Random thoughts

So we're in the home stretch now, as it were. It's a bit calm-before-the-stormy as P's family start arriving on Sunday and then it gets all crazy. My sister has moved out to live with her bf, so the house will be somewhat less crowded. As excited as I am to be marrying my bear, I'm kinda over this whole wedding thing. Not that it's been stressful, it's just been so much planning and organising and stuff (not to mention worrying about finances) but everything seems ok now and on track and it should All Be Fine on the days concerned. I'm looking forward to seeing people I haven't seen in a while (and their new babies!).

My Ishbel shawl is finished and blocked and looks awesome! I've been meaning to put pics on my knitblog but the weathers been a bit yuck for taking pics so as soon as we get some nice weather I'll post pics of all my FOs. Wedding dress is nearly done, looking good. I've hit a bit of a bump with P's waistcoat and will have to re-cut the front facing and lining but the mock-up fit  so I'm not too concerned. I've been sewing at least 3 hours a night for the past week so I'm hoping the results will pay off. Or I'll possibly go blind :).

Also, there is a monkey's wedding outside today and the sky is full of rainbows. As I was driving along Settler's Way to work this morning there was a perfect rainbow framing Devil's Peak. Wish I'd taken a picture. Another really bright one against Table Mountain above Gardens, looked like I could reach out and touch it. Even though I know how they work it still doesn't take the magic out of them. See, woo people, science and knowing how things work doesn't make the world less magical or enjoyable!

ETA: due to a gigantic admin fuck-up my housebuilding henparty for this Saturday is cancelled. Basically they moved the build I signed up for to the Friday and cancelled the third build. The build that remained on the Saturday was then filled up. Then, they only booked me two slots as they didn't see the "party of 15 ppl" in the notes when I filled out the volunteer form! Completely useless. I was so disappointed that I nearly cried. I was really really looking forward to it and I know others were too. Hopefully we'll still get the chance to do it some day. There's a project I'm interested in call the Good Night God Bless sleeping bag, made from black bags and newspaper, so I might organise a day to do that sometime.

ps: if anyone wants banking details for honeymoon fund please email me or P.

There's a cheetah downstairs, in for its annual checkup. It's screaming the screams of a small child throwing a tantrum: angry, scared and futile. It's stopped now, I hope they got the anaesthesia in.

In other news, see knitblog for updates on projects (if you care) and a report on yesterday's Train Ride From Hell (tm).

( A rant on RSVPs... )

I just read an article on IOL about an informal settlement near Durban that's infested with rats. A baby was bitten. Apparently the rubbish-removal trucks can't get into the settlement to remove the stuff.

The thing that pisses me off, however, is this statement: "The municipality should hire us to clean up the place instead of bringing people from outside". Why is it the municipality's responsibility to get into your warren to remove your shit? Lady, there are rats eating your babies. Clean up your goddamn waste, ppl! If the trucks can't get in, organise community members to collect the shit in wheelbarrows and take it somewhere where the council can collect it, ffs.

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In other news: I've cut my hair, but very few people seem to have noticed. Granted, I do cut it every year to the same length, but a "hey, new haircut!" would be nice. Just FYI.

There's a petfood talk here tonight, until 8.30. I honestly don't see why I have to stay for it, I don't ever see myself having to help customers with pet food*. I'd much rather be at home on the couch with the cats and my knitting. I'm full of snot and my tummy hurts. And I'm tired. I need chocolate and strippers**. Or chocolate-covered strippers.

I am looking forward to one day when the world realises what an evil genius I am and pays me to not blow up the moon. Then I can stay home all day and knit and play with my cats and plot evil plans for world domination***.


* isn't that why I'm in the finance department, so that I don't have to deal with people except on the phone?!

** not necessarily in that order.

*** which I will sell on Etsy to 3rd world countries for a stonkload.


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Later that same day:

Ok, cheered up now. FSM bless Go Fug Yourself, cos nothing cheers me up like people being bitchy about other peoples' outfits. Also, tonight's talk comes catered with veg lasagne and chocolate brownies.

So, there's this craft group meeting that happens once a month in Cape Town. Jezze sent a little announcement of our KIP day event to this group as a private email. One of the ladies on the group, unbeknown to us, has a Cape Times column and asked if she could say something about WW KIP day. Instead she pastes (literally) Jezze's blurb (including her full name and email address) into her column with no fact checking or proof-reading by either of us. Now Chavendish is throwing a fit because I promised the events lady that it would be 10 people, sitting quietly and knitting with no promotions or exhibitions or any paraphernalia. But, because it's been in the media (even though we didn't mean it to) it's classed as an "event" and is not allowed as it might interfere with the people watching rugby in the food court. "Security has been briefed", apparently, and if it turns into 15 people then they'll politely ask them to leave. I'm totally going to email the "journalist" and her editor about how unprofessional this was and how it's fucked up our whole event.

I'm so despondent that I want to cry. How did a small social thing purely for fun turn into a media circus?! The radio guy this morning said he called Cav and they said nothing was happening, so he spoke to a lady in East London instead. I'm going to email him later and say that I'll still give him something, but I'll talk about WW KIP day in general and mention the other events around CT.

Jezze and I are going to go anyway and if more people show up then we'll tell them to move to coffee shops. The idea is that it's a self-running thing, people are just supposed to go somewhere public and knit, there doesn't have to be a reason or an organiser. I'm sad that something that was supposed to be fun and social has turned into something ugly and surreptitious. I also blame Elle for hijacking the day to promote breast cancer awareness with their KIP day kits. I don't begrudge anyone learning about breast cancer, but they've totally given people in SA the wrong idea that the day was organised by them to promote their cause.

The lady from Cav was very nice about it and totally understood that we never meant it to be in the media but she wanted me to understand their POV as a shopping centre and their duty to their tenants and so forth. She is happy to do something next year when it can be organised through the proper channels. But again, that totally defeats the object of just going somewhere public and knitting something for no specific reason. Sigh, why is it so hard to understand that people want to do something with no ulterior motive of promoting/exhibiting/selling something? If I were more of an anarchist I would organise something Flashmob style and try to get as many people as possible just to see what would happen. Totally take over their stupid ass-baring-jeans-wearing teenager-infested hellhole. But I don't want to burn bridges I might need to use next year, even if it's not Chavendish another centre might refuse because of this stunt. 

It's my last day at the office today, I start at the vet's on Tuesday and have taken Monday off to do admin stuff. The boss is in Jhb, but assures me that he'll be back in time to say goodbye. Yay.

I will miss some of the people here, but I'm so glad to be leaving and I can't wait to start at the new job. Lunchtime kitten fondling! I hope it's not a "grass is always greener" scenario and the new job is just as crappy. Well, we'll see.

I need to post about My Coke Fest and the awesomeness that is Jared Leto and Chris Cornell, but that will have to wait till I have more time. For now, just know that it rocked. Grunge is alive and well and rocking in Kenilworth.

Also, Rome (the TV series) is very good, despite the incest-pr0n.

I bought some make-up last night. I went for the Clarins automatically as I know it's cruelty-free. They did not have the shade of eye-shadow I wanted, so the woman pointed me to Givenchy. She assured me, several times, that it wasn't tested on animals. I told her it was something very important to me and I wouldn't buy it unless she could assure me that it was ok. So, I bought it and it was quite expensive. Now, after some Googling, it turns out that Givenchy is on the "banned" list according to Uncaged and The Bill Jordan Foundation from the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection's "Little book of cruelty free". So, I'm going to call Edgars today and demand a refund as I was blatantly misled. I'm actually quite pissed off. Next time, if it doesn't say so on the box, it's not bunny-free.

I am considering emailing Givenchy and asking them, but I don't know if they'll give me a straight answer.

Edit: I spoke to the cosmetics manager at Edgars, who said they'll gladly credit the makeup. She didn't seem that concerned that one of her salespeople blatantly lied to a customer to make a sale. What if I'd been a Muslim and bought a leather jacket that they assured me was cow and it turned out to be pig? I think I might actually write a letter to head-office, ccing a newspaper and animal rights group.

This started out as an edit to my last post, but ballooned into a rant.

Good grief, one of the Supersport channels on DSTV has been playing the rugby final on loop for the last 3 days. Ok, we won, life goes on people. There are more important things to think about: HIV, global warming, poverty, wars. Prioritise!

It saddens me that more people watched the rugby world cup final than saw An Inconvenient Truth. It's also probable that more people can name all the players in each side than know what the current HIV statistics are or how many people have died so far this year in wars on the African continent. I'm all for a little emotional upliftment in a country that seems to sorely need it* but let's get on with more important things. I think decreasing the HIV infection rate or lowering the unemployment statistics is much more of an admirable goal than a shiny cup**.

Is it just me who thinks this way, that sport and entertainment has much too high a place in our thoughts? I think I'll start some sort of ubuntu-socialism: every person has to spend at least half an hour a day contemplating the things that are wrong in the world and how they, personally, can contribute to making the world a better place.


* I saw an insert on the news this morning about an Indian trade fair in Jhb. One of the delegates was saying how they really want to invest in SA but the only things he's heard from hotel staff, taxi drivers and other SAffers he's met is "watch out for the crime". He said that to him it seems like South Africans think the majority of other South Africans are criminals. The reporter then went on to interview someone from an international business forum who said that the negative view of our country held by South Africans is the biggest obstacle to foreign investment.

** That we don't even get to keep. We have to give it back in 4 years (if it hasn't been stolen and sold for tik :P)***

*** No, I'm not one of those people who hold a negative view of SA. I think we are brimming over with potential. I am realistic about crime and other issues and I know we have some teething problems that we need to work on, but I think it's totally doable. I remain optimistic and proactive.

I'm wanting to make soup for a soup kitchen. You wouldn't think this would be a hard thing to do. But, it seems that the general consensus on the web is that if you're not affiliated with a religious group, you can't possibly want to do good in your community. I heard on the radio that the Salvation Army is running soup kitchens. They're pretty rambo-Christian, but say that they don't discriminate. I can't get an answer on any of the numbers in the phone book, all the websites I've tried don't work or have contact details that don't work. I know of lots of churches that do soup kitchens, but I'm not affiliated with any church.

Why can't there be one portal site/wrangler for people wanting to help? Is it so hard to allocate willing people with skills to a place that needs them? I'm sure there are many people out there who would volunteer if it were made really easy to them. I've had this problem before, you have to really go looking for a charity that suits you, and when you do find them it's hard to get in contact with someone (I guess they're too busy out doing good to answer the phone). I think the inherent problem with NGOs is the bad admin. It seems to be a major fault, especially the smaller ones. There's so much to do that they can't spare a person for admin. If I had webskillz I would do something about it, dammit.

Anyway, dear readers, can anyone point me in the right direction? I don't mind if it's religious, but I'm not, so preferably something secular.