More Comedy

On Monday The Trucker came over for dinner and then he worked while I watched Series. Just a quiet night at home :)

Last night I went to watch @DeepFriedMan at the Old Mutual Theatre in Sandton. I thoroughly enjoyed this. More than Nik Rabinowitz the other night, honestly.

I didn't really know what to expect (I only found out last week it was musical comedy). But hey, I grew up listening to Tom Lehrer. And it was funny, sometimes a little predictable, but funny! And the theatre is nice and cosy, with more comfortable seats than usual, I thought.

Keeping the Dead by Tess Gerritsen

HE HIDES When an ancient mummy is discovered in the basement of a museum in down-town Boston, excitement starts to mount. Under the glare of a media frenzy, the mummy is taken to hospital for a CT scan. Forensic pathologist Maura Isles is also invited to attend. HE KILLS As the CT scan proceeds everyone in the room leans in -- and gasps in horror as an image of a bullet is revealed. Maura declares it a possible homicide, and calls in detective Jane Rizzoli. HE KEEPS When the preserved body of a second victim is found, and then a third, it becomes clear that taking their lives is not enough for this terrifying killer. And that unless Maura and Jane can find and stop him, he will soon be adding yet another chilling piece to his monstrous collection.

I quite liked this. Cause, of course, it had mummies :) Hahaha. A pretty decent offering in the genre, I'd recommend it.

Hey, Hey Cape Town!

So last Thursday I managed to (again!!) lock myself out of my house :P I am beginning to feel a little foolish. I mean I can't remember any other time before this that I've ever done this! Let alone twice (three times if you count The Trucker locking his car keys in his boot too, so hopefully we've covered the magic three and can be done with this now!)

On Thursday I managed to lock my house keys in my car, and only realise once I'd locked the padlock on the garage! Pfft, seriously? Luckily The Trucker was nearby and popped over to valiantly let me in again.

He didn't stay long, he was playing action cricket in the evening and I had @Kath_Forrest coming over to see the new house :)

On Friday morning The Trucker & I headed off to Lanseria to fly to Cape Town for the weekend. The morning didn't start well, but everything was fine once we landed :)

It was a lovely weekend spent with the family :) On Friday afternoon I let The Trucker nap and headed off to spend some time visiting my gran. In the evening we went to the massive party (the reason we were down for the weekend) at Polana. Was such a fun evening, with good food and a great venue. Danced the night away and drank far too many mojitos. Haha.

We had a late lazy Saturday morning followed by a sushi lunch at Just Sushi in Simonstown with Daddio and my cousin. Wow, did we order far too much :) Haha.

The weather was damn windy and quite overcast, but I was determined to take The Trucker to our beach cottage. So we headed there after lunch and after a quick walk on the beach, we spent the rest of the afternoon reading, relaxing and napping to the sound of the waves.

On Saturday evening we went to The Woodlands Eatery for dinner with The Divine Miss M. Wow, such an adorable little place, and the food was delish! We shared 3 of their pizzas, The Lamb Pizza (my favourite!), The Parma Ham Rocket and Goats Cheese Pizza and the Bacon Blue Cheese Chili and Avo Pizza. Seriously folks, I would recommend you try this place!

On Sunday the whole fan-damily headed out to Blouberg for breakfast at On The Rocks. Although the view they have there is beautiful, I was seriously unimpressed by the restaurant in general. I couldn't hear anyone at the other end of our table, the food was less than fantastic and the decor was just way too over the top for the gorgeous sea-side spot in my opinion. I wouldn't go back.

Yes, Cape Town weekends always seem to be all about food - haha. I also got to play with my Mom's 2 new kitties. OMG they are too cute and although they were less than impressed with our presence when we first arrived on Friday they were playing and scampering over me quite happily by the Sunday. Awe, can't wait to see them again in December :) The Trucker got some adorable photos, but I don't have copies so can't post them :(

What an awesome weekend. Am so not in the mood for work today!

Christmas Crazy Social Season

Wow, the Christmas Crazy Social Season is *definitely* here. Yesterday afternoon I headed to Virgin Active for my Discovery Vitality Fitness Assessment. Let's not mention it again :P In my head I do definitely want to do something about losing some weight ... but when it comes down to the actual effort involved, there is always something I'd rather be doing.

I am seriously considering that 2012 may be the year to invest in a personal trainer, just to get me forced into gymming properly. anyway, we'll rediscuss this in Jan (of course!). Hahaha, I remember how determined I was at the start of 2011. Wow that seems so recent :P

On with the more fun news. The Trucker collected my new bench yesterday afternoon and then when he came over for dinner he assembled it and there it is, on my verandah :) It fits *exactly* perfectly. I can't wait to get some comfy cushions for it next weekend :)

We finished watching Falling Skies last night. Meh, we were quite enjoying it, but by the last 2 episodes it was getting a bit wishy-washy for me. As The Trucker said, it's strange how you actually dont really care what happens to the characters. Anyway.

And then, best news of all, today is officially a Friday for me :) I'm off tomorrow! We're flying down to Cape Town for the weekend tomorrow morning. I can NOT wait! I can't wait to show The Trucker some of my favourite Cape Town things (like our beach cottage), I can't wait to see my family and I can't wait to see The Divine Miss M. It's going to be awesome :)

And in case that wasn't enough excitement for you, I have only one evening to myself next week ... Tues - Fri are already all completely booked up! It's gonna be exhausting but awesome :)

Keeping Busy

As I type this I am busy copying files from my old work compuer (Linux) to my new one (Windows). Yes, Linux is officially no longer a part of my life (except on our web servers, I guess). It's a kinda sad day, honestly. I really like a lot of Linux, and there are bits of Windows I prefer too. Me, I'm still wishing they'd get round to inventing Winux, the best of both worlds - haha.

So, it's likely to be a slow day getting all set up. But I am hoping my sloooow computer issues will be solved :)

So some stuff to tell. I forgot about the tedious Saturday afternoon we actually had on the weekend! The Trucker managed to lock his keys in his car boot. Annoying because he was parked in front of my garage doors so we couldn't even get my car out to go to his house. So we decided to take a walk. Thank goodness I live so close to him now :) It took us about half an hour.

When we got there, he searched and searched and couldn't find his spare keys. Bugger. And then the afternoon really turned into a comedy of errors. We were gonna take his motorbike back to my house (to save us from the walk back), but what do you know, the battery was dead and even with a couple of push-starts we couldn't get it going. So we walked ... And BMW Assist came to our rescue to get his keys out the boot.

I actually really enjoyed the walks :)

Anyway, on Monday I had a much deserved quiet night at home. For the last 2 nights I've been getting my photo wall finalised and actually stuck up on the wall. This is actually harder than it sounds. I tried going straight from the brown-paper cut-outs to the wall, but things ended up very unbalanced with plenty of weird spaces between ill-fitting frames. The solution that ended up working for me was demarkating the same area on the wall on my lounge floor and physically moving the actual frames around. This gave me a much better visualisation.

After that it was easy enough to make the wall match the floor :) I am so far very happy with the outcome. Although I dont think I'll be moving further with this till I get 3 more frames and the photos for them printed (I already know what they are and I can't believe the huge oversight ... but it's because they're currently in another group frame). (Sorry the picture is so rubbish, was too dark not to have the lights on which created quite a glare and the bb camera is useless at best!)

I also started the grand-move-around in the lounge. I moved my book shelf to it's new potential spot. Although I won't lie, I don't much like it in the new place. I'm gonna leave it there for a week or so and see if I warm to it.

Was supposed to meet the electrician last night, but that has been postponed to Thursday eve. Have paid for my garden bench, but not sure when The Trucker will have time to collect that for me.

Last night I went to SCM Dinner. Sheesh but what a storm! Driving up Malibongwe was quite an experience. Flooding! I even saw a full black rubbish bag floating down the slow lane :P On the plus side, I can confirm that my garden didn't flood (I have a brick blocking half the drainage pipe so that the bunnies cant escape). The down side of this lovely cool rainy weather is that I haven't got to play with my new toy (irrigation) at all!! Haha. I'm sure there'll be plenty of time in future :)

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her fate is merely hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the verses of the Book of Genesis that recount the life of Jacob and his infamous dozen sons. The Red Tent is an extraordinary and engrossing tale of ancient womanhood and family honour. Told in Dinah's voice, it opens with the story of her mothers - the four wives of Jacob - each of whom embodies unique feminine traits, and concludes with Dinah's own startling and unforgettable story of betrayal, grief and love. Deeply affecting and intimate, The Red Tent combines outstandingly rich storytelling with an original insight into women's society in a fascinating period of early history and such is its warmth and candour, it is guaranteed to win the hearts and minds of women across the world.

Okay, I'll admit that the blurb is not why I read this book. Rather, I read it because 2 people I know recommended it as a great read. And it was mostly completely captivating. The ending slows down quite a bit, but the beginning had me enthralled so I was okay with that. I really enjoyed this.

House Evolution

Wow, what an absolutely wonderful weekend I've had. Friday was kicked off in a seriously good mood and I'm still riding the high :)

The Trucker told me we were going out on Friday evening, but again wouldn't say to where. Nothing like a surprise date to look forward to to keep you in a good mood! Thursday was our 6months, actually. Although all we did was kinda acknowledge it over bbm. Sheesh. 6 months. In some ways it feels longer, in others so much shorter. But things are good for now and I adore him.

And then I got a surprise inheritance in my bank account. I say surprise because I didn't remember about it at all till my uncle called and asked for my bank details on Wednesday. Another surprise was that it was so much more than I was expecting. And it came with truly perfect timing! My grandfather gifted his inheritance from his brother's death to all his grandchildren.

I won't lie, I spent the weekend spending it on house-stuffs. My home has evolved so much this weekend and I love it more and more every day, as each little part becomes more me (although transfer is still not officially through, I have high hopes for it happening before the end of this week!).

On Friday after work I was instilled with a get-things-done attitude that stayed for the whole weekend. I headed out to hunt for a framer who I need to mount the 31 frames I have for my photo-wall. I haven't found one I like yet. But I did buy some brown paper, prestik and a black-marker pen and got started on cutting and marking each of the frames and demarcated the area on the wall where I plan for them to go (a method I found via Pinterest). I haven't finished this yet (ran out of brown paper, but I have bought more and I'll finish up during the week). I also realised I need 4 more frames for 4 more photos I want (one for The Peeb's wedding next March!). I realised how tricky it'll be to add more once they're all up on the wall ... oh well. I just really want them up and on display already! I can't tell you how excited this makes me :)

And then before I knew it, The Trucker was there to collect me for dinner. We went to Lucio's Pizzeria, which I'd never been to but he'd raved about. It's one of those dodgy-looking from the outside in a totally random location, but warm cosy inside with really delish pizza's! I was impressed, and I'd go back :)

Saturday was a crazy admin-filled day. We had to go drop off some stuff for The Trucker's trucks and then headed to breakfast. We tried the Woolies restaurant in Northgate. What a giant disappointment. Although the food was delish, the service was completely shocking and the portion sizes for their prices mean I'd probably never go back.

So, on my list for the weekend was buying curtains for the lounge & 2 bedrooms. By the end of the weekend, the 2 bedrooms have curtains (although that included exchanging the ones I orig bought because they ended up looking yellow with the light shining thru) and I've bought the lounge curtains but we got the wrong sized curtain rods so am waiting for the right one (neither of the Mr Prices we went to had the right size :( ).

Next up was my garden bench for my verandah. I've ordered it, I should be paying today when I get their invoice. Sadly they don't have their stock room open over the weekend so I couldn't get it there & then. Either they'll deliver or The Trucker will go and fetch it for me this week. I am *so* excited about this item on the list. Seriously. It's going to be awesome!

Next on the list was irrigation for the garden. I know, that may sound like a strange one, but It isn't that expensive and it really is going to make quite a difference to my garden. And I just adore the sound of the sprayers, like light rain :) So I bought all of what I needed, since I had already measured and whatnot during the week.

And then when we got home there was a flurry of putting up curtains and *finally* moving my dining room table to it's spot outside. I was really nervous about this (which is why I think I have been putting it off, aside from the sheer weight of the table) But not only does it fit, but it fits perfectly :) I am so so so happy. I can't wait to get an electrician in to put the new light fitting on the verandah for my Moroccan Light above the table. It's gonna be fantastic! The only thing is at the moment the table is barricaded from the bunnies so they don't nibble on it's legs. But that's obviously not a permanent solution. So am thinking of some kind of "leg-warmers" to stop them ... I will have to have a think about this.

Oh, the other thing I got was some mesh for the gate so that I can keep my sliding door open while the bunnies are outside in the garden. Has been sweltering keeping it closed in this heat while they've been out & about!

On Saturday evening, we collapsed with some take-out from Simply Asia and watched some series.

On Sunday we went for breakfast, stopped back at Mr Price to exchange the old bedroom curtains and the ill-fitting rod and then The Trucker went off to work, while I headed home to clean the bunny hutch and install my irrigation. OMG I love it. It is so awesome. Of course tho, that is why it has been pouring since the middle of last night non-stop :P Hahaha.

So, still on the list of minor-house-stuffs is collecting my new bench, getting the electrician in, getting new light fittings and switched and then getting the cupboards in the 2 bedrooms re-done. And then all the minor house-stuff will be done and I'll be super happy :) And then the saving for the kitchen-bathroom-tiling revamp will begin!

I relaxed on Sunday afternoon before heading to The Trucker's with dinner. We watched Kung Fu Panda 2. Yeah yeah, just the kind of mild entertainment I needed to end off and exhausting but oh so lovely weekend. Seriously. I'm filled with all sorts of bliss still this morning. The note in my breakfast didn't hurt either ;) *feeling so spoilt*

All Good

Has been a good and busy week so far, honestly am looking to a quiet evening home alone with some series, a bath, my book and an early night (The Trucker has cricket this evening, perfectly timed - haha).

On Tuesday I skipped SCM (having seen the whole crowd on Saturday evening - is anyone else like me and prefers not to see the same people more than once a week?) and went to make a late dinner at The Trucker's after he'd had a long day. We watched some series and had a nice quiet evening. I like those times where you're not really doing anything just existing near each other (does that make sense?).

And then last night, on the spur of the moment, I decided to go and watch Nik Rabinowitz at The Market Theatre with @chrisdawson and @levonrivers (and a girl visiting from the US).

I haven't seen him before but I had heard good things. I laughed, but not that tear-of-laughter kind of laughing. I still prefer Trevor Noah & John Vlismas I think. Still, it was a fun night out and I'm glad I went :)

It Wasn't Funny At The Time

So yesterday started out really well (with the Bond being lodged at the Deeds office). The work day was pretty average, neither here nor there. Then there was a bit in the late afternoon, that I'll tell you about now, but caused absolute panic. And then it ended off really nicely with a friend over for dinner. A mostly good day :)

Right, let me start by saying that this was probably bound to happen at some point, but yesterday afternoon, Murphy hit. I managed to lock myself in my garden, with no phone and no keys.

I noticed about a week ago that the sliding door latch was a bit loose because I almost had a minor panic one afternoon while outside because I thought I had locked myself out by shutting it (which is standard practice when the bunnies are out because the last thing I need is them in the house!). The sliding door locks with the lever in the down position. And being loose, gravity seems to lock it. Although this had never actually happened till yesterday.

When I got the fright a week ago I joked that I should put a spare set of keys in my garden (not that I could open the sliding door anyway, but if I had my house keys I could open the padlock on the garage door and get back in the front. Or that I should keep my cellphone with me whenever I went outside (to call The Trucker and his spare keys). We joked that I didn't know his number off by heart (that's what cellphones will do to you). And I've been pretty conscientious about it since.

Yesterday, I got home from gym, planning to shower and had a quick catch up with The Trucker on bbm. He was heading out to help some friends with their computer, he knew I had @jarredcinman coming over for dinner that evening. But then I decided to rather replant my potted rose into my garden before I showered, since I was hot and sweaty already, why not.

So I did that while the bunnies played and then when I was about to head inside to put out the garden refuse, I noticed the lever had fallen. OMG. Minor panic set it. I pulled at the door. Nothing. I tugged at it even harder. Still nothing. Quick look around for my keys ... nope there they are inside on the kitchen counter - damn gym outfits with no pockets! And my Cellphone was charging on my bed ...

OMG More panic sets in. What on earth am I going to do. My sliding door is locked, my garage is locked. I was locked in my garden! Mkay, lets stay calm. (Yeah right!).

I probably spent a good half hour in a state of absolute panic (you know where you wonder how long it'd take for anyone to notice you were missing ...). Knowing I still didn't know The Trucker's number, knowing that @jarredcinman wouldn't even be let thru the gate later since I couldn't answer the phone when the gate-guards phoned me. I attempted absolutely every option available to me. By the time The Trucker did arrive to let me out, there was a full arsenal of rakes and brooms and pergola's lost to my bedroom floor (that was the only window that was open) in an attempt to pull my cellphone from my bed and out of the charger (impossible from that distance, as my attempts will attest).

I weighed up throwing a brick thru a window ... but with all the bars, I still wouldn't be any closer to getting inside. Unless I broke the entire sliding door glass. I can only imagine how much that would cost :P So that was really only my last resort.

Instead I eventually (after major panic had set in and I'd had a mild bout of sobbing) went to try yelling for someone thru the hole in my garage door. And then I heard my neighbours drive in. My neighbours who I had never met before this. I can only imagine the great impression I've made, but they were very helpful :)

OMG. Do you have a bolt-cutter I asked, still determined to be self sufficient. I figured if I could get out by cutting the padlock on the garage door and then into the kitchen courtyard by cutting that padlock too, I might have a chance to reach my keys from the slightly open kitchen window.

Nope, they didn't. I asked them to ask the gate-guards. No luck there either. Then I had a brain wave. I borrowed my neighbour's phone and phoned work. I had The Trucker's business card saved on my desktop from about probably a year ago. So someone from work phoned him to tell him I was locked in my garden. #sigh

He was fabulous about it and raced over (luckily he wasn't far away) and had a good laugh at me :P But he did unscrew the sliding door lock and take a look. And it seems tighter since then. But I am still buying a new one this weekend!!

After I got over my disappointment that he hadn't shown up in any armour or on a white horse, he went back to his friends to finish working on their computer and I got showered and ready for @jarredcinman's arrival.

The evening was lovely. We ate vegan burgers outside on my verrandah and drank some very good wine he brought and caught up. It really has been far too long! I didn't realise how much I'd missed chatting to him.

An Awesome Weekend

Wow, it's been a very busy social weekend. On Thursday evening, out of the blue, I got a call from The Trucker saying he could get the Mahindra again and we could finally move the gym stuff from my verrandah. Which has made such a difference :)

His cricket had been cancelled and we headed off to @clairam's with the gear. We stayed for a drink and chatted the evening away. Aside from the sweltering hot days, these warm evenings are really lovely at the moment.

On Friday I went and splashed out on my new TV! I was planning on getting myself one ever since I put the offer in on the house. It makes sense. I watch a fair amount of series and I ended up in the old house just in my room watching on my laptop. I barely ever used my lounge, like ever. I have realised that's also probably a lot to do with the layout of the house, because even without a tv, I've barely spent any time that wasn't sleeping in my bedroom in my new house.

But anyway, having a TV is also more sociable because it means The Trucker and I can comfortably now watch series or movies at my house :) And I was getting more series from DJMike on Friday evening.

So, with all that in mind, I've been keeping an eye out (hardly at all, honestly) for a TV. I did not want to spend a fortune at all and earlier this week I found this special at HiFi Corp. They have a 42" LG (full HD) for 5K. A steal when I think that a few years ago Varen bought his 42" for about 14K!

So during lunch I headed over to Woodmead's HiFiCorp and bought myself a new (massive!!) TV. And a dvd player so I could plug the hard drive in (totally unnecessary with this TV!) and a TV License :( *sob* I get why everyone who owns a TV should have one because they *could* get signal if they wanted it. But I never plan to plug my TV into anything more than my hard drive. So that really was a bit of a grudge purchase. But they've become a lot more sneaky about it and there was no way round it.

I was quite amazed I could fit the giant TV box into my little C2. Barely. I was squished up against my steering wheel for the rest of the day. But smiling :)

And then The Trucker came over after work to install it for me ... although I was hugely disappointed that we got the wrong screws for the stand so we had to pop back on Saturday morning. But it did all get set-up and used this weekend, and wow, it just looks absolutely massive! I guess compared to my laptop screen it really is :) Haha.

The Trucker went home after that and got ready for the braai we were having at his house while I waited for DJMike & his girlf to come over and see my new place. And then we all went to the braai. It was delish & there was so much yummy food (The Trucker braaied ribs!).

Saturday morning was all admin, shopping and getting the right screws for the TV. The afternoon was spent relaxing (in front of the new TV - haha). And on Saturday evening we headed off to dinner with the SCM Dinner crowd (on a Saturday, I know!) Haha. It was awesome, but again wa-ay too much good food. Hummus and melba toast for starters. Beef Wellington for mains and Cheesecake for dessert. Was nice that The Trucker could finally meet that group properly :)

And then on Sunday, The Trucker & I had a long chat. Things seem better now. Admittedly things always seem to go up and down, depending on my mood and how secure / insecure I'm feeling generally. But I think it's hard when a relationship has to cope thru rough times in people's life (like the work chaos he's currently dealing with) so early on. It does put weird strain on that you haven't had enough time yet to figure out how to deal with or how it affects each other. Who know what'll happen. For now things are okay again. #sigh Life is complicated. Haha.

I went to breakfast at Vovo Telo on Sunday morning with some of the work-girls. We hardly see each other anymore now that the company has grown so much. So it's nice to have these catch-ups :) And Vovo Telo was delish!

After breakfast I headed to Mark's Park to watch The Trucker play cricket & we had their year-end braai there afterwards. And then I headed home to spend some quality time with the bunnies (they are absolutely loving their new garden. The heat, not so much) and watch some more series :) While The Trucker got some work done.

Ps. My Bond officially got lodged at the Deeds office this morning :) Giant happy smiles all round!!

Sleepyhead

It's been a kind of weird week. Seriously, I'm asking myself today how it can only be Thursday. Anyway, not a very eventful week, however.

I don't even remember what I did on Monday evening ... On Tuesday I intended to go to SCM as usual. But at about 18h30 I was lying on my couch reading my book and could barely keep my eyes open. I went to bed and finished my book before falling asleep early. I guess these 5:30am wake-ups are taking their toll. I didn't feel especially refreshed the next morning but I think it did definitely help.

Last night I was kind of intending to go to a work social dinner, but then decided I didn't really think I was in the mood. But since The Trucker had already made other plans, I decided to go out and do something constructive.

This started with a drive out to Angel's place to deliver my very lonely fish. Poor thing, I have felt so bad since I moved about him :( I had the pond set up at the old house but it wasn't very well looked after and at some point my big yellow koi died (the one who survived well past when I expected!). I knew there was a little orange guy in there still but I wasn't too fussed since I knew I was moving soon. So we emptied the pond during the move and at the new house I decided I didn't actually want to set it up again. The water-plant had really grown out of hand (it is still on my verrandah because I can't pick it up and get rid of it!!) and there are no outdoor plug points to connect a pump to. Besides, I decided I just didn't need the hassle. Maybe one day it'll make a come-back tho... but not right now.

So I put word out on twitter that I had a fish looking for a new home. The poor thing, I hope he survives, he's been thru so much in the last 2 weeks. His pond being dismantled, a drive to my new house, living in a tiny amount of water for a week & half with no friends, a drive to Angel's House and now an introduction to a new home with more fish and bigger fish than he's ever known! Anyhoo, in a flurry of second-hand pet acquisitions, my fish now lives with Angel. I hope he'll be happier there :)

And then, well, since I was out and had no other plans I decided to head to the work dinner. And I'm really glad I did. It was a nice small group (7 incl me) and although I was too late to eat, we sat and had a drink and chatted for about an hour.

The evening turned out quite well. Aside from the fact that (although I haven't seen the movie) I feel like I'm starring in "He's Just Not That Into You". Sigh. That's a whole other story, which I'm not ready to write about. Needless to say that at this point, I don't think that The Trucker & I will make it to 2012.

Catch Me A Killer by Micki Pistorius

Micki Pistorius, who has a doctorate in psychology, has spent 6 years as a profiler with the South African Police Service. As head of their investigation psychology unit, she was involved in more than 30 serial killer cases and participated in the training of nearly 200 detectives in the investigation of serial homicides. "Catch me a Killer" is the story of her remarkable career.

So this was quite an interesting read after Byleveld. It's very different. It's differently written and I guess it's a different side to the investigative story. I think I definitely preferred Byleveld. There is something about the way this was written that I didn't quite like. Sometimes it got confusing and I felt like she hadn't been clear about things. And I'm also not into this whole "and then I swam into the abyss" nonsense. But whatevs. It's her story, it's what she believes and feels. I don't quite buy it. But either way it's still a very interesting read. Again because who can believe the sheer quantity of serial killers we have in this country. It's kinda frightening, really. Glad to hear they're so good at catching them :)

The Last Resort by Douglas Rogers

Zimbabwean journalist and travel writer Douglas Rogers wakes up in his fashionable New York neighborhood to discover that, at the age of thirty-five, his life has become a routine of latte orders, real estate conversations, and late nights in cocktail bars. Meanwhile, back in Zimbabwe, his parents are caught in the crossfire of a violent land war, and going to ever-greater extremes just to stay alive. Returning to the family farm and backpacker lodge to help, the author discovers that marijuana is growing instead of maize; prostitutes, diamond dealers, and refugee white farmers prop up the lodge bar; and war veterans and youth militia loyal to Mugabe hover outside the gates. Having left Africa in search of adventure and excitement a decade earlier, the author discovers that the great story he had traveled the world looking for was happening in his parents’ backyard. And in going home he discovers that there is a lot more to his country, himself, and his parents, than he had ever imagined. The Last Resort is an inspiring coming-of-age tale about home, love, hope, responsibility and redemption. An edgy rollercoaster adventure, it is also a deeply moving story about how to survive a corrupt Third World dictatorship with a little innovation, humor, bribery and brothel management.

I wasn't so sure when I started reading this ... but I really enjoyed it and found it a fascinating read. I'd recommend it.

Seven Weeks Til Xmas

Well it was a pretty busy weekend, really. Not much house stuff to report tho. Transfer still has not gone thru :( But apparently the lawyers have now got in an external company to get the Clearance Figures (or something). Damn, I hope it goes thru before the end of November!!

On Friday evening, I was watching the storm closely because The Trucker & I had plans to go to the Drive-In. Hahaha, I know, right? How mad. I haven't been since I was probably about 3. They closed them all in Cape Town and I've never been since I moved up to Joburg. We've been trying to go for a while, but there has never really been 2 movies we wanted to see. Honestly there is very little showing at the moment that interests me at all. But we were both keen to see Contagion and What's Your Number? didn't look terrible.

The storm cleared perfectly and the Drive-In was very quiet. We even got to watch a few fireworks going off during intermission. So, the Drive-In is R75 per car. Not too bad considering normal movies are probably about R40 per person. But I don't think I would go to watch 2 movies again anytime soon. I honestly could hardly stay awake thru the 2nd one.

The Drive-In is a weird experience. I wouldn't say your car is more comfortable than a cinema. The people who came in their Land Rover, reverse parked and then climbed in the back with the back seats down and duvets & pillows probably had a better idea! There were some very weird kids in the car next to us. And some people brought their dog ?! The sound and everything was perfect, being enclosed in our own little space tho :)

What's Your Number? was exactly what I expected. The Trucker was a little bored with it. Contagion however was a huge giant massive let-down. Massive. Yawn. I barely stayed awake during it. It was a star-studded cast and the trailer made it look far more interesting than it turned out to be. It was completely boring. Do Not bother watching this. Not even on dvd. Don't even waste the bandwidth downloading this!

On Saturday morning I had my new Domestic Worker come around so that I could meet her and she could get a feel for the place. She was only there about 3 hours. So far I'm happy with her, thanks Doodles! She'll be starting on Wednesday properly. Which is marvelous, the house needs some serious post-move cleaning :)

The Trucker & I popped out for a quick breakfast and then a bit later we collected his sister & niece and headed off to his mom & gran in Reitz to celebrate his gran's 80th birthday (tomorrow).

He snoozed most of the afternoon while the girl's all chatted away. In the evening we watched Trevor Noah's Crazy Normal.

On Sunday after breakfast we headed home. The Trucker went off to play cricket and I headed off hunting for house stuffs. I think I've found curtains I like for the lounge & bedrooms. But, I didn't think finding a bench for my verandah would be this tricky! Ah well, nothing is really urgent, honestly. I like the browsing, although with the lounge still in chaos (am waiting for another opportunity with the Mahindra to get rid of some gym equipment the previous owner left before I can figure out where that giant dining room table of mine is going!). Also I want to get the carpets cleaned too. And then the shuffling around will begin. Haha. Really not sure where anything is going to go yet!

In the evening I popped over to The Trucker's (can you believe I haven't been there since before we went to Dundee!) with dinner (I made us delish gourmet hotdogs!) and we watched Captain America. Haha, another movie I'm glad I skipped on the big screen. The Trucker's comment was "Well that's quite enough propaganda for one night" Haha.

Settling In

So, yeah. Things with the house are awesome. Although I have not actually unpacked anything at all since the weekend. I've been trying to get used to my new earlier mornings (waking up at 5:30am now, half an hour earlier!) and the longer drive to work. Which luckily so far has been a breeze. It is a bit of a longer journey (inescapable as I live further away), but it doesn't really feel that much longer. Except for the minor fact that I have to leave the house by 6:15am in order to enjoy a stress free drive. On the plus side, I'm leaving the office at 15h45 now (15mins earlier) and the drive home has also been stress-free and easy (I am dreading my first day with an accident on the highway!).

On Monday afternoon I went and wandered around Northgate a bit. I am looking at what my internet options are. The Trucker tried out his Vodacom 3G at my house over the weekend and the signal was fine. I haven't decided yet, honestly. And I think I might've found some curtains I like for the lounge :)

And then I had a very quiet night at home. Yesterday afternoon I went to my new gym after work. So far this move hasn't really affected my routine which is good :) And then it was SCM. So nice and nearby now!

I made the mistake on Tuesday morning of letting the bunnies out in the morning while I did all my other stuff (it seems I have quite the busy morning routine, which involves showering, making breakfast/lunch for the day ahead, putting washing on or hanging it and letting the bunnies run). They were very difficult to herd back into the hutch which is less than ideal when I'm on a tight schedule! So they haven't been out again. I'm not really sure how to get round this ... they love their morning time in the garden ... maybe I will try letting them out immediately when I wake up to give them longer. In the afternoons they're much easier to herd back in because they've usually been out for about an hour and a half or longer ... they're ready to go back by then. But the mornings are too short.

Other than that, things are complicated. I don't know what is going on with The Trucker & I or if it is a perfectly normal side-effect of 2 independent people trying to have a relationship. I don't really feel like I've seen him much lately, since he has been working so much. And when I do see him, he is exhausted. I suspect he's taking strain trying to juggle all these things: work, me, his friends. It really is reminding me of the last 6months with Varen at the moment tho :( :(