Now, you might want to dismiss this as the ramblings of a 25-year-old woman who likes dressing up fancy and baking cakes a little too much, but hear me out. I had a tea party yesterday evening (in the balmy dusk air, under a tree, with two kinds of cake and homemade biscuits and sandwiches […]
Lifestyle
Posted inLifestyle
Pass the eggnog, I’m sick of Christmas already
I’ve heard of Christmas in July, but Christmas in October is pushing the limits of reason. There are houses on Duncan Street in Pretoria that have neon reindeer, Santas and elves, lit up like a bordello. Yesterday my radio was playing Last Christmas by George Michael, and you can buy Christmas decorations at Game and […]
Posted inLifestyle
Angry utterance (9)*
For two weeks, there was something wrong with the world. It was like there was yin but no yang — or was there yang but no yin? It’s sometimes too difficult to tell one’s yin from one’s yang. The day started off just like any other day with Khwezi, our toddler, waking us up at […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Sexpo revealed — with video
Is this going to an Eyes Wide Shut experience? Will Dirk Diggler be there showing off his manhood? Can I cop a feel or what? This Sexpo thing had me wondering from the moment I saw the first of many billboards around Johannesburg. When I heard “a guy would be painting with his … ahem […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics, Sport
Go, Bokke … (Well, most of the time)
Rugby bamboozles me. It must be passing the ball backwards and running forward at the same time. I have also never played rugby — if you exclude a couple of games of that sissy sport touch rugby. Of course, that qualifies me to write an article on rugby. And that’s being more ambitious than wanting […]
Posted inLifestyle
When Mick Jagger sang ‘Sympathy for the Devil’, was he referring to record companies?
I read on the Mail & Guardian that there is an intriguing trial under way in Minnesota. Jammie Thomas is one of 26 000 people being sued by a viper’s nest of record companies for making available songs on her PC for download via Kazaa, a popular peer-to-peer MP3 download mechanism that replaced the trailblazing Napster. […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Innovation to the top — climbing Kilimanjaro in a wheelchair
Bern Goosen is a South African quadriplegic, and tomorrow he will begin his third attempt to mount Kilimanjaro. In a wheelchair. He won’t be pushed. He won’t be carried. He will use his brute strength to get there, and you can watch it all on your computer. Thanks to the collaboration of local technology companies, […]
Posted inLifestyle
Perhaps this is too revealing …
… but I’m really not okay with not having another first kiss. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in the happiest relationship I can imagine, I wouldn’t want to be single and the thought of prowling clubs for a half-decent guy fills me with cold dread. But that moment! That just-before-a-first-kiss moment! That instant when you […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, Tech
Blogging Player of the Week: One more, with feeling
You may not have heard of this week’s choice for blogging Player of the Week, but you have probably come across her writing, reporting and commentary — probably in isolation of the bigger picture of the amazing work she does in her blogs. Damaria Senne makes her living from covering technology issues for ITWeb, but […]
Posted inLifestyle
Voda … please go
Earlier this year I moved house and went to the nearest Vodacom shop to change my billing address. I filled out the required form, signed it and had them make a copy of my ID, which was then faxed to the Vodacom head office. It’s now several months later … but I still don’t get […]
Posted inLifestyle
The KFC nightmare
There is a road I drive along frequently whenever I’m in Durban — a road that cuts through a squatter camp and passes a number of makeshift roadside stalls (hairdresser, general store, butchery) and a glut of fast-food joints (Nando’s, KFC, Chicken Licken). I was stopped at a traffic light last time I was in […]
Posted inLifestyle
Eskom II — This time with solar water heaters
From the makers of “Colour-coded power-shedding warnings R Us” in conjunction with Disney Channel and MGM we bring you the moving story (which you will be if this goes wrong), of a power company’s attempt to get everyone into hot water … or something like that. The technicians were shot on location. It all begins […]