Who are the people who think up television commercials. Yeah I know they’re from advertising agencies. But what I’m wondering is who are they really. What type of people are they? Some adverts are really good. Personally I love the new MTN adverts – I know a lot of people despise them, because they don’t advertise the products or services offered, but I think they’re pretty creative.

There are a couple of ads which I can think of now which are pretty lame. They don’t hold any connection with the products or services, and neither are they creative. They just don’t make sense. Help me out if you know the meaning of the Peroni (beer) advertisement? It has a kinda catchy tune, but that’s all. It doesn’t make much sense to me.

I’m just wondering where these advertisers get their ideas from. I seriously think some of them smoke pot before starting to work on a new project. Others are just so bland that I doubt a professional agency would want to admit to even working on it.

The worst of all this is that even the nonsensical bland adverts have to get approval from the board of directors. Television commercial are bloody expensive, so I’m guessing that when they review these adverts, they actually think they’re good. That its a good sales pitch, and obviously there sales are going to improve. If I was on a board like that, I’d want the general public, or at least the people who have been buying my products in the past, to understand the advert. And if they wouldn’t, at it should make them curious enough to try and find out what the big ‘hoo-ha’ is all about…

Makes sense? To me it makes perfect sense, but maybe I’m weird.

I have been reading so many new blogs lately. I found a couple which I have already added to my feeds. I’m always surprised by the diversity of blogs. Its incredible that there are people in every industry and walk of life who blog.

Its amazing to read everyone’s stories. I really find it quite cool. For now I have to finish up work (my usual excuse).

So if you’re looking for something to read, make sure to visit Bongi’s blog. He’s a South African “general surgeon working in the notorious South African province of Mpumalanga.” I find his bizarre stories interesting, and I’m sure you will too – especially if you’re from abroad, and you’re normal to a hospital running similar to what is portrayed in ER.

The other blog that has caught my attention is Diary of a Killer. You can read random posts, but its best to start at the beginning – its a fictional blog about a woman wanting revenge.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

I‘m not a gamer. You might know this already, but I’m not one for all these high quality pc or play station games. I’ve tried a couple, but they just can’t get me hooked?

What I do like, is Mario Bros. Its amazing how those old games still have their addicting effect on me. Tetris – plain old MS-DOS tetris. I love that game. And I can still spend hours planning a house for the SIMS.

Playing with the characters isn’t always so much fun, but designing the house is sooo cool. I downloaded a Mario & Luigi game, just not sure which version it is. If you want it, its free at Acid-Play.

I think I’m gonna get my old games out this weekend and PLAY.

Its cold, cloudy, and WINTER. Since last night I’ve been missing England a lot. I was there for almost a year during 2003. If I had a choice I’d go back now. Not just on a 2 year visa though – It’d have to be permanent. Its very disruptive to pack up and go there, only to come back again, and then try to find your feet.

What I liked about it so much? Everything. If I had a decent job this time round I’d definitely enjoy it more too, but the job wasn’t bad. I worked in a factory, and the money was OK. The hours sucked. 6am – 12pm, sometimes till 4pm – and over weekends 4am – 2pm.

Now I have a comfortable 8:30am – 5pm office job. Nice and cozy, plus I don’t work with people so much. However, in a factory you don’t always realize how clever people are. It doesn’t take much brains to chop cucumbers, as opposed to my current job, where everyone is expected to think for him / herself. Not that they do, which makes it so frustrating at times.

I was talking to someone the other day about simple jobs. If the money is good, why not? People who do simple jobs, like chop cucumbers, don’t have stress. They wake up each morning knowing what is expected of them. As long as they wash their hands and don’t eat the veggies, they should keep management happy. If they work over time, its optional, and they get paid well for it. It really is a simple life.

You might say that these people don’t have dreams and ambitions, which might very well be true, but for myself, I have more than enough dreams and ambitions that are not work related. If I had more time to follow those dreams, I would definitely do so.

The older people who I worked with in the factory were really nice people. They were warm and friendly, and most of all content. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that a simple job will give make you content. But I am saying that an important position at a big company with millions of rands will not make you content. It is what is inside of you that counts. And with a simple job one has more time and energy to spend on the important things.

I believe it is important to set goals for yourself in different areas of your life: not only work. Personal goals might score a bit higher with me even. These are the goals which we set voluntary – things that are close to our hearts. Usually the sort of things that ‘really matter’.

This is a warning to the people who don’t live in South Africa, but plan to travel here at some point or another. Please note, if you’re from a country where you can rely on public transport, this post is especially for you. You need to note that public transport is not safe – and shouldn’t be attempted unless you’re really brave. Rather consider renting a car from Avis, or any of those agents…

Whilst being in England I realized for the first time that there are people who don’t have a driver’s license. Adults who have never driven a car!! How strange? This is not a weird thing apparently – people don’t need to drive there – they just hop on a bus or a train, or phone a taxi.

In South Africa its a bit different. Yes there are buses . And yes, there are taxi’s. But you need to note that when you use either of these it might be the last thing you ever do.

These are not taxi’s like you know them in the UK or the US. They’re minibus taxi’s, which (as far as I know) are allowed to have only 16 passengers (but are often overloaded). The taxi drivers have long since been notorious in South Africa. Not all of them, but a lot drive like the devil himself. I have been fortunate enough not to have had to use a minibus taxi, but I have friends who don’t have any other means of transport BUT taxi’s. These friends, and millions of other people are dependent on these maniac drivers. Its their only means of getting to work, the shops, and wherever else they have to travel.

Quoting Thomas Thale: “MINIBUS taxis are by far the cheapest and most popular form of public transport in South Africa, used mainly by the urban and rural poor. But if you are a visitor to Johannesburg, using a taxi can prove bewildering and even frightening.”

Buses are all the same. In the past month I have seen two bus accidents on my route to work, and three taxi accidents in Pretoria. Just to give you an idea, I live about 7km from work. All these accidents were due to speeding & reckless driving (I.e. running a red traffic light). Obviously depending on which bus driver you land up with, but most of the ones I come across drive like they stole the bus.
Firstly they endanger the passengers – people who have no other means of transport – if they don’t take the bus / taxi they don’t get to work. Secondly normal road users are subject to share the road with these people. It really angers me.

Car accidents in South Africa are as common as snow in Russia. We listen to the list of junctions and roads to avoid every morning and ever afternoon on our way to work and home. Everyone knows someone who’s been in an accident – if they weren’t in one themself. Its strange how we just put up with it really?? Its strange how people get arrested for not paying parking tickets, but bus drivers and taxi driver get to endanger thousands of people’s lives each day – without any panelization. I have never seen the Metro police give a ticket to a taxi or a bus driver. Maybe I’m just never in the right place, but its unheard of. These people have schedule, and whatever we do, we dare not interfere with the schedule. It might just cause that they get one bus load less of passengers.

So instead the public sit in their cars, irritated, but too scared to do anything. The Metro police don’t intervene because … I don’t know why?…

Damn I don’t think I’m very virtuous

I’m one of the most impatient people I know. Like now I can’t wait until this blog is up and running like my previous one was.

If you noticed my old blog is unavailable, its because Wordpress decided to close it down. Luckily I was in the process of getting this one ready, so I wasn’t caught too off guard – I just had to rush things a bit. I think I finally got a theme? Tell me what you think about it. I needed something different than the normal Wordpress themes, but with a sidebar which at least displays my blogroll.

Now I’m kinda comfy here, except that hardly anyone has been around. It’d be nice to know that you guys found me again? I miss your comments!

For those of you who’d like to swap links, please leave me a comment!!

Everyone is disappointed at some point or another. And its even worse if you love the person and they you. Why are we disappointed? Obviously because we expect something more or different, and then don’t receive the wanted attention, or expected behavior. This might be due to a lack of communication or even just because the other person was selfish or inconsiderate.

Whatever the reason, it is more important to learn to deal with it. Not as a couple. But you, and I as individuals. Even if the other party doesn’t apologize or show regret. To remain emotionally healthy yourself, you need to forgive the person, and move on, right? Right… Its not always so easy.

It is very important to realize that we cannot hold other people responsible for what we feel. What you feel is up to you. If you were disappointed, you should review your expectations of the other person? Is it fair? Sometimes the other person was really at fault, but very often it was just a difference of mindset.

Your girlfriend might like it if you text her to say goodnight every single night, but to you it seems senseless to send the same message each night? She will take offense if you tell her that you feel you’re waisting your money – its the thought that counts, remember? The point is we all have different outlooks on life, and to merge that and remain happy is tricky.

It is important to be realistic about your expectations. Your boyfriend will not give up his sport for you every single weekend. Abandon childish demands and foolish expectations. Most guys love their sport, and for them to give it up, is like to ask of you to give up your make-up. It ain’t gonna happen. Be fair about what you expect!

Admit to yourself that you had expectations that were not met, and then move on. Forgive the person. Talk about your expectations to the ‘disappointer’, and tell them how you feel. Most of the time the disappointment might be over something that isn’t such a major issue in any case. Try to think to yourself if you would still be angry with that person if they were lying on their death bed. Would you be willing to forgive them then? Would you be willing to see it over? If you would, then it wasn’t such a big deal really!!

Relationships so often turn into what I WANT. What I NEED. And what is important to ME. Make sure that you keep yourself focussed on the other person. Remember things that are important to THEM. If you are still unhappy in the end, you should consider the worth of the relationship altogether.

…Coffee, or hot chocolate perhaps? Sorry about the mess. Things are still upside down here, I know. But in due time I will hopefully sort it all out. Welcome to my new blog!! I have finally upgraded to a proper domain, thank you for your help Rush

For now I will busy myself with all the little bits only I will see – I need to get proper stats working again, and I also need to find a theme. Any suggestions would be great. I want something unique and fresh, yet not overly expensive.

Hopefully I can get myself setup soon – take care, and please pop-in if you miss me

Tonight when I went shopping after work I found rosewater. For those who don’t know, its the flavouring of the pink Turkish delight. Needless to say I couldn’t stop myself from buying the stuff – and two bottles of it! (Just in case Pick ‘n Pay runs out any time soon) So here I am Googling for Turkish Delight recipes. Trying first to find people who reviewed a recipe, and see that they say its good. On my way through all the “Turkish Delight” blogs and sites I found some pretty neat people – or blogs, and I would like to share them with you. Apparently the one lady (who mentions a Turkish Delight recipe on her blog) got A LOT of traffic when the Narnia movie first came out. I remember how I was also intrigued by the Turkish Delight in that movie. It was icky, and gooey, but still so tempting. I must admit I feel somewhat like that White Witch myself tonight; wearing a white jersey, and flippin’ freezzzing!!! Damn, this winter thing is just NOT FOR ME!!!

I also read that Americans are not very familiar with Turkish Delight? Can’t believe there is something we have in South Africa that they don’t really have over there. Aparently it goes stale really quickly, but somehow South African manages to, either produce Turkish Delight ourselves, or to import really quick, and it is sold fairly quickly. I will let you know when I made Turkish Delight, and what it came out like. And if it was any good I’ll share the recipe!

For now, have a look at these really cool blogs, I loved reading them!

Lulu Loves Manhattan | Candy Blog | Becks & Posh

Visit them, and if you’re also interested in making your own Turkish Delight, search their blogs – they seem to have it all figured out

I started writing this about a year ago, and it has been in my drafts ever since. This morning I decided to finish it. People are still late regularly. Is it just in my life that people do this, or can you relate to my frustration?

Something which to me is incredibly important doesn’t seem to bother many other people. If you have an appointment you should be there on time right? RIGHT! I know I spend my time really weird – having coffee and watching morning news for the first hour after waking up, and then I have to squash everything else into the remaining 15 minutes. Make-up, hair, clothes — never mind packing lunch
BUT, I am ON time 99.9% of the time. Whether I’m just going to work, or to the dentist, or meeting with friends, I usually get there on time. I don’t know how, but I do. I hate being late. And I hate it when people are late.

Somehow I seem to be one of very few people feeling this way. People don’t mind being late. They don’t apologize for it. They just try to go on as normal and if you were to mention something about it, they’d probably be angry with you!

I heard that its etiquette for royalty to be one hour late; obviously a lot of people think of themselves are royalty then! They tend to act like people are incredible honoured to meet with them!? I don’t mind if you have a serious rough morning (like a geyser bursts?) or just oversleep once in a while, but every single day, or every single time we meet for coffee is NOT COOL!!

If you know you’re prone to be late, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Get up one hour earlier, do the important things first, and if you have time you can still carry on with whatever else it is that normally throws you off schedule.

But please, for the sake of your friends, keep the appointments you make!