The Fool and The Goddess

There once was a man, a broken man, lost in the sea of life and love. He undertook a journey of discovery and sought enlightenment. He traveled East believing he would find some answers there. He, like Buddha, sat under trees waiting for answers, but they never came.

He saw the sick and the frail, knowing that one day soon he too would be nothing more than dust and still with no assurance of what lay beyond the abyss.
One road took him to India, still seeing human decay, still no philosophy to comfort him

Then one night, he saw the goddess.
The Physical manifestation of perfection.
Her face was narrow and fine. Slanted almond eyes and small perfectly framed mouth.

The man felt both elated and ill. Her beauty inspired the divine but also the carnal.
The war which raged inside him such that his body struggled to know how to respond.

Surely she was a goddess,
Surely she knew all things, because she asked no questions
Surely she had done all things, because she made no movements
Surely she needed nothing, for she said nothing.
She would never age like those around her. She was made to last.

The man pledged his life to the goddess, what small matter that she was made of stone.
Maidens came and went but none compared to the goddess.
The man became blind to the comforts of a soft embrace of flesh and bone.
But the weather changed as winter was approaching and the winds and rains came as they
often do with fury and without warning.

The man a times felt frightened by lightening and the winds and the ghosts of the past and future. At times he reached a hand out to the goddess... "Just one embrace" he begged. "Just one soft, tender embrace and I shall be fueled with inspiration, I shall weather these storms and build the castle worthy of you"

But the goddess stared on to the heavens.

After five years, the man who had forgotten much of himself heard the march of soldier feet.
"Move, scoundrel" Said the general, kicking the man.
We have been given orders to move this statue to the emperor’s garden court.
He has told us that we may each have one of his concubines in exchange for the transport of the statue. My men are eager - move or we will gladly slit your throat. The statue moves tonight!

The man lay on the ground in pain as the men stronger and seemingly better than himself worked together to raise from the ground and onto the giant cart that would transport her to where she belonged - the royal court. As she moved away - no sign or pity or emotion showed, perhaps for the briefest of moments but the sun was setting and the shadows played tricks at these times.

So now there was an Emperor about to learn what the man had learnt.

2005-12-12-Monday

I had some trouble opening my car door this morning. It felt a little stiff. The key wouldn't turn. I thought that the saltwater from my other key that's attached to my board was starting to muck up my lock. That was until I put the key into my ignition, would wouldn't turn at all. After 5 minutes of wiggling, jiggling and cursing, the realisation dawned on my that what I was faced with was the remanents of an unsuccesful car robbery. Someone tried to pick the lock and in the process damaged the ingnition. It's fairly common knowledge that Mazda's and Ford Lasers are notoriously easy to steal, and are the "teeth cutting" choice of aspiring car thiefs. Well better luck next time chump!!!

I did manage to get the car started after further jiggling, wiggling. I fetched my boss from the airport, explaining the situation to him, and from there went to the insurance compny and locksmith respectively.
Because the insurance Company is right next door to Kamla's work, I dropped of her mail, which I've been lugging around in my briefcase for the last three days.

The locksmith said it would take about an hour and half to repair, and so I'm blogging and having breakfast. I've lost some time though, there were some things I needed to follow up at work, I have to put the extra time in some time during the week.

Let's see what else the day throws at me !!!

2005-12-23-Friday

Christmas just around the corner, but I'm working through. Will take leave in March.
Moved office twice and now balancing 6 projects. It gets difficult when everyone else is laid back, at the beach or clubbing your own mind is thinking about deadlines.
Well the good news is that after the second move, I now have my window view back, but now the aircon itn't up to spec, and if I came with an operating manual, it would read "Caution: Optimal operating environment 19 - 21°C. For improved performance, place unit in close proximity to coffee machine and i-station tuned to GrooveSalad.com"

Nov - Dec 2005

Recent events are setting the stage for 2006,and although it wasn't what I had planned for, I think going with the flow is the way to go.

I've been busy with the task of looking for premanent residence, and housing prices being what they are, it's not a pleasant task. Buying a (decent) on a single salary is just not possible these days. The routine involves me grabbing a copy of the property post and marking the possible options. From there it's spending my Sundays riding around and getting my hopes dashed, smashed and trampled on. Well, if I have to have my Sundays ruined, I may as well have a good breakfast. I am a creature of habit you see . I choose the same table, order the same food at the same time, and usually get the same waitress. This comforts me, as the waitress knows what I want and my order goes smoothly.

THis is how I met *her*. A Chinese national with a friendly smile and pleasant demeaner.
(I'm not putting her name here because I haven't asked permission to write it here)
Somewhat taller than I would have expected, for a Chinese person, and dammned if I have to admit, looks a little like Lucy-Lu at certain angles...I think it's the light freckles that create the likness.

In any case, I had the priveledge of her company for supper one afternoon and voraciasously learned as much as I could about her. My instincts told me she was an interesting person and I wasn't dissapointed.

Somedays, when I'm surfing the waves are really awesome, but also a bit scary, but if you stop to think about each wave, you miss most of them. This is kind of how my life's been feeling lately, so when the supper was finished and I had found myself making arrangements to go to China on holiday with my newfound companion, I had to laugh. Life is weird, and at the moment...very exciting. If all goes well, well be making our way to Hong Kong (Xiang Cang) for a few days, from there direct to Shang-Hai, her home-town. Whether she'll decide to stay or come back to S.A. remains to be seen. I think she'll stay in China, and the way things are going I will have to brace myself to come home from China alone and dare I say, broken hearted...but then I've had lot's of practice in that department so let the chips fall where they may, they're going to anyway.

2005-11-26-Saterday Road Race

2005-11-26-Saterday Road Race
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

I had an early night on Friday to prep for the Remax 15km Race on Saturday....I still woke up late. The wind was quite strong, so it took some arguing with myself to get myself out of bed.

To make matters worse I could find the venue. I was just about to give up when I saw a chap come past me in his car, with a runners vest on. He had a look of extreme oncentration on his face..as if he was late for something .... ahhh!! So I just followed him and managed to arrive on time.

The wind had died down a bit so it wasn't too bad. I took it easy and I found that I had managed better than I expected. So all is not lost, I can still do a 15km at least LOL! The chap in the picture is someone I've seen around many of the road races. This gentleman is 75 years old, and that deserves some respect...he certainly has mine. :)

2005-11-02/03

Audio Entry

2005-10-28-Friday-(My Birthday Bash)

2005-10-28-Friday-(My Birthday Bash)
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

This was my Birthday Bash on Friday @ "The-Lennox"

P.S. To the staff @ "The Lennox" thanks for excellent upmarket service.

From Left to Right

Wesley, Me, Kamla, Ravi, Joy My Audio Blog Here

To hear this, you must have the speex codec installed. http://www.speex.org/download.html

(Why speex? - because speex = good sound quality, tinyweenie file size/quick download / Speex = Free / Speex = Windows/Mac/Linux )

(Speex Rulez OK!!!!) I take my compression alogorithms seriously. :)

2005-10-28-Friday

2005-10-28-Friday
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

Yvette, Roslyn, Attila

2005-10-28-Friday

2005-10-28-Friday
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

Kamla, setting up phone to take a video

You can see the video here
It's in RealPlayer format.

The Windows Media format here


i.e.

2005-10-28-Friday

2005-10-28-Friday
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

The Family ;)

2005-10-25-Friday

2005-10-25-Friday
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

Wesley & Me...P.S. Wesley, don't screw with my phone again...

2005-10-28-Friday

2005-10-28-Friday
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

Warren

2005-10-28-Friday

2005-10-28-Friday
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

Justin & Angelo...deep discussion

Fw: 2005-10-23-Sunday

Fw: 2005-10-23-Sunday
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

I was just doing some washing, etc, so I called Mom and asked her if she'd like to stop by for lunch.

At about 14:00 we got to Dizzy Dolphin's beachfront restaurant. I ordered a Chicken Tramizzini and Mom ordered a caramel waffel. That and an Iced coffee, sufficiently guilty - we opted to walk the beach front.

Fw: 2005-10-23-Sunday

Fw: 2005-10-23-Sunday
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

We saw quite a few Jellyfish and Crabs on the shore. Perhaps a good sign that the marine life is thriving. We walked about a total of 4km, a nice
gentle exercise for a Sunday afternoon.

2005-10-22-Saturday

2005-10-22-Saturday
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

Sunsets, A fire, an ocean view.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.



(See attached file: Warren-Saturday .jpg)

2005-10-22-Saturday

2005-10-22-Saturday
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

Despite my intentions to go running, my lazy-ass-ness found an excuse inthe form of lower back pain. (I've got compressed disks).

So I slept late and was doing something Close to nothing.

Yvette & James stopped by, and I took the opportunity to make some video
footage of Declan. Yvette was saying that she didn't have any recent photo's of him, so I though, photos! Video is better. I made a VCD with a sound track etc.

The weather was quite nice, but I held back until about 14:00, when the Sun wouldn't cause any damage. As usual, I went to "Pipe" to surf. As I got there, I saw Angelo, Warren, Ravi and friends on the beach. Anyway, the
wave weren'y really spectacular, so after a frw hours I got out the water
and showered. As Angelo's flat was right the, I stopped off to say Hi. They
were making a braai and were kind enough to offer me a nice meal, even
though I didn't contribute anything. Kamla arrived later, fresh of the cover of a magazine, or where ever it is that comes from looking all radiant, glossed etc.

We were going to play cards like we did the other time (sans sharp objects) but I was feeling a bit tired and my back was starting act up a bit. So I went home for some gentle reading.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2005-10-21-Friday

Friday was the normal hectic schedule. I had to drop my boss off at the airport earlier than usual (12:00)
On the wayback I took my car in for wheel alignment as the wheel has been shuddering whilst driving. After the balance it was right as rain, which made me feel a lot better, I was wondering if there was axel damage or shot CV joints.

Later that evening I was getting ready for some serious net surfing as I was in my Net-Head mood wanting to fly through cyberspace and meet up with people I haven't "seen" in a while. I ordered some chinese food - Chicken chowmein, (my favorite) with a dash of Chutney. I was just halfway through it when Angelo popped around so I had bath and got ready as he wanted to get some Pizza. We went to St. Elmo's and he ordered pizza, I just had some wine. We spent he time talking about philosphy....or at least some of mine - putting some theories to him. Perhaps he'll see some flaws in mine. That would be a good thing as theories must be able to stand up to challenges, if not then they should adapt, change...a lot like the human immune system. We got back to my place, me still being in a Net-Mood, dragged Angelo along for the ride, he chatted to a few folks, my cousin - Kevin popped on-line, Angelo spoke to him while I was making coffee for us.
At about 01:00 I called it a night as I wanted to run a 10 k race in the morning.

2005-10-18-Tuesday Started work early today - I w...

2005-10-18-Tuesday

Started work early today - I was very sleepy the whole day, especially in the morning during the Technical Services meeting.
I wonder if it wasn't the Coke I drank i.e. blood sugar levels / Insulin response...Despite this I worked late until 17:30 or so.
Angelo SMSed me, saying he wanted to come over to my place with Warren, to watch a movie that I had.
I cleaned the place up a bit, I was just finishing the dishes when he arrived. From there we went to Kentucky to by some supper.
The movie started about a quarter of the way through when Justin came over. I've been meaning to visit him last week as he was mugged the week before, but he's phone was  stolen so I couldn't get directions to his place which he moved into recently.
Justin wanted to have a drink so he showed us a place in central called, ????? Rouge.
A small quite bar, quite enough to be able to chat to friends.
I was glad to see that Angelo and Justin seemed to get on quite well, as they are very different personality types (in my opinion at least)
Kamla phoned me and told me about a deal that she initiated, like all deals, there is a small inherent risk involved, but I'm sure everything will turn out OK. Tiny But Tough she is. She takes life by the horns, that one and has the energy and determination to back it up.
It is one of the things I admire about her.
At about 10:30, we left. I had to do some ironing else I wouldn't have anything to wear for work the following day.   (
  

Hakkies Draad Mampoer

Hakkies Draad Mampoer
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

On several occasions on this blog, reference is made to Hakkiesdraad Mampoer, so it deserves an explanation. Note the barbed wire around the
bottle, if this doesn't give some indication as to what the customer is getting himself in for, well then I just don't know. Also, this product is proudly South African, made by a South African, for a South African.

As such the barbed wire makes it difficult for your neibours to steal your drink.

Hakkies Draad is also useful for the following applications:

• Starting your Braai / Barbeque - if the wood is too wet or green just pour a few drop onto the wood. (A FEW DROPS!!!)
• It can keep you car running if you run out of fuel on the way to
  or from the Braai (The car may go a little faster than normal, making up for lost time)
• The bottle can also be used as a weapon in case you get mugged
  on the way to / from the Braai
  
  With all these practical uses, HakkieDraad Mampoer is a testimony to the South African spirit.
  But let's review what insights the manufacturer shares about their
  product
  
  Hierdie tradisionele Bosveld Mampoer word sorvuldig gestook volgens oorle oom Martiens du Plessis se geheime familieresep.
  
  Hulle se
• eers maak dit jou aantreklik
• dan word jy sterk
• dan maak hy jo slim
• en dan word jy gebliksim

Geniet hom met oorgawe....as jy dit wag.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Translation for those abroad

This traditional Bushveld Moonshine is carefully distilled in accordance with Uncle Matiens du Plesse's family secret recipy.

It is said that when consumed the effects are:

• A profound realisation that you are in fact more attractive than you've given yourself credit for.
• A sense of being somewhat physically stronger and agile than you
  normally consider yourself to be
• An enlightened awareness that you are actually a very intelligent,smart human being
• A sudden realisation that you are getting the cr*p beat out of you
  

That being said, I'm going on record saying that this bottle is
officially ornamental - and will NEVER be imbibed (again)!

FW: 2005-10-15-Saturday1

FW: 2005-10-15-Saturday1
Originally uploaded by Clint_Walker.

The characters in this scene.



Yours Truly

*James (a/k/a That-Fn-Brother-in-law-of-mine)
*Yvette (a/k/a
My-Sister-that-married-that-guy-who's-now-my-Fn-Brother-in-law)
*Atilla the Hun, uh, no Sorry, Just Atilla, and he's much nicer than that
Hun chap.
*Roselyn (Spelling?) - Attilla's wife

So we started off the evening at a place called Giovanni's by a complex
called "Dolphins Leap"
Very stylish up-market sort of club with neon lights and (fake) marble
floors, so naturally I didn't fit in :)
No, I actually quite like it.
We ordered some basic drinks and then I saw a waitress walk past with a
hooka pipe, so naturally we had to have one to - mostly for no other reason than the fact that it looked like fun and we wanted to be cool dammit. We ordered a mixed fruit and mint flavour tobacco, but we basically told the waitress she had carte blanche with what ever concoction she wanted to make....as long as it was legal!
Very nice combination...whatever it was