Parents

I know I wasn't the easiest kid to raise. I tested my parents to their limits on almost everything I could think of. Always pushing the boundaries to see what I could get away with, trying to see how far I could go. Staying at a friend's house for 15 minutes longer than I was allowed too. Waiting until the very last minute before I went to bed. Talking on the phone until they had to ask me for the third time to please say goodbye and put down the phone. There are literally thousands of examples, and all of them tested my parents in some way or another. The funny part of it was that when I did get into trouble about it, there was that promise I made to myself to never be like them.

My child was going to be allowed to drive around without a license when he had he's learners, he was going to be allowed to go to parties before he or she was eighteen, and he/she was going to be allowed to stay up and watch whatever he or she wanted to. No going to bed early because it was a school night, or not going to a friend's house because there was no adult supervision present. My kids would make their own mistakes and then learn from them in their own way. They would be reprimanded if they didn't learn what they had done wrong.

Me doing the right thing...in the wrong way.

The reality of it all is, and I realise this more and more every day, that I am like my parents. I find myself saying things my parents always told me when I was a kid. Thinking the same things they did when I see a little brat do something that would have gotten me a hiding, guaranteed! Doing something I would have despised my parents for doing when I was a little younger, and then realising what I had just done. Making a mistake and then shouting at myself for what I had done, probably using the exact same words my parents would have used.

We are all, in some way or another, like our parents.



The face....after being disciplined.



I pride myself in knowing that I don't group people and say we are all the same, because we aren't. Every single one of us is unique and different. Sure we have the same traits and we share common interests, but we are all different in a way. I say this because some people would argue that they were raised by alcoholics, yet they don't touch the stuff. Some might have been raised by abusive parents, they wouldn't hurt a fly, and yet even they are in some distinct way like their parents.

It just makes me smile to think that when I was younger I swore that, no matter what, I would be different with my children. I would allow them to do the things I never got to do. And yet, I didn't turn out too bad? If you gave me a chance to go back and change, I would not change a single aspect of what my parents did. I would however, tell younger me to listen more and attitude less!

I just hope that I can also be as good a parent to my kids, as my parents were and still are to me. Buy a puppy, its good for practice :)

My loving, caring, strict and AWESOME parents!

About time!

Ok ok, so I haven't exactly been keeping all the readers entertained by making sure there is a constant flow of posts on my blog, but its like I said. I would rather wait until I have something useful to say than just go rambling about useless things.

Now, seeing as I am back on the Blog, it obviously leads to the conclusion that I have something worth talking about ;)... And looking at the calendar you could probably guess it if you really wanted too.

Valentine's Day!


Its that one day in the year that some love and others dread. Where attractive people get they're big ego pumped up and casual looking people hope to see that, they too, have a secret admirer.
I enjoy the idea of Valentine's, but agree with so many other people out there, its really just become one more day for the retail industry to take our money.

I used buy flowers on quite a regular basis when I was still a student. Sometimes for a girl I really liked, sometimes for a date to a function or dinner, but never during Valentine's. Its like all the florists in the world suddenly woke up that day and decided to push the price up 200%! And to make matters worse, if you lived in a busy area, they probably wouldn't even be of good quality and get delivered late or to the wrong address.

Me, I was a teddy and chocolates type person. It just always made more sense to buy the teddy rather than flowers. Firstly, they didn't rip you off just because of what day it was and secondly, if you were clever enough to give the gifts to her personally, you might even get to share the chocolate :). I'm not saying I would never buy flowers, I'd just wait until two days after when the price went back to normal...and all the good stuff was available.

I actually think I've managed to get it down to an art when it comes to buying V-Day gifts. If you wait about a month after its all happened and all the love in the air has dissipated, then you go round to the shops and start looking for any left-over gifts that are suddenly  50% cheaper or sometimes even more :). I would advise you to avoid buying something with the year printed on, or one that is specific in name. They tend to not always work out so well if the person you are trying to win over decides to change in the following months... If you end up buying something edible, be clever about it. Buy something that you'll enjoy, then when that magical day comes around next year, you just replace it with something that the other person might enjoy.It would also not be too smart if you went and bought something with an expiry date...like flowers. My logic tells me the gift might not look as perky in a year's time.

I sometimes wonder though, if the best gift you could possibly give during this time of year, isn't possibly something personal. Something that is unique to you, is a piece of you and inadvertently makes that person think of you....permanently!

Bloggings and such

So I understand that the general idea of blogging is to be as active as possible, talk about real borderline stuff and act like you know it all....but that would be a lie. I love talking, I REALLY LOVE talking, but only if there is a purpose to my words. I don't want to waste my breath just babbling along like the world depended on me. Speeding down the proverbial highway like Nicholas Cage in "Gone in 60 seconds". When you have a conversation, its to grow and learn, to share and experience, to give and take! Its not just about saying what you have to say and leaving the other person with a head full of useless information.

If I had wanted a monologue I'd go buy a mirror or a parrot. There's some excitement about walking up to a beautiful girl in a club (or my case a pub) and just starting conversation, because there is value to it, and merit. You have a motivation for doing it. Usually men blame it on the alcohol, but the truth is she stirred something inside you, woke up a primal instinct that gave you the courage to do it.

I don't think I've ever met a person who only did something for the doing of it. No matter how minuscule or insignificant, there is always a reason, an explanation, an angle. What we do might not always be for self-enrichment, but we always have a reason. We are human, so we ask questions, plan for the unforeseen, worry about things we have no control over, try to predict the weather.

So if you decide to click your way over to my blog and nothing has happened in 3 months time, rest assured, I'm just out gathering meaning and purpose, so you don't all read this and fill your head with rubbish, though that might be a bit late now :))

All things Remus...(part 2)

The trip from Johannesburg back home was eventful. Remus fell asleep on the centre console, just a slight bit too close to the gear lever. Every time I had to gear down for an uphill or to overtake, I'd get the evil eye from Mister because I woke him. He finally decided to relocate onto the towel that I had put on the passenger seat after a few more of the gear lever incidents, and was I lucky about that. As we entered the Majuba Pass between Volksrust and Newcastle, Remus decided that it was time to get car sick. I didn't notice when it happened because my attention was on the twisty bit of road ahead of me, but when the smell eventually carried its way over to me! I could not care less who I was going to cause an accident for, I had to stop! Please don't get me wrong, I'm not the squeamish type, it was just not the perfect occasion for it. I was in the middle of a mountain pass with no tissues, no water and no one to hold the dog while I try and clean the mess up.

As we got closer to home, the confines of being in a car for near on 5 hours started to get to him. He was up and about every 5 minutes, trying to rearrange the towel so it would suit him better. At one stage the towel just didn't give him the comfort he was looking for, so he chose to try my lap. That did not go well either... After turing around for the third time, managing to step on my gentleman's jewlery without fail, I decided to rather move him onto the back seat. We traveled for about 30km without any trouble before he decided the back seat was a little too far away from his new friend...and the crying started. I stopped at the roadworks just outside of town and let him run around the car while waiting, but it only lasted a few seconds and he wanted back in the car again. So on we went with the last 15km or so, without too much trouble.

The eventual arrival at home, now that's a story for another day!

All things Remus…

There are so many words to describe a new puppy: Cute, adorable, gorgeous, precious. I could only think of one to describe mine…Impossible!

 When I first went to fetch Remus, he was just 6 weeks old and very unstable and wobbly on his feet. I remember walking into the yard where the puppies( 10 in total ) were being kept, and immediately looking to see where he was. My sister had gone to take a look at the puppies for me before we decided on taking one, so I had been sent a photo and knew what to look out for. I wouldn't want to drive 400km just to find out its not exactly what I wanted. At first my eyes didn't really know which puppy to follow and where to look, it was like the Pamplona Bull run of little dogs!

Eventually as they got over the initial excitement of there being a new someone in their bubble, the little pups all went back to their individual sleeping spots on the old torn-up blanket that was put out for them. I only then realised that there was one little guy, not too far from the blanket, who had not even moved at the sight and smell of the newcomer. He just sat there and watched all the commotion from a distance. Not scared, unsure or threatened...he just looked at me like he knew I was going to become his new owner. I was to be his new best friend.

To be continued....

Great things ahead...

So I finally took the plunge... I threw myself off the edge and into the deep abyss of blogging.

Some people spend days in front of their screens and keyboards, churning out massive amounts of articles related to this and that, me....Not so much. Please don't get me wrong and think I don't love my PC, because I do, more than what is considered healthy. The thing is though, I 'd much rather have a face-to-face conversation than type a meaningless amount of nonsense and rubbish on a page for others to read. Its about seeing the reactions of my words on the other person, reading the body language that is being thrown at me, following the conversation that isn't taking place.

Needless to say, one decided that one should possibly get with the times :). I know I'm still a couple of years off of being called dad, but I wouldn't want my kids to think I have no creative juices, or that I got left behind in the pen and paper era! That would be an insult to me and my ego, and no one likes that.

So then....consider this my first official step to being "hip" and "modern" and "with it". Like it or not, I'm COOL!

P.S. The other reason for the blog was, as the title might suggest, for me to blog about my photography...so I'll leave you with this one for starters...