If Not Blogged, Did It Happen?

SO much has happened the past few weeks, but I have had no access to a PC and an Internet connection to post about stuff. Hence this interim post to catch up with summaries or small tastes of what has happened, until the real deal is posted in more detail individually.

The two major events were The Killers concert and my trip to Kleinmond.

Visiting AL in Kleinmond was really good. We fell into the regular routine of eating, sleeping, watching 24 or other DVDs, and playing Rainbow Six or some other game co-op. The familiarity was comfortable and made the interim period between when we last hung out and then wash away in virtual terrorist hunting, Keifer Sutherland "Damnit!"'s, and some subpar country fast food take out.

The Killers concert was a great experience. Brandon, lead singer for those who don't know, is a real performer and their music, all the hits I, mostly, knew the words to were uplifting. Being in a crowd of jumping, shouting fans solidified my appreciation for the band. Haven't stopped listening to their music since.

I have also started to read the Twilight series of books by Stephenie Meyer. After watching the second film, New Moon, I just felt compelled to read the books. And I am enjoying them, so far. But want to get into unexplored territory as quickly as possible.

Otherwise I am always at work, which is good, considering I have zero money and my credit card is maxed (something I hate to admit, but is necessary to say to help me realise I have a problem and need to fix it ASAP).

Not sure when proper posts will surface, probably next week when I'm at home for the lead up to Christmas. But they are on their way, including the appraisal of romance novel titles too.

Felled a Tree Recently?

Books books books books books! I have books over here and books over here and books over there. BooOooKs are everywhere. The joy of working in a bookstore: exposure to lots and lots of books. But even before my current job I loved books, and reading was always a passionate pass time with me. University has blunted this passion somewhat, or rather not blunted it but refocused it from entertaining fiction to entertaining readings required for courses.

I have not forgotten about fiction books and reading for pleasure instead of academic purposes and over the past year I have put on hold many books I would otherwise have finished and moved on from. Instead at the end of the year now I am left with a pile of books elbow high. (Well, not really, maybe if I stacked them end-to-end. More reasonable stacking would have them just above my knee. Still... a lot of books.) So here is a brief exploration of the books I am reading and intend to finish by the time this year is wrung out (to dry).

Foremost on my mind and at my fingertips is Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It is a long rambling tale following Roberts' life on the run in India and elsewhere. (A heavily fictionalised version of his own life.) More than just a novel, the character Roberts (and the author Roberts) passes on the various life lessons he learns through his observations of the Indian people and the philosophical musings of the crime bosses he comes to know. Not to be taken lightly, the book has to be sat through and read to get full enjoyment out of it. Just stick with it. I'm only just coming up on Part 3 of the book and am about 400 pages in. Still got another 500 to go.

Next up is a novel by Marian Keyes titled Anybody Out There? Fluffy literature requiring little to no thought on the part of the reader. So, so very shallow, and yet still entertaining. It's fun to imagine along with the main character and experience her life in the trenches as it were. Completely told from the character's perspective, feels like a window was opened on a very personal and real life. (I realise of course everybody's lives are quite personal. What I mean is the main character is talking to the reader about very personal stuff and keying us into her very unique phraseology and terminology, making it tough not to pick up and use a few of the terms yourself. Like "jolly boy". I'll leave you to figure that one out.)

Two Haruki Murakami books wait for me: After Dark and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. The latter is a non-fiction book covering Murakami's thoughts about running and what running means to him. Essentially a journal. The former is his latest novel to be translated into English (his latest published novel is 1Q84 and will only receive an English translation publication in 2011. Another reason for me to wish I knew how to read Japanese). I am not far in either, first two chapters. What I have read has kept them near at hand, but unfortunately they have not sprung into my hands late at night before going to sleep. Soon they will be, they will be (said in the Emperor's voice).

There are other books floating around, including the novel adaptation of the film screenplay adapted from the 1963 childrens book Where The Wild Things Are called The Wild Things written by Dave Eggers, who co-wrote the screenplay with the film's director Spike Jonze. Alain De Botton's A Week At The Airport is quickly being devoured by my hungry mind. And it helps that it's printed on beautiful paper with colour photographs in it too. A study of airport goings on during a week at Heathrow Airport, the book is small and short, perfect for in flight reading or while waiting for an airplane. It will open your eyes to the world around you in the airport.

I think there are several other books I'm reading and going into every single one would be tedious. This post is getting quite big already. Not sure what the next post will be about, but I recently had a hankering to showcase some atrocious romance novel titles and there is no time like the present. Another subject I could well explore is my trip to Kleinmond, which I am embarking on tomorrow morning for the next three days. Will make sure to write lots of stuff down, in between playing video games and eating sea food and pizzas.

Or Not

It is now five months after that weekend and I can't remember exactly what film I was going to rant about, so instead I will move forward and focus on the now. (As much as the now includes a brief look at something that happened at the end of July, but it relates to what was mentioned before, so will serve as the connection between the past and the present.)

Probably the single most major development of the preceding five months was my rejection of vegetarianism. The reasons are neither profound nor philosophically based: I just really desired a KFC double crunch burger. I knew it was wrong, but my desire for the chicken flesh in the unique KFC crumbed basting stuff was just too strong. Now although I do eat meat and chicken and fish again, I don't eat as much as I did before my spell with vegetarianism. I know I will return to it one day, but for now I have resigned and accepted that I will live in sin, as it were, until that day.

Otherwise, I am on holiday, as much as you can be when you have a part-time job. I am on holiday, from university, would be a more accurate statement. My job only occupies me at night during the week and either the mornings or afternoons on Saturdays and Sundays, in one of the four possible combinations of those two periods of time. Another part-time job is needed though: not earning enough to support my freewheeling partying lifestyle right now. (Ja, that was meant to be a joke.) But seriously, I have stuff to pay for and an extra job would help me tremendously.

Now to consider what that extra job should be... I have no experience as a waitron and I think I would throw myself in the deep end starting now in December, but it will only get more hecticker (my spelling) as the World Cup looms larger and larger on the Cape Town tourism scene. It will definitely create more strenuous and hectic work situations in the service industry. But there really is nothing else I can think of to occupy myself for a short period of time and get out of as soon as university starts, if it starts again for me (...), next year in February. More thought is required on this front.

Not to leave this post on a downer (technically not a downer, just my considerations of jobs and lack of money could be considered a downer. It is probably a downer actually, 'cos it limits stuff I can do, but still, I don't want to say it's a downer, although I just said it's a downer...) I am happy to have lots of free time to read books. Working at a book store affords me access to lots and lots of books. This makes me happy.

I think my next post will cover the various books I am in the process of reading. Should be fun and informative, if you like books.

Double Dosage of Depression Pt. 1

On the side of anger and happiness-dampening events over the weekend, in contrast with the Triple Threat of Happiness on Saturday, were two food-related incidents and a run in with an awful film. (Yes, I can count, and there are three events in actuality. But I have divided them according to the reason. The first two relate to food the other to film. So it is a division based on the genre of the events, not how many events there were.)

On Friday I ordered a vegetarian pizza from Debonairs and when it eventually arrived I discovered it had chicken on it. Thirty minutes later, almost 21h00 now, I get the right pizza delivered. I have never experienced any problems with Debonairs, this is the first. And being a vegetarian I can't just say "Oh hell" and eat the mistake anyway.

The other incident with food was Saturday night after Emily's birthday mini-party. For supper my gran had bought me a vegetarian cannelloni from Woolworths. I remove it from the packaging, puncture the film several times, and place it in the centre of the microwave on a microwaveable plate. Two minutes later, or however long it takes, I take it out, strip the film away, smell the delicious food, and think "Hmm good".

I settle in to eat it, cutting off a generous first bite. While chewing I wonder about what exactly they've put in the cannelloni. The packaging said the main ingredient was spinach. I swallow and am not quite convinved. I look down, and through the fantastic white sauce and layers of pasta I see mince meat. Brown, dead, animal flesh. A quick inspection of packaging of the actual meal, not the removable cardboard outer packaging that gets slipped over the meal, and I discover it is not a vegetarian cannelloni, but a beef cannelloni.

Now I'm flipping out. Not serial killer, screaming at the top of my voice, flipped out. But internal seething flipped out. Being as it's late, and the weekend, the customer service line is down, so I send an email explaining a bunch of stuff and what I expect of the company in compensation for my ordeal. (And yes I understand it seems overthetop, and I was definitely pushing the overthetop angle, because I really wanted whoever read that email to, hopefully, understand how upset I was.)

Luckily there were leftovers of a spinach quiche to eat.

To be continued....

Triple Threat of Happiness

Presented today were three reasons for happiness.

The first reason presented itself when I woke up, eventually, and found two packages next to my bed. Two weeks ago I ordered several action figures off eBay, and my optimism regarding such things always suggests a fortnight wait before I should start expecting anything.

Despite people shipping from across the globe to Africa.

My optimism was rewarded. I hastily opened the packages and discovered Captain America, from the Marvel Universe line, and Duke, from the G.I. Joe: Resolute line (both produced by Hasbro, of course).

They are both excellent figures. Articulation is bounteous and varied on both figures. Duke comes with an assault rifle, a pistol, and a knife, but can't holster the pistol. He can't holster it because there is already a gun molded into the leg holster. This is disappointing, considering most of the figures in the recent G.I. Joe lines had open functioning holsters.

Captain America is packaged with his shield, and really, he needs no other accessories. He is the ultimate soldier and his weapon is his body, mind, and his unwavering patriotic spirit. Captain America is all kinds of awesome.

Second reason was the mini-party for my six-year-old sister's recent birthday. It was just myself, our mother, Emily's father, my aunt Jenny and her two kids, and our grandmother. I was not involved in the day at all, except to sing "Happy Birthday" to Emily and converse, but what made me happy was Emily interacting with my cousins.

They are several years older than her, but have known her almost since she was born. When my mother worked and we lived in Joostenbergvlakte she would leave Emily with Jenny and pick her up after work. So she spent a lot of time with my cousins.

Emily doesn't go to preschool, kindergarten for American readers, and has no one to play with on a regular basis. Instead her only playmates are the TV and her toys. She seems to cope alright with the solitude, but it still concerns me that she isn't around other children enough. She starts primary school next year, so I suppose she should enjoy the quiet time while it lasts.

The third and final happiness-inducing reason on Saturday was the phone call I got from Exclusive Books. After my interview with them on Thursday last week they liked me and wanted me to work for them. I was elated. The prospect of working in a book store is so exciting. Surrounded by books for several hours a day several days a week is a great prospect.

Getting paid is a great prospect too. Except it hardly crossed my mind to even ask how much the pay is. I am happy I am working. 'Nuff said.

Six Years Ago

A couple hours from now, actually this evening, and six years ago my family lived in Joostenbergvlakte in a double-storey house with a green roof. My mom was pregnant. Sometime in the evening my mom said her water broke and we got our stuff together and drove to Kenilworth. Which is, for those who know Cape Town, forever away from Joostenbergvlakte; it is a forty minute drive minimum.

It was several hours later, late into the night, like 03h00/04h00, when my mom finally gave birth to Emily. A shorter birth would've meant we were both born on the 23rd of a month, but as it is we share one quirky stat: being born twenty years apart. I'll always remember how old she is on her birthday.

I got very bored that night. I suppose I could've stayed at home. I didn't want to miss out on the momentous occasion, although I preferred not to be in the room when it actually happened. It wasn't really an option, but I was glad I wasn't there. Not something you want to say you shared with your mother.

While we waited Bubble Boy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, was on TV. It is an awful film, made even worse because it was broadcast on e-tv (not to be confused with E! Entertainment), a local television station that has frequent advert breaks at completely inappropriate moments in films. Breaks occur even in the middle of a conversation or a single sentence of dialogue. It is that bad.
Being bored wasn't so terrible. I like being awake outside the home late at night. Everything is so different. There is hardly anyone around, I love that. Being alone seems so natural in the artificial lighting and ever-present darkness outside. The noises of the night are more tolerable than the sounds of a city in sunlight. So just being in the hospital through the night was an adventure in itself. I might've also taken books with to read, can't remember what. But I was quite into Haruki Murakami, as I still am, and his books fit the late night atmosphere perfectly, I think.

My sister is six on Wednesday. Incredible to think there was a time in my life without her.

Had One of These, Once

In another life, or more like a couple years ago, I had this exact blog title, but my neglect must've killed the original, because here I am: starting it up all over again. Not really a bad thing. I think the other one was quite sporadic and unfocused (not that I don't think this one will be same), so this is a new start.

The past six months have been fairly tough, bashing my way quite sedately through time and space, with emotion just barely scratching the surface. Strange where emotional affectations come from sometimes. Surprising origins, and very surprising non-origins. Things that should bring up some sort of emotional response went unnoticed and passed by without any comment or reaction.

Now there are reactions to the actions/inactions of the past six months, and I am of the opinion that it is not too late to turn things around. Stuff needs to pile up a bit before I notice something is amiss. This is one of those periods, the counterpoint to the previous era. Well-laid plans are needed. I think with a little concentration things are achievable.