Mmmm... Mmmm Good

in zimbabwe any reason is reason enough for a barbecue. so, you said there's a butchery around the corner? let's braai some meat. huh, you bought new earrings? barbecue. wait, that's a braai stand over there? where's the meat? let's get busy!

it's officially spring here in new york but it seems no one told the weather that so it is rainy and close to freezing. but i am going to a pre-wedding barbecue today. i can barely contain myself. even if it snows. wait wait -that's a good reason too!

Please Drive Slow, Dust Kills Our Trees

my mother knows just how to make my day. i was on holiday in zimbabwe last year and she looked over at me and said "i'm going over to ian smith's farm, do you want to come?"
she didn't have to ask me twice. i packed my camera and we set off. it wasn't a farm. it was a small town. and, for me, this sign said it all.

i have all kinds of feelings about ian smith and the history of rhodesia in general. but at the end of the day i thought to myself - this is history. this is the past and my feelings were somehow made more real because of where i was. and looking around the magnificence that was like a small town or, in some places, a country, i was a bit overwhelmed. but i took pictures. and my mother got a ram.

I'm So Excited!

a competition i can really get behind. with passion. with all my heart. and all my free time.
the ncaa basketball championship. i enter without prejudice because i have watched almost none of the season's games. and yet i enter with passion because there is some excellent ball playing going on. so far three of the underdogs have conquered and who doesn't like a feel good story where the underdog comes out on top? those with a lot of money on the game that's who, but we over in this corner are all for the little people.

you see the coaches and sometimes even the players pontificating but sport tv is clever - you can't hear a word they say. folk go red in the face, spittle shoots from their mouths and you think, oh, it must be really important. but you can't be sure and so no bubbles are burst and in no time we are back to the action and the muted suits are soon forgotten. there are some lessons here for the current election coverage but i fear that perhaps the so-called journalists and newspeople are too busy following a "story" to learn any lessons. but i won't complain, for once the ball games are over, i shall be back with them. i am thinking maybe i should work on a whole album of songs. yeah, that's it a whole album... but wait, three point play!!!

i gotta go!

My Story And I'm Sticking To It

thursday early morning my phone rings and i don't recognise the number. "hello," i say as i am still groggily wondering who is calling me. i hear a voice respond that i really don't recognise - but since i didn't recognise the number, i am hardly surprised. the voice sounds a little breathless and faint and yet the person is speaking to me in a familiar manner. "i'm in labour," the voice let's me know and then it hits me.
it's my aunt! but she was not due for a couple of weeks. ah well, babies, apparently they do things like surprise us. i leap out of bed and start running in confused circles. how do i find you? i'm on my way! no, don't try small talk, you're in labour. i'll be right there.

my new cousin finally arrived at almost 9 pm, and has been facsinating us ever since. this was him at one and a half days old. he is very generous with the expressive faces. and, it seems, too lazy to cry to often or too hard. i think i have become that obnoxious share pictures with everyone person. but... oh so worth it.

Rap My Knuckles!

so the last few months have been a little roller coastery (living in america means being able to create your own words, conversate). i mean one moment i was jogging along, dreaming of the new york marathon and the next i was being told i needed surgery that would keep me out of work for almost two months - and during year end, preparing for the auditors time, too??? granted it came with a great visit from my awesome cook fabulous caretaker mom but did it have to hurt so much? and i went from that to work challenges that have me now working the interview circuit. yeah, i think i totally rock but somehow i have to find the right buzz words to convince you of the same. maybe next interview i'll just hand over a link to this blog and say - well that's me, right there. strengths, weaknesses, love songs, you are almost dead to me songs. the whole shebang. take me, leave me but please don't think i can sit through two hours of interviews at 8:30 in the morning. my blog will make it patently clear that i am so not a morning person. and i have discovered that i am not very good at filtering the truth in the early hours of the a.m.

but i digress. it is not yet time for me to spearhead the change the working hours movement to something more civilised. i mean seriously, if one is not to have a cocktail before noon, how is one to do anything else of any importance before then?

again, my thoughts wandered. what i wanted to say is that i have been neglecting me. i wasn't running (first because i could barely walk but then because something like angst was slowing me down). and then i really was avoiding the blog - oh i didn't want to sound angry, sometimes i didn't want to sound sad and other days i was all - well who wants to hear about what made me laugh today. then i did what any interviewer should do - i looked back at my little rambling missive to those who stumble upon it and realised that i am all of those things on the regular. one thing i know i am not is a bland opinionless (yeah, made that up too; i'm on a roll) so-and-so who rationally discusses issues that require no opinion (is that possible?) and you know i need to practice what i preach. i need to let it on out. i need to be good to pandave. because i am sure that they are all kinds of words of wisdom about living life, but i tell you this, keeping it all in is yuck. pom poms!!! rah rah!!!!

Gimme A Beat!

a song came to me. unbidden its words formed in my notebook. it came at an excellent time. it is award season. perhaps some musical genius with a golden statue to their name will put a tune to the string from my soul...


You played into my life - shades sax and song
I knew right then, you could never do wrong
Even when they talked about you and the girl in the thong
I never wavered, never faltered, my heart to you always did belong

CHORUS:
How could you, Bill, play me like that
Play me like a wii
I tell you this, after all that
You are almost dead to me

"Let me hear you talk about trash about my man," I used to dare
The voices of the haters I would silence with a withering stare
And I kept telling myself that you really did care
That nothing could destroy the dream of you and me as a pair

CHORUS

THE BRIDGE:
With your words you spun a web,
I was your prisoner
My love for you would never ebb
I was your prisoner
Bewitched, bespelled, beyond saving
But you found a way to destroy it, it all caved in

But then you started talking smack, bringing a brother down
My glowing smile at your voice turned into a frown
Remember how, in my eyes, you always wore a crown
Now all i see is a mean, not so fun, clown

CHORUS:
repeat to fade...

thanks to jimmy holla xo, for inspiring me and encouraging me to let it all out.