Thank You.

Dear Mr. Jensen,*

I have never expressed how grateful I am to you for hiring me those many years ago. Your single act of giving me an occupation has brought about far more than I think you may realize and now is the time, on the eve of my working career here at WSP*, to let you know how much I appreciate your act of kindness.

I was nothing but a glorified servant, bringing people their food, with a head full of inexperienced knowledge but desperately trying to obtain an opportunity to prove myself useful in an occupation that simply wouldn’t let me in. I would see what I so sorely desired as if I were a child with my face up against the window of a wealthy homestead but with no hope of entry or invitation. Finally, and may I say extremely near the end of my tether, someone – you – opened the door and let me in.

That simple act of trust changed everything – EVERYTHING!

In retrospect I honestly believe I would never have the home I lived in, the car I drive or the same love of the family I have as I was on a very dark road leading ever further into even darker territory. You allowed me to step into a place full of light, hope and possibility and I dare say that I’ve thrived!

Because of you I was given the opportunities to improve on the knowledge I had, been afforded amazing experiences (yes, even rats the size of poodles I cherish), and gone to far and exotic destinations like Tzaneen and Roodepoort.

Mr. Jensen,* thank you for your helping hand and seeing something (I still don’t know what) in that interview that led you to hire me and allowed me to become far more than I ever thought I could be.

With all my gratitude,

Gabriel Black.

*All names have been changed to protect the innocent...and the virginity of those involved.

Child's Perceptions

A child’s perception of the world can be very skewed.

As a child I went to an all boy catholic school. It never occurred to me that there weren’t girls at the school. They weren’t there so I didn’t notice that they weren’t there. Also, this was during the apartheid era in South Africa and privately run catholic schools taught any race or creed so I was blissfully unaware that there was even such a thing as apartheid.

This perception changed when my family decided to move to Johannesburg and I was put in a government school.

There were girls in this school, learning alongside the boys. Now that they were visibly at school, it occurred to me that they weren’t at the private school. I thought that girls in the coast must not do careers but must simply stay at home and do house work or have boyfriends and get married or something because they didn’t go to school. The girls in Johannesburg must want to work and have careers if they were going to school!

Heavens knows where I got this notion from because my cousins and aunt were at school in the coast and I didn’t get to see them until late in the afternoon on some days because of it. They’d arrive home with their school clothes on, so where I got the notion that the girls on the coast didn’t work or go to school I have no idea!

Then there was the race thing. There were no races other than white in the government school. I simply thought there were a lot more white people living in Johannesburg and that’s why there weren’t any children of other races at school. It never occurred to me that they weren’t allowed to attend!

Funny how children think and a pity I had to grow up…

Sometimes stuff.

I get weirdly excited about watching WWE. (Yes, wrestling entertainment)

I feel overwhelmed with gratitude when I receive regular, ordinary service.

I can't stop thinking about selling the house.

I just want to eat scones with cream and strawberry jam & tea all day, every day.

I am kinda a bad person and have gone to confession for this long, long ago. I'm no longer that person.

I wish I could dye my hair black and have it straightened really, really straight.

I just don't understand the allure of golf.

I can't believe how close I am to my wife and daughter.

I strongly consider spending a lot of money on a Polar fitness heart rate monitor, but won't.

Ciao for now.

Quirky things.

There are quirky things I sometimes ponder, but never receive answer to.

Why does water sometimes not quench a thirst?
Why do some feel they're more important than others?
Why do people insist that their bodies be buried?
Why are the urinals at the Chinese temple uncomfortably high especially since the Chinese are notoriously short?
How can love (of a thing) turn to hate quicker than souring milk?
Are muffins really better than scones?
Has Ronald MacDonald actually been to the abattoir?

Ciao for now.

Sometimes...I copy stuff.

Sam’s post – something interesting to do on Friday…

Sometimes...

It's hard for me to hold my tongue when I lose my patience. 

I'm reminded of how much I love my family of girls when my daughter smiles or my wife says something encouraging. 

I feel self-conscious when there’s a party and merriment around me. 

I am mildly dishonest when I sometimes cheat with foods that I ought not to eat.

I can't imagine a world without my wife and daughter. 

I'm surprised that I still have the desire and drive to learn new things.

I get a little too easily wrapped up in my work.  

I indulge in guilty pleasures like extra cups of filter coffee at work. 

I wish all things in life were as wonderful as playing in a band and things click ‘just so’. 

Follow the link and copy/paste with your own answers.

Ciao for now.

That thing that you do...

…and so the excesses of a pre-Christmas wedding feast, the Christmas feast and the New Years feast drift away as if of smoke. The monotonous routine of administration, acquiring new skills and crippling deadlines has begun its relentless march into the fresh compartment of time – the New Year.

I have souvenirs though, a larger mid-section (in my defence, not as large as it could have been) and a new want of abs, a dull ache of the heart because I miss my wife and daughter (we spent our days in each other’s company) and thankfully a new feeling of vigour and a vague hope that everything planned and wished for will unfold effortlessly.

I’ve learnt much by simple observation of the populace of the above mentioned feasts. I’ve learnt that we can make ourselves ill, physically ill, by not taking cognisance of what we are doing to ourselves. I’ll admit fault here too! This is possibly the first year I’ve ever been completely sober and fully aware of the happenings around me. Previously I’ve always peered through whiskey or beer tinted glasses where everything’s a laugh and excess is the comfortable mattress upon which your mind perpetually rests quaffing bonbons of delightful anecdotes and soft, pink prattle.

This year everything was sharp and horrifying. There was a delightful, large (obese) lady and her overweight husband seated with us at the wedding reception. The reception was held at an ‘all you can eat’ buffet restaurant (and this factual titbit will be relevant shortly). The lady was using a cane to help her walk. Now whether she gained her excessive size because her joints didn’t work correctly or her joints weren’t working correctly because of her excessive size isn’t of concern. What fascinated me was that she’d changed her habits remarkably! Due to the large layout of the restaurant and the various little landings and their stairs, it was rather tedious for her to navigate and procure food. This didn’t hinder her though. Her well trained overweight husband was fetching food for her and all the right kind of foods to keep her in her present state – neigh, aggravate it!

Three bowls of creamy, rich dessert later all brought on her behest by her husband and I managed to tear my eyes away and notice how many of the yet cane-less people were determinedly trying to kill themselves or inflict serious bodily harm upon themselves with food! What an epiphany – we’re accountable to ourselves for what we are and the condition we find ourselves in! No-one made me eat the lasagnes, the desserts and mounds of food that have made me fat, it was my own right hand that fed me one morsel at a time.  

I really need to watch that right hand from now on!