according to steam i've just played five hours of cook, serve, delicious!. i'm not sure if i'm embarrassed about that or not, but i do know that i've learned something about being in the kitchen. according to my progress i'm not a complete failure, but i'm absolutely certain that that sort of thing is not for me.
sunday 18th:
a chilled wake up, mr smear enjoying his first reading of leah goldberg's "flat to rent"
a gorgeous day for a visit to hermanus for some whale watching, lots of sun, good food and drinks, most of the driving pleasant with breathtaking views but mr smear getting uncomfortable towards the end and me having to manoeuvre my arm in a painful way to shade him as we drove into the sunset
the disappointment of mr smear throwing up two hours' worth of food before bed
monday 19th:
not intending to stay up until 4.30am, mr smear passing out between us after his breakfast feed and giving us all an extra hour
slaughterhouse-five is such a pleasure to read, i've been playing around with goodreads and i was reminded how much i disliked infinite jest; in stark contrast, vonnegut's brilliance isn't overshadowed by tedium or inconsistency
quick shower, occupying mr smear (not letting him play with the screwdriver, but giving him an opportunity to admire it in action) until gd had finished rescuing our kitchen and then receiving another gorgeous almost-complete page from the illustrator
a productive home visit and mr smear asserting himself, gd's first potato salad WIN
lactation issues, another aggressive physio treatment leaving me quite sensitive, a delayed meeting that proceeded to go on for hours
gd holding the fort well with us wrapping up just in time to put mr smear to bed
tuesday 20th:
going to makro to check out their projector, being thoroughly impressed but not buying it immediately because i wanted to get a makro credit card so that my purchase could potentially win me a car - receiving a credit rejection message shortly after arriving back home and returning in the afternoon with family in tow in order to pick it up
gd cooking in the morning and proceeding to stuff me with food even after i'd taken care of mr smear's leftovers
telkom rage: after 50 minutes on hold for sales, being told that it's not possible to upgrade my account to uncapped. the only reason i didn't take uncapped in the first place is because the sales guy is an idiot and misrepresented the terms; the cap we've been dealing with has forced us to have two "internetless" month ends in a row and be extremely frugal with our usage this month.
the canon lv-x300 is not only an affordable projector, but it's by far the most solid one we've seen; it's bright enough to watch when the sun hits, the controls aren't finicky (and we don't have to find the remote's "sweet spot"), and even though it's not a wide-screen format the size is more than sufficient. we finally have a home entertainment system!
wednesday 21st:
a decent night's sleep after going to bed exhausted, storming out of pick n pay because they don't stock their shelves and driving to checkers to buy bread
slaughterhouse-five is pure genius and it's fun to read
looking after mr smear during gd's physio appointment, it was all fun and games until he almost lost a finger and that would totally have been my fault
our babysitter giving us space for bathing and errands (having a talk with the telkom guy), heading off to baby city and almost buying the wrong swimming gear
walking mr smear on the promenade, having a good time until he clawed at another kid's cheek - extremely embarrassing
mom's visit, dinner and the first episode of better call saul (pretty good), slow work progress and getting crowdfunding advice from an expert
thursday 22nd:
another mistake forgetting antihistamines. waking up to work and being sent out again for emergency shopping and losing my shit
a painful pinched nerve on the other side, gd dealing with a neck spasm and getting to spend my day alternating between looking after mr smear and trying to sort out a corrupt checkout
finishing slaughterhouse-five on a great note: it's rare to find myself this excited about a book that's received so much acclaim
killing my machine with a bad video driver upgrade
friday 23rd:
dreams: playing through a game / simulator so vivid that the last thing i recall was watching a character getting his genitals sliced for disrespecting someone and then switching to his perspective and feeling the combination of bleeding and peeing myself before finding myself on my knees facing a shotgun; there was a blank screen moment before the gun went off before a game over screen before continuing from another character's POV before i woke up
crash bandicoot while mr smear slept and my computer failed to resurrect; eventually realising that i was doing it wrong and beginning a serious backup as soon as it was rescued
an easy morning, then going to the shops and missing the alert for my physio appointment; rescheduling for the afternoon and then missing *that* alert :$
laughing like an idiot all the way home from SARS: i finally went to register for a tax number, and was told to come back next week because they've run out of numbers for the day. do little elves generate them overnight using special number pressing machines?
gd cooking an experimental dinner, eating with my mom, mr smear having a hard time getting to sleep, an otherwise lovely evening and an early night
saturday 24th:
waking up to exciting news: vegan donuts at kleinsky's! after breakfast (mr smear enjoying more kiwi than i did, that's love right there) we all went on the donut mission and were incredibly disappointed to find that they hadn't been delivered. we went to spar instead, running into krybabie's mother, then returned home. mr smear napped so we didn't take him swimming, i played ink, then in the afternoon we went to the aquarium which was a really, really good idea. afterwards we had late lunch at the waterfront's simply asia and bought mr smear new shoes and picked up coffee and came home, managing to get out of the parking lot in spite of the broken machines and exit signs all pointing in the wrong direction
mr smear passed out on the way home and gd was exhausted so i spent the evening preparing virtual food and managing a virtual kitchen instead of sleeping or tidying up our real one...
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Sunday, September 18, 2016
returning to functional
saturday 10th:
arriving a bit late for swimming, but mr smear making up for it and making us SO damned proud
meeting my mom for lunch at plant and running into two fellow vegan dads with their kids
a fun first play date with a new friend
coming home tired and a bit cold
getting to bed early
sunday 11th:
an early visit to the waterfront to pick up birthday presents, then off to a dinosaur party at the museum where mr smear napped through most of the fun
mentioning my book project to the right person!
coming home to a mostly restful sunday afternoon (i was really stuck into the neverending story, DAMN michael ende gets it right), mr smear playing rough when he's not being needy and gd and i both passing out early
monday 12th:
therapy
waking mr smear for the chiropractor
post office, no trolley borrowing allowed (although my attempt was kinda dodgy)
shopping, mom's visit, unpacking: like a little kid on christmas morning, what a magnificent experience stocking our bookshelf with beautiful books that i bought specifically with the intention of sharing with my children
tuesday 13th:
dream: diving over the crowd into a small portal and proving myself by finding my way home through all sorts of adventures, remembering snow and piracy and boots in the water and climbing up wooden poles driven into an inverted slope
dream: clint eastwood and his buddies come to the diner we're in and they're threatening to kill us along with their target. i pretend to fall asleep and they're pretending to be gentlemen so they leave me be. i peep, through the window and spot a sniper setting up across the way (he's eating something and he either hurts himself with the spoon or he tastes something painfully hot), i manage to find an opportunity to sneak out and am just trying to subtly explain the situation to a curious waiter when mr eastwood arrives out of nowhere asking him for directions to the toilets and realising i was caught i was about to attack him with a chair before being woken up
mr smear falling asleep between us after his breakfast feed, giving us an extra forty minutes
gd's brother's heart attack, renewing the car rental, bad directions to makro and then taking an off ramp into what looked like oncoming traffic because there were no road markings
fixing my IIS installation and getting a little work done, affixing things (baby proofing and beautiful paintings i bought many years ago for someone's wedding and forgot to give to them), half an hour on the phone with revenu québec
mr smear clawing at noses and cheeks and lips, i'm not sure if our little punishments are making a difference or not but the behaviour is distressing and it's not clear how much he can understand at this point
big dinner, the neverending story
wednesday 14th:
a solid night of authentication groundwork, very little sleep and getting up to a beautiful spring morning
a telkom visit for a promise that i could only hope i wouldn't regret accepting; meanwhile, in retrospect the salesman's an idiot and i should've taken the unlimited lte offering from the beginning but he significantly misrepresented the limitations
town physio round two: keeping mr smear from certain death (a choice of open windows on floor level leading to a sharp drop or to sharp spikes) by focusing on a jump rope, medicine balls, weights and a mirror
lunch, nap, bath (the dark side of the neverending story where bastian really gets stupid), work, my turn seeing the downstairs physio
whatever was released in my lower back unbalancing me and making each step hurt
a promenade mission
mom arriving bearing very grownup pots and pans
a mixed first time with the mr d app
putting mr smear to bed
delicious dinner from shin thai
gd's id: getting beyond the labels
thursday 15th:
another tough night because i forgot to take an antihistamine
the audiobook audition was fun!
pharmacy / waterfront run
vegan marshmallows! amazing quality, minus a few of them that had tiny rubbery bits...
a busy afternoon looking after mr smear and not getting a chance to nap, trying to help my sister's friend who's struggling with cancer, has little support from her family and is seeing at least one oncologist who doesn't keep up with the medical literature; wtf?!
taking my pulverised* back to bed as early as mr smear would let me only to be stopped by rls, an hour unable to sleep but extremely tired
* gd knows what she's doing and i was in dire need
friday 16th:
making progress while updating ios and praying it's safe
working until late, struggling to sleep, short, intense dreams between mr smear waking up
returning mom's loaned pots, stopping in at the bank, breakfast and a little more sleep
cash stress, another telkom fail (my issue is not "resolved" if they closed it without doing anything) and giving up after half an hour on hold
getting stuff done, in particular sorting out clothing cupboards for the first time since we moved in
a short but productive gym visit (what do you mean, my activity doesn't count?!), a fast shopping (late on a friday evening) (taking photos for three young black men by the bakery - why the bakery??), rushing mr smear to bed and returning one of mom's heaters
giving up on matthew reilly - seven ancient wonders: a book with little to cerebrally engage that insults the intelligence that came highly recommended, the best timing for my mom to hand me my kindle fully charged and to (finally!) get into slaughterhouse-five, which is so far every bit as brilliant as the rest of the literary world seems to think.
saturday 17th:
not nearly enough sleep, a busy mr smear, daddy's third swimming lesson, comic progress, mr smear and his father thoroughly enjoying a good kiwi on a lovely spring afternoon
napping, last-minute launching off the couch to go to a play date, arriving first in a biting wind on an otherwise beautiful day, duck feeding and happy kids then coming back to our place for coffee where the three children played together nicely then suddenly it was bedtime for everyone
sunday 18th:
not an easy night so far.
arriving a bit late for swimming, but mr smear making up for it and making us SO damned proud
meeting my mom for lunch at plant and running into two fellow vegan dads with their kids
a fun first play date with a new friend
coming home tired and a bit cold
getting to bed early
sunday 11th:
an early visit to the waterfront to pick up birthday presents, then off to a dinosaur party at the museum where mr smear napped through most of the fun
mentioning my book project to the right person!
coming home to a mostly restful sunday afternoon (i was really stuck into the neverending story, DAMN michael ende gets it right), mr smear playing rough when he's not being needy and gd and i both passing out early
monday 12th:
therapy
waking mr smear for the chiropractor
post office, no trolley borrowing allowed (although my attempt was kinda dodgy)
shopping, mom's visit, unpacking: like a little kid on christmas morning, what a magnificent experience stocking our bookshelf with beautiful books that i bought specifically with the intention of sharing with my children
tuesday 13th:
dream: diving over the crowd into a small portal and proving myself by finding my way home through all sorts of adventures, remembering snow and piracy and boots in the water and climbing up wooden poles driven into an inverted slope
dream: clint eastwood and his buddies come to the diner we're in and they're threatening to kill us along with their target. i pretend to fall asleep and they're pretending to be gentlemen so they leave me be. i peep, through the window and spot a sniper setting up across the way (he's eating something and he either hurts himself with the spoon or he tastes something painfully hot), i manage to find an opportunity to sneak out and am just trying to subtly explain the situation to a curious waiter when mr eastwood arrives out of nowhere asking him for directions to the toilets and realising i was caught i was about to attack him with a chair before being woken up
mr smear falling asleep between us after his breakfast feed, giving us an extra forty minutes
gd's brother's heart attack, renewing the car rental, bad directions to makro and then taking an off ramp into what looked like oncoming traffic because there were no road markings
fixing my IIS installation and getting a little work done, affixing things (baby proofing and beautiful paintings i bought many years ago for someone's wedding and forgot to give to them), half an hour on the phone with revenu québec
mr smear clawing at noses and cheeks and lips, i'm not sure if our little punishments are making a difference or not but the behaviour is distressing and it's not clear how much he can understand at this point
big dinner, the neverending story
wednesday 14th:
a solid night of authentication groundwork, very little sleep and getting up to a beautiful spring morning
a telkom visit for a promise that i could only hope i wouldn't regret accepting; meanwhile, in retrospect the salesman's an idiot and i should've taken the unlimited lte offering from the beginning but he significantly misrepresented the limitations
town physio round two: keeping mr smear from certain death (a choice of open windows on floor level leading to a sharp drop or to sharp spikes) by focusing on a jump rope, medicine balls, weights and a mirror
lunch, nap, bath (the dark side of the neverending story where bastian really gets stupid), work, my turn seeing the downstairs physio
whatever was released in my lower back unbalancing me and making each step hurt
a promenade mission
mom arriving bearing very grownup pots and pans
a mixed first time with the mr d app
putting mr smear to bed
delicious dinner from shin thai
gd's id: getting beyond the labels
thursday 15th:
another tough night because i forgot to take an antihistamine
the audiobook audition was fun!
pharmacy / waterfront run
vegan marshmallows! amazing quality, minus a few of them that had tiny rubbery bits...
a busy afternoon looking after mr smear and not getting a chance to nap, trying to help my sister's friend who's struggling with cancer, has little support from her family and is seeing at least one oncologist who doesn't keep up with the medical literature; wtf?!
taking my pulverised* back to bed as early as mr smear would let me only to be stopped by rls, an hour unable to sleep but extremely tired
* gd knows what she's doing and i was in dire need
friday 16th:
making progress while updating ios and praying it's safe
working until late, struggling to sleep, short, intense dreams between mr smear waking up
returning mom's loaned pots, stopping in at the bank, breakfast and a little more sleep
cash stress, another telkom fail (my issue is not "resolved" if they closed it without doing anything) and giving up after half an hour on hold
getting stuff done, in particular sorting out clothing cupboards for the first time since we moved in
a short but productive gym visit (what do you mean, my activity doesn't count?!), a fast shopping (late on a friday evening) (taking photos for three young black men by the bakery - why the bakery??), rushing mr smear to bed and returning one of mom's heaters
giving up on matthew reilly - seven ancient wonders: a book with little to cerebrally engage that insults the intelligence that came highly recommended, the best timing for my mom to hand me my kindle fully charged and to (finally!) get into slaughterhouse-five, which is so far every bit as brilliant as the rest of the literary world seems to think.
saturday 17th:
not nearly enough sleep, a busy mr smear, daddy's third swimming lesson, comic progress, mr smear and his father thoroughly enjoying a good kiwi on a lovely spring afternoon
napping, last-minute launching off the couch to go to a play date, arriving first in a biting wind on an otherwise beautiful day, duck feeding and happy kids then coming back to our place for coffee where the three children played together nicely then suddenly it was bedtime for everyone
sunday 18th:
not an easy night so far.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
more important than me
the lesson of the week: we are more important than me.
wednesday 31st:
stranger things because gd insisted on watching and it's impossible to nap with that in the background
little bit of work, little bit of play, furniture shopping
out of internet, a quick mom visit, bedtime and more stranger things
thursday 1st:
a cancelled meeting replaced by an important battle
the gym, where i was actively ignored by my old neighbour, gd's pilates physio
sunset stroll and bumping into my niece
great gnocchi and passing out early to penny dreadful (that i can nap to)
friday 2nd:
early up (midnight and morning) refining a plan for my library experiment, arriving on time for the meeting and waiting an hour and a half before making the proposal. positive reception, plus an offer for a spoken word space
the failure elevator at the wellness warehouse on kloof, gd's haircut and the first of three unrelated individuals telling us that mr smear looks like the kid from two and a half men, crystal shopping and home and pharmacy / knead (mr smear making himself puke) / home / sore belly / lovely friday night dinner at my aunt's
saturday 3rd:
writing the outline for the comic crowdfunding pitch
starting the day with an eye-opening argument about LGBT communities, vegan marshmallow seller's a bit of an idiot if i'm not the first to complain about the payment details
my first time with mr smear in the pool happening to coincide with all the other dads taking over, mr smear and me both passing out when we got home, driving out to stellenbosch for a drink for airplane's birthday and having a really nice time with really nice people in a beautiful place
emergency shower on return, mr smear is really enjoying showering now, and early to bed with phenomenally hot "mild" indian lentils
sunday 4th:
a pretty good night for three exhausted people
buying a second squatty potty
hunting e-readers
giovanni's and parking on the beach to eat lunch with our fingers and enjoy an absolutely gorgeous day
mr smear refusing his afternoon nap, me desperately needing mine
mom and sister evening visit, hunting the missing lego block
early to bed
monday 5th:
a long, tired night sleeping until mr smear woke us up early
the unnecessary rush, a waterfront mission including picking up the first box from pg (some of my prized books and dvds and great clothing)
a good therapy session
leftovers for lunch
projector selection
bad bargaining for a welsh dresser but coming home with my first gobii
kicking the confused asian man out of the parents' parking, taking a passed out mr smear for coffee
showering mr smear then navigating the poor kid's laryngitis until bedtime
taking the opportunity to clear old emails, read more mad magazine
tuesday 6th:
not an easy night, getting up early with mr smear, bullshit tensions setting the tone for the day
cleaning house, the disrespectfully late delivery of the welsh dresser, the pharmacy run when all roads are under construction
NEEDING fry's burgers with violife cheese
not napping due to an enormous weight on my chest
an improved evening, mr smear's mini toasted cheese
dinner and the colour of magic and a little more inbox clearing and going to bed early
wednesday 7th:
gamemaker humble bundle!
another day with our little debleated goat
a failed attempt at discussing the previous day's revelation
bad google maps directions to the new physio and pulling a soaked mr smear out of the car (drool?)
home and hungry, the babysitter giving us space to get stuff done and take a salt bath
mr smear's first promenade walk - he surprised us with just how far he wanted to go on his own two feet
nando's wedges on the way home, pick 'n pay's shelves surprisingly well-stocked, refusing to fight the chinese tourists for a place in line, dinner with mom and both gd and i ending up with bellyaches
thursday 8th:
allergies and exhaustion
coffee and the neverending story
forgotten physio appointment
feeding and showering mr smear
the unpleasant lesson: "we are more important than me", my perspective is irrelevant
building management and remote control malarkey
sudden and intense nap attack turning into generally not feeling well
driving out to durbanville, making a wrong turn by following the street signs
a good demo of the optoma X316, but payment problems making us look for alternatives
shopping, dinner and mr smear and the couscous, bedtime and then pre-meeting nap
the postponement, getting other work done
friday 9th:
going to bed when my head started spinning, rls getting me back up, fortunately not for too long but still waking up not feeling rested at all
gd's latest treatment doing more harm than good
a very pleasant experience purchasing my second gobii
second breakfast, feist, and the mechanic arriving just in time to interrupt my vegan cheeseburger wraps
the nap, the long prep to go shopping, unpacking and then taking gd and mr smear to the gym where i read wired with a cup of coffee which i spilled on my trousers, godmother's friend not recognising me and i think he was flirting
getting ready for a really nice dinner at my cousins, shocked to see my brother's eldest there but pleasantly surprised to find him seemingly more genuine and mature than i remember
there's nothing as trying as moving a sleeping child from a stroller to a car seat
saturday 10th:
rls medication leading to a good night's sleep, waking up early with mr smear and getting deeper into the neverending story
wednesday 31st:
stranger things because gd insisted on watching and it's impossible to nap with that in the background
little bit of work, little bit of play, furniture shopping
out of internet, a quick mom visit, bedtime and more stranger things
thursday 1st:
a cancelled meeting replaced by an important battle
the gym, where i was actively ignored by my old neighbour, gd's pilates physio
sunset stroll and bumping into my niece
great gnocchi and passing out early to penny dreadful (that i can nap to)
friday 2nd:
early up (midnight and morning) refining a plan for my library experiment, arriving on time for the meeting and waiting an hour and a half before making the proposal. positive reception, plus an offer for a spoken word space
the failure elevator at the wellness warehouse on kloof, gd's haircut and the first of three unrelated individuals telling us that mr smear looks like the kid from two and a half men, crystal shopping and home and pharmacy / knead (mr smear making himself puke) / home / sore belly / lovely friday night dinner at my aunt's
saturday 3rd:
writing the outline for the comic crowdfunding pitch
starting the day with an eye-opening argument about LGBT communities, vegan marshmallow seller's a bit of an idiot if i'm not the first to complain about the payment details
my first time with mr smear in the pool happening to coincide with all the other dads taking over, mr smear and me both passing out when we got home, driving out to stellenbosch for a drink for airplane's birthday and having a really nice time with really nice people in a beautiful place
emergency shower on return, mr smear is really enjoying showering now, and early to bed with phenomenally hot "mild" indian lentils
sunday 4th:
a pretty good night for three exhausted people
buying a second squatty potty
hunting e-readers
giovanni's and parking on the beach to eat lunch with our fingers and enjoy an absolutely gorgeous day
mr smear refusing his afternoon nap, me desperately needing mine
mom and sister evening visit, hunting the missing lego block
early to bed
monday 5th:
a long, tired night sleeping until mr smear woke us up early
the unnecessary rush, a waterfront mission including picking up the first box from pg (some of my prized books and dvds and great clothing)
a good therapy session
leftovers for lunch
projector selection
bad bargaining for a welsh dresser but coming home with my first gobii
kicking the confused asian man out of the parents' parking, taking a passed out mr smear for coffee
showering mr smear then navigating the poor kid's laryngitis until bedtime
taking the opportunity to clear old emails, read more mad magazine
tuesday 6th:
not an easy night, getting up early with mr smear, bullshit tensions setting the tone for the day
cleaning house, the disrespectfully late delivery of the welsh dresser, the pharmacy run when all roads are under construction
NEEDING fry's burgers with violife cheese
not napping due to an enormous weight on my chest
an improved evening, mr smear's mini toasted cheese
dinner and the colour of magic and a little more inbox clearing and going to bed early
wednesday 7th:
gamemaker humble bundle!
another day with our little debleated goat
a failed attempt at discussing the previous day's revelation
bad google maps directions to the new physio and pulling a soaked mr smear out of the car (drool?)
home and hungry, the babysitter giving us space to get stuff done and take a salt bath
mr smear's first promenade walk - he surprised us with just how far he wanted to go on his own two feet
nando's wedges on the way home, pick 'n pay's shelves surprisingly well-stocked, refusing to fight the chinese tourists for a place in line, dinner with mom and both gd and i ending up with bellyaches
thursday 8th:
allergies and exhaustion
coffee and the neverending story
forgotten physio appointment
feeding and showering mr smear
the unpleasant lesson: "we are more important than me", my perspective is irrelevant
building management and remote control malarkey
sudden and intense nap attack turning into generally not feeling well
driving out to durbanville, making a wrong turn by following the street signs
a good demo of the optoma X316, but payment problems making us look for alternatives
shopping, dinner and mr smear and the couscous, bedtime and then pre-meeting nap
the postponement, getting other work done
friday 9th:
going to bed when my head started spinning, rls getting me back up, fortunately not for too long but still waking up not feeling rested at all
gd's latest treatment doing more harm than good
a very pleasant experience purchasing my second gobii
second breakfast, feist, and the mechanic arriving just in time to interrupt my vegan cheeseburger wraps
the nap, the long prep to go shopping, unpacking and then taking gd and mr smear to the gym where i read wired with a cup of coffee which i spilled on my trousers, godmother's friend not recognising me and i think he was flirting
getting ready for a really nice dinner at my cousins, shocked to see my brother's eldest there but pleasantly surprised to find him seemingly more genuine and mature than i remember
there's nothing as trying as moving a sleeping child from a stroller to a car seat
saturday 10th:
rls medication leading to a good night's sleep, waking up early with mr smear and getting deeper into the neverending story
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
lull
friday 19th:
the last day with the handyman, excellent quality work, an interesting character and doing us a huge favour sorting out our shelving
mr smear's long nap after a long night's sleep, finally getting the router positioned correctly, returning the utopia containers, toasted vegan cheese sandwiches for lunch
getting lost at the mediclinic, an hour and a half tired and running after mr smear, coming home over the nek
setting up the hifi and playstation, mom visit, dinner in front of penny dreadful, crashing early
saturday 20th:
a decent night's sleep but waking up emotionally exhausted, struggling with wall saddle failure and general sense of humour failure
mr smear's first swimming lesson! he took to the water well, but another kid was just screaming constantly and it made the overall experience considerably less joyful
the oranjezicht farmer's market was nice, walking to the v&a food court for something a little more filling, mom joining us for a short frozen yoghurt and coffee mission before we did some quick shopping, avoiding an incident with an asshole and driving through to builder's warehouse where they didn't have the shelves we needed but we made do with what we could find anyway
shelf installation, showering, powering up the home theatre for the first time, returning to netflix
awful rls
sunday 21st:
it would have been an amazing night's sleep if i hadn't still been suffering from the remnants of the cold, mr smear practically slept through
getting up at 6.30am to download crash bandicoot warped and abe's exoddus on our night allowance, beginning the day with pokemon and doing what was hopefully the last bit of drilling and coming up with an awesome idea for a reality show with gd and taking advantage of mr smear napping to get back into my telephony project
big shopping in the rain
mr smear actually walking around for the first time (as opposed to a step or two here and there), mom's visit and turmeric latte and going to her place to find that we hadn't left behind what we thought we had
dinner and awful rls again (desperation)
monday 22nd:
sleeping through the night (mostly), a busy morning, the first session with a new therapist, mr smear passing out on the way home, being too tired to take advantage of his nap, hitting the gym with low fuel, rushing home for a landlord inspection, a busy mr smear, dinner and some more stranger things (getting interesting)
getting most of my work done, anatomy of an epidemic coming in handy for an advice request
tuesday 23rd:
installing ffix, converting anime for projection
a long night of mr smear's discomfort compounded by our own allergies
a well timed poop as we arrived at the mall, leaving management a subtle message about the state of their baby changing station
lunch, an afternoon trying to rest and work and getting very little done and suddenly feeling awful in the evening
awful turning into nightmare, really bad food poisoning / gastro
wednesday 24th:
no sleep, weak and unable to so much as sip water until the afternoon
a good excuse to watch plenty of miyazaki
thursday 25th:
still weak, but able to eat some crackers and bread and a little muesli... a long day alternating between resting, taking care of mr smear and deep misunderstandings
a mistaken walk on the promenade, projection and Choices
mom helping out, miscommunication, a Choice to break the camel's back and going to bed worn out and unhappy
friday 26th:
porridge, electrolytes and aggressively scratching the itch
rescuing from drowning
mr smear napping through most of the final physio session
knead, unstocked wellness warehouse, waterfront mission, rushing home to pack up the projector and give it to the courier
still feeling awful the whole time
mr smear dancing to our music, prepping for friday night dinner, leering staff at pick 'n pay
a very nice dinner, leaving much later than anticipated
saturday 27th:
still feeling awful and barely sleeping due to painful rls
mr smear's second swimming lesson, recognizing japanese and trying not to stare, overheating
the waterfront on the last weekend of the month AGAIN, mr smear sleeping for three hours while we navigated through mobs of maul people; purchasing his first lego (duplo) set!
breastfeeding in the car after paying for parking and still making it out in time, picking up mom and enjoying a lovely lunch at posticino
finally beginning to feel better
showering, shopping and reporting sexual harassment to a manager, feeding causing a neck spasm to upset the whole house, finally getting mr smear to bed and then being hit by severe rls again
questionable leftovers, not quite throwing up
sunday 28th:
restless in the middle of the night
mr smear too, hating on the tooth fairy
early up anyway in shitty weather to go with my mom to the hout bay market and the world of birds. a chilly small market experience (stunning art, buying a balance board), then the weather improving dramatically for the many amazing bird and monkey exhibits that we'll definitely be returning to
fantastic indian food on the way home (with only a minor incident of mr smear puking on gd) and overeating and coming home and playing with mr smear and protoplasm joining us and drinking tea on top of orange juice to make myself sick again...
mr smear misbehaving before bed (meaning hurting me), bad parenting (third night in a row we've forgotten to brush his teeth before his last feed)
gd and home security, going to bed early
monday 29th:
getting work done and it going really well after a few days' break
mr smear still having a hard time sleeping
getting to bed around 5.30am, but no sleep because that's when mr smear really started suffering
early to the doctor's, then a therapy session, then a visit to the chiropractor then home for a nap, struggles with a challenging one year old (aggressive food throwing), slowly getting through chores (learning about duvet folding)
homework until midnight
tuesday 30th:
satisfying work, taking advantage of my remaining bandwidth, getting to bed at a reasonable time. an easier night, though not easy
waking up feeling disconnected
political tension with my uncle, literally taking an hour to extract ourselves and get to the waterfront for the start of a particularly unsuccessful shopping expedition that would include kloof street and piazza st john's and regent road, ending with serious aggravation and exhaustion on all three of our parts
small chores and lots of food
wednesday 31st:
an almost full night's sleep for the lot of us and a calm morning
the last day with the handyman, excellent quality work, an interesting character and doing us a huge favour sorting out our shelving
mr smear's long nap after a long night's sleep, finally getting the router positioned correctly, returning the utopia containers, toasted vegan cheese sandwiches for lunch
getting lost at the mediclinic, an hour and a half tired and running after mr smear, coming home over the nek
setting up the hifi and playstation, mom visit, dinner in front of penny dreadful, crashing early
saturday 20th:
a decent night's sleep but waking up emotionally exhausted, struggling with wall saddle failure and general sense of humour failure
mr smear's first swimming lesson! he took to the water well, but another kid was just screaming constantly and it made the overall experience considerably less joyful
the oranjezicht farmer's market was nice, walking to the v&a food court for something a little more filling, mom joining us for a short frozen yoghurt and coffee mission before we did some quick shopping, avoiding an incident with an asshole and driving through to builder's warehouse where they didn't have the shelves we needed but we made do with what we could find anyway
shelf installation, showering, powering up the home theatre for the first time, returning to netflix
awful rls
sunday 21st:
it would have been an amazing night's sleep if i hadn't still been suffering from the remnants of the cold, mr smear practically slept through
getting up at 6.30am to download crash bandicoot warped and abe's exoddus on our night allowance, beginning the day with pokemon and doing what was hopefully the last bit of drilling and coming up with an awesome idea for a reality show with gd and taking advantage of mr smear napping to get back into my telephony project
big shopping in the rain
mr smear actually walking around for the first time (as opposed to a step or two here and there), mom's visit and turmeric latte and going to her place to find that we hadn't left behind what we thought we had
dinner and awful rls again (desperation)
monday 22nd:
sleeping through the night (mostly), a busy morning, the first session with a new therapist, mr smear passing out on the way home, being too tired to take advantage of his nap, hitting the gym with low fuel, rushing home for a landlord inspection, a busy mr smear, dinner and some more stranger things (getting interesting)
getting most of my work done, anatomy of an epidemic coming in handy for an advice request
tuesday 23rd:
installing ffix, converting anime for projection
a long night of mr smear's discomfort compounded by our own allergies
a well timed poop as we arrived at the mall, leaving management a subtle message about the state of their baby changing station
lunch, an afternoon trying to rest and work and getting very little done and suddenly feeling awful in the evening
awful turning into nightmare, really bad food poisoning / gastro
wednesday 24th:
no sleep, weak and unable to so much as sip water until the afternoon
a good excuse to watch plenty of miyazaki
thursday 25th:
still weak, but able to eat some crackers and bread and a little muesli... a long day alternating between resting, taking care of mr smear and deep misunderstandings
a mistaken walk on the promenade, projection and Choices
mom helping out, miscommunication, a Choice to break the camel's back and going to bed worn out and unhappy
friday 26th:
porridge, electrolytes and aggressively scratching the itch
rescuing from drowning
mr smear napping through most of the final physio session
knead, unstocked wellness warehouse, waterfront mission, rushing home to pack up the projector and give it to the courier
still feeling awful the whole time
mr smear dancing to our music, prepping for friday night dinner, leering staff at pick 'n pay
a very nice dinner, leaving much later than anticipated
saturday 27th:
still feeling awful and barely sleeping due to painful rls
mr smear's second swimming lesson, recognizing japanese and trying not to stare, overheating
the waterfront on the last weekend of the month AGAIN, mr smear sleeping for three hours while we navigated through mobs of maul people; purchasing his first lego (duplo) set!
breastfeeding in the car after paying for parking and still making it out in time, picking up mom and enjoying a lovely lunch at posticino
finally beginning to feel better
showering, shopping and reporting sexual harassment to a manager, feeding causing a neck spasm to upset the whole house, finally getting mr smear to bed and then being hit by severe rls again
questionable leftovers, not quite throwing up
sunday 28th:
restless in the middle of the night
mr smear too, hating on the tooth fairy
early up anyway in shitty weather to go with my mom to the hout bay market and the world of birds. a chilly small market experience (stunning art, buying a balance board), then the weather improving dramatically for the many amazing bird and monkey exhibits that we'll definitely be returning to
fantastic indian food on the way home (with only a minor incident of mr smear puking on gd) and overeating and coming home and playing with mr smear and protoplasm joining us and drinking tea on top of orange juice to make myself sick again...
mr smear misbehaving before bed (meaning hurting me), bad parenting (third night in a row we've forgotten to brush his teeth before his last feed)
gd and home security, going to bed early
monday 29th:
getting work done and it going really well after a few days' break
mr smear still having a hard time sleeping
getting to bed around 5.30am, but no sleep because that's when mr smear really started suffering
early to the doctor's, then a therapy session, then a visit to the chiropractor then home for a nap, struggles with a challenging one year old (aggressive food throwing), slowly getting through chores (learning about duvet folding)
homework until midnight
tuesday 30th:
satisfying work, taking advantage of my remaining bandwidth, getting to bed at a reasonable time. an easier night, though not easy
waking up feeling disconnected
political tension with my uncle, literally taking an hour to extract ourselves and get to the waterfront for the start of a particularly unsuccessful shopping expedition that would include kloof street and piazza st john's and regent road, ending with serious aggravation and exhaustion on all three of our parts
small chores and lots of food
wednesday 31st:
an almost full night's sleep for the lot of us and a calm morning
Friday, August 19, 2016
1mm below the surface
wednesday 27th july:
great bag work at the gym, lots of elliptical
mom visit, exhausted mr smear, everyone going to sleep and running out of internet
going to bed early
thursday 28th:
waking up in the middle of the night stressing over not working and irritated feet
discipline and chores conflict
the gym: why don't my fighting shorts fit?! and why didn't i tighten my running shoes before running? otherwise it was a pretty good session.
home, putting mr smear down for his nap, bathing him when he woke up, a big dinner watching some lock, stock and two smoking barrels, explaining to vegans why vegan cat food needs to be animal tested
finally getting a handle on the mechanism of the project i've been working on
friday 29th:
learning that mercury levels in south african fish are more than twice as high as the maximum safety level, and that the effects on cognitive function are dramatic and immediate as well as long term
waking up from an amazing dream about getting my citizenship status sorted out and realizing it wasn't real
a solidly damaged right arm, whether nervous or muscular
physio, swimsuit shopping fail rage, frustrated plans and lack of communication, a quick mom visit and getting mr smear into bed and chatting with the mongoose and call-a-pizza and the rest of lock, stock and two smoking barrels and scripting router reboots with imacros
saturday 30th:
four hours of getting shit done
four hours of sleep
waking up on the wrong side of the bed
switching cars and meeting yet another man who married a canadian and came back
mr smear needing an emergency clean and getting his first proper shower (as opposed to me holding him under the water a little) - way easier than bathing him!
coffee and spar mission taking way longer than planned and the latter being a rather unpleasant experience
*trigger warning* being extremely satisfied with myself for catching every drop of vomit in my cupped hand when he repeated his earlier choking performance
explosive afternoon and the neighbour's overwhelming sulfur stench, strolling mr smear past my mom's and along the dusk promenade
a tough time getting mr smear to sleep
sunday 31st:
mom not answering her phone
the constantia mission
exclusive books shock and re-inspiration
coffee, nursery fun with mr smear
fantastic lunch
emergency napping
mr smear's second shower
working until thoroughly out of internet
monday 1st august:
waking up early and finally getting the job done (not polished, but done) before going to bed and not sleeping until mr smear had decided he'd had enough rest
dentist surprise, not the same tooth
don't tell me our previous landlord hasn't been in for more than ten days
getting things done until chiropractor (and book store) time, running into the acupuncturist whose girlfriend is a "nutritionist" who does shady things to enable people who don't want or know how to eat well
the gym, starting to seriously lose my cool with our previous landlord and his cronies
mr smear going to bed early after a shower we both needed, composing a threatening email with my mum, coming home to a very quiet household
working until midnight
tuesday 2nd:
mr smear turning into a little rocket after twelve hours of sleep
when my wife is in trouble, *i* have to sleep on the couch. good timing, before a massage.
the massage was painful and literally shocking
...
walking with shadowslight and hcc, sunset photo competitive, business strategy and a visit from my mom and a struggle to get mr smear to bed
wednesday 3rd:
a nightmare morning, finally giving up on a strongly demotivating note
dropping off gd in town, voting with my mom, breakfast while scouting at loaves on long (which is great, but would have been even better had my tooth not been so sore), a walk around the surprisingly closed company gardens, rushing home with a screaming child, tearing my nice trousers in my rush to check on him, rushing back to town to hit a post-accident detour and get lost in a parkade
a crazy afternoon of keeping mr smear occupied while gd got her hair done, changing him twice on a particularly challenging chair
my first kisses from him while he was on my shoulders
the full system shock of hanging around for half of a 9-5 hair job, getting home efficiently and ordering a giant call-a-pizza salad that i couldn't properly enjoy because my tooth hurt so much
bathing mr smear, putting him to bed fairly easily
testing my solution: success!
the end of sphere, the brilliant season finale of preacher
strategizing, then crashing early
thursday 4th:
another early morning, an entertaining hour with mr smear in the dentist's waiting room
newport deli disappointment, good service but less than stellar food
a desperate nap, a busy while running after my son
struggling through rush hour traffic to get to the acupuncturist who didn't have what gd went for (and who was injured to the point of needing to go to the hospital), struggling through rush hour to get to the cape quarter, then coming home to take far too long to go to my cousin's whose father had just passed away
...
stopping in to talk about spiritual atheism
coming home to find gd done with her dreadlocks (so much for a full day during a hectic week for both of us and rather a lot of money)
terrible internet, then mr smear's first REAL tantrum that made us freak out thinking he was sick or injured rather than still hungry after three feeds... so much for valergan...
friday 5th:
slumlord deposit finally returned
waking up early, attempting to say something about cultural appropriation and being sidelined by a #blacklivesmatter nuance
rushing off to the dentist: it's not good news that he's not charging me if the reason is that he suspects i'll be needing a root canal treatment soon
rushing to the post office to pick up gd's new clipper the day after she desperately needed it
stopping at home, then moving on to the physio; i'm apparently "rain man" regarding nutrition :P
pointing out the white female michael jackson at the mall; an excellent lunch at knead, home to feed mr smear, not enough time to do either of the two things we needed to do because gd had an appointment that the doctor didn't respect
a conference call, shower time and feeding mr smear with two spoons and dinner with mom and unnecessary fighting
saturday 6th:
mr smear's first birthday!
methodist church memorial
furniture shopping for my mom
dragonfire reconnections
cousins for a wonderful afternoon/ evening, correcting a misconception about my brother, the freezing cold and a quick spar run
sunday 7th:
rls trauma
waking up dull, a taste of evangelion and hunting a projector, last minute clothing shopping
a 90th birthday party and loads of family, eating my favourite "forbidden fruit" (things gd's allergic to but there wasn't any other food for vegans)
nutrition and gd explaining why advising someone to drink from a straw might encourage unhealthy behaviours
protoplasm's visit, third time discussing conway's game of life in a week and daniel burnstein's new physics model
crashing early, exhausted
monday 8th:
a mostly decent night's sleep, the dermatologist visit, a gym mission, working hard on the wrong thing
tuesday 9th:
another difficult night
mr smear's first step! and taken with his grandmother present, too
brunch with an english cousin at plant, insane women's day traffic to signal hill, the closed crèche at the gym, lone parenting at a traditional kiddies party, arriving home to a stunning sunset feeling completely worn out
showering a one year old (as opposed to bathing) is an absolute pleasure; it's safer, it's physically easier, it uses less water
wednesday 10th:
when the workday begins at 4am
the window guys taking care of the door but not the windows, stressing about metal pieces on the floor; also taking up the whole day
a particularly slappy mr smear
illustrator costs shock
getting through the evening until mr smear fell asleep
the hogfather
thursday 11th:
4am starting again
my arm / shoulder getting much worse (rotator cuff)
google maps and my watch actually getting us to our destination on time! a walk around kenilworth (kenilworthless, more like) and the heavy shit smell of the strip mall
not being able to take my family to lunch in kirstenbosch because we didn't have a squishie because pick 'n pay doesn't stock their shelves
a waterfront mission for another badly stocked pick 'n pay, quick home stop and short crash and using caffeine to get me to the gym to read wired while gd exercised and mr smear got down and dirty in the crèche (why were his feet black?)
heading straight to the chiropractor who did a number on my neck and back and informed me that i'm now wearing a matching rotator cuff injury to gd's
vegan cheese alternatives and baby food and hebrew claws chef (hcc) dropping off a baby hiking carrier and a quick visit from my mom and gd making a great dinner and more the hogfather and SxS coming up with a decent interim solution for my modem resets and
friday 12th:
partially paying back my mom and struggling with my work machine
getting some good sleep, but still feeling tired (time for bloodwork, i guess), a chat with the boss, rushing off to the post office to pick up a solar charger with no instructions and awful UX design
a quick run to buy a telephone, a declined credit card, our physio confused about our appointment
"i have a land rover so i'll drive how i want" - MILLER WP
lunch, nap, shower, showering mr smear
a lovely dinner, leaving the gift at home and receiving a bunch
saturday 13th:
sleeping straight through my alarm for my midnight meeting with the big boss, mr smear waking up soon after finally connecting
sleeping deeply but not nearly enough by many hours, a super sneezy mr smear
heavy rain until we hit the vegan goods market, a small market filled with really great stuff and an old friend making not eggs
a quick drive home followed by waiting for my mom who was waiting for us, an unnecessarily difficult shelf shopping experience followed by an unexpectedly long canal walk visit with a somewhat unhappy mr smear - a national ps3 shortage and online credit card failures
borrowing drills and testing our new projector, thoroughly enjoying the hogfather together
sunday 14th:
rushing to buy a ps3 online
the shame of being angry with a one year old who's not feeling well for refusing to go to sleep and in particular for throwing himself backwards
6am wakeup and of *course* mr smear managed to get hold of the projector and throw it to the ground (roughly)
double-charged playstation frustration
supertongue - what's the word for someone who asks for advice and won't listen to it? oh, yes... an askhole.
breakfast with my uncle; family feud advice, relationship advice, nutrition advice
putting up a shelf according to bad instructions (precariously perched)
wearing myself out drilling into concrete
picking up tools and audio equipment from my mom
visiting my great aunt to give her her gift
last minute remote battery shopping and setting up the apple tv
going to bed super early
monday 15th:
four or five times up for mr smear but mostly sleeping the night away; feeling very conscious of just how worn out i am
why is it that everything that's taken ages to get around to only ends up demanding more time and energy: trying to get refunds for both the definitely NOT 3500 lumens projector and the accidental double payment for the playstation
dentist fun (mr smear with an "m" is still not mr spear)
paying the car rent
the chiropractor
a burned bridge at the gym (we lost a potential landlord R7000 because he did us a favour to get us in)
meeting my uncle reading a newspaper
mr smear needing to be held the entire time he was in the crèche
a big lunch, gd informing me that i'm a glutton (apparently a toasted cheese does not count as "dessert")
an exhausting, busy night, the crèche's too-tight diaper, bad timing in collaborating with SxS
tuesday 16th:
crashing early, completely overwhelmed by exhaustion
another difficult night, an early morning and a day spent taking care of mr smear while everyone else (gd, cleaning lady and handyman) took care of their tasks, becoming increasingly frustrated by the universe's interference with my napping
the physio, shopping, rushing to meet hcc in the park, a pleasant (but chilly) stroll and a gorgeous sunset, rushing over to my mom's with gd's soup and explaining to her why we're unable to keep our heads above water, rushing back to arrive too late and to struggle with an aggressively reluctant one year old to hit the bed
failing to seal the "fixed" door, the new video driver update crashing windows, failing to communicate with my wife, losing my shit and failing at life
wednesday 17th:
working until late for the first time in a while (a few days at least, but it's hard to keep track), mr smear getting through the night better but waking up with a runny nose again
a quiet, tense morning, little sleep but small victories, an amazing (long) lunch shared with mr smear - utopia and violife both make cheeses that all three of us enjoy!
paying for a nap (babysitter), a somewhat pleasant afternoon turned sour, a quick visit from my mom, open hostility, work / trying to get off web hosting that significantly increased its rates
thursday 18th:
making some progress in spite of a broken mouse handicapping me, getting to bed at 4am
early up for the handyman's last day
a big reset, a day of almost exclusively babysitting, the guilty satisfaction of receiving a ps3 when there's a national shortage
too cold for walking, big shopping, showering and dinner (and dinner swatting) and mom visit
friday 19th:
a couple of hours of work, a lot more thinking about it
early up, mr smear has been gaining weight fast and is now really difficult to carry
morning chores
great bag work at the gym, lots of elliptical
mom visit, exhausted mr smear, everyone going to sleep and running out of internet
going to bed early
thursday 28th:
waking up in the middle of the night stressing over not working and irritated feet
discipline and chores conflict
the gym: why don't my fighting shorts fit?! and why didn't i tighten my running shoes before running? otherwise it was a pretty good session.
home, putting mr smear down for his nap, bathing him when he woke up, a big dinner watching some lock, stock and two smoking barrels, explaining to vegans why vegan cat food needs to be animal tested
finally getting a handle on the mechanism of the project i've been working on
friday 29th:
learning that mercury levels in south african fish are more than twice as high as the maximum safety level, and that the effects on cognitive function are dramatic and immediate as well as long term
waking up from an amazing dream about getting my citizenship status sorted out and realizing it wasn't real
a solidly damaged right arm, whether nervous or muscular
physio, swimsuit shopping fail rage, frustrated plans and lack of communication, a quick mom visit and getting mr smear into bed and chatting with the mongoose and call-a-pizza and the rest of lock, stock and two smoking barrels and scripting router reboots with imacros
saturday 30th:
four hours of getting shit done
four hours of sleep
waking up on the wrong side of the bed
switching cars and meeting yet another man who married a canadian and came back
mr smear needing an emergency clean and getting his first proper shower (as opposed to me holding him under the water a little) - way easier than bathing him!
coffee and spar mission taking way longer than planned and the latter being a rather unpleasant experience
*trigger warning* being extremely satisfied with myself for catching every drop of vomit in my cupped hand when he repeated his earlier choking performance
explosive afternoon and the neighbour's overwhelming sulfur stench, strolling mr smear past my mom's and along the dusk promenade
a tough time getting mr smear to sleep
sunday 31st:
mom not answering her phone
the constantia mission
exclusive books shock and re-inspiration
coffee, nursery fun with mr smear
fantastic lunch
emergency napping
mr smear's second shower
working until thoroughly out of internet
monday 1st august:
waking up early and finally getting the job done (not polished, but done) before going to bed and not sleeping until mr smear had decided he'd had enough rest
dentist surprise, not the same tooth
don't tell me our previous landlord hasn't been in for more than ten days
getting things done until chiropractor (and book store) time, running into the acupuncturist whose girlfriend is a "nutritionist" who does shady things to enable people who don't want or know how to eat well
the gym, starting to seriously lose my cool with our previous landlord and his cronies
mr smear going to bed early after a shower we both needed, composing a threatening email with my mum, coming home to a very quiet household
working until midnight
tuesday 2nd:
mr smear turning into a little rocket after twelve hours of sleep
when my wife is in trouble, *i* have to sleep on the couch. good timing, before a massage.
the massage was painful and literally shocking
...
walking with shadowslight and hcc, sunset photo competitive, business strategy and a visit from my mom and a struggle to get mr smear to bed
wednesday 3rd:
a nightmare morning, finally giving up on a strongly demotivating note
dropping off gd in town, voting with my mom, breakfast while scouting at loaves on long (which is great, but would have been even better had my tooth not been so sore), a walk around the surprisingly closed company gardens, rushing home with a screaming child, tearing my nice trousers in my rush to check on him, rushing back to town to hit a post-accident detour and get lost in a parkade
a crazy afternoon of keeping mr smear occupied while gd got her hair done, changing him twice on a particularly challenging chair
my first kisses from him while he was on my shoulders
the full system shock of hanging around for half of a 9-5 hair job, getting home efficiently and ordering a giant call-a-pizza salad that i couldn't properly enjoy because my tooth hurt so much
bathing mr smear, putting him to bed fairly easily
testing my solution: success!
the end of sphere, the brilliant season finale of preacher
strategizing, then crashing early
thursday 4th:
another early morning, an entertaining hour with mr smear in the dentist's waiting room
newport deli disappointment, good service but less than stellar food
a desperate nap, a busy while running after my son
struggling through rush hour traffic to get to the acupuncturist who didn't have what gd went for (and who was injured to the point of needing to go to the hospital), struggling through rush hour to get to the cape quarter, then coming home to take far too long to go to my cousin's whose father had just passed away
...
stopping in to talk about spiritual atheism
coming home to find gd done with her dreadlocks (so much for a full day during a hectic week for both of us and rather a lot of money)
terrible internet, then mr smear's first REAL tantrum that made us freak out thinking he was sick or injured rather than still hungry after three feeds... so much for valergan...
friday 5th:
slumlord deposit finally returned
waking up early, attempting to say something about cultural appropriation and being sidelined by a #blacklivesmatter nuance
rushing off to the dentist: it's not good news that he's not charging me if the reason is that he suspects i'll be needing a root canal treatment soon
rushing to the post office to pick up gd's new clipper the day after she desperately needed it
stopping at home, then moving on to the physio; i'm apparently "rain man" regarding nutrition :P
pointing out the white female michael jackson at the mall; an excellent lunch at knead, home to feed mr smear, not enough time to do either of the two things we needed to do because gd had an appointment that the doctor didn't respect
a conference call, shower time and feeding mr smear with two spoons and dinner with mom and unnecessary fighting
saturday 6th:
mr smear's first birthday!
methodist church memorial
furniture shopping for my mom
dragonfire reconnections
cousins for a wonderful afternoon/ evening, correcting a misconception about my brother, the freezing cold and a quick spar run
sunday 7th:
rls trauma
waking up dull, a taste of evangelion and hunting a projector, last minute clothing shopping
a 90th birthday party and loads of family, eating my favourite "forbidden fruit" (things gd's allergic to but there wasn't any other food for vegans)
nutrition and gd explaining why advising someone to drink from a straw might encourage unhealthy behaviours
protoplasm's visit, third time discussing conway's game of life in a week and daniel burnstein's new physics model
crashing early, exhausted
monday 8th:
a mostly decent night's sleep, the dermatologist visit, a gym mission, working hard on the wrong thing
tuesday 9th:
another difficult night
mr smear's first step! and taken with his grandmother present, too
brunch with an english cousin at plant, insane women's day traffic to signal hill, the closed crèche at the gym, lone parenting at a traditional kiddies party, arriving home to a stunning sunset feeling completely worn out
showering a one year old (as opposed to bathing) is an absolute pleasure; it's safer, it's physically easier, it uses less water
wednesday 10th:
when the workday begins at 4am
the window guys taking care of the door but not the windows, stressing about metal pieces on the floor; also taking up the whole day
a particularly slappy mr smear
illustrator costs shock
getting through the evening until mr smear fell asleep
the hogfather
thursday 11th:
4am starting again
my arm / shoulder getting much worse (rotator cuff)
google maps and my watch actually getting us to our destination on time! a walk around kenilworth (kenilworthless, more like) and the heavy shit smell of the strip mall
not being able to take my family to lunch in kirstenbosch because we didn't have a squishie because pick 'n pay doesn't stock their shelves
a waterfront mission for another badly stocked pick 'n pay, quick home stop and short crash and using caffeine to get me to the gym to read wired while gd exercised and mr smear got down and dirty in the crèche (why were his feet black?)
heading straight to the chiropractor who did a number on my neck and back and informed me that i'm now wearing a matching rotator cuff injury to gd's
vegan cheese alternatives and baby food and hebrew claws chef (hcc) dropping off a baby hiking carrier and a quick visit from my mom and gd making a great dinner and more the hogfather and SxS coming up with a decent interim solution for my modem resets and
friday 12th:
partially paying back my mom and struggling with my work machine
getting some good sleep, but still feeling tired (time for bloodwork, i guess), a chat with the boss, rushing off to the post office to pick up a solar charger with no instructions and awful UX design
a quick run to buy a telephone, a declined credit card, our physio confused about our appointment
"i have a land rover so i'll drive how i want" - MILLER WP
lunch, nap, shower, showering mr smear
a lovely dinner, leaving the gift at home and receiving a bunch
saturday 13th:
sleeping straight through my alarm for my midnight meeting with the big boss, mr smear waking up soon after finally connecting
sleeping deeply but not nearly enough by many hours, a super sneezy mr smear
heavy rain until we hit the vegan goods market, a small market filled with really great stuff and an old friend making not eggs
a quick drive home followed by waiting for my mom who was waiting for us, an unnecessarily difficult shelf shopping experience followed by an unexpectedly long canal walk visit with a somewhat unhappy mr smear - a national ps3 shortage and online credit card failures
borrowing drills and testing our new projector, thoroughly enjoying the hogfather together
sunday 14th:
rushing to buy a ps3 online
the shame of being angry with a one year old who's not feeling well for refusing to go to sleep and in particular for throwing himself backwards
6am wakeup and of *course* mr smear managed to get hold of the projector and throw it to the ground (roughly)
double-charged playstation frustration
supertongue - what's the word for someone who asks for advice and won't listen to it? oh, yes... an askhole.
breakfast with my uncle; family feud advice, relationship advice, nutrition advice
putting up a shelf according to bad instructions (precariously perched)
wearing myself out drilling into concrete
picking up tools and audio equipment from my mom
visiting my great aunt to give her her gift
last minute remote battery shopping and setting up the apple tv
going to bed super early
monday 15th:
four or five times up for mr smear but mostly sleeping the night away; feeling very conscious of just how worn out i am
why is it that everything that's taken ages to get around to only ends up demanding more time and energy: trying to get refunds for both the definitely NOT 3500 lumens projector and the accidental double payment for the playstation
dentist fun (mr smear with an "m" is still not mr spear)
paying the car rent
the chiropractor
a burned bridge at the gym (we lost a potential landlord R7000 because he did us a favour to get us in)
meeting my uncle reading a newspaper
mr smear needing to be held the entire time he was in the crèche
a big lunch, gd informing me that i'm a glutton (apparently a toasted cheese does not count as "dessert")
an exhausting, busy night, the crèche's too-tight diaper, bad timing in collaborating with SxS
tuesday 16th:
crashing early, completely overwhelmed by exhaustion
another difficult night, an early morning and a day spent taking care of mr smear while everyone else (gd, cleaning lady and handyman) took care of their tasks, becoming increasingly frustrated by the universe's interference with my napping
the physio, shopping, rushing to meet hcc in the park, a pleasant (but chilly) stroll and a gorgeous sunset, rushing over to my mom's with gd's soup and explaining to her why we're unable to keep our heads above water, rushing back to arrive too late and to struggle with an aggressively reluctant one year old to hit the bed
failing to seal the "fixed" door, the new video driver update crashing windows, failing to communicate with my wife, losing my shit and failing at life
wednesday 17th:
working until late for the first time in a while (a few days at least, but it's hard to keep track), mr smear getting through the night better but waking up with a runny nose again
a quiet, tense morning, little sleep but small victories, an amazing (long) lunch shared with mr smear - utopia and violife both make cheeses that all three of us enjoy!
paying for a nap (babysitter), a somewhat pleasant afternoon turned sour, a quick visit from my mom, open hostility, work / trying to get off web hosting that significantly increased its rates
thursday 18th:
making some progress in spite of a broken mouse handicapping me, getting to bed at 4am
early up for the handyman's last day
a big reset, a day of almost exclusively babysitting, the guilty satisfaction of receiving a ps3 when there's a national shortage
too cold for walking, big shopping, showering and dinner (and dinner swatting) and mom visit
friday 19th:
a couple of hours of work, a lot more thinking about it
early up, mr smear has been gaining weight fast and is now really difficult to carry
morning chores
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
oh, telkom.
i don't understand why i need to teach every "technical" agent i speak to at telkom what ip addresses are and why there's a difference between the modem's address on my local network and its address on the internet. the agent i just spoke to checked with his crew and none of them have ever heard of static ips...
as a software engineer, i also don't understand how it's possible that telkom expects its users to restart their routers every night in order to use their night surfer packages instead of just checking to see during which hours the data was used.
this is a level of fail i'm struggling to comprehend. i think it's less the severity of this specific fails and more the quantity of mind-numbingly dumb failures i've experienced with telkom since i've been back. but they do have some of the best value-for-money products on the market. it's 2016 and we're still all locked in :(
#telkom #fail #surprised #notsurprised #cansomebodypleasebeatthesepeople with a #cluestick
as a software engineer, i also don't understand how it's possible that telkom expects its users to restart their routers every night in order to use their night surfer packages instead of just checking to see during which hours the data was used.
this is a level of fail i'm struggling to comprehend. i think it's less the severity of this specific fails and more the quantity of mind-numbingly dumb failures i've experienced with telkom since i've been back. but they do have some of the best value-for-money products on the market. it's 2016 and we're still all locked in :(
#telkom #fail #surprised #notsurprised #cansomebodypleasebeatthesepeople with a #cluestick
back in action
sunday 10th:
another successful piece of the project puzzle
a hot and sunny winter's day
communication breakdown, mom's haircut
failed furniture mission
becoming maul people
the canadian versus the trellidor
monday 11th:
waking up restless at 6am, then getting tired soon after everyone else got up, rushing to meet with my cousin and her partner to explain good dev management and discuss a product proposal, feeling shaky from about halfway through and just before the end learning that my son had faceplanted (nothing too serious, fortunately), hurrying to meet my mom and the frustration of following someone down a route i'm not familiar with while not feeling well and focusing hard on not losing my guide in bad traffic conditions and misunderstanding hand signals and of course the distribution centre's systems went down just as we arrived. an easier (but still grating) drive home, scarfed down lunch and furniture shopping at the hustler's, not getting help at the telkom store and the technical assistant not understanding the meaning of "static ip"
printing beautiful coffee mugs!
spar mission for utopia cashew yoghurt, checkers, stopping at the end of the promenade for sunset photos and mr smear falling asleep to the delight of passers by
someone's developing dad bod - it may be legitimate but it's not okay
an evening of not much, watching the season six GoT finale - the last four episodes were interesting with some cool bits but the consistency and quality of writing wasn't nearly as high as it had been before.
going to bed early with the intention of getting up at mr smear's first feed but
tuesday 12th:
sleeping through to 5am and waking up in a panic over three or four nights spent sleeping instead of working and yet another day filled with important stuff to do
mr smear finding a full spindle bowl, the delivery, the hoisting, the painter, the other delivery and being shocked to see an old classmate who's become obese, furniture hustling and needing a shower after riding in their bakkie, trying to get some work done, napping on our new big couch, an exquisite sunset, mom's visit, deadpool (which was brilliant! what's everyone's problem???), not feeling well and crashing
quote of the day: "oh! i read about my ears..."
wednesday 13th:
waking up from a tough night wherein i twice walked face first into a closed door because i was still mostly asleep
why do so many people get angry over language? skipping pram jam for a walk on the promenade and a little boxing warmup, rushing home to receive our toilet roll holders: don't come in uninvited, and take your damned shoes off. the painter unsuccessfully trying to negotiate less coats but doing a good job nonetheless, a nap, gd's new soup, a particularly needy mr smear, big shopping and my mom joining us for dinner and getting some work done and watching preacher
thursday 14th:
1.30am partial and exciting success
4.30am progress made and wired but needing to sleep
8.30am up and running
car rental "service"
locksmithing success
out in the cold without a sweater for a coffee (the server watched me struggling to pay, neglecting to mention that there was a problem with their payment gateway until my third attempt), utopia cashew yoghurt, the sports store, checkers and waaaay more assholes than i could handle for one day
the cold front rolling in beautifully
the bathtime bedtime routine
the case of the missing meds
jim jefferies - freedumb is brilliant
passing out early, feeling broken all night and it was a difficult one
friday 15th:
another lost night, rushing to be too late for the dentist and the fire alarm keeping us out, quick coffee at home then the physio
sorting out pc issues instead of resting, getting some work done
friday night soup and drinks, another episode of preacher, working till late
saturday 16th:
struggling but making good progress, another difficult night carrying mr smear a lot
early morning blowout, lots of apologizing, the pharmacy, baby city, a fighting gym and then being totally won over by virgin active - their facilities are awesome, but not half as exciting as their crèche. we left mr smear for a while and came back to hear he'd played nicely with the other kids which was a great relief as he's barely had any opportunities to socialize
a hungry, hungry family
sunday 17th:
sleeping all night again, getting up and ready for the first gym outing, mr smear's last minute post-feed mega-poop
overheating outside with a jump rope, good-for-it-having-been-almost-a-year bag work, "eye of the house cat", struggling to move the heavy bags, coffee, picking up gd
bathroom shopping, canal walk, lots of other shopping, home, a little more shopping (wtf?)
putting mr smear to bed with stories for the first time instead of singing him to sleep on my chest, gd too tired for preacher, dinner and the scary, scary story of adhd medication and its long term effects
monday 18th:
3am after drafting the production-ready version of my code so far
not much sleeping in, a nice morning ruined by dishwashing technique and kettle volume
my second gym day, gd joining me and doing great until she injured herself during cool down, mr smear's slap battle with his new little friend (they were taking turns and laughing)
the chiropractor (good timing!), struggling to get home around the roadworks and really hungry so trying to sit down at newport deli and walking out because it was too cold and taking an illegal route home
an amazing and far too short nap in the sun, gorging myself on rice and partially cooked veggies, work and bathing mr smear and putting him to bed freakishly easily and preacher and work and a nap
tuesday 19th:
hard work, it paid off, remembering at 3.30am that i had a dentist appointment at 9am
dentist visit, not bad, trying to find the gorgeous poster above his chair (who is dawie smit?)
waiting out my local anaesthetic, prepping mr smear for the gym
on hold with an agent who's on hold because there's a miscommunication between my health insurance and my gym
a twenty minute run because that's all i could figure out and i'd already started (finding out later that that's the machine maximum); sharing a punching bag and managing not to share my opinions
showering at the gym is pretty good as far as gyms go, but still uncomfortable
the emergency poop change at the gym crèche was uncomfortable enough without an excited and twisty mr smear almost throwing himself backwards of the counter
crazy hungry and eating a huge lunch before napping after mr smear crashed, waking up a couple of hours later and having time for a much needed bath before waking mr smear for a feed and putting him back to bed - he'd slept straight through!
this going to sleep immediately on his back thing is new and magical and intimidating and i wonder how long we've actually been able to do this...
preacher episode six is incredible, going to bed and waking up around midnight to work
wednesday 20th:
going to bed at 5am after learning that internet explorer STILL doesn't support web audio api
crazy dreams, beginning the day still in that state and helping out with a serious poop, a slow start
attempting SARS: after getting frustrated hunting for parking *near* the building, learning that there was plenty *next to* the building. the main in a nice suit with a clipboard begging. the sea of humanity extending two blocks from the entrance in the cold wind and rain making me give up after a few minutes of not going anywhere.
wolfing down a huge serving of leftovers then crashing on the couch for a couple of hours
signing up mr smear for his gym card, getting through the rest of the afternoon, mom arriving just in time to look after mr smear while i took the handyman on a tour (personal items not put away), my israeli pension money apparently being openly stolen (an understandable misunderstanding), the bath and getting mr smear to bed and joining the all hands meeting late because i didn't know i'd been sent a link
the long meeting
thursday 21st:
struggling with microsoft's deficiencies
3am trying to go to bed but mr smear's scary (as much for us) nightmare
the worst bellyache, but getting better just as the courier delivering "c" is for cthulu ruined any chance of mr smear taking his morning nap
the gym for elliptical and jogging and poetry talk and inadvertently suggesting that the woman i was talking to looked ten years older
rushing off to the physio, struggling to get mr smear to sleep but eventually succeeding in spite of the echoes, tiptoeing around the topic of psychiatric medications and taking advantage of the surprisingly long nap to enjoy an amazing smoothie and veggie burger at knead
quick tailor pickup and spar shopping and smoking everyone's cigarettes along the way as usual, coming home to shower and crash and get up exhausted and freezing
a little difficulty getting mr smear ready for bed - this "tantrum" phase is pretty trying even if we're not reacting to it - then another dev meeting
preacher episode 7 is just as good as 6, it's really an excellent story
the deep sense of satisfaction derived from a message from tahoma informing me that my air force section is still using the IDE i created and its added value is significant. my joke when i documented it was calling it "project recursive programmer" intended to provide "a method to replace [myself] with code"; the fact that six years later it's appreciated is not only gratifying in and of itself, but it's a perfect example of how the right kind of laziness can do so much more than what's required by the task at hand.
it's nice to hear "would love to work with you again" when you're looking for a master's student and you get the master instead (the mongoose)
friday 22nd:
finding a promising lead before crashing, waking up exhausted and remaining exhausted through a morning of railing inspection and phone line installation and reading to mr smear
hardcore (possibly ill) tired, making it to friday night dinner on time though. a very pleasant evening and bringing mr smear home in the rain
saturday 23rd:
sleeping late, rushing to get my two babies vaccinated (my son was more stoic than my wife)
another desperate feed and nap
star wars iv and a restless mr smear
postponing our first play date, just getting through until bedtime, paranorman, work
sunday 24th:
working hard and making little progress, crashing at 2am
nerve pinching in the night, becoming progressively less tolerable as the day wore on
our first playdate at the green point park was really cool, it was great catching up with old friends and there was lots to learn, arriving home with a very grubby very tired very happy little boy
a long nap on a hot winter's day, strawberries and a bath, playtime and photo time, mom's visit and bedtime, dinner time and dracula untold (minor script issues, overall fantastic film)
muscle relaxant and anti inflammatory and a perfect chair massage and early to bed
monday 25th:
epic non-stop dreaming the entire night, feeling relaxed with my back better but still sensitive
busy morning of phone calls and shopping and cutting myself on the diaper / tampon bin in the point's baby changing room (we're not the only parents to complain over the past months, it's disgraceful management)
babysitting afternoon with railing cleanup and meeting strange neighbours, mr smear going to sleep early and waking up a lot
revolver is an amazing movie that nobody i know seems to have seen or cared about enough to mention
tuesday 26th:
working solidly until 2am
waking up early for the dentist, a particularly expensive exercise when your health insurance has run out for the year
a short nap and being woken to go to the gym in the pouring rain
a good session - definite improvement - and meeting the capetonian husband of the montrealer we saw at the bank a couple of months ago
retrieving an exhausted mr smear from the crèche (i'm a little concerned about how lax they are in some regards), a big lunch followed by a big nap (i'm trying to follow the "if he naps, you nap" rule), getting up too late to fix leaks and drafts
bathtime and bedtime and showing my obviously tired little boy who's boss by calmly and patiently continuing to put him to bed until he eventually stopped fighting
a big dinner while watching two episodes of preacher, shadowslight in the ICU
wednesday 27th:
waking up at 1am with awful indigestion and realizing i didn't mean to fall asleep
another successful piece of the project puzzle
a hot and sunny winter's day
communication breakdown, mom's haircut
failed furniture mission
becoming maul people
the canadian versus the trellidor
monday 11th:
waking up restless at 6am, then getting tired soon after everyone else got up, rushing to meet with my cousin and her partner to explain good dev management and discuss a product proposal, feeling shaky from about halfway through and just before the end learning that my son had faceplanted (nothing too serious, fortunately), hurrying to meet my mom and the frustration of following someone down a route i'm not familiar with while not feeling well and focusing hard on not losing my guide in bad traffic conditions and misunderstanding hand signals and of course the distribution centre's systems went down just as we arrived. an easier (but still grating) drive home, scarfed down lunch and furniture shopping at the hustler's, not getting help at the telkom store and the technical assistant not understanding the meaning of "static ip"
printing beautiful coffee mugs!
spar mission for utopia cashew yoghurt, checkers, stopping at the end of the promenade for sunset photos and mr smear falling asleep to the delight of passers by
someone's developing dad bod - it may be legitimate but it's not okay
an evening of not much, watching the season six GoT finale - the last four episodes were interesting with some cool bits but the consistency and quality of writing wasn't nearly as high as it had been before.
going to bed early with the intention of getting up at mr smear's first feed but
tuesday 12th:
sleeping through to 5am and waking up in a panic over three or four nights spent sleeping instead of working and yet another day filled with important stuff to do
mr smear finding a full spindle bowl, the delivery, the hoisting, the painter, the other delivery and being shocked to see an old classmate who's become obese, furniture hustling and needing a shower after riding in their bakkie, trying to get some work done, napping on our new big couch, an exquisite sunset, mom's visit, deadpool (which was brilliant! what's everyone's problem???), not feeling well and crashing
quote of the day: "oh! i read about my ears..."
wednesday 13th:
waking up from a tough night wherein i twice walked face first into a closed door because i was still mostly asleep
why do so many people get angry over language? skipping pram jam for a walk on the promenade and a little boxing warmup, rushing home to receive our toilet roll holders: don't come in uninvited, and take your damned shoes off. the painter unsuccessfully trying to negotiate less coats but doing a good job nonetheless, a nap, gd's new soup, a particularly needy mr smear, big shopping and my mom joining us for dinner and getting some work done and watching preacher
thursday 14th:
1.30am partial and exciting success
4.30am progress made and wired but needing to sleep
8.30am up and running
car rental "service"
locksmithing success
out in the cold without a sweater for a coffee (the server watched me struggling to pay, neglecting to mention that there was a problem with their payment gateway until my third attempt), utopia cashew yoghurt, the sports store, checkers and waaaay more assholes than i could handle for one day
the cold front rolling in beautifully
the bathtime bedtime routine
the case of the missing meds
jim jefferies - freedumb is brilliant
passing out early, feeling broken all night and it was a difficult one
friday 15th:
another lost night, rushing to be too late for the dentist and the fire alarm keeping us out, quick coffee at home then the physio
sorting out pc issues instead of resting, getting some work done
friday night soup and drinks, another episode of preacher, working till late
saturday 16th:
struggling but making good progress, another difficult night carrying mr smear a lot
early morning blowout, lots of apologizing, the pharmacy, baby city, a fighting gym and then being totally won over by virgin active - their facilities are awesome, but not half as exciting as their crèche. we left mr smear for a while and came back to hear he'd played nicely with the other kids which was a great relief as he's barely had any opportunities to socialize
a hungry, hungry family
sunday 17th:
sleeping all night again, getting up and ready for the first gym outing, mr smear's last minute post-feed mega-poop
overheating outside with a jump rope, good-for-it-having-been-almost-a-year bag work, "eye of the house cat", struggling to move the heavy bags, coffee, picking up gd
bathroom shopping, canal walk, lots of other shopping, home, a little more shopping (wtf?)
putting mr smear to bed with stories for the first time instead of singing him to sleep on my chest, gd too tired for preacher, dinner and the scary, scary story of adhd medication and its long term effects
monday 18th:
3am after drafting the production-ready version of my code so far
not much sleeping in, a nice morning ruined by dishwashing technique and kettle volume
my second gym day, gd joining me and doing great until she injured herself during cool down, mr smear's slap battle with his new little friend (they were taking turns and laughing)
the chiropractor (good timing!), struggling to get home around the roadworks and really hungry so trying to sit down at newport deli and walking out because it was too cold and taking an illegal route home
an amazing and far too short nap in the sun, gorging myself on rice and partially cooked veggies, work and bathing mr smear and putting him to bed freakishly easily and preacher and work and a nap
tuesday 19th:
hard work, it paid off, remembering at 3.30am that i had a dentist appointment at 9am
dentist visit, not bad, trying to find the gorgeous poster above his chair (who is dawie smit?)
waiting out my local anaesthetic, prepping mr smear for the gym
on hold with an agent who's on hold because there's a miscommunication between my health insurance and my gym
a twenty minute run because that's all i could figure out and i'd already started (finding out later that that's the machine maximum); sharing a punching bag and managing not to share my opinions
showering at the gym is pretty good as far as gyms go, but still uncomfortable
the emergency poop change at the gym crèche was uncomfortable enough without an excited and twisty mr smear almost throwing himself backwards of the counter
crazy hungry and eating a huge lunch before napping after mr smear crashed, waking up a couple of hours later and having time for a much needed bath before waking mr smear for a feed and putting him back to bed - he'd slept straight through!
this going to sleep immediately on his back thing is new and magical and intimidating and i wonder how long we've actually been able to do this...
preacher episode six is incredible, going to bed and waking up around midnight to work
wednesday 20th:
going to bed at 5am after learning that internet explorer STILL doesn't support web audio api
crazy dreams, beginning the day still in that state and helping out with a serious poop, a slow start
attempting SARS: after getting frustrated hunting for parking *near* the building, learning that there was plenty *next to* the building. the main in a nice suit with a clipboard begging. the sea of humanity extending two blocks from the entrance in the cold wind and rain making me give up after a few minutes of not going anywhere.
wolfing down a huge serving of leftovers then crashing on the couch for a couple of hours
signing up mr smear for his gym card, getting through the rest of the afternoon, mom arriving just in time to look after mr smear while i took the handyman on a tour (personal items not put away), my israeli pension money apparently being openly stolen (an understandable misunderstanding), the bath and getting mr smear to bed and joining the all hands meeting late because i didn't know i'd been sent a link
the long meeting
thursday 21st:
struggling with microsoft's deficiencies
3am trying to go to bed but mr smear's scary (as much for us) nightmare
the worst bellyache, but getting better just as the courier delivering "c" is for cthulu ruined any chance of mr smear taking his morning nap
the gym for elliptical and jogging and poetry talk and inadvertently suggesting that the woman i was talking to looked ten years older
rushing off to the physio, struggling to get mr smear to sleep but eventually succeeding in spite of the echoes, tiptoeing around the topic of psychiatric medications and taking advantage of the surprisingly long nap to enjoy an amazing smoothie and veggie burger at knead
quick tailor pickup and spar shopping and smoking everyone's cigarettes along the way as usual, coming home to shower and crash and get up exhausted and freezing
a little difficulty getting mr smear ready for bed - this "tantrum" phase is pretty trying even if we're not reacting to it - then another dev meeting
preacher episode 7 is just as good as 6, it's really an excellent story
the deep sense of satisfaction derived from a message from tahoma informing me that my air force section is still using the IDE i created and its added value is significant. my joke when i documented it was calling it "project recursive programmer" intended to provide "a method to replace [myself] with code"; the fact that six years later it's appreciated is not only gratifying in and of itself, but it's a perfect example of how the right kind of laziness can do so much more than what's required by the task at hand.
it's nice to hear "would love to work with you again" when you're looking for a master's student and you get the master instead (the mongoose)
friday 22nd:
finding a promising lead before crashing, waking up exhausted and remaining exhausted through a morning of railing inspection and phone line installation and reading to mr smear
hardcore (possibly ill) tired, making it to friday night dinner on time though. a very pleasant evening and bringing mr smear home in the rain
saturday 23rd:
sleeping late, rushing to get my two babies vaccinated (my son was more stoic than my wife)
another desperate feed and nap
star wars iv and a restless mr smear
postponing our first play date, just getting through until bedtime, paranorman, work
sunday 24th:
working hard and making little progress, crashing at 2am
nerve pinching in the night, becoming progressively less tolerable as the day wore on
our first playdate at the green point park was really cool, it was great catching up with old friends and there was lots to learn, arriving home with a very grubby very tired very happy little boy
a long nap on a hot winter's day, strawberries and a bath, playtime and photo time, mom's visit and bedtime, dinner time and dracula untold (minor script issues, overall fantastic film)
muscle relaxant and anti inflammatory and a perfect chair massage and early to bed
monday 25th:
epic non-stop dreaming the entire night, feeling relaxed with my back better but still sensitive
busy morning of phone calls and shopping and cutting myself on the diaper / tampon bin in the point's baby changing room (we're not the only parents to complain over the past months, it's disgraceful management)
babysitting afternoon with railing cleanup and meeting strange neighbours, mr smear going to sleep early and waking up a lot
revolver is an amazing movie that nobody i know seems to have seen or cared about enough to mention
tuesday 26th:
working solidly until 2am
waking up early for the dentist, a particularly expensive exercise when your health insurance has run out for the year
a short nap and being woken to go to the gym in the pouring rain
a good session - definite improvement - and meeting the capetonian husband of the montrealer we saw at the bank a couple of months ago
retrieving an exhausted mr smear from the crèche (i'm a little concerned about how lax they are in some regards), a big lunch followed by a big nap (i'm trying to follow the "if he naps, you nap" rule), getting up too late to fix leaks and drafts
bathtime and bedtime and showing my obviously tired little boy who's boss by calmly and patiently continuing to put him to bed until he eventually stopped fighting
a big dinner while watching two episodes of preacher, shadowslight in the ICU
wednesday 27th:
waking up at 1am with awful indigestion and realizing i didn't mean to fall asleep
Thursday, July 14, 2016
in important note on mental illness
Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America
i've been reading this book a little at a time and am now about halfway. i've looked at the sources. i've read the arguments defending psychiatric medication and i've read their counter-arguments. this is not some "long-kept secret", the researchers who conducted the clinical trials and the results of the clinical trials and the testimonies of the experts and the personal testimonies of the sufferers are all cohesive, rational and in agreement.
this is hands-down the scariest book i have ever read, and it's even more horrifying that it's actually non-fiction. i cannot for the life of me understand (maybe it's explained better in the second half of the book) how an entire field of medicine can operate in direct opposition to the evidence, but clearly these people believe that they're doing good work.
this is a word that needs to be spread. mental illness is serious business, and people suffering really don't need their suffering to made worse no matter how well-intentioned a practice might be. educate yourselves, educate the people around you.
i've been reading this book a little at a time and am now about halfway. i've looked at the sources. i've read the arguments defending psychiatric medication and i've read their counter-arguments. this is not some "long-kept secret", the researchers who conducted the clinical trials and the results of the clinical trials and the testimonies of the experts and the personal testimonies of the sufferers are all cohesive, rational and in agreement.
this is hands-down the scariest book i have ever read, and it's even more horrifying that it's actually non-fiction. i cannot for the life of me understand (maybe it's explained better in the second half of the book) how an entire field of medicine can operate in direct opposition to the evidence, but clearly these people believe that they're doing good work.
this is a word that needs to be spread. mental illness is serious business, and people suffering really don't need their suffering to made worse no matter how well-intentioned a practice might be. educate yourselves, educate the people around you.
Monday, July 11, 2016
a little conspiracy
i'm feeling a little awkward about posting this in a public forum, even if barely anyone actually reads my blog. this is effectively a conspiracy theory, based purely on scientific evidence versus government and media messages.
1. i've been reading Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America and asking myself why anybody would study psychiatry, learn the history of psychiatric medication and yet continue to prescribe such medication to people who are suffering. if we're generous to the nature of such "doctors", then we can suspect that their prescriptions may simply be a result of the excellent work of what i can't believe i'm beginning to think of as "big pharma".
i've been hating the term "big pharma" since forever because it doesn't make any sense. except that when it comes to psychiatric medicine, it is unimaginable that any but the greediest psychopaths could possibly continue to produce and market and misinform when the evidence is so utterly overwhelming that these drugs destroy lives, are not beneficial to any but the tiniest portion of the population and turn simple, curable issues into nightmarish chronic diseases that justify them pushing more drugs onto the victims.
2. the amount of evidence published in peer-reviewed journals over the past decades that demonstrates that the simplest, safest way to be healthy is to eat a plant-based, whole food diet. not low carb, not gluten free, not organic, not GMO-free, just whole foods from the grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes. who has a vested interest in maintaining a sick population?
the following two videos are eye-opening:
* why doctors don't recommend veganism
* vegan 2016: the film (part i)
1. i've been reading Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America and asking myself why anybody would study psychiatry, learn the history of psychiatric medication and yet continue to prescribe such medication to people who are suffering. if we're generous to the nature of such "doctors", then we can suspect that their prescriptions may simply be a result of the excellent work of what i can't believe i'm beginning to think of as "big pharma".
i've been hating the term "big pharma" since forever because it doesn't make any sense. except that when it comes to psychiatric medicine, it is unimaginable that any but the greediest psychopaths could possibly continue to produce and market and misinform when the evidence is so utterly overwhelming that these drugs destroy lives, are not beneficial to any but the tiniest portion of the population and turn simple, curable issues into nightmarish chronic diseases that justify them pushing more drugs onto the victims.
2. the amount of evidence published in peer-reviewed journals over the past decades that demonstrates that the simplest, safest way to be healthy is to eat a plant-based, whole food diet. not low carb, not gluten free, not organic, not GMO-free, just whole foods from the grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes. who has a vested interest in maintaining a sick population?
the following two videos are eye-opening:
* why doctors don't recommend veganism
* vegan 2016: the film (part i)
Sunday, July 10, 2016
upgrading
tuesday 21st:
a long night of work that ended really badly; the night, not the work.
early argument, a little bit of sleep and a rush to the physio, a quick stop at knead, skipping DoHA, a short nap and lunch and getting some work done before heading out to the baxter theatre to see the first half of defending the caveman which gd enjoyed until a stiff neck forced us to go home early
wednesday 22nd:
my first real progress at work, some comic success, an insanely cold night and it all coming into mr smear's room leading to a solid freakout
a slow morning, a stinky car, DoHA and mr smear (not) pooping while we were in line
a ridiculous threat from our landlord generating immense rage and anxiety, DoHA giving us the run-around (and page turn-around), planning an evacuation, taking mr smear for a walk to the police station, starting to drive to the car rental place but turning around, a productive chat with the illustrator, bathing mr smear and a shopping run and getting him to bed and instant mashed potatoes and electricity usage panic and just trying to hold on to sanity before my first phone call with the big boss since i was interviewed
there's nothing like trying to think intelligent thoughts over a blocked nose
thursday 23rd:
a little investigation, going to bed a little less early than planned, getting up on time to take my mother to the hospital, struggling to stay awake all the way home, not feeling much better after a nap, general tension and feeling sick with stress over our apartment, the optometrist, picking up my mom and not entering my aunt's frozen house, cavendish square; the struggle to find the baby changing room (although it's not a bad one), three complicated lunchers and mr smear and his rusk and a dodgy bill, parking lot feeding before playing in the garden again, nervously sending the landlord the big "release me" email and arriving at the chiropractor slightly late only for him to not show, home time, fixing the improvised window seals, a visit from droo, money management and internet problems and a little bit of work
friday 24th:
but not a lot before crashing early
overall not a bad night between the temperature having risen a bit and the new seal appearing to make an enormous difference
the good news: being released from our contract! initiating the rush to find a new place; viewing apartments with my mom, a rushed shopping and an exhausted evening
saturday 25th:
seeing a great apartment but being concerned about the carpet
mr smear gearing up for his first steps
an incredible sunset run, really bad cardio and a pinching nerve
GoT
sunday 26th:
rushed coffee with a joburg cousin
vaccination: mediclinic is a great hospital, mr smear being woken with a jab in his arm and his shock turning to confusion as it faded to nothing more than a bad dream
the waterfront mission: almost no parking available and one asshole sitting on two bays, learning costs - a contract iphone is actually the cheapest option, and unless afrihost's offerings are better telkom's mobile instead of dsl is surprisingly reasonable - a big lunch to make up for gd sending hers back in disgust
the desperate nap after half my coffee spilled everywhere, missing an amazing sunset
a good dinner, some down time and some work done
monday 27th:
early up for a restless day looking at three great apartments, seeing the chiropractor, and being messed about by telkom as i wean myself off the primitivism of dsl and evolve to home lte
finally seeing awakenings - what a beautiful movie!
tuesday 28th:
mr smear unable to sleep horizontally, beginning to pack, the physio, the weasel caretaker on my doorstep with my post, gd's phone and packing crates part i, lunch and phone and packing crates part ii
the post office, porting gd's number and the amazingly great news - we've been offered our first choice apartment!
more struggling with telkom, eventually calling the third idiot to screw me around in two days. after trying a bunch of different things she informed me that nothing was working because the SIM card wasn't activated. losing my shit.
mom coming over to build boxes, moving her old dishwasher, finally letting go of doing websockets "the microsoft way" and getting excited about node.js running on IIS
wednesday 29th:
being utterly overwhelmed, fighting with telkom and me&you mobile over number porting (they're all assholes) but some good news in the form of our new interface setup finally working (just before i was off to take it back) and it's undoubtedly the best internet connection i've ever had
signing the new lease and paying the rent and deposit and turning down the other amazing offer, trying and failing to connect with the israeli embassy, being grateful for my mother's assistance with the movers, actually managing to nap a little (but not enough by far) and get through most of an episode of GoT while enjoying a delicious gd lunch, trying to get things done at the waterfront and failing abysmally
it turned out to be good that we didn't find what we wanted at the waterfront, a pretty good evening in spite of a difficult bath time experience that included work success, managing to reclaim more aeroplan points than expected
thursday 30th:
getting to bed early(-ish), quite a few wakings and weird dream in between
up early to a wet bed, too early for the telkom store, a couple of missions to my mom's, uninstalling wall panel heaters and removing hooks, mr smear decidedly unhappy about being confined to his playpen and then suddenly the movers were there (arriving early while i was out, obviously), the insane last-minute pack (third time in a row), a bit of a back and forth between buildings and being rescued by our cleaning lady and my mother: moving into a mall is a strange experience... plenty to be done before dinner, putting phoenix to sleep in his room and feeling like we're living in a really nice hotel, a great dinner and a great shower
the slight draft during a crazy storm
friday 1st:
slight draft becoming a serious chill and cause for concern, but a couple of hours later when the wind had died down the apartment was comfortable again
early up, a full day looking after an excited and adventurous little boy who's now practically walking, but very busy with all the things we don't want him playing with; the construction work above us beginning just after getting mr smear into nap mode and proceeding to get louder
fighting with me&you mobile until it was clarified that we needed to hit the waterfront to pick up a new sim card, a great falafel wrap, chocolatiers, discovering wazoogles, home for a couple of missions to print pages, mr smear's bath, getting ready for dinner
a nice dinner, but mr smear was hyperactive and i think it's because he pooped and we didn't find out until we got home - and if we had noticed, it was so cold in my aunt's house we would have really struggled to change him
saturday 2nd:
one degree outside and freezing in, mr smear waking every fifteen minutes so nobody was resting
a pleasant morning, at least the apartment heats up quickly. "it's not a pyramid scheme, it's a book exchange!" is a pyramid scheme i can get behind
picking up heaters from my mom, a framing / hardware store / furniture store mission, picking up my mother's gifted dishwasher and the discomfort of having a strange man kiss my son on the cheek (although the offense lessened a bit when we learned that he and his wife are having trouble conceiving and that she actually gave him a talking to afterwards), brothers-in-law installation, quickly showing off our flat, ordering dinner and some GoT and a lesson in facebook protocol
sunday 3rd:
heaters and duct tape FTW
rearranging the kitchen
a first step towards letting go of nixon, mr smear's pleasant sunday morning nap, buying golf balls, maul people jamming canal walk; a good lunch, home shopping and fleeing just after we both began wearing out. fighting over family values on the freeway home, a harsh winter sun straight into our living room, trying (and failing) some home improvement
monday 4th:
another restless night
our first anniversary morning: the next episode in the pork pill saga
the helpful / not so helpful israeli embassy agent
the cape town post office charges exclude parking and exercise
aliyah department archive fail
a long afternoon, mr smear's first soup and bread, mom's quick visit and gd's delicious dinner, a little work
tuesday 5th:
getting up for work at 4am, 6.30am success and being quite impressed by my experience debugging iisnode once i got over the visual studio quirks
short sleep, the doctor visit ("you're a closet pork piller"), resolution, quick shopping, damp metre, exhausted lunch and vegan lectures, vegan yoghurt in the rain (utopia's cashew nut yoghurt is TOTALLY worth it), big shopping and missing the pharmacy on our return, mr smear getting to bed late, a time tunnel vision revelation
wednesday 6th:
working from midnight, being amazed after learning about the juno spacecraft's successful arrival
wiped out at 3am, but making exciting progress
another tough night with an early wakeup... mr smear's 11 months old!
pram jam, a little dirtier than usual and we were disturbed by the kid whose hair and general hygiene are clearly being neglected
mr smear falling asleep in my arms on the way home, gd describing the older wealthy woman who spends lots of money on her hair and clothing but who won't wash her own hands and probably doesn't clean her genitals thoroughly
the acupuncturist: all good until the end, when he pissed me off by basing an ostensibly medical decision on his pendulum, just as he was suggesting that the FDA shut down bicarbonate as a cancer treatment because it was effective, not because it's dangerous
walking it off, five minute nap before mr smear was up again
a busy afternoon, getting into a work groove and becoming excited about what i'm doing for the first time in a while
thursday 7th:
an easier night from mr smear, compensating with weird work hours
a decent morning, our first dentist visit in ages, getting ripped off by the car guard, the failed couch delivery, a rushed evening (minus bathing mr smear) to prep for my first team meeting, passing out soon after
friday 8th:
for a surprise full night's sleep
the chiropractor, the physio (who's leaving the country soon, of course, now that we finally found someone who can actually help gd), arranging hoisting, a relaxing bath, getting a little work done, mom bringing dinner and mr smear not wanting to sleep, GoT
yesterday:
another full night! waking up by myself (pretty much)
a particularly irritating morning, a drive to game to buy cutlery, a failed furniture hunt and a walk on the promenade discussing baby names and getting my new credit card and ordering a new new one (the new one expires in a couple of months) and helping my mom set up her dishwasher and walking home through a(nother) stunning sunset and doing some shopping (again, a supermarket with bare shelves where our favourite products used to be) and bathing mr smear and getting a little work done (why are "servers" and "clients" the opposite when working with udp?) and GoT and falling asleep earlier than planned
a long night of work that ended really badly; the night, not the work.
early argument, a little bit of sleep and a rush to the physio, a quick stop at knead, skipping DoHA, a short nap and lunch and getting some work done before heading out to the baxter theatre to see the first half of defending the caveman which gd enjoyed until a stiff neck forced us to go home early
wednesday 22nd:
my first real progress at work, some comic success, an insanely cold night and it all coming into mr smear's room leading to a solid freakout
a slow morning, a stinky car, DoHA and mr smear (not) pooping while we were in line
a ridiculous threat from our landlord generating immense rage and anxiety, DoHA giving us the run-around (and page turn-around), planning an evacuation, taking mr smear for a walk to the police station, starting to drive to the car rental place but turning around, a productive chat with the illustrator, bathing mr smear and a shopping run and getting him to bed and instant mashed potatoes and electricity usage panic and just trying to hold on to sanity before my first phone call with the big boss since i was interviewed
there's nothing like trying to think intelligent thoughts over a blocked nose
thursday 23rd:
a little investigation, going to bed a little less early than planned, getting up on time to take my mother to the hospital, struggling to stay awake all the way home, not feeling much better after a nap, general tension and feeling sick with stress over our apartment, the optometrist, picking up my mom and not entering my aunt's frozen house, cavendish square; the struggle to find the baby changing room (although it's not a bad one), three complicated lunchers and mr smear and his rusk and a dodgy bill, parking lot feeding before playing in the garden again, nervously sending the landlord the big "release me" email and arriving at the chiropractor slightly late only for him to not show, home time, fixing the improvised window seals, a visit from droo, money management and internet problems and a little bit of work
friday 24th:
but not a lot before crashing early
overall not a bad night between the temperature having risen a bit and the new seal appearing to make an enormous difference
the good news: being released from our contract! initiating the rush to find a new place; viewing apartments with my mom, a rushed shopping and an exhausted evening
saturday 25th:
seeing a great apartment but being concerned about the carpet
mr smear gearing up for his first steps
an incredible sunset run, really bad cardio and a pinching nerve
GoT
sunday 26th:
rushed coffee with a joburg cousin
vaccination: mediclinic is a great hospital, mr smear being woken with a jab in his arm and his shock turning to confusion as it faded to nothing more than a bad dream
the waterfront mission: almost no parking available and one asshole sitting on two bays, learning costs - a contract iphone is actually the cheapest option, and unless afrihost's offerings are better telkom's mobile instead of dsl is surprisingly reasonable - a big lunch to make up for gd sending hers back in disgust
the desperate nap after half my coffee spilled everywhere, missing an amazing sunset
a good dinner, some down time and some work done
monday 27th:
early up for a restless day looking at three great apartments, seeing the chiropractor, and being messed about by telkom as i wean myself off the primitivism of dsl and evolve to home lte
finally seeing awakenings - what a beautiful movie!
tuesday 28th:
mr smear unable to sleep horizontally, beginning to pack, the physio, the weasel caretaker on my doorstep with my post, gd's phone and packing crates part i, lunch and phone and packing crates part ii
the post office, porting gd's number and the amazingly great news - we've been offered our first choice apartment!
more struggling with telkom, eventually calling the third idiot to screw me around in two days. after trying a bunch of different things she informed me that nothing was working because the SIM card wasn't activated. losing my shit.
mom coming over to build boxes, moving her old dishwasher, finally letting go of doing websockets "the microsoft way" and getting excited about node.js running on IIS
wednesday 29th:
being utterly overwhelmed, fighting with telkom and me&you mobile over number porting (they're all assholes) but some good news in the form of our new interface setup finally working (just before i was off to take it back) and it's undoubtedly the best internet connection i've ever had
signing the new lease and paying the rent and deposit and turning down the other amazing offer, trying and failing to connect with the israeli embassy, being grateful for my mother's assistance with the movers, actually managing to nap a little (but not enough by far) and get through most of an episode of GoT while enjoying a delicious gd lunch, trying to get things done at the waterfront and failing abysmally
it turned out to be good that we didn't find what we wanted at the waterfront, a pretty good evening in spite of a difficult bath time experience that included work success, managing to reclaim more aeroplan points than expected
thursday 30th:
getting to bed early(-ish), quite a few wakings and weird dream in between
up early to a wet bed, too early for the telkom store, a couple of missions to my mom's, uninstalling wall panel heaters and removing hooks, mr smear decidedly unhappy about being confined to his playpen and then suddenly the movers were there (arriving early while i was out, obviously), the insane last-minute pack (third time in a row), a bit of a back and forth between buildings and being rescued by our cleaning lady and my mother: moving into a mall is a strange experience... plenty to be done before dinner, putting phoenix to sleep in his room and feeling like we're living in a really nice hotel, a great dinner and a great shower
the slight draft during a crazy storm
friday 1st:
slight draft becoming a serious chill and cause for concern, but a couple of hours later when the wind had died down the apartment was comfortable again
early up, a full day looking after an excited and adventurous little boy who's now practically walking, but very busy with all the things we don't want him playing with; the construction work above us beginning just after getting mr smear into nap mode and proceeding to get louder
fighting with me&you mobile until it was clarified that we needed to hit the waterfront to pick up a new sim card, a great falafel wrap, chocolatiers, discovering wazoogles, home for a couple of missions to print pages, mr smear's bath, getting ready for dinner
a nice dinner, but mr smear was hyperactive and i think it's because he pooped and we didn't find out until we got home - and if we had noticed, it was so cold in my aunt's house we would have really struggled to change him
saturday 2nd:
one degree outside and freezing in, mr smear waking every fifteen minutes so nobody was resting
a pleasant morning, at least the apartment heats up quickly. "it's not a pyramid scheme, it's a book exchange!" is a pyramid scheme i can get behind
picking up heaters from my mom, a framing / hardware store / furniture store mission, picking up my mother's gifted dishwasher and the discomfort of having a strange man kiss my son on the cheek (although the offense lessened a bit when we learned that he and his wife are having trouble conceiving and that she actually gave him a talking to afterwards), brothers-in-law installation, quickly showing off our flat, ordering dinner and some GoT and a lesson in facebook protocol
sunday 3rd:
heaters and duct tape FTW
rearranging the kitchen
a first step towards letting go of nixon, mr smear's pleasant sunday morning nap, buying golf balls, maul people jamming canal walk; a good lunch, home shopping and fleeing just after we both began wearing out. fighting over family values on the freeway home, a harsh winter sun straight into our living room, trying (and failing) some home improvement
monday 4th:
another restless night
our first anniversary morning: the next episode in the pork pill saga
the helpful / not so helpful israeli embassy agent
the cape town post office charges exclude parking and exercise
aliyah department archive fail
a long afternoon, mr smear's first soup and bread, mom's quick visit and gd's delicious dinner, a little work
tuesday 5th:
getting up for work at 4am, 6.30am success and being quite impressed by my experience debugging iisnode once i got over the visual studio quirks
short sleep, the doctor visit ("you're a closet pork piller"), resolution, quick shopping, damp metre, exhausted lunch and vegan lectures, vegan yoghurt in the rain (utopia's cashew nut yoghurt is TOTALLY worth it), big shopping and missing the pharmacy on our return, mr smear getting to bed late, a time tunnel vision revelation
wednesday 6th:
working from midnight, being amazed after learning about the juno spacecraft's successful arrival
wiped out at 3am, but making exciting progress
another tough night with an early wakeup... mr smear's 11 months old!
pram jam, a little dirtier than usual and we were disturbed by the kid whose hair and general hygiene are clearly being neglected
mr smear falling asleep in my arms on the way home, gd describing the older wealthy woman who spends lots of money on her hair and clothing but who won't wash her own hands and probably doesn't clean her genitals thoroughly
the acupuncturist: all good until the end, when he pissed me off by basing an ostensibly medical decision on his pendulum, just as he was suggesting that the FDA shut down bicarbonate as a cancer treatment because it was effective, not because it's dangerous
walking it off, five minute nap before mr smear was up again
a busy afternoon, getting into a work groove and becoming excited about what i'm doing for the first time in a while
thursday 7th:
an easier night from mr smear, compensating with weird work hours
a decent morning, our first dentist visit in ages, getting ripped off by the car guard, the failed couch delivery, a rushed evening (minus bathing mr smear) to prep for my first team meeting, passing out soon after
friday 8th:
for a surprise full night's sleep
the chiropractor, the physio (who's leaving the country soon, of course, now that we finally found someone who can actually help gd), arranging hoisting, a relaxing bath, getting a little work done, mom bringing dinner and mr smear not wanting to sleep, GoT
yesterday:
another full night! waking up by myself (pretty much)
a particularly irritating morning, a drive to game to buy cutlery, a failed furniture hunt and a walk on the promenade discussing baby names and getting my new credit card and ordering a new new one (the new one expires in a couple of months) and helping my mom set up her dishwasher and walking home through a(nother) stunning sunset and doing some shopping (again, a supermarket with bare shelves where our favourite products used to be) and bathing mr smear and getting a little work done (why are "servers" and "clients" the opposite when working with udp?) and GoT and falling asleep earlier than planned
american breakdown
the first american drone strike on its own soil
"We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was," Brown said. "Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger. The suspect is deceased as a result of detonating the bomb." (cnn.com)
what options have the american police given all those black people they've murdered over the years? you can't be surprised by this, only heartbroken. law enforcement and the american government have had plenty of time and all the means to stop the madness.
...
black lives matter. this is why "all lives matter" is the wrong response.
"We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was," Brown said. "Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger. The suspect is deceased as a result of detonating the bomb." (cnn.com)
what options have the american police given all those black people they've murdered over the years? you can't be surprised by this, only heartbroken. law enforcement and the american government have had plenty of time and all the means to stop the madness.
...
black lives matter. this is why "all lives matter" is the wrong response.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
i *HATE* telkom. i mean seriously, seriously hate them to the point where last night i desperately yelled "I HATE YOU ALL! YOU'RE HORRIBLE!" at the fourth agent to screw me around in two days. i still can't believe they pushed me that far, their incompetence and lack of professionalism is unparalleled.
but they do have the best deals. for the first time in forever i actually have an internet solution that makes sense and a reasonably priced phone contract.
but they do have the best deals. for the first time in forever i actually have an internet solution that makes sense and a reasonably priced phone contract.
Monday, June 20, 2016
a little foggy
saturday 11th:
a surprisingly slow start to the day
gender politics dissection and a strategy for podcasting
baby city mission, nü for lunch (not many vegan options, but the nourish bowl was excellent), leaving gd at the supermarket to rush mr smear home and take handle the apoocalypse alone (a full belly button)
competing with gd for sunset photos, my second time bathing mr smear
his first biltong met with greedy delight and my desire to find a vegan alternative for such an elegant teething tool (although i doubt one will present itself)
dinner and GoT interrupted by the blue screen of death, going to bed when the scandisk froze
sunday 12th:
a nasally traumatic 5am, sleeping late, a slow, pleasant start with minor freakouts until i managed to get my workstation operational again, off to my mom's, a quick chat with my uncle, shamefully discovering that i had been required to return my rental at 7.30am on our way to lunch... an excellent lunch, returning the rental and mistakenly not taking another, shopping and mr smear's first balloon experience, another trial of his discomfort, GoT goodness, early to bed
monday 13th:
glorious sleep, waking up to an alarm on a cold, wet morning and struggling not to snooze (cold enough for a sweater and jacket), picking up a warm mr smear when i heard him mumbling on my way out the door and getting him back to sleep quickly (happiness is...), car rental good news
from rape culture (brock turner) to hate culture (tel aviv and orlando) in one week
eyeball plucking, singing mr smear to sleep in the adelphi centre, anger poop management, the chiro visit, the awkward meeting with the mall's building manager to complain about the baby changing room shortly before needing to use it, starting work "on time", spotify song stealing becoming a serious grievance (and there's no "family" option apparently), a rough evening
tuesday 14th:
making progress at work and crashing early, sleeping well and dreaming a lot and then resuming briefly after gd's breakfast, the physio and mr smear pooping right up his back when i had to take care of him alone in the shopping centre's inhospitable changing room
a good experience at knead, quick shopping and then home to discuss sensitive issues and get a little work done before going out
sharp braking on the way there putting the brakes on the evening in general, a regular evening followed by
wednesday 15th:
a night that was half work and half getting mr smear back to sleep (restless until 5am)
waking up to a miserable, wet day in anger, followed by pram jam, followed by anger, increased during the visit to the tax consultant, a stable afternoon, a pleasant evening
mr smear pushing around his favourite toy as if it was a walker
thursday 16th:
finally, things beginning to click into place; 3am to bed, sleeping in and then rushing to pick up gd's late breakfast, using the public holiday to get some work done in addition to enjoying some time with mr smear, heading over to my mom's to determine the state of the dark ages' dishwasher, dinner and GoT and some more work
friday 17th:
up early to take my mom to the hospital, the reward for risking traffic (which wasn't bad at all) was the view of an incredible sunrise over the cape flats.
family / post-op day, garden time for mr smear, great timing for plant for lunch, an inspirational meeting with the illustrator
saturday 18th:
a difficult night, completely exhausted woken at regular short intervals but dreaming for most of the time that i had my eyes closed
the acupuncturist, and the particular / peculiar knowledge combination that gd and i share, a day recovering, blocking more vents and discovering that our balcony door literally doesn't fit so of *course* there's a draft
getting an early night
yesterday:
a better night's sleep but still not enough; mom's haircut, miserable weather but a very nice first father's day with my cousin and his wife's family, quick stop shopping and coming home to fight with the vacuum cleaner and the balcony door
finally seeing the end of the martian: wow.
the season 4 finale of GoT
today:
tired in the morning after a good night's rest, trying to get our internet fixed, struggling with the new router (which turned out to be worse than what we had, but which was simple to set up, though my windows machine refused to communicate with it), being asked to avoid influencing my cousin's kid regarding nutrition, reporting the caretaker and showing the handyman our doors (the external ones don't fit), absentmindedly coasting through the day, visiting the chiropractor and doing a quick shopping, coffee with my uncle, trying to get work done in spite of the lack of internet
a surprisingly slow start to the day
gender politics dissection and a strategy for podcasting
baby city mission, nü for lunch (not many vegan options, but the nourish bowl was excellent), leaving gd at the supermarket to rush mr smear home and take handle the apoocalypse alone (a full belly button)
competing with gd for sunset photos, my second time bathing mr smear
his first biltong met with greedy delight and my desire to find a vegan alternative for such an elegant teething tool (although i doubt one will present itself)
dinner and GoT interrupted by the blue screen of death, going to bed when the scandisk froze
sunday 12th:
a nasally traumatic 5am, sleeping late, a slow, pleasant start with minor freakouts until i managed to get my workstation operational again, off to my mom's, a quick chat with my uncle, shamefully discovering that i had been required to return my rental at 7.30am on our way to lunch... an excellent lunch, returning the rental and mistakenly not taking another, shopping and mr smear's first balloon experience, another trial of his discomfort, GoT goodness, early to bed
monday 13th:
glorious sleep, waking up to an alarm on a cold, wet morning and struggling not to snooze (cold enough for a sweater and jacket), picking up a warm mr smear when i heard him mumbling on my way out the door and getting him back to sleep quickly (happiness is...), car rental good news
from rape culture (brock turner) to hate culture (tel aviv and orlando) in one week
eyeball plucking, singing mr smear to sleep in the adelphi centre, anger poop management, the chiro visit, the awkward meeting with the mall's building manager to complain about the baby changing room shortly before needing to use it, starting work "on time", spotify song stealing becoming a serious grievance (and there's no "family" option apparently), a rough evening
tuesday 14th:
making progress at work and crashing early, sleeping well and dreaming a lot and then resuming briefly after gd's breakfast, the physio and mr smear pooping right up his back when i had to take care of him alone in the shopping centre's inhospitable changing room
a good experience at knead, quick shopping and then home to discuss sensitive issues and get a little work done before going out
sharp braking on the way there putting the brakes on the evening in general, a regular evening followed by
wednesday 15th:
a night that was half work and half getting mr smear back to sleep (restless until 5am)
waking up to a miserable, wet day in anger, followed by pram jam, followed by anger, increased during the visit to the tax consultant, a stable afternoon, a pleasant evening
mr smear pushing around his favourite toy as if it was a walker
thursday 16th:
finally, things beginning to click into place; 3am to bed, sleeping in and then rushing to pick up gd's late breakfast, using the public holiday to get some work done in addition to enjoying some time with mr smear, heading over to my mom's to determine the state of the dark ages' dishwasher, dinner and GoT and some more work
friday 17th:
up early to take my mom to the hospital, the reward for risking traffic (which wasn't bad at all) was the view of an incredible sunrise over the cape flats.
family / post-op day, garden time for mr smear, great timing for plant for lunch, an inspirational meeting with the illustrator
saturday 18th:
a difficult night, completely exhausted woken at regular short intervals but dreaming for most of the time that i had my eyes closed
the acupuncturist, and the particular / peculiar knowledge combination that gd and i share, a day recovering, blocking more vents and discovering that our balcony door literally doesn't fit so of *course* there's a draft
getting an early night
yesterday:
a better night's sleep but still not enough; mom's haircut, miserable weather but a very nice first father's day with my cousin and his wife's family, quick stop shopping and coming home to fight with the vacuum cleaner and the balcony door
finally seeing the end of the martian: wow.
the season 4 finale of GoT
today:
tired in the morning after a good night's rest, trying to get our internet fixed, struggling with the new router (which turned out to be worse than what we had, but which was simple to set up, though my windows machine refused to communicate with it), being asked to avoid influencing my cousin's kid regarding nutrition, reporting the caretaker and showing the handyman our doors (the external ones don't fit), absentmindedly coasting through the day, visiting the chiropractor and doing a quick shopping, coffee with my uncle, trying to get work done in spite of the lack of internet
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
it wasn't me
the last time i spoke with mmf i reminded him that in 2003 i was looking for a partner and i pitched to him an idea that i'd had about modular mobile devices; back then he shot the idea down on the grounds that nobody would go for it, and when we last spoke i'd just learned about phonebloks. today's mmf's birthday, and reminded of that conversation and curious to see what's new on that front, i came across this wired article from last month about project ara.
this is seriously exciting stuff! a pity i had nothing to do with it, but i'm very glad somebody made it happen :)
this is seriously exciting stuff! a pity i had nothing to do with it, but i'm very glad somebody made it happen :)
Monday, June 13, 2016
passive activism
the sadness of this last week is overwhelming,
but the stories are far from over.
there will be more rapists getting off lightly,
there will be more hate-crimes,
there will be more gun violence,
there will be more terrorism.
things need to change,
and talking about them amongst ourselves is not changing anything.
it's our actions the victims need,
before we ourselves become the next victims.
my heart is with the victims,
in tel aviv,
in orlando,
and all over the world.
i just wish i knew what to do with my hands.
but the stories are far from over.
there will be more rapists getting off lightly,
there will be more hate-crimes,
there will be more gun violence,
there will be more terrorism.
things need to change,
and talking about them amongst ourselves is not changing anything.
it's our actions the victims need,
before we ourselves become the next victims.
my heart is with the victims,
in tel aviv,
in orlando,
and all over the world.
i just wish i knew what to do with my hands.
Saturday, June 11, 2016
sshhhhh... he's napping
sunday 15th:
a pretty good sleep, coffee and brunch with my uncle on a perfect misty including a lovely stroll on the promenade and followed by a great walk in the green point park
invoicing, shopping, relaxing
the great washing machine failure
slowly ending the weekend with books and a little gaming
monday 16th:
Getting Stuff Done (mostly making appointments), certified copy magic (the police do it quickly for free), autumnal green, one more thing (before SARS demands biometrics), a long time leaving, washing attempt one, the bank (a bad time to whisper codes in french), noticing mr smear needed a bath, the pharmacy, a quick supermarket run, desperately hungry on the way home, dropping pringles on the way to washing attempt two, working into the night but i think i (or my network connection) irritated the woman doing the remote installation
tuesday 17th:
4am working until night terror time, exhaustion and frustration starting the day
waking up to a busy mr smear, who was turning both ways, the rush to the fascia release specialist, who happens to be our neighbour who was brought into the building by the woman who left our apartment a few months ago, who we were referred to by the chiropractor who we were referred to by the abdominal specialist; at the same time gd was advised to take up pilates days after we found a pilates physiotherapist next door when we accidentally got out on the wrong floor of a building
the raw vegan experience: family unfriendly, active-wear wearers, and although the food was delicious it was - as always - misrepresented. a slice of bread with a pile of food on top is not a sandwich
the rush to the therapist - with a quick stop to drop something off at the tax consultant and make an idiot move her car after she'd blocked off the sidewalk - an encouraging session and mr smear's first proper encounter with dogs (he loved it)
coming straight home, being woken (groggy) to let the technicians in; two days without a washing machine and it turns out it was a faulty socket, an afternoon with an inexplicably unhappy mr smear and gd's agonizing recovery
indian pickup lies enraging me
wednesday 18th:
mr smear crying a lot, but it's never clear if it's for real
meeting the bull (our landlord), a very different experience dealing directly with him, furniture shopping and praying nobody got TB, or fleas, buying a high chair
not just a landlord but an MMA man, work, getting soaked taking clothes to mom's dryer, a little GoT
thursday 19th:
big waves, a sour start to the morning, a disturbing computer issue, pre-breakfast second-hand furniture: the sacrifice of dealing with dishonest, bigoted, creepy people; the delivery (scraped floors and two missing nails from the hinges), rearranging and angry lunch and being tired and exchanging rugs and mr smear on my shoulders for the first time and more rearranging and a big shopping and mom's visit and a little work and protoplasm's visit and a little more work before crashing
friday 20th:
remembering how to stand at work, an emergency egg-run and not wanting to live anywhere else, trying to work, a pharmacy run, prepping for dinner, finding parking with my mother, a lovely friday night dinner with krybabie and co, upsetting his wife about her daughter's resemblance to his sisters, managing to get mr smear home without waking him but needing to change him on arrival
saturday 21st:
tired and busy, returning the borrowed dining room set and rushing lunch unnecessarily and late coffee at my aunt's
sunday 22nd:
a good night's sleep and a restful morning
promenade coffee and oversized sparkling water
john carpenter's cigarette burns
a successful waterfront mission, having my mom over for dinner
GoT, putting everyone to bed and preparing for customs handling on all the stuff pg's been storing for me these past few years
monday 23rd:
becoming frustrated at some ungodly hour when mr smear refused to be put in his crib; my original plan was to be awake all night but that's not looking like such a good idea until we get all our basic needs squared away
hyper emotional wedding video viewing
getting shit done (and enjoying an entertaining cup of coffee) while wait for gd's physio, finding the tailor, the closed restaurant resulting in a spar lunch
the chewbacca excitement and resulting bad-fit disappointment, the positive return experience from takealot (later cancelled), the i'm-not-giving-any-more-details-over-the-phone call from my new bank
backgammon reintroduced
woman down
a long night compiling
tuesday 24th:
not an easy night, waking up to a gd without internet access, the baby centre and baby brain, mr smear's vaccine, newport deli breakfast
therapy and loving dogs
a walk to the doctor
passing out for a quick rest then getting stuff done
getting mr smear to sleep while picking up documents from my mom
GoT and a great dinner
money delays and amusement
pleasant work, foot massage
wednesday 25th:
2am bedtime together, probably not a good idea
pampers pants: a couple of minor incidents followed by a wet bed and a soiled stroller later, we now know what we now know that plenty of other parents have already said online. pampers SUCKS. they have products with micro-beads, gels that leak, badly sized tabs, and dangerous chemicals in certain products that literally burn infants. how do they get away with this? the hot coffee thing?
early up (with difficulty), the chiropractor (though i'm almost certain the relief won't last), formally opening a new bank account
nap time, an outing for diapers but forgetting the diapers, interviewing a maid, the walk / run and return outside for forgotten diapers (again)
dinner interrupted by a major diaper leak which escalated into an unproductively traumatic night
thursday 26th:
waking up hot and bothered
a nap
bank card pickup
turning around in woodstock
lunch downstairs, a quick walk
work, feeling sick, time out from work, dinner and a walkthrough, passing out on the couch,
friday 27th:
transferring to the bed at 2am and a few difficult wakeups with mr smear
waking up with a jolly mr smear just before the maid arrived
running late to the physio again
coming home to a clean apartment and the latest data from nutritionfacts.org
mr smear's first orange, the tailor, coffee, and the fish
the salary fee: my employer chose to pay me as a service, for which paypal takes an enormous fee. according to the agent i spoke to, salaries are meant to go through as transfers to friends or family... fortunately i managed to get my new employer to redo the transfer. thanks, paypal, and thanks government controls for making this harder than it needs to be. at least i now know how effective direct visa transfers are, so next month will be better.
a nap, getting ready for shabbat dinner, and a lovely evening at my uncle's with my sister's and cousin's families
saturday 28th:
a decent night but mr smear waking up early; bringing him into our bed where he was quite chilled until i was ready to get up, when i discovered that he'd filled his diaper and for the first time in a while when it counted it hadn't leaked everywhere
a serious back spasm to start a beautiful saturday morning, a pleasant experience switching out my rentacheapie car
driving back into the mist
nap day + visiting mom
letdown stress
call-a-pizza (solid salad) and GoT and letdown and mr smear's nightmares
sunday 29th:
a rough start, but a good rescue and brunch with airplane; successful furniture shopping with my mom, a rush to prep for dinner
delicious kale soup and bagels, another diaper dis-ass-ter
GoT
monday 30th:
another day of difficulty getting up, then aggression followed by wallowing in depression
the adelphi stalker, hardware non-advice, more breastfeeding complications than a mere winged insect
where did the afternoon go? (as usual)
mom's birthday visit, sealing windows, dinner and GoT
trying to figure out what to do for work
tuesday 31st:
learning how visual studio's unit tests are simple and extremely useful debugging tools (no need to install / uninstall services and attach processes), actually being engaged and working through to 3am
(witnessing mr smear's cutest moment, turning over and ta-ta-talking in his sleep)
sleeping in a little after the maid arrived, quick shopping followed by a quick return followed by some relaxing breakfast business
the "quick" outing to the waterfront, then the cape quarter, then canal walk; finding half of what we were looking for, experiencing the full range of road insanity along the way, mom's visit, rushed dinner, mr smear's refusal to sleep and later cramps
wednesday 1st:
me&you mobile being extremely unprofessional, some more solid hours playing with visual studio unit tests, another 3am night
another busy morning (although considerably more sleep than the day before), the physio, the first preschool call, scheckter's raw - delicious, but not particularly filling and i think i offended the guy at our shared table with my derision of "juicers", back home to go out again, the doctor, the pork pill confession, money puzzles followed by a long work night
thursday 2nd:
calling it a night at 4am
no rest for the wicked, busy morning and a fun hour with the therapist: she seems to be losing it, but her dogs playing with mr smear was totally awesome
a couple of short naps that barely made a difference, an attempt to take a walk to enjoy an incredible sunset that was overtaken by concern for a man on a bench who looked like he was going to die there (but he was too mobile for the emergency services to "waste their time")
mom coming over for a quick visit, helping us put mr smear to bed and giving us a chance to eat dinner and watch GoT
a long night of hard work
friday 3rd:
3am to bed, early up to rush to the chiropractor; fantastic job, but immediately compromised by my having to hold mr smear for gd's treatment
hurrying home, urgent napping, a stressful afternoon working through what i would later realize was me getting sick, missing mom and rushing off to dinner alone, initial awkwardness, a really nice dinner, back to work
saturday 4th:
3am, sleeping like a log and waking up with a horrible sore throat and feeling utterly wasted; whatever illness i've been cooking having been brought to a boil
acupuncturist, plant (shared new parent table), the waterfront, home for a short nap, an attempt to go for a walk but the cold wind sending us to my mom's where i passed out for a while
pizza burn (jalapeño) and lots of ginger (ale)
sunday 5th:
early morning furniture shopping (win! in spite of the dodgy salesmen), baby shopping (win! in spite of the sick kids), terrible drivers and smokers are assholes (a new father under the no smoking sign in an enclosed space next to the baby city entrance and his daughter), a lovely lunch (and the quebec city couple at the table next to us), home for a breather and then off for a walk to enjoy the gorgeous afternoon, the kid's park, smoothies, bumping into the quebec city couple again, another short walk through a different, even cooler park
no energy for date night, a relaxed evening being inspired by the first half of michael moore's where to invade next and then suddenly feeling terrible again and crashing urgently
monday 6th:
mr smear having a decent night but me struggling with sinusitis, waking up to a beautiful morning soured by the realization that the asshole contractor still hasn't done anything about our floors
the good handyman, a slow morning trying to rest, reading a bit, struggling with mr smear (trying to clean an angry, writhing boy is impossible), a shopping mission ending stressed by human traffic, back home to try out our new drying setup - why does anyone use a tumble dryer?! we have a spindle and an electric clothes dryer and they're not only cheaper and better for the environment but they're a far sight more effective and convenient
some GoT and a big dinner and trying to nap before work
tuesday 7th:
but waking up at 1am unable to breathe, about half an hour trying to reset my sinuses and then three hours of work
sleeping in (thanks to the cleaning lady), the asshole contractor making us REALLY angry by leaving early after jerking us around for two weeks; getting him to come back (and being amazed that he's using sandpaper instead of a sander), heading off to the department of home affairs for a surprisingly pleasant encounter and a deep sigh of relief, truth coffee baby talk, mr smear cancelling our trip to the company gardens by passing out on the way
big shopping, settling into our apartment which is really beginning to feel like we're serious about it (even if money's still tight, we're definitely getting more comfortable and are starting to need less urgently)
gd's big dinner just for me, completing where to invade next? (warmly recommended, great documentary), and making some important advances in spite of a sinus headache
wednesday 8th:
on the whole, a pretty shitty day in spite of the lovely weather. the varnish job. mr smear's heavy allergies. the physio visit, the ultraviolet gym inspection. coming home to walk and not walking. sleeping on the floor by the crib. still not walking, the second varnish job and the "no you're not smoking cigarettes on my balcony". the walk cancelled due to sunshine and wind. mom's place stopover, rearrangement stress and mom visit (and pharmacy delivery), the relentless mr smear and an uncomfortable gd and finally getting to work on sore legs
thursday 9th:
around 3am, after realizing that i was on the verge of passing out, mr smear woke with a fever and it would take over an hour and a half to get him back to sleep
things we didn't learn in school: sealing rooms against cold and wind causes breathing problems and mold. extraction fans in bathrooms need to be running both while the bath or shower is taking place and for at least fifteen minutes after leaving the room.
scraping another section of the floor right after finally getting the damage repaired, a mansplaining note, a power nap, waiting for the contractor to fix another issue that he caused and not only did he not show, but the caretaker had the audacity to say to me that we're giving them problems - no more nice and polite, that snivelling drunkard will learn to watch his step with me
gd's first (from scratch) soup, the bananas of wrath, the apology nap, the long good night mr smear with my mom's assistance, the superette run and getting mr smear into bed, dinner and GoT
friday 10th:
working hard but not getting very far, a couple of tough wakings but sleeping *really* well
my first cardio in over ten months: not bad, much needed, difficult to remember not to push too hard
a big lunch (gd's new soup), an afternoon spent absent-mindedly working and trying to take mr smear for a walk in the cold wind and struggling with him after his nap and GoT (okay, we finally know why the world was upset about the wedding) and managing bank accounts and credit cards and worrying about forex
saturday 11th:
a good night's sleep, introducing my wife to yakko, wakko and dot on a saturday morning. my gods, the animaniacs get even better as we get older!
a pretty good sleep, coffee and brunch with my uncle on a perfect misty including a lovely stroll on the promenade and followed by a great walk in the green point park
invoicing, shopping, relaxing
the great washing machine failure
slowly ending the weekend with books and a little gaming
monday 16th:
Getting Stuff Done (mostly making appointments), certified copy magic (the police do it quickly for free), autumnal green, one more thing (before SARS demands biometrics), a long time leaving, washing attempt one, the bank (a bad time to whisper codes in french), noticing mr smear needed a bath, the pharmacy, a quick supermarket run, desperately hungry on the way home, dropping pringles on the way to washing attempt two, working into the night but i think i (or my network connection) irritated the woman doing the remote installation
tuesday 17th:
4am working until night terror time, exhaustion and frustration starting the day
waking up to a busy mr smear, who was turning both ways, the rush to the fascia release specialist, who happens to be our neighbour who was brought into the building by the woman who left our apartment a few months ago, who we were referred to by the chiropractor who we were referred to by the abdominal specialist; at the same time gd was advised to take up pilates days after we found a pilates physiotherapist next door when we accidentally got out on the wrong floor of a building
the raw vegan experience: family unfriendly, active-wear wearers, and although the food was delicious it was - as always - misrepresented. a slice of bread with a pile of food on top is not a sandwich
the rush to the therapist - with a quick stop to drop something off at the tax consultant and make an idiot move her car after she'd blocked off the sidewalk - an encouraging session and mr smear's first proper encounter with dogs (he loved it)
coming straight home, being woken (groggy) to let the technicians in; two days without a washing machine and it turns out it was a faulty socket, an afternoon with an inexplicably unhappy mr smear and gd's agonizing recovery
indian pickup lies enraging me
wednesday 18th:
mr smear crying a lot, but it's never clear if it's for real
meeting the bull (our landlord), a very different experience dealing directly with him, furniture shopping and praying nobody got TB, or fleas, buying a high chair
not just a landlord but an MMA man, work, getting soaked taking clothes to mom's dryer, a little GoT
thursday 19th:
big waves, a sour start to the morning, a disturbing computer issue, pre-breakfast second-hand furniture: the sacrifice of dealing with dishonest, bigoted, creepy people; the delivery (scraped floors and two missing nails from the hinges), rearranging and angry lunch and being tired and exchanging rugs and mr smear on my shoulders for the first time and more rearranging and a big shopping and mom's visit and a little work and protoplasm's visit and a little more work before crashing
friday 20th:
remembering how to stand at work, an emergency egg-run and not wanting to live anywhere else, trying to work, a pharmacy run, prepping for dinner, finding parking with my mother, a lovely friday night dinner with krybabie and co, upsetting his wife about her daughter's resemblance to his sisters, managing to get mr smear home without waking him but needing to change him on arrival
saturday 21st:
tired and busy, returning the borrowed dining room set and rushing lunch unnecessarily and late coffee at my aunt's
sunday 22nd:
a good night's sleep and a restful morning
promenade coffee and oversized sparkling water
john carpenter's cigarette burns
a successful waterfront mission, having my mom over for dinner
GoT, putting everyone to bed and preparing for customs handling on all the stuff pg's been storing for me these past few years
monday 23rd:
becoming frustrated at some ungodly hour when mr smear refused to be put in his crib; my original plan was to be awake all night but that's not looking like such a good idea until we get all our basic needs squared away
hyper emotional wedding video viewing
getting shit done (and enjoying an entertaining cup of coffee) while wait for gd's physio, finding the tailor, the closed restaurant resulting in a spar lunch
the chewbacca excitement and resulting bad-fit disappointment, the positive return experience from takealot (later cancelled), the i'm-not-giving-any-more-details-over-the-phone call from my new bank
backgammon reintroduced
woman down
a long night compiling
tuesday 24th:
not an easy night, waking up to a gd without internet access, the baby centre and baby brain, mr smear's vaccine, newport deli breakfast
therapy and loving dogs
a walk to the doctor
passing out for a quick rest then getting stuff done
getting mr smear to sleep while picking up documents from my mom
GoT and a great dinner
money delays and amusement
pleasant work, foot massage
wednesday 25th:
2am bedtime together, probably not a good idea
pampers pants: a couple of minor incidents followed by a wet bed and a soiled stroller later, we now know what we now know that plenty of other parents have already said online. pampers SUCKS. they have products with micro-beads, gels that leak, badly sized tabs, and dangerous chemicals in certain products that literally burn infants. how do they get away with this? the hot coffee thing?
early up (with difficulty), the chiropractor (though i'm almost certain the relief won't last), formally opening a new bank account
nap time, an outing for diapers but forgetting the diapers, interviewing a maid, the walk / run and return outside for forgotten diapers (again)
dinner interrupted by a major diaper leak which escalated into an unproductively traumatic night
thursday 26th:
waking up hot and bothered
a nap
bank card pickup
turning around in woodstock
lunch downstairs, a quick walk
work, feeling sick, time out from work, dinner and a walkthrough, passing out on the couch,
friday 27th:
transferring to the bed at 2am and a few difficult wakeups with mr smear
waking up with a jolly mr smear just before the maid arrived
running late to the physio again
coming home to a clean apartment and the latest data from nutritionfacts.org
mr smear's first orange, the tailor, coffee, and the fish
the salary fee: my employer chose to pay me as a service, for which paypal takes an enormous fee. according to the agent i spoke to, salaries are meant to go through as transfers to friends or family... fortunately i managed to get my new employer to redo the transfer. thanks, paypal, and thanks government controls for making this harder than it needs to be. at least i now know how effective direct visa transfers are, so next month will be better.
a nap, getting ready for shabbat dinner, and a lovely evening at my uncle's with my sister's and cousin's families
saturday 28th:
a decent night but mr smear waking up early; bringing him into our bed where he was quite chilled until i was ready to get up, when i discovered that he'd filled his diaper and for the first time in a while when it counted it hadn't leaked everywhere
a serious back spasm to start a beautiful saturday morning, a pleasant experience switching out my rentacheapie car
driving back into the mist
nap day + visiting mom
letdown stress
call-a-pizza (solid salad) and GoT and letdown and mr smear's nightmares
sunday 29th:
a rough start, but a good rescue and brunch with airplane; successful furniture shopping with my mom, a rush to prep for dinner
delicious kale soup and bagels, another diaper dis-ass-ter
GoT
monday 30th:
another day of difficulty getting up, then aggression followed by wallowing in depression
the adelphi stalker, hardware non-advice, more breastfeeding complications than a mere winged insect
where did the afternoon go? (as usual)
mom's birthday visit, sealing windows, dinner and GoT
trying to figure out what to do for work
tuesday 31st:
learning how visual studio's unit tests are simple and extremely useful debugging tools (no need to install / uninstall services and attach processes), actually being engaged and working through to 3am
(witnessing mr smear's cutest moment, turning over and ta-ta-talking in his sleep)
sleeping in a little after the maid arrived, quick shopping followed by a quick return followed by some relaxing breakfast business
the "quick" outing to the waterfront, then the cape quarter, then canal walk; finding half of what we were looking for, experiencing the full range of road insanity along the way, mom's visit, rushed dinner, mr smear's refusal to sleep and later cramps
wednesday 1st:
me&you mobile being extremely unprofessional, some more solid hours playing with visual studio unit tests, another 3am night
another busy morning (although considerably more sleep than the day before), the physio, the first preschool call, scheckter's raw - delicious, but not particularly filling and i think i offended the guy at our shared table with my derision of "juicers", back home to go out again, the doctor, the pork pill confession, money puzzles followed by a long work night
thursday 2nd:
calling it a night at 4am
no rest for the wicked, busy morning and a fun hour with the therapist: she seems to be losing it, but her dogs playing with mr smear was totally awesome
a couple of short naps that barely made a difference, an attempt to take a walk to enjoy an incredible sunset that was overtaken by concern for a man on a bench who looked like he was going to die there (but he was too mobile for the emergency services to "waste their time")
mom coming over for a quick visit, helping us put mr smear to bed and giving us a chance to eat dinner and watch GoT
a long night of hard work
friday 3rd:
3am to bed, early up to rush to the chiropractor; fantastic job, but immediately compromised by my having to hold mr smear for gd's treatment
hurrying home, urgent napping, a stressful afternoon working through what i would later realize was me getting sick, missing mom and rushing off to dinner alone, initial awkwardness, a really nice dinner, back to work
saturday 4th:
3am, sleeping like a log and waking up with a horrible sore throat and feeling utterly wasted; whatever illness i've been cooking having been brought to a boil
acupuncturist, plant (shared new parent table), the waterfront, home for a short nap, an attempt to go for a walk but the cold wind sending us to my mom's where i passed out for a while
pizza burn (jalapeño) and lots of ginger (ale)
sunday 5th:
early morning furniture shopping (win! in spite of the dodgy salesmen), baby shopping (win! in spite of the sick kids), terrible drivers and smokers are assholes (a new father under the no smoking sign in an enclosed space next to the baby city entrance and his daughter), a lovely lunch (and the quebec city couple at the table next to us), home for a breather and then off for a walk to enjoy the gorgeous afternoon, the kid's park, smoothies, bumping into the quebec city couple again, another short walk through a different, even cooler park
no energy for date night, a relaxed evening being inspired by the first half of michael moore's where to invade next and then suddenly feeling terrible again and crashing urgently
monday 6th:
mr smear having a decent night but me struggling with sinusitis, waking up to a beautiful morning soured by the realization that the asshole contractor still hasn't done anything about our floors
the good handyman, a slow morning trying to rest, reading a bit, struggling with mr smear (trying to clean an angry, writhing boy is impossible), a shopping mission ending stressed by human traffic, back home to try out our new drying setup - why does anyone use a tumble dryer?! we have a spindle and an electric clothes dryer and they're not only cheaper and better for the environment but they're a far sight more effective and convenient
some GoT and a big dinner and trying to nap before work
tuesday 7th:
but waking up at 1am unable to breathe, about half an hour trying to reset my sinuses and then three hours of work
sleeping in (thanks to the cleaning lady), the asshole contractor making us REALLY angry by leaving early after jerking us around for two weeks; getting him to come back (and being amazed that he's using sandpaper instead of a sander), heading off to the department of home affairs for a surprisingly pleasant encounter and a deep sigh of relief, truth coffee baby talk, mr smear cancelling our trip to the company gardens by passing out on the way
big shopping, settling into our apartment which is really beginning to feel like we're serious about it (even if money's still tight, we're definitely getting more comfortable and are starting to need less urgently)
gd's big dinner just for me, completing where to invade next? (warmly recommended, great documentary), and making some important advances in spite of a sinus headache
wednesday 8th:
on the whole, a pretty shitty day in spite of the lovely weather. the varnish job. mr smear's heavy allergies. the physio visit, the ultraviolet gym inspection. coming home to walk and not walking. sleeping on the floor by the crib. still not walking, the second varnish job and the "no you're not smoking cigarettes on my balcony". the walk cancelled due to sunshine and wind. mom's place stopover, rearrangement stress and mom visit (and pharmacy delivery), the relentless mr smear and an uncomfortable gd and finally getting to work on sore legs
thursday 9th:
around 3am, after realizing that i was on the verge of passing out, mr smear woke with a fever and it would take over an hour and a half to get him back to sleep
things we didn't learn in school: sealing rooms against cold and wind causes breathing problems and mold. extraction fans in bathrooms need to be running both while the bath or shower is taking place and for at least fifteen minutes after leaving the room.
scraping another section of the floor right after finally getting the damage repaired, a mansplaining note, a power nap, waiting for the contractor to fix another issue that he caused and not only did he not show, but the caretaker had the audacity to say to me that we're giving them problems - no more nice and polite, that snivelling drunkard will learn to watch his step with me
gd's first (from scratch) soup, the bananas of wrath, the apology nap, the long good night mr smear with my mom's assistance, the superette run and getting mr smear into bed, dinner and GoT
friday 10th:
working hard but not getting very far, a couple of tough wakings but sleeping *really* well
my first cardio in over ten months: not bad, much needed, difficult to remember not to push too hard
a big lunch (gd's new soup), an afternoon spent absent-mindedly working and trying to take mr smear for a walk in the cold wind and struggling with him after his nap and GoT (okay, we finally know why the world was upset about the wedding) and managing bank accounts and credit cards and worrying about forex
saturday 11th:
a good night's sleep, introducing my wife to yakko, wakko and dot on a saturday morning. my gods, the animaniacs get even better as we get older!
Wednesday, June 08, 2016
quick political rant: BDS
it saddens me that the BDS movement is so successful in manipulating so many people into believing that it's in the interests of the palestinians. it's not. it's furthering a narrative that runs counter to any possibility of there ever being any kind of resolution in the middle east.
not only that, but the comparison to apartheid south africa will only work on people who have no idea what apartheid was or what the situation in israel and the no-longer-occupied territories actually is. it's highly offensive to south africans who lived through a horrific level of brutality and moral corruption, and it's highly offensive to israeli's who are maintaining a thankless high moral ground in spite of the perpetual existential threat posed by its neighbours.
the palestinians are - and have always been, since their separation and creation - political pawns of the arab countries surrounding israel, and they are getting possibly the rawest deal on the planet. they're being utterly destroyed, year after year, by oil-rich nations dehumanizing and weaponizing them in order to keep their own countries out of global focus and to keep israel too busy to deal with them. now israel's no angel, as i keep having to remind people, but it's certainly no demon either. they're doing the best they can with what they have, but while they do make mistakes i can tell you from personal experience that nothing you've heard in the western media comes close to the real story of what's happening on the ground. and most of the real story is so difficult to believe - as a westerner with western values - that it's far simpler to just pick a story and run with it, regardless of the facts and the nuances.
the BDS movement is a surefire way to distract everyone from the real evils going on in the middle east (including, but not limited to the real story behind the israeli / palestinian conflict) and to ensure that meaningful change is not affected: not for the palestinians, not for anyone else.
the only thing wrong with anyone trying to put a stop to the movement is their not educating people about it and providing context, explaining that it's based on shameless lies that harm all parties involved, that all it is really is a new way to generate antisemitism and simultaneously keep the palestinians under the thumbs of the same bastards that are destroying their own countries while everyone has their backs turned.
it's important to care about the palestinians, but the first step to making a positive difference is learning about them; not from an activist with an agenda, and not from google (filter bubbles), and not from sensationalist media outlets (the bias on cnn and bbc is just as extreme to the left as fox is to the right). you either go there and live it on both sides, or you interview people who've lived there on both sides.
not only that, but the comparison to apartheid south africa will only work on people who have no idea what apartheid was or what the situation in israel and the no-longer-occupied territories actually is. it's highly offensive to south africans who lived through a horrific level of brutality and moral corruption, and it's highly offensive to israeli's who are maintaining a thankless high moral ground in spite of the perpetual existential threat posed by its neighbours.
the palestinians are - and have always been, since their separation and creation - political pawns of the arab countries surrounding israel, and they are getting possibly the rawest deal on the planet. they're being utterly destroyed, year after year, by oil-rich nations dehumanizing and weaponizing them in order to keep their own countries out of global focus and to keep israel too busy to deal with them. now israel's no angel, as i keep having to remind people, but it's certainly no demon either. they're doing the best they can with what they have, but while they do make mistakes i can tell you from personal experience that nothing you've heard in the western media comes close to the real story of what's happening on the ground. and most of the real story is so difficult to believe - as a westerner with western values - that it's far simpler to just pick a story and run with it, regardless of the facts and the nuances.
the BDS movement is a surefire way to distract everyone from the real evils going on in the middle east (including, but not limited to the real story behind the israeli / palestinian conflict) and to ensure that meaningful change is not affected: not for the palestinians, not for anyone else.
the only thing wrong with anyone trying to put a stop to the movement is their not educating people about it and providing context, explaining that it's based on shameless lies that harm all parties involved, that all it is really is a new way to generate antisemitism and simultaneously keep the palestinians under the thumbs of the same bastards that are destroying their own countries while everyone has their backs turned.
it's important to care about the palestinians, but the first step to making a positive difference is learning about them; not from an activist with an agenda, and not from google (filter bubbles), and not from sensationalist media outlets (the bias on cnn and bbc is just as extreme to the left as fox is to the right). you either go there and live it on both sides, or you interview people who've lived there on both sides.
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