Who killed the music?

I confess, I am a music-killer. I find a song I like and put it on repeat until I reach a stage where merely hearing the opening bars makes me want to punch something and then I put the ipod back onto shuffle until I find the next song.

This week it’s this one:

Before that we had:

The one I always pick on the jukebox:

The one that makes me think of being a little kid again:

this one still makes me smile:

And this one (my one and only itunes purchase was this album):

Apparently I’m in ‘sad phase’ at the moment. all I know is that I wish I knew where I was going to be this weekend. I need to find a rock to sit on and think about life, and I’m just hoping that I find out soon so that I can go and see my other home for a couple of days.

Random thoughts in traffic

Forget early edition, the coolest thing ever would be to get
tomorrow's TRAFFIC report!

I really hate traffic in Joburg sometimes. People get really
aggressive. I refuse to be intimidated.

my dreams have been weirder than usual lately. Last night the labmates
and I went for lots of testdrives and then took a random Subaru for a
testdrive, going at 230km/hr. In a parking lot.

if driving at speed with your window open uses more fuel than using
the airconditioner, how is this affected by the degree of openness of
said window? Is a half-open window causing more drag than a totally
open one or not?

my students asked me to 'be a parent' to them and give them life
advice today. It was awkward. And ageist.

why does a truck carrying a gigantic pile of peanuts have to travel at
20km/h on the highway?

at least I can keep my window open :)

Thump!

The whole family spent the weekend in the Drakensberg to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday. It was an awesome weekend, with the perfect hiking weather and enough of a mix of people that everyone had people to hang out with – the toddlers had the kids activities, the pregnant ladies had the toddlers, and the older folks had the pregnant ladies and the toddlers.

Me? I dragged my father up a mountain. And the next day I dragged him up a different mountain and made my brother come along too. It was quite odd – I spent most of my childhood holidays in the Drakensberg struggling to keep up with them as they sprinted along hiking trails, and this time I left them behind repeatedly until they organised someone to walk in front of me and slow things down. I wasn’t hurrying! i guess growing up is weird like that.

Unfortunately as much as my father and I bonded a lot, my mother and I are still really not seeing eye-to-eye. I think she struggles with her idea off what family relationships are and what she actually has – my father and I aren’t the most demonstrative people and seeing my brother and his new family who are all so close must be difficult for her. That said, she can’t hike and I refused to go all the way to the mountains to sit around, particularly when she was all difficult and snappish. I tend to respond by snapping back (I’m generally laid-back but my mother has a way of pushing buttons…)

We rushed back form the weekend away to get to my cousin’s baby-shower which was interesting. The scariest point being the number of times I was asked if I had any kids. People get offended when you aren’t flattered by the idea of having offspring floating around.

But I got thumped back to reality when I went to the salaries office today to find out why the university hasn’t paid me for teaching this year. Turns out they switched my forms with someone else’s, so my ‘salary’ has been paid to a stranger. And to make it trickier they lost all the original paperwork too. and they ‘don’t feel like going to the office’ – can’t I just call the guy and ask him to give me the money they paid him by mistake?

Can I go on holiday again please?

On the plus side, although our SA vs Ghana tickets fell through, we’re going ice-skating tonight! On the coldest day EVER! Yay!

Inspiring

• This story. It makes me happy to think that normal people out there really can make a difference. It makes me kind of teary, but in the best possible way.
• Having fun when you don’t expect it: last night I was exhausted, but dragged P1 out to have sushi with the labmates and had the most awesome time! Between the awful CD of cheesy ballads, sending stuff around on the conveyor-belt, my actually enjoying sushi for the first time (the totally did something different to the seaweed) and the dance-dance-revolution and bowling afterwards (there are videos, they’re not pretty) was just fantastic. And totally worth today’s zombiedom.
• Working at the vet. Yes we have crazy cat ladies and all the rest, but we’ve also got a bunch of clients who have rescued dogs from appalling situations and do whatever is necessary to look after them. It makes me all warm and fuzzy :)
• The kiddies: OK, so they whine and mope whenever I make them work, but I’m really enjoying my new group of student, who are quite vibrant people with interesting ideas and philosophies. While we do get their work done, we also end up in weird philosophical debates – which is what university is all about!
• This guy:

I hope I am as energetic and uninhibited at that age!

• This website… makes me all happy!

Have a good Tuesday!

And stuff…