I'm a STAR!!!

Okay so I'm not exactly a star, as such, but my elbow is definitely going to be on national television! Other bits of my anatomy may also be on TV. I'm not sure which ones though. And just to calm any of you who are in shock, I didn't do any nude scenes!

So today I went off to be an extra on a local TV series, 'Isidingo'. It was my first time as an extra for this show. I once did some extra work for another series that is no longer in production, called 'The Pure Monate Show'. That too was great fun apart from the fact that we shot in the bar of some dodgy hotel in Hillbrow with real crack-whores outside and stuff!

Well, I havn't had this much fun in a long time! All we had to do today was to sit at tables in the bar (not a real bar, it was the set) and mime conversation with each other. I went with Duncan and the two of us had endless conversations, albeit in mime, about innumerable silly things like imaginary car crashes with clowns, the discovery that Duncan was a uniche (spelling?) and the like. It was so much fun! I would definitely recomend extra's work to anyone who is interested in trying something new.

The casting agent was also brilliant! He was such a nice guy who had a wicked sense of humour and was generally just a lot of fun. We had to be there from 08:00 to 14:00 and despite the fact that the majority of our time was spent waiting for the crew to be ready for us, we got paid R140 for it!

The only bad thing was that all the other, more experienced extras kept warning me about the wardrobe lady who is apparently a complete dragon. So by the time that I had to go in and see her, I was terrified. Then, she okayed my clothes and that was all. I got out with all my limbs intact which is apparently a rarety...

I recently discovered the joys of YouTube!

After the filming, I went to keep Duncan company while he registered at AFDA, the South African Film School. I know that the acronym doesn't fit but I have no clue what AFDA actually stands for. It took us two whole hours but we eventually got through it all.

Today has made me really think about where I want to go with my life. I've always loved acting but due to the fact that it's not really a steady job I always thought that science was a much better plan. And now, I regret that to a degree. I wish that I could do all that acting stuff just because it's so much fun. At the same time, I'd never have gotten to experience some of the amazing things that I have if I'd done acting instead.

In other news, I read an article last night about a cheap means of travelling around the coastal islands of Madagascar. Coincidentally, I got so excited about the stupid article that I couldn't go to sleep. It looks amazing, and I have decided that I am going to save up every penny that I can and go on this tour. Whose with me?

Random Fact Of The Day:

On an average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily

The iPod game

I know I've already posted for today but I thought that I should do this. It's the famous iPod Game! Helen did it and then I read on Travis's blog (Don't ask me why the 'bl' of blog are included in the link and not the rest...?) that he did it to so I figured that I ought to do it myself. This is how it works...

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...


01. Opening Credits: “The Zephyr Song” by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers". Not much relevence there, methinks.

02. Waking Up: “Emmulation” by me. I wrote this song a very long time ago and it's not very good. It's not on target AT all! Unless I was waking up in a fowel mood and in a huge rush.

03. First Day at School: “Saltwater” by Chicane. Not exactly first day music but I can go with that.

04. Falling in Love: “Offshore (Original Mix)” by Chicane. Not bad actually!

05. Fight Song: “Sand, Sea and Sun” by me. Another track I wrote. Most definitely off! Unless the whole fight scene was actually a paridy and also in slow motion. Ha! Ha! Ha!

06. Breaking Up: “Never Be The Same Again” by Melanie C. Most male's I know would be embarassed to say that they like this song but I do. I think it could work.

07. Prom: “Red Skies” by Chicane. Not really what I had in mind but if it was a really hectic dance then I guess it could work...sortof...

08. Life's Okay: “The Patriot Theme” from the movie 'The Patriot' – DEFINITELY not right! Unless I was an evil bad guy and my master plan was soming to a dramatic climax.

09. Mental Breakdown: “Buttercup” by Freshly Ground. It actually works really well!

10. Driving: I don't know what it's called but it's by Carine Baily Ray, I think. It works rather well. When I find out what the track is called I'll post it. It really works though.

11. Flashback: “Ganster Trippin” by Fatboy Slim. I guess a flashback to before I was born wouldn't really seem odd given my life...

12. Getting Back Together: “I feel it” by me. Totally doesn't work!

13. Wedding: “Samba de Janeiro” by Bellini. If it was the reception maybe...

14. Birth of a Child: “Homebase” by dZihan and Kamien. WOW!! Definitely works!

15. Death Scene: Part of the 'Halflight' soundtrack. Maybe if it was leading up to my death?

16. Funeral Song: “Godspeed” by BT. Not at all funeral music! Never play this at a funeral unless you are trying to severe all ties to the family!

17. End Credits: “Break & Enter” by The Prodigy. I'm okay with that.

I really think I have far too much dance music for this to work for me! Perhaps I should retry it but minus all the dance tracks...

Oh! The humiliation!

How embarassing! My readers now know what a scatter-brain I am! Helen and Angela both pointed out that the last Random Fact For The Day: was a previously used fact! So today I will post two facts to make up for it as well as my sincere appologies to the universe in general. Sorry!

And in other news, tomorrow I am going to be an extra for a TV show! Yay! If you are lost, extras are the people that fill all the space in the background, doing things like trying to buy fruit or chatting on the phone, while the main characters of the TV show do all the important stuff such as kill people or make out with someone that they barely know in public. It's gonna be a blast! I'll let you all know how it goes.

Today was a work-filled day. I went in to the zoo and did my observations early for a change. It's actually rather disturbing because I'm getting up early and working hard which all goes very much against my inner stuff. I'm not usually like this...(ask Helen!)

Well, it's that time again...Time for...

Random Fact(s) For The Day:

During the chariot scene in 'Ben Hur' a small red car can be seen in the distance

Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might be retarded

I knew that second one somehow...how disappointing...

Crap! I forgot to do my...

Random Fact For The Day:

Every person has a unique tongue print

Tah-dah!

My project volunteers

Hi all!





I'm severely overdue, as usual, with this post. It's been a bit of a hectic few days so I havn't really felt all that much like attending to my blog.





First things first. Athena, as promised, here is a picture of a lemur. This one is a black and white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata variegata). This is the kind that I got to play with at the zoo, only mine was much smaller and had a tendency to look rather terrified at the sheer size of everything around him. The pic comes from http://www.trekearth.com/.

So, this weekend was the first of the sessions at the zoo with my volunteers. For those who are as lost as a russian in a swahili tribe, my masters project requires that I use volunteers to collect some of my data. It went incredibly well and Iwas left feeling a little spare becuase the volunteers, all high school students, caught on really quickly and were all finished up in no time at all! But I suppose that it's better that way than to have a group of morons who can't understand that they must write their name down and have a photo taken.

Saturday was also my sisters birthday! They are now 19yrs old. I somehow never thought that they would ever get to that age. They have always been my little sisters so to imagine them as old as I was at one stage seems rather odd. I know this is all very silly but that is how my mind works. They were ver uncooperative and said that we mustn't get them birthday presents. I refused to not get them something so I am going to take them to the movies some time.

They went off to a gig on Saturday evening and so I went to a pizza evening at my cousins house. It was really fun. David, Duncan and I filmed this ridiculously silly action movie over the course of the evening which was really fun! It is so funny! Probably only to us...but I enjoyed it so I don't really care.

Sunday saw a family lunch for my sisters birthday. We also had my sisters friend over. It was really nice and at the end of the day my sisters and I went off to the movies with some family friends. I must admit that it was a little awkward as I havn't really kept in touch with them for ages but it was nice.

We went to see 'The Fountain' which was beautiful. It did get rather annoying at times, such as the 5min shots of a bald Hugh Jackman floating through space in a bubble on his way to a large celestial dust cloud. Those bits were a little too '2001: A Space Odessy' for my tastes.

Then yesterday was my sisters curriculum planning at Wits. So I took her in and showed her where she was supposed to be and all. I also went and did some work in my lab and went to the zoo.

And today was brilliant because my supervisor said that he thought that one of my ideas for my project was brilliant! It's a really good feeling when one's supervisor or boss applaudes you. I know this sounds very lapdog-ish but as I said before, I don't care.

And tonight it's off to dinner with Sarah and Tom (possibly others). Lookin forward to it!

The internet is a wonderful thing

Howdy folks!

Just the other evening, I was browsing the web for information on exotic fruit. I have always wanted to taste all the amazing exotic fruit that abounds on our little blue orb. It all started when I tried star fruit for the first time. They are these amazing fruits that form these five kind of fins that are all joined and so when you cut them in half, it makes a star shape! They are really cool and taste amazing! Their flavour is very delicate and is almost like a granadilla but not. I really like them but many people say that they are insipid in flavour, but not I!

Anyway, the point of this little ramble is that somehow whilst floating my way through the cyber ocean, I happened to bump into a really old game that I used to play when I was younger. It is none other than 'Jazz Jackrabbit 2'. I say old because it came out in 1997. I was twelve then...

I ended up downloading the demo and trying it out once again. It was awesome! It's such a cute game and it really fun to play, not to mention that it was great to relive that chunk of childhood. And now, I am left with a problem. I want more. I have really been enjoying it and, to quote Faithless in their song entitled 'I want more', I want more!

I have searched the internut and there is nothing there...:(

And in other news, I am sure that I'm supposed to be going in to University now but I'm not really sure what I'd do if I went there. It's a little worrying because I'm scared that I'm not working when I should be and that my supervisor is going to crap on me for it. But at the same time, I have nothing to do and I'm at the zoo everyday so...

Random Fact For The Day:

Every person has a unique tongue print

Josh! He's SO cute! - Part II

Well guys, today I finally got to meet Josh the chimp for real. It wasn't technically the first time because as many of you avid blog readers will remember, I originally saw him a few months ago. And he was adorable then and nothing has changed! Here is a photo of the little ruffian that I took today:

This was one of the photos that I took on my cell phone. I managed to download them thanks to my sisters friend, Zelé. And thus, I am able to post you guys the photo of me lemur experience too! Yay!

Josh, because of the fact that he is still rather young and also hasn't been exposed to many people, is incredibly timid with people. He will only just let you touch him and only if he is being held at the time by Althea, his surrogate parent and friend of mine. He is SO cute though! Today he had a moment of boldness and gave my chest a poke. He obviously thought that it looked like it needed a good poking and I was more than happy to oblige!

My sister was with me at the time too as I had taken her through to our old high school to drop off some books and to collect her portfolio. It was a little odd because when I was there I saw my old, and all-time favourite teacher, Ms. Barnsley. Tom knows her through family connections. It was odd because I havn't seen her in about 5 years, so just the general awkwardness as would be expected. It was rather funny because she asked me if I still kept in contact with Duncan, who is my cousin and thus I thought it was a bit of a silly question.

Anyhoo, Gemma was with me and she too was permited the honour of touching Josh. She made little cooing noises and chatted about him all the way home. It was rather funny. Understandable though, he is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Random Fact Of The Day:

40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals

Birthdays all over!

Well hello there children!





So, today's my dad's birthday. We, being my sisters, my mom and me, all felt terrible because we didn't get him anything for his birthday. But, in our defence, he didn't actually want any gifts! I find this hard to believe but that is actually what he said! He refused to have us buy him gifts. Odd man. We kinda cheated though and went and got him a kinder egg. He was pleased. My sisters made him a big blue and orange cake which they then decorated with yellow and purple icing. My family love making cakes in all these very loud colours and complimentary combinations. I think it's quite cool! Here is a photo of the cake:

I went out this afternoon in search of candles for the cake because we soon realised that we had nothing! NOTHING AT ALL! So I went and found a crazy store that had some candles and got him a singing candle! It was really funny because as the candle played 'Happy Birthday' the tune became increasingly slow and out of key because the battery was wearing out. Needless to say, my father was most impressed.

The next one on the list is my new-found friend, and fellow vegetarian blogger (Yay! We veggie-bloggers are way cool!), Athena. Her actual birthday is on Sunday if I'm not mistaken but she is having a birthday party at her house on Saturday. Only problem is...I have no clue when or where it is and what is required for this party! Let me just find out quickly...

Tom says that it's at her house at 19:00.

Then, next would be my sisters next week. I have no idea what I'll get them at all! I never know with those two. And they hunt in pairs so it's harder to get gifts because you inevitably get gifts that are somehow unequal in their 'coolness'. Curse the fact that they are twins! Why couldn't they just be courteous and be born a year apart or something!

And now for the part you've all been waiting for...

Random Fact For The Day:

In Lebanon it is legal to have sex with a female animal, but illegal with a male one

That was a little disturbing...!

It's true! We are becoming dumber!

Well guys, the last three days have confirmed for me the terrible truth. The world is becoming dumber and dumber. I have had my suspitions for quite some time now but the horrible truth has reared its ugly bottom to moon the intelegent members of the species.



I was reading an article in the newspaper about a german motorist who managed to crash his car because his GPS navigation system told him to! Seriously! Apparently, his nav system told him to turn left and instead of actually using that large thing that holds his eyes in place, he obeyed the commands of the machine. As it turned out, he was turning left onto the pavement on the opposite side of the road and by the sounds of things, didn't think it at all odd when his car ramped the pavement. I say this because he didn't stop there. He continued to drive until his car wheels got stuck in the tram lines on the far side of the pavement. In the process of crashing his car and having to have it all cleaned up, which took a good few hours, he also managed to delay countless trams! All because he listened to a machine instead of...God forbid...THINKING!!!



Then, I was chatting to my dad the other night about how school has changed from when he was small to now and he mentioned that they didn't have calculators back then. I really don't know how they coped. I'm sure you all understand what I'm saying here. I can do math with ease, just not in my head! I can't actually think that hard! It's scary!



Then, this evening I was watching something on the National Geographic Channel about apes and it reminded me of a recent thing in the news about a potential new species of great ape found in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). I then went online to research it a little and came across this comment which I find rather disturbing:



"We cannot rule out the possibility that it is a new species of ape, or a new subspecies or some form of hybrid," said Duane Rumbaugh, a professor at Georgia State University.

The problem here lies in the fact that the individual who said this stuff was a professor. A PROFESSOR! What kind of academic specialising in the biological sciences doesn't understand some of the most basic concepts with regard to species, sex and genetics! For all non-biologists out there, there is no way of hybridising two species unless they are very closely related and generally this doesn't lead to viable offspring, or at least offspring that are able to continue their lineage.

Now, pray, do explain how someone like that manages to become a professor? Could it be that in the world of stupid people the anecdotal phrase 'takes one to know one' really comes into play with job selection? Could an idiot have given the job position of professor to another of their kind in order to further the stupid interests of the moron agenda...?

And my final, and probably most convincing piece of evidence is still out there in the world. All you need do in order to experience the reality that idiots are taking over is go for a drive. Seriously, has anybody else noticed the incredible surge in the amount of people who do stupid things on the road? Things like not indicating and then crossing four lanes on the highway while doing over 120km/h? Anyone...? Well it's out there and it's winning the fight against the human claim of intelegence.I'm doing my bit to fight imberciles with my 'Random fact of the day' insert. What are YOU doing? ;p

Random Fact Of The Day:

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!

And in other news...here is a photo of a beetle that I found in Kamieskroon. He was a very cute beetle and he posed so nicely for his photo. I hope he is still alive and running around in the hills of Namaqualand...

I think he needs a name. All you internutters, please suggest good names for my beetle. You can post your suggestions as comments!

What is love?

Hi all!

I tried to blog yesterday but for some reason the blogger site was down or something and it wouldn't let me. Can you ever forgive me for leaving that little sliver of my life blank...?

Today when I returned from going to a meeting with my supervisor (for which, he was late for a change!), and then going to the zoo, my dad gave me an article to read from the newspaper. It was the 'Stoep talk', a daily comment section that is almost always hysterically funny. This particular one was about the responces of a group of children aged 4 to 8 yrs old to the question, 'What is love?' These were some of my favourite responces.

"When somebody loves you, the way that they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth" - Billy (4)

"Love is when a girls puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other" - Karl (5)

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your french fries without making them give you any of theirs" - Chrissy (6)

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend you hate" - Nikka (6)

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones" - Lauren (4)

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget" - Jessica (8)

And my favourite: "Love is what's in the room at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen" - Bobby (7)

Well, I hope you feel that your life has more meaning now. I have yet to read the rest of the paper.

Random Fact Of The Day:

George Washington grew marijuana in his garden

Hmmm...a true heart stopper.

Todays photo is of a little girl, named Gemma, who came over to myself and a group of friends while we were building a sand castle on the beach. We didn't know her from a bar of soap but she decided that we looked like we needed her guidance. In this photo she is seated at the throne that was originally intended to be a castle. Her dad is standing off to the side while a friend of mine, Alice stands in the background. I sometimes wonder what happened to Gemma...

I refuse to pay!

Hi gang!

Sorry about yesterdays rather depressing post. It's something that has been on my mind for a very long time now and I had to get it out of my system.

Today's tale is a considerably more humourous and light-hearted one than that of yesterday. It occurred this very afternoon when I went shopping with my mother. We were at a 'Pick-n-Pay', one of South Africa's largest supermarket chains. As it just so happens, apart from stocking all kinds of vegetarian foods, Pick-n-Pay's have another thing in their favour: they sell airtime for less than it is worth!

At Pick-n-Pay's airtime, or cell phone credit for those who haven't the faintest idea what I'm on about, is cheaper than it should be. Most other places charge the exact amount for their airtime, but not good old dependible Pick-n-Pay! No sir!

So anyway, today I went shopping with my mother and we were at the checkout counter and the kind checkout clerk had run up all our items when my mother remembered that she had to buy some airtime. So she asked the clerk for one of the R29,00 vouchers. The clerk replied saying that it would be another R28,00.

My mother looked annoyed. 'No, I want the twenty nine rand voucher, please.'

The clerk looked confused, but patiently responded, 'Yes, that will be twenty eight rand.'

My mother continued, 'No, you don't understand. I want the twenty nine rand voucher, not the twenty eight rand one!'

The very patient clerk looked at my mother and explained, 'No, the twenty nine rand voucher is only twenty eight rand. You save one rand!'

My mother didn't buy into it at all...

This conversation continued for some time before my sister intervened and explained to my mother that at a Pick-n-Pay, the airtime was cheaper. Upon this realisation, my mother beamed and, after paying, walked over to me and proudly declared, 'Guess what? Airtime is cheaper here!'

It was hysterical!

Random heart-stopping Fact Of The Day

A male emperor moth can smell a female emperor moth up to 7 miles away

This terrifying image is what greeted me every Valentines day. It's a good friend of mine, David. Every Valentines day he dresses up as cupid (with a motorbike helmet) and delivers gifts to all his friends. It's a nice jesture but he hasn't done it for some time now. He is a little odd...

Special people

Hello all!

I have just finished reading Tom's little piece on relationships. It is rather an amazing coincidence, but I was going to blog on something similar! I wanted to blog about some of the special people in my life who I love.

It all started this morning with the traditional, after-church tea with gran. We arrived at her place and she had somehow managed to whip together the tea and some cake and stuff by the time we arrived which is unusual because we were not late at all. So either her vitamin supplements suddenly kicked in and she shot around her home doing everything at a ridiculous pace or somehow she bent time so that she could have more time to do things in than was actually passing...

Anyhoo, while there she produced some photographs that she had dug up. My whole family passed the photos around and as per usual, I was the very last to get to look at them (perhaps I shall rant about that at a later stage...). It was good though because it gave me more time to enjoy the delicious date (not of the romantic kind) cake that she served us with our tea.

Eventually, the photos came my way and they were of my mother and my aunt feeding my sisters with bottles at my great-aunt's old house when we were all very tiny people. One of the photos in the pile was this one here:

It is a photo of three cousins. From right to left, Me, Sarah and Duncan. I really have no idea how old I was in this photo but it just made me think about my relationship with these two nutters. The three of us have always been very good friends and have gotten into countless troubles together. We just gel so well and it makes me sad to think that I don't get to see them as much as I would like to anymore.

Some history: Sarah is four years older than Duncan and I, who are only about two weeks apart. I'm the older of us. Sarah and the two of us went through a not-so-close stage when she was a teen, but since then have all been close. Then, in the early years of Varsity, Duncan and I had a huge fight which lasted, I am ashamed to say, almost a year and a bit. We didn't talk at all and I think to a degree he still holds certain things against me. And with good reason, I suppose. And this makes me angry.

I can't believe that I would let myself get into a situation where this kind of thing would happen! And how could I have turned my back on both a friend and relative?! I say relative because he is more than a cousin to me. They both are. When my family was up in Italy and I was down here, essentially living alone, they kind of adopted me. I would go visit them on weekends and they would take me with them on holiday and everything. But now, after our fight, Duncan and I are never going to be the same, and it makes me very sad.

If you ever read this, Duncan, I just want to say that I'm very sorry and that if I could go back and stop all this from happening, I would...

And to the rest of you guys, if I EVER even look like I'm heading into the same sort of scenario with anyone, slap me silly and make me realise what I'm doing! I love you guys all so much and I don't think I could ever forgive myself if I hurt you all like I've hurt Duncan. You all is ROX!

Random Fact For The Day:

A person cannot taste food unless it is mixed with saliva. For example, if strong-tasting substance like salt is placed on a dry tongue, the taste buds will not be able to taste it. As soon as a drop of saliva is added and the salt is dissolved, however, a definite taste sensation results. This is true for all foods. Try it!

Today's zoo tale

Well gang, I have achieved one of my lifelong ambitions today! A few years ago I did a project with Laura and some others on Madagascar and Lemurs. From that point onward, I have always been obsessed with lemurs. This was long before the movie 'Madagascar' came out and when it did, Helen and I sat through it discussing which species each lemur was - very sad I know, but they are SO cute!

So anyhoo, as part of my lemur fetish, I swore to myself that someday I would work on lemurs so that I could somehow hold one. Well, now I don't need to work on them!

I was walking around the zoo talking to my friend Althea, who works there as curator of the primates and reptiles. We were discussing how much work she had to do, which by the way is ridiculous! I was supposed to go with her to meet the famous Josh (http://thelifeofa20something.blogspot.com/2006/10/joshhes-so-cute.html). Anyway, we were walking and chatting and she mentioned offhand that we first had to go and give some medication to a lemur. I, naturally, was thrilled at the prospect of getting that close to a lemur and went along very willingly.

We entered the animal hospital at the zoo and Althea had a long chat with the resident vet while preparing a small dish of mashed fruit and milk formula. She then turned to me and explained that I was going to feed the baby lemur! I was over the moon!

She then went into the cage to collect the baby lemur and to administer the mother's medication. The little one was passed over to me instantly and I went off to feed him! It was so amazing! He was tiny and he was so soft! He also smelled so nice! In the same way that babies smell nice. He just kinda smelt small and cute, if that makes any sense at all.

Apparently his mother has developed some mammary infection, which means her milk secreting glands are not in a good way. As a result, she cannot produce any milk for her little baby and so he has to be fed by us humans. Normally a lemur of his age would not be weaned at all but apparently he prefers to eat fruit than to drink milk formula from a bottle.

So I got to feed the baby lemur. I had to keep putting the food right under his nose because he kept getting distracted by things and forgot that his food was there! It was so cute! However, he was very gittery! The slightest sound or sudden movement made him panic. I felt terrible when I had dipped my finger into his fruit to try and encourage him to lick it up and as I raised my hand to his face he got such a fright that he crapped himself!

He was SO cute and if I could, I would most definitely have one as a pet! I took a photo of him with my phone but alas, I have yet to figure out how to transfer photos from my phone to my laptop. When I do, you'll get to see him.

Random Fact For The Day:

A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continually from the bottom of the glass to the top

Oops...about your iguana...

Due to the fact that my supervisor will be, or should be, and possibly is, back from his holiday around now, I have been spending much of my time at the zoo trying to gather data for my masters project. I say trying because one might not really expect recording what a chimpanzee is doing to be a difficult endevour, but it is. Especially when the animal in question is a female with a very young baby who is very nervous.

This is what happened today. I was watching the chimp, rather successfully, until she decided to move to another area of her enclosure. I then moved to another area in order to get a good view of the chimp and try to figure out what she was up to. Helen was with me at the time and we both ran off to try spot the old female. She had other plans and eventually I gave up and we just went walking around the zoo. It was at this stage that we ran into the exciting occurance of the day!

We were walking past an enclosure that once housed some monkeys and now houses iguanas. Or, after today, iguana...We arrived at the scene just as one of the keepers realised that one of the iguanas had just escaped from the enclosure and was sunning itself in one of the flowerbeds! The keeper naturally tried to catch it and the thing ran off.

In no time a large herd of people, keepers and members of the public had arrived and were all trying to figure out what was going on. The keepers ended up chasing the iguana into a large storm drain thingy and spent much of their time wandering up and down the drain pipe. Helen and I both tried to do some searching ourselves but to no avial. It was gone.

So now there is an iguana in the drain at the zoo.

Darn...this isn't nearly as exciting as I expected it to be...I'll have to try harder next time.

Random Fact For The Day

The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.

Here is a photo of me trying to write out a diary of what I'd been doing on the molerat trip:

Ahem...there is a large bird in your bathroom...

Today I changed one of the lights in the garden. It was a job that was severely overdue and in a sudden fit of usefulness, I changed it. As I returned into the house, my father walked up to me and asked me if I had seen the bird. I gave him a blank look and explained that I had no idea what he was on about. He then explained to me that as I had walked out to change the light outside, a hadeda had wandered into my bathroom rather confidently. Apparently it had walked into the garage of our house, entered into the passage and had made its way into my bathroom.

My sister has a fear of birds (I don't get it at all but anyway) and she had been in my bedroom at the time, watching a DVD on my laptop. When my dad aparently told her about the hadeda, which was at that stage still in the bathroom, she had shreaked and locked herself in my room. Eventually my father managed to chase the thing out. I was rather upset that he hadn't managed to take a photo of the large ibis next to my loo so I could show you guys!

I guess this will have to do then. It's a photo that Helen took in Darling of some Hadeda's flying in a flock. And so you all know, hadeda's are very large birds. They are about 80cm long and weight about...well I don't know but I'm sure that it's a lot for a bird! Let's just say that if a house cat were to attack one from behind, the bird could easily take off and fly with the cat attached.


Random Fact For The Day:

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks, otherwise it will digest itself.

I love my phone!

I love my new cellphone! It's so pretty and awesome and amazing and I love it! And today, at church my sister told a friend, in my presence might I add, that, and I quote, my phone was 'too cool for me'! How rude! Anyhoo, I threw something at her later on, as is customary for health inter-sibling relations ;)

Well the last couple of days have been awesome! On Thursday I went off to the zoo to observe my chimps for the first time in AGES. It was more out of fear of what would happen to me if I got to Wits to see my supervisor having done nothing at all all holiday. I doubt that he would really do anything appart from give me a rather unimpressed look and tell me to get my ass in gear and do some work. But none the less, I thought that a little work would certainly not kill me so I went off. It was great to see them again, especially because I realised that I am learning how to tell them apart which is brilliant!

Then, Friday was Tomkin's birthday! I, following a somewhat confusing conversation over chinese food, was convinced that his birthday was actually on the 7th (today) but no, it was on the 5th. We all went off to Gold Reef City, which was such fun! I havn't been to Jozi's only decent theme park in ages and so it was interesting to get to see it all again! It was so full though! There were hundreds of people with children all over the place.

Then, yesterday...is actually quite a blur in my mind. I can't for the life of me remember what the hell I did during the day. I know that I swam a lot. Our pool is amazing right now! The temperature is perfect! Anyhoo, last night was Tom's party, which was also awesome! I had such a ball! I saw Laura again, who has been away for a while, so we both caught up on what we've been up to. It was so nice to see her again and to just chill. Ten points Tomkins!

Otherwise, there has been little that is worth writing about happening in my life (save for one thing that I shan't write about). Hope yawl are doing smashingly!

Random Fact of the Day!

A shark can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water.

A rat can last longer without water than a camel.

I'm doing two today because the first one was a little lame and somewhat well known.

Random facts

I was sifting through all the random crap that fills my harddrive and I discovered a text file that I had downloaded form who knows where that contains many random facts. I shall post one with each blog entry. Here is today's one:

A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn't give her coffee.

Darn...what was I going to write about...?

I think that I am rather tired. This epiphane isn't from any kind of signal that my somewhat lazy brain is sending to the rest of me but is more due to the fact that literally seconds ago I had a topic for todays blog entry but it has totally evapourated from my skulls inner recesses...So, either I'm tired or my age is catching up to me...


This is a photo of the swallow that haunted the shed in which we worked. He was very cute!

Ten points to Helen for getting a laptop!

That reminds me. I must recount a story of Helen and birds and a frightfully carrot-up-the-arse-sounding english woman, who coincidentally does seem to have a carrot up her arse. Although, come to think of it, it's more like she has a very angry racoon up her arse...

The story begins at the begining of 2006, our honours year. Helen and I happened to both be tutoring for the same course. The course was run by a particular staff member who nobody else in our department, apart from our head of school seems to like much. She is the lady in question, mentioned above. So as not to incriminate anyone, I shall refer to her in this story as 'Caroline' (Ha ha!).

Anyway, one day, Helen and I had to go and speak to 'Caroline' about how one of the practicals was going to be run. Neither of us wanted to attend this practical as it was one of the more shitty ones and it involved trapsing around a very large park ooo-ing and aah-ing at random birds that happened to fly past at the time - something about learning how to identify birds or some nonsense. Herein lies the root of the story, for Helen is hopeless at identifying birds. And, as part of her argument against attending the practical, she mentioned this to 'Caroline'. Upon hearing this, 'Caroline' recoiled in horror and insisted that Helen actually new much more than she thought.

'Caroline' then went on to explain to Helen how easy birding was. At this point I feel it is important to mention that Helen and I had gone to see 'Caroline' during our lunch break and had intended to go and buy spinach and feta pies from the theatre after our little chat with 'Caroline'. we had intended for our meeting to last only a short while - 5 min at the most. However, 'Caroline' had other plans.

"You see, birds are not as difficult as you might think," she said in her hot-potato-in-the-mouth british accent that just makes you want to slap her silly! "You can easily tell them apart. I mean, you know what a duck is, don't you? A duck is a duck is a duck. And you certainly can't confuse something like a weaver for anything else now can you? A weaver is clearly a weaver. Ostriches are so distinctive that there is no way of confusing them! An ostrich is an ostrich is an ostrich! And what about chickens! You certainly know what those look like and I'm confident that you will be able to point one of those out. And pigeons! Pigeons are SO easy to spot! I mean a pigeon is a pigeon, it can't be anything else! And doves are so common that you must know what a dove is! And geese are all over! A goose is a goose is a goose! Nobody can confuse those! And you know what a sparrow is. They are so easy to tell apart from the other birds. And, I mean, there is no way of confusing a peacock with anything else, now is there? And very few people can claim to be unable to identify a penguin. They are so distinctive! And all those birds of prey. An eagle is so clearly an eagle that it can't be confused for, say, a duck! After all, a duck is a duck is a duck..."

And so the very one-sided conversation continued until there was practically not a single kind of bird that had been forgotten, as if she was worried that the birds forgotten might find her and beat her up for making them feel left out! Eventually, we both, Helen and I, resorted to agreeing with everything that she said in the hopes that we might eventually get to go and actually eat something. Finally, after about 25min of bird speech, we were released to go and feed.

In the end we did attend the practical. We ran away after about 10min...

New years! (I.E. 2007)

Well gang, another year has come and gone and the world is still turning. It has been one hell of a year! So much has happened and I, personally have had a rather hectic emotional time this year. Firstly, as most of you will know from all my bitching, it has been my honours year and thus has been the most exhausting and overworked year of my life! Then, this was the year that my grandfather died. It took a major toll on all the family. It was the year that my parents returned home to South Africa from Italy which was also quite an emotional rollercoaster. My sisters underwent major surgery and treatment to have their jaws fixed up which has certainly been an experience for all of us.

It was also the first time that I attended an 'H2O' party! It was awesome! H2o for those who are confused is a kind of day long rave thing that is held at a water park here in Joburg. They have them throughout the year but I went to my first one last night - the new years party! It was amazing! I'm actually exhausted as a result...so todays should be a short post.

Everyone else has done the whole new years resolutions thing but I will break the mould and NOT do this! Wow...I'm such a rebel. Seriously, I don't see the point. They are just a bunch of promises that you make to yourself that you secretly know that you won't keep anyway so why bother. And besides, New Years, as an event, is pretty meaningless anyway. It is simply the end of a technical year that way placed on an arbitrary day.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily anti-New Years! In fact, I am all for celebrating. I really think that we don't party enough and that we should use any excuse to all get plastered and dance the night away! I just don't think that people should put so much significance into it and make empty promises and what not.

Sorry, I'm tired and so I'm not feeling particularly enthusiastic about life in general. Also, after reading Sarah's post about Sadam, I'm a little peeved at the universe in general.

Ooo! I forgot to say that at H2O, Dave (Friend) and I saw two celebrities! We saw a presenter from SABC3, Graham Richards, and some chick from ISIDINGO whose name is unknown to me. Some drunk guy spilled his beer onto Graham Richards's shoes. It was so funny!

And I shall end today's post with a short story that Helen forgot to mention on one of her posts. It concerns the swallow that she mentioned. It lived in the shed that we worked in. He lived on the floor and my guess was that he had tried to fly a little early, had fallen out of the nest and had lived on the floor instead. His parents were always around and would come flying past your head when you walked in which, despite expecting it, never ceased to freak me out.

One day we were offloading some stuff from our vehicle into the shed and the little swallow was hopping along the floor. I stopped to watch him and as I watched, he hopped along toward the door. He stopped on the rim of the door frame and looked around for a bit. He seemed to be surveying the world, trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, rather unexpectedly as most sudden things are, he opened his wings and flew off! I had witnessed the first *successful* flight of a baby swallow! It was beautiful and I felt honoured to have been present for such a momentous occasion in the life of that tiny, somewhat ugly, creature.