Girl Interrupted

Fibromyalgia: I'm losing my mind! Literally!

2006-01-23T11:32:00.000+02:00

Over the last two years (since my fibromyalgia has been worst), I have somehow felt that I have been getting stupid. I can't seem to think as clearly as I did before, and I certainly don't seem to be as clever. Now I know why.

In the first episode of the Fibromyalgia Weekly podcast, I heard Betsy Singh-Anand mention a link between chronic pain and the loss of IQ points due to brain shrinkage. I asked her for more information, and oh my gosh! What scary stuff for the chronic pain sufferer!

According to a study at the Northwestern University Institute of Neuroscience, by Professor A. Vania Apkarian, chronic pain causes cognitive losses due to shrinkage of the prefrontal cortex and other areas. Previous research found that ongoing back pain (at least 6 months) causes abnormal brain chemistry in areas important in emotional assessments, decision-making and control of social behaviour.

So, if I've gone postal at you, my friends, at any time in the last few years (a specific MTG tournament organising thing comes to mind), well, I'm sorry, its obviously that my brain has gone loopy.

Further research using MRI, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, showed that people who lived in chronic pain had brain shrinkage per year equivalent to 10-20 years of normal aging! (Shaky voice: You know, when I was young...). Although this shrinkage is indicated in the gray matter (i.e., the thinking part of the brain), the study did not link this loss to brain function, so it could be non-critical areas that are becoming atrophied. And, they're not sure whether this brain damage is irreversible. Suck to be me right now!

Another study has linked an overweight or obese BMI to brain shrinkage.

Double whammy for me! Another reason to lose weight post haste!

Other studies by Catherine Bushnell, a researcher at McGill University's Center for Research on Pain in Montreal, have shown that it helps to be distracted from your pain, so tell your family to stop asking you how you feel and listen to more music or something.

http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002482.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=531217&page=1
http://www.livescience.com/041122_brain_pain.html
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/97/104181
http://www.worldhealth.net/p/237,1863.html

Filed as: Fibromyalgia »

Diet: Cognitive dissonance applied to a weight loss program

2006-01-22T18:02:00.000+02:00

I am psychologically invested in the TLC program I wrote about earlier.

cognitive dissonance

Induced compliance:

Justification of effort

summed up very nicely in this Dilbert cartoon

Dilbert cartoon

Filed as: My Diet »

Diet: The TLC weight loss program

2006-01-21T17:22:00.000+02:00

After promising for ages to post about my diet program, here it is (no, don't have a hernia - I typed this post out ages ago, well before I decided on my Hiatus, and I just needed to email it in, so there):

The TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes?) diet program is, I think (in a nutshell), Atkins (low carb) cross weight watchers (weekly weigh ins).

Psychomuffin

little animal quiz

(1) carbohydrate

(2) fats & proteins

(2)

(1)

lower your insulin levels, since this hormone inhibits fat metabolism (pathway 2) and stimulates pathway (1)
increase your protein intake - more protein means pathway (2) is switched on to break down those proteins, and hey, whaddya know, fat burning happens as a bonus...
rid your body of glycogen stores. In plants, carbs are stored as "starch". In animals, carbs are stored as "glycogen". When you don't eat carbs, your body will first try to use its glycogen stores (easiest energy source, as explained above). Once those are depleted, it will grudgingly go to its fat stores.

Psychomuffin asked me " Why do you want to change? (A) Because you hate being fat, or (B) because you'd love to be thin?"

Its both really - I can't separate the two. I hate looking in the direction of the mirror in case I catch a glimpse of myself in it. And, I fantasise about what it will be like to be thin again. And healthy (let's not forget healthy, because of course, wanting to be thin for the sake of being thin is Wrong and Succumbing to The Media).

The psychological investment I have made in this program follows in a later post.

Filed as: My Diet »

Fibromyalgia weekly podcast

2006-01-20T15:25:00.000+02:00

I have found a fabulous weekly podcast on fibromyalgia and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) http://www.fibromyalgiaweekly.com. It's hosted by Betsy Singh-Anand, who is a registered nurse and licensed massage therapist, and who also has FMS. Her podcasts, which are published every Monday, are wonderfully informative, and the Yahoo Group she has set up as a companion group is also really great to be subscribed to - its newish, meaning that there are not yet that many people on it, and its not just a support group, its an information group as well. So many of the other FMS Yahoo groups are really big and have degenerated into whining sessions.

Now, I love whining as much as the next person, but I do enough of my own whining, and I don't need to be subjected to more of the same. Now, before you start thinking I'm cold-hearted and callous, I know how it is to need to just speak out and be heard, especially with something like FMS, because so many people don't believe, or just don't understand how you can be in pain when there's nothing visibly wrong with you. That is the whole reason I started blogging in the first place. However, I believe that just complaining isn't very helpful - there needs to be a flow of information for me in order for the group to have value for me.

Fortunately, this group does that.

Filed as: Fibromyalgia »

Fibromyalgia: Crash and burn

2006-01-19T17:11:00.000+02:00

I really over-did it yesterday. I pushed myself so hard that I was forced to take a pain killer by the afternoon, which ultimately means that the rest of my week is poked. It takes me about a week to recover from one or two (or three at most) hard days in a row, in the lab. How am I ever going to keep on track this way?

And no, I can't do something non-physical, like write, on "recovery days", because my brain gets poked too. The only thing I am capable of doing is arbitrary anal retentive stuff, like tidying and organising, or ideally some kind of repetetive task (I find the repetetiveness soothing) or stuff that doesn't require any thinking on my part. Like reading fiction, or watching TV, or whining for a back rub. Or sleeping.

Filed as: Fibromyalgia »

Hiatus

2006-01-16T08:30:00.000+02:00

Unable to control myself, I have given J the log in and password to my blogger account, and have asked him to change it. I need two weeks without the constant siren call of blogging to just finish my thesis and get done. I have, however, asked him to leave my email-to-blog on, so at least I can email Blogger from my phone, or what ever. (Its the template hacks that consume me).

In related news: I've made a decision not to do my PhD just yet. Every fibre of my being screams no when I think about it (I think I'm burned out), and I think committing to a PhD with that attitude would be a big mistake. So, anyone know of any jobs going in Cape Town?

Further news: I love the TLC diet - every time I get on the scale, I weigh less and less. In another day or two, I should hit 89kg - its gonna be great to be out of the 90's...

Drunken debauchery at the Catz Pajamas

2006-01-15T23:50:00.000+02:00

Boxing Day, 2005. The Catz Pajamas. An evening of serious cocktails.

The result: a plan, a cunning plan, a plan so cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel. The Plan: Europe, 2006.

Well, actually, its now Europe 2007 due to some unfortunate wedding issues (not mine), and its really only Spain, the Netherlands and Germany, not the whole of Europe. But, Boomclick, J and a bunch of friends are going (D-man, Psychomuffin, eduJ - come on, save up some money and come with us...) for three wild weeks of fun, sex, beach, sex, nudist beaches, Klub Wondersex, cookies in Amsterdam, recuperation in Germany, wild party in Berlin, more sex...

Its going to be a blast! We've started a team blog about it: The Euro Trip, and pretty soon I will hav a podcast or two posted from the night of drunken planning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More details? J and I met with some friends, Boomclick (who has deleted his blog), and his brother, who has no blog (as far as I know), at a 24 hour bar/restaurant in Jo'burg called The Catz Pajamas (in Melville). Its quite a nice place (although the floor is very slippery), and they have a yummy cocktail menu and some delicious food (at least, I think it was delicious... its hard to be objective. Everything tastes delicious when you have the munchies).

I recorded most of the night's conversation on my phone, until the battery died. Some of the sound quality is quite poor (mostly due to people holding the phone too close, or being at the other end of the table from the phone), but on the whole, it makes for some amusing listening.

Mostly, it was a planning expedition for This Year's Travel Plan (hereafter known as The Plan). The Plan is to go to Spain to have lots of alcohol and sex on the beach, then go to Amsterdam and have lots of drugs and sex (I wonder if I will be able to find Klub WonderSex?), and then go to Germany, where we will recover from the drugs and alcohol. And have more sex. (Boomclick is in some severe need of rebound sex and debaucherous behaviour, which we, his friends, will all support fully).

We (that is, J, Boomclick and I) were trying to convince his brother that climbing K2 is a sucky plan, and he needs to come to Europe with us. In addition, we are inviting two more of J and Boomclicks old school buddies (Mitch and Stephen - so sorry, Stephen, I thought it was Stephan, and I got a firm correction halfway through the night about it being Stephen, so many appologies for getting your name wrong), and a german girl (Tina) who, they are hoping, will have some hot, sexy friends to bring to Spain, so the boys can watch hot lesbian sex. This was very important, as you'll notice throughout the conversations.

I've tried to group the conversations into two main threads:
1) drunken talk about spain, sex and nipples
2) drunken catalogues of the drinks consumed thus far.

At Boomclick's request, I have beeped out all mention of his real name, so that his boss doesn't find out... Otherwise, enjoy.

Filed as: Arb Personal Stories »

Updated RSS feeds and Technorati crawling

2006-01-14T13:56:00.000+02:00

Just a quick note - I've updated my RSS feeds to allow readers to select Full, Truncated or Headline only feeds (thanks to Improbulus, of A Consuming Experience). If you subscribe via the old feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/dreamweaver2005), please change your subscription - (thanks so much).

In other news - I'm trying to update the tags for my old posts, since they weren't crawled properly by Technorati, so there are a lot of old posts showing on my main page, and as a result, this blog will probably take an age to load - please bear with me. As soon as Technorati have done their thing, I will reduce the number of posts on the main page back to a reasonable amount.

Update: Damn, they've classed me as a splog. Bugger. Unsplog me please, Blogger!

This week is allergy week

2006-01-13T13:22:00.000+02:00

Seems that this week is a week for allergies. Last night, I went to dinner at my boss's house and I broke all my diet no-no's (I'm on water and apples today, for that).

It seems that, to punish me for the sin of scoffing bread, rice, potatoes, smoked foods, butter (too much of), lentils, pasta, cheddar cheese, peanuts, and carrots (I think the only thing at dinner that I could have legitimately eaten was lettuce, and even that I have to have in moderation because it aggravates irritable bowel syndrome), my tongue decided it was allergic to something and swelled to a disagreeable size. I say disagreeable because it was difficult to talk without slurring, but mostly because my tongue kept getting in the way of my molars. My molars are particularly sharp, I've discovered.

In other news, both my dogs (that's Gadget, the untrained dalmation who apparently needs to go on diet, according to the vet [he says she's become a barrel dog], and Honey, the sort-of-trained labrador) are allergic to grass (no, that's not the news, we've known that one for a while) and have had to have shots and be put on to the most expensive dog food known to man, Eukanuba Dermatitis (or something like that), because the vet thinks it may be a food allergy. I ask you, R350 for a 10kg bag that lasts less than a month between the two dogs? My mom is practically having kittens - she doesn't believe dogs are like children, with ongoing costs. The cheaper the dog food the better, according to her. I couldn't disagree more, but then I'm not paying. So, in an effort to save my dogs from my mother's miserly tendencies, I have been phoning around various vets, looking for other food allergy alternatives. The cheapest I can come up with is Vet's Choice, for R125 per 8 kg bag. Still more than twice what the supermarket charges for Epol, but its way better than R350.

Lastly, the people we are staying with this week have a staffie. It broke out in hives the other night. Have you ever seen a dog with hives? It was the strangest thing I've ever seen - bumps all over this poor thing. You could see the bumps right through the fur (can you imagine how big they must have been to be seen through the fur and all?). I would have loved to have taken a picture of it, but since the owners were a bit distraught at their dog's alarming condition and obvious discomfort, I thought it would probably be a little tactless to whip out my phone and start snapping away.

Filed as: Arb Personal Stories »

Seems I am on the right track

2006-01-12T11:19:00.000+02:00

Well, this is the most accurate quiz I've done in a while...

Seems this quiz thinks I should be a Biology/Psychology major. Funny, that... (click to dropdown the results)

Biology

Biology

92%

Psychology

92%

English

83%

Journalism

75%

Linguistics

67%

Sociology

67%

Theater

58%

Chemistry

58%

Engineering

58%

Philosophy

50%

Mathematics

50%

Anthropology

42%

Art

33%

Dance

33%

What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3)

created with QuizFarm.com

Filed as: Arb Quiz Results »

Recommended Podcast from 43 Folders

2006-01-11T15:54:00.000+02:00

No, 43folders is not another meme like 43places or 43things, but an interesting blog by Merlin Mann. He has a very funny and very cynical postcast about New Years resolutions, which I found intriguing to listen to. It also has the dubious honour of being the first podcast I have ever listened to (gasp, shock, horror - I know, I'm not as geeky as I used to be... I'm busy and I have a life. Sort of.)

Give it a try.

Filed as: Miscellaneous »

Diet: Why is water so critical to weight loss?

2006-01-10T17:00:00.000+02:00

I'm sure I have written about this before, but I can't find that post, so here it is again: Why is water critical to losing weight?

No, don't roll your eyes! This is very important!

1) To "flush out toxins".
Everyone knows burning fat supposedly releases a lot of "toxins" that need to be flushed out. I don't really like the term "toxins", but I suppose its true - metabolic waste products do need to be flushed, and the easiest way to do that is through the urine. Or breath - do you ever get that furry feeling on your tongue while on diet, or halitosis? You can alleviate this diet side effect by drinking more water.

2) To keep your kidneys focused so your liver doesn't have to.
Your major fat burning factory in the body is your liver. You want your fat factory burning at maximum capacity. Unfortunately, your body doesn't quite see things the way you do - for your body, minor things like, say, keeping you alive, is more important than you fitting into your size 34 jeans again. So, when you are dehydrated (and losing weight, so more to clear out anyway), your kidneys start to struggle to perform their function properly. Your liver then kicks in to help out, since keeping your blood clear of metabolic waste products ("toxins") is a more urgent and important function. Bad, bad. You don't want to distract your liver. Keep your kidneys happy, and your liver can focus on your fat and not have to pick up the slack. This is my favourite reason to drink water, by the way. (Look after your kidneys, you'll miss them when they're gone.")

3) Three water molecules per fat molecule.
You can visualise a fat molecule as looking like a big letter E. When your body breaks fat down, it chops off the horizontal arms of the E and caps the "freshly cut" ends with a water molecule - sort of, I suppose, like a plaster. (Ok, bear with me if you're a biologist or scientist - I'm writing this for non-scientists, and really, I think that's the easiest way of explaining). Half the "plaster" (water molecule) goes on the vertical bit (the | part of the E), and the other half goes on the horizontal bit. As you can see, there are three arms on the E, so three water molecules are needed (again, I know - very simplistic, but if you're a scientist, bear with). This is the most water your body will need to break down a nutrient - carbohydrates only require one water, and proteins only require one or two, depending on the protein. So, if you want your fat broken down at all, you are going to need to provide your body with the tools to do it - there are other more important things your body may need to use its supply of water for, so don't make it have to choose!

Just for reference: the E represents a "triglyceride". The vertical | represents a glycerol molecule, and the three "arms" of the E are three fatty acids.

4) You're probably thirsty, not hungry
I'm sure we've all heard how, if you feel hungry (particularly if you feel hungry and thirsty at the same time) you should drink some water, because you're more than likely just thirsty.

5) You'll help regulate your acidity levels if you're on a high protein diet.
High protein, low carb diets often result in the production of ketone bodies, too much of which can cause your body to go into ketoacidosis, as I've explained in an earlier post. Drinking water helps to regulate this pH imbalance.

There are more reasons, but they are too boring to type up - google it ;)

So, there you have it. Drink up, ladies and gentlemen. How much? Divide your body weight (in kilograms) by 55.5555 (recurring) to get an approximation in liters. On average, 2 to 3 liters per day, plus an extra 250 ml (8-oz) glass per 12.5 kg (25 lb) that you are overweight. Add more if you exercise or drink diuretics like coke, coffee, tea, etc. And if you live in a hot climate.

So, I guess that means I should be drinking about 4 liters a day - wow. Well, nearly there - up to 3 liters a day consistently. And hell, its just as easy drinking eight 500-ml bottles of water as it is drinking eight 250-ml glasses...

Diet: Pass the curry

2006-01-09T14:54:00.000+02:00

Apparently, one of the reasons people over-eat is having too many flavours in the meal. This apparently triggers the hypothalamus (part of the brain) to "ask for more food". This comes from research at Yale University (yeah yeah, I know, name dropping is unbecoming, and doesn't guarantee the quality of the research).

The hypothalamus, according to Dr David Katz, is hard-wired to respond to flavours, and this is the reason you can continually stuff yourself at Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc - "sensory specific satiety" (say that three times fast!).

A better plan for a harmonious blend of flavors is thematic eating, he says, like Indian or Italian food (I dunno about that - I've seen a lot of fat Italian and Indian mommas)

Check out this article for more information...

Damn, but I can't have rice. Or lentils. Or carrots, beans, more than 50g chickpeas. Or pizza. Damn TLC diet. On the plus side, poof, 3 cm gone from my waist...

I am such a useless blob!

2006-01-08T17:35:00.000+02:00

Sometimes I have to wonder what the hell I'm doing with my life. I mean, besides the fact that I'm the Princess of Procrastination, Duchess of Displacement Activity, Woman of Work Avoidance, what use is my chosen profession? Why couldn't I have done something immediately useful to my family. Like become a doctor, or a lawyer, or a vet...

Biochemist? Sure, I may be helping millions of people dying of cancer, but what satisfaction do I get out of that?

Filed as: Arb personal stories »

South African business (non)sense

2006-01-07T07:00:00.000+02:00

Update: Other rants and raves I have recently come across:
Eduj and his banking woes (switch to FNB, I tell ya, its a good idea - oh, you've already done that.)
Psychomuffin's work blues.
CJ's ridiculousness with Nashua Mobile, Dell and Standard Bank, and the mobile communications industry in South Africa, in general.

You know, it never ceases to amaze me how little business sense many South African companies appear to have.

This will be an ongoing post, which I will frequently (unfortunately) add to and update (so be aware of this, if you decide to link to this post).

EXAMPLE:
Businesses that don't return calls. I hired a domestic worker from a maid agency in the Berea, called QuikMaid. They were reasonably priced, friendly and supplied me with a domestic for a once-off day job. I was so impressed with the service, I called back and arranged for a fortnightly service. The maid came the second time, but then... nothing. The next fortnight, she was due, and when she hadn't pitched up by 9 (an hour late), I phoned to ask what was potting. I got an answering machine. I left a polite message explaining that my maid hadn't turned up, and got no reply. I phoned the next day - same thing, answering machine. I left a decidely cooler but no less polite message, and again, got no reply.

Now, all I wanted was an explanation. Mistakes happen. Maybe I wasn't down in their diary or something. I just wanted the courtesy of a returned call. An apology would have been lovely, but really, all I truly wanted, was an explanation. Weeks later, and I haven't heard a peep from them.

Now, if I were running a business that was so successful that I could afford to throw customers away like that, and risk the bad advertising that spreads so quickly by word-of-mouth (because, lets face it, the memory of bad service far outlives the memory of good service)... well, the smart thing to do would be to hire more staff! Expand! Grow!

Sheesh. Well, for the record, I do not recommend QuikMaid, of the Berea, Durban. Neither do I recommend Maids Inc., of Pinetown - they do not return calls either.

EXAMPLE:
Businesses that lie, or even just, bend the truth a little (or worse, try to fool you with jargon and legalese-y sounding stuff). My car (actually technically my gran's) is insured with Outsurance. She was told that, as a pensioner, she would pay no excess. However, when we tried to claim for my car (see the Hijacking story), she was told that, yes, she doesn't pay the R2000 excess that others pay, but they would reduce her claim by R1000. Now, is it just me, or is that essentially an excess? I think they are just mincing words to disguise what is, in reality, an "excess". This is ridiculous. They have, in my opinion, mis-represented themselves to my gran, and I have been seriously urging her to take this before the short-term insurance ombudsman, but my family avoid conflict like the plague (another South African failing).

EXAMPLE:
My mom has a copper electrode fitted to her pool, which allows us to use less chlorine to keep out pool clean. We rent the unit from a company called Electronaut, and included in the rental fee is replacement electrodes whenever necessary. Without fail, every_single_time we have called for a replacement, we have had to endure false promises ("Yes, we'll drop it off today") and wait nearly two weeks for the replacement to finally be dropped off into our mail box. This has been going on now for more than two years!

Again, I have to marvel at the wonder of the South African economy that can support service-oreinted businesses to the extent that customer service is actually their last priority.

EXAMPLE:
Businesses that can't teach a receptionist how to answer a phone correctly. "Hello?" is not an appropriate telephone greeting.

Disclaimer: Everything expressed in this post is merely a personal opinion on the conduct of various businesses.

Tagline of the day

2006-01-06T10:07:00.000+02:00

Some people are like Slinkies. Not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.

Diet: Whoops, too much kelp

2006-01-05T14:14:00.000+02:00

I have been taking a lot of supplements recently - and I do mean, a lot! I positively rattle two or three times a day.

Let's see, I'm taking...

Herbalife Fiber and Herb

Herbalife Vitamin, Mineral and Herb

Herbalife Tang Kuei

EAS ThermoDynamX

Vital Apple Cider Vinegar diet

earlier posts

I just won R1000!

2006-01-04T09:34:00.000+02:00

I just won R1000! Woohoo, what a great start to the new year!

If you'd like to enter the competition (you have to sign up for weekly or daily helath tips in your inbox - no spam, at least, I haven't received any spam over the last 6 months), leave a comment with your email address (I have a spam-bot blocker, so bots shouldn't be able to trawl for your address), or type the email out in full (eg blah at somewhere dot com), or email me (click on my profile for my email address).

And, today seems to be my lucky day - I entered a Yogi Sip competition, and won a R35 CellC airtime voucher. Yee ha!

I think I am going to buy some lotto tickets today.

Filed as: Arb personal stories »

New Years Resolutions - woohoo

2006-01-03T11:40:00.000+02:00

So many resolutions this year. As with my weight loss efforts, I've figured that making my resolutions public knowledge will help me garner support from my friends, while providing incentive not to look like a complete tosser if I don't go through with it, so here is the list (items struck through are complete) (partially stolen from Psychomuffin, since she is uber-organised, and can think of all these nifty things):

My resolutions are (categorized and all)...

HEALTH:

~~Give up daily refined sugar~~

~~Give up bread from daily diet~~

~~Take a daily multivitamin~~

~~(download Body-for-Life guides)~~

SOCIAL/PERSONAL:

~~daily~~

~~September 2006~~

SPIRITUAL:

Art of Living

TECHNICAL:

EDUCATION:

FINANCIAL:

MISCELLANEOUS/GENERAL:

~~Inventorize credit cards, etc, with toll-free numbers to cancel cards in case of theft.~~

Meh... hide this again

Filed as: Arb personal stories »

Diet: Milestone reached

2006-01-02T08:48:00.000+02:00

Today, for the first time ever, I actually stopped eating when I was full. There were really only two or three bites left of my food, but, rather than simply finishing my plate, as I would normally, I stopped. I feel so proud of myself! A real milestone reached, in my opinion.

Quiz result: What cute animal are you?

2006-01-01T19:13:00.000+02:00

I've tried to avoid putting quiz results on my blog for a long while now, but this one was too cute to resist...

You Are A: Lamb!

Peaceful and gentle, lambs have been used in religious imagery for millennia. Lambs are baby sheep, an animal tended by shephards since the dawn of history. As a lamb, you tend to stay together in a flock and graze on grassy land. Lambs don't mind being led and tend not to go off on their own.

You were almost a: Duckling or a Pony
You are least like a: Mouse or a Turtle What Cute Animal Are You?

Fibromyalgia: Piroxicam really does seem to work

2005-12-30T22:50:00.000+02:00

So, just a quick note about fibromyalgia: my diet seems to be helping with my general health and vitality - strange how one doesn't notice the general feeling of malaise until one starts feeling better - I'm really suffering now, after Christmas in fact...

Also: I had thought that the daily anti-inflammatories weren't helping at all (I'm taking piroxicam, a capsule - not the dispersibles [those iritate my stomach way too much]), but I couldn't fill my script over Christmas (silly mistake on my part, not worth blogging about), and I am really noticing the difference now - vague muscle pain all the time.

On other hand, I'm still not quite ready to come off the anti-depressants. I forgot to take them once or twice during the holidays, and J said he really noticed a difference in my behaviour. I was really blah, quiet, withdrawn, monosyllabic. I didn't notice it myself (one tends to think of oneself as completely normal all the time), but apparently, all was not right in my little world.

So, I will continue taking cytalohexal and piroxicam, and hope that R20 physiotherapy will do me the world of good in Cape Town.

Filed as: Fibromyalgia »

Does this make me look fat? The only right way to answer.

2005-12-27T11:49:00.000+02:00

The dreaded question.

The one all men cringe to hear from their partner's lips. "Does this make me look fat?"

Well, here is the answer, straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

"God, you're sexy."

That's it. A longer explanation: what is a woman really saying when she asks this question? She is saying "I feel ugly and insecure right now, and i want you to reassure me." Which is why an answer of "No, of course not" or any other variation thereof doesn't quite suffice. You men need to answer what she is really asking, without making it seem obvious that you are only saying what you think you are supposed to say. So the trick is to make it sound as natural and unrehearsed as possible, and basically reassure her that you find her as attractive (if not more so) as the day you met and she still makes you horny. She may grumble and moan, but trust me if you've done it convincingly you've scored big points for yourself and she will be grinning like a Cheshire act deep down.

Filed as: My Relationship »

What exactly is space anyway?

2005-12-21T20:09:00.000+02:00

J says he wants "space". In relationships, this is normally a Bad Thing. In a relationship where a couple is dating and not actually living together, this spells the beginning of The End. When the couple is living together, well, I'm not sure what it means.

Of course, we have been in each other's pockets 24/7 for some time now - the hazards of both being students, working from home I suppose, and its putting a lot of pressure on our relationship.

So sure, I have given him space. For the last four weeks. The thing is, J and I have different definitions of space. For him, apparently, it means physical space. For me, it means emotional distance. So, I have gone off to Varsity every day before he wakes up (not spending the days together seems to help a little - but not much, since he sleeps most of the day away and doesn't actually notice that I'm not there, so going to Varsity is useless), at night I've sat in the lounge and watched TV with my folks when he's been in the study, I've gone to bed hours before he does. I haven't spoken to him very much at all, I've pretty much tried my utmost to ignore him as much as possible.

Its been quite trying, actually. I'm very sociable, by nature. Sure, I'm shy and introverted, but when I love someone, I need a lot of closeness - meaningful conversations, snuggling in bed, touching, basic affection.

And this "space" thing has been hard, because it goes against everything I need and want - it means, for me, a complete lack of displays of affection. I can do this for a day or two, no problem. But for weeks on end? Its really starting to take its toll on me. I feel lonely, unappreciated, unloved and mostly, just very, very sad.

Unfortunately, J doesn't feel the same way - he says the amount of space I'm giving him is probably just shy of too little.

Too little? How on earth am I going to give him more space? We hardly talk now as it is! We haven't had sex in over four weeks! What more space is there? I mean, what am I really to J? A "fuck-buddy" (a friend with whom you have occasional sex)? Just a friend (cause the sex is now very very occasional)? Not even that, I think - he is more lively and attentive to his friends than he is to me. I feel completely taken for granted at the moment, like a big fat nothing in his life.

I hope this doesn't last too much longer, because sadness will eventually turn into resentment, and from there, we'll have big problems.

Filed as: My Relationship »

Diet: I'm only posting this because its good news

2005-12-20T01:21:00.000+02:00

As I promised - a very quick update on the weight loss...

Ok, so this graph doesn't look as good as the one I hand drew, on graph paper on my wall, BUT, the scale is larger, so there. The important bit to note is the drastic drop in the last measurement.

I feel like I'm melting before my very eyes. I can't see it anywhere on me yet, but the scale says I've dropped to 95 kg - down from a high of 100 kg. Yippee.

Sudoku of the day

2005-12-19T08:43:00.000+02:00

Mwahaha! I've just made my blog more evil! Sudoku of the day, check it out in the sidebar.

Hark, what's that sound? Its the sound of evil hands rubbing together...

I must admit, I haven't been addicted by Sudoku yet - I hate numbers games, I have a mental block against maths and anything mathematical. Also, its just too much pressure - if I don't do it, I feel stupid. I feel like my family has expectations of me, being a reasonably bright girl, to do really well at Sudoku, so I've never even really given it a decent shot.

But my uncle loves it. I was shopping for a Sudoku Christmas present for him (BIG shopping weekend at the Pavilion with J, Psychomuffin, D-man and some other friends - my credit card is bleeding!), and I was quite amazed at how many Sudoku products were out there - from books, to electronic versions, to computer software, to board game versions... I was going to buy him this Sudoku board game (because I was kinda sold on the idea of a game for him - makes a nice change from socks, soap-on-a-rope, clothes or stuff "for the house"). But, it was about R70 at Hyperama, with only 50 puzzles. There were Sudoku books available for the same price at Exclusive Books, with more than 200 puzzles. So, in terms of value for money, I figured the board game probably wasn't a good bet. I see now there are other board game versions on Amazon, but none in the shops when I went shopping. Oh well, too late now, because ultimately I didn't end up buying him anything, because the rest of the family are not huge fans of Sudoku either. I ended up buying "30 Seconds" as a big family gift instead - they are big fans of family games, like Rummikub, Uno, etc. Now, I shall introduce to them the utter fun of 30 Seconds.

Now, if I had found magnetic Fridge Sudoku, I might have been sold on that... The Sudoku-page-a-day desktop diary was also very very tempting as a lovely gift idea, but I don't know if my uncle even uses a diary (I'm too disorganised, myself).

While I was searching for gifts, Pyschomuffin and I saw Murder Mystery kits. Now, I've never played Murder Mystery before - PM insists that its fabulous fun. I'm sure it is... That's going on my wishlist, along with Scrabble, Pictionary and other board games.

The SIMs, Weblog Reviews and other news

2005-12-15T20:20:00.000+02:00

Yes, I haven't posted in nearly a week. I have an excuse. No, really, I do. I've been working on my thesis, in the lab, and I've been too tired to blog at night. Plus, J has banned me from blogging. I'm only able to write this post because he is absorbed in the SIMs. Mwahaha, Psychomuffin lent me the CDs and J got hooked. First comment: "It looks stupid. Looks like a doll's house or something". Half an hour later, still glued to my screen: "Ok, it looks like it could be a little fun". An hour after that: "Ok, give me the CDs, let me install this thing." Several hours later, as I was getting up to go to work, J sauntered into the bedroom, still fully clothed from the night before, having just finished playing the SIMs at 6:30 am.

Mwahahaha! My work here is done.

[Update: I went out and bought the SIMS Full House. It was on special at Makro. Who could resist at R50 per expansion?]

In other news: I got a weblog review by "speuter" the other day: http://www.theweblogreview.com/review/3118/
Yay... it was quiet nice actually - very constructive indeed. Some comments made on the layout of my blog - I'm working on it, slowly but surely. I've used a template, which I am trying to convert to using divs instead of tables for the layout (I'm not entirely happy with the way it loads), but since I'm new to CSS, its slow going indeed. I will probably only get around to it next year.

Further news on the diet follows. Maybe.

Diet: Old blog, new diet

2005-12-10T13:26:00.000+02:00

So, if you've been a regular follower of my blog(s), you will have noticed that my diet blog has been ominously silent since, well, the beginning of October.

Furthermore, you may even have noticed that it no longer exists at all - I've absorbed all the old posts into this blog and deleted "The making of a fitness goddess". Its too much effort to maintain another blog - this one takes up enough of my time as it is.

So, what news: weight loss has been up and down (mostly up). Waist measurement has been up and down. Bust more or less the same.

I am now sitting on 98.2 kg. And, I have gone ahead and stuck a needle in my arm, had some blood tests and joined the TLC program for R1100 (excluding the blood tests).

Why? I want a quick fix, and I want it now. And, I'm prepared to pay for it.

I had a very long email conversation with Psychomuffin about it, and with her permission, will put some of her comments and some of my rebuttals in a post, so watch out for updates.

In the mean time, wish me luck - I'm off to Clicks to buy a beautiful brushed steel digital scale.

Gasp, shock, horror

2005-12-08T16:22:00.000+02:00

What, does no-one care about my car story!? Hmmph!

Recommended Blog: Bash.org

2005-12-07T00:36:00.000+02:00

I accidentally stumbled on the funniest thing I have seen on the internet in AGES!!! http://www.bash.org/ is a database of quotes from chat rooms. OMG! J and I HOSED ourselves. I couldn't breathe, I needed tissues for my eyes and nose... I have to bookmark this site!

My car was hi-jacked today

2005-12-06T23:13:00.000+02:00

Well, I suppose, more accurately, it would be attempted theft, since no-one was actually in the car when it happened. Still, that is what the cops are charging the poor boy who dunnit with.

I don't know eactly what happened - I wasn't there. But I heard all about it when I got home - shots fired, and all.

My gran, who is visiting us for the holidays, wanted to borrow my car to go shopping, so I took James' car to 'Varsity (James was feeling poorly and not wont to go anywhere). I debated with myself in the morning whether or not to disable the anti-hijack system, which is quite complicated to operate, thinking, perhaps my gran would have forgotten where the secret button was and all. I decided against it - after all, she had driven it since I had the system installed, surely she would remember?

No such luck, apparently. She managed to get it out of the garage, and then the system locked down the car, and neither she nor James could remember how to re-set it again. (My phone battery was dead, by the way, having played like four hours of Josh Groban through my phone's MP3 player.) Anyway, she left it there, parked outside the garage, and went about her business (which included, now, a walk to the shops).

Several hours later, our neighbour, who happens to be a policeman, came home for something, saw a strange black man sitting in the driver's seat of my car. He didn't think anything strange of it at the time, having not seen my car before, and thus not realising it was ours. But, when he saw two other men duck down at the front of the car, and try to sneak away around the side (cause that's not suspicious at all, no! Dumb-asses!), he stopped, and the two of them fled. He managed, somehow, to collar the third guy in the driver's seat, firing warning shots at the others, but couldn't persue them because he was alone, and had to keep the guy he had managed to capture in his police van.

I'm grateful that he came home when he did, although he sounds like a bit of a psycho - apparently, he expressed regret that the guy hadn't actually been driving the car yet - then, apparently, he would have had license to shoot him in the head.

In. The. Head!

I can't imagine there would be many car valet companies with skull bone and brains removal service on their list of customer services (although you never know, with the level of crime in South Africa!)

In the end, it cost me (or my gran rather) R600 to replace the driver door lock and ignition, which they had well and truly buggered. And there is another story for my upcoming post about South African business sense (or nonsense!)

Warm fuzzies

2005-12-01T23:07:00.000+02:00

Update: I dub thee... Operation Warm Fuzzy (OWF) - why does Psychomuffin get all the fun, having stuff like Operation Masking Tape, and Operation Bench Press?

I've been thinking long and hard about what I want to get out of my life (as opposed to just drifting along) - mostly due to Pychomuffin's broodiness (I swear, it must be contagious or something), and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (by Steven Covey).

So far, I have come up with: be a better person. That's it really. It may not sound like much, but actually, it is. I want people to be genuinely sorry when I die (I know, I know - I think I need to up the dosage of my anti-depressants!). I mean, whoever lay on their death bed and said "I wish I had played more Morrowind", or "I wish I had blogged more" or "I wish I had spent more time on the internet"?

Even worse, what if someone I love dies - what kind of regrets will I have? I know for a fact, right now, I would regret not giving my mom all the support and attention she deserves. Like giving her my full attention when she comes home from work, to complain about her day.

Its just hard, you know, because she is so desperately unhappy at work, and I don't remember a single day since I was, I dunno, about 5 years old, when she hasn't come home from work and complained about her day. But, lets not get into the whys and wherefores of this situation - we were talking about my reaction to it, not why it exists in the first place. I kind of sit there reading my book or doing whatever on the computer (or worse, watching TV, and actually shushing her because I can't hear). I nod, and make appropriate noises (as all women are innately skilled in doing), but I'm not really listening. Sometimes (I think most times), she knows it. I think my mom must be the loneliest person in the world. Even with her daughter and her daughter's SO living in the same house, I think she must be desperately lonely.

How guilty do I feel right now!! Time to change this, I think. Time to stop being selfish, and start showing how much I care for the people around me - its not "obvious" and even if it were, people need to feel appreciated. Time to break free of the inconsiderateness that being an only child instills in a person, and start giving more warm fuzzies to people.

Filed as: Arb personal stories »

Gadgets: Samsung D600 mobile phone

2005-11-30T19:19:00.000+02:00

I like big BUTTS and I cannot lie... I got my new Samsung D600 yesterday, and I am downloading the Big Butts song for a ringtone. The phone is pretty nifty - 2 MP camera, all the gadgets and doodads that go with it. It has Bluetooth, email (I can send AND receive - apparently, not all phones can send as well as receive, many are receive only. I have set up my mobile phone to receive my Gmail messages - very very cool!).

Some things I don't like about the phone (although, that is probably because its new and I don't know my way around the menu's like my old Nokia - also, it has more buttons):

Its a bit difficult to find my way to my To Do list.
There are no profiles (like, General, Outdoors, Silent, etc)
The predictive text is so-so - I mean, I was borrowing D-man's Sony Erikson, and I really liked the fact that the predictive text on that had a scroll list, so you could see exactly which words were in the dictionary, and more importantly, if you accidently went one too far, you could just push "up" and go back to the previous word.
It would have been nice if the previous word was selected when clearing text - you know, you made a mistake, you're backtracking, the word is spelled right, you just chose the wrong predictive option, now you just need the next in the list or something - well, it should auto select, so I could go through the predictive options again. Instead, I have to erase it and start again.

Of course, all these irritations are nothing really, considering that I was using a Nokia 3310, the basic of basics...

Features I do like about the phone (apart from the obvious, like the colour screen):

The slidey thing - much better than a clam-shell design, or even a straight phone - its really nifty
Attached covers for all the ports - when you want to plug in, you just unclip (on one side) this little rubber cover... its great - my ports won't get dusty
The fact that there are dedicated volume keys and a camera button
the voice memo
video recording
mp3 ringtones
LOVE Forgotten Warrior (Java RPG game, kind of like Mario Brothers, but you can shop for potions and equipment and stuff)
Synchronisation with MS Outlook
[Update: 4 January 2006] Even better - power over USB! Fantastic! I don't always carry my charger with me, but the usb cable is always in my laptop bag, so voila, no more flat battery.

I will continue to add to this post as I get used to my new phone...

Ear wax and syringes

2005-11-28T19:28:00.000+02:00

"This will just be a little uncomfortable". Never trust anyone in the medical profession when they say this. After two days of total deafness in one ear (swimming, got dunked, wax melted, went deaf), I finally went to the local pharmacy and got the nurse there to syringe out my ears.

Eeeew! Gross!! Two enormous globs of dark wax. Blerg...
It was decidedly uncomfortable!

On the plus side, now I can hear again... and my ears are clean.

Birthday cocktails and cheese fondue

2005-11-27T09:32:00.000+02:00

Had a fabulous birthday party yesterday. Got more than a little tipsy, with cocktails that I really messed up (French martini (yuk), frozen margarita (ug), pina colada's (blerg)) and cocktails that other people made for me (mmm, strawberry daquiri, vodka jellies... yum).

Had a great time chatting to friends, being dunked in the swimming pool (27 times, for my age) by D-man, eating cheese fondue... drooling over psychomuffin's Franklin Planner... Damn, I wish I was a paper person, cause that is a nice planner. Also laughing at my dogs who were terrified of this one year old baby - strange person, gaga goo goo, strange smell, so small, what is it, what is it?

And I got some fabulous gifts - a lovely bright pink and orange beach towel, a caipirinha kit, a "Got crabs" button (long story - I'll write about it sometime...). Thanks guys, and thanks everyone who came - boomclick, eduJ, psychomuffin, D-man, Gerhi and Petru and baby Benjamin. Sorry for the lack of board games (will remedy that asap...)

Overshare: Also, too much blue curacao makes for very funny coloured poo.

Filed as: Arb personal stories »

Blogger HOWTO: Syndication

2005-11-26T20:21:00.000+02:00

So what exactly is syndication? What is this Really Simple Syndication (RSS) I keep hearing about? And how is this useful for my Blog? What's in it for me? Well, I'll tell you. (Click to drop down more). Syndication is ...

chosen

(UPDATE: I've recently discovered Bloglines, which is a great way of tracking your feeds! All my feeds go into a nice little frame on the left of my screen, organised into various folders as I like, and only the sites that have been updated since I last checked Bloglines are highlighted, with the number of new posts in brackets after the title. Cuts HOURS off my surfing time)

click here

copy-paste

1) Enable your site feed

Copy the "Site Feed URL"

Save your settings and republish.

From here, you can continue with these instructions for an ordinary feed, or look at Improbulus's instructions for burning a feed with Feedburner (highly recommended).

2) Choose a nice picture

icon

BlogExplosion

PhotoHut

Flickr

done it for your profile photo

click here for Blogger's instructions on uploading pictures

Update: if you're just providing an ordinary feed, and not tailoring it to specific aggregators or readers like Google Reader or Bloglines, its best to use the RSS standard image: . If everyone adopts this standard, it will help to minimise confusion, and you can get it in different colours too, not just orange (although thats a debate all on its own whether the orange should be standard too). You can read more about the adoption of this standard, or download images for your own use, at http://feedicons.com

3) Add the image to your sidebar

put your blogmap

put-your-image-URL-here

(Note, this is the "img tag"

4) Turn that image into a link

img tag

your-site-feed-here

your-image-URL-here

your-site-feed-here

add the whole site feed url (the one you copy-pasted/wrote on a post-it in step one), as in <a href="http://your-blog-url/atom.xml>.
add <a href="atom.xml">.
add <a href="<$BlogSiteFeedUrl$>" title="Atom feed">

5) Save your template changes and republish

The following drop down sections contain subscription buttons for various specific feed readers and news aggregators. Click the type of feed you'd like (full, truncated or headline only) and click on your chosen feed reader's button from there:

Full feeds

Smart Feed

Truncated feeds

Smart Feed

Headline only feeds

Smart Feed

Did you find this post useful? Show your appreciation.

Recommended: This one will make you rotflyao

2005-11-22T21:55:00.000+02:00

I was randomly surfing via BlogExplosion (a blog directory that helps you generate traffic) and came across the blog "I wasn't always like this", and something about it caught my eye, so I was scrolling down, as you do, reading, enjoying vicariously the lives of others, and came across a post about the true meaning of MILF - oh-my-god, it was so funny! I recommend you go and read it for a fantastic pick-me-up!

Please, god! Let me sleep!

2005-11-21T12:53:00.000+02:00

Somehow, J and I have managed to disrupt our sleep cycles to the point where we go to bed at around 4 am and wake up again at about 1 or 2 in the afternoon.

(Click here to read more...)

(Zzzzz, boring...)

Wishlist: Travel Charm Bracelet

2005-11-20T06:20:00.000+02:00

My family has been bugging me for gift ideas for my birthday, which really sucks, because I always have a whole list of items I want in about September/October (which I dutifully wrote down this year), but by the time November comes around, the list is usually forgotten (in the event of not writing it down), or lost, or uninteresting.

(Click for more on my Travel Charm Bracelet wish list)

large list of things

France/Paris

Miami

Bahamas

Peru

Scotland

England

Greece

parthenon

map of greece

Turkey (Istanbul)

Germany

Comores

Mauritius

Zimbabwe

Swaziland

Mocambique

Lesotho

(Click to hide this wish list)

Recommended Blog: Nee Naw

2005-11-19T22:47:00.000+02:00

Discovered a fabulous blog called "Nee Naw" about an Ambulance Dispatcher in London - very attractive template, very well written - well worth a read, I would say: http://www.neenaw.co.uk.

Quiz: I am 46% Geek

2005-11-18T02:22:00.000+02:00

Click here for yet another silly quiz result

I am 46% Geek.

You probably work in computers, or a history deptartment at a college. You never really fit in with the "normal" crowd. But you have friends, and this is a good thing.

Take the
Geek Test
@ FualiDotCom

Quiz: I am so not White Trash

2005-11-17T02:27:00.000+02:00

Click here for a really important quiz result

I am 20% White Trash.

I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. . I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box.

Take the
White Trash Test
@ FualiDotCom

Quiz: I am 64% Internet Addict

2005-11-16T02:16:00.000+02:00

Click here for a silly quiz result

I am 64% Internet Addict.

I am pretty addicted, but there is hope. I think I'm just well connected to the internet and technology, but it's really a start of a drug-like addiction. I must act now! Unplug this computer!

Take the
Internet Addict Test
@ FualiDotCom

11 Days and counting until my birthday

2005-11-15T01:04:00.001+02:00

YAY! 11 days until my birthday!

Hang on, I'm getting old now... why am I getting so excited about my birthday? Soon I'm going to be celebrating anniversaries of my birthdays...

Maybe its because this is the first year I've had such a well-defined birthday wishlist...

Filed as: Arb personal stories »

Blog Toys: New Blogger template

2005-11-14T01:23:00.000+02:00

So I got a new template, one of Blogger's, but I am not really happy with the time it takes to load. Maybe its just my dial up? Maybe I'll just stick with ~~Minima Black~~ ~~Minima~~...

Or, maybe I'll just get a completely new one! Hows this Wiccan template, supplied by Caz! I think I will cycle between Caz's templates, cause they are all so nice!!

FMS: Depression in the ranks

2005-11-13T01:15:00.000+02:00

The last week or so has been very hard for me, in terms of FMS. Actually, its been since I got back from Cape Town. Its very probably...

(Click to read more)

Filed as: Fibromyalgia »

100 Things about me

2005-11-12T00:08:00.000+02:00

I recently came across a blog called "The Dog's Breakfast", by Panthergirl. Besides having the CUTEST doggie picture, she has done this interesting list thing (and we all know how much I love lists) - 100 Factoids about herself. (Update: turns out this 100 things about me is a meme that everyone is doing). Well, it was such an interesting and amusing read, I thought I would do one about myself:

(Click to see the list)

I am a complete sucker for a friendly dog.
I'm allergic to dog hair.
I believe dogs should be members of the family, not "pets".
I have had nine dogs, two cats, a dozen rabbits and six goldfish in my life.
Since getting my driver's license at 18, I have never been involved in a car accident, even as a passenger.
I got trampled on by a horse when I was six. Broke my collarbone and cracked my nose.
I got right back on that horse the next day (wasn't his fault my nose got in the way of his hooves, the way I see it).
When I read fiction, I read in the appropriate accent (in my head, of course).
I continue talking to myself in this accent for several days (not good after a hill-billy book).
I came second in the Provincial Under 16 Figure-Skating championships.
There was only me in that division.
I have never had measles, mumps or chicken pox.
I could eat sushi and chicken for the rest of my life and be happy.
I have been caught having sex in a public place.
I arranged to meet someone I met online once. We had lunch together. He was kinda nice, but we never really chatted again after that.
My dreams are usually incredibly rich in detail and often full of Jungian archetypes.
I love photography, but haven't taken a picture in over two years.
I grew up in a poor suburb.
I never want to live in a poor suburb again.
I am addicted to the internet.
I want a camera phone simply to try out mobile photoblogging.
I prefer baths over showers.
I have a very eclectic taste in music - from Josh Groban/Andrea Boccelli, to the occasional Britney, to Rammstein and Marilyn Manson.
I once scratched my boyfriend's parents' brand new convertible on, like, the second day they had it (or something), and I never said anything.
I hate lab-work with a passion.
My Masters thesis has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do.
I get a real kick out of public speaking.
I would love to live in a country with real winters - i.e., snow. At Christmas.
I love Christmas - I love Christmas carols, cheesy feel good Christmas movies, Christmas day with all the pigging out, the colours (red, green, gold, silver, blue, white), christmas dinner, christmas lunch, christmas snacks, christmas swimming in the pool...
I was in the choir at school every single year. Twelve years. 12.
I was a mezzo-soprano, but they didn't have a mezzo-soprano group in our choir, so I was stuck in with the Sopranos most often.
I can't sing Contralto.

(Hide this list)

Filed as: Arb personal stories »

Watch where you wag that tail!

2005-11-11T00:24:00.000+02:00

Mandy the not so wonder dog has gone and done it again. I've played with my html and buggered up my side bar. Oh dear. It will take me days to figure out where I went wrong! Unless... unless I change back to Black Minima (which I really like), and redo it that way... hmmm...

Blog Toys: Library Thing

2005-11-08T23:23:00.000+02:00

Mandy the wonderdog has done it again. Check out what I stumbled upon...

sidebar

Venutians rule, Martians drool

2005-11-03T22:17:00.000+02:00

Why is that women are...

Filed as: My Relationship »

Arg Dial Up! And, the seven habits...

2005-11-03T22:14:00.000+02:00

I can't load the Blogger page on dial-up today, so I am submitting this by email.

Currently reading the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and downloading Franklin Planner trial software, mwahahaha! I will be more organised! Yeeha!

Changing the world, one gift at a time

2005-11-01T22:20:00.000+02:00

My latest passion is Freecycle™. This is a recycling organisation that tries to keep re-usable stuff off the world's landfill sites. The Pietermaritzburg Freecycle group is now official, which makes us the second (official) Freecycle group in South Africa. Yeehaa!

I've been trying hard to get a press release through to the Natal Witness, but so far I have been met with ZERO success. Oh well.

Quiz: I am a Merchant

2005-10-31T20:31:00.000+02:00

Click here for yet another silly quiz (with cool pictures though)

MERCHANT

Red

Ruby

Who would you be if you were a character in an epic fantasy? (beautiful pictures)

brought to you by Quizilla

Now you're mine, all mine! Mwahahaha!

2005-10-28T23:44:00.000+02:00

James has laid his stamp on me ...

coloured pens

Must love dogs

2005-10-28T22:19:00.000+02:00

Just when I start up a blossoming House/Pet sitting business (I registered on Mind My House and HouseSit World and everything), I have to move towns. Sucks much, it does. So, I am taking recommendations from my friends for who wants to take over my client base for some easy money... Must love pets.

Overshare: Zen gardening in chest hair

2005-10-26T00:34:00.000+02:00

What should have been a romantic moment between J and I ... (click if you don't mind overshare!)

hairy chest

Filed as: My Relationship »

Perspective in a smoked salmon salad

2005-10-25T23:27:00.000+02:00

I spent the weekend with D-man and Psychomuffin, and it was absolutely fab. Except now I really really don't want to go to Cape Town. Sniff sniff.

I went to their gym (it was open-day), which was great (D-man is such a slave driver, exactly what I needed), and then Psychomuffin and I spent like 5 hours window shopping for household stuff - it was fantastic. We had a great lunch together (hmmm, Smokehouse Salad from Mugg & Bean: highly recommended if you like smoked salmon! A lot!)

Anyway, Psychomuffin put...

Dreamweaver: Hmmm, there's leftovers in the fridge for breakfast, tastier than Herbalife.
Willpower: Dreamweaver, do you want to be fat for the rest of your life?
Dreamweaver: No
Willpower: Then why are you considering leftovers when you have a diet plan to help you?

denying

Tick tock biological clock

2005-10-25T23:10:00.000+02:00

Shhh, if you are very quiet, you can hear the ticking of my ovaries as my biological clock starts to wind down. I realised on the weekend that I only really have three good years left to have children, six if I push it to 33. Anything after that, really, and my eggs are starting to pass their sell by date. This is not a Good Thing. Maybe I should think about having some ova frozen...

Overshare: Keeping track of sex

2005-10-25T22:58:00.000+02:00

Men seem to ridicule women who keep track of stuff, for example: It's been 5 months, 3 days and 12 hours since we met...

Many times I ridicule that too, so imagine the shock when I found out...

Filed as: My Relationship »

Cape Town, here I come

2005-10-24T23:46:00.000+02:00

So J and I will be moving to Cape Town soon. The research institute that we are interning for has tried to get offices set up here in KZN, but this has fallen through. Which is actually a good thing, because we wanted to move to Cape Town anyway, and I wasn't quite sure how we were going to tell the boss that after paying us to intern for this specific purpose, we were ditching the new offices for a more glorious city. But now, that conflict has been neatly avoided by the financial collapse of the proposal. (I know what you're thinking - it must be hard, living without a spine...)

Got leaf?

2005-10-24T23:12:00.000+02:00

I bought a pack of mixed herb seeds (re: my 43 things - Grow an Herb Garden), and needing some instant gratification, I "planted" the seeds in cotton wool in a saucer, the way you do with beans when you're a kid?

Well, I've got leaves! And roots! Its so cool... I have no idea what to do with it now, but its cool anyway.

God wants me to have a new phone

2005-10-24T00:42:00.000+02:00

The fates have conspired against me, to force me to get a new phone (I dropped my old phone and broke it the other day. Oh darn.)

I have done my typical AR things, and drawn up a spreadsheet for easy comparison of the phones, specials and tariffs I am interested in.

So far, the following phones are all looking interesting to me:

Samsung D600
Samsung E530
Samsung E340
Nokia 6230i
~~LG C3400~~
~~Nokia 3200~~

Dick measuring contests for girls

2005-10-23T22:45:00.000+02:00

Psychomuffin and I frequently have what I would term "dick measuring contents" in men. We "compete" about who is more analy retentive. I think psychomuffin takes the cake on this one: we both love making lists of stuff to do, but she makes lists of lists to make. Wow, I take my hat off to her. That is taking anal retentiveness to a whole new level. Kudos.

Culinary closure

2005-10-23T22:10:00.000+02:00

I was at dinner with D-man and Psychomuffin, and I pinched a bite of James' steak, and D-man seemed a little horrified that I hadn't asked first, and so we got to discussing food sharing. Turns out, D-man and Psychomuffin defend their food to the death, while James and I are quite happy to share and share alike. Certainly, thats how I grew up - when my mom, gran and I went to dinner, we would always order meals that were different from each other, so we could all pick and taste a different dish (especially at new restaurants).

The only rule I have with James is that he does not steal my last bite of food. He used to do this quite regularly, until one day, I exploded and explained The Rules of Food Sharing with him. See, the way it works is, I eat my meal, chatting and whatever, but that very last bite is incredibly important. While I am talking away, I am fantasizing about that very last bite. Frequently, I leave the very best morsel of food for that last bite.

This last bite gives me closure on the meal - I call it Culinary Closure. Its very important to me. If I don't get that last bite, I feel very distressed and I am more likely to continue snacking and eating senselessly, picking at stuff in the fridge. Truly, my base-line stress levels go up when I haven't Finished The Meal. At a restaurant, this will mean that I have to get leftovers in a doggy bag, and I will often delay my Closure till much later in the evening, if I have misjudged the meal quantity and gotten too full too quickly...

Its very very important to me.

Mental note: Does this make me sad? Is this a sign that food is too important a part of my life? Am I living to eat, and not eating to live?

Mental note the second: OR, does this mean I am able to control my gratification, and not give in to the urge of "instant gratification", like some people who eat the best bits first? I.e., I rock?

Filed as: My Relationship » and Arb personal stories »

Obsessions

2005-10-23T21:44:00.000+02:00

I am an obsessive person. Not obsessive-compulsive - I have no compulsions to do stuff (ok, well, maybe. I do have to check if I locked the car door several times, just in case I imagined the door lock being down 2 seconds ago - I can get quite bad with car doors). But mostly, I just obsess. I've been like this all my life, and I'm not sure I really understand the sub-conscious process (ie, the Why) behind it, but there you have it. I throw myself whole-heartedly into whatever has taken my fancy at the time, like blogging, or personal finance, or bonsai, or Magic the Gathering, or any number of hobbies and passing interests over the years. Its like a storm of intense concentration and effort on the subject, and then, almost just as suddenly, its gone... like a High-Veld summer storm...

Blah blah blah

2005-10-21T13:32:00.000+02:00

Apparently, I have no blah skills. I always knew I wasn't terribly good at chit-chat and small talk, but apparently this extends to my blogging skills as well. I have been importuned to blog more regularly. I wholeheartedly agree, but I don't always have stuff to talk about every day. At least, not stuff that would be interesting to a reader. And not stuff that is interesting to me as a writer... But, to satisfy my adoring fans, I will valiently attempt to engage in more blah blah blah... (insert long-suffering sigh here).

Why do women clean up before the cleaning lady comes?

2005-10-20T20:27:00.000+02:00

I know a lot of women who do this. I don't really understand it... I've done it myself, for two very simple reasons:

I pay a cleaning lady to clean, not to tidy. Therefore, I will tidy the stuff I want tidied away, so she doesn't waste her time on this.
If the cleaning lady tidies my desk, I'm screwed!

However, that does not explain the tencency of women to actually clean before the cleaning lady arrives. What is up with that? Like, what, the maid is going to judge you for having a dirty house? She wouldn't have a job otherwise! And do you honestly care what a casual from an agency thinks of your house? Or your domestic hygeine skills? I think not!

Heres what happened: my mom's house is disgustingly dusty. But not only that, its a combination of dust, dog hair, salty coastal air and (in the kitchen, at least), aerosolized grease. Its pretty grim. My mom doesn't know how to clean, and I am fed up with walking on sticky floors. (And now that I think about it - her houses have been like this forever - I remember my aunt complaining of the same thing when I was little). I don't want to do the job myself - the house is huge: 1.5 lounges, 2 offices, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a skullery and a big kitchen. Also, I have better things to do with my time. My hourly rate (for stuff related to my education, at least) is R50. So I would have to pay myself R400 for an 8 hour day to do the job myself (and I'm not sure I would get the job done in 8 hours! I mean, it took a professional maid 4 hours to get the kitchen clean!! FOUR HOURS!!!!). But, my time is worth more to me, so I have absolutely no problem paying an agency to have a skilled domestic worker to do it for me, for R70. I think I am getting the better end of the deal here, but anyway...

Quiz: I am a goddess of fire

2005-10-16T14:21:00.000+02:00

You are goddess of fire: You tend to be really outgoing and you love the sunny weather (not!!). You can get easily angry with someone but you need to calm yourself down in those situations.When it comes to the people you love you would do anything to help or protect them.

What type of goddess are you?
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Quiz: I am the Wayward Heart

2005-10-16T14:07:00.000+02:00

- You Are The Wayward Heart

"Feel Better."

You are best described as 'Emotional Support'.
Anytime an emotional issue comes up or something stresses people out, you are there to help them feel better about it. Whether you are the prankster of the bunch, the funny one, the wild one, or just the shoulder to cry on - your traits favor what it takes to keep people going. You like large groups of people and have many friends. When something hits home for you, however, you have a hard time with it. You also have difficulty paying attention or focusing on one thing. Above all, though, if people are happy, you are happy.

Which Classic Story Role Do You Play?
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I'm not sure I agree with this, but it was a cool picture ;)

Sin City: Film Noir on Acid

2005-10-16T12:56:00.000+02:00

For some (strange) reason, most of my friends seem to think that one of my favourite phrases is "Wow, that film would be so cool on acid". This film, however, is a complete trip all on its own. In fact, watching this stoned on acid would probably send you over the edge of insanity.

Its a fabulous work of cinematography - smooth-grained, rich black and white, with the most awesome use of light and shadow that I have ever seen. Its a visual orgasm, a feast for the eyes, the likes of which I have never experienced sober. Digitally overlaid colours, stark (almost luminous) whites... I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, it was so gorgeous.

Fantastically stylised violence, blood, gore, severed heads, dismembered bodies, cannabilism, carnage, child-rapists, sex, prostitution. And who would have imagined sweet little Frodo (Elijah Wood) as the utterly creepy, super-sneaky Kevin.

I can't decide whether the so-called "continuity-errors" are, in fact, a clever addition to the trippy feel of the movie. For example, when Marv is in Lucille's bathroom, he is smoking a cigarette with his right hand. When the shot widens, and he is taking his "pills", the cigarette is in his left hand. In the next shot, the cigarette is back in the right hand. In another example, in shots of Nancy dancing, she is alternately wearing (or not) gloves. Planned or not, I think these "errors" work very well.

Some trivia (from the Internet Movie Database):

Rumour has it that a sequel will be filmed with Johnny Depp as one of the characters (can't wait for that!!)
The directory (Rodriguez) resigned from the Director's Guild of America, over their refusal to allow the graphic novelist Miller to be credited as a co-director.
The film was shot on a completely "digital backlot" - ie, completely green-screened, with backgrounds added in post-production.
Apparently, Robert Rodriguez scored "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" (2004) for $1. Quentin Tarantino repayed him by directing a segment of Sin City for $1 (the scene where Dwight is driving along with the dead Jackie Boy).
Leonardo DiCaprio was originally up for the role of Junior but eventually declined the role, which later went to Nick Stahl (this is,like, super-weird, cause at first I thought it *was* DiCaprio).
Knowing the stories would have to be cut down for time, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller shot them ("The Hard Goodbye," "The Big Fat Kill" and "That Yellow Bastard") in their entirety anyway in order to be completely faithful to the source material. The footage was also planned to be a feature in the DVD.

Movies Entertainment Sin City Jessica Alba Bruce Willis Robert Rodriguez Clive Owen Rosario Dawson Micky Rourke

Fuckwits-R-Us

2005-10-12T15:17:00.000+02:00

So there's this person who I work with... lets call him X. X is an asshole. He is the most egocentric person I have ever met, and after ten weeks of almost constant company, he is driving me up the pole. He has this way of making comments with the perfect mix of surprise, condescension, scorn and derision. All in one comment. He's quite talented, actually.

"For fucksakes, you're not using XYZ-insert-incomprehensible-computer-term-here yet? Amanda!"
"You don't know about this or that? Really?"
"Why do you ask James to do ABC? Why don't you do it yourself?"

Or making narky little comments when James and I are squabbling. Arg! Its none of his business if we squabble (its a form of foreplay for us anyway).

Grr, grr... I'm really looking forward to going home and not having to see him for a very very long time!

And his mother dresses him funny...

Being funny is really hard

2005-10-12T14:55:00.000+02:00

Its actually really difficult to write a good blog. This blog started out, for me, as a desperate attempt to reach out and be heard, but with the wonders of modern drugs, that need has gone away. Now, I find myself cycling through random blogs, occassionally stopping at a particularly good one, and realising that I want my blog to be one of those particularly good ones that people randomly surfing actually stop a little longer at, linger over, come back to, add to their watchlist...

Its quite a challenge... What to write about apart from my sad sorry life? Or, what to write about my sad sorry life that people want to read? Or, what to write about, not for anyone else, but for me, that I would find interesting enough to read when I trawl through my archives in years to come...

"Scientists develop amazing anti-gravity device"

2005-10-12T10:33:00.000+02:00

"It has long been known" that scientists dislike journalists, and journalists dislike scientists. Why is this? The journalist sees the scientist as boring (not headline news), while the scientist sees the journalist as a sensationalist who deliberately misconstrues the facts.

Quite obviously, these generalisations are not true, but they nevertheless influence our (that is, the journalists', or scientists') behaviours towards one or the other.

Just today, I was having a heated debate with J over scientific communication. J was pushing the part of the poor, misunderstood scientist, forced by the demands of his publically funded grant to communicate his science to the tax-paying public. I, having a natural tendency to disagree with J, took the opposite stance. It was a long-winded debate, going frequently off-track as these things are wont to do, but the ultimate points of J's argument were:

scientists are forced to publish uninteresting stuff (or at least, stuff that will be interesting with another ten or twenty years of research, or stuff that is really premature to be discussing at the moment)
journalists want scientists to "do their job for them" (ie, make the article interesting and accesible to the general public), but will not reciprocate this by helping scientists write more simply for the general public
all major press organisations (ie major daily newspapers, etc) should have a science correspondent that oks the articles

My points were:

Yes, scientists are "forced" to communicate their work to the tax-payers who pay them, but this fact is not going to change, so get over it, stop whining and move on. *Make* your science interesting for the public - it doesn't have to be dry and dull.
Journalists cannot be expected to rewrite an article that they don't fully understand and still maintain the scientific accuracy of the article. If we don't do it for them, or at least collaborate heavily with them, we should not complain that "journalists get it wrong". I certainly don't think any journalist deliberately miscontrues the facts - its probably more likely that the facts get a bit mangled, unintentionally, when simplifying the article for the lay man. The scientist might find the fact that RNA has been found to have catalytic activity, giving rise to the new term "ribozymes", but frankly, to the mother who is rushing in the morning to get her child off to school and herself off to work in time wants to know "Why should I care, whats in it for me, how much will it cost me..." That's really the bottom line.
A "science officer" on the staff of every newspaper won't solve problems of journalistic inaccuracies, because one person can't possibly know all the ins and outs of all fields of science.

Diet: Ooops!

2005-10-12T00:07:00.000+02:00

Here's a new thing to add to my "rock-bottom" list: I sat on a toilet seat today and broke it. Not good.

5 Comments:

Psychomuffin said...
Stupid cheap-ass Taiwanese toilet seats, frankly, you are better of without it.
2:20 PM, October 12, 2005

D-Man said...
Honey chld.
Unless you put on a lot o weight in CT that you are not telling us about, it aint yer fault. You would have to buy an entire new set o clothing fron Larg&Large for you to be the Cause of the broken seat.
7:38 AM, October 13, 2005

Jude said...
I know you kinda go on about how you and James are kinda similar and share the same interests...but sweetie - why exactly did you decide to emulate his chair breaking ability?

I'm sure it wasn't your fault - stupid lowest bid contracting!
12:06 PM, October 13, 2005

Boomclick said...
Hey :) just for notoriety, I'd like to say that I know exactly how you feel. Same thing happened to me 2 days ago. And the damn thing was only six months old! It bites my ass that I have to replace it. Again!
7:27 PM, November 01, 2005

D-Man said...
Have you give up on this blog? or given up on the weight loss?
3:06 PM, November 14, 2005

Filed as: My Diet »

43 things

2005-10-11T13:40:00.000+02:00

Psychomuffin and eduJ frequently go about about this Mysterious List of Things To Do Before You Die. I'm jealous. I love lists.

Imagine, then, my utter delight when I discovered "43 Things" - a place that manages a list of stuff to do, stuff I've done, places I'd like to go, places I've been, etc... And it integrates with my blog via a simple javascript. Its a dream come true for anally retentive blogger! Keep an eye on my ever changing list of stuff to do (in my sidebar), and check out my uber-cool map of places I've been and places I'd like to go.

I will steal your daughters and make them cry

2005-10-11T11:20:00.000+02:00

I made child cry on the weekend. It was really funny.

J and I met a friend and his 3 year old daughter at the local supermarket to buy ingredients for a sushi party. We had just finished shopping when the little girl decided she was hungry now, so daddy went back into the shop to buy some fruit, leaving me with the child. Before he left, I said "I'm just going to steal Jade and go the the fish market for some sushi fish - I'll meet you there?".

The poor child burst into tears, clinging onto daddy: "NO! Don't steal me! Daddy, I don't want to be stolen...". I was so shocked and embarrassed - it was really funny looking at me "No, shh, shh, I didn't mean it, don't cry, oh God, sorry, I won't steal you, we'll stay right here, I'm a nice lady, I promise...". J was pissing himself laughing at me.

Quiz: I am Gay Bear

2005-10-10T13:07:00.000+02:00

Which Dysfunctional Care Bear Are You?
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Who knew?

Blogger HOWTO: Eight Easy Steps to a BlogMap

2005-10-10T09:57:00.000+02:00

I added a blogmap to my sidebar a while ago, but I am disappointed that both of my blogs are the only ones that appear in the area. So, I have added a HOWTO below (even though there are others available - the more instuctions the merrier, right?)

Note: These instructions pertain to Blogger (Blogspot) blogs only, but if you know enough to edit your template you should be able to adjust the instructions to fit your blog.

Step One:
Log-in to your blog and click "Template" to edit your template.

Step Two:
Cut and paste the entire html code of your template to notepad (or a similar simple editor)
Comment: You don't need to use anything more hectic than notepad because you will simply be cut-and-pasting some html. If you have a nice editor with syntax highlighting, etc, great, but I would not recommend opening a Beast like Word or OpenOffice for this.

Step Three:
Go to the notepad document, and FIRST SAVE IT as a backup in case this doesn't work for you. Do not overwrite this file with the changes you make below (yes, I know, some of you may think this goes without saying, but I've dealt with the technically challenged, so bear with me). Then, just near the top, look for the header section of your html code. This will be some long bunch of text between the tags <head> and </head>.

Step Four:
Paste the following somewhere in the header section:

<meta name="ICBM" content="latitude, longitude">
<meta name="geo.position" content="latitude; longitude">

where latitude and longitude is your own, obviously. Don't forget to use negatives for the southern and western hemispheres. You can look up your geolocation easily by IP address (if you know your IP) here: http://netgeo.caida.org/perl/netgeo.cgi (note, this site has not been maintained for years, so may give incorrect information)
Other places you can look up your latitude and longitude:

Here is my code, as an example:

<meta name="ICBM" content="-29.62, 30.39">
<meta name="geo.position" content="-29.62; 30.39">

Step Five:
Cut and paste the entire notepad text back into your blog template form, replacing anything that was there with this new text. Save your changes and republish (full republish, not just the index).

Step Six:
Register your blog with FeedMap: Go to http://www.feedmap.net/BlogMap/submit.aspx and paste your blog URL into the submit box at the bottom of the page. If it fails, try again maybe with your site feed URL instead. (You will find your site feed URL by clicking on "Settings", then "Site Feed" in your blog).

Step Seven:
Go back to your notepad and paste your blogmap code into a spot in the sidebar (ie, look for a line that says .) You might want to paste it right at the bottom of the sidebar (ie, there is a line that goes ) or you can put it anywhere (I have mine at the top, just after my profile and hitcounter) - if you need help, just yell...: Don't forget to change the address from mine to yours (a link should be provided for you to cut and paste).

<mainorarchivepage>
</mainorarchivepage><ul><div><center><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.feedmap.net/blogmap/blogapi.ashx?method=blogmapbadge &feed=http://dreamweaver2005.blogspot.com/atom.xml%20"><br /></script></center></div></ul>

Step Eight:
Click "Template" again in your blog to edit your template. Select the entire notepad text and replace the template on your blog with this text. Save your changes and republish.

Resources:
Blogmapping:
http://www.feedmap.net
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogmap/

Find your latitude and longitude:
- by IP address:
http://netgeo.caida.org/perl/netgeo.cgi (note, this site has not been maintained for years, so may give incorrect information)

- other:
http://geocoder.us/ (For US locations only)
http://www.maporama.com (quite good, actually)

Did you find this post useful? Show your appreciation.

Morning sex, evening sex... no sex

2005-10-05T08:19:00.000+02:00

So much for the delicious smile on my face. Sigh...

Three times he denied me. Nothing, on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Homeworld is still more interesting than me. I'm beginning to wonder if he watched that "Everybody Loves Raymond" episode, and is now thinking that denying me will get him the upper hand in our relationship.

I'm really grouchy now. And to think I came off the Pill so that I would have a higher sex drive for him, and now look what its got me! I'm half tempted to say "Fine, we'll see who can go longer without" but I think I will be the one coming off second-best in that fight.

Sigh. Woe is me...

Update: Its now Tuesday... still nothing... sigh.
Update: Wednesday. I think I have an appreciation for what he must have gone through all those times when I "didn't feel like it". Sorry, my love...

Filed as: My Relationship »

Ships in the night

2005-09-30T12:22:00.000+02:00

I think James took my "ships in the night" comment below to heart. I've had a huge smile on my face for the last few days... although he still turned me down for a quickie in the bathroom at 'Varsity today :(

Filed as: My Relationship »

Diet: Yes, I am thinner

2005-09-30T00:01:00.000+02:00

The tape measure doesn't say so, but I am definitely feeling thinner. My double chin is about half the size, my back is less flabby (according to James), and I am starting to see some convex curves developing around the waist (as opposed to the definite concavity I had three weeks ago).

Filed as: My Diet »

Diet: Some days, willpower comes easier

2005-09-29T23:51:00.000+02:00

I don't quite get willpower, you know...

Some days, its really really easy to resist whatever I am wanting to resist. Other days requires a gargantuan effort. Like today. I finally (for the second time in three weeks) had herbalife for lunch. It was very very hard. Mostly because hotdogs were served and I really wanted a hotdog. However, I put my craving theory (see below) to the test and had a small taste of James' hotdog, and it worked - the all-consuming craving disappeared and I was once again able to focus on my ultimate goal (which is to be healthier and sexier).

The craving theory:
Don't think of a blue monkey. Don't think of a blue monkey. Dont think of it. I said, don't. Blue monkey. Monkey.

How did you do? Not too well? Me neither. My theory is that the more you deny yourself something, the more you think about it. This is probably what makes dieting so hard - suddenly so many things are "denied" to you (as opposed to adopting a healthy eating paradigm shift).

The solution? Give in to your craving - in moderation. Craving chocolate? Have some - one bite. Thats the key here, really. Just one bite. And don't gobble it. Savour it. Put "your-craved-item" in your mouth and really feel it - roll it around in your mouth, taste it... you get the idea. Then, walk away from it (this is also important, for those with limited willpower), or give it to someone else (if you really must). Wait. After a short time, the craving will be satisfied and will just go away. You don't really need an entire slab of chocolate.

The important things to note here are:

Just one bite.
Take it away from yourself after your bite (walk away or give it away until the craving has passed).

It also helps if you have someone that can physically restrain you if the above fails ;)

PS: I can't believe I actually used the phrase "paradigm shift". Somebody take me into the back yard and put me out of my misery!

Filed as: My Diet »

Josh Groban makes my knees weak

2005-09-29T09:37:00.000+02:00

I got a couple of Josh Groban albums. God he has a sexy voice. My knees go weak and I start to drool a little when I listen to him...

Pant pant, drool drool...

josh groban music

Direction vs altitude

2005-09-29T09:26:00.000+02:00

James and I are arguing about the terminology of driving "up" or "down" to a place.

James thinks it relies on altitude (ie, you drive down to Durban from Jo'burg) because the altitude is decreasing.

I think it relies on direction - you drive down from Jo'burg because Durban is south of Jo'burg on the map, or you drive down to Florida from New York.

Most times, its irrelevant, because it usually ends up being the same thing anyway.

But driving down to Durban from Cape Town? NO! Its gotta be up!?!

Having spoken to the two people in our lift club this morning, we (the people in the car and I) have come to the conclusion that its probably a bit of both. For example, driving down to Durban from 'Maritzburg - Durbs is kinda more or less east of PMB, but its lower in altitude...

What do you think?

Diet: Hey, Fatty Boom Boom

2005-09-28T22:37:00.000+02:00

Random thought:

It really sucks when you can't bend over to touch your toes, not because you aren't supple enough, but because the fat rolls on your stomach get in the way.

Filed as: My Diet »

Breast update

2005-09-28T14:26:00.000+02:00

Close call with a needle today. James' parents were very concerned that I take the radiologer's report on my mammogram and ultrasound back to the refering doctor and see "what next". I wasn't worried, because the radiologist said it was all fine (see earlier posts), but anyway, I went back today, and the doctor wanted to aspirate the fibroadenoma in the left breast just to be 100% sure.

Fortunately (?) for me, the lump is so small (3 mm) that she wasn't sure if she would be able to find it with the needle.

So, a narrow escape there. I have been given a letter to give to my usual doctor when I get back to PMB, and I should go to her in two months to follow up, see if the lesion gets any bigger, etc etc.

breast Cancer Health

Serenity now!!!

2005-09-28T09:27:00.000+02:00

The official release date for Serenity is 30 September. I haven't seen any adverts for it here in South Africa. With our luck, it probably won't even come here.

Tantrum tantrum! I want the Firefly movie to come to South Africa!!

serenity Firefly Joss Whedon sci-fi scifi Science Fiction Movies Movie

Morning sex, evening sex

2005-09-28T09:23:00.000+02:00

James and I have a problem. He is a night person. I am a morning person. This means, when I go to bed at night, I am really tired, and I am not interested in sex (usually) any time after 10:30pm. Similarly, he is not interested in sex in the morning, like any time before 10am. This is a fundamental incompatibility issue here. We're like ships in the night. What can I do about this?

Filed as: My Relationship »

Random thoughts

2005-09-28T09:13:00.000+02:00

Russel Crowe
Russel Crowe was only ever sexy with that brush-cut thing in the movie "Gladiator".

TV Adverts I like:
Kalahari.net's "Click click. Ding dong."
The cow in the Nature's Source ad is really cute.
Lacost Advert - The guy in the green shirt playing tag with the ocean... he has a really weird face, but the cheekiest smile. Yummy, its really sexy.

Ve haf vays und means
Ok, I probably shouldn't be saying this on a blog that all my friends read, but what the hell. I find James incredibly sexy when he speaks to me in German. I just melt, becoming this mooshy, willpower-less, take-me-now bunch of goo. Javol.

I are a html goddess
Take a look at what I've done with my blogs - sidebar maps, collapsible comment fields, check boxes (in the diet blog). I rock.

sex german russel crowe blogging TV

Survivor Palau - A running commentary

2005-09-28T08:36:00.000+02:00

The tenth season of Survivor started last week. (Yes, I know, for you Yanks, this series is probably over already - if so - no spoilers please).

Survivor Random Thoughts

I love Survivor and the Amazing Race, so I'm really chuffed that there is a tenth season. However, I reckon they are going to have to put some very interesting stuff in this season to keep my attention, cause Survivor is starting to get old.

Gosh, that area is beautiful. I would love to go somewhere like that (I LOVE tropical island holidays. My favourite holiday memories have been from the Comores, Mauritius and the Bahamas)

People with tasty bodies:
ULONG TRIBE (BLUE):
Kim
Stephanie
Jeff

KOROR TRIBE (BROWN):
~still to be determined~

Personalities I like (+)/don't like (-)/am neutral about(~):
ULONG TRIBE (BLUE):
~Angie
~Stephanie
+Jeff
-Ashley

KOROR TRIBE (BROWN):
~still to be determined~

Voting Opinions:
1) Jolanda - good. I didn't like her. She was too bossy.
2) Ashley. Didn't really get to know her, but I didn't like her face too much. Notes: Kim, honestly, you didn't think "alliance" would be the first thing on every one's minds, after "Rob and Amber" in the last season? Like, duh!

Survivor Reality TV Amazing Race

Diet: Wagons, scones and HTML

2005-09-27T23:33:00.000+02:00

Week Three
I not only fell off the wagon this weekend, but rolled all the way back down the hill the wagon climbed up. Oh well, no time to cry over spilt milk, I shall just get back on the wagon. This week, I think I will make my goals a little smaller, and more manageable. Maybe daily goals, instead of weekly goals. Or maybe both.
Weekly goals (actually, these are daily goals, just repeated every day):
# herbalife for breakfast
# avoid tea-time
# herbalife for lunch
# No second helpings for dinner
# Daily exercise
(grr... sorry about the enormous blank space in this post - i don't know whats causing it)

GOALS	MON	TUES	WED	THURS	FRI	SAT	SUN
Breakfast
Tea time
Lunch
Dinner
Exercise

Diet: Trendsetting me

2005-09-27T22:27:00.000+02:00

Yay, I'm a trendsetter: eduJ and Psychomuffin both have diet blogs now.

Diet blogging will probably (if it hasn't already) turn into one of those ultra kitsch (and not in a good way) trends like #Blogging from my pet's point of view#, but hey, I don't care - I'm certainly not doing this to become popular. Its just a public committment for me. Like promising to eat a can of dog-food if I do not achieve some goal by some date.

Hmmm, that might be a really good motivational tool, actually...

Filed as: My Diet »

Fuck-me boots

2005-09-27T18:52:00.000+02:00

A new goal for the diet blog:

I want a pair of fuck-me boots. And I want to look good in them.

For those who don't know: fuck-me boots (my definition of, at any rate) are any high-heeled boots higher than ankle high.

Basically, its any boot which not says to the viewer "Yeah baby, you know I want it", but to the wearer "Yeah baby, I feel really fuckable in these."

Common misconceptions (see comments below) are that fuck-me boots must be knee high. This is a fallacy. Any boot which fulfills the above criteria are fuck-me boots.

boots

Bitching mightily & female secretions

2005-09-27T16:51:00.000+02:00

Yeah, I knew that title would draw you...

Actually, I've just realised that it sucks that all my friends know I have this blog. I feel free to talk about my frustrations with James, but I can't bring myself to rant and rave about (eg) sex... which kinda obviates the point of this blog.

Thats not to say that I do or don't want to talk about sex, its just that I now don't feel comfortable talking about the gooier, messier aspects.

Or bitching about role-playing, as another example. If I start mentioning even vague specifics (an oxymoron, I know), the people involved who may or may not read this will all assume that everything I bitch about is directed at them, etc etc.

So, what to do?

Screw it, this is my blog, and I am supposed to be "sharp and brutally honest". If you don't like it, please, feel free to click on "Next Blog" at the top, or any of the Blogs on my BlogRoll (to the right).

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You may not want to read further if you think your sensibilities might be offended.
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Since I came off the Pill, I have been tracking my menstrual cycle with a little windows program, but I have wanted to be more observant and notice changes in my body that may or may not mean something.

Well, I am ovulating at the moment (or at least, I have just finished ovulating), which means two things:
(1) I'm kinda gagging for it,
(2) some weird ass cervical mucus which I never noticed when I was on the Pill (well duh, cause you're not supposed to ovulate on the Pill)

Interesting...

female menstruation Sex Health the pill

The 411 on BlackJack

2005-09-27T09:16:00.000+02:00

I really enjoy the TV series "Las Vegas" (Mondays, 9-10pm, SABC3). Its really ... colourful.

It reminds me, did I mention our class went to the GrandWest Casino the other night for our social event to "learn about probabilities"? We all went into the "tutorial room" (or whatever it's called) where they demonstrate all the different games (well, they had Roulette and BlackJack going while we were there).

I sat at the BlackJack table, and god it was fun! I knew you had to get to 21, and about "insurance" and all that, but that was about it. They only use 5 decks of cards, which means that card-counting can't be all that hard. Unfortunately, there is no way to card-count anymore, because they continually put the cards back in this automatic shuffling machine-thingy. Besides that, I got some really good tips on when to stand, when to split, when to surrender, all in reference to what the dealer is holding. It was fab.

I take it all back

2005-09-27T09:05:00.000+02:00

I have always sworn off Garnier, because I used it once and it sucked - didnt do a thing for my hair.

But I succumbed yesterday cause it was on special, and I bought Deep Intense Red because my current red has faded quite a lot due to using Denorex anti-dandruff shampoo. Anyway, I was quite pleasantly surprised - it took quite well in my hair, and I am very pleased with the results.

Usually, I only buy L'Oreal Hair dye (from previous experience). Wella sucks, and so did Garnier, but they seem to have improved. I am especially impressed because red is notoriously difficult to colour.

I wish I had a camera phone - I would snap my newly vibrant red hair and post it here... oh well.

Update:
Actually, I just realised it was Garnier Nutrisse that I used previously, which did nothing for my hair. I just dismissed the entire range after that. I am pleasantly surprised with Garnier 100% Colour - Deep Intense Red (460, I think)

Damn you, psychomuffin!!

2005-09-26T18:43:00.000+02:00

I have just found out that a dear friend has been holding out on me...

In a fit of narcissism, I searched for all blogs mentioning my blog, expecting only to come up with this blog and my diet diary when lo and behold! A third blog appeared!

Curious, I clicked on the link (of course), wondering with delicious frissons of excitement and autophilia who could possibly be talking about Me.

Imagine my sense of complete and utter betrayal when I found out that this fabulously entertaining blog (great sense of style and wit) was none other than (censored name here).

Sweetheart, when you give me the word, I will place a link on my blog to your blog. Until then, I will respect your privacy (since there was obviously a reason you didn't tell us), and try to contain any resentment that not only is your blog is more entertaining than mine, but you weigh less than me too.

--
Update: Everybody, say hello to Psychomuffin. (I had to go back over all my old posts and change all references to Psychomuffin (by name or otherwise) to point here. Same with D-man.)

Ngaargh... my eyes, my eyes

2005-09-26T17:11:00.000+02:00

I have been blogging ALL day... Installing and updating code, html, interesting snippets, and generally just playing with the settings on my blog. My eyes are so sore now. Eye strain, whimper.

I have not paid any attention whatsoever to the day's lecture. Oh well, I will just copy J's homework. Snigger. Who woulda thunk it - Me copying Someone Else's homework. Well, I never thought I would see the day James and I agreed on wine either, go figure.

What have I been up to all day?

Added collapsible fields so that you can click and hide/show the post body (handy if the post is long - see the bottom of the post, click and try). -- Edited: changed templates and lost this bit of code... oh well.
Added a really cool map (see the right-hand side bar). That took a while (figuring out the best place to put it, at least).
Deleted spam comments (I didn't know you could delete comments).
Adjusted the html so that comments can be shown/hidden in the main page instead of in a popup or separate window (click on "comments" below and see for yourself).
Added a hit-counter that will give me some interesting stats on my blog (and not count my own reviews as another hit - the last hit-counter I had seriously inflated my hit count with all my minor changes and refreshes)
Deleted and adjusted some of the ads on my site. I'm not really sure I like having ads here at all :(
Put the archives and the recent posts in a drop down menu.
Commented on other people's blogs
Sign-up up at Technorati and adjusted my blog code accordingly (both of them).
Updated my blog info at blogwise.com

BlogMaps

2005-09-26T14:02:00.000+02:00

This is so cool. I have been playing with blog tools and hacks all morning, and I stumbled upon BlogMaps. Very basically, how it works is: you add a tag with your location into your blog template, submit your blog's address, add the resulting feed to your template, and voila, you have a map. With neighblogs.

Its so geeky, I love it!

For detailed instructions click here. Or here. Or here.

Personal note: You may want to use IE to do this - there seems to be some problems with using Firefox.

You know its bad when...

2005-09-26T09:22:00.000+02:00

...you start the day with a cup of tea and a painkiller because you woke up sore.

Note to self: go and see a physiotherapist while here, at R20 per consult!

Filed as: Fibromyalgia »