another one of those Questionaires...

I stopped filling these thing out years ago, but this one was sent by a friend I haven't been in contact with for ages so I replied...

Since I have nothing else to say at the moment, here goes:
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1. What is your occupation?
Project Manager on Ubuntu and Edubuntu projects.

2. Like banana sandwiches?
No, but I like peanut butter and banana on toast.

3. What are you listening to right now?
Nothing - I seldom work to music, it can be distracting. I like silence. The rest of my life is noisy.

4. What was the last thing you ate?
Winter melon with honey sweetened plain yogurt.

5. Do you wish on stars?
No. I do have a sense of universal will, but mostly I think we influence our own lives through our own conscious choices.

6. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
One of those multi-coloured ones ;)

7. How is the weather right now?
Clear skies and sunny, slightly cool, with a fresh breeze. A good day.

8. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
Richard. Yesterday. Most of my work does not involve the phone these days YAY. I hate speaking on the phone.

9. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Yes, Lischka is sweet and fun and funky.

10. How old are you today?
31

11. Favourite sport to watch?
My kids practising, and any SA national team competition.

12. Have you ever dyed your hair?
Yes!

13. Do you wear contacts or glasses?
Neither. I still have my own eyes.

14. Pets?
We have 2 cats and 2 rats.

15. Favourite month?
December, because there is so much FUN stuff going on. We seem to do so much in December and it creates lots of memories.

16. Favourite food?
Sushi, Thai, Italian.

17. What was the last movie you watched?
Tsotsi. Excellent movie - a bit hard to watch.

18. Favourite day of the year?
The day of the MCQP :)

19. What do you do to prevent anger?
I do yoga, kata boxing and running to blow of steam and relax.

20. What was your favourite toy as a child?
My 1st Love Doll and my lego.

21. Fall or spring?
Spring

22. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs

23. Cherry or Blueberry?
Cherry

24. Do you want your friends to email you?
Yes.

25. When was the last time you cried?
Last night while watching Million Dollar Baby again. Other than that it's been a while.

26. What is on the floor of your closet?
Shoe boxes and lately lingerie boxes.

27. Who is the friend you have had the longest?
Jenny - since Std 6 (Grade 8)

28.What did you do last night?
Watched Million Dollar Baby on TV.

29. What are you afraid of?
Not being good enough.

30. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Cheese
Grilled chicken burger!

31. Favourite car?
I love the Renault Clio - or is it Theiry Henry?

32. Favourite dog breed?
I am not a fan of dogs, but Jack Russell's can be very cute and characterful. if I were to get a dog it would most likely be a Jack Russell.

33. Number of keys on your key ring?
1! Just my car key. I keep my other keys on a separate ring, which hardly gets used anymore.

34. How many years at your current job?
Nearly 1 year.

35. Favourite day of the week?
Saturday

36. How many cities have you lived in?
3 - Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria

Quinn can play chess

For Quinn's first term of school he has chosen the following extramurals: Mini-Tennis, Chess and Park-Cricket.

He wanted to do Judo, and pottery as well, but those had substantial additional costs - which I was not too keen on after already coughing up for a brand new school uniform (blazer, shoes, jersey, 2x ties, 3x shirts, 3x shorts, 3x pairs of socks, school hat, school bag, homework and lunch bag!), sports wear (3 x white shorts, 2x black shorts, 3x white shirts, 3x sports socks, pair of takkies, school swimsuit, house coloured athletics shirt and school tracksuit) and after care clothes (3x navy blue shorts, 3x navy blue shirts), paying school and aftercare fees, and the stationery and other requisite paraphernalia! Whew there is a lot of stuff to get for school and it costs a lot of money! To be honest I don't know how single income families cope - but I digress. Also I thought he should not be too overloaded in the first term. There needs to be enough time for general horsing around too!

He is enjoying both the tennis and cricket, but on the days he doesn't do sport I have found he is more interested in watching the older children do their home work, colouring-in, trading Yu-Gi-Oh cards (UGH!) or playing with lego or other constructions sets, or creative or quiet games rather than just pushing and shoving on the play ground like many of the other kids. Ocassionally he will join one of the more organised football or cricket games on the play ground - especially with the older children.

He definitely seems to prefer more measured and controlled activity than just being part of general mayhem (except at home, where he seems to think it's fine!) ;)

He has been keen on the idea of chess, ever since seeing Wizard's Chess on Harry Potter. We tried to enrol him in the beginners chess course, but it was full and he didn't get in. I decided to send him off to the regular session anyway, since he wanted to do chess. I didn't think it would work out though and I was going to try for the beginners course again next term.

Well, he has been for 4 lessons now, and 2 nights ago I decided to set our chess board up and see what he can do... I took it very slow and made obvious errors and played into him. At times I made a silly move, putting my pawn for instance in danger, but not paying atention, and he saw that I had also risked my queen (which I hadn't even noticed) and took her. OUCH. He ended up taking every single one of my pieces (save the king), so I declared him the winner.

Last night I set up the board again. I decided to take it a little more seriously, so was still discussing pros and cons of moves with him and helping him a little, but the blighter got everyone of my pieces again! leaving only my King wondering around the board all by his loney self. ;( Dang.

So now all bets are off. I have got to beat this child... or give back my primary school chess trophy! :)

Update: Yeah I beat him! But he didn't make it easy and very nearly foiled my evil plan. He now knows my 4 knight opening, and how to check mate with Rooks and a Queen. Hopefully he'll slaughter his buddies at chess today! ;)

Brotherly Love

Here's my last progression series...

The Brothers (2002 - 2006)

Boys 1-4 years old

I was inspired by the first series of pics, so I hacked together a photo collage of each of the boys from 1 to 4 years old. It's nice to see the pics next to each other and see how they each grow and change, as well as how they are different and similar at the same age.

I hope they like them.

Quinn 1-4 years old (2001-2003).

Griffin 1-4 years old (2003- 2005)

The boy's first year

I was feeling a bit down and introspective earlier, so I decided to take a break and look at some old photos. I ended up making a progression photo showing how each of my boys grew in their first year.

Here they are:

Quinn (Jan - Dec 2000)

Griffin (Nov 2001 - Nov 2002)

It's getting hot in here,

so take off all your clothes...
I am getting so hot I'm gonna take my clothes off!
(As the song goes - and it's very apt today)

Cape Town is cooking today - the forecast as 41 degrees, my weather widget was on 37 degrees at 12pm, and take a look at my thermometer - which is in the shade and in a breeze on the windows sill. It feels like we are inside an oven!
I just went for a quick swim to cool down, and am now working in bikini - so there!

This is quite a contrast to last week, when I wore a long sleeve vest, long sleeve shirt and jersey on Wednesday evening, and boots and a coat on Friday. Weird.

Update: It get's worse! this is what my thermometer looks like at 4pm... *melt*

Tsotsi

We went to see 'Tsotsi' on Friday, and heard this morning that it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film last night.

Yay! Well done.
It's about time a South African film won, and as the director Gavin Hood said, 'Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika'

I was dissappointed that 'Yesterday' didn't win last year, because that was also very deserving of an award.

The Tsotsi wikipedia entry summarises the film as 'Falling into the genre of drama, the film centers on the life of a young Johannesburg township gang leader named Tsotsi - a colloquial term roughly meaning "thug" in South African township slang in which the movie is filmed. An AIDS orphan, he grows up on the streets amid poverty, violence and crime.

Tsotsi is set on the road to redemption when he hijacks a car one night, only to later find a baby on the backseat. He makes the decision to care for the baby himself, and slowly his gangster exterior fades as he learns about empathy and compassion.'

The film's official site summarises it as 'Set amidst the sprawling Johannesburg township of Soweto - where survival is the primary objective - TSOTSI traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader who ends up caring for a baby accidentally kidnapped during a car-jacking.

TSOTSI is a gritty and moving portrait of an angry young man living in a state of extreme urban deprivation. His world pumps with the raw energy of "Kwaito music" - the modern beat of the ghetto that reflects his troubled state of mind.

The film is a psychological thriller in which the protagonist is compelled to confront his own brutal nature and face the consequences of his actions. It puts a human face on both the victims and the perpetrators of violent crime and is ultimately a story of hope and a triumph of love over rage.'

The film itself is pretty hectic to watch, and there are scenes with the baby, and one with a dog which make you wince. This film is unsettling and rattles your comfort - not a film to relax to at all.

It is however very moving and very well done. The leading role of township thug Tsotsi is brilliantly played by Presley Chweneyagae, who captures the contrast of tough uncaring thug and hurt and loney child excellently. I also thought that Miriam, played by Terry Pheto was beautiful and really soulful.

My one concern was it's portrayal of South Africa, and that forgeiners would get the impression that that is all of SA. It's not. It's a facet, but it is reality for many many people here, and so I do think that should be shown.

I also liked that way that the film avoided unneccesary racial tention, by making all the characters black. Clever.

I recommend you see it.

Test your intelligence

Something which really revels my inner-geek, is my love for brain-teasers, lateral thinking and IQ tests.

I have been known to spend hours of my free time doing IQ tests and other puzzles, because once I get started I don't want to stop. I really enjoy the challenge.

I have stopped short of doing the mensa exam (even though I was invited to sit it after completing the on-line work out) for the silly reason that I would rather go through life thinking I *could* be a mensa memeber - rather than knowing I am NOT. Lame I know.

I was sent the link to these 2 tests today.
I have previously seen a similar one to the first, but the second is all new.

Here they are:

Intelligence Test Part 1

Intelligence Test Part 2

I got:
- 33/33 for test number 1, and
- 21/24 for test 2 so far, but I will be pondering it some more until I crack it!

Update: I now have 22/24 - after 24-hours. I got 16/24 immediately, and others came to me during the day. I am still stuck on the last 2... *think* *think*

Another Update: Ok I now have 24/24 - but was given the last 2 answers... PAH. It's not half as satisfying as figuring it out for yourself... still at least now I will stop being tormented by this test, and can again rest with a calm mind...

Test yourself and see how you do.