The Giving Season
With 20 days to go to my birthday and 34 until Christmas, I haven't really made a list of things I want for either. I've given it a lot of thought and despite wanting a lot of goodies, gadgets and indulgences, there's just one thing I really want: Less debt. So my request is simpl. I don't need the shiny, the cool, the fabulousness. I need to get back on my own two feet. I'm not content living with my parents a fortnight from my 31st. I seriously need to get my own space back. So that's all I want - contributions to the road to independence. But it's not what I expect. I know my mother for one refuses to give me money. For her a birthday present should be something you won't get yourself

Joost when you think it's all been done
Earlier today I went to the SABS Design Institute's 40 Years of Design Excellence exhibit. It is remarkable to see the things thought up on local soil - go have a look if you're in Pretoria and have some time to kill.   I also saw something that I decided, hey, I could get a few hits off the whole Joost incident, why not?   So, one of the 2007 winners was the Joost(e) Ball Valve, which controls water levels (such as crocodile tears? maybe cashflow?) and solves the problem of valves not o

Reading
I love reading. I love buying books more, apparently, and have a ginormous stack(s) waiting to be read. I do want to read them all, time is just not on my side. So, here are some books "they" say we should read. The ones in bold I've read. The ones in italic I have, the ones in colour I have absolutely no desire to read at all.   THE BORDERS 100 FAVOURITE BOOKS OF ALL TIMES1. Jane Austen – Pride & Prejudice2. Harper Lee – To Kill A Mockingbird 3. JRR Tolkien – Lord Of The Rings 4. Jodi Picoult – My Sister’s Keeper5. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga 6. JK R

Where the wild things are
My favourite cousin got married this weekend at Toadbury Hall. The weather looked a bit ominous and overcast, but as the day progressed the sun came out and it turned out to be a lovely day - almost as beautiful as my cousin. The wedding ceremony was held in a forest. While neither my cousin nor I are the outdoorsy type, we grew up on stories of fairies, witches and magic so the setting was PERFECT!  

Living arrangements
There was an incident at home last weekend that when I told The MD about it on Monday (shortly after finding out about it myself), he told me to go stay with him at the flat for the week. Now, for a while I’ve been nagging him to allow me to stay for longer than just a weekend, and sometimes he’ll allow me to come over from the Thursday instead of the usual arrangement of Friday.   Normally when I’m at the flat (over weekends) I stay up rather late – especially if one considers that I generally go to bed at around 20:00 when at home. I used to think it’s just because it’s the weekend and I don’t have to worry about getting up e