Sometimes....

... you just don't want to anymore...

You know how you look forward to something so badly that you can't think of anything else..well, I'm that way about going home now.. it's been in the back of my mind for a long while still, and this week it's near touchable... however it is Tuesday and I still have to go through Wednesday, Thursday ( when the boss aint here though ) and then Friday to get to that.

I had hoped to take these two weeks off, but had jumped at doing the extention of contract merely for financial reasons... and wanting to finish stuff off.

Currently though the reports that I have to convert from what they were to what they're suppose to be is creating a real sense of not wanting to be around.. how I could have been at home organising things like what needs to be packed, sorting out all the finances and the likes and making sure everything is planned like it should be.. sorting out the freelance that is still in the wings as well, and possibly catch up on some gaming skillz.

I know that in March I'll probably be very happy that I did the extention, and that I worked through it all, but at the moment I just can't be doing with all this pressure about this and that having to be done by this and that date... annoying... ah well.. only 3.5 more days... then it's airborne time and some red wine on the plane and wait for morning to come around.

Greets to all
Z

Quick jab in between SQL queries....

It's a nice sunny ( don't mistake that for warm though ) day in the Capital today ( at the moment, Oct and Micon would tell you it switches here almost on the hour [the weather that is]).
And while running queries that is updating the catalogue database of one of (if not the biggest) distribution houses in the world ( fun I tell you, no pressure ) I've blink while looking out the wall windows we have here at work, and realised I came here for the wrong reasons.. but, the plans to rectify that is already in place though.. so come the 27th of Jan 2007, we'll start the implimentation of that then ...

That said as well, we've had some great news : Adam is possibly coming to live with us in our London flat... legend !! :) He's flying to Manchester on the 28th of Jan and then flying down to London most likely on the 29th of Jan (to London City Airport which is like 1km away from where we live), and then he'll hopefully be picking up an engineering job over here, don't want to let to much out of the bag yet.. but if it all pans out... there might be a gaming console on the way for the house in the near next year... choices choices choices :)

Z over and out.. l8r.. today is going to be loooooonggggg...

(Zodan.fortnight.nolife=="Y")

But that is entirely been my choice. I have loads of freelance to finish off, and start as well, as the UK freelance has kind of fired up again. That said as well, I have accepted the contract extention that my boss at ITV has offered me to keep me coming into the city until the 22nd ( the day before we fly home for a month's worth of holiday). So those little things I had thought I'd be able to catch up on.. things like sleeping late every morning and playing games the whole day, will have to wait until we set feet in South Africa, and there I doubt that our time will be spent sitting around doing nothing either.

Plans for Cape Town seem to be falling into place nicely and that means a busy busy time of seeing friends and hanging out.

Well, just a short update on Z's life post.

L8r
Z

Late night thinkings...

....these are things I love very much. Listening to the wind howl around the corners of the flat we live in, at 2am in the morning, very little light in the flat, and a nice cuppa in my hands.. normally accompanied with some soft thought provoking music, Snow Patrol is good for that...

The time of day/night when most of the people around are suppose to be solidly asleep, though I was told by Micon and Octavo alike that there tends to be more people out in London after 22:00 at night then during the day. I have learnt why as well in the last 9 months of working in this city.. coming from CT to here is a fairly large pace shock, not something I didn't anticipate, but even my anticipation was overwhelmed by how fast everything "has" to happen here.

Lately been wondering what the really NB things in life are. (At the very least to me). After having been able to buy almost all the gadgets and material things which I had thought I'd like to get ( short on the PDA though, but really haven't found what I was looking for, and the one that does exist on the market is far to large, maybe in a year or so there'll be some development there. Anyways, after being able to buy those things, the notebook, the camera, the TV (that was a huge splash out on myself and something I stuggled with for a while after actually buying it).. after all those things... I've realised they are dead and worthless compared to the memories that were created with friends.

Here I would like to add a special thank you to Grea. Every guy who gets into a new relationship has one particular fear (among many others), and that is that either "the guys" aren't going to like the new girlfriend, or/and the new girlfriend won't like "the guys" and not want to hang out with them.

Grea's introduction to my two best friends was even more difficult as she was being introduced to them in the true geek form that we all used/still am had entertained ourselves back then.
Oct had his parents' place for the weekend, and we had thought it a great chance to work on our CS movie that had been in the planning for a while... so it was going to be a classic weekend for us of games, risk, loads of talking, junk food and just lounging around.

My fears were very shortly sliced into tiny little pieces when Grieks started playing Risk with us and relaxing ( at the very least on the outside ) around this group of geeks who were enjoying playing games and trying to sort out some footage for a game movie with a story line...

Things got even better when we started hanging out in and around Cape Town where Oct would take us to pick Grieks up and we'd let loose on Corner house and the Shack.. who remembers the coke dude in the Shack that challenged everyone to a game of pool and came back from the toilet heavily sniffing ? :)

The thank you goes to Grieks, thank you my love for making every effort to make "the guys" feel safe around you, and to letting us spend as much, if not even more, time together as "the guys" and joining in on the fun, you are one in a million, and I will forever cherish that :)

Just a few more days, then we'll be on our way to JHB for a 2 week holiday with Grea's parents in the north of South Africa, after which we'll be in CT for 16 days. For anyone wanting to catch up in Jan while we're in CT please refer to the dates post here ( think it's either 3 or 4 posts back), and let us know when you'd like to hook up :) We won't be easy to contact for the 1st few days in Cape Town, but after the 15th things should be a lot easier.

Z [10-4]
PS : rktFuel is one mean driver in NFSU2, but he still kills anyone in StarCraft.
That reminds me.. there'll be some emails going out to friends in SA to ask if they'd like to become part of a VPN based on Hamachi (http://www.hamachi.cc/download/list.php) for the playing of StarCraft Broodwar games. Concept is that we'll be having a LAN (as we used to set up at the school computer room.. hehehe.... and those many locations in the last 8 - 10 years) over the net. DSL subscription should be more than ample for the usage of the VPN, and no money is required to join the VPN, neither to download the software and install it. But details will be mailed out in the next 3 - 4 days to all concerned and invited parties.

The good ol' days ?

Wa'd up ya'll ?

I wanted to,don't really know why.. just thought I'd do the Parow thing, being that me and Grieks used to live in the "hood" as it was termed by both housemates and other friends.

And it is with the last word in above paragraph in which I'd like to write about.

There are memories edged into my mind, not out of pain, but out of pure fun and laughter and 1st time experience ( as Craig would say), of some really good times in the last 7 - 8 years.
London has been a great experience this year, we've made friends here that we will have for life because they are great people, and we've even put in place some prelim plans to show them the beauties of Cape Town when they come visit just after we hopefully return to CT for good at the end of Nov 2007.

Having found some friends of a little further back in history ( more friends of Jaco [my brother] than mine, but people who I got to know a lot more when I worked [G-unit] with (even if it was at St. Elmos :), and went to varisty with for 4 years as part of a lift club, who had also come to London and had dropped into London within 2 weeks after myself and Grieks braved the weather of this place.

It is great to have historic (in the sense that we knew them before we got here), but one of the tough things of being this far from "home" is the lack of having my good mates Micon and Octavo here in London. Lately memories of Dustbowl ( of which I still owe Oct money for the evenings that we booked into the hotel for), Milnerton LAN's, especially having 2 stunt kites flying on the hockey fields in the middle of the night, one of which (mine) is absolutely black... sounds daft but it was great fun. Weekends of lanning and playing Risk, getting into debates about all kinds of things, dropping off to McD's on Saturday after having a long Friday night worth of gaming, and then not listening to the good advise of all parents around the world to let your food settle before having a dip in the pool at Oct's parents' place.

Going out to Stones to go get cigars and play some games of pool.. even becoming regulars at the Durbanville Stones, with the sweet bar lady who used to serve us there. She even kept our favourite table for us after the 1st week of us showing up almost every evening for 3 weeks. Yet more debt I have to settle with Oct for that as well (having been a student at that time).

Going to Kleinbaai to get away from the hectic life of CT, playing risk until all the girls were possibly bored out of their skull with us, then sitting up with coffee and just listening to either the wind howl outside of the break of the ocean on the rock just across the road from the house, many many a great memory there, even once making the mistake to take pc's to Kleinbaai.. bad idea.Munchies, Jelly Tots, shot glasses and always trusty Grieks' pack of cards.. later on the nice warmth from the wood "kaggel" in Hennie's corner.

We've really enjoyed London the last 9 - 10 month's that we've gotten settled (very subjective there) here, but the things I mentioned above here are the things I sincerely miss. Sitting in Oct's "flat" at the back of his parents' place and just listening how Oct and Micon thought through things. Going out to Corner House ( in the good ol' days before it became a techno dance house, but was a rock house) with Grieks and the guys, a finer Friday has not yet presented itself since, there have been a few really good ones since, but nothing like being told to assume the position for tequila swirls at Cantina Tequila in the Waterfront, after which we made the rounds out to Corner House and a little later on to that famous used-to-be 24 hour eating place in Rondebosch (which I'm not going to try and spell as normally at that time of the evening we were more interested in getting something to eat than trying to remember the spelling on the door :) ), now converted ( last time I saw it) into a tourist office / booking operator. After which the drive home as always interesting... and then walking from Oct's place ( sometimes after some coffee) around the corner and up to home in the middle of the morning.

There were a few of those mornings where it was so surreal to be walking that little stretch that early in the morning. Brackenfell that time of the morning was / probably still is, completely silent, even as the N1 highway only passes about 150metres from there it has this beautiful quiet about it.

I miss it to sit and listen to the chat and banter of my two great friends talking about planets, thoughts, ideas and the future.

Z

Time space and... internal struggles ?

I think it can be fair to say that I never liked choosing between two things... I'm one of those guys that never says no to something merely to keep it open as an option.

Never said no to scuba and to be honest that was one of the best option open keepers ever ( thanks Grieks for opening a somewhat scared of the idea-guy's eyes to the magical world under da sea )...

I don't know who reads this blog, and in all honesty it shouldn't stop me from voicing my opinion on things, things that concern me so deeply, but is essentially none of my business.. [is this vague enough ?.. hopefully it is].

Things from the Bible that lately make a lot of sense : You can not serve two masters equally.That's more about work than personal sense, it's not easy to do freelance work and do a full time job, sometimes it's needed to be done that way, still however doesn't make it easy.

I do not like choosing ( you have to hear the kind of conversations me and Grieks has about what we're doing for dinner... all in good fun though :) ).

Maybe for a while longer I can debate what it means to be a true friend.

Here's hoping my neck feels back to normal again tomorrow evening, then I'd be able to get back to some rowing again, heck knows my mind and spirit needs the exercise, not to mention this pair of love handles I've been harbouring.

Check out some of the rugby pics we took on the 18th of Nov test between SA and England at
Sharky's Blog like the pano that Grieks built from three monochrome pics... was playing a bit with the camera's preset settings for light settings.

Friends care about each other's happiness.
[z,out]