's not even 7:30. Buzzing. Should give me some fuel for the next couple of hours.

Speaking of fuel. Quite upset that my car was possibly filled with contaminated fuel. Thousands of motorists around the country had exactly the same symptoms on their cars with hundreds of pounds of repair bills. Noticed some of the symptoms, like hicupping and sluggishness. Will be glad if it's simpy my paranoia, or bad driving.

countdown has begun...

been living in new malden which is just south of london. been living here for just about 2 and a half weeks now. though that i may have done a lot more social wise but time does indeed fly.

been mostly getting my shite organised in terms of my portfolio, cv and other legal bits and pieces. kinda done now and just chilling out mostly, eating too much junk food and watching dvd's. been through borat, the wild, taken (which is a late christmas present from nischol), and other misc stuff i've acquired.

leaving to come to durban on sunday. feeling really different from when i did same time last year. circumstances very different, to say the least. will be packing my bags tomorrow and getting myself together.

st patricks day is on saturday, so may go to richmond to a pub that supposedly had celebrations or sorts. or cheap drinks at the least.

the real world

It's been ages since I wrote a entry into this blog. It's been a strange few months. Huge changes. A lotta living in the real world with little concern for the virtual world that is the interweb. Isn't that just the way things go? Many of my friends use the web as an outlet. Got me thinking. Plus I also got a lot of flack from people in my real world for living too much in the virtual world. Yeah it's an outlet, an easy cost effective way to stay in touch, make friends and connect with the world. Social networking. But there's also another side of it. People use it as a mask. Like being at a masquerade ball. You always have that veil of self protection. That layer, that boundry that gives you the freedoom to do what you want and behave how you want to with slightly lowered inhibitions. Blogs, unless they are done anonymously, rarely give insight into the real person, though they may be symptoms of and insightful into the workings of the inner mind. Blogs can be superficial and fun. And they should be, but at the end of the day it allows us to quench our thirst for the basic human needs to connect, to share, to belong. Wether it works for you is a matter of outlook and what's important to you at this point in your life.

I don't intend to give up my blog. I still would like to share what's happenning in my life, my journey, my experience both in words and in pictures with whom ever comes accross my blog and my flickr site, but I'm making a resolution to live in the real world a little bit more.

second day the gym

yay! the last time i od'd on protein shake and creatine, so didn't sleep well. used the sauna so skin broke out and not quite recovered yet...

for every up there is a down. came home late and ate my food that i bought from the 'reduced to clear' section at tescos. really good stuff that's reduced cos it's reached it's display by date. cheap and great.

probably won't sleep well tonight.

need to get my visa stuff sorted, loads of paperwork to get together for my application in january not to mention loads of cash to hand over in the process...

flip it's 11:15pm...eek.

All I want for Xmas...

...is a NEW LIVER.

This past Friday was out company xmas party. Was fun. Got to see sides of people that you would never see during the constraints of a normal working environment. It was a bit all over the place though. It was hald at Whittlebury Hall, which is supposedly very posh. Diana used to stay there years ago. It wasn't free though, we had to pay for the room ourselves, though the rest of it was free.

Bcos there was a couple of other functions going on, and many function and lounge areas, as well as a couple of bars, people wandered and there was not much sense of togetherness.

I eventually ended up with the Roxio Toast UK team. Was fun cos I had a go at them for all the bugs and stuff what toast still can't do, but cheap free hacks off the internet can do.

Drove back home to Northampton the next day with a massive hangover...

visa museums and organic beer

this sunday i went to london for 24 hours and a bit. just got back this evening 8pm ish.

f1rst stop was to get to motspur park, south of london to see my friends tadhg and nat. they just got from prague (lucky bastards). they had a piss up these past 3 days that they were away cos stuff is just so cheap there. the architecture brilliant, and they described it as a most romantic city. the people, though, are rude and ugly. scored 2 t-shirts, a mug and a teddy bear which was won on a raffle on easyjet airlines. ;)

watched a re-run of x-faxtor. leona! leona! leona!

Today made an early start. got up at 6am to take the early train into london central.

1) stopped to have coffee at cafe nero with tadhg before he started work.

2) museum of london. damn these british people are so full of themselves, and brag about themselves and their so-called illustrious past. walked around uninterested, though took some nice pics, mainly in the 'refugees' section.

3) went to see a south african law firm who have a department specializing in work permits. getting documentation together, and will submit application in january. a really standard, buit long and drawn out procedure.

4) visited harrods. went to see where the digital signage that i'm creating (that still has the potential not to happen) might appear. harrods sells animal fur illegally, and there were protestors outside. i told the lady that i would go in and not buy out of principle. besides the stuff is overrated and overpriced...

5) met akhil for the last time before he moves to paris in a couple of weeks. met at this funky, albeit very dark underground bar where i had just two organic beers whcih got me very drunk.

6) perused the sex shops in soho for a particular item that i can possibly mention...ahem...moving on...

7) ate a falafel salad meal in soho before catching the train back to northampton. watched a bit of 'failure to launch' on the train, before falling off to sleep listening to this superbly soothing classical CD on the pod...

8) came home to see ollie put up a christmas tree, for which the lights don't work

almost 9pm. gonna retire early (in theory). nite.

strange sky formation

this is the view from my apartment. we've been having strange weather, moderate and frequent rainfall, icy cold wind and a tornado last week. Oliver (landlord) took a pic from our apartment that was featured on BBC news...

This pic was taken by me last night. had a strange linear cloud formation that stretched miles and miles... that tower you see is northamptons claim to fame - it's a lift tower which was used to test, well, lifts years ago. it still exists as a landmark. currently decorated with a small crimbo tree...

First day of gym

Yay! Half and hour of cardio, a full body workout, a quick dip in the pool, then a visit to the sauna. 9pm, and i still need to eat. don't quite a mens health cover body (yet). hmmm...