A BIG happy birthday to Enreal!

Enreal is turning 85 today folks and yes not one grey hair in sight!

A miracle of life, of beautiful light and a soul that embodies wisdom and inspiration.  Enreal may this day and all those to come be filled with happiness, smiles, laughter, meaningful moments all making happy memories to carry you through your days.

We are blessed to “know” you in this blogging world for you bring us wit, inspire us with your words and warm our hearts with your soul.  Thank you for being you, who you are to us and who you are to the world! Happy Birthday hun!!!

Merry Christmas!

No I am not confused, hold your horses.

While chatting to a friend tonight about Santa Claus/Christmas (Believing in the wonders of God life and imagination) and our beliefs surrounding them, growing up, etc it reminded me of something I do often. Something that is so natural to me that I don’t think twice about it, it is apart of who I am… yet another oddity but perhaps not.

I have always loved Christmas but not in the traditional sense. I’ve always hated family Christmas time since I was kid. They always came hand in hand with massive arguments and destruction of mass proportions much like the picture on the left. Even as an adult I’d think to myself, ok this year will be different I’ll venture into a family gathering, only to get it proven to me time and time again.

For me it is always safer to spend it alone, perhaps that is sad but that is the way it is for me. But just because I don’t celebrate that day or I avoid spending it with anyone doesn’t however mean I don’t believe in it.

Instead I celebrate it for 365 days of the year, that way I can bypass the bad ju-ju of “Christmas past” and spread a bit of cheer all year round. The thing is I have never really actively thought about the fact that I do it nor the fact that it might seem strange to people.

So during my chat tonight I was reminded of something I do often, something that is so natural to me that I don’t think twice about it, it is apart of who I am… yet another oddity but perhaps not.

I have a habit of giving things to people, both those I know and those I don’t. I might be in the shop and see something that I know someone will like/need and I get it for them, it is the way I am. It seems to confuse people, we humans seem to think that gifts are only for birthdays and Christmas times and I always get asked the reason for me giving the present to them. My response is always to tell them that its Christmas and wish them a Merry one. Upon hearing me wish them a Merry Christmas they always laugh, perhaps for the fact that they think I am mad, but generally they add “I do love Christmas” with the biggest smiles.

Why should Christmas only be on the 25 December? Why should birthdays and Christmas be the only time that you give either of your heart or a gift?

Why?

Have you never had a Christmas party in June? Never??? You haven’t lived till you have done that! For those who live in the southern hemisphere you get to experience a Christmas in winter and those in the Northern parts a Christmas in summer… bliss!

You’re serious? You’ve never had a Christmas party in June?

Why not?

For me Christmas is every day it doesn’t matter the date or the season, I will always wish you a Merry Christmas and I often sing Jingle Bells out loud driving those in my vicinity mad.

So my friends I wish you a Merry Christmas, spread the cheer all year round, there are no rules saying we can’t…

…be it Summer or Winter…

Merry Christmas and happy new day!

Sometimes the greatest gifts are those that are unexpected for they come more from the heart than expectation

Here is the truth folks…

Today I had two shocks, well I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that it would happen, history does seem to repeat itself in the strangest of ways. It seems that once again the media are instigating further unrest and emails are being once again sent out adding more fuel to those very fires.

So I sit here wanting to shed some light on the true reality of what South Africa is going through, the true reality of what is happening and the consequences that we face.

Firstly I heard that the Beeb (BBC) is portraying that our civil unrest is in part due to the whites of the country, they are portraying these current events as a racial matter of great tension. The fact is this is not the case at all, in fact, for once it has nothing to do with race. This mini-war, as the UN is now calling it, is not black vs white or white vs black, it is against foreigners residing in our country from other African countries. Media can start wars and they can help quash them, by inciting that it is based on race it could fuel the fires in all directions in an already tremulous country.

Secondly, this afternoon I received an email in my inbox, my friend wanted to show me what was going on (thanks) … it shocked me. The contents? Firstly this guy was talking about how finally justice was being brought about, how the attacks were the governments fault for not listening. He supported the murders and the beatings, the rampage and the burning of both people and houses… he praised the people for standing up for what they believed in… and they wonder how hate spreads, here is one prime example Mr President.

Perhaps I am just overly sensitive but when, may I ask, is killing, setting people on fire, putting burning tires over their necks justified? What makes it worse is that the link he attached is from our local newspaper, it depicts what is really going on… and he praised it!

I attach the below links only for the purpose of showing and sharing the truth. If you are visual or a softie like me please do NOT click on the photo one entitled The truth - The Times Photo Story. If you don’t believe me, when I saw the first image I started to cry, when I saw the second my nausea overtook me.

As I said before, these are only to show the true reality and not the manufactured version by either our government or your/our media

Xenophobia Q&A

The truth - The Times Photo Story - please, seriously don’t do it if you are like me, these are graphic

The consequences? It is spreading, hate is being transferred, the people are worried that it will not remain against the immigrants/refugees that it will become retaliation against the wrong people.

The ironic part of that? South Africans will become refugees, myself included.

There is nothing I can do to help nor do to stop what is currently happening in my country, all I can do is share the true reality of it.

I don’t want to make you angry nor do I want to make you sad, all I want to do is share the truth… this is the song that I feel everyone should be singing, singing instead of “bring me my machine gun”, this is the song I sing, I sing it for the world, how about you?

PS This will be my last post on the topic promise - just felt the urge to point to the true facts, I am tired of lies and hate, time to put a stop to it… no matter what you think, there will always be hope as long as people like you are in the world, positive will overcome negative i really do believe this.

What you read here is my circumstantial reality, it is not only in South Africa, it is world wide, labels begat labels, castes, religions, race, sex… person by person, step by step, stone by stone if we all throw these labels down and stand on them it will bring light to blanket the world… I believe, I will always believe…

Interview with a Body

So on Wednesday evening I finally ran out of tobacco, Thursday was going to be the day that there was none left and officially I was going to stop right… Here is an interview that was recently held with my body in response to what happened next…

Interviewer: So you woke up on Thursday morning, how did it go?

The Brain: It started off well, a cup of coffee and checking the emails as is normal. The day progressed and at around 10 am the body was not happy, the signals were flying around “Nicotine Nicotine NICOTINE”

Interviewer: So what did you do next, did you try and distract the body?

The Brain: Well I decided to take the body for a walk, perhaps that would quieten the signals down. So we went to the room, got the earphones and put on the shoes. That was when the darn eyeballs spotted the forgotten spare tobacco lying on the cabinet. Once the eyeballs recognised what it was the signals went through the roof, I could not stop the motor-skilled organs from reacting in time. I tried though I swear it.

Interviewer: So eyeballs, what is the story there, could you not have just been invisible to the tobacco in that moment?

The Eyeballs: Well to be honest I was not searching (rolls skywards) but as the body was exiting the room I just happened to spot it lying there on the cabinet.

The Brain: Yeah right it smells of a set up to me and don’t you roll yourself at me either!

The Eyeballs: I swear it, besides you the brain were supposed to throw everything away!

The Brain: I thought I HAD and now I am quite worried about this disease called Alzheimer’s because I really didn’t know it was there REALLY I swear it.

Interviewer: Right then, so we will accept that you the brain did not remember and the eyeballs just were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now Lungs, how are you doing since that fateful Thursday?

The Lungs: To be honest I am quite disappointed in the Hands, Arms, Brain and Eyeballs, I feel that they have let me down. Since then though we have had a blamestorming session and have come to an agreement.

Interviewer: What is that?

The Lungs: That come Monday all tobacco is annihilated like the bad guys in Terminator, this time though there will be no “I’ll be baaaack”. By the way does that Austrian know yet that he isn’t Californian?

Interviewer: *ahem* I am not to sure, the last I heard was that he had taken up surfing.  Now are you sure that the body can do it this time round, I mean if you look at how easy the Brain, Eyeballs and the rest of the body reacted to tempatation?

The Brain: To be honest with you it was not my fault as I have said, I did not know that that stupid stuff was on the cabinet, the arms and hands are at fault. If they can’t behave I have made the executive decision to lock the whole body in the room where it sleeps hiding the key until the need passes and normality returns.

Interviewer: That sounds quite harsh don’t you think

The Body: Not at all, we are tired of smoking and wrecking our organs, we want out no matter what it takes

Interviewer: Honestly now do you really think it will work this time, that the body will quit?

The Body: We are of human breed but we will endeavour to keep on trying, this time though I think its positive… if all else fails we will blindfold the eyeballs.

Interviewer: We will see won’t we, I await the outcome with excitement, good luck!

The Body: Can we have a glass of wine?

Another way to write your blogs… am I slow?

Ok so perhaps I am slow or perhaps I just try and avoid anything to do with the word Windows as normally it is related to Microsoft. Came across Windows Live Writer tonight and alas this is me testing it out

On review…

Some great plug-ins you can add to spice things up, such as maps, slide shows, tag acronyms and Polaroid versions of your photos

Easier usability and if you are too lazy to head over to the HTML section the Writer has greater options for editing your posts i.e. font, font sizes etc

Adding the image below was painless, for those into the visual you can reshape, recolour, pretty much a basic version of Picassa… not bad!

Over all we shall see how it goes…

Please note that it doesn’t mean that I will use IE but hey they haven’t done a bad job so far (shock horror… waiting for it to crash boom bang…. oh its not Vista?)

If you are like me and were in the dark about this interesting blogging tool head over to Windows Live Writer to see why I am breaking the law about speaking about such things that shouldn’t be spoken about

… a ramble by Mumble the penguin with Happy Feet …

POST NOTE: I am stunned… it actually worked and worked well at that

Between you and me… I think that the blondness is now coming to terms with the fact that I am brunette once more…

Good luck world… I’m BACK!

Yeah I know its really shocking how innocent I look at age 7… Well that is the old me that is the new me

So I warned you that I was going to do this body altering thing … but boy wasn’t I prepared, I got such a shock when I eventually got up the courage to look into the mirror, it was me, the original me! It felt so much like a strange revelation of sorts. Here was this person I have lived with for 29 years (shhh don’t you dare say almost 30) and I hardly recognised her, it was like thinking back on an old memory of sorts.

While the hairdresser was colouring my hair, obliterating my blonde strands, my mother deemed to ask her what age she thought I was, she promptly said 26 and then almost coloured my eyebrows in accident when she heard my true age. What a laugh, I mean the poor woman was closer than most people, normally I get 22 and then get totally annoyed or worse under 18 when I get asked for my ID to buy a bottle of wine or more shockingly when I get asked to prove it when the legal smoking age is 16 (yeah that has happened a lot but thankfully no more… another new hair resolution ) … 26 I can live with that, I actually wanted to jump up and hug her to bits!

It felt like forever before I sat in front of that mirror again, the woman washing my hair took what felt like years to wash all the dye out, at one point I started to wonder if in fact I would turn grey by the time she finished my hair, nails eaten and my nerves almost gone she finally finished (did enjoy the massage though ). Then finally, sitting there in the hairdressers chair staring into the mirror before me in total utter unadulterated shock at the vision before me and the revelation came. This is the old me that is the new improved me, I can start this chapter of my life on a good footing and no more mucking about or playing silly buggers with my life, its symbolic and I will use it.

Change in our outward appearance can often help change within us, our inner selves almost get a boost and we are lifted. When I went blonde it was to get me out of the state I was in, it was symbolic then because I had decided not to be in abusive relationships or have them in my life, now it is more spiritually based. I’ve decided not to continue as I have before and concentrate more on spiritual growth and evolution. Guess you could say it’s the next step up but boosted by the outward appearance again, the person in the mirror looks different as different as the one inside and yet it is the me God intended.

It was weird to see how people reacted to me now that I am not that blonde anymore. When I got home, walked through the door my mother’s partner almost fell off his chair and literally gaped at me stuttering wow. I must admit I didn’t quite know how to take that, I mean they can see me but my eyes can’t do a reversal and look through theirs if you know what I mean. Then my mother, bless her heart, goes and tells me that it is as if I need to get used to my body again… Since I got home I have collected a variety of bruises all over, from walking into doorways, stubbing my toes, falling over things… so perhaps it is true? Who knows I mean I did that stuff before I was brunette! Everyone though seems to like it so I am pleased

Change is good and I feel this energy within me, its bubbling up inside and I feel like I could dance on the ceiling (tried that once and almost broke my neck so won’t do it again no worries)! I would dance on the ceilings if it weren’t for my mother asking another lady later on in the afternoon how old she thought I was only to hear the answer “32” I think she could see that I was none to pleased with this summation and she quickly followed with “you come across so mature and old”… hmmmm …

The ironic thing is that I don’t see age, I don’t see my own nor other’s rather just how they act, to me age is only a number. You can be 96 and still young at heart, you could be 10 and old before your years… I think so often we are set deadlines and goals growing up, the standards are often “marry by 25”, “be successful by age 30”, “have kids by latest 32” that sometimes we forget to live, we forget to breathe and we forget to experience the true joy of just being alive and kicking… The worst part is that so often because we don’t reach those predefined society goals we feel like failures, how sad is that?

Live life, experience every moment both the good and bad, love every single bit because it is what it is and it’s a journey… life would be so boring if we didn’t have the trials and even more so if we didn’t have the fun times to remember on the darkest days.

Give, Hope, Love, Live

My real human body on earth age? Phah! Somedays I am a 6 year old with a new toy, on another day or moment I am 18 and partying and others I am 65 go figure … before my morning cup of coffee? I am just grumpy…

Mini Clubman Day out

What a week! On wednesday I went along with good friends of mine for the Mini Clubman event - basically people won a day with the new Mini that hasn’t been launched yet in South Africa but was probably launched in your country about 2 years ago… Started off with breakfast in the most surreal setting, penthouse suite facing Table Mountain. Two coffee’s later, a game of putt-putt for the boys (I couldn’t risk playing with it being the top floor and all just now I knocked out a couple of windows or worse yet car windscreens!), a bit of mingling with the other winners and Mini people we were off.

Before we left though we got into a discussion with the National Dealership Manager and heard what had gone on at the Durban and Johannesburg events, ah they should never have told us the top speeds in those cities! Pick up our beautiful metallic blue Mini Clubman sports and off we went. We decided that in order for one of us to win the Mini for a further 6 months we had to go all out thus it was decided that where ever we went we would take photos, go as far as we can in the time we had and to just go wild… we did it all!

Through out the day we made spectacles of ourselves, stopping at scenic and non scenic points to take photos and pose with the car, chatting to the people near by and then taking photos of them… we had so many laughs, our stomachs are still sore from all of it! For those that know Cape Town - we started off in Green Point, headed out through Seapoint and through to Camps Bay, over Kloof Neck, hit the N1 through to Paarl, over to Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, Somerset West, Sir Lowry’s Pass, Gordon’s Bay, Strand, Macassar, Muizenberg, Simon’s Town, right round to Capes Point, Scarborough, Kommetjie, Noordhoek, Chapman’s Peak, Hout Bay, then through to Cape Town CBD for the cocktail party!

*ahem* We got back that evening and chatted to our Dealer friend Carmen only to find out that indeed all the staff had been tracking our progress… we had travelled the furthest in the whole country and our speed was the fastest in the Western Cape!

Needless we were quite shocked as we honestly didn’t go all that fast just a

mere 193 km/ph (approx 120 miles ph) - not fast I agree in the bigger scheme of things…

All in all 350 photos were taken, took 12 hours of editing and now off they go to Mini in hopes that our friend will win this incredible car albeit only for 6 months but still!