Party like it's 1429

You bought a pack of cigarettes on January 2, took one look at the treadmill queue on January 3 and haven't returned to gym since, you thought negative thoughts, you coveted your neighbour's wife, you ate carbs after 7pm for the last four days, you blogcrastinated on company time, you still haven't smsed/emailed your best friend from high school, you're still on facebook and just added your 256th food fight application, you're not reading more or eating less, you still fall asleep in front of the TV and wake up after four snooze cycles, you're not any more self-actualised than you were on December 31st last year.

But hey, yesterday (or today, so much for ummah unity) marks (-ed) the first day of the Islamic new year 1429. Resolution re-run.

And if you still stuff up, there's Chinese new year on February 7, Hola Mohalla on March 14, Nowruz around March 20, Bahá'í new year on March 21, Balinese new year on March 30, Assyrian new year on April 1, Punjabi new year on April 13, Thai, Nepali, Bengali, Tamil and Cambodian new year around mid-April, Rosh Hashanah after sunset on October 29 and Gujarati new year on October 29.

Here's to personal progress.

the i-do to-do list

1. de-gelatine mindset.
2. un-selfish the markers of only-child syndrome.
3. manage time to time manage.
4. balance gaga with pragmatics.
5. re-discover my strengths.
6. acknowledge my short-comings.
7. re-look organised chaos (it's not going to be just my world any longer)

merci, merci beaucoup

Well, it's not International Burn-a-Dubya-Effigy Day, but it is certainly International Thank You Day, which should be celebrated with as much gusto and fanfare. So to kick-off, thank you Priya for being a bloggie-muse.

Thank you God, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient.
Thank you Mummy (who also turned 45 today) for giving me good genes and being a stellar role-model.
Thank you Granny. (despite the fact that you play the guilt-obligation-i-have-to-see-your-wedding-before-i-die card. love ya.)
Thank you Scaly for being the first entity to utterly shatter me and my naiveté as consequence. If it were not for your skank-ho antics back in the day, I would never have re-built myself into this somewhat wiser, seventh-fold stronger personality. (and I probably wouldn't have studied Journalism at Wits, I wouldn't have met the people I have, had the experiences I did... etc etc..)
Thank you to my most amazing friends for being shoulders, inspirations, sounding boards, ears, prozac and tissues. Thank you every single one of you (well, those who read the blog anyway:) yes, that's you MJ)
Thank you Boss-lady.
Thank you Mak, Speedy and Zee for contributing to the soundtrack of my life.
Thank you Imagine IP for providing me with the bandwidth that facilitates the process of developing the soundtrack to my life.
Thank you Boss-lady for paying for the bandwidth that facilitates the process of developing the soundtrack to my life.
Thank you Significant and Insignificant others for providing me with reams of excellent blog material and character ideas/plotlines.
Thank you words.
Thank you music.
Thank you creativity.
Thank you inspiration.
Thank you coffee.
Thank you rhythm.
Thank you mental imbalance.
Thank you delusions of grandeur.
Thank you impulsiveness.
Thank you Maliha, for bringing your smile into our tired lives.
Thank you Azaadville.
Thank you Blogger.
Thank you rebel-accountant for being the first to link to electric spaghetti and set this madness into motion.
Thank you to all the fans.
Thank you Felix for teaching me how to use taxis (yes, a makwere-kwere had to teach me, a jozi born-and-bred, how to use local transport).
Thank you Google.
Thank you the force that is the Internet.

thank you, thank you, silence.

The Mandatory New Years Post

Anti-Resolutions 2007

• Drink lots of carbonated, sugary soft drinks made by multi-national corps with Zionist leanings.
• Chat on Mxit while attending social events.
• Maintain a 50km radius between myself and the gym at any given time.
• Sleep more.
• There is nothing wrong with writing “research” on your time-sheet for three hours spent online reading personal blogs.
• Ignore people in general. Especially those who smile too much. They know something you don't.
• All is fair in love and parking.
• Smoking at least 8 cigarettes a day means more jobs for little kids picking tobacco leaves in South America.
• Empower beggars by giving them a Rand for every Elton John song they know. It's a hand-up not a hand-out
  
• Litter.
• Remember that reading celebrity gossip contributes to your knowledge of Current Affairs.
• Use “lol” and “kewl” more often in daily offline conversations.
• Forward those delightful power-point kitsch presentations to everyone in my contact list, because nothing says I think you're special quite like Spam.
• Break a few hearts.

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Acid aside, may the defining essence of 2007 be that of meaningful sacrifice; that of giving up all which lessens you by taking on those things that demand of you.

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Clouds transgress the sun at Hartebeespoort Dam on Christmas Day 2006.