The big weekend has past

And so another sporting weekend has past, The Bulls tamed the cheetahs, Liverpool lost, Man U won, Cobras lost the cricket however South Africa won the hong kong 6's needing 5 runs off the last ball, that was exciting. Serina subdued her sister Venus in the season ending WTA championship uhmm what else did I watch, oh yes, Red Bull managed a one two in the final grand prix race of the year and Derato Tuli became the first Ethiopian female to win the New York marathon. Damn I watched lots of sport this weekend.
Counting the days till my leave starts, cannot wait till Friday woohoo.

Short post, until next time Au revoir

A big Weekend

This weekend is a big sporting weekend, with the Currie Cup Final, The big Soweto Derby, that being Kaizer Chiefs vs Orlando Pirates. There is cricket with Aussies Playing India and on the domestic front we have the MTN 40 in full swing. Forgot to mention the Premier League Soccer as well, I will hold thumbs for Liverpool and Man Utd (not) :)

I take it I will not have a happy wife seeing I will be spending mot of my time in front of the TV and hoping the Cheetahs win tomorrow.

I am currently counting down the days till I start my leave and head down to Cape Town for 2 weeks. One more week of work and I cannot wait to see my family again. Have not been to CT in over a year so I am sure a lot has changed since I have been there.
I will be attending my cousins' wedding so I will most probably meet all the family there and then there is no need to visit and I can concentrate my efforts on enjoying myself and showing My wife, daughter and in-laws a good time.
My wife is licking her lips for the lobster, a place we visit regularly when in CT is Mariners Wharf in hout bay, will go eat there and take a boat ride to seal island, will be cool.

Once in CT time usually flies by and the trek back home is never something one looks forward to.
Work was boring this week albeit we were really busy because of mail servers problems (sorry Azra :)) Hopefully you were not affected by this.

Anyway, enough chit chat from me for now, hopefully next week will speed by.

This and that the past weekend

My weekend excitement started on Friday afternoon when we were hit with a hail storm and then watching all cars trying to get undercover. I was on Main reef road and pulled into the Engen at Minty's as I needed to put in Petrol but no cars would budge from the pumps as the hail was pouring down. This is the 2nd time I've encountered a hail storm of this magnitude, every time a piece of hail hit the car I would duck and dive in the car.
I then proceeded to the BP in Mayfair to throw in petrol there and decided to get Pizza from Romans and took some pics of the surrounds.
This is the park opposite the BP and romans


This was taken against the wall of Upper Crust


Another pic of the park taken from Romans


This Pizza was lekker.
On Saturday we took the kids to the Zoo, was disappointed in the aquarium section cause I like my fish, there was only 2 displays in the reptile section. The kids enjoyed themselves but as an adult di not enjoy it and I had to pay R10 for can of coke. Any ways it was a day for the kids and they enjoyed it, Aasia took some pics. I just took of the polar bear and here he/she is :)


On Sunday we went to China Mall to look for gifts as we are attending a wedding in Cape Town in November, these are the gifts that get handed out at the wedding as souvenirs, took some pics of possible gifts and sent em to Cape Town family for dicisions

Here are som of the pics taken




The day ended with us taking my in-laws to Spur in Rosebank as it is my mom-in-laws birthday today, may she have many more Insh'alla. The food was lekka as usual.

To End Liverpool won yesterday and even though I am not a supporter of either it is funny to watch the liverpool supporters come out of the wood and send insults to the Man U fans. All I say, look at the log positions. Yes Man U fans would have done exactly the same thing if Man U had to win, but I guess they can boast considering the record in the league.
Once again the team I support lost, 5 - 0 in the week and 3 - 2 yesterday, well it was not unexpected.

Will blog again when I have something to say, for now I am out.

Why men don't bake

So, I was bored and decided to make some cookies, in the past I have made scones and raisin bread, but that was done from reputable recipes.

I decided to buy a pre mix of chocolate chip cookies and the pic of what I bought is below.



Now it says, all you need is oil, an egg and some water and then mix. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees, put into oven for 12 to 13 minutes and bob is your uncle. I should not believe such things cause Bob was never my uncle :)

Ok by now, I had mixed the cookie dough and placed it into a baking pan and put it into the oven, so far so good. See pic.


Well after about 8 mins I started smelling somethin gurning, or rather Aasia did. She was visiting and I wanted to impress with my baking prowess. yeah right :)

The end result turned out to be this:


Well at least it tasted like cookies, I now believe that men like me should stay out of the kitchen, only venture there when really necessary, like to get out of the fridge.

The weekend was spent watching cricket and rugby, not gonna talk about it cause bloody Province lost to the Lions.

Ciao for now.

Simply Amazing

I don't too much television unless there is some sporting event happening, I love watching sports. The past weekend however I found myself engrossed in an Amazing Race marathon over the weekend. The whole season 12 and 13 was aired.
I use to watch it on SABC but always missed an episode here or there and this was the perfect excuse to sit in bed all weekend seeing that the weather was a bit crappy.
It is just funny how the people who won the race become so humble and love their siblings/partners so much and the million is just a bonus but they would not trade it because of the growth in the relationship because that is worth more than the million, it is easy to say that once you have the million hey :)
The runner up also is humble defeat not willing to trade the bond with their respective partners for the million because they have gained so much more, bullshit, in their mind they saying F##%, why was I so slow or we rather, analysing what they could have done better.

Anyways it was enjoyable television, looking forward to season 14, I am sure it is going to pull at the heart strings as there is a deaf and dumb person in the race and they will most certainly highlight the personal achievements of this individual.

Well the ICC championship surprised a few including myself, who would have dreamt you would find New Zealand contesting the final? certainly not me. I will be hoping that they beat the Aussies today but the Aussies seemed to have peaked at the right time, but they always at their peak aren't they?

Province moved to the top of the log of the ABSA currie cup with a flawless victory over their neighbours, so much for the pundits expecting a Bull - province final, well it can still happen, have to wait for the last game of the round next week to see if WP can accumulate 5 points against the Lions because the sharks should get 5 against the Griquas. I definitely hope not :)

Everton drew with Stoke, at least we never lost and are still in the ten with a game in hand. Liverpool lost to Chelsea which put the blues on top after Man Utd drew with Sunderland, the devils will blame the referee for that and those that do not support Man Utd will blame the referee too saying he has an Alex Ferguson watch on his wrist.

Well that is it for another uneventful weekend.

Frustration

We live in a time where everything is hectic, everything must be done yesterday to try and stay ahead in the rat race. We are so tightly wound up that when a balloon pops we shit ourselves. we attack everyone and anyone for the slightest nuance that does not fit into our daily routines.

I need to unwind, I need to party and party hard with no stress.
I don't think I've been to a club in the past 10 years, even though I have 2 left feet, I still like to bob my head to disco tunes. I wanna relive those old disco classics that made the Galaxy in Cape Town famous. I wanna watch the disco ball go round and round.

I wanna dance to the following tune:


September - the best month of the year in my opinion albeit biased :)

This was one of Space Oddessey's favourite tunes when DJ Supafly was on the decks :)



Debbie Gibson, If we could be together, I use to smaak that number.

Going down memory lane sure is a trip and I wanna go back there because I was carefree then with no worries.

Anyway, back to reality for me now until I have that 80's disco party and buy a disco ball :)

This and That

I have not blogged in over week now and not much has happened, Eid has come and gone, people get into their old routines and life's trials and tribulation continues.
My birthday came and went, don't feel any older though, don't feel any younger either. honestly I don't feel like am anything over 30 even though I am well beyond that, that is my mind does not feel that old, the body is another thing, with aches and pains and one thinking you as fast as you were when you were in your teens.
If you are not fit, no matter what the mind tells you or your heart urges you to do, don't do it, you will end up hurting yourself.
My sister sent me a webcam for my b/day so that we can skype with each other, was cool seeing the family on Eid day even though it was via skype.
My uncle commented how he liked my in-laws because the family seemed like a tight knit group. Even though being a loner myself there is nothing like family to make you smile, cry, hurt, angry, feel loved etc. I've always been withdrawn from all family, but this past few weeks I've come to understand the importance of family, I think,
It's good hearing your mother's voice full of smiles when she speaks to you on the phone.
Apologies for not attending all family functions though. Sometimes, even hough intentions are the best, I hate going anywhere without dough and without being able to buy my daughter something she wants. I do however try to be accommodative and will assist with anything where possible.

On the sporting front, it was not a good cricketing week was it? Losing to both Sri Lanka and England was a bitter pill to swallow, Our bowling was kak, but I should not comment from the sidelines, I am sure I could not have done better, I am convinced of that, but that is why I am a SUPPORTER. I don't get paid for making comments like saying our cricket team is untouchable, damn that sets you up for failure and I expected it, anyways enough of that ranting, I still support the cricket team 100%.
The places for the semi-finals of the currie cup is shaping up nicely with the Sharks and Province looking like very good contenders for home births. I doubt Griquas will make it to the semis with my guess it would be Sharks, Province, Bulls and Cheetahs, however the lions should not be counted out, they could surprise one and all.
On the Soccer Front, Chelsea faulted this week to everyone's surprise gifting the top spot of the league to Man Utd, who along with Liverpool scored impressive wins. Everton subjected Portsmouth to their 7th league defeat of the season which made me smile, at least we in the right side of the table this week.

I should really get off my arse and do something so that my life be a little more exciting, maybe I'll go visit the Sexpo this week

Thats all for now,

Eid Wishes

I would like this opportunity to wish everybody a joyous and happy Eid-ul-Fitr Insha'alla, May we take this time to reflect and open our hearts and put a smile on those faces that are less fortunate than ourselves.
Open your doors to strangers so that they can share in the Barakat of your table.
We live in dangerous times and security is of utmost importance however this is one day our doors should not be locked, our electric fences should not be turned on and our gates should not be closed.

I was searching for something beautiful and meaningful to say but came across something much more simple that means a lot

E - Embrace each and everyone with open heart
I - Inspire with an impressive attitude
D - Distribute pleasure to all

Got ithere


Sourced from here

Love and peace to all and keep smiling

of birthdays and the weekend that was

September, a month filled with birthdays, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish my sister and uncle who celebrated their birthdays on the 11th a happy belated birthday, I hope that the day was filled with joy and nice things, not much for adjectives :) My cousin also celebrated his birthday on the 10th, my cousin-in-law (dunno if there is such a thing) celebrated her birthday yesterday - Happy Birthday Bahia, hope you have many more Insha'alla, the most important birthdays are coming up on the 22nd, namely my other cousin-in-law Aasia Fredericks and yours truly me :)
So as can be noted our parents made good use of the December holidays :)

In an earlier post I said I would make a concerted effort to speak to my relatives more often and I am glad to say that I have been calling my Mother regularly as well as my one sister, still need to work on speaking to my other sis on a more regular basis, just phoned to wish her a happy birthday. I also invited my uncle to Iftaar and he has since had Iftaar with us twice (he is the only family from my side I have in Jhb) and he promised to bring some snoek and smoke snoek from CT as he is spending Eid in Cape Town with his family. Yesterday my wife's whole family barring her brother had Iftaar together for the first time this month which is good and there was no animosity shown towards each other - they are 5 sisters and 1 brother and with women one never knows what is going to happen. Algamdoellilah the night went of well.

Another sporting weekend has past and not without too much controversy.
Kim Clijsters won the US Open and I agree with Edge of Where that she retired to early, there was however some controversy in her semi-final against guess who? none other than Serena Williams. Serena got foot faulted when Kim was on Match point and proceeded to throw her toys out of the cot and verbally abusing the lines woman, see video below, this resulted in point deduction and handing the match to Kim Clijsters.


The Boks sealed the Tri-Nations with their third successive win against the Kiwis, go Bokke.
Brawn GP once again was on top of the podium in the Italian F1 with Barrichello edging out team mate Button.
On the soccer front there were impressive wins for Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea, won't say Chelsea's was impressive though, beating Stoke 2-1. My team Everton continues to struggle going down 2-1 to Fulham.
There was also some absorbing cricket on the tele this past weekend where England had to beat the Aussies to starve of defeat in their 7 match series and Sri Lanka taking on India in their tri-series event, with New Zealand already knocked out of the competition. England could not muster enough guns to beat the Aussies and going down by 7 Wickets. India were hoping for a win so they could hold the number 1 spot in ODI's however they got beaten by 139 runs by Sri-Lanka.

As the Champions Trophy nears I personally don't think we are going to make the finals, even though I am patriotic, my gut says we are not because we entering the tournament with no match practice and our last games being the Twenty 20 tourny a couple of months back. Hopefully the guys prove me wrong.

Thats all from me for now and hou die blink kant bo

Time to go back, way baaaack

This morning I was listening to the radio and they were discussing dares you did as a kid or something that you did that got you into trouble and that just brought back flashbacks of a particular incident that happened in my teenage years.

I was living in Mitchell's Plain and had a group of friends that did things together, We had Blommie, Lange (a relative that had glasses and stuttered terribly and by all means wanted to be a gangster)Jameel*, Zain*, Ismail*, Koppe and myself Fivebob.

One night we decided to go for walk and visit some girls in another area of MP, this was around 11pm at night ( as you can see MP was safe back then :). Being a group of mischievous boys we decided to play tok tokkie ( throwing stones on roofs ) and lui die klokkie ( ringing bells and running away ). While throwing stones and ringing bells an running hiding behind corners to see if people actually opening their doors, we had no cares in this world and we had smiles on our faces cause we were on they way to visit some kinnes ( lady folk ).

Before we knew it we heard the sound of sirens coming in our direction, we had managed to throw stones on the roof of the commander of the ghost squad, a notorious division within the MP police force.

We started to scatter in all directions, Jameel and myself stuck together and jumped over walls and fences to get away. Seeing that blommie had longish hair, he and *Ismail walked hand in hand as girlfriend and boyfiriend and as the van approached them they embraced in a passionate uhhmmm, hence, the cops just drove by.

*Jameel and myself found ourselves sitting in a pigeon coup for over an hour, at that point we did not know what had happened to Lange or Koppe. So after about 90 mins we imagined everything was quiet, we got out of the pigeon coup and walked home. As we reached *Jameel's house we saw his dad standing with a belt and as we walked up all he could say was, " O julle wil mos dagga gaan koop, ek sal jou dagga wys" and proceeded to moer *Jameel with the belt, I just continued walking to my house confused at the dagga story. Luckily I was alone at home as my parents were on holiday in Durban, I heard a knock on our door and peered out of the window, it was Lange and the commander of the ghost squad and naturally I did not open.

My aunt lived next door to us so Lange to these guys there, and my aunt did not open the door either. Lange use to live with my uncle (ragam) and was scared to take these guys there but eventually he did.

Because Lange was a stutterer and a very nervous one at that he just answered yes to everything the cops said and that is how the dagga story came about, the cops basically said "julle is op pad smokkie ( guy that sells drugs and alcohol ) om dagga te gaan koop ne" and all old Lange could say was "Ja" because of his stutter.

To this day I don't know what happened to Koppe and he never ever did tell us :)

So, what is your story that stands out from your childhood?

*The names in this piece have been change to protect the no so innocent :)

Death and Evasiveness

So Last Night Just as evryone was sitting around the the boeka(iftaar) table, I was sitting outside trekking a skyf (ja I know I was suppose to quit, but who can in these stressful times) this house phone rang and it was my sister in Cape Town (luv you sis).
She was the bearer of some sad news, my cousins husband had passed away. It came as a shock because he was relatively young and was not even married a year. I tried to remain composed whilst talking to my sister who was in a state of shock. Once I put the phone down it only hit me and I suddenly felt my body weaken.

Unfortunately I am not able to make the Janaazah(funeral) seeing I am in Jozi and it happens in Cape Town today. I feel for my cousin as she is in her early twenties and has lost one person that was dear to her, her husband.

While still talking to my sister wanting to know how he had passed away, my sister said that she did not know. I spoke to my sister this morning again wanting to know how everything was and offcourse what the cause of death was, she still had not been told the cause. Nobody is talking about it and this just begs for the opportunity for people to start spreading rumours. Everything is shrouded in mystery, why I ask?
Don't people fitna(gossip)enough already, why give people more ammunition to start the gossip trail. By now everybody has formed some sort of conclusion to the cause of death, I'll keep my thoughts to myself until I am certain I know the correct story.

My my cousin find peace in her period of mourning and my Allah grant her husband Janatul Firdaus Insha'alla.

My thoughts and duahs are with the respective families.

The week that was

So another week has gone and the Springboks surprised one and all by losing to the sheep shaggers from down under, although the pansies from down under played very well, the referees decisions at scrum time and at the breakdown was appalling. On a brighter note, Western Province secured a victory against their arch nemesis, the guys from beyond the boerewors curtain, namely the bulls (bwahahahahaha) eat that. The US open Tennis tournament is on the go and is in its final week, with the favourites going ok in the mens rounds however dunno if one can call it an upset when Kim Clijsters beat Venus Williams in the womens draw.

Apparently my resent blog has caused some pent up emotions to overflow, hell I don't know, just what I hear through different channels, this blog is not here to hurt anyone hence no names were mentioned, but if the shoe fits and afterall this is my lil outlet to bitch and moan cause I am not one to openly show my emotions and get angry, I let it build up and when I am ready to explode, I take it out on me keyboard :)

The Champions trophy is starting soon, here is hoping SA can overcome their Achilles heel and win a major trophy, its not enough being the best side in the world on paper but when a major tourny comes up we whither like fairies.

Fordsburg was busy on Saturday, seen that they were filming something in the main road, and the boetas and tieties were out in full force shopping for Eid clothing, food and other thingies that goes with the celebrations.

Anyway here is wishing you lots health, wealth and prosperity for the closing days of Ramadaan, may it be cherished.

Da Weekend Sports Wrap

So it was another eventful sporting weekend that had me smiling for a change.

Lets start with Rugby, all I can say is Go Bokke, for showing the Aussies that we have more than one style of play. I am also happy that the Bulls lost and my beloved Western Province took top spot on the log by beating the all conquering Sharks for the second time this season, woohoo. Big ups to the lions who stunned the bulls, wys hulle wies baas van Gauteng :). The cheetahs have been raking in the big scores of late and it did not stop this week with another hefty victory.

The F1 was marred by a first corner accident that took out the current poins leader Jenson Button and reighning Champion Lewis hamilton. The race was eventually won by da fling Fin Kimi Raikonen with Fisichella a very close second.

On the Soccer front all the major teams had victories with only Arsenal being unlucky to lose to a less than impressive man United. Everton secured their first points with a victory in injury time over Wigan. Chelsea, Tottenham and man City is setting the pace a top the leader board with Liverpool showing some good form after going down to Villa earlier in the week.

That be all for me now, hope you have a fantabulous week.

I Resent......

Time for me to vent a little stored anger....
I resent feeling guilty for not fasting even though one has an incurable disease and need sustenance so that your body does not shut down.
I resent feeling guilty for not going to work even though the doctor asks in amazement how you are still standing.
I resent silent whispers, if there are people around either don't talk or talk so everyone can hear.
I resent when a conversation abruptly stops when entering a room, fuck change the topic if you have to but don't stop talking.
I resent people who complain of food at weddings, if you see the food has copious amounts of oil in don't fucking eat it and then complain, other people don't mind the cholesterol.
I resent people who thinks other peoples food is shit, peoples taste buds differ, so somebody might not like the food you make even though you'd beg to differ.
I resent people who will not lend a helping hand when family is injured.
I resent people who take advantage of your generosity.
I resent feeling like I have to explain all my actions.
I resent people that act all holy this month but as soon as Eid celebrations are over, the scarves and topies are gone and mosque is only seen at Jumua, you either comit to making Salaah or don't.
I resent having to take pills for the rest of my life.
I resent not knowing whether being treated in a certain manner smacks of fakeness or people are being genuine.

Well that was a release of some pent up emotion

Of Sickness, Sports and the rest

I've been trying to get rid of the flu for the past 4 weeks, already spent 2 weeks at home because of it. Yesterday my wife went to the Doctor and the doctor did tests for the H1N1 strain, we get the results later today. It just seems like a vicious circle, you start feeling better and think hooray, I am flu free and then the next day it hits you with a 10 pound hammer, stop your early celebrations, I am still here sucker and it seems like we just passing it around, My wife, my daughter and myself, we've all been hit by this dreaded flu. I am sick of taking medication that makes you feel good for an hour or two. You get prescribed medication and then if that does not work, another stronger anti-biotic is given, shit man, I still feel kak. Enough bitching about the sickness.
Lets start with yesterdays game, I see Liverpool is off to a dreadful start to the season, going down 1 - 3 to Aston Villa, not that their merseyside neighbours Everton, The team I support are any better, going down 0 - 1 to newly promoted Burnley. Hopefully they can get the whole Juleon Lescot fiasco behind them, always said if you want loyalty get a dog. Man UTD won 5 - 0, Arsenal and Chelsea also won, but early pace setters seem to be Tottenham Hotspurs, hopefully they can keep it going.
South Africa had its most successful World Athletic Championship to date, coming home with 2 golds and a silver, it is indeed impressive even with the controversy of the "man/vrou" that won gold in the 800M.
It was back to winning ways for the top teams in the Currie Cup with early pace setters Griquas not able to handle the pace and dropping to 3rd on the Log. The top to spots are taken by the Sharks and Province (I support Province) and these two teams will battle in Durban this coming weekend, I expect an epic battle amongst the forwards.

Did nothing much this past weekend and seeing that Ramadaan has started, I found myself in the kitchen grating cheeses, mixing with spring onion, danja and corn, then the folding and pasting started, I was relegated to paste the samoosas, chicken, mince and cheese&corn; I cannot fold a samoosa to save my life. Lately have been craving all the delicious treats my mother use to make whilst I was growing up in Cape Town, Hertzoggies, Fruit Cake, Correweintjies, German Tart, so I decided, for Eid I am going to do some baking and make those treats. Just waiting for the recipes from my sister.

Later this year, November I will be going down to Cape Town for a cousin's wedding, and if you know malay weddings, it is a whole day affair with 3 different dresses, photos in the Kirstenbosch Gardens etc. I decided to make that trip my annual holiday as well, got a cool place in Muizenburg to rent whilst I am there. I am excited to go down to Cape Town again and see my Mother and siblings (have 2 sisters). I have not been to CT in over a year, Feb 2008 was the last, I guess the town would have changed somewhat.

My daughter has been making me proud of late, since she been visiting the OT(Occupational Therapist) her spelling and math seemed to have improved 10 fold. She is also teaching her parents how to do addition and subtraction and we encourage her to teach us because the smile on her face is worth it.

more interesting titbits and sports roundups next week Insha'alla, just read on Facebook in someones status that You tube, Twitter and Facebook are merging, the new app is going to be called you twit face :) No need to laugh if you heard that before.

BTW I also do the twittering @toyerk, but have not updated it in a while.
Shit must top talking now, bye

The thing I do best

This is a caption of me doing what I do best, thanx to Aasia



Hope you all have a blessed month ahead

Male or Female - You decide

South African's golden girl Caster Semenya celebrates after winning the women's 800m final in Berlin. Photo: AFP

Lots of fuss have been made over the feats of Caster over the past few days with claims that she is not a women to that it is physically impossible to improve her personal best times the way she has over the past year without some sort of stimulant or some gender inequity (dunno if that is word) so it is up to you to decide to believe the rumours currently doing the rounds or if you truly believe she is a woman or you reserving judgment till her gender tests have been revealed.

Personally, The patriot in me thinks she is a woman :)

The poll is to the right

Labarang is round the corner

Hosh Hosh, its time to take down the Tupac and Pamela Anderson posters and hang the Rakams cause pwasa month is upon us - ok got the Kapie out of me.

Ok I just wanna wish all Muslims a Ramadaan Mubarak and hope that you gain whatever you seek from this auspicious (as the imams will say) month.
May your saum be filled with barakah Insha'alla.
To the sick and elderly may your prayers be heard even though you are unable to fast during this month.

Don't display any forms of negativity and enter the month with a positive frame of mind because if we enter the month with a negative attitude you will find all the excuses not to adhere to the guidelines set down to us those many moons ago.

My personal endeavour will to be more steadfast in my beliefs, be more family orientated, meaning phoning My mother and sisters at least once a week and not every "skrikkel jaar". Being more understanding to my wifes family and my in-laws and at least contacting my uncle for a boeka treat as like me his whole family is in Cape Town and we are up in Jhb.

So that is my pledge for the month and hopefully into spills over into the rest of the year Insh'alla.

The weekend that was

So the premiership started this past weekend and there were no draws. The first game this weekend saw Chelsea take on Hull, was rather boring but Hull gave Chelsea a good run, Chelsea managing to win 2-1.
I am not doing a wrap up of all games but just the important ones, Big spending Man City opened their season with a 2-0 win at Blackburn and Arsenal blasted Everton 6-1. I am not ashamed to say that I am an Everton Supporter.
Man United did not impress with a 1-0 win over Birmingham and Liverpool lost to an ever improving Tottenham side in a 2-1 thriller. Tottenham was however the better side.
On the Rugby front, the major contenders for the Currie cup had wins with the Bulls scraping through against unexpected front runners Griquas 25-24.

But I guess the talk of the weekend and for the rest of the week will be Usain Bolt smashing his 100m record in a time of 9.58secs, knowing that Tyson Gay ran 9.71secs and he was a distant second, can't wait for the 200m and the 4X100m relay events.

Other than the sports that was on offer this weekend I had rather an uneventful weekend which I spent on the couch.

Something to marvel over

A disease of obscurity

This is a personal post, not like all the other posts are not personal, but this concerns my health.
I suffer from a disease called OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) only mine is called severe OSA. What it basically means is that when you are sleeping you are not receiving enough oxygen and you kinda stop breathing ( these are called apneas ) for a while until you brain realises that you are not breathing and then you gasp for air and fall asleep again, because of this you never reach a state of real sleep.
The effects of having this disease is that you stay tired, you might even fall asleep while driving your car or sitting at your desk at work, making it quite a serious business if you nod off while driving, happened to me quite a few times and also falling asleep at work thinking you awake because you brain is still active and you are continuing to do the thing you were busy doing while you are awake, so if you are driving, you will think you are still driving but the car might be going of the road or you will start hearing hooters behind to move after the robot has changed, you might get colleague walk up to you and tell you to stop snoring. One of the tell tale signs of OSA is snoring very loudly.

There is no cure for the disease but there is equipment one can use to assist with the sleep process, you can also of surgery, but there is no guarantee that that wll work. To sleep I use a CPAP ( Continuous Positive Airway Pressure ) machine, it basically supplies me with oxygen throughout the night and keeps my air ways open.

Some general info take from www.vitalaire.co.za/SleepApnea.htm
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is the most common type of Sleep Apnea.
Although a sleep test is required to diagnose OSA there are many signs and symptoms that you can look for. While sleeping snoring may be heard followed by a period of silence that is than broken by a loud snore or gasp. The person wills usually breath heavily afterwards. Some symptoms of OSA may include loud snoring daytime sleepiness, and irregular or restless sleep.

There are two main concerns about having OSA:
The first concern is excessive sleepiness during the day which can lead to decreased attention, affecting the ability to work, socialize, operate machinery or drive vehicles. Not treating OSA can be very harmful, not only to oneself, but to others as well. Driving while excessively sleepy can be extremely dangerous.

The second concern has to do with the physical harm OSA has on the body. When oxygen levels in the blood drop to a certain level, the heart detects this and responds by beating more quickly to try and compensate. This stresses the heart and when it happens over and over again, it can cause long term damage. High blood pressure and heart problems have been strongly associated with OSA. There is also evidence that strokes and heart attacks can be associated with untreated OSA. OSA is a long-term condition and treatment will likely be required for as long as the condition exits.

The most common treatment for OSA is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) therapy. It is effective in almost all cases. CPAP provides light air pressure to hold the airway open and, as a result, allows for uninterrupted sleep throughout the night. Normally the air is delivered through a small mask worn over the nose during sleep.

This is my Machine:


And this is the mask that plugs into the machine that I have to wear every night.


Like I said this is very personal for me and the topic is dear to me.
If you do come across friends or colleagues drifting off to sleep at their work place, do not assume that it is because it is because of late night partying, it might just be that they are suffering from OSA, rather advise them to visit a sleep clinic, the one in Milpark Johannesburg is quite good. You might just save their life.

There are not many websites in South Africa that has information regarding OSA so if there are any sufferes of this disease out there, please feel free to send me a mail MAIL ME I would like to know what you experiences are dealing with OSA and the CPAP machine.

Bye for now

Another Movie Post

So I told Aasia the other night that I'd do a movie post and she said it'll reveal how old I am. So without too much banter let me list my favourite movies, in no particular order:

The Breakfast Club - I so wanted to be like Judd Nelson
St Elmos Fire
About Last Night - Demi Moore's assets
Blood In Blood Out - I guess this was peer pressure cause everybody liked it, but I thought it was good
Dr Zhivago - My alter Ego
Ferrers Beullers Day Off - cool bunkng movie
Deliverance - First age restricted movie I watched cause my father said I couldn't.
I Spit on your Grave - Closest thing to porn I watched on betamax that I stole from my dads cupboard.
Grease - Grease Lightning
Braveheart - Freedom
A few Good Men - Nicholson factor and offcourse Demi
The Assignment - one of the better carlos the jackal movies I watched.
The Jackal - Bruce willis target shooting
The Shawshank Redemption - probably in my top 5
Whats Eating Gilbert Grape - Think one of leo's better performances
Benny and Joon - Johnny Depp was good in here
Hackers - was cool to understand everything they were talking about
Caravan - Anthony Quinn

Ok that is some of my all time favourites, I am sure I have forgotten a few, think it be the old age :)

Another Simply Amazing

Simply Amazing

Se has a voice, let me know what you think

The future of the net

So, Seacom is being launched next week and is hailed to bring down prices to the local telecoms community. With 1.4TBps of international bandwidth, are we going to see a huge reduction in ADSL prices, are we going to have free for all packages where one can download as much as they want or is our backhaul technology not capable of these throughputs. Is Seacom going to build their own network structure or make use of the existing Telecoms network. If they make use of existing infrastructure how are they going to bring down prices seeing it will be using Telkom for backhaul and with high interconnect fees, is a price reduction feasible?

I personally still feel that the days of cheap bandwidth is far off, with Telkom and its SAT3 sea cable, it still holds most of the aces. I predict we might see small reductions in prices or maybe higher caps been given to clients but nothing drastic.
I think 2011 will be the year an increase in data speeds and bandwidth will come to the forefront that is if the Eassy cable is launched on the due date of June 2010, which I doubt, seeing that it is a government initiative, but with the huge improvements in 4G technology speeds of 100mbps is already a reality.

Anyway, that is a bit of technology conundrum we are sitting with today, are we going to wait for the promise of LTE or are we going to use our existing technologies to keep with the pace of the rest of the world.

Next ttopic will be whether W-CDMA is a superior 3G technology or whether it is just a flash in the pan with handsets not being manufactured for this technology, that is me, over and out.

Entertainment & the rest

Ok, I am not big on going to the movies but in the past week or so I went to the movies twice, that has to be some kind of record because if I got to the cinema once a year it is a lot.
In my late teens and early twenties I use to go a lot, basically every week and watched every new movie at Kenilworth centre seeing it was in walking distance from where I lived. But since I've moved to Jhb I think I've been to the movies 5 times in the past 8 years.
Anyway, firstly I took my daughter to watch Ice Age 3D, the movie was average, but seeing that it was my first 3D experience, I was totally amazed by the effects. So if anything, you need to watch it just because of the 3D effects, simply awesome.
Then I wanted to go and watch the new potter movie but it was sold out and settled on Transformers 2, I don't think it is as good as the first one seeing that one already knows that these machines transform from cars, trucks and bikes to super fighter machines, however the comedic element in this movie was quite refreshing. So I give this movie also a thumbs up to see on the big screen.
The only turn-off about going to the movies is the price of the popcorn combos, damn R47 for Popcorn, coke and some chocolate coated nuts.

Yesterday I had one of my favourite dishes for lunch namely butter chicken. Props to the sister-in-law for making it, just stole Aasia's word (props).
My female guppies in the fish tank are all pregnant, think the rest of the fish is gonna have some protein when they decide to give birth seeing that it is a live birth as guppies do not lay eggs.
I am contemplating taking them out and putting them in a smaller tank so that the some of the lil ones survive, but then the merciless side of me says argh fuck it, cause these guppies fall pregnant so easily, I can always start breeding them another time.
I think my tank needs some more plants so that the other fish can also breed cause at this point there is no place to lay their eggs, if they do lay the eggs, the rainbow sharks will chow i up in a sec. at least with plants in the tank there is some sort of cover for the eggs.

Finally the electricity has been sorted out at home and we will be moving back to the house at the end of the week Insh'alla, first thing on my agenda is to switch on DSTV, only kak is I am gonna have to install the dish myself, hopefully I don't break anything, I also want to get Xtra view, meaning I have to buy a dual LNB cause once DSTV is activated there are gonna be fights in the household. I made that promise to myself, on Friday I am reactivating my DSTV come hell or high water, fuck this SABC and eTV crap with useless sports action, whole fucking weekend there is some sort of WWE on Etv, sports on the SABC front is a joke and me be an avid sorts couch potato need my weekly fill of good sporting events. Currently the Ashes is being played in England(hope those Aussies get a beating) Tough Luck Western Province in the currie cup this past week, we'll beat the Cheetah's on Friday. Damn, the F1 is also exciting with Braun GP and Redbull the front runners , no more the boring Ferrari and Mclaren racing for top spots. Then the Premier league starts next month and I am sure people are watching the transfer window carefully with Man City going on a buying spree and even eyeing Juleon Lescott from Everton and me being an Everton supporter, I hope Moyes does not sell him, he is one of the best defenders in England.

Work has been boring since I've completed the NGN(next Generation Network) course I was on for the past year. I am not happy with the mark my group got but at least we past, damn we put our heart and souls into that final assignment, but only to be told, very good work but you fell shoult on your conclusion and recommendations. We got a lousy 65% for a 113 page Business Impact Paper and 55 page presentation. I also passed all my individual assignment for the past year on the course - so Kudos (another Aasia word) to me for seeing it through, while some of my colleagues bailed after failing the first examination.

As can be seen from my writing, I am bored as I sit here at work browsing the internet and reading some interesting and some not so interesting stuff just to pass the day, c'mon 3:30pm.

Forgiveness

So, last night was Big Night also known as Lailatul Mi'raj in Cape Town.
Now, this is the time people phone family and friends and ask forgiveness for anything you have said or done in the year that has passed.
For me this is all so fake, because every year you go through this same ritual in asking forgiveness to the same people and the next day the shit starts again, back to the Fitna, back stabbing, back biting for the rest of the year till Mi'raj is on our doorsteps again and then we perform the ritual of hugging our so called loved ones and asking forgiveness again, what a vicious circle.
So there I was feeling a little awkward last night just saying "maaf"(asking for forgiveness) in passing without really knowing why I am saying it.
I then phoned my mother in CT and asked "maaf" and she asked why?, I said for anything I might have said or done to hurt her in the past year and she just said you did not do anything so there is no need to ask for forgiveness.
Why when this time of year comes around, people start looking for their cd's with surah Yaseen on it or some or other thikr?
While listening to some thikr yesterday, and I must say I enjoyed it, but not because it is the time when this is what we need to listen to it, I just enjoyed it and it filled my heart with gladness because I knew some of the verses and not because it was Big night but just because I knew some verses.
I might come about as insensitive and not give a damn, which I mostly do not, but there are sometimes where I feel there is a GOD and yesterday while listening to a cd and reading Yaseen that I really felt close to GOD.
Just went of track to my original train of thought, why do people ask for forgiveness knowing that it is just some sort of fad that happens every year? Same with the month of Fasting, we become Ramadaan Muslims seeing that it is the holiest month on the Islamic calendar, we wear our toppies(fez; head gear) or Hijaab to work and once the Athaan for Eidul Adhaa goes we have the fanciest clothes on.
Another thing, people fast during the day, between sunrise and sunset, that is the time of ibaadah, after sunset we are permitted to eat and go about or normal things. I just think it is screwed up that people watch TV during the day while fasting and then put the tv's off after sunset, don't see the logic in that, maybe somebody can explain that to me.

But before I go, I just ask for your Dua's(prayers) that one day I do wonder on the right path and the path to righteousness, but for the time being I am just gonna be me and ask the questions that do not make sense to me.

I apologise to the literaries out there for incorrect use of grammar in my posts, language was not one of my strong points in school :)

Plagiarism

What are your feelings about plagiarism?

When quoting text or anything for that matter, is it ok to use the words of authors indiscriminately without paying tribute to them with a reference
The son shone beautifully and in its crimson shadow a pale, noticeably aesthetic creature appeared [Reference 1 Toyer's Blog]
My personal opinion is that it is pretty pointless, who the !@$#@ cares about reading references if it spoils the flow of the point you are trying to make.
I got nailed quite a bit for plagiarism this past year when handing in assignments and try not to knowingly do it, I usually would use something like as Rod Randall said, good fences make good neighbours in a book about the telecosm.
I get that writers wanna be acknowledged, but are they so vain that if someone uses a sentence from a book they are ready slap you with a subpoena.
I conversation are we to say as per specific author check reference below while talking to somebody?
The argument now goes if the specific person is no longer among the breathing, would they care if you use their literature without referencing? The other end argues that we always reference the Nabi (PBUH) and his followers when quoting the Quran or hadith and they are no longer among the living.

I am just ranting here because I got hit over the knuckles because of plagiarism, I still don't see the harm in it.

References:
[1} Toyer's Blog
http://stutteringtoybury.blogspot.com

I R BLANK

So ........
My mother always use to say sew buttons on a banana peel and slip on it.
What to say.....
Work is boring
It is cold
My windscreen was filled with ice this morning
I went to sleep at 8pm last night, have not done that in years
damn I am thinking
I need a spark
a catalyst
a firework
something to get me going
did I mention work is boring
I need a challenge
I need mental stimulation
I need someone to sit me down and have a conversation about anything really but that is stimulating
it could be to do with next generation networks and what happens in a world of bandwidth abundance
it could be on theology - the age old debate about atheism vs theism or darwinism
it could be sexual - the illusive female orgasm
it could be bloody general knowledge - Queen Elizabeth was born on the 21st of April
it could be about politics - is JZ the next the chairman Mao
it could be about entertainment - I think knowing was a kak movie

C'mon, somebody stimulate meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.......................

Issues of Faith

Now I am not a preacher, but looking from the outside I think people tend to use religion to benifit themselves, You will have certain people wearing Hijaab and quoting from the Quran that it is Fard(compulsory) to dress in this fashion, then you have another group that wears full hijaab with parda with quotations from the holy book and Hadith substantiating the necessity to dress in that particular manner. Another group will interpret the holy Quran in a whole other and find surahs (chapters) or Ayaats(verses) saying that women must dress modestly but that does not mean covering the body from head to toe.
The holy Quran has never changed in over 1400 years but the way we practice what is said in it has changed because of interpretations and an evolving society.

Personally, I am not big on religion, I don't perform my Salaah although I say my shahadat everynight, I think of my Maker almost the most of my day, talking to myself, am I doing the right thing, am I using the fact that I am not performing one of the pillars as a cop out because I usually say I don't go to mosque because I feel I am only going to show people that I am going and not because I am fulfilling a duty to the Almighty.

I mean we will go out and there is no Muslim restaurants in the area and go to a Panarottis and order a Margherita pizza, cool it has no pork but was any consideration taken into the utensils used to cut the pizza into slices, do we turn a blind eye to that?

yes people interpret Religion differently and have a right to cause the one thing they were blessed with is a brain, and how you use it is up to you, to add to Aasia's Post.
To each his own and may all your Duas(prayers) be answered no matter which side of the fence you sit on, those that take religion to an extreme or those who have a more liberal view of it for Allah(SWT) is Most merciful and oft Forgiving.

I hate topics relating to religion because of this, everyone knows better than the rest, well not everone, don't wanna generalise but I am sure you catch my drift.

I just felt I had to do at least one topic on it, it was a need which has now been fulfilled.

Catch ya on the flipside

Images from the other side

Is it or isn't it - you decide

If you say so....

So I like tell my wife that I am working a bit lit tonight doing a dry run with my group members for the presentation that we have to present on Wednesday. My wife says "Ok, if you say so" to me in what sounded like a sarcastic tone. What does if you say so mean? Does it mean that is what you say, but I know better? Does it mean, ok not a problem.
I then ask why it was said in such a tone, then I get thrown all I said is was ok , are you arguing, only guilty people argue, guilty of what damnit?

Women are really tough to undestand, so I just shut my mouth and say that there is no arguments seeing that if I am guilty at least I wanna be guilty of something :)

Damn it has been cold the past few days, icicles even started appearing on gates and courtyards transversed into ice-rinks, welcome winter.

I got a bloody boring life, I think I should do more things, go out more, explore my surroundings, at least then I will have something to write about and when somebody asks what did you do this weekend, you don't have to say, uhmm we stayed at home, watched a bit of TV and slept, how exciting.

I like fish, I got a fish tank that had a few fish inside - duh but the tank was looking dull as 90% of the fish was black and wite, with 1 yellow one (Gourami) , they black and white ones are called black widow tetras and then I have a huge ass Plecostomis (grey with spots) so I wanted to add colour to the tank I bought some neon tetras and 2 rainbow sharks. After the first night everything was fine then on Sunday I woke up to find one of the neons without a head or tail, I guess either the sharks or the black widows did not like the neon's company, at least I have a hobby that I like, just kak when a fish dies, do you bury da fish or flush it that is the question?

When I am all gown up I wanna upgrade to a marine tank, that is my ultimate goal, but I must try and keep all my fish alive for at least 1 year, at least the plec has been with me for over 2 years now, I am so chuffed and the gourami has been in the tank over a year now.

Anyway that is all for now, when something interesting pops into my head, I'll post about it.

Late Nights and High Blood

For the past two evenings I having been burning the midnight oil to get a report in on time. I only got home at 1am lastnight but at least this course is nearing the end now. My eyes are heavy here at work and I am thinking of my daughter's party tomorrow.

To my daughter to the psychiatrist on Tuesday and yesterday for an assessment, will only know the results of i in a weeks' time, however the psychiatrist recommended parental therapy for my wife and I.

While my daughter was busy with her assessment I went for a physical checkup seeing that it was in the same medical centre.
Now I've alway had a normal blood pressure which is in the region of 120/80, so when the doc was taking my blood pressure I was thinking it would be normal again, but to my surprise it was 151/110.

I think it is a result of all the stresses I had to endure this month, like not getting paid, my emotional wife and worrying about my daughter. I hope it is just that and not full blown High blood pressure, that would not be good seeing that I suffer from obstructive sleep apnea. Keep your fingers crossed it is not that :P

Till next time, keep smiling

Illusions of work

I am sitting here at the place of my employment trying to work, but my eyes is twitching nervously, it feels like my stomach is turning inside out, my jaws is sore from chewing gum all morning and blowing bubbles like a teeny bopper back in the day. Notice empty packet of gum that was bought at 9am and finished before 12

Damn, why did I ever start smoking? I blame .........
Can't blame the Islamic school I was at
Can't blame my parents
Can't blame my peers or maybe I can cause they the the ones that took me to the toilet, put a cig in my mouth and then covered my mouth so that I can inhale, and this was no ordinary cigarette, it was a John Silver that had 2.9 nicotine in it, smokers will know that anything over 1.2 is quite heavy. I was carried back to class cause I could not walk.
After that experience there was no going back cause I wanted to be cool and now that I knew that one had to inhale, I was getting use to it day by day without me knowing the addiction grew stronger and now 24 years later I am having a shit time trying to give up this evil.

When you are young, you have no care in the world and try and impress friends rather than listening to your parents about the bad effects of smoking, now that you are parent yourself, you want to tell you children the same things, Don't Smoke, Don't Drink, Don't watch blue movies etc

Trying to get my 16 yr old nephew to stop smoking before he ends up like me, cannot walk up a flight of stairs without breathing heavily, but it seems it goes in one ear and out the other, the same way it went through my ears so many moons back.
Well I am trying to to be calm and trying not to think of smoking, concentration is at an all time low so doing any work is out of the question, so I am trying read some blogs but that is also proving difficult.

Over the weekend, I did nothing much, helped the wife with washing, that is hanging up some washing, and visited Aasia on Sunday, she cooked some lekker roast chicken wiv potato and sweet corn.

I just sent some oke to da shop to get me some apples and bananas cause apparently that be good when quitting smoking.

I will keep you whoever updated with the progress, hopefully I don't fall off the wagon.



Till next we meet

Au Revoir

Alleranna K@K

So I find myself sitting in Alleranna k@k also know as Eldarado Park at Aasia's place while the wife does some beautifying of da feet. I am chewing furiously on this airwaves cause the urge to go and smoke is greater today, so I am thinking of ways not to let it get to me. So hence I am here in front of da pc. Well there is lotsa sites I could go visit, but I only have one thing on the brain and you guessed it, it is smoking so trying to browse the bloody internet is proving difficult cause your brain is so active trying to think of reasons that can be worth it to go and light a cigarette. Well I am jittery to say the least, but I am alive.
Tomorrow it is back to work, no more training till next month.
Till later, gotta go now, might edit this post later as I have no idea what I have been typing.

Little Voices

I have been trying to quit smoking over the past week and a half, and I must say it has been a bit tough.
I've set my quit date as the 22nd May 2009, seeing that I am on a program where you suppose to reduce the amount of cigs you have gradually, I am just moving in fast forward, I down to 4 a day. I wanna stop smoking as soon as possible but the little voices in my head encourages me to smoke because I am on this program of gradual reduction, there is no reason why I cannot have a puff, that is what the voices are telling me, it is almost like an internal battle of good an evil, with the lil devil urging you on " Go Toyer, lite up, Zyban is a 7 week program, you only in week 2" and the lil angel wiv wings saying " Don't succumb to temptation, you can do it".
Only the Almighty knows who I am going to listen to today, cause I have no idea, I am I going to crumble or will my will power prevail.

Curve Balls

So I have been rather quiet this week as it has been a quite shitty one but I am not complaining right?

I had a shit week, but I will live and hopefully the next week will bring some sunshine Insh'alla:)

.

A new beginning

So today is suppose to be a new beginning for me, quitting smoking is not as easy as I thought it should be.
Had my last ciggie at 11pm last night. Woke up and the only thing on my mind was smoking, little voices going off in my head weighing up the pros and cons if I should light up again. The Zyban treatment says you should set your quit date in the second week of taking it, I am only on day four, that seems enough motivation to carry on smoking, but that is the smoker in me saying that, the wanna be non-smoker in me says, you set your quit date today, you going to stick to it.

So I've got 2 pieces of my mind playing up against each other, to smoke or not to.

This morning I woke up did the normal rituals before I headed out of the door, this is about 5:30am, usually I have a cigarette as I get to the car, this morning I had cadbury dairy milk chocolate, I mean chocolate at 5:30am, is that normal? Once I was on the road my mind started wondering again and that evil little voice telling me to light up, I resisted. As I pulled up to work the craving became unbearable, I stuffed my mouth with some more chocolate.

I get to the office only to find out it is corporate day and nobody informed me and that we are having a lunch meeting at The Pepper Chair in Centurion today. Although I don't eat there, it is a pub like environment and my boss smokes, It is going to be hell I tell ya, hell.

Today my trainees are writing a test which I have to mark and submit to their managers, hopefully they perform better than the last group I had, I can only hope.

Insha-Allah everything will go well today and Jumuah Mubarak to one and all. Enjoy the rest of the day.

Here I am......

Here I am sitting in a class teaching people how to do Internet Support, damn you should see the interest in their faces, I tell you there is none.
I've just given them a pop quiz to do and they have 30 minutes to answer, hope they can actually answer with some effort put into it.

Anyway, I am honestly trying to give up smoking, so much so that I am currently using Zyban. I was told that I should start losing weight so that I can be more active, how can one be active if he lives in front of a pc whole day?
It is my 3rd day on the meds and I have started cutting down quite drastically on the smoking thing, I am also on my last packet of cigs as tomorrow is my quit date, cross your fingers and toes, for the next few days my wife and I have to be on opposite sides of the house as this is a dual effort, she is a smoker too.

Once we have given up smoking we can then try and do some activities, like walking :)
Its a start I tell you. At least I did some walking while in Durban a couple of weeks back.

Anyway gotta go, these guys are almost finished with their pop quizzes and I wanna go home so let me check how they answerd it.

Catch you on the other side

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a beautiful city but I will not go back there in a hurry.
I guess it being the first international destination I visited I was not use to the culture shock I would receive.
The food smells did not help either, after 1 day of sight seeing I was crying like a baby on the phone to my wife. I was nauseous the whole day. I am a very impatient soul and don't do well in crowds and Hong Kong is a very densely populated city. Walking down the roads I got lost from the rest of my touring group because of the amount of people walking in the roads either shopping, going out to eat or youngsters having fun.
I was looking for a Halaal restaurant about 11pm in the evening, this was quite3 nice walking that late at night in Kowloon knowing you will not be mugged. Walking down the streets I noticed many foreigners including Nigerians, even they were not as intimidating as the Bangladeshis.
I walked past this one Indian restaurant called Koh-i-Noor where a bell boy almost forced me inside when enquiring whether it was a Halaal establishment or not. I received affirmation that it was indeed a Halaal restaurant, not knowing if I would find another one I proceeded to place my order:
Tikka Chicken - HK$80
Samoosas - HK$35
Stuffed Naan - HK$25
Can of Coke - HK$25
1 Hong Kong Dollar is about R1,20

The food was served and when I saw the chicken I was in 2 minds whether I should eat it or not, it certainly did not look like the South African chicken I am accustomed to. I was very hungry and took one bite and left it and just ate the naan and moon shaped samoosas as that was more edible than the chicken.

After the meal, a friend wanted to get some of the famous fake Tag watches. these fake watches come in different grades, the grade 1 fake is as close to the real thing you can get and cost between HK$1000 and HK$4000, my friend bought 2 of about 2 grand each. The place we bought it from looked like an establishment right out of Hillbrow. We were taken through some alleyways and into a dingy little flat by a Bangladeshi and then given a catalogue with various makes and models of watches. They also wanted to sell us grade 1 ladies gucci handbags, we declined.

After walking back to the hotel I realised how scared I was sitting in that flat, sweat dripping from my brow, expecting the cops to knock the door door any minute.

The next morning we left the hotel and moved on to mainland China to a city called Shenzhen. Blog to follow.

Below are some sites of Hong Kong

View from Victoria Peak


Scaffolding


Me at the avenue of stars, see how moeg I look, Like I said I was not loving the experience

Hong Kong crowds

Hong Kong at night


Till the next time we meet, Enjoy

I've been Tagged

Ten things my unborn children should know
So Aasia tagged me to do this:

1) Always listen to your father :) he does not know best
2) knowledge is power so never stop learning
3) Don't smoke, it is bad for you and use me as an example
4) Love unconditionally
5) Know that a fool and his money are soon parted - manage your finances well
6) Stay active, live a healthy lifestyle
7) Indulge in the nice things but know that too much of a good thing can be bad
8) Don't be scared to fall, I will always be there to pick you up.
9) Take risks, cause hindsight is a nice kick up the butt.
10) Your mother will be always be the most important person in your life.

The Great Embarrassment

As previously mentioned, I went to China recently. Now no visit to the Peoples Republic would be complete without a visit to to the Great Wall.
As the tour party departed and with excitement filled in our bellies we headed from our hotel in Beijing to this majestic piece of architecture. It is approximately 50Kms outside Beijing however it was only noticeable from about 5km because of the altitude and mist/clouds/smog.
Climbing the great wall is not for the feint hearted especially if your overweight, unfit and smoke about a pack of ciggies a day.
My adventure started at one of the starting points.


As can be seen from the picture above, it is quite a climb, the little rest stop seen at the top is about quarter way up.
Look at the size of those steps, at this point everything was going hunky dory, I was marveling at the sights and wondering how simple men put this structure together even if one person died for *every meter that was built*.

As I said, I am very unfit the further I got up the more my legs turned into jelly and the less and less I could breathe. Because of the altitude the air is quite thin and because it was March, winter had just finished but the chill was still in the air.
When I reached the quarter way mark ( to me it was half way in my head ) I tried to lift my leg for the next step. Try as I might, my leg would not lift. My heart was pounding out of my chest and behind me was an elderly couple wanting to pass me. Here I am a thirty something year old suppose to be in the prime of his life being overtaken by grannies and grandpas. My heart sunk to the ground as well as my body. For the next hour or so I just sat there getting my breath back and taking a few pics. I then started my descent which was a bit easier than going up but one still has to be careful as at some points the drop is vertical. When I reached the bottom, I went to a coffee shop and ordered a cappuccino which I paid 25RMB for, this equates to about R40. Once done I phoned the tour guide and told he not to look for me as I was waiting for the tour party back at our bus.

So my embarrassment would be that I could not climb the great wall because I am unfit and NOT because I smoke . Here are some more pics I tool while regaining my composure.



It seems as if I was quite high up, in reality it was only about the quarter of the way up.

PS. The lil bit in ** is a statement that might be incorrect but that was what I was told by our tour guide.

Interesting Signs

I had the pleasure of visiting China recently and came across an interesting sign in a *Muslim Restaurants'* bathroom, please be reminded that the majority of bathrooms at so called *Muslim Restaurants* are those flatbed toilets. I found this sign quite amusing:

This sign was placed above the regular toilets we have, it basically says people should not stand on the toilet but rather use the arses, I did not do either, as it was not the most appealing bathroom, hence, I knuiped till I reached the hotel.
Are there any any other interesting signs you've come across on your travels?

Welcome to myself

Over the past couple of months I've been reading different blogs and it has now become a daily ritual to first go to my cuzzie's blog, namely Aasia, and then click on on every other blog and start reading. I've now resorted to try and follow this phenomenon by creating my own so that I am not disappointed when seeing that nobody has posted anything for a couple of hours.
So who am I?
I am a middle aged man/guy/nut who outwardly seems not to fear anything but has an internal battle with fear itself.
I have a mind of a teenager and a body of a 50 yr old which proves difficult when trying to do cartwheels with my daughter or go down these super slides kids go on.
Was in Durban recently and my daughter wanted to go on that lift thingie at the fun park, being the outwardly fearless guy that I am I agreed, once on this thing, my 5 yr old daughter could see the terror in my face and she calmly took my hand and said, Dad, nothing will happen, doesn't it look beautiful out there? I had to to fake a smile at that point. My heart melted, yet the fear still gripped, with one sweaty palm I held onto the handle bar and with the other I held my daughter.
The following evening I found myself at the fun park again, this time Aasia wanted to go on that ship thingie, and being this outwardly courageous guy, I obliged. I put on a brave face, but believe me the tummy was turning and the heart was racing double time.

I guess it is in our nature to put on a brave face seeing that we of the male species and need to be the power figure within the household/community however some of us are just human after all and fear some of the smallest things :)

Well that is all for now, more of getting to know me later.