Dizzy Dee

I struggle to get up each morning. I hate waking up early. At the moment I live half an hour from our offices, and I start work at 7am. Needless to say, I get up before SUNRISE.

I wake up with my Dad giving me a cup of Rooibos tea, every morning. He’s so sweet with that! I don’t know how else I will get out of bed - without my cup of Rooibos, I’m lost.

Some people shower in the mornings to wake up, but I shower at night - I feel dirty at the END of the day, and like to go to bed calm and relaxed from showering.

Others wake up with coffee (which is very unhealthy!), but I honestly understand your dilemma - I used to do the same. But what other ways are there of waking up? I know my Dad is one of those people who can just jump out of bed - he doesn’t take any time to ‘wake up’ - which I find really strange. I’m a bit disoriented when I wake up, and also grumpy for having to get out of my comfy bed, and leave my dreams behind.

But what do you do? Please give me your magical recipes if you have any!!

Its close to impossible to work these days. For me, because we create software, and that is usually done on computers, which usually need power to function.

The power was off everyday last week for about 4hrs each day. This week it might be off again, but now we have a generator. I doubt if it will work flawlessly though - we also thought we had a UPS that would work for 70hr straight, powering all the PC’s in the office. It ended up dying about 1.5 seconds are the power cut, giving us enough time to realize that it had kicked in, but was not worth much.

Today though I’m glad for the power cut. Its cold here, and still the aircon is on!? I suppose I get cold too easily, but I’m wearing warm clothes! Still the aircon is set on 18. As soon as the power goes out, we’ll only have the ‘red plugs’ on the generator, meaning the aircon won’t work - yay!

I’m a selfish person when it gets to things like this, but you have no idea how miserable I become if I’m uncomforatble.

Right now, I just wish I could’ve slept more. You might feel like I’m totally random today, but that’s just the way my brain is functioning. I didn’t have much sleep, and the little that I had was interrupted by the neighbours’ cat sneaking around in my room. I didn’t mind the cat so much, as the though of ’someone’ being in my room. I heard a bit of a noise at first, but saw nothing. Then another noise, and there I saw something move. I was terrified and probably a bit flustered from the sleep as well. Eventually when I couldn’t find the cat inside the house, I assumed it had gone out through the door which I had opened for it. Then finally I went back to sleep.

5am today my alarm started going off - I have no idea why though. I usually get up at 5.20am (and those precious 20 minutes help alot!)

This morning when I got to work the front door was unable to open - due to the power failures our magnetic lock hadn’t had a chance to charge properly, and the batteries ran out. That meant that I spent an hour waiting outside till someone was able to open the door.

Now, I’m just tired and grumpy. I might come back later when I’m a bit more cheerful.

Strange as it may seem, I might be moving into a place of our very own sometime soon! We’ve found a lovely townhouse, and I can move in in about 2 weeks time!!! Fantastic! I just realized now though that I don’t have half of what I might need, but who cares? Its our own little home, and I’m absolutely ecstatic!!!

Further more we’ve been experiencing Eskom’s load shedding in its full glory!! I’ve had about 4hrs off work each day because of the power failures. This is not as much fun as it might have been had I still been in school… See at work I still have the same responsibilities, but just less time to complete the tasks - that’s not so much fun…
Today I spent a lot of that time driving around in the mad traffic (caused by no working traffic lights), and then after that I had a on the grass, in the shade, outside our office building. The nap was good, up until the point where the power went back on. I don’t mind working, but waking me up from an afternoon nap is not always such a good idea I’m pretty grumpy.

Now I’m exhausted again - definitely not from working, but from heat exhaustion rather I suspect. LOL. Its lovely summer weather again here, and I’m loving it - just a pity we don’t have our aircon on UPS!!

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

Mwuahahahaha….. Okay, I was just trying to sound scary. Did I succeed?

I’m thinking now, about people who have to do a BIG thing for another person (as a service) for the first time. Obviously doctors and the like are assisted in their first operation etc. But what about someone like an interior decorator? Do these people tell their first suckers that they’re the experiment? That they’ll be the ones to make up their portfolio?I’m sure a lot of them don’t, and just pretend that they’ve been doing this kind of thing for years. Yes, you can ask for photo’s of their previous work, but those are easily forget - I can make myself a lovely portfolio by just grabbing some images of the internet.

If I were to use someone like this I would want to have a reference - someone who can actually recommend them to me (though I don’t know how ethical that is - or how sane I’d appear). Those can be arranged too though. So what is the BEST way to make sure that you’re not paying for a disaster? Or that the person is going to run off with your money. In the States and the UK this might not be so common, but there is an incredible amount of corruption in South Africa. So much so that I’m starting to doubt too many people for my own good sanity.

In the end I will just to it all myself. I suppose that’s not so bad, but you can’t do EVERYTHING yourself? *sigh*

That is the title of a song by the Scorpions. Its such a beautiful song, and I’ve always sang along to it (when I’m ALONE) But I never realized how difficult those changes might be. Sometimes changes can be things that we have waited and prayed for for years, but other times it entails things that we never thought possible. And never think we will survive. Things which make us feel out of control, and a bit freaked out.

I’m again referring to the job changes that I’ve been through these last two months. It is scary. To start at a new place. Each time I am reminded of how vulnerable I can actually feel. Going through the heartbreak that relationships can sometimes cause I thought nothing could ever scare me more. But being unsure of where your next pay check is going to come from has to be right there at the top of the list too. It suddenly makes one realize that nothing is actually in your control. Things change so quickly without giving us enough time to adjust.

Change is good sometimes, but I think it could be good all the time? I’m just speculating, but I think that change and growth go together very closely, and even though the circumstances might not be what we hope for, the change could always have a positive effect for the future. No matter how hard it is to see the good in that moment of distress, there will always be a bright side.

Difficulties will always come our way, and we just need to learn the best way to deal with it. I still feel like I have so much to learn. So many people have been through much worse circumstances than myself, and yet they seem to come out the top. It reminds me of the story about the donkey….

A farmer had a donkey that unfortunately fell into an abandoned well. It brayed and brayed until the farmer heard him and came running over.

The well was deep and the farmer couldn’t figure out how to hoist the donkey out. Besides, the donkey was getting old and the farmer had other donkeys. And, the well was abandoned and should be covered up anyway, so …

The farmer called his neighbours over with their shovels. They all gathered around and started shovelling dirt onto the donkey, which was still braying away in fear.

After awhile, the farmers couldn’t hear the donkey any longer. They continued to fill the well with dirt until suddenly the donkey stepped up and out of the well!

As the farmers shovelled dirt onto the back of the donkey, he would shake it off and step up onto the new dirt until the dirt lifted him out.

You will get dirt shovelled on you in your life - lots of dirt, all kinds of dirt. When you feel like you’re stuck in a well, just shake all that dirt off and take a step up.

If someone says you can’t do something, shake it off and step on it.

If you do poorly, shake it off, step on it, and try again.

When you stop trying, that’s when the dirt will bury you. So, shake it off, step up, and never give up.

For those of you who are currently going through difficult times. Know that there will be a time when you can look back - try to live in such a way that you’ll be proud of the decisions you’ve made.

People say we should focus on the good things in life. And to a certain extent I agree with them. We SHOULD be thankful for all we have. There are so many people who have nothing. Literally nothing. People die of hunger each day and disease each day. People lose their families due to war, and accidents.

I just wonder how can I focus on the positive so easily then. Unashamedly oblivious of the pain and agony of the world. Quietly ignoring their cries for help? Its so easy to focus and be thankful for the good things in our lives, but when do we start doing something for those who do not have something - not even one single thing - in their lives to make them happy.

I was walking in a parking lot during lunch, and car guard was so friendly. He seemed incredibly happy to be doing his job. He welcomed me, and told me to enjoy my shopping, even gave me a cheerful smile. But when he goes home he might have to eat by candle light in the freezing cold because he cannot afford electricity or gas. He cannot afford to buy all six his children vegetables like we’ve been taught. He walks home, because the little money he earns is barely enough to keep him and his family alive. Still he smiles, and he’s friendly to each person who passes him. Sometimes rudely stared at, and even ignored when he tries to make small talk. Do these people know how they crush that poor man’s soul? When do we acknowledge these people? When do we start to realize that it might well have been us? He isn’t any less a person that anyone else - but rather more, so why do people get so irritated with him? Willing him to keep quiet. Maybe they’re embarrassed to be seen talking to someone who struggles to make ends meet? Maybe they’re irritated because they think he wants money.

Sometimes I really wish I was an animal. However strange this might sound, they don’t pretend that one giraffe is better than the other. That, just because he had fresh green leaves this morning, he’s somehow superior? What has that got to do with anything? In the end the one who runs fastest and is fittest will be the survivor, and that’s all that matters to them.

Not the colour of their spots. The food they eat. Or the place they sleep. The fact that they’re alive and well is sufficient.

In the end its not enough to ‘be thankful for what you have’ and look the other way. We need to be thankful, but we also need to stop thinking that that’s enough. We need to start doing. Helping. Giving. And even just loving. Just being friendly might mean the world to another. Respecting him as a person will mean much more than the five Rands you don’t want to give him in any case.

So I am finally able to tell you why things are going up and down. The company that I work(ed) for was liquidated today. Its all still a bit unreal, but yes, I’m without a job as I’m sitting here. I have already lined up some interviews with recruitment agents, and someone I know has also offered me a job.I never thought it would come to this. I thought that these were the type of things you could see far ahead, and then still have time to search for another job, and all. Aparantly not. It hits like a Tsunami; hard and unexpected.

I’m OK though. I believe that the right opportunity will come along, and that it will work out for me. If I’m a bit absent from here, you know that I’m either at an interview or submitting my CV.

We all know that life has got its little ups and downs, and I believe I’m finding myself in a bit of a down at the moment. I will hang around, and try to keep you entertained though

I have found that no matter how tough a situation is, it is still what you make of it. I’m reading such a good book at the moment (Tuesdays with Morrie - a true story), and quoting it roughly the one character says that one should allow oneself to go through an emotion. Whether it be fear, hurt, grief, whatever. Feel that emotion, sob until you cannot sob any more, experience that emotion, and then detach yourself from it. You should say, this is fear I’m feeling, I know what it feels like, I have experienced it, but I’m not going to let it control me. Same with all the other negative emotions. There is no shame in being emotional, in fact it shows that you’re not merely breathing, but you’re alive.

I’ve also got such an amazing group of people in my life. People who are loving, encouraging, and who want me to be happy. I have so much to be thankful for!!

Almost everyone I know has been, or are, at that place in their lives where they try to lose weight. Its winter, and we all know how easily the extra kilo’s gather with all the cozy snacks.
Its so much nicer to cuddle under the duvet, watching a DVD, with a cup of hot chocolate and some popcorn, instead or having a glass of water and celery sticks. Most people use the excuse that they use more energy to warm their bodies during winter.

This is a very convenient argument, and we’ve probably all said it to ourselves when we wanted to buy our favorite chocolate bar, or potato crisps, or pizza… and the list goes on. The problem is this: if your input is more than your output you will gain weight.
If you don’t exercise at all you’re burning very little calories. In turn you’re probably eating more than you’re burning.

A friend of mine recently told me that she started a new diet, and after three days she hadn’t lost any weight, so she quit. LOL. I just laughed at her, and told her that these things take time. The weight she wants to lose didn’t gather around her hips in just three days. She’s been building on that for nearly a year.

Little exercise is definitely better than none at all. You’re burning more calories than you would’ve done if you didn’t exercise.
Exercise doesn’t ONLY burn calories, it strengthens & tones your muscles, and one of the most important muscles being your heart. Cardio exercise does wonders, but I hate it. I hate the burning in my chest & the sweat and all that. I don’t mind stretching, and weight training so much, but cardio is a real drag for me.

I found a BMR Calculation which is quite helpful it tells you how many calories you burn just by being alive - doing no exercise.
Keeping in mind that exercise is essential to keep you healthy, thus saying that you shouldn’t just cut out calories and expect to feel better.
Eating exactly the same as you’re doing at the moment (given that you’re not gaining weight) and just doing (more) excercise should cause you to lose weight.

This doesn’t always work though. A lot of people struggle because their metabolisms are slow, or due to other medical reasons.
Speeding up your metabolism is a whole different story. Some people start their day with drinking warm water & lemon juice, others swear by a fiber rich diet. I think for each person the recipe is different. You have to find what works for you. You’re not likely to follow a eating program consisting of foods you don’t like. You have to find foods which you like, but are healthy at the same time. Same with exercise. Find a sport or exercise which appeals to you. You’re most likely to continue that in the long run. For myself I have running, but I love a cross trainer. For this very reason I will not join a gym. I find it more convenient to exercise at home, and given that I have a cross trainer, I know I will stick with my exercise program.

Its very important to make both your eating plan, and your exercise program a habit. This will ensure that your weight is steady. Its OK to have a chocolate bar every now and again. And its OK to eat out one a month or so. What is important is that it doesn’t become a habit.