New bloody Yahoo! thing

So, I did this sodding 360 thing (here). Sort your own one and add me, if you wish.

Citrusdal et al

So, we went to this place in Citrusda called "The Baths" (click here for site). It was pretty cool. The hot spring's recorded history dates back to 1739, but I'm sure the San made use of the water. Anyway, it was great. We hiked, bathed, saw old people skinny dip... it was terribly awesome. Got back today and I felt as if I had been rebuilt. I feel stronger, smarter, more agressive. I feel like I could... like I could... TAKE ON THE WORLD (a little "Day of the Tentacle" reference for you). I also spied a South Africa sitcom celeb there - but I didn't (due to my track record with such things) bother him.

On our way back we stopped at this awesome farm stall. They had samples of all the fruit things they sold and everything was delicious. My favourites were the dates and the "novelties" (a hybrid navel/nartjie - amazing!). I also bought a bag of loose leaf rooibos. Life is good...

...except for the stupid damn new dog we have. We are dog sitting her until she gets some owners. I pity it so much I almost hate it. It was abused terribly by its previous owners and I am not without compassion... but seriously. This dog is... well, see for yourself: SNOWY

And that's all for now,
Carl out.

An exercise I did a while ago

Green

She had cigarette-ad looks
bought with bruises
that leered out from the folds
of that lizard tint dress

Sweat slimed your fingers
her tongue a blade of grass
behind picket fence teeth
that lied about lawns

Sparks were born in her wineglass
she would snap the delicate stem
you thought and more
if not for her thorns

Citrusdal

Today I am going on holiday to Citrusdal until late Friday evening. There are hot baths there. Excellent.

Carl Out

Cape Town CIty Hall Centenial Gala

So after my night at "Gandalf's" I attend a gala at the Cape Town City Hall. It was pretty awesome. I would have had

more fun if I knew more pieces, but what can you do? "Jesu, joy..." was excellent. The organists were mostly good and

the youth orchestra was even decent (they played some Beethoven and the good ol' William Tell ovature).

It was pretty depressing. One of the organists was the same age as me. Not only was he the organist and choir master

of a local Anglican church, but he was also unveiling a composition of his own as part of the programme. The piece

was cheekily named "African Renaissance" though it sounded like the soundtrack from a '50s Western. Oh yes, I'm

bitterly jealous.

Finlandia was great, by the way. But come on, anything vaguely linked to the Kalevala makes me all giddy inside. But

I will stop short of typing up the programme for you. I hope to attend some more concerts before long. I am glad

funding is going to the arts again. We don't have a symphony orchestra anymore. Or a symphony choir. But we still

have a Philharmonic both. And this concert was mostly to raise funds for the organ which is also 100 years old.

Awesome.

Metal show

I went to a metal show on Saturday. It was hilarious. Well, the music was pretty cool, but the vocals: lame. I like

screaming, but I prefer singing. Some bands have awesome screaming. System of a Down is an example of totally cool

screaming. If you're a group of 15-21 year-old metal dudes, the no shirts and the screaming makes me laugh. It's

nothing personal, sorry dudes. Also, at the best of times I could only make out a few lyrics. Things like "kill the

priest *growl* SACRIFICE *splutter* robot affliction!" Don't give up your day... I mean, don't drop out of school

yet.

Beside that, I had a great time. We were in the suburb of Observatory at a venue called "Gandalf's." This is one of

several Tolkienesque places in the area. Just upstairs from "Gandalf's" is "Mordor" and down the road you can mosh at

"One Ring." Lame or sweet. I can't tell, really.

Nevermind the nevermind, it's the Sex Pistols

So, it seems to be working now. Go for it.

Stupid Geocities

OK, nevermind. The movie is up, but I have used up my "Data Transfers" for this month/era/whatever. Suck.

Carl Fights The Pretend Monsters Part 2

Haha! I was only kidding about not finishing it.

Here

"GOTH" Party

So it happened. I dressed up like a pirate. Why? Because somehow I knew the Metrosexual population of Cape Town would not be seen DEAD dressed as the the dead. I did wear mostly black and dyed my bear and hair. Tim has photos... soon I will post them.

I rediscovered the wonder of Namibian beer. You see, Namibia used to be German colony (the only German colony). Because of this I was even able to find a BOCK (it was too malty and a little sweet) and a wondrous beer called "Finest TAFEL Lager." This is hands down the best beer have ever swallowed. Nice.

Bruce suggested we stand on the garage roof and sing Monty Python songs. That was awesome. Tim road his unicycle up and down the passage, thrilling the drunk women and frightening the sobre ones.

There were probably 4 or 5 people there who looked gothic. And I ARRed and AVASTed at them all.

In other news... I have decided that I love Rammstein. They have awesome videos and excellent songs. In fact, since I have been back I have been listening mostly to The Cure, System of a Down and now Rammstein. Great stuff. Clayton also recommended a band called Opeth. They are amazing.

I'm looking into returning like a Jedi around September for 3-4 months to resent my Green Card requirements (that way I don't have to come back to the US in the middle of my degree). I will be back home for Christmas, though.

Carl OUT

In responce to Knell, a ramble

Kristina posted this a while ago:

Forth Fun

Yeah. Since I've been back I've walked past hundreds (literally) of homeless men or children. Mostly I ignore them and tell them I have no money. Usually I'm not lying because I've just spent it all on pizza and some wine.

Today I told this schizo guy who hangs around St George's cathedral that he should go to the concert at city hall in two weeks.

No money for him, no food. In fact, I've been here for a short time, and the homeless already piss me off. Not the idea of homelessness, or their plight... THEY piss me off, asking me for stuff every single time I go anywhere.

And I spend most of my time bitching about Internet.

But I'll wake up tomorrow (around 10am or so) and I'll be in my bed, there'll be that racist foreman next door hurling slurs at the black bricklayers (and he's not white either) and I'll make my visit to an Internet cafe.

Spend, spend, spend.

But, hey, that's how it is. I guess I could give away my money, but I don't really have very much. I'd fuel 1 guy's meth habit for a week on my monthly allowance.

Yeah - tough.

I want better Internet

So, Tim's Internet connection didn't work that well. Mostly, I think it's just a problem with the bottle neck getting out of ZA, but man... Garona has been impossible.

Sorry friends, looks like I'll have to come back to America in order to play my MMOs.

Scratch that

Ok... don't have enough room on my geocities account for those sites. Let me wrangle something...

So, those links won't work in the last post.

"Batman Begins" is a pretty fun film, btw. Rivals Hellboy. Blows Spiderman(s) out of the water. Up there with X-Men 2 for sure.

Old pages back up and...

I have a confession to make: In a moment of weekness I bought a month of SWG. This was stupid, I know, but the lag isn't as bad on the European servers and all that.

I will still be on Garona as Billious and Shadow Council as Derdriu, but probably when you are fast asleep.

Right now I haven't really started a SWG character that I like. What server where you on, Jeff?

Also... Old sites restored! Tim's server is down, but I have fished my old files off his pc... ding:

The Nothing
Moleke Mbembe

Wilderness/Walled City poem #1

he left home
independence on his tongue
wisdom in the books he fingered

at his back
the garden was a pock of green,
in the red of desert grit

he chewed a dried fig
the last of a fallen tree
now buried in the crumbling earth

he carried twice his weight in books
but heat and hunger
forced him to eat their leaves

then he had no food
and one night, as he slept
the earth swallowed him

he swam in the rivers that fed a city
and awoke in the wrinkles of a riverbed
to find the whispers of a path

chalked bones were cairns
he was living on the water's vapours
on mist from a distant sea

at last he fell down
the walls, dust spattered,
the gates hung askew

his bones were chalk
a fig sprouted from his palm
its roots sunk to the waters that fed the city

The Vikings Are Coming... Fall 2005

Few things make me just pee my pants with joy. Normally I cry with joy. Peeing with joy is something I do very seldom.

I picked up the 2005 Lego catalog yesterday (I read Lego catalogs instead of Sports Illustrated or Playboy). Well, I was just a paging when I happened upon the coolest thing I have ever seen in a Lego catalog:

THE VIKING ARE COMING... FALL 2005!!!!

Man... this is what I've been waiting for my whole life (I just didn't know it). Viking LEGO! The world has ended! Fenris has devoured Odin in the final battle! Thor has killed the Midgard serpent! Well, maybe not.

Here's a link: LEGO VIKINGS! VIKINGS OF LEGO!

Crud, it's Tuesday

I never got the hang of Tuesdays... and server update rubbish.

WoW and post

I am going online right now! Catch you on Garona... wait... everyone's at work. Stink.

So, er, could someone buy the Police "Synchronicity" t-shirt for me from Hot-Topic? I'll pay you back in money or redpaste or anything roughly equal to the cost of the shirt. I think it's around $10 (before tax and postage). Anyway, the shirt was on sale.

Also, if you would like a postcard, send me a mail and I'll post you one. If you are picky in your choice of p-cards, give me a categorey, and I will search out one that matches your picky-ass specifications.

There's that...
Now.. GARONA!

I am a LIGER!!!!

You are pretty much the coolest animal, a Liger.


Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Back to the Olde Kinde of Update

Contents:
I. Wiccans that were not that psychic
II. Videos
III. RPGs and other things that alienate me here
IV. Goth party

I. Wiccans that were not that psychic

So I was out with the guys going to metal clubs and the like. I was shocked at the amount of groping I witnessed whilst people danced to System of A Down and Rage Against the Machine. Why was I shocked? Because it's stupid and well... Yeah, this guy was groping and kissing this girl right behind me on the balcony... like he was bumping into me and stuff... they looked to be 12 or something (so they were probably my age, then)... not to mention the used condom that was lying there. I made a great many off-colour jokes about that, believe you me! Anyway, we thought they were going to fall off into the street - but I digress...

Brendon and I go to get some food. We go to this corner cafe (when I say cafe, pronounce it "kaffee" and think of a KwikiMart) and there were all these incense flavours... some called "Scare Away Evil" flavour or "Healthy" flavour. It was hilarous. So, this gothed-out girl and guy come in. They start talking to this Indian guy that works there about dreams and crap. Anyway, as we pay for out hotdogs they start trying to be psychic with Brendon... this is awesome. He tells them they are being incredibly vague. And they try to be less so, but fail. Then they get on to me. The Indian guys says I have something I like to do... but something is holding me back and I don't know what it is. GOOD GRIEF! So the athletic goth has a try. He asks me if I live close to the mountain. I don't... I live so far from the mountain that it's blue in the distance. In fact, Table View is next to Blauwberg (blue mountain... cos the mountain is far away). I tell him, "Table View." So he gets excited! I told you he lived close to the mountain, he says. I live closer to the OTHER mountains... the ones that are beyond the northern suburbs of Cape Town... anyway, so they go on... He tells me that I need to come out of my shell. At this I grin at Brendon with sheer amusement. He also tells me I should go out to dangerous places, even if it means getting beaten up - my body will heal. At this point we leave.

These psychics did many other fantastic things, like guess (incorrently) my star sign and invite us to Gotham (the goth club next to One Ring, the rock club where the groping was happening). Yeah, we went to play pool at the trendy pub. Clayton remains excited about Gotham, so I will no doubt go there sometime. Hope people don't try to guess my star sign all night. I officially changed it in 1997 when I joined the Spam Club on Pythonline.com. It has been "Spam" ever since. I still have the certificate somewhere.

II. Videos
So, don't expect a continuation of "Carl fights the blah blah blah...." My beard and the grass are longer since I shot part one and I'm all about continuity. Just so you know, I shot all the footage with my dad's Casio digital camera (a for-pictures one) and did all the editing in Windows Movie Maker. Expect more movies soon - I'll need to steal my dad's camera for that, but no worries, it will happen. Also, Dolphin Beach is the beach closest to my mom's house. When traphic is low, it's a 5-10 minute drive. There's a Spur right there, too. The Santa Monica Spur (each Spur is named something vaguely America).

III. RPGs and other things that alienate me here
I'm never going to find a normal group of roleplayers... by normal I mean people who won't try to guess my star sign, etc. I'm trying to psyche my friends up about some 3.5 - but I need to buy the books, they have none. *sigh* I'm carrying my dice, a Champions of Kamigawa theme deck and those black glassy gaming tokens I bought before I ever played anything really geeky (they were on sale). If I started rolling dice on the table here at the coffee shop... they'd kick my business out for sure.

IV. Goth party
So we're having a a theme party on the 16th at Dan, Brendon and Tim's house. It's a "Goth Party." I guess that's pretty ridiculous. Expect photos. I want to dress like the guy from the Cure... but with a beard. And no... that doesn't mean Kristina will be at the party. Not THAT beard. If you have not not seen my beard, look at the movies I done made. It is substantial.

CARL OUT...